The midland journal., 1898-07-29

ing neglected to pay the usual salute
TO a Spanish duke at the court of Mad
rid, excused himself by explaining that
be did not know the offended noble
mans rank.
My FRIEND" replied his grace, "the
safe rule Is 10 assume that everybody
in the palace who looks like monkey
is grandee of the first class"
But for the startling frankness of
the duke-which seems quite The re-
verse of Spanish-nothing could be
more charact eristic than this anecdote,
true or false. At one stroke it dis
plays the inordinate pride of pedigree
which makes Spanish grandees more
plenty than Kentucky colonels, and ex-
poses the utter worthlessness of the
stock.
The truth is, the Spanish are a
thoroughly mongrel race, and their con-
ceit of themselves amazes us. Their
country has probab bly, been oftener over
run and conquered than any other terri
tory of equal extent in Europe. Phoe-
nician, Carthaginian, Roman. Vandal,
Visigoth and Moor have all success
lively made it their stamping ground,
to say nothing of the more peaceful in
vasion of the thrifty but bitterly hated
Jews-and the effect of all this upon
the pure Castillian BLOOD" what ever
that may be, is ndelibly stamped on
every really Spanish face.
But playing the gentleman has been
called 1.-The endemic disease of Spain"
and the national vanity is something
grotesque One of their historians seri-
ously advanced the theory that the first
inhabitants of the country arrived by
air." so impressed was he by their SUI
,,erhuman qualities that nothing short
of descent from the sky could account
for them. A subsequent historian, how
ever, after a long and grave discussion
of the question, finally announced his
opinion that they more probably came
by land"
After this we need not be astonished
that the Spanish claim to possess the
oldest families in Europe. The surpris-
ing circumstance is that the claim is
not wholly without foundation. Their
family names can in some cases be
traced back to an incredibly remote
period, though it must not be assumed
that the original blood persists in any
purity.
Probably the most ancient family in
Spain is the house of Pacheco, whose
estates are not far from Carteia, now
called Cartaya, in Andalusia. Plutarch
tells us that when Crassus fed from
Italy he concealed himself for eight
months at Ximena, near Cartela, in
caves belonging to a Spanish gentle
man named Paciccus. Cicero also men
tions this generous Spaniard, and there
can be no doubt that he was one of
the ancestors of the Pacheco family,
whose name is obviously derived from
his, and who still own the caves. This
carries them back about 1000 years, to
a period antedating the Christian era;
but it is possible to trace the line much
further. The name is clearly of Phoeni-
clan origin, being ultimately derived
from "pataicoi," the word by which the
Tyrians designated the carved figure
heads of their galleys. The identfica-
tion is made complete by the fact that
the Phoenicians were the founders of
Cardeia, as of Cadiz in the same prov
ince. That adds another thousand years
or so to the Pacheco pedigree. Think
of it-a landed estate remaining in the
possession of the same family for 5000
years. This is doubtless the most won
derful family tree in the world, and
unusually we'll authenticated. The
Pachecos may well be pardoned for TAX
ing pride in it, though it roots in rather
unsavory soil at last, for the great
original Pacheco was evidentlya a Tyrian
freebooter.
Names that trace back to the Cartha
ginian occupation in the time of Han
nibal are also found, and the title Of
Hannibals own clan, Barca. is perpet-
uated by the Barcias and Garcias, we'll
known families of Andalusia. There
are also several names of Roman ante
cedents-as Ponce and Cano. in Latin
Pontius and Canius. A Spanish gentle
man bearing the latter name was per-
sonal friend of the poet Martial; all of
which seems to bring antiquity very
near-in Spain. The fact of the matter
is, she has never emerged from an
tiquity; Roman and Carthaginian
methods persist like the names.
The Spanish, however. are inclined to
look back to the Goths as "the purest
fountain of nobility" This certainly
seems strange perversion of senti-
ment, for of all the barbarians that
came down from the north to lay waste
Roman civilization with fire and sword,
the Goths, with their cousins, the Van
dals, were the most irredeemably vii
famous. From them unhappy Spain
has derived much of her intolerance
and bigotry. and that atrocious system
of legalized injustice which found its
final expression in the lnquisition; also
the Grass and conceited ignorance, and
the almost oriental incapacity for
truth, which are so prominent in all her
utterances. And these Goths were no
extraordinary heroes either, even in
war. With the same supine and brag-
CART incompetency which their alleged
descendants are manfesting to-day
they lost to the Moors-in the eigh,
months campaign =. supremacy which
it cost eight centuries of conflict to re-
gain. Yet Gothic gentlemen of Spain
is the pet phrase.
To rank outsider it would seem that
the Basque families have the most
honorable lineage and their rcdirreCs
run back to time immemorial. though
not easily traceab.e. The Basques rep
resent the original population of the
Spanish peninsula. Their seat is In the