The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1900-09-20

|
many reminders of former splendor,
when bull-hghts and festivals were held
here, while the nobility occupied the
balconies and hoi polloi crowded the az
cades below. The shabby shops that
now range around the historic space are
sparsely filled with sham jewelry, Tole-
do swords, rusty armor, old clothes and
similar Junk, for which there seems to
be little demand, as the shop-keepers
| lounge and smoke all day ON the broken
pavements outside, when not in the Sc
clusion of siesta. Dull, dirty and dilap-
idated as we find it to-day, there is no
where a more excellent type of Spanish
poverty and retrogression than this once
proud city of Burgos Without trade
or manufactures of any sort, it swarms
with idlers and beggars. OF the latter
it is perfect hot-bed, and for insolence
and persistency | have never seen their
equals, especially in the neighborhood
of the cathedral, which all foreigners
are sure to visit, and as they are the
only persons now i'll Burgos who have
money to give away. the narrow streets
are fairly swamed with mendicants,
who thrust their dirty hands in your
face. cling to your skirts and refuse to
| let you 90 until aims have been bestoW-
| ed; and to give to one group is only to
call forth a more determined onset from
the next. They line the steps that lead
/ up to the cathedral door. their sores and
wretchcdness displayed to best advan-
tage: they pounce upon the visitortrom
behind the columns of the interior:
they follow him back to the door Of his
hotel, and lie III wait for him to come
out again. Somewhat higher than these
i'll the social scale, but probably even
more needy, since their pride forbids
] the asking of assistance. are hundreds
| of starving hidalgoes whose only bust
ness in life is to perambulate the plaZas
at regulation hours, carefully adjusting
the capes of their capacious cloaks so
v
breath of air-and maybe, also, to hide
a lamentable lack OF linen. 1t is curl
Gus to watch one of these stately gen
tlemen as he approaches the corner of a
street and solemnly pauses to arrange
anew his capa against the possible cur
rent of air which he is about to encoun-
ter. The true Castilian breads nothing
so much as fresh ail-unless it is fresh
water. Even the beggars stalk about
with inconceivable dignity, mntfled to
the eyes in tattered and threadbare
cloaks, which they arrange just as care
fully as do their betters. AS to the
aristocratic classes-the Castilian gen
tleman seems to have reached his high
est development in Burgos. Always
ant and vain, he is as sparing of words
as prodigal Of courtesy; he is staumch
supporter of the church rather from
tradition and habit than from religious
conviction; and in pretension of high
lineage, he rivals the celebrated Con
stable Don Pedro de Velasco, who, when
some bold courtier ventured to question
his title to nobility, answered with true
Spanish hyperbole: Before God was
God, before the sun shone upon the
rocks, already was noble the house of
Velasco"'
The city is built ON sloping ground in
IL. 5lo+ 10; hot bo
which washes one side of it and the
hill on the other, crowned with the
ancient castle Between ridge and river
the space is necessarily confined, so that
the fine old gateway of Santa Maria,
built in honor of Charles v, is disgrace
fully crowded upon by insignificant
modern buildings; and even the cathe-
dral-the glory of Burgos and the boast
of Spain-is so hemmed in by common
place structures that it is difficult to
obtain any good view of the exterior
} SO great is the slope of the town that
while the front of the vast cathedral
} opens upon little plaza considerably
above the level of the narrow streets
that hem it in, the rear of it actually
abuts against the hill, so that in enter
ing from that side one must descend a
staircase to the pavement. Such infe
licities of position would kill the effect
of any ordinary structure; but nothing
can even mar the grandeur OF this
Though dirty, bustling, sordid streets
come up to its very doors, like the waves
/ of the sea to the foot of mighty cliff
it lifts it's head throughout the cen
| turtles, unmoved by the tumult of pigm.
generations that come and go. Stand
| ing at the foot of the lace-work tower
, and looking up, you feel very small II