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Untitled Article
lias deigned to honour it with his presence ; ' * the ladies with their light graceful forms , dark languid eyes , little feet , and elegant costume , not forgetting the fan which they know so well how to use ; the equipages of all shapes and sizes ; and the venders of fruits , cigars , sweet cakes , and of cool water , the favourite
beverage of all classes at Madrid . The manners and liabits of the people are described with equal minuteness and graphic truth : — " The tone of society in the middling and highest classes is absolutely the same ; the only difference consists in those who are richer than their neighbours wearing more expensive dresses , and going in a carriage , instead of on foot , in the primitive way , lighted by their man or woman servant with a resin flambeau , to avoid ruts and pools , or by the more ingenious device of a trained poodle , bearing two equipoised lanterns on a
stick between his teeth , and trotting out friendly before the family . In point of manners and information , the class of private gentry , bankers , and private merchants , have a decided advantage over the grandees , "Vol . i- p . 271 . A note adds the following explanation : —
" It k perhaps necessary to elucidate more fully the distinction between ' middling classes' and the grandeza . Every body , or almost every body , is noble in Spain , i . e . tacks the Don to his name , and has a coat of arms engraved over his door , be he but a peasant or an artisan . I do Hot include them in the middling class in Spain . This , according to English notions , embraces the minor nobility , men of good family and
sonae property , the higher ranks of the magistracy , military men , bankers , and principal merchants . Education has made much greater progress among them than among their superiors in rank . "—Vol . i . p . 272 . The style of society is easy , and not expensive . No extravagancy is displayed in houses , or in the furniture , which is generally mean and shabby ; and the common practice is to live in floors or suites of rooms , several families being contained in one
houfte . The dinner hour is always early , between one and three . The two hours' siesta is followed by the walk in the Prado ; refreshment at a cafe ; the theatre or some public place , and then the evening party , or tertulia , as it is called . About six families in Madrid nave a Hrtulia each evening , to which the friends go almost uninvited , and without ceremony . Dancing , and sometimes gainbling , are the amusements , and glasses of sparkling water generally the only refreshment . From the specimens given of the conversation , it will be found to bear a close resemblance to tli ^ t wh i ch usually transpire ? at $ uch social meetings in England ; . plenty of gossip , some little scandal , and a due proportion of that . species of love-making aptly denominated ° flirting s " mixed with more free and frequent discussion , both among men and women , of public characters and measures than we are used to $ nd here . The Spaniards of all clashes Ixetv ^ a passion for dancing , * nd for jaasked balls in particular . The drama is in a very abject state , and the managenlent of the theatres dWrace-
Untitled Article
6 S 4 Madrid in 1835 ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 534, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/10/
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