The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-20
A GENTLEMAN OF SPAIN.
some of the Causes of the Decadence
of the Spanish Nation.


The Spanish have saying, When you
have said Spain you have said all" This
proverb sums up in a nutshell the feeling
Of national pride which is so manifest
among the Spaniards. for not only the
lower classes but more especially the no
bility and gentry are vain and arrogant
to the highest degree, and their pride is
only equaled by their poverty
Pride is a heavy load to carry, and es-
pecially for one with slender resources to
support his dignity. There was a time
when Spanish grandees might consider
themselves the first gentlemen in Europe,
since they had not only rank but fortune,
many of them very great fortunes Gre
ated by the influx of wealth from Mexico
and Peru and the conquest of the Moors,
which made them like the merchant
princes Of Venice. In a few cases the
old estates remain in the family, but in
the great number the wealth has been
scattered till the descendants are left
with only the Inheritance of poverty
which is made more embarrassing by be-
ing associated with a proud name.
Here is the dilemma in which tens of
thousands of Spanish gentlemen find
themselves today Indeed, the number
might be enlarged, for while there is an
old aristocracy, bearing illustrioUs names
that date back to CASTLE and Aragon, the
ancient blood has descended in other
channels and flowed in many directions:
so that, while the heads Of the great
houses might be counted, it is impossible
to count when you come 10 the third and
fourth-yes, and 10 the tenth generation
Inc ,sfVRr, all
mas been estimated, incredible as it may
seem, to comprise nearly one-fifteenth of
the whole population Of Spain.
How IS higher class, 50 numerous, to
be supported? Some may become officers
in the army or navy. but for the larger
part there is little hope OF anything fit
for gentleman except to get some en-
ployment under the government; and to
obtain this. however humble the position
and petty the pay, is the ambition of
many a man in whose veins flows the blue
blood of the prOudest families of old
Spain.
A Spanard would rather die than not
keep up appearances. If he aspireS to a
position in society he will try to appear
rich, or. at least, Independent. while in
reality he may be desperately poor To
this end there are two things which are
more important to him than food drink
"A carriage and Il box at the opera. He
must show himself in the PradO at GER
tain hour of the day and in the opera at
night; for the rest how he lives nobody
knows and nobody cares. He need not
give dinners; indeed. he may not have a
| dinner to give or even eat himself. When
he comes back from his daily drive and
alights at his door. he may retire into the
recesses of his chamber and there partake
of the meanest food to satisfy the cray
ings of hunger and nobody be the wiser.
The SpaniardS have a convenient prov
erb that, The stomach has no windows"
what man wears on his back is ex-
posed to the gaze of all men, but what he
eats nobody sees. He may have partaken
OF Piementos Morrones and wine or his
repast may have consisted of Il small dish
of pork and beans, it is all the same
when he mutties his cloak about him and
sailies forth to meet the world with an
unruffed countenance
But the Spanish gentleman is not yet AT
the end Of his resources or the attainment
OF his highest felicity. There is one more
prize to be gained and his happiness will
be complete. 1t is to get a pension. a hope
which would be chimerical in a country
where such rewards are bestowed only