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Furthermore, a country abounding in so much that seems fine and so much that suggests decay needs time and study to understand. And then too, natural scenery and other forms of nature which for years has been praised by writers seems to me very ordinary and common place while the same features of the country, in other sections, which the authors have degraded, I have found according to my standard, very beautiful-for instance Granada and its environs seem to me to have been a decoy at which many random shots of flattery have been fired by poets and descriptive writers. I concede that there is much beauty there, but no more than can be found at La Granza and other places, even Madrid which has been most disrespectfully described, is in many ways, in its location and environs, comparable with Granada.

Seville too, has been held up as the center of gay Spanish life! If what we saw there is gaiety, then let my fate be sorrow. And Spanish pride has been sung about for centuries, but instead of pride, I would say the predominating characteristic of the people is ignorance. The masses seem certainly to be not only ignorant and dull but also stupid and lazy. The railways which have been so seriously criticised,