and thirty thousand persons.154 By the reign of Philip V., these sixteen thousand looms had dwindled away to less than three hundred ;155 and, in a report which the Cortes made to Philip IV., in 1662, it is stated that the city contained only a quarter of its former number of inhabitants, and that even the vines and olives cultivated in its neighbourhood, and which comprised a considerable part of its wealth, were almost entirely neglected.156 Toledo, in the middle of the sixteenth century, had upwards of fifty woollen manufactories; in 1665, it had only thirteen, almost the whole of the trade having been carried away by the Moriscoes, and established at Tunis.157 Owing to the same cause, the art of manufacturing silk, for which Toledo was celebrated, was entirely lost, and nearly forty thousand persons, who depended on it, were deprived of their means of support.158 Other branches of industry shared the same fate. In the sixteenth century, and early in the seventeenth, Spain enjoyed great repute for the manufacture of gloves, which were made in enormous

154 Capmany (Qüestiones Criticas, p. 30), who seems to have written his able, but not very accurate, work for the express purpose of concealing the decline of his country, has given these figures erroneously. My information is derived from an official report made in 1701, by the trade-corporations ("gremios") of Seville. "Fijan la época de la ruina de nuestras fábricas desde el reynado de Felipe II. y añaden haber llegado á tener solo en esta ciudad el arte mayor, y menor de la sede, el número de mas de diez y seis mil telares, y se ocupaban en los exercicios adherentes á él, mas de ciento treinta mil personas de ambos sexos. Campomanes, Apendice á la Educacion Popular, vol. i. p. 473, Madrid, 1775. See also Uztariz, Theorica y Practica de Comercio, p. 14, "diez y seis mil telares;" where, however, no authority is quoted.

155 "El principal origen y causa de que los 16,000 telares de seda, lana, oro y plata, que se contaban en Sevilla, se hallen oy reducidos á menos de 300." Uztariz, Theorica de Comercio, p. 243.

158 Sempere, Monarchie Espagnole, vol. ii. p. 52, who refers to the report of the Cortes published by Afonso Nunez de Castro.

157 Laborde's Spain, vol. iv. p. 338, where it is also said, that Tunis became, in consequence of the expulsion of the Moriscoes, famous for the manufacture of caps, which "were subsequently imitated at Orleans." Compare, on the cap-manufactories of Tunis, a note in Campomanes, Apendice á la Educacion Popular, vol. iv. p. 249.

158

"Tolède où se mettaient en œuvre 435,000 livres de soie, avait déjà perdu ce travail, qui suffisait autrefois à l'existence de 38,484 personnes. La population de cette ville avait éprouvé un tiers de diminution, et vingtcinq maisons de ses familles les plus illustres étaient passées dans le domaine de divers couvens." Sempere, Monarchie Espagnole, vol. ii. p. 50.

quantities, and shipped to many parts, being particularly valued in England and France, and being also exported to the Indies. But Martinez de Mata, who wrote in the year 1655, assures us that at that time this source of wealth had disappeared; the manufacture of gloves having quite ceased, though formerly, he says, it had existed in every city in Spain.159 In the once-flourishing province of Castile, every thing was going to ruin. Even Segovia lost its manufactures, and retained nothing but the memory of its former wealth.160 The decay of Burgos was equally rapid; the trade of that famous city perished; and the deserted streets and empty houses formed such a picture of desolation, that a contemporary, struck by the havoc, emphatically declared that Burgos had lost every thing except its name.161 In other districts, the results

159 See his interesting essay, reprinted in the appendix to Campomanes, vol. iv. p. 251. He says, "La fábrica de los guantes, que tenian pocos años ha todas las ciudades de estos reynos para el consumo de españa y las indias, era muy considerable; y se ha destruido, despues que se dió entrada al consumo de guantes estrangeros." Such a statement, made by a contemporary, is unimpeachable; but the reason he assigns, is inadequate.

160 Segovia, as it appeared in 1659, is thus described in Boisel, Journal du Voyage d'Espagne, Paris, 1669, 4to, p. 186: "Autresfois, cette ville qui paroist assez grande, estoit fort riche, tant à cause que les rois de Castille y demeuroient, qu'à cause du grand commerce des laines et des beaux draps qui s'y faisoient; mais à present le trafic n'y est plus, et on n'y fait plus que fort peu de draps, de sorte que la ville est presque desert et fort pauvre. Une marque de sa pauvreté, du mauvais ordre d'Espagne, et du peu de prévoyance des Espagnols (quoy qu'on dise de leur flegme) c'est que le jour que j'y arrivay jusques à deux heures après midy il n'y avoit point eu de pain en toute la ville, et ils ne s'en étonnoient point.' The decline of the silk and wool manufactures of Segovia is also noticed by Martinez de la Mata, who wrote in 1650. See his Dos Discursos, edited by Canga, Madrid, 1794, p. 8. Saint Simon, who was there in 1722, says, "A l'égard de leurs laines, j'en vis les manufactures à Ségovie qui me parurent peu de chose et fort tombées de leur ancienne réputation." Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon, vol. xxxvii. p. 230, Paris, 1841. Segovia used to be famous for the beautiful colour of its cloth, the dye of which was taken from a shell-fish found in the West Indies, and is supposed to be the same as the purpura of the ancients. See a note in Dillon's Spain, Dublin, 1781, pp. 19, 20.

161 Such is the language of a Spaniard in the middle of the seventeenth century. "Porque a la ciudad de Burgos, cabeza de Castilla, no le ha quedado sino el nombre, ni aun vestigios de sus ruinas; reducida la graudeza de sus tratos, Prior, y Cónsules, y ordenanzas para la conservacion de ellos, á 600 vecinos, que conservan el nombre, y lustre de aquella antigua y noble ciudad, que encerró en sí mas de seis mil, sin la gente suelta, natural, y forastera." Campomanes, Apendice á la Educacion, vol. i. p. 453, Madrid,

were equally fatal. The beautiful provinces of the south, richly endowed by nature, had formerly been so wealthy, that their contributions alone sufficed, in time of need, to replenish the imperial treasury; but they now deteriorated with such rapidity, that, by the year 1640, it was found hardly possible to impose a tax on them which would be productive.162 During the latter half of the seventeenth century, matters became still worse, and the poverty and wretchedness of the people surpass all description. In the villages near Madrid, the inhabitants were literally famishing; and those farmers who had a stock of food refused to sell it, because, much as they needed money, they were apprehensive of seeing their families perish around them. The consequence was, that the capital was in danger of being starved; and ordinary threats producing no effect, it was found necessary, in 1664, that the President of Castile, with an armed force, and accompanied by the public executioner, should visit the adjacent villages, and compel the inhabitants to bring

1775. An intelligent Dutchman, who visited Spain in 1655, says of Burgos, "elle a esté autrefois fort marchande, mais depuis peu, elle a presque perdu tout son commerce." Aarsens de Sommerdyck, Voyage d'Espagne, Paris, 1665, 4to, p. 16. To me, it certainly appears that facts of this sort have more to do with the real history of Spain than the details of kings, and treaties, and battles, which the Spanish historians love to accumulate.

162 Could contribute little to the exigencies of the state." Dunlop's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 285. Compare Lamentos Apologéticos, in Dos Discursos, edit. Canga, Madrid, 1794, p. 82, on the state of things in "lo mas fértil de Andalucía." The government first became alive to all this when it found that no more money could be wrung from the people. In May 1667, a council of state, convoked by the queen, reported that "quant aux ressources qu'on voudrait tirer de l'Espagne, sous forme de dons volontaires ou autrement, le conseil estime qu'il est bien difficile d'imposer aux peuples des charges nouvelles ;" and, in November of that same year, at another meeting of the council, a memoir was drawn up, stating that "depuis le règne de Don Ferdinand le Catholique jusqu'à ce jour, la monarchie d'Espagne ne s'est pas encore vue si près de sa ruine, si épuisée, si dénuée des ressources nécessaires pour faire face à un grand péril." See extracts from the proceedings of the Councils, published, for, I believe, the first time, by M. Mignet, in his Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne, vol. ii. pp. 124, 601, Paris, 1835, 4to. See also, in the same valuable work, vol. ii. p. 127, a letter to Louis XIV. from his ambassador at Madrid, dated 2d June 1667, and stating that "l'extrémité est ici si grande qu'il se fait une contribution volontaire de tous les particuliers que l'on appelle donativo, pour fournir quelque argent présent pour les nécessités publiques."

their supplies to the markets of Madrid.163 All over Spain, the same destitution prevailed. That once rich and prosperous country was covered with a rabble of monks and clergy, whose insatiate rapacity absorbed the little wealth yet to be found. Hence it happened, that the government, though almost penniless, could obtain no supplies. The tax-gatherers, urged to make up the deficiency, adopted the most desperate expedients. They not only seized the beds and all the furniture, but they unroofed the houses, and sold the materials of the roof, for whatever they would fetch. The inhabitants were forced to fly; the fields were left uncultivated; vast multitudes died from want and exposure; entire villages were deserted; and in many of the towns, upwards of twothirds of the houses were, by the end of the seventeenth century, utterly destroyed.164

163 In 1664, Sir Richard Fanshawe writes from Madrid to Secretary Bennet, Since my last to you, of yesterday, the President of Castile, having, by the king's special and angry command, gone forth to the neighbouring villages, attended with the hangman, and whatsoever. else of terror incident to his place and derogatory to his person, the markets in this town begin to be furnished again plentifully enough." Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe, written by herself, edit. London, 1830, p. 291.

104 Nothing but the precise and uncontradicted evidence of a contemporary witness, could make such things credible. In 1686, Alvarez Osorio y Redin wrote his Discursos. They were published in 1687 and 1688; they were reprinted at Madrid in 1775; and from the reprint, pp. 345-348, I extract the following particulars: "Es preciso decir con la mayor brevedad, que pide el asunto, en la forma que los comisionantes continuamente están saqueando todos los lugares, con capa de servir á V. M. Entran en ellos, intíman sus comisiones á las justicias, y ellas les suplican, tengan misericordia de los moradores, que están con mucha necesidad. Y luego que toman el uso, dicen: que á ellos no les toca dispensar en hacer gracias : que traen orden de cobrar con todo rigor las cantidades, que deben los lugares; y tambien dicen han de cobrar sus salarios. Y se van entrando por las casas de los pobres labradores, y demás vecinos; y con mucha cuenta y razon, les quitan el poco dinero, que tienen: y á los que no tienen, les sacan prendas: y donde no las hallan, les quitan las pobres camas, en que duermen y se detienen en vender las prendas, todo el tiempo que pueden." ... "Los saquéos referidos van continuando, obligando á los mas vecinos de los lugares, á que se vayan huyendo de sus casas, dexando baldías sus haciendas de campo; y los cobradores no tienen lástima de todas estas miserias, y asolaciones, como si entraran en lugares de enemigos. Las casas, que hallan vacías, si hay quien se las compre, las venden: y quando no pueden venderlas, las quitan los texados; y venden la texa, y madera por qualquier dinero. Con esta destruicion general, no han quedado en pie en los lugares la tercera parte de casas, y se han muerto de necesidad gran

In the midst of these calamities, the spirit and energy of Spain were extinguished. In every department, all power and life disappeared. The Spanish troops were defeated at Rocroy in 1643; and several writers ascribe to that battle the destruction of the military reputation of Spain.165 This, however, was only one of many symptoms.166 In 1656, it was proposed to fit out a small fleet; but the fisheries on the coast had so declined, that it was

multitud de personas. Con lo qual los lugares no tienen la mitad de familias, que antiguamente habia en España. Y si no se pone remedio á todo referido, será preciso, que la vengan á poblar de otros Reynos."

165 Allí acabó aquella antigua milicia española que desde el tiempo de los reyes católicos habia ganado tan gloriosos triunfos, siendo el terror de sus enemigos." Tapia, Civilizacion Española, vol. iii. p. 150, Madrid, 1840. "La batalla de Rocroy, en que el jóven Condé recogió los laureles con que engalanó la dorada cuna del niño Luis XIV., acabó con la reputacion que aun habian podido ir conservando los viejos tercios españoles de Flandres." Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. xvii. p. 368, Madrid, 1856.

166 In the Clarendon State Papers, vol. i. p. 275, Oxford, 1767, folio, I find a letter written by Hopton to Secretary Windebank, dated Madrid, 31st May 1635. The author of this official communication gives an account of the Spanish troops just raised, and says, "I have observed these levies, and I find the horses are so weak, as the most of them will never be able to go to the rendez-vous, and those very hardly gotten, the infantry so unwilling to serve, as they are carried, like galley-slaves, in chains, which serves not the turn, and so far short of the number that was proposed, as they come not to one of three." This was eight years before the battle of Rocroy; after it, matters became rapidly worse. A letter from Sir Edward Hyde to Secretary Nicholas, dated Madrid, 18th March 1649-50, states, that Spanish "affairs are really in huge disorder, and capable of being rendered almost desperate ;" and another letter, on 14th April 1650, “if some miracle do not preserve them, this crown must be speedily destroyed." Clarendon State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 13, 17, Oxford, 1786. An official Report on the Netherlands, presented to Louis XIV in 1655, declares that the Dutch "considered Spain so weakened, as to be out of condition to renew the war within the next one hundred years." Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, illustrated by Original Documents, London, 1835, vol. i. p. 237. See also Mignet, Négociations Relatives à la Succession d'Espagne, Paris, 1835-1842, 4to, vol. i. pp. 37, 38, 314, 315, vol. iii. p. 684, vol. iv. p. 218; and L'Estat de l'Espagne, Geneve, 1681, pp. 83, 271. L'Espagne faisant en nos jours plus de pitié que de peur à ceux qu'elle a tenus long-tems dans une crainte perpetuelle, et dans une respectueuse veneration." "Aussi peut-on dire que les Espagnols qui étoient autrefois des lions, on des véritables hommes et incomparables en valeur, sont maintenant des cerfs, ou des femmes, et enfin des personnes peu propres à la guerre." And finally, the Spanish explanation of all this, in Yañez, Memorias, Prologo, pp. 148, 149, Madrid, 1723. "La Monarquia de España, cuya decadencia la avia ya Dios decretado desde el año de 1621," &c.; blasphemously ascribing to the Almighty, what was the result of their own folly, and obstinately shutting their eyes to the real cause of their ruin.