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                          THE MAGIC OF SPAIN




                               THE MAGIC
                               OF SPAIN

                         BY AUBREY F. G. BELL

                        Or vous aurez loisir
                        Cheminant en Espagne
                        Bien que maintes montagnes
                        Il vous faudra monter.
                             _Pilgrims’ Song._

                  LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD,
                 NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY. MCMXII.


         WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.




NOTE


This is rather a collection of stray notes on Spain than a connected
study--of notes from many pleasant hours of Spanish literature and
travel, but perhaps of too individual an interest to appear without some
apology. No reference will be found to those great social and political
problems which disturb Spanish life. To fill the idler moments of a
Spanish holiday, and possibly to help the reader to feel that “parfum du
terroir” which pervades Spain, is the unambitious object of these pages.
Better still, if he turns from them in dissatisfaction to authoritative
writers on Spanish life and letters, and to the magic-land of Spanish
literature itself. For permission to reprint some of these short essays
in slightly altered form the author has to thank the Editors of the
_Morning Post_, the _Outlook_, and the _Queen_.




PREFACE


It is not easy in a few words to account for the strange Oriental spell
that Spain has exercised over many minds nor to explain the potency of
its attraction. For indeed the great Peninsula possesses a special spice
and flavour. It has not the immemorial culture of Italy, nor the
