of the same day, the population of Madrid meet on the shores of the
Manzanares, where they witness the caricature of a solemn funeral, the
body interred being that of a dead sprat. This absurd feast is truly one
of bacchanalian character; in it are committed a thousand excesses of
many kinds, among which that of drunkenness, especially among the lower
classes, greatly prevails. There is not in any modern society a more
faithful copy of Pagan festivities than that we are now describing, as
witnessed every year in Madrid. The clergy have often protested against
this stupid ceremony; but all their efforts to procure its abolition have
been fruitless, and the authorities have retroceded before a practice so
deeply rooted in the public habits, and so analogous to the gay
temperament of the people of the Spanish capital. In the year 1851, it
having been reported that the government was going to prohibit this
horrible profanation and mockery of one of the most solemn ceremonies of
the church, all the periodicals of Madrid, except those under the
influence of the clergy, put forth the most energetic remonstrances. In
the Cortes the most violent debates took place on the same subject, and
appeals were made to the cabinet; nay, there were symptoms of an
approaching vote of censure on the ministers, in case they should have
the temerity to think of abolishing the obnoxious practice. Senor Madoz,
who afterwards became minister of _Hacienda_, put himself at the head of
this opposition, and displayed great ardour; and in spite of the
religious periodicals accusing him of inconsistency, and quoting a
passage from his own writings, in which he advocated the suppression of
the feast as a blot on Spanish civilization, the question was too popular
to be easily given up. Warm debates followed, and the subject took an
aspect so serious, that the government, seeing itself exposed to a
_crisis_, was obliged, to save its own existence, to come to the Cortes
and declare solemnly that it would not offer the least opposition to the
_Entierro de la sardina_, the funeral of the sprat. After this triumph,
the interment of the sprat was performed with a splendour never witnessed
before. The whole city attended the procession; there were thousands of
coaches and vehicles of every description, besides an incredible variety
of masked characters; guitars and castanets resounded for more than
twelve hours on the _pradera_ adjoining the Manzanares.