Wherever two or three men and women of the lower classes are to be seen together in Spain during their play-time, there is a guitar, with singing and dancing. The verses sung are innumerable short stanzas by unknown authors; many, perhaps, improvised at the moment. The _jota_, the _malaguena_, and the _seguidilla_ are combinations of music, song, and dance; the last two bear distinct indications of Oriental origin; each form is linked to a traditional air, with variations. The _malaguena_ is Andalusian, and the _jota_ is Aragonese; but both are popular in Castile. All are love-songs, most of them of great grace and beauty. Some writers complain that some of these dance-songs are coarse and more or less indecent; others aver that they never degenerate into coarseness. _Quien sabe?_ Perhaps it is a case of _Honi soit qui mal y pense_. In any case, throughout the length and breadth of Spain, outside the wayside _venta_, or the barber's shop, in the _patios_ of inns, or wherever holiday-makers congregate, there is the musician twanging his guitar, there are the dancers twirling about in obvious enjoyment to the accompaniment of the stamping, clapping, and encouraging cries of the onlookers, and the graceful little verse, with its probably weird and plaintive cadence: Era tan dichoso antes De encontrarte en mi camino! Y, sin embargo, no siento El haberte conocido. I was so happy before I had met you on my way! And yet there is no regret That I have learned to know you. The _malaguena_ and the _seguidilla_, which is more complicated, are generally seen on the stage only in Madrid, where they must charm all who can appreciate the poetry of motion. The dance of the peasant in Castile is always the _jota Aragonesa_. The part the tambourine and the castanets play in these dances must be seen and heard to be understood: they punctuate not only the music, but also the movement, the sentiment, and the refrain. The Andaluces excel in playing on the castanets. These are, according to Ford, the "Baetican _crusmata_ and _crotola_ of the ancients": and _crotola_ is still a Spanish term for the tambourine. Little children may be seen snapping their fingers or clicking two bits of slate together, in imitation of the castanet player; but the continuous roll, or succession of quick taps, is an art to be learned only by practice. The castanets are made of ebony, and are generally decorated with bunches of smart ribbons, which play a great part in the dance. The popular instrument in the Basque and Northern provinces is the bagpipe, and the dances are quite different from those of the other parts of Spain. The _zortico zorisco_, or "evolution of eight," is danced to sound of tambourines, fifes, and a kind of flageolet--_el silbato_, resembling the rude instruments of the Roman Pifferari--probably of the same origin.