Chapter VIII (3)

Here, then, we have a combination which many readers will still consider with favour, and which, at the time it occurred, excited the admiration, albeit the terror, of Europe. We have a great people glowing with military, patriotic, and religious ardour, whose fiery zeal was heightened, rather than softened, by a respectful obedience to their clergy, and by a chivalrous devotion to their kings. The energy of Spain, being thus both animated and controlled, became wary as well as eager; and to this rare union of conflicting qualities we must ascribe the great deeds which have just been related. But the unsound part of a progress of this sort is, that it depends too much upon individuals, and therefore cannot be permanent. Such a movement can only last as long as it is headed by able men. When, however, competent leaders are succeeded by incompetent ones, the system immediately falls to the ground, simply because the people have been accustomed to supply to every undertaking the necessary zeal, but have not been accustomed to supply the skill by which the zeal is guided. A country in this state, if governed by hereditary princes, is sure to decay; inasmuch as, in the ordinary course of affairs, incapable rulers must sometimes arise. Directly this happens, the deterioration begins; for the people, habituated to indiscriminate loyalty, will follow wherever they are led, and will yield to foolish counsels the same obedience that they had before paid to wise ones. This leads us to perceive the essential difference between the civilization of Spain and the civilization of England. We, in England, are a critical, dissatisfied, and captious people, constantly complaining of our rulers, suspecting their schemes, discussing their measures in a hostile spirit, allowing very little power either to the Church or to the Crown, managing our own affairs in our own way, and ready, on the slightest provocation, to renounce that conventional, lip-deep loyalty, which, having never really touched our hearts, is a habit lying on the surface, but not a passion rooted in the mind. The loyalty of Englishmen is not of that sort which would induce them to sacrifice their liberties to please their prince, nor does it ever, for a moment, blind them to a keen sense of their own interests. The consequence is, that our progress is uninterrupted, whether our kings are good or whether they are bad. Under either condition, the great movement goes on. Our sovereigns have had their full share of imbecility and of crime. Still, even men like Henry III. and Charles II. were unable to do us harm. In the same way, during the eighteenth and many years of the nineteenth century, when our improvement was very conspicuous, our rulers were very incompetent. Anne and the first two Georges were grossly ignorant; they were wretchedly educated, and nature had made them at once weak and obstinate. Their united reigns lasted nearly sixty years; and after they had passed away, we, for another period of sixty years, were governed by a prince who was long incapacitated by disease, but of whom we must honestly say that, looking at his general policy, he was least mischievous when he was most incapable. This is not the place to expose the monstrous principles advocated by George III., and to which posterity will do that justice from which contemporary writers are apt to shrink; but it is certain that neither his contracted understanding, nor his despotic temper, nor his miserable superstition, nor the incredible baseness of that ignoble voluptuary who succeeded him on the throne, could do aught to stop the march of English civilization, or to stem the tide of English prosperity. We went on our way rejoicing, caring for none of these things. We were not to be turned aside from our path by the folly of our rulers, because we know full well that we hold our own fate in our own hands, and that the English people possess within themselves those resources and that fertility of contrivance by which alone men can be made great, and happy, and wise.

In Spain, however, directly the government slackened its hold, the nation fell to pieces.[1241] During that prosperous career which has just been noticed, the Spanish throne was invariably filled by very able and intelligent princes. Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V. and Philip II., formed a line of sovereigns not to be matched in any other country for a period of equal length. By them, the great things were effected, and by their care, Spain apparently flourished. But, what followed when they were withdrawn from the scene, showed how artificial all this was, and how rotten, even to the core, is that system of government which must be fostered before it can thrive, and which, being based on the loyalty and reverence of the people, depends for success not on the ability of the nation, but on the skill of those to whom the interests of the nation are entrusted.

[1241] A learned Spanish lawyer has made some remarks which are worth
quoting, and which contain a curious mixture of truth and error:
'Comment la monarchie espagnole fut-elle déchue de tant de
grandeur et de gloire? Comment perdit-elle les Pays-Bas et le
Portugal dans le dix-septième siècle, et s'y trouva-t-elle
réduite à n'être qu'un squelette de ce qu'elle avait été
auparavant? Comment vit-elle disparaître plus d'une moitié de sa
population? Comment, possédant les mines inépuisables du Nouveau
Monde, les revenus de l'état n'étaient à peine que de six
millions de ducats sous le règne de Philippe III? Comment son
agriculture et son industrie furent-elles ruinées? et comment
presque tout son commerce passa-t-il dans les mains de ses plus
grands ennemis? Ce n'est point ici le lieu d'examiner les
véritables causes d'une métamorphose si triste; il suffira
d'indiquer _que tous les grands empires contiennent en euxmêmes
le germe de leur dissolution_,' &c. 'D'ailleurs les successeurs
de ces deux monarques' (Charles V. and Philip II.) 'n'eurent
point les mêmes talens, ni les ducs de Lerme et d'Olivarès,
leurs ministres, ceux du cardinal Cisneros; et il est difficile
de calculer l'influence de la bonne ou de la mauvaise direction
des affaires sur la prospérité ou les malheurs des nations. Sous
une même forme de gouvernement, quel qu'il puisse être, _elles
tombent ou se relèvent suivant la capacité des hommes qui les
dirigent_, et d'après les circonstances où ils agissent.'
_Sempère_, _Histoire des Cortès_, Bordeaux, 1815, pp. 265-267.
Of the two passages which I have marked with italics, the first
is a clumsy, though common, attempt to explain complicated
phenomena by a metaphor which saves the trouble of generalizing
their laws. The other passage, though perfectly true as regards
Spain, does not admit of that universal application which M.
Sempere supposes; inasmuch as in England, and in the United
States of America, national prosperity has steadily advanced,
even when the rulers have been very incapable men.

Philip II., the last of the great kings of Spain, died in 1598, and after his death the decline was portentously rapid.[1242] From 1598 to 1700, the throne was occupied by Philip III., Philip IV., and Charles II. The contrast between them and their predecessors was most striking.[1243] Philip III. and Philip IV. were idle, ignorant, infirm of purpose, and passed their lives in the lowest and most sordid pleasures. Charles II., the last of that Austrian dynasty which had formerly been so distinguished, possessed nearly every defect which can make a man ridiculous and contemptible. His mind and his person were such as, in any nation less loyal than Spain, would have exposed him to universal derision. Although his death took place while he was still in the prime of life, he looked like an old and worn-out debauchee. At the age of thirty-five, he was completely bald; he had lost his eyebrows; he was paralyzed; he was epileptic; and he was notoriously impotent.[1244] His general appearance was absolutely revolting, and was that of a drivelling idiot. To an enormous mouth, he added a nether jaw protruding so hideously that his teeth could never meet, and he was unable to masticate his food.[1245] His ignorance would be incredible, if it were not substantiated by unimpeachable evidence. He did not know the names of the large towns, or even of the provinces, in his dominions; and during the war with France he was heard to pity England for losing cities which in fact formed part of his own territory.[1246] Finally, he was immersed in the most grovelling superstition; he believed himself to be constantly tempted by the devil; he allowed himself to be exorcised as one possessed by evil spirits; and he would not retire to rest, except with his confessor and two friars, who had to lie by his side during the night.[1247]

[1242] 'With Philip II. ends the greatness of the kingdom, which from
that period declined with fearful rapidity.' _Dunham's History
of Spain_, vol. v. p. 87. And Ortiz (_Compendio_, vol. vii.,
Prologo, p. 6) classes together 'la muerte de Felipe II. y
principios de nuestra decadencia.' The same judicious historian
elsewhere observes (vol. vi. p. 211), that if Philip III. had
been equal to his father, Spain would have continued to
flourish. Several of the more recent Spanish writers, looking at
the heavy expenses caused by the policy of Philip II., and at
the debts which he incurred, have supposed that the decline of
the country began in the latter years of his reign. But the
truth is, that no great nation ever was, or ever will be, ruined
by the prodigality of its government. Such extravagance causes
general discomfort, and therefore ought not to be tolerated; but
if this were the place for so long an argument, I could easily
show that its other and more permanent inconveniences are
nothing like what they are commonly supposed to be.

[1243] 'Abstraido Felipe III. en devociones, amante Felipe IV. de
regocijos, mortificado Carlos II. por padecimientos, cuidáronse
poco ó nada de la gobernacion del Estado, y confiaronla á
validos altaneros, codiciosos, incapaces, y de muy funesta
memoria.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, Madrid,
1856, vol. i. p. 33.

[1244] 'Sans espérance de postérité.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_,
vol. i. p. 419. 'Incapaz de tener hijos.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_,
vol. vi. p. 560. See also _Mémoires de Louville_, vol. i. p. 82;
and the allusions in _Lettres de Madame de Villars_, edit.
Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 53, 120, 164. She was ambassadress in Spain
in the reign of Charles II. M. Lafuente, who, if I rightly
remember, never quotes these interesting letters, and who
indeed, with very few exceptions, has used none but Spanish
authorities, ventures nevertheless to observe that 'La
circunstancia de no haber tenido sucesion, falta que en general
se achabaca mas al rey que á la reina,' &c. _Historia de
España_, vol. xvii. pp. 198, 199, Madrid, 1856. According to the
biographer of the Spanish Queens, some persons imputed this to
sorcery, 'y aun se dijo si intervenia maleficio.' _Florez_,
_Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas_, vol. ii. p. 973, Madrid,
1761, 4to.

[1245] In 1696, Stanhope, the English minister at Madrid, writes: 'He
has a ravenous stomach, and swallows all he eats whole, for his
nether jaw stands so much out that his two rows of teeth cannot
meet; to compensate which, he has a prodigious wide throat, so
that a gizzard or liver of a hen passes down whole, and his weak
stomach not being able to digest it, he voids it in the same
manner.' _Mahon's Spain under Charles II._, London, 1840, p. 79;
a very valuable collection of original documents, utterly
unknown to any Spanish historian I have met with. Some curious
notices of the appearance of Charles II. in his childhood may be
seen published for the first time in _Mignet's Négociations
relatives à la Succession d'Espagne_, Paris, 1835-1842, 4to.
vol. i. pp. 294, 295, 310, 396, 404, 410, vol. ii. p. 130, vol.
iii. pp. 418, 419, 423. See also vol. iv. p. 636, for an
instance of his taciturnity, which was almost the only mark of
sense he ever gave, 'Le roi l'écouta, et ne lui répondit rien.'

[1246] 'Le Roy demeuroit dans une profonde ignorance et de ses affaires
et même des Etats de sa couronne; à peine connoissoit-il quelles
étoient les places qui lui appartenoient hors du continent
d'Espagne.' ... 'La perte de Barcelone lui fut plus sensible
qu'aucune autre, parce que cette ville, capitale de la
Catalogne, et située dans le continent de l'Espagne, lui étoit
plus connue que les villes de Flandre, dont il ignoroit
l'importance au point de croire que Mons appartenoit au roi
d'Angleterre, et de le plaindre lorsque le Roi fit la conquête
de cette province.' _Mémoires du Marquis de Torcy_, vol. i. pp.
19, 23, edit. Petitot, Paris, 1828.

[1247] 'Fancying everything that is said or done to be a temptation of
the devil, and never thinking himself safe but with his
confessor, and two friars by his side, whom he makes lie in his
chamber every night.' _Mahon's Spain under Charles II._, p. 102.
On account, no doubt, of this affection for monks, he is
declared by a Spanish historian to have possessed a 'corazon pio
y religioso.' _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_,
vol. i. p. 20. The best notice of the exorcism will be found in
_Lafuente's Historia de España_, vol. xvii. pp. 294-309, where
there is an entire chapter, headed 'Los Hechizos del Rey.'

Now it was that men might clearly see on how sandy a foundation the grandeur of Spain was built. When there were able sovereigns, the country prospered; when there were weak ones, it declined. Nearly everything that had been done by the great princes of the sixteenth century, was undone by the little princes of the seventeenth. So rapid was the fall of Spain, that in only three reigns after the death of Philip II., the most powerful monarchy existing in the world was depressed to the lowest point of debasement, was insulted with impunity by foreign nations, was reduced more than once to bankruptcy, was stripped of her fairest possessions, was held up to public opprobrium, was made a theme on which school-boys and moralists loved to declaim respecting the uncertainty of human affairs, and, at length, was exposed to the bitter humiliation of seeing her territories mapped out and divided by a treaty in which she took no share, but the provisions of which she was unable to resent.[1248] Then, truly, did she drink to the dregs the cup of her own shame. Her glory had departed from her, she was smitten down and humbled. Well might a Spaniard of that time who compared the present with the past, mourn over his country, the chosen abode of chivalry and romance, of valour and of loyalty. The mistress of the world, the queen of the ocean, the terror of nations, was gone; her power was gone, no more to return. To her might be applied that bitter lamentation, which, on a much slighter occasion, the greatest of the sons of men has put into the mouth of a dying statesman. Good reason, indeed, had the sorrowing patriot to weep, as one who refused to be comforted, for the fate of his earth, his realm, his land of dear souls, his dear, dear land, long dear for her reputation through the world, but now leased out like to a tenement or pelting farm.[1249]

[1248] 'La foiblesse de l'Espagne ne permettoit pas à son roi de se
ressentir du traitement dont il croyoit à propos de se
plaindre.' _Mémoires de Torcy_, vol. i. p. 81. Or, as an eminent
native writer bitterly says, 'Las naciones estrangeras
disponiendo de la monarquia española como de bienes sin dueño.'
_Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_, vol. iii. p. 187.

[1249] 'This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise;
This fortress, built by nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth,
Renowned for their deeds as far from home,
For Christian service and true chivalry,
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry
Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's son:
This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leas'd out, I die pronouncing it,
Like to a tenement or pelting farm.'

It would be a weary and unprofitable task to relate the losses and disasters of Spain during the seventeenth century. The immediate cause of them was undoubtedly bad government and unskilful rulers; but the real and overriding cause, which determined the whole march and tone of affairs, was the existence of that loyal and reverential spirit which made the people submit to what any other country would have spurned, and, by accustoming them to place extreme confidence in individual men reduced the nation to that precarious position in which a succession of incompetent princes was sure to overthrow the edifice which competent ones had built up.[1250]

[1250] The Spanish theory of government is well stated in the following
passage in Davila's Life of Philip III. The remarks apply to
Philip II. 'Que solo havia gobernado sin Validos ni Privados,
tomando para sí solo, como primera causa de su gobierno, el
mandar, prohibir, premiar, castigar, hacer mercedes, conocer
sugetos, elegir Ministros, dar oficios, y tener como espiritu
que andaba sobre las aguas, ciencia y providencia de todo, para
que nada se hiciese sin su saber y querer: no serviendo los
Ministros mas que de poner por obra (obedeciendo) lo que su
Señor mandaba, velando sobre cada uno, como pastor de sus
ovejas, para ver la verdad con que executan sus mandamientos y
acuerdos.' _Davila_, _Historia de Felipe Tercero_, lib. i.
pp. 22, 23.

The increasing influence of the Spanish Church was the first and most conspicuous consequence of the declining energy of the Spanish government. For, loyalty and superstition being the main ingredients of the national character, and both of them being the result of habits of reverence, it was to be expected that, unless the reverence could be weakened, what was taken from one ingredient would be given to the other. As, therefore, the Spanish government, during the seventeenth century, did, owing to its extreme imbecility, undoubtedly lose some part of the hold it possessed over the affections of the people, it naturally happened that the Church stepped in, and occupying the vacant place, received what the crown had forfeited. Besides this, the weakness of the executive government encouraged the pretensions of the priesthood, and emboldened the clergy to acts of usurpation, which the Spanish sovereigns of the sixteenth century, superstitious though they were, would not have allowed for a single moment.[1251] Hence the very striking fact, that, while in every other great country, Scotland alone excepted, the power of the Church diminished during the seventeenth century, it, in Spain, actually increased. The results of this are well worth the attention, not only of philosophic students of history, but also of every one who cares for the welfare of his own country, or feels an interest in the practical management of public affairs.

[1251] Even Philip II. always retained a certain ascendency over the
ecclesiastical hierarchy, though he was completely subjugated by
ecclesiastical prejudices. 'While Philip was thus willing to
exalt the religious order, already far too powerful, he was
careful that it should never gain such a height as would enable
it to overtop the royal authority.' _Prescott's History of
Philip II._, vol. iii. p. 235. 'Pero este monarca tan afecto á
la Inquisicion mientras le servia para sus fines, sabia bien
tener á raya al Santo Oficio cuando intentaba invadir ó usurpar
las preeminencias de la autoridad real, ó arrogarse un poder
desmedido.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xv. p. 114.

For twenty-three years after the death of Philip II., the throne was occupied by Philip III., a prince as distinguished by his weakness as his predecessors had been by their ability. During more than a century the Spaniards had been accustomed to be entirely ruled by their kings, who, with indefatigable industry, personally superintended the most important transactions, and in other matters exercised the strictest supervision over their ministers. But Philip III., whose listlessness almost amounted to fatuity, was unequal to such labour, and delegated the powers of government to Lerma, who wielded supreme authority for twenty years.[1252] Among a people so loyal as the Spaniards, this unusual proceeding could not fail to weaken the executive; since, in their eyes, the immediate and irresistible interference of the sovereign was essential to the management of affairs, and to the well-being of the nation. Lerma, well aware of this feeling, and conscious that his own position was very precarious, naturally desired to strengthen himself by additional support, so that he might not entirely depend on the favour of the king. He therefore formed a strict alliance with the clergy, and, from the beginning to the end of his long administration did everything in his power to increase their authority.[1253] Thus the influence lost by the crown was gained by the Church, to whose advice a deference was paid even greater than had been accorded by the superstitious princes of the sixteenth century. In this arrangement, the interests of the people were of course unheeded. Their welfare formed no part of the general scheme. On the contrary, the clergy, grateful to a government so sensible of their merits, and so religiously disposed, used all their influence in its favour; and the yoke of a double despotism was riveted more firmly than ever upon the neck of that miserable nation, which was now about to reap the bitter fruit of a long and ignominious submission.[1254]

[1252] 'Por cuyo absoluto poderío se executaba todo.' _Yañez_, _Memorias
para la Historia de Felipe III._, Prologo, p. 150. 'An
absoluteness in power over king and kingdom.' Letter from Sir
Charles Cornwallis to the Lords of the Council in England, dated
Valladolid, May 31, 1605, in _Winwood's Memorials_, vol. ii. p.
73, London, 1725, folio. 'Porque no era fácil imaginar entónces,
ni por fortuna se ha repetido el ejemplo después, que hubiera un
monarca tan pródigo de autoridad, y al propio tiempo tan
indolente, que por no tomarse siquiera el trabajo de firmar los
documentos de Estado, quisiera dar á la firma de un vasalla suyo
la misma autoridad que á la suya propia, y que advirtiera y
ordenára, como ordenó Felipe III. á todos sus consejos,
tribunales, y súbditos, que dieran á los despachos firmados por
el duque de Lerma el mismo cumplimiento y obediencia, y los
ejecutáran y guardáran con el mismo respeto que si fueran
firmados por él.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xv. pp.
449, 450. 'El duque de Lerma, su valído, era el que gobernaba el
reino solo.' vol. xvii. p. 332. His power lasted from 1598 to
1618. _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. vi. pp. 290, 325.

[1253] Davila (_Historia de Felipe Tercero_, lib. ii. p. 41), after
eulogizing the personal qualities of Lerma, adds, 'Y sin estas
grandes partes tuvo demostraciones christianas, manifestandolo
en los conventos, iglesias, colegiatas, hospitales, ermitas y
catedras, que dejó fundadas, en que gastó, como me consta de los
libros de su Contaduría, un millon ciento cincuenta y dos mil
doscientos ochenta y tres ducados.' After such monstrous
prodigality, Watson might well say, in his rather superficial,
but, on the whole, well-executed History, that Lerma showed 'the
most devoted attachment to the church,' and 'conciliated the
favour of ecclesiastics.' _Watson's History of Philip III._,
London, 1839, pp. 4, 8, 46, 224.

[1254] The only energy Philip III. ever displayed, was in seconding the
efforts of his minister to extend the influence of the Church;
and hence, according to a Spanish historian, he was 'monarque le
plus pieux parmi tous ceux qui out occupé le trône d'Espagne
depuis saint Ferdinand.' _Sempère_, _Monarchie Espagnole_, vol.
i. p. 245. 'El principal cuidado de nuestro Rey era tener á Dios
por amigo, grangear y beneficiar su gracia, para que le
asistiese propicio en quanto obrase y dixese. De aqui tuvieron
principio tantos dones ofrecidos á Dios, tanta fundacion de
Conventos, y favores hechos á Iglesias y Religiones.' _Davila_,
_Historia de Felipe Tercero_, lib. ii. p. 170. His wife,
Margaret, was equally active. See _Florez_, _Reynas Catholicas_,
vol. ii. pp. 915, 916. 'Demas de los frutos que dió para el
Cielo y para la tierra nuestra Reyna, tuvo otros de ambas lineas
en fundaciones de Templos y obras de piedad para bien del Reyno
y de la Iglesia. En Valladolid fundó el Convento de las
Franciscas Descalzas. En Madrid trasladó á las Agustinas
Recoletas de Santa Isabel desde la calle del Principe al sitio
en que hoy estan. Protegió con sus limosnas la fundacion de la
Iglesia de Carmelitas Descalzas de Santa Ana; y empezó á fundar
el Real Convento de las Agustinas Recoletas con titulo de la
Encarnacion en este misma Corte, cuya primera piedra se puso á
10 de Junio del 1611. En la parroquia de S. Gil junto al Palacio
introdujo los Religiosos Franciscos, cuyo Convento persevera hoy
con la misma advocacion.' How the country fared, while all this
was going on, we shall presently see.

The increasing power of the Spanish Church during the seventeenth century, may be proved by nearly every description of evidence. The convents and churches multiplied with such alarming speed, and their wealth became so prodigious, that even the Cortes, broken and humbled though they were, ventured on a public remonstrance. In 1626, only five years after the death of Philip III., they requested that some means might be taken to prevent what they described as a constant invasion on the part of the Church. In this remarkable document, the Cortes, assembled at Madrid, declared that never a day passed in which laymen were not deprived of their property to enrich ecclesiastics; and the evil, they said, had grown to such a height, that there were then in Spain upwards of nine thousand monasteries, besides nunneries.[1255] This extraordinary statement has, I believe, never been contradicted, and its probability is enhanced by several other circumstances. Davila, who lived in the reign of Philip III., affirms that in 1623, the two orders of Dominicans and Franciscans alone amounted to thirty-two thousand.[1256] The other clergy increased in proportion. Before the death of Philip III., the number of ministers performing in the Cathedral of Seville had swelled to one hundred; and in the diocese of Seville, there were fourteen thousand chaplains; in the diocese of Calahorra, eighteen thousand.[1257] Nor did there seem any prospect of remedying this frightful condition. The richer the Church became, the greater was the inducement for laymen to enter it; so that there appeared to be no limit to the extent to which the sacrifice of temporal interests might be carried.[1258] Indeed, the movement, notwithstanding its suddenness, was perfectly regular, and was facilitated by a long train of preceding circumstances. Since the fifth century, the course of events, as we have already seen, invariably tended in this direction, and insured to the clergy a dominion which no other nation would have tolerated. The minds of the people being thus prepared, the people themselves looked on in silence at what it would have been impious to oppose; for, as a Spanish historian observes, every proposition was deemed heretical which tended to lessen the amount, or even to check the growth of that enormous wealth which was now possessed by the Spanish Church.[1259]

[1255] The burden of the petition was, 'Que se tratasse con mas veras de
poner limite á los bienes, que se sacauan cada dia del braço
Seglar al Eclesiastico, enflaqueciendo no tan solo el patrimonio
Real, mas el comun, pues siendo aquel libre de pechos,
contribuciones, y gauelas, alojamientos, huespedes, y otros
grauamenes mayores, presidios, guerras, y soldados.' ... 'Que
las Religiones eran muchas, las Mendicantes en excesso, y el
Clero en grande multitud. Que auia en España 9088 monasterios,
aun no cõtando los de Monjas. Que yuan meti[~e]do poco á poco,
con dotaciones, cofradias, capellanias, o con cõpras, á todo el
Reyno en su poder. Que se atajasse tanto mal. Que huuiesse
numero en los frayles, moderacion en los Cõuentos, y aun en los
Clerigos seglares.' _Cespedes_, _Historia de Don Felipe IV._,
Barcelona, 1634, fol. lib. vii. cap. 9, p. 272 rev. This is the
only noticeable passage in an unusually dull chronicle, which,
though professing to be a history of Philip IV., is confined to
the first few years of his reign.

[1256] 'En este año, que iba escribiendo esta Historia, tenian las
Ordenes de Santo Domingo, y S. Francisco en España, treinta y
dos mil Religiosos, y los Obispados de Calahorra y Pamplona
veinte y quatro mil clerigos; pues qué tendran las demas
Religiones, y los demas Obispados?' _Davila_, _Historia de
Felipe Tercere_, lib. ii. p. 215. See also cap. xcvii. pp. 248,
249; and, on the increase of convents, see _Yañez_, _Memorias
para la Historia de Felipe III._, pp. 240, 268, 304, 305.

[1257] 'The reign of Philip III., surnamed from his piety the Good, was
the golden age of Churchmen. Though religious foundations were
already too numerous, great additions were made to them; and in
those which already existed, new altars or chancels were
erected. Thus, the duke of Lerma founded seven monasteries and
two collegiate churches; thus, also, the diocese of Calahorra
numbered 18,000 chaplains, Seville 14,000. How uselessly the
ministers of religion were multiplied, will appear still more
clearly from the fact that the cathedral of Seville alone had a
hundred, when half-a-dozen would assuredly have been sufficient
for the public offices of devotion.' _Dunham's History of
Spain_, vol. v. p. 274. According to the passage quoted in note
93, from Davila, there were twenty-four thousand 'clerigos' in
the two dioceses of Calahorra and Pamplona.

[1258] 'Entre tanto crecia por instantes y se aumentaba prodigiosamente
el poder y la autoridad de la Iglesia. Sus pingües riquezas
desmembraban de una manera considerable las rentas de la corona;
y el estado eclesiástico, que muchos abrazaron en un principio á
consecuencia de las desgracias y calamidades de la época, fué
despues el mas solicitado por las inmensas ventajas que ofrecia
su condicion comparada con la de las clases restantes.'
_Antequera_, _Historia de la Legislacion_, pp. 223, 224. See
also in _Campomanes_, _Apendice á la Educacion_, Madrid,
1775-1777, vol. i. p. 465, and vol. iv. p. 219, a statement made
by the University of Toledo in 1619, or 1620, that 'hay doblados
religiosos, clerigos y estudiantes; porque ya _no hallan otro
modo de vivir_, _ni de poder sustentarse_.' If the eye of M.
Lafuente had lighted upon this and other passages, which I shall
shortly quote from contemporary observers, he would, I think,
have expressed himself much more strongly than he has done
respecting this period, in his recent brilliant, but
unsatisfactory, History of Spain. On the great wealth of the
convents in 1679, when the rest of the country was steeped in
poverty, see a letter dated Madrid, July 25, 1679, in
_D'Aulnoy_, _Relation du Voyage d'Espagne_, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii.
p. 251. But the earliest evidence I have met with is in a
letter, written in 1609, to Prince Henry of England, by Sir
Charles Cornwallis, the English ambassador at Madrid. 'The
furniture of their churches here, and the riches and lustre of
their sepulchres made in every monasterie (the general povertye
of this kingdome considered), are almost incredible. The laity
of this nation may say with Davyde (though in another sense),
"Zelus domus tuæ comedit me:" for, assuredly, the riches of the
Temporall hath in a manner all fallen into the mouthes and
devouring throates of the Spiritual.' _Winwood's Memorials of
Affairs of State_, vol. iii. p. 10, London, 1725, folio.

[1259] 'Deux millions de ducats, que le clergé possédait sous le règne
de Charles V, étaient réputés comme un revenu exorbitant; et, un
demi-siècle plus tard, lorsque ces revenus s'élevaient à huit
millions, on qualifiat d'hérétique, toute proposition tendant à
opérer quelque modification dans leur accroissement.' _Sempère_,
_Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. ii. p. 16.

How natural all this was, appears also from another fact of considerable interest. In Europe generally, the seventeenth century was distinguished by the rise of a secular literature in which ecclesiastical theories were disregarded; the most influential writers, such as Bacon and Descartes, being laymen, rather hostile to the Church than friendly to it, and composing their works with views purely temporal. But in Spain, no change of this sort occurred.[1260] In that country, the Church retained her hold over the highest as well as over the lowest intellects. Such was the pressure of public opinion, that authors of every grade were proud to count themselves members of the ecclesiastical profession, the interests of which they advocated with a zeal worthy of the Dark Ages. Cervantes, three years before his death, became a Franciscan monk.[1261] Lope de Vega was a priest; he was an officer of the Inquisition; and in 1623 he assisted at an auto da fé, in which, amid an immense concourse of people, a heretic was burned outside the gate of Alcalá at Madrid.[1262] Moreto, one of the three greatest dramatists Spain has produced, assumed the monastic habit during the last twelve years of his life.[1263] Montalvan, whose plays are still remembered, was a priest, and held office in the Inquisition.[1264] Tarrega, Mira de Mescua, and Tirso de Molina, were all successful writers for the stage, and were all clergymen.[1265] Solis, the celebrated historian of Mexico, was also a clergyman.[1266] Sandoval, whom Philip III. appointed historiographer, and who is the principal authority for the reign of Charles V., was at first a Benedictine monk, afterwards became bishop of Tuy, and later still, was raised to the see of Pampeluna.[1267] Davila, the biographer of Philip III., was a priest.[1268] Mariana was a Jesuit;[1269] and Miñana, who continued his History, was superior of a convent in Valencia.[1270] Martin Carrillo was a jurisconsult as well as an historian, but, not satisfied with his double employment, he too entered the Church, and became canon of Saragossa.[1271] Antonio, the most learned bibliographer Spain ever possessed, was a canon of Seville.[1272] Gracian, whose prose works have been much read, and who was formerly deemed a great writer, was a Jesuit.[1273] Among the poets, the same tendency was exhibited. Paravicino was for sixteen years a popular preacher at the courts of Philip III. and Philip IV.[1274] Zamora was a monk.[1275] Argensola was a canon of Saragossa.[1276] Gongora was a priest;[1277] and Rioja received a high post[1278] in the Inquisition. Calderon was chaplain to Philip IV.;[1279] and so fanatical are the sentiments which tarnish his brilliant genius, that he has been termed the poet of the Inquisition.[1280] His love for the Church was a passion, and he scrupled at nothing which could advance its interests. In Spain, such feelings were natural; though to other nations they seem so strange, that an eminent critic has declared that it is hardly possible to read his works without indignation.[1281] If this be so, the indignation should be extended to nearly all his contemporary countrymen, great or small. There was hardly a Spaniard of that period who did not entertain similar sentiments. Even Villaviciosa, author of one of the very best mock-heroic poems Spain has produced, was not only an officer in the Inquisition, but, in his last will, he strongly urged upon his family and all his descendants, that they too should, if possible, enter the service of that noble institution, taking whatever place in it they could obtain, since all its offices were, he said, worthy of veneration.[1282] In such a state of society, anything approaching to a secular or scientific spirit was, of course, impossible. Every one believed; no one inquired. Among the better classes, all were engaged in war or theology, and most were occupied with both. Those who made literature a profession, ministered, as professional men too often do, to the prevailing prejudice. Whatever concerned the Church was treated not only with respect, but with timid veneration. Skill and industry worthy of a far better cause, were expended in eulogizing every folly which superstition had invented. The more cruel and preposterous a custom was, the greater the number of persons who wrote in its favour, albeit no one had ventured to assail it. The quantity of Spanish works to prove the necessity of religious persecution is incalculable; and this took place in a country where not one man in a thousand doubted the propriety of burning heretics. As to miracles, which form the other capital resource of theologians, they, in the seventeenth century, were constantly happening, and as constantly being recorded. All literary men were anxious to say something on that important subject. Saints, too, being in great repute, their biographies were written in profusion, and with an indifference to truth which usually characterizes that species of composition. With these and kindred topics, the mind of Spain was chiefly busied. Monasteries, nunneries, religious orders, and cathedrals received equal attention, and huge books were written about them, in order that every particular might be preserved. Indeed, it often happened that a single convent, or a single cathedral, would have more than one historian; each seeking to distance his immediate competitor, and all striving which could do most to honour the Church and to uphold the interests of which the Church was the guardian.[1283]

[1260] In a work on Spanish literature which was published about seventy
years ago, and which, at the time of its appearance, made
considerable noise, this peculiarity is frankly admitted, but is
deemed rather an honour to Spain than otherwise, inasmuch as
that country, we are told, has produced philosophers who have
gone much deeper into things than Bacon, Descartes, and Newton,
who, no doubt, were clever men, but were nowise comparable to
the great thinkers of the Peninsula. Such assertions,
proceeding, not from some ignorant despiser of physical science,
who contemns what he has never been at the pains to study, but
from a really able and, in some respects, competent judge, are
important for the history of opinion; and as the book is not
very common, I will give two or three extracts. 'Confiesan los
Franceses con ingenuidad que Descartes fué un novelista: y con
todo eso quieren hacerle pasar por el promotor de la filosofía
en Europa, como si su filosofía se desemejase mucho de la que
dominaba en las sectas de la antigüedad. Su tratádo "Del Metodo"
es nada en comparacion de los libros "De la Corrupcion de las
Artes" de Juan Luis Vives, que le antecedió buen número de
años.' _Oracion Apologética por la España y su Mérito Literario
por D. J. P. Forner_, Madrid, 1786, p. xi. 'No hemos tenido en
los efectos un Cartesio, no un Neuton: démoslo de barato: pero
hemos tenido justísimos legisladores y excelentes filósofos
prácticos, que han preferido el inefable gusto de trabajar en
beneficio de la humanidad á la ociosa ocupacion de edificar
mundos imaginarios en la soledad y silencio de un gabinete.' p.
12. 'Nada se disputaba en España.' p. 61. At p. 143 a comparison
between Bacon and Vives; and the final decision, p. 146, that
Vives enjoys 'una gloriosa superioridad sobre todos los sabios
de todos los siglos.'

[1261] The final profession was not made till 1616; but he began to wear
the clothes in 1613. 'Tal era su situacion el sábado santo 2 de
abril' [1616] 'que por no poder salir de su casa hubieron de
darle en ella la profesion de la venerable órden tercera de San
Francisco, cuyo hábito habia tomado en Alcalá, el dia 2 de julio
de 1613.' _Navarrete_, _Vida de Cervantes_, p. cii. prefixed to
_Don Quijote_, Barcelona, 1839. Even in 1609, says Navarrete,
(p. lxii.), 'Se ha creido que entónces se incorporó tambien
Cervantes, como lo hizo Lope de Vega, en la congregacion del
oratorio del Caballero de Gracia, mientras que su muger y su
hermana doña Andrea se dedicaban á semejantes ejercicios de
piedad en la venerable órden tercera de San Francisco, cuyo
hábito recibieron en 8 de junio del mismo año.'

[1262] _Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. ii. pp. 125, 126,
137, 147, 148.

[1263] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 374. _Biographie Universelle_, vol. xxx.
pp. 149, 150.

[1264] _Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. ii. pp. 276, 327.

[1265] _Ticknor_, vol. ii. p. 327.

[1266] _Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. i. p. 525. But
the best account is that given by his biographer, who assures us
of two facts; that he received 'todas las órdenes sagradas,' and
that he was 'devotísimo de María santísima.' _Vida de Solis_, p.
15, prefixed to _Solis_, _Historia de la Conquista de Mejico_,
edit. Paris, 1844.

[1267] _Biographie Universelle_, vol. xl. p. 319.

[1268] 'Sacerdote soy.' _Davila_, _Historia de la Vida de Felipe
Tercero_, lib. ii. p. 215.

[1269] _Biographie Universelle_, vol. xxvii. p. 42.

[1270] _Ibid._ vol. xxix. p. 80.

[1271] _Ibid._ vol. vii. p. 219.

[1272] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 293.

[1273] _Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. p. 177.

[1274] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 491, vol. iii. pp. 117, 118.

[1275] _Sismondi's Literature of the South of Europe_, vol. ii. p. 348,
London, 1846.

[1276] 'Pero en fin murio Don Andres Martinez, y sucediole en la
Canongia nuestro Bartholome.' _Pellicer_, _Ensayo de una
Bibliotheca_, Madrid, 1778, 4to. p. 94. This was the younger
Argensola.

[1277] _Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. ii. p. 486.

[1278] 'Occupied a high place in the Inquisition.' _Ticknor_, vol. ii.
p. 507. 'Prit les ordres, et obtint un canonicat.' _Biographie
Univ._ vol. xxxviii. p. 120.

[1279] In 1663 Philip IV. 'le honró con otra Capellanía de honor en su
real Capilla.' _Vida de Calderon_, p. iv., prefixed to _Las
Comedias de Calderon_, edit. Keil, Leipsique, 1827.

[1280] 'Calderon is, in fact, the true poet of the Inquisition. Animated
by a religious feeling, which is too visible in all his pieces,
he inspires me only with horror for the faith which he
professes.' _Sismondi's Literature of the South of Europe_, vol.
ii. p. 379. Compare _Lewes on the Spanish Drama_, pp. 176-179.

[1281] Salfi says, 'Calderon de la Barca excite encore plus une sorte
d'indignation, malgré son génie dramatique, qui le mit audessus
de Vega, son prédécesseur. En lisant ses drames sans prévention,
vous diriez qu'il a voulu faire servir son talent uniquement à
confirmer les préjugés et les superstitions les plus ridicules
de sa nation.' _Ginguenè_, _Histoire Littéraire d'Italie_, vol.
xii. p. 499, Paris, 1834.

[1282] 'Entró en el año de 1622 á ser _Relator del Consejo de la General
Inquisicion_, cuyo empleo servió y desempeñó con todo honor
muchos años.' And he declared, 'en esta clausula de su
Testamento: "Y por quanto yo y mis hermanos y toda nuestra
familia nos hemos sustentado, autorizado y puesto en estado con
las honras y mercedes, que nos ha hecho el santo Oficio de la
Inquisicion, á quien hemos servido como nuestros antepassados;
encargo afectuosissimamente á todos mis successores le sean para
siempre los mas respetuosos servidores y criados, viviendo en
ocupacion de su santo servido, procurando adelantarse y
señalarse en él, quanto les fuere possible, en qualquiera de sus
ministerios; pues todos son tan dignos de estimacion y
veneracion."' _La Mosquea, por Villaviciosa_, Prologo,
pp. x.-xii., edit. Madrid, 1777.

[1283] 'Hardly a convent or a saint of any note in Spain, during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, failed of especial
commemoration; and each of the religious orders and great
cathedrals had at least one historian, and most of them several.
The number of books on Spanish ecclesiastical history, is,
therefore, one that may well be called enormous.' _Ticknor's
History of Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. p. 132. Forner assures
us, somewhat needlessly, of what no one ever doubted, that 'los
estudios sagrados jamas decayéron en España.' _Forner_, _Oracion
Apologética_, Madrid, 1786, p. 141.

Such, was the preponderance of the ecclesiastical profession, and such was the homage paid to ecclesiastical interests by the Spaniards during the seventeenth century.[1284] They did everything to strengthen the Church in that very age when other nations first set themselves in earnest to weaken it. This unhappy peculiarity was undoubtedly the effect of preceding events; but it was the immediate cause of the decline of Spain, since, whatever may have been the case in former periods, it is certain that, in modern times, the prosperity of nations depends on principles to which the clergy, as a body, are invariably opposed. Under Philip III. they gained an immense accession of strength; and in that very reign they signalized this new epoch of their power by obtaining, with circumstances of horrible barbarity, the expulsion of the whole Moorish nation. This was an act so atrocious in itself,[1285] and so terrible in its consequences, that some writers have ascribed to it alone, the subsequent ruin of Spain; forgetting that other causes, far more potent, were also at work, and that this stupendous crime could never have been perpetrated, except in a country which, being long accustomed to regard heresy as the most heinous of all offences, was ready, at any cost, to purge the land and to free itself from men whose mere presence was regarded as an insult to the Christian faith.

[1284] In 1623, Howell writes from Madrid: 'Such is the reverence they
bear to the church here, and so holy a conceit they have of all
ecclesiastics, that the greatest Don in Spain will tremble to
offer the meanest of them any outrage or affront.' _Howell's
Letters_, edit. London, 1754, p. 138. 'The reverence they show
to the holy function of the church is wonderful; Princes and
Queens will not disdain to kiss a Capuchin's sleeve, or the
surplice of a priest.' ... 'There are no such sceptics and
cavillers there, as in other places.' p. 496. In 1669, another
observer writes: 'En Espagne les Religieux sont les maîtres, et
l'emportent partout où ils se trouvent.' _Voyages faits en
divers Temps en Espagne_, Amsterdam, 1700, p. 35. And, to quote
one more authority, the following picture is given of Spanish
society in the reign of Philip IV.: 'No habia familia con quien
no estuvieran entroncados los frailes por amistad ó parentesco;
ni casa que les cerrara sus puertas; ni conversacion en que no
se les cediera la palabra; ni mesa en que no se les obligara á
ocupar la primera silla; ni resolucion grave entre ricos ó
pobres que se adoptara sin su consejo; y si no tomaban parte en
ellas, las satisfacciones domésticas no eran cabales.' _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. i. p. 94.

[1285] 'Le cardinal de Richelieu, qui n'étoit pas très-susceptible de
pitié, l'appelle "le plus hardi et le plus barbare conseil dont
l'histoire de tous les siècles précédens fasse mention."'
_Sismondi_, _Histoire des Français_, vol. xxii. p. 163, Paris,
1839.

After the reduction, late in the fifteenth century, of the last Mohammedan kingdom in Spain, the great object of the Spaniards became to convert those whom they had conquered.[1286] They believed that the future welfare of a whole people was at stake; and finding that the exhortations of their clergy had no effect, they had recourse to other means, and persecuted the men they were unable to persuade. By torturing some, by burning others, and by threatening all, they at length succeeded; and we are assured that, after the year 1526, there was no Mohammedan in Spain, who had not been converted to Christianity.[1287] Immense numbers of them were baptized by force; but being baptized, it was held that they belonged to the Church, and were amenable to her discipline.[1288] That discipline was administered by the Inquisition, which, during the rest of the sixteenth century, subjected these new Christians, or Moriscoes, as they were now called,[1289] to the most barbarous treatment. The genuineness of their forced conversion was doubted; it therefore became the business of the Church to inquire into their sincerity.[1290] The civil government lent its aid; and among other enactments, an edict was issued by Philip II. in 1566, ordering the Moriscoes to abandon everything which by the slightest possibility could remind them of their former religion. They were commanded, under severe penalties, to learn Spanish, and to give up all their Arabic books. They were forbidden to read their native language, or to write it, or even to speak it in their own houses. Their ceremonies and their very games were strictly prohibited. They were to indulge in no amusements which had been practised by their fathers; neither were they to wear such clothes as they had been accustomed to. Their women were to go unveiled; and as bathing was a heathenish custom, all public baths were to be destroyed, and even all baths in private houses.[1291]

[1286] 'Porque los Reyes queriendo, que en todo el Reino fuesen
Christianos, embiaron á Frai Francisco Ximenez, que fue
Arzobispo de Toledo i Cardenal, para que los persuadiese. Mas
ellos, gente dura, pertinaz, nuevamente conquistada, estuvieron
recios,' _Mendoza_, _Guerra de Granada que hizo Felipe II.
contra los Moriscos_, Valencia, 1776, 4to. p. 10. The author of
this book was born early in the sixteenth century, at Granada,
where he lived for a considerable period.

[1287] 'L'année 1526 vit donc disparaître dans toutes les parties de
l'Espagne les signes extérieurs de l'islamisme.' _Circourt_,
_Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne_, Paris, 1846, vol. ii. p. 220. M.
Lafuente (_Historia de España_, vol. x. p. 132) says of 1502,
that 'desde entónces, por primera vez al cabo de ocho siglos, no
quedo un solo habitante en España que esteriormente diera culto
á Mahoma:' but in vol. xi. p. 447, he says that, in 1524,
'volvieron inmediatamente á sus ritos y ceremonias muslímicas.'
As M. de Circourt was well acquainted with all the materials
used by M. Lafuente, and is, moreover, a much more critical
writer, it seems likely that his statement is the correct one.

[1288] 'Ces malheureux auraient tous été exterminés, s'ils n'avaient
consenti à recevoir le baptême. Au milieu des décombres de leurs
maisons, sur les cadavres fumans de leurs femmes, ils
s'agenouillèrent. Les germanos, ivres de sang, firent l'office
de prêtres; l'un d'eux prit un balai, aspergea la foule des
musulmans, en prononçant les paroles sacramentelles, et crut
avoir fait des chrétiens. L'armée des germanos se répandit
ensuite dans le pays environnant, saccageant d'abord, baptisant
après.' _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_, vol. ii.
p. 175. See also p. 202.

[1289] That was their general name; but, in Aragon, they were termed
'"tornadizos," en lenguage insultante.' _Janer_, _Condición de
los Moriscos de España_, Madrid, 1857, p. 26.

[1290] 'Recibieron el Sacramento por comodidad, no de voluntad, y asi
encubrian todo lo possible el viuir y morir en la secta de
Mahoma, siendo infieles apostatas.' _Vanderhammen's Filipe
Segundo_, p. 12. 'Porque la Inquisicion los comenzó á apretar
mas de lo ordinario.' _Mendoza_, _Guerra de Granada_, p. 20.
'Poner nuevo cuidado i diligencia en descubrir los motivos
destos hombres,' p. 26. And yet this very writer has the
impudence to declaim against Mohammedanism as a cruel religion.
'Cruel i abominable religion aplacar á Dios con vida i sangre
innocente!' pp. 107, 108.

[1291] Vanderhammen (_Filipe Segundo_, p. 12, Madrid, 1632) merely tells
us that 'Por cedula el año sesenta y seis les mandó dexassen el
habito, lengua y costumbres de Moros, y fuessen Christianos y lo
pareciessen.' But the exact provisions were, 'Que dentro de tres
años aprendiesen los moriscos á hablar la lengua castellana, y
de allí adelante ninguno pudiese hablar, leer ni escriber
arábigo en publico ni en secreto: que todos los contratos que se
hiciesen en arábigo fuesen nulos: que todos los libros así
escritos los llevasen en término de treinta dias al presidente
de la audiencia de Granada para que los mandase examinar,
devolviendoseles aquellos que no ofrecieran inconveniente para
que los pudiesen guardar solo durante los tres años: que no se
hicieran de nuevo marlotas, almalafas, calzas ni otra suerte de
vestidos de los que se usaban en tiempos de moros; que durante
este tiempo, las mujeres vestidas á la morisca llevarian la cara
descubierta; que no usasen de las ceremonias ni de los regocijos
moros en las bodas, sino conforme al uso de la Santa Madre
Iglesia, abriendo las puertas de sus casas en tales dias, y
tambien en los de fiesta, no haciendo zambras ni leylas con
instrumentos ni cantares moriscos, aunque no dijesen en ellos
cosas contraria á la religion cristiana,' &c. _Janer_,
_Condicion de los Moriscos_, pp. 31, 32, where other particulars
will be found, which should be compared with _Circourt_,
_Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_, vol. ii. pp. 278, 283, 459-463.