ng unknown before. Lest he should err in this way again,
the mob went to his church, at that time the principal one in Madrid,
smashed the windows, and did all the damage they could compass before
the Civil Guards came to the rescue. A servant-girl I knew, had for a
long time been praying to San Antonio to send her a _novio_
(sweetheart), expending money in tapers, and otherwise trying to
propitiate the saint. At last, finding him deaf to all entreaties, she
took the little wooden image she had bought, tied a string round his
neck, and hung him in the well, saying: "You shall stop there till you
send me what I want." Some little time after, she actually found a
_novio_, and hastened gratefully to take San Antonio out of his damp
quarters, set him up on his altar again, and burn tapers for his
edification. I had thought this an example of special ignorance and
superstition; but the other day, in reading some of the papers of the
_Spanish Folklore Library_, I found there is a widespread belief that if
San Antonio, and probably some other saints, do not answer the prayers
of their votaries who burn candles before them, it is a good thing to
hang them in a well till they come to their senses! It is difficult for
any unbiassed person to understand that this is not fetish worship, as
it would certainly seem to be, but we are told that it is something
quite different.

The religious _fiestas_, as I have said, may be classed among the
amusements of the people. During the warm season they invariably end
with a bull-fight. In winter there are no bulls. Whether it be the
_Romeria_ of Santiago de Compostelo, the _Santa Semana_ in Toledo or
Seville, _Noche-Buena_ and the _Day of the Nativity_ in Madrid or
Barcelona, gaiety and enjoyment seem to be the order of the day. Even
Lent is not so bad, for just before it comes the Carnival and the
grotesque "Burial of the Sardine" by the _gente bajo_, and of the three
great masked balls, one is given in mid-Lent, to prevent the Lenten
ordeal being too trying, and Holy Thursday is always a _fiesta_ and day
of enjoyment. On this day, in Madrid, takes place the washing of the
feet of the poor in the Royal Palace--a function that savours a good
deal of the ridiculous, but which was never omitted by the _piadosa_
Isabel II., and was revived by her son. For forty-eight hours the bells
of all the churches remain silent, no vehicles are allowed in the
streets, which are gravelled along the routes Ro