A showy fan is indispensable, in all seasons, both in and out of
doors. An Andalusian woman might as well want her tongue as her
fan. The fan, besides, has this advantage over the natural organ
of speech--that it conveys thought to a greater distance. A dear
friend at the farthest end of the public walk, is greeted and cheered
by a quick, tremulous motion of the fan, accompanied with several
significant nods. An object of indifference is dismissed with a slow,
formal inclination of the fan, which makes his blood run cold. The
fan, now, screens the titter and whisper; now condenses a smile into
the dark sparkling eyes, which take their aim just above it. A gentle
tap of the fan commands the attention of the careless; a waving
motion calls the distant. A certain twirl between the fingers betrays
doubt or anxiety--a quick closing and displaying the folds, indicates
eagerness or joy. In perfect combination with the expressive features
of my countrywomen, the fan is a magic wand, whose power is more
easily felt than described.
What is mere beauty, compared with the fascinating power arising from
extreme sensibility? Such as are alive to those invisible charms,
will hardly find a plain face among the young women of Andalusia.
Their features may not, at first view, please the eye; but seem to
improve every day till they grow beautiful. Without the advantages
of education, without even external accomplishments, the vivacity
of their fancy sheds a perpetual glow over their conversation; and
the warmth of their heart gives the interest of affection to their
most indifferent actions. But Nature, like a too fond mother, has
spoilt them, and Superstition has completed their ruin. While the
activity of their minds is allowed to run waste for want of care
and instruction, the consciousness of their powers to please,
impresses them with an early notion that life has but one source
of happiness. Were their charms the effect of that cold twinkling
flame which flutters round the hearts of most Frenchwomen, they
would be only dangerous to the peace and usefulness of one half of
society. But, instead of being the capricious tyrants of men, they
are, generally, their victims. Few, very few Spanish women, and
none, I will venture to say, among the Andalusians, have it in their
power to be coquettes. If it may be said without a solecism, there
is more of that vice in our men than in our females. The first,
leading a life of idleness, and deprived by an ignorant, oppressive,
and superstitious government, of every object that can raise and
feed an honest ambition, waste their whole youth, and part of their
manly age, in trifling with the best feelings of the tender sex, and
poisoning, for mere mischief’s sake, the very springs of domestic
happiness. But ours is the most dire and complex disease that ever
preyed upon the vitals of human society. With some of the noblest
qualities that a people can possess (you will excuse an involuntary
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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