With respect to morals, I might repeat what I have said of Cadiz: I may merely add, that a Spanish lady of Malaga, married to a highly respectable Scotch merchant and consul, and who had resided all her days there, told me that she did not know one Spanish woman in Malaga who had always led a virtuous life. So universal is the system of gallantry in Malaga, that a gentleman is not designated as señor so and so, but invariably as the _cortejo_ of this or that señora. In another respect, too, the low state of morals is shewn: I allude to the great laxity of female conversation. I was informed by the English mother of three grown-up daughters, that it was impossible to allow them to keep company with either married or unmarried Spanish women; and this I can very well believe, judging by the tone of conversation to which I have myself been witness. Last autumn, Malaga supported an Italian opera; at which I was twice present. Upon one of these occasions, La Gaza Ladra was performed, and not ill performed. The Prima Donna was a sister of Malibran,--a very inferior singer to her celebrated relative, but by no means despicable, and she was well supported both in the vocal parts and by the orchestra. The theatre was crowded, and the dresses of the ladies might be called splendid. The love of dress is carried to a great length in Malaga. A young lady, fifteen years of age, who was of the same party with myself at the opera, told me that she had given twenty dollars for her fan; and another young person, the daughter of a small tradesman in Malaga, told me, when I admired her comb, that it had cost fourteen dollars. It was a curious spectacle in leaving the theatre, to see some hundreds of servants with lanterns waiting in the street. Gentlemen and ladies, have alike their lantern to light them home. To attempt the dark narrow streets of Malaga without this accompaniment, would be to tempt the _mala gente_, and certainly to encounter great and unnecessary risk. It was a very unseasonable interruption, just when every servant had discovered his master, and when the line of march had begun, to hear the little bell that announced the approach of the _host_. All the lights were suddenly arrested in their progress, and the procession passed through an avenue of kneelers, illuminated by the hundreds of lanterns that were placed upon the ground,--the spectacle was undoubtedly picturesque.