Every Spaniard of whatever class considers himself a _caballero_, a well-born and Christian gentleman, the superior of most, the equal of any, the inferior of none. Profuse in proffers of kindness, he is no less slow to fulfil them than to accept favors from others. He is very vain; vain of personal appearance, vain of his ancestry, his breeding; vain of his ignorance and superstition; proud of many things he should be ashamed of, and ashamed of nothing. Thieving was never prominent as a national vice. As a rule Spaniards are too proud to steal; the impulse of wounded affection or injured pride nerves the arm that strikes, oftener than the desire for plunder. The old German cosmographer Sebastian Munster quaintly writes, Basel, 1553: "The Spaniards have good heads, but with all their studying they learn but little, for after having half learned a thing they think themselves very wise, and in their talk try to show much learning which they do not possess." Comparing them with the French, the same chronicler says: "The Frenchmen are taller, but the Spaniards more hardy. In war, the Spaniards are deliberate, and the French, impetuous. The French are great babblers, but the Spaniards can well keep a secret. The French are joyous and light of thought; they like to live well; but the Spaniards are melancholy, serious, and not given to carousing. The French receive their guests friendlily and treat them well, but the Spaniards are cross to strangers, so that one must go from house to house in search of entertainment. The cause of this is that Spaniards have travelled little, and do not like to spend their money for food." In Castile, more than elsewhere, was seen the perfect central type, which in its earlier stages was so remarkable for practical sagacity, for an insight into causes and motives, and skill in the adaptation of means to ends. In the wars of the New World, affirms Macaulay, "where something different from ordinary strategy was required in the general, and something different from ordinary discipline of the soldier, where it was every day necessary to meet by some new expedient the varying tactics of a barbarous enemy, the Spanish adventurers, sprung from the common people, displayed a fertility of resource, and a talent for negotiation and command, to which history scarcely affords a parallel." It must be borne in mind, however, that the New World adventurer was not always a national type.