very beautiful, although a high altar erected by Queen Isabella in
1866 greatly mars the effect, being in very florid style and bad
taste. There were no seats at all in the building, the congregation
kneeling and sitting upon the bare flags.

The market at Cadiz is a novel and picturesque sight, its stalls laden
with every imaginable kind of fruit--grapes, pears, peaches, apricots,
and even bananas--in abundance and at absurdly cheap prices.

I was much struck, throughout Spain, with the appearance of the
Spanish soldiery. They all, with but few exceptions, looked smart and
well set up, and their uniforms looked clean, and _fitted_ them--an
uncommon sight on the Continent.

My bill on leaving for Seville surprised me not a little--a good
bed-room, excellent dinner and breakfast, including wine and omnibus
to the station--about 8s. 6d. in English money! Would that some
hotel-keepers I could mention would act on the same principle!

Railway travelling in Spain is cheap, though very slow, and the
carriages exceedingly comfortable.

The intending voyager to Spain would, however, do well to learn the
etiquettes of the country before going there, for they are manifold,
and their non-observance may sometimes be taken as an insult by the
sensitive Spaniard. The latter have an almost ridiculously keen sense
of personal dignity, even to the very beggars, who consider themselves
_caballeros_ (gentlemen), and expect to be treated as such, as indeed
they _are_ by their own countrymen. It is also a good rule in Spain,
to bear in mind when much pressed for time, that Spaniards hate being
hurried, and that the slightest attempt to do so will probably delay
you all the longer.

The five hours' journey from Cadiz to Seville is through vast sandy
plains, not unlike parts of Roumania, excepting in the neighbourhood
of Jeres de la Frontera. Here are large vineyards, in the midst of
which stand pretty red-roofed villas, the properties of the owners of
the vines, which formed pleasant relief to the eye after the glaring
dusty plains left behind us, but to which we return on clearing the
outskirts of Jerez.[14] Seville is reached at about eight p.m., and we
drive to the Fonda de Cuatro Naciones, in the Plaza Nueva, having
been recommended thither by a communicative fellow-passenger.

I stayed two days in Seville, and could willingly have remained
longer, had I not been pressed, for it is a truly delightful city. Its
houses are built ve