Some of the towns and districts of this province are distinguished by local customs and amusements, as the mondas of Talavera de la Reyna, the festival or the nights of Prado, the mass of Aginaldo, and the custom of burn ing Judas in effigy. The guitar is their favourite instru ment; but the paridero and zambomba are also much in use, and are peculiar to Castile ; the former is generally accompanied with sequidillas, and the latter with the voice, Inn is used only from All-Saints day to Christmas. The music of both is harsh and monotonous. Of the na tional dances, which constitute a principal amusement of the Castilians, the quaracha is pecuiiar to themselves. It is danced by a single person to tile sound of the gui tar, and the steps are formal and precise, greatly resem bling the Dutch minuet.
Toe popui ttion of New Castile hears no proportion to its ext.( ot ; and according to Laborde, lins diminishing during the last century.. 01 in uy flourish ing villages, scarcely a vestige renrai,s ; and 195 desert ed chapels perpetuate the names of as mar y once popu lous hamlets, which have been long left wit, out an in habitant. Accordiin; to the estimates of 1787 and 1788, the total inhabitants of the province, without including the monks, amounted to 940,649, among whom were reckoned 51.1.3 priests, 8794 monks and nuns, 12,687 nobles, 2123 ad% ocates and writers, 2859 students, and 46,742 domestics.
New Castile has two Cathedral chapters, five collegi ate chapters, two abbeys, four establishments of military orders, 1301 parishes, 375 religious houses, 108 :amid tals, eight monks hospitals, a supreme military govern ment, four provincial military governments, four provin cial intendants, three universities, fifty schoens, six cities, 754 towns, and 332 villages. Its chief places are Ma drid, Toledo, Cuenza, Talavera de la Reyna, Illescas, Zurita, Tremblequa, Villa Nueva de los Infantes, Con suegra, Alcolea, Guadala.xara, and Alcala the Henares.
This province, early in the fifth century, was conquer ed from the Romans by Altholphus, king of the Aluni, who fixed his residence at Toledo, and laid the founda tion of a Gothic dynasty, which lasted for 300 veal s. and ended with Roderigo, who fell ill the hAttle of Xeres in 711, wnen opposing the invasion of the Moors. 'Phis battle was followed by the subversion and desolation of the Gothic empire ; and this province continued tinder the subjection of these intruders till its reunion wit Ocd Castile in the llth century. See Old C AST ILK, and SPA I N. See also Laborde's View of Spain, vol. iii. p. 56-324; and Swinhurne's Travels through Spain, vol. ii. p. 114- 243. (J)