He muttered a pater noster o'er, And cower'd. So, cautiously, down he went There was still a heap of stones to pass. They scratch'd, and tore him, and made him smart, And ruin'd his leaves. But those leaves, alas, Already so shatter'd and tatter'd were That to keep them longer was worth no care; And, at last, he was safe in the meadow; and there "Ah ha!" sigh'd the Thistle, "so far, so well! If I can but stay where I am, I shall fare Down out of heaven a dewdrop fell On the head of the Thistle and he fell asleep In the lap of the twilight soft and deep. At sunrise he woke and he still was there And wash'd himself in the morning dew; And pruned and polish'd his prickles tough, And "If only nobody finds me out!" And humm'd a homely song; Which he loved, because, like himself, 'twas PART II. 'Twas the Farmer, who just then happened to pass. He had gone to the field to cut some grass For his beast that morn; and no sooner saw The trespasser there in flagrante delicto, Than, scythe in hand, he enforced the law On the luckless offender vi et ictu. All mangled and bruised, the poor little Thistle "All's well, if it be no worse!" he said. My crown is gone; but 'twill grow again, There is many another (I feel it) in me! And one must not make too much of the pain. Only, you good saints, let me not be Torn up by the roots and thrown into the road! Only not that! Let me still contrive To rest here somehow or other! I see One must be on one's guard. Too soon I show'd As long as I live, to keep alive." But every day 'twas the selfsame thing! Though he made himself little, and hid his head, Trying with all his might to cling Close to the soil and appear to be dead. For his spacious leaves, that were carved and curl'd For Corinthian columns in temples fair, He could not check them, when these unfurl'd Their flourishing architecture there, And, all about him their beauty spreading, Layer on layer uprose from below; And the hardy young head, in despite of beheading, Sprang up again for the scythe to mow! Round and about him each blossom was blowing: No chance of blowing had he found ever, Who no sooner was seen than the sharp steel mowing, Or the harsh foot crushing him, stopp'd the endeavour. And "O blessed," he sigh'd, "is the blossom that blows! Colours I know of, no eyes yet see, But I dare not show them; and nobody knows, Nobody guesses, what's hidden in me! In all the world but one creature, alas, For love's sake seeks me; and he is an ass!" 12 1 822 371 380 884 NUMBERS OF THE LIVING AGE WANTED. The publishers are in want of Nos. 1179 and 1180 (dated respectively Jan. 5th and Jan. 12th, 1867) of THE LIVING AGE. To subscribers, or others, who will do us the favor to send us either or both of those numbers, we will return an equivalent, either in our publications or in cash, until our wants are supplied. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY LITTELL & GAY, BOSTON. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. FOR EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. But we do not prepay postage on less than a year, nor where we have to pay commission for forwarding the money. Price of the First Series, in Cloth, 36 volumes, 90 dollars. Second " The Complete Work, Any Volume Bound, 8 dollars; Unbound, 2 dollars. The sets, or volumes, will be sent at the expense of the publishers. PREMIUMS FOR CLUBS. For 5 new subscribers ($40.), a sixth copy; or a set of HORNE'S INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE, unabridged, in 4 large volumes, cloth, price $10; or any 5 of the back volumes of the LIVING AGE, in numbers, price $10. From The Fortnightly Review. THE THISTLE. PART III. So went the spring: and so came and went Of colour and beauty together blent, (A rapturous river of gleams and glooms!) Had rippled and roll'd, lay clouds of mould Hard and bald; and between them grew Coarse aftergrowths grim, bristly, and bold; And the beast of the field had the residue. The primrose, cowslip, and violet Were gone, like gleams, from the grass. The white Anemone's constellations, set, Had left the earth dark as a starless night For good, or for ill, now the summer was gone. No one admired him, no one praised, But also no one maltreated, him. And the roaming beasts of the field that grazed The twice-cropt grass where their wandering whim Led them, lazy, from spot to spot, Shunn'd the Thistle, and harm'd him not. So the Thistle could blossom, and flourish, and pour The fulness of his full heart out fairly, Baffled a hundred times, and more, Stricken, and crusht, and surviving barely, But still surviving, he lived: the only Living flower of the field all round. With a crown of glory; a crown of his own; Because the pent joy of the poor plant's nature, Of prejudice to be crusht and curst, And slaking at once a lifelong thirst, As the sea-rose swims on the water, so From The Cornhill Magazine. SPAIN: HER SOCIAL CONDITION. vasion by our Wellington of France at the close of the Peninsular War. Yet, WHEN we ventured, some time ago, long before that time, France was essenupon a sketch of Spain and her Revolu- tially compact — an advantage often dwelt tion,* the extent of the subject compelled upon by her enemy, but admirer, Fredus to confine ourselves almost exclusively erick the Great. Spain, on the other to questions of history and politics. On hand, is, even to-day, rather a cluster of that occasion we pointed out, as the key provinces than a kingdom, as the late to Spain's political condition, the combi- Revolution has assisted to show. An nation varied by antagonism of old Andalusian, for instance, is as much a obsolete Spanish backwardness with a stranger in Catalonia as an Englishman; continual adoption of French adminis- while a Castilian considers the Andaluz a trative and executive reforms. We dwelt trifler, and the Catalan a boor. The old much on the long comparative isolation, differences of language exist with wonderancient and modern, of the country, and ful tenacity, after centuries of nominal glanced at the fact that this very isolation unity. Basque, of course, stands by itself, unfitted her for using the improving and and no Spaniard from other quarters preenriching elements which she is gradually tends, or attempts, to understand it; but receiving from other states. But, natur- the dialects of Latin origin are still ally, we had but scanty space for com- flourishing in mutual unintelligibility. The menting on her social condition, a basis Andalusians what with Moorish and gipsy underlying and determining the political condition of Spain, as of all other lands. The present paper is intended as a sequel to the paper referred to above, and to develop and illustrate points which we left imperfectly handled, or not handled at all. The traveller who takes up one of the ex-sovereign's sovereigns, the isabelino, and sees her ex-Majesty described as "Queen of the Spains," does not always understand how true the old-fashioned title is. Ford will have taught him, in that admirable work which is really almost degraded Language, however, is only one of many by the title of a Handbook, that the his- provincial differences. The types of chartorical provinces were divided in imita- acter are as distinct as the types of tion of the French departments. But six-speech. The Castilian is a serious gentleteen years have passed since Ford pub- man, who deplores the levity of the age, lished his last edition; and the historical and looks upon the recent French disasprovinces still stand out, in spite of rail- ters as provoked by the frivolity of ways, more distinct from each other, po- Frenchmen. He it is who represents (on litically and morally, than is the case in a sadly reduced scale) the old hidalgo, any other kingdom; the division into de- from whom our Elizabethan forefathers partinents having done scarcely anything took their ideal of the don. When he towards facilitating general unity. Few exaggerates his peculiarities, from the acciEnglishmen know that, even in France, dent of being a blockhead, he becomes the and as late as after the French Revolu- "Don Adriano de Armado, a fantastical tion, provinces like Languedoc still retained sufficient independence to apportion their own taxation; and that one of the causes which finally welded the south of France to the north was the in • Liv. Age. No. 1402. 16 April, 1871. influences, and a natural turn for jocose slang, speak in a style which puzzles their brother Spaniards from sea to sea. The Catalans, even in Barcelona, are as little to be understood, in their turn, as Frenchmen or Italians. The Valencian tongue is neither Catalan nor Andalusian; while to all the provinces, except the Castiles, Castilian is rather a language of the Court, the Government, and the literature, than a familiar language spoken with purity even by the upper classes. Spaniard," of Love's Labour's Lost. There have been speakers in the existing Cortes quite absurdly pompous enough to talk, like that grandee, of "the posteriors of this day, which the rude multitude call the afternoon." The Castilian, however, makes himself respected by all other A Spaniards. He is still, in the general de- | the provinces of Spain as the differences cadence, a kind of representative of the of land-tenure and local customs. These nation; and the vainest provincial whom exist, not as between province and provthe Revolution has sent to the Cortes hes-ince only, speaking of the historical provitates at the effect which his untutored ac- inces, but within such provinces themcent may produce upon the Castilian ear. selves. They have come down from reThe Andaluz, again, is a clever, lively fel-mote times, and have survived modern low, more sociable than most Spaniards, changes; while the commercial code (for and, when enterprising, more speculative instance) is almost entirely modelled upon in commerce. A good Andulusian trading that of France. The general effect of the family will send its sons to Oscott or Ston- diversities we have pointed out, strengtheyhurst to get a generous culture, while a ened, as these are, by diversities of inCatalan family is content if their youth terest, is to retard seriously the progress picks up in England or Germany on a hum- of the country as a whole. Andalusia, bler scale enough knowledge of modern lan- which exports wines, is friendly to free guages to make him useful in the ware- trade. Catalonia, which manufactures house and at the desk. The Andaluz is cotton goods, loathes the very name. an orator and journalist, like Castelar or Madrid republican is "unitariau," because Gonzalez Brabo. He is often found in he regards his city as the centre of Spain the army, where he is a trifle empty, but which ought to keep Spain together. A genial and polite. When a duller type of Barcelona republican is "federal," because Spaniard is jealous of the Andal uz, he in- he thinks, as a Catalan, that Catalonia variably assures you that he is insincere ought to govern herself. Meanwhile, that he has nothing here. And at this Madrid does not hold the kind of moral point the speaker strikes his breast, with position in the eyes of Spaniards which that love of gesticulation which is so com- London does in that of Englishmen, or mon among all varieties of the Spanish Paris in that of Frenchmen. True to its breed. The Spaniard of the north, say origin, it is the seat of the government, of Bilbao, is rather a favourite with for- rather than the head of the nation in a eigners, and takes to them as kindly, and high sense. The provincials know, of more to the purpose, than the Andalusian. course, that it is the centre of fashion, He is improving, as a commercial man, and of what literature or art exists in the more rapidly than the men of the Med-kingdom. They know, only too well, that iterranean, thanks to the bracing influ- it is the fountain of patronage. ences of the northern races and the north- do not, to use a familiar phrase, look up ern sea. The Catalan's position in the to it. Madrid is very proud of itself, but group is easily defined - he is the shop- Spain is by no means so proud of Madrid. keeper of the Peninsular. There are There is a keen jealousy of the capital, many thousand Catalans so employed in which is regarded as enriching itself at Madrid; while those who stay at home the expense of the provinces. The first keep up the typical characteristics by liv- money raised for the payment of anybody ing, as much as their eagerness to make goes to Madrid officials. Concessions for money will allow them, entirely among enterprises in all parts of Spain, are themselves. They are industrious, espe- granted at Madrid. That city, therefore, cially if measured by the Spanish standard; is only a kind of station from which Spain cunning, close-fisted, indifferent to culture is ruled; and this centralization, which in all its forms, inhospitable, provincial ought to stimulate and assist the local enin short, they represent the prose of ergies of the whole country, does as much Spain, of which the poetry is embodied in to retard as to foster them. A scheme the traditions and legends, the letters and that might benefit Cadiz, Sarragossa, or art, of the Castilles and Andalusia. any other city, is jobbed at Madrid to the It would be impossible, in the space of political friends or fellow-conspirators of a mere essay, to deal adequately with a minister; the provincial city distrusts such other points of unlikeness between lit; and the scheme falls to the ground, But they |