The flowers were every gay autumnal
sort, especially dahlias, sometimes made into stiff bouquets, perhaps
for church offerings. There were mounds of chestnuts, four or five feet
high and wide; and these flowers and fruits filled the interior of the
market, while the stalls for the flesh and fish were on the outside.
There seemed more sellers than buyers; here and there were ladies
buying, but it is said that the mistresses commonly send their maids for
the daily provision.
Ordinarily I should say you could not go amiss for your profit and
pleasure in Seville, but there are certain imperative objects of
interest like the Casa de Pilatos which you really have to do. Strangely
enough, it is very well worth doing, for, though it is even more
factitiously Moorish than the Alcazar, it is of almost as great beauty
and of greater dignity. Gardens, galleries, staircases, statues,
paintings, all are interesting, with a mingled air of care and neglect
which is peculiarly charming, though perhaps the keener sensibilities,
the morbider nerves may suffer from the glare and hardness of the tiling
which render the place so wonderful and so exquisite. One must complain
of something, and I complain of the tiling; I do not mind the house
being supposed like the house of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem.
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