Snow-White Linen, Indeed, Constitutes The Principal Feature In The
Robber Foppery Of Spain.
Neither coat nor jacket is worn over the
shirt, the sleeves of which are wide and flowing, only a waistcoat
of green or blue silk, with an abundance of silver buttons, which
are intended more for show than use, as the vest is seldom
buttoned.
Then there are wide trousers, something after the
Turkish fashion; around the waist is a crimson faja or girdle, and
about the head is tied a gaudily coloured handkerchief from the
loom of Barcelona; light pumps and silk stockings complete the
robber's array. This dress is picturesque enough, and well adapted
to the fine sunshiny weather of the Peninsula; there is a dash of
effeminacy about it, however, hardly in keeping with the robber's
desperate trade. It must not, however, be supposed that it is
every robber who can indulge in all this luxury; there are various
grades of thieves, some poor enough, with scarcely a rag to cover
them. Perhaps in the crowded prison of Madrid, there were not more
than twenty who exhibited the dress which I have attempted to
describe above; these were jente de reputacion, tip-top thieves,
mostly young fellows, who, though they had no money of their own,
were supported in prison by their majas and amigas, females of a
certain class, who form friendships with robbers, and whose glory
and delight it is to administer to the vanity of these fellows with
the wages of their own shame and abasement.
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