Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/64

 26 Readi?igs in European History to trade, and already in parts of Spain cloth and silks are manufactured ;. . . for example, in Valencia, Toledo, and Seville. But the whole nation is opposed to industry. Accord- ingly the artisans only work when they are driven to do so by necessity, and then they take their ease until they have spent their earnings ; this is the reason why manual labor is so dear. The meanest cultivators of the soil have the same habit. They will not exert themselves except under dire pressure of want, so that they bring much less land under cultivation than they might, and the little they do till is badly cared for. . . . Aside from a few grandees of the kingdom who display great luxury, it must be remembered that the rest of the people live at home in the utmost straits ; and if they have a little to spend they put it all on their backs or in purchas- ing a mule, thus making a great show before the world when they have scarce anything at home, where their surround- ings are mean in the extreme and where they exercise an economy truly astonishing. Although they know how to live on little, they are by no means free from cupidity. On the contrary, they are very avaricious, and not having any of the arts to rely upon, they are driven to robbery, so that in earlier times when the kingdom was less orderly it was full of assassins, who were favored by the nature of the country, with its many mountainous regions and its sparse population. . . . Superficial The Spaniards have not turned their attention to books, religion and anc j ne it ner the nobility nor others have any idea of Latin, politeness of, ...... _,. the Spaniards, except a very few, who know a little or the language, lney are outwardly very religious, but not inwardly. They have infinite ceremonies, which they perform with great exact- ness, and show much humility in speech, the use of titles, and the kissing of hands. Every one is their lord, every one may command them ; but this means little, and you can place no faith in them. . . . This nation down to our own time has been more oppressed and has enjoyed less glory and dominion than