I left Ecija at an early hour next morning, with the pleasant assurance that I should dine in Seville. A remarkably wild country stretches between Ecija and Carmona--most of it is crown land--and I believe few serious attempts have been made to people and fertilize it. Robberies had lately been very frequently committed upon the extensive heath that stretches almost to the foot of the hill upon which Carmona stands; and I noticed several crosses, two of them evidently of recent erection. The situation of Carmona is particularly striking, looking down from its isolated hill over the plains of Andalusia; a very winding road leads up to the city; but I left the carriage and walked straight up the hill to the gate, which I had sufficient time to examine and admire as a fine Moorish remain;--because the sentinel would not allow me to enter until the diligence arrived. At Carmona I found the luxury of _café au lait_, for the first time since leaving France; and we were soon again on the road to Seville. Between Carmona and Seville, there is little to interest, excepting the increasing excitement in approaching nearer and nearer to famous Seville, the capital of the south of Spain. At Alcala, the nearest town to Seville, and which may be called its bake-house--since almost all the bread generally used there is made at Alcala--we stopped to change horses; and, not long after leaving this town, upon reaching the brow of a ridge, Seville, queen of Andalusia, was seen amidst her orange groves, swaying her sceptre over a dominion of luxuriance and beauty, and circled by the broad glittering waters of the Guadalquivir. I reached the city soon after mid-day, and immediately established myself in the house of a private family, in the neighbourhood of the alcazar and the cathedral. CHAPTER XIII. SEVILLE. Madrid not the sole Capital of Spain; Peculiarities of Seville; Moorish Customs; the Streets; the Population; Manner of Living in Andalusia; Society; Morals; the Archbishop; the Dean; the Convents; frequency of Murder in Andalusia, and its Causes; Serenading; Superstition in Seville, and Examples of it; extraordinary Facts; the Paseo; Andalusian Women; _Oracion_; _Las Delicias_; Orange-Groves; Details respecting the Orange Trade of Seville; the Cathedral; the Capuchin Convent, _La Caridad_, and Murillo’s Pictures; Private Collections; the Alcazar and its Gardens; the Tobacco Manufactory; Roman Remains; Seville as a Residence; Prices of Provisions; Descent of the Guadalquivir, and its Banks; Optic Deception; St. Lucar; Night Journey; Port St. Mary; the Bay of Cadiz, and the City.