II

THE former miss Angel, left with such a large family, now proved herself something more than a beautiful and disconsolate widow. Determined to make her small means do all for her children that would have been possible during her husband's lifetime, she went to settle in Seville, resolved that the little pension which se enjoyed by virtue of her late husband's position, and her own tiny fortune, should give them all an education at the University there.
    In this short history we are concerned with the story of only one of the González-Angel boys. He was the younger of the five, and his full name Don Manuel Maria González Angel. According to Spanish custom the children of a marriage take their mother's surname as well as that of their father. Manuel Maria's father was a González and his mother an Angel, with the result that his surname became "González-Angel", or, more properly, "González y Angel".
    In view of his subsequent achievements it is no unfairness to the memory of Don Manuel Maria to say that as a youth he was inclined to be looked upon as the failure of the family. His brothers had all done brilliantly in their studies (in due course becoming distinguished lawyers and doctors), but the youngest was very delicate-seemingly the problem child that usually presents itself among the members of any large family.
    He was unable to study very much, and by the time he was sixteen or seventeen it looked as if his brothers had already left him far behind in the race of life.
    It was, therefore, with something like gratitude and relief that his mother accepted an offer to send him to Cadiz, as clerk to a house of bankers and merchants, Lassanta & Co.
    It is to be suspected that his mother regarded this post rather from the "any job is better than none" point of view, and it was, consequently, as much a surprise to her as anyone else to find that young Manuel Maria soon proved himself to possess uncommon commercial abilities. While ably filling his position as clerk, and in spite of ill health, he had soon built up quite a considerable commission business of his own with foreign houses, placing all kinds of groceries and other commodities in the establishments of Cadiz.
    It must be remembered that this business was started with practically no capital at all, and there is an amusing story told of how its complete ruin was averted in its early days by the wits of his mother.
    Manuel Maria had scraped together every peseta he possessed and pledged his credit to the utmost limit in order to finance a cargo of potatoes which he was shipping from Huelva to Cadiz. Disaster overtook the vessel just off the latter port. The cargo was completely lost, it seemed, and with it Manuel Maria's small capital and credit.
    But that resourceful woman, the former Miss Angel, was quickly in charge of the situation.
    "Bring me a bucket of water and a handful of potatoes," she commanded her astonished servant.
    A moment's experiment showed her what she wanted to know, Potatoes float!
    Within an hour a fishing vessel went to the scene of the wreck with nets, and after a few hours' work succeeded in rescuing more than three parts of the vegetables from the waves.
    In this way her son's capital was increased and his credit saved-for an investment which was later to prove one of the wisest a man ever made.
    As an astute young business man, always on the look-out for new business, it is not surprising that the young Cadiz clerk at this stage turned his attention to the nearby town of Jerez-de-la-Frontera. Under the influence of a heavy foreign demand-chiefly from England-the wine business had been booming for some years, with the result that some of the wealthiest merchants in Spain were to be found among those engaged in the export of Jerez wines, which we call Sherry.
    At the present time, when so-called "sherry" from all parts of the world is foisted on the public in the hope that they will be beguiled into taking it for the genuine article, a few reflections on the origin of the name of this popular wine provide interesting study. There are many who maintain that its oldest-known English form, i.e., "Sherris Sack" (the name used by Shakespeare) is a corruption of "Jerez Sec" (those familiar with the Spanish language will know that the "J" is pronounced like an English "H," while the "Z" is soft).
    This is partly, but not altogether, true. There is even stronger evidence that "Jerez Wine" and "Sherry" are synonymous. The town of Jerez-de-la-Frontera is, in its origin, Moorish, and was first called by the invaders from North Africa "Sherish Filistin," because it was a settlement allotted to a tribe of Philistines. The word "Sherish" is, therefore, in fact, the common root of the name of the wine and of the name of the town of its origin. If anything, the word "Sherry" is far more like the original Moorish name of the town than its present-day rendering,
    All this is not only interesting historically, but has a very important modern significance, for it proves beyond all doubt that the name "Sherry" as applied to wine means, not only "wine from Spain," but wine from that ancient town hitherto called "Sherish Filistin."
    While the author has no wish to quarrel with any other wine, he does submit most strongly that in face of such indisputable evidence as this, such products as "South African Sherry," and "British Sherry " are pure contradictions in terms, and equally as misleading to the unfortunate general public as "British Port" or "Australian Champagne," two terms which cannot be made use of in face of the laws protecting these two wines from their names being used in connection with other than the genuine wines of the Oporto and Champagne districts.
    For some extraordinary reason Sherry is not similarly protected, in spite of the indisputable proof that it has always clearly meant "The Wine of Sherish" (or Jerez). Apart from such historical evidence, Sherry is unquestionably one of the most difficult of all wines to imitate. One says this in spite of the knowledge that certain interested parties are now stating the contrary, but the proof of the wine is always in the tasting, and one is forced to the conclusion that the wish to imitate (in view of the abounding demand for the wine at this time) is father of the statement that a passable substitute can, in fact, be produced.
    And now we return to the twenty- three-year-old Mr. Gonzalez and to Jerez-de-la-Frontera as he first saw it.
    The author of "A Handbook of Spain," who visited that town at the period of which we are speaking, found Jerez "a straggling, ill-built, ill drained Moorish city, with a population of 32,000." Describing the "Colegiata"-one of the proudest possessions of the town-he says that "It is a vile chirugueresque; the architect did not stumble on one sound rule, or deviate at all into the common-sense."
    Since the author of this guide devoted columns of praise to good Sherry Wine, we may forgive him his disparagement of the town itself, even though most people will disagree heartily with his views and quarrel to no small extent with his dates,
    That wonderful Collegiate Church, whose architecture is so witheringly attacked, was not begun in the late seventeenth century, as the guide tells us, but bears many traces of Moorish architecture, and is, in fact, the resuscitation of the great mosque which stood on the site when the star of the Moor was in the ascendant in Spain. There are many churches in this part of the country which owe their origin to the mosques of the Moors, and in Jerez alone we have the Collegiate Church referred to, and the churches of St. John, St. Luke, St, Matthew, and St. Denys.
    St. Denys, incidentally, is the patron saint of Jerez-a matter of some wonder to those who regard him solely as the patron of France and know the story of his execution on the "Mons Martirum" of Paris, now called Montmartre. Some "Jerezanos" even go so far as to claim that it was in their Andalusian town that the Saint walked for some distance with his head in his hands, but there can be no doubt that this legend relates exclusively to his death in Paris.
    St. Denys (Spanish, Dionisio) was chosen as patron for the simple reason that it was on his feast-day, October 9th, 1264, that the Moors were finally, and for all time, driven from the town. For this feat it received (in common with many others in the district) the title of "The Most Noble and Loyal City of Jerez-de-la-Frontera." Incidentally the bravery and courage of the Spaniards in resisting and, at last overcoming, the dominion of the Sultan of Morocco resulted in the Pope of that time granting perpetual dispensation to all Spaniards from abstinence on Fridays. Catholics of Spanish nationality, no matter in what part of the world they live, still regard that dispensation as one of their greatest privileges.
    But whatever its ancient traditions, its historical monuments, and its proud story of former conquests, there is no doubt that Jerez-de-la-Frontera in 1830 was a town very much behind the times (even for Spain of those days). Roads connecting it with Cadiz and other important places in the neighbourhood were practically impassable at certain times of the year, and the home of Sherry Wine, which is now but a forty-eight-hour railway journey(or four days by sea) from London took at least three weeks to reach.
    The "Journal" of a certain Mr. James Busby, who paid a visit to Jerez in the year 1831, is very enlightening in this respect. He had come to Europe from New South Wales to study the methods employed in the production of Sherry, with a view to seeing what could be done to exploit the wine-growing potentialities of Australia. Under the date of Monday, September 26th, 1831, we read: