T RAV

126 TRAVELSI:NR'UROPE.nance of government it~elf could not convey due support with()uttbeirassistance,. and it is .not given.The obstacles to this and al! otherliteraryimprovements are to be fouQÇi: in two qeep-se.ated and powerfulcauses; in religion,. and politics: iJlan inquisition, and a Foreign dy..,nasty*: in a busy and meddling spirit of interference in the one, in a, . tdread of aught carrying the appearance ofnationality in the other.The steps taken, however, to :Frenchify (by way of Bourbonizipg).8pain,are not very seductive. It is the fashiori in}~rance:to. ~vearitriangular,in Spain to ~vear circulaI' hats. 'fhecivili~tion(:)fEl people, we know,çopsists in bringing thern. tp tlaink, 01' to say:phat they think,exactly asW'~do,mory pal'ticularlyon PQints utterly unirnportant to eitherparty;andin prevailing o~them to act like. U$, whentbeirown senses demonstrateto thern that they should do the direct.contrary.A doak and around hat are (next to a patria.fchalbeard) thestrongestproofs ofnational barbarity; and their extinction onoe .. effec~~d, thiswise.procedurewast~completelyhumanizetheuncouthdregsofGothicism andVandalism. In consequence, it wasduly proclairned, that whosoeverentered withinthe precincts of a royal Sitio should, previously theIieto,execute a geometrical processwithin those othis sombr'el'o, and modifythis sa,me,from its circulaI' fonu, into an equilateral triangle.Evenhere, in the very term is a pestilellt gall to the pOOl' Spaniard; his* Since this was written, things have compIeteIy changed upon this point. The Spaniards hlJ,veelected a ~king, a SpaIliard Iike themseIvesj and aIl will (by the grace of Divine Providence). g~ onacc()rdingly well.. A spirit of patriotism, of nationaIpride, not to besu}>pressedj becauseit isever springing up· anewj has carried them through their difflcuIties. They have pmved tothe .worIdjthat an imposed sceptre, a foreign yokej were not for them. Theirking will now feeI ide.ntifiedwith the nation he mIes, and the spiendour of the throne and }>rosperity of the. nation will consequentlyand congenially extend now~pari passu. Observations wbich a~egeneralj u}>on thingsjnotparticuIars, upon persons, !f they are worth any thing, cannot be obsolete. The deeds andscenes of the ·moment pass away with it, but mo;al is eternal.