There are in Spain twelve councils of state, viz. of _War_, of
_Castile_, of the _Inquisition_, of the royal orders of _St. Iago_, of
_Arragon_, of the _Indies_, of the chamber of _Castile_, of the
_Croisade_, of the _State_, of _Italy_, of the _Finances and Treasure_,
and lastly, that (of no use) of _Flanders_.
The council of _War_ is composed of experienced men of various orders,
who are thought capable of advising upon that subject, and not of any
determinate number.
That of _Castile_ has a president and sixteen other members, beside a
secretary and inferior officers; it is the first of all the councils,
and takes cognizance of civil as well as criminal matters. The King
calls this council only OUR council, to mark its superiority to all
others. The president is a man of great authority, and is treated with
the utmost respect; nor does he ever visit any body.
The council of the _Inquisition_, established by _Don Fernando_ in 1483,
has an inquisitor general for its president, who is always a _Grandee_
of the first condition; he has six counsellors, who are called apostolic
inquisitors. This court, (the power of which has, fortunately for
mankind, been of late years greatly abridged) has a great number of
inferior officers, as well as _holy spies_, all over the kingdom,
particularly at _Seville_, _Toledo_, _Valladolid_, _Barcelona_, and
other places, where these horrid tribunals are fixed; each is governed
by three counsellors, who, however, are dependant on that of Madrid; and
to whom they are obliged every month to give a particular account of
what has passed through their hands. These men have not power to
imprison a priest, a religious, nor even a gentleman, without obtaining
the consent of the supreme court above; they meet at _Madrid_ twice
every day, and two of the King's council always attend at the afternoon
meeting.
Of the council of the three royal orders of Spain; that of _Santiago_ is
the first; the other two are _Calatrava_ and _Alcantara_. It is composed
of a president, six counsellors, and other officers.
The president of the council of _Arragon_ is called the vice chancellor;
who is assisted by nine counsellors, and inferior officers. This council
attend to the public state of the kingdom of _Arragon_, as well as to
the islands of _Majorca_, _Ivica_, &c.
The council of the _Indies_ was established in 1511, for the
conservation and augmentation of the new kingdoms discovered by
_Columbus_ in South America, in 1492; and where the Spaniards have at
this time four thousand nine hundred leagues of land, including _Mexico_
and _Peru_; land divided into many kingdoms and provinces, in which they
had built, in the year 1670, upwards of eight thousand churches, and
more than a thousand convents. They have there a patriarch, six
arch-bishops, and thirty-two bishops, and three tribunals of the
inquisition. This council is composed of a president, a grand
chancellor, and twelve counsellors, a treasurer, secretary, advocates,
agents, and an infinite number of inferior officers. They meet twice a
week, to regulate all the affairs, both by land and sea, relative to
that part of the King's dominions.
The council of the _Croisade_ is composed of a president, who is called
the commissary general, and who has great privileges. The clergy are
obliged to pay something annually to it; and if any one finds a purse of
money in the streets, they are obliged to deliver it to the secretary of
this council.
The council of _State_ is composed of men of the first birth and
understanding about the court. The King presides, and is assisted by
the archbishop of _Toledo_. This council is not confined to any certain
number; they meet three times a week, to deliberate on the most
important affairs of the kingdom.
The council of _Italy_ attends to the affairs of _Naples_, _Sicily_, and
_Milan_; it is composed of a president, and six counsellors, three of
whom are Spaniards, one Neapolitan, one Italian, and one Sicilian; each
of which have their separate charge on the affairs of those countries.
The council of _Finances and Treasure_ is composed of a president, who
is called _presidente de hazienda_, that is, superintendant of the
finances; eight counsellors, and a great number of other officers,
beside treasurers, controllers, &c, who have a great share of the most
important affairs of the nation to regulate; they hear causes, and are
not only entrusted with the treasures of the kingdom, but with
administration of justice to all the king's subjects. You may easily
judge what a number of officers compose this council, when I tell you,
that they have twenty-six treasurers.
The council of _Flanders_ have now only the _name_; as the King of
England bears that of France.--The formal manner which men, high in
office or blood, observe in paying or receiving visits, is very
singular: the inquisitor-general, for instance, has several black lines
marked upon the floor of his anti-chamber, by which he limits the
civilities he is to shew to men, according to the rank or office they
bear: he has his _black_ marks for an embassador, an envoy, &c. When
people of condition at Madrid propose to make a visit, it is previously
announced by a page, to know the day and hour they can be received; and
this ceremony is often used on ordinary visits, as well as those of a
more public nature: the page too has his coach to carry him upon these
errands. I have seen the account of a visit made by the Cardinal of
_Arragon_ to the Admiral of _Castile_, the train of which filled the
whole street; he was carried by six servants in a magnificent chair, and
followed by his body coach drawn by eight mules, attended by his
gentlemen, pages, esquires, all mounted on horseback, and arrayed in a
most sumptuous manner. Every order of men assume an air of importance in
Spain. I have been assured, that when a shoemaker has been called upon
to make a pair of shoes, he would not undertake the work till he had
first enquired of _Dona_, his wife, whether there was any money in the
house? if she answered in the affirmative, he would not work. Even the
beggars do not give up this universal privilege, as the following
instance will evince:--A foreigner of fashion, who was reading in a
bookseller's shop in Madrid, was accosted by one of the town beggars,
who in an arrogant manner asked his charity, in terms which implied a
demand rather than a favour. The stranger made no reply, nor did he take
the least notice, but determined to continue reading, and dismiss the
insolent beggar by his silent contempt: this encreased the beggar's
hardiness; he told him, he might find time enough to read after he had
attended to his request, and what he had to say. But still the gentleman
read on, and disregarded his rudeness. At length, the beggar stept up to
him, and with an air of the utmost insolence, at the same time taking
him hold by the arm, added, What! neither charity, nor courtesy? By this
time, the stranger lost all patience, and was going to correct him for
his temerity:--Stop, Sir, (said the beggar, in a lower tone of voice)
hear me;--pardon, me, Sir; do you not know me? No, certainly; replied
the stranger, But, said he, you ought, for I was secretary to an embassy
in a certain capital, where we lived together in intimacy; and then told
him his name, and the particular misfortunes which had reduced him to
that condition; he expressed himself with art, address, and eloquence,
and succeeded in getting money from the gentleman, though he could not
convince him that he was his old acquaintance.
There are in Spain an infinite number of such sort of beggars, who are
men of sense and letters, and so _au fait_ in the art, that they will
not be denied. The grand secret of the art of begging is in
perseverance; and all the _well-bred_ part of beggars do not despair,
though they have ten refusals. But the worst sort of beggars in Spain,
are the troops of male and female gipsies: these are the genuine breed,
and differ widely from all other human beings. In Spain I often met
troops of these people; and when that interview happens in roads very
distant from towns or dwellings, the interview is not very pleasing; for
they ask as if they knew they were not to be refused; and, I dare say,
often commit murders, when they can do it by surprize. Whenever I saw
any of these people at a distance, I walked with a gun in my hand, and
near to the side of my chaise, where there were pistols visible; and by
shewing them I was not afraid, or, at least, making them believe so,
they became afraid of us. They are extremely swarthy, with hair as black
as jet; and form a very picturesque scene under the shade of those rocks
and trees, where they spend their evenings; and live in a manner by no
means disagreeable, in a climate so suitable to that style, where bread,
water, and idleness is certainly preferable to better fare and hard
labour. It is owing to this universal idleness that the roads, the inns,
and every thing, but what is absolutely necessary, is neglected; yet,
bad as the roads are, they are better than the _posada_, or inns. _El
salir de la posada, es la mejor jornada_,--"_the best part of the
journey_, say the Spaniards, _is the getting_ _out of the posada_." For
as neither king nor people are at much expence to make or mend the high
ways, except just about the capital cities, they are dry or wet, rough
or smooth, steep or rugged, just as the weather or the soil happens to
favour or befoul them.--Now, here is a riddle for your son; I know he is
an adept, and will soon overtake me.
I'm rough, I'm smooth, I'm wet, I'm dry;
My station's low, my title's high;
The King my lawful master is;
I'm us'd by all, though only his:
My common freedom's so well known,
I am for that a proverb grown.
The roads in Spain are, like those in Ireland, very _narrow_, and the
leagues very long. When I complained to an Irish soldier of the length
of the miles, between Kinsale and Cork, he acknowledged the truth of my
observation; but archly added, that though they were _long_, they were
but _narrow_.--Three Spanish leagues make nearly twelve English miles;
and, consequently, seventeen Spanish leagues make nearly one degree.
The bad roads, steep mountains, rapid rivers, &c. occasion most of the
goods and merchandize, which are carried from one part of the kingdom to
the other, to be conveyed on mule-back, and each mule has generally a
driver; and as these drivers have their fixed stages from _posada_ to
_posada_, so must the gentlemen travellers also, because there are no
other accommodations on the roads but such houses; the stables therefore
at the _posadas_ are not only very large, but the best part of the
building, and is the lodging-room of man and beast; all the muleteers
sleep there, with their cloaths on, upon a bundle of straw: but while
your supper is preparing, the kitchen is crowded with a great number of
these dirty fellows, whose cloaths are full of vermin; it would be
impossible, therefore, for even a good cook to dress a dish with any
decency or cleanliness, were such a cook to be found; for, exclusive of
the numbers, there is generally a quarrel or two among them, and at all
times a noise, which is not only tiresome, but frequently alarming.
These people, however, often carry large sums of money, and tho' they
are dirty, they are not poor nor dishonest.--I was told in France, to
beware of the _Catalans_; yet I frequently left many loose things in and
about my chaise, where fifty people lay, and never lost any thing.
When I congratulated myself in a letter to my brother, upon finding in
Wales a Gentleman of the name of Cooke, whose company, conversation, and
acquaintance, were so perfectly pleasing to me; my brother observed,
however, that my Welch _friend_ was not a _Welchman_, for, said he,
"there are no COOKS in Wales;"--but this observation may be with more
justice applied to Spain; for I think there are no COOKS in Spain; but
there are, what is better, a great number of honest, virtuous men: I
look upon the true, genuine Spaniards to be as respectable men as any
in Europe; and that, among the lower order of them there is more honour
and honesty than is to be found among more polished nations; and, I dare
say, there were an hundred Spaniards at _Barcelona_, had they been as
well informed about my identity as Messrs. Curtoys and Wombwell, that
would have changed my notes, or lent me money without.
_P.S._ The tour through Spain and Portugal by UDAL ap RHYS, grandfather
to the now Mr. Price of Foxley in Herefordshire, abounds with more
falshoods than truths; indeed I have been told it was written, as many
modern travels are, over a pipe in a chimney corner: and I hope Mr.
Udal never was in Spain, as "_one fib is more excusable than a
thousand_."