sy and brilliant of all public amusements. The equestrians of the
city, mounted on their steeds, which, on this occasion, are splendidly
caparisoned, give three gallops round the church dedicated to the saint,
and, on finishing the third, they receive from the hands of the priest
the blessed barley, which is designed that night as provender for their
happy animals. The streets are filled with people anxious to witness
this grand exhibition of luxury and of horsemanship, and the balconies
are filled with ladies, whose plaudits compensate the dexterity of the
heroes of the feast, or rather of the day.

But of all the devotions of Spaniards, none is so general, none so
fervent, none so varied in its forms and ceremonies, as that which has
for its object the mother of the Saviour. All travellers know that Spain
is the classic country of _Mariolatry_; and certainly, if we could divest
it of the idea of intercession, which is its foundation, we should find
in it much of the poetical, the affectionate, and much of analogy to the
temper of a people in which the imagination predominates, and which still
preserves many traits of the knightly spirit of its progenitors. Mary
is, in the estimation of Spaniards, a tender mother, the confidante of
all their woes, and the support of all their hopes. In their prayers to
her, they are prodigal of the most expressive epithets of endearment and
admiration. They call her the spouse of the Holy Spirit, the door of
heaven, the star of the morning, the tower of David, the tower of ivory,
the house of gold, the ark of the covenant, the health of the sick, the
queen of heaven, the queen of angels, of prophets, of apostles, of
martyrs, and of virgins. We will not do Spaniards the injustice of
suspecting them capable of believing that Mary is superior to God in
power, but there is no doubt that there are in that country many
benighted souls who, when they have addressed their prayers to God,
asking some special favour which has not been granted, have recourse to
the Virgin under a persuasion that through her means they shall obtain
it. Innumerable authors of religious books have written, and it has
daily been repeated from the pulpits, that the Virgin never denies a
favour to her devotees; that in the mere fact of being her worshippers,
they have salvation assured to them; and that it is enough to implore her
by name, in order to preserve both body and soul from all danger. "Hail,
most imm