The Carnival In Spain

I'rom thu Atlnmic Ui nllily for Airil The truo Cumival survivos in its naivc purity only in Spain. It has taded in Home into a romping day of clown's play. In l'aris it is littlo moro than a busier soason tor dreary and professional vice. Elsowhcre all over tho world the Cumival gayeties are confinod to the saloon. But in Madrid tho wholecity, from grandee to Oldwaincr, goos with childliko earncstness into the eiijoymont of tho hour. Tho Corso beslis in the Prado on the last S.unday before Lont, and lasts tour days. From noon to night tho graat drive is fillcd with a doublé line of carriagos two iuiles long, and botwoen them are tho landaus of the favorcd hundreds who have the privilege of driving up and down tree from tho law of the roaef! This right is acquired by the payment of ten dollars i day to city charities, and produces somo fiftecn thousand dollars every Camival. In these carriages all the society of Madrid may be soon ; and on foot, darting in and out among the hoofs of tho huvses, are tho TOVEkg men of Castile in overy conceivablo variety of absurd and fantast - io dÍ8guise. Thare aro of course piratea and Indians and Turks, monkg, prophete, and kings, but the favorito ooetumes seem to be tho Devil and tho Englishman. öonietimes the Yankee is attempted with indifferent suocoss. Ho weara a ribbonwreathed Italian bandit'e hut, an enibroidorod jacket, slashed buckskin trousers, and a widc crimson belt, a dress you would at once recognize as univoi"sal in Boston. Most of the maskers k&OW by naino at least the occupants of tho caniages. Thore is always room for a mask iu a coach. They leap in, swarming over tho back or tííiiivA x'ucyiílttKohrc-inbsi'AitriaiiiéTro-c" I : . i - oí the inmost secrots of your soul. There is alwaya something impressive in the talk of an unknown voice, but especially is this so in Madrid, whero evcry one scoras his own business, and devotos himself rigorously to his ncighbor's. Theso shriekiiig young monks and devilkins often surprise a half-formed thought in the heart of a fair Gastilian and drag it out into day and derision. No one has tho right to be offonded. Duchesses are callTu ! Isabel ! by ehin-dimpled school-boys, and the proudest beautics in Spain accept bonbons trom plebeian hands. It is true most of the maskers are of the botter class. Some of tho costumes aro verj' rich and expensive, of satin and velvet heavy with trold. I have soen a distinguishcd matigt in the guiso of a gigantic oanary ttird, hopping briskly about in the mud n-ith bearaggied tail-feathers, Bhrieking trell-bred sarcasms with his yellow beak. The cbarm of the Madrid Caniival is this, hat it is respectad and belioved in. The best and fnhvst pass the day in the Corso, andeaUantyoung gentlemen think . Lt worth wliile to dross eUiliorately for a few hours of harmless and tpiritudU intrigue. A society that enjoys a holiday so thoroughly has gomething in it letter than the blasé cynicism of more civilized capitals. These young fellows talk like the lovers of the old romancos. I have ncver hoard pret tier perioda of devotion than from soino gentío savage, stivtchnl out on tlie front seat of a laudau onder the pcering cycs of his lady, safe in his disguiso if not self-betrayed, pouring out his young soul in passionato praise and prayer; around theni the laughter and the cries, the cracking of whips, the roll of wheels, the presence of countloss thousands, and yet these two young hearts alone undor the pale winter sky. The rest of the Continent has outgrowu tho truc Carnival. It is picasant to sec this gay relie of simpler times, when youth waa young. No one here is too " swell " for it. You may find a duko in the disguise of a chimney sweep, or a buttiher boy in the thess of a Crusadcr. There are none so groat that. their dignity would suffer by a day's rcckless fooleiy, and thero are none so poor that they cannot tako the prioe of a dinner to buy a mask and cheat their misery by mingling for a time with their botters in the wild license of the Camival.