One wonders, not that Spanish men grow bald so early, and not bald only, but absolutely hairless, but that they ever have any hair at all; for after all the troubles of their infancy their heads are regularly shaved, or the hair cut off close to the skin all the summer.  On the principle of cutting off the heads of dandelions as soon as they appear, as a way of exterminating them, the surprising thing is that the hair does not become too much discouraged even to try to sprout again.  Funny little objects they look, with only a dark mark on the skin where the hair ought to grow in summer, and at most a growth about as long as velvet in the winter, until they are quite big boys!  The girls generally wear their hair so tightly plaited, as soon as it is long enough to allow of plaiting at all, that they can scarcely close their eyes.  Young Spanish women, however, have magnificent hair; though they, too, grow bald when they are old, in a way that is never seen in England.

CHAPTER XV

MUSIC, ART, AND THE DRAMA

One is apt to forget how much the history of music owes to Spain.  The country was for so long considered to be in a state of chronic political disturbance that few foreigners took up their abode there, except such as had business interests, and for the rest the mere traveller never became acquainted with the real life of the people, or entered into their intellectual amusements.  It is quite a common thing to find the tourist entering in his valuable notes on a country which he has not the knowledge of the world to understand:  “The Spaniards are not a musical people,” and remaining quite satisfied with his own dictum.  Yet Albert Soubies, in his Histoire de la Musique, says, in the volume devoted to Spain:  “Spain is the country where, in modern times, musical art has been cultivated with the greatest distinction and originality.  In particular, the school of religious music in Spain, thanks to Morales, Guerrero, and Victoria, will bear comparison with all that has been produced elsewhere of the highest and most cultivated description.  The national genius has also shown itself in another direction, in works which, like the ancient eglogas—­the contemporary zarzuelas of Lope de Vega and Calderon—­and the torradillas of the last century shine brilliantly by the verve, the gaiety, the strength, and delicacy of their comic sentiment....  The works of this class are happily inspired by popular art, which in this country abounds in characteristic elements.  One notes how much the rhythm and melody display native colour, charm, and energy.  In many cases, along with vestiges of Basque or of Celtic origin, they show something of an Oriental character, due to the long sojourn of the Moors in this country.”