PART II 1 Few modern authors have attained greater reputation than the Spaniard Pérez Galdós. Belonging to that group of novelists who call themselves realists, he has been able to avoid the worst defects of this style. He does not indeed try to give the color of romance to what he writes; on the contrary he requires that every detail should come3 from the real life and customs of the various classes of Spanish society. He does not, however, depict that society after the style of Zola, as if it were wholly brutalized. He shows us violent passions, often fierce and even brutal in their effects; but they are not the passions that belong to the animal part of man. He prefers to describe those higher passions, which exercised with wisdom and measure make man most noble, though they may, when unrestrained, bring us to destruction, physical and moral. 4 1 Translate: a reputation greater than that (la) of. 2 ha sabido. 8 Subjunctive, nazca. en. 4 2 We1 Americans, when we read a book like Doña Perfecta, find it strange that now-a-days such violence of religious intolerance can anywhere exist as appears in the character of the chief personage. Our manner of looking at things is altogether different, however, from that of the inhabitants of the small towns of Spain. Our practical genius has had the effect of maintaining, as a general rule, the solidarity of our whole country. The villager is in constant communication with the great cities; and this has resulted in a quick transmission of new ideas. Of course, this does not mean that the farmer reads as many books, or has as many opinions as the lawyer and the doctor. But it does signify that the latter rarely find themselves thinking in a way completely foreign to that of the former. If we had lived up to now as backward as Spain in material things, we should find among ourselves the same spiritual difficulties. 5 8 1 The definite article; cf. R., § 325. 2 The definite article accom panies the titles of books; cf. R., § 1343. 3 Subjunctive; cf. R., $ 889. 4 In the translation, can exist anywhere should come after Pero sí que 5 Naturalmente. 8 de un modo. • Subjunctive. 3 The 18th of May, 1804, there was reestablished in France a monarchical government, already prepared for2 by the military dictatorship. Napoleon Bonaparte ascended the throne, with the title, Napoleon I, emperor of the French. Europe then ceased to fear the hostilities of a war of principles; but this was followed by a war of ambition, since the new emperor was as dangerous to the independence of the nations, as the Convention had been to thrones. At that time the celebrated Pitt rose to the English ministry, and in his eagerness to provoke a new European coalition against France, he did not fail to involve Spain as well as the other nations of Europe. In the case of Spain, he did this by excessive demands, which ended in war. The French endeavored to help their allies, but in the battle of Trafalgar the fleets of both nations were destroyed by the English under Nelson. 2 Omit. 1 Cardinal numeral; cf. R., § 387. 4 de. 4 No one who has been in southern Spain during the spring and summer can forget the romantic charm of the nights. During the day, when there is1 generally a terrible heat, all life seems to cease. Only the laborers have to work in the fields and vineyards; the rest remain in the house, doing nothing, taking a siesta, or passing the time as they can. But at night all changes. The streets and the cafés are full of people. Whole families come out to take the air and refresh themselves. The young ladies, dressed in black and wearing the beautiful mantilla of lace on their heads, accompany their parents to the shops or to the promenade. The young men look at them, follow them, and when opportunity offers pay them compliments. A little later you can hear the guitars of a' thousand lovers, singing before the barred-windows of their lady-loves. And from time to time is heard also the melancholy voice of the police-man, calling the hour, 9 announcing the weather, and sleepily invoking the Virgin All is music, is poetry, is romance. 1 hacer; cf. R., § 881. (subjunctive). 5 la ocasión. 2 Translate: it seems that all life ceases 8 los demás. 4 Subjunctive; cf. R., § 895. 6 se pueden oir. 7 Omit; cf. R., § 349. 2 3 5 In the character of the Americans, a love of freedom1 is the predominating element which marks and distinguishes the whole: and as an ardent is always a jealous affection, your colonies become suspicious, restive, and untractable, whenever they see the least attempt to wrest from them by force or shuffle from them by chicane, what they think the only advantage worth living for.1 This fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English colonies, probably, than in any other people of the earth, and this from a great variety of powerful causes; which, to understand the true temper of their minds, and the direction which this spirit takes, it will not be amiss to lay open somewhat more largely. BURKE. On Conciliation with America. 1 Use the definite article; cf. R., § 213. 2 Omit. 8 Indirect object; cf. R., § 294. 4 Worth, etc.; translate, for which 5 ningún. 6 First, the people of the colonies are descendants of Englishmen. England, Sir, is a nation which still, I hope, respects, and formerly adored, her freedom. The colonists emigrated from1 you when this part of your character was most predominant; and they took this bias and direction the moment they parted from your hands. They are therefore not only devoted to liberty, but to liberty according to English ideas and on English principles. Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found.3 Liberty inheres in some sensible object; and every nation has formed to itself some favorite point, which by way of eminence becomes the criterion of their happiness. 5 It happened, you know, Sir, that the great contests for freedom in this country were, from the earliest times, chiefly upon the question of taxing. Most of the contests in the ancient commonwealths turned primarily on the right of election of magistrates, or on the balance among the several orders of the state. The question of money was not with them so immediate. But in England it was otherwise. On this point of taxes the ablest pens and most eloquent tongues have been exercised, the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In order to give the fullest satisfaction concerning the importance of this point, it was not only necessary for those who in argument defended the excellence of the English Constitution to insist on this privilege of granting money as a dry point of fact, and to prove that the right had been acknowledged 10 in ancient parchments and blind usage to reside11 7 8 |