The Picturesque Antiquities of Spain: Described in a series of letters, with illustrations representing Moorish palaces, cathedrals, and other monuments of art, contained in the cities of Burgos, Valladolid, Toledo, and Seville.Wells, Nathaniel Armstrong
Islamic
The Picturesque Antiquities of Spain: Described in a series of letters, with illustrations representing Moorish palaces, cathedrals, and other monuments of art, contained in the cities of Burgos, Valladolid, Toledo, and Seville.
The _señorita_--of course unmarried--thus selected, is obliged to accept
the compliment if properly offered, as well as the arm of the
_cavallero_ during the rest of the night; and, on arriving at her house,
he receives from her parents, or chaperon, as the case may be, an
invitation to supper. Should the lady be desirous of avoiding the
compliment, of the approach of which she is usually aware, she must
exercise her ingenuity in putting obstacles in the way of the attempt.
In this effort many are successful, since the peculiar mode of
proceeding, obligatory on those who make the offer, affords certain
facilities. The condition is not binding on the fair object of the
compliment, unless the lips receive the bonbon immediately from the
finger and thumb of the cavalier. This is a source of no small amusement
to the _señoritas_ at the expense of strangers from other provinces of
Spain. Conscious of being the object of preference of some young
beginner, or stranger uninitiated in the mysteries of the rite--and who,
let it be understood, does not happen to be an object of preference with
them--they will afford him every facility of approach, and on receiving
the present in the hand, will repulse without mercy the luckless wight,
whose retiring steps are accompanied by peals of laughter from all the
party.
The month of June is likewise distinguished by the procession of the
Corpus Christi. On this occasion all the principal streets are protected
from the sun by canvas awnings; and from the windows of every house
draperies are suspended, the materials of which are more or less rich
according to the means of their respective proprietors. From an early
hour of the morning, ushered in by sunshine and the gay orchestra of the
Giralda bells, the vast marble pavement of the cathedral begins to
disappear beneath the momentarily increasing crowd. Here all classes are
mingled; but the most conspicuous are the arrivals from the surrounding
villages, distinguished by their more sunburnt complexions and the showy
colours of their costume, contrasted with the uniformly dark tints of
the attire of the Sevillanos.
Here are seen also in great numbers, accompanied by their relatives, the
gay _cigarreras_, whose acquaintance we shall presently make in the
_fabrica de tabaco_. The instinctive coquetry discernible, no less in
the studied reserve of their looks than in the smart step and faultless
nicety of costume, indicates how easy would be the transition to the
quality of the still more _piquant_ but somewhat less moral _maja_. The
black satin, low-quartered shoe is of a different material; but the
snow-white stocking, and dark green skirt the same--and the black-velvet
bordered mantilla is the identical one, which was held tight to the
chin, when passing, the evening before, under the city walls on the
return from the manufactory to the faubourg at the other extremity of
Seville.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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