Transcriber's note * Italics are denoted by underscores as in _italics_. * Small caps are represented in upper case as in SMALL CAPS. * Obvious printer errors have been silently corrected. * Original spelling was kept, but variant spellings were made consistent when a predominant usage was found. * Throughout the book, different Spanish spellings have been homogenized into “Colegio Mayor” and “Colegial Mayor”. LETTERS FROM SPAIN. BY DON LEUCADIO DOBLADO. SECOND EDITION. REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR. LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1825. J. GREEN, PRINTER, LEICESTER-STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. That a work like the present should appear in a Second Edition, implies such a reception from the Public as demands the most sincere gratitude on my part. I am anxious, therefore, to make the only return I have in my power, by adding, as I conceive, some value to the work itself; not, indeed, from any material corrections, but by stamping the facts and descriptions which it contains, with the character of complete authenticity. The readers of _Doblado’s Letters_ may be sure that in them they have the real Memoirs of the person whose name is subscribed to this address. Even the disguise of that name was so contrived, as to be a mark of identity. _Leucadio_ being derived from a Greek root which means _white_, the word _Doblado_ was added, in allusion to the repetition of my family name, translated into Spanish, which my countrymen have forced upon us, to avoid the difficulty of an orthography and sound, perfectly at variance with their language. In short, Doblado and his inseparable friend, the Spanish clergyman, are but one and the same person; whose origin, education, feelings, and early turn of thinking, have been made an introduction to the personal observations on his country, which, with a deep sense of their kindness, he again lays before the British Public. JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE. _Chelsea, June 1st, 1825._ PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Some of the following Letters have been printed in the New Monthly Magazine. The Author would, indeed, be inclined to commit the whole collection to the candour of his readers without a prefatory address, were it not that the plan of his Work absolutely requires some explanation. The slight mixture of fiction which these Letters contain, might raise a doubt whether the sketches of Spanish manners, customs, and opinions, by means of which the Author has endeavoured to pourtray the moral state of his country at a period immediately preceding, and in part coincident with the French invasion, may not be exaggerated by fancy, and coloured with a view to mere effect.