> 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ vfL^r 
 
 ^z- 
 
 ^ 
 
V 
 
Gatezvay, Burgos. 
 
IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN 
 
 IN 
 
 1866. 
 
 BY 
 
 LADY HEKBEET. 
 
 WITH FIFTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 EICHARI) BENTLEY, NEW RUELINGTON STREET, 
 
 ^lublisl^cr in (Orbinarij to i>)u Pnjcstij. 
 
 MDCCCLXVII. 
 

 LONDON 
 PniNTED nV SrOTTISWOODE AND CO. 
 
 KEW-STUEET SQUAHE 
 
TO 
 
 THE LADY GEOEGIANA FULLERTON, 
 
 WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED 
 
 MORE THAN ANY ONE IN ENGLAND 
 
 TO GIVE A HEALTHY AND RELIGIOUS TONE TO THE 
 
 POPULAR LITERATURE OF THE DAY, 
 
 AND WHOSE WORKS ARE AN INDEX OF HER HOLY HIDDEN LIFE, 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 
 Oct. 26, 1866. 
 
 3G5812 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAr. PAQK 
 
 I. . . . ST. SEBASTIAN AND BURGOS .... 1 
 
 11 MADRID 22 
 
 III CORDOVA AND MALAGA .... 39 
 
 IV GRANADA 35 
 
 V GIBR.ALTAR AND CADIZ .... 79 
 
 VI SEVILLE ....... 95 
 
 VII EXCURSIONS NEAR SEVILLE . . .133 
 
 VIII THE CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS 
 
 OF SEVILLE 152 
 
 IX THE ESCURIAL AND TOLEDO . . . 178 
 
 X ZARAGOSSA AND SEGOVIA . . . .207 
 
 XI AVILA AND ALVA 227 
 
 XII ZAMORA AND V.iLLADOLID . . . .248 
 
 APPENDIX 2Co 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 GATEWAY, BUKGOS ...... Fronttsjnece 
 
 MADEID ....... TofacciMgc 22 
 
 MOSQUE AT CORDOVA .... „ 39 
 
 MALAGA „ 48 
 
 ALAMEDA, CADIZ „ 88 
 
 GIEALDA, SEVILLE „ O.*) 
 
 ALCAZAR, SEVILLE „ 96 
 
 GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR .... „ 99 
 
 DOORWAY OF CATHEDRAL AT SEVILLE . „ 116 
 
 ITALICA, SEVILLE ,,133 
 
 ST. THERESA STANDING FOR HER PICTURE . „ 166 
 
 CHURCH OF LA CRUZ, TOLEDO . . . „ 202 
 
 WEST DOOR OF CATHEDRAL OF AVILA . „ 227 
 
 PALACE, GUADALAJARA .... ,,238 
 
 APOSTLES' DOOR OF CATHEDRAL, BURGOS . „ 258 
 
IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ST. SEBASTIAN AND BURGOS. 
 
 What is it that we seek for, we Englishmen 
 and Enghshwomen, who, year by year, about the 
 month of November, are seen crowding the Folke- 
 stone and Dover steam-boats, with that unmis- 
 takable ' going abroad ' look of travelling — bags, 
 and wideawakes, and bundles of wraps, and alpaca 
 gowns ? I think it may be comprised in one 
 word : — sunshine. This dear old land of ours, 
 with all its luxuries, and all its comforts, and all 
 its associations of home and people, still lacks one 
 thing — and that is climate. For climate means 
 health to one half of us ; and health means power 
 of enjoyment ; for, without it, the most perfect of 
 homes (and nowhere is that word understood 
 so well as in England) is spoiled and saddened. 
 So, in pursuit of this great boon, a widow lady 
 
 B 
 
ST. SEBASTIAN. 
 
 and her children, with a doctor and two other 
 j&'iends, started off in the winter of 186-, in spite 
 of ominous warnings of revohitions, and grim 
 stories of brigands, for that comparatively nnvi- 
 sited country called Spain. As far as St. Sebas- 
 tian the journey was absolutely without interest 
 or adventure of any kind. The express train 
 dashed them past houses and villages, and pic- 
 turesque old towns with fine church towers, from 
 Paris to Bordeaux, and fi'om Bordeaux to Bayonne, 
 and so on past the awful frontier, the scene of so 
 many passages-at-arms between officials and ladies' 
 maids, till they found themselves crossing the 
 picturesque bridge which leads to the little town 
 of St. Sebastian, with its beach of fine sand, 
 Avashed by the long billowy waA^es of the Atlantic 
 on the one hand, and its riant, well-cultivated 
 little Basque farms on the other. As to the town 
 itself, time and the prefect may eventually make 
 it a second Biarritz, as in every direction lodging- 
 houses are springing up, till it will become what 
 one of Dickens' heroes would call ' the most sea- 
 bathingest place ' that ever was ! But at present 
 it is a mass of rouoh stone and lime and scaf- 
 folding ; and the one straight street leading from 
 the hotel to the Church of S. Maria, with the 
 castle above, are almost all that remains of the 
 
ST. SEBASTIAN. 
 
 old town which stood so many sieges and was 
 looked upon as the key of Northern Spain. 
 The hotel appeared but tolerably comfortable to 
 our travellers, fresh from the luxuries of Paris. 
 When they returned, four or &ve months later, 
 they thought it a perfect paradise of comfort 
 and cleanliness. After wandering through the 
 narrow streets, and walking into one or two un- 
 interesting churches, it was resolved to climb up 
 to the citadel which commands the town, and to 
 which the ascent is by a fair zig-zag road, like 
 that which leads to Dover Castle. A small gar- 
 rison remains in the keep, which is also a mili- 
 tary prison. The officers received our party very 
 courteously, inviting them to walk on the battle- 
 ments, and climb up to the flag-staff, and offering 
 them the use of their large telescope for the view, 
 which is certainly magnificent, especially towards 
 the sea. There is a tiny chapel in the fortress, in 
 which the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. It was 
 pleasant to see the sentinel presenting arms to IT 
 each time his round brought him past the ever 
 open door. On the hill-side, a few monumental 
 slabs, let in here and there into the rock, and one 
 or two square tombs, mark the graves of the 
 Englishmen killed during the siege, and also in the 
 Don Carlos revolution. Of the siege itself, and 
 
 B 2 
 
ST. SEBASTIAN AND LOYOLA. 
 
 of the historical interest attached to St. Sebastian, 
 Ave will say nothing : are they not written in the 
 book of the chronicles of Napier and Napoleon ? 
 The following morning, after a fine and 
 crowded service at the Church of S. Maria, where 
 they first saw the beautiful Spanish custom of 
 the women being all veiled, and in black, two of 
 the party started at seven in the morning, in a 
 light carriage, for Loyola. The road throughout 
 is beautiful, reminding one of the Tyrol, with 
 picturesque villages, old Roman bridges, quaint 
 manoi'-houses, with coats of arms emblazoned over 
 their porticoes ; rapid, clear trout-streams and 
 fine glimpses of snowy mountains on the left, and 
 of the bright blue sea on the right. The flowers 
 too were lovely. There was a dwarf blue bugioss 
 of an intensity of colour which is only equalled 
 by the large forget-me-not on the mountain-sides 
 of Lebanon. The peasants are all small proprie- 
 tors. They were cultivating their fields in the 
 most primitive way, father, mother, and children 
 working the ground with a two-pronged fork 
 
 like this 
 
 A 
 
 , called by them a ' laya ; ' but the 
 
 result was certainly satisfactory. They speak a 
 language as utterly hopeless for a foreigner to 
 
LOYOLA. 5 
 
 understand as Welsh or Gaelic. The saying among 
 the Andalusians is, that the devil, avIio is no 
 fool, spent seven years in Bilboa studying the 
 Basque dialect, and learnt three words only ; and 
 of their pronunciation they add, that the Basque 
 write ' Solomon,' and pronounce it • Nebuchad- 
 nezzar ! ' Be this as it may, they are a contented, 
 happy, prosperous, sober race, rarely leaving their 
 own country, to which they are passionately 
 attached, and deserving, by their independence 
 and self-reliance, their name of ' Bayascogara ' 
 — ' Somos bastantes.' 
 
 Passing through the baths of Certosa, the 
 mineral springs of Avhich are much frequented by 
 the Spaniards in summer, our travellers came, 
 after a four hours' drive, to Azpeitia, a walled town, 
 Avith a fine chm*ch containing the ' pila,' or font, 
 in which St. Ignatius was baptized. Here the 
 
 good-natured cure. Padre G , met them, and 
 
 insisted on escorting them to the great college of 
 Loyola, which is about a mile from the town. It 
 has a fine Italian facade, and is built in a fertile 
 valley round the house of St. Ignatius, the college 
 for missionary priests being on one side, and a 
 florid, domed, circular marble church on the other. 
 The whole is thoroughly Poman in its aspect, 
 but not so beautiful as the Gothic buildings of the 
 
6 LOYOLA. 
 
 south. Tlicy first went into the church, which is 
 very rich in jaspers, marbles, and mosaics, the 
 marbles being brought fi'om the neighbouring 
 mountains. The cloisters at the back are still 
 unfurnished ; but the entrance to the monastery is 
 of fine and good proportions, and the corridors 
 and staircase are very handsome. Between the 
 church and the convent is a kind of covered 
 cloister, leading to the ' Santuario,' the actual 
 house in which the saint was born and lived. The 
 outside is in raised brickwork, of curious old geo- 
 metrical patterns ; and across the door is the 
 identical wooden bar which in old times served 
 as protection to the chateau. Entering the Ioav 
 door, you see on your right a staircase ; and on 
 your left a long low room on the ground-floor, in 
 which is a picture of the Blessed Virgin. Here the 
 saint was born : his mother, having a particular 
 devotion to the Virgin, insisted on being brought 
 down here to be confined. Going up the stairs, 
 to a kind of corridor used as a confessional, you 
 come first to the Chapel of St. Francis Borgia, 
 where he said his first mass. Next to it is one 
 dedicated to Marianne di Jesu, the ' Lily of Quito,' 
 with a beautiful picture of the South American 
 saint over the high altar. To the left again is 
 another chapel, £ind here St. Francjois Xavier, the 
 
LOYOLA. 7 
 
 Apostle of the Indies, said his mass before starting 
 on his glorious evangelical mission. Ascending a 
 few steps higher, their guide led them into a long- 
 low room, richly decorated and gilt, and fiill of 
 pictures of the different events of the life of the 
 saint. A gilt screen divided the ante-chapel fi-om 
 the altar, raised on the very spot where he lay so 
 long with his wounded leg, and where he was 
 inspired by the Blessed Virgin to renounce the 
 world, and devote himself, body and soul, to 
 the work of God. There is a representation of 
 him in Avhite marble under the altar as he lay ; 
 and opposite, a portrait, in his soldier's dress, said 
 to be taken from life, and another of him after- 
 wards, when he had become a priest. It is a 
 beautiful face, with strong purpose and high 
 resolve in every line of the features. 
 
 In the sacristy is the ' baldachino,' or tester of 
 his bed, in red silk. It was in this room that he 
 first fell sick and took to reading the Lives of the 
 Saints to amuse himself, there being no other book 
 within reach. Such are the ' common ways' which 
 we blindly call ' accidents,' in which God leads 
 those whom He chooses, like Saul, for His special 
 service. The convent contains 30 fathers and 
 25 lay brothers. There are about 120 students, 
 a fine library, refectory, &c. They have a large 
 
8 LOYOLA. 
 
 day-school of poor chilcben, whom they instruct 
 in Basque and Spanish ; and distribute daily a 
 certain number of dinners, soup, and bread, to 
 the sick poor of the neighboming villages, about 
 twenty of w^hom were waiting at the buttery door 
 for their daily supply. 
 
 The English strangers, taking leave of the kind 
 and courteous fathers, had luncheon at a little 
 ' posada ' close by, where the hostess insisted on 
 their drinking some of the cider of the country, 
 which the doctor, himself a Devonshire man, was 
 obliged to confess excelled that of his own coun- 
 try. The good cure entertained them mean- 
 while with stories of his people, who appear to be 
 very like the Highlanders, both in their merits 
 and their faults. Some of their customs seem to 
 be derived from pagan times, such as that of 
 offering bread and wine on the tombs of those 
 they love on the anniversary of their death ; a 
 custom in vogue in the early days of Christianity, 
 and mentioned by St. Augustine in his ' Confes- 
 sions ' as being first put a stop to by St. Ambrose, 
 at Milan, on account of the abuses w^hich had 
 crept into the practice. The drive back was, if 
 possible, even more beautiful than that of the 
 morning, and they reached St. Sebastian at eight 
 o'clock, delighted with their expedition. 
 
BURGOS. 
 
 The next day they started for Burgos, by rail, 
 only stopping for a few minutes on their way to 
 the station to see the ' Albcrgo dei Poveri,' a 
 hospital and home for incurables, nursed by the 
 Spanish sisters of charity. They are affiliated to 
 the sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, and follow their 
 rule, but do not wear the ' white cornette ' of the 
 French sisters. 
 
 The railroad in this part of Spain has been 
 carried through most magnificent scenery, Avhich 
 appeared to our travellers like a mixture of Pous- 
 sin and Salvator Kosa. Fine purple mountains, 
 still sprinkled with snow, with rugged and jagged 
 peaks standing out against the clear blue sky, 
 and with waterfalls and beautiful streams rushimjc 
 down their sides ; an underwood of chesnut and 
 beech-trees ; deep valleys, with little brown vil- 
 lages and bright white convents perched on rising- 
 knolls, and picturesque bridges spanning the 
 little streams as they dashed through the gorges ; 
 and then long tracks of bright rose-coloured 
 heather, out of which rose big boulder-stones or 
 the Avayside cross ; the whole forming, as it were, 
 a succession of beautiful pictures such as would 
 delight the heart of a painter, both as to com- 
 position and colouring. No one can say much for 
 the pace at which the Spanish railways travel ; yet 
 
10 BURGOS. 
 
 arc they all too quick in scenery such as this, 
 when one longs to stop and sketch at every turn. 
 Suddenly, however, the train came to a stand- 
 still : an enormous fragment of rock had fallen 
 across the line in the night, burying a luggage- 
 train, but fortunately without injury to its diivers ; 
 and our party had no alternative but to get out, 
 with their manifold bags and packages, and walk 
 across the debris to another train, which, fortu- 
 nately, was waiting for them on the opposite side 
 of the chasm. A little experience of Spanish tra- 
 velling taught them to expect such incidents half- 
 a-dozen times in the course of the day's journey ; 
 but at first it seemed startling and strange. They 
 reached Burgos at six, and found themselves in a 
 small but very decent ' fonda,' where the daughter 
 of the landlord spoke a little French, to their 
 great relief. They had had visions of Italian 
 serving nearly as well as Spanish for making 
 themselves understood by the people ; but this 
 idea was rudely dispelled the very first day of 
 their arrival in Spain. Great as the similarity 
 may be in reading, the accent of the Spaniard 
 makes him utterly incomprehensible to the be- 
 wildered Italian scholar ; and the very likeness 
 of some words increases the difiiculty when he 
 finds that, according to the pronunciation, a 
 
BURGOS. II 
 
 totally different meaning is attached to them. 
 For instance, one of the English ladies, thinking 
 to please the mistress of the honse, made a little 
 speech to her about the beauty and cleanliness of 
 her kitchen, using the right word (cocinct), but 
 pronouncing it with the Italian accent. She saw 
 directly she had committed a blunder, though 
 Spanish civility suppressed the laugh at her 
 expense. She found afterwards that the word 
 she had used, with the ' ci ' soft, meant a female 
 pig. And this was only a specimen of mistakes 
 hourly committed by all who adventured them- 
 selves in this unknown tongue. 
 
 A letter of introduction procured for our 
 travellers an instant admission to the Cardinal 
 Archbishop, who received them most kindly, and 
 volunteered to be their escort over the cathedral. 
 He had been educated at Ushaw, and spoke 
 English fluently and well. He had a very pretty 
 little chapel in his palace, with a picture in it of 
 Sta, Maria della Pace at Kome, from Avhence he 
 derives his cardinal's title. 
 
 The cathedral at Burgos, with the exception of 
 Toledo, is the most beautiful Gothic bull din 2: in 
 Spain. It was begun by Bishop Maurice, an Eng- 
 lishman, and a great fi-iend of St. Ferdinand's, in 
 the year 1220. The spires, with their lacework 
 
12 BURGOS. 
 
 carving ; the doorways, so rich in sculpture; the 
 rose-windows, with their exquisite tracery; the 
 beautiful lantern-shaped clerestory; the curious 
 double staircase of Diego de Siloe ; the wonder- 
 ful ' retablos ' behind the altars, of the finest 
 wood-carving ; the magnificent marble and ala- 
 baster monuments in the side chapels, vying with 
 one another in beauty and richness of detail; the 
 wonderful wood-carving of the stalls in the choir ; 
 the bas-reliefs carved in every portion of the 
 stone ; in fact, every detail of this glorious build- 
 ing is equally perfect ; and even in Southern 
 Spain, that paradise for lovers of cathedrals, can 
 scarcely be surpassed. The finest of the monu- 
 ments are those of the Yelasco family, the here- 
 ditary high-constable of Castile. They are of 
 Carrara marble, resting upon blocks of jasper : 
 at the feet of the lady lies a little dog, as the 
 emblem of ' Fidelity.' Over the doorway of 
 this chapel, leading to a tiny sacristy, are carved 
 the arms of Jerusalem. In the large sacristy is 
 a Magdalen, by Leonardo da Yinci ; and some 
 exquisite church plate, in gold and enamel, espe- 
 cially a chalice, a processional cross, a pax, &c. 
 In the first chapel on the right, as you enter by 
 the west door, is a very curious figure of Christ, 
 brought fi'om the Holy Land, with real hair and 
 
BURGOS. 13 
 
 skin ; but painful in the extreme, and almost 
 grotesque from the manner in which it has been 
 dressed. This remark, however, applies to almost 
 all the images of Christ and of the Blessed Virgin 
 throughout Spain, which are rendered both sad 
 and ludicrous to English eyes from the petticoats 
 and finery with which modern devotion has dis- 
 figured them. This crucifix, however, is greatly 
 venerated by the people, Avho call it ' The Christ 
 of Burgos,' and on Sundays or holidays there is 
 no possibility of getting near it, on account of the 
 crowd. In the Chapel of the Visitation are three 
 more beautiful monuments, and a very fine pic- 
 ture of the Virgin and Child, by Sebastian del 
 Piombo. But it was impossible to take in every 
 portion of this cathedral at once ; and so our tra- 
 vellers went on to the cloisters, passing through 
 a beautiful pointed doorway, richly carved, which 
 leads to the chapter-house, now a receptacle for 
 lumber, but containing the chest of the Cid, re- 
 garding which the old chronicle says : ' He filled it 
 Avith sand, and then, telling the Jews it contained 
 gold, raised money on the security.' In justice to 
 the hero, however, we are bound to add, that when 
 the necessities of the war were over, he repaid 
 both principal and interest. Leaving, at last, the 
 cloisters and cathedral, and taking leave of the 
 
14 MTRAFLORES. 
 
 kind archbishop, our party drove to the Town 
 Hall, where, in a walnut- wood urn, are kept the 
 bones of the Cid, Avhich were removed twenty 
 years ago from their original resting-place at 
 Cardena. The sight of themi strengthened their 
 resolve to make a pilgrimage to his real tomb, 
 which is in a Benedictine convent about eight 
 miles fi'om the town. Starting, therefore, in two 
 primitive little carriages, guiltless of springs, 
 they crossed the river and wound up a steep hill 
 till they came in sight of Miraflores, the great 
 Carthusian convent, Avhich, seen from' a distance, 
 strongly resembles Eton College Chapel. It was 
 built by John II. for a royal burial-place, and 
 was finished by Isabella of Castile. Arriving at 
 the monastery, fi'om whence the monks haA^e been 
 expelled, and which is now tenanted by only one 
 or two lay brothers of the Order, they passed 
 through a long cloister, shaded by fine c}^resses, 
 into the church, in the chancel of which is that 
 which may really be called one of the seven won- 
 ders of the world. This is the alabaster sepulchre 
 of John II. and his wife, the father and mother 
 of Queen Isabella, with their son, the Infante 
 Alonso, who died young. In richness of detail, 
 delicacy of carving, and beauty of execution, the 
 work of these monuments is perfectly unrivalled — 
 
MIBAFL0BE8. i? 
 
 the very material seems to be changed into Mechlin 
 lace. The artist was Maestro Gil, the father of 
 the famous Diego cle Siloe, who carved the stair- 
 case in the cathedral. He finished it in 1493 ; and 
 one does not wonder at Philip II.'s exclamation 
 when he saw it : ' TVe have done nothing at the 
 Escurial.' In the sacristy is a wonderflil statue of 
 St. Bruno, carved in wood, and so beautiflil and 
 life-like in expression, that it was difficult to look 
 at anything else. 
 
 Leaving Miraflores, our travellers broke tenderly 
 to their coachmen their wish to go on to Cardena. 
 One of them utterly refused, saying the road was 
 impassable ; the other, moyennant an extra gra- 
 tuity, undertook to try it, but stipulated that the 
 gentleman should walk, and the ladies do the 
 same, if necessary. Winding round the convent 
 garden walls, and then across a bleak wild moor, 
 they started, and soon found themselves involved 
 in a succession of ruts and Sloughs of Despond 
 which more than justified the hesitation of their 
 driver. On the coach-box was an imp of a boy, 
 whose delight consisted in quickening the fears of 
 the most timid among the ladies by invariably 
 making the horses gallop at the most difficult and 
 precipitous parts of the road, and then turning 
 round and ffrinnin^]: at the frio-ht he had ^iven 
 
i6 GARDEN A. 
 
 them. It is needless to say that the carriage was 
 not his property. At last, the horses came to a 
 stand-still; they could go no farther, and the 
 rest of the way had to be done on foot. But our 
 travellers were not to be pitied ; for the day 
 was lovely, and the path across the moor was 
 studded with flowers. At last, on climbing over a 
 steep hill which had intercepted their view, they 
 came on a lovely panorama, with a background 
 of blue mountains tipped with snow ; a wooded 
 glen, in which the brown convent nestled, and 
 a wild moor foreground, across which long 
 strings of mules with gay trappings, driven by 
 peasants in Spanish costumes, exactly as repre- 
 sented in Ansdell's paintings, were wending their 
 way towards the city. Tired as some of our 
 party were, this glorious view seemed to give 
 them fresh strength, and they rapidly descended 
 the hill by the hollow path leading to the con- 
 vent. Over the great entrance is a statue of the 
 Cid, mounted on his favourite horse, ' Babicca,' 
 who bore him to his last resting-place, and was 
 afterwards buried beside the master he loved 
 so well. But the grand old building seemed 
 utterly deserted, and a big mastiff, fastened by an 
 ominously slight chain to the doorway, apj^earcd 
 determined to defy their attempts to enter. At 
 last, one of them, more courageous than the rest. 
 
GARDEN A. 17 
 
 tempting the Cerberus with the rem ains of her 
 hmcheon, got past him, and wandered through 
 the cloister, up a fine staircase to a spacious cor- 
 ridor, in hopes of finding a guide to show them 
 the way to the chapel, where lay the object of 
 their expedition, i.e., the monument of the Cid. 
 But she was only answered by the echo of her 
 own footsteps. The cells were empty ; the once 
 beautiful library gutted and destroyed ; the refec- 
 tory had nothing in it but bare walls — the whole 
 place was like a city of the dead. At last, she 
 discovered a staircase leading down to a cloister 
 on the side opposite the great entrance, and there 
 a low-arched door, which she found ajar, admitted 
 her into the deserted church. The tomb of the 
 Cid has been removed fi'om the high altar to a 
 side chapel ; and there is interred, likewise, his 
 faithful and devoted wife Ximena, and their two 
 daughters. On his shield is emblazoned the 
 ' tizona,' or sparkling brand, which the legends 
 affirm he always carried in his hand, and with 
 Avhich he struck terror into the hearts of the 
 infidels. This church and convent, built for the 
 Benedictines by the Princess Sancho, in memory 
 of her son Theodoric, who was killed out hunting, 
 was sacked by the Moors in the ninth century, 
 when 200 of the monks were murdered. A tablet 
 
 c 
 
i8 BURGOS. 
 
 ill the south transept still remains, recording the 
 massacre ; but the monument of Theocloric has 
 been mutilated and destroj^ed. The Christian 
 spoilers have done their work more effectually 
 than the Moslem ! Sorrowfully our travellers left 
 this beautiful spot, thinking bitterly on the so- 
 called age of progress which had left the abode 
 of so much learning and piety to the owls and 
 the bats ; and partly walking, partly driving, re- 
 turned without accident to the city. One more 
 memento of the Cid at Burgos deserves mention. 
 It is the lock on which he compelled the king, 
 Alonso YI., to swear that he had had no part in 
 his brother Sancho's assassination at Zamora. All 
 who wished to confirm their word with a solemn 
 oath used to touch it, till the practice was abo- 
 lished by Isabella, and the lock itself hung up in 
 the old Church of St. Gadea, on the way to the 
 Castle Hill, where it still rests. This is the origin 
 of the peasant custom of closing the hand and 
 raising the thumb, which they kiss in token of 
 asseveration ; and in like manner we have the old 
 Highland saying : ' There's my thumb. I'll not 
 betray you.' 
 
 Another charming expedition was made on 
 the following day to Las Huelgas, the famous 
 Cistercian nunnery, built in some gardens outside 
 
LAS HUELGA8. 19 
 
 the town by Alonso VIII. and his wife Leonora, 
 daughter of our king Henry II, 
 
 When one of the ladies had asked the cardinal 
 for a note of introduction to the abbess, he had 
 replied, laughing : ' 1 am afraid it would not be 
 of much use to you. She certainly is not under 
 my jurisdiction, and I am not sure whether she 
 does not think I am under hers ! ' No lady 
 abbess certainly ever had more extraordinary 
 jirivileges. She is a Princess Palatine — styled ' by 
 the Grace of God ' — and has feudal power over all 
 the lands and villages round. She appoints her 
 own priests and confessors, and has a hospital 
 about a mile from the convent, nursed by the 
 sisters, and entirely under her control. After some 
 little delay at the porter's lodge, owing to their 
 having come at the inconvenient hour of dinner, 
 our party were ushered into the parloiu*, and there, 
 behind a grille, saw a beautifril old lady, dressed 
 in wimple and coif, exactly like a picture in the 
 time of Chaucer. This was the redoubtable lady 
 abbess. There are twenty-seven choir nuns and 
 twenty-five lay sisters in the convent, and they 
 follow the rule of St. Bernard. The abbess 
 first showed them the Moorish standard, beauti- 
 fully embroidered, taken at the battle of Las 
 Navas de Tolosa, in 1180. A curious old fi-esco 
 
 c 2 
 
20 LAS IIUELGA8. 
 
 representing this battle remains over the arch of 
 the church. She then took them to the choir, 
 which is very rich in carving, and contains the 
 tombs of the founders, Alonso and Leonora, and 
 also of a number of Infantas, whose royal bodies 
 are placed in richly carved Gothic sepulchres, rest- 
 ing on lions, on each side of the choir. In the 
 church is a curious hammered iron gilt pulpit, 
 in which St. Vincent dc Ferrer preached. Here 
 St. Ferdinand and Alonso XL knighted them- 
 selves, and here our own king, Edward I., received 
 the honour of knighthood at the hands of Alonso 
 el Sabio. 
 
 The church is a curious jumble of different dates 
 of architecture ; but there is a beautiful tower and 
 doorway, some very interesting old monuments, 
 and a fine double rose-window. The cloisters are 
 very beautifid, with round-headed arches, grouped 
 pillars, and Norman capitals. The lady abbess 
 then ordered one of the priests of the convent 
 to take her English visitors to see their hospital, 
 called ' Del Rey,' the walk to which from the 
 convent is through pleasant fields like English 
 meadows. It is admirably managed and nursed 
 by the nuns. Each patient has a bed in a recess, 
 which makes, as it were, a little private room for 
 each, and this is lined with ' azulejos,' or coloured 
 
LAS HUELGAS. 21 
 
 tiles, up to a certain height, giving that clean 
 bright look which distinguishes the Spanish hos- 
 pitals from all others. At the end of each ward 
 was a little altar, where mass is daily performed 
 for the sick. There are fifty men and fifty women, 
 and the sm-gical department was carefiilly sup- 
 plied with all the best and newest instruments, 
 Avhich the surgeon Avas eager to show off to the 
 doctor, the only one of the party worthy of the 
 privilege. The wards opened into a 'patio,' or 
 court, with seats and bright flowers, where the 
 patients who could leave their beds were sitting 
 out and sunning themselves. Altogether, it is a 
 noble institution ; and one must hope that the 
 ruthless hand of government will not destroy it 
 in common with the other charitable foundations 
 of Spain. 
 
22 MADRID. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MADRID. 
 
 But the cold winds blew sharply, and our tra- 
 vellers resolved to hurry south, and reserve the 
 further treasures of Burgos for inspection on their 
 return. The night train conveyed them safely 
 to Madi'id, where they found a most comfortable 
 hotel in the '■ Yille de Paris,' lately opened by an 
 enterprising Frenchman, in the * Puerta del Sol ; ' 
 and received the kindest of welcomes from the 
 English minister, the Count T. D., and other old 
 friends. It was Sunday morning, and the first 
 object was to find a church near at hand. These 
 are not wanting in Madrid, but all are modern, 
 and few in good taste : the nicest and best served 
 is undoubtedly that of ' St. Louis des Frangais,* 
 though the approach to it through the crowded 
 market is rather disagreeable early in the morn- 
 ing. The witty writer of ' Les Lettres d'Espagne ' 
 says truly : ' Madrid ne me dit rien : c'est moderne, 
 aligne, propre et civilise.' As for the climate, it 
 
MADRID. 23 
 
 is detestable : bitterly cold in winter, the east wind 
 searching out every rheumatic joint in one's 
 frame, and pitilessly driving round the corners of 
 every street ; burning hot in summer, with a glare 
 and dust which nearly equal that of Cairo in a 
 simoom. 
 
 The Gallery, however, compensates for all. Our 
 travellers had spent months at Florence, at Rome, 
 at Dresden, and fancied that nothing could come 
 up to the Pitti, the Uffizi, or the Vatican — that 
 no picture could equal the ' San Sisto ; ' but they 
 found they had yet much to learn. No one who 
 has not been in Spain can so much as imagine 
 what Murillo is. In England, he is looked upon 
 as the clever painter of picturesque brown beggar- 
 boys : there is not one of these subjects to be 
 found in Spain, from St. Sebastian to Gibraltar ! 
 At Madrid, at Cadiz, but especially at Seville, 
 one learns to know him as he is — i. e. the great 
 mystical religious painter of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, embodying in his wonderM conceptions all 
 that is most sublime and ecstatic in devotion, and 
 in the representation of Divine love. The English 
 minister, speaking of this one day to a lady of the 
 party, explained it very simply, by saying that the 
 English generally only carried off those of his 
 works in which the Catholic feeling was not 
 
24 MADRID. 
 
 SO strongly displayed. It would be hopeless 
 to attempt to describe all his pictures in the 
 Madrid Gallery. The Saviour and St. John, as 
 boys, drinking out of a shell, is perhaps the most 
 delicate and exquisite in colouring and expres- 
 sion ; but the ' Conception ' surpasses all. No one 
 should compare it with the Louvre pictm-es of the 
 same subject. There is a refinement, a tenderness, 
 and a beauty in the Madrid ' Conception ' entirely 
 wanting in the one stolen by the French. Then 
 there is Velasquez, with his inimitable portraits ; 
 fidl of droll originality, as the ' ^sop ; ' or of deep 
 historical interest, as his ' Philip lY.; ' or of sub- 
 lime piety, as in his ' Crucifixion,' with the hair 
 flxlling over one side of the Saviour's face, which 
 the pierced and fastened hands cannot push aside : 
 each and all are priceless treasures, and there 
 must be sixty or seventy in that one long room. 
 Ford says that ' Velasquez is the Homer of the 
 Spanish school, of which Murillo is the Virgil.' 
 Then there are Eiberas, and Zurbarans, Divino 
 Morales, Juan Joanes, Alonso Cano, and half-a- 
 dozen other artists, whose very names are scarcely 
 known out of Spain, and all of whose works are 
 impregnated with that mystic, devotional, self- 
 sacrificing spirit which is the essence of Catholi- 
 cism. The Italian school is equally magnificently 
 
MADRID. 25 
 
 represented. There are exquisite Raphaels, one 
 especially, ' La Perla/ once belonging to our 
 Charles I., and sold by the Puritans to the Spanish 
 king ; the ' Spasimo,' the ' Yergin del Pesce/ &c. ; 
 beautiful Titians, not only portraits, but one, a 
 ' Magdalen,' which is unknown to us by engravings 
 or photographs in England, where, in a green 
 robe, she is flying from the assaults of the devil, 
 represented by a monstrous dragon, and in which 
 the drawing is as wonderful as the colouring ; 
 beautiful G. Bellinis, and Luinis, and Andi*ea del 
 Sartos (especially one of his wife), and Paul 
 Veronese, and others of the Yenetian and Mila- 
 nese schools. In a lower room there are Dutch 
 and Flemish chefs-d'oeuvre without end : Rubens, 
 and Yandyke, and Teniers, and Breughel, and 
 Holbein, and the rest. It is a gallery bewildering 
 fi'om the number of its pictures, but with the rare 
 merit of almost all being good ; and they are so 
 arranged that the visitor can see them with 
 perfect comfort at any hour of the day. In the 
 ante-room to the long gallery are some pictures 
 of the present century, but none are worth looking 
 at save Goya's pictures of the wholesale massacre 
 of the Spanish prisoners by the French, which are 
 not likely to soften the public feeling of bitter- 
 ness and hostility towards that nation. 
 
26 MAVBIl). 
 
 There is nothing very good in sculpture, only 
 two of the antiques being worth looking at ; but 
 there is a fine statue of Charles Y., and a w^onder- 
 fully beautiful St. John of God, carrying a sick 
 man out of the burning hospital on his back, 
 which is modern, but in admirable taste. Neg- 
 lected, in some side cupboards, and several of them 
 broken and covered with dust and dirt, are some 
 exquisite tazzas of Benvenuto Cellini, D'Arphes, 
 and Beceriles, in lapis, jade, agate, and enamel, 
 finer than any to be seen even in the Griine Ge- 
 w^olbe of Dresden. There is a gold mermaid, 
 studded with rubies, and with an emerald tail, and 
 a cup with an enamelled jewelled border and 
 stand, which are perfectly unrivalled in beauty of 
 workmanship. Then, in addition to this match- 
 less gallery, Madrid has its ' Academia,' contain- 
 ing three of Murillo's most magnificent concep- 
 tions. One is ' St. Elizabeth of Hungary,' wash- 
 ing the wounds of the sick, her fair young face 
 and delicate white hands forming a beautifiil 
 contrast with the shrivelled brown old w^oman in 
 the foreground. The expression of the saint's 
 countenance is that of one absorbed in her W' ork 
 and yet looking beyond it.* The other is the 
 
 * Tliis picture was stolen from the Cariclad, at Seville, by the 
 French, and afterAvards sent back to Madrid, where it still remains. 
 
MADRID. 27 
 
 * Dream,' in which the Blessed Virgin appears to 
 the founder of the Church of S. Maria delhi Neve 
 (afterwards called S. Maria Maggiore) and his 
 wife, and suggests to them the building of a church 
 on a spot at Rome, which would be indicated to 
 them by a fall of snow, though it was then in the 
 month of August. In the third picture the foun- 
 der and his wife are kneeling at the feet of the 
 Pope, telling him of their vision, and imploring 
 his benediction on their work. These two famous 
 pictures were taken by Soult from Seville, and arc 
 of a lunette shape, being made to fit the original 
 niche for which they were painted : both are un- 
 equalled for beauty of colour and design, and have 
 recently been magnificently engraved, by order of 
 the government. 
 
 But apart fi-om its galleries, Madrid is a disap- 
 pointment ; there is no antiquity or interest at- 
 tached to any of its churches or public buildings. 
 The daily afternoon diversion is the drive on the 
 Prado ; amusing fi:'om the crowd, perhaps, but 
 where, with the exception of the nurses, all national 
 costume has disappeared. There are scarcely any 
 mantillas; but Faubourg St.-Germain bonnets, in 
 badly assorted colours, and horrible and exagge- 
 rated crinolines, replacing the soft, black, flowing- 
 dresses of the south. It is, in fact, a bad recliavffe 
 
28 MADRID. 
 
 of the Bois de Boulogne. The queen, in a carriage 
 drawn by six or eight mules, surrounded by her 
 escort, and announced by trumj)eters, and the in- 
 fantas, following in similar carriages, form the 
 only ' event ' of the afternoon. Poor lady ! how 
 heartily sick she must be of this promenade ! She 
 is far more pleasing-looking than her pictures give 
 her credit for, and has a frank kind manner which 
 is an indication of her good and simple natm^e. 
 Her chikben are most carefrilly brought uj), and 
 very well educated by the charming English au- 
 thoress, Madame Calderon de la Barca, well known 
 by her interesting work on Mexico. On Saturdays, 
 the queen and the royal family always drive to 
 Atocha, a church at the extreme end of the Prado, 
 in vile taste, but containing the famous image 
 of the Virgin, the patroness of Spain, to whom all 
 the royalties are specially devoted. It is a black 
 image, but almost invisible fr'om the gorgeous 
 jew^els and di-esses with which it is adorned. 
 
 One of the shows of Madrid is the royal stables, 
 which are well worth a visit. There are upwards 
 of 250 horses, and 200 fine mules ; the backs of 
 the latter are invariably shaved down to a cer- 
 tain point, which gives them an uncomfortable 
 appearance to English eyes, but is the custom 
 throughout Spain. One lady writer asserts that 
 
MADRID. iq 
 
 ' it is more modest ! ' There is a charming little 
 stud belonging to the Prince Imperial, which in- 
 cludes two tiny mules not bigger than dogs, but 
 in perfect proportions, about the size required to 
 drag a perambulator. Some of the horses are 
 English and thoroughbred, but a good many are of 
 the heavy-crested Velasquez type. The carriages 
 are of every date, and very curious. Among them 
 is one in which Philip I. (le Bel) was said to have 
 been poisoned, and in which his wife, Jeanne la 
 Folle, still insisted on di'agging him out, believing 
 he was only asleep. 
 
 More interesting to some of our party than 
 horses and stables were the charital)]e institutions 
 in Madrid, which are admirable and very nume- 
 rous. It was on the 12th of November, 1856, 
 that the Mere Devos, afterwards Mere Generale of 
 the Order of St. Vincent de Paul, started with 
 four or five of her sisters of charity to establish 
 their fii'st house in Madrid. They had many hard- 
 ships and difficulties to encounter, but loving per- 
 severance conquered them all. The sisters now 
 number between forty and fifty, distributed in three 
 houses in different parts of the city, with more 
 than 1,000 children in their schools and orphan- 
 ages, the whole being under the superintendence of 
 the Soeur Gottofi-ey, the able and charming French 
 
30 MADRID. 
 
 ' provincial ' of Spain. The queen takes a lively 
 interest in their success, and most of the ladies of 
 her coiui; are more or less affiliated to them. There 
 are branch houses of these French sisters at Ma- 
 laga, Granada, Barcelona, and other towns ; and 
 they are now beginning to undertake district 
 visiting, as well as the care of the sick and the 
 education of children — a proceeding which they 
 were obliged to adopt with caution, owing to the 
 strong prejudice felt in Spain towards any reli- 
 gious orders being seen outside their ' clausura,' and 
 also towards their dress, the white cornette, which, 
 to eyes unaccustomed to anything but black veils, 
 appeared outrageous and unsuitable. The Spanish 
 sisters of charity, though affiliated to them, follow- 
 ing the rule of St. Yincent, and acknowledging 
 N.T. H. Pere Etienne as their superior, still refuse 
 to wear the cornette, and substitute a simple white 
 cap and black veil. These Spanish sisters have 
 the charge of the magnificent Foundling Hospital, 
 which receives upwards of 1,000 children ; of the 
 hospital called Las Recogidas, for penitents ; of 
 the General Hospital, where the sick are admirably 
 cared for, and to which is attached a wing for pa- 
 tients of an upper class, who pay a small sum 
 w^eekly, and have all the advantages of the clever 
 surgery and careful nursing of the hospital (an 
 
MADRID. 31 
 
 arrangement sadly needed in our English hospi- 
 tals) ; of the Hospicio de S. Maria del Carmen, 
 founded by private charity, for the old and incura- 
 bles ; of the infant school, or ' salle d'asile,' where 
 the children are fed as well as taught ; and of the 
 Albergo dei Poveri, equivalent to what we should 
 call a workhouse in England, but which we cannot 
 desecrate by such a name when speaking of an es- 
 tablishment conducted on the highest and noblest 
 rules of Christian charity, and where the orphans 
 find not only loving care and tender watchfulness, 
 but admirable industrial training, fitting them 
 to fill worthily any employments to which their 
 natural inclination may lead them. The Sacrc 
 Coeur have a large establishment for the education 
 of the upper classes at Chaumartin de la Rosa, a 
 suburb of Madrid, about four miles fi'om the town. 
 It was founded by the Marquesa de Yilla Nueva, a 
 most saint-like person, whose house adjoins, and 
 in fact forms part of, the convent — her bedroom 
 leading into a tribune overlooking the chapel and 
 the Blessed Sacrament. The view from the large 
 garden, with the mountains on the one hand, and 
 the stone pine woods on the other, is very pretty, 
 and unlike anything else in the neighbourhood of 
 Madrid. The superior, a charming person, showed 
 the ladies all over the house, which is large, 
 
32 MADRID. 
 
 commodious, and airy, and in which they have al- 
 ready upwards of eighty pupils. They have a very 
 pretty chapel, and in the parlour a very beautiful 
 picture of St. Elizabeth, by a modern artist. 
 
 One more ' lion ' was visited before leaving 
 Mach'id, and that was the Armoury, which is in- 
 deed well worth a long and carefiil examination. 
 The objects it contains are al] of deep historical 
 interest. There is a collar-piece belonging to 
 Philip II., with scenes from the battle of St. Quen- 
 tin exquisitely carved ; a helmet taken from 
 the unfortunate Boabdil, the last Moorish king 
 of Granada ; beautiful Moorish arms and Turk- 
 ish banners taken at the battle of Lepanto, 
 in old Damascus inlaid-work ; the swords of 
 Boabdil, and of Ferdinand and Isabella ; the ar- 
 mour of the Cid, of Christopher Columbus, of 
 Charles Y., of St. Ferdinand, and of Philip II. ; 
 the carriage of Charles Y., looking like a large 
 bassinet ; exquisite shields, rapiers, swords, and 
 helmets ; some very curious gold ornaments, votive 
 crowns, and crosses of the seventh century ; and 
 heaps of other treasures too numerous to be here 
 detailed. But our travellers were fairly exhausted 
 by their previous sight-seeing, and gladly reserved 
 their examination of the rest to a future day. At 
 all times, a return to a place is more interesting 
 
MADRID. 
 
 33 
 
 than a first visit ; for in the latter, one is op- 
 pressed by the feeling of the quantity to be seen 
 and the short time there is to see it in, and so the 
 intense anxiety and fatigue destroy half one's en- 
 joyment of the objects themselves. That evening 
 they were to leave the biting east winds of Madrid 
 for the more genial climate of sunny Malaga ; and 
 so, having made sundiy very necessary j)ur chases, 
 including mantillas and chocolate, and having 
 eaten what turned out to be their last good din- 
 ner for a very long time, they started off by an 
 eight o'clock train for Cordova, which w^as to be 
 their halting-place midway. On reaching Alcazar, 
 about one o'clock in the morning, they had to 
 change trains, as the one in Avhich they were 
 branched off to Valencia ; and for two hours they 
 were kept waiting for the Cordova train. Oh ! the 
 misery of those wayside stations in Spain ! One 
 long low room filled with smokers and passengers 
 of every class, struggling for chocolate, served in 
 dirty cups by uncivil waiters, with insufficient seats 
 and scant courtesy : no wonder that the Spaniards 
 consider our waiting-rooms real palaces. You have 
 no alternative in the winter season but to endure 
 this foetid, stifling atmosphere, and be blinded 
 with smoke, or else to fi*eeze and shiver outside, 
 where there are no benches at all, and your only 
 
 D 
 
34 MADRID. 
 
 hope is to get a corner of a wall against which 
 you can lean and be sheltered from the bitter 
 wind. The arrival of the up train brought, there- 
 fore, unmixed joy to our party, who managed to 
 secure a compartment to themselves without any 
 smokers (a rare privilege in Spain), and thus got 
 some sleep for a few hours. At six o'clock the 
 train stopped, the railroad went no farther ; so 
 the passengers turned out somewhat ruefidly in 
 the cold, and gazed with dismay at the lumbering 
 dirty diligences, looking as if they had come out 
 of the Ark, which were drawn up, all in a row, at 
 the station door, with ten, twelve, or fourteen 
 mules harnessed to each, and by which they and 
 their luggage were to be conveyed for the next 
 eioht hours. The station-master was a French- 
 man, and with great civility, during the lading 
 of the diligences, gave up to the ladies his own 
 tiny bedroom and some fresh water to wash them- 
 selves a little and make themselves comfortable 
 after their long night journey, for there was no 
 pretence of a waiting-room at this station. 
 
 Reader, did you ever go in a Spanish diligence? 
 It was the first experience of most of our party 
 of this means of locomotion, and at first seemed 
 simply impossible. The excessive lowness of the 
 carriages, the way in which the unhappy passen- 
 
ON THE WAY TO CORDOVA. 35 
 
 gers are jammed in, either into the coupe in front, 
 or into the square box behind, unable to move or 
 sit upright in either ; while the mules plunge 
 and start off in every direction but the right one, 
 their drivers every instant jumping down and 
 running by the side of the poor beasts, which 
 they flog unmercifully, vociferating in every key'; 
 and that, not at first starting, but all the way, up 
 hill and down dale, Avith an energy which is as 
 inexhaustible as it is despairing, till either a pole 
 cracks, or a trace breaks, or some accident hap- 
 pens to a wheel, and the whole lumbering con- 
 cern stops with a jerk and a lurch which threaten 
 to roll everything and everybody into the gorge 
 below. Each diligence is accompanied by a 'ma- 
 yoral,' or conductor, who has charge of the whole 
 equipage, and is a very important personage. 
 This functionary is generally gorgeously dressed, 
 with embroidered jacket, scarlet sash round the 
 waist, gaiters with silver buttons and hanging 
 leather strips, and round his head a gay-coloured 
 handkerchief and a round black felt hat with 
 broad brim and feather, or else of the kind deno- 
 minated ' pork pie ' in England ; he is here, there, 
 and everywhere during the journey, arranging the 
 places of the passengers, the stations for halts, and 
 the like. Besides this dignitary, there is the 'moto' 
 
 1) 2 
 
36 ON THE ROAD TO CORDOVA. 
 
 or driver, whose business is to be perpetually jump- 
 ing down and flogging the far-off mules into a trot, 
 which he did with such cruelty that our travellers 
 often hoped he would himself get into trouble in 
 jumping up again, which, unfortunately, he was 
 always too expert to do. Every mule has its 
 name, and answers to it. They are harnessed two 
 abreast, a small boy riding on the leaders ; and it 
 is on his presence of mind and skill that the guid- 
 ance and safety of the whole team depend. On 
 this occasion, the ' mayoral ' and ' moto ' leant 
 with their backs against what was left of the win- 
 dows of the coupe, which they instantly smashed, 
 the cold wind rushed in, and the passengers were 
 alternately splashed from head to foot with the 
 mud cast up in their faces by the mules' heels, 
 or choked and blinded with dust. For neither 
 misfortune is there either redress or sympathy. 
 The lower panels of the floor and doors have 
 holes cut in them to let out the water and 
 mud ; but the same agreeable arrangement, in 
 winter, lets in a wind which threatens to freeze 
 off your feet as you sit. A small boy, who, it 
 is to be supposed, was learning his trade, held 
 on by his eyelids to a ledge below, and was 
 perpetually assisting in screaming and flogging. 
 A struggle at some kind of vain resistance, 
 
ON THE ROAD TO CORDOVA. 37 
 
 and then a sullen despair and a final making 
 up one's mind that, after all, it can't last for 
 ever, are the phases through which the unhappy 
 travellers pass during these agreeable diligence 
 journeys. It was some little time before our party 
 could get sufficiently reconciled to their misery to 
 enjoy the scenery. But when they could look 
 about them, they found themselves passing through 
 a beautiful gorge, and up a zig-zag road, like the 
 lower spurs of an Alpine pass, over the Sierra 
 Morena. Then began the descent, during which 
 some of the ladies held their breath, expecting to 
 be dashed over the parapet at each sharp turn in 
 the road : the pace of the mules was never relaxed, 
 and the unwieldy top-heavy mass oscillated over 
 the precipice below in a decidedly unpleasant 
 manner. Then they came into a fertile region of 
 olives and aloes, and so on by divers villages and 
 through roads which the late rains had made 
 almost impassable, and in passing over which 
 every bone of their bodies seemed dislocated in 
 their springiess vehicle, till, at two o'clock in the 
 afternoon, they reached the station, where, to 
 their intense relief, they again came upon a rail- 
 road. Hastily swallowing some doubtftil chocolate, 
 they established themselves once more comfort- 
 ably in the railway carriage ; but after being in 
 
38 ON THE ROAD TO CORDOVA. 
 
 the enjoyment of this hixury for half an hour, the 
 train came, all of a sudden, to a stand-still ; and 
 the doors being opened, they were politely told 
 that they must ivalk, as a landslip had destroyed 
 the line for some distance. Coming at last to a 
 picturesque town with a fine bridge over the 
 Guadalquiver, they were allowed once more to 
 take their seats in the carriages, and finally 
 arrived at Cordova at eight o'clock at night, after 
 twenty-four hours of travelling, alternating fi:"om 
 intense cold to intense heat, very tired indeed, 
 horribly dusty and dirty, and without having had 
 any church all day. 
 
Mosque at Cordova. 
 
CORDOVA. 39 
 
 . CHAPTER III. 
 
 CORDOVA AND MALAGA. 
 
 A COMFORTABLE little olcl-fiisliionecl inn, with a 
 ' patio ' flill of orange-trees, leading to a public 
 ' sala,' rather like a room at Damascus, with 
 alcoves and fountains, gladdened the hearts of our 
 w^earied travellers. After a good night's rest (and 
 one advantage in Spain is, that except mosqui- 
 toes, your beds are generally free from other in- 
 habitants), they started down the narrow, badly- 
 paved streets to visit the cathedral. The exterior 
 is disappointing, as all you see is a buttressed 
 w^T.11, with square towers sixty feet high, opposite 
 Avhich is the gatcAvay and wall of the archiepiscopal 
 palace. But on passing through alow arched door, 
 you come into a beautiful Oriental court, in the 
 centre of which is a picturesque Moorish fountain, 
 the rest of the space being filled with orange- 
 trees and palms, and on the north side an ex- 
 quisite giralda, or tower, fi'om whence there is a 
 
40 COBDO VA. 
 
 beautiful view over the whole town and neigh- 
 bourhood. All the entrances to the mosque (now 
 the cathedral) from this court are closed, except 
 the centre one. Entering by that, a whole forest 
 of pillars bursts upon you, with horse-shoe arches 
 interlacing one another, and forming altogether 
 the most wonderful building in the world. The 
 Moors collected these pillars, of which there are 
 upwards of a thousand, from the temples of 
 Carthage, of Nismes, and of Kome, and adapted 
 them to their mosque. Some are of jasper, some 
 of verde-antique, some of porphyry — no two are 
 alike. The pillars have no plinths, and divide the 
 mosque into nineteen longitudinal and twent}^- 
 nine transverse aisles ; hence the immense variety 
 and beauty of the intersection of the arches. This 
 mosque was built in the eighth century, and 
 ranked in sanctity with the ' Alaksa ' of Jerusalem 
 and the ' Caaba ' of Mecca. 
 
 A pilgrimage to it was, indeed, considered 
 equivalent to that of Mecca, and hence, the 
 Spanish proverb to express distant wanderings, 
 ' Andar de zeca en Meca.' The roof is of arbor 
 vitse, and is in perfect preservation. Two of the 
 mioresque chapels are exquisite in carving and 
 richness of detail, one being that of the Caliphs, 
 and the other the 'Holy of Holies,' where the 
 
CORDOVA. 41 
 
 Koran was kept. The beauty and delicacy of the 
 moresque work, with its gold enamel and lovely 
 trefoiled patterns, its qnaint lions and bright- 
 coloured 'azulejos' (tiles), exceeds anything of 
 the sort in Europe. The roof is in the form of a 
 shell, and exquisitely wrought out of one single 
 piece of marble. The mosaic border was sent to 
 Cordova by Romanus 11. , fi'om Constantinople. 
 When the brother of the king of Morocco came 
 there a year or tAvo ago, he went round this ' Holy 
 of Holies ' seven times on his knees, crying bitterly 
 all the time. The inscriptions in this mosque are 
 in Cufic, and not in Arabic. The whole can-ies 
 one back to Damascus and the East in a way which 
 makes it difficult to realise that one is still in 
 Europe. The choir is a horrible modern ' churri- 
 queresque ' innovation, stuck in the centre of the 
 beautifid forest of Saracenic columns, many of 
 Avhich were destroyed to make room for it. Even 
 Charles Y. protested against the bad taste of the 
 chapter when he saw it completed in 1526, and 
 exclaimed : ' You have built a thing which one can 
 see anywhere ; and to do so, you have destroyed 
 what was unique in the world.' The carving of the 
 choir is certainly fine, but the incongruity of the 
 whole jars on one's taste too keenly for any kind 
 of admiration. The only beautiful and solemn 
 
42 CORDOVA. 
 
 modernised portion of the building is the chapel 
 of the cardinal, with fine tombs and a deep recess 
 for the Blessed Sacrament, with a magnificent 
 silver tabernacle. From the cathedral, some of 
 the party went to visit the bishop, who received 
 them very kindly, and sent his secretary to show 
 them the treasiu*es of the cathedral. The ' cus- 
 todia,' of the fifteenth century, is in silver-gilt, 
 with beautifiil emeralds, and exquisitely carved ; 
 it is the work of Arphe, the Benvenuto Cellini of 
 Spain. There are also some beautifiil processional 
 crosses, reliquaries, chalices, and pax, secreted at 
 the time of Dupont's French invasion, and so 
 saved fi:-om the universal plunder. 
 
 Having spent the morning in the cathedral, 
 our travellers wandered down to the fine Roman 
 bridge, of sixteen arches, over the Guadalquiver, 
 looking upon some picturesque Moorish mills and 
 orange gardens. To the left is a statue of St. 
 Eaphael, the guardian angel of Cordova ; and 
 close by is the Alcazar, now a ruin, formerly the 
 palace of Roderick, the last of the Goths, whose 
 father was Duke of Cordova. Nothing can be 
 more melancholy than the neglected gardens, the 
 broken fountains and statues, the empty fish- 
 ponds, and gTass-grown walks, despite the palms 
 and orange-trees and luxmiant creeping roses. 
 
CORDOVA. 
 
 43 
 
 which seemed to be striving to conceal the deso- 
 hition around. The first pahn ever phmted in 
 Cordova was by the Moorish king Abdurrahman, 
 who brought it from his much-loved and always 
 regretted Damascus. 
 
 After luncheon, having obtained special per- 
 mission from the archbishop, our party started 
 off in two carriages for the hermitages in the 
 Sierra Morena, stopping first at a picturesque 
 ruined villa, called the ' Arrizafa,' once the 
 favourite residence of the Moorish kins:. The 
 gardens are beautiful ; passion-flowers and jessa- 
 mine hung in festoons over all the broken walls, 
 and the gTound was carpeted with violets, nar- 
 cissus, and other spring flowers. The view fi^om 
 the terrace is lovely, the town, when seen from 
 a distance, being very like Yerona. Here the 
 road became so steep that the party had to leave 
 their carriages .and walk the remainder of the way. 
 The mountain-path reminded them of Mount 
 Carmel, with the same underwood of cistus, lilac 
 and white, and heaps of flowering and aroma- 
 tic shrubs. Beautiful wild iris grew among the 
 rocks, and half way up a rushing stream tumbled 
 over the boulder-stones into a picturesque basin, 
 covered with maiden-hair fern, which served as 
 a resting-place for the tired travellers. After a 
 
44 CORDOVA. 
 
 fatiguing climb of two hours, they reached the 
 postern gate of the hermitage, into which, after 
 some demur as to their sex, the ladies, by special 
 permission of the archbishop, were admitted. 
 There are at present seventeen hermits, all gentle- 
 men, and many of high birth and large fortune, 
 living each in a little separate cabin, wdth a patch 
 of garden round it, and entirely alone. They 
 never see one another but at mass and in choir, 
 or speak but once a month. In their chapel they 
 have a beautiful oil painting of St. Paul, the fii'st 
 hermit, whose rule they follow in all its primi- 
 tive severity. One of the cabins was vacant, and 
 the party entered. It was composed of two tiny 
 rooms : in the inner one was a bed formed of 
 three boards, with a sheepskin and a pillow of 
 straw ; the rest of the furniture consisted' of a 
 crucifix, a jug of water, a terrible discipline with 
 iron points, and Kodiiguez' essay on ' Christian 
 Perfection,' published in 1606, at Yalladolid, and 
 evidently much read. This cell was that of 
 
 Count , a man of gTcat wealth and high 
 
 rank, and of a still wider reputation for ability 
 and talent. He had lost his wife some years ago, 
 to whom he was passionately attached ; and 
 remaining in the world only till he had settled 
 his children, then took leave of it for ever, and 
 
CORDOVA. 45 
 
 resolved to spend the rest of his days in peni- 
 tence and prayer. Their habit is composed of a 
 coarse grey stuff, with a leathern girdle, drawers, 
 and a shirt of serge. No linen is allowed, or 
 stockings, and they wear sandals on their feet. 
 They are not permitted to possess anything, or to 
 keep anything in their cells but a glazed earthen- 
 ware pot, a wooden plate, a pitcher, a lamp, and 
 instruments of penance and devotion. They keep 
 a perpetual ftxst on beans and lentils, only on 
 high days and holidays being allowed fish. They 
 are not allowed to write or receive letters, or to 
 go into one another's cells, or to go out of the 
 enclosure, except once a month, when they may 
 walk in the mountains round, which they gene- 
 rally do together, reciting litanies. Seven hours 
 of each day must be given to prayer, and they 
 take the discipline twice a week.* How strange a 
 
 * The Rev. Pere Felix, tlie famous Paris preaclier, in one of liis 
 Notre Dame conferences, speaking of asceticism of this sort, says : 
 ' Les paiens avaient epuise la volupte : les Chretiens ont epuise las 
 sonffrances. De ce creuset de la donleur I'homme nouveau a sorti, et 
 c'est Tin homme plus grand que I'homme ancien. Ah ! je le sais, 
 la penitence corporelle, le jcune, I'abstinence, la discipline, la flagel- 
 lation, pretent a rire ti des penseurs de cc temps, qui se croient trop 
 sages pour pratiquer de telles folies. lis ont plus d'egard pour la 
 chair, plus de respect surtout^pour le corps, et ils disent en sou- 
 riant a I'austerite chretienne : " Ascetisme ! Moyen age ! Fanatisme ! 
 Demence ! " La verite est, que chatior volontairement son corps pour 
 venger la dignito de rhomme outragee par lea revoltes, est uno 
 
46 CORDOVA. 
 
 life for one accustomed to live in the Avorkl and 
 in society ! Yet there is no lack of candidates 
 for each vacancy ; and the prior told our tra- 
 vellers that the number of vocations of late years 
 had increased. There is a fine old marble seat 
 and cross in the garden, erected by the late bishop, 
 from whence there is a magnificent view over the 
 whole country. The cold in winter is intense, 
 and they are not allowed any fires, except what 
 is absolutely necessary for the cooking of their 
 miserable meal. Taking leave of the prior in his 
 little ' parloir,' and receiving a rosary fi'om him 
 made of the wood of the ' Carouba,' by the her- 
 mits themselves, the visitors retraced their steps 
 down the hill, feeling as if they had been spending 
 the last couple of hours in another world ; and, 
 rejoining their carriages at the villa, made the 
 circuit of the city walls, which are partly Moorish, 
 built of tapia, and described by Julius Ca3sar. 
 Then one of the party went to see the Carmelite 
 
 sainte et sublime chose. La verite est que poui' accoi^der a son 
 corps le plaisir, il suffit d'etre lache, et que pour iufliger a son corps 
 la douleur volontaire dans un but de restauration morale, il faut 
 etre courageux, il faut etre vi'aiment grand. La verite est enfin que 
 cette race de mortifies, mieux que tout autre, raaintient a sa vraie 
 liauteur le niveau de I'bumanite, et tient dans sa main intrepide, 
 avec le fouet dont elle se frappe elle-meme, le drapeau du progres. 
 Le cbemin du progres, comme celui du Calvaire, est un chcmin dou- 
 loureux. Le drapeau de raustcrite chretienne triompbei-a une fois 
 de plus dans le monde du sensualisme pa'ien de nos jours.' 
 
CORDOVA. 47 
 
 Convent of St. Theresa ; not one of the saint's 
 own foundation, but one Luilt soon after her 
 death. It contains twenty-four nuns, the cheeriest 
 and merriest of women, proving how little ex- 
 ternal circumstances contribute to personal cheer- 
 fulness. 
 
 The German gentleman who had so kindly 
 served as escort to our travellers during their stay 
 at Cordova dined with them in the evening, and 
 gave them several very interesting details of the 
 place and people. The next morning mass had 
 been promised them at five, but it was six before 
 the priest made his appearance in the fine old 
 Jesuit church, now bereft of its pastors and fre- 
 quent services ; and it was only thanks to the un- 
 punctuality of the Spanish railways, that the train 
 which was to convey our party to Malaga was 
 reached in time. 
 
 Passing through a very fine gorge of the Sierra 
 Nevada, with magnificent Alpine scenery, the train 
 suddenly stopped : the guard came to the carriages, 
 and civilly suggested to the passengers that the 
 government could not answer for the safety of the 
 tunnels, and, therefore, had provided carriages and 
 mules to take them round ; or else, if they pre- 
 ferred it, that they might lualk, as there would be 
 plenty of time. This sounded ludicrous enough to 
 
48 MALAGA. 
 
 En^^lisli ears, but, after all, they thought it more 
 prudent to comply than to run any risk, and ac- 
 cordingly bundled out with their bags and mani- 
 fold packages. On the recurrence of a similar 
 warning, however, a little later, they voted that 
 they would remain and take their chance ; and 
 nothing disastrous occurred. At the station they 
 were met by the kind and obliging English 
 consul, who had ordered rooms for them at the 
 hotel called the ' Alameda,' pleasantly situated on 
 the promenade, and who had done everything in 
 his power to ensure their comfort. The first days 
 of their arrival were sj)ent in settling themselves 
 in their new quarters, which required a good deal 
 of preliminary cleaning, and in seeing the so- 
 called ' lions' of the place. These are soon visited. 
 In truth, except for climate, Malaga is as dull 
 and uninteresting a place as can be well ima- 
 gined. There is a cathedral, originally a mosque, 
 but now converted into an ugly Corinthian pile 
 with two towers. Only one fine old Gothic door 
 remains, with curious ' azulejos.' The rest, both 
 inside and out, is modern, heavy, and in bad taste. 
 The high altar, however, is by Alonso Caiio ; and 
 there is some fine wood-carving of the sixteenth 
 century in the choir and on the screen, com- 
 memorating different scenes in the life of St. 
 
MALAGA. 49 
 
 Tiiribiiis, Archbishop of Lima, whose apostolic 
 labours among the Indians were crowned with 
 such wonderful success. There are one or two 
 good pictures and monuments, especially the 
 recumbent figure of a bishop, in bronze, of the 
 fifteenth century. In the sacristy is a valuable 
 relic of St. Sebastian, and some fine silver vases 
 for the holy oils ; but everything else was plun- 
 dered by the French. Afterwards our travellers 
 went, with an order fi:om the governor, to see the 
 castle and Moorish fortress overlooking the town, 
 built in 1279. Passing under a fine Moorish 
 horse-shoe arched gateway, they scrambled up to 
 the keep, from whence there is a magnificent 
 view over sea and land. It is now used as a 
 military prison, and about twenty-six men were 
 confined there. The officers were extremely civil, 
 and showed them everything. The men's bar- 
 racks seemed clean and comfortable, and their 
 rations good ; their arms and knapsacks were, 
 however, of the most old-fashioned kind. That 
 day a detachment of troops were starting for 
 Morocco, wdiose embarkation in the steamers 
 below was eagerly watched by the garrison. 
 
 But if Malaga be dull in the way of sights, it is 
 very pleasant from the kind and sociable charac- 
 ter of its inhabitants. Nowhere will the stranger 
 
50 MALAGA. 
 
 find mere genuine kindness, hospitality, or cour- 
 tesy. Their houses, their viUas, their horses, their 
 flowers, their time, all are placed, not figin-atively, 
 but really, ' a vuestra disposicion.' Some of the 
 villas in the neighbourhood are lovely, especially 
 
 those of Madame de H , the Marquise L 
 
 &c. Here one finds all kinds of tropical vege- 
 tation : the date-palm, the banana, the plantain 
 and Indian-rubber trees, sugar, cotton, and other 
 Oriental products, all grow luxuriantly ; while the 
 beds are filled with masses of violets, tulips, roses, 
 arums, scarlet hybiscus, and geraniums ; and beau- 
 tiful jessamine, scarlet passion-flowers, and other 
 creepers, trail over every wall. 
 
 But the chief interest to the winter resident at 
 Malacra will be derived fi-om its charitable institu- 
 tions. The French sisters of charity of St. Vincent 
 de Paul have the care of three large establish- 
 ments here. One — an industrial school for the 
 children and orphans connected with a neigh- 
 bouring factory — is a marvel of beauty, order, and 
 good management. The girls are taught every 
 kind of industrial work ; a Belgian has been im- 
 ported to give them instruction in making Valen- 
 ciennes lace, and their needlework is the most 
 beautifiil to be seen out of Paris. Any profit 
 arising from their work is sold, and kept for their 
 
MALAGA. 51 
 
 ' dot ' when they marry or leave the establishment. 
 Attached to this school is also a little home for 
 widows, incurables, and sick, equally tended by 
 the sisters. This admirable institution is the off- 
 spring of individual charity and of a life wrecked 
 — according to human parlance, — but which has 
 taken heart again for the sake of the widow and 
 the orphan, the sorrowful and the suffering. 
 Her name is a household word in Malaga to the 
 sad and the miserable ; and in order to carry out 
 her magnificent charities (for she has also an 
 industrial school for boys in the country), she has 
 given up her luxurious home, and lives in a small 
 lodging up three pair of stairs. She reminded 
 one of St. Jerome's description of St. Melania, 
 who, having lost her husband and two chikben 
 in one day, casting herself at the foot of the cross, 
 exclaimed : ' I see, my God ! that Thou requircst 
 of me my w^hole heart and love, which was too 
 much fixed on my husband and chikben. Witli 
 joy I resign all to Thee.' The sight of her won- 
 derfiil checrfiilness and courage, after sorrows so 
 unparalleled, must strengthen every one to follow 
 in her steps, and strive to learn, in self-abnega- 
 tion, her secret of true happiness. The French 
 sisters have likewise the charge of the great hos- 
 pital of St. Juan de Dios, containing between 
 
 E 2 
 
52 MALAGA. 
 
 400 and 500 patients, now about to be removed 
 to a new and more commodious building ; and also 
 of a large day and infant school near the river, 
 with a ' salle d'asile,' containing upwards of 500 
 children, who are daily fed with soup and bread. 
 They also visit the poor and sick in their homes, 
 and everywhere their steps are hailed with thank- 
 fiilness and joy. 
 
 The ' Little Sisters of the Poor ' have likewise 
 established themselves in Malaga, and have a 
 large house, containing seventy old and incurable 
 people, which is very well supplied by the richer 
 inhabitants. The nuns of the ' Assumption' have 
 lately started a ' pension ' for the daughters of 
 the upper classes, which was immensely wanted 
 (education being at a very low ebb in Spain), 
 and which has been most joyfully hailed by the 
 Malaga ladies for their children. The superior, a 
 charming person, is an Englishwoman ; and the 
 frequent benediction services in their beautiful 
 little chapel were a great boon to some of our 
 party. They paid a visit also to the archbishop, 
 a kind and venerable old man, with the most 
 benevolent smile and aspect, and who is really 
 looked upon as the father of his people. At a 
 grand Te Deum service, given in the Church of 
 S. Pietro dei Martiri, one of the most interesting 
 
MALAGA. 
 
 53 
 
 churches in Malaga, as a thanksgiving for the 
 preservation of the city fi^om cholera, he officiated 
 pontifically, which his great age generally pre- 
 vents, and gave the benediction with mitre and 
 crozier to the devout and kneeling multitude. 
 
 There is a very touching ' Yia Crucis ' service 
 performed every Friday in Malaga, up to a chapel 
 on the top of a high mountain overlooking the 
 whole town and bay. The peasants chaunt the 
 most plaintive and beautiful hymns, the words 
 of which they ^ improviser ' on the way, both up 
 and down. It begins at a very beautiild church 
 and convent called Notre Dame des Victoires, 
 now converted into a military hospital, nursed by 
 the Spanish sisters of charity. The family of 
 the Alcazars is buried in the crypt of this church, 
 and beautihil palms grow in the convent garden. 
 In the old refectory are some fine azulejos tiles 
 and some good specimens of Raphael ware. 
 
 As to diversions, Malaga offers but few resources. 
 Those who like boating may go out daily along 
 the beautiful coast ; but the rides are few, the 
 ground hard and dusty, and the ' riviere a sec,' 
 like that at Nice, must be traversed before any 
 mountain expeditions could be reached. There is 
 a bull-ring, as in every Spanish town, and occa- 
 sionally the additional excitement of elephants 
 
54 MALAGA, 
 
 being used in the fights : but the bulls will rarely 
 face them. 
 
 After about a month, therefore, spent in this 
 quiet little place, it was decided to start for 
 Granada, which promised to afford greater interest 
 and variety. 
 
GRANADA. 55 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 GRANADA. 
 
 Taking leave rather sorrowfully of tlieir many kind 
 fi'iends and of the sisters of charity who had been 
 their constant companions during their stay in 
 Malaga, our travellers started one stormy evening, 
 and found themselves once more cooped up in one 
 of those terrible diligences, and slowly ascending 
 the mountains at the back of the town. Their in- 
 tention had been to go on horseback, riding by 
 Velez-Malaga and the baths of Albania; but the late 
 heavy rains had converted the mountain streams 
 into torrents, and some of the party who attem2:)ted 
 it were compelled to return. After ascending for 
 about three hours, leaving on their left the pictur- 
 esque cemetery, with its fine cypresses, they came 
 to a plateau 3,000 feet above the sea, from w^hence 
 they had a magnificent view, the whole of Malaga 
 and its bay being stretched out at their feet, the 
 lights glistening in the town, and the moon, break- 
 ing through the clouds, shedding a soft light 
 
56 GRANADA. 
 
 over the sea-line, which was covered with tiny fish- 
 ing-vessels. Beautiful aloes and cacti starting out 
 of the bold rocks on either side formed the fore- 
 ground, while a rapid river rushed and tiunbled in 
 the gorge below. But with this fine panoramic 
 view the enjo}Tiient of our travellers came to an 
 end. When night came on, and they had reached 
 the highest and loneliest part of the bleak sierra, 
 it began to pour with rain and blow a regular 
 gale ; the heavy mud was dashed into their faces ; 
 the icy cold wind whistled through the broken 
 panes and under the floor of the carriage, and fi*oze 
 them to the bone. There was some difficulty about 
 a relay of mules at the next stage, and so our 
 party were left on an exposed part of the road 
 without drivers or beasts for more than an hour. 
 Altogether, it was impossible to conceive a more 
 disagi'eeable journey ; and it was therefore with in- 
 tense joy that they found themselves, after sixteen 
 hours of imprisonment, at last released, and once 
 more able to stretch their legs in the Alameda of 
 Granada. Tired, hungry, dirty, and cold, a fi-esh 
 disappointment here aAvaited them. All the ho- 
 tels were fiill (their letters ordering rooms had 
 miscari'ied), and only one tiny bedi'oom could be 
 found in which they could take refiige, and scrape 
 the mud off their clothes and hair. One of the 
 
GRANADA. 57 
 
 party found her way to the cathedral ; the rest 
 hckl a council of war, and finally determined to 
 try their fate at the new ' Alhambra ' hotel outside 
 the town, where an apartment was to be had, the 
 cold and wet of the season having deterred the 
 usual visitors to this purely summer residence. 
 They had every reason to congratulate themselves 
 on this decision ; for though the cold was certainly 
 great, the snow hanging still on all the hills around, 
 and the house being unprovided with any kind of 
 fire-places or stoves, still the cleanliness and com- 
 fort of the whole amply compensated for these 
 drawbacks, to say nothing of the immense advan- 
 tage of being close to the Alhambra, that gi'cat 
 object of attraction to every traveller who visits 
 Granada. The way up to it is very picturesque, 
 but very steep. After leaving the wretched, nar- 
 roAV, ill-paved streets, which dislocate almost every 
 bone in your body when attempted on wheels, and 
 passing by the Sala de la Audiencia and other fine 
 public buildings, you arrive at an arched gateway, 
 which at once brings you into a kind of public 
 garden, planted with fine English elms, and 
 abounding in walks and fountains and seats, and 
 in which the paths and drives, in spite of their pre- 
 cipitous character, are carefully and beautifully 
 kept by convict labour, under the superintendence 
 
58 GRANADA. 
 
 of a body of park-keepers dressed in full Anda- 
 lusian costume. The hotel is placed on the very 
 crest of the hill overlooking the magnificent range 
 of sno^vy mountains to the right. To the left, the 
 first thing which strikes the eye is the Torre de 
 Justicia. Over the outer horse-shoe arch is carved 
 an open hand, upon the meaning of which the 
 learned are divided ; some saying it is an emblem 
 of the power of God, others a talisman against 
 the Evil Eye. Over the inner arch is sculptured a 
 key, which typified the power of the Prophet over 
 the gates of heaven and hell. A double gate pro- 
 tects this entrance, which no donkey may pass : in 
 the recess is a very beautifiil little picture, fi-amed 
 and glazed, of the Virgin and Child. Passing 
 through this arch, you come to an open 'j^laza,' out 
 of which rise two towers; one has been bought by 
 an Englishman, who has converted the lower part of 
 it into his private residence. (Where shall we not 
 find our ubiquitous countrymen ?) * The other is 
 
 * This unexpected rencontre reminded one of our party of a 
 similar surprise, some ygars ago, in the mountains of the Tjrol. She 
 was riding with her husband, when they came on a very j^icturesque 
 old ' schloss,' in an out-of-the-way gorge of a mountain pass. 
 Stopping to look at it, and pushing open a half-open door in what 
 appeared to be the only habitable part of the ruin, they came on a 
 group of chubby-faced EngHsh children, sitting round a table in 
 their white pinafores, eating an undeniable EngKsh tea ; and were 
 told by the nurse, in answer to their enquiries, that the present 
 
THE ALHAMBRA. 50 
 
 called the Torre cle la Vela, because on this watch- 
 tower hangs the bell which gives warning to the 
 irrigators in the vega below. The view from hence 
 is the most enchanting thing possible, command- 
 ing the whole country. Below lies Granada with 
 its towers and sparkling rivers, the Darro and the 
 Xenil. Beyond stretches the beautiful rich 'vega' 
 (or plain), studded with villas and villages, and 
 encircled by snowy mountains, with the Sierra of 
 Alhama on one side, and the Gorge of Loja on 
 the other. Descending the tower, and standing 
 again in the ' plaza ' below, you see opposite to 
 you a large ruined Doric palace, a monument of 
 the bad taste of Charles Y., who pulled down a 
 large portion of the Moorish building to erect this 
 hideous edifice, which, like most other things in 
 Spain, remains unfinished. Passing through a 
 low door to the right, our travellers were perfectly 
 dazzled at the beauty which suddenly burst upon 
 them. It is impossible to conceive anything more 
 exquisite than the Alhambra, of which no draw- 
 ings, no Crystal Palace models, not even Wash- 
 ington Irving's poetical descriptions, give one the 
 faintest idea. ' J'cssaie en vain de penser : je ne 
 
 owner of this Austrian schloss was a London tradesman, who brouglit 
 his children over every year to spend the summer — a most sensible 
 arrangement, as the healthy bright looks of his little ones testified. 
 
6o THE ALHAMBRA. 
 
 peux que sentir ! ' exclaimed the authoress of ' Les 
 Lettres d'Esjiagne ' on entering ; but the predomi- 
 nant feeling is one of regret for the Moors, whose 
 dynasty produced such marvels of beauty and of 
 art. Entering by the fish-pond ' patio,' and visit- 
 ing fii'st the Whispering Gallery, you pass through 
 the Hall of tlie Ambassadors, and the Court of 
 Lions, out of which lead the Hall of the Aben- 
 ceiTages, and that of Justice, with its two curious 
 monuments and wonderful fi'etted roof, and then 
 come to the gem of the whole, the private apart- 
 ments of the Moorish kings, with the recessed bed- 
 room of the king and queen, the boudoir and lovely 
 latticed windows overlooking the beautiful little 
 garden of Lindaraja (the violets and orange- 
 blossoms of which scented the Avhole au'), and the 
 exquisite baths below.* It is a thing to dream of. 
 
 * Few have described this enchanting palace as well as the 
 French lady already quoted. She says, speaking of the feelings it 
 calls forth : — ' J'ainierais autant etre broyee dans la guenle de ces 
 joHs monstres qui ont des nez en noeud de cravate, appeles Lions par 
 la grace de Mahomet, que de te parler de TAlhambra, tant cette 
 description est difficile. Les mui^ailles ne sont que guipures dclicates 
 ct compliquces : les plus hardies stalactites ne peuvent donner une 
 idee des coupoles. Le tout est une merreille, un travail d'abeilles ou 
 de fees. Les sculptures sont d'une delicatesse ravissante, d'un gout 
 parfait, d'une richesse qui vous fait songer a tout ce que les contes 
 de fees vous decrivaient jadis a I'heureux age ou rimagination a des 
 ailes d'or. Helas ! la mienne n'a plus d'aile, elle est de plomb. Les 
 Arabes n'employaient que quatre couleurs : le bleu, le rouge, le noir 
 
THE ALHAMBBA. 6i 
 
 and exceeds every previous expectation. Ao-ain 
 and again did our travellers return, and always 
 discovered some fresh beauties. The governor re- 
 sides in a modernised corner of the building, not 
 far from the mosque, which has suffered from the 
 bad taste of the Christian spoilers. He is not a 
 good specimen of Spanish courtesy, as, in spite of 
 letters of introduction from the highest quarters, 
 it was with very great difficulty that our party 
 were admitted to see anything beyond the por- 
 tions of the building open to the general public. 
 At last, however, he condescended to find the keys 
 of the Tower of the Infantas, once the residence 
 of the Moorish princesses whose tragical fate is so 
 touchingly recorded by Washington Irving. It 
 is a beautiful little cage, overlooking the ravine, 
 with its fine aqueduct below, and rich in the 
 delicate moresque carving of both ceiHngs and 
 walls. Afterwards, crossing a garden, they came to 
 the gate by which Boabdil left his palace for the 
 last time, and which was afterwards, by his special 
 request, walled up. The towxr at this corner 
 w^as mined and destroyed by the French. Our 
 party then descended to a little mosque lately 
 
 etl'or, Cette richesse, ces teintes vives, sont visibles encore partout. 
 Enfin, mon ami, ce n'est point \m paJais ceci : c'est la ville d'nn 
 enchanteur ! ' 
 
62 THE ALHAMBRA. 
 
 purcliascd by Colonel , and beautifully re- 
 stored. This completed the circuit of the Al- 
 hambra, which is girdled with walls and towers 
 of that rich red-brown hue which stands out so 
 beautifully against the deep blue sky, but the 
 gTcater portion of which was ruthlessly destroyed 
 by Sebastiani, at the time of his occupation of 
 Granada. 
 
 The restoration of this matchless palace has 
 been undertaken by the present queen, who has 
 put it in the hands of a first-rate artist named 
 Contreras ; and this confidence has been well be- 
 stowed, for it is impossible to see work executed in 
 a more perfect manner, so that it is very difficult 
 to tell the old portions fi^om the new. If he be 
 spared to complete it, fiiture generations will see 
 the Alhambra restored very nearly to its pristine 
 beauty. This gentleman makes exquisite models 
 of different parts of the building, done to a scale, 
 which are the most perfect miniature fac-similes 
 possible of the different portions of this beautiful 
 palace, and a most agreeable memento of a visit 
 to it. Oiu" travellers purchased several, and only 
 regTctted they had not chosen some of the same 
 size, as they would make charming panels for a 
 cabinet or screen. 
 
 In the afternoon, the party started to see the 
 
GRANADA. 63 
 
 cathedral, escorted by the kind and good-natured 
 dean, who engaged the venerable mother of the 
 ' Little Sisters of the Poor ' to act as his interpre- 
 ter, his Andalusian Spanish being utterly unintel- 
 ligible to most of the party. The first feeling on 
 entering is of unmixed disappointment. It is a 
 Pagan Greco-Poman building, very much what 
 our London churches are which were erected in 
 the time of the Georges. But it has one redeem- 
 ing point — the Capilla de los Peyes, containing 
 the wonderful monuments of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, and of Philip and Joan. The alabaster 
 sepulchres of the former, wrought at Genoa by 
 Peralta, are magnificent, both in design and exe- 
 cution. Isabella's statue is especially beautifid : 
 
 In qnesta forma 
 
 Passa la bella donna, e par clie clorma. 
 
 The faces are both portraits, and have a simple 
 dignity which arrests the attention of the most un- 
 observant. A loAv door and a few steep steps below 
 the monuments lead to their last resting-place. 
 The royal coffins are of lead, lapped over, rude and 
 plain (only the letter F distinguishes that of the 
 king), but they are genuine, and untouched since 
 the day when their bodies, so justly revered by the 
 Spaniards, were deposited in this humble vault. 
 
64 GRANADA. 
 
 Among the treasures of this chapel are likewise 
 shown the identical royal standards used at the 
 conquest of Granada ; the king's sword ; the 
 queen's own missal ; their crozier and crown of 
 silver-gilt ; the picture of the Virgin and Child 
 by St. Luke, given to Isabella by Pope Innocent 
 VIII., and before which mass is said every 2nd of 
 January, the anniversary of the taking of the 
 city ; and the portrait of the knight who, during 
 the siege, rode into Granada, and affixed a taper 
 and an ' Ave Maria' on the very door of the prin- 
 cipal mosque. In the sacristy is a ' Conception,' ex- 
 quisitely carved, by Alonso Caho ; an 'Adoration 
 of the Kings,' by Hemling, of Bruges ; a curious 
 ring of Sixtus II. ; a chasuble embroidered by 
 Queen Isabella ; some very valuable relics and 
 reliquaries, and a letter of St. Charles Borromeo, 
 which the good-natured dean allowed one of the 
 party to copy. Besides these treasm-es, and the 
 Capilla de los Keyes, there is really nothing to 
 look at in the cathedral, but one or two good 
 painted glass windows, some clustered columns, 
 and a curious arch in the dome, which was made 
 to bend downwards. 
 
 The following morning, after an early ser^ace at 
 the Capuchin convent of St. Antonio, one of the 
 party started on an expedition with the sisters of 
 
GRANADA. 65 
 
 the town, and winding up a beautiilil and steep 
 ravine, in the holes and caverns of which gipsies 
 live and congregate, they came to a picturesque 
 wood planted on the side of the mountain. Here 
 they left their carriages, and scrambled up a zig- 
 zag path cut in the hill, Avith low steps or ' gTa- 
 dini,' till they reached a plateau, on which stands 
 both convent and church. The view from the ter- 
 race in front is the most magnificent which can 
 be conceived. On one side are the snowy moun- 
 tains of the Sierra Nevada, with a rapid river 
 tumbling into the gorge below, the valleys being 
 lined on both sides with stone-pine woods, amid 
 which little convents and villages are clustered. 
 On the other is the town of Granada, with its 
 domes and towers; and sharply standing out on 
 the rocks above the ruins, against the bright blue 
 sky, are the coffee-coloured towers of the beautiftil 
 Alhambra. There is a Via Crucis up to this spot, 
 the very crosses seeming to start up out of the 
 rocks, which are clothed with aloes and prickly 
 pear ; while in the centre of the terrace is a beau- 
 tifril fountain and cross, shaded by magnificent 
 cypresses. The church is built over some cata- 
 combs, where the bodies of St. Cecilia and of 
 eleven other martyrs were found, who suffered in 
 the persecution under Nero. The superior of this 
 
66 GRANADA. 
 
 convent, now converted into a college, is Don 
 Jose Martin, a very holy man, though quite 
 young, and revered by the whole country as a 
 saint. He is a wonderM preacher, and by his 
 austere and penitential life works miracles in 
 bringing souls to God. His manner is singularly 
 gentle, simple, and humble. He kindly came to 
 escort the party through the catacombs, and to 
 show them the relics. The sites of the different 
 martyrdoms have been converted into small cha- 
 pels or oratories : in one, where the victim perished 
 by fire, his ashes still remain. Little leaden tablets 
 mark the different spots. Here also is the great 
 wooden cross of St. John of the Cross, from the 
 foot of which he preached a sermon on the ' Love 
 of God ' during his visit to Granada, which is said 
 to have converted upwards of 3,000 people. ' I 
 always come here to pray for a few minutes before 
 preaching,' said simply Don Jose Martin, ' so that 
 a portion of his spirit may rest upon me.' After 
 spending some time in this sanctuary, the party 
 reluctantly retraced their steps, and returned to 
 the town, where they had promised to visit the 
 gTcat hospital of San Juan de Dios. It is a mag- 
 nificent establishment, entirely under the care of 
 the Spanish sisters of charity of St. Vincent de 
 Paul, with a ' patio ' or quadrangle in the centre, 
 
GRANADA. by 
 
 and double cloisters round, into which the wards 
 open : all round the cloisters are frescoes describ- 
 ing diiferent scenes in the life of the saint. The 
 church is gorgeous in its decorations, and in a 
 chapel above rests the body of San Juan, in a 
 magnificent silver shrine, with his clothes, his 
 hat, the basket in which he used daily to go and 
 collect food for his sick and dying poor, and other 
 like personalties. 
 
 This saint is immensely revered in Granada. 
 He was the first founder of the Order of Brothers 
 of Charity, now spread all over Europe, begin- 
 ning his great work, as all the saints have done, in 
 the humblest manner possible, by hiring a small 
 house (now converted into a wayside oratory), in 
 which he could place four or ^yq poor people, 
 nursing them himself night and day, and only 
 going out to beg, sell, and chop wood, or do any- 
 thing to obtain the necessary food and medicines 
 for them. The archbishop, touched with his 
 burning charity, assisted him to build a larger 
 hospital. This house soon after took fire, when 
 San Juan carried out the sick one by one on his 
 back, without receiving any hurt. It is thus that 
 he is represented in the Statue Gallery of Madrid. 
 The people, inflamed by his loving zeal, and in 
 admiration of his great wisdom, humility, and 
 
 f2 
 
68 GRANADA. 
 
 prudence, came forward as one man to help him 
 to build the present hospital, which remains to this 
 day as a monument of what may be done by one 
 poor man of humble birth, if really moved by the 
 love of God. His death was caused by rescuing 
 a man in danger of drowning from the sudden 
 rising of the river, and then remaining, wet and 
 worn out as he was, while caring for the family. 
 He died on his knees, repeating the ' Miserere,' 
 amidst the tears of the whole city, to whom, by 
 the special command of the archbishop, he gave 
 his dying benediction. His favourite saying was : 
 ' Labour without intermission to do all the good 
 works in your power while- time is allowed you ; ' 
 and this sentence is engraved in Spanish on the 
 door of the hospital. 
 
 The following day happened to be the anni- 
 versary of his death, or rather of his birthday in 
 heaven, when a touching and beautifril ceremonial 
 is observed. The archbishop and his clergy come 
 to the hospital to give the Holy Communion to 
 the sick in each ward. A procession is formed 
 of the ecclesiastics and the sisters of charity, each 
 bearing lighted tapers, and little altars are 
 arranged at the end of each ward, beautifully 
 decorated with real flowers, while everything in 
 and about the hospital is fresh and clean for the 
 
GRANADA. 69 
 
 occasion. A touching incident occurred in the 
 male ward on that day, where one poor man lay 
 in the last stage of disease. The eagerness of his 
 look when the archbishop di^ew near his bed will 
 never be forgotten by those who were kneeling 
 there ; nor the way in which his face lighted up 
 with joy when he received His Lord. The atten- 
 dant sister bent forward to give him a cordial 
 afterwards : he shook his head, and tiu-ned his face 
 away ; he would have nothing after That. Before 
 the last notes of the ' Pange Lingua ' or the curling 
 smoke of the incense had died out of the ward, 
 all was over ; but the smile on the lips and the 
 peace on the face spoke of the rest he had found. 
 Afterwards there was a magnificent service in 
 the church, and a dinner to all the orphans in the 
 sisters' schools. 
 
 Another interesting expedition made by oiu* 
 travellers was to the Carthusian convent outside 
 the town. Sebastiani desecrated and pillaged the 
 wonderful treasures it contained ; but the tortoise- 
 shell and mother-of-pearl doors and presses re- 
 main, reminding one of those in the Armenian 
 Church at Jerusalem at the shrine of St. James. 
 There are also two statues of St. Bruno, by Alonso 
 Cano ; wonderful for their life-like appearance 
 and expression, but still not equal to the incom- 
 
70 GRANADA. 
 
 parable one at Miraflores. There arc some beau- 
 tiful alabaster and agate pillars still left in the 
 chapel behind the high altar, which it is to be sup- 
 posed were too heavy for the spoilers to carry off. 
 In the cloisters are some curious frescoes of the 
 martyrdoms of the Carthusians, at the time of the 
 Protestant Reformation, by Henry YIII. of Eng- 
 land. The guide who accompanied our travellers 
 said slyly to the only Catholic of the party : ' We 
 had better not explain the subject of these. Let 
 them imagine they are some of the horrors of 
 the Inquisition, — that alivays takes with English 
 IDCople !' Another picture was startling both in 
 subject and colouring ; it was that of a dead doc- 
 tor, much venerated in life, who, on a ftmeral pane- 
 gyric being pronounced over him, started fi^om his 
 coffin, exclaiming 'that his life had been a lie, 
 and that he was among the damned ! ' The friar 
 who showed our party over the now deserted con- 
 vent was like Fray Gabriel in Fernan Caballero's 
 novel of 'La Gaviota.' When the rest of the 
 Carthusians were turned out by the government, 
 he would not go. ' I was brought here as a little 
 child,' he said, ' and know no one in the world ; ' 
 and so he sat himself down by the cross and 
 sobbed. They let him stay and keep the garden 
 and the church, but his life is over. ' The blood 
 
GRANADA. 71 
 
 does not run in his veins — it walks ! ' Like Fray 
 Gabriel, he will die kneeling before the Christ to 
 whom he daily prays for those who have so cruelly 
 wronged and robbed him. The view fi'om the ter- 
 race in front of the church is beautiful, overlooking 
 the rich and cultivated plain of Soto de Koma, 
 the property of the Duke of Welling-ton, with 
 the mountain of Parapanda above, the hills of 
 Elvira, and the pass of Moclin, which forms the 
 bridle-road to Cordova. The gardens also are 
 delightful : no wonder the poor monks clung to 
 their convent home ! 
 
 In the afternoon our travellers walked up to 
 the Generalife, a villa now belonging to the 
 Pallavicini family, a branch of the gi-eat Genoa 
 house, but formerly the palace of the Sultana. 
 Passing through vineyards and fig-trees, they 
 arrived at the gate of the fairy garden, with its 
 long straight borders, fringed with myrtle, irri- 
 gated by the Darro, which is carried in a little 
 canal between the flower-beds, and with a beau- 
 tifrd open colonnade overlooking the Alhambra, 
 while a less formal garden sent up a shower 
 of sweet scents fr'om the orange-trees and jessa- 
 mine trellises below. Tlu'ough this colonnade 
 they passed into the living-rooms, exquisite in 
 their Moorish carvings and decorations. In one of 
 
'J^ GRANADA. 
 
 them there are a number of cm-ious though some- 
 Avhat apocryphal portraits, including one of Boab- 
 dil, and of another Moorish king of Granada, with 
 his wife and daughter, who turned Christians, and 
 were baptized at Santa Fe. In the outer room 
 are portraits of all the ' bluest blood ' of Granada. 
 But the gardens form the greatest charm. The 
 ground was covered with Neapolitan violets and 
 other spring flowers. Koses climbed over every 
 wall, and magnificent cypresses, and aloes in fiill 
 flower, shaded the beds from the burning sun. 
 The largest of these cypresses, called the Sultana, 
 is twelve feet in circumference, and to this tree 
 the fatal legend of the fair Zoraya is attached. 
 Behind these cypresses is a flight of Italian-looking 
 steps, leading to another raised garden, frill of 
 terraces and fountains. On the steep brow of the 
 hill is an alcove, or summer-house, from whence 
 the views over Granada and the Alhambra are 
 quite enchanting, every arch being, as it were, the 
 setting or fr^ame of a new and beautifril picture. 
 Above this again is a Moorish fortress, and a 
 knoll called the Moor's Chair, from whence the 
 last Moorish king is said to have sadly contem- 
 plated the defeat of his troops by the better dis- 
 ciplined cirmies of Ferdinand and Isabella gi'ouped 
 in the plains below. Scrambling still higher up. 
 
GRANADA. 73 
 
 our travellers came to the ruins of a chapel, and to 
 some curious caverns, with a peep into a wild gorge 
 to the right, leading into the very heart of this 
 mountainous and little visited region. Boabdil's 
 sword, and other relics and pictures of the fifteenth 
 century belonging to the Pallavicini family, are 
 carefully preserved by their agent in their house in 
 the town, and had been courteously shown to our 
 travellers when they called to obtain permission to 
 visit the villa. Eeturning towards their hotel, they 
 thought they would prolong their walk by visiting 
 the great cemetery, or ' Campo Santo,' which is a 
 little to the north of the Generalife. Long files 
 of mourners had been perpetually passing by their 
 Avindows, the bier being carried on men's shoulders, 
 and uncovered, as in the East, so that the face 
 of the dead was visible. Each bier was followed 
 by the confraternity to which he or she belonged, 
 chanting hymns and litanies as they wound up 
 the long steep hill fi-om the town to the burial- 
 ground. But all appearance of reverence, or even 
 of decency, disappears at the spot itself, where 
 the corpse is stripped, taken out of its temporary 
 coffin, and brutally cast into a pit, which is kept 
 open till filled, and then, with quicklime thrown 
 in, closed up, and a fi^esh one opened to be treated 
 in a similar manner. It is a disgrace to Catholic 
 
74 GRANADA. 
 
 Spain that such scenes should be of daily re- 
 currence. 
 
 Another villa worth visiting in the neighbour- 
 hood of the Alhambra is that of Madame Caldc- 
 ron, where the obliging French gardener took our 
 travellers all over the gardens and terraces, the 
 hot-houses and aviaries, the artificial streams and 
 bridges, till they came to the great attraction of 
 the place — a magnificent arbor vitas, or hanging 
 cypress, falsely called a cedar of Lebanon, which 
 was planted by St. John of the Cross, this site 
 being originally occupied by a convent of St. 
 Theresa's. The house is thoroughly comfortable 
 inside, with charming views over the ^ vega,' and 
 altogether more like an English home than any- 
 thing else in Spain. If anyone wished to spend 
 a delightful summer out of England, they could 
 find no more agreeable retreat ; perfect as to 
 climate, and with the most enjoyable and beau- 
 tiful expeditions to be made in every direction. 
 It is worth remembering, as Madame Calderon, 
 being now a widow, is anxious to let her resi- 
 dence, having another house in Madrid. There is 
 a church close by, and a dairy attached to the 
 garden, which is a rarity in Spain, and a public 
 benefit to the visitors at the Alhambra ; and the 
 clever and notable French wife of the gardener 
 
GRANADA. 
 
 75 
 
 makes delicious butter, and sells both that and 
 the cream in her mistress's absence — luxuries 
 utterly unknown anywhere else in the Peninsula. 
 
 Bad weather and heavy snow (for they had 
 visited Granada too early in the year) prevented 
 our travellers fi'om accomplishing different ex- 
 peditions which they had planned for the as- 
 cent of the Sierra Nevada, and visiting Albania 
 and Adea and other interesting spots in the 
 neighbourhood. But they drove one day to the 
 Alameda, where all Granada congregates in the 
 evening, and from whence the view looking on 
 the mountains is beautiful. 
 
 Returning by the Moorish gateway, called the 
 Puerta de Monayma, they came to an open 
 Space, in the centre of which is a statue of the 
 Virgin. Here public executions used to take place, 
 and here, in 1831, Mariana Pineda, a lady of high 
 birth and great beauty, was strangled. A simple 
 cross marks the spot. Her crime was the finding 
 in her house a flag, maliciously placed there by 
 a man whose addresses she had rejected. 
 
 From this ' plaza ' our travellers drove to the 
 conflux of the rivers Darro and Xenil, which 
 together form the Guadalquiver ; and from thence 
 proceeded to a mosque, where a tablet records 
 the fact of its having been the place where the 
 
76 
 
 GRANADA. 
 
 unfortunate king Boabdil gave the keys of the 
 town to the Christian conquerors, Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, and then himself rode sloAvly and sadly 
 away from his beautiful palace by a mountain 
 still called the ' Last Sigh of the Moor,' immor- 
 talised both in verse and song. The accompany- 
 ing ballad, with its plaintive wailing sound, still 
 echoes in the hearts and on the lips of the people. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^EE^- 
 
 ^- 
 
 Sat 
 
 Ay de mi Al 
 
 ha 
 
 ^^^^^-^^^^=^^^^1=^ 
 
 Pa - se - a - ba - se el Key Mo - - ro Por la ciu - dad de Gra 
 
 m 
 
 Ha - sta la de Bi - bar 
 
 bia. 
 
 i 
 
 Ay de mi Al 
 
 :it*: 
 
 ha 
 
 Returning, they visited the Church of Las 
 Angustias, where there is a wonderfril but taw- 
 drily dressed image of the Blessed Virgin, who is 
 the patroness of the town. The French sisters of 
 charity have a large orphanage and day-school 
 
GRANADA. 77 
 
 here, established originally by Madame Caldcron ; 
 but the situation, in the street called Recogidas, 
 is low and damp, and their chapel being almost 
 underground, and into which no sun can ever 
 enter, seriously affects the health of the sisters. 
 Here, as everywhere, they are universally beloved 
 and respected, and the present superior is one 
 eminently qualified, by her loving gentleness and 
 evenness of temper, to win the hearts of all around 
 her. The dress of the people in Granada is sin- 
 gularly picturesque : the women wear crape shawls 
 of the brightest colours, yellow, orange, or red, 
 with flowers stuck jauntily on one side of the head 
 just above the ear ; the men have short velvet 
 jackets, waistcoats with beautiful hanging silver 
 buttons (which have descended fi*om father to son, 
 and are not to be bought except by chance), hats 
 with large borders, turned up at the edge, red 
 sashes round the waist, and gaiters of untanned 
 leather, daintily embroidered, open at the knee, 
 with hanging strips of leather and silver buttons. 
 Over the whole, in cold weather, is thrown the 
 ' capa,' or large cloak, which often conceals the 
 threadbare garments of a beggar, but which is worn 
 with the air of the proudest Spanish ' hidalgo.' 
 This evening, the last which our travellers were 
 to spend in Granada, they had a visit fi'om the 
 
78 GRANADA. 
 
 king and captain of the gipsies, a very remark- 
 able man, between thirty and forty years of age, 
 and a blacksmith by trade. He brought his 
 guitar, and played in the most marvellous and 
 beautiful way possible : first tenderly and softly ; 
 then bm'sting into the wildest exultation ; then 
 again plaintive and wailing, ending Avith a strain 
 of triumph and rejoicing and victory which 
 completely entranced his hearers. It was like a 
 beautiful poem or a love-tale, told with a pathos 
 indescribable. It was a fitting last remembrance 
 of a place so fall of poetry and of the past, with 
 a tinge in it of that sorrowfi^il dark thread which 
 always seems woven into the tissue of earthly 
 lives. Sorrowfully, the next morning, our tra- 
 vellers paid their last visit to the matchless 
 Alhambra, which had grown upon them at every 
 turn. Then came the ' good-bye ' to their good 
 and faithful guide, Bensaken, that name so well 
 known to all Granada tourists ; and to the kind 
 sisters of charity, whose white ' cornettes ' stood 
 grouped round the fatal diligence which was to 
 convey them back to Malaga. And so they bade 
 adieu to this beautiful city, with many a hope of a 
 return on some future day, and with a whole train 
 of new thoughts and new pictures in their mind's 
 eye, called forth by the wonders they had seen. 
 
GIBRALTAR AND CADIZ. 79 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 GIBRALTAR AND CADIZ. 
 
 The journey fi^om Granada was, if possible, moje 
 wearying than before, for the constant heavy 
 rains had reduced the roads to a perfect Slough 
 of Despond, in which the wretched mules per- 
 petually sank and fell, and were flogged up again 
 in a way which, to a nature fond of animals, is 
 the most insupportable of physical miseries. Is 
 there a greater suffering than that of witnessing 
 cruelty and wrong which you are powerless to 
 redress ? It was not till nearly eleven o'clock the 
 following day that our travellers found themselves 
 once more in their old quarters on the Alameda 
 of Malaga. By the kindness of the superior of 
 the hospital, the usual nine o'clock mass had been 
 postponed till the arrival of the diligence : and 
 very joyfully did one of the party afterwards take 
 her old place at the refectory of the community, 
 whose loving welcome made her forget that she 
 was still in a strange land. The following three 
 or four days were spent almost entirely in making 
 
8o GIBRALTAR AND CADIZ. 
 
 preparations for their journey to Gibraltar, via 
 Ronda, that eagle's nest, perched on two separate 
 rocks, divided by a rapid torrent, but united by a 
 picturesque bridge, which crowns the range of 
 mountains forming the limits of the kingdom 
 of Granada. The accounts of the mountain- 
 path were not encouraging ; but to those who 
 li^d ridden for four months through the Holy 
 Land, no track, however rugged and precipitous, 
 offered any terrors. But when the time came, to 
 their intense disappointment, the road was found 
 to be impassable on the Gibraltar side, owing 
 to the tremendous torrents, which the heavy 
 rains had swollen to a most unusual extent. 
 Two officers had attempted to swim their horses 
 over ; but in so doing one of them was drowned, 
 so that there seemed no alternative but to give 
 up their pleasant riding expedition, and, with it, 
 the sight of that gem of the whole country which 
 had been one of their main objects in retm^ning 
 to Malaga. Comforting themselves, however, by 
 the hope of going there later from Seville, our 
 travellers took berths in the steamer 'Cadiz,' 
 bound for Gibraltar ; and after a beautiffil parting 
 benediction at the little convent of the Nuns of 
 the Assumption, they took leave of their many 
 kind friends, and, at six o'clock (accompanied by 
 
GIBRALTAR. 8i 
 
 Madame de Q and her brother to the water's 
 
 edge), stepped on board the boat which was to 
 convey them to their steamer. Their captain, 
 however, proved faithless as to time ; and it was 
 not till morning that the cargo was all on board 
 and the vessel under weiii'h for their destination. 
 After a tedious and rough passage of nineteen 
 hours, the}^ rounded at last the Europa Point, and 
 found themselves a few minutes later landing on 
 the Water Port Quay of the famous rock. Of all 
 places in Spain, Gibraltar is the least interesting, 
 except from the British and national point of 
 view. Its houses, its people, its streets, its lan- 
 guage, all are of a detestably mongrel character.* 
 
 * The able authoress from whom we have ah^eady quoted ex- 
 presses herself on Gibraltar as follows : — 
 
 ' Gibraltar est bati a I'Anglaise : les " cottages " sont laids et in- 
 comjnodes sous ce ciel brulant. Pour voitures, des paniers d'osier. 
 Les Anglaises out six pieds, les Anglais sept et demi. Es mettent 
 de grands fichus de mousseline blanche sur leurs chapeaux, quoiqu'il 
 ne fasse pas encore chaud ; ils font de grands pas avec de grands 
 pieds. Ah ! ce n'est plus I'Andalousie, ce n'est plus la mantille ! 
 Les chapeaux des dames viennent de la rue St.-Denis. Plus de grace, 
 plus de charme, plus de poesie, plus de repos ; mais un terrible 
 remue-menage. . . . Je suis logee au Club-House Hotel, dans 
 une espece de salle de spectacle, a colonnes corinthiennes, qui donne 
 sur la place. La place est laide, les arbres sont rabougris. Je vois 
 passer les Maures, portant avec noblesse leurs vetements blancs aux 
 longs plis, d'autres ont des robes eclatantes, quelques-uns ont les 
 jambes nues. Nous avons ete par dela le Mont des Singes. Je n'en 
 ai pas vu un — personne n'en a jamais vu ! ' — Lettres d'Esjpagne, 
 pp. 180-181. 
 
 G 
 
82 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 The weather, too, during our travellers' stay, was 
 essentially British, incessant pouring rain and fog 
 alternating with gales so tremendous that twenty 
 vessels went ashore in one day. -Nothing was to be 
 seen from the windows of the Club-House Hotel 
 but mist and spray, or heard but the boom of the 
 distress gun from the wrecking ships, answered 
 by the more cheering cannon of the port. But 
 there is a bright side to every picture : and one 
 of the bright sides of Gibraltar is to be found in 
 its kind and hospitable governor and his wife, who, 
 nobly laying aside all indulgence in the life-long 
 sorrow w^hich family events have caused, devote 
 themselves morning, noon, and night to the w^el- 
 fare and enjoyment of everyone around them. 
 Their hospitality is natural to their duties and 
 position ; but the kind consideration which ever 
 anticipates the wishes of their guests, whether resi- 
 dents or, as our travellers were, birds of passage, 
 here to-day and gone to-morrow, springs from a 
 rarer and a purer source. 
 
 Another object of interest to some of oiu* party 
 was the charitable institutions of the place. The 
 white 'cornettes ' of the sisters of charity are not 
 seen as yet ; but the sisters of the ' Bon Secours ' 
 have supplied their place in nursing the sick 
 and tending all the serious cases of every class 
 
GIBRALTAR. 83 
 
 in the garrison. Their vahie only became fully 
 known at the late fearful outbreak of cholera, to 
 which two of them fell victims : but they seemed 
 rather encouraged than deterred by this fact. 
 They live in a house half-way up the hill on the 
 way to Europa Point, which contains a certain 
 number of old and incurable people and a few 
 orj)han chilcben. They visit also the sick poor 
 in their homes, and in the Civil Hospital, which 
 is divided, di'olly enough, not into surgical and 
 medical wards, but according to the religion of 
 the patients ! one half being Catholic, the other 
 Protestant, and small wards being reserved likewise 
 for Jews and Moors. It is admirably managed, the 
 patients are supplied with every necessary, and 
 well cared for by the kind-hearted superinten- 
 dent. Dr. G . The ' Dames de Lorette ' have 
 
 a convent towards the Em^opa Point, where they 
 board and educate between twenty and thirty 
 young ladies. They have also a large day-school 
 in the town for both rich and poor, the latter 
 being below and the former above. The children 
 seem well taught, and the poorer ones were re- 
 markable for great neatness and cleanliness. The 
 excellent and charming Catholic bishop. Dr. 
 Scandella, Vicar Apostolic of Gibraltar, has built 
 a college for boys on the gi'ound adjoining his 
 
84 GIBRALTAR, 
 
 palace, above the convent, from whence the view 
 is glorious : the gardens are very extensive. This 
 college, which was immensely needed in Gibral- 
 tar, is rapidly filling wdth students, and is about 
 to be affiliated to the London University. In the 
 garden above, a chapel is being built to receive 
 the Virgin of * Europa,' whose image, broken and 
 despoiled by the English in 1704, was carried 
 over to Algeciras, and there concealed in the 
 hermitage ; but has now been given back by Don 
 Eugenio Komero to the bishop, to be placed in 
 this new and beautiful little sanctuary overlook- 
 ing the Straits, where it will soon be once more 
 exposed to the veneration of the faithful. The 
 bishop has lately built another little church below 
 the convent, dedicated to St. Joseph, but wdiich, 
 from some defect in the materials, has been a 
 very expensive undertaking. 
 
 It was very pleasant to see the simple, hearty, 
 manly devotion of the large body of Catholic 
 soldiers in the garrison, among whom his influ- 
 ence has had the happiest effect in checking every 
 kind of dissatisfaction and drunkenness. His 
 personal influence has doubtless been greatly en- 
 hanced by his conduct during the cholera, when 
 he devoted himself, wdth his clergy, to the sick and 
 dying, taking regular turns with them in the 
 
GIBRALTAR. 85 
 
 administration of the Last Sacraments, and only 
 claiming as his privilege that of being the one 
 always called up in the night, so that the others 
 might get some rest. He has two little rooms 
 adjoining the church, where he remains during 
 the day, and receives anyone who needs his 
 fatherly care. 
 
 The Protestant bishop of Gibraltar, a very kind 
 and benevolent man, resides at Malta, and has a 
 cathedral near the governor's house, lately beau- 
 tified by convict labour, and said to be well at- 
 tended. It is the only Protestant church in Spain. 
 
 Of the sights of Gibraltar it is needless to 
 speak. Our travellers, in spite of the weather, 
 which rarely condescended to smile upon them, 
 visited almost everything : the North Fort, Spanish 
 Lines, and Catalan Bay, one day ; Europa Point, 
 with the cool summer residence of the governor 
 (sadly in need of government repair), and St. 
 Michael's Cave, on the next ; and last, not least, the 
 galleries and heights. From the Signal Tower 
 the view is unrivalled ; and the aloes, prickly 
 pear, and geranium, springing out of every cleft 
 in the rock, up which the road is beautifully and 
 skilfully engineered, add to the enjoyment of the 
 ride. The gentlemen of the party hunted in the 
 cork woods when the weather would allow of it ; 
 
85 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 and the only ' lion ' unseen by them were the 
 monkeys, who resolutely kept in their caves or 
 on the Afi'ican side of the water during their stay 
 at Gibraltar. The garden of the governor's pa- 
 lace is very enjoyable, and contains one of those 
 wonderflil dragon-trees of which the bark is said 
 to bleed when an incision is made. The white 
 arums gi'ow like a weed in this countr}^, and form 
 most beautiful bouquets when mixed with scarlet 
 geranium and edged by their large bright shining 
 green leaves. 
 
 The time of our travellers was, however, limited, 
 especially as they wished to spend the Holy Week 
 in Seville. So, after a ten days' stay, reluctantly 
 giving up the kind offer of the Port Admiral to 
 take them across to Africa, and contenting them- 
 selves with buying a few Tetuan pots from the 
 Moors at Gibraltar, they took their passages on 
 board the ' London ' steamer for Cadiz. 
 
 By permission of the governor, they were 
 allowed to pass through the gates after gun-fii-e, 
 and got to the mole ; but there, from some mis- 
 take, no boat could be found to take them off to 
 their vessel, and they had the pleasure of seeing 
 it steam away out of the harbour without them, 
 although their passages had been paid for, and, 
 as they thought, secm-ed. In despair, shut out of 
 
ON THE VOYAGE TO CADIZ. 87 
 
 the town, where a state of siege, for fear of a 
 surprise, is always rigorously maintained by the 
 English garrison, they at last bribed a little boat 
 to take them to a Spanish vessel, the ' Allegri,' 
 likewise bound for Cadiz, and which was adver- 
 tised to start an hour later. In getting on board 
 of her, however, they found she was a wretched tub, 
 heavily laden with paraffine, among other combus- 
 tibles, and with no accommodation whatever for 
 passengers. There was, however, no alternative 
 but going in her or remaining all night tossing 
 about the harbour in their cockle-shell of a boat ; 
 so they made up their minds to the least of the 
 two evils, and a few minutes later saw them 
 steaming rapidly out of the harbour towards 
 Cadiz. The younger portion of the party found 
 a cabin in which they could lie down : the elder 
 lay on the cordage of the deck, and prayed for a 
 cessation of the recent fearful storms, the captain 
 having quietly informed them that in the event 
 of its coming on to blow again he must throw all 
 their luggage overboard as well as a good deal of 
 his cargo, as he was already too heavily laden to 
 be safe. However, the night was calm, though 
 very cold, and the following morning saw them 
 safely rounding the forts of Cadiz, and staring at 
 its long low shores. But then a new alarm seized 
 
88 CADIZ. 
 
 them. The quarantine officers came on board 
 with a horrible yelloAV flag, and talked big about 
 the cholera having reappeared at Alexanchia, and 
 the consequent impossibility of their being able to 
 produce a clean bill of health. The prospect of 
 spending a week in that miserable vessel, or in the 
 still more dismal lazaretto on the shore, was any- 
 thing but agTceable to our travellers. However, 
 on the assurance of the captain that the only 
 vessel arrived from Egypt before they left Gibral- 
 tar had been instantly put into quarantine by 
 the governor, they were at last allowed to land 
 in peace, and found very comfortable rooms at 
 Blanco's Hotel, on the promenade, their windows 
 and balconies looking on the sea. 
 
 In the absence of the bishop, who was gone to 
 
 Tetuan, Canon L kindly offered his services 
 
 to show them the cmiosities of the town, and took 
 them first to the Capuchin convent, now converted 
 into a madhouse, in the church adjoining which are 
 two very fine Murillos : one, ' St. Francis receiv- 
 ing the Stigmata,' which, for spirituality of expres- 
 sion, is really unrivalled ; the other, ' The Marriage 
 of St. Catherine,' which was his last work, and is 
 unfinished. The great painter fell from the scaf- 
 folding in 1682, and died very soon after, at 
 Seville, in consequence of the internal injuries he 
 
■^ 
 ^ 
 
CADIZ. 89 
 
 had received. From this convent they proceeded 
 to the cathedral, which is ngly enough, but where 
 the organ and singing were admirable. The 
 stalls in the choir, which are beautifully carved, 
 were stolen from the Cartucha at Seville. There 
 is a spacious crypt under the high altar, with a 
 curious flat roof, unsupported by any arches or 
 columns, but at present it is bare and empty. 
 Their guide then took them to see the workhouse, 
 or ' Albergo dei Poveri,' an enormous building, 
 which is even more admirably managed than the 
 one at Madrid. It contains upwards of a thousand 
 inmates. The boys are all taught different trades, 
 and the girls every kind of industrial and needle 
 work. The dormitories and washing arrange- 
 ments are excellent ; and all the walls being lined, 
 up to a certain height, with the invariable blue 
 and white ' azulejos,' or glazed tiles, gives a clean, 
 bright appearance to the whole. The dress of 
 the children was also striking to English eyes, 
 accustomed to the hideous workhouse livery at 
 home. On Sundays they have a pretty and varied 
 costume for both boys and girls, and their little 
 tastes are considered in every way. They have a 
 large and handsome church, and also a chapel for 
 the children's daily prayers, which they themselves 
 keep nice and pretty, and ornament with flowers 
 
90 CADIZ. 
 
 fi-om their gardens. The whole thing is like a 
 ' home ' for these poor little orphans, and in pain- 
 flil contrast to the views which Protestant Eng- 
 land takes of charity in her workhouses, where 
 poverty seems invariably treated as a crime. The 
 children are in a separate wing of the build- 
 ing — the girls above, the boys below. On the 
 other side are the sick wards, and those for the 
 old and incurable, where the same minute care 
 for their comfort and pleasure is observed in every 
 arrangement. Nor is there that horrible prison 
 atmosphere, and that locking of doors as one 
 jDasses through each ward, which jars so painfully 
 on one's heart in going through an English work- 
 house. There are very few able-bodied paupers ; 
 and those are employed in the work of the house 
 and garden. There is a spacious ' patio,' or court, 
 with an open colonnade of marble columns, run- 
 ning round the quadrangle, the centre of which is 
 filled with orange-trees and flowers. This beautiful 
 palace was founded and endowed by the private 
 benevolence of one man, who dedicated it to St. 
 Helena, in memory of his mother, and placed in 
 it the sisters of charity of St. Yincent de Paul, 
 who have the entire care of the whole establish- 
 ment. There are fifteen sisters, all Spaniards, 
 but affiliated to the French ones, and with the 
 
CADIZ. 
 
 91 
 
 portrait of N. T. H. Pere Etienne in the place of 
 honour in their ' parloir ' and refectory. The 
 superior is a most remarkable woman, little and 
 ' contrefaite/ but with a soul in her eyes which it 
 is impossible to forget. The institution is now in 
 the hands of the government,, who have wisely 
 not attempted to make any alterations in the ad- 
 ministration. There are upwards of fifty of these 
 sisters of charity in Cadiz, they having the sole 
 charge of the hosj)itals, schools, workhouses, &c. ; 
 and the admirable cleanliness, order, and comfort 
 in each which is the result, must commend them 
 to the intelligent approval of every visitor, even 
 should he be unmoved by the evidence of that 
 unpaid charity which, with its soft finger-touch, 
 stamps all their works with the very essence of 
 Divine love. 
 
 The next day being Palm Sunday, our travel- 
 lers went to service in the cathedral. It was 
 very fine, but extremely fatiguing. There are no 
 chairs or seats in Spanish churches. Everyone 
 kneels on the floor the whole time, not even rising 
 for the Gospel or Creed. On one of the party at- 
 tempting to stand up at the long Gospel of the 
 Passion, she was somewhat indignantly pulled 
 down again by her neighbours. During the ser- 
 mon, the Spanish women have a peculiar way of 
 
c,2 CADIZ. 
 
 sitting on their heels — a process which they learn 
 from childhood, but which to strangers is an 
 almost intolerable penance. Here, as everywhere 
 in Spain, the hideous fashion of bonnets or hats 
 was unknown, and the universal black mantilla, 
 with its gi'aceflil folds and modest covering of the 
 face, and the absence of all colours to distract 
 attention in the house of God, made our English 
 ladies sigh more eagerly than ever for a similar 
 reverent and decent fashion to be adopted at 
 home. On returning for the vesper service in 
 the afternoon, a beautiful, and, to them, novel, 
 custom was observed. At the singing of the 
 ' Vexilla Kegis,' the canons, in long black robes, 
 knelt prostrate in a semicircle before the high 
 altar, and were covered by a black flag with a 
 red cross. This they saw repeated daily during 
 the Passion Week services at Seville. In the 
 evening there was a magnificent Benediction and 
 Processional service round the cloisters of the 
 church called ' Dclle Scalze.' It was impos- 
 sible to imagine anything more picturesque 
 than the multitude kneeling in the open ' patio,' 
 or coiu-t, shaded by orange-trees, and fiill of 
 beautiful flowers, while round the arches swept 
 the gorgeous procession carrying the Host, the 
 choir and people singing alternate verses of the 
 
CADIZ. 93 
 
 ' Laucla Sion/ the curling smoke of the incense 
 reflectingprismatic colours in the bright sunshine, 
 and the whole procession finally disappearing in 
 the sombre dark old church, of which the centre 
 doors had been thrown wide open to receive it. 
 One longed only for Roberts's paint-brush to 
 depict the scene. Returning to their hotel, our 
 party found the Alameda gay with holiday folk, 
 and full of the ladies whose beauty and charm have 
 been the pride of Cadiz for so many generations. 
 Do not let our readers think it invidious if we 
 venture on the opinion that their beautifid and 
 becoming dress has a great deal to do with this, 
 just as, in the East, every turbaned Turk or 
 burnoused Arab would make a perfect picture. 
 Dress your Oriental in one of Poole's best fitting 
 coats and trousers, and give him a chimney-pot 
 hat, and where would be his beauty ? In the same 
 way, if — which good taste forefend — the Spanish 
 ladies come to imagine that a bonnet stuck on 
 the back of the head, and every colour in the 
 rainbow, is prettier than the flowing black robe 
 and softly folded lace mantilla, shading modestly 
 their bright dark eyes and hair, they will find, to 
 their cost, that their charm has vanished for ever. 
 Nothing more remained to be seen or done in 
 Cadiz but to purchase some of the beautifiil mats 
 
94 CADIZ. 
 
 which are its great industry, and which are made 
 of a flat reed or ' junco,' grooving in the neigh- 
 bourhood ; and these the kind and good-natured 
 EngHsh consul undertook to forward to them, 
 when read}^, to England. 
 
Giro/da, Si'i'i//e. 
 
SEVILLE. 95 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SEVILLE. 
 
 Armed with sundry letters of introduction sent 
 them from Madrid, our travellers started by early 
 
 train for Seville, the amiable Canon L having 
 
 given them a five o'clock mass before starting, in 
 his interesting old circular church dedicated to 
 S. Filippo Neri, he being one of the Oratorians. 
 They passed by Xeres, famous for its sherry 
 cellars, called ' bodegas,' supplying more wine 
 to England than to all the rest of the world put 
 together, and for its Carthusian convent, once 
 remarkable for its Zurbaranpictures, the greater 
 portion of which have now followed the sherry 
 to the British Isles ; then by Alcala, noted for 
 its delicious bread, with which it supplies the 
 whole of Seville, for its Moorish castle and beau- 
 tiful river Aira, the waters of which, after flowing 
 round the walls of the little town, are carried by 
 an aqueduct to Seville ; and so on and on, through 
 orange and olive groves, and wheat plains, and 
 
96 SEVILLE. 
 
 vineyards, till the train brought them by mid-day 
 to the wonderful and beautiilil city which had 
 been the main object of their Spanish tour. 
 The saying is strictly true : 
 
 Quien no lia visto Sevilla, 
 No ha visto maravilla. 
 
 Scarcely had they set foot in their comfortable 
 hotel, the ' Fonda de Loncbcs,' when an obliging 
 aide-de-camp of the Spanish general came to tell 
 them that if they wanted to see the Alcazar they 
 must go with him at once, as the infanta, who 
 had married the sister of the king's consort, 
 was expected with his wife to occupy the palace 
 that evening, when it would naturally be closed 
 to visitors. Dusty, dirty, and hot as they were, 
 therefore, they at once sallied forth with their 
 kind cicerone and the English consul for this 
 fairy palace of the Moors. Entering by the Plaza 
 del Triunfo, under an arched gateway, where 
 hangs, day and night, a lamp throwing its soft 
 light on the beautiful little picture of the Yir- 
 gin and Child, they came into a long com't, in 
 the midst of which are orange-trees and fountains, 
 and this again led them by a side door into the 
 inner court or ' patio ' of the palace. 
 
 Like the Alhambra, it is an exquisite succes- 
 sion of delicate columns, with beautifully carved 
 
Alcazar, SitI/Ic. 
 
SEVILLE. 97 
 
 capitals, walls, and balconies, which look as if 
 worked in Mechlin lace ; charmingly cool ' patios,' 
 with marble floors and fountains ; doors whose 
 geometrical patterns defy the patience of the 
 painter ; horse- shoe arches, with edges fringed like 
 guipure ; fretted ceilings, the arabesques of which 
 are painted in the most harmonious colours, and 
 tipped with gold ; lattices every one of which 
 seems to tell of a romance of beauty and of love : 
 such are these moresque creations, unrivalled in 
 modern art, and before which our most beautiful 
 nineteenth century palaces sink into coarse and 
 commonplace buildings. They are the realisa- 
 tion of the descriptions in the ' Arabian Nights,' 
 and the exquisite delicacy of the work is not its 
 sole charm. The proportmis of every room, of 
 every staircase, of every door and window, are per- 
 fect : nothing offends the eye by being too short or 
 too wide. In point of sound also, they, as well as 
 the Romans, knew the secret which our modern 
 builders have lost ; and in harmony of colour, no 
 ' azulejos ' of the present day can approach the 
 beauty and brilliancy of the Moorish tints. Nor 
 are historical romances wanting to enhance the 
 interest of this wondei-flil place. In the bed- 
 chamber of the king, Pedro the Cruel, are painted 
 three dead heads, and thereon hangs a talc of 
 
 n 
 
98 SEVILLE. 
 
 savage justice. The king overheard three of his 
 judges combining to give a false judgment in a 
 certain case about which they had been bribed, and 
 then quarrel about their respective shares of their 
 ill-gotten spoils. He suddenly appeared before 
 them, and causing them to be instantly beheaded, 
 placed their heads in the niches where now the 
 paintings perpetuate the remembrance of tlie 
 punishment. Less excusable was another tragedy 
 enacted within these walls, in the assassination of 
 the brother of the king, who had been invited as a 
 guest, and came unsuspicious of treachery. A deep 
 red stain of blood in the marble floor still marks 
 the spot of the murder. Well may Spain's most 
 popular modern poet, the Duque de Rivas, in his 
 beautiful poem, exclaim : — 
 
 Ann en las losas se mira 
 
 Una tenaz nianclia oscnra ; . . . 
 
 ISTi las ecTades la limiiian ! . . . 
 
 Sangre ! sangre ! Oh cielos ! cuantos, 
 
 Sin saber que lo es, la pisan ! * 
 
 The gardens adjoining the palace are quaintly 
 beautiful, the borders edged with myrtle and box, 
 cut low and thick, with terraces and fountains, 
 and kiosks, and 'surprises' of 'jets d'eau,' and 
 arched walls festooned with beautiful hanging 
 
 * ' One still sees on tlie pavement a dark spot — tlae lapse of ages 
 lias not effaced it ! Blood ! blood ! Heaven ! how many tread 
 it under foot without knowing it ! ' 
 
^ 
 
 ;:3 
 
8EVILLE. gg 
 
 creepers, and a ' luxe ' of Oriental vegetation. On 
 one side are the white marble baths, cool and 
 sombre, where the beautiful Maria de Padilla 
 forgot the heat and glare of the Seville sun. It 
 was the custom of the courtiers in her day to 
 drink the water in which the ladies had bathed. 
 Pedro the Cruel reproached one of his knights 
 for not complying with this custom. ' Sire,' he 
 replied, 'I should fear lest, having tasted the 
 sauce, I should covet the bird ! ' 
 
 The Alcazar formerly extended far beyond its 
 present limits ; but the ruined towers by the 
 water-side are all that now remain to mark the 
 course of the old walls. 
 
 Our travellers could not resist one walk through 
 the matchless cathedral on their way home ; but 
 reserved their real visit to that and to the Giralda 
 till the following day. The kind Regente de la 
 Audiencia and his wife, to whom they had 
 brought letters of introduction, came to them in 
 the evening, and arranged various expeditions for 
 the ensuing week. 
 
 Early the next morning the Countess L 
 
 de R came to fetch one of the party to 
 
 the Church of S. Felipe Neri, which, like all the 
 churches of the Oratorians, is beautifully decorated, 
 and most devout and reverent in its services. It 
 
100 SEVILLE. 
 
 is no easy matter to go on wheels in the streets 
 of Seville. There are but two or three streets in 
 which a carriage can go at all, or attempt to turn ; 
 and so to arrive at any given place, it is generally 
 necessary to make the circuit of half the town. 
 In addition to this, the so-called pavement, an- 
 gular, pointed, and broken, shakes every bone in 
 one's body. To reach their destination on this 
 particular morning, our friends had to traverse 
 the market-place, and make an immense detour 
 through various squares, passing meanwhile by 
 several very interesting churches ; but it was all 
 so much gain to the stranger. 
 
 After mass, one of the fathers, who spoke 
 English, kindly showed them the treasures of his 
 church, and among other things a beautiful silver- 
 chased chapel behind the high altar, containing 
 some exquisite benitieres, crucifixes, and relics. 
 The wooden crucifixes of Spain, mostly carved by 
 great men, such as Alonso Caho or Montanes, 
 are quite wonderfiil in beauty and force of ex- 
 pression ; but they are very difficult to obtain. 
 They have a pretty custom in this church of 
 offering two turtle doves in a pure white basket 
 when a child is devoted to the Blessed Virgin, 
 which are left on the altar, as in the old days of the 
 Purification, and the Avhite basket is afterwards 
 
8EVTLLE, loi 
 
 Iciid up in the chapel. After breakfast the whole 
 party arrived at the cathedral. How describe 
 this wonderful building ! To say it is such and 
 such a height, and such and such a width, that it 
 has so many columns, and so many chapels, and 
 so many doors, and so many windows. . . . Why, 
 Murray has done that far better than anyone 
 else ! But to understand the cathedral at Seville, 
 you must know it ; you must feel it ; you must 
 live in it ; you must see it at the moment of the 
 setting sun, when the light streams in golden 
 showers through those wonderful painted glass 
 windows (those chefs-d'oeuvre of Arnold of Flan- 
 ders), jewelling the curling smoke of the in- 
 cense still hanging round the choir ; or else go 
 there in the dim twilight, when the aisles seem to 
 lengthen out into infinite space, and the only 
 bright spot is from the ever-burning silver lamps 
 which hang before the tabernacle. 
 
 One of the party, certainly not given to admi- 
 ration of either churches or Catholicity, exclaimed 
 on leaving it : ' It is a place where I could not 
 help saying my prayers ! ' The good-natured 
 
 Canon P showed them all the treasures and 
 
 pictm-es. They are too numerous to describe in 
 detail ; but some leave an indelible impression. 
 Among these is Murillo's wonderful ' St. Antony,' 
 
102 SEVILLE. 
 
 in the baptistery ; Aloiiso Cano's delicious little 
 ' Virgin and Cliild ' (called * Niiestra Senora de 
 Beleni ') ; Morales' ' Dead Christ ; ' a very curious 
 old Byzantine picture of the Virgin ; and in the 
 sacristy, the exquisite portraits by IMurillo of 
 St. Leander, Archbishop of Seville, the great 
 reformer of the Spanish liturgy, whose bones 
 rest in a silver coffin in the Capilla Real, and 
 of St. Isidore, his brother, who succeeded him in 
 the see, called the ' Excellent Doctor,' and whose 
 body rests at Leon. Here also is a wonderfiil 
 ' Descent fi-om the Cross,' by Campana, before 
 Avhich Murillo used to sit, and say ' he waited till 
 He was taken down ; ' and here, by his own par- 
 ticular wish, the great painter is buried. There 
 is besides a line portrait of S. Teresa; and 
 round the handsome chajDter-room are a whole 
 series of beautiful oval portraits by Murillo, and 
 also one of his best ' Conceptions.' Among the 
 treasures is the cross made from the gold which 
 Christopher Columbus brought home fr^om Ame- 
 rica, and presented to the king; the keys of 
 the town given up to Ferdinand by the Moorish 
 king at the conquest of Seville ; two beautiful 
 ostensories of the fifteenth century, covered with 
 precious stones and magnificent pearls ; beautifiil 
 Cinquecento reliquaries presented by different 
 
SEVILLE. 103 
 
 Popes; finely illuminated missals in admirable 
 preservation ; an exquisitely carved ivory crucifix ; 
 wonderfid vestments, heavy with embroidery and 
 seed-pearls ; the crown of King Ferdinand ; and 
 last, not least, a magnificent tabernacle altar-fi'ont, 
 angels and candlesticks, all in solid silver, beau- 
 tifid in workmanship and design, used for Corpus 
 Christi, and other solemn feasts of the Blessed 
 Sacrament. One asks oneself very often : ' How 
 came all these treasures to escape the rapacity of 
 the French spoilers ? ' 
 
 The Royal Chapel contains the body of St. 
 Ferdinand, the pious conqueror of Seville, which 
 town, as well as Cordova, he rescued fi^om the 
 hands of the Moors, after it had been in their 
 possession 524 years. This pious king, son to 
 Alphonse, King of Leon, bore witness by his 
 conduct to the truth of his words on o-oino^ into 
 battle : ' Thou, Lord, who searchest the hearts 
 of men, knowest that I desire but Thy glory, and 
 not mine.' To his saint-like mother, Berangera, 
 he owed all the good and holy impressions of his 
 life. He helped to build the Cathedi-al of Toledo, 
 of which he laid the first stone, and, in the midst 
 of the splendours of the court, led a most ascetic 
 and penitential life. Seville surrendered to him 
 in 1249, after a siege of sixteen months, on which 
 
104 SEVILLE. 
 
 occasion the Moorish general exclaimed, that 
 ' only a saint, who, by his justice and piety, had 
 won Heaven over to his interest, could have taken 
 so strong a city with so small an army.' By the 
 archbishop's permission, the body of the saint was 
 exposed for our travellers. It is in a magnifi- 
 cent silver shrine ; and the features still retain a 
 remarkable resemblance to his portraits. His 
 banner, crown, and sword were likewise shown to 
 them, and the little ivory Yirgin which he always 
 fastened to the front of his saddle when going to 
 battle. The cedar coffin still remains in which 
 his body rested previous to its removal to this 
 more gorgeous shrine. On the three days in the 
 year when his body is exposed, the troops all 
 attend the mass, and lower their arms and colours 
 to the great Christian conqueror. A little stair- 
 case at the back of the tomb brings you down 
 into a tiny crypt, where, arranged on shelves, are 
 the coffins of the beautiful Maria Padilla, of Pedro 
 the Cruel, and of their two sons : latterly, those of 
 the children of the Due and Duchesse de Mont- 
 pensier have been added. Over the altar of the 
 chapel above hangs a very curious wooden statue 
 of the Yirgin, given to St. Ferdinand by the good 
 king Louis of France. King Ferdinand adorned 
 her with a crown of emeralds and a stomacher of 
 
SEVILLE. 105 
 
 diamonds, belonging to his mother, on condition 
 that they should never be removed from the 
 
 image. 
 
 The organs are among the wonders of this 
 cathedral, with their thousands of pipes, placed 
 horizontally, in a fan-like shape. The ' retablo ' 
 at the back of the high altar is a marvel of wood- 
 carving ; and the hundreds of lamps which burn 
 before the different shrines are all of pure and 
 massive silver. One is tempted to ask : ' Was it 
 by men and women like ourselves that cathedrals 
 such as this w^ere planned and built and fur- 
 nished ? ' The chapter who undertook it are said 
 to have deprived themselves even of the necessa- 
 ries of life to erect a basilica worthy of the name ; 
 and in this spirit of voluntary poverty and self- 
 abnegation was it begam and completed. Never 
 was there a moment when money was so jolen- 
 tihd in England as now, yet where will a cathe- 
 dral be found built since the fifteenth century ? 
 
 At the west end lies Fernando, son of the great 
 Christopher Columbus, who himself died at Yal- 
 ladolid, and is said to rest in the Havana. The 
 motto on the tomb is simple but touching : — 
 
 A Castilla y a Leon, munclo nuevo dio Colon. 
 
 Over this stone, during Holy Week, is placed 
 
io6 SEVILLE. 
 
 the ' moniimento,' an enormous tabernacle, more 
 than 100 feet high, which is erected to contain 
 the Sacred Host on Holy Thursday : Avhen lighted 
 up, with the magnificent silver custodia, massive 
 silver candlesticks, and a profusion of flowers and 
 candles, it forms a ' sepulchre ' unequalled in the 
 world for beauty and S23lendour. 
 
 Passins: at last under the Moorish arch towards 
 the north-east end of the cathedral, our travellers 
 found themselves in a beautiful cloistered ' patio,' 
 full of orange-trees in fidl blossom, with a magni- 
 ficent fountain in the centre. In one corner is 
 the old stone pulpit fi-om which St. Vincent Ferrer, 
 St. John of Avila, and other saints preached to 
 the people : an inscription records the fact. Over 
 the beautiful door which leads into the cathedral 
 hang various curious emblems : a horn, a croco- 
 dile, a rod, and a bit, said to represent plenty, 
 prudence, justice, and temperance. To the left 
 is the staircase leading to the Columbine Library, 
 given by Fernando, and containing some very 
 interesting MSS. of Christoj^her Columbus. One 
 book is full of quotations, in his own handwriting, 
 fi'om the Psalms and the Prophets, proving the 
 existence of the New World ; another is a plan 
 of the globe and of the zodiac drawn out by him. 
 There is also a universal history ,with copious notes. 
 
SEVILLE. 107 
 
 in the same bold, clear, fine handwriting ; and a 
 series of his letters to the king, written in Latin. 
 Above the book-shelves are a succession of curious 
 portraits, including those of Christopher Colum- 
 bus and his son Fernando, which were given by 
 Louis Philippe to the library ; of Velasquez ; of 
 Cardinal Mendoza ; of S. Fernando, by Murillo ; 
 and of our own Carchnal Wiseman, who, a native 
 of Seville, is held in the greatest love and venera- 
 tion here. A touching little account of his life 
 and death has lately been published in Seville by 
 the talented Spanish author, Don Leon Carbonero 
 y Sol, with the appropriate heading ' Sicut vita 
 finis ita.' Our party were also shown the sword 
 of Fernand Gonsalves, a fine two-edged blade, 
 which did good service in rescuing Seville fi-om 
 the Moors. 
 
 Redescending the stairs, our travellers mounted 
 the beautiful Moorish tower of the Giralda, 
 built in the twelfth century by Abu Yusuf Yacub, 
 who was also the constructor of the bridi>:e of 
 boats across the Guadalquiver. This tower forms 
 the great feature in every view of Seville, and is 
 matchless both fi:*om its rich yellow and red-brown 
 colour, its sunken Moorish decorations, and the 
 extreme beauty of its proportions. It was ori- 
 ginally 250 feet high, and built as a minaret. 
 
io8 SEVILLE. 
 
 from whence the Muezzin summoned the faithfiil 
 to prayers in the mosque hard by ; but Ferdinand 
 Kiaz added another 100 feet, and, fortunately, in 
 perfect harmony with the original design. He 
 girdled it with a motto from Proverbs xviii. : 
 ' Nomen Domini fortissima turris.' 
 
 The ascent is very easy, being by ramps sloping 
 gently upwards. The Giralda is under the special 
 patronage of SS. Justina and Rufina, daughters of 
 a potter in the tow^n, Avho suffered martyrdom in 
 304 for refusing to sell their vessel's for the use 
 of the heathen sacrifices. Sta. Justina expired on 
 the rack, while Sta. Eufina was strangled. The 
 figure which crowns the tower is that of Faith, 
 and is in bronze, and beautifully carved. 
 
 The bells are very fine in tone ; but what re- 
 pays one for the ascent is the view, not only over 
 the whole town and neighbourhood, but over 
 the whole body of the huge cathedral, with its 
 forest of pinnacles and its wonderfiilly constructed 
 roof, which looks massive enough to outlast the 
 world. The delicate Gothic balustrades are the 
 home of a multitude of hawks (the Faico tinun- 
 culoides), who career round and round the beau- 
 tifiil tower, and are looked upon almost as sacred 
 birds. 
 
 The thing which strikes one most in the look 
 
SEVILLE. 109 
 
 of the town from hence is the absence of streets. 
 From their excessive naiTowness, they are invisi- 
 ble at this great hoight, and the houses seem all 
 massed together, without any means of egress or 
 ingTCSs. The view of the setting sun from this 
 tower is a thing never to be forgotten ; nor the 
 effect of it lit up at night, when it seems to hang 
 like a brilliant chandelier from the dark blue 
 vault above. 
 
 Tired as our travellers were, they could not 
 resist one short visit that afternoon to the Mu- 
 seum, and to that wonderfril little room below, 
 Avhich contains few pictures only, but those few 
 unrivalled in the world. 
 
 Here, indeed, one sees what Murillo could do. 
 The ' St. Thomas of Yillanueva,' giving alms to 
 the beggar (called by the painter himself his 
 own picture) ; the ' St. Francis ' embracing the 
 crucified Saviom- ; the ' St. Antony,' with a lily in 
 adoration before the infant Jesus ; the ' Nativity ; ' 
 the ' San Felix de Cantalicia,' holding the infant 
 Saviour in his arms which the Blessed Virgin is 
 coming down to receive ; the ' SS. Kufina and Jus- 
 tina ; ' and last, not least, the Virgin which earned 
 him the title of ' El Pintor de las Concepciones.' 
 Each and all are matchless in taste, in expres- 
 sion, in feeling ; above all, in devotion. It is 
 
110 SEVILLbJ. 
 
 impossible to meditate on any one of these mys- 
 teries in our Blessed Lord's life without the recol- 
 lection of one of these pictures rising up instantly 
 in one's mind, as the purest embodiment of the 
 love, or the adoration, or the compunction, which 
 such meditations are meant to call forth : they are 
 in themselves a prayer. 
 
 In the evening one of the party went with the 
 Regent to call on the venerable Cardinal Arch- 
 bishop, whose fine palace is exactly opposite the 
 east front of the cathedral. It was very sad to 
 wind up that fine staircase, and see him in that 
 noble room, groping his way, holding on by the 
 wall, for he is quite blind. It is hoped, however, 
 that an operation for cataract, which is contem- 
 plated, may be successfiil. He was most kind, and 
 gave the English stranger a place in the choir of 
 the cathedral for the Processional services of the 
 Holy Week and Easter — a great favour, generally 
 only accorded to royalty, and of which the lady 
 did not fail to take advantage. M. Leon Carbo- 
 nero y Sol, the author and clever editor of the 
 ' Crux,' paid them a visit that evening. By his 
 energy and perseverance this monthly periodical 
 has been started at Seville, which is an event in 
 this non-literary country ; and he has written 
 several works, both biographical and devotional. 
 
SEVILLE. 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 which deserve a wider reputation than they liave 
 yet obtained. 
 
 The following day, being Wednesday in Holy 
 Week, the whole party returned to the cathedral, 
 to see the impressive and beautiful ceremony of 
 the Rending of the White Yeil, and the ' Rocks 
 being rent,' at the moment when that passage is 
 chanted in the Gospel of the Passion. The effect 
 was very fine ; and all the more, fi'om the sombre 
 light of the cathedral, every window in which 
 was shaded by black curtains, and every picture 
 and image shrouded in black.* At vespers, the 
 canons, as at Cadiz, knelt prostrate before the 
 altar, and were covered with the black red-cross 
 flag. At four o'clock our travellers went to the 
 Audiencia, where the Regent and his kind wife 
 had given them all seats to see the processions. 
 How are these to be described? They are certainly 
 appreciated by the people themselves ; but they 
 are not suited to English taste, especially in the 
 glare of a Seville sun : and unless representations 
 of the terrible and awfiil events connected with 
 our Lord's Passion be depicted with the skill of a 
 great artist, they become simply intensely painful. 
 The thing which was touching and beautiful was 
 
 * Faber says very beautifully : ' Passion-tido veils the face of the 
 crucifix, only that it may be more vivid in our hearts.' 
 
112 SEVILLE. 
 
 the orderly arrangement of the processions them- 
 selves, and the way in which men of the highest 
 rank, of royal blood, and of the noblest orders, did 
 not hesitate to walk for hom's through the dusty, 
 crowded, burning streets for three successive 
 days, with the sole motive of doing honour to 
 their Lord, whose badge they wore. To show 
 the importance attached by the good people 
 of Seville to this portion of the Holy Week 
 services, the programme is inserted verbatim in 
 the Appendix. 
 
 The processions invariably ended by pass- 
 ing through the cathedral and stopj^ing for 
 some minutes in the open space between the 
 liigh altar and the choir. The effect of the 
 brilliant mass of light thrown by thousands of 
 wax tapers, as the great unwieldy catafalque 
 Avas borne through the profound darkness of the 
 long aisles, was beautiful in the extreme ; and 
 representations which looked gaudy in the sun- 
 shine were mellowed and softened by the contrast 
 with the night. The best were ' The Sacred 
 Infancy,' the ' Bearing of the Cross,' and the 
 ' Descent from the Cross.' In all, the figures were 
 the size of life, and these three were beautifully 
 and naturally designed. Less pleasing to English 
 eyes, in spite of their wonderful splendour, were 
 
SEVILLE. 113 
 
 those of the Blessed Virgin, decked out in gorgeous 
 velvet robes, embroidered in gold, and covered 
 with jewels, with lace pocket-handkerchiefs in the 
 hand, and all the paraphernalia of a fine lady 
 of the nineteenth century ! It is contrary to our 
 purer taste, which thinks of her as represented in 
 one of Raphael's chaste and modest pictures, with 
 the simple robe and headdress of her land and 
 people ; or else in the glistening white marble, 
 chosen by our late beloved Cardinal as the fittest 
 material for a representation of her in his ' Ex 
 Yoto,' and which speaks of the spotless purity of 
 her holy life. Leaving the house of the Regent, 
 the party made their way with difficulty through 
 the dense crowd to the cathedi^al, where the 
 Tenebr^ began, followed by the Miserere, beau- 
 tifully and touchingly sung, without any organ 
 accompaniments, at the high altar. It was as if 
 the priests were pleading for their people's sins 
 before the throne of God. The next day was 
 spent altogether in these solemn Holy Thurs- 
 day services. After early communion at the fine 
 Church of S. Maria Magdalena, thronged, like all 
 the rest, witli devout worshippers, our party went 
 to high mass at the cathedral, after which the 
 Blessed Sacrament, according to custom, was car- 
 ried to the gigantic ' monumento,' or sepulchre, 
 
 I 
 
114 SEVILLE. 
 
 before mentioned, erected at the west door of 
 the cathedral, and dazzling with light. Then 
 came the 'Cena'in the archbishop's palace, at 
 which his blindness prevented his officiating; 
 and then onr travellers went ronnd the town to 
 visit the ' sepulchres ' in the different churches, 
 one more beautiful than the other, and thronged 
 with such kneeling crowds, that going from one 
 to the other was a matter of no small difficulty. 
 The heat also increased the fatigTie ; and here, as 
 at Palermo, no carriages are allowed from Holy 
 Thursday till Easter Day : everyone must per- 
 form these ]3ious pilgrimages on foot. At half- 
 past two, they went back to the cathedral for 
 the Washing of the Feet. An eloquent sermon 
 followed, and then began the Tenebra^ and the 
 Miserere as before, with the entry of the proces- 
 sions between : the whole lasted till half-past 
 eleven at night. 
 
 Good Friday was as solemn as the same day is 
 at Rome or at Jerusalem. The Adoration of the 
 Cross in the cathedi'al was very fine : but women 
 were not allowed to kiss it as in the Holy City. 
 After that was over, some of the party, by the 
 kind invitation of the Due and Duchesse de 
 Montpensier, went to their private chapel, at St. 
 Elmo, for the ' Tre Ore d' Agonic,' being from 
 
SEVILLE. 115 
 
 twelve to three o'clock, or the hours when our 
 Saviour hung upon the cross. It was a most 
 striking and impressive service. The beautiful 
 chapel was entirely hung with black, and pitch 
 dark. On entering, it was impossible to see one's 
 way among the kneeling figures on the floor, all, 
 of course, in deep mourning. The sole light was 
 very powerfully thrown on a most beautiful pic- 
 ture of the Crucifixion, in wiiich the figures were 
 the size of life. The sermon, or rather meditation 
 on the seven words of our Lord on the cross, was 
 preached by the superior of the oratory of S. 
 Felipe Neri, a man of great eloquence and per- 
 sonal holiness. It would be impossible to exag- 
 gerate the beauty and pathos of two of these 
 meditations ; the one on the charity of our 
 Blessed Lord, the other on His desolation. A 
 long low sob burst fi'om the hearts of his hearers 
 at the conclusion of the latter. The wailinc: 
 minor music between was equally beautiful and 
 appropriate ; it was as the lament of the angels 
 over the lost, in spite of the tremendous sacrifice ! 
 At half-past three, the party returned to the 
 cathedral, where the services lasted till nine in 
 the evening, and then came home in the state of 
 mind and feeling so Avonderfiilly represented by 
 
 De la Roche, in the last portion of his ' Good 
 
 I 2 
 
ii6 SEVILLE. 
 
 Friday ' picture. Beautifully does Faber exclaim : 
 ' The hearts of the saints, like sea-shells, murmur 
 of the Passion evermore.' 
 
 The Holy Saturday functions began soon after 
 five the next morning, and were as admirably 
 conducted as all the rest. Immense praise was 
 due to the ' maestro de ceremonias,' who had 
 arranged services so varied and so complicated 
 Avith such perfect order and precision : and the 
 conduct of the black-veiled kneeling multitude 
 throughout was equally admirable ; one and all 
 seemed absorbed by the devotions of the time 
 and season. 
 
 That evening, the Vigil of Easter, was spent in 
 the cathedi'al by some of our party in much the 
 same manner as they had done on a preceding one 
 in the Holy City two years before. The night 
 was lovely. The moon was streaming through 
 the cloisters on the orange-trees of the beautiful 
 ' patio,' across which the Giralda threw a deep 
 sharp shadow, the silver light catching the tips of 
 the arches, and shining with almost startling 
 brightness on the ' Pieta ' in the little wayside 
 chapel at the south entrance of the court. All 
 spoke of beauty, and of peace, and of rest, and of 
 stillness, and of the majesty of God. Inside the 
 church were groups of black or veiled figures. 
 
DoonL'dv of Cathedral at Seville. 
 
SEVILLE. 117 
 
 mostly women (were not women the first at the 
 sepulchre ?), kneeling before the tabernacle, or by 
 the little lamps bm'ning here and there in the 
 side chapels. Each heart was pouring forth its 
 secret burden of sorrow or of sin into the Sacred 
 Heart which had been so lately pierced to receive 
 it. At two in the morning matins began, ' Ha3c 
 dies quam fecit Dominus ;' and after matins a mag- 
 nificent Te Deum, pealed forth by those gigantic 
 organs, and sung by the whole strength of the choir 
 and by the whole body of voices of the crowd, 
 w^hich by that time had filled every available kneel- 
 ing space in the vast cathedral. Then came a 
 procession ; all the choristers in red cassocks, with 
 Avhite cottas and little gold diadems. High mass 
 followed, and then low masses at all the side 
 altars, with hundreds of communicants, and the 
 Russian salutation of ' Christ is risen ! ' on every 
 tongue. It was ' a night to be remembered,' as 
 indeed was all this Holy Week : and now people 
 seemed too happy to speak ; joy says short words 
 and fcAv ones. Many have asked : ' Is it equal to 
 Jerusalem or Rome ? ' In point of services, 'Yes;' 
 in point of interest, ' No : ' for the presence of the 
 Holy Father in the one place, and the vividness 
 of recollection which the actual scenes of our 
 Blessed Lord's Passion inspires in the other, must 
 
ii8 SEVILLE. 
 
 ever make the Holy and Eternal Cities things 
 apart and sacred from all besides. But nowhere 
 else can ' fonctions ' be seen in such perfection 
 or with such solemnity as at Seville. Everything 
 is reverently and well done, and nothing has 
 changed in the ceremonial for the last 300 years. 
 A domestic sorrow had closed the palace of the 
 Due and Duchesse de Montpensier as far as their 
 receptions were concerned ; but they kindly gave 
 our party permission to see both house and 
 gardens, which well deserve a visit. The palace it- 
 self reminded them a little of the Due d'Aumale's 
 at Twickenham : not in point of architecture, 
 but in its beautifrd and interesting contents ; in 
 its choice collections of pictures, and books, and 
 Avorks of art, and in the general tone which per- 
 vaded the whole. There are two exquisite Mu- 
 rillos ; a ' St. Joseph ' and a ' Holy Family ; ' a 
 Divino Morales ; a ' Pieta ; ' some beautiful Zur- 
 barans ; and some very clever and characteristic 
 sketches by Goya. They have some curious his- 
 torical portraits also, and some veiy pretty modern 
 pictures. The rooms and passages abound in 
 beautiful cabinets, rare china, sets of armour, 
 African trappings, and Oriental costumes. In 
 the snug low rooms looking on the garden, and 
 reminding one of Sion or of Chiswick, there are 
 
SEVILLE. 119 
 
 little fountains in the centre of each, combining 
 Oriental luxury and freshness with European 
 comfort. The gardens are delicious. They con- 
 tain a magnificent specimen of the ^ palma regis,' 
 and quantities of rare and beautiful shrubs ; also 
 an aviary of curious and scarce birds. You 
 wander for ever through groves of orange, and 
 palms, and aloes, and under trellises covered with 
 luxuriant creepers and clustering roses, with a 
 feeling of something like envy at the climate, 
 Avhich seems to produce everything with com- 
 paratively little trouble or culture. To be sure 
 there is ' le revers de la medaille,' when the 
 scorching July sun has burnt up all this lovely 
 vegetation. But the spring in the garden of St. 
 Elmo is a thing to dream about. 
 
 From this enjoyable palace our party went 
 on to visit ' Pilate's House,' so called because 
 built by Don Enrique de Kibera, of the exact 
 proportions of the original, in commemoration 
 of his pilgTimage to Jei-usalem in 1519. It is 
 now the property of the Duque de Medina 
 Sidonia. Passing into a cool ' patio,' you see 
 a black cross, marking the first of the stations 
 of a very famous Yia Crucis, which begins here 
 and ends at the Cruz del Campo outside the 
 town. There is a pretty little chapel opening out 
 
120 SEVILLE. 
 
 of the ' patio,' ornamented with Alhambra work, 
 as is all the rest of this lovely little moresque 
 palace. It is a thorough bit of Damascus, with 
 its wonderful arabesqued ceilings, and lace-like 
 carvings on the walls and staircases, and clois- 
 tered ' patios,' and marble floors and fountains. 
 Behind is a little garden full of palms, orange- 
 trees, and roses in full flower, and, at the time 
 our travellers saw it, carpeted with Neapolitan 
 violets ; quaint low hedges, as in the Alcazar 
 gardens, divided the beds, and broken sculpture 
 lay here and there. 
 
 One of the great treasures of Seville had 
 yet been unvisited by our party, and that was 
 the Lonja, formerly the Exchange, a noble 
 work of Herrera's. It stands between the cathe- 
 dral and the Alcazar, and is built in the shape 
 of a great quadrangle, each side being about 
 200 feet wide. Ascending the fine marble stair- 
 case, they came to the long ' sala ' containing 
 the famous ' Indian Archives,' that is, all the 
 letters and papers concerning the discovery of 
 South America. There are thousands of MS. 
 letters, beautifully arranged and docketed ; and 
 among them the autographs of Fernando Cortes, 
 Pizarro, Magellan, Americo VesjDuzio (who could 
 not write his own name, and signed with a mark) , 
 
SEVILLE. J 21 
 
 Fra Bartolomeo de las Cazas, and many others. 
 There is also the original Bull of the Pope, 
 granting the new South American discoveries 
 to the Spaniards ; and another, defining the 
 rights between the Spaniards and the Portuguese 
 in the matter of the conquered lands. The 
 librarian, a very intelligent and good-natured 
 personage, also showed them a curious list, sent 
 home and signed by Fernando Cortes, of the 
 silks, painted calabashes, feathers, and costumes 
 presented by him to the king ; and a quantity of 
 autograph letters of Charles Y., Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, and of Philip lY. Fernando Cortes died 
 at Castilleja, on December 3, 1547, and the fol- 
 lowing day his body was transported to the family 
 vault of the Duque de Medina Sidonia, in the 
 monastery of San Isidoro del Campo. The Due 
 de Montpensier has purchased the house, and 
 made a collection of everything belonging to the 
 gi'eat discoverer, including his books, his letters, 
 various objects of natural history, and some very 
 curious portraits, not only of Cortes himself, but 
 of Christopher Columbus, Pizarro, Magellan, the 
 Marques del Yalle (of the Sicilian family of 
 Monteleone), Bernal Diaz, Yelasquez, of the his- 
 torian of the conquest of Mexico, Don Antonio 
 Solis, and many others. 
 
122 SEVILLE. 
 
 In the afternoon, the Marques de P called 
 
 for our travellers to take them to the University, 
 and to introduce them to the rector and to the 
 librarian, Avhose name was the well-deserved one 
 of Don Jose Bueno, a most clever and agi^ee- 
 able man, whose pure Castilian accent made his 
 SjDanish perfectly intelligible to his English visi- 
 tors. He very good-naturedly undertook to show 
 them all the most interesting MSS. himself, 
 together with some beautiful missals, rare first 
 editions of various classical works, and some 
 very clever etchings of Goya's of bull fights and 
 ladie;5 — the latter of doubtful propriety. In the 
 church belonging to the University are some fine 
 pictures by Roelas and Alonso Cano, some beau- 
 tifid carvings by Montanes, and several very fine 
 monuments. In the rector's own room is a mag- 
 nificent ' St. Jerome,' by Lucas Kranach, the 
 finest work of that artist that exists. There are 
 1,200 students in this University, which rivals 
 that of Salamanca in importance. 
 
 Taking leave of the kind librarian, the Marques 
 de P went on to show them a private collec- 
 tion of pictures belonging to the Marques Cessera. 
 Amidst a quantity of rubbish were a magnificent 
 ' Crucifixion,' by Alonso Caiio ; a Crucifix, painted 
 on wood, by Murillo, for an infirmary, and con- 
 
SEVILLE. 123 
 
 ccaled by a Franciscan during the French oc- 
 cupation in 1812 ; a Zurbaran, with his own 
 signature in the corner ; and, above all, a ' Christ 
 bound with the Crown of Thorns,' by Murillo, 
 which is the gem of the whole collection, and 
 perfectly beautiful both in colouring and expres- 
 sion. 
 
 Coming home, they went to see the house to 
 which Murillo was taken after his accident at 
 Cadiz, and where he finally died ; also the site of 
 liis original burial, before his body was removed 
 to the cathedral where it now rests. 
 
 But one of the principal charms of oiu- tra- 
 vellers' residence in Seville has not yet been 
 mentioned ; and that was their acquaintance, 
 through the kind Bishop of Antinoe, with Fer- 
 nan Caballero. She may be called the Lady 
 Georgiana Fullerton of Spain, in the sense of 
 refinement of taste and catholicity of feeling. 
 But her works are less what are commonly called 
 novels than pictures of home life in Spain, like 
 Hans Andersen's * Improvisatore,' or Tourgeneff 's 
 ' Scenes de la Yie en Russie.' 
 
 This charming lady, by birth a German on the 
 fiither's side, and by marriage connected with all 
 the ' bluest blood ' in Spain, lives in apartments 
 given her by the queen in the palace of the 
 
124 SEVILLE. 
 
 Alcazar. Great trials and sorrows have not 
 dimmed the fire of her genius or extinguished 
 one spark of the loving charity which extends 
 itself to all that suffer. Her tenderness towards 
 animals, unfortunately a rare virtue in Spain, is 
 one of her marked characteristics. She has 
 lately been striving to establish a society in 
 Seville for the prevention of cruelty to animals, 
 after the model of the London one, and often 
 told one of our party that she never left her 
 home without prajdng that she might not see 
 or hear any ill-usage to God's creatiu-es. She is 
 no longer young, but still preserves traces of a 
 beauty which in former years made her the ad- 
 miration of the court. Her playfidness and wit, 
 always tempered by a kind thoughtfiilness for 
 the feelings of others, and her agreeableness in 
 conversation, seem only to have increased with 
 lengthened experience of people and things. 
 Nothing was pleasanter than to sit in the corner 
 of her little drawing-room, or, still better, in her 
 tiny study, and hear her pour out anecdote after 
 anecdote of Spanish life and Spanish peculiarities, 
 especially among the poor. But if one wished 
 to excite her, one had but to touch on questions 
 regarding her faith and the so-called 'progress ' 
 of her country. Then all her Andalusian blood 
 
SEVILLE. 125 
 
 would be roused, and she would declaim for 
 hours in no measured terms against the spolia- 
 tion of the monasteries, those centres of education 
 and civilisation in the villages and outlying 
 districts ; against the introduction of schools 
 without religion, and colleges without fiiith ; and 
 the propagation of infidel opinions through the 
 current literature of the day. 
 
 Previous acquaintance with the people had al- 
 ready made some of our travellers aware of the 
 justice of many of her remarks. Catholicism in 
 Spain is not merely the religion of the people ; 
 it is tJieir life. It is so mixed up with their 
 common expressions and daily habits, that, at 
 first, there seems to a stranger almost an irre- 
 verence in their ways. It is not till you get 
 thoroughly at home, both with them and their 
 language, that you begin to perceive that holy 
 familiarity, if one may so speak, with our Divine 
 Lord and His Mother which impregnates their 
 lives and colours all their actions. Theirs is a 
 world of traditions, which familiarity fi'om the 
 cradle have turned into faith, and for that faith 
 they are ready to die. Ask a Spanish peasant 
 why she plants rosemary in her garden ? She 
 will directly tell you that it was on a rosemary- 
 bush that the Blessed Virgin hung our Saviour's 
 
126 SEVILLE. 
 
 clothes out to dry as a baby. Why will a 
 Spaniard never shoot a swallow? Because it 
 was a swallow that tried to pluck the thorns out 
 of the crown of Christ as He hung on the cross. 
 Why does the owl no longer sing ? Because he 
 was by when our Saviour expired, and since then 
 his only cry is ' Crux ! crux ! ' Why are dogs 
 so often called Melampo in Spain? Because it 
 was the name of the dog of the shepherds who 
 worshipped at the manger at Bethlehem. What 
 is the origin of the red rose ? A drop of the 
 Saviour's blood fell on the white roses growing 
 at the foot of the cross — and so on, for ever ! 
 Call it folly, superstition — what you will. You 
 will never eradicate it from the heart of the 
 people, for it is as their flesh and blood, and 
 their whole habits of thought, manners and cus- 
 toms, run in the same groove. They have, like 
 the Italians, a wonderfril talent for ' improvis- 
 ing ' both stories and songs ; but the same beau- 
 tifid thread of tender piety runs through the 
 whole. 
 
 One day, Fernan Caballero told them, an old 
 beggar was sitting on the steps of the Alcazar : 
 tAvo or three children, tired of play, came and sat 
 by him, and asked him, child-like, for ' a story.' 
 He answered as follows : — ' There Avas once a 
 
SEVILLE. 127 
 
 hermit, who lived in a cave near the sea. He 
 was a very good and charitable man, and he 
 heard that in a village on the mountain above 
 there was a very bad fever, and that no one 
 would go and nurse the people for fear of infec- 
 tion. So up he toiled, day after day, to tend the 
 sick, and look after their wants. At last he 
 began to get tired, and to think it would be far 
 better if he were to move his hermitage up the 
 hill, and save himself the daily toil. As he walked 
 up one day, turning this idea over in his mind, 
 he heard some one behind him saying : " One, 
 two, three." He looked round, and saw no one. 
 He walked on, and again heard : " Four, five, six, 
 seven." Turning short round this time, he be- 
 held one in white and glistening raiment, who 
 gently spoke as follows : " I am your guardian 
 angel, and am counting the steps ivliich you take 
 for Christ's poorT ' 
 
 The children understood the drift of it as well 
 as you or I, reader ! and this is a sample of their 
 daily talk. Their reverence for age is also a 
 striking and touching characteristic. The poorest 
 beggar is addressed by them as ' tio ' or ' tia,' 
 answering to our ' daddy ' or ' granny ;' arj^d should 
 one pass their cottage as they are sitting down 
 to their daily meal, they always rise and offer him 
 
128 SEVILLE. 
 
 a place, and ask him to say grace for them, 
 'echar la benedicion.' They are indeed a most 
 loveable race, and their very pride increases one's 
 respect for them. Often in their travels did one 
 of the party lose her way, either in going to some 
 distant church in the early morning, or in visiting 
 the sick ; and often was she obliged to have 
 recom'se to her bad Spanish to be put in the 
 right road. An invariable courtesy, and gene- 
 rally an insistence on accompanying her home, 
 was the result. But if any money or fee were 
 oifered for the service, the indignant refusal, or, 
 still worse, the hurt look which the veriest child 
 vrould put on at what it considered the height 
 of insult and unkindness, very soon cured her of 
 renewing the attempt. 
 
 Another touchins^ trait in their character is 
 their intense reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. 
 In the great ceremonies of the church, or when 
 It is passing down the street to a sick person, the 
 same veneration is shown. One day, one of the 
 English ladies was buying some photographs in 
 a shop, and the tradesman was explaining to her 
 the different prices and sizes of each, when, all of 
 a sudden, he stopped short, exclaiming : ' Sua 
 Maesta viene ! ' and leaving the astonished lady 
 at the counter, rushed out of his shop-door. She, 
 
SEVILLE. 1 29 
 
 tliinking it was the royalties, who were then at 
 the Alcazar^ went out too to look, when, to her 
 pleasure and surprise, she saw the shopman and 
 all the rest of the world, gentle and simple, 
 kneeling reverently in the mud before the mes- 
 senger of the Great King, who was bearing the 
 Host to a dying man. On the day when It is 
 carried processionally to the hospitals (one of 
 which is the first Sunday after Easter), every 
 window and balcony is ^ parata,' or hung with red, 
 as in Italy at the passage of the Holy Father ; 
 everyone throws flowers and bouquets on the 
 baldachino, and that to such an extent that the 
 choir-boys are forced to carry great clothes-bas- 
 kets to receive them : the people declare that the 
 very horses kneel ! The Feast of Corpus Chiisti 
 was unfortunately not witnessed by our travellers. 
 Calderon, in his 'Autos Sacramentales,' speaking 
 of it, says : — 
 
 Que en el gran dia de Dios, 
 Quicn no estii loco, no es cucrdo ! 
 
 Here is indeed ' a voice from the land of Faith.' 
 The choir on the occasion dance before the Host 
 a dance so solemn, so suggestive, and so peculiar, 
 that no one who has witnessed it can speak of it 
 without emotion. Fernan Caballero talked much 
 also of the gTcat purity of morals among the 
 
 K 
 
'30 ■ SEVILLE. 
 
 peasantry. Infanticide, that curse of England, is 
 ahsoliitchj unknown in Spain ; whether fi'om the 
 number of foundling hospitals, or from what other 
 reasons, we leave it to the political economists to 
 discover. A well-known Spanish writer describes 
 the w^omen as having 'Corazones delectos, minas 
 de amores,' and being ' puros y santos modelos de 
 esposas y de madres.' (Exceptional hearts, mines 
 of love, and being pure and holy models of wives 
 and mothers.) They are also wonderfully cleanly, 
 both in their houses and their persons. There 
 are never any bad smells in the streets or lodg- 
 ings. Fleas abound from the great heat ; but no 
 other vermin is to be met with either in the inns, 
 or beds, or in visiting among the sick poor, in 
 all of which they form a marked contrast to the 
 Italian peasantry, and, I fear we must add, to the 
 English ! 
 
 Their courtesy towards one another is also 
 widely different fi^om the ordinary gruff, boorish 
 intercourse of our own poor people ; and the very 
 refusal to a beggar, ' Perdone, listed, por Dios, 
 hermano ! ' * speaks of the same gentle considera- 
 tion for the feelings of their neighbours which 
 characterises the race and emanates from that 
 divine charity Avhich dwells not only on their 
 
 * ' Forgive me, for the love of God, brother ! ' 
 
SEVILLE. 131 
 
 lips but in their hearts. One peculiarity in their 
 conversation has not yet been alluded to, and that 
 is their passion for proverbs. They cannot frame 
 a sentence without one, and they are mostly such 
 as illustrate the kindly, trustful, pious nature of 
 the people. ^Haz lo Men, y no mira a qiden.' (Do 
 good, and don't look to whom.) ' Quien no es 
 agradecido, no es Men nacido! (He who is not 
 courteous is not well born.) ' Cosa cumpUda solo 
 en la otra vida! (The end of all things is only 
 seen in the future life.) And so on ad infinitum. 
 
 No description of Seville would be complete 
 without mention of the ' patio,' so important a 
 feature in every Andalusian house ; and no 
 words can be so good for the purpose as those 
 of Fernan Caballero, which we translate almost 
 literally fr^om her ' Familia de Alvareda.' 
 
 * The house was spacious and scrupulously 
 clean ; on each side of the door was a bench of 
 stone. In the porch hung a little lamp before 
 the image of our Lord, in a niche over the 
 entrance, according to the Catholic custom of 
 placing all things under holy protection. In 
 the middle was the " patio," a necessity to the 
 Andalusian ; and in the centre of this spacious 
 court, an enormous orange-tree raised its leafy 
 head from its robust and clean trunk. For an 
 
 k2 
 
132 SEVILLE. 
 
 infinity of generations had this beautiful tree 
 been a source of delight to the family. The 
 women made tonic concoctions of its leaves, the 
 daughters adorned themselves with its flowers, 
 the boys cooled their blood with its fruits, the 
 birds made their home in its boughs. The rooms 
 opened out of the " patio," and borrowed their 
 light from thence. This " patio " was the centre 
 of all — the " home," the place of gathering when 
 the day's work was over. The orange-tree loaded 
 the air with its heavy perfiime, and the waters of 
 the fountain fell in soft showers on the marble 
 basin, fi-inged with the delicate maiden-hair fern ; 
 and the father, leaning against the tree, smoked 
 his " cigarro de papel ; " and the mother sat at her 
 work ; while the little ones played at her feet, the 
 eldest resting his head on a big dog, which lay 
 stretched at fiiU length on the cool marble slabs. 
 All was still, and peacefiil, and beautiful.' 
 
"--, 
 
ITALICA. 133 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 EXCURSIONS NEAR SEVILLE. 
 
 The excursions in the neighbourhood of Seville 
 are full of beauty and interest of various kinds. 
 One of the first undertaken by our travellers was 
 to the ruins of Italica, the ancient Seville, for- 
 merly an important Roman city, and the birth- 
 place of Trajan and of Adrian. In the church, 
 half convent and half fortress, are two very fine 
 statues of St. Isidore and St. Jerome, by Monta- 
 nes. Here St. Isidore began his studies. He was 
 hopelessly dull and slow, and was tempted to 
 give up the whole thing in despair, when one day, 
 being in a brown study, his eye fell on an old 
 well, the marble sides of Avhich w^ere worn into 
 grooves by the continual friction of the cord 
 which let down the bucket. ' If a cord can thus 
 indent marble,' he said to himself, ' why should 
 not constant study and perseverance make an 
 
134 IT ALIO A. 
 
 impression on my mind ? ' His resolution was 
 taken, and he became the light of his age and 
 country. The well which gave him this useful 
 lesson is still shown near the south door of the 
 chm'ch. Here also is the monument of Doha 
 Uraca Osorio, a lady who was burnt to death 
 by order of King Pedi'O the Cruel, for having 
 resisted his addresses. The flames having con- 
 sumed the lower part of her dress, her faithful 
 maid rushed into the fire, and died in endea- 
 vouring to conceal her mistress. In the sa- 
 ' cristy is a very curious Byzantine picture of the 
 Virgin. Leaving the chm^ch, our party went on 
 to the amphitheatre, which has recently been ex- 
 cavated, and must have contained ten or twelve 
 thousand people. A fine mosaic has lately been 
 discovered, which evidently formed part of the 
 ancient pavement. The custode was a charac- 
 ter, and lived in a primitive little cabin at the 
 entrance of the circus : a moss bed and a big cat 
 seemed the only furniture. He was very proud of 
 his tiny garden, poor old man ! and of his wall- 
 flowers, of which he gave the ladies a large bunch, 
 too-ether with a few silver coins which had been 
 dug up in the excavations. 
 
 On their way home they passed by a cemetery 
 in which was a very beautiful, though simple, 
 
IT ALIO A. 135 
 
 marble cross. On it were engraved these three 
 lines : — 
 
 Creo en Dios. 
 
 Espero en Dios. 
 
 Amo a Dios. 
 
 It was the grave of a poor boy, the only son of a 
 widow. He was not exactly an idiot, but what 
 people call a ' natural.' Good, simple, humble, 
 everyone loved him ; but no one could teach 
 him anything. His intelligence was in some way 
 at fault. He could remember nothing. In vain 
 the poor mother put him first to school, and then 
 to a trade ; he could not learn. At last, in despair, 
 she took him to a neighbouring monastery, and 
 implored the abbot, who was a most charitable 
 holy man, to take him in and keep him as a lay 
 brother. Touched by her grief, the abbot con- 
 sented, and the boy entered the convent. There, 
 all possible pains were taken with him by the 
 good monks to give him at least some ideas of 
 religion ; but he could remember nothing but 
 these three sentences. Still, he was so patient, 
 so laborious, and so good, that the community 
 decided to keep him. When he had finished his 
 hard out-of-door Avork, instead of coming in to 
 rest, he would go straight to the church, and there 
 remain on his knees for hours. ' But what does he 
 
136 THE CARTUGUA. 
 
 do ? ' exclaimed one of the novices. ' He does 
 not know how to pray. He neither understands 
 the office, nor the sacraments, nor the ceremonies 
 of the Church.' They therefore hid themselves 
 in a side chapel, close to where he always knelt, 
 and Avatched him when he came in. Devoutly 
 kneeling, with his hands clasped, his eyes fastened 
 on the tabernacle, he did nothing but repeat over 
 and over again : ' Creo en Dios ; espero en Dios ; 
 amo a Dios.' One day he was missing : they went 
 to his cell, and found him dead on the straw, with 
 his hands joined and an expression of the same 
 ineffable peace and joy they had remarked on his 
 face when in church. They buried him in this 
 quiet cemetery, and the abbot caused these words 
 to be graven on his cross. Soon, a lily was seen 
 flowering by the grave, where no one had sown 
 it ; the grave was opened, and the root of the 
 flower was found in the heart of the orphan boy.* 
 Another morning oiu* party visited the Car- 
 tucha, the once magnificent Carthusian convent, 
 with its glorious ruined church and beautiful and 
 extensive orange-gardens. Now all is deserted. 
 The only thing remaining of the church is a fine 
 west wall and rose-window, with a chapel which 
 the proprietor has preserved for the use of his 
 workpeople, and in the choir of which are some 
 
 * Tliis anecdote is from the lips of Fernan Caballero. 
 
THE CARTUCIIA. 137 
 
 finely carved wooden stalls : the rest have been 
 removed to Cadiz, where they form the great 
 ornament of the cathedral. Here and there are 
 some fine ' azulejos/ and a magnificently carved 
 doorway, speaking of glories long since departed. 
 This convent, once the very centre of all that was 
 most cultivated and literary in Spain, a museum 
 of painting, architecture, and sculpture, is now 
 converted into a porcelain manufactory, where 
 a good-natured Englishman has run up a tall 
 chimney, and makes ugly cheap pots and pans to 
 suit the taste and pockets of the Sevillians. Oh 
 for this age of ' progress ' ! It is fair to say that 
 the proprietor, who kindly accompanied the party 
 over the building, and into the beautiful gar- 
 dens, and to the ruined pagoda or summer-house, 
 lamented that no encouragement was given by 
 the Spanish nobles of the present day to any 
 species of taste or beauty in design, and that his 
 attempts to introduce a higher class of china, in 
 imitation of Minton's, had met with decided 
 failure ; no one would buy anything so dear. 
 They had imported English workmen and mo- 
 dellers in the first instance ; but he said that the 
 Spaniards were apt scholars, and had quickly 
 learned the trade, so that his workmen are now 
 almost exclusively fi*om the countiy itself The 
 only pretty thing our travellers could find, and 
 
138 ALJARAFA. 
 
 Avliicli was kindly presented to one of the party, 
 was one of the cool picturesque-shaped bottles 
 made, like the ' goolehs ' of Egypt, of porous clay, 
 which maintains the coldness and freshness of any 
 liquid poured into it. 
 
 Among the many charming expeditions from 
 Seville, is one to Castilleja (the village before 
 alluded to as the scene of the death of Fernan 
 Cortes), through the fertile plains and vineyards 
 of Aljarafa. Here begins the region which the 
 Eomans called the Gardens of Hercules. It pro- 
 duces one of the best and rarest wines in Spain : 
 the plants having been originally brought from 
 Flanders by a poor soldier named Pedro Ximenes, 
 who discovered that the Khine vines, when trans- 
 planted to the sunny climate of Andalusia, lose 
 their acidity, and yield the luscious fr'uit which 
 still bears his name. In the centre of this fer- 
 tile plain stands a small house and garden, to 
 which is attached one of those tales of crime, 
 divine vengeance, and godlike forgiveness, which 
 are so characteristic of the people and country. 
 About twenty years ago it was inhabited by a 
 family consisting of a man named Juan Pedro 
 Alfaro, with his wife, and a son of nineteen or 
 twenty. Their quiet and peaceable lives Avere 
 spent in cultivating their vineyard and selling its 
 
ALJARAFA. 13Q 
 
 produce in the neighbouring town. They were 
 good and respectable people, living in peace with 
 their neighbours, and perfectly contented with 
 their occupation and position. One thing only 
 was felt as a grievance. A lawyer, of the cha- 
 racter of the ' Attorney Case ' in our childhood's 
 story, had lately started an obnoxious new tax on 
 every cargo of wine brought into the city ; and 
 this tax, being both unjust and illegal, they re- 
 solved to dispute. One day, therefore, when the 
 good man and his son were driving their mules 
 to market with their fruity burden, they were 
 stopped by the attorney, who demanded the usual 
 payment. The younger man fii-mly, but respect- 
 fully, refused, stating his reasons. The attorney 
 tried first fair words, and then foul, without 
 effect, upon which he vowed to be revenged. 
 The son, pointing to his Albacetan poniard, on 
 which was the inscription, ' I know how to de- 
 fend my master,' defied his vengeance; and so 
 they parted. 
 
 But never again was the poor wife and mother's 
 heart gladdened by the sight of their retm*ning 
 faces. In vain she waited, hour after hour, that 
 first terrible evening. The mules returned, but 
 masterless. Then, beside herself with fear, the 
 poor Avoman rushed off to the town to make 
 
140 ALJARAFA. 
 
 enquiries as to their fate. No one knew any- 
 thing further than that they had been at Seville 
 the day before, had sold their wine for a good 
 price, and been seen, as usual, returning cheer- 
 fully home. She then went to the Audiencia, or 
 legal supreme court of the city, where the ma- 
 gistrates, touched by her tale, and alarmed also 
 at the disappearance of the men, who were known 
 throughout the country for their high character 
 and respectability, caused a rigorous search to 
 be made in the whole neighbourhood ; but in 
 vain. No trace of them could be discovered. 
 By degrees, the excitement in the town on the 
 subject passed away, and the poor muleteers 
 were forgotten ; but in the heart of the widowed 
 mother there could be no rest and no peace. 
 The mystery in which their fate was involved 
 was so inexplicable that the hope of their re- 
 turn, however faint, would not die out ; and for 
 twenty years she spent her life and her sub- 
 stance in seeking for her lost loved ones. At 
 last, reduced to utter misery, and worn out both 
 in mind and body, she was forced to beg her 
 daily bread of the charity of the peasants : the 
 ' bolsa de Dios,' as the people poetically call it, 
 a ' bolsa ' Avhich, to do the Spaniards justice, is 
 never empty. The little children would bring 
 
ALJABAFA. 141 
 
 her eggs and pennies ; the fathers and husbands 
 would give her a corner by the ' brasero ' in 
 winter, or under the vine-covered trelhs in sum- 
 mer ; the wives and mothers knew what had 
 brought her to such misery, and had ever an 
 extra loaf or a dish of ' garbanzos ' set aside for 
 the ' Madre Ana,' as she was called by the 
 villagers. She, humble, prayerful, hopeM, ever 
 grateful for the least kindness, and willing in any 
 way to oblige others, at last fell dangerously ill. 
 The cure, who had been striving to calm and 
 soothe that sorely tried soul, was one day leaving 
 her cottage, when his attention was attracted by 
 a crowd of people, with the mayor at their head, 
 who were hurrying towards an olive wood near 
 the village. He followed, and, to his horror, 
 found that the cause of the sensation was the 
 discovery of two human skeletons under an olive- 
 tree, the finger of one of which Avas pointing 
 through the earth to heaven, as if for vengeance. 
 The mayor ordered the earth to be removed : 
 the surgeon examined the bodies, and gave it as 
 his opinion that they must have been dead many 
 years. But on examining the clothes, a paper 
 was found which a waterproof pocket had pre- 
 served from decay. The attorney, who was like- 
 wise present, seized it ; but no sooner had his 
 
142 ALJABAFA. 
 
 eyes lighted on the Avords, than he fell backwards 
 in a swoon. ' What is the matter ? Avhat has he 
 read ? ' exclaimed the bystanders as with one 
 voice. 'It is a certificate such as used to be 
 carried by our muleteers,' exclaimed the mayor, 
 taking the paper fi^om the lawyer's hand; and 
 opening it, he read out loud the following words : 
 ' Pass for Juan Pedro Alfaro' 
 
 Here, then, was the unravelling of the terrible 
 mystery : the men had evidently been murdered 
 on their way home. The attorney recovered 
 from his fainting fit, but fever followed, and in his 
 delirium he did nothing but exclaim : ' It is not 
 I ! — my hands are free fi^om blood. It is Juan 
 Caiio and Joseph Salas.' These words, repeated 
 by the j^eople, caused the arrest of the two men 
 named, who no sooner found themselves in the 
 hands of justice than they confessed their crime, 
 and described how, having been excited to do so 
 by the attorney, they had shot both Juan Alfaro 
 and his son, fi'om behind some olive-trees, on 
 their way home from market, had robbed, and 
 afterwards buried them in the place where the 
 bodies had been found. Sentence of death was 
 passed upon the murderers, while the attorney 
 was condemned to hard labour for life, and to 
 witness, with a rope round his neck, the execu- 
 
ALJABAFA. 
 
 H3 
 
 tion of his accomplices in the' flital deed. The 
 poor ' Madi'e Ana ' had hardly recovered from 
 her severe illness when these terrible events 
 transpired. The indignation of the peasantry, 
 and their compassion for her, knew no bounds : 
 they would have torn the attorney in pieces if 
 they could. The widow herself, overwhelmed 
 with grief at this confirmation of her worst fears, 
 remained silent as the grave. At last, when 
 those around her were breathing nothing but 
 maledictions on the heads of the murderers, and 
 counting the days to the one fixed for the execu- 
 tion of their sentence, she suddenly spoke, and 
 asked that the cure should be sent for. He at 
 once obeyed the summons. She raised herself in 
 the bed with some effort, and then said : ' My 
 father, is it not true that, if pardon be implored 
 for a crime by the one most nearly related to the 
 victims, the judges generally mitigate the severity 
 of the punishment ? ' He replied in the affirma- 
 tive. ' Then to-morrow,' she replied, ' I will go 
 to Seville.' ' God bless you ! my daughter,' re- 
 plied the old priest, much moved ; ' the pardon 
 you have so fi-eely given in your heart will be 
 more acceptable to God than the deaths of these 
 men.' A murmur of surprise and admiration, 
 and yet of hearty approval, passed through the 
 
144 ALJARAFA. 
 
 lips of the bystanders. The next day, mounted 
 carefully by the peasants on their best mule, 
 the poor widow arrived at the Audiencia. Her 
 entrance caused a stir and an emotion in the 
 whole court. Bent with age, and worn with 
 sickness and misery, she advanced in front of the 
 judges, who, seeing her extreme weakness, in- 
 stantly ordered a comfortable chair to be brought 
 for her. But the effort had been too much ; she 
 could not speak. The judge then addi'essing her, 
 said : ' Sehora, is it true that you are come to 
 plead for the pardon of Juan Caho and Josej)h 
 Salas, convicted of the assassination of your 
 husband and son ? and also for the pardon of 
 the lawyer, who, by his instigation, led them 
 to commit the crime ? ' She bowed her head in 
 token of assent. A murmur of admiration and 
 pity spread through the court ; and a relation of 
 the lawyer's, who saw his family thus rescued 
 from the last stage of degradation, eagerly bent 
 forward, exclaiming : ' Sehora, do not fear for 
 your friture. I swear that every want of yours 
 shall henceforth be provided for.' 
 
 The momentary feebleness of the woman now 
 passed away. She rose to her frill height, and 
 casting on the speaker a look of mingled indig- 
 nation and scorn, exclaimed : ' You offer me 
 
BULL-FIGHT. 145 
 
 payment for my pardon ? I do not sell the 
 blood of my son ! ' 
 
 No account of ' life in Seville ' would be com- 
 plete without a bull-fight, ' corrida de toros ; ' and 
 so one afternoon saw our travellers in a tolerably 
 spacious loggia on the shady side of the circus, 
 preparing, though with some qualms of con- 
 science, to see, for the first time, this, the great 
 national sport of Spain. The roof of the cathe- 
 dral towered above the arena, and the sound of 
 the bells just ringing for vespei's made at least 
 one of the party regret the decision which had 
 led her to so uncongenial a place. But it was 
 too late to recede. No one could escape fi*om 
 the mass of human beings tightly wedged on 
 every side, all eager for the fight. Partly, per- 
 haps, owing to the mourning and consequent 
 absence of the court, there were very few ladies ; 
 which it is to be hoped is also a sign that the 
 ' corrida ' has no longer such attractions for them. 
 Presently the trumpets sounded. One of the 
 barriers which enclosed the arena was thrown 
 open, and in came a procession of ' toreros,' 
 * banderilleros,' and ' chulos,' all attired in gay 
 and glittering costumes, chiefly blue and silver, 
 the hair of each tied in a net, with a gTeat bow 
 behind, and with tight pink silk stockings and 
 
 L 
 
146 BULL-FIGHT. 
 
 buckled shoes. With them came the ' picadores,' 
 dressed in yellow, with large broad-brimmed hats 
 and iron-cased le<>:s. ridino' the most miserable 
 horses that could be seen, but which, being 
 generally thoroughbred, arched their necks and 
 endeavoured, poor beasts ! to show what once 
 they had been. They were blindfolded, without 
 which they could not have been induced to face 
 the bull. The procession stopped opposite the 
 president's box, when the principal ' torero ' knelt 
 and received in his hat the key of the bull's 
 den, which was forthwith opened ; and now the 
 sport began. A magnificent brownish-red animal 
 dashed out into the centre of the arena, shaking 
 his crest and looking round him as if to defy 
 his adversaries, pawing the ground the while. 
 The men were all watching him with intense 
 eagerness. Suddenly the bull singled out one 
 as his adversary, and made a dash at a ' bande- 
 rillero ' who was agitating a scarlet cloak to the 
 left. The man vaulted over the wooden fence 
 into the pit. The bull, foiled, and knocking his 
 horns against the wooden palings with a force 
 which seemed as if it would bring the Avhole 
 thing down, now rushed at a ' picador ' to the right, 
 from whose lance he received a wound in the 
 shoulder. But the bull, lowering his head, drove 
 
BULL-FIGHT. 147 
 
 his horns right into the wretched horse's entrails, 
 and, with almost miraculous strength, galloped 
 with both horse and rider on his neck round the 
 whole arena, finally dropping both, when the 
 ' 2^icador ' was saved by the ' chulos,' but the horse 
 was left to be still further gored by the bull, and 
 then to die in agony on the sand. This kind of 
 thing was repeated with one after the other, till 
 the bull, exhausted and covered with lance- 
 wounds, paused as if to take breath. The ' ban- 
 derilleros ' chose this moment, and with gxeat skill 
 and address advanced in front of him, with their 
 hands and arms raised, and threw forward ar- 
 rows, ornamented with fringed paper, which they 
 fixed into his neck. This again made him fti- 
 rious, and, in eager pursuit of one of his enemies, 
 the poor beast leapt out of the arena over the 
 six-feet high barrier into the very middle of the 
 crowded pit. The ' sauve qui pent ' may be ima- 
 gined ; but no one was hurt, and the din raised 
 by the multitude seemed to have alarmed the bull, 
 who trotted back quietly into the circus by a 
 side-door which had been oj^cned for the pur- 
 pose. Now came the exciting moment. The judge 
 gave the signal, and one of the most fixmoiis 
 * matadores,' Cuchares by name, beautifiilly di'csscd 
 in blue and silver, and armed with a short sharp 
 
 L 2 
 
148 BULL-FIGHT. 
 
 sword, advanced to give the coup de grace. This 
 reqiiu'es both immense skill and gi'eat agility ; 
 and at this very moment, when our party were 
 wound up to the highest pitch of interest and 
 excitement, a similar scene had ended fatally for 
 the '■ matador ' at Cadiz. But Cuchares seemed 
 to play with his danger ; and though the bull, 
 mad with rage, pursued him with the greatest 
 fury, tearing his scarlet scarf into ribands, and 
 nearly throwing down the wooden screens placed 
 at the sides of the arena as places of refuge for 
 the men when too closely pressed to escape in 
 other w^ays, he chose a favourable moment, and 
 leaping forward, dug his short sword right into 
 the fatal spot above the shoulder. With scarcely 
 a struggle, the noble beast fell, first on his knees, 
 and then rolled over dead. The people cheered 
 vociferously, the trumpets sounded. Four mules, 
 gaily caparisoned, were driven fimously into the 
 arena ; the huge carcase, fastened to them by ropes, 
 was di'agged out, together with those of such 
 of the horses as death had mercifully released, 
 and then the whole thing began over again. 
 Twenty horses and six bulls were killed in two 
 hours and a half, and the more horrible the dis- 
 embowelled state of the animals, the greater 
 seemed the delight of the spectators. It is im- 
 
BULL-FIGHT. 149 
 
 possible, without disgusting oiu* readers, to give 
 ci truthful description of the horrible state of the 
 horses. One, especially, caused a sensation even 
 among the ' habitues ' of the ring. He belonged 
 to one of the richest gentlemen in Seville, had 
 been his favourite hack, and was as well known 
 in the Prado as his master. Yet this gentle- 
 man had the brutality, when the poor beast's work 
 was ended, to condemn him to this terrible fate ! 
 The gallant horse, disembowelled as he was, 
 tvould not die : he survived one bull after the 
 other, though his entrails were hanging in festoons 
 on their horns, and finally, when the gates were 
 opened to drag out the carcases of the rest, he 
 managed to crawl away also — and to drag himself 
 where ? To the very door of his master's house, 
 which he reached, and where he finally laid down 
 and died. His instinct, unhappily wrong in this 
 case, had evidently made him fancy that there, 
 at any rate, he would have pity and relief from his 
 agony : for the wounds inflicted by the horns of 
 the bull are, it is said, horrible in their burning, 
 smarting pain. Fernan Caballero was with the 
 wife of a famous ' matador,' whose chest was trans- 
 fixed by the bull at the moment when, thinking 
 the beast's strength was spent, he had leant forward 
 to deal the fatal stroke. He lingered for some 
 
150 BULL-FIGHT. 
 
 hours, but in an agony which she said must have 
 been seen to be beheved. Generally speaking, 
 however, such accidents to the men are very rare. 
 Carlo Puerto, one of the * picadores,' was killed last 
 year by a very wary bull, Avho turned suddenly, 
 and catching him on his horns in the stomach, 
 ran Avith him in that way three times round the 
 arena ! — but that was the fault of the president, 
 who had insisted on his attacking the bull in the 
 centre of the ring, the ' picadores ' always remain- 
 ing close to the screen, so that their escape may be 
 more easily managed. If the sport could be con- 
 ducted, as it is said to be in Salamanca and in 
 Portugal, without injury to the horses, the intense 
 interest caused by a combat where the skill, in- 
 telligence, and agility of the man is pitted against 
 the instinct, quickness, and force of the bull, 
 would make it perhaps a legitimate as w^ell as a 
 most exciting amusement ; but as it is at pre- 
 sent conducted, it is simply horrible, and inex- 
 cusablv cruel and revoltino'. It is difficult to un- 
 derstand how any woman can go to it a second 
 time. The effect on the people must be brutal- 
 ising to a frightful extent, and accounts in a 
 gTcat measure for their utter absence of feeling 
 for animals, especially horses and mules, Avhich 
 they ill-use in a manner perfectly shocking to an 
 
BULL-FIGHT. 151 
 
 Englishman, and apparently without the slightest 
 sense of shame. But there is no indication of this 
 sport becoming less popular in Spain. Combats 
 with ' novillos,' or young bulls, whose horns are 
 tipped to avoid accidents, are a common amuse- 
 ment among the young aristocracy, who are said 
 to bet fi'ightfully on their respective favourites ; 
 and thus the taste is fostered from their cradles. 
 
 The programme, or play-bill, is given literally in 
 the Appendix, together with an amusing version 
 of the fight in the Spanish ' vernacular ' of the 
 ' King.' 
 
152 HOSPITAL DEL 8ANGRE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS OF 
 
 SEVILLE. 
 
 A FEW days after the Holy Week, our travellers 
 decided on visiting some of the far-famed chari- 
 table institutions of Seville ; and taking the kind 
 
 and benevolent Padre B as their interpreter, 
 
 they went first to the Hospital del Sangre, or of 
 the ' five Wounds/ a magnificent building of the 
 sixteenth century, with a Doric fagade 600 feet 
 long, a beautiful portal, and a ' patio,' in the 
 centre of which is the church, a fine building, 
 built in the shape of a Latin cross, and containing 
 one or two good Zurbarans. There are between 
 300 and 400 patients ; and in addition to the 
 large wards, there are — what is so much needed 
 in our great London hospitals, and which we 
 have before alluded to at Madrid — a number of 
 nicely-fLirnished little separate rooms for a higher 
 class of patients, who pay about two shillings a 
 day, and have both the skill of the doctors and 
 
HOSPITAL DEL 8ANGRE. 153 
 
 the tender care of the sisters of charity, instead 
 of being neglected in their own homes. There 
 was a poor priest in one of these apartments, 
 in another a painter, and in a third a naval 
 captain, a Swede, and so on. The hospital is 
 abundantly supplied with everything ordered by 
 the doctors, including wine, brandy, chickens, or 
 the like ; and in this respect is a gTcat contrast 
 to that at Malaga, where the patients literally die 
 for want of the necessary extra diets and stimu- 
 lants which the parsimony of the administration 
 denies them. In each quadrangle is a nice gar- 
 den, with seats and fountains, and full of sweet 
 flowers, where the patients, when well enough, 
 can sit out and enjoy the sunshine. There is not 
 the slightest hospital smell in any one of the 
 wards. The whole is under the administration 
 of the Spanish sisters of charity of St. Vincent de 
 Paul ; and knowing that, no surprise was felt at 
 the perfection of the ' lingerie,' or the admirable 
 arrangement and order of the hospital. They 
 have a touching custom when one of the pa- 
 tients is dying, and has received the viaticum, to 
 place above his head a special cross, so that he 
 may be left undisturbed by casual visitors. The 
 sisters have a little oratory upstairs, near the 
 women's ward, beautiflilly fitted up. An air of 
 
154 TOWER OF 8T. HEBMENGILDE. 
 
 refinement, of comfort, and of home, pervades the 
 whole establishment. 
 
 Close to this hospital is the old tower where 
 St. Hermengilde was put to death, on Easter eve, 
 by order of his unnatural father, because he would 
 not join the Arian heresy, or receive his paschal 
 communion from the hands of an Arian bishop. 
 This was in the sixth century : and is not the 
 same persecution, and for the same cause, going 
 on in Poland in the nineteenth?* The old 
 Gothic tower still remains, and in it his close 
 dungeon. A chm^ch has been built adjoining, 
 but the actual prison remains intact. There are 
 some good pictures in the church, especially 
 a Madonna, by Mm^illo ; and a clever picture 
 of St. Ignatius in his room, meditating on 
 his conversion. There is also a fine statue of 
 
 * The manner in -vvlucli, during this very last Easter, the poor 
 PoKsh Catholics have been treated and forced to receive schismatical 
 communions through a system of treachery unparalleled in the 
 annals of the Church, is unfortunately not sufficiently known in 
 England, where alone public opinion could be brought to bear on the 
 instigators of such tyranny. The strife between Russia and Poland 
 has ceased to be anything but a religious struggle : Russia is deter- 
 mined to quench Catholicism out of the land. But the cry of hun- 
 dreds of exiled pastors of the flock is rising to heaven from the 
 forests and mines of Siberia : in the Holy Sacrifice (offered in earth- 
 enware cups on common stones) they still plead for their people 
 before the Throne of the Great Intercessor. And that cry and those 
 prayers will be answered in God's own time and way. 
 
ORPHANAGE AND HOSPITAL. 155 
 
 St. Hcrmengilde himself, by Montanes, over the 
 high altar. The good old priest who had the 
 care of this church lived in a little room adjoin- 
 ing, like a hermit in his cell, entirely devoted to 
 painting and to the ' culte ' of his patron saint. 
 St. Gregory the Great attributes to the merits of 
 this martyr the conversion of his brother, after- 
 wards King Recared, the penitence of his father, 
 and the Christianising of the whole kingdom of 
 the Visigoths in Spain. 
 
 From thence our travellers went on to the or- 
 phanage managed by the ' Trinitarian sisters.' 
 The house was built in the last century, by a 
 charitable lady, who richly endowed it, and placed 
 200 children there ; now, the government, with- 
 out a shadow of right, has taken the whole of the 
 funds of the institution, and allows them barely 
 enough to purchase bread. The superior is in 
 despair, and has scarcely the heart to go on with 
 the work. She has diminished the number of the 
 children, and has been obliged to curtail their 
 food, giving them neither milk nor meat except 
 on great festivals. But for the intervention of 
 the Due de Montpensier, and other charitable per- 
 sons, the whole establishment must long since 
 have been given up. There are twenty-four 
 sisters. The children work and embroider beauti- 
 
156 THE CARIDAD. 
 
 fully, and are trained to every kind of industrial 
 occupation. From this orphanage our party 
 went to the Hospital for Women, managed by 
 the sisters of the third order of St. Francis. It is 
 one of the best hospitals in Seville. There are 
 about 100 women, admirably kept and cared for, 
 and a ward of old and incurable patients besides. 
 The superior, a most motherly, loving soul, to 
 whom everyone seemed much attached, took them 
 over every part of the building. She has a pas- 
 sion for cats, and beautiful ' Angoras ' were seen 
 basking in the sun in every window-sill. 
 
 This hospital, like the orphanage, is a private 
 foundation ; but the government has given no- 
 tice that they mean to appropriate its funds, 
 and the poor sisters are in terror lest their sup- 
 plies should cease for their sick. It is a positive 
 satisfaction to think that the government which 
 has dealt in this wholesale robbery of the widow 
 and orphan is not a bit the better for it. One 
 feels inclined to exclaim twenty times a day : 
 ' Thy money perish with thee ! ' 
 
 But of all the charitable institutions of Seville, 
 the finest is the Caridad, a magnificent hospital, 
 or rather ' asilo,' for poor and incurable patients, 
 nursed and tended by the Spanish sisters of St. 
 Yincent de Paul. It was founded in the seven- 
 
DON MIGUEL BE MAN ABA. 157 
 
 teenth century, by Don Miguel de Mafiara, a man 
 eminent for his high birth and large fortune, and 
 one of the knights of Calatrava, an order only 
 given to people whose quarterings showed no- 
 bility for several generations. He was in his 
 youth the Don Juan of Seville, abandoning him- 
 self to every kind of luxury and excess, although 
 many strange warnings were sent to him, from 
 time to time, to arrest him in his headlong, down- 
 ward course. On one occasion especially, he 
 had followed a young and apparently beautiful 
 figure through the streets and into the cathe- 
 dral, where, regardless of the sanctity of the 
 place, he insisted on her listening to his addresses. 
 "What was his horror, on her turning round, in 
 answer to his repeated solicitations, when the 
 face behind the mask proved to be that of a 
 skeleton ! So strongly was this circumstance 
 impressed on his mind, that he caused it after- 
 wards to be painted by Yaldes, and hung in the 
 council-room of the hospital. Another time, 
 when returning from one of his nocturnal orgies, 
 he lost his way, and, passing by the Church of 
 Santiago, saw, to his surprise, that the doors 
 were open, the church lit, and a number of priests 
 were kneeling with lighted tapers round a bier 
 in perfect silence. He went in and asked 'whose 
 
158 DON MIGUEL DE MANARA. 
 
 was the flincral ? ' The answer of one after the 
 other was : ' Don Miguel de Mafiara.' Think- 
 ing this a bad joke, he approached the coffin, and 
 hastily lifted up the black pall which covered the 
 features of the dead. To his horror, he recognised 
 himself This event produced a complete change 
 in his life. He resolved to abandon his vicious 
 courses, and marry, choosing the only daughter of 
 a noble house, as much noted for her piety as for 
 her beauty. But God had higher designs in store 
 for him, and after a few years spent in the enjoy- 
 ment of the purest happiness, his young wife died 
 suddenly. In the first violence of his grief, Don 
 Miguel thought but of escaping from the world 
 altogether, and burying himself in a monastery. 
 But God willed it otherwise. There was at that 
 time, on the right bank of the Guadalquiver, a 
 little hermitage dedicated to St. George, which 
 was the resort of a confraternity of young men 
 who had formed themselves into brothers of 
 charity, and devoted themselves to the care of 
 the sick and dying poor. Don Diego Mirafuentes 
 was their ' hermano mayor,' or chief brother, and 
 being an old friend of Don Miguel's, invited him 
 to stay with him, and, by degrees, enlisted all his 
 sympathies in their labours of love. He desired 
 to be enrolled in their confraternity, but his repu- 
 
THE C ARID AD. 159 
 
 tation was so bad, that the brotherhood hesitated 
 to admit hira ; and when at last they yiekled, 
 determined to put his sincerity and humiUty to 
 the test by ordering him to go at once from door 
 to door throughout Seville (where he was so well 
 known) with the bodies of certain paupers, and 
 to crave alms for their interment. Grace tri- 
 umphed over all natiu-al repugnance to such a 
 task ; and with his penitence had come that na- 
 tural thirst for penance which made all things 
 appear easy and light to bear, so that very soon 
 he became the leader in all noble and charitable 
 works. 
 
 Finding that an asylum or home was sadly 
 needed in winter for the reception of the houseless 
 poor, he purchased a large warehouse, which he 
 converted into rooms for this purpose ; and by 
 dint of begging, got together a few beds and 
 necessaries, so that by the Christmas following 
 more than 200 sick or destitute persons were here 
 boarded and lodged. From this humble begin- 
 ning arose one of the most magnificent chari- 
 table institutions in Spain. The example of Don 
 Miguel, his burning charity, his austere self- 
 denial, his simple faith, won all hearts. Money 
 poured in on every side ; every day fi-esh candi- 
 dates from the highest classes pleaded for admis- 
 
i6o THE CARIDAD. 
 
 sion into the confi-aternity. It was necessary to 
 draw up certain rules for their guidance, and this 
 work was entrusted to Don Miguel, who . had 
 been unanimously elected as their superior. No- 
 Avhere did his wisdom, prudence, and zeal appear 
 more strongly than in these regulations, which 
 still form the constitutions of this noble founda- 
 tion. Defining, first, the nature of their work — 
 the seeking out and succouring the miserable, 
 nursing the sick, burying the dead, and attend- 
 ing criminals to tlieir execution — he goes on to 
 insist on the value of personal service, both pri- 
 vate and public ; on the humility and self-abne- 
 gation required of each brother ; that each, on 
 entering the hospital, should forget his rank, and 
 style himself simjDly ' servant of the poor,' kissing 
 the hand of the oldest among the sufferers, and 
 serving them as seeing Jesus Christ in the per- 
 sons of each. The notices of certain monthly 
 meetings and church services which formed part 
 of the rule of the community were couched in the 
 following terms : — ' This notice is sent you lest 
 you should neglect these holy exercises, which 
 may be the last at which God will allow you to 
 assist.' Sermons and meditations on the Passion 
 of our Lord, and on the nearness of death and of 
 eternity, formed the principal religious exercises 
 
TEE CABIDAD. " 16 1 
 
 of the confraternity ; in fiict, the Passion is the 
 abiding devotion of the order. 
 
 His hospital built, and his poor comfortably 
 housed and cared for, Don Miguel turned his 
 attention to the church, which was in ruins. A 
 letter of his, still extant, will show the difficulties 
 which he had to overcome in this undertaking. 
 ' We had hoped,' he writes, ' that one of our 
 brothers, who was rich and childless, would have 
 given us something to begin the restoration ; but 
 he died without thinking of the church, and so 
 vanished our golden hopes, as they always will 
 when we put our trust in human means to ac- 
 complish God's ends. I was inclined to despond 
 about it ; when, the next morning, at eight 
 o'clock, a poor beggar named Luis asked to 
 speak to me. " My wife is just dead," he said. 
 " She sold chestnuts on the Plaza, and realised 
 a little sum of eighty ducats. To bury her I 
 have spent thirty : fifty remain ; they are all I 
 have ; but I bring them to you that you may 
 lay the first stone of the new church. I want 
 nothing for myself but a bit of bread, which I 
 can always beg from door to door." ' Don Miguel 
 refrised ; the beggar insisted, and so the church 
 was begun : and the story spread, and half a 
 million of ducats were poured into the laps of 
 
1 62 THE CARIDAD. 
 
 the brothers ; but, as Mafiara added, ' the first 
 stone was laid by God Himself in the " little all " 
 of the poor beggar.' * This chnrch was filled in 
 1680 with the chefs-d'oeuvre of Murillo and of 
 Yaldes Leal : an autograph letter fi'om the great 
 religious painter is still shown in the Sala Capi- 
 tular of the hospital, asking to be admitted as a 
 member of the confi^aternity. ' Our Saviour as a 
 Child ; ' * St. John and the Lamb ; ' ' San Juan de 
 Dios with an Angel ; ' the ' Miracle of the Loaves 
 and Fishes ; ' but, above all, ' Moses striking the 
 Kock,' called ' La Sed ' (so admirably is thirst re- 
 presented in the multitudes crowding round the 
 prophet in the wilderness), were the magnificent 
 offerings of the new ' brother ' towards the deco- 
 ration of God's house and the cause of charity. 
 Equally striking, but more painfiil in their choice 
 of subjects, are the productions of Yaldes, espe- 
 cially a ' Dead Bishop,' awful in its contrast of 
 gorgeous robes with the visible work of the 
 worms beneath, and of which Murillo said ' that 
 he could not look at it without holding his 
 nose.' Other pictures by Murillo formerly deco- 
 rated these walls ; but they were stolen by the 
 
 * How often, when buying chestnuts of one of the old women in 
 the Plaza of the Caridad, did the recollection of this stoiy come 
 into the mind of our traveller ! 
 
THE CARIDAD. 163 
 
 French, and afterwards sold to English collectors, 
 the Duke of Sutherland and Mr. Tomline being 
 among the purchasers. After the church, the 
 most remarkable thing in the Caridad is the ' pa- 
 tio,' divided into two by a double marble colon- 
 nade. Here the poor patients sit out half the 
 day, enjoying the sunshine and the flowers. On 
 the wall is the following inscription, from the pen 
 of Maiiara himself, but which loses in the trans- 
 lation : — ' This house will last as long as God 
 shall be feared in it, and Jesus Christ be served 
 in the persons of His poor. Whoever enters here 
 must leave at the door both avarice and pride.' 
 
 The cloisters and passages are full of texts and 
 pious thoughts, but all associated with the two 
 ideas ever prominent in the founder's mind — 
 charity and death. Over what was his own cell 
 is the following, in Spanish : — ' What is it that we 
 mean when we speak of Death ? It is being fi-ee 
 from the body of sin, and from the yoke of our 
 passions : therefore, to live is a bitter death, and 
 to die is a sweet life.' 
 
 The wards are charmingly large and airy, and 
 lined with gay ' azulejos.' The kitchen is large 
 and spacious, with a curious roof, supported by a 
 single pillar in the middle. Over the president's 
 chair, in the Sala Capitular, is the original 
 
 M 2 
 
i64 CONVENTS IN SEVILLE. 
 
 portrait of Don Migiiel Manara, by his friend 
 Yaldes Leal, and, at the side, a cast taken of his 
 face after death, presented to the confi-aternity 
 by Yicentelo de Leca. Both have the same ex- 
 pression of dignity and austerity, mingled with 
 tenderness, especially about the mouth ; and the 
 features have a strong resemblance to those of 
 the great Conde. He died on May 19, 1679, 
 amidst the tears of the whole city, being only 
 fifty-three years of age : but a nature such as his 
 could not last long. A very interesting collec- 
 tion of his letters is still shown in the hospital, 
 and his life has been lately admirably translated 
 into French by M. Antoine de Latour. 
 
 The ' Sacre Coeiu* ' have established themselves 
 lately in Seville, through the kindness of the 
 Marquesa de Y , and are about to open a la- 
 dies' school — which is very much needed — on the 
 site of a disused Franciscan convent. The arch- 
 bishop has given them the large church adjoining 
 the convent ; and it Avas almost comical to see the 
 three or four charming sisters, Avho are begin- 
 ning this most usefid and charitable work, singing 
 their benediction alone in the vast chancel, until 
 the building can be got ready for the reception of 
 their pupils. 
 
 Another convent visited by the ladies of the 
 
CONVENTS IN SEVILLE. 165 
 
 party was that of Sta. Ines, which stands in a 
 narrow street near the Church of S. Felipe Neri. 
 The great treasure of this convent is the body of 
 Sta, Maria Coronel, which remains as fi-esh and 
 as life-like as if she had died but yesterday. Her 
 history is a tragical one. Pedi'o the Cruel, falling 
 madly in love with her great beauty, condemned 
 her husband, who was governor of the Balearic 
 Islands, to an ignominious death ; but then, with 
 a refinement of cruelty, promised his pardon to 
 his wife on condition that she would yield to his 
 passion. Maria Coronel, preferring death to dis- 
 honour, permitted the execution of her husband, 
 and fled for refuge to this convent, Avhere the 
 king, violating all rights, human and divine, pur- 
 sued her. One night he penetrated into her cell. 
 Maria, seeing no other mode of escape, seized the 
 lamp which, burnt on the table before her, and 
 poured the boiling oil over her face, thus destroy- 
 ing her beauty for ever. The king, enraged and 
 disappointed, relinquished his suit ; and the poor 
 lady lived and died in the convent. In the li- 
 brary of the University is an ancient MS. describ- 
 ing Pedro the Cruel as ' tall, fair, good-looking, 
 and flill of spirit, valour, and talent ! ' but his exe- 
 crable deeds speak for themselves. The curious 
 thing is, that the marks of the boiling oil arc as 
 
1 66 CARMELITE CONVENT. 
 
 clearly seen on Maria Coroncl's face now as on the 
 day when the heroic deed was committed. The 
 sisters of this convent are dressed in blue, with a 
 long black veil, and their cloisters contain some 
 very curious pictures and relics. 
 
 The most interesting visit, however, paid by 
 one of the party in Seville, was to the strictly 
 enclosed convent of Sta. Teresa, to enter which 
 the English lady had obtained special Papal per- 
 mission. Of the sorrows and perils which St. 
 Theresa experienced in founding this house, she 
 herself speaks in writing to her niece, Mary of 
 Ocampo : — ' I assure you that of all the persecu- 
 tions Ave have had to endure, none can bear the 
 least comparison with what we have suffered at 
 Seville.'* Suffering fi*om violent fcA^er, calum- 
 niated by one of her own postulants, denounced 
 to the Inquisition, persecuted incessantly by the 
 fathers of the mitigated rule, with no prospect of 
 buying a house, and no money for the purchase, 
 
 * For both this and other quotations regarding St. Theresa's 
 foundations, the writer is indebted to the charming life of the saint 
 published by Hurst & Blackett in 1865, and which, from its won- 
 derful truth and accuracy, is a perfect handbook to anyone visiting 
 the Carmelite convents of Spain. She trusts that its author will 
 forgive her for having, often unintentionally, used her actual ex- 
 pressions in speaking of places and of things, from the impos- 
 sibility of their being described by an eye-witness in any other 
 manner. 
 
;3 
 
CARMELITE CONVENT. 167 
 
 the saint could yet find courage to add : ' Not- 
 withstanding all these evils, my heart is filled 
 with joy. What blessed things are peace of con- 
 science and liberty of soul ! ' It reminds one of 
 another occasion, when it was necessary to begin 
 a foundation which was to cost a great deal of 
 money, and the saint had but twopence-halfpenny. 
 ' Never mind,' she replied, courageously, ' Two- 
 pence-halfiDenny and Theresa are nothing ; but 
 twopence-halfpenny and God ai'e everything ! ' 
 and the work was accomplished. In the case of 
 the Seville house her patience and faith met with 
 a like reward. On the Feast of the Ascension, 
 1576, the Blessed Sacrament was placed in the 
 chapel of the new convent by the archbishop 
 himself, accompanied by all his clergy, who wished 
 to make public amends to St. Theresa and her 
 nuns for the persecutions they had endured ; and 
 when Theresa knelt to ask for his pastoral bene- 
 diction, the archbishop, in the presence of all 
 the people, knelt to ask for hers in return, thus 
 testifying to the high estimation in which he held 
 both her and her work. 
 
 It was this convent, untouched since those days 
 of trial, which our visitors now entered. There 
 are twenty-two sisters, of whom three are novices, 
 and their rule is maintained in all its primitive 
 
1 68 CARMELITE CONVENT. 
 
 severity. They keep a perpetual fast, living 
 chiefly on the dried ' cabala, ' or stockfish, of the 
 country, and only on festivals and at Easter-tide 
 allowing themselves eggs and milk. 
 
 They have no beds, only a hard mattress, 
 stuffed with straw ; this, with an iron lamp, a 
 pitcher of w^ater, a crucifix, and a discipline, con- 
 stitutes the only furniture of each cell, all of 
 which are alike. One or two common prints 
 were pasted on the walls, and over the doors hung 
 various little ejaculations : ' Jesu, superabundo 
 gaudio ; ' ' crux ! ave, spes unica ! ' ' Domine, 
 quid me vis facere ? ' or else a little card in 
 Spanish, like the following, which the English 
 lady carried off with her as a memorial : — 
 
 Aplaca, mi Dios, Tu ira, 
 Tu JTisticia J Tu rigor. 
 Por los ruegos de Maria, 
 Misericordia, Seiior ! 
 Santo Dios, Santo faerte, Santo inmortal, 
 Liberanos, Seiior, de todo mal. 
 
 At the refectory, each sister has an earthenware 
 plate and jug, with a wooden cover, an earthen- 
 Avare salt-cellar, and a wooden spoon. Opposite 
 the place of the superior is a skull, the only dis- 
 tinction. They are allowed no linen except in 
 sickness, and wear only a brown mantle and white 
 
CARMELITE CONVENT. 169 
 
 serge scapular, with a black veil, which covers 
 them from head to foot. They are rarely allowed 
 to walk in the garden, or to go out in the corridor 
 in the sun to warm themselves. Their house is 
 like a cellar, cold and damp ; and they have no 
 fires. Even at recreation they are not allowed 
 to sit, except on the floor ; and silence is rigidly 
 observed, except for two hours during the day. 
 They have only five hours' sleep, not going to 
 bed till half-past eleven, on account of the office. 
 At eleven, one of the novices seizes the wooden 
 clapper (or crecella), which she strikes three 
 times, pronouncing the words : ' Praise be to our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and to the Blessed Virgin 
 Mary, His Mother ; my sisters, let us go to ma- 
 tins to glorify our Lord.' Then they go to the 
 choir, singing the Miserere. They are called 
 again in the same manner at half-past four by 
 a sister who chaunts a verse in the Psalms. At 
 night, a sentence is pronounced aloud, to serve 
 as meditation. It is generally this : — 
 
 My sisters, think of tliis : a little sufFering-, and then an eternal 
 recompense. 
 
 They see absolutely no one, receiving the Holy 
 Communion through a slit in the wall. The 
 English lady was the first person they had seen 
 face to face, or with lifted veils, for twelve vears 
 
170 CARMELITE CONVENT. 
 
 They play the organ of the chajDel, which is a 
 public one, though they themselves are entu-ely 
 invisible ; and they are not even allowed to see 
 the altar, which is concealed by a heavy black 
 curtain drawn across the grating looking into the 
 church. They have an image of their gi^eat foun- 
 dress, the size of life, dressed in the habit of the 
 order, and to her they go night and morning and 
 salute her, as to a mother. Their convent is rich 
 in relics, beautiful pictures, and crucifixes, brought 
 in by different religious, especially the Duchesse 
 de Bega, who became a Carmelite about fifty years 
 ago. But their chief treasure is an original pic- 
 ture of St. Theresa, for which she sat by com- 
 mand of the archbishop, and which has lately 
 been photographed for the Due de Montpensier. 
 It is a very striking and beautiful face, but quite 
 different fi:-om the conventional representations of 
 the saint- When it was finished, she looked at 
 it, and exclaimed naively : ' I did not know I was 
 grown so old or so ugly ! ' There is also in this 
 sacristy a very beautiful Morales of the ' Virgin 
 and a Dead Christ,' and a curious portrait of 
 Padre Garcia, the saint's confessor. Upstairs, in 
 her own cell, they have her cloak and shoes, and 
 the glass out of which she di^ank in her last 
 illness, and which is in this shape : M. The 
 
CARMELITE CONVENT, 171 
 
 stranger was courteously made to drink out of it 
 also, and then to put on the saint's cloak, in 
 which she was told ' to kneel and pray for her 
 heart's desire, and it would be granted to her.' 
 
 But the most interesting thing in the convent 
 is the collection of MSS. They have the whole of 
 the ' Interior Mansion,' written in her own firm 
 and beautiful handwriting, with scarcely an era- 
 sure ; besides quantities of her letters and answers 
 fi^om St. John of the Cross, from St. John of 
 Avila, from Padre Garcia, and a multitude of 
 others. The superior is elected every three years, 
 and the same one cannot be re-elected till three 
 years have elapsed. They require a ' dot ' of 
 8,000 reals, or about a hundred pounds ; but their 
 number is full, and several candidates are now 
 waiting their turn for admission. The govern- 
 ment has taken what little property they once 
 had, and gives them at the rate of a peseta (two 
 reals) a day, so that, poor as their food is, they 
 are often on the verge of starvation. 
 
 It was with a feeling almost of relief that the 
 English lady found herself once more in the 
 sunshine outside these gloomy walls ; yet those 
 who lived within them seemed cheerful and happy, 
 and able to realise in the fullest degree, without 
 any external aid, those mysteries of Divine love 
 
172 
 
 ENCLOSED CONVENTS. 
 
 and that beauty of holiness which, to our weaker 
 faith, woukl seem impossible when deprived of 
 all sight of our Lord in His tabernacle or in 
 His glorious creations. We are tempted to ask, 
 why it is that convents of this nature are so 
 repugnant to English taste ? Everyone is ready 
 to appreciate those of the sisters of charity. 
 People talk of their good deeds, of the blessing 
 they are in the hospitals, of the advantages 
 of united work, &c., &c. ; but as for the enclosed 
 orders, ' They wish they were all abolished.' 
 ' What is the good of a set of women shutting 
 themselves up and doing Clothing ? ' Eeader, do 
 they ' do nothing ' ? We will not speak of the 
 schools; of the evening classes for working 
 women ; of the preparations for first commu- 
 nions and confirmations ; of the retreats within 
 their sheltering walls for those of us who, wearied 
 with this world's toil and bustle, wish to pause 
 now and then and gain breath for the daily fight, 
 and take stock, as it were, of our state before 
 God. These, and other works like these, form 
 almost invariably a very important portion of 
 the daily occupation of the cloistered orders. But 
 we will dismiss the thoughts of any external work, 
 and come to the highest and noblest part of their 
 vocation. What is it that is to ' move moun- 
 
ENCLOSED CONVENTS. 173 
 
 tains ? ' What is it that, over and over again 
 in Holy Scripture, has saved individuals, and 
 cities, and nations ? Is it not united interces- 
 sory prayer ? Is it nothing to us, in the whirl 
 and turmoil of this work-a-day life, that holy 
 hands should ever be lifted up for us to the Great 
 Intercessor ? Is there no reparation needed for 
 the sins, and the follies, and the insults to the 
 Majesty of God, and to His Sacraments, and to 
 His Mother, which are ever going on in this 
 our native country ? Does it not touch the most 
 indifferent among us to think of our self-indul- 
 gence being, as it were, atoned for by their 
 self-denial ? — our pampered appetites by their 
 fasts and vigils ? It is true that our present 
 habits of life and thought lead to an obvious 
 want of sympathy with such an existence. It 
 has no public results on which we can look com- 
 placently, or which can be paraded boastfully. 
 Everything seems waste which is not visible ; 
 and all is disappointment which is not obvious 
 success. It is supernatural principles especially 
 which are at a discount in modern days ! Surely 
 the time will come when we shall judge these 
 things very differently ; when our eyes will be 
 opened like the eyes of the prophet's servant; 
 and we shall see from what miseries, from what 
 
174 CTGAR MANUFACTORY. 
 
 sorrows, we and our country have been preserved 
 by lives like these, which save our Sodom, and 
 avert God's righteous anger from His people.* 
 
 One more curious establishment was visited by 
 our party at Seville before their departure, and 
 that was the cigar manufactory, an enormous 
 Government establishment, occupying an immense 
 yellow building, which looks like a palace, and 
 employing 1,000 men and 5,000 women. The 
 rapidity with which the cigars are turned out by 
 those women's fingers is not the least astonishing 
 part. The workers are almost all young, and 
 some very beautiful. They take off their gowns 
 and their crinolines as soon as they come in, 
 hanging them up in a long gallery, and take 
 
 * In a simple but toucliing Frencli biography of a young English 
 lady who lately died in the convent of the ' Poor Clares ' at Amiens, 
 the -RTiter's idea is far more beautifully expressed : — ' A cette heure 
 de la nuit, peut-etre qu'une jeune fille du monde, martyre (sans 
 couronne) de ses lois et de ses exigences, renti'e chez elle, epuisee 
 d'emotions et de fatigues. En longeant le mur du monastere et en 
 entendant le son de la cloche qui appelle les recluses volontaires a la 
 priere, elle se sera adressee cette question : " A quoi servent done les 
 religieuses ? " Je vais vous le dire : a e.rpier. Apres cette nuit de 
 plaisir que vous venez de passer au theatre ou au bal, viendra una 
 autre nuit — nuit d'angoisses et de supreme douleur. Vous etes la 
 ctendue sur votre couche de mort en face de I'eternite ou vous allez 
 entrer seule, et sans appui. Peut-etre vous n'osez, ou vous ne pouvez 
 prier ; mais quelqu'un a prie pour vous, et faisant violence au ciel, a 
 obtenu ce que vous n'etiez pas digne d'esperer. Voild a quoi servent 
 les religieuses.'' 
 
SEVILLE. 175 
 
 the flowers out of their hair and put them in 
 water, so that they may be fresh when they come 
 out ; and then work away in their petticoats 
 with wonderful zeal and good humour the whole 
 day long. The Government makes 90,000,000 
 reals a year from the profits of this establishment, 
 though the dearest cigar made costs but two- 
 pence ! 
 
 And now the sad time came for our travellers 
 to leave Seville. In fact, the exorbitant prices 
 of everything at the hotel made a longer stay im- 
 possible, though it was difficult to say ivhat it 
 was that they paid for : certainly not food ; for ex- 
 cepting the chocolate and bread, which are in- 
 variably good throughout Spain, the dinners were 
 uneatable, the oil rancid, the eggs stale ; even ' el 
 cocido,' the j^opular dish, was composed of inde- 
 scribable articles, and of kids which seemed to 
 have died a natural death. One of the party, a 
 Belgian, exclaimed when her first dish of this 
 so-called meat was given her at Easter : ' Yraiment, 
 je crois que nous autres nous n'avons pas tant 
 j)erdu pendant le Careme ! ' An establishment has 
 lately been started by an enterprising peasant to 
 sell milk fi:esh from the cow, a great luxury in 
 Spain, where goat's milk is the universal substitute; 
 and four very pretty Alderneys are kept, stall-fed, 
 
176 SEVILLE. 
 
 in a nice little dairy, ' a rAiiglaise,' at one corner 
 of the principal square, Avhicli is both clean and 
 temjDting to strangers. At every corner of the 
 streets, water, in cool porous jars, is offered to 
 the passers-by, mixed with a sugary substance 
 looking like what is used by confectioners for 
 ' meringues,' but which melts in the water and 
 leaves no trace. This is the universal beverage 
 of every class in Spain. 
 
 There is little to tempt foreigners in the shops 
 of Seville, and with the exception of photographs 
 and fans, there is nothing to buy which has any 
 particular character or ' chique ' about it. The 
 fans are beautiful, and form, in fact, one of the 
 staple trades of the place ; there is also a sweet 
 kind of incense manufactured of flowers, mixed 
 with resinous gums, which resembles that made 
 at Damascus. But the ordinary contents of the 
 shops look like the sweepings-out of all the 
 ' quincaillerie ' of the Faubourg St.-Denis. 
 
 It was on a more lovely evening than usual 
 that our travellers went, for the last time, to that 
 glorious cathedral. The sorrow was even greater 
 than what they had felt the year before in leaving 
 St. Peter's : for Home one lives in hopes of seeing 
 again ; Seville, in all human probability, never ! 
 The services were over, but the usual proportion 
 
DEPARTURE FROM SEVILLE. 177 
 
 of veiled figures knelt on the marble pavement, 
 on which the light fi.*om those beautiful painted 
 windows threw gorgeous colours. Never had 
 that magnificent temple appeared more solemn 
 or more worthy of its purpose ; one realised as one 
 had never done before one's own littleness and 
 God's ineffable greatness, mercy, and love. Still 
 they lingered, when the inexorable courier came 
 to remind them that the train was on the point of 
 starting, and with a last prayer, which was more 
 like a sob, our travellers left the sacred building. 
 At the station all their kind Seville friends had 
 assembled to bid them once more good-bye, and 
 to re-echo kind hopes of a speedy return ; and 
 then the train started, and the last gleam of sun- 
 shine died out on the tower of the Giralda. 
 
 N 
 
178 THE ESCUniAL. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ESCURIAL AND TOLEDO. 
 
 The journey to Madrid was uneventful. One 
 more day was spent in Cordova ; once more they 
 visited that glorious mosque ; one more day and 
 night was spent in wearisome diligences and 
 stifling wayside stations, and then they found 
 themselves again established in their old com- 
 fortable quarters in the ' Puerta del Sol.' 
 
 It was a relief to think that the ' lions ' of the 
 place had been more or less visited, and that all 
 they had to do was to return to the places of 
 previous interest, and thoroughly enjoy them. 
 The cold during their former visit had precluded 
 their making any expeditions in the neighbour- 
 hood, which omission they now prepared to rec- 
 tify. Spending the first few days in seeing their 
 old friends, and obtaining letters of introduction 
 fi'om them, our travellers resolved that their first 
 excursion should be to the Escurial. 
 
 A railroad is now open fi-om Madrid which 
 
THE ESCUPJAL. 179 
 
 passes by the palace ; so at half-past six one morn- 
 ing they took their places in the train, which soon 
 carried them away fi^om the cultivated environs 
 of the city to a country which, for desolation, 
 wildness, and grandeur, resembles the scenery at 
 Nicolosi in the ascent of Etna. In the midst of 
 this rugged mass of rocks and scrubby oak-trees, 
 the large gloomy Escurial rises up, under the 
 shadow, as it were, of the snowy jagged peaks 
 of the Sierra Guadarama, which ■ forms its back- 
 ground. There is a picture of it, by Rubens, in 
 the gallery at Longford Castle, near Salisbury, 
 which gives the best possible idea of the complete 
 isolation of the great building itself, and of the 
 savage character of the whole of the surrounding 
 country. 
 
 Leaving the train, our party went to present 
 
 their letters to the principal. Padre G , who 
 
 very kindly showed them everything most worth 
 seeing in the place. It is a gigantic pile of 
 masonry, built by Philip II. as a thanksgiving 
 for the success of the battle of St. Quentin, and 
 in the shape of a gridiron, being dedicated to 
 St. Laurence, on the day of whose martyrdom the 
 vow was made. ' Celui qui faisait un si grand 
 voeu doit avoir eu grande peur ! ' was the sayinfy 
 of the Duke of Braganza ; and the gloomy, 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o THE ESCURIAL. 
 
 cold, grey character of the whole place is but 
 the reflex of the king's temperament. He em- 
 ployed the famous architect Herrera, whose ge- 
 nius was, however, much cramped by the king's 
 insistence on the shape being maintained. It 
 was finished in 1584. 
 
 The Jeronimite monks have been scattered to 
 the winds, and the convent has been turned into 
 a college ; they have about 250 students. The 
 church is large and solemn, but bare and unin- 
 viting, dismal and sombre, like all the rest. The 
 choir is upstairs, with fine carved stalls, among 
 w^hich is that of Philip II., who always said office 
 with the monks. The painted ceiling is by Luca 
 Giordano. The choir-books are more than 200 
 in number, in virgin calf, and of gigantic size ; 
 some of them are beautifully illuminated. At the 
 back, in a small gallery, with a window looking 
 on the great piazza below, is the famous white 
 marble Christ, the size of life, by Benvenuto 
 Cellini, given to Philip II. by the Grand Duke 
 of Florence. On certain days it is exposed to 
 the people fi'om the window ; but wonderfid as 
 may be its anatomy, the expression is both pain- 
 ful and commonplace. Beneath the church is 
 the famous crypt containing the bodies of all 
 the kings and queens of Spain since Charles V., 
 
THE ESCURIAL. i8i 
 
 iiiTaiiged in niches round the octagonal chapcL 
 Each niche contains a bhick marble sarcopha- 
 gus ; the kings on the right, and the queens on 
 the left. Here mass is always said on All Souls' 
 Day, and on the anniversaries of their deaths. 
 The present queen came once, and looked at the 
 empty urn waiting for her, but did not repeat 
 the experiment. ' I have come once of my own 
 freewill,' she is supposed to have said, ' but the 
 next time I shall be brought here without it,' 
 It is a dismal resting-place ; the damp, cold, 
 slij^pery stairs by which you descend into it 
 from the church seem to chill one's very blood, 
 and the profound darkness, only lit up here and 
 there by the flicker of the guide's torch, with 
 the reverberation caused by the closing of the 
 heavy iron door, fill the thoughts with visions 
 of death, uncheered by hope, and of a prison 
 rather than a grave. Ascending with a feeling of 
 
 positive relief to the church above, Padre G 
 
 took them into the sacristy, Avhich is a beauti- 
 ful long low room, with arabesque ceilings, and 
 at the further end of which is a very fine picture 
 by Coello, representing the apotheosis of the 
 * Forma,' or miraculous wafer : the heads are all 
 portraits, and admirably executed. At the back is 
 the little chapel or sanctuary where the ' Forma ' 
 
1 82 TBI] ESCURIAL.. 
 
 is kept and exhibited tAvice a year. Charles II. 
 erected the gorgeous altar with the following 
 inscription : — 
 
 En magni operis miractdum intra miraculum mnndi, cceli niira- 
 culum consccratum. 
 
 The legend states that at the battle of Gorcum, 
 in 1525, the Zuinglian heretics scattered and 
 trampled on the Sacred Host, ivhicli hied ; and 
 being gathered up and carefully preserved by 
 the faithful, was afterwards given by Rudolph II. 
 to Philip II., Avhich event is represented in a 
 bas-relief In this sacristy are also some vest- 
 ments of which the embroidery is the most ex- 
 quisite thing possible ; the faces of the figures are 
 like beautiful miniatures, so that it is difficult to 
 believe they are done in needlework.* 
 
 But the great treasures of this church are its 
 relics, of which the quantity is enormous. They 
 are arranged in gigantic cupboards or ' etageres,' 
 stretching from the floor to the ceiling, the doors 
 of which are carefully concealed by the pictures 
 which hang over them, above both the high 
 altar and the two side altars at the east end. 
 There are more than 7,000 relics, of which the 
 
 * In tlie Dominican con-vent of Stone, in Staffordsliire, the same 
 exquisite work is now being reproduced ; wliicli proves that the 
 art is not, as is generally supposed, extinct. 
 
THE ESCURIAL. 
 
 most interesting are those of St. Laurence him- 
 self (his skull, his winding-sheet, the iron bars of 
 his gridiron, &c.), the head of St. Hermengilde, 
 sent to the king from Seville, and the arm and 
 head of St. Agatha. The reliquaries are also very- 
 beautiful, some of them of very fine cinquecento 
 work. These are downstairs. Upstairs is a kind 
 of secret chapel, where there are some things 
 which were still more interesting to our travellers. 
 Here are four MS. books of St. Theresa's, all 
 written by her own hand ; her ' Life,' written by 
 command of her confessor, Padre Banez, with a 
 voucher of its authenticity fi'om him at the end ; 
 her ' Path of Perfection ; ' her ' Constitutions ' 
 and ' Foundations ; ' also her inkstand and pen. 
 Her handwriting is more like a man's than a 
 woman's, and is beautifully clear and firm. There 
 is also a veil worked in a kind of crotchet by St. 
 Elizabeth of Hungary, and sent by her to St. 
 Margaret ; a beautifully illuminated Greek mis- 
 sal, once belonging to St. Chrysostom ; a pot 
 from Cana in Galilee ; a beautifiilly carved ivory 
 diptych ; the body of one of the Holy Innocents, 
 sent fi'om Bethlehem ; some exquisite ivory and 
 coral reliquaries, &c. From the church, our party 
 went up by a magnificent staircase to the li- 
 brary, which, though despoiled, like everything else 
 
1 84 THE E8CURIAL. 
 
 during the French invasion, still contains sonoe 
 invaluable books and MSS. There is an illu- 
 minated Apocalypse of the fourteenth century, 
 most exquisitely painted on both sides ; a very 
 fine copy of the Koran ; many other beautiful 
 missals ; and in a room downstairs, not generally 
 shown to travellers, are some thousands of manu- 
 scripts, among which are a wonderful illumi- 
 nated copy of the Miracles of the Virgin, in 
 Portuguese and'Gallego, of the eleventh century, 
 most quaint and fi^mny in design and execution ; 
 also a very curious illuminated book of chess 
 problems, and other games, ^o-itten by order of 
 the king Alonso el Sabio. It is a library where 
 one might spend days and da3^s with ever-in- 
 creasing pleasure, if it were not for the cold, 
 which, to our travellers, fi-esh from the burning sun 
 of Seville, seemed almost unendurable. The clois- 
 ters, refectory, and kitchens are all on the most 
 magnificent scale. In the wing set aside for the 
 private apartments of the royal family, but which 
 they now rarely occupy, the thing most worth 
 looking at is the tapestry, made in Madrid, at 
 the Barbara factory (now closed), from draw- 
 ings by Teniers and Goya. They are quite 
 like beautiful paintings, both in expression and 
 colour, though some of the subjects and scenes 
 
THE ESCUBIAL. 185 
 
 are of questionable propriety. There is a suite 
 of small rooms with beautiful inlaid doors and 
 furniture ; a few good pictures (among a good 
 deal of rubbish), especially one of Bosch, known 
 as that of ' The Dog and the Fly ; ' and a 
 very interesting gallery or corridor, covered with 
 frescoes, representing the taking of Granada on 
 the one side and the battle of St. Quentin on 
 the other, the victory of Lepanto occupying the 
 spaces at the two ends. These frescoes are very 
 valuable, both as portraits and as representing 
 the costumes and arms of the period. They were 
 said to be fac-simile copies of original drawings, 
 done on cloths on the actual spots. That of 
 St. Quentin was specially interesting to one of 
 the party, whose ancestor fought there, and in 
 whose house in England (Wilton Abbey) is still 
 shown the armour of Ann Conetable de Mont- 
 morency, of the Due de Montpensier, of Admiral 
 Coligni, and of other French prisoners taken 
 by him in that memorable battle. Beyond this 
 gallery is the little business-room or study of 
 Philip 11. , with his chair, his gouty stool, his 
 writing-table, his Avell-worn letter-book, and two 
 old pictiu-es, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the 
 other an etching (of 1572) of the Virgin and 
 Saints. Out of this tiny den is a kind of recess, 
 
i86 THE ESCURIAL. 
 
 Avitli a Avindow looking on the high altar in 
 which he caused his couch to be laid when he 
 was dying. The death-struggle was prolonged 
 for fifty-three days of almost continuous agony, 
 during which time he went on holding in his 
 hand the crucifix which Charles V. had when he 
 expired, and which is still religiously preserved. 
 The gardens in fi'ont of this magnificent palace 
 are very quaint and pretty, the beds being cut 
 in a succession of terraces overlooking the plains 
 below, and bordered with low box hedges cut in 
 prim shapes, with straight gravel walks, beautifiil 
 fountains, and marble seats. But it is not diffi- 
 cult to understand why the poor queen prefers 
 the sunny slopes of La Granja, or even the dull- 
 ness of the green avenues of Aranjuez, to this 
 gloomy pile, where the snow hardly ever melts 
 in the cold shade of those inner courts, and 
 where all the associations are of death in its 
 most repulsive form. Above the Escurial, half- 
 way up the mountain, is a rude seat of boulder 
 stones, fi:'om whence it is said Philip II. used to 
 watch the progress of the huge building. 
 
 Keturning to the railway station, our travellers 
 walked down the hill and through a pleasantly- 
 wooded avenue to a little ' maisonnette ' of the 
 Infanta, built for Charles IV. when heir apparent. 
 
THE SPANISH RAILWAYS. 187 
 
 and containing some beautiful ivories and Wedg- 
 woods. The gardens are pretty and bright, but 
 the whole thing is too small to be anything but a 
 child's toy. An accident on the line, somewhere 
 near Avila, detained our party for six mortal hours 
 at a wretched little wayside station, of which the 
 authorities flatly refused to put on a short spe- 
 cial train, although there were a large number of 
 passengers, in addition to our travellers, waiting, 
 like them, to return to Madrid. But the Spanish 
 mind cannot take in the idea of anyone being in a 
 hurry. ' Ora !' ' Manana ! ' (By and by ! To-mor- 
 row !) are the despairing words which meet one at 
 every turn in this country. In this instance, neither 
 horses nor carriages being procurable by which the 
 journey to Madrid (only twenty miles) could have 
 been accomplished with perfect facility by road, 
 our travellers had nothing left for it but to wait. 
 Patience, and such sleep as could be got on a hard 
 bench, were their only resource until one in the 
 morning, when the night express fortunately came 
 up, and, after some demur, agreed to take them 
 back to Madrid. 
 
 Too tired the following day to start early again 
 for Toledo, as they had intended, our party took 
 advantage of the kindness of the English minister 
 to see the queen's private library, which is in one 
 
THE QUEEN'S LIBRARY. 
 
 of the wings of the large but uninteresting mo-' 
 dern palace. The librarian good-naturedly showed 
 them some of the rarest of his treasures : among 
 them is a beautiful missal, bound in shagreen, with 
 lovely enamel clasps and exquisite illuminations, 
 which had belonged to Queen Isabella of Castile ; 
 her arms, Arragon on one side and Castile on the 
 other, were worked into the illuminations on the 
 cover. There was a still older missal illuminated 
 in 1315, in which is found the first mention of 
 St. Louis in the Kalendar. Here also are some 
 of the first books printed in tj'pe, and a very fine 
 MS. Greek copy of Aristotle. 
 
 Afterwards, they came to a distant room, where 
 
 Dr. found what he had long sought for in 
 
 vain — a quantity of the MS. letters of Gondomar, 
 minister fi^om Spain to our King James I., giving 
 an amusing and gossiping account of people and 
 things in England at that time. In this library 
 is also a very curious and interesting MS. life of 
 Cardinal Wolsey. 
 
 In the evening, one of the party paid a visit to 
 
 the Papal Nunzio, Monsignor B , a very kind, 
 
 clever, and agreeable man, living in a quaint old 
 house, with a snug library, in which hangs a pretty 
 oil painting of Tyana, a picturesque country near 
 Barcelona, of which he is archbishop. From him^ 
 
TOLEDO. 189 
 
 and from the venerable Monsignor S , Bishop 
 
 of Daulia, she obtained certain letters of intro- 
 duction to prelates and convents, which were 
 invaluable in her friture tour, and procured for her 
 a kind and courteous welcome wherever she went. 
 
 The following morning, after a five o'clock mass 
 in the beaut ifril little chapel of the sisters of 
 charity, our travellers started for Toledo by rail, 
 passing by the Aranjuez, the ' Sans-Souci ' of the 
 Spanish queen, where all the trees in Castile seem 
 to be collected for her special benefit, and where 
 the sight of the green avenues and fountains is a 
 real refreshment after the barren and arid features 
 of the rest of the country. 
 
 Toledo is a most curious and beautifril old town, 
 built on seven hills, like Kome. The approach to 
 it is by a picturesque bridge over the Tagus, which 
 rushes through a rent in the granite mountains 
 like a vigorous Scotch salmon-river, and encircles 
 the walls of the ancient city as with a girdle. 
 Passing under a fine old Moorish horse-shoe arched 
 gateway, a modern zigzag road leads up the steep 
 incline to the ' plaza,' out of which diverge a mul- 
 titude of narrow tortuous streets, like what in 
 Edinburgh are called ' Avynds,' as painful to walk 
 upon as the streets of Jerusalem. However, after 
 a vain attempt to continue in the Noah's Ark of 
 
1 90 TOLEDO. 
 
 iin omnibus which had brought them up the steep 
 hill from the station, and which gi'azed the Avails 
 of the houses on each side from its Avidth, our 
 travellers were compelled to brave the slippery 
 stones and proceed on foot. The little inn is as 
 primitive as all else in this quaint old town, where 
 everything seems to have stood still for the last 
 five centuries. Leaving their cloaks in the only 
 available place dignified by the name of ' Sala,' 
 and swallowing Avith difficulty some very nasty 
 coffee, they started off at once for the cathedral, 
 which stands in the heart of the city, smTOunded 
 by convents and colleges, and Avith the archiepis- 
 copal palace on the right. It is a marvel of Gothic 
 beauty and perfection. Originally a mosque, it 
 was rebuilt by Ferdinand, and converted by him 
 into a Christian church, being finished in 1490. 
 In no part of the Avorld can anything be seen more 
 unique, more beautiful, or more effective than the 
 white marble screen, with its row of Avhite angels 
 with half-folded wings, guarding the sanctuary of 
 the high altar, and standing out sharj) and clear 
 against the magnificent dark background formed 
 by the arched naves and matchless painted glass, 
 which, in depth and brilliancy of colour and 
 beauty of design, exceeds even that of Seville. 
 ' Shall you ever forget the blue eyes of those rose- 
 
TOLEDO. 191 
 
 windows at Toledo? ' exclaimed, months after, Dr. 
 
 to one of the party, who was dwelling with 
 
 him on the wonderful beauties of this matchless 
 temple.* The choir is exquisitely carved, both 
 above and below ; the stalls divided by red marble 
 columns. Of the seventy stalls, half are carved 
 by Yigarny and half by Berruguete : each figure 
 of each saint is a study in itself The high altar 
 is a perfect marvel of workmanship, the ' reredos ' 
 or ' retablo ' representing the whole life and passion 
 of our Lord. At the back is the wonderful marble 
 'trasparente,' which Ford calls an 'abomination of 
 the seventeenth century,' but which, when the sun 
 shines through it, is a marvel for effect of colour 
 and delicacy of workmanship. The Moorish altar 
 still remains at which Ferdinand and Isabella 
 heard mass after their conquest of the Saracens ; 
 and close to this altar is the spot pointed out by 
 tradition as the one where the Virgin appeared 
 to St. Ildefonso and placed the chasuble on his 
 shoulders. It is veiled off, with this inscription 
 on the pillar above : — 
 
 Adorabimus in loco ubi stetertmt pedes ejus. 
 
 The fine bas-relief representing the miracle 
 was executed by Yigarny. Fragments of Sara- 
 
 * Incredible as it may seem, the gnide-books state that there are 
 no less thaia 750 stained erlass windows in this cathedral. 
 
192 TOLEDO. 
 
 ccnic art peep out everywhere, especially in the 
 Sala Caj^itular, or chapter room, of which the 
 doorway is an exquisite specimen of the finest 
 Moorish work, and the ceiling likewise. In this 
 chapter room are tAvo admirable portraits of 
 Cardinal Ximenes and Cardinal Mendoza, said to 
 have been taken fi:-om life. The monuments in 
 the side chapels are very fine, especially one of 
 St. Ildefonso, whose body had been carried by the 
 Moors to Zamora, and was there discovered by a 
 shepherd, and brought back again ; of Cardinal 
 Mendoza ; of the Constable Alvaro de Luna ; and 
 of several Spanish kings. Here also rests the 
 body of St. Leocadia, martyred in the persecution 
 under Diocletian, and to whom three churches 
 in Toledo are dedicated. During the wars with 
 the Moors, her body was removed to Italy, and 
 thence to Mons ; but was brought back by 
 Philip II. to her native city, and is now in an 
 urn in the sacristy. At the west end of the 
 cathedral is a very curious chapel, where the 
 Muzarabic ritual is still used. This appears to 
 be to the Spaniards what the Ambrosian is to 
 the Milanese, and was established by Cardinal 
 Ximenes. The sacristy is a real treasure-house, 
 containing an exquisite tabernacle of gold brought 
 by Christopher Columbus, incensories, chalices, 
 
TOLEDO. 193 
 
 crosses and reliquaries, in gold and enamel, and 
 ' cristal de roche ' (some given by Louis of France), 
 and the missal of St. Louis, of which the illumi- 
 nations are as fine as any in the Vatican. The 
 robes, mantles, and ornaments of the Virgin are 
 encrusted with pearls and jewels. Cardinal Men- 
 doza removed one side of the marble screen of 
 the high altar to make room for his own monu- 
 ment. In contrast to this, is another archbishop's 
 tomb, near the altar of the miraculous Virgin. 
 They wanted to give him a fine carved sepulchre, 
 and were discussing it in his presence a short 
 time before his death, He insisted on a simple 
 slab, with the following words : — 
 
 Hie jacet pulvis, cinis, nullus. 
 
 Close to the benitiere at the south entrance, is 
 a little marble slab attached to the pillar, and 
 on it a little soft leather cushion, which had 
 excited the curiosity of one of our party on enter- 
 ing. On returning for vespers, she found laid on 
 it a fine little baby, beautifully dressed, with a 
 medal round its neck, but quite dead ! One of 
 the canons explained to her that when the 
 parents were too poor to pay the expenses of 
 their children's fimerals, they brought the little 
 bodies in this way for interment by the chapter. 
 
 
 
194 TOLEDO. 
 
 The cloisters to the north of the cathecbal are 
 very lofty and fine, and decorated with frescoes ; 
 and the doors with their magnificent bronze bas- 
 reliefs, in the style of the Florence baptistery, 
 and gloriously carved portals, are on a par with 
 all the rest. The ' Puerta del Perdon,' and the 
 ' Puerta de los Leones,' especially, are unique in 
 their gorgeous details, and in the gTeat beauty and 
 lifelike expression of the figures. 
 
 The chapter library is in good order, and con- 
 tains some very fine editions of Greek and Latin 
 works : a bible belonging to St. Isidore ; the 
 works of St. Gregory ; a fine illuminated bible 
 given by St. Louis ; a missal of Charles Y. ; a fine 
 Talmud and Koran ; and some very interesting 
 MSS. In the ante-room are some good pictures. 
 
 The palace of the archbishop is exactly opposite 
 the west front of the cathedral. No one has played 
 a more important part in the history of his coun- 
 try of late years than the present Archbishop of 
 Toledo. High in the favour and counsels of the 
 queen, he at one time determined, for political 
 reasons, to leave Spain and settle himself in Italy, 
 but was recalled by the voice of both queen and 
 people, and remains, beloved and honoured by 
 all ; and although upwards of eighty years of age, 
 and rather deaf, is still a perfect lion of intellec- 
 
TOLEDO. 195 
 
 tual and physical strength. He received our 
 travellers most kindly, and in a fatherly manner 
 invited them to breakfast, and afterwards to be 
 present at a private confirmation in the little 
 chapel of his palace, at which ceremony they 
 gladly assisted. He afterwards sent his secretary, 
 a most clever and agreeable person, who spoke 
 Italian with fluency, to show the ladies the convent 
 of Sta. Teresa, situated in the lower part of the 
 town. This convent was started, like all the rest 
 of the saint's foundations, amidst discouragements 
 and difficulties of all kinds. The house which had 
 been promised her before her arrival was refi^ised 
 through the intrigTies of a relative of the donor ; 
 then the vicar-general withdrew his license ; and 
 St. Theresa began to fear that she would have to 
 leave Toledo without accomplishing her object. 
 Through the intervention of a poor man, however, 
 she at last heard of a tiny lodging where she and 
 her sisters could be received. It was a very humble 
 place, and there was but one room in it which 
 could be turned into a chapel ; but that was duly 
 prepared for mass, and dedicated to St. Joseph. 
 Poor and meagTC as the sanctuary was, it struck 
 a little child who was passing by, by its bright 
 and cared-for appearance, and she exclaimed : 
 ' Blessed be God ! how beautiful and clean it 
 
 o 2 
 
196 TOLEDO. 
 
 looks ! ' St. Theresa said directly to her sisters : 
 * I account myself well repaid for all the troubles 
 which have attended this foundation by that little 
 angel's one ' Glory to God.' 
 
 Afterwards, all difficulties were smoothed ; a 
 larger house was built ; and the poor Carmelites, 
 fi'om being despised and rejected by all, and in 
 ■want of the commonest necessaries of life, were 
 overwhelmed with supplies of all kinds, so that 
 one of them, in sorrow, exclaimed to St. Theresa : 
 ' What are we to do. Mother ? for now it seems 
 that we are no longer poor ! ' 
 
 It was this very house which our travellers now 
 visited, and a far cheerier and brighter one it is 
 than that of Seville. It contains twenty-four 
 sisters : among their treasures are the MS. copy of 
 St. Theresa's ' Way of Perfection,' corrected by the 
 saint herself, and with a short preface written in 
 her own hand ; a quantity of her autograph letters ; 
 a long letter from sister Ann of St. Bartholomew ; 
 St. Theresa's seal, of which the ladies were given an 
 impression ; the habit she had worn in the house, 
 &c., &c. But the most curious thing was the 
 picture, painted by desire of the saint; of the death 
 of one of the community. We will tell the story 
 in her own words : ' One of our sisters fell dan- 
 gerously ill, and I went to pray for her before the 
 
TOLEDO. 197 
 
 Blessed Sacrament, beseeching our Lord to give 
 her a happy death. I then came back to her cell 
 to stay with her, and on my entrance distinctly 
 saw a figure like the representations of our Lord, 
 at the bed's head, with His arms outspread as if 
 protecting her, and He said to me : "Be assured 
 that in like manner I will protect all the nuns 
 who shall die in these monasteries, so that they 
 shall not fear any temptation at the hour of 
 death." A short time after, I spoke to her, when 
 she said to me : " Mother, what great things I am 
 about to see ! " and with these words she expired, 
 like an angel.' St. Theresa had this subject repre- 
 sented in a fresco, which is still on the wall of 
 the cell. Here also she completed the narrative 
 of her life, now in the Escurial, by command of 
 Padre Ibanez, and here is her breviary, with the 
 words (which we will give in English) written 
 by herself on the fly-leaf : — 
 
 Let notliing distui'b tliee ; 
 Let nothing affright thee ; 
 All passeth away ; 
 
 God only shall stay. 
 Patience wins all. 
 Who hath God needeth nothing, 
 
 For God is his All. 
 
 Leaving this interesting convent, our travellers 
 proceeded to San Juan de los Reyes, so called 
 
198 TOLEDO. 
 
 because built by Ferdinand and Isabella, and de- 
 dicated to St. John. It was a magnificent Gothic 
 building ; but the only thing in the church spared 
 by the French are two exquisite ' palcos ' or bal- 
 conies overlooking the high altar, in the finest Go- 
 thic carving, fi^om whence Ferdinand and Isabella 
 used to hear mass : their cyphers are beautiMly 
 wrought in stone underneath. Outside this church 
 hang the chains which Avere taken off the Chris- 
 tian prisoners when they were released fi'om the 
 Moors. Adjoining is the convent, now deserted, 
 and the palace of Cardinal Ximenes, of which the 
 staircase and one long low room alone remain. 
 But the gem of the whole are the cloisters. Never 
 was anything half so beautiful or so delicate as 
 the Moorish tracery and exquisite patterns of 
 grape-vine, thistle, and acanthus, carved round 
 each quaint-shaped arch and window and door- 
 way. Festoons of real passion flowers, in fiill 
 bloom, hung over the arches fi'om the ' patio ' in 
 the centre, in which a few fine cypresses and pome- 
 granates were also growing, the dark foliage 
 standing out against the bright blue sky overhead, 
 and beautifully contrasting with the delicate white 
 marble tracery of this exquisite double cloister. 
 It is a place where an artist might revel for a 
 month. 
 
TOLEDO. 199 
 
 Their guide then took them to see the syna- 
 gogues, now converted into Christian churches, 
 but originally mosques. Exquisite Saracenic carv- 
 ings remain on the walls and roofs, with fine old 
 Moorish capitals to the pillars, of their favourite 
 pine-apple pattern, and beautiful coloured 'azalejos' 
 (tiles) on the floors and seats. Several of the pri- 
 vate houses which they afterwards visited at Toledo 
 might literally have been taken up at Damascus 
 and set down in this quaint old Spanish town, so 
 identical are they in design, in decorations, and in 
 general character. The nails on the doors are 
 specially quaint, mostly of the shape of big mush- 
 rooms, and the knockers are also wonderftil. Could 
 the fashion once in vogue among ' fast ' men in 
 England, of wrenching such articles fi*om the 
 doors, be introduced into Spain, what art treasures 
 one could get ! — but scarcely anything of the sort 
 is to be bought in Toledo. After trying in vain 
 to swallow some of the food prepared for them at 
 the ' fonda,' in which it was hard to say whether 
 garlic or rancid oil most predominated, our tra- 
 vellers toiled again in the burning sun up the 
 steep hill leading to the Alcazar, the ancient pa- 
 lace, now a ruin, but still retaining its fine old 
 staircase and com*t-yard with very ancient Eoman 
 pillars. From hence there is a beautiful view of 
 
20O TOLEDO. 
 
 the town, of the Tagus flowing round it, and 
 of the picturesque one-arched bridge which spans 
 the river in the approach fi'om Madrid, with the 
 ruins of the older Roman bridge and forts below. 
 The Tagus here rushes down a rapid with a fine 
 fall, looking like a salmon-leap, Avhere there ought 
 to be first-rate pools and beautiful fishing ; and 
 then flows swiftly and silently along through 
 a grand gorge of rocks to the left. By the river- 
 side was the Turkish water-w^heel, or ' sakeel,' 
 worked by mules. The whole thing was tho- 
 roughly Eastern ; and the red, barren, arid look of 
 the rocks and of the whole surrounding country 
 reminded one more of Syria than of anything 
 European. Our travellers were leaning over the 
 parapet of the little terrace-garden, looking on this 
 glorious view, when a group of women who were 
 sitting in the sun near the palace gates called to 
 their guide, and asked if the lady of the party were 
 an Englishwoman, ' as she walked so fast.' The 
 guide replied in the affirmative. One of them an- 
 sw^ered, ' ! que peccado ! (what a pity !) I liked 
 her face, and yet she is an infidel.' The guide in- 
 dignantly pointed to a little crucifix which hung 
 on a rosary by the lady's side, at which the speaker, 
 springing fi:om her seat, impulsively kissed both 
 the cross and the lady. This is only a speci- 
 
TOLEDO. 201 
 
 men of the fiiitli of these people, who cannot 
 understand anything Christian that is not Catho- 
 lic, and confound all Protestants with Jews or 
 Moors.* 
 
 Going down the hill, stopping only for a few 
 moments at a curiosity shop — where, however, 
 nothing really old could be obtained — they came 
 to the Church of La Cruz, built on the site of 
 the martyrdom of St. Leocadia. It is now turned 
 
 * In one of Fernan Caballero's novels tliis feeling is amusinglj 
 described. An Andalusian is telling the story of a countryman of 
 his who had travelled in the ISTorth — ' " whei-e the earth is covered 
 with so thick a mantle of snow that sometimes people were buried 
 under it." " Maria Santisima ! " said Maria, trembling. " But they 
 are quiet people, and do not use the stiletto." " God bless them ! " ex- 
 claimed Maria. " In that land there are no olives, and they eat black 
 bread." " A bad land for me," observed Ana, " for I must have the 
 best bread, if I can't have anything else." "What gazpaclios could 
 they make without olive-oil, and with black bread? " cried Maria, hor- 
 rified. " They don't eat ' gazpachos.' " " What do they eat then ? " 
 "Potatoes and milk." " Bien provecho y salud para el pecho ! " 
 (Much good may it do them !) " But the worst is this, Maria, that 
 in all that land there are no monks or nuns." " What do you say, 
 son ? " said she. " What you hear. There are few churches, and 
 these look like unfurnished hospitals, without chajjels, altars, or 
 santissimo." " Jesu Maria! " exclaimed all but Maria, who, with 
 terror, had become like a statue. Then, after a while, she crossed 
 her hands with joyful fervour, and exclaimed : " Ah ! my son ! Ah ! 
 my white bread ! My church, my most Blessed Virgin, my land, 
 my faith, my ^Bios Sacramentado ! ' A thousand times happier I, 
 who was born here, and by grace Divine will die here. Thanks be 
 to God, you did not stay in that land, my son ! A land of heretics ! 
 how horrible ! ! " ' 
 
202 TOLEDO. 
 
 into a military college ; but the magnificent 
 Gothic portal and fagade remain. The streets are 
 as narrow and dirty in this part of the town as in 
 the filthiest Eastern city ; but at every turn there 
 is a beautifiil doorway, as at Cairo, through which 
 you peep into a cool ' patio,' with its usual foun- 
 tain and orange-trees ; while a double cloister 
 runs round the quadrangle, and generally a pic- 
 turesque side staircase, with a beautifiilly carved 
 balustrade, leading up to the cloisters above, with 
 their delicate tracery and varied arches. The 
 beauty of the towers and ' campanile ' is also very 
 striking. They are generally thoroughly Koman 
 in their character, being built of that narrow 
 brick (or rather tile) so common for the purpose 
 in Italy, but with the horse-shoe arch : that of 
 S. Komano is the most perfect. There is also 
 a lovely little mosque, with a well in the court- 
 yard near the entrance, which has now been con- 
 verted into a church under the title of ' Sta. Cruz 
 de la Luz,' with a wonderful intersection of horse- 
 shoe arches, like a miniature of the cathedral 
 at Cordova. Toledo certainly does not lack 
 churches or convents ; but those who served and 
 prayed in them, where are they? The terrible 
 want of instruction for the people, caused by the 
 closing of all the male religious houses, which 
 
^IM"^ 
 
 Chnrch of La Cruz, Toledo. 
 
TOLEDO. 
 
 203 
 
 were the centre of all missionary work, is felt 
 throughout Spain ; but nowhere more than in this 
 grand old town, which is absolutely dead. The 
 children are neglected, the poor without a friend, 
 the widow and orphan are desolate, and all seek 
 in vain for a helper or a guide. 
 
 On the opposite side of the Tagus, and not far 
 from the railway station, are the ruins of a curious 
 old chateau, to which a legend is attached, so cha- 
 racteristic of the tone of thought of the people 
 that it is given verbatim here.* ' The owner had 
 been a bad and tyrannical man, hard and unjust 
 to his people, selfish in his vices as in his plea- 
 sures ; the only redeeming point about him was 
 his great love for his wife, a pious, gentle, loving 
 woman, who spent her days and nights in deplor- 
 ing the orgies of her husband, and praying for 
 God's mercy on his crimes. One winter's night, 
 in the midst of a terrible tempest, a knocking 
 was heard at the castle door, and presently a ser- 
 vant came in and told his mistress that two monks, 
 half dead with cold and hunger, and drenched by 
 the pitiless storm, had lost their way, and were 
 begging for a night's lodging in the castle. The 
 poor lady did not know what to do, for her hus- 
 
 * This legend has been translated by Fernan Caballero, in her 
 ' Fleurs des Champs.' 
 
204 TOLEDO. 
 
 band hated the monks, and swore that none 
 should ever cross his threshokl. " The count will 
 know nothing about it, my lady," said the old 
 servant, who guessed the reason of her hesitation; 
 " I will conceal them somewhere in the stable, 
 and they will depart at break of day." The lady 
 gave a joyM assent to the servant's proposal, and 
 the monks were admitted. Scarcely, however, had 
 they entered, when the sound of a huntsman's 
 horn, the tramping of horses, and the barking of 
 dogs, announced the return of the master. The 
 sport had been good ; and when he had changed 
 his soiled and dripping clothes, and found himself, 
 with his pretty wife seated opposite him, by a 
 blazing fire, and with a well-covered table, his good 
 humour made him almost tender towards her. 
 " What is the matter ? " he exclaimed, when he 
 saw her sad and downcast face. " Were you 
 frightened at the storm ? — yet you see I am come 
 home safe and sound." She did not answer. 
 " Tell me what vexes you ; I insist upon it," he 
 continued ; " and it shall not be my fault if I 
 do not brighten that little face I love so well ! " 
 Thus encouraged, the lady replied : " I am sad^ 
 because, while we are enjoying every luxury and 
 comfort here, others whom I know, evenunder this 
 very roof, are perishing with cold and hunger." 
 
TOLEDO. 205 
 
 " But who arc they ? " exclaimed the count, with 
 some impatience. " Two poor monks," answered 
 the lady bravely, " who came here for shelter, and 
 have been put in the stable without food or firing." 
 The count fi^owned. " Monks ! Have I not told 
 you fifty times I would never have those idle 
 pestilent fellows in my house? " He rang the bell. 
 " For God's sake do not turn them out such a 
 night as this ! " exclaimed the countess. " Don't 
 be afi\aid, I will keep my word," replied her 
 husband ; and so saying, he desired the servant 
 to bring them directly into the dining-room. 
 They appeared ; and the venerable, saint-like ap- 
 pearance of the elder of the two priests checked 
 the raillery on the lips of the count. He made 
 them sit down at his table ; but the religious, 
 faithfiil to his mission, would not eat till he had 
 spoken some of God's words to his host. After 
 supper, to his wife's joy and surprise, the count 
 conducted the monks himself to the rooms he 
 had prepared for them, which were the best in 
 the house ; but they refused to sleep on anything 
 but straw. The count then himself went and 
 fetched a truss of hay, and laid it on the floor. 
 Then suddenly breaking silence, he exclaimed : 
 " Father, I would return as a prodigal son to my 
 Father's house ; but I feel as if it were impossible 
 
2o6 TOLEDO. 
 
 that He should forgive sins like mine." " Were 
 your sins as numberless as the grains of sand on 
 the sea-shore," replied the missionary, " faithftd 
 repentance, through the blood of Christ, would 
 wash them out. Therefore it is that the hard- 
 ened sinner will have no excuse in the last day." 
 Seized with sudden compunction, the count fell 
 on his knees, and made a full confession of his 
 whole life, his tears Mling on the straw he had 
 brought. A few hours later the missionary, in a 
 dream, saw himself, as it were, carried before the 
 tribunal of the Great Judge. In the scales of 
 eternal justice a soul was to be weighed : it was 
 that of the count. Satan, triumphant, placed in 
 the scales the countless sins of his past life : the 
 good angels veiled their faces in sorrow, and pity, 
 and shame. Then came up his guardian angel, 
 that spirit so patient and so watchful, so beauti- 
 fid and so good, who brings tears to our eyes 
 and repentance to our hearts, alms to our hands 
 and prayers to our lips. He brought but a few 
 bits of straw, wet with tears, and placed them in 
 the opposite scale. Strange ! tJiei/ weighed clmun 
 all the rest The soul was saved. The next 
 morning, the monk, on waking, found the castle 
 in confiision and sorrow. He enquired the reason : 
 its master had died in the night.' 
 
ZABAGOZA AND SEGOVIA. 207 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ZARAGOZA AND SEGOVIA. 
 
 The following morning found our travellers again 
 in Maclrid, and one of them accompanied the sis- 
 ters of charity to a beautiM fete at San Juan de 
 Alar^on, a convent of nuns. The rest of the day 
 was spent in the museum ; and at half-past eight 
 in the evening they started again by train for 
 Zaragoza, which they reached at six in the morn- 
 ing. One of the great annoyances of Spanish 
 travelling is, that the only good and quick trains 
 go at night ; and it is the same with the diligences. 
 In very hot weather it may be pleasant ; but in 
 winter and in rain it is a very ^Tetched proceed- 
 ing to spend half your night in an uncomfortable 
 carriage, and the other half waiting, perhaps for 
 hours, at some miserable wayside station. After 
 breakfasting in an hotel where nothing was either 
 eatable or drinkable, our party started for the 
 two cathedrals. The one called the * Sen ' is a 
 fine gloomy old Gothic building, with a magnifi- 
 
2o8 ZARAGOZA. 
 
 cent ' retablo/ in very fine carving, over the high 
 altar, and what the people call a ' media naranja ' 
 (or half-orange) dome, which is rather like the 
 clerestory lantern of Burgos. In the sacristy was 
 a beautiful ostensorium, W' ith an emerald and pearl 
 cross, a magnificent silver tabernacle of cinque- 
 cento w^ork, another ostensorium encrusted with 
 diamonds, a nacre ' nef,' and some fine heads 
 of saints, in silver, with enamel collars. But at 
 the sister cathedral, where is the famous Virgen 
 del Pilar, the treasury is quite priceless. The 
 most exquisite reliquaries in pearls, precious 
 stones, and enamel ; magnificent necklaces ; ear- 
 rings with gigantic pearls ; coronets of diamonds ; 
 lockets ; pictures set in precious stones ; eveiy thing 
 which is most valuable and beautifiil, has been 
 lavished on this shrine. In the outside sacristy is 
 also an exquisite chalice, in gold and enamel, of 
 the fifteenth century ; and a very fine picture, said 
 to be by Correggio, of the ' Ecce Homo.' The 
 shrine of the Miraculous Virgin is thronged with 
 w^orshipperb, day and night ; but no woman is 
 allowed to penetrate beyond the railing, so that 
 she is very imperfectly seen. It is a black figure, 
 which is always the favourite way of representing 
 the Blessed Yirgin in Spain : the pillar is of the 
 purest alabaster. There is some fine ' azulejo ' 
 
ZAEAGOZA. 209 
 
 work in the sacristy ; but the cathedral itself is 
 ugly, and is being restored in a bad style. Our 
 party left it rather with relief, and wandered 
 down to the fine old bridge over the Ebro, Avhich 
 is here a broad and rapid stream, and amused 
 themselves by watching the boats shooting 
 through the piers — an operation of some danger, 
 owing to the rapidity of the current. There is a 
 beautifiil leaning tower of old Moorish and 
 Roman brickwork, in a side street, but which 
 you are not allowed to ascend without a special 
 order from the prefect. The Lonja, or Exchange, 
 is also well worth seeing, from its beautiful deep 
 overhanging roof. This is, in fact, the character- 
 istic of all the old houses in Zaragoza, which is a 
 quaint old town formed of a succession of narrow, 
 tortuous streets, with curious old roofs, 'patios,' 
 columns, and staircases. After having some lun- 
 cheon, which was more eatable than the breakfast, 
 our travellers took a drive outside the town, and 
 had a beautifiil view of the lower spur of the Py- 
 renees on the one hand, and of the towers, bridges, 
 and minarets of the city on the other. Then they 
 went to the public gardens, laid out by Pignatelli, 
 the maker of the canal, which are the resort of all 
 the people on fete-days : they were very gay, and 
 fiill of beautifid flowers. From thence they drove 
 
2IO ZARAGOZA. 
 
 to the castle, or ' Aljaferia,' where there is a very 
 curious moresque chapel still existing, though 
 sadly in ruins. Above are the rooms occupied by 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, and the apartment where 
 St. Elizabeth of Portugal was born, with the font 
 where she Avas baptized. The Hall of the Ambas- 
 sadors is very handsome, with a glorious mo- 
 resque roof, and a gallery round. The castle is 
 now turned into a barrack ; but the officers, who, 
 w^ith true Spanish courtesy, had accompanied the 
 priest who was showing the rooms to our tra- 
 vellers, Jiad never seen them before themselves. 
 How long they had been quartered there none of 
 our party had the courage to ask ! But this is a 
 specimen of the very little interest which appears 
 to be taken by the Spaniards in the antiquities or 
 art treasures of their country. Not one of them 
 was ever to be seen in the matchless gallery of 
 Madrid. Coming home, they visited San Pablo, 
 a curious and beautiful subterranean church, into 
 which you descend by a flight of steps. A service 
 was going on, and an eloquent sermon, so that 
 it was impossible to see the pictures well ; but 
 they appeared to be above the average. This 
 church has a glorious tower in old Roman brick- 
 work. The palace of the Infanta has been con- 
 verted into a school. It is the most perfect spc- 
 
ZARAGOZA. 2 1 1 
 
 cimen of the Renaissance style of Gothic archi- 
 tecture, with beautiful arches, columns, staircase, 
 and fretted roof. Exhausted with their sight- 
 seeing, our travellers went back to their inn ; 
 agreeably surprised, however, at the vestiges of 
 ancient beauty still left in Zaragoza, after the 
 fi-ightful sieges and sacking to which the city has 
 twice been subjected. 
 
 In the evening, the Canon de V , who 
 
 had been their kind cicerone at the cathedral in 
 the absence of the bishop, came to pay them a 
 visit, and gave them a very interesting account 
 of the people, and a great deal of information 
 about the convents and religious houses in the 
 place, especially that of the Ursulines, who have 
 a very large educational establishment in the 
 town. He has lately written a very interesting- 
 account of the foundress of this order. 
 
 The return to Macbid was necessarily accom- 
 plished again by night ; and jaded and tired as 
 they were the following day, our party had not the 
 courage for any fresh expedition. One only visit 
 was paid, which will ever remain in the memory of 
 the lady who had the privilege. It was to Mon- 
 signor Claret, the confessor of the queen and Arch- 
 bishop of Cuba, a man as remarkable for his gTcat 
 personal holiness and ascetic life as for the un- 
 
 p 2 
 
212 MADRID. 
 
 just accusations of which he is continually the 
 object. On one occasion, these unfavourable re- 
 ports having reached his ears, and being only 
 anxious to retire into the obscurity which his 
 humility makes him love so well, he went to 
 Eome to implore for a release from his present 
 post ; but it was reilised him. Returning through 
 France, he happened to travel with certain gen- 
 tlemen, residents in Madrid, but unknown to 
 him, as he was to them, who began to speak 
 of all the evils, real or imaginary, which reigned 
 in the Spanish Court, the whole of which they 
 unhesitatingly attributed to Monsignor Claret, 
 very much in the spirit of the old ballad against 
 Sir Robert Peel :— 
 
 Who filled tlie butchers' sliops witli big blue flies ? 
 
 He listened without a word, never attempting 
 either excuse or justification, or betraying his 
 identity. Struck with his saint-like manner and 
 appearance, and likewise very much charmed 
 with his conversation during their couple of 
 days' journey together, the strangers begged, at 
 parting, to know his name, expressing an ear- 
 nest hope of an increased acquaintance at Madi-id. 
 He gave them his card with a smile ! Let us 
 hope tliey will be less hasty and more charitable 
 
MABRTD. 213 
 
 in their judgments for the future. Monsignor 
 Claret's room in Madrid is a fair type of himself 
 Simple even to severity in its fittings, with no 
 furniture but his books, and some photographs 
 of the queen and her children, it contains one 
 only priceless object, and that is a wooden cru- 
 cifix, of the very finest Spanish workmanship, 
 which attracted at once the attention of his 
 visitor. ' Yes, it is very beautifiil,' he replied, 
 in answer to her words of admiration ; ' and I 
 like it because it expresses so wonderfully vic- 
 tory over suffei^ing. Crucifixes generally represent 
 only the painfiil and human, not the triumphant 
 and Divine view of the Kedemption. Here, He 
 is truly Victor over death and hell.' 
 
 Contrary to the generally received idea, he 
 never meddles in politics, and occupies himself 
 entirely in devotional and literary works. One 
 of his books, ' Camino recto y seguro para llegar 
 al Cielo,' w^ould rank with Thomas a Kempis's 
 ' Imitation ' in suggestive and practical devotion. 
 He keeps a perpetual fast ; and when compelled 
 by his position to dine at the palace, still keeps 
 to his meagre fare of ' garbanzos,' or the like. 
 He has a great gift of preaching ; and when he 
 accompanies the queen in any of her royal pro- 
 gresses, is generally met at each town when they 
 
214 SEGOVIA. 
 
 arrive by earnest petitions to preach, which he 
 does instantly, without rest or apparent prepara- 
 tion, sometimes delivering four or five sermons 
 in one day. In truth, he is always ' prepared,' by 
 a hidden life of perpetual prayer and reahsation 
 of the Unseen. 
 
 After taking leave of him and the Nunzio, and 
 of the many other kind fiiends who had made 
 their stay at Madi'id so pleasant, om- travellers 
 started at eight o'clock in the evening for Villa 
 Alba, where they were to take the diligence for 
 Segovia. The night was clear and beautiful, and 
 the scenery through which they passed was finer 
 than any they had seen in Spain. At dawn they 
 came almost suddenly on this most quaint and 
 picturesque of cities, standing on a rocky knoll 
 more than 3,000 feet above the sea, encircled 
 by a rapid river, and with the most magnifi- 
 cent aqueduct, built by Trajan to convey the 
 pure water of the river Frio fi:'om the neigh- % 
 bouring sierra to the town. This aqueduct com- 
 mences with single arches, which rise higher as 
 the dip of the gTOund deepens, until they be- 
 come double. The centre ones are 102 feet high, 
 and the w^hole is built of massive blocks of 
 granite, without cement or mortar. A succes- 
 sion of picturesque towers and ancient walls 
 
SEGOVIA. 215 
 
 remain to mark the boundaries of the old Roman 
 city. 
 
 The diligence unceremoniously turned our tra- 
 vellers out into the street at the bottom of the 
 town, and left them to find their way as best they 
 could to the little ' fonda' in the square above. 
 It was very clean and tidy, with the box-beds 
 opening out of the sitting-rooms, which are uni- 
 versal in the old-fashioned inns of Spain, and 
 always remind one of a Highland bothie. The 
 daughter of the house showed off her white linen 
 with great pride, and was rather affronted because 
 two of the party preferred going to church to try- 
 ing her sheets, stoutly declaring that ' no one was 
 yet awake, and no mass could yet be obtained.' 
 However, on leaving her, and gently pushing open 
 one of the low side-doors of the cathedi'al close 
 by, the ladies found that the five o'clock services 
 had begun at most of the altars, with a very 
 fair sprinkling of peasants at each. The circular 
 triple apse at the east end of this cathedral, fi'om 
 the warm colour of the stone, and the beauty of 
 its flying buttresses and Gothic pinnacles, is de- 
 servedly reckoned one of the finest in Spain. The 
 tower also is beautiful ; and the view from the 
 cupola over the city, the fertile valleys beneath, 
 and the snow-tipped mountains beyond, is quite 
 
621 SEGOVIA. 
 
 unrivalled. The interior has been a good deal 
 spoiled by modern innovations, but still con- 
 tains some glorious painted glass, a very fine 
 * retablo ' by Juni of the ' Deposition from the 
 Cross,' and some curious monuments, especially 
 one of the Infanta Don Pedro, son of Henry II., 
 who was killed by being let fall fi*om the win- 
 dow of the Alcazar by his nurse. The Gothic 
 cloisters are also worth seeing. After service, 
 as it was still very early, the two ladies wandered 
 about this beautifiil quaint old town, in which 
 every house is a study for a painter, and found 
 themselves at last at the Alameda, a public pro- 
 menade on the ramparts, shaded by fine acacias, 
 and the approach to which, on the cathedral side, 
 is through a beautifiil Moorish horse-shoe arched 
 gateway. From thence some stone stej)s led them 
 up to a most curious old Norman church, with an 
 open cloister running round it, with beautiful cir- 
 cular arches and dog-toothed mouldings ; opposite 
 is a kind of Hotel de Yille, with a fine gateway, 
 cloistered ' patio,' and staircase carved ' a jour.' 
 In a narrow street, a little lower down, is the ex- 
 quisite Gothic fagade of the Casa de Segovia, and 
 turning to the left is another curious and beautiful 
 church. La Yera Cruz, built by the Templars, and 
 with a little chapel in it on the exact model of 
 
SEGOVIA. 217 
 
 that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The 
 zigzag and billet dog-tooth mouldings round the 
 windows and doorways are very fine. A little 
 higher up is the Parral, a deserted convent, with 
 a beautiflil church, richly carved portal and choir, 
 fine monuments, cloisters, and gardens : the latter 
 had such a reputation that they gave rise to the 
 saying, ' Las huertas del Parral, paraiso terrenal.' 
 Fairly tired out with sight-seeing before break- 
 fast, the ladies climbed up again to the Plaza de 
 la Constitucion, which was like the square of an 
 old German town, having endlessly varied and co- 
 loured houses with high roofs ; and were glad to 
 find the rest of the party awake at last, and sitting- 
 round a table with the invariably good chocolate 
 and white bread of the country. The meal over, 
 one of the ladies started off, with a little boy as 
 her guide, to present her letters of introduction to 
 the bishop, who lived in a picturesque old palace 
 in the Plaza of San Esteban, the fine church oppo- 
 site, with its beautiful tower, Saxon arches, and 
 open cloister, being dedicated to that saint. He re- 
 ceived his visitor with great good-nature, and in- 
 stantly countersigned the Nunzio's order for her to 
 visit the Carmelite convent of Sta. Teresa, sendino' 
 his vicar-general to accompany her. This house is 
 the original one purchased for the saint, in 1574, 
 
2i8 SEGOVIA. 
 
 by Doiia Ana de Ximenes, who was the first lady 
 to receive the habit in Segovia. It is dedicated 
 to St. Joseph, and the first mass was said in it by 
 St. John of the Cross. The nuns maintain the 
 reformed rule in all its austerity. They showed 
 their visitor the saint's cell, now converted into 
 an oratory, and also the room of St. John of the 
 Cross, whose convent is in the valley below, just 
 outside the walls of the town. There his body 
 rests — that body still uncorrupted, of one of whom 
 it has been truly said, that he was a ' cherub in 
 wisdom and a seraph in love.' On the door of his 
 cell is his favourite sentence : — 
 
 Pati et contemni pro Te ! 
 
 This convent is rich both in his letters and in 
 those of St. Theresa. Here it was that the saint 
 received the news of the death of her favourite 
 brother, Laurence de Cepeda. She was quietly at 
 work during recreation when he appeared to her ; 
 the saint, without uttering a word, put down her 
 work and hastened to the choir to commend the 
 departing spirit to our Lord. She had no sooner 
 knelt before the Blessed Sacrament than an ex- 
 pression of intense peace and joy came over her 
 face. Her sisters asked her the reason, and she 
 told them that our Lord had then revealed to her 
 
SEGOVIA. 219 
 
 the assurance that her brother was in heaven. His 
 sudden death occurred at the very moment when 
 he had appeared to her in the recreation room. 
 Over the door of her oratoiy are the words : 
 ' Seek the cross ; ' ' Desire the cross ; ' and a little 
 farther on, ' Let us teach more by works than by 
 words.' After spending two or three hours with 
 the sisters, the English lady was compelled reluc- 
 tantly to leave them and return to her party, 
 who were waiting for her to go with them to the 
 Alcazar. 
 
 This palace, originally Moorish, was rebuilt by 
 Henry lY. in the fifteenth century. It was the 
 favourite residence of Isabella of Castile, and from 
 thence, on the occasion of a revolution, she rode 
 out alone, and ' by her sweetness of countenance 
 more than by her majesty,' as the old chronicle 
 says, ' won over the people to return to their alle- 
 giance.' Our King Charles I. lodged here also, and 
 is recorded to have supped on certain ' troutes of 
 extraordinary greatness,' doubtless fi-om the beau- 
 tiful stream below. At the time of the French 
 invasion the Alcazar was turned into a military 
 college, and these wretched students, in a fi-eak of 
 boyish folly, set fire to a portion of one of the 
 rooms two years ago. The fire spread ; and all 
 that is now left of this matchless palace is a ruined 
 
220 8EG0VIA. 
 
 shell, the fagade, the beautiflil Moorish towers and 
 battlements, one or two sculptured arabesque ceil- 
 ings, and the portcullised gateway, each and all 
 testifying to its former greatness and splendour. 
 Its position, perched on a steep plateau forming 
 the western extremity of the town, is quite magnifi- 
 cent, and the views from the windows are glorious. 
 Our travellers stayed a long time sitting under 
 the shade of the orange-trees in the battlemented 
 court below, enjoying the glorious panorama at 
 their feet, and watching the setting sun as it lit up 
 the tips of the snowy sierra which forms the back- 
 ground of this grand landscape ; while the beautiflil 
 river Eresma flowed swiftly round the old walls, 
 its banks occupied at that moment by groups of 
 washerwomen in their bright picturesque dresses, 
 singing in parts the national songs of their coun- 
 try. In the valley below were scattered home- 
 steads and convents, and a gi'oup of cypresses 
 marking the spot where, according to the legend, 
 Maria del Salto alighted. This girl was a Jewess 
 by birth, but secretly a Christian ; and having 
 thereby excited the anger and suspicions of her 
 family, was accused by them of adultery, and 
 condemned, according to the barbarous practice 
 of those times, to be thrown fi'om the top of the 
 Alcazar rock. By her faith she was miraculously 
 
8EG0VIA. 221 
 
 preserved from injury, and reached the ground in 
 safety ; a church was built on the spot, of which 
 the ' retablo ' tells the tale. 
 
 Segovia is famous for its flocks, and for the 
 beauty of its wool : the water of the Eresma is sup- 
 posed to be admirable for washing and shearing. 
 
 Our travellers now began to think of pursuing 
 their journey to Avila ; but that was not so easy. 
 The diligence which had brought them, flatly 
 refused to convey them back till the following 
 night, except at a price so exorbitant that it was 
 impossible to give it. And here, as everywhere 
 else in Spain, you have no redress. There are no 
 carriages whatever for hire, except in the two 
 or three large capitals, like Madrid and Seville ; 
 and even should carriages be found, there are no 
 horses or mules to draw them — or, at any rate, 
 none that they choose to let out for the pui-pose. 
 Such as they are, they are always reserved for the 
 diligence ; and if the latter should happen to be 
 full, the unhappy passengers may wait for days 
 at a wayside ' posada ' until their turn comes. 
 Therefore, it is absolutely necessary in Spain to 
 write and make the contract for places before- 
 hand : and to be hard-hearted when the time 
 comes ,as it almost invariably happens that you 
 leave behind certain luckless travellers who have 
 
222 SEGOVIA. 
 
 not adopted a similar precaution ; and the strug- 
 gle for seats, and consequent overcrowding of the 
 carriages, are renewed at every station. Making 
 a virtue of necessity, our travellers at last made 
 up their minds to another miserable diligence 
 night out of bed — the f^itigue of which must be 
 felt to be thoroughly sympathised with — and 
 spent the intervening hours of the evening in 
 dining, and then going to a religious play, which 
 they had seen advertised in the morning, and 
 which was a very curious exhibition of popu- 
 lar taste and religious feeling. The little theatre ► 
 was really very clean and tidy, and there was 
 nothing approaching to irreverence in the re^Dre- 
 sentations given. A similar scene in a very 
 different place recurred to the memory of one of 
 the party, as having been witnessed by her in 
 Paris, some years ago, when on a certain occa- 
 sion she accompanied a somewhat stiff, puritanical 
 old lady to the opera. A ballet was given as an 
 entr'acte, in which the scenery was taken from 
 the Book of Genesis, and Noah and his sons 
 appeared just coming out of the Ark. This was 
 too much for the good lady : ' If Noah either 
 dances or sings,' she exclaimed; ' I'll leave the 
 house ! ' The poor Segovians, trained in a diffe- 
 rent school, saw nothing incongruous in the repre- 
 
JOURNEY TO A VILA. 223 
 
 sentation of the shepherds, and the wise men, and 
 the cave of Bethlehem : and only one comical 
 incident occurred, when, on a child in the pit 
 setting up a squeal, there was a universal cry of 
 Where's Herod ? At ten o'clock they left their 
 play, with its quiet and respectable little au- 
 dience, and once more found themselves tightly 
 stowed in their diligence prison for the night. The 
 moon, however, was bright and beautiful, and 
 enabled them to see the royal hunting-box and 
 woods, and the rest of the fine scenery through 
 which they passed, so that the journey was far 
 less intolerable than usual, as is often the case 
 when a thing has been much dreaded beforehand. 
 At four o'clock in the morning they were turned 
 out, shivering with cold, at a wayside station, 
 where they were to take the train to Avila ; but 
 were then told, to their dismay, by a sleepy porter 
 that the six o'clock train had been taken off, and 
 that there would be none till ten the next morn- 
 ing, so that all hopes of arriving at Avila in 
 time for church (and this was Sunday) were at 
 an end. The station had no waiting-room, only 
 a kind of corridor with two hard benches. Esta- 
 blishing the children on these for the moment 
 with plaids and shawls, one of the party went off 
 to some cotta^res at a little distance off, and asked 
 
224 JOURNEY TO AVILA. 
 
 in one of them if there were no means of getting 
 a bedroom and some chocolate ? A very civil 
 woman got up and volunteered both ; so the 
 tired ones of the party were able to lie down for 
 a few hours' rest in two wonderfully clean little 
 rooms, while their breakfast was preparing. The 
 question now arose for the others : ' Was there no 
 church anywhere near ? ' It was answered by the 
 people of the place in the negative. ' The station 
 was new; the cottages had been run up for the ac- 
 commodation of the porters and people engaged on 
 the line ; there was no village within a league or 
 two.' Determined, however, not to be baffled, one 
 of the party enquired of another man, who was 
 sleepily driving his bullocks into a neighbouring 
 field, and he replied 'that over the mountains 
 to the left there was a village and a cure ; 
 but that it was a long way off, and that he only 
 went on great " festas." ' It was now quite light ; 
 the lady was strong and well ; and so she deter- 
 mined to make the attempt to find the church. 
 Following the track pointed out to her by her 
 informant, she came to a wild and beautifiil 
 mountain path, intersected by bright rushing 
 streams, crossed by stepping-stones, the ground 
 perfectly carpeted with wild narcissus and other 
 spring flowers. Here and there she met a peasant 
 
JOURNEY TO AVILA. 225 
 
 tending his flock of goats, and always the cour- 
 teous greeting of ' Vaya listed con Dios !' or ' Dios 
 guarde a Usted ! ' as heartily given as returned. 
 At last, on rounding a corner of the mountain, 
 she came on a beautiful view, with the Escurial in 
 the distance to the left ; and to the right, embo- 
 somed, as it were, in a little nest among the hills, 
 a picturesque village, with its church-tower and 
 rushing stream and flowering fruit-trees, towards 
 which the path evidently led. This sight gave 
 her fresh com-age ; for the night journey and long 
 Avalk, undertaken fasting, had nearly spent her 
 strengih. Descending the hill rapidly, she reached 
 the village green just as the clock was striking 
 six, and found a group of peasants, both men and 
 women, sitting on the steps of the picturesque 
 stone cross in the centre, oj^posite the church, 
 waiting for the cure to come out of his neat little 
 house 6lose by to say the first mass. The arrival 
 of the lady caused some astonishment ; but, with 
 the inborn courtesy of the people, one after the 
 other rose and came forward, not only to greet 
 her, but to offer her chocolate and bread. She 
 explained that she had come for communion, and 
 would go into the church. The old white-haired 
 clerk ran into the house to hasten the cm'e, and 
 soon a kind and venerable old man made his 
 
2 26 JOURNEY TO AVILA, 
 
 appearance, and asked her if she wished to see him 
 first in the confessional. He could scarcely believe 
 she had been in Segovia only the night before! 
 Finding that she was hurried to return and catch 
 the train, he instantly gave her both mass and com- 
 munion, and then sent his housekeeper to invite 
 her to breakfiist, as did one after the other of the 
 villagers. Escaping fi'om their hospitality with 
 some difficulty, on the plea of the shortness of the 
 time and the length of the way back, the English 
 lady accepted a little loaf, for which no sort of pay- 
 ment would be heard of, and walked with a light 
 heart back to the station, feeling how close is the 
 religious tie which binds Catholics together as one 
 family, and how beautiful is the hearty, simple hos- 
 pitality of the Spanish people when untainted by 
 contact with modern innovations and so-called pro- 
 gress. There was no occasion when this natural, 
 high-bred courtesy was not shown during the four 
 months that our travellers spent in this country ; 
 and those who, like the author of ' Over the Pyre- 
 nees into Spain,' find fault on every occasion with 
 the manners of the people, must either have been 
 ignorant of their language and customs, or, having 
 no sympathy with their faith, have wounded their 
 susceptibilities, and to a certain degree justified the 
 rudeness of which they pretend to have been the 
 victims. 
 
Jfhf Door of Cathedral of Avila. 
 
AVILA. 227 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 AVILA AND ALVA. 
 
 After a clean and plentifiil breakfast in the 
 cottage, our party started by train for Avila, 
 where they arrived at one o'clock ; and having 
 washed and dressed, found themselves at vespers 
 at the cathedral, which is a beautiM Gothic build- 
 ing, begun in 1107, wdth a glorious western fagade, 
 a very fine circular apse at the east end, grand 
 monuments, and magnificent painted glass. The 
 ' retablo ' over the high altar is in better taste than 
 almost any in Spain, and contains some beauti- 
 fully carved subjects, especially one of the 'An- 
 nunciation.' Both this cathedral and the clois- 
 ters are built of a peculiar shaded red and white 
 granite, unlike any other, but which gives rather 
 the effect of the cathedral of Sienna. After 
 vespers, some of the party went to the arch- 
 bishop's, who was absent on a confirmation tour, 
 but had left orders that they should be received, 
 boarded, and lodged at his palace, and had desired 
 
 o 2 
 
228 AVILA. 
 
 his vicar-general to do the honours in his absence. 
 This hospitahty our party considered themselves 
 too numerous to accept, and they had already 
 found very tolerable accommodation in a little 
 ' fonda ' opposite the cathedral ; but they gladly 
 accepted the offer of his kind and courteous 
 secretary to act as their escort, especially for the 
 inspection of St. Theresa's house and convent on 
 
 the following day. 
 
 Avila is a noble specimen of an old Castilian 
 fortified city, teeming with curious Gothic monu- 
 ments and inscriptions of the thirteenth century, 
 which, unfortunately, no one seems to care for or 
 to be able to explain. Fragments of these are 
 worked into every house : at every turn are 
 quaint old basilicas with circular apses, beautifid 
 doorways and dog-tooth mouldings. Of these, 
 the finest is that of S. Yincente, in a ' plaza ' on 
 the way leading to the railway station. It con- 
 tains the body of St. Yincent, who suffered in the 
 Decian persecution. His monument, on raised 
 twisted pillars, is in the centre of the church. 
 There is a subterranean crypt, which also contains 
 the bodies of martyi'S and several fine monuments. 
 The tower, cloisters, and portico, Avith clustered 
 columns, are beautifiil ; and fi'om the cloister 
 there is a ma™ficent view over the rich S^ega' 
 
AVILA. 229 
 
 beneath, and of the unique east end of the cathe- 
 dral built into the city wall. 
 
 This is almost the only place our travellers 
 had yet seen in Spain where the women wore the 
 old national costume. In Granada, Cordova, and 
 Seville, the men retain their picturesque dresses ; 
 but their wives rarely do so. Here the women 
 are all dressed in bright yellow canary-coloured 
 stuff petticoats, with red cloth ' appliqueed ' in 
 patterns, on the skirt, green or red bodices, 
 strings of pearls, and hair in circular rolls on the 
 side of the head, with pins across each. From 
 the bridge, the view of the river, of the towers, 
 (of which there are eighty-eight), and of the 
 grand old crenellated walls which encircle the 
 town, is very fine. The following morning, after 
 high mass at the cathedral, one of the party 
 started with the vicar-general to see the house in 
 which St. Theresa was born. On their way they 
 passed by the beautiful palace of the Medina 
 Cceli, which has the arms of the family (thirteen 
 balls) over the door, and four of those curious 
 granite rhinoceros, or ' toros,' as the people call 
 them, found here and there in Spain, the origin 
 of which is so disputed by the learned. There is 
 also a curious inscription on a bas-relief over the 
 principal entrance, in old and quaint Spanish^ 
 
230 AVILA. 
 
 the meaning of which in English would be : 
 ' When one door shuts, another opens,' probably 
 alluding to some family legend now forgotten. 
 
 St. Theresa was the daughter of Alonso de 
 Cepeda and Beatrix de Ahumada, both of noble 
 and even royal blood, and it was in their house 
 that our party now found themselves. It is a 
 beautiful palace, which has passed through many 
 phases, having become, after St. Theresa's death, 
 a Carmelite monastery ; and now, since the de- 
 struction of the religious houses in Spain, a college 
 for boys. There is a very fine church attached 
 to it, fiiU of beautiful marbles and fi-escoes ; and 
 leading out of this church is the room of Ma- 
 dame de CejDcda, in which Theresa was born. 
 It has been converted into a chapel. Here are 
 kept her bedstead, part of which was made into 
 a cross ; her rosary ; her walking-stick, with a 
 crook for the thumb; her shoes, &c., &c. Every- 
 thing belonging to her, however remotely, is 
 preserved with a veneration which it would be 
 almost impossible to imagine out of Spain. 
 
 From thence, they went on to the convent of 
 St. Joseph, called ' de las Madres,' being her first 
 reformed foundation. A statue of the saint is 
 placed over the portal. Here, on St. Bartholo- 
 mew's-day, 1562, St. Theresa saw at last the 
 
AVTLA. 231 
 
 accomplishment of her prayers : here, the habit 
 of rough serge and the veil of coarse unbleached 
 linen were first given to the four sisters of the 
 new reform, which was afterwards to embrace so 
 many thousand devout and holy souls. In the 
 church are the tombs of her favourite brother 
 Lorenzo, and of the good Bishop of Avila, Alva- 
 rez de Mendoza, through whose powerful protec- 
 tion this first house was started, and who chose 
 to be buried in this humble little chapel sooner 
 than in his own beautiful cathedral, in the hope, 
 which was not destined to be realised, of resting 
 near the saint. St. Peter of Alacantara's letter 
 to this bishop, when pleading for permission for 
 the foundation, is among the treasures contained 
 in this convent. The superior and the sisters 
 received their English visitor most kindly, and 
 showed her everything. The saint's cell, now 
 converted into an oratory ; her bed ; her chair ; 
 her clothes ; the cofiin in which her body was 
 placed before it was removed to Alva ; her jug 
 and cup ; her musical instruments ; her leathern 
 girdle ; her discipline ; some of her blood ; a 
 bone of her neck ; her books and letters. Among 
 the books is a folio in two volumes of St. Gre- 
 gory's ' Morales,' belonging to St. Theresa, with 
 her notes and marks ; a book written by St. 
 
2 32 AVILA. 
 
 John of the Cross, with annotations on a kind 
 of ' Canzone ' of Ann of St. Bartholomew ; and 
 a MS. copy of the saint's ' Foundations.' In 
 the hermitages which she founded in the garden 
 are some very curious pictures belonging to the 
 saint, and some old cngTavings. One picture 
 was painted by her desire, in consequence of a 
 vision in which she saw our Lord bound to the 
 pillar after the scourging. These hermitages 
 were constructed so that the nuns might have 
 less interruption in the quiet and fervency of 
 their prayers. The well still remains in the 
 garden, of which the water was at first so bad 
 that they could not use it ; and then, by the simple 
 prayer of faith of these poor nuns, it pleased God 
 so to sweeten it that it has been ever since good 
 and sufficient for the wants of the community. 
 Here, after all the storms and difficulties she had 
 had to encounter, St. Theresa spent five years 
 in comparative peace and hapj)iness. She had 
 thirteen sisters in this house, all of whom were 
 endowed with such rare spiritual gifts, that the 
 saint declared ' she was ashamed to live amonost 
 tliem herself Yet, even here, she had much to 
 suffer. One day, as she was ascending the steps 
 which led to the choir, before compline, she was 
 suddenly thrown down, falling with such violence 
 
AVTLA. 233 
 
 that her nuns thought she was killed. They 
 found, however, that only her arm was broken. 
 According to the rough surgery of those days, 
 the female practitioner, who had been sent for, 
 went to work so violently to set the broken 
 limb that the bones were dislocated. Theresa 
 did not utter a cry, but contemplated all the 
 time the violence with which our Lord was 
 stretched on the cross, telling her sisters that she 
 should have been sorry to have missed this op- 
 portunity of suffering something with patience. 
 These steps are still shown, as also a picture 
 representing the occurrence. 
 
 From St. Joseph's the English lady went on to 
 the convent of the Incarnation, the house where 
 St. Theresa made her first profession of religion, 
 and in which more than twenty years of her life 
 were passed. A prophecy preceded her amval. A 
 stranger had come to the convent a short time 
 before, and said, ' A saint will shortly come to dwell 
 in this house, whose name will be Theresa.' When 
 told of this prophecy, St. Theresa, then a young 
 and merry novice, laughingly said to a com- 
 panion, who also bore the name : ' Which of us 
 two shall be the saint ? ' Tliis convent is in a 
 beautiful situation, in a fertile valley, at a little 
 distance from the town, with a fine church, 
 
234 AVILA. 
 
 magnificent cloisters, and a spacious garden and 
 orchard, watered by a clear quick-flowing stream. 
 Among the treasures in this house are the veil 
 and dress in which she made her first religious 
 profession ; the wooden crucifix and the infant 
 Jesus which she always carried about with her 
 in her travels, and used for her mass in her 
 first foundations ; her room, chair, and pictures ; 
 and quantities of letters, both of St. Theresa's 
 and of St. John of the Cross, who was prior and 
 confessor of the convent. One of the saint's 
 letters is countersigned by the four nuns of the 
 first foundation : Antonia of the Holy Ghost 
 Mary of the Cross, Ursula of the Saints, and Mary 
 of St. Joseph. Here also is a very curious pic- 
 ture, painted by the saint's desire, of St. Peter 
 of Alacantara as he appeared to her in a vision 
 after his death, saying : ' My present glory, 
 through the mercy of Christ, is the fi'uit of my 
 penitence.' A few years after St. Theresa had 
 left this house for those of her reform, that is, in 
 1571, she was appointed, by the provincial, 
 superior of this convent of the Incarnation, in 
 order to remedy the evils which existed in the 
 house. This caused a fiirious storm, which was 
 only quelled by Theresa's wonderful prudence, 
 humility, and gentleness. The day the first 
 
AVILA. 235 
 
 chapter was held, the nuns came in a body pre- 
 pared to rebel. But in the place of the prioress, 
 they found only a beautiful statue of the Virgin, 
 holding the keys of the convent, and St. Theresa, 
 addressing them as the most unworthy member 
 of the house, only craved permission to aid them 
 in every way in her power. As is admirably 
 said by the clever authoress of her ' Life,' before 
 alluded to : ' Those who had been accustomed 
 to look upon the saint as a visionary enthusiast, 
 were both astonished and touched by the ready 
 presence of mind and the minute solicitude with 
 which she regulated all the comj)licated worl'dly 
 affairs of the community, and supplied the most 
 trifling wants of each of its members.' The little 
 parlour is still shown where the saint and St. 
 John of the Cross were found raised fi-om the 
 ground in an ecstacy while discoursing on the 
 love of God ; which can only be explained 
 by the saint's own words : 'It is certain that 
 when for the love of God we empty our souls 
 of all aifection for creatm^es, that great God im- 
 mediately fills them with Himself 
 
 There are seventeen nuns in this house, and 
 their veneration for the saint seems as great as 
 that of her sisters of the reform. 
 
 Returning to the ' fonda,' and taking leave of 
 
2?5 SALAMANCA. 
 
 the kind vicar-general and this most interesting 
 old town, our travellers started at two o'clock 
 in the morning by diligence for Salamanca. 
 Of course, the diligence authorities would not 
 condescend to come up to the ' fonda ' to fetch 
 the ladies, who had no alternative but to grope 
 their way through the streets in pitchy darkness, 
 amidst torrents of rain, and under cut-throat- 
 looking archways, until they reached the grimy, 
 undesirable vehicle. 
 
 The country, after leaving Avila, is hideously 
 flat and ugly, more like an old post-road through 
 parts of France or Hanover than anything they 
 had hitherto seen in Spain. Salamanca itself 
 stands on a height, the river Tormes encircling 
 the town, over which is thrown a very fine 
 Eoman bridge of twenty-seven arches. The 
 diligence dragged them painfully up the steep 
 streets and over the horribly disjointed pave- 
 ment to the Plaza Mayor, the largest square in 
 Spain, of which the facade is adorned with busts 
 of kings, and with a colonnaded arcade all round, 
 looking like Bologna. Here the bull-fights are 
 held ; and with more humanity than at Seville, 
 the horses being almost invariably saved fi:-om in- 
 jury. The ' posada ' in the Plaza was so uninviting 
 that our party betook themselves to a private lodg- 
 
SALAMANCA. 237 
 
 ing in a side street, which had been recommended 
 to them at Avila. Here they found some very nice 
 clean rooms and the best food they had had since 
 leaving Madrid. After changing their crumpled 
 and dusty clothes (for one of the many miseries of 
 diligence travelling is the dust), they started off 
 for the cathedrals, for there are tiuo, one above the 
 other. The one below is simple, massive, and what 
 we call Norman in character ; the one above is 
 the most florid and elaborate Gothic. The carv- 
 ing of the portal and of the whole fagade of the 
 west front is the most gorgeous and beautiful 
 thing which it is possible to conceive. One's 
 breath is fairly taken away by the number and 
 variety of the figures. Inside, its principal fea- 
 tures are the height of the arches and the beau- 
 tiful open pierced work of the galleries which 
 run round the cathedral. The rest has a new, 
 white, cold look, which did not please eyes ac- 
 customed to the solemn sober aisles of Seville. 
 In the sacristy are some curious pictures and 
 relics ; among others, ' El Crucifijo de las Batallas,' 
 a small Byzantine bronze crucifix which the Cid 
 always carried before him in battle, and some 
 very interesting letters of St. Theresa's. 
 
 Nearly opposite the cathedral is the far-famed 
 University, of which the magnificent facade is 
 
238 SALAMANCA. 
 
 alone worth a journey to Salamanca to see. It is 
 in the richest jDcriod of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 whose badges are worked into the arabesque 
 lace-like scrolls, together with the inscription in 
 Greek : ' The fear of the Lord is the beginning 
 of wisdom.' Equally elaborate is the carving 
 of the facade of San Esteban, in a ' plaza ' a little 
 below the cathedral. The beautifiil creamy colour 
 of the stone adds immensely to the effect of all 
 this work. But the French destroyed and dese- 
 crated every religious building in Salamanca : 
 only ruined cloisters, bare refectories, and muti- 
 lated doorways remain to testify to past beau- 
 ties. 
 
 From the cathedral our travellers went up the 
 steep hill to the Irish College, having a letter 
 fi'om the English minister at Madrid to the 
 principal ; but he was ill and unable to see them. 
 His students, however, received them with hearty 
 expressions of welcome, and offered to be their 
 cicerones during their stay in Salamanca. It 
 was so curious to hear a very decided Irish brogue 
 in the ' patio ' of a Spanish convent. But their 
 numbers are few ; and the University itself has 
 dwindled down to 400 or 500 students instead 
 of the 17,000 talked of in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. Cardinal Ximenes was once tutor in a 
 
Palaa\ Guadalajara. 
 
SALAMANCA. 239 
 
 college here ; and Cervantes lived for a long- 
 time in a house still pointed out as his in the 
 Calle de los Moros. The palaces in Salamanca 
 are very beautifiil, especially the Casa de las 
 Conchas, so called from the pecten shells pro- 
 jecting out of each stone ; the Casa de las 
 Salinas, with its overhanging roof and gallery 
 and richly ornamented windows ; and the Palacio 
 del Conde de Monterey, with its turrets and an 
 upper gallery of arcaded windows, which look 
 like the rich lace fringe of the solid building 
 below. After lionising the whole morning, one 
 of the party went to call on the bishop, a man 
 universally esteemed and beloved in Salamanca, 
 who received his visitor with fatherly kindness, 
 and at once volunteered to walk with her and 
 show her the different conventual establishments, 
 which she had obtained Papal permission to see. 
 The lady soon found, however, that walking with 
 the bishop, though a great honour, was a mat- 
 ter of some difficulty. No sooner did his broad 
 gTcen-tasselled hat and emerald cross appear at 
 the corner of any street, than every human 
 being, old and young, rich and poor, gentle 
 and simple, rushed out of their houses, or across 
 the road, to kneel and kiss his hand and re- 
 ceive his apostolical benediction, their faces all 
 
2+0 SALAMANCA. 
 
 the while beaming with a pleasure which it did 
 one's heart good to see. He first took her to the 
 great Jesuit college, oi-)posite the Casa de las 
 Conchas, which contains upwards of 800 students. 
 It is a magnificent building, with a cloistered 
 gallery running round the roof, fi-om whence the 
 view over the whole country is beautiful. The 
 chm'ch is a fine specimen of churrigueresque 
 work, with some pretty side chapels, and several 
 valuable pictm-es and relics. From thence they 
 went to the convent and chm'ch of the Augus- 
 tinians. The latter contains some very fine 
 pictm-es by Ribera — that gi'eat artist so little 
 known out of Spain — especially a ' Conception ' 
 over the high altar. This church is exceedingly 
 rich in marbles and monuments, and in the Flo 
 rentine ' pietra dm-a ' pulpit, St. Yincent of Ferrer 
 preached. Traversing the public gardens, now full 
 of flowers, fi:om every corner of which the little 
 children ran forward to obtain the smile and 
 loving word of the good bishop, they came to 
 the discalced Carmelite convent, which is a little 
 outside the town, and where great joy at his 
 visit was shown by the nuns. This house, like 
 all the rest, was founded by the saint in great 
 poverty and difficulties. In her ' Life ' there is 
 an amusing description of her arrival on the 
 
SALAMANCA, 241 
 
 Yigil of All Saints, 1570, and finding the house 
 full of students, who were with difficulty ejected ; 
 the alarm of one of the nuns lest any stray ones 
 should be concealed in the garrets ; and. their 
 sleeping on straw, having found no sort of fur- 
 niture or beds. Even later, when a chapel had 
 been built and dedicated to St. Joseph, St. 
 Theresa found that the rain came in on every 
 side, and threatened to put a sto^^ to the con- 
 secration ; but the storm passed away at the 
 prayers of the saint. She wrote at that time, ' In 
 none of the convents which our Lord allowed 
 us to found, have the nuns undergone greater 
 hardships than in this one.' But their faith 
 and patience triumphed over all. * Ann of the 
 Incarnation ' was the first prioress of this house, 
 and ' Anne of Jesus,' first mistress of novices. 
 These two ladies were cousins of St. Theresa, and 
 among the first to adopt her reform. Their por- 
 traits are in the parlour of this convent, and 
 ' Anne of Jesus ' has the sweetest and most saint- 
 like face that can be imagined. The rest of the 
 house, in its arrangements, discipline, and her- 
 mitages, is the same as all the others, and the 
 nuns have equally preserved her letters, and those 
 of St. John of the Cross, and of several of the 
 religious of the first foundation. 
 
242 SALAMANCA. 
 
 The English visitor confided to the bishop her 
 great wish to visit Alva, the ' cloture ' of the whole 
 to one interested in the life of St. Theresa, as 
 there she died, and there the body of the saint 
 rests. But Alva is twelve miles from Salamanca, 
 and neither carriage nor horses could be procured 
 for the expedition. The bishop directly solved 
 the difficulty by offering her his episcopal coach 
 and mules, which, after some hesitation and reluc- 
 tance, she ventured at last to accept. The next 
 morning, therefore, after early mass at the beauti- 
 ful Jesuit church, the two ladies started in solem.n 
 state for Alva, the only sad thing being the dis- 
 appointment which their presence created in the 
 villages, where the peojDie, when they saw the 
 episcopal equipage, rushed out of their houses to 
 get the bishop's blessing, and saw instead nothing 
 but two stupid women ! The vicar-general kindly 
 accompanied them, the bishop being detained in 
 Salamanca by the procession on St. Mark's-day. 
 They passed by Arapiles, the scene of Welling- 
 ton's gi^eat battle (called of Salamanca) , in which 
 he utterly defeated Marmont, and by which Ma- 
 drid and Andalusia were saved. Nothing but two 
 low hills, one flat, the other conical, marks the 
 spot immortalised by this great victory. Alva is 
 on the Tormes, and is approached through a fine 
 
ALVA. 243 
 
 natural ilex wood, and over a picturesque Roman 
 bridge. Above the town towers the palace fortress 
 of the dukes of Alva, now in ruins. But the 
 episcopal mules, whose slow and stately pace had 
 been the despair of our travellers ever since they 
 left Salamanca, went straight to the Carmelite 
 convent, which was evidently their usual destina- 
 tion. Here the cure, a kind and benevolent old 
 man, met them, and, together with the vicar-gene- 
 ral, desired to speak with the superior. This lady, 
 evidently wearied with the number of pilgrims to 
 the shrine of the saint, demurred greatly at the 
 notion of admitting the strangers, and it required 
 all the eloquence of the two priests, backed by the 
 authority of the bishop and nunzio, and above all 
 by the papal rescript, to obtain permission to enter 
 the ' clausura.' 
 
 About two months after the foundation of Sa- 
 lamanca, St. Theresa was invited by Francis Ve- 
 lasquez, treasurer to the Duke of Alva and Teresa 
 de Layz his wife, to found a house at Alva. These 
 two people had long been praying in vain for 
 children, when one night, in a dream, they saw a 
 house, in the courtyard of which was a well and a 
 corridor, and near it a green meadow full of beau- 
 tiful flowers. By the well stood a saint-like man, 
 who, pointing to the flowers, seemed to say to 
 
 B 2 
 
244 ALVA. 
 
 them, ' These are far holier children than those 
 for whom you are longing.' A short time after- 
 wards they removed to Alva, and when they came 
 to take possession of the house which had been 
 prepared for them, their astonishment was great at 
 recognising the very place they had seen in their 
 dream. There was the court, the w^ell, the corri- 
 dor, everything, except the saint ! Perceiving the 
 hand of God in this matter, both Velasquez and 
 his wife determined to convert the house into a 
 convent, and asked St. Theresa to accept the 
 foundation. In accordance with their Avish, St. 
 Theresa opened the house on the Feast of the 
 Conversion of St. Paul, under the title of the 
 ' Incarnation.' 
 
 The visitors were taken first into her original 
 cell, and thence to the room in which she died : 
 the stones on which she sat, the bed on which she 
 was laid, all remain untouched. It was on the 3rd 
 of October, 1653, that, feeling her strength almost 
 entirely spent, she took leave of her religious, and 
 asked to receive the Holy Yiaticum. When It 
 came, though previously unable to move, she 
 sprang up, and the love of her full heart burst 
 forth in the words : ' Lord ! the hour is come 
 which I have looked for these long, long years. It 
 is time, my Lord, that I should depart hence. Let 
 
ALVA. 24s 
 
 Thy most holy will be done. The end of my 
 weary exile is come at last, and my soul rejoices in 
 Thee, whom it has desired so ardently and so long.' 
 She re23eated over and over again, 'After all, 
 Lord, I am a child of the Church,' a thought which 
 seemed to fill her with unspeakable joy. Then she 
 said the Miserere, especially the verse, ' Cor con- 
 tritum et humiliatum Deus non despiciet,' which 
 she continued repeating as long as she had the 
 power of speech. She Avas asked where she would 
 wish to be buried. She answered quickly, ' Ought 
 I to have a will of my ovv^n ? ' and then added with 
 touching humility, ' Will they not give me a little 
 corner of earth here ? ' Mother Ann of St. Bar- 
 tholomew never left her during the last days of 
 her life, and the saint died with her head resting 
 on her arm. A picture representing her death 
 hangs in this room, as also one of the vision in 
 which our Lord and His angels appeared at the 
 moment of her death at the foot of her bed to 
 escort the pure spirit up to heaven. There is also 
 a picture of her body as it appeared after death, in 
 her religious habit, over which had been thrown a 
 cloth of gold, exactly as she had seen in a dream 
 forty-eight years before ! The face had recovered 
 the youth and beauty of girlhood, and the com- 
 plexion had become white as alabaster. The body 
 
246 ALVA. 
 
 was placed in a very deep grave, by desire of the 
 foundress, who feared that it might one day be re- 
 moved. Nine months after, it was taken up, and 
 foimd as perfect and beaut ifiil as the day of the 
 buriaL It was then conveyed to St. Joseph's con- 
 vent at Avila, where, having been judicially exa- 
 mined, it was, by order of Pope SixtusY., brought 
 back to Alva, where it rests now over the high altar 
 in a magnificent silver shrine. To this sanctuary 
 our visitors Avere now led, through the choir, which 
 contains likewise her heart in a crystal case, and 
 a multitude of relics, pictures, and crucifixes, in- 
 cluding the heads of St. Felix and St. Justus, 
 brought from Rome, a quantity of the saint's let- 
 ters and of Padre Garcia's, and a picture of St. 
 John of the Cross, with the question of our Lord 
 and his answer inscribed on the base : — 
 
 John, what recompense dost thou ask for thy laboiar ? 
 
 No other than to suffer and be condemned for Thy love, Lord! 
 
 There are twenty-five religious in this house, 
 Avhich is one of the most interesting that can be 
 seen in Spain. In the church are the bodies of 
 Yelasquez and his wife, the founders of the house, 
 and of John de valla and Dona Juana de Alhu- 
 mada, the saint's favourite sister, whose monu- 
 ments, with their child at their feet, are placed in 
 a side transept. After spending the whole morn- 
 
SALAMANCA. 247 
 
 ing in this holy house, the two ladies went on to the 
 cure's, who had kindly prepared an excellent din- 
 ner for them, and received them in his little pres- 
 bytery with the frank and gentle courtesy which 
 is so characteristic of the Spaniards : only his hospi- 
 tality was almost overwhelming ; his guests found 
 it impossible to eat and drink all the good things 
 which his generous heart had collected together in 
 their honour ! The evening saw them once more 
 at Salamanca, in the palace of the kind bishop to 
 Avhom they owed their deeply interesting Alva 
 visit. He took leave of them with fatherly ten- 
 derness, and at parting gave one of the ladies a 
 large and very admirable photograph of himself, 
 which she had much desired, but scarcely dared 
 ask for. 
 
 The peasants at Salamanca adhere to their old 
 national costume — the men with enormous hats, 
 the women, in addition to the bright yellow petti- 
 coats, with a kind of scarf or striped blanket, red, 
 white and black, which they throw over their 
 shoulders, or, if wet and cold, over the head : 
 this scarf seemed universal in the district. The 
 men had scarlet burnous, with heavy tasselled 
 fr-inges thrown picturesquely over one shoulder, 
 as at Valencia. 
 
248 ZAMORA. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ZAMORA AND VALLADOLID. 
 
 At seven the next morning our travellers bade 
 adieu to Salamanca, and went on by diligence to 
 Zamora. The road is flat and uninteresting till 
 you come to Corrales, where, to the left, in a shel- 
 tered valley, is Valparaiso, the once fine convent 
 in which St. Ferdinand, that best of S23anish 
 kings, was born. From the hermitage, called El 
 Cristo de Morales, Zamora appears with its bat- 
 tlemented walls, fine cathedi-al, and picturesque 
 old bridge with circular towers, which spans the 
 Douro. The water of this river is said to be as 
 nutritious as chicken-broth, 'Agua de Duero, caldo 
 de polios ; ' so runs the proverb. The peasants 
 here use those dreadful carts (as in Portugal) with 
 solid wheels — mere circles of wood without spokes 
 or axles, which make the most abominable creak- 
 ing noise that can be imagined ; but their drivers 
 never seem to find it out. 
 
 Our travellers were taken to a little ' posada ' 
 in the principal square, opposite a kind of Hotel 
 
ZA3I0RA. 
 
 249 
 
 de Yillc, with a beautiful Ycnetian fac^acle, exqui- 
 site windows, and carved portals. The mistress 
 of the house showed them into a room out of which 
 was the universal box-bedstead recess ; but they 
 found it evidently occupied. Its owner, the colonel 
 of the detachment of troops quartered there, came 
 in a few minutes afterwards, and the ladies apolo- 
 gised for their unintentional intrusion, but were 
 assured that he was delighted to place his apart- 
 ment at their service, and in fact that there was 
 no other. Presently a meal of some sort was an- 
 nounced to them, and our travellers no longer 
 wondered at the colonel's choice of quarters. The 
 uninviting dish of 'garbanzos' was brought ujd by a 
 girl whose beauty will ever remain as an ideal in 
 their minds. A perfectly oval face, the most tender 
 lustrous eyes, a beautiful mouth, hair rolled above 
 the delicately formed ear, behind which was stuck 
 a bright pomegTanate blossom — she would have 
 made her fortune in six months as a model to a 
 painter ! and her shy, retiring, modest manner 
 added to the Avonderful charm of her apiDcarance. 
 At Cadiz, at Seville, and still more, in the outlying 
 villages, beauty of this type had been met with by 
 our party, but never in such perfection. 
 
 The train for Medina del Camj)o not starting 
 for four or five hours, they resolved to employ their 
 
250 ZAMOllA. 
 
 time in exploring the curiosities of the town, and 
 first went to the cathedral, which has a curious 
 tower, fine Saxon arches and cloisters. The inside 
 has been modernised, but contains some beautiful 
 wood-carving in the choir and on the bishop's 
 throne, and some very fine monuments. But the 
 glory of Zamora is the Templar Church of Sta. 
 Magdalena. The deeply-recessed entrance, with its 
 remarkable circular arches enriched with Norman 
 and Moorish patterns, the rose-windows, and the 
 high altar, wdth its round arch and billet mould- 
 ings, are really unique in their beauty. The 
 * Alameda,' or public walk, begins opposite this 
 church, the space in the centre being filled with 
 roses, at that time in full blossom. From thence 
 there is a picturesque view of the old walls and of 
 the prison of the Cid, with the open cloister and 
 gallery of the bishop's palace, and the rich and 
 cultivated valley below. The hour for the de- 
 parture of the train having now arrived, our tra- 
 vellers w^ent down the hill to the station, their bags 
 being carried for them by the beautifld girl who 
 had so charmed them before, and who, refusing all 
 remuneration, shyly kissed the elder lady's hand 
 and vanished. Here was enacted one of those 
 scenes from real life which are often so much more 
 touching than the most exciting romance. A 
 
 >'.'»: 
 1 
 
ON THE WAY TO VALLADOLW. 251 
 
 young bride was starting with her husband, and 
 grouped round the railway carriage were all her 
 friends and old servants, to wish her good-bye. 
 One of the latter was her nurse, and the despair of 
 the poor woman was piteous to see. Dressed in 
 her beautiful peasant's holiday costume, with 
 strings of pearls on her white bodice, but her face 
 swollen and disfigured by weeping, she clung to 
 her young mistress with a tenacity which was both 
 painful and touching. The tie between masters 
 and servants in Spain is very close and very 
 sacred. No one dreams of ordeiHng their man or 
 maid to do anything ; whatever is wanted must 
 be asked for with a deference and courtesy which 
 they consider their due, and which is invariably 
 accorded. The servants consider themselves en- 
 tirely as part of the family into which they enter, 
 and identify their interests, their sorrows, and 
 their joys, with those of their employers. 
 
 Our travellers arrived at Medina del Campo too 
 late to stop and visit the Carmelite convent there ; 
 but were obliged to push on to Yalladolid, which 
 they reached at eleven o'clock at night, very tired, 
 but charmed with their expedition. 
 
 Valladolid, once the capital of Spain, the birth- 
 place of Philip II., and which witnessed likewise 
 the death of Columbus, has been entirely ruined by 
 
252 VALLADOLTD. 
 
 the French, who sacked or destroyed everything 
 in it which was most interesting either in rehgion 
 or art. It is now being rebuilt in a stiff, common- 
 place Avay, and boulevards planted, as in a third- 
 rate French town. There is a great museum of 
 pictures, to which some of the party went, and 
 reported them, with very few exceptions, as exe- 
 crable. The cathedral was built by Herrera, the 
 architect of the Escurial, but was never finished. 
 It is cold and uninteresting to the last degree, 
 the only beautiful thing remaining in it being 
 the silver custodia. 
 
 The church of the Dominicans, called San 
 Pablo, was once a marvel of beauty and art ; 
 but nothing now remains save the exquisite 
 facade. The fiat went forth from the Emperor 
 Bonaparte : ' Sa Majeste a ordonne la suppres- 
 sion du convent des Dominicains, dans lequel 
 un Frangais a ete tue.' The same fate awaited 
 the neighbouring college of San Gregorio, con- 
 taining the wonderful ' retablo ' of Juan de Juni : 
 the beautiful double cloisters alone remain. One 
 of the most interesting things in Yalladolid, rarely 
 visited by travellers, is the house of the two 
 famous sculptors Juni and Hernandez, at the 
 corner of the Calle de San Luis. Juni was an 
 Italian, of the school of Michael Angelo, and 
 equally daring and grand in his conceptions. 
 
VALLADOLID. 253 
 
 Hernandez, who succeeded him both in his fame 
 and in his studio, was the Murillo of Castilian 
 sculpture. Like Angelico da Fiesole, he never 
 began any work without prayer, and his whole 
 creations breathe that same spirit of love and 
 holiness which made an Englishman exclaim, on 
 leaving Overbeck's studio one day in Kome : ' I 
 feel as if I had been all the time in church.' 
 
 His private life was that of a brother of charity, 
 and his name was a household word for all that 
 was ' lovely and of good report.' Yet few care 
 to go and see the little room which witnessed 
 for twenty-three years that hidden life of piety 
 and genius. The people in the house at present 
 seemed utterly ignorant of the whole matter : 
 the window of his studio is blocked up ; and 
 his works are every day disappearing through the 
 bad taste and indifference of his deo-enerate conn- 
 trymen. Another interesting private house in 
 Yalladolid is the ' Casa del Sol,' now a barrack, 
 once the residence of Gondomar, ambassador of 
 Philip lY. to our James I., whose libraiy was 
 one of the most valuable in Spain. It contained 
 a very curious collection of English literature 
 of the time of Shakspeare. The whole Avas 
 sold to Charles lY. ; but as his Majesty did not 
 pay, some 1,600 volumes were kept back and left 
 to the tender mercies of the carpenter or brick- 
 
254 VALLADOLID. 
 
 layer who had charge of the house ; and so these 
 priceless treasures were finally sold for waste- 
 paper and disapj)eared. Those seen by our tra- 
 vellers in the Queen's Library at Madrid formed 
 only a small portion of his secret correspondence 
 during his embassy in England. There are ten 
 volumes there, and some others in the hands of 
 the gi'eat antiquary, Seiior Gayangos ; but as yet 
 no authentic translation or account of their con- 
 tents has reached this country, which is very much 
 to be regi'etted. 
 
 The next visit of our travellers was to the 
 bishop, whose palace contains a handsome stair- 
 case, cloistered ' patio,' and beautiful garden. He 
 showed his guests, among other things, a very 
 fine Murillo of the Crucifixion, and a beautifid 
 ' retablo ' by Pinturicchio, which he is having 
 restored for his private chapel. His secretary 
 volunteered to accompany one of the ladies to 
 the Carmelite convent, while the rest continued 
 their wanderings over the town. Entering into 
 the parlour, while the superior was examining 
 the permission to enter her 'clausura,' the lady's 
 eyes fell on this quatrain over the door : — 
 
 Hermano, una de dos : 
 
 C no entrar, 6 liablar de Dios. 
 
 Que en la casa de Teresa 
 Esta ciencia se profesa. 
 
VALLADOLin. 255 
 
 The original convent given by Bernardin of 
 Mendoza, brother of the Bishop of Avila, was 
 in an unhealthy situation near a river ; so that 
 St. Theresa removed her nuns to the house v^^here 
 they now are, and which was purchased for them 
 by his sister. It bears the title of ' Our Lady 
 of Mount CarmeL' Mary of Ocampo (in religion 
 called Maria de S. Juan Bautista) was the first 
 prioress here, and trained her sisters to such per- 
 fection that St. Theresa spoke of the house as 
 ' the most admirable of all her foundations.' It 
 became the home of a perfect galaxy of saints, 
 ladies of the highest rank and fortune devoting 
 their lives to God in spite of all human diffi- 
 culties and oppositions. The secret of their per- 
 fection is disclosed in the reply of one of them, 
 to a person who was marvelling at her undis- 
 turbed tranquillity in the midst of severe trials 
 and sufferings : ' The value of whatever we do 
 and bear, however small it may be, for the love 
 of God, is inestimable. We should not so much 
 as turn our eyes, except to please Him.' This 
 sanctity, and singleness of purpose, have de- 
 scended like a precious heritage to the sisters 
 now in the house. It was impossible not to 
 be struck with the expression of their counte- 
 nances. They have the usual mementoes of the 
 
256 VALLADOLID. 
 
 saint : her letters, her clothes, her hair shirt, 
 &c., and the MS. of her ' Camin de Perfeccion.' 
 In the garden are hermitages, as at Avila : 
 over the door of one is the inscription : * At 
 Carmel and at the Judgment Day, God only 
 and I.' Philip 11. decorated one of these little 
 oratories, and placed in it an altar of * azulejo ' 
 work. They have also some very interesting 
 pictures, portraits, crucifixes and relics. 
 
 The great trade of Yalladolid is in silver- 
 smith's work. With the discovery of a new Avorld 
 a vast quantity of silver and gold poured into 
 Spain ; and this was wrought into beautiful forms 
 and patterns by Antonio and Juan d'Arphe, 
 Germans by origin and birth, but who settled 
 at Yalladolid, and executed almost all the beau- 
 tiful cinquecento work which our travellers had 
 seen in the different ecclesiastical treasuries of 
 Spain. Juan became Master of the Mint at Sego- 
 via, and published his designs for church plate, 
 which have been generall}'' adopted. Now, great 
 artists and a taste for art seem to be equally 
 extinct. But there is still a large manufacture of 
 crosses, reliquaries, and the like in Yalladolid, 
 which are much sought after in other parts of 
 Spain, like the silver buttons of Cordova and 
 Granada. 
 
BURGOS. 257 
 
 It must be confessed, however, that YaUaclohd 
 was a disappointment to our travellers ; partly, 
 perhaps, because they had been spoiled by the 
 gorgeous beauty and antiquity of the south, but 
 also because the hand of the spoiler has really 
 left nothing but shells of buildings to testify to 
 the bygone glories of the ancient capital. 
 
 Without much regret, therefore, our travellers 
 went on the next day to Burgos, where many 
 things were yet unvisited by them. They arrived 
 late at night, and the next morning found one of 
 the party very early in the streets, enquiring the 
 way to the ' Iglesia Mayor.' She was directed to 
 a church a long way off in the heart of the town, 
 which turned out to be the very beautiM old 
 Benedictine Church of San Juan, instead of the 
 cathedral of which she was in search. It was, 
 however, well worth a visit, and contains some 
 very fine tombs of the Torquemada family. Ser- 
 vice over, the lady wished to retrace her steps, 
 but then suddenly recollected that they had oome 
 to a new hotel the night before, of which she 
 knew neither the name nor the address. The dif- 
 ferent turns she had taken in going to the church 
 had completely bewildered her small notions of 
 geogi^aphy, and she could not ask her way, being 
 in the absurd position of not knowing what place 
 
258 BURGOS. 
 
 to ask for ! In despair at last, after having wan- 
 dered half over the town, she addressed herself to 
 a peasant woman sitting in a corner of one of 
 the streets, whose son was holding in his arms 
 one of those black and white lambs which always 
 bring to one's mind Murillo's picture of St. John 
 the Baptist. With the most ready and gentle 
 com^tesy, the woman left her basket with a 
 neighbour, and undertook to guide the stranger 
 to the two or three principal hotels in the place 
 till they should find the right one— and this was 
 only a fi-esh proof, if one had been needed, of the 
 universal kindness which characterises the people. 
 Later in the day, our travellers returned to the 
 glorious cathedral, for which even their Toledo 
 and Seville experiences had not spoilt them ; 
 and then went up the steps to the Church of 
 San Nicolas, which is on a steep ledge above, and 
 contains the most wonderftilly carved ' retablo ' 
 of every event in the life of the saint. It was 
 the finest and most delicate work of the sort 
 which they had seen in Spain. There were also 
 some interesting alabaster monuments in a side 
 chapel. From thence, ascending still higher, 
 they came to San Esteban, the oldest church in 
 Burgos, but w^hich had been terribly knocked 
 about during the siege. A beautiful doorway and 
 
Apostles' Door of Caihcdral, Burgos. 
 
BURGOS. 
 
 259 
 
 rose-window, an internal gallery and pulpit, and 
 a fine old picture of the Last Supper in the 
 sacristy, are all that remain of its ancient splen- 
 dour. The priest, seeing strangers in the church, 
 good-naturedly came forward and invited them to 
 come into the cloisters, fi-om whence the view 
 over Burgos is very beautiful. 
 
 Descending the hill, they went to see several of 
 the old houses in Burgos : among others La Casa 
 del Cordon, the house of the constable, so called 
 from the rope over the portal, and the Casa de 
 Miranda, with its beautiflil fluted pillars and 
 * patio.' But one thing was still unvisited, and that 
 was the Carmelite convent, the last of St. Theresa's 
 foundations, and one accomplished in spite of 
 contradictions and difficulties of all kinds. It was 
 on the 26th January, and therefore in the depth 
 of winter, with deep snow on the ground, and the 
 floods out in every direction, that the saint, though 
 already in failing health and strength, undertook 
 this work. She and her eight nuns were nearly 
 drowned in passing what is called ' The Bridges,' 
 near Burgos, the water having covered all the 
 tracks, so that the waggons were perpetually sink- 
 ing in the mire. In order to comfort her com- 
 panions, St. Theresa showed no fear, but cheer- 
 fully exclaimed : ' Courage, my sisters ! "What 
 
 8 2 
 
26o BURG08. 
 
 gTeater happiness can you wish than, if need be, 
 here to become martyrs for the love of our Lord ? 
 Suffering, through obedience, is a great and beau- 
 tiful thing.' They arrived safely at the house of 
 a devout widow lady, Catherine de Tolosa, who 
 had purchased a building for their convent, and 
 had already given up two of her daughters to be 
 nuns under the saint's direction. Before their 
 arrival they had obtained the consent both of 
 the city and of the archbishop ; but, to their dis- 
 may, found that the primate had changed his 
 mind, and was now very much opposed to the 
 new foundation, positively refusing permission 
 for mass to be said in the house where they were. 
 After weeks of vexatious delays, on the Vigil of 
 St. Joseph, the archbishop granted the license. 
 But now a fresh peril awaited them. The river 
 rose and raged with such violence against the 
 convent, that it threatened its total destruction. 
 It flooded the lower storeys, so that they were 
 obliged to remove everything up to the garrets ; 
 and they nearly died of hunger, no one being 
 able to approach the house, and their stores being 
 all bm^ied beneath the waters. St. Theresa was 
 very ill at the time, and said to Ann of St. Bar- 
 tholomew : ' My child, I am fainting ; see if you 
 can find me a mouthful of bread.' One of the 
 
BURGOS. 26] 
 
 novices waded waist-deep into the water, and got 
 her a loaf. At last two men swam to the house, 
 and, diving under the water, broke open the doors 
 to let it out of the rooms. The quantity of stones 
 and rubbish left behind filled eight carts. 
 
 Such Avere the obstacles thrown in the way of 
 this Burgos foundation ; but our saint's courage 
 did not fail her, and the house remains to this 
 day a monument of her loving faith in our Lord's 
 promises. Speaking of the privations they had 
 endured, she could still exclaim: 'Oh, my God! 
 how little do fine buildings and exterior delights 
 contribute to interior joy!' 
 
 The nuns received their unexpected visitor with 
 immense kindness, and showed her everything in 
 their house, inviting her to dine with them, and 
 making a special ' tortilla ' (omelette) in her 
 honour. They have some of the saint's letters, 
 written in 1582, only one month before her death, 
 and showed the stranger both these and the 
 saint's cell, chair, dress, and writing materials, all 
 of which have been preserved by them with the 
 most filial veneration. Afterwards they took her 
 into the choir, and sang while she played the 
 harmonium for them, and a beautiful Benediction 
 service concluded tins her last visit to the Car- 
 melite convents of Spain. If it be objected by 
 
262 BURGOS. 
 
 some of our readers that too much stress has been 
 laid upon the Hfe of St. Theresa in a simple book 
 of travels, the writer must give as the reason not 
 only that one of the objects of her Spanish tour 
 was an inspection of these convents, but that 
 without understanding something of the history 
 and inner life of one who has had so great an 
 influence over the minds of her countrymen, it is 
 almost impossible rightly to enter into the spirit 
 of the people. She is the type of a character 
 peculiar to Spain, and which could scarcely have 
 existed in any other countiy ; but its wonderhil 
 combination of spirituality and common sense 
 makes her example the more invaluable to the 
 asre in which we live. 
 
 And now the sad day had come when our tra- 
 vellers' holiday was over, and they were compelled 
 to leave Spain. Sorrowfully, for the last time, 
 they drove under the massive old gateway of 
 Burgos, with its turrets and statues, which has 
 witnessed so many changes ; and over the rapid 
 river Arlanzon which skirts its walls. A couple 
 of days' travel found them once more at the clean 
 little inn of Bayonne, striving to reconcile them- 
 selves to the uniform French houses, French 
 tongue, French climate, and French toilette, con- 
 trasting so painfully with their experiences of the 
 
BAYONNE AND BIARRITZ. 263 
 
 last four months. They rested there a day, 
 revisiting the cathedral, which, poor though it 
 looked to their Spanish eyes, has been very pret- 
 tily restored in the last few years ; and then went 
 for a short time to see the French sisters of cha- 
 rity at the great hospital established by the Mere 
 Devos. Some of her old sister-companions are 
 still labouring there, and they saw her room, her 
 bed, her place in the chapel, and the good Soeur 
 Madeleine mentioned in her life, who had worked 
 with her so indefatigably for ten years, and will 
 labour on till God calls her to share the rest of 
 her much-loved superior. Taking a little carriage 
 in the afternoon, they drove over to Biarritz, that 
 bright little watering-place, with its picturesque 
 rocks jutting out into the sea, which roars under 
 its tiny caverns, its nice smooth sands, and its 
 white image of the ' Star of the Sea ' standing on 
 the extreme point of the little pier. Though it 
 was not a regular show-day, the presentation of 
 their cards obtained admission for our travellers 
 to the emperor's palace, which is like an ordinary 
 private gentleman's house, very simple and very 
 comfortable. The empress's bed-room, fitted up 
 with a gay linen chintz, contains but two little 
 pictures, one of the Blessed Virgin, the other of 
 St. Vincent de Paul, which hangs over her bed. 
 
264 BIARRITZ. 
 
 The gardens slope down to the sea, and she has 
 just built in the grounds a beautiful little chapel, 
 thoroughly Spanish in its decorations, with Moor- 
 ish coloured roof and ' azulejo' walls, and the choir 
 or tiny apse beautiflilly painted, the subject being 
 the Blessed Virgin, surrounded by angels, wdth a 
 background of ' w^hite lilies and vermilion roses.' 
 This was our travellers' last reminiscence of Spain 
 — a country which they left with the greatest re- 
 gret, and with the earnest hope of revisiting it 
 before the so-called march of civilisation has 
 utterly destroyed all that is beautiful, simple, and 
 characteristic of this noble people. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 SEMANA SANTA EN SEVILLA. 
 
 Entre. las ciudades que mas se ban distinguido en el orbe 
 cristiano por la grandeza de sus cultos, figura la Capital de 
 Andalucia ; contribuyendo a este exito la veneranda autl- 
 giiedad de su devocion a representar los augustos misterlos de 
 la redencion buraana con procesiones y ostentosas ritualidades, 
 el brillo que comunicaron a estas ceremonias la esplendidez de 
 su ilustre aristocracia, lo pingue de su comei'cio, y el fervor de 
 sus cuerpos gremiales, al par del incentivo poderoso que 
 anadio a tan celebres festividades el concurso de tantos artistas 
 esclarecidos como enriquecieron eon admirables obras de escul- 
 tura las lujosas andas presentadas por las Hermandades a la 
 adoracion de un vecindario eminentemente catolico. 
 
 El orio;en de las cofradias se remonta a los fastos bonrosos 
 de los gremios, los cuales, obedeciendo a la inspiracion reli- 
 giosa para consagrar debidamente sus asociaciones, erigieron 
 magnificos santuarios, bospitales y casas de misericordia, rivali- 
 zando en publicas muestras de piedad con las bermandades 
 instltuidas por los caballcros y ricos tratantes en el comercio 
 de las Indias Occidentalcs. El espiritu de las epocas y el 
 caracter particular de un pueblo de tan ardiente fantasia espli- 
 can las escenas misticas que mostraron un tiempo las proce- 
 siones de penitencia y su acertada supresion por incompatibles 
 con el lustre y severidad del culto. 
 
 En nuestros dias la Semana Santa conserva sus sagrados 
 recuerdos y representa al vivo esa armonia maravillosa de la 
 
266 APPENDIX, 
 
 religion cristiana con el estado civil ; refluyendo el rito en pro 
 de las artes, industrias, ciencias j trafico, a. quienes paga con 
 creces el auxilio que prestan a sus solemnidades. 
 
 DIVIN'OS OFICIOS EN LA SANTA IGLESIA METRO- 
 POLITANA. 
 
 Nuestra iusigne y famosa basilica, correspondiendo a sus 
 tradiciones, a la religiosidad nunca desmentida de su Cabildo 
 y a su celo del esplendor de la Metropoli, no ha perdonado 
 sacrificio por continuar en este ano el ritual solemnisimo que 
 atrae a los fieles a su sagrado recinto. El Emmo. Prelado de 
 esta Diocesis, coadyuvando solicito a tan augustos fines, es- 
 fuerza a pesar de su quebrantada salud la magnificencia de las 
 cereraonias con que recuerda la Iglesia los misterios de la 
 paslon de Jesucristo. 
 
 Los oficios del Domingo de Ramos principiaran a las seis 
 de la manana. Despues de tercia bendice el Sr. Dean las 
 palmas y olivas y sale el Ilmo. Cabildo Eclesiastico en pro- 
 cesion por Gradas. Al regresar al Templo, el subdiacono da 
 con el asta de la cruz un golpe en la puerta contigua a la 
 Giralda, para significar que el Redentor con la suya nos abrio 
 las del cielo. Concluida esta ceremonia predica el Sr. Ca- 
 nonigo Magistral; cantandose luego la misa y la pasion con 
 acompanamiento de musica. Por la tarde se hace la misteriosa 
 ostension de la sagrada bandera. 
 
 En los del Martes y Miercoles Santos se canta tambien la 
 pasion con la misma solemnidad ; rompiendose en la del se- 
 gundo el velo bianco con estrepitosos truenos. En las visperas 
 se hace la ultima ostension de la sagrada bandera. Terminan 
 las tinieblas con un solemne Miserere de nueve a diez de la 
 noche y acto continuo se conduce en procesion el Santisimo 
 Sacramento a la capilla del Sagrario. 
 
 El Jueves Santo empieza a las nueve el augusto sacrificio de 
 la misa. El clero comulga en ella y luego deposita la sagrada 
 
APPENDIX. 267 
 
 forma en el magnifico monumento que se erige en la setima 
 boveda del trascoro sobre la sepultura de D. Fernando Colon, 
 hijo del descubridor del nuevo mundo. Trazo tan maravilloso 
 proyecto Antonio Florentin en el auo 1545 ; concluyendose en 
 1554 y sus reformas posteriores en 1689. El monumento 
 tiene la altura de 40 varas, es enteramente aislado y consta de 
 cuatro cuerpos, presentando cuatro frentes iguales con la planta 
 de una cruz griega. Sobre 16 pedestales de 9 pics se elevan 
 otras tantas columnas de 22 de alto y tres de diametro y en 
 grupos de cuatro sostienen su arquitrave, friso y cornisa. 
 Dentro de este primer cuerpo aparece otro pequeiio, que lo 
 forman otras cuatro columnas y bajo una cupula con ricos 
 adornos ostenta su gallardia la famosa custodia de Juan de 
 Arfe con una urna de oro, donde se coloca el Santisimo Sacra- 
 mento. Imita la blancura del alabastro, esmaltado de oro en 
 labores, filetes, perfiles e inscripciones. Ciento cuarenta lam- 
 paras de plata, diez y seis blandones gigantescos del propio 
 metal y 581 luces de cera iluminan tan suntuosa obra. 
 
 Diez y seis columnas del Templo se visten con una riquisima 
 colgadura de terciopelo carmesi y anchos galones de oro, apare- 
 ciendo igual adorno en todo el espacio de la puerta grande. 
 
 Su Eminencia sirve a las doce una esplendida comida ^ 
 trece pobres, vestidos a su costa. Las mesas estan de mani- 
 fiesto al publico en el palacio Arzobispal desde por la mafiana 
 hasta que acaban los oficios. 
 
 A las tres de la tarda lava el Sr. Dean los pies d los referidos 
 pobres en la crujia del coro al presbiterio ; continuan las com- 
 pletas y las tinieblas que concluyen a las diez de la noche y 
 entonces se repiten las pateticas entonaciones del Miserere, que 
 como el que se canta en la anterior, puso en musica el maestro 
 Eslaba y cuyas notas, admiracion de propios y estraiios, llenan 
 de melodias delicadas y armonias sorprendentes las mages- 
 tuosas bovedas del Templo. 
 
 El Viernes Santo a las seis predica un Misionero junto al 
 Monumento. Acto continuo empiezan las horas canonicas. 
 
268 APPENDIX. 
 
 cantase la pasion y el celebrante pide miscricordia para todos 
 los hombres j ostenta solemnemente la Cruz a la adoracion del 
 pueblo. Despues se forma la proccsion al Monumento y 
 vuelve con la Divina Magestad a la capilla mayor donde ter- 
 raina el rito de la mauana ; principiandose las tinieblas por la 
 tarde d las tres y media. 
 
 Los oficios del Sabado Santo comienzan d las siete por la 
 bendicion del fuego nuevo y la del cirio Pascual, que en todos 
 tiempos se ha reconocido como simbolo de la resurreccion del 
 Salvador. Acto seguido se cantan doce profecias para instruc- 
 cion de los catecumenos ; se bendice la pila bautismal ; ento- 
 nanse las letanias de los santos ; continiia la misa y se descubre 
 el retablo al Gloria in excelsis Deo enmedio de truenos y 
 con un repique general de camj^anas, que interrumpe el j)iadoso 
 silencio de tan solemnes dias. 
 
 Aumentard el esplendur de la Semana Santa la estacion a la 
 Iglesia Catedral de las siguientes Cofradias. 
 
 DOMINGO DE RAMOS. 
 
 Santo Cristo del Silencio, desprecio de Herodes y Ntra. SeTiora de la 
 Amargiira. — Parroqida de S. Juan Bautista. 
 
 El Tribunal de Herodes en el acto de mandar que Jesus fuese con- 
 ducido con la vestidura blanca a la presencia de Pilatos, representa el 
 primer paso de esta Cofradia. La escultura del Sevior es obra de Pedro 
 Eoldan ; dos de los soldados romanos son de Pedro Duque Cornejo, 
 constructor de la celebre silleria del coro de ia Catedral de Cordoba ; 
 otros dos y Herodes se deben k D. Benito Hita del CastiUo. Las andas 
 son modernas, de orden corintio, con los Evangelistas en los ungulos, 
 cuatro medallones de medio relieve en los centros, recordando pasages 
 del antiguo y nuevo Testamento, diez y seis profetas y varias alegorias. 
 En el segundo paso aparece la Santisima Vi'rgen bajo pdlio y con pro- 
 fusion de luces, acompanada de S. Juan, cuya famosa efigie esculpieron 
 con mucha fortuna los cinceles del susodicho Hita del Castillo. Las 
 tunicas de los nazarenos que preceden al primero son blancas, y negras 
 las de los que van ante el segundo. 
 
APPENDIX. 269 
 
 Sagrada Entrada en Jemsalen, Santo Cristo del Amor y Ntra. 
 Senora del Socorro. — Parroqxiia de S. Miguel. 
 
 Lleva esta Cofradia tres pasos. Reprcscnta el primero la entrada 
 triunfante del Salvador en la ciudad Santa ; acompafiado a su sagrada 
 efigie los apostoles S. Pedro, S. Juan y Santiago. Delante aparecen 
 arrodillados seis hebreos, tendiendo sus capas, para que las pise el Sefior 
 y al lado una palma. El segundo conduce al Crucificado exhalando el 
 ultimo suspiro. Los miisculos violentamente contraidos, la lividez del 
 semblante y la expresion de los ojos, dan una idea admirable de la 
 agonia del Redentor y prueban el acierto del insigne Juan Martinez 
 Montanes en sus obras. El tercer paso, sobre peana dorada y bajo piilio 
 de terciopelo bordado de oro, sostenido por doce varas de plata, ostenta 
 a la imagen dolorosa de nuestra Senora del Socorro, con multitud de 
 albajas y candelabros. 
 
 MlflRCOLES SANTO. 
 
 Santo Cristo de la Columna y Azotes y Madre de Dios de la Victoria, 
 Iglesia de los Terceros. 
 
 Desde 1846 dej(S de hacer estacion esta Hermandad ; pero a impulsos 
 de una ardiente devocion y vencieudo multitud de obstaculos han 
 logrado sus individuos, pertenecientes k una clase honrada de artesanos, 
 ofrecer en el presente ano a la adoracion de los fieles las imagenes de su 
 instituto. El primer paso conduce, sobre peana antigua delicadamente 
 tallada y con ricos adornos dorados, a Ntro. Sr. Jesucristo amarrado a 
 una columna y dos judios azotandolo. En el segundo aparece bajo 
 palio la Santisima Virgen con piedras preciosas y saya y manto bordados 
 de oro ; atribiiyendose, tanto esta distinguida escultura, como las otras 
 de la misma Cofradia, a los discipulos del celebre Roldan. La tristeza 
 del primer asunto y la dulzura y resignacion espresadas con feliz verdad 
 en el rostro de la amorosa Madre de Dios, conmueven tiernamente 
 el animo y lo inducen a contemplar con recojimiento sus acerbos 
 dolores. 
 
 Santo Cristo de las Siete Palabras y^ Maria Santisima de los Remedies. 
 Iglesia de Ntra. Senora del Cdnnen. 
 
 El Calvario con el Redentor crucificado y en actitud de pronunciar 
 sus ultimas palabras, la Santisima Virgen, S. Juan y la Magdalcna al 
 
270 APPENDIX. 
 
 pie de la Cruz, representa el linico paso de esta Cofradia. Las imagenes 
 son de aventajados escultores, entre los cuales figura el joven D. Manuel 
 Gutierrez, y merced a los esfuerzos piadosos de los nuevos hermanos 
 estrenan trajes de terciopelo. Seran conducidas sobre una peana dorada 
 con tableros diestramente tallados j primorosos adomos ; coronando sus 
 angulos angeles mancebos con grupos de luces. 
 
 JUEV^S SANTO. 
 
 Sagrada Oracion del Huerto y Maria Santisima del Rosario^ en sus 
 Misterios Dolorosos. — Iglesia de Monte-Sion. 
 
 Aparece en el primer paso Nuestro Padre Jesus orando de rodillas 
 delante del Angel, que con el Caliz y la Cruz se eleva sobre un trono 
 de nubes, junto a ima palmera. Al frente se ve la puerta del huerto 
 de Getlisemani, detras de la cual duermen los apostoles S. Juan, 
 S. Pedro y Santiago. El zocalo, restaurado con mucho gusto en este ano, 
 es de bastante merito. Todas las efigies son del celebre escultor sevi- 
 llauo Pedro Eoldan, excepto el Angel y los medallones de la peana, que 
 la tradicion atribuye a su hija Luisa, conocida con el nombre de la 
 Eoldana. Figura este miaterio, con una propiedad interesantisima, una 
 de las mas dolorosas escenas de la pasion del Hombre-Dios. El pensa- 
 miento se transporta a aquella memorable noclie, vispera de la redencion 
 del mundo, y al batir de los penachos de la gentil palmera, se imagina 
 al Salvador retrocediendo un instante ante la somhra espantosa de la 
 viiterte, segun una poetica frase, y exclaniJlndo : que pase lejos de nu 
 este cdliz. 
 
 En otras andas sale bajo palio la Santisima Virgen, con un rico manto 
 de terciopelo cubierto de estrellas de oro de alto relieve, ostentando 
 alliajas de gran valor y considerable numero de candelas. Los naza- 
 renos visten tunicas blancas y mantos negros de lana, y entre otras 
 insi2;nias estrena esta Cofradia un Senatus enteramente igual al que 
 usaban las leeriones romanas. 
 
 Dulce Nomhre de Jesns, Sagrado Descendimiento de Nti^o. Seiior 
 
 Jesucristo, y Qainta Angustia de Maria Santisima. — Parroqm'a de 
 
 Santa Maria Magdalena. 
 
 Dos pasos suntuosos lleva esta Cofradia. El primero representa la 
 aceptacion del cruento sacrificio, para redimir al hombre del pecado. 
 
APPENDIX. 271 
 
 Ostentase magestuosamente sobre una elevada colina la efigie del divino 
 Nazareno en su infancia, obra maravillosa del colebre escultor Geronimo 
 de Hernandez, bendiciendo los atributos principales de la Pasion, reve- 
 rentemente ofrecidos por un grupo de angeles. Al pie se distingne el 
 Santo Precursor, anunciando a las generaciones, figuradas por graciosos 
 parvulos, entretenidos en juegos infan tiles, la mision aiigusta que el 
 verbo humanado vino a desempeSar lleno de generoso interes por la 
 salvacion de las almas. Preciosos corderos, si'mbolo del rebano de 
 Cristo, acuden a beber las cristalinas aguas de la Salud etema, que 
 descienden de la cumbre ; divisandose en segundo temiino un arbol 
 alegorico al del fruto proliibido, con una serpiente ya exanime por la 
 aparicion de Jesus. La montana, apesar de sus grandes dimensiones, 
 ofrece mucha ligereza por sus acertadas quiebras embellecidas por ^os 
 arbustos, flores y plantas aromaticas, que embalsaman el aire con su 
 fragancia. La inspiracion de esta obra y las nuevas esculturas son 
 hijas de la acreditada inteligencia de dos artistas contemporaneos, cuyos 
 nombres recordara la posteridad con aplauso. 
 
 Los santos varones Jose y Nicodemus en los extremos superiores de 
 las escaleras y apoyados en los brazos de la Cruz, que presenta a la 
 veneracion piiblica el segundo paso, suspenden con fajas de lienzo el 
 cuerpo de Jesus difunto, en el acto del descendimiento. Junto al arbol 
 sagrado aparecen Nuestra SeSora de la Quinta Angustia, asi titulada por 
 la que padecio en este trance ; S. Juan Evangelista, la Magdalena y las 
 Santas Mugeres con .'^tibanas de riquisima tela para recibir el cadaver 
 del Redentor, cuyo descenso parece que se presencia realniente, por el 
 efecto admirable que causa en los que lo contemplan el movimiento de 
 la dolorosa efigie, balanceandose en el aire, pendiente de las ligaduras 
 que sujetan las manos de los varones. Las esculturas dan honra por 
 su relevante merito al ingenio del fecundo Pedro Roldan. Las imagenes 
 lucen magnificos trajes de terciopelo con esplendidos bordados de oro, 
 formando dibujos elegantes, que se extienden por toda la tela, y las 
 peanas de las andas son de mucho gusto con altos relieves. Los naza- 
 renos usan tunicas moradas con mantos blancos y todas laa insiguias de 
 esta Hermandad corresponden al brillo de sus cultos. 
 
 Nuestro Padre Jesus de la Pasion y Maria Santisima de la Merced. 
 Parroquia de S. Miguel. 
 
 Sobre una peana dibujada por el inteligente adomista D. Juan Rossi, 
 construida y dorada con singular esmero en sus talleres, aparece, vis- 
 tiendo tunica de terciopelo con bordados de oro, la bellisima efigie del 
 
2/2 APPENDIX. 
 
 Nazareno, obra maravillosa del famoso escultor Juan Martinez Mon- 
 tanes, quien, segun lefiere Arana de Varflora en siis ' Hijos de Sevilla,' 
 salia a encontrarla por las calles cuando la sacahan en procesion, 
 diciendo que era imjyosihle hubiesee'l ejecutado cosa tan admirable. Lleva 
 el Sefior la Cruz al hombro con la ayuda del Cirinco, que se atribuye 
 al mismo autor, siendo, por su expresiva naturalidad, de las mejores 
 esculturas de su clase. Cuatro lingeles estofados sol)re«ilen en los angu- 
 los del zocalo y en su centro escudos esmaltados de ordenes religiosas. 
 
 En ctras andas salen con lujosisimos trajes, recamados de oro, la 
 devota efigie de Nuesti-a Senora y la de S. Juan Evangelista bajo palio, 
 con varas y cornisa de plata, siendo del propio metal su moderna peana. 
 Profusion de alhajas y de luces, en vistosos candelabros, diin mayor 
 rea^ce a este paso. Los nazarenos visten tunicas blancas con antifaz 
 morado. 
 
 VIERNES DE MADEUGADA. 
 
 Jesus Nazareno, Santa C)^z en Jerusalen y Maria Santisima de la 
 Concepcion. — Iglesia de S. Antonio Abad. 
 
 Esta Cofradia, primera que juro defender la Pureza de la Virgen, se 
 distingue por la rigida observancia de su instituto y por el piadoso 
 recogimiento de sus nazarenos al liacer estacion a la Sta. Iglesia. Lleva 
 dos pasos : en el primero, liltimamente restaurado, sale el Sefior con 
 una cruz de carey al hombro, ofrenda del comercio de las Indias, 
 Uevando una riquisima tunica bordada de oro. A los lados se encuentran 
 dos angeles mancebos muy bellos, con faroles de plata y candelabros en 
 los angulos. 
 
 En el segundo aparecen sobre una peana de plata la Virgen San- 
 tisima y S. Juan Evangelista bajo palio de terciopelo salpicado de 
 estrellas y sostenido por varas del propio metal ; luciendo multitud de 
 reliquias, macetas y ramos tambien de plata, con profusion de bujlas en 
 candeleros. La imagen del Nazareno es antiquisima y las otras dos se 
 ejecutaron por Cristobal Kamos, reconociendose en todas ellas no escaso 
 merito. 
 
 Nuestro Padre Jesus del Gran Poder y Maria Santisima del Mayor 
 Dolor y Traspaso. — Parroquia de S. Lorejizo. 
 
 Su primer paso, ostenta la sagrada efigie del Redentor, Uevando sobre 
 sus hombros el grave peso de la Cruz en actitud de caminar liacia el 
 
APPENDIX. 273 
 
 Golgota, donde debia consumarse el divino sacrificio. Escultura del emi- 
 nente artista Juan Martinez Montanes. La expresion del rostro reciierda 
 la escuela de Murillo en la verdad pasmosa, con que traduce el alma de 
 los Santos. La peana figura un elegante canasto calado de ritiuisima 
 taUa, y sii perfil es de tanto gusto que, a pesar de su excesivo tamano, 
 hace ligcra y graciosa la inimitable combinacion de sus contornos. Los 
 angeles y relieves, que adornan el refcrido zocalo, son tanibien de im- 
 ponderable merito. 
 
 Ocupan el segundo las im^genes de la Virgen Santisima y del disci- 
 pulo querido, obra del mismo autor, viendo con hondisima pena el 
 tninsito de Jesus al Calvario. Todas tres efigies visten tunicas y nuintos 
 de terciopelo, esplendidamente bordados de oro ; brillando en las ulti- 
 mas andas alhajas de inmenso valor y profusion de luces. Distinguese 
 tambien esta Cofradia por el ordeu y devocion de sus hermanos. 
 
 Sentencia de Cristo y Maria Santisima de la Esperanza. — Parroquia de 
 
 S. Gil. 
 
 El Tribunal de Pilatos, en el acto de pronunciar su sentencia, es el 
 asunto del primer paso. Pilatos aparece sentado en el testero, bajo un 
 dosel de madera tallada y delante los ministros en sus respectivos 
 asientos. Enmedio se ve al Eedentor con las manos ligadas y dos 
 judios armados, que lo tienen preso. A los lados del trono de Pilatos 
 se encuentran dos criados, uno con palangana y otro con el jarro y la 
 toalla para lavarse las manos. La riqueza de la peana, habilmente con- 
 struida por el fciUista D. Jose Vicente Hernandez, lionra al arte y 
 muestra el fervoroso celo de los cofrades. Bajo palio de plata sale en 
 otras andas la Santisima Virgen, engalanada con un magni'fico manto y 
 saya de terciopelo, luciendo profusos y lujosisimos bordados de oro. 
 Las efigies principales son de Roldan. Los nazarenos llevan tunicas 
 blancas con antifaz verde y acompanara a una numerosa escoltii de 
 milicia romana, ricamente vestida, su correspondiente miisica con trajes 
 analogos. Conserva esta Cofradia la ceremonia de la liumillacion, que 
 se verifica en el campo de la Macarcna al regresar u su iglesia. 
 
 POR LA TARDE. 
 
 Santisima Cruz en el Monte Calvario y Ntra. Seiiora de la Soledad. 
 Iglesia de S. Buenaventura. 
 
 Prescnta el iinico paso de esta ilustre hermandad a la Santisima 
 Virgen al pie de la Cruz, sintiendo en su soledad amarga la muerte de 
 
 T 
 
274 APPENDIX. 
 
 su qtierido Hijo. El drbol sagrado ostenta las escalcras y el sudario 
 con que lo dcscendieron los Santos Varones. La efigie luce un pre- 
 cioso manto de terciopelo bordado de ore, y so dcbe a los cinceles del 
 distinguido artista D. Gabriel Astorga ; siendo la peana de muclio 
 gusto, con bajos relieves y atributos de la pasion en medaUones. 
 
 Santtsimo Crista de la Exaltacion y Ntra. Sra. de las Ldgrimas. 
 Parroquia de Sta. Catalina. 
 Aparece en el primer paso el Salvador de nuestras almas, ya encla- 
 vado en la Cruz, cuya elevacion procuran cuatro verdugos, para erigirla 
 en el hueco de ima pena. Es devotisima la actitud del Senor y aflic- 
 tiva la de los ladrones, los cuales manifiestan en sus semblantes el dolor 
 que les causa el tormento y la idea de su proxima muerte. Dos 
 ministros de justicia a caballo presencian tan angustiosa escena ; atribu- 
 yendose las esculturas a la acreditada inteligencia de Pedro Eoldan 
 La peana es nueva, embelleciendola delicados adornos de talla dorada 
 sobre fondo bianco y escudos de ordenes religiosas, pintados con la pro- 
 piedad herdldica que distingue a las obras del profesor D. Jose Diaz. 
 El segundo lleva a la Santisima Vi'rgen, estrenando una saya y im 
 manto ricamente bordados de oro, sobre peana de plata y bajo palio, 
 que sostienen diez varas del mismo metal, adornandolo candelabros y 
 otros objetos preciosos, con crecido numero de bujias. Los nazarenos 
 visten tunicas blancas con antifaz morado. 
 
 Santo Cn'sto de la Conversion del Buen Ladron y Maria Santisima de 
 Monserrate. — Parroquia de Santa Maria Magdalena. 
 
 Esta Cofradia, notable por su ostentosa restauracion, decora con 
 inmensa esplendidez sus pasos. El primero conduce a S. Isaias Profeta, 
 sentado bajo una esbelta palmera de plata, en el acto de escribir la venida 
 pasion y muerte de Cristo. El segundo representa al Senor crucificado, 
 en el instante de ofrecer el paraiso al buen ladron en premio de su 
 reconocimiento. Esta escultura es una de las obras mas insignes del 
 c^lebre Montanes. Al pie de la Cruz figura la Magdalena en actitud de 
 abrazarla. Las peanas forradas de terciopelo, lucen ricos ardomos 
 dorados ; coronando los angulos angeles y candelabros de mucho merito. 
 El tercero ostenta bajo palio de plata a la Santisima Virgen con saya de 
 terciopelo bianco profusamente bordada de oro y suntuoso manto azul 
 de la misma tela, guarnecido de dos ancbas franjas y recamado de oro 
 en el fondo, brillando el escudo de la Corporacion en la cola que recogen 
 sacerdotes. Dos magnificos candelabros de plata iluminan la parte 
 
APPENDIX. 27s 
 
 posterior del paso, cuyas andas van cubiertas con caidas de terciopelo 
 azul tambien bordadas de oro y plata. Estotra efigie es igualmente de 
 Montafi^s, y entre la pedreria con que la adornan se ve el aderezo 
 regalado por la Eeina Dona Maria Amelia, apareciendo a sus pies 
 multitud de reliquias, alhajas y candeleros. Una magnifica banda de 
 miisica con lujosos vestidos A la romana precederd d la centuria que 
 custodia el segundo paso, representdndose la F^ y la Muger Veronica 
 por jovenes con preciosos trajes andlogos. Los nazarenos visten tunicas 
 blancas con antiftiz azul. 
 
 Sagrada Mortaja de Nuestro Senor Jesitcristo y Maria Santisima de la 
 Piedad. — Parroquia de Sta. Marina. 
 
 Nuestro Padre Jesus descendido de la Cruz, la Santisima Virgen, S. 
 Juan, las tres Marias y los Santos Varones reunidos en el Calvario al 
 pi6 de la Cruz en actittid de subir el cuerpo del Senor con el sudario, 
 primorosamente sembrado de flores para colocarlo en el sepulcro, forman 
 el linico paso de esta Cofradia. Su zocalo figura un canasto con relieves 
 y medallones dorados que recuerdan asiintos de la pasion y lleva seis 
 magnificos candelabros. Las efigies son de Pedro Roldan y la de Ntra. 
 Sra. estrena un rico manto bordado de oro. Los nazarenos iran con 
 nuevas tunicas moradas y mantos negros de merino, rodeando las andas 
 sacerdotes con estolas. El doloroso aspecto de aquellas sagradas 
 imagenes en el Golgota, produce en el animo una profunda melancolia 
 y agolpa d los pdrpados el llanto. 
 
 Kuestra Senora de la Soledad. — Parroquia de S. Migxiel. 
 
 Esta Cofradia, cuyos ciiltos tuvieron ima ostentacion estraordinaria, 
 redobla sus afanes para mantener su antiguo lustre. Lleva dos pasos : 
 uno con la Cruz, separado ya el cuerpo sacrosanto del Redentor, y otro 
 con la Santisima Virgen, llorando en su amargo aislamiento la intensidad 
 de su pena. Bajo pdlio, sostenido por varas de plata, aparece esta 
 sagrada efigie, vestida de terciopelo con relieves bordados de oro. Los 
 hermanos usan tunicas blancas con antifdz negro. 
 
 El orden seguido en la presente descripcion, no limita las 
 facultades de las jurisdicciones eclesiustica y civil para fijar 
 definitivamente el que deban guardar las Cofradias en su esta- 
 cion a la Basilica Metropolitana. Todavia es posible que 
 tenga aumcnto su niimero, porquc las hcnnandades no com- 
 
 T 2 
 
2/6 APPENDIX. 
 
 prcncHclas en este manifiesto pueden resolver su salida antes 
 del Martes Santo. 
 
 Excusase inculcar al pueblo de Sevilla el espiritu dc 
 piadoso recogimiento propio de tan solemne epoca, porque la 
 cultiira del vecindario es uno de los timbres que justamente lo 
 enorgullecen, mereciendo la entera confianza de sus auto- 
 rldades. 
 
 Sevilla, 20 de Marzo de 1866. 
 
 El President e del Excmo. Ayiintamiento., 
 
 Joaquin de Peualta. Jose Elias Fernandez, 
 
 Secretano, 
 
 PLAZA DE TOROS DE SEVILLA. 
 
 CON rEEMISO DEL EXCMO. SR. GOBEKNADOR DE ESTA rROVINCIA. 
 
 DOS GEANDES COEEIDAS DE TOEOS 
 
 en las tardes de los dias 18 y 19 del presente mes de Abril de 
 1866 (si el tiempo no las impide), — 2\ y 3^ de abono. 
 
 La pla^a sera presidida por la Autoridad competcnte. 
 
 Los DoCE ToROS que ban de lidiarse pertenecen a las ganaderias 
 siguientes : — 
 
 DiA 18. Seis de la del Sr. D. Jose Arias de Saavedra de Utrera, 
 hoy de la propiedad del Excmo. Sr. D. Ildefonso Nunez de Prado de 
 Arcos de la Frontera. 
 
 DiA 19. Seis de la de la Seiiora Doua Josefa Fernandez Viuda de 
 Miura, de Sevilla. 
 
 ESPADAS. 
 
 Francisco Arjona Guillen (CUCHARES), de Madrid ; Antonio 
 Sanchez (EL TATO) y Manuel Carmona, ambos de Sevilla; 
 los que mataran alternando. 
 
APPENDIX. 277 
 
 Sobresaliente de espada. — Fkancisco Arjona Reyes, de Sevilla. 
 
 PiCADOUES. — Manuel Ledesma (el Coriano) ; Francisco Calderon, de 
 Alcalti de Guadaira; Antonio Pinto, de Utrera; Miguel Alan is, de 
 Dos-Hermanas, Ramon Fernandez (el Esterero), de Madrid ; Francisco 
 Kodas y Juan Trigo, de Sevilla ; trabajando este ultimo en la tarde del 
 18 y Miguel Aianis en la del I'J. Si los picadores anunciados se 
 inutilizan no exigin'i el publico otros aunque queden toros por lidiar. 
 
 Banderilleros. — Matias Muniz, Pablo Herraiz, Juan Sanchez (no 
 Teveas) y Mariano Anton, todos de Madrid; Francisco Ortega (el 
 Cuco), de Cadiz ; Jos^ Gomez (el Gallito), y Jos6 Martin, ambos de 
 Sevilla. 
 
 CAcheteros. — Manuel Bustamante (Pulga) y Manuel Gallango, de 
 Sevilla. 
 
 Prevenciones de la Autoridad. — Siguen las establecidas para el 
 orden y gobierno de la plaza. Se usara de banderillas de fuego para 
 los toros que no tomen varas y para los que disponga la Presidencia, 
 liabiendo preparados perros de presa para los casos que la misma juzgue 
 oportunos. No se permitira la entrada por las puertas de las cuadras 
 mas que ha lidiadores y operarios. Bajo ningun pretesto se tomara 
 dinero en las puertas. Todo billete que no se encuentre signado con el 
 sello de la Empresa, sera considerado como ilegitimo. Por disposicion 
 de la Autoridad superior queda espresamente prohibido que persona 
 alguna solicite permiso para la ejecucion de ninguna clase de suertes 
 durante las corridas. 
 
 Notas. — Los vendedores de frutas, dulces, gaseosas y demas, entrariin 
 esclusivamente por la puerta del Principe con billete de sombra. A los 
 aguadores se les espenderan biUetes al precio de 4 reales, a las 7 de la 
 manana de los dias de las corridas en la sala de Diputacion de la plaza 
 de Toros, siendo la puerta de entrada para aquellos la del Principe y 
 hora de la una de la tarde. Los despachos de billetes se situartin en la 
 calle de Genova, Campana, Dados, Imiigen y Plaza de Toros, abriendose 
 a las seis de la manana de los dias de las funciones, retiriindose de dichos 
 puntos a las dos de la tarde para ocupar los de los alrededores de la 
 plaza. Una banda de musica compuesta de los mejores profesores y 
 bajo la direccion de D. Antonio Palatin, tocara piezas escogidas media 
 hora antes de empezarse las corridas y en los intermedios. Los toros 
 se encontrariin en Tablada las tardes vispera de las funciones. 
 
 Las localidades de preferencia para ambas corridas se espen- 
 deran en contaduria con el aumeiito de dos reales, desde las 
 
278 APPENDIX. 
 
 diez de la maiiana de los dias 16 y 17 hasta las tres de la tarde 
 de cada uno de ellos, en la calle Tetuan num. 27 y en los dias 
 de las corridas en los despachos de calle Grenova y Campana al 
 precio de tarifa. 
 
 La plaza se abrira d la Una y Media, empezando las corridas a las 
 CuATRO en pimto. 
 
 Takifa. — Delanteros de palcoa altos y bajos, Ilvn. 34. — Scgundas de 
 id., 20. — Barandillas de piedra, 24. — Barandillas de Diputacion y 
 asientos de Toril, 20. — Id. de cajon, 30. — Id. de vallas, 15. — Centres 
 de piedra, 12. — Id. de Diputacion, 10. — Sombra, 9. — Sol, 6. 
 
 LA MULETA. 
 
 EEVISTA TAUEINA MADEILENA. 
 
 Tercera media corrida de toros, verificada hoy 15 de 
 Abril, en la que se corrieron tres de Don Justo Hernandez, 
 vecino de Madrid, y otros tres del Excmo. Sr. Marques del 
 Saltillo que lo es de Carmona. 
 
 Sali6 el primero de Hernandez, llamado Pandereto, retinto, oscuro, 
 ojinegro, bien armado, boyante y de libras, dure al hierro y rematando. 
 Tomo cuatro varas y un marronazo de Pinto, sufriendo dos caidas e 
 liiriendole el pence, y seis de Onofre, dandoles dos caidas de padre y 
 muy sefior mio. 
 
 El inteligente Muniz le clavo dos pares cuarteando, y otro el Cuquito 
 a topa-carnero con grandes aplausos; sentido el vicho al castigo, se 
 liuy6 a las tablas ; el Tato armado con los trastos lo paso con gran 
 trabajo por liaberse lieclio receloso y tapiarle la salida al diestro ; y 
 despues de oclio naturales y cuatro con la dereclia, le dio muerte de 
 una magnifica a volapi^ en los tres Ocliavos. 
 
 De Lesaca fue el segundo, llamado Cajmcha, negro, meano, algo 
 corni paso y de cabeza, sintiendose al liierro y haci^ndose tardo. Tres 
 veces le clavo la pica Onofre, dan dole un marronazo y sufriendo dos 
 caidas, con perdida de rm caballo, y dos de Pinto, con otro marronazo 
 con su correspondiente costalazo y perdida del pitillo que montaba. 
 
 Los Banderilleros Yust y Chesin le clavaron tres pares de palos al 
 cuarteo. 
 
 Tocaron a muerte, y el Gordito que a mancra de hacerle cuadra y 
 
APPENDIX. 279 
 
 partir dercclio, despucs de diez pasos naturales y un cambio, por piiro 
 lujo, le mando a mejor vida de una biiena, cuarteando en el em- 
 broil que. 
 
 Brinc() el tercero en el circo, de nombre Connsario, de la ganaderia 
 de Hernandez, retinto, sucio, ojo de pordiz, bien arniado. SidhS avanto, 
 pardndose y crecidndose al palo. 
 
 Cuatro veces le pinchu Pinto (el cerviguillo), matdndole un jamelgo, 
 otras tantas por la de Onofre, y dos del reserva (franc(5s) muy bien 
 puestas, agradando al publico que justamente le aplaudiij. 
 
 Este picador nos parece que promete, no obstante lo poco que lo 
 hemos visto trabajar. 
 
 Tocaron banderillas, y Jaqueta le colgo en ]o bueno doa pares de 
 frente y uno Villaviciosa, cuarteando. 
 
 El vicho 'se buy 6 al castigo, escupiendose al trapo y haciendose de 
 sentido, y lo mato Lagartijo despues de varies pases, sin concluir dc un 
 golletazo, ddndole las tablas. 
 
 — Sor Lagartijo para matar toros hay que parar los pies y arrancar 
 corto y derecho. 
 
 Lesaqueno fue el cuarto, llamado Ligero, correspondiendo a su 
 nombre, salio arrancao, era de pelo negro, meano, cornicorto, brabucon 
 y blando sin rematar la lidia. El brazo fe'rreo del picador Pinto, le 
 hizo huir al castigo d la segunda vara, despues de otra de Onofre. 
 
 Tomaron los rehiletes Mariano Anton y Mufiiz, clavdndole dos pares 
 por mitad, uno al cuarteo de Mariano y otro Barvian de Muniz, mc- 
 tiendose en la cuna. 
 
 Aun cuando este vicho se habia hecLo receloso, tomo los avios el 
 Tato y empajandole en el trapo le compuso algo la cabeza; pero 
 arrancdndole con bastante asco, le di6 un' pinchazo saliendo el vicho 
 detras. Volvio d pasarlo otras mil veces y sin tener en cuenta que el 
 vicho le tenia ganado el terreno por no estar ignalado lo pincho di> 
 nuevo, saliendo arrollado y vi6ndose obligado d abandonar otra vcz al 
 trapo. Continu6 la faena pinchandolo cuatro veces mas, callendo 
 descabellado del ultimo (silva descomunal y toques Chironescos). 
 
 De nombre Pinturero fu(5 el quinto, de pelo retinto, oscuro, negro 
 y bien armado. Salio como el ait'e, tomando dos varaa a la carrera de 
 los dos picador es de tan da, y trcs mas de Pinto, dos de Onofre y otras 
 dos del Frances, a las cuales corrcspondio el vicho con gran fucrza. 
 
 Sono el clarin y a peticion del publico Lagartijo le clavo im par cuar- 
 teando en el embronque, no pudiendo hacer el vicho entrar al quiebro y 
 otros dos mas dando el quiebro en imo de ellos con unanimes aplausos 
 de el pviblico que premia siempre todo lo quo es bueno y vale. 
 
28o APPENDIX. 
 
 Lo mato cl Gordito despues de muchos pases innecesarios la mayor 
 parte y por piiro Injo, concluyendolo de dos pinchazos, una cortii en 
 direccion contraria, descabellandole al primer intento. 
 
 Sali6 el I'lltimo de Lasaca, llamado Merino, negro azabache cornicorto, 
 y hiiido. 
 
 Lo cojio Lagartijo con seis lances al natural. 
 
 Tomo cinco varas matando un caballo y lo banderillo el Gordito, 
 poniendole dos pares al quiebro uno bajo, otro delantero y medio por 
 la izquierda en el brazuelo. 
 
 Se aomo Lagartijo de trastos y le hizo morder el polvo despues de 
 varies pases de ima buena hasta los deos. 
 
 En resumen : los toros medianos, del propio modo los 
 picadores : bien los banderilleros, seiialandose el Cuco y Muniz 
 en inteligencia y bravura : los espadas . . . silencio. La jire- 
 sidencia acertada : la entrada un Ueno : murieron unos diez 
 ciez caballos. 
 
 Barrabas y Calderilla. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PRINTED BT SPOTTISWOOnE AND CO. 
 
 NEW-STRFET SQUARE 
 
 V 
 
 {/ I' 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 NOV 2 51966 7^ 
 
 'N STACKS 
 
 NOV 10 1966 
 
 ECElVE^ 
 
 jjOy2r66_^^ 
 
 UQAN 
 
 oRi^t^ 
 
 LD 21A-60m-7,'66 
 (G4427sl0)476B 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
YD 092' 
 
 3f;58r. 
 
 IMVEBSITY OF CAUFORNIA UBRARY