Part 9 (1/2)

The elder of the two ladies presented Byron with a tress of her hair, measuring about three feet in length, and begged a lock of his lords.h.i.+p's hair in return.

I have already mentioned Blanco White, who was born in Seville, and wrote _Letters from Spain_, in the name of Leucadio Doblado. His reminiscences should be read for the pictures of Sevillian society, in the early part of this century. White's _Life_, by J. H. Thorn, was published in London, in 1845.

Theophile Gautier spent some time in the city, and related his impressions in his _Voyage en Espagne_, which is the most ably written of all books upon Spanish places and people. The author of _Mademoiselle de Maupin_ excels in his descriptions of Seville, its monuments, paintings, and its life and character. He praises the charms of Sevillian _donas_, declaring that they 'quite deserve the reputation for beauty which they enjoy.'

The eccentric George Borrow came to Seville to distribute the Scriptures, as an agent of the Bible Society. His experiences with the clerical authorities of the city are recounted in _The Bible in Spain_.

It is not strange that the priests of 'the Spanish Rome' resented the intrusion of the English Protestant missionary, and it was fortunate for Borrow that the Inquisition days were of the past. Otherwise, he would have suffered in the manner of the hapless Lutherans of Ponce de Leon's time. As it was, the heretical _colporteur_ had seventy-six copies of the New Testament confiscated. The books had been placed in the keeping of a bookseller. Borrow was never timid. He went straight to the ecclesiastical governor, and asked why the Testaments had been seized.

The dignitary's reply was that the books were 'corrupting,' and he soundly reproved the audacious Protestant for venturing to disseminate such dangerous literature in orthodox Seville.

George Borrow does not write in flattering terms of the Andalusians. He says: 'I lived in the greatest retirement during the whole time that I pa.s.sed at Seville, spending the greater part of each day in study, or in that half-dreamy state of inactivity which is the natural effect of the influence of a warm climate. There was little in the character of the people around to induce me to enter much into society. The higher cla.s.s of the Andalusians are probably upon the whole the most vain and foolish of human beings.' ...

Such was Borrow's opinion of the society of Seville. He appeared to be quite as contemptuous of the frivolous rich cla.s.s as he was of most scholars and literary men. Fas.h.i.+onable London was never able to 'lionise' Bohemian Borrow. He loved 'the wind on the heath,' the song of the waves on the Norfolk coast, the purple _sierras_ of Spain, and the company of those children of nature, the _Kaulos_ of Britain and the _Zincalis_ of Castile. Elsewhere, however, in his writings, George Borrow speaks highly of the Spaniards in general. It was the pretensions of 'respectability,' whether in Spain or England, that called forth his pungent sarcasms.

We must not forget that a famous prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Wiseman, was born at Seville, in 1802.

It is perhaps not out of place in this chapter to allude to the attraction that Seville has possessed for three great musical composers.

Mozart laid the scene of his _Don Juan_ and _Figaro_ in the city.

Bizet's _Carmen_ is concerned with Seville; and most famous of all in local interest is Rossini's _Barber_. Rossini's opera is still popular in Spain. I saw it acted by an excellent company at Cordova, in May 1902.

The dispersal of the cultured circle of Casa Pilatos would seem to mark the hour of the beginning of the decline of literature and the arts in Seville. We may feel astonishment that the writers of the Inquisition times were able to publish any works save those of theology, church history, or devotion. But we must remember that Pacheco was a cleric, that Gongora was a priest, and that Rioja held a post in the Holy Office. Antonio, the bibliographer, was a canon of the Cathedral, and Cervantes was a staunch Catholic. These authors were safe; they were either priests of the Church or sworn defenders of the faith.

Philosophers, scientific writers, and heterodox thinkers were unable to survive their environment. New thought was stamped out as soon as it was uttered, and it was seldom indeed that bold spirits dared to express innovating opinion. The greatest writer could scarcely subsist upon the earnings of his pen. He was forced, as in the case of Cervantes, Calderon, and Lope de Vega, among many other authors, to enter the army.

The choice lay between the military and the ecclesiastic professions.

Outside of these no man possessed a status.

With the decline of literature in Spain, the teaching that science is an evil spread everywhere. In the seventeenth century, on the authority of Spanish historians, the arts had fallen into decay. At the same time the trade of Seville greatly suffered. The city was reaping the harvest of trouble sown by the Inquisition, with its disastrous proscriptions of scientific inquiry, and its taboos upon learning and the arts. Not only were Bibles burnt publicly in Seville and elsewhere, but secular books, treating upon many subjects, were thrown to the flames, in the height of the Inquisition fanaticism. At the end of the fifteenth century six thousand volumes were thus destroyed at Salamanca. Such wanton acts contributed to the causes that brought the downfall of Spain. When Cordova, Granada and Seville were under the Saracen rule, the conquered Christians were protected in their religious rights, and there was no restraint upon knowledge. These cities possessed excellent schools and huge libraries. The Arabic and Spanish languages were both spoken, and there was an Arabian translation of the Bible. Unfortunately, the Christians failed to profit by this example of rational tolerance when they again came into power.

Cla.s.sical learning was fostered in Seville by Antonio de Lebrixa, who lectured in the University, about 1473. Lebrixa had studied for ten years in Italy. He was opposed by the Sevillian clergy, who claimed sole authority in instruction; but fortunately Lebrixa found favour with influential persons, and so contrived to save himself from persecution.

Queen Isabella had lessons from the learned Lebrixa, who may be called the Erasmus of Spain. But the royal tutor narrowly escaped the awful punishments of the Holy Tribunal, under Deza, Archbishop of Seville, and successor of Torquemada. The Inquisitor-General commanded the ma.n.u.scripts of Lebrixa to be seized, and accused him of heresy for making corrections on the text of the Vulgate, and for his exposition of pa.s.sages of Scripture.

'The Archbishop's object,' wrote Lebrixa in an Apologia, 'was to deter me from writing. He wished to extinguish the knowledge of the two languages on which our religion depends; and I was condemned for impiety, because, being no divine but a mere grammarian, I presumed to treat of theological subjects. If a person endeavour to restore the purity of the sacred text, and points out the mistakes which have vitiated it, unless he will retract his opinions, he must be loaded with infamy, excommunicated and doomed to an ignominious punishment!'

'Is it not enough that I submit my judgment to the will of Christ in the Scriptures? Must I also reject as false what is as clear and evident as the light of truth itself? What tyranny! to hinder a man, under the most cruel pains, from saying what he thinks, though he express himself with the utmost respect for religion! to forbid him to write in his closet or in the solitude of a prison! to speak to himself, or even to think! On what subject shall we employ our thoughts, if we are prohibited from directing them to those sacred oracles which have been the delight of the pious in every age, and on which they have meditated by day and by night.'

Lebrixa here eloquently announces the right of the layman to translate the Scriptures and to expound religion. He claims that liberty of inquiry and of speech which belongs to every man. His case is typical of the vast difficulties that encompa.s.sed all thinkers of his age.

Science and letters were not only hindered by the Church. Some of the kings of Spain were hostile towards learning, while others were apathetic. Carlos IV. instructed his Prime Minister to inform the heads of universities that 'what His Majesty wanted was not philosophers, but loyal subjects.' It was no uncommon custom of the inquisitors to enter private libraries, and to carry away such books as they considered heretical or dangerous.

In Seville, therefore, as elsewhere throughout Spain, inst.i.tutions tended to crush out the genius of authors, and to discourage philosophy and science. We cannot wonder that Emilia Pardo Bazan, a modern Spanish writer, should say: 'Perhaps our public is indifferent to literature, especially to printed literature, for what is represented on the stage produces more impression.' It has also been said that the upper cla.s.ses of Madrid would rather spend their money on fireworks or on oranges than on a book.

But Spain possesses to-day four or five gifted novelists, who give their readers true pictures of modern life and manners. Valdes and Galdos are social influences. Their books are eagerly read and discussed by the young intellectual spirits in whose earnestness lies the hope of Spain.

CHAPTER VIII

_The Artists of Seville_

BY C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY