In the appearance of the women, I noticed nothing very remarkable. The Spanish national dress is scarcely seen so far north--the lower orders wore their hair plaited, and descending behind, to the waist; and but few of the ladies were to be seen with the Spanish mantilla. I am not entitled to say a single word respecting the personal appearance of the Spanish women, from a cursory glance at the streets of Vittoria; upon this subject my expectations were highly excited,--but I reserve my judgment upon so interesting a matter, until I have seen the Capital.
In returning to the hotel, that I might see the arrival of the Infant from my window, I stopped for a moment in the bread market,--the display was tempting and beautiful; loaves of all shapes and dimensions, and as white as unkneaded flour, were piled along the street,--but I was obliged to hasten towards my apartment by a flourish of trumpets, announcing the approach of the Infante,--and in a few minutes more his advanced guard entered the street. I can scarcely expect to be credited, when I say that the Infant, Don Francis, the brother of the King of Spain, arrived in a diligence,--yet such is the fact. He, his consort, and his family, occupied one diligence, and his suite occupied another,--the first drawn by seven mules,--the second, by six. The royal party was received with respect by a considerable concourse of people, and with the military honours usually paid to persons in so exalted a station.
In the afternoon, I made a second tour of the town;--I walked into three or four of the churches, but found no fair devotees before any of the altars; only two or three poor old women were at their devotions. I was particularly amused with a spectacle that presented itself in the _Plaza_--a square, by the by, little inferior to the _Place Vendome_ in Paris: between two and three hundred girls, from eight to thirteen or fourteen years of age, were assembled in the middle of the area, dancing with each other, to the music of a fife and a drum, played by a musician whom they had hired to contribute his aid to their favourite pastime: the dances were slow, and conducted with the utmost gravity; every one seemed to consider herself engaged in an important affair, and among the two or three hundred countenances, there was scarcely a smile to be seen.