But "El Fandango! El Fandango!" rose from the crowd and reverberated through the hall. "El Fandango!" I shouted till my voice broke and left me.

And now advanced from the alcove the girl who had first appeared, accompanied by a young man of perhaps twenty years. He was dressed en majo-jacket of dark cloth, with sleeves slashed with velvet; waistcoat with double rows of silver buttons; an embroidered shirt, and a handkerchief round the neck of rainbow simplicity; breeches of crimson cloth, ornamented with silver; leggings open on the outer side, and displaying gaudy silk hose; and a foot neatly dressed in morocco. A more picturesque or picaresque (roguish) looking pair I do not recollect to have seen.

The fandango is a love-scene, set to music, and expressed in motion. The danseur accompanied his steps with the sound of the castanets, in the hands of an Andalusian so joyous and melodious an instrument. He advanced upon the girl, who retreated coquettishly: he hastens in pursuit; she flies and escapes. His countenance expressed hope, hers simulated hesitation; his gestures employed persuasion, hers rebuked presumption; his eye betrayed desire, hers a soft languor that partially assented. After countless stratagems on one side, successfully evaded on the other; approaches admirably planned, and retreats as ably accomplished; promises, prayers, menaces, all passionately lavished and scornfully repulsed, the girl, tired of the victorious contest, consents to parley. They approached each other, at first with hesitating steps, then with quickened movements, and at last with eager vehemence, music and motion illustrating the different phases of their passion, till their breath commingled, their arms interlaced, and their lips encountered! the crowning glory of their exploits!

The fandango, like the ole, is forbidden to be literally rendered on the public stage. Indeed, it requires great circumspection so to perform the latter as to avoid the shock of delicacy. It has, like the Grecian philosophy, an esoteric and exoteric sense. To the uninitiated it

seems a series of graceful undulations, of poetical postures, of inexpressive beauties, awakening soft emotions, thrilling with untutored sensations, or at best encouraging innocent desires, the dream of inexperienced life. But to those of wider adventure, to those of unloosened zones, it speaks too eloquently of passion excited, ungovernable, sated; of the daring escalade, the dim-lit bed-chamber, and conquered reluctance.

During the performance, I had, with Mr. Peickler's assistance, improvised a supper-fruits, dulces, and wine; and, the spectators having generally dispersed, I sat down to the table with the ballet-troupe and their friends. We were rather short of glasses, so three or four of us were obliged to drink from the same glass. I took good care to sit next to the star of the evening, and was too happy to drink from hers. I don't envy the man, "high though his title, proud his name,” who has not shared with a beautiful girl the contents of his wine-glass. Her lips leave an aroma behind that intoxicates with its perfume. It was so with me. I was carried away in spite of myself: what with the aroma and sparkle of her eye, I forgot Mr. Peickler's premonitions, and found myself making desperate love to the siren. In the enthusiasm of the moment I could not help kissing her hand, and, as on n'arrête pas dans si beau chemin, I doubtless should have aspired still higher, had I not been indignantly rebuked by the girl herself, and most savagely envisaged by a truculent-looking desperado opposite, whom I found afterward was her novio. It was not worth while, I

MR. PEICKLER'S REMONSTRANCE.

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thought, to risk a stab from one of those horrid knives for the kiss of a hand, however small and graceful; or of lips indeed, though they distilled nectar. So I pleaded my ignorance of Spanish customs, protested my regrets, and was excused.

After supper, the empresario of the occasion told me that if I wished, he would have the fandango danced once more. The ladies by this time had all retired -and he said it could be now performed without the restriction their presence had imposed upon the dancers. I thanked him for his courtesy, and telling him that I could witness nothing too indelicate for ladies, declined the offer.

As we returned home, my companion said he did not think, after his caution, I would be so indiscreet as to take such a liberty with the danseuse, in such presence, too. "I did not think," I replied, "I should be so tempted."

CHAPTER XXII.

RIDE TO CORDOVA-CARMONA-LA

LUISIANA-ADVENTURE AT A POSADA

ECIJA-CORDOVA-ITS HISTORY-THE MOSQUE.

I THOUGHT to vary the scene for a few days, and visit Cordova-I took a place in the coupe of the diligence, and started. A railway is not a cosa de España. It was a long time before the Spanish mind could reconcile itself to a steamboat. "A vessel,"

said the Spaniards, "that goes against wind and tide, without sails, goes against God." They looked upon it as an invention of heretios; the first steamboat having been sent from England-and crossed themselves. every time they saw one. But by degrees they conquered their prejudices, and ventured to move about in vessels without sails. Even railways have been planned, but as every thing in Spain is affected by the languid indolence of the atmosphere, it is probable many years will elapse before one is completed.

It was about sunset when we reached Carmona, some twenty miles distant from Seville. Over such roads, and with such teams, we made but moderate progress. As a general rule, nature has done much more for the highways of Spain than man. It has furnished the soil, the foundation-which he has accepted and neglected.

Carmona has as much of a Moorish look as any place I visited in Spain. The massive walls and

arches, the Alcazar—a picturesque ruin—and the gates, were all constructed by the Moors. There are also Roman vestiges; Cæsar having fortified the city, during his campaign against the sons of Pompey. It crowns the summit of a precipitous hill, and hangs over the road like the eyrie of an eagle. Don Pedro occupied the castle as one of the fastnesses for his mistresses-as much to fasten them in as others outand guarded his chiefest treasures here. During the domination of the Moors it was considered the key to Seville; it was taken by San Ferdinand, after an obstinate and sanguinary defense, and Seville speedily surrendered.

It has a beautiful Alameda cradled among the hillsand the view from its heights is grandly picturesque. The Ronda barriers and the Alpujarras which protect Grenada are distinctly visible, and, saluted by the rising sun, look like sentinels of advanced posts (a simile I have used before).

The Vega beyond, now an uncultivated and deserted waste, was a garden, under the Moors, thick sown with the palm, the olive, and the orange; after their expulsion it fell into sterility. The minister of the day made an attempt to populate and redeem it, about the middle of the last century, with colonies of Germans; but the effort failed-and now from this place to the Sierra Morena, which divides Andalusia from La Mancha, there is but sparse population and general beggary.

The ride to La Luisiana, though uncharacterized by incident, and unadorned by neat cottages, would not have been disagreeable but for the villainous jolting of the diligence. It had no springs, or at least none that availed on highways broken up with ruts and thick with stones-and it was impossible to keep