to the "rough music", common still in
some parts of England, the offending
husband or wife was caricatured upon the
stage. A poet was sent for (and every
Basque is more or less of a rhymester) to
whom every attainable detail was related,
and whose business it then was to compose
a kind of sarcastic drama for the occasion,
and as the identity of the offender was
made clear by the actor who personated
him mimicking, as exactly as he could, his
dress, voice, and manner, the unlucky
spouse who had drawn upon himself or
herself this stinging punishment, might
well vow amendment for the future.

Mock courts of justice used also to be
held, for the purpose of putting down
social vices, and testing the eloquence of
the young men. A grand procession, with
music, dancers, &c., inaugurated the day.
The actors representing the persons
concerned in the misdeed were drawn slowly
along in a carriage, preceded by an usher,
mounted on donkey-back, with his face
tailward, and surrounded by harlequins
and policinelli. Arrived at the court, the
prisoner was accused and defended at
great length by two advocates; solemn
messages were despatched to the senate,
the ministers, and even the king,
entreating advice. At length the case was
decided; the accused was convicted, and
sentenced to death; he escaped, but was
heroically recaptured, and the sentence was
on the point of execution, when a courier
was beheld arriving in breathless haste,
who proves to be the bearer of a royal
pardon. This usually terminated the
proceedings, and judge and advocates were
wont to give place to the musicians, and
to wind up the evening with a dance.

Women and girls do not, as a rule, take
part in the acting of these pastorals,
though in private houses they also
sometimes dance the mutchico; but they are
by no means behind their husbands and
brothers in energy and fine health. They
take their full share in the labours of the
field, and it is a saying among the Spanish
Basques that the country is never better
cultivated than when, all the men being
gone to the wars, it is left to the sole
management of the women. Their strength
being thus developed, their children come
into the world with the greatest ease, and
more than one baby has passed its first day
of life in the shade of the tree beneath
which it first saw the light, while its
mother resumed her work. In general,
however, a week's rest is allowed; but the
old and strange custom of "la couvade"
does not even now seem wholly abandoned
in the more remote districts. This custom
consists in the mother of a new-born
child giving up her place to its father,
who remains in bed with the infant for a
period varying from a few hours to four
days, during which time he feasts with his
friends, while the wife cooks and waits
upon the party. It is a moot point among
the curious how this extraordinary custom
originated

The first striking peculiarity in the
Basque succession law is the rigid rule of
primogeniture, applied "without distinction
of sex or person (noble or not), of
property, movable or fixed, private or
common (between a married couple), in
direct and collateral line, to relatives of all
degrees, and to their descendants and
representatives for ever." Should the heir
consent to the alienation of property under
pressing need, the liberty to redeem it
remains with him and his successors, in
Soule, during forty years, in Labourt in
perpetuity; and in old times, if a stranger
acquired fixed property among the French
Basques, every purse was opened to assist
in effacing, by means of this right, what
was regarded as a national disgrace. The
future of the eldest of the family thus
secured, the younger children are almost
without rights; and they are considered in
the light of born servitors, or, as they used
to be called, slaves; though, according to
Bela, emancipation is possible at five-and-
twenty. In the valley of Barèges they
take no part in the municipal elections,
and, in general, the rights and privileges
of citizens are denied them. Their parents
or relations put aside some small sum for
them, which is strictly prevented from
encroaching on the rights of the eldest,
and should the younger brother or sister
refuse to serve until marriage in the house
of the fortunate heir, or, leaving it, to
bring home all gain elsewhere earned, even
this slight provision may be withheld. A
younger brother, in fact, is the unpaid
servant of his eldest brother, or sister,
until his marriage; should he take a
younger daughter for his wife, he cannot
become a citizen of her birth-place; but
he acquires a certain degree of
independence. His goods and those of his
wife are, at least, in common, although in
some parts the wife is free to enter into
contracts without the sanction of her
husband, the fulfilment of the engagement
being, however, deferred until his death.