the question, and nobody who knows the
character of the people will attempt to do it. Unquestionably there is
no such country in the world for anomalies of all kinds. _Cosas de
Espana!_ as Captain Widdrington amusingly enough says, when he meets
with some huge piece of inconsistency that astonishes even him,
accustomed though he be to the most contradictory vagaries on the part
of his Iberian friends. And it is exactly what intelligent Spaniards
themselves say, when similar absurdities on the part of their countrymen
are pointed out or reproached to them. "_Que quiere vd hombre_," cry
they with a shrug, "_son cosas de Espana_." What can we say to you? They
are Spanish doings.

At Almaden the Captain finds a magnificent road leading to the town,
which had been commenced at great expense by a former governor. For some
distance it is fit for an approach to the largest capital, but on a
sudden it terminates--in a mule-track! _Cosas de Espana_. "I entered
Corunna just before nightfall, and although a regular fortress, seaport,
and chief place of the province--_Cosas de Espana_--not a sentinel was
mounted on the works!" Guards desert their post--witness the attack on
the palace, when seventeen men were present out of sixty-five; a
governor is absent from his province at the very time when he is most
wanted there; an official is sent for by one of his superiors, and
returns for answer that he can certainly come if necessary, but hopes he
shall be excused, as it would occasion him the trouble of dressing
himself--this in the middle of the day. The creature was no doubt lying
on a mattress, half naked, with a cigar in his mouth. These are
instances of "_Cosas de Espana_," always odd and sometimes
unintelligible, but usually to be explained by the system of laxity and
inattention to the duties of their respective posts and stations that
seems to extend to nearly all classes in Spain.

Captain Widdrington professes the strictest impartiality in the accounts
and opinions he gives; and if we venture to point out an instance where
we think he has deviated a little from the straight line he drew for
himself at starting, it is only because his having done so in the
particular we refer to, is rather creditable to him than otherwise, and
is exactly the error that most warm-hearted men who passed any length of
time in the very agreeable society of Spaniards, would be apt to fall
into. But we cannot help thinking, that in some respects h