from learning what, in a few years, they would necessarily forget; but this loss would be well repaid,if we could show the future rulers of the country that thought and labour which it requires to make a nation happy,-or if we could inspire them with that love of public virtue, which, after religion, we most solemnly believe to be the brightest ornament of the mind of man. ART. IV. A View of Spain;. comprising a descriptive Itinerary of each Province, and a general Statistical Account of the Country. Translated from the French of Alexander de Laborde. 5 vol. 8vo. London, 1809. THIS HIS work is not without value; though its faults and defects greatly overbalance its merits. It contains some useful, and much minute information, interspersed with reflections, that are often judicious and well founded; but it is, on the whole, a dull, prolix, tasteless performance, without life or spirit, and full of the grossest errors and inconsistencies. The author, a Mr Alexander de Laborde, whom his translator has converted into an elegant scholar and erudite antiquary, possessed of a highly cultivated taste, and extensive information on all literary and philosophical subjects,' is editor of an expensive, showy publication, called Voyage Pittoresque de l'Espagne, which was undertaken, some years ago, by the banking-house of Laborde at Paris, as a commercial speculation, to be executed by artists paid and employed under its direction. As the superintendance of a publication of this sort, which was to derive its chief value, not from the authors that compiled, but from the artists that decorated and embellished it, could add but little to Mr Laborde's literary reputation, he was induced, while preparing it for the press, to employ himself in collecting materials for a work of a more respectable description, in which he proposed to treat, not only of the present state of Spain, but of the causes that, in past times, had influenced the progress of its industry, civilization and prosperity. Unfortunately, however, for this literary project, he was interrupted in the midst of it by the revolution of Bayonne, the nomination of Joseph Bonaparte to the vacant throne of Spain, and the unexpected resistance of the Spanish nation to a change of dynasty, which they foresaw must reduce their country to be a mere, dependancy of France. The interest which these extraordinary events produced throughout Europe, and the sympathy so generally felt, even in France, for a people that had the courage or temerity to engage in so D 3 unequal For unequal a contest, excited the regret of Mr Laborde, that work was not further advanced to its conclusion. nate,' he exclaims, would be the author, who was prepared this moment to trace the events which, through every period, b contributed their influence in the fate of this monarchy.' regret was useless. So far from being ready to publish a losophical and political history' of Spain, he had not even co pleted his statistical account of that country. It would h taken me three years,' he observes, to have executed this w tolerably, which it was necessary to finish in a few months. I had delayed it, it would have been of no use. As a merc tile speculation, we admit that it would have been of less val had Mr Laborde's publication been kept back till it was rende fit to meet the public eye. Possibly the fate of Spain might h been decided before it could have appeared; and certainly, in t case, it would have experienced a less favourable reception France, and might not have passed, in a short time, thro several editions. But, whatever it might have lost in the r dity of its sale, we will venture to assure Mr Laborde tha would have gained in the permanence of its reputation. It mi not have been published till it had become to Spain what antient ordinances of war, the arrêts of Parliament, and the berties of the Gallican church are now to France: But it wo have been purged of anachronisms and historical blunders; fr from inconsistencies and contradictions; its errors corrected; deficiencies supplied; its superfluities retrenched; and its giarisms more skilfully concealed, or, if that was impossi more honestly acknowledged. Mr Laborde's work consists of an introduction, which oc pies about one fourth of his first volume, and is by far the b written and most entertaining part of his book; of short di tions for travelling in Spain, which are chiefly taken from Fisch of some interesting observations on the climate and physical g graphy of that country, furnished by M. Humboldt; of a descr tive itinerary of its provinces, which fills more than two volu and a half, and is incredibly tedious, flat and uninteresting, wi out accuracy or fidelity to recommend it; and, lastly, of diss tations on the population, manufactures, commerce, governme laws, literature and manners of the country, which form two concluding volumes. Each of these divisions requires that should make such remarks upon it, as to enable our readers appreciate the value of Mr Laborde's performance. In his introductory difcourfe, Mr Laborde follows the opin of Capmany, that Spain has been at no period fo populous, uftrious, commercial and opulent, as at the clofe of the centu century. It will no doubt,' he fays, appear ftrange to affert, that Spain was never more flourishing, better cultivated, or, perhaps, more populous, than at prefent.' He acknowledges, in a fubfequent part of his book, that the fame view of the fub. ject had been taken by Capmany; ‡ and in a note annexed to his Introduction, he mentions the qüestiones criticas of that author, as a work which had been extremely useful to him. § But, when it is confidered, that he has not only adopted the fyftem of Capmany, but borrowed all the facts and proofs that he brings in fupport of it, from the works of that acute, learned and accurate hiftorian, we cannot but think, that fome more full and explicit acknowledgment was due to one from whom he had taken fo much. As the matter ftands in Mr Laborde's book, he affumes. the merit of an original inquirer, and claims the indulgence of his countrymen for combating ideas generally received;' when he is, in fact, the mere copyift and tranflator of the Spanish hiftorian, whom he only mentions incidentally, as one entertaining the fame opinion with himself. But, whether difpofed to do juftice to the original merit of Capmany, or inclined to take the credit of his inquiries to himfelf, it was at least to be expected, that, having adopted the fystem of that author, he would have spared us the repetition of those anile tales and extravagant exaggerations, with which the ordinary books on Spain are ufually ftuffed. It was not, therefore, without furprise that we found him affirming, in a fubfequent part of his book, that, in the 16th century, Toledo had 200,000 inhabitants, and that Seville contained 16,000 filk looms, 130,oco filk weavers, and a population of 300,000 fouls. We difcovered, to our aftonishment, that though Mr Laborde had adopted Capmany's opinion in his Introduction, and in fome other parts of his book, he continued, in other parts, to affure us, with the utmoft gravity, that the filk manufactures of Spain employed 1,100,000 perfons in the 16th century; ** and to repeat fuch abfurd fables, as that 300,000 Moors quitted Seville, when that city was furrendered to St Ferdinand; †† that in the kingdom of Granada, at the time of its conqueft, there were three millions of inhabitants, 400,000 of whom lived within the walls of Granada; ‡‡ and that Cordova, under the Caliphs, contained a million, and Tarragona, under the Romans, two millions and a half of inhabitants. §§ That Mr Laborde, even before he D 4 * See our review of Capmany's book, No. 20, p. 422. Introd. p. 37. Vol. II. p. 45 & 55. tt Vol. II. p. 22. Vol. IV. p. 11. he met with Capmany's book, fhould ever have credited fuch idle fictions, gave us no favourable opinion of his judgment; but that, after embracing the fyftem of Capmany, he fhould retain and publish these fpecimens of his former labours, could arife only from that mercantile avidity, which had made him hurry on the publication of his book, in order to catch the market before it was closed. The inconfiftencies and contradictions are infinite, into which this hafte to come out with his book has plunged him. He tells us, in one place, that the population of Catalonia, Rouffillon and Cerdagne, did not exceed 365,000 fouls, in 1368;* and yet he would make us believe, in another part, that only eighty years before that period, the city of Tarragona alone contained 350,000 inhabitants. Navarre has at prefent little more than 220,000 inhabitants; but Mr Laborde would perfuade us, that, in the middle of the 14th century, its population amounted to 800,00Q fouls. He ftates the population of Spain at ten millions in 1688, and at eight millions in 1700; making a diminution of two millions, or of one-fifth of the whole population of the kingdom, in twelve years; during which the country fuffered neither from peftilence nor from famine. But his credulity with refpect to numbers is without bounds. No affertion ftartles him, if it is brought forward in the fhape of figures. He eftimates the Jews expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella at 800,000; and reckons that two millions of Morifcoes were compelled to leave their country by the impolitic edicts of Philip III. On this laft fubject, however, he is more excufeable in his errors; for the greatest authors have been equally carelefs and credulous when they touched upon it. Numbers fwell in their hands in a manner almoft incredible. Zurita, who lived in the time of Charles V., tells us, on the authority of a contemporary author, that the number of Jews expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Ifabella was 170,000; though fome authors, he adds, have magnified their number to 400,000. Mariana takes the number of 170,000 from Zurita, but converts it into families; making the exiles amount to 170,000 families, or 800,000 individuals ; and later authors, improving on Mariana, have changed his 800,000 individuals into 800,000 families; augmenting, by that means, the total number of exiles to near four millions of fouls. Exaggeration has not been lefs bufy with the Moriscoes. From public regifters it appears, that the Morifcoes expelled from Valencia, Aragon, Andalucia, Granada, Murcia, and Extremadura, did not much exceed 360,000 individuals; ** and Vol. IV. p. 27. + Vol. IV. p. 6. * Vol. I. p. 105. ** Bleda, p. 1041-1060. and allowing 50,000 for Catalonia, the whole number banished may be reckoned at 410,000; instead of 900,000, which is the common calculation, or of two millions, the number affigned by Mr Laborde. It has been a common opinion, that the discovery of America was prejudicial to Spain; though there are not wanting authors who have maintained the contrary with great plaufibility and force of argument. Mr Laborde is of the latter party, and undertakes to prove, that the discovery of America was never injurious either to the population or industry of Spain. * He obferves farcaftically of his opponents, that there was fomething acute in maintaining that the country of gold had produced poverty; '+ and adds, that, on the contrary, if any thing could have roufed the Spaniards from their beloved indolence, it was the discovery of a new continent, which, providing a more prompt allurement to fpeculation, opened a new career to all adventurers, and taught them, that the advantages of commerce and property are greater than thofe of a military and wandering life.' This reafoning is not without plaufibility; but when we look into facts, and recur to history, we find little to countenance or support it. It was not by their example that the adventurers, who difcovered and conquered the new world, could infpire their countrymen with the love of induftry, or wean them from their immoderate attachment to the unfettled habits and precarious enjoyments of a military life, Thefe adventurers acquired wealth, not by induftry, but by rapine; not by cultivating the foil, but by plundering the cultivators. It was not by their skill and labour in peaceful purfuits, but by their fagacity and boldness in military enterprizes, that they amaffed thofe riches, which dazzled the eyes and excited the emulation of their countrymen. Mining was the only branch of industry with which they were acquainted; but mining was in their hands a gaming adventure, in which they embarked without capital or knowledge,-allared by the riches, which fometimes rewarded, and undeterred by the ruin that more frequently attended such speculations. Nor was there fuch demand for her manufactures in the new world as could give, for fome time at leaft, any confiderable ftimulus to the industry of the mother country; for we are informed, that fixty years after the difcovery of America, the number of Spaniards in all its provinces did not exceed 15,000. § Gold and filver, it is true, were poured in abundance into Spain; but when we confider through what hands they paffed, and in what objects they were confumed, it ceafes to furprife us that they *Introd. p. 6. were Ibid. p. 74. |