As the Spanish ladies are under a greater seclusion from general
society, than the sex is in other European countries, their desires of
an adequate degree of liberty are consequently more strong and urgent. A
free and open communication being denied them, they make it their
business to secure themselves a secret and hidden one. Hence it is that
Spain is the country of intrigue.
The Spanish women are little or nothing indebted to education. But
nature has liberally supplied them with a fund of wit and sprightliness,
which is certainly no small inducement to those, who have only transient
glimpses of their charms, to wish very earnestly for a removal of those
impediments, that obstruct their more frequent presence. This not being
attainable in a lawful way of customary intercourse, the natural
propensity of men to overcome difficulties of this kind, incites them to
leave no expedient untried to gain admittance to what perhaps was at
first only the object of their admiration, but which, by their being
refused an innocent gratification of that passion, becomes at last the
subject of a more serious one. Thus in Spain, as in all countries where
the sex is kept much out of sight, the thoughts of men are continually
employed in devising methods to break into their concealments.
There is in the Spaniards a native dignity; which, though the source of
many inconveniences, has nevertheless this salutary effect, that it sets
them above almost every species of meanness and infidelity. This quality
is not peculiar to the men; it diffuses itself, in a great measure,
among the women also. Its effects are visible both in their constancy in
love and friendship, in which respects they are the very reverse of the
French women. Their affections are not to be gained by a bit of
sparkling lace, or a tawdry set of liveries. Their deportment is rather
grave and reserved; and, on the whole, they have much more of the prude
than the coquette in their composition. Being more confined at home, and
less engaged in business and pleasure, they take more care of their
children than the French, and have a becoming tenderness in their
disposition to all animals, except a _heretic_ and a _rival_.
Something more than a century ago, the Marquis D'Astrogas having
prevailed on a young woman of great beauty to become his mistress, the
Marchioness hearing of it, went to her lodging with some assassins,
killed her, tore out her heart, carried it home, made a _ragout_ of it,
and presented the dish to the Marquis. "It it exceedingly good," said
he. "No wonder," answered she, "since it was made of the _heart_ of that
creature you so much doated on." And, to confirm what she had said, she
immediately drew out her head all bloody from beneath her hoop, and
rolled it on the floor, her eyes sparkling all the time with a mixture
of pleasure and infernal fury.
A lady to whom a gentleman pays his addresses, is sole mistress of his
time and money; and, should he refuse her any request, whether
reasonable or capricious, it would reflect eternal dishonor upon him
among the men, and make him the detestation of all the women.
But, in no situation does their character appear so whimsical, or their
power so conspicuous, as when they are pregnant. In this case, whatever
they long for, whatever they ask, or whatever they have an inclination
to do, they must be indulged in.