The accusation of bigotry now—whatever may formerly have been the case—is as undeserved as many other unkind things that have been said about Spain.
“We are very much misrepresented by foreign writers,” an intelligent young officer said to me one day; “if ever _you_ write a book about Spain, I hope you will speak of us as you find us, so that for once we may have a little justice from a friend.”
With this rather pathetic appeal in mind I have tried my best to describe Spain as I have found it, and I must maintain that I have done my Spanish friends no more than justice, even though those who do not know them write me down a prejudiced Hispanophil.
⁂ The accents marked on the Spanish words in the text are in most cases added merely as a guide to the pronunciation, for those who do not know the language.
THE CHURCH WHERE CARMENCITA WAS MARRIED 21
A FUNERAL VESTMENT OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 117
THE DANCE OF THE SEISES IN SEVILLE CATHEDRAL 150
From the picture by GONZALO BILBAO. By permission of the owner, the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Rosebery, K.G.
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY BANNER OF OUR LADY OF GRANADA 199
[Illustration: “A SUMMER AFTERNOON IN THE PATIO.”]
Life in the patio—Locked doors and lovers—The uses of the grated gate—Courting under difficulties: the keyhole and the crack—Manolo and Carmencita, a romance in real life.
The great event to which the whole creation moves in the eyes of a Spanish señorita—not being a resident in Madrid—is the annual fair in the capital town of her province. This generally takes place in the spring, and therefore, for her, the spring is the end and not the beginning of the year, looked forward to with increasing excitement through autumn and winter, while to that young lady summer is but the beginning of the long year which has to be lived through until spring and LA FERIA, in capital letters, comes round again.
I, like the Spanish señorita, will begin my Spanish year with the summer, if not exactly for the same reason, for one akin to it. The great heat of summer, with its dust, mosquitoes, and flies, is the most trying time in all the twelve months in this country, as the spring is the most enjoyable; and wise people keep the best to the last.
Let it not be supposed, however, that summer in Spain has no compensations. They are many and various, and not the least among them is the life of the patio, which begins in June and ends in September.