e waltz
step.

After singing and dancing for about a quarter of an hour, the voices are
exchanged for the sounds of castagnettes, which they have held all this
time in their hands, and the measure becomes more animated; and thus
they terminate the performance. The same ceremony is repeated each night
of the seven; only varying the air of the waltz, of which they have two.

This ceremony, now belonging exclusively to the cathedral of Seville,
was originally performed in some other cathedrals; but has been
gradually laid aside in all the others, having been found to occasion
irreverent behaviour among a portion of the spectators. It was
originally introduced among the observances in honour of the anniversary
of the Conception, as a natural manifestation of joy; and such a genuine
Spanish bolero would have been: but the slow time of the music, and the
measured movements, adopted for the purpose of suiting the performance
to the solemnity of the place, have changed the nature of the dance, and
deprived it of everything approaching to cheerfulness.

LETTER XX.

SPANISH BEGGARS. HAIRDRESSING. THE GIRALDA. CASA DE PILATOS.
MONASTERIES. ITALICA.

Seville.

Mendicity is one of the Curiosities--and not the least picturesque
one--of this antique country. There should be a Mendicity Society for
its preservation, together with other legacies of the middle ages. An
entertaining book might be filled with its annals and anecdotes.

Nowhere, I should think, can beggary be a more lucrative calling. The
convents having been the inexhaustible providence of these tribes, on
their suppression the well-born and bred Spaniards consider the charge
to have devolved upon them, in the absence of all possible legislation
on the subject: and few, especially of the fair sex, turn a deaf ear to
the mute eloquence of the open hand. Even a stranger, if possessed of an
ear, resists with difficulty the graceful appeal of the well trained
proficient: _Noble caballero, un ochavito por Dios._--A blind girl made
no request; but exclaimed--"Oh that the Virgin of Carmen may preserve
your sight!"

The mendicants are classified, and assume every form of external
humanity. Being in the coach-office near the Plaza del Duque, a tall
well-dressed man, dangling a dark kid glove, entered, and, walking up to
the book-keeper, after having carefully closed the door, made some
communication to him in a low voice. The other replied in a similar
tone, and