count their beads to ascertain the number is correct, but depart with little of that religious feeling so necessary for the regulation of worldly conduct. The walking dress of the women, from the Dutchess to the servant maid, is entirely black, which gives an appearance of equality, and renders it difficult to distinguish one rank from another. In their houses they throw aside the mantilla, or veil, and appear in their dress much like the English ladies, but more decorated with lace and jewels. They frequent the public walks, the streets and the theatre unattended; nor is it deemed indecorous for them to enter the coffeerooms, at the theatre, and take refreshments by themselves. Last night the Countess of W, whom I had met in a private party, came into the coffee-room alone, sat by my side, chatted, ordered her glass of iced water, and, after offering me a seat in her box whenever I chose to accept it, returned to her place in the theatre. Thus you see, in Spain, the women possess nearly as much liberty as Mrs. Wollstonecraft could have wished; but, I believe, the cause of morals and domestic happiness derives no great advantage from this independence of the female sex. So far as I can learn, the state of education here is intolerably bad; and the education of women is, if possible, more defective than that of the men: a little reading and writing is quite as much as the ladies are expected to acquire, and if, by chance, they can talk a little broken French, it is the summit of their acquirements. This is the case generally, but there are some few exceptions. I have seen two, the wife of General Virues and her mother Señora Benedicho, both of whom are accomplished, intelligent, and interesting women: the mother passed the early part of LETTERS FROM SPAIN. her life at the Court of Madrid, where she became acquainted wi the different English employed at that capital in diplomatic capa ties: the daughter is a very beautiful woman, many years younger th her husband, and is very much attached to him; she has suffered great deal from his misfortunes, and his absence in England. Th excellent family is gone to Seville, where I expect frequently to enjo its society, unless the General should be immediately ordered off join the army, of which there is some expectation. LETTER IV. MARKETS- -CONVENT OF ST. JUAN DE DIOS-FRIAR PREACHING-HIS SERMON -CATHEDRAL · - PICTURES - GOLD AND SILVER ORNAMENTS-UNFINISHED CONVENT OF CAPUCHINS ITS EXCELLENT PICTURES CATHEDRAL CADIZ, SEPT. 1809. YESTERDAY, though Sunday, the market was excessively crowded, especially the fish and vegetable markets; the latter was supplied with a surprising profusion of every thing in season. Garlick in this place is a most important article, and is sold in strings three or four yards long, which are piled in stacks. The market also abounded with onions, grapes, melons, pumpkins, turnips, carrots, and celery of a prodigious thickness. The consumption of meat in this city is very small, and the little consumed is of a very inferior quality. The poorer and middle class of people live principally on fruits and vegetables, with fish which is sold fried in oil, at shops in different parts of the town. I went to the Convent of St. Juan de Dios, where a friar was preaching in the quadrangle, adjoining the church, to a congregation standing under the shade of the arches; his address was either extempore or from memory, I believe the latter; it was pronounced with deliberation and solemnity, but apparently without feeling: his object was to shew the dignity, patience, and virtue of the blessed Virgin; he drew a parallel between her maternal love and that of other mothers, which was more ingenious than solid. He conducted his audience to Calvary, and expatiated on the sorrows which she must have felt at the sufferings her son endured, and handled this part of the subject with tolerable skill and effect; no moral improvement, however, was attempted to be drawn from the example of her sorrows, it being left to the hearers themselves to make the practical application of the story. If the few sermons preached in Spain be of this description, and the pulpit merely made use of to blazon the supposed sufferings or virtues of the Saints, without inculcating that moral and devout conduct so essentially necessary to human happiness, the state of religion and morality must be at a very low ebb indeed in this country. Mass was celebrated in the church of the convent, which was more crowded than the quadrangle in which the friar was preaching. We visited some other churches, where mass was performing to rather thin congregations. The churches are all superbly fitted up, and adorned with rich ornaments of gold and silver, and with good paintings. I visited the cathedral, an old edifice, and on the outside destitute of all taste, but within elegantly and splendidly decorated, and furnished with a number of small private chapels and altars, before which the devout were kneeling and silently offering up their prayers. We applied to one of the priests who was at that time unoccupied, for permission to view the pictures and other ornaments; as soon as he knew that we were Englishmen he directed a Sacristan to show us every thing in the church. Some of the pictures were good, but none excellent, nor any of them the productions of the best masters, the greater part being evidently copies from very indifferent originals. Near one of the altars are some good statues, representing the crowning of the Virgin by Angels. The story is ridiculous, but the figures are admirable; they were brought from Italy, and by the inscription appear to have been executed at Naples in 1693, by Palatano. The great quantity of gold and silver ornaments and utensils used in the church service, and deposited in chests and closets, forms the most remarkable feature in the cathedral; much taste is displayed in the workmanship, and we were informed that the weight of the silver in one closet amounted to sixty arobas; this, with the workmanship, must have cost alone ten thousand pounds. There are other ornaments of gold, beautifully adorned with emeralds, rubies, and amethysts. The greater part of the riches of this church has been presented by persons returning from the transatlantic possessions of Spain. A new cathedral is now erecting, which, if ever finished, will be a most magnificent as well as expensive edifice; it was begun in 1722, and will still require many years to complete. The building is carried on at the expence of the Consulado, or Body of Merchants, of this city, which has expended upon it already upwards of a million of dollars. It is built of white marble, but the saline particles have changed the side towards the sea to a brown colour; the marble pillars within are very handsome, and |