The Sun.
London, England, 1831-04-07 00:00:00

PICTURE OF A SPANISH BOARDING•

HOUSE.

A Young American, during his " Year in
Spain," performed the journey from Cordova,
in one of those huge galeras or covered waggons,
which, as they slowly toil across the naked plains
of Spain, resemble great ships traversing the
ocean. Among the motley crew of this ark was
a Spanish curate, a handsome galliard priest of
about thirty years of age, with whom the lieu-
tenant, with his usual facility, became very so•
ciable. When they landed together in " fair
Seville's famous city," the lieutenant was for
seeking an inn ; but the provident priest, who
had, doubtless, been accustomed to beat up that
part of the country, recommended a casa de
pupilos, or boarding-house, where they would
find " more comfort, more retirement, and, at
the same time, more society." A barber of
Seville, with the proverbial promptness of his
craft, pointed them out a house of the kind,
kept by a widow lady, where they could not fail
to be accommodated a gusto—that is, to their
heart's content. They accordingly approach a
house, furnished in the delightful Andalusian
style, with an interior court, and babbling foun-
tam ; they ascend a staircase, enter a saloon, the
windows of which open on balconies, and are
shaped by striped red and white awnings ; and,
for the rest, we leave the lieutenant to tell his
own story :—" T;iere were few ornaments here ;
unless, indeed, three young women—the two
daughters and niece of the ancient hostess—
who sat with their embroidery in the cool bal-
cony, might be so esteemed. One of them was
at least five-and-twenty ; the next might be
eighteen—a dark-eyed damsel, with a swarthy,
Moorish complexion and passionate tempera-
ment. The niece was a little girl from Ecija,
the native place of the whole family, who had
come to Seville to witness the splendours of the
holy week. She was just beginning to lose the
careless animation, the simplicity, and the prattle
of the child, in the suppressed demeanour, the
softness, the voice and figure of a woman. She
looked as though she might have talked and
acted like a child a week or two ago in Ecija,
but had been awaked to new and unknown feel-
ings by the scenes of Seville. As for the Mo-
risco, she touched the guitar and sang, not only
with passion and feeling, but with no mean
taste, for she went frequently to the Italian
opera. The other two waltzed like true Anda-
luzas, as I had occasion to see that every even-
ing. Such being the state of affairs, the curate
and I decided that we would go no farther, and
accordingly accepted the rooms that were offered
us, and agreed to take our meals with the family.
Nor did we afterwards regret our precipitation,
for the house was in all things delightful. As
for myself, it furnished me with a favourable op-
portunity of seeing something of those Sevil-
lanas, of whose charms and graces, of whose
sprightliness and courtesy, I had already heard
such favourable mention. With these, and
some other specimens which I saw of the sex, as
it is in Seville, I was, indeed, delighted ; de-
lighted with their looks, their words and actions,
their Andalusian Spanish, their seducing accent,
and their augmentatives and diminutives, froni
grandissimo to poquito and chiquiti-ti-ti-to.
Every thing is very big or very little in the
mouth of a Sevillana : she is a superlative crea-
ture, and is ever in the superlative. There is
one thing, however, in my situation in this case
de pupilos, which was new and singular, -to say
nothing of its inconvenience, and which may
furnish a curious study of' Spanish customs.
This was the position of my bedchamber. It
had a grated window looking on the street, and
a door opening into the court-yard. Next it
was a long room, running to the back of the
building. This also was a bed-chamber, and
the bed-chamber of the old lady and of the three
ninas of Ecija, who slept on cots, ranged along
the room. But it may not be amiss to tell how
I came by this information. Now it chanced
that the partition wall between my room and
this next did not extend to the ceiling, nor, in-
deed, more than two-thirds of the way up, the
remainder being left open to admit a free circu-
lation of air, and keep the rooms cool ; for Se-
ville, in summer, is little better than an oven.
This being the case, I could hear every thing
that was going on next me. We used to
commend each other to God over the wall very
regularly, every night before going to sleep, and
presently I used to hear the old woman snore.
The girls, however, would go on talking in a
whisper, that they might not disturb their mo-
ther. In the morning again, we always woke at
the same hour and with the customary saluta-
tions. Sometimes, too, I would be aroused in
the dead of the night, and kept from sleeping
for hours, just by the creaking of a cot, as one
of my fair neighbours turned over; or may be
on no greater provocation than the suppressed
moan of a troubled dreamer, or the half-heard
sigh of one just awoke from some blissful vision."
We can readily imagine the anxiety of the reader
to know how our modern Telemachus extricated
himself from the perils of this island of Calypso,
and we confess that we feel a mischievous ple'
sure in baulking his curiosity as did Yorick when
he left untold the delicate denouement of the
affair of the corking pins. If he wishes in-
formation on the subject, let him consult the
book itself.

SELLING A WIFE.—The following memo-
randum (says the S/eckport Advertiser), drawn upon a
Is. 6d, stamp, will best explain the nature of a bargain
between two fellows at a beer shop in the Flil!gate, in this
town. AIit.LwARD is a butcher, and was last week fined
before our magistrates for using uneven balances in his
trading transactions. The (Aker persons are unknown
to us.

I Booth Millward, bought of William Clayton, his wife, for
five shillings, to be delivered on the tith of March, 1931, to be
delivered in a alter, at Mr. John Lomases house.