urable a picture of the higher orders of society in this country;
but, perhaps, when we consider their wretched education, and their early
habits of indolence and dissipation, we ought not to wonder at the state
of contempt and degradation to which they are reduced. I am not speaking
the language of prejudice, but the result of the observations I have
made, in which every accurate observer among our countrymen has
concurred with me, in saying that the figures and countenances of the
higher orders are as much inferior to those of the peasants, as their
moral qualities are in the view I have given of them."--All this might
be foreseen to be unavoidable in a country where the means of living are
passively derived from abroad, and where the honour and rewards of
successful industry are confined to a class of the community. The mines
should bear the blame of the prevalent faults of the saucy beggars and
beggarly grandees of Spain.

To any one who has at all considered at home the bearings of a social
system which is grounded upon physical force, or those of the opposite
arrangements which rely upon moral power, it can be no mystery abroad
that there should be prevalent moral characteristics among the subjects
of such systems; and the vices which exist under them will be, however
mourned, leniently judged. Take the Feudal System as an instance, first,
and then its opposite. A little thought makes it clear what virtues and
vices will be almost certain to subsist under the influences of each.

The baron lives in his castle, on a rock or some other eminence, whence
he can overlook his domains, or where his ancestor reared his abode for
purposes of safety. During this stage of society there is little
domestic refinement and comfort. The furniture is coarse; the library is
not tempting; and the luxurious ease of cities is out of the question.
The pleasures of the owner lie abroad. There he devotes himself to rough
sports, and enjoys his darling luxury,--the exercise of power. Within
the dwelling the wife and her attendants spend their lives in
handiworks, in playing with the children and keeping them in order, in
endless conversation on the few events which come under their notice,
and in obedience to and companionship with the priest. While the master
is hunting, or gathering together his retainers for the feast, the women
are spinning or sewing, gossiping, confessing, or doing penance; while
the priest studies in his apartment,