Barcellona is particularly fortunate in its promenades; the Rambla is scarcely inferior to the Boulevards of Paris; and there is a charming walk round the whole of the ramparts; every moment the view changes, sometimes looking towards the huerta, and sometimes towards the mountains, with the villages, and country houses of the merchants lying under them; sometimes towards the hill and fortress of Monjuich; and sometimes towards the sea; and that part of the promenade which is above the sea, is without exception, the finest promenade in any city I have ever seen. Barcellona would be better without its fortifications; for owing to them, the city has been confined within too narrow bounds; and the whole space within the walls, is filled up with houses, in place of (as in other Spanish cities) gardens mingling with the buildings, and adding both to the beauty and the healthfulness of the place. The fortifications of Barcellona are of little real use to it. I was informed by the commander of the citadel, that the city could not maintain a siege of one week, against a sufficiently well appointed army; nor could the occupation of it be maintained for one day, if the citadel or Monjuich were in possession of an enemy. The day after my arrival in Barcellona, I was presented to the Conde de España, a man who has made himself to be respected by some, and feared by all; owing to the promptness, decision, and tyranny of the measures by which he has from time to time put down the most formidable insurrections; and owing also to the influence which he has more than once shewn he has the power of wielding, over the determinations, and the actions of the king. No man has more enemies than the Conde de España, both at court, and in the province which he governs; and constant attempts are made in the highest quarters, to remove him from his government, and from the confidence of his royal master. The Archbishop of Toledo is his bitterest enemy, and has never forgotten the insult he put upon the dignitaries of the church, in the year 1827; but the king knows that whatever his faults may be, they are faults that prove him to be a zealous and faithful servant; and the fittest man to govern the turbulent Catalunians; and when upon a late occasion, the Duke del Infantado strongly urged upon the king, the unpopularity of the Conde de España, and the propriety of removing him, his majesty cut the matter short by saying, “I wish I had a Conde de España in every province;” one of the most sensible things the king ever said, if he wishes to preserve his authority.