able in Spain than in any other country of Europe. The Spanish
nation is, generally, renowned for its chivalrous sentiments, for the
violence of the tender passions, and for the influence which the fair sex
exercises, not only in all the domestic but in the civil and political
relations of life. There is, in the society of the Spanish lady, a
distinctive feature of character, called _franqueza_, which, above all
others, gives her the greatest charm in the eyes of a foreigner. She is
eminently sociable, and is the life and essence of Spanish society, in
which she maintains an imperium over all tastes, affections, and
operations. Besides this, it is the universal custom of Spaniards to be
constantly going in and out of one another's houses without ceremony or
invitation; and this frequent contact with Spanish women, generally
pretty, but almost always amiable and graceful, naturally produces
intimate relations, and not unfrequently reciprocal attachments. One may
conceive of such a thing as a cold, repulsive resistance to such
attractions in the dreariness of a desert, or even within the four walls
of a cell; but when such influences are not merely occasionally, but
unceasingly brought to bear upon the senses, they too often leave
impressions which, by a law of our sinful nature, are capable of
reciprocating so as to produce their corresponding effects. Hence
humanity, unless upheld and strengthened by a superior power, is too
often insufficient and prone to give up the contest.

In Spain, the inferior classes of society have always, until of late,
submitted not only to the influence but to the authority of a priest or a
friar; and it may well be conceived how easy it is to abuse this power in
the intercourse which such functionaries have with ignorant and weak
persons. In small towns, the inhabitants of which are devoted
exclusively to labour, fathers and husbands pass the entire day in the
fields, whilst the priest remains at home without a witness of his
conduct or his actions. No domestic hearth is at liberty to exclude him.
He is authorised by custom to enter all houses, at all hours, where he is
received and treated almost as a god. These are facts which can be
vouched by all Spaniards, by whom they are spoken of without the least
reserve. In laying them before the English public, we disavow all idea
of calumniating an entire class of Spanish society. Our object is to
point out one of the causes which, in