From the Library of 
 Frank Simpson 
 
 ■ «v\y» v 
 
 
A 
 
 ^ f fj 75 
 
 HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELLERS 
 
 IN 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 BY RICHARD FORD, F.S.A. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 ESTREMADURA, LEON, GALLICIA, THE ASTURIAS, THE CASTILES 
 (OLD AND NEW), THE BASQUE PROVINCES, ARRAGON, AND 
 NAVARRE— A SUMMER TOUR. 
 
 QuiEN DICE ESPANA — DICE TODO. 
 
 THIRD EDITION, 
 
 ENTIRELY REVISED, WITH GREAT ADDITIONS. 
 
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( iii ) 
 
 CONTENTS OF PAET II. 
 
 Section VII.— ESTREMADURA. 
 
 Page 
 
 General View of the Province — its Merinos, Pigs, and Routes . . . 461 
 Badajoz . . . . . . . 466 
 
 Section VIII. — LEON. 
 
 Introductory Remarks on the Province and Natives, and Routes . . . 504 
 
 Salamanca 514 
 
 El Vierzo 539 
 
 Valladolid 566 
 
 Section IX.— THE KINGDOM OF GALLICIA. 
 
 Introductory Sketches of the Country, People, Production, and Routes . 587 
 
 Santiago 601 
 
 Section X.— THE ASTURIAS. 
 
 General View of the Principality, Early History, Natives, and Routes . 631 
 
 Oviedo and Coal Mines . 635 
 
 Section XI.— THE CASTILES ; OLD AND NEW. 
 
 General Account of the Country, Natives, and Routes 652 
 
 Madrid . 663 
 
 Escorial 750 
 
 Toledo 774 
 
 Section XII.— THE BASQUE PROVINCES. 
 
 The Fueros, Character of Country and Natives, Manners, Language, 
 and Routes . 872 
 
IV 
 
 CONTENTS OF PART II. 
 
 Section XIII.— KINGDOM OF ARRAGON. 
 
 Page 
 
 Constitutional History, Character of Country and People 903 
 
 Zaragoza 906 
 
 Section XIV.— KINGDOM OF NAVARRE. 
 
 The Country, Natives, and Routes 948 
 
 Pamplona . 952 
 
 Index ; to which the reader is particularly requested to refer, when any 
 word or fact seems to require explanation .......... 963 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 ( 461 ) 
 
 PART II. 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 ESTREMADURA. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Province ; Character of the Country and Natives ; the Mesta and Merinos ; 
 the Swine, Locusts, and Doves. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 B ADA J oz 466 
 
 ROUTE 56. — BADAJOZ TO LISBON . 470 
 
 ROUTE 57. — BADAJOZ TO MADRID. 471 
 Merida ; Medellin ; Trujillo. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PLASENCIA 494 
 
 ROUTE 60. — PLASENCIA TO TRU- 
 JILLO , 495 
 
 PLASENCIA TO MADRID .... 496 
 
 ROUTE 58. — EXCURSION TO ALMA- 
 DEN BY LOGROSAN AND GUADA- 
 LUPE .... 480 
 
 ROUTE 61.— PLASENCIA TO YUSTE 
 AND TALAYERA DE LA REINA . 496 
 Yuste. 
 
 route 57 (continued) .... 482 
 
 Almaraz ; Talavera de la Reina. 
 
 ROUTE 59. — MERIDA TO PLASEN- 
 CIA 488 
 
 Arroyo Molinos ; Caeeres ; Alcantara ; Coria. 
 
 ROUTE 62. — PLASENCIA TO SALA- 
 MANCA . 499 
 
 ROUTE 63. — PLASENCIA TO CIUDAD 
 
 RODRIGO 500 
 
 Abadia ; the Batuecas. 
 
 The chief objects in this too little visited province are the battle-fields of Badajoz, Arroyo 
 Molinos, and Almaraz ; the Roman antiquities of Merida, Alcantara, Coria, and Capara ; 
 the geology at Logrosan ; the convents of Guadalupe, Yuste, the valley of the Batuecas, and 
 scenery near Plasencia. The Springs and Autumns are the best seasons for travelling. 
 
 The province of Estremadura was so called (like Etruria — the eAepa opia) from 
 being the Extrema Ora , the last and extreme conquest of Alonso IX. made in 
 1228. It lies to the W. of the Castiles, on the Portuguese frontier. The average 
 length is some 190 miles, and breadth 90. The Tagus and Gruadiana, flowing 
 E. and W., both noble rivers, which might be rendered navigable, and would 
 be made so in any other country, divide it into two ; the former passing 
 through Estremadura Alta or upper, the latter through Estremadura Baja or 
 lower. The upper province is a continuous layer of slates intercalated with 
 beds of fine quartzite and granite. In both, vast districts of land fertile in 
 themselves, and under a beneficent climate, are abandoned to sheep-walks, or 
 left as uninhabited wastes overgrown with aromatic underwood, yet the finest 
 Spain, — II. ‘ Y 
 
462 
 
 ESTREMADURA. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 wheat might be raised here, and under the Bomans and Moors this province 
 was both a granary and a garden, and it is still called by the gipsies Chin del 
 ManrO) “the land of corn.” The Spaniards have pretty well converted this 
 Arabia Felix into a desert : its very existence seems to be forgotten by the 
 government at Madrid. Except in the immediate vicinity of towns, so few la- 
 bourers appear that production, be it of weed or grain, seems rather the caprice 
 or bounty of Nature than the work of man ; meantime the lonely dehesas y 
 despoblados are absolute preserves for the naturalist and sportsman : everything 
 displays the exuberant vigour of the sun, and a soil teeming with life and food, 
 and neglected, as it were, out of pure abundance. The swampy banks of the 
 Gruadiana offer good wild-fowl shooting in winter, but in summer they are 
 infected with fever and agues, mosquitos, and other light militia of the air 
 and earth. 
 
 In proportion as the animal creature abounds, man is rare, and the scanty 
 population of Estremadura ranges at about 600,000, which is scarcely at the 
 rate of 350 souls to the square league. The Bstremenos live in little intercom- 
 munication with the rest of mankind. Easily contented, and with few wants, 
 the peasants have hardly any motives to better their condition ; indifferent 
 even to the commonest comforts, the half-employed population vegetates without 
 manufactures or commerce, except in the bacon and the smuggler line. 
 
 The cities are few and dull ; the roads are made by sheep, not men ; and the 
 inns mere stables for beasts ; yet the Bstremeuos are simple, indolent, kind- 
 hearted, and contented ; civil and courteous, they offer a mixture between the 
 gay swaggering Andalucian and the serious proud Castilian. Nevertheless, when 
 urged by an adequate stimulant, avarice for instance, they are capable of great 
 exertion. Thus, from the swineherds of Trujillo and Medellin, Pizarro and 
 Cortes — great men, called for and created by great times — sallied forth to con- 
 quer and christianise a new world ; and thousands of their jpaisanos , or fellow- 
 countrymen, allured by their success and by visions of red gold, followed their 
 example, insomuch that Spanish authors, who did not dare hint the truth, 
 ascribed the depopulated condition of the province to this outpouring ; but 
 colonization never thins a vigorous well- conditioned mother state. Bad 
 government , civil and religious, was the real cause of this abomination of desola- 
 tion, which all who run in Estremadura may read. 
 
 A peculiar curse was superadded to Estremadura in the Mesta or migratory 
 system of Merino sheep ; these are the true flocks of the nomade Bedouin, and to 
 wander about without house or home, check or hindrance, suits the Oriental 
 habits alike of men and beasts. The origin is stated to have been after this wise : 
 when the Spaniards in the thirteenth century expelled from these parts the in- 
 dustrious Moors, they razed the cities andrazzia’d the country, while those inha- 
 bitants who were not massacred were driven away to die in slavery, thus the con- 
 querors made a solitude calling it pacification. Yast tracts previously in cultivation 
 were then abandoned, and nature, here prolific, soon obliterating the furrows of 
 man, resumed her rights, covered the soil with aromatic weeds, and gave it up 
 to the wild birds and beasts. Such were the talas , a true Moorish word talah , 
 <c death, extermination and where an Oriental army sets its foot the earth 
 is seared as by a thunderbolt, and the grass will never grow. Only a small 
 portion of the country was recultivated by the lazy, ignorant, soldier con- 
 querors ; and the new population, scanty as it was, was almost swept away 
 by a plague in 1348, after which fifty whole districts were left unclaimed ; these 
 were termed Valdios — from Baledo , uncultivated — a truly Moorish term, 
 Batele signifying “worthless” in the Arabic, whence the Spanish term de 
 Valde. These unclaimed, uninhabited pasturages attracted the highland 
 shepherds of Leon and the Cas tiles, who drove down their flocks to them 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 ESTREMADURA. 
 
 463 
 
 as to a milder winter quarter, returning to tlieir cool hills on the return of 
 scorching summer; hence by degrees a prescriptive right of agistment -was 
 claimed over these commons , and the districts were retazados , or set apart and 
 apportioned. This system, suggested naturally by the climate and country, 
 like that of thp trattari in the Abruzzi which existed in the time of the 
 Romans, is of remote antiquity. As the owners of the flocks were powerful 
 nobles and convents, the poor peasants in vain opposed such overwhelming 
 influence ; and however Spanish political economists may find fault it is very 
 questionable, supposing this lucrative wool-system had been put down, whether 
 there would have been more stacks of corn : certainly there would have been 
 fewer flocks of sheep and less wool, as now is the case. 
 
 As infinite disputes arose between the wandering shepherd and the fixed 
 cultivator, a compromise was effected in 1556, whereby the privileges of a few 
 sheep proprietors, like the hunting laws of our Norman tyrants, prevailed* 
 The peculiar jurisdiction, the Consejo de la Mesta , one coeval with the monarchy, 
 was finally suppressed in 1834, when the General Cattle Association was placed 
 under the ordinary tribunals. The term Merino is said to be derived from 
 Marino — quasi ultra-marine — because the original breed of sheep was imported 
 by sea from England, under our Henry II., while others derive it from Imri, 
 the far-famed flocks of Palestine. Sheep certainly formed part of the primi- 
 tive portion- — pecus unde pecunia — given in 1394 by John of Gaunt when his 
 daughter Catherine married the heir of Enrique III. The Bsetican wools, how- 
 ever, were long before celebrated, and a ram sold for a talent in the days of 
 Strabo, iii. 213, but no doubt the breed was improved by the English cross. 
 The sheep, Ganado (Arabice Ganam , cattle), were called trashumantes , from the 
 ground they go over. These flocks were generally divided into detachments, Ca- 
 banas (Arabice a tent), of about 10,000 each. Their highland summer quarters, 
 Agostaderos , were quitted about October for their Inver nadores , or winter ones, 
 in the warm plains. Each Cabana was managed by a Mayoral , a conductor — • 
 the Italian fattore — who had under him 50 shepherds and 50 huge dogs. Some 
 flocks travelled more than 150 leagues, performing from 2 to 4 leagues a day, and 
 occupying 40 days in the journey. At the “folding star of eve,” they were penned 
 in with rope-nettings of esparto , and a most picturesque Oriental “ watching of 
 flocks by night ” took place. By the laws of the Mesta a Canada de Paso, or 
 free sheep-walk, 90 paces wide, was left on each side of the highway, which 
 entirely prevented enclosure and good husbandry. The animals soon knew their 
 quarters, and returned year after year of their own accord to the same localities. 
 In April their migratory instinct rendered them restless, and if not guided, 
 they set forth unattended to the cooler hills. When they first arrived at 
 their ground, salt was placed on flat stones at the rate of a fanega, or about 
 a cwt., for every 100 sheep. This they licked eagerly, and it improved their 
 appetites. They were shorn, trasquilados , about May : the shearing, el JSs- 
 quilmo , was an epoch of primitive and Oriental festivities. The sheep which 
 migrated had the finest fleece ; those that remained at home produced a coarser 
 wool, a lana basta. The rams gave the most ; three fleeces averaged 25 lbs. 
 The names of the animals numerous as those of Irish pigs, varied with 
 the age : thus, the lambs were called Corderos ; the two-year olds, Borros ; 
 the three, Andruscos ; the four, Tras-andruscos. Their ages were ascer- 
 tained by the number of teeth or Balas ; at the fifth year they were called 
 Cerrados , and after that Beviejos , and useless. The rams lost their teeth at 
 eight years, and the ewes at five. In September the flocks were Almagrados , 
 or daubed with a red earth from Almarrazon , which conduced to the fineness 
 of the wool. In keeping up stock great care was taken in selecting rams with 
 round bellies, and white soft wool, and the clean-faced ewes, las Calvitas , were 
 
 y 2 
 
464 
 
 ESTREMADURA, 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 preferred. The ewes were pnt to the rams, Morruecos (possibly so called from 
 having been imported from Morocco — MarreJcosh) , about the end of June, 
 when six rams sufficed for 100 ewes : they remained together a month. They 
 lambed in their winter quarters : March was a very busy month with the 
 shepherds, who then marked their flocks, cut the lambs’ tails, and tipped their 
 rams’ horns. The sheep were always on the move, as they sought grass, 
 which was scarce, and would not touch thyme, which is abundant. The flesh 
 was bad, as no Estremenian ever has dreamed of putting a Merino fleece on a 
 Southdown carcass, for however curious in pork, they just take their mutton 
 as the gods provide it. The shepherds are mere brutes, like the animals with 
 whom they live, and in whose skins they are clothed. They refute those 
 pastorals in which the sentiments of civilization are placed in the mouths of the 
 veriest clods of earth. These shepherds never dwell in cities, seldom marry, 
 and thus in nowise contribute to population, which is so much wanted, or to 
 any arts that refine, which are so scarce. When not asleep or eating they stand 
 still, fixed, silent, and silly as their own sheep, leaning on their episcopal crooks, 
 and only good for an artist’s foreground or a poet’s stanza ; and in truth they 
 have a most patriarchal appearance, and form the very type of a St. J ohn in the 
 Wilderness or the National Gallery. Their talk is about rams and ewes : they 
 know every one of their sheep, although lambs, like babies, appear all alike 
 except to a nurse’s eye, and the sheep know them : all this is very Oriental ; 
 and this idle avocation and pasturage in general, is more popular in these 
 districts than tillage, for the latter requires a fixed residence, foresight, some 
 machinery, much bodily labour, while in pastorals, Nature, which provides the 
 green herb, does the chief work; therefore to tend cattle is the joy of the roving 
 nomad, whether of those living in the Dehesas of Estremadura, or of the Bedowi 
 of Arabia. Eor the Mesta consult £ Libro de las Leyes del Consejo de la 
 MestaJ folio, Madrid, 1609 ; also Bowles, ‘ Sobre el Granado Merino ,’ p. 501 ; 
 and the ‘ Viaje ’ of Ponz (let. 7). 
 
 Second only to the sheep are the swine of Estremadura, for this province is 
 a porcine paradise, and the Hampshire of Spain; and here again Nature 
 lends her aid, as vast districts are covered with woods of oak, beech, 
 and chestnut. These parklike scenes have small charms for the eyes of' the 
 natives, who, blind to the picturesque, only are thinking of the number of pigs 
 which can be fattened on the mast and acorns, The Jamones , hams, the bacon, 
 Tocino (Arabice Tachim , fat), and the sausages of Estremadura have always 
 and deservedly been celebrated. They were trtpvri dicapopri of classical eulogy. 
 This is the Perna by which Horace, too, was restored (ii. S. 4, 61) ; but 
 Anacreon, like a vinous Greek, preferred for inspiration the contents of the 
 pig-skin to the pig, Lope de Vega, according to his biographer Montalvan, 
 never could write poetry unless inspired by a rasher. “ Toda es cos a ml” said 
 he, cc adonde falta un jpernil Be that as it may, the Matanza or pig-slaughter 
 takes place about the 10th and 11th of November, at their particular saint’s day, 
 el San Andres , for a cada jpuerco su San Martin , and they have then been 
 fattened with the sweet acorn, Bellota (Arabice Bollota Bollot). Belot Belotin 
 is the Scriptural term both for the tree and the glands, and the latter, with water, 
 formed the primitive dietary of the poor Iberians (Tibullus ii. 3, 71). Bread 
 was also made out of them when dry and ground (Strabo iii. 223). When 
 fresh they were served at dinner in the second course (Pliny, ‘ N. H.’ xvi. 5). 
 Sancho Panza’s wife was therefore quite classical when she sent some to the 
 duchess, and they furnished the text to Don Quixote’s charming discourse on 
 the golden age, and joys of a pastoral life. Now the chief consumers are the 
 juvenile Estremenians and the pigs ; the latter are turned out in legions from 
 the villages, which more correctly may be termed coalitions of pigsties : they 
 
Estremadura . 
 
 ESTEEM A DUB, A. 
 
 465 
 
 return from the woods at night, — glande sues Iseti redeunt, — and of their own 
 accord, like the cattle of Juno (Livy xxiv. 3). On entering the hamlet, all set 
 off at a full gallop, like a legion possessed by devils, in a handicap for home, 
 into which each single pig turns, never making a mistake ; there he is welcomed 
 like a prodigal son or a domestic father. These homesick droves will really 
 sometimes in their runs carry an unwary stranger off his legs, as befell Don 
 Quixote (ii. 68) when swept away by the pidra gruhidora. These pigs are the 
 pets of the peasants, they are brought up with their children, and partake, as 
 in Ireland, in the domestic discomforts of their cabins ; they are universally 
 respected, and justly, for it is this animal — propter convivia natum — who pays 
 the “ rint.” They, in truth, as at Sorrento, are the citizens, while Estremenian 
 man in fact is a secondary formation, and was created to tend these swine ; 
 these animals lead the once happy life of the Toledan cathedral dignitaries, with 
 the additional advantage of becoming more valuable when dead. The bacon of 
 Catholic Spain is most orthodox : abhorred by J ew and infidel, it was the 
 test of the true Christian. 
 
 The quantities of Chorizo and Pimentesco eaten in Estremadura produce 
 carbuncles. The Spaniards, however, although tremendous consumers of the 
 pig, whether in the salted form or from the skin, have to the full the Oriental 
 abhorrence to the unclean animal in the abstract. In delicate parlance he 
 never was named except with an excuse, con perdon sea dicho. Muy puerco 
 (like the Moslem Haluf) is their last expression for all that is most dirty, 
 or disgusting. Muy cochina never is forgiven, if applied to woman. It is 
 equivalent to vacca or cow of the Italians, or to the canine feminine compliment 
 bandied among our fair sex at Billingsgate, nor does the epithet imply moral 
 purity or chastity. Montanches is the chief place for the ham and bacon 
 commerce of Estremadura, refer therefore to it for prices current, &c. 
 
 The geology and botany of Estremadura are little known, and this remote 
 province is generally made the habitat of all unknown animals — omne ignotum 
 pro Pxtremense ; insects and wild animals breed securely in the montes dehesas 
 y jarales , where no entomologist or sportsman destroys them. Thus the 
 locust, langosta , and all the tuneful tribe of Cicalas, enliven the solitudes with 
 their rejoicings at the heat, insomuch that the phrase indicative of their chirp- 
 ing, canta la chicharra , whose song serves but to make the silence heard, is 
 synonymous with our expression the “ dog-days.” Here the insect is indigenous. 
 Instinct teaches the female never to deposit her eggs in ground that has been 
 cultivated. Their gaudy, delicate, rose-coloured wings seem painted by the sun, 
 and rustle like dry leaves. The Arabs imagine that they can read in the 
 transparent fibres the words, “We are the destroying army of Allah.” A 
 “ garden of Eden lies before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.” The 
 Spaniards also imagine they can read Ira de Dios in the fibres of the wings, that 
 wrath of God, which they execute with their mouths. These inseets destroy more 
 even than they consume ; sparing no green herb except the red tomato , which 
 is providential, as Spaniards half live on it. The Spaniards on their part will 
 not eat the locust in retaliation, which the Moors do, especially the female with 
 eggs, either pickled or boiled in salt water. This is an old Arab delicacy, and 
 was accounted among the Jews (Levit. xi. 22) as a “ clean meat,” a sort of 
 white bait. The taste is something like bad shrimps ; some think this with 
 wild honey formed the food of John the Baptist. But Spaniards prefer the locust - 
 tree to the insect, and the pods and “husks” of the Algarrobo (see p. 362) fill 
 the bellies of both the swine, the prodigal and the prudent sons of Valencia; 
 the pigs of Estremadura eat both pod and insect ; their masters wage war to 
 the knife against the latter, sweeping them up and burning them in heaps like 
 heretics ; their holy church assists. San Gregorio of Ostia is the special advo- 
 
466 
 
 BADAJOZ. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 cate. The Virgin’ s image also scares them, and generally some relic which the 
 curate brings out, drives the invaders into the next parish , or usque in partibus 
 infidelium : see ‘ Compendio de la Biojaj M. Anguiano, p. 323. Bowles (p. 238) 
 has treated on some of their natural habits. The parents die after impregna- 
 tion and incubation. As wet destroys the viscid matter in which the eggs are 
 enveloped, and as heat is required to hatch them, these dry and arid plains are 
 their natural breeding-ground, nor is there any agriculture to disturb the 
 deposits. 
 
 Birds of prey of all kinds abound ; and in the summer, flights of turtle- 
 doves come over from Barbary to breed, and, as they are seldom molested, 
 scarcely avoid man’s approach, but coo about in pairs, images of connubial 
 felicity. They alight in the wild olives, like the one sent forth from the ark by 
 Noah. They are the doves of the West, who brought ambrosia to Jupiter 
 (Ov. M. 63), and who retired to Africa to visit the temple of Venus. No man 
 who has any poetry in his soul will make a pie of these pretty pigeons. Among 
 other birds of rich colour may be cited the blue pie ( Pica cutanea)^ Mohino ; the 
 bee-eater ( Meriops apiaster ), Abejaruco ; and the hoopoe ( Upupa ) , Abubilla. 
 
 The entomology of Estremadura is equally endless and uninvestigated; the 
 heavens and earth teem with the minute creation, and in these lonely wastes 
 nature seems most busy where man is most idle ; she is at work reproducing ; 
 and while no human voice disturbs the stillness, the balmy air resounds with the 
 buzzing hum of multitudinous insects, which career about on their business 
 of love or food without settlements or kitchens ; happy in the fine weather, the joy 
 of their tiny souls and short-lived pleasant existence. How sweet the air, how 
 striking the silence and loneliness ! A human being every now and then is 
 seen, as if to show that the country is just not uninhabited. This province is 
 very hot in the summer. The roads or sheep-tracks are solitary and safe : 
 where there are few travellers except Merinos, why should there be robbers ? 
 Attend to the “ provend.” All fleshly comforts, barring porcine ones, are rare. 
 The cities are poor and unsocial. The chief high roads run from Badajoz to 
 Madrid and to Seville. The horse is elsewhere the best means of locomotion. 
 Railroads are projected, on paper , from Madrid, through Toledo to Badajoz, 
 and thence branching to Lisbon and Seville. 
 
 B AD A J OZ, a dull unsocial town, pop; 
 about 1 1,000, is the capital of its pro- 
 vince. The best fonda is de las Tres 
 Naciones , No. 30, Oalle de la Moraleja. 
 There are two posadas in the Calle de 
 la Soledad ; one del Gaballo Blanco , 
 the other de Caballeros. The best 
 cafes are on the Plaza and near the 
 theatre: consult ‘ Dialog os, patriosj &c. 
 Rodrigo Dosma Delgado, 4to. Mad. 
 1601. The diligence between Madrid 
 and Seville passes through Badajoz. 
 
 Badajoz is the see of a bishop, suf- 
 fragan to Santiago, and the residence 
 of a captain-general of the province. 
 This strong city rises about 300 ft. 
 above the G-uadiana, near the conflu- 
 ence of the streamlet Rivillas. The 
 highest portion is crowned by a ruined 
 
 Moorish castle. Long lines of walls 
 descend to the river, while formidable 
 bastions defend the land side. The 
 river is crossed by a superb granite 
 bridge, finished in 1596, from designs 
 by Herrera, and strengthened by a 
 tete du pont , and by the fortified height 
 San Cristobal, which commands a fine 
 view of Badajoz. The name was cor- 
 rupted by the Moors from the Roman 
 “ Pax Augusta,” Ue^avyovorra (Strabo 
 iii. 225) . Some wiseacres derive B adaj oz 
 from “ Belad Aix,” Arabice the “ land 
 of health,” it being that of ague ; others 
 prefer “Babgeuz,” or “goz,” Arabice 
 the “ gate of walnuts,” of which there 
 are none. 
 
 Badajoz , distant about 5 m. from 
 Portugal, is an important frontier- 
 
Estremadurcu 
 
 BADAJOZ BETKAYED BY IMAZ, 
 
 467 
 
 place, and owes its chief interest to 
 military events. Alonso IX. took it 
 from the Moors in 1235. The Portu- 
 guese besieged it in 1660 and 1705. 
 Kellermann and "Victor failed before it 
 in 1808 and 1809 ; .Buonaparte, in 1810, 
 ordered Soult to advance on Estrema- 
 dura, to relieve Massena when arrested 
 before Torres Vedras ; the Duke, having 
 foreseen the move, cautioned the Spa- 
 nish Junta to be prepared. But Bal- 
 lesteros, as if in mockery, was recalled 
 by them into the South on the very 
 day that Soult left Seville ; soon the 
 fortress of Olivenza was surrendered 
 without a struggle by Manuel Herk ; 
 but Badajoz was commanded by Ra- 
 fael Menacho, a brave man, and the 
 strong garrison was assisted outside by 
 an army under Gabriel Mendizabal ; 
 this blunderer also unfortunately neg- 
 lected every suggestion of the Duke, 
 and was surprised on the Gevora, “ in 
 the strongest position in the country,” 
 by Soult, who with only 5000 men 
 utterly routed 11,000 Spaniards in an 
 hour, losing himself only 400 men. 
 As a trait of Spanish character it may 
 be mentioned, that when the report 
 was brought to Mendizabal that Soult 
 had thrown a bridge across the Gua- 
 diana, he was playing at cards, and ob- 
 served, “ Then we will go and look at 
 it to-morrow /” but Manana , that mor- 
 row, saw the procrastinator surprised 
 and crushed, for he had before neglected 
 to entrench his position, although re- 
 peatedly urged to do so by the Duke. 
 “ All this would have been avoided had 
 the Spaniards been anything but Spa- 
 niards. They oppose and render fruit- 
 less every measure to set them right or 
 save them.” “ The presumption, igno- 
 rance, and misconduct of these people 
 are really too bad.” “They have not 
 done anything that they were ordered 
 to do, and have done exactly that 
 against which they were warned” (see 
 Disp. vol. vii. passim). On the 4th of 
 March Menacho was unfortunately 
 v killed, when Jose Imaz, his successor 
 in command, sold the place to Soult, 
 who, when he first beheld the tremend- 
 ous defences, quietly remarked, “ There 
 
 are few forts so strong but what a 
 mule laden with gold can get in,” as 
 his one soon did : Aurum per medios 
 ire satellites : but Buonaparte and his 
 sect, who railed so eloquently against 
 Vorde la perfide Albion, never scrupled 
 in war or peace to work against places 
 or press with this metallic pickaxe, 
 which our rulers, either too honest or 
 too unread in Horace, most systema- 
 tically neglect. Accordingly, when the 
 purchase was handed over to Soult on 
 the 10th, it included the city, citadel, 
 7155 men in garrison, provisions, &c. 
 Yet the traitor Imaz knew, even on 
 the 6th, that Massena was in full re- 
 treat before the English, and that Be- 
 resford was hastening with 20,000 men 
 to his relief. Instead of availing him- 
 self of this intelligence, of which Soult 
 was ignorant, he communicated the in- 
 formation to the Erench, and thus res- 
 cued them from ruin, and this at the 
 precise moment when his coward-like 
 countryman, La Pena, was saving Vic- 
 tor from disgrace at Barrosa. Had 
 Badajoz been held by the Spaniards but 
 a few short days only, Andalucia must 
 have been evacuated by the Erench, 
 and “w,” as the Duke said, “should 
 have saved Spain.” “ Its fall was cer- 
 tainly the most fatal event in the war” 
 (Disp. Dec. 4, 1811). Soult’s besieg- 
 ing Badajoz at all was a military error; 
 he ought to have marched day and 
 night to aid Massena before Torres 
 Vedras, but jealousy of a brother mar- 
 shal made him loiter halfway ; and had 
 Tmaz been true, and Badajoz held out, 
 Soult himself, like Massena, must have 
 been crushed by the Duke. No sooner 
 had the fortress been surrendered to 
 Soult, than Beresford attempted its re- 
 covery. He failed, as even the indul- 
 gent Duke said, from “ his unfortunate 
 delay” (Disp. April 10, 1811) ; and 
 when he had given the Erench time to 
 render success impossible, he risked 
 the needless battle of Albuera , and 
 thus, as Napier proves, caused two 
 subsequent years of most harassing 
 operations to the Duke. 
 
 The Duke then determined to try 
 what he could do himself, and, after 
 
463 
 
 SIEGE OF BADAJOZ. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 he had taken Ciudad Rodrigo, made 
 his preparations with such secrecy that 
 neither friend nor foe divined his plan. 
 He pounced, March 16, 1812, on Ba- 
 dajoz, while Soult and Marmont were 
 both too far separated to relieve it. 
 The place, much strengthened, was 
 defended by the brave Pliilippon and 
 5000 men. The French defence was 
 splendid ; there was no traitor Imaz 
 now: but <c no age,” says Napier (xvi. 
 5), cc ever sent forth braver troops than 
 those who stormed and carried Bada- 
 joz.” The operations were so nicely 
 calculated that Soult imagined the 
 Duke must have intercepted some dis- 
 patch of Marmont’ s. He was delayed 
 eleven precious days by unusually un- 
 favourable weather and the misconduct 
 of the Portuguese ; the town of Elvas, 
 although so close by, refusing to afford 
 even means of transport. 
 
 The trenches were opened before 
 Badajoz on March 16th; the Ficurina 
 outwork was heroically carried on the 
 24th by Hen. Kempt. Sheer British 
 valour was left to do the work, for, 
 from the neglect of our ministry at 
 home, the army, as the Duke wrote, 
 “ was not capable of carrying on a 
 regular siege.” He sued Badajoz, said 
 Picton, in forma pauperis, beseeching 
 not breaching; every day was precious, 
 as Soult was advancing from Seville, and 
 Marmont from Castile; thus, placed 
 between two fires, the prize was to be 
 snatched before they could effect a 
 junction. April 6, the breaches in the 
 bastions Santa Trinidad and Santa 
 Maria , to the S.E., were declared prac- 
 ticable: at ten o’clock that night the 
 assault, so well described by Napier 
 (xvi. 5), was made ; the obstacles were 
 found to be so much more formidable 
 than the engineers had reported, that no 
 human force could have succeeded. 
 Unfortunately too the hour fixed for 
 the assault was obliged to be put back, 
 whereby the brave troops, headed by 
 Colville and Barnard, were mowed 
 down by the French, secure behind new 
 entrenchments and defences ; even the 
 scaling-ladders were found to be too 
 short ; but meanwhile the 5th division, 
 
 under Walker, got in at the San Vi- 
 cente bastion, which lies close on the 
 river to the W. ; and Picton, convert- 
 ing a feint into a real attack, carried the 
 castle to the N.E., which Philippon had 
 left comparatively undefended, never 
 dreaming that it would be attempted. 
 This possession decided the conflict. 
 The French, now assailed both in flank 
 and front, were lost, and Badajoz was 
 won. The town, according to the 
 usages of war and successful storm, 
 was sacked, the Duke and the officers 
 doing every thing to prevent excesses, 
 until obliged himself to retire to escape 
 being shot at by the infuriate soldiers. 
 These sad events, deplorable, although 
 unavoidable, are now coupled with San 
 Sebastian by our calumniators, as hor- 
 rors which a “ barbarous, uncivilised” 
 nation like the English alone could 
 perpetrate ; yet not a tithe of the atro- 
 cities of Lerida, Tarragona, Ucles, &c., 
 was committed, nor did any British 
 Victor , as at those and other places, 
 set himself the example of lust, fire, 
 rapine, and murder. 
 
 The English lost in killed and 
 wounded 5000 men. Philippon retired 
 to San Cristobal, and surrendered the 
 next day, being treated by the Duke 
 with the honour due to a brave oppo- 
 nent. The baffled and out-generaled 
 marshals had now no safety but in 
 retreat, so Marmont fell back on Sala- 
 manca, and Soult on Seville ; then Hill 
 advanced on Almaraz , and destroyed 
 the forts, the enemy flying before him 
 to Navalmoral. The British bayonet 
 had thus again cleared a road to An- 
 dalucia, and the Duke prepared to 
 rush on Soult at Albuera, where he 
 would not have handled him a la Be- 
 resford, but his plans were marred by 
 his allies . Ciudad Rodrigo was not pro- 
 visioned, as the Spaniards had neg- 
 lected even to move in the stores pro- 
 vided by the English! Thus, as at 
 Talavera and elsewhere, he wms baulked, 
 thanks to nosotros , of his whole vic- 
 tory, and Soult was again rescued from 
 annihilation. Now-a-days Madoz (iii. 
 26) deals with this splendid capture of 
 Badajoz, in which no Spaniard took a 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 MANUEL GODOY. 
 
 469 
 
 part except first to sell it to Soult, and 
 next save him from perdition, in two 
 words : “Logro occuparla,” — the Duke 
 “ managed to gain possession !” 
 
 The traveller should next cross the 
 bridge, turn to the r. and ascend to 
 the San Cristobal. The town presents a 
 noble front, you may either pass the 
 G-uadiana in a boat near some lime- 
 kilns, or return by the bridge to Ba- 
 dajoz and go out by the Merida gate ; 
 in front to the r. is the Picurina ; 
 whence the view is excellent, and be- 
 tween it and las P ardeleras are the 
 quarries where the Duke stood during 
 the unsuccessful murderous assault on 
 the opposite very strong bastions of 
 Santa Maria and Trinidad ; to the 1. 
 is the Sierra del Viento , from whence 
 Soult made his previous attack ; at 
 the W. extremity is San Vicente , by 
 which Walker entered. Ascend the 
 castle, which was the site of the 
 ancient city. The Plaza underneath 
 is a mixture of ruined Moorish and 
 Spanish works, an abomination of 
 desolation : part of the mosque with 
 red brick arches, resembling those of 
 Cordova, exists in the neglected crumb- 
 ling castle : a lofty thin tower in the 
 upper keep commands a view of the 
 whole of what was the English position. 
 
 The cathedral, which has survived so 
 many sieges, is heavy inside and outside, 
 and was begun in 1248 by Alonso el 
 Sabio ; the fagade is later, and was built 
 in the Grrseco-Bomano style, with Ionic 
 pillars, and a statue of the Baptist : at 
 a side portal is fixed, on a marble stone, 
 the hammer which, when a canon was 
 dying, used to be knocked before the 
 passing-bell was introduced, the exact 
 aavSpov of the Greek Church. 
 
 Observe a hard and indifferent picture 
 of the Magdalen, by Mateo Cerezo : 
 here considered a Y andyke. The Camilla 
 Santa Ana has some damaged paintings 
 by Luis de Morales, called PI Divino , 
 more from his painting subjects of divi- 
 nity than from any divinity of painting : 
 he was born at Badajoz early in the 
 sixteenth century, and a street bqg^s 
 his name ; here he was living in 1581, 
 when Philip II., on his way to Lisbon, 
 
 sent for him and said, “ You are very 
 old, Morales.” “ And very poor, sire,” 
 was the reply ; when Philip, a true 
 patron of art, gave him an annual pen- 
 sion of 300 ducats, which he enjoyed 
 until his death in 1586. He chiefly 
 painted Saviours crowned with thorns, 
 and Madonnas dolorosas ; he finished 
 highly, and was the Parmigianino of 
 Spain, being defective in his lengthy 
 drawing, and often dark and cold in 
 colouring. Meantime in Spain, and 
 still more out of it, every lanky small 
 head of Christ with a brown skin and 
 suffering expression, is ascribed to Mo- 
 rales, just as most old castles are to the 
 Moors. He painted many large pic- 
 tures also, which, from lying out of the 
 way, are scarcely known (see Puebla 
 de la Calzada , Arroyo del Puerco, and 
 Alcantara). The French took away 
 his four best from the cathedral, and 
 those which they left have been re- 
 painted ; observe a Crucifixion, with a 
 Parmigianino-like old man. The clois- 
 ter of the cathedral contains some sin- 
 gular arches and twisted pillars. 
 
 In the Parroquia de la Concepcion is 
 a retouched Saviour with the Cross, and 
 an injured Virgin and Child, painted in 
 1546 by Morales. In the San Agustin 
 is the ludicrous tomb of the Marquis de 
 Bai, the general of Philip V., who was 
 so soundly beaten by Stanhope at Zara- 
 goza, in 1710. The heroic deceased’s 
 effigy resembles a baboon in a periwig. 
 
 Manuel Godoy, the Prince of the 
 Peace — mark the blasphemy of such a 
 creature taking such a name in vain — 
 was born at Badajoz in 1768. Thus 
 Estremadura, which once could furnish 
 a Pizarro and Cortes to gain worlds, 
 now, what a falling off! has become the 
 cradle of an Imaz to barter its capital, 
 and of a Godoy to bargain away its 
 kingdom : to this thing of avarice and 
 extravagance, Spain owes the impover- 
 ishment of her hospitals and charitable 
 institutions, whose funds he seized, 
 giving them government securities, 
 which proved worthless, and while 
 none were benefited save courtier 
 sharks, the sick and orphan were de- 
 spoiled. Grodoy, like a foul beast of 
 Y 3 
 
470 
 
 ROUTE 56 . — BADAJOZ TO LISBON. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 prey, always craving and swallowing, 
 yet always gaunt, needy, and hungry, 
 plundered without scruple, and spent 
 without advantage, alieni appetens et 
 sui profusus. This Spanish Sejanus 
 had the rare lot of being loved alike 
 by Charles the dotard and by his Mes- 
 salina wife, who indeed selected a 
 vigorous garde de corps for her minion 
 with more judgment than her husband 
 did for his minister. Godoy made the 
 sneaking peace with the French regi- 
 cides, and became the tool of Buona- 
 parte, who, by flattering the upstart’s 
 vanity, used him for his own purposes ; 
 and so entirely that the supersti- 
 tious Spaniards believed it to be the 
 effect of witchcraft. The king dele- 
 gated to him his power and prestige 
 in a country where, like a sultan, 
 the king is everything. So the vizier 
 aped the pride of birth, and flat- 
 tering heralds, being well paid, soon 
 derived his name from the illustrious 
 Goth; Godoy quasi G-odo soy $ nobili- 
 tant me, orti Gothorum ex sanguine 
 reges. After an exile and obscurity of 
 thirty- six years, he was recalled to 
 Madrid, in 1844, by Christina, the 
 widow of Ferd. VII. whose bitterest 
 enemy he had been, even aiming at his 
 life and throne. This Godoy wrote 
 his memoirs, which, translated into 
 French by d’Esmenard, were published 
 at Paris by Lavocat, in 5 vols. 
 
 The arms of Badajoz are the pillars 
 of Hercules, and the motto Plus Ultra. 
 This beyond has yet to be accom- 
 plished : Portugal is still the angulus 
 iste of Spanish ambition ; the want of 
 this rounding corner is a real source of 
 weakness, since its possession, with the 
 outlets of the Tagus and Minho, would 
 have done more for Spain than that of 
 Italy or the Low Countries ; now, in- 
 stead of being a buttress to her, Por- 
 tugal is a thorn in her side, and a 
 vulnerable frontier. P hili p II. knew 
 this well, and pounced upon the prey, 
 which was lost by his grandson Philip 
 IV. when the clay-footed Colossus of 
 Spain was tottering rapidly to its fall. 
 
 Route 56. — Badajoz to Lisbon, 
 
 Elvas . . . . . .3 
 
 Alcaraviza . . 
 
 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 Estremoz . . 
 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 9 
 
 Venta del Duque 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 12 
 
 Arrayolos . . 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 15 
 
 Montemor novo 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 18 
 
 Vendas novas . 
 
 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 22 
 
 A los Pegoes . 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 25 
 
 Aldea Gallega . 
 
 
 
 . 5 . 
 
 . 30 
 
 Lisboa . . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 This route, although not belonging 
 to Spain, may be useful to those who 
 wish, at Badajoz, to return to England 
 by Lisbon ; or, vice versd , to those who, 
 having landed in Portugal, desire to 
 visit Seville or Madrid. A French 
 company has started a diligence be- 
 tween Badajoz and Lisbon, and pro- 
 fess to run it in 24 hrs. : they generally 
 take 30. There is a sort of “ refresh- 
 ment room” at Vendas Novas. Attend 
 to the provend : the roads and accom- 
 modations are Spanish. The Portu- 
 guese have never been anxious to facili- 
 tate the approaches of a dreaded neigh- 
 bour. This journey, over wild aromatic 
 dehesas, is to be ridden by a well-girt 
 traveller in 3 days, sleeping at Dstremoz 
 and Montemor , both perched on their 
 picturesque hills. There is an excellent 
 inn at Lisbon, the hotel of Braganza, 
 'No. 36, Rua Do Thezouro Velho : it is 
 kept by Charles Dyson, is clean, and 
 has fireplaces; charges 9 s. a- day. The 
 “ Durand Hotel” both here and at 
 Cintra, is also well spoken of. 
 
 Those who only want just to set 
 their foot in Portugal may ride over 
 to Divas , an imposing looking place on 
 its garden-fringed height. Notice the 
 noble aqueduct, and the N.W. bastion, 
 with the graves of English officers. 
 No Chinese wall of art, no natural 
 Pyrenees, no deep Tagus, divides the 
 antipathetic kingdoms, nor do the geo- 
 graphy, geology, and botany indicate 
 any separation : a small rivulet, the 
 Cay a, here called Calle, is the Rubi- 
 con, and parts those who speak the 
 sonorous Castilian from the squeak- 
 ing Lusitanian. The incompatible 
 neighbours love not each other ; them 
 intense hatred and rivality was sung 
 
Estremadura . 
 
 ROUTE 57. — BADAJOZ TO MADRID. 
 
 471 
 
 by Byron (Childe Harold, i. 33) and 
 felt by Wellington : — 
 
 “ But these between a silver streamlet glides, 
 And scarce a name distinguished the brook, 
 Though rival kingdoms press its verdant sides. 
 Here leans the idle shepherd on his crook, 
 
 And vacant on the rippling waves doth look, 
 That peaceful still ’twixt bitterest foemen flow; 
 For, proud each peasant as the noblest duke : 
 Well doth the Spanish hind the difference know 
 ’Twixt him and Lusian slave the lowest of the 
 low.” 
 
 €t I have,” says the Duke (Disp. June 
 12, 1811), “ had to contend with the 
 ancient enmity between the Spaniards 
 and Portuguese, which is more like 
 that of cat and dog than anything else, 
 and which no sense of common danger 
 or common interest, or anything, can 
 get the better of, even in individuals. 
 The Spanish muleteers would rather 
 serve a French division than convey 
 provisions for a Portuguese division 
 allied to us and them.” When the 
 Peninsular war began, the English 
 expected nothing from the one and 
 everything from the other ; for Spain, 
 ignorant even of her own decay, and 
 whose “ national disease,” says the 
 Duke, “ is to boast of her strength,” 
 took a high tone, and spoke as if 
 Charles V. still presided at her coun- 
 cils ; while Portugal, a smaller state, 
 and always accustomed to rely on 
 England for national existence, had 
 the better sense to place her sons more 
 fully in the arms of her great deliverer, 
 until, in the words of the Duke (Disp. 
 May 2, 1812), they were the next best 
 troops in Spain to the British. His 
 secret was, “ Discipline and a sy stem 
 of good order, which can only be 
 founded on regular pay, food , good 
 care and clothing : hence the Portu- 
 guese are now th q fighting cocks of the 
 army ; we owe their merits more to 
 the care we have taken of their pockets 
 and bellies than to the instruction we 
 have given them” (Disp. July 25, 
 1813). 
 
 These English fed and led Portin- 
 gals faced and beat back even the 
 French : what greater honour could 
 they desire ? Now that they have 
 neither English beef, pay, nor leaders, 
 they and their country are truly ineffi- 
 
 cient and hors de combat ; and yet this 
 paltry port-wine kingdom, which in a 
 week would become either a Spanish or 
 a French province, except backed by the 
 alliance of England, occasionally out* 
 Herods even her neighbour in ingrati* 
 tude, contumely, and violation of trea* 
 ties ; but her very weakness is her 
 safeguard, and England, great and ge* 
 nerous, passes over these offences as 
 beneath her notice, and continues her 
 forbearance and protection to prevent 
 the common enemy of both becoming 
 master ; meanwhile the Spaniard de* 
 spises the Portuguese, as Grod (says he) 
 first made the Castilian, and then the 
 Portuguese to wait upon him, the truth 
 being just the reverse, as the Grallician 
 Spaniards actually are the slaves and 
 white niggers of the Portuguese, 
 
 From Badajoz you can ride to Al* 
 cantara, cross the Grevora to Yillar del 
 Bey, 5 L., thence to Aliseda, 6 Jj., a. 
 13 hours’ ride : Arroyo del Puerco, % 
 L. (see p. 490). 
 
 Boute 57. — Badajoz to Madrid, 
 
 Talavera la Real , 
 Lobon .... 
 
 * * 
 
 3 
 
 2 ,, 
 
 5 
 
 Perales .... 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 Merida .... 
 
 * • 
 
 3 .. 
 
 3 
 
 San Pedro . . . 
 
 
 2 .. 
 
 11 
 
 Ya. de la Guia . . 
 
 , , 
 
 3 .. 
 
 14 
 
 Miajadas . . , 
 
 . , 
 
 3 .. 
 
 17 
 
 Puerto de Santa Cruz 
 
 , , 
 
 3 .. 
 
 20 
 
 Trujillo .... 
 
 
 3 .. 
 
 23 
 
 Carrascal . . . 
 
 , . 
 
 2 .. 
 
 25 
 
 Jaraicejo . . . 
 
 
 2 .. 
 
 27 
 
 Puerto de Miravete 
 
 , , 
 
 2 .. 
 
 29 
 
 Almaraz , . . 
 
 # t 
 
 2 .. 
 
 31 
 
 Navalmoral . . 
 
 # % 
 
 2 .. 
 
 33 
 
 Pajar del Rio . . 
 
 , , 
 
 3 .. 
 
 36 
 
 Torralba . . . 
 
 . , 
 
 3 .. 
 
 39 
 
 Laguna del Conejo . 
 
 . , 
 
 3 .. 
 
 42 
 
 Talavera de la Reina 
 
 
 3 .. 
 
 45 
 
 Sotocochinos . . 
 
 , , 
 
 2 .. 
 
 47 
 
 El Bravo . . . 
 
 , . 
 
 2 .. 
 
 49 
 
 Maqueda . . 
 
 . , 
 
 3 .. 
 
 52 
 
 Santa Cruz del Retamar . 
 
 2 .. 
 
 54 
 
 Yalmojado . . . 
 
 . , 
 
 3 .. 
 
 57 
 
 Navalcarnero . . 
 
 , , 
 
 2 .. 
 
 59 
 
 Mdstoles . . . 
 
 
 2 .. 
 
 61 
 
 Madrid .... 
 
 
 
 64 
 
 This, the dilapidated camino real 
 taken by the mail and diligence, is the 
 best method of performing a long tire- 
 some route. There is some talk of a 
 new road from Badajoz to Trujillo, 
 through Caceres ; 2 L. will be saved, 
 but then Merida, the great attraction to 
 
472 
 
 ROUTE 57. — BADAJOZ TO MADRID. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 artists and antiquarians, will be left 
 out. Meanwhile the traveller going 
 to Madrid should secure his place 2 
 days before the coach leaves Badajoz, 
 and then ride over to Merida , remain 
 a day, which is enough if he does not 
 sketch, and be taken up there. The 
 rest of the journey is uninteresting, 
 save the victory-field of Talavera. Our 
 urgent advice is to mount horse and 
 make a charming tour from Merida 
 to Alcantara, Coria, Plasencia, Yuste, 
 thence taking up the diligence at Mira- 
 vete or Talavera. Better still, to 
 lengthen the circuit, from Plasencia to 
 the Batuecas, Ciudad Rodrigo, Sala- 
 manca, Avila, Segovia, and the Es- 
 corial. 
 
 The first 5 L. from Badajoz are over 
 a dreary plain. The city and castle, 
 on looking back, reminds one of Stir- 
 ling. Royal Talavera is full of ague 
 and poverty. Lovers of Morales el 
 Divino might proceed by the opposite 
 bank of the Gruadiana to Puebla de la 
 Calzada , 6 L. from Badajoz, to see 
 ■ his ten pictures of the passion of the 
 Saviour, in the parish church. 
 
 MERIDA is a clean, cheap, dull, and 
 decaying town ; pop. some 3500. There 
 are two inns : one is in the town, Po- 
 sada de Las Animas ; the other, P. de 
 Sa. Eulalia , outside, and on the Madrid 
 road : at this we always put up, from 
 the fine view, and in order to drink the 
 excellent red wine, which is something 
 between claret and burgundy. Merida 
 is the Rome of Spain in respect of 
 stupendous monuments of antiquity — 
 at every step we tread on some vestige 
 of the past. There is perhaps but 
 a day’s work here for ordinary tourists, 
 but antiquarians and architects may 
 halt much longer. Emerita Augusta 
 was built by the Legate Publius 
 Carisius, in the year 23 b.c. Augustus 
 here settled the veteran Emeriti of 
 the 5th and 10th Legions, who had 
 served in Cantabria. The city be- 
 came the capital of Lusitania. Its 
 splendour, as existing down to the 4th 
 century, is described by Prudentius 
 (Peris, iii. 3, 186), in his hymn on 
 the death of the patroness Eulalia ; this 
 
 E vXaXita, Olalla, O’Lalor, she of good 
 discourse, must not be confounded 
 with her namesake, the tutelar of Bar- 
 celona ; the Eulalia, born here in 292, 
 was one of the earliest female martyrs 
 of Spain. Florez (‘Esp. Sag..’ xiii. 266) 
 gives her biography. She was put to 
 death when quite a child, but her mi- 
 racles are worthy of a grown-up saint ; 
 for in the year 453, according to San 
 Isidoro (Chron. AEra.491),Theodoricus 
 the Groth was deterred from plundering 
 her city, from his fears that she might 
 treat him as Ceres did the troops of 
 Alexander at Miletus (Val. Max. i. 2). 
 Santa Eulalia failed in our times, alas ! 
 when Merida was so often sacked by 
 the invaders. 
 
 The real Gtoths used E merit a more 
 kindly. Thus Sala, Duke of Toledo, re- 
 paired the Roman bridge in 686, at the 
 request of Zenon the bishop. They here 
 fixed the metropolitan see, a dignity 
 which was transferred to Santiago in 
 1120. The town remained purely 
 Roman ; and such was its solid mag- 
 nificence, and so unlike Oriental fili- 
 gree, that Musa and the Moors who 
 came to attack it, exclaimed, “ All the 
 world must have been called together to 
 build such a city.” “ Who,” says their 
 Rasis, “ can tell the marvels of Merida?” 
 The place resisted the infidel, because 
 the inhabitants, seeing the white hairs 
 of Musa, said he never could live to take 
 it. Thereupon he dyed his locks, and 
 appeared to them as a youth. Terri- 
 fied at this miracle, the Emeritans 
 surrendered Oct. 23, 715, on fair terms, 
 and they retained their temples, creed, 
 and bishops, for the Moors observed a 
 good faith, never afterwards shown to 
 them. They built the Alcazar in 835. 
 The town was taken from them, Nov. 
 19, 1229, by Alonso el Sabio : from 
 that day province and city date their 
 decline ; and now this locality, which 
 under Roman and Moor was “ Urbe 
 potens, populis locuples,” has under 
 the sway of the Spaniard become poor 
 and almost depopulated. Merida 
 retains little but its name and the 
 ruins of the past, and these are here 
 considered as “ useless old stones 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 ROUTE 57. — MERIDA. 
 
 473 
 
 and made a quarry by the corporation. 
 Philip II., in 1580, going to Portugal, 
 had, however, the good taste to see 
 their merit, and ordered the celebrated 
 architect Juan de Herrera to take 
 admeasurements and make drawings, 
 which were burnt in the palace at 
 Madrid in 1734. In vain, again, at 
 the instigation of the English ambas- 
 sador at Lisbon, did Florida Blanca 
 employ a Portuguese, one Manuel Vil- 
 lena, to excavate : the thing dropped, 
 and nothing was done, for Charles III., 
 although the excavator of Pompeii, when 
 king of Spain, caught the apathetic in- 
 fluence of the climate. However, some 
 104 inscriptions have been copied, and 
 are preserved in the Academy of His- 
 tory at Madrid. 36 different coins were 
 struck here (Cean Ber. ‘ S.’ 393 ; Florez, 
 ‘Med.’ i. 384). The common reverse is 
 a “turreted gate,” with the words 
 “ Augusta Pmerita ,” which constitute 
 the city arms. Observe over the prison 
 door a curious ancient sculpture of this 
 charge. Merida has been strangely 
 neglected by our artists, architects, and 
 authors, who too often only go over 
 and over again the same beaten track : 
 thus Beckford congratulates himself on 
 “ his happiness in sleeping through this 
 journey;” while Southey, who could 
 devote pages in his ‘ Letters’ to reite- 
 rated details of his own bad eating and 
 being eaten up himself by bugs, passed 
 Merida by moonlight. “ Ne l’imitez 
 pas,” as Voltaire said to the PadrePedi- 
 culoso ; but Southey, then very young, 
 was much in love with a “ milliner 
 of Bath,” whom these letters were 
 meant to amuse , so not a flea escaped 
 him. Baretti, also, when travelling in 
 these parts, was so scarified by these 
 tormentors that he likened them to 
 the gentle craft of Reviewers , a boldish 
 comparison for an author to make, and 
 which Heaven forfend that we should 
 imitate. 
 
 Merida , unique in Spain, in some 
 points a rival of the eternal city itself, 
 rises on the r. bank of the Gruadiana, 
 which is crossed by a Roman bridge of 
 81 arches, 2575 feet long, 26 broad, 
 and 33 above the river : this is indeed 
 
 a bridge, and worthy of its builder, 
 Trajan, a true Pontifex Maximus. 
 From its long, low, and flat proportions, 
 it has somewhat the air of a causeway. 
 Repaired by Groth and Moor, it was 
 not neglected by Philip III. in 1610, 
 as the inscription in the portico on it 
 records : it is built of granite with 
 bossage work, almohadillado , or “ pil- 
 lowed.” On an island in the river- 
 bed up stream, is a Roman dyke of ma- 
 sonry, called el tajamar , and erected to 
 protect the arches against inundations. 
 This singular enclosure, said to have 
 served as a market, is now given up to 
 squeaking pigs and garrulous washer- 
 women. The Roman and Moorish Al- 
 cazar, or tete du pont^ towers proudly 
 with its palm-tree over the bank, as 
 seen from this spot. Some of the arches 
 of the bridge were destroyed, April, 
 1812, during the siege of Badajoz, in 
 order to impede Marmont’s advance to 
 the relief. Here, in 1808, 800 gallant 
 French kept at bay the entire forces of 
 Cuesta for a month, although the river 
 was fordable ; and, to make the contrast 
 more marked, this very same strong 
 point was abandoned Jan. 8, 1811, by 
 Mendizabal and his whole army, at the 
 first sight of only the advanced guard 
 of Soult, a feat which the Duke consi- 
 dered to be “ surpassing anything that 
 the Spaniards had yet done and this 
 took place in Estremadura, where their 
 local hero Paredes, according to Cer- 
 vantes, stopped entire legions with his 
 single sword. 
 
 Recrossing the bridge to the r. is the 
 castle, built by the Romans, and added 
 to by the Moors : afterwards it became 
 the episcopal palace, then that of the 
 Knights Templars, whence its present 
 name, el conventual. In 1305, at their 
 suppression, it was granted to the 
 order of Santiago, whose Provisor re- 
 sided in this frontier outpost. This 
 edifice was gutted and ruined by the 
 French, by whom Merida was con- 
 stantly garrisoned, from its vicinity to 
 Portugal, and by whom it was re- 
 peatedly injured, particularly by Gren. 
 Reynier, who cut down even the or- 
 namental Alameda ; nor were even 
 
474 
 
 ROUTE 57 . — MERIDA. 
 
 Sect. VII 
 
 the olives spared, although the source 
 of existence to the poor peasantry. 
 Then perished the ancient chapel in the 
 conventual i the colossal thickness of 
 the shattered walls is evidence of the 
 villanous saltpetre of this Graul, who de- 
 stroyed what time andGroth had spared. 
 There are now only the remains of a 
 temple, and a court of granite pillars : 
 in the centre of the enclosure is a 
 square tank, and a descent to some 
 ancient baths. The staircase is orna- 
 mented with Corinthian pillars and 
 friezes, of inferior Roman sculpture. 
 The gateway near the river has a marble 
 tablet with an Arabic inscription. 
 
 The arch of Santiago, of vast size, 44 
 ft. high, built in the town by Trajan, is 
 now a mere shell, having been stripped 
 of its marble casing. Around, and 
 heaped like a stonemason’s yard, is 
 some mutilated and neglected sculp- 
 ture, etiam periere ruince. Near this 
 arch is the half-Roman, half- Moorish 
 palace of the Conde de la Roca, a 
 diplomat of Philip IY., and author of 
 the ‘ Conquista de Sevilla ,’ a poor 
 aping in verse of Tasso : observe the 
 granite blocks in the tower, and the 
 Roman portions, now degraded into 
 a stable. In the open patio is a 
 painting, fast perishing, of the Conde 
 presenting, in 1630, his credentials to 
 the Doge of Yenice: that of his col- 
 league, Sir Henry Wooton, by Fialetti, 
 is better preserved at Hampton Court. 
 In the Calle del 'Portillo , No. 47, is a 
 Roman mosaic pavement ; at la Casa 
 de los Cerdos is a well built up out 
 of Corinthian fragments ; so at the 
 Descalzos and Calvario former tem- 
 ples have been used up by the monks 
 as mere old stones. The Casa de los 
 Corvos is constructed out of a temple 
 dedicated to Diana : it was peripteral, 
 with fluted granite pillars and Co- 
 rinthian capitals ; the interstices have 
 been built in ; the best view is from the 
 garden. The granite of Estremadura 
 is perishable : thus the angles are worn 
 away like half-melted lumps of sugar, 
 while the brick remains perfect. The 
 modem house is also much dilapi- 
 dated : thus all is going to a common 
 
 ruin. The absentee lord consigns it to 
 the neglect of an unjust steward, who 
 occupies a few rooms, as a mean insect 
 creeps into the untenanted shell of the 
 larger animal. Cosas de Espana. 
 
 The Forum was near the convent of 
 Descalzos ; the area and some shafts 
 of columns only remain, for this huge 
 convent was erected at the expense of 
 antique remains ; below ran the Via 
 lata % 7rAarem, o5os 7rA aros, the broad 
 way to Salamanca, now called Camino 
 de Plata , a corruption common in 
 Spain. The Roman bridge of 4 arches 
 which still crosses the rivulet Albar- 
 regas — Alba regia, — is quite perfect, 
 450 ft. long by 25 ft. wide ; thus 
 built for eternity the original pavement 
 exists in spite of a traffic of 17 centu- 
 ries. It runs close to the great aque- 
 duct, and is one of the grandest re- 
 mains of antiquity in the Peninsula : 
 10 arches with 37 shafts remain, some 
 90 ft. high ; they are arched in 3 tiers, 
 and made of brick and granite, the 
 latter worked in bossage, the former 
 in string courses. The magnitude of 
 these colossal monuments is very im- 
 pressive ; they are the standards which 
 the Romans have left whereby to mea- 
 sure their ambition, power, and intel- 
 lect. Below still trickles the streamlet, 
 labitur et labetur , and so will it flow 
 gently on, when even these gigantic 
 ruins shall have crumbled away. There 
 is indeed a sermon in these stones, and 
 the idea of the once mistress of the world 
 rules even in decay. How, when all this 
 greatness has vanished, can any one 
 fret about the petty griefs of his brief 
 hour ? This indeed is a lonely scene, 
 a thing of the past ; the wild figs amid 
 the weeds and crumbling ruins attest 
 the fertility of nature and the neglect 
 of man : all is silent save when the 
 frog croaks in the swamp, and the 
 stork * clicks his bill from the top 
 
 * The stork is a common visitor in the warm 
 localities of Spain, and, as among the ancients 
 and orientals, is a privileged guest bird, and is 
 never disturbed. It usually builds on the 
 church belfries, tuto ciconia nido, and therefore 
 is held out by the priests to the people as an 
 example to be followed in selection of abodes ; 
 but detras de la cruz esta el didblo. 
 
Estremadura * 
 
 ROUTE 57 . — MERIDA. 
 
 475 
 
 arches, on which his unmolested nest is 
 built : well may the natives call these 
 los Milagros ; as to them indeed they 
 are miracles and the works of giants, 
 which they can scarcely even destroy. 
 
 Here let the stranger sit and muse 
 of a still evening, as we have often 
 done — these monuments, like himself, 
 have nothing to do with the present 
 Emeritan, on whom their poetry and 
 attractions are lost ; these mighty re- 
 lics, which have defied ages, are of a 
 different age and people, and have out- 
 lived the names of their founders, yet 
 there they stand gray and shattered, 
 but upright and supporting nothing 
 now but the weight of centuries. 
 Above them is spread, like a curtain, 
 the blue sky, beautiful and bright as 
 at the first dawn of the creation, for 
 nature decays not ; yet perhaps these 
 arches never, even when perfect, were 
 so touchingly picturesque as now ; the 
 Vandal has* destroyed their propor- 
 tions, but time — and who paints like 
 it ? — has healed the scars with lichens, 
 and tinted the weather-beaten frag- 
 ments; their former glory is indeed 
 subdued, but how tender the pity 
 which the past conjures up. Woe to 
 him who disenchants this scene by 
 measuring proportions with line and 
 rule or geologising materials ! Thank- 
 fully let all the poetry be enjoyed for 
 itself and in the bliss of ignorance, 
 unworried by the jargon of Ciceronis 
 and professors prosy : the charm of 
 antiquity, the privilege of the ancient 
 of days, and the one denied to man, 
 whose life is but a span, here satisfies. 
 
 This was only one of the many 
 Roman aqueducts of Merida which 
 poured in rivers ; another crosses the 
 Madrid road, of which only 3 shafts 
 remain, as if to shame, by prodigal 
 solidity, the rambling make-shift mo- 
 dern aqueduct built out of its relics by 
 the Maestro Esquivel under Philip II., 
 in which poverty of material keeps 
 pace with the decay of power and taste. 
 It conveys water from el Borbollon , 
 a spring which rises about 2 L. from 
 Merida , near the village Truxillanos. 
 
 The Romans perfectly understood 
 
 that water conveyed in pipes would 
 rise to its level (Pliny, 4 1ST. H.’ xxxi. 
 6). Pipes, however, are more easily 
 cut off by besiegers, and utility and 
 solidity were the principles of the Ro- 
 man architecture ; the construction of 
 roads and aqueducts “made a name” 
 to generals, whose severe, unpliable 
 character delighted in defying and 
 conquering natural difficulties, and the 
 work gave occupation to their soldiers, 
 propter otium castrense. Many aque- 
 ducts exist in thirsty Spain, as their 
 public utility has led to their preserva- 
 tion, and to their Tepair when broken 
 from military reasons. 
 
 Beyond these 3 shafts, and passing 
 the hermitage of San Lazaro , the 
 Circus Maximus lies in a hollow to 
 the rt. of the Madrid road, and is 
 so well preserved that a chariot-race 
 might easily be given there. The area 
 of this hippodrome is now a corn-field, 
 but the central elevation on which the 
 spina, metce, &c., were elevated, is per- 
 fect with its original pavement. The 
 whole length is some 1356 ft. by 335. 
 The outer walls are of prodigious 
 thickness : the 8 tiers or rows of seats 
 for spectators still remain. The view 
 of Merida from the hillock above is 
 charming. 
 
 Continuing outside the town to the 
 E. is the theatre, called las siete Sillas , 
 from the seven divisions of the seats : 
 it is also almost perfect, nothing is 
 wanting but the proscenium. The 
 vomitories are quite uninjured; ob- 
 serve the singular holes cut in the 
 stones. The Spaniards, by adding to 
 the stem solidity of the Roman work 
 another half-circle in paltry brick nog- 
 ging, had turned this theatre into a 
 Plaza de Toros ; this the French de- 
 stroyed, and the modern portion is 
 now a worse ruin than the ancient one : 
 near it is what was the amphitheatre, 
 or, as some contend, the Naumachia : 
 it has been much used up both by the 
 Moors and Spaniards as a quarry. 
 When last wewere there, a bacon-eating 
 keeper of pigs had constructed in it a 
 sort of shed, and was a living type of 
 the oriental idea of an outcast, 44 who 
 
476 
 
 ROUTE 57 . — SANTA EULALIA. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 lodges in monuments and eats swine’s 
 flesh” (Isaiah Ixv. 4). 
 
 Opposite to the posada, on the 
 Madrid road, is the convent of Santa 
 Eulalia. JEl Uornito , the “ little oven,” 
 in which the good little martyr girl was 
 baked, was converted into a chapel in 
 1612. The portico is low and dispro- 
 portioned : observe the peculiar purple- 
 streaked truncated pillars : an ancient 
 inscription runs thus, “ Marti Sacrum 
 Yetilla Paculi ;” while a modern one 
 records the easy transfer from the 
 Pagan to the Papal system, “Jam 
 non Marti sed Jesu Christo, D. Op. 
 
 M. ejusque sponsce , Eulal. VP. MR. 
 denuo consecratum.” The pillar in the 
 Campo de San Juan was raised in 1646 : 
 all these works are made in bad taste 
 out of the disjecta membra of ancient 
 temples and fragments, brought from 
 the temple of Mars on the Plaza now 
 dedicated to Santiago, and of other Po- 
 man capitals and altars piled one above 
 another. As is the creed, so are the 
 temples, a pasticcio ; and thus are the 
 crumbs of Paganism served up again, 
 thus Mars and Diana are now dis- 
 placed, or metamorphosed into San- 
 tiago and Eulalia, in principle the 
 same, mutato nomine tantum. The ad- 
 joining church, dedicated to Santa Eu- 
 lalia, is said to be of the 4th century : 
 observe the Grothic portal and singular 
 capitals of pillars ; on each side of the 
 high altar are ancient chapels. That 
 to the 1. belongs to the de Roca family. 
 There are other antiquities in the 
 neighbourhood of Merida : first, those 
 mighty “ pools ” or water reservoirs, 
 el lago de Proserpina , or the Charca 
 de la Albufera , which lies about 1 L. 
 
 N. The granite wall which dams up 
 the water is gigantic. The towers, by 
 which staircases lead down into the 
 huge tank, are called los Pocines. 
 There is another Poman reservoir near 
 Truxillanos 2 L., which is called Al~ 
 buera de Cornalvo ; it is smaller than 
 the Chorea , but equally colossal in style 
 of execution. The rows of steps have 
 induced some antiquarians to imagine 
 that Naumachise were performed here. 
 
 There is a local history, a thick 4to. 
 
 of 672 pages, e Tlistoria de la Ciudad de 
 Merida ,’ Barnabe Moreno de Vargas, 
 Mad. 1633, by whom (its Corregidor) 
 also was edited in 4to. Mad. 1633, 
 the ‘ JEmeritensis Liber j written by 
 Paulus Diaconus. Consult also ‘ Ad- 
 vertencias de Merida J Juan Gromez 
 Bravo, 4to., Florencia, 1638. The dif- 
 ferent antiquities are carefully described 
 by Cean Bermudez, 1 Sum 0 .’ 384. 
 
 Those who wish to visit the phos- 
 phorite deposit at Logrosan and the 
 convent of Guadalupe (see Pte. 58) 
 will only take their places from Merida 
 on to Trujillo . Those who proceed at 
 once to Madrid may sleep, like Beck- 
 ford, if they can, or if the mala gente 
 will let them, for the first- stage is 
 usually called “ LI confessionario de 
 S n - Pedro” from the number of tra- 
 vellers sent by bandits to that bourn 
 from whence none return, with and 
 without previous confession. The Duke 
 soon settled them : “ I hear there is a 
 band of robbers between Trujillo and 
 Merida, who are playing the devil : 
 desire Penne Villemur to destroy this 
 people.” Those who are riding may 
 make an excursion to Medellin , which 
 lies about 5 L. to the rt. : those who 
 do not will pass on to page 482. 
 
 Medellin , before it was sacked by 
 Victor, one of the most flourishing 
 towns of this district, is now wretched 
 and decayed : pop. about 800. There 
 is a large but ruined castle on the 
 hill, which commands a most exten- 
 sive panorama ; below flows the Grua- 
 diana, which has a bridge built in 
 1636, now much out of order. The 
 remains of an old Poman one are 
 visible : consult ( Historia y Santos ,’ 
 Juan Solano de Eiguerroa, 4to., Mad. 
 1650. Hernando Cortes was born 
 here in 1485, for whose life and deeds 
 see Prescott’s excellent work, the 
 c Conquest of Mexico,’ i. 208. His 
 dispatches have been ^translated and 
 published at New York by Gr. Folsom. 
 His family chapel remains at Medellin 
 in the San Francisco. 
 
 The rise, career, and end of Cortes, 
 were truly Moorish. Elevated from 
 nothing, he, like Musa or Tarik, con- 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 ROUTE 57. — HERNANDO CORTES. 
 
 477 
 
 quered kingdoms, trampled on foreign 
 kings, and was rewarded by his own 
 one with ingratitude. After 40 years 
 passed, to use his own words, with 
 little food, less sleep, his arms con- 
 stantly at his side, he applied, when 
 old, infirm, and embarrassed with debt, 
 to Charles V. for aid : but his peti- 
 tion was not even answered, for Charles, 
 dazzled by the gold of Peru, which 
 Pizarro was sending home, undervalued 
 the past services of a worn-out servant, 
 and barely would give an audience to 
 a man who had conquered for him 
 more provinces than he before owned 
 cities. But well did Humboldt remark, 
 “We may traverse Spanish America 
 from Buenos Ayres to Monterey, and 
 in no quarter shall we meet a national 
 monument which the public gratitude 
 has raised either to Columbus or 
 Cortes.” Both, indeed, died broken- 
 hearted at cutting coldness of neglect 
 and thankless breach of promises. — 
 Cosas de Esjpana. 
 
 Cortes was a fine specimen of a Spa- 
 nish G-uerillero : his types were Ser- 
 torius, Al- Mansur, and the Cid. He 
 was deeply impregnated with the com- 
 bined principles of the Moslem con- 
 quest and propagandism. He began 
 life as an adventurer, greedy only of gold, 
 of the precious metal for itself ; but he 
 rose, when successful, to higher notions 
 of glory and religion. Beckless, devoid 
 alike of mercy, justice, or good faith, 
 no laws, human or divine, ever arrested 
 him in his advance. His system com- 
 bined the Spanish Algara , or foray, 
 with the Moorish Algihad , or crusade. 
 He forced his Christianity on the con- 
 quered by the sword, but he was 
 satisfied, like the Moslem, with mere 
 nominal conversion, content with the 
 admission of the new faith, and the 
 mere passing from one creed to another, 
 without any regard to the spirituality 
 or real belief of the neophyte. His 
 dispatches, oriental in language, breathe 
 the stately tone of a cruel, arbitrary 
 propagandist of the sword. This true 
 representative of a Peninsular worthy, 
 whether in turban, cowl, or plumed 
 hat, carried out the besetting sins of 
 
 both Moor and Spaniard — avarice, cru- 
 elty, bloodshed, bigotry, and bad faith, 
 gilded by a chivalrous, bold, lofty, ad- 
 venturous daring and talent ; and as 
 he sowed, his descendants have reaped. 
 Look on the picture and contrast pre- 
 sented by Spanish and English Ame- 
 rica ; the former a Frankenstein abor- 
 tion of a corrupted and corrupting 
 parent, ignorant, superstitious, treaty- 
 breaking, poverty-stricken, and turning 
 its suicidal hand upon itself ; the other 
 rich, powerful, free, and intelligent, 
 and giving birth to works which would 
 do honour to the science and literature 
 of the mother country. 
 
 Marshall Victor arrived at Medellin 
 to avenge the manes of pillaged Mexi- 
 cans, and to soothe the ghost of Monte- 
 zuma by pulling down the natal house of 
 Cortes, his murderer. In the fatal plain 
 below, Cuesta risked, March 28, 1809, a 
 battle, and was instantaneously put to 
 indescribable rout. He had drawn up his 
 forces in a line of 3 miles long, with no 
 reserve, intending to “ catch Victor in 
 a net,” and re-enact Baylen; but at 
 the first charge 3 Spanish regiments 
 turned, the whole cavalry following, 
 Echevarri, of Alcolea disrepute, again 
 leading the way in flight. According 
 to Belmas (i. 68) the French loss in 
 killed and wounded was only 240, 
 while that of the Spaniards exceeded 
 10,000; for no quarter was given, 
 indeed, the “ epouvantable massacre” 
 (Laborde, i. 124) and Victor’s ferocious 
 treatment of his prisoners led to the 
 cant expression, “ d la Medellin .” “Le 
 cruel Marechal fit encore apres la ba- 
 taille fusilier 403 prisonniers ” (Schep. 
 ii. 307) ; “ et l’infanterie, remplissant 
 l’ouvrage deshonorant de bourreau, 
 massacrait les blesses.” The results 
 of this day were unimportant, as Victor 
 neglected military advantages in order 
 to plunder Guadalupe^ and to gratify a 
 personal pique against his rival mar- 
 shals : by not advancing rapidly into 
 the now open Portugal, he contributed 
 to the defeat of Soult at Oporto, and to 
 his flight to Lugo, as also to the aban- 
 donment of Grallicia and the Asturias 
 by Ney. 
 
478 
 
 ROUTE 57, TRUJILLO. 
 
 Sect. VII, 
 
 The bodies of Victor’s victims were 
 left to the vulture, the Iberian under- 
 taker (see p. 281), and the plains were 
 for long years afterwards covered with 
 bleaching bones. The central Junta, 
 aping the Roman Senate after the 
 defeat at Cannae, showered honours on 
 the defeated ; Cuesta was made a Cap- 
 tain General, and to encourage future 
 officers to fight foolish battles and lose 
 them, all the survivors obtained a step 
 in rank ; while for the rank and file, 
 an express order of merit was insti- 
 tuted. 
 
 Continuing the high road from Ba- 
 dajoz to Madrid, a little before reach- 
 ing Miajadas , 5 L. from Medellin, the 
 hill and castle of Montanches rises to 
 the 1. The desolate Camino Real then 
 continues to Trujillo , Turris Julia, 
 because said to have been founded by 
 Julius Caesar. Near the high road is 
 a clean Parador de S. Isidoro , and a 
 decent inn, the Posada de los Cabal- 
 leros , kept by a widow, up in the town, 
 through which the road does not pass, 
 as it is carried below under it. The 
 ancient city, rising as it does to the 1., 
 has from its position a very imposing 
 effect, which going into it immediately 
 dispels. The streets are narrow and 
 ill-paved, yet some of the dilapidated 
 houses mark the former opulence of 
 those adventurers who returned laden 
 with the spoil of Peruvian conquest. 
 The granite knoll on which Trujillo is 
 built has protruded from the slate basis ; 
 the site is fine, and domineers over 
 the country : the healthy town, on the 
 eastern slope of the ridge, which to the 
 N. and W. is rugged and precipitous, 
 is divided into two portions ; the Villa, 
 the acropolis, the upper and most an- 
 cient, once the seat of the aristocracy 
 and garrison, is now abandoned, and 
 consigned to the dead and their burial. 
 The entrance is by the arch of Santiago, 
 who appears mounted in sculptured 
 relief : near is a tower of Norman cha- 
 racter, connected to a small church; 
 observe the doorway and circular win- 
 dows. On the opposite side of the 
 gateway another (a Moorish) tower, 
 attributed here to Julius Caesar, con- 
 
 trasts with the modern classical portico 
 close by, a poor academical affair of 
 Ventura Rodriguez. The Villa itself 
 is bounded by a wall which crests the 
 ridge : at the N. end is what was the 
 Roman fortress, of which that of Me- 
 rida is clearly the type : the flanking 
 towers are of granite. Walk over the 
 open esplanade before the entrance. 
 This castle has been much added to in 
 modern times, since Trujillo from its 
 position commands these plains, and 
 is an important strategic point, sup- 
 posing it were well kept and garri- 
 soned : all is now neglect and dilapi- 
 dation. The narrow paths and streets 
 in the Villa , cut out of the granite, 
 will delight the artist, as abounding in 
 ancient gateways of cyclopean Roman 
 work and Moorish-looking towers. The 
 Santa Maria mayor has a Lombard- 
 like tower older than the church ; ob- 
 serve the rose window to the W. and 
 the two lancet windows to the N. The 
 natives ascribe the tower to Julius 
 Caesar. Observe inside the tomb of 
 Diego de Paredes — James Wall. “He 
 (says the Curate in Don Quixote, 
 i. 32) was a gentleman of note, a very 
 brave soldier, and of such great natural 
 strength that he could stop a windmill, 
 in its greatest rapidity, with a single 
 finger, as easily as Hercules did the 
 wheel of Ixion ; and, being once posted, 
 with a two-handed sword (now preserved 
 at Madrid), at the entrance upon a 
 bridge, he repelled a prodigious army of 
 Frenchmen, killed 400, and prevented 
 their passage over it.” Now-a-days 
 the lively French sneer at all this lion 
 “ Moonshine and Wall.” There is a 
 Life of this Hercules and Samson of 
 Estremadura, appended to the ‘ Coro- 
 nica del Gran Cajpitan ,’ Alcala de 
 Henares, folio, 1584 ; and another c Re- 
 lation breve ,’ by Tamayo de Vargas, 
 4to. Mad. 1621. Near Trujillo is 
 shown the well, 30 ft. wide, over which 
 Diego jumped forwards and backwards : 
 he died at Bologna in 1534, aged 64, 
 and his bones were moved to Trujillo 
 in 1545. Diego, unrivalled in personal 
 prowess and daring, served as a boy at 
 the capture of Granada, became a 
 
Extremadura. 
 
 ROUTE 57. — FRANCISCO PIZARRO, 
 
 479 
 
 general of Alexander VI., and was one 
 of the 11 champions at Trani, in the 
 Faso de Armas with the French, where 
 he himself overthrew three of his oppo- 
 nents ; he was the right arm of the 
 “ G-reat Captain,” and at the victory of 
 Cerignola alone defended the bridge — 
 his favourite feat — against a whole 
 company of French knights : he fought 
 also at Pavia, when Fran£ois I. was 
 taken : in short, wherever Moor or Gaul 
 were to he beaten he was present. 
 
 In the upper portion of Trujillo, near 
 the Villa , is the Plaza, a picturesque 
 jumble of buildings public and private. 
 The ch. of San Martin , in one corner, 
 has a fine rose window, a single nave 
 supported by noble arches, and a stone 
 roof of singular beauty and construc- 
 tion. It contains curious tombs, one 
 of a Cardinal Gaeta, while another has 
 reliefs sculptured in granite of combats 
 with the Moor. 
 
 Trujillo was the granite cradle of 
 the fierce, false, cruel, yet energetic 
 Pizarro, a “slate” as hard a3 Spain 
 itself. Oh ! dura tellus Iberise ! He 
 was one of that caste described by the 
 soldier- poet Ercilla — 
 
 “ Pe aquellos Espanoles esforzados 
 Que a la cerviz de Arauco no domado 
 Pusieron duro yugo por la espada.” 
 
 Fr°* Pizarro, born in 1480, was, like 
 Milosch, the recent Prince of Servia, 
 the son of a swineherd ; he was suckled, 
 it is said, not by a Romulean wolf, but 
 by an Estremenian sow, a very proper 
 and local wet nurse ; but these therio- 
 trophical legends are of all countries ; 
 thus, Habis, king of Spain, was reared 
 by a doe : Justin, xliv. 4. Pizarro, 
 again, like Milosch, was scarcely able 
 to read or write, but, like Cortes also, 
 he was a true guerrillero, bold, cunning, 
 false, cruel, avaricious, indeed, and 
 capricious as an Oriental Pasha, but 
 endued with a temper of mind no less 
 daring than his body was robust ; fore- 
 most in every danger, patient under 
 hardship, unsubdued by fatigue, unre- 
 strained by any scruples, he was suc- 
 cessful in every operation that he con- 
 ducted. His end was that of a rocket, 
 
 which bursts at its highest elevation. 
 He was assassinated, like Sertorius, 
 June 26, 1541, by the traitor Herrera. 
 Pizarro’ s house on the Plaza was let go 
 to decay by his unworthy descendant, 
 the M s * de la Conquista. At the corner 
 are figures of manacled Indians, fit 
 badges of the bloody “ Conquest ,” of 
 the plunder and murder of Atahualpa. 
 His history and character have been 
 exhausted by Mr. Prescott. 
 
 Pizarro lies buried in the Sa. Maria 
 de la Concepcion : his armed effigy 
 kneels in a niche ; the helmet in front 
 is said to have been actually his. 
 
 In the Plaza is the Casa del Ayun - 
 tamiento , with some damaged paintings 
 in the salon. Near San Martin is the 
 vast palace of the Duke of San Carlos, 
 with a patio of pompous pretension, to 
 which, as in the palace of Charles V. 
 in the Alhambra, interior comfort has 
 been, or rather would have been, sacri- 
 ficed, for both are unfinished monu- 
 ments of mighty promise and beggarly 
 performance. Visit also the house of 
 the Conde del Puerto , with a good stair- 
 case; observe the granite Petablo in 
 the parish church of Santiago, and the 
 titular carved by Gregorio Hernandez, 
 the patio of San Francisco, and the 
 fine house and gardens of the Martilla 
 family, destroyed to use the materials 
 to construct a fort by the French, who, 
 under Gen. Foy, made this wretched 
 city a “ heap ” of ruins. (See Madoz, 
 xv. 169) . The Alberca, from its Arabic 
 name ascribed to the Moors, is pro- 
 bably, from its form and construction, 
 a Roman reservoir, of which such fine 
 types exist at Merida. The population 
 of Trujillo is agricultural — mere tillers 
 of the earth, or tenders of swine. The 
 land is neglected and uncultivated ; 
 much indeed is stony and poor, hence 
 the saying — “ Por do quiera que d 
 Trujillo entrares , andaras una legua 
 de berrocalesP Those curious to 
 verify this may ride to Placencia (Rte 
 59). 
 
480 
 
 ROUTE 58. — LOGROSAN. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 Koute 58. — Excursion to Almaden. 
 
 Herguijuela . . . 
 
 Zorita 
 
 . 3 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 5 
 
 Logrosan . . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 8 
 
 Canamero . . . . , 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 10 
 
 Guadalupe . . . . , 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 . 13 
 
 Logrosan . 
 
 . 5 
 
 . 18 
 
 Casas de Don Pedro . , 
 
 . 31 
 
 . 21* 
 
 Tallarubias 
 
 . 3|., 
 
 . 25 
 
 Espiritu Santo . . . , 
 
 . 2 ., 
 
 . 27 
 
 Almaden .... 
 
 . 7 ., 
 
 . 34 
 
 This, a rough excursion, is most inter- 
 esting to the naturalist. Meantime, 
 Rte. 57 is continued to Madrid at p. 
 482. As this detour is wild and ill- 
 provided with fleshly comforts, attend 
 to the provend and take a local guide ; 
 there is some difficulty in procuring 
 horses or mules even at Trujillo. The 
 first day’s ride to Logrosan threads a 
 lonely, partially cultivated country; La 
 Conquista is a ruined cortijo with a fine- 
 sounding name, on an estate granted to 
 the Pizarro family. So proceed on to 
 the Lrmita , where there is a clear fresh 
 well and an obliging hermit ; passing 
 through jarales y encinares , at Zorita , 
 the road branches off S. E. to Almaden , 
 through Madrigalejo , 3 L., a miserable 
 village, where Ferdinand, the husband 
 of Isabella, died, (see the inscription in 
 the chapel of the Casa Sa. Maria) 
 Jan. 23, 1516, aged 64. “Tot reg- 
 norum, dominus, totque palmarum 
 cumulis ornatus, Christianse religionis 
 amplificator et prostrator hominum, 
 rex in rusticana obiit casa, et pauper 
 contra hominum opinionem obiit ; ” 
 so wrote his faithful friend, Peter Mar- 
 tyr (Ep. 566). 
 
 Logrosan — Posada bad ; pop. about 
 3,000 ; stands in a narrow valley of 
 the JPollares , at the beginning of the 
 Guadalupe range, which consists of 
 clay- slate, alternating with quartzite, 
 and occasionally pierced by masses of 
 granite. The presence of phosphorite 
 of lime is almost a solitary instance in 
 Europe ; the vein, or rather deposit, 
 lies about half a mile to the N.N.E. 
 and S.S.W., and occurs amid clay and 
 slate, except in the centre, where it is 
 intermixed with quartz : made out for 
 about two miles, sometimes it occurs 
 emerging above the loamy soil, and at 
 
 other times below it, in a bed in some 
 places from 6 to 10 feet wide. It may 
 be traced by its general light straw 
 colour, hut the finer parts have a 
 purple and white laminated reniform 
 structure, like some depositions of car- 
 bonate of lime : it is extremely phos- 
 phorescent when pulverised and thrown 
 on lighted charcoal ; as no ingredient of 
 organic life is to be found, it is presumed 
 to be of primitive formation. It con- 
 tains about 14 per cent, of fluoride of 
 calcium; thus nature has here pro- 
 vided amply for that material which 
 enters into the bones of animals, both 
 of this and of a former age. This vein 
 was first noticed by the Irishman 
 Bowles in his c Mistoria LfaturaV (p. 
 56) ; his statements were exaggerated 
 by Spanish and French authors, who 
 descanted very learnedly thereon, until 
 Mons. Proust reported that whole hills 
 were composed of phosphorite of lime : 
 unfortunately, from never having been 
 on the spot, his remarks were extremely 
 clever, hut altogether inaccurate. 
 
 Logrosan , chiefly built out of a 
 mass of very hard and compact black 
 schist, with veins of quartz, is placed, 
 like Trujillo, on a granite knoll, with 
 an extensive view. The protruding 
 slates add to the inconvenience of 
 this wretched poverty-stricken hamlet, 
 which, however, has a fine unfinished 
 church, rising like a cathedral, with a 
 beautiful absis and a pointed retablo. 
 
 The Jeronomite convent of Guada - 
 luge, once one of the richest and 
 most venerated in Spain, lies about 
 5 L. distant, about half of which 
 are over the plain and half over the 
 Sierra , and are equivalent to seven at 
 least. After passing a wide jaral , the 
 picturesque village of Canamero stands 
 at a rocky gorge, through which the 
 beautiful Uuecas flows, while a bold 
 ridge towers to the E. Soon the 
 defiles of the Sierra are entered, amid 
 exquisite scenery and wild aromatic 
 herbs ; then a lofty table-land is 
 ascended, commanding a sweeping 
 panorama. Th ejposadas of Guadalu'pe 
 are iniquitous, but the muleteer gene- 
 rally can obtain lodging in some pri- 
 
Estremadura . 
 
 ROUTE 58. — ALMADEN. 
 
 481 
 
 vate house on the Plaza. The dirty 
 narrow wynds are built on a slope, 
 with the ground-floor of the houses 
 under colonnades given up to stabling. 
 The convent towers grandly above the 
 Plaza ;, once lord of all it surveyed : 
 degraded now into a barrack, the 
 splendid chapel has escaped, preserved 
 as a parish church ; the Virgin of 
 Guadalupe, the great patroness of Es- 
 tremadura, guided the invaders of the 
 new world to victory and spoil, and 
 to her a share was always apportioned : 
 hence the number of her shrines in 
 Mexico, to which Cortes transported 
 his' local recollections ; his first act on 
 returning in 1538 was a pilgrimage to 
 this convent, where he worshipped her 
 image for nine days. He and his follow- 
 ers hoped, by offering at her altar the 
 spolia opima of their strangely achieved 
 wealth, to purchase deathbed pardons 
 for lives spent in the commission of 
 wholesale murder and every sin. 
 
 Diego de Montalbo , in his 4to. His- 
 tory, Lisbon, 1631, treats of this 
 image, the second in holiness of the 
 myriads of her images in Mariolatrous 
 Spain. In 1330, one Giles, a cow- 
 keeper of Caceres, discovered a statue, 
 which turned out somehow to have 
 been carved by St. Luke, to have 
 been given to San Leandro, the Go- 
 thic uprooter of Arianism, by Gre- 
 gory the Great, and miraculously 
 preserved during the six centuries of 
 Moorish invasion. A hermitage was 
 built on the spot, and in 1340 Alonso 
 XI. raised a chapel, which Juan I., in 
 1389, converted into a convent, subject 
 to the Pope alone. The site, a warm 
 southern fertile slope, abounding in 
 fruit, water, and trout-streams, was, 
 with the whole Sierra de Alt amir a ^ 
 granted to the holy Jeronomite monks. 
 This order, peculiarly agricultural, for- 
 merly possessed 80,000 Merinos, and 
 were so rich that the proverb ran— 
 
 “ Quien es conde, y desea ser duque, 
 Metasefraile en Guadalupe . ” 
 
 Navagiero, who went there with 
 Charles V., describes in his c Viaggio ’ 
 (p. 12) the place as rather a city than 
 a monastery, with a tower said to be 
 
 filled with gold ; the cellars for wine 
 were proportionate. The strong cas- 
 tellated walls, like in the convents in 
 Syria, proved the necessity of a defence 
 against the infidel. 
 
 The first view from the plaza is very 
 imposing, yet one regrets that the 
 ancient balustrade should never have 
 been finished ; the pointed front of the 
 chapel contrasts with the old towers, 
 turrets, buildings, and library, to which 
 new works were added when the Carlist 
 Palillos held it during the civil war : 
 the grand entrance is by a noble ascent 
 and vestibule, with a Moorish arch to 
 the 1. ; here is the Sagrario , and to the 
 1, the Gothic tomb of Alonso de Ve^ 
 lasco ; the walls were hung with the 
 votive chains of captives delivered by 
 the Virgin. Hence Cervantes (Pers. y 
 Sig., iii. 5) calls this “ Santisima ima- 
 gen, Libertad de los cautivos, lima de 
 sus hierros y alivio de sus prisiones ; ” 
 and compare Horace, Catenam, ex 
 voto Laribus. In an adjoining chapel 
 observe a representation of a general 
 council held here in 1415 ; ascending 
 to the Gothic church, to the 1. lies 
 buried the architect Juan Alonso, 
 Maestro que jizo esta Santa Iglesia. 
 The three naves are built in a massy 
 pointed style, but the extension of the 
 coro has destroyed the symmetry. The 
 superb lofty reja which divided the 
 monks from the populace is a master- 
 piece of Francisco de Salamanca and 
 Juan de Avila. The cupola above the 
 transept is octagonal, with gilt capitals. 
 The classical Petablo , designed by 
 Juan Gomez de Mora, and executed 
 by Giraldo de Merlo, imposing in 
 itself, is out of keeping in a Gothic 
 church, modernised in the worst taste, 
 filled in 1618 with paintings relating 
 to the Virgin and Saviour by Vicente 
 Carducho and Eugenio Cajes. 
 
 The walls of the Capilla Mayor 
 were ornamented in marble by Juan 
 Bautista Semeria, a Genoese, and by 
 Bartolome Abril, a Swiss. Observe the 
 royal sepulchres, statues, and carvings ; 
 and in la Capilla de los cuatro altares , 
 the effigies of Prince Dionisio of Por- 
 tugal, and Dona Juana his wife, erected 
 
482 
 
 ROUTE 58. — ROUTE 57. — SACK OF GUADALUPE. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 in 1461, and moved to tlieir present 
 place under Philip II. Notice also the 
 tomb of Doha Maria de Guadalupe 
 Lancaster y Cardenas, Duchess of 
 Aveyro ; hut this convent once was a 
 sort of Escurial, and a tomb-house 
 of illustrious dead. A jasper staircase 
 leads up to the Camarin of the Yirgin, 
 or treasury, with some sketchy paint- 
 ings by Luca Giordano, in vile taste. 
 The dresses and wealth in it once were 
 prodigious. The silver lamps, &c., the 
 glorious Custodia made by Juan de 
 Segovia, were plundered by Victor ; 
 now disappeared the silver throne of the 
 image, the silver angels, the 85 silver 
 lamps, the gilt lamp taken at Lepanto, 
 the diamonds, pearls, gold, and jewels, 
 the offerings of kings. He also car- 
 ried off nine cart-loads of silver ; but 
 this Victor was an adept at this art, 
 having in 1797 pillaged the real Lo- 
 retto of Italy ; he, however, piously left 
 the wooden image behind, although 
 carved by St. Luke himself. The won- 
 derful relics of this sanctuary are re- 
 ferred to ‘ Historia de Nuestra Senora 
 de Gruadalwpel folio, Gabriel de Tala- 
 vera, Toledo, 1597 : the scrolly title 
 page is curious. 
 
 The splendid Sacristia contains 8 
 fine Zurbarans, representing the life 
 of St. Jerome, which from monkish 
 neglect are pure and uninjured. There 
 has been some talk of moving them to 
 a museo at Caceres. The church is 
 surrounded by an assemblage of build- 
 ings, once extensive and sumptuous. 
 The hospederia ;, or house of reception 
 for strangers, was built out of the con- 
 fiscated goods of burnt heretics. Visit 
 the two noble cloisters, one of a Gothic 
 pointed, the other of a Moorish style. 
 Notice an elegant Gothic shrine, or 
 temple, and an extremely beautiful 
 double arcade, one above the other. 
 Observe in an angle the injured tomb 
 of Gonzalo de Illescas, Bishop of Cor- 
 dova. La Botica , or medicinal dispen- 
 sary, yet remains ; and the library, 
 from whence the best books have dis- 
 appeared. This splendid pile, placed in 
 an out-of-the-way situation, is passing 
 away, like the monks for which it was 
 
 raised; both have served their turn: 
 they it was who made roads and intro- 
 duced agriculture into these former 
 forests and “valleys of wolves and it 
 was in order to facilitate the approach 
 of pilgrims to this shrine that Pedro 
 Tenorio, Archbishop of Toledo, built, 
 in 1338, his magnificent bridge over the 
 Tagus, about 7^ L. below Talavera 
 de la Reina. He also gave to the con- 
 vent that remarkable bronze font, which 
 used to be near the refectory. 
 
 The Serrania of Guadalupe is a con- 
 tinuation of the Montes de Toledo. 
 The highest range, behind the convent, 
 rises 7000 feet. These mountains 
 divide the basins of the Tagus and 
 Guadiana. In the cistus-clad plains 
 game of every kind is most abundant. 
 Those who propose to visit Almaden 
 must return to Log r os an ; which is a 
 wild ride of guess-work distances over 
 aromatic dehesas y despoblados. The 
 first day’s midday halt will be at Casas 
 de Lon Pedro , half a league, beyond 
 which the Guadiana is crossed at a 
 ferry. Sleep at Talarrubias , Lacipea, 
 pop. 2,000, a pretty town, with iniqui- 
 tous accommodations. Here the sand- 
 stone and quartz cease. The next day’s 
 ride to Almaden is more lonely. The 
 first and only village, JEs'piritu Santo, 
 is too near the starting-place to be of 
 any use for a midday halt : rest, there- 
 fore, at a streamlet before ascending 
 the Sierra beyond La Puebla de Al- 
 cocer. After leaving the pasture-land 
 the hills become wild and solitary, with 
 a wide moor on their summit, and 
 thence descend to Chillon , a de- 
 pendency, as it were, of Almaden, al- 
 though separated by a steep hill. For 
 Almaden , and the Boute to Cordova, 
 see R. 8. 
 
 Route 57 — (continued). 
 
 Those continuing to Madrid must 
 return from Logrosan to Trujillo. The 
 high-road, after crossing the Monte by 
 a good bridge, ascends to Jaraicejo , a 
 miserable hamlet, which commands the 
 plain, where the conical hill of Santa 
 Cruz and Trujillo form fine objects. 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 ROUTE 57. — ALMARAZ. 
 
 483 
 
 Here the Duke lingered after the battle 
 of Talavera, until famine and the 
 breach of every Spanish promise forced 
 him to withdraw his starving troops 
 to the agues of Merida and Badajoz. 
 Now, as then, all this Punic bad faith 
 is blinked, and the old pretext put forth 
 that political motives, and a desire to 
 secure Portugal for England, were the 
 Duke’s real reasons (Schep. iL 415). 
 
 Hence to the Puerto de Miravete , 
 the culminating point, whence the eye 
 sweeps over interminable plains, stud- 
 ded here and there with conical hills. 
 The Tagus is crossed at the pictu- 
 resque bridge of Almaraz , which spans 
 from its cistus-clad rocks the deep sea- 
 green river, muddy, alas! sometimes. 
 It was built in 1552 by Pedro de 
 Urias, and paid for by the city of Pla- 
 sencia , as connecting it with the pro- 
 vince of La Mancha. Lower down is 
 another bridge, built by a Plasencian, 
 the Cardinal Juan de Carvajal, and 
 hence called el Puente del Cardenal , 
 Which opens communications with 
 Trujillo. The bridge of Almaraz , 
 580 ft. long, 25 wide, and 134 high, 
 consists of two arches, one of which 
 was destroyed by Cuesta in 1809, 
 and remained so for many years, to 
 the disgrace of the Government, to 
 the annual loss of life, and interrup- 
 tion of communication between Ma- 
 drid and Portugal. It was rebuilt 
 by an ex-monk, Ibanez, in 1845, at 
 the expense of the locality. Lord 
 Hill took his title from Almaraz , 
 as here, May 18, 1812, he conducted 
 “ with consummate ability one of the 
 most brilliant actions in the war.” 
 Polio wing the Duke’s instructions, he 
 passed the intricate defile of La Cueva 
 with such secrecy, that both Drouet 
 and Foy were deceived. He next as- 
 saulted Fort Napoleon, about \ a mile 
 from the bridge, which, although 
 guarded by 1000 French and 18 guns, 
 while he was without any artillery 
 himself, he carried by the bayonet, 
 the garrison leaping down froglike 
 into the river from sheer panic at 
 such unheard-of gallantry ; Fort Pa - 
 gusa , although the Tagus flowed be- 
 
 tween, followed the example, and was 
 abandoned by the scared enemy. By 
 this splendid affair Soult was cut off 
 from Marmont, and the Duke then 
 wrote home that he should try the latter 
 single-handed, “ no man in the army 
 entertaining a doubt of the result ; ” 
 that result was Salamanca. Hill, with 
 a mere handful of men, was the terror 
 of Drouet and the French in Estre- 
 madura ; and Buonaparte; writing pri- 
 vately, and then telling the truth to 
 Soult, for he knew the real state of 
 things, inquired, “ Comment est-il pos- 
 sible que six mille Anglais et quatre 
 ou cinq mille Portugais aient enleve 
 les magasins de Merida, se soient 
 avances jusque sur les debouches de 
 1’ Andalousie, et y soient restes un mois, 
 et cela devant votre armee composee des 
 meilleures troupes du monde, pouvant 
 presenter plus de soixante mille hom- 
 ines presents sous les armes, et une 
 cavalerie si superieure en nombre ? ” 
 
 Leaving the Tagus, the road turns 
 inland to Navalmoral , and enters the 
 province of New Castile. Oropesa , 
 cresting its ilex and olive- clad hill 
 {Posada del Navarro ), gives a title 
 to the Duke of Frias, who has here an 
 irregular dilapidated palace, and a fine 
 castle with round towers and keep. 
 N.B. Those riding from Madrid to 
 Juste may turn off at Navalmoral , to 
 the rt., to Zarzahuete , 6 L. ; thence to 
 FI Par co del Pio Xerte , 1 L. ; then 3^ 
 on, through aromatic wastes, to Cua - 
 cos and the convent. From Oropesa 
 the road continues through oak woods 
 to Talavera de la Peina , or Peyna , of 
 “the Queen,” because given by Alonso 
 XI. as an appanage to the royal con- 
 sort. There are two other Talaveras ; 
 one, la Peal , is near Badajoz, and the 
 other, la Vieja , which lies 10 L. from 
 that of la Peina , on the 1. bank of the 
 Tagus. The remains of this last old 
 Roman town have served to build the 
 modern hamlet. The pillars and arch 
 of a temple, however, have escaped. 
 See two papers in the ‘ Mem. de la 
 Acad, de HistoriaJ i. 345 ; and Cean 
 Ber. £ Sum 0 .’ 115. 
 
 Those riding from Madrid might, 
 
484 
 
 ROUTE 57 . TALAYERA DE LA RE1NA. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 before entering Talavera, go to the 
 Casa de Salinas , ascend the hill, and 
 visit the battle-field, passing to Tala- 
 vera by the ridge on which our troops 
 ■were posted. 
 
 Talavera de la Reina — Tala-Briga 
 — once flourishing, is now a most de- 
 cayed place, but charmingly situated 
 on the Tagus, in a verdurous vega ; 
 Posada de las Postas , and another, 
 del Fresco , on the Plaza. The town 
 is ancient, straggling, ill-paved, and 
 inconvenient, but full of nice bits for 
 the sketch-book ; remains exist of a 
 triple circumvallation, the oldest is 
 Roman ; the Torres Albarranas were 
 built in 937 by the Moors : these 
 old girdles rise picturesquely among 
 the houses ; notice the arch of San 
 Pedro, and the irregular Plaza, with 
 red houses, porticos, and balconies. 
 There is a fine but dilapidated bridge 
 and a pleasant Alameda , whose groves 
 are tenanted by nightingales. Another 
 pleasant and favourite paseo is on the 
 Madrid road, leading to Nuestra 
 Senora del Prado , a hermitage built 
 on a Pagan temple, and where Pagan 
 rites continued to be celebrated down 
 to 1807. These fioralia were called 
 las Mondas de Talavera^ and were akin 
 to the Helston May “Furry” the Flora 
 of Cornwall : a sort of chief magistrate 
 was chosen for the day, who was called 
 Justicia de Mogiganga , because he 
 presided over the large images then 
 paraded about. A complete lectister- 
 nia also took place, and idols were 
 “ borne on men’s shoulders ” with 
 curious rites. 
 
 The population of Talavera is about 
 5500 ; the former leather, silk, and hat 
 manufactures have much declined ; 
 that of coarse earthenware, alfareria , 
 made from a clay brought from Calera , 
 still languishes. The Grothic Colegiata 
 is not remarkable: begun in 1211, re- 
 paired in 1389, it afterwards was mo- 
 dernised. The noble Jeronomite con- 
 vent near the river, and now a manufac- 
 tory! was begun in 1389, by the Arch- 
 bishop Pedro Tenorio, and altered in 
 1549 and 1624 ; the staircase and Ionic 
 fa9ade are excellent ; the views charm- 
 
 ing. The Dominicos contained three 
 grand sepulchres — Cardinal Loaisa, 
 and Pedro Loaisa, with Catalina his 
 wife. Mariana, the historian, and 
 Alonso de Herrera, the writer on agri- 
 culture, were both born here. The 
 bridge over the Tagus, dedicated to St. 
 Catherine, and built in the 15th cen- 
 tury by the great Cardinal of Toledo, 
 Pedro Mendoza, is much dilapidated 
 from neglect. 
 
 On the hill to the 1. and on the 
 plain on the Madrid road was decided, 
 July 27 and 28, 1809, what the truth- 
 ful Duke justly calls “the long and 
 hard-fought action against the French, 
 with more than double our numbers,” 
 and commanded by Jourdan, Victor, 
 and Joseph in person. The royal 
 arithmetic is most delectable : — 
 “ J’avais pu reunir 50,000 hommes, 
 et nous avions affaire a pres de 80,000 
 hommes (‘ men in buckram’), dont la 
 moitie Anglais ou Portugais ” (‘ Me- 
 moires,’ x. 324). This was the first 
 time that Wellington, relying on the 
 co-operation of Spanish generals and 
 the promises of Spanish juntas, ad- 
 vanced into Spain, and it was the last. 
 The Spanish army was commanded by 
 Cuesta, a brave man personally, but a 
 mere “ child in the art of war,” and 
 too old, proud, and obstinate to be 
 taught. Never were the two nations 
 more truly represented than by their 
 respective leaders; the decrepid formal 
 Don coming in a coach and six, and 
 keeping his ally waiting, when minutes 
 were winged with destinies ; while the 
 other, the very personification of eagle- 
 eyed power, iron in mind and frame, 
 was of lightning decision. Cuesta, 
 rather than take a hint from a younger 
 officer, twice lost the tide of affairs, 
 and thus, the first time, saved Victor 
 from defeat, and the second almost en- 
 sured it to himself. Had he advanced 
 on the Alberche on the 22nd, as the 
 Duke entreated him to do, Victor 
 single-handed must have been crushed ; 
 but during his procrastination the 
 French, warned by traitors in the very 
 dent of Cuesta, fell back, the Spaniards 
 thinking that they were running away 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 BATTLE OF TALAVERA. 
 
 485 
 
 from them; and now Cuesta, just 
 when the Duke wished him to remain 
 still, would advance. He imagined 
 that he was following “flying deer, 
 but found that he was hunting tigers.” 
 This conceit was so inveterate in the 
 ancient Iberians, that the Homans con- 
 stantly shammed a flight, and then 
 turned round on their pursuers, “effuse 
 sequentes,” and scattered them to the 
 winds. See Livy, xxxiv. 14; xl. 48. 
 
 The allies then took up a position 
 before Talavera. The situation of Sir 
 Arthur Wellesley, now far advanced 
 in the heart of the peninsula, was full 
 of peril. With inefficient allies, an 
 incumbrance rather than an aid, and 
 with starvation staring him in the face, 
 while a French army of 55,000 vete- 
 rans menaced his front, and larger forces 
 gathered in his rear and around. Then, 
 had the French only remained on the 
 defensive, his escape was hardly pos- 
 sible ; but over- confidence in numeri- 
 cal superiority, and the jealousy of 
 rival Marshals, induced Joseph, Victor, 
 and Jourdan to hurry an attack before 
 the junction of the other French forces 
 had enveloped the English in a net, 
 past redemption. Sir Arthur, on the 
 27th, drew up the Spaniards in two 
 lines on his right, in a position secured 
 by the river and very strong from en- 
 closures, ditches, and plantations ; his 
 centre, in front of Talavera, was inter- 
 sected by roads and ravines. He 
 placed the British troops on the slop- 
 ing hills to the 1., the real key of the 
 position. His whole English and 
 German handful was under 19,000, 
 with 30 guns ; while the Spaniards 
 ranged about 34,000. The French 
 mustered upwards of 50,000 men, of 
 whom 7 000 were cavalry. N umerically 
 the contending hosts were equal ; in- 
 trinsically, most unequal. While the 
 Spaniards were incapable of performing 
 the simplest operation, the French force 
 consisted of splendid veterans, highly 
 disciplined, and flushed with victory. 
 Victor concentrated all his forces 
 against the English, by whom he was 
 everywhere beaten back. Night termi- 
 nated the contest, the Duke sleeping 
 
 Spain. — II. 
 
 on the ground in his cloak. Victor’s 
 second attack failed from Sebastiani’s 
 neglecting to assist him now, as he 
 did again afterwards at Barrosa (see 
 p. 145). Victor himself had risked 
 this battle prematurely; jealous of 
 Soult, and wishing to monopolise 
 the glory of a victory, he hurried it 
 on before that marshal could arrive 
 after his defeat at Oporto. The French 
 finally abandoned the field, having lost 
 20 cannon, and 10,000 killed and 
 wounded : the English lost 6200. 
 
 They alone did the deed, for “ the 
 Spanish army,” wrote the Duke (Disp. 
 Aug. 25, 1809), “with very trifling 
 exceptions, was not engaged, yet whole 
 corps threw away their arms, and ran 
 off in my presence, when they were 
 neither attacked, nor threatened with 
 an attack, but frightened, I believe, by 
 their own fire.” “ When these das- 
 tardly soldiers run away they plunder 
 everything they meet, and in their 
 flight from Talavera they plundered 
 the baggage of the British army, which 
 was at that time bravely engaged in 
 their cause.” 
 
 Cuesta, insensible to shame and un- 
 taught by experience, next neglected, 
 in spite of the Duke’s urgent request, 
 to secure the passes of Banos, and thus 
 left a path open to Soult to fall on 
 our flank; yet in spite of his im- 
 minent danger the old blockhead con- 
 tinued to linger, risking the loss of 
 both himself and ally; then in the nick 
 of time the Duke passed the bridge 
 of the Arzobispo, # and thus saved 
 Cuesta and Andalucia from ruin ; and 
 even as it was, such was the slowness 
 and carelessness of the Spaniard, that 
 the dotard was surprised by Mortier, 
 and routed, flying even to Guadalupe, 
 abandoning 30 guns and all his bag- 
 gage, and this before one squadron of 
 French dragoons. 
 
 After the battle the town ol Tala- 
 vera , which refused bread to the starv- 
 ing English ally when offering money 
 for it, was found by the French enemy 
 
 * This bridge lies about L. below Tala- 
 vera, and is so called because built in 1333 by 
 Pedro Tenorio, Archbishop of Toledo. 
 
 Z 
 
486 
 
 BATTLE OF TALA VERA. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 to contain corn enough for their army 
 for three months (Schep. *ii. 424). 
 Twice did the invaders sack the town. 
 “ Victor assembled his troops to pil- 
 lage : every man was provided with a 
 saw and a hammer (proverbial in 
 Trench armies as was the poher of 
 Augereau) ; willing troops filed off by 
 the beat of drum (Victor originally was 
 a drummer-boy) in regular parties to 
 them work, a business with which they 
 were well acquainted; nothing escaped 
 their search” (Southey, 24). 
 
 “Had Spaniards in any way kept 
 their word, and if I could have been 
 fed,” said the Duke, “ I should after 
 Talavera have turned and struck a 
 brilliant blow on Soult at Plasencia.” 
 He was justly raised to the peerage for 
 this splendid battle, although Mr. 
 Whitbread affirmed that “it would 
 have been better for Sir Arthur if he 
 had never changed his name and 
 Lord Grrey criticised his “ want of ca- 
 pacity and skill.” But the Whigs 
 never lost an opportunity of thwarting 
 his efforts or of underrating his genius, 
 which they could not even understand. 
 Thus encouraged old Cobbett cut coarse 
 jests, and vented out his anti-English 
 treason on Baron Talavera and his 
 wars ; and luckily Buonaparte believed 
 them, and never, until too late, found 
 out that the crisis had produced the 
 man by whom he was doomed to be 
 crushed. Buonaparte was so pleased 
 with the sayings and writings of these 
 worthies that he had them translated 
 into the Paris papers, but even the 
 Trench thought them to be only his 
 usual lies and forgeries. “ The truth 
 is,” said Lord Dudley, “ that the Whig 
 Opposition had staked everything upon 
 Napoleon’s success, and are grieved at 
 his failure.” Ever ready to endanger 
 throne and country for their own 
 advancement, they were glad, said 
 Wilberforce, “to see just so much 
 mischief befall their country as would 
 bring themselves into office .” So party 
 spirit, the bane of England, arrested 
 Marlborough in his career of victory, 
 and saved Louis XIV. 
 
 According to the Whigs, the Trench 
 
 were not beaten at Talavera ; according 
 to Buonaparte, the English are too 
 stupid to know when they are beaten ; 
 M. Thiers is clever enough to do as 
 much for his countrymen, and now-a- 
 days (Lib. 36) calls Talavera “unde- 
 cided.” How great must that reverse 
 be which is not claimed as a victory ! 
 
 Talavera taught Wellington two 
 important facts : first , that an English 
 army need never fear the Buonaparte’s 
 “invincibles secondly , that no trust 
 
 could ever be placed on Spanish words 
 or co-operations in field or cabinet. 
 He here learnt that if Spain was to be 
 saved it must be done by himself, and 
 alone he did it. 
 
 To complete this narrative, Belmas 
 (i. 92), writing but the other day, and 
 under Soult’ s eye and patronage, gives 
 Cuesta 38,000 men, Venegas 28,000, 
 and Sir Arthur 22,000 English and 
 5000 Portuguese ; thus drawing up on 
 paper 113,000 “men in buckram” 
 against only 40,000 Trench. Thus is 
 written what our ingenious neighbours 
 call history ; the real numbers of the 
 English being only 16,000 raw troops, 
 who most signally repulsed 34,000 
 superb Trench veterans. 
 
 But then as at Albuera, Barrosa, 
 elsewhere and everywhere and always, 
 where all was nearly lost by their mis- 
 behaviour, the chief glory was and is 
 claimed for Nosotros. Nay, Cuesta, in 
 his bulletin, while all Europe knew the 
 falsehood, affirmed that “the terrific 
 fire of the Spaniards overwhelmed the 
 Trench!!” And Lord Byron, then at 
 Cadiz, wrote that the dispatch and the 
 people called the victory Cuesta’ s, and 
 made “ no great mention of the Vis- 
 count.” “ These reports and insinua- 
 tions,” wrote Wellington, “ may do 
 very w'ell for the people of Seville, but 
 the British army will not soon forget 
 the treatment it has received” (Disp. 
 Aug. 31, 1809). 
 
 Quitting Talavera , the dreary coun- 
 try resembles La Mancha , a wide ex- 
 panse of corn-plains, denuded of trees, 
 with here and there miserable villages. 
 To the 1. rise the snowy Avila and 
 Gruadarrama chains. At Maqueda is 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 LOGROSAN TO TRUJILLO. 
 
 487 
 
 a ruined tower, called la Torre de las 
 Infantas , where Berenguela resided 
 while guardian to her nephew Hen- 
 rique I. Fuensalida , which gives the 
 title of Count, and is so well known to 
 readers of ballad romance, lies to the 
 r. of the road between Maqueda and 
 Santa Cruz del Retamar . The mangy 
 wearisome country continues to Naval- 
 earner o, “ the plain of sheep,” where a 
 tolerable wine is made ; then crossing 
 the Guadarrama river at Mo stoles , and 
 soon after the Manzanares, we reach 
 the mud walls of Madrid (see Sect, xi.) 
 
 Artists and Antiquaries may diverge 
 from Maqueda either to the r. or 1. 
 As tins was once a frontier line, it con- 
 tains many fine but ruined castles of 
 the former great nobility, who guarded 
 the marches. And first for the L, ride 
 to Avila % and thence by the Escorial 
 to Madrid : attending to the provend. 
 Fscalona , founded by the refugee J ews 
 from Ascalon, who came to Spain with 
 Hebuchadnezzor ! distant from Ma- 
 queda about 9 miles, .rises nobly on a 
 hill above the trout- stream, Alberche, 
 crossed by a good bridge. Portions 
 of the old walls of this ruinous abode 
 of dirt and picturesque poverty re- 
 main ; the once most splendid palacio 
 of the counts, with a chapel, built in 
 1442 by the great Alvaro de Luna, in 
 rich decorated semi-Saracenic taste 
 of the age, was reduced by Soult to 
 a wreck. Visit also the Colegiata : 
 hence to Cadalso a pleasant ride, amid 
 vines, olives, and covers abounding in 
 game : pop. 1000 : placed on an emi- 
 nence the view over the champaign 
 plains is fine. This town is also called 
 de los Vidrios , from some rude glass 
 manufactories. The old castle and 
 walls are all a painter can wish. Visit 
 the palace and gardens of the Duque 
 de Frias. Here Isabella met her 
 brother Henrique IV. after their recon- 
 ciliation at Guisando , where he had 
 declared her to be his heiress to the 
 crown. 1^ L. through a country of 
 fruit-trees and pines, leads to the mo- 
 nastery of G-uisando, so celebrated for 
 those strange relics of antiquity, the 
 stone Toros , and so on to Avila . 
 
 Those who ride to the r. for Toledo , 
 12 L., which can be done in a summer’s 
 day, will pass through Torrijos , 7 
 long L. ; it is placed in the fertile 
 Sagra, Rosada de la Flora , pop. 
 1500. This dilapidated hamlet 
 owes its noble buildings, now so dis- 
 proportionate to its size, to the pro- 
 prietors, the Dukes of Maqueda, who, 
 like the Ferias at Zafra , delighted in 
 adorning their place of residence. Don 
 Gutierre de Cardenas was a favourite 
 of Isabella, who, in 1491, granted him 
 an orle of eight shells, or, which are 
 placed everywhere in his palace decora- 
 tions. The once magnificent but now 
 ruined Franciscan convent was founded 
 by Teresa Enriquez, daughter of the 
 great admiral of Castile and wife to Don 
 Grutierre ; and the remains of past mag- 
 nificence in the churches and palace 
 mock the present poverty of the deni- 
 zens, becoming, however, every day 
 more delectable in form and colour 
 to the artist : in the long street are a 
 superbly decorated Gothic church with 
 fine fa 9 ade, a plateresque portal, and 
 pretty cloister; there is also a con- 
 vent going to ruin, a grand semi- 
 Moro palacio , with rich artesonado 
 ceilings and relics of former state 
 now abandoned to the usual fate 
 which broods over the provincial man- 
 sions of the absentee nobles of Spain. 
 Hence, passing Rarcience , 1 L., where 
 there is another ruined castle with 
 square tower and quadrangular girdle 
 of walls, 1 L. on to Rielves , and 3 more 
 to Toledo. It is better to branch off 
 from Torrijos S.W. to Fscalonilla , 
 1 L., pop. 2000. There is a fine ruined 
 castle, a good Rarroquia , dedicated to 
 the Magdalen, with a grand relic, the 
 body of St. Germain de Auxerre. The 
 artist should manage to be here July 
 31, when the chapel is visited by all 
 the picturesque peasantry of the Sagra. 
 Outside the town, about 1 mile E. near 
 Casas Alb as , is the hermitage of Nues- 
 tra Senora de la Fstrella , Our Lady 
 of the Star, where a grand festival is 
 held every Easter Monday. At 1 L. 
 from Fscalonilla is the large ham- 
 let of la Ruebla de Montalban , pop. 
 
 z 2 
 
488 
 
 ROUTE 59. MERIDA TO PLASENCIA. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 4000, in a fertile corn and wine 
 country, with a good bridge over the 
 Tagus. It contains a Palacio of the 
 Duques de Uceda on the plaza, a 
 handsome decorated hospital, two noble 
 parish churches, one with three grand 
 naves, the other, San Miguel , with a 
 fine brick tower, raised in 1604 by 
 Cristobal Ortiz. The imposing ma- 
 sonry facade of the Franciscan nunnery 
 was built, in 1543, by Laurencio de 
 Ilachoa : observe also the ruined her- 
 mitage de Nuestra Sehorade la Sole dad. 
 Toledo lies distant 5 L. and Pielves 2. 
 
 Visit the castle of Montalvan, distant 
 about 6 m. from La Puebla , and over- 
 hanging a ravine, as if put there on 
 purpose for artists. The ruin, very large, 
 square in form, and moated, belonged 
 to the Condes de Fuensalida, and in 
 position is scarcely less picturesque 
 than even our W arwick Castle : three 
 sides look over a precipitous cleft, 
 through which a river boils along. The 
 Tagus is seen in the distance. Of the 
 many beautiful points of view one of 
 the most striking is the Lespehadera 
 de la Mora , the lover’s leap of the 
 Moorish girl. There are other fine 
 castles in this district, such as Gua- 
 damur , Orgaz, Almonacid (see Index). 
 
 Those who have ever performed this 
 tiresome Route 58, will never do it 
 twice ; accordingly, on our second 
 visit to Merida we struck off on horse- 
 back to Alcantara, continuing indeed 
 our pilgrimage to Santiago and the 
 Asturias, and riding down to Madrid 
 through Leon and "Valladolid, a route 
 we strongly recommend to those who 
 have leisure. 
 
 From Merida to Plasencia there are 
 different routes. You can ride through 
 Montanches, 6 L. (the longest way is by 
 the Camino Carretero, the shortest but 
 rather intricate cut is by the PLoyanco. 
 Sleep 1st night at Montanches ; 2nd 
 night at Arroyo del Puerco , 8 long 
 leagues, at about 4 L. notice two curious 
 old castles ; 3rd night Alcantara, 7 L. ; 
 4th night, Coria, 8L.; 5th night, Pla- 
 sencia, 8 L. See Index for these 
 places. 
 
 Route 59. — Merida to Plasencia. 
 
 Alcuescar .... 
 
 
 
 Arroyo de Molinos. . 
 
 . l .. 
 
 7 
 
 Montanches . . . 
 
 . l .. 
 
 8 
 
 Caceres 
 
 . 6 .. 
 
 14 
 
 Malpartida .... 
 
 . 2 .. 
 
 16 
 
 Arroyo del Pugrco . . 
 
 . 1 .. 
 
 17 
 
 Brozas 
 
 
 21* 
 
 Alcantara .... 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 24* 
 
 Garrovillas .... 
 
 . 5 .. 
 
 29* 
 
 Canaveral .... 
 
 . 2 .. 
 
 31* 
 
 Coria ...... 
 
 . 4* .. 
 
 36 
 
 Plasencia .... 
 
 . 9 .. 
 
 45 
 
 This must be ridden 
 
 : take 
 
 a local 
 
 guide, as the country is 
 
 lonely, and the 
 
 accommodations bad ; 
 
 attend, 
 
 there- 
 
 fore, to the commissariat. There is a 
 shorter cut by Casas de Lon Antonio, 
 6 L. ; but Caceres, lying to the rt., 
 is left out, without going to it. 
 
 On quitting Merida and the Charca , 
 a cistus-clad waste commences : here 
 and there Roman military columns, 
 about 7 feet high, in some places ad- 
 mirably preserved, still stand in their 
 original positions, and mark the Via 
 lata, from Merida to Salamanca. This 
 road, a Pegina Viarum, was laid down 
 like a cyclopsean wall, with Appian 
 solidity. The summum dorsum , or 
 raised centre rising amid the wastes, 
 looks like the backbone of some ex- 
 tinct megalotherium. This road, ne- 
 cessary for the military communica- 
 tions of the Romans, is no longer 
 wanted. Here and there huge trees, 
 growing out of the pavement, show 
 how long it has been abandoned, and 
 how surely nature will recover her 
 own. The muleteer and carrier who 
 convey the petty commerce of Spain 
 creep by a side-path, as if ashamed to 
 foot the great road of a mightier 
 people. An excellent work on Roman 
 roads is the 4 Histoire des Grands 
 Chemins ,’ Me. Bergier, 4to., Paris, 
 1622. 
 
 At 4J L., after an ascent, Mon- 
 tanches appears on its hill ; Alcuescar 
 lies to the r., and below it the hamlet 
 Arroyomolinos , where, Oct. 28, 1811, 
 Lord Hill routed Gen. Girard, who 
 with 5,000 men had been sent there by 
 Soult on a plundering foray. Hill 
 halted the night of the 27th at Al- 
 
Estremadura. route 59. — hams of montanches. 
 
 489 
 
 cuescar ; and the honest villagers kept 
 the secret so well, that the enemy re- 
 mained ignorant of their danger. Early 
 the next morning, during some rain, 
 Hill, with the 71st and 92nd, surprised 
 Girard, whose men fled, throwing 
 away their packs, arms, and every- 
 thing that constitutes a soldier : and 
 yet they were some of the “ finest 
 French, troops” in Spain, lusty and 
 strong, filled with wine and meat, 
 while the English, who, according to 
 Mons. Foy, cannot fight unless stuffed 
 with beef and rum, were hungry and 
 foot- sore : had not our cavalry missed 
 their way, not a Frenchman could have 
 got off : as it was, 1300 prisoners were 
 taken, all their artillery, colours, bag- 
 gage, and plunder. Girard narrowly 
 escaped. M. Dumas (iii. 234) accounts 
 very satisfactorily for this affair : “ Les 
 Fran 9 ais, surpris, attaques avec im- 
 petuosity, durent ceder au nornbre ; ” 
 “ quoique les Anglais fussent dix fois 
 superieurs en nornbre, le Gen. Girard 
 conserva tout son sang froid.” ! ! 
 Meanwhile, no Spaniards having been 
 there, Senor Madoz (iii. 32) omits 
 the astounding surprise and sauve qui 
 pent altogether. 
 
 Arroyomolinos may be avoided by 
 taking a bad but shorter road to the 1., 
 which leads up to Montanches (Mons 
 Anguis). JPosada de la Plaza de San 
 Fernando ; pop. 5500. The place it- 
 self, hidden in a saucer of hills, nestles 
 under a castle which was the prison 
 of Bodrigo Calderon, the ill-fated 
 minion and protege of Lerma, minister 
 to Philip III. This place is renowned 
 in the bacon district ; the pork is 
 superlative. It was on this Mons An- 
 guis that the Duque de Arcos fed “ ces 
 petits jambons vermeils,” which, the 
 Due de St. Simon ate and admired so 
 much ; “ ces jambons ont un parfum 
 si admirable, un gout si releve et si 
 vivifiant qu’on en est surpris : il est 
 impossible de rien manger si exquis ” 
 (Mem. xx. 30). His grace used to 
 shut up the pigs in places abounding 
 in vipers, on which, they fattened. 
 
 Naturalists have remarked that the 
 rattlesnakes in America retire before 
 
 their consuming enemy the pig, who is 
 thus the gastador or pioneer of the 
 new world’s civilization, just as Pizarro, 
 who was suckled by a sow, and tended 
 swine in his youth, was its conqueror. 
 Be that as it may, Montanches is 
 illustrious in pork, in which the Fstre- 
 mehos go the whole hog. Pigs are every- 
 where, and everything. We strongly 
 recommend Juan Valiente to the lover 
 of delicious hams ; each jamon averages 
 about 12 lb. ; they are sold at the rate 
 of 7^ reales for the libra car nicer a, 
 which weighs 32 of our ounces. The 
 duties in England are now very trifling. 
 The fat, when they are properly boiled, 
 looks like melted topazes, and the fla- 
 vour defies language, although, we have 
 dined on one this very day, in order tc 
 secure accuracy and inspiration. The 
 flesh of pork, a test of orthodoxy, as 
 being eschewed by Jew and Moslem, 
 enters largely into the national meta- 
 phors and stewpots. The Montanches 
 hams are superb ; it would perplex a 
 gastronomic Paris to which to adjudge 
 the prize, whether to the jamon dulce 
 of the Alpujarras, the tocino of Ga- 
 licia, the chorizos of Yique, or to the 
 transcendental hams of this locality. 
 The nomad habits of Spaniards require 
 a provision which is portable and last- 
 ing ; hence the large consumption of 
 dried and salted foods, bacalao , cecina , 
 &c. ; while their backward agriculture, 
 which, has neither artificial grasses nor 
 turnips, deprives them of fresh meats 
 and vegetables during many months : 
 so rice and garbanzos supply green 
 herbs, and appropriately accompany 
 salted fish and bacon. But as this is 
 not a Hambook, lovers of Bacon must 
 turn for details to our “ Gatherings,” 
 ch. xi. N.B. The so-called Mont- 
 anches hams sold in London are for the 
 most part positive libels on the sin par 
 originals. 
 
 Montanches is a central and almost 
 equi-distant point between Merida, 
 Medellin, Trujillo, and Caceres, half- 
 way to which is Torremocha, and there 
 is a project of opening a new road to 
 Madrid and Badajoz, which is to join 
 the camino real at Trujillo . 
 
490 
 
 ROUTE 59 . CACERES. 
 
 Sect. VJI. 
 
 Caceres — Castra Csecilia, Csesaris — 
 is the capital of its swinish district. 
 Posadas : de los Caballeros ; La 
 
 Nueva ; la de G-ennaro Iorato. Pop. 
 12,000. It is the residence of provincial 
 hidalgos y hacendados , who fatten and 
 get rich by the saving and selling their 
 popular bacon. The climate, like the 
 bacon, is delicious, and the environs 
 very fertile in corn, fruit, and wine. 
 The elevation keeps the tidy town 
 cool, while the rivulets which flow 
 from el Marco irrigate the gardens. 
 Caceres is full of feudal architecture — 
 of baronial massive houses, decorated 
 with granite doorways and armorial 
 bearings. Heraldry and hams, indeed, 
 run riot here. The order of the Vanda 
 is very prevalent. The upper town re- 
 tains its ancient walls and tower ; ob- 
 serve the two algibes and the Arco de 
 JEstrella , and the communication with 
 the Plaza : the granite templet e is by 
 Churriguera, 1726. On the airy 
 Plaza , shaded by acacias, is a muti- 
 lated Roman Ceres, and a Diana with 
 a modern head. The lover of old 
 houses will notice that of the Veletas , 
 the Moorish Alcazar, that of the Gol - 
 fines, with mosaics ; one of the Counts 
 de la Torre , and especially the mansion 
 of the Duque de Abr antes ; observe the 
 windows. 
 
 For ecclesiologists there is a fine 
 suppressed Jesuit convent, and a Se- 
 minario, founded in 1603. The Gothic 
 Parroquia of San Mateo , built by 
 Pedro de Ezquerra, has a striking 
 tower, and a tomb of the Marques de 
 Valdepuentes. Observe in the Santa 
 Maria the retablo carved by Maestre 
 Guillen, 1556, with her Assumption, 
 Coronation, &e. Some of the sepul- 
 chres, the Figueroas, Paredes, &c., are 
 remarkable. The church of Santiago, 
 outside the walls, and once Musarabic, 
 is buttressed up with Doric pillars. 
 The reja , 1563, is fine, and the Paso 
 of Jesus Nazar eno much revered : but 
 in times of public calamities an image 
 of the Virgin is brought down from 
 her hill convent, La Montana. The 
 new bull-ring, built of granite, is of a 
 first-rate class : meantime, antiquities 
 
 are constantly turning up in the en- 
 virons, especially in the dehesa de los 
 Arrogatos , 3 L. off, and are as con- 
 stantly reburied t)r destroyed. 
 
 It was near Caceres , according to 
 his flattering eulogists, that Mons. Foy 
 covered himself with glory by a superb 
 sauve qui pent. Surprised by some 
 Spaniards, March 14, 1810, he and his 
 troops got over “ six lieues d’Espagne 
 en cinq heures : cette retraite fit le plus 
 grand honneur au Gen. Foy ” (‘V. et 
 C.,’ xx. 11). “ L’Europe,” says the 
 
 modest hero himself, “ a vu la celerite 
 de nos mouvemens de strategie et de 
 tactique, et elle a ete saisie d’epouvante, 
 car le secret de la guerre est dans les 
 jambes ” (i. 89). As to the glory of 
 the local jamb ons none will here differ : 
 Don Quixote , ’tis true, thinks (ii. 24), 
 “ Mas bien parece el soldado muerto en 
 laLatalla, que vivo y salvo en la huida.” 
 
 Those who do not wish to go either 
 to Montanches or Caceres , will turn off 
 at 4 tj L., before reaching Alcuescar , and 
 proceed through oak woods to Casas de 
 Don Antonio , a poor place. A 6 hours’ 
 ride next day, over a treeless, granite- 
 strewed porcine plain, leads to Arroyo 
 del Puerco , ““Pig’s Brook ;” for here 
 the unclean animal is the joy and 
 wealth of rich and poor. Posada de 
 la Cacerana. In the plain gothic 
 parish church are 16 pictures painted 
 by Morales ; 12 are very large, and 
 although chilled, dirty, and neglected, 
 are at least pure. The altar divides 
 them into two portions, which again 
 are subdivided into two tiers, each 
 tier containing four pictures, three 
 large and one small. The subjects are 
 “ Christ in the Garden ; ” “ Bearing the 
 Cross ; ” the “ Annunciation ; ” “ Na- 
 tivity ; ” “ Christ in Limbo,” very fine; 
 “ St. John,” three-quarter length, and 
 a “Saviour bound,” both very fine; 
 the “Descent,” fine; the “Burial; ” the 
 “ Christ and Joseph of Arimatheea” 
 are grand; “Adoration of Kings;” 
 “ Circumcision” (of which there is a 
 repetition in the Museo at Madrid, 
 No. 110); “ Ascension of Christ;” 
 the “ Pentecost ; ” “ Saviour with the 
 reed ; ” and “ St. Jerome.” 
 
Estremadura , 
 
 ROUTE 59. ALCANTARA. 
 
 491 
 
 A six hours’ lonely ride, amid de- 
 Jiesas of wild oaks, leads to Alcantara , 
 by Brozas , which stands with an old 
 castle, and the Torre de Belvis , on a 
 naked hill. In the house of the Conde 
 de Canilleros was the sword of the re- 
 doubtable Garcia Paredes. 3 L. of a 
 treeless, miserable country, with a 
 stone wall, Oxfordshire look, now ex- 
 tends to Alcantara , Arabice Al-Kan- 
 tarah, the Bridge. It was the Lancia 
 of the Yettones, the Norba Caesarea of 
 the Romans. Present pop. about 
 4000 ; Bosada Nueva de la Viuda, 
 near the bridge, bad : but there is a 
 decent casa de Bujpilos, kept by 
 Don Cesto Pena, near the Plaza de 
 Toros. 
 
 The town, with its crumbling old 
 walls, towers, castle, and steep, dirty, 
 tortuous streets, crowns an eminence 
 over the Tagus. Although a frontier 
 Blaza , it is altogether hors de combat, 
 and in every respect the picture of 
 decay, poverty, and ruin, gutted 
 churches and roofless houses bear 
 record of Gen. Lapisse, sent to his 
 dread account at Talavera : he remained 
 here only one night, in April, 1809, but 
 that night was employed in plunder, 
 and in the commission of every crime 
 by which humanity can be disgraced 
 and outraged.” — Southey, chap. xx. 
 Neither the living or dead escaped 
 him, for the very tombs were rifled 
 (Madoz, i. 408). 
 
 Alcantara formerly belonged to a 
 military order of Benedictine monks, 
 founded in 1156 by Suero Rodriguez 
 Barrientos, to defend the frontier ; a 
 principle borrowed from the Moorish 
 Bdbitos. The order, at first called de 
 San Julian de Bereyro , like the Tem- 
 plars, soon became too rich and pow- 
 erful ; their wealth was coveted by 
 the crown, as much as their influence 
 was dreaded, so both were absorbed 
 in 1495, by appointing the King 
 the “ Master.” Their noble granite- 
 
 built convent, San Benito , almost 
 ruined by the invaders, was built in 
 1506 by Tedro de Larrea, and im- 
 proved by Philip II. The church is 
 lofty and grandiose, the slim pillars 
 
 elegant. The decaying altar colateral 
 contains some injured pictures of Mo- 
 rales, a fine “ San Miguel,” a “ St. 
 John,” a “ Pentecost,” an “Apostle” 
 reading, and a “ Transfiguration ” — 
 doubtful. The granite cinque cento 
 chapel, de Biedra Buena was erected 
 by Pedro de Ibarra in 1550, for Fran- 
 cisco Bravo, Commendador de Piedra 
 Buena. Observe his fine marble se- 
 pulchre. The pictures — if still here — 
 have been shamefully treated. Many 
 knights are buried in the church, e. g. 
 Diego de Santillan, 1503 ; Nicolas de 
 Ovando, 1511 ; also many others in 
 the solemn cloister, now made into a 
 stable ! In a small temple is some in- 
 jured sculpture, a “ Resurrection,” an 
 “ Adam and Eve.” Notice the wooden 
 tattered chest in which Pelayus floated 
 down 250 miles from Toledo. For this 
 legend consult Morgado , Seville, p. 22, 
 and Southey, Lon Roderick, Note 51. 
 But the preservation of future legis- 
 lators and rulers in arks is of older 
 date, for thus, among other examples, 
 Osiris was saved in Egypt, as Adonis 
 was by Yenus ; so Ion was rescued 
 by Creusa, and also in a “ well-made” 
 ark, according to Euripides. This ex- 
 posure the Greeks called K urpuryos, in 
 a pipkin^ or an “ olla ,” which would 
 have suited a Spaniard exactly. But 
 they took legends ready made : thus 
 the Pagans showed the box in which 
 Cypelus (K u(piXo$, a coffer) was simi- 
 larly saved, and hung it up in the 
 temple of Juno at Olympia (Paus. v. 
 17. 5). The legend of Pelayus, his ex- 
 position in a boat, and his preserva- 
 tion in order to found a dynasty, is 
 neither more nor less than giving a 
 new name to the older Spanish tale, as 
 detailed by Justin (xliv. 4) in regard 
 to Habis, and so in the authentic ro- 
 mance Amadis de Gaula the babe 
 Esplandia is floated down the Thames 
 in a case. 
 
 For the order and town of Alcantara 
 consult c Cronica de las Tres Or denes,’ 
 Rades y Andrada, fol. Toledo, 1572 ; 
 
 * Uistoria de las Ordenes Militares ,’ 
 Francisco Caro de Torres, fol. Mad. 
 1629. For the town and its saints, 
 
492 
 
 ROUTE 59. — BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA. Sect. VII. 
 
 ‘ Antiguedades y Santos de Alcantara ,’ 
 Jacinto Arias Quintana de Duenas, 
 4to. Mad. 1661 ; £ Origen de la Orden 
 de Alcantara ,’ Juan Calderon de Ro- 
 bles, fol. Mad. 1662 ; and by the same 
 author, ‘ Privilegia Selectiora Militice 
 San Juliana de PereiroJ J. C. de 
 Robles, fol. Mad. 1662 ; ‘ Petrato Po- 
 litico de Alcantara ,’ Leandra Santi- 
 banez, 8yo. Mad. 1779 ; * Cronica de 
 la Orden de Alcantara ,* Alonso de 
 Torres y Tapia, 2 vols. fol. Mad. 1763. 
 
 PI Puente de Alcantara , “ the 
 bridge of the bridge,” worth going 100 
 L. to see, stems the rock-walled lonely 
 Tagus, striding across the wild gorge. 
 
 “ Dove scorre il nobil Tago, e dove 
 L’aurato dorso Alcantara gli preme.” 
 
 Filicaia and other poets have clothed 
 the barren crags with imaginary 
 flowers, and stranded the fierce bed 
 with gold: but all this is a fiction, 
 which avarice readily believes in regard 
 of distant unvisited regions. The deep 
 sullen river rolls through a desolate 
 arid country ; and here resembles a 
 mountain-enclosed narrow lake; the 
 bridge, the soul of the scene, looms 
 like a huge skeleton, the work of men 
 when there were giants on the earth, 
 and who built with colossal stones 
 commensurate in size with their con- 
 ceptions : loneliness and magnitude 
 are the emphatic features ; tinted 
 grey with the colouring of 17 cen- 
 turies, during which it has resisted 
 the action of the elements, and the 
 worse injuries of man. The bridge 
 consists of 6 arches, the 2 central 
 the widest with a span of 110 ft. ; its 
 length is some 670 feet, and height 210. 
 The usual depth of the river is about 
 37 feet, rising, however, in floods to 
 176, for the narrow pass is a funnel : 
 the best point of view is from the 
 other side, turning down the rocks to 
 the 1. Built for Trajan, a.d. 105, it is 
 worthy of an emperor. The architect, 
 Caius Julius Lacer, was buried near 
 his work, but barbarians have demo- 
 lished his tomb. At the entrance of 
 the bridge a chapel yet remains with a 
 dedication to Trajan and some verses : 
 
 one couplet gives the name of the 
 architect : 
 
 “ Pontem perpetui mansurum in ssecula mundi, 
 
 Fecit diving nobilis arte Lacer.” 
 
 The granite of which it is constructed is 
 worked in bossage , pillowed, almoha - 
 dillado : no cement was used. The 
 centre arch has sunk : one arch, de- 
 stroyed in 1213, remained repaired with 
 woodwork until 1543, when Charles V. 
 restored it, as an inscription given by 
 Cean Ber. ( c Sum 0, 5 398), records ; the 
 2nd arch on the r. bank was blown 
 up June 10, 1809, by Col. Mayne, 
 who had been directed to do so if the 
 enemy advanced. This order, when the 
 danger was past, was unfortunately 
 either not rescinded by Cuesta, or the 
 bearer of the message was killed ; for 
 Mayne had not kept his instructions 
 secret, whereupon Victor menaced the 
 bridge, “with no other view than to 
 cause its destruction ” (Napier, viii. 3), 
 a Vandalism of no use to him in a 
 strategic point of view, solely done to 
 throw the odium on the English. See 
 the Duke’s Dispatch to Cuesta, June 
 11, 1809. The bridge was again re- 
 paired with woodwork in 1812 by Col. 
 Sturgeon, continued so until again de- 
 stroyed during the civil war in 1836, 
 and so remains to this day, however 
 easily it might be made serviceable. 
 Now it is approached by paths which 
 puzzle even Spanish mules, and the in- 
 dolent natives, ferried over in a lumber- 
 ing boat, smoke and yawn under the 
 very shadow of arches raised by a race 
 of the past, with whom they have little 
 in common. 
 
 Ciudad Rodrigo lies some 19 direct 
 L. from Alcantara : they are very 
 long — 4 to 5 miles each — through La 
 Zarzia , 3 ; Perales , 5 ; Pena jgarda , 4; 
 Fuente Guinaldo , 2 ; FlRodon, 2 ; Ciu- 
 dad Rodrigo , 2. The sole interest lies 
 in the associations with our Great 
 Duke. 
 
 There is a direct road to Coria , 7 L., 
 by Ceclavin 3 L., Pescuenza 2 L., and 
 thence 2 L. more : this longish ride is 
 without interest, and is to be avoided. 
 We made the following charming cir- 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 ROUTE 59. CORIA. 
 
 r 493 
 
 cuit along the 1. bank, over hill and dale, 
 to Garrovillas , and thence descended 
 to the river, which here pours through 
 a more level country a tranquil deep 
 blue stream, reflecting the azure sky, and 
 not the dun tints of calcined rocks ; pass 
 over at La Barca ; at this ferry, too, 
 are the remains of a noble Roman 
 bridge, de Alconetar , or del Mandible , 
 for the high road from Merida to Sala- 
 manca crossed the Tagus here : all is 
 now a ruin, save 5 arches on the r. 
 bank : the masonry resembles that of 
 Alcantara : to the r. the rivulet Monte 
 enters the Tagus : a shaft of a Homan 
 bridge and a military stone remain : 
 above is a ruined castle. This, indeed, 
 is a lovely spot and scene, made for 
 poet and artist, and especially avoided 
 by Spaniards : 
 
 Yet have I loved thy wild abode, 
 
 Unknown, untrodden silent shore, 
 
 Where scarce the woodman finds a road, 
 
 And scarce the fisher plies an oar. 
 
 For man’s neglect I love thee more ; 
 
 Nor art nor avarice intrude 
 To tame thy torrent’s thunder stroke, 
 
 Or prune the vintage of the rock, 
 Magnificently rude. 
 
 A stony Rarnbla now leads up to Ca- 
 naveral, a poor village, where we slept ; 
 hence to Coria the hills throughout the 
 ride command glorious views, especially 
 after passing the convent San Pedro de 
 Alcantara and the cork- woods. Coria 
 rises sweetly over the Alagon, crossed 
 also by a ferry, for the bridge with 5 
 arches stands high and dry in the 
 meadow ; the river has changed its 
 course, or ha salido de madre, and 
 deserted its mother, which never seems 
 to “ know that it is out ” nor care ; 
 the Corians, on their part, take no 
 steps to get it in again, but trust 
 to the proverbial habit of unfaith- 
 ful rivers returning to their old beds 
 like repentant husbands : JDespues de 
 ahos mil , vuelve el rio a su cubil. Many 
 Spanish rivers want bridges, while 
 occasionally bridges want rivers : but 
 Spain is the land of the anomalous and 
 of contrasts, and these Pontes asinorum , 
 —superfluous luxuries — are plentiful 
 as blackberries (see Olloniego, Duenas, 
 
 Zaragoza, &c.) ; yet the poor Co- 
 rians alone are called Los Bobos , 
 bridge boobies : Bovo is an Arabic 
 word for fool. Some who love Greek 
 derivations connect Coria with xavgos, 
 quasi xaxo$, which also is hardly a 
 compliment. 
 
 Coria , Caurium, Posada Nueva del 
 Tio Joaquin , calle de las Monjas, a 
 dull decayed town of some 2500 souls, is 
 the see of a bishop, suffragan to San- 
 tiago. The walls are said to be among 
 the few which escaped the order of 
 Witiza, by which the cities of Spain 
 were dismantled : constructed of simple 
 solid granite, without cement, and 
 averaging 30 feet high by 19 thick, 
 they are defended by towers placed at 
 intervals, and disfigured by paltry 
 houses built up against them. Here the 
 walls are considered Roman, in Italy 
 they would be called Pelasgian. Walk 
 on them on the Paredon for the view, 
 and also on the pretty Alameda near 
 San Francisco* Observe the modern 
 aqueduct and the huge Castilian Torre 
 de San Francisco , with corner bartizan 
 turrets and machicolations, constructed 
 out of ancient materials. The old city 
 gates have been modernised; in that 
 of La Guia is some mutilated sculp- 
 ture. The cathedral is Gothic, built 
 of granite, with buttresses and a pep- 
 perbox steeple ; the principal entrance 
 is ornamented with elaborate cinque- 
 cento plateresque work : the cardinals’ 
 heads, in the open gallery to the r., are 
 finely designed. The interior, without 
 aisles, resembles a large college hall. 
 The silleria del coro is very old and 
 curious, of the rude but bold carving 
 of 1489. The retablo is all gilding and 
 churriguerismo. Observe the highly 
 enriched sepulchre of Catalina Diaz, 
 obt. 1487, and wife of the architect, 
 Martin Caballero, obt. 1495, and the 
 kneeling figure of Bishop Garcia de 
 Galarza in his magnificent tomb, on 
 the Gospel side of the high altar : and 
 near it another kneeling effigy of an- 
 other prelate, Pedro Ximenez de Prex- 
 amo, obt. 1495. The Alva family have 
 a palace here, and portions of an an- 
 cient synagogue remain. 
 
 z 3 
 
494 
 
 ROUTE 59 . — PLASENCIA. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 Coria , in 1812, was the winter- 
 quarters of Lord Hill, whose kindness, 
 coupled with valour, strict discipline, 
 and punishment of plunderers, won 
 golden opinions, when contrasted with 
 the misconduct of the invader. The 
 whole country to Plasencia was ra- 
 vaged by Soult ; for the dreadful de- 
 tails see Toreno ix. and Hurosoir 231 ; 
 Coria was sacked August 15, 1809, 
 “the heavens blushing by night at 
 their fires, while columns of smoke by 
 day marked their progress.” The 
 bishop of Coria, aged 85, was sick in 
 bed at Hoyos, where, Aug. 29, a de- 
 tachment of French were hospitably 
 received by him, and the officers en- 
 tertained by his clergy at table. This 
 they repaid by murdering six of their 
 hosts and a servant ; and to conclude, 
 after plundering the house, they tore 
 the sick prelate from his bed and shot 
 him (Schep. ii. 432). 
 
 Quitting Coria , the first 4 L. to Pla- 
 sencia run on the r. bank of the Ala- 
 gon, through desolate encinares to the 
 ferry at Galisteo : and in case (as it 
 was with us) the boatmen happen to 
 be absent, you may ford the stream 
 just below the town to the r., proba- 
 tum est. Ruined Galisteo , rising with 
 its castle and long lines of battlemented 
 walls, which conceal the town, looks 
 imposing. Pop. 1200. The palace, 
 belonging to the Arcos family, con- 
 tains a superb patio with open gal- 
 leries and granite columns, a fine stair- 
 case, and medallions of the time of 
 Charles V. ; all is sadly abandoned. 
 Observe also outside the walls a fan- 
 tastic Dominioan convent with two 
 brick towers and a handsome portal, 
 founded in 1545 by a Count Osorio, 
 by whom also was built the fine bridge 
 which crosses the Yerte, a tributary of 
 the Alagon ; 3 L. over bleak undulat- 
 ing hills lead to sweet Plasencia. 
 Whatever Spaniards may say it is not 
 worth while to make a detour to Mai - 
 partida to see the Corinthian Parro- 
 quia, designed in 1551 by Pedro de 
 Ezquerra ; they vastly admire the cor- 
 nice and candelabra, the granite statues 
 of St. Peter and Paul : the interior was 
 
 completed in 1603. The sculpture of 
 the chief retdblo is by Agustin Cas- 
 tano, 1622. The fine materials of this 
 church came from the quarry near the 
 town de Los cinco Nermanos. A long 
 league leads to Plasencia, placed on the 
 last knoll which descends from a snow- 
 clad sierra. 
 
 PLASENCIA. Inns — Posada de 
 las tres Puertas — Parador Nuevo . In 
 the Calle del Sol also, Dona Francisca 
 Arenal has a tidy little house. This 
 town is girdled by the sweet clear 
 Xerte, while the two valleys separated 
 by the snow-capped Sierras de Bejar 
 and de la Vera are bosoms of beauty 
 and plenty: that to the N.W. is 
 
 called el Valle } that opposite is justly 
 named la Vera ) ver ibi purpureum 
 et perpetuum. The picturesque town 
 is defended by crumbling walls, 68 
 semicircular towers, with a ruined 
 Alcazar to the N. and a long con- 
 necting line of aqueduct. Plasencia, 
 seen from outside, is indeed most 
 pleasing on all directions : here river, 
 rock, and mountain, — city, castle, and 
 aqueduct, under a heaven of purest 
 ultra- marine, combine to enchant the 
 artist ; the best points of view are from 
 the granite- strewed hill, opposite the 
 Puerta del Postigo. The valley to the 
 S.W. is charming, and the bridges ar- 
 tistical. The families of Monroy, and 
 especially that of Carvajal, have done 
 much for this city. Consult ‘ Historia 
 y Anales de Plasencia ,’ Alonso Fer- 
 nandez, folio, Mad. 1627. 
 
 Here, it is said, stood the Roman 
 Ambracia, and on Arnbroz , its deserted 
 site, Alonso VIII., in 1190, founded 
 the present city, which he called, in the 
 nomenclature of that devout age, “ JJt 
 Leo placet ;” — the JEen-shallah , the 
 “ Si Lios quiere ,” the “ If the Lord so 
 will.” Made a bishopric, suffragan to 
 Santiago, it rose to be a flourishing 
 town. Now decayed, it scarcely con- 
 tains 6000 souls, having never re- 
 covered the fatal August, 1809, when 
 Cuesta, neglecting the Duke’s re- 
 peated request, omitted to secure the 
 passes of Banos and Perales, and thus 
 let Soult come down on Talavera, neu- 
 
Estremadura. route 60 . — plasencia to trujillo. 
 
 495 
 
 tralize that hard-fought victory, and 
 plunder Plasencia as he passed through. 
 The ornate Grothic cathedral, begun in 
 1498, is unfinished in some portions, 
 and has been altered and disfigured in 
 others. The S. entrance is granite 
 built and noble. Observe the windows, 
 the open-worked railing and plateres- 
 que facade and candelabra : the Berru- 
 guete Puerta del Bnlosado , to the 
 N., is grand and serious, with Julio 
 Romano-like medallions and arms of 
 Charles Y. and of the Carvajals. The 
 Camilla May or , commenced by Juan 
 de Alava, was completed by Diego 
 de Siloe and Alonso de Covarubbias. 
 The silleria del coro , carved in 1520 
 by Rodrigo Aleman, is most elabo- 
 rate, although somewhat tedesque ; in it 
 sacred, profane, serious, ridiculous, 
 bachanal, and amatory subjects are in- 
 congruously jumbled together. Ob- 
 serve the two stalls near the Coro alto , 
 and the Grothic spire : Aleman also 
 carved the throne of the bishop, and 
 the confessional of the Penitenciario. 
 The retablo of the high altar, with 
 the Assumption of the Virgin, and 
 statues, are by GTregorio Hernandez, 
 1626. The chief subject is the As- 
 sumption of the Virgin, to which as- 
 sumption this cathedral is dedicated ; 
 the gaudy colours and gilding, and 
 frittered drapery, are unpleasing, but 
 it forms a grand whole. Some of the 
 cherubs are quite Murillesque. The 
 reja , in which the Assumption figures 
 again, is a masterpiece of Juan Bautista 
 Celma, 1604. The fine arts seem to 
 have been ill-fated in this cathedral, for 
 the pictures of Francisco Rici, given 
 by the Bishop Lozano for the high 
 altar mayor , have been retouched, 
 the Marriage of St. Catherine, by 
 Rubens, stolen, and the Nativity, by 
 Velazquez, burnt with the chapter- 
 house in April, 1832. Observe among 
 the fine sepulchres that of the kneeling 
 prelate Pedro Ponce de Leon, obiit 1753, 
 wrought in the Berruguete style. The 
 portal to the Sacristia is in rich plater- 
 esque ; here is treasured up an image 
 of the Virgin, which is only exhibited 
 on the 15th of August, or on very great 
 
 public calamities ; a noble staircase 
 leads to the roof ; ascend it for the 
 panoramic view. 
 
 The bishop Pedro de Carvajal lies in 
 the San Nicolas ; observe his kneeling 
 effigy: this powerful Plasencian family 
 rose high in the church, under the Va- 
 lencian Borgia popes : one member, a 
 cardinal, lies buried in Santa Croce at 
 Rome. In the Monjas de San Ildefonso 
 is the noble tomb of Cristobal de Vill- 
 alba ; the effigy is armed and kneeling. 
 In San Vicente is another armed one, 
 now cruelly mutilated, of Martin 
 Nieto, 1597, and was one of the finest 
 things in Estremadura; attached to this 
 Dominican convent is la Casa de las 
 Povedas , built for the Marques de 
 Mirabel 'in 1550. Observe the patio 
 and pillars, and the saloons painted in 
 fresco with the wars of Charles V. In 
 the cloistered terrace, el Pensil , were 
 arranged some antiquities found at 
 Capara and elsewhere, and among them 
 a colossal foot. The gardens are 
 pretty. The superb armoury disap- 
 peared with the French. J ust outside 
 the gate towards the bridge is an ele- 
 gant cross with light spiral support, 
 and in the S. Juan Bautista , near the 
 river, the recumbent statue of the 
 founder, Almaraz. 
 
 From Plasencia there is a wild but 
 picturesque ride to Anita , 26 Jj. by the 
 Puerto de Tornavacas. The angler 
 and artist may at least make an excur- 
 sion to the Puerto , 8 L., by the charm- 
 ing valley of the Xerte, which winds up 
 amid fruit and verdure, walled in on 
 each side by the snow-capped Sierras 
 de Bejar and Vera ; he might put up 
 at Cabezuela , distant 6 L. 
 
 Route 60. — Plasencia to Trujillo. 
 
 Those who wish to know what a des- 
 jpoblado and dehesa mean, may ride this 
 rough route, 14 L., it is characterised 
 by the smell of aromatic herbs, the 
 silence of solitude, and the undisturbed 
 happy existence of the ferae naturae. The 
 Puerto de la Serrana , whencerobbers are 
 said to spy the traveller, is distant 3 L. ; 
 hence to San Carlos , 2 L., near which 
 
496 
 
 ROUTE 61 . PLASENCIA TO YUSTE. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 the Tietar enters the Tagus ; the latter 
 is crossed by a noble bridge built by 
 the Cardinal Juan de Carvajal, and 
 hence called Puente del Cardenal. The 
 castle now seen about 2 m. below, 
 is that of Monfrague , Monsfagorum ; 
 hence to Torrejon el Rubio , where a 
 former palace is now degraded into a 
 poor posada ; the Vid is next crossed 
 by a good bridge into a country given 
 up to game and rabbits ; then again 
 crossing the Monte and Magasca by 
 stone bridges, all the work of the car- 
 dinal, we reach Aldea del Obispo , and 
 the oak woods in which Pizarro fed 
 his pigs. Crossing the Tojos by another 
 bridge, Tru/jillo terminates this wild 
 ride. 
 
 Plasencia to Madrid. 
 
 This ride, 41 L. altogether, is very 
 wild and picturesque to Avila , 26 
 L. ; from whence the Pscorial may 
 be visited. First night sleep at Tor- 
 navacas, 8 L . — Posada de Coluras 
 — a picturesque village halfway up 
 the Puerto ; second night sleep at 
 Piedrahita , riding through Cabe- 
 ruela , 6 L., Posada de Calisto. N.B. 
 eat the tortuga melons. Crossing the 
 Xerte enter Piedrahita , Posada de 
 la Tia Polomi ; look at the once superb 
 graidte palace of the great Duke of 
 Alba, ruined by the French : third night 
 Avila , 10 L. The alpine road continues 
 through PI Par co, 4 L., a walled vil- 
 lage on the Tormes, engulphed in the 
 sierras, with a fine castle with machi- 
 colated towers : hence through Villa - 
 toro to Avila , 6 L. See index. 
 
 Route 61. — Plasencia to Yuste 
 
 AND TaLAYERA DE LA REINA. 
 
 Those who are fond of fishing, shoot- 
 ing, sketching, geologizing, and bota- 
 nizing, may ride to Yuste , 8 L., and 
 thence taking a local guide over the 
 dehesas , either to Miravete to the r. or 
 to Talavera to the 1. ; but whether 
 going to Madrid or on to Salamanca, 
 let none when at Plasencia fail making 
 the excursion to this convent, to which 
 Charles V . retired, an old man wearied 
 
 with the cares of state. It lies on the 
 S.W. slope of the Sierra de Vera , 
 about an 8 hours’ pleasant ride from 
 Plasencia. The charms of this happy 
 Rasselas valley are described in 4 Ameni - 
 dades de la Vera ,’ Grab. Acedo, 8vo. 
 Mad. 1667. 
 
 Pilgrims intending to sleep at the 
 sequestrated convent had better write 
 beforehand to prepare the lessee, a 
 worthy farmer, who can provide bed 
 and board ; direct to Sehor Don Pa- 
 tricio Bueno , Arrendador del Monas- 
 terio de San Geronimo de Yuste , Cua- 
 cos ; this post town is a poor village, 
 where there is a decent Yenta kept by 
 a widow. The sportsman will find 
 near Yuste deer, wild boar, roebuck, 
 Cobras montaneses , and may-be wolves. 
 
 On leaving Plasencia cross the Xerte 
 and ascend the steep hill Calzones , 
 thence through olives and vineyards to 
 the Vera , a sweet valley of some 9 L. 
 in extent ; after 4 L. of dehesas y mat os 
 the road ascends to the 1. to quaint red- 
 tiled Pasaron , a picturesque old town 
 of Prout-like houses, with toppling bal- 
 conies hanging over a brawling brook. 
 Observe a turreted palace of the Arcos 
 family. The road next clambers up a 
 steep hill, amid oaks and fruit Irees. 
 As we rode on our cheerful companions 
 were groups of sunburnt daughters of 
 labour, whose only dower was health 
 and cheerfulness, who were carrying 
 on their heads in baskets the frugal 
 dinner of the vine- dressers. Springy 
 and elastic was their sandaled step, un- 
 fettered by shoe or stocking, and light- 
 hearted their laugh and song, the 
 chorus of the sheer gaiety of youth full 
 of health and void of care. These 
 pretty creatures, although they did not 
 know it, were performing an opera 
 ballet in action and costume : how 
 gay their short soyas of serges red, 
 green, and yellow ; how primitive the 
 cross on their bosoms, how graceful the 
 pahuelo on their heads : thus they 
 tript wantonly away under the long- 
 leaved chesnuts. Soon the beautiful 
 Vera expands, with the yellow line of 
 the Badajoz road running across the 
 cistus-clad distance to Miravete ; then 
 
Estremadura. 
 
 ROUTE 61. — CHARLES V. AT YUSTE. 
 
 497 
 
 the Jeronomite convent appears to the 
 1. nestling in woods about half-way up 
 the mountain, which shelters it from 
 the wind. Below is the farm Mag- 
 dalena , where in the worst case the 
 night may be passed ; thence ascend 
 to the monastery, keeping close to a 
 long wall. This Spanish Spalatro, to 
 which the gout- worn empire- sick 
 Charles retired, to barter crowns for 
 rosaries away, was founded in 1404, 
 on the site where a covey of fourteen 
 Gothic bishops had been killed at one 
 swoop by the Moors, and took its name 
 from the streamlet, the Yuste , which 
 trickles behind it. Charles, May 24, 
 1554, sent his son Philip, (when on 
 his way to England to marry our Mary) 
 to inspect this place, which he had years 
 before selected as a nest for his old 
 age : he himself had planned, while 
 in Flanders, the additional buildings, 
 erected by Antonio de Villa Castin; 
 these he to the warm S.W. of the 
 chapel ; but on the 9th of August, 
 1809, 200 of Soult’s foragers clambered 
 up, pillaged and burnt the convent, 
 leaving it a blackened roofless ruin. 
 The precious archives were then con- 
 sumed, all except one volume of the 
 conventual title-deeds and documents, 
 written out in 1620 by Fray Luis de 
 Santa Maria. The prior was consult- 
 ing these about some rights disputed 
 by the Cuacos peasants, and, seeing 
 the enemy, threw the tome into some 
 bushes, and so it escaped for a time, 
 and was lent us to read ; now it no 
 doubt is lost. Here we met also Fray 
 Alonso Cavallero, an aged monk, who 
 took the cowl Oct. 17, 1778, and re- 
 membered Ponz and his visit. For 
 the foundation consult Sigiienza’s His- 
 tory of the Order of St. Jerome, ii. 1, 
 29 ; and 1, 36, for a minute account of 
 Charles when here ; see also the His- 
 tory of Plasencia, by Fernandez, i. 25. 
 
 The convent is entered by the most 
 patriarchal walnut-tree under which 
 Charles used to sit, and which even 
 then was called el nogal grande. 
 Passing to the JBotica , the few vases 
 which escaped Soult’s hordes were car- 
 ried off in 182Q by one Morales, a 
 
 liberal apothecary, for his own shop in 
 Garandilla , for the solid granite-built 
 chapel, from its thick walls, which re- 
 sisted the fire of the invaders, only 
 saved the imperial quarter to be finally 
 gutted by the constitutionalists : a 
 door to the r. of the altar opened to 
 Charles’s room, whence he came out to 
 attend divine service : his bedroom, 
 where he died, has a window through 
 which, when ill, he could see the ele- 
 vation of the Host. Here hung the 
 Gloria of Titian, which he directed in 
 his will to be placed wherever his body 
 rested, and accordingly the painting 
 was moved with it to the Escorial. 
 Philip II. sent a copy of it to Vuste, 
 which was in 1823 carried off to 
 Texada , near Navalmoral , by the 
 patriots, and when the monks returned 
 they were too poor even to pay for 
 bringing it back. The Coro Alto was 
 carved in a quaint tedesque style by 
 Rodrigo Aleman : in a vault below the 
 high altar remains the rude chest in 
 which the Emperor’s body was kept 
 sixteen years, until removed in 1574. 
 
 Charles built four principal rooms, 
 each, as usual, with large fire-places, 
 for he was a chilly Fleming. From the 
 projecting alcoves the views are deli- 
 cious. At the W. end is a pillared 
 gallery, la Plaza del Palacio , over- 
 hanging a private garden, and con- 
 nected with a raised archway, el 
 Puente , by which the Emperor went 
 down : below remains the sun-dial, 
 erected for him by J uanuelo Turriano, 
 and the stone step by which he 
 mounted his horse, and an inscription 
 records the spot where he was seated, 
 Aug. 31, 1558, when he felt the first 
 approach of death. Charles arrived 
 here Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1557 at one 
 in the afternoon, and here he died Sept, 
 21 the next year, of premature old age, 
 dropping like the ripe fruit from the 
 shaken tree. Philip II. revisited the 
 convent in 1570, and remained two 
 days, but declined, from respect, sleep- 
 ing in the room where his father died. 
 “ Guardando el respeto al aposento en 
 que murio su padre, no queriendo dor- 
 mir sino en el retrete, del mismo apo- 
 
493 
 
 ROUTE 61.- — CHARLES Y. AT YUSTE. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 sento, y tan estrecho qne apenas cabe 
 nna cama pequeiia.” So we read the 
 record in the old hook ; A uvou yccp 
 xoiTocty xai cc^oi^ovyuiMoio Xzov-ro;. Philip 
 did little for the monks, and when 
 they begged of him, replied, “You 
 never could have had my father here a 
 year without feathering your nest.” 
 The larger pleasure-grounds lay on 
 the other side; nature has now re- 
 sumed her sway, yet many a flower 
 shows that once a garden smiled, and 
 still an untrimmed myrtle and box edge 
 leads to FI cenador de Belem (Bethle- 
 hem) : this exquisite gem of a cinque- 
 cento summer-house remained perfect 
 until destroyed by Soult’s vandals, as 
 they did that other old soldier’s nest, 
 Abadia. Charles lived here half like 
 a monk and half like a retired country 
 gentleman. He was plagued by the ill- 
 conditioned villagers of Cuacos (K«w), 
 who poached his trout in the Garganta 
 la olla , drove away his milk-cows, and 
 threw stones at his son, the future 
 hero of Lepanto, for climbing up their 
 cherry-trees. His was no morbid un- 
 social misanthropy or dotage, but a 
 true weariness of the world with which 
 he had done, and a wish to be at rest. 
 This monastic turn, and a longing to 
 finish a stormy soldier-life in the 
 repose of the cloister — a wish entirely 
 congenial to Spanish character and 
 precedent — was one long before enter- 
 tained by himself. Spanish soldiers, 
 when life is on the wane, yearn to 
 recolour it as it were, by pious hero- 
 ism, and seek to find an altar whereon 
 to make expiation, grasping at the hem 
 of the Church’s garment, as drowning 
 men do at straws. See on this sub- 
 ject, Monserrat , p. 422. The Emperor 
 did not, however, renounce all fleshly 
 comforts. He brought with him his 
 old servants, cooks especially (for our 
 Caesar was an epicure), who knew his 
 wants and ways, and whose faces he 
 knew : he had his ride, experiments, 
 and his prayers. He had friends to 
 whom he could make known sorrows, 
 and thus divide them, or communi- 
 cate his joys and double them ; he 
 had the play and prattle of his little 
 
 boy. Phlegmatic and melancholy in- 
 deed he was by constitution, and from 
 the inherited taint of his mother ; he 
 was also broken in health by gout and 
 dyspepsia. 
 
 The true history of the much mis- 
 represented retirement of Charles Y. 
 has at last been fully made known. 
 Those curious to see the many errors 
 of the careless Robertson, may turn to 
 our notices of the “ Cloister Life ” in 
 the Quarterly Review , No. 183. Long 
 before, in 1845, it was stated in our 
 Handbook that an accurate account 
 of this interesting finale to the im- 
 perial career had been prepared from 
 the original documents still existing 
 in the archives of Simancas, by the 
 Canon Thomas Gronzalez, their keeper. 
 At his death this unpublished MS. 
 was purchased of his nephew by M. 
 Mignet, for the Archives of the French 
 Foreign Office, of which he then had the 
 management. On Mr. Stirling’s ap- 
 plication to see this MS. in 1850, all the 
 purchase having appeared in print, M. 
 Mignet just told him, that “ he did not 
 know where it was ; ” and when he ap- 
 plied again in 1851, was rudely treated 
 by the then Archiviste, M. Cintrat: 
 armed, however, with an order from 
 Louis Napoleon, which would take no 
 denial, the unwilling officials at last 
 produced the MS. for his examina- 
 tion. But before that, some papers 
 in c Frazer's Magazine ’ were put 
 forth by Mr. Stirling as a pilot balloon 
 to his racy and exhaustive ‘ Cloister 
 Life ,’ published in October 1852. This 
 work, having run to a third edition, led 
 to the lively ‘ Charles Quint,’ &c., by 
 Amadee Pichot, an 8vo. published at 
 Paris, Feb. 7, 1854. That same month 
 the original documents were printed 
 at Bruxelles in their own language 
 with an excellent preface, a signal 
 service done to history by the ac- 
 curate Grachard ; and then, to con- 
 clude these curiosities of literature, the 
 aforesaid Mons. Mignet, last if not 
 least in the field, came forth in J une 
 with his * Charles Quint,’ &c., 8vo. 
 Paris, 1854 : this dry performance — pe- 
 reant male qui ante nos nostra dixerint 
 
Estremadura. route 62 . — plasencia to salamanca. 
 
 499 
 
 — just contained one allusion only to 
 the existence of the “ char mant volume” 
 of Mr. Stirling, which had taken the 
 book and bread out of his mouth. 
 
 The convent of Yuste, after the 
 death of Charles, soon became forgot- 
 ten. Few travellers cared to visit a 
 retreat far removed from the beaten 
 path. Lord John Russell, we believe, 
 was one of the few pilgrims who pre- 
 ceded our humble selves and Hand- 
 book. Nous avons change tout cela ; 
 and now, when the long vacation be- 
 gins, the solitude of the silent cell 
 ceases, and Yuste has become a lion to 
 be “done” by our nomade countrymen. 
 
 The ruin of this convent, commenced 
 by Soult’s hordes, was completed by 
 the Church reformers of Cuacos , who, 
 July 4, 1821, came, stole everything 
 left by the invaders, kept horses in 
 the church, and made the Emperor’s 
 room a place for silk- worms. The 
 
 monastic sequestrations of 1835 have 
 for a third and last time destroyed 
 what the monks had partially restored, 
 and chaos is come again. 
 
 Never, therefore, again will it be 
 the lot of traveller to be welcomed, 
 like ourselves, by the real and fit 
 masters, the cowled friars, to whom 
 news and a stranger from the real living 
 world was a godsend. The day was 
 passed in sketching and sauntering 
 about the ruined buildings and gar- 
 dens, with the goodnatured garrulous 
 brotherhood : at nightfall supper was 
 laid for the monks at a long board, but 
 the prior and procurador had a small 
 table set apart in an alcove, where 
 “ bidden to a spare but cheerful meal, 
 I sat an honoured guest ; ” as the 
 windows were thrown open, to admit 
 the cool thyme- scented breeze, the 
 eye in the clear evening swept over 
 the boundless valley, the nightingales 
 sang sweetly in the neglected orange- 
 garden, and the bright stars, reflected 
 in the ink-black tank below, twinkled 
 like diamonds : how often had Charles 
 looked out on a stilly eve on this self- 
 same unchanged scene where he alone 
 was now wanting ! When supper was 
 done, I shook hands all round with 
 
 my kind hosts, and went to bed, in 
 the very chamber where the Emperor 
 slept his last sleep. All was soon 
 silent, and the spirit of the mighty dead 
 ruled again in his last home ; but no 
 Charles disturbed the deep slumber of 
 a weary insignificant stranger; long 
 ere daybreak next morning I was 
 awakened by a pale monk, and sum- 
 moned to the early mass, which the 
 prior in his forethought had ordered. 
 The chapel was imperfectly lighted : 
 the small congregation consisted of the 
 monk, my sunburnt muleteer, and a 
 stray beggar, who, like myself, had 
 been sheltered in the convent. When 
 the service was concluded, all bowed a 
 farewell to the altar on which the dying 
 glance of Charles had been fixed, and 
 departed in peace ; the morning was 
 grey and the mountain air keen, nor 
 was it until the sun had risen high that 
 its cheerful beams dispelled the cowl 
 and relaid the ghost of Charles in the 
 dim pages of history. 
 
 Route 62.— Plasencia to Sala- 
 manca. 
 
 Villar 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Aldea Nueva . . . 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 6 
 
 Banos 
 
 . 2 .. 
 
 8 
 
 Bejar 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 11 
 
 Pedro mingo ... 
 
 . 2 .. 
 
 13 
 
 Fuente Roble . . . 
 
 . 2 .. 
 
 15 
 
 Monte Rubio . . . 
 
 . 4 .. 
 
 19 
 
 Salamanca .... 
 
 . 4 .. 
 
 23 
 
 This, the direct route, is by no 
 means recommended : at Aldea Nueva 
 the Roman road from Merida is 
 crossed ; remains of its pavement and 
 abandoned bridges everywhere may be 
 traced. Banos is so called from its 
 hot sulphur baths, which have recently 
 been well arranged, and are much fre- 
 quented. This town, pop. 1500, is 
 beautifully situated, with its pretty 
 walks and river Ambros ; the fine belfry 
 of the Santa Maria deviates from the 
 perpendicular ; the wines are excellent; 
 about 1 L. up is the Puerto or pass in 
 the Sierra, the backbone which divides 
 Estremadura from Old Castile: here 
 Sir Robert Wilson, with a few undis- 
 ciplined Portuguese, made a bold stand 
 against the French coming down from 
 
500 
 
 ROUTE 63. — PLASENCIA TO CIUDAD RODRIGO* Sect. VII. 
 
 Grallicia and Oporto, while the Spanish 
 troops abandoned the position without 
 firing a shot. Thus Soult was enabled 
 to reach the rear of the English at 
 Talavera, which he never could have 
 done had Cuesta attended to the Duke’s 
 urgent request to garrison these im- 
 pregnable passes. The obstinate pro- 
 crastinator only sent some troops the 
 very day the French arrived at Bejar ; 
 but manana is the curse of Iberia, 
 and the Socorros de Espana, tarde 
 o nunca, “ late or never,” never were 
 a particular blessing. This Bejar is 
 another of the steep fresh pictu- 
 resque towns of this wooded Sierra. 
 Pop. about 5000. The river Cuerpo 
 del Sombre fertilizes the environs. 
 The alcazar of the Duque is a striking 
 feudal object, with a classical patio, 
 fountain, and fine views. It was 
 gutted by Soult’ s troops, when the pic- 
 tures and fine armoury disappeared. 
 Near Bejar , Feb. 20, 1813, M. Foy 
 received a complete beating from Lord 
 Hill. At Calzada , 4 L. from Sala- 
 manca, the Roman road is again 
 crossed, and the vestiges deserve notice. 
 Another route to Salamanca passes 
 through Ciudad Rodrigo. 
 
 Route 63. — Plasencia to Ciudad 
 Rodbigo. 
 
 Abadia 1 
 
 Lagunilla 2 . . 9 
 
 Herguijuela 5 . . 14 
 
 Batuecas 1 . . 15 
 
 Alberca 3 .. 18 
 
 Mailo I 
 
 Teuebron 5 ' * 
 
 Ciudad Rodrigo . . . . 3 . . 26 
 
 A visit to the convent of Batuecas 
 is very strongly recommended to the 
 artist ; the localities are most pictu- 
 resque : it will be well to write some 
 time beforehand to Senor Don Manuel 
 Becerro, Arrendador del Convento de 
 las Batuecas , Alberca , Provincia de 
 Ciudad Rodrigo ; meantime provision 
 for man and beast is always to be had 
 from Alberca , nor is there any want of 
 game and delicious trout. This cir- 
 cuitous route is sprinkled with Roman 
 antiquities, although seldom visited • 
 attend to the provend, as the accom- 
 
 modation is very alpine, and, without 
 fail, take a local "guide. The leagues 
 to Alberca are given approximately, 
 as they are very long, and the country 
 intricate. You can sleep the first night 
 at Granadilla , 5 L. ; the second at 
 the convent of Batuecas , 8 L. ; passing 
 through Pesga , 2 L., and Las Mestas. 
 
 We took the following route. On 
 leaving Plasencia ascend to the Sues- 
 tra Senora del Puerto , whence the 
 view is superb, and thence to Oliva, 
 2 L. In the courtyard of the Count’s 
 house are some Roman miliary stones. 
 The costume of the peasants now 
 changes : the males wear leather jer- 
 kins, open at the arms ; the females 
 short serge petticoats of greens, reds, 
 and yellows, with handkerchiefs on 
 their heads. About 1 L. on is Ca- 
 mara , the site of the ancient Ambracia, 
 now a solitary farm. To the 1. near it 
 is a Roman bridge of 4 arches, quite 
 uninjured. Masses of granite ruins lie 
 to the 1., and in a lonely road entan- 
 gled with creepers is a noble Roman 
 granite gateway, or arch ; the senti- 
 ment inspired by this relic of past 
 pomp, pride, and power, as it stands 
 here alone in its glory uncared for and 
 unobserved, is sad and solemn; each 
 of the four sides has an open en- 
 trance, about twelve feet wide ; the 
 dome is falling in from decay. On 
 each front which faces the road are 
 two pillars without capitals, and be- 
 tween them and the pilasters of the 
 arch are remains of pedestals on which 
 statues once stood. The upper portion 
 has been stripped of its facings. Now 
 the route continues alongside of the 
 Roman road to Salamanca. The solid 
 convex paving and raised footpath are 
 in excellent preservation, save that wild 
 oaks grow out, a proof of long absence 
 of traffic. The muleteers creep along 
 by a broken mud track by the side, 
 ashamed to tread on the mighty cause- 
 way. The whole line has been traced 
 by Yelazquez and others. (See Laborde, 
 fol. edition, xi. 131.) 
 
 Abadia is a wretched hamlet, pret- 
 tily situated on the Ambroz at the head 
 of the valley under the Sierra de Be- 
 
Estremadura . 
 
 ROUTE 63. ABADIA. 
 
 501 
 
 jar : here is a square-built palace of the 
 Duque de Alba, once an “abbey” of 
 the Templars ; some massy walls, 
 battlements, and horseshoe arches may 
 he traced in the more modern work. 
 The alterations were made by the 
 “ Great Alva,” “ The Duke” of Spain 
 (Don Quixote, ii. 25), who is held by 
 foreigners to be a bloody perfidious 
 bigot, and by Spaniards to be a model 
 soldier of his king and the true faith ; 
 for the Moorish spirit of the Spaniard 
 of that age was implicit devotion to 
 the Kalif, and propagandism of creed 
 by fire and sword : “ God’s enemies” 
 were to be exterminated, by all means 
 fair or foul, for Rome never held out 
 any toleration, mercy, or good faith 
 towards heretics. Fernando Alvarez 
 de Toledo, born in 1508, was sent into 
 the Low Countries by Philip II. the 
 champion of the Papacy ; there his 
 viceroy became president of a junta of 
 blood and venganza , under which some 
 18,000 persons were butchered. In 
 1573, vhen the Protestants cast off 
 the iron yoke of Spain, Alva was re- 
 called and disgraced. To be fairly 
 judged, the spirit of his country and 
 age must be taken into account ; cer- 
 tainly he had that love of poetry and 
 nature which indicating some tender- 
 ness, shines like a vein of silver in the 
 rough granite ; his tutor was Bosean, 
 the Petrarch of Spain, and friend of 
 Garcilazo de Yega. To Abadia , this 
 loop-hole of a retreat, the old soldier, 
 more weary of a king and country’s in- 
 gratitude than of war’s alarms, with- 
 drew as Xenophon did to Scyllus, and 
 like him passed his time in study, com- 
 bining the healthy sports of the field 
 with the recreations of social hospi- 
 tality (Diog. Laert. ii. 52). So the 
 great Conde reposed under his laurels 
 at Chantilly, in the society of Boileau 
 and Racine. The gardens of Abadia 
 were Alva’s joy and delight ; he deco- 
 rated them with fountains and ter- 
 races, with statues and marbles wrought 
 at Florence in 1555 by Francisco Ca- 
 milani; but the troops of Soult ravaged 
 the parterres, breaking down balus- 
 trades and ornaments, and mutilating 
 
 the Italian sculpture ; some few frag- 
 ments have since been collected toge- 
 ther, among them a head of Trajan. 
 The enclosed gardens were divided into 
 two portions, an upper and lower : an 
 inclined plain leads to a myrtle-over- 
 grown spot where Alva loved to sit. 
 The fountain, once supported by marble 
 statues, is now dry, the ground is 
 strewed with broken sculpture, which 
 glistens, bleaching amid the thorns and 
 thistles, legacies of the Gaul. Near a 
 ruined pavilion a cypress — sole con- 
 stant mourner of the dead — rises sadly 
 out of the corn, for now the garden is 
 ploughed up by the resident steward. 
 
 The Yenta at Abadia is wretched^ 
 it will be better to apply for a bed at 
 the palace. The next day is a very 
 long ride. Start before sunrise and 
 ascend to Lagunilla 2 L., and then 
 through a wood of gigantic chesnuts 
 to Val de Sieve ; a streamlet which 
 divides Leon from Estremadura, is 
 crossed and recrossed until it joins 
 the Alagon; ascending again ride on 
 in 2 hours to Herguijuela — observe 
 the cenereros or singular cloth man- 
 tillas and silver clasps of the women 
 — next either pass to Soto Serrano , 
 or avoid it by cutting off to the 1. 
 to las Mestas 2 L., a sickly miserable 
 place, hanging with its cypresses over 
 a sweet trout -stream. The fishing in 
 this district is excellent, especially in 
 the Rio Batuecas, the Cabezudo, and 
 Cuerpo del Hombre, tributaries of the 
 Alagon. 
 
 The road now continues for an hour 
 and half, up and down purple Scotch- 
 like hills, covered with heath and aro- 
 matic shrubs : the district on the r» 
 bank of the Alagon is called the Soya 
 or Tier r a de las Burdes or Jurdes , a 
 name derived by some from Gurdus , 
 an old Iberian word, which, according 
 to the Spaniard Quinctilian (‘ Inst. 
 Or.’ i. 5), signified doltish, stupid. The 
 word, preserved in the Basque, means 
 a pig ; such may be the origin of gordo , 
 engourdi, fat and heavy. The savage 
 misery of this district, a disgrace to 
 civilization, is strongly denounced by 
 Madoz, ix. 362. 
 
502 
 
 ROUTE 63. LAS BATUECAS. 
 
 Sect. VII. 
 
 The wild road soon turns to the r., 
 and ascends the course of the Rio Ba- 
 tuecas into a most alpine gorge ; soon 
 the monastery is seen to the 1. nestled 
 below in a sheltered nook, with its 
 white belfry, and rising amid chesnuts 
 and cypresses. It was for a long time 
 a refuge to travellers, a light of re- 
 ligion and civilization in this be- 
 nighted district. The valley and the 
 whole of Las Jurdes were believed, 
 even by the wise men of Salamanca, 
 although only 14 L. off, to be haunted 
 by demons and inhabited by pagans. 
 In 1599, Garzia Galarza, Bishop of 
 Coria, in granting leave to found a con- 
 vent, rejoiced that Satan and his legion, 
 would be then expelled by the discal- 
 ceate Carmelites. These idle tales about 
 the Batuecas were credited by Monsieur 
 Montesquieu, who gave deep offence to 
 Spaniards by his statement, “ II y a 
 dans leurs montagnes des nations qui 
 leur sont inconnues much of this was 
 quoted by Moreri, and worked into an 
 embroidered novel by Madame de Gen- 
 lis ; the offended Spaniards published 
 grave refutations ; see on this valley 
 ‘ Verdadera relacion de las Batuecas] 
 Manuel de Gonzalez, 4to. Mad. 1693 ; 
 Ponz, vii. 201 ; Padre Feijoo, c Teatro 
 Critico] iv. 241. In sober truth the Car- 
 melite monks did their best to civilize 
 the locality : they prepared a school for 
 the peasants, and a lodging for all way- 
 farers. Their establishment in fact was 
 alittle town ; a lofty wall, about a league 
 in circumference, enclosed gardens and 
 groves ; the eminences were studded 
 with hermitages, among which a cell in 
 a cork tree, el alconorque , with the 
 motto Morituro satis , was always 
 pointed out. Another tree, a noble 
 cypress, called from its stem el bast on, 
 is indeed a specimen. These and the 
 wonders of alpine and ascetic nature 
 were duly in our time lionised by the 
 good fathers. To this valley of Basselas 
 far removed from everything connected 
 with the world, state prisoners were 
 sometimes sent and forgotten : and 
 lonely indeed is this mountain nook ; 
 far away from the world’s cities, with 
 which it has nothing in common. 
 
 Here nature, silent amidst her grandest 
 forms, suggests retirement and repose, 
 which seem associated with the locali- 
 ties, prsesentiorem aspicimus Deum ! 
 
 The name Batuecas , by those who 
 see Greek in everything, has been de- 
 rived from Bafog , because the valley 
 lies deep in a funnel of hills ; so do 
 many other Spanish dells, without being 
 called Batuecas ; and it would be 
 equally reasonable etymologically to 
 derive our town Beal from Iwkog, be- 
 cause the sea is there open and clear, 
 or Leith from info, because the Scotch 
 in it forget their own interests. 
 
 The valley, about 3 m. long by 2 
 wide, is girdled by mountains, of which 
 La Rena de Francia is the loftiest and 
 wildest; on this “high place” is a 
 Santuario , or chapel of the Virgin, 
 whose image and shrine is visited by 
 thousands on the 8th of every Septem- 
 ber. It is called the rock of France, 
 because May 19, 1434, a Frenchman 
 named Simon Yela, after travelling all 
 over the world, discovered the miracu- 
 lous image. Mons. Simon was a 
 Parisian, and took the name of Yela 
 because the Virgin bade him watch 
 and search for this particular image. 
 Others say the Beha was called after 
 some French auxiliaries who retired 
 here with Don [Roderick after the 
 battle of Xerez ; at all events these 
 localities, long the asylum of rogues, 
 were considered to be haunted. Dur- 
 ing the war of independence the villa- 
 gers concealed Mons. Simon’s image, 
 which only reappeared after the Eng- 
 lish had driven his countrymen out of 
 Spain. For its miracles consult * His- 
 toria y Milagros ,’ 4to. Salamanca, 
 1567, or c Historia de la Thaumaturga 
 Imagen] &c., Domingo Caballeros, Sa- 
 lamanca, 1728. This work contains a 
 fac-simile of the hand-writing of the 
 revered Simon, and describes, in the 
 2nd part, 548 miracles worked by this 
 graven image. 
 
 Quitting the deserted convent a 
 steep road to the r. leads, commanding 
 a succession of alpine views and amid 
 walnuts and chesnuts, over the 
 Reventon to Alberca , 1 long L., 
 
Estremadura. route 63 . — plasencia to ciudad rodrigo. 
 
 503 
 
 Posada Nueva. This is a dark, 
 dingy, dirty hamlet, with prison- 
 like houses, partly built in granite, 
 wood and plaster-work ; hence next 
 day by an uninteresting country, with 
 the flat table-lands of central Spain 
 stretching to the i\, we enter the pro- 
 vince of Salamanca, one of the six into 
 which the ancient kingdom of Leon 
 was divided. 
 
 There is a bad road from Alberca to 
 Salamanca , 12 long L., through Aldea 
 Nueva and Carrascal del obispo. At 
 Tamames , 3 L. from Salamanca, the 
 Spaniards under Del Parque, on Oct. 
 18, 1809, defeated the French com- 
 manded by March and and Maucune. 
 
 The route to Ciudad Rodrigo through 
 Tenebroz is utterly uninteresting. 
 
( 504 ) 
 
 Sect. VIII, 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF LEON. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Province ; its History ; Character of the Country and Natives ; the 
 Charros and Charras. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CIUDAD RODRIGO . 507 
 
 El Bodon. 
 
 EXCURSIONS FROM CIUDAD RODRIGO 509 
 Fuentes de Onoro. 
 
 ROUTE 64. — CIUDAD RODRIGO TO 
 SALAMANCA 511 
 
 SALAMANCA 514 
 
 ROUTE 65. — SALAMANCA TO MA- 
 DRID BY PEN ARANDA 527 
 
 ROUTE 66. — SALAMANCA TO MA- 
 DRID BY VALLADOLID 527 
 
 ROUTE 67. — SALAMANCA TO MA- 
 DRID BY AVILA 528 
 
 ROUTE 68. — SALAMANCA TO VAL- 
 LADOLID 528 
 
 ROUTE 69. — SALAMANCA TO LUGO. 529 
 
 Ledesma; Zamora; Benavente; Astorga; 
 
 El Vierzo. 
 
 ROUTE 70. BENAVENTE TO ORENSE 541 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN THE VIERZO 542 
 
 ROUTE 7 1 . — PONFERRAD A TO ORENSE 544 
 CONVENTS IN THE VIERZO 544 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ROUTE 72. — ASTORGA TO LEON ... 545 
 
 LEON 546 
 
 ROUTE 73. — LEON TO PALENCIA . . 554 
 
 ROUTE 74. — LEON BY SAHAGUN TO 
 BURGOS 555 
 
 ROUTE 75. — LEON TO VALLADOLID 557 
 
 Medina del Rioseco. 
 
 ROUTE 76. — MEDINA DEL RIOSECO 
 
 TO VALLADOLID 560 
 
 Toro ; Tordesillas ; Rueda ; Medina del 
 Campo; Simancas. 
 
 VALLADOLID 566 
 
 ROUTE 77. — VALLADOLID TO SAN- 
 TANDER 581 
 
 Palencia. 
 
 ROUTE 78. — VALLADOLID TO BUR- 
 GOS 584 
 
 ROUTE 79. — VALLADOLID TO MA- 
 DRID 584 
 
 ROUTE 80.— VALLADOLID TO MA- 
 DRID BY SEGOVIA 585 
 
 ROUTE 81. — VALLADOLID TO MA- 
 DRID BY CUELLAR 585 
 
 The kingdom of Leon, lying out of the hacknied track, and not visited as it deserves, abounds 
 with sites of unrivalled military interest ; the painted sculpture is of the first class ; the scenery 
 in the Vierzo and Sierras is magnificent. The chief cities, Salamanca, Valladolid, and Leon, are 
 full of architectural and artistical interest, while to the historian the archives of Spain lie buried 
 at Simancas. The Summer months are the best for the hills, the Springs and Autumns for the 
 plains. 
 
 The Kingdom of Leon. 
 
 ~El Heino de Leon . which runs up from the plains of the Castiles into the spurs 
 of the GraUician and Asturian Sierras, is one of the most ancient of the once 
 separate and independent kingdoms of the Peninsula ; the natives, being 
 situated near the mountain- den from whence the Lion of the Groth first turned 
 
Leon . 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF LEON. 
 
 505 
 
 upon the Moor, were among the earliest to expel the infidel invader, whose hold 
 was slight and whose resistance was feeble when compared to his deep-fanged 
 retention and defence of Andalucia. Nor, when we behold the dreary steppes and 
 rugged hills of Leon, and pass over the mountain harrier into the cold damp 
 Asturias, can we be surprised that the Arab, the lover of the sun and plain, 
 should turn readily to the more congenial south. The Christian dominion 
 was extended by Alonso el Catolico, who, between a.d. 739-57, overran and 
 reconquered the plains down to the Duero and Tormes. The Moors neverthe- 
 less continued to make annual Algaras or forays into these parts, more for pur- 
 poses of plunder than reconquest. Thus this frontier arena was alternately in 
 the power of Christian and Infidel, until about the year 910, when Garcia removed 
 the court from Oviedo to Leon, and gave its name to his new kingdom, to 
 distinguish it from those of Castile and Navarre, and other counties and lord- 
 ships. Indeed, as the ranges of hills which from Catalonia to Gallicia separate 
 district from district, had divided the country politically as well as geographically, 
 so the dislocated land seemed to indicate distinct petty principalities, and to pre- 
 vent national unity, and foster local partition and that isolated independence 
 which is the inveterate tendency of this unamalgamating land; the early 
 Christian counts, lords, dukes, or kings (sheikhs in reality), were rivals to 
 each other, and when not at war with the Moor, quarrelled among themselves 
 after the true Iberian fashion, “ Bellum quam otium malunt ; si extraneus deest, 
 domi hostem quserunt” (Just. xliv. 2). The male line of Leon failed in 1037 
 with Bermudo III., whose daughter carried the crown to her husband Ferdi- 
 nand of Castile, who redivided his domains by his will, which, however, his son 
 Sancho reunited ; Leon and Castile were finally joined in the person of St. 
 Ferdinand, and have never since been separated. 
 
 The kingdom contains about 20,000 square miles, with a million inhabitants. 
 These hardy, ill-educated agriculturists neither change their homes nor habits ; 
 creatures of routine and foes to innovation, they cling to the ways of their fore- 
 fathers ; yet although purely tillers of the earth, their practice is barbarously 
 backward, and they plough in the primitive style of Triptolemus and the 
 Georgies ; most farmers are slow to improve, and these are no more to be hurried 
 than are their mules. Their minds, like their cumbrous creaking wheels (see 
 Index, Chillo ), are blocked up with dirt and prejudices which have been accumu- 
 lating since the deluge. Living in a province most of which is Swisslike, they 
 are only beginning to make butter, while as regards mills and manufactories, 
 the waste of water power is great even for Spain. 
 
 The Leonese are influenced by local differences, and modified by the nature 
 by which they are surrounded. Thus near the Sil, they resemble the Gal- 
 lician mountaineers, as in the Sierras, near the Asturias, they partake of the 
 Asturians, while in the southern portions they differ very little from the old 
 Castilians. The lofty cordillera, the back bone which separates Leon from the 
 Asturias, and often covered with snow, is cold, and wind blown, some portions 
 are well timbered ; while the pastoral vallies are refreshed by infinite streams, the 
 scorching plains below produce much corn and garbanzos , and a strong red 
 wine is made near Toro. The marly fresh-water basin, or tierra de Campos , 
 between Zamora, Leon, and Valladolid, is the land of Ceres ; but although 
 bread is a drug, nowhere is the population more scanty or miserable ; they dwell 
 in mud hovels made of unbaked bricks, or adobes , the precise Arabic at‘tob t 
 which vie with the wigwams of La Mancha in discomfort. This tract is as un- 
 interesting as the ventas are uncomfortable ; woe betide him who drives or 
 rides across these interminable plains in winter or summer, the apologies for 
 roads are then either axle or ankle deep in mud, or clouded in a salitrose dust, 
 which seems ignited under the African sun. 
 
 Near Salamanca many of the yeomen are wealthy, and live in isolated farms, 
 
506 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF LEON. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 Montar acias , gi owing much corn, which is exported into Andalucia. They are 
 also breeders of cattle on a large scale, which they manage with the primitive 
 sling, or honda , as near San Roque (see p. 267). The conocidores , or herdsmen, 
 ride down the animals, los agorrachan d caballo , just as their descendants do 
 in South America. At their cattle-brandings and family feasts, herraduras y 
 fiestas defamilia , as at their marriages, they keep open house with much eating, 
 drinking, singing, and dancing the habas verdes , after the fashion in Don Quixote 
 at the wedding of Camacho. These are the unchanged convivia fiesta Carduarum 
 of Martial (iv. 55. 17) ; and such were the Oriental sheep-shearings of Nabal 
 (1 Sam. xxv. 36). 
 
 The houses of the humble Leonese, like their hearts, are always open to an 
 Englishman ; they have not forgotten the honesty, justice, and good conduct of 
 our triumphant soldiers, which contrast with the rapine, sacrilege, and blood- 
 shed of “ Gaul’s locust host.” They remember Salamanca, and Him whom they 
 call the “ Great Lord,” El gran lor , the Cid of England. Their houses are sub- 
 stantially furnished and clean, one peculiarity is the loftiness of the beds ; the 
 mattresses and pillows, colchones y almohadas , are often embroidered with the 
 heraldic lions and castles, and the coarse but clean home- spun sheets are fringed 
 with fiecos y randas. 
 
 Costume naturally exists where there is so little communication with European 
 civilization. These dresses, worn only on holidays, last long, and would -last 
 longer did they not smack of “ picturesque barbarism ” in the .eyes of the 
 Espanol illustrado ; his wish is to efface these nationalities with cheap cotton 
 and commonplace calico. Meantime notice the Maragatos , p. 537. The Charro y 
 Char r a of Leon are here what the Majo y Maja are in Andalucia. The Charro* 
 wears a low, broad-brimmed hat ; his shirt, or camison , is richly worked in 
 front, with a gold knob-brooch, or loton ; his chaleco , or waistcoat of figured 
 velvet, cut square, comes low down to the pit of the stomach, to display his 
 shirt, and is garnished with square silver buttons and cross ribbons ; his 
 jacket is open at the elbow, and edged with black velvet ; his sash is a broad 
 belt, a cinto of leather not of silk ; his long dark cloth gaiters are embroidered 
 below the knee; with large silver buckles in his shoes, a stick in his right hand, 
 and a cloak over his left shoulder, the rustic dandy is complete. The gay charra 
 worthy of such a beau, wears a caramba in her hair, and a mantilla or hood of 
 cloth cut square ; this cenerero is fastened by a brooch or silver clasp, el colchete , 
 and is richly embroidered; her red velvet boddice, jubon , is adorned with 
 bugles, or canutillo , worked into fanciful patterns ; her wrist-cuffs are wrought 
 with gold, and her sash is tied behind ; her petticoat, manteo , either of scarlet de 
 grana , or with purple morado , the favourite colour, and like her apron, or 
 mandile , is embroidered with birds, flowers, and stars. She has also a hand- 
 kerchief, rebocilloy worked in gold, and wears many joy as , jewels and chains 
 bedecked with coloured stones, which descend as heirlooms from mothers to 
 daughters. But these fine clothes have not corrupted the wearers, whose honest 
 simplicity of character, “ La honradez y sencillez de los Charrosfi is proverbial ; 
 thus one of them being at a theatre, where in the play a traitor was deceiving 
 the king, cried out, thinking the transaction a reality, “ Sehor , Senor, no crea 
 V. M. a ese /” — “ Sire ! Sire ! do not believe him.” The Leonese rustic disputes 
 with the Sanchos of La Mancha, for the palm of being the Juan JEspahoL or 
 Goody Gaffer of the Peninsula. 
 
 In the districts between Lenavente and the capital Leon the men spin and 
 the women delve. Their delight is telling ghost stories el filanquiero , and in 
 offering at harvest-time to venerated images an amount of com equal in 
 weight to that of the local idol. In the mountain-chain, the Arguellos or 
 Mediana t which separates Leon from the Asturias, the highlanders are wild as 
 * Charra, in the Basque, means Prole tarius, serf. 
 
Leon . 
 
 CIUDAD RODRIGO. 
 
 507 
 
 their country, agricultural and pastoral after the most antiquated and vicious 
 system. The waste of water-power and wood is prodigious. Of the encinas, 
 or oak trees, rude sticks, shillelahs , are made, and gabuzos , or wood candles 
 constructed from the Brero. N.B. Among the apples eat the Repinaldo ; the 
 strawberries and arbutus, Memendanos , may also be remembered, and the 
 mutton confection, the Caldereta. The young women in these parts delight 
 in good-natured teasing and tormenting strangers, le dan los cucharones. 
 
 CIUDAD RODRIGO, Posada de 
 la Colada , pop. about 4500, rises on a 
 slight eminence above the Agueda, 
 which flows under the walls to the W,, 
 being here intersected by small islands. 
 It is crossed by a fine bridge, which 
 leads to Portugal, distant over the 
 plains a few miles. This fortified place 
 although “weak in itself, is,” says 
 the Duke, “the best chosen position 
 of any frontier town that I have 
 seen.” It is one of the keys of 
 Spain, hence the important part that 
 it played in the retreats and sieges 
 during the Peninsular war, when its 
 capture, succeeded by that of Badajoz, 
 opened the way to the Duke to deliver 
 Spain : and in these glorious recollec- 
 tions consist its present interest, for, 
 it is now dull, poverty-stricken, and 
 perfectly unprovided with any requisite 
 for real defence. 
 
 Ciudad Rodrigo was so called after 
 the Conde Rodrigo Gonzalez Giron, 
 who founded it in 1150. Three Roman 
 columns, brought from ancient Mala- 
 briga and preserved on the Plaza , are 
 borne by the city for its arms. It 
 is the see of a bishop, suffragan to 
 Santiago. As this is a Plaza de Ar- 
 mas, all who wish to examine and 
 make sketches had better apply for 
 permission of the governor. 
 
 The cathedral was begun in 1190 by 
 Ferdinand II. of Leon : the architect, 
 Benito Sanchez, lies buried in the 
 cloister. The edifice was enlarged in 
 1538 by Cardinal Tavera, Archb. of 
 Toledo, and previously bishop here. 
 An inner door of the old cathedral 
 exists near the entrance, with curious 
 statue-work and alto-relievos of the 
 Passion. The quaint Gothic silleria 
 del coro was carved by Rodrigo Ale- 
 man. The classical Colegiata or Ca- 
 
 milla de Cerralvo, built in 1588 by 
 Francisco Pacheco, Archbishop of Bur- 
 gos, was very fine. Being converted 
 into a powder-magazine, it was blown up 
 in 1818 by accident — a thing almost of 
 course in pococurante Spain and in the 
 East. The shattered fragments were 
 left for many years exactly as they 
 fell, pictures flapping in the retablo, 
 &c. The cardinal’s leaden coffin had 
 been torn from its sarcophagus by 
 the invaders to furnish bullets against 
 the living; the uncovered corpse was 
 cast into a niche, and then moved 
 to a loft, where it remained for years, 
 lying in the tattered episcopal robes. 
 The chaplain, on this indecency being 
 pointed out by us, merely shrugged his 
 shoulders : yet he was a descendant of 
 this prelate, and enjoyed the revenues 
 of his endowment ; although he duly 
 dined himself, he cared little about 
 burying his dead. He at least was 
 not neglectful of the conditions of the 
 national proverb, Los vivos d la mesa , 
 los muertos a la huesa. 
 
 The cathedral being placed at the 
 N.W. angle of the town, and exposed 
 to the Teson, has suffered much during 
 the sieges. 
 
 The town walls were built by Ferdi- 
 nand II., and the large square tower 
 was erected by Henry II. in 1372. The 
 Duke, when here, lodged at La Casa 
 de Castro ; observe its portal with 
 spiral pillars. The costumes of the 
 Charro and Charra are to be seen in 
 Ciudad Rodrigo in great perfection on 
 holidays. 
 
 Ciudad Rodrigo is a point of mili- 
 tary interest in itself, while in the 
 vicinity are LJl Bodon, Sabugal , la 
 Gtuarda , Puentes de Onoro, and other 
 sites where the moral and physical 
 superiority of our chief and his troops 
 
508 
 
 CIUDAD RODRIGO. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 over the enemy was signally tested and 
 manifested. Near it also, are Celorico , 
 Fuente Gruinaido , Freneda , and other 
 head-quarters of the Duke, while 
 hovering on the borders of Spain and 
 patiently planning her deliverance. 
 From these once obscure places some 
 of his most remarkable dispatches were 
 written : then and there, while all at 
 home and abroad despaired, his pro- 
 phetic eye saw in the darkest gloom 
 the coming rays of his glory. 
 
 The first siege, undertaken in the 
 spring of 1810 by Massena and Ney, 
 was a gross mistake, as during it the 
 Duke was given time to prepare 
 his lines at Torres Yedras. Although 
 anxious to relieve the place he refused 
 to risk an action against an enemy 
 “ double his number in infantry, and 
 three times so in cavalry.” He disre- 
 garded alike the sneers of allies and 
 enemies at “ his cowardly selfish cau- 
 tion.” He well knew, which they did 
 not, that the fate of Spain did not de- 
 pend upon this point, hut on the preser- 
 vation of the little English army, which 
 eventually delivered the Peninsula. 
 
 After a most desperate resistance, 
 the accidental ( i.e . a certainty in care- 
 less Spanish and oriental citadels) 
 explosion of a powder-magazine forced 
 its governor, gallant Herrasti, to sur- 
 render July 10, when every article of 
 the capitulation was dishonourably 
 violated by Ney (Toreno, xii., Madoz, 
 vi. 459). 
 
 After the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo the 
 Duke continued patient. He waited 
 through fair and foul report until his 
 time for action was come. He knew 
 that Buonaparte would never rest 
 without making another attempt on 
 Portugal, in the hopes of retrieving 
 the misfortunes of Junot before Lisbon, 
 and those of Soult at Oporto. The 
 Duke was, therefore, prepared for the 
 invasion of Massena in July, 1810; 
 and the result was signally decided at 
 Torres Yedras. 
 
 While Ney and Massena differed on 
 the field of battle, Soult at a distance was 
 influenced by those rivalries which so 
 often sapped the French cause. Instead 
 
 of hastening day and night, as he ought, 
 to his comrade’s relief, he never moved 
 from Seville until December, when it 
 was too late, and then loitered at 
 Olivenza and Badajoz, where, but for 
 the misconduct' of Mendizabal at Ge- 
 bora, of Imaz at Badajoz, and of 
 Lapena at Barrosa, both he and Victor 
 would have been beaten at the same 
 time as Ney and Massena. The Duke 
 was thus robbed by Spanish miscon- 
 duct of his full reward ; he could de- 
 serve success, but ’tis not in mortals 
 to command it. 
 
 The next year the Duke pounced 
 upon Ciudad Rodrigo, and took it in 
 11 days, being in less than half the 
 time which he himself had expected. 
 His secresy and boldness of plan, ra- 
 pidity of attack, and admirable strate- 
 gics baffled both Soult and Marmont 
 alike. Now, as afterwards at Badajoz, 
 the French scarcely began to move be- 
 fore the deed was done, and yet this 
 fortress, which when weak had defied 
 Ney and Massena for three months, had 
 in the meantime been rendered much 
 stronger by General Barrie, an able 
 officer who worthily commanded a most 
 gallant garrison; he had thrown up new 
 works, and fortified the two convents, 
 S a . Cruz to the N.W. and San Fran- 
 cisco to the N.E. into redoubts. The 
 Duke, in spite of the winter season, 
 appeared before the place J an. 8, 1812, 
 and at dusk that very evening took the 
 strong fortified teson to the N. ; Gra- 
 ham, with the light division, having con- 
 verted a proposed reconnaissance into a 
 real attack. This daring dash deter- 
 mined the rapid fall of the fortress, as 
 precious time was gained, and breaching 
 batteries securely established. On the 
 19th two practicable breaches to the 
 N.E. were nobly carried by Picton and 
 Crawfurd, the latter receiving his 
 death-wound. After Ciudad Rodrigo 
 was taken the Duke rode back to Gal- 
 legos; he outstripped his suite, and 
 arrived alone and in the dark. Mar- 
 mont was so taken aback by the rapi- 
 dity and brilliancy of this capture, that 
 in his official report he observed, 
 “ There is something so incomyprehen - 
 
Leon . 
 
 EXCURSIONS FROM CIUDAD RODRIGO. 
 
 509 
 
 sible in all this, that until I know more 
 I refrain from any remarks.” What 
 can be greater praise to those, who thus 
 puzzled him? Yet Monsieur Foy (i. 259, 
 302) refuses to the Duke and our en- 
 gineers even a knowledge of the “ alpha- 
 bet of their art,” and sneers at their pro- 
 found ignorance and bungling in every 
 siege ; and this when Cadiz, Tarifa, 
 Gibraltar, and Alicante were attacked 
 by the French, and not taken, because 
 defended by the English, while Ciudad 
 Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Al- 
 maraz, S n . Sebastian, &c., defended by 
 theFrench, were taken, because stormed 
 by the English. The captor was made 
 an English earl, and the Cortes be- 
 stowed on him the rank of grande , 
 making him duke of his recovered for- 
 tress ; and by this title, Duque de 
 Ciudad Rodrigo , Spaniards are fond of 
 calling him, as it Espanolises to their 
 ears our victorious general, and thus 
 blinks the foreigner, whose genius and 
 success shamed the incapacity and 
 failures of their own wretched chiefs. 
 
 Wellington gave over Ciudad Ro- 
 drigo to Castahos, but his confidence 
 was miserably disappointed ; for Don 
 Carlos de Espana, who was placed- in 
 command, forthwith broke all promises 
 of pay to his men, and as a mutiny en- 
 sued, the repairs were neglected, and 
 even the stores furnished by England 
 not even moved in ! By this Spanish 
 co-operation the Capture of Badajoz 
 was neutralized, and ever lucky Soult 
 again saved, as by Lapena at Barrosa, 
 from ruin. “ If Ciudad Rodrigo had 
 been provisioned as I — ipse dixit — had 
 a right to expect, there was nothing 
 to prevent me marching to Seville at 
 the head of 40,000 men” (Disp. April 
 11, 1812). 
 
 Yisit the English position, walking 
 out to the suburb by the Alameda to 
 San Francisco, then to the smaller 
 teson , now called de Craufurd, and then 
 to the larger teson , now termed elfuerte 
 de Wellington ; return by Santa Cruz 
 and the Agueda, on whose banks, Oct. 
 11, 1811, Julian Sanchez, the gueril- 
 lero , surprised Mons. Reynaud, the 
 governor, while out riding, and carried 
 Spain . — II. 
 
 him off. The Spaniard treated his 
 French prisoner with hospitality, and 
 yet the Don had taken up arms be- 
 cause his house had been burnt, his 
 parents and sister murdered, and he 
 himself at that very moment pro- 
 scribed as a brigand by Gen. Marchand 
 (Toreno, x .) . Ciudad Rodrigo became 
 in the hands of the Duke an important 
 base for future operations, and its cap- 
 ture may be termed the first blow by 
 which he struck down the invader. 
 The Duke’s capture of Ciudad Rodrigo 
 is omitted altogether in Mons. Maison’s 
 French Handbook. 
 
 Excursions from Ciudad Rodrigo. 
 
 An interesting morning’s ride may 
 be made, taking a local guide and at- 
 tending to the provend — first to FI 
 Rodon , 2 L., and to Fuente Cuinaldo , 
 2 L., which lie to the S.W. up the basin 
 of the Agueda. “Here,” says Welling- 
 ton, “the British troops surpassed every 
 thing they had ever done before.” In 
 Sept. 1811, while the Duke was block- 
 ading Ciudad Rodrigo , Marmont and 
 Dorsenne advanced with 60,000 men 
 to its relief. Thereupon the Duke, 
 whose forces barely reached 40,000, 
 fell back towards FI Rodon , in the 
 plain to the r. Fifteen squadrons 
 of superb French cavalry, under Mont- 
 brun, now charged our 5th and 77th 
 in squares, attacking them on three 
 sides at once : but they were repulsed 
 at every point, and the two mag- 
 nificent regiments retreated some miles 
 in the plain with all the tranquil- 
 lity and regularity of a parade. Mar- 
 mont on that day proved his mili- 
 tary incapacity, having failed to seize 
 the most ^favourable moment of the 
 war to crush the English army (Yap. 
 xxiv. 6) . On the 26th the Duke took 
 up a position at Fuente Cuinaldo, and 
 Marmont, as if to amuse his opponent, 
 went again through certain beautiful 
 manoeuvres in the plain below, like a 
 ballet-master. 
 
 A little behind flows the Coa, and 
 here, near the heights of Soito, the 
 Duke again offerred Marmont battle, 
 2 A 
 
510 
 
 ALMEIDA. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 which, notwithstanding all his num- 
 bers, lie politely and prudently de- 
 clined. Remembering Massena’s de- 
 feats and retreats, he was rather shy of 
 advancing into Portugal. 
 
 Those who have leisure may prolong 
 their excursion by making a circuit 
 into Portugal, and coming back by Al- 
 meida, thus visiting many spots the 
 scenes of the Duke’s victories, and long 
 his head-quarters. Take, however, a 
 local guide, and attend to the pro- 
 vend. The distances are given ap- 
 proximately. 
 
 Prom Fuente Guinaldo you can, if 
 you have time and inclination, strike 
 W. to Alfayates ; and entering Portu- 
 gal, wind over the spurs of the Sierra 
 de Meras, and by Torre to Sabugal ; 
 and thence N.W. to Peg a, where, says 
 "Walter Scott, March 30, 1811, the ene- 
 my’s rear- guard was overtaken by our 
 cavalry ; thinking themselves safe from 
 the strong position, they played “ God 
 save the King ” in derision, when their 
 minstrelsy was deranged by the obli- 
 gato accompaniment of our artillery, 
 and the rout complete ; they were pur- 
 sued and cut up for four long miles. 
 
 Continuing, we reach Guarda , a 
 picturesque Portuguese episcopal town 
 on the Sierra de Fstrella , about 6 L. 
 from the Spanish frontier, with stout 
 walls, and castle, which guarded the 
 frontier against the Moors. These 
 almost impregnable heights were aban- 
 doned, March 29, 1811, by Massena, 
 who, with 20,000 men, retired with- 
 out firing a shot, before Picton, who 
 had only three English and two Portu- 
 guese regiments. Thence on by Prades 
 and Salgaraes , over a hilly peninsula 
 formed by a bend of the Mondego, to 
 Celorico , pop. about 1500. Cross the 
 river and strike N.E. by Alverca to 
 Valverde , and then ride on over the 
 Coa to Almeida , distant about J L. 
 
 This frontier fortress of Portugal, 
 distant from the Spanish raya 1 L., 
 rises on a gentle eminence, almost 
 surrounded by a desert jplain , or table, 
 as the word signifies in Arabic. Pop. 
 about 1200. The citadel, never pro- 
 perly repaired since the Peninsular war, 
 
 and still one of the finest in Portugal, 
 commands a full view of the surround- 
 ing country. The artist should sketch 
 the castle. The first result of the 
 Duke’s victory v at Puentes de Onoro 
 was the capture of Almeida , to relieve 
 which Massena had risked the battle ; 
 such was his fright and flight after its 
 loss, that he left the garrison to shift 
 for itself, without even communicating 
 his retreat to Glen. Brennier, the able 
 French governor ; he, however, blew 
 up the bastions on the night of May 
 10, and skilfully escaped, through the 
 astounding negligence of Gen. Camp- 
 bell and Sir William Erskine, a mis- 
 hap which caused infinite vexation 
 to the Duke, who said — “ This is the 
 most disgraceful military event that 
 has occurred to us ; I have never been 
 so much distressed as by the escape of 
 even a man of them ” (Disp. May 15, 
 1811) ; but, as he then remarked, he 
 could not be everywhere at once ; 
 whenever he was absent something 
 went wrong. 
 
 The rivers Coa and Turones, at which 
 the smuggler laughs, divide the two 
 kingdoms ; from Almeida you can ride 
 S. by the ridge to Freneda , under Monte 
 Cabrillas, and distant about 5 L. from 
 Ciudad Podrigo ; thence by Villa For- 
 mosa to Fuentes de Onoro {de la 
 Noria) ; visit the village, cross the 
 streamlet Dos Casas , and then make 
 for Alameda , or for Gallegos , a poor 
 hamlet about J L. from the Agueda. 
 
 The glorious history of Fuentes de 
 Onoro is soon told : after the first cap* 
 ture of Ciudad Rodrigo by the French, 
 the Duke foresaw that Buonaparte 
 would make a third attempt on Por- 
 tugal, to “ drown the leopard,” and 
 efface the disgraces of Junot and Soult : 
 accordingly, in July, 1810, Massena 
 crossed the frontier with overwhelm- 
 ing numbers. j Busaco, which, Sept. 
 26, checked his fool-hardy advance, 
 did not teach him wisdom ; for he 
 pushed on to Sobral , and there, Oct. 10, 
 found out for the first time the deep 
 pit which his greater rival had dug for 
 him. Massena’s whole campaign was 
 a failure : begun in fanfaronade, carried 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 64. MASSES A. 
 
 511 
 
 out in rapine and butchery, it ended in 
 total defeat, in the loss of 30,000 of 
 his men, and of every pretension of 
 his own to generalship. Massena’s 
 only strategics were rash, rapid ad- 
 vance, and reliance on great numerical 
 superiority. “ His retreat in March, 
 181V* says the quiet Duke, “ was 
 marked by a barbarity seldom equalled, 
 and never surpassed.” Women were 
 foraged for and sold in the market, 
 while the filthy slime of the foul French 
 quarters was “ degrading to human 
 nature” (Pen. Camp. iii. 54), 
 
 Massena, after his sauve qui jpeut 
 from Santarem, made another and his 
 last desperate effort to restore his faded 
 laurels, and crossed the Agueda, May 2, 
 1811, with 45,000 infantry and 5000 
 cavalry, to relieve Almeida , which the 
 Duke was blockading with less than 
 36,000 infantry and 2000 horsemen. 
 His object was, in spite of inferior 
 numbers, to protect both his ap- 
 proaches to Almeida , and his line of 
 communication with Portugal by Sa- 
 bugal i hence he was obliged to over- 
 extend his line ; his centre was the vil- 
 lage on the ragged hill of Fuentes de 
 Qnoro, a name derived probably from 
 Noria , the Moorish water-wheel, but 
 now most truly Fountains of Honour ; 
 this point, rising above the stream de 
 Los Casas , was made, May 5, the grand 
 object of Massena’s attack, whose re- 
 pulse was most complete. Nothing 
 ever surpassed the charge of the 7lst 
 and 79th Highlanders, who, their 
 colonel being killed, raised the war-cry 
 of the Camerons. The 88th cleared the 
 streets, and bayoneted down the “ finest 
 body of French grenadiers ever seen.” 
 Our cavalry, feeble in number, caught 
 the generous inspiration, and crushed 
 the splendid horsemen under Mont- 
 brun, whose hesitation lost what Picton 
 called their “ golden moment,” for they 
 might have destroyed the whole light 
 division. But Massena withdrew just 
 at the critical moment when a real 
 general would have pressed on ; he 
 retreated, having lost 5000 men and 
 his entire military reputation. Our loss 
 was 2000 men. 
 
 This day settled the 4 ‘spoilt child 
 of victory,” who under the Duke’s 
 tuition had grown up to be a 
 finished man of defeat. Massena sur- 
 rendered his command to Marmont 
 on the 11th, and retired to 'Bordeaux, 
 having carried off 800,000 dollars, 
 “ extorques par le sang, et le pillage, 
 une malediction generate le suivit ” 
 (Schep. iii. 252). Plunder, indeed, says 
 the Duke, was the original motive 
 of Massena’s Santarem expedition, 
 <c against every military principle, 
 and at an immense sacrifice of men ” 
 (Disp. Dec. 29, 1810). He lived to 
 prove false to both Buonaparte and the 
 Bourbons. “ Signalez-le,” say his coun- 
 trymen (Biog. TJniv. xxvii. 407), “a 
 l’horreur de la posterite, ses rapines 
 lui ont acquis une honteuse celebrity.” 
 He died April 4, 1817, the disgusting 
 death of a low debauchee, an end 
 worthy of his origin. The son of a Jew 
 pothouse-keeper at Nice, hooted out of 
 the ranks for theft, he rose from being 
 a fencing-master to be a favourite of 
 Buonaparte ; he obtained, as Suchet 
 did in the E. of Spain, a great name 
 by easy victories over feeble enemies ; 
 tested against the iron Duke, this 
 potsherd, always found utterly want- 
 ing, was forthwith smashed to shreds. 
 
 Route 64. — Ciudad Rodrigo to 
 Salamanca. 
 
 Santi Spiritus . . . 
 
 Martin del Rio . 
 
 . 3 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 5 
 
 Boveda de Castro . . 
 
 . 4 
 
 9 
 
 Calzada 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Calzadilla .... 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 14 
 
 Salamanca .... 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 16 
 
 The road is bad and uninteresting. 
 There is a sort of galera conveyance, 
 and an isolated and tolerable jposada 
 near the church at JBoveda. The battle- 
 field of Salamanca may be visited the 
 next morning by turning out of the 
 high road to the r. through Tura and 
 Miranda de Azan ; coming out of 
 which and the trees which fringe the 
 brook Azan and the Zurguen, is the 
 point at Porquerizos where Pakenham 
 attacked the height and checked the 
 extreme French left ; instead of fol- 
 lowing the road straight on to Torres , 
 2 A 2 
 
512 
 
 ROUTE 64 . — BATTLE OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 keep now to the r. ; in front of Azan 
 was the scene of the grand cavalry 
 charge which shivered the superb 
 French lines, and decided their defeat. 
 Thence descend to the poor village of 
 Arapiles. About 1-J mile E. rise the 
 two knolls, the Arapiles , one flattish, 
 the other conical, by which name our 
 lively neighbours call this “ affaire ” at 
 Salamanca, an untoward event, omitted 
 by M. Maison in his French Handbook. 
 
 Salamanca with its domes rises about 
 4J miles N. The battle was the result 
 of a false move made by Marmont, who 
 commanded in these districts more 
 than 100,000, the Duke having at his 
 disposal less than 60,000 (Nap. xviii.4), 
 of which scarcely half were British. 
 This numerical superiority gave Mar- 
 mont the power of every initiative, 
 and reduced Wellington to act on 
 the defensive : his own account to 
 Graham is short and sweet. “ I took 
 up the ground which you were to 
 have taken during the siege of Sa- 
 lamanca. We had a race for the 
 large Arapiles, which is the more dis- 
 tant of the two detached heights : this 
 race the French won, and they were 
 too strong to be dislodged without a 
 general action. I knew that the French 
 were to be joined by the cavalry of the 
 army of the North on the 22nd or 23rd, 
 and that the army of the centre was 
 likely to be in motion. Marmont 
 ought to have given me a pont d’or , 
 and he would have made a handsome 
 operation of it ; but instead of that, 
 after manoeuvring all the morning in 
 the usual French style, nobody knew 
 with what object, he at last pressed 
 upon my right in such a manner, at 
 the same time without engaging, that 
 he would have carried our Arapiles , or 
 would have confined us entirely to 
 our position ; this was not to be en- 
 dured, and we fell upon him, turning 
 liis left flank, and I never saw an army 
 receive such a beating. I had desired 
 the Spaniards to continue to occupy 
 the castle of Alba de Tormes ; Don 
 Carlos de Espana had evacuated it, I 
 believe, before he knew my wishes, and 
 he was afraid to let me know that he 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 had done so, and I did not know it till 
 I found no enemy at the fords of the 
 Tormes ; when I lost sight of them in 
 the dark, I marched upon Huerta and 
 JEncinas ; if I had known that there 
 had been no garrison in Alba , I should 
 have marched there, and should pro- 
 bably have had them all” (Disp. 
 July 25, 1812). 
 
 His position, July 22, 1812, was in 
 the village of Arapiles . About three 
 in the afternoon, Marmont over ex- 
 tended his line towards Miranda de 
 Azan. When this was reported to the 
 Duke, he with eagle-eyed intuition ex- 
 claimed, “ Egad ! I have them ; ” and 
 so he had. He “ fixed the fault with 
 the stroke of a thunderbolt.” A few 
 orders issued from his lips like the in- 
 cantations of a wizard, and the English 
 masses advanced ; Pakenham on our r. 
 about five o'clock, breaking the head 
 of Thomieres’s splendid column into 
 fragments with the force of a giant. 
 Then the 4th and 5th divisions attacked 
 the enemy’s centre, gaining manfully 
 the crest of La Cabana , on which hill- 
 some desperate fighting took place : 
 but the English cavalry, under Le 
 Marchant, had before trodden to the 
 dust 1200 Frenchmen, “ big men on 
 big horses,” says Napier, “ trampling 
 .down the enemy with terrible clamour 
 and disturbance, smiting mass after 
 mass with downright courage and 
 force.” Marmont was wounded in 
 the arm : then Clausel, with much 
 skill, endeavoured to repair the battle 
 by changing his front ; but the Duke 
 turned round and smote him so 
 grievously, that he fled, having aban- 
 doned everything that can constitute 
 an army, and writing in the first agony 
 of truth that not 20,000 men could be 
 reorganised. He retreated on Burgos, 
 sending Col. Fabvrier to convey the 
 news to Buonaparte, which reached 
 him on the Borodino, Sept. 7 , on the 
 eve of that battle, and this untoward 
 intelligence was the real cause of 
 Napoleon's heaviness of soul that 
 night, and of his strange hesitation and 
 “ want of alacrity ” during the conflict 
 (see Quar. Rev. No. 184, p. 528). The 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 64. — BATTLE OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 513 
 
 late time at which the battle of Sala- 
 manca began saved the enemy. “ If 
 we had had an hour more daylight the 
 whole army would have been in our 
 hands ” (Disp. July 28, 1812). So 
 wrote the Duke again when he crushed 
 Soult at Nivelle. How wrote Marl- 
 borough at Oudenarde ? — “ If I had 
 had two hours more of daylight the 
 French army would have been irre- 
 trievably routed, and the greater part of 
 it killed or taken.” So again wrote Marl- 
 borough at Oudenarde, and so did Stan- 
 hope at Almenara, all using much the 
 same words for the same great facts. 
 
 Salamanca was indeed a victory, nor 
 have Messrs. Thiers and Co. yet 
 claimed it as theirs ; the Duke in 45 
 minutes beat 45,000 Frenchmen, al- 
 though these lively historians are posi- 
 tive, had their general Marmont not 
 been wounded that the victory must 
 have been theirs ; but so they said of 
 the “ untoward affair ” of Malplaquet. 
 
 All, we are told, went on well for 
 the French; according to Marmont, 
 Maueune culbuta les Anglais ! when 
 the “ cruel fatality ” of the Marshal’s 
 wound (!) prevented a complete vic- 
 tory ; nor did the Duke venture to 
 move until he knew of this luck ! ! But 
 Buonaparte knew better, and wrote, 
 when Marmont’ s bulletin reached him, 
 thus : — “ II est impossible de rien lire 
 de plus insignificant ; il y a plus de 
 fatras, et plus de rouages que dans une 
 horloge, et pas un mot qui fasse con- 
 noitre l’etat reel des choses” ( c Me- 
 moires de Joseph ,’ ix. 82; x. 104). 
 The shortness and completeness of the 
 affair arose from the combatants being 
 nearly equal in numbers ; the English 
 and Portuguese amounting to 46,000, 
 the French to 45,000, but in fact 
 very superior, in being of one nation, 
 and so much stronger in artillery and 
 position, that Marmont was only afraid 
 that the Dukp would escape to Ciudad 
 Rodrigo : the Marshal, in fact, made 
 so sure of victory, and was so de- 
 sirous of monopolising all the glory, 
 like Victor at Talavera , that he would 
 not wait for Joseph, who was coming 
 up with 15,000 more men. The enemy 
 
 lost 2 eagles, 11 cannon, and 14,000 
 men ; our loss amounted to 5200, and 
 their whole army would have been 
 taken had it not been for the marplot 
 Spaniard Don Carlos de JEspaha : all 
 this misconduct is blinked now-a-days ! 
 nay, Madoz (xii. 869) now talks of the 
 serenidad y acierto , with which Don 
 Carlos executed the Duke’s orders ! Yet 
 the victory was most important ; Ma- 
 drid and Andalucia were delivered, the 
 Opposition was silenced in England, 
 the traitor members of the Cortes of 
 Cadiz were prevented from making 
 terms with Joseph, while the recoil 
 shook Buonaparte even in Bussia, and 
 raised the courage of the rejoicing 
 world. Wellington now felt his grow- 
 ing power: “I saw him,” says Col. 
 Napier, a soldier portraying a soldier, 
 “ late in the evening of that great day, 
 when the advancing flashes of cannon 
 and musketry, stretching as far as the 
 eye could command, showed in the 
 darkness how well the field was won. 
 He was alone — the flush of victory was 
 on his brow, and his eyes were eager 
 and watchful ; but his voice was calm, 
 and even gentle. More than the rival 
 of Marlborough, sinee he had defeated 
 greater warriors than Marlborough 
 ever encountered, with a prescient 
 pride he seemed only to accept this 
 glory as an earnest of greater things.” 
 
 The peasant who attended the Duke 
 as guide was named Fr°. Sanchez ; he 
 lost a leg in the fight, and was there- 
 fore always called afterwards JEl Coco. 
 He had a pension of six reals a day, 
 which the Liberals , so he told us, took 
 from him in 1820. 
 
 These plains, bleak, commonplace 
 and such indeed as elsewhere would be 
 hurried over without notice, are hence- 
 forward invested with an undying 
 halo ; and little is that Englishman to 
 be envied who when standing on such 
 sites does not feel his patriotism grow 
 warmer. Now every vestige of the 
 death-strife of giant nations has passed 
 away, like the smoke of our trium- 
 phant artillery, or the memory of Spain 
 for services done. Nature, ever serene, 
 has repaired, like a bountiful parent, 
 
514 
 
 ROUTE 64. BATTLE-PLAIN OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 the ravages of these quarrelsome in- I 
 sects of a day. The corn waves thickly 
 over soil fertilised by the blood of brave 
 Britons who died for ungrateful Iberia; 
 and the plain for twenty years after- 
 wards was strewed with their bleach- 
 ing bones, left to the national under- 
 taker the vulture ; nay, for want of 
 cover in these denuded steppes, the 
 sculls in our time were strangely te- 
 nanted : 
 
 “ Beneath the broad and ample bone 
 That buckled heart to fear unknown, 
 
 A feeble and a timorous guest, 
 
 The fieldfare built her lowly nest.” 
 
 And, for another trait of character, the 
 peasant El Coco assured us that al- 
 though 6000 Spaniards, under even 
 Sarsfield, in whose veins flowed Irish 
 blood, had been quartered two months 
 in Salamanca in 1832, not one Spanish 
 man or officer had ever been to visit 
 this battle-field; and truly, as at Bar- 
 rosa, no single blow was struck there 
 by Spanish sabre : nor has delivered 
 Spain reared any chronicle of stone, or 
 filled any niche at Salamanca with 
 aught to record an English ally ; nor 
 does Mellado, in his &uia of 1843, 
 even allude to the victory at all ; yet 
 he can devote pages to the paltry bush- 
 fightings of Carlists and Christinists. 
 
 But there still bask those plains in 
 a sunshine bright and enduring as 
 our Duke’s glory ; and there they still 
 stand, more enduring than brass, those 
 gray Arapiles, those pillars of the Her- 
 cules Britannicus, engraved with his 
 conqueror sword. They will exist for 
 ever, silent but eloquent witnesses of 
 a glorious truth, which none can ever 
 rail from off the bond. 
 
 The results of the victory of Sala- 
 manca were again neutralised by mis- 
 conduct of Ballesteros, which led to 
 raising the siege of Burgos , and in 
 November, three months after Mar- 
 mont’s disaster, the Duke stood again 
 on these plains ; then, as he had pre- 
 dicted, the relief of Andalucia threw 
 on him the additional army of Soult, 
 who, joining Jourdan on the Tormes, 
 now commanded 100,000 infantry, 
 12,000 horse, with 120 cannon. The 
 
 Duke and Hill were resting their 
 weary forces, which did not exceed 
 52,000 men ; but he knew his old 
 ground, and wished to fight and to 
 conquer again and again. Deprived 
 by some absurd proceedings of the 
 Cortes of his usual sources of in- 
 formation, he lingered at Salamanca , 
 challenging the French to battle one 
 day too long. Jourdan, who had for- 
 gotten Talavera , wished to engage at 
 once ; but Soult — Vhomme coupdble 
 des malheurs de V Espagne, according 
 to Joseph x. 395) — who re- 
 
 membered Oporto, hesitated, and his 
 discretion was backed by Clausel, who 
 disliked les souvenirs des Arapiles, and 
 thus they lost the precious chance. 
 Both, although brave and skilful, 
 were cowed by the mere presence of 
 the Duke, and hoped — relying on vast 
 superiority of numbers — to cut him 
 off from Ciudad Rodrigo, par des sa - 
 vantes manoeuvres. Then it was that 
 Wellington made that magnificent 
 move, defiling, as at Burgos , in the 
 very face of the enemy, who did not 
 dare even to molest him. Thus he 
 gained on them the advance, and, bring- 
 ing his army to the river Yalmuza, 
 marched hence by the upper road 
 through Vitigudino to Ciudad Rodrigo, 
 a retreat unparalleled in daring and 
 complete success, and more glorious 
 than many aggressive campaigns. 
 
 After leaving these plains, and 
 riding over a bleak, treeless, unenclosed 
 country, cold in spring and winter, 
 scorched and calcined in summer, we 
 reach Salamanca, rising nobly, with 
 dome and tower, on its hill crest over 
 the Tormes, which is crossed by a 
 long Roman bridge of 27 arches, one 
 that becomes an ancient and wise uni- 
 versity better than Folly Bridge does 
 Oxford. 
 
 S AL AMAN C A. The inns very bad. 
 Bosada de los Toros — De las Diligen- 
 cias. There is a Casa de Pupilos at 
 Doha Inez Romero in the Plaza Santo 
 Tomas. But gastronomy never was 
 an Iberian science, and if Salamanca 
 has produced 100,000 doctors, it never 
 has reared one good cook. The food 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 64. — SALAMANCA, 
 
 515 
 
 for body and mind, however copious 
 in quantity, is unsatisfactory in quality, 
 the panes pintados not excepted : it 
 cannot even boast of the “ brawn and 
 puddings ” of Oxford, which Heads 
 of houses digest. However bad the 
 inns, there are many posadas secretas, 
 or “private lodgings,” and tiendas de 
 Habaceria , and JBotillerias , where the 
 undergraduates lodge, and drink bad 
 aniseed or Castilian brandy with or 
 without Castalian streams, as copiously 
 as German Burschen do beer. 
 
 Salamanca is the capital of its mo- 
 dern department, the see of a Bishop, 
 suffragan to Santiago; pop.14,000. The 
 town is dull, without learning, society, 
 or commerce ; the climate is cheerless 
 and cold, for the air bites shrewdly, and 
 as fuel is very scarce, the sun is the 
 fireplace of the poor: hence “the 
 South” takes precedence in the three 
 “Marvels” of Salamanca: “ Medio 
 
 dia , medio puente , y medio claustro de 
 San Vicente .” 
 
 Salamanca, built on three hills, and 
 in a horse- shoe shape, stands with its 
 ancient walls and domes over the 
 Tormes, whose waters often disagree 
 with strangers. This river rises in the 
 Sierra de Gredos, near Tormelles, and 
 after a course of 45 L. flows into the 
 Duero near Fermosella ; it contains 
 fine trout, some have been caught 
 weighing 18 lb ; the best fishing is 
 nearer the source : at Salamanca the 
 dingy waters rather resemble the Cam 
 than the Isis, and they are supposed to 
 produce stupifying effects. The phrase 
 “ Ha bebido de las aguas del Tormes ” 
 — a compliment or a satire — alludes 
 either to the waters of Castalia, or to 
 those of oblivion, as the case may be, 
 and generally to the latter ; for Sala- 
 manca is presumed to be learned, be- 
 cause all bring to it something, and few 
 take anything away : thus F abricio 
 advises Gil Bias not to go there, be- 
 cause having some natural cleverness 
 he risked its loss. 
 
 Seen from outside Salamanca has an 
 antique picturesque look ; the beauti- 
 ful creamy stone of which it is built 
 comes from the quarries of Villa 
 
 Franca, 1 L., and is infinitely superior 
 in colour and duration to the perish- 
 able material used at Oxford. This uni- 
 versity, although in a land of Alamedas 
 is, however, altogether deficient in 
 those academic groves and delightful 
 gardens of her English rival. 
 
 Salamanca (Salmantica), a name 
 some have derived from Liman , the 
 Iberian god of war, was a large and 
 ancient city of the Vettones. Plutarch 
 (De Virt. Mul.) calls it yt yciXy vroXis ; he 
 relates how, 532 F.C., Hannibal raised 
 its siege, the Spaniards having “ pre- 
 mised to pay” 300 talents of silver 
 and give 300 hostages, but performed 
 neither ; thereupon the real Punic 
 chief, not to be so done, came back 
 and destined the place up to plunder, 
 having ordered the male population to 
 come out in jackets, and without arms 
 or cloaks. The women, however, hid 
 swords under their sagas (as their 
 descendants the Madrid Manolas still 
 do knives) ; and when the Massaesy- 
 lian guard placed over the prisoners 
 left their charge to join in the pillage, 
 these Amazons armed the men, who 
 killed many of the plunderers ; Han- 
 nibal thereupon re-appeared, when the 
 Spaniards ran to the hills, but he was 
 so pleased with the brave women, and 
 so anxious to do what would the most 
 gratify them, that he allowed them to 
 re-people Salamanca. The ladies only 
 spoke Iberian, and Hannibal only 
 Punic, but he had a bilingual inter- 
 preter named Bacon. 
 
 Under the Homans Salamanca be- 
 came the ninth military station, on 
 the Via Lata , the broad road from 
 Merida to Zaragoza. Trajan built the 
 bridge, of wliich the original piers 
 exist. The Goths patronised Sala- 
 manca, and here coined money in gold, 
 which they seldom did elsewhere (see 
 Florez, ‘ Med.’ iii. 272) . Bavaged by the 
 Moors, and finally reconquered by the 
 Spaniards in 109 5, the city abounds with 
 early specimens of architecture ; thus, 
 the old cathedral is of 1102 ; Santo 
 Tome de los Caballeros of 1136 ; San 
 Cristobal of 1150 ; San Adrian of 
 1156 ; San Martin of 1173 : Santo 
 
516 
 
 ROUTE 64 . — UNIVERSITY OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 Tomas a, Bechet of 1179. Salamanca 
 has been called Roma la chica , from 
 its number of stately buildings, and is 
 still a university to any architect who 
 wishes to study style from the earliest 
 periods ; it contains superb specimens 
 of the simple and florid Gothic, of 
 the richest cinque- cento and plater- 
 esque, down to the most outrageous 
 Rococo ; for J osef Churriguera, the he- 
 resiarch of bad taste, and whose name 
 is synonymous with absurdity in brick 
 and mortar, was born here about 1660. 
 
 The pride of Salamanca was laid in 
 the dust by the invaders, whose ra- 
 vages were thus described by the 
 Duke, June 18th, 1812 : — “ The enemy 
 evacuated on the 16th, leaving a gar- 
 rison in the fortifications which they 
 have erected on the ruins of the col- 
 leges and convents which they have 
 demolished.” “It is impossible to 
 describe the joy of the people of the 
 town upon our entrance; they have 
 now been suffering more than three 
 years, during which time the French 
 among other acts of violence and op- 
 pression, have destroyed 18 out of 25 
 convents, and 20 of 25 colleges which 
 existed in this celebrated seat of learn- 
 ing.” Again, Feb. 10, 1813, he writes : 
 “ I have received intelligence that the 
 enemy have destroyed the remaining 
 colleges and other large buildings 
 which were at Salamanca, in order to 
 use the timber for firewood.” The 
 western portion of Salamanca is conse- 
 quently one heap of ruins. Conceive 
 what Oxford would be were Christ- 
 church, Corpus, Merton, Oriel, All 
 Souls’, the Ratcliffe, Bodleian, Brazen- 
 nose, and St. Mary’s reduced to mere 
 shells. Life and spirit are now departed, 
 for these architects of ruin while they 
 levelled its material forms cut at the 
 root of its moral existence. Now, in 
 the new order of things, Les ecoles pri- 
 maires , &c., supersede Salamanca , and 
 if the Bible be disbelieved, nothing 
 better has been substituted. For what 
 Salamanca was before Messrs. Ney and 
 Marmont went into residence, consult 
 ‘ Historia de Salamanca ,’ Gil Gonzalez 
 de Avila, 4to., Salamanca, 1606 ; and 
 
 c Compendio Bistorico ,’ Bernardo Do- 
 rado, 4to., Salamanca, 1768, 1776; 
 Ponz, xii. ; Florez, ‘ JEsp. Sag.J xii. ; 
 
 ‘ HistoriaJ Pedro Chacon, 8vo.-; the 
 apologetical ‘ Reseua Historical M. 
 H. Davila ; Salarn. 8vo. 1849. 
 
 The first university in Castile was 
 that founded at Paiencia by Alonso 
 Till., which induced Alonso IX. of 
 Leon to establish this one for his Leon. 
 When the two kingdoms were united 
 under his son St. Ferdinand, Paiencia 
 was incorporated with Salamanca, and 
 he gave the united universities new sta- 
 tutes in 1243. Alonso el Sabio, his 
 son, being learned, not wise, favoured 
 this seat of learning, and endowed pro- 
 fessorships in 1254. Oxford takes 
 precedence of Salamanca, a question 
 decided at the Council of Constance, 
 1414, when Henry de Abendon, warden 
 of Merton, advocated our university, a 
 decision the Spaniards never forgave. 
 Salamanca was first governed by its 
 own Hector, and by a code drawn up in 
 1300 ; this officer, one of great autho- 
 rity, was chosen for a year every 11th 
 of September, and entered into his 
 functions on the 25th. The discipline 
 of the university was placed under his 
 tribunal. The details of office, the 
 Maceros , silver bedels, &c., will be 
 found in Davila and Dorado, together 
 with the niceties of tufts or gowns, 
 Roscas , of those worn by graduates, of 
 the Borla (the pileus of the pagan Fla- 
 men), the details of the Becas , the old 
 cock crest emblematic of nobility and 
 adopted by clerical dignitaries, &c. &c. ; 
 the particulars of the hoods that were 
 worn with the gown, Manto or Lob a de 
 Buriel , a closely fitting cloth dress — 
 quasi Aa/So?, the bark of the cork tree — 
 and much more will be found in Salazar’ s 
 chronicle of the ‘ Gran Cardenalj ii. 
 11, and in that quaint old ‘ Handbook’ 
 for Spain, ‘ Grandezas de JEspaha ,’ 
 Pedro de Medina, 1566, p. 97. In the 
 matter of tufts it may be mentioned 
 that a white tassel on a cap signified 
 divinity; green , common law ; crimson , 
 civil law ; blue , arts and philosophy : 
 while yellow (biliously appropriate) be- 
 tokened medicine. 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 64 . — COLLEGES OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 517 
 
 The colleges were divided into 
 Mayores and Menores : at the larger 
 were taught divinity, law, medicine, 
 and the classics ; at the smaller, gram- 
 mar and rhetoric. The Escuelas , or 
 schools, were three : first, the Mayores , 
 or greater, teaching theology, canon- 
 ical law, medicine, mathematics, philo- 
 sophy natural and moral, languages, 
 and rhetoric ; next, the Menores , or 
 smaller, whose province was grammar 
 and music ; and last, the Minimos , or 
 smallest, destined to the mere acci- 
 dence, reading and writing. The larger 
 colleges were aristocratical foundations, 
 and the rigid proofs of birth and purity 
 of blood, Hidalguia y limpieza de 
 sangre , rendered them a monopoly in 
 the great families, insomuch that simply 
 to be a member of one of these colleges 
 ensured subsequent promotion in law 
 and church. Of these Colegios Ma- 
 yores there were only six in all Spain 
 — one at Seville, one at Y alladolid, and 
 four at Salamanca, and those here 
 were San Bartolome , Cuenca , del Ar- 
 zobispo , and del Bey. The other 
 colleges are, or rather were, 21 in 
 number, and by name, Monte Olivete, 
 Santo Tomas, Oviedo, San Millan, 
 Santa Maria, Santa Cruz, La Magda- 
 lena, Alcantara, y Calatrava, de los 
 Angeles, Santa Susana, Guadalupe, San 
 Pelayo, San Bernardo, Los Irlandeses, 
 Santa Catalina, Las Viejas, San Juan, 
 Jesus, San Miguel, San Pedro y San 
 Pablo, and Burgos. The Colegios 
 Mayores were first curtailed of their 
 privileges by the minister de Boda, 
 who, having when young been rejected 
 at one from his low birth, persuaded 
 Charles III., about 1770, to reform 
 them ; thus, they were deprived of 
 their patronage and remodeled. Blanco 
 White (Lett. 104) gives the secret his- 
 tory of this private revenge, cloaked 
 under the disguise of public good. 
 
 Salamanca, which in the 14th cen- 
 tury boasted of 17,000 students, had 
 already, in the 16th, declined to 7000, 
 and it continued to languish until the 
 French invasion : now it is so compa- 
 ratively a desert, that when the Term, 
 el curso , was opened, Oct. 1, 1846, by 
 
 the rector, attended by military bands ! 
 only 30 doctors and 400 students ap- 
 peared ; the establishment of local uni- 
 versities in large cities has broken up 
 the monopoly which Salamanca enjoyed 
 of granting degrees ; and now this time- 
 honoured university itself has been 
 rendered subject to the modern one of 
 central Madrid ; the actual system of 
 education in Spain, since the decree of 
 Sept. 17, 1845, is modelled on that of 
 France, while the power given to Se- 
 minaries to grant degrees injures the 
 university ; but to secularise education 
 is the object of modern reformers., who 
 hope to get that powerful lever out of 
 the hands of the clergy, and make reli- 
 gion and theology — different as they 
 are — an extra study, and optional, like 
 dancing ; so the glories of Salamanca 
 are past. 
 
 Meanwhile, in Spain there are no 
 public schools as in England, the stu- 
 dents, day-pupils, return home to 
 board with their parents ; accordingly 
 filial and parental relations are better 
 maintained than with us, at the ex- 
 pense, however, of the sciences of boat- 
 ing, football, and cricket. Again, in 
 Spain, as on the continent generally, 
 the rising generations lack an early 
 initiation into the miniature world, 
 such as Eton and Winchester, where 
 conceit is taken out, and all find their 
 level ; where fair play and high prin- 
 ciple and true manliness are taught ; 
 where “ English gentlemen ” are formed, 
 that first and best material for every- 
 thing else. 
 
 The poorest students of Spain, who 
 aspire only to be humble hard- working 
 curates, have always been the subject 
 of witticisms and satires : indeed, un 
 Estudiante has long been synonymous 
 with an impertinente. The inferior 
 orders of them were simply beggars, 
 “licensed by act of Parliament,” just 
 as our “poor scholars” were by 7 
 Bichard II. The Spaniards were per- 
 mitted by law (Becop. lib. i. tit. 12, 
 ley 14) to vagabondize and finish their 
 education by soliciting charity. They 
 might be known by costume, by their 
 “threadbare cope,” as was the poure 
 2 A 3 
 
518 
 
 ROUTE 64. — POOR SCHOLARS OF SALAMANCA. Sect. VIII. 
 
 scolere of Chaucer by their tattered 
 gown of shreds and patches : — 
 
 La capa del Estudiante 
 Parece an jardin de flores, 
 
 Toda llena de remiendos 
 De diferentes colores. 
 
 But, according to the proverb, de- 
 bajo de una capa rota , bay buen 
 bebedor , there is many a good drinker 
 under a bundle of rags, and V habit ne 
 fait pas le moine. These students are 
 or were among the boldest and most 
 impertinent of the human race ; full of 
 tags and rags, fun, frolic, lice nee, and 
 guitars, as of reckless youth and in- 
 solence of health. Their peculiar com- 
 pliment was the throwing their cloaks 
 of shreds and patches on the ground 
 for well-dressed handsome women to 
 walk over. Sir Walter Raleigh’s simi- 
 lar delicate attention to Queen Eliza- 
 beth helped him to a better suit. This 
 “spreading garments in the way” is 
 truly oriental and classical (Matt. xxi. 
 8 ; Ovid. Am. iii. 13, 23, “ veste 
 jacente vias”). Thus the troops of 
 Cato testified their respect to him 
 (Plut. in vit.), as before had been done 
 to Jehu (2 Kings ix. 13); and Roa 
 (Singularia i. 144) mentions the usage 
 as continued among the Moors of Gra- 
 nada. These students wore also a quaint 
 oilskin cocked hat, in which a wooden 
 spoon was placed, such a one as those 
 with which paupers relieved at con- 
 vent doors used to eat their gratuitous 
 soup ; hence these Estudiantes were 
 also called Sopones , Soperos , Sopistas , 
 soupers, not sophists ; and few in sad 
 truth were born with a silver spoon in 
 their mouths, or with a superfluity of 
 anything except impudence. But mo- 
 desty is of no use to a beggar or monk ; 
 as fraymodesto nuncafue guardian^ and 
 still less so if he be hungry, which these 
 students proverbially are, and worse 
 than hounds, Hambre estudiantinapeor 
 que la canina : they too are gregarious 
 ragamuffins, generally hunting in packs, 
 while one, the gracioso , or wag of the 
 party, begs in verse, accompanying 
 his improvisation with tambourines 
 and guitars, Pander os y guitarrillas. 
 These students figure in the picaresque 
 
 novels of Spain (see £ Bon Quixote,* 
 i. 38 ; ‘ Marcos de ObregonJ Bes. 
 xi.) ; the character was frequently as- 
 sumed by young nobles as a mask for 
 indulging in tricks upon travellers and 
 in adventure ; the real pauper stu- 
 dents went their rounds with real beg- 
 gars, and, according to Quevedo, 
 frequented eating-houses as regularly 
 as pilgrims. To such is usually applied 
 the epithet tunante , rogue, a word de- 
 rived from the Persian tuni, a vaga- 
 bond beggar. They always loved low 
 company, especially that of muleteers , 
 who represent in Spain the black- 
 guardism of our fraternity of the whip ; 
 hence the proverb Estudiante sin re - 
 cuero , bolsa sindinero ; and their purses, 
 whether from absence or impatience of 
 coin, were, like Yalentian stockings, 
 open at the end. By the old hands the 
 “ freshman ” was always victimised, 
 and, among other summary initiations, 
 crowned with a foolscap mitre ; hence 
 he was said to be obispado , “bishoped,” 
 a term equivalent in Spanish slang to 
 being done. No tradesman in Sala- 
 manca was allowed to trust any student 
 for anything without the previous au- 
 thority of his tutor or parent, a hint our 
 University Commissioners might have 
 improved on. 
 
 The academical career of the better 
 classes was dull indeed compared to 
 the boatings and Bullingtons of Ox- 
 ford ; it rather resembled the Calvin- 
 istic routine of Geneva, without how- 
 ever its musical snuff-boxes. 
 
 The “ Bons,” as far as Pucker o com- 
 mons go, are hospitable, nor is vino 
 de Toro wanting, which, like port 
 elsewhere, is said to promote prejudice. 
 The siestose senior fellows, men of pro- 
 truding and pendulous abdomens, 
 preferred the study of unctuous ollas 
 and Bacon, to the feast of reason and 
 the sage of Verulam ; and those who 
 have much to digest ought to think 
 little, for dispepsia, says the learned 
 Portuguese Amati, follows study as 
 shadow does the body; accordingly 
 most of the scholastic systems elsewhere 
 exploded flourished in this university, 
 especially the Averoista , or corrupted 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 64. — EDUCATION AT SALAMANCA. 
 
 519 
 
 Aristotelian. Even up to 1747 it was 
 considered a heresy to assert that the 
 sun did not revolve round the earth ; 
 so that the capon revolved round the 
 spit little cared the “Dons;” con- 
 tented also to such in the milk of Alma 
 Mater , they were quite indifferent as 
 to the history and origin of their sepa- 
 rate foundations. Nor were they in 
 good humour when cross-questioned 
 by the imgertinente curioso or foreign 
 “ cliiel” taking notes, for “ faith he’ll 
 prent it.” The farce was kept up, as 
 in some other places, of deploring the 
 ignorance of all not of their body, 
 and in general praises of the learning 
 and orthodoxy of their own univer- 
 sity. They reposed on a corporate 
 reputation, cloaking individual me- 
 diocrity under pompous official digni- 
 ties, Mr. Bursar, Mr. Sub-dean, and 
 so on. 
 
 Let not the book collector fancy that 
 he will pick up any choice thing in 
 this seat of supposed learning, where 
 the commonest editions of the classics 
 are hardly to be had. Tomes, ’tis true, 
 abound on Averroistic and Aristotelian 
 knowledge, polemics, casuistry, and 
 on the defence of the “ immaculate con- 
 ception of the Virgin.” The University 
 has produced few really eminent men, 
 or over honest, for it always has been 
 ready, when mitres and preferments 
 were held out, to give opinions in favour 
 of the king, whether Don Pedro in 1355 
 desired a divorce, or Philip II. not to 
 pay the dividend of his loans. Her sa- 
 pient Dons also burnt as magical the 
 library of Villena, the Maecenas of 
 Spain, and condemned as visionary the 
 scheme of Columbus. The great Car- 
 dinal Ximenes, a tutor here for bread, 
 and Cervantes, who resided in the Calle 
 de Moros, may be cited among the 
 exceptions. 
 
 To those who are neither artists, 
 architects, or antiquarians, a day will 
 suffice : among the lions there is a new 
 theatre or coliseo , and a poor museo in 
 the Colegio Viejo, with some fifty pic- 
 tures below mediocrity. The superb 
 Plaza Mayor , the largest square in 
 Spain, was built by Andres Garcia de 
 
 Quinones in 1700-33. A colonnaded 
 arcade is carried on each side, under- 
 neath which are shops, the post-office, 
 and Casa del Ayuntamiento , or man- 
 sion-house, which is churrigueresque. 
 In this Plaza bull-fights are given, 
 when 16,000 to 20,000 spectators have 
 been accommodated. The facades are 
 adorned with busts of kings and 
 worthies of Spain, and blank spaces 
 have been left for future great men. 
 
 These vacua, hateful to nature, 
 things, however, of Spain (see p. 139), 
 have gaped fora century — hiatus max- 
 ime deflendus. Even the struggle for 
 independence, which calls spirits from 
 the deep, did not give birth to one Spa- 
 niard, civil or military, who attained 
 even mediocrity. No bust of Welling- 
 ton decorates any yawning niche in 
 these walls, which overlook those plains 
 where he won back this city and Ma- 
 drid ; yet Arguelles, in his 4 Historid 9 
 (i. 20), cites as a proof of Spanish 
 gratitude the paper decree of the 
 Cortes, Aug. 17, 1813, to erect a me- 
 morial to the deliverer of Salamanca. 
 The performance of this vox et prsete- 
 rea nihil is deferred to the Greek 
 Calends, and the payment promised to 
 Hannibal (see p. 515). It has never 
 been put up or probably ever will — - 
 Cosas de JEspana. 
 
 Below this new square is the old 
 Grass Market, la JClaza de la Ver- 
 dura ; observe the picturesque pea- 
 sants. Over the portal of San Martin, 
 injured by fire in 1854, is a rude sculp- 
 ture of the Saint dividing his cloak. In 
 the interior the retablo, concealed by 
 a trumpery tabernacle, has the same 
 “partition.” Notice the Santiago and 
 the Crucifixion and Glory above, 
 and some of the pointed arches and 
 capitals. 
 
 The cathedral is a splendid example 
 of the florid Gothic of the age of 
 Leo X. ; it was begun (read the inscrip- 
 tion at the grand entrance) in 1513 ; 
 consult also the 4 Glorias Sagradas 9 
 Jose Calamon de la Mata, Sal. 1736. A 
 consultation was previously held of all 
 the chief architects in Spain ; see the cu- 
 • rious documents printed by Cean Ber- 
 
520 
 
 ROUTE 64. CATHEDRALS OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 mudez (Arch. i. 293). The plan of 
 Juan Gil de Ontahon was selected, and 
 the edifice was built under Bishop 
 Francisco de Bobadilla, son of Bea- 
 trice, the dear friend of Isabella. He 
 had the good sense to spare the old 
 cathedral, to which this is now joined, 
 and from whence service was re- 
 moved March 25, 1560. The entrance 
 is nobly placed on a raised platform ; 
 the rich Gothic predominates, but the 
 tendency to the plateresque is evident. 
 Observe the infinite ornaments and 
 statues of the rich portal, and the 
 beautiful cream-coloured stone in which 
 they are wrought. The towers are 
 inferior and are of later date ; over la 
 Puerta de las Palmas is the “ Entry 
 into Jerusalem ; ” outside is a walk, a 
 Gradus, or “ Grees.” The central is 
 the highest of the three aisles ; at the 
 sides of the two lateral ones are en- 
 closed chapels. The roof is supported 
 by graceful shafts, with small capitals 
 painted in blue and gold : the Gothic 
 roof is studded with gilded rosettes. 
 The double gallery in the transept is 
 most delicate, with a double frieze of 
 birds, animals, and scroll-work. Ob- 
 serve above, the busts projecting from 
 gold circular frames. The octangular 
 cimborio is very light and elegant. The 
 coro , as usual, blocks up the centre, 
 while the silleria is heavy and bad, 
 and the exterior churrigueresque. Ob- 
 serve, however, behind the coro, the 
 statues of St. John and a cross Santa 
 Ana teaching the Virgin to read, both 
 ascribed to Juan de Juni. Visit the 
 Dorada chapel, built by Francisco 
 Sanchez ; observe the profusion of 
 small saints, very early placed eleven 
 each in five rows, on gilt pedestals, 
 picked out in blue, white, and gold. 
 The tomb of the founder is dated 1524; 
 he is sculptured as asleep in his robes; 
 above is his portrait in black. Observe 
 the azulejos , and the sepulchres of two 
 prelates railed off like lions’ dens. In 
 the Capilla del Sejpulcro is a copy, 
 ascribed to el Mudo , of Titian’s ‘ De- 
 position.’ In the Camilla del Presi- 
 dente are some paintings by Morales, 
 two heads of the Saviour and a doubt- 
 
 ful Virgin with the Infant and St. J ohn. 
 Visit next la Pieza , the vestry of the 
 canons ; observe the delicate foliage 
 and ornament, and the Louis XIV. 
 mirrors fit for a fine lady’s toilet. In 
 the adjoining Oratorio the relics are 
 kept, but the French carried off the 
 silver mountings. Here is el Crueifijo 
 de los Batallas , a small Byzantine 
 bronze, which the Cid always carried 
 before him in fight, as the ancients 
 their Victorias. The crown and the 
 apron are gilt, the body is girdled with 
 a white belt, studded with gilt chequer 
 work. (See ‘ FI Cristo de las Ba- 
 tallas ,’ Gil Davila, 4to., Salarn. 1615.) 
 This authentic and curious relic was 
 brought here by Geronimo, the Cid’s 
 own bishop, and remained over the 
 prelate’s tomb from 1120 to 1607, until 
 ; it was removed to the Belie ario. In the 
 Camilla, de San Antonio are some fine 
 pictures, possibly by Zurbaran, of the 
 Beheading St. John, and, in the next 
 chapel, a Crucifixion, with two bishops. 
 Below were buried the family of the 
 founder, Antonio Corrionero. The 
 small box, dated 1633, is said to hold 
 parchment title-deeds. In an adjoin- 
 ing chapel is a St. Jerome beating his 
 breast, by Gaspar Becerra. 
 
 The old cathedral, which lies below, 
 is simple and massy, and half a for- 
 tress ; hence the epithet, “ Fortis Sal- 
 mantina,” to distinguish it from 
 “ Sancta Ovetensis,” Oviedo rich in 
 relics ; “ Dives Toletana,” Toledo rich 
 in tithes ; “ PulcJira Leonina ,” Leon 
 beautiful in art. Ascend the tower, 
 for the sweeping views. This castle ca- 
 thedral was built in troubled times of 
 frontier danger, by that warlike prelate, 
 Geronimo, the confessor of the Cid. 
 A Frenchman, born at Perigord, he 
 was brought to Spain by his country- 
 man Bernardo, primate of Toledo, and 
 made Bishop of Valencia, in 1098, by 
 the Cid. Translated to Zamora after 
 his master’s death, he induced Count 
 Ramon, the husband of Queen Urraca, 
 in 1102, to build this cathedral at Sala- 
 manca, which Calixtus II., own bro- 
 ther to Ramon, elevated to episcopal 
 dignity. Geronimo introduced the N or- 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 64. — OLD CATHEDRAL OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 521 
 
 man-French style of architecture in 
 both his cathedrals ; the exterior of his 
 iglesia viejais best seen from la puerta 
 del patio chico; the simple solidity 
 contrasts with the elaborate portal of 
 the later edifice. Observe the Norman 
 square billet as at Tarragona, the 
 salient balls as at Toledo, and the 
 peculiar scaly tiling of a pyramidical 
 tower top. The old cathedral, low, 
 damp, and neglected, is in curious 
 contrast with the modern one. Ob- 
 serve the three gothic sedilia in the 
 capilla de abajo behind the quoir, and 
 a circular retablo with more than 50 
 paintings, set in white and gold 
 frames. Observe the arches, capitals, and 
 sepulchres, dating about 1466. Gero- 
 nimo lies buried in the second chapel 
 to the 1. Some have considered the 
 word Visquio his name, which others 
 interpret as old Spanish for Vixit. 
 Among other tombs observe that of 
 Mafalda, daughter of Alonso Till., 
 1204 ; of the Dean Fernando Alonso, 
 1285 ; of Juan Fernandez, Rico Ome, 
 1303. Some of the retablos are ex- 
 tremely old. In the Capilla del Co- 
 legio Viejo , which is painted blue and 
 studded with stars of gold, is the tomb 
 of Diego de Anaya, 1374, Archbishop 
 of Seville and founder of San Barto- 
 lome. The ceiling of this chapel, now 
 a lumber-room, is quite Moorish ; 
 near it is a beautiful sepulchre of an 
 armed knight and his sister, and a 
 curious old picture, by Fernadus Ga- 
 lecus (Gallegos), by whom also is a 
 Virgin, half life-size, with the Saviour, 
 who takes a white rose from St. J ohn, 
 and an Adoration and a Visitation. 
 These, among the earliest of Spanish 
 paintings, have been much neglected. 
 Gallegos was born at Salamanca in the 
 middle of the fifteenth century, and is 
 the V an Eyck of the Peninsula. Three 
 of his best pictures, and in good pre- 
 servation, are in the Capilla de San 
 Antonio ; observe a San Cristobal to 
 r. ; and in the centre a Virgin in dark 
 green robe, giving a white rose to the 
 Saviour child, signed Fernadus Gale- 
 cus. To the 1. is a San Andres. 
 
 In th.e old cloister, built in 1178, 
 
 and partly modernized, the schools 
 were formerly held. In the Capilla 
 de Talavera , founded by Rodrigo Mal- 
 donado, the Musarabic ritual was con- 
 tinued ; in the Capilla de Santa Bar- 
 bara degrees were confirmed, and in 
 Santa Catalina synods were held, and 
 “ wranglings ” for honours and pro- 
 fessorships, open to competition or de 
 oposicion^eve contended; indeed, until 
 the regular schools were built, which 
 are close adjoining, the university, 
 strictly speaking, was a jumble of build- 
 ings, Las LJscuelas, “the schools/’ 
 were commenced in 1415 by Alonso 
 Rodrigo Carpintero , a name probably 
 derived from his vocation, and were 
 removed here from the cloister in 1433. 
 This was the age of Juan II., the 
 patron of literature and of the trouba- 
 dour : see the inscription over the 
 gate de las Cadenas. The chapel, 
 dedicated to St. Jerome, of which Me- 
 dina gives the curious details, was 
 modernized and ruined under the 
 Bourbons. The retablo , rich in mate- 
 rial and poor in design, contains some 
 bad pictures, by Francisco Cachaniga, 
 of doctors swearing to defend the “ im- 
 maculate conception : ” over the door 
 of each of the aulas , “ halls,” or lec- 
 ture-rooms, are tablets denoting the 
 science which is, was, or ought to be 
 taught in them ; inside each is a pulpit 
 for the lecturer, or catedratico , with 
 rows of benches for the students, and 
 a sort of ledge for them to write their 
 notes on. Th q patio is modern, and 
 the royal portraits, in chiaro oscuro , 
 are very bad. Ascending the staircase, 
 observe the morris dancers and foliage 
 by way of bannisters ; in the ante-room 
 are other royal portraits, from Philip 
 II. downwards, and all equally devoid 
 of merit ; the roofs of the ceilings are 
 in rich artesonado , and stalactitical. 
 The handsome library is fitted with 
 Louis XIV. bookcases and gallery*: in 
 a smaller room are confined the books 
 prohibited by the liber expur g at orius. 
 The library was rich in theology, 
 editions of Aristotle, works of Tos- 
 tado, and regiments of black folios. 
 What leisure mankind must have had 
 
522 
 
 ROUTE 64. — COLLEGES OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 Sect. YI1I. 
 
 to write and read such ponderous 
 tomes of casuistry ! prepared, it would 
 seem, for the food of future blattse 
 and book- worms. Near the ante-room 
 was the chamber in which the student 
 about to “ dispute ” or “ wrangle ” was 
 placed, with a sentinel at the door, 
 for 25 hours, to consider his subject, 
 quietly ; it was filled with huge folios, 
 many of which, especially the polemical 
 books, were formerly chained to the 
 reading-desks like quarrelsome dogs. 
 
 Passing through some quaint tapes- 
 try-clad rooms is the Sala del Claus- 
 tro , a modernish saloon, the Golgotha 
 in which the doctors and heads of 
 houses assemble in conclave. You may 
 look at the chapel and museum of 
 chemistry and natural history. The 
 size of these now deserted halls bears 
 witness of past crowds. 
 
 Coming out of the schools the grand 
 facade of the university library is alone 
 worth an architect’s visit to Salamanca : 
 it is the triumph of the decorative and 
 heraldic style, where the creamy stone ' 
 has been as wax in the hands of the 
 artist, and no Moor ever embroidered 
 lacework, Cachemire lienzo , more deli- 
 cately. It is of the richest period of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, whose medal- 
 lions and badges are interworked with 
 scrolls : the inscription is in Greek — 
 “ The fear of God is the beginning of 
 wisdom.” In th q Plazuela opposite is 
 the hospital of poor students, and 
 some of the smaller Bscuelas ; they 
 are very ancient, especially San Millan 
 and Pan y Carbon , bread and coal, 
 food for the body rather than the mind, 
 which recalls our Brasinghouse , now 
 Brazenose, nomenclature. 
 
 Next visit San Bartolome , the oldest 
 of the Colegios Mayores y and hence 
 called JEl Colegio Viejo , but New Col- 
 lege would be more appropriate, for it 
 has been completely modernized. The 
 rawness of the recent tasteless work ill 
 accords with the venerable date of the 
 older buildings, which, like aged men, 
 look better in their contemporary russet 
 coats than in “the last” spick and span 
 fashions. This college was founded in 
 1410 by Diego de Anaya, Archbishop 
 
 of Seville, who, returning from the 
 Council of Constance, had seen Bo- 
 logna. The object was to “ defend the 
 faith ; ” hence it was so thronged in 
 1480 that the proverb ran, “ Todo el 
 mundo estd llenQ de Bartolomicos ; ” 
 here was devised the fatal limpieza de 
 sangre y which neutralized all conver- 
 sion from Jew and Moor, by distin- 
 guishing between new and Old Chris- 
 tians, the nuevos 6 rancios y thus cursing 
 Spain, already sufficiently unamalga- 
 mating, with a new caste, and another 
 germ of disunion. These religious dis- 
 tinctions were borrowed from the 
 Moors, by whom, those of the old 
 Goths who renounced Christianity 
 were called Mosalimah or new con- 
 verts to Islam. They were despised, 
 just as the renegade Moors were 
 among the Christians, and were called 
 Mur addin y the Arabic equivalent for 
 the Spanish Cristiano nuevo .* The 
 term Mulatto , half-caste, is Moorish, 
 Muwallad , “ any thing or person not 
 of pure Arabic origin,” and which, 
 being pronounced then, as it is 
 now, in Barbary, Mulad , became in 
 Spanish Mulato and Mula (Moh. D. 
 ii. 458) ; the primitive root was doubt- 
 less the Latin mula y the hybrid mule. 
 The college of San Bartolome was 
 “ beautified ” about 1767 by one Josef 
 Hermosilla. The Salmantines admire 
 it prodigiously, yet the Ionic portico 
 is heavy, the cornice clumsy, and the 
 square windows of the entresol mere 
 port-holes ; the patio is simple and 
 better, but the staircase is somewhat 
 narrow, and the pictures in the chapel 
 by Sebastian Concha are indifferent ; 
 this college produced the renowned JEl 
 Tostado (see Avila). Consult its his- 
 tory, by Buiz de Yergara, 3 vols. folio, 
 Mad., 1766-70. 
 
 Cuenca , the next Colegio May or , was 
 founded in 1506 by Diego Bamirez, 
 Bishop of Cuenca, by whom Charles Y. 
 was baptized. This most exquisite 
 cinque-cento edifice, fair daughter of 
 
 * Murrad means a renegado, from radda , to 
 turn ; it was the name given by the Moors to 
 those who turned Christians : Muwallad is one 
 descended from a turncoat. 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 64. — COLLEGES OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 523 
 
 Cuenca’s elegant cathedral, was, before 
 M. Ney “entered,” the marvel of Sala- 
 manca : men wondered where artists 
 could be found to design it, workmen 
 to execute, and wealth to defray the 
 cost. Of this gem of Berruguete art, 
 only a fragment of the front, with the 
 founder’s motto, yvu6i <na.u<rov, remained 
 in our time, and by their fruits shall 
 ye know the Groths who demolished the 
 rest. A few medallions of prelates, 
 knights, and elegant ornaments about 
 the windows show what was the ori- 
 ginal character of this splendid pile. 
 In a ruined quadrangle portions of 
 sculpture mutilated by Ney’s troops 
 still encumber the weeds. 
 
 Passing hence to San Bias, the full 
 extent of this French devastation is 
 evident. In order to fortify this com- 
 manding quarter, they demolished San 
 Benito, San Vicente, La Merced, and 
 Los Cayetanos, and levelled all the 
 houses up to San Bernardo, to make a 
 glacis. From these ruins the eye 
 ranges over the river, the cathedral, 
 and the enormous Jesuitas. These 
 forts were stormed by the Duke in 
 person, June 27, 1812, and although 
 defended by 800 picked men and 20 
 cannon, surrendered after a feeble re- 
 sistance. Thus were captured in a few 
 hours bastions which it had occupied 
 the enemy three long years to con- 
 struct, for which the abodes of religion 
 and learning were razed, and this in 
 the face of Marmont’s superior army, 
 which did not venture to interfere. 
 Now, the philanthropical M. Gruetin 
 (Gruide en Espagne, p. 478) tenderly 
 deplores how much “ Salamanque eut 
 a soulfrir en 1812 du feu des batteries 
 Anglaises , qui tiraient a boulet rouge 
 sur cette malheureuse cite.” 
 
 Adjoining is el Colegio Mayor de 
 Santiago , or, as it is usually called, del 
 Arzobisjpo, from the founder, Alonso 
 de Fonseca, Archbishop of Toledo, 
 who was buried in the Ursolas ; it is 
 now used partly for Irish students and 
 as a barrack. It was begun in 1521 
 by Pedro de Ibarra, at the best period 
 of the cinque-cento style. Observe the 
 most airy elegant quadrangle, the fluted 
 
 pillars, and Pierino del Vago medal- 
 lions, which glitter in the sun like a 
 rich chasing by Cellini. The boys and 
 heads, some in caps, some in helmets, 
 are full of grace and variety of design. 
 Ibarra was aided by Alonso de Cova- 
 rubbias and by Berruguete : thus the 
 three great artistic architects of their 
 age were simultaneously employed, each 
 vying in honourable rivalry to outdo 
 the other. Some of the work is in the 
 transition period from the Grothic to 
 the Benaissance. Berruguete in 1529 
 undertook to “ build, carve, and paint” 
 the retablo of the chapel : Ponz (xii. 
 234) gives an extract from the original 
 agreement. The noble work was 
 finished in 1531, but whitewash has 
 done its worst, and a portion only of 
 the original colouring has escaped near 
 the altar. The precious retablo , re- 
 cently cruelly whitewashed and re- 
 painted, when seen from a distance, 
 looks hke a silversmith’s work of gold 
 and enamel. The eight paintings are 
 rather coldly coloured, and the draw- 
 ing resembles that of Juan de Bologna; 
 the upper four are the best, but the 
 figure of the student in the centre 
 niche is not by Berruguete. The sub- 
 jects are the descent of the Holy 
 Grhost, Ananias and Saphira, the Find- 
 ing of Moses, Presentation in the 
 Temple, Ascension of the Saviour, his 
 Baptism, Flight into Egypt, Adoration 
 of Shepherds. The two lower are 
 copies, the invaders having abstracted 
 the originals. 
 
 The last of the Colegio May ores is 
 that del Rey, “King’s College.” It 
 was commenced in 1625 by Gromez 
 Mora, and was founded by the mili- 
 tary order of Santiago. The quadran- 
 gle is Doric, serious and simple. The 
 chapel was unfortunately modernized 
 and bedaubed with gilding and chur- 
 rigueresque by a South American 
 bishop of more wealth than taste. 
 
 Close by is San Esteban, a Domini- 
 can convent, so called, because, when 
 an earlier one near the Tormes was 
 destroyed by a flood in Nov. 1256, 
 this parish church was assigned to 
 that order, and one of the finest 
 
524 
 
 ROUTE 64. COLUMBUS AT SALAMANCA. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 externally enriched Gothic buildings 
 in the world was erected. The bene- 
 factors were Juan Alvarez de Toledo, 
 uncle to the great Alva, and Diego de 
 Deza, tutor to Prince Juan (who died 
 at Salamanca, Oct. 7, 1497) and after- 
 wards Archbishop of Seville. This 
 true Dominican and ferocious Inqui- 
 sidor was, like Philip II., nevertheless, 
 a patron of art, protector of Columbus, 
 and sincere even in his bigotry. He 
 also founded the College of Santo 
 Tomas at Seville. Observe the elabo- 
 rate fagade and portal, which almost 
 rivals that of the University library. 
 The eye is bewildered with the details, 
 which are thrown like a lace em- 
 broidery or filigree work over the 
 whole; the creamy stone is worked 
 into saints, apostles, candelabra, and 
 richest caprice. The martyrdom of 
 the tutelar is by Juan Antonio Ceroni 
 of Milan. The noble church is a Latin 
 cross. The entrance is under a dark 
 elliptical arch, which supports the coro 
 as at the Escorial, but beyond all is 
 brilliant, nay, the altar is overdone 
 with gilding. The dome is painted in 
 fresco by the feeble Antonio Palo- 
 mino, and the subject, the “ Triumph of 
 [Religion,” is a decided failure of art. 
 The roof is richly studded; the retablo 
 has a good Martyrdom of St. Stephen 
 by Claudio Coello. Observe to the r. 
 a precious door adorned with riding 
 children and scroll-work. In the light 
 cloister remark the pillars and capitals 
 in the angles, and the basso-relievos 
 sculptured by Alonso Sardina. Ob- 
 serve, also, the sola capitular , built in 
 1627 by Juan Moreno, the grand stair- 
 case, the beautiful sacristia , and li- 
 brary. This exquisite pile was van- 
 dalized by the invaders, who turned 
 the church into a magazine, and the 
 cloisters into stables. 
 
 Columbus in 1484-6 was lodged 
 here ; and the monks and Deza, to 
 their honour, espoused his scheme, 
 which the “ Golgotha ” of the univer- 
 sity had pronounced to be “vain, im- 
 practicable, and resting on grounds 
 too weak to merit the support of the 
 government.” The sable conclave was 
 
 held at Valcuervo, “ the Valley of 
 Crows” 2 L. off, to secure quiet for 
 deliberation. Here the arguments of the 
 great Genoese were rebutted by texts 
 from St. Augustine : and he was scouted 
 as an atheist, as a reckless adventurer, 
 and a fool, by real fools, who despised 
 what they could not understand, and 
 this occurred in the palmy days of 
 Salamantine Dons, Doctors, men of 
 “ fat paunches and lean pates ; ” who, 
 ignorant of the world, nursed inroutine, 
 and steeped in prejudice, from long 
 custom of teaching others, were inca- 
 pable of being taught themselves : but 
 pedagogues, from the habit of mea- 
 suring their intellects with their pupil 
 inferiors, frequently form a false stand- 
 ard of their own powers and acquisi- 
 tions, and when brought into the world, 
 and grappled with by real men, are 
 either thought bores and quizes, or are 
 hooted at like owls, whose proper place 
 is the darkling cloister, not the bright 
 daylight. 
 
 These convocated heads of houses, 
 who could decide against a ^oor fo- 
 reigner, who was in the rigfit, always 
 gave an opinion in favour of Spaniards 
 of place and power, albeit in the wrong ; 
 their decisions, as in the case of Don 
 Pedro’s divorce, are a sore subject in 
 Salamanca, and over which Gil de 
 Avila says “ he must draw a veil, as 
 the dutiful son did over the nakedness 
 of Noah.” 
 
 Opposite to the palace of Monterey, 
 with its two turrets, all gutted by the 
 invaders, is las Agustinas Recoletas , a 
 once magnificent convent, founded in 
 1626 by Manuel de Zuniga, Conde de 
 Monterey, and favourite of Philip IV. 
 This “good slow man,” according to 
 Clarendon, having married a sister of 
 the all-powerful Conde Duque, was by 
 him appointed viceroy at Naples. He 
 there became so rich, that a poor preg- 
 nant woman, who had a longing, un 
 antojo , to see Philip IV., when thank- 
 ing the king for granting her an audi- 
 ence, prayed that “ God might make 
 him viceroy of Naples.” The convent, 
 built by Juan Fontana, is a noble pile, 
 with red marble fluted Corinthian pil- 
 
Leon. 
 
 ROUTE 64. CONDE DE MONTEREY. 525 
 
 lars, a simple cupola, and altogether an 
 Italian character. The church, a pure 
 Latin cross, one of the finest in Sa- 
 lamanca, is very rich in marbles. 
 Observe the Florentine pulpit of Pietre 
 dure , in which San Yicente de Ferrer 
 is said to have preached ; notice the re- 
 tailor with Corinthian red marble pil- 
 lars, and the gilt bronze tabernacle, 
 with spiral columns and lapis lazuli; 
 the crucifix in the retablo and the 
 tombs of the founder and his wife are 
 by Algardi ; observe the armour and 
 costume : many pompous titles are in- 
 scribed below the kneeling figures, 
 which but enhance the triumph of 
 death, who has cropped them all to 
 form a garland for his victor brow; 
 and now all is nothing and neglect. 
 Monterey was a liberal patron of art ; 
 many pictures which he gave to Philip 
 IV. are still at Madrid ; he reserved 
 for this convent “ San J anuario kneel- 
 ing on the clouds,” by P. Veronese, 
 doubtful ; an “ Annunciation,” by Lan- 
 franco ; a “Nativity,” Ribera — the 
 child is much repainted ; notice also 
 some very capital Stanzionis (Cabal- 
 lero Maximo). Observe also a St. 
 John, like Gruido; St. Joseph; a fine 
 dark San Agustin ; and the Meeting 
 of the Virgin and Elizabeth, and a 
 Nativity, excellent : also a San Nico- 
 las, Lanfranco ; a Virgen del Ro- 
 sario , Ribera ; and the grand altar- 
 piece, the Concepcion , signed Jusepe 
 de Ribera, Espanol, Valentiano, F. 
 1635. In this the Virgin’s feet are 
 shown, a liberty allowed to artists in 
 Italy, but prohibited in Spain by the 
 Inquisition. As Monterey was viceroy 
 at Naples at the precise moment when 
 Ribera, Stanzioni, Lanfranco, and 
 others had really created there a school 
 of art, this convent was once a museum 
 of Neapolitan paintings : when we 
 
 saw them, they flapped rotting in their 
 frames, but were pure in surface, hav- 
 ing never yet been defiled by harpy 
 cleaners or restorers. The other paint- 
 ings inside the convent cannot be seen 
 by the male sex, as the nunnery is en 
 clausura. Of the famous cartoons by 
 M. Angelo, “the Swimmers,” men- 
 
 tioned by Carducho (Dial. 151), we 
 could obtain no information. 
 
 Another nunnery, San JEspiritu , des- 
 tined, like Las Huelgas at Burgos, for 
 noble ladies, is a fine pile of granite. 
 Observe the superb roof over the coro, 
 and the richly chased portal by Berru- 
 guete. The church of Carmelitas Calza- 
 das is in the pure simple Doric of Juan 
 de Herrera. The quadrangle of the 
 Colegio de Guadalupe was incredibly 
 rich in minute decorations, a lace- work 
 of form and figure, animal and vege- 
 table. In 1850 it was converted into 
 a fives court! while rubbish was shot 
 into the church. The tower of Santo 
 Tome de los Caballeros is of the twelfth 
 century. Observe the ancient sepul- 
 chres with pointed arches near the 
 altar. The elegant and pathetic Luis 
 de Leon was buried in 1591 in the 
 Agustinos Calzados , where Juan de 
 Sahagun and Santo Tomas de Villa- 
 nueva rest also. Observe the rich pla- 
 teresque portal of Las Duenas , founded 
 in 1419, as inside it Santa Teresa re- 
 ceived her Divine revelations (see 
 Avila) . 
 
 The Jesuitas {La Clericid) built in 
 1614 by Juan Gromez de Mora, is 
 enormous. The chapel and transept 
 are grand, but the cimborio has been 
 cracked, and the retablo is of vile chur- 
 rigueresque. The portals, towers, and 
 cupolas are more striking from size 
 than good art. It is now a clerical 
 seminary, and here the Irish students 
 were lodged after the suppression of 
 this order ; their original college was 
 founded in 1592 by Philip II., and 
 dedicated to St. Patrick, in order that 
 “ some priests of the true faith might 
 yet be educated for unhappy England 
 in the hopes of finally extinguishing 
 pestilential heresies.” The excellent 
 Dr. Curtis, the Cowrttis of the Spanish 
 guide book Resena , p. 73, presided here 
 during the war, and deserved the high 
 opinion with which the Duke honoured 
 him. 
 
 Philip II. was married, Nov. 13 r 
 1543, at Salamanca, to Maria of Por- 
 tugal, when gown and town, the city 
 and the Dons, outdid themselves in 
 
526 
 
 ROUTE 64. — COMUNEROS AT SALAMANCA. Sect. VIII. 
 
 bull-fights, in order to wipe away 
 all memory of the part it had taken 
 against his father in the outbreak in 
 1521. The leader of the Patriots, or 
 Comuneros, on that occasion, was one 
 Valloria, a botero , or maker of wine 
 pigskins. This agitator plundered the 
 colleges, their plate-chests, butteries, 
 and cellars, so effectually, that the 
 delighted mob made every one swear 
 this oath of allegiance : — “ Juras d 
 Dios no haber mas Pey, ni Da/pa , que 
 Valloria .” This Castilian Jack Cade 
 was hanged April 23, 1521. 
 
 Near the churrigueresque Merced 
 is the Colegio de la Vera Cruz , so 
 called from the apparition of white 
 crosses on the dresses of the Jews 
 during a sermon of San Vicente Ferrer 
 in 1411, who here converted 8000 
 Moors, 35,000 Jews, and 100,000 
 other sinners, which seems a good 
 many in so small a town ; however, 
 when asked by some doubters on his 
 arrival for a sign, he replied, “ What 
 more do you require than that up to 
 this day 3000 miracles have been 
 wrought by means of this sinner?” 
 (See, for authentic details, Gil de 
 Avila, p. 354, and Dorado, 286.) 
 
 Among the houses best worthy ob- 
 serving in Salamanca is la Casa del 
 Sal , or Salinas , with its arched front, 
 granite pillars, ornamented windows, 
 and singular patio . Observe the pro- 
 jecting roof and gallery upheld by 
 quaintly carved and grotesque figure 
 supports. The Maldonado family have 
 a fine old house opposite la Trinidad . 
 Near the Jesuit as is the Casa de las 
 Conchas , ornamented on the exterior 
 like the Mendoza palace at Guadala- 
 jara, but the interior is much degraded : 
 observe the fine patio and minute 
 Gothic ornaments. In the Plaza San 
 Agustin observe the ruined front of the 
 convent destroyed by the invaders, and 
 a singular old house with the arms 
 of Ferdinand and Isabella, and most 
 delicately shaped windows. The Pa- 
 lacio del Conde de Monterey , before 
 mentioned, has two remarkably elegant 
 turrets or miradores , with an upper 
 gallery of open arcaded windows, which 
 
 look like a rich lace fringe of the solid 
 basement below. 
 
 The Calle de los Muertos is so called 
 from the house Jbuilt by Archbishop 
 Fonseca, whose bust, with those t>f his 
 two nephews, is sculptured in front. 
 Under the windows are placed sculls, 
 emblems of the dead, which gave the 
 name to the street ; but good living 
 flourished inside when we were there, 
 for here lived our kind and hospitable 
 friend Don Alejo Guillen, prior of the 
 cathedral, and one mentioned so often 
 with honour in the Duke’s Dispatches, 
 and thus embalmed is immortal : see 
 particularly August 18, 1812. His 
 Grace himself, when at Salamanca, 
 lodged in the house of the Marques de 
 Almarza, in the Plaza de San Poal. 
 Every Englishman will of course visit 
 it, and observe the rosette- studded arch 
 at the entrance, and the medallions in 
 the patio , especially a young lady with 
 a ruff, and the heads of the founder 
 and his beautiful wife, whose drapery 
 is free and flowing. 
 
 In the Plaza Santo Tome is an an- 
 cient mansion with red brick Moorish 
 arches and Azulejo , and another with 
 a Berruguete front and portal, with 
 the medallions of the founder and his 
 wife — a very common Spanish cinque - 
 cento decoration. The Torre de Clavel 
 is a good specimen of the mediaeval 
 Castilian keep, with those little bar- 
 tizan turrets at the corner, which occur 
 at Coria, Coca, Segovia, Guadamur, 
 and elsewhere. In the Cuesta del Se - 
 minario was the Aula , the hall, where 
 Villena endeavoured to restore learn- 
 ing. Here he taught natural philo- 
 sophy, which the dons and doctors 
 thought magical. The University, it 
 has been said, at his death appointed 
 Lope de Barrientos, Bishop of Avila 
 and Inquisitor-general, to inspect his 
 library ; two cart-loads were sent him, 
 which he forthwith proceeded not to 
 read, but to burn. Juan de Mena 
 grieves (Coplas, i. 126) over such 
 “exequies” of the patron of literature 
 and “honour of Spain.” Ponz (iii.105) 
 prints an epistle, purported to have 
 been written at the time by Fernan 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTES 65 , 66. — SALAMANCA TO MADRID. 527 
 
 Gomez, physician to Juan II., to the 
 poet, lamenting this Omar vandalism. 
 According to this Doctor, this Lope 
 “ could not understand the books any 
 more than the Dean of Ciudad Rod- 
 rigo.” The spirit of the period is well 
 caught in this Centon ejgistolario , a 
 jeu-d’ esprit written by Vera y Zuniga, 
 and ascribed to this Gomez. 
 
 Descend now to the Tormes, and 
 observe in the way the Puerto, de San 
 Pablo ^ with the infinite statues of saints, 
 the Pope or St. Peter in the centre. 
 Examine the foundations of the old 
 walls, the Roman bridge, and the amo- 
 hadillado masonry. The Medio Puente 
 is one of those pavilions or shrines so 
 common to Spanish bridges, in which 
 some tutelar saint is worshipped. Such 
 a one was built at Wakefield by our 
 Edward IV. On this bridge was 
 placed one of those strange animals, 
 which, whether wild boar or rhinoceros, 
 are classed with the Toros de Guisando 
 (See Index) ; and the Oxford of Tauro- 
 machian Spain has taken for its arms 
 “ a bull on a bridge crossing a river” 
 — a Bull-ford. Having passed the 
 Tormes, turn to the r. and cross the 
 rivulet Zurguen to view the noble city 
 rising proudly in front. This Zurguen 
 was to the poet Melendez what the 
 “ Bonny Ayr ” was to Burns. If the 
 traveller will ascend the cathedral 
 tower, and walk some afternoon out of 
 the gate Santo Tomas, and make the 
 circuit of the walls, passing the gates 
 of Toro, Zamora, and Villamayor, and 
 entering again at San Vicente, he will 
 have seen something of Salamanca. 
 
 P.S. Since these pages were written 
 we have heard of sad new destructions 
 of ancient buildings in Salamanca. 
 
 There are three routes from Sala- 
 manca to Madrid, and a diligence : No. 
 1, the shortest and most uninteresting, 
 is through Penaranda. A new road 
 is contemplated between Madrid and 
 Salamanca, which is to pass through 
 Avila, meantime it may be ridden in 
 3 days. 
 
 Route 65, — Salamanca to Madrid. 
 
 Aldea luenga . . . 
 
 . 2 
 
 
 Ventosa ..... 
 
 
 
 Penaranda .... 
 
 
 . 7 
 
 Pontiveros .... 
 
 . 3* . 
 
 . 104 
 
 San Pascual. 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 134 
 
 Blasco Sancho . . . 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 16 
 
 Venta de Almarza . . 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 17 
 
 Madrid 
 
 . 15 . 
 
 . 32 
 
 Huerta is a poor village in a cereal 
 plain near the Tormes, on which the 
 Duke marched after the victory of Sala- 
 manca, imagining that the bridge lower 
 down to the r. at Alba de Tormes was 
 secured by Don Carlos de Espana, as 
 he had ordered, which it was not ; 
 thus the invaders escaped annihilation, 
 thanks to Spaniards. Hence, crossing 
 the Ventosa, to Penaranda de Braca- 
 monte , a decent town of 3400 souls. 
 The road is next carried over the rivers 
 Trabancos, Zapardiel, and Adajas, 
 which flow down from the Avila 
 chains rising to the r. Near Villa- 
 nueva de Gomez , Jjr a L. from Blasco 
 Sancho , is a stream which must be 
 forded ; in time of rains carriages are 
 obliged, for want of a bridge, to go 4 
 L. round by Arevalo. After travelling 
 over an uninteresting slovenly- culti- 
 vated country, this route joins the high 
 Madrid and La Coruna road at the 
 Venta de Almarza. 
 
 Those who have reached Salamanca 
 from Lisbon or Gallicia, and are pro- 
 ceeding to Madrid with no intentions 
 of travelling north, may take the fol- 
 lowing route, circuitous but inter- 
 esting. 
 
 Route 66. — Salamanca to Madrid. 
 
 Pedrosillo . 
 Canizal . . 
 
 Alaejos . . 
 
 Siete Iglesias 
 Tordesillas . 
 Simancas 
 Valladolid . 
 Segovia . . 
 
 San Udefonso 
 Escorial . . 
 
 Madrid . . 
 
 * 24 
 
 . 34 .. 6 
 . 3 .. 9 
 
 . 1 ..10 
 
 . 4 ..14 
 
 . 3 ..17 
 
 . 2 ..19 
 
 .19 ..38 
 
 . 2 ..40 
 
 .• 8 ..48 
 
 . 84... 56* 
 
 The country to Tordesillas is dreary; 
 from thence excursions may be made 
 to Toro and Medina del C amigo : for 
 all these towns consult Index. 
 
 The 3rd line runs through Avila, 
 
528 RTE. 67. SALAMANCA TO MADRID, 68. TO VALLADOLID. Sect. VIII. 
 
 and may, if desired, be prolonged by 
 turning to the Escorial, which will be 
 avoided by the new road. 
 
 Route 67. — Salamanca to Madrid. 
 
 Alba de Tormes . . 
 
 . 4 
 
 
 La Maya .... 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 61 
 
 Piedrahita .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 91 
 
 Villatoro .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 121 
 
 Santa Maria. . . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 151 
 
 Avila * 
 
 
 
 Escorial 
 
 . n . 
 
 . 27 
 
 Madrid 
 
 . 81 . 
 
 . 351 
 
 Yon may ride by Calbarra de Arriba, 
 2 L., and cross those plains so fit for 
 fight and flight, and follow the line of 
 Marmont’s manoeuvre in the latter 
 line. 
 
 Alba de Tonnes (decent posada near 
 the gate), whence the family of Toledo 
 take their ducal title, is in the centre 
 of their vast possessions. Pop. about 
 2000. Placed in a plain, and com- 
 manding extensive views of hill and 
 vale, it rises gently over the Tormes , 
 with a noble bridge, which Don Carlos 
 de Espana, by neglecting to secure as 
 ordered, rendered a pont d'or to 
 Marmont after his defeat at Salamanca. 
 The finely placed palace-fortress over- 
 looks the town, with its round towers 
 and machicolations ; it was gutted by 
 the runaways, and the superb armoury 
 stolen. In the Carmelitas descalzas are 
 the noble sepulchres of the benefactors, 
 Francisco Velazquez and Teresa his 
 wife ; observe the sepulchral statue of 
 Simon Galarza, and Juan de Ovalla 
 and Dona Juana de Ahumada with a 
 child at their feet. There, in a stately 
 tomb, raised in 1750, lies the sainted 
 founder, Santa Teresa herself (see 
 Avila). Near the town is the grand 
 Jeronomite convent, the superb tomb 
 of Gutierez Alvarez de Toledo, Arch- 
 bishop of Toledo. 
 
 Alba de Tormes was the scene of an- 
 other Spanish misbehaviour. The 
 Duque del Parque (Oct. 19, 1809) had 
 defeated Gen. Marchand at Tamames, 
 distant 2 L., and the success turned 
 the Seville J unta’s heads, who, thinking 
 that they now could reconquer Madrid 
 without the aid of the English, planned 
 the campaign of Ocana, in defiance of 
 all the Duke’s warnings and advice. 
 
 This crushing defeat recoiled on del 
 Parque, who here, within 2 L. of his 
 former victory^, was surprised, Nov. 
 28, 1809, by Kellerman : alarmed, says 
 the Duke, at the appearance of 30 
 French dragoons in his rear, the entire 
 Spanish army dispersed, abandoning 
 guns and everything. Here our Gen. 
 Hamilton, with 1500 weary men, re- 
 sisted, successfully resisted, Soult with 
 more than 10,000 ! Proceed hence 
 through a broken country, studded 
 with oakwoods, to Piedrahita — Posada 
 del Torresillo — it is built on a slope, 
 with another palace of the Alvas, 
 erected in the last century at a cost of 
 more than 400,000Z. Jacques Marquet, 
 a Frenchman brought to Madrid in 
 order to pave the streets, gave the de- 
 sign. The gardens, with temples and 
 terraces, rendered this the Stowe of 
 Spain, but all was ruined, like Abadia, 
 by the French troops. 
 
 The road soon enters New Castile, 
 and is carried amid scrubby oaks and 
 park-like scenery through the Puerto 
 de ViUatoro to the town, so called 
 from its four stone toros. Two are 
 erect under the church front ; one is 
 embedded in the wall of the “graes • 
 another huge one stretches himself out 
 from a wall near the church. Thence 
 by gentle descents through a wooded 
 sporting corn country to Avila (see R. 
 99). 
 
 Route 68. — Salamanca to 
 Valladolid. 
 
 Moriscos .... 
 
 . H 
 
 
 Pitiagua 
 
 . 21 
 
 .. 4 
 
 Pedroso ..... 
 
 . 1 
 
 .. 5 
 
 La Carolina .... 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 7 
 
 Fresno 
 
 . 21 
 
 .. 91 
 
 Medina del Campo . 
 
 . 41 
 
 .. 14 
 
 Valdestillas. ... 
 
 4 
 
 .. 18 
 
 Puente Duero ... 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 20 
 
 Valladolid .... 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 22 
 
 If you go through Cantalapiedra 
 the distance about 1 L. longer than the 
 preceding to Pedro so, the country is 
 a lonely and unenclosed waste of corn. 
 About Carolina pine woods commence 
 then flat plains to Medina del Carnpo. 
 
 From Salamanca we ourselves struck 
 N.W., and made the pilgrimage to 
 Compostella , then turning into the 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 69. — SALAMANCA TO LUGO. 
 
 529 
 
 Asturias to Oviedo, and coming down 
 to Madrid through Leon, Yalladolid, 
 and Segovia. This alpine ride, deli- 
 cious in summer, is strongly recom- 
 mended to the artist and the antiqua- 
 rian, as it was to this mountain-corner 
 of Spain that the remnants of the 
 Gloths fled in 712. 
 
 Route 69. — Salamanca to Lugo. 
 
 Calzada . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Cabo . . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 
 Corrales . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 9 
 
 Zamora . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 12 
 
 Piedrahita . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 15 
 
 Riego . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 17 
 
 Santa Eufemia 
 
 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 19 
 
 Benavente . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 22 
 
 Pozuelo . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 A la Baneza 
 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 28 
 
 Toral. . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 30 
 
 Astorga . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 32* 
 
 Manzanal . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3* . 
 
 . 36 
 
 Bembimbre . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 39 
 
 Cubillos . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 41* 
 
 Yiilafranca . 
 
 
 
 
 . 3* . 
 
 . 45 
 
 Ambas Mestas 
 
 
 
 
 . 2 i . 
 
 . 47* 
 
 Castro . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Doncos . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Santa Isabel 
 
 
 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 56 
 
 Sobrado . . 
 
 
 
 
 . 2i . 
 
 
 Lugo . . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 First we may mention that Toro lies 
 12 L. from Salamanca by an unin- 
 teresting carriageable road, through 
 Fuente-Sauco , 6 L., and along the river 
 Gruarena. 
 
 The celebrated warm baths of Le- 
 desma lie about 6 L. from Salamanca 
 to the W., and there is a diligence to 
 them in the season. The district is of 
 great antiquity, and is still divided 
 into Fodas , districts, Arabice Fau- 
 da , garden. Ledesma , Bletissa, the 
 
 chief town, ancient and picturesque, 
 has a feudal look ; pop. 1500 ; its 
 singular walls are thought to be earlier 
 than the Romans. The town stands 
 on the Tormes, with a fine bridge built 
 on Roman foundations. Many inscrip- 
 tions are found here, and outside the 
 Fuerta de los Toros are two of those 
 strange antique Bulls of the Gruisando 
 breed. The sulphur baths he about 
 S.E. 2 L. off, in a wooded dell on 
 the Tormes. The waters are warm, 
 ranging from 29 to 30 Reaumur, and 
 are used both internally and externally, 
 
 being very beneficial in cutaneous and 
 rheumatic complaints. The season is 
 from June 1 to Sept. 30. From Le- 
 desma to Zamora there is a cross-road 
 through San Martial. 
 
 The road to Calzada runs over a 
 desolate waste of xaras y encinas , fol- 
 lowing the line of the ancient Roman 
 way ; here and there are seen wild 
 hawks of a large size, with greyish 
 white bodies, and tails and wings 
 tipped with black. About Cubo the 
 country improves ; and here, in a 
 sheltered valley, is Val Faraiso , — the 
 once superb convent in which St. Fer- 
 dinand, one of the best and greatest of 
 Spanish kings, was born ; now all is a 
 ruin ; the invaders converted this 
 paradise into a wilderness, and what 
 the foreigner commenced the native 
 Spaniard has carried out. The peasants 
 about here now become as churlish as 
 their country, no longer saluting the 
 stranger like the Fstremeno or Charro . 
 They either wear monteras , or shocking 
 bad round hats. The red-stockinged 
 women veil their heads with handker- 
 chiefs, and all seem poverty-stricken 
 and starving amid corn and wine ; 
 the latter, fine and good, sold in our 
 time for about 3 reals the arroba , 
 or Qd. for 16 bottles. But there are 
 no outlets for the over-production ; 
 roads, canals, and customers are all 
 wanting ; thus, when corn here is some- 
 times at 24 to 28 reals the fanega , it 
 sells for 55 to 57 at Seville ; the vino 
 de Toro is far superior to what is 
 commonly sold in England as port. 
 
 From Salamanca to Corrales under 
 its windwill- studded hill is a 6 hours’ 
 ride ; posada decent. Continuing the 
 route from the hermitage el Cristo de 
 Morales , Zamora is seen rising grandly 
 over the Duero. The long embattled 
 line is terminated to the 1. by the 
 castle and cathedral. The old bridge, 
 to the r., with its pointed arches, has 
 three of those towers on it so common 
 in Spain. The ruined piers of another 
 are seen below the cathedral. The 
 Duero, dammed up above and below 
 with water mills, now as it approaches 
 Portugal, has few bridges, and, being 
 
530 
 
 ROUTE 69. — ZAMORA. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 deep, and provided only with danger- 
 ous ferries, becomes a most important 
 military line in time of war. The river 
 rises in the bleak Sierra de Urbion, 
 near Soria, receiving the affluents of the 
 hills above Logrono and the Montcayo, 
 flows west, and below Zamora forms the 
 boundary between Spain and Portugal. 
 The whole course is about 500 miles. 
 The name Ur, the Celtic Dwr, 
 
 simply means water , as Gave does in 
 the Pyrenees. This water par excel- 
 lence is indeed an a.p<r<rov gzv ubcog, 
 since, according to the proverb it is 
 equal to chicken-broth in nutriment : 
 Agua de Duero , caldo de polios — an 
 axiom which our readers may well dis- 
 trust, and put a real poule in their pot ; 
 the river moreover has the honour to 
 -give the title of Marquis to the Duke, 
 Palmam quam meruit ferat, — as on its 
 banks, from first to last, he foiled the 
 enemy, beginning with Soult at Oporto. 
 Again it was by crossing the Duero in 
 these parts that the Duke turned the 
 French position, and drove the in- 
 vaders headlong out of Spain by the 
 death-blow he dealt them at Yitoria. 
 Below Zamora are some wild passes 
 and ferries, used by smugglers ; the 
 most remarkable are el Faso de las 
 JEstacas, that of the Stakes, and el 
 Salto de la Furraca , the leap of the 
 great she-ass (Borico), not the heaven- 
 ascending mule of Mahomet. 
 
 Time-honoured Zamora is now a 
 decayed place. Pop. under 9000. 
 There is a tolerable posada on the 
 Flaza Santa Lucia , and de la Morera 
 on the Flaza del Carbon and another 
 del Feto. The cathedral is the see of 
 a bishop, suffragan to Santiago. The 
 city bears for arms its bridge, with two 
 towers and a flag. The name is said 
 to be derived from the Moorish Samu- 
 rdh , a city of “ turquoises,” which it 
 does not signify * and of which it 
 possesses none. In older books it is 
 called Ocellum Duri> the eye, the 
 cup of the Duero ( Keli , Hebrew ; 
 calix). Be that as it may the very 
 
 * Samur is the Arabic name of a furred ani- 
 mal, Mustela Scythica, and is the etymon of the 
 Spanish zamarra, jacket. 
 
 name awakes a thousand recollections 
 in a Spanish bosom of mediaeval 
 chivalry, and romance, and the glorious 
 past. Placed on the barrier Duero, and 
 an important frontier town against 
 Moorish invasions, it was recovered from 
 the infidel in 748 by Alonso el Cato- 
 lico, and besieged in July, 939, by 
 Abdu-r-rahman, a desperate battle was 
 fought for its ^relief by Ramiro II. 
 Zamora was then enclosed by'seven 
 lines of walls, and the intervening 
 spaces defended by moats ; 40,000 
 Moors are said to have been killed — 
 to a man ; the Spaniards, from being 
 in want of everything, were unable to 
 follow up their victory. Zamora , re- 
 taken and destroyed in 985 by the 
 great A1 Mansur, was rebuilt by Fer- 
 dinand I., who gave it in 1065 to his 
 daughter Urraca, who must not be 
 confounded with her niece Urraca, the 
 wife of Ramon of Burgundy, and 
 Feina proprietaria of Spain. This 
 once common name, which still exists 
 in these parts, is pure Arabic, and 
 means “ brilliant in colours hence 
 Mahomet’s aforesaid mule, on which 
 he ascended to heaven, was called FI 
 Furac. The term is also given to a 
 delicious pear in Grallieia, and to a 
 chattering pie, habla mas que una 
 TJrraca . 
 
 Ferdinand, by his impolitic devise, 
 dismembered a monarchy which his 
 whole life had been spent in consoli- 
 dating, and, like his seventh name- 
 sake, bequeathed a civil war to his heir 
 Sancho, who, resenting the unjust par- 
 tition, besieged Zamora in 1072. Then 
 it was the well-walled city, Zamora la 
 bien cercada i and was proverbially al- 
 most impregnable : a Zamora , no se 
 gano en una hora. Sancho, being en- 
 ticed near the walls by Yellido Dolphos 
 (Ataulfo), was assassinated on the 7th 
 Oct. whilst in an unseemly position 
 according to the old ballad, the Cid 
 from want of spurs being unable to 
 catch the traitor ; but every one will 
 read his Fomancero on these sites. 
 At this siege five Moorish kings 
 (sheiks) brought him tribute, and 
 saluted Ruy Diaz de Vibar with the 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 69. THE CID AT ZAMORA. 
 
 531 
 
 title of Cid Camjpeador — the champion 
 Prince— just as our Wellington was 
 called here El Lor , El gran Lor , “ The 
 Lord,” exactly as we say £C TheJ)vikeT 
 
 Pass out by the JPuerta de la Feria 
 into the pleasant Alameda to the ruined 
 palace of- Urraca, built at the extreme 
 point of the city. The walls follow 
 the irregularities of their rocky bases ; 
 her mutilated bust still remains over a 
 gate, with the inscription, “ Afuera ! 
 Afuera ! Rodrigo el soberbio Castel- 
 lano ” taken from the old ballad, and 
 allusive to the Cid’s being shut out 
 when the traitor-assassin Dolphos was 
 let in. Near this is the bishop’s palace, 
 with its corridors and open gallery. 
 
 The see, fallen into abeyance during 
 the time of the Moors, was restored by 
 Alonso VI., son of Ferdinand I., whose 
 heiress, Urraca, had married Ramon, 
 brother to Pope Calixtus II. (obt. 1124) 
 and thus through family interest at 
 Rome many difficulties with contending 
 prelates were got over. Bernard, then 
 Arehb. of Toledo, was a Frenchman, and 
 filled the sees of Spain with his country- 
 men who introduced the simple solid 
 Norman style of architecture, exactly 
 as occurred at Tarragona. Geronimo, 
 the confessor of the Gid, was appointed 
 to Zamora with g^^m-episcopal func- 
 tions. The S. and dilapidated entrance 
 of his cathedral deserve particular 
 notice. Observe a truncated tower, 
 the four round or Saxon arches, and 
 the singular pattern-like rolls of linen, 
 the plain curtains of wall strength- 
 ened by buttresses. The capitals of 
 the pillars are in the bastard Norman - 
 Gothic Corinthian style. The rose 
 windows are fine, and the massy square 
 tower and cimborio are quite cognate 
 with the Iglesia Vieja of Salamanca. 
 The two lateral aisles in the interior 
 are low. The dome is picked out with 
 a wavy pattern of gold on white. The 
 altar mayor is composed of reddish 
 marble pillars, with giit bronze capitals, 
 and the Transfiguration sculptured in 
 marble is modern, and of inferior art. 
 The old retablo was moved to the con- 
 vent of San Geronimo. The coro , 
 carved in a tedesque manner like 
 
 Rodrigo Aleman, is dated 1490. The 
 open Gothic spire of the bishop’s seat, 
 and the saints and figures above the 
 dark-coloured stalls of the canons, the 
 carved door with figures and Gothic 
 work to the 1. of the high altar, deserve 
 notice. Among the tombs observe 
 those of Bernardus, the first bishop, 
 1149, and near the door that of Bishop 
 Pedro, 1254, confessor of St. Ferdi- 
 nand, opposite to that of Bishop Suerus 
 Perez, 1286. Other old tombs are in 
 the Camilla del Cardenal , viz. Alvaro 
 Romero, cloaked, — observe his sword; 
 and in the Camilla de San Miguel that 
 of* canon F. M. de Baltas, 1308. The 
 very ancient retablo is parted into six 
 divisions, with paintings like Fernando 
 Gallegos. The original cloisters were 
 burnt in 1591, and the present, in 
 simple Doric, were rebuilt in 1621. 
 The N. entrance to the cathedral has 
 unfortunately been modernised in the 
 Corinthian style, which ill accords with 
 the primitive elevation. 
 
 La Magdalena , a church of the 
 Templars, and at their suppression 
 given to the Order of St. Juan of 
 Jerusalem, is a simple solid edifice of 
 the twelfth century. Observe the 
 masonry of the exterior, the deeply - 
 recessed entrance, with remarkable cir- 
 cular arches above, highly enriched, 
 partly with Norman, partly with 
 Moorish patterns, and the high altar, 
 with a beautiful round arch and mould- 
 ings : observe also the rose window 
 above, formed with small columns, 
 precisely like that in the Temple church 
 at London. Before entering the inner 
 portion, on each side of the lofty 
 pointed arch are two ancient tombs of 
 members of San Juan. Notice the 
 cross and the spiral pillars which sup- 
 port the canopies, also the enriched 
 portal; visit also laRlaza de losMomos , 
 and observe the singular fagade of a 
 casa solar , with ajimez windows, and 
 the peculiar Valentian doorway, with 
 large fan-like stones in the arch-work. 
 
 The natural strong position of Za- 
 mora led Moore to urge the Junta of Sa- 
 lamanca to repair the defences, and re- 
 ceive there his stores, but his retreat 
 
532 
 
 ROUTE 69. CARTS AND WHEELS. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 had commenced before these procras- 
 tinating semi -orientals — socorros de 
 Espana — had done deliberating (Sche- 
 peler, ii. 119). Had Zamora been 
 made tenable, Moore would have fallen 
 back on it, instead of on La Coruna , 
 and thus Portugal would have been 
 spared the murderous ravages of Soult. 
 The sins of the dotard Junta were 
 visited on ill-fated Zamora. After 
 Cuesta and Blake’s disgraceful defeat 
 at Medina del Bio Seco, it permitted 
 the French under Darncaut and 
 Maupetit to master the once strong 
 place in less than half an hour ! Oh 
 dedecus ingens ! A change indeed had 
 come over the land since the day when 
 Con Zamora aver batalla 
 Azaz es cosa pesada. 
 
 Although no resistance was made, the 
 craven town was sacked, neither age nor 
 sex were spared, and the principal per- 
 sons executed. Zamora, afterwards 
 plundered by M. Foy, has never re- 
 covered these visitations. The victory 
 of Salamanca delivered Zamora ; its 
 evacuation by Foy was a blundering 
 operation, for had he held it, the 
 Duke’s plans would have been de- 
 ranged (Disp. Aug. 18, 23, 1812). 
 
 On quitting it, the wretchedness of 
 the peasantry increases ; their cabins 
 are of mud, their furniture and agri- 
 cultural implements are rude in form 
 and material. Their carts — and they 
 prevail all over the N.W. provinces — 
 are the unchanged plaustra ; the solid 
 wheels, the Boman tympana , mere 
 circles of wood without spokes or axles, 
 resemble mill grinding-stones or Par- 
 mesan cheeses ; they are such as the 
 old Egyptians used, as seen in hiero- 
 glyphics (Wilk. i. 369), and no doubt 
 exactly like those sent by J oseph for 
 his father (Gen. xlv. 19). The type is 
 Oriental, and still is used among the 
 Affghans and Spaniards, who are un- 
 advanced coachmakers. The whole 
 wheel, neither designed nor drawn by 
 aBuonaroti, turns round together with 
 a piteous creaking, which whines all 
 over the north-western portion of Spain. 
 The drivers, whose ears are blunt and 
 teeth edgeless, delight in this excru- 
 
 ciating Cbillar , el Chirrio , Arabic^ 
 charrar , to make a noise ^ which they 
 call music ; this they delight in be- 
 cause it is cheap, and plays of itself. 
 They, moreover, think it frightens 
 wolves, bears, and the devil himself, 
 which it well may, for the wheel of 
 Ixion, although damned in hell, never 
 cried more piteously. The shrill 
 sounds, however, serve as warnings 
 to other drivers, who, in narrow-paths 
 and gorges of rocks, where two car- 
 riages cannot pass, have this notice 
 given them, and draw aside until the 
 coast is clear. 
 
 From Zamora the naturalist may 
 make many excursions : the botanist 
 should visit la dehesa de San Andres , 
 XL., and the geologist go to Muelas , 
 4 L., in the angle of the confluence of 
 the Esla and Duero : here, curiously 
 formed and marked, calcareous stones 
 and crystals are found, and the peculiar 
 clay is considered the finest in the 
 Peninsula for kitchen ware. It was 
 by this line that the Duke, in May, 
 1813, by a masterly move to the I., 
 passed the Duero in the Portuguese 
 frontier, turned the French positions, 
 and pounced on them at Yitoria. He 
 himself crossed the deep foaming river 
 on the 29th, at Miranda , in a basket 
 slung on a rope from rock to rock 
 (Nap. xx. 7). A fine wild country, 
 covered with aromatic underwood, and 
 intersected with trout-streams, inter- 
 venes to Villafranca del Vierzo. 
 Those who can rough it might first 
 visit Carhajales , 4 L. from Zamora , 
 a town belonging to the Duque de 
 Frias. Pop. about 1000. The neigh- 
 bouring la JPeha color ada and monte 
 Valdoradas abound in caza mayor y 
 menor ; take local guides to unravel the 
 net-work of trout-streams, which come 
 down the fan-like offshoots of the ser- 
 pentining Sierra de Culebras , and 
 empty themselves into the Aliste. 
 From Carhajales the sportsman might 
 either strike off W. 4 L. to Alcahices , 
 a small town with 500 souls, 9 L. 
 from Zamora, on the confines of 
 Portugal, where there is excellent 
 cover, or he might cut across to Puebla 
 
Lson. 
 
 ROUTE 69. — BENAVENTE. 
 
 533 
 
 de Sanabria , 3 L., and thence over the 
 Vierzo to Villafranca, through some of 
 the best fishing districts in Spain. 
 
 Leaving Zamora , the high road con- 
 tinues uninteresting until after passing 
 Santa Bufemia , when an opening dis- 
 closes Benavente in the distance, with 
 its fine castle rising on a knoll to the 
 1. out of a girdle of trees. Before 
 arriving at the town, the Esla, which 
 coming down from Boncesvalles forms 
 one of the large tributaries of the 
 Duero, is crossed in a clumsy ferry- 
 boat. Here one of the first encounters 
 took place between the British and 
 French cavalry : early in Moore’s re- 
 treat (Dec. 29, 1808), Lefebvre Des- 
 nouettes, at the head of 600 of the Im- 
 perial Guards, attacked the English 
 rear, and was held in check by Col. 
 Otway, with only 200 men, until Lord 
 Paget came up with some of the 10th, 
 and in “ an instant ” (says Napier) 
 “ the scene was changed, and the 
 enemy were seen flying in full speed 
 towards the river, the British close at 
 their heels.” Lefebvre Desnouettes 
 was taken prisoner, when his indigna? 
 tion was increased by the derisive 
 laughter which his sullen looks and 
 torn coat excited among the English 
 soldiers — du sublime au ridicule il n’y 
 a qu’un pas. Buonaparte, an eye- 
 witness of this event, wrote the follow^ 
 ing account to be read in Paris in his 
 21st bulletin — “ Le general, emporte 
 par cette ardeur qu’on a si souvent 
 reproche au soldat Franqais, passa la 
 riviere a la nage pour se porter sur 
 Benavente, ou il trouva toute la cava- 
 lerie de 1’arriere garde Anglais : alors 
 il s’engagea un long combat de 400 
 hommes contre 2000 ; il fallut enfin 
 ceder au nombre. Cette echaufibur.ee 
 a du convaincre les Anglais de ce qu’ils 
 auraient a redouter de pareilles gens 
 dans une affaire g&ffirale.” 
 
 Lefebvre’ s subsequent breach of 
 parole is well known ; but Buona.- 
 parte, instead of sending him back “ a 
 prisoner,” as the Duke would have 
 done, had any English officer been 
 capable of such dishonour (Disp.. Oct. 
 20, 1809), approved of his conduct, 
 Spain. — II. 
 
 and reinstated him in the command 
 of his chasseurs. Can it be wondered, 
 under such circumstances, “ that the 
 Duke could place no confidence in the 
 parole of any French officer ” (Disp. 
 June 30, 1811), not even on Soult’s, 
 their chief (Disp. Sept. 11, 1813) ? Yet 
 now, M. Foy having ascribed the 
 bravery of English soldiers to beef and 
 rum, opines “ that honour is a motive 
 too delicate for their dense organiza- 
 tion, and that even our officers lack the 
 exclusive idolatry of the French to it ” 
 (i. 235, 241). 
 
 Crossing the Esla, Benavente , with 
 its long, mud, cob walls, and huge 
 ruined castle, rises on a gentle emi- 
 nence. Pop. about 2400. There is a 
 decent posada outside the town, on the 
 road to Astorga ; the town dull and 
 poverty-stricken. The castle, the Al- 
 cazar of the Pimentels now merged in 
 the Osuna dukedom, once the great 
 lion, is far inferior in size and details 
 to many of our Welsh castles ; while 
 the material is a reddish coarse stone, 
 with a considerable portion of mer ecob. 
 It is entered by a gentle ascent : pass- 
 ing under an arch between two towers, 
 with a defaced Santiago on horseback 
 over the portal. The Torre Bastel 
 bears the date Mayo 20, 1462. Here 
 are the arms of the Pimentels, once 
 the powerful Counts of Benavente, 
 the sheikhs or lords of all around, to 
 whose ancestor the castle was granted 
 in 1394. The inside is all a ruin, 
 having been glutted by Soult when re- 
 treating from Oporto. The patio is 
 still strewed with fragments of sculps 
 ture. In the upper story was the 
 state gallery, where yet are some re- 
 mains of Moorish TarMsh and azulejo 
 in the windows : a portion of the 
 grand staircase exists. The view over 
 the bald plains of Leon and mountains 
 towards la Buebla de Sanabria is ex- 
 tensive ; the river front is the strongest ; 
 the coarse masonry is ornamented with 
 a huge stone chain and the projecting 
 balls so common at Toledo : below are 
 what were the gardens of the Duchess, 
 before desolated by the destroyer. A 
 pretty walk, el Caracol , leads under 
 2 B 
 
534 
 
 ROUTE 69. — mooke’s retreat. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 the trees and by a trout-stream. The 
 Santa Maria church in Benavente has 
 a remarkable tower, circular chapels, 
 and round Saxon arches. The rude 
 peasants of these cereal districts cele- 
 brate the great festivals at Villa nueva 
 del Campos , 4 L., held Sept. 14, and at 
 Villarin de Campos , 4 L., celebrated 
 on the last Sunday of September ; then 
 they offer to the tutelar image as much 
 corn as the devotee weighs himself 
 when put in a scale held by the 
 curate. A fair, hull-fights, and dances 
 conclude these pious acts. 
 
 There is a carriageable communica- 
 tion from Benavente to Leon, 11^ L., 
 over an uninteresting corn plain, 
 through Toral de los Guzmanes 4*, 
 Ardon 3?, and Leon 3. The road to the 
 1. to Orense , 33J, is full of alpine and 
 river beauty (see Route 70). 
 
 At Benavente , (Dec. 28, 1809) 
 Moore’s retreat may be said to have 
 commenced: here the laurel was 
 
 wreathed with the cypress, and the sins 
 of official epigrammatists were washed 
 out by brave men’s blood. His career, 
 was marred from the beginning by Mr. 
 Canning, the “ evil genius of the Pen- 
 insula,” according to Napier. In Oct. 
 Moore had been sent to the Pen- 
 insula, with some 25,000 men, without 
 any specific instructions beyond a 
 direction to act in concert with Spa- 
 nish generals ! The bleak Castiles, 
 almost impracticable in winter from 
 cold and rain, were chosen. Moore 
 crossed the frontier in October, and in 
 that nick of time, three ill- appointed 
 Spanish armies, his allies, that were to 
 be led by “ children in the art of war,” 
 had melted like snow wreaths before 
 the martial French, almost before at- 
 tacked. Blake, on the 11th, was beaten 
 at Espinosa , Belvidere having on the 
 10th been routed at Burgos ; and ere 
 Moore reached Salamanca Castanos 
 had been crushed atTudela; soon after, 
 the affair of Somosierra gave Madrid to 
 Buonaparte ; so much for Spanish co- 
 operation. Thus at the beginning, as 
 to the end of the war, were the Eng- 
 lish left to bear the whole burden. 
 25,000 British troops were now op- 
 
 posed to 250,000 French veterans, 
 flushed with victory ; yet the Duke 
 of York had counselled our imbecile 
 ministers not to send less than 60,000 
 English to the Peninsula, which he was 
 prepared to furnish: he felt that no 
 little war ought to be carried on ; but 
 peddling, paltry politics prevailed, — 
 this (says Napier) mere handful was 
 embarked, and then without money, 
 plans, or scarcely ammunition. Moore, 
 who had now become the principal 
 instead of the auxiliary, for “ il n’y a 
 que les Anglais a craindre,” said the 
 shrewdBuonaparte, wasnext lured into 
 the Castiles by the asinine juntas, and 
 by our ambassador, Mr. Frere, who did 
 his best to deceive and destroy Moore, 
 by enticing him on to Sahagun. At 
 that moment Buonaparte rushed 
 (Dec. 12) like lightning from Madrid, 
 and in ten days, defying the elements, 
 reached Astorga with 80,000 men. 
 Moore, ignorant of his peril, remained 
 the 22nd and 23rd of Nov. at Sahagun , 
 urged even then by Frere and Morla 
 to advance on Madrid, when one step 
 would have caused certain ruin. But 
 the truth flashed across his martial 
 mind, and he retreated with unex- 
 ampled decision, baffling Buonaparte, 
 who arrived twelve hours too late at 
 Benavente : then the echauffouree of 
 the Esla gave him some forebodings of 
 what might happen “ dans une affaire 
 generate” (see p. 633). Remembering 
 Acre, and prescient of Waterloo, he 
 declined risking his reputation in the 
 fastnesses of Gallicia ; having delegated 
 that to Soult, he only himself advanced 
 to Astorga, where (Jan. 1, 1810) he 
 reviewed 80,000 Frenchmen pitted in 
 pursuit of 19, 053 English infantry, 2278 
 cavalry, and 63 guns, a force magnified 
 by him into 30,000 or 40,000. He 
 then departed on the pretence that he 
 had received important intelligence 
 from Germany winch required his re- 
 turn: being however so little pressed 
 that he daudled ten days at Valladolid, 
 routing the English in his bulletins, 
 paper pellets of his brain. 
 
 Moore, however brave and soldier- 
 like throughout, sank under responsi- 
 
Leon. 
 
 ROUTE 69. — -ASTORGA. 
 
 535 
 
 bility, overrated the enemy, and under- 
 rated himself : he began by a mistake, 
 thinking that “ when the French had 
 Spain, Portugal could not be defended.” 
 How thought the Duke ? “ If I hold 
 
 Portugal, France cannot and will not 
 hold Spain ; ” and shall not , he might 
 have said. Moore, although always 
 meditating a retreat, never made any 
 preparations for one, either by sending 
 to reconnoitre routes, or to prepare 
 magazines and halting-places. He met 
 with little aid from the Castilians, still 
 less from the Grallicians. 
 
 Napier (iii. 3) has rescued his fair 
 fame, and exposed the red-tapists by 
 whom the brave soldier was sacrificed. 
 “ In Sir John Moore’s campaign ” 
 (said the honest Duke) “I can see but 
 one error; when he advanced upon 
 Sahagun he should have considered it 
 as a movement of retreat, and sent 
 officers in the rear to mark and prepare 
 halting-places for every brigade ; but 
 this opinion I have formed after long 
 experience of war, and especially the 
 peculiarities of Spanish war, which 
 must have been seen to be understood ; 
 finally, it is an opinion formed after 
 the event.” The Duke was soon after- 
 wards sent to Portugal, where the re- 
 treat to la Coruna was more than 
 wiped off by the sauve qui peut from 
 Oporto, whence Soult, after a trounc- 
 ing, which Moore never received at all, 
 fled under every circumstance of preci- 
 pitancy and discomfiture. 
 
 The ten long leagues from Benavente 
 to Astorga are dull and monotonous ; 
 the country is studded with vineyards 
 and small villages : at San Roman de 
 la Valle the mud-hills are excavated 
 into bodegas or wine-cellars, whose 
 contents proved more fatal to Moore’s 
 troops than any foe ; but Bacchus has 
 ever been more formidable to our sol- 
 diers than Mars. Headers of Gril Bias 
 may look out for the caves into which 
 he was carried by the robbers. The 
 uncivilized peasantry wear madrehas 
 or wooden sabots , turned up at the 
 toe, and supported by clogs ; they 
 hobble along in torture, even youth 
 looking care-worn and old 3 the 
 
 churches are mere barns, with a wall in 
 front built up to a point, whereon is 
 placed a niche for a bell, to which a 
 staircase conducts. Passing La Ba - 
 heza, with a decent yposada, pop. 2000, 
 observe its fine alameda of poplars : 
 now the snowy cloud-capped moun- 
 tains close in as an amphitheatre, and 
 seem to bar further approach. Soon 
 Astorga appears, looking both warlike 
 and picturesque ; the ancient walls still 
 speak the Homan, in spite of the re- 
 cent paltry defences raised in the Car- 
 list struggle, which speak the Spaniard. 
 There is a tolerable jposada just before 
 entering the town. 
 
 Astorga — Asturica Augusta— in the 
 days of Pliny (N. H. iii. 3), a “ mag- 
 nificent city,” now is much decayed. 
 Pop. under 3000. The bishopric, 
 founded in 747 by Don Alonso el Ca- 
 talico, is suffragan to Santiago ; the 
 town bears for arms a branch of oak, 
 indicative of strength. The local his- 
 tories are c Pundacion , Nombres y Ar- 
 mas ,’ &c., Pedro de Junco, 4to. Mad. 
 1634, and Pamplona, 1639 ; and a poor 
 book, c Historia de Astorga ,’ 8vo. Y alla- 
 dolid, 1840. Humboldt considers As- 
 torga to be a vernacular Iberian name, 
 and derived from Asta , “a rock, a 
 rock -built place,” e.g. Astures, Astaba , 
 Astigi. The Spaniards, finding in Sil. 
 Italicus (iii. 334) that one Astyr, son 
 of Memnon, fled to Spain, consider him 
 the founder of Asturica. Certainly it 
 is most ancient ; the walls are singu- 
 larly curious, and there are two Ho- 
 man tombs and inscriptions near the 
 Puerta de Hierro , built into the 
 breach as mere handy materials. Some 
 others of the 3rd and 4th centuries, 
 have been recently encrusted in the 
 walls of the Paseo Nuevo, than which 
 nothing can be more charming. Seen 
 from the outside, Astorga has a vene- 
 rable imposing appearance, with its 
 infinite semicircular towers, which do 
 not rise higher than the level of the 
 wall ; like Coria and Lugo, it gives a 
 perfect idea of a Spanish city fortified 
 by the Homans, of which so few speci- 
 mens remain, since most were dis- 
 mantled by Witiza : being so near the 
 2 b 2 
 
536 
 
 ROUTE 69. SALAMANCA TO LUGO. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 mountains, the rivers de Porcos and 
 Puerto occasionally overflow, causing 
 frightful ravages. 
 
 Astorga ranks as a grandee, for 
 many Spanish cities and corporations 
 have 'personal rank. It gives the title 
 of marquis to the Qsorio family, a ruin 
 of whose palace yet remains ; a portion 
 of the fine library fortunately escaped 
 Soult’s camp-fires, and now belongs to 
 the advocates at Edinburgh. Many of 
 the gems had been preyiously ex- 
 tracted ; the chocolate and mantecadas 
 of Astorga ^re renowned, and are much 
 more valued in Spain than books. 
 
 The Gfothic cathedral, raised in 
 1471, on the site of one more ancient, 
 has since been much modernised and 
 disfigured ; one tower is built of grey 
 stone, the other, of red, is capped with 
 a slated top. The exterior and entrance 
 are churrigueresque, and the two 
 lateral aisles are lower than the cen- 
 tral one ; observe the reja and elabo- 
 rate silleria del coro , in the tedesque 
 style of Bodrigo Aleman. The ridicu- 
 lous drummers, naked women, and 
 monsters, which ornament the organ 
 contrast strangely with the venerable 
 saints and bishops. The trasporo is 
 very bad ; the pulpit, with its medal- 
 lions, is better; the cloisters are 
 modern. The farTamed retablo is by 
 G-aspar Becerra, who was horn at 
 Baeza in 1520, studied under Michael 
 Angelo in Italy, and was patronised 
 by Philip II. ; his finest worlds are in 
 the Castiles and centre of Spain. This 
 retablo , executed in 1569, and perhaps 
 his masterpiece, unfortunately has been 
 much repainted : divided into three 
 parts, the framework of 'the under 
 story is supported by Berruguete 
 pillars : the second tier has fluted co- 
 lumns and enriched bases ; the third, 
 has pilasters in black and gold. The 
 carvings represent subjects from the 
 life of the Saviour and Virgin ; observe, 
 especially, the Pieta, the Ascencion, 
 and Coronation of the Santisima , and 
 the fine recumbent females and Mi- 
 chael Angelesque “ Charity.” These 
 nudities gave such offence to the thin- 
 skinned, that they were about to be 
 
 covered, when the Consejo of Madrid 
 interfered : these grand carvings are 
 very Florentine and muscular. In the 
 Capilla de San Cosine is the tomb of 
 King Alonso, ob. 880, with ancient 
 marble sculpture in low relief^ from 
 subjects of the New Testament. 
 
 Astorga , when utterly unprovided, 
 was assailed in February, 1810, by the 
 French under the cruel Loison, who 
 was nobly repulsed by the gallant Jose 
 Maria de Santocildes, with a few raw 
 soldiers. J unot came next, March 21, 
 and threatened to put the whole town 
 to the sword ; and then, in spite of the 
 advice of his engineers, rashly tried to 
 storm the town by the Puerta de 
 Hierro , but was beaten back. Santo- 
 cildes, deserted by Mahy, who ought 
 to have relieved him, and having ex- 
 pended his scanty ammunition, capitu- 
 lated April 22, after a noble defence. 
 Junot then dismantled the works, 
 and destroyed the fine palace of the 
 Astorga family, of which only two 
 turrets and some armorial shields re- 
 main, and are best seen from the garden 
 of the Moreno family, in whose house 
 Moore was lodged. In 1812, Castanos, 
 with 15,000 Gallicians, was here de- 
 tained three months by Gen. Bemond 
 and only 1500 gallant Frenchmen. 
 This was the manner in which the 
 “ Hero of Bailen ” co-operated with the 
 Duke, and at the moment when Mar- 
 mont was in his front ; indeed, he was 
 so inconvenienced by this slowness 
 that he thought of coming himself, for, 
 as he said, “It is ridiculous to talk of 
 Astorga as a fortified place ; it is a 
 walled town, which could not have 
 stood one day against a regular at- 
 tack ” (Disp. Feb. 23, 1811). 
 
 Astorga is the capital of La Mara - 
 gateria , or the country of the Mara - 
 gatos , which is about 4 L. square. It 
 contains 36 villages — SanPoman, near 
 Baueza, being one of the best. The 
 unamalgamating Maragatos, like the 
 Jews and gipsies, live exclusively 
 among their own people, preserving 
 their primeval costume and customs, 
 and never marrying out of their own 
 tribe. The women, who remain at 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 6 §. THE MARAGATOS. 
 
 537 
 
 home, do all the work in house and 
 field, while their undomestic nomade 
 husbands are always out and about. 
 Almost all are or dinar ios^ or carriers : 
 their honesty and industry are pro- 
 verbial ; they are the channels of 
 most traffic between Gallicia and the 
 Castiles, being seldom seen in the S. or 
 E. provinces. They are dressed in 
 leather jerkins, jubonetas , and wide 
 breeches, zaraguelles , with long brown 
 cloth gaiters, or polainas , with red 
 garters and slouching flapping hats. 
 Observe the models of their costume, 
 figures of painted wood, which strike 
 the hours on the clock on the plaza of 
 Astorga , and that of Pedro Mato , who 
 holds a weathercock at the cathedral. 
 The dress of the Maragata is equally 
 peculiar ; she wears, if married, a sort 
 of Moorish head-gear, called PI Cara- 
 miello. 
 
 The whole tribe assembles twice a 
 year at Astorga, at the feasts of Corpus 
 and the Ascension, when they dance 
 PI Canizo , beginning at 2 o’clock in 
 the afternoon, and ending precisely at 
 3. If any one not a Maragato joins, 
 they all leave off immediately. This 
 dance as well as their marriage cere- 
 monies is very peculiar. 
 
 The origin of the Maragatos is 
 doubtful. Some derived the name 
 from Mauri Coptic Moors taken in 
 battle, and certainly the Moors and 
 Moriscoes were the great carriers of 
 Spain. The Maragatos are, at all 
 events, arrieros — arre Arabice, gee up 
 — indeed, most words relating to the 
 barb and carrier- caravan craft are 
 Arabic, and prove whence the system 
 and science were derived by the 
 Spaniards. Thus purely Arabic are 
 the names of animals, Pecua , Jaca, 
 Acemil, Alfana } Alhamel , Almifor ; 
 their colours and qualities, Ala- 
 zan y Lozano , Zaino , Haron y LEara- 
 gan , Podado ; their helpers, instru- 
 ments, burdens, and language, Zagat , 
 Albeitar , Alforjas, Telliz , Pardo , 
 Porrage (forage), Zalea , Atahorre , 
 Grupa , Acial , Albarda , Almohaza , 
 Jamuga , Atahona , G-uiar } Arre , Anda : 
 etc. 
 
 The Maragatos are celebrated for 
 their fine beasts of burden ; indeed, the 
 mules of Leon are renowned, and the 
 asses splendid and numerous, especi- 
 ally the nearer one approaches the 
 learned university of Salamanca. The 
 Maragatos take precedence on the road: 
 they are the lords of the highway, being 
 the channels of commerce in a land 
 where mules and asses represent lug- 
 gage rail trains. They know and feel 
 their importance, and that they are the 
 rule, and the traveller for mere plea- 
 sure is the exception. Few Spanish 
 muleteers are much more polished than 
 their beasts. However picturesque the 
 scene, it is no joke meeting a recua of 
 laden acemilas in a narrow road, espe- 
 cially with a precipice on one side — - 
 cosa de Pspana. The Maragatos 
 seldom give way, and their mules 
 keep doggedly on, and as the tercios or 
 baggage projects on each side, like the 
 paddles of a steamer, they sweep the 
 whole path. But all wayfaring details 
 in the genuine Spanish interior are 
 calculated for the pacTc ; and there 
 is no thought bestowed on the foreigner, 
 who is not wanted, nay is disliked. 
 The inns, roads, and right sides, suit 
 the natives and their brutes ; nor will 
 either put themselves out of their way 
 to please the fancies of a stranger. The 
 Peninsula is too little travelled over 
 for its people to adopt the mercenary 
 conveniences of the Swiss, that nation 
 of innkeepers and coach-jobbers. 
 
 The difficulties and bver-haste of 
 Moore’s retreat began after Astorga, 
 for up to then, he had hoped to bring 
 the enemy to a general action. The 
 high road to Lugo is a superb monu- 
 ment of mountain engineering. The 
 leagues, marked by milestones, are very 
 long, being de marco , or of 8000 yards 
 each; The climate is cold and rainy, 
 and the accommodations fit only for 
 swine ; bad even in summer and peace, 
 how fearful must they have been du- 
 ring the snows and starvation of a De- 
 cember retreat ! 
 
 Leaving Astorga, we ascend, over a 
 heatli-clad “ highland ” country, to ele- 
 vated Manzanal , and enter PI Vierzo , 
 
538 
 
 ROUTE 69. — FILANG1ERI. 
 
 Sect. YIII. 
 
 the Switzerland of Leon, a district of 
 alpine passes, trout -streams, pleasant 
 meadows, and groves of chesnuts and 
 walnuts. Bembimbre , pop. 500, lies 
 with its old castle on the trout-streams 
 ISToceda and Baeza, amid green mea- 
 dows, gardens, and vineyards whose 
 wines were far more fatal to Moore’s 
 soldiers than the French sabres ; so 
 much for Bembimbre — bene bibere. 
 BonferroAa (Interamnium Fluvium), 
 which is not entered, rises to the 1. on 
 the confluence of the Sil and Boeza. 
 Pop. 4000. The bridge (Pons ferrata) 
 was boilt in the eleventh century, for 
 the passage of pilgrims to Corngostella , 
 who took the direct route along the 
 Sil by Val de Orras and Orense. The 
 town afterwards belonged to the Tem- 
 plars and was protected by the mira- 
 culous image of the Virgin, which was 
 found in an oak, and hence is called 
 Nuestra Senora de la Bncina ; it is 
 still the patroness of the Vierzo. Gre- 
 gorio Hernandez carved an excellent 
 Magdalen for the parish church. Bon- 
 ferrada , a good point of starting to 
 see the ancient convents of this The- 
 bais, and an excellent quarter for the 
 angler, has a theatre and a nice Baseo 
 de la Cruz. Cacavelos is a wretched 
 hamlet ; it has, however, a jposada , 
 where we slept. Between this and 
 Brieros , 400 of the 95th and a picket 
 of cavalry were attacked (Jan. 3, 1809) 
 by Gen. Colbert and eight squadrons. 
 He was killed, and his outnumbering 
 force beaten back everywhere. Buona- 
 parte’s veracious version of this de- 
 feat ran thus in his 25th bulletin : — 
 “ L’arriere garde Anglaise £tait com- 
 posee de 5000 hommes d’infanterie, et 
 600 chevaux ; cette position etait fort 
 belle et difficile a aborder. Le General 
 Merle fit ses dispositions : l’infanterie 
 approcha : on battit la charge, et les 
 Anglais furent mis dans une entiere 
 deroute.” 
 
 Villafranca del Vierzo ( Bosada 
 Nueva) ; pop. 3000, and truly Swiss - 
 like, is placed in a funnel of mountains, 
 with cottages, convents, vines, and bal- 
 conies, and painter-like bridges hang- 
 ing over the trout-streams the Burbia 
 
 and Valcarce ; yet it is the abode of dirt, 
 misery, and picturesque poverty. At 
 the entrance, the large square fortress 
 palace, with round towers at the corner, 
 which belonged to the Alva family, 
 is now a prison. Here Bomana, in 
 1809, took 1000 of the French garrison 
 prisoners. Here and in the Vierzo, 
 although fish and fruit abound, rye- 
 bread, or Ban de centeno , forms the 
 scanty staff of life. This town, for- 
 merly the halting-place of the French 
 pilgrims bound to Santiago, was hence 
 called Villa Francorum. Given to a 
 brotherhood of monks from Cluny, the 
 name of the present Colegiata retains 
 the origin in the corrupted Nuestra 
 Senora de Crunego , or Cluniego. 1 L. 
 E. on the road to Corullen is another 
 ancient church, La Santa Marina . 
 The enormous Franciscan convent 
 which overlooks the town on the r. was 
 founded to expiate his proportionate 
 crimes by Don Pedro de Toledo, the 
 Viceroy of Naples, who, aided by 
 Paul III., tried to introduce the Inqui- 
 sition. The populace, in profane joy 
 at this persecutor’s death, exclaimed, 
 “ He has descended into hell for our 
 salvation.” He bequeathed to the 
 monks his fine library of Greek manu- 
 scripts, lost for ever, when the village 
 was sacked in 1810. 
 
 Here, June 24, 1808, Filangieri, 
 governor of La Coruna, was murdered 
 by his troops because slow in proclaim- 
 ing the cause of independence. This 
 Italian by birth had the common 
 military sense to see that Fabian and 
 defensive strategics were those which 
 history and the character of this coun- 
 try and people demonstrated as the 
 best suited ; this delay offended those 
 Spaniards who were eager to rush 
 into general actions and defeats, and 
 his prudence was imputed to trea- 
 chery ; he was, moreover, a foreigner, 
 whereat BspanoUsmo took huff, and 
 his conduct was called a judiada , the 
 deed of a Jew (Schep. i. 404), accord- 
 ingly his troops fixed their bayonets 
 in the ground, with the points upper- 
 most, and tossed their general on 
 them, spiking him to death, as the 
 
Leon. 
 
 ROUTE 69. — EL YIERZO. 
 
 539 
 
 Carthaginians didRegulus. The Junta 
 took no steps to prevent this crime : 
 and Blake, who wanted to step into 
 his command, and did succeed to 
 Filangieri, only sent a preventive bat- 
 talion after the deed was done. ! 
 
 Continuing our route over a noble 
 road, the mountain barrier of Grallicia 
 is scaled by the Alpine pass el Puerto 
 de Piedrahita , near Doncos. The 
 Burbia to the 1. forms the perfection 
 of a trout-stream ; this pleasant brawl- 
 ing companion to the dusty highway is 
 tracked upwards and upwards, until 
 it becomes a rivulet heard but not 
 seen, amid its fringed, picturesque 
 banks. 
 
 The road after the Puerto descends 
 to wretched Nogales. A decent posada 
 lies to the r. on leaving the town. The 
 pastoral country has neither the charms 
 of Switzerland or the plenty of Eng- 
 land ; damp, and with all the discom- 
 forts, it furnishes none of the luxuries 
 of the Alps. There is no cream, butter, 
 or strawberries. The squalid natives, 
 tattered and half-clad, just vegetate 
 and starve in ill-constructed hovels, 
 fitter for beasts than men, and formed 
 to admit, not exclude, the evils of the 
 climate ; the very swine have lost their 
 Estremenian rotundity. The ascent 
 continues to Santa Isabel , where the 
 slate roofs are kept down from the 
 winds by heavy stones. The women 
 turn their brown petticoat sagas edged 
 with white, over their heads, and thus 
 form the genuine national mantilla. 
 The grand road winds up the heights, 
 with a tremendous precipice to the 
 r., and a rapid river deep below ; all 
 around the grey rocks peep out of 
 the cistus and heath. The fine bridge 
 of Corcul spans with three arches a 
 terrific ravine, and its creamy- coloured 
 masonry is worthy of the Romans ; 
 here, from Moore’s previous over-hasty 
 destruction of heavy fourgons, the en- 
 gineers failed from want of even tools 
 in mining the bridge, which would 
 have arrested the French pursuit at 
 once ; and although Moore was a whole 
 day in advance, here 25,000£. in dollars 
 
 were thrown down the precipices ; then, 
 according to Buonaparte (bulletin 27), 
 the French took “ 2 millions of francs, 
 the English carrying of from 8 to 10 
 millions more thus was magnified 
 into 660,000£. a sum proved by parlia- 
 mentary papers to have only been be- 
 tween 60,0Q0Z. and 70,000Z. But little 
 Boney was truly great in the “ lie 
 circumstantial.’ ’ 
 
 After Sobrado the country gets 
 prettier and more English. As we 
 emerge from the mountains, the noble 
 Mino winds through pleasant meadows, 
 but Lugo is not seen until nearly ap- 
 proached. There is a decent posada 
 in the Barrio de San Roque before en- 
 tering the town. 
 
 The kingdom of Leon stretches both 
 to the r. and 1. of Benavente ; the por- 
 tion to the 1. is called PI Vierzo or PI 
 Bierzo , a name corrupted from the 
 Roman Bergidum, the Interamnium 
 Plavium of Ptolemy. The site of which 
 river-girt town, some have placed 
 near Carucedo at Castro de la Vent os a, 
 a wind-blown eminence, a Windsor 
 which commands the district, and traces 
 of walls yet remain ; the Vierzo , one of 
 the most interesting nooks in the whole 
 Peninsula, is all but unknown to the 
 English antiquary, artist, angler, and 
 sportsman. The singular ecclesiastical 
 details have only just been nibbled at 
 by Southey (Letters, i. 105) ; here, in- 
 deed, is a fresh ground open to all 
 original ladies and gentlemen who 
 aspire in these threadbare days to book 
 something new for the season. Nor 
 are old printed books altogether want- 
 ing ; in the ecclesiological branch the 
 best is honest Ambrosio Morales, who 
 was sent here in 1572 by Philip II. to 
 inspect the archives a^id relics. His re- 
 port, £ Viaje de Morales Jfo\. Mad. 1765, 
 was published by Florez, who also dedi- 
 cated the 14th, 15th, and 16th volumes 
 of his ‘ Pspaha Sagrada ’ to these parts 
 and the vicinity ; his maps of the 
 bishopric of Astorga by Manuel Sutil, 
 1761, and of Orense by Joseph Cornide , 
 1763, will be found very useful in 
 threading this intricate and alpine 
 
540 
 
 ROUTE 69. EL YIERZO. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 country. The traveller should visit 
 FI Vierzo in the summer time, bring- 
 ing plenty of tackle, and of course 
 taking a local guide, and especially at- 
 tending to the “ provend.” 
 
 The Vierzo extends about 10 L. E. 
 and W. by 8 N. and S. This am- 
 phitheatre is shut out from the world 
 by lofty snow - capped mountains, 
 raised as it were by the hand of some 
 genii to enclose a simple valley of Ras- 
 selas. The great Asturian chain slopes 
 from Leitariegos to the S.W., parting 
 into two offshoots ; that of VI Puerto 
 de Rabanal and Fuencebadon (Eons 
 Sabatonis) constitute the E. barrier, 
 and the other, running by the Fuertos 
 de Cebrero and Aguiar, forms the fron- 
 tier ; while to the S. the chains of the 
 Sierras de Segundera , Sanabria , and 
 Cabrera complete the base of the 
 triangle : thus hemmed in by a natural 
 circumvallation, the concavity must be 
 descended into from whatever side it be 
 approached ; this crater, no doubt, was 
 once a large lake, the waters of which 
 have burst a way out, passing through 
 the narrow gorge of the Sil, by Val de 
 Orras , just as the Elbe forms the only 
 spout or outlet to hill- walled -in Bo- 
 hemia, the Jcettle-land of Germany. 
 
 The vicinity of mountains and the 
 natural elevation render the winters 
 cold, but the summers are delicious. 
 The central portion, which is bounded 
 to the E. and S; by the Sil, and to the 
 W. by the Cua and then the Burbia, 
 is in some portions a Swiss paradise, 
 where Ceres and Bacchus* Flora and 
 Pomona, might dwell together. The 
 snow- clad sierras are the alembics of 
 crystal streams, which descend into 
 lochs, and feed rivers that teem with 
 trout, while the woods and aromatic 
 wastes abound in game of all kinds, 
 both caza mayor y menor. Here grow 
 hay, turnips, and potatoes, rare pro- 
 ductions in the tierras calientes ; while 
 the verdurous meadows and thyme- 
 clad hills, afford pasture for flocks of 
 sheep, to tend which is one great oc- 
 cupation of the simple primitive natives. 
 These districts shut out from the 
 
 world, attracted the notice of the re- 
 cluse in the 7th century. The spirit of 
 that age was monastic, and the good 
 work consisted in flying from the liv- 
 ing into solitude ; for the essence of 
 the monk was to be alone and in the 
 desert, /uovos sv tZ z^yi/hZ : and never 
 was nature more enthroned in loneli- 
 ness than here : nor are water and 
 herbs, hermit’ s^ fare? wanting. Ac- 
 cordingly the Vierzo became a The- 
 bais, and rivalled the holiest dis- 
 tricts of Palestine in the number of 
 its sanctuaries and saints, which, says 
 Florez, (‘Fsp. Sag xvi. 26), God alone, 
 who can count the stars of heaven, 
 could enumerate. The first founder, 
 a.d. 606, was San Fructuoso, the son 
 of the count or petty sovereign of FI 
 Vierzo, — a sheikh shepherd, whose 
 wealth consisted in herds and sheep ; 
 his heir preferred flocks of holy monks. 
 Having surrendered his worldly goods 
 he settled in the Puerto de Rob anal, 
 and founded the convent of Compludo. 
 The fame of his sanctity, and the num- 
 ber of his miracles, attracted so many 
 disciples, that Fructuoso, to escape the 
 pressure from without, retired from 
 one cave to another, and once was 
 nearly killed, having been mistaken for 
 a wild beast by a hunter. His 
 biography was written by Valerio, 
 one of his disciples. At the Moor- 
 ish invasion these Christian valleys 
 were ravaged, the monks dispersed, 
 and their ^edifices destroyed; but the 
 religio loci was indestructible, and 
 when the Gothic kingdom grew in 
 strength* a second founder arose about 
 890 in the person of San Genadio. 
 The infinite number of early monas- 
 teries are referred to in the l Fsp. Sag .,’ 
 xvi. Some of them have crumbled 
 away from sheer age, others have been 
 converted into parish churches for their 
 respective hamlets, and many were 
 burnt by the invaders. 
 
 To the military man the Vierzo is 
 interesting as being the line by which 
 Soult retreated in 1809 after he was 
 so signally surprised and so soundly 
 beaten at Oporto by the Duke. These 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 70 .— SOULT’s RAVAGES. 
 
 541 
 
 happy valleys, in which, amid a sim- 
 ple peasantry, hermits and philoso- 
 phers had long dwelt in peace, were 
 visited by the enemy, who, infuriated 
 by defeat and disgrace, vented his 
 rage on the poor villagers. Soult 
 spared, says Monsieur Durosoir 
 (‘Espagne,’ 146), neither sex nor age. 
 Loison led the way ; in the Val de 
 Orras he is better known by the nick- 
 name Manet a, the bloody one-handed. 
 He was the Alaric of Evora, the 
 forager of women. “His misdeeds 
 (says Southey, 35) were never equalled 
 or paralleled in the dark ages, uncivi- 
 lised countries, or barbarous hordes.” 
 “Le conge des Eran 9 ais (says Sche- 
 peler, ii. 374) en Gralicie fut signale 
 le 27 par les flammes de 31 villages 
 incendies dans le Vierzo.” Their pro- 
 gress is thus described by Foy (i. 62), 
 quseque ipse miserrima vidit, et quo- 
 rum pars magna fuit : “ Ainsi que la 
 neige precipitee des sommets des Alpes 
 dans les vallons, nos armees innom- 
 brables detruisaient en quelques heures, 
 par leur seul passage, les ressources de 
 toute une contree ; elles bivouaquaient 
 habituellement, et a chaque gite nos 
 soldats demolissaient les maisons baties 
 depuis un demi-siecle, pour construire 
 avec les decombres ces longs villages 
 alignes qui souvent ne devaient durer 
 qu’un jour : au defaut du bois des 
 forets les arbres fruitiers, les vegetaux 
 precieux, comme le murier, Y olivier, 
 l’oranger, servaient a les rechauffer ; 
 les consents irrites a la fois par le be- 
 som et par le danger contractaient une 
 ivresse morale dont nous ne cherchions 
 pas a les guerir.” j 
 
 . Who can fail to compare this ha- 
 bitual practice of Buonaparte’s legions 
 with the terrible description in Hosea 
 (chap ii.), of the “ great people and 
 strong” who execute the dread judg- 
 ments of Heaven : “ A fire devoureth 
 before them, and behind them a flame 
 burneth ; the land is the garden of 
 Eden before them, and behind them a 
 desolate wilderness, yea, and nothing 
 shall escape them.” 
 
 Route 70. — Benavente to Orense. 
 
 N.B. — These distances are given approxima- 
 tively, as authorities differ, some making the 
 route 6 L. longer. 
 
 Sistrama de Tera . . 
 
 . 2 
 
 
 Vega de Tera . . . 
 
 . 2 * . 
 
 . it 
 
 Mombuey .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . It 
 
 Remesel .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 10* 
 
 Puebla de Sanabria 
 
 . 1* . 
 
 . 12 
 
 Requejo 
 
 . 1* . 
 
 
 Lubian 
 
 
 
 Canizo 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 
 Navallo 
 
 . 2i . 
 
 . 21 
 
 Ferreiras .... 
 
 . It . 
 
 . 22* 
 
 Monterey .... 
 
 
 . 24 
 
 Villar del Rey . . . 
 
 . 2 1 . 
 
 . 26* 
 
 Abavides .... 
 
 
 . 27* 
 
 Ginzo de Limia. . . 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 28* 
 
 Allariz 
 
 
 
 Taboadella .... 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 31* 
 
 Orense 
 
 
 . 33* 
 
 The main picturesque and iniqui- 
 tous communication between Yigo and 
 Madrid, branches off to the 1. from 
 Benavente. The road is far from good, 
 especially after Requejo to Monterey, 
 knew Car ret era , long in contemplation, 
 has been longer delayed by local jealou- 
 sies and the want of funds ; a really 
 good communication would be opened 
 by it from the Atlantic to the capital. 
 After leaving Benavente and crossing 
 a tributary of the Esla at Sistrama ^ 
 the beautiful Tera flows to the 1., and 
 is tracked upwards through its lovely 
 Vega. At the village on the Rio Negro , 
 a stream which comes down from Car- 
 bajal , is a remarkable image, called 
 Nuestra Sehora de Farragos, Our 
 Lady of “old clothes” (whom Jews 
 might worship) ; this name was given 
 because the beggars who are cured of 
 diseases by her intervention dedicate 
 their votive rags and tatters to her 
 shrine* Mombuey , in its valley, has 
 a fine oak-clad hill. Pop. 600, posada 
 decent,- wine good. LaRuebla de Sana - 
 bria , the chief place of its mountain- 
 ous ypartido, pop. 600, is built on a slaty 
 slope, with the noble Sierra de Segun - 
 dera risingto the N.W.; posada descent. 
 This frontier jglaza has some old walls 
 and a castle on the eminence, and is a 
 good point from whence to make excur- 
 sions into the Vierzo , and especially to 
 the lake and convent of San Martin de 
 Castaneda . The romantic road now 
 2 B 3 
 
542 
 
 ROUTE 70. — EXCURSIONS IN THE VIERZO. Sect. VIII. 
 
 turns towards Pequejo , winding under 
 an offshot of the Segundera, and is 
 often almost impracticable in winter. 
 It continues to be very indifferent by 
 the Portillo, of Padornelo to Lubian , 
 where the Sierra rises to the r., and 
 the frontier of Portugal distant about 
 2 L., expands to the 1. This is a dis- 
 trict of smugglers ; indeed, the whole 
 intricate indented raya , from Ciudad 
 Bodrigo to Orense and Tuy, is peopled 
 by bold Contrabandist as , who con- 
 stitute one-fifth of the male population, 
 and carry on traffic, in localities where 
 regular trade is in a state of congestion. 
 Canda is placed in the portillo which 
 divides Leon from Grallicia. At Canizo , 
 with a poor venta, another road to 
 Orense branches off to the r., by which 
 7 L. are saved ; but it is an atajo , and 
 very rough riding over hills and valleys. 
 The fine, however, is a follows : 
 
 Erosa 1 
 
 Porto de Camba . . . 2 . . 3 
 
 Laza 
 
 
 . 4 
 
 Alvergueria . . . 
 
 . . 1* . 
 
 . Si 
 
 Pedreda .... 
 
 . . li ., 
 
 . 1 
 
 Orense * . . . 
 
 
 . 8 
 
 Laza , pop. 900, is charmingly situated, 
 with the Sierra de Mamed, rising to the 
 N., in a valley watered by two streams 
 which flow into the Tamega , a beauti- 
 ful trout river, which meanders down 
 to Monterey. Near Pedreda a rivulet is 
 crossed which flows into the laguna 
 of the Limia. It is better to continue 
 the under line, and proceed W.S.W. to 
 Verm , pop. 800, placed on the 1. bank 
 of the Tamega, with the hill and impos- 
 ing castle of Monterey rising opposite. 
 There is a good stone bridge, but the 
 river often in high floods inundates the 
 village. The valley district abounding 
 in fruit and vines, and the granary of 
 Grallicia, is a bosom of beauty and pic- 
 turesque discomfort. S. of Verin , at 
 Villar de Ciervos , near the Portuguese 
 frontier, are some neglected tin-mines. 
 Ascend to the castle of the Condes at 
 Monterey to enjoy the fine view. The 
 road now winds more N. up to Villar 
 del Pey , and Abavides , by the ridge 
 which divides the basins of the Ta- 
 mega and trout and salmon stocked 
 
 Limia. The latter is crossed at Ginzo , 
 a hamlet, with a decent posada placed 
 below the laguna , in which the waters 
 flowing from the Sierra de Mamed 
 are collected, as it were, into a pan- 
 tano or reservoir. This same Mamed 
 hill, be it said, is beautiful as its 
 namesake Mamhead near Exeter. This 
 Limia is th& real river of Oblivion, 
 which has been'” confounded with the 
 Guadalete , near Xerez. Another 
 ridge divides this basin from that of 
 the trout -river Amoy a, and tributary 
 of the Mino. Allariz , the capital of 
 its pretty partido , pop. 2500, might 
 be made the angler and artist’s head- 
 quarters. This walled place has a 
 castle of the Malpicas, and two stone 
 bridges. The huge square Franciscan 
 convent, Santa Clara, was founded in 
 1292, by Violanta, wife of Alonso el 
 Sabio : besides hers, there are ancient 
 sepulchral memorials in the Coro of 
 sundry infantes and of the Biedma 
 family. The grand saint, however, is 
 one Brandeso. Those who fish up the 
 stream will find 1 L. another rural 
 village called Junquera de Ambia: pop. 
 700, with an old priory, founded in 
 876 by Grundi salvo and Ilduara, buried 
 here. W. of Allariz , and 3 L. from 
 Orense, is Celanova , with the cele- 
 brated convent. See Index. 
 
 Excursions in the Yierzo. 
 
 Grood starting points are from Puebla 
 de Sanabria , Astorga , Ponferrada , 
 Villafranca , and Puente de Domingo 
 Florez , within which circle this pre- 
 serve of monks and trout-fishers is 
 enclosed. The chief monasteries worth 
 notice are San Martin de Castaneda , 
 Santiago de Penalva , and Carracedo 
 el Peal. The best streams are the 
 Tera, Eria, Tuerto, and Orbigo, which 
 go to swell the Esla, and the Cabrera, 
 Burbia, Cua, tributaries of the Sil, 
 itself a prince of rivers. Starting from 
 Puebla de Sanabria , taking a local 
 guide, ascend the Tera to the Lago , 
 distant about 2J L., the reservoir of 
 that sweet river, which rising in the 
 mountains behind, near the Portillo , 
 after flowing about 2 L. into its charm- 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 70. — EXCURSIONS IN THE VIERZO. 
 
 543 
 
 ing cueva , falls into the lake, hemmed 
 in by a horseshoe of hills ; these are 
 the spnrs of the slaty and often snow- 
 clad Segundera, whose reflected outlines 
 bathe themselves in the clear water. 
 This crystal loch, like the filled crater 
 of a volcano, is about four miles round, 
 and of unknown depth. The trout are 
 noble in size, inexhaustible in number, 
 and when in season pink as chars. A 
 boat and an attendant may be hired at 
 the prettily placed village : pop. 300. 
 A castle, built by way of fishing-box 
 of the old Counts of Benavente, on an 
 island, has been repaired by the pre- 
 sent Duke of Ossuna. The Bernardine 
 monastery, founded in 952, and ac- 
 cidentally burnt, was well placed with 
 a warm S.E. aspect on the mountain 
 slopes. 
 
 From the Puebla de Sanabria to 
 Astorga is 13 L. ; mountain leagues : 
 attend to the provend ; the scenery is 
 wild and grand, and the rivers beau- 
 tiful. Return to Remesal , 1 L., and 
 thence by Carbajales de la Fncomienda 
 2 L. to Muelas, in a plain near which 
 are some iron-mines and wild shoot- 
 ing ; then cross a ridge to Castro Con- 
 trigo 3 L. ; pop. 800 ; placed under the 
 snowy Telado and Pena Negra, and on 
 the picturesque and piscatoria Eria. 
 
 From the Puebla de Sanabria the 
 lover of sweet-aired highlands may 
 cross the Sierra to Puente de Domingo 
 Florez by Vigo , ascend the Vega de 
 Tera to the Portillo , keep then to the 
 1. to the Puente de los Gallegos , and 
 thence to Campo-Romo , descending by 
 San Pedro de Trones to the bridge 
 over the Cabrera. This village, a good 
 fishing- quarter, lies under, the Campo 
 de Prana , near the confluence of the 
 Cabrera and Sil ; the former comes 
 down from the ridge of the Cabrera, a 
 district divided into altaybaja, whence 
 the waters part, flowing E. and W. 
 Thus the Eria descends in a contrary 
 direction to the Cabrera. The whole 
 of the Cabrera may be fished up, turn- 
 ing at its bend near Robledo up to the 
 reservoir lake at La Paha. 
 
 There are several routes E. from the 
 Puente de Domingo ; first either follow 
 
 the r. bank of the Cabrera to Lavilla , 
 and then ascend the Cuesta de Llamas 
 to Odollo , and so on to Castrillo and 
 Corporates, descending by Truchas (the 
 name tells its produce) to Quintanilla 
 and FI Villar , then crossing the Eria 
 ascend to Torneros , whence either pro- 
 ceed NT. to Astorga or W. to La Pa - 
 heza. From FI Villar the angler 
 might fish down the charming Eria, 
 keeping on the 1. bank to see the mo- 
 nastery of San Fsteban de Nogales , or 
 on leaving FI Puente de Domingo the 
 Cabrera may be crossed and the ascent 
 gained to Robledo sobre Castro , and 
 thence up to Piedrahita , descending to 
 Lomba and reascending to the beauti- 
 ful Portillo de la Pana , and thence to 
 La Pana , and over the Cabrera ridge 
 to Truchas and Castro Contrigo. 
 
 Excursions are to be made from FI 
 Puente de Domingo ; and first to the 
 W. : cross the bridge over the Cabrera, 
 and then pass the arrowy Sil to the r. 
 at Puente Nueto; go on to the Parco d% 
 Valdeorras 2 L., where the kingdom of 
 GraUicia begins ; hence 2 L. more to La 
 Rua , a village of some 300 souls. The 
 bridge over the Sil is of Roman founda- 
 tion, and is termed Cigarrosa , a corrup- 
 tion of Sigurra , the ancient town which 
 once stood here. Quitting now the 
 road to Orense , make for San Miguel 
 de Monte Fur ado, the “pierced hill ,” 
 which lies about 2J D. on the r. bank 
 of the Sil. The mountain rock by 
 which the course of the river was 
 impeded, called by the Romans Mons 
 Lavicus, was dedicated to Jupiter, as 
 an inscription on it recorded. It is 
 tunnelled through for the space of 
 some 300 yards, a work of uncertain 
 object, and wrought some imagine for 
 the purpose of draining the upper 
 country, while others deem it a shaft 
 cut by miners in search of gold (con- 
 sult ‘ Fsp. Sag., 1 xv. 63 ; Morales, 
 ‘Anti.’ 16; Molina, 14). To this day 
 diminutive nuggets are found in the 
 rude washings, not diggings, of amphi- 
 bious pauper gold fishers. The Sil, an 
 ancient and common name for rivers 
 (Hirt. B.A. 57), is derived from Silex, 
 the flints of their beds. 
 
544 
 
 ROUTE 71. PONFERRADA TO ORENSE. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 The Roman road crossed the Sil at 
 Cigarrosa and continued to Laroco : 
 the windings and elbow turns are 
 called los Codos de Ladoco, a corrup- 
 tion, according to Molina, of Layico, 
 whence Larouco. It may he as well 
 to give the whole route from Ponfer- 
 rada to Orense. 
 
 Route 71 .“Poneerrada to Orense. 
 
 Borrenes ..... 2 
 
 Puente Domingo Florez . 2 . . 4 
 
 Barco de Yaldeorras . . 2 . . 6 
 
 Laroco 3£ .. 9£ 
 
 Puebla de Trives . . . 2 ... ll£ 
 
 Burgo ...... 2 . . 13^ 
 
 Villarino Frio . . . . 2 . . 15i 
 
 Nino Dagura . . . . 2 .. ltl 
 
 Orense *..... 3 . . 20i 
 
 This is a Swiss -like ride by fell and 
 flood, hill and yale. Borrenes , pop. 
 400, stands in a plain girt with hills, 
 which contain, iron mines. To the L, near 
 the Sil, is the lake of Carucedo , about 
 3 miles round, abounding in eels. Las 
 Medulas, 1 L. on, the ancient Argen- 
 tiolum, is placed under the Camjpo de 
 Braua ; the mines so much worked by 
 the Romans are now abandoned. 
 Molina (p. 24) describes some curious 
 caves and strange tower-like mounds, 
 called Torres de Barro , which have 
 been formed out of the marl and soil 
 by the action of the waters : hence by 
 the line just described to Laroco , a vil- 
 lage of 1000 souls. Crossing the Bibey 
 is Puebla de Tribes , 2 L., where the 
 Navea rises, after which we emerge from 
 the hills, keeping the Sierra de San Ma- 
 med to the 1. This district, called La 
 Tierra de Caldelas , is celebrated for 
 its hams. A detour to the r. may be 
 made after passing Villarino Frio , and 
 the river Arnoya may be ascended to 
 Junquera de Fsjpadaheda , where there 
 is a Cistercian monastery founded in 
 1225 ; thence the traveller may pro- 
 ceed through Bocas to Pivas de Sil , 
 in order to see the Benedictine con- 
 vent of San Esteban, erected on a 
 most secluded hilly and romantic bend 
 of the river, by Ordono in 961. The 
 old tombs of nine bishops in the 
 cloisters have been broken up and used 
 
 for building materials. This convent 
 lies 3 L. from Orense , through Fara- 
 montamos. Keeping on the 1. bank of 
 the Sil, the fisherman will cross over 
 the ferry and cast a fly in the rivers 
 Cabe and Miho, which flow into the 
 Sil : the Mino, although smaller, now 
 robs its beautiful absorbent of both 
 waters and name. Picturesque Mon- 
 forte de Lemos lies distant 3 L. The 
 track to Orense^ runs through Pom- 
 beiro , Peroja , and Bivela , after cross- 
 ing the Bubal. For Orense see p. 623. 
 
 Contents in the Yierzo. 
 
 The pilgrim must visit the sites to 
 which the Saints Fructuoso and Ge- 
 nadio (see p. 540) retired. Ponfer - 
 rada will be the most convenient 
 starting-point ; and first for Santiago 
 de Penalva , which lies by direct road 
 about 3 L., but the following longer 
 circuit includes other interesting sites : 
 — Make first for Camjgo , on the banks 
 of the Boeza, amid its turnips and 
 potatoes ; thence to Fsjpinosa , 2 L,, 
 on the Rio Misuelos , from which Com- 
 jpludo , in its plain, is distant 2 L. 
 Here the first convent was founded, 
 in 614, by San Fructuoso, who dedi- 
 cated it to San Justo y Pastor, the 
 tutelars of Comjglutum (Alcala de 
 LLenares). How pass through Bouzas, 
 ascend the ridge of the Monte Lrago , 
 part of the E. barrier of the Yierzo ; 
 the way is rough and rugged, and the 
 distance may be some 3^ mountain 
 leagues to Santiago de Penalva , a 
 miserable village. The Benedictine 
 convent, placed about half-way up the 
 W. side of the ridge, takes its name 
 from the white snow-capped peak. San 
 Fructuoso chose this site on account 
 of the natural caves, which still re- 
 main, looking E. and hanging over the 
 Bio de Silencio, which flows into the 
 Oza, and thence by the Valduesa into 
 the Sil. These caves, five in number, 
 are still called las Cuevas de Silencio , 
 and hi them the taciturn monks used 
 to pass their Lent. A wild goat path 
 leads up to this retreat, fitted for a San 
 Bruno and a Salvator Rosa. The Be- 
 nedictine convent, begun by San Gre- 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 72. CONVENTS IN THE VIERZO. 
 
 nadio in 920, was completed after his 
 death in 937 ; afterwards a sort of 
 cloister cemetery was built around the 
 original chapel, in which crumble 
 several much dilapidated tombs of great 
 antiquity. However, to visit them is 
 still a religious duty, and the 25th of 
 May is a grand day of pilgrimage, on 
 which the picturesque peasants of the 
 Vierzo flock here in great numbers : 
 then is the time for the artist. The 
 chapel, now the parish church, is of an 
 oval form, with a circular termination 
 at the E, and W. ends. It is entered 
 from the S. from the cloister or ceme- 
 tery ; near the opposite door lies buried 
 the abbot Esteban, ob. 1132. The high 
 altar is placed in the E. absis, and the 
 sepulchre of San Grenadio and Urbano 
 in that to the W. | 
 
 San Eructuoso’s next retreat from 
 the Caves of Silence was at San Pedro 
 de Montes , about 1J L. W. under the 
 desolate hills of Aguilanas , or the 
 “Eagle’s haunt,” a name now cor- 
 rupted into Sierra Aguiana : here he 
 made himself a cell so narrow that he 
 could not turn round in it. The build- 
 ing, destroyed by the Moors, was re- 
 stored in 895 by San Grenadio; the 
 chapel was finished in 919 by an archi- 
 tect named Vivianus (see the curious in- 
 scriptions, 4 JEsjp. Sag. ,’ xvi. 132 ; Cean 
 Ber. 4 Arch.’ i. 9). It was raised, as 
 is there stated, 44 non oppressione vulgi, 
 sed largitate pretii et sudore fratrum.” 
 Here San Grenadio died, and bequeathed 
 to the convent his curious library ; 
 Morales saw some of the books ( 4 Viaje’ 
 173), but the careless Benedictines had 
 allowed them to be much torn and in- 
 jured, as occurs in the Greek and Syrian 
 monasteries. On the summit of the 
 Sierra, above San Pedro , is a high place 
 sacred to the Virgin, to which pil- 
 grimages are made in summer. One 
 league from San Pedro , in a cold, ele- 
 vated, and bleak situation, is Perra- 
 dillo , whose woods supply fuel for the 
 neighbouring iron - forges : descend 
 
 hence half a league to Santa Lucia , 
 once a convent, and distant 2J L., to 
 Ponferrada , passing through Pimor , 
 1 L., and Toral de Merago , where the 
 
 545 
 
 meadows are pleasant, and the bridge 
 excellent. 
 
 From Ponferrada another excursion 
 may be made on the r. bank of the Sil 
 to the royal Cistercian monastery of 
 Caracedo , on the 1. bank of the Cua. 
 Founded in 990 by Bermudo II., 
 for the place of his sepulture, it 
 was restored in 1138 by Sancha, 
 daughter of Queen Urraca. The library 
 here also was numerous, before the 
 stupid monks, as Morales tells us 
 ( 4 Viaje,’ 170), had given them away for 
 old parchment. 
 
 Having thus described the portion 
 of Leon which extends to the 1. of 
 Benavente , we must next proceed to 
 the districts which stretch to the r., 
 and include the capital and Valladolid. 
 For Benavente to Leon see p. 534. 
 
 Route 72. — Astorga to Leon. 
 
 Hospital de Orbigo ... 2 
 
 Villadangos 3 .. 5 
 
 Leon 2 . . 7 
 
 This flat uninteresting and lonely 
 country in ancient times was very much 
 frequented by pilgrims to Santiago ; 
 therefore the bridge over the Orbigo, 
 a true 44 Knight’s Bridge,” was chosen, 
 July 10, 1434, as the site where Suero 
 de Quinones, with 9 knights, defied 
 for 30 days before the great jubilee 
 feast of that Apostle, all passengers at a 
 gentle Pass of Honor, in order to be 
 entitled to remove an iron link which 
 he wore round his neck every Thursday 
 in token of his captivity to his mis- 
 tress. A detailed account was written 
 by Pedro Rodriguez Delena, the king’s 
 public notary, and an eye-witness ; this 
 was ordered by Philip II. to be repub- 
 lished, in order to rekindle the heroic 
 spirit of his somewhat degenerate age. 
 Unfortunately the original, a storehouse 
 and arsenal of tournament language, 
 was then abridged by Fray Juan de 
 Pineda; his 4 Libro del Passo honrosoj 
 published by him at Salamanca, 8vo. 
 1588, has since been reprinted at the 
 end of the 4 Cronica 3 de Alvaro Luna, 
 Sancha, Mad. 1783. Suero petitioned 
 Juan II. to be allowed to redeem him- 
 self by combat from his slavery ; 300 
 
546 
 
 ROUTE 72. — PASS OF HONOR. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 lances were to be broken ; any lady who 
 came without a cayalier ready to do bat- 
 tle for her, forfeited her right hand glove, 
 and any knight who declined the com- 
 bat forfeited his sword and right foot 
 spur. Suero excepted his own lady — 
 “ cuyo yo soy.” 78 combatants appear- 
 ed ; 727 carreras or courses were run ; 
 177 lances were broken; one Arragonese 
 knight killed, 11 others were wounded, 
 of whose cure Suero charged himself. 
 The arms were Italian, the mottoes 
 French. Suero’ s sword is preserved 
 in the Armeria at Madrid, No. 1917. 
 He proved victorious, and his link was 
 removed by heralds with great solem- 
 nity. A dull dead epic in 12 cantos — 
 ‘Dsvero y Almedora’ — was written by 
 Juan Maria Maury, Paris, 1840. Con- 
 sult the notes of Clemencin’s ‘Don 
 Quijote ,’ i. 49, and the note T. in the 
 ‘Buscapiej a book written and invented 
 by Adolfo de Castro, Cadiz, 1847. 
 
 These single combats for pure ho- 
 nour’s sake, and the display of per- 
 sonal prowess and bravery, are per- 
 fectly in accordance with the deep 
 feeling of every Spaniard, who thinks 
 Spain the finest country in the world, 
 his native province the best of its pro- 
 vinces, his native village the best of its 
 villages, and himself the best man in it. 
 Pnndonor and self-respect are the key- 
 stones of character in the individually 
 brave Spaniard ; ever ready, when per- 
 sonal consideration is at the stake, to 
 find a quarrel in a straw, and to think it 
 but an easy leap to “ pluck bright ho- 
 nour from the pale-faced moon ; ” he 
 resents to the death the slightest per- 
 sonal affront, or desaire ; any desden or 
 menosprecio rankles, never to be atoned 
 except by blood: Sanan cuchilladas , 
 pero no malas paldbras. An English- 
 man can scarcely estimate the touchy 
 sensitiveness of a punctilious Spanish 
 hidalgo , or reconcile his disposition to 
 take offence, and to suspect imaginary, 
 unintentional slights, with his real 
 high caste and good breeding : this 
 touchy feeling, a marked feature in the 
 national character, has exhibited itself 
 in duels and challenges, even before 
 the nice point of modern honour was 
 
 known : thus Livy (xxviii. 21) de- 
 scribes an Iberian trial at arms, waged by 
 volunteers of high rank, who contended 
 before P. Scipio at Carthagena. It 
 was usual among their champions to 
 step forward and defy the enemy to 
 single combat. The case of the Cam- 
 peador of Intercatia, who was killed 
 by Scipio (App v c B. H.’ 480) offers a 
 parallel to the combat of Groliah and 
 David. The valohr and address of the 
 Spaniard as an individual are unques- 
 tionable. The champions of the Great 
 Captain at Trani, had no difficulty in 
 defeating their French antagonists : 
 nor were the best troops of Buonaparte 
 ever a match for an equal number of 
 guerilleros , man to man, and in a 
 broken country, where military science 
 and manoeuvre could not tell : left 
 alone, the Spaniard knows well how 
 to defend the honour and life of him- 
 self or friend ; it is only in the col- 
 lective that disgrace attends him, and 
 this arises from his Oriental insubordi- 
 nation and egoistic jealousy of con- 
 tributing to what will increase the 
 glory of any one else but himself, and 
 also from his mistrust in others, from 
 his fear of being sold, and his want of 
 confidence in unworthy chiefs — “ chil- 
 dren in the art of war.” 
 
 LEON. — Posadas : one on the Pas- 
 tro , a good locality ; de los Catalanos ; 
 M. Danton , a civil Frenchman of the 
 old school, has a casa de pupilos in 
 S°. Domingo ; ditto Doha JEustoquia 
 Maynar , a respectable widow. Leon has 
 acasino, atheatre, and a Plaza deToros. 
 
 Leon (Pop. 7 000) , the time-honoured 
 capital of its ancient kingdom, stands 
 under a sloping hill onthe Yernesga and 
 Torio, which unite below the town at 
 Aguas Mestas , whose “ waters met and 
 mixed,” then flow into the Esla ; their 
 banks are planted with poplars trimmed 
 up like hop-poles. Leon, the residence 
 of the provincial authorities, has a 
 bishop, and had a mitred abbot of San 
 Marcos. In common with other ancient 
 capitals, it is dull, deserted, and de- 
 caying. The best time to visit it, as 
 we did, is June 24, during the horse- 
 fair, which, like those of Honda and 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 72. — ANCIENT LEON. 
 
 547 
 
 Mairena, attracts all the fancy and 
 picturesque rogues, chalanes , gipsies, 
 and honest maragatos of Spain. The 
 name Leon is a corruption of Legio , 
 as the 7th Legio gemina, was quar- 
 tered here by Augustus, in order to 
 defend the plains from the forays of 
 the Asturian Highlanders. This fron- 
 tier town was built extremely strong, 
 in a square form, with walls 25 feet 
 thick, and defended with towers ; four 
 marble gates opened into four chief 
 streets, which, crossing each other at 
 r. angles, intersected the city. The 
 town Legio long survived the Eoman 
 empire, and continued as an independ- 
 ent city, which the Goths could never 
 subdue, down to 586, when it was 
 taken by Leovigildo, who changed the 
 name to Leon. The Goths highly 
 valued their prize, and the city was 
 one of the few exempted from the 
 fatal decree of Witiza, by which almost 
 all others in Spain were dismantled, 
 and thus left without defences against 
 the Moors. Gothic Leon yielded at 
 once to the Moorish invader, but was 
 soon reconquered ; then Ordono I., in 
 850, reversed its pristine intention, 
 and made it the defence of the moun- 
 taineers against the infidel invaders 
 from the plains. Leon (Liyon) was 
 stormed by Al- Mansur in 996. This 
 ravager of Velad Arrum, or the land 
 of the Romans, as they called the 
 Christian territory, entered it after a 
 year’s siege; the Roman gates and 
 walls were then perfect, for the Moor- 
 ish annalists describe them as “ 17 
 cubits thick ; ” but everything was de- 
 stroyed — neither age nor sex were 
 spared : for the inhuman atrocities see 
 the account of an eye-witness (‘Lsp. 
 Sag xxxiv, 307) ; nor do the Moors deny 
 them (Moh. D. ii. 114). They gloried 
 in what General Foy calls a “ subli- 
 mity of destruction ” as the best test 
 of 'power. 
 
 Leon was soon recovered after Al- 
 Mansur’s defeat at Calatanazor, “ the 
 castle of eagles,” of which Mariana 
 (viii. 9) details such miraculous appa- 
 ritions in favour of the Spaniards, and 
 the crushing result is still remembered 
 
 in the distich — Ln Calatanazor AL 
 manzor , perdio el tambor ; the Spa- 
 niards, says Risco (‘ Lsp . Sag.,’ xxx. 2), 
 writing in 1786! killed exactly 60,000 
 foot and 40,000 horse of the infidel ; 
 how were they fed when alive P 
 Sounds, moreover, of the battle were 
 heard at Seville, 90 L. off; but even the 
 date and the results of this battle are 
 in reality uncertain. Mariana places 
 it in 998, and claims the victory for 
 the Spaniards ; Conde gives a.d. 1001 ; 
 Gayangos (Mob.D. ii. 197), 1002, and 
 states that Al-Mansur was not only not 
 beaten at Kal’-at-Annosorybut that the 
 Conde Sancho Garcez was overcome 
 by him with great loss. One thing 
 is quite clear, that the formidable Al- 
 Manstir sickened soon afterwards, and 
 died at Medinaceli. 
 
 Leon was re-peopled by Alonso V., 
 who rebuilt the walls in Tapia , which 
 were taken down in 1324 by Alonso 
 XI., who enlarged the city to the S., 
 and altered part of the defences ; the 
 walls are best preserved on the N. side 
 of the town, and resemble those of 
 Lugo and Astorga in the number of 
 semicircular towers. Their mode of 
 construction is slovenly ; the huge 
 stones worked into the bases no doubt 
 belonged to the Roman work : the 
 rubble walls to the S. are still more in- 
 ferior ; the city is divided by a wall 
 which runs from the Plaza San Mar - 
 celo to the Plaza del Peso. All the 
 walls are much built up against. The 
 city thus defended, continued long to 
 be the capital of the kings of Leon, 
 until Don Pedro removed the court to 
 Seville at Alonso XI.’s death, since 
 which it has lost all its former import- 
 ance. The city bears for arms, argent a 
 lion rampant gules. Consult c LListoria 
 de las G-randezas? with the life of the 
 patron saint Froylan, Atanasio de Lo- 
 bera, 4to. Valladolid, 1596 ; for its 
 civil government, ‘j Resumen’ &c. Marq. 
 de Fuente Oyuelo, 4to. Vail. 1693 ; 
 c Lsp ana Sagrada ,’ vols. 34, 35, 36 ; 
 and the careful ‘ LListoria ,’ Manuel 
 Risco, 4to. 2 vols. Mad. 1792. 
 
 This ancient bishopric is exenta , or 
 subject to no primate. Urban II. 
 
548 
 
 ROUTE 72. CATHEDRAL OF LEON. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 wished to annex it to Toledo, but its 
 independence was confirmed, in 1105, 
 by Pasqual II. Ordono II., when be 
 fixed bis court here, was its great 
 patron, and gave up, for the new ca- 
 thedral, a portion of the royal palace, 
 which was formed out of the Roman 
 Thermae, and built on the eastern walls. 
 St. Froylan, who was bishop from 900 
 to 905, and also an eminent architect, 
 filled the city with churches and con- 
 vents, and was consequently made a 
 saint ; all these edifices were destroyed 
 by the Moors. The present cathedral, 
 dedicated to Santa Maria de Regia , is 
 an early specimen of the pointed style, 
 and was commenced on the site of 
 the former by Bishop Manrique de 
 Lara about 1199 ; it is proverbially 
 one of the most graceful and elegant 
 in the world, Rulchra Leonina — Leon 
 en Sutileza ; and in delicate elegant 
 sveltura, as well as in lightness, propor- 
 tion, and masonry, it is unrivalled ; 
 the inscription near JSfuestra Senora la 
 Blanca does but express the truth as 
 regards its beauty of holiness : — 
 
 * Sint tamen Hispanis ditissima pulchraque templa, 
 Hoc tamen egregiis artibus, ante prius.” 
 
 First examine the exterior ; the gradus 
 or “ grees,” the platform around it, is 
 enclosed by chains ; the grand W. 
 entrance is seen to much advantage 
 from the open Plaza May or , with its 
 fountain, old brick houses, and arcade, 
 which forms the forum or lounge 
 of the Leonese ; the three portals of 
 pointed arches are enriched with much 
 elaborate sculpt are, in which the 
 blessedness of saints contrast with the 
 sufferings of the wicked. On each side 
 is placed a tower : that to the r. is 
 terminated with a filigree pyramid of 
 open Gothic work ; the other is of 
 more modern plateresque. A smaller 
 pinnacle rises above a noble rose win- 
 dow, with detached lanterns on each 
 side. The S. front also has a jplaza , 
 but narrower. Opposite the Cathedral 
 is the Colegio de San Froylan and the 
 bishop’s palace : here also is the en- 
 trance by three arched doors, enriched 
 with Gothic sculpture. The N. fagade 
 has been modernised with balustrades 
 
 and candelabra ; the E. is circular and 
 Gothic, with flying buttresses and pin- 
 nacles. The masonry throughout is 
 admirable, and the stone is of a warm, 
 creamy, and beautiful colour. 
 
 The lightness and simplicity of the 
 somewhat narrow interior, is charm- 
 ing ; the Coro alone cuts up its 
 fair proportions, otherwise no lateral 
 chapels with paltry wooden altars and 
 tinsel graven images disfigure and 
 darken the sides. The walls rise up 
 from the pavement to the roof ; for- 
 merly they were pierced by two tiers of 
 windows, divided by an ambito , or 
 gallery. The upper, or clerestory, is 
 enriched with gorgeous red and green 
 painted glass, the effect of which is 
 brilliant as an illuminated missal, or 
 rich enamelled jewel- work. Remember 
 to visit this church about sunset, for 
 then, as the interior darkens, the win- 
 dows brighten like transparent rubies 
 and emeralds. The under tier has been 
 bricked up, and painted with figures 
 and scrolls, in a poor academical 
 chiaro oscuro, probably copies of the 
 original painted windows. The edifice, 
 in its pristine state, must have sprung 
 into the air like a majestic conserva- 
 tory, far surpassing the abbey church 
 at Bath, “the lantern of England”; 
 indeed, from its delicate gossamer pro- 
 portions, it seems that the winds 
 might blow it away. 
 
 The interior has been barbarously 
 whitewashed, and the capitals of the 
 piers coloured with a vile nankeen 
 Wyatt dye. The silleria del coro is 
 of different periods ; the upper and 
 oldest is carved in dark wood, with 
 saints and apostles, in the tedesque 
 style of Rodrigo Aleman. The king 
 and the Marques de Astorga, as heredi- 
 tary canons of Leon, have their appro- 
 priate stalls. Philip III. and the Mar- 
 ques both sat in quire Feb. 1, 1602, 
 and received their fee for attendance ; 
 this marquisate enjoys a canonry, be- 
 cause an ancestor of the Osorios fought 
 at Clavijo in 846, side by side with 
 Santiago. The trascoro is sculptured 
 in white alabaster and gold, with 
 figures painted like wax-work. The 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 72. — CATHEDRAL OF LEON. 
 
 549 
 
 subjects are the Annunciation, which 
 is the best, the Nativity, the Adora- 
 tion, and Offering of the three Kings ; 
 their Berruguete richness baffles de- 
 scription, but the effect is injured by 
 a wooden door put in by the canons 
 for their convenience, which cuts up 
 the composition. In 1738 the chapter 
 removed the ancient retablo , and 
 erected the present fricassee of marble 
 el trasjparente , which in absurdity and 
 expense rivals its model at Toledo ; in 
 both cases marble is tortured into evei'y 
 possible form into which it ought not 
 to be. This mamarracJiada was made 
 by Narcisso and Simon Giavilan Tome, 
 followers of the Heresiarch Churri- 
 guerra. 
 
 On each side of the altar are buried 
 San Froylan and San Alvito, bishop 
 in 1057 -63 ; the possession of the body 
 of the former created vast disputes, 
 which were determined by placing it 
 on a mule, and letting the animal carry 
 it where he liked (‘ Dsjp. Sag.J xxxiv. 
 194). The body of the latter was 
 placed here in 1565, and his tomb was 
 one of the most glorious silver works 
 in Spain. The precious frontal was 
 carried off by the French, but the 
 urna , a specimen of exquisite art, re- 
 mains ; and the host deposited on Good 
 Friday remains in its central division, 
 as in a Custodia. Observe the silver 
 temple or tabernacle, with the statue of 
 St. Froylan, the Corinthian pillars, the 
 sides adorned with alto-relievos saints, 
 and rich pilasters : on the doors are 
 sculptured St. Paul and San Melchisa- 
 deck. The church plate was kept in a 
 room near the sacristia , where now the 
 empty cases of the chief articles alone 
 remain. The contents were removed 
 to G-ijon to escape the Gallic Scyila, 
 and fell into the Spanish Charybdis. 
 A viril in silver and gold, and another 
 square and gilt, which have escaped, 
 are beautiful specimens ; but the cross 
 and custodia are gone, alas ! for they 
 were masterpieces of Enrique d’ Arphe, 
 the great silversmith of Spain. The 
 latter was one of the finest pieces 
 of plate in the world ; Morales (‘Viaje,’ 
 55) describes it, and the curious me- 
 
 chanism, invented by a Fleming, by 
 which it was moved in processions 
 through the streets. 
 
 To the r. of the high altar is the 
 sacristia i observe the triple Gothic 
 sedilia in the ante’ sacristia. The 
 sacristia itself is of the best period of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, but the pic- 
 tures are all bad copies of Raphael and 
 Italian masters. Coming out, observe 
 a fine Gothic sepulchre, and adjoining 
 it that of Bishop Pelagius, ob. mense 
 Aprilis, era 916. The transaltar is 
 most curious ; here is the tomb of 
 Qrdono II., obt. 923, and coeval, it is 
 said, with the edifice : the king lies at 
 full length in his robes, while a herald 
 stands at his head, and a monk, his 
 architect, holds at his feet a scroll in- 
 scribed, “ Aspice,” as much as to say, 
 like Wren, “ Si monumentum queer is, 
 circumspice.” The angels, holy subjects, 
 and lions and castles have been painted, 
 and these armorial badges infer a later 
 period, as they were not generally used 
 before the end of the 12th century. 
 Observe a singular old painting on a 
 gilt ground, into which a miserably 
 drawn and coloured Christ has been 
 introduced. 
 
 The chapel of Santiago, of the time 
 of Ferdinand and Isabella, is one of 
 the most airy, elegant Gothic piles in 
 Spain, although a churrigueresque gilt 
 retablo mars the religio loci. The 
 lofty windows are painted with apostles, 
 saints, virgins, kings, and bishops ; 
 the reds and greens are splendid ; in- 
 deed, these are among the finest speci- 
 mens of this art in Spain, and as usual 
 they are executed by Flemish artists. 
 The admirable masonry in this chapel 
 seems only to have been finished yester- 
 day ; the circular chapel near, is of great 
 antiquity. In the Camilla de Nuestra 
 Senora del Dado , our Lady of the Die, 
 is a miraculous image, so called be- 
 cause a gambler, who had been un- 
 lucky, threw his dice at it, and hit the 
 infant’s face, which immediately bled. 
 Here is buried the founder of the ca- 
 thedral, “ Prsesul Manricus jacet hie, 
 rationis amicus.” Opposite to the 
 tomb of Ordono is that of the Condesa 
 
550 
 
 ROUTE 72. — S. ISIDORO. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 Sandra, a great benefactress to 
 churches, for which she was murdered 
 by her ungodly nephew and heir, who 
 was torn to death by horses for it, as 
 represented in the sculpture. In the 
 Camilla de San Pedro lies Bishop Ar- 
 naldo, ob. 1234, the friend of St. Fer- 
 dinand, and a bitter persecutor of the 
 Albigenses Protestants. Behind the 
 confessional of the Penitenciario is a 
 curious tomb, with a sculptured pro- 
 cession of priests. Continuing through 
 a passage in which the canons keep 
 their dresses, and looking at the old 
 tombs on the walls, we enter the clois- 
 ters : the curious ancient stucco paint- 
 ings of events of the Saviour’s life are 
 fast going to ruin from damp and neg- 
 lect ; once they must have resembled 
 those of Toledo. These fine cloisters 
 were partly modernised in the six- 
 teenth century, when the Gothic and 
 plateresquewere brought into a singular 
 juxtaposition. Observe the roof with 
 rich Berruguete shells and stalactites 
 painted in white and gold, and the in- 
 terior of the niches of the old sepul- 
 chres, especially that of Santa Vero- 
 nica, and the Gothic temple in the 
 corner. Here is the Madonna del Poro , 
 to w T hich the corporation, on the 15th 
 of August, made an offering of 260 
 reals, called la oferta de la Regia ; 
 notice some Roman inscriptions, one 
 with the name “Legio VII. Gem.” The 
 once wealthy canons nestled close to 
 the mother church in the spacious street 
 out of the plaza, Calle de la Canongia. 
 
 Leaving the cathedral, visit San Isi- 
 doro el Real on the N. side of its plaza , 
 which opens by the Postigo through 
 the W. wall of the city. It is entitled 
 Royal, from its founders, Ferdinand 
 and Sancha : in 1063 this great king, 
 the terror of the Moors, applied to Ben 
 Abed, king of Seville, for the bodies of 
 Santas Rufina and Justa. As he sent 
 an armed embassy, headed by Bishop 
 Alvito, the wily Moor consented ; the 
 only difficulty was where to find the 
 virginal corpses, when San Isidoro, the 
 great Gothic Archbishop of Seville, 
 appeared three times in a vision to 
 Alvito, and said, somewhat ungallantly, 
 
 “ I am the Doctor of the Spains, and 
 mine is the body to be removed.” The 
 doctor next made known his burial- 
 place, and his body, revealed by divine 
 odour, was removed to Leon in triumph, 
 working miracles all the way, “ curing 
 the lame and blind, and casting out 
 devils.” So when Cimon the Athenian 
 by a divine revelation discovered the 
 remains or of Theseus at Syros, 
 
 they were moved in similar pomp to 
 Athens, after an absence of 400 years, 
 and the oracles directed that they 
 were to be worshipped (Plut. in Cim.). 
 Wherever the corpse of S. Isidoro rested 
 at night, it was found so heavy the 
 next morning, that it could not be 
 moved until the inhabitants promised 
 to build and endow a church on the 
 spot ; that done, it allowed itself to 
 be again transported, and in short the 
 body did the work of a modern church- 
 building society. The whole particu- 
 lars are detailed in the i Esp. Sag .,’ 
 ix. 234, 406, and were reprinted and 
 vouched for in 1827 ! by Matute (‘ Bos- 
 quejo de ItalicaJ 144). When San 
 Isidoro’ s body reached Leon, Alonso, 
 Ferdinand’s son, destroyed a temple 
 erected in 960 by Saneho I. to St. 
 J ohn the Baptist. For this new tutelar, 
 he began in 1063 the present pile, 
 employing for architect Pedrus de Deo 
 Tamber, or Vitambena, who, besides 
 being a good mason was a saint, and 
 worked miracles (Risco, ii. 144) ; his 
 tomb still remains, a large dark stone 
 coffin, near the square pila or font. 
 
 San Isidoro, declared by the 8th 
 council of Toledo to be the “ Egregious 
 Doctor of Spain” although a man of 
 letters while alive, # became a man of 
 
 * San Isidoro must not be confounded with 
 San Isidro, the patron of Madrid, and who 
 pointed out the path to the Christians at the 
 victory of las Navas de Tolosa (see p. 236). He 
 is an author with whom none can dispense who 
 wish to understand the condition of Spain and 
 the state of knowledge under the Goths, a 
 period which many persons have been pleased 
 to term the dark age. He was archbishop of 
 Seville from a.d. 600 to 636, and the Pliny, 
 the Bede, the encyclopedist of his age. His 
 ‘ Origines,’ . in twenty books, were long the 
 storehouse of information ; he, however, is an 
 unsafe philologist, being guided in many of his 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 72. S. ISIDORO. 
 
 551 
 
 arms when dead ; he was promoted to 
 he the protecting tutelar Santiago of 
 Leon, and in that capacity fought at the 
 battle of Baeza, armed with a sword and 
 cross. Again, when Don Diego and a 
 mob attacked this convent, San Isidoro 
 struck him blind ; nor was his sight re- 
 stored until he restored the stolen plate. 
 Thus Hercules, when Theron wished to 
 plunder his temple, appeared and fired 
 his fleet (Macrob. 4 Sat.’ i. 21). San 
 Isidoro was polite enough to leave the 
 winning the victory of las Navas de 
 Tolosa to San Isidro, the patron 
 ploughboy of Madrid, for these nearly 
 namesake saints must not he con- 
 founded with each other : neverthe- 
 less during that battle the egregious 
 doctor could not rest in his sepulchre, 
 out of which sounds of arms were heard 
 to issue, showing the interest which he 
 took in the event. Disco (ii. 69) gives all 
 the authorities. Thus the “ Ancilia ” 
 were heard to clatter of their own ac- 
 cord, just before the Cimbrian war was 
 concluded (Livy, Ep. lxviii.) ; and a 
 voice louder than mortal gave warning 
 in the temple of Vesta of the invading 
 G-aul (Livy, v. 32). The doctor was 
 silent in the case of the modern Graul, 
 Soiilt, yet Santiago had clashed his 
 arms in his tomb after the Dos de Maio , 
 at least so Foy says (iii. 199), who elo- 
 quently enough adds, “Si la superstition 
 peut trouver grace devant le philosophe, 
 c’est lors-qu’elle s’associe a la defense de 
 la patrie.” Those who wish to know 
 more about San Isidoro should consult 
 his c Vida,’ written by Jose Manzano, 
 Salamanca, 1732, and for his countless 
 miracles, 4 Dos Milagros de San Isi- 
 doro ,’ composed in Latin by the Bishop 
 of Tuy, and translated by JuanBobles, 
 Salamanca, 1525. This is the sort of 
 knowledge which that eminent univer- 
 sity particularly disseminated. 
 
 derivations by that most erroneous principle, 
 mere coincidence of sound. Dante places him 
 in the 4th heaven : L’ ardente spiro d’ Isidoro. 
 (Par. x. 131.) “ Isidre that was so wyse,” says 
 our Adam Davie, writing in the year 1312. 
 The edition of Du Breul, 1 vol, folio, Cologne, 
 1617, is more convenient than that, certainly 
 more splendid one, which was edited at Rome 
 by Arevalo, in 7 vols. quarto, 1797. 
 
 The egregious doctor became the Cid 
 of Leon, and is styled JEl Senor San 
 Isidoro, the Lord , the title given to the 
 Almighty, and his shrine became, with 
 those of El bujo de San Vicente at Avila, 
 and JEl cerrojo del Cid at Burgos, one 
 of the three Iglesias Juraderas of 
 Spain ; and persons were solemnly ad- 
 jured at his altar as the pagans did at 
 Caesar’s, “ Jurandasque tuum per 
 nomen ponimus aras all who swore 
 falsely were struck with illness ; com- 
 pare the similar penalties at the Dellos 
 or Crater as of the pagans (Macrob. 
 c Sat.’ v. 19). 
 
 His convent, the Real Casa , is built 
 in solid masonry on the walls, and by 
 going out of the Rostigo del Rastro 
 portions of the original edifice may yet 
 be seen ; of these observe the two en- 
 trances, the circular chapel, and the 
 ancient square tower, with round Saxon 
 arches built into the walls. Over the 
 S. entrance is San Isidoro, arrayed in 
 ypontijicalibus, and mounted as he rode 
 down the Moors at Baeza ; his white 
 and gold painted dress, and a royal 
 blazon of arms, contrast with the 
 time - stained portal ; remark the 
 rude bastard Corinthian pillars and the 
 capitals, which are composed of strange 
 animals and scroll-work. The Doric 
 cornice is of later date : observe beneath 
 some most ancient bassi-relievi and 
 the two rams’ heads, the statue of San 
 Isidoro, and the Sacrifice of Abraham, 
 a work of the twelfth century. This 
 front has been recently fortified with 
 loop-holes and defences, at which time, 
 the beautiful Ruerta del Rerdon was 
 concealed by a new wall. 
 
 The Grothic church has three naves ; 
 the pier-shafts are square, with half- 
 columns projecting from each front ; 
 the strange Grotho- Corinthian capitals 
 are formed of groups of children and 
 animals. This royal church was en- 
 tirely bemired and desecrated by 
 Soult’s troops ; when they departed, it 
 was cleansed of their slime, white- 
 washed, and the pillars and capitals 
 picked out in white and buff. Thus, 
 between foreign defilement and native 
 restoration, the pile, now bedaubed and 
 
552 
 
 ROUTE 72.— SOULT AT LEON. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 bepainted in the most barbarous bad 
 taste, offers only an incongruous shadow 
 of the past. The high altar shares 
 with Lugo the rare privilege of having 
 the Host, the Incarnate Deity, always 
 visible, or manifestado : the effect at 
 night, wUen all is lighted up, with 
 figures of angels kneeling at the side, 
 is very striking. This Camilla Mayor 
 of later date, was erected in 1513 by 
 Juan de Badajoz : while it was build- 
 ing, the body of the doctor was moved 
 to the chapel of a local San Martin , 
 not indeed his well-known namesake, 
 but a pilgrim idiot, to whom, in 1190, 
 San Isidoro appeared in a dream, and 
 gave him one of his books to eat ; 
 whereupon the sleeper awakened a wise 
 man, and preached in Latin, which the 
 people did not understand. However, 
 he continued to work miracles alive 
 and dead. Tor authentic particulars 
 consult Morales, 4 Viajej 49 ; and 44 
 pages, printed in 1786! of the 4 Dsp. 
 Sag .,’ xxxv. 365. 
 
 The precious silver reja, and nearly 
 all the plate of San Isidoro 5 s tomb; were 
 stolen by Soult’s troops, who also burnt 
 the extraordinary library and archives, 
 of w T hich Morales has preserved a 
 record (p. 51) ; fortunately Disco has 
 printed many of the earliest deeds, 
 which thus may be termed so many 
 brands rescued from this modern Al- 
 Mansur’s fire. The tomb of the tutelar 
 was originally of pure gold ; this 
 Alonso* of Aragon, second husband 
 
 * He was the celebrated soldier-king el bci- 
 tallador, a hero, like some modern marshals, 
 of a hundred razzias, and a noted pillager of 
 churches and convents : after the death of 
 Count Ramon, Urraca became Reina Proprie- 
 taria, or Queen of Spain in her own right ; as 
 Alonso disputed some claims, a compromise 
 was effected by their marriage, which ended in 
 a separation, Urraca, however, ill-used by 
 Hymen, contiuued devoted to Venus, and died 
 in childbirth of a bastard in 1126 ; as there are 
 so many Alonsos and Urracas, these facts may 
 be useful. The best book on the queens and 
 royal concubines of Spain is ‘ Las Memorias de 
 las Reynas Catdlicas,’ by Florez, 2 vols. Mad. 
 1761. It formed the ground -work of a poor 
 compilation on the subject by Senorita Anita 
 Jorge, a Hispana- American, and was rendered 
 into English by Miss Pardoe : “ ’tis a pity when 
 delicate ladies write of things that they don’t 
 understand.” 
 
 of Queen Urraca^ carried off, being 
 tempted, like Ahaz, by the rich pat- 
 tern of the altar (Numb. xx. 11) ; the 
 fragments and the sepulchre deserve 
 notice. The Camarin was gutted by 
 the invaders, a few bits of plate only 
 escaping; th^n was melted the re- 
 liquary, made in 1095, containing 
 the jaw of St. John the Baptist, 
 and the enameled crucifix which 
 worked miracles, the offering of the 
 Infanta Sancha, daughter of Ramon 
 and Urraca ; she also offered her vir- 
 ginity to San Isidoro, who accepted 
 her proposal (Disco, i. 139) : he came 
 often to her down from heaven, and 
 not he gfione, for San Yicente . visited 
 her, and said, 44 Sancha , esposa muy 
 amada del Doctor San Isidoro , el 
 Senor ? ha oido tus ruegos por amor de 
 tu esposo .” Nevertheless, in this city 
 of saints and miracles, she died a vir- 
 gin, and was buried near her mother, 
 who, although a queen mother of Spain, 
 was, according to popular outcry, 
 44 Meretriz public a y engahadora .” 
 
 This convent became the Escorial or 
 burial-place of the early kings of Leon 
 and Castile : the Danteon remains in 
 the adjoining cloisters, which have been 
 partly modernised in the Ionic style, 
 when the Grothic roof w r as hideously 
 picked out in leaden greys and white ; 
 the side nearest the church has escaped 
 with its round brick arches, and some 
 very ancient painted work deserves the 
 notice of every antiquarian. 
 
 The D ant eon is a small low chapel, 
 dedicated to Santa Catalina, whose 
 three-quarter bust, in red and blue 
 tinsel, disfigures the altar. This home 
 of so many kings, queens, and royal 
 personages, was torn to pieces by 
 Soult’s soldiery, who violated the tombs 
 and cast the royal ashes to the dust, as 
 their fathers had done those of Henri 
 IV. at St. Denis, and as their grand- 
 fathers, under Turenne, had played 
 at bowls with the sculls of Grerman 
 kings at Spiers, having first turned 
 the plundered cathedral into a brothel. 
 The chapter of Leon, in 1825, endea- 
 voured to repair these outrages, en lo 
 posible , i. e. as far as they could ; and 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 72.— FRENCH AT LEON. 553 
 
 a tablet records simply the event, and 
 leaves the reader to make his own 
 comment. “ JEste precioso monumento 
 de la antiguedad , deposito de las cenizas 
 de tantos poderosos Reyes, fue destruido 
 por los Franceses ano de 1809.” The 
 restorations are scarcely less deplorable 
 than the outrages ; the low pillars are 
 rudely painted to imitate verde an- 
 tique , which they do not ; the tombs 
 consist of plain boxes, piled one upon 
 another, without order or decency to 
 the dead ; the smallest ones contain 
 the bones of Infantes , and are packed 
 on the larger ; some few have inscrip- 
 tions, which are scarcely legible, and 
 they are curt enough, e.g. “ Hie jacet in 
 fossa, Geloirse Reginse pulvis et ossa.” 
 Remark in some the title Domna (Do- 
 mina),not Doha, which is given to the 
 ladies. The curious in necrology will 
 find a catalogue of the saints, kings, 
 queens, and the rest of the royal family 
 in Madoz, x. 182. The epitaphs are 
 all printed by Risco (ii. 148). Now, 
 the miserable remains are made a show 
 of, and a sort of mummy is called the 
 body of Doha Urraca. The roof, being 
 out of the reach of pollution, remains 
 in the original state : observe tfie stars 
 and herring-bone patterns pn the 
 arches, and the singular paintings of 
 architecture, the Saviour, Apostles, and 
 holy subjects, inside the vaults : they 
 are of the twelfth century ; explana- 
 tory labels are appended. To the W. 
 of the entrance is the once splendid 
 library, a noble lofty room, much out 
 of repair ; the books were once among 
 the most curious in Spain. The cu- 
 rious Latin MS. chronicle of the Cid 
 and of the 13th century, cited by Risco, 
 was stolen during the recent troubles, 
 and was bought in Lisbon in 1846 of a 
 French pedlar by a German named Dr. 
 Gotthold Ileyne, who was killed dur- 
 ing the barricades at Berlin in 1848. 
 There were about 900 more MSS. of the 
 seventh and eight centuries, but they 
 were burnt by Soult, who having routed 
 Romana entered and sacked Leon, 
 Dec. 21, 1808 : the unfortunate town 
 and vicinity were frequently ravaged 
 
 afterwards by Kellermann and Bes- 
 sieres. 
 
 Outside of Leon, near the bridge over 
 the Bernesga, is the enormous convent 
 of San Marcos de Leon , once so richly 
 endowed, and whose abbot was mitred. 
 This convent was founded in 1168 for 
 the knights of Santiago, and here Suero 
 Rodriguez professed ; it was rebuilt in 
 1514-49 by Juan de Badajoz : observe, 
 on entering the chapel, a circular arch, 
 and a door fringed with rich Gothic 
 niche-work ; the upper part is un- 
 finished ; the royal arms placed be- 
 tween two heralds are of the time of 
 Charles Y. The edifice, left incom- 
 plete, and now never likely to be 
 finished, stretches to the 1., a noble 
 Berruguefce pile, of most beautiful 
 stone ; the fa 9 ade is magnificent : ob- 
 serve the medallions and plateresque 
 work ; over the door is Santiago on 
 horseback, and above it a clumsy mo- 
 dern construction by Martin de Sui- 
 naya, 1715-19, whose Fame blowing a 
 Trumpet adds very little to his. The 
 arched entrance to the chapel, now a 
 storehouse, is enriched with niches and 
 most elaborate Grothic detail. The 
 silleria del coro , originally a fine 
 work, by Guillermo Doncel, carved in 
 1537-42, was repaired in 1723, an 
 epoch fatal to the fine arts of Leon, 
 and finally ruined by being made a 
 barrack for Peseteros , then a school 
 for boys, who are not conservative. 
 
 To the north of the rose-perfumed 
 Alameda, also outside the town, is the 
 huge Casa de Fspositos, where the sin- 
 less children of sinful parents manu- 
 facture a coarse linen. Opposite is the 
 now ruined San Clodio (Claudio), re- 
 built in 1530, with a lofty elegant 
 cloister of fight pointed arches with a 
 rich roof ; the beautiful sacristia raised 
 in 1568, with its white and gold ceiling, 
 escaped the invaders, who turned the 
 building into a magazine. Passing out 
 of the gate of Santo Domingo , is the 
 convent of that name, plundered and 
 burnt in 1810 by the French, who then 
 mutilated the noble Ionic sepulchre of 
 Juan Guzman, Bishop of Calahorra, 
 
554 
 
 ROUTE 73. LEON TO PALENCIA. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 obiit 1575, as also that with Corinthian 
 ornaments in memory of another Gruz- 
 man, 1576, whose armed effigy is kneel- 
 ing : this convent has recently been all 
 but demolished, and some of these 
 sepulchres cast out near the entrance of 
 the town. The materials were destined 
 by the dilatory Junta of Leon to build 
 forts against the Carlists, and which 
 were not begun , until after Gromez had 
 taken the city. 
 
 Alonso Perez Giuzman, el Bueno (see 
 Tarifa), was born at Leon, Jan. 24th, 
 1256 ; his casa solar on the Blaza 
 San Marcello was a palace worthy 
 of the “ good soldier ; ” but this his 
 cradle, entirely gutted by the Trench, 
 is now the abode of paupers and de- 
 graded ; still the patio , and profusion 
 of iron railing and balconies, show how 
 noble it once was. Observe, on this 
 plaza, part of the old wall, the foun- 
 tain, the Doric and Ionic Casa de 
 Ayuntamiento , built in 1585 by Juan 
 Bibera ; and close to it remark the 
 parish church and the Santo Hospital. 
 
 Nearly opposite la Casa de los Guz- 
 manes , and close to the old southern 
 wall, is the Casa de los Condes ; this 
 palace of the Lunas, also sacked by the 
 French, is now almost a ruin ; observe 
 the tower, and at the entrance a circular 
 arch and a singular window, with four 
 antique columns ; the fine patio was 
 never finished, and probably never will 
 be ; the natives say that Queen Urraca 
 lived in this palace. The Blaza Mayor 
 is a handsome regular square, with the 
 consistorio on the W. side ; the spa- 
 cious market-place should be visited 
 for costume and natural history. 
 Leon has several gates, of which the 
 northern, la del Castillo , rebuilt in 
 1759, with a statue of Pelayus, serves 
 as a prison, or Newgate. Some second- 
 rate pictures, and a provincial library, 
 the sweepings of sequestered convents, 
 are open to the public in the S a - 
 Catalina. 
 
 The communications with Leon are 
 very indifferent, and few travellers 
 come this way. There was a wild 
 scheme of a railroad to Oviedo and 
 
 Aviles, and to Madrid through Valla- 
 dolid. For the routes to Oviedo and 
 to Benavente see Index. 
 
 Bottte 73. — Leon to Palencia. 
 
 Mansilla . . . . . 3 
 
 Burgo . . „ . . . 2£ . . 51 
 
 San Pedro de las Duenas . 3 . . 8£ 
 
 Villada 2 . . 10£ 
 
 Paredes de Nava . . . 3 . . 13£ 
 
 Palencia 3jr .. 17 
 
 Wearisome, whether in the dust of 
 summer or mid the mud of winter, are 
 these monotonous corn-plains, whose 
 wretched occupants resembling La 
 Mancha and the Castiles, offer little 
 interest or entertainment to man or 
 beast. On leaving the poplar planta- 
 tions of Leon, the boggy grounds con- 
 tinue almost to the long bridge of 
 Villarente , over the Porma, with its 
 seventeen arches ; soon the corn 
 steppes begin, fertile, but hideous, 
 especially after harvest, from want of 
 water, trees, houses, and signs of 
 human life. The villages are built of 
 cob, i. e, mud and straw. The wines 
 are kept protected from the scorching 
 sun in cellars burrowed in the ground. 
 Most of the cottages have no win- 
 dows, and the few frames that do 
 occur are seldom glazed ; a large door 
 answers all purposes, and lets in air, 
 light, men, and pigs : the outsides are 
 daubed with rude flowers scrawled on 
 them in red and white. The Esla is 
 crossed at Mansilla, a town of ruined 
 walls, pop. 700, and a decent posada j 
 the cultivation is everywhere slovenly. 
 The brown and adust peasantry wear 
 the capa parda, madrenas or wooden 
 shoes, black jackets, breeches, and 
 white stockings. The marshy and 
 stagnant waters of the Esla, which 
 overflow these flats, breed agues and 
 tercianas . Here, Dec. 30, 1808, the 
 French, under Franceschi, routed the 
 Marques Pomana, who fled without 
 even destroying the bridge — thus 
 leaving an easy access to Soult to take 
 and pillage Leon, and then attack 
 Moore’s flank. 
 
 At Baredes de Nava, a townlet 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 74 . BERRUGUETE. 
 
 555 
 
 situated on a pestilential lake extend- 
 ing towards Falencia , in the parish 
 church of S a . Eulalia, are some 
 carvings by Alonso Berruguete ; horn 
 about 1480, he was the introducer 
 of the classical, or rather cinque-cento 
 style, to which, in Spain, he has given 
 his great name : he studied in Italy, 
 and is mentioned by Vasari as copying 
 Michael Angelo at Florence in 1503 : 
 he went with that master to Borne the 
 next year, and, like him, became an 
 architect, sculptor, and painter; re- 
 turning to Spain about 1520, he was 
 patronised by Charles V., and em- 
 ployed all over the Peninsula, which 
 he adorned with magnificent works ; 
 and although too many have been 
 destroyed by vandals, foreign and do- 
 mestic, few countries can even now 
 compete with Spain. He died at 
 Toledo in 1561. 
 
 At Husillos , a poor place, 1 J L. from 
 Valencia , to the N. of the lake, exists 
 or existed a fragment of antiquity 
 which called into action the dormant 
 genius of Berruguete, just as Vasari 
 tells us that Niccola Pisano, was led to 
 revive the art of sculpture by the study 
 of an ancient sarcophagus : thus break- 
 ing down the conventional traditionary 
 types, and superseding the Byzantine 
 by the antique, improving but hea- 
 thenising Christian art, as Michael 
 Angelo did afterwards : hut so long 
 as the physical and moral qualities of 
 man are the same, similar combinations 
 of facts must produce similar results — 
 if the train he prepared, a spark will 
 ignite it. On this sarcophagus, about 
 8 feet long by 3^ high, was represented 
 the history of the Horatii and Curatii, 
 sculptured in some 50 figures, and so 
 admirably, that Berruguete, after his 
 return from Italy, used to say that he 
 had seen nothing finer there ; Cardinal 
 Poggio pronounced it to be worthy to 
 be placed at Borne among the choicest 
 antiques (see Morales, ‘ Viaje ,’ 26). 
 It will be worth inquiring after this 
 precious relic. Examine the bas-reliefs 
 in the Gothic cloister of the Santa 
 Maria. For Falencia y see B. 77. 
 
 Boute 74. — Leok by Sahagun to 
 Buegos. 
 
 Mansilla . . . 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Al Burgo . . . 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 5* 
 
 Sahagun . . . 
 
 . 2 i . 
 
 . 8 
 
 A las Tiendas . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 11 
 
 Carrion .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 14 
 
 Revenga . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 16 
 
 Fronista .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 18 
 
 Guadilla .... 
 
 . 1 * . 
 
 . 19* 
 
 Castroxeriz . . . 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 22 
 
 Ontanaz .... 
 
 . 1* . 
 
 . 23* 
 
 Rabe .... 
 
 . 3± . 
 
 . 21 
 
 Burgos .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 29 
 
 The old pilgrim route to Santiago 
 (called el Frances ) passed from Bur- 
 gos to Leon, through Sahagun : a new 
 carretera is constructing from Valla- 
 dolid. The line, monotonous in itself, 
 becomes interesting, from the recol- 
 lections of the ballads of the Cid and 
 of Moore’s self-sacrificing advance (see 
 p. 534), whereby alone Andalucia and 
 Portugal were saved from the clutches 
 of Buonaparte, whose plans it de- 
 ranged by obliging him to withdraw 
 forces which otherwise must have sub- 
 jugated the whole defenceless country. 
 This diversion gave time to England 
 to send out the Duke — the Hercules, 
 the Deus ex machina — who delivered 
 Spain in spite of herself. Sahagun 
 contains about 2400 souls, with ves- 
 tiges of walls and castle. The Cea re- 
 freshes a few plantations on its banks. 
 The name Sahagun is a corruption 
 of an ancient and once venerated 
 local Saint Facundo — San Eagunt, 
 who, however, is now superseded by 
 San Juan de Sahagun , a santon of 
 more modern creation. Consult a 
 poem on his life and miracles, by 
 Julian de Almendariz, Boma, 1611 ; 
 and a prose biography by Agustin An- 
 tolinez,the saint’s personal friend, 8vo. 
 Salamanca, 1605. The celebrated Be- 
 nedictine abbey of this San Facundo 
 was founded in 905. The Gothic 
 church was begun in 1121 by Alonso 
 VI., and finished in 1183. The retablo , 
 ascribed to Gregorio Hernandez, re- 
 presents the martyrdom of the tutelar, 
 who was beheaded near the Cea, Nov. 
 27, 304. Alonso destined this abbey 
 for the burial-place of himself and his 
 
556 
 
 ROUTE 74. LEON TO SAHAGUN AND BURGOS. Sect. VIII. 
 
 five wives. The marble sepulchre with 
 a statue of the king is superb ; the urna 
 is supported by lions. Among other 
 tombs notice those of Alonso Peran- 
 zurez, and of Bernardo the first arch- 
 bishop of Toledo after the reconquest. 
 This monastery became the asylum to 
 which many early kings of Spain re- 
 tired like Charles V., and died 
 monks ; e. g. Bermudo I. in 791, Al- 
 phonso IY. in 931, Ramiro II. in 
 950, Sancho of Leon in 1067. The 
 holiness and wealth was impaired in 
 1810, when it was plundered by the 
 French. For its former silver, altars, 
 treasures, relics, and library, consult 
 Morales, ‘ Viaje ,’ 34 ; for its history, that 
 written by Joseph Perez, Madrid, 1782, 
 and augmented byRomualdo Escalona, 
 a learned Benedictine of the convent. 
 What the invader begun Spanish se? 
 questrators completed ; the conventual 
 portions are desolated, and only the 
 facades, church, some statues, and he? 
 raldic decorations remain. At Sahagun , 
 Dec. 21, 1808, Lord Paget, with the 
 15th Hussars, fell in with the French 
 cavalry under Debelle, charged, broke, 
 and put them to rout (Nap. iv 5 4). 
 
 Carrion , unsavoury to English nos- 
 trils, recalls agreeable associations to 
 the Spaniards. The town also called de 
 los Condes , because it belonged to the 
 Counts Diego and Feman Gronzalez, so 
 well known to ballad-readers as the 
 sneaking husbands of Elvira and Sol, 
 daughters of the Cid, “ the honour of 
 Spain.” The Campeador appealed 
 against their ill-usage to Alonso VI., 
 and a trial of arms took place, when 
 the counts and their uncle were beaten 
 by the Cid’s champions, Pedro Ber- 
 mudez, Martin Antolinez, and Nuno 
 Bustos. The city was then taken from 
 the counts, who were disgraced and 
 declared traitors. “ Carrion of the 
 Counts,” gave, in 1366, the title of 
 Count, to Hugo de Carloway, or Cal- 
 verley, an English knight who was serv- 
 ing in the Spanish army until re-called 
 by the Black Prince, whereupon En- 
 rique III. deprived him of his rank 
 after the murder of his brother Don 
 Pedro. Here Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, 
 
 the first Maecenas of Spanish literature, 
 was born Aug. 19, 1398. 
 
 Time-honoured and corroded Car - 
 rion stands on the river of its name ; 
 has a good bridge : pop. 3000. It is 
 a city of “ the plains,” or Tier r as de 
 Campos. Much and very fine corn is 
 grown in these districts, which is pre- 
 served in silos , or underground maz- 
 morras , granaries (see p. 315). The 
 Benedictine convent in the suburb, 
 San Zoil, was one of the finest things 
 in Spain, until plundered by the 
 French. The cloisters designed by 
 Miguel Espinosa, remain in the 
 richest plateresque Berruguete style, 
 with an infinity of saints, medallions, 
 arms, &c., worthy of Cellini. The 
 under tier was begun in 1537 by 
 Juan de Badajoz, who finished the 
 E. side: completed by Juan de Ce- 
 lanova ; the upper gallery was added 
 in -1604 by Espinosa and Antonio Mo- 
 rante, by whom is the Christ over the 
 entrance, and the Ecce Homo in the 
 Capilla de los Condes. Near and on 
 the city wall is the old church of Sa. 
 Maria, del Camino , of the “road” to 
 Compostella; it is also called de la 
 Victoria , in commemoration of the 
 victory, made by certain orthodox bulls 
 on the unchaste infidel who came here to 
 receive the 100 virgins, the annual tri- 
 bute agreed to be paid them by Maure- 
 gato. An annual sermon is preached 
 at Pentecost, called El Sermon de 
 Doncellas y Toros ; as the legend of this 
 lady rent is altogether apocryphal, a 
 Doric frieze, with the Capita Bovis in 
 the fa§ade, was probably the origin of 
 this tauromachian nonsense (see Ponz, 
 xi. 201), Notice, however, the carvings 
 and bull tossings on the church portal. 
 
 About f L. from Carrion was the 
 Augustin convent of Eenevivere , “ good- 
 living ,” and no doubt the holy coeno- 
 bites did their duty both in chapel 
 and kitchen ; it was founded in 1161 
 by Diego de Martinez, who, having 
 served the kings Alonso VII., Sancho, 
 and Alonso VIII., retired, like so many 
 noble Spaniards, to end his days as a 
 monk ; he died era 1214 (a.d. 1176), 
 and was buried in a remarkable sepul- 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 75 .— LEON TO VALLADOLID. 
 
 557 
 
 chre in the chapel San Miguel. Ob- 
 serve the singular portico and round 
 arched niches. The church was built 
 in 1382 by Diego Gomez Sarmiento, 
 but all was demolished in 1843. 
 
 Near Carrion , in 1037, was decided 
 the battle between Bermudo III. of 
 Leon and Ferdinand I. of Castile, in 
 which the former was killed ; the two 
 kingdoms were then united by the 
 conqueror’s marriage with Sancha the 
 heiress. 
 
 In Villaleasar de Sirga , or Villa - 
 sirga , about 4 m. on the Burgos road, 
 the parish church, once belonging to 
 the Templars, contains the remarkable 
 tombs of the Infante Felipe, son of 
 San Ferdinand (obt. 1274), and his 
 wife’s, Inez de Castro. The figures, 
 larger than life, repose on enriched 
 urnas ; the sculpture, although coarse, 
 is full of expression, and the costume 
 very interesting. Crossing a ridge 
 which separates the basins of the Car- 
 rion and the Pisuerga, below extend 
 the wide plains, through which the 
 Canal de Castilla was to unite Reinosa 
 with Segovia, and thus serve both as a 
 means of transit and irrigation. This 
 admirable project, which would have 
 infused life into these dead districts, 
 begun in 1753, estd p or acabar ; the 
 work in those parts where it is com- 
 plete is worthy in execution of the 
 conception. 
 
 Fromista , pop. 1400, an ancient 
 decayed town, stands close to the 
 canal: a few miles S.E. is Santoyo , 
 whose church contains a superb retablo 
 wrought in 1570 by Juan de Juni for 
 Sebastian de Navares, secretary to 
 Philip II. Near Itero de la Vega , the 
 Pisuerga is crossed, which forms the 
 boundary between Leon and Old Cas- 
 tile ; passing through fertile plains we 
 approach nearer the hill of Castrojeriz , 
 Castrum Csesaris, pop. 2400. Some 
 remains of Roman works exist in the 
 castle. The town has a colegiata and a 
 sort of palace, placed between the rivers 
 Odra and Garbanzuelo. Hence to 
 Burgos (see Rte. 115). 
 
 Spain. — II. 
 
 Route 75. — Leon to Valladolid. 
 
 Mansilla . . . , 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Matallana . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 ,. 6 
 
 Mayorga . . . 
 
 . 3 , 
 
 .. 9 
 
 Ceinos .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 .. 12 
 
 Berruecos . . . 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 ,. 13 
 
 Medina de Rioseco 
 
 . 3 < 
 
 .. 16 
 
 A la Mudarra . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 .. 19 
 
 Villanubla . . . 
 
 . 2 , 
 
 .. 21 
 
 Valladolid . . . 
 
 . 2 , 
 
 .. 23 
 
 Crossing the Esla at Mansilla, a loose 
 broken road, dusty in summer and 
 muddy in winter, leads to Mayorga , 
 pop. 2000, a mud-built village on the 
 Cea, with a decent posada. Here 
 Moore (Dec. 20, 1808) effected his 
 junction with Baird, and here took 
 place the first cavalry encounter, when 
 Lord Paget, with 400 of the 15th, 
 charged 600 splendid French dragoons, 
 riding them down horse and man. 
 In vain (as at Fuentes de Onoro) was 
 brandy served out to the enemy ; the 
 better man prevailed, as must be the 
 case, if the foe can only be grappled 
 with at close quarters, either with 
 sword, bayonet, or with the Nelsonm 
 touch “ close action ” and the board- 
 ing-pike. Then, in a bull-dog struggle 
 for life or death, “ beef,” blood, 
 bone, and bottom must tell, and a 
 purely physical superiority generates, 
 from consciousness of its power, a 
 moral confidence. Gen. Foy accord- 
 ingly attributes the accidental success 
 of the English horsemen, first to their 
 invariably vast superiority of number , 
 and next the larder. “ Le rhum vient 
 a propos ra mm er ses esprits dans le 
 moment du danger” (i. 231). Again, 
 “Nous avons vu plus d’une fois de 
 faibles detachements charger nos bat- 
 taillons a fond, mais en desordre. Le 
 cavalier ivre de rhum lanqait son 
 cheval, et le cheval emportait le ca- 
 valier au dela du but” (i. 290). Be 
 that as it may, such was the moral 
 superiority felt by our mounted beef- 
 eaters, that the Duke was obliged to 
 issue a general order to prevent mere 
 companies from charging whole French 
 regiments. Such was, to use his words, 
 “ the trick our officers of cavalry have 
 acquired of galloping at everything 
 e.g. Balaclava. 
 
558 
 
 ROUTE 75. SPANISH COMMERCE. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 On these very plains, ten short days 
 afterwards, did Blake, with his whole 
 army, run away, scared by one daring 
 charge of Franceschi’s dragoons, which 
 two companies of British infantry 
 would have riddled to shreds. 
 
 At mud-built Ceinos observe the 
 brick and limestone tower of an an- 
 cient Templar church, now used as a 
 cam'posanto , or burial-ground. A wea- 
 risome steppe leads to Medina de Rio- 
 seco, with its old gates and damaged 
 walls, “the city of the dry river,” a 
 thing and name of Spain, where beds 
 of rivers often want water and bridges, 
 and bridges want rivers. This place, 
 the Boman Forum Egurrorum, pop. 
 4500, stands in a cereal plain (akin to 
 the Alcarria, from which it is separated 
 by the Guadarrama chain), this plain 
 was once a vast lake, before the basin of 
 fresh-water limestone was drained by 
 the Duero and its tributaries. This mud- 
 built capital of a clayey marly district 
 was a noted emporium in the fourteenth 
 century. The fairs of cloth and linen 
 then ranked among the chief of the Cas- 
 tries, but now life is extinct, and the 
 carcase is returning to the earth of 
 which it was made, dust to dust : the 
 city will become a “heap” — pulvis et 
 umbra nihil: a shadow of the former 
 fairs is still held April 19 and Sept. 18. 
 
 Our readers are cautioned against 
 the natives’ exaggerations of their great 
 former commercial prosperity. In fact, 
 the world has too long taken Spaniards 
 and their “ things” at their own show- 
 ing, and fine words no where cost less. 
 Surely it is time that these unsubstan- 
 tial valuations should be settled. The 
 essence of the Grotho Spaniard was a con- 
 tempt for commerce; and, as among the 
 Homans those who sprung from trade 
 were disqualified for the senate, so 
 such persons were despised among the 
 Teutonic nations, the ancestors of the 
 Goths, with whom war and the chace 
 were considered the only occupation of 
 the gentleman. In-door sedentary 
 habits, and delicate manufactures, 
 which require the finger rather than 
 the arm, have in their nature a con- 
 trariety to military disposition ; since 
 
 even Hercules, with the distaff of Om- 
 phale, manufactured fewer threads in a 
 year than one little white slave of a 
 Manchester cottonocrat turns out in a 
 day. In the best period of Castilian 
 power the mechanical arts were im- 
 perfectly practised, while the higher 
 speculative and less operative branches 
 of commerce were almost unknown. 
 When the sciences of banking, ex- 
 change, and insurances crept slowly 
 into Spain from Italy and the Low 
 Countries, these exotics withered in an 
 uncongenial soil ; they were left in the 
 hands of Jews, Genoese, Flemings, 
 Alemanes, and other foreigners, capi- 
 talists, and benefactors, who have con- 
 sequently borne the odium of extracting 
 the wealth of Spain, and of entering, as 
 Moncada says, “ through the breach of 
 national idleness made by the devil :” 
 and to this indolence he might have 
 added ignorance and insecurity. Ac- 
 cordingly, commerce has here always 
 been passive, and at best is a mere 
 exportation of rav) materials, furnished 
 by a kind soil and climate, to be re- 
 ceived back again in a manufactured 
 state from the scientific industrious 
 foreigners ; and even this was carried 
 on for the consumption of the rich only, 
 since the rude wants of the country at 
 large were and are scantily supplied by 
 a coarse home-made article, each family 
 generally providing for itself, and pro- 
 curing a few additional articles at pe- 
 riodical fairs ; almost every luxury was 
 imported by foreigners, and in foreign 
 ships, and to this day the shops of the 
 local interior cities demonstrate, as hi 
 the East, a most backward stagnant 
 commerce. 
 
 The bragging of the past, like “ the 
 boasting of present strength,” is pure 
 rodomontade ; a reference, however, to 
 some tygone period of old and better 
 times is the fond and allowable dream, 
 of all who suffer under the evil of 
 the day; and where are the positive 
 proofs of past commercial prosperity p 
 The grandee and the church have 
 indeed left memorials of their indubi- 
 table power and magnificence, but 
 where are the remains, or even records, 
 
Leon. 
 
 ROUTE 75. — MEDINA DE RIOSECO. 
 
 559 
 
 of roads, canals, docks, quays, ware- 
 houses, and other appliances ? While 
 everything that proves an anti- com- 
 mercial spirit is evidenced in all Spanish 
 feelings and institutions, in their ex- 
 clusive nobility, their disqualifications, 
 their marble- cold spirit of caste, and 
 in a still existing contempt. The 
 bulk of the nation despises trade, 
 and, as the Moors think all Franks 
 were merchants, so, adopting the sneer 
 of Boney, that grandest of phrase- 
 makers, it considers England to be a 
 country of shopkeepers, who with their 
 operatives would starve without the 
 custom of rich and noble Spain. 
 
 The principal church of Medina de 
 Bioseco, the S a . Maria, is Gothic ; the 
 retablo , one of the finest in Spain, re- 
 presents incidents in the life of the 
 Saviour and Virgin : divided by fluted 
 Corinthian pillars, with bases and pedi- 
 ments supported by naked children. 
 Carved in 1590 by Esteban Jordan, 
 and painted by Pedro de Ona, his son- 
 in-law, reds and blues predominate. 
 Observe in it the grand Ascension of 
 the Virgin. The whole retablo recalls 
 the noble work of Becerra at Astorga 
 (p. 536). La Camilla de los Benaventes 
 to the 1., was once a gem of plateresque 
 and sculpturesque art : now all is de- 
 cay and neglect. The plateresque reja 
 was made by Francisco Martinez, 1553 : 
 observe above an arch, the medallions 
 of the founder’s family and their arms. 
 The retablo was carved by the bold 
 and fiery Juan de Juni; observe the 
 San Joaquin and Santa Ana, and 
 above the Buenaventuranza , or the 
 mystical beatitude of the Saviour in the 
 Apocalypse, with a sea filled with the 
 bodies of the deadrising up to judgment. 
 The gilding is much perished by damp 
 and neglect, which have also ruined 
 the Creation of Adam and Eve, and 
 the paintings of Juni on the semicir- 
 cular arch. Notice over the door the 
 portrait of the founder, Alvaro Bena- 
 vente, set. 50, and the three fine tombs, 
 separated by caryatides. The paint- 
 ings at the back of the niches have been 
 ascribed to Juni. Observe the Santa 
 Ana in bed, and two kneeling figures. 
 
 ] The stucco ceilings and ornaments were 
 in the finest Berruguete taste. Cean 
 Berm., ‘Arch? ii. 69, 221, has printed 
 th^purious original contract and spe- 
 cification of these works by Juni. 
 
 There are four pictures in this church 
 either by Murillo or Tovar, for it is not 
 easy to decide, owing to their dirty 
 condition and position; the subjects 
 are a large oblong Nativity, a charm- 
 ing St. Catherine, a kneeling Magdalen, 
 and full-length Madonna and Child, 
 which is the finest. 
 
 The classical fa§ade of Santa Cruz 
 is heavy although much admired by 
 the natives. The sculptured Sibyls, 
 the finding the Cross, and the two tiers 
 of Corinthian pilasters give a serious 
 character. It was founded by the great 
 Don Fadrique Enriquez, Admiral of 
 Castile, of whose palace in the town a 
 gate is all that has escaped ruin. The 
 tombs and kneeling figures of himself 
 and his wife, Ana de Cabrera, were in 
 the convent of San Francisco, with 
 some good terra-cotta statues of St. 
 Jerome and St. Sebastian, much Berru- 
 guete work, and a very fine ivory 
 crucifix. This convent itself was built 
 with the materials of the old castle 
 which withstood so many sieges in the 
 time of Don Pedro and Charles V., 
 etiam periere ruinse. 
 
 The last blow to decaying Bioseco 
 was given July 14, 1808, after its 
 battle, which placed Joseph on the 
 throne of Madrid, a battle compared 
 by Buonaparte, somewhat errone- 
 ously, to the crowning victory of Villa - 
 viciosa. Previously the incompetence 
 of Savary had compromised the French 
 position in the Castiles, for Filanghieri 
 hovered on their flanks in Grallicia, 
 wisely abstaining from battle ; sus- 
 pected by the Juntas of treachery 
 from this Fabian prudence, he was 
 murdered and succeeded by blun- 
 derer Blake, who joined the incapable 
 Cuesta. The junction of two such 
 great masters of defeat rendered it 
 certain; and hi order to ensure the 
 catastrophe these “children in the 
 art of war ” led 50,000 badly 
 equipped men into the plains of 
 2 c 2 
 
Sect. VIII. 
 
 560 ROUTE 76. — BATTLE OF RIOSECO. 
 
 Monclin, near Palacios . Bessieres had 
 only 12,000 French, but, beholding the 
 absurd arrangements of his enemy, 
 •which rendered even defence impos- 
 sible, ordered La Salle to charge with 
 some cavalry, whereupon the Spa- 
 niards took instantly to their heels. 
 The French soldiers, thirsty in the 
 pursuit and burning sun, finding the 
 river dry, exclaimed, “ Even Spanish 
 water runs away.” The Spaniards 
 lost 6000 killed and wounded, the 
 French under 500 ; not a word of all 
 this in Madoz, xi. 336. Bessieres, who 
 was no general, did not even know 
 how to follow up his victory, and 
 he was afraid to advance into Gal- 
 licia, alarmed at the mere report of 
 some English having landed. He 
 knew well, however, how to sack 
 Rioseco , unarmed and unresisting. 
 Santa Clara was made a brothel 
 for his army, the nuns being selected 
 as victims ; neither age nor sex was 
 spared, and yet the inhabitants had 
 illuminated their houses in token of 
 friendly feeling (Toreno, iv.) Schepeler 
 (i. 434, 37) details the horrors of fire, 
 lust, and rapine, accompanied with 
 cold-blooded murder of prisoners. 
 Bessieres, who, like Suchet, began life 
 a barber, was sent to his last account 
 at Lutzen. This man, according to 
 Buonaparte’s bulletin, was “recom- 
 mandable par ses qualites civiles,” and, 
 as he wrote to the widow, “a laisse 
 une reputation sans tache.” The 
 widows and nuns of Rioseco never 
 penned that epitaph. 
 
 Rioseco is a central point whence 
 excursions may be made to several 
 ancient cities. 
 
 Route 76. — Rioseco to Valladolid. 
 
 Villafrechos . . 
 
 . 21 
 
 
 Villalpando . . 
 
 . 21 
 
 .. 5 
 
 San Esteban 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 7 
 
 Benavente . . . 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 9 
 
 Zamora .... 
 
 
 .. 19 
 
 Fresno .... 
 
 . 3 
 
 . . 22 
 
 Toro 
 
 
 . . 24 
 
 Pedrosa del Key . 
 
 . 3 
 
 .. 27 
 
 Villalar .... 
 
 
 . . 29 
 
 Tordesillas . . . 
 
 . 1 
 
 . . 30 
 
 Rueda .... 
 
 . 2 
 
 . . 32 
 
 Medina del Campo 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 34 
 
 Valdestillas . . . 4 ..38 
 
 Puente Duero . . . 2 . . 40 
 
 Simancas . . . . ll . . 411 
 
 Valladolid , . . . . 2 .. 431 
 
 As far as villages and people are con- 
 cerned, nothing' 1 can be more bald or 
 wretched than this circuit, which, 
 however, includes towns of former 
 fame, and sites of important events. Vil- 
 laVpando , in its vast plain, once a city 
 of 50,000 souls, fell into decay when 
 Rioseco rose at its expense ; now the 
 population is under 3000. The origi- 
 nal city being built of mud, has mostly 
 disappeared, while the invaders gutted 
 the more solidly constructed Francis- 
 can and Dominican convents ; the 
 misery is now complete inside, and 
 outside a monotonous tract of land 
 rendered more hideous, as a valdio 
 or “common” of the townsfolk, 
 is left almost uncultivated. j Sena* 
 vente and the route to Zamora have 
 been described (see R. 69). Those 
 who do not wish to go there, may 
 cross the plains directly from Rioseco 
 to Zamora , 13 L. through Rustillo , 
 which is about half way : for Zamora, 
 see p. 530. 
 
 Ascending the Duero from Zamora , 
 is the ancient and decayed city of Toro^ 
 with its fine bridge and the pleasant 
 walk on it, from which we behold 
 those Almenas de Toro chanted by 
 Lope de Vega. This city, like Sala- 
 manca, takes its bridge and a “ cant- 
 ing” Toro , one of the Guisando breed, 
 for its arms. This dull and backward 
 town contains about 9000 souls, and 
 lords over the plains, those cameos 
 which were the granary of the Goths. 
 The iron rejas to the windows give it 
 a prison-like look. Visit the ruined Al- 
 cazar of Garcia, in which the French 
 kept a garrison. Gen. Duvernay, Jan. 
 6, 1809, captured the unprepared city 
 with a handful of cavalry ! for Moore 
 had in vain urged the junta of Toro 
 to fortify their town, which, like 
 Zamora, might have formed an import- 
 ant place for him to fall back on, and, 
 as the enemy at that time had no artil- 
 lery for sieges, their progress must 
 have been arrested, and the retreat on 
 
Loon. 
 
 ROUTE 76 . — COMMUNEROS. 
 
 561 
 
 La Coruna avoided, but nothing was 
 done — cosas de Fspana ! 
 
 It was at Toro that the Conde Duque, 
 the disgraced minister of Philip IV., 
 died in 1643, haunted, as he imagined, 
 by a spectre — the ghost of his country’s 
 departed greatness, which he had so 
 mainly contributed to destroy. Toro, 
 of course has a Plaza de Toros. The 
 architect may also observe La Torre 
 del Reloji the house of Los Fonsecas 
 and the Casa del Ayuntamiento , built 
 by Ventura Rodriguez, and the granite 
 Colegiata , with its solid buttresses, 
 deep recessed entrance, and circular 
 arched work. The style, in its simple 
 front of wall with few windows, re- 
 calls the Norman works at Zamora ; 
 the unfinished tower over the transept 
 is of later period, with rich pointed 
 Gothic. Toro was a city of great 
 former importance. Don Pedro en- 
 tered it in 1356 by the gate Santa Ca- 
 talina, and thus put down the rebels. 
 Near it was fought in 1476 the battle 
 between Alonso V. of Portugal and 
 Ferdinand, a victory which gave the 
 crown of Castile to Isabella, destroyed 
 the faction of La Beltraneja, and 
 avenged the defeat of Aljabarota. Here 
 again was held in January, 1506, the 
 celebrated Cortes by which, after the 
 death of Isabella, Ferdinand’s regal 
 authority was recognised : consult 4 Co- 
 rografia de la Provincia del Toro? An- 
 tonio Gomez de la Torre, 4to. Mad. 
 1802. 
 
 Leaving Toro , and continuing on the 
 r. bank of the Duero, near the river 
 Hormija is or rather was the most an- 
 cient abbey San Roman, founded by the 
 Gothic king Recesvinto for the burial- 
 place of his wife : thence to Villalar , 
 where (April 23, 1521) the Conde 
 de Haro defeated the Comuneros 
 led by Juan de Padilla, and crushed 
 this popular insurrection ; one raised 
 in reality against el Fstrangero and 
 the foreign favourites of Charles V., 
 not against the king of Spain him- 
 self. The country at large was 
 otherwise apathetic, and when the 
 mob was put down, many chief cities 
 published works to prove their loyalty 
 
 during the struggle. Padilla was be- 
 headed the next day at Tordesillas. 
 Southey, when young, wrote verses on 
 this martyr to mob patriotism. The con- 
 duct of the junta was precisely such as 
 we have seen in our times : for they 
 exhibited, says Robertson, <c the 
 strongest marks of irresolution, mutual 
 distrust, and mediocrity of genius,” 
 incapable alike of carrying on war or 
 of making peace. Padilla fell a victim 
 to their combined baseness and igno- 
 rance : he was the husband of Maria 
 Pacheco, of whom there is such a fine 
 portrait by FI Mudo at Bowood, and 
 to whom before his execution he wrote 
 that most touching and manly letter 
 preserved by Sandoval, and translated 
 by Robertson. 
 
 Tordesillas rises in its weary Para - 
 mos de Leon , those bald steppes, those 
 seas of corn, wdiich are bounded only 
 by the horizon. The Parador Val de 
 PLuerios , Vista alegre^ outside the town, 
 on the road to Penavente , is clean. 
 This town is an important strategic 
 position, having an old Gothic arched 
 bridge over the Duero. The view 
 from it is striking. You have the 
 old town hanging on a declivity, in 
 the centre the church of St. Antolin 
 with its belfries, the noble terraces 
 of masonry, the towered San Juan 
 on one side, with the massive chapel 
 of S a . Clara on the other. Visit 
 the church San Antolin , as the 
 retablo contains a fine Crucifixion, 
 which is attributed to Juan de Juni. 
 The superb marble sepulchre of the 
 Comendador, Pedro Gonzalez de Al- 
 derete, was wrought in 1527 by Gasper 
 de Tordesillas ; equal to Berru- 
 guete, it is designed in the style of 
 the royal tombs at Granada, with 
 caryatides at angles, figures and cinque- 
 cento ornaments : the founder lies 
 
 armed, with his helmet at his feet. The 
 other tomb in a niche is inferior. The 
 nunnery Santa Clara^ crowned by a long 
 latticed gallery, overlooks the Duero, 
 the bridge, and plains ; in the interior 
 observe the gilt artesonado ceiling of 
 the chancel, and the chapel of Fsteban 
 Lopez de Saldana , completed in 1435 ; 
 
562 
 
 ROUTE 76. — WELLINGTON AT RUEDA. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 his fine sepulchre was sadly mutilated 
 by the invaders ; the head escaped, 
 and is full of character and repose. 
 Observe the retablo , said by Ponz (xii. 
 143) to have belonged to Juan II., 
 and the four sepulchres in niches, the 
 two female figures, the armed male, and 
 another with a sort of turban : the 
 architect Gfuillem de Boam is buried 
 near it, ob. Dec. 7, 1431. 
 
 This convent has received eminent 
 personages ; here Juana la Loca , 
 
 “ crazy Jane,” the mother of Charles 
 V., died, April 11, 1535, aged 76, 
 having watched for 47 years, with 
 jealous insanity, the coffin of her 
 handsome but worthless husband. 
 The morbid taint broke out again 
 in her descendants ; it induced her 
 son Charles V. to die a monk at 
 Yuste; it tinged the gloomy bigotry 
 of Philip II. ; and ended with the 
 Austrian race in the confirmed imbe- 
 cility of Charles II., a sovereign who 
 kept pace with the decline of his king- 
 dom and dynasty. 
 
 In a house attached to this convent 
 Buonaparte was lodged, Dec. 25, 1808, 
 and had leisure enough to Handbook 
 thus in his bulletin : “ Sa majeste avait. 
 son quartier general dans les batimens 
 exterieurs du Couvent Boyal de Sainte 
 Claire — c’est dans ce batiment que 
 s’etait retiree, et qu’est morte, la mere 
 de Charles V. Le couvent a ete con- 
 struit sur un ancien palais des Maures, 
 dont il reste un bain et deux salles, 
 d’une belle conservation ; l’abbesse a 
 ete presentee a l’Empereur.” At Tor- 
 desillas in 1439, the meeting of Juan 
 II. and his factious nobles took place. 
 The “ good” Conde de Haro was mu- 
 tual guarantee of fair play. His Seguro , 
 published at Milan in 1611, and at 
 Madrid in 1784, gives a curious record 
 of mediaeval mistrust. 
 
 Much red wine, strong and heady as 
 port, is grown in these districts. 2 L. 
 to the r. at La Nava del Rey , the 
 Corinthian retablo in the parroquia , is 
 a noble architectural and sculptural 
 monument by the great Gfregorio Her- 
 nandez : observe particidarly the two 
 St. Johns. Rueda, pop. 2500, with a 
 
 fine parish church, thrives from the 
 good wine grown here. The vineyards 
 lie on a stony broken soil : the pro- 
 duce, kept in^ deep cellars, is con- 
 sidered to be a specific against the 
 gout, and is much bought by the 
 Maragatos and merchants of the 
 north, who bring iron and colonial 
 produce in exchange. 
 
 At Rueda the prestige of the Duke’s 
 name alone saved his army in the re- 
 treat from Burgos. Here Caffarelli, 
 Oct. 21, 1812, with 40,000 splendid 
 French infantry and 5000 cavalry, 
 came up with “ not 20,000 British and 
 Portuguese :” and yet declined giving 
 battle. Thus protected by the halo 
 of his glory, "W ellington passed on un- 
 molested ; and this is his record : — “ I 
 was shocked when I saw how the 
 Spaniards fought ; and when I saw the 
 whole of the enemy’s army, it was very 
 clear to me that they ought to eat me 
 up. I have got clear off in a hand- 
 some manner out of the worst scrape I 
 ever was in” (Disp. Oct. 31, 1812). 
 A scrape occasioned by the scandalous 
 disobedience of orders by Ballesteros in 
 Spain, a “ getting off” the reward of 
 superior tactics, by which the enemy 
 were cowed, outgeneraled, and baffled. 
 Calm in the greatest dangers, he was sus- 
 tained by a confidence in himself equal 
 to every emergency. “ Conservant,” 
 as Marchant says of Turenne, “ dans 
 ses revers comme dans les succes, ce 
 calme-stoi'que, ce sang-froid imperturb- 
 able, qui sert si bien a reparer les uns 
 et a completer les autres, il ressemble 
 plus qu’aucun de nos grands hommes 
 aux her os de V antiquit e, marchant 
 toujours a son but, du meme pas, ne 
 s’emportant jamais, et repoussant par 
 son calme et sa froide raison les sottes 
 pretensions et memes les injures ! ” 
 
 2 L. from Rueda is Medina del 
 Campo, the city of the plain (Me- 
 thimna Campestris), another import- 
 ant strategic point, equidistant from 
 Zamora, Salamanca, Palencia, Avila, 
 and Segovia, being about 14 L. from 
 each. Inn, Rarador de Repe , or de la 
 Retra , on the plaza. The town is 
 placed on the swampy Zapardiel, whose 
 
Lzon . 
 
 EOUTE 76 . — MEDINA DEL CAMPO. 
 
 563 
 
 overflowing waters breed fever and ague. 
 The Moors had corrected this by a 
 canal, which also served for irrigation ; 
 some remains only of their work may 
 be traced at La Cava. 
 
 Medina , is the capital of the level 
 district, one of the finest wheat coun- 
 tries in the world : but, from want of 
 roads and means of transport about 
 18s. must be added to the price per 
 quarter before the wheat is shipped 
 on board at Santander, from whence 
 to England a freight of 6s. must 
 be calculated on. The popula- 
 tion of this once a royal court and 
 much-frequented emporium, said to 
 have been 50,000, has now dwindled 
 down to 2500. Possibly the past may 
 have been exaggerated, for the city was 
 thus described by the Bishop of Mon- 
 donedo, even in 1532: “Thistowne, 
 to my judgement, hath neither grounde 
 nor heaven ; for the heavens are always 
 covered with cloudes, and the grounde 
 with dyrte, in such wise that if the 
 neighbourhood call it Medina of the 
 field, wee courtiers doe terme it Medina 
 of the dyrte. It hath a river that is so 
 deepe and dangerous, that geese in 
 summer go over it dry-footed.” — 
 c Gruevarcis Letters ,’ p. 101, translated 
 by Fellowes, London, 1584. 
 
 The city pined after the plundering 
 in Aug. 1520 by the Comuneros , when 
 Antonio de Fonseca and his patriots 
 burnt 900 houses, and during the re- 
 cent war was further impoverished by 
 frequent pillage and exaction of the 
 invaders. The G-othic church San An- 
 tolin in the plaza, was founded in 750, 
 and made collegiate in 1480, of which 
 date are the tower and the figures that 
 strike the hour. The grand cinque- 
 cento retablo consists of five tiers, en- 
 riched with the life of our Saviour and 
 Berruguete ornaments. The crucifix 
 in one of the chapels is attributed to 
 Graspar Becerra ; the Doric silleria del 
 coro came from Gruadalupe. The un- 
 finished hospital, with vast front and 
 grand quadrangle, was built by Juan 
 de Tolosa, in 1591, for Simon Buiz 
 Embito. The retablo in the chapel is 
 adorned with a miracle of the charity- 
 
 dispensing San Diego. Observe the 
 iron rej a> the tomb of the founder kneel- 
 ing with his two wives, and his portrait 
 painted by Pantoja de la Cruz. Part 
 is now used as a cavalry barrack. The 
 city shambles, las Carniceras , are much 
 admired, and the patio , with granite 
 pillars, was built in 1562 by Graspar de 
 Vega. Look at the plateresque Casa de 
 las Luenas , and walk in the Chiopal. 
 
 Visit the Castillo de la Mot a, 
 erected in 1440 by Fernando de Car- 
 reno, for Juan II., on the site of the 
 Eoman Methimna, and increased by 
 Isabella in 1479. This well moated 
 castle, the only mound in these plains, 
 crowns the hillock, with a slim Torre del 
 Momenage , and the bartizan turrets at 
 the angles, which are so common in 
 these districts. Visit the interior. 
 Here the notorious Csesar Borgia 
 was confined for two years, until he 
 escaped by the aid of the Conde de 
 Benavente. And here, a little before 
 noon on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 1504, 
 died Isabella, in the 54th year of her 
 age and 30th of her reign. Peter 
 Martyr, writing the same day from the 
 spot to the Conde de Tendiha, and to 
 Talavera, the good Archbishop of Gra- 
 nada, thus sums up the just eulogium 
 of his mistress, a pattern of her sex, and 
 one of the purest sovereigns by whom 
 female sceptre was everwielded : “ Cadit 
 mihi prse dolore dextra ; orbata est 
 terrse facies mirabili ornamento, inau- 
 dito hactenus : in sexu namque feemineo 
 et potenti licencia nullam memini me 
 legisse, quam huic natura Deusque for- 
 ma verit, comparari dignam” (Epis. 
 279) . Her body was moved to Granada 
 in December, after a journey replete 
 with horrors, over roadless tracks, 
 amid storms and torrents, of which 
 Peter Martyr, who accompanied his 
 mistress to her last home, has given a 
 faithful picture. 
 
 From hence to Valladolid is 8 L., 
 either returning to Tordesillas , or tak- 
 ing the direct road to Puente del 
 JDuero , and thence diverging to Siman - 
 cas, where the archives of Spain, an 
 imperfectly explored mine of historical 
 information, are interred. The town, 
 
564 
 
 ROUTE 76 . — SIMANCAS. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 with its church, tower, and castle, rise 
 boldly on the opposite side of the 
 Pisuerga, here crossed by a stone bridge 
 of 17 arches, which the French injured 
 Sept. 8, 1812, when they retreated be- 
 fore the Puke. The river is deep and 
 rapid; and the proverbs say, “ FI 
 Duero lleva la fama, y Pisuerga lleva 
 el agua “ Duero y Duraton , Arlanza 
 y Arlanzon , en el puente de Simancas 
 juntos son” Like the Gua,diana and 
 Guadalquivir, the stream is turbid and 
 discoloured by the clayey soils through 
 which it eats its way. Some geogra- 
 phers make this river the boundary 
 between Leon and Old Castile. There 
 is a poor posada at the end of the 
 bridge, Fonda del Puente. 
 
 Simancas, town and castle, originally 
 belonged to the Henriquez, the grand 
 Admirals of Castile, until taken from 
 them by Ferdinand and Isabella, and 
 destined, at the suggestion of Cardinal 
 Ximenez, for the national archives. 
 They are open from 8 a.m. to 1 ; Don 
 Manuel Garcia , the most obliging 
 Archiviero Mayor, is no regarder of 
 hours or fees, and speaks French. The 
 moated and castellated edifice, rises 
 on the N.W. angle of the town. On 
 the battlements in 1522 the famous 
 Alcalde Ponquillo hung up Antonio de 
 Acuna, bishop of Zamora, a prelate 
 militant, who had joined the Comu- 
 neros. This strong castle was indeed 
 •a safe and well-selected site for the 
 national archives when the court 
 resided so near, but now its dis- 
 tance from Madrid is very inconve- 
 nient, and the Escorial would do bet- 
 ter, but funds are wanting. In 1563 
 Philip II., a great writer and red- 
 tapist, who boasted that he ruled the 
 world with a bit of paper, conceived 
 the idea of a record-office ; he employed 
 Geronimo Zurita to classify these ar- 
 chives, and directed Herrera and Ber- 
 ruguete to alter and adapt the edifice 
 (see Cean Ber. ‘ Arch .,’ ii. 325). The 
 papers were very complete from 1475. 
 Most of the earlier were destroyed by 
 the patriot Comuneros in 1520, while 
 those relating to South America were 
 sent to Seville in 1783. 
 
 Buonaparte, who had plundered 
 Vienna and the Vatican to make Paris 
 the receiving-house of title-deeds of 
 conquered and invaded countries, or- 
 dered Kellermann, in Aug. 1810, to 
 eviscerate Simancas ; sixty cases were 
 sent away in November. A Monsieur 
 Quiter, dispatched from Paris to assist 
 the unlettered soldiers in selection, set 
 aside an additional mass, which filled 
 1600 cases. When he arrived, March, 
 1811, twenty-nine rooms were full of 
 papers, of which he reported that 
 about one-quarter were “ desirable 
 but soon the untoward event of Mas- 
 sena’s defeat at Torres Vedras inter- 
 fered with these “ colossal t ideas.” 
 Monsieur Quiter quitted and fled, 
 having first packed up and sent to 
 Paris 112 cases more ; the whole num- 
 ber of packets or bundles thus “ re- 
 moved” amounted to 7861. When 
 the allies entered Paris in 1814 a gene- 
 ral reclamation of stolen goods took 
 place, and by the efforts of Labrador, 
 the Spanish ambassador, 146 cases 
 were with difficulty rescued ; they had 
 not, however, by March, 1815, got 
 farther on their way back to Simancas 
 than Bordeaux, when, on the landing 
 of Buonaparte from Elba, their further 
 progress was arrested, as robbery again 
 became the order of the day. After 
 his final fall, some of the papers at last 
 were restored to the rightful owners. 
 
 A portion of those relating to French 
 diplomacy, of Legajos de Fstado, and 
 the correspondence of the Castilian 
 court with their ambassadors at Paris, 
 Aragon, and Venice, were kept back, 
 and have in vain been applied for by 
 Spain, since the Bourbons have never 
 chosen to return to their cousins, the 
 spoils of Buonaparte’s legions. There 
 are still wanting papers concerning the 
 wars of the League ; letters from Paris 
 to Philip II. ; all documents bear- 
 ing on the succession ; all relating 
 to the campaigns of Charles V. at 
 Pavia. The French inadvertently 
 left the catalogue of these behind 
 at Simancas, and the missing originals 
 were actually seen lately at Paris. It 
 is to these purloined papers that Mes- 
 
Leon. 
 
 ROUTE 76 . — ARCHIVES OF SPAIN. 
 
 565 
 
 sieurs Michelet, Mignet, and Capefigue, 
 are so much indebted. A worse fate 
 remained for many documents which 
 had n6 French interest : Kellerman 
 used them as waste paper, for his 
 troops to light their fires. In vain 
 did Joseph remonstrate to Buona- 
 parte; the precious documents were 
 destroyed by waggon-loads, as the 
 keeper saw done, and related to us 
 on the spot, adding that these in- 
 cendiaries put him in mind of Don 
 Quixote, ii. 70, where the devils 
 burn books in fiendish sport. More- 
 over, on evacuating the castle, these 
 Omars set it on fire, when the N. 
 wing was burnt down. This portion 
 has since been rebuilt. The brands 
 rescued from these burnings, pick- 
 ings, and stealings, were entirely 
 re-arranged by Don Tomas Gonzalez, 
 canon of Plasencia, who classified the 
 most curious papers, and placed them 
 in the Patronato viejo , and in el cubo. 
 Many of the archives will be found in 
 his printed Coleccion , and others in the 
 publications of M. Gachard. 
 
 Formerly the greatest jealousy ex- 
 isted in regard to these archives. Ro- 
 bertson was refused permission to exa- 
 mine them, which was also denied to 
 native authors, and even to royal his- 
 toriographers. Recently more libe- 
 rality has been shown ; but still, by 
 order of Pena Florida, April 20, 1814, 
 many vexatious provisoes are enjoined 
 to those who wish to read and copy 
 closely ; and a permission is necessary 
 to see papers later than a.d. 1700. 
 
 Mere visitors, however, enter easily. 
 First observe the old chapel of the 
 Henriquez family, with a blue and gold 
 roof, and a saloon richly decorated by 
 Berruguete. Each traveller will of 
 course inquire for the class of papers 
 which most interest himself. Among 
 those of general curiosity, observe el 
 JBecerro of AlonsoXI., a sort of Dooms- 
 day Book, containing an account of all 
 the rents paid to the crown. Look 
 at the original deed of capitulation 
 at the taking of Granada, signed both 
 by the king %nd queen ; at the con- 
 vention signed by Boabdil, in Arabic 
 
 characters, by which he agreed to 
 quit Spain and live in Barbary ; at the 
 title-deeds of the Soto de Roma, now 
 the Duke" of Wellington’s domain; at 
 the Cuentas del Gran Cajpitan , and at 
 many of his original dispatches, written 
 in a loose large handwriting ; ask for 
 the Pecamara, or inventories of Isa- 
 bella’s jewels, her library, and trea- 
 sures at Segovia, and the swords : 
 among them are noted la Tisona del 
 Cid, La Joy a del bien cortar of Roldan, 
 and the one with which he divided the 
 Pyrenees ; notice particularly Isabella’s 
 last will, signed by her, Oct, 12, 1504, 
 Medina del Campo ; also the will and 
 codicil of Charles V., made at Yuste, 
 Nov. 4, 1558, written in a trembling 
 hand, enjoining the extirpation of 
 heretics. There are many letters of 
 Charles Y., Philip II., and his fit wife, 
 our bloody Mary; many also and most 
 curious papers regarding the “ Inven- 
 cible Armada,” the outfit and expenses. 
 The documents relating to our Eliza- 
 beth, from 1558 to 1576, have been 
 made the groundwork of Gonzalez’s 
 admirable paper (Mems. Acad. Hist., 
 vol. vii. 249) : he also prepared from 
 the original documents La Petirada , 
 or retreat of Charles Y. at Yuste, now 
 in the archives of foreign affairs at 
 Paris, see p. 498. The original drafts 
 of Philip II.’ s dispatches to his minis- 
 ters and ambassadors are most nume- 
 rous : they are corrected and interlined 
 with his own royal loose and straggling 
 handwriting. 
 
 In the plain below the castle, July 
 19, 934 (some say 939), king Ramiro 
 defeated the Moors, killing 30,000, 
 60,000, or as others say, 80,000 ; and no 
 wonder, for, according to Mariana (viii. 
 5), two angels on white horses fought 
 on the side of the Spaniards ; they 
 have always liked any ally from heaven 
 or earth that does the work, leaving 
 it for them to describe the deed in their 
 bulletins, and claim the glory for nos- 
 otros. Simancas defended Enrique 
 IY. against the league in 1465. The 
 rebels, headed by Archbishop Carillo, 
 had taken Penaflor , whereat the people 
 of Simancas likened him to the primate 
 2 c 3 
 
566 
 
 ROUTE 76. — VALLADOLID. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 Oppas, who betrayed Don Roderick, 
 and hung him in effigy, singing — 
 
 “ Esta es Simancas 
 Don Oppas traidor 
 T no Penafior /” 
 
 The notorious Irish rebel. Hugh Roe 
 O’Donnell, died at Simancas , Sept. 10, 
 1602 : he had fled after the defeat of 
 Kinsale, with many of his adherents, 
 to Philip III., as to the most decided 
 enemy of England. He had pined for 
 some time at La Coruna, sickening 
 under the hope deferred of broken 
 promises, and, coming to urge the 
 king, died here, cursing Punic Spain, 
 and remembering the emerald isle 
 his sweet Argos. Erom this date 
 commenced the influx of Irish priests, 
 outlaws, and Pat-riotics, who settled 
 in Spain, and from whom were de- 
 scended the Blakes, O’Donojus, &c., 
 the bitterest opponents of their great 
 fellow-countryman the Duke, in his 
 efforts to deliver their newly-adopted 
 p atria. 
 
 Soon we enter Valladolid by its noble 
 Cawpo Grande. The best inn is LI 
 Parador de las Diligencias , Plaza de 
 Santa Ana ; or the other coach Para- 
 dor, calle de Boaraza ; or the Inn kept 
 by La Pilbaina . 
 
 VALLADOLID, the Roman Pincia, 
 was called by the Moors Pelad- Walid , 
 the city or “ Land of Walid” (LI 
 Weleed /.), under whose kalifate 
 Spain was conquered. Some Spaniards, 
 who dislike Moorish recollections, de- 
 rive the name from Valle de lid , the 
 scene of a conflict ; others from Vallis 
 Oliveti , there being few olives in this 
 cold elevated . district. Pelad- Walid 
 was recovered in 930 by Ordono II., 
 who raised a sculptured lion, a memo- 
 rial of his victory, on the site of LI 
 Leon de la Catedral. The domain 
 was granted by Alonso VI. to his son- 
 in-law, the great Count Rodrigo Gron- 
 zalez Giron, who gave the city his 
 coat of arms, “ gules, three banners or.” 
 Some heralds, however, hold these cant- 
 ing u girones” to be “flames of fire;” 
 others “waves of the river;” others 
 say “ strips of ribbon,” as the founder 
 of the Girons saved Alonso VI. in 
 
 battle, giving him his horse, and bind- 
 ing his wounds with three red strips 
 from his yellow mantle ; an orle of 
 eight castles w&s afterwards added. 
 When the male race of this Giron 
 failed, the domain was regranted in 
 1090 to the Conde Pedro Ansurez, 
 the real founder of modern Valladolid : 
 by him were rebuilt the bridge, the San 
 Nicolas , La Antigua , and the Hospital 
 of the Esgueva. He died leaving only 
 a daughter, and the grant again soon 
 relapsed to the crown. The city in 
 the beginning of the 15th century be- 
 came the birth-place and residence of 
 kings under Juan II. According to the 
 proverb it was then without its equal 
 in Castile : “ Villa ypor villa , Vallado- 
 lid en Castilla .” Under Charles V. it 
 was adorned with splendid edifices, 
 and his son Philip II., born here, 
 favoured his native town ; he gave it 
 the title of city in 1596, having in- 
 duced Clement VIII. to elevate it to a 
 bishopric the year before. Madrid rose 
 on the decay of Valladolid, as, when the 
 court removed, the sources of its pros- 
 perity were cut off. Philip III., feeling 
 how much better the situation of the 
 ancient capital was, than that of the up- 
 start new one, determined to re-estab- 
 lish it, and quitted Madrid in 1601 ; 
 but the translation was found to be 
 impossible. Thus a position on a fine 
 river, in a rich fertile country abound- 
 ing in fuel and corn, and under a bet- 
 ter climate, was abandoned for a mangy 
 desert, exposed to the death-pregnant 
 blast of the Guadarrama. Navagiero 
 (35) details what Valladolid then was 
 in all its glory, containing more than 
 50,000 inhabitants, now it scarcely 
 numbers 20,000. 
 
 Valladolid pined away, keeping pace 
 with the decay of Spain, until the in- 
 vasion of the French, when ruin came 
 on with frightful celerity : Buonaparte 
 gave the signal himself ; here he lodged 
 and loitered from Jan. 6th to 17th, 
 1809, defeating Moore in his bulletins. 
 Here he wrote paragraphs in praise of 
 the Benedictines, to be read in Paris, 
 while he directed executions of monks to 
 be seen in terrorised Valladolid. Here 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 76. — FRENCH DESTRUCTION. 
 
 567 
 
 at his presence Hope withering fled, and 
 Mercy sighed farewell ; his first feu-de- 
 joie, the third night after his arrival, 
 was marked by the burning the Trini- 
 tarios Descalzos , which was utterly 
 destroyed, with the glorious retdblo 
 by Berruguete. Next he dismantled 
 the Dominican college, the grandest 
 building in the city ; then his imitators 
 proceeded to gut the Carmen Calzados , 
 where they tore down the retablo of 
 Hernandez, broke his finest works, 
 violated his grave, and turned the 
 chapel into an hospital. They then 
 pillaged the San Juan de Letran , and 
 stole the Rincon paintings. They sub- 
 sequently entirely ruined San Pablo , 
 and desecrated Santiago, destroying the 
 masterpieces of Juni and Tordesillas. 
 
 The city had been previously sacked, 
 Dec. 26, 1808, the day on which the 
 invaders first entered ; afterwards it 
 became the head-quarters of Keller- 
 mann, who, fit successor to Bessieres, 
 spared neither church nor cottage, age 
 nor sex, man nor beast. Read the Due 
 de Broglies’ bloody papers, Quarterly 
 Review, cxxix. 42. Civil wars and 
 sequestrations have carried out what 
 the foreign foe commenced ; and there 
 are few cities in Spain where the lover 
 of antiquarian and religious pursuits 
 will be more pained than in Valladolid. 
 Nowhere has recent destruction been 
 more busy ; witness San Benito, San 
 Diego, San Francisco, San Gabriel, 
 &c., almost swept away, their precious 
 altars broken, their splendid sepulchres 
 dashed to pieces ; hence the sad void 
 created in the treasures of art and 
 religion which are recorded by pre- 
 vious travellers, while now-a-days the 
 native in this mania of modernising is 
 fast destroying those venerable vestiges 
 of Charles V. and Philip II. which 
 escaped the Gaul. 
 
 Valladolid lies on the 1. bank of 
 the Pisuerga, which is here joined by 
 the Esgueva ; which dividing the town 
 acts as a sewer. These rivers some- 
 times overflow, and occasion infinite 
 damage in the town and environs. 
 The Alamedas on the river-banks are 
 pleasant : to the N.E. is el Prado de 
 
 la Magdalena , laid out on the Esgueva, 
 which is crossed by the central bridge 
 de las Chirimias : many others have been 
 removed, but this and that of Magana 
 remain ; this “Fleet ditch” has since 
 been covered over. On the Pisuerga 
 are el JSspolon nuevo and el Plantio 
 de Moreras , pleasant and shady walks 
 which lead up to the fine bridge, or 
 rather bridges ; for, the ancient one 
 being narrow, another was built along- 
 side of it by the Conde de Ansurez. 
 The grand suburban Alameda is on the 
 Campo Grande. 
 
 Valladolid is placed in a concave 
 valley ; the sloping hills on the r. bank 
 of the Pisuerga look barren and clayey, 
 with reddish streaks or strata. The 
 Canal de Castilla , which begins at 
 Alar del Rey, terminates at Valladolid, 
 and, if ever completed, will do much 
 to restore a portion of former pros- 
 perity; there is a regular boat com- 
 munication with Palencia by it . V alla- 
 dolid is the capital of its province, the 
 residence of the captain-general of Old 
 Castile ; the see is suffragan to Toledo. 
 It has 16 parishes, an academy of fine 
 arts, a university, a liceo, theatre, 
 museo, Casino , Circulo , Plaza de Toros , 
 public library, hospitals, Casa de Es- 
 positos, and usual public establish- 
 ments, and a high court of Chancery. 
 The town has few social attractions : 
 the climate is damp in winter, and cold 
 from its elevation, while the summer 
 suns scorch fiercely; it is not, how- 
 ever, unhealthy; recently some new 
 foundries, mills, and manufactories 
 have been set up. The inhabitants are 
 genuine old Castilians, grave, formal, 
 honourable, and bores of the first 
 class. 
 
 Here Columbus died, May 20, 1506; 
 here Philip II. was born, May 21, 
 1527, and was shown at his birth 
 to the people from the balcony of the 
 house of Alvas, recently bought by 
 Senor Reynoso for a trifle. For local 
 histories, consult c Las JExcelencias de 
 Valladolid ,’ Antonio Da9a, duo., Val- 
 ladolid, 1627, and especially for the 
 hagiography of its tutelar saint, Pedro 
 Regalado ; or that by Manuel de Mon - 
 
568 
 
 ROUTE 76. — CHANCERY OF VALLADOLID. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 zavel , 4to. Vail. 1684 : c Viaje Artis- 
 ticoj 8vo., Isidoro Bosarte, Madrid, 
 1804, p. 99 ; Ponz, c Viaje ‘ Historia 
 de Valladolid Matias Sangrador y 
 Yitores, begun in 1848. The £ Com- 
 pendia JlistoricoDescriptivoJ published 
 by Julian Pastor in 1843, gives a cata- 
 logue of the contents of the new Mu- 
 seo. There is a map of the city by 
 Diego Perez Martinez. 
 
 We will commence our sight-seeing 
 above the bridge delas Chirimias , keep- 
 ing on the r. bank : in the first street is 
 the site of the Inquisition, the Chan- 
 cilleria , or Court of Chancery, and 
 naturally enough the Prison is quite 
 handy. The great Chancery, or court 
 of appeal for the N. of Spain, fixed here 
 by Juan II., in 1442, was moved to the 
 present building by Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, who appropriated to its use 
 the mansion of the ill-fated Alonso 
 Perez de Yivero. The inscribed motto, 
 “ Jura fidem ac poenam reddit sua 
 munera cunctis” seems rather strong 
 to all who know what Spanish Justicia 
 is, let alone chancery in general. This 
 Chancery was in the N. what that of 
 Granada was to the S., a monopoly. 
 So, as the distances from the other pro- 
 vinces were inconvenient, it was divided 
 in 1835, and an Audiencia established 
 at Burgos, in order to render the court 
 of appeal nearer to suitors from Arra- 
 gon and Catalonia. Previously, how- 
 ever the site might ruin suitors, Val- 
 ladolid was benefited, as the presence 
 of the Court of Chancery encouraged 
 the residence of lawyers, and occa- 
 sioned an influx of clients, witnesses, 
 and students : hence jurisprudence has 
 always been, and still is, one of the 
 chief studies of this city’s university. 
 Enough of this ; few travellers in or 
 out of Spain care much to get into 
 Chancery. 
 
 Passing next, into the Plaza de San 
 Penito el viejo, and then into the larger 
 one, del Palacio , is the royal palace, 
 built by the Cardinal Lerma, and pur- 
 chased by Philip III. Although the 
 exterior is commonplace, it has a noble 
 Berruguete staircase and two patios : 
 the smaller is called el Zaguan ; the 
 
 larger has a fine gallery, la Saboya , 
 which was restored by Pedro Gonzalez 
 for Ferdinand VII. : observe also the 
 busts of Spanish monarchs. The 
 diadem has now-a-days dwindled into 
 the beaver, for the palace became the 
 residence of Huell , the son of a hatter 
 of the Havannah, who married one 
 of the daughters of the Infante Fran- 
 cisco, brother of Ferd. VII. ; this mis- 
 alliance may be seen and felt in the 
 miserable discomfort inside and out- 
 side the building. Here, too, Buona- 
 parte was lodged, and, looking out of 
 his window every morning on two of 
 the noblest specimens of religious 
 Gothic art in the world, destined both 
 to desecration and ruin. His first 
 victim was the Dominican convent, 
 San Pablo, which was rebuilt in 
 1463 by Cardinal Juan Torquemada, 
 originally a monk of the old con- 
 vent, and afterwards the ferocious in- 
 quisidor of Seville. The rich fa§ade, 
 attributed to Juan and Simon de Colo- 
 nia, consists of two divisions : observe 
 the beautiful portal, and elaborate oval, 
 with niche-work and figures ; the up- 
 per portion is crowned with the arms 
 of the Cardinal Duke of Lerma, its sub- 
 sequent patron, who was buried here ; 
 his splendid tomb is now removed to 
 the Museo. The church is lofty and 
 noble, but disfigured by a paltry mo- 
 dern high altar, which has been erected 
 in place of the former magnificent one 
 which the French broke to pieces. 
 The picture of St. Paul struck blind is 
 by Bartolome Cardenas : observe the 
 beautiful portals at each side of the 
 altar, and the roof, which, being out of 
 reach, has escaped defilement ; the 
 patio or cloister was exquisite until 
 recently taken down to build a prison 
 with the materials ! The celebrated 
 statues by Hernandez, a glorious se- 
 pulchre, the pictures, plate, library, 
 &c., were all swept away by one sen- 
 tence of Buonaparte: c< Sa majeste,” 
 says he himself, “a ordonne la suppres- 
 sion du Couvent des Dominicains, dans 
 lequel un Fran^ais a efce tue but 
 even this pretext was untrue, for an 
 eye-witness on the spot assured us that 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 76. — VALLADOLID. 
 
 569 
 
 this Frenchman died a victim to his 
 own brutal excesses. San Pablo, made 
 by the invaders a storehouse for forage, 
 now is a prison for galley slaves, a den 
 of thieves, whose oaths resound where 
 prayers once ascended. 
 
 Adjoining to San Pablo is the Do- 
 minican Colegio de San Gregorio , 
 founded in 1488 by Alonso de B urgos, 
 Bishop of Palencia. The architect, one 
 Macias Carpintero of Medina del 
 Campo, killed himself in 1490, a rare 
 instance in Oriental Spain, where 
 suicide is almost unknown. It is now 
 the residence of the governor, who has 
 put in certain sashed windows more 
 comfortable than architectural. The 
 Gothic fagade, if possible, was more 
 floridly elaborate than that of San Pa- 
 blo. It was enriched with a basket-work 
 of interwoven trees, armorial shields, 
 heralds, wild men and boys. The 
 Berruguete cornice, with heads, fes- 
 toons, and angels, was of later date and 
 by other artists. For this once splendid 
 temple Juan de Juni carved a grand 
 retablo , in which the founder, buried 
 before it, was represented kneeling ; 
 his effigy clad in his episcopal robes, 
 lay on a marble sarcophagus, resemb- 
 ling the royal tombs of Granada, a work 
 ascribed by some to Berruguete : and 
 the device, “ Operibus credite,” re- 
 ferred both to the good worJcs of the 
 artist and the prelate. He was a mag- 
 nificent patron of art and learning, 
 and the friend and confessor of Isa- 
 bella : his library was superb, and a 
 part of the room, with its splen- 
 did artesonado roof, escaped when 
 Buonaparte ordered the pile to be de- 
 stroyed, but has recently been pulled 
 down to put up a flat modern ceding ! 
 The cloister is glorious, albeit recently 
 glazed in by the chilly Goth governor! 
 Observe the rich ajimez arches of the 
 upper gallery, and the wreathed spiral 
 columns : the style is a transition from 
 the Gothic to the Graeco -Romano; the 
 arms and badges of the Catholic kings 
 mark the period of this once glorious 
 pile, now made a den of thieves and 
 presidarios. 
 
 At the back of the Palacio is the 
 
 Calle de Leon> so called from the lion 
 carved over the house No. 2 ; thence 
 pass through the Plaza and San 
 Miguel up a narrow street to that 
 of Almirante , opposite to whose an- 
 cient mansion with quaint windows 
 is el Penitential^ or Santa Maria de 
 las Angustias. The fa§ade is seen to 
 advantage from the open space in 
 front : built by Martin Sanchez de 
 Aranzamendi in 1604, after designs, it 
 is said, of Herrera : the under portion 
 of the Corinthian facade contains good 
 statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, and 
 a Pieta. It was once filled with images 
 graven by Hernandez, objects of former 
 worship, now carted to the Museo as 
 works of art; and the Dead Christ 
 in the arms of the Virgin, by Her- 
 nandez, was a truly Michael Ange- 
 lesque composition of maternal grief. 
 The Retablo of Corinthian order, with 
 black and gold ornaments, contained 
 the Annunciation; and several “ Pasos ” 
 are still stowed away here : the cele- 
 brated Dolorosa , by Juan de Juni, is 
 misplaced with most wretched taste in 
 a churrigueresque chapel under a tinsel 
 red and gold temple, but the image is 
 still looked at in a devotional, not an 
 artistic view. It is also called la Senora 
 de los Cuchillos , from the seven swords 
 which pierce her breast ; the blades 
 are modern, and put on like 4 cutlery 
 fan, mar this masterpiece of Juni. 
 The figure is larger than life, clad 
 like a widow, and seated on a rock. 
 Few things can be deeper than the ex- 
 pression of grief and bereavement ; but 
 the natives, who bow down, never 
 have felt this work of art ; nay, a 
 Conde de Rivadavia wished to cover 
 over the noble draperies with modern 
 finery ; and when the image was taken 
 out as a Paso in the holy week, for 
 which it was never intended, the 
 carvers of regular portable figures 
 laughed at it, calling it la Zapatuda , 
 as the right foot with a shoe protrudes 
 from the draperies, against all the laws 
 and rules which prohibit such an ex- 
 posure in the Virgin’s image. 
 
 Leaving the Angustias , we approach 
 the now covered -in Dsgueva , whose 
 
570 ROUTE 76. PAINTED SCULPTURE OF VALLADOLID. Sect. VIII. 
 
 bridges, arches, and narrow overhang- 
 ing streets were very Prout-like. Cross- 
 ing the Puente de Magana , is the Plaza 
 of the University, founded in 1346 by 
 Alonso XI., and much frequented by 
 students in jurisprudence. This uni- 
 versidad has been modernised ; one 
 old Gothic gate yet remains, which 
 leads into the Galle de la Libreria . The 
 fagade is overdone with churrigueres- 
 que, Corinthian and nondescript orna- 
 ments, and spoilt by an abortion of 
 heavy statues, which profess to repre- 
 sent certain sciences. The interior is 
 not so bad ; the chapel altar is sur- 
 rounded by an iron railing, and when 
 honorary degrees are granted, is filled 
 with doctors. In la Sola del Claustro 
 are some second-rate portraits of Spa- 
 nish kings. 
 
 Near it is what was el Colegio 
 Mayor de Santa Cruz , one of the six 
 Larger colleges in Spain. Founded 
 in 1494 by Cardinal Pedro Gronzalez 
 de Mendoza, it was built by Henrique 
 de Egas, with the fine white stone of 
 which his great patron was so fond. 
 The beauty of its excellent renaissance 
 style is well seen from its plaza. The 
 frontal is elaborate, the pilasters Corin- 
 thian, the cornice classical, the but- 
 tresses and the parapet striking. The 
 founder kneels before the Virgin over 
 the studded portal. Unfortunately, 
 in 1719, some modern attempts to 
 “ beautify and repair” have marred 
 the general effect. The colegio is well 
 kept : observe in the noble Patio the 
 ball ornaments, the arms of the founder, 
 and the balustrades. This edifice has 
 recently been destined for the museo , 
 in which are got together the pictures, 
 and figures from the suppressed con- 
 vents. The chapel is filled with the 
 Berruguete carvings from San Benito, 
 while the indifferent paintings are ar- 
 ranged in three galleries in the Patio , 
 those somewhat better are placed in 
 separate saloons in the interior. In 
 the second gaberia , a noble room 
 heraldically adorned, is the fine col- 
 lege library, consisting of some 14,000 
 volumes, and rich in civil law and to- 
 pography $ there are also some maps 
 
 and coins. The garden front is plain 
 and decorous. 
 
 We shall refer to the numbers of 
 Pastor’s Comjpendio for the contents of 
 the Museo , otherwise it is as meagre in 
 regard to historical and artistical in- 
 formation as an auctioneer’s catalogue. 
 There is no attempt to distinguish the 
 older masters, no clue to tell posterity 
 from what particular convent they 
 came. Some of the early pictures are 
 curious, but most of the rest is unmi- 
 tigated rubbish, and moreover cruelly 
 restored and repainted. Pictorial art 
 was never so much studied as the sculp- 
 tural in this province of Leon, and the 
 best painters were foreigners, Vicente 
 Carducho, Rubens, Arsenio, Mascagio 
 a Florentine, Bartolome Cardenas, a 
 Portuguese, 1547-1606, and patronised 
 by Lerma and Philip III. The so- 
 called pictures of Rubens, of Diego 
 Valentin Diaz, and of Diego Frutos 
 (both native artists), may be noticed, 
 and certainly the bronzes of P. Leoni, 
 and the wooden painted sculptures ; 
 of these the finest are by Berruguete, 
 Juan de Juni, and Hernandez. Much 
 of the religious prestige is lost to these 
 images, now removed from the altars, 
 and as it were dethroned from Olym- 
 pus. They are no longer seen in the 
 positions and lights for which their 
 artists intended them, while the groups 
 are broken up and subjects separated : 
 the effect somewhat resembles Wardour 
 Street, or Madame Tussaud’s wax 
 figures ; the original sentiment is thus 
 quite destroyed ; the severe colourless 
 naked simplicity of the Greek, as come 
 down to us, is here metamorphosed into 
 gaudy tinsel-clad colossal dolls. How- 
 ever mistaken the superstition which 
 could adore painted stocks, and 
 the bad taste which compelled the 
 artist to degrade his talents, none 
 can deny the startling merit of some 
 of these works. This Museo is the 
 creation of accident and individual 
 energy. Don Pedro Gronzalez Soubrie, 
 director of the Academy, by his own 
 activity and love for art, rescued these 
 brands from the burning in a moment 
 of general vandalism. He, like Dean 
 
Leon. 
 
 ROUTE 76. — JUNI AND HERNANDEZ. 
 
 571 
 
 Cepero at Seville, see p. 188, alone did 
 it, and to him be the glory, for the 
 Disputation provincial wanted funds, 
 and cared for none of these things ; 
 their sole assistance was the lending 
 six galley-slaves to move the objects ! 
 
 One word, before entering, on two 
 great sculptors whose names have 
 scarcely passed the barriers of isolated 
 Spain, or become European, as they 
 richly deserve; first and foremost is 
 Juan de Juni , the Herrera el Yiejo 
 of Castilian sculpture. He felt the 
 grandiose and daring style of M. An- 
 gelo, and emancipated sculpture from 
 the timid fetters of conventional at- 
 titudes, as Hedalus did among the 
 ancients. Nothing is known of his 
 country or birth, and Cean Bermudez 
 suspects that he was an Italian. It is 
 certain that he studied in Italy, and 
 was brought to Spain by Pedro Alva- 
 rez de Acosta, then Bishop of Oporto, 
 and afterwards of Leon and Osma. 
 Juni was a much more profound ana- 
 tomist than most Spaniards. The In- 
 quisition, by prohibiting dissection, 
 kept surgery in the hands of barbers, 
 while by prohibiting nudity, a know- 
 ledge of draperies, not of anatomy, 
 sufficed for the artist. Juni, grandiose, 
 fierce and fiery in design, bold and 
 learned in execution,, was occasionally 
 extravagant in his attitudes : his was 
 what the Hermans call a “ sturm und 
 drang” style, one of sound and fury; 
 but it signified something, and ex- 
 pressed the sentiment of Action , such 
 as suits the impassioned temperament 
 of the South. From his aiming at 
 scientific display, his forms often bor- 
 dered on contortion, and his colour 
 was over-Florentine hard and leaden ; 
 such, indeed, as that of his friend Ber- 
 ruguete, a co-pupil of Michael Angelo, 
 and all these three worthies were 
 alike three architects, sculptors, and 
 painters ; but flexibility and transpa- 
 rency of skin are lost in painted sculp- 
 ture. Juni, like his great master, joyed 
 in daring strokes of the chisel, and in 
 that conscious pride of mastery over a 
 difficult material, by which inferior 
 minds are every moment hampered; 
 
 these great artists triumphed like crea- 
 tors, when breathing the divine spirit 
 of life into senseless blocks. 
 
 His successor, Gregorio Hernandez , 
 was born in Gallicia in 1566, but lived 
 in Valladolid, where he died Jan. 22, 
 1636. Many of his finest works were 
 burnt and broken by the French, who 
 destroyed his tomb, and scattered his 
 ashes to the dust, as they did those of 
 Murillo ; and Hernandez was the Mu- 
 rillo of Castilian sculpture ; he loved the 
 gentler passions, and idolized nature in 
 preference to the ideal. He avoided the 
 violence of Juan de Juni, and shunned 
 the attitudinarian anatomical style. His 
 soul was in his work, while a deep true 
 religious sentiment elevated his voca- 
 tion to the high character of the artist 
 combined in the priest. He felt the 
 awful responsibility of the maker not 
 merely of “ stocks and stones,” or of 
 objects of beauty and art to be admired, 
 but of representations of the Deity, to 
 be bowed down to and worshipped. 
 He, like Angelico da Fiesole and 
 Joanes, never proceeded to his task 
 without purifying his soul by prayer, 
 and endeavouring to raise his mind up 
 to his holy work ; thus his refined art 
 rendered intelligible those touching 
 and pathetic passages from holy writ 
 which in the negation of the translated 
 Bible to the people, must have other- 
 wise remained buried in an unknown 
 tongue : he spoke to the many through 
 the universally-understood language 
 of the eye, and made sculpture a 
 means of religious education for the 
 masses, who unable to read, could see ; 
 and rarely in his hand was it prostituted 
 to monkish hagiology and deception. 
 Truly devout, his works of relaxation 
 were those of charity ; he attended the 
 sick, and buried the friendless dead. 
 Visit, therefore, the humble dwelling 
 (see post , p. 578) where he lived 23 
 long years, and produced such immor- 
 tal works. 
 
 There is an intolerable quantity of 
 rubbish in this museo : we just pick 
 a grain or two out of the chaff, and 
 chiefly select local artists, as the works 
 of others may be seen much better else- 
 
572 
 
 ROUTE 76. — MUSEO OF VALLADOLID. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 where. On the ground- floor, in a small 
 chapel, entered from the patio, is the 
 former retablo of San Benito , which 
 when we saw it in its original situation, 
 was, both to its architecture, sculpture, 
 and painting, a chef-d’oeuvre of Ber- 
 ruguete, 1526-32. The best composi- 
 tions are a Nativity, with a fine Virgin 
 and angels kneeling behind ; a Flight 
 into Egypt ; two grand subjects in 
 chiaro oscuro on a gilded ground, a 
 Sibyl, and a female approaching a 
 seated man, are quite Michael- Ange- 
 lesque, the colouring rather leaden. 
 This retablo resembles that at Sala- 
 manca. Bosarte (p. 359) has printed 
 the curious original contracts, specifica- 
 tions, and subsequent disputes. Observe 
 next the portrait of the founder, the 
 great Cardinal Pedro Gronzalez Men- 
 doza, long the “Tertius Bex” of Castile. 
 Who and what this mighty church- 
 man was is detailed in his interesting 
 6 Chronica de el gran Cardenal de Fs- 
 pahaj Pedro de Salazar, de Mendoza , 
 fol. Toledo, 1625. 
 
 No. 4, Salon grande , is a Virgin and 
 Child by Francisco Meneses, the fa- 
 vourite pupil of Murillo. In Galeria 
 segunda observe Nos. 1 and 2, Chapters 
 held at Valladolid and Borne, painted 
 by Diego Frutos ; and Nos. 3 to 24 
 represent divers passages in the life 
 of Fray Pedro Begalado, the tutelar 
 saint of Valladolid, to understand 
 which refer to Daga’s Life (see p. 336), 
 who devotes 204 pages to his miracles, 
 &c., of which see some 30 specimens 
 in the Galeria tercera. 
 
 The Gran Salon , 127 feet long, 25 
 wide, and 50 high (see p. 45 catalogue), 
 contains the celebrated pictures by 
 Bubens, which long formed the boast 
 of the neighbouring nunnery at Fuen 
 Saldana i transported to the Louvre 
 by the French, and disgorged after 
 Waterloo, the nuns wanted the means 
 of even frarqing them. The subjects 
 are, No. 1, an Assumption of the 
 Virgin. — No. 12, San Antonio of Pa- 
 dua. — No. 14, St. Francis receiving 
 the Stigmata. The Spaniards, who, 
 however they dislike foreigners, ad- 
 mire foreign things, rave about these 
 
 rather sprawling -tawdry compositions, 
 which will no more stand comparison 
 with Velazquez or Murillo than a 
 Flemish cart-horse will with an Anda- 
 lucian barb. The Assumption is the 
 largest and finest ; but in the others 
 the saints are sensual commonplace 
 Dutchmen, while the cherubs, with 
 their wigs of hair, are most unan- 
 gelic. The landscape in the St. Fran- 
 cis is however fine, and painted in 
 those grey sober tones which Bubens 
 must have caught from Velazquez. — 
 No. 5 is an Annunciation, by Jose Mar- 
 tinez, who lived in Valladolid in the 
 16th century, and imitated the Floren- 
 tine school. This picture was saved 
 from San Agustin , when the invaders 
 destroyed the others, and smashed the 
 glorious azulejos , finished in 1598, after 
 designs of Martinez. — No. 6, a Bodegon 
 ascribed to Velazquez. — No. 13, The 
 Last Supper, Antonio Pareda, born in 
 Valladolid, 1599, ob. 1678. — No. 24, a 
 Conception. — No. 16, San Elias, Diego 
 Diaz. Notice particularly the gilt 
 bronzes of the Duke and Duchess of 
 Lerma, by Pompeio Leoni of Milan, 
 from San Pablo. — Nos. 3 and 4, the 
 two Angels, near the Assumption of 
 Bubens, are sculptured by Hernandez. 
 — Nos. 5 and 6, San Miguel and San 
 Juan, are by Berruguete, by whom also 
 are the most artistic silleria , or wal- 
 nut choir seats from San Benito , in 
 which he was assisted by his worthy 
 pupil Graspar de Tordesillas. The saint 
 and coat of arms over each stall indicate 
 the seat of the Prior, or head of each 
 Benedictine convent in Spain, when 
 representatives of the whole order as- 
 sembled in grand chapter at Valla- 
 dolid. 
 
 Sala primera: Nos. 5 and 9, San 
 Francisco, are by Vicente Carducho, 
 and fine. — No. 8, the Jubilee of La 
 Borciuncula , by Diego Valentin Diaz, 
 an oblong composition, with many 
 figures size of life. Sala cuarta : No. 
 1, Holy Family, from San Benito, 
 a truly Florentine picture, and the 
 masterpiece of the author ; is signed 
 Didacus Dizas pictor, 1621 (not 71, as 
 stated in the catalogue, p. 58), for he 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 76. — CRISTO DE LA CEPA. 573 
 
 died in 1660. — Nos. 4, 5, and 6 are 
 attributed to Rubens (?). On a sca- 
 gliola table is a model of the Convento 
 del Prado , by Col Leon Gil de Pala- 
 cios, by whom there are such admir- 
 able works of the same kind at 
 Madrid. 
 
 Sala quinta , contains a fine bronze 
 crucifix by Pompeio Leoni, a curious old 
 canopied gothic altar piece, filled with 
 pictures of the life of St. Jerome from 
 the convent of Mejorada , and a deli- 
 cately painted Holy Family, attributed 
 to Julio Romano. Sala decima , 13, 
 el Cristo de la Cep a, “the Christ of 
 the vine stock,” so called from having 
 been made from one of these roots : this 
 relic, long worshipped in San Benito 
 and kept in a magnificent silver TJrna , 
 is now scheduled away from the altar 
 and consigned to the Museo, and is in- 
 deed a specimen of the pious frauds 
 once taught as religion in Spain. The 
 legend of this strange Fetish runs thus : 
 A Christian and a J ewish labourer in a 
 vineyard were disputing on their re- 
 spective creeds ; the Hebrew said, “ I 
 will believe your statements when your 
 Messiah comes out of this vine.” The 
 image instantly appeared — credat Ju- 
 dceus — and was given to the convent in 
 1415, by Sancho de Roxas, primate of 
 Toledo : consult Palomino, c Museo Pit- 
 torico ,’ i. 208, where in 1795 all this was 
 printed for Spaniards as gospel truths ; 
 but even Morales ( c Viage ,’ p. 7), in the 
 relico- maniac age of Philip II., had 
 ventured to allude to the Mandragora, 
 those anthropomorphic mandrakes, the 
 Dodaim, for which Rachel gave some- 
 what a large price for a jealous wife 
 (Gen. xxx. 14). The Valladolid Cep a 
 lacks originality, for the Argonauts 
 made a goddess Rliea out of a stump 
 of an old vine crri$a.()ov trrvvreg tt.(Jt.<7ri'kou 
 
 (Ap. Rh. i. 1117). So the graven 
 image of Diana at Orchimenium was 
 called Cedreatis, from its material 
 (Paus. viii. 13, 2.). The Populunians 
 also cut a Jupiter out of a similar root 
 (Plin. 1 N. H.’ xiv. i.). The Fetish de- 
 formity called in the principle of fear , , 
 which the pagan priests knew well how 
 to make use of. Lucan (Phar. iii. 411) 
 
 describes the horror inspired by trees, 
 by the sad simulacra , which 
 
 “ Arte carent, caesisque extant informia truncis, 
 Nnmina sic metuunt, tantum terroribus addit.” 
 
 The barber-bred Bessieres, accus- 
 tomed as a boy to blocks, was too great 
 a “philosophe” to be frightened at 
 these carved monsters ; he took the 
 silver custodia, which weighed 22,000 
 ounces, and left the vine-root. Even 
 the canon who accompanied us in San 
 Benito was anxious to pass this relic 
 unnoticed, and could not refrain from 
 a smile ; so the Pagan Parmeniscus was 
 cured of an inability to laugh, by see- 
 ing an absurd image of Latona (Athen. 
 xiv. 1), so Cato, a grave man, wondered 
 how any soothsayer ever could meet 
 another without laughing at the tricks 
 they palmed off on their flocks (Cic. 
 de Div. ii. 24) ; but they were ex- 
 pected to believe seriously, while the 
 esoteric doubted and smiled. 
 
 The sculpture of this Museo is more 
 interesting, although the dislocated 
 members of former altars and retablos 
 are here jumbled together, without at- 
 tention either to light or subject, heaped 
 up pell-mell as in a stonemason’s yard, 
 or an old curiosity broker’s shop, to 
 the sacrifice alike of original intention 
 whether of devotion or of art. Begin 
 therefore at p. 75 of catalogue, Sala 
 primer a: No. 1, three little statues ; 
 Berruguete. — No. 2, Santa Teresa de 
 Jesus, from la Carmen , a masterpiece 
 of Hernandez. — No. 3, is by him also, 
 St. Francis. — No. 7, ditto, Christ bear- 
 ing the Cross ; a superb Paso. — No. 11, 
 Sepulture of Christ; Juan de Juni, 
 very fine. — No 14, another Santa Teresa, 
 by Hernandez. — No. 16, San Antonio, 
 by Juni. — No. 18, Juni, a most Mu- 
 rillo-like Virgin giving the Scapulary 
 to Simon Stock. — No. 20, San Bruno ; 
 Juni, very grand, simple and severe ; 
 compare a San Bruno by Zurbaran, 
 the Gran Salon , No. 16. — No. 22, a 
 beautiful Virgin by Hernandez, from 
 la Carmen. — No. 24, San Antonio, the 
 first Hermit ; Juni. Observe also all 
 the small statues by Berruguete. Sala 
 segunda ; No. 5, a curious Gothic bas- 
 relief. — No. 28, S. Dimas, the Good 
 
574 
 
 ROUTE 76 . — VALLADOLID. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 Thief ; Hernandez. — No. 29, Death of 
 the Saviour, ditto, fine. — Notice some 
 more statues by Berruguete. In Sala 
 tercera , are some Pasos by Hernandez ; 
 and No. 23, th ePieta, ditto, very grand; 
 also Nos. 26, 27, from the Angustias : 
 the Good and Bad Thief, by Leon 
 Leoni, very fine. — No. 36, Baptism of 
 Christ; Hernandez, fine. — No. 37, ditto, 
 Burial of Christ. — Nos. 39 and 40, two 
 Letterns. In the Sala de Juntas ; 
 No. 16, Portrait of Cardinal Mendoza. 
 Observe the small statues and cruci- 
 fixes ; and Nos. 34, 35, the Pseritorios 
 tables, and various articles of altar 
 furniture. 
 
 Quitting the Museo , and returning 
 by the Universidad , next visit the ca- 
 thedral. The older Colegiata was 
 taken down by Philip II., who directed 
 Herrera in 1585 to prepare plans for a 
 new edifice ; these and a wooden model 
 exist in the archives, which are very 
 complete, from 1517, and should be 
 looked at. Philip granted as a build- 
 ing fund the monopoly of the sale of 
 children’s horn-books : the works pro- 
 ceeded during his life, and then, as 
 usual in the East and Spain, were dis- 
 continued. If they had been com- 
 pleted, the edifice, as Herrera said, 
 would have been “ un todo sin igualP 
 The design, a pure Graeco-Romano 
 elevation, unfortunately was tampered 
 with by Alberto Churriguera in 1729, 
 when the abominable Sun, Moon, Ave 
 Maria, &c., were added. 
 
 The fa9ade is Doric, the favourite 
 order of this severe master. The noble 
 archabovethe principal entrance is some 
 50 feet high by 24. One only of the 
 four intended towers, simple and well 
 proportioned, of 260 feet high, was 
 terminated with a cupola, but fell down 
 in May 31, 1841, and has not been 
 rebuilt. The interior proclaims its 
 classical author in simple, unadorned, 
 untinseled condition, and, like the 
 chapel of the Escorial, breathes gran- 
 deur in architecture. It is disfigured 
 by an oversized rej a and a huge wall 
 built by the tasteless canons, the inte- 
 rior is an oblong quadrangle 411 feet 
 long by 404 broad. A trascoro of later 
 
 date cuts up size, and the silleria del 
 coroy of the old Gothic colegiata , is 
 misplaced in this classical pile of Corin- 
 thian pilasters ; aportion in walnut, and 
 brought from San Pablo , was designed 
 by Herrera for the Duke of Lerma, at 
 the then enormous sum of 30,000 du- 
 cats, and is more appropriate. In the 
 altar mayor is an Assumption by 
 Zacarias "Velazquez, not the Man. 
 
 The fine Florentine picture of the 
 Crucifixion, possibly by one of the Al- 
 lori, was rescued from the Agustinos at 
 Medina del Rioseco, during the ra- 
 vages under the Constitution of 1820, 
 by the Prior Jose Yerdonces. But 
 like the Transfiguration, by Luca Gior- 
 dano opposite, it has been sadly re- 
 painted by Pedro Gonzalez. Observe 
 the chapel of Conde Pedro Ansurez, 
 the lord of Valladolid in the 12th cen- 
 tury ; his sepulchre is emblazoned with 
 arms, sable chequered or, and with two 
 metrical epitaphs, the head of the re- 
 cumbent figure is fine. The Doric 
 cloister is unfinished. 
 
 The noblest memorial of past reli- 
 gious splendour is the silver custodia. 
 This masterpiece of Juan d’Arphe, 
 1390, stands six feet high. The chief 
 subject is Adam and Eve in Paradise. 
 A few chalices and a golden viril 
 studded with jewels are the scanty re- 
 mains of many other chests which were 
 plundered by the French. 
 
 Leaving the cathedral, pass into the 
 heart of the city to the Puente Dorada , 
 and thence to PI Ochavo , whence, 
 as at our Seven Dials , a multitude of 
 smaller streets lead like veins to the 
 Plaza Mayor. The comparative life, 
 movement, and traffic here contrasts 
 with dulness and death usual in this and 
 other deserted old cities of Spain. The 
 bridge de la Plateria , which runs from 
 the Ochavo, is peopled, as at Florence, 
 by silversmiths. They indeed exer- 
 cise the same craft of the D’Arphes, 
 but have kept the downward course 
 that Spain has, since the days of 
 Charles V., when Navagiero (p. 35), 
 writing in 1525, stated that there were 
 more workers of plate here than in any 
 other two countries. The church plate 
 
Leon. 
 
 ROUTE 76. — SILVER WORK OF VALLADOLID. 
 
 and goldsmith’s work of Spain of that 
 period deserves the notice of artist and 
 antiquarian ; the workmanship and de- 
 sign far surpassed the material, which 
 tempted aurivorous sacrilege. Alas ! for 
 all this fine art, con signed to the melting- 
 pot instead of the museum, and which 
 might have escaped the vandal and 
 pillager, had iron been used instead of 
 gold and silver. 
 
 Spain herself was the bullion mine 
 of antiquity (see. p. 339), while in 
 modern times, being mistress of the 
 ores of South America, she again sup- 
 plied the world with the precious 
 metals ; her rulers in church and state 
 have always reserved large portions for 
 religious and royal magnificence. Spain 
 has always deserved the eulogium of 
 Claudian (de Lau. Ser.54), who coupled 
 her metallic charms with her fecundity 
 in producing pious princes — Speciosa 
 metallis, principibus foecunda piis. 
 'The national disposition to adorn and 
 enrich the house of Grod was encou- 
 raged by the clergy, who never were 
 more powerful than when Spain was 
 possessed of her widest dominion and 
 greatest affluence. The sacred edifices 
 became, as in olden times, the treasure- 
 houses of the offerings of wealthy piety, 
 and of the splendid outlay of a celibate 
 clergy always distinguished for the 
 pomp and dignity with which they 
 clothed their stately and imposing sys- 
 tem. The vessels of silver and gold, 
 the consecrated plate, were handed 
 down from one generation to another ; 
 they were protected by the inalien- 
 ability of church property, by the 
 dread of sacrilege, and the moral defence 
 which the unarmed clergy have ever 
 thrown over their physically unpro- 
 tected treasures, and by being con- 
 cealed in moments of national convul- 
 sion and foreign aggression. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the beauty and 
 richness of the chased plate in the Do- 
 narium, i. e. the Relicario y Tesoreria , 
 of the temple of Hercules at Grades. 
 It was the Oviedo, Guadalupe, and 
 Monserrat of Iberia (see Philostratus, 
 v.). Every victor contributed a por- 
 tion of spoil (Livy, xxi. 21 ; Sil. Ital. iii. 
 
 575 
 
 15), which every enemy respected as 
 sacred. 
 
 The use of gold and silver plate is of 
 Oriental origin, and was carried to the 
 pitch of luxury by the Phoenicians and 
 Carthaginians ; the latter sneered at 
 the poverty or frugality of the Romans 
 from finding at every grand dinner the 
 same service of plate, which was bor- 
 rowed by all who entertained, there 
 being only that one in Rome (Pliny, 
 e N. H.’ xxxiii. 2) ; but the iron of these 
 simple soldiers soon won the gold and 
 silver of their deriders, whom they next 
 imitated and then surpassed in metallic 
 magnificence : e. g. one Rotundus, on 
 being made dispensator , or true fortune- 
 making treasurer in Spain, had a silver 
 dish which weighed 500 lbs. After the 
 downfall of the empire, the Goths 
 had very correct notions as regarded 
 plate, in which San Isidoro (Or. xx. 
 4) required only three points — work- 
 manship, weight, and brilliancy; in 
 those dark ages, as they are now com- 
 placently called, a polish was required 
 which was unknown to the Romans, 
 who, like the modern Spaniards, only 
 washed and never cleaned their plate 
 (Juvenal, xiv. 62). The splendid 
 magnificence of the Gothic silver-work 
 astonished even the Moors, accustomed 
 as they were to the gorgeous jewellery 
 of Damascus; the quantity is proved 
 by the Arabic details of the spoils, 
 especially at the capital Toledo (Moh. 
 Dyn. i. 282). The art of working it 
 was improved by the conquerors, who 
 introduced their rich chasings and fili- 
 gree style from Damascus to Cordova, 
 insomuch that in the tenth century the 
 tiara of the pope was made in Spain, 
 and called Spanoclista ; and the pecu- 
 liar church plate Spanisca was so beau- 
 tiful that, as at Oviedo, the clergy 
 palmed it off as the work of angels. 
 
 But all these vessels of gold and silver 
 were confined to the temple, as the 
 medieval Spaniards, like the earlier 
 Romans, were simple in their homes, 
 reserving their magnificence for the 
 home of the deity; their boast was 
 rather to conquer those who ate off 
 plate than to possess such luxuries. 
 
576 
 
 ROUTE 76. — PLATE OF VALLADOLID. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 Haro relates that Juan I., coming to 
 dine with. Alvarez Perez Osorio, first 
 Count of Trastamara, found nothing 
 but wooden trenchers — plates, doubt- 
 less, on a par with the cookery— his 
 soldier host telling him that he never 
 had time to eat except standing, and 
 out of his hand ; so the king sent him 
 some silver dishes ; but soon after, 
 dining again with the veteran, found 
 nothing but the old trenchers as before, 
 and on inquiring what had become 
 of his gift, Alvarez took him to the 
 window, and showed hi m a hundred 
 men armed in shining cuirasses, ex- 
 claiming, “ That, Sire, is the only 
 plate which a soldier ought to have ” * 
 ( c NobiliarioJ i. 275). 
 
 As the conquest of Spain and Asia 
 introduced the luxury of silver among 
 the Romans (.Justin, xxxvi. 4), so the 
 conquest of Granada and discovery of 
 the new world corrupted the Spaniard ; 
 silver was now accounted as nothing ; 
 and as wrought plate was exempted 
 from the agio on coined silver and the 
 duty on bar bullion, it became the form 
 in which governors, i. e. robbers on a 
 grand scale, sent home their accumu- 
 lations. Spain being a land without 
 bankers’ security or confidence, these 
 hoards of plate became, as in the East, 
 the available property of rich indi- 
 viduals. The quantity was enormous : 
 the duke of Alberquerque was em- 
 ployed, says Mad e . d’Aunoy (ii. 173, 
 ed. Haye, 1715), for six weeks in 
 weighing his ; he had 1400 dozen silver 
 dinner plates, 1200 dishes, and 40 silver 
 ladders to ascend to the buffet. All 
 these golden and silver ages are passed, 
 and Spaniards as a nation have re- 
 turned to the primitive and Oriental 
 
 * Under the Roman republic a silver cup 
 and salt-cellar was all that the law allowed 
 e y en to a commander-in-chief (Pliny, ‘ N. H.’ 
 xxxiii. ll) ; who also mentions that Catus 
 Allius returned the plate which the CEtolians 
 sent him on finding him dining off earthen- 
 ware, Loza. Plutarch relates that Cato, when 
 commanding in Spain, dined off radishes, which 
 he pared himself, and thought the sweetest 
 eating, tiSlo-tov o\f/ov; nor was the medieval 
 fare better, as, according to the proverb, these 
 delectable roots were dinner for knights d la 
 Alvarez— Rabanos, son comida de Caballeros. 
 
 fork the finger, varied with a wooden 
 or horn spoon and sharp cuchillo. The 
 demand for plate-chests is very small 
 in Spain, and nearly mythical now is 
 the silver spoon in the mouth almost of 
 born grandees ; for the French invaders, 
 like their ancestors the Gauls in Italy, 
 carried off plate by waggon-loads, 
 stripping alike church and palace, altar 
 and side-board ; and much of what 
 escaped has either been sold by the im- 
 poverished owners, or swept away 
 during the civil wars and govern- 
 mental appropriations. 
 
 Fortunately for Spain, the very mo- 
 ment of her greatest influx of bullion 
 occurred in the age of Leo X., when 
 Art, a necessity, breathed beauty over 
 the face of the earth ; then arose in the 
 Peninsula a family of artificers in plate, 
 which few countries have surpassed. 
 The founder, Enrique deArphe, or Arfe, 
 a G-erman, settled at Leon about 1470, 
 and worked in the then prevailing rich 
 florid Gothic style. His son Antonio, 
 following the changes of fashion, 
 adopted the Graeco -Romano taste, 
 while his grandson, Juan de Arphe y 
 Villafane, born at Leon in 1535, ex- 
 celled in the human figure, and be- 
 came the greatest artist of his family. 
 Antonio and Juan lived at Yalladolid, 
 then the court of the great emperor 
 Charles Y. These D’Arphes, employed 
 by rich cathedrals, churches, and con- 
 vents of Spain, not only designed those 
 magnificent vessels of silver and gold,, 
 after which every traveller should in- 
 quire when visiting ecclesiastical trea- 
 sure-rooms, but created and fixed the 
 style of religious plate in Spain, which 
 we term cinque cento from the period, but 
 which is called in Spain el gusto plater- 
 esco — the silversmith or Berruguete 
 gusto. Juan de Arfe y Yillafane, ap- 
 pointed by Philip II. master of the 
 mint at Segovia, published a treatise 
 on his art, with exact designs for every 
 piece of church-plate, and his elegant 
 models have fortunately been generally 
 adopted and continued. This work, 
 
 £ De Varia CommensuracionJ has gone 
 through many editions. Those now 
 before us are, first, that of Seville, 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTS 76. — THE D’ARPHES. 
 
 577 
 
 1585, by Andrea Pescioni ; and Villa- 
 fane was fortunate in securing for his 
 printer this Italian, who had a kindred 
 soul, and whose works are among the 
 few in Spain which can be really called 
 artistical. There are the editions of 
 Madrid, Francisco Sanz, 167 5 ; Madrid, 
 1773, Miguel Escribano ; in which the 
 original woodcuts have been copied. 
 The sixth edition has some additions 
 by Pedro Enguera, a modern edition 
 with new plates by Jose Assensio y 
 Torres, vol. ii. folio, Madrid, 1806. 
 The work consists of four books ; the 
 first treats on geometrical figures ; the 
 second on the proportions of the human 
 body ; the third discusses animals ; the 
 fourth deals with architecture and 
 church-plate ; the description in octave 
 verse is illustrated by a prose comment- 
 ary, and with drawings engraved on 
 wood. Juan also published a 4 Quila- 
 tador de Plata ,’ 4to., Valladolid, 1572, 
 and Madrid, 1578. He was the Bezaleel 
 (Exod. xxxvii. 22), the Cellini of Spa- 
 niards ; and his family in the W. 
 rivalled that of the Becerriles of 
 Cuenca ; for the names, etc. of sacred 
 plate, see our preliminary remarks, 
 
 4 Fcclesiological Tour ,’ p. 58. 
 
 Valladolid retains its silversmiths, 
 but the importance of their works has 
 passed away, with Spain’s brief age of 
 silver and gold ; now in her dross and 
 decay, their productions want the fine 
 finish of skilful workmanship ; yet the 
 forms are better than the operative 
 execution, for they are classical and 
 antique, nor are former models much 
 departed from ; the working, as in the 
 East, is carried on with the rudest im- 
 plements. The chief articles, orna- 
 ments for the peasantry, the usual 
 talismans, crosses, and saints, are made 
 in thin silver, nay, baser materials are 
 resorted to for wares suited to financial 
 capabilities. 
 
 The elegant and classical fagade of 
 la Cruz , which completes the view, has 
 been attributed to designs by Herrera. 
 The interior, with its fine pas os, is a 
 museum of Hernandez : observe parti- 
 cularly the Ecce Homo : 44 The Christ 
 in the garden;” the Christ at the 
 
 pillar, coloured like Morales, very fine ; 
 the magnificent Descent from the Cross, 
 especially the draperies of St. John; 
 la Dolorosa , or la Virgen de Candelas , 
 is an imagen d vestir , and which, 
 when dressed up, is as fine as tinsel 
 can make her ; her grief is grand. 
 
 The central Plaza Mayor , impos- 
 ing in size and style, owes its space 
 and regularity to a fire in 1561, which 
 lasted three days, and burnt down 
 many streets. Philip II. carried out the 
 rebuilding on a fixed plan, and it formed 
 the model of that of Madrid ; the granite 
 pillars, brought from the quarries of 
 Villacastin, which support the arcades, 
 give an air of solidity and perhaps of 
 gloom ; yet this is the most frequented 
 spot of the town, and where the circu- 
 lation, such as it is, flows the liveliest, 
 as here are the best shops. The S. 
 side, la Acera de San Francisco , 
 the winter lounge of idlers and gos- 
 sips, is a minor Puerta del Sol. In 
 this plaza all grand spectacles, execu- 
 tions, and bull-fights take place ; here 
 was beheaded in June 2, 1452, that 
 spoilt child of fortune, Alvaro de 
 Luna, the favourite of Juan II., el 
 valido (Arabice Walid, Welee) ; de- 
 serted, after long services, by his false, 
 feeble master, a shallow, skipping king, 
 one influenced by poets and courtiers, 
 and alternately their dupe and tyrant. 
 Alvaro for thirty years had really held 
 the sceptre, keeping down the turbulent 
 aristocracy with a rod of iron : his 
 death was great as his life, courageous 
 as became a knight, humble as became 
 a Christian. The Chronicle of Luna, 
 edited by Florez, Madrid, 1784, con- 
 tains the truly Froissart account of 
 this memorable execution by an eye- 
 witness. On this spot also Berenguela, 
 July 1, 1217, made over her crown to 
 her son St. Ferdinand; here, again, 
 Charles V., on a grand throne, wisely 
 pardoned the Comuneros ; here his son 
 Philip II., with whom bigotry was a 
 principle and a practice, celebrated, 
 Oct. 7, 1559, a memorable auto-de-fe , 
 gloating on the fireworks of burning 
 heretics, as Calvin did at Geneva when 
 Servetus was burnt. Even Hero, says 
 
578 
 
 ROUTE 76 . VALLADOLID. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 Tacitus (Ag. 45), “ substraxit oculos, 
 jussitque scelara et non spectavit ; prse- 
 cipua sub Domitiano miseriaruin pars 
 erat spectare et aspici.” 
 
 Now cross a small bridge to what 
 was San Benito , once one of the finest 
 convents of that order, and a museum 
 of piety, art, and literature ; but now, 
 converted into a barrack, all hastens 
 to ruin. Once a royal palace, it was 
 given in 1390 by Juan I. to the monks, 
 and increased in 1499 by Juan de 
 Arandia ; the old gate stood near the 
 tower, the modern Doric and Ionic 
 portal and cloisters were built by 
 Rivero, imitating Herrera. The church 
 was bedeviled during the Churriguera 
 mania, plundered by the invaders, and 
 during the civil wars converted into a 
 fort. The fine old convents built in 
 troubled times, and of substantial 
 masonry, became admirable shells for 
 modern defences ; and as the French 
 engineers had taught the Spaniards 
 how to convert chapels into casemates, 
 then the revolutionary JEx alt ados pur- 
 posely selected the noblest monastic 
 buildings, because their desecration 
 evinced a philosophical enlightenment 
 and contempt for their original religious 
 purposes, of which Don Carlos was 
 assumed to be the supporter. The 
 silleria and retablo of Berruguete have 
 been moved to the new museo . The 
 library, ravaged by the invaders, has 
 disappeared, the silver custodia weigh' 
 ing 22,000 ounces, was appropriated by 
 Bessieres. Those curious in Benedic- 
 tine antiquities are referred to the 
 c Historia General de la Orden San 
 Benito ,’ by Antonio de Yepes, Yrache 
 (a convent near Estrella in Navarre), 
 7 vols. fol. 1609-21. 
 
 Now pass on to the Campo grande , 
 so called from having been the field 
 of the great duel between a Benavides 
 and a Carvajal. Valladolid is en- 
 tered from Madrid by the fine three 
 arched puerta del Carmen , on which 
 the baboon-headed Charles III. figures; 
 first, however, visit the house of Juni 
 and Hernandez, at the r. corner of the 
 Calle de San Luis ; small and low 
 is the cradle from whence such vast 
 
 and lofty creations came forth. The 
 studio was in the room looking into 
 the street, but the window was 
 blocked up in 1828 ; few Spaniards 
 in Valladolid ever now enter this 
 former abode of genius, and as bats 
 make homes in deserted palaces, the in- 
 mates are no less unworthy of the mas- 
 ter spirits who once dwelt there. The 
 house, built by Juan de Juni in 1545, 
 who died in it early in the 17th cen- 
 tury, was then purchased by Hernandez 
 of the daughter and heiress of his pre- 
 decessor, June 15, 1616. Thus these 
 great sculptors succeeded each other in 
 art and local habitation ; the peculiar 
 fittings-up, the good-will and the 
 public knowledge of a particular occu- 
 pation being carried on, would natu- 
 rally make such a residence more desir- 
 able to one of a similar profession than 
 to any other, independently of any re- 
 ligio loci. 
 
 The Campo grande , in the palmy 
 days of Valladolid, was the site of the 
 burnings of autos- de-fe , of jousts, tour- 
 naments, and royal festivities. This 
 great fields or appropriate court of ap- 
 proach to the capital of Charles V., is 
 surrounded with convents, hospitals, 
 and palaces, mostly first pillaged by 
 the French, recently impoverished or de- 
 molished ; the Corinthian portal of San 
 Gabriel has been taken down, but it is 
 intended to be re-erected. On this open 
 space the Castilians proclaimed St. Fer- 
 dinand their king, when his prudent 
 mother Berenguela surrendered the 
 sceptre. Here Buonaparte reviewed 
 35,000 men. The open space laid out 
 in public walks and avenues, flower 
 gardens and seats, is the spot to study 
 the rank, fashion, beauty, and costume 
 of Valladolid. Among the buildings 
 which fringe it, the San Juan de Le- 
 tran is a specimen of abominable chur- 
 rigueresque. Visit the Casa de la 
 Misericordia , or Colegio de Ninas 
 huerfanas. founded for female orphans 
 by the painter Diego Valentin Diaz, 
 a familiar of the Inquisition. He died 
 here in 1660, and was buried in the 
 chapel with his wife ; their portraits, 
 painted in the style of Pantoja, and 
 
Leon . 
 
 ROUTE 76 . VALLADOLID. 
 
 579 
 
 hung in the school-room, deserve no- 
 tice; he was a grey-haired, sharp-eyed 
 old man with mustachios, she a dark- 
 haired dame. The retablo of the 
 chapel, with the Trinity, Virgin, and 
 Elizabeth, is painted by him ; observe 
 the linear perspective : the colours are 
 somewhat leaden, and the manner very 
 Florentine : observe also a “ Charity 
 with children,” and a Virgin working 
 in the Temple, excellent pictures : the 
 Cimborio is painted in stucco, with a 
 Virtue in each angle. The smaller 
 retablos contain paintings of San Nico- 
 las, the portioner of fortuneless maid- 
 ens, and of San Luis, the ransomer of 
 poor captives, subjects selected as hav- 
 ing reference to good works and cha- 
 rity. Diaz, like his master Berruguete, 
 a painter, sculptor, and architect, in- 
 herited a fortune from his brother. 
 
 The Hospital de la Resurrection^ or 
 el General , contained a marble re- 
 presentation of that solemn subject, 
 painted in 1579, and inside a fine 
 paso , La Virgen del JEscapulario , by 
 Hernandez, with a painting of the Re- 
 surrection by Pantoja, 1609. Adjoin- 
 ing is the small but once magnificent 
 Portaceli , founded by Rodrigo Calde- 
 ron, son of a common soldier of Valla- 
 dolid, and the ill-fated favourite of the 
 Duke of Lerma, himself the ill-fated 
 favourite and minister of Philip III. 
 Rodrigo, having made a vast fortune 
 by peculation, was put to death by 
 Philip IV., who squeezed out the 
 sponge for himself. Cosas de JEspaha. 
 The retablo , and high altar in the 
 chapel are splendid, and composed of 
 marbles and gilt bronze. The fine 
 paintings of St. Francis and Santo 
 Domingo are attributed to Caballero 
 Maximo (Stanzioni) . The body of the 
 founder lies interred in a noble TJrna. 
 Adjoining the Portaceli is the abode of 
 the Augustine mission, an edifice reared 
 in 1768 by the academical Ventura Ro- 
 driguez. 
 
 The convent of Carmen Calzado , 
 once the ornament of the Campo 
 which Hernandez laboured to adorn, 
 and the invaders laboured to defile by 
 making it a military hospital, is now a 
 
 barrack, and chaos is come again. Here 
 Plernandez was buried, with Maria 
 Perez, his wife, but neither was doomed 
 to rest, for the invaders disturbed their 
 ashes, breaking up for firewood the 
 splendid retablo , which Hernandez had 
 filled with his choicest sculpture and 
 portrait. 
 
 The ecclesiologist, among the sur- 
 viving relics of church and convent, 
 may visit the Gothic Parroquia de la 
 Magdalena ; the arms of the founder, 
 Pedro de Gasca, Bishop of Palencia, 
 decorate the facade of the church 
 built in 1570 by Rodrigo Gil. The 
 Corinthian retablo is a master-piece of 
 Esteban Jordan, 1597 : observe espe- 
 cially the apostles St. Peter and St. 
 Paul, and the Magdalen, the Ascension 
 of the Virgin, and an Adoration ; the 
 figures are somewhat stumpy, but the 
 feeling is grand. The bishop founder 
 lies opposite the altar, buried here ; his 
 marble effigy clad in episcopal robes re- 
 poses on a fine sarcophagus, the work 
 also of Jordan. He was the prelate 
 sent by Charles V. in 1556 to S. 
 America to restrain the violences of 
 Pizarro. 
 
 In San Lorenzo were some paintings 
 by Matias Blasco, 1621, viz. a martyr- 
 dom of the tutelar, and others relating 
 to miracles effected by an image in this 
 church : observe a pretty “ Holy Fa- 
 mily,” and a repetition of the Virgen 
 de las Candelas , a fine paso , by Her- 
 nandez. In the Sacristia is a singular 
 representation of a procession when the 
 Virgin was brought to Maria, queen of 
 Philip III. 
 
 The Antigua , a Gothic parish church 
 of the 11th century, is so called be- 
 cause the citizens were building this 
 and the Colegiata at the same time, 
 and both in honour of the Virgin : 
 and as this one was finished the first it 
 obtained the epithet of the ancient or 
 earliest. It has a square Romanesque 
 tower with the number of arches in- 
 creasing upwards, as so often occurs 
 in Lombardy. On the exterior side 
 towards the river observe a row of low 
 semicircular-headed arches supported 
 on columns. The retablo , by Juan de 
 
530 
 
 ROUTE 76. — VALLADOLID. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 Juni, is one of the remarkable sculp- 
 tures in Valladolid: observe the crucifix 
 at the top of the Santa Barbara and 
 Santa Ana in a niche ; in some other 
 of the figures the peculiar violence and 
 twists of this sculptor are carried too 
 far, while the blue and tinsel are in- 
 jurious to artistical effect. 
 
 The San Miguel , once belonging to 
 the Jesuits, and now a parish church, 
 has a fine nave, with well-wrought 
 Corint liian pillars and pilasters. The 
 classical retablo , with carvings of the 
 Nativity and Circumcision, has been 
 attributed by some to Becerra, but it 
 more probably is the work of Jordan. 
 The figure of San Miguel is by Pom- 
 peio Leoni. In a chapel to the r. ob- 
 serve the kneeling figure of Pedro de 
 Vivero, ob. 1610, and of his wife, ob. 
 1625. The Sacristia is a fine room. 
 
 In Las LLuelgas Reales , a Corinthian 
 edifice in the style of Herrera, is the 
 alabaster tomb of the foundress, Maria 
 de Molina, wife of Sancho el Bravo. 
 The retablo is a superb carved work of 
 Hernandez : observe the Ascension of 
 the Virgin, San Bernardo kneeling, and 
 two St. J ohns dated 1616 ; the paint- 
 ings have been attributed to the Zuc- 
 caros. 
 
 The retablo of the JDescalzas Reales 
 contains many paintings by Vicente 
 Carducho, in a Caravaggio manner ; 
 the Marriage of Santa Ana and San 
 Joaquin is good in tone, with great 
 breadth of draperies, while the two 
 boys to the r. are truly Spanish. The 
 Assumption and Coronation in the 
 centre are by Matias Blasco ; the Vir- 
 gin with joined hands quite Michael- 
 Angelesque. Observe also in Las 
 Colaterales a Santa Clara, with a grace- 
 ful Virgin and Child ; a San Francisco 
 in ecstasy, in a rich wooded scene ; all 
 these grand compositions are painted 
 in a coarsish but bold manner by Ar- 
 senio Mascagni in 1610, a pupil of 
 Ligozzi. 
 
 The bald academical Santa Ana , 
 the most modem church in Valladolid, 
 was built by Sabatini. The poor paint- 
 ings inside by G-oya and Bayeu seem 
 placed there to show that a sister art 
 
 shared in decline, and this in the city 
 of Herrera, Diaz, and Hernandez. 
 
 The brick-tower belfry of San Sal- 
 vador^ and the retablo- like portal, are 
 better. The sculpture represents the 
 Incarnation, Transfiguration, &c. ; in- 
 side are some sepulchres of the Alba 
 Beal family. The church of San 
 Martin has an interesting Bomanesque 
 or Lombard style of tower ; the arches 
 in the two lower stories are slightly 
 pointed ; those in the upper are cir- 
 cular. 
 
 The once splendid Agustinos Calza- 
 tfoswas converted into a straw magazine 
 by the invaders. The Cimborio was 
 superb. The chapel in which Fabio 
 Nelli is buried was adorned with 
 Italian arabesque by Julio de Aquilez, 
 who decorated the Alhambra ; a por- 
 tion only of an Adam and Eve has 
 escaped the destroyers. 
 
 Among the ancient mansions either 
 curious from incidents or former opu- 
 lence, now the crumbling abodes of 
 humble paupers, whose present misery 
 mocks past magnificence, notice the 
 first house to the r. going out of the 
 Rlazuela Vieja , into the Calle de San 
 Martin ; here Alonso Cano is said by 
 libellers to have killed his wife. Berru- 
 guete lived near San Benito el Real . 
 He began life as an j Escribano del cri- 
 men to the Chancelleria, or crown side 
 attorney to the Chancelleria ; from the 
 desk of chicanery he passed into the 
 noble studio of Michael Angelo, and 
 putting off corruption became immor- 
 tal. The insesthetic authorities of 
 Valladolid, so far from raising a monu- 
 ment to his glory, converted his house 
 into a barrack, as the palace of the 
 princely Benavente was turned by them 
 into a foundling hospital. 
 
 Fabio Nelli, the Maecenas of Valla- 
 dolid, lived in the plaza which still 
 bears his name ; observe his fine old 
 house with Corinthian patio and me- 
 dallions. In the Casa de las Argollas , 
 so called from the “iron links,” Alvaro 
 de Luna was confined before his exe- 
 cution; the artesonado ceiling of his 
 dungeon of state was magnificent : look 
 also at the Casa de Villa- Sanies, in the 
 
Leon. 
 
 ROUTE 77. — gondomar’s house. 
 
 581 
 
 Calle del Rosario ; and at the patio of 
 the Casa Uevilla , corner of the Calle de 
 la Ceniza, with its arabesques, and rich 
 roofing of the staircase. The Disputa- 
 tion Provincial is lodged in the former 
 palace of the Admirals of Castile ; a 
 fulsome motto was placed there allu- 
 sive to the pardon obtained by Don 
 Eadrique of the Comuneros from 
 Charles V. 
 
 The Casa del Sol , opposite to San 
 Gregorio, with a fine portal, and now 
 a barrack for recruits ! was the house 
 of Diego Sarmiento de Acuna, the cele- 
 brated Conde de Gondomar, ambassa- 
 dor of Philip IV. to James I., and by 
 whom he was led by the nose, the wily 
 diplomat speaking faulty Latin on pur- 
 pose, in order to give the royal pedant 
 the triumph of setting him right ; his 
 library of 15,000 vols. was one of the 
 earliest and finest ever formed in Spain. 
 It contained most curious English 
 literature, collected in London when 
 Shakspere was living. The Marquis 
 of Malpica, the heir, sold the w T hole to 
 Charles IY., but as his Majesty did 
 not pay — cosas de Fspana — some 1600 
 volumes were kept back, and left at 
 Valladolid to the care of the bricklayer ! 
 who looked after the house, these books 
 soon disappeared. The portion which 
 w^as sent to Madrid contains the secret 
 correspondence of Gondomar during his 
 embassy in England, with the identical 
 letters he received from the lords, 
 ladies, and gentlemen, whom he bribed 
 for Philip IV. as Barillon did after- 
 wards for Louis XIY. His letters 
 likewise on lighter social subjects also 
 exist. This buried mine of Shaksperian 
 period, which clamors for a Collier, lies 
 unexplored in the private library of 
 the crown at Madrid. 
 
 Those who have not visited the ar- 
 chives of Simancas will of course ride 
 out therefrom Valladolid (see p. 564).. 
 The village of Fuen Saldana , now 
 that the Rubens pictures are in the 
 Museo, scarcely deserves a visit. It 
 lies about 4 L. X. of Valladolid, and 
 belongs to the Alcani§es family; the 
 castle, of excellent masonry, is a speci- 
 men of the medieval Castilian fortress, 
 
 Spain. — II. 
 
 with the usual bartizan turrets at the 
 corner of the donjon-keep and machi- 
 colations. It w r as built by Alonzo Perez 
 de Vivero, treasurer to Juan II., who 
 was cast dowm from a tower by Alvaro 
 de Luna, jealous of his influence over 
 the king ; the whole event (see chap. 
 113-4 of the Chronicle) was a most 
 Oriental tragedy watered by Punic 
 tears ; the scene of the letters, “ Read 
 this and this/ 3 is quite Shaksperian. 
 The armorial shield of Vivero is still 
 over the portal of his castle, now de- 
 graded into a granary. In the chapel 
 of the small convent near it w r ere long 
 kept the Rubens pictures. 
 
 Communications exist from Valla- 
 dolid to Corunna, Palencia, Santander, 
 Leon, Burgos, Salamanca, Segovia, 
 Madrid, Zamora, and Avila. Palencia 
 may be also reached in 6^ hours by 
 the Diligencia Barca , a sort of treck- 
 shuit boat on the canal ; or per coach 
 in 4 hours, which starts from the po- 
 sada Sta. Ana. There is much taBc 
 of improving the roads to Olmedo, to 
 Salamanca by Tordes'ijlas, and to Leon 
 by Mayorga, and of railway communi- 
 cations with Santander, Leon, Aviles, 
 and Madrid. 
 
 Route 77- — Valladolid to 
 Santander. 
 
 Cabezon 2 
 Venta de Trigueros I 2 
 Duenas ..... 2 
 
 Palencia. ..... 2 
 Fromista .. . . ,2 
 
 Herrera de Pisuerga . 3 
 
 Aguilar de Campo . 3 
 
 Quintanilla .. , f , . 1 
 
 Quintela ..... 1 
 
 Reinosa ...... 4 
 
 Barcena 3 
 
 Las Caldaa .... 4 
 Torje ,1a Vega ... 2 
 
 Santander .... ,2 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 13 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 22 
 25 
 29 
 31 
 33 
 
 This is performed in a day by the 
 Castellana diligence. 
 
 At Cabezon , a village with the canal 
 and Pisuerga to the 1., Bessieres opened 
 the Peninsular campaign with one of 
 the easiest and most crushing defeats 
 of the Spaniards. The brave undisci- 
 plined troops, instead of acting on the 
 defensive, courted a combat and defeat. 
 
 2 D 
 
582 
 
 ROUTE 77. CANAL DE CASTILLA. 
 
 Sect. VIII. 
 
 The braggadoecio Junta had told the 
 people that they were invincible, and 
 the mob compelled the old fool Cuesta 
 to engage ; and had he hesitated they 
 would have murdered him for a traitor 
 (Schep. i. 420). Cuesta, a type of the 
 Spanish generals of that war, made 
 every disposition to ensure failure. 
 The Spanish artillery, before even 50 
 bold French dragoons could get near 
 them, abandoned a position which, as 
 Foy observes (iii. 278), “ defendue par 
 de bonnes troupes, eut ete imprenable.” 
 
 The line to Cabezon has the Pisu- 
 erga and the canal on the 1. hand, both 
 crossed before reaching Duenas . Pop. 
 2000. Here the Burgos road continues 
 to Banos , and then branches off to 
 Balencia to the 1. Examine the canal 
 at Duenas, completed in 1832 by Epir 
 fanio Esteban. This canal, planned in 
 1753 by the minister Ensenada, was 
 intended to unite Segovia with Reinosa 
 and Santander. It was to take up at 
 Balencia the canal of Arragon, which 
 was to come from the Mediterranean, 
 while another branch was to com? 
 municate with the Duero at Zamora : 
 thus the Mediterranean and Atlantic 
 were to be connected, and an outlet 
 afforded to the Castiles, for its wines 
 and cereal productions, which were 
 to be exchanged with the iron and 
 timber of the Asturias and colonial 
 produce imported through Santander. 
 For these lines of circulation nature 
 had supplied easy levels, a light soil for 
 excavation, and fine rivers as feeders : 
 thus irrigation would have ensured fer- 
 tility, while a means of transport would 
 have favoured commerce, and infused 
 a vitality, moral and physical, into 
 these long inanimate districts. The 
 plan was begun with ardour, and the 
 w'orks progressed during the life of the 
 originating minister ; it then was taken 
 up and then let down, until the French 
 invasion blighted it altogether. Ferdi- 
 nand VII., however, in 1830, granted a 
 lease to a company, who recommenced 
 the works (see the Essay in the c Vario- 
 logio ,’ Manuel Perez, 8vo., Palencia). 
 
 In 1850 the city Corporation refused 
 to allow an English steam-engine to be 
 
 erected, because liable to burst, and 
 certain to darken the sky with smoke ; 
 the Corporation moreover objected to 
 a railroad, as “ costly and dangerous,” 
 being satisfied with their canal; an 
 invention in its day opposed by the 
 Church as heretical, implying a supe- 
 riority, in ditches dug by mortals, over 
 rivers made by Grod — cosas de Dspana. 
 That Spain, which under the Moors 
 presented a most scientific system of 
 artificial irrigation ; which in 1528, 
 under Charles Y., devised the canal of 
 Arragon, and contemplated, under 
 Philip II., in 1581, the navigation of 
 the Tagus ; which thus long preceded 
 England in these works, so essential 
 to commerce, is now, as in other 
 things, far, far behind ; she has stood 
 still, while others have sailed on, and 
 yet water under her sun is the very 
 blood of life, the principle of fertility 
 and wealth. 
 
 The morris- dances of the peasantry 
 at Duenas are the combined Pyrrhica 
 Saltatio of the Romans and the Trvpu* 
 dium of the Iberians. We witnessed 
 here one Sunday a “ gallimaufry of 
 gambols,” performed by 8 men, with 
 castanets in their hands, and to the 
 tune of a fife and drum, while a master 
 of the ceremonies, in party-coloured 
 raiment like a pantaloon, directed the 
 rustic ballet ; around were grouped 
 payesas y aide anas , dressed in tight 
 boddices, with panuelos on their heads, 
 their hair hanging down behind in 
 trensas , and their necks covered with 
 blue and coral beads ; the men bound 
 up their long locks with red handker- 
 chiefs, and danced in their shirts, the 
 sleeves of which were puckered up with 
 bows of different-coloured ribands, 
 crossed also over the back and breast, 
 and mixed with scapularies and small 
 prints of saints ; their drawers were 
 white, and full as the bragas of the 
 Yalencians, like whom they wore al- 
 pargatas , or hemp sandals laced with 
 blue strings. The figure of the dance 
 was very intricate, consisting of much 
 circling, turning, and jumping, and 
 accompanied with loud cries of viva at 
 each change of evolution. 
 
Leon. 
 
 ROUTE 77. — PALENCIA. 
 
 583 
 
 The view from the square castle on 
 a conical hill at Duehas sweeps over 
 the treeless Parameras , or Tier r as de 
 Cam'pos ; below, the Pisuerga has de- 
 serted its old bed and bridge, which 
 stands high and dry, see Coria, p. 493, 
 a town whose people are termed Bobos 
 — boobies — by the “ old women ” of 
 Duenas. In the distance rises el Monte 
 de Torozos , now almost bare, but once 
 covered with forests. This boundary 
 of Old Castile commences at Villa 
 Nubia , and extends to Villa Garcia , 
 being in width some 3 L. In this 
 Monte is the fine Bernardine Convento 
 de la Fsjoina. The portal is Ionic ; 
 the cloister classical. Before the an- 
 cient retablo kneel the statues of Queen 
 Leonora and Dona Sancha. 
 
 Thence to Valencia, Pallantia. — 
 Fonda , de Gabriel Papin. This ancient 
 city, the seat of the first University, 
 founded in Castile in the 10th century, 
 but moved in 1239 to Salamanca, 
 stands pleasantly on the Carrion, 
 having a good stone bridge, and an- 
 other called los Puentecillos. The 
 Alamedas round the walls, which 
 should be noticed, being 36 ft. high 
 by 9 in thickness, were laid out in 1778 
 by the Intendenle Carrasco. Those 
 on the little island, by the bridge built 
 by the Archdeacon Aguarin, occupy 
 the site where a grand tournament was 
 given to Charles V. Palencia (pop. 
 11,000) is healthy and cold, as it 
 stands with*its trees, an oasis in the 
 wide shelterless plains. One long 
 street, la Mayor , intersects the town, 
 running from the gates Monzon and 
 del Mercado. Near the latter is im- 
 bedded a Homan sepulchral stone of 
 the sons of Pompey. The town, well 
 placed for commerce on its river and 
 canal, has some manufactories of rude 
 woollens — fabrics mostly placed in the 
 Puebla or suburb. The light and ele- 
 gant cathedral was built, in 1321-1504, 
 in a simple unadorned Gothic style, 
 after the type of that of Leon, and on the 
 site of one raised by Sancho el Mayor 
 over the cave of San Antolin, to whom 
 this church, in common with many 
 others in these districts, is dedicated. 
 
 This saint was a French anchorite 
 living in the woods : the king, when 
 hunting, was about to shoot his arrow 
 at a deer or wild boar which had fled 
 into the hermit’s cave, whereupon the 
 royal extended arm instantly withered 
 up, but was restored again by the in- 
 tercession of the recluse, thereupon the 
 monarch immediately granted the dis- 
 trict to the Church : descend therefore 
 into the original cave in the cathedral, 
 and drink of the hermit’s holy well, 
 which works cures hydropathic quite 
 miraculous. Observe in the Camilla 
 Mayor the tombs of the Marquis del 
 Pozo and his wife, 1557 ; and the sil- 
 leria del coro of the cinque-cento pe- 
 riod ; notice also the reja and the pulpits 
 with bassi-relievi of boys and festoons. 
 The respaldo del coro contains plate- 
 resque Berruguete sculpture. The fine 
 custodia was made in 1582 by Juan 
 Benavente. The coffin of Queen Ur- 
 raca, 1149, is still preserved. The 
 tower, cloister, and chapterhouse are 
 Gothic ; notice the door of communi- 
 cation. In the Dominican convent 
 were the superb sepulchres of the 
 Bojas family: one on the 1. of the 
 altar, of Juan de Bojas and his wife, 
 1557, was in the richest Berruguete 
 taste ; the other opposite, after designs 
 of Herrera, was Doric, and composed 
 of black and coloured marble, with 
 fine kneeling figures of Francisco de 
 Bojas and his wife Francesca Cabrera, 
 who raised it in 1604. The marble 
 fountain on the Plaza marks the spot 
 where the Comunero leader, Pimentel, 
 was beheaded. 
 
 The hospital of San Lazaro was once 
 the palace of the Cid, and the reader 
 of ballads will remember that this saint 
 appeared to the Campeador in the 
 guise of a pilgrim. Here the Cid was 
 married to Ximena, whose father he 
 had slain. The ladies of Palencia were 
 most valiant also, as they are said to 
 have beaten off the Black Prince, and 
 were in consequence allowed by Juan 
 I. to wear a gold band on their head- 
 gear (compare them with the ancient 
 Amazons of Tortosa, p. 398). The 
 modern men of Palencia, like those of 
 2 D 2 
 
584 RTE 78. VALLADOLID TO BURGOS. — 79. TO MADRID. Sect. VIII. 
 
 that town, behaved very differently, for 
 General Milhand took the city with- 
 out difficulty, Nov. 13, 1808. It was 
 particularly plundered by Foy in 
 October, 1812. Consult the Local 
 ‘ Hist or ia^ by Pedro Fernandez del 
 Pulgar, 4 vols. folio, Mad. 1679, and 
 the ‘ Description ,’ by Domingo Largo, 
 1787. 
 
 The road, passing the ridge at Fro- 
 mista, follows the line of the canal into 
 the basin of the Pisuerga. These bald 
 plains produce vast quantities of corn, 
 the flour of which is exported to Cuba 
 from Santander. At Aguilar de Cam - 
 po the river turns to the 1., and the 
 road to the r., and enters Old Castile 
 (for the Montanas and Reinosa, see 
 Index) . 
 
 Route 78. — Valladolid to Burgos. 
 
 Cabezon .... 
 
 4 
 
 
 Dueiias .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 ,. 7 
 
 Torquemada 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 ,. 10 
 
 Villadrigo . . . 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 ,. 14 
 
 Celada .... 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 .. 18 
 
 Burgos .... 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 .. 22 
 
 This dull road is done by the dili- 
 gence in some 12 hours. Buonaparte, 
 according to M. Savary, rode this dis- 
 tance, in 1809 in less than 6 hours. 
 
 For Dueiias , see preceding route. At 
 Torquemada , in June, 1808, the Spa- 
 nish army under Cuesta Jed even be- 
 fore the battle began, frightened at 
 one cavalry charge of La Salle. The 
 village was then sacked and burnt by 
 Bessieres, who spared neither age nor 
 sex. The Arlanzon coming down from 
 Burgos soon joins the Pisuerga, crossing 
 which we enter Old Castile, Leaving 
 the Pisuerga, the road now continues 
 along the basin of the Arlanzon, pass- 
 ing Celada and its corn-plains, to the 
 walls of ancient Burgos (see p. 843), 
 
 Route 79. — Valladolid to Madrid. 
 
 Puente del Duero . 
 
 . 2 
 
 
 Valdestillas 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 4 
 
 Olmillos .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 6 
 
 Olmedo .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 8 
 
 San Cristobal . . 
 
 . 3* . 
 
 . n* 
 
 Martin Munoz . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 13* 
 
 San Chidrian 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 15* 
 
 Labajos .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 17* 
 
 Villacastin . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 19* 
 
 Fonda San Rafael . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 22* 
 
 Guadarrama . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 22* 
 
 Torrelodones . 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 27 
 
 Las Rosas . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 29 
 
 Madrid .... 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 31* 
 
 The sandy road to Olmedo has re- 
 cently been changed and repaired, but 
 its dulness never can be removed. 
 Pop. 2000. PaYudor de los Vizcainos. 
 This decayed walled town, of former 
 importance, is celebrated for the 
 bloody battles in 1445 and 1467, 
 during the civil wars. The retablo in 
 San Andres , by Berruguete, with pic- 
 tures of his school, and the subterra- 
 neous chapel in San Miguel , may be 
 looked at. Olmedo is situated in a 
 plain, irrigated by the Adaja and by 
 the Eresma. The dreary sandy steppes 
 extend almost to Labajos , and pro- 
 duce wine, corn, &o. Soon we enter 
 the province of Old Castile ; and at 
 San Chidrian the road joins the ca - 
 mino real. After Labajos , the granitic 
 ranges of the Carpetanian mountains 
 commence. The granite of Villacastin 
 is excellent. Posada del Arco. The 
 Guadarrama range now separates the 
 basins of the Tagus and the Duero. 
 The name is by some derived from 
 Alxarrat, Arabice any chain of moun- 
 tain which runs E. and W. (Xerif 
 Aledris, 167) Conde reads Wada-r- 
 ramal , “ the river of the sand it 
 being a chain of granite. The road 
 made in 1749 by Ferdinand VI. as- 
 cends to the Puerto , where a marble 
 lion on the extreme height, said to be 
 5094 feet above the sea, marks the 
 boundary between Old and New Cas- 
 tile, the former lying spread below 
 like a map. The line is well chosen, 
 and the engineering excellent, but in 
 winter the road is occasionally im- 
 passable from the snow, and is intensely 
 cold from the bleak winds of both 
 the Castiles. These elemental ob- 
 stacles were fully felt by Buonaparte, 
 who on Christmas eve, 1808, started 
 from Madrid, having heard of Moore’s 
 advance, which deranged all his cer- 
 tainty of conquering Portugal and 
 Andalucia at one blow. His new 
 plans were conceived with his usual 
 
Leon. 
 
 585 
 
 ROUTES 80, 81.— VALLADOLID TO MADRID. 
 
 decision, and carried out with corre- 
 sponding rapidity. He led his army oyer 
 this granite wilderness, these prison- 
 cayes of the storm, and these nurseries 
 of death, dashing like lightning amid 
 glaciers : his own impatience was so 
 great that he leaped off his horse, 
 and walked through the snows him- 
 self, in order to encourage his troops. 
 “ Shall a mole-hill in Spain,” cried 
 he, “ check the conquerors of St. Ber- 
 nard ? ” He leant on the arm of 
 Sayary, and arrived greatly exhausted 
 at Fspinar^ a dirty village placed in 
 the jaws of two mountains called La 
 Boca del Injierno — the Mouth of Hell ; 
 there he slept, reaching Villacastin 
 next day. The losses suffered by his 
 army were very great, yet the brave 
 men pushed on ; hut in vain their 
 courage and rapidity, for Buonaparte, in 
 spite of unexampled exertion, reached 
 Benavente just 12 hours too late. 
 
 Passing the Puerto , and leaving the 
 Escorial to the r., we descend into the 
 dreary mangy wastes which encircle 
 Madrid. Torre lodones is a misnomer, 
 for according to the proverb there are 
 in it “ Cinco vecinos y siete ladrones ,” 
 the Escribano and Alcalde reckon 
 double. The immediate approach, 
 however, by the Florida, with the 
 noble palace, is striking. The horse- 
 man will do better to proceed from 
 Valladolid to Olmedo or the Fonda 
 San Bafael , in the diligence, and then 
 ride across the hills to Segovia. 
 
 Bottte 80. — Valladolid to Madrid 
 by Segovia. 
 
 Olmedo 8 
 
 Villequillo . . . .2 ..10 
 
 Coca 1 .. 11 
 
 Santa Maria de Nieve. 3 . . 14 
 
 Garcillan . . . . 2 % .. 161 
 
 Segovia 21 .. 19 
 
 A dreary waste of sand and um- 
 brella-headed pine-groves, a bad road, 
 an arid lonely country, are rendered 
 more wretched by villages gutted by 
 the French and never since repaired. 
 At Villequillo Old Castile is entered. 
 Coca lies between the Eresma and 
 Volloya rivers. Bosada de la Cruz : 
 
 the host does the honours of the castle, 
 a grand specimen of a genuine Castilian 
 castle of the Gothic mediaeval period. 
 Observe the projecting balistaria , 
 bartizans, the angular turrets of the 
 great donjon-keep, la torre mocha. 
 The superb towers rise like the Alcazar 
 of Segovia ; the barbican framework is 
 remarkable. This palatial fortress of 
 the old Fonsecas remained perfect, 
 used as a state prison, until visited by 
 the invaders ; the. superb court-yard, 
 with corridors and azulejos , was taken 
 down in 1828 by the administrador of 
 the present owner, the Duke of Alba, 
 to be sold for the materials ! since then 
 the ruins have been used as a quarry 
 and to mend roads ! ! Cosas de Fspaha. 
 Now the country gets more alpine and 
 picturesque; In Santa Maria — where 
 there is a quiet little inn — in the parish 
 church, are some fine marble pillars, 
 and four grand sepulchres of the Fon- 
 seca family. The ascents after passing 
 Santa Maria de la Nieve are superb. 
 
 Route 81. — Valladolid to Madrid 
 
 by Cuellar and 
 
 Segovia. 
 
 Tudela del Duero . 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Montemayor . . 
 
 . 3 , 
 
 ,. 6 
 
 Cuellar .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 9 
 
 Sancho Nuno . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 .. 11 
 
 Navalmanzano 
 
 . 2 , 
 
 . . 13 
 
 Escarabajosa . . 
 
 . 2 , 
 
 .. 15 
 
 Segovia .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 ,. 18 
 
 The country on this route is cereal, 
 and interspersed with vineyards and 
 pine-trees. Tudela , pop. 600, stands 
 on its river, with a damaged stone 
 bridge. The magnificent facade of the 
 noble parroquia , in the Ionic and 
 Graeco-Romano style, consists of three 
 tiers ornamented with sculpture, re- 
 presenting the Saviour, Apostles, with 
 the Ascension of the Virgin in the 
 central place of honour : this work of 
 one Martin, finished in 1614, deserves 
 to be better known. Inside, a fine 
 retablo has been attributed to Her- 
 nandez, from its grandiose character ; 
 notice a Virgen con el Nino , and del 
 Bosario. 
 
 Continuing amid pines, between 
 Montemayor and Cuellar , is the cele- 
 
586 
 
 ROUTE 81. VALLADOLID TO MADRID. 
 
 Sect;. VIII. 
 
 brated and much-frequented sanctuary 
 of the Virgin del Henar , “ of the 
 river,” of whom there is a printed his- 
 tory. Cuellar , Colenda, lies amid pine- 
 woods, on a slope of a hill crowned by 
 a fine castle girdled by old walls : pop. 
 3000. The streets are steepish and 
 badly paved, the environs are fertile, 
 the game and turkeys renowned. 
 Cuellar had ten parish churches and 
 three convents, a tolerably sufficient 
 spiritual supply for 3000 souls. The 
 towers have a picturesque effect. The 
 facade of the convent San Francisco 
 is in good Ionic : here were interred 
 in splendid sepulchres the great family 
 of Albuquerque, to whom the castle 
 belonged.* Ascend to it : the views 
 over the interminable plains, with the 
 distant Sierra, are fine. This palatial 
 alcazar was granted, in 1454, by Henry 
 IV., the Impotent, to his favourite, 
 
 * It has passed from the great Albuquerque 
 family into that of the Alcanises. 
 
 Beltran de la Cueva. His daughter, 
 la Beltraneja, who disputed the crown 
 with Isabella, lived at Mongrado^ about 
 4 miles off E. The edifice, rebuilt in 
 1550, was before the French invasion 
 one of the best preserved in Spain, and 
 retained its ancient furniture, armoury, 
 and gallery of pictures, which all 
 disappeared at "that terrible visitation. 
 The patio is very noble, with upper 
 and lower corridors, and solid granite 
 colonnades. At Cuellar , Eeb. 20, 1843, 
 Serjeant Garcia, the Granja revolu- 
 tionist, died in poverty and neglect. 
 Hence to Segovia there is little to 
 notice. The tracks called roads here 
 remain much as nature and goats made 
 them. 
 
 Cuellar communicates with Fena - 
 jiel , distant 4 L. K., through Mora - 
 leja , half way; Fenajiel itself being 
 half way between Valladolid , distant 
 8 L., and Aranda del Fuero , distant 
 7 A For Segovia, see p. 767. 
 
Gallic ia. 
 
 ( 587 ) 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF GALLICIA. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Kingdom ; the Character of the Country and Natives ; Books to consult. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LUGO . . 590 
 
 ROUTE 82.— LUGO TO LA CORUNA 
 AND EL FERROL 592 
 
 ROUTE 83. — EL FERROL TO MON- 
 DONEDO 599 
 
 LA CORUNA TO SANTIAGO 599 
 
 ROUTE 84. — LA CORUNA TO SANTI- 
 AGO 600 
 
 ROUTE 85.— LUGO TO SANTIAGO . . .600 
 
 ROUTE 86. — LUGO TO SANTIAGO BY 
 SOBRADO 600 
 
 SANTIAGO 601 
 
 ROUTE 87. — SANTIAGO TO CAPE FI- 
 NISTERRE 617 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ROUTE 88. — SANTIAGO TO LUGO BY 
 PONTEVEDRA 618 
 
 Vigo; Tuy; Orense. 
 
 ROUTE 89.— ORENSE TO SANTIAGO .625 
 
 ROUTE 90. — ORENSE TO LUGO 625 
 
 ROUTE 91.— LUGO TO OVIEDO 625 
 
 Mondonedo ; Rivadeo ; Aviles. 
 
 ROUTE 92.— LUGO TO OVIEDO 628 
 
 ROUTE 93. — CANGAS DE TINEO TO 
 VILLAFRANCA 629 
 
 ROUTE 94. — CANGAS DE TINEO TO 
 LEON 630 
 
 The proper period for visiting Gallicia is during the warm months. The objects best worth 
 notice are Santiago, and the mountain scenery and fishing, especially in R. 90, 91, 92, 93, and 94. 
 The angler might spend his time pleasantly in taking the following line : — Yigo, Orense, Puente 
 Santo Domingo Florez, Cabrera alta y baja, Lago de Castaneda, La Baneza, Ponferrada, and Yilla- 
 franca ; then crossing the mountains by R. 92 to Cangas de Tineo, Grado, and Oviedo. 
 
 El Eeino de Galicia^ the former kingdom of Grallicia, forms the N. W. angle 
 of the Peninsula, it is bounded by Portugal, the Bay of Biscay, the Asturias, and 
 Leon, and contains about 1032 square L., with a pop. of some 1,200,000. 
 The climate is temperate and rainy, as the surface is very mountainous, with 
 a coast line upwards of 240 miles, for this barrier of Europe against the 
 Atlantic extends from Cape Einisterre to the Pyrenean spurs. The hills are 
 clothed with timber for building and shipping, while the chesnuts and acorns 
 afford food to men and swine ; the bacon and hams, especially of Candelas 
 rival those of Estremadura. In the verdurous meadows of this Switzerland 
 of Spain any quantity of cattle might be reared. The woody heights are 
 full of boars and wolves, that descend into the plains, which are watered with 
 trout and salmon streams. 
 
 The natural productions are chiefly maize, rye, and flax, apples, pears, nuts, 
 and those fruits of the berry kind which, rare in the hotter portions of 
 
588 
 
 GALLICIA. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 Spain, carry us back to Devonshire ; the potatoes also are excellent, although 
 not yet used as an article of general subsistence, but rather as a culinary 
 addition to the tables of the richer classes. As the eastern mountain boundary 
 is covered almost all the year with snow, especially the Pico de Ancares and 
 the Pena Trevinca , while the sea-coasts and riverain valleys bask in a latitude 
 of 42°, having scarcely any winter, the wide range of botany deserves to be 
 better investigated. The warmer and lower valleys of the Mino, and the 
 country about Tuy , Pedondela , and Orense , are perfect gardens of plenty and 
 delight: Nature there retains all her “wealth,” and still reigns “ smiling amid 
 flowers ” as in happier days of old (Sil. Ital. iii. 345 ; Claudian, c Lau. Ser.’ 71) ; 
 the present contrast between the ignorance and poverty of the peasants is 
 painfully striking : art, science, and literature languish, where the olive and 
 orange and vineyard flourish;, the best wines are those of Yaldeorras, Amandi, 
 Rivero, and the Tostado of Orense ; they would rival the vintages of Portugal, 
 were the commonest pains taken in the making ; but everything is managed 
 in the rudest most wasteful mariner. Grallicia is to the N.W. of Spain what 
 Murcia is to the S.E., The Boeotia, and the province is almost unknown to the 
 bulk of Spaniards* as few ever go there. Spaniards form their idea of Gfallicians 
 from the specimens who emigrate like the Swiss, into the plains, from poverty, not 
 will ; the district of La Coruna supplies the Castiles, as Pontevedra and Orense 
 do Portugal, with surplus labourers. The emigrants generally are absent from 
 four to five years, after which they pay their homes a visit, and start forth again, 
 for these wild mountaineers, confined in cities and not to be tamed, fly gladly 
 back to their free hills ; others only go down for the harvest-time, returning, 
 like the Auvergnats, with their hard-earned gains. Those who settle at Madrid 
 become reposteros, and managers in families, where, however boorish their ex- 
 terior, they are sufficiently cunning to find out in the Icitchens the secrets of 
 every menage ; just as the Nubian slaves do in the establishments of the 
 wealthier Arabs at Cairo, and, like them, they herd and pull together. These 
 stout Gfallicians also do the porters' work of Spain and Portugal ; whence the 
 term gallego is synonymous with a boor, ganapan , or mozo de cordel , a “ hewer 
 of wood and drawer of water from Portugal being nearer to their homes 
 there is a greater affinity of language than as regards the Castiles. So many 
 indeed flock to Lisbon, that the Portuguese, who do not love their neighbour, 
 contend that Gfod first created men , viros , “ gentlemen,” i.e. Portuguese, and 
 then made Gfallicians, i. e. fiomines or slaves, to wait on them. 
 
 Gfood land is scarce in GfalliGia, much of the country is unfit for agriculture, 
 wide tracts or dehesas (called here gdndaras , from their barrenness) ; and vast 
 tracts are abandoned to heaths and aromatic herbs ; there is, consequently, a 
 struggle for land in the valleys and favoured localities ; the over-rented, over- 
 worked peasant toils day and night, to eat a scanty and bad bread made of 
 maize or millet, pam de centeno , de borona , for corn is scarce. The cottages are 
 full of dirt and damp, true Areas de JToe, says Gfongora, from the close pack- 
 ing of various beasts within, where the same room does for nursery, stable, 
 kitchen, pigstye, “ parlour and all but no flood, natural or artificial, ever gets 
 into these Noah’s arks : the Ventas in the hills and out-of-the-way localities, are 
 no better ; attend to the provend , for in these dens, ravenous wolves who are not 
 particular in their cuisine, would be badly off, much more honest Christians ; the 
 fire-places often have no chimneys, and the damp wood, which won’t burn, and 
 will smoke, distresses the visual organs as much as the prospect of no roast does 
 the digestive ones. In the plains and more favoured valleys the accommodation 
 for travellers is not quite so bad, but Grallicia is seldom visited except by mule- 
 teers, according to whose wants and demands these discomforts are regulated. 
 It need not be said where people sup without chimneys and sleep without beds, 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 GALLICIA. 
 
 589 
 
 that vermin which were deemed a plague' in Egypt, are here held to be free 
 denizens by long prescription. When the Grallician men migrate, the females 
 do all the drudgery at home in house and field, and a painful sight it is to see 
 them labouring at the plough : in the field or out of it, their hands are never idle, 
 and the rueca or distaff is as much part and parcel of a Grallega, as a fan is of an 
 Andaluga. A fare hard as their work, coupled with exposure to an uncongenial 
 climate, nips their beauty in the bud ; few, indeed, are born with much, nor do 
 the fortunate ones retain their charms long ; aged before thirty, they soon seem 
 models for witches, and look as if they never could have been young, or had any- 
 thing of the feminine gender. The men are litigious and boorish, seldom giving 
 a direct answer ; seen in their wretched huts, they are scarcely better than their 
 Iberian ancestors, who were little better than beasts, since, according to Justin 
 (xliv. 2), Eeris propriora quam hominibus ingenia gerunt, while Strabo (iii. 
 234) pronounced them even worse and (dyi^tcSbnrn^oi. Nevertheless, these beasts 
 thought themselves lions, and now as then, like true highlanders, are proud of 
 their breed and of their illustrious pedigrees : compare the Tex yvo^goe, of 
 Strabo (iii. 228) with the nobiliarios of Grandara, and others. They claimed 
 Teucer of old as their founder, who, they said, came from the east to select 
 this damp remote province, just as the moderns predicate of Santiago, and in 
 both cases without the slightest foundation in truth. Be that as it may, the men 
 are fine animals, and constitute a raw material which, if properly fed and led, would 
 make capital soldiers ; yet such was the incubus of their inefficient chiefs, that 
 Moore found them the very worst-off soldiers among Spaniards. “ In your life 
 (wrote the Duke, Dispj Dec. 10, 1812), you never saw anything so bad as the 
 Grallicians ; and yet they are the finest body of men and the best movers I 
 have seen.” “ They are but a miserable mob, on which we have no reliance,” 
 said fighting Pictom 
 
 The language of Grallicia, a patois, harsh and uncouth to the ear,- is quite 
 unintelligible to Spaniards, who laugh at their use of the u for o ; e. g. cuandu , 
 jpocu. It approaches nearer to the Portuguese than the Spanish, and would 
 have become the dominant language of the Peninsula, had not Alonso el Sabio 
 drawn up his legal codes in Castilian, by which that dialect was fixed, as the 
 Tuscan was by Dante. 
 
 This province, whose iron-bound coast is the terror of those who travel by 
 sea, offers few facilities to wayfarers by land ; the communications are very 
 bad ; one real road only connects La Coruna with Madrid : a new ccvrretera 
 has long been projected from Vigo to the capital, by which 100 miles will be 
 saved. There has been for many years much talk and many plans prepared 
 for road improvements, especially in opening lateral communication between 
 central Lugo with Oviedo , JEl Ferrol , La Coruna , and Santiago, and it is high 
 time, for while in other provinces of Spain the star-paved milky way in heaven 
 is called el Camino de Santiago , the Grallicians, who know what their roads really 
 are, namely, the worst on earth, call the milky way el Camino de Jerusalem. 
 
 Meanwhile the way -warden in Grallicia is Santiago, and, like his milky way 
 in heaven, his ways on earth are but little indebted to mortal repairs. The 
 Dean of Santiago, virtute dignitatis , is the especial “protector,” as his predeces- 
 sors’ grand object was to construct bridle-roads for the pilgrim ; but since the 
 invention of carriages and the cessation of offering-presenting Hadjis, little or 
 nothing has been done in the turnpike line beyond taking toll. 
 
 The rider from Andalucia will probably find (as we did) that his faithful 
 barb will fall sick in these parts from change of fodder ; for now, instead of the 
 Oriental “ barley and straw,” he will only meet with hay and oats ; in the large 
 towns buy, therefore, a little barley to mix with these Grallician oats, which 
 contain much less nourishment and more husk. Remember also that a stallion 
 
 2d3 
 
590 
 
 LUGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 horse is constantly kept on a fidget here, from the pony-mares which the 
 peasants ride ; and as the horse-flies are very troublesome, a net will be of much 
 service. Again, as horseshoes soon wear out in these stony roads, and it is not 
 easy to replace them, since the country farriers seldom keep a ready-made full- 
 sized horse-shoe, for which there is no demand, ponies being here the ordinary 
 cattle, take a spare set of shoes fitted to the hoofs of your own horse. 
 
 The curious ecclesiastical antiquities of Gallicia occupy no less than nine 
 volumes of the 4 Dsp. Sag. consult also 4 Viaje de Morales ;’ the works of 
 Felipe de la Gandara, his 4 NobiliarioJ and ‘ Armas y Triunfos,’ 4to. Mad. 1662; 
 the metrical 4 Description ,’ by el Licenciado Molina, 4to. Mondonedo, 1551, and 
 4to. Mad. 1675; c Description DconomicaJ Jose Lucas Labrada, El Ferrol, 
 1804 ; 4 JEnsayo sobre la Historia de Galicia ,’ Jose Yerea y Aguiar : c Analesde 
 el Reyno de Galicia j F. X. M. de la Huerta y Yega, 2 vols., Santiago, 1740 ; 
 4 Description Geognostica de Galicia ,’ thin 8vo., Guillermo Schulz, Mad. 1835. 
 This useful work has a lithographic map of the kingdom. The 4 Viaje a 
 Galicia , por dos Amigo sf Mad. 1842, is a paltry performance. There is an 
 excellent large map by Font an. 
 
 LUGO has a decent posada outside 
 the town, on the road to Astorga, in 
 the Barrio de San Roque. Pop; 6000. 
 This, the most central town of Gallicia, 
 is described in the 40th and 41st vols. 
 of the 4 JEsp. Sag and has its own 
 4 Historia Argos DivinaJ by Juan Pal- 
 lares y Gayoso, 4to. Mad. 1700. Lugo , 
 Lucus Augusti, was celebrated under 
 the Homans for its warm sulphur-baths 
 in the Miiio, on which it stands. This 
 river, the glory of Gallicia, called by 
 the ancients Minim > from the vermilion 
 found near it, rises not far from Mon- 
 donedo, and flows S. to Orense and 
 Tuy, forming the boundary on the side 
 of Portugal. The fishing in it and its 
 tributaries is good, especially for salmon, 
 savalo , trout, and lampreys ; the latter 
 were sent to the epicures of old Home. 
 In 1791 a project was formed to render 
 the Mino navigable, but nothing was 
 done beyond a memoria on paper by 
 Eustaquio Giannini. Some remains 
 of the Homan Therm ce^ and of a dyke 
 against inundations testify their former 
 magnificence. The present incommo- 
 dious baths are placed on the 1. bank 
 of the Mino, about 10 minutes’ walk 
 outside the gate of Santiago : the 
 season is from June 15 to Sept. 30, 
 when they are beneficial in cutaneous 
 and rheumatic disorders. The pauper 
 patients pay dos cuartos for the liberty 
 
 of immersion, and there they lie like 
 pigs or porpoises, in the steaming 
 waters among the loose stones. Hard 
 by is a mineral spring, which contains 
 nitre and antimony. Consult the 4 Ana - 
 lisis’ by Hr. Sanjurxo y Mosquero, 
 Lugo, 1817. In the town, in the Calle 
 de Batitales , was discovered (Sept. 
 1842) a Homan mosaic pavement, with 
 water emblems, a colossal head, fish, 
 &c., and since barbarously used by the 
 incurious townsfolk. See, however, the 
 4 Apuntes ’ on it by T. J. Armesto, 4to. 
 Lugo, 1843. Roman coins — gold too 
 — are found, of Nero especially, and 
 generally are melted. 
 
 Lugo is nearly a square, with the 
 corners rounded off ; the very inter- 
 esting walls resemble those of Astorga ; 
 30 to 40 feet high, and above 20 thick, 
 they are defended by semicircular pro- 
 jecting buttress towers, which do not 
 rise much above the line of circumval- 
 lation ; many of the curious upper 
 watch stories were taken down by 
 bungling engineers in the civil wars, 
 on the pretence that they could not 
 stand the firing of the wretched cannon, 
 which luckily never were used, or they 
 assuredly would have burst; but if 
 the defences are bad the walk on these 
 walls round the town is good, and 
 here the ivy, a creeper rare in the tor- 
 rid parts of Spain, mantles the ruins. 
 
Gallicia . 
 
 LUGO — THE HOST. 
 
 591 
 
 Tlie .oldest portion, with solid Homan 
 granite work, is best seen near the 
 tower of Santiago. The Plaza has an 
 arcaded colonnade, which is necessary 
 in this rainy climate ; the fountain, 
 supplied from a rude extramural aque- 
 duct, is so ill contrived that women 
 come with long tin tubes to coax the 
 water into their vessels. This water, 
 coupled with a rye-bread diet, pro- 
 duces frequent gout, to which even 
 females are subject. The old castle is 
 not remarkable beyond a singular tur- 
 reted chimney. Lugo , once the metro- 
 politan, is now suffragan to Santiago. 
 The see, founded by the apostle him- 
 self, was restored in 734 by Alonso el 
 Catolico. The granite cathedral was 
 built in 1129 by Don Hamon, husband 
 of Queen Urraca, with the two lateral 
 aisles lower than the central. The ex- 
 terior was modernized in 1769 by 
 Julian Sanchez Bort; the granite 
 facade and statues are heavy ; observe 
 in the pediment Faith holding the 
 Hostia. The unfinished towers have 
 hideous slated pigeonhouse tops, and 
 a chiming apparatus of iron, so com- 
 mon in the Netherlands, so rare in 
 Spain. The cloisters also have been 
 modernized, but two lateral doors re- 
 tain some of their pristine character ; 
 observe the hinges of the N. W. one, 
 and the Saviour seated in the mystical 
 Vesica Piscis. 
 
 The interior has low arches on each 
 side, with a gallery above, and below 
 rows of confessionals, with the names 
 of especial tutelars over each. The 
 silleria del coro , of good walnut carv- 
 ing, is by Francisco de Moure of Orense, 
 1624. The bishop’s seat bears the 
 arms of Alonso Lopez de Grallo, who 
 defrayed the cost. This cathedral is 
 privileged to have the consecrated Host 
 always exposed, or manifestado , an 
 immemorial right shared only with 
 San Isidoro of Leon. In reference to 
 this high distinction Grallicia bears the 
 Host on its shield, and Lugo “two 
 towers supported on lions, and the 
 consecrated wafer in a monstrance.” 
 This symbol indicates that Lugo , 
 Lukoh, was never taken by the Moors 
 
 (which, by the way, it was by Al- 
 Mansur) ; for the w r afer was always 
 concealed, or rather shrouded, in sign 
 of grief, when Christian cities were 
 captured by the infidel. According 
 to Molina (p. 22), one of these wafers 
 near Lugo became flesh, in the hands 
 of a sceptical clergyman, and was pre- 
 served in the monastery of Zebrero. 
 In other Spanish churches the Hostia 
 is put away in a tabernacle, except 
 in those great cities which have the 
 privilege of the cuarenta horas , or 
 exhibition of the wafer in different 
 churches for 40 hours, when the same 
 spiritual benefits may be obtained by 
 praying before it, as by an actual 
 pilgrimage to St. Peter’s. This spec- 
 tacle and privilege was first intro- 
 duced at superstitious Yalencia in 
 1697, having been established at Home 
 in 1592 by Clement YIII. Thus is 
 reversed the custom of the pure primi- 
 tive church, which almost concealed 
 the sacramental emblems from all ex- 
 cept the initiated. At Lugo the in- 
 carnate Hostia is always lighted up 
 and manifested in a glass viril ; one 
 made by Juan d’Arphe was given in 
 1636 by Bishop Castejon. The glass- 
 enclosed high altar is modern, tawdry, 
 and theatrical, especially the painted 
 oval, with angels of white marble with 
 gilt wing3; The Paldaquino is sup- 
 ported by coloured marble pillars and 
 gilt capitals ; behind, in a modern cir- 
 cular chapel overcharged with orna- 
 ment, is a Maria de los ojos grandes 
 (Juno B outfit) and the phrase ojos de 
 buey is a common Spanish compli- 
 ment to mortal women. This idol, 
 surrounded by tinsel and gilding, is 
 the real present object of popular 
 adoration, and beats the Host hollow. 
 
 Moore, after his over-hurried re- 
 treat, halted at Lugo for a few days, 
 Jan. 6, 1809 ; yet our foot-sore hungry 
 troops recovered at once order, power, 
 and the bayonet ; wherever and when- 
 ever the enemy ventured to advance, 
 they were signally beaten back ; and 
 now their libeller Foy, who was an 
 eye-witness, has the face to state (for- 
 getting the old “shrewdly out of beef” 
 
592 
 
 ROUTE 82 . — LUGO TO LA CORUNA. 
 
 Sect, IX. 
 
 parallels of Agincourt and Cressy), | 
 “ On ne dira pas des Anglais qu’ils 
 etaient braves a telle rencontre, ils le 
 sont toutes les fois qu’ils ont dormi, bu, 
 et mange ; leur courage, plus physique 
 que moral, a besoin d’etre soutenu par 
 un traitement substantiel. La gloire ne 
 leur ferait pas oublier qu’ils ont faim, 
 ou que leurs souliers sont uses” (i. 2B0). 
 
 Soult here came up with Moore, and 
 ordered a partial attack under Lalle- 
 mand, who was beaten back at every 
 point with a loss of 400 men ; and al- 
 though the English offered him battle 
 on the 7th and 8th- be declined, and 
 thus, as on the Tormes and at Zubiri, 
 missed the nice tide of the affair, for, 
 had he pressed his attack, such was the 
 exhaustion of our troops and want of 
 ammunition, that his superior numbers 
 might have prevailed ; but he thought 
 that Moore was much stronger than 
 he really was, and thus, as often else- 
 where, the usual exaggeration by the 
 Erench of our numbers recoiled, by a 
 poeticaL justice,, on themselves, being 
 deceived by their own inventions. 
 Buonaparte saw, but salved over, 
 his, lieutenant’s error : his 28th bul- 
 letin stated (‘ CEuv.’ v. 378) that at 
 Lugo Soult took 300 of our wounded, 
 18 cannon, and 700 prisoners ; adding, 
 that the English had now lost 2500 
 horses, being exactly 320 more than 
 Moore had at starting. The simple 
 truth was, that Soult, with 24,000 
 troops, did not even molest the retreat- 
 ing English rear-guard on the 9th, 
 when they fell back on La Coruna. 
 Eour short months afterwards this 
 same Lugo beheld. May 29, 1809, this 
 very Soult dying from the Duke at 
 Oporto, hk troops having thrown away 
 their arms, and arriving like famished 
 wolves, in almost a state of nature. 
 
 Soult and Ney rivalled each other 
 in sacking the place, which they had 
 made a plaza de armas , destroying for 
 that object nearly one- third of the 
 town. Many of the houses have since 
 been rebuilt, which gives to old Lugo 
 a new character scarcely rarer than ivy 
 is in Spain, where much is destroyed 
 and little is repaired. 
 
 Lugo is in the centre of many branch 
 and bad communications. New carve - 
 ter as are contemplated and commenced 
 to Madrid , LI Ferrol , Oviedo , and La 
 Coruna. For the communications with 
 Santiago , see p. 600 ; and to Oviedo , 
 p. 625. 
 
 Koute 82. — Lugo to La Coruna. 
 
 Otero del Rey .... 
 
 H 
 
 
 San J ulian de la Roca 
 
 2 . 
 
 . 31 
 
 Gueteriz 
 
 2 . 
 
 . 51 
 
 Yenta de la Castellana 
 
 2 . 
 
 . H 
 
 Venta de Monte Salgueyro 
 
 2 . 
 
 . 91 
 
 Betanzos 
 
 3 . 
 
 . 121 
 
 El Burgo 
 
 U . 
 
 . 14 
 
 A La Coruna .... 
 
 ll . 
 
 . 151 
 
 This present line suits the angler. 
 Quitting Otero del Reg , the Mino , with 
 its tributaries, the Tamboga , Lama , 
 and Azumara , are succeeded by the 
 capital trout-river, the Ladra , running 
 to the 1., and crossed before reaching 
 Gueteriz , and afterwards before coming 
 to the Venta de la Castellana ; the 
 Mandeo , another charming stream, 
 flows along the road to Betanzos , and 
 the scene of the saddest phase of 
 Moore’s retreat, when, from the fire- 
 beacons being extinguished, the troops 
 on quitting Lugo lost their way, and 
 reaching Betanzos, J an. 9, were far 
 more severely handled by the elements 
 than by the enemy. 
 
 Betanzos (Brigantium Flavium), an 
 ancient city of some 4000 souls, rises 
 on a hill over the Mandeo or Mendo , 
 and is a good fishing quarter, since 
 many other rivers disembogue into the 
 ria , and the diligence posada, will do. 
 TheTown is placed on a sort of penin- 
 sula, and some of its narrow streets, 
 or rather lanes, are still defended by 
 ancient granite gateways. The road to 
 La Coruna , through the rich country, 
 commands views over mountain and 
 water. After crossing the Cascas , we 
 soon reach LI Burgo } on its river and 
 ria, where Drake and Norris, in 1589, 
 routed the Spaniards under the Conde 
 de Andrada. 
 
 The cheerful city of La Coruna is 
 improving rapidly : pop. under 20,000. 
 The best inn is LI Comer do; the charge 
 is about 16 reals, 3s. 4cL,per day. There 
 is a good cafe Frances , and another, de 
 
GalUcia. 
 
 ROUTE 82. — LA CORUNA. 
 
 593 
 
 los Milaneses , Calle de Acevedo, is kept 
 by an Italian. There is a new theatre, 
 a Liceo, a Circo de Tecreo , and public 
 library. 
 
 The English steamers only touch 
 here in summer, in consequence of the 
 refusal of the Spanish authorities to 
 admit the vessel to pratique after sun- 
 set, by which truly Iberian absurdity 
 they deprive their city of this great 
 advantage. 
 
 La Coruna (the old Cruna , our Co- 
 runna), the chief seaport of Gallicia, 
 stands on a headland of the three bays, 
 or Has , of Coruna, Betanzos, and El 
 Eerrol. The sea-board, Las Marinas , 
 is picturesquely indented, and the iron- 
 bound coast rises . bluffly out of the 
 waters, proclaiming to the Atlantic, 
 “ Thus far shalt thou go and no far- 
 ther.” La Coruna , formerly called by 
 us Groyne, lies about half-way between 
 the Capes Ortegal and Einisterre. 
 Bounded by the Phoenicians, it was 
 captured by the Romans, u.c. 693, 
 when Grallicia was overrun by Junius 
 Brutus, who named it Ardobicum 
 Corunium ; and the city, down to the 
 12th century, was called La Villa de 
 Cruna; Cor, Car, being a common 
 Iberian prefix connected with height : 
 Corona, Crown. The present name has 
 been derived by some from Columna , 
 the Phoenician Pharos* which still 
 called La Torre de Hercules , rises dis- 
 tant 1 mile N.W. It was repaired for 
 Trajan by an architect named Caius 
 Servius Lupus, as is conjectured from 
 a damaged inscription on a rock hard 
 by. The Spaniards let it go to ruin : 
 the repeated entreaties of the English 
 and Dutch consuls to restore it were 
 attended to by Charles IIL, only, how- 
 ever, when El Eerrol rose into import- 
 ance. The Thar os or Kghthouse has re- 
 cently been much improved, and being 
 363 ft. above the sea-level, is visible at 
 the distance of 12 miles. La Coruna 
 blazons on its shield “ this tower on 
 rocks, a lamp, two crossed bones, and a 
 scull above, crowned with an orle of 
 eight scallops in honour of Santiago 
 consult 4 AverigiiacionesJ Jose Cornide, 
 4to. Mad. 1792, with plates; 6 His- 
 
 toria y Lescriycion' Enrique de Vedia 
 y Goosens, 4to. La Coruna, 1845. In 
 1563 La Coruna was raised to the seat 
 of the Audiencia, which in 1802 was 
 removed to El Ferrol, and under the 
 Sistema , or Constitution of 1820, to 
 Santiago , and in 1835 back again, to 
 the infinite subsequent bickerings of 
 the cities, who, as usual in Spain, hate 
 their neighbours to the death. 
 
 La Coruna has an alta or upper 
 quarter, and a baja or lower one : the 
 former contains the principal official 
 and ecclesiastical buildings. The an- 
 cient party wall has been partly taken 
 down recently. The church of Santiago 
 was commenced in the 11th century : 
 observe the tower and arched crown- 
 like work at the top, the bull’s head 
 at the S. door, the absis in the interior, 
 and the pulpit, with carved groups of 
 females at the pedestal. The old font 
 is placed in a circular lateral building, 
 which has been recently ridiculously 
 repainted. The Gothic La Santa 
 Maria , or La Colegiata , has a W. 
 porch in the Norman style, a tower 
 finished off with a pyramidical struc- 
 ture as at Leon. The great altar is in 
 an absis. 
 
 The new town, La Tescaderia , once 
 a mere refuge of fishermen, has now 
 eclipsed its former rival. Built prin- 
 cipally with granite, the Calle Teal is 
 a broad, well-paved, busy, and hand- 
 some street. The balconies with glazed 
 windows are the favourite boudoirs of 
 the women, who in the evening saunter 
 out tomar el fresco, take the air on La 
 MaHna, a charming walk. La Coruna 
 is well supplied with the produce alike 
 of sea and land, and is very cheap. But- 
 ter, strawberries, and potatoes abound, 
 luxuries rare in central Spain. The as- 
 paragus is excellent, and the hams and 
 sweetmeats celebrated. Coal is brought 
 from Gijon. The cigars of the great 
 fabrica, La Talloza , are among the 
 least bad made by the Spanish Govern- 
 ment. In the suburb of S a • Lucia, vast 
 quantities of iron yucheros are made 
 by an English company. As the 
 sea-bathing is very good, and winter 
 is almost unknown, this place may 
 
594 
 
 ROUTE 82. — INVINCIBLE ARMADA. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 well be recommended to invalids and 
 economists. The natives are cheerful 
 and fair- complexioned. The females 
 of the lower classes tie handkerchiefs 
 on their heads, and dress the hair 
 in long plaits or trenzas ; their walk 
 and meneo are remarkable. The men 
 are clad in Pano jpardo , and have 
 singular monteras , with a red plume 
 and a peacock’s feather. There is 
 little fine art in commercial Corunna : 
 in the chapel of the Camjpo Santo is a 
 copy of Murillo’s Virgen de la Servil - 
 leta ; and some poor PdSos of San 
 Nicolas, the Virgin, and San Ignacio, 
 which are paraded on fiestas. 
 
 The entrance of the port, or Boca 
 del Puerto , is defended by the castles 
 San Anton and S a - Cruz, placed on 
 its little island, while the city itself 
 is guarded by a picturesque sea-wall, 
 extending from the Puerta Peal to the 
 Torre de Abajo, and by the castle San 
 Diego ; the land approach is by the 
 cortadura. La Coruna in war time 
 used to be a nest of privateers, who 
 molested the chaps of the British 
 Channel, which armed steamers will 
 in future prevent. The circuit of the 
 bay, including Betanzos* Yarmonde, 
 Villalba, Mondohedo, the Yalles de 
 Oro and Yivero, to Puentes de G-arcia 
 Rodriguez, receives capital trout- 
 streams : among the best are the Al- 
 lones, Eume, Ladra, Miho, Lamia* 
 Azumara, Parga, Turia, Eo, Masma, 
 and Jubia. The useful map by Tomas 
 Lopez, in the ‘Esp. Sag.’ (vol. xviii,), 
 gives the localities between Lugo, La 
 Coruna, and Mondohedo. 
 
 Ascending the heights and looking 
 down on the land-locked bay, twice as 
 big as our Torbay, what glorious and 
 sad recollections crowd on the English 
 sailor and soldier’s memory ! Here, 
 July 26, 1386, John of Gaunt landed, 
 claiming the crown of Castile in right 
 of his wife, the daughter of Pedro the 
 Cruel. Hence, July 2, 1554, the bigot 
 Philip II. set sail for England to marry 
 his sweet “Bloody Mary.” Here again, 
 in May, 1588, was refitted, during four 
 weeks, that last of religious cru- 
 sades, the Spanish Invincible Armada , 
 
 which sailed out, July 26, to easy and 
 immediate defeat ; an event which 
 Philip II. and Spaniards to this day 
 ascribe to the elements ! to our good old 
 and only unsubsidised allies, just as 
 Buonaparte accounted for the accident 
 of Trafalgar ; but those hearts of oak 
 who weather the battle and the breeze 
 did the work then, as they will do it 
 again. The squadron consisted of 130 
 ships, armed with 2630 cannons, and 
 manned by 19,275 sailors, and 8450 
 soldiers. They made as sure of conquer- 
 ing and making slaves of the English, as 
 if they had been wild S. American sa- 
 vages. This Armada, which had taken 
 4 years to prepare, was settled in 9 
 days, and ended as a true 9 days’ 
 wonder. “ Off Callice,” writes a Spa- 
 niard* “ all our castles of comfort were 
 budded in the aire, or upon the waves 
 of the sea.” Drake, with 50 little 
 ships, had attacked 150 of the floating 
 monsters, and beat them just as Nelson 
 did the three-deckers at St. Vincent. 
 “ In all these fights,” wrote our Spa- 
 niard, “ Christ showed himself alto- 
 gether a Lutheran.” The Spanish 
 admiral, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, 
 during the combat, lodged himself in 
 the bottom of the ship ; while the 
 Duke of Parma, who was to have co- 
 operated at Dunkirk with 35,000 men, 
 proved to be hors de combat in the nick 
 of time : Socorros de Dspaha. 
 
 Thus the Spaniard, scared by fire- 
 ships, determined on flight — venit 
 vidit fugit ; and not venturing to re- 
 pass the Channel, made a circuit of 
 Scotland ; but when off the Orkneys 
 and the Irish coast were caught in 
 storms, when 32 more ships and 10,185 
 men perished. The Armada, as usual 
 in Spanish expeditions, was so ill pro- 
 vided, that from 4 to 5 men died per day 
 of hunger on board even the admiral’s 
 ship ; but to such cruel shifts and such 
 incompetent leaders have the brave 
 people of Spain, worthy of a better fate, 
 been always exposed : nor has the va- 
 lour with which the Spanish sailors 
 fought on this occasion ever been ques- 
 tioned. Medina Sidonia arrived at 
 Santander about the end of September, 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 82. — LA CORUNA. 
 
 595 
 
 44 with noe more than 60 sayle oute of 
 his whole fleete, and those very much 
 shattered.” The first newspaper ever 
 published in England, the 4 Mercurio,’ 
 appeared to give daily reports of this 
 Armada. The Spaniards lost 81 ships. 
 Philip II. 44 thanked Grod that his 
 whole fleet was not taken ; while at 
 Rome pasquinades were made, and the 
 Pope offered 1000 years’ indulgence 
 to any one who could tell him where 
 the invincible Catholic Armada was, 
 whether gone to heaven or hell 
 (Strype, ii. 15). The defeat of this 
 Armada sunk deep in the mind of the 
 nation, which ever sees clearer than its 
 misgovernors ; 44 then arose in the fleet 
 the common brute ' (the report or say- 
 ing, bruit), that if ever they got back 
 again, they never would meddle with 
 the English any more.” This axiom 
 was embodied in a proverb, Con todo 
 el mundo guerra , y pdz eon Inglaterra , 
 and remained a state maxim acted 
 upon until the Bourbon and French 
 succession, when family compacts and 
 alliances with Buonaparte brought 
 Spain into hostile contact with her 
 natural and best ally, and cost her her 
 navy and colonies. Consult 4 A true 
 . 'Discourse of the Armie , which the 
 King of Spaine ,’ &c.', translated from 
 the French by Daniel Archdeacon, 
 London, John Wolfe, 1588 ; also the 
 4 Copie of a Letter ’ and of JBernardin 
 Mendoza , bk. lr., London* 1 Yantroller 
 for Richd. Field, 1588 : the lying author, 
 P hili p’s ambassador at Paris, gave out 
 that the Spaniards had won the day, 
 and was henceforth called Mendacia. 
 See also for curious details, ‘ILacicluyt' 
 (ed. 1598), vol. i. p. 91 ; also Schepe- 
 ler’s 4 B eitrage] p. 167. Consult also 
 Sharon Turner’s 4 Klizabeth ,’ ch. 35. 
 
 La Coruna was taken, April 20, 
 1589, by Drake and Norris with only 
 1200 men, the Spanish fleet flying on 
 his approach to El Ferrol, and the gar- 
 rison to the citadel. His name passed 
 into a proverb; and 4 4 the threat” 
 Viene el Drake, was long the frighten- 
 ing phrase, the bugaboo — the coco, the 
 “black man” is coming — in short, the 
 phrase with which naughty children were 
 
 made good at the Havannah, which he 
 so often visited: so the expression Melac 
 Ric, our Cceur de Lion, long scared 
 squalling brats in the douars of Arabia, 
 and the word 44 Malbrok ” silenced the 
 nurseries of France. Hence the expres- 
 sion of Grongora (Duran, iii. 123) — 
 Mas Men peloteada 
 Que La Coruna del Braque. 
 
 In this bay Sir David Baird coming 
 in October, 1809, with 6000 men, to 
 assist the Spaniards, was detained on 
 board the transports 15 days, not al- 
 lowed to land by the base suspicions 
 of the J unta. 44 Call ye that backing 
 your friends ? ” 
 
 The pilgrim soldier will now turn his 
 eyes inland, sweeping over Corunna , 
 whose name alone suggests the battle, 
 the triumph, and the victor’s death. 
 This hard action was fought, Jan. 16, 
 1809, on the heights of Elvina, be- 
 hind the town. Moore’s position was 
 bad, from no fault of his, as with only 
 13,244 men he could not defend the 
 stronger but more extended line of the 
 outer heights against the superior 
 numbers of the enemy, while from 
 his artillery being embarked, he was 
 obliged to occupy the range nearer the 
 town. About two in the afternoon, 
 Soult, with 20,000 men, with great 
 superiority of cavalry and artillery, 
 attacked the English, and was every- 
 where most signally repulsed; the 
 4th, 42nd, and 50th, under Baird, 
 putting to flight at Elvira a whole 
 column commanded by our libeller 
 Foy, who after a most feeble defence 
 (Nap. iv. 5), turned and retreated ; 
 next La Houssaye, the plunderer of 
 the Escorial, Cuenca, and Toledo, 
 fled with his dragoons, Paget riding 
 down the enemy ; and then, had our 
 lines advanced, Soult must have fol- 
 lowed the example of his subordi- 
 nates, Our loss amounted to 700, 
 while the enemy’s exceeded 3000, as 
 their column was riddled by our steady 
 lines at Elvina, who fortunately before 
 the battle were supplied with fresh 
 muskets and ammunition. Moore, 
 like Wolfe, Abercrombie, and Nelson, 
 lived long enough to know that the 
 
596 
 
 ROUTE 82. — BATTLE OF CORUNNA. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 foe was defeated, and like them died 
 happily, having “ done his duty.” His 
 last words — the tongues of dying men 
 enforce attention like deep harmony — 
 were in anticipation of his posthumous 
 calumniators : “ I hope the people of 
 England will be satisfied ; I hope my 
 country will do me justice.” The 
 dispatch of Greneral Hope — one of the 
 most simple, manly, pathetic, and 
 beautiful compositions ever written by 
 soldier’s pen — is the very antithesis in 
 taste and truth to Buonaparte’s bul- 
 letin: — “Les Anglais,” says he (‘ CEuv.’ 
 v. 383), “ furent abordes franchement 
 par la premiere brigade, qui les culbuta , 
 et les delogea du village d’Elvina ! ! 
 L’ennemi culbute de ses positions,' se 
 retira dans les jardins qui sont autour 
 de la Corogne. La nuit devenant tres- 
 obscure, on fut oblige de suspendre 
 l’attaque : l’ennemi en a profite pour 
 s’embarquer entoute hate; nousn’avons 
 eu d’ engages pendant le combat qu’ en- 
 viron 6000. Notre perte s’eleve a cent 
 hommes [i, e. 3000] : 1’ opinion des 
 habitans du pays, et des deserteurs* est 
 que le nombre des blesses [English] 
 excede 2500— des 38,000 hommes que 
 les Anglais avaient debarques, on peut 
 assurer qu’a peine 24*000 retourneront 
 en Angleterre. Les regimens Anglais 
 portant les numeros 42, 50, 52, ont 
 ete entierement detruits. L’armee 
 Anglaise avait debarque plus de 80 
 pieces de canon, elle n’en a pas rem- 
 barque 12; le rest© a ete pris, ou perdu; 
 et de compte fait, nous nous trouvons 
 en possession de 60 pieces de canon 
 Anglais.” “ Lord ! Lord ! how this 
 world is given to lying ! ” 
 
 The truth was, that the embarkation 
 took place with perfect order, and so 
 entirely unmolested by the worsted 
 foe, that had the English only then 
 been turned against Soult, he himself 
 must have taken to his heels, and he 
 knew it. 
 
 Narrow, indeed, now was Soult’s 
 escape, for had Moore not over-des- 
 ponded, this fleet of transports might 
 easily have brought fresh troops from 
 Portugal, nay, it ought to have done 
 so, for the intelligence of the real ill 
 
 condition and limited numbers of the 
 French had long before been conveyed 
 to Oporto, by channels to which un- 
 fortunately no credence was given by 
 the presumption of official ignorance. 
 Then was lost by Sir J ohn Craddock 
 the nick of time, and the chance of 
 being a Wellington : had he arrived 
 with his brigades Soult must have been 
 annihilated. This was one of the pos- 
 sibilities which Buonaparte foresaw 
 when he pretended to be obliged him- 
 self to return from Astorga, so he 
 judiciously left the chance of defeat to 
 his depute Soult. 
 
 The Corunnese distinguished them- 
 selves both before and after the battle. 
 Their first step was to detain Baird, 
 to whom when disembarked they never 
 gave or even offered any assistance. 
 
 Safe so long as the English were pre- 
 sent, their ships had scarcely left the bay 
 when the Spanish commander, Hon 
 Antonio Acedo, hastened to surrender 
 to Soult, who having no battering 
 train, could nc>t have taken the place 
 or citadel. Soult, thus provided with 
 Spanish artillery! turned against El 
 Ferrol on the 22nd. This important 
 arsenal, with eight ships of the line and 
 garrisoned by 8000 men, was scanda- 
 lously surrendered on the 26th, by 
 the governor, Francisco Melgarejo, and 
 Pedro Obregon. By this base act 
 Soult obtained the stores provided by 
 Englandfor these patriots, and was thus 
 enabled to conquer Grallicia and invade 
 Portugal. To complete their infamy 
 the Spaniards Acedo and Obregon, 
 became Afrancesados , and the latter 
 was made French commandant of FI 
 Ferrol ! 
 
 Turn we now to better men ; and, 
 ascending to the extremity of the upper 
 town, visit the Campo de San Carlos 
 and the grave of Moore, whose mourn- 
 ers were two hosts, his friends and 
 foes. His requiem, sung by Charles 
 Wolfe, rivals the elegy of' Gray. 
 
 Moore was interred by a party of 
 the 9th on the ramparts, in his mar- 
 tial cloak ; the body was afterwards 
 removed by the Marquis Romana : the 
 granite monument raised by the British 
 
GaTlicia. 
 
 ROUTE 82. — MONUMENT TO MOORE. 
 
 597 
 
 Government, was soon neglected by 
 the Corunnese, and long remained a 
 temple dedicated to Cloacina Gallega. 
 In 1824 it was restored and enclosed by 
 our consul Mr. Bartlett, also at our go- 
 vernment’s order and expense, and not 
 at that of the Vecinos , as Madoz now 
 states : the place, soon again bemired 
 by the Corunnese, so continued until 
 1839, when Gen. Mazaredo, who had 
 lived much in England, raised a sub- 
 scription among the English, cleansed 
 the tomb, and planted some two acres 
 for a public Alameda , having had the 
 greatest difficulty to induce the jefe- 
 politico to give his consent ; the walk 
 is a fashionable lounge : read Maza- 
 redo’s inscription in the summer-house. 
 According to Napier (iv. 5) “ Soult, with 
 a noble feeling of respect for Moore’s 
 valour, raised a monument to his me- 
 mory meantime what says Soult’ s 
 own chronicler Le Noble, 45, the avowed 
 advocate of his countryman : — “ The 
 marshal, being informed of the spot 
 where Gen. Moore had been killed, 
 caused an inscription to be cut on the 
 adjoining rock to record that event, 
 and the victory gained by the French 
 army.” Soult, who, to do him justice, 
 knew how handsomely he had been 
 beaten , said nothing about this victory, 
 and his inscription simply ran, “ Hie 
 cecidit J oannes Moore* dux exercitus, 
 in pugna, J an. xvi. 1809 ; contra Gallos 
 a duce Dalmatise ductos” (Maid. ii. 
 101 ). 
 
 How long even this monument to 
 Moore will remain is now uncertain. 
 Already the “ Dos Amigos” two afran- 
 cesado bagsmen from Madrid, in their 
 recent paltry ‘ Yiage,’ p. 44, have 
 wished to efface the inscription, because 
 it ofende algun tanto la delicadeza Fs- 
 panola; that delicacy which made a 
 dunghill of a sepulchre raised (and paid 
 for by others), to a brave ally who died 
 fighting for the independence of Spain. 
 
 Visit also the site on the hill of the 
 terrific explosions of the powder maga- 
 zines. The supplies of all kinds sent 
 by England the year before had re- 
 mained unused, while armies of their 
 patriots were without clothes or arms ! 
 
 Had these stores not been discovered 
 and destroyed by us, they would have 
 furnished Soult with powder wherewith 
 to load Spanish guns to batter down 
 Spanish cities and citadels. 
 
 The summer route from Southamp- 
 ton by La Coruna to Madrid, the 
 shortest and most agreeable, has been 
 accomplished in a week. The correo , 
 or mail, runs to Valladolid in about 
 22 hours, and thence to Madrid in 18. 
 For the routes to Santiago , see p. 600. 
 But before starting, FI Ferrol should 
 by. all means be visited from La Co- 
 runa. The land route is about 9f L. 
 You can go in the diligence to Betan- 
 zos , and there take horses ; thence 
 3 L. through wooded and cultivated 
 hills, varied with sea inlets, to Bonte 
 d'Fume, or Buentedeume. Pop. 2000. 
 It stretches from the water- side up a 
 green hill, amid orange and lemon 
 trees, with balconied houses and ivy- 
 clad old towers. The remarkable bridge 
 of some 58 arches is nearly a mile 
 long * thence to Seijo, 1 L., whereby, 
 crossing over in the ferry-boat, 2 L. 
 riding are saved, and a fine view 
 of the harbour obtained. The better 
 plan is to cross over from La Co- 
 runa, distant about 4 L. N.E., in 
 the little steamer, which is done in 
 about two hours. Formerly this pas- 
 sage was very troublesome to sailing 
 boats, from the swell on this iron- 
 bound coast, especially near the rock 
 La Beha de la Marola ; hence the 
 proverb, “ Quien pas a la Marola, pas a 
 la Mar toda .” On entering the land- 
 locked channel between Monte Faro 
 to the r. and Cabo Brioriuo to the 1., 
 this harbour scooped out by nature is 
 very striking, while art has defended 
 the narrow entrance by the two mag- 
 nificently built castles of San Felipe 
 and Palma, which if well manned, and 
 if provided with cannon, gunpowder, 
 and shot, might sink a navy; but 
 “ wanting always in everything at the 
 critical moment,” they, like many a 
 Spanish fortress, are in reality a 
 faiblesse, and while expensive in peace 
 to Spain, are useful in w T ar to the 
 enemy. The name of FI Ferrol is 
 
598 
 
 ROUTE 82. EL FERROL. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 derived from an ancient farol or 
 light ; originally a mere fishing town 
 it was not wanted for a marine arse- 
 nal, so long as the Spaniards, in 
 possession of Italy and the low coun- 
 tries, procured their artillery from 
 Milan, and their fleets, ready built and 
 rigged, from Holland. The Spanish 
 Bourbons, when deprived of these re- 
 sources, endeavoured to replace them 
 by native industry. Charles III., who 
 never forgave the English for having 
 sailed into Naples, and who added to 
 that feeling all the Bourbon fear and 
 hatred, selected this spot, for which 
 nature had done so much, and created 
 what then was the finest naval arsenal 
 in the world, destining it exclusively 
 for the royal navy. The landside was 
 fortified in 1769-74 with a wall on 
 which more than 200 cannon might 
 be mounted. A new clean and well- 
 paved town was next built between 
 the irregular old one and the naval 
 Fsterio , in the form of a parallelo- 
 gram of seven streets in width by 
 nine in length, intersecting each other 
 at r. angles, with two square plazas, 
 la de Dolores and la del Carmen. The 
 pleasant public Alameda lies between; 
 In this G-en. Abadia ejected, in 1812, 
 a fountain in honour of a Spanish 
 hydrographer, Cosme Churruca, killed 
 at Trafalgar. We enter the dockyard 
 or Darsena at the Puerta del Parque ; 
 to the r. is the Doric Sala de las Armas . 
 The dockyard is divided into a smaller 
 outward, and a larger inward portion, 
 the whole space exceeding 40 acres (?) . 
 Behind the inner dock or dique are 
 the dwellings of the operatives, and in 
 the N. angle are the foundries, rope 
 walks, and magazines. Passing out of 
 the Puerta del Dique , to the r. is the 
 Fsteiro , the hospital, the arsenals Car- 
 ranza and Carracon (this word is 
 the augmentative of the Cadiz Car- 
 race i) or store, for timber, the Presidio 
 or prison for the convicts, and the 
 G-radas de Construction , or building- 
 slips, now full of nothingness ; but 
 throughout, the grandeur of conception, 
 style of execution, and finish of ma- 
 sonry is truly Roman. This arsenal re- 
 
 tains what nature has done for it, a land- 
 locked bay ; while Grijon can supply 
 coal, the forests of Asturias timber, and 
 the mines of Cargadelos iron for cannon 
 and shot. The water, especially that 
 of La Graha , is delicious, while that 
 in the Darsena is free from the teredo 
 navalis , the Carcoma ; but what can 
 cure the dry-rot of Spanish misgov em- 
 inent ? El Eerrol, the pop. dwindled 
 down to some 3400, like La Carraca 
 and Cartagena , is now a sad emblem 
 of the navy of Spain. The last Spanish 
 line of battle-ships launched here oc- 
 curred in 1798 ! Recently since a fleet 
 has been created on paper by royal de- 
 cree, matters are somewhat mended, and 
 a show of life is breathed into the colos- 
 sal skeleton. This arsenal, in truth, like 
 the forced navy of Spain, rose as arocket, 
 and so fell. Nelson at St. Yincent and 
 Trafalgar settled the modern Invincible 
 Armadas, and told Spain the price she 
 must pay for the alliance of France and 
 forced enmity of Britannia. By boast- 
 ing of the past, and hoping for the^- 
 ture, the present is now blinked, and El 
 Ferrol is now made a peg for Castilian 
 consolation and magniloquence. See 
 for details the essay of Col. Angel del 
 Arenal (Minano, iv. supp. and re- 
 echoed by Madoz in 1850), according 
 to whom the great Lord Chatham 
 was so terrified! by the mere fame 
 of jEI Ferrol that he sent, in 1776, 
 his son William Pitt there as a spy, 
 who himself, when minister in 1800, on 
 pretence of invading Fgypt , dispatched 
 a mighty force to capture El Fer- 
 rol ; Madoz (viii. 64) enlarges on the 
 lesson then taught the English by 
 1800 Spaniards (reduced to 1500, 
 p. 80, when the story is twice told), 
 who beat back the self-same 10,000 
 Englishmen, who sOOn after conquered 
 Buonaparte in Egypt, and captured 
 Copenhagen. This expedition in sober 
 truth was destined for Belleisle in those 
 days of paltry peddling little w r ars. 
 An attack on El Ferrol was an after 
 thought, and even then had G-en. 
 Pulteney sailed boldly up and sum- 
 moned the town, the Ferrolese, want- 
 ing as usual in every tiling at the cri- 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 83. — EL FERROL TO MONDONEDO. 
 
 599 
 
 tical moment, were preparing to sur- 
 render, and actually cleaning ( se dice) 
 the keys of the city to make them 
 look decent on the occasion. The 
 campaign was bungled d la Walcheren , 
 and the troops kept idle under arms 
 almost mutinied when Pulteney, scared 
 by the barometer, and beaten at the 
 game of brag, ordered the re-embarca- 
 tion, as Murray did at Tarragona, amid 
 the jeers of the braye blue-jackets. 
 
 El Ferrol. had it only been attacked 
 instanter (the true course with Spa- 
 niards) could and would no more have 
 resisted English sailors than it ever did 
 French soldiers. Thus when Ney, in 
 1809, evacuated it, after Soult’s defeat 
 at Oporto, Capt. Hotham landed on 
 the 26th with a handful of seamen, the 
 Spanish garrison surrendered after a 
 sham and short resistance, as they did 
 again to the French in 1823. 
 
 Those who are going from La Co- 
 runa to Aviles and Oviedo have the 
 choice of two routes ; one, which is the 
 shortest, passes from FI Ferrol to Mon- 
 douedo. 
 
 Route 83. — El Ferrol to Mon- 
 donedo. 
 
 Jubia 1 
 
 Espinaredo .... 4 .. 5 
 
 Lousada . . . . . 3 . . 8 
 Mondofiedo ... . 5 . . 13 
 
 Soon are crossed the trout stream 
 Jubia, which furnishes the water- 
 power of the Isquerdos copper-work 
 establishment, and next the Fume at 
 Puente de G-arcia Rodriguez , after 
 which a dreary wild dehesa or gandara 
 leads to the crystal Ladra , which is 
 crossed before reaching Lousada ; after 
 which the country becomes more hilly 
 (for Mondofiedo see R. 91) . This, the 
 shortest hue, is intricate, and the accom- 
 modation bad ; however, to the angler 
 nothing can be more favourable. 
 
 The other route makes a circuit by 
 Betanzos (see p. 592), whence, after 
 crossing the Mandeo , which is kept 
 to the 1., we reach Labrada 4 L. ; and 
 thence over a dreary track, part moor, 
 part swamp, and after passing tribu- 
 taries of the Ladra, to that sweet trout- 
 stream itself ; after traversing which is 
 Villalba, about 3 L., where sleep, and, 
 
 as there is a decent posada, it might be 
 made the head-quarters of a fisherman. 
 The antiquarian will observe a curious 
 old tower in the walls. Next day cross a 
 cuesta which divides the basins of the 
 Ladra from those of Tamboga and 
 Lama, tributaries of the Mino, and all 
 made for the disciples of Izaak Walton. 
 N.B. Take a local guide, and attend to 
 the provend. 
 
 La Coruna to Santiago. 
 
 The corner of Gallicia between La 
 Coruna and Orense is interesting to 
 the reader of Froissart, as being the 
 scene of the expedition, in 1386, of 
 John of Gaunt, “time-honoured Lan- 
 caster.” He was three days marching 
 the 9£ L. to Santiago, for the hard- 
 ships of these districts remain un- 
 changed, and such as Moore found 
 them in our times. Oh dura tellus 
 Iberise! where the harsh, hard, and 
 arid prevail in climate, soil, and man ; 
 where so little is tender, delicate, or 
 gentle. Well did Froissart then de- 
 scribe thee as “pas douce terre, ni 
 aimable a chevaucher ni a travailler.” 
 The city of Santiago surrendered at 
 once to the English of old, as it did in 
 our times to the French of this day. 
 John of Gaunt resided in it during 
 the guerilla carried on by his men-at- 
 arms, he himself ingloriously idling 
 away his time with his court and ladies 
 like a Sardanapalus. He lost, without 
 striking a blow, more than half out of 
 5000 men ; these perished from sickness 
 and want in hungry Spain, where the 
 commissariat is ever the difficulty, even 
 in time of peace. In this instance the 
 Spaniards followed the advice given to 
 them by their French allies, while in 
 our times, they neglected the same plan 
 when suggested by the Duke, and were 
 consequently beaten by. the French. 
 
 John of Gaunt, however, accom- 
 plished part of his object by marry- 
 ing one daughter, Philip a, to the King 
 of Portugal, and the other, Constanza , 
 to the son and heir of John of Castile. 
 Such, however, were the fears and sus- 
 picions of the Spaniards that they re- 
 fused after this to allow even English 
 pilgrims to visit Compostella (Mariana, 
 
600 rtes. 84, 85, 86. — la coruna and lugo to Santiago. Sect. IX. 
 
 xviii. 12). Don Pedro had ceded part 
 of these N.W. provinces to the Black 
 Prince, and when the French enabled 
 Enrique II. to murder his brother, 
 they stipulated that no Englishman 
 whatever should enter Spain without 
 permission from the King of France. 
 So long has the Peninsula been the 
 bone of contention and battle-field be- 
 tween the two great rivals of Europe. 
 
 Route 84— La Coeuna to 
 Santiago. 
 
 Palabea 1 
 
 Carral 2 . . 3 
 
 Leira 2 . . 5 
 
 Siqueiro 3 . . 8 
 
 Santiago . . . . l£ . . 9£ 
 
 The gondola or diligence performs 
 this uninteresting but good road in 
 from six to seven hours. After 1 L. 
 of tolerably cultivated land, a long hill 
 is ascended, and then the dreary 
 moor-like country continues to Sant- 
 iago, which, like Madrid, has neither 
 gardens nor enclosures to mark the 
 vicinity of a capital and holy city of 
 pilgrimage. Those proceeding from 
 Lugo to Santiago , may gt> round by 
 La Coruna , or ride across the country 
 direct. There are two routes, and both 
 equally bad : however, there is ex- 
 cellent fishing in the TJlla below Mellid. 
 
 Route 85. — Lugo to Santiago. 
 
 San Miguel de Bocorrin 
 
 2 
 
 
 Puente Ferreira 
 
 2 . 
 
 ,. 4 
 
 Mellid 
 
 3 . 
 
 . i 
 
 Arzua ..... 
 
 2 , 
 
 .. 9 
 
 San Miguel de Salceda 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 Omenal 
 
 2 . 
 
 13 
 
 Santiago .... 
 
 2 . 
 
 .. 15 
 
 Mellid , or the Furelos and Mera, 
 tributaries of the IJlla, pop. 7 00, may be 
 made head- quarters, or Arzua* placed 
 under the Lena de la Leija , pop; 400. 
 
 Route 86. — Lugo to Santiago. 
 
 Santa Eulalia . . . 2£ 
 
 Carvajal . . . . 2£ .. 5 
 
 Sobrado 2 .. 7 
 
 Buey muerto . . . 2 . . 9 
 
 San Gregorio . . . 2 .. 11 
 
 San Marcos . . . 3£ . . 14£ 
 
 Santiago .... £ . . 15 
 
 This route, equally bad as a road, is 
 even a better line for the angler. The 
 distance is about the same ; the leagues, 
 although we have twice ridden every 
 
 one of them, are stated at guess-work, 
 and are very long. 
 
 After crossing the Mino by a noble 
 bridge, ascend the chesnut - clad 
 heights, and look back on the grand 
 view of Lugo, with its cathedral and 
 long lines of tnrreted walls. Hence 
 over swamps, moors, rivers, and de- 
 testable roads, to Sobrado , pop. 2000, 
 situated on the fine trout -stream, the 
 T ombre , where sleep, and sup on rich 
 fish at the poor posada. The village 
 clusters round a Bernardine convent, 
 once lord of all around, and now se- 
 questered. The noble domain, en- 
 closed with tower-guarded walls, was 
 in contrast with the lowly village, but 
 the fat and portly monks are gone. 
 The edifice, pillaged and injured by 
 the French* was repaired in 1832. The 
 principal facade is Doric. The grand 
 patio is unfinished. The overcharged 
 ornate front of the chapel, with fluted 
 pillars and lozenge-enriched pilasters, 
 in imitation of that of the Lugo cathe- 
 dral, marks the bad taste of 1676. 
 Under the dark coro are some fine 
 tombs of recumbent warriors in twisted 
 mail, of the Ulloa family, 1465. 
 
 Hence a nine hours’ ride over a deso- 
 late country to Santiago. Midway 
 some wild moors lead to San Gregorio , 
 a hermitage, which, with its clump of 
 storm- stunted firs, is seen from afar. 
 The shooting here is excellent. Next 
 we reach San Marcos , unchanged since 
 described by the old pilgrim in Pur- 
 chas : “Upon a hill hit stondez on hee, 
 where Sent Jamez ferst schalt thou 
 see still from hence the dark granite 
 towers of Santiago first catch the way- 
 worn traveller’s eye, and the deep- 
 mouthed tolling bells salute his ear. 
 The first sight — as in other Meccas — 
 makes a more profound impression 
 than a stay in the city, where the tricks 
 of the mammon-worshipping natives 
 disenchant even the true believer. To 
 the r. rises the barren rocky Monte 
 Lalmatico , while the green slope to the 
 1. is crowned with the convent Belvis, 
 beyond stretch undulating hills and 
 distant mountains ; here the pilgrim 
 of yore uncovered, and proceeded, in 
 all humility from this Humilladero % 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 86. — SANTIAGO. 
 
 601 
 
 the very penitent on his knees, singing 
 hymns up to the holy city’s gates. 
 There droves of mendicants snuff the 
 stranger’s arrival, and congratulate him 
 on his escape from the pains and perils 
 of Gallician travel, and beg charity for 
 the sake of his deliverer the great 
 apostle, concluding with prayers for 
 the donor’s safe return to his home and 
 wife : “May Santiago give you health 
 and defend you from all enemies.” 
 
 SANTIAGO : the best inns are: las 
 Animas , kept by Carlos Garica ; la 
 Vizcaina , by a respectable Basque 
 widow, in Calle de San Miguel ; and 
 la Posada de Martin Moreno , en las 
 Casas Beales. The Maragatos put up 
 in the Pua de San Pedro. They go 
 to Valladolid in about 12, and to 
 Madrid in 15 days; and those who, 
 having landed at Vigo, propose a 
 riding tour, may safely trust them with 
 the conveyance of any heavy baggage. 
 
 This city, named after the Spanish 
 name of St. James the Elder, is also 
 called Compostella , Campus Stellse, 
 because a star pointed out where his 
 body was concealed : yet some derive 
 it from the Giocomo Apostolo of the 
 Italians. 
 
 Pilgrimage, the oriental and me- 
 diaeval form of travelling, is passing 
 away even in Spain. The carcass re- 
 mains, but the spirit is fled, nor did 
 Santiago ever produce a Chaucer to 
 record these 44 excursion trips ” of the 
 day, which, combining merriment with 
 religion, were so popular among the 
 vagabondising middle classes and so 
 profitable to the priests. Such were 
 the Poamers of Borne, the Saunterers 
 of the Sainte Terre. The devotional 
 reverential element is gone, and that 
 simple all-believing faith which ques- 
 tioned no tradition. Now, instead of 
 fulfilling a religious vow and duty, 
 sceptical, scientific, and inquiring 
 curiosity, is to be gratified ; a tour is to 
 be made, and a book to be written, and 
 geologists smile at monkish miracles at 
 which myriads trembled (seep. 603). 
 
 The Spanish legend of St. James the 
 Elder, or of Santiago, as he may be 
 more properly called in his Mytholo- 
 
 gical History , as says Southey, when 
 not derived from Pagan, is much 
 taken from Mahomedan sources. 
 
 The custom of choosing a tutelar for 
 cities and kingdoms prevailed generally 
 in antiquity; and when the Pagan stock 
 in trade was taken by Gregory the 
 Great into the Boman Catholic firm, 
 the system was retained, changes being 
 simply made in some names. Santiago 
 became the Hercules, the tutelar cham- 
 pion and commander-in-chief of Spain, 
 the patron y capit an- general. True 
 believers who wish to give a reason for 
 their faith, will find most of the Church- 
 authorised statements in the following 
 works : — The learned Latin reply to 
 Baronius ; 4 Hisp ani arum Vindicice Tu- 
 telares ,’ Louvain, 1608 ; 4 PListoria del 
 Apostol Sanctiago ,’ Mauro Castella 
 Eerrer, fol. Mad. 1610 ; 4 Historia del 
 Glorioso Apostol ,’ Hernando Orea, 
 8vo. Mad. 1615 ; c PI Teatro de Sant- 
 iago, ,’ Gil Gonzalez ; ‘P span a Sagrada ,’ 
 Elorez, vol. iii.; 4 Apologia de la Ve - 
 nida de Santiago ,’ &c., Fr°- Lamberto 
 de Zaragosa, 4to. Pamplona, 1782 ; 
 M 4 Crie’s 4 Reformation in Spain,' p. 5; 
 and the first edition of this Handbook, 
 p. 660 et seq. 
 
 The Spanish Church contends, with- 
 out a shadow of real evidence, that St. 
 Peter, St. Paul, and St. James, came 
 all three to the Peninsula immediately 
 after the crucifixion. Borne, however, 
 having monopolised the two former for 
 her tutelars, Spain was obliged to take 
 the latter. The establishing places 
 of pilgrimage was borrowed from 
 S a - Helena’s invention — and a rare one 
 it was — of the cross at Jerusalem in 
 298. The inspiring principle of visit- 
 ing a sacred spot was felt by Mahomet, 
 when he adapted Christianity to Arabian 
 habits, and pilgrimage became one of 
 the four precepts of his new creed, 
 Mecca being selected in order to favour 
 his native town, by alms and traffic of 
 a rich influx. When Jerusalem was 
 taken by the Saracens, the Spaniards 
 were forbidden by the Pope to go there 
 as crusaders, inasmuch as they had in- 
 fidels actually on their own soil, while 
 just then the Spanish Moors were un- 
 
602 
 
 ROUTE 86. PILGRIMAGE TO SANTIAGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 able to go to tlieir Mecca, because that 
 holy city being in possession of the 
 Kalif of the East, was inaccessible to 
 the subjects of his rival in the West. 
 Xow as both the Mahomedans and 
 Christians in Spain knew the spirit- 
 stirring effects produced by having a 
 site of pilgrimage, they both deter- 
 mined on creating a counterpart Mecca 
 and Jerusalem in the Peninsula itself, 
 and therefore accessible : so Cordova was 
 chosen by Abdu-r-rahman, who, like 
 Mahomet, wished to enrich his new 
 capital ; and a visit to the Ceca there, 
 wdiere some of the bones of Mahomet 
 were pretended to be preserved, was 
 declared to be in every respect equiva- 
 lent to a pilgrimage to Mecca itself. 
 
 Thereupon the imitating Castilians 
 who could not go to J erusalem, set up 
 for their local substitute their moun- 
 tain capital, where they, too, said their 
 prophet was buried. The Arragonese, 
 whose kingdom was then independent, 
 chose for their Ceca, their capital Zara- 
 goza, where they said the Yirgin de- 
 scended from heaven on a visit to 
 Santiago ; and the religious duty and 
 saving merits of pilgrimage became 
 as much a parcel of the orthodox 
 Spaniard’s creed as it was of the in- 
 fidel, whom they best fought with 
 weapons borrowed from his own ar- 
 moury. Again, as the Moors had esta- 
 blished soldier-monks or Rdbitos to 
 guard their frontiers and their pil- 
 grims, the Spaniards instituted in imi- 
 tation military religious orders, of 
 which that of Santiago became the 
 chief. Founded in 1158 by Fernando 
 II. of Leon, it soon, like that of the 
 Templars, from being poor and hum- 
 ble, became rich, proud, and powerful, 
 insomuch that JEl Maestre de Santiago , 
 in the early Spanish annals, figures 
 almost as a rival to the monarch. 
 When Granada was conquered, Isa- 
 bella, by bestowing the grand-master- 
 ship on Ferdinand, absorbed the 
 dreaded wealth and power of the order 
 into the crown, without having re- 
 course to the perfidy and murders by 
 which Philippe le Bel suppressed the 
 Templars in France. 
 
 The Queen accomplished these ob- 
 jects without difficulty, for these 
 Church-militant corporate bodies lacked 
 the security of private properties, 
 which every one is interested in up- 
 holding. They, again, were hated by 
 the clergy , because rivals and inde- 
 pendent brotherhoods, half priest, half 
 soldier, without being either one or 
 the other, although they assumed the 
 most offensive privileges of both. The 
 people also stood aloof, for they saw in 
 the members only proud knights, who 
 scorned to interchange with them the 
 kindly offices of the poor monks ; while 
 the statesman , from knowing that the 
 substance was no longer wanted, held 
 the order to be both obsolete and 
 dangerous : and it now has virtually 
 ceased to exist, save as conferring a 
 badge on nobles and courtiers. 
 
 But in the mediaeval period it was 
 a reality, as then a genuine lively 
 faith existed in both Moor and Spa- 
 niard ; each grasped the legend of 
 their champion prophet as firmly as 
 they did the sword by which it was to 
 be defended and propagated. Proud 
 towards men, these warriors bowed to 
 the priest, in whom they saw the minis- 
 ters of their tutelar, and their faith was 
 sanctified and ennobled by such obedi- 
 ence : both equally fanatical, fought 
 believing that they were backed by 
 their tutelars : this confidence went far 
 to realize victory, possunt quia posse 
 videntur, and especially with the Spa- 
 niard, who has always been disposed 
 to depend on others : in the critical 
 moment of need, he loves to fold his 
 arms, and clamours for supernatural 
 assistance : thus the Iberians invoked 
 their Xetos, and afterwards prayed to 
 the Phoenician Hercules. All this is 
 classical and Oriental : Castor and 
 Pollux fought visibly for the Bomans 
 at Regillum (Cic. ‘ N.D.’ ii. 2) ; Ma- 
 homet appeared on the Orontes to 
 overthrow Count Roger, as Santiago, 
 mounted on his war-horse, interfered 
 at Clavijo in 846 to crush the Moslem. 
 There was no mention of Santiago, or 
 of his visit to Spain, or of his patron- 
 age, in the time of the Goths (San 
 
Gallicia . 
 
 ROUTE 86. — LEGEND OF SANTIAGO. 
 
 603 
 
 Isidoro, { Or.,’ vii. 9), and simply be- 
 cause there being no Moors then to be 
 expelled, his assistance was not wanted. 
 
 The conferring military rank on this 
 apostle spoke the spirit of the age and 
 people, when bishops rode in armour 
 and knights in cowls, nor would a 
 nation of caballeros ever have re- 
 spected a footman tutelar. Accord- 
 ingly, Santiago, San Martin, and San 
 Isidoro, always mounted, represent the 
 Fortuna Equestris of the Romans. 
 
 Froissart felt the full rank of this 
 “F. M.” of a religious chivalry, and, 
 like Dante, he calls St. James a Baron 
 — Baron, Vir, a gentleman , a man em- 
 phatically, in contradiction to Homo, 
 Hombre , or a mere mortal clod of 
 earth. So Don Quixote speaks of him 
 as “ Don Diego,” the Moor-killer, and 
 one of the most valiant of Saints. The 
 Cids and Alonsos of Spain’s dark ages 
 at least had the common sense to choose 
 a male tutelar to lead their armies to 
 victory : it was left to the enlightened 
 Cortes of Cadiz in 1810 to nominate 
 S a * Teresa, the crazy nun of Avila, to 
 be the fit commandress of the Cuestas, 
 Blakes, and suchlike spoilt children of 
 defeat. 
 
 According to Church-authorised le- 
 gends, St. James was beheaded at 
 Jerusalem in 42, but his body was 
 taken to Joppa, where a boat appeared 
 c< nutu deif into which the corpse em- 
 barked itself, and sailed to Padron, 
 which lies 4 L. below Santiago ; it 
 performed the voyage in 7 days, which 
 at once proves the miracle, since the 
 modern Oriental Steam Company can 
 do nothing like it. The body first made 
 for Barcelona, then coasted Spain, and 
 avoiding the delicious S. (probably 
 because polluted by the infidel), se- 
 lected this damp diocese, where the 
 wise prelate Theodomirus, who planned 
 the pious fraud, resided.. The body 
 rested on a stone at Padron, which 
 hollowed itself out, wax to receive, 
 and marble to retain, although some 
 theologians contend that this stone 
 was the very vessel in which the holy 
 corpse sailed ; and so indeed did Her- 
 cules sail before to Spain in a cup 
 
 (Athsen. xi. 469 ; Macrob. v. 21), float- 
 ing like St. Cuthbert in his stone coffin; 
 so St. Patrick came to “ his consecrated 
 isle ” mounted on a paving- stone. All 
 readers of Pausanias (vii. 5, 5) know 
 also that an image of Hercules was con- 
 veyed to Priene in a vessel conscious 
 of its sacred cargo, and then became 
 the object of pilgrimage. Again, as to 
 these quick passages in heaven-com- 
 missioned clippers, see Lucian ( de D. 
 Syr Us) , how the head of Osiris was 
 carried by water, Dun vavnAiw, in seven 
 days ; again, according to Herodotus 
 (iv. 152), Corobius was transported, 
 fo/yj by sea and also to Spain, 
 
 and also through the straits ; Cecrops 
 sailed from Egypt, said the veracious 
 Greeks, in a boat of papyrus — a sort 
 of papier-mache Macintosh. But these 
 “ Barcos encantados ” are too common 
 in the legends of the Pantheon, Vati- 
 can, and Romances of knight errants, 
 to be enlarged on ; and compare l Bl 
 Crist o de Bey rut] p. 379; and ‘ JEl 
 Crist o de Burgos ,’ p. 847. 
 
 That rocks soften when wanted for 
 these miraculous occasions all geologists 
 know well. Thus the stone at Delphi, 
 on which the Sibyl Herophile sat down, 
 received the full impression, second 
 only in basso-relievo to that grand 
 stone on which Silenus reposed, and 
 which Pausanias (i. 22. 5) was shown 
 at Troezene : so among the Moslem, 
 when Mahomet ascended to Heaven, 
 his camel’s hoofs were imprinted on 
 the rock (just as those of Castor were 
 on the flint at Regillum, Cic. * N.D.* 
 iii. 5 ; and the true prophet’s own 
 footmark is shown near Cairo, at 
 Attar e Nebbee. Such a saxeous 
 metamorphosis was an old story even 
 in skeptical Ovid’s times (Met. i. 400). 
 
 “ Saxa, quis hoc credat ? nisi sit pro teste vetustas, 
 Ponere duritiem coepere.” 
 
 Some antiquarians, with sad want 
 of faith, have pronounced this stone at 
 Padron to be only a Roman sarcopha- 
 gus ; if, however, people can once be- 
 lieve that Santiago ever came to Spain 
 at all, all the rest is plain sailing. 
 Verily both the Pontifex maximus of 
 old and modern Rome have alike 
 
604 
 
 ROUTE 86.— YOTO DE SANTIAGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 fathomed the depths of human credulity, 
 which loves to be deceived, and will 
 have it so, “ and the priests bear rule 
 by their means Jer. v. 31. 
 
 Be all these things as they may, when 
 the body of Santiago reached Padron 
 it was put in a cave sacred to Bacchus, 
 and forgotten for nearly 800 years, 
 when Spain, says the learned and pious 
 Padre Florez, “breathed again” after the 
 discovery of the body ; a second mi- 
 racle, occurred after this wise : — Pela- 
 gius, a hermit, informed Theodomirus, 
 bishop of Iria Flavia Padron , that he 
 saw heavenly lights always hovering 
 over a certain site, which, on being ex- 
 amined, was found to contain a body, 
 but how it was ascertained to be that 
 of the apostle is not stated, There- 
 upon Alonso el Casto built a church 
 on the spot, and granted all the rich 
 land for three miles round to the good 
 bishop. In 829 the body was removed 
 for greater security to the stronger 
 town of Santiago, wild bulls coming 
 to draw the carriage by “ divine inspir 
 ration,” Toros guiados divinamente , as a 
 delicate compliment to the tutelar of 
 the land of Tauromachia. Riches now 
 poured in, especially the corn-rent, said 
 to be granted in 846 by Ramiro, to 
 repay Santiago’s services at CJayijo, 
 where he killed single-handed 60,000 
 Moors more or less. This grant was a 
 bushel of corn from every acre in Spain, 
 and was called el Voto and el Morion , 
 the votive offering of the quantity which 
 the Capt.-Greneral’s capacious helmet 
 contained. The deed, dated Calahorra 
 834, convicts itself of forgery (see how- 
 ever Mariana, vii. 13). The entire fal- 
 lacy of the battle of Clavijo , and the 
 forgery of the gift are fully exposed in 
 the 6 Representation] &c. of the j Duque 
 de Arcos , fol. Mad. 1771, and in the 
 ‘ Memorial del Pleito entre Burgos y 
 Santiago Lazaro Gonzalez de Acevedo] 
 fol. 2nd ed. Mad. 1771 : and it may 
 just be added that there is no tittle of 
 real evidence to prove that Santiago 
 ever was at all in Spain, alive or dead. 
 
 This corn-rent, estimated at 200,000Z. 
 a-year, used to be collected by agents, 
 although not much eventually reached 
 
 Grallicia, for grains of gold and wheat 
 stick like oil to Spanish fingers, and 
 Quien aceite mesura , le unta las manos. 
 This tax was abolished in 1835. When 
 corn-rents were given to discoverers of 
 holy bones, precious as nuggets in those 
 days, revelatioits never were wanting if 
 the land was fertile ; hence every district 
 had its high place, palladium, and petty 
 pilgrimage. All these pious frauds tended 
 indirectly to advance civilization, by 
 creating roads, bridges, inns, hospitals, 
 and convents, asylums in a rude age, and 
 in a word by tempering brute force. 
 
 The whole legend bespeaks a poverty 
 of invention worthy of this Boeotia of 
 the North. “ Lucida Sidera,” strange 
 constellations, are the common signs of 
 Pagan mythology, palmed on an age 
 ignorant of astronomy. These star- 
 indicated spots were always conse- 
 crated. Compare this Compostella with 
 the Roman Campus Stellatus (Suet. 
 c Cses.’ 20). The Grallicians, however, 
 of old, were noted for seeing superna- 
 tural illuminations, and what was 
 more, for interpreting their import (Sil. 
 Ital. iii. 344). Thus when the gods 
 struck with lightning one of their hills 
 gold was forthwith sought for (Justin, 
 xliv. 3), Ancient avarice was at least 
 straightforward ; the modern priests 
 converted a bone into a philosopher’s 
 stone, and found in it a sure magnet 
 wherewith to attract bullion. 
 
 The first cathedral built over the 
 apostles’ body was finished in 874, and 
 consecrated May 17, 899 ; the city rose 
 around it, and waxing strong, the Cor- 
 dovese felt the recoil of the antagonist 
 shrine and tutelar, even at their Ceca; 
 whereupon Al- Mansur, dreading the 
 crusading influence, determined on its 
 total destruction, and in J uly, 997, he 
 left Cordova on his 48th al jihad , or 
 Holy Crusade, having also sent a fleet 
 round to co-operate on the Duero and 
 Mino. He advanced by Coria, and 
 was met at Zamora by many Spanish 
 counts, or local petty sheikhs, who with 
 true Iberian selfishness and disunion 
 sided with the invader, in order to se- 
 cure their own safety and share in the 
 spoil (see ‘Esp. Sag.’ xxxiv. 303). Al- 
 
Gallicia . 
 
 ROUTE 86. — IMAGE OF SANTIAGO. 
 
 605 
 
 Mansur entered Santiago Wed. Aug. 
 
 10, 997, and found it deserted, the in- 
 habitants haying fled from the infidel, 
 whose warfare was extermination. The 
 conqueror razed the city, sparing only 
 the tomb of the Spaniards’ Frophet^ 
 before which he trembled : so close 
 was the analogy of these cognate super- 
 stitions. 
 
 Mariana (viii. 9), however, asserts 
 that Al-Mansur was “ dazzled by a 
 divine splendour,” and that his retiring 
 army was visited by sickness inflicted 
 by la divina venganza. Had all this 
 taken place before this CordoveseAlaric 
 sacked the town, it would have been 
 more creditable to -the miraculous 
 powers of Spain’s great tutelar. The 
 learned Jesuit, however, dismisses this 
 humiliating conquest in a few lines, 
 which condense every possible mistake 
 in names, dates, and localities. Thus 
 he fixes the period a.d. 993, and kills 
 Al-Mansur, whom he calls Mohamad 
 Alhagib, at Begalcorax in 998, whereas 
 that great general died in 1002 at Me- 
 dinaceli (see Index). 
 
 Shant Yakob, the “Holy City of 
 Jalikijah” (Gallicia), is thus described 
 by the more accurate contemporaneous 
 Moorish annalists (see ‘ Moh. H.’ i. 74; 
 
 11. 193) ; who prove the early and wide- 
 spread effect and influence which this 
 antagonistic tutelar and tomb had 
 on the Moors. The shrine was fre- 
 quented even by those Christians who 
 lived among the Moors, and the pil- 
 grims brought back minute reports. 
 “ Their KabdJi is a colossal idol , which 
 they have in the centre of the church ; 
 they swear by it, and repair to it in 
 pilgrimage from the most distant parts, 
 from Home as well as from other coun- 
 tries, pretending that the tomb which 
 is to be seen within the church is that of 
 Yakob (James), one of the 12 apostles, 
 and the most beloved of Isa (Jesus) : 
 may the blessing of God and salutation 
 be on him and on our prophet !” “ They 
 say that the Moslems on their victo- 
 rious entrance found no living soul 
 at Santiago except an old monk who 
 was sitting on the tomb of St. James, 
 who being interrogated by Al-Mansur 
 
 Spain* — II. 
 
 as to himself, and what he was doing 
 in that spot, he answered, I am a fami- 
 liar of St. James, upon which Al- 
 Mansur ordered that no harm should 
 be done unto him.” The Moslem re- 
 spected the Faquir monk, in whom he 
 saw a devotee borrowed from his own 
 Caaba of Mecca. His object was to 
 destroy the idols of the polytheist 
 Spaniards, for the uncompromising 
 Deism and the Hebrew abhorrence 
 of graven images form the essence 
 also of Islamism. Al-Mansur purified 
 the temples according to the Jewish 
 law (Deut. vii. 5), and exactly as the 
 early Christians in the fourth century 
 had treated the symbols of Paganism. 
 Thus, the followers of Mahomet trod in 
 the steps of both Testaments, while 
 Christianity, as corrupted by Home, was 
 re-modelling and renewing those very 
 Pagan abominations which the old and 
 new law equally forbade. 
 
 Al-Mansur returned to Cordova laden 
 with spoil. The bells of the cathedral 
 of Santiago were conveyed to Cordova 
 on the shoulders of Christian captives, 
 and hung up reversed as lamps in the 
 Great Mezquita, where they remained 
 until 1236, when St. Ferd. restored 
 them, sending them back on the shoul- 
 ders of Moorish prisoners. Al-Mansfrr 
 is said to have fed his horse out of the 
 still- existing porphyry font in the cathe- 
 dral, but the barb, so the Spaniards re- 
 tort, burst and died. Possibly, coming 
 from Cordova, the change of diet had 
 affected his condition, and certainly 
 we ourselves nearly lost our superb 
 Jiaca Cordovesa from the “hay and 
 oats” of Gallicia. 
 
 Al-Mansur could not find the body 
 of Santiago, at which some will not be 
 surprised; the local divines contend 
 that the Captain- General surrounded 
 himself when in danger with an obfus- 
 cation of his own making, like the 
 cuttle-fish; and to this day no one 
 knows exactly where the bones are 
 deposited. It is said that Gelmirez 
 built them into the foundations of 
 his new cathedral, in order that they 
 never might be pried into by the im- 
 pertinente curioso , or be removed by the 
 2 E 
 
606 
 
 ROUTE 86. — BODY OF SANTIAGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 enemy. Thus it was forbidden among 
 the Homans to reveal even the name of 
 Home’s tutelar, lest the foe, by greater 
 bribes, or by violence, might induce 
 the patron to prove false. The re- 
 mains of Hercules were also said to be 
 buried in his temple at Grades, but no 
 one knew where. However, Santiago 
 lies somewhere, for he was heard clash- 
 ing his arms when Buonaparte invaded 
 Spain ; so, before the battle of Leuctra, 
 Herculis fano arma sonuerunt (Oic. 
 c de Div' i. 34) but the old war-horse 
 will neigh at the trumpet’s sound. The 
 Captain General, valiant at Clavijo, had 
 already given up active service in 997, 
 and it could not be expected that such 
 an invalided veteran should put on, like 
 old Priam, arma diu senior desueta, 
 and turn out of his comfortable resting- 
 place to oppose Soult 812 years after- 
 wards. After all it is just possible that 
 the veritable Santiago is not buried at 
 Compostella, for as the Coruhese 
 claimed a duplicate body of Geryon, 
 to the indignation of the Gaditanians, 
 so the priests of S*. Sernin at Toulouse, 
 among 7 bodies of the 12 apostles, said 
 that Santiago’s was one ; and when we 
 remember the triumph of Soult at Sant- 
 iago and this marshal’s trouncing at 
 this very Toulouse, it is difficult not to 
 think that the real Simon Pure is buried 
 at Sh Sernin, and helped our Duke. 
 
 Be this as it may, for non nobis 
 talem est componere litem, most 
 Spanish divines lose temper whenever 
 this legend is questioned; volumes of 
 controversy have been written, and the 
 evidence thus summed up : — Primo , 
 The veneras or scallop shells found at 
 Clavijo, prove that they were dr opt 
 there by Santiago, when busy in killing 
 60,000 Moors to a fraction ; these are 
 like the “ Ampulles,” worn by pilgrims 
 in token of their having fulfilled the 
 visit. Secundo , If the Virgin descended 
 from Heaven at Zaragoza to visit 
 Santiago, of which there can be no 
 doubt, it follows that Santiago must 
 have been at Zaragoza. However, the 
 honest Jesuit Mariana (vii. 10) thinks 
 no proof at all necessary, because so 
 great an event never could have been 
 
 believed at first without sufficient evi- 
 dence : while Morales concludes that 
 “ none but a heretic could doubt a fact 
 which no man can dare to deny.” Be 
 that as it may, the Pope soon became 
 jealous of this assumed elevation, which 
 the sons of Zebedee excited even while 
 alive (Mark x. 41) ; and Baronius re- 
 sented pretensions which rivalled those 
 of St. Peter, and were pretty much as 
 unfounded. Accordingly Clement VIII. 
 altered the Calendar of Pius V., and 
 threw a doubt on the whole visit, 
 whereat the whole Peninsula took 
 alarm (see M‘Crie’s excellent ‘ He- 
 formation in Spain,’ p. 5). The Pon- 
 tiff was assailed with such irresistible 
 arguments, that his virtue, like Da- 
 nae’s, gave way, and the affair was 
 thus compromised in the Papal re- 
 cord: “Divus Jacobus mox Hispaniam 
 adisse, et aliquos discipulos ad fidem 
 convertisse apud Hispanos receptum 
 esse affirmatur.” This qualified certi- 
 ficate would not do ; and Urban VIII., 
 in 1625, being “refreshed” with golden 
 opinions, restored Santiago to all his 
 Spanish honours, so little change has 
 taken place since those days when Juve- 
 nal said, “Omnia Bomse, cum pretio.” 
 The see, now an archbishopric, was 
 formerly suffragan to the Gothic me- 
 tropolitan Merida, a city at that time 
 in partibus infidelium. It was elevated 
 in 1120 by the management of Diego 
 Gelmirez, a partisan of Queen Urraca, 
 who prevailed on her husband Bamon 
 to intercede with his brother Pope 
 Calixtus II. Diego, the first primate, 
 presided 39 years, and was the true 
 founder of the cathedral ; and although 
 the people rose against him and Ur- 
 raca, he was the real king during that 
 troubled period when that queen was 
 false to him and to every one else. Con- 
 sult the curious Latin contemporary his- 
 tory, called La Compostellana , written 
 by two of his canons, Munio Hugo 
 and Giraldo, and printed at length in 
 ‘JEsp. Sag.’ xx. The city and chapter of 
 Toledo opposed the elevation of a rival 
 Santiago ; for, as in the systems of 
 Mahomet and the imitating Spaniard, 
 religion went hand in hand with com- 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 86. PILGRIMS TO SANTIAGO. 
 
 607 
 
 merce and profit, which it had done since 
 the days of the Phoenicians. A relic or 
 shrine attracted rich strangers, while 
 its sanctity awed robbers, and offered 
 security to wealthy merchants : hence 
 an eternal bickering between places of 
 established holiness and commerce, 
 and any upstart competitor : as Me- 
 dina hated Mecca, so Toledo hated 
 Santiago. 
 
 But Gelmirez was a cunning pre- 
 late, and well knew how to carry 
 his point : he put Santiago’s bullion 
 images and plate into the crucible, 
 and sent the ingots to the Pope. 
 Such was the advice given by the 
 Sibyl to the Phocseans, to “ plough 
 with a silver plough and they too, 
 in obedience, converted their holy 
 vessels of precious metal into uncon- 
 secrated cash, and conquered. Gelmi- 
 rez remitted the cash to Rome — for, 
 no penny no paternoster — by means of 
 pilgrims, who received from his Holi- 
 ness a number of indulgences propor- 
 tioned to the ounces of gold which 
 they smuggled through Arragon and 
 Catalonia, then independent and hos- 
 tile kingdoms ; and the “ dens,” say 
 these historians, “ not of thieves, but 
 of devils,” for in those unhappy times 
 the highways of Spain were unoccu- 
 pied, and travellers walked through 
 the byways. 
 
 Following the example of the Pagan 
 priests of the temple of Hercules at 
 Gades, Gelmirez now extolled the vir- 
 tues of making a visit and an offering 
 to the new tutelar at Santiago. The 
 patron saint became el santo, the saint 
 par excellence, as Antonio at Padua is 
 il santo. He never turned a deaf ear 
 to those pilgrims who came with money 
 . in their sacks : “ exaudit quos non 
 audit et ipse Deus !” and great was the 
 stream of wealthy guilt which poured 
 in ; kings gave gold, and even paupers 
 their mites. Thus all the capital ex- 
 pended by Gelmirez at Rome in esta- 
 blishing the machinery was reimbursed, 
 and a clear income obtained; the roads 
 of Christendom were so thronged, that 
 Dante exclaims (Par. xxv. 17) — 
 
 “ Mira mira ecco il Barone 
 Per cui laggiu si visita Galizia !” 
 
 At the marriage of our Edward I., in 
 
 1254, with Leonora, sister of Alonso el 
 Sabio, a protection to English pilgrims 
 was stipulated for ; but they came in 
 such numbers that the French took 
 alarm, and when Enrique II. was en- 
 abled by their aid to dethrone Don 
 Pedro, he was compelled to prevent 
 any English whatever entering Spain 
 without the French king’s permission. 
 The capture of Santiago by John of 
 Gaunt increased the difficulties, by 
 rousing the suspicions of Spain also. 
 The numbers in the 15th century were 
 also great. Rymer (x. xi.) mentions 
 916 licences granted to English in 
 1428, and 2460 in 1434. In the medi- 
 aeval ages the duty of a pilgrimage to 
 Compostella was absolutely necessary 
 in many cases to take up an inherit- 
 ance. The accommodation required by 
 the many visitors led, as we have said, 
 to the construction of roads, bridges, 
 inns, hand-books, and hospitals — to 
 armed associations, which put down 
 robbers and maintained order : thus the 
 violence of brute force was tempered, 
 and many important moving powers 
 of civilization established, benefits not 
 indeed contemplated by the inventors. 
 
 The pilgrimage to Compostella be- 
 gan to fall off after the Reformation, 
 when, ‘according to Molina, “ the 
 damned doctrines of the accursed 
 Luther diminished the numbers of Ger- 
 mans and wealthy English.” The inju- 
 rious effect of the pilgrimage on public 
 morals in Gallicia was exactly such 
 as Burckhardt found at Mecca ; it fos- 
 tered a vagrant, idle, mendicant life ; 
 nothing could be more disorderly than 
 the scenes at the tomb itself ; the habit 
 of pilgrims, once the garb of piety, 
 became that of rogues (see Ricote’s 
 account in Don Quixote). It was at 
 last prohibited in Spain, except under 
 regulations. But smaller pilgrimages in 
 Spain, as among the Moslems, are still 
 universally prevalent; almost every 
 district has its miracle-shrine and high 
 place. These combine, in an uncom- 
 mercial and unsocial country, a little 
 amusement with devotion and business. 
 The pilgrims, like beggars in an Irish 
 cabin, were once welcome to a “ bite 
 and sup,” as they were itinerant gos- 
 sips who brought news in an age when 
 2 e 2 
 
608 
 
 ROUTE 86.— RESIDENCE AT SANTIAGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 there were no post-offices and broad 
 sheets ; now they are unpopular even 
 at Santiago, since they bring no grist 
 to the mill, but take everything, and 
 contribute nothing ; they are particu- 
 larly hated in Vent as, those unchristian 
 places, from whence even the rich are 
 sent away empty ; hence the proverb, 
 Los peregrinos , muchas posadas y pocos 
 amigos. 
 
 A residence in holy places has a ten- 
 dency to materialize the spiritual senti- 
 ment, and to render the ceremonial 
 observances merely professional and 
 mechanical. Thus at Santiago, as at 
 Mecca, the citizens are less solicitous 
 about their “ lord of the apostles” than 
 those are who come from afar ; as at 
 Eome, those who live on the spot have 
 been let behind the scenes, and fami- 
 liarity breeds contempt. The residents 
 are, as at all places of periodical visit 
 ancient or modern, chiefly thinking 
 how they can make the best of the 
 “season,” how they can profit most from 
 the fresh enthusiasm of the stranger ; 
 and as he never will come back again, 
 they covet his cash more than his fa- 
 vourable recollections. Accordingly 
 the callous indigines turn a deaf ear to 
 the beggar who requests a copper for 
 Santiago’s sake : he gets nothing from 
 the natives but a dry perdone V md - 
 por Dios, Hermano ! Therefore the 
 shrewd mendicant tribe avoid them, 
 and smell a strange pilgrim, for whom 
 even the blind are on a look out, ere 
 he descends the hill of San Marcos : 
 he enters the holy city attended by a 
 suite hoarse with damp and impor- 
 tunity — qusere peregrinum , vicinia 
 rauca reclamat. 
 
 Santiago, although much shorn of 
 its former civil and religious dignities, 
 is still the see of an archbishop, with a 
 cathedral, 2 collegiate and 15 parish 
 churches. Its numerous convents, 
 plundered by the invaders in 1809, 
 are suppressed : built for monks, and 
 fit for little else, they now remain 
 either desecrated or untenanted, and 
 like sepulchres going to ruin, add 
 to the melancholy appearance of this 
 melancholy town, on which the Le- 
 vitical character is still deeply im- 
 pressed. Pop. under 30,000. 
 
 The removal of the captain-general 
 and the audiencia to La Coruiia has 
 made matters worse, by taking away 
 the military, the legal profession, and 
 clients. The university remains, has a 
 good library, and is much frequented 
 by Gallician students. 
 
 Santiago is built on an uneven, irre- 
 gular site : thus while the convent of 
 San Francisco lies in a hole, the ca- 
 thedral occupies a slope in the heart of' 
 the city, and indeed it was the origin 
 of its life ; from this centre many veins 
 of streets diverge, and the apostle’s 
 tomb is as the web of a spider’s nest, 
 in which strange and foolish flies are 
 caught. The town is damp, cold, full of 
 arcades, fountains, and scallop-shells ; 
 it has a sombre look, owing to the 
 effect of humidity on its granite mate- 
 rials. From the constant rain this holy 
 city is irreverently called El orinal de 
 Espaha , therefore everybody carries an 
 umbrella: the peasants add also a stick, 
 for their love of broils is not damped. 
 The wet weather, however, is favour- 
 able to vegetable productions, and the 
 clouds drop fatness; in consequence 
 the town is cheap and well supplied 
 with fruit, among which the Urraca 
 pear is delicious. The sea and river 
 fish, especially trout, is excellent. The 
 rivulets Sar and Sarela, better known 
 as the toad-streams, Los rios de los 
 Sapos, flow to the N. W. The best 
 streets run parallel to each other, such 
 as RuaNueva and arcaded Rua del Villar . 
 The mania of modernising is every 
 day destroying some picturesque rem- 
 nant of the past. 
 
 The hill-girt situation of San- 
 tiago is very picturesque : ascend 
 
 the cathedral tower, taking up 
 the good map of the town by 
 Juan Freyre ; walk up to the Monte 
 de la Almaziza to the E. near the quar- 
 ries, and looking over Santa Clara , a 
 noble view ; saunter also to the Ala- 
 meda de Santa Susana, going out at 
 the Puerta Fag era, on to the Campo de 
 Feria, and thence to the Crucero del 
 Grajo, and if you have time up to the 
 Monte Pedroso, some 2000 feet high, 
 from whence the panorama is as ex- 
 tensive as beautiful. 
 
 The cathedral, the first object of the 
 
Gdllicia . 
 
 ROUTE 86. — SANTIAGO. 
 
 609 
 
 pilgrim to Compostella, was founded 
 on the site of that destroyed by Al- 
 Mansur, and was fortified with towers 
 against the Moors and Normans. 
 Gelmirez, the first archbishop, was 
 about 1082 its William of Wickham 
 and real founder. The primitive cha- 
 racter has been injured by subsequent 
 alterations built up against the ori- 
 ginal walls : thus the encased edifice 
 has been preserved from the effects of 
 weather in this damp climate. 
 
 The grand facade to the W., el Mayor 
 or el Real , is placed between two over- 
 charged towers, which terminate in 
 pepper-box cupolas, but which are not 
 unsightly : the entrance is adorned 
 with the statue of Santiago, before 
 which kings are kneeling; although 
 the work looks older from the action 
 of moisture, all this was only raised 
 in 1738, by Fernando Casas y Noboa, 
 whose original designs are to be seen in 
 the cathedral. This churrigueresque 
 fa$ade, the joy and pride of the gaping 
 Gallicians, is called here the Obradoiro, 
 the work of gold. To the rt. rise the 
 square towers of the cloister, with 
 pyramidal tops and an upper row of 
 arcaded windows. These grand clois- 
 ters, simple and serious in the inside, 
 were built in 1533 by Fonseca, after- 
 wards Archbishop of Toledo ; his 
 library was placed in a noble suite of 
 rooms above them : here also are the 
 oficinas, or offices of the cathedral ; to 
 the 1. of the cathedral’s portal is the 
 gloomy simple palace of the prelate. 
 On the N. side of this Plaza Mayor is 
 the Hospicio de los Reyes, the hospital for 
 pilgrims, built for Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella, by Henrique de Egas, in 1504, as 
 their offering to Santiago : the founders’ 
 portraits are to be seen in the portico. 
 This hospital was then a very neces- 
 sary establishment, since many infirm 
 persons went purposely to Santiago, in 
 order to die there with comfort, just 
 as the moribund Hindoos flock to 
 Benares, believing that the patron 
 would take them to heaven with him 
 at. the resurrection. Compare also 
 Jugannatha, “the captain general of the 
 universe ,” whose region, consecrated 
 to death, is strewed with pilgrims’ 
 bones. Molina mentions, in 1551, 
 
 that there were seldom less than 
 200 patients ; hardships on jour- 
 neys, contagious disease, and religious 
 madness peopled these establishments, 
 which, unknown to the ancients, were 
 first founded in 1050 by Godfrey of 
 Bouillon, for the use of pilgrims to 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 The hospital is divided into four 
 quadrangles, with a Retablo in the 
 centre, so contrived that the patients 
 in the different stories can all see the 
 sacrifice of the Mass. The elaborate 
 portal is enriched with saints, pil- 
 grims, chain-work under the cornice, 
 and the badges of Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella. Two of the patios have arches 
 and delicate Gothic work ; observe a 
 fountain gushing into a tazza from 
 four masks. The chapel is plain, but 
 the portion within the railing is un- 
 equalled in Santiago for delicacy and 
 richness of work ; the roof springs 
 from four arches with Gothic niches 
 and statues. The other two patios 
 are of later date, and in the Doric 
 style : in the entrance hall are bad 
 portraits of the royal founders. 
 
 The vast and handsome Seminario 
 which fronts this facade of the cathe- 
 dral was built, by the Archbishop 
 Rasoy in 1777, for the education of 
 priests : in the celibate system of Rome 
 those pupils destined for the altar are 
 instructed apart from the sons of lay- 
 men, in order, as at ladies’ schools, 
 that they may be brought up in a 
 certain sexual ignorance, which is not 
 always the case. It afterwards became 
 the palace in which the captain-gene- 
 ral used to reside and the audiencia 
 sat ; now it is partly assigned to the 
 Ayuntamiento. To the S. lies San Je- 
 ronimo, commonly called, from the 
 poverty of its accommodations. Pan y 
 Sardina. The front is ancient, but the 
 interior, appropriated to scientific 
 bodies, has little worth notice. 
 
 On this Major plaza the bull-fights 
 take place, and fireworks are let off on 
 San Juan, June 24, and on Santiago, 
 July 25. Formerly, this city, in spite 
 of the rain, was the Vauxhall of 
 Spain, and saints’ days were kept with 
 consecrated crackers, and at every 
 convent, when a member obtained a 
 
610 
 
 ROUTE 86. FRENCH PLUNDER AT SANTIAGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 dignity, rockets were let off. starring 
 again this Camp ns Stellae, with a St. 
 Peter’s Girandola , on a small scale ; 
 then the spectators crowded together 
 in pious and picturesque groups, and 
 the Protestant pilgrim found it diffi- 
 cult to say which were the best or most 
 numerous, the Roman candles or Ca- 
 tholics ; but explosions were naturally 
 thought to please the son of thunder, 
 and blue lights to conciliate the Luz 
 y Patron de las Espahas. So among 
 the Hindoos (the inventors of super- 
 stition) pyrotechnics form a favourite 
 act of devotion, especially to their 
 female goddess Kali. Reform and 
 church appropriation have put out 
 many of these meritorious squibs, but 
 still, money is seldom wanting from 
 pious subscribers. Santiago being a 
 Levitical town, depending on the 
 church for amusement and indul- 
 gences, is by no means pleased, with the 
 Progreso , or march of intellect, which 
 extinguishes her lights ; so when the 
 Cortes abolished the Inquisition, and 
 wished to appropriate the church re- 
 venues, 44 it depended,” said the Duke, 
 44 on the Archbp. of Santiago, whether 
 the N.W. of Spain should rise or not 
 against us, who were supposed to up- 
 hold the constitutional changes.” 
 
 All this complimentary consump- 
 tion of gunpowder is the Lab el Barood 
 of the Moors, and was wisely mar- 
 shalled into the church service ; the 
 young Roman Catholic idea is taught 
 to shoot, and however it may compre- 
 hend Roman candles better than 
 legends, agreeable associations are 
 early impressed, as by our 5th of No- 
 vember Guy Faux bonfires. 
 
 Leaving the Plaza Major by the 
 S.W., observe the now suppressed Co- 
 legio de Fonseca , founded in 1544 by 
 the Primate of Toledo, and then turn 
 into the Plateria , situated at the S. en- 
 trance of the cathedral. This is the 
 most ancient front. The Torre is one 
 of the original towers into which Gel- 
 mirez and Urraca fled from the popu- 
 lace. The mob tried to burn them 
 out — a very Oriental and Spanish 
 custom. Thus Abimelech destroyed’ 
 those who fled to the tower of their 
 “ captain-general ” Berith (Judges ix. 
 
 52). Formerly the tower was called 
 Torre de Francia , as the long street is 
 still del Franco. Observe on the plaza 
 the gushing fountain, supported by 
 Tritons ; ascend the steps, and exa- 
 mine the massive clock-tower, Torre 
 del Peloj, one of the original castle 
 defences of the cathedral. The French 
 in those times enriched the shrine, and 
 Louis le Jeune came here in person as 
 a pilgrim ; but La Jeune France la- 
 boured to destroy what her forefathers 
 toiled to create. Marshal Ney sacked 
 the shrine ; and when Soult’s flight 
 from Oporto caused him to abandon 
 Santiago, May 23, 1809, he carried off, 
 says Toreno, 10 cwt. of sacred vessels 
 of the temple. Colonel Bory St. Vin- 
 cent, an accomplice, laments (see his 
 Guide , 259, and Laborde, iv. 460) that 
 it was so little ; alas ! says he, the 
 solid silver candelabra were u plus 
 minces que du billon , et de peu depoids 
 44 ce fameux St. Jacques, d’or massif 
 avec des yeux en diamant, etait de 
 vermeil ; et n’avait que des prunelles 
 en pierres fausses.” Hannibal of old 
 managed things better than M. Bory : 
 he always first bored church plate, and 
 only stole it if found solid ; he never in- 
 curred the odium of sacrilege for a trifle 
 (Cic. de Div. i. 24). The chapter, 
 wise in their generation, had antici- 
 pated the intelligent French, and taken 
 in their own pious pilgrims, by imi- 
 tating their pagan predecessors (see 
 Baruch vi. 10) ; they converted the 
 solid offerings into dollars for them- 
 selves. , cheating the vulgar eye with 
 tinsel substitutes, just as they foisted 
 empty forms and ceremonies, instead 
 of the spirit and practice of religion. 
 Accordingly, according to M. Bory, 
 44 On n’a pas tire en lingots la somme 
 de cent mille ecus, quand la necessity 
 des temps ! for^a d’employer, pour la 
 solde des troupes Franchises de la di- 
 vision du General Marchand, le don 
 qu’en fit le chapitre au corps d’armee 
 du Marechal Ney.” This necessity 
 (the old plea by which a certain per- 
 son excuses his deeds) was the neces- 
 sary consequence of the Buonaparte 
 maxim, 44 La guerre doit nourrir la 
 guerre” — the precise Bellum se alet of 
 Portius Cato, who razed the cities and 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 86. — SILVERSMITHS AT SANTIAGO. 
 
 611 
 
 razziad the plains of Spain, filling 
 every place “ fug& et terrore” (Livy 
 xxxiv. 9). A portion of the cathedral 
 treasure escaped, because the spoilers 
 feared the hostility of the plateros, the 
 silversmiths who live close to the 
 cathedral, and by whom many work- 
 men were employed in making little 
 graven images, teraphims and lares, 
 as well as medallions of Santiago, 
 which pilgrims purchase. Thus Alex- 
 ander the coppersmith of Ephesus, 
 and Demetrius the silversmith, called 
 together their operatives : “ Sirs, ye 
 know that by this craft we get our 
 wealth and they became the bitter 
 opponents of St. Paul, who preached 
 against image and female worship. 
 Thus the Agrigentines rose against 
 Verres (to whom Toreno compares 
 Soult), when he attempted to steal 
 their golden tutelar Hercules. 
 
 The Plateros of Santiago, like those 
 at Zaragoza, are loud in the praises of 
 their images, phylacteries, and pre- 
 servative talismans, and swear that 
 they keep these shops solely for the 
 benefit of their customers 5 souls ; they 
 assert that a silver Santiago on horse- 
 back is an infallible security against 
 ague and robbers; and certainly as 
 such a Santito only costs a few shil- 
 lings, the insurance is not an unsafe 
 speculation, as it acts like a waterman's 
 protection badge. We appended such 
 a medallion to our Zamarra , and tra- 
 velled hundreds of leagues over every 
 part of Spain, without sickness, sor- 
 row, or ever being robbed except by 
 innkeepers : all which was attributed 
 by an excellent canon of Seville to the 
 special intervention of the “ Captain- 
 General of the Spains ; 55 and certain 
 it is that very few Gallician soldiers 
 ever omit to stow away in their Petos, 
 or linen gorget waddings, a Santiagito 
 and rosary which ought to turn aside 
 bullets and bayonets. 
 
 In the Plaza de los Plateros , observe 
 a gushing fountain supported on Tri- 
 ton horses. To the left is the Quintana 
 de los Muertos , the former cemetery of 
 the canons. The very ancient portal 
 of the cathedral on this side, La Puerta 
 Santa, is only opened in the Jubilee 
 year, and by the Primate himself. 
 
 Observe the details — the cornice co- 
 lumns and arched recesses, with Santi- 
 ago in pilgrim garb, supported by his 
 disciples, Atanasio and Theodoro. In 
 the open Patio, in square niched com- 
 partments, are other sainted disciples, 
 all in a row, some of whose heads have 
 been cut off. This is the door by 
 which pilgrims enter. On the E. side 
 of the Quintana is the church dedi- 
 cated to San Pago, Pelayo. The altar 
 is said to be the identical one on which 
 Santiago offered, but Morales (‘ Viage, 5 
 132), having discovered that it was 
 only a Roman tomb, obtained the 
 effacing of the Latin and Pagan in- 
 scription, to the indignation of the 
 Gallicians, who contended that D.M.S. 
 i. e. Diis manibus sacrum, meant Deo 
 maximo sacrum. 
 
 The ground on which the cathedral 
 is built is far from being level on this 
 side, hence the flight of steps ; and 
 here yet remains a circular portion of 
 the first building. The fourth and 
 last side opens to the N. on the Aza~ 
 bacheria, or Plaza de San Martin. The 
 former term is derived from azabache , 
 jet ( azzabach is the Persian schabah, 
 signifying 4 4 small black beads, 55 or 
 bead- rows), of which vast quantities 
 of rosaries used to be made and sold 
 on this spot to the pilgrims as they 
 entered, just as is done at Jerusalem 
 and in the Great Court of Mecca. 
 The making these chaplets constitutes 
 a lucrative trade in all pilgrim cities. 
 The Spanish monks used, to manufac- 
 ture from the mais-berry their cuentas, 
 counters, a term derived from the Mos- 
 lem sibha, counters, which were also 
 made out of berries, hob; the divisions 
 were marked by cuttings of vines, sar- 
 mientos. The modern Egyptian Maho- 
 medan’s chaplet, the Seb’hhah, Soob’hhah, 
 consists of 99 small beads, with marks 
 of divisions between them (Lane, i. 92). 
 At each of these beads the Moslem re- 
 peats an epithet in praise of God, whose 
 name is reserved as a climax for the last 
 and largest. In the jealous worship of 
 One God, the Mahomedan contrasts 
 with the Polytheistic Mariolatrous 
 Spaniard, who, having borrowed the 
 Rosa?'io from him, has adapted it to his 
 female worship. Few Spanish women 
 
612 
 
 ROUTE 86. ROSARIOS. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 ever go to church without this Ori- 
 ental appendage ; and their devotion is 
 
 “ To number Ave Marias on their beads.” 
 
 The Dominicans were the managers 
 and great preachers of its virtues and 
 miraculous properties, the Virgin 
 having given her own chaplet of heads 
 to St. Dominic, which was called a 
 Rosary , from the attah perfume it 
 emitted. It is carried in the hand, or 
 tied round the neck, whilst the excel- 
 lent rope of St. Francis is only worn 
 round the waist. Illiterate devotees, 
 Moors, and Spaniards, find these heads 
 to be a convenient help in the difficult 
 arithmetical operations of counting 
 the “ long prayers” and frequent re- 
 petitions which Christianity especially 
 condemns, and the Pope and Mahomet 
 especially require, since such mere 
 repetitions have in both creeds an 
 actual saving virtue of themselves, 
 where forms have been substituted for 
 spiritual essentials. The Rosario ought 
 to contain 150 beads, in which only 
 one Paternoster , one Lord’s prayer, is 
 allowed for every ten Ave- Marias ; 
 
 but one halfpennyworth of bread to 
 this intolerable deal of sack ! ” The 
 prayers are divided by certain breaks 
 in the string. Santiago, and Seville 
 (see p. 194), were the great cities of 
 the Rosario. The peculiar chaunt re- 
 appears here, but the hymn sounds 
 harshly, when sung by sore-throated 
 Gallicians, who howl in their catch-cold 
 climate as barbarously as in the days of 
 their ancestors : Barbara nunc patriis 
 ululantem carmina linguis (Sil. Ital. 
 iii. 346). Folios have been written by 
 Spanish theologians on the saving 
 merits of the Rosario. 
 
 The second name of this N. plaza , 
 de San Martin , bears reference to the 
 enormous Benedictine convent dedi- 
 cated to that saint, founded July 26, 
 912, by King Ordono II. St. Martin 
 ranks here next to Santiago himself, 
 and as among mortal captain-generals, 
 he is the Secundo Cabo de la Provincia ; 
 so in the ancient Iberian superstitions, 
 their tutelar god of war, Bandua, had 
 his associate lieutenant (see Inscrip. 
 86, .Masdeu v.). Deo Vexillo Martis 
 socio Bauduge. 
 
 San Martin, if the whole of Chris- 
 tendom were polled, would be found to 
 be more universally worshipped than 
 Santiago, whose influence is a thing of 
 local isolated Spain ; for where, in- 
 deed, is there a city in Europe without 
 its Saint Martin ? He was the great 
 raiser of convents in the fourth cen- 
 tury, whose monks naturally elevated 
 shrines to their champion and bene- 
 factor ; thus the first Christian church 
 built in England was dedicated to him. 
 As he was the great iconoclast, and 
 destroyer of graven images and idols 
 of the Pagan, how he would now be 
 pained could he revisit Santiago and 
 the Peninsula, where more statues are 
 now erected to his own worship when 
 dead, than ever he brake down while 
 alive. Tours, in France, is his real head- 
 quarters where the mere exhibition of 
 his relics scared away the Normans. 
 The modern term chapel has been de- 
 rived by Ducange from the small cham- 
 ber in which his cope or cloak was 
 adored (Capa, Capilla) ; for when alive 
 he had divided it in order to cover a 
 naked beggar, and this is the especial 
 action in which he is usually painted 
 and carved by Spaniards, and with 
 reason, since no nation can better ap- 
 preciate this act of charity than the 
 gens togata of modern times, although 
 none is less likely to follow the exam- 
 ple, even were a lady in the case — Da 
 mihi et beatce Martince . 
 
 This ancient convent has been 
 almost entirely modernized on an enor- 
 mous scale ; a portion hangs over a ra- 
 vine ; the back has a fine garden, and 
 commands noble views from its magni- 
 ficent long corridor upstairs. Formerly 
 it was one of the most wealthy of the 
 Benedictine establishments, now it is a 
 barrack. The heavy modern Doric en- 
 trance was raised by Casas y Noboa, in 
 1738. The grand patio was rebuilt in 
 1636, and finished at the tasteless period 
 of 1743. Observe the handsome foun- 
 tain with three falls and satyrs’ heads. 
 The interior of this once most wealthy 
 convent is commensurate with the ex- 
 terior, as one corridor is 205 paces 
 long. The library was superb, as the 
 Benedictines were a learned order, and 
 promoters of schools and antiquarian, 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 8 6. ^-CONFESSIONALS OF SANTIAGO. 
 
 613 
 
 research. The chapel, now a parish 
 church, is in bad taste, with a heavy 
 tesselated trunk-headed roof. In the 
 retablo , of vilest churrigueresque, San- 
 tiago and San Martin ride together in 
 a fricassee of gilt gingerbread. The 
 pulpits are composed of rich marbles : 
 the circular sacristia is fine. The 
 convent itself, since the suppression, 
 has fallen away sadly, and has been 
 used as a barrack, a granary, &c. The 
 back portion, commands fine views 
 from its noble corridor. From the 
 Azabacheria to the opposite Plaza Major 
 there is an arched communication 
 under the archbishop’s palace. 
 
 Now enter the cathedral from the 
 Azabacheria , first looking at the modern 
 encasement, the Doric and Corinthian 
 tiers* and heavy pediment, supported 
 by caryatides of Moorish slaves, with 
 Santiago above dressed as a pilgrim, 
 erected in 1765 by one Domingo An- 
 tonio Luis Monteagudo, a Gallician, 
 *. e. a Boeotian builder. The original 
 faqade had been previously tampered 
 with by one Sarela , a worthy who 
 ought to have been cast into his name- 
 sake’s river hard by. 
 
 The interior is purposely kept some- 
 what dark, to increase the effect of 
 the illuminations at the high altar, 
 thus rendering the image of the apos.- 
 tle the emphatic feature. The cathe- 
 dral forms a beautiful Latin cross, of 
 which the lateral chapels do not injure 
 the general effect. The naves are 
 narrow in proportion to their height 
 and length, the central being the 
 highest. The light and elegant piers 
 contrast with the enormous thickness 
 of the outer walls. Low galleries are 
 carried round the coro, and above, 
 with an open arcade of double-rounded 
 arches. The two original transept 
 ends of the ancient cathedral are pre- 
 served: the new fronts built outside 
 them add to the strange effect. The 
 dark side aisles, which almost look 
 like corridors , are filled with confes- 
 sional boxes, dedicated to different 
 saints ; while on those destined for 
 foreign pilgrims are inscribed the lan- 
 guages which the priest in them used 
 to understand when strangers came 
 from all countries : but now the Gal- 
 
 lego confessors can only speak strange 
 tongues, “ comme des yaches Espa? 
 gnoles.” Polyglot confessipnals are in 
 like manner provided at St. Peter’s by 
 his Holiness, El vivo Oraculo , as was 
 done at the pilgrim shrine at Delos, 
 where hymns were composed in all 
 languages- — sr ccvrcuv (puva,? 
 
 (Horn. 'Hym. Apol,’ 162). 
 
 Near the Capilla de los Reyes is the 
 grand confessional, in which the peni~ 
 tenciario alone may sit ; this great dig- 
 nitary is excused attendance in coro : 
 his sentry-box, inscribed “ Tabula post 
 Naufragium,” is frequented by select 
 sinners, as drowning men catc]} at 
 straws. To him alone the clergy, and 
 men of rank and rankest crimes con- 
 fessed, and he had proportionate powers 
 of absolution, since his capacious ears 
 were the cloaca maxima of offencps not 
 to be named to minor auriculars. He 
 pardoned, through the merits and 
 intercession of Santiago, les forfaits , 
 que le courroux des dieux ne pardonne 
 jamais. Nor were those who had come 
 so far used harshly ; the natural inte- 
 rest of the chapter to attract rich 
 sinners, rendered them indulgent, and 
 the previous grades of ordinary re- 
 pentance — to wit, Contrition, the sor- 
 row for having sinned, because it is 
 offensive to God ; and Atricion , the 
 sorrow for having sinned, because of 
 fear of punishment — are assumed by 
 the ipsum factum of pilgrimage. The 
 present confessors may disappoint 
 most readers of Mrs. Radcliffe ; they 
 have little of the unearthly Schidoni 
 scowl which rends the soul ; they are 
 mostly fat and well-fed, with a bored 
 look, especially after listening to some 
 garrulous old woman twaddling about 
 her tiresome peccadillos, with the 
 pleasing prospect of squatting coveys 
 of more of them waiting their turn 
 like patients at a^gratis doctor’s door. 
 
 Spanish confessors, like hospital 
 nurses, get callous, and like their san- 
 grados, sometimes doubt the efficacy 
 of their own remedies. The desire to 
 confess, and the belief in the magical 
 effect produced by a tap of a white 
 wand and in the power of the keys by 
 which the penitent is absolved, dimi- 
 nishes daily among male Spaniards, 
 2 E 3 
 
614 
 
 ROUTE 86.— IMAGE OF SANTIAGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 who would, gladly see their wives and 
 womankind rescued from this abomi- 
 nable cross-examination, by which the 
 priest pries into the innermost arcana 
 of every family, and can apply a 
 moral strain to the weaker sex, who 
 seldom keep any secret except that of 
 their own age. 
 
 The confessional is a most awful 
 police and inquisition, from whose 
 polluting scrutiny few Spanish women 
 are safe. “ The strictest delicacy/’ 
 says Blanco White (Letter 3), “ is 
 inadequate fully to oppose its de- 
 moralizing tendency ; without the 
 slightest responsibility, and not un- 
 frequently in the conscientious dis- 
 charge of what he believes to be his 
 duty, the confessor conveys to the 
 female mind the first foul breath which 
 dims its virgin purity.” That author, 
 who knew the whole truth, did not 
 dare to continue the subject; the sort 
 of questioning may be seen in Sanchez 
 de Matrimonio , or in any of the Prom- 
 tuarios , sold for the use of young con- 
 fessors, to which Dr. Dens and his 
 filth is untrodden snow. But like 
 surgery books they revel in disease 
 and nastiness, and mince no matters, 
 having to cure the patient, if they can ; 
 but the real harvest of the confessor 
 is the death-bed of a rich sinner. 
 
 In former times to confess was ab- 
 solutely necessary in order to obtain 
 the benefits of the Apostle, and 
 to convey information on this opus 
 operandum was the object of the me- 
 diaeval Guides. Thus, in the earliest 
 English Handbook for Spain* details 
 fuller than ours are given of ^the 
 power of “ Confessourez,” confessors, 
 to absolve and name penance, and to 
 “ assoyle thee of all thinge,” which 
 was particularly to be had on the 
 north side, where “ there is pardon and 
 much faire grace” to be had for a con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The holy image of Santiago is still 
 placed, as it was when Al- Mansur 
 arrived here, on the high, and here on 
 an isolated altar, as was usual in all an- 
 
 * See Purchas’ ‘Pilgrimes,’ ii. 1230. The 
 metrical guide entitled ‘The Way from the 
 Load of Engelond unto Sent Jamez in Galiz ;’ 
 was written in the 13th or 14th century. 
 
 cient Asturian Gotho-Spanisli churches. 
 His body, according to the priests, lies 
 below, built into the foundations. The 
 base of the tabernacle is composed of 
 richly polished marbles, enclosed by 
 gilt pillars, adorned with foliage and 
 grapes ; but the sentiment of antiquity 
 and veneration is marred by the abo- 
 minable, immense, and lofty canopy, 
 or baldaquino, which is reared above 
 and behind the image, instead of the 
 usual retablo ; this Hojarasca , carved 
 and gilt in the worst churriguerismo , 
 is a mixture of the rocoeo, classical, 
 and Salominic styles, while the heavy 
 supporting angels savour of anything 
 except heaven. The image was graven 
 in 1188, by el Maestro Mateo, for Arch- 
 bishop Gelmirez. In his left hand he 
 holds the bordon , or pilgrim’s staff, 
 with a gilt gourd or calapash, calabaza , 
 fastened to it ; so there he is, cum ba- 
 culo peraque (Mart. iv. 53) of the de- 
 rided cynics. This identical staff pre- 
 served in the reja del coro , is encased 
 in iron , piously spared by M. Ney. 
 A portion is exposed for the benefit 
 of true believers, who gain infinite in- 
 dulgences. In the image’s right is 
 a label inscribed, 4 4 Hie est corpus 
 Divi Jacobi Apostoli et Hispaniarum 
 Patroni.” The face of this fetish is 
 painted ; the expression is chubby and 
 commonplace, with a bottle-nose and 
 small twinkling eyes, more like a 
 pursy minor canon than a captain- 
 general, a destroyer of 60,000 Moors 
 at one time, and one of the sons of 
 Thunder, Boanerges. But the idols of 
 rude people preceded fine art, and in 
 time obtained a conventional sanctity 
 independent of form; nay, when beauty 
 and grace were substituted, the stern 
 deep religious sentiment was lost. 
 Reverence was then merged in artisti- 
 cal admiration, and the altars, as at 
 Rome, were visited as picture-galleries, 
 and the siren beauty seduced the pil- 
 grim and anchorite. Thus, when Leo 
 X. succumbed to the fair sin (for the 
 cinque-cento, or resurrection of the an- 
 tique, was almost the renaissance both 
 of Pagan .creed and art), the severe 
 majesty of insulted religion avenged 
 herself in the iconoclastic Reforma- 
 tion. Remark the singular hood worn 
 
GaUicia. 
 
 ROUTE 86. — CEREMONIES AT SANTIAGO. 
 
 615 
 
 by the image, the Esclavind (cope, 
 cape, pluviale ), which resembles those 
 worn by policemen in London, and by 
 Cardinals at Rome. It indeed is also 
 called dengue , from a sort of mantilla 
 worn by women, or a modern “ cardi- 
 nal.’’ It originally was made of gold, 
 which M. Ney was “ obligated” to 
 melt, thinking, like Dionisius when 
 he stole the golden mantle of Jupiter, 
 that a woollen hood would be more 
 comfortable in this damp Gallicia. 
 The present Esclavina is studded with 
 cannons ! and shells , both scallop, vene- 
 rast, and projectiles, bombas . Mass can 
 only be said before this image by 
 bishops, or by canons of a dignity 
 called cardenales , of whom seven as- 
 sisted on grand occasions. The altar 
 is then decorated with the exquisite 
 silver custodia by Antonio d’Arphe, 
 1 544, and with the small gilt figure of 
 Santiago, whose glory, aureola , is 
 composed of rubies and emeralds. 
 The greater part of the silver lamps 
 were carried off, in 1809, as pious me- 
 morials of the Apostle by M. Ney’s pil- 
 grims ; but under the cimborio or noble 
 cupola dome, still hangs the large 
 incensario, which is swung backwards 
 and forwards by an iron chain, filling 
 the crucero with perfumed wreaths. 
 The tabernacle is also cased with 
 silver. 
 
 The grand ceremonial to be per- 
 formed by the well-disposed pilgrim 
 is after this wise : the newly-arrived 
 ascends some steps behind the image, 
 places his hands on the shoulders, and 
 lasses the hood. This osculation is 
 essential, and is called el fin del Eomaje , 
 the end, the object of the pilgrimage. 
 Thus Baal was kissed (1 Kings xix. 
 1 8 ; thus the ancients of Agrigentum 
 kissed their idol Hercules ' (Cic. in 
 Ver. iv. 43); so at Rome an old Jupi- 
 ter, with a new head of St. Peter, is 
 kissed ; so at Mecca a Moslem Hadji 
 kisses the black stone in the Kaaba. 
 All the world kisses ; some the toe, 
 some the shoulders, for the part kissed 
 is a matter of local convention. The 
 pilgrim next proceeds to one of the 
 “ confessourez,” and confesses; then he 
 is “ assoyled,” communicates, and re- 
 ceives his certificate, or, as it is called, 
 
 his 4 4 compostella.” This is a printed 
 Latin document, signed by the canon, 
 “ Fabricse administrador,” which cer- 
 tifies that he has complied with all the 
 devotional ceremonies necessary to 
 constitute a romero , a real pilgrim. This 
 compostella was often deposited with 
 the family title-deeds as a voucher of 
 the visit, as otherwise lands under cer- 
 tain entails could not be inherited. 
 
 The silleria del coro was carved 
 with holy subjects in 1606 by Gregorio 
 Espahol ; the two bronze ambones , or 
 pulpits, on each side of th ereja of the 
 high altar, are masterpieces of cinque- 
 cento art, by Juan Bautista Celma, 
 1563. Observe the six exquisite gilt 
 alto-relievos, carved with mermaid s y 
 battles, and holy subjects. There is 
 not much other fine art in this cathe- 
 dral. The pictures of St. Peter and 
 St. Andrew are by Juan Antonio 
 Bauzas, a Gallician imitator of Luca 
 Giordano, his master. 
 
 Behind the apostle’s image is a small 
 room which contains what church plate 
 escaped the pillagers. Observe two 
 very ancient gilt pixes , a Saviour seated 
 under a Gothic niche with two angels, 
 and some ewers and basins in the 
 shape of scallops. Next visit the 
 Relicario , in which are many exqui- 
 sitely wrought shrines and goldsmith 
 work, containing relics, which are 
 detailed in printed catalogues in Latin, 
 Spanish, and French, given here gratis, 
 and as they are compiled “ by autho- 
 rity,” no pilgrim should omit to bring 
 one home for his muniment room ; 
 and the more as “ eighty days’ indul- 
 gence” for one Paternoster and Ave- 
 Maria repeated delante de esta imagen , 
 are also added and also gratis by the 
 grace of the Archbishop. The relics 
 are pointed out by a priest with a long 
 stick, who goes through the marvels 
 with the rote and apathy of a wearied 
 showman. Formerly there were len- 
 guageros , linguists, who explained what 
 he said in all the tongues of the earth. 
 Mellado, in his Guide, 1846, calls at- 
 tention to some milk of the Virgin, 
 quite fresh and white ; to a thorn of 
 the crown which turns red every Good 
 Friday. Notice sundry parcels of the 
 11,000 Virgins, and a mighty molar of 
 
616 
 
 ROUTE 86. — RELICS AT SANTIAGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 San Cristobal. Many, although disbe- 
 lieving in Budha’s double-tooth, are 
 much struck with a smaller one of San- 
 tiago himself, the gift of Gaufridus Co- 
 quatriz. This Relicario is also called la 
 Capilla de los Reyes , in which the royal 
 tablets have been barbarously modern- 
 ised. Some of the sepulchral statues are 
 of remote antiquity, e.g. Don Ramon, 
 husband of Urraca, era 1126 ; Fer- 
 nandus II., era 1226; Berenguela, era 
 1187; Alonso IX. of Leon, 1268; 
 Juana de Castro, 1412. The enamelled 
 tombs of San Cucufato and Fructuoso 
 are curious, so are the relicarios. The 
 rich chased crucifix, which contains a 
 portion of the real cross, is one of the 
 oldest authentic pieces of Christian 
 plate existing. This gilt filigree work, 
 studded with uncut jewels, is inscribed, 
 “Hoc opus perfectum est in era ix 
 et duodecima. Hoc signo vincitur 
 inimicus, hoc signo tuetur pius ; hoc 
 oiferunt famuli Dei Adefonsus prin- 
 ceps et conjux.” It was therefore made 
 about 874 ; the figure of the Christ 
 on it is more modern. Here are two 
 chandeliers of gilt arabesque, studded 
 with jewels and bassi-relievi, said to 
 have been of the Rey Chico, and 
 taken in 1492 in the Alhambra, but 
 they are of the date 1673. The Tesoro , 
 upstairs , has a fine artesonado roof. 
 Here is the urna , the silver sarcophagus, 
 with the star above, in which the host 
 is deposited on Good Friday, when it 
 is placed in a beautiful viril, made in 
 1702 by Figueroa, of Salamanca. 
 
 One of the ancient entrances to the 
 transept, el Portico , remains, having 
 been encased by a modern facing, and. 
 deserves close inspection ; it consists 
 of three arches: in the centre is La 
 Gloria , or Paradise, with the Saviour 
 surrounded by angels and saints, with 
 prophets on the pillars. The small 
 arch to the r. is called El Infierno, the 
 Hell, from the appropriate subjects. 
 Observe the musicians, and their cos- 
 tume and instruments, such curious 
 reminiscences of the past. All was 
 designed and mostly erected by el 
 Maestro Mateo, who is named in an 
 inscription bearing date era 1226, a.d. 
 1 188. Of the chapels one of the most 
 interesting is that behind the high 
 
 altar, which is dedicated to La Virgen 
 del Pilar , in memorial of her descent 
 from heaven on a pillar , wdien she paid 
 a visit to Santiago at Zaragoza. Ob- 
 serve the jaspers and precious marbles, 
 and the elaborate retablo. The founder, 
 Antonio Monroy, 1725, a rich Mexican 
 prelate, is buried here : the head of 
 the fine old kneeling man is admirable. 
 The Capilla del Rey de Francia retains 
 a delicate white and gold Berruguete 
 retablo; otherwise the ancient tombs 
 and screens in the cathedral have been 
 sadly modernised and concealed, and 
 many ancient sepulchres swept away : 
 take the Capilla del Espiritu Santo as a 
 specimen ; observe the recumbent 
 effigy of Didacus de Castilla : the tra- 
 veller may also look at the Virgen de 
 las Angustias, in the trascoro, and on 
 leaving the cathedral visit la Cortesela, 
 or parish church, which, as usual, is a 
 separate building. It is a fine speci- 
 men of early style, with three naves, 
 roundheaded arches, and absises, but 
 has recently been abominably re- 
 painted in a style, says Captain Wid- 
 drington, fit for the green-room of a 
 provincial theatre. The cloisters also 
 well deserve a visit. Consult ‘ Manual 
 del Viajero en la Catedral de Santiago / 
 8vo. Mad. 1847. 
 
 The university of Santiago, founded 
 in 1532 by the Archb. Fonseca, is 
 much frequented, as the minor colleges 
 have been suppressed and incorporated 
 into it. The building is heavy, with 
 an Ionic portal, but the simple Doric 
 patio is better. The library is a fine 
 room, and well provided with books, 
 not indeed of much value, being the 
 sweepings of convents : here, how- 
 ever, are several French works, and 
 Cobbett’s parliamentary debates, in 
 truly Britannic half-russia, contrasting 
 with the vellums of Spain, as our ru- 
 bicund soldiers at Gibraltar do with 
 the sallow-faced Spaniards at the 
 Lines. The once splendid convents of 
 Santiago are in a desecrated, half- 
 ruined, and untenanted condition ; 
 visit, however, that of San Francisco , 
 as the chapel, which has been con- 
 verted into a par : sh church, is fine, 
 and has a good roof : behind the altar 
 is a portrait of a Monroy , a former 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 87. SANTIAGO TO CAPE FINISTERRE. 
 
 617 
 
 benefactor. The cloisters of the half- 
 destroyed San Agustin deserve notice, 
 and the square belfry of Santo Domingo. 
 Among the parish churches, that of 
 San Felix de Solorio is the work of 
 Martin Paris, 1316, but it has been 
 much modernised. In Las Animas , a 
 building of remote foundation, is some 
 good painted sculpture, principally re- 
 presenting our Saviour’s Passion, by 
 one Prado. 
 
 The public walk called El Gran Campo 
 de Santa Susana , is charming. The 
 trees, &c., were destroyed in 1823 by 
 the Royalists, because planted by their 
 opponents the Constitutionalists, who, 
 for the reciprocal reason, had before 
 beheaded a statue in the Plaza del Toral. 
 Cosas de Espana, where revenge ex- 
 tends to persons and their things. 
 
 The artist and naturalist will of 
 course go to the market on the Plaza 
 del Pan , to study natural history and 
 costume. The women are clad in 
 white or striped linen, which they 
 throw over their heads for mantillas, 
 exhibiting their dark sagas. The men 
 wear a singular helmet-shaped mon- 
 tera (the mitra cristata of their fore- 
 fathers), which is worked in many- 
 coloured cloths by their queridas. 
 Sunday, as is usual in Gallicia, is the 
 great market-day ; then, after mass, 
 the peasants enjoy their dances and bag- 
 pipes, the Gaita Gallega , put on their 
 best costume, and play at single-stick. 
 Consult 4 Monografia de Santiago ,’ Anto. 
 N. de Mosquera, 4to. 1850. 
 
 Route 87. — Santiago to Cape Finis- 
 
 TERRE. 
 
 Puente Maceira . . 3 
 
 Buen Jesus . . . 4 . . 7 
 
 Corcubion . . . . 34 . . 10A 
 
 Finisterre . . . . 2 .. 124 
 
 On this picturesque riding excursion 
 attend to the provend ; take a local 
 guide and some sort of introduction to 
 Corcubion , for the people are as savage 
 as their country. The readers of Bor- 
 row’s 4 Bible in Spain’ will remember 
 his hair-breadth escape from being shot 
 for Don Carlos, just as Lord Carnarvon 
 was nearly put to death in the same 
 districts for Don Miguel ; Capt. Wid- 
 drington also was arrested in these 
 
 parts on suspicion of being an agent of 
 Espartero. But no absurdity is too 
 great for the petty local 44 Dogberries” 
 in Spain, who rarely deviate into 
 sense ; and when their fears or suspi- 
 cions are roused, they are as deaf alike 
 to the dictates of common sense or hu- 
 manity as are any Berbers. All classes, 
 in regard to strangers, generally take 
 some absurd notions into their heads ; 
 and, instead of fairly and reasonably 
 endeavouring to arrive at the truth, 
 they pervert every innocent word, and 
 twist every action, to suit their own 
 preconceived nonsense, and trifles be- 
 come to their jealous minds proofs as 
 strong as holy writ. Mr. Borrow was 
 luckily delivered by the alcalde of 
 Corcubion, who, if alive, must be a 
 phosnix worth pointing out in any 
 Handbook, as he was a reader of the 
 44 gran Baintham,” i.e. our illustrious 
 Jeremy Bentham, to whom the Spanish 
 reformers sent for a paper constitution , 
 not having a very clear conception of 
 the meaning of the word. 
 
 Corcubion , its sheltered bay and 
 rich valley, are well described by 
 Basil Hall, who was there before the 
 Benthamite man was in office. In April, 
 1809, the Endymion frigate was sent 
 to assist the patriots. The swagger, 
 cowardice, and imbecility of the Junta 
 are truly recorded by him. They 
 however, were only a sample of every 
 other such congregation in the Penin- 
 sula. As soon asNey’s troops appeared, 
 the Junta took to their heels. Then 
 the unresisting inhabitants were but- 
 chered, the houses burnt, and the 
 women ravished as a matter of course. 
 
 Corcubion , pop. about 1000, is a poor 
 fishing-town under a slope of the 
 Entorde, on a charming ria ; the port 
 was defended by two now dismantled 
 forts. La Nave and the noble Cape, 
 El Cabo, which is seen in all its glory 
 from El Pindo, rise grandly at this, the 
 western end of the old world — the 
 Promontorium Nerium, Finisterrce . 
 This Land’s End was the district of 
 the Arotebrse, Artabri, a word some 
 fanciful Celtic etymologists interpret 
 as Ar-ot-aber, a 44 hanging over the sea.” 
 This ironbound coast and fierce sea, 
 delightful to poets and painters, but 
 
618 
 
 ROUTE 88. — SANTIAGO TO LUGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 fatal to frail barks, is the fear of mari- 
 ners. Here, Feb. 24, 1846, the Great 
 Liverpool was lost on the shoals of 
 Garos, 1^ L. from Corcubion. The na- 
 tives plundered the wreck like rave- 
 nous wolves, and the passengers were 
 pillaged by even the carabineros, the 
 Spanish protective service, sent to guard 
 them (‘ Times,’ March 9, 1846). 
 
 On these waters, May 3, 1747, An- 
 son gave the combined East and West 
 Indian French squadrons under La 
 Jonquiere, the Nelsonic touch, that is, 
 took all the six line-of-battle ships and 
 four armed Indiamen. Then the cap- 
 tain of the Invincible (a name foreigners 
 like to give to their armadas), when 
 delivering up his sword, said to Anson, 
 “ Vous avez vaincu V Invincible, et la 
 Gloire (another of the prizes) vous 
 suit.” 
 
 Here again, Nov. 4, 1805, Sir Rich- 
 ard Strachan caught and captured the 
 four runaways from Trafalgar. The 
 Admiral, Dumanoir, the first to fly on 
 the former occasion, being now the 
 first to strike his flag, see p. 146. 
 
 Here before, on the previous July 22, 
 Sir Robert Calder, with only 15 sail of 
 the line, had attacked Villeneuve com- 
 manding 21, and captured two ; a 
 thick fog came on, which, according 
 to M. Thiers, prevented the complete- 
 ness of the French victory ; for they 
 claim this as theirs ; meantime these 
 victors escaped into El Ferrol, from 
 whence they sailed to be settled by 
 the “ elements” again at Trafalgar. The 
 English, a “ shopkeeper nation,” but 
 in the habit of doing wholesale busi- 
 ness in the nautical line, almost felt so 
 limited a success to be a reverse; they 
 could not understand how 17 of their 
 ships could have failed in taking at 
 least half of the 26 French, and the 
 gallant Calder was brought to a court- 
 martial for the incompleteness of his 
 victory. His defence, however, was 
 unanswerable; and Nelson, just to a 
 brave man, like the Duke to Moore, 
 manfully asserted, “ that he, with so 
 small a force, might not have done so 
 much.” 
 
 Buonaparte received the news of this 
 naval triumph with infinite discontent, 
 as it entirely deranged his invasion and 
 
 conquest of England, since Villenueve 
 by his victory , was forced to sail south 
 instead of north, and thus failed in 
 being master of the British 'Channel. 
 The summing up of the ‘ Viet, et Conq/ 
 (xvi. 143) is characteristic : “Ainsi,par 
 une bizarrerie que nous ne chercherons 
 pas a expliquer, Famiral Fran^ais, apres 
 avoir ete reellement vainqueur dans 
 Faction du 22, laissait entre les mains 
 de son adversaire le gage de la vic- 
 toire, deux Mtimens qui allaient etre 
 consideree comme la preuve materielle 
 que 1 5 vaisseaux Anglais en avoient 
 battu 20 Francois et Espagnols”— say 
 rather 17 English having beaten 26 
 French. 
 
 Those going into the Asturias, may 
 make a pleasant circuit before leaving 
 this corner of Gallicia. 
 
 Route 88. — Santiago to Lugk>, 
 
 A1 Padron . . . 
 
 . 4 
 
 
 Caldas del Rey . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 Pontevedra . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 9 
 
 Puente San Payo . 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 10 
 
 Redondela . . . 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 14 
 
 Yigo 
 
 
 
 Porrino .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 18 
 
 Tuy 
 
 
 
 Codesas .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 22 
 
 Tranqueria . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 24 
 
 Rivadavia . . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 27 
 
 Orense .... 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 31 
 
 Readago .... 
 
 . ll . 
 
 . 321 
 
 Chamada . . . 
 
 . 31 . 
 
 . 36 
 
 Taboada .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 38 
 
 Naron .... 
 
 
 . 401 
 
 Lugo .... 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 441 
 
 The descent from Santiago is long 
 and monotonous. At 2^ L. towards 
 the bottom of the valley is a church 
 of the Virgin, Nuestra Sehora de la 
 Esclavitud, formerly a sanctuary for 
 every kind of criminals, who have 
 testified their gratitude to their pa- 
 troness by numerous votive offerings. 
 These clerical asylums of crime, by 
 which justice was so often defeated, 
 and once so common in Spain, although 
 now shivered by the explosion of 
 public opinion, were in times of 
 violence a sort of rude equity, which 
 even armed power respected: the grand 
 festival on the 8th of September is 
 kept by the peasantry. Higher up is 
 the Pico Sagro , a conical hill of crys- 
 tallized quartz ; its holy epithet is 
 simply a translation of the old Galli- 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 88. — EL PADROjS’. 
 
 619 
 
 can Mons Sacer described by Justin 
 (xliv. 3); the country, abounding in 
 maize and fruit, up to San Juan de Coba 
 is extremely picturesque. El Padron 
 — el patron, the patron — is built on 
 the ancient Iria Flavia, a name still 
 retained in the Golegiata de Santa 
 Maria , which ranks as a cathedral 
 to Compostella, being in fact of 
 earlier foundation. This town, pop. 
 3500, is situated on the Sar, which 
 soon flows into the Ulla; a stone 
 bridge divides El Padron from Dodro 
 and Lestrobe. Easter Monday is the 
 local holyday and cattle fair. El Pa- 
 dron , being the spot at which the body 
 of Santiago landed itself, was formerly 
 an important pilgrim city, to which 
 the romeros came after having first 
 visited Compostella ; Morales, 4 ViageJ 
 p. 137, details their proceedings : first 
 they visited the church of Santiago, 
 kissed the image over the high altar, 
 and then walked round aud kissed the 
 stone, the pedestal of a Roman statue, 
 to which the self-navigated boat 
 moored itself — a miracle the town 
 bears on its shield for arms; then, 
 having visited the marble slab, on 
 which the body reposed after its 
 voyage, they lastly ascended the 
 Montana , to a hermitage built on 
 the spot where St. James preached ; 
 next they drank and performed their 
 ablutions from a stream which gushes 
 out beneath the altar; after which 
 they ascended on their knees to 
 the rocks which St. James pierced 
 with his staff, in order to escape 
 from the pursuing Gentiles ; over two 
 of the holes or agujeros the devout 
 stretched their bodies, and those not 
 over corpulent crept through. 
 
 The Ullah, with its tributaries the 
 Pambre, Furelos, Arnego, Deza, and 
 Sar, abounding with fish, is crossed at 
 the bridge, El Puente de Cesures, Pons 
 Csesaris, which was built on Roman 
 foundation, in 1161, by el Maestro 
 Mateo , for the passage of pilgrims 
 from Portugal ; the tide flows up to 
 it and brings up small craft. 
 
 Thence to Caldas de Reyes (Calidas) 
 the warm mineral baths (the season 
 from July 1 to Sept. 30). The tem- 
 perature of the odourless and tasteless 
 
 waters is about 32° Reaumur. Their 
 effect in softening the skin is marvel- 
 lous. The bath is of granite, with a 
 partition. Thus about five men and 
 five women can bathe and talk to each 
 other at the same time. About 1 L. 
 up the river are the Caldas de Cuntis , 
 warm hydro-sulphuric baths, which 
 also benefit the cutis. The accommo- 
 dations are indecent, but much fre- 
 quented. 
 
 The country continues to be rich, 
 but the poverty-stricken peasantry 
 have a truly Irish-pauper look. The 
 rude carts laden with maize, and in 
 make everything that a cart ought 
 not to be, creep along to the music 
 of drony bagpipes, or of creaking 
 solid wheels. Crossing a ridge, the 
 ancient walled town Pontevedra , Pons 
 vetus, with its long bridge, rises on 
 a peninsular slope overhanging its pic- 
 turesque and piscatose ria and the es- 
 tuary of the Lerez. It is a granite-built, 
 arcaded, and nice town. Pop. under 
 5000. Parador Nuevo, calle Pasen- 
 tera. In the upper part of the town is 
 a modern church, which is seen from 
 afar, like the Superga near Turin. 
 Farther on is a convent of Augustines, 
 gutted by the invaders, and now a pic- 
 turesque ivy-clad ruin. Adjoining is 
 the alameda, with its charming views 
 of the ria and the environs, studded 
 with villas, farms, and woodlands. 
 The ruined old Palacio de los Churru- 
 chaos of the 13th century, with its 
 battlements and tower, deserves notice 
 before it is quite pulled down. This 
 palatial fortress was taken from its 
 former lords and ceded to the arch- 
 bishops, as a penalty for these nobles 
 having murdered the primate Don 
 Suero de Toledo, by order of Pedro the 
 ^Cruel. The herald may notice the 
 many armorial shields over the portals 
 of old houses. The artist will sketch 
 the arcaded Plaza de Teucro , where the 
 natives twaddle about Teucer, and 
 observe also the early Gothic in S a . 
 Clara, and the figures carved on the 
 cornice near the W. entrance. In the 
 massy old Franciscan convent on the 
 Plaza de la Herreria the invaders took 
 refuge after their defeat in 1809. Ob- 
 serve in the chapel to the 1. of the 
 
620 
 
 ROUTE 88. — SANTIAGO TO LUGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 high altar the tomb of the Admiral 
 Payo Charino, 1304. The Ponteve- 
 drans are good haters, and love 
 their neighbours of Vigo about as 
 much as the men of Santiago do 
 their brethren at La Coruna. The 
 Gallicians, during the war, so de- 
 tested the Asturians, that their re- 
 spective juntas would not even meet 
 each other to devise plans of self- 
 defence against the common foe ; not 
 a man of either province ever marched 
 to assist the other in the hour of dan- 
 ger. Neither the cold nor the damp 
 of the climate could repress the fierce 
 fires of local hatreds, nor could all the 
 stars of the Campus stelloe enlighten them 
 on the folly and weakness of divisions. 
 They unite, however, in love of relL 
 gious melodramas. Thus on the 5th of 
 October, 1845, the ancient ceremony of 
 blessing the sea, to make it propitious 
 to merchants, mariners, and fishermen, 
 takes place at Marin , to the S. of the 
 ria ; the principal priest of the district 
 goes out more than a league to sea 
 accompanied by all the images and 
 relics of saints collected from the sur- 
 rounding churches, and nearly a thou- 
 sand gaily decorated boats. The 
 Velada or Ruada de la Romeria de la 
 Peregrina attracts, Aug. 8, a multitude 
 of pious peasants, who enjoy much 
 nocturnal music, squibs, genuflections, 
 &c. Consult the * Historia de Pont eve- 
 dr a’ Claudio Gonzalez de Zuniga, 
 Pontevedra, 4to., 1846. 
 
 There is a direct route from Ponte- 
 vedra to Orense , 15 L., by which Tuy 
 is avoided. The grand Cistertian con- 
 vent of Acibeiro to the 1. after leaving 
 Cerdedo (4 L.), and before crossing the 
 ridge of hills, lies in its lovely valley 
 near the source of the Lerez , under 
 the heights of the wild wolf-infested 
 Candan Sierra. The founder was 
 Alonso VII. a.d. 1135: the tombs of 
 Pedro Martinez and the Abbot Gonzalo 
 still remain. 
 
 The ride, some 20 miles, from Pon- 
 tevedra to Redondela is through one 
 continued garden of corn, maize, 
 vines, and flax, with charming views 
 of the ria of Vigo to the r. Soon we 
 pass the long narrow bridge de San 
 Payo, famous for oysters and for 
 
 the complete defeat which Ney, com- 
 manding 7000 men, received, June 
 7, 1809, from some rude peasants, 
 backed by the English marines, under 
 Captain M‘Kinley, and a handful of 
 Moore’s stragglers, who did the work, 
 although Spaniards now claim all the 
 honour. This mishap is explained 
 away by the French, as resulting from 
 the misunderstanding between Ney 
 and Soult; as if Le Brave des Braves 
 would have allowed himself to be 
 beaten to oblige a hated rival. Ney 
 being a first-rate soldier probably 
 saw the military mistake of remain- 
 ing in Gallicia, as this remote corner 
 was open tQ English attack from the 
 sea, and offered strong mountain posi- 
 tions inland for Spaniards to hem in 
 an inyader. 
 
 A good deal of the stolen church 
 plate, &c. was recovered in the cap- 
 tured baggage^ of the invaders, but so 
 disproportionate to the quantity known 
 to have been taken, that a notion 
 exists in these parts that much of it is 
 buried; hence the wild treasure-hunting 
 speculations. In Dec. 1843 another ex- 
 hibition of avarice and credulity was 
 publicly made by the authorities in 
 the vain search of some of Ney’s de- 
 posits, guided by a common French 
 soldier, a former accomplice. All 
 this is very Oriental and classical. 
 Thus the Punic Bassus took in the re- 
 spectable Nero, by promising to find 
 treasure hidden by Dido, which he did 
 not (Tac. 6 An.’ xvi. 1). Bait the trap 
 well, and universal Spain is caught, 
 from the finance minister downwards, 
 for all are dreaming of Aladdin dis- 
 coveries. Oh si urn J am argenti for s quoe 
 mihi monstret ! No doubt much coin 
 is buried in the Peninsula, since the 
 country has so often been invaded and 
 torn by civil wars, and there never has 
 been much confidence between Spa- 
 niard and Spaniard; accordingly the 
 only sure, although unproductive, in- 
 vestment for those who had money, 
 was the possession of gold or silver, 
 and the only resource to preserve that, 
 was to hide it. 
 
 The exquisite scenery continues to 
 Redondela placed in the fat of the land 
 under a most delicious climate, and 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 88. — REDONDELA — YIGO. 
 
 621 
 
 long famous in song for its well fed 
 priests — 
 
 “ El abaci de Redondela 
 Come si la mejor cena .” 
 
 The town, divided by its river, and 
 connected by a bridge, stands on the 
 lake-like ria of Vigo, which now opens 
 to the S.W., and forms one of the finest 
 bays in this indented coast : deep and 
 sheltered it is navigable for vessels of 
 500 tons burden for 16 miles from the 
 sea. It is secured from the fierce At- 
 lantic by a natural breakwater, the 
 isolated Cies, ciccas (the Siccas of Pliny). 
 They are called also la?, Tslasde Bay ona* 
 There are passages into the ria outside 
 the Cies, and one between them, called 
 la Porta , the gate. These were the 
 islands which the Duke, always pre- 
 scient, wished to fortify, in order to 
 have a strong point in Gallicia to fall 
 back on in case of reverse ; but the sus- 
 picious Junta of Cadiz refused permis- 
 sion (Toreno,xiii.), exactly as they had 
 done in regard to their own port, which 
 in their hour of need and incapacity of 
 self-defence they subsequently begged 
 the Duke to garrison and defend. 
 Here, on a rocky islet about 8 miles 
 from Vigo, in an inner bay, is the 
 Lazareto , the only one on the coast, 
 where a ship coming from America or 
 the West Indies must do quarantine. 
 This inconvenient miserable Lazar- 
 house is of itself enough to breed a 
 plague ; as usual in Spain the badness 
 of the accommodation is commensu- 
 rate with the heavy charges. It is 
 jobbed by the governor. Too many 
 Spaniards are interested in the quaran- 
 tine system ever to allow this lucrative 
 but infamous system to be abolished. 
 
 Vigo , Vico Spacorum, sparkles on a 
 bend of the bay; this most ancient 
 port was much injured by the estab- 
 lishment at' El Ferrol, and the towns 
 abhor each other. Now Vigo is reviv- 
 ing, and is the point where the Pen- 
 insular steamers touch when going 
 up and down the coast. They gene- 
 
 * Bayona itself lies 4 L. of bad road from 
 Vigo, about half way to the mouth of the Mino. 
 It is very ancient, was sacked by the Normans, 
 and is alluded to by Milton in ‘ Lycidas 
 “ Namanco’s and Bayona’s hold.” Bay-on-a is 
 said to signify the “ good bay.” 
 
 rally arrive here from England in four 
 days. Travellers will meet with every 
 civility from Don Alesandro Menendez, 
 nephew to the late British consul. 
 Vigo as a place of residence for inva- 
 lids is unequalled on this coast. It lies 
 in a bosom of beauty and plenty, 
 favoured alike by the elements, earth, 
 air, and sea. It teems with flowers and 
 fruit, with corn, wine, and oil. Pop. about 
 5400. The Posadas of La Viscaina , or 
 the plaza, and the Leon d * Oro on the 
 Mercado, and La Allianza , are com- 
 fortable. Vigo retains its old walls 
 and gates, its narrow and steep 
 streets, its fish-fag suburbs, craft, 
 and costume delightful to the artist ; 
 it has a theatre, a pleasant ala- 
 meda by the Puerta del Placer , and a 
 good port, sheltered by the heights 
 behind, which are crowned with the 
 castles San Sebastian and del Castro. 
 The view from the latter is superb. 
 The modern church, although un- 
 finished and unadorned, is a simple 
 architectural temple, with a double 
 row of noble columns supporting the 
 arched nave. Consult 4 Lescripcion de 
 Vigo’ Dr. Nicolas Taboada, Santiago, 
 1840. 
 
 This port has often felt the English. 
 Drake was here in 1585 and 1589, 
 singeing the King of Spain’s whiskers, 
 until his name alone scared the whole 
 coast. He thus set an example to the 
 Duke of Ormond, Rooke, and Stan- 
 hope, who, returning from their 
 failures at Barcelona and Cadiz, heard 
 that the French fleet and the Spanish 
 Plate galleons had arrived; the bul- 
 lion was still on board, not having been 
 landed in consequence of remonstrances 
 from the selfish Cadiz authorities, 
 whose port alone had the privilege to 
 import silver ; thereupon the English, 
 Oct. 22 (N.S.), with only 25 ships, 
 sailed into the bay, wisely attacked in- 
 stanter, and in spite of the batteries 
 armed with 20,000 men, in 44 two hours,” 
 destroyed the enemy, taking 6 French 
 and 5 Spanish ships, and burning and 
 sinking 12 of the former and 8 of the 
 latter (see impartial Account ’ 4to. Lon- 
 don, 1703, printed for R. Gibson). 
 Count Chateau Renaud, with his 
 French convoys, fled in the middle of 
 
622 
 
 ROUTE 88, SANTIAGO TO LUGO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 the action, leaving his allies in the 
 lurch like Dumanoir at Trafalgar. 
 The English victory was complete, and 
 the hostile fleets were destroyed. Now, 
 according to our ingenious neighbours, 
 this Chateau Renaud is a naval hero, 
 and his modest epitaph ran thus : — 
 
 “ C’y git le plus sage des Hdros : 
 
 II vanquit sur la terre, il vanquit sur les eaux.” 
 
 He died, at all events, immensely rich ; 
 and therefore it is conjectured, that all 
 the Spanish treasures were not lost and 
 sunk in Vigo bay. Rooke, who fluttered 
 this invincible, died poor, and his will 
 records the reason: — “I do not leave 
 much, but what I do leave was honestly 
 gotten: it never cost a sailor a tear, 
 or the nation a farthing.” Like the 
 Roman of old, “ gloriam ingentem , 
 divitias honestas volebat” (Sail. ‘B.C/ 
 7). The bulk of the treasure was said 
 to have been cast into the sea ; at all 
 events much money has since been 
 thrown after it in idle diving specu- 
 lations ; but Gallicia is the land for 
 treasure-seeking, whether under earth 
 or water. The losses sustained at 
 Vigo nearly ruined Philip V., as those 
 at Cadiz had so sorely crippled Philip 
 II. The place was again attacked and 
 almost destroyed, Oct. 11, 1719, by 
 Lord Cobham. 
 
 Vigo, Feb. 1809, surrendered at 
 once to a bold charge of gallant French 
 dragoons under Franceschi; but the 
 town was retaken, March 27, by a 
 motley band under a priest, the Abbad 
 de Valladares (for in Gallicia the curas 
 are still called abbots, as they once 
 were all over Spain). Then the since 
 notorious Pablo Morillo was created 
 at once a colonel, because the French 
 would not treat with peasants. This 
 man, ignorant of the rudiments of 
 war, accepted from Chalot a sort 
 of contra-convention of Cintra, by 
 which the enemy with all their 
 spoil would have been transported to 
 France ; but Captain M‘Kinley, who 
 was blockading Vigo with the “ Lively” 
 and “ Venus” frigates, again did the 
 real work, demurred, and 1300 French- 
 men were made prisoners, with some 
 of the pillage taken from the Escorial 
 by La Houssaye (Southey, xix.). The 
 
 uninteresting mule-track from Vigo to 
 Tuy joins the Santiago high road at 
 el Porrino, a village of shoemakers, 
 from whence a new road is carried to 
 
 Vigo. 
 
 Tuy, Tade adL. fines, was founded, se 
 dice, by iEtolian Diomede, the son of Ty- 
 deus (Sil. Ital. iii. 367) ; and (Morales, 
 * Viage,’ 145) here discovered a Greek 
 altar and a Greek sculpture of some 
 wrestlers. The Gothic king Witiza in 
 700 made Tuy his residence and court ; 
 destroyed by the Moors in 716 , the 
 site was recovered in 740 by Alonso 
 el Catolico, and the old town rebuilt 
 in 915 by Ordono I. 
 
 Tuy, once an important frontier 
 town on the Miiio, regularly built and 
 walled round, is decayed and decaying. 
 Pop. under 4000. Yet the climate is 
 delicious, and the fertility of the vegas 
 unbounded. In this happy corner of 
 Gallicia the valleys, especially la Vega 
 de Louro , with its oranges, rival Anda- 
 lucia, and speak for the soil and sky 
 of a land which Providence has so 
 much blessed, and man so disregarded. 
 The wines are excellent ; the salmon, 
 savalos, and trout abundant. The best 
 rivers are the Louro, Tea, and Avia. 
 The castellated cathedral, begun in 
 1145, is suffragan to Santiago. The 
 silleria and cloisters are fine. The 
 patron saint here is in the naval, not 
 the military, line, as at Santiaga ; 
 Pedro Gonzalez, alias San Telmo , the 
 hope of Spanish mariners, represents 
 the Fratres Helenee of the ancient Ita- 
 lians, and also the San Antonio of the 
 modern ones. He it was who fur- 
 nished to San Ferdinand the fair 
 wind by which the bridge of boats at 
 Seville was broken through. San 
 Telmo was canonized by Innocent IV. 
 in 1254, and Florez (‘ Esp. Sag ’ xxiii. 
 131) has written his life and miracles. 
 He had a particular knack when alive 
 of walking dry shod on the sea. He 
 appears in storms at the mast-head in 
 a lambent flame ( Lucida sidera ), as a 
 signal that the winds will cease. Ac- 
 cordingly the Spanish sailors, when it 
 begins to blow hard, fall to prayers to 
 him, instead of lowering top-sails and 
 reefing ; in short, he has superseded 
 the part of the Pagan “ Dioscuri,” 
 
Gallicia. 
 
 ROUTE 88. RIVADAVIA ORENSE. 
 
 623 
 
 and is himself both Castor and Pollux 
 (see Pliny, 4 N.H.’ 2, 36). As he gene- 
 rally appears after the danger is over 
 his supernatural assistance is likened 
 to ordinary socorros de Espaha. San 
 Telmo is the Campazant corruption of 
 Corpo Santo by our Jacks, as well as 
 the San Nicolas of the Greeks, the 
 storm saviour “ Old Nick.” The 
 tomb of this 44 Nautarum Patronus,” 
 with gilt rejas and arches, and hung 
 with votive tablets (compare Virgil, 
 On. xii. 767, Horace, Od. 1. 5, 14), 
 was raised here in 1579 by Bishop 
 Diego de Avellanada. His friend Don 
 Lucas de Tuy , the historian, commonly 
 called El Tudense, lies buried near 
 him : for his life see Florez ( 4 Esp. 
 Sag/ xxii. 108) ; 4 Antiguedad de Tag/ 
 Prudencio de Sandoval, duo. Braga, 
 1610. The episcopal palace was in 
 the Alcazar, but this and other de- 
 fences were much injured by the in- 
 vaders. There is a sort of Museo with 
 poor books and pictures in the Colegio 
 San Fernando. 
 
 As there is no bridge here across the 
 Mino to Valenza, the strongly fortified 
 Portuguese frontier, Soult, Feb. 10, 
 1809, desired Thomieres to force a 
 passage in boats, in attempting which 
 this blunderer, who afterwards made 
 the false move which lost the battle of 
 Salamanca, was beaten back by the Por- 
 tuguese Ordenanzas; and the French 
 were obliged to go up to the bridge at 
 Orense. On what small hinges do 
 mighty destinies turn ! This trifling 
 delay prevented Soult from reaching 
 Lisbon at once, and gave time to Eng- 
 land to send forth her squadrons to 
 Portugal. The Duke landed, and for 
 the second time expelled the French, 
 and thereby led the way to the de- 
 liverance of Spain. 
 
 The pleasant road to Orense borders 
 the Miho. Rivadavia, with some 1200 
 souls, is an irregular, dull place on the 
 “ bank of the Avia,” which flows 
 down from its rich basin. The ancient 
 convent of Los Dominicos was the 
 palace of the kings of Gallicia down to 
 the time of Garcia, son of Fernando 
 el Magno. The hams made at Cal- 
 delas are excellent. Mem. : always 
 have one in the commissariat, and a 
 
 bota full of Tostado. The wines are 
 renowned, although the process of 
 making them is classically rude. Frois- 
 sart has graphically described how the 
 inhabitants of Rivadavia , in 1385, held 
 out for a month against Sir Thomas 
 Percy to his surprise, for they 44 were 
 but peasants, and not one gentleman 
 in the town.” He prepared a battering- 
 ram, which so scared the townsfolk 
 that they desired to surrender, when 
 the English laughed, and said, 44 We 
 don’t understand your Gallician.” 
 They sacked the town, plundered the 
 rich Jews, ate so much pork, and 
 drank so much wine, that they were 
 disabled for two days, so immemori- 
 ally has wine been the foe which 
 surely triumphs over the English 
 soldier. Orense, when the grand road 
 between Vigo and Madrid is com- 
 pleted, will become an outlet for these 
 rich port-like wines. 
 
 Orense , aquse urentes (Warmsee), was 
 celebrated in antiquity for its 44 warm 
 baths,” and these, called Las Burgas , 
 are still frequented from July to Sep- 
 tember. They gush forth at the W. of 
 the town from a granite rock, in three 
 sources, almost boiling ; that de abajo 
 serves as a lavandero. The baths are 
 very Spanish, the sexes bathing to- 
 gether. Orense , kept clean by so much 
 hot water, is the capital of its pro- 
 vince, and the residence of local au- 
 thorities, and of a bishop, suffragan to 
 Santiago : pop. under 5000. It is plea- 
 santly situated, rising gently above 
 the Mino, and girdled by hills ; the 
 delicious valleys are studded with farms 
 and villages. The bridge is striking, 
 1319 feet long, rising rather steeply. 
 The grand arch is some 156 feet wide, 
 and 135 high from the bed of the river, 
 on account of sudden inundations. It 
 was built in 1230 by Bishop Lorenzo, 
 and repaired in 1449 by Bishop Pedro 
 de Silva. It is connected with the 
 town by a sort of second bridge or 
 causeway. 
 
 Orense was patronised by the Goths, 
 and here the Suevi-Gothi first re- 
 nounced Paganism. A cathedral, dedi- 
 cated to St. Martin, was built so early 
 as 550, and rebuilt by Alonso el Casto, 
 was granted to the bishop in 1131. 
 
624 
 
 ROUTE 88. — SOULT AT OPORTO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 The present Gothic central edifice was 
 raised by Bishop Lorenzo in 1220. 
 Santa Euphemia — the well speaking — 
 is the local patroness : her body was 
 discovered by a shepherdess on the 
 confines of Portugal, from its having 
 put out its hand, from which the girl 
 took off a ring, and was struck dumb, 
 but recovered her speech by putting it 
 on again. The body was then brought 
 to 0 reuse in 1 157, working miracles all 
 the way (Morales, 4 Viage / 148). Ob- 
 serve her silver-plated shrine, and 
 those of San Facundo and San Primi- 
 tivo, local and primitive saints. Visit 
 the Capilla del Cristo Crucificado , 
 founded in 1567 by Bishop Francisco 
 Triccio, with the wonderful image; 
 also that of San Juan Bautista, rebuilt 
 in 1468 by the Conde de Benavente, in 
 atonement for the ravages done to the 
 cathedral during his family feuds with 
 the rival house of Lemos. Notice also 
 the tomb of Quintana by Sola, and the 
 portal el Pciraiso, enriched with infinite 
 angels and saints. The antique clois- 
 ters were erected in 1204 by Bishop 
 Ederonio : observe the inscription. 
 The Capilla de la Maria Madre was 
 restored in 1722, and connected by 
 the cloisters to the cathedral ; eight of 
 the canons were called Cardenales , as 
 at Santiago, and they alone did service 
 before the high altar. This custom 
 was recognised as “ immemorial ” by 
 Innocent III., in 1209. Consult for 
 this cathedral ‘Noticias historicas ’ Juan 
 Munoz de la Cueva, 4to. Mad. 1726. 
 The ecclesiologist may look at the old 
 circular towers of the Parroquia de la 
 Trinidad . In the former Jesuitas are 
 some books and pictures of San Ro- 
 zendo brought from Celanova. For 
 this diocese refer to Florez (‘ Esp.Sag.,’ 
 xvii.), and the useful map by Cornide 
 and Lopez, Mad. 1763. 
 
 Orense is a good head-quarter for the 
 angler. The best rivers in the vicinity 
 are the Avia, Arenteiro, Mino (higher 
 up), and crossing it, the Sil, Cave, 
 Nabea, Arnoya, and Limia. 
 
 It was from Orense that Soult in- 
 vaded Portugal, having Loison and 
 Foy for his lieutenants. They met 
 with no resistance up to Oporto, which 
 they sacked, butchering in cold blood 
 
 some 10,000 men, women, and chil- 
 dren ; but the avenger was at hand, 
 and the Duke pounced upon Soult, 
 who fled, May 12, 1809, performing a 
 retreat unequalled in horrors, both suf- 
 fered and committed, even by that of 
 Massena. Thus was Moore most nobly 
 avenged. The cruel coward Loison 
 proposed to open a Cintra convention, 
 but the bold and skilful Soult pre- 
 ferred setting an example to Massena, 
 rather than following that of Junot. 
 He abandoned everything that consti- 
 tutes an army, but impedes rapidity : 
 thus he saved his men by sacrificing 
 guns, baggage, and plunder. His troops 
 reached Orense .almost naked, from 
 whence 76 days before they had set 
 forth with 26,000 men and 78 can- 
 non, now reduced to 19,500 unarmed 
 stragglers. They fell back on Bena- 
 vente, venting their irritation under 
 military repulse on the homes and per- 
 sons of the defenceless peasantry. 
 
 The Portuguese frontier on the route 
 to Chaves begins near Feces de Abajo, 
 12 L. from Orense. The exact line of 
 demarcation is uncertain, and the cause 
 of law-suits, for the ancient documents 
 were burnt by Soult during his retreat. 
 The Coto misto is a sort of neutral 
 ground. One L. from Allariz, itself 3 
 L. from Orense (see p. 623), on the 
 other side of the Miiio, is the once 
 wealthy abbey of Benedictines at Cela- 
 nova , founded in 973 by San Rudesinto, 
 or Rusendo. In the garden is one of 
 the oldest chapels in Spain, supposed 
 to be the work of Vivianus, and before 
 973. In the abbey-church are the 
 ancient sepulchres of Ilduara and 
 Adosinda, the mother and sister of the 
 founder, who was buried in a curious 
 sepulchre supported on four pillars, 
 and constructed after the fashion of 
 that of San Torcuato, one of the com- 
 panions of Santiago. His body was 
 deposited by the Christians at the 
 Moorish invasion at Santa Comba, 
 distant 4j L, : being near the frontier, 
 some Portuguese carried it off, when 
 a mist came on, and losing their way 
 they brought it to Celanova , whose 
 convent bells began forthwith to ring 
 of their own accord. There are two 
 cloisters : in that called El Processional 
 
Gallicia. rtes. 89,90, 91. — orense to Santiago, lugo, and oviedo. 625 
 
 observe the curious columns ; in the 
 other, more modern, notice the fountain 
 and railing, El Poleiro : look at the sala 
 capitular and brick mosaic pavement. 
 The Doric church has two separate 
 choirs : notice the carved door of com- 
 munication, and the walnut silleria. 
 The convent is now partly a prison, 
 partly an office. 
 
 Among the many here neglected 
 memorials of the dead was- that in- 
 scribed with the well-known epitaph, 
 a.d. 1324: — “ Era 1362: Aqui jaz 
 Feijoo Escudeiro , bon fidalgo e verda- 
 deiro , gran casadar e monteiro.” But 
 we are in the real region of Lethe and 
 the Limia, the real river of oblivion, 
 which the soldiers of Junius Brutus 
 hesitated to pass over (see p. 542). This 
 rich district, the granary of Gallicia, 
 will interest the sportsman and the 
 naturalist. The Laguna abounds with 
 leeches, as becomes the country of 
 Sangrado. Among the aquatic birds 
 notice the Gayo , which, like the par- 
 rot, is taught to imitate the sound of 
 the human voice. 
 
 Communications with Orense. For 
 the line to Benavente, and hence on 
 to Madrid, see R. 70. When once at 
 Orense, an excursion should by all 
 means be made to the Vierzo (see p. 
 540), or at all events as far as Monte 
 Furado del Sil. 
 
 Route 89. — Oeense to Santiago. 
 
 Bouzas . , . . , 
 
 . 2 
 
 
 Pinor . 
 
 . 14 . 
 
 . 34 
 
 Castrodozon . . , 
 
 . l . 
 
 . 44 
 
 Gesta .... 
 
 . 14 . 
 
 . 6 
 
 Fojo 
 
 
 
 Castrovite . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 10 
 
 Barca de Ulla . . 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 11 
 
 Susana .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 13 
 
 Santiago . . . 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 14 
 
 This cross-road, after passing the 
 ranges at Pinor and Castrodozon, de- 
 scends into the rich basin of the Ulla, 
 which is crossed near Castrovite , leaving 
 el Padron to the 1., and the conical hill 
 el Pico Sacro to the r. 
 
 The bridle-road from Orense to 
 Lugo ascends the Miiio, which divides 
 the Chantada and Puerto Marin dis- 
 tricts from Monforte, 
 
 Route 90. — Oeense to Lugo. 
 
 Readego .... 
 
 . 14 
 
 
 Chantada ... 
 
 . 34 . . 
 
 5 
 
 Taboada ... 
 
 .2 . . 
 
 7 
 
 Naron .... 
 
 . 24 .. 
 
 94 
 
 Puntin .... 
 
 . 1 .. 
 
 104 
 
 Lugo .... 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 134 
 
 This road is rough and often flooded 
 in winter, but the fishing is good, as 
 about 6 miles from Orense the river 
 branches : the grand stream comes 
 dow r n by Chantada and Puerto Marin , 
 5 L., which lies to the r. of the Miiio ; 
 this pretty place (pop. 600), divided 
 by the river, with a good bridge, 
 belonged first to the Templars, and 
 then to the knights of St. John. The 
 Colegiata, San Nicolas, is an unfinished 
 Gothic edifice of excellent masonry. 
 Observe the delicate bassi-relievi over 
 the doors. The palace of the Bovedas , 
 the hospital for pilgrims, and the whole 
 place, were dreadfully sacked by the 
 invaders under Maurice Mathieu. 
 
 The angler, when at Orense, may 
 ascend the rich valley of Lemos to 
 Monforte , a tidy place with 800 souls, 
 on the Cabe, and thence to its conflu- 
 ence with the Sil and Miiio, near San 
 Esteban. The country is rich and 
 pastoral, the bacon delicious, and the 
 Biscochos renowned. Near the town is 
 a curious tidal fountain. From Mon - 
 forte the angler may proceed by Monte - 
 furado to the Vierzo , and either as- 
 cend to Ponferrada or work down to 
 Puebla de Sanabria (see p. 543). The 
 summer is the best period. Take a 
 local guide, and attend to the 4 4 pro- 
 vend.” 
 
 From central Lugo there are two 
 communications, with the Asturias : 
 one coasts the sea-board, the other 
 threads the inland valleys. 
 
 Route 91. — Lugo to Oviedo by 
 Sea-coast. 
 
 Quintela . . . 
 
 . 34 
 
 
 Bean .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 64 
 
 Mondonedo . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 94 
 
 Villa Martin 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 114 
 
 Rivadeo .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 144 
 
 Franco .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 174 
 
 Navia .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 194 
 
 Luarca .... 
 
 . 34 . 
 
 . 23 
 
 Las Ballotas . . 
 
 . 34 . 
 
 . 264 
 
 Muros .... 
 
 . 34 . 
 
 . 30 
 
626 
 
 EOUTE 91. LUGO TO OVIEDO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 Aviles 2i . . 32i 
 
 Villadoveyo . . . 2£ . . 35 
 
 Oviedo 2i . . 37i 
 
 The distances are given approxi- 
 matively. The leagues are very long, 
 and the road after Navia to Aviles is a 
 constant up and down. The accom- 
 modations are tolerable : the fish every- 
 where, both sea and river, is excellent. 
 Leaving Lugo, an uninteresting swampy 
 country intervenes to Bean , after which 
 the road ascends and descends, over- 
 looking pleasant nooks, with the dis- 
 tant sea filling up the gaps in the 
 mountain horizon with a border of 
 blue. Mondonedo, Britona, with a tole- 
 rable posada , stands in an oval and 
 highly-cultivated valley, under the hill 
 Infiesta , and surrounded by the clear 
 tributaries of the Masma. It is the see 
 of a bishop, suffragan to Santiago ; pop. 
 7 000. The cathedral, with two pepper- 
 box towers, was begun in 1221 : in 
 1595-99, four chapels were added be- 
 hind the Capilla Mayor. The Sanctu- 
 ario de Nuestra Senora de los Bemedios is 
 worth notice, as the image la Grande is 
 also called la Inglesa, because brought 
 from St. Paul’s, London, at the Re- 
 formation. Mondonedo , and the dis- 
 tricts of Vivero and Navia , were com- 
 pletely sacked in 1809 by Maurice 
 Mathieu, who here surprised the old 
 blockhead Wors ter and his Gallicians, 
 who were swaggering and feasting 
 under the delusion that the French 
 were running away from them, which 
 became a reality, when they forthwith 
 fled from the French. 
 
 At Sargadelos, 5 L. distant, on the sea 
 near Cape Burela, is an iron-foundry, 
 established in 1792 by Antonio Ibanez, 
 under the auspices of the German 
 officer Rister. Ibanez, who planted 
 and civilised this wild track, was mur- 
 dered, because a friend of Godoy’s. 
 Here the shot and shells for the arse- 
 nals of el Ferrol were cast. The ore is 
 found at San Miguel de Reinante, near 
 Barreiros, and is embarked at Foz on 
 the Masma, to the 1. of Rivadeo. A 
 pottery has recently been set up here. 
 The woods and rocks, and the new 
 road to the coast, are striking. 
 
 Leaving Mondonedo , at 1 L. on the 
 Masma, is the fine Benedictine convent 
 
 of San Salvador at Lorenzana, founded 
 in 969 by the Conde Gutierre Osorio, 
 who afterwards became a monk, went 
 to Jerusalem, died, and was buried 
 here in a superb marble and mosaic 
 ornamented tohib: for his life and 
 miracles see 4 Esp. Sag.’ xviii. 296. Here 
 also is buried his sister Urraca. The 
 convent was completely pillaged by 
 the French. The last league into 
 Rivadeo , called la legua de Rochella, is 
 the longest in Gallicia. The country 
 is full of farm-houses and villages. 
 Much flax and maize are produced: 
 the latter is dried in buildings pierced 
 with slits, like windows for arrows. 
 
 Rivadeo is a sweetly-situated town 
 (pop. 2500) on the “ banks of the Eo” 
 and of its beautiful ria or bay, abound- 
 ing in fruit, vegetables, and excellent 
 fish. There is a decent posada : also 
 a small house with good accommoda- 
 tion, kept by the Spanish widow of a 
 Frenchman. On the pretty alameda 
 stands an Alcacer, with two towers and 
 a Moorish-looking gate. The Castillo 
 commands the lovely bay, which is 
 spread out like an indented lake. The 
 cannon were thrown into the pellucid 
 sea during the war, and there they 
 may be still seen, unrecovered by 
 the apathetic natives. The towns of 
 Figueras and Castropol rise on emi- 
 nences opposite. 
 
 The river Eo, famous for its oysters 
 and fishing, flows into the bay, and 
 divides the provinces of Gallicia and 
 Asturias. The salmon- fishing at Abres , 
 2 L. up, is renowned. The angler may 
 go from Abres over the Suria to Berdin, 
 and thence 3 L. to the splendid Navia : 
 the banks are rocky in places. Now 
 the picturesque but tedious road con- 
 tinues to Aviles , 1 7 L. along the coast, 
 with the sea close to the 1. The spurs 
 of the hills come down to the shore, 
 and through their dips flow infinite 
 streams. Thus it is one continual 
 up hill and down hill, cuesta arriba 
 y cuesta aba jo, and one ferrying and 
 fording: little real progress is made 
 after much labour to man and beast. 
 
 On leaving Rivadeo , a ferry-boat 
 effects a passage of a quarter of an 
 hour to Figueras, the first town in the 
 Asturias. If the weather is bad, it 
 
Gallicia . 
 
 ROUTE 91. — MUROS— AVILES. 
 
 627 
 
 will be necessary to go round tbe ria, 
 crossing over to Castropol , a steep, 
 clambering, fishy town, near which 
 some workings of an old tin-mine 
 have been discovered by Mr. Schultz. 
 The country soon becomes wild and 
 boggy, and we reach Navia , built on 
 its splendid salmon river. The Meson 
 is decent. Luarca is not seen until it is 
 entered, as this pretty spot is nestled 
 in a sheltered cove between the points 
 Las Mugeres and Focicon. The trout- 
 stream Bio Negro comes down into 
 the bay. The houses are most pic- 
 turesque, and a chapel, with a whitened 
 tower, hangs above on a rock, a land- 
 mark to ships, and put into the picture 
 to please painters. At the clean little 
 inn, with its pretty garden, the angler 
 might put up. This locality is thickly 
 peopled, and. cultivated with maize. 
 The peasants have less of the misery 
 of the interior of Gallicia : their homes 
 are more comfortable, and their win- 
 dows oftener glazed. The costume 
 and manner change and improve as 
 we advance into the Asturias. 
 
 Hence to the river Caneiro , 1 L., and 
 Las Ballot as, as a jumbled series of 
 hills is called, which extend to Mur os, 
 6 L., romantic, indeed, but fatiguing 
 to the horseman ; the broken and dis- 
 located strata afford fine sections to 
 the geologist, while the botany and 
 trees on the slopes delight the artist 
 and lover of natural history ; unfor- 
 tunately, their stems are too often 
 trimmed up. At Soto the lemon and 
 orange re-appear. The Meson at Soto 
 de Budinia, placed amid noble chesnuts, 
 in a charming Swiss-like valley, a 
 little out of the road, is strongly re- 
 commended by Capt. Widdrington as 
 head-quarters. 
 
 The 7 L. to Muros took us nine 
 hours’ riding. Here Jovellanos was 
 wrecked by the inhospitable sea, and 
 insulted by the worse authorities on 
 land; he died Nov. 27, 1811, at Vega, 
 near Navia, worn out with age and. 
 fatigue, and heart-broken at the in- 
 gratitude of his country (see B. White, 
 
 4 Letters,’ p. 480). Crossing the deep 
 blue and glorious fishing river, the 
 Pravia, is the Castillo de la Barca, 
 “ the castle of the ferry-boat,” where 
 
 an ancient square tower defends the 
 passage. The scenery resembles De- 
 vonshire, with sloping wood-clothed 
 banks, dipping into the water, damp 
 and green as Mount Edgcumbe. 2 ^ 
 L. of infamous road, up and down 
 over ruts and broken stones, lead to 
 Aviles; before which, about 1 L. to 
 the 1., on the sea-coast, are the rich 
 coal-mines of Arnao, primitively and 
 picturesquely worked by an Hispano- 
 Belge company. The adit to the 
 mine hangs about 30 feet above the 
 sea; the shaft runs about 1200 feet 
 deep, and runs below the water’s level. 
 The seam of coal is about 40 feet 
 thick. 
 
 Aviles (equidistant between Santan- 
 der and El Ferrol, 34^ L.) is situated 
 about 1 L. from the sea, with an open 
 ria, flooded at high- water, and well 
 stocked with wild-fowl in winter. A 
 portion of these valuable salt-marshes 
 has been redeemed by an embankment. 
 The dull red roofs, and absence of 
 any spire, announce this gloomy old 
 town, which is entered by a causeway 
 over a swamp, passing the large old 
 church of San Nicolas. Pop. about 
 3500. Posada decent. 
 
 Aviles, Argenteorolla, the capital of 
 its Consejo, and one of the cradles of 
 the monarchy, is cheap, and well pro- 
 vided with fruit and fish : some traffic 
 is carried on in copper-mines in the 
 vicinity. The streets are irregular, 
 damp, and arcaded ; the Plaza sombre. 
 The women are pretty, and walk with 
 elegance, especially the maidens, who 
 come out to draw water after an Ori- 
 ental and classical fashion : light and 
 sure is the chamois step of these grace- 
 ful Rebeccas andHebes: upright their 
 figure, and picturesque their bearing. 
 The well or fountain in Spain, as in 
 the East, is the morning and evening 
 Tejtulia of the womankind, who here 
 pause a moment from a life of toil, to 
 criticise and abuse their friends, for 
 scandal everywhere refresheth the sex. 
 Their costume is quite a l’antique ; a 
 handkerchief, tightly drawn, defines 
 the form of the head, while the hair 
 and knots are collected behind, and 
 fall quite in a Greek model. The 
 boddices are of velvet, or coloured 
 
628 
 
 KOUTE 92. LUGO TO OVIEDO. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 cloth, with a tippet crossed over the 
 bosom. 
 
 The architect may look at some re- 
 mains of the rude old walls near the 
 quay, which, with the Puente de San 
 Sebastian , is respectable. The fondea- 
 dero , or spot for anchorage, is called 
 de San Juan. The frontal of San Ni- 
 colas , built in the Norman style, is 
 composed of animals, flowers, zigzag 
 and engrailed patterns. In the inte- 
 rior is a statue of Nuestra Senora del 
 Carmen , with lengthy fingers, by 
 Antonio Borja, and an old tomb of 
 the La Sallas family, supported by 
 eight Byzantine Alhambra-like lions. 
 The font is hollowed out of a Corin- 
 thian capital. The Capilla de Solis 
 was built in 1499 by Rodrigo de Bor- 
 ceros, for Pedro de Solis, who also 
 founded the hospital in 1515. In the 
 huge San Francisco observe the early 
 windows in the clerestory, and the 
 three old tombs, and a Santa Rosa 
 by Borja, an Asturian sculptor 
 of the time of Philip III. Juan 
 Carreno de Miranda, the painter, 
 was born here, March 25, 1614. 
 Among ancient houses, observe La 
 Casa de Baragaha , in which Don Pe- 
 dro el Cruel lodged, and that of the 
 Ms. de Campo Sagrado, with his arms 
 on the fa£ade. This nobleman, right 
 hospitable, and a lover of the angle, 
 possesses large domains in these parts, 
 and is the representative of a house so 
 ancient and illustrious, as to be ranked 
 next to the Divinity. 
 
 Despues de Dios , 
 
 La Casa de Quiros. 
 
 The antiquarian should examine the 
 archives of Aviles , and enquire for the 
 original Carta-pueblo , or charter granted 
 by Alonso VII. in 1135. This curious 
 relic of ancient writing and language 
 is admirably preserved. 
 
 Aviles was selected by the Royal 
 North of Spain Railroad Company to be 
 the terminus of this grand line to Ma- 
 drid, projected by Messrs. Keily and 
 Rembel, and which, intended to pass 
 through Oviedo and Leon, ended in 
 smoke. The special Report of this finale 
 (see ‘Morning Chronicle/ Dec. 18, 
 1845) ought to be printed in letters of 
 gold. Mr. Keily sacked some 25,000/. 
 
 for his invention and project, which, 
 according to the prospectus, “ pre- 
 sented no engineering difficulties and 
 it was only when Sir Joshua Walmesly 
 sent out, unlike his namesake, to in- 
 spect the site, after the scheme was 
 entertained, that a mountain-range, 
 some 6000 feet high, started up on 
 this line, to the pocket detriment of 
 British speculators. Qui decipi vult, 
 decipiatur. 
 
 At Mansanara , about 1 L. from 
 Aviles , is a curious ancient church of 
 the Norman style. The arch over the 
 high altar is extremely beautiful, and 
 the masonry admirably preserved ; the 
 corbels and roof deserve notice. This 
 building is of the 11th century, and 
 belonged once to the Templars. 
 
 Oviedo lies distant from Aviles 5 L., 
 the first 3 very hilly. To the r. lies 
 beautiful Pravia , enchanting as seen 
 from the hill above, with its sweet 
 vega and river. The sea-trout fishing 
 between Pravia and Mures is excel- 
 lent ; a boat is necessary. The invete- 
 rate local hatred between Pravia and 
 La Pilona still exists ; when the neigh- 
 bours meet even at Madrid, they fall 
 to fighting, like the Irish, to the old 
 war cry, Viva Pravia , Viva La Pilona. 
 To the 1. a most extensive view opens, 
 with Gijon projecting on a tongue of 
 land, the road to which from Oviedo 
 branches off at Lugones. Entering the 
 superb Camino Real is Oviedo, with a 
 glorious background of misty cloud- 
 capt hills towering one above another, 
 the fit mountain capital of the wild 
 Asturias. 
 
 Route 92. — Lugo to Oviedo. 
 
 Mura .... 
 
 
 
 Fonsagrada . . . 
 
 . 3 , 
 
 .. 8 
 
 Acebo .... 
 
 . 2 
 
 .. 10 
 
 Puente Salime . , 
 
 . 3 
 
 . . 13 
 
 Berducedo . . . 
 
 . 2 , 
 
 . . 15 
 
 Pola de Allende 
 
 . 2 , 
 
 .. 17 
 
 Cangas de Tineo . 
 
 . 3 
 
 .. 20 
 
 Tineo .... 
 
 . 4 
 
 .. 24 
 
 Salas .... 
 
 . 3 , 
 
 .. 27 
 
 Grado .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 .. 30 
 
 Oviedo .... 
 
 
 .. 34 
 
 Another and shorter inland route 
 strikes more to the 1. over the moun- 
 tains by Castroverde 4 L., Fonsagrada 
 4 L ., Penaforte , 3 L., Grandas de Sa - 
 lime 1 L., Montefurado 2 L., Tineo 4 L., 
 
Gallicia. route 93. — cangas de tineo to villafranca. 
 
 629 
 
 and so on to Oviedo , only 28 L., but 
 more difficult ; indeed, both these 
 routes are rough riding at all times, 
 and in winter scarcely practicable, 
 from snow in the passes, and the river 
 floods. In the summer they are Swiss- 
 like, pastoral, and delicious to the 
 artist and angler. Take, at all events, 
 a local guide, and attend to the pro- 
 vend. It was by this Koute that Ney 
 advanced, in May, 1809, on Oviedo, 
 and converted these happy valleys 
 into scenes of misery and dens of 
 thieves : the invaders pillaged and 
 destroyed everything within reach. 
 Although Romana and the Junta were 
 warned against this blow, which a 
 thousand men in these defiles might 
 have parried, they were so busied in 
 their low and local intrigues, that 
 nothing was done ; nay, even the boats 
 at Corvellana were left to facilitate the 
 French passage. Ney pounced on 
 Oviedo, May 19, Romana having ran 
 away the night before. 
 
 The valley of the Navia is charming. 
 This good salmon and trout river rises 
 near Nogales, and enters the sea at Na- 
 via, having wound down a Swiss-like 
 valley, with the high range which 
 divides it from the basin of the Eo, 
 walling it up to the left. The best 
 point is between Belmonte and Corvel- 
 lana. , which make head-quarters. 
 
 Soon the province of Asturias is 
 entered ; after crossing the Navia by a 
 good bridge at Salime, the angler may 
 put up at Berduredo , in the heart of the 
 Consejo de Allende, and in its hill-girt 
 valley. Pop. 500. Another ridge 
 separates the valley of the Navia , 
 which now turns up to the 1., from 
 that of the Narcea , on Which Cangas 
 de Tineo , the head of its Consejo, is 
 built. Here the Narcea — N aharcea, the 
 rapid — being joined by other tributa- 
 ries coming down from the spurs of 
 the Leon range, really becomes a river 
 in the full salmon and trout accepta- 
 tion of the term. The cordales, or 
 hills, with defiles, have each its stream ; 
 the best will be found to be the Luina, 
 Naviega, and the Pequena, lower down. 
 
 Cangas de Tineo in its hill-girt shell, 
 Concha — the real etymon is Canga , a 
 broken country — pop. 1000, is a cen- 
 
 Spavi. — II. 
 
 tral point for the sportsman. The 
 wild country abounds in caza mayor y 
 menor, and the rivers with fish. The 
 artist and antiquarian will find at 
 Corias , close by, in its sweet valley, the 
 rebuilt Benedictine convent, founded 
 in 1034, by the Conde Pinolo Ximenez. 
 At Obona, the convent was founded in 
 680 by Aldegaster, son of the king of 
 Gijon, who is buried here. The situ- 
 ation on the slopes of the Guadia hill 
 is wild, and the chesnut woods are in- 
 fested with wolves. From Cangas de 
 Tineo an excursion may be made to 
 the 1. by Sobrado to Tineo , 4 L., where 
 there remains a curious old tower ; 
 thence to Salas , remarkable for the 
 casas solares of the old families of 
 Montijo, Pehalva and the historian 
 Conde de Toreno. Proceed next to 
 Corvellana, on the Narcea, 2 L., where 
 there is a tidal fountain, and a sup- 
 pressed Benedictine convent ; and 
 thence, at Grado , on the Nalon , pop. 
 1800, in its sweet valley, where the 
 angler may put up. The parish church, 
 San Pedro, is very ancient : thence to 
 Oviedo, 4 L. Those going direct from 
 Cangas to Oviedo, will descend with 
 the Narcea, which empties itself into 
 the Pravia, and both afterwards into 
 the sea near Muros. From Grado the 
 angler may fish up the valley to Ovi- 
 edo by Penaflor , 3 L., pop. 500, where 
 he may dine on a trout like Gil Bias, 
 or catch a salmon in the Nalon : ob- 
 serve the lofty bridge, and the house 
 of the Yisconde de Campo Grande, on 
 the hill Hechega. — N.B. All this radius 
 round Grado is among the best fishing 
 quarters in the N.W. of Spain ; and 
 see Oviedo, p. 635. 
 
 Those not going to Oviedo may 
 branch from Cangas de Tineo either to 
 Villafranca and the Vierzo, or to Leon. 
 
 Route 93. — Cangas de Tineo to 
 Yillafeanca. 
 
 Naviego .... 2 
 
 Puerto de Leitariegos .2 . . 4 
 
 Laceana 3 . . t 
 
 Palacios del Sil . . 3 . . 10 
 
 Toreno 3 .. 13 
 
 CacaFelos . . . .2 ..15 
 
 Villafranca .... 1 .. 16 
 
 The lofty and rugged Puerto, the 
 pass through the mountains which 
 2 f 
 
630 
 
 ROUTE 94 . — CANGAS DE TINEO TO LEON. 
 
 Sect. IX. 
 
 divide Leon from Asturias, is buried 
 during winter in snow. These districts, 
 Las Br anas, a word meaning a “ high 
 place/' consist of small hamlets of 
 chalets, chozas, mountain huts, like the 
 Bor das of N avarra, to which the breeders 
 of cattle, or vaqueros , migrate from the 
 plains in the summer: they are a 
 
 peeled race, accursed and apart, and 
 probably descendants of Moors, and the 
 term vaquero is one of deadly affront. 
 J o vellanos wrote a paper on them . These 
 nomad pastoral shepherds remove in 
 caravans like gipsies, carrying all their 
 household goods, children, and cattle. 
 They thread in summer the intricate 
 passes of the elevated heights, where 
 they pasture their flocks, and make 
 provisions of hay for winter, herding 
 entirely with their cattle, and holding 
 no commerce with the villagers below, 
 or even the other Branas on high. 
 Each little clan stands alone and aloof, 
 shunning and despising its neighbour : 
 they fence themselves in against man- 
 kind, as they do their flocks against 
 the wolf. As they never marry out of 
 their own tribe, and are all too closely 
 connected for the canonical rules of 
 wedlock, the fee for dispensations is 
 considerable. The Oriental spirit of 
 love of self and hatred of all others 
 extends even to the churches, where a 
 bar divides the flock from their fellow- 
 shepherds and villagers, whom they 
 curse even while at prayers. These 
 Bedouins of the mountain have re- 
 tained many ancient observances, 
 especially as regards their dead and 
 funerals. 
 
 Laceana is the first town of the 
 Vierzo. Now the route follows the 
 
 beautiful Sil, thence to Toreno, with a 
 good bridge to Ponferrada (seep. 538). 
 
 Route 94. — Cangas de Tineo to 
 Leon. 
 
 Puerto de Leitariegos . 
 
 . 6 
 
 
 Villableno .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 8 
 
 Puerto de la Magdalena 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 10 
 
 Riello 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 13 
 
 A la Magdalena . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 15 
 
 Campo Sagrado . . . 
 
 . 14 . 
 
 . 164 
 
 Lorenzana .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 184 
 
 Leon 
 
 . 14 . 
 
 
 Nothing can be wilder than all this 
 rarely-trodden sierra. To the 1. of the 
 pass of Leitariegos are many others; 
 first that of Somiedo, then of Cerezal, 
 then of La Mesa, thus offering open- 
 ings through the mountains all the 
 way to Pojares (see Route 97), through 
 which the grand road is carried. All 
 the Consejo of Somiedo is alpine. The 
 country is broken, and almost imprac- 
 ticable, and quite so in winter. The 
 woods abound with birds and beasts of 
 prey, as well as game ; but in the shel- 
 tered valleys an abundance of fruit is 
 raised. The rivers, with their Swiss 
 bridges, are picturesque and piscatorial. 
 The Orbigo , a beautiful stream, rises 
 near the Puerta de la Magdalena • but 
 the Luna, which joins it near Llamas 
 de la Ribera , is perhaps the best of them 
 all. It flows before its junction through 
 the Consejo de Villamor de Riello. The 
 road then strikes more to the 1., and 
 enters the charming valley of the Ber - 
 nesga, which flows down from the 
 Puerto de Pa] arcs: of course the tra- 
 veller will take a local guide, and 
 attend to the provend. For Leon, see 
 p. 546. 
 
The Asturias. 
 
 ( 631 ) 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 THE ASTURIAS. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Principality; the Character of the Country and Natives; Los Montaneses ; 
 
 Early History. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 oviedo 635 
 
 ROUTE 95. — OVIEDO TO SANTAN- 
 DER 642 
 
 Gijon ; Santillana ; Gil Bias. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ROUTE 96. — OVIEDO TO SANTAN- 
 DER 647 
 
 Covadunga. 
 
 ROUTE 97.— OVIEDO TO LEON 649 
 
 Puerto de Pajares. 
 
 ROUTE 98. — OVIEDO TO LEON 651 
 
 The best periods of visit are the warm spring and summer months. The chief object is 
 Oviedo, with the fishing and geology in its neighbourhood. The scenery and antiquities of 
 Route 95, and the scenery and fishing of Routes 96 and 97, are highly interesting. 
 
 El Principado de las Asturias, the Principality, (the Wales of the Peninsula,) 
 has always been the mountain refuge of the aborigines, unconquered alike by 
 Roman or Moor. It consists of a narrow strip, separated from Leon by an 
 inner barrier of hills, and bounded to the N. by another outward range, la 
 cordillera de la costa , which fringes the Bay of Biscay, while both of these 
 grand dorsal spines have lateral offshoots or cordales , that run into the 
 valleys and dips. The entire area contains about 310 square leagues, and is 
 divided into 69 concejos, councils or districts ; pop. about 350,000. In climate 
 and natural characteristics it is closely analogous to the Basque provinces 
 and parts of Gallicia : the Principality is a land of hill and dale, river and 
 forest ; the climate is damp ; cold in winter, and temperate in summer, 
 it is a mild form of Devonshire on a larger scale, for some of the eleva- 
 tions rise to 10,000 feet above the sea-level. The clouds, with shadowy 
 wings, always hover above these mountain ranges, which thus become a huge 
 alembic to catch and condense the sea-mists from the Atlantic. Wheat is 
 scarce in these humid regions, and the staple food is maize. The pods and 
 stalks are used for fuel, the leaves for packing fruit and for mattrasses and beds. 
 A bad bread, Borona , is made of rye, or of Escanda , a sort of spelt wheat which 
 ripens in August. A considerable quantity of cattle is reared here, where, 
 as in Gallicia, bullocks do the work of horses, as women do of asses and men. 
 
 The natural timber of oak, chestnut, silver and Scotch firs, and the Pinus 
 uncinata, is very fine, although the woods are much neglected or destroyed ; 
 but in remote districts, where safe from the axe, the timber is superb, as in the 
 forest of Liebana. Minerals abound, and many coal and iron works have 
 recently been established by foreigners, who run a risk of being used by the 
 natives, and when no longer wanted, to be abused and ejected : Cosas de Espana . 
 The flowers, vegetables, fruits, and cider resemble those of the West of Eng- 
 land : the hills abound with game, and the rivers with salmon, shad, trout, 
 and eels ; but they are sadly poached all the year round, and the water is often 
 
 2 F 2 
 
632 
 
 THE AS TU El AS. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 
 out of order. The horses, as in the times of Silius Italicus (iii. 335), although 
 small, are safe and active, being better cobs than chargers. Nero rejoiced in 
 his Asturcon (Suet. 46), but these mountaineers are better walkers than riders, 
 and use their arms quite as vigorously as their legs, being excellent singlestick 
 players and dancers. The national jigs are La Muneira and la Danza prima, 
 and a cudgel capering of remote antiquity closely resembling la Danza dels 
 bastons of the Catalans. 
 
 In the Asturias, a country little exposed to the Moorish and Spanish forays, 
 security of person and property has long existed. There are few robbers, for 
 they would starve in these poor and untravelled hills. Accordingly the 
 peasantry, instead of herding for protection in walled towns, live in small 
 farms, and often own the fields they cultivate. Land in general is more sub- 
 divided here than in the south, where large districts were granted to the con- 
 quistadores who assisted in ousting the infidel occupants. The costume of the 
 lower classes is Swiss-like; the females, when dressed in their best, wear 
 boddiees of yellow or green, laced in front and adorned with gold joy as, and 
 coral necklaces. Dark coloured serges and black mantles or dengues are 
 thrown over the head ; sometimes pretty handkerchiefs are used, which are 
 tied closely over the front, while the hair hangs down behind in long 
 plaits or trenzas. The rude Gallician madrenas , or sabots, wooden shoes, 
 are here replaced by leather ones, and a small sock, edged with red or yellow, 
 is worn over the stockings. The men generally have white felt caps turned 
 up with green, and delight in skittles. Stout in body and enduring in habits, 
 the simple natives retain in thought and deed many an old way obsolete else- 
 where. The curious in local customs may refer to their Medidas y Golonias , or 
 scapularies touched by images, and held to be phylacteries and talismans — 
 may listen to the tales of Xanas , prying fairies, or elves — may attend their jilas 
 or tertulias where the men flirt while the women spin, or be present at the 
 Esfoyanas , when the maize stalks are picked clean from rubbish. They may 
 partake of the Ramos or piled picknic dishes, or taste the Oblada, the eating 
 offering at funerals where the priests have the best place, sell the offering and 
 pocket the proceeds as their pitanza (pittance). The fear of the evil-eye is 
 very prevalent, but the panacea is a drink from harts-Aom shavings — and in 
 this Asta is cleaidy to be traced the old Phallic fascinum. For these and 
 other local usages, consult ‘ Reeuerdos de un Viagepor Espana ,’ ch. 7, et seq ., vol. i. 
 part 2. Madrid, 1 849. Both sexes are kind, civil, and well-mannered, especially 
 the women, who are gentle and attentive to the stranger. Their homes may 
 indeed be humble, and their costume homely, but, far away from cities, the 
 best qualities of the heart have never been corrupted. This is a tribute which 
 none who, like ourselves, have ridden over these rugged districts, and shared 
 in their unbought courtesies and hospitalities, will ever deny them. 
 
 The Iberian word ast implies elevation ; thus ast thor has been interpreted 
 the “ gate of lofty rocks/' The Asturians, however, love to derive the name 
 from Ayster, the “ armiger ” who, they say, settled here after the fall of Troy 
 (Sil. Ital. iii. 334), just as Santiago did in the equally out-of-the-way damp 
 Gallicia. Be that as it may, the Astures were scarcely known before the 
 reign of Augustus, and were then, like the Cantabrians, brought into subjec- 
 tion more in name than in reality. Nor were they mastered by the Goths, 
 against whom they constantly rebelled (San Isid. er. 641). The Saracenic 
 deluge, which swept unresisted from the East, was first checked and beaten 
 back from these mountains, to which the highlanders are fondly attached: 
 and here, in spite of damp, hard fare, and harder work, the average of life is 
 long, and the population, for which there is neither room nor adequate em- 
 ployment, swarming. Hence the males migrate, and do the work at Madrid pf 
 hewers of wood and drawers of water. They also become valets, indoor servants, 
 and are the Swiss of Spain, faithful, but interested — point d'argent point 
 
THE ASTURIAS. 
 
 The Asturias. 
 
 633 
 
 d’ Asturien. As cooks they are the least had in Spain — that gastronomic Erebus, 
 where people only eat in order to live, like the beasts that perish. 
 
 Many of the natives, and especially Los Montaneses and those who come from 
 Las Montanas , the hills near Santander, keep the chandlers’ and small grocery 
 shops in other parts of Spain : many others seek employment at Xerez and the 
 wine districts, where they frequently become very rich, for, like their ancestors 
 (Astur avarus, Sil. Ital. i. 231 ; Mart. x. 16. 3), they are thrifty and careful of 
 their hard-earned gains. When they have made money they return to their 
 sweet-aired hills, and, if debarred a hope of return, pine from pure Nostalgia 
 or Heim well ; but this maladie du pays — home-ache, like the goitre or itch, is 
 a disease of the highlander, who cannot live in peace if not sure that his grave 
 will be near his cradle. Those who do not leave their home at all remain 
 poor, and are hardly worked and ill-fed, both male and female, young and old. 
 They are much subject to bronchocele or goitre — Papera, Lamparon, and to the 
 Mai de Rosa, a sort of erisypelatous scurvy, which some attribute to an insuffi- 
 ciency of good linen and living, and others to the cold shadows of the damp 
 hills, which deprive the skin of the sun’s stimulating action. 
 
 The Asturias during the Peninsular war produced many notorious personages, 
 of whom the best was Jovellanos. From this, his native province, Toreno set 
 sail, to crave that aid from England which he lived to try to write down. 
 Riego, the leader of the constitutional rebellion in 18*20, Arguelles el divino, 
 Cayetano Valdes, and sundry stars of the Cadiz Cortes, rose also in these misty 
 hills. Rivals to them in the field, here Blake and Ballesteros jumped into 
 command and defeat, and few men in council or camp, could be named of larger 
 plethora of vanity, combined with greater infeasibility of practice ; but the 
 modern Asturians, whatever they may have been and have done before, under 
 Pelayus, have wofully degenerated. Their character was soon found out by 
 Lord Lynedoch, who thus wrote to Moore: “The deputies sent over knew 
 nothing but just concerning their own province, and, pour se faire valoir , they 
 exaggerated everything: for example, those of the Asturias talked louder than 
 any body, and Asturias as yet has never produced a man to the army ; ” and 
 never did since. Again, Carrol writes to Baird : “ This province, the first to 
 declare war with France, has during seven months taken no steps that I can 
 discover to make arrangements against the event of the enemy’s entering the 
 province. What has been done with the vast sums of money that came from 
 England? you will naturally ask. Plundered and misapplied, every person, 
 who had or has anything to do with money concerns, endeavouring to keep in 
 hand all he can, to be ready, let affairs turn out as they may, to help himself 
 (Nap r . i. Ap. 57-62). In this money selfishness the Astur avarus merely exhi- 
 bited one quality in which, however heterogeneous in other matters, all 
 Spaniards have a common homogeneity, for, as the Duke says of them, the first 
 thing they require uniformly is money (Disp. May 7, 1811). 
 
 The roads in the Asturias, much like those of Gallicia, savour more of the 
 age of Adam than of Macadam ; the ordinary locomotives are the primitive 
 cob, mule, or ass, just as the roads, like those star-paved highways in Gallicia 
 which are superintended by Santiago, are fit for no carriages but King Charles’s 
 wain : one magnificent Camino real , the only exception, traverses the Princi- 
 pality from Gijon and Leon to Madrid, and cost so much that Charles TV. 
 inquired if it were paved with silver. Soon, it is said, an iron railway is to be 
 constructed with the gold of England — that fond ally, who fights and pays for 
 Spain. If this grand project — “ there is much virtue in If,” — be ever realized 
 in a land of mountains, and where mountain throes bring forth mouselike 
 abortions, the benefit conferred on Madrid and Spain will be incalculable ; the 
 dear and ill-provided capital will be readily supplied with colonial produce, 
 foreign ideas, timber, fuel, fresh fruits, fish, butter, and an outlet of export will 
 be afforded for the corn and wines of the central provinces. 
 
634 
 
 THE ASTURIAS. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 
 The Asturian cross communications are impracticable for carriages ; alpine 
 in character and accommodations, but delightful to the young, the artist, and 
 the angler whether he wanders inland, or coasts the Bay of Biscay, nothing 
 can be more charming than this sweet interchange of hills and valleys, rivers, 
 woods, and plains, now land, now sea. The antiquarian and lover of romantic 
 annals will remember that this corner to which the soldiqr remnant of the Goth 
 fled, is the rude cradle from whence Pelayus sallied forth to reconstruct the shat- 
 tered monarchy and religion of Don Roderick, and here the first blow was dealt 
 which prevented Europe from being Mahomedan. Here, will be found sites 
 and churches of the 8th century, and whose nomenclature, which like form often 
 outlives substance, is very remarkable. The extreme antiquity of the creed is 
 evidenced by the primitive names of the parishes, and by the odd quaint saints 
 who are their tutelars, although elsewhere either unknown, or obsolete ; but 
 the localism of the Asturian is rivetted by these old and peculiar tutelars, how- 
 ever superseded by more modern hagiology. Many of the original churches yet 
 remain, and although many have been pillaged and desecrated by the French, 
 or barbarously neglected by the Spaniard, enough exists from which the in- 
 genious architect may reconstruct and understand the former system. The 
 Asturias have been comparatively free from the rage for 44 beautifying,” gilding, 
 and churriguerismo which came over the more wealthy localities. Left alone in 
 their poverty, potted for antiquarians, and out of the way of rich modernising 
 prelates, they remained fossils of an early ecclesiological strata much boasted 
 of by Spaniards as the architecture a Asturiana, which led to the Gothic ; these 
 curious examples, alas ! are practically left to go to ruin. The best specimens 
 are cited by Jose Cavedo in his 4 Ensayo Historicode Arquitectura,’ 8vo. Mad. 1849. 
 We again repeat, that antiquarians should especially notice all the parish 
 churches in the Asturias ; many particularly in the rural districts, are of the 
 remotest antiquity, and offer specimens of the primitive period based on Roman 
 recollections, and before the Moorish influence, which only obtained real vogue 
 late in the 13th century. 
 
 The patois spoken by the peasantry, which differs from the Gallician and is 
 called Bdble , was one of the first approaches of the Gotho-Spaniard to the 
 Romance and present Castilian idiom. It is much to be lamented that no 
 diligent German has collected its remains, whether in proverbs or ballads, for 
 in these, besides being the germs of language, many curious relics of early 
 manners and history are doubtless preserved. For some scanty remarks on this 
 Bable, see Duran, iv. 41. Some relics are preserved in the 4 Coleccion de Poesias 
 en el dialecto Asturiano ’ Jose Cavedo, 4to. Mad. 1849. But the Spaniards in the 
 mass, scarcely know what the word Philology means, and like Orientals seldom 
 understand any language, except their own. Like the Welchman the pedigree 
 of these descendants of Astyr the armiger mounts to the deluge at least, and 
 his Bdble comes down from the tower of Babel ; he is equally proud of his re- 
 ligion and cheese, but Parmesan and Puseyism are preferable. 
 
 The antiquarian may consult for this province 4 El Viage de Morales * pub- 
 lished by Florez, in folio, Madrid, 1765 ; also the 4 Esp. Sag.,’ vols. 37, 38, and 
 39 ; 4 Antigiiedades , fyc. del Principado de Asturias’ Luis Alfonso de Carballo, 
 fol. Mad. 1695; 4 Asturias ilustrada’ Jose Trellez Villademoros, 11 vols. 8vo. 
 Mad. 1760. There is an earlier edition in one folio. The natural history is de- 
 scribed by Casal ; and the German Professor Schultz prepared a geological and 
 mineralogical survey and map, a resume of which was printed in the Oviedo 
 4 Boletin ’ in June and July, 1839. 
 
 The Asturias gives the title of prince to the Spanish heir apparent, which was 
 done in professed imitation of our Prince of Wales, and at the desire of the 
 Duke of Lancaster in 1388, when his daughter Constance married Enrique, 
 eldest son of Juan I. 
 
The Asturias. 
 
 OVIEDO. 
 
 635 
 
 OVIEDO, the central mountain 
 capital of this mountain principality, 
 is a good head-quarter for the fisher- 
 man, who will here obtain a guide and 
 replenish his commissariat. Posadas, 
 La Biscaina , La Tinana , and La Cata- 
 lana , where the traveller will be better 
 used than Gil Bias was, when he came 
 to bury his father. 
 
 Oviedo, a nice clean healthy town, 
 with some 9000 inhab., is the resi- 
 dence of the provincial authorities, has 
 an audiencia territorial , a theatre, and 
 a reading society, to which foreigners 
 are readily admitted. The university, 
 a plain square edifice, has the usual 
 collection of modern French instru- 
 ments, chemical especially, and cabinet 
 of provincial fauna and mineralogy. 
 N.B. Notice the specimen of the Astu- 
 rian bear. There are also some bad 
 pictures, and a library of 12,000 vols. 
 The four principal and regular streets 
 follow the line of the roads to Gijon, 
 Leon, Grado, and Santander ; they cross 
 in a handsome plaza , and terminate in 
 alamedas, of which la Tenderia , Chambel 
 or Chamherri , and Bomhe are the most 
 frequented. The town is well supplied 
 by an aqueduct called Pilares, which 
 brings pure water from Gitoria: planned 
 in 1553 by Juan de Cerecedo, and built 
 in 1599 by Gonzalo de la Bercera. 
 The name Oviedo is derived from the 
 rivers Ove and Diva, on which Pelayus 
 defeated the Moors. Previously to 791 
 the Gothic princes resided at Cangas 
 and Pravia , until Alonso el Casto made 
 this place his court and capital, and 
 founded the see in 810. 
 
 At first a metropolitan, it afterwards 
 became an Iglesia exenta , an excepted 
 church, and not suffragan to any arch- 
 bishop. The cathedral is called La 
 Santa , on account of the relics, and 
 the city civitas Episcoporum , because 
 here, in 808-14, a council was held of 
 all the Spanish prelates whose sees 
 were in the possession of the Moors, 
 in partibus infidelium. 
 
 Oviedo suffered much in the war 
 of independence. When Soult, after 
 Moore’s retreat, advanced into Por- 
 tugal, he sent Ney from Lugo with 
 6000 men to pillage the Asturias. Ney, 
 taking the inland line (see Rte. 92), 
 
 arrived at Oviedo before the careless 
 Asturians even knew of his departure ; 
 and while Romana and the Junta were 
 entirely occupied in their own local 
 and base intrigues, the armed spoiler 
 pounced down upon them, May 19, 
 1809. Thereupon Romana, Worster, 
 and Ballesteros instantly fled, setting 
 an example to their troops, which they 
 followed to a man. Although no de- 
 fence or resistance was made, the city 
 was mercilessly sacked for three days. 
 The thinness of the silver plating of 
 the holy relics, and the earnest prayers 
 of the chapter, who presented M. Ney 
 their solid bullion lamps and images, 
 saved these contents of the Camara 
 Santa , which there was no time to con- 
 ceal. Thus the “ work of angels” was 
 rescued from the sacrilegious crucible 
 of mortal men. The defeat of Soult 
 at Oporto recoiled on Ney, who fled 
 from the N.W. with tarnished laurels. 
 But miserable Oviedo was again plun- 
 dered by Bonnet, who re-entered after 
 the misconduct of the Spaniards at 
 Columbres, where Bonnet, in order to 
 decoy his arrogant enemy, had pre- 
 tended to retire : Barcena fell instantly 
 into the trap, and advanced, like 
 Cuesta at Talavera, on what he sup- 
 posed were flying deer, but he found 
 them tigers, for Bonnet turned round 
 and scattered his pursuers like sheep. 
 This man, who rose from the revo- 
 lutionary ranks, was the Alaric of the 
 Asturias, where his name is held in 
 no less execration than Soult’ s is at 
 Seville, or Sebastiani’s at Granada. 
 
 The cathedral, although not large 
 or very ancient, is an elegant cruciform 
 structure, in the perpendicular gothic 
 style. About 1388 Bishop Gutierrez de 
 Toledo in an evil hour took down 
 most of the previous, edifice, which 
 was built in 802, and dedicated to San 
 Salvador ; and most of what he spared, 
 with the exception of the Camara Santa , 
 has subsequently been removed by the 
 modernising chapter. The W. facjade 
 is striking. A noble balustraded por- 
 tico of richly ornamented arches, stands 
 between two towers, only one of which 
 is -complete. It rises about 200 feet, 
 and is richly adorned with buttresses, 
 crochetted pinnacles, niches, and open 
 
f>3 6 
 
 OVIEDO — THE RELICS. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 
 parapets. The chapter, in 1575, added 
 an open filigree pyramidical spire — 
 rather low in proportion — instead of 
 finishing the opposite larger and incon- 
 gruous tower, which is carried up to 
 the height of the nave. Observe the 
 singular arch of the northern tower. In 
 the interior a gallery runs under the 
 clerestory. The retablo of the high 
 altar, divided into five tiers, dates 
 from 1440. A modern gilt wooden 
 custodia replaces the former one, which, 
 with a silver reja, was melted by the 
 French. The silleria del corn is orna- 
 mented with inlaid marqueterie. The 
 reja good. There is some good painted 
 glass ; observe the windows of the absis 
 at the coro. 
 
 Many of the lateral chapels are dis- 
 figured with churrigueresque and mo- 
 dern abominations. The trascoro, the 
 elegant Gothic centre having been 
 whitewashed, while on each side in- 
 congruous altars of dark marble have 
 been erected in a bastard classical 
 style. The chapels at the trasaltar are 
 abominable. Here was that of the 
 Virgin, which was the Escorial or 
 burial-place or Pantheon of the early 
 kings. This portion of the original 
 building was pulled down in 1712 
 by Bishop Tomas Reluz, who sub- 
 stituted the present contemptible chur- 
 rigueresque abortion. The Gimborio is 
 overcharged, and the low pillars, and 
 Corinthian pilasters, and heavy dispro- 
 portionate cornice, are gross failures. 
 This spot is now called La Capilla del 
 Peg Casto (Alonso II., obt. 843), who 
 here lies buried, with many of the 
 earliest kings and princes, to wit, 
 Fruela I., Alonso el Catolico, Ramiro, 
 Ordono I., era 944, Alonso el Magno, 
 Garcia I., Doha Geloira, wife of Ber- 
 mudo ; Urraca, wife of Ramiro I., era 
 959, &c. Six niches in the walls con- 
 tain stone coffins. The original sepul- 
 chres, epitaphs, and inscriptions, so 
 carefully described by Morales, have 
 been ruthlessly swept away, and now 
 a paltry modern tablet records their 
 time-honoured names. The gorgeous 
 shrine of S a • Eulalia , the patroness of 
 Oviedo, lies to the N. near the entrance ; 
 her body, which rests in state in the 
 C ipilla mayor , is brought out and 
 
 carried in procession in cases of want 
 of rain ! The cloisters are small, but 
 offer elegant specimens of decorated 
 tracery ; the windows are in a good 
 pointed Gothic. Consult 4 Teatro Ec- 
 clesiastico de Oviedo / Gil Gonzalez 
 Davila, 4to. Mad., 1695; and 4 Patro- 
 cinio Medrano; 2 vols. fol. Oviedo, 1719. 
 
 The glory, however, of this cathe- 
 dral, and of this holy city — this asylum 
 of priests and arsenal of pious frauds — 
 are the brands rescued from the infidel 
 by Pelayus. 
 
 “ The relics and the written works of saints, 
 Toledo’s treasure, prized beyond all wealth, 
 Their living and their dead remains, 
 
 These to the mountain fastnesses he bore.” 
 
 This superstition of relics, the natural 
 abuse of a yearning placed in every 
 human heart, was therefore marshalled 
 into the service of a crafty, worldly- 
 wise church. There is an amiable 
 poetical feeling in loving a relic, the 
 all that is left to us of a benefactor — a 
 memorial of one lost for ever, and yet 
 to memory dear. 
 
 They are deposited in the Camara 
 Santa , or the original primitive chapel 
 (repainted, alas !) of San Miguel, which 
 is the second oldest Christian building 
 after the Moorish invasion. It is con- 
 cealed, for greater security, between the 
 cathedral and its cloisters, and is ele- 
 vated to preserve the relics from damp : 
 22 steps ascend from the S. transept to 
 an ante-room with a groined roof. Ob- 
 serve the arched way, with foliage and 
 quaint Romanesque sharply cut sculp- 
 ture, which leads to the chapel of 26 ft. 
 by 1 6. At the end, and two steps lower, 
 is the inner sanctum sanctorum : 1 2 
 statues of the apostles, coeval with the 
 building, support the roof, and the 
 mosaic pavement resembles those of 
 Italy of the ninth century, and espe- 
 cially the Norman-Byzantine works 
 in Calabria and Sicily. This holy of 
 holies was once lighted up by magnifi- 
 cent silver lamps, which were carried 
 off by the invaders. The devout kneel 
 before a railing while the holy relics 
 are exhibited. Morales thus writes his 
 official report to Philip II.: — 44 Estoy 
 escribiendo en la iglesia antes de la reja , 
 y Dios sabe que estoy fuera de mi de 
 temor y reverencia,” Such was the fear 
 
The Asturias . 
 
 OVIEDO — THE CASULLA. 
 
 637 
 
 and reverence of this learned man, 
 who trembled before these gold en- 
 shrined objects, a fear from which M. 
 Ney, le brave des braves , was philoso- 
 phically exempt. 
 
 Printed papers in French, Latin, and 
 Spanish, and vouched for by the dean, 
 &re given to pilgrims, authenticating 
 and describing the different items ; 
 while Pope Eugenius granted 1004 
 years and 6 cuarantenas (or 40 days) 
 indulgence to all who visit and behold 
 them. The prayer to be recited on the 
 Fiesta de las Beliquias runs thus : 4 4 Pro- 
 pitiare Domine nobis famulis tuis, per 
 horum sanctorum tuorum, quorum re- 
 liquiae hie continentur, merita gloriosa, 
 et eorum pia intercessione ab omnibus 
 semper muniamur adversis” (Morales, 
 85). 
 
 Referring for details to the official 
 statement, these relics were removed 
 to Africa from J erusalem when it was 
 taken by the Persian Chosraes ; and 
 thence to Cartagena, Seville, Toledo, 
 to the Monte Sacro, and Oviedo. They 
 were first kept by the Goths at Santo 
 Toribio, near Los Escobios de Morcin , 
 until Alonso el Casto built the stronger 
 fortaleza of Oviedo in 875. They con- 
 sist of manna from the desert, a firkin 
 of the marriage of Cana, the bones of 
 Pantaleon, Cucufato, Bachis, Pomposa, 
 and other respectable saints, whose 
 very names indicate their antiquity. 
 
 The Area , or chest, in which they 
 are kept, is made of oak, covered with 
 thin silver plating, with bassi rilievi 
 of sacred subjects, and an inscription 
 round the border, which refers to the 
 contents and savours much of Cor- 
 dovese manufacture. Observe parti- 
 cularly the ivory crucifix carved by 
 Nicodemus, about a foot high: the 
 figure exactly resembles the Cristo de 
 las batallas of the Cid at Salamanca, 
 which thus suggests as its age the 11th 
 century. The feet are separate, and 
 not nailed one on the other; and as 
 this crucifiz was made by Nicodemus 
 beyond all question , it is referred to by 
 Spanish theologians as settling a posi- 
 tion much questioned. Here also is 
 the sandal of St. Peter, and some of the 
 Virgin’s milk in a metal box. In 
 another small case is kept the santo 
 
 sudario , or shroud of our Saviour, which 
 three times a year, and always on Good 
 Friday when the bishop preaches, is 
 displayed from a balcony that was 
 barbarously cut out of the staircase 
 of the Camara Santa in 1732. The 
 peasants then hold up loaves, beads, 
 and other objects which they are taught 
 and believe do thus acquire a nutritious 
 and medicinal quality. To pry into 
 this arc entailed certain punishment: 
 thus Garibay relates (‘ Esp. Sag./ 
 xxxix. 122) that in 1550 the bishop, 
 Cristobal de Rojas Sandoval, al- 
 though he had prepared himself by 
 fasting and prayer, on attempting to 
 open it was struck senseless. Thus 
 Eurypylus, at the taking of Troy, ob- 
 tained an arc, which contained an 
 image of Bacchus made by Vulcan, 
 and given to Dardanus by Jupiter ; 
 he attempted to open it, but was de- 
 prived of his senses (Paus. vii. 19. 6). 
 So Minerva ordered none to peep into 
 the basket in which she concealed 
 Erichthonius, and all who did so, went 
 mad and committed suicide (Paus. i. 
 18. 2) : comp. 1 Sam. vi. 19 ; 1 Chron. 
 xiii. 9. Minute accounts of the relics 
 will be found in the works of Morales 
 and Florez (see also Southey, ‘ Don 
 Roderick/ note 89). 
 
 The identical Casulla , which, made 
 in heaven, the Virgin placed herself 
 on the shoulders of San Ildefonso at 
 Toledo, is said to be at Oviedo, for 
 the replies to our inquiries were not 
 satisfactory. See however the portable 
 altar used by the apostles, shaped 
 like a book, encased with silver, and 
 decorated inside with ivory carvings, 
 and certainly a work of the tenth 
 century. Next notice the cross (made 
 of Asturian oak) of Pelayus (La Cruz 
 de la Victoria ), the Palladium which 
 fell from heaven at Cangas before his 
 victory. It is encased in a magnifi- 
 cent filigree-work made at Gauzon, 
 4 L. from Oviedo. The coeval inscrip- 
 tion records that it was given by King 
 Adefonsus et Schemena (Ximena), era 
 946 a.d. 908. Older still is that which 
 was made (circa 880) by angels, al- 
 though Morales (p. 76) thinks the 
 front only to be their work, at all 
 events it is studded with Pagan an- 
 2 F 3 
 
638 
 
 OBRAS DE LOS GODOS. 
 
 tiques. This, divine or human, is in 
 the shape of a Maltese cross, en- 
 riched with gilt filigree-work, of a 
 Byzantine or Moorish character, and 
 is set with uncut precious stones. 
 The four arms are thus inscribed : 
 “ Susceptum placide maneat hoc in 
 honore Dei offert Adefonsus, humilis 
 servus Christi. Hoc signo tuetur pi as, 
 hoc signo vincitur inimicus ; quisquis 
 auferre presumpserit mihi fulmine 
 divino intereat ipse : nisi libenus volun- 
 tas dederit mea. Hoc opus perfectum 
 est in era dcccxlvi. a.d. 808/' This 
 cross therefore, and that at Santiago, 
 are indubitably more than a thousand 
 years old; but neither age nor the 
 threat of lightning could save La Cruz 
 de la Victoria from being seized from 
 the altar by one of Ney’s marauders, 
 just as the sacrilegious Dionysius stole 
 the pagan Victoriolas aureas (Cic. ‘ N.D.’ 
 iii. 34). It was rescued by the canon 
 Alfonso Sanchez Ahumada by a mere 
 accident, as he told us himself, which 
 hereafter will be cited as a miracle : 
 and that anything of silver escaped the 
 Gaul staggers belief. Few cities in 
 fact fared worse than Oviedo : it was 
 only by begging M. Ney to accept their 
 solid bullion, lamps, vases, and images, 
 that the chapter induced the Marshal 
 to spare the relics of the Camera Santa , 
 thinly plated with silver (see p. 610) : 
 Ney was succeeded by Bonnet. The 
 time-honoured city of saints and bi- 
 shops, with all the prestige of Pelayus 
 and of the past, was in short handed 
 over to the spoiler, and dates from 
 this fatal occupation its ruin and dese- 
 cration. 
 
 The fine old library of the cathedral, 
 of which many MSS. really came from 
 Toledo, had long been left by the 
 chapter as food for worms, so Gil Bias’ 
 good uncle was no unworthy dignitary 
 of these stalls. Enquire for a curious 
 illuminated MS. of the 13th century, 
 with drawings of the officers of the 
 royal palace : El Libro Gotico. The re- 
 gister books of deeds, &c., which are 
 kept in most Spanish cathedrals and 
 convents, are here called Turnbos ; in 
 Arragon they are called Libros Cabreos , 
 but the usual name is Libros de Becerro , 
 from the calf binding. ( Becerro is the 
 
 Sect. N. 
 
 diminutive of the Arabic Baccara, an 
 ox ; Vaca ; Latine, Vacca.') 
 
 Oviedo , as might be expected, contains 
 some of the most ancient Christian 
 churches in the Peninsula. They are 
 carefully described by Morales in his 
 ‘ Viage, 3 by Cean Bermudez (Arch. i. 
 4), Widdrington (ii. 102), and Caveda. 
 Their round-headed pillar style, the 
 Romanesque or our early Saxon, is here 
 called obra de Godos , work of the Goths, 
 in order to distinguish it from the 
 pointed style, which we most impro- 
 perly call Gothic , but which Spaniards 
 with more judgment term Tudesco , or 
 Tedesque ; some have termed this an- 
 cient style el Stilo Asturiano. 
 
 These primeval edifices which carry 
 us back centuries, are among the oldest 
 Christian churches in the Peninsula, 
 and, from being out of the town, have 
 been less exposed to the harpy touch 
 of modernising innovators. These 
 true types of the Gotho-Hispano — 
 the small temples of the infant mo- 
 narchy — resemble baths or vaulted 
 tombs; simple and solid, they are 
 usually provided with a projecting 
 shed or roof at the entrance, as a pro- 
 tection against the rainy climate. The 
 best preserved specimens exist on the 
 lofty hill of red sandstone called La 
 Cuesta de Naranco , which rises on the 
 opposite side of a valley to the N. of 
 Oviedo. The Santa Maria de Naranco , 
 is still used as a parish church, and the 
 curate lives in a portion of the build- 
 ing, contrived by the irregular level of 
 the hill side. From this point Oviedo, 
 backed by its mountains, is seen to 
 great advantage. The entrance is by a 
 portico. The interior is divided into 
 three parts, the floor of the central 
 portion being the lowest. The main 
 body about 40 feet long by 15 wide, is 
 large, as Morales says, for a hermitage, 
 but small for a church, and looks, 
 indeed, more like a crypt or vaulted 
 tomb. The portion below, says he, 
 was also used as a church, according 
 to the usage of the period. Observe the 
 twisted cable-like pillars, the circular 
 roof, the carved shields, and the three 
 low arches behind the altar. Some of 
 the columns were brought from a 
 Roman temple at Lugo, for the early 
 
The Asturias . 
 
 OVIEDO — OLD CHURCHES. 
 
 639 
 
 Christians used up the materials r of 
 pagan edifices, just as the contemporary 
 Moors did at Cordova and elsewhere. 
 On the capital of one column is a rude 
 sculpture, which is supposed by the 
 vulgar to refer to the female tribute 
 paid to the Moors by Mauregato, obt. 
 788. This church, a gem of antiquity, 
 was in our time kept in decent repair 
 by the curate, and at his own expense, 
 for the Oviedo authorities care for none 
 of these old stones. Well-meaning, 
 but ignorant, this priest, however, 
 turned out the old font for a spick- 
 and-span new one : now every day this 
 relic church is going to ruin, in spite 
 of the conservative fine arts commis- 
 sion ! 
 
 San Miguel de Lino , which stands a 
 little higher up the hill, is of a cruci- 
 form shape, and must when perfect 
 have been a miniature church in its 
 proportions, with all the usual acces- 
 sories. It is shamefully neglected and 
 desecrated. Observe the windows in 
 the Crucero , the short pillars and 
 arches. The vulgar assert that the 
 chaste Alonso and his wife Bertha had 
 their separate beds, to her Majesty’s 
 infinite discontent, in two recesses in the 
 tribuna : these connubial denegations or 
 derelictions are commoner in the chilly 
 Asturias than in the tierras calient es; 
 but these spaces were in reality des- 
 tined for objetos de culto , and the 
 church, according to Morales (‘ Viage ’ 
 103), was not built until after their 
 death by Ramiro I. (circa 850) : the 
 architect’s name was Tioda, or Fioda. 
 According to Mariana (vii. 1 3), the cost 
 was paid for out of the spoil taken 
 at Clavijo, where Santiago fought in 
 person ; this side of the hill was then 
 covered with houses, which disap- 
 peared when Alonso el Magno (circa 
 935) fortified Oviedo. Morales, in 
 1572, describes the ruined traces of 
 the palace of Ramiro ; and fragments 
 are still encased in the more modern 
 buildings. 
 
 The ecclesiologist will not fail to 
 make a pilgrimage to a similar relic, 
 about a mile outside the town on the 
 road to Gijon, built by Tioda, or Fioda, 
 and dedicated to San Jidian (Santul- 
 lano^). It has three aisles, and is in 
 
 good proportion. The character is By- 
 zantine, although Cean Bermudez calls 
 it Tuscan. Observe the short pillars 
 on each side of the altar, and singular 
 capitals : examine the exterior, and 
 the window to the E. The Nuestra 
 Sehora de la Vega , placed in the sweet 
 valley close to the town, was founded 
 by Dona Gontrodo Perez, obt. 1186, 
 mother of Queen Urraca. She was 
 buried here, and Florez (‘ Rey. Cat.,’ 
 i. 300), has preserved her curious 
 Latin epitaph. See also 6 Esp. Sag.,’ 
 xxxviii. 151; but, alas! it has been 
 entirely modernised. Observe, how* 
 ever, the 2 tombs. 
 
 Examine also in Oviedo, near the ca- 
 thedral, the remains of la Corte , or resi- 
 dence of el Rey Casto . This,th efortaleza, 
 was added by Alonso III. el Magno, to 
 protect the holy relics from pirates ; 
 meaning, no doubt, the Normans, who 
 ravaged the coast in 862 (see p. 164). 
 Morales saw and copied the original 
 inscription. The remains of an old 
 tower have quite the Norman character 
 of the period, but the chief part was 
 pulled down to make space for the 
 cathedral cloister, and from time to 
 time many genuine inscribed stones, 
 mentioned by Sandoval, Florez (‘ Esp . 
 Sag.,’ xxxvii. 140), precious historical 
 evidences have been allowed to be 
 lost. The fortaleza was converted into 
 a prison, the usual fate of Spanish 
 alcazares. The date (era 913) was 
 inscribed over the door. 
 
 Adjoining is another ancient church 
 dedicated to San Tirso, but sadly mo- 
 dernised. What it once was may be 
 inferred from the description of the 
 Bishop Sebastiano : Cujus operis pul- 
 chritudinem plus praesens potest mirari 
 quam eruditus scriba laudare.” A 
 double arch, with columns in the ex- 
 terior wall, is all that exists. Of this 
 early period is San Pa, go close by, a 
 church which was originally founded 
 by Alonso el Casto to the honour of 
 St. John the Baptist, but the dedica- 
 tion was changed when the remains 
 of San Pelayo were placed here by 
 Ferdinand I., in 1023 or 1053. This 
 St. Pelayus (who must not be con- 
 founded with the restorer of the 
 Gothic monarchy), this Shant Pelay 
 
640 . 
 
 OVIEDO — P. FEIJOO. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 
 of the Moorish annalists, was the 
 nephew of a Bishop of Tuy, who, 
 taken prisoner by the Moors at the 
 battle of Junquera, was left at Cordova 
 as a hostage for the prelate, where he 
 was put to death for resisting the un- 
 natural kalif in 925. His body was 
 begged as a favour by Sancho el 
 Gordo, when he went to Cordova to 
 consult Moorish physicians, and it was 
 removed with great pomp by his son 
 Ramiro III. For the lad’s legend 
 see 4 Antiq. du Tuy ,’ Sandoval, p. 62 ; 
 and for hints how to paint him cor- 
 rectly, consult 4 Pictor Crist ianus,’ Ay- 
 ala, vi. 18. 
 
 The fine old tower on the Plaza 
 Mayor was pulled down in 1834, to 
 44 beautify” the locality; the Casas 
 Consistoriales is a handsome mansion- 
 house of the time of Philip II. The 
 old houses opposite — if not modernised 
 — are more picturesque. 
 
 The ecclesiologist will look into the 
 church of San Juan , and observe the 
 billet moulding round the front ; near 
 it is the huge convent of San Vicente, 
 founded in 1281 for Benedictines by 
 the abbot Fromestano, as a double mo- 
 nastery for monks and nuns. The 
 former portion is now converted into 
 the residence of the gefe politico, and 
 serves for public oficinas , printing, 
 tobacco, and other governmental de- 
 partments. Ask to see the cell of Padre 
 Feijoo, one of the brotherhood, whose 
 critical essays, about a century ago, 
 dispelled some of the crassest popular 
 errors of Spain. The fame of the 
 Spanish Benedictines fell off sadly 
 after the death of this Helluo librorum, 
 and their friars never studied much 
 afterwards, because as their Feijoo had 
 read and written enough for the whole 
 world and to the end of the world, 
 they had a fair claim to the benefit of 
 his good works of supererogation. His 
 4 Teatro Critico Universal his 4 Cartas 
 Eruditas y Curiosas,’ with replies, re- 
 joinders, &c., 44 more Hispano,” fill 19 
 vols., 4to., and have gone through 
 many editions : our copy, the fifth, was 
 published at Madrid by the heirs of 
 Francisco de Hierro, 1748. Peace to 
 his ashes ! 
 
 Near San Juan also is an old pil- 
 
 grim hospital, once a palace of Alonso 
 
 111., called Dona Balesquida , from the 
 foundress, whence the guild of tailors, 
 Alfayates, come forth at Pentecost, 
 and perform a masquerade for 3 days 
 after the Preston fashion. The pro- 
 cession, costumes, and concluding 
 feast on the Pamarion are things for 
 the artist and antiquarian. 
 
 On the wall outside Oviedo, and near 
 the gate Nocera , is encased a black 
 marble monument to Jo v ellanos, placed 
 opposite the road to Gijon, the native 
 town of that enlightened patriot, of 
 whom the Asturias may well be vain. 
 Among her other 44 worthies ” may 
 be named Arguelles , the man of 44 di- 
 vine” speech in the Cortes, — Riego , 
 the apostle of the Constitution , — Tore no, 
 of loan celebrity, and one of the first 
 to sail from the Asturias to borrow the 
 gold, iron, and aid of England, which 
 he lived to try to depreciate : accord- 
 ingly, Madoz (xii. 446) deems the 
 deeds of the Asturians as 44 altamente 
 sublimes.” No province in truth did 
 less. At the mere approach of Ney, in 
 1809, Romana and the Junta took to 
 their heels, while the effect always 
 produced on their troops by the very 
 name of 44 le brave des braves” was 
 exactly that wrought on their ancestors 
 by the mere sound of Hannibal. Ti- 
 muitque exercitus Astur. Sil. Ital., 
 
 1., 252. 
 
 One of the nice walks near Oviedo 
 leads to the former imposing convent 
 of San Francisco , founded it is said by 
 St. Francis himself, and now converted 
 into a hospital for some 200 patients. 
 In the convent cloister admirers of 
 44 el Rey casto ” may read the inscrip- 
 tion on the blooming portrait of S. 
 Elceario y S a Delfina, 44 que vivieron 
 siendo casados, en perpetua castidad sin 
 apartarlecho.” Theviewfrom thestone 
 where criminals are shot is charming, 
 looking over the aqueduct and San 
 Miguel de Lillo. In the hospital church 
 look at the chapel of the Marquezes de 
 Valdecamara, and read the items of the 
 offering of corn and beef payable for 
 saying a soul mass on the dia de difuntos. 
 This Paseo is on holidays frequented 
 by the lower classes, who sing and 
 dance their peculiar circular evolu- 
 
The Asturias. 
 
 OVIEDO — AGUADO. 
 
 641 
 
 tions : the words of their fight-provok- 
 ing songs, viva Pravia ! viva Pilona ! 
 refer to Pelayus and his victories 
 over the Moor. Sunday is a grand 
 day for the dressing and dancing of 
 the peasants who flock into the town. 
 They assemble on the market plaza after 
 mass, where the loeal eostume may be 
 studied. Observe the fair, fresh com- 
 plexions of these brown-haired blue- 
 eyed daughters of the Goths, whose 
 long locks are plaited in trenzas. 
 They carry their water-vessels and 
 baskets with the upright gait of a 
 Hebe. The men wear a peculiar sky- 
 blue cap or montera, and are fond of 
 an ugly yellow cloth. The sketcher 
 may also walk out on the Santander 
 road, and look back on the imposing 
 jumble which is formed of San Vicente, 
 San Pel ay o, the old tower and cathe- 
 dral. The Santo Domingo, on the 
 Leon road, with its groves, has also be- 
 come a hospital. The Asturian moun- 
 tains, as seen from the Campo Santo , 
 are very grand. Walk also to the 
 Bajo voto , and look at the charming 
 junction of the Nalon and AUer. Take 
 tackle. 
 
 The domestic architecture of Oviedo, 
 with projecting roof, is suited to the 
 damp climate. Among the deserted 
 mansions of the nobility, visit that of 
 the Duque del Parque, now a fabrica de 
 armas ; that of the Marquis of Campo 
 Sangrado, a fine square building, in 
 which Gen. Bonnet lived, whose atro- 
 cities are recorded by Toreno (xi.). 
 Visit also the Casa Solar of this his- 
 torian , whose family is one of the most 
 ancient of the Asturias. The Calle de 
 la Plateria has some Prout-like bits. 
 Walk out to Las Caldas, Calidas, the 
 warm baths, 1 L., charmingly situated 
 en la ribera de abajo. The buildings 
 were erected in 1731-80, by Manuel 
 Requero Gonzalez. The season from 
 June 1 to Sept. 30. 
 
 Oviedo , like Lugo , is the centre of 
 many communications, bridle-tracks 
 mostly, but extremely picturesque, 
 whether running along the coasts or 
 inland. Geologists should be told that 
 in the neighbourhood of Oviedo are 
 some of the richest and most extensive 
 coal-fields of the Peninsula ; make 
 
 therefore a detour into the Concejos of 
 Siero, 2j L., and Langreo, 3*§ L., as- 
 cend the beautiful Nalon to Sama , 
 3?j L., near which the Marquis de 
 Campo Sagrado, who is most hospitable 
 and a great lover of the angle, has 
 a fine old castle, and hence to Siero. 
 The Nalon flows through vast de- 
 posits of coal, which, like many other 
 buried treasures in Spain, have long 
 been neglected by the natives until 
 the foreigner came to do the work. 
 The peasants used to scrape out a 
 little, and carry it on muleback to 
 Gijon, where a load, worth 8 d. at the 
 pit, sold for 2s., and this in a country 
 where the raw materials, stone for 
 roads and iron for railroads, iron in 
 juxtaposition with coal, are abundant. 
 Recently, however, a rail has been 
 laid down from Sama to Gijon , and 
 a carriage-road, Carretera carbonera, 
 made by Seiior Aguado, who lost his 
 life in the hardships of an Asturian 
 journey in 1842. 
 
 This intelligent capitalist rose from 
 the dregs of society, and became an 
 Afrancesado in 1 808. When the French 
 were driven out of Spain by the Duke, 
 he set up a chocolate shop in Paris, and 
 having managed the 1823 loan for 
 Ferdinand VII., became a millionaire* 
 and was created Marquis de las Marismas 
 (Swamps) : for, among other irons in 
 the fire, he was mixed up in the 
 Guadalquiver Company. As he was 
 a shrewd raiser of the wind as well as 
 water, mas agudo que aguado , his death 
 dealt a serious blow to this district. 
 He established at Nalon the most im- 
 portant of the native and foreign com * 
 panies which are at work here. Many 
 Newcastle and Cornish miners are 
 employed. Lower down on the Nalon 
 is the district of the English company. 
 The coal-beds in some places run 13 
 feet thick, but the average is between 
 3 and 4 ; it is of a better quality than 
 most of the French and foreign sul- 
 phureous coal, although it cannot 
 compete with the English. 
 
 Since Aguado’s death many mining 
 companies have been set on foot for 
 
 * De muchas talegas, a man of many purses. 
 The talega contains 1000 dollars, and is the 
 Arab talega. 
 
642 
 
 ROUTE 95 . — OVIEDO TO SANTANDER. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 
 working these coal and iron ores, and 
 the district has been surveyed by 
 practical engineers and geologists. 
 
 Route 95 . — Oviedo to Santander. 
 
 Venta de Puga . . 
 
 . 2 
 
 
 Gijon . . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 4 
 
 Villa Viciosa . . 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 8 
 
 Lastres .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 11 
 
 Riba de Sella . . 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 15 
 
 Llanes .... 
 
 . 5 . 
 
 . 20 
 
 Colombres . . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 23 
 
 San Vicente . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 25 
 
 Cumillas . . . 
 
 . 14 . 
 
 . 264 
 
 Santillana . . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 294 
 
 Puerto del Arce 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 32* 
 
 Santander . . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 354 
 
 There is a daily coach from Oviedo 
 
 to Gijon. 
 
 Gijon, the old Gigia : posada decent. 
 Pop. 6000. This seaport, with its old 
 walls and defences, is built on a pro- 
 jecting low peninsula headland, under 
 the hill Catalina. The site of the 
 ancient Aras Sestianas (Pomp. Mela, 
 iii. 1 ), which some consider to be that 
 of Gijon, has been traced at Cabo 
 de Torres. The Roman town was 
 used by the Moors as a quarry to con- 
 struct a frontier defence. The name 
 Gyhon , “ valley of grace,” is Syrian. 
 After the loss of the battle of Canicas 
 the Moors, under Munuza , surrendered 
 the place to Pelayus, who entitled 
 himself Conde de Gijon, and the town 
 became strong enough to beat back the 
 Norman invaders in 844: it was re- 
 built in 1410 by Lucas Bernaldo de 
 Quintana : here local steamers touch ; 
 thus the rough rides to La Coruna or 
 Santander may be avoided. Gigon, 
 since the frequent commotions in Spain, 
 has been fortified to afford a place of 
 refuge, to which the authorities of the 
 Asturias might retreat. 
 
 Entering at the gate and arch of 
 the Infante (the Childe ) Pelayo, the 
 handsome Calle de la Cruz leads down 
 to the Mole and port. The town is 
 cheap, clean, and improving. On the 
 Plaza is the theatre and an old castle. 
 The Parroquia de San Pedro is small ; 
 the statues in it of the tutelar and of 
 our Saviour are carved by Antonio 
 Borja. A more suitable church for the 
 growing town was planned by Gaspar 
 Melchior de Jovellanos ; born here 
 
 January 5, 1744, he was the benefactor 
 of the town, where he founded the 
 Instituto Asturiano , a well-managed 
 school of a high order, with a fairish 
 library ; but the building is unfinished, 
 for Jovellanos died a miserable per- 
 secuted man at \^ega, Nov. 27, 1811 : 
 and in Spain, as in the East, where 
 every man is for himself, few are the 
 tenancies par auter vie, and many are 
 the good projects which die with their 
 individual founder, a mere happy acci- 
 dent himself ; then there is the fait a de 
 fondos, a true thing of Spain. Cean 
 Bermudez, the excellent author on 
 Spanish art, was born at Gijon, and 
 this was the port whence Toreno and 
 the Asturian deputies sailed, May 30, 
 1808, to implore the aid of England to 
 save them from Buonaparte, which, 
 when accomplished, he tried to write 
 down. The town was sacked, its ware- 
 houses plundered, and its shipping de- 
 stroyed by the French under Bonnet. 
 
 The ecclesiologist may visit Leva, 
 1 L. from Gijon, where there is a 
 church built in lOOfi. The Cistertian 
 convent of Santa Maria de Valdedios, 
 near Gijon, was founded 892 by Alonso 
 el Magno : the newer church was built 
 by Alonso IX. : see the inscription over 
 the door of the older one. 
 
 The coast-road to Santander is in- 
 tersected with rias, tinas or estuaries, 
 cauldrons, and bays. The ascents and 
 descents, the crossing and fording 
 trout-streams, are wearisome but pic- 
 turesque. Villa Viciosa, pop. 1200, 
 is La capital de las Avellanas, the 
 nuts so largely exported from Gijon. 
 The lover of old houses may look 
 at La Casa de Vaqueros, in which 
 Charles V. slept, Sept. 19th, 1517, 
 before he embarked, having supped on 
 fried sardines — the walnut table re- 
 mains. At Amandi, distant a mile, 
 there exists a singular ecclesiological 
 relic, the San Juan Bautista , built on a 
 slope, a simple solid parallelogram, 
 51 ft. by 25 in breadth, and 35 high. 
 The details are most curious. Some, 
 trusting to an inscription over the 
 window of the tribuna, have carried 
 the date up to 634 ; at the hamlet on 
 the coast, Lloraza, 1 L., another 0 f 
 these relics has survived, the Sa. pj u . 
 
The Asturias. route 95 . — oviedo to santander. 
 
 643 
 
 l alia, built by Dona Uraca ; the arches 
 and capitals are most interesting. 
 Colunga , to the rt. of Lastres , is cele- 
 brated for chesnuts. Elba de Sella 
 rises on the “ opposite bank of the 
 Sella:” pop. 1200. This, one of the 
 best ports on the coast, has a fine 
 Muelle. A lead and silver mine is 
 worked by an English company. The 
 beautiful Sella comes down from In- 
 fiesto and Cangas de Onis: the fishing 
 higher up, above the junction of the 
 Dobra , near Arriondas, is good. The 
 ride to San Vicente is intersected by a 
 number of trout streams. First occurs 
 the Aguamia, near Pria ; then the 
 Rio Caliente, near Bales ; then the 
 Niembro or Calabres; then the Poa 
 and the Rio de Llanes. Llanes , pop. 
 2000, is the last town in the Asturias. 
 Two ancient monasteries may be 
 visited, each about 3 m. distant from 
 Llanes, and about 2 m. from each 
 other ; one is called San Antolin , and 
 the other, San Salvador de Celorio , 
 which is charmingly situated, with 
 a fine Gothic chapel. Colombres , pop. 
 400, is the first town in the Montanas 
 de Santander , so called to distinguish 
 them from the mountains of Burgos 
 and Eeinosa. From these Montanas 
 descend the Montaneses , or chandlers 
 of other parts of Spain. The vast 
 forest of Liebana , between the Penas 
 de Europa and Reinosa, contains 
 some of the finest timber in the 
 world (see Rte. 116, and the ‘ His- 
 toria 9 of these districts by Cossio, 4to., 
 Madrid, 1688). The Deva is a noble 
 salmon and trout stream. The angler 
 should ascend into the Concejo de 
 Cabrales , and make either Abandones , 
 Arenas , or La Carrera his head-quar- 
 ters, where the Cases, coming down 
 from Carmanena and the Casano, 
 unite and swell the Deva. The next 
 stream is the Nansa, seldom with 
 water enough in it for the fly-fisher. 
 
 San Vicente is a miserable place. 
 Here General Sarrut, with 900 French- 
 men, utterly routed 6000 Spaniards, 
 on Nov. 20, 1808. At one charge of 
 cavalry they took at once to their heels, 
 abandoning all Romana’s artillery, and 
 leaving Oviedo open to the spoiler. 
 Such was their leader Llano Ponte’s 
 
 hurry' to run away, that he did not 
 even pause to destroy the boats, and 
 thus worthy of his name, gave a broad 
 bridge , a pont d’or, not to a retreating, 
 but to an advancing foe. (See Schep. ii. 
 115, and Toreno, xi.) 
 
 The fine bridge, with thirty-two 
 arches, was built in 1433 ; the smaller, 
 with eight, in 1779. lj L. distant is 
 Luez , with the fine salmon pools below 
 the weir Munonrodero. A well-girt 
 traveller may reach Santander the 
 next day, unless his love for Gil Bias 
 detains him in Santillana. This pretty 
 town, the ancient Concana, is placed 
 on the river Besaga, which has good 
 fishing all the way up to Corales. San- 
 tillana lies distant about 1 L. from the 
 seaport Suances , Portus Vere-asueca. 
 The besugos , a sort of bream, are ex- 
 cellent eating, but the Santillans have 
 ceased to qualf the Tartar drink of 
 horses’ blood, the luxury of their 
 ancestors (Sil. Ital. iii. 361 ; Hor. Od. 
 iii. 4, 34). 
 
 The name Santillana is the corrup- 
 tion of Santa Juliana , as Ilian is of St. 
 Julian, the patron of pilgrims. She is 
 the patroness of the town, to which 
 her body was brought in 1307. Out- 
 side her church are sculptured some 
 curious free figures. Inigo Lopez de 
 Mendoza, the friend of Juan II. and 
 the Msecenas of Spain, assumed her 
 name for his title of Marquis, and gave 
 it to this his city. The works of this 
 early patron of Spanish literature were 
 published at Madrid in 1852, by his 
 descendant the Duke of Osuna, under 
 the editorship of Jose Amador de los 
 Rios. The civic arms are this Santa 
 Juliana holding the devil, or Asmo- 
 deus, in chains. No wonder, there- 
 fore, that Le Sage had a partiality 
 to this native imp, who may be con- 
 sidered an “ hijo” del pueblo. The Casa 
 Consistorial , in the Plaza , is a fine 
 building, and worthy of a town which 
 really did give birth to the architect 
 of the Escorial, Juan de Herrera. At 
 the Puente de Arce , the Pas is passed, 
 which flows down from those healthy 
 mountain districts, where stout single- 
 stick - playing peasants beget those 
 juicy wet-nurses, Las Pasiegas , who 
 suckle the sickly children of unhealthy 
 
644 
 
 ROUTE 95. GIL BLAS. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 
 Madrid, and whose rich costume forms 
 a gay feature on the Prado . Thence 
 to thriving Santander. 
 
 As we are now in the country of 
 Gil Bias, one word on that charming 
 novel and its author, Le Sage. The 
 lover of Don Quixote and Cervantes 
 may turn to p. 238, and compare the 
 two works and. writers : how different, 
 yet both how popular! Le Sage, a 
 litter air e de Paris , who wrote for bread, 
 took for his hero a clever low French- 
 like rogue of a valet, in whom, how- 
 ever the scamp may amuse us, per- 
 sonally we take little real interest, for 
 his doings savour of the tricks and 
 tone of the ante-chamber, and this 
 persiflage of life is without principle 
 or earnestness. Cervantes, a soldier 
 and gentleman, chose for his hero the 
 stately old Castilian Hidalgo, for whom, 
 in spite of his monomania, we feel 
 respect and affection. Don Quixote 
 is a Castellano a las derechas, a true 
 Spaniard to the backbone, one of the 
 good old stock, while Gil Bias is one 
 only in voice, for his hands are the 
 hands of a Frenchman. 
 
 There has been much discussion as 
 to who wrote Gil Bias : certainly the 
 work first appeared in French, and 
 was published at different times; the 
 two first vols. in 1715, a third in 1724, 
 and the fourth and last in 1735. Its 
 success was deservedly immediate, and 
 the book became European, and a 
 pendant, if not a rival to Don Quixote. 
 It was translated into most languages, 
 and at last into Spanish, about 1783, by 
 Padre Isla, the author of ‘ Fray Cerim- 
 dio de Campazas ; this work was a spiri- 
 tual Don Quixote, in which the absurd 
 ignorance and superstitions of the men- 
 dicant monks were cleverly exposed, 
 although, as usual with Spaniards, the 
 jest was overdone ; but they can leave 
 nothing in the inkstand. In spite of 
 his perception of ridicule in others, 
 now the Padre Isla boldly asserted that 
 the entire work of Gil Bias was stolen 
 by Le Sage from Spain en bloc , like 
 the church plate and pictures were 
 in our times appropriated by Messrs. 
 Soult, Dupont, & Co. The Padre, 
 in his translation, retained all the to- 
 pographical, chronological, and other 
 
 minor errors, which thick as leaves 
 in Valombrosa, are the straws which 
 show that at least a foreigner had 
 meddled with the original, just as Mons. 
 Bonnemaison tampered with the trans- 
 ported Kaphaels Qf the Escorial, leav- 
 ing the mark of the beast. 
 
 Padre Isla’s title-page is a choice 
 specimen of the aptitude of Nosotros 
 to take all the credit to themselves for 
 the labour and industry of others ; 
 ‘ Aventuras de Gil Bias de Santillana 
 robadas & Espana y adoptadas en 
 Francia por M. Le Sage, restituidas a 
 su patria j a su lengua nativa por un 
 Espanol celoso, que no sufre se burlen 
 de su nacion.’ In his fear that the 
 foreigner should make a fool of him, 
 this zealot spoke out the genuine senti- 
 ments of Espanolismo , and the echo 
 reached beyond the Pyrenees, giving 
 deep offence to the French. Accord- 
 ingly, in 1819, one Mons. Le Comte 
 Frangois de Neufchateau, membre de 
 ITnstitut, published a ponderous Ex - 
 amen to prove that Gil Bias must be a 
 French work because it was so clever : 
 this plea was demurred to by Llorente, 
 the author of the excellent exposition 
 of the Spanish inquisition, who pub- 
 lished at Paris, in 1822, his rejoinder, 
 ‘ Observations Critiques’ and the quarrel 
 became a very pretty one. The sub- 
 stance of the Spaniards’ reasoning was 
 put together in a smart paper in Black- 
 wood, June, 1844, although the prin- 
 ter’s devil exhibited throughout it a 
 gross ignorance of Spanish language, 
 names, and orthography; Llorente ima- 
 gined the author of Gil Bias to have 
 been Antonio Solis, the historian of 
 Mexico, for which, however, he could 
 not produce one tittle of evidence. 
 Others had affirmed that it was written 
 by a nameless Andalucian lawyer, 
 who, about 1654, composed this satire 
 on Spanish ministers, justice, drama, 
 and medicine, which he did not dare 
 to print ; at his death the MS. is sup- 
 posed to have been obtained by the 
 Marquis de Lionne, a great book col- 
 lector, who was in Spain in 1656 ; just 
 as M. Mignet got the treatise on the re- 
 treat of Charles V., prepared by Gon- 
 zalez (see p. 498). In no country in the 
 world have more works been left in 
 
The Asturias . 
 
 ROUTE 95. LE SAGE. 
 
 645 
 
 'MS. than in Spain, as the expense of 
 printing, the obstacles raised by cen- 
 sors and the Inquisition, and the in- 
 adequate remuneration, deterred many 
 authors, who, having gratified their 
 cacoethes scribendi, were content to re- 
 main in typeless obscurity. The Mar- 
 quis, it is said, bequeathed his library to 
 his grandson, the Abbe de Lionne, the 
 early patron of Le Sage, and his 
 instructor in the Spanish language, 
 and from whom — it is assumed — he 
 obtained the Spanish original. It is 
 at least certain that Le Sage never 
 even set his foot in Spain, for, a true 
 Parisian, he adored Paris, more than 
 Socrates loved Athens : his vocation 
 was writing, by which he obtained 
 his living, and he began his career 
 by translating Spanish comedies and 
 novels ; he lacked the invention of Cer- 
 vantes, and was an appropriator and 
 embellisher of other men’s thunder, nor 
 was he ever held by his contemporaries 
 to be an original author, as even Vol- 
 taire thought his Gil Bias to be pil- 
 fered. His genius was synthetical, not 
 creative ; he could combine and con- 
 struct, but could not originate. From 
 the beginning he depended on the sweat 
 of other men’s brows : thus our gallic bee 
 was busy in Spanish wastes of flowers, 
 and retaining his own sting, gathered 
 incidents which he flavoured with 
 his own wit, thus grafting a charm- 
 ing lively French style on the rude 
 Iberian stock ; accordingly his mind, 
 from frequent translation, became im- 
 pregnated with the things of Spain, 
 and his pickings and stealings were not 
 severely visited by his countrymen, 
 who in these matters are not over 
 scrupulous. Nay they rather rejoice, 
 “ furto lsetantur in ipso,” or, as they 
 say— 
 
 Dans les tresors d'autrui nous puisons k dessiri, 
 En nous applaudissant de cet heureux larcin ; 
 
 It would seem that Le Sage, having 
 all his life avowedly gleaned and para- 
 phrased Spanish books, and having 
 acknowledged that his ‘ Bachelier de 
 Salamanque ’ was translated from a 
 Spanish MS. which he never produced, 
 all at once brought forth this ‘ Gil 
 Bias,’ and claimed it for his own. It 
 
 is, however, admitted by all critics 
 that two-thirds and the best incidents 
 are certainly of Spanish origin, and Le 
 Sage himself took no pains to conceal 
 the fact. Thus, although the Padre 
 Isla did not know it, he borrowed 
 many of the scenes and characters in 
 ‘Gil Bias,’ from the ‘ Marcos de Obre - 
 gon ’ of Vicente Espinel, from whose 
 preface the opening incident of the 
 student and the buried soul of Pedro 
 Garcias, is taken word for word. So are 
 the scenes of the supper at the Posada 
 de Penaflor, cribbed from Quevedo — 
 see ‘ Gran Tacano ,’ ch. 4, and so with 
 the barber Diego de la Fuente and the 
 physician’s wife ; and, as if to whisper 
 whence he stole those sweets, which 
 Llorente has hunted out, as Dr. Ferriar 
 did the plagiarisms of our Sterne, Le 
 Sage actually and honestly gives the 
 name of Marcos de Obregon to the Es- 
 cudero. He boldly adopted the maxim 
 of Moliere, who, like Corneille, bor- 
 rowed pretty freely from Spanish 
 books : “le beau est mon bien, et je le 
 reprends ou je le retrouve an appro- 
 priation and justification, by the way, 
 quite Spanish, as Seneca thus expresses 
 his predaceous principle : “ Quicquid 
 bene est dictum ab ullo meum est.” 
 (Ep. xvi.) 
 
 Probably Le Sage made up his 
 ‘ Bachelier de Salamanque,’ as well as 
 his ‘ Gil Bias,’ out of the same Spa- 
 nish MS. ; but as the former novel 
 had been seen by others in MS., he 
 did not venture to appropriate that to 
 himself, but proceeded to eviscerate 
 the original, interweaving other stories, 
 of his own, which, being truly French, 
 are little in harmony with genuine 
 Spanish tone and sentiment. 
 
 No wonder, if Le Sage copied from 
 a MS., and not from a book in print, 
 that partly from the difficulty of de- 
 ciphering a foreign handwriting in a 
 language which he only understood 
 imperfectly, he should fall into errors 
 of orthography, names, geography, 
 &c., that would have disgraced even a 
 Chateaubriand or Laborde. Indeed, 
 they are so numerous that the French 
 argue, with great naivete', that this 
 very carelessness and inaccuracy proves 
 that the work must have been written 
 
646 
 
 ROUTE 95. GIL BLAS AND LE SAGE. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 
 by one of themselves. There is, in- 
 deed, in 4 Gil Bias ’ a general acquaint- 
 ance with Spain and Spaniards, but 
 the work lacks those nice traits which 
 stamp identity, and mark that inti- 
 mate acquaintance with ro<rot xxi rgotfoi, 
 with places and manners, which 
 characterizes the genuine picaresque 
 novels of Spaniards; again, the true 
 Borracha is often wanting, while occa- 
 sionally the sewer-smell of Lutetia is 
 substituted. 
 
 Le Sage published his 4 Gil Bias ’ in 
 1714, when 47 years old, and when he 
 had become a perfect master of that 
 most difficult art— an art in which no 
 nation can compete with his clever 
 and ingenious countrymen — the writ- 
 ing what is agreeable reading : it is 
 his opus magnum , and how few mortals 
 ever produce more than one good 
 book. He used his Spanish original 
 as a woof, into which he worked in 
 his own golden threads, that glitter 
 throughout, part indeed of the whole, 
 and yet distinct. Therein he poured 
 out the cream of his mind and life, 
 investing the floating capital of his 
 wit, his hoards of memory and biting 
 common sense, his observations on men 
 and manners, especially as seen on the 
 low, familiar, and ludicrous view, sed 
 ridentem dicere verum, quid vetat ? 
 All this is exclusively his own, and if 
 evidence were wanting of how truly it 
 is French, let Padre Isla’s version 
 into Spanish be read, which proves of 
 itself that it is a translation ; and, in 
 truth, 4 Gil Bias ’ is too witty for a 
 genuine Spanish work, and the epi- 
 grammatic vein is too sustained, it 
 is too finished, too much a thing of 
 composition. This too is proved by the 
 occasional flashes, which sparkle like 
 grains of gold in the sand amid the 
 truisms, verbiage, discursive episodes, 
 and glozas , in which Spaniards, like 
 Orientals, delight to indulge whether 
 in writing or in talking. Le Sage picked 
 out nothing but plums ; and winnowing 
 the wheat from the bushels of Spanish 
 chaff, rejected all common-place on 
 stilts, all that moralising at length, and 
 especially all what the natives, who are 
 insensible to bore, and with whom time 
 is of no value, call grave, judicious, 
 
 and philosophical reflections, anglice 
 twaddle. To Le Sage this merit is 
 due, that he improved on his original ; 
 and if he did occasionally kidnap a 
 Spanish hidalgo, he did not disfigure 
 him like a" gipsy, but gave to the 
 broader, coarser Iberian the fine polish 
 and amiability of Paris, and at all 
 events never set the stolen gems in 
 lead. 
 
 An ignorance of foreign language, an 
 inaccuracy of translation, a tampering 
 with text, and flavouring every thing 
 up to the tastes and prejudices of 
 Paris, frequently turns out, when Spa- 
 nish or Oriental literature is in ques- 
 tion, to be rather a benefit than an 
 injury to the original : thus how much 
 more pleasant to read are the garbled, 
 incorrect French 4 Arabian Nights 9 of 
 Mons. Galland, than the literal, honest 
 English version of Mr. Lane. How- 
 ever, the tact, cleverness, and bril- 
 liancy of a French pen are undeniable ; 
 and such writers as Le Sage resemble 
 those revolutionary marshals, who 
 plundered Spain of her heavy church 
 plate and pictures long buried in the 
 napkins of unvisited convents. Thus 
 the useless bullion was coined into 
 current cash, and many great masters 
 of art, hitherto almost unknown, were 
 introduced to the general acquaintance 
 and admiration of Europe. 
 
 The Spaniard is pleased to compare 
 himself to a tesoro escondido , to a hidden 
 treasure. Be it so ; but it is too bad to 
 turn round and fall foul, like the Padre 
 Isla, on the pains-taking foreigner, 
 who has dug him up as the student did 
 the soul of Pedro Garcias. No doubt, 
 strictly speaking, Le Sage is a pla- 
 giarist ; but, like our Sterne, he is far 
 preferable to scores of less amusing 
 originals; and if he appropriated the 
 raw Spanish material, he manufactured 
 it with foreign industry and ingenuity, 
 dovetailing in a rich Mosaic work of 
 his own. Such divers of literature fish 
 up neglected pearls, which they string 
 into a precious necklace, and theirs 
 fairly is the merit of the callida junc- 
 tura , and of that qualified originality 
 which confers a real value on the pre- 
 viously unappreciated, and gives a new 
 life to the dead. Great, indeed, ought 
 
The Asturias . 
 
 ROUTE 96 , — COVADUNGA. 
 
 647 
 
 the gratitude of Spain to be to M. Le 
 Sage, but not contented with calling 
 him a thief, she filches from him both 
 his works and glory. 
 
 Let no Englishman deny Le Sage 
 his well-deserved laurel. ‘ Gil Bias ’ is 
 inimitable in its line, and is one of the 
 few books which posterity will never 
 let die ; it is one of those “ little books ” 
 which dear Dr. Johnson loved, and 
 which every traveller in Spain should 
 always stow away alongside of his Don 
 Quixote in his alforjas. The edition 
 of Evaristo Pena y Marin, Mad. 1828, 
 is very convenient in form. 
 
 Route 96. — Oviedo to Santander. 
 
 Siero 3 
 
 Infiesto . . . . 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 Cangas de Onis 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 11 
 
 Covadunga ... 
 
 . Hr . 
 
 . 12£ 
 
 Penamelera . . 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 161 
 
 Abandanes . . . 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 19 
 
 Sn. Vicente . . . 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 23 
 
 Santander . . . 
 
 . 91 . 
 
 . 321 
 
 The inland road is less fatiguing, 
 because not so much cut up by estu- 
 aries as is the one by the sea-coast. It 
 threads those defiles which Pelayus 
 defended and Ballesteros abandoned ; 
 it contains the sites of early churches 
 and castles, is highly picturesque and 
 Swiss-like, and the fishing is good. 
 None should venture this way except 
 in fine weather, taking a local guide, 
 and minding the provend. Leaving 
 Siero and its coal-beds, and descending 
 to pretty Infiesto , with a nice little 
 Posada: pop. 600. On the Pitona, 
 near the corredoiro , is the spot where 
 Pelayus forded the river. The angler 
 may ride, in a long day, to Cangas de 
 Onis , a poor place, but at Sella there are 
 some salmon-pools. The road winds 
 up the pleasant valley of the Sella 
 to Cangas de Onis , Canicas (conchas, 
 the shell-like broken valley), with 
 a good bridge over the confluent Sella 
 and Gueiia : half a league off is the 
 ancient monastery, San Pedro de Vil- 
 lanova , built about 760 by Alonso I., 
 who commemorated on an arch the 
 tragical death of his father. The 
 modernised chapel of Santa Cruz , so 
 called from the cross of Victory, was 
 built in 735 by Favila, in the plain 
 
 near Mercado de Cangas ; an original 
 inscription of the time remains, a most 
 singular philological relic, and much 
 discussed from Morales down to Ca- 
 veda. Here it was that Favila killed a 
 bear with his spear, and the lancia, a 
 true Iberian weapon and name, still 
 may be traced in the poles of these 
 mountaineers, who in these localities 
 are great single-stick players. On Sun- 
 days piles of poles may be seen stacked 
 outside the churches to prevent breaches 
 of the peace before the very altar. 
 They handle their shillelahs with Irish 
 good-will and dexterity, and frequently 
 beat away the bayonets of the troops 
 sent out to put down smuggling. 
 
 Into these glens (consult ‘ Memorias 
 del Bey Casto, } by Reluz) the remnant 
 of the Goths fled after the fatal battle 
 on the Guadalete, in 711. Here Pe- 
 layus, Pelayo, whose father Favila — 
 the Fafila of Arab historians — son of 
 king Chindasvinto, had been murdered 
 by the usurper Witiza, rallied a few 
 brave men, and 7 years afterwards, in 
 718, gained a victory over the Moors, 
 which delivered Gijon and all this nook 
 of Spain from the Moorish invader. 
 
 None will fail to visit the rocky 
 cradle of the monarchy, La Cueva de 
 Auseva , 
 
 Covadongciy el sitio triunfante, 
 
 Cuna quefue de la insigne Espana. 
 
 This cave, to which Pelayus fled like 
 David did to that of Adullam, this den 
 whence the Gothic Lion came forth, is 
 placed at the head of a rocky defile or 
 valley about 5 miles off ; the approach 
 and first view is most picturesque ; 
 notice the lofty mountain, the mid- 
 way grotto, the chapel, and the gush- 
 ing Leva. The cave itself opens some 
 40 feet wide by 30 deep, and might 
 contain the 300 Spaniards, the Ma- 
 rathon band that annihilated 300,000 
 Moors, como cuenta la historia. The 
 interior of the sanctuary will pain the 
 antiquarian. The curious old wooden 
 hermitage was burnt down in 1775, 
 when Charles IV. employed the aca- 
 demical Ventura Rodriguez, whose 
 common-place unfurnished temple has 
 little in common with Pelayus: this 
 hero’s curious rude sepulchre must be 
 noticed, as also that of Alonso Land the 
 
648 
 
 ROUTE 96. PEL A YUS. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 
 Hermit’s. Pelayus, the Dux or Duke 
 of the Goths, died in 737, having 
 reigned 18 years. He was buried in 
 the small church of Santa Eulalia, built 
 by him at Abamia, | L. from Cangas de 
 Onis , nor to this day is any dead body 
 allowed to be placed in the site where 
 his corpse was laid until it was re- 
 moved to the Cueva. 
 
 This victory was the first serious 
 blow dealt to the Saracenic invaders, 
 and saved France and Europe from 
 the crescent ; for it proved a diversion, 
 and raised up a new enemy in the flank 
 of the advancing Moor, who, now occu- 
 pied with a resistance at home, could 
 ill spare troops for distant conquests 
 beyond the Pyrenees; thus the war- 
 like French gained breathing-time and 
 organised resistance, until Charle- 
 magne rolled back the torrent, and 
 planted the cross on the banks of the 
 Ebro itself. Like Bailen in our times, 
 this victory destroyed the supposed 
 invincibility of the infidel invader; 
 and encouraged resistance, rendering 
 success easier by disheartening the 
 vanquished. The Moor now began to be 
 chary of approaching the mountains ; 
 his settlements were formed in the 
 plains, and in the warmer south and 
 eastern coasts ; and when the first 
 violence of the invasion became spent, 
 the located strangers grew attached to 
 their rich properties, and became still 
 more unwilling to undertake distant 
 and dangerous conquests, which, when 
 only poor adventurers, they eagerly 
 followed out. 
 
 This signal victory was second in 
 none of its results or prodigies to those 
 crowning mercies of Las Navas de 
 Tolosa. According to the Bishop 
 Sebastian (‘ Esp. Sag.’ xxxvii. 79), 
 
 124.000 Moors were killed in the 
 valley of Covadunga, and 63,000 
 more drowned under Monte Amosa, 
 when, according to Paulus Diaconus, 
 “ the rest they ran away,” into France, 
 where 375,000 were killed. These 
 statements are, in sober truth, things 
 of romance : thus, according to Don 
 Quixote (ii. 1), Orlando himself killed 
 
 2.200.000 of king Agrican’s army. 
 This Oriental arithmetic formed a 
 model to Buonaparte’s facts, figures , 
 
 and bulletins formulae during Moore’s 
 campaign. Those who now tread these 
 narrow defiles of Covadunga , will, as at 
 las Navas de Tolosa and Salado , see the 
 impossibility of moving, to say nothing 
 of feeding, no$ 500,000 but 20,000 
 men ; the true solution of all these 
 cuentas will be to read hundreds instead 
 of thousands. No doubt in these 
 broken localities, as at Bailen, where 
 manoeuvring is impracticable, the Spa- 
 niards gained the day ; and well would 
 it have been for them if they had 
 always acted on the example of history 
 and on our Duke’s advice, and kept to 
 their hills, instead of rushing to certain 
 defeat in campal battles. The Moor- 
 ish annalists treated their conqueror 
 Pelayus with Chinese politeness, call- 
 ing him a “ contemptible barbarian ” — 
 “ One Belay, who roused the people 
 of Asturish.” He was “ despised.” by 
 the Viceroy, Al-horr, as only com- 
 manding 30 men (* Moh. D.’ ii. 34,260). 
 Pelayus in reality was a true warrior 
 of Spain, i. e. a Guerrillero , a Sertorius, 
 Cid, Mina, Zumalacarregui, in short 
 an Abd-el-Kader Cristiano. 
 
 On these sites of ancient glory the 
 notorious Ballesteros first emerged, in 
 our times, into disgrace ; his refusal to 
 obey the Duke led to the loss of Madrid, 
 the raising the siege of Burgos, and 
 neutralized the victory of Salamanca. 
 Banished to Ceuta, for this disobedi- 
 ence, and soon jobbed out again by the 
 anti-English party, of which he was 
 the leader ; now he is the beau ideal of 
 a true Spaniard with the Torenos 
 (viii.), Arguelleses (i. 99, 327), and 
 Co., who behold in him the represen- 
 tative of el orgullo Espanol, which will 
 not submit even to be saved if a fo- 
 reigner gives the word of command. 
 
 Ballesteros, by birth an Arragonese, 
 with all the obstinacy and insubordi- 
 nation of his stiff-necked countrymen, 
 began life as a common soldier in 
 1804, and was turned out of the ranks 
 for misconduct. Appointed afterwards 
 a tobacco registrar in the Asturias, he 
 was busied with his cigars near Cova- 
 dunga, at the time of the national 
 rising after the butcheries of Murat ; 
 then he became, says Toreno, “ entu- 
 siasmado ” with the glorious recollec- 
 
The Asturias . 
 
 ROUTE 97.— BALLESTEROS. 
 
 649 
 
 * tions of his “ district,” and thought 
 himself a second Pelayus ; but on 
 May 24, 1810, when the first French 
 detachment came in sight, his tobac- 
 cose valour ended in smoke, and he 
 took to his heels at once, never stopping 
 until he reached Potes ; and again the 
 instant the French reappeared he started 
 off to Santander , and leaving his troops 
 in the lurch, rushed with Jose O’Don- 
 nell into an open boat, rowing away 
 with the butts of muskets. Ballesteros 
 being a lechaculo or toady of the Mar- 
 ques of Romana, the commander in 
 these districts, manoeuvred into place, 
 and passed from being the slave to the 
 tyrant. By nature impatient of any 
 superior or control (self, indeed, was 
 his only centre) he fired like a lucifer 
 match at the least opposition. He 
 would not have obeyed Santiago him- 
 self, much less a foreigner. 
 
 The Duke soon fathomed this man 
 (see Disp. Feb. 16, Apr. 11, Nov. 15, 
 1811, and Dec. 18, 1813), “ He is a 
 mere freebooter, a chief of a disorderly 
 rabble ;” “ a curse instead of a benefit 
 to the nation which they are employed 
 to defend.” “ He is not to be depended 
 upon for one moment. Depend upon 
 it he will not co-operate in conjunction 
 with you.” This marplot was chosen 
 by Ferdinand VII. to be his Minister 
 of War, an art of which, except as a 
 Guerrillero , he was ignorant as a child. 
 He poisoned the royal ear with anti- 
 English prejudices, and next, in 1820, 
 betrayed his king, becoming in 1823 
 his worst persecutor ; but no sooner 
 did the French troops appear than, as 
 usual, he was again the first to run 
 away. Thus the end of his career was 
 just the same as the beginning. Being 
 caught near Granada by Gen. Molitor 
 in 1823, he saved himself by a das- 
 tardly treaty, and died an exile and in 
 disgrace at Paris in 1832. 
 
 Covadunga, boasts of a Holy Well 
 whose waters are most popular, since 
 all maidens who drink it with faith, 
 get a husband that year. The peasants 
 still point out the rivulets that ran 
 rivers of Moorish blood, they show the 
 boulders of granite hurled on the foe, 
 the hoof-marks on the rocks of the mule 
 of Pelayus, and the carvings (at Abamia) 
 
 of the Devil carrying off the traitor- 
 bishop Oppas. The angler will be no 
 less content : let him try, at least, the 
 pozo de Monejo, the “ pool ” near 
 Abandares , where sometimes more than 
 100 salmon are caught at one haul of 
 a net. The sportsman will find caza 
 mayor y menor, and should particularly 
 look out in the hills for the Pebeco, a 
 sort of chamois. The naturalist may 
 here cull simples with more propriety 
 than Southey’s Pelayus. “ Such a 
 bucolic contemplation of nature is 
 very well for a goatherd (says his 
 friend Wm. Taylor), but where the 
 fate of empires is at stake, the en- 
 gineer who is sent to reconnoitre is 
 not to lose his time in zoologizing, 
 entomologizing, and botanizing.” On 
 quitting this valley, the Cordales , or 
 range of hills is ascended, which over- 
 looks the basin of the Deva, and the 
 opposed Penas de Europa , a glorious 
 snow-capped chain, but ague and fever 
 lurk in this bosom of beauty. Arenas , 
 Abandones , and Carrera are good fish- 
 ing quarters on this beautiful Deva, 
 the best river perhaps of all. Those 
 who put up at Carrera should avail 
 themselves of the kind offices of 
 Mr. Roscrow, chief of the copper- 
 mines. The crystal Cares and Deva 
 unite in the meadow of Alles. Con- 
 tinuing the stream to Mier, in its 
 funnel of hills, cross the trout-stream 
 Cares, and go up the charming valley 
 of Penamellera. At Cavanzon we fall 
 in with the Namsa. Luey is a good 
 fishing quarter, the weir of Munor- 
 rodero preventing the salmon getting 
 higher up the stream: thence, 1^ L., 
 to San Vicente de la Barquera , and so 
 to S antiliana and Santander. 
 
 Route 97. — Oviedo to Leon. 
 
 Mieres .... 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Pola de Leon . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 5 
 
 Campomanes . . , 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 6 
 
 La Muela ... 
 
 . u . 
 
 . 71 
 
 Puerto de Pajares . 
 
 . Id . 
 
 . 9 
 
 Buidongo . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 11 
 
 Buiza .... 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 13* 
 
 Robla .... 
 
 . 2£ . 
 
 . 16 
 
 Carbajal .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 19 
 
 Leon 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 20 
 
 This magnificent carriage-road is 
 better engineered than kept up. 
 
650 
 
 ROUTE 97. — OVEIDO TO LEON. 
 
 Sect. X. 
 
 Charles IV., when the enormous cost 
 was reported, asked if it were paved 
 with silver. The line winds up and 
 down descents, is well provided with 
 bridges and parapets, and is con- 
 ceived on a needless scale of width 
 and grandeur ; it is indeed both a via 
 lata and a camino de plata, There is a 
 diligence ; but to the rider the first day’s 
 halt will be at the Puerto de Pajares , the 
 portal of the tremendous mountain wall 
 which divides the Asturias from Leon, 
 Ascending from Oviedo , look back on 
 this mountain capital : below glides 
 away the charming Nalon, on the banks 
 of which the departing angler has left 
 his heart; here he bids the sweet 
 streams a last farewell, as they “stray 
 by many a winding nook, with willing 
 sport, to the wild ocean.” A stone 
 seat near a fountain which gushes 
 from the rock, invites the traveller to- 
 repose, and enjoy the panorama. Now 
 we descend to Olloniego, with its fine 
 bridge built by Manuel Requera 
 Gonzalez. The older ivy-clad bridge 
 stands high and dry in the meadow, 
 the stream having been untrue to its 
 bed, as at Coria ; but Spanish rivers 
 are as classically fickle as the Homeric 
 Scamander and Simois. The artist 
 and angler can desire nothing more 
 than these sites. A zigzag course over 
 a limestone ridge leads, by the Puerto 
 de Padron , to the charming village 
 Mieres , with its bridge, and a decent 
 posada near the Palacio Campo Sagrado. 
 Pop. 4000. Near this are iron and 
 cinnabar mines, worked as usual by 
 foreign companies. Half a league 
 from Pola de Lena is the hermitage 
 De Santa Cristina , of the ninth century. 
 Santullano over the Lena, and the 
 whole route, recalls Devonshire. To 
 the rt. is the Monte Sacro with its 
 hermitage, where the ark of Oviedo 
 rested after the Moorish deluge. The 
 Mieres is soon joined by the Aller. 
 The whole route to Pajares is an alpine 
 scene of verdure and cultivation ; 
 sometimes chesnut groves, maize-fields, 
 and May meadows ; at others, wild glens 
 of dovetailing hills, where all further 
 advance seems impossible, and where 
 there is but just room for the road and 
 its cheerful way-fellow the torrent, 
 
 “ making sweet music with the en- 
 amelled stones,” to thread the defile. 
 Near La Perrusa , on the highest point 
 of the Puerto , is the frontier line be- 
 tween the Asturias and Leon, and close 
 by the ancient Abadia . de Albas , where 
 monks were established to succour 
 passengers, like those on Mount St. 
 Bernard. 
 
 Pajares is a miserable hamlet, but 
 the posada is tolerable, and the trout 
 excellent. This is the region of clouds 
 and cold ; we exchange the verdurous 
 valley for the peeled Sierra , whose 
 stony heights seem to defy all further 
 progress. Pillars are placed to mark 
 the road when covered over in wintry 
 snows ; it is, however seldom quite 
 closed. After the Puerto the road 
 ascends gently through a chaos of 
 rocks to the summit, a swampy level, 
 surrounded by barren mountains. 
 This morass, fed by the clouds, is the 
 reservoir from whence tiny streams 
 descending both ways, like silver 
 threads, form the rivers of Leon and 
 the Asturias. The passage, before 
 reaching Villanueva or Villamani 9 be- 
 comes so narrow that a torrent barely 
 can flow through, and the road is 
 carried along a superb causeway 
 erected at a vast expense ; after this 
 the valleys open into sun and life. 
 The bridge of Torio is placed in a 
 most romantic position. At 4^ L. we 
 pass the poplar-planted Vega or Pola 
 de Gordon ; thence to La Robla , a poor 
 place; pop. 1200. The beautiful 
 trout-stream La Vernesga skirts the 
 picturesque road, and fills the valley 
 with verdure, soon to be left behind 
 with its flowers and woods ; for, after 
 ascending a steepish hill, the eye 
 roams over the interminable steppes 
 of corn-lands bounded only by the 
 horizon. Adieu mountain, green 
 valley, and crystal stream, soon to be 
 exchanged for the dust and sand of 
 the tawny desert, now doubly odious 
 from the contrast with the fresh high- 
 lands. Thence we descend over a 
 lonely heath-clad waste to Leon, with 
 its rivers and poplar-planted banks, 
 its ancient walls, and elegant creamy- 
 toned cathedral. (For Leon, see p. 
 546.) 
 
The Asturias. 
 
 ROUTE 98. — OYEIDO TO LEON. 
 
 651 
 
 Route 98. — Oviedo to Leon. 
 
 There are many other puertos , diffi- 
 cult at all times to be passed, and im- 
 practicable in summer. The tracks 
 are those of goats and goatherds. 
 It is not easy to give mountain dis- 
 tances in these roadless districts, and 
 the traveller will of course take local 
 guides and attend to the provend. 
 The adventurous artist or sportsman 
 may try one to the rt., and on leaving 
 
 Oviedo commence at Grado, and then 
 ascend the Narcea to romantic Bel- 
 monte and thence by the river to San 
 Andres de Aguera , and by the Cannedo 
 to picturesque Pola de Somiedo ; from 
 thence the Puerto of its name is 
 crossed, and we descend through an 
 alpine country to Carrascante, Villa 
 Setana , to Truovana. Here flows the 
 noble trout-stream the Luna ; hence 
 to Las Duenas , and 5 L. to Leon, by 
 the valley of the Vernesga. 
 
( 652 ) 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 SECTION XI. 
 
 THE CASTILES; OLD AND NEW. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Boutes; the Provinces; the Character of the Country and Natives. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MADRID 663 
 
 ROUTE 99. — MADRID TO AVILA . 742 
 Toros de Guisando ; Avila. 
 
 ROUTE 100. — AVILA TO SEGOVIA . 749 
 The Escorial ; San Ildefonso ; El Paular ; 
 
 Segovia. 
 
 ROUTE 101. — MADRID TO THE ES- 
 CORIAL 749 
 
 ROUTE 1 02. — “SEGOVIA TO ARANDA 773 
 
 ROUTE 103. — MADRID TO TOLEDO 773 
 
 TOLEDO 774 
 
 Spanish Swords. 
 
 ROUTE 104. — TOLEDO TO ARAN- 
 JUEZ 799 
 
 ROUTE 105. — MADRID TO VALENCIA 
 
 BY ALBACETE 802 
 
 Spanish Knives. 
 
 ROUTE 106. — MADRID TO VALENCIA 
 BY CUENCA 806 
 
 ROUTE 107.— CUENCA TO VALENCIA 
 BY MINGLANILLA 813 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ROUTE 108. — CUENCA TO SAN CLE- 
 MENTE . . . 815 
 
 ROUTE 109.— CUENCA TO MADRID 
 BY SACEDON 816 
 
 ROUTE 110. — CUENCA TO MADRID 
 VIA GUADALAJARA 818 
 
 ROUTE 111. — CUENCA TO TERUEL. 819 
 
 ROUTE 112. — TERUEL TO CALA- 
 TAYUD BY DAROCA 820 
 
 ROUTE 1 13. — TERUEL TO VALENCIA 824 
 
 ROUTE 114. — MADRID TO ZARA- 
 GOZA BY GUADALAJARA AND 
 CAL AT AY UD 825 
 
 ROUTE 115. — MADRID TO BURGOS 836 
 
 ROUTE 116. — BURGOS TO SANTAN- 
 DER 857 
 
 ROUTE 117.— BURGOS TO LOGRONO 
 BY NAVARRETE 859 
 
 ROUTE 118.-— BURGOS TO VITORIA 864 
 
 ROUTE 119. — VITORIA TO SAN- 
 TANDER 869 
 
 These, the two empire provinces of the Castiles, join each other, and consti- 
 tute a large portion of the central plateau of Spain, of which they are truly 
 El coro corazon y Castilla , the choir “ heart and citadel composed chiefly of 
 tertiary formation, they rise at an average about 2000 feet above the sea, and this 
 table-land is itself encompassed with mountains, and intersected by diverging 
 ranges : thus the Montes de Toledo divide the basins of the Guadiana and 
 Tagus, while the Sierra de Guadarrama separates those of the Tagus and 
 Duero : to the east rise the Sierras de Cuenca , some of the highest mountains of 
 these provinces. These provinces, now divided into Old and New, Castilla Vieja 
 y Nueva , formed under the ancients the districts of the Celtiberi, Oretani, and 
 Carpetani. The N.W. portion was called Bardulia under the Goths ; but this 
 name was changed into that of Castilla so early as 801, and the distinction 
 Vetula, Vieja , was afterwards added, to mark the difference between it and the 
 
The Castiles. histories to consult — want of trees. 
 
 653 
 
 new and more southern portions which were subsequently wrested from the 
 Moor. The “ canting” name Castilla was taken from the number of fortresses 
 erected on this frontier of Leon and Asturias, whence the Moors called the 
 province Ardo-l-kalda , the “ Land of the Castles,” and also Kashtellah. Of 
 the number of walled forts in Spain in earlier times, Livy (xxii. 1 9), Appian 
 (B. H. 467), and Hirtius (B. H. 8), make mention. These primitive Castilian 
 castles were no unsubstantial Chateaux en Espagne , but formed real defences, 
 held by brave men, and were built in imitation of Roman citadels, the solid 
 masonry being quite unlike the Oriental tapia of the Moorish Alcazares of 
 the south. The Castiles bear for arms, “ Gules, a castle or.” 
 
 Castilla la Vieja, like Leon, being close to the north-west mountains, from 
 whence the Gotho-Spaniard burst forth again st the Moors, was soon recovered 
 from the infidel ; it became a petty sovereignty, a Condado, or “ county,” 
 often, however, in some measure subject to the kings of Leon, until declared 
 independent about 762, under the Conde Rodrigo Fruelaz. He was father to 
 the renowned judge, Nuno Rasura, whose descendant, Doha Nuha, twelfth 
 countess, married in 1028 Sancho, King of Navarre: their son Ferdinand was 
 the first who assumed the title of King of Castile, and of Leon also, on his 
 marriage with Sancha, daughter and heiress of Bermudo III. These two king- 
 doms, separated again for a short period, became finally united in the thir- 
 teenth century under St. Ferdinand. They were inherited by Isabella, who 
 being Reina Proprietaria, or queen of them in her own right, was married in 
 1479 to Ferdinand, afterwards King of Arragon, and thus at their deaths the 
 consolidated kingdoms were handed down to their grandson, Charles V. For 
 historical details consult * Historia del Condado ’ Diego Gutierrez Coronel, 4to. 
 Mad. 1785; ‘ La Castilla ’ Man. Risco, 4to. Mad. 1792; and the paper by 
 Benito Montejo, ‘ Memorias Acad. Hist.’ iii. 245. 
 
 The two Castiles are the largest provinces in Spain, and contain some of the 
 oldest and most truly national Spanish cities. The mountains, highly pic- 
 turesque, abound in curious botany and geology, and, with their Swiss-like 
 valleys watered by trout-streams, present a perfect contrast to the parameras , 
 tierras de campo y secanos, the plains and table-lands, which are lonely tiresome 
 steppes, bounded only by the horizon, treeless, songless, joyless, and without 
 hedges, enclosures, or landmarks ; this tawny hortus siccus looks as if 
 belonging to no one, and not worth possessing ; yet the cultivators, who are 
 born and die on these spots, know to whom every inch belongs, and see with 
 the quick glance of an interested proprietor whatever trespasser passes over 
 the, to him, invisible boundary ; but the stranger's eye vainly attempts to 
 measure the expanse, and the mind gives way to despondency at the sight, 
 where all around, for far and wide, is of equal dreariness. The Castilians 
 have a classical non-perception of landscape, and a singular antipathy to trees, 
 the i/X'/i , or raw material for gibbets, and, like Orientals, they seldom 
 
 plant any, except those which bear fruit or give shade for their alamedas, 
 while the farmers imagine that the branches harbour birds which eat up corn ; 
 but in truth immediate profit is the utilitarian standard. To plant timber is 
 a thing of foresight and of forethought for others, and is based on con- 
 fidence in institutions which will guarantee enjoyment at a distant period ; 
 all this in a land where people live from day to day, and no one thinks of 
 the mauana , or can count on seeing it, much as he talks about it, is held to 
 be downright folly in theory and practice. Fuel and timber for domestic 
 purposes are in consequence dear, and are becoming dearer, at Madrid. 
 The soil, again, exposed to a calcining sun, becomes less favourable for 
 cultivation, while the rains and dews are absorbed, and the sources of 
 rivers diminished. Drought is the curse of the earth, as dryness is of 
 the bright clear air ; frequently it does not rain for many successive 
 months, and the crops perish, being burnt up. In summer a salitrose 
 Spain. — II. 2 G 
 
654 
 
 DUST — VILLAGES PEASANTRY . 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 dust irritates the eye, already sickened with the nakedness of the land, 
 calcined and ploughed by lightnings, and by all the discomfort of the desert, 
 without its grand associations. As water is scarce, both for irrigation and 
 domestic uses, nature and man are alike adust and tawny ; everything is 
 brown, his house, his jacket, his stew, his wife, and his ass. The silence of 
 man and nature chills the heart. Neither traveller nor artist knows what to do 
 with these dusty plains ; ah che seccatura ! They afford, however, some of 
 the finest wheat districts in the world. The Chamorro and the Candeal are the best 
 and usual sorts of grain, of which, there are more than twenty varieties. They 
 are also well adapted for the growth of saffron, Azafran (Arabice Saffrd , 
 yellow), which enters largely into Spanish cookery and complexion. A 
 tolerable red wine is made in some favoured localities, and the Garbanzos are 
 excellent. This Cicer , or Chick Pea , is the vegetable of Spain, where its use, with 
 dried peas, rice, & c., argues a low state of horticultural knowledge. The taste for 
 the Garbanzo was introduced by the Carthaginians ; it is the puls punica , which 
 (like th efides punica , forms an especial ingredient in all Spanish messes) afforded 
 such merriment to Plautus, that he introduced the chick-pea-eating Poenus, 
 pultiphagonides, speaking Punic, just as Shakspeare did the toasted-cheese- 
 eating Welshman, talking Welsh. There are very few isolated farms in these 
 provinces, since a general insecurity forces men to congregate for mutual 
 protection ; the hamlets scattered, few and far between, are mostly built of a 
 bad cob , mere mud, or of adobes , bricks dried in the sun (Arabice Attob , tobi) \ 
 while the want of glass in the openings called windows, adds, according to our 
 ideas, to the look of dilapidation : their hovels are not even picturesque. 
 Thus, when the invaders tore down the very roofs for their camp fires, the 
 walls, exposed to the winter rain, returned decomposed to their pristine ele- 
 ments, dust to dust. The labour of the cottagers is increased by the distance 
 of their residence from their work : they have to start long before daybreak, 
 and return weary as their cattle after nightfall, in truly antique groups. The 
 peasants wear capas , cloaks, or anguarinas , greatcoats made of paho pardo , and, 
 instead of hats, the inconvenient montera . The capa at least, with its classical 
 folds, gives dignity to the rags it conceals; but the anguarina confers a 
 slovenly, beggarly, Irish look. Some travellers, who merely hurry along 
 the high road, and observe the rustics doing apparently nothing, but loitering 
 in cloaked groups, or resting on their spades to look at them, get all down as 
 idlers or holgazanes , which is not the case ; for the hand of toil pauses only for 
 the instant when the stranger passes, and then labours per force on unseen and 
 unceasingly from early dawn to dewy eve ; and those who stand still in the 
 market-place are willing to work, but there is none to hire them. Generally 
 speaking, both man, woman, and child are overworked in the fields of Spain, 
 where human bone and sinew supply the want of the commonest machinery. 
 These sons of labour eat the bread of affliction earned by the briny sweat of 
 their brow : yet, from knowing no better, they do not complain, nay, among 
 themselves are as fond of amusement as children, and full of raillery, mother- 
 wit, and practical joking, and those unamusing unamuseable Dons with which 
 untravelled romancers have peopled the Peninsula are certainly not to be found 
 among the lower classes in either of the Castiles. 
 
 The Castilian is muy hour ado y hombre de bien ; he is Vir bonus, a good man 
 and true; well bred rather than polite, and inclined to receive rather 
 than to make advances, being seldom what the French call pre'venant , but then 
 when once attached he is sincere ; his manner is serious, and marked by a 
 most practical equality ; for all feel equal to the proudest noble through their 
 common birthright of being Castilians. Treat them, however, as they expect 
 to be treated, and the stranger will find that all this ceremony of form and of 
 words, "all this nicety of sitting down and getting up, does not extend to deeds. 
 Although a creature of routine, and uneducated, he is shrewd and intelligent 
 
The Ccistiles. 
 
 THE OLD CASTILIAN. 
 
 655 
 
 in his limited scope, which does not in truth extend much farther than the 
 smoke of his chimney ; self, indeed, is the centre of Castilian gravity ; bred 
 and horn among difficulties, obstacles, and privations, under a fierce sun, and 
 on a hard soil, the wild weed of strong rank nature grows up harsh and un- 
 yielding. Here man is to be seen in his unsophisticated, untamed state, in all 
 his native individual force ; for here everything is personal, and the very anti- 
 thesis of our social corporate fusing political combinations. Fond of law, 
 and respectful in keeping it, he is not; for, disgusted at the limping pace and 
 frequent ophthalmia of slow and venal justice, the splendid rage of the people 
 rushes to conclusions, and taking the law and knife in its own hands, acts often 
 as judge, jury, and executioner too ; for they do not measure their oriental 
 vengeance and retaliation by scruples, moral or arithmetical : but the Castilian 
 is not addicted to mean, dishonourable crimes. To see the Castilian in a 
 genuine condition, he must be sought for in the better class of villages, at a 
 distance from Madrid ; for the capital has exercised no civilizing influence, 
 or caused any care for material comforts, as under its very walls the 
 peasant is a barbarian, while within them resides the worst populacho of the 
 Peninsula ; and it is difficult to say which are there the worst and most un- 
 educated, the highest or the lowest classes. The superior bearing of the manly 
 country labrador over the stinted burgess of Madrid is very remarkable, and 
 in his lowly cottage a truer hospitality, and one with no arriere pense'e of pay, 
 will be found than in the tapestry halls of the grandee, where most it is pre- 
 tended. Among themselves the villagers are social and gregarious, their light- 
 hearted confidence contrasting with the suspicious reserve of the higher classes. 
 The homes of the yeomen are cleaner and better furnished than the posadas ; 
 indeed, as throughout Spain, dirt and discomfort lodge rather at the public 
 inn than in the private dwelling. The interior of the Peninsula is too little 
 travelled by foreigners to make it worth while to consult their whims or 
 wants, and the national accommodation is good enough for the national mule- 
 teer and his animals. 
 
 The Castilians, from their male and trustworthy character, are still Robur 
 Hispanise (Flor. ii. 17. 9), they constitute the virility, vitality, and heart of 
 the nation, and the sound stuff of which it has — if ever — to be reconstructed. 
 The Cid was the personification of the genuine character of these ancient chate- 
 lains of Christendom, and of the spirit of that age : and however degenerated 
 the pigmy aristocracy, the sinewy, muscular forms of the brave peasants, true 
 children of the Goth, are no unfitting framework of a vigorous and healthy, 
 although uneducated, mind. Here, indeed, the remark of Burns holds good, 
 that “ the rank is but the guinea stamp, the man’s the gold for all that.” “ All 
 the force of Europe/’ said our gallant Peterborough, “ would not be sufficient 
 to subdue the Castiles with the people against it ; ” and like him, the Duke, 
 however thwarted by the so-called better classes, never despaired while the 
 “ country was with him” He quelled his rising indignation at their juntas, and 
 smothered his contempt of their generals ; he collected all his energies to buffet 
 the storm, catching the beams of his coming glory ; and, “ cheered by the 
 people's support proved himself, says Napier, “ to be a man made to conquer 
 and uphold kingdoms.” The ancient qualities are, gravedad, lealtad , y amor de 
 Dios , self respect, love of God, and loyalty. The genuine old Castilian is true 
 to his king, his faith, and to himself ; his religion having a tendency to run into 
 bigotry, his loyalty into subserviency ; he hates foreign dictation, clings to the 
 ways of his ancestors, thinks Spain the first kingdom in the world, the 
 Castiles its first provinces, and himself the first of its population. No 
 wonder, therefore, that these peasants, as Addison said of those in the 
 Georgies, toss about even manure with an air of dignity ; this is the result 
 also of natural instinct even more than of social conventions, since each, 
 esteeming himself inferior to none but the king, cares little for the accidents of 
 
 2 G 2 
 
656 
 
 PEASANTRY — THE CASTELLANO — MADRID. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 rank and fortune. There is the bearing and a look of independence about 
 him ; and practically he feels himself to be so, for the despotism which felt 
 the popular pulse through the confessional pressed less upon his class 
 than on that of his betters, and seldom irritated the masses. Safe in their 
 obscurity, they were indemnified by a liberty of action which was denied to 
 possessors of rank, wealth, and intellect, who, being feared^ by king and priest, 
 were kept down ; and this accounts for the apparent anomaly of the lower 
 classes having opposed those reforms, which the higher ones coveted ; not that 
 the grandees had any much clearer ideas of real constitutional liberty than a 
 debating club of shop-boys, and simply mistaking names for things, fancied 
 they had a constitution, because the word was inscribed on the walls of market- 
 places. Their real idea of liberty and happiness is exemption from work, 
 and the privilege and power of idling like gentlemen. Nor does poverty, the 
 great crime never to be pardoned in England, here, unless it be very grinding, 
 unfit a person for society ; here Pobreza no es vileza ; nor does it destroy 
 personal respectability and independence ; indeed, w'here the majority are 
 poor, the not being rich does not degrade, and an innate gentility of 
 race, which nothing can take away, renders them indifferent to the changes and 
 chances of fickle prosperity. The Castellano, an old though decayed gentleman, 
 never forgets, or permits others to forget, what is due to himself : courteous to 
 others, he expects a reciprocity as regards himself, and when once that is con- 
 ceded, knows well how to give place. As the beggars cover their shreds and 
 patches under the stately capa, so he conceals beneath an outward lofty bearing 
 his inner feelings ; he hopes, and his motive is honourable, to divert observa- 
 tion by showing “a more swelling port than the family means would grant 
 continuance hence the struggle between ostentation and want, hence the 
 boato of the Bisono ; but “ to boast of the national strength is the national 
 disease.” 
 
 The Castilian in particular claims to be synonymous with the Spaniard in 
 general, and gives his name to the kingdom, nation, and language ; and his 
 grand pretension is to be an old one, Castellano viejo y rancio, and spotless, sin 
 mancha ; that is, uncontaminated with the black blood of new converts from 
 Moor or Jew. His pride and Espanolismo is immeasurable. According to 
 their modest annalist, Coronel, the sovereignty of Castile is by far the most 
 ancient, noble, and sublime in the world, and is so purely Spanish as to pro- 
 ceed from “ divine inspiration ; ” indeed, if another of their historians, Ferreras, 
 can be trusted, the primitive inhabitants were transported to Spain by angels, 
 nada menos. All these assumptions foster a dogged self-esteem, combined 
 with prejudice against the foreigner, and have long kept the heaven-born or 
 imported native and these empire provinces in a low stage of civilization ; and 
 whatever the Castilian may predicate of his fool’s paradise, every man who has 
 an acre in England, will think this part of the world one of the best to live out 
 of. The most suitable periods to visit these provinces are, either the beginning 
 of autumn, or in May and June, as the summers are very hot and the winters 
 are very cold. The principal objects worth notice are Madrid and the royal 
 sitios, Toledo, Avila, Segovia, Cuenca, and Burgos, and the scenery in the 
 ranges of the Guadarrama, and Cuenca mountains. 
 
 MADRID. Although the learned compilers of the official Guia for 1845 
 state that this is the 2595th year after the foundation of Rome, and the 
 4011th after that of Madrid, and that this, the more ancient and nobler 
 city, was called by the Romans, Majoritum and Mantua Car pent anorum, to dis- 
 tinguish it from Mantua in Italy, yet the first historical and real mention of 
 Madrid occurs under Ramiro II., c. 930. Majerit , as it was called, was only a 
 Moorish fortified outpost of Toledo when captured in 1083 by Alonso VI. 
 Enrique IV., about 1461, made some additions to the older town, which was 
 placed on the west eminence over the river Manzanares. It was then sur- 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — its history and position. 
 
 65 7 
 
 rounded with forests, which Argote describes, so late as 1582, as “ burn monte 
 de puerco y oso,” or good cover for hoars and bear, on account of which the site 
 was made a royal hunting residence. These woods have long been cut down 
 by the improvident inhabitants ; and their loss, as at Rome, has contributed 
 much to the general insalubrity of the town. Real trees now, like their wild 
 beasts, chiefly exist on the city's shield, the arms of which are a “ tree vert 
 with fruit gules, up which a bear is climbing, an orle azure with seven stars 
 argent." This bear, say the heralds, is typified by the Ursa Major , and they 
 also call that constellation el Carro , because indicating Carpentum Mantuanorum. 
 
 Madrid in historical unpalatable truth, only really rose under Charles V., 
 who, gouty and phlegmatic, felt himself relieved by its brisk and rarefied air ; 
 and consulting his personal comfort only, he deserted for this upstart favourite 
 the time-honoured capitals of Valladolid, Seville, Granada, and Toledo, to fix 
 his residence on a spot which Iberian, Roman, Goth, and Moor had all re- 
 jected. Madrid was declared the only court by Philip II. in 1560. 
 
 The gross mistake of a most faulty position which has no single advantage 
 except the fancied geographical merit of being in the centre of Spain, was soon 
 felt, and Philip III., in 1601, endeavoured to remove the court back again to 
 Valladolid, which, however, was then found to be impracticable, such had been 
 the creation of new interests during the outlay in the preceding reign. Philip 
 II. had moreover neglected the opportunity of placing the capital of the 
 Peninsula at Lisbon, which is admirably situated on a noble river and on the 
 sea, where the marine could not have been left to perish ; had this been done 
 Portugal never would or could have revolted, or the Peninsula been thus 
 dissevered, by which the first blow was dealt to Spain’s shortlived greatness ; 
 thus to Madrid, and to its monkish ulcer the Escorial, is the germ of present 
 decay to be traced. Charles 1 iL, a wise prince, contemplated a removal to 
 Seville ; so also did the intrusive Joseph, but the thing is now impossible. 
 
 Madrid is built on a lofty plateau of several mangy hills that hang over the 
 river Manzanares, at an elevation of some 2412 feet above the sea, although it 
 seems to stand in an apparent plain ; the locality, however, is much cut up 
 by gullies that the torrents from the Guadarrama have worn away, and in 
 which some 200 villages pine unseen, concealed in the hollows. This eleva- 
 tion on an open land probably is the reason of the derivation given by some 
 to Majerit , which is said to signify in Arabic “ a current of fresh air," a 
 Buenos Ayres of dust. Sousa prefers the Arabic Maajarit , “ running waters," 
 of which there are scarcely any; indeed one of the curses of Madrid is 
 drought; not merely the result of the desiccating air but of the want of water : 
 recently it has been projected to complete the canal of Isabel II., and the 
 works are progressing, as well as the vrant of funds and correctly-taken levels 
 will permit. It is contemplated to bring water from the beautiful clear 
 Lozoya , which rises some 12 L. distant under the Guadarrama mountains \ 
 the cost is estimated above a million sterling. Thus the salitrose dust which 
 in summer poisons the air, streets, eyes, and lungs of Madrid, may be alleviated. 
 The Ayuntamiento are talking also about bringing to Madrid water from a 
 spring outside the gate of Segovia, and an Englishman named Sandford is to 
 erect hydraulic engines — Veremos. 
 
 The basin in which Madrid stands is bounded by the Sierra of the Guadar- 
 rama and by the Montes of Toledo and Guadalupe, and consists chiefly of tertiary 
 formations, marl, gypsum, and limestone. The latter, found at Colmenar de 
 Oreja , near Aranjuez, is a freshwater deposit, with planorbes, and being of a 
 good colour and substance, is much used in the buildings of Madrid : the com- 
 mon and excellent granite comes from Colmenar Viejo (Arabice bee-hive), 5 L., 
 near the Escorial. A curious magnesite, with bones of extinct mammalia, 
 occurs at Vallecas , lj- L. from the capital, S.S.E., to which the geologist should 
 ride to examine the flint pits between Vallecas and Vicalvaro ; fullers’ earth and 
 
658 MADRID ITS LOCALITY INSALUBRITY. Sect. XI. 
 
 what looks like Meerschaum occur : a quarter of a mile off is a gypsum quarry ; 
 observe the selenite hemitrope crystals. 
 
 Madrid, as a residence, is disagreeable and unhealthy, alternating between 
 the extremities of heat and cold, or, according to the adage, with 3 months of 
 winter and 9 of hell, tres meses de invierno y nueve del infierno . The mean annual 
 winter temperature is 43° 7 f , but every year, for several nights, the thermometer 
 descends many degrees below 32°, and the rivers are covered with ice, although 
 it generally disappears in the day. The springs are often wet and rainy ; the 
 mean temperature of the three summer months is 76° 2'; but during the 
 Solano, the south-eastern wind, it frequently rises to 90° or even 105° in the 
 shade, while in the sun, the heat and glare are African ; nor are the blasts 
 of Siberia wanting, for being placed on a denuded plateau, Madrid is exposed 
 to the keen currents which sweep down, impregnated with death, from’ the 
 snowy Guadarrama, the nursery of consumption and pulmonia — inflammation 
 of the lungs. Hence the summer is a dangerous period, when the pores are 
 open ; for often, during a N.E. wind, the difference of temperature on one side 
 of a street to the other, reaches 20 degrees, and the incautious stranger turning 
 out of a spot which is roasted by the sun, passes from an ice-house to an oven, 
 is caught at a corner by iEolus, and incontinently forwarded to the cementerio. 
 It was of the Colico de Madrid, a peculiar inflammation of the bowels, that the 
 blood-boltered Murat sickened in 1808, which the superstitious populace, 
 according to Foy, ascribed to divine vengeance : but no Nemesis then struck 
 the blow, for the disease is proverbial, and 
 
 “ El aire de Madrid es tan sotil 
 
 Que mata a un honibre, y no apaga d un candil ,” — 
 
 the subtle air, which will not extinguish a candle, puts out a man’s life. Dry, 
 searching, desiccating, and cutting, this assassin breath of death pierces through 
 flesh and bone to the marrow ; hence the careful way in which the men cover 
 their mouths, muffling themselves up in their cloaks, embozandose en las capos. 
 The average of death at Madrid is as 1 in 28, while in London it is as 1 in 42 : 
 no wonder, according to Salas, that even the healthy of those born there live 
 on physic — 
 
 “ Aun las personas mas sanas, 
 
 Si son en Madrid nacidas, 
 
 Tienen que hacer sus comidas 
 De pildoras y tisanas.” 
 
 It is particularly fatal to young children during dentition. So much for this 
 “ Buena Madre ” — mais bien Madrasta — this good mother, from whose tender 
 mercies Moya derives the name of Madrid. In a word the denizens of the only and 
 crowned court, are sickly in body and superficial in mind; the physical promise 
 of their youth is ^reaterthan their mature performance. Meantime as no despot 
 can care climate, and even if there were no local doctors, this charnel-house 
 capital would soon cease to be a city of the living were it not replenished by 
 the thousands who flock to it from the drained provinces : it is the destructive 
 spider that lures into its web the silly flies who hope to make their fortunes in 
 this centre of jobbery, robbery, and universal corruption; yet the townspeople 
 think Madrid the “ envy and admiration ” of mankind : they talk of it as the 
 capital of Spain, i. e. the world, for Quien dice Espana dice todo. There is but 
 one Madrid, No hay sino un Madrid : unique, like the phoenix, it is the only 
 court, Solo Madrid es corte. Wherever it is mentioned the world is silent with 
 awe, Donde esta Madrid calle el mundo. There is but one stage from Madrid to 
 la Gloria, or paradise, in which there is a window for angels to take bird’s-eye 
 peeps and look down on this counterpart heaven on earth. One reason why 
 there are no country-houses in the vicinity is seriously accounted for, because 
 no sane person could ever be found to quit this home of supernatural enjoyment 
 even for a day. When Adam obtained a day’s leave to revisit the earth, on 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — ITS CHARACTER. 
 
 659 
 
 passing through Spain, he found nothing changed since his time, until he came 
 to Madrid, when he was with difficulty dragged back to Paradise. No wonder 
 mortal men, and even the grandees, should think it the greatest of punishment 
 to be banished from la Gorte to their distant estates — a term which conveys to 
 Spanish ears a meaning which cannot be translated in English. It is like 
 La Cour de Louis XIV., the residence of the Sultan, of the dispenser of rank 
 and fortune : it is the centre of empenos, jobs, intrigues, titles, decorations, and 
 plunder, to which flock the vulture tribe of place-hunters and pretendientes, 
 who, under this sun, breed like maggots in carrion ; yet as a court it is and 
 was at all times a poor representation of real grandeur. The desert comes up 
 to the ignoble mud walls, and the peasant who scratches the fields beyond 
 them is a barbarian, yet the townsfolk compare these environs to those of 
 Palmyra and Rome : but where are the ancient battlements, palaces, and 
 temples ? where is the poetry of those widowed cities of past greatness, to 
 which present loneliness and melancholy form a fitting-frame ? Everything 
 around Madrid is the abomination of a self-created desolation alike without 
 recollections or associations. Here nature and man seem fitted for each other, 
 for the denuded environs only evince a bad soil and a worse cultivation. Nor 
 are matters much mended inside the girdle of mud that encircles the city, for 
 here lives the worst possible mob or populacho. The morals of most classes 
 are not much better than the climate ; and Mesonero calculates that one-fifth 
 of all the births in Madrid are exposed in the Cuna , or Foundling Hospital, to 
 almost certain death. Few capitals have produced fewer worthies of any kind. 
 More crimes are committed in Madrid than in any city of Spain, of which it is 
 thus both the court and the cloaca, and where it is difficult to say which class is 
 the most uneducated, the highest or the lowest. 
 
 Madrid is a city of pride, idleness, and ignorance, without real business or 
 commerce: the grand occupation is intrigue of all kinds. The city is best seen 
 early of a morning when the larderless natives are all going to market, to the 
 plaza , or late in the evening when all are out for amusement. 
 
 Madrid, till recently, was not even a city or Ciudad , but only the chief of 
 villas. It has no cathedral, had no bishop. In this land of anomalies, while 
 some cities, like Zaragosa, have two cathedrals, the crowned and only court of 
 the most Catholic king has none ; nowhere either are fine mediaeval memorials 
 and sepulchres rarer. When extramural cemeteries were established from 
 hygienicreasons, time-honoured monuments were used as old stones. Few in 
 Spain care for the living, none for the dead ; the public burial-grounds are 
 Cockney things, and conducted a la Pere la Chaise, but without reverence 
 or much decency. The capital rises with a cluster of conical, blue, Flemish- 
 looking, unspanishlike spires ; but Madrid scarcely existed in the early period 
 of Castilian history, and was built when the age of cathedrals was passed, that 
 age when edifices were raised in harmony with the deep and noble sentiment 
 within ; hence it has little to interest the antiquarian : it swelled up like a wen, 
 which denotes corruption in the system, and took the form and pressure of the 
 decay of creed and country of which it was the exponent. It has been calcu- 
 lated that during the 17th and 18th centuries no less than 68 millions sterling 
 were expended in Spain in the building and decoration of convents , instead of 
 making roads and canals : now the Madrid churches were mostly raised during 
 this fatal period. It has, however, no lack of fine Spanish titles ; the abbre- 
 viations of its style are usually thus expressed by letter — La M. N. L. I. C. y 
 M. H. Villa y Corte de M., which signify La muy noble, leal , Imperial coronada , 
 y muy heroica villa y corte de Madrid. Built chiefly by Philips III., IV., and 
 Charles II., and perfected under the foreigner, nowhere has the vile Churri- 
 gueresque and Rococo of Louis XIV. been carried to greater excesses. Few 
 edifices record the Moorish, mediaeval, or greater ages of Spain. The churches, 
 whitened sepulchres, are sad specimens of an insatiable greediness for tinsel, 
 
660 
 
 MADRID — INHOSPITALITY. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 and. worthy of a period when creed and country alike were starved in realities, 
 while the outside offthe platter was made fine, in the vain hope of hiding the 
 rottenness within; again, the Bourbons introduced that particular rage for 
 building and gilding which characterised Le Grand Monarque . Charles. III., 
 who wished to be the Augustus of Madrid, unfortunately worked in brick, not 
 marble, and his was the poor age of Mengs and of the commonplace and 
 Royal Academical. Hence the spiritless, meaningless piles, the ostentatious 
 frontage of edifices, run up to flatter the royal eye, behind which were mean, 
 ill-paved, ill-lighted, and ill-drained lanes. The best houses are lofty, and 
 different families live on different floors or flats, having the staircase in 
 common ; each apartment is protected by a solid door, an “ oak,” in which 
 there is generally a small wicket, from which the suspicious inmates inspect 
 visitors before they let them in. The interiors, according to our notions, 
 are uncomfortable and unfurnished, with no books, or appearance of occu- 
 pation or of life ; the kitchens, offices, and other necessaries are on the most 
 continental scale. 
 
 Our extended dinner society is all but unknown, except in the houses of the 
 diplomatic corps, and of some few of the rich jobbers, placemen, and contrac- 
 tors, and of those who, having emigrated, have discovered that the whole art 
 of cookery is not condensed, like the imprisoned ‘ Arabian Nights ’ Genius, in 
 a puchero or pipkin. The grandees, indeed, will honour the feasts of the foreign 
 ministers, but with little reciprocity ; like the Principes of modern Rome, they 
 seldom offer in return even a glass of water: their hospitality consists in 
 dining with any foreigner who will ask them. Fools are here thought to give 
 dinners for wise men to eat. It is partly owing to this comparative absence of 
 dinner society that foreign ministers have less influence here than in any other 
 European court ; as the whole art of diplomacy is centred in the kitchen, it 
 never can come fully into play in an undining city, where mecum impransus 
 disquirite is the axiom of most men in Spanish office, who seldom thus “lubri- 
 cate business/' If you look in, however, at an evening tertulia, you can count 
 on a little refreshing twaddle, and a comfortable glass of cold water. 
 
 Few strangers enjoy much health of mind or body in this unsocial, insalu- 
 brious city ; nor can plenipotentiaries ever hope for much satisfactory dealing 
 with a stiffnecked, unbusiness-like government, that imputes to its innate 
 majesty and real power, a position which, like that of Turkey, is chiefly up- 
 held by the forbearance, protection, or mutual jealousies of other and more 
 powerful countries. The Madrid officials have always behaved cavalierly 
 towards foreign agents, and to none more than to her best benefactor, her most 
 generous, long-enduring protector. The Duke, even while saving them, was 
 not “treated as a friend, or even as a gentleman," was “utterly without influ- 
 ence in their councils," for they have a “thorough contempt of," and are 
 “ utterly reckless of conduct as regards their foreign allies : ” see ‘ Disp.' 
 Aug. 31, 1809, July 2, 1812, Aug. 25, and Sept. 5, 1813, et passim. According to 
 him, the only way to get them to do anything on any subject is to frighten them 
 (the Spaniards) (‘ Disp. Nov. 2, 1813). Again, Nov. 27, 1813, “ You may rely on 
 this, that if you take a firm, decided line, and show your determination to go 
 through with it, you will bring the Spanish government to their senses, and 
 you will put an end at once to all the petty cabals." “Nothing can ever be 
 done without coming to extremities with them" (‘ Disp.' Dec. 1, 1813). A 
 man of-war in the Bay of Cadiz will effect more in a day than six months' 
 writing reams of red-taped foolscap. No Spaniard, prince or priest, ever 
 trifled with Cromwell’s diplomat. 
 
 English diplomacy at Madrid is always exposed to the most unfair odds. 
 It has no secret funds for bribing, no stars and crosses to bestow, no 
 means of hiring newspapers, &c.; all these, and other engines and money 
 powers, have been and will be brought to bear against us ; thus an open, honest 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — population — improvements. 
 
 661 
 
 policy is indeed our best and only chance, as every secret paper is likely to 
 be in the hands of the parties most interested to thwart the negociation almost 
 before the ink is dry. Small indeed is, and has ever been, the redress ob- 
 tained for gross infractions of treaties, repudiations, and ill-usage of our 
 traders. The Spanish man-in-office, like the cuttle-fish, surrounds himself for 
 protection in an obfuscation of papers : protocol succeeds to protocol, expediente 
 to documentor until the minister and matter both die a natural death from sheer 
 exhaustion : so it always was. Howell, in Charles I/s time, describes a pile of 
 unredressed complaints as being “higher than himself.” Nor was Spanish 
 expedition more satisfactory than its procrastination. When the French envoy 
 remonstrated with Philip II., that some of his countrymen had been kept too 
 long untried by the Inquisition, the King replied, that he would cause good 
 and speedy justice to be shown to them ; and they were burnt the next week. 
 Madrid is a city in which a lengthened residence withers mind and body ; 
 and well might Gongora exclaim, “ Este es Madrid, mejor dijera infiemo !” 
 
 The population of Madrid amounts to about 240,000, which comprises a 
 floating one of foreigners, of which the French are the most numerous. The 
 English average about 140. The capital of Spain has little nationality. The 
 aggregate character is marked by an assumption of a metropolitan and courtier 
 tone of superiority, an aping of the foreigner, an affectation of despising 
 provincial towns and manners, a departure from national costume, and by an 
 insincere frivolity, the result of the false intrigues which are carried around on 
 all sides. The females are by no means so attractive, either morally or phy- 
 sically, as those of Valencia and Andalucia : they are more sickly, and their 
 faces are less expressive ; they want also much of that natural light-hearted 
 frankness and absence of art which is the Spanish woman’s charm. Like the 
 men, they are more gazmonas , or hypocrites. The lower classes, the populacho , 
 male and female, is brutal and corrupted: the Manolo or Manola (words which 
 are abbreviations of Manuel and Manuela) are the Mojos y Mcijas of Madrid, 
 but they are fast diminishing ; and when the Manolas succumb to cotton and 
 civilisation, there will be no nationality left to Madrid except the mules and 
 bull-fights. 
 
 This city, since the death of Ferdinand VII., has been much improved, and 
 chiefly by its gefe politico , the Marques de Pontejos, who set the example. 
 There is more life and movement in the streets, some are better cleaned, paved, 
 and lighted ; many of the old names have been changed for democratic and 
 patriotic appellations : these, however, as parties upset each other, are again 
 rechanged ; and being liable to alterations at every shift of the political scene, 
 we shall adopt the original nomenclature, with which after all the people are 
 best acquainted. The destruction of convents has opened spaces, and new 
 buildings are erecting everywhere, which a sociedad urbana has been established 
 to promote. This has been aided by the reform of the municipal corporation. 
 Formerly the large revenues w ere either jobbed and robbed among the members, 
 or wasted in an expensive present — bribe — to the king, the royal family, or to 
 the minion of the hour: now the funds are destined to real and fancied local 
 improvements. But here, as elsewhere in the Peninsula, there is a rage to 
 imitate the foreigner in the style of house and street architecture ; and as 
 ground is dear, the Spaniards borrow from the sky ; and steep indeed and in- 
 convenient are their new stairs. The Moorish plans — those true material 
 expressions of southern wants, and so admirably suited to the climate — are 
 rejected, in order to attempt adaptations borrowed from other zones, and fitted 
 to other habits and wants ; thus the externals of a civilization of totally different 
 conditions is copied, because it is a la mode de Paris , or done in Regent-street. 
 
 The best points for a panoramic view are from the top of the Santa Cruz 
 church tower, or from the mound at the head of the Buen Retiro gardens. In 
 shape the town is almost a square with the corners rounded off. Avenues of 
 
 2 G 3 
 
662 
 
 MADRID— DEARNESS OF LIVING. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 trees are planted outside the mud walls, and in the principal approaches on the 
 river side. Madrid will most please those who have hurried directly into Spain 
 from France, therefore the costume, Prado, and bull-fight will strike with all 
 the charm of novelty and strangeness of contrast, which will he wanting to 
 those who arrive from beautiful Valencia, Moorish Granada, or stately Seville. 
 A couple of weeks suffice to see the marvels, of which the Museos are indeed 
 among the finest in Europe ; and the best periods are during the carnival, and 
 in May and June, September and October. Generally speaking, the more 
 Madrid is known, the less it will be liked — 
 
 “ Quien te quiere , no te sabe; 
 
 Quien te sabe, no te quiere .” 
 
 It may not be amiss, since many American travellers honour this Handbook 
 as their cicerone, to reprint the truthful return made in 1852 by Mr. Barringer, 
 the minister of the United States at Madrid, in answer of the circular from the 
 State Department: — 
 
 “The fact is, that this is unquestionably one of the dearest capitals in 
 Europe. Even the necessaries of life are extremely high in price. The great 
 distance from the coast in every direction, and the universal want of the means 
 of good internal communication, added to the barrenness of the immediate 
 locality, contribute greatly to this state of things ; the peculiar habits of the 
 nation, so far behind the spirit of improvement in this age, their general pre- 
 judice against everything foreign, their indifference, and. even content, with 
 the stationary condition of their country, have all had a most pernicious influ- 
 ence against the facility of procuring at cheap rates even the necessaries, much 
 more the comforts and luxuries, of life. Water even, which is here carried on 
 men’s shoulders to the habitations of all, is very dear. Wood, so often indispen- 
 sable in the peculiar and extraordinary coolness of the winter months, and which 
 can with great difficulty be procured at all in this treeless table-land, is near 
 lc. per lb., for it is all sold by weight; so of coal and oil, the latter in such 
 universal use here for lights, and indeed of everything else which is consumed 
 in this capital, and whose intrinsic cost, dear enough from the distance from 
 which they can only be obtained, and the enormous rates of transportation, 
 generally on mules’ backs, is greatly enhanced by the onerous system of gate- 
 duties universally prevalent in Spain. As an illustration of the immense cost 
 of internal transportation, I will mention that the amount of the expense of 
 transport of a carriage purchased for me by order from New York, from Cadiz 
 to Madrid, was 300 dols. ; yet this was the lowest sum for which this service 
 could be obtained, though the cost of such transportation from New York to 
 Cadiz was only 50 dols. 
 
 “ The rates of transport are nearly in the same proportion from Paris, and 
 still higher from London. Horses, too, that are fit to be driven, are very 
 dear, and their maintenance very expensive. Entertainments, though to a 
 certain extent indispensable, whether dinners or balls, judging from my own 
 experience at this Court, are more costly than at London or Paris, where there 
 are such facilities for procuring everything required on such occasions. 
 
 “ It is unnecessary to refer to the sacrifices in the sale of furniture and other 
 effects, which are unavoidably made by foreign ministers on their departure 
 from this as well as other courts, and with which the department must be 
 familiar. Nor is any reference made in the annexed statement to the cost of 
 indispensable uniforms and dress of etiquette, and the . necessarily increased 
 personal expenses, which cannot well be accurately ascertained, and which are 
 as much at least at this as any other court.” 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — inns — restaurants — lodgings. 
 
 663 
 
 MADRID. Prudent travellers, es- 
 pecially if the party be numerous, or 
 if there be ladies in the case, will not 
 omit to write to their bankers or 
 friends beforehand to secure them 
 apartments either in an hotel or pri- 
 vate house. Englishmen will do well 
 to lodge with David Purhiss , Casa de 
 los Banos, 23, Calle Caballero de 
 Gracia ; his house has recently been 
 enlarged; there, the most eatable dinner 
 in Madrid is to be had, and some good 
 sherry ; there are baths in the house ; 
 terms, one to two dollars a day. A 
 capital breakfast, tea, &c., a V Anglaise , 
 is also to be had. The host, a most 
 obliging person, knows Spain well ; 
 his wife is a brisk, civil Aragonese , 
 and both are anxious to keep up their 
 well-deserved reputation. 
 
 Hotels. — They have long been, and 
 perhaps still are, among the worst in 
 Europe ; some new coach companies 
 have set up inns, or paradores, of their 
 own. Thus the Fonda Peninsular , 
 Calle de Alcala, although not over 
 clean, is one of the least bad. N.B., 
 get a front room ; average charges 40 
 reals per day. There is a table d’hote 
 at 14 reals a head. 
 
 Better lodgings may be had at Doha 
 Pamona Belderrain , commonly called 
 La Vizcaina , a nice hostess, who lives 
 in the Calle Mayor, No. 1 ; her house 
 is also called La Casa de Cordero , as 
 having been built by the rich Mara- 
 gato of that name on the site of el 
 Felipe Real , a patio by Herrera having 
 been pulled down. The Fonda de San 
 Luis, 27, Calle de la Montera, although 
 small, is placed over a pasteleria, 
 where you can dine, and, if the dinner 
 be ordered beforehand, tolerably ; La 
 Nueva Peninsular, Calle de Alcala; 
 Perona, Calle de Cadiz, No. 8 : charge 
 1 6 reals per day. 
 
 Restaurants.— The best, but dear, 
 is V Hardy, C. San Geronimo. You can 
 dine a la carte from 20 to 30 reals. 
 El Colmado, C. de Sevilla, is famous 
 for its fish, Manzanilla and Montilla ; 
 but in Spain people eat to live, and 
 few indeed live to eat. 
 
 Lodgings and Casas de Pupilos. 
 — Both are numerous, and to those 
 who wish to live quietly, cheaply, and 
 
 to gain an insight into national man- 
 ners, the latter are preferable to 
 the inns. The best situations are 
 in the streets which are near the 
 Puerta del Sol ; the t ; aveller will 
 have no difficulty in finding quar- 
 ters, as a signal of white paper is 
 placed on the windows or balconies. 
 Remember, if this placard or ticket is 
 put in the middle , that it signifies 
 “ lodgings to let ;” if fastened to the 
 extremities, it means a “ boarding- 
 house,” or Casa de Pupilos . 
 
 Before becoming the inmate of any 
 family, it will be always advisable 
 to consult some Madrilenian friend. 
 Among the best are those in the C. 
 de Alcala, and C. de Carretas, No. 14 ; 
 Lja Casa Cordero or del Maragato , No. 1, 
 C. Mayor ; one at No. 9, C. de Hor- 
 taleza ; however, these things change 
 every day. The average prices for 
 bed and board are about 30 reals a- 
 day. Those to whom money is no 
 object may put up at Jose Calzarredo’ s, 
 1, Plazuela Pontejos. 
 
 N.B. In settling for a winter resi- 
 dence, always select a room with a 
 S. aspect, or, if possible, with a chi- 
 menea, or fire-place, which are on the 
 increase ; for a fire is an unspeakable 
 comfort in fine climates, where winter 
 is detestable, as the houses are like 
 hollows of wells, without being always 
 the residences of truth ; the hearth, 
 with its cheerful crackle, brings back 
 thoughts of home and England, as a 
 glimpse of the sun recalls Castile to the 
 Spanish exile in Siberia. 
 
 Cafes. — These are numerous and 
 increasing, being principally set up 
 by foreigners and a la mode de Paris. 
 Coffee is very little drunk in Spain, 
 the great towns excepted ; it is sub- 
 stituted by chocolate, and since the 
 cholera, by wdiat is here called tea. 
 Coffee, however, is creeping in. In 
 these cafe's ices are sold during the 
 summer and a variety of national 
 drinks. Among the best establish- 
 ments are La Lberia, La Perla , La 
 Nueva Lberia, C. de San Jeronimo ; Cafe 
 Suizo ; Dos Amigos ; el de Cervantes , de 
 la Aduana, and de la Estrella, all of 
 which are in the C. de Alcala; also 
 that of Lorenzini , Puerta del Sol, and 
 
664 
 
 MADRID WINES AND DRINKS CLUBS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 el Principe y de Venecia , C. del Prin- 
 cipe. These and all cafes are much 
 frequented in an idle town, where 
 people have little to do but kill time 
 and play at dominos. 
 
 Generally speaking, the fleshly com- 
 forts of Madrid are second-rate, al- 
 though some progress is making, 
 thanks to the French ; nevertheless, 
 the staple dish, le fond de la cuisine , is 
 the Puchero or stew, so called from the 
 pipkin in which it is concocted. The 
 Castilian compound cannot be com- 
 pared to an Andalucian olla, its chief 
 ingredients being stringy savourless 
 beef, vaca cocida , and boiled garbanzos : 
 it mocks the palate with a show of nu- 
 triment, but may be eaten, however, 
 when there is nothing else. It is the 
 struggle of hunger with unsavouriness. 
 A lively Frenchman, jolted in a drive 
 after such a dinner, compared himself 
 to a drum filled with peas. Madrid 
 boasts of its asparagus, grown at Aran- 
 juez, but Battersea beats it hollow. 
 You may try the Hojaldre, a light puff 
 paste. The confectioners’ shops are 
 mostly kept by foreigners ; among the 
 best are those of La Dulce Alianza , 
 C. del Sordo ; the Pasteleria Suiza , C. 
 de Alcala ; the Pasteleria E strang era, 
 Plaza Santa Ana ; that in the C. del 
 Principe, and the French Patisserie 
 in Carrera de San Jeromino : many of 
 these shops combine dining with pastry. 
 As your genuine Spanish pastry, like 
 the buns and tartlets of England, 
 savours of the dark ages, while French 
 Patisserie is elegant in form, exquisite 
 in material, full of invention, genius, 
 jam, and colour, can we be surprised 
 at Claude Lorraine having begun life 
 as a pastry-cook ? 
 
 For wines and drinks at Madrid, 
 the common wine, and the best, is the 
 rich red Valdepehas. It is not easily 
 obtained pure, as the inferior produce 
 of Arganda is constantly sold for it, 
 and both are adulterated with decoc- 
 tion of logwood and other abomina- 
 tions. French and foreign wines are 
 dear, and not good ; they may be ob- 
 tained at the Andaluces, C. de Fuencar- 
 rol, and las Delicias de Betica , C. de las 
 Carretas,and also sherries and Malagas, 
 which are here considered as vins de 
 
 liqueur. The rich full-flavoured Naval 
 Carnero is sold in the C. Vergara, at 
 2 reals a bottle; the light Vino de 
 Ciudad Real is drinkable. 
 
 The snows of the Guadarrama chain 
 during the scorching summer furnish 
 materials for delicious cool drinks and 
 ices in abundance, which are also sold 
 in the streets, and especially by Valen- 
 cians. The Agua de Cebada is very re- 
 freshing ; so is the Orchata de Chufas , or 
 mitj e mitj , or “ half and half,” being 
 made of barley and pounded chochos, the 
 lupines of the old Romans, the Tirmis 
 of the Cairo Arab (Lane, ii. 13). These 
 emulsion drinks are very classical, for 
 the leclxe de Almendras, which is pre- 
 scribed as a panacea by Spanish doc- 
 tors, is exactly described in Atheneeus 
 (ii, 12) A fJbVyhccXyj — cx.ya.6o)> (pao/aaKov. 
 No drink, however, whether medicinal 
 or refrigeratory, comes up to the Agraz 
 or clarified verjuice. It cools a man’s 
 body and soul, and is delicious when 
 mixed with Manzanilla wine. Cerbeza 
 con limon, or bottled beer mixed with 
 lemon juice, and well iced, is another 
 favourite summer drink. 
 
 Clubs and Reading-Rooms. — The 
 Casino, C. San Jeronimo, takes in the 
 English, French, and Belgian papers, 
 as well as the Spanish. Foreigners, in- 
 troduced by a member, are made hono- 
 rary ditto, paying 40 reals monthly. 
 During the season there is an excel- 
 lent table d’hote, at 6 to 14 reals. 
 Notice of dining to be given beforehand 
 to the president, Sehor Salamanca, 
 the Ateneo, or Madrid Athenaeum, is 
 in the Calle Montera. A new club, 
 El Circulo del Comercio, has been 
 established in the Calle Angosta de 
 Peligros, on the site of the Duke of 
 Fernando’s house; a good Cafe Suizo 
 and pasteleria is attached to it ; mem- 
 bers pay 10/. on entrance and 40 reals 
 monthly. There are many subscrip- 
 tion and reading-rooms at Madrid. 
 Those who wish to procure foreign 
 books at Madrid, or when out of Spain 
 to obtain Spanish ones, may apply to 
 Casimiro Monnier, who has a capital 
 reading establishment — h la Galignani 
 — here in the No. 10, Carrera San 
 Jeronimo, and another in Paris, No. 7, 
 Rue de Provence : English, French, 
 
The Castiles . Madrid — baths — cit adin a s — tradesmen. 
 
 665 
 
 and Spanish papers are regularly filed : 
 there is a fair circulating library. 
 
 Spanish Language-Master. — Sehor 
 Cornelias, 32, C. de Reciados ; or Don 
 Jose Riesga. The noble Spanish 
 idiom is spoken well at Madrid, albeit 
 the true cockney here is laughed at 
 for a certain snuffle, e. g. Ustedish , for 
 the Usted ; the purest Castillian is 
 considered to be that of Toledo. 
 
 The baths at Purkiss’s house, and 
 those at Corderos , C. Mayor, are 
 excellent ; ditto in the C. de Hor- 
 taleza, and at Monnier’s, C. San Gero- 
 nimo ; those of del Oriente, Plaza de 
 Isabel II., la Estrella , C. de Santa 
 Clara, San Isidro , C. Mayor, and la 
 Fontana de Oro. 
 
 The Calle de Alcala is the chief ren- 
 dezvous of the fraternity of the whip ; 
 here most of the diligence companies 
 have their “ booking-offices/’ Here 
 are to be hired the Coche de Colleras. 
 The Calesa and “ flies,” here called 
 citadinas , which were introduced into 
 Madrid by Col. Partington in 1846. 
 
 Cab-stands are now placed in all 
 the principal streets. The one-horse 
 broughams put the London cabs to the 
 blush ! 
 
 Fares. 
 
 One Horse. rls. 
 
 A “ course ” by day, 1 or 2 persons 4 
 
 „ sunset to midnight 6 
 
 „ after midnight 10 
 
 By the Hour. 
 
 1 or 2 persons— 1st hour 8 
 
 „ 2nd and following hours. . . 6 
 
 From sunset to midnight— 1st hour 10 
 
 „ 2nd and following hours 8 
 
 After midnight — 1st hour 14 
 
 „ 2nd and following hours . . 12 
 
 Two Horses— 4 Seats. rls. 
 
 A “ course ” by day 6 
 
 ,, sunset to midnight 10 
 
 ,, after midnight 14 
 
 By the Hour. 
 
 1st hour 10 
 
 2nd and following hours 8 
 
 Sunset to midnight— 1st hour . 12 
 
 „ 2nd and following hours 10 
 
 After midnight— 1st hour 16 
 
 „ 2nd and following hours. . 14 
 
 Excellent carriages and horses, with 
 servants in livery, may be hired at 
 the following places: No. 20, C. de 
 
 la Magdelena ; No. 8, C. de Valverde ; 
 No. 4, C. de la Greda ; No. 9, C. 
 de las Rosas. Average charges : one 
 month, 2500 reals ; one day, 100 reals ; 
 half-a-day, 50 reals. 
 
 Omnibusses and Calesas are to be 
 had, at arranged prices, in the Pla- 
 zuela del Angel. 
 
 Diligence Offices ; Postas Generales 
 (to all parts of Spain) 15, C. de Alcala ; 
 Del Poniente, No. 2, C. del Correo; 
 Del Norte y Mediodia, No. 2, C. del 
 Correo; Nueva Peninsula, No. 10, C. 
 de Alcala ; De Oriente, No. 9, C. 
 de Alcala ; De la Neuva Union, 
 No. 28, C. de Alcala; De la Vic- 
 toria, No. 4, C. de la Victoria ; Primi- 
 tivas, No. 32, C. de Alcala ; Escorial, 
 No. 11, C. del Fuentes. 
 
 The mails start from the Calle del 
 Correo. In them you pay more in 
 order to gain a few hours less travel- 
 ling, which is achieved at the ex- 
 pense of not stopping anywhere, and 
 at the risk of concussion of the brain 
 from their fearful jolting. 
 
 There is an open horse-market every 
 Thursday in the Plaza del Pastro. The 
 markets for eatables are tolerably well 
 supplied: the best are those of San 
 Ildefonso , where the French pulled 
 down a church, and those of San 
 Felipe Neri and La Plaza de la Cebada, 
 and Plazuela del Carmen. 
 
 Tradesmen. — The best shops are 
 in the vicinity of the Puerta del Sol. 
 The Calles Carreras, Mayor, Carmen, 
 San Jeronimo, Montera, &c. The 
 shops have been much improved lat- 
 terly. As the tradespeople vary so 
 often, only a few names will be given. 
 Hatter , Aimable, C. San Jeronimo. 
 Tailors , Grandhomme, San Jeronimo ; 
 Utrilla, Quatro Calles; Carrera, Puerta 
 del Sol. Modistas , Madame Bernop, 
 23, C. de la Montera ; Madame Petit- 
 bonne, C. Fuencarral. Boots , Burgales, 
 12, Desengano; Estruel, 49, C. Car- 
 men ; Reynaldo, 23, San Jeronimo. 
 Jewellers , Samper, 39, C. Carmen ; Pez- 
 zala, 43, C. de la Montera ; Las Savo- 
 zanos, 8, San Jeronimo. Fancy Shops, Co- 
 rona de Oro, 8, San Jeronimo ; Los Ale- 
 manes, 12, C. de laMontera. Mantillas 
 and Lace, “ La Margarita,” C. del Car- 
 men. Flowers (Artificial), Lopez, 23, 
 
666 
 
 MADRID — WORKS TO CONSULT. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 C. de Montera, Ville de Paris, 36, C. 
 de Alcala. 
 
 Books at Madrid are scarce and 
 dear ; those curious in topography and 
 hagiography will find a copious col- 
 lection in the Biblioteca National, Pla- 
 zuela de Oriente. Meanwhile the best 
 Bookseller is Sanchez, C. de Carretas ; 
 then Quest a and Sojo ; Perez is mid- 
 dling; hut the wretchedness of the 
 “Row” tells the true tale, that a 
 reading public is among the things 
 wanting in the only Court. Mons. 
 Monnier can forward purchases to 
 England through France. 4 4 Books 
 of the play/’ which those who 
 wish to learn Spanish should read 
 beforehand, and then take with them 
 to the theatre, are to be had at 
 Cuesta y Bios, C. Mayor, opposite the 
 Casa de Correos. For Maps , Manuel 
 Pereda , en la Trinidad ; Lopez , C. del 
 Principe. By far the best Spanish 
 Atlas, with maps of every province, is 
 that by Coello. A new bazaar, la Villa 
 de Madrid, has recently been opened. 
 Foreign money can be changed at the 
 brokers’ offices in the C. Montera and 
 Toledo, the 200-real bank notes are 
 convenient. It is better to rely in 
 all pecuniary matters on one’s banker. 
 
 Madrid — say Spaniards— has been 
 so changed for the better since Ferdi- 
 nand VII.’s death, that old people 
 scarcely know it. The germs of im- 
 provement were borrowed from Lon- 
 don and Paris, and were first sketched 
 out, by Ramon Mesoneros, in 1835 (see 
 his 4 Apendice al Manual wherein the 
 infinite deficiencies were pointed out : 
 gas, pavement, water, cleanliness, inns, 
 cabs, police, &c. The city is divided 
 into 12 districts, consists of 24 parishes, 
 has 18 hospitals, a cuna or casa de 
 espositos , a university, 9 academies, 
 4 public libraries, 3 museums, an 
 armoury, a glorious palace, 6 theatres, 
 a plaza de toros, 33 public fountains, 
 and 5 chief gates. Those who wish to 
 know all its rights, prerogatives, and 
 glories, are referred to the list of local 
 descriptions appended to the 4 Manual 
 de Madrid / which is a good guide- 
 book : the author, the aforesaid Ramon 
 de Mesoneros Romano, has also pub- 
 lished a 4 Panorama Matritense,’ 3 vols. 
 
 8vo. 1837 ; this 4 Life in Madrid/ 
 gives the picture as seen by a native’s 
 eye : there is a new edition, Mad. 1846. 
 For minute details of the Corte, see the 
 careful article in the Diccionario of P. 
 Madoz, vol. x., and a copious list of 
 books on the subject. 
 
 The collector of Spanish topography 
 should purchase 4 Teatro de las Gran - 
 dezas’ Gil Gonzalez d’ Avila, fol. Mad. 
 1623 ; 4 Historia de Madrid / Geronimo 
 Quintana, fol., Mad. 1629 ; 4 Dialogo de 
 la Antigiiedad / M. Rod. Mendez Silva, 
 4to., Mad. 1637 ; 4 Solo Madrid es Corte / 
 Alonzo Nunez de Castro, 4to., Mad. 
 1658, 4th ed. Barcelona, 1698; 4 Com- 
 pendia Historico,’ Jose Antonio Alvarez 
 y Baena, 4to., Mad. 1786 ; Ponz, 
 
 4 Viage I. ;’ and 4 JDiscurso sobre varias 
 Antigiiedades,’ Antonio Pellicer, 8vo., 
 Mad. 1791. Although Madrid has 
 produced very few great men beyond 
 Lope de Vega, Quevedo, and Calderon ; 
 in the national exaggeration, which 
 magnifies molehills into mountains, 
 the history of those who have even at- 
 tained mediocrity fills four quartos, 
 
 4 Hijos Lustres,’ Jose Alvarez y Baena, 
 Mad. 1789-91. For the Provincia de 
 Madrid, consult the little description 
 by Tomas Lopez, Mad. 1763. The 
 annual court-guide, 4 Guia de Foraste - 
 ros,’ is useful. Mellado, in his 4 Guia 
 del Viagero en Fspana’ has prefixed a 
 good account of the capital ; as the 
 old names of the streets have been 
 changed, the 4 Calles de Madrid,’ pub- 
 lished by Cuesta, is useful. One of 
 the best maps of Madrid is that pub- 
 lished by Lopez, in 1852, C. del Prin- 
 cipe. 
 
 The newspapers of Madrid amounted 
 in 1843 to some forty in number ; in 
 1833, under Ferd. VII., they did not 
 reach half a dozen, and only enjoyed a 
 freedom of press similar to that granted 
 by his Holiness at Rome. The sapient 
 Cortes of Cadiz passed from one ex- 
 treme to another, from the gags of the 
 Inquisition to absolute liberty ; thus es- 
 tablishing a moral slavery, and giving 
 a licence to anonymous pens to stab 
 in the dark ; the natural consequence 
 of thus arming, without due prepara- 
 tion, a power which England barely can 
 resist, was the raising a new Franken- 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — newspapers and protestant burial. 667 
 
 stein tyrant, worse than all the evils 
 which were overturned : the press be- 
 came, like an emancipated Caliban, as 
 the Duke so often said, venal, insolent, 
 and licentious. It was bought by 
 parties who rode over the Regency and 
 Cortes (Disp. Jan. 27, 1813) ; and so it 
 has always been since, when free , i. e. 
 the slave of some dominant interest, 
 either of the French, with a view to 
 abuse England ; or of the Cuban, to up- 
 hold the slave-trade ; or of the Catalan, 
 to protect smuggling, and write down 
 any tariff or treaty of commerce. Their 
 mis-statements work on the national 
 susceptible mind, and obtain prescrip- 
 tive authority from never being even 
 contradicted by our careless govern- 
 ment : well did the Duke suggest 
 “ getting hold of one or two of them,” 
 not, however, to disseminate falsehood, 
 but to tell the “ truth , the plain truth.” 
 (Disp. Apr. 2, 1813). The masses of 
 the people, from having long been 
 taught by ruler and priest that others 
 were to think for them, and from not 
 being accustomed to reading or public 
 discussion, believe in the broad sheet, 
 because it is in print ; they go to it for 
 facts and opinions : hence the editors 
 mislead their dupes, and rise on their 
 shoulders into place and power. Jour- 
 nalism being the ladder of greatness, 
 naturally absorbs the talent of the 
 country, to the detriment of literature 
 in general. The press, thus the organ 
 of the aristocracy of intellect, becomes 
 the whole state, as must be the case in 
 all countries unfit for such a liberty ; 
 and as no fixed institutions guarantee 
 order, which only depends on indivi- 
 duals, the broad sheet becomes the 
 organ of change and revolutions, and 
 those who play best on its stops, rise 
 to be personages : thus Gonzalez Bravo 
 passed from editing El Guirigay, an An- 
 dalucian “ slang,” or Satirist paper, to 
 be premier. 
 
 As Englishmen may die in Madrid, 
 where the shears of the Parcse are 
 sharpened by the deadliest of climates 
 and wielded by the most murderous 
 sangrados, it may be a comfort to hear 
 that at last there is some chance of com- 
 fortable lying, and Christian burial for 
 a protestant, without being dug up to 
 
 a dead certainty for a Catholic dung- 
 hill ; the former cemetery details 
 and insults have been pointed out 
 in our 6 Gatherings suffice it to say, 
 that when Lord Howden finally ob- 
 tained the concession of a churchyard 
 for our countrymen, an architect, at 
 the cost of hundreds, was sent from 
 England, to enclose the spot, as if 
 Madrid had no masons. He soon be- 
 came involved with law-suits and 
 Spanish contractors, and in November 
 1854, instructions were sent to Madrid 
 to raise a subscription among the 
 living English there, to pay a church- 
 yard keeper, 8 reals a day. Few who 
 know the colossal charges of a Spanish 
 architect, working for an absent 
 foreigner, and the diminutive quality 
 of the work when done, will however 
 think our government did very wrong 
 in securing a well -built wall and a toler^ 
 ably handsome lodge entrance. Could 
 water be obtained, this spot might be 
 made very ornamental. The English 
 cemetery is situated outside of the 
 Toledo gate, on the right of the road 
 leading to Carabanchal. 
 
 Sight-seeing at Madrid. — The 
 stranger will find at the “ only court ” a 
 lacquai-de-place or Cicerone — animals 
 rare and much wanted in the inland 
 old capitals of Spain. As many places, 
 and the chief Lions, can only be 
 visited on certain days and at certain 
 hours, remember always to ascertain 
 these points beforehand, and whenever 
 an esquela, order or permission from 
 some official chief is necessary, to send 
 and procure it plenty of time before it 
 is wanted. Remember also to get up 
 early, which all Spaniards do. Most 
 places and shops are shut about noon, 
 and from that time until three all the 
 world is either at dinner or taking the 
 siesta, and nothing can be done or 
 seen. The Museo of pictures is open 
 on Sundays ; that of sculpture on Mon- 
 days ; that of artillery on Tuesdays and 
 Fridays ; the Reservada on Tuesday 
 with a ticket ; the royal stables on 
 Thursday ; the Armeria on Tuesdays 
 and Saturdays; but as these matters 
 change, previous enquiries should be 
 made : generally the exhibition of a 
 passport, backed by a silver key, opens 
 
668 
 
 MADRID — PUERTA DEL SOL THE SHOPS. Sect. XI. 
 
 most doors to a polite visitor, who 
 has a judicious lacquey. It is as 
 well to take your passport, as greater 
 facilities are afforded to foreigners. 
 Advertisements will also be found as 
 to these and other travellers’ wants, in 
 the various daily papers, and Diarios 
 de Avisos; in them will also be an- 
 nounced the different sights, religious 
 pageants, theatres, bull-fights, sales, 
 festivals, and other popular amuse- 
 ments. The Gazeta is the official 
 paper ; and its pages for the last fifty 
 years, the Moniteur only excepted, are 
 perhaps the greatest satire ever de- 
 liberately published by any people on 
 itself. 
 
 A new police has been recently esta- 
 blished at Madrid on the London system ; 
 what is wanting is a national respect 
 for the law; here the very word justicia , 
 is hateful as our Chancery. Spaniards, 
 in this as in other imitations, have 
 names and forms without the spirit; 
 the buttoned - up collar and stock - 
 strangled “ peelite ” policeman soon 
 became more the butt than the terror 
 of the populacho : and in truth, these 
 agonizantes look piteously helpless, 
 without beats, areas , or prestige. 
 
 Sights at Madrid. — Every body 
 must begin with the Puerta del Sol , 
 which, like our Temple Bar, is now 
 placed in the centre of the capital, 
 although once it was the east gate, on 
 which the rising sun shone ; now it 
 has been built around on all sides, 
 and the gate is gone, the name only 
 remaining. The small plaza is situated 
 in the middle of the long line of streets 
 which run E. from W., from the Prado 
 by the Calle de Alcala , and then by the 
 C. Mayor to the river ; at this point 
 two other important streets, the C. de la 
 Montera, and C. de las Gar ret as, the 
 Bond Street and Regent Street of Ma- 
 drid, running N. and S., cross the other 
 two almost at right angles. Thus the 
 Puerta del Sol is the real Exchange, 
 and the heart, where all the greater 
 arteries of circulation meet and di- 
 verge, and naturally becomes the cen- 
 tre, where the chief pulse of Madrid 
 life beats hardest, and the high tides of 
 affairs flow and ebb. It is to Madrid 
 what Bond Street and its loungers were 
 
 to London before clubs came into com- 
 mon use. 
 
 The shops in the streets which 
 branch from it are the most fashion- 
 able, and enormously dear : their wares, 
 exposed to the eye, speak for them- 
 selves, and have been very much im- 
 proved since our time, when, although 
 they did not burst with opulence into 
 the streets, the rest of the Peninsula 
 considered them to be the magazine of 
 the universe, an epitome of the civil- 
 ized world, ms oikov/jjiv'/is iWiroybyi: “ You 
 will get it at Madrid,” said the shop- 
 keeper of Toledo, Leon, Salamanca, &c., 
 when asked by the foreigner for some 
 article of commonest necessity : . but 
 everything was a day behind the fair, 
 and articles out of fashion, and no 
 longer saleable beyond the Pyrenees, 
 here figured as the last novelties of the 
 season. The shops have a fair outside'; 
 but little is done in them on a really 
 grand scale; business is paltry and pas- 
 sive, and people walk about as if they 
 had not much to do, still less to spend ; 
 the generality of native shopkeepers 
 have little empressement or prevenance, 
 and seem, like Orientals, to care little 
 whether you buy of them or not. Even 
 necessaries are dear: Madrid, placed 
 in the centre of Spain, producing and 
 supplying nothing, consumes every- 
 thing, like an exhausting receiver : and 
 as all that enters comes from a dis- 
 tance, the expense is enhanced by 
 transport and heavy duties. These 
 shops are mostly closed from one, when 
 nature rings her dinner bell, until 
 three, when the siesta has been dozed 
 out ; the scanty carriages have then 
 crept into their coachhouses, and their 
 beasts and drivers into the stalls ; even 
 the creak of cart-wheels is mute ; the 
 mules and asses, which do the work of 
 parcel-delivery companies, the goats, 
 which do the office of milk-cows, are 
 all sleeping with their masters on the 
 ground on the shady side of the streets : 
 but every where throughout the length 
 and breadth of the land midday heat 
 empties the streets, and increases 
 the languid, monotonous, pococurante 
 character so common to old inland 
 Spanish towns, where the quiet and 
 want of population mark silent decay 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — puerta del sol — correos. 
 
 669 
 
 and pining atrophy. In Madrid, as being 
 the seat of government, during its wak- 
 ing hours there is a greater semblance 
 of life ; but ranked with London, or 
 even Liverpool and Edinburgh, every 
 thing is very second-rate and retail. 
 It will indeed disappoint those who 
 have listened to the grandiloquent ex- 
 aggerations of Madrilenians, who on 
 their part will set down the foreigner 
 who is not positively dazzled as either 
 envious, malignant, or a fool. 
 
 The hand to mouth makeshifts of 
 Madrid are revealed during the Feria , 
 or fair, which begins every Sept. 21, 
 and ends Oct. 4. Then the contents 
 of the houses are turned out of doors, 
 and their nakedness exposed ; then the 
 only “ Corte ” becomes one brokers' 
 alley, as every family that has any- 
 thing to sell exhibits the article in the 
 street. Occasionally, but now rarer 
 everyday, a good book, picture, and 
 old Toledan blade is to be picked up ; 
 but sad is the display —how many are 
 anxious to sell, how few to buy ! It is 
 said by veteran fair-loungers that the 
 same wares appear every year, just as 
 floating rubbish in a mill-dam keeps 
 coming up and down in one vicious 
 circle. The same results are evident in 
 the Almonedas, or sales by private 
 contract, and at the auctions, Subastas , 
 a term derived from the Roman Sab 
 Hast a. 
 
 The south side of the Puerta del Sol 
 is occupied by the post-office, the Casa 
 de Correos, a large isolated square edifice 
 raised in 1768 for Charles III., by one 
 M. Jaime Marquet: the approach and 
 arrangements have been deservedly 
 criticised. A strong piquet of soldiers 
 is always mounted here, for the build- 
 ing serves also the purposes of a mili- 
 tary post and home-office. Command- 
 ing, as it does, the central hotbed of 
 outbreak, the fixed bayonet and ball- 
 cartridge are absolutely necessary, 
 since the very air is poisoned with 
 asonadas , alborotos y ajo , with treasons, 
 uprisings, and garlic; indeed, it was 
 said that for a hundred dollars a revo- 
 lutionary funcion might be any day got 
 up here ; the very troops are often in- 
 fected, and fire upon the regular 
 authorities, killing even their own 
 
 captains general. Adjoining to, on the 
 top of this post-office is the telegraph 
 to Paris, set up in 1846 : a message has 
 been carried in 6 h. ; during the days of 
 Louis Philippe, the agents of private 
 communications and stock-jobbing had 
 no sinecure. How extremes meet in 
 this land of anomalies ! Now, the 
 Spaniards are wild . for news which is 
 flashed by the electric telegraph, the last 
 effort of modern civilization, while com- 
 merce drags snail pace and on mule 
 hacks over three parts of the still road- 
 less Peninsula. Adjoining to the r., 
 at the Casa de Post as, are the mail and 
 post-horse establishments. Formerly 
 the open plaza was disfigured by a 
 churrigueresque fountain, the work of 
 the heresiarch Ribera. The statue on 
 it of Venus, called by the people Mari - 
 blanca , was removed in 1848 to the 
 Plaza de las Descalzas . 
 
 On the east side was the church 
 Nuestra Sehora del buen Suceso, a paltry 
 building with an illuminated clock. 
 Here, in spite of its auspicious name, 
 occurred a sad scene in the annals of 
 Madrid. Murat chose this church and 
 its patios for one place of his terrorist 
 butcheries of the Dos de Mayo, 1808. 
 Many of his victims lie buried here : 
 as also does the Canon Matias Vinuesa, 
 murdered by the psuedo-patriots, May 
 4,1821. The church of Buen Suceso had 
 the privilege of having mass performed 
 so late as 2 o’clock p.m., mid-day being 
 elsewhere the last hour ; and accord- 
 ingly it was the grand place of rendez- 
 vous of fine folk, and was much crowded 
 on holidays. The clock, like that of 
 our Horse-Guards, was the one by 
 which people who valued time set their 
 watches. Great demolitions have re- 
 cently taken place in this spot : a pro- 
 ject having been formed of making a 
 clearance in the form of the letter D, 
 in the centre of which the post-office 
 should stand — estd por acabar : mean- 
 time a space is thrown open — very 
 European and civilized, but almost im- 
 passable in summer from the sun’s 
 glare, and in winter from mud. In 
 this furnace ripened to a focus every 
 intrigue is fever height. 
 
 Religion, letters, and locality have 
 long combined to render the Puerta del 
 
670 
 
 MADRID IDLERS AND PLACE-HUNTERS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Sol the real national Cortes , or congress, 
 the site of meetings in the market- 
 place, and the resort of quidnuncs and 
 the many who have nothing to do in 
 a city without trade or industry, and 
 who here begin and here end their day : 
 that day, which indeed is of small 
 value, is thus wasted in a lazy routine ; 
 and doing that business which the evil 
 one provides for the idle. 
 
 Here, therefore, all who wish to 
 study character and costume will never 
 lack subjects for pen or pencil ; for the 
 Madrilenian, like the ancient, lives out 
 of doors, foris , in the forum , and wisely 
 prefers the cheerful sun to his own 
 comfortless home, which has no fire- 
 side. All this is the classical and 
 Oriental to ayopccffUcu of the Athenian, 
 who did little else but 44 either tell or 
 hear some new thing •” this is the ves- 
 pertinum forum of the otiose Horace, 
 who delighted to pick up the last bit 
 of correct intelligence, “ the ephemeral 
 lie that does its business in a day and 
 dies just so, there was 44 no place 
 in the town,” said Addison, 44 which I 
 so much love as the Royal Exchange.” 
 This old-fashioned going out to bring 
 in news, was the occupation of our 
 44 Paul’s walkers” two centuries ago. 
 Now, in the march of intellect, clubs 
 and morning papers have put an end 
 even to Bond -street lounging, since the 
 newspaper brings to our breakfast in 
 description, all that the ancients and 
 Orientals could only see, hear, and 
 touch bodily, and went out of doors 
 and abroad to fetch. Accordingly the 
 Spaniard takes up a position on this 
 forum of the Puerto, del Sol , cloaked 
 like a Roman, while a cigar and the 
 Gazeta indicate modern civilization, 
 and soothe him with empty vapour. 
 
 The blind are here the usual itine- 
 rant vendors of the broad sheet, 44 se- 
 cond editions,” lying bulletins, and 
 flying handbills, Boletines y hojas vo- 
 lantes. Indeed, it is quite a proverb to 
 say of one whose vision is going, Esta 
 ya para ir d vender gazetas ; and the 
 blind are the fit guides of those stone- 
 blind who believe in the romances 
 which are printed and circulated in 
 this heart and brain of Madrid. And 
 who can doubt the authority of the 
 
 religio loci, the Puerta del Sol f Quis 
 solem dicere falsum audeat ? Nor can 
 it be denied, in spite of the clouds of 
 cigars, smoke, and lies, that the shrewd 
 people do, somehow or other, arrive at 
 some truth at last. 
 
 Observe the singular groups of sal- 
 low, unshorn, hungry, bandit-looking 
 men, with fierce-flashing eyes and 
 thread-bare shorn capas, who cluster 
 like bees round the reader of some 
 44 authentic letter.” These form two of 
 the three classes into which a large 
 portion of all who wear long-tailed^ 
 coats may be divided. First observe 
 the Pretendiente, or place-hunter, one 
 who aspires to some situation, to a sine- 
 cure if possible, his food is hope ; next 
 notice the Empleado , or fortunate youth, 
 who has got into a good birth, whose 
 bliss is the certainty of taking bribes, 
 and the chance of being paid the salary 
 of his appointment ; and lastly, the 
 Cesante, or one who, having held some 
 office, is now turned out ; his joys and 
 profits have ceased, his misery is me- 
 mory, his consolation revenge. 
 
 The Pretendientes y Cesantes either 
 wear away the thresholds of the minis- 
 ter of the hour, or polish the pavement 
 of the Puerta del Sol, with the restless- 
 ness of caged wild beasts, for this is the 
 den of the Empleomaniacos, the victims 
 of that madness for place which is the 
 peculiar disease of Madrid ; and now 
 the good things of the church have t 
 been pared away, more applicants are 
 thrown on the civil branches of sine- 
 cures. Hence this spot, their rendez- 
 vous, is the mint of scandal, and all 
 who have lived intimately with them 
 know how invariably every one abuses 
 his neighbour behind his back, the 
 lower orders occasionally using a knife, 
 which is sharper even than the tongue. 
 Self, in fact, is every where the idol, 
 for no Spaniard can tolerate a rival or 
 superior. The grand object is to get 
 money — rem quocumque modo rem — 
 by any means but work. These gents 
 are the buzzers about of 44 reports of 
 the best informed circles,” from the 
 fiery treason to the frigidus rumour of 
 Horace, the chilling whisper, the 
 susurro ; they circulate the se dice en 
 el pueblo , the personal abuse, the en- 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID PUERTA DEL SOL A DU AN A. 
 
 671 
 
 venomed calumny, the plausible in- 
 sinuation ; and all this either dignified 
 by the splendid phraseology of the 
 Castilian idiom, or enlivened by the 
 mocking satire, cutting sarcasm, and 
 epigrammatic wit, in which the dra- 
 matic serio-comic Spaniards have few 
 rivals. 
 
 Thus these Empleomaniacos exist 
 bored and boring, deceiving and de- 
 ceived ; for, true romancers, they are 
 proportionably credulous : — 
 
 “ With them the pleasure is as great 
 Of being cheated as to cheat.” 
 
 The interjections “ Es f also,” 44 men- 
 tira” 44 mientes” are in every one’s 
 mouth — often the truest thing said — 
 for these free-spoken thoughts are con- 
 cealed by no parliamentary jargon of 
 conventionality ; nor is this giving the 
 lie, which in honest England is the 
 deadly insult, often resented. This 
 Asiatic Doblez (the Italian Furberia'), or 
 duplicity, is the more deceptive because 
 it is accompanied by a grave, high-bred 
 manner and plausible apparent frank- 
 ness which seems honesty itself, and 
 is quite edifying to those who do not 
 know this strange Oriental people ; but 
 the Castilian seems to be wiser than he 
 is, and, as the Duke said, who was truth 
 personified, 44 It is difficult to under- 
 stand Spaniards correctly, they are 
 such a mixture of low intrigue coupled 
 with extreme haughtiness of manner ” 
 ( 4 Disp.’ Dec. 13, 1810). But a solemn, 
 stilty, external bearing every where is 
 the mask assumed by mediocrity, and is 
 the refuge of the intellectually destitute. 
 
 The Puerta del- Sol (long the 44 club” 
 of Madrid), is still the haunt of beg- 
 gars : these vermin are the indigines, 
 the native weed of proud, pauper, in- 
 dolent Spain ; here they swarm with 
 every variety of disgusting disease and 
 importunity ; they are a sad eye-sore 
 and nuisance, especially to strangers 
 and the fair sex, who are calculated on 
 as having both purses and hearts. 
 
 The spot was once the scene of the 
 national theatre of rifas , or raffle lot- 
 teries. Sometimes the prizes were 
 trinkets for woman-kind, pictures of 
 saints, a fat pig, or broad ounces of red 
 gold were exposed, which always attract 
 
 the penniless. They are still doomed, 
 as in Martial’s days (x. 80), to pass the 
 long days in looking into shop win- 
 dows and wishing to buy every thing. 
 The dandies and loungers, Los Polios , 
 have resorted, less since the days of 
 clubs, to the tiendas de quincalla in the 
 Calle de la Montera ; next we enter the 
 Calle de Alcala, which is one of the finest 
 streets in Europe, being placed on a 
 gentle slope, and with just curve 
 enough to be graceful. This great aorta 
 widens like a river, disemboguing its 
 living streams into the Prado. The per- 
 fect effect is destroyed by the lowness 
 of some of the houses, which are not in 
 proportion to the width that they 
 fringe ; but the glare in summer is 
 terrific, and Espartero deserves well for 
 having planted the acacias. Meanwhile 
 the chill blasts from the snow-capt 
 Guadarrama, piercingthe cross-streets, 
 blow out the brief taper of Madrilenian 
 life. 
 
 The first edifice to the 1. is the fine 
 quadrilong edifice, and formerly the 
 Aduana or custom-house, built in 1769 
 for Charles III., by Lieut.-Gen. Saba- 
 tini, R.A. The east and west fronts 
 are ignoble, but the fagade to the street 
 is handsome ; the shield and Famas, 
 carved by Michel, add little to his fame ; 
 while the stone satyrs outside smile at 
 the former farce of business done 
 within it, and the facilities afforded 
 without it to fraud. The custom-house 
 is now removed to the Puerta de Bil- 
 bao, Paseo de los Recoletos, and this 
 building is made over to the finance 
 minister, to the Ministerio de la Hacienda 
 y Direcciones del Pamo. 
 
 Adjoining is the Royal Academy 
 of San Fernando , a Bourbon exotic, 
 founded in 1744, when the Grand Mo- 
 narque’s heroic mode in art, i. e. full- 
 bottom wigs and Roman togas, was all 
 the vogue ; it was removed here in 1744. 
 Philip IV. had before wished to create 
 an academy, but was prevented by 
 the jealousy, hatred, and uncharitable- 
 ness of the artists towards each other 
 (Carducho, 4 Dial.’ 158). Attached to 
 the Museo is a collection of natural 
 history; but vainly did Charles III. 
 inscribe over the portal that this was 
 to be the lodging of art and nature 
 
672 
 
 MADRID — ROYAL ACADEMY. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 under one and the same roof : the royal 
 academicians, second-rate imitators of 
 other men's works, not of Nature, have 
 effectually barred the banns. This 
 establishment has too often been the 
 hotbed of jobs, and the nurse of me- 
 diocrity. Founded ostensibly with a 
 view of restoring expiring art, it was 
 called in too late ; nor was it a humane 
 society which could resuscitate a really 
 and not an apparently dead patient. It 
 came rather to smother the last spark 
 of nationality, and then proceeded to 
 <l hoist signals of art in distress" by 
 hanging up its copied inanities as 
 proudly as an undertaker puts up a 
 hatchment. It has scarcely created 
 even a tolerable artist. 
 
 The Academy possesses some 300 
 second-rate pictures, the gleanings 
 from royal private and sequestered 
 collections ; among them are about a 
 dozen or so good paintings ; a set of 
 small coloured terra-cotta figures, re- 
 presenting the massacre of the Inno- 
 cents, &c., has recently been added, 
 from the confiscated gallery of Don 
 Carlos, and deserve notice. A printed 
 catalogue of the contents of ten saloons 
 is sold at the door. There are some 
 reserved rooms upstairs, which how- 
 ever are shown on application, and for 
 a fee : on the ground-floor is a collec- 
 tion of plaster casts made by Mengs, 
 in the hopes of furnishing models from 
 antique sculpture, in which Spain is so 
 very deficient. 
 
 The reception pictures of the RA.’s 
 are specimens of a bad Mengs style 
 run mad. The gingerbread throne- 
 room glitters with teaboard portraits 
 of the Spanish Bourbons, royal cretins, 
 from the baboon head of Charles III. 
 to the porcine sensuality of Ferdi- 
 nand VII. ; these and their consorts, fit 
 mates, are as fine as feathers, flounces, 
 lace, patent-leather pump painting, 
 and diamonds can make them ; every- 
 thing sparkles save their lack-lustre 
 eyes, everything is princely save their 
 faces ; the trappings and externals of 
 royalty supply the total want of innate 
 majesty in these vapid well-dressed 
 puppets ; the originals of these vacant 
 inanities seem to have been made 
 by nature’s “ journeymen," J~>y fiddlers, 
 
 grooms of the bedchamber, confessors, 
 and so forth. They are painted by 
 Xavier Ramos, Lopez, Cruz, Esteve, 
 R.A.’s, and by others who are rien, pas 
 me me acade'miciens. Their nonsense, 
 however, suits the native nonsense, and 
 the semi-Oriental Spanish people, who 
 love and understand red gold and dia- 
 monds in esse et posse, burst into 
 ecstasies when they behold this dazzle : 
 “ Oh wretch ! ’’ said Apelles to a dauber 
 of tinsel, “ you could not paint Helen 
 beautiful , so you have made her fine.” 
 There are, however, some better things 
 by Ribera and Moya ; observe in the 
 first saloon “ a Christ crucified and 
 “ a Christ in purple," by Alonso Cano ; 
 “ a Christ before Pilate," by Morales. 
 
 Notice particularly the grand Mu- 
 rillo here called “ El Tinoso ” in 
 which Santa Isabel of Hungary is ap- 
 plying remedies to the scabby head 
 of a pauper urchin ; she is full of ten- 
 derness, but the sores are too truly 
 painted to be agreeable, for they recall 
 the critique of Pliny (xxxiv. 9) on a 
 similar picture of Leontinus, cujus hul- 
 ceris dolorem sentire, etiam spectantes 
 videntur; but her saint-like charity 
 ennobles these horrors, on which her 
 woman’s eye dares not look, but her 
 royal hand does not refuse to heal, and 
 how gently ! The service of love knows 
 no degradation. Her young, beautiful, 
 almost divine head contrasts with that 
 of the beggar hag in the foreground. 
 This picture was carried off by Soult 
 from La Caridad of Seville, of which in 
 subject it was the appropriate gem, and 
 presented to the Louvre, i.e. offered as a 
 bribe to Buonaparte to induce him to 
 overlook the Marshal’s own haul; this 
 noble picture was restored by Waterloo 
 to Spain, but not to the fair Bsetis, as 
 it was detained on its passage by the 
 Royal Academy; yet the sainted Isabel, 
 although delivered, had not escaped 
 French restoration , during its transpor- 
 tation, having been overcleaned and 
 repainted, especially in the rt. corner 
 below. As placed originally by Murillo 
 in a hospital, the subject and intention 
 was evident and appropriate ; here it is 
 out of harmony and almost repulsive. 
 
 Next observe a good bronze Minerva. 
 In the second saloon are two superb 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — MODERN ARTISTS. 
 
 673 
 
 Murillos, also taken by Soult from 
 Santa Maria la Blanca at Seville, also 
 sent to Paris and also rescued like 
 Santa Isabel. These glorious pictures 
 represent the legend of the dream of el 
 Patricio Romano , which preceded the 
 building the Santa Maria la Mayor at 
 Rome under Pope Liberius, about the 
 year 860 ; they are semi-circular in 
 shape, to fit the gaps still visible at 
 Seville. The additional paintings in the 
 angles are an unfortunate perfectionne- 
 ment , added in France, and distract from 
 the originals, which were both ruth- 
 lessly overcleaned in Paris, and have 
 since been much repainted by one Gar- 
 cia. The Dream, the best of the two, is 
 an exquisite representation of the senti- 
 ment sleep. The Roman senator is 
 dressed like a Spanish hidalgo, for the 
 localism and Espanolismo of Murillo 
 scorned even to borrow costume from 
 the foreigner ; the patrician has quite 
 a Shakspere look : he is fast asleep at 
 his siesta , and no wonder, since he 
 holds a large book, a yiya xukov, and 
 an undoubted soporific. The Virgin 
 in the air points out the site of the 
 future church. The companion pic- 
 ture, where the dreamer explains his 
 vision to the pontiff, is painted in the 
 vaporoso style: the distant procession 
 is admirable. 
 
 Observe also a Hercules and Om- 
 phale, said to be by Rubens [?]. The 
 bronzes of Charles V. and Philip II. 
 are by Leon Leoni ; those of Conde 
 Duque and John of Austria are by 
 Pedro Tacca. In the third room is a 
 copy of the Spasimo de Sicilia, by Juan 
 Carreho (1614-1685). In the fourth 
 saloon are four finely painted monks 
 by Zurbaran, especially one of Jero- 
 nimo Perez, with a book. In the 
 sixth and seventh room are the R.A. 
 performances — longe fuge! In the 
 seventh, wdiich is the last saloon, there 
 is however a fine old PietJby Morales. 
 
 The annual exhibitions of the R.A.’s 
 and their compeers take place in these 
 rooms in September and October, but 
 the spirit of ancient Spanish national 
 art has fled, and painting, which rose 
 with the united monarchy, has shared 
 in its fall, perishing under the foreigner. 
 Now everything is borrowed ; there is 
 
 neither high art nor originality : the 
 best modern painters are not much 
 above mediocrities. A very clever son 
 of Madrazo, the director, is certainly 
 one of the best in portrait-painting. 
 Gutierrez is a copier of Murillo, as 
 Villamil is of our Roberts, but at a most 
 respectful distance. Alonso, Ribera, 
 Esquivel, follow in the wake of Mengs, 
 Jose Madrazo, and David, of whom 
 their style is often an exaggeration. 
 They have learnt a mannerism and 
 masterworship which precludes and 
 defies a return to nature ; and, in the 
 words of the Roman philosopher, “ Ma- 
 gistrum respicientes, Naturam ducem 
 sequi desierunt,” and their art has be- 
 come a pale copy of other and chiefly 
 Frenchmen's ideas and works ; art un- 
 der the R. Academical hothouse pines a 
 sickly forced exotic, and is no longer the 
 vigorous plant of the wild but rich soil 
 of Spain. Not so rose Ribera, Velazquez, 
 or Murillo, whose works bear the im- 
 press of the individual mind of each of 
 these great Spaniards, who borrowed no- 
 thing from the past or foreign, nothing 
 from Apelles or Raphael, from Greece 
 or Italy ; nay, they spurned them and 
 their ways, and painted the Hidalgo and 
 monachial Christianity or Marianism of 
 Spain ; they drew with a local colour 
 subjects which w r ere in correspondence 
 with the national eye and mind ; while 
 the mens divinior of Murillo, and the 
 pith and savour of manhood of Velaz- 
 quez imparted to the commonest sub- 
 jects their own freshness and fire, as 
 Pygmalion, in that beautiful myth, 
 breathed life into a stone. The R A. so- 
 ciety just keeps itself alive by infusing 
 a little fresh life's blood — by electing 
 into its close corporation whatever 
 outside talent springs up elsewhere. 
 Meantime this Academy enjoys perso- 
 nal rank, and is addressed as “ Excel- 
 lency” a title quite irrespective of their 
 performances ; but certain letters — 
 M.D., M.A., R.A., &c., have a magical 
 efiect with the many, and stamp a 
 guarantee which your honest A.S.S. 
 does not. 
 
 In the second floor is the Gabinete 
 de Ciencias Maturates , which occupies 
 eight rooms ; formed by Charles III. : 
 it was pillaged and disorganised by 
 
674 
 
 MADRID — CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 the invaders, but Ferdinand VII. did 
 what he could to repair and restore it. 
 It is rich in Spanish minerals and 
 marbles. The light, however, is not 
 good, being excluded, as in so many 
 chapels where there are fine pictures, 
 from a perverse ingenuity, as if to spite 
 the blessed sun in his chosen land, where 
 the light is good as when approved of by 
 the great Creator, and where there are 
 no blacks , fog, or window- tax. There 
 is a poor sort of a guide-book. ‘ Paseo 
 por el Gabinete Natural’ Juan Mieg, 
 8 vo. 1819. Zoology, ornithology, and 
 natural history have hitherto hardly 
 been sufficiently attended to in Spain ; 
 but this Gabinete is now under the 
 direction of a most intelligent Catalan, 
 Don Mariano Graells, from whom better 
 things may be expected. The school of 
 mining is also well managed by Seiior 
 Prado, an intelligent gentleman. 
 
 The specimens of marbles are splen- 
 did, and show what treasures yet re- 
 main buried in the napkin of the Pen- 
 insula ; the ledges of the cabinets are 
 lined with the choicest varieties. Ob- 
 serve the Verde Antique , from el Bar- 
 ranco de San Juan , near Granada ; the 
 brown jaspers, from Lang ar on ; agates, 
 from Aracena; crystallized sulphurs, 
 from Gonil; lead ores of every tint, from 
 the Sierra de Gador ; copper, from Rio 
 Tinto ; muriate of silver, from Guadala- 
 jara; the celebrated lump of virgin 
 gold, from the Sonora mine, weighing 
 I 65 lbs., has recently been stolen, no 
 mineralogical knowledge being neces- 
 sary to discover its value; there re- 
 mains, however, a virgin mass of 
 silver, of 250 lbs. ; one of copper, of 
 200 lbs. The grand object of the 
 Spanish gypsies is the large loadstone, 
 La Piedra I man, one weighing 6 lbs. 
 and supporting 60 lbs. They are always 
 plotting how to steal this Bar Lachi, 
 which they believe to be a love philtre 
 and a talisman against policemen, ex- 
 cise officers, and the devil. 
 
 The animal department is less rich 
 than the mineral, but it possesses el 
 Megaterio , the skeleton of a megathe- 
 rion, which was found in 1789, near 
 the river Lujan, 13 L. from Buenos 
 Ayres, and sent home by the viceroy 
 Loreto. It is the largest and most per- 
 
 fect semi-fossil in existence, and the ele- 
 phant near it looks diminutive. The 
 specimen is unscientifically set up, but 
 natural history is still low in Spain, and 
 a Cuvier or Owen have yet to be born. 
 A new fossil monster has been added, 
 found 20 feet below the earth, about ^ 
 a L. from Madrid. There are also 
 three rooms not shown to the public, 
 which may be inspected : a silver 
 key unlocks the doors. They contain 
 some S. American, Indian, Chinese, 
 Moorish, and mixed curiosities of no 
 great rarity or interest to those accus- 
 tomed to the better collections of Eu- 
 rope. There are also some anatomical 
 preparations and foetuses. 
 
 On the opposite side of the street is 
 La Casa de los Heros , a great Almacen 
 de Cristales, and near it the Deposito 
 Hidrografico founded by Charles III. ; 
 it was built by Rodriguez, has a toler- 
 able library, and some instruments for 
 nautical and astronomical purposes. 
 Lower down on the same side of the 
 street is the house of the Conde de 
 Campoalenge, which has been let slip 
 in an evil hour, and lost never to be 
 recovered; this ever since 1814, was 
 the residence of the English embassy, 
 and in it a more sustained and splen- 
 did hospitality has been shown than in 
 any ten houses of any of the grandees. 
 Sold for 30,000^., and pulled down, all 
 these associations are now gone for 
 ever. The English embassy is now 
 lodged in a bad house, Calle de Torija , 
 where, however, the time-honoured 
 national hospitality is nobly kept up by 
 Lord Howden. 
 
 Just below this former residence is 
 the house of the Marquis de Alcanices, 
 which contains family portraits, some 
 good tapestry, and a capital picture of 
 the great Spinola on a white prancing 
 horse. Opposite, at the N.E. corner, 
 is the conspicuous square palace La 
 Buena Vista , which was built towards 
 the close of the last century by the 
 extravagant Duchess of Alva. It was 
 afterwards bought by the Madrid mu- 
 nicipality, and given by them to toady 
 Godoy, then in the height of power. 
 Confiscated in 1808, it was next made 
 the military Museo, in which were 
 placed specimens of curious artillery 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID PLAZA DE TOROS — BULL-FIGHTS. 
 
 6 75 
 
 and. models of fortresses — Cadiz and 
 Gibraltar — &c. Espartero, when re- 
 gent, lived here, as the minister of war 
 does now. There may be visited the 
 suite of rooms, which inside is noble. 
 Here, in 1844, was lodged the Turkish 
 ambassador Fuad Effendi ; and, what 
 is not usual in Madrid, de valde , or for 
 nothing ; thus this land of anomalies 
 provided free quarters for the represen- 
 tative of the hated infidel, the old 
 enemy of most Catholic Spain ; while 
 Isabel II. gave to this Moslem the order 
 of her great namesake, whose boast was 
 the having beaten down the crescent. 
 
 At the end of the street the planted 
 and public walks extend; the Prado 
 opens to the rt., while to the 1. a less 
 frequented avenue leads to the Puerta 
 de Pecoletos, and to a new alameda, the 
 Fuente Castellana and Felicias de Isabel 
 
 II. ; outside the gate is a new Plaza 
 de Toros. 
 
 Continuing our walk is the Puerta 
 de Alcala , built in 1778 for Charles 
 
 III. , by Sabatini. This, the finest 
 gate in Madrid, is merely ornamental, 
 for the walls, a mean girdle to the 
 4 ‘only court/’ are of mud, and might 
 be jumped over by a tolerably active 
 Remus ; but they were never intended 
 for defence against any invaders ex- 
 cept smuggled cigars ; yet although 
 they might be battered down with 
 garbanzos, this architectural ornament 
 was mutilated by the invaders, whose 
 sportive cannon-balls were especially 
 directed at it ; — Te saxa loquuntur. 
 
 To the 1. is the Plaza de Toros , 
 which was built in 1749, to support 
 the hospitals, to which it thus fur- 
 nishes funds and patients. It is about 
 1100 feet in circumference, and will 
 hold 12,000 spectators. In an archi- 
 tectural point of view it is shabbier 
 than those in many provincial towns ; 
 but there is a business-like, murderous 
 intention about it which satisfies the 
 native aficion. The interior combines 
 all that is wanted for seeing well, and 
 this is essentially a spectacle. It looks 
 mean and mesquin while empty, but 
 when peopled by thousands, it is a strik- 
 ing scene ; and as the lower classes sit 
 in the sun-beams at blood heat, the very 
 atmosphere seems to sympathize, and a 
 
 mist steams over the seething masses. 
 How the past and present meet in 
 Spain, that land of contrasts ! Here you 
 have the bloody amphitheatre of Rome, 
 with spectators in hats and coats ! 
 
 The bull-fights at Madrid are first- 
 rate, as becomes the capital of Tauro- 
 machia ; they begin in April and con- 
 tinue until November; they generally 
 take place on St. Mondays, and in the 
 afternoon ; however, ample notice is 
 given by placards. The aficionado will, 
 of course, ride out the previous morn- 
 ing to el Arroyo de Abronigal, and see 
 what the Ganado is like ; he will also 
 secure a ticket on the shady side of the 
 Plaza , and be sure to be early in the 
 Calle de Alcala to see the mob, and to 
 reach the Plaza half an hour before the 
 opening the doors, to see the arrival of 
 the company : how striking the winding 
 street filled with a fierce mob hasten- 
 ing to bloodshed like a parti- coloured 
 snake darting on its prey ! what a cir- 
 culation of life in this Aorta of the 
 Only Court ! what a din and dust, 
 what costumes and calesas, what wild 
 drivers running outside, what pictu- 
 resque manolos and manolas inside ! now 
 indeed, in this pulvere olimpico, we are 
 in Spain, and no mistake, no civilisa- 
 tion of the coat now: but real Spain, 
 and his Majesty of the many, is better 
 to be studied in the streets than the 
 saloons. The dazzling glare and fierce 
 African sun calcining the heavens and 
 the earth, fires up man and beast to 
 madness ; now in a raging thirst for 
 blood, seen in flashing eyes and the 
 irritable ready knife, the passion of 
 the Arab triumphs over the coldness 
 of the Goth : how different is the crowd 
 and noisy hurry from the ordinary still 
 life and monotony of these localities. 
 The horrid excitement fascinates the 
 many, like the tragedy of an execution, 
 for, as a lively Frenchman observes, 
 “ La realite atroce is the recreation of 
 the savage, and the sublime of com- 
 mon-place souls.” Even quadrupeds 
 seem mad as the bipeds, the poor horses 
 excepted, who are worse baited than 
 the bulls. 
 
 The toros for this plaza generally 
 come from the pastures of the Jarama : 
 and that breed was famous even among 
 
676 
 
 MADRID THE PRADO. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 the Moors ; but every aficionado will 
 read the splendid description of one of 
 this race in GazuVs ballad, “ Estando 
 toda la Corte 99 (Duran, i. 36). These 
 verses were evidently written by a 
 practical torero , and on the spot : they 
 sparkle with daylight and local colour 
 like a Velazquez, and are as minutely 
 correct as a Paul Potter, while Byron’s 
 “ Bull-fight” is the invention of aforeign 
 poet, and full of slight inaccuracies. 
 
 The bull-fights at Madrid are first- 
 rate, nothing is economised except the 
 horses : this is the national spectacle, 
 and the high salaries paid at “ Court ” 
 naturally attract the most distinguished 
 artists, as they do to our opera in the 
 Haymarket. 
 
 Opposite are the gardens of the Buen 
 Petiro, and their gate la Glorieta. Re- 
 turning to the Prado, the view is very 
 striking. The Prado , a name familiar 
 to all, is the Prater, the Hyde-park of 
 Madrid ; here, on the winter days from 
 three to five, and summer evenings 
 from eight to twelve, all the rank, 
 beauty, and fashion appear. 
 
 The Prado , “ the meadow/' was in 
 the time of Philip IV. a wooded dip 
 renowned for murder and intrigue po- 
 litical and amatory. It was levelled 
 and planted by the Conde de Aranda, 
 under Charles III., and laid out by 
 Jose Hermonsilla in garden-walks : 
 the length, from the Atocha convent to 
 the Portillo de Recoletos, is about 9650 
 feet; the most frequented portion, 
 “el Salon” extends from the Calle de 
 Alcala to the Calle de San Jeronimo, 
 and is 1450 feet long by 200 wide. 
 The Salon terminates with the foun- 
 tain of Neptune, sculptured by one 
 Juan de Mena. Of the seven other 
 fountains those of Apollo and Cybele 
 are most admired; but these stony 
 things count as nothing, when com- 
 pared to the living groups of all age, 
 colour, and costume which walk and 
 talk, ogle and nod, or sit and smoke. 
 The Prado, a truly Spanish thing and 
 scene, is unique ; and as there is no- 
 thin g like it in Europe, and oh, wonder ! 
 as there are no London Cockneys on it, 
 it fascinates all who pass the Pyrenees. 
 It is the place to study costume and 
 manners, and was in our time the very 
 
 “ Rotten Row 99 of the Only Court. 
 Here one went to look at antediluvian 
 carriages with ridiculous coachmen and 
 grotesque footmen to match, carica- 
 tures which amongst us would be put 
 into the British Museum. These lum- 
 bering vehicles drove round and round, 
 a routine dull as the Spaniard’s and Ori- 
 ental’s monotonous life, where to-day is 
 the reflection of yesterday, and the an- 
 ticipation of to-morrow. The excep- 
 tions were the equipages of the foreign 
 ministers, and of the few grandees and 
 rich up-starts who managed to purchase 
 those of a departing ambassador, or of 
 those who invested their honest gains 
 on the Bolsa in a spick-and-span jingling 
 Parisian equipage. Now, these dear old 
 slow coaches are worn out, and have 
 given place to the neat and uninteresting 
 turns-out from Longacre and the Boule- 
 levards. The eternal sameness of the 
 Prado is lost to the guest who tarries but 
 a week, while to the native, custom does 
 not stale, nay this very sameness has a 
 charm among a people who hate inno- 
 vations, and who, like children and 
 Orientals, prefer an old and the same 
 game to a new one. Where artificial 
 amusements are rare and intellectual 
 pursuits not abundant, when the sun 
 scorches, the shade and a gentle stroll 
 suffice, during which love and love- 
 making becomes an obvious resource 
 and occupation to the young of both 
 sexes ; and the appetite for this busi- 
 ness grows on what it feeds, until ma- 
 thematics and political economy seem 
 dry and uninviting pastimes: as the 
 parties get older, their life of love is 
 varied w ith some devotion, a little stab- 
 bing, and much tobacco. 
 
 Again, it is quite refreshing on the 
 Prado to see how united and what good 
 friends all Spaniards seem to be. There 
 is no end to compliments and Judas 
 hissings, but deep and deadly are the jea- 
 lousies and hatreds which lurk beneath ; 
 and double-edged are the ideal knives 
 grasped by the murders of the wish, 
 for muchos besan a manos, que quieren ver 
 cortadas : arsenic mixed in honey is 
 not more deadly sweet. All this is 
 very Roman. Compare Martial, xi. 98, 
 on the endless hissings, from which 
 there was no escape — to say nothing of 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID THE PRADO. 
 
 677 
 
 the garlic perfume, (xii. 59) How- 
 ever, everything is masked most be- 
 comingly, for the Spaniards, like the 
 Moslems, are great in externals both in 
 churches and out ; they are most ob- 
 servant of forms and ceremonies, and 
 strictly decent in appearances, and in 
 all that the correct French call les 
 convenances ; therefore nothing here, or 
 indeed anywhere in Spain, offends the 
 public eye, and one would suppose that 
 Themis sat on every judicial bench, 
 and chaste Diana palisaded every alcoba 
 with icicles, so pretty a mantilla is 
 thrown over every private intrigue. 
 But everything in short is here most 
 concealed, which is most exposed and 
 “ reported ” in England, and some 
 think by stripping vice of all its gross- 
 ness, that half of its deformity is taken 
 away. The Prado , in sober truth, is a 
 noisy, dusty scene, and to any but the 
 natives is but a poor thing after all : 
 as no grass, not even the continental 
 apology for English lawn, grows on 
 this so-called meadow , the name is a 
 modest misnomer after the fashion of 
 Les Champs Elysees of Parisian para- 
 dise. No dowers enamel this Prado , 
 save those offered by impertinent 
 daughters of Flora. Fire and water, 
 Candela , Fuego ! y quien quiere agua ? 
 resound on every side : Murillo-like 
 urchins run about with lighted rope- 
 ends for smokers, i. e . for ninety-nine 
 out of one hundred males, while Agua - 
 dores follow the fire, like engines, with 
 fresh water ; for your pimienio and 
 bacon-eating Spaniard is as adust as 
 his soil, and thirsty as Vesuvius. 
 
 Strange as the Prado still appears, 
 it is sadly fallen off from the good old 
 times previous to the fatal invasion and 
 the nuevo progreso ; every afternoon the 
 march of transpyrenean intellect and 
 civilisation, is crushing some national 
 costume and custom. Buonaparte never 
 indicted more injuries to Spanish man 
 than “ your little French milliner ” or 
 modista has done to the daughters of 
 the saya y mantilla. 
 
 On the Prado, the mirror of Madrid, 
 will be seen the practical induence of 
 the foreigner, for whom in words the 
 Spaniards profess such contempt, but 
 Spanish deeds are indeed at variance 
 
 Spain.— II. 
 
 with that boast of every Spanish mouth, 
 6 4 Los Espanoles sobre todos.” Here they 
 do their best to denationalize themselves, 
 and to destroy with suicidal hand their 
 greatest merit, which is the being 
 Spanish ; for Spain’s best attractions are 
 those which are characteristic of herself. 
 The Roman toga the capa, is now giving 
 way to the English pea-jacket, and the 
 graceful veil the mantilla , yields to 
 Boulevard bonnets. Here all that is imi- 
 tated is poor and second-rate, and dis- 
 pleases the foreigner, who can see the 
 originals much better at home ; hence 
 the never-failing interest which the 
 lower classes present. They, by con- 
 tinuing to be national and out-and-out 
 Spanish, are always racy and respect- 
 able, and, so far from being ridiculous 
 like the better classes, are the delight 
 and admiration of the rest of the world. 
 The Pasiega from the Asturias in her 
 gaudy costume is an exception, as it is 
 still the fashion of the rich to decorate 
 these healthy, highland, juicy, nurses 
 of their own puny babies ; on them no 
 mother grudges outlay, each thinking 
 her own brat the unique gem of the 
 creation : Dice el sapo a sus chiquitos, ven 
 aca mis angelitos. The real force of a 
 country is its nationality ; and all this 
 aping the costume of the foreigner is 
 high treason to true patriotism , and what 
 is fondly worn as a type of civilization, 
 is in truth the livery of servitude ; so 
 Tacitus said (Agr. 2), when our Piet 
 ancestors took to the toga , and thought it 
 a sign of Humanitas. “ My son,” ob- 
 served a turbanned Turk, looking at a 
 Boulevard badaud, “ if ever you forget 
 your God and Prophet, may you look 
 like that thing/’ Gay and gaudy cos- 
 tume may indeed be now denounced as 
 barbaric, and be changed for cotton and 
 calico. But the marked Moro-Iberian 
 physiognomy never can be effaced, 
 bonnet and blinker it as you may. The 
 Prado , as it approaches the Plaza de 
 Atocha , becomes more umbrageous and 
 quiet. This is the favourite site of 
 lovers, bores, and button-holders. The 
 Prado , like the alamedas and churches 
 of Spain, marks the practical equality 
 and high-bred manners of the Penin- 
 sula : here all ranks meet, whatever 
 their age, condition, or costume. 
 
 2 H 
 
678 
 
 MADRID — DOS DE MAYO — MURAT. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Advancing to the 1. is the simple 
 granite obelisque of the Dos de Mayo , 
 raised to the manes of the victims of 
 Murat, on what is called el Campo de 
 la Lealtad — The Field of Loyalty. 
 This memorial was begun in 1814 by 
 the Cortes, but was stopped by Fer- 
 dinand VII., in whose eyes the senators 
 and heroes of the war of independence 
 found small favour, on account of their 
 reforming tendencies. In the monu- 
 ment completed after his death, the 
 Castilian Leon modestly lords it over 
 the whole globe. The anniversary of 
 the 2nd of May is celebrated like our 
 5th of November. The French con- 
 sider this to be an affront, and offen- 
 sive to their honneur : nay, the two 
 Spanish heroes are not even named by 
 M. Thiers in his historical romance ; 
 but the annual solemnity is a record 
 and a warning, for the past is the 
 prophet of the future. The bloody 
 truth is soon told. Murat, who in his 
 heart aspired to the throne of Castile, 
 arrived at Madrid March 23, 1808, as 
 a “ friend ; ” but Buonaparte, who had 
 other views, and whose Spanish policy 
 was ruse doublee de force, wishing 
 to strike a blow of terrorism, chose 
 for his instrument this man who, 
 with Loison, had massacred the Pa- 
 risians with grape-shot, Oct. 5, 1795. 
 The forced departure of the king’s 
 brothers was resented by the citizens ; 
 angry cries were heard, and the mob 
 were sabred by the French and Mame- 
 lukes, a doubly-hateful band, as it re- 
 called the Moorish invader (Toreno, ii). 
 A truce was then agreed between the 
 Spanish authorities and Murat, who 
 pledged his honour to observe it; 
 but the instant quiet was restored, 
 seized old and young, lay and clergy ; 
 on the next day he constituted 
 a military commission, headed by 
 Grouchy, when hundreds were put to 
 death on the Prado as being the most 
 public place. The appalling details 
 are given by Toreno and Blanco White 
 (Lett, xii.), eye-witnesses ; see also 
 Foy (iii. 172) and Schepeler (i. 53). 
 But Murat only sought to intimidate : 
 “ La journee d’hier donne l’Espagne 
 al’Empereur,” wrote he. Poor Fran- 
 coni fool ! that day lost even France 
 
 to his master, while the fate of the 
 two agents satisfied poetical justice. 
 A ball at Pizzo, Oct. 13, 1815, sent 
 “ lebeau sabreur ” to his account, exe- 
 cuted himself under the summary 
 provisions of another of his own 
 D raco enactments ; while Grouchy is 
 mixed up with the downfall at Water- 
 loo of the prime mover of the tragedy. 
 
 Buonaparte, when he discovered 
 that terrorism had only exasperated 
 all Spain, replaced Murat, his blunder- 
 ing executioner, by Savary, who came 
 reeking from the murder of Enghien. 
 This fit tool of his Machiavellianism 
 soon managed to kidnap Ferdinand 
 VII., who, when warned by Escoiquiz 
 of the trap, refused, says even Foy 
 (iii. 147), to believe the project. 
 “ La seule idee d’une si horrible per- 
 fidie etait une injure a la grande ame 
 d’un Heros tel que Napoleon.” 
 
 The Spanish heroes of the Dos de 
 Mayo were named Jacinto Ruiz, Luis 
 Daoiz, and Pedro Velarde, whose 
 brother was made Visconde de dos Mayo 
 in 1852. These officers of artillery, 
 when ordered to surrender their can- 
 non to the French refused to obey: 
 the two latter were killed. Indirectly 
 this rash deed saved Spain, for the 
 news reached England just as the 
 Duke was being sent to South America. 
 It led to his being landed at Lisbon 
 instead, and thus to the deliverance of 
 Spain. This Dos de Mayo is an ex- 
 ponent of Spanish nationality. Their 
 philosophy was Espanolisrno , i. e. im- 
 patience under foreign dictation ; the 
 conduct was accident, impulse of the 
 moment, personal bravery, and con- 
 tempt of discipline. But who can ever 
 calculate what this volcanic people 
 will do, who never calculate, but 
 whose impromptu actions are guided 
 by passions fierce as the sun in Africa, 
 capricious, and action instantaneous as 
 the hurricane ? Here three individuals, 
 with only three cannon and ten 
 cartridges, disobeyed orders, and 
 dared to pit their weakness and want 
 of preparation against the strength 
 of a most military and powerfully or- 
 ganized foe ; they had nothing fixed, 
 but their great personal courage, and 
 greater hatred of the invader, and they 
 
The Castiles . Madrid — convent of san jeronimo. 
 
 679 
 
 represented, their countrymen at large. 
 And although routed, because exposed 
 to unequal chances by their inex- 
 perienced. chiefs, and. left “ wanting of 
 every thing in the critical moment ” 
 by their miserable juntas and. con- 
 temptible old. woman generals, yet 
 thousands of gallant Spaniards, pro- 
 digal of life as Moslems, rose to re- 
 place them in this holy war. The 
 fugitives carried the sad and exag- 
 gerated details into the provinces, 
 like the blood summons of the East 
 (Judg. xx. 6). Daoiz was drunk ! 
 according to our Napier’s 44 best 
 French account ” (i. 2), who states 
 that the invaders, to convey a terrible 
 idea of their power and severity, 
 encouraged the idea of 5 or even 
 of 14 thousand victims. The cross of 
 fire passed thus from hand to hand, 
 its sparks fell on a prepared train, 
 wdiich exploded throughout the land. 
 The flame blazed out in an iEtna 
 eruption, one heart beat in the bosoms 
 of the masses, one cry, 44 Mueran los 
 gavachos ! ” burst from every mouth. 
 The honest people neither required 
 44 fanatic monks nor English gold ” to 
 rouse them, as the Buonapartists falsely 
 stated then and still state. They re- 
 sented the desprecio of the foreigner, 
 who assumed to be the regenerator of 
 proud Castile ; they spurned his gifts, 
 scouted all prudential motives, and 
 listened to nothing but the clank of 
 his chains ; it was a national in- 
 stinct : honour therefore eternal is due 
 to the brave and noble people of Spain. 
 
 Turn now to the 1. and enter the 
 Buen Retiro. This is no misnomer ; 
 it has a retired look, for few Spaniards 
 go there ; it is not the fashion, and is 
 too far removed from 44 dear Madrid.” 
 This large extent of ruined build- 
 ings and pretty gardens was laid 
 out by the Conde Duque de Olivares, 
 who had an aviary here, to offer a 
 44 pleasant retreat ” for Philip IV., and 
 in order to divert his attention from 
 politics and his country’s decay. Here 
 was erected a palace and a theatre, in 
 which the plays of Lope de Vega were 
 acted ; the former, however, was burnt 
 by accident, when many fine pictures 
 by Titian and Velazquez perished : it 
 
 was rebuilt by Ferdinand VI., and its 
 present desolation is the work of the 
 invaders, who selected this command- 
 ing position for a strong military post 
 from whence they could terrorize Ma- 
 drid. To erect this the theatre, palace, 
 gardens, museo, observatory, were all 
 ‘ 4 vandalized,” to use the just phrase 
 of Minano (v. 343). 
 
 Entering by the Pelota gate are the 
 remains of the convent of San Jero- 
 nimo , founded by Henrique IV. in 
 honour of a tournament given there to 
 the English ambassador by Beltran 
 de la Cueva. Ferdinand and Isabella 
 added much to the edifice, which, 
 one of the few fine Gothic specimens 
 in Madrid, was its Westminster Abbey, 
 being filled with marble sepulchres of 
 soldiers and statesmen ; but everything 
 was smashed to pieces by the invaders. 
 In this convent the jura , or swearing 
 allegiance to the kings of Spain, took 
 place at their succession ; a ceremony 
 equivalent to our coronation. Here 
 in June, 1833, Ferdinand VII. sum- 
 moned a Cortes to ratify the suc- 
 cession of Isabel II. The Proceres or 
 houses of peers, created by the Esta- 
 mento real of 1834, sat in el cason, or 
 banqueting-room. This, to us a mock 
 house of lords, or rather imitation of 
 a states-general, was soon swept away 
 in the mania for revolution and re- 
 form, which mistook innovation for 
 renovation. This Estamento was the 
 invention of Martinez de la Rosa, a 
 Moderate in poetry and politics, and 
 a copyist of France. The Senadores 
 del Reino , as they are now called, 
 or upper house, afterwards sat in the 
 former church of the Dona Maria de 
 Aragon , near los Ministerios. The so- 
 called House of Commons of Spain, the 
 Cortes , is placed in a new building in 
 the Carrera de San Jeronimo opposite 
 the house of the Duke of Medina Celi. 
 
 The banqueting or ball-room of 
 the Retiro, painted by Giordano in 
 his loose, dashing, Luca fa presto 
 manner, was much damaged by the 
 invaders. The Gabinete Topografico 
 and Museo militar have been moved 
 here from the Buena Vista: send 
 beforehand for an order of admission, 
 or esquela de entrada . There are two 
 2 H 2 
 
680 
 
 MADRID LA CHIXA LIBELS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 sections : the first, destined to the 
 ordnance department, contains a good 
 collection of matters appertaining to 
 artillery and engineering practice. 
 In the second, el Gabinete, are many 
 admirably executed fac-simile models. 
 Observe particularly the accurate plan 
 of Madrid, the work of Col. Leon Gil 
 Palacio, which gives a bird’s-eye view 
 of the capital as if seen from a balloon. 
 Examine also the original model 
 for the projected royal palace by Ju- 
 bara, the cost of which alone would 
 have built a common house. In the 
 Museo are excellent models of citadels 
 and ports— Gerona, Figueras, &c. See 
 the gilt sweetmeat box given by Nar- 
 vaez in the name of the Madrid gar- 
 rison, to Isabel II. : a dainty dish to 
 set before a queen. 
 
 Near this quarter was la China , or 
 royal porcelain manufactory, founded 
 by Charles III., who brought work- 
 men from his similar fabric at Capo 
 di Monte, Naples. Everything was 
 destroyed by the invaders, who turned 
 the manufactory into a fortification, 
 which surrendered, with 200 cannon, 
 Aug. 14, 1812, to the Duke. The 
 military erection was blown up Oct. 
 30, by Lord Hill, when the mis- 
 conduct of Ballesteros compelled him 
 to evacuate Madrid. Now la China is 
 one of the standing lies and afran- 
 cesado calumnies against us, as it is 
 stated that we, the English, destroyed 
 this manufactory from commercial 
 jealousy, because it was a rival to our 
 potteries ! “ What can be done (as the 
 Duke said) with such libels but despise 
 them ? There is no end of the calum- 
 nies against me and the army, and I 
 should have no time to do anything 
 else if I were to begin either to refute 
 or even to notice them ” (Disp. Oct. 
 16, 1813). This “invention of the 
 enemy” is nevertheless repeated by 
 Senor Mellado in his Guia of 1846, 
 p. 93 ; and of course by M. Maison — 
 no plagiarist of our unpleasing truths — 
 in his pirated edition , pp. 166, 203 ; and 
 what is stranger, much is re-stated by 
 even the worthy Madoz, ix. 906. This 
 nonsense, in sad truth, seems so per- 
 fectly to suit the Iberian temperament, 
 that it has become a second nature. 
 
 The real plain truth is this. The 
 French broke the ollas, and converted 
 the manufactory into a bastile and 
 fortress, which, and not the pipkins, 
 was destroyed by us, who now, so 
 far from dreading any Spanish compe- 
 tition, have actually introduced the 
 English system-of pottery ; and accord- 
 ingly very fair china is now made at 
 Madrid, and by English workmen. 
 So at Seville, a convent converted by 
 Soult into a citadel, is now made a 
 hardware manufactory by our coun- 
 tryman Mr. Pickman. Ferdinand VII. 
 on his restoration recreated la China, 
 removing the workshops and ware- 
 rooms to la Moncloa. 
 
 WVilk now into the pleasant gardens, 
 which owed their beauty to an English 
 horticulturist named Ward, and were 
 turned into a. wilderness by the in- 
 vaders. Ferdinand VII. took great 
 interest in their restoration ; he re- 
 planted the trees which had been torn 
 up by the destroyers, and cleared out 
 the large pond, el Estanque, on which 
 he manoeuvred his swans and minia- 
 ture fleet. He re-established an aviary 
 and menagerie of wild beasts, las Fieras , 
 which were favourite pets of his ma- 
 jesty. He also built Chinese pa- 
 godas, after the fashion of George 
 IV., and somewhat more apposite 
 as being near la China, than when 
 perched on the bleak coast of 
 Brighton. At the upper end of the 
 gardens is a mound with a sort of 
 summer-house called el Belvidere, and 
 justly, as it commands a good pano- 
 ramic view of Madrid. Part of these 
 retired and flowery walks are open to 
 the public ; however, the Reservado or 
 more retired portion, is reserved for the 
 royal family ; but the administrador 
 readily grants to all respectable appli- 
 cants an esquela, or permission to enter. 
 
 Return now to the Prado and visit 
 the Museo ; there, on the outside, is 
 inscribed “ Royal British Artillery, 
 1 Sept: 1812, A. Ramsay.” What a 
 page of history is condensed in that 
 simple record of an English private 
 soldier, who marched after Salamanca 
 to the delivery of the Spanish capital. 
 
 The Mvseo is a huge commonplace 
 edifice : a heavy granite portico sup- 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID EL MUSED — FOUNDATION. 
 
 681 
 
 ports nothing, while above a heavier 
 cornice rises a paltry, low, unarchi- 
 tectural upper story. The ill-con- 
 trived entrance is not even on a 
 level with the building, which 
 moreover is cut up by small square 
 windows, and disfigured by poor 
 crude white statues and medallions. 
 It was built by the commonplace Juan 
 de Villanueva, for Charles III., as the 
 site of the academy and museum of 
 natural history : left unfinished at his 
 death, it was slowly continued by 
 Charles IV. until the French invasion. 
 The enemy first gutted the building 
 and then turned it into a barrack; 
 afterwards they ripped off the lead 
 from the roof, destroyed considerable 
 portions, and left the rest a ruin ; and 
 so it remained until destined for the 
 picture-gallery, for the establishment 
 of which Ferdinand VII. has been ful- 
 somely eulogised by Minano, Meso- 
 neros, Madrazo, Madoz, and others; 
 they discourse eloquently on his 
 love of the arts, about which he 
 cared nothing, and on his paternal 
 affection for his people, about whom 
 he cared less ; they cite in proof his 
 thus denuding his own private pa- 
 laces of their finest ornaments, and 
 solely for the public good, his said 
 Majesty being about as insesthetic 
 a Goth as ever smoked tobacco. 
 The real history of the gallery is 
 this. When Ferdinand married his 
 second and best wife La Portuguesa, 
 one Monte Allegre, who had been a 
 Spanish consul in France, persuaded 
 him to refurnish much of the palace 
 with French papers, chandeliers, and 
 ormolu clocks — his particular fancy; 
 thereupon the quaint original and 
 cinque-cento furniture, much of which 
 was of the period even of Charles V. 
 and Philip II., was carted out, the 
 pictures taken down and stowed away 
 in garrets and corridors were exposed 
 to wind, weather, and plundering — 
 verbum sat. One Garreta supplied 
 the king with new chandeliers and 
 clocks ; while one Ximenez de Haro 
 bought much of the furniture for 
 an old song, which he gradually sold 
 to foreigners as a favour and at a price. 
 The pictures were fast perishing when 
 
 the Marques de Santa Cruz , Mayor Domo 
 Magor or Lord Steward, and the Duque 
 de Gor persuaded the queen to remove 
 them to the then unused building on 
 the Prado. She advanced 40/. a-month 
 towards repairing a few rooms for 
 their reception, and by November, 
 1819, three saloons were got ready, and 
 311 pictures exhibited to the public; 
 the extraordinary quality of which, 
 especially of Velazquez, instantly at- 
 tracted the admiring eye of foreigners , 
 who appreciate the merits of the old 
 masters of Spain much better than the 
 natives. Ferdinand VII., seeing that 
 renown was to be obtained, now came 
 forward with 240/. a-month, and the 
 Museo was slowly advanced, one more 
 saloon being opened in 1821 : thus 
 cheaply did he earn the title of an 
 Augustus ; but such things occur else- 
 where. 
 
 The gallery of the Louvre was also 
 formed by accident, when the reforming 
 Austrian Joseph II. reproached the dull 
 Bourbon Louis XV. with allowing 
 treasures of art to rot in magazines. 
 
 The Museo is open to the public on 
 Sundays, and every day to artists and 
 foreigners on producing their passport. 
 A third edition of the catalogue was 
 published in 1850, and is sold at the 
 door. It enumerates 1833 pictures got 
 together, for many of which rooms are 
 not yet prepared from want of funds ! 
 Cosas de Espana . About a hundred of 
 the glorious pictures formerly in the 
 Escorial were brought to Madrid dur- 
 ing the panic of 1837, at the advance 
 of the Carlists under Zariategui, and 
 may be known by having the mark E. 
 attached to them. The pictures that 
 have been engraved are marked C. N., 
 or Calcografia National, an establishment 
 in the Calle Carretas, where prints 
 may be purchased. The marks C. L., 
 Calcografia Litografica, denote those 
 which have been lithographized for 
 the Colection , begun in 1826 by Jose 
 Madrazo, the president of the Spanish 
 R. Academy, and published with a 
 verbose stilty letter-press by Cean 
 Bermudez, Jose Musso y Valiente, and 
 others. Madrazo, the projector, having 
 obtained from Ferdinand VII. a mo- 
 nopoly of lithography in Spain, pro- 
 
682 
 
 MADRID — EL MUSEO — PICTURE CLEANING. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 cured his materials and second-rate 
 artists from Paris. 
 
 No collection of pictures was ever 
 begun or continued under greater ad- 
 vantages. Charles V. and Philip II., 
 both real patrons of art, were the lead- 
 ing sovereigns of Europe at the bright 
 period of the Renaissance , when fine art 
 was an every-day necessity, and per- 
 vaded every relation of life. Again, 
 Philip IV. ruled at Naples and in the 
 Low Countries at the second restora- 
 tion of art, which he truly loved for 
 itself. These three monarchs, like 
 Alexander the Great, took a pleasure 
 in raising their painters to personal 
 intimacy ; and nowhere have artists 
 been more highly honoured than 
 Titian, Velazquez, and Rubens, were 
 in the palace of Madrid. At a later 
 period, Philip V., grandson of Louis 
 XIV., added many pictures by the prin- 
 cipal French artists of their Augustan 
 age. 
 
 While the Spanish kings patronised 
 art at home, their viceroys in Italy and 
 the Low Countries collected and sent 
 home the finest specimens of the great 
 artists who flourished from Raphael 
 down to the Carraccis and Claude : 
 these glorious gems, until the French 
 invasion, were preserved pure as when 
 they issued from the studios of their 
 immortal authors. Spain — where few 
 cared for these things — was their 
 last stronghold ; for left neglected in 
 a dry conservative climate, even ruth- 
 less Time paused ere he could destroy 
 such works of genius and beauty. 
 Hence the pure undisturbed freshness, 
 the adulterated surface, dirty and cold 
 if you will, and often not even var- 
 nished, still not tampered with, but 
 left just as they were when they re- 
 ceived their last touches; not things 
 that were pictures, like the flayed 
 Correggios at Dresden, or the French 
 repainted Raphaels. 
 
 The invaders were the first to 
 ravish and then to defile these virgin 
 pictures, and, what was worse, to 
 set a bad example, and teach Spa- 
 niards lessons of corruption which 
 have since been fearfully carried 
 out. Those pictures which returned 
 demoralized and denationalised, cap- 
 
 tivated with repainted glitter and 
 varnished faces the native authorities, 
 who, now thinking the rest of their 
 gallery dull-looking and out of fashion, 
 preferred the rouge of a strumpet to 
 the simple blush of a maiden. A 
 “ guerra d cuchillo ” was proclaimed 
 against the whple gallery. Picture 
 after picture was taken down and 
 ruined, the point of honour and prece- 
 dence having apparently been given 
 to “ Nosotros consequently there is 
 scarcely a pure Murillo left in the 
 whole collection ; some of the worst 
 used will be here cited. The work of 
 havoc went on for twenty years : when- 
 ever an empty frame bore the fatal 
 sentence, “ Esta en la restauracion” 
 the condemned painting was placed en 
 Capilla, like a criminal the eve of exe- 
 cution, and all hope was at an end. It 
 was gone to a purgatory from whence 
 there was no deliverance, no “ indul- 
 gence the last penalty was enforced 
 in underground dissecting-rooms, 
 where the familiars swept away the 
 lines where beauty lingered. The chief 
 executioners were Lopez, Ribera, Bue- 
 no, Serafin, De la Huerta, Garcia, &c. 
 Alas for the fine arts ! thus flayed, 
 scoured, and daubed over. The glazing 
 and last half-tints were effaced, and 
 much became raw and opaque which 
 once was tender and transparent ; 
 while new crude colour was banado 
 or spread on, until, in some cases, the 
 outline only of the divine original is 
 barely left.* 
 
 This record is true : quseque ipse 
 miserrima vidi ! — all remonstrance 
 was useless. When a Spaniard takes 
 
 * Spanish pictures ought never to be much 
 cleaned : they are often thinly painted de pri- 
 mera mano, or just glazed over with transparent 
 colours, which fatal spirits remove altogether, 
 especially the peculiar browns of Velazquez 
 and Murillo, which these artists made them- 
 selves from the burnt and pounded beef-bones 
 of their daily stew, hence the name Negro de 
 hueso. This culinary analogy might be carried 
 further by those in the vein : thus as the olla 
 of Andalucia is the richest and most unctuous 
 in Spain ; this brown has become local Sevil- 
 lian colour. Morales, an Estremaduran, adopted 
 the warmer tone of the local chorizo, the rich 
 red peppered sausage. The Valencians, Joanes 
 and Ribalta,kc., preferred the local morado, the 
 purple tint of the there prevalent mulberry 
 juice. Localism is the essence of the Spaniard. 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — THE OFFICIAL CATALOGUE. 
 
 683 
 
 anything into his head, however in- 
 jurious to himself and his country, 
 nothing, as the Duke said, will pre- 
 vent his carrying it out. 
 
 An official Catalogue is sold at the 
 door, which, in point of historical in- 
 formation, of art or science, is poor and 
 uncritical. One of the author’s chief 
 objects seems to be to give the size 
 of each picture, and not the soul. 
 Possibly this carpenter-criticism may 
 be meant to enhance the merit of 
 quantity versus quality in those acres 
 of canvas on which the Directors 
 seem to have laboured in vain, and 
 which here take up much good space, 
 to the exclusion of better things. 
 As distinct impressions are fixed by 
 characteristics of style, not by a mere 
 catalogue of names, we shall certainly 
 not imitate these official cicerones. W e 
 shall point out some of the pearls 
 of price, referring to the numbers 
 as per official Catalogue, just re- 
 marking that M. Maison has adopted 
 our criticisms in his pilfered Hand- 
 book — valeat quantum. In the preface 
 of the edition of 1850 an especial auto 
 de fe is celebrated in honour of our 
 heretical Handbook , and in defence of 
 that 4 4 cattivo coro,” by whom the 
 44 mark of the beast ” has been set, 
 alas ! on so many masterpieces in 
 this Museo, skinned and flayed h la 
 Jose de Ribera, and, we had said, of 
 the Director Jos4 Madrazo too. It 
 seems that we were mistaken as to the 
 period of this gentleman’s titular ap- 
 pointment ; but during the three years 
 — the 44 mas de veinte” of the Catalogo 
 — that we had the happiness of passing 
 in well-beloved Spain every one held. 
 Madrazo to be the real acting , managing, 
 and moving power. If we have wronged 
 his fair fame we are truly sorry, and 
 much rejoice to learn from the Catalogo 
 that he, the actual director, is 44 per- 
 haps one of the most zealous art-con- 
 servatives in Europe.” 
 
 Meantime the real charge of this whole- 
 sale official destruction of what Time and 
 G oth had spared rankles deeply. Truth 
 in the fool’s paradise of the “only 
 court,” seems still to be the greatest of 
 libels ; and when pointed out by a 
 foreign or a barbarian eye, is replied 
 
 to with hard words, and set down as 
 44 mentiras y disparates ,” you don’t un- 
 derstand us. But many Spaniards, to 
 use the comparison of their Charles III., 
 continue, like naughty, dirty children, 
 to quarrel with those kind nurses who 
 try to wash their faces. So it always 
 was and will be : thus the poor Padre 
 Caimo was assailed and “ despachurrado” 
 — see p. 73. Touching the actual mis- 
 chief done, what is the testimony of the 
 really intelligent and enlightened con- 
 noisseurs of entire Europe ? Those 
 44 viageros inteligentes ” to whose eyes 
 and knowledge the Catalogo confidently 
 appeals when vaunting the original 
 purezal — the 44 patina ! !” of the pic- 
 tures which remain preserved — 44 segun 
 salieron de mano de sus autores ” — 
 as they came from the hands of their 
 authors ! ! ! Rub your spectacles, dear 
 readers, for this rich and rare treat. 
 
 How, as the Museo increased, in 1830 
 did Capt. Cooke Widdrington, bear 
 witness ? He was one of the first to 
 penetrate into Spain, that 44 Timbuctoo 
 of art ” according to Wilkie, and one of 
 the ablest writers on its things : — 44 The 
 worst part of this noble institution is a 
 gang of restorers, who are established 
 below, and carry on their processes, 
 which the Spanish writers justly term 
 horroroso and espantoso , with a zeal 
 and indefatigable energy worthy a 
 better cause. Every picture in the 
 gallery seems destined to undergo 
 their discipline ; and neither age 
 nor school escape their merciless 
 grasp. They appear to view the in- 
 estimable productions which are suc- 
 cessively doomed to pass through 
 their hands with the same indifference 
 a school of anatomists have for the 
 4 subjects ’ brought before them. 
 
 44 Their methods seem to injure the 
 Venetian pictures more than any 
 other ; and a mode of disturbing the 
 surface, and then glazing and substi- 
 tuting varnishes of their own, com- 
 pletely" alter the appearance of them, 
 and would astonish the artists, if they 
 revisited the earth and saw their pro- 
 ductions. There are pictures painted 
 completely over. 
 
 44 A worthy individual, who is the 
 chief in this species of industry, in- 
 
684 
 
 MADRID — PICTURE RESTORING AND REPAINTING. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 serts his name on the back of some of 
 the paintings he has manufactured : 
 like another Eratostratus, consigning 
 himself to immortality with the artist, 
 who is so deeply indebted to him for 
 disfiguring his works. Thus in one 
 of his last performances the restau- 
 racion of the 4 Jubileo de la Porciun- 
 cula/ a large painting of Murillo, 
 formerly in the church of the Capu- 
 chins at Seville, is inscribed in enor- 
 mous letters at the back : 4 This work 
 of the immortal Murillo was restored 
 in such a year by 
 
 44 If these proceedings be not stopped, 
 these magnificent galleries will ex- 
 hibit a very different appearance in a 
 few years. Every time I returned to 
 Madrid some favourite had been re- 
 moved, and the fatal 4 Esta en la 
 restaur acion 9 was appended in its 
 place.” — 4 Sketches i. 169. London, 
 1834. 
 
 What says Stirling, in 1848, whose 
 accurate 4 Annals of the Artists of Spain’ 
 qualify him to speak of facts as an au- 
 thority ? — 44 It is much to be regretted 
 that the dangerous and often fatal pro- 
 cess of cleaning, of which some of the 
 finest Rafaels were the first victims 
 when in the Louvre, has been carried 
 on here, in what is called the restoring - 
 room, with a vigour very unusual in 
 Spain, and an audacity not exceeded 
 in France. The manly touch of Ve- 
 lazquez and the delicate vapory tones 
 of Murillo have in too many instances 
 disappeared beneath masses of fresh 
 paint, flat and hard, as if they had 
 been laid on with a pallet-knife or a 
 trowel.” — Vol. i. p. 53. 
 
 What was the testimony given be- 
 fore our Parliamentary Committee, 
 June 3, 1853, by that intelligent Italian 
 cognoscenti, G. B. Cavalcaselle ? — 
 44 A Madrid, i quadri del Museo sono 
 rimpasticciati in maniera unica; da 
 piu di dieci restauratori sono stipen- 
 diati.” — 4 Report on National Gallery ’ 
 p. 785. 
 
 What says in 1853 the learned Ger- 
 man, J.D.Passavant, himself a director 
 of a picture gallery? (see 4 Die christliche 
 Kunst in Spanien 9 p. 151) : — 44 Es ist 
 ofters behauptet worden, dass sich die 
 gemalde in Museum zu Madrid auch 
 
 dadurch auszeichnen, dass sie noch in 
 ihrem urspriinglichen Zustand, nie 
 durch Herstellungen beriihrt worden 
 seien. Es ist dieses jedoch nur bei 
 Weningen der Fall, und dass bei dem 
 Museum eine grosse Zahl Bilder-Res- 
 tauratorenwenn ich nicht irre vierzehnl 
 angestellt und beschaftight sind, ist 
 eben kein Beweis fur estere Behaup- 
 tung. Jedoch ist zuzugeben, dass jetzt 
 mit grosser Vorsicht Verfahren wird.” 
 This intelligent, impartial connoisseur, 
 when penning this passage, held in one 
 hand the 44 calumniating, malicious, 
 false, and ignorant” Handbook , and in 
 the other its corrective, the official 
 Catalogo. Meantime, as the corpus de- 
 licti , the poor flayed restored pictures, 
 rose ghastly before his eyes, he could 
 not as an honest man, really conversant 
 with the subject, deliver any other ver- 
 dict than this, which is just and true. 
 
 Such therefore are the most truthful 
 statements of gentlemen really friends 
 of Spain, who will neither state the 
 thing that is not, for her honour, nor 
 talk about things they do not under- 
 stand. Matters, it is said, have latterly 
 been mended. No picture of 44 the 
 Spanish school” has, according to the 
 Catalogo , been restored since 1838 ; pos- 
 sibly new victims may be wanting to 
 the executions from the extent of pre- 
 vious wholesale operations — or is the 
 foreigner's turn come now ? It is after 
 all a question which all but the blind, 
 and those led by the blind, will decide 
 for themselves ; and we dare the Cata- 
 logo by citing some of those the worst 
 handled. 
 
 This Museo is a creature of accident 
 rather than of design. There is little 
 order, scientific systematic arrange- 
 ment, or classification ; no series of 
 painters marking the chronology, 
 either of art in general, or of any 
 school in particular. It is wanting in 
 specimens of Fra Bartolomeo, Peru- 
 gino, M. Angelo, Julio Romano, Lu- 
 dovico Carracci, Caravaggio, Carlo 
 Dolci, &c. It is also deficient not only 
 in the early Italian and German artists, 
 but even in the Spanish, the splen- 
 did Valencian and Seville schools (Mu- 
 rillo, Velazquez, and Joanes ex- 
 cepted). Those early pictures which 
 
The Castiles . MADRID EL museo CHOICEST pictures. 
 
 685 
 
 were to be found scattered in con- 
 vents were mostly either destroyed or 
 allowed to disappear : a commission of 
 painters ( pintamonas ) was indeed sent 
 from Madrid to inspect them, but 
 their verdict was, that these Momar - 
 rachas were not worth preserving. 
 To give a general idea of the extra- 
 ordinary contents, of this the finest 
 gallery in the world, suffice it to say 
 that there are 27 Bassanos, 49 Breug- 
 hels, 8 Alonso Canos, 10 Claudes, 22 
 Vandykes, 16 Guidos, 55 by Luca 
 Giordano, 13 by Antonio Moro, 46 by 
 Murillo, 3 by Parmigianino, 21 by 
 N. Poussin, 10 by Raphael, 53 by Ri- 
 bera, 62 by Rubens, 23 by Snyders, 
 52 by Teniers, 43 by Titian, 27 by 
 Tintoretto, 62 by Velazquez, 24 by 
 Paul Veronese, 10 by Wouvermans, 
 14 by Zurbaran. 
 
 The galleries themselves are not 
 well adapted for pictures, having been 
 built for other purposes, but the ser- 
 vants understand opening and closing 
 shutters, etc., so as to improve the 
 lights. The rooms are simple ; no 
 gewgaw glyptotheque ornaments distract 
 the eye from the pictures, which here 
 are as they ought to be, the emphatic 
 objects. What a palace of thought 
 and beauty ! How filled with mighty 
 spirits of the past ! The victory of the 
 grave is disputed; and they appear 
 here again, as in a vision of life, and 
 one of delight, not dread ! When we 
 pass these crowded walls, it seems as 
 if a year were too short to examine 
 the contents: a too princely banquet 
 is set before us, and we run the risk 
 either of feasting on more than we can 
 digest, or of becoming sated with ex- 
 cellence, and loathing the honeycomb : 
 but we soon get fastidious, and the 
 masses simplify themselves ; then the 
 planets shine forth, and we reject the 
 modern and rubbish as by instinct. But 
 of one thing, oh beware ! — beware, dear 
 reader, of any lassitude of the beautiful: 
 be indeed weary of bores, fly the bad, 
 eschew David, Aparicio, Madrazo, the 
 devil and all his works : but never, oh 
 never, risk the being tired of the fine and 
 good. Picture-seeing is more fatiguing 
 than people think, for one is standing 
 all the while, and with the body the 
 
 mind is also at exercise in judging, 
 and is exhausted by admiration. Let, 
 therefore, the visits be often and fre- 
 quent ; take also one master at a time, 
 as a knowledge of his peculiarities is 
 more likely to be fixed, than by mixing 
 up many artists and subjects together, 
 which fritters and distracts. A new 
 room was opened in 1853, a sort of 
 tribune, in which many of the finest 
 pictures are placed. 
 
 The grand masters to observe are 
 Raphael, Titian, Murillo, and still 
 more Velazquez, for the three former 
 may be comprehended equally as well 
 at Rome, Hampton Court, Venice, and 
 Seville ; but Madrid is the only home 
 of the mighty Andalucian, for here is 
 almost his entire work. 
 
 The opening Rotunda contains rub- 
 bish: No. 27 is an allegory by J. 
 Baptista Mayno (15 69 -16 49), a poorish 
 imitator of P. Veronese, and a friend of 
 Lope de Vega. On the rt. and 1. open 
 the saloons appropriated to the old 
 Spanish masters ; the centre room, the 
 post of honour, being given to the mo- 
 dern ones, with whom we will begin, 
 reserving the good wine for the last. 
 Not that the natives think so, as for 
 one of them who ever looks at Raphael, 
 a score will admire low commonplace 
 art, always the most popular with the 
 many, for mankind only sympathises 
 with what it understands : and here the 
 director’s nonsense suits the directed’s 
 nonsense, and not to be able to estimate 
 real excellence, is one sure proof of 
 mediocrity of intellect. Modern Span- 
 ish art, the child of corrupt parents, 
 carries from its birth a germ of weak- 
 ness. Mengs, the hero of ephemeral 
 reputation, and the incarnation of the 
 academical mediocre, led the way ; then 
 followed David, fit painter of the Re- 
 volution, who trampled on the fine 
 arts of cowed Europe. His theatrical 
 scenes a la Corneille , his swaggering, 
 attitudinarian heroes, a la Grand 
 Opdra , combined with a certain Roman 
 severity of drawing and a rechauffe' 
 of the antique, bewildered the Spanish 
 R. A.s, already predisposed in his favour 
 by his Mengs-like style, by his manner- 
 ism and conventionality. To him they 
 turned submissively, in spite of his 
 2 h 3 
 
686 
 
 MADRID — EL MUSEO MODERN ARTISTS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 want of real colour, air, nature and 
 life, the soul of painting ; and the dis- 
 ciples, as is common in heresies, out- 
 heroded their master. Take, for in- 
 stance, by Jose Aparicio (1773 t- 1815), 
 a pupil of David, 554, “ Ransomed 
 Slaves :” when this was exhibited at 
 Rome, Canova, who knew the man, 
 told him, “This is the finest thing in 
 the world, and you are the first of 
 painters.” Soon afterwards Thorwald- 
 sen came in and ventured a critique, 
 whereupon the Don indignantly quoted 
 Canova : 4 4 Sir, he has been laughing 
 at you,” said the honest Dane, to 
 whom Aparicio never spoke again : 5 7 7, 
 ditto, 44 The Glories of Spain.” This 
 pet picture, like Maldonado’s History , 
 is an exponent of Espaholismo. Here 
 Nosotros do the whole work, they 
 alone flutter the French eagles. 584, 
 “The Famine at Madrid;” these are 
 pictures that present the ne plus ultra 
 of all that is bad in colour and com- 
 position. 
 
 Of the Director Jose Madrazo himself, 
 also a pupil of David of blood-stained 
 hand and brush, observe 564, “ Death 
 of Viriatus ;” transportation is loudly 
 called for : 570, his 44 Ferdinand VII. 
 on Horseback,” is worse if possible 
 than the former ; alas for Spain, when 
 any countryman of Velazquez, and 
 in the presence of his divine models, 
 should perpetrate such wooden tea- 
 board opaque inanities ! 574, Madrazo 
 44 Divine and Profane Love,” partakes 
 considerably of the latter epithet in 
 conception and execution. The works 
 of Bayeu and Maella are feeble and com- 
 monplace. Goya alone (1746-1828) 
 shows talent : 551, 44 Maria Luisa,” 
 the royal Messalina of Spain of her 
 time : 595, 44 A Bullfighter,” a thing 
 of Spain. Goya was also an etcher, 
 and published some spirited carica- 
 tures, and subjects of low bullfighting 
 life and free subjects. But Goya was 
 a Spanish Swift, and delighted in 
 dirty subjects from which others 
 revolt. Those who admire him should 
 visit his son Don Javier (No. 9, C. 
 de las Aquas), who has many of his 
 father’s sketches and paintings. 
 
 Now enter the saloon to the rt. Here 
 are the Castellanos viejos y sin mancha , 
 
 the old masters of Spain, good men 
 and true, free from all infidel and 
 foreign taint, but who now seem to be 
 hung up here in terror em, as examples 
 of what modern students should avoid ; 
 for, if their Directors are artists, then 
 Murillo was a blockhead and Velaz- 
 quez a dauber ;_and who, on hurrying 
 away from these wretched modern 
 daubs, “ sticks left at the door,” will 
 not agree with the clever Viardot 
 ( 4 Etudes en Espagne,’ 309) ? — “ Je n’ai 
 pas le courage d’en parler: ce serait 
 avouer non la decadence, mais la mine, 
 la mort, l’oubli complet de l’art et de 
 ses traditions.” 
 
 Now for Velazquez, who here is to 
 be seen in all his glory — implens ma- 
 jestate locum. Fortunately for Spain, 
 as Buonaparte’s generals did not quite 
 understand or appreciate either his 
 artistic or money value, few of his 
 pictures were 44 transported.” Again, 
 from having been exclusively the court 
 painter, his works were monopolized 
 by the crown ; and being in the palace 
 of Joseph, were tolerably respected. 
 Here, therefore, alone, is he to be 
 studied, in all his protean variety of 
 power. For his biography consult 
 Cean Bermudez ( Dice 0 , v. 1 55). For a 
 critical examination of his style, con- 
 sult our Life of Velazquez in the 
 4 Penny Cyclopaedia ,* 1843 ; 4 The Hand- 
 book of Spanish Art,’ Sir Edmund Head, 
 Bart., 1848 ; the 4 Annals of Spanish 
 Painters ,’ Wm. Stirling, 1848 ; and for 
 fuller biographical details, Stirling’s ex- 
 cellent 4 Velazquez ,’ 1855. Beware at 
 all events of consulting the blunderers 
 Huard, Quillet, C. Blanc, and Co., 
 who caper on the banks of the Seine, 
 in utter unconsciousness of the in- 
 decent nakedness of their ignorance. 
 
 Suffice it here to say that Diego 
 Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez was 
 born at Seville in 1599, and died at 
 Madrid, Aug. 7, 1660. He is the 
 Homer of the Spanish school, of which 
 Murillo is the Virgil. Simple, un- 
 affected, and manly, he was emphati- 
 cally a man and the painter of men, 
 and particularly of those lofty, state- 
 ly men which Spain once produced. 
 In this masculine quality he rivalled 
 Timanthes, 44 artem ipsam complexus 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — el museo— Velazquez — his style. 
 
 6 87 
 
 viros pingendi ” (Pliny, 4 N. H.’ xxxv. 
 10). He was equally great in portrait, 
 history, Sujets de Genre, and landskip ; 
 he transmigrated at once, without 
 effort or violence, into each style, 
 and into every variety of each, — 
 passing from the epic to the farce, 
 from low life to high, from the old 
 to the young, from the rich to the 
 poor, while he elevated portrait paint- 
 ing to the dignity of history. He was 
 less successful in delineations of female 
 beauty, in the tender ideal, and holy 
 subjects, wherein he was inferior to 
 Murillo. Diego indeed could draw any- 
 thing and everything that he could 
 see and touch, then he was master of 
 his subject and never mastered by it ; 
 but he could not grapple with the 
 unreal, or comprehend the invisible, 
 immortal, and divine ; and whenever 
 he attempted any elevated composi- 
 tions, which was seldom, the unpoeti- 
 cal models from which he studied in 
 youth were too often reproduced. 
 44 Homo sum,” he might have said with 
 Cicero, after Terence, “et nihil hnmani 
 a me alienum esse puto.” Yet even in 
 this style, prose if you please, but terse, 
 nervous, and Thucydidean, there is 
 no mistake, no doubt, and always so 
 much humanity, so much serious, 
 dignified manhood, such truth to na- 
 ture, and meaning, that the mind is 
 satisfied, and we sympathise with 
 transcripts of beings of living flesh 
 and blood, like ourselves. No man, 
 again, Titian not excepted, could 
 draw the minds of men, or paint 
 the very air we breathe better than 
 he : his colour is clean and truthful, 
 although subdued ; to those accustomed 
 to the glowing tints of Titian and 
 Eubens his tones appear at first to be 
 cold, and his greys almost green ; but his 
 mastery over his materials, his repre- 
 sentation of texture, air, and individual 
 identity, are absolutely startling, his 
 lineal and aerial perspective is magi- 
 cal. His touch was free and firm, 
 uniting perfect precision with the 
 greatest executional facility. He seems 
 to have drawn , improvisoed as it were, 
 on the canvas, for sketches or previous 
 studies on paper are very seldom to 
 be met with. When at work he always 
 
 went directly to the point, knowing 
 what he wanted, and when he had got 
 it, and then selected the salient fea- 
 tures, and omitted the trivial ; and 
 as he never touched his canvas with- 
 out an intention, or ever put one 
 touch too much, his emphatic objects 
 are always effective ; this is the true 
 philosophy of art : again, his subdued 
 tone and slight treatment of acces- 
 sories conferred a solidity and im- 
 portance to his leading points, which 
 are all thus brought up and tell. 
 Having been employed by the king, 
 and not by the usual patrons of art in 
 Spain, the priest and monk, his pictures 
 are more secularised and are less gloomy 
 than those of many Spanish artists who 
 were depressed by the cold shadow of 
 the Inquisition. For truth and life-con- 
 ferring power he carries everything 
 before him, and is by far the greatest 
 painter of the so-called naturalist 
 school : hence the sympathy between 
 him and English artists, of whose style 
 he was the anticipation ; for similar 
 causes must produce similar effects, 
 allowances being made for the dis- 
 turbing influence of a different religion, 
 habits, and climate. Art with our 
 Velazquez, who took nature for his 
 guide, truth for his end, and man for 
 his model, followed the current of life, 
 and was the reflection of the court. 
 He held up the mirror of the period 
 of Philip IV., and of the locality 
 of Madrid ; but his works bear a stamp 
 for all time, as excellence is inde- 
 pendent of the mere accidents of ex- 
 ternals and localities. 
 
 Look therefore at every one of his 
 pictures ; for, take them for all and all, 
 we 44 ne’er shall see their like again.” 
 Those to be peered into and analysed 
 every day, are : — 81 , a sculptor, and the 
 presumed portrait of Alonso Cano ; great 
 truth and force : 87, C. L., St. Antonio 
 and St. Paul Hermits. 44 In breadth,” 
 says Wilkie, “ and richness unex- 
 ampled, the beau ideal of landskip, 
 not much detail or imitation, but the 
 very same sun we see, and the air we 
 breathe, the very soul and spirit of 
 nature indeed all is so simple that 
 many are at first disappointed, it seems 
 so easy: 114, portrait of Philip IV.’s 
 
688 
 
 MADRID EL MUSEO VELAZQUEZ. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 second wife, Mariana of Austria: 11 7, a 
 masterly sketch, said to be of the Mar- 
 ques de Pescara, full of individual 
 identity : 127, C. N., portrait, a fine 
 fierce old Turkish pirate, said to be of 
 the corsair Barbaroja: 138, C. L., 
 C. N., Los Bebedores or Los Borrachos ; 
 this mock coronation of a drunken 
 group combines the humour of Teniers 
 with the breadth and effect of Cara- 
 vaggio. The actors may indeed be 
 low in intellectual character, but they 
 are not vulgar, being true to the life ; 
 and if deficient in elevated sentiment, 
 are rich in meaning, and transcripts 
 of real man. 
 
 Next observe 142, Philip IV. when 
 aged ; it is the individual himself, with 
 the Austrian “ foolish hanging of the 
 nether lip 145, C. L., Fountain at 
 Aranjuez, an exquisite landskip, full 
 of local colour and verdurous freshness, 
 with groups that realize the very form 
 and pressure of the period of Philip IV. 
 and of the stately Spaniard, the very 
 antithesis of the Watteau Arcadia of 
 powdered, rouged petit-inaitres ; these 
 pictures are, in fact, in painting, what 
 the letters of Madame D’Aunoy are 
 in description. Compare 145 with 540, 
 C. L., another view at Aranjuez. Ob- 
 serve, however, particularly all his 
 small bits of landskip, studies of ruins 
 and architecture done at Rome, others 
 with moonlight effects, and all marvel- 
 lous gems of art. See 101, 102, 118, 
 the arch of Titus; 128, 132, 143. Re- 
 mark much 155, C. N., Las Meninas ; 
 here we have Velazquez in his own 
 studio. This was called La Teologia, 
 the Theology, the “ Gospel of Art ” 
 by Luca Giordano, while Wilkie held 
 its power to amount almost to in- 
 spiration : nor can aerial and lineal 
 perspective, local colour, animal and 
 human life, be represented beyond this. 
 The gradation of tones in lights, sha- 
 dows, and colours, gives an absolute 
 concavity to the fiat surface of the 
 canvas, we look into space as into a 
 room, or as into the reflection of a mir- 
 ror. The shadows are truly given in* 
 the chiaro oscuro , being transparent 
 and diaphanous, and rather a subdued 
 light and a less pronounced colour than 
 a dark veil. The picture is remark- 
 
 able for the chariness of bright colours : 
 an olive greenish tone pervades the 
 background: the accessories are only 
 indicated ; indeed of Velazquez it may 
 be also said, as Pliny (‘N. H/ xxxv, 11) 
 observed of Timanthes, “ Intelligitur 
 plus semper quam pingitur, et cum ars 
 summa sit, ingenium tamen ultra artem 
 est:” but no painter was ever more 
 objective ; there is no showing off of the 
 artist ; no calling attention to the per- 
 former’s dexterity, to the ego, the 
 adsum qui feci : Velazquez loved art 
 for itself without one disturbing 
 thought of self. 
 
 The scene represents the dull Infanta 
 Margarita, who is tried to be amused 
 by her pages, while her two dwarfs, 
 Maria Borbola and Nicolasico Pertu- 
 sano, worry a patient dog, which is 
 painted finer than a Snyders ; these 
 disports and distorts of nature, then 
 the fashion of the court, are in truth 
 as hideous as Voltaire ce bouffon du 
 diable ; yet this painting is no carica- 
 ture nor ludicrous, they are dwarfs 
 nothing more or less, but just as they 
 were in nature. These Lnanos are the 
 vavoi, the Nani of the ancients, which 
 were the delight of Julia (Plin, 
 4 N. H.’ vii. 16) and of Tiberius (Suet, 
 in Vit. 61), although Augustus had the 
 good taste to dislike them. At Rome, 
 as in Spain, the ugliest were the most 
 esteemed, and brought a price propor- 
 tionate to their oddity, like Scotch 
 terriers, who have their Velazquez in 
 E. Landseer. Our Charles I., who 
 took Philip IV. as a model in many 
 things, delighted in dwarfs, and had 
 his Hudsons, &c., painted and served 
 up in pies. Remark the Infanta , with 
 her child-like mealy-faced and unin- 
 teresting countenance ; but Velazquez 
 was too honest to flatter even royalty 
 or its fools. 
 
 Next observe 156, Philip IV.,aglori- 
 ous portrait : 177, C. L., C. N., the 
 Conde Duque de Olivares, the cele- 
 brated and much overrated premier of 
 Philip IV., on horseback: the animal 
 is somewhat large, and his seat is 
 awkwardly forward, but no doubt it 
 was true to life, for Velazquez would 
 not stoop to woo even a premier or 
 conciliate the spectator : his practical 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — EL MUSEO — VELAZQUEZ. 
 
 689 
 
 genius saw everything as it really was, 
 and his hand, that obeyed his eye and 
 intellect, gave the exact form and 
 pressure without much refining. No- 
 thing can be better than the effects pro- 
 duced by the chary use of gaudy 
 colour in this picture and the preceding 
 1 55 ; but no man was ev er more sparing 
 of colour ; he husbanded his whites and 
 even yellows, which tell up like gold 
 on his under toned back-grounds, which 
 always represented nature with the 
 intervention of air. Passing now into 
 the saloon to the 1., 195, C. L., C. N., 
 the Forge of Vulcan; forcible, but 
 painted fromvulgar ill-selected models. 
 The Apollo has nothing of the deity, 
 while Vulcan is a mere Gallician black- 
 smith: 198, the Infanta Maria in the 
 court costume of the day. This por- 
 trait is interesting to us, as she was 
 the object of our Charles’s romantic 
 visit to Madrid. Howell, who was 
 then there, described her 44 as a very 
 comely lady, rather of a Flemish com- 
 plexion than a Spaniard ; fair-haired, 
 and carrying a most pure mixture of 
 red and white in her face ; she is full 
 and big-lipped, which is held a beauty 
 rather than a blemish, or any excess, 
 in the Austrian family.” Afterwards, 
 when the match was off, he spoke with 
 more truth of her being of 44 fading 
 flaxen hair, big-lipped, and heavy- 
 eyed.” His letters, 4 Epistolce Hoe- 
 liance ,’ 4to., London, 1645, give many 
 curious details of Charles and his 
 visit, and what a loss to this series, is 
 the portrait of Charles himself, which 
 Velazquez began ! pariunt desideria 
 non traditi vultus (Pliny, 4 N. H.’ 
 xxxv. 2). The “ Fife ” daub recently 
 exhibited in London as this missing 
 sketch is a complete snare and delu- 
 sion : if it be a Spanish picture at all, 
 which is very doubtful, it is certainly 
 not by Velazquez. It would have been 
 interesting to have compared the real 
 picture sketched by the Great Spaniard, 
 with those portraits which we have 
 by Vandyke, who knew Charles by 
 heart, as well indeed as Velazquez did 
 Philip IV., and as well as we seem to 
 do too, after visiting this precious 
 Museo , where he is set before us, em- 
 balmed in e\ery stage of his life. 
 
 Next observe 200, C. L., Philip IV. 
 when young and in a shooting-dress : 
 209, a fine Old Lady, in his early 
 forcible style : 230, C. L., C. N., 
 Philip III. on horseback, a marvellous 
 specimen of the effects produced by 
 placing his figure on cool greys ; the 
 royal head is full of the individual 
 imbecility of this poor bigot, who was 
 twelve years learning his alphabet: 
 245, C. N., an old man named Msenipo : 
 254, C N., Esop, finely painted, but 
 looking more like a shirtless cobbler 
 than a philosopher : 255, C. N., a 
 bearded Dwarf, seated as Velazquez 
 saw him, and as no one else could have 
 ventured to paint him : 267, UnPreten- 
 diente, or place-hunter, one of the Au- 
 tochthones of Madrid ; the attitude is 
 admirable : 270, C. L., the young 
 
 Prince Baltasar, aged 6, with his dog 
 and gun. Observe particularly all the 
 numerous sporting portraits of therio- 
 maniac Austrian royalty ; for whether 
 the subjects are dressed for the court 
 or the chace, they wear their clothes 
 with ease and fitness ; they are the real 
 everyday garments of living flexible 
 bodies underneath, not dresses stuck 
 on like the fancy masquerade of an 
 imaginative painter, or copied from 
 a wooden lay figure: 279, C. N., an 
 admirable full-length portrait of a 
 Dwarf ; observe how costume, feather, 
 and Dog are painted : 284, C. N., 
 El Nino • de Vallecas ; it is wonder- 
 ful how Velazquez could have fixed 
 the attitude : 289, a magnificently- 
 painted portrait; how much effect 
 is produced, with how little detail; 
 how unlike the finished style of Pan- 
 toja, yet never was armour better 
 represented; but Velazquez was above 
 all tricks, and never masked poverty 
 of hand and idea under meritricious 
 glitter ; with him everything was so- 
 ber, real, and sterling: 291, C. N., El 
 Bobo de Coria ; observe the green 
 tones and expression of roguish wag- 
 gery : 295, the Surprise of lo ; nothing 
 can exceed the profound sleep of Argos 
 or the stealthy action of Mercury ; the 
 god of thieves is painted in an absolute 
 anticipation of Sir Joshua’s style : 299, 
 C. L., C. N., Philip IV., an equestrian 
 portrait ; this true $i}*t7rwos is witching 
 
690 
 
 MADRID — EL MUSEO — VELAZQUEZ. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 the world with noble horsemanship, 
 the only attitude in which the Monarch 
 of Caballeros ought to be painted. The 
 bounding horse is alive, and knows its 
 rider ; how everything tells up on the 
 cool blue and greens in the back- 
 ground : 303, C. N., Queen Isabel, first 
 wife of Philip IV., a superb white 
 steed ; observe how her costume is 
 painted, and despair ; remark also the 
 difference of the horses, those which 
 carry men are fiery and prancing, 
 while those on which women are 
 mounted are gentle and ambling as if 
 conscious of their timid delicate bur- 
 den : 319, C. L., the Surrender of 
 Breda, or Las Lanzas , is perhaps the 
 finest picture of V elazquez ; never were 
 knights, soldiers, or national character 
 better painted, or the heavy Fleming, 
 the intellectual Italian, and the proud 
 Spaniard more nicely marked even to 
 their boots and breeches : the lances of 
 the guards actually vibrate. Observe 
 the contrast of the light-blue delicate 
 page, with the dark iron- clad General 
 Spinola, who, the model of a high-bred 
 generous warrior, is consoling a gallant 
 butvanquished enemy. He took Breda, 
 June 2, 1625, and died 5 years after- 
 wards, broken-hearted at Philip IV/s 
 treatment, exclaiming, “ Me han qui- 
 tado la hour a ? ” They have robbed me 
 of honour ! Velazquez has introduced 
 his own noble head into this picture, 
 which is placed in the corner with a 
 plumed hat. This is indeed a male 
 subject, and treated with a masculine 
 mind and hand ; nor are men aware 
 of how much the sexual undercurrent 
 leads them to admire pictures in which 
 beautiful females are presented : here, 
 where there is no woman whatever, the 
 painting is the triumph of art by itself. 
 
 Observe particularly 332, C. L., 
 C. N., Don Baltasar on horseback ; 
 the child actually gallops out of the 
 frame, and is the anticipation of our 
 Edwin Landseer, and his young High- 
 land Chieftains on their wild ponies : 
 335, C. N., Las Hilanderas , is the per- 
 fection of reality, taken from or- 
 dinary life; here the artist, feeling 
 at once his power and weakness, has, 
 like Timanthes, turned aside the head 
 of the lady, leaving to the imagination 
 
 of each spectator to invest her with that 
 quality of beauty which best accords 
 with his peculiar liking : 527, in an- 
 other saloon, is the portrait of Gongora. 
 The short-comings of Velazquez, this 
 great mortal , for he was not a painter 
 of the ideal, will be seen in 62, C. L., 
 Coronation of the Virgin, who seems 
 a somewhat sulky female, while the 
 Deity is degraded to a toothless monk. 
 But he could not escape from humanity 
 nor soar above into the clouds ; he was 
 neither a poet nor an enthusiast, and 
 somewhat deficient in creative power : 
 again, he painted for the court and not 
 for the church ; in a word, Nature was 
 his guide, truth his object, aud man, 
 not always well selected, his model ; no 
 Virgin ever descended into his studio, 
 no cherubs ever hovered round his 
 pallet, no saint came down from heaven 
 to sit for his portrait : hence the neg- 
 lect and partial failure of his sacred 
 subjects, holy indeed like those of 
 Caravaggio in nothing but name, being 
 groups rather of low life, and that so 
 truly painted as still more to mar the 
 elevated sentiment, by a treatment not 
 in harmony with the subject. Ve- 
 lazquez went to the earth not to 
 heaven for types and models ; hence 
 his Virgin has neither the wo- 
 manly tenderness of Murillo, the 
 unspotted loveliness of Raphael, or the 
 serenity unruffled by human passions 
 of the antique ; he rather lowered 
 heaven to earth, than raised earth to 
 heaven. Look, however, at No. 51, 
 The Crucifixion — a sublime represen- 
 tation of the death of the Son of Man ; 
 the treatment is solemn and impressive. 
 How fine the darkness over the face of 
 the earth, and the partial concealment 
 of the face by dishevelled and scattered 
 hair. 63, C. N., the God Mars, is a 
 vulgar Gallician porter : 167, C. L., an 
 Adoration of the Magi, is in his hard 
 early style, before he was emancipated 
 from the prevalent Ribera peculiari- 
 ties. So the celebrated Jacob and his 
 Sons, formerly in the Escorial — where 
 is it now ? — although a picture of great 
 truth and force, was but a group of Gal- 
 licians ; yet even when displeased with 
 such repulsive subjects we are forced 
 to submit to the power of master 
 
The Ccistiles. 
 
 MADRID EL MUSEO — MURILLO. 
 
 691 
 
 mind displayed in the representation ; 
 strange to say this naturalist picture was 
 painted in the Vatican itself, so little 
 influence had the foreigners Raphael 
 and M. Angelo, on the local Spaniard, 
 that he dared them with his very 
 failings ; in fact when Velazquez was 
 in Italy he had eyes only for the Vene- 
 tian school, and he did not under- 
 stand or like Raphael, as he can- 
 didly told Salvator Rosa. See 6 Carta 
 del Navegar Pintoresco,’ M. Boschini, 
 p. 56. — N.B. As this picture is not 
 forthcoming, those who question about 
 it may be scouted as impertinente 
 curiosos. 
 
 Murillo will naturally come next to 
 Velazquez. He, however, is seen in 
 greater glory at Seville, his native 
 home. Referring therefore to p. 191 
 for some account of Murillo, suffice it 
 to say here that the specimens of this 
 master of female and infantine grace 
 are numerous, but scarcely one has 
 escaped the fatal restauracion , i. e., de- 
 struction. On him the most perilous 
 experiments have been tried by the offi- 
 cial flayers, poulticers, and plasterers. 
 However, Murillo is so full of sub- 
 ject, so dramatic, comes so home to, 
 and appeals so much to the common- 
 sense of mankind, and is recom- 
 mended by such a magical fascina- 
 tion of colour, that he captivates alike 
 the learned and unlearned — sure test 
 of undeniable excellence. He has 
 more grace, but far less of the mascu- 
 line mind than Velazquez, who, com- 
 pared to him, seems somewhat cold and 
 grey in colour; for Murillo painted flesh 
 as he saw it in Andalucia, roasted, 
 toasted, and bronzed by the glowing 
 sun, and not recalling the pale, un- 
 ripened beauty of the north. Like 
 Titian, his strength lay in ravishing 
 colour; none ever rivalled him in the 
 luminous diaphanous streams of golden 
 ether in which his cherubs float like 
 butterflies; his blending continuity 
 of tints, like those of nature, slide 
 into each other, without a particle of 
 harshness or abruptness ; led on by 
 an imperceptible transition, where 
 there is no outline, no drawing, so 
 that it is difficult to say where one 
 tint ends and another begins. 
 
 Murillo, like Velazquez, lacked the 
 highest quality of the Italian ideal ; 
 true Spaniards, they were local, and 
 imitated nature as they saw her ; thus 
 Murillo’s holy subjects are not glorified 
 forms and visions, which compel us to 
 bow the knee and adore, but pleasing 
 scenes of a domestic family, where 
 sports of graceful children attract the 
 delighted attention of affectionate pa- 
 rents. There is neither the awful sub- 
 limity of M. Angelo, nor the unearthly 
 purity of Raphael. Again, his Ninos 
 Dios are not meditative prescient In- 
 fant Gods, nor are his cherubs those 
 angels of heaven from whence Raphael 
 took his types, but simply pretty mortal 
 babes with wings, and not even babes 
 of the world at large, but Spanish ones, 
 nay more, only local Andalucian chil- 
 dren; and such also are his male 
 saints, who mostly rose to glory in 
 their own brown Bsetican bodies and 
 clothes. 
 
 The stranger will of course look at 
 all the Murillos, halting particularly 
 at 43 C. L., a Holy Family ; a pretty 
 scene of conjugal and parental happi- 
 ness. It has been cruelly cleaned 
 and repainted, especially the dog and 
 face of the Virgin; 46, C. L., a fine 
 representation of the Infant Deity : 
 50, C. L., the Companion Infant Fore- 
 runner ; the left leg is not pleasing ; 
 observe the contrast of the callous foot 
 hardened by exposure, with the deli- 
 cate flesh of 46 : 52, Conversion of 
 St. Paul ; the thigh of the Apostle 
 and his white horse, mercilessly re- 
 painted : 54, La Porciuncula (see In- 
 dex), over-cleaned: 56, C. L. the an- 
 nunciation ; the Virgin’s cheek is re- 
 painted : 65', La Concepcion, one of 
 those representations of sweet cherubs, 
 and of the fair virgin floating amid 
 flowers in a golden atmosphere, which 
 none could paint like Murillo ; and • 
 then the gossamer gauze-like draperies 
 which play in the air, just veiling 
 human charms, which might suggest 
 thoughts that war with the purity 
 of the Virgin: 82, C. L., a penitent 
 Magdalen, all legs and arms, and in 
 his imitation of Ribera style : 174, San 
 Francisco de Paula, was a magnificent 
 head and beard, before ruined by the 
 
692 
 
 MADRID EL MUSEO — JOANES — RIBERA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 picture-cleaner Bueno: 182, Death of 
 St. Andrew, in his vaporoso style, was 
 a glorious picture, but is much dishar- 
 monized by the violent white repaint- 
 ing of the horse ; the drapery of the 
 Apostle has also been clumsily banado : 
 189, C. L., Santiago, a vulgar, coarse 
 head, of rather a Flemish character : 
 191, C. L., C. N., Adoration of Shep- 
 herds, in his second style, hovering 
 between Velazquez and Ribera; the 
 drawing is fine and careful ; observe 
 the local colouring and foot of peasant, 
 and how their rich browns give value 
 to the delicate flesh of the Virgin and 
 Child: 202, C. L., Infant Saviour and 
 St. John, a rich and delightful picture : 
 208, C. L., Rebecca at the Well, in 
 his middle style : the females are some- 
 what Flemish : 211, 2, 6, 7, the Parable 
 of the Prodigal Son ; all excellent, but 
 treated both as to costume and con- 
 ception rather according to a pica- 
 resque Spanish novel than Holy 
 Writ: 219, a rich blue Concepcion: 
 220, St. Augustine; the Virgin, some- 
 what too far off, gives her milk 
 to a vulgar burly monk in a black 
 robe, with rich, red casulla: 229, 
 C. L., another Conception , innocence 
 itself, and beautifully painted ; how 
 rich and juicy the flesh, how full 
 of pulp and throbbing life : 310, C. L., 
 Santa Ana teaching the Virgin. The 
 pouting child is admirable, but purely 
 mortal ; the draperies are in imitation 
 of Roelas: 315, C. N., Vision of St. 
 Bernard : this again shows how closely 
 Murillo observed Roelas; the drape- 
 ries of the saint have been repainted ; 
 but his head is fine, and the senti- 
 ments of gratitude and veneration are 
 admirably expressed. The concealing 
 the feet of the Virgin gives her figure 
 too much height. St. Bernard was a 
 champion of the Virgin, second only 
 to San Buonaventura, the Seraphic 
 Doctor ; and both advocated Mari- 
 olatry to its wildest extent, substitut- 
 ing her for the Father and the Re- 
 deemer. The gift of her milk, so 
 common in Spanish legends, is but a 
 Papal repetition of Pagan Juno’s 
 suckling Hercules. A volume, how- 
 ever, has been written on the event, 
 * Ilustracion del portentoso favor,’ 
 
 by A. O. Raymundo Pasqual, 1782 ; 
 but heretics prefer the Lieb frauens 
 milk of the Rhine. * 326, C. N., 
 the miracle of the Virgin giving the 
 Casulla to San Ildefonso at Toledo, 
 but it is of earth, earthy, and the 
 angels are nothing but milliners, and 
 the saint a monkish tailor. 
 
 Next observe the paintings of Juan 
 V. Joanes, the Spanish Raphael, who, 
 however, should be studied in his 
 native Valencia (see p. 375). 73. Visit 
 of Santa Isabel to the Virgin; early 
 and hardish, but quite Italian: 75, 
 Death of Santa Ines, painted like Julio 
 Romano : 150, a Saviour, holding the 
 cup and water ; a subject often treated 
 in this manner by Joanes: 158, the 
 Ecce Homo: 165, Christ bearing the 
 Cross; a fine specimen: 169, Portrait 
 of Luis de Castelvi, equal to anything 
 of Bronzino: 196, 7, 9, and 336, 337, 
 C. L., subjects from the life and mar- 
 tyrdom of St. Stephen, are an Italian- 
 looking series, but the stones (in 196) 
 are too much like apple-dumplings. 
 Observe the delight of the wicked 
 boys ; the faces of the Hebrews, with 
 their hook noses, are somewhat too 
 Jewish for fine art. This remark ap- 
 plies equally to 225, C. L.., the Last 
 Supper, for Joanes was rather a man- 
 nerist ; but the head of Christ is very 
 fine, although it has, unfortunately, 
 been much repainted: 259, the Savi- 
 our on the Mount of * Olives : 268, 
 Descent from the Cross, one of his 
 best pictures. Joanes, because sa- 
 vouring of a Roman style, and with 
 a harder outline, and more decided 
 drawing, is admired by more Spa- 
 niards than foreigners. 
 
 Jose Ribera, better known as Spa- 
 gnoletto (see Xativa, p. 359 ), may 
 be truly studied at Madrid ; here, this 
 cruel forcible imitator of ordinary 
 ill-selected nature, riots in hard ascetic 
 monks and blood-boltered subjects, in 
 which this painter of the bigot, in- 
 quisitor, and executioner delighted : a 
 power of drawing, of expressing long 
 suffering and sufferance, a force of 
 colour and effect, a contempt of the 
 ideal, beautiful, and tender, charac- 
 terize his productions ; unpopular in 
 England, his unforgiving repulsiveness, 
 
lie Castiles. Madrid — el museo— zurbaran — morales. 
 
 693 
 
 and stern harsh character, have ranked 
 him among the model-painters of 
 Spain. He was the personal friend of 
 Velazquez, who, like Murillo, studied 
 his style deeply, as may be seen in all 
 their early productions. As Ribera 
 was a mannerist, those who will closely 
 examine half-a-dozen of his pictures, 
 will exhaust the master. Observe 42, 
 C. L., the Martyrdom of St. Bartho- 
 lomew, a favourite subject of his, and 
 one which few else ever wish to see 
 twice: 44, a Virgin, elderly and hag- 
 gard ; Raphael would have chosen her 
 young and beautiful : 53, another St. 
 Bartholomew : 72, C. N., the Hermit 
 St. Paul, a repetition of the picture 
 in the cathedral of Granada: 116, C. 
 L., Jacob’s Ladder, a fine picture. 
 The general effect is very grand : the 
 wild, broken tree stumps are painted 
 like Salvator Rosa, and. the sleep of 
 Jacob (a vulgar brown monk) is ad- 
 mirable: 121, Prometheus, a finely 
 painted picture of gore and bowels, 
 such as could be conceived by a bull- 
 fighter, and please a people whose 
 sports are blood and torture ; how dif- 
 ferent from the same subject by the 
 poetical Titian (see 787): 125, Mar- 
 tyrdom of St. Sebastian: 204, C. L., 
 the Trinity, painted like Caravaggio : 
 243, C. N., the Magdalen, a hard early 
 picture. There are here also many 
 Apostles well painted by Ribera, which 
 we do not enumerate. 285, another 
 St. Bartholomew. In other saloons, 
 observe 415, E., St. Jerome: 419, E., 
 a good portrait of a blind Sculptor, 
 El Ciego de Gambazo, in which the 
 sentiment of touch is well expressed : 
 473, St. Jerome: 480, St. Joseph and 
 the Infant Saviour busy with his tools, 
 a transcript of a Spanish carpenter’s 
 shop : 484, Ixion at the wheel, say 
 rather a portly Jew on the rack of 
 the Spanish Inquisition : 542, a Dead 
 Christ lamented; a powerfully painted 
 group : 545, C. L., two Female Gla- 
 diators. 
 
 The specimens of other Spanish 
 masters in these two saloons, which 
 best deserve notice, are 40, C. L., St. 
 Peter appearing to St. Peter Nolasco, 
 by Francisco Zurbaran (1598-1662); 
 his style is based on Ribera, Dome- 
 
 nichino, and Titian ; his best pictures 
 are at Seville ; no one ever painted a 
 Carthusian monk like him ; while the 
 substance, texture, and splendour of 
 his velvets and brocades surpass P. 
 Veronese, having more real stuff in 
 them ; his best pictures are at Seville : 
 Notice 47, portrait of Murillo, by 
 Alonso Miguel de Tobar (1678-1758), 
 Murillo’s best pupil : 48, St. Jerome, 
 Mateo Cerezo of Burgos (1635-1685) ; 
 an imitator of Rubens and Vandyke : 
 by him also is 57, C. L., an Assump- 
 tion: 45, C. L., and 49, a Virgin and 
 Saviour, Luis de Morales, called el 
 Divino, who is best to be studied 
 in Estremadura: 61, C. L., Boys at 
 Play, Pedro Nunez de Villavicencio 
 of Seville (1635-1700) a pupil of Mu- 
 rillo and El Calabrese, and this excel- 
 lent picture proves how well he had 
 studied his first master: 67, C. L., 
 Baptism of Christ, Vicente Carducei, 
 a Florentine naturalized at Madrid: 
 69, a Flower-piece, Juan de Arellano, 
 (1614-1676) ; he was the Van Huy sen 
 of Spain, and is superior to Menendez 
 in fruits and flowers: 79, C. L., View 
 of Zaragoza, Juan Bautista del Mazo, 
 Madrid (1630-1687); a disciple of 
 Velazquez, but his landskips are apt 
 to be too dark: 85, portrait of Wife 
 of Philip IV., Juan Carreno de Mi- 
 randa of Aviles (1614-1685); the last 
 of the old Spanish painters, and a 
 feeble imitator of Velazquez : 88, C. L., 
 St. John at Patmos, Alonso Cano of 
 Granada (1601-1667); a grand pic- 
 ture : 90, ditto, a Gothic King, in 
 feeble imitation of Velazquez: 95, 
 Moses Striking the Rock, Juan de las 
 Roelas of Seville (1558 ?-1625) ; a 
 dark inferior specimen of this truly 
 great man, who only is to be studied 
 at Seville : 96, C. L., Adoration of 
 Shepherds, Pedro Orrente, a Murcian, 
 and imitator of the Bassanos: 100, 
 C. L., a Dead Christ, Francisco de 
 Ribalta, Valencia (1597-1628) ; this 
 grand artist, the Annibal Carracci and 
 Sebastian del Piombo of Spain, is only 
 to be really understood at Valencia: 
 108, Vision of Ezekiel, Francisco 
 Collantes of Madrid (1599-1656); a 
 horrid subject, and fitter for the 
 monkish cloister than a gallery: 124, 
 
694 
 
 MADRID — EL MUSEO — RAPHAEL. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Carreno, a Fat Woman : 134, the 
 Calling of St. Matthew, Juan de Pa- 
 reja of Seville (1606-1670), first the 
 slave and then the pupil of Velazquez ; 
 it is truly local and Spanish. The 
 face of the Saviour is most ordinary, 
 while the groups are dressed as in the 
 time of Philip IV.: 146, St. Bernard, 
 Antonio Palomino (1653-1726); he 
 was the Vasari of Spain, hut feebler 
 alike with pen and pencil . 151, C. L., 
 the Siege of Cadiz, Eugenio Caxes of 
 Madrid (1577-1642) ; this is described 
 in the official catalogue as the attack of 
 the English in 1625, by the “ Conde de 
 Lest ” Spanish, perhaps, for Essex, 
 whose siege occurred in 1596 ; the real 
 leader of the one in 1625 being Lord 
 Wimbleton ; the head of Giron, the 
 Spanish general, is fine : 1 52, C. L., por- 
 trait of Don Carlos, son of Philip II., 
 Alonso Sanchez Coello, a Valencian, 
 ob. 1590 ; a very interesting historical 
 picture: 153, portrait of Maria of Por- 
 tugal, first wife of Philip II., Juan Pan- 
 toja de la Cruz of Madrid (1551-1610), 
 pupil of Coello, and, like his master, 
 admirable in painting the rich costumes 
 of the period: 154, portrait of Isabel, 
 the favourite daughter of Philip II., 
 by Coello ; the marvellous jewels and 
 ornaments tell up on the dark back 
 ground: 157, Virgin and Child, Mo- 
 rales: 166, C. L., C. N., a Dead 
 Christ, A. Cano, fine, but stony, and 
 the painting of a sculptor: 170, Virgin 
 and Saints, Bias del Pardo of Toledo, 
 (1497-1557), pupil of Berruguete, and 
 Florentine in style and colour. His 
 conceptions are grand, and partake of 
 Andrea del Sarto, but his colouring is 
 apt to be leaden. The kneeling half 
 figure is Alfonso de Villegas, author 
 of the 4 Flos Sanctorum :’ 175, Birth 
 of Virgin, and 181, Birth of Christ, 
 are both by Pantoja; he was a hard 
 painter, but excelled in portraits: 188, 
 a Sunset and rocky scene, Mazo. 
 
 Now pass into the saloon to the 1., 
 206, Coello, portrait, it is said, of 
 Antonio Perez, the persecuted minister 
 of Philip II. : 221, a Magdalen, Jacinto 
 Geronimo de Espinosa, of Valencia, 
 where his best pictures are : 222, Mar- 
 garet, wife of Philip III., Pantoja ; 
 the elaborate finished details are in 
 
 perfect contrast with the broad han- 
 dling by Velazquez : 226, C. L., La 
 Divina Pastora , Tobar, cold and poor 
 when compared with Murillo : 227, 
 St. Jerome, Cano: 237 and 238, Apos- 
 tles by Francisco Pacheco of Seville, 
 (1571-1654), a feeble painter, but use- 
 ful author on Spanish art : 27 7, Pantoja, 
 Philip II. when old, very curious and. 
 historical: 283, C. N.. Zurbaran, Santa 
 Casilda : 287* St. Jerome, Antonio 
 Pereda of Valladodid (1599-1669) ; he 
 imitated Ribera ; the cross is well 
 painted: 290, Pantoja, Charles V., 
 aged about 40, in black and gold ar- 
 mour: 297, Naval Combat, Juan de 
 Toledo of Lorca (161 1-1665); he was 
 the Bourgignone of Spain : 305, Mazo, 
 a dark brown view of Campillo near the 
 Escorial : 307, C. L., Virgin and Sleeping 
 Christ, Cano ; although the side of head 
 has been repainted, this is one of his 
 best pictures in this gallery, and of 
 fine rich colour: 314, C. L., Baptism 
 of Christ, Juan Fernandez Navarrete, 
 El Mudo , Logrono (1526-1579); his 
 finest works are in the chapel of 
 the Escorial: 317, Zurbaran, Sleeping 
 Christ with dark purple drapery, and 
 a fine effect. 
 
 Now pass to la Bajada, and observe 
 357, portrait of the poor creature 
 Charles II., Carreno : 362, Charles 
 IV., an Allegory. Under these two 
 imbeciles Spain and art lost alike their 
 force and nationality; — the last daub 
 is by Vicente Lopez, Pintor de Ca - 
 maral and director of the academy, 
 a colleague and compeer of Madrazo ; 
 Ay ! de mi Espana. 368, Charles V. 
 and Philip II., Pereda: 375, a Dead 
 Christ, Domenico Theotocupuli, El 
 Greco (see Toledo). 
 
 Next enter las Escuelas varias f col- 
 lection of different schools, with many 
 fine things from the Escorial ; the 
 grand central gallery is divided into 
 the modern Spanish masters, the old 
 Italians, German, and French. Let 
 us take the chiefs singly, and first for 
 Raphael (1483-1520): 723, C. L., a 
 Holy Family, called del Agnus Dei, 
 from the inscription carried by St. 
 John, whose body has been very much 
 repainted at Paris, where the exquisite 
 face of the Virgin was rouged. The 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — EL MUSEO — RAPHAEL. 
 
 695 
 
 ruined architecture and landscape, 
 equal to Titian, is said to be by Gio- 
 vanni da Udina. 7 26, E., C. N., the 
 celebrated Perla , which belonged to 
 our Charles I., and was sold with his 
 other pictures by the tasteless puritans 
 and reformers. Philip IV. paid for 
 this, the then enormous sum of 2000L 
 The king bought so largely at 
 the auction through his ambassador 
 Alonso de Cardenas, that 18 mules 
 were laden with the lots, and he 
 was so anxious to get them into 
 Madrid, that he made an excuse 
 to turn out the Lords Clarendon and 
 Cottington, then ambassadors from 
 Charles II. , being ashamed to exhibit 
 his acquisitions from what once be- 
 longed to his old friend and visitor. 
 When Philip IV. beheld this Raphael, 
 he exclaimed, “ This is the Pearl of 
 my pictures,” and he was a good 
 judge, for never was the serious gen- 
 tleness of the blessed Virgin Mother, 
 her beauty of form, her purity of soul, 
 better portrayed ; the rich Titian-like 
 blue sky, streaked with red, forms a 
 fine background: this pearl of great 
 price was overcleaned when taken to 
 Paris, and has, in 1845, undergone 
 another cruel operation at Madrid, and 
 the shadows are somewhat dark. 741, 
 E., C. N., Tobit and the Fish, la 
 Virgen del Pez , a simple grand sym- 
 metrical composition, perhaps some- 
 what too yellow in colour. This paint- 
 ing also was taken to Paris, and was 
 there removed from board to canvas, 
 a dangerous process invented at Ferrara 
 by one Antonio Contri ; it had been 
 first scrubbed and over-varnished, yet 
 on the whole it is one of the grandest 
 Raphaels at Madrid : 784, Christ bear- 
 ing the Cross, called El Pasmo de Sicilia , 
 from having been painted for a church 
 in Sicily, la Madonna del Spasimo ; 
 it is accounted as second in excel- 
 lence to the Transfiguration only by 
 those who look to size as a test, or 
 the timid who are afraid to express 
 an honest dissent when called upon as 
 a matter of course to fall into stereo- 
 typed common-form raptures. This 
 picture when at Paris was also removed 
 from boards to canvas by Mons. Bonne- 
 maison, of whom Passavant (Kunst- 
 
 reise 77) records this anecdote: Mons, 
 David calling one morning, found him 
 sponging these Raphaels with spirit of 
 turpentine. Even the man of the guil- 
 lotine was shocked, and ventured to 
 remonstrate, but was answered, “ It 
 does no harm, it is nourishing.” As 
 the tortured Pasmo was then much 
 repainted, the tone is hard, brick- 
 dusty and relackered. In 1845 it was 
 subjected to another ruthless operator 
 at Madrid ! Again, however fine the 
 expression of the mother, beautiful the 
 Veronica and groups to the r., the 
 principal figure of the soldier in front 
 is somewhat attitudinarian, theatrical, 
 and exaggerated : Veronica’s hands 
 seem to hold her napkin , which some 
 say was effaced in an injury, received 
 by the picture on its journey. How 
 short, alas ! the life of pictures ! 
 Apelles is but a name. 
 
 Next observe, 794, E., a sweetly- 
 composed Holy Family, called De la 
 Rosa ; the originality has, however, 
 been doubted : 798, E., a small Holy 
 Family painted in 1507: 834, E. s 
 St. Elizabeth visits the Virgin ; this 
 contrast of aged and youthful preg- 
 nancy forms a subject never over- 
 pleasing. The composition is very 
 simple, with a fine landscape. This 
 also was removed when at Paris 
 from board to canvas, and was then 
 painted over and extra-varnished. 
 It is inscribed in letters of gold, 
 Raphael Urbinas, F. ; Marinus Bran- 
 conius, F.F. — fieri fecit : 901, a por- 
 trait, according to some, of Bartolo, 
 the jurisconsult: according to others 
 of Andrea Navagiero, ambassador to 
 Charles V., and author of 4 PI Viaggio 
 de Espagna .’ Although somewhat 
 hard and reddish, it is very grand, 
 simple, suggestive, and effective : 905, 
 C. L., portrait of Cardinal Julio de 
 Medicis, a truly Italian head ; how 
 full of mental power; observe the 
 decision in the fine compressed lips 
 and the keen intellect of the pursuing 
 eyes : 909, a portrait thought by some 
 to be that of Agostino Beazano. 
 
 And now we may whisper to our 
 countrymen another little fact, new, 
 probably, to the gentlemen who do 
 the official catalogue for the Spanish 
 
696 
 
 MADRID — PROPOSED SALE OF RAPHAELS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 public. During the Carlo-Christinist 
 struggle, information reached Lord 
 Monteagle, then Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, that these four Raphaels — 
 the Spasimo, the Perla, the Tobit, and 
 the Annunciation — were to be had 
 for a consideration ; having consulted 
 Lord Melbourne, they determined on 
 their own responsibility, and to their 
 infinite credit, on offering 80 , 000 ?. for 
 the four pictures. When Lord Claren- 
 don, then our envoy at Madrid, made 
 this bidding to the Spanish Minister, 
 it was declined as offensive to Cas- 
 tilian pride, honour, love of art, &c. ; 
 and the affair went off officially. Not 
 long afterwards, nevertheless, a duly- 
 empowered agent visited Lord Mont- 
 eagle, re-opened the affair, and accepted 
 the offer, undertaking that the four pic- 
 tures should be sent to Downing-street, 
 in order that their originality might be 
 tested before the 80 , 000 ?. was paid. 
 On mention, however, of the necessity 
 of this sum being voted for in the 
 House of Commons, the negotiation 
 went off at the idea of publicity. 
 Had this secret bargain and sale been 
 effected, would copies have been 
 quietly substituted for the originals? 
 Such things have occurred in the best- 
 regulated galleries. Some will think 
 they could easily guess who employed 
 this secret agent. 
 
 Of all the Italian schools, that of 
 Venice is the richest, in which Titian 
 towers so supremely over all, that our 
 Wilkie compared the Escorial to his 
 “ workshop Titian was the personal 
 friend of Charles V. and Philip II. ; 
 and (although Kugler doubts it, being 
 evidently unacquainted with the Span- 
 ish collections) he came to Madrid in 
 1532 , and remained there until 1535 , 
 which accounts for the number and 
 fineness of his works (see Cean Ber- 
 mudez ‘ Dice/ v. 30 ). 
 
 Again, of all the Italian schools, 
 that of Venice was the most admired 
 by Velazquez, who went purposely to 
 that city to purchase pictures for 
 Philip IV. ; at Madrid, therefore, 
 Titian is to be seen in all his sena- 
 torial dignity of portrait and his glo- 
 rious power of colour — oh magical, 
 ravishing colour! pounded flesh rather, 
 
 if not rubies and emeralds, and which, 
 in spite of unlearned drawing, carries 
 all before it. Titian was, indeed, a 
 painter — not, indeed, of Spain, for in 
 him the religious sentiment is subor- 
 dinate to colour and composition. 
 
 By Giovanni Bellini of Venice 
 ( 1426 - 1516 ), observe 665 , Virgin and 
 Child ; although curious, it is hard, 
 and has been repainted; 414 , Jesus 
 giving the Keys to Peter, is a truly 
 early Italian picture ; it came from 
 the Escorial, where it was attributed 
 to Giorgione, and was the companion 
 of 792 , by that great artist, the Virgin 
 with Saints, which is one of his very 
 finest pictures: observe the man in 
 armour. Giorgio Barbarelli il Gior- 
 gione ( 1477 - 1511 ), died too young, 
 while Titian, his co-pupil, lived too 
 long. His picture, 780 , of David 
 killing Goliath, is fine ; the cinque 
 cento costume is interesting, but the 
 proportions between the stripling and 
 the giant are not well observed. 
 
 By the immortal Tiziano Vecel- 
 lio, of Cadore ( 1477 - 1576 ), there are 
 43 pictures, a museum of themselves. 
 Notice 421 , E., The Virgin : 428 , E., 
 Christ in the Garden, much injured : 
 437 , E., St. Jerome : 465 , E., the 
 Virgin, a Dolorosa: 492 , E., St. Je- 
 rome : 680 , Portrait : 682 , Ditto : 685 , 
 C. L., Charles V. on Horseback : this, 
 before its recent restoration, was the 
 finest equestrian picture in the world ; 
 it is more sublime and poetical than 
 Velazquez, yet equally true to life ; 
 the knight-errant emperor, a king, 
 aye, every inch a king, inspires an 
 awe, like the Theodore of Dryden 
 pursuing the perjured Honoria ; the 
 identical suit of armour is preserved 
 in the Armeria , No. 2308 : 695 , Titian’s 
 own Portrait, venerable and intelli- 
 gent : 724 , a Portrait : 728 , C. L., 
 Diana and Actseon, the myth of the 
 fox-hunter, who leaves his wife, nay 
 mistress, for his dogs, and is ulti- 
 mately eaten up, ». e. ruined by keep- 
 ing hounds. She, too, is wide-awake, 
 while Cupid, good-for-nothing boy, 
 dozes : 729 , C. L., Diana and Calisto, 
 two charming sketches, coloured with 
 pounded flesh and turquoise skies ; 
 they have been draped and painted 
 
The Castiles . 
 
 MADRID — EL MUSEO — TITIAN. 
 
 697 
 
 over, owing to Spanish prudery ; the 
 drawing is not very accurate, but Titian 
 was 84 years old when these were pro- 
 duced. 740, Portrait of a Knight of 
 Malta: 752, E., the celebrated, alas ! re- 
 painted Gloria , or apotheosis of Charles 
 V. and Philip II., who, kings on earth, 
 now appear as suppliants before the 
 King of heaven and the angelic court. 
 The Moses and the naked figures are 
 admirable. This, by some considered 
 the masterpiece of Titian, was painted 
 in his best time for Charles V., who 
 directed by his will that it should al- 
 ways be hung up where his body was 
 buried ; it accordingly remained at 
 Yuste until Philip II. removed his 
 father’s remains to the Escorial. 
 
 Next observe 756, The Punishment 
 of Sisyphus, painted for our bloody 
 Mary: 765, C. L., Charles V., with 
 his favourite Irish dog ; this picture 
 belonged to our Charles I. ; here is 
 the emperor in his privacy, with his 
 look of care, gout, and dyspepsia : 769, 
 C. L., is his son Philip II., young, and 
 in a sort of armour, still preserved 
 in the Armeria, No. 2388 ; rich in 
 costume, delicate in form and feature, 
 and how different the heir apparent 
 from the cold bigot and tyrant of his 
 later years! These full-lengths are 
 fac-si miles of the men ; indeed Titian 
 and Velazquez have so identified the 
 Austrian branch, that we here become 
 as personally acquainted with them as 
 if we had knowm them alive. 775, E., 
 St. Margaret, very fine, but it has 
 been repainted with false draperies : 
 77 6, C. L., Salome, with the Head of 
 the Baptist; this exquisite picture 
 is said to be a portrait of Titian’s 
 daughter, and if the face be not 
 strictly correct beauty, it is individual : 
 787, Prometheus captive and tor- 
 tured ; this was painted for our bloody 
 Mary ; “ here is the rock, the yulture, 
 and the chain, and all the proud can 
 feel of pain;’ , compare the poetical 
 treatment by our Italian with No. 121, 
 the butcher production of the practical 
 Spaniard Ribera ; it is ^Eschylus con- 
 trasted with Torquemada: 801, C. L., 
 V enus and Adonis, glorious ; there is 
 an inferior repetition in our National 
 Gallery : seen from a certain distance, 
 
 when the demitints tell up, all that 
 seems flat when one is near, becomes 
 form and meaning : 805, E., The Ca- 
 tholic Faith flying for Protection to 
 Spain: 812, Adam and Eve ; observe 
 the pentimientos in Adam’s head : this 
 picture was Rubens’ favourite, and 
 no wonder, for the forms are more 
 sprawling and the fleshes heavier than 
 is usual in Titian: 813, E., Christ 
 placed in the sepulchre, fine : 821, the 
 Marquis del Vasto, the illustrious 
 D’Avalos, addressing his troops, finely 
 coloured, but cruelly restored ; it be- 
 longed to our Charles I. ; 822, E., is a 
 repetition of 813: 851, another St. 
 Margaret ; the figure is well relieved 
 by the gloomy rocky back-ground ; 
 this also was our Charles’s : 852, 
 C. L., Offering to Fecundity, mar- 
 vellous ; but it will shock all Mal- 
 thusians, for never were so many or 
 such playful living children better 
 grouped and painted ; unfortunately it 
 has been spotted by retouches : this 
 was the picture which, when at Rome, 
 in the Ludovisi Gallery, was the study 
 and the making of N. Poussin. 854, 
 Victory of Lepanto, painted by Titian 
 when 91 years old ; and even in his 
 age live his wonted fires, for the co- 
 louring is rich, the harmonious effect 
 fine, but the composition is feeble ; 
 age will not be defied ; the rows of 
 pillars look like organ-pipes, and the 
 angel seems as if it had been thrown 
 out of window and must break its 
 neck ; Philip II., in his red breeches 
 and yellow boots, places his naked son 
 Fernando somewhat awkwardly on the 
 table ; however, as a curiosity of the 
 sustained art of Titian this picture de- 
 serves notice. 864, C. L,, a Baccha- 
 nal ; Ariadne, in the isle of Naxos, 
 abandoned by Theseus; this, before 
 its restauracion, was one of the finest 
 pictures in the world ; joyous mirth 
 and a dance of light never were so 
 gloriously coloured ; it is a com- 
 panion to the inferior Bacchus and 
 Ariadne in our National Gallery; 
 read, while looking at it, the spirit- 
 stirring verses of Catullus, lxii. 251. 
 The God, born in flame, dashes from 
 his car, all fire and passion, and soon 
 will weeping Ariadne be consoled for 
 
698 
 
 MADRID — EL MUSEO — TINTORETTO. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 her perfidious Theseus : thus, indeed, 
 should poetry be illustrated by paint- 
 ing : 868, E., Repose in Egypt, a superb 
 landscape ; this is the subject engraved 
 by Bonasoni : 878, C. L., Portrait of 
 Isabella, wife of Charles V., superbly- 
 painted costume: 882, Adoration of 
 Kings: 915, a magnificent Portrait; 
 what a subtlety of intellect ! observe 
 the effect of the blue sash: 926, Por- 
 trait of Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara ; fine 
 costume and also blue sash. 
 
 Jacobo Robusti il Tintoretto, of 
 Venice (1512-1594), worthily sustains 
 his master’s style. 490, E., a Mag- 
 dalen, almost naked: 602, Minerva, 
 an allegory: 607, a truly Titianesque 
 Portrait: 626, Ditto: 628, 645, Ditto, 
 very fine: 672, Judith and Holo- 
 phernes : 679, this singular picture of 
 the Doge seated in Council, in a su- 
 perb saloon of state, long ascribed to 
 Tintoretto, is now ascertained to be 
 by Pietro Malombra, Venice (1556- 
 1618) ; it is highly interesting, both as 
 a work of art and for the original por- 
 traits and local costume. 704, La 
 Gloria , the original sketch for the 
 picture in the Doge’s palace at Venice, 
 and brought there by Velazquez ; it is 
 heavy in colour, and quite a fricassee 
 of legs and arms ; the man with a large 
 head in the corner seems scared and 
 disappointed, as he well might be with 
 such a Paradise. 830, St. Jerome 
 in the desert : 839, Death of Holo- 
 phernes: 904, a superb Cardinal: 913, 
 a Venetian Senator: 919, Portrait of 
 General Sebastian Veniero. 
 
 Paul Veronese (1528-1588) ap- 
 pears in all his gorgeous brocade, 
 splendour of drapery, fine portraiture, 
 and all that glitter which he studied 
 in the oriental groups assembled 
 on St. Mark’s : notice 453, E., Mar- 
 riage of Cana ; it belonged to our 
 Charles I. : 497, E., Christ at the 
 Column : 625, E., Christ and the Cen- 
 turion, fine : 661, Rebecca at the Well, 
 rather dark: 691, Moses found in the 
 Nile, a charming gay cabinet picture, 
 ascribed by some to Tintoretto : 710, 
 The Birth of a Prince — Celebris mundi 
 Veneris partus ; an allegory, with too 
 much blue sky and red curtain: 764, 
 Portrait of a Lady : 793, Ditto : 825, 
 
 E., Christ and the Centurion, fine ; 
 843, C. L., Venus and Adonis, a very 
 fine picture of great repose and effect ; 
 the flesh and rich draperies are equal 
 to Titian: 876, C. L., an allegory, 
 Virtue and Vice ; neither are very 
 attractive, and the youth is stupid, 
 although finely painted, and the atti- 
 tudes are very awkward: 896, Cain, 
 an outcast with his Family, a magni- 
 ficent composition, a picture of man’s 
 despair consoled by a true wife, who 
 will not desert the father of her chil- 
 dren : the brown landskip, lowering 
 sky, and breaking halo, are in sombre 
 harmony with the sentiment. 897, 
 E., a Martyrdom of San Gines, fine : 
 898, C. L., Susanna and the Elders, 
 fine: 899, Christ disputing with the 
 Doctors, excellently composed, but 
 somewhat grey, green, and wanting 
 in effect. 
 
 Of the Da Pontes, or Bassanos, 
 there are many and choice specimens, 
 but it is tedious to describe these cattle- 
 show pictures of sheep and oxen, for 
 the sacred figures are often only acces- 
 sories to the beasts; 615 (Leandro), 
 Orpheus, and animals : 620 (Jacobo, 
 1510-1592), Dives and Lazarus: 632, 
 E., The Money- changers in the Temple, 
 finely coloured: 673 ( Jacobo), Adam 
 and Eve: 675 (Francesco), the Last 
 Supper: 701 (Leandro), Coppersmiths 
 at Work, a fine specimen : 730 (Fran- 
 cesco), Jacob Travelling: 841 (Jacobo), 
 his own Portrait: 877 (Francesco), 
 Paradise, an excellent specimen of 
 the master : 880 (Leandro), Forge of 
 Vulcan, fine: 910 (Leandro), Venice, 
 The Doge Embarking. 
 
 Having examined the Spanish 
 school, Raphael, and the Venetians in 
 detail, now take a general view of the 
 rest of the gallery. In the Bajada 
 a, varias Escuelas , avoid No. 382, a 
 Christ Buffeted, by the Director Senor 
 Madrazo, which suggests the some- 
 what irreverent criticism of Luis de 
 Vargas, on being shown a badly exe- 
 cuted crucifix, “ Forgive them, Lord ! 
 for they know not what they do.” In 
 the Escuelas varias observe No. 407, E., 
 Rubens (1577-1640), The Supper at 
 Emmaus, a fine, rich, brown painting, 
 although the Silenus-like figure of 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — el museo — landslip painting. 
 
 699 
 
 “mine host” destroys the dignity of 
 sentiment : 409, an early picture of 
 the Marriage of the Virgin : 422, E., 
 a Concepcion, Rubens, but how Fle- 
 mishly inferior in grace to 229 of 
 Murillo : 439, E., a Dead Christ, Ru- 
 bens : 475, E., a Magdalen, Luis de 
 Carbajal, whose best pictures remain 
 at the Escorial : 496, E., Coronation 
 of Christ with Thorns, Vandyke : 515, 
 Ignacio Iriarte (1620-1685), a Land- 
 skip ; Murillo used to say that Iriarte 
 was fit to paint scenes in heaven , which 
 must be understood as meaning Anda- 
 lucia , the elysium of these local Sevil- 
 lians : 526 and 532 are other specimens, 
 yet, compared to the Italian, Dutch, 
 and English landskip painters, Iriarte 
 is very second-rate. The love of wild 
 nature is quite modern, and almost 
 English ; but in Spain, as among 
 the classical ancients, landskip was 
 only an accessory or conventional, 
 and seldom really treated as a prin- 
 cipal either in art or literature : their 
 efforts were vague bald generalities, 
 with no true graphic quality, no pre- 
 cision of touch, no local colour, air, sen- 
 sibility, no individuality. They seldom 
 saw nature with the poet’s feeling com- 
 bined with the painter’s eye ; the pen 
 and pencil were then sculpturesque 
 rather than picturesque, man being 
 the absorbing object. In Spain , where 
 art was the handmaid of the altar, no 
 form or image of inanimate nature 
 was required for exciting and keep- 
 ing up the religious tendencies and 
 worship of the people. Again, a 
 taste for landskip is acquired, and few 
 Orientals or Spaniards have much feel- 
 ing for nature beyond local asso- 
 ciations, or notions of profit and 
 personal enjoyment. Living within 
 walled towns, they love the country, 
 not for itself, but as in relation to 
 themselves : but even some of our gen- 
 tlemen farmers are often so blunted 
 by professional habits, as only to be 
 thinking of draining, where Turner 
 would go crazy with delight, and 
 when talking of bullocks which would 
 drive Paul Potter mad, are solely 
 speculating on what per score the 
 carcass will fetch, sinking the offal. 
 
 Next observe 531, San Hermene- 
 
 gildo, Francisco de Herrera el Mozo, 
 of Seville (1622-1685): 533, Pantoja, 
 Portrait of Doha Juana: 543, Mag- 
 dalen, Antonio Antolinez of Seville 
 (1639-1676): 549, Pantoja, Charles V. 
 
 Passing on and avoiding as the 
 plague the vile modern Spanish pic- 
 tures, enter the magnificent Italian gal- 
 lery, where masters, schools, periods, 
 sizes, and subjects are jumbled toge- 
 ther in a riiost admired disorder. 
 Where most are good, select, 603, 
 C. L., Giovanni Francisco Barbieri, II 
 Guercino (1590-1666), St. Peter in 
 prison : 609, Andres Vaccaro of Naples 
 (1598-1670), San Cayetano, offered 
 when a child, to the Virgin: 611, 
 Giulio Cesare Procaccini of Bologna 
 (1548-1626), Samson destroying the 
 Philistines: 612, Landskip, Gaspar 
 Poussin ; the St. Jerome is painted by 
 his cousin Nicolas: 630, Doininico 
 Zampieri, II Domenichino of Bologna 
 (1581-1641), St. Jerome visited by- 
 Angels, fine : 633, Christofano Allori 
 of Florence (1577-1621), portrait of a 
 Lady ; 634, Guido Reni of Bologna 
 (1575-1642), St. Sebastian: 636, ditto, 
 Cleopatra, but somewhat green and 
 slaty : 637, C. L., Federigo Fiori, 
 Baroccio, Urbino (1559-1613), Birth 
 of the Saviour: 643, St. John preach- 
 ing, El Caballero Maximo, Massimo 
 Stanzioni of Naples (1585-1656), whose 
 pictures should be examined, as his 
 style very much influenced Velazquez, 
 who twice visited him and Ribera at 
 Naples : 647, Guercino, the Genius of 
 Painting in a rich orange drapery : 
 651, a curious Venetian portrait of 
 Pejeron, jester to the Conde de Bena- 
 vente : 653, Gaspar Poussin, landskip 
 and animals : 660, Francesco Albano 
 of Bologna (1578-1660), C. L., Venus 
 at her toilet, very transparent, but 
 the flesh is flat and unprofitable when 
 compared to Titian ; and however ele- 
 gant the cupids, they are conventional, 
 and lack the reality of living, child- 
 like joyousness. 
 
 Next observe 664, C. L., Andrea 
 Vannuchi del Sarto, Florence (1488- 
 1530), portrait of his wife Lucretia, 
 Fede ; this once exquisite picture was 
 cruelly restored in 1833: 666, C. L., 
 Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), por- 
 
700 
 
 MADRID — EL MUSEO SEBASTIAN DEL PIOMBO. Sect. XI. 
 
 trait of Mona Lisa, a repetition of 
 the one in the Louvre ; this has 
 been doubted; the drapery is heavy, 
 the cheeks puffy, and the eyes too near 
 the nose: 671, Albano, Judgment of 
 Paris : 670, Giovanni Baptista Tiepolo 
 of Venice (1693-1770), a Concepcion, 
 but far inferior to Spanish treatment ; 
 in this the Virgin’s feet are shown: 
 681, C. L., A. del Sarto, Virgin and 
 Saints; compare it with 911: 683, 
 Landskip, G. Poussin : 689, Sebastian 
 Luciano, Sebastian del Piombo, pupil 
 of Michael Angelo (1483-1547), Christ 
 bearing the Cross, small, and painted 
 on slate; it has been doubted; 693, 
 Paris Bordone (1500-1570), portrait of 
 a Lady : 705, Agostino Carracci (1558- 
 1 601 ), St. Francis beholding a heavenly 
 Vision ; dark, the saint awkward, and 
 the joined hand of angel to rt. common* 
 place; how superior was Murillo’s 
 treatment of this subject : 706, Dome- 
 nichino, Sacrifice of Abraham: 711, 
 Caballero Maximo, Sacrifice to Bac- 
 chus, a fine specimen • 721, M. Angelo 
 Buonarotti (1474-1563), Christ at the 
 Pillar, doubtful: 734, Angiolo Bron- 
 zino (1501-1570), a splendid portrait; 
 a fine pensive character of the high- 
 bred Italian youth: 737, Caballero 
 Maximo, the Message to Zacharias : 
 743, C. L., Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), 
 a view in the Bay of Salerno : 751, E., 
 Guido, Virgin on a Throne, a magni- 
 ficent picture, finely coloured, and 
 grand in expression. In this there is 
 none of his insipid mannerism, want 
 of real life and personal interest : 759, 
 E., Sebastian del Piombo, Christ in 
 Hades ; grandly conceived, and a sub- 
 lime representation of the ghostly 
 mysterious character which marked 
 all the appearances of the Saviour 
 after the Resurrection. Sebastian was 
 the Dante of painting : who, homeless 
 on earth, made his home more and 
 more in the awful other world. He 
 was indeed worthy to paint Hades 
 and the Revelations. 
 
 Next observe 761, Alessandro Allori 
 (1535-1607), Santa Veronica: 771, 
 Giorgio Vasari of Arezzo (1512-1574), 
 a Charity, hard and affected, and 
 merely coloured sculpture: 772, C. L., 
 A. del Sarto, Holy Family, very fine 
 
 and grand ; it belonged to our Charles 
 I., and both Murillo and Mengs must 
 have carefully studied this admirable 
 picture: 778, E., Holy Family, L. da 
 Vinci, but thought by some to be by 
 Luini: 779, E., Christ bearing his 
 Cross, another very grand Sebastian 
 del Piombo: 786, Jacobo Palma, an 
 Adoration of Shepherds most richly 
 coloured: 788, E., Repose in Egypt, 
 A. del Sarto : 789, Jacobo Carucci da 
 Pontormo (1493-1558), Holy Family: 
 790, Caballero Maximo, the Beheading 
 of St. John the Baptist: 795, Artemisa 
 Lomi Gentileschi, the Birth of the 
 Baptist ; the satiny drapery is painted 
 like Zurbaran : 797, Lorenzo Lotto, a 
 Marriage, said to be between Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella, curious for cos- 
 tume: 799, Bernardo Luini, Salome 
 with the Baptist’s head ; she is a co- 
 quettish Italian beauty ; it has been 
 cruelly repainted: 809, E., a so-called 
 Antonio Allegri Correggio (1 494-1 534), 
 Jesus and Mary Magdalen. This 
 poorly painted and feebly foreshort- 
 ened picture, has been justly doubted, 
 and still more since the false draperies 
 have recently been removed. Its pedi- 
 gree is better ; alluded to by Vasari in 
 the Ercolani palace, it was brought 
 into Spain by the D. of Medina Torres. 
 Spain is deficient in Correggios; those 
 which Godoy had “ collected ” were 
 “ re-collected ” by Murat: two of them 
 purchased from his widow by Lord 
 Londonderry, are now in the London 
 National Gallery; the Venus having 
 originally belonged to our unfortunate 
 Charles I. : Nos. 814 and 816 are attri- 
 buted, without good reason, to Cor- 
 reggio: 817, Baroccio, a Crucifixion, 
 fine and delicately painted, with much 
 resigned softness in the expression ; a 
 view of Urbino forms the background : 
 833, Luigi Cardi, IlCigoli (1559-1613), 
 the Magdalen : 837, A, del Sarto, the 
 Sacrifice of Abraham ; curious from 
 being a repetition of the picture sent by 
 the artist to Francois I., as some atone- 
 ment for the money which he had 
 embezzled : 840 and 844, fine portraits, 
 Duke and Duchess of Tuscany, Bron- 
 zino: 847, Guercino, a Magdalen, and 
 singularly unpleasing : 849, Giovanni 
 Antonio Licinio Regillo de Pordenone 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — museo — claude Lorraine. 
 
 701 
 
 (1484-1539), the death of Abel: 855, 
 Guido, a Magdalen : 861, Bronzino, a 
 fine Portrait of a Violin Player : 867, 
 Francesco Mazzuoli, II Parmigianino 
 (1503-1534), a superb portrait; the 
 silk velvet and fur edging are mar- 
 vellously painted ; the head, is full of 
 quiet Italian dignity : 871, A. del Sarto, 
 a fine Holy Family ; the child looks 
 charmingly at the spectator : 879, Par- 
 migianino, C. L., a Holy Family, and 
 a capital specimen : 883, E., An. Car- 
 racci (1560-1609), Assumption of the 
 Virgin : 884, Giovanni Lanfranco 
 
 (1581-1647), Funeral of Julius Caesar, 
 of larger size than merit : 890, Luca 
 Giordano, an Allegory of Peace, of 
 colossal dimensions and diminutive 
 merit: 894, Guercino, Bethshebah at 
 her bath ; fine, and like Domeni- 
 chino; her body, however, is rather 
 stony: 900 and 903, G. Poussin, 
 fine: 911, attributed to A. del Sarto: 
 917, L. da Vinci, still more doubtful; 
 but certainly much overcleaned and 
 repainted : 920, G. Poussin ; this and 
 916 are superb full-toned specimens, 
 and full of subject: 929, Bronzino, a 
 Lady with three Children, grand, but 
 hard and Florentine. 
 
 Now examine the German, Flemish, 
 and French schools, collected in a cir- 
 cular saloon by themselves, not that 
 they have much in common with each 
 other. The Spaniards have very pro- 
 perly placed Gaspar Poussin, who was 
 born at Rome, among the Italians, and 
 yet have included Nicolas Poussin and 
 Claude among the French ; but Claude 
 left France, aged 12, a pastry-cook’s 
 boy, and pies, capital ones no doubt, 
 he would have lived and died making 
 in that paradise of patisserie and of 
 transcendental culinary artistes. In 
 beautiful poetical Italy, the nurse of art, 
 where there are more altars than ovens, 
 more painters than pastry-cooks, his 
 other dormant capabilities were awak- 
 ened ; then and there the mighty genius 
 imprisoned in a French jam-pot burst 
 forth to better things ; * and the 
 
 * Another Claude furnished to Rome by 
 France was Claudius Caesar ; bom at Lyons, and 
 raised to the empire by the Guard, he was 
 poisoned by his wife with a medicated mush- 
 room. This exemplary lady was in her turn 
 killed by her son Hero— belle race, belle cui- 
 Spain.— ll. 
 
 youngster having been born artistically 
 again in a new and congenial country, 
 became a great Italian painter : and, 
 like him, Poussin early in life aban- 
 doned his unpicturesque country ; re- 
 educated at Rome, he became so en- 
 tirely a Roman, majestic, historical, 
 and so utterly un-French, that he could 
 only breathe a classical air : thus, when 
 compelled by Louis XIV. to return to 
 fickle France, this serious earnest man 
 pined, sickened, and would have died, 
 unless restored to a better atmosphere 
 and scenery. Both are essentially Ita- 
 lians by adoption as painters, which 
 is their whole attraction ; and if this 
 be doubted, compare their stile and 
 sentiment, to that of the veritable 
 Frenchmen, whose works are hung 
 near them, to wit, the wilderness of 
 monkeys and wigs of the Jouvenets, 
 Lafosses, Mignards, and Rigauds. As 
 Holbein and Vandyke were formed by 
 painting English gentlemen and ladies, 
 the noblest and most beautiful models 
 in the creation, so Claude and Poussin 
 were created by the sunny skies, the 
 temples and antiquities of Italy, and 
 they both lived and died at Rome 
 their adopted country ; and their ashes 
 repose on the banks of the classical 
 Tiber, not on those of the common- 
 place Seine. Ingrata patria ne ossa 
 quidem ! Their nationality must be 
 decided by their fruit, and theirs are 
 the golden apples of a garden of 
 Hesperus; to both in truth may be 
 applied the old adage, non ubi nas- 
 citur, sed ubi pascitur. If Claude is 
 to change his country, he should be 
 naturalised in nature-worshiping Eng- 
 land, where he is best estimated, and 
 where his finest works v> ere first to be 
 appreciated, and still are to be found. 
 
 The Poussins here, both Gaspar and 
 Nicolas, are first-rate. Observe 942, 
 C. L., Claude Gilee, Lorraine (1600- 
 1682), Ruins at Rome, with the Coli- 
 seum ; the figures are by Philipo Laura, 
 for our modest and pastoral Claude 
 was accustomed to say that he sold his 
 landskips, but gave away his figures. 
 
 sine; but literature, at least, has been the 
 gainer, for never was culprit carbonadoed by a 
 Quevedo more than this Claude was by the old 
 Cordovese Seneca, whose anoKv\avTpuxns is one 
 of the wittiest doggrels of antiquity. 
 
 2 I 
 
702 
 
 MADRID — MUSEO— FRENCH SCHOOLS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 It is doubtful, however, whether even 
 better-drawn figures by another hand 
 really tell , either in form or colour, 
 half so well as those dashed into by 
 the landskip painter himself. He 
 would place and use them not for 
 themselves, but as aids and accessories, 
 which ?i figure painter would forget and 
 convert them into principals. 945, 
 Nicolas Poussin, of Normandy (1594- 
 1665) was so learned, nay pedantic, 
 so classical, that his pictures are almost 
 coloured basso relievos: 947, C. L., 
 Claude, a Sunset ; full of exquisite re- 
 pose ; the figures, except the Shep- 
 herd, are by Courtois : 948, N. Pous- 
 sin, Bacchus and Nymphs, a most clas- 
 sical group, in a splendid landskip : 
 963, 964, Antonio Rafael Mengs(1728- 
 1779), Charles IV. and his Wife ; both 
 are most truly commonplace and odious 
 as the originals : 967, a German pic- 
 ture of the miraculous Hostia at Bol- 
 sena : 971, Antonio Watteau (1684- 
 1721), one of his agreeable Village 
 Weddings: 972, Albert Durer (1470- 
 1528), his own Portrait, aged 26, 
 signed and inscribed, “Dass malt ich 
 nach meine gestalt, ich war sechs und 
 zwanzig yar alt:” 975, C. L., Claude, 
 Sunset, with a Hermit, doubtful ; the 
 figure is by Francesco daGubbio : 976, 
 C. L., N. Poussin, fine: 982, C. L., N. 
 Poussin, David and Goliath: 983, 
 ditto, a Bacchanal : 988, Claude Joseph 
 Vernet (1714-1789), Landskip, with a 
 Cascade : 989, N. Poussin, Mount Par- 
 nassus: 991, Watteau, a pretty Scene 
 at St. Cloud: 992, A. Durer, a fine 
 Portrait: 1003, Claude: 1004, 1005, 
 1025, and 1026, C. L.,.are small J. van 
 Ostades: 1006, 1020, two curious hunt- 
 ing pictures, by Lucas Cranach (1472- 
 1552): the Elector John of Saxony 
 entertains Charles V., who may be 
 recognised by his Golden Fleece. The 
 buildings and costume are truly old 
 German ; then there is a sea of harts- 
 horn, and a marvellous contempt of 
 perspective: 1009, A. Durer, a Musi- 
 cal Allegory : 1013 and 1014, N. Pous- 
 sin : 1017, an Allegory, and 1019, a 
 Holy Family, both attributed to A. 
 Durer : 1023, Santa Cecilia, and 1024, 
 Ancient Rome, both N. Poussin’s : 
 1033, Claude, Ruins, and St. Anthony 
 
 \ 
 
 being tempted : 1040, Diana, N. Pous- 
 sin: 1042,Quintin Matsys (1450-1529), 
 a Village Surgeon: 1044, 1045, and 
 1047 are three good Vernets: 1049, 
 Claude, a Morning Scene, with the 
 Magdalen: 1050, N. Poussin, Meleager 
 hunting; a most truly classical com- 
 position: 105L ditto, Silenus: 1057, 
 Mengs, Adoration of Shepherds, an 
 academical, eclectic, and feeble veneer- 
 ing of other men’s ideas, especially 
 those of Correggio : 1062, a very fine 
 early Holy Family, with architecture, 
 ascribed to Lucas van Leyden, it re- 
 sembles Fernando Gallegos : 1067 and 
 1070, N. Poussin : 1069, A. Durer, 
 Adam and Eve: 1080, C. L., Claude, 
 a glorious Italian Sunset, with beau- 
 tiful water ; the figures of Tobit and 
 the Angel are by Courtois ; it is No. 32 
 in the ‘ Liber Veritatis 1081, C. L., 
 Claude, a superb Sunrise, with sea and 
 architecture ; the groups embarking are 
 by Courtois ; No. 51 also in ‘ Lib. Ver . :’ 
 1082, C. L ., Claude, a Morning Scene, 
 rather dark, and in an earlier style; 
 figures by P. Laura: 1086, C. L., 
 Claude, Landskip, with a Ford ; also 
 in an early style, with figures, by P. 
 Laura. These Claudes, when we last 
 saw them, were much in want of lin- 
 ing, but were pure as the day they 
 were painted. These truly Italian 
 gems are surrounded by pictures, of 
 whose nationality there can be no mis- 
 take ; but the clinquant Louis XIV. 
 periwigs act like foils, by contrasting 
 style ; how the simple feeling of a 
 nature pure and undefiled soars above 
 the theatrical and artificial ! 
 
 Now pass to the Flemish and Dutch 
 schools. In the Galeria de Paso are 
 examples of the Neapolitan and Bo- 
 lognese artists of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury : among them Luca Giordano is 
 remarkable, whose fa presto style, fatal 
 facility, and hasty presumption, led to 
 the utter decline of painting. The 
 gods grant no excellence to mortals 
 without labour. Venus, the mother of 
 love and the type of beauty, was united 
 to the hard-working Vulcan: thus Lope 
 de Vega, prodigal in verse and all the 
 fashion of his day, of an age and coun- 
 try on its decline, is now deservedly for- 
 gotten. By this Luca are, 1088, Her- 
 
The Castiles . 
 
 MADRID MUSEO — DUTCH MASTERS. 
 
 703 
 
 cules: 1090, Perseus: 1094, Susanna : 
 1096, Repentance of St. Peter: 1098, 
 Rinaldo and Armida: 1100, Erminia 
 taking refuge with Shepherds : 1124, 
 Tancredi and Clorinda : 1128, Jacob 
 wrestling with the Angel: 1138, Tur- 
 nus conquered by iEneas : 1168, Christ 
 bearing the Cross : 1175, Andromeda : 
 1186, Flora. All these tiresome affairs 
 are on a large scale of canvas; and 
 there are several on a smaller, which 
 are neither worth mention nor observa- 
 tion. This master possessed great 
 rapidity of execution, but as little 
 thought and sentiment redeems the 
 masses, we carry nothing away. Much 
 the same may be said of 1105, Reward 
 of Bravery; and 1114, its companion, 
 Gladiators: 1151, Naval combat; 1160, 
 Consultation at a Sacrifice, by Lan- 
 franco, who, like Giordano, was a 
 better painter of fresco ceilings than 
 of easel pictures. 
 
 There is an apartment of state, called 
 La Sala del Descanso , where the royal 
 family repose after the fatigue of visit- 
 ing the Museo, where was hung, by 
 order of Ferdinand VII., a painting of 
 his landing at Puerto de Santa Maria , 
 by Aparicio : anything so bad was 
 scarcely ever painted or conceived. 
 It rivals in demerit the conduct then 
 and there of the monarch itself ; and 
 yet an especial description of this dis- 
 graceful scene and picture was sold at 
 the entrance of the Museo, which 
 speaks volumes as to the fulsome ser- 
 vility and artistical ignorance of those 
 who directed the taste of Spain. 
 
 The Flemish and Dutch pictures 
 come the last in the Catalogue, and 
 are of the highest quality and very 
 pure. The long connexion between 
 Spain and the Low Countries ensured 
 a constant supply of the best works ; 
 and hitherto, from not being valued 
 by Spaniards so much as those of their 
 own and the Italian masters, they have 
 escaped the fatal restauracion . The 
 Spaniard, long accustomed to see art 
 the handmaid of religion, associates 
 the altar with all painting of a high 
 class; accordingly, the low, earthy 
 doings of the Dutch seem to him to be 
 vulgar, and beneath the dignity of art; 
 while the compensating truth and 
 
 beauty of their landskip are lost on a 
 nation which is by no means keenly 
 alive to the charms of the country and 
 nature itself. Landskip flourished 
 rather in flat, foggy Holland, than in 
 sunny Italy or Spain : where the sub- 
 ject is poor the artist’s mind is called 
 on to make a picture : fine subjects, 
 like rich land, check industry ; look 
 at the daubs still perpetrated in Italy 
 and Spain by 4 4 native talent.” 
 
 The best pictures here, of these 
 schools, are those by Rubens, Van- 
 dyke, and Antonio Moro, who was 
 long in Spain. Rubens, in spite of 
 his want of purity, his occasional 
 Helot sensuality, Flemish forms, 
 worse conceptions, and ill-selected 
 models, has the compensating power 
 of a glowing, rich, and harmonious 
 colour, which shines like a light 
 from within ; nor can any one fail to be 
 charmed with bold animal nature, 
 riotous impulses, real life, energy 
 of action, and pulpy delineation 
 of flesh and blood. Vandyke is the 
 Velazquez of England, with the ad- 
 vantage of better models, both male 
 and female ; for he painted the aris- 
 tocracy of Great Britain, the most 
 manly, finely formed, and beautiful in 
 the world. Again, he had the advan- 
 tage of painting ladies, whose portraits 
 were not so often taken in Spain, from 
 the then jealous habits of Spaniards. 
 Vandyke is as elegant and satiny as 
 Velazquez is dark and stately. The 
 specimens of Wouvermans are gems of 
 purest art beyond all pricu. Those by 
 Teniers, Snyders, Breughel, P. Neefs, 
 Both, are very fine, but here again, as 
 in the Italian and Spanish schools, 
 the collection is very imperfect. There 
 is little or nothing of such great mas- 
 ters as Rembrandt, Carl du Jar din, 
 Cuyp, Hobbema, Jan Steen, “ mine 
 jolly host,” of Vandervelt, Mieris, 
 Backhuisen,Vanderneer, Ostade, Ruis- 
 dael, Adrien and William V andervelde, 
 of Paul Potter, Van Hooghe, Terburg, 
 Metza, Gerard Dow, Paul Brill, &c. 
 
 To give any particular description 
 of the wilderness of monkeys by Te- 
 niers, of the dogs, game, kitchenware, 
 and dead drunken Dutchmen by Os- 
 tade, would be tedious as to count the 
 
 2 I 2 
 
704 
 
 MADRID — MUSEO — SAN ANTONIO. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 cattle of the Bassans ; these subjects, it 
 is true, are intelligible, and therefore 
 delightful, to the meanest capacities ; 
 since, where one person comprehends 
 the ideality of Raphael, or the sublimity 
 of M. Angelo, a thousand will relish a 
 true delineation of a flask of beer, and 
 the humour of the boor who drinks it. 
 Again, the item accuracy and conscien- 
 tious working out of details, are easier 
 understood by your practical men of 
 business and common sense, since they 
 make no demand on the imagination ; 
 while effects produced by broad masses, 
 indistinct shadowings out, by neglect 
 of accessories, and by appeals to the 
 mind, positively appear, especially 
 where there is no mind, to be dis- 
 honest and unworkmanlike, they are 
 caviare to the general. But an apprecia- 
 tion of all this mechanical detail and 
 bond fide fulfilment of contract is lost on 
 the Spaniard, who is at best a bungling 
 operative, and one who sometimes pro- 
 mises rather than pays or performs. 
 
 Commencing with the saloon to the 
 
 I. , observe 1199, 1205, Rubens, Por- 
 trait of Archduke Albert and his wife 
 Isabel ; the landskips are ascribed to 
 
 J. Breughel: 1210, D. Teniers (1610- 
 1694), a Rustic Festival: 1213, Rubens, 
 Saturn devouring his own Children ; 
 this type of revolutions is too infanti- 
 cidal to be pleasing: 1216, Rubens, 
 the Combat of the Lapithse ; it is full 
 of muscle, movement, and flesh, horse 
 and human: 1217, F. Snyders (1579- 
 1657), a grand Boar-hunt : * 1220, Ru- 
 bens, a Holy Family, with St. George ; 
 very fine : 1229, C. L. Rubens, Rape 
 of Proserpine ; grand: 1230 and 1247, 
 Snyders, Dog subjects: 1233, Van- 
 dyke, Portrait of the Painter Richart ; 
 1241, Antonio Moro (1512-1568), a 
 superb Portrait of Catherine, wife of 
 John III. of Portugal: 1242, Vandyke, 
 Portrait of a Cardinal: 1245, C. L., 
 Vandyke, an exquisite Portrait of the 
 Countess of Oxford: 1251, C. L. Ru- 
 bens, Moses staying the Plague by 
 elevating the Brazen Serpent: 1258, 
 Antonio Moro, full-length Portrait of 
 
 * Snyders painted much in Madrid for the 
 M s . de Leganes, whose collection was inherited 
 and sold by the M s . de Altamira. Ronchi, the 
 administrator, might furnish curious details. 
 
 Dona Juana of Austria; very fine: 
 1269, 1270, D. Teniers, a Pastoral sub- 
 ject and a Rural Feast: 1272, 1273, 
 Vandyke, Portraits of Henry of Nassau 
 and his wife Amelia: 1274, D. Te- 
 niers ; the Artist is showing a Picture- 
 Gallery to the Archduke Albert : 1282, 
 Vandyke, Charles I. in Armour and 
 on Horseback: 1285, 1288, two fine 
 Game subjects by Snyders: 1292, C. 
 L., Rubens, Adoration of the Magi; 
 it is said that he added the right por- 
 tion to this picture when at Madrid, 
 and also introduced his own portrait : 
 1294, C. L., D. Teniers, La G-raciosa 
 Fregatriz ; this is one of his best spe- 
 cimens; here a stealthy, jealous, ill- 
 favoured, feline old wife watches, like 
 a cat, her truant husband, who is 
 caressing a young and pretty burnisher 
 of saucepans : 1296, D. Teniers, one of 
 his common Temptations of St. An- 
 thony : * 1300, Rubens, the Banquet of 
 Tereus, who, as he well may be, is 
 horrified at seeing the limbs and head 
 of his son served up ; nor can the 
 talent of the painter unbrutalise the 
 unpleasing subject : 1305, 1335, P. 
 Neefs, two of his highly - finished 
 church interiors: 1308, T. Porbus 
 (1 570-1622), a fine portrait of a lady 
 in black: 1314, Vandyke, ditto, ditto: 
 
 * San Antonio , a model of monks, was the 
 first hermit who eschewed the world, its sheets, 
 soaps, and towels, and took to a den of the desert, 
 in which he worked so many miracles, that hun- 
 dreds turned anchorites ; thereupon the devil 
 worried him day and night under the shape of 
 animals great and small. The sole and bosom 
 friend of the recluse was a pig, for “ idem velle 
 atque idem nolle, ea demum firma amici tia,” 
 says Sallust ; in vain Satan tempted him with 
 beautiful women, the saint remained true to 
 his first love. In the mediaeval ages a boar 
 and a sow of this breed were allowed free 
 quarters in towns, being distinguished by a par- 
 ticular mark, and their produce fetched higher 
 prices than ordinary porkers, from the flavour 
 and orthodoxy of their bacon. San Antonio is 
 still the patron of Spanish pigs, mules, and 
 asses, which are blessed and sprinkled on the 
 1 7th of January, his day. The hermit has also 
 befriended artists by furnishing both grand 
 and ludicrous subjects taken from his solitudes, 
 penances, and temptations. See Ribad., i. 178. 
 
 There is still in Spain a steady demand for the 
 portrait of this tutelar against temptations of 
 the flesh and the devil. Rude prints of him 
 are hung up in Spanish bed-rooms, like insur- 
 ance badges, for he also protects houses from 
 fire,: at his popular velada Spanish lasses pray 
 to him for good sweethearts. 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — MUSEO — FLEMISH PAINTERS. 
 
 705 
 
 1320, C. L., Rubens, Mercury and 
 Argos: 1328, 1329, D. Teniers, Mon- 
 key Artists: 1330, Rembrandt (1606- 
 1674), Artemisia about to swallow the 
 Ashes of her husband: 1336, Ph. 
 Wouvermans, a Mounted Sportsman 
 refreshing at a Venta, capital : 1338, 
 C. L. Rubens, Cadmus and Minerva : 
 1339, J. Breughel, a large rustic fes- 
 tival, at which the Archduke Albert 
 and his wife are present ; a good speci- 
 men : 1344, J. Both, a fine Sunset in 
 a rocky scene, with cowherds: 1345, 
 Rubens, Portrait of Mary of Medicis : 
 1350, C. L., Rubens, Equestrian Por- 
 trait of Ferdinand of Austria; how 
 inferior to Velazquez: 1354, Both, the 
 Passage of the Mountain, fine: 1358, 
 
 C. L. Rubens, Portrait of a Princess 
 in black costume: 1361, another large 
 Breughel, allegorical figures of Art 
 and Science in a rich gallery: 1373, 
 Rubens, a fine and agreeable picture 
 of a dancing, peasant group: 1374, 
 
 1375, P. Neefs, fine church interiors ; 
 the figures are ascribed to Franck : 
 
 1376, Antonio Moro, superb Portrait 
 of Doha Maria, Infante of Portugal : 
 
 1377, Wouvermans, an exquisite hunt- 
 ing scene with ladies and gentlemen 
 on horseback: 1378, Snyders: 1380, 
 
 D. Teniers, a Rustic Dance : 1382, 
 Antonio Moro, fine Portrait of a Lady : 
 1383, Wouvermans, a Sporting Party 
 crossing a River ; a perfect gem. 
 
 Passing now into the saloon to the 
 r., 1392, Vandyke, a fine portrait of 
 an armed knight with red scarf : 1393, 
 ditto, a Musician, and fine: 1394, ditto, 
 a Cavalier in black satin, slashed, and 
 very fine: 1400, C. L. Rubens, Philip 
 II. on Horseback, very feebly con- 
 ceived and drawn, both as regards man 
 and beast ; the rider’s head is too big, 
 and his seat very awkward: 1401, 
 Van-Eyk (1370-1448), Henry Werlis 
 (for whom this was painted in 1438) 
 Kneeling in his Cell ; a curious early 
 picture : 1402, J. Breughel, another of 
 his allegorical pictures like 1361: 
 1405, Snyders, a fine Lion in a net : 
 1407, Vandyke, portraits of himself 
 and the Earl of Bristol, so long minis- 
 ter of Charles I. at Madrid ; fine and 
 interesting: 1410, J. Ruisdael (1640- 
 1681), a small wooded scene: 1418, 
 
 1419, P. Neefs, a small pair of church 
 interiors: 1422, 1423, J. Breughel, a 
 large pair of landscapes, with a mar- 
 keting and junketing: 1425, and the 
 series by D. Teniers, eleven small 
 subjects taken from Tasso, and not 
 over-poetically treated: 1440, Ruis- 
 dael, a wooded scene with a lake and 
 ferry: 1442, Rubens, St. George de- 
 livering the Damsel from the Dragon : 
 1443, 1444, J. Breughel, two large 
 Rustic Festivals: 1446, Antonio Moro, 
 a superb portrait of our bloody Queen 
 Mary, which hasbeen well engraved by 
 Vasquez, C. N. The careless Cataloguers , 
 no great readers of history, long called 
 this, although the wife of their own 
 Philip II., the portrait of an unknown 
 person, and yet Antonio had been sent 
 to England by Charles V. previously 
 to the marriage, to paint this very 
 picture: 1447, Vandyke, Portrait of 
 Liberti, an organist of Antwerp : 
 1448, D. Teniers, a good Rustic 
 Merry-making: 1449, Rubens, Ulys- 
 ses discovers Achilles by his grasp- 
 ing a sword : 1451, C. L., D. Teniers, 
 another Temptation of St. Anthony : 
 1457, Both, a mountain and woody 
 scene: 1461, Rubens, Jeremiah in his 
 Cave : 1463, T. Wouvermans, a Party 
 passing a River, a pure gem : 1465, 
 Rubens, Silenus: 1467, T. Wouver- 
 mans, Repose after Chase, with horses 
 drinking, a first-rate picture: 1470, 
 G. L., Both, a fine landscape with 
 hermits: 1474, a grand subject of 
 Ceres and Pan, painted by Rubens and 
 Snyders : 1487, J. Breughel, Ladies 
 Gardening: 1488, D. Teniers, Her- 
 mits ; both these are on a large scale : 
 1501, D. Teniers, Gipsies, telling an 
 old Man his fortune: 1507, Rubens, 
 Mercury ; by whom also are the series 
 of Apostles from 1509 to 1514, and 
 from 1531 to 1536, and how tired we 
 get of them: much finer, indeed, is 
 1515, C. L., his splendid Portrait of 
 Thomas More: 1528, Rubens, Atalanta 
 and Meleager: 1546, C. L., Vandyke, 
 a fine Pieta: 1551, G. Metzu: 1556, 
 Rubens, Archimedes: 1573, P. Wou- 
 vermans, a Departure from an Inn, 
 most beautiful: 1575, C. L., Rubens, 
 Rudolph of Hapsburg places on his 
 Horse a Priest who is bearing the 
 
706 
 
 MADRID — MUSEO — FLEMISH PAINTERS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Host: 1576, C. L., Rubens, a very fine 
 picture, of gallants and their ladies, a 
 chef-d'oeuvre : 1578, Rubens, Vulcan: 
 1587, ditto, Ganymede: 1588, ditto, 
 Rape of Europa, said to have been 
 copied from Titian by Rubens for our 
 Charles I. ; the two masters will bear 
 no comparison except in their exu- 
 berance of works, for how coarse, 
 physical, and sensual is the Fleming, 
 compared to the elegant, intellectual 
 voluptuousness of the great Venetian : 
 1591, Snyders, a good picture of 
 Quarrelsome Fowls: 1598, M. Coxcis, 
 the Death of the Virgin ; this was 
 brought from Santa Gudula of Brux- 
 elles by Philip II.: 1599, Castle of 
 Emmaus, ascribed by some to Rubens : 
 1602, a large landscape by Monper, 
 figures by J. Breughel: 1607, C. L., 
 Vandyke, the Treachery of Judas: 
 1610, C. L., Wouvermans, a charm- 
 ing halt of ladies and gentlemen at 
 a country inn, first rate: 1615, D. 
 Teniers. 
 
 Now descend to the new Flemish 
 saloons on the ground-floor. The 
 bajada is hung with second-rate mis- 
 cellaneous pictures. 1620, L. Gior- 
 dano, a feeble imitation of the Murillo 
 urchins at play and quarrel: 1623, P. 
 de Cortona, Gladiators, large in size 
 and small in merit ; this master, born 
 at the end of real art, was the antici- 
 pation of the Mengs and West school; 
 1625, V. Carducci, a huge head of di- 
 minutive intelligence; indeed, here size 
 of pictures seems to have been se- 
 lected in opposition to quality, e. g. 
 1636. Virtues, & c., by San Bourdon, 
 and 1641, a tremendous, Beheading of 
 St. John, with portraits of the period 
 of Philip III. ; to say nothing of 1642, 
 a Noah's Ark, by Rosa de Tivoli : 
 1646 and 1647 are more interest- 
 ing, as being portraits of Isabella 
 and Ferdinand, copied from Antonio 
 Rincon. 
 
 Leaving these acres of painted can- 
 vas, we arrive at the new Flemish 
 saloons, where observe, 1654, Rubens, 
 Perseus delivering Andromeda. The 
 armour is finely painted, but the lady 
 is Flemish, flabby, and knock-kneed. 
 1662, Rubens, Ceres and Pomona: 
 1666, Rubens, Adam and Eve, finely 
 
 painted from Titian for our Charles I. : 
 1670, Flora, a joint work of Rubens 
 and J. Breughel: 1679, 1683, Both, 
 Views of Tivoli: 1681, Rubens, 
 
 Nymphs surprised by Satyrs, superb : 
 1685, Vandyke, Diana and Endymion, 
 treated with more elegance than his 
 master: 1686, Rubens, Nymphs and 
 Satyrs, a magnificent picture, and one, 
 like 1681, of those subjects in which 
 he loved to revel, and which none ever 
 painted better: 1689, C. L., Rubens, 
 Orpheus and Eurydice : 1696, C. L., 
 Rubens, the Milky Way, Juno in her 
 Peacock-drawn Car suckling Hercules, 
 which may be compared with No. 220, 
 the Virgin giving her milk to a burly 
 monk : 1 699, a fine Portrait of a Knight 
 of Santiago : 1704, Rubens, Judgment 
 of Paris, sprawling, flabby, and inele- 
 gant : 1710, C. L., Rubens, the Graces, 
 finely painted: 1714, 1717, 1719, all 
 by Antonio Moro, and fine female por- 
 traits : 1 7 1 6, Rubens, Diana and Calisto, 
 superb colour: 1720, C. L., Rubens, 
 Fortune gliding over the Waters : 
 1721, Vandyke, St. Francis inEcstacy, 
 fine : 1727, Rubens, the Infant Saviour 
 with St. John: 1729, Snyders, Dead 
 Game on a Kitchen Table: 1739, 
 Synders, a Goat suckling a Young 
 Wolf: 1743, 1746, two large Land- 
 skips, J. Breughel: 1745, 1753, Syn- 
 ders, Fruit, Live Animals, and Dead 
 Game: 1767, Both, a fine Sunset in a 
 Mountain Scene, St. James baptizes 
 the Eunuch: 1768, Porbus, Portrait 
 of Mary of Medicis : 1772, Vandyke, 
 Portrait of the Marquesa de Leganes : 
 1774, Both, a Sunrise, with Cowherds: 
 1778, Both, Garden at Frascati : 1782, 
 Both, Rocky Scene, with Santa Rosalia 
 of Palermo: 1784, the Companion 
 with San Bruno : 1786, ditto with San 
 Francisco, figures by P. de Laar : 
 1788, Swanevelt, 1620-1690, landskip, 
 St. Paul Preaching: 1792, Antonio 
 Moro, full-length portrait of Maria, 
 wife of Maximilian II. : 1803, ditto, 
 Portrait of that Emperor when young : 
 1793, Swanevelt, a Sunset : 1794, An- 
 tonio Moro, a fine portrait of one of 
 the Daughters of Charles V.: 1799, 
 Swanevelt, a fine Sunset: 1804 An- 
 tonio Moro, Portrait of a Lady, richly 
 dressed: 1826, Porbus, Portrait of a 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — museo — galeria reseryada. 
 
 Young Lady: 1827, Both, Landskip, 
 with Cascade and Fishermen, figures 
 by J. MieL 
 
 La galeria reservada in its primitive 
 state was a sort of penitentiary, into 
 which were banished all peccant pic- 
 tures, whose nudities might corrupt 
 the purity of Madrid; here Italian 
 and Flemish Ledas and Danaes blushed 
 unseen by the general eye. All were 
 lumped together, like the naughty 
 epigrams of Martial when collected 
 into one appendix in well-intentioned 
 editions : not that in this harem there 
 was much really offensive, or what in 
 colder climates, and among a less 
 prudish and inflammable people, 
 would have been hidden from public 
 gaze. Again, nudity in art is offensive 
 rather in disposition and intention, 
 than in mere exhibition ; thus the 
 nakedness of Milton’s Eve causes no 
 shame. All these peccant pictures con- 
 signed to the shades below were the 
 works of foreigners; for, under the 
 censure of the Inquisition, in Spain 
 art took the veil and sculpture the 
 cowl, content to dwell in decencies 
 for ever. Thus, while much up-stairs 
 was all drapery, more below was all 
 flesh, colour, and sex, gods and god- 
 desses without stays or boddices ; here 
 were selected the poetical, voluptuous 
 dreams of mythology, instead of the 
 ascetic legends of vulgar monks and 
 cruel familiars. Several of these 
 paintings, especially those by Rubens, 
 were first emancipated after Ferdi- 
 nand’s death, when freedom — auspice 
 Christina — was the order of the day ; 
 and, indeed, many of the flabby 
 females of Rubens, like drunken He- 
 lots, were better calculated to inspire 
 disgust than passion ; and recently 
 the whole happy family has been still 
 more broken up. Observe 53, Titian, 
 Woman on Couch, with a Youth play- 
 ing an Organ : 58, Titian, a Female 
 amusing herself with a Dog ; the flesh 
 is wonderfully painted: 51, Titian, 
 Danae, a sketch, but a perfect gem, 
 and when seen from a certain distance 
 it is living flesh : Susanna and the 
 Elders, Tintoretto : some copies from 
 Correggio: Leda and the Swan. 
 
 It is contemplated to form a gallery 
 
 707 
 
 or an attic of portraits to be added to 
 
 the Museo . 
 
 The lover of cinquecento goldsmith- 
 work should by all means inquire for the 
 superb collection of above a hundred 
 cups, tazzas, and exquisite jewelled 
 plate, by the Cellinis, D’Arphes, 
 Beceriles, &c., which have recently 
 been removed to the Museo by the 
 laudable exertions of Vicente Car- 
 derera ; thus they were rescued 
 from the shameful neglect in which 
 they were long abandoned in the 
 academy of San Fernando, just in the 
 disorder and damaged condition as 
 they were left by French ravagers : 
 among them observe particularly a mer- 
 maid with emerald tail, rising out of 
 gold studded with rubies, by Cellini ; 
 and a cup supported by a female. 
 
 The gallery of sculpture is placed 
 down stairs, and is very inferior, 
 for Spain never possessed much good 
 antique or modern marble sculp- 
 ture. Here, again, everything is 
 incomplete, and is the work of ac- 
 cident rather than design. There 
 are no specimens of the Berruguetes, 
 Celmas, D’Arphes, &c., the pupils, con- 
 temporaries, and rivals of the M. An- 
 gelos, Jean de Bolognas, and Cellinis of 
 Italy, nor any of other illustrious 
 Spaniards who breathed immortal life 
 into marble, bronze, iron, and silver ; 
 there are none of the carved images, 
 pasos , either of barro, terracotta, 
 or of wooden painted sculpture, in 
 which Spain stands alone and un- 
 rivalled ; there is no sample of that 
 phalanx of mighty men, Alonso Cano, 
 Montahes, Juni, Hernandez, Becerra, 
 F orment , & c. In truth , their great names 
 and works are scarcely more unknown 
 at Madrid than in London ; they be- 
 long to other provinces and must be 
 sought for in their native localities. 
 
 The best of what antique sculpture 
 is here once belonged to Christina of 
 Sweden, not Naples, and was re- 
 moved from San Ildefonso. Some 
 of the cinquecento bronzes and an- 
 tique heads are good, but in general 
 the restorations are numerous and 
 bad. Observe a small marble Flora 
 with modern head ; a bronze cast 
 of the Hermaphrodite, and some fine 
 
708 
 
 MADRID — THE NEW MUSEUM. 
 
 Sect. XT. 
 
 pietre dare tables ; the two seated sta- 
 tues of Charles IV. and his wife Luisa 
 are symbolic of imbecility coupled with 
 vice ; a Castor and Pollux, delicately 
 designed ; Isabella, wife of Charles V., 
 in elaborate costume, — it looks like an 
 iron statue ; a Grecian colossal head, 
 full of manly beauty, — the original 
 bronze must have been at least 12 feet 
 high ; a fine bronze of Charles V. in 
 rich cinquecento taste ; an alabaster 
 bust of Philip II. ; a good female torso, 
 apparently a muse : a bronze head of 
 an Antinous ; Alexander, dying ; a 
 Meleager, the torso is antique ; a Mer- 
 cury ; a Cupid. But the grand objects 
 of Madrilenian admiration are the 
 works of Senores Sala and Alvarez, 
 especially two figures in boots and. 
 pantaloons, called El grupo de Zara- 
 goza: this heroic affair appeals to na- 
 tional glory; and Alvarez, 1768-1826, 
 is popular more from patriotical than 
 artistical reasons, he having refused 
 to make a bust of Buonaparte. 
 
 A new and central Museum, opened 
 by Espartero, on the anniversary of 
 the Dos de Mayo , 1842, in the Calle de 
 Atocha, is called Museo de la Trinidad , 
 because established in the suppressed 
 convent of that name. A grand sa- 
 loon is formed, or is forming, in the 
 church by inserting a floor about half- 
 way up the pilasters, and converting 
 the lateral chapels into rooms for 
 smaller pictures: underneath is to be 
 a drawing academy for evening in- 
 struction. The edifice was designed, it 
 is said, by Philip II. himself, and built 
 by Gaspar Ordonez; it was dese- 
 crated by the French, who placed here 
 the library of the Escorial, This 
 Museo has long been in a state of 
 transition, as many alterations and ad- 
 ditions are contemplated, but funds — 
 as., usual — are wanting. Here have been 
 got together from the convents and 
 galleries of Don Carlos and the Infante 
 Sebastian, some 1500 pictures, good and 
 bad : there is no printed catalogue. 
 
 Among the best things, of which it 
 is impossible to give a regular account, 
 as nothing is in order, and changes con- 
 stantly are taking place, observe the 
 series of pictures representing the 
 life of St. Bruno, and the sufferings of 
 
 Carthusian monks, when persecuted by 
 our Henry VIII. ; these were painted 
 for the convent of El Paular by Car- 
 ducho (the author of the Dialogos, 
 1633). The Miracle of Manna, by 
 Herrera el Viejo ; a fine portrait of a 
 Letrado with Spectacles, and a Con- 
 cepcion , by Spagnoletto; a Descent 
 from the Cross, by D. Volterra ; Mi- 
 sers, by Q. Matzis ; some Caprichos , 
 by Goya : a portrait of Melendez, by 
 himself; the Abbot Socinas, adminis- 
 tering the Sacrament to Santa Maria 
 Egypciaca, who lived 47 years alone 
 and naked in the Desert (see Ribad. i. 
 557); this was painted by Francisco 
 Camillo (obt. 1671) for the Capuchin 
 convent of Alcala de Henares, and is 
 considered his best work. San Ber- 
 nardo kneeling before the Virgin, 
 Alonso Cano ; Charles II., by Ca- 
 l’ eh o ; a copy of the Transfiguration, 
 by Julio Romano, from the Escorial : 
 a fine picture, by Penni il Fattore; 
 Woman taken in Adultery, by Titian ; 
 Samson and the Lion: portrait of 
 Archdeacon Albert, Rubens. Observe 
 particularly el Jubileo de la Porciuncula , 
 a large picture, which once was by 
 Murillo ; as its history may be useful 
 to those about to purchase “ undoubted 
 originals ” in Spain. Informer times it 
 belonged to the Capuchinos at Seville, 
 whose ignorant monks exchanged it 
 with one Bejarano, a bungling picture- 
 restorer, for some modern daubs to 
 fill their cloisters. Although much 
 injured from exposure to sun and air, 
 the surface was then pure; Bejarano 
 began by painting it all over, and 
 then offered it to Mr. Williams for 
 £120, who declined it: at last it was 
 purchased on speculation for £180, 
 by our informant J oaquin Cortes (direc- 
 tor ‘of the Seville Academy) for Ma- 
 drazo (director of Madrid ditto), who, 
 having worked much on it himself, 
 ultimately handed it over to Seiior Bu- 
 eno, one of the most daring of his fami- 
 liars. Finally 2000/. was asked for the 
 picture — -pure, as the Catalogo will some 
 day assert, as when it came from the 
 easel of Murillo — which eventually 
 was bought by the Infante Don Sebas- 
 tian for 900/. In the days of Godoy, 
 a painter was put in prison for palm- 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — PORCIUNCULA. 
 
 709 
 
 ing off on him a pseudo and touched- 
 up Raffaelle. All these facts, and many 
 others were told us by Senor Cortes. 
 
 This Porciuncula, which no Fran- 
 ciscan convent in Spain was without, 
 referred to a Sanctum sanctorum in 
 which their grand jubilee was held 
 every 1st of August, when all penitents 
 who visited this temporary cave ar- 
 ranged in the chapel obtained abso- 
 lution from all sins; the jubilee called 
 “ toties quoties” arose thus: St. Francis, 
 the founder, retired in 1206 to the 
 wildest retreats of the Apennine range, 
 to the Monte Alverno, about five 
 miles from Assisi, “ nel crudo sasso 
 infra Tever ed Arno; ” he there re- 
 paired- a small deserted church, 
 Santa Maria degli Angioli, called also 
 la Porciuncula , because a portion of 
 some property of some Benedictines. 
 There he founded his order, which 
 soon got rich by their vows of poverty , 
 the bride — not popular in these days— 
 to which St. Francis was mystically 
 married; there he received the stig- 
 mata, while meditating on the Sa- 
 viour’s passion; there he died, the 
 rocks being cleft asunder at his death ; 
 from the favours he there received 
 from the Virgin the spot became the 
 holy of holies : the scene, as generally 
 treated in paintings, represents his 
 scourging himself with thorns. He 
 was on that occasion visited by the 
 Virgin and Saviour, who brought 
 him red and white roses, which 
 bloomed from his rods ; they granted 
 such an immunity to the spot, “ that 
 if a man had killed all the other men in 
 the world, by only entering this grotto 
 he would come out as pure as a newly- 
 baptized infant : ” hence this grotto 
 was soon prodigiously frequented ; 
 whereupon the Spanish Franciscans 
 induced the Pontiff to concede to each 
 of their convents its imaginary cave, 
 in which the same benefits could be 
 obtained by all who first offered pious 
 donations without going to Italy. Ac- 
 cordingly the Spaniards, in their grotto 
 chapel, explained this profitable legend 
 by a painting to those who could see 
 but not read. 
 
 Inquire in this Museo for a curious 
 old German picture of a contest be- 
 
 tween a Pope and Jewish high-priest, 
 with coins and money miraculously 
 dying out of a fountain, with archi- 
 tecture, and angels playing on musi- 
 cal instruments, &c. ; notice also a 
 fine Christ before the high-priest, 
 by Gerardo della Notte : a portrait of 
 Ferdinand III., by Murillo : a Dead 
 Christ, by Pereda. There are also se- 
 veral good, specimens of the Rizi, father 
 and sons, especially of Francesco, who, 
 like Luca Giordano, was one of those 
 who gave the last blow to decaying 
 art. Observe the paintings by Pantoja 
 de la Cruz. The series of pictures 
 of the life and passion of our Saviour 
 were painted in 1550 by D. Correa, an 
 excellent but little known artist, for 
 the Bernardine monks of San Martin 
 de Valdeiglesias ; his works deserve 
 particular notice. Correa is conjec- 
 tured to have studied in Florence. 
 
 Among other precious things res- 
 cued from the infuriate mob are the 
 carvings by Raffael de Leon, wrought 
 in 1561-71, for the aforesaid Ber- 
 nardines. This silleria del coro , with 
 much other carving from San Felipe el 
 Real and other suppressed convents, is 
 or was stowed away in the magazines 
 of the new university, which is being 
 arranged in what was the Noviciate of 
 Jesuits, in an admirable situation on 
 an eminence above the palace. The 
 sculpture, meanwhile, is seen to great 
 disadvantage ; the subjects are the 
 mysteries of the Passion, &c., which 
 are carved in low-relief; the orna- 
 ments are the usual cinquecento mix- 
 ture of the Christian and Pagan. The 
 cariatides are in excellent taste. Re- 
 member to inquire particularly for the 
 admirable statue of San Bruno by 
 Manuel Pereyra (obt. 1667), which 
 used to stand in the niche over the 
 Hospederia de los Cartujos in the Calle 
 de Alcala. It is absolutely a monk 
 petrified: his equally fine San Martin 
 was knocked to pieces by the French. 
 
 The private collections of Madrid 
 are not of great importance ; for fifty 
 years they have been plundered and 
 broken up without mercy or conscience. 
 Among the largest and best is that of 
 Director Madrazo : see the details in 
 Madoz (x. 859), who informs us that 
 
710 
 
 MADRID — JARDIN BOTANICO. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 they were all obtained from descend- 
 ants of grandees, and son todos originates 
 — caveat emptor. The Duque de Osuna 
 (Vistillas, 17) has preserved many he- 
 reditary pictures, which, to his credit, 
 he is having properly taken care of. 
 The Bemisa collection, 13, Calle de 
 Salud, is of recent date. The archaeo- 
 logist should not fail to visit Don 
 Vicente Carderera , Puerte de las Cortes, 
 7 ; this learned and industrious anti- 
 quarian has formed a remarkable as- 
 semblage of drawings of curious archi- 
 tectural and sepulchral objects, and 
 other brands rescued from the burn- 
 ing of churches and sequestration of 
 convents. 
 
 Recommencing our walk at the old 
 Museo , and continuing up the Prado , 
 just beyond the Museo to the 1. is the 
 Jardin Botanico , which is fenced in by 
 a fine iron railing ; it was first founded 
 in 1755 by Ferdinand VI., and was 
 removed from the Prado to its present 
 site in 1781, by the Conde Florida 
 Blanca. The Linnsean system was 
 adopted, and the plants were scienti- 
 fically arranged and classified by Ca- 
 vanilles, under whom, when full of 
 curious specimens, it was an oasis of 
 Flora in the desert of the Castiles. 
 The invaders converted this Eden into 
 a wilderness, uprooting plant and 
 shrub ; but when the Duke expelled 
 the destroyers, the face of the earth 
 was renewed, and Art and Nature re- 
 vived. Placed under the management 
 of Mr. Williams, an Englishman, it 
 was a spot of recreation and instruc- 
 tion, but now-a-days, like other cosas 
 de Espana , the whole is in a bankrupt 
 condition, with hothouses falling to 
 decay, and no funds for repairs. 
 
 During a fire that happened some 
 time back at the menagerie in the 
 Retiro, two boa - constrictors made 
 their escape, and took up their quar- 
 ters in this garden, where they re- 
 mained till last year, when Mr. Wil- 
 liams shot one, 22 feet long. The 
 Valencians (who considered it a dainty) 
 obtained in a few moments, with their 
 knives, upwards of 20 lbs. of meat 
 from this monster. One of the old 
 ones still remains, and there are seve- 
 ral young ones, remnants, no doubt, 
 
 of the numerous broods of which the 
 winter has destroyed the greater part. 
 They feed on the rabbits and on any 
 unfortunate cat or dog who unwit- 
 tingly stray in to study botany. 
 
 Advancing to the Atocha gate, on 
 the eminence San Bias, the view over 
 Madrid is good ; here is the Campo 
 Santo or cemetery, and El Observatorio 
 Astronomico . The brick and granite 
 edifice with dome and porticos was built, 
 for Charles III. by Juan Villanueva. 
 To the S. is a Corinthian vestibule. 
 The observatory is designed to imitate 
 an Ionic temple. This building of 
 science was entirely gutted by the in- 
 vaders, who here mounted cannon 
 instead of telescopes. According to 
 their Brillat Savarin, that mortal who 
 discovers a new dish does more for 
 the happiness of mankind than he who 
 discovers a new star, for we have 
 enough of them already ; this gastro- 
 nomic aphorism Murat, who had been 
 a waiter in a restaurant, understood 
 and acted upon. Ferdinand VII. only 
 partially restored the ravages. The 
 thing remains most incomplete and un- 
 scientific; but most Spaniards want 
 money and time to attend to the stars, 
 and look more after jobs than planets. 
 Under the hill is the convent of Atocha , 
 founded in 1523 for Dominicans, by 
 Hurtado de Mendoza, confessor to 
 Charles V. It was enriched by a suc- 
 cession of pious princes, and mostly in 
 a period of vilest taste. The ceilings 
 were painted by L. Giordano, and the 
 chapels were filled with vessels of gold 
 and silver. These were desecrated 
 and pillaged by the invaders ; Ferdi- 
 nand VII., on his return, employed one 
 Isidro Velazquez (neither a saint nor 
 an artist) to rebuild it. 
 
 In the chapel is the celebrated 
 image of the Virgin, the patroness 
 of Madrid, and especial protectress 
 of the royal family, who always 
 worship it here every Saturday. 
 Thus Ferdinand VII., when he con- 
 spired against his parents, first bowed 
 down before it and craved assistance. 
 Again, when he was kidnapped by 
 Savary, before starting for Bayonne he 
 took the ribbon of the Immaculate 
 Conception off his breast and hung it 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — the virgin of atociia. 
 
 on hers. Again, after his restoration, 
 the first thing he did on reaching Ma- 
 drid was to kneel before the image, 
 and thank it for having interfered 
 and delivered him. So his ancestor 
 Alonso VI., in 1083, on the first recon- 
 quest of Madrid, laid his banner at her 
 feet. Here the royal family is mar- 
 ried, and, when a queen is in the 
 case, her wedding-dress becomes 
 a perquisite of this Virgin, as was ob- 
 served in the case of Isabel II., when 
 she was married after and therefore 
 not at the same time as her sister, “ pas 
 en meme temps/' as M. Guizot would 
 say : but he, posterity will say, did at 
 the same time thereby lose a character 
 to himself and a throne to his master. 
 Ferdinand has been laughed at by 
 those who know nothing of Spain and 
 Spaniards for having, during his cap- 
 tivity in France, embroidered for her 
 a petticoat (which he did not do, 
 although his uncle Antonio did). Con- 
 sidering the popular traditions and be- 
 lief, he could not have done a more 
 politic act, or one which would come 
 more home to the feelings of the masses 
 of the Mariolatrous Madrilenians, who 
 honoured a king the counterpart of 
 themselves. So before this local tute- 
 lar his widow Christina bowed, March 
 23, 1844, previously to entering Ma- 
 drid, after her return to Spain; not 
 so, however, at Barcelona, where she 
 prayed before S a Eulalia, the patroness 
 of that locality. This Virgin is the 
 royal mistress of the robes, and the 
 queen always gives her the dress she 
 wears at the feast of the Epiphany. 
 Isabel II. was on her way to this 
 shrine when she was stabbed by Me- 
 rino ; the dress, with the dagger breach 
 in it, went to swell the wardrobe of 
 the protecting image. 
 
 This Virgin ranks as third in holi- 
 ness of the many in Spain, and is only 
 preceded by those of Zaragoza and 
 Guadalupe. Volumes have been writ- 
 ten on it and its miracles ; consult, 
 besides the sonnets of Lope de Vega, 
 
 6 La Patrona de Madrid / Francisco de 
 Pereda, Duo Valladolid, 1604; * Histo- 
 ria de la Santa Imagen / Juan de Ma- 
 rieta, Mad. 1 604 ; Ditto, Juan Hurtado 
 Mendoza, 8vo. Mad. 1604; 4 Origen y 
 
 711 
 
 Antiguedadf Jeronimo de Quintana, 
 4to. Mad. 1637. 
 
 Some Spanish prelates contend that 
 this image was graven at Ephesus, 
 a.d. 470, during the Nestorian dis- 
 pute, and was inscribed fooroxoc, unde 
 Atocha . According to Villafane, it 
 
 was either carved or, at least, var- 
 nished by St. Luke, and certainly was 
 taken by Gregory the Great from 
 Antioch, unde Atocha. Others are 
 positive that St. Peter brought it with 
 him to Spain, and that it was here in the 
 time of the Goths, having been visited 
 by San Ildefonso ; again when the 
 Moors invaded the Castiles, one Garcia 
 Ramirez concealed it so well that he 
 could not find it again : whereupon the 
 image revealed itself in some Ballico or 
 ryegrass; or, according to others, in 
 some Atocha or bass-weed, whence the 
 name ; but see, on these disputed ques- 
 tions, Villafane, 4 Imagenes Aparecidasf 
 
 p. 126. 
 
 Ramirez built a hermitage on the 
 spot, and the Moors who endeavoured 
 to prevent him were struck blind. Vil- 
 lafane devotes thirty-three pages to its 
 miracles. It expelled a devil from a 
 boy named Bias, p. 97 (? Gil) ; gave 
 speech to a dumb beggar, who then 
 distinctly said 44 De me un cuarto” (p. 
 102); it raised a cobbler's son from 
 the dead (p. 103) ; it stopped a mason 
 mid-air, who was falling from a roof 
 (p. Ill, &c.), but this was a very com- 
 mon miracle in Spain in those times 
 (see Valencia, p. 379), as naturally 
 would be the case, since while con- 
 vents were being erected on every 
 side, such accidents must constantly 
 happen. The image is very black 
 and. old, but the petticoat is brilliant 
 and new; above the heavy altar are 
 hung banners of Spanish victories ; 
 while all around is a rag fair, from 
 the clothes, crutches, and the votive 
 tablets offered, as among the Pagans, 
 by the cured sick for her miraculous 
 intervention. 
 
 The other remarkable Pasos and 
 images at Madrid — not that they are 
 fine — are the Santo Cristo de la Lluvia, 
 kept in San Pedro, on its plaza; the/&mfo 
 Cristo de la Fe, in San Sebastian, Calle 
 Atocha ; the Santo Cristo de las Injur ias , 
 
712 
 
 MADRID — HOSPITALS. 
 
 Sect. XT, 
 
 in San Millan, Plazuela de la Cebada ; 
 the other Pasos or holy images brought 
 out at Easter in the streets, are kept 
 in San Juan de Dios, Plaza de Anton 
 Martin. Other Fasos are Nuestro Senor 
 de los Azotes, by Pedro Hermoso; 
 Nuestro Senor en el Sepulcro ; La Sole- 
 dad, by Becerra ; and Santo Tomas, by 
 Miguel Ribiales. The Cofradias or holy 
 confraternities instituted in honour of 
 the Virgin, and in order to light 
 candles to the Host, &c., are infinite. 
 
 Outside the Atocha gate is the sta- 
 tion of the rail to Aranjuez, and which 
 is to be carried on to V alencia and Ali- 
 cante. The line to Aranjuez — about 
 8 L. — begun in 1846, passes by Pinto, 
 and a branch is to be carried to Toledo 
 from Villa Seguilla : the line was in- 
 augurated, Feb. 9, 1851, the heretical 
 engines being first blessed by the Arch- 
 bishop of Toledo. 
 
 Continuing our circuit of the city 
 to the r., at the corner of the Calle de 
 Atocha, is the huge hospital called El 
 General, founded in 1582 by Philip II., 
 and removed here in 1748 by Ferdi- 
 nand VI. Adjoining is El Colegio de 
 San Carlos, founded in 1783 by Charles 
 III. as a college of surgeons. It has 
 an anatomical museum, and some wax 
 preparations chiefly relating to the 
 obstetric art. 
 
 Spanish hospitals, long most de- 
 ficient in improved medical appliances, 
 have recently been much improved ; 
 but the sanative science does not pro- 
 gress in proportion to the destructive, 
 for the punales of Alhacete are generally 
 more effective than the scalpels; but 
 at no period were native Spaniards 
 careful of their own lives, and much 
 less of those of others, being a people 
 of untender bowels. Familiarity with 
 pain deadens the finer feelings of those 
 employed even in our hospitals, for 
 those who live by the dead have only 
 an undertaker’s sympathy for the 
 living, and are as dull to the poetry 
 of innocent health as Mr. Giblet’s man 
 is to a sportive house-fed lamb. Matters 
 progress slowly in Spain, where the 
 wounds, blood, and death of the pas- 
 time bull-fight, the muera mob-cries, 
 and pasarle por las armas , the Draco 
 and Durango decrees, and practices of 
 
 all in power, have long educated all 
 sexes to indifference to blood, and the 
 fatal knife-stab, or surgeons’s cut, as 
 Cosas de Espana and things of course. 
 
 However, by way of compensation, 
 the saving the soul * has been made 
 just as primary a consideration in 
 Spain as the curing the body has been 
 in England. Here charms and amulets 
 represented our patent medicines ; and 
 the wonder is how any one in Great 
 Britain can be condemned to death in 
 this world, or how any one in the Pen- 
 insula can be doomed to perdition in 
 the next ; possibly the panaceas are 
 in neither case quite specific. Be that 
 as it may, how numerous and well ap- 
 pointed were the churches and convents 
 here compared to the hospitals, how 
 amply provided the Felicarios compared 
 to the Boticas and anatomical museums ! 
 again, what a flock of holy practi- 
 tioners came forth after a Castellano 
 rancio had been stabbed, starved, or 
 executed, not one of whom would have 
 stirred a step for any number of his 
 countrymen when alive ; and what 
 coppers are not now collected to pay 
 masses to get his soul out of purgatory ! 
 
 Although a change for the better 
 is coming over these things, beware, 
 nevertheless, gentle Protestant reader, 
 of dying in Spain, where there is 
 hardly snug lying for heretics ; and 
 for your life avoid being even sick at 
 Madrid, since if once handed over to 
 the Cirujanos latinos , or to the Ciru- 
 janos romancistas, make thy last testa- 
 ment forthwith, as, if the judgment 
 passed on their own doctors by Spa- 
 niards be true, Esculapius cannot save 
 thee from the crows. This low state 
 of medicine has, however, this good 
 effect, that it makes all prudent in- 
 valids shun the faculty, and conse- 
 quently many are rescued by the vis 
 medicatrix Naturae. Pass, therefore, 
 my dear countrymen, through the 
 Peninsula without making the ac- 
 quaintance of a single medical man, 
 
 * The preamble of the law {Recop., lib. iii., 
 tit. xvi., ley 3) expressly states that “ the chief 
 object in cases of sickness is to cure the soul,” 
 and every physician who fails after his first 
 visit to prescribe confession is liable to a fine 
 of 10,000 maravedis. 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — MEDICAL MEN. 
 
 713 
 
 which is not likely if health be at- 
 tended to, for in this land of anomalies 
 the soldier who sabres takes the highest 
 rank, and he who cures, the lowest; 
 here the M.D.s whom the infallible 
 Pope consults and the autocrat king 
 obeys, are admitted only into the sick 
 rooms of good company, which, when 
 well, shuts on them the door of their 
 saloons; but the excluded take their 
 revenge on those who morally cut 
 them, and Madrid is indeed la Corte de 
 la Muerte , the court of death and Pul- 
 monia. The ‘ Description’ of the Escorial 
 by Bermejo (p. 153) furnishes the 
 surest evidence of this, in the prema- 
 ture decease of royalty, which may be 
 expected to> have the best advice and 
 aid, both medical and theologico- 
 therapeutical, that the capital can 
 afford ; but brief is the royal span, 
 especially in the case of females and 
 infantes , and the result is undeniable 
 in these statistics of death ; the cause 
 lies between the climate and the doctor, 
 who, as they aid the other, may fairly 
 be left to settle the question of rela- 
 tive excellence between each other: 
 according to the proverb, their mere 
 feeling the patient’s pulse gives a hint 
 to prepare a gravestone — Tomarelpulso , 
 es pronosticar la loza. 
 
 In Spain, as in the East, all who 
 kill, soldiers excepted, are of low 
 caste, the butcher torero and public 
 executioner for example ; the medical 
 man is shunned, not only on this ac- 
 count, and because dangerous, like a 
 rattlesnake, but from prejudices which 
 the church, that abhors blood-shedding 
 and dissection, has always encouraged 
 against a rival profession, which, if 
 well received, might come in for some 
 share of the legacies and power-con- 
 ferring secrets, obtained easily at death- 
 beds when mind and body are deprived 
 of strength. Thus the universities, 
 governed by ecclesiastics, persuaded 
 the poor bigot Philip III. to pass a 
 law (‘ Recop. 1 lib. iii. tit. xvi. ley 9) 
 prohibiting the study of any new 
 system of medicine, and requiring 
 Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicena; 
 they scouted the exact sciences and 
 experimental philosophy, which, said 
 they, made every medical man a Ti- 
 
 berius “ circa Deos ac religiones negli- 
 gentior quippe addictus mathematicse ” 
 (Suet, in Vit. 69) ; and so they scared 
 the timid Ferdinand VII. in 1830, by 
 telling him that the schools of medi- 
 cine created materialists, heretics, and 
 revolutionists; thereupon the beloved 
 monarch shut up the lecture-rooms 
 forthwith. This low social position 
 is very classical: the physicians of 
 Rome, chiefly liberti , were only made 
 citizens by Ccesar, who wished to con- 
 ciliate these ministers of the Parcse 
 when the capital was wanting in popu- 
 lation after extreme emigrations (Suet, 
 in Vit. 42) : an act which may cut 
 two ways; thus Adrian YI. (tutor to 
 the Spanish Charles V.) approved of 
 there being 500 physicians in the 
 eternal city, because otherwise “the 
 multitude of living beings would eat 
 each other up.” However, when his 
 turn came to be diminished, the grate- 
 ful people serenaded his surgeon as 
 the “ deliverer of the country.” 
 
 In our days there was only one 
 medical man admitted by the sangre 
 su of Seville, when in rude and anti- 
 phlebotomical health ; and every 
 
 stranger was informed apologetically 
 by the noble amphitryons that the 
 M.D. was de casa conocida , or born of 
 a good family ; thus his social intro- 
 duction was owing to personal, not pro- 
 fessional qualifications. And while 
 
 adventurers of every kind are betitled, 
 the most prodigal dispenser of Spanish 
 honours never dreams of making his 
 doctor even a titulado , a rank ho- 
 vering between Lords and Commons ; 
 this aristocrat! cal ban confined doctors 
 much to each other’s society, which 
 was neither unpleasant nor dangerous, 
 as they never take each other’s physic, 
 for entre lobos no se come. At Seville 
 the medical tertulia was held at Cam- 
 pelos , Calle de San Pablo , and a sable 
 junta or consultation it was of birds of 
 bad omen, who croaked over the gene- 
 ral health with which the city was 
 afflicted, praying, like Sangrado in 
 ‘ Gil Bias,’ that by the blessing of 
 Providence much sickness might 
 speedily ensue. The crowded or de- 
 serted state of this rookery was the 
 surest evidence of the hygeian condi- 
 
714 
 
 MADRID THE MANZANARES. 
 
 Sect. XL 
 
 tion of the fair capital of Bsetica, and 
 one which we have often anxiously 
 inspected; for whatever be the plea- 
 santries of those in merry health, 
 when sickness brings in the doctor 
 all joking is at an end ; then he is 
 made much of even in Spain, from a 
 choice of evils, and for fear of the 
 confessor and undertaker. Spanish 
 doctors are generally well dressed, 
 partly to raise a despised profession, 
 partly to avoid causing sombre im- 
 pressions on the patient. Galen coun- 
 sels this cheerful exterior: a cada- 
 verous look and undertaker-pantaloons 
 are the harbingers of blue-devils and 
 death. For further medical details 
 see our 4 Gatherings * chap. xvii. 
 
 Turning S. towards the gate de los Em- 
 hajadores, we enter some bald Champs 
 Elysees-like avenues, modestly called 
 Las Delicias . Here is the Casino which 
 the Madrid municipality in former 
 days of unblushing jobbing gave to 
 Isabel La Portuguesa, the second and 
 best wife of Ferdinand VII. It is a 
 pretty plaything, with pleasant gar- 
 dens, hothouses, conservatories, sta- 
 tues, and a sort of Trianon, once nicely 
 fitted up ; the ceilings of the best rooms 
 are painted by Vicente Lopez. This 
 Casino is sometimes called Las Vacas , 
 “ the Cows/’ from her majesty’s dairy 
 here. 
 
 Three avenues now branch off from 
 the circular plantation above the Ca- 
 sino: the two W. lead to the Manza- 
 nares, the Thames of Madrid, and 
 termed by euphuists Visconde de Rios y 
 Duque de Arroyos; but the Madrile- 
 nian cockneys are called Ballenatos , 
 hijos de Ballena , because they took an 
 albarda or pack-saddle floating down 
 their noble river for a whale; in 
 reality the paltry streamlet, although 
 scarcely furnishing water for the wash- 
 erwomen, has also fed the dry humour 
 of Spanish wags and satirists from Que- 
 vedo, Gongora, and downwards for 
 some centuries. It is entitled a river 
 by courtesy, because it has bridges 
 — superfluous luxuries — which many 
 real simple streams in Spain have 
 not. The dilemma here has been whe- 
 ther to sell a bridge or buy water ; 
 but in this land of anomalies, rivers 
 
 often want water and bridges, while 
 bridges want water and rivers. These 
 enormous Puentes , about which there 
 is no mistake, are (as at Valencia) 
 not quite pontes asinorum, since they 
 serve as viaducts across the dip, and 
 sometimes the rain torrents descend 
 from the Guadarrama in such a body, 
 that even their gigantic piers are 
 threatened by the inundations; how- 
 ever, the deluge soon passes away, 
 spent in its own fury ; and whenever it 
 rains, the stranger should run quickly 
 down to see the river before it is gone. 
 In summer the rivulet is scarcely so 
 wide as its name is long, and they say 
 the bed was once watered when Ferd. 
 VII. passed it, to prevent his being 
 annoyed by the dust. The dry-shod, 
 foot-passenger during the dog days 
 almost crosses without knowing it, as 
 in Lucan (ix. 974) : — 
 
 “ Inscius in sicco serpentem pulvere rivum 
 
 Transierat, qui X an thus erat.” 
 
 Gongora, besides sundry profane and 
 scurvy jests, likened this river-god, 
 whose urn is so often dry, to the rich 
 man in flames calling for one drop of 
 water. Tirso de Molina’s epigram 
 compares it to the long vocations in 
 summer of universities: — 
 
 “ Como Alcala y Salamanca, 
 
 Tenets y no sots Colegio, 
 
 Vacaciones en Verano 
 Y cur so solo en InviernoL 
 
 The water of this anatomy, which 
 has the form of a river without the 
 circulation, is enticed into holes by 
 naiads, to whom are committed the 
 shirts and shifts, Los pahos menores 
 of Madrid; quos et venti subeunt et 
 aura?. The lavation, especially under 
 the royal palace by the tree-fringed 
 banks, is garrulous and picturesque, 
 for brightly do the parti-coloured gar- 
 ments glitter in the sun. There are 
 also some baths, in which the Mad - 
 rilenos in summer cool their parched 
 bodies. 
 
 The Manzanares rises about 7 L. 
 from Madrid, and enters the Jarama 
 near Vacia Madrid. Down stream E. 
 is the unfinished Canal, projected in 
 1668 to connect Madrid with the 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — SAN ISIDRO. 
 
 715 
 
 Tagus, which was begun, as usual, 
 eagerly, and, as usual, soon neglected, 
 and only 2 L. are finished. The stag- 
 nant waters are a reservoir of fever ; 
 thus becoming a curse, not a benefit, 
 and adding to the insalubrity of sickly 
 Madrid : there are a few buildings, and 
 also a chapel for pious bargemen who 
 bring lime to the capital, but wash 
 their own bodies less than the Eomans 
 and Horace did at the temple of Fe- 
 ronia of the Pomptine canal. Here 
 on Ash Wednesday the carnival is 
 closed by the burial of a Bardina ; al- 
 though this picturesque nationality 
 and irreverent caricature of a religi- 
 ous ceremony is voted just now to 
 be uncivilized ; but it is not to be put 
 down : the people, in the fun of pic- 
 nics, are not scandalised by the mock 
 funeral of a poor fish. 
 
 There are four bridges over the 
 Manzanares: one of wood at the ex- 
 treme E. end crosses over to the her- 
 mitage of Ban Isidro del Campo. The 
 grand pilgrimage and festival of this 
 revered rustic, this male patron of 
 Madrid takes place on May 15, and is 
 a truly national scene; here may be 
 studied most of the costumes, songs, 
 and dances of the provinces, as the 
 natives settled at Madrid congregate in 
 parties with true local spirit, each pre- 
 serving their own peculiarities. Booths 
 are erected, and eating-houses in which 
 the Gaita Gallega resounds with the 
 Guitar r a Andaluza; vast numbers of 
 the saints’ small pig-bells made of clay 
 are sold, as they avert lightning when 
 well rung ; this fair is to the Madri- 
 lenian what Greenwich is, on Easter 
 Monday, to the Cockney ; the holy ce- 
 remony, tis true, has degenerated into a 
 junket or a tomfoolery and St. Bartho- 
 lomew fair, but most classes refer to it 
 with pleasure in recollection of their 
 sweet days of youth, fun, and frolic. 
 N.B. Do not omit going there on 
 the Vispera or the afternoon of the 
 14th. By these and other melodrames 
 given gratis, in a poor land where 
 amusements are rare, the church main- 
 tained its popularity : labour was 
 
 gladdened by a holiday, which, while 
 it refreshed the body, combined religi- 
 ous consolation for the soul : but Chris- 
 
 tianity was thereby dwarfed into a su- 
 perstition and Paganism was virtually 
 revived, for it might be the festival of 
 Bacchus or of V enus ; but the stock 
 in trade of the old firm was soon taken 
 by the early Popes, and by these pil- 
 grimages of piety and fun, the infal- 
 lible Vatican rendered acts of devotion 
 sources of enjoyment to its believers ; 
 and their flocks, wedded to festivals 
 which suited themselves and their 
 climate, will long prefer them to the 
 dreary Sundays of our purer Pro- 
 testantism, which has no machinery 
 for canonizing white-bait; nay, our 
 Parliament contemplates the prohi- 
 bition of the profane use of these fishes 
 on the Sabbath. 
 
 San Isidro is a very different saint 
 from San Isidoro. The former (like 
 St. Cuthbert, the tutelar of Durham) 
 was a day-labourer, whence he is also 
 called el Labrador ; but, as Southey 
 says, “he was a good honest one, and 
 indebted for his apotheosis to the fables 
 which others have invented for him, 
 and not to any roguery of his own.” 
 See also the droll ballads of the Lau- 
 reate (‘Letters’ i. 191). The better 
 judgment of Paris was proved by the 
 French choice of the pretty St. Gene- 
 vieve for their pastoral patroness. 
 Isidro, instead of minding his plough, 
 passed his time in a siestose consi- 
 deration of the sainted namesake, 
 having been born on the very day 
 that San Isidoro’s body was removed 
 to Leon. Angels during his ecstacies 
 came down from heaven and did 
 his work for him, which well became 
 the saint of a people who like to call 
 upon Hercules to drag their carts out 
 of the mire, and who love to lean in 
 the hour of need and difficulty on any 
 divine or human help rather than on, 
 as the Duke said, “the simple per- 
 formance every man of his duty.” 
 Hence, among townsfolk whose idle 
 day is rounded by a sleep, this lazy 
 advocate of the do-nothing system is 
 truly popular, and he is the Madri- 
 lenian St. Monday. Some busybodies, 
 however, thought it hard that the 
 pious ploughman should be idling 
 while heavenly agents were labouring 
 for him — 
 
716 
 
 MADRID — SAN ISIDRO — MIRACLES. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 “ Es bueno Isidro que holgando 
 Esteys en el campo vos, 
 
 T los angeles de Dios 
 Esten por vos trabajando ? ” 
 
 Hence, say the chroniclers, the still 
 existing miraculous fertility of the 
 environs of Madrid. Philip III. having 
 been cured by touching his body, 
 obtained from the pope the canoniza- 
 tion of this tutelar ; on him Lope 
 de Vega edited a Justa Poetica , or 
 eulogistic joust, written by the leading 
 poets of the day, in which the miracles 
 of the ploughman are set forth in a 
 style more orthodox and serious than 
 in the ballads made by our Southey on 
 this worthy. Isidro, the son oilbn (the 
 son) de Vargas, was born in the tenth 
 century; he married Maria de la 
 Cabeza, a hind's daughter, and also a 
 saint ; but this breed of rustics has 
 become scarce near Madrid. His 
 miracles were agricultural ; thus he 
 found out water-springs, raised horses 
 from the dead; and grew corn, but 
 without ploughing ; and as he fed the 
 angelic host who came down to do his 
 work, his oil a also was miraculously 
 replenished. He appeared to Alonso 
 VIII., in the form of the peasant who 
 showed the path at las Navas de Tolosa 
 (p. 236). When Isabel la Catolica, having 
 been cured by his intervention, went 
 to pray at his tomb, one of her maids 
 of honour, kissing liis feet, bit off his 
 second toe as a relic, and forthwith 
 lost her powers of speech ; but on eject- 
 ing the mouthful miraculously and 
 mercifully recovered her pristine flu- 
 ency. The Spanish church quotes 
 San Isidro as proving their carriere 
 ouverte aux talens ; behold, say they, 
 a lowly labourer rising to be the tute- 
 lar even of Madrid, donde esta la no- 
 blezadel mundo. The miracles he every 
 day works are so astounding that it 
 is a miracle how anybody can ever die 
 at all at Madrid, which they do, como 
 chinches. The body of this ploughboy 
 was often placed on the sick bed of the 
 king, when Sir Henry Halford would 
 have prescribed a warming-pan or a 
 blister ; but the natural and medicinal 
 history of relics is too authentic and 
 too clearly understood to require being 
 enlarged on. 
 
 Meanwhile as the pagans wor- 
 shipped St. Triptolemus because he 
 invented the plough, so the Madri- 
 lenians adore S n - Isidro because he 
 superseded its use : compare the holy 
 father Matias and his self-acting mira- 
 culous cuisine at Salamanca. But the 
 standing miracle is, how, with these 
 supernatural assistances, the agricul- 
 ture near Madrid and the cookery at 
 Salamanca should in reality be just 
 the worst in the world. The pagans, 
 instead of S n - Isidro, had their St. Ro- 
 bigo, and celebrated his fiesta on the 
 7th calends of May, not on the 15th, 
 as at present, but spring time was the 
 necessary season, and a few days sooner 
 or later made no difference. The 
 tutelar was feted, and his priests were 
 paid in order to secure success to the 
 corn and drive away blight, the anublo : 
 aspera Rubigo parcas cerealibus herbis 
 (Ovid, ‘ Fast * iv. 9 1 1 ; and see Pliny, 
 ‘ N. H.* xviii. 29). The dancings in 
 honour of the wife of S n - Isidro are the 
 exact ambervalia of the Georgies (i. 
 343). And, as now at Madrid, these 
 holidays were celebrated outside the 
 city, on the Via Nomentana, for the 
 convenience of the Pagani or villagers. 
 
 Those who wish to know San Isidro's 
 authentic history, as authorised by the 
 church, are referred, in addition to 
 Ribadeneyra (ii. 81), to his biography 
 by Alonso de Villegas, 8vo. Mad. 
 1592; ‘ San Isidro,' L. de Vega, duo 
 Mad. 1613; 6 Pelacion de las Fiestas 
 &c. ; ditto, 8vo. Mad. 1622; also to 
 the work of Jaime Bleda, 4to. Mad. 
 1622; 4 Vida y Milagros,’ &c., Juan 
 Diacona, 4toMad. 1622; ditto, Reginal 
 Poe, Perpihan, 1627 ; ditto, Gregorio 
 Argaiz, fol. Mad. 1671. These works 
 are Spanish classics, which few private 
 families can do without. 
 
 Returning to the Manzanares, pass, 
 without crossing it, the bridge via- 
 duct FI Puente de Toledo , which was 
 built in 1735 by Philip V., and is 385 
 ft. long by 36 wide. Nothing can be 
 in worse taste, although San Isidro 
 and his wife adorn the scene, looking 
 out for water. The city gate above 
 was begun in 1813 by the Madrid mu- 
 nicipality, and finished in 1827 by An- 
 tonio Aguado, in honour of Ferdinand 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID LA FLORIDA. 
 
 717 
 
 VII. ’s return and the extermination of 
 the French usurpation by the Spanish 
 armies. Here the public executions 
 take place, and generally by the garrote, 
 a sort of strangling-machine based on 
 the Oriental bowstring. The new Eng- 
 lish burial ground lies near here, on 
 the way to Caravan chel. As a more 
 agreeable spectacle, the artist and 
 lover of picturesque peasantry should 
 visit this gate early in the morning, 
 and sketch the groups of market- 
 people, their wares and beasts, who 
 congregate around, awaiting the open- 
 ing of the gate§ : how they used to 
 execrate the ceremony of the derecho 
 de Puertas, the old Sisa, and how their 
 splendid bile at the Resguardos gave 
 animation to their eyes and gestures. 
 
 The next bridge, that de Segovia , 
 was designed for Philip II. by Herrera, 
 and is also a huge viaduct, being 695 
 feet long, 31 wide. The accumulated 
 sands injure its fine proportions. The 
 truly royal palace rising abo^e now 
 sparkles like white marble backed 
 by the clear blue sky. The decli- 
 vities and ragged bare slopes below, 
 long left in a most unseemly neglect, 
 waiting for San Isidro, might, as we 
 suggested ten years ago, easily be le- 
 velled and terraced by mortal navvies 
 into hanging gardens : this good work 
 has at last been begun, and when 
 finished, the approach will be really 
 magnificent. 
 
 To the 1. are the enclosures of the 
 Casa del Campo , a shooting-box of 
 Charles III., and connected with the 
 palace by a bridge and a tunnel, not 
 quite equal to that under the Thames. 
 The house and gardens were ravaged 
 by the invaders, but they were restored 
 by Christina, who here formed a 
 model farm. The gardens are well 
 supplied with water, and there is a 
 beautiful Italian marble fountain. 
 Here horse and hurdle races are given, 
 where the Queen’s plate was bravely 
 ridden for by the descendants of the 
 iron Alvas and of the good Guzmans, 
 equipped like Derby jockeys ; but the 
 equitation is somewhat inferior to 
 the riding at Epsom. 
 
 Crossing the Manzanares are the 
 avenues and the La Florida , planted 
 
 lines which continue on the road to the 
 Escorial, and were a very fashionable 
 promenade in the reign of Charles III. 
 Those who like to walk out to the 
 Hermitage of San Antonio will see 
 some of his miracles painted by Goya, 
 and some tawdry frescoes by the feeble 
 Maella. Another walk ascends to the 
 r. to San Bernardino arid hence to the 
 gate of Fuencarral, outside of which 
 is a cemetery. The planted avenues 
 are carried round the shabby walls to 
 the Prado by the gates San Fernando, 
 Santa Barbara, and Los Recoletos, 
 where a fountain, La Castellana i has 
 been raised in commemoration of the 
 national allegiance to Isabel II. The 
 space has been laid out in walks and 
 gardens, and a new Paseo is in con- 
 templation, to be called de la Lnde- 
 pendencia , which is to occupy the site 
 of the convent de Recoletos . 
 
 The better plan to avoid this dull 
 walk is to turn out of the Florida at 
 the gate San Vicente, and ascend to 
 the palace. Entering at the Portillo , 
 to the 1. is the huge Seminario de 
 Nobles , built in 1725 by Philip V., in 
 the hope that his nobility might be 
 better instructed ; but his countrymen 
 the invaders converted the school into a 
 barrack. Close by is the fine resi- 
 dence of the Alva family, built by 
 Rodriguez, but injured by frequent 
 fires, and especially by that in 1841. 
 Here was the Correggio Venus teach- 
 ing Cupid, which once belonged to our 
 Charles I. “ Collected” by Murat, 
 it was sold by his widow to Lord 
 Londonderry, and now again has found 
 its way back to London. Among the 
 best pictures which we saw here, was 
 a portrait of Columbus, in crimson 
 flowered with gold ; observe the Mary 
 Queen of Scots: the great Alva, by 
 Titian : a landskip and battle of 
 Amazons, Rubens : a fine boy in red 
 velvet, Velazquez : a splendid S. Rosa : 
 a Last Supper : and Cupid and a Lion, 
 Titian : Moncada on horseback, Van- 
 dyke, very fine: it is engraved by R. 
 Morghen : a Storm, Beerstraten, 1649 : 
 Herodias with the head of St. John, 
 Guido : and a noble Florentine cartoon 
 of the Virgin and Child. The univer- 
 sity moved from time-honoured Alcala 
 
718 
 
 MADRID — THE PALACE. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 to Madrid, much as if Oxford had 
 been transported to Gower Street, is 
 placed in the Calle Ancha de San Ber- 
 nardo : here are some splendid carvings 
 (see p. 709). 
 
 Thence to the royal palace, which 
 certainly is one of the most magni- 
 ficent in the world. It has two open 
 plazas : that to the E., del Oriente , was 
 begun by Joseph, as a sort of Place de 
 Carousel ; but the invaders having de- 
 molished eighty-seven houses, just left 
 the space a desert of dust and glare, 
 and impassable in the dog-days. Fer- 
 dinand VIL removed the ruins, had 
 the locality levelled, and commenced 
 a magnificent theatre and colonnade. 
 The site, indeed, was handy to the royal 
 residence ; but by no means so for the 
 citizens in general, as the plaza is in 
 a distant angle of the town. The 
 theatre was built in equal defiance of 
 economy and a good plan. It has been 
 likened to the back of a dress-coat. 
 There is a fine-ball room inside, and 
 here the national cortes long sat, and 
 now, during winters, a tolerable Italian 
 company performs. Although not 
 good for sound and hearing, the in- 
 terior is handsome ; the crimson lining 
 of the boxes decorated in white and 
 gold, sets off the dark sex. The 
 Bwtacas or stalls are comfortable. 
 Public balls and carnival masque- 
 rades are given in this theatre. The 
 gardens with royal statues, &c., were 
 finished by A. G. Arguelles. 
 
 In the centre of a circular garden 
 is one of the finest equestrian statues 
 in the world, which was moved in 1844 
 from the Buen Retiro gardens. It re- 
 presents Philip IV. mounted on his war 
 charger, witching the world with noble 
 horsemanship, and seen as became a 
 king, who was pronounced by the Duke 
 of Newcastle, an equestrian authority, 
 to be “ absolutely the best horseman 
 in Spain.” This grand monument is 
 in fact a solid Velazquez. Montahes 
 carved the model in wood, while the 
 bronze was cast at Florence in 1640, 
 by Pedro Tacca. See the inscription 
 on the saddle girth. It is 19 feet high, 
 and weighs 180 cwt., yet the horse 
 curvets, supported by the hind legs, 
 and the mane and scarf absolutely float 
 
 in air ; the great Galileo, it is said, 
 having suggested the means by which 
 the balance is preserved. As this fine 
 thing was comparatively lost in the 
 Retiro , it was often before proposed 
 to move it into Madrid; but the 
 Minister Grimaldi declared that to be 
 too great an honour for any Austrian 
 king, and protested that he would only 
 consent if the head of Philip were cut 
 off, and the baboon, Bourbon one of 
 Charles III. substituted — a pantomi- 
 mic change worthy of the greater 
 clown, Grimaldi. But so Caligula 
 wished to put his own hideous head 
 on a Jupiter by Phidias (Suet. 22) ; 
 so the toady Claudius cut the head of 
 Alexander from a picture of Apelles 
 to substitute that of Augustus (Pliny, 
 xxxv. 2). 
 
 At No. 4 in this plaza are the Mu- 
 seums of Mineralogy and of Anti- 
 quities. 
 
 The emphatic feature is the Royal 
 Palace : colossal in scale, it does not 
 quite satisfy when nearly approached 
 and examined. The square port-holes 
 of the entresuelos or entresols, (those 
 mezzanini of Borromini, the corruptor 
 of architecture), and the irregular, un- 
 sightly chimney-pots mar the eleva- 
 tion, and the general untidy, unfinished 
 character is unsatisfactory ; were it 
 not that here is the premier’s office, 
 the palace would have the deserted 
 look of our uninhabited St. James, 
 but the throng of pretendientes , em- 
 pleados , ces antes, ojaleteros , y demas 
 pordioseros, gives life to the scene. 
 This edifice occupies the site, some 
 say, of the original outpost Alcazar 
 of the Moors, which Enrique IV. 
 made his residence. This was burnt 
 down on Christmas-eve, 1734, when 
 Philip V. determined to rebuild a 
 rival to Versailles, and Felipe de Ju- 
 bara, a Sicilian, prepared the model 
 (see p. 680). The architect judiciously 
 wished to change the site for the San 
 Bernardino hill, but Elizabeth Far- 
 nese, the queen, whose ambition it was 
 to advance her children, grudged the 
 expense, and combined en camarilla 
 with the minister Patino ; so many 
 difficulties were made, that Jubara 
 died of hope deferred. Philip then 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — THE PALACE. 
 
 719 
 
 directed Juan Bautisti Sachetti, of 
 Turin, to prepare a smaller and less 
 expensive plan, which, the queen not 
 objecting, was adopted, April 7, 1737. 
 
 It is a square of 470 feet each way, 
 by 100 feet high, hut the wings and the 
 hanging gardens are unfinished. The 
 rustic base is of granite ; the window- 
 work of white stone of Columnar, which 
 in the bright sun glitters as a fair pa- 
 lace of marble. Visit it also at moon- 
 light, when, in the silent death-like 
 loneliness, the pile looms like a ghostly 
 thing of the enchanter, or a castle of 
 snow. On the heavy balustrade above 
 stood a series of heavier royal statues, 
 which were taken down and sent to 
 Toledo and Burgos, or buried in the 
 vaults, from whence some have been 
 taken out to adorn the Plaza del Ori- 
 ente. The principal entrance is to the 
 S., and disappoints ; it leads into a 
 huge patio of some 240 feet square, 
 with a glazed upper gallery like a 
 manufactory. Between the arches are 
 several bad statues by de Castro, Oli- 
 vieri, &c., of Spanish Roman emperors 
 — Trajan, Adrian, Honorius, and 
 Theodosius. The bewigged smirking 
 statue of the baboon-faced Charles III. 
 is no better ; it disfigures the grand 
 staircase, which is noble in design and 
 easy of ascent ; but, as in some other 
 palaces, V escalier derobe , the back 
 staircase , is the most frequented. It is 
 said, when Buonaparte ascended these 
 stately steps, that he told his brother 
 Joseph, “ Vous serez mieux loge que 
 moi.” He laid his hand on one of the 
 white marble lions, exclaiming, “ Je 
 la tiens enfin, cette Espagne, si de- 
 siree ! ” So spake Csesar on landing, 
 “ Teneo te, Africa ! ” But the French, 
 like the Romans, at last discovered 
 that Spain is a morsel easier to be 
 swallowed than digested : “ Plus est 
 provinciam retinere quam facere.” 
 (Florus, ii. 17. 8). The Duke short- 
 ened poor Pepe’s tenure: he entered 
 Madrid in triumph after the victory of 
 Salamanca, on the 12th of August, 
 1812, and was lodged in this palace. 
 “ It is impossible,” wrote he from it, 
 “ to describe the joy manifested by 
 the inhabitants upon our arrival, or 
 their detestation of the French yoke.” 
 
 That yoke, removed by a stranger, 
 was replaced by the orgullo Espahol of 
 a native, by Ballesteros ! (See p. 354.) 
 
 Few things can be more tiresome than 
 a foreign palace, a house of velvet, ta- 
 pestry, gold, lords of the bedchamber, 
 and bore. Yet this is a truly royal resi- 
 dence, in which the most precious mar- 
 bles are used prodigally in floorings 
 and doorways. The multitudinous 
 French clocks were the especial hobby 
 of Ferdinand VII. On these walls 
 hung those glorious pictures, now in 
 the Museo, which that monarch ejected 
 to hang up French papers. The vaults 
 and store-rooms were filled with fine old 
 furniture; but since his death a gigan- 
 tic removal has, it is said, gone on as 
 regards jewels and every thing of port- 
 able value. The chief saloon is called 
 de los Ernbaj adores, or the Reception or 
 Throne room, and its decorations are 
 indeed most princely ; the crystal chan- 
 deliers, colossal looking-glasses, cast 
 at San Ildefonso, the marble tables, 
 crimsons and gildings, will enchant 
 lovers of royal magnificence. Here 
 the sovereigns of the Spains receive 
 on grand occasions, when alive, and 
 when dead are laid out in state. There 
 we beheld the “ beloved ” Ferdinand 
 VII., dead and dressed in full uniform, 
 with a cocked hat on his head, and 
 his stick in his hand, his face, hideous 
 in life, now purple like a ripe fig, was 
 fearful to behold. 
 
 The ceiling is painted by Tiepolo, 
 with the “ Majesty of Spain,” the vir- 
 tues of the kings, and the people in 
 the different costumes of the provinces. 
 Mellado (p. 36) lauds these sublimes 
 rasgos , de sublimes ingenios ; certainly, 
 being on ceilings, they are so far sub- 
 lime, but it is only the sublime of me- 
 diocrity, and the Spanish genii, or 
 geniuses, were Conrado, Mengs, Tie- 
 polo, Maella, Bayeu, Velazquez (no 
 relation to the Man), de Castro, and 
 Lopez, with some modern rubbish by 
 Madrazo and Co. The most admired 
 ceilings are the apotheosis of Trajan 
 and the Aurora, in the 21st room, 
 by Mengs ; this reviver of fresco, and 
 the man a la mode of his day, has 
 now sunk lower than he deserves ; 
 but oil-painting he could not revive 
 
720 
 
 MADRID — THE PALACE. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 from the leaden drowsiness in which 
 it lay : so says Wilkie. There is a 4to. 
 description of these frescoes by Fran- 
 cisco Fabre, Mad., 1829. These feeble 
 attempts to unite the excellencies of 
 antique sculpture and modern-school 
 painting in what the Day ids call “ le 
 beau style ” are inexpressibly bald, 
 wearisome and uninteresting. 
 
 Visit the Gabinete fitted up with 
 china. There are fine specimens of the 
 Capo di Monte ware, when Charles III. 
 brought that manufacture to Madrid 
 from Naples. 
 
 The views from the windows which 
 overlook the river are true landskips 
 of the Castilian school ; the slopes un- 
 der the royal eye, long left in rugged 
 ragged mangy deformity, are now 
 being levelled or terraced ; how the 
 magic wand of the Moor would have 
 clothed the waste with flowers and 
 verdure, and raised hanging gardens 
 and fountains, in imitation of those on 
 the declivity of the Alhambra, which 
 although artificial, rival nature herself. 
 How long all remained abandoned 
 under the Gotho -Spaniard ! below 
 trickles the Manzanares with its great 
 name and scanty stream : beyond 
 stretch the ragged woods of the Casa 
 del Campo, and then the hopeless tawny 
 steppes, bounded by the icy Guadar- 
 rama, whose sharp outline cuts the 
 bright sky, and whose snowy heights 
 freeze the gale ; all is harsh and torrid, 
 colourless and blanched, but yet not 
 devoid of a certain savage grandeur. 
 
 The Bibliotheca de Camara is one of 
 the many treasures buried in Spanish 
 napkins, and which are virtually 
 closed to foreign enterprise. Here are 
 left to the worms some 100,000 vo- 
 lumes. N.B. The MSS. of Gondomar 
 call loudly for an English editor (see 
 for particulars, p. 581). It cannot be 
 expected that any Spaniard, even if so 
 inclined, could know what to select. 
 
 The royal chapel lies to the N., and 
 is on a level with the state-rooms. 
 It is still splendid, although plun- 
 dered in 1808 by Gen. Belliard, who 
 carried off the pictures painted for 
 Philip II. by Michael Coxis : this 
 general, from having been governor 
 of Brussels, and knowing their local 
 
 value, sent his spoil there to be 
 sold. The order is Corinthian, the 
 marbles rich, the stucco gilt. The 
 ceiling was painted by Giaquinto. 
 Here figure San Isidro, the tutelar of 
 Madrid, and Santiago, the patron of 
 Spain ; there is some fine tapestry, 
 which is hung up_ on grand festivals. 
 The foundations only of a larger chapel 
 are laid. Those who are fond of re- 
 lics of saints, & c., may look at the 
 show exhibited here. 
 
 The traveller should visit the site 
 of the night attack of Oct. 7, 1841, 
 when the Gallo - Christinos endea- 
 voured to carry off the young queen. 
 The plot, planned at Paris, was headed 
 by Pezuela, and Concha the brother- 
 in-law of Espartero; this leader, 
 when his scheme failed, ran away and 
 hid himself under one of the bridges 
 of the Manzanares, while Diego Leon, 
 a brave sabreur and his tool, was 
 taken and executed. The regent par- 
 doned the other criminals, who repaid 
 him by conspiring to his ruin ; nay, 
 Concha hunted his benefactor even to 
 the bay of Cadiz, and, had he caught 
 him, assuredly would not have saved 
 him from death. The regiment de 
 la Princesa fired all night at the hand- 
 ful of Alabarderos . The magniloquent 
 Spanish was unequal to do justice to 
 the prodigios de valor ; indeed four 
 men were killed and wounded be- 
 tween them, and Col. Dulce, who 
 beat back the conspirators, was turned 
 out of his place by Christina. The 
 palace, from standing on an emi- 
 nence exposed directly to the winds 
 from the snowy Guadarrama, is so 
 bitter cold in winter that the sen- 
 tinels are constantly frozen to death. 
 
 Now visit La Peal Cochera and Las 
 Caballerizas . These enormous coach- 
 houses and stables lie to the N.E. : the 
 latter, were once filled with the mules 
 and horses which conveyed the kings to 
 their daily shootings. This antedilu- 
 vian museum contains carriages of all 
 forms and ages, from the cumbrous 
 state-coach to the Cupid-bedizened 
 car, from the oldest coche de colleras to 
 the newest dquipage de Paris and the 
 last hearse. The hearse made by the 
 Bluebeard Ferd. VII. for his royal 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID PUBLIC LIBRARY. 
 
 721 
 
 wives was found when he died to be 
 too small for his larger coffin, and no- 
 thing, as usual, being ready, a coche de 
 colleras was taken. The front windows 
 were removed, out of which stuck the 
 foot of the coffin, and a mayoral and 
 zcigal , dressed in the common calesero 
 costume, drove it, swearing as usual. 
 They tied up their cloaks and bundles 
 to the holders behind, and so jogged 
 on, smoking their papelitos , to the 
 Escorial, the empty hearse following 
 them, for the sake of company and 
 propriety. Monks on sorry hacks led 
 the way, then followed a few ill- 
 appointed soldiers and grandees (one, 
 the first pimp to his late majesty, 
 riding close to the coffin), whose nether 
 man was clothed in undertaker black 
 trousers, and upper man in embroi- 
 dered coats, like Lord Mayor’s foot- 
 men. Thus we beheld the beloved 
 Ferdinand conveyed to his last home. 
 But public ceremonials in Spain are 
 positively shabby compared to those 
 in England or France ; and so it 
 always was (Justin, xliv. 2). So 
 Philip III. was buried with fort petite 
 ceremonie, and his son’s procession was 
 made 44 en grande magnificence pour 
 Madrid, mais qui n’esgale point les 
 moindres de celles que l’on fait en 
 France as wrote Bassompiere to 
 Henri IV., May 16, 1621. 
 
 The Biblioteca National is placed at 
 the comer of the Calle de la Bola, on 
 the Plaza del Oriente, in a house which 
 once belonged to the Alcahices family, 
 but the handsome fittings up of walnut 
 and gilt capitals were put in by Godoy. 
 It contains about 200,000 volumes, is 
 open from ten until three, and is very 
 well conducted, and the cool and quiet 
 is truly refreshing after the dust and 
 glare of the Plaza. It is rich in Spa- 
 nish literature, especially theology and 
 topography, and possesses some cameos, 
 antiquities, and curious MSS. This 
 library has been much increased, nu- 
 merically, since the suppression of con- 
 vents: the accession, however, has 
 been rather in works of supereroga- 
 tion, ancient books, and monkish lore, 
 and good modern books are here, as in 
 most other Spanish libraries, the things 
 needful * t but want of funds* as. usual, is 
 
 the cause, if indeed a real reading 
 public did exist here. This library 
 is well managed, and the Empleados 
 are civil and attentive. In La Bala 
 del Trono are the coins and medals, 
 which exceed 150,000 in number, and 
 contain very curious specimens of the 
 early Spanish, Gothic, and Moorish 
 mints. Numismatic science is of Spa- 
 nish origin, as Alonso V. of Arragon, 
 in the 1 5th century, was the first col- 
 lector for pleasure, as Antonio Agustin, 
 archb. of 7'arragona, was the first for 
 science, and his work 4 Dialogos de las 
 Medallas Tarragona, 1587, has been 
 the model of most others published 
 since: the edition of Andres G. de 
 Barcia Carballido, 4to., Mad., 1744, 
 has a portrait of the prelate. 
 
 Coined money did not exist among 
 the aboriginal Iberians, but was first 
 introduced by the Carthaginians to 
 pay their mercenary Celtiberian troops, 
 who would not take the 44 leather bank- 
 notes ” of Carthage. Murcia and Ero- 
 tica were mints to the Carthaginians, 
 as Sicily had been before, and hence 
 the quantity of coin still found in these 
 provinces. Under the Romans more 
 than 1 00 cities between Cadiz and Tar- 
 ragona had the privilege of a mint, but 
 no gold was ever struck, as the people 
 w^ere too poor to require that precious 
 metal : to coin even silver was a pre- 
 rogative of the Roman governors, and 
 the subjected Iberians only struck 
 copper. Silver was current in bars as 
 well as coin, and this distinction 
 always occurs in the accounts of the 
 enormous plunder sent to Rome, which 
 was remitted in silver either s vna-Hftov 
 or 66cr'/i/u,xvrov (App. 4 B. H.’ 448), terms 
 that the Romans rendered by either 
 Argentum infectum , unwrought bars or 
 ingots, or Bigatum, coins stamped with 
 the Big a or two-horsed chariot. The 
 generic phrase for Spanish coined 
 money was Argentum oscense , Signatum 
 oscense (see Livy, xxxiv. 46 ; xl. 43, 
 et passim). This epithet has by some 
 been interpreted as referring to the 
 particular mint of Osca , but Florez, 
 
 4 Med.’ ii. 520, justly pointed out the im- 
 possibility of one place supplying such 
 enormous quantities, and suggested the 
 true meaning of Oscensis to be Oscan or 
 
722 
 
 MADRID — COINS — THE ARMERIA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Spanish, that word being a corruption 
 of Eus cam, the national name, whence 
 the still existing term Basque. The 
 Iberians broke off pieces of silver bars 
 (Strabo iii. 233), which represented 
 the value of the weight of the frag- 
 ment ; this custom long prevailed 
 among modern Spaniards, who term 
 such fractions Macuquinos, and they 
 are still current. The coins struck by 
 the Romans were frequently bilingual ; 
 having legends in the Latin and Iberian 
 character, just as the paper money in 
 Austria is inscribed in the idioms of 
 those among whom it is to be current. 
 The latter character, from its arrow- 
 headed cuneiform letters, has been sup- 
 posed to be the old Punic, and many 
 Spaniards have attempted to decyper 
 and interpret the writing, which each 
 author reads quite legibly as he does 
 Hebrew, Phoenician, or Basque, in- 
 terpreting all according to his 
 crotchet and the key that he pre- 
 fers; but Wm. von Humboldt justly 
 deems all these conjectures to be wild 
 and incorrect. He arrived after much 
 labour to the conclusion that the whole 
 secret has yet to be solved. The early 
 copper coinage is much ruder than the 
 silver, but both continued to be current 
 among the Goths until 56 7, when Liuva 
 commenced a still ruder substitute, 
 which was used unchanged in form or 
 execution down to Roderick the last of 
 the race ; the Gothic coins are small 
 and thin, with the head seen in full 
 face. For all details consult the ad- 
 mirable Medullas of Florez. 
 
 The Moorish coinage in gold, silver, 
 and copper is much neater and sharper. 
 The coins are very thin, and are struck 
 out of such pure metal, that they bend 
 easily on pressure. They are inscribed 
 with Arabic characters, which gene- 
 rally denote the name of the petty 
 prince and the place of the mint. This 
 branch of the Madrid collection has 
 been admirably and scientifically ar- 
 ranged by Gayangos, and is probably 
 the only place in Europe where the 
 subject can be fully understood ; not 
 that the superscriptions possess much 
 interest, being for the most part the 
 monotonous records of obscure sheiks. 
 
 Now return to the S. fayade of the 
 
 palace, and visit La Armeria Real, 
 which is one of the finest armouries in 
 the world. It is open on Saturdays 
 from 1 to 3, and on other days to 
 foreigners on showing their passports ; 
 it is, however, as well to procure a 
 permiso, or an esquelct, to see it, from 
 the director de Reales Caballerizas, or 
 Master of the Horse. The noble 
 gallery, which fronts the S. side of 
 the palace, is 227 ft. long by 36 wide: 
 it was built in 1565 by Gaspar de la 
 Vega, for Philip II., when he removed 
 the royal armoury from Valladolid. 
 This, as it really contains weapons of 
 all kinds, is a double curiosity, being 
 the best provided arsenal in the land, al- 
 though, as in other matters, the modern 
 implements are somewhat behind those 
 used by more advanced nations. This 
 is, moreover, the finest ancient armoury 
 in Spain, for many of the others were 
 gutted by the people in 1808, when 
 they rose against the French ; as the 
 national arsenals then contained no- 
 thing, nor had the Government means 
 or inclination to procure weapons, 
 it confided in Santa Teresa, and 
 the triple defence of a good cause, — 
 thrice is he armed who has his quarrel 
 just. But the less poetical people, 
 before muskets were forwarded from 
 England, broke open the existing 
 armouries, and thus were equipped 
 with the identical weapons with which 
 their ancestors had fought against their 
 infidel invader. So the Romans were 
 armed after the defeat at Joannee (Val. 
 Max. vii. 6). The few armouries, 
 ancient or modern, that escaped the 
 patriots, were plundered by the in- 
 vaders ; and even in this collection, 
 almost everthing of gold and silver, 
 not stolen by them, has since been 
 weeded out by Spaniards ; all precious 
 stones were especially picked out. 
 
 In this armeria there exists a MS. 
 catalogue of the time of Philip II., 
 with drawings, and a poor catalogue 
 was published in 1793 by Ignacio 
 Abadia; and a fine French work, 
 with engravings, by Gaspar Sensi, 
 at Paris, 1838, with a letterpress by 
 one Jubinal , full of inaccuracies. 
 Amateurs should by all means buy the 
 excellent new Catalogo of 1849, both 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — ARMERIA. 
 
 723 
 
 as a guide here and for their libraries 
 at home ; the work originated with this 
 same Sensi, who prepared an inven- 
 tory, and the MS. is in the Armeria. A 
 commission was appointed to see this 
 properly published, but little was done, 
 as the MS. was too long; it at last 
 was given to M. de Romero to abridge, 
 Marquesi , the director, being profound! y 
 ignorant of the whole subject. Cosas 
 de Espana. It is a trifle technical ; 
 the Arabic inscriptions were trans- 
 lated by the accurate Gayangos ; the 
 glossary will be found useful, and the 
 marks or monograms used by the best 
 armourists are cited and engraved. 
 
 The first entrance is very striking, 
 and worthy of this land of the Cid and 
 chivalry, it carries one back to the 
 heroic age of Spain. Here are the 
 swords of her noblest champions, the 
 helmets fof her wisest, and the breast- 
 plates under which her greatest hearts 
 beat. How these silent records realise 
 history ; what a contrast of the glorious 
 past with the present miserable hope- 
 less degradation ! All down the middle 
 of the saloon are drawn up equestrian 
 figures, while armed knights stand 
 against the walls, surrounded in every 
 direction with implements of war and 
 tournament. Above hang banners 
 taken from the enemy, while the walls 
 are lined with coats of armour ; but a 
 Meyrick and Scriblerus would grieve 
 at the over-bright polish, for the busy 
 Fregatriz of the Museo (No. 1294) has 
 been here, and mistaking the dry rust- 
 less climate of Castile for her own 
 Dutch damp land, has been eager to 
 scrub off with pumice and emery the 
 respectable aerugo. The Madrid Mu- 
 rillos are scarcely more overcleaned by 
 the directors and their myrmidons than 
 these fine relics have been by the active 
 armourist Zuloaga and his vulcans. 
 
 The finest armour is foreign, Ger- 
 man and Italian. One specimen, 557, 
 is inscribed, “ Desiderio Colman Cays : 
 May : Harnashmagher ausgemacht in 
 Augusta den 15 Aprilis, 1552,” by this 
 Colman also is 2433, a black and gold 
 helmet, dated 1550. The armour 
 of Philip II., when prince, has the 
 arms of England engraved on it, in 
 an escutcheon of pretence for his wife, 
 
 our Mary. The so-called armour of 
 Philip of Burgundy is inscribed “ Phi- 
 lippus Jacobi et frater Negroli facie- 
 bant.” Toledo furnished blades of the 
 finest temper; but the most highly- 
 wrought artistical armour came from 
 Augsburg and Milan. (See i Don Quix- 
 ote’ i. 39 ; Juan de Mena, copla 180.) 
 Observe all the chased shields of these 
 fine Milan artists, especially 990 and 
 1666, with head of Minerva; and 
 2316, a portion of a helmet. A most 
 elegant steel gun, 2319, is inscribed 
 “ Hizome en Ricla, Christobal Fris- 
 leva, aho 1565.” Here, as was the 
 case at our Tower, much nonsense 
 is repeated by rote by the keeper re- 
 garding sundry helmets of Hannibal 
 and Julius Csesar : the latter one is evi- 
 dently Italian, and of the 16th century. 
 The armour of the Cid is probably 
 fictitious ; so, probably, is his saddle, 
 No. 2311; and so, we fear, is his 
 sword, Colada, 1727. If the suit said 
 to have been worn by Isabella at the 
 siege of Granada, and with the mono- 
 gram Isabel worked on the vizor, is au- 
 thentic she must have been a portly 
 dame. More probably it belonged to 
 the husband of Isabel, daughter of 
 Philip II., Regent of Flanders, who 
 used his wife’s cypher from gallantry* 
 A -woman in real armour is an ab- 
 surdity, let alone a princess. Mean- 
 while Ferdinand, her husband, used 
 to be shown dressed in bran new red 
 breeches, and armed in black and 
 gold armour, mounted on a war- 
 horse. San Fernando was formerly 
 kept in a glazed case like a wax- 
 work show. His effigy was dressed 
 in defiance of every propriety of 
 period and costume, especially touch- 
 ing his apocryphal small clothes; 
 this anachronism of the vilest bad 
 taste, has at last been shamed and 
 scheduled out; and yet to all who 
 looked at it with faith infinite indul- 
 gences were granted, as per an affixed 
 notice, after this fashion : “ Souls 
 
 saved in the only Court by the only 
 true Faith.” Now-a-days, No. 1785 
 gives a more correct representation of 
 the royal Saint. The effigy was carved 
 by Jose Picquet, after the supposed 
 original portrait at Seville, and the 
 
724 
 
 MADRID — ARMERIA. 
 
 •Sect. XI. 
 
 crown made by Zuluaga, an excellent 
 artificer. This graven image is duly 
 borne to the royal chapel by priests 
 on the 29th of May, the anniversary 
 of the capture of Seville, and then 
 bowed down to for an entire Novenario. 
 
 Some of the shields on the walls are 
 superb. Observe 1666, a superb spe- 
 cimen by Negroli, inscribed 1541, 
 with a Medusa’s head; and another 
 studded with cameos, and given to 
 Philip II. by a Duke of Savoy. The 
 armour of the Great Captain is au- 
 thentic : there are four suits, all 
 richly chased, with a badge of two 
 palm-trees issuing from a coronet. 
 Remark, 1004, the peculiar coal- 
 scuttle heaume — (a box or haul — pot- 
 de-fer),said to have been that of the Rey 
 Chico, and a suit of armour, worked 
 with silver filigree, given to Philip 
 1 1. by the city of Pamplona. Observe 
 the armour of Guzman el Bueno, of 
 Fernan Cortes, of John of Austria, 
 and worn at Lepanto ; of Columbus, 
 black and white, with silver medal- 
 lions ; also a suit of a German 
 elector, heavy, square, web-footed, and 
 short-legged — there is no mistaking 
 the country of the wearer. The 
 smaller suits, for Infantes and young 
 heroes, are military playthings. The 
 Turkish banners were mostly taken at 
 Lepanto. The collection of guns be- 
 longing to Charles III. and Charles IV. 
 is worthy of these royal gamekeepers ; 
 many are inlaid with jewels : one — 
 2223 — was a present from Buonaparte, 
 who soon after accepted from his friend 
 his crown and kingdom. 
 
 The collection of swords is much 
 more interesting; for this weapon, 
 Spain has always been celebrated (see 
 p. 797) : many are of undoubted au- 
 thenticity, although some want con- 
 firmation, which is a sad pity, as these 
 are the symbol relics of Spain’s heroic 
 and best age ; they realise her ballad 
 Epos , her best poetry. Look at least 
 with veneration at the scimitars of two 
 creatures of romance: No. 1698, that 
 of Bernardo del Carpio, a mythic per- 
 sonage, the personification of Spain’s 
 antipathy to France; and 1662, the 
 celebrated Durindana , Durandal , of Rol- 
 dan (Orlando) ; this is of rich filigree, 
 
 and no doubt is the identical blade with 
 which he divided the Pyrenees. Ob- 
 serve, 1620, the equally authentic and 
 formidable Montante , or double-handed 
 falchion of Garcia de Paredes, No. 
 453, with which no doubt also he kept 
 whole French armies at bay ; a manu- 
 factory come now_to an end in Spain ; 
 for his armour see No. 453. 
 
 Observe the swords of St. Ferdi- 
 nand, 1654, the conqueror of Seville, 
 Nov. 23, 1248; the capturer of 
 
 Granada, Jan. 2, 1492; No. 1705, is 
 that of his gentle Queen Isabella, one 
 of the best of princesses. No. 1698 
 is the sword of Fernando el Catolico , 
 and No. 1702 is that — one rather 
 of state than battle — of the “Great 
 Captain,” and really one in every 
 sense. This noble blade is used as 
 the Estoque real , or sword of state, 
 at the Royal Juras, when it is borne 
 by the C. de Oropesa. It is also used 
 when knighthood is conferred on 
 distinguished persons. Next remark 
 those of Charles V., Philip II., Fernan 
 Cortes, and 1769, that of Pizarro, in 
 a steel sheath, given to Sir John 
 Downie, see p. 170. In vain the his- 
 torian will inquire for the sword which 
 Francois I. surrendered at Pavia ; it 
 was given to Murat, March 30, 1808, 
 and, to make the dishonour complete, 
 surrendered by the Marquis de As- 
 torga, whose duty, as Divisero de Ma- 
 drid , it was to have guarded the relic ; 
 but Murat’s imperial brother-in-law 
 had before carried off the sword of 
 Frederick the Great from his tomb. 
 The original sword of Francois I. is 
 now in the Museum at Paris, No. 832 ; 
 an exact copy, made by Zuloaga, is 
 now substituted at Madrid ; a gift 
 of the Infante Francisco. The im- 
 plements of tournaments and hunting 
 are extremely curious and complete, 
 as the German love of heraldry and 
 the lists flourished in the congenial 
 soil of the Castiles, the land of per- 
 sonal prowess and the hidalgo and 
 Paso Honroso ; here, by the way, is 
 the sword of the very Suero de Qui- 
 nones, No. 1917; for this true knight 
 (see p. 545). Observe 1711, the halbert 
 of Don Pedro the Cruel, and the 
 hastas de gallardete f which were 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — ARMERIA. 
 
 725 
 
 fixed on the walls of captured cities. 
 The saddles and leather shields of 
 the Moors are curious ; the latter, or 
 Adargas, although light, resisted spear 
 and sword : their two hides are ce- 
 mented together by a mortar composed 
 of herbs and camel-hair; the forms 
 are ovals, and ornamented with three 
 tassels and the umbo or knob : they 
 are the unchanged Cetrce of the Car- 
 thaginians and Iberians (see Sil. Xtal. 
 iii. 278; x. 231; Pliny, ‘Nat. Hist/ 
 xi. 39 ; San Isidoro, ‘Or/ xviii. 12). 
 
 It will perhaps be more convenient to 
 travellers to specify some of the other 
 curious objects, just remarking that 
 this Armeria deserves the most careful 
 examination, realising history, as we 
 have said, and containing relics of 
 Spain's greatest epochs ; relics, on the 
 whole, truer and more valuable than 
 all the rubbish and pious frauds 
 of monkhood and priestcraft. 
 
 Observe No. 321, the complete suit 
 of John the Elector of Saxony, taken 
 prisoner in 1547, at Muhlberg, by 
 Charles V. How tedesque the forms. 
 402, the panoply of Don Juan of 
 Austria, natural son of Charles V., 
 and the victor of Lepanto. 
 
 Observe the infinite suits of armour 
 of Charles V., some chased in fine 
 cinque-cento. On the front is engraved 
 the Virgin his tutelar, and at the back 
 either Santa Clara or Santa Barbara, 
 the latter is the patroness of Spanish 
 artillery, as Santa Teresa is generalis- 
 sima of infantry. Santa Barbara is 
 also invoked by all the old women of 
 Spain in thunder-storms, for she directs 
 the artillery both of heaven and of 
 earth. No. 2308 is a grand equestrian 
 suit. Observe particularly No. 2321 ; 
 the horse is carved by Perez. 2364 is 
 interesting, as being the identical suit 
 painted by Titian ; as No. 2388 is that 
 of Philip II., also painted by him. 
 2410 is the identical and ponderous 
 suit arrayed in which Charles V. en- 
 tered Tunis, July 20, 1535. No, 2412 
 is his splendid Borgonota , damascened 
 and worked a la repouse and a la 
 Cellini. The suits of Philip II. are 
 very fine, especially those worked in 
 black and gold. Here is the rude litter 
 in which Charles V. was carried when 
 
 Spain. — II. 
 
 | suffering from the gout ; it is some- 
 thing between a black coffin-like 
 trunk and a Sclavonian kibitka. Ob- 
 serve his four iron campaigning dinner- 
 plates ; how the simple service of this 
 born and bred emperor contrasts with 
 the golden necessaires left behind by the 
 upstart fugitives of Vitoria and Water- 
 loo. 321 is the suit of armour of John 
 Elector of Saxony, taken prisoner 
 by Charles V. at Muhlberg, in 1547. 
 Among the elegant suits for children 
 observe one, 630, given by the cele- 
 brated Duke of Osuna to Philip III., 
 when young. 901 and 975 belonged to 
 F. de Avalos , the Marquis of Pescara, 
 one of the best generals of Charles V. 
 927, Garcilaso de la Vega, general and 
 poet, killed in battle in 1536, a death 
 unusual to the tuneful tribe. 1132, 
 Juan de Padilla , general of the Comu- 
 neros, who was beaten at Villalar, and 
 executed in 1520. 1249, half-suit of 
 
 Alonso de Cespedes , one of the Samsons 
 or strong men of Charles V., killed 
 in 1569. 1501, and the following, are 
 Turkish relics taken, Oct. 5, 1571, 
 at Lepanto, the Trafalgar of its 
 day. 1598 is the sword of Boabdil, 
 the last of his race, the loser of 
 Granada, and truly called El Zogoibi , 
 the unfortunate. 1614 is one of 
 the numerous Montantes , or double- 
 handed swords, sent to Spanish kings 
 by Popes, who used them — the 
 kings — as their executioners. 1632 
 is the helm of Jaime el Conquistador , 
 with the Drac pennat , or winged- 
 dragon crest, of that illustrious con- 
 queror. 1 644 is this true hero's vic- 
 torious sword. 1659 is the sword of 
 Pelayus ; which, if genuine , carries us 
 back to the cradle of theGotho-Hispano 
 monarchy and to its immortal restorer. 
 Lovers of true Toledan blades should 
 look at 1692, a superb specimen of 
 Philip II., by Miguel Cantero. 1564, 
 an exquisite specimen of Toledan 
 workmanship. Look at 1721, a blade 
 by Sebastian Hernandez ; and also at 
 1773, a first-rate sword of Philip II. 
 1794, an estoque, belonging to Don 
 Juan of Austria , is a specimen of the 
 rare Perrillo brand; so also is 1807, 
 the sword of Hernando Cortes. Look 
 also at 1868, a grand shield in the 
 2 K 
 
726 
 
 MADRID — MINISTERS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Cellini style, with ovals of the Rape 
 of the Sabines, &c. ; ditto, 1879, with 
 the Triumph of Love for subject. 
 1913 is the sword of the Conde Duque, 
 the overrated premier of Philip IV. 
 1916 carries one back to the conquest 
 of Granada, and is the sword of Gar- 
 cilaso de la Vega, el que matd el Moro; of 
 that gallant soldier of the Virgin, who 
 slew the Moor that mocked at her Ave 
 Maria. 2309 is the suit of the fighting 
 Bishop of Zamora, Antonio de Acuna, 
 who was hung, in 1522, for high trea- 
 son by the famous Alcalde Ronquillo. 
 No. 2332, imperfect ; belonged to 
 Alva, the Great Duke of Spain. 2399 
 is the elegant suit of Don Carlos, the 
 ill-conditioned son of Philip II., about 
 whose death poets have predicated 
 much fiction. Flags taken from the 
 English by the Spaniards (?) are plen- 
 tiful also, 2475 ; and fail not to 
 observe 2498, the equestrian statue 
 of Hernando de Alarcon (see p. 326). 
 252 L is said to be the helmet of his 
 prisoner Francois I. 
 
 Next visit la Casa de los Ministerios , 
 built for the secretaries of state by 
 Lt.-Gen. Sabatini, by order of Charles 
 IV. : it was splendidly fitted up by 
 Godoy, and has a grand staircase and 
 column-supported vestibule. The ante- 
 rooms were thronged with waiters on 
 providence and with patient sufferers, 
 emblems of hope and salary deferred, 
 since here used to be the offices of the 
 Ministers of War, Marine, Justice, and 
 Finance ; now that of the shipless 
 sinecure the Admiralty or Marina only 
 remains ; now Finance is moved to the 
 Adaana , War to the Buena Vista , Gracia 
 y Justicia to the old Inquisicion: these, 
 too, are tolerable misnomers and 
 nonentities. This Casa de Ministerios 
 was much damaged by fire, Oct. 31, 
 1846, when many of the archives 
 were burnt and lost. 
 
 Spanish governments, however well 
 lodged, are shortlived, and premiers 
 particularly ; all, be they the best or the 
 worst, are equally liable to be upset by 
 intrigues. The inveterate curse of 
 Spain always has been and is misgo- 
 vernment . When San Fernando, who 
 captured Seville, the capital of La 
 tierra de la Santisima , reached heaven, 
 
 the Virgin desired her champion to 
 ask any favour for his beloved Spain. 
 The monarch begged for fine climate, 
 granted : — for brave men, beautiful wo- 
 men, fertile soil, oil, wine, garbanzos, 
 granted: — but when he begged for a 
 good government , “ Nay,” replied the so- 
 vereign lady, “ that boon can never he 
 conceded, as then every angel would 
 instantly leave heaven for Espana.” 
 Accordingly, the real governors of 
 Spain have long been, with few excep- 
 tions, either incapables or rogues. 
 “The great want of this nation,” wrote 
 the Duke (Disp. July 20, 1813), “is 
 of men capable of conducting business 
 of any description ; and the revolution, 
 as it is called, instead of having caused 
 an improvement in this respect, has 
 rather augmented the evil, by bringing 
 forward into public employments of 
 importance more inexperienced people, 
 and by giving men in general false 
 notions entirely incompatible to their 
 business.” Empleomania , or madness 
 for place, has, in fact, infected the 
 nation ; for place, as in the East, is the 
 source of real power and profit : ac- 
 cordingly, the veriest Jack-in-office, el 
 villano con poder , armed with that au- 
 thority, is sufficient for the oppression 
 of thousands, as the jaw-bone of an ass 
 was in the hands of Samson; the 
 Charte and constitutions are practically 
 but waste paper, through which a coche 
 de colleras is driven every day. Place 
 gives the holder the key of the public 
 till; place enables him to work the 
 telegraph, and thus watch the turn 
 of the stock-market. The object of 
 almost every official is to make his 
 fortune as quickly as he can, and his 
 hurry is not over-scrupulous, for the 
 tenure of possession is brief and uncer-t 
 tain, since countless competitors are 
 trying to oust him and get in them- 
 selves. Thus the gorged leech is suc- 
 ceeded by one worse and more hungry, 
 caterpillar follows locust, and the real 
 evils of the state are not only unre- 
 dressed but increased. Poor Spain, like 
 a dying patient, in vain changes her mi- 
 nisters, turning in her restless bed from 
 one side to another, from one quack to 
 another ; their tenure is short, for each 
 in his turn becomes the object to be de- 
 
The Castiles « 
 
 M A DRID — EMPLEOM ANI A . 
 
 727 
 
 stroyed, and all shout, “ Let his days be 
 few, and let another take his office ” (Ps. 
 cix. 8). From 1800 to 1844 there have 
 been 74 ministers of finance, most of 
 them with “ no effects thus, from 
 1833 to 1853, 36 prime ministers have 
 mushroomed up and have died away — 
 not a 7 months’ duration of office ; — 
 each of them indeed worse than his pre- 
 decessor, and all perishing either in the 
 malaria of their own unpopularity and 
 inefficiency, or despatched by their col- 
 leagues, as a wounded hysena is by his, 
 or Buonaparte was by his marshals. 
 
 How can any country be well go- 
 verned, or the Catholic Queen’s^go- 
 vernment be carried on at all, where 
 there is no fixity of official tenure, 
 and where, as in the East, in the ab- 
 sence of permanent institutions , reliance 
 is placed on individuals , on the “ happy 
 accident ” of the hour ? Accordingly, 
 every pretendiente pretends to place ; 
 his self-love teaches him that he is 
 quite as capable of ruining his country 
 and of benefiting himself as any other 
 man in Spain, just as the Blakes & Co. 
 aspired to command armies and lose 
 battles. These incapables, like the 
 clown at Astley’s, are all wanting to 
 get up and ride the high horse, jealous 
 as Turks who will bear no rival ; so 
 “ All from a government deserve a prize, 
 Which lives by shuffling and exists by lies.” 
 
 In truth, there are only the changes of 
 persons not of systems , and thus, in fact, 
 while the universal private and personal 
 ambition prevents any honest co-opera- 
 tion for the public good, an equally 
 universal jealousy and impatience of 
 any rival, and the consequent want of 
 confidence in a colleague, offers sure 
 tools to Absolutism , which, Cortes and 
 Constitution to the contrary notwith- 
 standing, is the normal political con- 
 dition ; thus, indeed, is injury added 
 to insult, where the theories and forms 
 of liberty serve only to rivet tighter 
 the practice and reality of despotism ; 
 where all are jobbing and intriguing 
 for place and profit, the political sys- 
 tem is lowered to one of cabal and 
 camarilla, and the best statesman that 
 ever ruled cannot be surer than the 
 very worst of remaining in office one 
 day after it is possible for any other 
 
 person or party to turn him out. To 
 put forth manifests, expedientes , expe- 
 dients, documentos , and the most 
 plausible falsehoods in the most in- 
 genious grandiloquence of state paper 
 style, is the great ministerial requisite. 
 Thence the secret of the rise and suc- 
 cess of all adventurers, from the Albe- 
 ronis, Ripperdas, Calomardes, & c., 
 down to the last Don Fulano Embustero. 
 These charlatans, in field and cabinet, 
 have prospered by fooling a generous, 
 self- estimating, imaginative people to 
 the top of their bent ; those who have 
 promised to pay the most, who have 
 talked the loudest of national honour, 
 dignity, and strength, have ever been 
 the most popular : nor when the cheat 
 is exposed has the next quack the least 
 difficulty in offering as a new nos- 
 trum, the self-same sham wares, in the 
 same language as his predecessor ; and 
 thus too long, in peace or war, has the 
 people been their victim ! What just 
 now is most wanting are middle classes , 
 which some hope will in time be sup- 
 plied among the purchasers of church 
 properties and other vast estates 
 hitherto kept out of the market under 
 the lock of mortmains and entails. 
 
 Espartero (July 1855) is indeed ho- 
 nest, sincere, and most constitutionally 
 inclined, nor is there any transpyrenean 
 ally of Christina now to undermine 
 him and counteract his well - meant 
 efforts. We wish him all success ; but 
 time alone will show whether any Spa- 
 niard born in the last century is up to 
 the work of cleansing the stable. 
 
 Lovers of parliaments may be told 
 that the ancient Donna Maria de Aragon , 
 since its suppression, has been used as 
 the Spanish House of Lords, or Palace 
 of the Senate ; the Congreso de los Dipu- 
 tados, or House of Commons or Con- 
 gress, is now held in the handsome new 
 edifice on the Plaza de las Cortes. The 
 interior is lofty, and the galleries for 
 strangers convenient, but the look is 
 French and theatrical : the frescoes on 
 the ceilings are gaudy and staring, ap- 
 pealing more to the eye than the intel- 
 lect. The names of patriots and mar- 
 tyrs to liberty and constitution are 
 blazoned on the walls, plentiful as 
 blackberries: but names are not things. 
 
 2 k 2 
 
MADRID — A SPANISH CORTES. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 728 
 
 Among modern relics here are shown 
 Las Esposas , the handcuffs of the Empe- 
 cinado , and a sample of shoes contracted 
 for by Mendizabal, whose purity of pa- 
 triotism in the matter was doubted. 
 
 For what a Spanish Cortes was, see 
 p. 139; nor is Spain much more just 
 now fitted for a real deliberative as- 
 sembly, either as regards materials for 
 a real constituency or members. The 
 Vocales, whose vocations are vocal, are 
 too often prone to neglect the plain per- 
 formance of their legislative duties to 
 talk the fluent bombast and nonsense 
 that they love so well. Their debates 
 are puddles in storms, the ocean into 
 tempest tossed, to waft a feather or to 
 drown a fly. More real business is done, 
 and in a more workmanlike manner, 
 at an English country-parish vestry in 
 a week, than here in a whole session. 
 But Spaniards, in their collective cor- 
 porate juntas, rarely exhibit the com- 
 mon sense, courage, honourable feel- 
 ings, or even good manners, in which, 
 as individuals , they most certainly are 
 very remarkable. The Spaniard taken 
 singly, and by himself, is indeed a 
 fine fellow, but place him under 
 leaders, in whom he has no con- 
 fidence, and whose pre-eminence 
 wounds his self-love — since he holds 
 them cheap as compared to himself — 
 mix him up with colleagues whom he 
 suspects and distrusts, who appropriate 
 to themselves the funds which ought 
 to supply sinews of action in peace or 
 war, then he considers the game as lost 
 and despairs ; and from knowing that 
 most of the rest will only consult their 
 private interest, he e’en goes with the 
 stream. Hence there is little union, 
 except to weaken, for few dream of 
 making a combined effort for the public 
 good ; the very idea would be scouted 
 with carcajadas of derisive laughter. 
 
 Political society cannot be kept to- 
 gether without mutual concession, which 
 exists not in the harsh independent 
 character of the Spaniard. Again, par- 
 liamentary parties, so necessary for the 
 well-working of the representative sys- 
 tem, are by no means well organized 
 here. There is no regular “ her ma- 
 jesty’s opposition everything is per- 
 sonal and accidental. With us a 
 
 leader of opposition is a minister “ in 
 posse here, as in the East, the 
 premier fungus is a thing of the time 
 being only : the rocket shoots up and 
 falls, seldom to rise again. As real 
 power and superiority is here derived 
 from office and employment alone, the 
 moment the accidental temporary su- 
 periority of office is withdrawn the 
 holder relapses into his former nothing- 
 ness, and is forgotten the next week, 
 or contado con los muertos , as much as 
 if he were really dead. Rare, rare in- 
 deed, is a second appearance on the 
 official stage. And this must long 
 continue to be the condition of ill-fated 
 Spain, until some master-mind appears, 
 who can wield these discordant ele- 
 ments. The noble people of Spain 
 have, indeed, legs, arms, and hearts, but 
 a head is wanting, and moreover the 
 members disagree, as in the old fable, 
 or like that of the “trees” in that 
 truly Spanish and Oriental parable, 
 Judges ix. The only abstract Spanish 
 idea of government or sovereignty, 
 either in church or state, as in the 
 East, is that it be despotic (see Du- 
 rango) ; even the Inquisition was not 
 really unpopular, and whenever Ferd. 
 VII. committed any extra atrocious 
 act his subjects exclaimed with rap- 
 ture, “ Car ago! es mucho Bey!” he 
 is indeed a king, ay, every inch ! 
 There spoke the whole nation, for all 
 Spaniards felt that, in his place, they 
 would have done exactly the same, 
 and therefore sympathizingly admired. 
 Bower expressed by violence flattered 
 their pride, as each atom beheld his 
 own personal greatness represented and 
 reflected in that of his monarch. Des- 
 potism, accordingly, if it can only be 
 rendered enlightened , or ilustrado , will 
 long prove a blessing to Spaniards, 
 until their soil is better trenched and 
 prepared for the tree, or rather sap- 
 ling, of Liberty, for it cannot be trans- 
 planted when full grown. Therefore 
 the nation, wearied with civil wars, 
 and a succession of theories and rulers 
 one worse than another, has become 
 apathetic as the burden mule, and 
 turns towards the throne as a refuge 
 from petty tyrants. Thus the go- 
 vernmental incapacity of the Cortes 
 
Tne Castiles. Madrid — cortes and constitutions. 
 
 729 
 
 made the people rush headlong into the 
 asylum of despotism and Ferdinand. 
 
 What is now wanting for Madrid, 
 as indeed for the whole peninsula, is 
 peace and a strong fixed government. 
 It is to this craving, to this necessity 
 of repose after the excitement of civil 
 wars, and rival parties, that must be 
 attributed the apathy of the shrewd 
 nation, and the well-advised indiffer- 
 ence with which it allowed its new 
 charters to be rent by the sword of 
 Narvaez. The country at large, dis- 
 gusted with the unprincipled adven- 
 turers and miserable mediocrity which 
 mocking fortune floats up from the 
 dregs to the surface, gets indifferent, 
 and despising and mistrusting its 
 worthless rulers, flies from the losing 
 game of public politics to private and 
 individual interests. 
 
 The Cortes and constitution have 
 too long been mere words, and the 
 elections a snare and delusion. The 
 elections are a mockery ; the jefes 
 politicos and their escribanos tampered 
 with the registries, intimidated the 
 voters ; while opposition candidates 
 were put out of the way, and those 
 elected were terrorised by the sword : 
 the House was only fit to commit sui- 
 cide, and vote away the last securities of 
 its own and the nation’s liberty. This, 
 indeed, according to our notions, seems 
 to be adding injury to insult, when the 
 forms and safeguards of free men are 
 prostituted, and made the instruments 
 of lawless autocrats ; but true liberty 
 is no child of such revolutions, whose 
 euthanasia is military despotism. 
 
 Such results are the inevitable conse- 
 quence of adopting the usages of totally 
 distinct nations, for Spain is little fitted 
 for an English parliament, which has 
 grown most slowly with our growth, 
 and in a land of order, peace, and liberty 
 civil and religious. We might as well 
 adopt the Spanish bull-fight, as they 
 should adopt our House of Commons, 
 much less one of those paper constitu- 
 tions, plus raisonnet < que raisonnables , 
 which have been imported from the 
 manufactories of Sieyes, Bentham, and 
 other liberty -mongers : it is true such 
 articles pay no duty, or what is the 
 same thing, an ad valorem one. 
 
 The Casa de los Consejos , close by, 
 built by Francisco de Mora for the 
 Duque de Uceda, is a fine Herrera 
 elevation, but the interior was never 
 properly finished : the chief facade 
 looks N. and faces the Santa Maria de 
 la Almudena. This church, once a 
 Moorish mosque, retains, like the 
 tower at Tortosa, its name of the Mos- 
 lem Mueddin. It was purified by 
 Alonso VI., and dedicated to the Vir- 
 gin. The church itself is small, and of 
 no interest ; it however enjoys the privi- 
 leges of an Iglesia Mayor, of a mother 
 church, in this cathedral-less capital. 
 There is a folio volume on the 4 Inven- 
 tion and Miracles’ worked by this 
 image ; Jose de Vera Tarsis y Villaroel, 
 Mad. 1692. 
 
 This metropolitan was unfortunately 
 repaired and beautified in 1777, by 
 V. Rodriguez. Look attheplateresque 
 chapel of the Bosmedianos, and also 
 a fineish reja , almost the only one in 
 Madrid, a plated retablo, and a San 
 Isidro, ascribed to Cano. In this 
 church Antonio Perez took refuge. 
 The Princess of Eboli, mistress of 
 Philip II., lived on this plaza; here 
 Escovedo was stabbed : here Queen 
 Christina long lived and ruled. 
 
 Now cross the Calle de Segovia to 
 las Vistillas, long the town residence of 
 the Duques de Infantado, and where 
 Ferdinand and Isabella lived. From 
 the windows Ximenez, when asked by 
 what authority he assumed the Re- 
 gency, pointed to his artillery and sol- 
 diers in the court below. It is now 
 occupied by the Duque de Osuna, the 
 heir of his uncle Infantado . This no- 
 bleman, the most illustrious in descent 
 of Spain, unites no less than 1 7 grandee- 
 ships in himself, or in Spanish parlance, 
 44 tienediezy siete sombrei^os” He is doing 
 his best to restore order to the pillaged 
 library and picture-gallery. Beyond 
 is San Francisco, a vast pile, placed in 
 an out-of-the-way locality. The con- 
 vent is now made a barrack, and the 
 chapel a parish church. It was de- 
 signed by the monk Francisco Cabezas, 
 and finished in 1784 by Sabatini. The 
 church, one of the finest in Madrid, is 
 a rotunda, surrounded with chapels : 
 the dome is 163 feet high. The Jubileo 
 
730 
 
 MADRID THE MORERIA MANOLOS. 
 
 Sect. XL 
 
 de la Porciuncula (see p. 708) was 
 painted by the feeble Bayeu : the pic- 
 tures in the chapels by Maella, Calleja, 
 Goya,Velazquez (wo£ Diego), and others, 
 are no better. 
 
 Proceed next into the intricate Prout- 
 like jumble of lanes, the old Moreria , 
 which is now thought a “ parenthesis 
 of barbarism ” in an age of civilization : 
 there is a plan of opening a wide street 
 to the Calle de Segovia; all this side 
 of Madrid which hangs over the river 
 was the ancient town, and contrasts 
 with the newer portions near and be- 
 yond the Puerta del Sol : pass on to the 
 Puerta de los Moros , and thence to San 
 Andres in its plazuela , which was used 
 by Ferdinand and Isabella the catholic 
 as their parish church. Here Madrid’s 
 glorious ploughboy patron, San Isidro 
 (see p. 715) went to mass and was 
 buried ; his body was removed in 1769 
 to San Isidro Peal , but a small reja in 
 the presbiterio marks the site where he 
 was buried in 1130: observe the ancient 
 arch and inspect his coffin-box; his 
 standing wooden effigy is curious for 
 costume. The gaudy churrigueresque 
 chapel was raised about 1657. The 
 miracles of the tutelar are painted by 
 Carreno and the Rizzi ; observe that 
 in which Alonso VIII. recognises in 
 the body of San Isidro the peasant who 
 led his armies to victory at las Navas de 
 Tolosa . Adjoining is la Capilla del 
 Obispo , one of the few old Gothic speci- 
 mens in modern Madrid. It is so 
 called because built by Gutierez de 
 Vargas y Carvajal, Bishop of Plasencia 
 in 1547. The excellent Petablo and 
 Berruguete carvings are by Francisco 
 Giralte, and painted by Juan de Vil- 
 londo in 1548, and not by Bias del 
 Pardo, as some state : by Giralte also 
 are the superb plateresque sepulchres 
 of the prelate and his family. This 
 chapel was injured in 1755 by an earth- 
 quake, and repaired in vile taste. 
 There are also some good carvings in 
 the Sacristia , and a wooden effigy of 
 the saint in his rustic costume. 
 
 Now visit la Plazuela de la Cebada , the 
 forage, the “ hay,” the “ grass market,” 
 and where executions formerly took 
 place. The artist and naturalist will 
 come here to study costume and pro- 
 
 duce ; the scene is busy, noisy, and pic- 
 torial. Look at the portal of la La- 
 tina , or Nuestra Senora de la Concep- 
 cion , a hospital founded in 1499 by 
 Beatriz Galindo, who taught Queen 
 Isabella Latin. It was built by a Moor 
 named Hazan, and finished, see date 
 over portal, in 1507. Those who wish 
 to see old Madrid and the quarters of 
 the Populacho , may now thread the 
 Calles del D. de Alba, Jesus y Maria, 
 to the Lavapies : all this locality is a 
 sort of Seven Dials: every Sunday 
 morning at the Rastro, near the Por- 
 tillo de los Embajadores, is a sort of 
 feria and a setting up of book-stalls. 
 The Calle de Zurita, de la Comadre, 
 Campillo de Manuela, &c., are and have 
 long been the homes and styes of Ma- 
 nolos and Manolas , of Chisperos, Gitanos , 
 Chalanes , and other picturesque rogues 
 since the days of Quevedo, although, 
 alas ! in the present civilization of the 
 coat and cotton ; every year they are 
 abandoning their national costume— 
 
 “ En Madrid se juntaron 
 Cuantos pobres y pobras, 
 
 A la fuente del piojo 
 En sus Zahurdas moran.” 
 
 Those who have no taste for a Cas- 
 tilian St. Giles, may pass up la Latina 
 to San Isidro el Peal , in the Calle de 
 Toledo. This, once a Jesuit’s college, 
 was built in 1651, and, now a parish 
 church, is called la Colegiata : here bad 
 taste and churriguerismo reign undis- 
 puted. Some cupolas are painted in 
 fresco by Donoso and Claudio Coello : 
 an image by Becerra, N a . S a . de la 
 Soledad , placed in a small gilded chapel, 
 is well carved and painted and is full 
 of sorrow and solitude. In the Sa- 
 cristia is a Christ and St. Peter, by 
 Morales. This convent was attacked 
 by the Madrid mob, July 17, 1834, 
 who murdered the monks on the 
 pretence that they had caused the 
 cholera ; enter and look at the Capilla 
 Mayor, which was “repaired” by Ro- 
 driguez. Here repose the ashes of the 
 holy ploughboy San Isidro and his 
 Santa Esposa : his statue is by Pereyra. 
 Here rest the remains of Daoiz, Ve- 
 larde, and some of Murat’s victims of 
 the “ Dos de Mayo ,” which were removed 
 from the Prado May 2, 1814, with 
 
The Castiles . 
 
 MADRID — FRANCIS I. — SELF-FLAGELLATION . 
 
 731 
 
 great pomp. Look into the chapels and 
 sacristies to see to what extent marbles, 
 cupolas, and gilt gingerbread Rococo 
 can be carried : observe a Morales. The 
 library which once belonged to the 
 Jesuits is still here, and is open to the 
 public. 
 
 Turn now to the 1. to the Plazuela de 
 la Villa , which opens on one side to 
 the Calle Mayor. Here Cardinal 
 Ximenez lived in the house now be- 
 longing to Mr. O’Shea, but the vener- 
 able pile has been beautified and 
 repaired. The “ Mansion-house,” or 
 Casa del Ayuntamiento, was built in the 
 sixteenth century ; the portals are later, 
 and bad. The peristyle facing the 
 Calle de la Almudena was added by Vil- 
 lanueva : the patio and staircase inside 
 are simple. At the balcony overlook- 
 ing the Plater ias, Wellington, entering 
 Madrid as a conqueror, presented him- 
 self to the applause of the delivered 
 citizens. 
 
 Opposite, in what was la Casa de los 
 Lujanes the (tower of which is now 
 used for a telegraph), Francis I. was 
 confined after his defeat at Pavia, until 
 removed, Jan. 14, 1526, to the alcazar. 
 Here he plighted his word of a king 
 to treaties which, forgetting his chival- 
 rous lament after Pavia, tout est perdu 
 hors l’honneur, he violated the instant 
 he crossed the Bidasoa and touched the 
 sacred soil of France. But this most 
 Christian king was absolved from all 
 his oaths by Clement VII. the vicar of 
 Christ ; Peter Martyr (Ep. 813) thus 
 wrote prophetically, when Frangois I. 
 was making solemn promises: “Gal- 
 ium ergo in Matritensem caveam die 
 Aug. 14, Aquila clausit. Quern ex 
 tanta victoria fructum exerpsemus tern- 
 pus dicet. Parvum exist imo, quia nimis 
 mitis est Caesar, Galli vafri nimium in 
 actionibus negociorum;” and he was 
 right. On the mauvaisefoi of Fran£ois, 
 so unworthy of a king, see Sismondi, 
 xvi. 39. Mons. A. Champoliion 
 Figeac has published in Paris, 1847, 
 a 4to. on the Captivite du Roi ; he is 
 an advocate rather than an historian, 
 and his foregone conlusion was to blink 
 the royal bad faith. The battle of 
 Pavia was fought Feb. 24, 1525, on 
 Friday, a day of glorious sunshine. 
 
 The king was taken early, and soon 
 solaced himself with making bad 
 verses on the event. His armour, sent 
 to Ambras, in the Tyrol, was removed 
 to Paris by Berthier in 1807. (See 
 Musee d’Artillerie, No. 28.) As to his 
 sword see p. 724. 
 
 Now cross the fine Calle Mayor to 
 San Gines, in the Calle del Arenal. 
 This church was built about 1358, and 
 was injured by fire in 1824. Observe 
 inside the Paso of Santo Cristo, carved 
 by Vergaz, and a good painting of 
 “Christ seated and stripped,” by Alonso 
 Cano. Descend to the Boveda , or dark 
 vault, where during Lent flagellants 
 whip themselves, the sexton furnish- 
 ing the cats ; some have nine tails, 
 and are really stained with blood. 
 The penitents being their own judges 
 and executioners, lay on according to 
 their consciences, r va6i and scourge 
 'Zza.vTov. In the good old times of 
 Philip IV. Spaniards whipped them- 
 selves publicly in the streets, and the 
 nice thing was to scourge so stoutly on 
 passing their mistresses, that the blood 
 should spurt on them in a delicate 
 attention which their tender hearts 
 could not resist. The fair sex were 
 only professionally bled, and it was 
 usual that at each venisection the lover 
 should make his querida a present, 
 whereby male purses and female ar- 
 teries were equally exhausted. This 
 gentle self-scourging prevailed among 
 ancient female worshippers ; the self- 
 flagellants of Isis (Herod, ii. 61) set 
 the fashion to the devotees of Bellona 
 at Rome ; but when people’s religion 
 lies no deeper than the skin they may 
 flagellate themselves with considerable 
 benefit ; since the progreso , Young 
 Spain , although it still worships female 
 divinities in church and out, whips 
 itself rather less, if not, no more ; it is 
 thinking, like honest Sancho Panza, 
 that the custom is more honoured in 
 the breach than the observance. 
 
 Next cross over to the Plaza mayor , 
 the grand square of Madrid ; the houses 
 have been subject to many fires, al- 
 though in 1790, the “ Host ” was 
 brought to the balconies to put one 
 out, just as Protestants bring up en- 
 | gines. The square, some 2450 feet 
 
732 
 
 MADRID — CARCEL DE LA CORTE. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 above the sea, was erected in 1619, by 
 Juan de Mora ; the superb equestrian 
 bronze of Philip III. cast by Juan de 
 Bologna, from a drawing made by Pan- 
 toja, has been recently removed to it 
 from the Casa del Campo. It was the 
 companion to that of Henry IV. at 
 Paris, which was destroyed at the 
 Revolution. Left unfinished by J. de 
 Bologna, it was completed by Pedro 
 Tacca, whose brother-in-law, Antonio 
 Guidi, brought it to Madrid in 1616. 
 The belly has been criticised. On this 
 Plaza the executions, Autos de Fe', and 
 the Fiestas Beales, or royal bull-fights, 
 were celebrated; here our Charles I. 
 beheld one given to him by Philip IV. 
 The locality, 434 feet long by 334 
 wide, is well adapted for spectacles. 
 By a clause in their leases the inmates 
 of houses are bound on these occasions 
 to give up their front rooms and bal- 
 conies, which are then fitted up as 
 boxes. The royal seat is prepared on 
 the part called La Panaderia, the saloons 
 of which, painted in fresco by Claudio 
 Coello and Donoso, were destined by 
 Charles III. to the Academy of His- 
 tory, who have here a tolerable library. 
 Look at some curious MS. and early 
 rituals and missals from St. Millan ; 
 the Forum Indicum, &c., a gothic ritual, 
 earlier even than the Musarabic rite, 
 ought to be printed, in order to put 
 the Pope, his novelties, and inventions 
 out of court. This MS. will probably 
 disappear when the Vatican hears of it. 
 Ask also for the grand votive silver 
 shield in honour of Theodosius — 
 weighing 533 oz. — and found near 
 Merida : this, long declined to be pur- 
 chased by the Academy, was bought at 
 last from shame, on the hearing that 
 an Englishman was after it. — Cosas de 
 Espana. 
 
 Recently an under part of the Casa 
 del Peso , in the C. de Leon, has been 
 given to the Academy for their increas- 
 ing books : they still, however, hold 
 their sittings in the Plaza. 
 
 Going out at the S.E. corner was 
 the old Carcel de Corte , built in 1 634, 
 for Philip IV., by Juan Bautista Cres- 
 centi ; it has long been the home of 
 guilt and misery, a seat of disease and 
 death placed in the very heart of the 
 
 only Court; the dwelling, indeed, as 
 Cervantes says, “ of every discomfort, 
 and of every wretched sound.” Our 
 reforming Howard was expressly kept 
 out of the prisons of Madrid in 1783. 
 Meantime a criminal — political cases 
 excepted — is pretty well off, as long as 
 he has money -wherewith to anoint 
 the itching palm of Justicia, high and 
 low ; his life is seldom prolonged after 
 his purse comes to an end. Borrow, 
 an inmate for publishing the Bible, has 
 given a graphic picture of the Newgate 
 of Madrid. Since 1808 and the many 
 political changes and chances, these 
 dungeons never wanted a tenant from 
 every shade of opinion. Here Joseph 
 incarcerated the patriots, and the 
 Cortes imprisoned the afrancesados . 
 Here Ferdinand confined the liberals, 
 here the liberals fettered the royalists; 
 here Carlist and Christinist, Servile, 
 Exaltado, and Moderado have each in 
 their turn tasted the retaliatory iron 
 of their national justicia ; here Ferdi- 
 nand’s even-handed widow Christina, 
 shut up the royalists in 1836, and en- 
 caged the liberals in 1844. The prison, 
 all but the front, has been recently 
 demolished, and is to be re-built. 
 
 Having observed effects , the juris- 
 consult may next inquire into causes, 
 for here are the tribunals of the Au- 
 diencia , or supreme court of justice , as 
 it is here called. In it every man is 
 assumed to be guilty until he is proved 
 innocent, the judge endeavouring by 
 every means fair and foul to convict 
 the accused; a Westminster Hall bar- 
 rister if transported by special retainer 
 to the Rhadamantine court below, 
 would scarcely find himself in a newer 
 practice. True justice perhaps lies 
 between the two extremes, and if the 
 poor guiltless are sometimes condemned 
 in Spain, the guilty, thanks to the jury 
 system, oftener get off in England ; 
 yet our defective laws work well, be- 
 cause fairly administered by able and 
 upright judges, while the better system 
 of Spain works ill, because the mini- 
 sters are too often corrupt and unjust. 
 A pure administration of the law, and 
 not a new code is what is wanting for the 
 peace and welfare of Spaniards. The 
 Lord Chief rejoices in the title of Regent 
 
The Castiles. Madrid — la inclusa — mint and exchange. 
 
 733 
 
 and in a salary of 500/. a-year ! The 
 city prison, called la Casa del Saladero , 
 is near the gate of Santa Barbara: 
 gaol-fanciers may also go to the Calle 
 de Hortaliza, and visit Las Recogidas , 
 or Santa Maria Magdalena. No women 
 can take the benefit of this institution 
 without having duly qualified by un- 
 doubted guilt, and none, once ad- 
 mitted, can get out, except to take the 
 veil or marry. Here also is a quarter 
 in which those ladies are confined 
 whose relations think them likely to 
 be benefited by a little restraint ; an 
 institution which might be usefully 
 extended to some capitals out of 
 Spain. 
 
 In the Calle de Fuencarral is the 
 Hospital de San Fernando , founded in 
 1688. The fayade by the heresiarch 
 Pedro Ribera, 1726, is the pet speci- 
 men of the vile taste of the Philip V. 
 period, and certainly it entitled the in- 
 ventor to his admission into any recep- 
 tacle for criminals or lunatics. It 
 rivals in outrageous churrigueresque 
 the Retablo in San Luis, and the Por- 
 tada of Santo Tomas. In this hospital 
 poor persons of both sexes are received 
 and employed. 
 
 The hospital San Antonio , Corredera 
 de San Pablo, was founded in 1606, 
 and has a good oval chapel, with fresco 
 ceilings, by the Rizzi, Carreho, and 
 Giordano. Observe the Santa Isabel 
 and Santa Engracia, painted by Euge- 
 nio Caxes, and the statue of the tutelar 
 by Pereyra. 
 
 The Foundling Hospital, La Inclusa , 
 in the Calle de los Embajadores, is so 
 called from a much-venerated image 
 of the Virgin, which was brought by 
 a Spanish soldier from Enkuissen (En- 
 chusen), in Holland ; here more than 
 1200 infants, sinless children of sin, 
 are annually exposed by their unna- 
 tural parents. The lying-in asylum 
 for these mothers, in the Calle del 
 Rosal, is called, as if in mockery, 
 Nuestra Senora d Qla Esperanza , — what 
 hope is there for such deserted off- 
 spring ? the more honest vulgar, how- 
 ever, call it el Pecado mortal , the 
 deadly sin : here unmarried women 
 are confined in both senses of the 
 word. 
 
 A well-managed Poor-house, or 
 mendicity asylum, was founded in 
 1834, outside the gate San Bernardino, 
 by the Marquis de Pontejos, by whom 
 was first established, in 1839, the Caja 
 de Ahorros, or savings-bank, which has 
 worked well; 4 per cent, is paid to 
 depositors. 
 
 The Imprenta Real , Calle de Car- 
 retas, a heavy building by one Turillo, 
 contains the royal printing and engrav- 
 ing establishment. From this press 
 have issued many splendid specimens 
 of typography ; here may be obtained 
 impressions of those pictures in the 
 Museo which have been engraved ; but 
 they are second-rate, for Spaniards 
 have never excelled in the burin, which 
 requires too much patience, and is too 
 mechanical; at first they employed 
 foreigners, Flemings and Italians, and 
 latterly Frenchmen. Very few Spanish 
 artists have ever etched, for Ribera 
 was, in fact, a Neapolitan ; and in no 
 country have fewer illustrated works 
 been produced. The Bourbons intro- 
 duced a taste for engraving portraits, 
 and some plates by Celma and Car- 
 mona are tolerable. 
 
 The Casa de Moneda , or mint, was 
 in the Calle de Segovia : the coinage 
 is slovenly, the machinery foreign, the 
 dies ill cut and worse worked; but 
 since the great prevalence of 5-franc 
 pieces struck in France, no great ac- 
 tivity has been shown here. 
 
 The public and stock-exchange, or 
 Bolsa de Comercio , established in 1831, 
 was then held at San Martin. Re- 
 moved to Los Basilios , No. 11, Calle 
 del Desengano, of “ finding out the 
 trick ” (not a badly chosen name), and 
 now established in the Plazuela de la 
 Lena . It is often sin operaciones , and 
 is then the coldest place in the capital, 
 and has been likened to a tomb in- 
 scribed “ Here lies Spanish credit.” 
 It is open from 10 a.m. until 3 o'clock, 
 where those who like Spanish 5 per 
 cents, may buy them at a low figure ; 
 there are a great variety of different 
 stocks, and suited to all tastes and 
 pockets, whether those funded by 
 Aguado, Arduoin, Toreno, or Mendi- 
 zabal, “ all honourable men ;” in some 
 the principle is consolidated, in others, 
 2 K 3 
 
734 
 
 MADRID — PUBLIC DEBT AND LOANS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 the interest is deferred ; one grand 
 financial principle in all seems to have 
 been to receive as much as possible, and 
 pay back in an inverse ratio ; in short, 
 every sort of funding except refund- 
 ing. As in measuring out money and 
 oil, a little will stick to the cleanest 
 fingers, the ministers and contractors 
 made fortunes and actually “ did 99 the 
 Hebrews of London. But from Philip 
 II. downwards, theologians have never 
 been wanting to prove the religious, 
 however painful, duty of bankruptcy, 
 and particularly in contracts with 
 usurious heretics. The stranger, when 
 shown over the Madrid bank, had better 
 evince no impertinent curiosity to see 
 the “ Dividend pay office,” as it might 
 give offence. Their punctuality is un- 
 remitting , and their Pundhonor settles 
 debts rather with steel than gold. 
 Whatever be our reader’s pursuit in 
 the Peninsula, let him 
 
 “ Neither a borrower or lender be. 
 
 For loan oft loseth both itself and friend.” 
 
 Beware of Spanish stock, for in spite of 
 official reports, documentos , and arith- 
 metical mazes, which, intricate as an 
 arabesque pattern, look well on paper, 
 without being intelligible ; in spite of 
 ingenious conversions, fundings of in- 
 terest, &c., the thimblerig is always the 
 same ; and this is the question, since 
 national credit depends on national 
 good faith and surplus income, how 
 can a country pay interest on debts, 
 whose revenues have long been, and 
 now are, miserably insufficient for the 
 ordinary expenses of government. You 
 cannot get blood from a stone. 
 
 Matters are not much changed since 
 Mr. Macgregor’s Report on Spain in 
 1844, where a truthful description is 
 given of the commercial ignorance, 
 habitual disregard of treaties, violation 
 of contracts, and a detail of the public 
 securities of Punic Spain, past and pre- 
 sent. Certainly they had infinite J uros, 
 Vales reales , Cedulas, Deudas sin interes , 
 active, passive, and other repudiatory 
 varieties, all very fine-sounding and 
 imposing ; but no oaths can attach real 
 value to dishonoured paper. According 
 to some financiers, the public debts of 
 Spain, previously to 1808, amounted to 
 
 .£83,763,966, which have since been 
 1 ncreased to £279,083,089, farthings 
 omitted: possibly this may be an 
 e xaggeration, but it is not the duty of 
 a useful Handbook to recommend these 
 investments. What with the invasion, 
 civil wars, official peculation, and finan- 
 cial ignorance, Spain is over head and 
 ears in debt, and seems to be irremedi- 
 ably insolvent. And yet few countries, 
 if we regard the fertility of her soil, 
 her golden possessions at home and 
 abroad, her frugal temperate popu- 
 lation, ought to have been less embar- 
 rassed than Spain ; but Santiago has 
 granted her every blessing, except a 
 good and honest government. 
 
 It may perhaps interest the bulls 
 and bears of our Stock Exchange 
 to hear the view taken by not a 
 few Spaniards on the nonpayment 
 of either interest or principal of 
 moneys raised abroad. Independently 
 of general repudiatory predilections, 
 punic faith tendencies and maxims, 
 many deny the obligation in to to : they 
 ask who contracted these debts, and 
 under what circumstances the loans 
 were raised, and for whose benefit ; 
 they maintain that it was either the 
 job of a faction or of a government de 
 facto and not de jure , and that the real 
 end was to injure not to benefit the 
 nation ; that the royalists borrowed to 
 put down constitutional liberty , that 
 the liberals borrowed to put down 
 church and state, god and the king; 
 both parties strenuously affirm that 
 the foreign capitalist made most usuri- 
 ous bargains, and that the proceeds 
 paid in cash to Nosotros bore a very 
 trifling proportion to the debt created 
 on paper. The nation at large contend 
 that as it had no hand in these transac- 
 tions, it has no right to be taxed to pay 
 either interest or principal : in a word, 
 that Spaniards, the most honourable 
 people in the world, are not bound to 
 defray the debts of a mere handful of 
 swindlers in office. Beggar your neigh- 
 bour is a grand game, and base is the 
 slave that pays is an old saying ; but if 
 there be a thing that la perfide Albion, 
 that shopkeeping nation, abhors, it is 
 an insolvent, so the name of Spain is 
 not popular in our Capel Court City. 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — BANKS— THEATRES. 
 
 735 
 
 The national or government bank, 
 called de San Fernando , Calle de la 
 Montera, issues notes for 200, 500, 
 1000 and 10,000 reals, which will not 
 readily pass out of Madrid. These 
 notes are cashed every day from ten 
 to one. Previously there existed that 
 of San Carlos, founded in 1782 by 
 Charles III., and the first of Madrid 
 which ever enjoyed exclusive privi- 
 leges of receiving deposits, and a mo- 
 nopoly of issuing paper ; but, in spite 
 of charters, Ferdinand VII., July 9, 
 1829, created this rival, in favour of 
 some capitalists who advanced him 
 money, in consequence of which the 
 older establishment failed. In spite 
 of the charters of this new San Fernando, 
 an opposition governmental bank, 
 Santa Isabel , was set up, which dis- 
 counted promissory notes or pagares. 
 The two rivals have, however, recently 
 coalesced ; other banks went to the 
 dogs, dragging sundry English specu- 
 lators down with them. Another was 
 formed, called El Fomento, to facilitate 
 new roads and canals; and another, 
 El Progreso , which is a sort of sav- 
 ings’ -bank. All of these are doing 
 well, with their shares at a premium ; 
 the profits large, since the arts of 
 banking are yet in their infancy in 
 Spain, and the rates of discount and 
 interest very high. A general Life and 
 House Insurance Company ( Calle del 
 Prado , No. 42) was only founded in 
 1842 : so new here is any security for 
 person or property : it is said that few 
 Spanish women will insure, because it 
 is necessary to state their real age. 
 Since the fall of the monks, Spaniards 
 are getting over the oriental notion, 
 that these human precautions evinced 
 a want of confidence in God — aide toi, 
 et le del t' aider a. 
 
 In the Calle San Juan is the Pla- 
 teria, established by Charles III., who 
 sent one Antonio Martinez to Paris and 
 London for ideas and machinery : the 
 workroom is fine ; but not much plate 
 is now made in Spain, whose gold and 
 silver ages are past. Recently several 
 literary and artistical societies have 
 been formed, such as El Ateneo , a kind 
 of club ; the time-honoured University 
 of Alcala was moved in 1837 to C. 
 
 Ancha San Bernardo, just as if Oxford 
 had been carted to Gower-street ; El 
 Liceo artistico y liter ario, is a sort of 
 Royal Institution for lectures and meet' 
 ings every Thursday ; a Philharmonic 
 Academy ; there is a Conservatorio de 
 Artes, Calle del Turco, with a few me- 
 chanical models, and library on those 
 subjects ; the Conservatorio de Musica 
 was founded in 1830 by Christina, in 
 order to force Italian notes down 
 Spanish gargantas. The pupils hith- 
 erto have not attained mediocrity : 
 Spaniards are musical without being 
 harmonious, as those who read Sil. 
 Ital. (iii. 346) must know; and as 
 those who do not, may learn of any 
 muleteer, or in any of the national 
 operas, the Venta. This performance 
 is indeed racy and true, if not delight- 
 ful, but wherever the Italian opera 
 rules, and Le Theatre Frangais des- 
 potises, adieu to the tunes, ballads, and 
 tales of the people ; so effectually does 
 art and fashion oust nature and na- 
 tionality. 
 
 There are several theatres at Ma- 
 drid, besides the opera or Teatro Peal . 
 The two oldest, the Principe and Cruz , 
 were the mean and unworthy cradles 
 of the modern drama of Europe. The 
 original theatre for which Calderon, 
 Cervantes, and Lope de Vega wrote 
 for Philip IV., was burnt by the 
 French. The present Teatro de la Cruz , 
 of the Cross ! destined for comedies, 
 farces, and dancing, which will hold 
 about 1300 persons, is badly contrived ; 
 it was built in 1737, by Ribera, who 
 exercised his genius, fertile in absurdi- 
 ties, in erecting such an edifice, that 
 no subsequent efforts, short of pulling 
 down, can ever render it tolerable. 
 The other theatre, called Del Principe , 
 intended for the Spanish drama, 
 was built by Villanueva, in 1806, and 
 will contain only 1200 spectators. 
 Both of them are dirty and ill-lighted. 
 The place or galleries set apart for 
 women, into which no males are ad- 
 mitted, and which hence used to be 
 called La Tertulia de las Mugeres , is yet 
 uninvaded by civilization of the cha- 
 peau, , and admits no bonnets. 
 
 Spanish tragedy is wearisome : the 
 language is stilty, the declamation 
 
MADRID — THEATRES — GRANDEES. Sect. XL 
 
 736 
 
 ranting, French, and unnatural ; pas- 
 sion is torn to rags. The Spanish 
 theatre, whence the modern drama has 
 arisen, and from which the French 
 borrowed so largely, has shared in the 
 national decline, and is now content to 
 borrow from those it formerly taught. 
 Translations and adaptations from 
 France are now a la mode ; Spain, in- 
 deed, is afraid now to exhibit herself 
 on the mirror stage. Her flag is tat- 
 tered, her capa is torn ; all that repre- 
 sents present nationality is scouted as 
 vulgar, and if Spain will appear on the 
 boards, it is to strut with the Cid and 
 Charles V. Thus she blinks the pre- 
 sent in the past, and builds up bright 
 hopes for the future — Chateaux 
 d'Espagne. The sainetes , or farces, 
 are broad, but amusing, and per- 
 fectly well acted ; these, indeed, are 
 the true vehicles of the love for sar- 
 casm, satire, and intrigue, the mirth 
 and mother-wit, for which Spaniards 
 are so remarkable ; and no people are 
 more essentially serio-comic and dra- 
 matic than they are. The sainete is 
 deserving of its name, which signifies 
 the tit-bit, the brain of the quarry, with 
 which the sportsman rewarded his 
 hawk. The Bolero or Baile Nacional, 
 of course, is the Salsa de la Comedia, 
 on n’tfcoute que le ballet; then women 
 cease even to talk, and men to expecto- 
 rate. The elegant French ballet is 
 just tolerated. The Circo, Plaza del 
 Key, or Spanish opera, where Zarzuelas 
 and comic pieces are given, is very 
 popular and well filled : Butacas, stalls, 
 cost 10 reals. The minor theatres are 
 Las Variedades, in the Calle de la Mag- 
 dalena ; the Buena Vista, Calle de la 
 Luna, where the old bank of San Car- 
 los was ; the Lope de Vega ; the Museo, 
 Calle de Alcaic ; and the Instituto, 
 Calle de las Urosas. On the Spanish 
 theatre, see our paper in the ‘ Quar. 
 Review,’ No. cxvii. 
 
 In general, Spanish theatres are cold 
 and full of draughts and smells, mostly 
 abominable, being a compound of 
 garlic, tobacco, &c. Between the acts 
 a long interval takes place, one cal- 
 culated by cigar consumption ; the 
 house is then soon filled with smoke 
 from the lobbies. The wiser clergy 
 
 use sweet incense during their melo- 
 dramatic spectacle. 
 
 Very few of the palaces of the Gran- 
 dees contain anything worth notice. 
 They were plundered by the invaders, 
 and their owners are not over-gifted 
 with taste. They are large and empty 
 according to our ideas, as are the heads 
 of most of their owners ; real furniture 
 and an air of occupation and life are 
 wanting ; cellars and libraries are 
 curiosities ; the kitchens are carica- 
 tures ; but in truth the art of dining 
 has yet to be really learnt, for the Spa- 
 niard, accustomed to his own desultory, 
 free and easy, impromptu, scrambling 
 style of eating, is bored and constrained 
 by the order and discipline, the pomp 
 and ceremony, and serious importance 
 of a well-regulated dinner, and their 
 observance of forms extends mostly to 
 persons, not to things: so many a 
 titulado even has only a thin European 
 polish spread over his Gotho-Bedouin 
 dining-table; he lives and eats sur- 
 rounded by an humble clique, in his 
 huge barrack-house, without any ele- 
 gance, luxury, or even comfort, ac- 
 cording to sound trans-pyrenean no- 
 tions : few indeed are the cocinas which 
 possess a cordon bleu, and fewer are 
 the masters who really like an orthodox 
 entree, one unpolluted with the heresies 
 of garlic and red pepper : again, when- 
 ever their cookery attempts to be 
 foreign, as in their other imitations, it 
 ends in being a flavourless copy ; but 
 few things are ever done in Spain in 
 real style, which implies forethought and 
 expense. Here almost everything is a 
 makeshift; the noble master reposes and 
 shifts his affairs on an unjust steward, 
 and dozes away life on this bed of roses, 
 somnolescent over business and awake 
 only to intrigue; his numerous ill- 
 conditioned, ill-appointed servidumbre 
 have no idea of discipline or subordi- 
 nation ; you never can calculate on 
 their laying even the tablecloth, as 
 they prefer idling in the church or on 
 the plaza to doing their duty, and would 
 rather starve, and sing, dance, and 
 sleep out of place and independently, 
 than feast and earn their wages by fair 
 work ; nor has the employer any re- 
 dress, for if he dismisses them he will 
 
The Castiles . 
 
 MADRID — GRANDEES — HOUSES. 
 
 737 
 
 only get just such another set, or even 
 worse. Spain, indeed, is a shadow 
 of departed greatness, and of all 
 shadows few are more unsubstantial, 
 with rare exceptions, than the present 
 holders of the time-honoured titles of 
 her heroic age. To be a Grande 
 it almost now seems necessary to 
 be small in person and intellect. 
 The poor descendants of those real 
 men who rendered great names glori- 
 ous still flutter in the faint reflection of 
 a past effulgence, their present insig- 
 nificance being heightened by the 
 former importance of those whom they 
 misrepresent: they have grown with 
 the growth and declined with the 
 decline of their country. Living ruins 
 without the dignity of antiquity, they 
 are degenerate alike in body, mind, 
 and estate ; their close intermarriages, 
 by breeding in-and-in, have perpe- 
 tuated physical and moral insignifi- 
 cance as their birthright ; they have set 
 the laws of organic nature at defiance, 
 and hence their stinted forms and 
 defective brains. This pigmy propor- 
 tion of body and brain is in an inverse 
 ratio to magnitude of rank and wealth, 
 as if it would seem that Providence 
 created them in order to show how 
 little importance it attached to these 
 gifts, so coveted by mortals. They 
 rarely reach mediocrity, for the few 
 Duques who have held office or scrib- 
 bled would not in England be admitted 
 into an annual, or appointed on the 
 committee of a country book-club; no 
 wonder then that these Hijos de algo 
 are ousted in political power by novi 
 homines either Hijos de se y de sus obras , 
 or by upstart adventurers, lampooners, 
 stock-jobbers, small litterateurs, and 
 soldiers of fortune. From never ally- 
 ing themselves with the commonalty, 
 the nobles stand alone like barren 
 palm-trees and on the surface; they 
 have no deep roots intertwined with 
 the social system, nor have they educa- 
 tion or talent to carve out for them- 
 selves a position. Uneducated and un- 
 travelled, these popinjay butterflies are 
 fit only to swell the levees, the Besa- 
 manos of the court, where, true Pala- 
 ciegos, the insects glitter in embroidery 
 and decoration. The essentials of a 
 
 true grandee are, to be chico, endeudado 
 y cornudo ; and the late Duque de 
 F — s used proudly to boast that he 
 was 4 4 all three.” Madrid is indeed the 
 court of fine names, gilt gingerbread, 
 and trappings of honour, as the forms 
 of real strength are resorted to, in order 
 to raise the apparent splendour of a 
 faded country, to mask the absence of 
 livingspirit by thesymbol. It hasrather 
 the abuse than the use of a nobility; no- 
 where, not even at cognate Naples, is 
 there a greater prodigality of utterly 
 undeserved titles and decorations. The 
 meaner the man the more does indi- 
 vidual insignificance require to be 
 plastered over, the more must the 
 base metal be gilded. The badge 
 confers, indeed, small honour, but not 
 to have it is a disgrace. Formerly, 
 said the shrewd Popidacho , rogues 
 were hung on crosses, now crosses 
 are hung on rogues : for these gran- 
 dee and heraldic matters, see our 
 paper in 4 Quart. Rev cxxiii. 110. 
 
 The largest of the Grandees’ houses, 
 and a real poor house, is that of the 
 Duque de Medinaceli, Carrera de San 
 Geronimo: it looks like ten lease- 
 holds taken from Baker Street. The 
 plate and armoury were appropriated 
 by the French. Here are kept, in sad 
 neglect, some second-rate antiques 
 which were brought from the Casa de 
 Pilatos at Seville. Observe a fawn, a 
 Mercury, and Apollo. Here are two 
 very early cannon : the library, no 
 longer open to the public, is now food 
 for worms. The Conde de Onate has 
 also a good house ; so has the Duque 
 de Hijar, and the Marquis de Astorga. 
 The Duque de Osuna, in the Vistillas, 
 is setting in order the hereditary 
 books, pictures, and ancient arms. 
 
 Charles I., when at Madrid, lived 
 in the Casa de las siete Chimineas , 
 No. 2, Calle de las Infantas, Plazuela 
 del Rey ; it was the house which the 
 Venetian envoy held so long, and even 
 against Philip IV., and our minister 
 Fanshaw. (See his Letters, ii. 129.) 
 Built by Herrera, this is one of the 
 oldest mansions in Madrid. 
 
 Pursuing that street, is Las Salesas 
 Viejas. This enormous nunnery, a 
 I second Escorial, was built in 1758, by 
 
738 
 
 MADKID — LAS SALESAS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 one Carlier, for Barbara, queen of 
 Ferdinand VI., in imitation of Ma- 
 dame de Maintenon’s St. Cyr, as a 
 place of retreat for herself, and a semi- 
 nary for young noble females. The 
 size, enormous cost, and bad taste, led 
 the critics to exclaim, “ Barbara Reina, 
 barbara obra , bcirbaro gusto , barbara 
 gasto.” Barbara , besides meaning bar- 
 barous, has, in Spanish, the secondary 
 signification of immense, outrageous. 
 Over the facade is a bas-relief of 
 Nuestra Sehora de la Visitation, to 
 which mystery the building is dedi- 
 cated. The imposing Corinthian 
 chapel is now converted into a parish 
 church. The king and queen, who 
 would not mix their French ashes 
 with those of Austrians, are buried 
 here : their tombs, designed by Sabatini, 
 and executed by Gutierrez, are wrought 
 of the finest materials, but the figures 
 of Plenty and Justice are imagined 
 after the taste and truth of the grand 
 epitaphs composed by the poet J uan de 
 Iriarte. The marbles of the high altar 
 are truly magnificent : the green pil- 
 lars were brought from the quarries 
 of San Juan near Granada. The hand- 
 somest fagade of the Palacio, so called 
 because the residence of Queen Bar- 
 bara, looks to the garden. 
 
 The convent Descalzas Beales in its 
 plaza was founded by Juana, daughter 
 of Charles V. Observe her kneeling 
 effigy placed on her tomb, and wrought 
 in marble by P. Leoni. The frescoes 
 were painted in 1756, by Velazquez 
 {not Diego) . The Retablo of the high 
 altar is by Becerra. The abbess of this 
 convent ranked as a grandee. 
 
 There are very few interesting tombs 
 in modern Madrid, as the finest in the 
 San Geronimo and San Martin were 
 destroyed by the invaders. Herrera, 
 the architect, was buried in San Nicho- 
 las; Lope de Vega in San Sebastian: 
 he died Aug. 27, 1637, at No. 11, Calle 
 Francos. Velazquez, who died Aug. 7, 
 1660, was buried in San Juan. It was 
 pulled down in 181 1, in the time of the 
 French, and his ashes scattered to the 
 winds, as Soult had treated those of 
 Murillo (seep. 182). So were scattered 
 those of Cervantes : he died April 23, 
 1616, in the Calle del Leon, No. 20, 
 
 Manzana, 228, and was buried in the 
 Trinitarias Descalzas, Calle del Humil- 
 ladero, and when the nuns moved to 
 the Calle de Cantarranas, the site was 
 forgotten, and his remains are now 
 left unhonoured. In that convent the 
 daughters both of Cervantes and Lope 
 de Vega took the veil. 
 
 Spain, having denied bread to Cer- 
 vantes when alive, has recently given 
 him when dead, a stone ; an indifferent 
 monument has been raised opposite the 
 Cortes, with his statue modelled by An- 
 tonio Sola of Barcelona and cast in 
 bronze by a Prussian named Hofgarten. 
 Dressed in the old Spanish costume, 
 he hides under his cloak his arm mu- 
 tilated at Lepanto, which he never did 
 in life, it being the great pride of his 
 existence. The reliefs on the pedestal 
 of Don Quixote’s adventures were de- 
 signed by Jose Piquer; the cost was 
 defrayed out of the Bula de Cruzada : 
 thus Cervantes, who when alive was 
 ransomed from Algiers by the monks 
 of Merced, when dead owed to a reli- 
 gious fund this tardy monument. The 
 street in which he lived is now called 
 Calle de Cervantes ; and the house, 
 No. 2, which he is supposed to have 
 occupied, has his profile placed over 
 the door. The bones of Calderon de la 
 Barca were moved April 19, 1841, from 
 La Calatrava nunnery, and interred 
 in the Campo Santo de San Andreas . 
 
 The celebrated Padre Henrique 
 Florez, whose works we so often 
 quote, died, aged 71, May 5, 1773, in 
 his convent San Felipe el Real, near the 
 Puerta del Sol, and was buried in the 
 fine chapel ; now all is swept away. 
 Here was preserved his splendid 
 library and his extraordinary collec- 
 tion of notes and papers for the con- 
 tinuation of the 4 Espaha Sagrada’ and 
 for the preservation of which he ob- 
 tained from Clement XIII. a bull ex- 
 communicating all who should remove 
 or injure them. This, however, proved 
 a brutum fulmen against the invader, 
 as General Belliard,* in 1808, turned 
 
 * So Mons. de Tilli, the Vandal of the Pala- 
 tinate, littered his dragoons with the rare MSS. 
 of the library at Heidelberg. So Pichegru, with 
 his apostles of infidelity, burnt at Antwerp, 
 June 1794, the materials of the Bollandists : this 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 MADRID — ENVIRONS — EL PARDO. 
 
 739 
 
 the beautiful church into a stable, and 
 used up those MSS. and books of Florez 
 .which were not burnt under French 
 camp-kettles, to make beds of for 
 the troopers : thus perished anti- 
 
 quarian researches that never can be 
 replaced, as most of the original docu- 
 ments afterwards met with the same 
 fate from other generals of the invaders: 
 hence the present difficulty in conti- 
 nuing the ‘ Espana Sagrada.’ The vo- 
 lumes printed about this fatal period 
 are rare : the printers ran away, and 
 the sheets were either sold as waste 
 paper or destroyed. See for details 
 Risco’s preface, ‘ Esp. Sag./ xliii. ix. 
 For particulars of the life of Florez, 
 see * Noticias de la Vida/ by Francisco 
 Mendez, Mad. 1780, his friend and 
 companion, and the learned author of 
 the ‘ Typographia Espanola/ 
 
 Santo Domingo el Real was founded 
 in 1217. The portal and coro were 
 added by Herrera for Philip II. in 1599, 
 whose son Don Carlos was buried here, 
 until the body was removed to the 
 Escorial. Observe the kneeling effigy 
 of Don Pedro, and the costume of his 
 grand-daughter, 1478. Here is kept 
 the wonderful Pila of the saint, which 
 is brought forth at the baptism of 
 royalty. San Ildefonso was rebuilt in 
 1827, the French having destroyed 
 the former church. San Marcos , 
 Calle de San Leonardo, was erected 
 by Ventura Rodriguez, who lies buried 
 in it. There are so very few churches 
 worth visiting at Madrid that the 
 ecclesiologist had better hasten to 
 imperial Toledo, the seat of the pri- 
 mate of Spain. 
 
 The immediate environs of Madrid 
 offer small attraction, as the city stands 
 alone in its desert solitude. There are 
 no daughter suburbs, no Belgravia or 
 Tiburnia, no Nouvelle Atlienes ; few 
 are the villas, the rures in urbe, which 
 tempt the citizens beyond the mud 
 wall of their paradise. The rare ex- 
 ceptions are mostly royal property ; 
 one of the prettiest is la Moncloa , on 
 
 Belliard was the officer who surrendered with 
 the French army to the English in Egypt, and 
 was the first of his brother generals to betray 
 his master Buonaparte at Fontainebleau ; and 
 see p. 120. 
 
 the r. of the road to the Escorial, and 
 overlooking the bed of the Manzanares. 
 It once belonged to the Alva family ; 
 it was purchased by Ferdinand VII., 
 who removed to it the porcelain ma- 
 nufactory after the French had de- 
 stroyed la China . Here his Majesty 
 made some bad, coarse, and very dear 
 pots and pans. 
 
 El Pardo , a royal sitio or shooting- 
 box, distant 2 L. on the Manzanares, 
 builtby Charles V., was burnt March 13, 
 1604 ; then perished many magnificent 
 portraits by Titian, A. Moro, Coello, 
 &c. ; the present pile was repaired by 
 F. de Mora for Philip III.; it was 
 added to by Charles III., as a shoot- 
 ing-box near his favourite preserve: 
 the covers extend to 1 5 L. in circum- 
 ference. The royal apartments are 
 commodious, and there is a small 
 theatre in the building; some of the 
 ceilings painted in fresco by Galvez 
 and Ribera ; the glass chandeliers are 
 large and fine, and a portion of the 
 fine tapestry inside is of the time of 
 Charles V. Those with rural and 
 sporting subjects are after designs of 
 Goya. In the Retablo of the Oratory 
 is a copy of the Christ bearing the 
 Cross, by Ribalta, of which there is a 
 replica at Magdalen College, Oxford. 
 
 The Alameda is a pleasant villa 
 erected on the road to Guadalajara by 
 the late Duchess Countess of Bena- 
 vente, at an enormous expense. The 
 grounds are nicely laid out, well 
 wooded, and refreshing in the desert. 
 Here the princely Osuna has a fine 
 haras, managed by Mr. Cook. The 
 humbler citizens occasionally venture 
 outside the gate of Alcala, or to Cham - 
 beri outside the gate of Bilbao, where 
 they refresh themselves in second- 
 rate public-houses. On a hill about 
 | of a L. on the road to Toledo 
 is Caravanchel , or rather the Caravan- 
 cheles , for the two villages closely adjoin 
 each other, being distinguished by the 
 epithets upper and lower, de arriba y 
 de abajo. They offer to Madrid what 
 Highgate and Hampstead do to Lon- 
 don, and are visited by Castilian 
 cockneys on holidays. La Vista Alegre , 
 so called from the cheerful view over 
 the nakedness of the land, was bought 
 
740 
 
 SPANISH RAILROADS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 by Christina, who here created a 
 gingerbread villa, where royal and 
 rural fetes were given, and the cour- 
 tiers were amused amazingly, in the 
 want of food and drink, by countesses 
 tumbling into fish-ponds, and by 
 grandees falling off whirligig St. Bar- 
 tholomew Fair wooden horses ; oh ! 
 what a falling off was there, from the 
 Cid and his Babieca! According to 
 the Clamor Publico (Feb. 11, 1846), the 
 Queen-Mother sold this suburban 
 elysium to her daughter Isabel for 
 200,00<V. — “a bargain in which ma- 
 ternal love prevailed over private in- 
 terest.” Christina, although bred and 
 born at beautiful Naples, was so fond 
 of this place, that she took from it the 
 title of Condesa de Vista Alegre , on de- 
 parting quasi incognita from Valencia, 
 after her first abdication, and when her 
 throne and children were left behind; 
 but the classical and quixotic denomi- 
 nation of the “rueful countenance” 
 would better have suited the sadness 
 of the occasion and her own forced 
 errantry. 
 
 Communications from Madrid. 
 
 Before quitting the capital remember 
 to get the passport en regie , and do not 
 put off the obtaining all necessary 
 vises to the last moment, as the official 
 subalterns are not to be hurried more 
 than masters of our Court of Chancery, 
 and a day is soon lost in loitering in 
 the ante-rooms, where real business 
 festinat lente and moves con pies de 
 plomo. 
 
 Madrid, being placed like a spider 
 in the middle of the Peninsular web, 
 may justly be termed the heart in which 
 the grand arteries of the circulation, 
 such as it is, centre, and from whence, 
 until the projected railroads are 
 finished, the mails and diligences start. 
 For all particulars consult the printed 
 bills and particulars, which are to be 
 had everywhere at Madrid; and the 
 great companies generally advertise 
 their days and time of departure in the 
 papers. There is also a useful little 
 book called ‘ El Estado sinoptico de 
 Correos * which gives an account of all 
 the coaches, & c. which enter and 
 leave Madrid. 
 
 Just now there is much talk of rail- 
 roads , and splendid official and other 
 documentos are issued by which the 
 “ whole country is to be intersected 
 (on paper) with a network of rapid 
 and bowling-green communications 
 these are to create a “ perfect homo- 
 geneity among Spaniards ; ” for great 
 as have been the labours of Herculean 
 steam, this amalgamation of the Ibe- 
 rian rope of sand has properly been 
 reserved for the crowning performance. 
 Most of this is to be effected by the 
 iron and gold of England, that fond 
 and foolish ally who fights and pays 
 for all. But Spain is a land which 
 never yet has been able to construct 
 or support even a sufficient number of 
 common roads or canals for her poor 
 and passive commerce and circulation. 
 In other countries roads, canals, and 
 traffic precede the rail, which in this 
 land of anomalies is to precede them : 
 here, while commerce jogs on on the 
 pack-horse, jobbing flies by the elec- 
 tric telegraph, and the last new inven- 
 tion of civilisation is coupled to the 
 ways and means of primeval antiquity. 
 The distances are too great, and the 
 traffic too small, to call yet for the 
 rail, while the geological formation of 
 the country offers difficulties which, 
 if met with even in England, would 
 baffle the colossal science and extra- 
 vagance of our first-rate engineers. 
 Spain is a land of mountains, which 
 rise everywhere in alpine barriers, 
 walling off province from province, 
 and district from district. These 
 mighty cloud-capped sierras are solid 
 masses of hard stone, and any tunnels 
 which ever perforate their ranges 
 will reduce that at Box to the delving 
 of the poor mole. You might as well 
 cover Switzerland and the Tyrol with 
 a network of level lines, as all simple- 
 tons caught in the aforesaid net will 
 soon discover to their cost. The out- 
 lay will be in an inverse ratio to the 
 remuneration, for the one will be 
 enormous, and the other paltry. The 
 parturient mountains will in all pro- 
 bility only produce a most musipular 
 interest. 
 
 Spain again is a land of dehesas y 
 despoblados : in these wild unpeopled 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 COMMUNICATIONS FROM MADRID. 
 
 741 
 
 •wastes, next to travellers, commerce 
 and cash are what is scarce, while even 
 Madrid, the capital, is a city without 
 industry or resources, and poorer than 
 many of our provincial cities. The 
 Spaniard, a creature of routine and 
 foe to innovations, is not a locomotive 
 animal ; local, and a fixture by nature, 
 he hates moving like a Turk, and 
 has a particular horror of being hur- 
 ried ; long, therefore, has an ambling 
 mule here answered all the purposes 
 of transporting man and his goods. 
 The English contractors will be indeed 
 welcomed in Spain with honours 
 almost divine, as all who come with 
 cash in their sacks always are and will 
 be ; but when the work is done, the 
 villagers who, next to disliking regu- 
 lar sustained labour themselves, abhor 
 seeing the foreigner toiling even in 
 their service, and wasting his gold and 
 sinews in the thankless task, will rise- 
 against the stranger and heretic who 
 comes to •“ suck the wealth of Spain/* 
 What has ever been the recompense 
 which the foreigner has met with 
 but breach of promise and ingratitude ? 
 He will be used, as in the East, until 
 the native thinks that he has mastered 
 his arts, and then he will be cast out 
 and trodden under foot. 
 
 The lines most likely to succeed will 
 be those which are the shortest, and 
 pass through a level country of some 
 natural productions, such as from 
 Cadiz to Seville through the wine and 
 oil districts; from Barcelona to Ma- 
 taro, from Reinosa to Santander, and 
 from Oviedo to Aviles, through the 
 coal country. Certainly, if the rail can 
 be laid down in Spain by the gold and 
 science of England, the gift, like that 
 of steam, will be worthy of the ocean’s 
 queen, and of the world’s real leader 
 of peace, order, liberty, good faith, 
 commerce and civilisation ; and v^hat 
 a change will then come over the 
 spirit of the Peninsula ! how the siesta 
 of torpid man- vegetation will be dis- 
 turbed by the shrill whistle and pant- 
 ing snort of the monster engine ! how 
 the seals of this long hermetically 
 shut-up land will be broken ! how the 
 cloistered obscure, and dreams of trea- 
 sures in heaven will be enlightened by 
 
 this flashing fire-demon of the wide- 
 awake money-worshipper ! what owls 
 will be vexed, what bats dispossessed, 
 what drones, Maragatos , mules, Ojala- 
 teros , and asses, will be scared, run 
 over, and annihilated! Those who 
 love Spain, and pray, like the author, 
 daily for her prosperity, must indeed 
 hope to see this M net-work of rails 99 - 
 concluded, but will take, especial care 
 at the same time not to invest one 
 Quarto in the imposing speculation. 
 
 Meanwhile diligences, coches de col- 
 leras, and quadrupeds, do the road work 
 until these wonderful rails are laid 
 down. 
 
 One word before starting. Hurry 
 across the Castiles and central pro- 
 vinces by day and night by extra post 
 and mails, until the rails can conveys 
 you quicker ; above all things beware 
 of walking or riding journeys, espe- 
 cially in winter or summer : preferable 
 even is the mud, wet, and cold of the 
 former to the calcining heats of the 
 latter, which bake the mortal clay 
 until it becomes more brittle than an 
 olla y more combustible than a cigar. 
 Those “ rayes,” to use the words of 
 old Howell, “ that do but warm you 
 in England, do half roast you here ; 
 those beams that irradiate onely, and 
 gild your honeysuckled fields, do here 
 scorch and parch the chinky, gaping 
 soyle, and put too many wrinkles upon 
 the face of your common mother.” 
 Then, when the heavens and earth are 
 on fire, and the sun drinks up rivers 
 .at one draught; when the earth is 
 tawny, and the ashy olive blanched into 
 the livery of the desert, or shrivelled 
 up into gunpowder-tea, then will an 
 Englishman discover that he is made 
 of dust, only drier, and learn to esti- 
 mate water; then, in the Hagar-like 
 thirst of the wilderness, every mummy 
 hag rushing from a reed hut, with a 
 porous cup of brackish water, is 
 changed by the mirage into a Hebe, 
 bearing the nectar of the immortals; 
 then how one longs for the most 
 wretched Venta, which heat and thirst 
 convert into the Clarendon, since in it 
 at least will be found water and shade, 
 and an escape from the god of fire. 
 Well may Spanish historians boast, 
 
742 
 
 ROUTE 99. MADRID TO AVILA. 
 
 Sect. XL 
 
 that this orb at the creation first shone 
 over Toledo, and never since has set 
 on the dominions of the Great King, 
 who, as we are assured by Berni (‘ Crea- 
 tion j p. 82), “ has the sun for his hat,” 
 — tiene al sol por su sombrero: but 
 humbler mortals who are not grandees 
 of this solar system, and to whom a 
 coup de soleil is neither a joke nor a 
 metaphor, should double up sheets of 
 brown paper in the crown of their 
 beavers. Sic nos servavit Apollo. 
 And oh ! ye our fair readers, who 
 value complexion, take for heaven’s 
 sake a parasol. On these occasions 
 the pleasure of a fine climate seems to 
 be somewhat overrated ; and we ask, 
 in what one country can out-of-door 
 exercise be enjoyed so many days in 
 the year as in our vilified England ? — 
 where is human life so much pro- 
 longed ? — where are finer animals 
 raised, male or female, biped or 
 quadruped ? 
 
 Excursions round Madrid. 
 
 Every one of course will visit los 
 Sitios Reales , or the “royal seats” of 
 the Escorial, San Ildefonso , and Aran- 
 juez , to which the monarchs of Spain, 
 who change their quarters like merino 
 sheep, resort every year at fixed 
 periods : in order to economise time, 
 these residences may be included in 
 other routes; thus those about to 
 travel from Madrid to the S. or E. 
 may first take Toledo and Aranjuez , 
 and then journey on, if to Valencia , 
 by Cuenca , and if to Andalucia, by 
 Valdepehas and the Sierra Morena. 
 Those proceeding from Madrid to 
 F ranee may pass by Avila , the Escorial, 
 and San Ildefonso to Segovia , and 
 thence to Valladolid and Burgos. 
 Those going from Madrid to Vigo may 
 proceed by Segovia , San Ildefonso , the 
 Escorial , Avila , and Salamanca , to all 
 of which there are coaches, and the 
 means of communication are every day 
 improving. 
 
 Route 99. — Madrid to Avila. 
 
 Boadilla ..... 
 
 ., 
 
 
 Brunete 
 
 2k . 
 
 . 5 
 
 Chapinera 
 
 3 . , 
 
 . 8 
 
 Valdeiglesias .... 
 
 2 . , 
 
 . 10 
 
 Guisando ..... 
 
 1 . , 
 
 . 11 
 
 Tiemblo 
 
 .... l . . 
 
 12 
 
 Berraco . . 
 
 
 14 
 
 Avila . . 
 
 
 16 
 
 There is a 
 
 sort of coche to 
 
 Avila, 
 
 which starts 
 
 from the Meson 
 
 de los 
 
 Huevos , Calle de la Concepcion Gero^ 
 nima, and performs the distance in 
 about 11 hours j after ascending the 
 Guadarama, and turning to 1. at Espi- 
 nar (10 L.), where there is a good 
 Parroquia by Herrera, it goes to Uraca. 
 The diligence to Salamanca gene- 
 rally sleeps here the first night. Avila , 
 by the direct Villacastin road, lies 
 about 20 L. from Madrid : the short- 
 est road is by the Escorial, 16 L. (see 
 R. 100, 101) ; but the antiquarian will 
 hire horses and a guide and ride across 
 by Guisando. Meanwhile the making 
 a new road to Vigo, which will con- 
 fer vitality on these long abandoned 
 localities, is talked about. 
 
 Quitting the capital, after crossing 
 the Manzanares, the road strikes into 
 a desert-like country. On passing the 
 rivers Guadarrama and Alberche, we 
 enter Old Castile and soon reach San 
 Martin de V aldeiglesias (12 L.J which, 
 being a cool retreat in the dog-days, 
 is frequented by the parched Madri- 
 lenians in summer. The fine Ber- 
 nardine convent near it was celebrated 
 for its carvings and paintings by Cor- 
 rea. The Escorial lies to the r. dis- 
 tant about 2 L. ; the intervening farm 
 del Guexijar, produces the rich full- 
 bodied almost black, wine called el 
 vino del santo , so relished by the holy 
 monks of the Escorial, who were oivofiioi 
 rather than Koivofitot. Formerly most of 
 the windows of that convent with a 
 sunny aspect, were lined with portly 
 bottles exposed to the mellowing 
 rays by which the blackstrap was 
 bleached, after the Horatian maxim — 
 Massica si ccelo, &c. Such was the 
 wine of the Grsecian priests (Od. ix. 
 196), and the Vinum Dominicum of the 
 Romans (Pet. Arb. 31.) The best is 
 made at Pelayos> 
 
 The lover of old pictures may turn 
 off about 5 L. to Robledo de Chavela , a 
 poor village in its rocky valley, and 
 amid scrub oaks, Robles. The Escorial 
 is only 2 L. distant. In the parroquia, 
 a solid simple building with a square 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 99 . TOROS DE GUIS ANDO. 
 
 743 
 
 tower, is a gilt and gothic retablo, 
 formed of nine lancet divisions, with 
 some 17 paintings of the life of the 
 Virgin, by Rincon, the court painter 
 to Ferdinand and Isabella: although 
 thus arrinconado , or buried in an out- 
 of-the-way corner, many have been 
 vilely repainted, and without some 
 timely attention will perish : the as- 
 sumption of the Virgin is the largest 
 and the best : Rincon — the Mabuse of 
 Spain — is more Italian in his manner 
 than Gallegos. See p. 521. 
 
 Guisando, distant 1 L. from Valde- 
 iglesias , is celebrated for its Geronimite 
 convent ; observe in the vineyard, now 
 belonging, we believe, to Narvaez, 
 some of the strange animals of granite, 
 called Toros by tauromachian Spa- 
 niards, who ought to have known 
 better what a bull was like, and what 
 he was not ; to us they seemed more 
 of the hippopotamus or rhinoceros 
 breed. These sculptures have been 
 injured both by man and time, and 
 the inscriptions on one plinth are not 
 coeval with the animal. Some con- 
 sider them to refer to victories gained 
 by Csesar over the sons of Pompey. 
 Similar Toros were once very nume- 
 rous in the central regions of Spain ; 
 thus Gil de Avila, writing in 1598, 
 enumerates 63 of them, while Somor- 
 rostro, in 1820, numbers only 37; so 
 rapidly are these unexplained relics of 
 antiquity disappearing, for although 
 interesting as our Druidical cromlechs, 
 they are used up by barbarians to mend 
 roads and to repair pigsties. Much ink 
 has been expended in discussing their 
 origin and object : some contend that 
 they were set up by Hercules, i. e. the 
 Phoenicians, in commemoration of the 
 bull Apis ; but Tyre never would have 
 selected an Egyptian symbol, even 
 supposing that her merchants ever 
 penetrated so far into the interior of 
 Spain, which they did not. Others 
 maintain that Hannibal — the Cartha- 
 ginians— made these landmarks in the 
 shape of elephants; others, and per- 
 haps more correctly, hold them to be 
 the rude idols of the aborigines, whose 
 god, Neton or Mars, was derived 
 from the Sun, a deity adored at Helio- 
 polis under the form of a bull, and, 
 
 in fact, the “golden calf” of the 
 Israelites (Macrob. 4 Sat/ i. 19, 21), 
 All, however, is mere conjecture, 
 whereat in derision Cervantes makes 
 his knight of the wood weigh one of 
 these Toros. Now-a-days Young Spain 
 cares still less ; and one live bull in the 
 plaza in her eyes is worth a hecatomb 
 of these brutes in granite. Consult 
 4 Declaracion del Toro’ Gil de Avila, 
 4to., Salamanca, 1597 : 4 Viage artis - 
 tico,' Bosarte, 32 ; 4 Noticias’ de Florez, 
 133. It was at Guisando , Sept. 9, 1468, 
 that the memorable meeting took 
 place between Henrique IV. and Isa- 
 bella : then the impotent king declared 
 his sister as his heir, but while signing 
 the deed with one hand, he plotted 
 with the other its non-execution : see 
 Prescot, 4 Ferdinand and Isabella ch. 
 iii. 
 
 Turning up the trout-stream Al- 
 berche, cross over to Berraco> amid 
 pine-clad hills. Observe the costume 
 of the women. Soon the road enters 
 the rugged hilly districts of Avila; 
 and passing over the Puerto , the plea- 
 sant vega opens, watered by the Adaja, 
 with the picturesque lines of walls and 
 towers of the ancient feudal city, 
 which has a most imposing look. Put 
 up at the Parador de las Diligencias ; la 
 Mingoriana on the Plaza is indifferent, 
 and la del Empecinado on the Rastro is 
 a trifle better, but bad is the best. 
 
 Avila, despised by the Spaniards, 
 and hitherto too much overlooked by 
 foreigners, is a noble specimen of a 
 stern mediaeval city of Castile, and 
 abounding with quasi Norman, and 
 Gothic architecture. This capital of 
 an agricultural province is one of the 
 most neglected in Spain, in spite 
 of many natural capabilities. Pop. 
 about 4500. The Avilese physically 
 and morally are of a low standard. 
 The clumsy uncourteous boors gape 
 with ignorant wonder at the interest 
 taken by travellers in objects to which 
 they are stupidly indifferent. Avila is 
 placed near a snow-capped and well 
 wooded sierra, and suggests to Madrid 
 charming retreats from summer and 
 autumnal heats; and when the new 
 road to Vigo is opened, the site must be 
 more frequented, for the parameras are 
 
744 
 
 ROUTE 99. AVILA — CATHEDRAL. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 fresh, the vega fertile, and many are the 
 sweet valleys enclosed in the spurs of 
 the hills, and watered by trout-streams. 
 There is also wild shooting in the 
 monies y dehesas. The peasantry are 
 miserably poor, and much land re- 
 mains uncultivated. The laws of 
 mortmain, and manorial and feudal 
 rights, have here been peculiarly op- 
 pressive (consult Minano, i. 328, and 
 4 Estadistica , etc. de Avila,’ Bernardo de 
 Borjas y Tarrius, Mad., 1804 ; and for 
 the city itself, consult * Epilogo de 
 algunas Cosas de Avila Gonzalo de 
 Ay ora, Sal. 1519 ; this rare book was 
 reprinted at Madrid, 8vo. 1851, with a 
 preface by Gayangos ; 4 Historia de las 
 Grandezas de Avila * Luis Ariz, fol. 
 Alcala de Henares, 1607. This book 
 contains some curious pedigrees; in- 
 deed, from the number of knightly 
 families, the town was entitled Avila 
 de los Caballeros ; for an account of 
 one of these local heroes, see 4 El Rayo 
 de la Guerra * 4to. Valid. 1713. 
 
 Avila, say the Spaniards, was origi- 
 nally called Abula , after the mother 
 of Hercules, by whom the place was 
 founded 1660 years before Christ. 
 Which Hercules of the 43 demigods 
 this particular one was, whether the 
 Theban or the Egyptian, is not yet 
 quite settled. Meantime Avila was 
 certainly rebuilt about a.d. 1088 by 
 Don Ramon of Burgundy, son-in-law 
 of Alonso VI. ; he employed two 
 foreigners, Cassandro and Florin de 
 Pituenga, to construct a stone frontier 
 city ; and they did the work well, as 
 is evidenced by still-existing walls 
 some 40 feet high and 12 thick, de- 
 fended by 88 towers, and a half a for- 
 tress-cathedral of which the east end 
 is let into the circumvallation. Before 
 the use of artillery Avila must have 
 been impregnable, for it is itself a 
 castle-city. The granite— somewhat 
 gloomy — adds to the sentiment of 
 strength. The streets are narrow, 
 irregular, ill paved, very uncomfort- 
 able and picturesque. It is the see of 
 a bishop suffragan to Santiago, and 
 has a university. This dull and dilapi- 
 dated place has never recovered the 
 French ravages under General Hugo. 
 
 The dark iron-grey granite Gothic 
 
 cathedral was built in 1107, by Alvar 
 Garcia de Estrella : the principal en- 
 trance is enriched with work of an 
 early period. First examine the ex- 
 terior, the strong cimborio, the absis, 
 with its castellated machicolations, 
 half church, half fortress ; a cross 
 marks the spot where the loyal citi- 
 zens elevated Alonso VIII. for their 
 king, when only a child of four years 
 old, and hence called el Rey Nino. 
 They defended him against his usurp- 
 ing uncle, Ferdinand II. of Leon, who 
 wished to profit by the civil feuds be- 
 tween the great Laras and de Castros, 
 the former family having taken offence 
 at the child’s father having appointed 
 their rivals . as his guardians. Avila 
 defended Alonso until he was eleven 
 years old, and received the title of 
 Avila del Rey , and for armorial bear- 
 ings a tower with the royal figure at 
 the window. If, however, the loyal 
 townsfolk could uphold, so they could 
 degrade their sovereigns : here, June 
 5, 1465, the effigy of the weak Hen- 
 rique IV. was placed on a throne, clad 
 in royal robes; sceptre, crown, and 
 other attributes were then one by one 
 taken away by the grandees, headed 
 by Alonso Carrillo, archbishop of 
 Toledo, and the denuded statue was 
 kicked off the throne, and his brother 
 Alonso proclaimed in his stead : see 
 Prescott, 1 Ferdinand and Isabella * 
 chr. iii. 
 
 The severe interior of the cathe- 
 dral, less blocked up by the coro 
 than usual, is somewhat simple, but 
 very striking. Observe the beau- 
 tiful circular absis behind the high 
 altar, and the glorious stained glass. 
 Notice the forms of the windows, 
 especially the smaller and upper ones, 
 almost in the very arches of the roof. 
 The retablo of the time of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, is divided into many 
 compartments, each with a rich ca- 
 nopy ; the pictures are by Santos Cruz, 
 Pedro Berruguete, and Juan de Bor- 
 gona ; painted in 1508, they are among 
 the oldest specimens in Spain, and 
 although much neglected are in good 
 preservation. The Annunciation is 
 gracefully designed : the Adoration and 
 Six Apostles is striking, but generally 
 
The Castiles. route 99 . — avila— santa teresa. 
 
 745 
 
 the style is hard and Tedesque. The 
 transept was finished in 1350, by 
 Bishop Sancho de Avila ; the painted 
 glass is very fine ; much of it was exe- 
 cuted in 1498, by Juan de Santillana. 
 Observe the St. John the Baptist, the 
 Santas Ines, Christeta, and Cecilia, 
 and those in the Capilla del Cardenal ; 
 the latter windows were painted in 
 1520 by Alberto de Hollanda. Con- 
 sult also the 4 Memorial &c.,by Andres 
 Hernandez Callejo, Mad. 1849. The 
 silleria del coro was excellently carved 
 in 1536-47 by Cornielis, with an in- 
 finity of saints and small figures. The 
 backs are inlaid with a dark wood 
 called texo , which grows on the neigh- 
 bouring hills of Las Navas. In the 
 trascoro remark, among some fine 
 reliefs, an Adoration of the Kings, a 
 Flight into Egypt, a San Joaquin 
 and Santa Ana. Observe particularly, 
 behind the Capilla Mayor , the tomb of 
 the learned Alfonso Tost ado de Madri- 
 gal, bishop of Avila in 1449, and hence 
 called el Abulense ; his effigy, carved 
 in alabaster, and clad in pontifica- 
 libus, represents the prelate in the 
 act of writing, which was the jcy 
 and business of his life: obiit 1455, 
 aged 55. He was the Solomon of his 
 age, or, as his epitaph has it, “ Hie 
 stupor est mundi, qui scibile discutit 
 omne.” The inscription, among other 
 necrological information, states that 
 he lived and died a virgin, and 44 wrote 
 for certain three sheets per day, every 
 day of his life, and so enlightened were 
 his doctrines, that they caused the blind 
 to see.” Ponz ( 4 Viagef xii. 306) cal- 
 culates that his pen covered 60,225 
 pages, with Sana Catolica y verdadera 
 doctrina ! No wonder that his name be 
 equivalent to voluminous (Don Quix- 
 ote, ii. 3). After all Tostado was a poor 
 polemical pedant, who never reconciled 
 divinity with wit, and his books, un- 
 deniable unmitigated prose, are now 
 food, or rather poison for worms. 
 Look also at the ancient retablos in the 
 chapel of San Antolin: the chapel of San 
 Segundo , the first bishop, and a tutelar 
 of Avila, and attached to the cathe- 
 dral, was built in 1595 by Francisco 
 de Mora, one of Herrera’s best pupils ; 
 the fine stone came from the quarries 
 
 of Cardenosa. The chapel is quite 
 Norman. The bishop kneels at a fine 
 tomb before an open book ; his bust, 
 or bulto, was brought here from Valla- 
 dolid hrl573. For S. Segundo’s 4 His- 
 torian consult the 4to. by Antonio de 
 Cian^a, Mad. 1595. For his biography, 
 consult his Life by Gil de Avila, 4to., 
 Salamanca, 1611. The cathedral clois- 
 ters are simple, but deserve notice. 
 
 The greatest glory, however, of 
 Avila is Nuestra Serafiea Madre Santa 
 Teresa de Jesus : born here, March 28 
 1515, of noble parents, Alonso de Ce- 
 peda, and Beatriz de Ahumada, when 
 only seven years old, she longed to go 
 to Africa to be martyrized by the 
 Moors : soon she wrote a romance of 
 knight-errantry, which shows the early 
 bent of her mind for the improbable. 
 At twenty she took the veil, and 
 soon after was carried up into 
 heaven, and was shown the plan of 
 reformed nunneries, which on her re- 
 turn to earth she carried out, found- 
 ing herself seventeen convents of bare- 
 footed Carmelites. She next became 
 the 44 spouse of the Saviour,” and took 
 his name : she is a great favourite with 
 Spanish artists, who generally repre- 
 sent her as dying away, while an angel 
 touches her heart with a fire-tipped 
 arrow. The 27th of August is kept 
 all over the Peninsula as the holy day 
 sacred to this mystery, which is called 
 La transverberacion del corazon de Santa 
 Teresa de Jesus. Spanish monks, how- 
 ever, were quite as combustible ; thus 
 San Luis de Gonzaga is always painted 
 so inflamed with love, that fire issues 
 from his breast. In others the inter- 
 nal heat required buckets of cold water 
 to be thrown over their bodies. Teresa 
 is at other times drawn 44 writing 
 at a table, while a dove at her 
 ear whispers 4 Newes from her 
 spouse.’ ” The best edition of her 
 voluminous revelations is that of 
 Madrid, 1793, 4 Obrasy Cartas ,’ 6 vols. 
 4to. Philip II. collected her manu- 
 scripts, like Sibylline books, which 
 are preserved in the Escorial, and 
 were shown by the monks as gems. 
 According to her, the pains of the 
 damned in hell consisted in their in- 
 capacity of loving or being loved. 
 
746 
 
 ROUTE 99. — SANTA TERESA — FEMALE SAINTS. Sect. XI. 
 
 For details of her compositions, see 
 Antonio (Bib. Nov. ii. 294), in which, 
 published at Madrid in 1793! they 
 are treated as “ inspired writings ; ” but 
 she in truth was a mere tool of the Je- 
 suits, and especially of Francisco de 
 Borja, while her writings were edited by 
 two crafty f 'Dominicans named Ibanez 
 and Garcia, who, knowing how strong in 
 man is the tendency to believe in some 
 revelation, put forth these cheats, 
 which their dupes swallowed greedily. 
 “ A wonderful and horrible thing is 
 committed in the land ; the prophets 
 prophecy falsely, and the priests have 
 rule by their means, and the people love 
 to have it so” (Jer. v. 31): compare 
 also Isaiah viii. 19 with Acts xvi. 16 ; 
 and the damsel possessed with a spirit 
 of divination, which brought her 
 masters much gain by soothsaying. 
 Philip II. upheld Teresa, who in her 
 turn was as ready s? to (piXtor^n^ s/v, and 
 to support his bigotry, as the Pythia of 
 old was to act in collusion with his 
 namesake of Macedon (Cic. ‘ De Div’ 
 ii. 57.) 
 
 Santa Teresa died at Alva de Tormes, 
 Oct. 4, 1582, 10,000 martyrs assisting 
 at her bedside, and the Saviour com- 
 ing down in person to convey his bride 
 to heaven. Her festival is celebrated 
 Oct. 15. See for exact and authentic 
 details Ribadeneyra (iii. 252). Con- 
 sult also the work of Diego de Yepes, 
 Mad. 1599; the 4to. of Francisco de 
 Ribera (her confessor), Mad. 1602 ; the 
 poem in 8vo. by Pablo Yerdugo, Mad. 
 1615, and 4 La Amazona Cristiana, > Bar- 
 tolome de Segura, 8vo., Mad. 1619; 
 and her Life by Miguel Bautista de 
 Lanuza, folio, Zaragoza, 1657. 
 
 Santa Teresa has now superseded 
 the mediaeval goddesses, the Eulalias, 
 Leocadias, & c., for she was declared 
 by the silly Philip III. to be the lady 
 patroness of Spain, just as Juno was 
 of Carthage, and Minerva of Athens ; 
 Santiago remaining the male Hercules. 
 On March 12, 1622, Gregory XV., 
 bribed by the gold of Philip IV., 
 placed this love-sick nun in the calen- 
 dar of Romish saintesses, instead of in 
 Bedlam ; but “ Omnia Romse cum pre- 
 tio,” as J u venal said. And now Avila 
 is termed “ a precious shell which 
 
 contains a pearl of great price,” to 
 wit, her fragrant uncorrupted miracle- 
 working body ; and to this the Cadiz 
 Cortes, the collected wisdom of Spain, 
 turned in their hour of need, and 
 having refused command to the Duke, 
 appointed her Generalisima of the 
 Spanish armiesr— Dux foemina facti; 
 and the first act of the war minister in 
 1844 was to promote Queen Christina 
 to be a colonel of Chasseurs, whose 
 uniform, as a delicate compliment to 
 her virtue, was white and blue, the 
 colours of the immaculate conception. 
 
 Spanish priests and monks have 
 never shown much invention in their 
 legends or miracles, which they either 
 imported from other countries ready 
 made, or went to Paganism for ma- 
 terials. Santa Teresa is an imitation 
 of St. Bridget of Sweden, who also 
 was the “ spouse of Christ,” as also 
 the revealer of his wishes, and an envoy 
 from heaven, Embajadrix del Cielo , also 
 a founder of convents, a tool in the 
 hands of her crafty confessors, Peter 
 and Mattias, and also canonized. 
 
 In days of little intercommunication, 
 and before Handbooks , the elder frauds 
 had the prestige of success, and what 
 answered in one place was likely to 
 take in another: thus the trouble of 
 invention and of tasking the brain was 
 saved: thus these Santa Teresas and 
 Catherines of Sienna, &c., were but 
 the Pythonesses and Sibyls of old, re- 
 produced under new names. The 
 Circes and Syrens changed men into 
 beasts, just as these santas made them 
 fools ; but so it has ever been since the 
 father of all lies selected the first 
 woman to beguile the first man, and the 
 father of all men ; for when a lady is 
 in the case, bird-lime is never wanting 
 for the wicked one to catch male souls. 
 Their persuasive eloquence, which re- 
 quires small fuel of facts, added to 
 sexual influence, is irresistible, nor is 
 nonsense any solid objection. The 
 sayings of Santa Teresa, like those of 
 San Tiresias of old, either came true or 
 did not. But solemn humbug always 
 captivates the; many, who estimate as 
 magnificent whatever they do not 
 understand ; so the spirit-moved Te- 
 resa of the iEnead (vi. 59) spoke the 
 
The Castiles. route 99 . — avila — tomb of prince juan. 
 
 747 
 
 unknown tongue, 44 nec mortale so- 
 nans,” and her influence, of course, 
 
 ' was unbounded ; indeed, the sane 
 Pagans reasonably derived the term 
 u.7ro tov (jux.ivz<r6ou, from the de- 
 cided symptoms of loss of intellect. A 
 want of common-sense has never in 
 Spain been an objection in a ruler or 
 leader, male or female ; nay, some of 
 their most venerable saints have been 
 selected from the most ignorant monks 
 and nuns. Thus Ribadeneyra, the 
 grand hagiographical authority, quotes 
 largely from the writings of el Sapien - 
 tisimo Idiota , who wrote worthily of 
 his name. So the Moors respect their 
 idiots, and call them Santons, thinking, 
 because they are fools on earth, that 
 their sainted minds are wandering in 
 heaven : 44 Hsec et alia generis ejusdem, 
 ita defenditis, ut ii qui ista finxerunt, 
 non modo non insani, sed etiam fuisse 
 sapientes videantur ” (Cicero 4 N. D.’ 
 iii. 24). The Pagan philosophers at- 
 tributed much of all this to wind and 
 flatulence, and when these ravings 
 were belched forth, afflata est numine 
 quando, termed the performers E yyot<r- 
 Tpipjv&ou or ventriloquists. These, the 
 priests of Delphi put on a tripod, and 
 the Spaniards crowned with an aureola, 
 when in England a straight waistcoat 
 would generally be called for, except 
 in real cases, such as Johanna Southcot. 
 Again, how Pagan and Oriental are 
 all the minor details of Santa Teresa. 
 Mahomet fed a tame pigeon from his 
 ear, and persuaded true believers that 
 it communicated to him the Koran ; 
 long before, however, Herodotus (ii 
 55) had noticed the doves of Dodona, 
 and the word mxuu, in Thessalian, 
 signified both an old woman and a 
 pigeon. As to marriages with the 
 Deity, the Pythoness Dione was al- 
 lowed to cohabit with Jupiter (Strabo, 
 vii. 506), who was also thought by a 
 Roman beata to be in love with her ; 
 and St. Augustine, justly indignant at 
 these blasphemies, remarks, “Si verum 
 attendamus, deteriora sunt templa ubi 
 hsec aguntur , quam theatra ubi fingun- 
 tur” (‘ De Civ. Dei.’ vi. 10). In Spain, 
 where the passions are fierce, the 
 monks, victims of unnatural celibacy, 
 fell in love with the paintings and 
 
 images of the Virgin, as the Pagans 
 did with those of Venus (compare 
 Pliny, 4 V. H: xxxvi. 5, with Palo- 
 mino, 4 Mus, Pit. 9 ii. 139, and Car- 
 ducho, 6 Dialog os,’ 121). The nuns, 
 unwilling brides of heaven, more than 
 adored beautiful male saints, and espe- 
 cially San Sebastian, the Romanist 
 Apollo ; but as Pliny observed ( 4 JV. H’ 
 ii. 7), the alliances with the Pantheon 
 never were prolific. Cupid and Psyche, 
 Bacchus and Ariadne, &c., are all 
 types of these 44 spouses/’ (See also 
 Bayle’s article on St. Catherine of 
 Sienna, and Bochart’s 4 Hierozoicon ’ ii. 
 chr. 49.) 
 
 Visit San Jose, her nunnery de 
 las Carmelitas descalzas , known here 
 as el Convento de las Madres. Her 
 statue sanctifies the portal, and her 
 bust adorns the high altar. The room 
 in which she was born, now converted 
 into a chapel, is a sacred spot to 
 pilgrims. The nuns have preserved 
 as relics her oaken rosary and staff. At 
 the side altars are some small paintings 
 worth notice. Among the tombs ob- 
 serve that of her brother, Lorenzo de 
 Cepeda, obiit 1580; and a kneeling 
 prelate, Alvaro de Mendoza, obiit 
 1586: also two superb sepulchres 
 under niches, with Corinthian pilas- 
 ters, and kneeling statues of Francisco 
 Velazquez, &c., 1630. The trees of 
 La Encarnacion are said to have been 
 planted by Santa Teresa. 
 
 Another of the objects of great in- 
 terest in Avila is the Santo Tomas, a 
 suppressed Dominican convent outside 
 the town, with two deserted, grass- 
 grown cloisters. The simple edifice, 
 commanding a grand view of the snowy 
 sierra, rises in its stone-strewed un- 
 enclosed field ; neglect, decay, and soli- 
 tude form the prevailing sentiment. 
 Founded in 1482 from the spoils of 
 plundered Jews, the interior is grave 
 yet graceful ; as the coro, the silleria 
 of which is delicately carved, is 
 placed on an elliptical arch ; the 
 general view is therefore unbroken. 
 Some of the paintings in the retablo 
 have been attributed to Fernando 
 Gallegos. The pearl of the place 
 is the most delicate white marble 
 sepulchre of Prince Juan, only son of 
 
748 
 
 ROUTE 99 . — AVILA — OLD CHURCHES. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, who died at 
 Salamanca in 1497, aged only 19. He 
 was a youth of infinite promise, and 
 his loss entailed the ruin of Spain, 
 which his parents had raised to its real 
 but short-lived greatness. At the death 
 of this native heir, the crown passed 
 to the foreigner, for Charles V., a 
 Fleming by birth, was an Austrian in 
 heart, and wasted on German politics 
 the blood and gold of Spain. This 
 beautiful tomb, on which the effigy of 
 the prince reposes, is the masterpiece 
 of Micer Domenico of Florence, and 
 was raised by the prince’s treasurer, 
 Juan Velazquez, who added a short 
 but pathetic epitaph. In the Capilla 
 de San Luis Beltran is another fine mo- 
 nument to Juan Ddvila and Juana 
 Velazquez, attendants on the prince; 
 it is most elaborately carved. How long 
 all these will remain is uncertain, the 
 building having been sold to a most 
 worthy gentleman named Don Jose 
 Bachiller, fortunately a lover of fine 
 art. The tomb was reserved and or- 
 dered to be removed to the cathedral; 
 but, from the usual want of funds, no- 
 thing has yet been done (1854). He 
 possesses some curious letters from 
 the prince and his parents, rescued 
 from the wreck of the conventual 
 archives. 
 
 Next visit another extramural 
 church, San Vicente, in its plaza, near 
 the gate leading to Segovia. Notice the 
 towers — one incomplete — and the ball 
 ornaments, the graceful portico with 
 slender clustered columns, and the 
 principal entrance, although much 
 concealed with buildings. The view 
 also of Avila is charming, includ- 
 ing the unique eastern end of the 
 cathedral, let into the city wall, 
 the beautiful Vega, the frowning city 
 gate, and the fanciful elegant San 
 Vicente itself. This ancient church 
 was built in 1313, and, according to the 
 inscription, by a converted Jew, who 
 is buried here. Observe the enriched 
 principal and lateral entrances. This 
 St. Vincent, like his namesake of the 
 Cape martyrized by Dacian, was born 
 at EvoraorTalavera,and when brought 
 before an image of Jupiter, stamped 
 upon the altar, which instantly re- 1 
 
 ceived the impressions of his feet. 
 Accordingly he was executed, Oct. 
 27, 303, and his body cast to the dogs, 
 but a serpent watched over it, which 
 flew at a mocking Jew— a notion taken 
 from the draco which guarded the 
 tomb of Scipio Africanus (Pliny, 
 * N. H.’ xvi. 44). This Israelite in 
 his fright vowed, if he escaped, to build 
 and endow a church, which he did. 
 (See Ribad. iii. 308 ; Morales, ‘ Cor . 
 Gen. 3 x. 362; and Ariz. 30.) The hole 
 out of which the snake came, el Bvjo 
 (improperly called el Herrojo de San 
 Vicente ), was one of the three sites of 
 adjuration. (Compare Santa Gadea of 
 Burgos, and San Isidoro of Leon.) 
 About the year 1458 the prelate who 
 succeeded Tostado, one Martin Vilches, 
 wishing to ascertain whether the saint’s 
 body was really below the stone, put 
 his arm into the hole, and drew it out 
 quickly, bitten and bleeding; thereupon 
 he raised the present tomb, to which 
 many devotees contributed, whose arms 
 are noted thereon. After that all who 
 wished to make a solemn adjuration, 
 put their fingers into the hole, as the 
 populace at Rome does into that of the 
 Bocca de la Veritd, under the nose of 
 the infallible pope, until the ceremony 
 was prohibited by Isabella. The geolo- 
 gist may descend into the Santa Maria 
 Soterrana and inspect the stone. 
 
 The artist and architect will find 
 much to study in Avila. The ecclesi- 
 ologist should examine many other of 
 the old churches in which the Norman 
 infusion is very prevalent ; e. g. San 
 Pedro, San Esteban, San Andres, and 
 San Salvador : nor must he neglect the 
 picturesque Mercados, both the grande 
 and chico. Among the ancient man- 
 sions, observe those of the Condes de 
 Polentinos, with an enriched portal of 
 armed men, and an elegant but dila- 
 pidated patio; visit also the Casa de 
 Colmenares, and the noble courtyard 
 in the house of the Marques de Velares. 
 In Avila are some of the Toros of the 
 Guisando breed; four of these mar- 
 rams are in the patio of the Duke of 
 Medina Celi’s house, and others go to 
 ruin outside the residence of the 
 Gobernador. 
 
 Touching modern matters, a cotton 
 
The Castiles. routes 101 and 102. — avila to segoyia. 
 
 749 
 
 fabi'ica was set up at Avila, near the 
 puerta del Pico, by Charles III., who 
 enticed two Englishmen out, named 
 Milne and Berry : in due time their 
 success rendered them unpopular with 
 the natives, who ended in ousting the 
 foreigners and heretics, and getting 
 the concern for themselves, when it 
 soon went to the dogs (Madoz, i. 170): 
 Cosas de Espana . — Compare Mr. Weth- 
 erall’s treatment at Seville, p.208. For 
 communications with Salamanca , see 
 R. 67. 
 
 Avila to Segovia. 
 
 A well-girt horseman may ride these 
 1 1 L. in 1 0 or 1 1 hours ; at Villa Castin , 
 5 L. : make the half-way halt, Posada 
 del Arco; in the yard of the house of the 
 Duke of Abrantes, is one of the Gui- 
 sando Toros : the Parroquia is a good 
 Grseco Romano church of grey granite 
 placed on a raised platform, with light 
 and lofty columns, and with one pointed 
 tower. A fine retablo, with 6 pictures by 
 A. Herrera, was repainted in 1734 by 
 Joseph Bermejo: others near the base- 
 ment escaped better. Observe another 
 retablo given in 1597 by the Tobar 
 family. A flat country leads to Se- 
 govia, with fine views of the cathedral 
 and the Guadarrama Sierra. 
 
 Route 100. — Avila to the Esco- 
 rial and Segovia. 
 
 Urraca 24 
 
 Las Navas del Marques. . . 3 . . 54 
 
 A1 Escorial 3 . . 84 
 
 Guadarrama 2 ..104 
 
 Venta de Cercedilla 2 ..124 
 
 Castrejones 2 . . 144 
 
 San Ildefonso 2 . . 164 
 
 Segovia 2 . . 184 
 
 This rough mountain ride is often 
 snowed up from November to April. 
 The hilly crest overlooks the parameras 
 of Avila, and the sweet valley of the 
 Alberche,' with the dreary environs of 
 Madrid sweeping to the horizon. In 
 the cold elevations near Las Navas 
 grows the texo — amantes frigora taxi 
 — whose dark wood resembles ma- 
 hogany. The cream or curds la Nata, 
 made here, is celebrated at Madrid, but 
 would not do in Devonshire. Nata, in 
 Arabic, signifies “ whatever rises to the 
 Spain — II. 
 
 top Manteca, butter, is also Arabic, 
 the “ pith or marrow.” Las Navas, con- 
 taining 3000 inhabitants, lies in a 
 damp hollow, fenced in by mountains, 
 and was much injured by a storm, 
 September 1 846. After crossing a tri- 
 butary of the Alberche, and ascending 
 a spur of the Sierra, the vasty grey 
 Escorial looms in view. 
 
 Route 101. — Madrid to the Esco- 
 rial and Segovia. 
 
 A las Rosas 3 
 
 Puente del Ratamar 2 . . 5 
 
 Galapagar 14 . . 64 
 
 A1 Escorial 2 . . 84 
 
 Segovia 8 .. 164 
 
 The road is unnecessarily magni- 
 ficent ; but no expense was grudged on 
 this Gamino real, which led to the 
 game covers and convent of the king, 
 whether he played the part of monk, 
 gamekeeper, or of both, as the Aus- 
 trians and Bourbons mostly did. Leav- 
 ing Madrid by the planted banks of the 
 Manzanares, pleasant enough when 
 there is any water in the river, to the r. 
 is Moncloa (see p. 739). On passing the 
 Plaza de Hierro, the toll-house, and huge 
 bridge (of San Fernando), with heavy 
 statues of San Fernando and San Bar- 
 bara, placed to keep off lightnings and 
 inundations ! soon the desert environs 
 of Madrid are entered ; the contrast 
 of leaving a crowded city increased by 
 the forlorn loneliness and dilapidation. 
 
 The whole route continues barren 
 and desolate, nothing is riant or ver- 
 durous ; few are the smiles on the face 
 either of man or nature ; everything is 
 harsh, and devoid of the tender and 
 love, however full of fire and passion ; 
 the melancholy grandeur and the per- 
 fect solitude of the desert is wanting; 
 here there is just population enough 
 to show how scanty it is, and yet suffi- 
 cient to disenchant the poetry of utter 
 uninhabited loneliness. The soil is 
 poor, and the boor who scratches it is 
 almost a savage : this wilderness, how- 
 ever, which disfigures Madrid, forms no 
 bad approach to the gloomy Escorial 
 which, at the fifth L., is seen in dreary 
 solitary state rising under the jagged, 
 sullen Sierra , and looming so large, 
 2 L 
 
750 
 
 ROUTE 102. — MADRID TO SEGOVIA — ESCORIAL. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 that it is not lost even among moun- 
 tains. The E. end of the chapel, and 
 the projecting handle of the gridiron, 
 mar the elevation ; but as a whole the 
 pile rises grandly from the gardens, 
 terraces, and embosoming plantations, 
 which fringe the edge of the desert, 
 that extends all around. At roseless Las 
 Posas, the road branches off to Guadar- 
 rama; then we reach Galapagar , where 
 the bodies of royalty rest the first night 
 when on their way to their last home. 
 A great officer comes in the morning 
 to the coffin to inquire if his Majesty 
 will move on. Philip II., says Bran- 
 tome, was 6 days going to the Escorial 
 to die, and in no great hurry. Here 
 and there long lines of walls enclose 
 the now deserted stunted covers of 
 el Pardo la Zarzuela , and other pre- 
 serves of therimonaic royalty. On 
 passing a boulder granite stone, a cross 
 indicates the former dominion of the 
 cowl ; hence the road ascends, through 
 poplars and pollarded elms, to the 
 wind-blown hamlet, which looks paltry 
 when compared to the vasty edifice, 
 whose despot disproportioned size is 
 increased by the insignificance of so 
 many smaller buildings near it. The 
 Escorial is placed by some geographers 
 in Old Castile, but the division of the 
 provinces is carried on the crest of the 
 Sierra , which rises behind it. The 
 convent itself, as it has been declared a 
 Peal Patrimonio y Patronato , probably 
 will be saved from the general wreck of 
 suppressed monastic monuments. 
 
 The best inn has been divided into 
 two — los Milaneses and la Vizcaina. 
 You can lodge at Las Animas, clean 
 and decent, for 24 reals a-day. The 
 best guide is Cornelio, a blind man 
 who leads the blind, but he sees clearly 
 with his 44 mind’s eye,” knows every 
 corner, and particularly points out the 
 finest views. And even did things 
 change in Spain, a guide dead to 
 light does well in this huge house 
 of tombs. The Escorial is now a 
 shadow of the past, for the shell has 
 lost its living monks, and those reve- 
 nues whereby they lived. The enor- 
 mous pile, exposed to the hurricane 
 and mountain snows, was only to be 
 kept in repair at a great outlay. In 
 
 the five years after the sequestrations 
 of convents, more injury ensued than 
 during the preceding two centuries. 
 The rains penetrated through the da- 
 maged roof, and damp, sad destroyer, 
 crept into the untenanted chambers. 
 The Octava Maravilla, the eighth mar- 
 vel of the world, which cost some 10 
 millions, was perishing for the sake of 
 a few hundreds, until Arguelles, in 1 842, 
 destined a pittance out of the queen’s 
 privy purse, and stayed the immediate 
 ruin, and these outlays have been con- 
 tinued at fits and starts. The convent 
 was first stripped of much of its golden 
 ornaments by the invaders; and in July, 
 1837, when the Carlists, under Zaria- 
 tegui, advanced on Segovia, a hundred 
 of the best pictures were removed to 
 Madrid. For the Escorial as it was, 
 consult the excellent 4 Historia de la 
 Orden de San Geronymo,’ by Jose de 
 Sigiienza ; he was its first prior, and an 
 eye-witness of its building; 4 vols. 
 Madrid, 1st and 2nd parts, 1590; 3rd 
 part, 1605; 4th by Francisco de los 
 Santos, 1680. Sigiienza also wrote the 
 4 Vida de San Geronimo,’ 4to., Mad., 
 1595: see also 4 Further Observations, 
 fyc.,’ James Wadsworth, London, 1630 : 
 
 4 Descripcion . . . del Escorial * Fra. de 
 los Santos, fol. Mad. 1657 ; of this there 
 is a meagre translation in 4to., London, 
 1671, by a servant of Lord Sandwich : 
 there is another 4to. by George Thom- 
 son, London, 1761: 4 Le reali gran- 
 dezze del Escuriale ,’ Ilario Mazzorali de 
 Cremona, 4to., Bologna, 1648: ‘De- 
 scription,’ &c., Andres Ximenez, fol. 
 Mad. 1 7 64. These works describe its 
 splendid past condition before the 
 fatal invasion. The best modern guide 
 is the 4 Description Artistica ’ Damian 
 Bermejo, duo. Mad. 1820, which is 
 to be had in the village ; see also a 
 more recent one by Quevedo. There 
 is a set of accurate views by Thomas 
 Lope Enguidanos, sold at the Madrid 
 Imprenta real. Herrera published him- 
 self a list of his original plans and 
 elevations, 4 Sumario de los Disenos a 
 rare duo. Mad. 1589. The 13 prints 
 were engraved at Antwerp : some of the 
 original drawings are in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 The correct title of the edifice is El 
 
The Castiles. route 102. — the escorial — san lorenzo. 
 
 751 
 
 Beal sitio de San Lorenzo el real del 
 .Escorial. The latter name is derived 
 by some from Escorice , the dross of 
 iron mines, which still exist here. 
 Casiri (Bib. Arab. Es., i. 20 ; ii. 61) 
 reads in the name the Arabic 44 a place 
 of rocks others prefer “iEscule- 
 tum,” a place of scrub oaks, the Quercus 
 Quejigo, which are the weed of the 
 locality. The edifice is a combined 
 palace, convent, and tomb, and for 
 these purposes was it reared by Philip 
 II., el prudente , who is called by the 
 monks 44 the holy founder/' and by 
 others el Escorialense. His ostensible 
 object was to carry out the will of his 
 father in constructing a royal burial- 
 place, and at the same time to fulfil a 
 panic-inspired vow made during the 
 battle of St. Quentin, when he implored 
 the aid of San Lorenzo, on whose day 
 (August 10, 1557) it was fought. 
 Thus, in doubtful conflict, Fulvius 
 Flaccus bribed Jupiter by vowing a 
 temple (Livy, xl. 40) ; so, says the same 
 author (x. 19), did Appius Claudius; 
 and Caesar himself before the fight at 
 Pharsalia promised a shrine to Venus 
 Victrix (Plut. in Pomp.'). 
 
 San Lorenzo, the Hercules of this 
 most ultra-Catholic Philip, was a na- 
 tive of Huesca, and like a true Arra- 
 gonese stood fire better than the holy 
 founder. He was broiled by Valen- 
 tianus, Aug. 10, 261, on a slow fire, 
 and not quickly done, a la bifstec. He 
 bore the operation with great sang 
 froid, for Prudentius (Peri. ii. 401) 
 relates that he directed the cooks to 
 turn him, when one side was burnt, 
 44 converte partem corporis, satis cre- 
 matum,” then “ ludibundus ” he jo- 
 cosely invited them to eat him and 
 see wdiether he was most savoury, if 
 welldone or underdone. 
 
 “ Tunc ille : coctum est, devora 
 Et experimentum cape 
 Sit crudum an assum suavius.” 
 
 So Justin, xliv. 2, describes an Iberian, 
 qui inter tormenta risu exultavit, 
 serenaque laititki crudelitatem tor- 
 quentium vicit. See for more details 
 the 4 Historia Laurentiana’ &c., Pascual 
 Haguet, 4to. Val. 1717. 
 
 The victory of St. Quintin now claim- 
 ed by the Spaniards for themselves — 
 
 as some others have been — was won 
 by a foreign commander, by Philibert 
 of Savoy, ably seconded by D’Egmont. 
 with Flemish infantry and ; German 
 cavalry, and better still by 8000 Eng- 
 lish, under Lord Pembroke. The 
 French were completely routed, and lost 
 3000 men, 4000 prisoners, with their 
 colours, baggage, and artillery. Had 
 Philip II. pressed on he might have 
 captured Paris as easily as the Duke 
 did after Waterloo ;* but he wanted 
 both the will and means of moving, 
 like Castanos, and like him (see Bailen, 
 p. 234) was not even on the field 
 of his victory. Pie passed his time 
 between two confessors, making vows 
 to found convents, and swearing, 
 if once safe, never to conquer twice. 
 And this colossal pile is proportionate 
 to his piety and fears, for 4 celui qui 
 faisait un si grand vceu/ said the 
 Duke of Braganza, 4 doit avoir eu 
 grand peur,’ and prudence indeed 
 was the better part of his valour ; 
 and, in truth, this pile is the only 
 benefit which Spain derived from 
 that important victory. Philip, tired 
 of war’s alarms, reposed under his 
 borrowed laurels, and took to build- 
 ing, for which he was really fitted, 
 being a man of taste and a true patron of 
 artists. As he was of a shy phlegmatic 
 temperament, he, like Tiberius, made 
 the dedication of this temple his ex- 
 cuse to escape from the public city of 
 Madrid : certus ab urbe procul degere 
 (Tac. ann. iv. 57). One of the fatal 
 effects of the Escorial has been, that it 
 tended to fix the Royal residence at 
 Madrid. 
 
 The first stone was laid April 23, 
 1563, by Juan Bautista de Toledo, 
 whose great pupil, Juan de Herrera, 
 finished the pile Sept. 13, 1584; yet 
 now, in the seventh edition of the 
 ponderous 4 Encyclopaedia Britannica ’ 
 (iii. 427), it is gravely asserted, 44 that 
 the Spaniards, less patriotic than the 
 French, have, for their greatest works, 
 employed the architects of France and 
 
 * According to De Thou (xix.), the real ob- 
 stacle was the withdrawal of the English troops 
 in disgust at the arrogance and bad faith of the 
 Spaniards. The moment they retired victory 
 departed with them (compare Navarrete, 863). 
 
 2 L 2 
 
752 
 
 ROUTE 102. — THE ESCORIAL — ITS ARCHITECTURE. Sect. XI. 
 
 Italy ; so that of course (!) the country 
 can boast of no peculiarity of style 
 redounding to its own credit ; the 
 palace of the Escorial being by a 
 French architect , and abounding with 
 deformities of the French and Italian 
 schools, cannot be cited in favour of 
 Spain/’ This mistake arose from 
 the audacious assertion of a common 
 French mason, one Eouis Foix, who 
 having carried a hod there, said, on 
 his return to France, that he had 
 “built the Escorial.” This, possibly 
 a bad joke, was believed by Columnar, 
 Moreri, and Voltaire. “ L’Escurial fut 
 bati sur les desseins d’un Frangais” 
 (f Ess. sur les Mceursf ch. 177). But 
 what will not vanity gulp down or 
 dishonesty misstate ; thus la Tour de 
 Corduan, a pepper-box-domed light- 
 house, raised near the mouth of the 
 Gironde in 1611, is ascribed to this 
 Foix, “an architect of the Escorial.” 
 
 On the same 13th of Sept., 1598, did 
 Philip II. die here, having lived in his 
 vast convent 14 years, half-king, half- 
 monk, and boasting that from the foot 
 of a mountain he governed the world, 
 old and new, with two inches of paper. 
 He loved the place because a crea- 
 tion of his own, and one congenial to his 
 sombre temperament. The holy foun- 
 der is compared to Solomon, who reared 
 the temple, which was not permitted 
 to men of blood, like David and 
 Charles V. 
 
 The edifice disappoints at closer 
 sight; it has not the prestige of an- 
 tiquity, the proportions of a pagan tem- 
 ple, or the religious sentiment of the 
 Christian Gothic; it has nothing in 
 form or colour which is either royal, re- 
 ligious, or ancient, medieval or national. 
 The clean granite, blue slates, and leaden 
 roofs, look new and as if built yesterday 
 for an overgrown commonplace bar- 
 rack, lunatic asylum, or manufactory. 
 The multitude of bald windows (they 
 say that there are 1 1 ,000, in compli- 
 ment to the Cologne virgins), the green 
 shutters and crickets are offensive ; the 
 windows of the entresols resemble a 
 ship’s portholes, and from the thickness 
 of the walls, they might be made real 
 embrazures for cannon. The windows 
 are too small, but had they been planned 
 
 in proportion to the vasty fagades, the 
 rooms lighted by them would have been 
 too lofty, and thus external appearance 
 was sacrificed for internal accommo- 
 dation : now these windows are spots 
 which cut up breadth and interfere with 
 the sentiment of solidity. Bigoted, 
 indeed, was Philip when he could 
 sacrifice architecture to hagiography, 
 and thus lose an opportunity of build- 
 ing a perfect palace, in order to stick 
 to an idle legend of a gridiron : poor 
 Herrera, forced to lower his genius to 
 a plan worthy of the Beefsteak Club or 
 Cobbett’s register, was indeed the real 
 martyr. The redeeming qualities of 
 the elevation are size, simplicity, and 
 situation. It stands about 2700 feet 
 above the level of the sea, and is part 
 and parcel of the mountain out of which 
 it has been constructed : it is so large 
 that it looks, not a wart upon Olympus, 
 but grand even amid the mighty but- 
 tresses of nature, which form an ap- 
 propriate frame to the severe picture. 
 The ashy pile looms like the palace of 
 Death, whence /Eolus sends forth his 
 blasts of consumption, which descend 
 from these peeled Sierras to sweep away 
 human and vegetable life from the de- 
 sert of Madrid. Cold as the grey eye 
 and granite heart of its founder, this 
 monument of fear and superstition 
 would have been out of keeping, if 
 placed amid the flowers and sunshine 
 of a happy valley ; untenanted and di- 
 lapidated, this belle alliance of church 
 and state in the worst forms of papal 
 intolerance and Spanish despotism, is 
 now no inapt type of Spain— a carcass 
 without life. 
 
 The edifice is a rectangular parallelo- 
 gram, of some 744 feet from N. to 
 S., and 580 from E. to W., but let us 
 not measure it, for the sentiment of 
 vastness is independent of actual size ; 
 and all the line and rule, clerk-of-the- 
 works details are to be found in Ma- 
 doz, vii. 527. It is chiefly built in the 
 Doric order. The interior is divided 
 into courts, which represent the inter- 
 stices of the bars of a gridiron, while 
 the handle forms the royal residence; 
 the feet are supplied by the four 
 towers at the corners, which represent 
 the legs of a reversed gridiron ! The N. 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 102. — THE ESCORIAL — THE MONKS. 753 
 
 and W. sides, which front the village 
 and mountains, have a fine paved Lonja 
 ‘ or platform : to the E. and S. terraces 
 look over formal hanging gardens and 
 fishponds. The slopes below are well 
 planted, especially la Herreria and la 
 Fresneda : the elms, according to Eve- 
 lyn (‘Silva’ i. 4), were brought by Philip 
 II. from England. The W. or grand 
 facade faces the Sierra, for the con- 
 vent turns its back on Madrid. On the 
 north Lonja is a subterraneous gallery 
 180 ft. long, 10 high, and 7 broad, tun- 
 nelled in 1770 by the monk Pontones, 
 in order to afford a communication 
 with the village during the winter hur- 
 ricanes ; these storms, the guides say, 
 once hoisted an ambassador, coach and 
 all, into the air, to say nothing of the 
 petticoats of monks and women blown 
 up like balloons, and lords of the bed- 
 chamber by the score whirled round 
 and round like dead leaves. The 
 convent is not placed according “ to the 
 cardinal points ;” on account of the 
 winds, their violence is disarmed by 
 its being set a little out of the square. 
 The guides know by rote all the pro- 
 portions. They repeat that the square 
 of the building covers 3002 feet ; that 
 in the centre is the chapel, surmounted 
 by a dome ; that there are 63 fountains, 
 12 cloisters, 80 staircases, 16 court- 
 yards, and 3000 feet of painted fresco. 
 It was at once a temple, a palace, a 
 treasury, a tomb house, and a mu- 
 seum ; “ exceeding magnificat, of fame 
 and glory throughout all countries/’ 
 But in December, 1808, the invaders 
 under La Houssaye, arrived and sacked 
 a pile which recorded their former 
 defeat at St. Quintin. See the deplor- 
 able details in Mihano (iii. 381). The 
 Escorial never recovered this razzia, 
 which he justly terms “ the ferocious 
 vandalism of an accursed warfare 
 leagued with plundering avarice.” But 
 the French had long hungered for the 
 ruin of this record, thus Malherbe 
 hopes that the dauphin Louis XIII. 
 will live to thus enlighten Europeans — 
 
 Fait leur ouir cette nouvelle 
 
 Qu ii a rase L’Escurial. 
 
 Ferdinand VII., however, did what 
 he could to repair his birthplace, 
 
 and hence has been called the second 
 founder. 
 
 The porteria , or porter’s hall, is on 
 the N. facjade, but is seldom used ; 
 you proceed therefore to the W., and 
 either enter by a wicket door in the 
 large portal, or by a smaller door of the 
 kitchen, over which a San Lorenzo, 
 15 feet high, is placed; at the sides 
 two jaw-bones of a whale, caught 
 off Valencia in 1574, complete this 
 bodegon , or tableau de cuisine. This mon- 
 ster of the deep could have swallowed 
 San Lorenzo, done or undone, and 
 these relics are fit emblems of mo- 
 nastic maws and powers of degluti- 
 tion. But now, alas! the monks are 
 swept away, and the picture is in- 
 complete. These Jeronimites, as usual 
 with this order, were great agricul- 
 turists, or rather bailiffs, for they 
 only superintended the working la. 
 bourers, who, like Job’s oxen, “ were 
 ploughing , and the asses feeding by 
 them.” The many windows of the con- 
 vent were garnished with portly bottles 
 of vino santo ; and when strangers 
 arrived, the anchorites, smoking their 
 cigarritos, peered out from between the 
 flasks, looking down on the vain 
 world which they had renounced ; 
 their black heads and fleecy robes re- 
 sembled sleek maggots well fed in 
 filberts, for few of the monastic order 
 were fatter, and a gaunt Jeronimite was 
 rarer than a plump Spanish soldier ; 
 but beasts of prey never attain the good 
 condition of farinaceously fed animals. 
 Here experiments were tried on the 
 elasticity of the human skin, and it was 
 ascertained how much stretching it 
 would stand without bursting. The 
 prize monks rejoiced in their fat, like 
 the white-teethed swine of Homer, 
 6ex.Xi6ovrzs ccXoapv ; now the lean kine of 
 reformers have eaten them up ; peace 
 to their bones ! 
 
 The grand central Doric and Ionic 
 portal is never opened, save to admit 
 royalty, either alive or dead; the 
 monarch in the latter case, is borne 
 in by 3 nobles and 3 monks. The 
 first patio is called de los Reyes , from 
 the statues of “ the Kings” of Ju- 
 dah, connected with the Temple of 
 Jerusalem. They are 17 feet high, 
 
754 
 
 ROUTE 102. — THE ESCORIAL — THE CHAPEU. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 and were all cut by Juan Bautista 
 Monegro, out of one granite block, of 
 which enough, so says the inscription, 
 still remains to make up the dozen. 
 The hands and heads are of marble, 
 the crowns of gilt bronze, but the 
 figures are lanky and without merit; 
 the least bad is that of Solomon. The 
 court is 320 feet deep by 230 wide, and 
 is too crowded, being all roof, and hav- 
 ing no less than 275 windows; again, 
 the pediment over the entrance into 
 the church is too high and heavy. This 
 court was the last finished. On the 
 south side is the library, and opposite 
 the students’ college. Hence by a 
 dark passage to the grand chapel, el 
 Templo , which was begun in 1563 and 
 completed in 1586: observe the ad- 
 mirable construction of the flat roof, 
 over which is the quire or coro alto , 
 which, from not being placed in the 
 body of the church, does not cut up its 
 size nor conceal its grandeur. The in- 
 terior of the chapel, as seen from under 
 this sombre grotto-like arch, is the 
 triumph of architecture : it takes away 
 the breadth of the beholder from its 
 majestic simplicity. All is quiet, so- 
 lemn, and unadorned ; no tinsel statues 
 or tawdry gildings mar the perfect 
 proportion of the chaste Christian 
 temple; the religious sentiment per- 
 vades the whole of this house of God ; 
 everything mean and trivial is for- 
 gotten. Dieu seul est grand ! An 
 awe, der schauer des erhaben , creeps over 
 mortal man, who feels that the Holy 
 of Holies overshadows him. 
 
 The chapel has 3 naves, 320 ft. long, 
 230 wide, and 320 high to the top of 
 the cupola, but the secret of its gran- 
 deur is in the conception and propor- 
 tion. The black and white pavement 
 is serious and decorous. Eight of the 
 compartments of the vaulted roof are 
 all painted in unsatisfactory fresco 
 (blue predominating), by Luca Gior- 
 dano. The Retablo of the high altar 
 is superb, and is ascended to by a 
 flight of red-veined steps. The screen, 
 93 ft. high by 43 wide, employed the 
 artist, Giacomo Trezzo, of Milan, 7 
 years, and it is composed of the 4 
 orders. The dividing columns are 
 jasper, with bronze gilt bases and 
 
 capitals, and the roof is painted in 
 poor fresco by Luca Cangiagi. The 
 pictures in the retablo , of the Adora- 
 tion and Nativity, by Pelegrino Ti- 
 baldi, are very cold ; while his San 
 Lorenzo puts out the gridiron fire from 
 sheer rawness. Again the martyr is 
 so gigantic that he might have routed 
 the disproportionate Romans as easily 
 as Captain Gulliver did the Lillipu- 
 tians. The Saviour at the column 
 and bearing the Cross, and the As- 
 sumption of the Virgin, are by Fran- 
 cesco Zuccaro. The bronze medal- 
 lions, the holy rood, and 15 gilt sta- 
 tues, are by Pompeio Leoni and his 
 son. A wooden tabernacle replaces 
 that of a splendid gilt bronze, 6 ft. 
 high, which, designed by Herrera 
 and executed by Trezzo, # was one 
 of the finest works of art in Spain, 
 or indeed in the world; the older 
 writers talk of it as a“ specimen of 
 the altar ornaments of heaven.” This 
 glorious work of art, which took so 
 many years to be made, was destroyed 
 in five minutes by the long-bearded 
 pioneers of La Houssaye, who broke 
 it, thinking that it was silver gilt, 
 and being disappointed, cast it away 
 as Nekustan, or worthless brass, not that 
 La Houssaye was a Hezekiah. 
 
 On each side of the high altar are 
 low chambers or oratories of black and 
 sombre marble for the royal family, 
 while above are placed bronze-gilt and 
 painted effigies, who kneel in lugu- 
 brious pomp before the king of kings. 
 Al lado del Evangelio , is Charles V., 
 his wife Isabel, his daughter Maria, 
 and his sisters Eleonora and Maria. 
 The epitaph challenges future kings 
 to outdo him, and until then to cede 
 the post of honour. Opposite kneel 
 Philip II., Anna his fourth wife, 
 mother of Philip III. ; Isabel his 
 third wife, and Maria his first, at 
 whose side is her son Don Carlos. 
 These statues are portraits, and the 
 costume and heraldic decorations 
 are very remarkable; but in them 
 Spanish pride more than vies with 
 Spanish piety. Philip II. died in 
 
 * In 1578 he struck a fine medal of Herrera, 
 and in 1588 another of Zuccaro, with this re- 
 tablo for the reverse. 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 102. THE ESCORIAL — PHILIP II. 
 
 755 
 
 a small chamber near the oratory, 
 below his effigy. The minor altars 
 are more than 40 in number; some 
 of them, and the piers, are decorated 
 with magnificent pictures by Juan 
 Fernandez Navarrete el Mudo , the 
 Dumb (1526, 1579), but who spoke 
 by his pencil with the Bravura of 
 Rubens, without his coarseness, and 
 with a richness of colour often rival- 
 ling even Titian, but the light here is 
 bad. The pictures represent full- 
 length figures of saints and apostles, 
 and among the finest are San Felipe, 
 San Andres, and Santiago: observe 
 the way the drapery is painted. San 
 Juan and San Mateo are equal to 
 Tintoretto ; Santo Tomas, San Bar- 
 nabe, are very grandiose. Other of 
 the altars are by the Zuccaros, Luca 
 Cangiagi, Alonso Sanchez, Luis de 
 Carabajal, both imitators of el Mudo , 
 and Pelegrino Tibaldi. 
 
 The relicario is to the r. of the high 
 altar, in the transept ; when the doors 
 are open the contents appear arranged 
 on shelves like anatomical specimens. 
 Philip II. was a relicomaniac ; accord- 
 ingly all who wished to curry favour 
 with him sent him specimens. The 
 first relics placed here were bones of 
 San Lorenzo brought from Huesca. 
 The devil, May 28, 1569, raised a 
 terrible storm to prevent the reception 
 of these Palladia (Sigiienza, iii. 561). 
 Philip accumulated on the whole more 
 than 7421 relics. M. Peyron (i. 103) 
 enumerates 1 1 whole bodies, 300 heads, 
 600 odd legs and arms, 346 veins and ar- 
 teries, 1400 bits, teeth, toes, &c., errors 
 excepted. Hunter never formed a finer 
 anatomical museum, and both served 
 for medical purposes : the English one, 
 by the advance of surgical science ; the 
 Spanish one, by the never-failing mi- 
 raculous cures worked by praying to 
 them. 
 
 Philip kept these precious relics in 
 515 shrines of Cellini-like plate, some 
 wrought by Juan D’Arfe ; but La 
 Houssaye took all the bullion, and 
 left the relics on the floor. These, 
 when he departed, the monks collected 
 in baskets, but in the confusion many 
 of their labels got undocketed, so that 
 the separate items cannot now be 
 
 individually identified with that scru- 
 pulous accuracy and regard to truth 
 which every one knows is observed 
 in all Relicarios ; yet, as far as pub- 
 lic adoration and benefit are con- 
 cerned, the aggregate amount is the 
 same. Then were stolen more than 
 100 sacred vessels of silver and gold, 
 besides the gold and jewelled custodia, 
 the silver female image called La Me - 
 cina, because given by the city of Mes- 
 sina ; then disappeared the silver full- 
 length statue of San Lorenzo, which 
 weighed 4 | cwt., and held in its 
 hand one of the real bars of his 
 gridiron, set in gold, which the auri- 
 vorous La Houssaye stripped off ; but 
 he left the iron for the consolation 
 of the monks, just as the aurivorous 
 Dionysius left the statue of the 
 Epidaurian Esculapius, simply re- 
 moving his beard, which was made of 
 gold (Cic. 4 de JV. D* iii. 34). This in- 
 estimable bar was found in the tomb 
 of San Lorenzo, at Tivoli, by St. Gre- 
 gory himself, and is here valued as 
 highly as the scythe at Corcyra, with 
 which Saturn mutilated his father 
 (Apoll. Arg. iv. 985). Just now iron 
 rails are more esteemed ; but relics 
 have had their hour, and the dry 
 bones of holy monks will no longer 
 satisfy the belly or knife and fork 
 question of to-day ; yet before 44 Na- 
 vies ” worked miracles and moved 
 mountains, the cathedral of Exeter 
 had the felicity to possess some of the 
 real coals on which St. Lawrence was 
 broiled, and also a bit of his body (Dug- 
 dale, 4 Monast.’ Ed. 1655, p. 226). The 
 greedy Gaul also carried off the splendid 
 silver lamps, which Ferdinand VII. 
 replaced in a baser metal, as Rehoboam 
 did after the temple had been plun- 
 dered by Shishak (1 Kings xiv. 27) ; 
 by him also were made those two trum- 
 pery alabaster and glittering pulpits 
 which mar the simplicity of the chapel. 
 
 Next descend into the Royal tomb, 
 into the Panteon, the term given by 
 the Catholic Spaniards to a Christian 
 burial - place. This family vault 
 is placed under the high altar, in 
 order that the celebrant, when he 
 elevates the host, may do so exactly 
 above the dead, Philip, although he 
 
756 
 
 ROUTE 102. THE ESCORIAL — THE PANTEON. Sect. XI. 
 
 built the Escorial as a tomb-house for 
 his father, prepared nothing but a 
 plain vault, which, like that of Fre- 
 derick the Great at Potzdam, by the 
 absence of tinsel pomp, becomes at 
 once impressive and instructive, from 
 the moral which such a change in 
 such a monarch must suggest. Philip 
 
 III. , his silly son, began the present 
 gorgeous chamber, which Philip IV. 
 completed in 1654, moving in the 
 royal bodies on the 17th of March. 
 The entrance, with its gilt ornaments 
 and variegated Spanish marbles, has 
 nothing in common with the sepul- 
 chral sentiment. Read the inscription 
 over the portal, D. O. M. Locus sacer, 
 &c. ; it is the epitome of the history 
 of the Escorial. Descending observe 
 the portrait of the monk Nicolas, who 
 remedied a land-spring which is heard 
 trickling behind the masonry. Ob- 
 serve now the portal, read the inscrip- 
 tion, Natura occidit , &c. Descending 
 again by a green and yellow coloured 
 jasper-lined staircase, at the bottom is 
 the Panteon, an octagon of 36 ft. in 
 diameter by 38 ft. high. The ma- 
 terials are dark polished marbles and 
 gilt bronze; the Angels are by An- 
 tonio Ceroni of Milan ; the tawdry 
 chandelier is by Virgilio Francli of 
 Genoa ; the crucifix is by Pedro Tacca. 
 There are 26 niches hollowed in the 8 
 sides, with black marble sarcophagi or 
 urnas, which are too classical to create 
 a Christian sentiment; the names of 
 the deceased are written on each ; those 
 which are filled are inscribed with the 
 name of the occupant ; the empty ones 
 await future kings ; for death , which 
 takes away from everything, enriches 
 this greedy charnel-house. None are 
 buried here save kings and the mothers 
 of kings ; for etiquette and precedence 
 in Spain survive the grave; and to 
 preserve propriety, the males are placed 
 separately and opposite to the females. 
 The royal bodies are actually deposited 
 in their Urnas , as Philip IV., in 1654, 
 opened that of Charles V., which was 
 found to be perfectly preserved. Philip 
 
 IV. , after looking a while at the body 
 of his great ancestor, observed to Don 
 Luis de Haro, Don Luis , cuerpo honrado : 
 the Premier replied, Si Sehor , muy hon- 
 
 rado (Sigiienza, iv. 185) — a laconic 
 dialogue very unlike Sir Henry Hal- 
 ford's account of the examination of 
 the remains of Charles I. by him and 
 his patient George IV. Ferdinand 
 VII., at his restoration, had the others 
 examined, fearing that the republican 
 invader might have rifled them, as 
 elsewhere, either to insult dead roy- 
 alty, or to procure lead to destroy the 
 living. 
 
 Ferdinand VII., as well as his worthy 
 mother, had a morbid passion for de- 
 scending to this bed of death, and look- 
 ing at the identical urns, for all are 
 occupied by rotation, which then 
 empty, were yawning hungrily for 
 them; but neither took much moral 
 benefit from this memento mori, or 
 from the lesson how history treats 
 royalty when defunct. How callously 
 the cicerone tells their names by rote ; 
 no dead Pope is used more cavalierly 
 even at Rome ! The divinity that doth 
 hedge kings is here at an end : all to 
 their wormy beds are gone — the am- 
 bition of Charles V., the bigotry of 
 Philip II., the imbecility of Carlos II., 
 the adulteries of Maria Luisa, the in- 
 gratitude of Ferdinand. Dust to dust, 
 expende Hannibalem ! How little re- 
 mains of those for whom the world 
 was too small. How still are these busy 
 bodies, who, when alive, disturbed the 
 world ! how many masses must be said 
 for the repose of their turbulent souls ! 
 Now all distinctions are over, the 
 game is played out, whether tragedy 
 or farce. Life is a poor player. Shiek 
 mat , “ the king is dead," and the pieces 
 are huddled indiscriminately into the 
 box. Who can now distinguish, as 
 Diogenes said, the scull of Philip from 
 that of a peasant ? 
 
 Generally speaking, when the party 
 of visitors is numerous, each carries a 
 taper, which, by lighting up this cham- 
 ber of death, injures its impressiveness. 
 It then becomes a mere show-room, 
 where fritter and glitter ill accord 
 with the lesson which this finale of 
 pomp and power ought to suggest. 
 The native, who has little feeling for 
 the tender or retrospective, glories in 
 this magnificence which mocks the 
 dead : the red gold captivates his 
 
The Castiles. route 102. — the escorial — the forma. 
 
 757 
 
 mind, and he thinks for such a tomb 
 as this, that kings must wish to die. 
 
 Visit rather this sepulchre alone, 
 and when the tempest howls outside, 
 and the passages are chilling as death, 
 when the reverberating slam of doors, 
 the distant organ-peal and chaunt, and 
 the melancholy water-trickle is heard 
 between the thunder-claps ; when the 
 silent monk shrinks closer into his 
 cowl, and his flickering taper scarcely 
 renders the darkness visible ; then, as 
 the gaudy gilding fades away, the true 
 sentiment swells up until the heart 
 runs over. Royalty struggles even 
 with nothingness, and the dead but 
 sceptered emperor rules over our spirit 
 from his grave : now extinguish the 
 brief taper and depart ; the iron door 
 grates its hinges ere it be locked, and 
 the dead left again alone in cold ob- 
 structions apathy. Those who, like 
 ourselves, have often descended into 
 this vault, and after long intervals, 
 must be struck with its unchanged, 
 unchangeable state; however altered 
 those who revisit them, they remain 
 the same, nor heed the changes of the 
 living ; they sleep soundly, life’s fitful 
 fever over, where the wicked have 
 ceased to trouble, and the weary ones 
 are at rest. 
 
 Ascending gladly from the Panteon 
 to the sun and life again, at the first 
 break or descanso in the staircase, a 
 door leads to what is called el Pan - 
 teon de los Infantes , a sort of catacomb 
 into which the “ rest of the royal 
 family ” is lumped together, as in our 
 toasts : it is commonly called el Pu- 
 dridero , the putrifying place, being in 
 fact an exact Puticolus , Puteus , quasi 
 ab putescere. Bermejo (p. 153) gives 
 a list of the deceased, the shortness 
 of whose lives is remarkable. Among 
 them lies the body of Don Carlos,* 
 
 * All the stories of this prince’s love for his 
 father’s wife, and his consequent murder, are 
 fictions of poets, the Schillers, Alfieris, John 
 Russells, etc. Raumur has demonstrated that 
 Carlos, weak from his birth in mind and body, 
 was much injured by a fall, May 15, 1562. 
 Subject to fits and fevers, he hated his father, 
 and was at no pains to conceal it. He was very 
 properly arrested, January 18, 1568, and by 
 April 13th, one writing from the spot remarks, 
 “ there is now as little talk upon the subject as 
 if he had been dead ten years.” Both he and 
 
 the son of Philip II., and the actual 
 body exists, according to M. Bory de 
 St. Vincent, who examined the coffin 
 from pure historical research, as he 
 says (Guide, p. 18). Few strangers 
 ever visit this Pudridero, nor are the 
 contents or name very inviting. 
 
 Next visit the ante sacristia , with 
 fine arabesque ceilings, and pass on to 
 the sacristia , a noble room 108 feet 
 long by 23 wide. The arabesque ceil- 
 ings are painted by Granelo and Fa- 
 bricio. Above the presses, in which 
 the dresses of the clergy were stowed, 
 once hung the Perla of Raphael, and 
 some of the finest pictures in the world. 
 At the S. end is the Retablo de la Santa 
 Forma , so called because in it is kept the 
 miraculous wafer which bled atGorcum 
 in 1 52 5 , when trampled on by Zuinglian 
 heretics. Rudolph II. of Germany 
 gave it to Philip II., and this event is 
 represented in a bas-relief. Charles 
 II., in 1684, erected the gorgeous altar, 
 which is inscribed, “ En magni operis 
 miraculum, intra miraculum mundi, 
 cceli miraculum consecratum.” When 
 the French soldiers entered the Escorial 
 the monks hid the wafer in the cellar, 
 so the spoilers, busy with emptying 
 the casks, passed it by; Ferdinand 
 VII. restored it in great pomp, Oct. 28, 
 1814. The Forma is exhibited for 
 adoration, or “ manifest ada,” every 
 Sept. 29 and Oct. 28, on which occa- 
 sions the picture is usually hung be- 
 fore it as a curtain. This painting, 
 the masterpiece of Claudio Coello, the 
 last of good Spanish painters, is a 
 real relic, and represents the apo- 
 theosis of this wafer as it took place 
 in this very sacristia. The heads are 
 portraits, and have all the charac- 
 ter of identity and individuality. 
 The Prior’s is that of Santos, the his- 
 torian of the Escorial. The priest 
 standing upright watches the glorifi- 
 cation of the Forma, and looks down 
 with a dry satirical expression on the 
 kneeling imbecile Charles II. and on 
 his lubberly lords of the bedchamber. 
 The receding perspective painting of 
 the priests, monks, courtiers, and 
 
 the queen died natural deaths, and not the 
 slightest love affair ever took place between 
 them. 
 
 2 L 3 
 
758 
 
 ROUTE 102. — THE ESCORIAL — CLOISTERS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 dresses is admirable. This Forma is 
 never shown to heretics. This fine 
 picture was, alas ! much repainted in 
 1846 by two young ecorcheurs of the 
 Skinners’ Company, named Argandona 
 and Marin, who were sent there by 
 the president of the Madrid Royal 
 Academy. 
 
 Behind the altar is the Camarin , 
 erected in 1692 by Jose del Olmo and 
 Francisco Rici. It is a gem of precious 
 marbles, but La Houssaye carried off 
 the lamps, the sacramental services, the 
 splendid viril sobredorado, the gift of 
 Leopold II., and in short everything 
 either of gold or silver, whether dis- 
 playing the piety or the taste of the 
 Catholic monarchs. 
 
 Now visit the cloisters or court- 
 yards, and first the two large ones, the 
 upper and under. The claustro prin- 
 cipal bajo is a square of 212 fleet each 
 side. The walls are painted in raw 
 fresco, with sprawling figures by L. 
 Carabajal, Miguel Barroso, L. Cam- 
 biaso, and P. Tibaldi : some are faded 
 by exposure to the damp air, and others 
 were defaced by the French soldiers ; 
 that of the San Lorenzo en parrilla 
 has recently been “ restored” by one 
 Martin. Vast in size, mediocre in 
 drawing, very little mind animates 
 the mass, and we chiefly carry away 
 the desire never to see them or their 
 like again. It is to be regretted that 
 Philip II., bowing to the fashion of 
 the day, should have neglected Var- 
 gas, Roelas, and native artists to im- 
 port, at a vast expense, these Italian 
 Luca fa prestos, who were only thinking 
 how they could make money quickest, 
 and soonest get out of Spain, which 
 they all intensely disliked. 
 
 The central Patio de los Evangelistas , 
 a square of 176 feet, with its ponds 
 and formal box-fringed gardens, was 
 so called from the statues of the 
 Apostles, wrought by Juan Bautista 
 Monegro. Hence we pass to rooms 
 once filled with pictures. Las Salas de 
 los Capitulos are three in number, that 
 called el Vicarial being to the rt., and 
 el Prioral to the 1. Here hung the 
 fine St. Jerome in his cavern of Titian, 
 and the Jacob and his children of 
 Velazquez ; all that now remain are the 
 
 landskips of nature, those views from 
 the windows which none can take 
 away. Hence to the Iglesia vieja , which 
 was used as a chapel while the templo 
 was building. Here hung the Tobit of 
 Raphael ; while in the adjoining re- 
 fectory the Last Supper of Titian 
 for years flapped in its frame, like 
 a hatchment in our damp country 
 churches ; alas ! it has recently been 
 repainted. 
 
 The grand staircase, that feature in 
 which modern architecture triumphs 
 over the ancients, leads to an upper 
 claustro : it was designed by Juan Bau- 
 tista Castello (il Bergamesco), and 
 lies to the W. It is painted in fresco 
 by L. Cangiagi, L. Giordano, and P. 
 Pelegrino. Here is the Battle of St. 
 Quentin, and the capture of the Con- 
 stable Montmorency, while to the E. 
 Philip II. is seen planning the Escorial 
 with his architects. On the ceiling is 
 la Gloria , the apotheosis or ascending 
 into heaven of San Lorenzo with saints 
 and the blessed, and among them 
 Charles V. and Philip II. All this 
 space was thus covered in seven months 
 by Giordano, too truly Luca fa presto , 
 and his fatal facility and want of 
 thought dealt the last blow to falling 
 Italian art. 
 
 In the upper cloister 50 pictures 
 formerly were arranged. To the N.E. 
 is the Aula del Moral ; here hung the 
 Gloria of Titian. Adjoining is the 
 Camarin , once filled with cabinet pic- 
 tures and with the most precious relics ; 
 such as the black and gold portablealtar 
 of Charles V., a marriage firkin from 
 Cana, a skeleton of one of the inno- 
 cents massacred by Herod, a bar of 
 Lorenzo’s gridiron, much MS. of Santa 
 Teresa, together with one of her pens. 
 Mr. Beckford (ii. Lett, xi.) describes 
 another “ quill from Gabriel’s wing, 
 a most glorious specimen of celestial 
 plumage, full 3 feet long, of a blush- 
 ing hue, more soft and delicate than 
 the loveliest rose.” Truth, however, 
 which is so essential in these matters, 
 compels us to add that in our times 
 this relic was not shown. 
 
 The Celda Prioral , fitted up with 
 good marqueterie, overlooks the fish- 
 pools and gardens. Here hung , the 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 102. — ESCORIAL THE CORO. 
 
 759 
 
 fine portrait of Jose de Sigiienza, the 
 first prior and historian, painted 
 by Alonso Sanchez Coello ; it truly 
 pourtrayed the head of a grave, 
 acute, sallow, robed and seated learned 
 monk. The eight smaller cloisters or 
 courts resemble one another. Now 
 that they are untenanted, these long 
 passages seem to lead to nothing, and 
 we miss the monk, fit inmate of the 
 cold granite pile, stealing along as he 
 was wont with noiseless tread and 
 Schidoni look. 
 
 Passing, therefore, to the Coro alto , 
 the ceilings of the ante coros are 
 painted by L. Giordano. Here are 
 kept los Libros de Coro , or splendid 
 choral books of gigantic parchment, 
 some illuminated by Andres de Leon : 
 they were 218 in number. The quire 
 looks down on the chapel. To the N. 
 is the royal seat into which Philip II. 
 glided with his brother monks, like 
 his father and so many of his ances- 
 tors had done before him ; and here 
 (Sigiienza, iii. 564) he was kneeling 
 when he received the news — without 
 changing a muscle of his face — of 
 the victory of Lepanto over the in- 
 fidels, of that Trafalgar of the age, 
 which saved Europe : his joy was 
 damped by jealousy* of his natural 
 brother, Don John of Austria, who 
 commanded the Christian allied fleet : 
 but the real brunt of the battle was 
 borne by the Genoese under Doria, and 
 the Venetians under Barbarigo, and by 
 others under De Ligny and Colonna. 
 Scarcely one-third of the forces were 
 Spaniards, who now claim the glory 
 for Nosotros . The victory could not 
 be followed up from want of means 
 and jealousies, or Constantinople must 
 have been taken. 
 
 The dark rich stalls of the coro are 
 carved in the Corinthian order out 
 of seven sorts of wood; observe the 
 hu gefacistol, which nevertheless moves 
 round with a light touch. The lateral 
 frescos, by Romulo Cincinato, repre- 
 sent the Martyrdom of San Lorenzo 
 the tutelar of the convent, and illus- 
 trate the history of St. Jerome, the 
 
 * John was a gay and gallant soldier, and 
 the delight of the army, who cried, “ This is 
 the true son of the Emperor.” 
 
 head of the order ; the others are by 
 L. Cambiaso, and of no merit. The 
 painter’s own portrait, with a sad ex- 
 pression, is the last to the left, towards 
 the prior’s seat. The next, that of 
 the architect Fr. Antonio de Villa 
 Castin, is fine. The invaders smashed 
 the original and splendid crystal chan- 
 delier; the present one, with birds, &c., 
 is truly contemptible ; the crucifix is 
 made of fragments of a finer one, 
 which the invaders also knocked to 
 pieces, although the wood is called 
 angelico, because marked with the five 
 wounds of the Saviour — of this wood 
 Philip II. ordered his coffin to be con- 
 structed : the grand organs are carved 
 in Cuenca pine : behind the seat of the 
 prior is the celebrated white marble 
 Christ, which was given to Philip II. 
 by the Grand Duke of Florence, and 
 was brought from Barcelona on men’s 
 shoulders ; the anatomy is fine, but 
 the expression of the face is ordinary, 
 and the space between the nose and 
 lips too great, which is destructive of 
 classical beauty : it is inscribed “ Ben- 
 venutus Zelinus, Civis Florent : fa- 
 ciebat 1562,” and is described by him 
 in his autobiography. The figure was 
 originally quite naked, but Philip II. 
 thereupon covered the loins with his 
 handkerchief, which was long pre- 
 served as a relic. A muslin scarf with 
 tinsel spangles has been substituted. 
 
 The great library is placed above 
 the porch of the Patio de los Reyes: 
 over the entrance is suspended the 
 common excommunication by the pope 
 of all who should steal the books, a 
 brutum fulmen to which the invaders 
 paid small attention. The arched 
 room runs from N. to S., and is some 
 194 feet long, 32 wide, and 36 high: 
 the pavement is marble, and the book- 
 cases were executed by Jose Flecha, 
 from Doric designs by Herrera. There 
 are ample tables of marble and por- 
 phyry provided for the use of readers 
 if there were any ; the ceilings are 
 painted in fresco, blues and yellows 
 over predominate, and the colours are 
 too gaudy for the sober books, while 
 the figures being too colossal, injure 
 relative proportions; but these errors 
 pervade the style of the ambitious 
 
763 ROUTE 102. — ESCORT AL LIBRARY ARABIC MSS. 
 
 works of Tibaldi, who out-heroded 
 M. Angelo, without possessing a tithe 
 of his grandeur or originality. The 
 other frescos, by B. Carducho, treat 
 on subjects analogous to a library, 
 and the personification of the liberal 
 sciences, which the Inquisition did its 
 best to extinguish. First, Philosophy 
 shows the globe to Socrates, and others; 
 below is the School of Athens ; then 
 follows the Confusion of Tongues, 
 Nebuchadonezzor instituting the first 
 Grammar School; Rhetoric surround- 
 ed by Cicero, Demosthenes, and others. 
 Further on we see Dialectics, Arith- 
 metic, Music, Geometry, Astronomy, 
 and Theology, with appropriate groups 
 and attributes ; but nothing is so tire- 
 some as allegory. On the walls hang 
 portraits of Herrera, the architect of 
 the Escorial, and of Arias Montano its 
 librarian, and the still more striking 
 one of their master, Philip II., when 
 old; it is full of identity and indi- 
 viduality ; here we see him in the 
 flesh and spirit, lowring from his den, 
 with Medusa head that petrifies; his 
 wan, dejected look, is marked with the 
 melancholy taint of his grandmother ; 
 observe his bigot, grey eyes, cold as 
 frozen drops of morning dew ; note the 
 cadaverous chilliness, which even the 
 pencil of Titian could not warm. 
 The grave seems to give up its dead, 
 and the suspicious scared bigot walks 
 out of the frame into his own library. 
 Observe also the speaking portrait of 
 Charles V. in golden and steel armour ; 
 one also of the silly Philip III., and of 
 the sillier Charles II. when a boy. 
 
 The books have their edges, not 
 backs, turned to the spectator, never 
 having been meant for vulgar use and 
 reading, and having been thus origin- 
 ally arranged by Montano, and things 
 do not change in a hurry in Spain. 
 The library in 1808, before the in- 
 vasion, is said to have contained 
 30,000 printed and 4300 MS. volumes. 
 Joseph removed them all to Madrid, 
 but Ferdinand VII. sent them back 
 again, minus some 10,000 ; and among 
 them the catalogue, which was most 
 judiciously purloined. Thus what islost 
 will never be known, and will never be 
 missed. Antonio Conde, who had a 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 hand in the job (being an Afrancesado , 
 he was employed by the invaders to 
 select the best things for Paris), re- 
 bound his private pickings, thus doing 
 away with the parrilla or gridiron 
 mark. The rarities usually shown are 
 a fine Alcoran (the famous one taken 
 at Lepanto was given away by a mis- 
 take! in the time of Charles III. to a 
 Moorish envoy, and is now in Africa; 
 that shown for it is of a later date 
 than the battle) ; a Revelation of St. 
 John, which belonged to the emperor 
 Conrad, 1039, etc. ; but books are made 
 to be read, not looked at. The upper 
 library, which is not public, contains 
 codes, missals, and Arabic MSS., of 
 which a catalogue was published by 
 Miguel Casiri, a Syrian : 4 Bibliotheca 
 Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis,’ folio, 2 
 vols., Mad., 1760-70. This work, how- 
 ever, teems with inaccuracies, for 
 Casiri was only a Maronite of Mount 
 Lebanon; nor (as the Western charac- 
 ter of Arabic differs from the Eastern) 
 could he even read the Arabic of the 
 Spanish Moors, which he mistakes for 
 Cuphic ; he also was careless and reck- 
 less in character, and was utterly 
 ignorant of the Augustan age of the 
 Arabic literature of Cordova. But 
 Arabic literature has been much neg- 
 lected in Spain, where, prima facie, 
 it might best have been cultivated ; 
 but Spaniards are no philologists, and 
 a remnant of hatred against the Moor 
 long prevailed, and Moorish books 
 were burnt by the clergy on the 
 absurd supposition that all were Ko- 
 rans; see Conde’s Preface to Xerif 
 Aledris (Madrid, 1799). Thus thou- 
 sands of precious volumes of Arab art 
 and science have been irreparably lost, 
 as those of antiquity were from the 
 holocausts of Omar and Gregory VII. 
 The present Arabic MSS. were ob- 
 tained by accident: one Pedro de 
 Lara, a captain of Philip III., cap- 
 tured near Sallee a Moorish ship, con- 
 taining 3000 volumes, the library of 
 king Zidan, who offered 60,0u0 ducats 
 for their ransom ; but a civil war in 
 Morocco intervening, Philip III. carted 
 the volumes off to the Escorial; of 
 what accident gave, accident took 
 much away, as many were burnt by 
 
The Castiles . route 102. — escorial — death of philip it. 
 
 761 
 
 a casual fire ; nor has any one ever 
 looked at them except Conde, who 
 garbled many of his extracts. The 
 superb collection of medals formed by 
 Antonio Agustin, Archbishop of Tar- 
 ragona, and subsequently much in- 
 creased, were all swept away by the 
 invaders, who seldom overlooked any- 
 thing in the shape of a coin. 
 
 The grand kitchen of the Escorial 
 deserves the gastronome’s inspection, 
 who will grieve at the fireless grates, 
 on which San Lorenzo might have 
 been broiled : alas ! no smoke now 
 issues from the chimneys. This de- 
 partment was once worthy of 200 
 monks, who had little else to do but to 
 eat. In the medical dispensary, or la 
 Botica , was a fine Raphael-ware cis- 
 tern, painted with the Judgment of 
 Solomon. The Colegio is not worth 
 visiting, although there is a whisper- 
 ing gallery which amuses silly folk, just 
 like that under the Alhambra. From the 
 kitchen to the royal residence the tran- 
 sition is easy, especially as it is placed 
 in the handle of the gridiron, el mango de 
 laparrilla. The state rooms are shown 
 at 1 o’clock. Here the Catholic kings, 
 whose life was one dull routine, spent 
 six weeks every year, after leaving 
 their summer quarter of San Ildefonso. 
 They thus became the real handle of 
 the man of the cowl, who had access to 
 the despot at his first rising and at his 
 last folding the arms to sleep. The 
 courtiers, however, even in the time of 
 Philip II., thought of nothing but 
 feastings and intrigues amatory and 
 political ; thus mixing up the frivolities 
 of a most profligate court, with the 
 outward show of monastic austerities. 
 Walk through the royal suite of rooms, 
 which are not very royally furnished. 
 First visit Don Carlos’s, with some 
 pictures — a Rey Godo, by Ribera ; but 
 a fly and a poodle are most pointed 
 out ! There is some good Madrid 
 tapestry of hunting subjects ; some 
 china, some fine marqueterie pannel- 
 ing, and steel hinges, inlaid with gold. 
 In the Sala de las Bat alias, observe the 
 fresco, painted on the wall in 1587, by 
 Granelo and Fabricio, of the battle of 
 Higueruela, where John II. and Al- 
 varo de Luna defeated the Moors (see 
 
 p. 326) : the costume is most curious : 
 this was copied for Philip II. from a 
 chiaro-oscuro original, 150 feet long, 
 found in the Alcazar of Segovia, and 
 is erroneously attributed to the Floren- 
 tine Dello, who died in 1421, 10 years 
 before the battle: between the win- 
 dows are the battles of Pavia, of St. 
 Quentin and of others in Flanders : the 
 ceilings are decorated with arabesques. 
 Look also at the fresco of Lepanto and 
 its curious galleys. 
 
 In a room adjoining Ferdinand VII. 
 was born, Oct. 14, 1784; and here, 
 Oct. 29, 1807, he was nearly sacrificed 
 by his own mother, and her minion 
 Godoy ; Charles, his father, consenting 
 to his own shame and to their crimes. 
 The prince was arrested for high 
 treason, when he, coward-like, be- 
 trayed his advisers ; and this act, 
 which would have ensured his and 
 their ruin, saved them all, for the 
 dreaded name of Buonaparte was 
 found mixed up in the secret cor- 
 respondence, and. the craven court 
 hushed the matter up. Visit also the 
 humble apartments in which Philip II. 
 lived, half a monk, as he reserved his 
 magnificence for the temple ; and then 
 descend into the small room in which 
 he died, Sunday Sept. 13, 1598, aged 72, 
 having been carried there in order that 
 his last glance might be directed to the 
 altar ; his lingering end was terrific in 
 body and mind. For the fearful details 
 of his death, see Sigiienza, pt. 3, 
 pp. 668-685. He lay long, like Job, 
 on a dunghill of his own filth, con- 
 sumed for 53 days, like Herod, by self- 
 engendered vermin. The crucifix he 
 held in his hand when he died was the 
 same with which Charles V. had ex- 
 pired. He was haunted with doubts 
 whether his bloody bigotry, his passion 
 and principle, and the supposed merit 
 of his life, was not in truth a damning 
 crime. His ambition was then over, 
 and a ray of common sense taught him 
 to distrust the efficacy of relics in se- 
 curing salvation, and to fear that a 
 Moloch persecution breathed little of 
 the true spirit of Christianity. (2 Thess. 
 iii. 15.) But he was a type of Spain 
 in the sixteenth century, a despot in 
 politics and polemics, and the imper- 
 
762 
 
 ROUTE 102. ESCORIAL PHILIP II. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 sonation of Romanism, then threatened 
 by the Reformation, for he clearly saw 
 civil reform and liberty were coupled, 
 like twin sisters, with religious reforma- 
 tion. In him religion was modified by 
 the genius of the man and his country ; 
 thus, while his idiosyncracy was cold, 
 phlegmatic, suspicious, timid, and ar- 
 bitrary, that of Spaniards breathed the 
 fierce intolerance and propagandism 
 by the sword of the Mosley; a sin- 
 cere believer, he accounted it rather 
 as a favour done to his victims, if by 
 torturing or burning their mortal 
 bodies he could save their souls; he was 
 reckless of wordly consequences, and 
 preferred to have no subjects at all, 
 rather than millions who should be 
 heretics. 
 
 Philip was of a delicate constitution, 
 naturally indolent, and without any 
 inclination for bodily exercise or mar- 
 tial deeds: he lacked the great king 
 qualities of his father ; weak in body 
 and timid in mind, in exterior a Flem- 
 ing, in haughty deportment a Spa- 
 niard, his suspicions and averseness to 
 being seen grew upon him as he waxed 
 older, then he became more and more 
 silent, priding himself on concealing 
 his thoughts; he rarely laughed, and 
 never so heartily as on receiving the 
 news of the St. Bartholomew mas- 
 sacre ; he had much application, and 
 loved doing business himself, but sel- 
 dom made real progress, as he shrank 
 from decisions, and thought that when 
 he had gained time he had gained 
 everything; yet his great boast was 
 that he at the foot of a mountain and 
 with a bit of paper could make him- 
 self obeyed in the old world and the 
 new. 
 
 The building itself was altogether a 
 mistake ; the selection as a site for state 
 business was ill-chosen, while to raise 
 a convent when monks had done their 
 work as pioneers of civilization was an 
 anachronism : again, the enormous ex- 
 pense absorbed sums which would have 
 covered the peninsula with a net- work 
 of roads and canals, of which there 
 were just as too few as there were of 
 convents too many. The Escorial also 
 tended to fix the residence of the court 
 at Madrid, the bane of Spain. Thus 
 
 injurious from the beginning to the end, 
 this useless colossal pile totters to its 
 fall, a thing to point a moral and 
 adorn a tale : Non in alia re dam - 
 nosior quam sedificando, was the just 
 remark of Suetonius, when speculating 
 on the costly buildings of Nero (In 
 Vit. 30). Vast and useless as the 
 pyramids, the Escorial is too big to 
 be moved even by the slaves of the 
 lamp, even had they been imps of 
 Spain. It might, indeed, supposing it 
 were three times as large, be made the 
 new poor-law union of the Peninsula. 
 The Escorial will disappoint many, 
 for expectations have been too highly 
 raised : but this is the penalty which 
 the credulous hope of travellers must 
 pay, who will go on expecting too 
 much, in spite of illusion-dispelling 
 experience. Yet happy the frame of 
 mind which always hopes, always be- 
 lieves ; and woe unto him who comes 
 into the Castiles without some poetry, 
 some romance, to gild the harshness 
 and discomforts which here too often 
 characterise the reality. 
 
 As a political personage Philip him- 
 self was a failure ; under him the short* 
 lived clay-footed colossus of Spanish 
 power began to give way ; he quarrelled 
 also with England — his greatest error — 
 lost his invincible armada and the Low 
 Countries ; yet what a position was 
 his, had he been equal to the moment ! 
 Ferdinand and Isabella had beaten 
 down the Moor at home, while 
 Charles V. had humbled France and 
 was master of Lombardy ; in quiet 
 possession of peace and power, Philip 
 might have been a legislator and a 
 benefactor to his country : he might 
 have given Spain a code of laws, co- 
 vered her with a net-work of roads 
 and canals, and fixed the capital at 
 Lisbon instead of Madrid. All of this 
 he sacrificed to fight the battles of the 
 Vatican, to be her banker, executioner, 
 and builder of this convent : but what- 
 ever his faults, which partly were the 
 result of his political position and the 
 spirit of his age, he at least was a true 
 patron of art and artists ; he discovered 
 or created talent to execute his mighty 
 works ; his biography, attempted by 
 the poor pedant professor Watson and 
 
The Castiles. route 1 02. — san ildefonso — la granga. 
 
 763 
 
 by Evaristo San Miguel, has yet to be 
 really written, and it will soon appear 
 from the pen of Mr. Prescott, who as- 
 suredly will do justice to his splendid 
 subject. 
 
 Before leaving the Escorial, clamber 
 up to the Silla del Bey , distant about 1 J 
 mile. This is the rude seat formed of 
 2 or 3 flattened boulders, from whence 
 Philip II. used to contemplate the pro- 
 gress of his buildings. Around grow 
 oaks and deciduous ashes. The view, on 
 a stilly summer’s eve, is pleasant. Visit 
 also the parks and plantations, which 
 contrast agreeably with the desert 
 beyond them ; and just look at the 
 Casa del Principe de abajo, a miniature 
 country house, too small indeed to live 
 in, and yet too large to wear at a 
 watch-chain : it was built by Juan de 
 Villanueva for Charles IV. when 
 prince, and like that at Aranjuez, is 
 the plaything of a spoilt infant. It is 
 expensively ornamented with marble 
 marqueterie, gimcracks, arabesques, 
 and with poor portraits of the ignoble- 
 looking Spanish B ourbon s . The cabinet 
 pictures are second-rate ; they were 
 formed for the rising Msecenas by his 
 French and Italian valets ! The Casa 
 del Principe de arriba , a paltry maison- 
 nette, was built by the booby infant 
 Don Gabriel. The gardens are pretty, 
 and form with the neighbouring walks 
 a favourite evening summer pro- 
 menade ; for the Escorial is frequented 
 by many who fly from the scorching 
 summer heats of Madrid to its cooler 
 groves : the difference of the ther- 
 mometer Reaumur often reaches seven 
 degrees. Official men place their 
 families here, and come over on the 
 Saturdays, returning on Monday ; 
 many galeras and coaches are put on 
 during the season. 
 
 A noble road winds from the Esco- 
 rial over the Guadarrama chain amid 
 immemorial pines and firs to San Ilde -. 
 fonso. The scenery is splendid offer- 
 ing, a jumble of mountain and rock with 
 glorious pines flinging their wild arms 
 fantastically athwart the precipices. 
 It was constructed at a reckless ex- 
 pense for the personal convenience of 
 the King : it is occasionally blocked 
 up by winter snows. After passing 
 
 the puerto, we descend into the village 
 or royal sitio , in which the court 
 always passed the hot months of July, 
 August, and September. The fonda de 
 la Vizcaina is permanently open ; others 
 close with the season ; during it, an 
 excellent inn, Fonda de la Granja, is 
 kept by Juan Athane, in the Casa de 
 Infantes, part of the detached build- 
 ings of the palace; this inn is con- 
 venient for those wishing to see Se- 
 govia, which is only 2 L. off, and a 
 pleasant hour’s drive. Mine host has 
 been a courier, and understands the 
 kitchen and cellar. 
 
 The difference of temperature be- 
 tween la Granja and Madrid in August 
 is as 68 to 83 Fahr. This cool castle 
 in the air is, say the Castilians, a 
 worthy chateau of the king of Spain : 
 as he is the first and loftiest of all 
 earthly sovereigns, so his abode soars 
 nearest to heaven : the elevation of his 
 residence at least cannot be doubted, as 
 the palace is placed on the N.W. range 
 of the Sierra, some 3840 feet above 
 the level of the sea, and thus, in the 
 same latitude as Naples, stands higher 
 than the crater of Mount Vesuvius. 
 The localities are truly alpine ; around 
 on all sides are rocks, forests, and 
 crystal streams, and above towers la 
 Penalara, rising, according to some, 
 above 8500 feet. While nature is truly 
 Spanish, here art is entirely French ; 
 for the one-idead founder Philip V. 
 could conceive no other excellence but 
 that of Marly and Versailles. In re- 
 serve and bigotry this king was a 
 Philip II., and his hypochondriac shy- 
 ness drove him into retirement, wanting 
 nothing but his mass-book and wife, 
 and thus he became a puppet in her 
 and her confessor’s hands. He was no 
 sooner fixed on the Spanish throne 
 than he meditated its abdication, always 
 harbouring, like Henry III. in Poland, 
 a secret wish to return and reign 
 in beloved France : it chanced that 
 while hunting at Valsain in 1720 he 
 observed this granja, then a grange or 
 farm-house of the Segovian monks of 
 La Parral ; he bought the site of them, 
 and here he died, July 9, 1746, and 
 here he is buried, carrying his hatred 
 to Austrian recollections even to the 
 
764 
 
 ROUTE 102. — LA GRANJA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 grave. He would not associate with 
 their ashes even in the Panteon of the 
 Escorial, a building which in common 
 with everything Spanish he slighted. 
 What a change and contrast from the 
 wild Spanish Sierra, to a French 
 chateau, from the stern pine wood to 
 the gilded Carousel railing ; but this 
 was the fatal reign when nationalism 
 was effaced by French opinions, lan- 
 guage, customs, and alliances. 
 
 First visit the Colegiata , built from 
 a design of Teodoro Arte mans or 
 Ar deman, in the form of a Latin 
 cross. On each side are the royal 
 pews or tribunas , enclosed with glass. 
 The dome, pendentives, and ceilings, 
 are painted in fresco by those academ- 
 ical twins of common-place, Bayeu 
 and Maella : the white stucco is picked 
 out with gilding ; the retablo is com- 
 posed of fine jaspers with red pillars 
 from Cabra. The altar was made at 
 Naples by Solimena. The tabernacle 
 is of rich Lapis Lazuli. The Virgin 
 has a right royal wardrobe ; the grand 
 relic is the Baculo of St. Isabel of 
 Hungary, held by Christina, whilst 
 giving birth to Isabel II. The founder 
 is buried in a chapel which lies to the 
 VV. of the high altar, to which a door 
 communicates, but it is usually entered 
 by the Sacristy ; the tomb of Philip 
 V. and his wife Isabella Farnese, with 
 medallions, and Fame, Charity, and 
 other ornaments in vile taste, are the 
 works of Messrs. Pitue and Dumandre, 
 “ awful in simplicity” according to 
 M. Bourgoin. The palace, a thing of 
 the foreigner, looks as if it had been 
 moved by the slaves of the lamp from 
 the bald levels of the Seine to a wild 
 Spanish sierra : this sensual, theatrical, 
 French chateau, is, in truth, the anti- 
 thesis of the proud, gloomy Escorial, on 
 which it turns its back. A portion of 
 the old Granja is still preserved near 
 the Fuente , for the building is a thing 
 of expedients and patchwork, and so far 
 is a thing of Spain. A long line of rail- 
 ing, like that of the Carousel at Paris, 
 divides three sides of a square. The 
 centre body with a dome is destined to 
 the royal family, and the wings appro- 
 priated to their suites, guards, and 
 offices. The fa9ade fronts the garden, 
 
 and is cheerful, although over windowed 
 and looking like along Corinthian con- 
 servatory. The poorish saloons above 
 and below were once filled with paint- 
 ings and antiques, among which were 
 the marbles of Christina of Sweden, 
 purchased for Spain by Camillo Ros- 
 coni. After having been long neglected, 
 they were carted out to Madrid by 
 Ferdinand VII., when he restored and 
 refurnished the palace with his fa- 
 vourite modern trumpery. The royal 
 apartments are light, airy, and agree- 
 able, without being magnificent, and 
 in them strange events have taken 
 place. Here, in January, 1724, Philip 
 V. abdicated the crown, which he re- 
 sumed in the next August at the death 
 of his son. He was urged to be- 
 come once more a king, by his wife, 
 who was very soon weary of private 
 life: here, in 1783, Charles III. re- 
 ceived the Count d’ Artois (Charles X.) 
 when on his way to take Gibraltar, 
 which he did not do. Here, August 
 18, 1796, the minion Godoy signed 
 the famous and fatal treaty by which 
 Spain was virtually handed over to 
 revolutionised France. 
 
 Here Ferdinand VII., Sept. 18, 1832, 
 revoked the decree by which he had 
 abolished the Salic law, and declared 
 his daughter Isabel, born Oct 10, 1830, 
 to be heiress to the crown; an act which 
 cursed his ever ill fated country with 
 civil wars and a disputed succession. 
 The secret history is as follows: Don 
 Carlos, his brother and heir presumptive, 
 was married to a Portuguese princess, 
 between whom and her sister La Beira , 
 a deadly palace war was waged by 
 Carlota , born at Naples, the intriguing 
 wife of Don Francisco de Paula , a 
 younger and not a very sapient brother 
 of the king. When Ferdinand married 
 Christina, the Neapolitan coterie 
 gained so much on the Portuguese 
 one, that on the queen’s pregnancy 
 being declared, Carlota, in order to 
 oust the Beira’s children, induced 
 Tadeo Calomarde, the minister of 
 justice, to suggest this change to 
 the uxorious king ; the degree was 
 smuggled through the royal closet 
 without the knowledge of the other 
 ministers : thus Ferdinand deprived his 
 
765 
 
 The -Castiles. route 102 . — san ildefonso — gardens. 
 
 brother Carlos of his birthright, that 
 brother who had been the friend of 
 his youth and the companion of his 
 French captivity, and who had refused 
 in 1827 to assist in his dethronement. 
 — Cosas de Espana. 
 
 In the autumn of 1832 Ferdinand 
 fell dangerously ill in this same palace ; 
 and his death during an attack of 
 lethargy was actually announced to 
 the Emperor of Russia by Monsieur 
 D’Oubril, his plenipotentiary ; the 
 succession of Carlos was then quite 
 certain; his reign might indeed have 
 been leaden and that of a King Log, 
 but it would have been one of slow yet 
 certain improvement, for all the non- 
 sense about his restoring the Inquisi- 
 tion, &c. was a thing of unscrupulous 
 party tirade. Carlos, although devoid 
 of common talent, and fitter to lose 
 than win a crown, was at least a man 
 of honour and principle, rare qualities 
 in a Spanish court. Christina at this 
 crisis had no party whatever, so she 
 herself drew up a revocation of the 
 decree, which was signed, Sept. 18, by 
 the guided hand of the unconscious tes- 
 tator ; this second act was managed by 
 the royal confessor and Alcudia, the 
 principal mover being Calomarde again, 
 who now undid his former work, in his 
 terror at the certain venganza which 
 the Portuguese faction would have 
 taken ; Antonini, the Neapolitan am- 
 bassador, confirmed his apprehensions 
 and urged Christina to save herself. 
 Ferdinand two days afterwards reco- 
 vered by a miracle, for Carlos had not 
 caused him to be smothered as Ti- 
 berius was. Carlota, who was at Se- 
 ville, on hearing of the revocation 
 hurried back day and night, and wel- 
 comed Calomarde with blows and 
 Billingsgate. As the king regained 
 strength, the queen recovered courage, 
 until, on Oct. 31, the revocation was 
 revoked, Christina denying her own 
 work, and throwing the whole blame 
 of the past on Calomarde, who was 
 forthwith turned out of office and 
 Spain. The king, still weak, now 
 delegated his authority to his wife, 
 who had nursed him most ten- 
 derly; and she instantly created a 
 party by displacing all ultra Royalists 
 
 and Carlists, and by substituting men 
 favourable to moderate reforms. Fer- 
 dinand died Sept. 29, 1 833 ; then en- 
 sued the terrible civil wars which have 
 rent and impoverished poor Spain. 
 
 This self-same palace, as if by poeti- 
 cal justice, became the theatre of an- 
 other tragedy by which Christina in 
 her turn was deprived of her royal 
 rights: here, Aug, 12, 1836, intimi- 
 dated by rude soldiery, headed by one 
 Garcia, a serjeant, she was compelled 
 to proclaim the Cadiz democratical 
 constitution of 1812. The secret un- 
 derplot of this intrigue was to bring 
 about a change of the conservative 
 ministry into one ultra-radical, and 
 the final result, as might be expected, 
 was the downfall and exile of the queen 
 regent and the restoration of things 
 as they were. 
 
 The gardens of the palace are among 
 the finest in Spain ; the grand walk in 
 front, called the parterre (for every- 
 thing here in name and style is 
 French), looks over flowers, wat^r, 
 and mountains ; here the fruits of 
 spring ripen in Autumn : as everything 
 is artificial the cost was enormous, 
 reaching to 45 million piastres, the 
 precise sum in which Philip V. died 
 indebted. These debts his son Ferdi- 
 nand VI. refused to pay, fortified by 
 the opinions of Spanish theologians, 
 who countenanced the orthodoxy of 
 repudiation ; thus while those palaces 
 in Spain which the Austrian kings 
 began, are unfinished, those which 
 their Bourbon successors raised, are 
 not paid for. To form these gardens 
 rocks were levelled and hollowed to 
 admit pipes of fountains and roots of 
 trees, whose soil was brought up from 
 the plains. The earth requires to be 
 constantly renewed, and even then the 
 vegetation is dwarf-like ; but despots 
 delight in enriching favourites with- 
 out merit, and their felicity contrasts 
 with the people’s misery. The yoke 
 of building-kings is grievous, and 
 especially when, as St. Simon said of 
 Louis XIV. and his Versailles, “ II se 
 plut a tyranniser la nature.” Thus 
 Nero, in the words of Tacitus (An. xv. 
 42), usus et patriae minis , employing 
 architects, quibus ingeniumet audacia 
 
766 
 
 ROUTE 102. — SAN ILDEFONSO — THE GARDENS. Sect. XI. 
 
 erat, etiam quse natura denegavisset 
 per artem tentare. 
 
 San Ildefonso after all was but an 
 imitation, and Delille, in praising its 
 gardens justly remarked, “ Philippe 
 defiait son ayeul et retraqait la 
 France/’ Although smaller, the gar- 
 dens of this Versailles en Espahol are 
 far more real than their type ; pure 
 genuine water is their charm, which 
 here is no turbid puddle forced up by 
 a wooden waterwork, but a crystal dis- 
 tillation, fresh from a mountain al- 
 embic ; the Cascada Cenador is a grand 
 falling sheet, which under the sun of 
 Castile glitters like melted silver ; it 
 is supplied from a large pond or reser- 
 voir above, which, as at Aranjuez, is 
 modestly termed el Mar ,* the ocean, 
 like that of Nero, Stagnum marts in- 
 star (Suet. 31). In honest old Eng- 
 land, where people have a notion 
 what the sea is, and call things by 
 their right names, this pond might be 
 stretched into a lake. 
 
 The gardens, in which art rivals na- 
 ture, are divided into the altos y bajps , 
 high and low ; they are laid out in a 
 formal style, being planted in ave- 
 nues, with a labyrinth, and decked 
 with marble vases, and statuary. 
 Their ornate and highly artificial 
 character contrast with the wild hills, 
 rocks, pines, and nature around. 
 There are 26 fountains; the most ad- 
 mired are, los Banos de Diana, la La- 
 tona or las lianas, la Corrida de Caba- 
 llos , the two Cascadas, el Canastillo, los 
 Vie at os, la Andromeda, la Pomona, and 
 el Neptuno, at which, says Mons. Bour- 
 goin, genius presides, and where the 
 egotist read Virgil and quoted “ Quos 
 ego.” The Fama is the most famous, 
 and shoots up water 130 feet high(?). 
 The fountains play on the first Sundays 
 of the summer months, on great festi- 
 vals, and royal birth or saint days, 
 when the traveller should visit this spot. 
 The chief statues are the Apollo and 
 Daphne, Lucretia, Bacchus, America, 
 Ceres and Milon ; they are poor and 
 second-rate, full of theatrical swagger 
 and unnatural attitude ; they are, 
 however, vastly admired by Span- 
 
 * Mar is Celtic for a lake. 
 
 iards, who have very little fine 
 marble sculpture ; and possibly are 
 thought more of because the work of 
 foreigners, to wit, of Messrs. Carlier, 
 Pitue, Dumandre, and Bousseau, and 
 M. Fremin, a Phidias in frogs ; but their 
 countrymen are transcendental turn- 
 cocks, and feel all the poetry and power 
 of water in gardens, if not in bedrooms; 
 Philip V. employed French, just as 
 Philip II. patronised Italian artists. 
 Consult for details the guide-book by 
 Santos Martinez Sedeiio, re-edited by 
 A. G. Somorrostro. 
 
 Charles III. came every year to La 
 Granja to fish and shoot, and as his 
 second hobby was the forcing manu- 
 factures, he here set up la Calandria, 
 a sort of factory to make linen, luckily 
 now broken up. He also founded 
 la Fabrica de Crist ales, to make glass 
 and pottery : these royal playthings, 
 exotics, like the trees in the gardens, 
 have never flourished in an artificial 
 soil. Conducted on a royal scale of 
 loss, it became a hotbed of jobbing and 
 robbing, in which Directors made for- 
 tunes out of the public purse. This 
 establishment was founded chiefly 
 because one Thevart in 1688 had 
 formed a similar one at Versailles: 
 meanwhile here even the sand has to 
 be brought from Segovia, while the 
 expense of transport and breakage of 
 mirrors alone consumed every chance 
 of profit. 
 
 Excursions may be made to the 
 nursery-gardens of Robledo and Col- 
 menar, and to the Quinta de Quita- 
 pesares, the Sans Souci of Christina, an 
 anodyne for her sorrow , which butter- 
 making contributed to banish, and 
 which is said also to have been the 
 scene where this modern Dido first 
 met the iEneas Munoz. Visit also 
 Valsain, Val Sabin, the vale of Savins , 
 distant 1 L. This, an ancient hunt- 
 ing-seat of the crown, was inhabited 
 by Philip V. during the building of 
 La Granja : but now it is almost a 
 ruin, having been left unrepaired since 
 a fire. The trout in the Eresma are 
 excellent : 2 L. on is Rio Frio, where 
 Isabel, widow of Philip V., began a 
 palace, which she neither finished nor 
 paid for. It is a fine architectural 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 102. EL PAULAR. 
 
 767 
 
 shell, with a noble staircase and gra- 
 nite pillars. 
 
 Those returning to Madrid on 
 horseback may, after seeing Segovia, 
 make an excursion to El Paular , the 
 once wealthy Carthusian convent on 
 the opposite side of the Guadarrama. 
 It is 2 L. from La Granja by el Re- 
 venton , or 44 the cleft,” a pass which 
 crosses directly over the glorious ridge, 
 with the grand Penalara rising to the 
 r. about 8500 feet : when this route is 
 snowed up, there is a circuitous one to 
 the convent, which overlooks the plea- 
 sant valley of the trout-stream Lozoya. 
 The edifice was raised by John I. to 
 carry out a vow made by his father 
 Henry II., while campaigning in 
 France. The Capilla de los Reyes was 
 built in 1390, by Alonso Rodrigo, and 
 the church in 1433-40, by a Segovian 
 Moor, named Abderahman : since its 
 suppression the paintings by Carducho 
 have been removed to the new Museo 
 at Madrid. The exquisite retablo was 
 wrought at Genoa, and of the same 
 period was the silleria \ del coro . There 
 is a fine sepulchre of one of the Frias 
 family, and an outrageous churri- 
 gueresque trasparente erected in 1724. 
 The ceilings are painted by the feeble 
 Palomino. But the Paular convent, 
 converted into a Belgian glass-manu- 
 factory, is no longer what it was (see 
 Ponz, x. 69), when the monks, lords 
 of all around, were paper-makers and 
 breeders of sheep on a large scale; their 
 hospitality was commensurate, as all 
 strangers were lodged, fed, and wel- 
 comed ; now their kitchen fire is put 
 out, and their gardens of fruit and 
 flowers are encumbered with weeds. 
 From thence follow the river, and rejoin 
 the high road at Buitrago (see R. 115). 
 
 Descending from La Granja into the 
 plains, we soon reach the ancient and 
 most striking city of Segovia. The 
 old inn, el Meson Grande , on the plaza, 
 was long one of the worst in all Spain : 
 this grand hotel , a genuine specimen of 
 a Castilian khan, has now been super- 
 seded by the more modernised Parador 
 de las Diligencias. There is also the 
 Posada de los Caballeros. 
 
 SEGOVIA is of Iberian name and 
 origin, seca and sego being a common 
 
 prefix: Humboldt (Urb. 188) enume- 
 rates no less than 22 instances; while 
 Briga, 44 town,” is a still commoner 
 termination : consult for historical de- 
 tails 4 El glorioso San Frutos Lorenzo 
 Calvete, Valladolid, 4to. 1610; ‘ His - 
 toriaj &c., Diego Colmenares, fol. 
 Mad. This is one of the best Spanish 
 county histories. There are two 
 editions, 1637, 1640 : the latter 
 
 is the best. 4 Viaje Artistico Lidoro 
 Bosarte, 8vo., Mad. 1804; 1 El Acue- 
 ducto,’ Andrez Gomez de Somor- 
 rostro, fol. Mad. 1820 ; 4 Esp. Sag/ 
 and Ponz., 4 Viage ’ x. The local 
 tutelar is San Frutos. See the 4 Poema 9 
 with his Life by F. de Leon Tapia, 
 8vo., Mad. 1 623: and the 4 Discurso His - 
 torico ’ of his Patronato , by Gaspar Iba- 
 nez de Segovia, 4to., Zar. 1666. 
 
 The long city, with its narrow irre- 
 gular streets, stands on the rocky knoll 
 which rises E. and W. in a valley, 
 with the Alcazar perched on the W. 
 point. It is girdled to the N. by the 
 trout stream Eresma, which is joined 
 below the Alcazar by the clamorous 
 rivulet el Clamores; the banks of 
 these streams, wooded and pretty, con- 
 trast with the bleak and barren hills. 
 The strong town is encircled by very 
 picturesque dilapidated old walls with 
 round towers, built by Alonso VI., 
 which are seen to great advantage 
 from the hill of the Calvario : it is al- 
 together a first-rate specimen of an 
 old-fashioned Castilian city, with 
 quaint houses, balconies, and a Prout- 
 like^aza, but much decayed and daily 
 decaying. It is very cold, being above 
 3300 feet above the sea ; the popula- 
 tion, once exceeding 30,000, having 
 dwindled to less than 9000. It is still 
 the see of a bishop, suffragan to 
 Toledo. 
 
 According to Colmenares, Tubal 
 first peopled Spain, then Hercules 
 founded Segovia ; in due time Hispan 
 erected the bridge , as they call the 
 aqueduct, although it brings water 
 over men, not men over water. The 
 city bears 44 el Puente” on its shield, 
 with one of the heads of Pompey’s 
 sons looking over it. This Roman 
 work, from its resemblance to the ma- 
 sonry of Alcantara and Merida, was 
 
768 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 ROUTE 102. — SEGOVIA— AQUEDUCT. 
 
 probably erected by Trajan, but neither 
 Segovia nor its aqueduct are mentioned 
 by the ancients, with whom such 
 mighty works seem to have been 
 things of course. As the steep- 
 banked rivers below the town are 
 difficult of access, and their waters 
 are not very wholesome, the pure 
 stream of the Rio Frio was thus brought 
 from the Sierra Fonfria , distant 3 L. 
 The aqueduct begins near San Gabriel, 
 and makes many bends in its progress, 
 to give stability and to break the water 
 current. It runs 216 feet to the first 
 angle, then 462 feet to the second at La 
 Concepcion , then 925 feet to the third 
 at San Francisco , and then 937 feet to 
 the city wall. Some portions are com- 
 paratively modern, although they are 
 so admirably repaired, that it is not 
 easy to distinguish the new work from 
 the old. This aqueduct, respected 
 by the Goths, was broken down in 1071 
 by the Moors of Toledo, who sacked 
 Segovia and destroyed 35 arches. It 
 remained in ruin until Aug. 26, 1483, 
 when Isabella employed in its repairs 
 a monk of the Parral convent, one 
 Juan Escovedo; this architect born 
 in the Asturias, about 1547, and 
 the son of a mere carpenter, had 
 the good taste to imitate the model 
 before him, and therefore was the first 
 to restore the Graeco-Romano style in 
 Spain : when he went to Seville to 
 report the completion of the repairs, 
 Isabella gave him for his fee all the 
 wood work of the scaffoldings. See 
 for curious particulars * Historia de la 
 Orden de San Geronymo,’ Jose de Si- 
 giienza, iv. 40. 
 
 The new work is intermixed with 
 the old, and occurs chiefly near the 
 angles of la Concepcion and San Fran- 
 cisco. Escovedo also built the bridges 
 over the Eresma. The aqueduct com- 
 mences with single arches which rise 
 higher as the dip of the ground deepens, 
 the upper tier are uniform of the line ; 
 until they become double. Those of 
 the three central are the highest, being 
 102 feet. This noble work is con- 
 structed of granite without cement or 
 mortar; and, like other similar erec- 
 tions of the Romans, unites simplicity, 
 proportion, solidity, and utility, and 
 
 its grandeur is rather the result of 
 these qualities than of the intention of 
 the architect. An inscription formerly 
 ran between the tiers of the central 
 arches, and the learned strive in vain 
 to make out what the words were, 
 guessing from the holes which remain 
 for the pins of the bronze letters which 
 have been extracted. The niche here 
 above, which is supposed to have held 
 a statue of Trajan, is now filled with a 
 decayed image of a saint which looks 
 like a putrifying corpse. According 
 to some antiquarians the aqueduct was 
 built by one Licinius, but the un- 
 learned people call it el Puente del 
 Diablo , “ the deviTs bridge,” because 
 his Satanic majesty was in love with a 
 Segoviana , and offered his services to her 
 in return for her favours ; she, tired of 
 going up and down hill to fetch water, 
 promised to consent, provided he would 
 build an aqueduct in one night, which 
 he did. One stone, however, having 
 been found wanting, the church de- 
 cided the contract to be void, and so 
 the hard-working wicked one was done, 
 as is generally the case with the fo- 
 reigners and heretics who labour in 
 vain in this orthodox land of ingrati- 
 tude. The lower classes of Spaniards 
 think the devil very clever, and Sabe 
 mucho , un punto mas del Diablo , is a deli- 
 cate compliment. It is in vain to talk 
 to them about Trajan, &c. ; they pre- 
 fer the devil as a Pontifex maxim us. 
 But whatever surpasses the limited 
 means and knowledge of the vulgar is 
 attributed to supernatural agency 
 and called a miracle : compare Los 
 Milagros of Merida : so the Arabs hold 
 the pyramids to be the work of genii, 
 the jin ( Ionios ), (Conde, i. 46), and thus 
 in England the author of evil gets 
 the credit of works of public utility, 
 bridges, dykes, punch bowls, and 
 bowling-greens : but if history is to be 
 credited, churchmen have ever been 
 the true pontifices, and this bridge 
 might also be called El puente del 
 Monje (Juan Escovedo), as that in 
 Cardigan has for a second name that 
 of Pont y Monach: Thus an option is 
 
 given to travellers to choose a monk or 
 devil according to their tastes. 
 
 The aqueduct, be its author who it 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 102 — SEGOVIA — CATHEDRAL. 
 
 769 
 
 may, is well seen from San Juan , in 
 its beautiful perspective, overtopping 
 the pigmy town. The grandest point is 
 from the corner of the Calle de Gascos , 
 but the stones have suffered from 
 houses having been built up against 
 the arches, and have been discoloured 
 by chimney smoke and drips from 
 the Cerbatanas , or gutters and pipes. 
 A plan was in vain proposed in 1803 
 to Charles IV. to remove all these un- 
 sightly causes of injury. However, in 
 Sept. 1806, the carriage of the preg- 
 nant ambassadress of Sweden having 
 upset by these encroachments, whereby 
 she had a miscarriage, the king ordered 
 the arches to be cleared ; so the hovel- 
 encumbered Piaza del Populo at Rome 
 was cleared by Alexander VI., to faci- 
 litate the entry of Christina of Sweden. 
 It was intended to have opened the 
 whole of the Plaza del Azoguejo ( zoq , zoq , 
 soco, from the Arabic Suk, a place), 
 and thus to have made a grand square 
 with the aqueduct on one side exposed 
 in all its unveiled majesty. The 
 French invasion marred the scheme 
 of questionable artificial amelioration, 
 for the very irregularity and meanness 
 of the buildings around render the 
 aqueduct the emphatic feature, as it 
 soars larger and nobler by the force of 
 contrast. 
 
 Older than the aqueduct is a rude 
 statue either of Hercules or of a hunter 
 with a boar’s head, which is embedded 
 in the staircase wall of a tower in 
 Santo Domingo el real . In this tower 
 some most curious old frescoes with 
 Arabic inscriptions were discovered, 
 much in the style of the painting in the 
 Alhambra (p. 311). This convent, once 
 called la Casa de Hercules , was given 
 to the nuns in 1513. The antique has 
 been whitewashed, and is now despised. 
 Nothing more is known of its origin, 
 than of two of the Toros de Guisando 
 breed (see p. 743), which remained ex- 
 posed to street injury. The larger was 
 called el Marrano de Piedra, the smaller 
 la Marrana or sow, the sex being as- 
 sumed. In 774 the word Marrano 
 signified excommunicated, possibly from 
 the old Maranatha (anathema), and as 
 it was first used against the Jews, it at 
 last became synonymous with the pig. 
 
 Next visit the cathedral, a noble 
 florid Gothic pile, built of beautiful 
 warm-coloured stone, which is seen to 
 great advantage from the curious old 
 irregular plaza. It is one of the finest 
 in Spain and deserves great attention ; 
 like our Bath church of 1522, it was 
 the last of the pure gothic cathedrals : 
 that stjle died like a dolphin, setting 
 as a southern sun in all its glories, 
 without twilight or decrepitude ; the 
 square tower, crowned with a cupola, 
 rises 330 feet high, having been low- 
 ered 22 feet from fears of lightning. 
 Ascend it, as the panorama over the 
 city, gardens, convents, gigantic aque- 
 duct, and mountain distances, is su- 
 perb. The older cathedral was almost 
 destroyed by the reformers on Comu- 
 neros in May 1520, who commenced 
 business by pulling down churches, 
 hanging the authorities, plundering 
 the rich, and by burning houses for 
 the public good. A few relics were 
 saved in the Alcazar , which stood out 
 against the mob; after the rebellion 
 was put down, the bones of the 
 tutelar San Frutos were brought 
 out, whereupon La Modorilla , or loss 
 of common sense, an epidemic gene- 
 rated by the popular excesses, ceased. 
 
 The new building was begun in 1525 
 by Juan Gil de Ontanon and his son 
 Rodrigo, their beautiful cathedral at 
 Salamanca (see p. 519) having been 
 chosen as a model ; the colour of the 
 stone is delicious. The W. front of 
 the exterior is perhaps somewhat bald 
 and unornamented, while the E. end 
 is over crocketed, and the pinnacles 
 small ; the interior, however, is light 
 and very striking from the simple, 
 bold, and well-arranged designs of the 
 arches and vaulting ; most of the win- 
 dows are filled with stained glass of 
 fine colours. Look at the silver custodia 
 and church plate, and at a chalice 
 wrought in the D’ Arphe style, given by 
 a Duque de Albuquerque. The high 
 altar is enclosed by lofty iron railings 
 relieved by gilding, somewhat after the 
 exquisite pur closes of the Certosa of 
 Pavia. The great retablo, composed 
 of precious marbles, was put up for 
 Charles III. by Lieut.-Gen. Sabatini. 
 The trascoro is enriched with the 
 
770 
 
 ROUTE 102. SEGrOVJA THE ALCAZAR. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 salmon-coloured marbles of which 
 the beautiful diamond-formed pave- 
 ment is partly composed. The ancient 
 sepulchral tombs were carted out 
 and lumbered up near the entrance. 
 Among them is — or was — the last 
 memorial to Rodrigo Gil, obt. 1577. 
 Near the gate of the tutelar San Frutos 
 in the C. de la Piedad is a magnificent 
 retablo by Juni, designed in all his 
 daring manner of 1571. In this De- 
 position from the Cross the figures 
 are larger than life, and the sentiment 
 is the profound and terrible grief of 
 the Virgin. This grand work gives an 
 idea of what the painted sculpture of 
 Spain was , when placed in its original 
 position, and with all the intention of 
 the artist, and not in the jumble of the 
 disjecta membra of a Museo. (See p. 
 570.) 
 
 The once fine S°. Thomas by Alonso 
 Sanchez Coello, 1578, was repainted in 
 1845 by one Mariano Quintapanilla, 
 sent here by the R. academy l This exe- 
 cutioner has put his name — the mark 
 of the beast — on the victimised picture. 
 
 The cheerful Gothic cloisters be- 
 longed to the former cathedral ; they 
 were taken down, and put up again 
 by Juan Campero in 1524, a triumph 
 of art. Among the sepulchres observe 
 that of Diego de Covarrubias, obt. 
 1576. The fine prelate with closed 
 eyes and clasped hands is arrayed in 
 pontificalibus. Remark also the tomb 
 of the Infante Don Pedro, son of Hen- 
 rique II. He was let fall from the 
 window of the Alcazar in 1366 by his 
 nurse. Judging from his statue, he 
 must have been a fine baby for nine 
 years old. Here also lies Maria del 
 Salto, a frail beautiful Jewess by creed, 
 but a Christian in heart ; she was about 
 to be cast from a rock (see next page) 
 for adultery, when she invoked the 
 Virgin, who visibly appeared and let 
 her down gently. She was then bap- 
 tized Maria del Salto , of the Leap , 
 became a saint, and died in 1237. See 
 Colmenares, ch r . 21. 
 
 The Alcazar in ’which Gil Bias was 
 confined, for Le Sage like Cervantes 
 has given an historical and local habi- 
 tation to the airy nothings of fancy, 
 rises like the prow of Segovia over 
 
 the waters-meet below. The great 
 keep is studded with those bartizans 
 or turrets at the angles which are so 
 common in Castilian castles, but the 
 slate and French-like roofs in other 
 portions mar the effect. The building 
 was originally Moorish, and was mag- 
 nificently repaired in 1 452-58 by Hen- 
 rique IV., who resided and kept his 
 treasures in it. At his death the 
 governor Andre' de Cabrera, husband 
 of Beatrice de Bobadilla, the early 
 friend of Isabella, held the fortress and 
 money for her, and thereby much con- 
 tributed to her accession to the throne. 
 From this Alcazar, Dec. 13, 1474, she 
 proceeded in state and was proclaimed 
 Queen of Castile. In 1746 the Sego- 
 vian mob rose against this Cabrera, 
 when the queen rode out among them 
 alone, like our Richard II. from the 
 Tower, and at once awed the Jack 
 Cades by her presence of mind and 
 majesty. Charles V., pleased with 
 the Alcazar’s resistance to the Comu- 
 neros in 1520, kept it up, and his son 
 Philip II. redecorated the saloons. 
 The tower was converted into a state 
 prison by Philip V., who confined in 
 it the Dutch charlatan Ripperda, who 
 had risen from nothing to be premier. 
 The Alcazar was ceded to the crown 
 in 1764 by the hereditary Alcaide , the 
 Conde de Chinchon, whose ancestor 
 had so hospitably welcomed in it our 
 Charles I. He lodged there Wednes- 
 day, 13th Sept. 1623, and supped, says 
 the record, on 4 4 certaine trouts of ex- 
 traordinary greatnesse.” The castle 
 palace was at last made into an ar- 
 tillery college, and being one of the 
 few in Spain which the French did 
 not destroy, remains as a specimen of 
 what so many others were before tkeir 
 fatal invasion. The general character 
 is Gotho-Moorish : the ceilings and cor- 
 nices and friezes are splendidly gilt, es- 
 pecially these in the Sola de Trono and 
 Sala de Recibimiento : the inscriptions 
 in one room give the names of many 
 kings and queens from Catalina, 1412, 
 down to Philip II., 1592, whose shield 
 quarters the arms of England in right 
 of his wife, our Mary, which it de- 
 lighted our Charles I. to see. In the 
 Sala de los Reyes (from the window of 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 102. — SEGOVIA — MIRACLES. 
 
 771 
 
 which the infante was let fall) are some 
 singular statues of Spanish kings, which 
 were begun by Alonso IX., continued 
 in 1442 by Henrique IV., and added 
 to in 1587 by Philip II. The inscrip- 
 tions were prepared in 1595 by Gari- 
 bay the historian, Philip himself cor- 
 recting the rough copies. The Pieza 
 del Cordon is a singular trunk-headed 
 saloon in which Alonso el Sabio ven- 
 tured to doubt the sun's moving round 
 the earth; thereupon his astronomical 
 studies were interrupted by a flash of 
 lightning, in memorial of which, and 
 as a warning for the future, the rope 
 of St. Francis was modelled and put 
 up. The king wore the original as a 
 penance. Full details will be found in 
 the tract of Alonso de Ribadeneyra, p. 
 7 to .30. The chapel contains some fine 
 arabesques : the views from the windows 
 are striking, although not quite so floral 
 and picturesque as represented to Gil 
 Bias by the governor, who somewhat 
 over-coloured things for the honour of 
 Castile. 
 
 Descending next to the Eresma by 
 Puerta Castellana , look up at the quaint 
 Alcazar from the Fuencisla, near the 
 Clamores, now doubly clamorous from 
 chattering washerwomen, the Naiades 
 of the rustling stream. The cliff above 
 Fuencisla, Fons stillans, was called La 
 Pena grajera, because the crows nestled 
 there to peck the bodies of criminals 
 cast down from this Tarpeian rock. 
 The cypress opposite the Carmelitas 
 descalzas marks the spot where Maria 
 del Salto — Mary Jump — lighted un- 
 hurt ; and in the chapel is the identical 
 image of the Virgin which saved her. 
 This image was miraculously concealed 
 during the time the Moors possessed 
 Segovia, but re-appeared on this site 
 when the Christians recovered the 
 town, and thereupon the convent was 
 built and richly endowed. See the 
 pictures in the retablo, by F. Camilo. 
 For this tutelar Virgin consult the 
 4 Historia y Origen’ by F. Fr°. de Sn. 
 Marcos. 4to. Mad., 1692. 
 
 Now turn to the 1. up the valley of 
 the Eresma to the Casa de Moneda , or 
 the mint, which was founded by Alonso 
 VII. ; it was rebuilt by Henrique IV. in 
 1455, and repaired and fitted with 
 
 German machinery by Philip II. in 
 15S6. Formerly all the national 
 coinage was struck here, as the 
 river afforded water-power, while the 
 strong adjoining Alcazar' formed a safe 
 treasury: in 1730 the gold and silver 
 coinage was transferred to Madrid : 
 now nothing is struck but copper 
 and for this coinage Segovia is ill- 
 selected, as the distance is so great to 
 Rio Tinto, from whence the metal is 
 brought. Adjoining on a slope is la 
 Vera Cruz , a very curious church, 
 built in 1204 by the Templars, but 
 now going to ruin : observe the angular 
 forms and the square tower. Notice 
 also the zigzag and billet posterns at 
 the W. doorway ; the curious chapel 
 built on the model of the Holy Se- 
 pulchre. An inscription on the S. en- 
 trance marks the ides of April, sera 
 1246. 
 
 Higher up is the Parral, a once 
 wealthy Jeronomite convent, which 
 nestles under a barren rock amid vines 
 and gardens ; hence its name and the 
 proverb, Las huertas del Parral , pa- 
 raiso terrenal. It was built in 1494, by 
 Juan Gallego: observe the portal, once 
 most interesting ; the superb coro was 
 raised in 1494, by Juan de Ruesga ; 
 the walnut silleria was elaborately 
 carved in 1526, by Bartolome Fernan- 
 dez ; the retablo mayor was painted in 
 1526, by Diego de Urbian, for the Pa- 
 checo family ; one of whom Juan, the 
 celebrated Marques de Villena, founded 
 this convent on the site of a celebrated 
 duel where, asi cuenta la historia , he 
 defeated three antagonists. The once 
 superb white marble sepulchres of 
 Juan and his wife Maria, kneeling 
 with an attendant, have been barba- 
 rously treated. The cloister and ceil- 
 ings of the library and refectory are 
 worth notice; the tower was raised 
 29 ft. in 1529, by Juan Campero : in 
 1848 pigs were kept in the chapels. 
 
 The Museo Provincial is placed in the 
 episcopal palace opposite San Esteban : 
 look at its tower ; it contains mere 
 rubbish, consisting principally of bad 
 and damaged portraits of monks and 
 nuns, with representations of their 
 legends and miracles; some of the 
 Latin couplets under the portraits 
 
772 
 
 ROUTE 1 0 2 . SEGOVIA — SHEEP-SIIE ARI NG. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 afford ludicrous specimens of monk- 
 ish invention, style, and prosody. 
 Segovia, however, itself is a museum 
 to the antiquarian ecclesiologist ; ob- 
 serve the Santa Cruz , or Dominican 
 convent, which was founded by Fer- 
 dinand and Isabella, as the tanto monta 
 motto indicates ; the reja and retablo 
 were given in 1557, by Philip II. In 
 San Juan are the tombs of many of the 
 Segovian Conquistador es of Madrid ; 
 e. g. Diez Sanz, Fernan Garcia, etc. 
 Here also lies the historian of Segovia, 
 Colmenares, ob. Jan. 29, 1651. The 
 portal of San Martin is curious ; ob- 
 serve the tombs of Don Rodrigo in 
 armour, and of Gonzalo Herrera and 
 of his wife : the architect may look at a 
 pretty aximez window in the Casa de Se- 
 govia ; at the bishop’s palace, notice the 
 granite front and figures of Hercules : 
 observe also the tower in the Plaza de 
 San Esteban , with the Saxon arches, 
 capacious capitals, and open corredor , 
 in the church in which Juan Sanchez 
 de Zuazo is buried (see p. 141). The 
 Puerta de Santiago is Moorish ; the 
 granite portals and peculiar Toledan 
 ball ornaments prevail in Segovia ; the 
 gate of San Andres is quite a picture. 
 
 Segovia was entered by the French, 
 under Gen. Frere, June 7, 1808, who, 
 notwithstanding no sort of resistance 
 was made, sacked it, a la Medellin ; for 
 he too, like his model, Victor, began 
 life as a drummer boy. See, for sad de- 
 tails, Schepeler, i. 424. The city’s pros- 
 perity depended on its staple, wool, but 
 then the flocks were eaten up by the 
 wolf, and now only a few poor cloth 
 manufactories languish in the suburb 
 San Lorenzo, In 1829 some improved 
 machinery was introduced, which the 
 hand-loom weavers destroyed. The 
 Cabanas , or sheep-flocks of Segovia, 
 furnished the fleeces, and the Eres- 
 ma offered a peculiar water for 
 washing the wool: for Merinos and 
 the Mesta , see p. 463. The sheep- 
 washings and shearings were for- 
 merly the grand attractions of the 
 place ; the vast flocks of the monks of 
 the Escorial, el Paular, and other pro- 
 prietors, were driven in May into large 
 Esquileos , or quadrangles of two stories, 
 over which a “ Factor ” presided. 
 
 First, the sheep went into the Sudadero, 
 and when well sweated had their legs 
 tied by Ligadores , who handed them 
 over to the shearers, each of whom 
 could clip from 8 to 10 sheep a day. 
 When shorn, the animals next were 
 taken to the Empegadero, to be tarred 
 and branded; after which the whole lot 
 were looked over by the Capatazes , 
 or head shepherds, when the old and 
 useless were selected for the butcher ; 
 those spared were carefully attended to, 
 as being liable to take cold after the 
 shearing, and die. During all these 
 processes, food and drink were plenti- 
 fully carried about to all employed, by 
 persons called Echavinos. The wool is 
 sorted by Pecibidores, and the bad, las 
 cardas , set aside. The pila , or pro- 
 duce, if sold at once, was then weighed, 
 or if destined to be washed is sent to 
 the Lavadero, There are three dif- 
 ferent classes of wool, which are de- 
 termined by an appraiser, the Apartador , 
 of whom there is a guild at Segovia, 
 The value has fallen off since the 
 invasion, from 8 to 3 ; then, too, 
 many barns and buildings were de- 
 stroyed, which, from want of capital, 
 have never been restored ; the subse- 
 quent loss of South America completed 
 the ruin. The common cloth made 
 here was coarse, but strong ; a little, 
 however, of a finer sort, called bicuna , 
 from a sort of Guanaco or South 
 American goat, was made for the rich 
 clergy, with a soft nap; now those 
 customers have ceased. The extent, 
 however, of the former boasted com- 
 merce must be somewhat discounted, 
 for the real staples were coarse Xergas 
 (Arabice Xercas) serges and Panos par - 
 dos : these, in the time of Juan II., sold 
 only for 40 maravedis the yard, while 
 cloth of Florence fetched 167, and the 
 fine scarlet of London 400 ; in fact, the 
 home manufactures were only used by 
 the poor, and for servants' liveries, while 
 the rich then, as now, imported every- 
 thing of a better quality from abroad. 
 Yet anti-manufacturing Spain prides 
 herself in the order of the Golden 
 Fleece , forgetting that it was established 
 by the good Duke of Burgundy, to 
 mark his preference for his rich, 
 manufacturing, intelligent towns, over 
 
773 
 
 The Castiles. routes 102 & 103 .- 
 
 a poor, proud, indolent and ignorant 
 feudal nobility — a feeling diametrically 
 opposed to genuine Spanish notions. 
 Pecus , unde Pecunia, , was the secret of 
 the power of Bruges and Ghent, and 
 the Golden Fleece , the symbol of the 
 commercial Argonauts, became, like 
 our Woolsack , the “ canting ” charge 
 of a woollen staple. Again, strictly 
 speaking, Spain has small right to this 
 order, which passed with the Low 
 Countries to Austria. Nevertheless, 
 having lost the substance she clings to 
 the form, for neither nations nor indi- 
 viduals like to relinquish even the 
 semblance of title or power. 
 
 There is a direct road from Madrid 
 to Segovia by La Granja , 15 L., which 
 leaves the Escorial to the 1.; it is often 
 impassable during winter from the 
 snow, when the lower road by San 
 Rafael is taken, 1 7 L. ; in summer a 
 diligence runs backwards and for- 
 wards, starting from El Meson de los 
 Huevos. Those who wish to visit El 
 Paular may rejoin the high road to 
 Madrid at Buitrago 9 a very ancient 
 walled town on the trout-stream Lo- 
 zoya, which is destined to supply the 
 capital: pop. about 400. 5 L. from 
 
 hence, on the road to Guadalajara , is 
 TJceda , another most ancient but now 
 decayed walled town on the Jarama, 
 pop. 700. where also there is good 
 trout-fishing. Uceda was once an im- 
 portant city, and its castle has been 
 the prison of eminent men ; in it Xi- 
 menez was confined by Carillo, Arch- 
 bishop of Toledo, who resented his 
 acceptation of his bit of patronage, the 
 arch-priesthood of Uceda, given him 
 at Rome in 1473 by Paul II. The 
 obstinate Ximenez refused to suc- 
 cumb, and after six years’ resistance 
 succeeded in keeping the benefice. 
 Here again the Great Duke of Alva, 
 after his failure in the Low Countries, 
 was banished by Philip II. until his 
 services were required to conquer Por- 
 tugal. Near Uceda , in a mountain de- 
 file, is the hamlet Patones , in which 
 during the Moorish dominion a Chris- 
 tian population lived unmolested, se- 
 cure in their obscurity. They elected 
 among themselves a sovereign, or 
 rather a sheikh, and the title of Rey 
 
 Spain.— IT. 
 
 -SEGOVIA TO ARANDA. 
 
 de Patones , “ king of big ducks,” be- 
 came hereditary in the family of 
 Prieto ; but when the real monarch 
 came to live close by at Madrid, the 
 Patonese, from a sense of the ludicrous 
 contrast, dethroned their titular, and 
 simply entitled him Justicia , “ the 
 Justice.” Near Prieto is a stalactical 
 grotto called la Gueva de Requerillo. 
 
 Route 102. — Segovia to Aranda. 
 
 Basardilla 21 
 
 Cubillo 21 .. 5 
 
 San Pedro de Gaillos 2 . . 7 
 
 Sepulveda 1 . . 8 
 
 Boceguillas 2 ..10 
 
 Aranda 7 ..17 
 
 This route is altogether uninterest- 
 ing. Sepulveda , one of the most ancient 
 of Castilian towns, is now much de- 
 cayed ; pop. under 1600. It is plea- 
 santly placed on the confluence of the 
 Duraton and Castillo, under the hills, 
 with gardens, alamedas , and pastures. 
 It was recovered from the Moors by 
 the Conde Fernan Gonzalez in 913, 
 who granted it municipal rights. 
 These Fueros de Sepulveda , from their 
 well-considered provisions and prece- 
 dence in point of time, became the 
 models of many of the earliest charters 
 of Spanish cities. 
 
 For Aranda del Duero, see p. 840. 
 
 Those who are going to France from 
 Madrid will do well to go round by Se- 
 govia and Valladolid through Burgos. 
 
 Excursions erom Madrid — conti- 
 nued. 
 
 None should fail to visit Toledo , the 
 imperial capital of the Goths, and 
 Aranjuez, the happy valley of Castile. 
 Those who are going to Valencia 
 should thence pass on to Cuenca and 
 Albarracin ; and even those who return 
 to Madrid, if they have time, are ad- 
 vised to make the detour by Cuenca , 
 Teruel , the baths of Sacedon and Gua- 
 dalajara (see Index). 
 
 Route 103. — Madrid to Toledo, 
 
 Getafe 2 
 
 Venta de Torrejon 2 . . 4 
 
 Illescas 2 . . 6 
 
 Yunco 1 . . 7 
 
 2 M 
 
774 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 ROUTE 103. — MADRID TO TOLEDO. 
 
 Cabanas 2 . . 9 
 
 Olias I ..10 
 
 Toledo 2 ..12 
 
 A diligence starts from No. 10, 
 
 Plaza del Progreso, Madrid. The road, 
 if road it could be called, was long 
 only a cart-track carried over desert- 
 like plains, which in summer are 
 clouded with dust and in winter are 
 ankle-deep in mud ; a ne w carretera 
 has recently been begun, anno mundi 
 7053. Now, considering that ac- 
 cording to Spanish historians, the 
 sun at its beginning shone on 
 Toledo, it must have done so both 
 before the creation of Adam and of 
 Mr. Macadam. The roads to and from 
 the Imperial 44 navel of the world/’ 
 have always been most disgraceful 
 and antediluvian. Toledo, because 
 not visited by the King, was never no- 
 ticed by Spanish waywardens. It would 
 seem that in Levitical Toledo, as at 
 Santiago, the clergy were so intent on 
 smoothing the ways to a better world, 
 that they quite overlooked the unim- 
 portant ones in this. 
 
 Leaving the “ Only Court ” by the 
 bridge of Toledo, after passing Cara - 
 vanchel de Arriba, we reach Getafe : 
 pop. 2500. This miserable specimen 
 of a Castilian country town has an 
 enormous parroquia, and a retablo filled 
 with fine pictures of the life of Mag- 
 dalen by Alonso Cano. Illescas, illic 
 non quiescas say creeping things, is 
 the now wretched place, in which a 
 guisado of cat was served up to Gil 
 Bias instead of a hare ; and the thing is 
 not yet impossible or unlikely. Pop. 
 1800. It has fallen from its former pride 
 of place. The house in which Francois 
 I. lived after his release from Madrid 
 is shown. The Santa Maria has a fine 
 Moorish belfry, which the natives 
 have disfigured with a modern painted 
 roof. The once superb Franciscan 
 convent was gutted by the invaders, 
 who must have thought, when they 
 compared the pomp of the masonry- 
 built churches to the mud hovels 
 around, that Spanish laymen were only 
 created to support priests. Illescas 
 possesses a miraculous Virgin, called 
 la de la Caridad, with a pillar : see a 
 4 to. on its virtues, 4 Manifesto de la Co - 
 
 lumna ,’ Gaspar Jesus Maria, Mad. 1 709. 
 The handsome chapel in the hospital 
 has some pictures by El Greco, espe- 
 cially a fine San Ildefonso writing. 
 Observe the Moorish entrance and 
 the ornamental work in an upper room 
 of the Casa de Rojas. The fair, held 
 in the 1st week of September, is much 
 frequented by picturesque gipsies. 
 
 About 2 L. from Illescas and 4 from 
 Madrid, in the despoblado de Humanejos , 
 between Perla and Torrejoncillo de la 
 Calzada, is an interesting Moorish ruin 
 with striated engrailed arches, such as 
 occur in the Mezquita at Cordova. 
 Olias resembles the preceding places 
 in poverty and discomfort: here also 
 is a hospital for those who sicken by 
 the dreary way. 
 
 TOLEDO. — The best inns are Po- 
 sada del Mirador, on the E. entrance, 
 and in the town Fonda de los Caballeros, 
 good and moderate. Fonda de Lino, 
 where the diligence puts up ; Fonda de 
 la Dominga ; del Alcazar. 
 
 Toledo is the capital of its district, 
 whose hilly portions, la Sierra or los 
 Montes de Toledo, divide the basins 
 of the Tagus and Guadiana; these 
 extend over 40 L., and were once 
 covered with timber, which has been 
 cut for building and fuel for Madrid, 
 and never replanted. Full details will 
 be found in the 4 Memorias ’ of Eu- 
 genio Larruga, vols. 5 to 10. Toledo, 
 now slighted for upstart Madrid, was 
 the chosen city of the early annalists 
 and antiquarians. The best works to 
 consult are, 4 Summi Templi Toletani 
 Description Bias Ortiz, duo., Tol. 1549 ; 
 4 Hystoria y Description,’ Pedro de Al- 
 cocer, fol., Tol. 1554; 4 Description de 
 Toledo,’ by Francisco de Pisa, but 
 edited by Tomas Tamaio de Vargas, 
 fol., Tol. 1617 ; ‘La Primacia de To- 
 ledo,’ Diego de Castejon y Fonseca, 
 fol., 2 vols. Mad. 1645 ; 4 Urbs et Boma 
 Hispanica,’ &c., &c. Fer. de Herrera 
 Vaca, 4to., Tol. 1664; 4 De Antiqm 
 Primatu,* J. B. Ferrer, 12mo., 1728; 
 4 Los Santos de Toledo,’ Antonio de Quin- 
 tana Duenas, fol., Tol. 1651 ; for their 
 proper services see ‘Officia Propria,’ &c., 
 8 vo., Ant. 1616; 4 Historia de Toledo,’ 
 Pedro de Rojas, Conde de Mora, fol., 
 2 vols., Mad. 1654-63; 4 Los Reyes 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 103. TOLEDO. 
 
 775 
 
 JSfuevos de Toledo ’ Christobal Lozano, 
 4to., 1667, or the later edition, 4 to., 
 Mad. 1764; 6 Esp. Sag’ v. vi. ; Ponz, 
 6 Vi-age’ i. ; and ‘ Toledo Pintoresca’ 
 Jose Amador de los Rios, Mad. 1845; 
 ‘ Album Artistico de Toledo ,’ Manual 
 Assas, is valuable for the accurate 
 translations from the Arabic by P. de 
 Gayangos. There is a good bookseller, 
 Hernandez , in the Cuatro Calles. 
 
 Imperial Toledo , the navel of the 
 Peninsula, “ the crown of Spain, the 
 light of the whole world, free from 
 the time of the mighty Goths,” as its 
 son Padilla addressed it, is a city of 
 the past. Seen from afar, all is most 
 imposing, but rottenness is in the core. 
 This Durham of a once golden hie- 
 rarchy offers aperfect contrast with Ma- 
 drid the modern capital, for here every- 
 thing is solid, venerable, and antique. 
 It has not been run up by academicians 
 to please the hurry of a king’s caprice, 
 but is built like a rock, and on a rock. 
 Like Rome, it stands on seven hills, and 
 is about 2400 feet above the level of the 
 sea. The lordly Tagus, boiling through 
 the rent or Tajo of the granite moun- 
 tain, girdles it around, just leaving 
 one approach by the land side, which 
 is defended by Moorish towers and 
 walls. Inside, the streets or rather 
 wynds, are irregular, ill-paved, steep, 
 and tortuous ; but such intentional in- 
 tricacy and narrowness rendered them 
 easy to defend when attacked, and kept 
 them cool in summer, however unpo- 
 pular to travellers not in search of the 
 picturesque. The houses are massive 
 and Moorish-like, for the city was 350 
 years under their enlightened dominion. 
 Each family lives in its own secluded 
 castle, and not in flats or apartments 
 as at Madrid. Here again we find the 
 oriental patio, over which awnings are 
 drawm in summer, as at Seville. Their 
 areas are kept very neat, as the rain- 
 water is collected, from them for domes- 
 tic uses. Toledo, although deficient 
 in water, is a clean town ; not, however, 
 very healthy, and the length of life ave- 
 rages about 50 years. The climate 
 is not agreeable, bitter cold in winter 
 and hot in summer. The hills reflect 
 back the sun’s rays, but the river- 
 meadows are pleasant ; and the Tagus 
 
 is indeed a river, and not a dry ditch 
 like the Manzanares. The Toledans, 
 like their houses, are solid and trust- 
 worthy old Castilians, sober hum- 
 drum and muy hombres de bien. Here 
 the glorious Castellano is spoken in all 
 its purity of grammar and pronuncia- 
 tion, which is slow and guttural. To 
 speak en proprio Toledano y has since 
 the time of Cervantes been equivalent 
 to “ the best Spanish.” (‘ Viag. al 
 Pam ’ vi. 253.) 
 
 In the heart of the city towers the 
 cathedral, around which cluster multi- 
 tudinous churches and convents, many 
 now silent as tombs. Even Salamanca , 
 a city of learning, was scarcely more 
 hardly treated by the invaders — Victor 
 and Soult especially— than was Toledo , 
 the see of the primate. What the 
 foreign foe began, the domestic reformer 
 completed, as, by the appropriation of 
 ecclesiastical revenues, the means were 
 taken away by which this priestly 
 capital, this Levite theocratic city, 
 existed; they are only partly restored, 
 the die is cast, and Toledo will decay 
 and become a Thebes, in w^hich the 
 untenanted temples alone will remain. 
 Formerly it contained, besides the 
 cathedral, 20 parish and 6 Muzarabic 
 churches, 9 chapels, 3 colleges, 14 
 convents, 23 nunneries, 9 hospitals for 
 males, 1 for females, and 9 chapels, 
 a tolerable spiritual provision for a 
 population now dwindled down from 
 
 200.000 to 13,000. Cosas de Espana. 
 All this is somewhat different from our 
 Stockport, where 3 churches suffice for 
 
 60.000 busy souls, whose real divinity 
 is capital. Let no cottonocrat, no mere 
 man of money or pleasure, visit this 
 gloomy, silent, and inert city, this 
 ghost of a departed capital, which 
 is without trade, industry, credit, or 
 manufactures; but to the painter, poet, 
 and antiquarian, this wddowed capital 
 of two dynasties is truly interesting, 
 as it carries us away from the pre- 
 sent ; it is a living ruin, offering a 
 semblance of existence struggling with 
 decay, where the grand monuments of 
 former prosperity now totter to a fall 
 in mockery and contrast with present 
 dilapidation. Here the voice of the 
 Goth echoes amid Roman ruins, and 
 
 2 m 2 
 
776 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — ITS HISTORY. 
 
 Sect. XT. 
 
 the step of the Christian treads on the 
 heel of the Moor ; here are palaces 
 without nobles, churches without con- 
 gregations, walks without people ; the 
 narrowness of the streets, by prevent- 
 ing carriage traffic, adds to that silence 
 so peculiar to the ancient cities of 
 Spain, and which at once, as Cervantes 
 said (Don Quix. ii. 19), strikes the 
 ear of the stranger. Toledo is in truth 
 a perfect picture of social still-life, and 
 we in our progressive activity find it 
 difficult to realise the oriental sta- 
 tionary character of Spaniards, or the 
 vitality of their resting so long on the 
 44 as you were” condition. 
 
 The foundation of Toledo is of 
 course ascribed to Hercules, t. e. the 
 Phoenicians ; others, however, prefer 
 Tubal, who built it 143 years, to a 
 day, after the deluge ; nor have its 
 townsfolk yet forgiven the Abbe de 
 Vayrac for saying that they boasted 
 that “ Adam was the first king of 
 Toledo, and that the newly created sun 
 rose over this spot, because it was the 
 centre and throne of the world much 
 as the vain old Greeks predicated of 
 their Athens. (Athen. i. 20). Be that 
 as it may, Toledo, when taken by Ma- 
 rius Fulvius, U. C. 561, 193 b.c., was 
 44 urbs parva sed loco munita” (Livy, 
 xxxv. 22). The name has been de- 
 rived from Toledoth, the Hebrew “ city 
 of generations,” as having been their 
 place of refuge when Jerusalem was 
 taken by Nebuchadnezzar. No doubt 
 many Jews did fly to 44 Tarshish,” to 
 the “uttermost parts of the earth,” in 
 order to escape the calamities in Pales- 
 tine ; and certainly when Toledo was 
 first taken by the Moors it was filled 
 with Hebrews, or, as they called them, 
 44 Amalekites they, resenting the 
 Gothic persecution, facilitated the pro- 
 gress of the Berbers, who themselves 
 were half Jews and half Pagans. 
 The extraordinary spoil, as detailed 
 in ‘ Moh. D.’ ii. 7, and Conde, i. 38, 
 proves how rich the city then was. 
 
 Conde interprets Toledo, quasi To- 
 laitola, 44 altura perfectum,” or atalaya 
 grande, from the Arabic attalah , a 
 place of look-out, and to this day the 
 Alcazar, recently repaired, towers nobly 
 over the city, its beacon and sentinel. 
 
 Leovigildo, under whom the Gothic 
 monarchy was consolidated, removed 
 his court from Seville, and made 
 Toledo the capital of Spain. His suc- 
 cessor, Recar edo, brought the Peninsula 
 entirely into the Christian fold, and 
 hence here were held so many of those 
 important councils which give such 
 insight into the spirit and condition 
 of that age ; they in reality were 
 convocations and parliaments, as the 
 sacerdotal aristocracy united social 
 and civil supremacy. The best edi- 
 tion is ‘ Collectio Maxima * Jose Saenz 
 de Aguirre, folio, 4 vols. Roma, 1693-4 : 
 or the new edition, folio, 6 vols. Roma, 
 Jos. Catalani, 1753. The Goths, who 
 have been so frequently stigmatised as 
 destructive barbarians, repaired and 
 improved the city bridges, and Roman 
 walls; portions of their works yet 
 exist, for Toledo was one of the few 
 towns exempted from the decree of 
 Witiza, by which so many others were 
 simultaneously dismantled, as if to 
 render conquest easier to the invader. 
 But history in Spain is always repro- 
 ducing itself ; compare the similar 
 policy of Cato (App. 4 Ba^L’ 467 ; 
 Livy, xxxiv. 17). 
 
 Wamba was the benefactor of To- 
 ledo, as is recorded in the inscription 
 over the great gate, 44 Erexit fautore 
 Deo rex inclytus urbem, Wamba.” 
 This was indeed 44 a long time ago,” for 
 Wamba is the Japetus of Spain, and 
 the phrase en el tiempo del Rey Wamba 
 proverbially denotes a date beyond 
 legal memory, as 44 old as the hills,” 
 au temps oil la Reine Berthe filait. 
 Wamba was half poisoned in 687 by 
 Ervigius, and, when supposed to be 
 dead, was clad as usual in a monk’s 
 dress for burial ; and, therefore, when 
 he recovered, was compelled to con- 
 tinue the cowl, which, once put on, 
 can never be taken off. The quarrels 
 between the usurper and rightful heirs 
 weakened the Gothic government, and 
 enabled the Moors, in 714, to subdue 
 the divided kingdom: so afterwards, 
 in 1492, the dissensions of the Moslems 
 paved the way to their final defeat by 
 Ferdinand and Isabella. The Jews 
 of Toledo, when their Moorish friends 
 seized their money, turned to the 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — CITY WALLS. 
 
 777 
 
 avenging Christian, and facilitated the 
 conquest of the city, in 1085, by Alonso 
 VI., who thereupon took the title of 
 Emperor of Toledo ; he gave “ himself 
 seated on an imperial throne” for the 
 armorial bearing on its shield, naming 
 the Cid as its first Alcaide. Toledo, ho- 
 noured by the sovereign and made the 
 primacy of a rich clergy, was always 
 loyal ; thus, when Burgos disputed its 
 new precedence in Cortes, Alonso XI. 
 exclaimed, “ Let Burgos speak first ; 
 I will speak for Toledo, which will do 
 what I wish.” 
 
 First walk round this most pictu- 
 resque old city, beginning at the north- 
 eastern land approach ; descend to the 
 Puerta del Sol, a rich Moorish gate of 
 granite horseshoe arches, with upper 
 intersecting ones of red brick, and fol- 
 low the old road which winds down 
 by the church of Santiago ; observe its 
 courtyard, portico, and absis ; thence 
 pass on to the Puerta de Visagra, now 
 blocked up, and therefore called la 
 Puerta Lodada * With regard to the 
 walls, there are two circumvallations ; 
 the inner, built by Wamba, runs up 
 from the fridge of Alcantara under the 
 Alcazar, by the gate of Doce Cantos , to 
 the back of the Carmen calzado, to the 
 bridge, to the gates of Santa Cruz and 
 Cambron, and thence to the bridge 
 of San Martin ; the outer line, built 
 in 1109 by Alonso VI., which also 
 begins at the Alcantara bridge, keeps 
 in the hollow by Las Covachuelas 
 to the present new gate, continuing 
 thence to the Puerta Lodada, and then 
 joining the old wall near El Nuncio, 
 and thus enclosing the former Moorish 
 gate. The name Visagra, said by some 
 to be Via Sacra , the road by which 
 Alonso entered in triumph, is simply 
 Bib Sakra, Arabice “ gate of the coun- 
 try;” and the rich cereal and pastoral 
 district between Illescas and Aranjuez 
 is still called La Sagra, Arabice “ the 
 open country, the support.” Others 
 read in it the Hebrew Sahar, “ bright,” 
 as being the E. gate, on which the 
 rising sun would shine, and through 
 which “ those who went out early,” 
 sahar aim, would pass. 
 
 The new gate was built in 1575 by 
 Philip II., who adorned it with the 
 
 eagle and shield of Charles V., with the 
 guardian St. Michael, and statues by 
 Berruguete. Read Philip’s inscription, 
 the curious original Moorish one was 
 pulled down by him to substitute this, 
 which records how he restored the 
 “ Divos patronos urbis,” and destroyed 
 Moorish impieties. Wamba, at least, 
 ascribed his buildings to the assistance 
 of God, Fautore Deo: compare also 
 Philip’s Christian Latin, with a genu- 
 ine Pagan dedication found here (Cean, 
 Sum 0 ,’ 119). Herculi patrono, En- 
 doval Tol. Divo Toletano, V. V. 
 Osca deis tutel. &c. The use of Latin 
 of itself gives a Pagan turn to this 
 sort of inscriptions, even if the pur- 
 port were not so similar. Observe 
 also the image of San Eugenio, one of 
 the tutelars of the city : sent by St. 
 Denis to Spain, a.d. 65, Eugenio 
 became Bishop of Toledo, but, going 
 back to France, was murdered at St. 
 Denis. His body, however, was hap- 
 pily discovered by Ramon, a French- 
 man, and the second archbishop of 
 Toledo, who in 1 156, brought the right 
 arm from France ; Philip II. obtained 
 the rest from Charles IX. Thus the 
 parts were reunited — to the unspeak- 
 able benefit of Toledo — Nov. 18, 1565, 
 after 1468 years of separation (see 
 Pisa, 84, and ‘ Esp. Sag., 9 v. 224). 
 
 The Alameda outside this gate was 
 planted in 1826 by the Corregidor 
 Navarro, who laid out the gardens and 
 Plazuela de Marchan, but the statues of 
 Toledan kings are bad and heavy. In 
 the suburb, Las Covachuelas, are some 
 degraded Roman remains. Close by 
 is the hospital of San Juan el Bautista, 
 commonly called frombeing outside the 
 walls el Hospital de Af uera ; it was built 
 with four facades by Bartholome de 
 Bustamente in 1542, for the Cardinal 
 Primate Juan de Tavera, whose Cro - 
 nica is written by Pedro Salazar de 
 Mendoza, 8vo. Tol. 1603. The mag- 
 nificence led the envious to reverse 
 the remark of their prototypes in 
 Matthew xxvi. 8, and say, “ Why is 
 so much given to the poor ? ” The 
 faqade is unfurnished, for, although the 
 founder left the care and continuance 
 of the hospital to his heir, he could not 
 bequeath his spirit of beneficence, for it 
 
778 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — SANTA LEOCADIA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 remained many years before it was 
 finished which the exterior is not yet. 
 Enter the classical patio , and proceed 
 by a colonaded portico to the Doric 
 chapel, whose portal was built by Ber- 
 ruguete, the retablo was designed and 
 painted by El Greco in 1509. Here 
 lies the founder on a noble cinque-cento 
 urna, the effigy is modelled from his 
 actual body, and is guarded by the car- 
 dinal virtues, to which few cardinals 
 were ever better entitled. The details of 
 the whole are infinite, and this was the 
 last but not the best work of Berr uguete, 
 who died in 1561 in the room under 
 the clock ; a fine silver chest and other 
 church plate were saved from the in- 
 vaders by the administrador Castahon. 
 
 Turn now to the rt., and observe the 
 slits for arrows in the Puerta Lodada , 
 and the horseshoe arches above : this 
 gate was built by Moorish workmen 
 for Alonso VI. A fine outline of con- 
 vents and palaces, all ruined by the 
 invader, crests the hill, running by the 
 lunatic hospital, el Nuncio , to the pin- 
 nacled gate of Cambron. Below to the 
 rt. the remains of a long, wide Roman 
 circus can just be traced : adjoining to 
 them was the prsetorian temple, which 
 was converted into a church by Size- 
 buto in 621 ; it is now called el Cristo 
 de la Vega. Examine well this curi- 
 ous but much degraded basilica, with 
 its absis and external round-headed 
 sunken arch work. In it were buried 
 the tutelars of Toledo, San Ildefonso 
 and Santa Leocadia , the events of 
 whose lives have been so much illus- 
 trated by Spanish artists and authors. 
 Leocadia, born in 306, was cast down 
 from the rocks above by Dacian : a 
 chapel was raised on the site of her fall, 
 in which many councils were held; 
 during one of which, in 660, angels 
 appeared and removed the stone from 
 her sepulchre ; she forthwith arose 
 “ clad in a mantilla,” and informed the 
 president San Ildefonso, that “ her mis- 
 tress lived through him.’" He had writ- 
 ten a work in defence of the Virgin 
 Mary (see p. 789). The author was so 
 pleased that he borrowed the knife 
 of the king Redecivintus, and cut 
 off a corner of her veil, which was 
 shown to Philip II. in 1587 ; the body, 
 
 according to some churchmen, as- 
 cended to heaven, while others assert 
 that when the Moors invaded Toledo 
 a Fleming carried it otf to Flanders ; 
 this was a very pious act, if true, for 
 few Braves Beiges, when about to run 
 away 1200 miles, would select as a 
 portable gem a dead woman (but see 
 ‘Esp. Sag.’ vi. 308, quoting Pisa). The 
 corpse was rediscovered at San Gislem, 
 in 1500, when Philip I. obtained a 
 portion of it for the chapter of Toledo ; 
 the rest was removed by the relicoma- 
 niac Philip II. when fearful that the 
 heretics would conquer the Low Coun- 
 tries, and get possession of such a 
 treasure as this. He received the re- 
 mains at the cathedral in person, 
 April 26, 1587. All this translation 
 and carriage, the expenses of which 
 were enormous, was managed by one 
 Miguel Hernandez, a clever Jesuit, 
 who published a duo. life of Leocadia 
 at Toledo in 1591. Consult also her 
 biography in Pisa, and the 4 Esp. Sag.,’ 
 v. 507, in which is printed an authen- 
 tic account of the council scene, .a 
 proces - verbal, written in 775 by 
 Cixila, archbishop of Toledo. The 
 26th of April is still a grand holiday 
 in her honour. Her urna was wrought 
 in silver by Fr°. Merino, 1587. The 
 10 basso-relievos represent the inci- 
 dents of her life and removals of her 
 body. Consult for her Miracles the 
 duo. by Juan Perianez, Tol. 1591. 
 
 Above to the 1., and growing, as it 
 were, out of the rock, rise the remains 
 of the palace castle, built by Wamba in 
 674, in order to command the W. 
 approach of the city : the masonry is 
 most massy. Below, on the river- 
 bank, is a Moorish arched alcoba, with 
 an Arabic inscription, which is called 
 by some los Banos de Florinda (Arabice 
 Zoraida ), and more generally the baths 
 of La Cava ; this fair and frail one is 
 said to have been bathing here when 
 Roderick, the last of the Goths, beheld 
 from his terrace above the charms of 
 this Gothic Bathsheba. The sad re- 
 sults are matters of history (see p. 
 285). If her existence itself be a myth, 
 it is also a misnomer to call a mere 
 tower, a bath. 
 
 The bridge of San Martin below 
 
The Castiles. koute 103 . — Toledo— sax juan de los reyes. 
 
 779 
 
 binds rock to rock, and completes the 
 picture. Now turn back, and ascend 
 to the Puerto, del Cambron , rebuilt in 
 1596, when the old Moorish gate was 
 pulled down, and enter Toledo again ; in 
 the inside niche of this gate is a statue 
 of Leocadia by Berruguete, which is 
 Florentine in style, tender and beau- 
 tiful in form, and sweet, gentle, and 
 serious in expression : read the in- 
 scription, and the vain prayer that 
 Tsedium, Bore , Ennui , the genius of 
 Toledo, may be expelled by her. 
 
 Advancing are the remains of the 
 once splendid Franciscan convent, 
 called San Juan de los Reyes , because 
 dedicated to their tutelar apostle John 
 by Ferdinand and Isabella, who built it 
 in commemoration of the decisive vic- 
 tory at Toro; destined by the stern 
 Ximenez for his reformed monks, it has 
 recently been made a parroquai. The 
 site is well chosen, being truly royal 
 and commanding. Observe badges and 
 symbols of the Catholic kings, and the 
 votive chains suspended outside by 
 captives delivered from the infidel by 
 the intervention of the Virgin, some 
 of which have been used up for chain- 
 posts ! The portal, an exquisite gem, 
 was finished by Alonso de Covarru- 
 bias for Philip II. This convent, 
 which was one of the finest specimens 
 of florid Gothic art in the world, was 
 all but demolished by the invaders, 
 who entirely gutted and burnt the 
 quarters of the monks. The splendid 
 chapel, now restored with vile tawdry 
 decorations, escaped somewhat better, 
 having been used as a stable for their 
 horses; but Victor’s troops whiled 
 away their leisure by smashing the 
 storied painted glass, and by mutilat- 
 ing the religious and heraldic orna- 
 ments, whose richness was once past 
 all description, as those specimens 
 which were out of reach still evince. 
 Observe the shields, eagles, badges, 
 ciphers, coronets, and the fringing in- 
 scription so common at this period. The 
 exquisite cloisters, with fine pointed 
 Gothic arches, deserve notice; a few 
 vile Spanish repairs have been done 
 here by plastering up arches, and mak- 
 ing more hideous the previous French 
 Vandalism : the space, which once 
 
 was a pretty garden, is now cursed 
 with weeds, fit companions to the ruin 
 all around ; a portion has been recently 
 made into a Museo. Among the rub- 
 bish in it look at one or two pictures 
 by Riberas, and a Christ with Maries 
 by Tristan. Opposite to this convent 
 was the grand palace of the great Car- 
 dinal Ximenez, which the invaders 
 first pillaged, and then destroyed. 
 
 Turn now to the 1., and descend by 
 narrow lanes to the former Juderia , or 
 Jews’ quarter, in which two most sin- 
 gular synagogues yet remain, although 
 sadly degraded. The first, now called 
 la Santa Maria la Blanca , was built 
 in the ninth century ; but in 1405 (see 
 the inscription over the door), when 
 the ferocious persecutor San Vicente 
 de Ferrer goaded the mob on against 
 the Jews, it was- converted into a 
 church ; so it remained until the 
 French degraded it into a storehouse. 
 The architecture deserves much notice; 
 the ground plan resembles that of a 
 basilica. Observe the threef aisles 
 divided by polygonal pillars, which 
 support horseshoe arches, springing 
 from bastard Gothic capitals ; remark 
 the circular patterns in the spandrils, 
 the stars, checquer-work, and engrailed 
 Moorish arches. The building is some- 
 what too high in proportion to the 
 width ; the ceiling is said to be made 
 from beams of the cedars of Lebanon, 
 and the soil below the pavement was 
 brought from Mount Zion. 
 
 The other synagogue, although less 
 ancient, is finer and better preserved ; 
 although consecrated to San Benito , it 
 is called el Transito, from a picture 
 of the death of the Virgin, which has 
 disappeared during recent reforms. 
 It was built in 1357, by Samuel or 
 Simel Levi, treasurer to Don Pedro 
 the Cruel, and in fact his Joseph, 
 his Mordecai. His royal master, how- 
 ever, in 1360, being in want of cash, 
 and knowing the value of a Jew’s 
 eye, first tortured and then killed poor 
 Levi, seizing his money-bags; all 
 this rather pleased the Spaniards, who 
 hated a Hebrew, whose strictness 
 in tax-gathering had rendered him 
 unpopular, (See for curious details, ch. 
 7, 15, and 30 of the ‘ Chronica de Bon 
 
780 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — THE SPANISH JEWS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Pedro.') Levi had previously patronised 
 the Jews, who soon became so rich and 
 numerous that the former synagogue 
 was too small, and this splendid 
 “ place of congregation,” ffuv'x.ywyn, 
 the precise jama or mosque of the 
 Moor, was built in a mixture of the 
 Gothic, Moorish, and Hebrew style ; 
 it must indeed have once been gor- 
 geous, but the Spaniards have dis- 
 figured the E. end. with a trumpery 
 gilt retablo that conceals the lace-like 
 embroidery ; a large crucifix now 
 occupies the place of honour in the 
 temple of those who put their Messiah 
 to death: the upper parts, being 
 out of reach, have escaped better, so 
 observe, the honeycomb cornice, the 
 rows of engrailed Moorish arches, and 
 the superb artesonado roof. A broad 
 band with foliage contains the arms 
 of Leon and Castile, and is edged with 
 the 84th Psalm and Hebrew charac- 
 ters, and a damaged inscription ; this 
 was translated by Juan Jose Heydeck 
 in the ‘Memorias de la Acad. Hist.' (iii. 
 31), and printed in a separate form, folio, 
 Mad. 1796 ; the correctness has been 
 much disputed by Bayer and others. 
 Isabella, in 1494, gave the building 
 to the order of Calatrava: then the 
 holy of holies was converted into an 
 archive, and the galleries of the Jew- 
 esses are now into a dwelling of the 
 animal who is called el custodio or 
 conserje. 
 
 There is a poorish history of the 
 Sephardim or Spanish Jews, by James 
 Finn, 1841, and another, not much 
 better, by E. H. Lindo, 8vo. London, 
 1848 ; some studies on them, have 
 been written by Amador de los Rios, 
 and also by Aldolfo de Castro, Cadiz, 
 1847, a work that has been translated 
 by E. Kirwan ; but none of these ex- 
 haust the subject which has yet to be 
 worthily written ; for the Hispano- 
 Hebro Romancero, consult 4 Die Re- 
 ligiose poesie der Juden in Spanien / 
 Michael Sachs, Berlin, 1845. 
 
 The Spanish Jews were of a very 
 high caste ; and although persecuted 
 by Goth, Moor, and Spaniard, that is by 
 followers of creeds both alike daughters 
 of the Old Testament, they clung 
 closely to their faith. Strange religion- 
 
 ists ! who turned, when they were the 
 sole depositaries of the real word of 
 God, to every idolatry, worshipping a 
 golden calf (and probably because it 
 was golden ), even under the thunders 
 of Mount Sinai ; and yet, when the 
 true Messiah came to supersede the 
 old law, they then clung doggedly to 
 what they before abandoned. Spain 
 (Tarshish) was always the favoured 
 locality of the Jew when forced away 
 from Palestine. Being men of peace 
 and money, they were always perse- 
 cuted by the men of war, who seldom 
 can live on their pay. There was 
 no end of fleecing them on one pre- 
 tence or another. Such was the 
 Judaicus Fiscus of Domitian (Suet. 12), 
 such the policy of Tiberius, who ban- 
 ished all Jews from Italy who would 
 not abjure their creed (Tac. 4 Au/ ii. 
 85) ; the purification of religion was 
 always made the pretext of appropri- 
 ating avarice, so the Christian Goths, 
 equally fond of money as the Romans, 
 found an additional accusation in the 
 guilt of the crucifixion. In 694, by 
 the 17th council of Toledo, the Jews 
 were ordered to be cut off with the 
 ‘‘scythe of revenge, 1 ” for corresponding 
 with the “Filistins” of Barbary. It 
 was then, when driven by persecutions, 
 that the Jews called in the avenging 
 Moors, and opened the gates of Toledo , 
 it is said, on Palm Sunday, while the 
 Christian garrison was worshipping at 
 the tomb of Santa Leocadia. For this 
 service they at first were favoured by 
 the Moslems, and, being left in peace, 
 soon again became so rich, that their 
 heresies began to stink in Moham- 
 medan nostrils, and they were either 
 strangled or robbed. In this dilemma 
 they turned to the avenging Christians, 
 and let in Alonso VI., who also for a 
 time encouraged and protected them. 
 As they sided with Don Pedro (be- 
 cause they had lent him money) in the 
 civil wars of 1369, they were treated 
 as traitors by the successful Henrique 
 II., who confiscated their cash. Then 
 ensued the crusades of San Vicente de 
 Ferrer, who imitated the great modern 
 I master of Jewish persecution, the per- 
 ' fidious Philippe le Bel of France, son 
 of Saint Louis and executioner of two 
 
The Castiles. route 103 . — toledo—el greco — conde de orgaz. 781 
 
 popes. The Spanish Jews, having 
 been long hunted like beasts and im- 
 poverished, were finally expelled from 
 Spain under circumstances of most 
 Iberian cruelty by Isabella in 1492, 
 who therefore is called Jesebel in their 
 chronicles. Vast numbers settled on 
 the Mohammedan shores of the Me- 
 diterranean, where their descendants 
 still speak Spanish. The Moors and the 
 wisest of the early Spanish kings tole- 
 rated the industrious and intelligent 
 Jews, who unable to become soldiers 
 or land-owners, took to money making ; 
 they soon got rich by “ spoiling the 
 Egyptians ” with whom they dwelt, 
 but of whom they were not. They 
 formed the ablest financiers and scri- 
 veners, and made money easily when 
 the legal rule of interest was 33j per 
 cent., tres per quatro (L. vi. Fuero 
 Real) : to kill them became naturally 
 an easy and religious way of paying 
 old debts with the good old Christian 
 Hidalgos, who were hallooed on and 
 absolved by a bigot church. Many 
 Jews, however, remained in Spain, pro- 
 fessing to be Christians, but in secret 
 following their own religion and mam- 
 mon. And some still exist, according 
 to Mr. Borrow, but are quite unknown 
 to Spaniards. “ These genuine Jews/ 
 says he, “ are quiet and in easy cir- 
 cumstances, trafficking in wool and 
 longanizas , which they sell, but do not 
 eat, as pork enters largely into this ex- 
 cellent sausage/’ Meantime from the 
 long and close breeding in and in of 
 this “ peeled race/’ no ethnologist can 
 mistake a physical type, which is as 
 marked as the woolly head of the 
 negro. The name 'Jew, Judio is still 
 the maledictio pessima , the Nimreseth , 
 the insult never to be forgiven, ana- 
 thema maranatha. Sancho Panza, the 
 type of lower classes, glories in his 
 hating a Jew, a proof of his being a 
 true Christian. (Don Quix. iii. 7). 
 Spaniards, even in this century, were 
 taught to think all foreigners to be 
 heretics and Jews. The cry of Ju- 
 diada is still a prelude to certain mur- 
 der. “ I hate oppression in every 
 shape,” said a Valencian Liberal to 
 Lord Carnarvon ; “ I am a friend to 
 the human race : if indeed there be a 
 
 Jew among us, burn him, I say, burn 
 him, alive.” 
 
 Next visit the adjoining church of 
 Santo Tome , with a brick tower of 
 Moorish character ; inside at the W. 
 end of the nave, to the r. of the prin- 
 cipal door, is the much neglected and 
 damaged masterpiece of El Greco . 
 This Domenico Theotocupuli, so called 
 because a Greek by birth, settled at To- 
 ledo about 1577, where he died in 1625, 
 and lies buried in the San Bartolomei 
 He imitated Titian and Tintoretto, but 
 was very unequal ; thus what he did 
 well was excellent, while what he did 
 ill was worse than anything done by 
 anybody else. He was often more 
 lengthy and extravagant than Fuseli, 
 and as leaden as cholera morbus. He 
 was also a sculptor and an architect. 
 This picture, which shows how well he 
 1 could paint when he chose, represents 
 the burial of Gonzalo Ruiz, a descend- 
 ant of the great Alcaide Esteban Ilian, 
 Conde de Orgaz, in 1312. The deceased 
 had repaired this church, and founded 
 the convent of San Augustin , whereupon 
 these two saints, Stephen and August- 
 ine, came down to attend his exequies 
 as special undertakers, pour encourager 
 les autres Condes. The black and gold 
 armour is equal to Titian ; and the 
 heads of the by-standers, the red bro- 
 cades and copes of the saints, are ad- 
 mirable : less good are the Virgin, 
 Saviour, and heavenly groups, which 
 are lanky in drawing and coldly co- 
 loured. This event of this Descent 
 remained forgotten for more than two 
 centuries, until the town of Orgaz, in 
 1564, refused to pay the curate of 
 Santo Tome , one Andrez Nuiiez, certain 
 due offerings of meat and wine ; where- 
 upon he put them into the chancery of 
 Valladolid, beat them, and repaired the 
 chapel, affixing the inscription, which 
 read, as it records the miracle and 
 lawsuit. Adjoining this church is the 
 now degraded Cuartel de Militias, 
 once the palace of the Conde de Fuen- 
 salida, in which Charles V. was lodged 
 in 1537, and where his wife Isabel died. 
 Close also to Santo Tome is a vacant 
 space, on which stood the house of 
 J uan de Padilla and of his noble wife 
 Maria, the leaders of the Comunero insur- 
 2 m 3 
 
782 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — THE TAGUS. Sect. XI. 
 
 rection. Charles V. ordered this house 
 to he razed in 1522, when a granite 
 pillar with a branding inscription was 
 placed on the site; a memorial which 
 in its turn has been destroyed by 
 modern reformers, and a granite co- 
 lumn with inscription in honour of 
 Padilla erected. 
 
 Descend now to the Moorish bridge 
 of San Martin , which was broken in 
 1368 by Henry of Trastamara, and 
 repaired by Archbishop Tenorio, a 
 kinsman of “ Don Juan,” and a true 
 pontifex maximus. Observe in the 
 tower a statue of San Julian by Berru- 
 guete. The bridge is narrow and 
 elevated on account of the occasional 
 swellings of the river, which rushes 
 down from a rocky gorge, on the r. 
 crest of which towers the toppling 
 city. The river, pleased to escape 
 from its prison, meanders away amid 
 las Huertas del Iiey. Below all is 
 repose, and the green meadow woos 
 the lingering stream. There are some 
 remains of the piers of an older and 
 perhaps a Roman bridge. On the hills 
 are the cigarrales or Toledan villas, 
 not so called from the multitudinous 
 cigars smoked therein, but from the 
 Arabic Zigarr , Cegarra, “ a place of 
 trees.” The correct Castilian term for 
 a country villa is Casa del Campo or 
 quinta , Arabice Chennat chint, “ a 
 garden.” In Gallicia, they are called 
 Aldeas, Arabice Aldaia, “ a small 
 place ; ” in Arragon and Catalonia 
 the name is Torres; in Andalucia Ha- 
 ciendas Cortijos; in Granada Carmenes , 
 Arabice Harm , “ a vine,” and in Ma- 
 laga they are called Lagares when there 
 are wine presses in them. 
 
 The wild and melancholy Tagus 
 rises in the Albaracin mountains, and 
 disembogues into the sea at Lisbon, 
 having flowed 375 miles in Spain, of 
 which nature destined it to be the 
 aorta. The Toledan chroniclers de- 
 rive the name from Tagus, 5th king of 
 Iberia ; but Bochart traces it to Dag , 
 Dagon a fish, as, besides being con- 
 sidered auriferous, both Strabo and 
 Martial pronounced it to be piscatory, 
 n oXvi^vs, piscosus. Grains of gold 
 are still found by amphibious paupers, 
 called artesilleros from their baskets, 
 
 in which they collect the sand, which 
 is passed through a sieve. 
 
 The Tagus, destined by nature as 
 for the water communication of these 
 localities, but now useless, might easily 
 be made navigable to the sea, and then 
 united to the Xarama, would connect 
 Madrid and Lisbon, and facilitate im- 
 portation of colonial produce, and ex- 
 portation of wine and grain : such a 
 work, which would confer more benefits 
 on Spain than 50 paper constitutions, 
 has frequently been contemplated by 
 foreigners , the Spaniards looking idly 
 on ; thus in 1581, Antonelli, a Neapo- 
 litan, and Juanelo Turriano, a Mila- 
 nese, suggested the scheme to Philip 
 II., then master of Portugal ; but 
 money was wanting — the old story — 
 for his revenues were wasted in relic- 
 removing and in building the useless 
 Escorial ; so nothing was made except 
 water parties, and odes to the “ wise 
 and great king” who was to do the 
 deed / 4 I’ll do, I’ll do, I’ll do,” for here 
 the future is preferred to the present 
 tense. The project dozed until 1641, 
 when two other foreigners , Julio Mar- 
 telli and Luigi Carduchi, endeavoured 
 to rouse Philip IV., who soon after, 
 losing Portugal itself, forthwith forgot 
 the Tagus. Another century glided 
 away, when Richard Wall, an Irish- 
 man, took the thing up in 1755 ; but 
 Charles III., busy in waging French 
 wars against England, wanted cash. 
 The Tagus has ever since, as it has 
 dashed over its rocky bed, like an un- 
 tamed barb, laughed at the Toledan who 
 dreamily angles for impossibilities on 
 the bank, invoking Brunei, Hercules, 
 and Rothschild, instead of putting his 
 own shoulder to the water-wheel. 
 
 In 1808, the scheme was revived by 
 Fr°. Xavier de Cabanes, who had 
 studied in England our system of 
 canals and coaches. He, who had 
 before introduced diligences into Spain, 
 now published a survey of the whole 
 river ; this folio ‘ Memoria sobre la 
 Navegacion del Tajo,’ Mad. 1829, seems 
 like the blue book of one discovering 
 the source of the Niger, so desert- like 
 are the unpeopled uncultivated dis- 
 tricts between Toledo and Abrantes. 
 Ferd.VII. thereupon issued an approv- 
 
The Castiles , 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEEO — THE TAGUS. 
 
 783 
 
 in gpaper decree : and so the thing ended, 
 although Cabanes had engaged with 
 Messrs. Wallis and Mason for the ma- 
 chinery, &c. Recently the project has 
 been renewed by Bermudez de Castro, 
 an intelligent gentleman, who from long 
 residence in England, has imbibed the 
 schemes and energy of the foreigner. 
 Veremos ! for hope is a good breakfast 
 but a bad supper, says Bacon. Mean- 
 time this Tagus, a true thing of 
 wild, racy, and romantic Spain, is 
 made for the poet and artist ; how 
 stern, solemn, and striking the lonely 
 unused river ; no commerce ever made 
 it a highway. Its rocks have witnessed 
 battles rather than peace, have re- 
 flected castles and dungeons, instead 
 of quays and warehouses; few cities 
 have risen on its banks as on the 
 Rhine, scarcely even a village. It 
 flows away solitary and unseen ; its 
 waters without boats, its shores with- 
 out life ; no steamer has either civi- 
 lised or cocknified its wild waters like 
 those of the Rhone or Danube. 
 
 Tourists who have no objection to a 
 good walk may now cross the bridge 
 of San Martin , and ascend the steeps to 
 the 1., where, about 50 yards on, the 
 geologist may observe 44 the gneiss 
 almost perpendicular with magnificent 
 veins of granite, crossing each other in 
 every direction : in some the quartz, 
 felspar, and mica occur in very large 
 crystals : the quartz is often bluish, 
 perhaps from kyanite. The veins are 
 grey, and continue a long way to the 1. 
 on the heights above the river opposite 
 the town: there are also very good 
 specimens of graphic granite with 
 large hexagonal crystals of mica.” 
 Soon town and river are lost in a valley 
 of rocks : above is stretched a canopy 
 of blue sky, and below trickles a rivulet, 
 where damsels wash their linen, and 
 colour the grey stones with sparkling 
 patches, cheering the loneliness with 
 songs. The rugged cliffs to the 1. es- 
 pecially near el Mirador , said to have 
 been the Tarpeian rock of Jewish 
 executioners, command noble views. 
 Follow the stream to the Tagus, and, 
 having looked at the Moorish mills, 
 reascend into a scene made for Salvator 
 Rosa, until on reaching a chapel, 
 
 Toledo reappears with its emphatic 
 huge square Alcazar towering over 
 rock, ruins, and river ; then clamber 
 up to the shattered castle of Cer- 
 vantes, a name which has nothing to 
 do with the author of 4 Don Quixote,’ 
 but is a corruption of San Servando ; 
 this sentinel outpost guards the ap- 
 proach to the bridge below, and com- 
 mands a most glorious view of Toledo. 
 To the r. below is the rose-planted 
 Alameda , laid out, at the beginning 
 of the road to Aranjuez. The meadow 
 opposite is a field of romance, and is 
 still called to this day la Huerta del Eey , 
 for here Alonso held a cortes when the 
 Cid complained of his vile sons-in-law 
 the Counts of Carrion : here some 
 much-degraded ruins are still called 
 las Casas de la Peina , being the sup- 
 posed remains of a fabulous castle in 
 the air, which Galafre, a king (who 
 never ruled), built for his daughter la 
 bella Galiana, (who never existed). 
 This heroine of romance (see Duran, 
 i. 5), was; courted by Charles Mar- 
 tel (who never was in Spain), who 
 slew in her presence his rival Bra- 
 damante (who also never existed) : 
 for the true history of this Moorish 
 villa, see Gayangos (Moh.D. ii.383). 
 The ruins, now degraded into a farm- 
 hovel, scarcely deserve a visit : how- 
 ever, they contain some Moorish arches 
 and lienzos of a Cordovese character. 
 At all events here read 4 La ilustre Fre - 
 gona’ of Cervantes, and speculate on 
 the mule's tail gambling 4 Daca la Cola. 3 
 
 The bridge, like others over the 
 Tagus, is called by pleonasm el Puente 
 de Alcantara , the 44 bridge of the 
 bridge.” The Roman one was repaired 
 in 687 by the Goth Sal a : destroyed by 
 an inundation, it was rebuilt in 871 by 
 the Alcaide Halaf, repaired in 1258 by 
 A lonso el Sabio, restored again by Arch - 
 bishop Tenorio about 1380, and forti- 
 fied in 1484 by Andres Manrique. Exa- 
 mine also the towers and tete-du-pont, 
 and the statue by Berruguete of San 
 Ildefonso, the Divus tutelaris , to whom 
 Philip II. dedicated the bridge, as is 
 stated in an inscription. From this 
 point the city walls diverge, running to 
 the r. in double line ; the upper one 
 being that built by Wamba, the under 
 
78 1 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — HYDRAULICS — ALCAZAR. Sect. XI. 
 
 and the more modern one that raised by 
 Alonso VI. Ascend the hill to the 1. 
 and rest for a moment to look down on 
 the roofless building erected for an In - 
 genio , the water-work engine, whose 
 ruin seems made for artists. Toledo, 
 built on a lofty rock, was badly supplied 
 with water, whereupon the Romans 
 stemmed the defile with a gigantic via- 
 duct and aqueduct, which ran from the 
 Puerto de Yevenes, distant 7 L. Some re- 
 mains may be traced near los siete cantos , 
 and under the convents Santa Sisla and 
 Santiago, and its line is still called 
 el Camino de Plata, the 44 road of silver,” 
 a corruption of via lata. When the 
 Moors conquered Toledo there was also 
 an enormous naurah, noria, or water- 
 wheel, 90 cubits high, which forced 
 up water by pipes. This was a work of 
 the Jews, who introduced the hydrau- 
 lics of the East, where water is the 
 blood of the earth and the element of 
 fertility: no people ever exercised 
 greater power over this element than 
 the Spanish Moors. The amphibious 
 Moslem loved cool water ; for ablutions 
 inside and outside are both pleasant 
 and religious under a torrid sun ; so 
 where a Greek put up a statue, and a 
 Christian a crucifix, he constructed a 
 fountain or dug a well. 
 
 The Toledan Moors were first-rate 
 hydraulists (see 4 Moh. D.’ ii. 262): 
 their king, Ahmamun, Ibn Dhi-a-nun, 
 or Yahya, had a lake in his palace, and 
 in the middle of his gardens a kiosk, 
 from whence water descended on each 
 side, thus enclosinghim in the coolest of 
 summer-houses, exactly like the device 
 in the Kasr Dubarra, now existing at 
 Cairo. Here also were made, by Az-Zar- 
 cal, the clepsydrae, or water-clocks, for 
 the astronomical calculations of Alonso 
 el Sabio, to study which Daniel Merlac 
 came all the way from Oxford in 1185. 
 Charles V., who delighted in me- 
 chanics, in 1565 caused some Greeks 
 to descend in a diving-bell at Toledo, 
 and the same year brought from 
 Cremona a watchmaker named J uanelo 
 Turriano, to repair the original noria ; 
 this, in 1568, forced up 600,000 
 buckets of water daily. Disputes, 
 however, arose between the crown and 
 the corporation as to who were the 
 
 legal 44 conservators of the river ; ” and 
 between them both the Turriano 
 family, being foreigners, were cheated 
 and died beggars — cosas de Espana . 
 Soon after the indignant Tagus da- 
 maged the engine, which the natives 
 could not repair, and thereupon ap- 
 plied to an English company, who 
 disliking the security offered for pay- 
 ment, judiciously declined, since when 
 the ruin has been complete ; and now 
 Toledo, the 44 light of the world,” 
 obtains its water by the primitive ma- 
 chinery of donkeys, which are driven 
 up and down by water-carriers, still 
 called by their Arabic name azacanes . 
 (See for details Cean Ber. 4 Arch/ ii. 
 100.) In i 853 imperial and thirsty 
 Toledo was astounded by a common 
 hydraulic irrigating machine made by 
 one Grouselle, which was to do the 
 work of eight norias. 
 
 Next visit the Alcazar, the Atalaya 
 of Tolaitola, the Mount Zion, or palace 
 and fortress of a city which it once 
 defended and now adorns. You must 
 have an order from the Comandante 
 de las Armas, which is readily granted. 
 It was the Amalekite Kassabah, to 
 which additions were made in 1085 by 
 Alonso VI. : the oldest portions over- 
 look the Tagus, as the castle of Pres- 
 burg does the Danube. This Alcazar 
 was much improved by Alvaro de 
 Luna, and by Charles V. in 1 548 ; 
 he employed Henrique de Egas and 
 Alonso de Covarrubias to add the fine 
 facade and staircase, which Herrera 
 completed for Philip II. The edifice 
 was burnt in the war of succession, not 
 by the English, as Cean Bermudez 
 states, but by the Portuguese general 
 Atalaya, who vented his hatred for Spa- 
 nish things on his namesake castle : the 
 ruins were repaired by Cardinal Lo- 
 renzana, a munificent patron of lite- 
 rature, and the last of the great and 
 good primates of Toledo. He con- 
 verted the building into a Casa de Carl 
 dad, in which paupers were employed in 
 silk-weaving. This ultimus Romano- 
 rum devoted his whole life and income 
 to good works : he supported the 
 French exiled clergy, and, when the 
 Pope was insulted at Rome by the in- 
 vading republicans, hastened there to 
 
78i> 
 
 The Castries, route 103. — Toledo 
 
 offer them comfort, which the tormen- 
 tors refused to permit. Torn from his 
 spiritual chief, Lorenzana resigned his 
 primacy, and died in 1804. But the 
 invaders never forgave his assistance 
 to their priests, and when they entered 
 Toledo especially persecuted his works 
 on earth, as he himself was beyond their 
 reach, being in heaven. They ejected 
 the paupers, seized the funds, converted 
 the asylum into a barrack, which was 
 burnt as a last legacy by Soult’s troops 
 when evacuating the half-ruined city; 
 so Heidelberg had been treated by the 
 hordes of Louis XIV. The crumbling 
 walls of the quarters in which the 
 vandal soldiers lodged were defiled 
 with the most obscene writings and 
 drawings, the “ mark of the beast.” 
 
 Observe the Buruguete fa§ade, win- 
 dows, the patio with granite pillars, 
 the fine staircase, and upper gallery 
 decked with heraldic ornaments in the 
 spandrils of the arches, which the 
 invaders mutilated. In the saloons 
 overlooking the river the widow of 
 Philip IV., the queen regent, was con- 
 fined during the minority of Charles II. ; 
 her mode of life has been graphically 
 described by Madame D’ Annoy, and 
 Dunlop, ii. 123. She was first the tool 
 of the low adventurer Nithard, and 
 then of her base paramour Valen- 
 zuela. But there is little new in 
 the doings of the Queens-Dowager of 
 Spain. 
 
 Now proceed to the Zocodover. , “ the 
 square market,” a name which, to 
 readers of Lazarillo de Tormes and 
 Cervantes, recalls the haunt of rogues 
 and of those proud and poor Don 
 Whiskerandos who swaggered and 
 starved with their capas y espadas. 
 Suk in Arabic, Zoco in Spanish, and 
 Soke in English, signify a “market- 
 place ” and a vicinity to cathedrals ; 
 for while commerce and religion 
 went hand in hand, the shrine 
 attracted multitudes and “ money- 
 changers,” while its sanctity pro- 
 tected the cash. This plaza is most 
 Moorish, with its irregular windows, 
 balconies, blacksmiths, and pictur- 
 esque peasantry, and in summer even- 
 ings is a fashionable promenade. It 
 was for years the site of national sports 
 
 — THE CATHEDRAL. 
 
 of fire and blood, of the auto de fe and 
 the bull-fight ; it was planted in 1840. 
 
 Now a long and almost the only 
 widish street in Toledo leads to the 
 Gothic cathedral, whose exterior is no- 
 where very beautiful nor symmetrical, 
 while the N. entrance is blocked up : 
 the best points of view are to the 
 N.W., either from the Plaza de San 
 Yuste or from that del Ayuntamiento, to 
 which the grand facade looks. Only one 
 tower is finished, which was begun by 
 Card. Tenorio, and completed in 1535 
 by Card. Tavera. It rises 325 feet high 
 from a square base to a Gothic middle 
 story, ending with a thin spire encircled 
 as with crowns of thorns. The cupola 
 of the other tower is after designs of 
 El Greco ; the steps of the Puerta del 
 Perdon are ascended and descended by 
 pregnant women, in order to ensure 
 an easy parturition. 
 
 The church chronicles state that this 
 temple was erected to the Virgin while 
 she was alive, and that she often came 
 down from heaven to it, accompanied 
 by St. Peter, St. Paul, and Santiago. 
 Converted by the Moors into their 
 grand mosque, Alonso VI., at the 
 conquest, guaranteed it to them ; but 
 ere the ink was dry, Bernardo, the 
 first archbishop, backed by the queen 
 Constanza, a native of France like 
 himself, the moment the king, was 
 absent, seized the mosque and dispos- 
 sessed the Moors ; then the Alfaqui , 
 foreseeing that resistance was useless, 
 interceded with Alonso, and procured 
 their forgiveness ; the building was 
 pulled down in 1226 by St. Fer- 
 dinand, a great destroyer of mosques, 
 who himself laid the first stone of 
 the present cathedral. Designed by 
 Pedro Perez, it was completed in 
 1492, plundered in 1521 by Padilla’s 
 mob, and again in 1808 by the in- 
 vaders under Gen. La Houssaye, the 
 sacker of the Escorial. Previously it 
 was a mine of wealth and art ; thus 
 Cean Bermudez enumerates 149 ar- 
 tists, who, during six centuries, were 
 employed by the richest prelates of 
 Spain to make this a temple worthy of 
 the primacy, a dignity which was long 
 held by the master-mind of the day ; 
 ,for the religious profession was not 
 
786 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — FORMER ARCHBISHOPS. Sect. XI. 
 
 then a bar to office, but a recommen- 
 dation : it was not a burden to poli- 
 ticians, a governmental difficulty, but 
 a binding bond : now, indeed, religion 
 is but a mere fragment of what it 
 was when it was all and all in every- 
 thing, and when the same intellect 
 that ruled the church, sustained and 
 governed the state. 
 
 The older archbishops of Toledo 
 were great alike in peace and war ; the 
 Rodrigos headed victorious armies, the 
 Tenorios built bridges, the Fonsecas 
 founded colleges, the Mendozas and 
 Ximenez , third kings and regents, 
 founded universities; while the Taveras 
 and Lorenzanas raised houses of charity 
 and hospitals. These monuments, in- 
 deed, have been swept away by rude 
 hands, foreign and domestic, but their 
 memory abides, nor will the new lay 
 appropriators easily either repair the 
 outrages, or rival those works of piety 
 and science, those offerings which the 
 consecrated hands of old had laid on 
 the altar. The prelates of Spain’s chi- 
 valrous and mediaeval period were bred 
 in the cloister, then the only asylum of 
 peace, learning, and of the arts which 
 humanize. They had “ leisure,” with- 
 out which, says the wisest of men, 
 none can become wise. The church 
 was the best school for ministers of state 
 and for men of business, as the great 
 laity then thought of nothing but war, 
 or the chace, its mimic pursuit. But 
 now a deferential mockery has bowed 
 them out of the stirring things of this 
 life, on the pretence that the tem- 
 poral concerns of the world profane 
 their sacred, spiritual calling. Now 
 the service of God disqualifies its pro- 
 fessors from serving their Queen and 
 country; and so far from being mi- 
 nisters of state, they are degraded to 
 be mere ministri of the altar, while 
 even their paltry wages are unpaid. 
 
 The primate of Toledo has for suf- 
 fragans, Cordova, Jaen, Cartagena, 
 Cuenca, Siguenza, Segovia, Osma, and 
 Valladolid : the chapter was truly im- 
 perial, and consisted of nearly 100 
 dignitaries and prebendaries. Here, 
 as at Leon and Burgos, the pope and 
 king of Spain were canons, and the 
 monarch was always fined 2000 ma- 
 
 ravedis for non-attendance in coro on 
 the three days from Christmas to 
 St. John the Evangelist. 
 
 Before entering, examine the ex- 
 terior and gates. La Puerta de los 
 Leones , at the extremity of the S. 
 transept, is so called from the lions with 
 shields placed on pillars. The deeply- 
 recessed portal, with Gothic figures 
 and niche-work, was wrought by el 
 Maestre Egas in 1466, in a beautiful 
 white stone, which, soft at first, 
 hardens with time ; the upper works 
 were restored in bad taste in 1776, by 
 Mariano Salvatierra, by whom is the 
 “Assumption of the Virgin.” The 
 exteriors of the Michael Angelesque 
 bronze doors were cast in 1545 by 
 Francisco de Villalpando, and the in- 
 sides were finely carved in wood in 
 1541 by Diego Copin, of Holland : 
 but the tournaments, centaurs, &c., are 
 scarcely suited for a Christian temple’s 
 entrance: the modern Ionic gate, on 
 the S. side of the nave, is equally out 
 of keeping with the Gothic style of 
 the cathedral. The Puerta del Reloj y 
 or de la Feria, at the end of the N. 
 transept, is much blocked up by build- 
 ings, and is also disfigured by some 
 modern red and gilt wood- work, which 
 ill accords with the Gotho-tedesque 
 stone carvings ; the bronze doors were 
 cast to match those of the opposite 
 gate ; that to the 1. is by Antonio 
 Turreno, 1713; that to the r. by An- 
 tonio Dominguez. They are also 
 ornamented with carvings inside, 
 which are older in date and better in 
 style ; the Puerta del Perdon, the 
 great W. door, has six niches on each 
 side, which are carried all up round 
 the arch ; the style is the rich Gothic 
 of the fifteenth century. 
 
 The interior, although fine, is infe- 
 rior to the cathedral at Seville both in 
 form and height. Here the lateral 
 naves are somewhat low and crowded 
 with piers, and fatal whitewash has 
 been unsparingly laid on ; the general 
 style of the Gothic is simple and 
 pointed. The painted windows are 
 superb. Look at them about sunset, 
 when, as the aisles darken, these storied 
 panes brighten up like rubies and eme- 
 ralds. The recent spoliations and ap- 
 
Thz Castiles. route 103 . — Toledo — the cathedral. 
 
 787 
 
 propriations have tended to dim the 
 former magnificence of this once splen- 
 did temple, which now lacks the spirit 
 and movement of life, for here soli- 
 tude and melancholy brood enshrined 
 and sad is the livery of Toledo. The 
 pomp and ceremonies used to be re- 
 markable even in Spain, where a really 
 divine service was performed ; then the 
 vast space was crowded with ant-like 
 myriads, and the city of the sleeper 
 awoke as by a touch of the wand, and 
 filled the streets, changing into stir 
 and crowds their usual death-like 
 monotony. 
 
 The windows, some of the earliest 
 in Spain, were painted chiefly by fo- 
 reigners; by Dolfin, 1418, by Alberto 
 de Holanda, Maestro Christobal, Juan 
 Campa, Luis, Pedro Frances, and 
 Vasco de Troya. The subjects are 
 taken from the Bible and legends of 
 local saints, interspersed with the 
 shields of the donors. 
 
 Proceeding to details, there are five 
 naves, supported by 84 piers; the 
 length is 404 feet, the width 204 ; the 
 central nave is the highest. The clois- 
 ters lie to the N., near the Sagrario and 
 Salas, which contain the relics and 
 pictures. The goto, as usual, is placed 
 in the heart of the central nave, but, 
 as the rich Gothic trascoro is not very 
 high, the eye sweeps over it : the 
 choir is a museum of sculpture ; the 
 under stalls, were carved in 1495, by el 
 Maestro Kodrigo ; enriched with gro- 
 tesque tedesque ornaments, they repre- 
 sent the campaigns of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, much in the style of Mazolino 
 de Panicale. The name of each lo- 
 cality occupied by its representative, 
 is carved on each seat. Observe, par- 
 ticularly, in these authentic contem- 
 porary records of citadels, arms, and 
 costume, the surrender of the Al- 
 hambra. The upper stalls are in a 
 perfect classical contrast, being em- 
 broidered with a prodigality of orna- 
 ment ; above them, in alabaster, or in 
 most ivory-looking marble, is the ge- 
 nealogy of Christ, while the niches 
 are divided by candelabra pillars rest- 
 ing on heads of cherubs. The seats 
 are separated by red marble columns. 
 The inscription placed here by Cardinal 
 
 Tavera in 1543 tells the truth. “ Signa 
 turn marmorea turn ligna coelavere 
 hinc Philippus Burgundio, ex adverso 
 Berruguetus Hispanus ; certaverunt 
 turn artificum ingen ia, certabunt sem- 
 per spectatorum judicia and in pass- 
 ing judgment it is not easy to dis- 
 tinguish the works of one master from 
 those of the other ; of the 70 stalls, the 
 35 on the Lado de la Epistola are by 
 Vigarny, who died here in 1543, and 
 was buried near his works. In criti- 
 cising the two great sculptors it may 
 be observed that Vigarny is simple 
 and grand in draperies and expres- 
 sions, the figures somewhat shorter 
 and stiffer, while Berruguete is more 
 elegant and Italianlike. The latter 
 artist also carved the Primate’s throne, 
 and the Transfiguration over it, a sub- 
 ject which from its very nature is ill 
 adapted for solid materials. In the coro 
 observe the exquisite atriles, or reading- 
 desks, of gilt metal, wrought with scrip- 
 tural bas-relief divided by female 
 figures, a truly Florentine-like master- 
 piece of Villalpando. The facistol or 
 lettern, consists of an eagle on a Gothic 
 tower, with statues in niches, and is 
 excellent. The black wooden image of 
 the Virgin before it is very ancient. 
 The reja , the gilt pillars which support 
 the curtains, and the candelabra, are of 
 the cinquecento taste, and the works of 
 Domingo de Cespedes. The modern' 
 organs are churrigueresque, and look 
 sadly out of harmony when brought in 
 juxtaposition with the works of the 
 giants of old. 
 
 Passing the Entre los dos Coros , ob- 
 serve the two pulpits of metal gilt, 
 placed on short marble columns, and 
 of exquisite workmanship, like the 
 richest plate. These, worthy of Cellini, 
 were made from the bronze tomb 
 raised for himself by Alvaro de Luna, 
 and broken up in 1449 by Henry, 
 Infante of Aragon, when soured by 
 his defeat at Olmedo ; whereupon 
 Alvaro sent him a copy of verses on 
 this paltry revenge, while Juan de 
 Mena (Cop. 264) condemns the un- 
 civilized Vandals, whose “ hearts were 
 harder than the bronze.” What would 
 he have said of the iconoclasts, native 
 , and foreign, of this century ? The 
 
788 
 
 ROUTE 103 . TOLEDO — CARDINAL MENDOZA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 metal figures were so articulated as to 
 rise up and kneel when mass was said. 
 The glorious reja was wrought in 1548 
 by Villalpando. 
 
 The Capilla Mayor was enlarged by 
 Cardinal Ximenez ; but the rich Gothic 
 work at the sides is older, and formed 
 part of the original work of Tenorio. The 
 lofty Gothic retablo , which is ascended 
 by jasper and coloured steps, with five 
 divisions, contains carvings of the life 
 of the Saviour and Virgin, executed 
 about 1500, by Juan de Borgoha, Fer- 
 nando Bincon, el Maestro Felipe, and 
 others under the directions of Pedro 
 Gumiel (el hour ado , see Index). The 
 whole is estof ado, or enamelled and gilt. 
 Here are the tombs of the ancient kings, 
 los Reyes Viejos ; to wit, of Alonso VII., 
 Sancho el Deseado , Sancho el Bravo , 
 and the Infante Don Pedro. Here also 
 lies buried the Cardinal Mendoza, ob. 
 1495 ; for his life consult ‘ Cronica del 
 Gran Cardenalf Pedro Salazar de Men- 
 doza, fol. Tol. 1625. This high-born 
 and great prelate of a mighty sacerdo- 
 cracy, almost shared the sovereignty 
 with Ferdinand and Isabella, whence 
 he was called Tertius Rex ; he indeed 
 united religious with ministerial power, 
 and his decrees ran like those in the 
 East, “ Saul and Samuel” (1 Sam. xi. 
 7). This was the Ego et Rex meus 
 which our Wolsey imitated : and now, 
 a king in life, he lies interred in death 
 among kings, the rare privilege of Je- 
 hoiada (2 Chr. xxiv. 16). His plate- 
 resque tomb, heightened with white 
 and gold, the work of Henrique de 
 Egas, is worthy of this glorious high 
 altar, where all around, front and 
 sides, is most elaborate ; observe the 
 infinite details of pinnacles, winged 
 angels, and statues in niches, and 
 among them the statue of Alonso VIII., 
 the conqueror, and al Lado del Evan - 
 gelio, that of the bearded Shepherd (San 
 Isidro , see p. 236) who led the Chris- 
 tians to victory at las Navas de Tolosa , 
 and opposite that of the “ good Alfa- 
 qui,” who interceded with the treaty- 
 breaking Frenchman Bernardo (see 
 p. 785). 
 
 Next observe the sober Gothic Res - 
 paldos del Coro , erected by Archbishop 
 Tenorio in the 14th century, which 
 
 contrast with the trasparente , an abo- 
 mination of the 18th century, but w T hich 
 is the boast of the Toledans, and their 
 disgrace. This was wrought by Nar- 
 ciso Tome, a heresiarch of churrigue- 
 rism, who here tortured solid material 
 into clouds, gilt rays of light, and into 
 everything most aerial : observe a pair 
 of legs with no body to them, kicking 
 out of a solid cloud. This fricassee of 
 marble cost 200,000 ducats. The Arch- 
 bishop Porto Carrero imported quarries 
 fromltaly , and ought to have been called 
 Porto Carrara; he was the prime mover 
 of Philip V.’s succession ; this king- 
 maker lies buried near the Capilla del 
 Sagrario, with the epitaph “ Hie jacet 
 pulvis cinis et nihil this cannot be 
 predicated of this transparente, as it is so 
 very huge and so white that it cannot 
 be hid, but arrests the eye to the detri- 
 ment of finer objects ; it is the style of 
 Louis XIV. gone mad, yet it was inau- 
 gurated with bull-fights, sermons, and 
 sonnets. A monk, one Francisco 
 Galan, wrote a poem on this “ Octava 
 Maravilla;” in spite, however, of its 
 absurdities, it evinces much depraved 
 invention, and great workmanship and 
 mastery over material ; unfortunately 
 a fine old retablo and pictures were de- 
 stroyed, as at Leon, to make room for 
 this monstrosity in marble. It is, 
 however, curious as a type of the taste 
 of an epoch and of a fashion; the 
 workmanship again is marvellous ; 
 Gibbons never cut cedar more nicely 
 than the stone is here carved. 
 
 Next visit the adjoining chapel of 
 Santiago , erected in 1442, in the richest 
 flamboyant , Gothic, during all his 
 pride of place, by that great “ imp of 
 fame” the Constable Alvaro de Luna, 
 as his family burial - place ; as he 
 was master of Santiago, the Veneras or 
 scallop-shells abound, as also do his 
 canting arms, “ gules party azure, a 
 crescent (Luna) reversed argent.” The 
 original bronze tombs, it is said, were 
 converted into pulpits, and the present 
 ones of alabaster were sculptured by 
 Pablo Ortiz in 1489, and erected by 
 Maria, daughter of Alvaro. The armed 
 Maestre , who was executed at Valla- 
 dolid, in 1451, by his ungrateful sove- 
 reign, lies with his sword between his 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — LA CASULLA. 
 
 789 
 
 legs, while knights clad in hauberk mail 
 l^neel at each corner of the tomb ; near 
 him is the urna of his wife, Juana de 
 Pimentel, ob. 1489, for the repose of 
 whose soul two monks and two nuns at 
 the opposite angles are praying; the 
 portraits of the deceased being near the 
 altar. Observe also the once gilt tomb 
 of Juan de Zerezuela, Archbishop of 
 Toledo, ob. 1442 ; he was half brother 
 to the Constable, and whole brother to 
 Benedict XIII. ; the head is very fine. 
 Opposite is the tomb of the Conde de 
 Montalbo, who died in the Real de 
 Toledo, under Alonso VI. ; notice the 
 head wreathed with laurel leaves al- 
 most like a turban. 
 
 Next visit the most beautiful Capilla 
 de los Reyes Nuevos , the chapel of the 
 new or later kings, as compared to those 
 older ones buried near the high altar. 
 The original tomb-house was built in 
 1374 by Henrique II. ; it was recon- 
 structed in 1531 for Cardinal Ta- 
 vera, by Alonso de Covarrubias and 
 Alvaro Monegro ; heralds in tabards 
 marshal the stranger into this cham- 
 ber of departed royalty; here under 
 white and gold niches of richest 
 Cellini plateresque embroidery, repose 
 Henrique II., ob. 1379, his wife Juana, 
 ob. 1381, their son Juan I., ob. 1390, his 
 wife Leonora, ob. 1382 (their effigies 
 knelt at the Presbiterio) , Henrique III., 
 ob. 1407, his wife Catalina (daughter 
 of our John of Gaunt), ob. 1419. Juan 
 II., by whose orders the first chapel was 
 built, lies buried at Miraflores, but his 
 statue is placed here among his ances- 
 tors, kneeling on a bracket. Consult 
 ‘ Los Reyes Nuevos de Toledo ,’ Christobal 
 Lozano, 4to. Mad., 1674 or 1764. 
 
 Every other chapel must be visited. 
 In San Eugenio are some remains of 
 the old mosque, with Cufic inscriptions, 
 and an arch and tomb of elaborate 
 tarkish work. In the Santa Lucia 
 some ancient monuments and inscrip- 
 tions exist of the 13 th century; notice a 
 good painting of the martyrdom of St. 
 Peter, and outside to the 1. another of 
 St. John with a lamb, and full of effect. 
 In the Capilla de Nuestra Senora de 
 la Antigua , observe the rich Gothic 
 work of the deep-recessed niche of the 
 Virgin’s image. In la Adoracion de 
 
 los Santos Reyes , observe the stone por- 
 tal painted in red, blue, and gold ; the 
 retablo , the reja with twisted bars, and 
 the picture of the dead Saviour. 
 
 The chapel of San Lldefonso was 
 founded by Rodrigo, Alonso VIII.’s 
 fighting primate. It was much im- 
 proved by Gil de Albornoz, who is 
 buried here, ob. 1350. His tomb is a 
 masterpiece of Gothic niche and statue 
 work : then observe that of his nephew 
 Alonso, Bishop of Avila, ob. 1514, 
 which is a charming specimen of 
 cinquecento, with a raised work of 
 birds, fruit, &c., picked out in white 
 and gold, which canopies the urna 
 on which the prelate lies. Near in 
 a niche is the sepulchre of Inigo 
 Lopez Carrillo de Mendoza, with the 
 curious cap and jewel of the period, 
 he died in 1491 at the siege of Gra- 
 nada. Close by is the tomb of Arch- 
 bishop Juan de Contreras and of Car- 
 dinal Gaspar Borja, ob. 1645. The 
 modern altar, with its poor statuary, 
 is by the commonplace Ventura Ro- 
 driguez. This noble Gothic chapel is 
 also illustrated with sculpture relating 
 to the tutelar San lldefonso, whose 
 legend has afforded subjects to Murillo 
 and the best Spanish artists. Pie was 
 born at Toledo in 690, became chaplain 
 to San Isidoro, and wrote a book in 
 defence of the perpetual virginity, of 
 the km which some French 
 
 heretics had questioned. The book 
 ‘De Virginitate Sa. Maria’ was printed at 
 Paris in 8vo., 1576 ; his sermon on this 
 text is still extant (see 4 Esp. Sag.,’ v. 
 493) ; but some of the arguments, how- 
 ever fitted for a congregation of Goths, 
 cannot well be here repeated. One 
 morning the Virgin came down from 
 heaven, and attended at matins in the 
 cathedral, sitting in her champion’s 
 seat, as she did in Teresa’s at Avila 
 and as the gods of Greece, had often 
 done before, but they preferred meat to 
 mass (Od. i. 420, 435 ; II. i. 424). No 
 person has ever occupied her seat since 
 Sisibertus, who, trying to do so, was in- 
 stantly expelled by angels. The Queen 
 of Heaven next, when she had chaunted 
 the service, placed on her defender’s 
 shoulders la casulla , chesible or cassock, 
 investing him, as with the garter ; she 
 
790 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — SAN ILDEFONSO. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 then, speaking like the Veian Juno’s 
 statue (Livy, v. 22), told him that 
 44 it came from the treasures of her 
 son.” For the original narrative, drawn 
 up by Cixila in 780, see 4 Esp. Sag .’ v. 
 509. She also visited this saint’s chapel 
 at Jaen, Saturday, June 10, 1430. At 
 the Moorish invasion this cassock 
 was carried into the Asturias, and is 
 said to be in the chest of Oviedo, 
 invisible indeed to mortal eyes (see 
 p. 637); nor could it be worn by any 
 mortal save Ildefonso, for when his 
 successor foolishly put it on, it nearly 
 strangled him, like the maddening shirt 
 given by Dejanira. 
 
 “ Prisole la garganta como cadena dura, 
 
 Fue luego enfogado por su gran locura.” 
 
 The female deities of the Pagans 
 were equally liberal in their gifts, which 
 also were articles of dress, like the 
 Peplum of Minerva, or the Cistus of 
 Venus. (Compare the Cinta given at 
 Tortosa by the Virgin, p. 398.) Consult 
 also 4 Libro de la Descencion ,’ Francisco 
 Porto Carrero, 4to. Mad. 1616. 
 
 San Ildefonso (whose grand festival 
 takes place here Jan. 22) became primate 
 of Toledo, where he died in 617, and was 
 buried at the feet of Santa Leocadia ; 
 his body at the Moorish invasion was 
 also carried off, and also was long lost, 
 until, about the year 1270, a Toledan 
 shepherd was caught in the cathe- 
 dral at Zamora ; suspected of being 
 a thief, he replied, “ San Ildefonso 
 appearing in person, led me here and 
 vanished:” thereupon Alonso VIII. 
 dug the site, and a body was found, a 
 chapel was built, and miracles were 
 daily worked ; see the details in Ortiz 
 (Chr. xiv.) ; consult also 4 San Ildefonso 
 defendido ,’ Alonso Vasquez, 4to. Alcala, 
 1625; and i El glorioso Doctor f Salazar de 
 Mendoza, 4to. Tol. 1618. As Zaragoza 
 claimed the primacy of Aragon because 
 the Virgin had come down from heaven 
 to visit Santiago there, so Toledo owes 
 its elevation in Castile from her coming 
 down to this San Ildefonso ; accordingly 
 Cardinal Rojas erected a shrine over 
 the exact spot, which rises in a lofty 
 pyramidal pile of open gilt carved 
 Gothic work ; observe his arms and 
 portrait. The beautiful basso-relievos 
 
 by Vigamy represent San Ildefonso 
 preaching his remarkable sermon, and 
 his receiving the Casulla ; behind is the 
 real slab on which the Virgin’s feet 
 really alighted: encased in red marble, 
 it is railed off, and inscribed, 44 Adora- 
 bimus in loco ubi steterunt pedes ejus.” 
 The older motto, according to Ortiz 
 (67), ran thus — 
 
 “ Quando la Reina del cielo 
 Puso los pies en el suelo 
 En esta piedra los pus6 ; 
 
 De besarla tened uso 
 Para mas vuestro consuelo .” 
 
 And this miracle is to this day gravely 
 related as a true one ! ( 4 Esp, Mon, 3 iii. 
 32.) 
 
 The multitude thus taught by the 
 church the consolation and comfort of 
 kissing have actually worn away the 
 stone, as at Zaragoza and Santiago : a 
 friction of pious lips rivals that, which 
 the idols of antiquity could not resist ; 
 but such is the nature of things, as 
 Lucretius observes, 4 Be Rerum Natura / 
 i. 317— 
 
 Turn portas propter ahenas 
 Signa manus dextras ostendunt attenuari 
 Saepe salutantum tactu. 
 
 Thus also the footsteps of their Goddess 
 were kissed, according to Apuleius 
 (Met. xi. 251), exosculatus dese vesti- 
 giis. But adamant itself cannot resist 
 this continual wear and tear, or as 
 Hudibras says, of 
 
 The marble statues rubbed in pieces 
 With gallantry and pilgrim’s kisses. 
 
 Look also at the portrait of Esteban 
 Ilian, the renowned alcaide and faith- 
 ful friend of Alonso XI. 
 
 Next visit the Capilla Mozarabe , the 
 Muzarabic chapel, which is placed 
 under the unfinished tower ; the re- 
 tahlo is of the date 1508. This pe- 
 culiar ritual was re-established here 
 in 1512, by Ximenez, to give the Vati- 
 can a hint, that Spain had not for- 
 gotten her former spiritual independ- 
 ence ; in fact, however ultra-Romanist 
 the policy and practice of Spaniards 
 has apparently been, they have always 
 resisted the real dominion of the foreign 
 pontiff; they hoisted his creed and 
 dogma alike, in opposition to the Koran 
 of the invading Moslem as against the 
 Bible of the Reformation ; but the Ca- 
 
The Castiles. route 103 . — Toledo — muzarabic ritual. 
 
 791 
 
 tholic king was the champion of the Pope 
 chiefly for his own Spanish purposes ; 
 thus, so long as Rome stimulated his 
 armies, and sustained his ambition and 
 inquisition, he was the eldest and most 
 dutiful son of the church, but when 
 the Italian wanted to force on Spaniards 
 Italian schemes and persons, then Es- 
 panolismo took offence. So the Iberian of 
 old bribed his gods, when favours were 
 wanted and were granted, being ready, 
 if rejected, to resort to defiance and ill- 
 treatment ; thus Clement VII. was im- 
 prisoned by Charles V., and the holy 
 city was sacked by his troops, worse 
 even than by Gaul, ancient or modern : 
 again, in our times, when money, the 
 primum mobile in Spain, was wanting, 
 the property of the church has been 
 “ appropriated ” without consulting 
 Gregory XVI. or Pio Nono. 
 
 The Muzarabic ritual, that used by 
 the Spanish Goths, was the oldest in 
 Christendom, and the nearest approach- 
 ing to the Apostolical primitive form 
 which was once delivered to the Saints ; 
 it is to Spaniards what the Rito Am- 
 brogiano is to the Milanese : the origi- 
 nal text was first tampered with in 633 
 by San Isidoro and San Leandro ; so 
 these saints are compared to Ezra, who 
 remodelled the Old Testament. Their 
 new version was enjoined by the 4th 
 Council of Toledo, as being directed 
 against the Arian heretics. The ritual 
 was preserved by the Christians, who, 
 under the tolerant rule of the Moor, 
 here retained six churches, which still 
 exist on the same sites, and should be 
 visited; they are Santa Eulalia, SanTor- 
 cato, San Sebastian, San Marcos, San 
 Lucas, and Santa Justa, names which 
 prove their ['antiquity. The features 
 of this ritual are its simplicity and 
 earnest tone of devotion, and the ab- 
 sence of auricular confession. The 
 prayers and collects are so beautiful 
 that many have been adopted in our 
 Prayer Book ; the host was divided into 
 nine parts, which represent the Incar- 
 nation, Epiphany, Nativity, Circum- 
 cision, Passion, Death, Resurrection, 
 Ascension, and the Eternal Kingdom. 
 
 The term Mozarabe, Muzarab , has 
 been erroneously derived from Musa 
 and his Arabs, and also from mixti - 
 
 Arabes , foolishly presuming that the 
 Moors spoke Latin, and that they 
 gave this name to the Christians who 
 lived mixed with them ; but the Arabic 
 Must- Arab means men who have lived 
 with and tried to imitate the Arab, 
 men who were not true Arab-al-Araba 
 like the Hebrew of the Hebrews (Moh. 
 D. i. 420). The discontinuance of the 
 Gothic ritual was the work of the 
 French, who denationalised Spain by 
 the introduction of ultra Romanism ; 
 for Bernardo, not content with dispos- 
 sessing the Moslem, next assailed the 
 Christians, and worked on his weak 
 countrywoman, Queen Costanza, until 
 she perverted her husband ; so In- 
 gun de, the French wife of Hermene- 
 gildo, induced her husband in 580 to 
 prove false alike to his religion and 
 father. Bernardo, however, had much 
 difficulty in substituting the Gregorian 
 mass-book in the place of the Gothic 
 and national one ; for his independent 
 subjects, who abhorred foreign dicta- 
 tion and innovation, clung to their 
 primitive ritual ; they distinguished its 
 rival as el Rito Galico , an epithet since 
 given to other benefits derived from 
 France: at last the change of mass- 
 book was effected by judicial combat, 
 each ritual having its armed cham- 
 pion; but when the Gothic de- 
 fender, Juan Ruiz, defeated his 
 Gallo-Papal opponent, the perfidious 
 Bernardo refused to abide by the 
 award of his self-sought trial, and 
 appealed to the test of fire ; then the 
 two volumes were placed on a burning 
 pile, when the Gothic one remained 
 unconsumed, while the Gallo-Romano 
 leapt out. In spite, however, of these 
 two adverse verdicts, the French 
 fashion, the irresistible mode de 
 Paris, prevailed, and the antagonist 
 rituals first were allowed a con- 
 current usage, until the intruder, 
 by bribes and force, finally trampled 
 down its rival ; hence the pro- 
 verb, Donde quieren Reyes alii van 
 leyes, or, “ might makes right/' The 
 Gregorian mass was first chanted at 
 Toledo, Oct. 5, 1086. Ximenez printed 
 the original ritual at Alcala de Henares 
 in 1 500 ; as the edition became very 
 rare, it was reprinted by Lorenzana, 
 
792 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — SALA CAPITULAR. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 in 1770, at Puebla de los Angeles , in 
 Mexico, and again by him, at Rome, 
 in 1785-1804: consult for all details 
 the prefaces in his editions ; see also 
 Ortiz, chapter 41 ; the * Life of Ximenez f 
 by Eugenio Robles, 4to. Toledo, 
 1604. This biography contains the 
 best portrait of the Cardinal, a profile 
 engraved in 1604 by Petrus Angelus : 
 it gives his true ascetic monkish cha- 
 racter and thin compressed lips ; con- 
 sult also the 6 History of the Reformation 
 in Spain ,’ by M‘Crie. 
 
 The walls of this chapel were painted 
 in fresco by Juan de Borgona, in 1514, 
 and represent the campaign of Oran, 
 which was planned, defrayed, and 
 headed by Ximenez in person ; hence 
 the saying, “Pluma, Purpura , y Espada, 
 solo en Cisneros se halla Remember 
 that Spaniards generally call Ximenez, 
 Cisneros. On the day that Oran was 
 taken, May 18, 1508, the sun stood 
 still ; thus the whole system of the 
 heavenly spheres was deranged, in 
 order that a ferocious sack might be 
 prolonged under the eyes of the 
 Cardinal, who blessed the soldiers 
 while rioting in blood and lust. 
 These solar miracles, however, were 
 always very common in Spain and 
 Africa (see p. 218); so before Sci- 
 pio’s expedition to the latter, two suns 
 shone out, but the historian (Livy, 
 xxix. 14) attributed the belief to super- 
 stition, for men were then “ proni et 
 ad nuncianda et credenda prodigia.” 
 Copernicus and Galileo were accord- 
 ingly treated as heretics by infallible 
 popes for saying that the sun did not 
 stand still. 
 
 Next visit la Sal a Capitular de In - 
 vierno , the winter chapterhouse : the 
 ante-room is very Moorish. The square 
 portal was executed by Bernardino 
 Bonifacio, and the doorway by Antonio 
 Gutierrez in 1504, after designs of 
 Antonio Rodriguez, and defrayed by 
 Ximenez. They are among the 
 earliest specimens of the renaissance 
 style in Spain ; observe also the three 
 elaborate niches with rich finials. 
 The superb artesonado ceiling was 
 painted by Francisco Lara. Observe 
 particularly the elaborate carvings on 
 the oldest wardrobes, which were 
 
 wrought in 1549-51, for the Arch- 
 bishop Siliceo (tutor to Philip II.), 
 by Gregorio Pardo, a pupil of Berru- 
 guete, to whom they are erroneously 
 attributed. On entering the sola first 
 look up and down at the pavement 
 and glorious ceiling. The walls are 
 decorated with a series of paintings, 
 executed in 1 5 1 1 for Cardinal Ximenez, 
 by Juan de Borgona, and which re- 
 semble Pietro Perugino in style. The 
 best are the nativity of the Virgin 
 — her meeting St. Elizabeth in a rocky 
 scene — the Gift of the Casulla— and a 
 pretty “Holy Family ” near the throne. 
 Above the seats are hung portraits of 
 the primates — that of Sandoval is by 
 Tristan— which, from Ximenez down- 
 wards, are genuine. Observe that of 
 Arch. Carranza de Miranda, who 
 figured at the Council of Trent, the 
 Confessor of our Bloody Mary, who 
 stood by the death-bed of Charles V. y ' 
 and died at Rome a victim of the Spa- 
 nish Inquisition. The earlier are good 
 and true men of master-mind, who bore 
 their great commissions in their looks ; 
 but the church of Spain kept pace 
 with the degradation of country and 
 art, and the bathos is complete in the 
 booby Bourbon baboon infante Luis, the 
 personification of mitred imbecility. 
 
 Now visit the portion of the cathe- 
 dral which contains the pictures, relics, 
 &c., that are kept in the Sagrario , 
 Sacristia , Ochavo , and other saloons ; 
 these were planned in 1588 by Car- 
 dinal Quiroga, begun in 1616 by Juan 
 Bautista Monegro for Cardinal Rojas, 
 and finished by Archbishop Moscoso 
 in 1652-8. The grand entrance with 
 coloured marbles to the Capilla del 
 Sagrario was erected in 1610 by Car- 
 dinal Rojas, nephew to the Duke 
 of Lerma, minister to Philip III. 
 His family is buried in the Capilla 
 Santa Marina : observe the tombs, in- 
 scriptions, roof, and frescoes by Caxes 
 and Carducho. The ceiling of the 
 Salon de la Sacristia is painted by 
 Luca Giordano with the standing 
 local miracle of the Virgin’s gift of 
 the Casulla: observe the artist’s own 
 portrait near the window to the 1. of 
 the altar. Among the best pictures 
 are a Venetian-like Martyrdom of Santa 
 
The Castile?, route 103 . — Toledo — relics — cloisters. 
 
 793 
 
 Leocadia by Orrente, with a fine figure 
 in black near a pillar — el Calvario , or 
 Christ bearing his Cross, by El Greco, 
 somewhat raw ; also by him a Nativity 
 and an Adoration, and some apostles. 
 Inquire particularly for a small S 'an 
 Francisco, a carved image of about 
 2j feet high, by Alonso Cano, which 
 is a masterpiece of cadaverous extatic 
 sentiment. In the Vestuario are other 
 pictures, and among them a Julio II. 
 equal to Vandyke ; a Nativity and a 
 Circumcision by Bassano ; a sketch 
 by Rubens of St. George and the Holy 
 Family ; an Entombment, by Bellino. 
 The Ochavo is an octagon, completed 
 in 1630 by a son of El Greco , with 
 most precious marbles and a dome 
 painted in fresco by F. Rico and Car- 
 reno. This is the Donarium or trea- 
 sure-house of the Virgin: compare 
 Apuleius Met., ix. 183. Here are kept 
 her most splendid dresses — what a 
 wardrobe the meek and lowly hand- 
 maid must have had ! Notice also 
 some of her milk, a bit of the true 
 cross, and other most genuine relics; 
 the quantity of church-plate once 
 made this room rival that of Loreto ; 
 the chief articles were removed to 
 Cadiz at the French invasion, just 
 as the Toledans eleven centuries before 
 sent away to the Asturias their penates 
 and property, which thus escaped the 
 infidel spoiler. How the things of 
 Spain reproduce themselves ! The in- 
 vaders, however, gleaned pretty well, 
 having taken about 23 cwt. of silver 
 from this cathedral. The admirer of 
 old plate will examine the 'silver-gilt 
 urnas, made for the bodies of San Eu- 
 genio and Santa Leocadia for Philip 
 II., by Francisco Merino, 1566-87; 
 a statue of St. Ferdinand in silver ; a 
 Gothic Custodia, a master-piece of Hen- 
 rique de Arphe ; the identical cross of 
 Cardinal Mendoza, which was elevated 
 in 1492 on the captured Alhambra; 
 the sword of Alonso VI. the conqueror 
 of Toledo. Notice also an Tncensario, 
 made in the shape of a ship (navis, 
 nave, nief) ; a Gothic spire-shaped 
 relicario, which branches out like an 
 epergne and holds some well-pre- 
 served relics; a precious vessel en- 
 cased with antique gems: the huge 
 
 silver allegories of the four quar- 
 ters of the globe are more valuable 
 from material than fine art. For its 
 former glories consult 6 Sagrario de To- 
 ledo ,’ a poem by Joseph de Valdevieso. 
 8vo. Mad. 1616, and Barcelona 1618; 
 and * Descripcion de la Capilla del Sagra- 
 rio,’ Pedro Herrera, 4to. Mad. 1617. 
 
 But the “ Great Queen ” here is the 
 Virgin, her graven image is carved of 
 black wood, nigra sum sed formosa 
 (Song of Sol, i. 5.) It was saved 
 (se dice) in 711 from the infidels by 
 one Godman (Goodman), an English- 
 man, who hid it in a vault, from 
 whence it reappeared at the re- 
 conquest of Toledo. It is seated 
 on a silver throne made in 1674, 
 under a silver- gilt canopy of rude 
 gothic work, supported by pillars. 
 Her crown is one mass of jewellery, 
 with a remarkable emerald and dove 
 of pearl hanging under a diamond 
 cross; her (wardrobe is kept in a 
 smaller Sacristia. On grand occasions 
 she is arrayed in brocade, stiff with 
 gold and pearls, in order to display 
 which the petticoat is widened out at 
 the base, terminating in a point with 
 her crown : her rings, necklaces, and 
 trinkets are countless : sad, indeed, 
 would be the lament of the Blessed 
 Virgin, whose sweet charm was lowly 
 simplicity, could she again revisit this 
 cathedral, and see all this worldly 
 pomp of female dress and vanity ! 
 
 Next visit the elegant Gothic clois- 
 ters, which, full of sunshine and 
 flowers, were erected by Archbishop 
 Tenorio in 1389, on the site of the 
 Alcana or Jews’ market, whose smell 
 (see p. 224) offended his orthodox 
 nose, and whose room was better than 
 their company. As they would not sell 
 this coveted Naboth’s vineyard, the 
 pious prelate instigated the mob in his 
 sermons to burn the houses of the un- 
 believers, and then raised this beautiful 
 enclosure on their foundations. He 
 caused the walls to be painted in 
 fresco, in the style of Memmi and 
 Gaddi, with subjects which are de- 
 scribed by Ortiz (ch. 60). He par- 
 ticularly specifies groups of heretics 
 burning, no doubt those Jew market- 
 ers, whose obstinate souls were then 
 
794 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — EL NINO PERDIDO. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 doomed to the same flames by which 
 their dwellings on earth w^ere con- 
 sumed. Narbona, also in his ‘ Historia 
 de D. P. Tenorio,’ 4to. Tol. 1623, gives 
 at p. 104 a detailed account of these 
 most curious frescoes, which were be- 
 lieved to be by loto (Giotto). Some frag- 
 ments yet exist in the Capilla San Bias. 
 The bulk of these precious relics of art 
 of the 14th century, were effaced in 
 1775 by the barbarian chapter, who 
 employed the feeble Bayeu and Maella 
 to cover the spaces with their common- 
 place academical inanities, whose raw 
 modem tones mar the sober Gothic all 
 around. These daubs represent the 
 miracles and legends of San Eugenio , 
 Santa Leocadia , and other local tutelars. 
 Opposite to that in which Philip II. 
 translates Eugenio’s body is let into the 
 wall a most interesting Gothic inscrip- 
 tion, which was found in 1581, in 
 digging the foundations for San Juan 
 de la Penitencia; this early record runs 
 thus — “ In nomine Dei consecrata est, 
 Ecclesia Scte Marie, in catolico die 
 primo idus Aprilis, anno feliciter primo 
 regni Dni nostri gloriosissimi FI. 
 Recaredi Regis Era 625,” i. e. a.d. 
 587. 
 
 Next proceed to the beautiful pla^- 
 teresque gate del Nino Perdido , “of 
 the lost child,” which was erected in 
 1565 by Toribio Rodriguez. See for 
 El Nino de Guardia f p. 244. This little 
 Cupid of Spanish mythology has been 
 the theme of many a pen and pencil. 
 The Toledan clergy, in order to in- 
 furiate the fanatical mob, used to 
 accuse the rich Jews of crucifying a 
 Christian boy at their Passovers, and 
 of putting his heart into a hostia , as a 
 charm against the holy Inquisition. 
 One of the earliest calumnies of the 
 Jews against the Christians, had been 
 that they killed a Pagan child in 
 order to dip in his blood the bread of 
 their sacrament (Justin Mart. ‘ Dial.’ 
 227); and to this day in the East, 
 whenever the pious Moslem wishes to 
 plunder the wealthy Jew, this crime of 
 child murder is mooted: thus, in a 
 just retribution, the children of the 
 Christians once persecuted by the 
 Jews retaliate the same charge against 
 the descendants of those who ac- 
 
 cused and pillaged their forefathers. 
 As heresy , a question of opinion, is 
 too nice for mobs, social crimes which 
 they can understand, must be alleged 
 in order to inflame their passions ; 
 thus infamous offences have been im- 
 puted, and superstitions, which secret 
 rites and closed Passovers rendered 
 credible, for omne ignotum pro ne- 
 fando est, and mystery implies atrocious 
 guilt. Child murder is one of the 
 oldest charges, because the most suc- 
 cessful, as rousing mothers against the 
 offender, and thus converting the fair 
 sex, man’s ruler, into positive furies. 
 
 Visit the Capilla de San Bias ; in 
 the retablo is a grand picture, painted 
 in 1584 by Luis de Velasco, by whom 
 also is the Incarnation, and not the 
 work of Bias de Pardo ; it represents 
 the Virgin, Saints, and the armed 
 infante Fernando, who refused the 
 crown on the death of Henrique III.; 
 the old frescoes inside the upper 
 arches are of the thirteenth century, 
 and very curious relics. In the ele- 
 gant urna in the centre, the work of 
 Fernan Gonzalez, lies the founder of 
 the chapel, Archbishop Tenorio, obt. 
 1399. 
 
 Near lies Arias, bishop of Plasencia, 
 and the friend of Tenorio ; the David 
 and Lion are painted by Jordan. You 
 ascend to the upper portion of the clois- 
 ters, which were finished by Ximenez, 
 by a magnificent staircase. A door to the 
 E. leads to the Sala Capitular de Verano , 
 the summer chapterhouse, in which 
 used to be kept three excellent pictures, 
 called la Espada , el Pajaro, and el 
 Pez ; these were painted in 1 584 by 
 Velasco, although they have long been 
 erroneously attributed to Bias del 
 Pardo : they are now in the chapel 
 under the finished tower. The different 
 gates or entrances to these cloisters 
 deserve notice. The beautiful Puerta de 
 Santa Catalina , with its recessed arch 
 inside, was built by Gutierrez de Carde- 
 nas, who with his son are placed adoring 
 the Virgin de la Antigua , his wife and 
 daughter being opposite. Look then 
 at the Capilla de la Pila Bautismal, 
 where the font is made from part of 
 the destroyed bronze of Luna. La 
 Puerta Nueva f of the date 1565, is ex- 
 
The Castiles. rte. 103 . — Toledo— chapter library — santa crtjz. 795 
 
 quisite,it was wrought in the transition 
 style from the Gothic totheplateresque, 
 by Jose Manzano; the Corinthian 
 front has been, however, attributed to 
 Berruguete. The Puerta de los Ca- 
 nonigos en la Capilla de la Torre, by 
 Covarrubias, is in the same elegant 
 transition style. 
 
 Next visit the chapter library, a 
 treasure which, as in some Protestant 
 cathedrals, is buried in a napkin, not 
 open to the public, but left to the 
 banquet of moths, arcedianos, and 
 worms. In the ante-room are six fine 
 pictures, of which the Judith and 
 Goliath are the best. The library, a 
 noble saloon, is fresh, well lighted, 
 and free from dust, indeed little enters 
 here save the light and air of heaven. 
 The library contains a good collec- 
 tion of Greek, Latin, and Arabic 
 MSS.; a Bible of San Isidoro ; the 
 works of St. Gregory, in 7 vols., of 
 the thirteenth century; a fine Tal- 
 mud and Koran ; a Greek Bible of 
 the tenth century ; an Esther in He- 
 brew; some MSS. of the time of Dante ; 
 an illuminated Bible, given by St. 
 Louis ; a missal of Charles V. ; and 
 many others of the age of Leo X. 
 The printed books, of which most are 
 Italian, are said to exceed 7000 in 
 number, and were given by Lorenzana, 
 who bought them at Rome. 
 
 In the W. plaza of the cathedral is 
 the archbishop’s palace, the fine portal 
 of which was made by order of Tavera 
 for his Hospital de Afuera , but ap- 
 propriated by his successor. There 
 is here a library open to the public. 
 The adjoining Casa del Ayuntamiento or 
 mansion-house was built by Domenico 
 Greco. On the fine staircase are some 
 admirable verses addressed to the mu- 
 nicipality, desechad las aficiones , codi- 
 cias, amor y miedo , &c., excellent 
 theories on paper, most excellently 
 neglected in Spanish practice. The 
 architect will have much to observe 
 in Toledo ; one peculiarity is the 
 arrangement of the house portals, the 
 soffits, projecting door-posts, lintels, 
 and cannon-ball ornaments. Visit once 
 exquisite la Casa de Vargas , which 
 overlooks the Vega, and was built for 
 the secretary of Philip II. by Vergara, 
 
 as richly as a piece of Cellini plate. 
 Observe the ruined faqade, patio, and 
 staircase. It had long been abandoned 
 by its unworthy owner, the Conde de 
 Mora, a pojoos, although a descendant 
 of Toledo’s historian ; yet time had 
 used it gently until Victor and Soult 
 came, who, having pillaged the interior, 
 burnt and destroyed the rest. 
 
 Near the Zocodover is the Hospital de 
 la Santa Cruz, founded in 1504 by Pedro 
 Mendoza, the great Cardinal de Santa 
 Croce. The position overlooking the 
 Tagus is glorious, and the building is 
 one of the gems of the world ; nor can 
 any chasing of Cellini surpass the ele- 
 gant portal, over which the Invention of 
 the Cross is placed, with the kneeling 
 founder and Santa Helena. The ge- 
 neral style of the edifice is in the 
 transition from florid Gothic to the 
 classical and renaissance. It was 
 finished in 1514 by Henrique de Egas, 
 for whose exquisite chiselings the 
 creamy stone, la piedra blanca, seems 
 to have been created. A superb patio 
 is enriched with the arms of the proud 
 Mendoza, and their motto Ave Maria 
 gratia plena. Observe particularly the. 
 two beautiful patios , the staircase, 
 which, with its ceilings, balustrades, 
 &c., baffles description. The chapel, 
 one fine long nave, is unfinished, nor 
 is the altar placed where it was ori- 
 ginally intended. There are some bad 
 pictures by L. Giordano, and a portrait 
 of the founder. This edifice is now 
 used as a foundling hospital : many of 
 the large buildings in this overhang- 
 ing corner of Toledo are said to occupy 
 the site of the old Moorish palace of 
 Galafre, and there is now a scheme of 
 placing here the great Colegio Militar , 
 or military school of Spain, to which 
 purpose the huge square bald pile, the 
 Fonda del Arzobispo or Caridad, is appro- 
 priated ; that will be no loss to fine art, 
 but one trembles for Santa Cruz, for 
 Santiago, and other architectural gems. 
 In the adjoining convent of El Carmen 
 are the Berruguete nohle tombs of 
 Pedro Lopez de Ayala, obt. 1444, and 
 of another Don Pedro, obt. 1599. Do 
 not fail to visit the nunnery of Santiago 
 or Santa Fe ; the views from the mira- 
 dor and azotea are charming ; the 
 
796 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO — RICH CLERGY. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 interior has two fine patios, enriched 
 with pillars and porcelain tiles : the 
 chapel is elaborately decorated, and 
 has a semi-moro oratory near the coro. 
 In the Sala Capitular are some pic- 
 tures, and a dead Christ, attributed to 
 Alonso Cano ; but Monsieur Soult re- 
 moved all the best. The nuns are noble 
 ladies, Cabcdleras, and wear the white 
 robes and red cross of the order of 
 Santiago. Next visit the San Juan de 
 la Penitencia , founded for the Fran- 
 ciscan order by Cardinal Ximenez in 
 1511 ; the chapel is plain, and has been 
 unfortunately whitewashed ; the ceil- 
 ing is of Moorish artesonado character, 
 but dilapidated. Here also is the fine 
 tomb of Francisco Ruiz, Bishop of 
 Avila, a friend of Ximenez, and by 
 whom the edifice was completed. The 
 hair of the seated females looks some- 
 what too large and turban-like, but the 
 curtain raised by angels throws a fine 
 sepulchral shadow over the prelate’s 
 effigy. The pillared retablo is filled 
 with tedesque paintings, and the reja is 
 good. The lovers of the fabulous may 
 visit the cave of Hercules, in which 
 Roderick, the last of the Goths, saw 
 such portentous visions (see Southey’s 
 note, 54). The entrance lies near 
 San Gines , and was opened in 1546 by 
 Archbishop Siliceo, but it has never 
 since been properly investigated. In- 
 quire for and visit a dilapidated speci- 
 men of a Moorish house in the Calle de 
 las Tornarias , near the church San Cris- 
 tobal . It is called el Taller del Moro , 
 because here (according to Pisa, iii. 6) 
 Ambron, the Moorish governor of 
 Huesca, invited the refractory chiefs 
 of Toledo to dinner, and, as each ar- 
 rived, cut off their heads, to the tune 
 of 400. Compare this with Mehemet 
 Ali’s murderous welcome of the Mame- 
 lukes, or with Maroto’s sharp practice at 
 Estrella (p. 956). The saloon was used 
 by the chapter as a sort of store-room. 
 
 In the Calle de Cristo de la Luz is a 
 very curious Moorish mosque, which was 
 afterwards given to the Templars : the 
 roof is supported by four low square pil- 
 lars, each having different capitals, from 
 whence spring double arches, like those 
 in the Mezquita of Cordova. The 
 ceiling is divided into 9 compartments, 
 
 with domes or medias naranjas ; the 
 suspended shield, “ gules a cross or,” 
 was left here by Alonso VI., who paused 
 here to say mass when he entered Toledo 
 as its conqueror. In the same street is a 
 gloomy pile with gratings, which was 
 the prison of the penitents of the In- 
 quisition. The corner house was the 
 Refugium parturientium — the lying-in 
 asylum for the unmarried mothers, an 
 institution once very necessary in this 
 city of rich levitical celibates. Nava- 
 giero (p. 8) thus sketches clerical life 
 at Toledo in the time of Charles Y. : 
 “ I Padroni di Toledo e delle donne 
 precipue sono i preti, li quali hanno bo- 
 nissime case e trionfano dandose la mi- 
 glior vida del mondo, senza che alcuno 
 li reprenda.” No wonder that Cortes 
 cautioned Charles V. not to send out 
 such prelates and dignitaries to the 
 New World, fearing that their example 
 might bring Christianity into disrepute 
 even among the untutored Indian sa- 
 vages. The Bisono gentry, continues 
 Navagiero (p. 10), had no “ ducats,” 
 “ ma in loco de quella suppliscono 
 con superbia, o come dicono loro con 
 fantasia, della qual sono si ricchi che 
 si fussero equali le faculta no bastaria 
 il mundo contra loro nor in regard 
 to pretension and poverty has much 
 change taken place. 
 
 The ecclesiologist should inquire for 
 the beautiful Ionic chapel in the Ber- 
 nardine convent Los Silos , and the fine 
 Assumption of the Virgin by El Greco. 
 In San Roman , especially in the tower, 
 is some Moorish work and inscriptions, 
 with singular arches and ancient pil- 
 lars. From the tower Alonso VIII. 
 was proclaimed. There are some 
 strange mummies in the vaults. Near 
 it, at San Clemente , is a fine cinquecento 
 gate. In San Pedro Martir are some 
 good statues of Faith and Charity, and 
 one of the Dominican Martyr in black 
 and white marble. Observe the brocal 
 del Algibe, with some Arabic inscrip- 
 tions 1032. 
 
 The celebrated fabrica de armas , or 
 manufactory of Toledan swords, is 
 placed on the r. bank of the Tagus, 
 about one mile S.W. of the city, not 
 crossing the bridge ; the view of Tole- 
 do from the doorway is fine. The huge 
 
The Castiles. route 103 . — Toledo — swords and steel. 
 
 797 
 
 rectangular unsightly building vras 
 raised for Charles III. by Sabatini in 
 1788, and is well provided with forges, 
 &c. The chapel is dedicated to Santa 
 Barbara, the patroness of cannons. All 
 the armas blancas for the army of Spain 
 are made here : the choicest Toledan 
 blades are of a fine temper and polish, 
 and are so elastic, that they are some- 
 times packed up in boxes curled up like 
 the mainspring of a watch, or 44 com- 
 passed, as FalstafF says, 44 like a good 
 Bilboa, in the circumference of a peck, 
 hilt to point, heel to head. ,, Arms 
 were the joy and life of the aboriginal 
 Spaniards, nay dearer than life, for when 
 they were taken from them, the disarmed 
 committed suicide (Livy, xxxiv. 1 7 ; 
 Sil. Ital. iii. 330 ; Justin, xliv. 2, 5). 
 
 The Spaniards always went armed ; 
 and this being provided with means of 
 defence and of offence, fostered that 
 reliance on self or personal prowess and 
 independence, which at every period 
 has formed a national characteristic. 
 This custom of carrying a sword or 
 knife, cold steel in some shape, this 
 to <riby)£o(po£Uff6(x,i, unusual among the 
 civilized Greeks and Romans, was stig- 
 matized by Thucydides (i. 5) as an 
 evidence of barbarism and insecurity 
 of person and property. The ancient 
 Germans always went armed ; thus the 
 Goths brought their habit into a con- 
 genial soil. With the Gotho-Spaniard 
 the hand was for the sword, and the 
 heel for the spur. 
 
 The Iberian swords were adopted by 
 the Romans for their Velites , who re- 
 tained the epithet Spanish. Polybius 
 (iii. 114) distinguishes between them 
 and those of Gaul, while Diod. Siculus 
 (v. 356) enlarges on their merits and 
 mode of manufacture. Their double 
 edge was no less fatal than the genuine 
 Iberian dirk, the prototype of the 
 modern cuchillo , which Cicero calls 
 pugiunculus Hispaniensis ; the verna- 
 cular name was dag a (dagger), which 
 the Greeks rendered by (Z£et%u. Thus 
 our 4 4 rare Ben Jonson” speaks of the 
 modern rapier 44 as the long sword, 
 the father of swords,’’ an idea fol- 
 lowed out by Hudibras, — 
 
 “ This sword a dagger had, its page, 
 
 That was but little for its age.” 
 
 Spain. — II. 
 
 From thus attending on the long sword, 
 the short companion was also termed <*oc- 
 pu%i$ts and lyX'UQibiov, a little handy thing. 
 This dagger, now replaced by the knife, 
 became the helpmate never permitted 
 to be divorced from its liege master. 
 The weapons, time out of mind, have 
 been inseparable. Thus the hidalgo was 
 ordered by Philip II., in 1564, only to 
 appear with his espada (spatha) and 
 with his broquel; the use of the latter 
 was to cut meat and despatch a pros- 
 trate foe, and hence it was called raise- 
 ricordia , as giving the coup de grace ; it 
 was worn by the Iberians in their 
 girdles, as the cuchillo is now in the 
 fajas (Livy, vii. 10). As the bayonet is 
 the English weapon which decides her 
 great victories, so this dagger and the 
 cuchillo are the deadly tools of the guer- 
 rilla , and settle the little warfare. With 
 this the Iberians slaughtered their 
 enemies at Cannge (App. 4 B. An.’ 562), 
 as the Spaniards in our times massacred 
 thousands of French stragglers and 
 wounded. This again was the sica , the 
 arm of the Sicarii or cut-throats of an- 
 tiquity, as it was of the Miquelites of 
 Caesar Borgia, and is to this day the 
 formidable weapon of the wild Berber 
 Moors in the Ereefe mountains, and of 
 the Spaniard from the Bidasoa to the 
 Straits. On the Iberian Pugio see 
 Mart. xiv. 33 ; Strabo, iii. 231 ; and 
 Diod. Siculus, v. 356. 
 
 The identical mines worked by the 
 ancients still produce the finest ores, 
 for the soil of Spain is iron-pregnant. 
 Those near Calatayud on the Jalon, 
 the 44 steel-tempering ” Bilbilis, rival 
 the metals of the Basque provinces and 
 the iron mountains of Somorrostro and 
 Mondragon ; (Pliny, 4 N. H/ xxxiv. 14) 
 the steel was buried in the earth in order 
 that the baser portions might rust 
 away ; and the modern hierro helado , 
 frozen iron, corresponds with the metal 
 of old, dipped in the Jalon, qui ferrum 
 gelat (Martial, i. 50, 12). The steel 
 was tempered in winter, and the blade, 
 when red hot, was whirled round in 
 the cold air, and when reduced to a 
 cherry heat (the cerezado of present 
 practice) was put into oil or grease 
 and then into boiling water (see Mon« 
 dragon, R. 120). 
 
 2 N 
 
798 
 
 ROUTE 103. — TOLEDO— -SWORDS AND STEEL. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 The military Romans kept up the 
 Iberian processes and manufactories, 
 which were continued by the Goths. See 
 San Isidoro (Or. xvi. 20), and Gratius 
 (Cyn. 341) alludes to the peculiar cou- 
 teau de chasseur, the cultrum Toledanum. 
 The Moors introduced their Damascene 
 system of additional ornament and 
 tempering, and so early as 852 this 
 identical fabrica at Toledo was in full 
 work under Abd-r-rahman Ben Alha- 
 kem (Conde, i. 285). The Moors also 
 made a large double-handed double- 
 edged sword (Conde, i. 456), which 
 became the model of the mediaeval 
 montante. The best marks are those 
 of El Morillo , el Moro de Zaragoza 
 (on some of these brands see Lett. 13 
 of 4 Dillon’s Travels in Spain ;’ and 
 better far in the new catalogue of 
 the Armeria of Madrid, where fac- 
 similes are given). The next best 
 were made by Italians, by Andre Fer- 
 rara, who settled at Zaragoza, and by 
 whom were furnished those splendid 
 blades which Ferdinand sent to Henry 
 VIII. on his marriage with his daughter 
 Catherine. These “ trenchant swords” 
 were the 44 Toledos trusty,” of which, 
 says Mercutio, 44 a soldier dreams.” 
 These were the weapons which Othello 
 the Moor “ kept in his chamber ” like 
 a treasure : 44 a sword of Spain, the ice - 
 brook's temper ; a better never did itself 
 sustain upon a soldier’s thigh.” Other 
 good marks are la loba , and el perrillo, 
 the little dog, a mark used at Toledo 
 by a Moor named Julian del Rei. 
 
 The finest collection of historical 
 swords in the world is in the Armeria 
 at Madrid. The sword, the type and arm 
 of chivalry, has always been honoured 
 in Spain. The Moors petted and named 
 them like children : Mahomet called 
 his weapon, the 44 swordof God,” Kaled 
 Ben Walid. The Tisona, 44 the spark- 
 ling brand,” and the Colada of the 
 Cid were his spolia opima from Moor- 
 ish kings. These were his queridas 
 prendas , caras prendas, which he loved 
 better than his wife and daughters, and 
 which figure so much in his Romancero 
 (Duran ,v. 1 54). Many swords have mot- 
 tos indicative of the fine old Castilian 
 spirit, e. g. No me saques sin razon, no me 
 env dines sin honor; Do not draw me with- 
 
 out cause , do not sheath me without 
 honour. The introduction of firearms 
 dealt the first blow to Toledan swords, 
 which then became the arm of cavalry, 
 in which the Spaniards do not excel. 
 The last blow was the fashion of the 
 smaller French sword, which dispos- 
 sessed the Spanish rapier. Consult 
 the essay on ancient Spanish arms, 
 the Lancea, Gsesum, Olosideron, & c. 
 ( 4 Historia Liter aria,' Mohedano, iii. 
 336). 
 
 In Spanish the sword is called cu- 
 chillo , the blade cuchilla , a gash cuchi- 
 llada , a stab estocada. Foils with but- 
 tons are called negras , those without 
 them blancas. Guerra a cuchillo, or war 
 to the knife, was the answer of Palafox 
 to the summons of surrender ; and ge- 
 nerally follows the other national cry, 
 Mueran los Gavachos! death to the mis- 
 creant French. For knives, see Al- 
 bacete , p. 803. 
 
 The transition from old swords to 
 old castles is easy : as Toledo was the 
 capital of the S. frontier of Spain, it 
 was well defended against the Moors 
 by mediaeval fortresses. The hilly 
 lines of the Montes de Toledo , Sierra 
 del Duque , &c., with the moat rivers 
 of the Tagus and Guadiana, formed 
 noble sites for defence. These wild 
 and picturesque scenes, which never 
 have been properly investigated, well 
 deserve notice from the artist and 
 antiquarian. Among the chief castles 
 are those of Montalban , Torrijos , &c., 
 described at p. 487. 
 
 On the road to Montalban, at the 
 village of Guadamur , 2j L. from 
 Toledo, and near Potan, is a very 
 compact castle on a small scale, but 
 externally well preserved, with bar- 
 tizan angular turrets to the keep. The 
 ruined rooms have some Gothic in- 
 scriptions. The arms of the Counts 
 of Fuen-Salida, over the entrance, in- 
 dicate Pedro Lope de Ayala, the first 
 count and favourite of Enrique IV. 
 (See Vargas, Toledo , v. 30). 
 
 The castles of Almonacid and Orgaz 
 may be conveniently visited in the 
 same riding tour ; take a local guide, 
 and attend to the provend ; the former 
 lies to the S.E., on the road to Madri- 
 dejos, and is about 3 L. from Toledo. 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ALMONACID — ROUTE 104 , 
 
 799 
 
 The ruined fortress crowns the apex 
 of a conical hill, and, from command- 
 ing the plain, was selected by its 
 builder Archbishop Tenorio. It is of 
 mixed tapia and masonry. Seen from 
 afar, with the great keep rising above 
 its walled enclosure, it is very pic- 
 turesque ; near it Sebastiani routed 
 Venegas, Aug. 15, 1809, who, with 
 27,000 men, was to have co-operated 
 with Cuesta at Talavera, but he kept 
 away in consequence of secret in- 
 structions from the traitor Junta of 
 Seville. Left single-handed, his whole 
 conduct exhibited a gross ignorance 
 of his profession ; for on the 10th he 
 ought to have attacked the French, 
 who were far inferior in number ; but 
 lie delayed until their reserves had 
 arrived ; and then, when he ought to 
 have avoided a combat, courted one, 
 and was utterly and instantaneously 
 defeated, one charge sufficing to put 
 his whole army to flight, he himself 
 leading the way, which his ill-equipped 
 dispirited troops could but follow. 
 This miserable man was thereupon re- 
 warded by being made governor of 
 Cadiz, and was afterwards created 
 Marques de la Reunion by Ferdi- 
 nand VII. Thus the title of a Belle 
 Alliance was conferred on a delincuente 
 honrado , by whose failure of junction 
 the allied cause was exposed at Tala- 
 vera to such imminent peril. To 
 complete these cosas de Espana , Toreno 
 (ix.) imputes the disaster of Almonacid 
 to one Zolina, who declined fighting 
 in consequence of the bad omen of his 
 horse having stumbled in the advance. 
 According to Schepeler, this Zolina 
 always had a chaplain at his side, and 
 in battle never drew his sword, but 
 counted his beads ; and on another 
 occasion refused to cross a murmuring 
 brook, because it muttered Heaven’s 
 warning against the attempt. 
 
 Two L. on, is another castle on the 
 hill of Mora ; you may then make for 
 Orgaz, 5 L. south of Toledo , and near 
 the spurs of the Montes: pop. 2500. 
 The parish church, Santo Tome, al- 
 though unfinished, is a superb speci- 
 men of the designs and masonry of 
 Herrera, and with paintings by Car- 
 reno. The ruined castle of the Condes 
 
 is picturesque; for whom see p. 781. 
 You can return to Toledo by another 
 route through Villaminaya. If you go 
 through Jepes — Posada del Sol — see the 
 pictures by Tristan in the parish 
 
 church. 
 
 Route 104. — Toledo to Aranjuez. 
 
 Villamejor 3 
 
 Aranjuez 3 . . 6 
 
 This carriageable road, made by 
 Cardinal Lorenzana, and taken by 
 the diligence, ascends the basin 
 
 of the Tagus, which flows on the 
 1., sometimes near, sometimes at a 
 distance, through the valley of La 
 Sagra. Its green banks mark its 
 course, winding like a snake in the 
 desert. On crossing the bridge turn 
 round, and look a last farewell on im- 
 perial and most picturesque Toledo. 
 The country is truly desolate, and 
 seems uninhabited, the scanty agri- 
 cultural villagers who vegetate be- 
 tween the river and Madrid are 
 genuine old Castilians, and have been 
 drawn to the life by Mr. Borrow. 
 Here exist the Arab love of tribe and 
 hatred of neighbour, for Vargas and 
 Villaseca hold no communion. 
 
 Villa mejor was made a much worse 
 hamlet by the invaders, who sacked it 
 and ravaged the fine establishments 
 raised there by Charles III. Aranjuez 
 is approached by the Campo Flamenco , 
 for here all is foreign. The road-sides 
 for the last few miles are planted with 
 English elms: now the groves and 
 verdurous oasis show what might be 
 done elsewhere by common sense and 
 water. The diligence stops at Aran- 
 juez at la Posta. Las Cuatro Naciones 
 is kept by an Englishman, named 
 John Stradwick, whose wife is a lively 
 bustling Frenchwoman, who super- 
 intends and understands the cuisine : 
 Posada de la Parra small but good. To 
 see the palace and gardens an esquela 
 ought to be had from Madrid. There 
 is a ‘ Descripcion Historica 3 by Alvarez 
 de Quindos, 4to. Mad. 1804 ; a Guide 
 published in 1824 by Manuel de Aleas; 
 a * Guia Pintoresco, 3 by E. de L. y R., 
 Mad. 1844 ; and also some engraved 
 2 N 2 
 
800 
 
 ROUTE 104. — ARANJUEZ. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 plans and views by Domingo de 
 Aguirre. 
 
 ARANJUEZ — ara jovis — was ori- 
 ginally , in the 14 th century, the summer 
 residence of Lorenzo Suarez de Figu- 
 eroa, Maestre de Santiago . It became a 
 royal property when the mastership 
 was merged in the crown under 
 Ferdinand and Isabella. Charles V., 
 in 1536, made it a shooting-villa, and 
 Philip II. employed Herrera to con- 
 struct additional buildings. Much, 
 however, was burnt by a fire, and 
 more taken down by Philip V., who 
 rebuilt the place a la Frangaise , which 
 Ferdinand VII. finished. There the 
 court resides every spring until June, 
 when the place ceases to be pleasant 
 or healthy, as the heats act upon the 
 waters, and fill the air with fever and 
 ague — the sitio might and ought in- 
 deed to be better drained — then royalty 
 departs, leaving the villages to dul- 
 ness, and pestilence. The opening, 
 however, of the rail to Madrid will 
 benefit Aranjuez by more visitors. 
 
 According to Castilians, the fresh 
 valley of Aranjuez, placed 1500 ft. 
 above the sea, is a second Tempe, 
 and, while the Escorial is the triumph 
 of art, this is that of nature ; and cer- 
 tainly, to those born amid the silent, 
 treeless, arid Castiles, this place of 
 water-brooks, gardens, singing-birds, 
 and verdure, which suspends the irri- 
 tation of the desert Castiles, is a happy 
 change, although in England the place 
 would not be thought so much of. It is 
 a thing of this land of contrasts and ano- 
 malies ; thus, as if in a spirit of contra- 
 diction, while at Madrid there was a 
 fine palace without a garden, here there 
 was a fine garden without a palace, as 
 the edifice has small pretensions to 
 royal magnificence. The gardens, when 
 laid out by Philip II., were such as Ve- 
 lazquez painted (see Museo, Nos. 145, 
 540) ; but the present French chateau 
 was completed by Charles IV., the 
 most drivelling of Spanish Bourbons : 
 again, it was frequently plundered by 
 the invaders under Soult, Victor, and 
 others, for whose 44 vandalic devasta- 
 tions ” see Minano, i. 238. They con- 
 verted the gardens into a wilderness, 
 and made the palace a home for owls ; 
 
 yet our Duke, even when far away, 
 at Villatoro, wrote immediately to 
 Hill, -who was about to occupy Aran- 
 juez, 44 Take care that the officers and 
 troops respect the king’s houses and 
 gardens” (Disp. Sept. 20, 1812). So 
 Marlborough, when advancing a con- 
 queror into France, after Malpla- 
 quet, “ordered Fenelon’s house to be 
 spared.” 
 
 Aranjuez, during the Jornada or 
 royal season, used to contain 20,000 
 persons in a crowded and expensive 
 discomfort : but when the court was 
 absent, it dwindled down to 3500, 
 and became, like other untenanted 
 Sans Soucis, the whims of despots, dull 
 as an empty theatre when the play is 
 played out. In olden times the ac- 
 commodations were iniquitous, for 
 even the deipnosophist diplomats lived 
 in troglodyte houses, and burrowed in 
 the hillsides, after the local rabbit-like 
 style of these wretched localities (see 
 p. 245). At a subterraneous dinner, 
 however, given by the Nuncio, a cart 
 broke through and announced itself 
 as an entree for the nonce ; where- 
 upon the Italian Grimaldi, minister 
 to Charles III., who had before been 
 at the Hague, planned a sort of Dutch 
 town, with avenues in the street, and 
 thus as completely changed the village, 
 as his celebrated namesake, the clown, 
 would have done in a pantomime. 
 
 There is not much to be seen or 
 done at Aranjuez, since even the 
 gaieties of the season were dull with- 
 out being decent, intrigue, political 
 and otherwise, being the engrossing 
 business, and Mammon and Venus the 
 idols. Here the Evil One always found 
 something to do for the idlest, most 
 ignorant, and most profligate courtiers 
 of Europe. Here, as the French lady 
 said of Versailles, 44 Outre la passion, 
 je n’ai jamais vu de chose plus triste.” 
 44 Que ne puisse-je vous donner (wrote 
 Madame de Maintenon (une idee des 
 grands! de l’ennui qui les devore — 
 de la peine qu’ils ont a remplir leurs 
 journees.” If that could be predicated 
 of the brilliant society of Louis XIV., 
 how much truer must it be of the dull 
 routine of the unsocial Spanish court ! 
 Escotes or picnics occasionally flou- 
 
The Castiles. route 104 . — aranjuez — la herradura. 
 
 801 
 
 rished, in which the grandees, appro- 
 priately mounted on asses, performed 
 Borricadas in the woods, occasionally 
 after Don Quixote’s fashion ; for when 
 a Madrileno on pleasure bent gets 
 among real trees, he goes loco , or as 
 mad as a March hare — dulce est desi- 
 pere in loco. 
 
 Aranjuez has a noble Plaza de Toros , 
 a tolerable theatre, and a telegraph, 
 which was set up to amuse Ferdinand 
 VII., whose passion was to hear some- 
 thing new. It is said that the first 
 message which he sent to the grave 
 council of Castile at Madrid, was “ A 
 nun has been brought to bed of twins 
 the immediate answer was, “ Had it 
 been a monk, that would have been 
 news.” On a hill to the 1. going to 
 Ocana is a pond, here called, as usual 
 (see p. 766), the sea — el mar de On - 
 tigola. But many Spanish geese become 
 swans in their magnificent misnomers. 
 
 The beloved Ferdinand did not by 
 any means renounce the good old re- 
 creations of his royal ancestors, for he 
 never missed Herradura, to which he took 
 his wives and delicate maids of honour, 
 just as Philip IV. did his. The cream 
 of the funcion was seeing an operation 
 performed on young bulls, which fitted 
 them for the plough. The term Her- 
 radura is derived from the branding 
 cattle with a hot iron, Ferradura a 
 ferro, which is of Oriental origin, and 
 was introduced by the Saracens into 
 France, and is still called la Ferrade 
 at Camargue near Arles. It also pre- 
 vailed in Spain among the Goths (San 
 Isidoro, ‘ Or.’ xx. 16). The royal breed- 
 ing establishments near Aranjuez, like 
 those near Cordova, were destroyed by 
 the invaders, but restored by Ferdinand 
 VII. : visit the royal stables ; there are 
 some fine Padres y Garanones for breed- 
 ing from mares and asses : the females 
 are allowed to wander at liberty over a 
 district of great extent. This esta- 
 blishment was renewed in 1849, and 
 promises well. English sires, dams, and 
 grooms, were introduced. 
 
 The palace is placed near the Tagus, 
 at the Madrid end of the village, or 
 rather the “ metropolis of Flora,” as 
 the natives say. A bald Plaza de San 
 Antonio, a sort of French Place du 
 
 Carrousel , with a corredor and iron 
 railing, affords space for dust and glare. 
 The interior of the palace contains 
 some bad pictures, and fresco ceilings 
 by Jordan, Mengs, Maella, the poor 
 Courado Bayeu, and others, which are 
 no better. Here again we have all the 
 bad taste of Ferdinand VII. displayed 
 in gilt balustrades, French clocks, &c. 
 Notice, however, a pretty chapel, with 
 a picture by Titian — an annunciation- — 
 given by the artist to Charles V. 
 China fanciers should particularly 
 examine the porcelain gabinete, fitted 
 up by Charles III., with fine speci- 
 mens of a large size in high relief of the 
 Capo di Monte ware of Naples , introduced 
 by him to the Ruen Retiro fabric : look 
 also at the room in imitation of Las Dos 
 Hermanas of the Alhambra. The mir- 
 rors and marqueterie of this palace are 
 fine. The look-out on the gardens 
 over the parterre, the jardines del Prin- 
 cipe, y de la isla , with its shady avenues 
 of oriental planes and cascade, is 
 charming. Here all the trees in 
 Castile seem collected as a Cortes 
 of all the nightingales of Spain ; and 
 how sweet, after the songless, arid 
 desert, is “ the melodious noise of 
 birds among the spreading branches, 
 and the pleasing fall of water running 
 violently.” The gardener will take 
 the visitor round the lions of the Isla ; 
 one of the fountains was painted by 
 Velazquez, but is not now to be recog- 
 nised : the others are fine, and play on 
 great holidays and royal birthdays. 
 The best objects to observe are la 
 Puerta del Sol, the Fountain of the 
 Swan, la Cascada , Labyrinth, Swiss 
 mountain, Neptune, Ceres, Bacchus, 
 and the Tritons; in a word, here 
 Nereids, Naiads, and Dryads might 
 sport, while Flora and Pomona looked 
 on. The elms brought from England 
 by Philip II. grow magnificently under 
 this combined heat and moisture. 
 They were the first introduced, says 
 Evelyn, into Spain, where from their 
 rareness they are as much admired as 
 palm-trees are by us. One of them is 
 shown, a gigantic tree, some 90 feet in 
 girth. 
 
 The Casa del Labrador, or labourer’s 
 cottage, is another plaything of that 
 
802 
 
 ROUTE 105. — MADRID TO VALENCIA. 
 
 Sect. XL 
 
 silly Charles IV. (see p. 763). It is 
 richly fitted up with china, marbles, 
 tapestries, and platina inlaid cabinets. 
 The Florera or Jardin Ingles , the Eng- 
 lish garden, as all foreigners call any 
 irregular place without order and with 
 weeds, was laid out by Richard Wall, 
 an Irishman. 
 
 It was at Aranjuez, March 19, 1808, 
 that Charles IV., in order to save his 
 wife’s minion, Godoy, abdicated the 
 crown in favour of Ferdinand VII. 
 Toreno prints all the disgraceful letters 
 written by him and his wife, the proud 
 monarchs of Castile ! to Murat, their 
 “ very dear brother !” to Murat, who a 
 few years before had been a pot-house 
 waiter, and who, in six weeks after- 
 wards, deluged their capital with Spa- 
 nish blood. Godoy, a vile tool of 
 Buonaparte, was thus saved, in order 
 to consummate his guilt and folly, by 
 signing with Duroc, at Bayonne, the 
 transfer of Spain to France, stipulating 
 only, mean to the last, for filthy lucre 
 and pensions. 
 
 For the road to Madrid see p. 246 ; a 
 railroad — thanks to English heads and 
 hands — was begun May 4, 1846, which 
 will in due time be carried to Cadiz, 
 Alicante, and Valencia. Meantime many 
 a civilized Castilian, pointing at this 
 hit, enquires proudly and patronisingly 
 of the travelling Briton, Have you got 
 these advantages in England? For 
 the communications south see R. 9. 
 Those who have leisure will do well to 
 strike off to Ocana at Yepes , 6 L., Posada 
 del Sol; look at the pictures by 
 Tristan in the parish church, and 
 Tarancon , 8 L., and thence make for 
 Cuenca, returning to Madrid by any 
 of the several routes, which will be 
 pointed out in their places. 
 
 Madrid to Valencia. 
 
 There are two routes ; one, the old 
 one and circuitous, passes by Almansa 
 through Albacete, to which the rail 
 is now open, the other runs directly 
 through Cuenca. The Camino real, 
 which branches off at Albacete for 
 Murcia , and at Almansa for Alicante, is 
 for the greater portion uninteresting, 
 while the excursion to Cuenca, al- 
 
 though too few travellers make it, 
 abounds with most things that the 
 artist, antiquarian, angler, and geolo- 
 gist can desire. 
 
 Route 105. — Madrid to Valencia. 
 
 Angeles .... 
 
 
 . 2 
 
 
 Espartinas . . . 
 
 
 . 3* . 
 
 . 54 
 
 Aranjuez . . . 
 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 8 
 
 Ocana .... 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 10 
 
 Villatobas . . . 
 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 124 
 
 Corral de Almaguer 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 154 
 
 Quintanar de la Orden 
 
 . 3 4 . 
 
 . 19 
 
 Mota del Cuervo . 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 21 
 
 Pedernoso . . . 
 
 
 . 14 . 
 
 . 224 
 
 Pedroneras . . . 
 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 234 
 
 Provencio . . . 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 254 
 
 Venta del Pinar . 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 274 
 
 Minaya .... 
 
 
 
 
 Roda .... 
 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 32 
 
 Gineta .... 
 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 344 
 
 Albacete . . . 
 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 37 
 
 Pozo de la Pena . 
 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 394 
 
 Villar .... 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 424 
 
 Bonete .... 
 
 
 . 2 4 . 
 
 . 45 
 
 Almansa . . . 
 
 
 . 34 . 
 
 . 484 
 
 Venta del Puerto . 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 504 
 
 Venta de Mojente 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 534 
 
 Venta del Conde . 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 564 
 
 Alberique . . . 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 584 
 
 Alcudia . . . 
 
 
 . H . 
 
 . 60 
 
 Alginete . . . 
 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 61 
 
 Catarroja . . . 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 64 
 
 Valencia . . . 
 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 65 
 
 There has long been much talk about 
 a rail from Madrid to Valencia. It is 
 to branch off from the line to Alicante 
 at Albacete, and was opened to that 
 place in March, 1855. Meantime the 65 
 leagues are equivalent to 76j post ones. 
 For the route to Ocana, see p. 245, 
 after which the high road branches off 
 to the 1., continuing over a dreary, 
 treeless, salitrose, poverty - stricken 
 country of corn and saffron which ex- 
 tends almost to Almansa. El Corral 
 contains some 4000 hard-working agri- 
 culturists: soon the river Pianzares 
 is crossed, from which Queen Chris- 
 tina’s husband Senor Munoz took his 
 ducal title, and next is passed the 
 Guijuela, both tributaries of the 
 Guadiana. Now we quit New Castile, 
 and enter into dreary La Mancha 
 at Quintanar de la Orden, pop. 5000, 
 where if you are riding you may 
 sleep at the Parador de las Diligen- 
 cias. To the r. lies Toboso , the country 
 of Dulcinea, and those bald steppes of 
 which genius has clothed every por- 
 
The Castiles. route 105 . — albacete— the knives. 803 
 
 tion with immortal interest, even to 
 the windmills grouped about la Mota. 
 The salitrose swampy plains between 
 Minaya and Albacete were drained by 
 Charles IV., who employed as his en- 
 gineer one John Smith, a gentleman 
 not easily identified. Thus the air is 
 rendered less unwholesome, and the 
 marshes more fertile ; but all improve- 
 ments ceased when the invasion began, 
 as these districts were mercilessly ra- 
 vaged both by Moncey and Caulain- 
 court. Just before reaching Gineta a 
 corner of Murcia is entered. 
 
 Albacete, Abula, owing to its central 
 position, from whence roads and rails 
 branch to Aragon, Murcia, Valencia, 
 and Madrid, is a place of great traffic, 
 and is a town of locomotives, from the 
 English rail, the French dilly, to the 
 Spanish donkey. Pop. 13,000. The 
 Parador de la Diligencia is the best 
 inn : the paradores and mesones are 
 numerous and large, for the bipeds, 
 quadrupeds, and wheel-carriages that 
 rest here are countless. The 4 4 vast 
 plain,” Arabice Al-baset, is very fertile, 
 being irrigated by the Christina canal, 
 which tends to the increase of corn and 
 saffron, while the undrained swamps 
 produce fevers, agues, and mosquitos. 
 Another element of prosperity is its 
 audiencia, or high court of appeal, 
 which was carved in 1834 out of the 
 once monopolizing chancilleria of 
 Granada : the jurisdiction extends over 
 about a million souls. 
 
 Albacete is called the Sheffield of 
 Spain, as Chatelherault is of France ; 
 but everything is by comparison, and 
 the coarse cutlery turned out in each, 
 at whose make and material an English 
 artisan smiles, perfectly answers native 
 ideas and wants. The object of a 
 Spanish knife is to 44 chip bread and 
 kill a man,” and our readers are ad- 
 vised to have as little to do with them 
 as may be. The puhal or cuchillo, like 
 the fan of the high-bred Andaluza, is 
 part and parcel of all Spaniards of the 
 lower class. Few are ever without 
 this weapon of offence and defence, 
 which is fashioned like a woman’s 
 tongue, being long, sharp, and pointed. 
 The test of a bad knife is, that it 
 won’t cut a stick, but will cut a finger, 
 
 Cuchillo malo, corta el dedo y no el 
 polo. 
 
 This knife, the precise daga of the 
 Iberians, is the national weapon : hence 
 Guerra a Cuchillo is the modern war- 
 cry, 44 Castile expects that every knife 
 this day will do its duty ;” and such 
 in fact was the truly Spanish war de- 
 fiance which was returned at Zaragoza 
 to the French summons to capitulate. 
 This 44 long double-edged” tool is 
 either stuck, as the old dagger used 
 to be, in the sash, or is worn in the 
 breeches’ side-pocket, or like the Greek 
 heroes wore their down the 
 
 44 right thigh” (Judges iii. 16); and 
 so the anelace in Chaucer bore 44 a 
 Shefeld thwitel in his hose,” just as 
 the Manolas, or Amazons of Madrid, 
 las de Cuchillo en liga, have the repu- 
 tation of concealing a small knife — 
 steel traps set here — in the garter of 
 their right leg (honi soit qui mal y 
 pense) ; for it long has been a notion 
 that making a start with the left leg 
 foremost boded ill-luck. This female 
 trinket is also called a puhalico and hi - 
 guela; the latter word strictly speaking, 
 means a 44 petticoat bustle;” all these 
 weapons, a sort of Skein Dhu, are Scotch 
 cousins to the Mattucashlash dirk, 
 which the Highlanders carried in their 
 armpits : a feminine puhalico now be- 
 fore us has the motto, Sirbo a una dama , 
 I serve a lady — Ich dien. Gentlemen’s 
 knives have also what Shakspere calls 
 their 44 cutler poetry;” this is also a 
 Moorish custom, for, in what appeared 
 to be a mere scrolly ornament on a 
 modern Albacete cuchillo, these Arabic 
 words have been read — 44 With the 
 help of Allah ! I hope to kill my 
 enemy.” As the mottos of swords are 
 various, so those on knives abound, 
 couched in an humbler tone ; e. g. Soy 
 de mi Bueno y Sehor, 44 1 am the pro- 
 perty of my lord and master.” They 
 say also — 
 
 “ Cuando esta vibora pica 
 No hay femedio en la botica ” — 
 
 when this viper stings, there’s no re- 
 medy in any apothecary’s shop. When 
 the Sistema, or constitucion of 1820, 
 was put down, royalist knives were 
 inscribed Peleo a gusto matando negros , 
 
804 
 
 ROUTE 105. — ALBACETE — THE KNIVES. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 and on the reverse, Muero por mi Rey, 
 “ I die for my king ; killing blacks is 
 my delight/' The words Negros and 
 Carboneros have long been applied in 
 Spain to political Wac^guards. 
 
 The term navaja means any blade, 
 from a razor to a penknife, that shuts 
 into a handle : the navajas of Guadix, 
 which rival the punales of Albacete, 
 have frequently a muelle or catch by 
 which the long pointed blade is fixed, 
 and thus become a dagger or hand 
 bayonet. The click which the cold 
 steel makes when sharply caught in 
 its catch, produces on Spanish ears 
 the same pleasing sensation which 
 the cocking a pistol does on ours. 
 These spring and catch tools, always 
 prohibited by law, have always 
 been made, sold, and used openly. 
 The gipsies, being great hole-in -corner 
 men and cwtfpurses, since the times of 
 the Rinconetes y Cortadillos of Cervantes, 
 and the patrons also of slang, and flash- 
 men, have furnished many cant names 
 to the knife, e. g. glandi , chulo , churri 
 (charri is pure Hindee for a knife). 
 La Serdanie , Cachas, dos punales a una 
 vez; the Catalans call the instrument el 
 gannivete , canif. It is termed in play- 
 ful metaphor la tia , my aunt ; corta 
 pluma , a penknife ; monda dientes , a 
 tooth-pick ; the best makers are gene- 
 rally well known. Thus Sancho Panza, 
 when he hears that Montesinos had 
 pierced a heart with a punal, exclaims 
 at once, “ Then it was made by Ramon 
 Hozes of Seville.” The handles are 
 adorned in a barbaric semi-oriental 
 style, often with much inlaid work, 
 mother-of-pearl and coarse niello. 
 There is a murderous, business-like 
 intention in the shape, which runs to 
 a point like a shark or a pirate fe- 
 lucca. A Spanish cutler, when prais- 
 ing his wares, will say, Es bueno para 
 matar , “ This is a capital article for 
 killing/ , So the navajas del santo 
 oleo kill a man dead before he can re- 
 ceive extreme unction. 
 
 However unskilled the regular sur- 
 geons and Sangrados may be in anatomy 
 and the practice of the scalpel, the uni- 
 versal people know exactly how to use 
 their knife, and where to plant its 
 blow ; nor is there any mistake, for the 
 
 wound, although not so deep as a well, 
 nor so wide as a church door, “ will 
 serve.” It is not unseldom given after 
 the treacherous fashion of their Orien- 
 tal and Iberian ancestors, by a stab 
 behind, of which the ancients were so 
 fearful, “ impacatos a tergo horrebis 
 Iberos” (Geor.iii.408),and it is planted 
 “ under the fifth rib,” and “ one blow” is 
 enough (2 Sam. xx. 10). The blade, like 
 the cognate Arkansas or Bowie knife 
 of the Yankees, will “ rip up a man 
 right away,” or like a ripe melon, as 
 Sancho says (Don Quix. ii. 32), or drill 
 him until a surgeon can see through 
 his body. As practice makes perfect, a 
 true Baratero , is able to jerk his navaja 
 into a door across the room, as surely 
 and quickly as a good shot does a rifle- 
 ball ; a Spaniard, when armed with his 
 cuchillo for attack, and with his capa for 
 defence, is truly formidable and classi- 
 cal. Many of the murders in Spain must 
 be attributed to the readiness of the 
 weapon, which is always at hand when 
 the blood is on fire : thus, where an 
 unarmed Englishman closes his fist, a 
 Spaniard opens his knife. Man, again, 
 in this hot climate, is very inflam- 
 mable and combustible ; a small spark 
 explodes the dry powder, which ignites 
 less readily in damp England. No 
 wonder, therefore, that the blow of 
 this rascally instrument, a true puna - 
 lada de picaro , becomes fatal in jealous 
 broils, when the lower classes light 
 their anger at the torch of the furies, 
 and prefer using to speaking daggers : 
 then the thrust goes home, vitamque in 
 vulnere ponit. In jealous broils, which 
 are not unfrequent, the common 
 punishment is gashing the peccant 
 one’s cheek, which is called “ marking,” 
 or painting — Ya estas senalada , Ya estas 
 pintado , picaro l In legal language, 
 pintado por la justicia means branded as 
 a rogue ; in baker’s lingo, “ pan pinta- 
 do,” signifies bread ornamented with 
 crosses and gashes. “ Mira que te pego, 
 mira que te mato are fondling or fu- 
 rious expressions of a Maja to a Majo. 
 The Seville phrase was “ Mira que te 
 pinto un jabeque ;” “ take care that I 
 don’t draw you a xebeck ” (the sharp 
 Mediterranean felucca). “ They jest 
 at wounds who never felt a scar,” but 
 
805 
 
 The Castiles. route 105. — almansa — the battle. 
 
 whenever this jabeque has really been 
 inflicted, the patient, not having the 
 face to show him or herself, and ashamed 
 of the stigma, is naturally anxious to 
 recover a good character and skin, the 
 one cosmetic to remove such super- 
 fluous marks, in Philip IV.’s time, was 
 cat’s grease : — 
 
 El sebo unto de gato, 
 
 Que en cara dejienda los senates. 
 
 In process of time, as science ad- 
 vanced, this was superseded by Unto 
 del Ombre , or man’s grease. Our esti- 
 mable friend Don Nicolas Molero, a 
 surgeon in high practice at Seville, 
 assured us that previously to the French 
 invasion, he had often prepared this 
 cataleptic specific, which used to be 
 sold for its weight in gold ; but having 
 been adulterated with spermaceti by 
 unprincipled empirics, it fell into dis- 
 repute. The sovereign remedy of the 
 ancients, the Parmecity of Dr. Eros, a 
 famous quack, is mentioned by Martial 
 (x. 56, 6). Consult him also on plan- 
 ters. (Splenia, ii. 29, 10.) The receipt 
 of the Alabastrum which Venus gave 
 to Phaon, has puzzled the learned Bur- 
 mann no less than that of the balsam 
 of Fierabras has the modern commen- 
 tators of Don Quixote. The kindness 
 of Don Nicolas furnished us with the 
 ingredients of this pommade divine , ra- 
 ther than mortale. “Take a man in 
 full health who has been just killed, 
 the fresher the better, pare off the fat 
 round the heart, melt it over a slow 
 fire, clarify, and put it in a cool place 
 for use.” The number of religious 
 festivals in Spain, combined with the 
 sun, wine, and women, have always 
 ensured a supply of fine subjects. 
 
 The Campo de Montiel , the Cave of 
 Montesinos, and Don Quixote’s country 
 (see p. 243), lie to the W. of Albacete . 
 A carriage-road, 19 L., leads to Man- 
 zanares, through Osa de Montiel. Al- 
 bacete, from its central position, be- 
 came the head-quarters of Espartero in 
 1843, and there he lingered in inaction 
 all July, while Narvaez boldly marched 
 on Madrid, and the Regent’s own fa- 
 miliar friend hurried to betray him. 
 
 After leaving Albacete the road 
 branches from Pozo de la Pena to 
 
 Murcia (see R. 32), continuing on to 
 Valencia, over an undulating country. 
 To the 1., distant about 2 L., Chinchilla 
 rises on an abrupt scarped hill, girdled 
 by poor modern walls, built in 1837 
 out of the older ones, and crowned by 
 a castle, which offers a fine specimen 
 of a mediaeval hill fort. From Chir ►- 
 chilla another road (R. 35) branches 
 down to Alicante, through the hills of 
 Villena, which gladden the eye of the 
 plain-sick traveller. Almansa is well 
 built and tolerably flourishing. Inn, 
 Parador de las Diligencias. Pop. 8500. 
 The Vega is irrigated, and many of 
 the ague-breeding swamps have been 
 drained, especially those of Salahar 
 and San Benito. The Pantano of Al- 
 bufera is a fine reservoir of water, 
 here an element of incredible fertility 
 under this almost African sun. Near 
 Almansa was decided, April 25, 1707, 
 one of the few battles in which the 
 French have ever beaten the English ; 
 and here, as at Fontenoi, traitors 
 fought against their country and for 
 its enemy. The French were com- 
 manded by an Englishman, by Berwick, 
 natural son of James II., and nephew 
 to Marlborough, and therefore of a 
 good soldier breed ; while the English 
 were commanded by a Frenchman, one 
 Henri de Ruvigny, an adventurer, 
 created Earl of Galway by William III., 
 and one who was always “eager to fight 
 campal battles,” which he neverdid ex- 
 cept to be beaten. The English at the 
 critical moment were deserted by their 
 Spanish allies, who, as at Barrosa, 
 Albuera, Talavera, &c., left them to 
 bear the whole brunt. Again, the 
 battle, like that of Albuera, ought 
 never to have been fought at all, for 
 even Peterborough , whose whole system 
 was daring and aggressive, had now 
 urged a Fabian defensive campaign. 
 Lord Galway also was for a defensive 
 campaign, but he had express orders 
 from home to fight, and did so against 
 his own opinion. He was opposed by 
 Stanhope, who was talked over by the 
 Spaniard Marques de las Minas, just as 
 Beresford was at Albuera by Castanos. 
 The allies numbered only 12,000 foot 
 and 5000 cavalry : the French ex- 
 ceeded 30,000, and they moreover 
 2 N 3 
 
806 
 
 ROUTE 106 .— MADRID TO VALENCIA. 
 
 Sect. XL 
 
 were fresh and ready, while the Eng- 
 lish were “ marched and counter- 
 marched/’ as at Barrosa, and brought 
 to the field weary and starving. The 
 day was chiefly lost by the cowardice 
 of the Portuguese General Atalaya. 
 The French victory was complete, but 
 their laurels were stained by the fero ■ 
 cious sack of Xativa and breach of 
 every plighted capitulation. Orleans 
 (the Regent subsequently) arrived too 
 late for the battle, and thus lost a 
 chance of wiping out his previous dis- 
 graces before Turin in 1706. A short 
 mile from Almansa is a paltry obelisk, 
 which marks the site of this most im- 
 portant battle, and which is commen- 
 surate with Spanish governmental in- 
 gratitude; and small indeed is the 
 mention now made by Paez and Co. of 
 the brave French who did the work, as 
 the glory is claimed for Nosotros. 
 
 Crossing the Puerto we descend to 
 the pleasant Valencian coast by charm- 
 ing defiles. Passing Mogente to the 1. 
 the villages increase, heaven and earth 
 are changed, ail is gay and genial, 
 with one continued garden of graceful 
 rice-plant and palm-tree. Alberique is 
 proverbial for a fertility that knows 
 no repose, it is a Tierra de Dios — trigo 
 ayer y hoy arroz , a land of God where 
 rice to-day succeeds to the corn of 
 yesterday. Now we turn our backs 
 on the bald, central table-lands, on 
 the dull Paho pardo , Montera , and 
 mud cottage, and welcome the spark- 
 ling Valentian, with his oriental and 
 particoloured garment, gaudy and 
 glittering as the sun and flowers of 
 his province. Alberique is surrounded 
 with acequias, canals, by which the 
 rivers are drained. The road is crossed 
 by the acequia del Bey, which flows into 
 the Albufera lake, and with the Jucar 
 and its tributaries isolates a remarkable 
 rice tract. The raised causeway passes 
 on through sunken irrigated plots of 
 ground, which teem with fertility 
 agues, and mosquitos. There are seve- 
 ral routes from Madrid to Cuenca; 
 one runs by the plains (R. 1 10), another 
 by the mineral baths and mountains 
 (R. 109), and another communicates 
 with Valencia, which we now proceed 
 to describe. 
 
 Route 106. — Madrid to Valencia 
 by Cuenca. 
 
 Bacia Madrid . . 
 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Perales de Tajufia 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 6 
 
 Fuenteduena . . 
 
 
 . 31 . 
 
 . 9* 
 
 Tarancon . . . 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . m 
 
 Huelbes . . . 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 14* 
 
 Carrascosa . . . 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 16* 
 
 Horcajada . . . 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 18* 
 
 Cabrejas . . . 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 21* 
 
 Albaladejito . . 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 24* 
 
 Cuenca .... 
 
 
 
 
 Fuentes . . . 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 28* 
 
 Reillo .... 
 
 
 
 
 Arguisuelas „ . 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 32* 
 
 Cardenete . . . 
 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 35 
 
 Camporobres . . 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 38 
 
 Uriel .... 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 41 
 
 Requena . , 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 43 
 
 Siete aguas . . 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 46 
 
 Yenta de Bunol 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 48 
 
 Chiva .... 
 
 
 
 
 Yenta de Pozos 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 52 
 
 Valencia . . . 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 55 
 
 Cuenca , one of the most picturesque 
 cities in Spain, rivals Ronda and To- 
 ledo ; in natural beauty the site is most 
 romantic, the artistical objects numer- 
 ous; the fishing, botany, and geology are 
 well deserving notice. The Spaniards 
 will endeavour to dissuade travellers 
 from going to this “ tumbledown me- 
 diaeval unmodernised city aqui no hay 
 nada, — no tiene nada digno de verse ; let 
 not any of our amateur readers be thus 
 misled, but set forth on the most in- 
 teresting tour to Cuenca, its mountains 
 Alarcon and Minglanilla, whence the 
 distance to Valencia is easy. As mules 
 and horses are not easily procured at 
 Cuenca, from whence this excursion 
 must be ridden, perhaps it will be as 
 well to hire them at Madrid, and send 
 them on, and mount them at Cuen- 
 ca ; the diligence from Madrid stops 
 the first night at Tar ancon. Travellers 
 pressed for time might secure their 
 places four or five days beforehand, 
 and employ the interval by going over 
 to Toledo by Illescas, see it, next make 
 for Aranjuez, and then ride 7 L. to 
 Fuenteduena, and take up the diligence. 
 
 The sportsman and artist may also 
 go round by the Banos del Sitio Beal de 
 la Isabela, taking the gondola, which 
 gets there in 16 hours, and thence 
 make, with his rod, gun, and brushes, 
 over the wild mountains to Cuenca. 
 
 The country to Cuenca , in common 
 
The Castiles. route 106 . — ucles — the battle. 
 
 807 
 
 with the central table-land, of the Pen- 
 insula, although uninteresting, pro- 
 duces much corn and saffron. After 
 leaving Vallecas and Bacia Madrid the 
 Jarama is crossed a little above its 
 junction with the Manzanares. The 
 dreary character of the vicinity of Ma- 
 drid begins to diminish near Arganda , 
 with its new suspension bridge, olives, 
 vines, and corn-fields; the excellent red 
 wine made here, is much drank in the 
 capital, where it passes for Valdepenas. 
 Perales lies in a rich valley watered by 
 the Tajuna , which, coming down from 
 the Sierra de Solorio, joins the Henares. 
 Crossing it we enter Villarejo , which 
 has a fine ruined castle; the Gothic 
 parish church contains some pictures 
 by Pedro Orrente ; thence crossing the 
 Tagus over a desolate country to Fuen- 
 tedueha, with its new suspension bridge 
 and Moorish castle ; another monoton- 
 ous track, with here and there some 
 of Don Quixote’s windmills, leads to 
 Tar ancon, where the Parador de las 
 Diligencias is tolerable ; pop. 4700. It 
 is situated in a plain on the banks of 
 the Pianzares, which gives a ducal title 
 to Queen Christina’s husband Munoz ; 
 this Godoy of the day was born at Ta- 
 rancon, his father keeping a tobacco es- 
 tanco. He and Christina here have built 
 a grand palace. This town is one of 
 some traffic, being in the middle of 
 many cross communications. The W. 
 facade of the fine parish church re- 
 tains its ancient and. minute Gothic 
 ornaments, but the N. was modernized 
 into the Ionic order in the time of 
 Philip II. The country now resumes 
 its desolation, and the villages are 
 scanty, and the population ill clad, 
 over- worked, and poverty-stricken. 
 
 Ucles (pop. about 1500) lies 2 L. 
 from Tarancon , amid gardens and Ala - 
 medas watered by the Bedija ; on a hill 
 above, towers the once enormous mag- 
 nificent convent, now going to decay ; 
 and once belonging to the order of 
 Santiago, of which Ucles was the first 
 encomienda , and the abbot was mitred ; 
 it was founded in 1174, on the site 
 of a Moorish alcazar , of which la 
 torre Albarrana was preserved in the 
 new edifice. It commands a superb 
 view. The E. fa§ade is built in the 
 
 Berruguete style, the N. and W. in 
 the classical, the S. in bad churri- 
 gueresque. The chapel was raised in 
 1600, in the simple Herrera style. 
 Ucles is a fatal site in all Spanish 
 annals, for here, in 1100, Sancho, the 
 son of Alonso VI., was defeated and 
 killed by the infidel, whereby his 
 father’s heart was broken ; see the 
 affecting account in Mariana (x. 5) ; the 
 fatal spot is still called Sicuendes, from 
 the six counts killed there : again, 
 here, Jan. 13, 1809, Victor routed the 
 miserable Venegas, who had advanced 
 from Tarancon to surprise the French, 
 who to his surprise turned on him, 
 whereupon he fled at once to Ucles , 
 and occupied the strong hill ; but no 
 sooner did the enemy begin to ascend 
 it than the Spanish army, left half fed 
 and half armed, and discouraged by 
 their unworthy chiefs, turned and ran, 
 Venegas setting the example, and sur- 
 viving for fresh disgraces at Almon- 
 acid; then Victor treated Ucles a la 
 Medellin (seep. 477) — he harnessed the 
 clergy and respectable inhabitants, and 
 made them drag up the hill, like beasts 
 of burden, whatever articles of their 
 property could not be carried off, in 
 order to make a “feu dejoie ” in honour 
 of his victory ; next sixty prisoners were 
 slaughtered on the shambles, which was 
 facetiously selected by this tigre singe 
 for the appropriate butchery., Victor 
 then marched the survivors to Madrid, 
 causing all who dropped on the road from 
 hunger or fatigue to be shot on the spot. 
 Toreno (viii.), Southey (xviii.), Sche- 
 peler (ii. 151), and Madoz (xv. 203), 
 enter into appalling details ; Schepeler 
 compares Victor to Tamerlane, “ sorti 
 au berceau avec le signe du sang.’* 
 The amiable Monsieur de Rocca ho- 
 nestly records and laments the horrors 
 which he then witnessed. 
 
 Near Ucles , 2 short L., at Cabeza del 
 Griego , are some neglected Roman re- 
 mains, the supposed site of ancient 
 Munda and Cartima (for details, with 
 plans, see ‘Mem. Acad. His.’ iii. 170 ; 
 and ‘ Fsp. Sag .’ xlii. 332). 
 
 Quitting Tarancon , the elevated table- 
 land broken, however, by undulations 
 with swamps in the hollows, continues 
 to Horcajada , a true hanging place. 
 
808 
 
 ROUTE 106. — CUENCA— ITS SACKINGS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Now the hills are covered with pines 
 and oaks, and we ascend a puerto or 
 pass over the highest ridge, from 
 whence the waters descend E. and W. 
 Crossing the Jucar after Albaladejito , 
 the country becomes picturesque ; and 
 after threading a planted defile, rock- 
 built scrambling Cuenca is entered over 
 its ancient bridge. There is a decent 
 inn, Parador de San Francisco , and 
 another, Posada del Sol , in the suburb 
 on the road to Minglanilla. Sportsmen 
 who venture into the wild hills should 
 take a local guide and attend to the 
 provend. The rivers near Cuenca are 
 muy cast ig ados ; go therefore into the 
 mountains where they are less poached, 
 and where deer-stalkers may do some 
 business. 
 
 CUENCA, Concha, lies indeed a hill- 
 girt shell , and is the capital of its moun- 
 tainous district, being itself about 3400 
 feet above the level of the sea. The 
 chains to the NJ3. are continuations of 
 the Cantabrian range, which serpen- 
 tines through Spain by Burgos, Oca, 
 Montcayo, Molina de Aragon, and Al- 
 barracin. The fine forests called los 
 pinares de Cuenca are proverbial, and 
 rival those of Soria ^ The squirrels, 
 Ardillas , eaten here as delicacies , have a 
 smack of the pine tree. The scenery 
 in these immemorial woods and rocks 
 is Salvator -Rosa-like, while the lakes 
 and streams contain trout, and the 
 hills abound in curious botany and 
 geology, yet to be properly investi- 
 gated. 
 
 These localities in the 1 5th and 1 6th 
 centuries were densely peopled with 
 busy rich traders in its staple, wool ; 
 now, it is so poverty stricken that 
 scarcely 300 souls to the square league 
 are to be numbered, while Cuenca, its 
 capital, barely contains 6000 inha- 
 bitants. The mountains, montes orospe- 
 daniy were the fastnesses of the brave 
 Celtiberians, who waged a desperate 
 Guerilla contest against the Romans, 
 just as Juan de Zerecedo did during 
 the War of the Succession, and the 
 Empecinado in our times carried on 
 against the French, by whom many 
 were the sackings of Cuenca ; the first 
 and most fatal was by Caulaincourt, 
 who was sent by Savary to relieve 
 
 Moncey after his failure before Valen- 
 cia. His troops entered July 3, 1808 ; 
 the clergy, who came out in their sacred 
 dresses to welcome them, with flags of 
 truce, were fired on and butchered ; 
 for the details, which exceeded, says 
 Schepeler, “ les horreurs ordinaires,” 
 see his History (i. 148), and see Madoz 
 (vii. 241). Caulaincourt’ s private spoil 
 in church plate was enormous, for he 
 had the glorious custodia moved to his 
 quarters, and there broken up into port- 
 able pieces ; nevertheless this gentleman 
 was afterwards made by Buonaparte 
 gouverneur de ses pages ; this Mentor, 
 having taught their young ideas to shoot , 
 was sent by Nemesis to his account by a 
 bullet at Moscua, Sept. 7,1812. Cuenca 
 was again sacked by Gen. Hugo (the 
 ravager of Avila) June 17, 1810, and 
 again, April 22, 1811, by La Houssaye, 
 the spoiler of Escorial and Toledo — 
 “ all honourable men” and practised 
 in pillage. The town was once 
 celebrated for its splendid silver - 
 work, and the family of the Becer- 
 riles were here what the D’Arphes 
 were to Leon, or, as in Italy, Foppa 
 (Caradosso) of Milan, was to Cellini of 
 Florence. Alonso and Francisco Be- 
 cerril both lived at Cuenca early in 
 1500, and by them was exquisitely 
 wrought the once glorious custodia, in 
 1528-46, and described at length by 
 Ponz. iii. 73 ; which, with other splen- 
 did crosses, chalices, & c., were plun- 
 dered by Caulaincourt, whose whole- 
 sale sacrilege created such a national 
 indignation that Joseph, the very day 
 on which he entered Madrid, decreed 
 their replacement at the cost of the 
 Government. It need not be said that 
 not an ounce was ever restored: but 
 the paper read well at Paris ; nay, his 
 imperial and royal majesty king Joseph, 
 while penning it, was himself busy with 
 Ferdinand’s plate-chests, which he soon 
 carried off. (See Toreno, iv.) 
 
 Cuenca is romantically situated on a 
 peak about half-way between Madrid 
 and Valencia, on the confluence of the 
 Jucar and Huecar. and between the 
 heights San Cristobal and el Socorro; 
 for details consult ‘ Poliencomio de 
 Cuenca ,’ Petrus de Solera Reynoso, 
 4to. Cuenca, 1624 ; and 4 La Historia * 
 
The Castiles. route 106 .— cuenca — points of view. 
 
 809 
 
 Juan Pablo Martir Rizo, folio, Mad. 
 1629, a curious volume, which also 
 contains portraits of the Mendozas , 
 long its governors; refer also to ‘ Hechos 
 de Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza Chr. 
 Suarez de Figueroa, 4to. Mad. 1613. 
 
 According to Rizo the city was 
 founded on the very same day and at 
 the very same hour that Rome was. 
 In honest truth, however, Cuenca is 
 purely Moorish, and like Ronda, Al- 
 hama, and Alarcon, is built on a river- 
 isolated rock. It was given in 1106 by 
 Ben Abet, king of Seville, as part of 
 the portion of Zaida his daughter, 
 when she became the wife of Alonso 
 VI. The inhabitants, however, re- 
 belled at the transfer, and the city was 
 retaken by Alonso VIII., Sept. 26, 
 1177. The campaign is detailed by 
 Mariana (xi. 14), who records how 
 Alonso VIII. was in want of every- 
 thing at the critical moment : the site 
 of his camp of starvation is still 
 shown at Fuentes del Bey. See also the 
 ballad ‘ En esa Ciudad de Burgos 9 (Du- 
 ran, iv. 207). The town was captured 
 at last by a stratagem, devised by a 
 Christian slave inside, one Martin 
 Alhaxa ( buena alhaja de criado ), who 
 led out his Moorish master’s merinos , 
 as if to pasture, but then gave them to 
 his hungry countrymen. These wolves 
 having eaten the animals, put on their 
 fleeces, and were taken back on all 
 fours, being let into Cuenca by a small 
 still -existing postern in the walls : from 
 this strange flock sprang most of the 
 hidalgo families of Cuenca, e. g. the 
 Albornoz, Alarcon, Cabrera, Carrillo, 
 Salazar, &c. 
 
 Cuenca , once celebrated alike for 
 arts, literature, and manufactories, 
 now only retains its picturesque posi- 
 tion, which no Caulaincourt could 
 either carry off or destroy ; the beau- 
 tiful Huecar and Jucar ( sucro , the 
 sweet waters, aguas dulces ) still come 
 down through defiles spanned with 
 bridges, and planted with charming 
 walks, mills, and poplars, placed there 
 for the artist ; above topples the pyra- 
 midical eagle’s-nest town, with its old 
 walls and towers, and houses hanging 
 over the precipices and barren rocks, 
 which enhance the charm of the fer- 
 
 tile valleys, the Hoces , below. From 
 the suburb the town rises in terraces, 
 as it were, of tier above tier, roof 
 above roof, up to the plaza and ca- 
 thedral, which occupy almost the only 
 level space, for the streets are steep, 
 tortuous, and narrow, and everything 
 that a British Baker-street is not. 
 
 Fully to appreciate the beauty of 
 Cuenca the following tour may be 
 taken. Proceed to the bridge of Sara 
 Anton , which crosses the pretty Jucar 
 at the western end of the town. De- 
 scend to the path which passes under 
 one of the arches, and then keep along 
 up the rt. bank of the river ; just be- 
 low the bridge, is a ruined weir by which 
 the waters were dammed up, in order to 
 fill the stream as it passed under the 
 cliff on which the town stands; but 
 now it is but a small brawling torrent 
 running over an uneven bed ; the colour 
 of the water is beautifully clear, with a 
 slight greenish tint. Passing the copse 
 of poplars and white-leaved aspens, 
 above on the rt. rises rock-built Cuenca. 
 Continue the walk on to the bridge 
 Las Escalas, which crosses the Jucar 
 at the other end of the town, and sketch 
 it if you will, for it consists only of 
 timber-beams, laid upon stone piers; 
 but, before going over it, ascend fur- 
 ther up the rt. bank, look back on 
 the town and into the valley. Next 
 cross the bridge, and ascend a zigzag 
 pathway cut in the rock to the little 
 alameda , which looks like a shelf 
 squeezed in at the angle of the town ; 
 from thence is a striking view of the 
 valley ; continue along the pathway that 
 leads to the summit of the ridge at the 
 end of which the town is built ; cross 
 the table-ground until you look down 
 upon the valley of the Huecar ; about 
 a quarter of a mile from Cuenca, some 
 steps cut in the rock lead down to a 
 spring or streamlet which finds its 
 way down the slopes by a devious 
 course into the Huecar; thus irri- 
 gating numerous gardens filled with 
 fine vegetables and fruit-trees, and 
 feeding the creepers which mantle 
 luxuriously the crags and stones. 
 The pathway which leads down to 
 the bottom of the happy Rasselas val- 
 ley, runs just beyond a tank where 
 
810 
 
 ROUTE 106. — CUENCA — THE CATHEDRAL. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 picturesque washerwomen congregate, 
 forming artistical groups and colours. 
 The Huecar is but a brook, from being 
 so much bled, sangrado or drained 
 off to water the gardens on the low 
 ground near it, and is so darkened by 
 sewers, &c., that when it reaches the 
 Jucar it is little better — con perdon sea 
 dicho — than a Fleet ditch. As we de- 
 scend observe the beautiful views of 
 the bridge and convent of San Pablo, 
 perched on a precipice, with the sur- 
 rounding cliffs, rocks, and mountains ; 
 keeping a path which conducts to the 
 level of the bridge, cross it to the 
 Dominican monastery ; this viaduct, 
 •worthy of the Romans, which rivals 
 in height and solidity the arches of 
 Merida, Alcantara, and Segovia, rises 
 150 feet, 350 long, connecting the 
 broken riscos or rocks. It is reared 
 on colossal piers, and was built in 1 523 
 for the convenience of the monks by 
 Francisco de Luna, at the cost of 
 the Canon Juan de Pozo. Allowed to 
 get out of repair, it has been most bung- 
 lingly mended ; examine the E. face of 
 the pier nearest the city ; the modern 
 parapet, negligently built within its ori- 
 ginal position, is considered here a very 
 proper restoration ; thus only mules and 
 foot passengers can pass where two car- 
 riages could formerly, and, what is 
 worse, the approaching decay of the 
 whole bridge is accelerated. The fa9ade 
 of San Pablo has unfortunately been 
 modernised with a most absurd portal. 
 The retablo of the high altar is com- 
 posed of the richest jaspers ; the order 
 is Corinthian. The figures of three 
 monks are placed between the pillars 
 in the divisions. The interior of the 
 church is simple ; two bold semicircu- 
 lar arches form each side of the nave, 
 each recess containing a chapel ; the 
 groining of the roof is good ; the stones 
 are pointed or marked by yellows and 
 gilding. 
 
 Returning over the bridge and as- 
 cending into the town you soon reach 
 the plaza and cathedral ; the first stone 
 was laid in 1177 by Alonso VIII., who 
 removed to this new bishopric the an- 
 cient sees of Valera and Arcos. It was 
 consecrated by the fighting prelate 
 Don Rodrigo Ximenez de Rada ; the 
 
 style of the edifice is simple and severe 
 Gothic with a semicircular E. termina- 
 tion. The fa9ade fronting the Plaza 
 was modernised in 1664-9 by a blun- 
 derer named Josef Arroyo, according 
 to the order of the blundering chap- 
 ter, which once was very rich in 
 cash, although miserably poor in 
 good, taste. These Goths also painted 
 the interior yellow , picked out with 
 black ; white at least would have 
 been more appropriate, in imita- 
 tation of the cathedral at Siena, and in 
 compliment to Diego de Mendoza, 
 a Cuencan, who then ruled so long in 
 that city, and who now is buried in 
 this cathedral. Of his great family 
 was Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, 
 fourth Marques of Canete, the hero of 
 the Araucanian war, which forms the 
 subject of the Epic of Spain by Ercilla. 
 See 4 Los Hechos * &c., by Suarez de 
 Figueroa, 4to., Mad., 1613. 
 
 Walk to the transept, and look 
 around, and especially at the fine 
 painted windows and the circular 
 sweep. The absis behind the high 
 altar is very striking, and the mazes 
 of columns intersect each other quite 
 orientally and recalling the Mez- 
 quita of Cordova ; the arches, semi- 
 Moorish and semi-Gothic, spring from 
 a bold cornice, which projects beyond 
 the heads of the lower columns. The 
 ornate semi-Moorish arch which forms 
 the entrance to the high altar springs 
 from corbels, or, to speak more cor- 
 rectly, from excrescences of the capi- 
 tals ; and a similar oriental form is pre- 
 served in the arches at the W. end of 
 the cathedral, but they are turned from 
 the heads of the piers in the common 
 plan of Gothic construction. The 
 coro, placed as usual in the centre, was 
 unfortunately modernised and spoilt 
 by Bishop Florez, of whose vile period 
 are the organs and jasper pulpit ; the 
 splendid reja, however, and the eagle 
 lettern, or facistol, are of the olden 
 time, and are masterpieces of Hernando 
 de Arenas, 1557. The original retablo 
 was removed in the last century in 
 order to make place for the present 
 high altar, which is indeed as fine as 
 jaspers can make it ; although classical 
 in style, it is stamped with the aca- 
 
The Castiles. route 106 . — cuenca — the cathedral. 
 
 811 
 
 demical commonplace of its designer, 
 ■ Ventura Rodriguez, obit. 1785. The 
 statue of the Virgin was sculptured in 
 Genoa; the trasparente or heavy pile 
 at the back of the altar, the boast 
 of Cuenca, where it is preferred 
 to the fine old cinque-cento art, 
 is dedicated to San Julian, once 
 Bishop of Cuenca, who passed most of 
 his time in making wicker-baskets, 
 and who, with San Onorato, is the 
 honoured tutelar of this city. The 
 jaspers are very rich, and the bronze 
 capitals costly ; the green columns 
 were brought from the Barranco de 
 San Juan at Granada. The urna , with 
 the statues of Faith, Hope, and 
 Charity, were wrought at Carrara, in 
 1758, by Francisco Vergara, a Valen- 
 cian settled in Italy. The cost of 
 transport from Alicante was enormous : 
 but they are academical commonplace 
 inanities, without life, soul, or senti- 
 ment. As Cuenca is placed in a jasper 
 district, the cathedral is naturally 
 adorned with this costly material ; all 
 the chapels deserve notice ; look parti- 
 cularly at the artesonado roof in the 
 long, low capilla honda , behind the 
 high altar, and nearly opposite the 
 trasparente . Beginning, therefore, 
 
 from the W. door at the third chapel 
 to the rt., observe the portal and reja 
 of the glorious Capilla de los Apostoles, 
 which is built in rich plateresque, 
 with a Gothic-ribbed ceiling of a most 
 beautiful stone from the neighbouring 
 quarries of Arcos. Passing the clas- 
 sical retablo, observe a smaller altar of 
 the time of Philip II., with a much- 
 venerated image of la Virgen de la 
 Salud. Advancing near the gate to the 
 bishop’s palace is the Capilla de San 
 Martin , with a good altar and carv- 
 ings, and four remarkable sepulchres 
 of the early prelates, Juan Fanez, a 
 descendant of the Fidus Achates of the 
 Cid, and those of Lopez, Pedro Lo- 
 renzo, and Garcia. The plateresque 
 portal or entrance into the cloisters 
 rises 28 feet high, and was wrought in 
 Arcos stone by Xamete in 1546-50, and, 
 as is inscribed on labels, at the cost of 
 the Bishop Sebastian Ramirez, obt. 
 1536: see his tomb. Some suppose 
 this Xamete to have been a Moor, in- 
 
 ferring so from the name Xamete — » 
 Achmed — at all events he must have 
 studied in the Cellini schools of Italy, 
 and ranks as a rival of Berruguete and 
 Damian Forment ; this arch is a thing 
 of the age, when the revived arts 
 of paganism wrestled with Christi- 
 anity even in the churches : here we 
 have saints and harpies, lions, virgins, 
 tritons, vases, flowers, allegorical vir- 
 tues, & c., all jumbled together, but 
 forming in the aggregate a whole of 
 great richness and cinque-cento effect ; 
 all, alas ! has been sadly mutilated and 
 whitewashed. It must once have been 
 superb. The architect will remark a 
 peculiar construction of arch ; the 
 fluted columns of support rest on 
 brackets let into the wall, the lower 
 portions of the ornamental work much 
 injured. 
 
 The cloisters are in a different style, 
 having been built in 1577-83, by Juan 
 Andrea Rodi, with the fine stone from 
 the neighbouring quarries of la JIoz. 
 The simple Doric of Herrera was then 
 in vogue, which contrasts with the 
 pseudo - classical frieze at the E. 
 end, the work of another hand and 
 period. Next observe the burial-chapel 
 of the Mendozas, in form a Greek 
 cross with a cupola, while the Corin- 
 thian high altar is adorned with 
 paintings and sculpture : the monu- 
 ments enriched with jaspers and arched 
 niches are ranged around: observe 
 that with marble columns of Doha 
 Inez, and that of Diego Hurtado, vice- 
 roy of Siena, obt. 1566. From the 
 cloisters you may ascend to the Secro- 
 taria ; the view from the muralla of 
 the cathedral is charming. 
 
 Next visit la Capilla de Nuestra 
 Senora del Sagrario , with its superb 
 jaspers, and observe the miraculous 
 image which aided Alonso in his vic- 
 tories. The exquisite fa 9 ade to the 
 Sala Capitular is worthy of Xamete ; 
 notice, in this gem of the cathedral, 
 an arch of the richest plateresque, 
 which displays a marvellous power 
 and variety of invention. The admir- 
 able walnut doors, carved with St. 
 Peter, St. Paul, and Adoration of 
 the Kings, are attributed to Berru- 
 guete, but the Transfiguration is by 
 
812 
 
 ROUTE 106. CUENCA— CASAS SOLARES. Sect. XI. 
 
 an inferior hand; they are in good 
 preservation ; the walnut silleria is 
 also excellent. The chapel of San 
 Juan was founded by the Canon 
 Juan de Barreda, and has a fine 
 Corinthian reja , with cherubs and ar- 
 morial shields. The Gapilla de Santa 
 Elena , opposite the trasparente , has a 
 beautiful portal and good walnut re- 
 tablo. On the 1. side of the cathedral 
 is the shabby little chapel of San Juan 
 Bautista , with paintings in the retablo 
 by Cristobal Garcia Salmeron, who, 
 born in 1603, became pupil ofOrrente, 
 and adopted Bassano’s style, especially 
 in his Nativity, the Baptist preaching, 
 and in our Saviour mocked, above it. 
 Observe the reja in the chapel of the 
 Munoz family. The Capilla de los 
 Caballeros , so called from the tombs of 
 the Albornoz family, although it some- 
 what encumbers the body of the ca- 
 thedral, is very remarkable ; the door 
 is such as becomes the entrance of a 
 chamber of death, being ornamented 
 with a celebrated stone skeleton ; read 
 the inscription, Sacellum militum, &c. 
 The reja is excellent, so likewise are 
 the two windows at the E. end, which 
 are richly painted and decorated with 
 armorial blazons. The fine pictures, in 
 the retablo of the date 1526, were given 
 by the Prothonotary Gomez Carrillo 
 de Albornoz, who had lived long in 
 Italy ; they are painted in pannel by 
 Hernando Yanez, an able artist, whose 
 works are very rare in Spain ; he is 
 said to have been a pupil of Raphael, 
 but his style is more Florentine than 
 Roman. The chapel, however, is dark, 
 and the pictures blackened by smoke ; 
 observe the Crucifixion ; the Adora- 
 tion of Kings — the Mother and Child 
 are quite Raffaelesque. Among the 
 many grand sepulchres notice that of 
 the great Cardinal, Gil Carrillo Albor- 
 noz, and friend of the gallant Alonso 
 XI., whose Life has been written by 
 Baltazar Parreno, 4 Historia de losllechos 
 &c., 8vo., Tol., 1566, and also by Juan 
 Gines de Sepulveda, 4to., Bolonia, 
 1612. Observe also the tomb of his 
 mother, Teresa de Luna, and the fine 
 military figure to the 1. of the high 
 altar. There are other works by 
 Xamete in the chapels of San Fabian, 
 
 San Sebastian, San Mateo, and San 
 Lorenzo. 
 
 Near the cathedral is the bishop’s 
 palace, with a portal of mixed Gothic, 
 and a fine saloon inside called from the 
 tutelar el de San Julian , which with the 
 rest of the house the invaders pillaged 
 completely. Many of the oldest parish 
 churches are built on the walls, and 
 thereby add to their irregular and 
 picturesque effect. The interiors 
 have for the most part been sadly mo- 
 dernised by the once rich clergy, who 
 tortured their fine woods into churri- 
 gueresque and gilt gingerbread ; in 
 that dedicated to San Juan Bautista 
 are the once beautiful and now cruelly- 
 neglected tombs of the Montemayors: 
 one is dated 1462, another in the pla- 
 teresque taste of 1 523 is enriched with 
 the recumbent figure of Don Juan in 
 sacerdotal costume. 
 
 The curious old Casas Solares , or 
 family mansions of the Conquistador es , 
 are now desolate, and their armorials 
 remain over the portals like hatchments 
 of the dead : the interiors were gutted 
 by the French. Many of these houses 
 are picturesquely built over the decli- 
 vities, such as the Alcazar of the Men- 
 dozas , which towers over the Jucar: 
 observe the houses of the Priego and 
 Carrillo families, and some others in 
 the Calle de Correduria. The now un- 
 used mint was built in 1664 by Josef 
 de Arroyo. The Franciscan convent 
 was erected in the twelfth century by 
 the Templars. The position of the 
 Carmelitas Dezcalzas hanging over rock 
 and river is fine, so also is that of San 
 Pedro de Alcantara , which is placed 
 near the Jucar outside the town. 
 Cuenca once was remarkable for its 
 colleges, printing-presses, manufacto- 
 ries, arts, sciences, and industry, all of 
 which was so utterly swept away by 
 the invaders as to make the historian 
 Toreno (xx.), wonder how a nation so 
 civilized and humane could select for 
 destruction the works of Spanish piety 
 and learning. 
 
 Cuenca, in its good old times, pro- 
 duced great men of varied excellence. 
 Among her worthies may be named 
 Mendoza and Gil Albornoz, generals 
 and prelates ; the artists Becerril, Xa- 
 
The Castiles . 
 
 ROUTE 107. — CUENCA TO VALENCIA. 
 
 813 
 
 metis, Yahez, and Mora, the best pupil 
 of Herrera. Here were born Figueroa, 
 the poet, and Alonso de Ojeda, the 
 friend, of Columbus ; and last, not 
 least, Lope de Barrientos, the book- 
 burner (see p. 526). The city bears 
 for arms, “gules, a sacramental cha- 
 lice, with a star of eight rays argent.” 
 For excursions and lateral routes see 
 next page. 
 
 Continuing the route from Madrid 
 to Valencia from p. 806, we reach 
 Fuentes , or Fountains, which lies in a 
 dip much subject to inundations of the 
 Bio de las Moscas. On this river Villa- 
 viciosa wrote his epic La Mosquea , and 
 which, as far as its name goes, will 
 delight j%-fishers, but there are few 
 fish. Reillo , of Roman foundation, has 
 a ruined castle on the heights. Carde- 
 nete , a larger hamlet, stands near the 
 Guarzun and Cabriel, which flow under 
 the ridge that divides this basin from 
 that of the Jucar. Its old castle was 
 built by one of the great Moya family, 
 whose marquisite lay to the N. between 
 the rivers Cabriel and Alfambra. Utiel 
 has communications with the extraordi- 
 nary salt-mines at Minglanilla through 
 Caudete, the route passing over the 
 Contreras ridge, a wild, broken, and 
 pine-clad country abounding in game. 
 Bequena is a large town, pleasantly 
 situated in a well-irrigated Vega , and 
 once the key of the position: inn in 
 the Calle del Peso. Pop. nearly 10,000. 
 A diligence runs to Valencia. The 
 parish churches, San Salvador and 
 Santa Maria , have good Gothic fa- 
 cades. The road now enters the 
 Cabreras or Cabrillas range, which 
 separates Castile from Valencia. The 
 heights are covered with dwarf pines, 
 the valleys watered by clear streams, 
 of which the rivulets of Bunol, Ya- 
 toba, and Macastre flow into the Re- 
 quena, itself a tributary of the Jucar. 
 Near the Venta de Siete Aguas we 
 enter the charming province of Va- 
 lencia, by a broken defile of ascents 
 and descents, and intersected by 
 streams. From the heights of the Ca- 
 brillas the sunny plains open, studded 
 with sparkling farms and villages, 
 placed in a scene of fertility without 
 rival ; in the distance are the hills 
 
 above Denia, and the blue sea girdle. 
 Not far from Bunol , which lies under 
 the Cabrillas , are some stalactical 
 caves, called las Maravillas , or the 
 Marvels. Chiva used to be notorious 
 for mala gente. Emerging from the 
 hills and passing the wooded plain del 
 Quart , a change comes over vegeta- 
 tion, and we behold the carob, pista- 
 chio, the mulberry, the drooping palm, 
 and tall whispering canes. We now 
 enter the Huerta of Valencia, the para- 
 dise of the Moors ; thus passing from 
 the desert of the hills into a land of 
 promise overflowing with oil and wine. 
 
 Route 107. — Cuenca to Valencia 
 by Minglanilla. 
 
 Valera de Arriba. 
 
 . 5 
 
 
 Buenache de Alarcon 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 ,. 6 
 
 Alarcon 
 
 
 
 Villanueva de la Jara 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 .. 12 
 
 Iniesta 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 15 
 
 Minglanilla 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 ,. ir 
 
 Villagorda .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 .. 20 
 
 Requena .... 
 
 
 ,. 25 
 
 Valencia .... 
 
 . 12 , 
 
 .. 37 
 
 This wild bridle-road — attend to the 
 provend — is full of interest to the art- 
 ist, angler, and geologist. As horses 
 and mules are not easily procured at 
 Cuenca, secure them as soon as pos- 
 sible : there is a shorter cut to Mingla- 
 nilla, but then you miss picturesque 
 Alarcon, which no artist or archaeolo- 
 gist ought to do ; it runs over bad roads 
 through pine-woods by Campillo 1 1 L., 
 where there are two tolerable posadas ; 
 those, however, who find this too long 
 a day’s ride, may sleep the first night 
 at Almodavar del Pinos, 8 L. ; from 
 Campillo de Altobuey to Minglanilla are 
 3 L. The route may be shortened by 
 avoiding Almodavar, and turning off 
 to the 1. through the forest about half 
 a mile after having passed Navarrida, 
 and then proceeding to Monte Agudo — 
 posada wretched — and Paracuellos 9 L. ; 
 at the latter is a clean posada kept by 
 an old soldier Spaniard. Paracuellos 
 may be easily reached on horseback the 
 eveningof the day you leave Cuenca, 9L.; 
 start however early. Then if you set 
 out, a la madrugada, from Paracuellos 
 the next morning, you can reach Min- 
 glanilla in time to see the mines that 
 
814 
 
 ROUTE 107. MIN GL ANILL A — SALT-MINES. 
 
 Sect. XL 
 
 day. At Monte Agudo there is an old 
 castle crowning its pointed conical hill, 
 and just before entering Paracuellos is 
 another fine ruin on the 1. standing on 
 a spur of a hill, which is surrounded by 
 others clad with woods. The main 
 road through Almodavar is rejoined 
 about 7 or 8 miles before reaching 
 Minglanilla . 
 
 Artists and those who have time will 
 do better to pursue R. 107 and go 
 round by Alarcon , fording the rio 
 Moscas, for, as the natives say, flies do 
 not want bridges : Valera , a see under 
 the Goths, pop. 1500, has a ruined 
 castle and some degraded antiquities: at 
 Buenache the cave may be visited (see 
 p. 815); thence to Alarcon, so called, 
 some say, from Alaricon, the city of Alaric 
 the Goth. Pop. about 800. This most 
 picturesque and true Moorish city is 
 built like a miniature Toledo, on a 
 craggy peninsula, hemmed around by 
 the Jucar ; it can only be entered from 
 a narrow neck of land to the E., which 
 has been likened to the handle of a 
 frying-pan, a comparison more appo- 
 site than elegant. The land approach 
 is still guarded by ruined Moorish 
 towers and an Alcazar ; the crumbling 
 walls, gates, and bridges, the steep 
 ascent into the town, with the gardens, 
 water-mills, defiles, and river below, 
 other choice bits for the artist. This 
 now decayed, but once important town, 
 still contains five noble parish churches, 
 whose richness contrasts with the pre- 
 sent poverty. The Santa Maria has 
 a facade of the time of Charles V., 
 with a Gothic interior. The San Juan 
 has a Doric front, and has or had a 
 splendid custodia, made by Christobal 
 Becerril, 1575. The facade of the 
 Trinidad is ornamented with arms and 
 scroll-work of the best time of Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella, but the inside has 
 been modernised: Santiago has an an- 
 cient portal with the mounted tutelar ; 
 in Santo Domingo de Silos is a good, 
 classical high altar. Alarcon was taken 
 from the Moors in 1177 by Fernan 
 Martinez Zevallos, whose descendants 
 hence bore the title of Senores de Alar- 
 con; and it was to Hernando, one of 
 them, that Frangois I. was delivered in 
 charge after the defeat at Pavia. His 
 
 commentaries, ‘ Los HecJios ’ &c., fol. 
 Mad. 1665, with a fine portrait, are 
 truly chivalrous and interesting. This 
 city, in July, 1195, was the scene of 
 such a tremendous battle between the 
 Moors and Alonso VIII. of Castile, 
 that the year became a date among the 
 former, Amu-l-Alark. 
 
 Villanueva de la Jar a is placed, as 
 its name implies, in a region of cistus : 
 Iniesta (broom) indicates on its slope 
 a similar botanical position. Indeed 
 these desolate districts are covered with 
 rich aromatic underwood, in which the 
 bee and ferce naturae delight and mul- 
 tiply. The parroquia at Iniesta is fine ; 
 the portico and Doric fagade of the 
 Casa del Ayuntamiento is good. Pop. 
 3500. 2 L. E. is a sanctuary of the 
 
 Virgin of Consolation, in a sweet spot, 
 much visited by pilgrims every Sep- 
 tember 21. 
 
 Minglanilla : Posada del Sol. Pop. 
 about 1900. The salt-mine lies N.E. 
 from the village, in the bottom of a 
 deep dell in the hills, and is rather a 
 quarry of salt than a mine, for the 
 mineral is a pure deposit ; it may be 
 compared on a smaller scale to the salt- 
 mines at Wieliczka, near Cracow, or 
 to Metzkaya Zastchita, near Orenburg, 
 in Russia. It seems to be inexhaust- 
 ible ; the working affords occupation 
 to the neighbourhood. A permission 
 to visit the place is readily granted. 
 The walk in and out will take an 
 hour, or at least 20 minutes each 
 journey : you must calculate on 2j 
 or 3 hours for the whole excursion. 
 It is worth while to pay for some 
 torches, as when lighted up, the sub- 
 terraneous galleries sparkle like Alad- 
 din caverns of jewels, and by placing 
 them in different spots the extent of 
 the shafts is best perceived : you de- 
 scend by a staircase recently made, 
 some 300 feet, where the most in- 
 teresting parts of the mine occur. 
 Within the few last years the works 
 have been carried on in a regular and 
 scientific manner; large halls have 
 been formed which resemble lofty 
 crypts, with roofs rising to pointed 
 arches ; the sides are cut into massy 
 square piers, between which open 
 arches leading into other aisles : the 
 
The Castiles. route 108 . — cuenca to san clemente. 
 
 815 
 
 effect is that of a darkened cathedral. 
 Many vast halls are being formed in 
 the solid salt by knocking away the 
 floors of the galleries above, and thus 
 throwing the two stories into one : the 
 usual level is about 300 feet from the 
 surface, but there are galleries much 
 below that, although not worked now. 
 The mine has been excavated since 
 the time of the Romans, whose shafts 
 were narrow, and by no means so 
 economical or well ventilated as the 
 present system of hollowing out spa- 
 cious openings. The salt is as hard as 
 crystal, insomuch that a beam inserted 
 horizontally into their walls to the 
 depth of 6 inches would support almost 
 any weight. It is cut with pickaxes 
 and with difficulty : when in block it 
 seems almost black in colour, and only 
 appears white where water, having 
 perforated through the roof, forms 
 stalactites. It is exceedingly pure : 
 very small quantities of prussiate of 
 copper are occasionally found in it. 
 The salt lies in one enormous block, 
 and not in scattered strata as at Hal- 
 lein. The mine is usually worked 
 during 3 months, December, January, 
 and February ; the miners during the 
 rest of the year find a livelihood by 
 agricultural employment : they are 
 paid by piece-work, about one cuartothe 
 arroba. The average annual quantity 
 is about 50,000 fanegas, but it merely 
 goes to supply the demands of the 
 neighbourhood, from the want of roads 
 and means of transport. There is a 
 large storehouse near Minglanilla. 
 
 On quitting the village and con- 
 tinuing Rte. 107, the road crosses over 
 the wild Contreras ridges amid most 
 picturesque *rocks and mountains, into 
 a wooded game country, and so on 2 
 L. to the Gabriel, which joins the river 
 J ucar near Cofruentes (confluentes- 
 Coblenz) : thence it descends into a 
 plain leading through Utiel to Eequena 
 3 L. ; among the pines and rocks occur 
 bits of wild and wooded scenery worthy 
 of Salvator Rosa. 
 
 Those who, having made the Cuenca 
 tpur, wish to visit Murcia before going 
 to Valencia, must regain the high 
 Madrid road at Almansa , and then 
 proceed S. by Rte. 32. 
 
 Route 108. — Cuenca to San 
 Clemente. 
 
 Valdeganga . . . . 3 
 
 Valverde . . . . . 3 . . 6 
 
 Canavete 3 . . 9 
 
 San Clemente .... 3 .. 12 
 
 The route is uninteresting, the vil- 
 lages look ruined, and the districts thinly 
 peopled and poverty-stricken, for few 
 portions of Spain were more often or 
 more truculently ravaged by the in- 
 vaders, especially under La Fontaine, 
 Victor, and Frere. See, for sad de- 
 tails, Schep. iii. 118. 
 
 Excursions near Cuenca. 
 
 These are numerous and full of at- 
 traction for the geologist, lover of 
 lakes, angler, and sportsman : nowhere 
 is the deer-stalker more likely to pick 
 up a stag or two than in the woods 
 about Val de Cobras, which he may; 
 make his head quarters : there is no 
 posada, but he can be lodged at a private 
 house at the end of the town. In our 
 time you might inquire for Miguel 
 Alvarez or Luis de Moral, who are 
 active fellows and not unskilled in 
 woodcraft ; if there is venison in the 
 neighbourhood they will bring him in 
 sight of it ; if not, he will be sure to 
 fall in with some in the mountains 
 near the Nacimiento del Tajo (see R. 
 109), about 5 L. off : he may make his 
 rough head- quarters at Poyatos, near 
 the river Escabas : attend to the pro- 
 vend. At Buenache, 2 L., in its pine- 
 clad valley, is the singular Cueva del 
 Judio, and at Ballesteros, 2 L. south of 
 Cuenca, is a black loch called la La- 
 guna Negra, which is said to have a 
 subterranean communication with that 
 of Fuentes, some cattle drowned in one 
 having reappeared in the other. An- 
 other lake, called el Pogo Ayr on, Pozo 
 Airon, distant 1 L. from Almarcha, is 
 said to be bottomless. There a Don 
 Buesso, according to legend, threw in 
 24 of his mistresses stark naked, one 
 of whom pulled him in after her. 
 These waters have neither fish nor mer- 
 maids in them nevertheless. Near Mon- 
 talvo, 5 L. from Cuenca, with its old 
 
816 
 
 ROUTE 109. — CUENCA TO MADRID. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 castle, is another lake, which however 
 has a bottom and is shallow ; the winter 
 wild-fowl shooting on it is first-rate. 
 Visit the stalactical cave called la 
 Cueva de Petro Cotillas (taking torches), 
 which lies about 3 L. up the delicious 
 valley of the Huecar, near La Cierva , 
 where fine violet jaspers are found. 
 The waters of the Huecar possess a 
 peculiarly fertilizing quality, as its 
 garden fringes evince. The whole 
 route to Palomera , 2 L., in its valley, 
 is ever verdurous from perennial foun- 
 tains , by which Cuenca is well sup- 
 plied with water ; and set in action by 
 an excellent hydraulist in 1 538, named 
 Juan Velez. The Fuente del Frayle , 
 near Palomera, is more worthy of an 
 Egeria than an illote friar. The mills 
 an these streams, the pines and rocks 
 covered with wild flowers, are truly 
 picturesque. 
 
 The botanist and angler will on 
 another day ascend the Jucar, although 
 the fish are shy from eternal poaching. 
 The valley soon widens and becomes 
 quite Swiss-like ; about a mile up are 
 the Fuentes del Bey , where Alonso was 
 encamped : above this, a clear trout- 
 stream waters the plain, having issued 
 from its mountain sources. 2 L. on is 
 the Val de Cobras , famous for pines, 
 which floated down the Tagus to Aran- 
 juez in order to supply Madrid with 
 building timber. The Pinus Ualepensis, 
 called Alvar by the woodmen, is very 
 abundant, lj L. higher up is Una, 
 5 L. from Cuenca, with its laguna, or 
 lake, which being preserved is well 
 stocked with trout ; on it is a movable 
 island (?). Near here are some coal- 
 mines, one of which is of a fine jet or 
 azabache. Those who wish to extend 
 their geological or piscatory pursuits 
 into the mountains, and return to Ma- 
 drid, may take the following line : — 
 
 Route 109. — Cuenca to Madrid by 
 Sacedon. 
 
 Buenache de la Sierra . . 2 
 
 Beamud 3 .. 5 
 
 Tragacete ..... 3 .. 8 
 
 Checa 5 . . 13 
 
 Peralejos. , . . . . 2* . . 15* 
 
 Cueva del Hierro . . . 2 . . Ill 
 
 Beteta l . . 18* 
 
 Canizares 2 . . 20* 
 
 Rciego 2 ..221 
 
 Val de Olivas ... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 24* 
 
 Alcocer 
 
 
 
 Sacedon 
 
 
 
 Aunon 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 30* 
 
 Tendilla 
 
 . 3 * . 
 
 . 34 
 
 La Armilla .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 36 
 
 Santorcaz .... 
 
 . 3* . 
 
 . 39* 
 
 Los Hueros .... 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 42 
 
 Puente de Viveros . . 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 43 
 
 Madrid 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 46 
 
 The mountain portion of this route 
 is a wild bridle-road, and almost with- 
 out accommodation, especially the first 
 13 L. ; take, therefore, a guide, and 
 attend to the provend. At Buenache 
 the purple jaspers vie with those of yel- 
 low and. purple which are found, at the 
 Hoya de Machado , 2j L. E. of Cuenca, 
 where visit the Cueva del Judio. 
 
 Tragacete, pop. about 800, and the 
 only halting-place for the first night, 
 lies below an eminence in a valley girt 
 with hills, and watered by the Jucar, 
 which rises near it ; here are found 
 rock crystals. The next day’s ride 
 plunges into the gnarled and tangled 
 sierras of Albarracin and Molina de Ara- 
 gon; crossing the Cerro de San Felipe at 
 Fuente Garcia, which is their nucleus, 
 the Tagus rises in its snow-girt cradle 
 from a small fountain, el pie isquierdo : 
 the situation is romantic. The valley 
 is hemmed in with the mountains and 
 the Muela de San Juan, or the jaw of 
 St. John, on the heights of which snow 
 remains for eight months of the year. 
 The Tagus flows W., whilst on the 
 opposite ridge rises the Cabriel, a 
 tributary of the Jucar, both excellent 
 trout-streams. These central moun- 
 tain alembics furnish many other rivers 
 besides the Tagus. The Turia or Gua- 
 dalaviar, Wada-l-dbyadh, “ the white 
 river,” rises in the Muela de San Juan 
 and flows to Valencia ; the Mesa, a 
 fine trout-stream, rises opposite in the 
 Fuentes de Jarava and flows into Mo- 
 lina de Aragon, and then into the 
 Tagus. Among other good fishing 
 rivers is the Escabas, which rises in 
 the Cerro Canales, near Tragacete, and 
 flows by Priego to join the Guadiela. 
 The evidences of volcanic action are 
 everywhere manifest, for many lakes 
 are formed out of previous craters, 
 such as those of Barbagada, Mintrosa, 
 Cabdete, and Valmoro. 
 
The Castiles . 
 
 ROUTE 109. — TRAGACETE — BETETA. 
 
 817 
 
 Leaving Tragacete , cross the Cerro 
 de San Felipe into the broken country 
 and pine-woods of Checa , pop. 1200, 
 which is prettily situated on the Ca- 
 brilla. The old ruin the Castil- Griegos , 
 on its hill-peak, and rocky country, is 
 worth sketching and exploring ; thence 
 to Tremedal , which lies to the r. near 
 Orihuela , long famous for its pilgrim 
 shrine and heaven-descended image. 
 The French, under Henriod, sacked 
 Orihuela, Nov. 25, 1809, and blew up 
 the sanctuary, but the image was con- 
 cealed by a peasant, and, after the 
 destroyers retired, was brought back 
 in pomp, and its escape on that occasion 
 has ever since been considered a new 
 miracle (Toreno x.). Picturesque Pe- 
 ralejos de las Truchas , a name which 
 makes the trout-fisher’s mouth water, 
 is a good halting-place. Now we enter 
 the mineral- water district: when at Be- 
 teta visit la Gueva de los Griegos , whose 
 dripping waters have a petrifying qua- 
 lity ; at Los Banos de Rosal is a warm 
 ferruginous rose-tinted spring, with a 
 fountain of sweet water, which issues 
 from underneath the hermitage of this 
 Virgin of the rosebush. The waters 
 have been analysed : see 4 Noticias * 
 4to., Domingo Garcia Fernandez, 
 Mad. 1787. 
 
 Beteta — Arabice “ Splendid ” — and 
 on its hill where it cannot be hid, still 
 preserves portions of its Moorish walls 
 and alcazar. The chief baths are at 
 Solan de Cobras , now called a real 
 sitio , as it has been visited by Charles 
 IV. and Ferdinand VII., for whose 
 accommodation a road was made up 
 the rugged valley. The locality is 
 oval in form and enclosed by pine-clad 
 hills and watered by the Cuervo , a 
 good trout-stream and tributary to the 
 Guadiela. The mineral spring rises 
 under the hill Rebollar , and the baths 
 are close by ; that patronised by roy- 
 alty is dedicated to San Joaquin. 
 Early in the 16th century some shep- 
 herds observed their goats, Cobras , 
 dipping themselves when afflicted 
 with cutaneous complaints, and, by 
 following their beasts’ example, dis- 
 covered the secret. The bathing sea- 
 son is from June 15 to Sept. 15, when 
 
 waters are used both internally and 
 externally: their taste is subacid, with 
 a mean heat of 17° above zero, Reau- 
 mur. They are slightly unctuous to 
 the touch, as containing petroleum, 
 and also hydro-chlorates of soda and 
 magnesia, combined with carbonic acid 
 gas. From these baths there is a car- 
 riageable road to Madrid; they may 
 also be approached from Cuenca by a 
 shorter route than this just described ; 
 it is only 10 L., and runs through 
 Priego , 7 L., where there is a large and 
 tolerable posada. Pop. about 1100. The 
 place is beautifully situated on an emi- 
 nence above the trout-stream Escabas , 
 near which are also many montes y 
 dehesas that abound with stags and 
 game, especially the district near the 
 truly sequestered Pesierto, a convent 
 founded by Charles III. Priego, 
 seated at the foot of the Sierra, com- 
 bines the productions of hill and plain, 
 and is a good quarter for the artist 
 and sportsman. The bread, mutton, 
 and wines are excellent and cheap, 
 but the peasantry are poverty-stricken 
 amid this plenty. It has a ruined 
 castle, an old Gothic church, and a 
 new one begun by Miguel Lopez, with 
 a rustic belfry in the Brunelleschi style. 
 The botany is highly interesting; 
 near it the beautiful Trabaque flows 
 into the Guadiela, when the united 
 clear sea-green waters wind into the 
 Tagus through red sandstone rocks, 
 with charming artistical bridges and 
 mills. After passing decayed Alcocer 
 the country alters in character, and 
 we quit the basin of the Guadiela, and 
 strike across to Sacedon , pop. 1200 ;.it is 
 placed in a picturesque hill- girt valley 
 on the clear Tagus, with a well-built 
 imposing church. The warm baths, 
 the ancient Thermida, are much fre- 
 quented in the season from June to 
 September by the sickly Madrilehos , 
 when a gondola of the Carsi y Ferrer 
 Company goes backwards and forwards 
 in sixteen hours. The waters were 
 analysed in 1801, and are described in 
 a treatise published that year at Ma- 
 drid by Villalpanda. Consult also the 
 treatises of Santoyo, 4to. Mad. 1759; 
 and the translation, by Mariano Pizzi 
 
818 
 
 LORD PETERBOROUGH. — ROUTE 110. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 y Frangeschi, of the curious tratado 
 written in Arabic by Agmer ben Ab- 
 dalla, a Toledan physician, 4to., Mad. 
 1761, Manuel de B. S. Castellanos. 
 The principal ingredients are muriate 
 of chalk and magnesia ; the mineralogy 
 in the vicinity is curious. Certain 
 crystals are found here marked with 
 oxides of iron, and called piedras de 
 San Isidro after the patron of Madrid. 
 Ferdinand VJI. created a small bath- 
 ing-town near the spring, which is now 
 called el Real Sitio de la Isabela. 
 
 About 7 L. to the 1. lies Huete. Pa - 
 rador de las Diligencias. Pop. about 2500. 
 This once flourishing place is placed 
 in a hill-girt plain, with the ruins of a 
 castle on a peak. The plaza del Reloj , 
 with its clock- tower, is used for bull- 
 fighting. Huete is a city of ill fame, 
 since the proverb says, Huete , miralo y 
 vete ; look at it and begone ; and here, 
 in 1706, the baggage of Lord Peter- 
 borough was plundered by the villagers, 
 who also butchered some English 
 prisoners ; thereupon our general took 
 the place, but, in spite of just provoca- 
 tion, mercy being the badge of true 
 British nobility, our Victor neither 
 burnt it, nor ravaged the plain, a la 
 Medellin or TJcles ; he merely ascended 
 to the convent, into which all the 
 women had taken refuge from our 
 doubly gallant countryman’s appre- 
 hended vengeance, not to see the 
 retablo or carvings by Becerra, but on 
 the pretence of making a fortification, 
 and “ really only to have a peep at the 
 pretty cowering covey.” Peterborough 
 after this retired from Spain, disgusted 
 at her thankless government : his irri- 
 tated feelings were thus tersely but 
 harshly expressed in a letter to “ old 
 Sarah “ The most disagreeable 
 country in the world is Spain, her offi- 
 cers the greatest robbers, her soldiers 
 the greatest cowards. The only toler- 
 able thing is your sex, and that is at- 
 tended with the greatest dangers.” — 
 (Mahon, v. 214.) 
 
 Quitting Sacedon we enter some wild 
 pine-clad defiles and after the narrow 
 rocky pass, the Boca del Infierno , 
 emerge into the gorge of the Tagus, 
 which is crossed at the Puente de Aunon ; 
 
 thence through oak and olive-clad 
 table-land, into a deep valley with a 
 sweetly-situated convent, to Tendilla , 
 pop. 800, now decayed, but once the 
 stronghold of the mighty Mendozas, 
 whose ruined alcazar, with good portal 
 and towers, still frowns right feu- 
 dally. The first Alcaide ever ap- 
 pointed of the Alhambra took his title 
 from this town. Madrid lies 12. L. 
 distant. Those who have not seen 
 Guadalajara and Alcala de Henares may 
 return by R. 114, or they may pro- 
 ceed to Arenana , 1 L., across the 
 Tajuna to Orche , 1 L., perched on a 
 notch of the hills, with its steep streets. 
 Consult its ‘ Historia,’ JuanTalamanco, 
 4 to. Mad. 1748. This book, full of 
 monkish miracles and local nonsense 
 worthy of the darkest age, contains 
 curious details of Stanhope’s cam- 
 paigns. Hence, 2 L., over corn land, 
 to Guadalajara , which is long seen 
 from afar. The ride from Cuenca takes 
 some 10 hours. There is a shorter 
 route from Cuenca to Madrid by the 
 plains and over a wild upland and 
 woodland country abounding in game. 
 
 Route 110. — Cuenca to Madrid yia 
 Guadalajara. 
 
 Leaving Cuenca by the Madrid road, 
 at about 1 mile turn to r., and then 
 over undulating corn plains reach Aloes , 
 \ L. ; thence to Chillaron, f L., and to 
 Puentes claras , If on an eminence. 
 Keep now to r. to Soloja, 1 L., thence 
 to Culebras , 1 L., where you can dine 
 and rest ; the church is nicely situated 
 in the centre of the village on a ter- 
 raced height ; thence to Villarejo da 
 Espartel , 2 L., Villalba , 2 L., and so on 
 to S a - Isabela , 1^, and Sacedon, 1^, a 
 long ride of 10 or 11 hours. Those 
 who are proceeding from Cuenca either 
 to Valencia or Zaragoza, and wish to 
 visit portions of these geological moun- 
 tains and piscatory valleys, should 
 make for Teruel , from whence roads 
 diverge into Aragon and Valencia, 
 which, although they do not strictly 
 come into this section, may for conve- 
 nience’ sake be now described. 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 111. — AM ANTES DE TERUEL. 
 
 819 
 
 Route 111. — Cuenca to Teruel. 
 
 Buenache .... 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Tragacete .... 
 
 . 5 .. 
 
 8 
 
 Frias 
 
 . 3 1 .. 
 
 111 
 
 Albarracin .... 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 141 
 
 Venta de Falantre . . 
 
 . 24- .. 
 
 17 
 
 Teruel 
 
 . 21 .. 
 
 191 
 
 Attend to the pro vend, and take a 
 local guide, for the country is wild, 
 and the roads rough and intricate, but 
 they lead into districts the joy of the 
 sportsman and geologist, who is ear- 
 nestly requested to forward his notes 
 to Mr. Murray for the benefit of future 
 travellers. This country, a portion of 
 the Idubedan chain, is of a truly alpine 
 character ; the roads are rough and 
 wild, the pine-forests tangled, the fos- 
 sils and petrifications infinite. It is 
 the mountain alembic or source of 
 many rivers. The muela de San Juan , 
 the highest peak, rises some 5280 ft. 
 For the route to Tragacete , see p. 816. 
 Albarracin , the city of Aben Razin, is 
 a wild mountain town — pop. under 
 2000 — and built, with its cathedral, 
 beneath an eminence on which the 
 older city stood, as its walls and ruins 
 denote. The broken Barranco of the 
 Guadalaviar is picturesque ; here the 
 winter’s snows and cold are severe. 
 The districts are thinly peopled with 
 a pastoral peasantry, who breed sheep 
 of a small size, but which furnish good 
 wool and excellent cutlets. The pine- 
 woods provide fuel for numerous fer- 
 rerias or smithies, in which the abun- 
 dant iron ores are as rudely smelted 
 as in the days of the Celtiberians. 
 The air is scented far and wide with 
 the perfume of wild flowers — the ad- 
 vertisements by which Flora attracts 
 her tiny - winged customers for no 
 biped botanist has ever investigated 
 these neglected sweets. The honey is 
 delicious, and Moya , with the hills 
 near the Cabriel, are the Hymettus of 
 Spain ; from hence probably came the 
 mel excellente hispanicum, which is 
 lauded by Petr. Arbiter (66). 
 
 Teruel , situated in Aragon, is the 
 chief town of its province ; pop. about 
 7000 ; the posada in the C. de los Ricos 
 Uombres is tolerable. Seen from afar, 
 with its old walls, gates, and Aragonese 
 
 towers, the city has an imposing look ; 
 it rises above its well -wooded Vega on 
 the Turia, which is here joined by the 
 Alfambra, a river fertile in fossils, and 
 both are good fishing-streams. The in- 
 terior of the town is solid and gloomy. 
 The cathedral, raised to a see in 1577, 
 is dark and much disfigured by stucco 
 and churrigueresque. The Corinthian 
 stalls in the quire are good, and still 
 better is the cinque-cento retablo, a 
 noble work by Gabriel Yoli, a French 
 sculptor, who flourished here about 
 1538. Observe also the portal and 
 columns of the splendid Capilla de la 
 Epifania; to the r. of the transept is a 
 picture of the eleven thousand Virgins, 
 by Antonio Bisquert, 1628, a rare Va- 
 lencian artist, by whom is a retablo in 
 the Capilla de los Reyes. The reja del 
 coro is fine ; look also at the custodia . 
 The bishop’s palace has a grand patio, 
 although the upper corredor offends 
 from having more pillars than the 
 under ones, which thus are placed on 
 crowns of the arches. In the Parro- 
 quia de San Pedro is another fine retablo 
 by Yoli, with pictures of the tutelars, 
 San Joaquin and Santa Teresa, by 
 Bisquert. All those whose hearts have 
 ever been touched by the tender flame 
 should visit the cloisters, in which are 
 preserved the remains of the “ lovers 
 of Teruel,” so familiar to readers of 
 Spanish plays. The names of these 
 Peninsular Helo'isa and Abelard were 
 Isabel de Segura and Juan Diego Mar- 
 tinez de Marcilla. They died in 1217, 
 and their skeletons, the grand lion of 
 Teruel , were brought here in 1708. 
 See 4 Los Amantes de Teruel ,’ by Perez 
 de Montalban ; ditto Juan Yaque de 
 Salas, 8vo. Val. 1616. 
 
 In the church of Santiago is a retablo 
 and a fine dead Christ by Bisquert, who 
 evidently formed his eclectic style on 
 Ribalta, the Carraccis, and Sebastian del 
 Piombo : Bisquert died in 1646 from 
 grief that Francisco Ximenez should 
 have been chosen instead of himseli 
 to paint the “Adoration of the Kings” 
 in the cathedral. His works are very 
 rare, scarcely known in Spain, and 
 absolutely unknown out of it. The 
 San Salvador contains a marvellous 
 image, el Cristo de las tres manos — the 
 
820 
 
 ROUTE 112 .- — TERUEL TO CALATAYUD. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 Cerberus of antiquity bad three heads 
 — and a huge skeleton, greatly prayed 
 to and looked at by the natives. 
 
 The former Colegio de Jesuitas , now 
 the Seminar io Auxiliar, is a fine building. 
 Look carefully at the aqueduct, los Ar cos 
 de Teruel , which is worthy of the Ro- 
 mans in form, intention, and solidity. 
 It was raised in 1555-60 by a most 
 skilful French architect named Pierres 
 Bedel. The antiquarian should notice 
 the Moorish watch-tower San Martin, 
 near the gate Andaquilla , and the other 
 tower called the Lombadera , to the N. 
 of the city. Teruel bears for arms its 
 river, a bull (Toro, Teruel), and a star 
 above it. 
 
 We are now in the centre of the 
 volcano-disturbed nucleus. At Caudete , 
 pop. 600, on its slope over a pretty 
 Vega, and Concud , 1 L., are some of the 
 largest bone deposits in Europe, which, 
 as they have only been meagrely men- 
 tioned by Bowles, now clamour loudly 
 for a Dr. Buckland. The bones are 
 found in every possible state, fossil 
 and otherwise, and it has been con- 
 jectured, from the number of human 
 remains, that some great battle must 
 have been fought here : the Cueva 
 Eubia , a Kirkdale on a large scale, de- 
 serves particular investigation. The 
 town and all the districts were sacked 
 by Suchet, who spared neither church 
 nor cottage, age nor sex. 
 
 Route 112. — Teruel to Calatayud. 
 
 Caudete 
 
 . 2 
 
 
 Villarquemada . . 
 
 . 2 , 
 
 .. 4 
 
 Torremocha .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 .. 6 
 
 Villafranca del Campo 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 .. 8 
 
 Monreal del Campo 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 ...10 
 
 Camin real .... 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . . 11 
 
 Calamocha .... 
 
 2 . 
 
 . . 13 
 
 Vaguena 
 
 . 3 , 
 
 .. 16 
 
 Daroca 
 
 
 
 Retascon .... 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 ,. 19 
 
 Miedes 
 
 3 . 
 
 ,. 22 
 
 Belmonte . . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 ,. 24 
 
 Calatayud .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 , . 26 
 
 This was the old Roman road from 
 Tarragona to Bilbilis, and that taken by 
 Martial (x. 104) ; nor are matters much 
 changed, as you may “ perhaps” (for- 
 sitan, as he says) be able to do the same 
 distance in a coche in the same time that 
 he did. By this line Ferdinand VII. 
 
 came down to Valencia on his return 
 from his captivity in France. At Earoca 9 
 April 11, 1814, lie heard of the down- 
 fall of Buonaparte, and forthwith me- 
 ditated upsetting the Cortes, an act to 
 which, had he been anything loth, 
 which he was not, the nation itself 
 would have driven him. Sick of the 
 incapacity and profligacy of its mis- 
 rulers and their paper constitutions, 
 and desponding in all their nostrums, 
 Spain rushed headlong into the arms 
 of a legitimate chief, and, flying from 
 petty tyrants, welcomed even a des- 
 potism, in which it saw power , hoping 
 under its safeguard to find peace and 
 protection ; but such ever has been and 
 will be the tabula post naufragium, the 
 great rock in a weary land. This des- 
 potism is but the which 
 
 Polybius (iv. 46) considered the con- 
 sequence and Euthanasia of democracy. 
 Spain, in welcoming back the Bourbons, 
 resembled Rome when leaping into the 
 absolutism of Tiberius, who, like Fer- 
 dinand, despised his slaves, “ Oh ho- 
 mines ad servitutem paratos.” (Tacit. 
 
 ‘ An.’ iii. 65). The grandees set the 
 example of putting on legitimate chains 
 —all hastened, to use the words of the 
 same philosopher (An. i. 2, 7), “ ruere 
 in servitium; consules, patres, eques, 
 quanto quis inlustrio, tanto magis falsi 
 ac festinantes, — lacrimas, gaudium, 
 questus, adulationes miscebant.” 
 
 This was a reaction, which trans- 
 pyrenean penny-a-liners and wonder- 
 ers, who knew nothing of Spain and 
 Spaniards, have not yet got over : they 
 have never ceased to denounce Ferdi- 
 nand as a Nero and monster ; but he 
 was only the head of the serpent, 
 whose progress is forced by its tail. 
 “ If the king should return, ” foresaw 
 the Duke (Disp. Sept. 3, 1813), “he 
 will overturn the whole fabric if he 
 has any spirit and he did. 
 
 After crossing the bone and fossil 
 district, the road follows the Jiloca, 
 which rises near Celda , a hamlet, whose 
 parroquia contains an excellent pla- 
 teresque retablo. Monreal (pop. 1500) 
 was founded in 1120 by Alonso I. of 
 Arragon, as a check upon Earoca , 
 which he did not take from the Moors 
 until two years after. Earoca (pop. 
 
The Castiles. route 112. — daroca — los corporales. 
 
 821 
 
 2200) has a decent posada. The name 
 Dar-Auca indicates more clearly that 
 it was once the Douar or residence of 
 the tribe of Auca , than, as some say, 
 of a Roman family of that name ; now 
 it is the chief place of the fertile basin 
 of the Jiloca, and of a district abound- 
 ing in corn and wine. The position 
 is very picturesque, placed in a hill- 
 girt valley, around which rise emi- 
 nences defended by Moorish walls, old 
 castles, and crenelated towers ; these 
 follow the irregular declivities, and 
 command charming views. Daroca , 
 
 lying as it were in a funnel, is much 
 liable to inundations ; hence a gran 
 mina or tunnel has been cut, by which 
 an outlet is afforded to the swollen 
 waters ; the passage, when dry, is used 
 also as a rambla , or road. This work of 
 truly Roman utility and magnificence 
 was executed in ] 560 by Pierres Bedel, 
 the same able Frenchman who raised 
 the Teruel aqueduct. The tunnel is 
 2340 ft. long, 24 ft. wide, and 24 ft. high . 
 
 But Daroca boasts of other marvels 
 than this. First comes La Rueda, or 
 mill-wheel, which during an inunda- 
 tion at night of the 14th of July, 1575, 
 rolled away of its own accord, and 
 broke open the city gates, thereby 
 letting out the waters and saving the 
 townsfolk, for the watchmen and war- 
 dens were fast asleep. This piece of 
 good luck happened very appropriately 
 on the day of San Buenaventura , where- 
 upon the good wheel, worthy of Michael 
 Angelo Buonaroti,was enclosed as a relic 
 in the Calle Mayor. The second mar- 
 vel was the stone man, the petrified 
 body of one Pedro Bisagra, which was 
 placed in La Trinidad , with a basket 
 on its arm. This fossil, when alive, 
 was in the habit of stealing grapes, 
 and, being once caught flagrante de- 
 licto, denied the fact, adding that he 
 hoped, if he told a lie, that los Santos 
 Corporales would turn him into stone, 
 which they forthwith did ; the culprit 
 in the saxeous change lost two-thirds 
 of his original height, contracting like 
 a shut-up telescope. The Pagans 
 omitted as unworthy of history the 
 legend of the Nauplian ass, who was 
 turned into stone for biting vine 
 branches. (Paus. ii. 38. 3.) 
 
 Spain. — II. 
 
 The third marvel of Daroca is 
 los Santos Corporales , or, as they are 
 here called, el Santo Misterio , which 
 are preserved in the Colegiata. This 
 fine Gothic church, built by Juan 
 II. of Arragon, who died in 1479, was 
 altered in 1587 by Juan Marron, 
 who wrought the Corinthian portal 
 and the bas-relief of the misterio . 
 The tower is much older, having 
 been raised in 1441 by the queen of 
 Alonso V. The Doric chapel in which 
 the relics are guarded has a cinque- 
 cento retahlo , with black marble Salo- 
 minic columns, and an Ascension of 
 the Virgin sculptured in 1682 by Fran- 
 cisco Franco. The reader who wishes 
 for all the authentic details of the 
 legend must consult 4 La Historia de los 
 Corporales Gaspar Miguel de la Cueva, 
 8vo., Alcald, 1 553. The tale soon went 
 into a second edition, 8vo., Zaragoza, 
 1590; see also 4 Historia del Divino Mys - 
 terio, 3 Diego Dormer, duo., Zaragoza, 
 1635; ( Disertacion Historical Dr. Gil 
 Lissa y Guevara, 4to., Zaragoza, 1690; 
 4 Historia? Man. Ortigas, 4to., Zara- 
 goza, 1645; the 4 Rasgo’ of Moya, p. 
 113; 4 Coronica de Espaiia ,’ Beuther, 
 Valencia, 1604, ii. 42. The authentic 
 facts briefly stated are as follows : — 
 In 1239, one Don Berenguer Dentenza 
 was besieging the castle of Chio, near 
 Bellus, in Valencia, when 20,000, some 
 say 30,000, Moors came to its relief, 
 whereupon this Spanish Dentatus sal- 
 lied forth with five men-of-arms 
 to drive them back. The curate of 
 Daroca had previously consecrated six 
 hostias , but before the party could 
 communicate, the infidels attacked 
 them ; thereupon the priest ran away, 
 but first he wrapped the six wafers up 
 in their Corporales , or napkins (Anglice, 
 corporax ), and threw them into some 
 bushes. The six Spaniards, as usual 
 in these tales and times, defeated the 
 multitudinous Moors, and, when the 
 coast was clear, the curate reappeared, 
 looked for and found his Corporales. 
 They now contained, instead of six 
 wafers, six bits of bleeding flesh, by 
 which miracle the mystery of transub- 
 stantiation was incontestably proved. 
 But now the five soldiers — corporals? 
 — wanted each to secure the treasure in 
 2 o 
 
822 
 
 ROUTE 112. — DAROCA — TRANSUBSTANTIATION. Sect. XI. 
 
 the corporax, and the question was thus 
 decided : — They were put in a box, and 
 placed on the curate’s mule, it being 
 agreed that wherever the beast halted, 
 there the Corporates should remain 
 for good. The mule returned alone 
 to Daroca, although more than 100 
 miles off, and over mountains with- 
 out roads, and knelt down at his 
 master’s parish church : his rude por- 
 trait, carved in marble, is still shown. 
 From that moment offerings poured 
 in, whereby many souls were saved, 
 and the church much enriched. 
 
 Daroca blazons on its shield “six 
 Hostias” thus eclipsing Gallicia and 
 Lugo. It assumed these bearings in 
 lieu of its former honourable distinc- 
 tion, six geese, the canting Ocas ; and it 
 asserts in its motto — non facet talitur 
 in omni orbe — that this miracle is 
 the only one and singular. There 
 were no Handbooks in their days ; 
 since few pious papal frauds are more 
 in the plural number: compare the 
 event at Bolsena, the bleeding wafers 
 at Gorcum, and the St. Sacrement 
 des Miracles at Bruxelles. This local 
 miracle, by a happy coincidence, oc- 
 curred, in fact, much about the time 
 that a Hostia bled at Viterbo, whereby 
 Urban VI. was induced, in 1263, to 
 institute the festival of Corpus Christi, 
 whose presence thus locally and cor- 
 poreally in the wafer was doubly 
 proved ; and no Christian country has 
 offered more wonderful evidences of 
 the great fact than Spain ; thus at 
 Ivorra , near Castelfolit , the grand relic 
 is called Lo Sant dupte , the holy doubt , 
 not dupe , because in the 12th century 
 the curate, having consecrated the 
 wafer, doubted whether it contained 
 mortal blood, whereupon so much 
 gushed out that the altar was inun- 
 dated, and the cloth by which it was 
 wiped up became relics (see Ponz. xiv. 
 152). Again, at Valencia, when a 
 church was burnt down, it was found 
 that a Corporax remained quite un- 
 consumed, and the asbestic relic na- 
 turally became an object of universal 
 veneration. 
 
 If our readers will turn to Leon, p. 
 552, to Lugo, p. 591, to the Escorial, 
 p. 757, they will see how great is the 
 
 worship and adoration paid in Spain 
 to the Santa Forma , or consecrated 
 host ; but to those who sincerely be- 
 lieve in transubstantiation, this ado- 
 ration must be the necessary conse- 
 quence ; for here the Saviour is locally 
 present in the flesh, and not in his 
 glorified body, in which alone, as being 
 an immortal Spirit, he truly exists, 
 and in such a glory, as at the trans- 
 figuration and as at calling of St. Paul, 
 mortal eye may not behold. 
 
 The doctrine of transubstantiation 
 was first invented about 831, but it 
 soon died away, until the 11th century, 
 when it was revived and finally esta- 
 blished in 1215 at the fourth Lateran 
 Council, from which all Protestants, 
 and with perfect reason, dissent. Thus 
 the very institution which the divine 
 founder of Christianity meant to be 
 the symbol of common membership 
 with him, and of a religious fellowship 
 of all mankind among each other, has 
 been perverted by Rome into the test 
 and touchstone of religious separation. 
 It is impossible to understand Spanish 
 fine art and customs, without some 
 notion of the manner in which the 
 Gospel record of the Sacrament is here 
 systematically set at nought. Here 
 spirituality has been altogether cor- 
 porealised, and the letter and meaning 
 of the institution departed from. First 
 of all no “ bread is broken” but a 
 stamped wafer substituted ; next, the 
 cup of which “ drink ye all ” was the 
 command, is denied to the laity. The 
 Saviour, in the institution of this 
 solemn commemoration, replaced the 
 pasqual lamb of the Passover of the 
 old law by a more touching memorial, 
 in remembrance of himself, and when 
 the new perfect revelation was complete. 
 The Spaniard, however, prefers using 
 the consecrated elements in the old 
 Pagan acceptation of Hostia , a living 
 victim offered in sacrifice , which con- 
 tradicts the evidence of our senses, and 
 would lead even a poor Pagan to ex- 
 claim again, “ Ecquam tarn amentem 
 esse putas qui illud quo vescatur Deum 
 esse credat?” (Cicero, ‘N.D.’ iii. 16). 
 
 It is obvious, if the people can be 
 made to believe that the priest has the 
 power, at his own good pleasure, to 
 
The Casfiles. route 112. — daroca — transubstantiation. 
 
 823 
 
 call down the Deity from heaven and 
 carry him in his hands, that this invo- 
 cator and minister must rise above 
 common humanity. Accordingly, when 
 all kneel to the elevated host, they in 
 reality kneel to the priest, who, standing 
 on the raised altar, looks indeed down 
 on the inferior flock beneath him ; and 
 in order to rivet this pre-eminence 
 outside of the church as well as inside, 
 the law of John I., 1387, declares that 
 all persons shall kneel at its presence, 
 even Jews or Moors (see lib. i. tit. 1, 
 ley 2). The wafer is spoken of, and 
 treated as God himself, as “ Su Majes- 
 tad and its presence is announced by 
 a bell, at which all must bend the knee, 
 as we have often seen done at Seville, 
 even when a river so wide as the Gua- 
 dalquivir flowed between, and also 
 during dinner at a captain-general’s, 
 when all rose and knelt at the bal- 
 conies. The populace, on hearing the 
 ringing, cry out, “ Dios, Dios” and un- 
 cover ; hence the proverb, “ Al Bey 
 viendoloyd Dios oyendolo.” This homage 
 is paid to the king on seeing him — 
 to God on hearing him ; but the Pro- 
 testant traveller will do well never to 
 offend the weaker brethren by refusing 
 to join in the universal bowing to that 
 name at which all may well bow ; in- 
 deed, a few years ago a recusant would 
 have been torn to pieces by the mob. 
 It is usual whenever the host is being 
 carried to a dying person, that the 
 persons in the first carriage it meets 
 should descend and make room for the 
 priest, a custom to which royalty 
 ostentatiously conforms. Again on 
 every Easter Monday the host is taken 
 in a magnificent procession to the 
 houses of those sick, los impedidos , who 
 had been hindered from communicating 
 in the church; then the streets are 
 tapestried as if for the passage of the 
 sovereign, while the priest, bearing 
 the Viril, rides in triumph in a gilt 
 coach, attended by the chief inhabit- 
 ants, and looks out complacently on the 
 multitude, who kneel on each side, 
 crossing themselves and beating their 
 breasts most orientally (Herod, ii. 40, 
 Larcher’s note, and Luke, xviii. 13). 
 When the medical men have done their 
 worst, and even relics prove in vain, 
 
 then the host, now termed el viatico, is 
 given to the patient, with a ceremony, 
 noise, &c., which generally removes 
 him to a better world. 
 
 The abuses and profanation to which 
 this transubstantiation daily leads in 
 Spain can scarcely be alluded to. First 
 a credence table is ready to test God’s 
 blood, as by it the Dominicans poisoned 
 the emperor Henry III., whence the 
 Pontiff himself drinks it through a reed. 
 Again, at every bull-fight the priest 
 attends with the consecrated wafer, 
 in case it may be required for any 
 fatally wounded, it being taken away 
 again if not wanted. Again, the lord 
 mayor’s show procession of the wafer 
 on Corpus Christi Day is the sight of 
 many towns ; and as such is brought 
 out at other times to amuse royalty 
 (see p. 364). These remarks might 
 be infinitely extended, but the subject 
 is one which Protestants scarcely can 
 venture to approach, however much 
 familiarity and the lowering tendencies 
 of materializing the spiritual may have 
 accustomed Spaniards to behold, and 
 even to jest at such lamentable desecra- 
 tions. This miracle has done good 
 service to high art— witness Raphael’s 
 grand picture of its coming off at 
 Bolsena. 
 
 Daroca has six other parish churches. 
 Visit Santiago , whose facade is hand- 
 some, while inside is a picture of 
 the battle of Clavijo , by Ambrosio 
 Plano, a native artist. Daroca and 
 the whole district were dreadfully 
 ravaged in Nov. 1809, by the in- 
 vaders under Clopicki ; and yet Fer- 
 dinand VII., when restored by England, 
 selected this place to give a hurried 
 proof of his gratitude, even before he 
 reached Madrid ; so he here issued a 
 decree directing the day of San Jose' to 
 be particularly celebrated, in order to 
 “ purify ” immaculate Spain from the 
 taint of heretics, meaning his English 
 deliverers; and, not contented with 
 this, he soon re-established the “ Holy 
 Tribunal,” professedly for the same 
 reasons and object. There is a local 
 history of Daroca, ‘ Antigiiedades’ Cris- 
 tobal Nunez y Quilez, 4to., Zaragoza, 
 1691, and another by Orrios. 
 
 The botanist in these parts will find 
 2 o 2 
 
824 
 
 ROUTE 113. — TERUEL TO VALENCIA. 
 
 Sect, XI. 
 
 a wide and hitherto almost uninvesti- 
 gated field ; the fruit is excellent, 
 especially the pears called pera pan 
 and cuero de dama , and the camuesa 
 apple. South of Daroca , in the plain 
 of Bello and by the road side, is its 
 brackish lake la Gallocanta , near which 
 barilla, saxifrage, and other salitrose 
 plants abound. The waters of this 
 lake Gallocanta rose Sept. 11, 1854, and 
 overflowed the causeway and walls of 
 Daroca, the tunnel proved insufficient ; 
 the country below was devastated, and 
 the fountain of San Pedro carried away, 
 the wonderful Wheel and Corporales 
 to the contrary notwithstanding. Be- 
 yond it lies Villar del Saz , where there 
 are iron-mines which furnish for Cala- 
 tayud (see Rte. 114) a mineral of im- 
 memorial celebrity. Those who do 
 not wish to go to Calatayud may cut 
 across 16 L. by Carinena (pop. 3400), 
 in whose cereal campo the fine wines 
 el ojo de gallo and bianco imperial are 
 grown, which form the usual beve- 
 rages of Zaragoza. Those who are 
 pressed for time may leave out Daroca 
 altogether, by turning off at Lechayo. 
 
 Molina de Aragon lies 9 L. S.W. of 
 Daroca; pop. 3500. It is the capital 
 of its Senorio , or Lordship, conquered 
 in 1129 by Alonso el batallador, and 
 incorporated with the Castilian crown 
 by the marriage of the heiress Maria 
 with Sancho el Bravo in 1293, and 
 the king is entitled the Sehor . The 
 city lies with a S. aspect on a castle- 
 crowned slope over the Gallo, an ex- 
 cellent trout-stream, and is protected 
 by its ancient walls and alcazar from 
 the N. winds. Near the city are 
 hydro-sulphuric mineral baths. The 
 whole of this district was mercilessly 
 ravaged by the invaders in Nov. 1810, 
 when three parts of the unhappy city 
 were burnt, and all the neighbouring 
 villages sacked ; the French remem- 
 bered. and revenged the ancient hatred 
 evinced by these districts to their an- 
 cestors, which was manifested again 
 in 1808. This country was ceded to 
 Du Guesclin and his “ compagnies des 
 pillards” (see Navarrete), by Henrique 
 II., in recompense for their services in 
 enabling him to dethrone his brother; 
 but, impatient of the iron yoke of 
 
 French dictation, the people rose 
 against their new masters, and im- 
 plored the aid of Pedro IV. of Aragon. 
 The name of Du Guesclin — this French 
 Cid — was long used in Spain as a bug- 
 bear to frighten naughty children, just 
 as those of Chandos and Malbrook were 
 in France, or that of our Richard Cceur 
 de Lion — Melee Ric — was in Palestine. 
 He was born in Brittany about 1320. 
 The name, properly written, was either 
 Glazequin orChaquin: see his curious 
 Chronique by Cavelier, of the 14th cen- 
 tury, edited by E. Charriere, 2 vols. 
 4to. Paris, 1839. This metrical ac- 
 count, in some 30,000 verses, may be 
 compared to the Poema del Cid , and 
 the lives and histories of individuals 
 were then equivalent to general history. 
 Consult also ‘ Historia’ by Diego de 
 Castrejon y Fonseca, duo. Mad. 1641 ; 
 ‘ Antigiiedad del Senorio de Molina 
 Diego Sanchez Porto Carrero, Mad. 
 1641 ; ‘ Molina Vindicada,’ Antonio Mo- 
 reno, 4to. Mad. 1762. 
 
 Route 113.— Teeuel to Valencia. 
 
 Puebla de Valverde . . 3 
 
 Sarrion 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 51 
 
 Barracas 
 
 . 31 . 
 
 . 9 
 
 Jerica 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 12 
 
 Segorbe 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 14 
 
 Torres torres . . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 17 
 
 Murviedro .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 19 
 
 Albalat 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 21 
 
 Valencia 
 
 
 
 Valverde , placed on a chilly emi- 
 nence, contains 1500 souls. The Ionic 
 portal to the parroquia is of the date 
 1591. Sarrion has a mineral fountain, 
 called la, Escaleruela. Crossing the 
 rugged Javalambre chain, leaving the 
 Pena Golosa to the 1., is Alventoso on its 
 rocky wind- blown knoll, placed over a 
 dip well watered by the confluents of 
 the Mijares , thence over a wild, rough 
 country we enter the province of Va- 
 lencia at Barracas, whose hills, as well 
 as those of La Pina , abound in game. 
 Soon descending into the pleasant fertile 
 Huertas of Jerica, cold Aragon is ex- 
 changed for genial Valencia. Jerica 
 (Jericho), pop. 3000, with a ruined 
 castle, is placed under a slope on the 
 banks of the Palancia, which is 
 here crossed by a good bridge, built 
 in 1570 by Juan de Munatones, bishop 
 
The Castiles . 
 
 ROUTE 114. — BATTLE OF ARDOZ. 
 
 825 
 
 of Segorbe. Many Roman inscriptions 
 are found, in this district. The parro- 
 quia has an elaborate stone portal ; 
 hence to Segorbe (see Index). 
 
 Route 114. — Madrid to Zaragoza. 
 
 Puente de Yiveros ... 3 
 
 Alcala de Henares . . 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 54 
 
 Venta de Meco . . . 
 
 . 14 . 
 
 . 1 
 
 Guadalajara .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 10 
 
 Torija 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 13 
 
 Grajanejos .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 16 
 
 Almadrones . . . 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 184 
 
 Torremocha. 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 214 
 
 Bujarrabal .... 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 24 
 
 Lodares 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 264 
 
 Arcos de Medinaceli . 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 29 
 
 Huerta 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 31 
 
 Monreal de Ariza . . 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 32 
 
 Cetina 
 
 
 . 34 
 
 Alania 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 35 
 
 Bubierca .... 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 36 
 
 Ateca 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 38 
 
 Calatayud .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 40 
 
 Frasno 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 43 
 
 Almunia .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 46 
 
 Venta de la Ramera . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 49 
 
 Muela 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 51 
 
 Garrapinillos . . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 53 
 
 Zaragoza 
 
 
 
 There is some talk of a railroad be- 
 tween Madrid and Zaragoza, to be 
 carried on to Barcelona ; meanwhile 
 the old and most uninteresting camino 
 real is taken by the diligence. There 
 are also minor branch diligences, which 
 run from Madrid to Alcala and Gua- 
 dalajara , the two places the most worth 
 seeing; the traveller therefore might 
 visit them first, having previously se- 
 cured a place in the Zaragozan dili- 
 gence, to be taken up at Guadalajara ; 
 the Paradores de las Diligencias are 
 throughout the best inns. Those who 
 have leisure might visit Sigiienza and 
 Medinaceli , diverging from Guadala- 
 jara, and taking up the Zaragoza road 
 at Huerta. 
 
 After leaving Madrid, and before 
 crossing the Jarama, to the 1. is la Ala- 
 meda , one of the few villas near this 
 capital, and here the late Condesa Du- 
 quesa de Osuna expended un diner al 
 in creating an oasis in the desert 
 (see p. 739). Crossing the Jarama, 
 to the r. is Torrejon de Ardoz, where 
 Don Hernando Munoz was born, his 
 father keeping an Estanco or to- 
 bacco shop ; this fortunate youth served 
 in the body-guard of Ferd. YII., where 
 
 his black whiskers and muscular pro- 
 portions attracted the gracious notice 
 of the fair Christina, who, at her royal 
 husband’s death, raised him to her bed, 
 and created him Duke of Rianzares : 
 intrepido es amor y de todo sale vencedor. 
 
 Again, at Ardoz in J uly , 1 843, the first 
 act of the eventful drama of Espartero’s 
 career was brought to a conclusion: 
 here the valientes of Narvaez encoun- 
 tered the valientes of Zurbano, and hav- 
 ing smoked prodigies of cigars at each 
 other, and exchanged infinite vollies of 
 ajos and execratory missiles, “ frater- 
 nized,” and sheathed their terrific 
 swords ; then Narvaez became the dic- 
 tator, and ruled in his stead — more for- 
 tunate than Caesar, because raised with- 
 out any loss of precious life, at least 
 on the field of battle, for “black” 
 blood was copiously enough shed on the 
 scaffold. Thus a bargain battle finished 
 what the traitor convention of Vergara 
 began. The conqueror was raised to 
 the title of Duque. In estimating mar- 
 tial ducal titles on the other side of the 
 British channel, the safe rule will be to 
 adopt the meaning attached to other 
 conventional words ; take, for example, 
 the phrase “worth a million:” that 
 signifies, in England, of pounds ster- 
 ling ; in France, of francs (9 ^d.) ; and 
 in Spain, where the bathos is complete, 
 reales, of which one hundred go to our 
 pound ; and so with dukes, which Fer- 
 dinand and his successors made by the 
 dozen, and Buonaparte by scores at a 
 time ; while England, the unconquered 
 by sea or land, only created two in a 
 century and a half — Marlborough and 
 W ellington . So N elson , who triumphed 
 at the Nile, died a viscount, while M. 
 Deeres, who was beaten there, and fled, 
 lived to be a Due et Pair . 
 
 A bald dreary country continues to 
 Alcala de Henares, “the castle of the 
 river ;” Arabice el Nahr, which this 
 once flourishing university bears on 
 its shield for arms. Inn, Parador de 
 las Diligencias . The place looks im- 
 posing when seen from afar, from its 
 walls, conical roofs, and towers, but 
 inside all is decay ; pop. under 6000 : 
 the town has a theatre, a Plaza de 
 Toros , and two pretty alamedas called 
 el Sal and el Chorillo. Many changes 
 
826 
 
 ROUTE 114 . — COMPLUTENSIAN BIBLE. 
 
 Sect. XL 
 
 have taken place since the suppression 
 of convents, some of which have be- 
 come schools for cavalry instead of 
 classics. The old city, Alcala el Viejo , 
 was built on the Cerro de San Julian 
 del Viso, and was called Complutum , 
 quasi confluvium, from the junction of 
 rivers. It was taken by Alonso VI., 
 who was encouraged by a vision of the 
 Cross in the air, which was seen by 
 the Arclib. Bernardo, a sharp-sighted 
 Frenchman, to whom the monarch 
 granted all the lands near the site of 
 his vision ; the place soon grew under 
 the fostering protection of the Toledan 
 primates, and indeed is their creation. 
 Bernardo built a hermitage on the hill 
 of la Vera Cruz, “ the true cross,” to 
 which a retaklo was given in 1492 by 
 Pedro Gumiel. This worthy archi- 
 tect of Alcala is generally called the 
 honourable, el Honrado , because his 
 works never exceeded his estimates ; 
 and all who to their cost have dabbled 
 in brick and mortar, raw materials of 
 ruination, will visit this good man’s me- 
 morial; take him for all in all, they 
 ne’er will see his like again, in Spain 
 or out of it: even Solomon, the wisest 
 of men and greatest of builders, was 
 out in his reckoning to the tune of 
 720 , 000 ?., which he borrowed of a 
 friend (1 Kings ix. 11). The Archb. 
 Tenorio erected the wall and bridge in 
 1389 ; but the greatest benefactor was 
 Cardinal Ximenez, or Cisneros as he 
 is generally called by Spaniards, who, 
 having been educated here, remem- 
 bered in his day of power, the school 
 of his obscure youth, and raised it in 
 1510 to be a university, as Wolsey, 
 imitating him, did Ipswich. He en- 
 dowed it most magnificently, but the 
 funds have been sadly sequestered and 
 robbed. It once had 19 colleges and 
 38 churches, and was so amply pro- 
 vided, that Erasmus perpetrated a pun 
 on Complutum by calling it I lawXourov, 
 from the abundance of wealth, and the 
 “ cumplimiento ” of all learning; and 
 here at least were born Antonio Solis, 
 the historian of S. America, and the 
 immortal Cervantes, who was baptised 
 in the Sa. Maria, Oct. 9 , 1547 , and 
 an inscription is placed over his natal 
 house. 
 
 Ximenez, disgusted at Ferdinand’s 
 suspicious ingratitude, retired to Alcala 
 after the conquest of Oran, and devoted 
 his time and income to his new build- 
 ings. During his regency he amassed 
 much treasure, with all of which, 
 when Charles V. reached Spain, he 
 endowed his university, saying, “ Had 
 an angel asked me for it before my 
 sovereign’s arrival, I should have 
 thought him a devil ; and should he 
 ask me again for it now, I should think 
 so still.” Alcala became to Salamanca, 
 what Cambridge is to Oxford; and 
 Francis I., who, when a prisoner, 
 spent here three days of continual fes- 
 tival, being welcomed by 11,000 stu- 
 dents, remarked that “ one Spanish 
 monk had done what it would have 
 taken a line of kings in France to ac- 
 complish.” The celebrated Polyglot 
 Bible was printed (in 6 vols. folio, 
 1514 - 15 ) here, hence it is called the 
 Complutensian. Ximenez, its projector, 
 spared neither pains nor cost, and lived 
 to see the last sheet in type ; but after 
 his death Leo X., warned by Card. 
 Pole of the danger to which the Tiara 
 might be exposed, in thus letting the 
 people “ search the Scriptures,” de- 
 layed the publication until 1522 , and 
 then limited it to 600 copies. The 
 expense of the edition exceeded the 
 then most enormous sum of 52,000 
 ducats; three copies only were printed 
 on vellum, one for the Vatican and 
 one for Alcala now moved to Madrid ; 
 the third, once Pinelli’s and Macarthy’s, 
 was bought at Mr. Hibbert’s by Mr. 
 Standish for 522 ?., bequeathed to Louis 
 Philippe, and is now in the fine library 
 of the Due d’Aumale at Twickenham : 
 the text, in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and 
 Chaldaic, is not very highly esteemed 
 by Biblical critics ; the MSS. have, say 
 some, come to a sad end. According 
 to German authority, in 1784 Professor 
 Moldenhauer went to Alcala to consult 
 one of the early MS. gospels. He in 
 vain inquired of the heads of colleges 
 and fellows, who, like their brethren 
 at Salamanca, were contented to suck 
 their alma mater, in lazy enjoyment of 
 undisputed possession, and knew no- 
 thing about manuscripts, and not much 
 more about anything else. At Alcaic 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 114. THE BIBLE IN SPAIN. 
 
 827 
 
 books were destined to support worms, 
 whose bellies may well fatten on ex- 
 ploded nonsense, for the Index expurga- 
 torius had taken pretty good care to 
 keep out of Spanish libraries the works 
 best worth reading. Our German at 
 last discovered that the librarian, 
 about thirty-five years before, when 
 wanting room for some modern trash, 
 had sold the parchments to one Toryo , 
 a sad radical and fire-work maker, 
 who used them up for rocket-cases. 
 The sale of the items was entered 
 in the official accounts, “ como mem- 
 branas inutiles” and the quantity sold 
 was so great that it was paid for 
 at separate times. But all this thing 
 of Spain is denied, and we believe 
 with reason, by Puig Blanc, in his 
 4 Opusculos and see 4 Biblical Re- 
 view/ xv. 186. Certain, however, it is 
 that recently, and during the civil wars, 
 cart-loads of conventual deeds and 
 mediaeval parchments have been sold 
 the glue-makers, who looked to this 
 source for a supply of raw material. 
 Thus the only adhesive element in un- 
 amalgamating Spain is obtained at the 
 cost of her literature and antiquities. 
 
 Yet this land of anomalies and con- 
 tradictions was among the first to trans- 
 late the Bible, which now its church- 
 men the most forbid, as, since they 
 have departed from its letter and spirit, 
 the book condemns them. They pre- 
 tend, imitating the Moslem’s refusal to 
 print the Koran, that the rendering it 
 thus common would derogate from 
 its sanctity. Borrow, in his graphic 
 4 Bible in Spain,’ has shown the deadly 
 hostility of the priests to the inspired 
 volume, which they burn as the Pagan 
 pontiffs of old Rome did the rituals of 
 antagonistic creeds (Livy, xxxix. 16). 
 So the lies of man are substituted for 
 the truth of God. 
 
 Inspect, as we have so often done, 
 any Spanish religious library, or open 
 any of the books of devotion furnished 
 by confessors to women and the many, 
 they will mostly be found to be either 
 mariolatrous fallacies, idle legends, and 
 lives of monks, false alike in history, 
 chronology, and geography, as in mo- 
 rals and religion ; but 44 woe unto them 
 that call evil good, and good evil ; that 
 
 put darkness for light, and light for 
 darkness; that put bitter for sweet, 
 and sweet for bitter” (Isa. v. 20). Can 
 it be wondered at, since the truth has 
 so long been systematically withheld, 
 and Spaniards forbidden and unable to 
 44 search the Scriptures,” that at pre- 
 sent there should only be two classes, 
 either infidels , who live in a cold nega- 
 tion of all religious truth, and reason 
 with Voltaire, that in order to be really 
 enlightened it is necessary to believe 
 nothing — or bigots who swallow greedily 
 the stones that have been given them 
 for bread? The former class are on 
 the increase among the upper and 
 middling ranks, for, as Aristotle said, 
 errors when exploded and falling into 
 contempt, drag truth down with them ; 
 since men, when they discover the 
 cheats of what has been long practised 
 on them, in resentment against the 
 abuses of superstition, war against real 
 religion, and doubt everything ; nor 
 have they anything better to fall back 
 on than this dreary, heartless infidelity, 
 as there is no via media , no Protestant- 
 ism, no Bible in Spain. 
 
 Alcala is now a poor and ignorant 
 place, for the removal of the university 
 to Madrid — Oxford to Gower Street — • 
 has completed its literary ruin, so the 
 place is turned into a cavalry station ! 
 It is a shadow of the past, and latterly 
 has been left in sad abandon. Visit 
 the Colegio mayor de San Ildefonso , 
 which Ximenez began in Tapia , and, 
 when Ferdinand objected to the humble 
 material, replied, that it became him, 
 a creature of dust, to leave marble for 
 his successors. Hence the inscription, 
 44 Olim lutea nunc marmorea.” The San 
 Ildefonso was recently sold to one Quint o, 
 who began pulling it down for the sake 
 of the materials. When the body of 
 Ximenez was found, the corporation 
 bought the desecrated walls back, with 
 an intention of preserving the site as a 
 sepulchre for their former benefactor. 
 
 Designed by Pedro Gumiel, the ori- 
 ginal university was finished in 1533 
 by Rodrigo Gil. The facade of three 
 stories with statues is constructed with 
 marble of a beautiful ivory colour, 
 with a grey granite basement : the 
 cordon of St. Francis is symbolic of 
 
828 
 
 ROUTE 114. — CARDINAL XIMENEZ. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 the founder’s name and order. There 
 are three patios; in the Doric, Ionic, 
 and Berruguete style ; that called 
 el Trilingue was completed in 1557. 
 The chapel, built by Gil de Ontanon, 
 is magnificent; here the rich Go- 
 thic is tinctured with Moorish deco- 
 ration, azulejos y lienzos. Observe the 
 fretted arches under a matchless arte - 
 somdo ceiling, with ribbed panels and 
 alhambra stars. The founder lies 
 buried before the elaborate retablo ; his 
 effigy, clad in pontificalibus, reposes on 
 a most superb raised urna, the master- 
 piece of Dominico el Fiorentino. The 
 epitaph records the great commissions 
 of this Friar, General, Viceroy, and 
 Cardinal. The reja , or balustrade was 
 wrought by the Vergaras, father and 
 son, 1566-73. The rich cinquecento 
 ornaments struggle between Pagan 
 and Christian devices : examine it 
 well, although the inscription invites 
 the traveller to admire the virtues of 
 the deceased in preference. The Pa- 
 raninfo, the grand saloon, or hall of 
 former ceremonials (so called from the 
 professor who presented candidates for 
 degrees), is sadly degraded ; look at the 
 exquisite plateresque upper galleries ; 
 the lacunares of the artesonado roof 
 are very rich. Ximenez died at Roa, 
 near Valladolid, Nov. 8 , 1517, in his 
 eighty-first year, broken-hearted at the 
 ingratitude which Charles V. showed, 
 like his grandfather, towards an old 
 and faithful minister. He was a stern 
 reformer, and bigoted persecutor of 
 Jew and Moor; but none can doubt 
 his honesty of purpose, however mis- 
 taken his policy. Some of the darkest 
 and most dangerous prejudices arise 
 from the most honourable principles ; 
 where prejudices are caught up from 
 bad passions, the worst men feel inter- 
 vals of remorse to soften and disperse 
 them ; but when they arise from a 
 generous though mistaken source, they 
 are hugged closer to the bosom, and 
 the kindest and most compassionate 
 natures feel a pleasure in fostering a 
 blind and unjust resentment. For the 
 life and deeds of this great prelate 
 consult ‘ De Rebus Gestis ’ A. Gomez 
 de Castro, fol., Alcala, 1569; * Com- 
 pendia de la Vida,’ Eugenio de Robles, 
 
 4to., Toledo, 1604. It contains the 
 Cardinal’s best portrait in profile , a 
 position which was adopted by our 
 Wolsey, a great imitator of Ximenez. 
 The ‘ Archetypo de Virtudes ’ another 
 biography, by Pedro de Quintanilla, 
 fol., Palermo, 1653, has a full-length 
 portrait, also in profile : see also ‘ Hist . 
 de Toledo ’ T. T. Vargas, 1. v., ch. 4. 
 
 The episcopal palace, with square 
 towers and leaden spires, on which 
 many primates have laboured, is still 
 unfinished ; it occupies the site of the 
 old alcazar, of which a massive tower yet 
 remains ; the plain, solid exterior con- 
 trasts with the beautiful courts and 
 decorations inside, wrought in a warm- 
 coloured marble. The windows of the 
 first patio resemble those by Berruguete 
 in the alcazar of Toledo; the second 
 patio is plateresque, with rich cornices 
 and balustrades, and was built by the 
 primates Fonseca and Tavera : the ex- 
 quisite plateresque staircase and fa$ade 
 to the garden deserve notice. Alcala 
 was repeatedly sacked by the French ; 
 hence the churches and convents are 
 now plateless, pictureless, and desolate. 
 In the San Diego is the grand sepulchre 
 and recumbent statue of the primate 
 Alonso de Carrillo, obt. 1482. The 
 principal church, el Magistral ,is Gothic; 
 the great portal is very beautiful. It 
 has an excellent reja by Juan Frances, 
 and elaborate silleria del coro • here 
 lies Pedro Gumiel, el honrado , now for- 
 gotten and dishonoured. 
 
 The tutelar saints of Alcala are Justo 
 and Pastor , who were put to death 
 Aug. 6, 306, when aged seven and 
 nine years. The stone on which they 
 were executed still bears the impression 
 of their knees, as may be seen at El Pa - 
 redon del Milagro, about 2 m. from the 
 town. When the Moors invaded Alcala 
 the bones of these young martyrs were 
 carried off to Huesca, and were brought 
 back in pomp by Philip II. Riba- 
 deneyra (ii. 444) gives all details; see 
 also Prudentius (Per. iv. 41) ; consult 
 also ‘ Vida y Martyrio ,’ A. Morales, Al- 
 cala, 1568; ‘ Monumentos de los S. M. 
 Justo y Pastor ,’ J. F. Andres Uztarroz, 
 Zaragoza, 8vo. 1644. A poor museo 
 has been formed at Guadalajara out of 
 rubbish from suppressed convents. For 
 
829 
 
 The Castiles. route 114 . — loeches — rubens’ pictures. 
 
 local history consult 4 Historia , &c., de 
 Compluto ,’ Miguel de Portilla y Esqui- 
 vel, 2 vols. 4 to., Alcala, 1725-28. 
 
 Two L. S. is Loeches. This ham- 
 let rises on a gentle eminence out of 
 undulating corn plains; at the north 
 end cluster the Carmelitas , Palace, and 
 the Dominican convent to which the 
 Conde Duque retired when disgraced 
 by Philip IV. Observe the cypress 
 grove. The fa 9 ade of the church, built 
 in the Herrera style, is decorated with 
 the statue of the Virgin, and with the 
 arms of the Conde Duque , on a large 
 scale. The interior is very plain. Here 
 he wrote, under the signature of Ni- 
 candro, that famous vindication of his 
 policy, which completed his ruin, for 
 he was sent, by way of reply, in banish- 
 ment to Toro. There he died in 1643, 
 haunted as he thought by a spectre, — 
 say, rather by the ghost of Spain, whose 
 greatness he had murdered. He was 
 buried in this convent’s chapel, which 
 he had adorned with ten pictures by 
 Rubens, but which disappeared after 
 this wise: In 1807 Mr. Wallis, agent 
 of the picture-dealer Buchanan, bar- 
 gained with the nuns to buy six of 
 them for 600 1. Meanwhile the French 
 arrived, and Sebastiani agreed to re- 
 move them by force, he having two 
 for his fee — the lion’s share ; he selected 
 among them the Triumph of Religion — 
 certainly not of the eighth command- 
 ment — 'which is now in the Louvre, hav- 
 ing been sold by him for 30,000 francs 
 to the French government. In order 
 to save the others, Wallis placed them 
 in the house of M. Bourke, the Danish 
 minister, who unluckily was himself a 
 dealer in virtu, and by whom they 
 were sold for 10,000?. to Lord Grosve- 
 nor : thus Mr. Buchanan lost both 
 cash and pictures (see his 4 Memoirs of 
 Painting ,’ ii. 222, which give curious 
 details how collections were formed 
 with English gold, Corsican brass, and 
 French iron). Sebastiani, in 1814, at 
 the Restoration , when matters looked 
 rather awkward, offered to Sir John 
 Brackenbury to sell his collection of 
 seventy-three pictures for 11,000?., and 
 they were proposed to George IV. ; but 
 he was unable to buy them, from having 
 spent all his loose cash in feasting the 
 
 allied sovereigns : many were pur- 
 chased by Messrs. Watson Taylor and 
 Alexander Baring. 
 
 The frames of the stolen pictures 
 remain empty, Hiatus maxime deflendus. 
 A copy of an Assumption hangs in an 
 altar opposite the latticed tribune of 
 the Duque, which communicated with 
 his palace. All Sebastiani’s pickings 
 and stealings are blinked by M Maison. 
 
 To the r. of Loeches , and about 2 L. 
 from Alcald, is Corpa , famed for its 
 hunger-provoking waters. Morales 
 (‘ Ant. de Espana / 57) relates how a 
 labourer sat down one fine Monday 
 with his week’s provision of bread, 
 and forthwith ate his daily loaf, and 
 then washed it down at the spring ; but 
 the more he drank the more he ate, 
 until the seven loaves were gone ; 
 hence it is called la fuente de siete ho- 
 gazas. Other divines say that the rustic 
 had eaten all his seven loaves at once, 
 and, feeling considerably distended, 
 drank of the waters, and immediately 
 digested the whole mass. Read this, 
 ye aldermen of London, with what 
 appetite ye may. 
 
 Leaving Alcald, the bald plains con- 
 tinue to Guadalajara ( Wddd-l-ha-j arah), 
 44 the river of stones,” which are now- 
 adays more liberally bestowed in these 
 cereal plains than loaves. This river, 
 the Henares, is crossed by a bridge, 
 built in 1758, on Roman foundations. 
 The town, especially when seen from 
 San Antonio, outside the walls, rises 
 in a fine jagged outline with crumbling 
 battlements, while the gardens of the 
 Mendoza palace hang over a wild 
 ravine. Inside, however, it is dull 
 and poverty-stricken ; pop. about 5000. 
 The posadas are bad ; that of the dili- 
 gence is the least so. 
 
 Guadalajara was reconquered 
 the Moors by Alvar Fanez de Minaya, 
 whose mounted effigy the city bears for 
 its arms. The readers of old ballads 
 will be familiar with this relative and 
 right hand of the Cid, to whom he 
 gave his precious swords (Duran, v. 
 154). Alvar was a fierce guerrillero of 
 that exterminating age, and, like his 
 master, spared neither age nor sex, 
 hewing the infidel to pieces ; hence the 
 Moorish annalists never mention the 
 2 0 3 
 
830 
 
 ROUTE 114. — GUADALAJARA — THE MENDOZAS. Sect. XI. 
 
 name “ Albarhanis ” without adding, 
 
 “ May God destroy him’’ (Moh. D., 
 ii., ap. 32). The feudal lords of Guada- 
 lajara were the Mendozas, the Mecenas 
 family of the Peninsula. Visit their 
 palace, built in 1461, in which the 
 great Cardinal Mendoza, rex tertius, 
 died. The style is quaint, and of a 
 sort of transition from the Moro-Gotho 
 to the cinque-cento ; the capricious bar- 
 baric designs are coarsely executed, 
 yet as a whole it is strange and strik- 
 ing. The fa£ade is studded with pro- 
 jecting knobs, while an ample armorial 
 shield with satyrs for supporters 
 crowns the portal : high above runs an 
 elegant row of Moorish windows, from 
 whence Fran§ois I. beheld the tourna- 
 ment given him by the Duque de In- 
 fantado, whose magnificent hospitality 
 is described by eye-witnesses (see 
 e Hechos de Alarcon x. 302, fol. Mad., 
 1665; and ‘ Historia de Pescara? viii. 
 ch. 3, Zaragoza, 1562). The then 
 duke lived in almost royal state ; his 
 retinue, body-guard, &c., are detailed 
 by Navagiero (p. 7). On entering the 
 house the patio is singularly rich and 
 rare, albeit not of the correctest taste ; 
 over the arcades are strange sculptured 
 lions, with heads like hedgehogs, and a 
 profusion of scrolls and shields, and 
 the ball ornament. All is now the 
 abomination of desolation : the rooms 
 of state are partitioned with tapique. 
 It is melancholy to walk through this 
 palace, where past splendour struggles 
 with present decay. The splendid 
 artesonado ceilings, being out of reach, 
 mock with their gilded magnificence 
 the indigent misery of the walls below, 
 and the azulejos retain their Prima- 
 ticcio designs. In a room upstairs 
 some neglected portraits of the grim 
 Mendozas frown flapping in their 
 frames. Observe the ceilings in a 
 saloon which overlooks the garden, 
 and another which bears the arms of 
 England, with the Tudor badges and 
 supporters. The Sala de Linajes , once 
 the saloon of the genealogies of the 
 proud Mendoza, was long ago converted 
 into a magazine. Observe the huge 
 chimney-pieces, and especially that in 
 the long gallery, which Francis I. so 
 much admired, and Nunez de Castro 
 
 has described in bad verses. This 
 palace was completely gutted by the 
 republican invaders, who resented the 
 hospitality shown to even their own 
 king in his hour of need, and as it is a 
 thing of times past never to return, 
 will never be itself again. 
 
 Next visit San Francisco , with its 
 simple imposing outside. It was 
 cruelly ill used in the civil wars, 
 having been turned into a fortress, as 
 it commands the town ; founded in 
 1200 by Dona Berenguela for the 
 Templars, it was rebuilt in 1393 by 
 the Admiral Mendoza. Observe in 
 the Capilla de los Davalos a sweet 
 statue of a sleeping female, holding 
 the cordon of the tutelar : here youth 
 and beauty have met with an untimely 
 end, cut off in their prime. 
 
 Now descend into the Panteon , 
 where reposed the ashes of the Men- 
 dozas, the brave, the pious, the learned, 
 and the magnificent. The sepulchre, 
 worthy of their goodness and. great- 
 ness, rivalled in rich marbles those 
 of the Medici at Florence and of the 
 Escorial. Begun in 1696, and finished 
 in 1720, at the then enormous cost of 
 180,000^., it contained twenty-eight 
 tombs, and among them that of the 
 duke who had befriended Francis I. ; 
 but his ashes, in 1809, were cast to the 
 wind by the invaders, who made bul- 
 lets out of the leaden coffins, unplumb- 
 ing the dead to destroy the living. 
 They next broke the precious marbles 
 into pieces. Infantado after their ex- 
 pulsion long left the vault purposely 
 unrestored, as a mute but eloquent re- 
 cord of revolutionary philanthropy. 
 The Duque was personally obnoxious 
 to the French because a true Spanish 
 patriot. He was appointed commander- 
 in-chief Dec. 2, 1808, after the miser- 
 able La Pena had been defeated before 
 the town, which was then dreadfully 
 sacked by Marshal Bessieres. 
 
 Near the Mendoza palace is a pseudo- 
 Moorish brick building, which was 
 converted by the invaders into a bat- 
 tery, and since into a prison : opposite 
 is the college of engineers, once a 
 royal manufactory, a French scheme 
 of Philip V., who wished to force 
 Spain, a naturally agricultural country, 
 
The Castiles. ROUTE 114 . — GUADALAJARA— BRIHUEGA. 
 
 831 
 
 into making bad and dear wares. Here 
 all the merino fleeces of Spain were to 
 be wrought into cloth for nothing less 
 than the supply of the whole world ; 
 but all this ended in more cry than 
 wool : mucho ruido y pocas nueces . 
 
 Bolstered up from 1757 to 1784 by 
 Charles III., or rather by Florida 
 Blanca, at an enormous loss, it became 
 such a hotbed of robbery, jobbery, 
 disorder, and mismanagement, that the 
 minister Wall, an Irishman, contrived 
 to decoy over one Thomas Bevan, 
 from Melksham in Wiltshire, to set 
 the machinery and matters to right, 
 which he did, and then the Spaniards 
 left the poor foreigner, when his 
 task was accomplished, to die of a 
 broken heart at the failure of every 
 grand promise which had been made 
 to him. Compare the treatment of 
 Mr. Wetherall at Seville (p. 208). 
 This establishment was gutted and 
 ruined by the invaders, but Ferdinand 
 VII., on his restoration, restored this 
 ruinous concern, as he did the Inqui- 
 sition, for deep indeed have the Col- 
 bert maxims sunk into every Bourbon 
 heart. 
 
 Next visit the Plaza de Santa 
 Maria , and observe the picturesque 
 arcades of San Miguel , once a mosque, 
 with its colonnaded entrance, round 
 buttress pillars with pointed heads, 
 horseshoe arches, machicolations, and 
 herring-bone patterns under the roof. 
 The church of San Esteban has the 
 Toledan circular absis and rows of 
 arches on the exterior, and presents a 
 curious jumble of styles. Alfar Fanez 
 the Cid’s right-hand companion in 79 
 battles, lies buried inside, with many 
 other ancient knights of good family. 
 In the museo , amid some bad pictures, 
 observe the fine tomb of Dona A. de 
 Mendoza, brought from the convent 
 of Lupiana. The Casas Consistoriales , 
 built in 1585, have a good gallery and 
 balcony. There is a Historia , & c., of 
 Guadalajara, collected partly by Fer- 
 nando Pecha, a Jesuit, but published 
 under the name of Alonso Nunez de 
 Castro, fol. Mad. 1633 ; consult also 
 ‘ Antigiiedad de Guadalajara Bair. Cam- 
 pusano, fol. Mad. 1661. 
 
 About 2 L. from Guadalajara , and 
 
 on the road to Cuenca , is Lupiana , 
 with its celebrated, now degraded, 
 monastery of San Bartolome ; this was 
 the first founded in Spain for the order 
 of St. Jerome, and was the work of 
 Diego Martinez in 1330; the fine 
 Gothic cloisters were built in 1472 by 
 the Primate Carillo ; the fine church 
 was raised by Herrera; the grand 
 chamber, in which the general chap- 
 ters were held, by Mora in 1598. At 
 Hien de la Encina (9 L.) are some silver 
 mines. The San Cecilio , a very rich 
 one, is worked by a foreign company 
 of principally English proprietors. 
 
 From Guadalajara the traveller 
 may visit the baths of Trillo ; there 
 is a diligence, see Siguenza, and then 
 take up the road to Zaragoza at Zo- 
 dares ; there is also a talk of a road 
 from Guadalajara to Logrono. Quit- 
 ting the former, at about 2 L. E. of 
 Torija are the plains of Briguega , or 
 the Alcarria , Arabice a place of farms, 
 or alquerias. This fine pastoral and 
 wheat district was originally a vast 
 lake, which was separated by the 
 Guadarrama chain from the Tierra de 
 Campos in Old Castile. The fresh- 
 water basin is composed of rich red 
 marl and loam, and. is irrigated by 
 streams which flow into the Tajuna. 
 The district is elevated some 4200 feet 
 above the level of the sea. The aro* 
 matic shrubs of the hills render the 
 honey very fine, while the wines of 
 Poyos are excellent. 
 
 Brihuega, Centobriga, is an old and 
 once walled city of 4500 souls. Here, 
 Dec. 9, 1710, Vendome defeated Stan- 
 hope, whose decided victories over the 
 French at Almenara and Zaragoza had 
 recovered Madrid, as Salamanca did in 
 our times. His slow and heavy Ger- 
 man allies having, however, neglected 
 to secure the communications between 
 Portugal by Alcaraz, Vendome seized 
 the opening, and advanced from Tala- 
 vera on Madrid with greatly superior 
 forces, just as Soult did from Hellin. 
 Thus the allies were forced to fall 
 back on Catalonia, as the Duke of 
 Wellington was on Portugal. The 
 selfish booby Austrian Charles, led 
 the retreat, carrying off all the cavalry 
 with him as his escort, and thereby de- 
 
832 
 
 ROUTE 114. — VILLA VICIOSA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 priving the army of all means of ob- 
 taining intelligence and watching the 
 enemy. The allies divided into three 
 bodies, the Portuguese taking the 
 centre, the Germans the r., and the 
 English the 1. They all proceeded 
 over-leisurely, and were pounced upon 
 quite unawares by the dashing Ven- 
 dome, who wisely made his first attack 
 against the little English band, which 
 then, as in our times, was, to use Stan- 
 hope’s words, “the salt which sea- 
 soned the whole.” Vendome had more 
 than 20,000 men, while Stanhope had 
 scarcely 5500, with no cavalry and 
 very scanty ammunition. He instantly 
 sent off to Staremberg, who, although 
 distant only a few hours’ march, now, 
 when minutes were winged with desti- 
 nies, was tortoise-like two days in 
 coming up, thus occasioning his ally 
 and himself to be defeated in detail. 
 Stanhope resisted the French as long 
 as his powder lasted ; he then capitu- 
 lated on most honourable terms, which 
 Vendome stained his great glory by 
 shamefully violating. The next morn- 
 ing, that is, the day after the fair, the 
 lumbering Staremberg reached Villa - 
 viciosa, distant about 1 L., with 13,000 
 men, and fought so gallantly that Ven- 
 dome at one time meditated a retreat 
 on Torija : thus, had these slow allies 
 only marched a little quicker, and 
 joined Stanhope in time, the French 
 must have been destroyed. Night came 
 on, leaving the battle undecided, but 
 on the morning Staremberg retreated, 
 and reached Barcelona with only 7000 
 men. 
 
 Four L. from Brihuega through So - 
 lanillos , is Trillo, a town of 800 inha- 
 bitants, near the Tagus ; it pos- 
 sesses excellent hydrosulfat mineral 
 baths, which are much frequented 
 from June 15 to September 15 by the 
 sickly Madrilenos. The baths are situ- 
 ated about a mile from Trillo, by a pretty 
 walk on the wooded river bank ; one 
 called la Piscina, is destined for lepers ; 
 and there is also a hospital in which 
 the poor are received — and most poorly. 
 The equally frequented baths of Sace- 
 don lie a few L. S. of Trillo. 
 
 At Almadrones the road branches to 
 the 1. to Sigiienza in old Castile, 4 L. ; 
 
 few visit this decayed city, which, 
 however, contains a cathedral full of 
 magnificent art. Pop. about 4500. 
 This, the chief town of a district pos- 
 sessing fine plains and plenty of water, 
 might, with proper cultivation and 
 roads, be made the granary of Spain. 
 Sigiienza was built, it is said, by fugi- 
 tives from Saguntum ; but the site of 
 the Celtiberian Segontia, Seguncia, was 
 distant about two miles, and is still 
 called Villa Vieja. Sigiienza, once an 
 important frontier town of Castile and 
 Arragon, was reconquered in 1086 by 
 Alonso VI., and still retains portions 
 of its ancient walls and gates ; built in 
 the shape of an amphitheatre on the 
 side of a hill, sloping down the valley 
 of the Henares, the upper town is steep, 
 with its height crowned by the episco- 
 pal palace or alcazar, for the bishop 
 was once senor or lord of Sigiienza. 
 The Gothic cathedral, a fine substan- 
 tial edifice, has a simple fayade between 
 two towers, with a medallion of the 
 Virgin giving the Casulla to San Ilde- 
 fonso, placed over the central portal ; de- 
 scending into the interior, the twenty- 
 four noble clustered piers which support 
 the middle and highest of the three 
 naves are striking. The much-admired 
 trascoro, with red and black marbles, 
 was raised in 1685 by Bishop Bravo, 
 to receive an image of the Virgin 
 which had been miraculously pre- 
 served from the Moors. The rich 
 Gothic silleria del coro was carved in 
 1490 ; the huge organs are of much 
 later date. The simple and classical 
 retablo of the high altar is composed of 
 three tiers of the Ionic, Corinthian, 
 and Composite Orders, and was with 
 the bas-reliefs raised in 1613 by Bishop 
 Mateo de Burgos. The statues of 
 Faith, Hope, and Charity deserve no- 
 tice. Among the many tombs of pre- 
 lates in the presbiterio, remark, near 
 the door of the sagrario, the recumbent 
 effigy of the first bishop, the French- 
 man Bernardo, afterwards the cele- 
 brated Primate of Toledo; he was 
 killed in a battle near the Tagus, and 
 however indifferent to truth or the 
 distinctions of meum and tuum, was 
 at least a gallant soldier. The por- 
 tion of the transept in which are the 
 
Ihe Castiles. eoute 1 1 4. — siguenza — Medina celt. 
 
 833 
 
 relics of Santa Librada, the patroness 
 of the city, is elaborately architectural. 
 See her Life, ‘ Discurso de la Vida , &c. 
 de Santa Librada * Diego E. Gonz, 
 Chantos y Ullauri, 4to. Mad. 1806. 
 Observe the details of the retablo and 
 the niche in which her body reposes ; 
 above is a sculpture in which she 
 ascends to heaven, and nothing that 
 minute labour and gilding can effect 
 has been spared. The founder, the 
 Bishop Fadrique of Portugal, kneels 
 in a highly- wrought niche near his 
 work. 
 
 The chapel of Santa Catalina , near 
 the door which opens to the market- 
 place, contains flags taken from the 
 English in 1589. Observe a delicate 
 plateresque portal and reja, and some 
 superb sepulchres with recumbent 
 figures ; e.g, of Martin Vasquez de 
 Sosa; Sancha, his wife; Martin Vas- 
 quez de Arce, 1486 ; and a fine armed 
 knight of Santiago. Notice that of the 
 bishop of Canaria, Fernando de Arce, 
 obiit 1522, by whom some of the 
 others to his ancestors were raised; 
 it is truly Berruguete, with statues of 
 children, shields, and cinque-cento 
 decoration, amid which the prelate 
 lies at full-length on the urna. An- 
 other sepulchre of older date fills the 
 centre of this assemblage of monumen- 
 tal art. How impressive, how Chris- 
 tian is the sentiment here ! There is 
 no aping the pagan costume of anti- 
 quity, but everything speaks Spain and 
 the period, the gallant crusader, the 
 pious prelate, lie stretched on the bed 
 of death, yet the clasped hands, now 
 that sword and crosier are laid aside, 
 indicate hope, faith, and confidence in 
 another life. The retablo is churrigue- 
 resque, but the original one is put up in 
 the sacristia with an excellent but much- 
 injured Florentine picture of the Cru- 
 cifixion. The adjoining Capilla de San 
 Francisco Xavier has also a plateresque 
 portal, and in the semicircular chapel 
 is the tomb of Bishop Bravo, with a 
 fine crucifix. The portal to the sa- 
 cristia or sagrario is in best plateres- 
 que, and in the same style is the wood 
 carving inside, while the relicario is 
 filled with statuary and minute sculp- 
 ture, and the reja is excellent. The 
 
 glorious church plate disappeared dur- 
 ing the war of the invasion. The 
 Gothic cloisters, with delicate windows 
 and enrichments, were finished in 
 1 507 by Cardinal Bernardo Carvajal, 
 and were paved in the last century by 
 JBishop Bullon, who disfigured the 
 general character with his coat of 
 arms. Examine, however, the doors 
 and contiguous chapels. 
 
 The Geronomite Colegio was founded 
 by one of the Medinaceli family, who 
 lies buried in the transept, obiit 1488. 
 Observe the tomb of Bishop Bartolome 
 de Bisova, obiit 1657, and the classical 
 cloister of Tuscan and Doric. Si- 
 giienza has pleasant walks on the river 
 banks, which were laid out by Bishop 
 Diaz de la Guerra, for the bishops have 
 been signal benefactors to their city. 
 They raised the aqueduct, which 
 crosses a glen below their palace, and 
 supplies the town, and is a work of truly 
 Boman intention, solidity, utility, and 
 grandeur. It was at Siguenza , Nov. 
 30, 1808, that Castanos, after his de- 
 feat at Tudela, surrendered his com- 
 mand to La Pena of Barrosa infamy ; 
 then the hero of Bailen, who never had 
 won a victory except by that accident, 
 from being the idol of Spain, became 
 at once an object of popular scorn. 
 Consult i Catalogo Saguntiyo y Anales 
 de Siguenza ,’ Jose Benales Carrascal, 
 4to. Mad. 1 742. This estimable author 
 wrote the miracles of Santa Wilgeforte, 
 a patroness of Siguenza, and an account 
 of a woman who had nine children at 
 one birth. ‘ Las Nueve Lnfantas,' 4to. 
 Mad. 1736. 
 
 The road to Zaragoza may be re- 
 joined at Lodares , passing first to Me- 
 dinaceli , 4 L. This is not a “ city 
 of heaven,” either metaphorically or 
 really, but simply the “ city of Selim;” 
 it was once the strong frontier hold of 
 a Moor of that name, and, accordingly, 
 the scene of many conflicts between 
 both the Moors against themselves and 
 against the Christians. Here, on Mon- 
 day, Aug. 7, 1002, died the celebrated 
 Al-Mansur, “ the victorious,” the Cid 
 of the Moors, and the most terrible 
 enemy of the Christians. Mohammed 
 Ibn Abi Admir was born Oct. 28, 938, 
 near Algeciras ; at first a letter- writer at 
 
834 
 
 ROUTE 1 1 4 . — MEDINACELI — HUERTA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 the gate of the palace at. Cordova, then 
 the Kateb or secretary of Sobha, the 
 mother of Hishem II., he rose to be 
 Amir by a long tissue of intrigues, 
 treacheries, and murders, truly Orien- 
 tal and Spanish. He next became the 
 Hageb , or Maire du Palais, and in 
 reality the master of the puppet Sultan. 
 He waged deadly war against the 
 Christians, proclaiming a “ holy cru- 
 sade, or Algihad , every year, when 
 his raids or talas , eatings up and razzias 
 of Gallicia, even exceeded those of 
 modern invaders. He also, like Soult 
 and Massena, took authors, his Borys 
 and Pelets, with him to vilify his 
 opponents, and glorify his own honour, 
 mercy, and goodness. He was buried 
 in the dust of fifty campaigns, for after 
 every battle he used to shake off the 
 soil from his garments into a chest car- 
 ried about with him for that last pur- 
 pose. (Consult 4 Moh. Dyn.’ ii. lib. 
 vi.). Mons. Viardot, ‘Essai sur les 
 Mores en Espagne’ (i. 110), has made 
 of Al-Mansur a hero of a romance, thus 
 upsetting and unsettling history as his 
 shallow countryman Florian did with 
 Gonzalo de Cordova, and as the inac- 
 curate Chateaubriand charlatanised the 
 Abencerrage. Mons. Reinaud ( 4 Inv. 
 des Sarrasins,’ p. 217), a really critical 
 writer, cautions his readers against M. 
 Viardot’s ultra-French polish. 
 
 Medinaceli , now the terrestrial home 
 of some 1600 chilly mortals, is built 
 beneath a steep eminence over the 
 trout-stream Jalon , and gives the ducal 
 title to the great family of Cerdas, the 
 rightful heir to the crown; for Fer- 
 nando, called la Cerda , from a peculiar 
 tuft or bristle, the eldest son of Alonso 
 el Sabio, died during his father’s life- 
 time, leaving two children by Blanche 
 of Bourbon, who were dispossessed in 
 1284 by their uncle Sancho el Bravo 
 (Mariana, xiv. 7). The learned Je- 
 suit was not aware how ancient an 
 Iberian custom this succession of bro- 
 thers to the exclusion of nephews was ; 
 (see Livy, xxviii. 21). It was intro- 
 duced into Spain in all probability by 
 the Carthaginians, as the rule prevailed 
 in Numidia (Livy, xxix. 29). The 
 dispossessed dukes of Medinaceli long 
 continued at every new coronation to 
 
 claim the crown and to be fined a small 
 sum pro forma. Their petty capital 
 has a Colegiata, a dilapidated palace 
 with a good Doric courtyard, and the 
 remains of a Roman arch. The city 
 was taken from the Moors in 1083, by 
 Alvar Fahez de Minaya, whose 
 mounted effigy it blazons for its arms. 
 
 At Arcos we cross the Jalon, and soon 
 entering Aragon bid adieu to the Cas- 
 tiles at Huerta, a garden; but a very little 
 green makes an oasis in a desert. It is 
 a poor town, nipped and chilled by the 
 winds of the bleak Moncayo mountains ; 
 however, it possesses, or rather possess- 
 ed, one of the finest Bernardine monas- 
 teries in all Spain, built on the site of 
 a palace of Alonso VIII. in 1142-7, 
 and the scene of his fabled loves with 
 the dark-eyed J ewess Rachel, of her tra- 
 gical death, and his bitter repentance. 
 Part of his stables remain, having been 
 converted into a granary; but the 
 whole edifice has been altered from 
 time to time and much injured by 
 modern bad taste. There are two 
 noble cloisters ; that with a double 
 colonnade is most elegant ; the pointed 
 Gothic below contrasts with the round 
 arches above. This convent was the 
 burial-place of many ancient knights 
 of the 13th and 14th centuries, who 
 died fighting the Moor, e.g. the Fina- 
 josas, Perez, Martinez, Manriques, 
 Montuengas, Munoz, and others, whose 
 Froissart epitaphs are preserved by 
 Ponz (xiii. 54). The silleria de coro , 
 full of Berruguete and cinque-cento 
 caprice, is most elegant ; observe the 
 stall of the abbot. Near the high altar 
 was buried Rodrigo Ximenez de Rada, 
 the warlike primate who fought at Las 
 Navas de Tolosa : his ashes have been 
 moved to Toledo. The church was 
 formerly painted with representations 
 of that decisive victory. This prelate 
 chronicled the events himself, and his 
 actual MS. was long preserved here, but 
 that and the once excellent library has 
 shared the fate of most in Spain. The 
 bulk was sold in 1836 to a local butcher, 
 who boasted that he had cleared 6001. 
 by retailing the leaves as waste paper ! 
 Among the remarkable personages 
 buried here is el Santo Sacerdote , Mar- 
 tin de Finajoia; also many of the 
 
The Castiles. route 114 . — calatayud — martial. 
 
 835 
 
 French legionaries who came to aid 
 Henrique II. against Don Pedro. This 
 monastery deserves a careful inspec- 
 tion. 
 
 Aragon is entered at Ariza , a name 
 said to be derived from the Basque 
 Ari-z a, abundance of sheep. It is a 
 miserable place, retaining some of its 
 former mud walls and fortifications. 
 Hence following the Jalon, is Alhama , 
 placed under a noble rock above the 
 river ; distant 2 L. are the baths, the 
 Roman Aquae Bilbilitanae, which are 
 frequented from June to September. 
 Thence passing Bubierca , Voberca, to 
 Ateca, a town of 2000 souls, con- 
 quered from the Moors by the Cid, 
 and a tower on the Valencian road 
 still bears his name. About 10 miles 
 off, at the monastery of Piedra , a fine 
 thing with a grand altar-piece, are 
 some striking cascades ; that called la 
 Cola del Caballo, 44 the horse’s tail,” is 
 300 feet high. 
 
 Calatayud is the second town of 
 Aragon, but is dull and decaying. The 
 diligence inn, Parador de las Diligencias 
 de Plover . The city has an imposing 
 look, imbedded among rocks, and with 
 a noble castle. The hills are grey, 
 hungry, barren, scaly, and crumbling, 
 as are the ruined edifices which are 
 built out of them and among them. 
 This city, now dilapidated and dull, is 
 of Moorish origin, as the Arabic name 
 implies, being the 44 Castle of Ayub,” 
 of Job, the nephew of Musa, who, to 
 construct his new frontier town, used 
 up the remains of ancient Bilbilis as a 
 quarry ; that old Iberian city lay about 
 2 miles E. at Bambola , and was cele- 
 brated for being the birthplace of 
 Martial and the site of a victory gained, 
 u.c. 680, by Quintus Metellus over 
 Sertorius. It was also renowned for 
 its superior steel and streams, 44 aquis 
 et armis nobilem” (Mart. i. 50, 4), for 
 equis is an incorrect reading. These 
 waters were those of the Jalon , 44 Ar- 
 morum Salo temperator” (Mart. iv. 
 55, 11). See also Justin (xliv. 2), and 
 Pliny (N. H. xxxiv. 14). The fourteen 
 medals coined at Bilbilis are enume- 
 rated by Florez (M. i. 169). Modern 
 „ Calatayud must closely resemble an- 
 cient Bilbilis as described by Martial 
 
 (x. 103); it is cold and cheerless, being 
 exposed to the blasts of the dreaded 
 Moncayo , mons Caunus, Calvus. This 
 bald Sierra, a peeled mass of schiste, 
 slaty rocks and limestone, divides 
 the basins of the Ebro and Duero, and, 
 being a detached elevation, catches the 
 clouds, and remains to this day the 
 dwelling of iEolus and Pulmonia , as in 
 the days of Martial (i. 50, 5), who 
 dreaded 4 4 sterilem Caunum cum nivi- 
 bus.” 
 
 Martial himself, although an Ara- 
 gonese by birth, was in truth rather 
 an Andaluz gracioso. He went to Rome, 
 where he neglected business, took 
 to writing epigrams, and composing 
 Seguidillas like his countrymen Salas 
 and Quevedo. The characteristics of 
 his style are well summed up by his 
 friend Pliny in his ‘Epistles’ (iii. 21), 
 as partaking salts et fellis , of salt sal 
 andaluza , and gall, and dirt might have 
 been added; but ancient ballad-mongers 
 were frank and open in their expres- 
 sions, nor was there then any inquisi- 
 dor to force them into decency and an 
 outward observance of les convenances. 
 What The ancient Seguidillas were may 
 be inferred from the specimen quoted 
 by Suetonius (Caes. 49), Gallias Caesar 
 subegit , etc. ; but those who will look 
 into the 4 Cancionero de Bur las, Madrid , 
 por Luis Sanchez * i. e. printed in Lon- 
 don, by Pickering, will see the Spanish 
 muse in tolerable deshabille. Martial 
 toadied Domitian when alive, by whom 
 he was knighted, but the caballero 
 abused the emperor when dead. He 
 took disgust at being neglected by 
 Trajan, his paisano , and returned to 
 Spain after 35 years absence ; whence 
 he wrote an account of his mode of 
 life to Juvenal, and which, rude as it 
 was when compared to the luxuries of 
 Rome, he preferred, or asserted that 
 he preferred, exclaiming like a true 
 Spaniard, who is wretched out of Spain, 
 sic me vivere, sic juvat perire (xii. 18). 
 
 Calatayud (Pop. about 7000) is a 
 genuine Aragonese city ; and now the 
 peculiar soffits and carved projecting 
 rafters of roofs commence, and the 
 Castilian quinta gives place to the torre, 
 and the dingy pano pardo to blue and 
 yellow velveteens. The town is cheap, 
 
836 
 
 ROUTE 115. — MADRID TO BURGOS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 as the environs, being well irrigated 
 by the Jalon and Jiloca, are full of 
 pastures, fruit, and vegetables ; the 
 hemp is equal to that of Granada. The 
 city has also a theatre, a plaza de toros, 
 and some pretty alamedas. In the alta 
 or upper portion, still called La Mo - 
 reria , are many caves in the rocky hill 
 once inhabited by Moors. Visit the 
 ruined Castillo del Eeloj. 
 
 There are two Colegiatas. One, el 
 Santo Sepulcro , was built in 1141, and 
 originally belonged to the Templars; 
 the altar of the sepulcro is made of 
 marbles of the province. The second, 
 la de Santa Maria , once a mosque, has 
 an elegant cinquecento portal, erected 
 in 1528, by Juan de Talavera, and Este- 
 ban Veray ; it has a lofty belfry, but the 
 interior is less good, having been dis- 
 figured with gilt statues and stucco- 
 work of bad taste. There are a few 
 second-rate pictures by Aragonese 
 artists. The pavement, put down in 
 1639, is of a marble called Claraboya, 
 which resembles the Parian ; the belfry 
 is octangular, as is common in Aragon 
 and Catalonia. The Dominican con- 
 vent has a glorious patio with three 
 galleries rising one above another : ob- 
 serve a portion of the exterior enriched 
 with pseudo-Moorish work like the 
 prisons at Guadalajara, although, when 
 closely examined, it is defective in de- 
 sign and execution ; seen, however, 
 from afar, it is rich and striking. The 
 city arms are truly Celtiberian, “ a man 
 mounted without stirrips and armed 
 with a lance :” such a charge occurs 
 constantly on the old coins. A cross 
 has been placed in his other hand, and 
 the motto “Bilbilis Augusta” sub- 
 joined. Consult the local histories, 
 4 Tratado del Patronato Miguel Mar- 
 tinez del Villar, 4to., Zaragoza, 1598; 
 and 4 Elogio by Jeronimo Escuela; Al- 
 cala, 1661. Near Calatayud and el 
 camino de la Soledad are some curious 
 stalactical caves. For the country 
 towards Teruel , and communications 
 with Valencia and Cuenca i see Rtes. Ill, 
 112 . 
 
 Leaving Calatayud the vineyards 
 commence ; the red wines made in the 
 campo de Carinena , which lies some 
 10 L. to the N.E., are among the best 
 
 in Aragon. Almunia is prettily placed 
 amid gardens, cypresses, and olives, 
 with a richly ornamented octangular 
 belfry. Now the fine road continues 
 over dreary plains and chalky moun- 
 tains to Muela , whence Zaragoza, with 
 its thin lofty torres, forms the emphatic 
 feature of a magnificent panorama, 
 backed by the shadowy Pyrenees, and 
 sweet is the prospect, the gardens, 
 olive-groves, and vineyards, after the 
 wilderness left behind: for Zaragoza 
 and Aragon, see Sect. xiii. 
 
 Route 115. — Madrid to Burgos. 
 
 Fuencarral . . 
 
 
 
 . 1 
 
 
 Alcobendas 
 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 3 
 
 San Augustin . 
 
 
 
 . 3* . 
 
 . 61 
 
 Cabanillas . . 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . n 
 
 Lozoyuela . . 
 
 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 12 
 
 Buitrago . . 
 
 
 
 . H . 
 
 . 131 
 
 Somosierra . . 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 161 
 
 Castillejo . . 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 191 
 
 Fresnillo 
 
 
 
 . 2l . 
 
 . 22 
 
 Onrubia . . 
 
 
 
 . 2* . 
 
 . 241 
 
 Aranda de Duero 
 
 
 
 . 31 . 
 
 . 28 
 
 Gumiel de Izan 
 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 30 
 
 Bahabon . . 
 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 32 
 
 Lerma . . . 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 35 
 
 Madrigalejo 
 
 
 
 . 2} . 
 
 . 311 
 
 Sarracin . . 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 401 
 
 Burgos . . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 It is in contemplation to make a 
 more direct road through Soria, Logroiio, 
 and Pamplona, by which a great elbow, 
 of some 18 L., will be avoided, and all 
 passing by Burgos omitted ; meanwhile, 
 R. 116 is the high road to France, and 
 the one the most travelled in Spain: 
 those who take it in their own carriages 
 will find relays of post-horses at the 
 different paradas ; but this course is 
 rarely adopted. The journey is per- 
 formed by many mails, diligences, and 
 public conveyances. The route is most 
 wearisome, as the road is sadly out of 
 repair and the towns most miserable ; 
 the Paradores of the diligences are toler- 
 able. The Sillas Correo or mail is the 
 best mode of travelling, because the 
 quickest ; and happy the man who can 
 sleep, dislocating ruts permitting, from 
 Madrid to Burgos, after which the 
 country gets more interesting. We 
 strongly advise all who have not seen 
 the Escorial, Segovia, and Valladolid, 
 to make for Burgos by going through 
 those places. 
 
837 
 
 The Castiles. route 115 . — san 
 
 The desert begins on quitting the 
 gate of Bilboa and the mud walls of 
 Madrid; once outside them the miser- 
 able people and country look as if they 
 were all in Chancery. At windblown 
 Fuencarral , to the rt. of Chamartin , is 
 an old mansion of the Mendoza family, 
 now the Duke of Osuna’s, in which 
 Buonaparte lodged from Dec. 2, 1808, 
 until Dec. 22; and here, Dec. 3, he re- 
 ceived the Madrid deputation headed 
 by the traitor Morla; a fear of the 
 Spanish knife retaliatory of the Dos de 
 Maio , made him shy of living in the 
 capital: here, Oct. 6, 1846, the Due 
 de Montpensier breakfasted before en- 
 tering Madrid on his ill-omened mar- 
 riage with the infanta, which, by 
 estranging England, caused the loss of 
 a crown to Louis Philippe, and of a 
 character to Guizot. 
 
 San Agustin , although among the 
 last stages to a city which its townfolk 
 consider to be the first stage to heaven, 
 is anything but the Civitas Dei of the 
 ancient father whose name it bears. 
 This wretched place never has recover- 
 ed from the ill-usage of the invaders 
 after Dupont’s defeat at Bailen. The 
 whole line of road to Burgos was then 
 ravaged, “ harvests of wheat were eaten 
 up, fiocks and herds, vines and fig-trees, 
 and the fenced cities impoverished ; ” 
 nothing escaped them, for they robbed 
 even beggars, and those even Spanish 
 beggars. Nothing was too small for a 
 rapacity inherited from Brennus, qui 
 tantum quod invenerit, latit. (St. Jer. 
 ad Dem. de v. p. 3). The unarmed 
 villagers in vain applied to Marshal 
 Moncey for protection ; he forbade them 
 to extinguish the flames with which he 
 burned their homes, and they were 
 left to water the ashes with their tears 
 (Schep. i. 448). Savary escaped the 
 popular fury disguised as a servant, 
 following the respectable example of 
 Nero (Suet. 48), and setting one to his 
 master. Buonaparte, at Orgon, who, 
 thus disguised, slipped through, when 
 Joseph made oflt among the first, he who 
 the day only before the battle of Bailen 
 had entered Madrid as its sovereign, 
 thus creeping like a moth into the 
 ermine of Castile; now he fled, “oh, vice 
 of kings ! oh, cutpurse of the empire ! ” 
 
 AGUSTIN— JOSEPH. 
 
 having first plundered Ferdinand’s 
 plate-chests (Toreno iv.), as he did his 
 picture galleries at a subsequent flight; 
 but his Imperial Majesty began life as 
 the clerk of an attorney. Of a kind 
 disposition, Joseph was but a poor red- 
 tapist at best; equal perhaps for the 
 office of an old Bourbon king of Spain, 
 but quite unfit for a Buonaparte. In 
 the same July, 35 years afterwards, 
 this usurper died an exile at Florence, 
 leaving sundry millions. But this Eey 
 intruso f Pepe , began life as a pettifogger, 
 and at a time when 
 
 L’on a vu des commis, mis 
 Comme des princes ; 
 
 Qui d’hier sont venus, nus 
 De leurs provinces. 
 
 Poor Pepe thought himself a second 
 Napoleon, although treated as a non- 
 entity by his imperial and imperious 
 brother. Marshal Soult almost ignored 
 his existence : while Napoleon consi- 
 dered Soult la meilieure tete militaire, 
 Joseph (Mem. x. 395,) held him to be 
 V homme coupable des malheurs d’ Espagne : 
 but the French cause was really para- 
 lysed by the dissemination of rival gene- 
 rals; by the decimation of their armies, 
 scattered in separate commands, and 
 busied in the pursuit of phantom par- 
 tisans. Thus the Duke, with a mere 
 handful of men, was enabled to beat 
 them one after another. The Buona- 
 partists also, from being accustomed to 
 salve over their beatings, by doubling 
 the English numbers, ended in believ- 
 ing their own lie, and imagined the 
 Duke’s troops to be really much more 
 numerous than they were. Buonaparte 
 himself never was so deceived; he 
 knew, thanks to the English press, our 
 exact numbers and movements. But 
 he never could drive this into the heads 
 of his generals in Spain; and supe- 
 riority of numbers is an excuse so grate- 
 ful to humbled vanity, that an angel 
 from Heaven will never convince the 
 French. Thus even in 1854, the editor 
 of Joseph’s Memoirs sums up the 
 Spanish campaigns with such balder- 
 dash as this: — “ Lord Wellington ne 
 lutta jamais dans cette campagne contre 
 desforces sup^rieures! — Quil obtint des 
 succes et evitades re vers, par des causes 
 
838 ROUTE 115. — THE SOMOSIERRA — SPANISH DEFEAT. Sect. XI. 
 
 autres que la superiority de son genie 
 et celle de la valeur de ses troupes ! ! ” 
 
 Dreary now becomes the face of 
 nature, the heat in summer is terrific ; 
 green as a colour, and water as a 
 liquid, are curiosities; it is just the 
 place to send a patient to who is afflicted 
 with hydrophobia: however, at Cabre- 
 nillas and Lozoyuela the spurs of the 
 Somosierra range commence, and the 
 desert gets cooler ; the peasants, few and 
 poor, are clad in pano pardo, their waist- 
 coats are cut open at the chest, and they 
 wear monteras as in miserable La Man- 
 cha ; the women on holidays put on pic- 
 turesque boddices laced in front ; their 
 children are swathed up like mummies. 
 For Buitrago , Uceda, the trout-fishing, 
 and P atones, see p. 773. 
 
 The pass or puerto over the Somo- 
 sierra is the natural gate and defence 
 of Madrid, and was strongly occupied 
 by the patriots with 16 cannon, Nov. 30, 
 1808. “Their misconduct,” says Na- 
 pier (iv. 2), 44 can hardly be paral- 
 leled in the annals of war ; it is indeed 
 almost incredible to those acquainted 
 with Spanish armies, that a position in 
 itself nearly impregnable, and defended 
 by 12,000 men, should, without any 
 panic, but merely from a deliberate 
 sense of danger, be abandoned at the 
 wild charge of a few squadrons, which 
 two companies of good infantry would 
 have effectually stopped; the charge 
 of the Poles, viewed as a simple mili- 
 tary operation, was extravagantly fool- 
 ish, but, taken as the result of Buona- 
 parte’s sagacious estimate of the real 
 value of Spanish troops, was a felicitous 
 example of intuitive genius. The Spa- 
 niards ran in every direction. The 
 appearance of a French patrole terrified 
 the vile cowards, who halted near Se- 
 govia, and the multitude fled again to 
 Talavera, and there consummated their 
 intolerable villany by murdering San 
 Juan, their unfortunate general, and 
 fixing his mangled body to a tree, after 
 which, dispersing, they carried dis- 
 honour and fear into their respective 
 provinces.” 
 
 To murder* unsuccessful generals 
 
 * The Spanish Goths used this duZcem vim 
 in order to make their chiefs take, not relin- 
 quish, command. Thus Wamba was informed, 
 
 is an old Punic and Iberian habit, and 
 frequently torture was added (App. 
 4 B. H.’ 309, 312; Justin, xxii. 7). 
 Similar examples occurred constantly 
 during the Peninsular and recent civil 
 wars, and were the wild justice, the 
 revenge taken by the ill-used soldier 
 for long years of misgovernment and 
 deception. The Juntas and generals 
 in their stilty speeches and bombast 
 proclamations held out to their troops 
 that they were invincible ; no wonder, 
 therefore, when the day of battle and 
 the first charge of the tremendous 
 French dissipated the illusion, that the 
 half-starving, ill-equipped soldiers, em- 
 bittered by disappointment and defeat, 
 should attribute the, to them, astound- 
 ing reverse, to their chiefs, or put 
 them to death as having purposely sold 
 and betrayed everything to the enemy. 
 Certainly, as Napier says, the collective 
 misconduct of the regular armies of 
 Spain was in painful contradiction to 
 the valour of the individuals of whom 
 they consisted, and scarcely a battle 
 was fought during the whole war in 
 which this sad fact was not demon- 
 strated ; but truth and justice also re- 
 quire that the real culprits should bear 
 the blame and dishonour, and not the 
 people of Spain or the nation at large ; 
 and we have always in common fair- 
 ness pointed out this important distinc- 
 tion: the personal bravery and nice 
 feeling of honour of the individual 
 Spaniard is unrivalled. The real in- 
 cubus was a vile government and un- 
 worthy chiefs: see Ocana, p. 245, and 
 Almonacid, p. 799. “Always bear in 
 mind,” writes the just Duke (Disp. 
 April 16, 1813), “their total ineffi- 
 ciency, their total want of everything 
 that can keep them together as armies.” 
 Had the Spaniards been placed like the 
 Portuguese under English officers, and 
 also well clothed and armed, with 
 “pocket and belly” wants provided 
 for, they, too, would have become the 
 44 fighting cocks of the army.” 44 Our 
 own troops,” says the Duke, 44 always 
 fight , but the influence of regular pay 
 is seriously felt on their conduct, their 
 
 “ Nisi consensurum te nobis modo promittas 
 gladii modo mucrone trancandum te scias.” — 
 ‘ Esp. Sag.’ vi. 535. 
 
The Castries, route 115 . — defeat of the somosierra. 
 
 839 
 
 health, and their efficiency ; as for the 
 French troops , it is notorious that they 
 will do nothing unless regularly paid and 
 fed ” (Disp. July 25, 1813); and yet 
 the Spaniards, when half naked, half 
 armed, and starving, always courted 
 the unequal combat even to rashness, 
 “ such was their insatiable desire," says 
 the Duke, “ to fight pitched battles 
 with undisciplined troops." That in- 
 deed might show a military ignorance 
 of the chances of success, but certainly 
 was no trait of cowardice. Look again 
 at the conduct of the guerrilleros , who 
 carried out the true system of Iberian 
 warfare, each man for himself in a per- 
 sonal desultory combat; what energy 
 was not exhibited, what rapidity of 
 movement, what skill in plans, what 
 spirit in execution, what privation 
 under fatigue and hardship, what 
 valour, insomuch that their deeds 
 seemed rather things of romance 
 than of reality. The Spaniards, as a 
 people, at all times showed a deter- 
 mination to face the enemy, being just 
 as ready for the encounter after defeat 
 as before it ; for never, as Polybius said 
 (xxxv. 1), did one battle determine 
 the fate of Spain, as a Jena or Waterloo 
 did of Prussia or France ; nor was it 
 ever easy, even when the regular armies 
 were beaten, to hold the conquest 
 (Floras ii. 17, 7). The inveterate 
 weakness of Spaniards has been their 
 want of union, or “of putting their 
 shields together " (Strabo, iii. 238). 
 Thus their miserable pobrecitos , and 
 generals who by the sport of mocking 
 fortune were raised to power and com- 
 mand, never would act cordially for 
 the common good ; nor, puffed up with 
 conceit, would they allow a foreigner to 
 be their commander, not even if he 
 led them to victory ; nay, a foreigner 
 was the more hated if successful, be- 
 cause his merit contrasted with their 
 demerit, enhanced their worthlessness 
 (Polyb. i. 36). Thus their Carthaginian 
 ancestors, having been led to victory 
 by Xantippus, a Lacedemonian, pro- 
 fessed to honour him in public, but 
 gave secret instructions to have him 
 put to death, which he was (App. 
 ‘B. P.’ 6). 
 
 Again, the self-love of each indi- 
 
 vidual Spaniard leads him to under- 
 value and mistrust every one else ; nor 
 were many of their leaders calculated 
 to neutralise this national tendency, 
 which their “ ignorance of their profes- 
 sion" and invariable defeats strength- 
 ened rather than weakened; witness 
 the incapacity of such men, spoilt 
 children of disgrace, as Blake, Cuesta, 
 Venegas, La Pena, Areizaga, Mendiza- 
 bal, &c., and the whole war never pro- 
 duced even mediocrity in a Spanish 
 general, for those modern heroes, Cas- 
 tanos and Freire, were but poor crea- 
 tures and “ children in the art of war;" 
 the one never gained any battle except 
 Bailen , which was an accident, while 
 the other was beaten everywhere ex- 
 cept at San Martial, where he was sup- 
 ported by the English. Despondency 
 as regards public affairs of all kinds is 
 a marked feature in the national mind. 
 Spaniards, who have seen that all at- 
 tempts to cure political evils only make 
 matters worse, despair altogether, and 
 just let things take their course, and 
 take care of their individual selves— 
 sauve qui peut. 
 
 At this signal defeat of the Somo- 
 sierra the French made few prisoners : 
 the whole so-called Spanish army dis- 
 appeared from the face of the earth, 
 “ each man to his own home." This 
 rapidity of leg-bail was an old Iberian 
 accomplishment. Dio. Siculus (v. 311) 
 dwells on the vro^Xviv s uroviocv (TJiiXeov. 
 “ Velocitas genti pernix," says Justin 
 (xliv. 2). Thus Musa reported (Conde, 
 i. 59) “ cuando quedan vencidos son 
 cabras en escapar a los montes, que no 
 ven la tierra que pisan;" and the sinewy 
 Spaniard to this day has buenos jarretes. 
 M. Thiers (L. 131) describing their 
 sauve qui peut at Rioseco, alludes to “la 
 vitesse de leurs jambes, excellentes 
 comme les jambes Espagnoles " — equal 
 in fact to their jarnbons (see p. 464). 
 The Spanish troops, ill provided and 
 worse disciplined, from the usual want 
 of a head, become too often but a mere 
 mob, and rather an aggregate of indi- 
 viduals, than an army ; and this occurs 
 in spite of their being so individually 
 brave, active, temperate, in short the 
 best raw material for a good soldier. 
 I One charge of cavalry— one procella 
 
840 
 
 ROUTE 115. ARANDA GUMIEL. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 equestris — generally sufficed as of old to 
 put them to disgraceful flight ; indeed, 
 they frequently ran before that one 
 charge, and the French were obliged 
 to stalk them like shy deer in order 
 to get near enough for a shot. With 
 truth may Durosoir say, (‘ L’Espagne,’ 
 21) “ Partout ou les Espagnols ont 
 eu h combattre les Fransais en ba- 
 taille range'e , ils ont a peine donne a 
 leurs ennemis le temps de les vaincre.” 
 And when once started they outstripped 
 their pursuers, having learned under 
 their blundering Blakes and Cuestas, 
 according to Kincaid, “to run 100 
 miles without stopping.” 
 
 Buonaparte, after this feat of Somo- 
 sierra, reached Madrid without en- 
 countering a single opponent, and little 
 did the bulk of Spaniards care for the 
 loss of the battle. The Spanish official 
 version of Somosierra is characteristic : 
 according to Paez (i. 354), here “a 
 corps of Spaniards combated the entire 
 French army commanded by Napoleon 
 in person;” that is, 12,000 men ran 
 away without even a show of fight, 
 at the mere sound of the horseshoes 
 of a few hundred Polish lancers led by 
 Krasinski. 
 
 The high road over the puerto is 
 often blocked up with winter snows, 
 but a commodious parador has been 
 built here by the diligence com- 
 pany. The pass is placed on the 
 dorsal spine, the granite serrated bar- 
 rier; the ascent and descent spread 
 over 6 L., which divides the two Cas- 
 tiles. Now we descend into a bald 
 uninteresting country, rich, however, 
 in corn and wine ; and thence to Aranda 
 on the Duero, amid its vineyards, 
 which although neglected, have their 
 patroness and history : see ‘ Historia de 
 Nuestra Sehora de las Vihas de Aranda / 
 AnicetoCruz Gonzalez, 8vo. Mad. 1795. 
 Her grand local fete is held Sept. 8. 
 Aranda is a central spot, and here the 
 road, if such it can be called, from 
 Barcelona to La Coruna , intersects that 
 which leads to France. The poplar- 
 fringed river is crossed by a good bridge, 
 and the overhanging, balconied houses 
 are picturesque. The bishop’s palace 
 was gutted by the invaders. Pop. about 
 4000. Visit the irregular market, 
 
 where the peasants group together, 
 with their alforjas on their shoulder, 
 like Sancho Panza. The women now 
 wear red stockings and petticoats of 
 thick serge green and blue. The S. portal 
 of the chief church is the fine Gothic 
 of Ferdinand and Isabella, whose 
 badges are mingled with the shields of 
 the Enriquez, admirals of Castile : ob- 
 serve the scale-form stone-work over 
 the door, which has good carved panels 
 and rich niches and statuary, with three 
 alto-relievos representing the Bearing 
 the Cross, the Crucifixion, and Resur- 
 rection. The fine retahlo inside contains 
 subjects from the life of the Virgin. 
 The Doric and Ionic portal of the sup- 
 pressed Dominican convent is classical. 
 Here is (or was) the fine retablo and 
 sepulchre wrought by Juan de Juni 
 for his patron Alvarez de Acosta, 
 Bishop of Osma. The pulpit is made 
 up of sculpture taken by barbarians 
 from this tomb. Aranda, now a miser- 
 able place, was once inhabited by 
 kings: for its past glories, consult 
 p. 174, 4 Obispado de Osma,’ Lopez 
 Loperraez, 4to., 4 vols., a fine book, 
 with plates. 
 
 Admirers of the Holy Tribunal may 
 make an excursion from Aranda to 
 Caleruega , 3^ L., where Santo Domingo , 
 the Inquisitor, was born, a convent 
 built in 1266 marks the spot. Examine 
 a Pozo , or well, caused by the exca- 
 vations of earth used to make rosaries , 
 which are held to be sure remedies 
 in case of ague. The pila in which 
 the saint was baptized was always 
 used for the Christenings of the Royal 
 family of Spain. 
 
 At Cumiel observe the Corinthian 
 portal of the parish church erected in 
 1627, and enriched with apostles, car- 
 dinal virtues, and the Assumption and 
 Coronation of the Virgin. Distant 
 \ L. is the ancient monastery of San 
 Pedro de Izan , which contains some 
 remarkable sepulchres ; the dreary, 
 lifeless, treeless, waterless country con- 
 tinues to Lerma ; Inn : Parador de las 
 Diligencias — a decayed place of some 
 1200 souls, and built on the Arlanza, 
 a fine trout-stream ; the shooting also 
 near it at El Bor dal is good. This 
 place gave the ducal title to the pre- 
 
The Gastiles. route 115 . — excursion from lerma. 
 
 841 
 
 mier of Philip III., a fit minister of the 
 decline of Spain’s greatness : his prin- 
 ciples were hypocrisy masking avarice ; 
 thus, while founding convents, he plun- 
 dered the public. Philip IV., on his 
 father’s death, squeezed out this full 
 sponge, and then beheaded his agent 
 Rodrigo Calderon, just as our Henry 
 VIII. dealt with the Empsons of his 
 father. At Lerma, in 1604, the mi- 
 nister raised a vast palace, designed 
 by Francisco de Mora, the best pupil 
 of Herrera, and planned in the style 
 of las casas de oficios at the Escorial ; 
 the patio , with a double colonnade 
 and noble staircase, shows what it 
 was before the French invasion, 
 when everything was pillaged, and 
 the edifice turned into a barrack: 
 now it is a prison. La Colegiata with 
 a classical portal was also built by this 
 Duke ; the retablo is in vile taste, but 
 the tabernacle, with fine marbles and 
 bronze angels, is better. The superb 
 monument of the kneeling Cardinal 
 Lerma has been attributed to Pompeio 
 Leoni. 
 
 An interesting excursion may be 
 ridden from Lerma , by which the dreary 
 high road to Aranda , or vice versd, is 
 avoided. First make for Covarrubias , 4 
 L. to the right, placed in a secluded hol- 
 low on the Arlanza, with a fine colegiata 
 among the ruined remains of massy 
 mediaeval buildings. Observe the square 
 tower in which Doha TJrraca was im- 
 mured by the Conde Fernan Gonzalez : 
 about 1 L., in a rough rocky site, is or 
 rather was the ancient Benedictine 
 Carthusian monastery of San Pedro de 
 Arlanza , which existed in the time of 
 the Goths, as in it Wamba took the 
 cowl ; it was restored in 912, some say, 
 by the Conde Fernan Gonzalez, in 
 gratitude for his signal victory at Cas- 
 cajares : here was guarded the cross 
 which was sent him by Pope John XI., 
 as a sure remedy against hail-storms ; 
 its virtue was tested in 1488 by the 
 Bishop Luis de Acuna, who put it into 
 a fire, whereupon the flames were 
 instantly extinguished (see Sandoval’s 
 * Idacio ,’ p. 336). Here also was kept 
 la Virgen de las Batallas, which was 
 coeval with that of theCid(see p. 520). 
 The Count Fernan was buried here 
 
 with his wife Sancha, and so also, as 
 some say, is Mudarra and the 7 in- 
 fantes of Lara. Etiam periese ruinse ! 
 This count was the real founder of the 
 Castilian monarchy, and a perfect hero 
 of romance, being always up to his 
 elbows in adventures ; his grand deeds 
 were the defeats of the infidel at Lara, 
 at Osma, and Piedrahita; his escape 
 from prison by the aid of his true wife, 
 and other spirit-stirring incidents, just 
 when history was hovering on fiction, 
 are told in some charming old ballads 
 (see Duran, v. 27). 
 
 Make next (1 j L.) for the huge white 
 Benedictine convent of Santo Domingo 
 of Silos, placed in a hill-girt valley, 
 watered by the brawling Mataviejas : 
 notice the double-galleried Byzantine 
 cloister, the under one with highly 
 worked grotesque capitals, all differing 
 from each other; observe a peculiar ele- 
 gant cluster of four spirally-twisted pil- 
 lars ; look at the quaint figures of the 
 10th or 11th century, which ornament 
 the doorway ; inquire for the Patata of 
 the horse of Fernan Gonzalez, for which 
 see 4 Esp. Sag. 3 xxxiiii. 117. This 
 convent was used as a hospital by the 
 Carlists, whose beds were made with 
 books of the library. The building 
 may be yet saved, as it is destined for 
 the Missiones. The tutelar Saint Do- 
 mingo, born circa 1000 near Na- 
 jera, for 23 years was abbot of this 
 convent. He worked many miracles 
 alive, and when dead delivered so 
 many captives at Algiers, whose count- 
 less chains hung at the convent gate, 
 that the feat passed into a synonym of 
 infinity. No te bast ar an los hierros de 
 Santo Domingo de Silos ? (See the de- 
 tails inAnquiano’s 4 Rioja, 3 ch.xi.,and 
 in his authentic ‘ Vida, 3 &c., by Juan 
 de Castro, 1688.) 
 
 Now make, over mountain and glen 
 parklike scenery, wooded with oak, 
 pine and cedar, and freshened with 
 rivulets, to Huerta del Reg, by Arauzo 
 de Miel and Doha Santos, under its 
 white cliffs ; thence ( 1 L.) to Pehalva 
 de Castro, the white rock of the camp, 
 that lies under a hill to the N., the site 
 of ancient Clunia, which, with its 
 capitals inscribed columns and “ old 
 stones,” served as a quarry for build- 
 
842 
 
 ROUTE 115. — PEN ARANDA DE DUERO. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 ing this modern hamlet. Just to 
 the 1. of the ascent, rises ancient 
 Clunia , placed on a conspicuous height, 
 with a fine view; fragments of the 
 theatre, about 70 yards wide by 
 50 long, jut out of the hill side ; 1 0 
 rows of steps and part of the prosce- 
 nium are tolerably perfect. Bushels 
 of engraved stones have been found 
 amid the ruins ; it is an unworked mine 
 of antiquities. Consult the ‘ Historia 
 del Obispado.* The ancient town is 
 gone all but a few stones, bleaching 
 like skeletons : the scene is now deso- 
 late, and a single peasant vegetates 
 where multitudes once swarmed: ob- 
 serve the rollo , or town cross, made from 
 a Corinthian shaft. Hence turn by a 
 hermitage, down to the castle-crowned 
 village of Coruna del Conde , the cor- 
 ruption of Clunia — Crunia : it lies a 
 little way beyond the base of the hill 
 on the opposite side. Leaving Coruna 
 to the r. is a sort of Romanesque 
 chapel, constructed out of ancient frag- 
 ments, where the doors of the 12th 
 century contrast with classical cornices 
 and festoons. 
 
 Thence, by a 2 L. ride, to pic- 
 turesque, imposingly-situated Pena - 
 randa de Duero , or de la Perra , so called 
 from a bitch observed moving out of a 
 hole in the wall, which pointed out to 
 the Christians an adit to capture the 
 castle, on the hill above, from the 
 Moors. The ruined castle, the tumble- 
 down Prout-like houses, the pictur- 
 esque paupers and rags to match, will 
 delight the artist. The decaying 
 palace, a mixture of Saracenic and 
 Moorish style, is the Casa solar of the 
 powerful Zunigas, counts of Miranda. 
 The Conde de Montijo is now the head of 
 the family and the fair spouse of Louis 
 Napoleon a scion, to whose eldest sister, 
 the Duchess of Alba, this time- 
 honoured ruin belongs. Walk up to 
 and about the gorgeous wreck : notice 
 the plateresque portal, decorated with 
 a bust of Hercules, armour and heraldic 
 coats, a double-galleried superb patio , 
 a staircase ornamented with medallions, 
 and the panoramic view. The interior 
 has been turned to base and bucolic 
 purposes : some of the ceilings, being 
 out of Vandal reach, have escaped. 
 
 In front of the palace is the Gothic $ 
 Rollo y Picote , emblems of feudal 
 days, when this great family possessed 
 the right of the Horca y cuchillo. The 
 Colegiata contains some fine tombs and 
 urnas of the Mirandas, many brought 
 from Genoa. Observe the busts of 
 Roman emperors let into the facade of 
 the church. 
 
 Now make for La Vid, 1 long L. 
 
 It has a good bridge over the Duero, 
 built in 1542 by Pedro Rasinas, at 
 the cost of the Cardinal Mendoza; 
 cross it and pass the extensive convent 
 of Premonstratenses , of no particular 
 interest, and thence to Aranda de Duero , 
 
 3 L. 
 
 Those going N. may proceed 3 L. 
 dreary enough, in spite of vineyards 
 and complains, to miserable San Este- 
 ban, whose tutelar San Former iod ashes 
 are kept under 7 keys on the over- 
 hanging eminence, and thence through 
 Bur go de Osma , 2J L. It lies in a 
 damp hollow ; but the approach is fine, 
 as seen through a rocky defile, with 
 the church tower, ancient walls, and 
 fresh stream ; the cathedral was built 
 in 1232. Notice the doors to the S. 
 with the saints and figures; that to 
 the W. is most delicate, with its double 
 set of columns and rich frieze ; inside 
 observe the carved silleria, and the 
 image of Santo Domingo, who was 
 once subprior here ; the reja of the 
 Capilla Mayor , by Juan Frances, 1505, 
 is excellent. Notice in the trascoro 
 some grand carvings of Juan de Juni, 
 from subjects in the life of the Saviour. 
 
 In a chapel to the N. are 16 Albert- 
 Durer-like paintings relating to the 
 Virgin. Outside the town is a cele- 
 brated seminario ; hence proceed by 
 Val de Alvillo , 3 L. (short), by Villa 
 Cuervos , 4 L. (long), to Soria , 3 L. 
 Agreda , 8 L., to Tudela , 8 L. (see 
 Index). 
 
 To continue and finish R. 115, on 
 leaving Lerma , the weary traveller at 
 last gladly beholds the walls of Burgos, 
 rising nobly above the plantations 
 on the banks of the Arlanzon, with its 
 domineering castle and filigree spires 
 of its splendid cathedral. The best inns 
 are Parador de las Diligencias and de 
 Post as, or Doran. There are also good 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 115. — BURGOS. 
 
 843 
 
 quarters in the Plaza, in which is the 
 bronze fountain of Flora, and a quiet 
 un-coach-disturbed Parador Nuevo in 
 the Barrio de la Vega . Few travellers 
 halt at Burgos, a town of passage, as 
 they are either in a hurry to get on to 
 Madrid, or in a greater hurry to get 
 out of the Castiles; yet the scholar, 
 antiquarian, and artist may well spend 
 a couple of days at this time-honoured 
 old capital of Castile. For its history, 
 consult 4 Historia de Castilla ’ Diego 
 Gutierez Coronel, 4to. Mad. 1785 ; the 
 paper by Benito Montejo, in the 4 Mem . 
 de la Acad . de Hist .’ iii. 245 ; 4 Viaje ,’ 
 Ponz, xii. ; 4 Viaje Artistico ,’ Isidoro 
 Bosarte, 8vo. Mad., 1804; Florez, 
 4 Esp. Sag.,’ xxv. xxvi. ; 4 Apuntes sobre 
 Burgos ,’ D. E. A. Besson, 4to. Burgos, 
 1846 ; a 4 Manual,’ by R. Monje. 
 
 BURGOS, a name connected by 
 some with the Iberian Briga, at all 
 events means a 44 fortified eminence,” 
 and is akin to n vgyos, Burgus, Burgh, 
 Borough, Bury, &c. It is placed under 
 the Montanas, or hilly regions, from 
 whence so early as 874 the hardy 
 highlanders turned against the Moors ; 
 this truly Castilian city was founded 
 in 884 by Diego de Porcelos, and 
 became the capital of the infant 
 monarchy ; it bears for arms, 44 gules, 
 a half-length figure of the king, with 
 an orle of 16 castles or.” The city 
 was at first subject in some degree to 
 the kings of Leon, when Fruela II., 
 about the year 926, invited the chief 
 rulers to a feast, and then put them to 
 death — cosas de Espana. The citizens of 
 Burgos thereupon elected judges to 
 govern them, just as the Moors of 
 Seville chose Mohammed Abu’-F -Ka- 
 sim to be their Kadi-l-jamah or chief 
 judge, when the Ummeyah dynasty 
 was destroyed. The most celebrated 
 of these magistrates were Nuno Basura, 
 Lain Calvo, and others who figure in 
 old historical ballads. At length Fer- 
 nan Gonzalez shook off the yoke of 
 Leon, and in him the title of 44 Conde 
 de Castilla ” became hereditary, and 
 the title of a 44 Count ” was then equi- 
 valent to an independent sovereign. 
 Thus, as among the Jews, the age of 
 the law preceded the age of the mo- 
 narchy. His granddaughter Nuna 
 
 married Sancho el Mayor of Navarre, 
 whose son, Ferdinand I. of Castile, 
 united' in 1067 the kingdoms of Leon 
 and Castile, by marrying Sancha, sole 
 daughter of Bermudo III. See 4 Esp. 
 Sag.,’ xxvi. 63. 
 
 When Alonso VI., in 1085, raised 
 Toledo to the rank of capital, serious 
 disputes of precedence arose between 
 Burgos and its rival ; and these were 
 only compromised in 1349 by Alonso 
 XI., who directed Burgos to speak first 
 in Cortes, saying that he would speak 
 for Toledo. The kings of Castile, by 
 removing their court from Burgos, cut 
 away the sources of its prosperity, 
 which the Buonaparte invasion com- 
 pleted. The population has decayed 
 from 50,000 to 12,000 ; venerable look- 
 ing Burgos has a marked character 
 about it of a genuine old Gothic Cas- 
 tilian city, and those who dwell in it 
 are also Castellanos rancios y viejos — good 
 men and true. Its chief support arises 
 from the traffic of travellers going be- 
 tween Madrid. It contains 14 parishes, 
 and is pi aced on the Arlanzon, over which 
 there are 3 stone bridges. A smaller 
 stream, el Pico, divided into water- 
 courses, here called esguevas, traverses 
 the streets, which are thus cleansed 
 and freshened. Burgos has an audiencia, 
 which was carved in 1835 out of the 
 chancelleria of Valladolid, a public li- 
 brary, museo, theatre, liceo club, and 
 wretched cuna, or foundling hospital. 
 A new theatre, prison, and barrack 
 are building on the Espolon. The 
 queso de Burgos is a cheese much 
 renowned in Spain, but those who 
 know Stilton and Parmesan will think 
 it better suited to hungry Sancho 
 Panza’s taste than to theirs. As a 
 residence it is dull, damp, and cold. 
 
 The French entered Burgos for the 
 first time Nov. 10, 1808, the epoch of 
 its ruin, the whole Spanish army, 
 under Belveder, having turned and fled 
 at the opening charge of the invaders, 
 who did not lose 50 men. The unre- 
 sisting city was then sacked by Bes- 
 si&res, a la Pioseco ; here, however, he 
 was only the agent of Buonaparte in 
 person, who wished, as usual, by an 
 early example of terror, to intimidate 
 all future resistance. Such was the 
 
844 
 
 ROUTE 115. BURGOS — CATHEDRAL. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 barbarous Roman policy in Spain, 
 where even Scipio, at the taking of 
 Carthagena, ordered his troops to kill 
 every living being, 
 
 in order that his name might be a 
 “ stupifying terror ” (Polyb. x. 15). 
 The Memoir es of Joseph have revealed 
 to the world how entirely this bloody 
 theory and practice was the panacea 
 of Buonaparte : witness his ferocious 
 instructions for the Razzias of Calabria. 
 Buonaparte’s views at Burgos were 
 so perfectly carried out, that he 
 thought it prudent to lament, in a bul- 
 letin to be read at Paris, the “ horrors 
 which made him shudder,” but which 
 one little word spoken by him on the 
 spot would have prevented. Here he 
 remained 12 days beating the English 
 in bulletins with the paper pellets of 
 his brain. 
 
 Burgos , the see of an archbishop, has 
 for suffragans Pamplona, Palencia, San- 
 tander, and Tudela. The king, as 
 Seuor de Vizcaya , was one of the canons 
 of the chapter, as at Leon and Toledo. 
 Amongst those members who have 
 risen to the tiara, are Rodrigo Borgia, 
 Alexander VI., who was archdeacon of 
 Burgos. The cathedral, one of the 
 finest in Spain, is unfortunately much 
 blocked up by mean buildings ; but 
 seen from afar, when towering over 
 its incumbrances, it rises a superb pile 
 of florid Gothic, with clustering filigree 
 pinnacles. It was begun July 20, 1221, 
 by the bishop Mauricio, an English- 
 man, and a friend of St. Ferdinand. 
 The grand or W. entrance is placed 
 between two towers finished by Juan 
 de Colonia, and is crowned by spires of 
 most delicate open stone-work, which 
 indeed looks so much like lace, that 
 one wonders how it has not been blown 
 away in this stormy climate. The 
 3 bald portals, which correspond with 
 the 3 aisles, are unfortunately much out 
 of keeping; as, in 1791, when art and 
 taste were at the lowest, and in a fatal 
 rage for modernising, the chapter re- 
 moved the former deep -recessed and 
 enriched Gothic doorways. The cen- 
 tral one is called de Santa Maria , for 
 to her this Mariolatrous temple is de- 
 dicated; her praises, Pulchra es et de 
 cora , &c., are worked in open letters 
 
 above in the balustrade, while her Con- 
 ception and her Assumption and her 
 Coronation are sculptured over the 
 entrances. Observe particularly the 
 beautiful rose window, and the niche 
 work and finials. The ground at this 
 front is uneven, but picturesque. Look 
 at the cinque-cento fountain with its 
 Cupids, mermaids, Madona, & c., the 
 effect is pretty as a damaged bit of 
 Cellini plate : notice the artistical flight 
 of steps. The gate to the N. is some 30 
 ft. above the pavement of the cathedral, 
 which is built on an uneven site. This 
 Puerta alta is enriched with a recessed 
 doorway and ranges of statues in niches. 
 Although never opened, it is ascended 
 to from the inside transept by a highly 
 novel and elaborate staircase, designed 
 by Diego de Siloe, in whose details 
 Paganism struggles with Christianity, 
 and hippogryphs with canonised saints. 
 Observe also the rich plateresque door 
 called la Pellegeria , and inside the 
 tomb of Bernardino Gutierrez, ascribed 
 by some to Torregiano, the foliage 
 and children are truly graceful : the 
 opposite gate is adorned with pillars 
 and Gothic work. Observe the St. 
 Peter, St. Paul, the Virgin and Child, 
 and a kneeling Prelate. The lovers 
 of middle-Gothic should examine the 
 Puerta de los Apostoles. On going out 
 of the Puerta del Perdon are two grand 
 statues of the Saviour conceived like 
 Sebastian del Piombo, with the legend, 
 4 4 Ego sum principium et finis ; alpha 
 et omega.” 
 
 The interior is very light from the 
 whiteness of stone and absence of 
 painted glass, which was destroyed 
 by the French explosion in 1813 ; it is 
 blocked up by the coro , and its massy 
 reja ; but the well-lighted cimborio of 
 the transept is a noble octagon, rising 
 180 ft. from circular buttresses, and 
 adorned with imperial and archiepis- 
 copal arms. Felipe de Borgona, the 
 architect, lies buried near this his grand 
 elevation. Si monumentum quseris 
 circumspice. This crucero , so elegant 
 as to be called the work of angels, 
 was completed Dec. 4, 1567, in the 
 plateresque renaissance style, then all 
 the fashion. It was built at the ex- 
 pense of the Archbishop Juan Alvarez 
 
The Castiles. route 115 . — burgos — the cathedral. 
 
 845 
 
 de Toledo, son of the Duke of Alva, 
 the original transept having fallen in 
 March 3, 1539. The fine organs are 
 by J uan de Argete. The walnut silleria 
 del coro is of different periods and 
 artists: observe the archbishop’s throne. 
 The first tier of stalls is carved with 
 subjects from the Old Testament, 
 but the backs are more modern. 
 The lower tier are in the Berruguete 
 style, and some of the figures are quite 
 Italian. The elaborate reja> the work 
 of Juan Bautista de Celma, was given 
 in 1602 by Cardinal Zapata, whose 
 canting arms, boots and shoes, mark 
 the place ; there is good Gothic work 
 on the respaldos del coro , but the tras- 
 coro has been modernised with in- 
 congruous Corinthian ; and, in the 
 same bad taste, a Gothic portal was 
 removed, and one of a Greek character 
 substituted. The reja of the transept 
 was wrought in 1723 for the Arch- 
 bishop M. F. Navarrete, by a lay monk 
 named Pedro Martinez ; but these rail- 
 ings, beautiful in themselves, over- 
 imprison the cathedral. The high 
 altar, rather tawdry from over gilding, 
 ranks as a Capilla Real , because here 
 lie buried some royal corpses. The 
 infante Don Juan in mail, &c. Ob- 
 serve the figure of Doha Beatriz hold- 
 ing a tablet. The retablo, composed 
 of the classical orders, with the Salo- 
 minic or twisted spiral pillars, was put 
 up by Archbishop Vela in 1575: the 
 carved figures are somewhat lengthy. 
 The emphatic image, that of the 
 Virgin, was wrought in 1578 by Miguel 
 de Ancheta of Pamplona. This grand 
 skreen is the work of the brothers 
 Rodrigo and Martin de la Aya or Haya, 
 1577-93. Observe the tree of the Sa- 
 viour’s genealogy, which winds up 
 like ivy. Unfortunately many of the 
 figures have been mutilated, and re- 
 placed by inferior hands. The mag- 
 nificent silver custodia was plundered 
 by the invaders : still, however, there 
 exist six candelabra of the finest pla- 
 teresque art, which on grand occasions 
 are placed before the high altar. In- 
 quire also for la Cruz grande de las Pro- 
 cessiones , a superb work of Enrique de 
 Arphe. 
 
 The various chapels of this cathedral 
 
 Spain.— -II. 
 
 I deserve close inspection, as being full 
 of good sculpture, tombs, and what 
 escaped of the painted glass. The 
 grandest of all is that del Condestable , 
 which was erected about 1487 as the 
 burial-place of the Velasco family, the 
 hereditary Constables of Castile. This 
 rich florid Gothic capilla , as large as 
 some churches, is admirable inside and 
 outside, as its pinnacles or agvjas form 
 a charming cluster, and correspond 
 with the spires. The entrance is very 
 striking ; but before you go in observe 
 the solid buttress, piers, and wreathed 
 pillars, enriched with nichework, and 
 children supporting carvings under 
 glorious canopies which occupy the 
 trasaltar , opposite to the entrance. The 
 white stone forms an admirable ma- 
 terial for the admirable sculpture, 
 which is attributed to Juan de Borgona. 
 The subjects are the Agony of the 
 Saviour ; the Bearing the Cross ; the 
 Crucifixion, which is the best; the 
 Resurrection and Ascension. The en- 
 grailed edges of the archway form a 
 rich lace-like frame, under which the 
 light, simple, and cheerful chapel is 
 seen, with its tombs and heraldic de- 
 corations. Before the retablo repose 
 the founder, Pedro Hernandez de Ve- 
 lasco, obt. 1492, and his wife Mencia 
 Lopez de Mendoza, obt. 1500, at whose 
 feet lies a dog, emblem of her fidelity ; 
 their full-length effigies surmount the 
 monument. These fine tombs were 
 sculptured in Italy in 1540 ; the cos- 
 tumes, armour, lace-work, and details 
 deserve close inspection. Observe the 
 early picture in the Albert Durer style, 
 with folding panels, and representing 
 the Virgin and Child, recently be- 
 queathed by the Bishop of Leon. Next 
 observe the lofty and superb reja , with 
 a Santiago crowning the gate of the 
 entrance. This railing is indeed a 
 masterpiece of Christobal de Andino, 
 
 1 523, a native of Burgos ; now, alas ! 
 it is dimmed by age and neglect, but 
 what must it have been in all its 
 freshness, when first revealing to 
 Burgos the glories of the Renaissance ! 
 Observe the lock and the kneeling 
 figures holding a shield, which are quite 
 a l’antique. Among other precious 
 objects are a huge block of polished 
 
 2 p 
 
846 
 
 ROUTE 115. — BURGOS THE CATHEDRAL TOMBS. Sect. XI. 
 
 jasper ; look at a beautiful Purifica- 
 tion in the retablo ; but the statues of 
 San Sebastian and San Jeronimo , said 
 to be by Becerra, are more admired 
 than they deserve. The carved stalls 
 are good. The picture of the Magdalen 
 'with auburn hair in the adjoining 
 Sacristia, and here ascribed to Leo- 
 nardo da Vinci, is at all events a 
 good Lombard picture. The Sacristia 
 contains some old church plate, e. g. 
 cetros or silver staves, pixes, incens- 
 aries, a good chalice and an exquisite 
 cross by Juan d’Arphe. Notice the 
 image of Nuestra Senora de Oca , on 
 a throne, with the child holding an 
 apple, which is carried about for 
 public adoration. She is appealed to 
 in cases of breach of marriage, hav- 
 ing on one occasion nodded her head 
 when appealed to ! Oca in Spanish 
 means a goose. Observe also a Virgin 
 in ivory and ebony in a pearl-orna- 
 mented niche ; inquire also for the 
 statue of San Bruno , from the Cartuja, 
 and look at the tom b of El Beato Lesmes , 
 obt. 1212. This pious servant of the 
 basket making St. Julian, Bishop of 
 Cuenca, still cures pains in the kidneys! 
 To the 1. of this chapel is the grand 
 tomb of Juan de Orteaga Velasco, 
 abbot of San Quirce, obt. 1559. Ob- 
 serve the Cherubs, Caryatides, Con- 
 ception of the Virgin, and Baptism in 
 the Jordan. Among the sepulchres in 
 the Gothic chapel Santa Ana is that in 
 the middle, of Archbishop Luis de Acuna 
 y Osorio, who finished one of the towers ; 
 the head of the effigy which, clad in 
 episcopalibus, is stretched on the urna, 
 is a portrait. Observe the statues of the 
 cardinal virtues. The altar is excel- 
 lent Gothic. The retablo contains the 
 meeting of San Joaquin and Santa 
 Ana, the parents of the Virgin. Ob- 
 serve an elaborate genealogy, and a 
 fine Florentine picture, ascribed to 
 Andrea del Sarto, of the Madonna with 
 a child on her knee attended by St. 
 John and St. Joseph. 
 
 The chapel of Santiago is the parro- 
 quia of the cathedral, and the retablo 
 with the mounted tutelar is good : in 
 its Sacristia are two superb cinque- 
 cento sepulchres of the Archbishop 
 Juan Cabeza de Vaca, 1512, and of 
 
 his brother Don Pedro. Tn the centre 
 of the chapel lies the Archbishop Juan 
 de Villacreses, arrayed in pontificali- 
 bus, obt. 1403, Observe the costume of 
 the two recumbent figures of the Esca- 
 lona family, and that of Lesmes de 
 Astudilla, with the sculpture represent- 
 ing the Presentation of the Virgin, St. 
 John, and Santiago. In the adjoining 
 Capilla de San Enrique is a magni- 
 ficent Italian marble sepulchre, with a 
 kneeling figure in bronze of the pre- 
 late and founder, Enrique de Peralta y 
 Cardenas, 1679. Observe the carving 
 of the stalls, the atril and bronze eagle. 
 In the Capilla de la Visitation lies 
 Alonso de Cartagena, an eminent his- 
 torian, who in 1435 succeeded his 
 father as archbishop. Observe in his 
 chapel San Juan de Sahagun, clad as a 
 monk, with a book at his feet — an ad- 
 mirable piece of minute art. In this 
 chapel are six pictures of the life of 
 Christ, by an old German artist. The 
 picture in the Capilla de la Presentation , 
 the second to the rt. on entering from 
 the W., is one of the finest paintings 
 in Old Castile. In it the Virgin, 
 larger than life and full length, is 
 seated with the Infant, who gives bene- 
 diction: the child is somewhat hard 
 and stiff, as are some of the lower 
 draperies of the Virgin. This master- 
 piece, here ascribed to Michael Angelo, 
 is much more probably by Sebastian 
 del Piombo. It was presented to the 
 chapel by the founder, a Florentine 
 named Mozzi. The old retablos are con- 
 cealed by modern trumpery ; observe, 
 however, the figures of Santa Casilda, 
 and a saint on horseback. Here is 
 the tomb of Jacobo de Bilbao, the first 
 chaplain of the chapel ; his head is 
 fine; the other details are in a truly 
 plateresque and Berruguete style : 
 equally rich is the door of the Sa- 
 cristia. Observe also the organ and 
 balustrade, and the tomb of Alonso 
 Diaz de Lerma, nephew to Mozzi ; the 
 head drapery and sarcophagus are 
 finely sculptured: the medallions on 
 the sepulchre of Gonzalo Diaz de 
 Lerma are not so good. The window 
 of this chapel is large and grandiose. 
 In the next capilla, la del Cristo en 
 Agonia, is a Crucifixion by Mateo 
 
The Castiles. route 115. — burgos — the cathedral. 
 
 847 
 
 Cerezo (1635-1685), the Vandyke of 
 Spain, but the colouring is brown and 
 foxy, a common fault with this master. 
 The Capilla de Santa Tecla offers a 
 grand specimen of churrigueresque to 
 lovers of gilt gingerbread. 
 
 Next visit the Sola Capitular , which 
 has some bad pictures, but a good 
 artesonado roof. In the Pieza de Juan 
 “ el Cuchiller ” the carver, is the armed 
 effigy of that gallant knight who 
 pawned his clothes to procure a supper 
 for Henrique III. ; the king had no 
 money to buy one, and starved at the 
 moment when the Archbishop of 
 Toledo was giving a grand supper, at 
 which Henrique went in disguise : see 
 for particulars Mariana xix. 14. But 
 a makeshift menage distinguishes every 
 house in Spain, from the venta to the 
 palace, in which, among the other 
 necessaries wanting, that of a well- 
 stocked larder is the foremost; here 
 the Queen, like all her subjects, lives 
 from day to day and from hand to 
 mouth, for when night sets in little 
 more than a glass of water is to be found 
 under royal or pauper roof. Cosas de 
 Espana : i. e. want, hunger. 
 
 Notice here el Cofre del Cid, the 
 worm-eaten old chest affixed up on 
 the wall, which, como cuenta la historia 
 (see his 6 Cronica,’ chr. xc.), he filled 
 with sand, and then, telling the Jews 
 Rachel and Bidas that it contained gold 
 and jewels, raised a loan on the security. 
 They were not to inspect the contents 
 or verify the security. Excellent He- 
 brews, they advanced the money, and 
 great is the pity for Spain, where 
 want of cash is a chronic complaint, 
 that this tribe is lost! Now-a-days 
 matters are changed, and we have 
 heard of a Jew premier actually doing 
 Christians out of a loan principal and 
 interest. But the honest Cid did not 
 repudiate, since, incredible as it may 
 now seem, he actually repaid both 
 principal and interest. Oh, rare Cid ! 
 Honra de Espana . He moreover was 
 grieved at being reduced to such shifts 
 by his king’s ingratitude. 
 
 Oh necesidad ivfame 
 A cuantos honrados fuergas 
 
 A que por salir de ti 
 Hagan mil cosas mal hechas ! 
 
 The adjoining Sacristia is churri- 
 gueresque, with a ceiling coloured like 
 a china dish. Inquire for a fine Flo- 
 rentine table of Pietre Commesse. In 
 the Relicario examine the banner used 
 by Alonso VIII. at the battle of Las 
 Navas de Tolosa. 
 
 The Sacristia vieja contains poor 
 portraits of prelates of this cathedral, 
 with quaint letreros or labels ; here also 
 are some good walnut carvings of Pedro 
 Martinez, 1723. This place is used as 
 a lumber or store-room for damaged 
 carved images. Now pass into the 
 beautiful Gothic cloisters, which, like 
 the chapel of Santa Catalina, are placed 
 on an irregular level. Observe parti- 
 cularly the curious old pointed work 
 at the entrance, and a grand doorway 
 carved in oak, with a noble panel of 
 a crowned king. The head of a monk, 
 from which the outer rim of the arch 
 springs, is said to be the portrait bust 
 of San Francisco, and at all events is 
 a fine thing. In the cloisters observe 
 the windows, staircases, and the tomb 
 of Diego de Santander, obt. 1533, 
 which has an exquisite alto-relievo of 
 the Virgin and Child ; remark also the 
 sepulchres of Gaspar de lllescas and 
 Pedro Sariz de Ruilobo, with a dead 
 Saviour. Observe a group of four 
 crowned figures on the corner shaft, 
 near the tomb of Francisco de Mena, 
 and the urna of Gonzalo de Burgos, 
 an eminent lawyer ; look at the curious 
 retablo in the corner, dedicated to San 
 Geronimo, with mediae val sculpture. 
 The dates of the tombs range from the 
 14th to the 16th century. Consult, 
 for fuller details of this cathedral than 
 we pretend to give, either the 4 Historia 
 de la Catedraly by Pedro Orcajo, 3rd 
 ed. Burgos, 1847, or the 4th vol. of 
 Madoz. 
 
 Examine particularly the Capilla del 
 Santisimo Cristo , the first to the r. on 
 entering, for this cathedral at last is 
 blessed with the marvellous and mira- 
 culous image El Cristo de Burgos . Like 
 the Cristo de Beyrut (p. 379) it was 
 self-navigating. According to the 1 As- 
 paiia Sagrada 9 (xxvii. 495), a Burga- 
 lese merchant found the figure steering 
 itself, as the body of Santiago did (see 
 p. 603), in the Bay of Biscay. When. 
 
 2 P 2 
 
848 
 
 ROUTE 115. — BURGOS— IGLESIA JURADERA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 landed and placed in the Sn. Agustin 
 convent, it worked infinite miracles and 
 attracted gold and silver offerings — for 
 instance raised 10 men at once from the 
 dead, and extended its arms to Queen 
 Isabella, just as the polite statue of 
 Memnon bowed to Sabina, wife of 
 Adrian ; the Archbishop naturally 
 wished to move it into the cathedral, 
 but it walked out and back again twice 
 to its old quarters. Previously to the 
 invasion the chaplain used to assure 
 true believers that its beard grew as 
 regularly as his own. Dii te Dama- 
 sippe Deesque, verum ob consilium do- 
 nent tonsore ! It sweated every Fri- 
 day, fast day, which was very edifying. 
 So in pagan times four graven images 
 at Cessene sweated blood for 24 hours 
 without ceasing ; so did the Cumgean 
 Apollo. (Cic. de Dio. i. 43). A French 
 Bishop bit off its toe, which he carried 
 home as a relic, just as that of Pyrrhus 
 was kept as a cure for the spleen (Pliny, 
 
 4 N. H.’ vii. 2). Marshal Bessieres, bred 
 a barber boy, laughed at the beard, 
 but respected the remaining toes ; he 
 simply carried off a crown of gold 
 which had been offered by the C e . de 
 Urena, just as Dionysius only relieved 
 Esculapius of his golden beard. Long 
 before, the Burgalese image — true to 
 a crown of thorns — had shaken the 
 costly diadem off its head, which was 
 placed in consequence at its feet, like 
 the golden paterae of Juno (Livy vi. 4 ; 
 Cicero de N. Div. i. 34), “ removed ” 
 by the aforesaid Dionysius (Cic. de N. 
 D. iii. 34). A bit of one of the green 
 tapers, once lighted before this Cristo, 
 was supposed to secure the wearer from 
 sudden death : thus Jaurequi, when he 
 fired at the Prince of Orange, wore a 
 candle's end under his waistcoat. 
 
 This crucifix, according to the chap- 
 lain, was carved by Nicodemus, out of 
 supernatural materials; and so none 
 could tell of what wood the Lycsean 
 Apollo was wrought (Paus. ii. 9. 7). 
 To us the former appeared, after close 
 inspection, to be graven out of Sorian 
 pine, and to be earlier than Becerra or 
 Hernandez : still the Burgos connois- 
 seurs prefer Nicodemus. Be this as it 
 may, as a work of art it is admirable, 
 and evidently modelled from a real 
 
 corpse ; the expression of suffering in 
 the head drooping over the shoulder is 
 very fine ; nor will the lace petticoat 
 displease our fair readers. It glories 
 in a wig of real hair, continues to work 
 miracles, and to attract ex voto dona- 
 tions . There is a most authentic Spanish 
 4 Hist or ia’ &c , of this S mo Cristo by 
 Joan Sierra, Mad. 1762 ; and another, 
 4to., published at Lisbon in 1609. 
 
 Burgos , being in a country famous for 
 carvers, was very rich in these miracu- 
 lous images. Florez ( 4 Esp. Sag * xxvii. 
 518) describes an efficacious one, the 
 Trinidad : when the mob were dama- 
 ging that church in 1366, a stone 
 struck the figure’s nose, which bled 
 copiously. 
 
 Next ascend the castle hill, looking 
 on the way at the ancient church of 
 Santa Gadea (Agueda), which was 
 one of the three Iglesias Juraderas , or 
 churches of purgation by adjuration 
 (see Leon, p. 551, and Avila, p. 748). 
 The touchstone of truth was a lock, el 
 cerrojo , which was called del Cid, be- 
 cause on it he obliged Alonso VI. to 
 swear twice that he had no hand in 
 his brother Sancho’s assassination at 
 Zamora (see p. 530 ), which the king 
 never forgave. So Callipus was made 
 to purge himself by oath in the temple 
 of Ceres and Proserpine, when sus- 
 pected of having plotted the life of 
 Dion (Pint, in Dion.). When this 
 practice was abolished by the Leges de 
 Toro of Isabella, the Bishop Pascual de 
 Ampudia caused the lock to be affixed 
 up out of reach, either to preserve it as 
 an antiquity, or to nail it, in terrorem, 
 as a forged coin is on a counter. All 
 who wished to clear themselves used 
 to touch it, tango aras et numina testor 
 (JEn. xii. 201), and then kiss their 
 thumb ; but the word adorare implies 
 the moving the hand to the mouth, ad 
 ora (Pliny, xxviii. 2). Something of 
 this form exists in the Spanish com- 
 plimentary phrase, Beso a V md . la 
 mano. The lower classes now, when 
 taking an oath, often close their hand 
 and raise the thumb, which they kiss. 
 Such is the import of the old Highland 
 song, 44 There’s my thumb, I’ll ne’er 
 beguile thee.” 
 
 The interior of Santa Gadea has 
 
The Castiles. route 115 . — burgos — -the castle — the siege. 
 
 849 
 
 been plundered, and was abominably 
 modernised in 1832, when the old re- 
 tablos , paneled pictures, &c., were 
 carted out. Observe, however, the 
 baptismal font, the tomb of the chantor 
 Alonso Delgadillo, and the statues of 
 the Virgin and St. Peter. 
 
 Hence ascending the hill we reach 
 the triumphant arch erected by Philip 
 II. to Fernan Gonzalez, in the Doric 
 style, with ball-tipped pyramids : this 
 “ High Street,” or Calle Alta , as being 
 nearest to the protecting castle, was 
 the first inhabited when Burgos be- 
 came a city, and here the aristocracy 
 lived. The site of the Cid’s house was 
 cleared in 1771, and is now marked 
 by pillars ; a small space for so great 
 a man, but his glory fills the world: 
 now all is neglected and going fast to 
 ruin, for the heroic ages of Spain are 
 past, and the memorials of genuine old 
 Castilians shame the modern medioc- 
 rities. The streets of the ancient parish 
 of San Martin, higher up, were entirely 
 razed by the invaders, whose quiver here 
 was indeed an open sepulchre, for now 
 a Campo Santo or public cemetery has 
 been laid out here, and graves replace 
 houses once warm with life. An old 
 gate preserves its Moorish arch. Above, 
 the hill of the castle comes to a point, 
 and beneath it nestles the closely packed 
 town. The view from the heights is 
 extensive ; now the pinnacled cathedral 
 is really seen ; beyond in the distances, 
 to the N.E., are the monasteries of 
 Miraflores and Car deha, while to the 
 S.W., outside the town, rises the royal 
 convent of Las Huelgas, with the green 
 Isla plantations and Vega stretching 
 beyond. 
 
 The positions which the Duke of 
 Wellington occupied were on the op- 
 posite hill, beginning at San Miguel on 
 the 1. of the road to Vitoria, and extend- 
 ing to San Pedro . The castle, built by 
 one Belchides, was the original palace 
 of the early kings, and here took place 
 the bridal of the Cid, and that of our 
 Edward I. with Eleanor of Castile ; in 
 it also Don Pedro the Cruel was born. 
 Then it was a true Moorish Alcazar , 
 and was much improved by Isabella, 
 Charles V., and Philip II. The state- 
 rooms were destroyed by an accidental 
 
 fire in 1736, which was allowed to 
 burn out, not a creature in Burgos 
 even attempting to extinguish it. The 
 ruins, beautiful even in decay, were 
 used up by the French to erect for- 
 tifications, which they themselves de- 
 stroyed when Reille fled, June 14, 
 1813, before the advancing Duke. 
 Then the enemy mined the cathedral, 
 which only escaped, like the Alhambra, 
 by accident, from the train having 
 failed, while by a premature explosion 
 many hundreds of the disappointed 
 destructives were “ hoisted into the air 
 by their own petards,” in the sport of 
 a retributive Nemesis. This castle, 
 which had before baffled the Duke, 
 had been left unrepaired and unprq- 
 visioned by the French, in spite of the 
 express orders of Buonaparte ; and 
 Wellington reached it without obstacle, 
 to the Emperor’s infinite surprise and 
 indignation {Joseph. Mem., ix. 307). 
 Poor Joseph indeed had given up the 
 campaign before a blow was struck, 
 and fought the battle of Vitoria chiefly 
 to save his accumulated plunder 1 
 (‘ Mem.’ ix. 156). 
 
 This most unexpected abandoning 
 led to greater results and to final expul- 
 sion of the French from Spain. The 
 Duke u instanter” to use his own 
 words, determined, contrary to the 
 advice of everybody to hustle them out 
 of Spain, being sure that the effect 
 would recoil on the armistice of Dres- 
 den. He advanced, crushed them at 
 Vitoria, and thereby fixed the waver- 
 ing policy of Austria. (See Croker, 
 
 ‘ Quart. Rev.’ No. 184.) 
 
 This castle also is memorable for the 
 Duke’s previous repulse in 1812, after 
 his victory of Salamanca , which had 
 driven Soult out of Seville, and Joseph 
 out of Madrid ; then their conqueror 
 would have pursued them into V alencia, 
 had not the “service been stinted and 
 negl ected ” by both Engl ish and Spanish 
 governments. Everybody who was to 
 have co-operated with him failed : 
 Gen. Maitland was sent to the eastern 
 coast too late, and then did nothing, 
 while the Spaniards were routed at 
 Castalla. Thus the Duke’s plans were 
 deranged, and it now only remained to 
 him, by taking Burgos, to open com- 
 
850 
 
 ROUTE 115. — BURGOS — THE CASTLE — THE SIEGE. , Sect. XI. 
 
 munications -with Gallicia : he di- 
 
 vided his army, and, leaving Hill at 
 Madrid, ordered Ballesteros to place 
 himself at Alcaraz, between the 
 French and the capital ; but this 
 worthy cooperator, by refusing to 
 obey a foreigner , left the flank open 
 to Soult, who advanced on Madrid with 
 overwhelming numbers ; Hill was 
 obliged to evacuate Madrid, and the 
 Duke to raise the siege of Burgos. 
 Thus were the results of the British 
 campaign sacrificed to a vicious Espa- 
 nolismo. Previously the Duke had 
 been forced to sue the citadel, as at 
 Badajoz, 44 in forma pauperis,” “ be- 
 seeching, not breaching,” as Picton 
 said. “ What can be done ? ” as he 
 wrote before setting out (Disp. Aug. 
 23, 1812); “for this lost nation ? As 
 for raising men or supplies, or taking 
 one measure to enable them to carry 
 on the war, that is out of the question. 
 
 I shudder when I reflect on the enor- 
 mity of the task which I have under- 
 taken, with inadequate powers myself 
 to do anything, and without assist- 
 ance of any kind from the Spaniards, 
 or, I may say, from any individual of 
 the Spanish nation 4 4 for the enthu- 
 siasm of the people spent itself in 
 vain boasting” (Disp. Dec. 24, 1811). 
 Yet he did not despair: no time was 
 now to be lost. He marched for Bur- 
 gos Sept. 1, 1812, expecting to be joined 
 by the Gallician army under Castaiios, 
 which, 35,000 strong on paper, ar- 
 rived, after infinite delays, only 1 1 ,000, 
 weak, 44 and wanting in everything, at 
 the critical moment,” while Madrid 
 would not furnish the means of moving 
 one gun ; the Duke arrived at Burgos 
 on the 19th with only three 1 8 -pounders 
 and scarcely any ammunition. A few 
 guns were sent him after the siege was 
 raised! The Spaniards also had de- 
 ceived him by reporting that the castle 
 was very weak ; but the first glance 
 revealed to him its formidable strength, 
 and it was defended by a splendid 
 garrison under the gallant Dubreton ; 
 Buonaparte had wisely had this im- 
 portant post on the main communi- 
 cation with France, put in excellent 
 order. 44 This most difficult job is not 
 one to be carried by any trifling 
 
 means,” said the Duke : he, however, 
 gained the heights of San Miguel by 
 assault, and on the 22nd could and 
 ought to have taken the castle at the 
 breach below the church Santa Maria 
 la Blanca , had the field-officer, who 
 was killed, obeyed his instructions, 
 which, found in his pocket, became 
 known to the enemy. The attack of 
 the 28th, on the side of San Pedro , 
 having also failed, he was reduced to 
 sap and mine; but, on hearing of 
 Soult’s advance, he seized the nick of 
 time, and instantly, Oct. 21, filed off 
 by night, along the Arlanzon, under 
 the guns of the castle, and thus gained 
 a day’s march on the French ; finally 
 he brought his army safely to Ciudad 
 Rodrigo , the enemy, in spite of his vast 
 superiority of numbers, never venturing 
 to attack him from sheer fear of his 
 very presence (see Rueda, 562). Now 
 Seiior Toreno criticizes his operations, 
 as the poor pedant Phormio lectured 
 Hannibal on the art of war ; blinking 
 at the same time the misconduct of 
 Ballesteros, the real author of the 
 failure (Disp. Nov. 2, 1812): call ye 
 that backing your friends ? The honest 
 and fearless Duke took the blame of 
 Burgos on himself, and ascribed the 
 failure to his having taken inexpe- 
 rienced troops, and to the untimely 
 death of the field-officer. 
 
 This castle is now scandalously di- 
 lapidated and defenceless, although the 
 position of Burgos, as a second line of 
 defence to Madrid, is of the highest 
 military importance, as Buonaparte 
 well knew. 
 
 Burgos is shaped in an irregular 
 semicircle, with large portions of the 
 old walls remaining on the river front. 
 The grand gate de Santa Maria is 
 massy, strengthened with bartizan tur- 
 rets and battlemented, and the Virgin’s 
 image crowns the pile, whose solidity 
 contrasts with the fairy filligre pin- 
 nacles of the cathedral. Charles V. 
 added the statues of Burgalese worthies, 
 which are grouped in niches around 
 his own, to wit, Don Diego Por- 
 celos, Fernan Gonzalez, the Cid, 
 Nuno Rasura, and Lain Calvo: exa- 
 mine the Cubos or circular bastions 
 of the primaeval old walls behind 
 
The Castries. 
 
 ROUTE 115. — BURGOS — OLD HOUSES. 
 
 851 
 
 this arch. The river Arlanzon flows 
 through planted walks to the Islet , 
 where the French built a stone bridge, 
 which the patriotic natives destroyed 
 after the evacuation, because the work 
 of an enemy. The river flows down 
 to the Vega , while higher up is the 
 Espolon or Esplanada , a charming and 
 frequented walk, which with its gar- 
 dens were laid out by the Marquis de 
 Villena. The heavy statues of Fernan 
 Gonzalez, Alonso III., Henrique III., 
 and Ferdinand I., were placed there 
 by Charles III. The white regular 
 modern row of houses on the Espolon , 
 the “ spur of a cock” or “ the angle of 
 a pier” by which water is broken, 
 encase the ancient town like a new bind- 
 ing does an old book ; and they contrast 
 with the dark irregular lanes behind, 
 and the gloomy half-fortress mansions 
 in the Calle Alta, San Lorenzo, Avel- 
 lanos, San Juan, and older quarters. 
 The architect may select as good speci- 
 mens of the earlier mansions, la Casa 
 del Cordon, the house of the Constable, 
 with its towers, arms, and the rope 
 over the portal. Observe the enormous 
 armorial sculpture of this powerful 
 family at the back of their chapel in 
 the cathedral. Their palace was gutted 
 by the invaders, by whom almost all the 
 family portraits, once the most com- 
 plete series in Spain, were destroyed, 
 and ever since dilapidation has pre- 
 vailed. Those azulejos and artesonados 
 which escaped show that the whole 
 edifice originally must have had a 
 Moorish character. The patio , with 
 its galleries, and arms of Feria, Men- 
 doza, and Haro, is still striking. To 
 the 1. of the Puerta del Sarmental, and 
 opposite the cathedral-cloister, is the 
 archiepiscopal palace : look at the 
 portals of No. 34, la Liana de afaera ; 
 No. 4, Calle Arellanos ; No. 7, C. San 
 Lorenzo ; observe the cornice under the 
 roof. In the house of the Conde de 
 Villariezo, of the 10th century, the 
 great Alvaro de Luna was imprisoned. 
 In the C. de la Calera is the Casa de 
 Miranda, with superb patio and elegant 
 fluted pillars. The windows, portals, 
 and cornices of these old Burgalese 
 residences deserve notice ; they repre- 
 sent Spain of the 16th century, and 
 
 have outlived both the greatness of 
 their founders and country. The ir- 
 regular brick-built Plaza Mayor was 
 designed by the academical Ventura 
 Rodriguez in 1783. Some poor shops 
 are ranged under the cold granite 
 arcades, into which penniless loungers, 
 cloaked in threadbare capas , look wist- 
 fully. In the centre is a wretched 
 bronze statue of Charles III., by one 
 Domingo Urquiza, who has meta- 
 morphosed the Bourbon into a peri- 
 wigged baboon. Visit the Town Hall, 
 or Casa del Ayuntamiento ; not for the 
 rubbishy portraits of judges, kings, 
 queens, or a straddling swaggering one 
 of the Cid, but because his ashes were 
 moved here in 1842 from their original 
 resting-place, and placed in a walnut 
 tea-urn in a paltry chapel ! here also 
 is a sort of Concepcion, attributed of 
 course to Murillo : the staircase is 
 good. 
 
 Among the churches visit the Gothic 
 San Esteban, with a rich fa 9 ade. In- 
 side the elegant arch with gallery 
 above it, the rose window, the monu- 
 ments, pulpit, and bas-reliefs of the 
 Last Supper, form an artistical gtoup. 
 The Dominican San Pablo has a noble 
 cloister, with tombs in the Berruguete 
 style, and the Gothic arches of the 
 transept are fine ; here were the se- 
 pulchres of the Gallos, 1560-93; of 
 the Maluendas, 1562-74 ; of the Bishop 
 Pablo de Santa Maria, his wife and 
 children, he himself having been ori- 
 ginally a jew and a married man, ante- 
 cedents not common in Spanish bishops. 
 The Gothic Benedictine San Juan con- 
 tained fine tombs of the Torquemada 
 and Castro Mogica families. 
 
 The Franciscan convent was a most 
 exquisite pile, now all is gone — etiam 
 periere ruince ! It was founded in 1256 
 by Ramon Bonifaz, the French admiral 
 who broke the bridge of boats at the 
 capture of Seville under St. Ferdin- 
 and ; but his tomb and his works 
 were demolished by his invading coun- 
 trymen, who did not even respect that 
 rara avis inter Gallos , a victorious sailor. 
 They also destroyed the glorious Gothic 
 Trinitarios, just, however, leaving one 
 fragment alone, as a specimen of former 
 beauty, which since has been pulled 
 
852 
 
 ROUTE 115. — BURGOS — LAS HUELGAS. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 down by the Spaniards, and the work 
 of destruction and vandalism progresses. 
 In Santa Ana are some fine tombs of 
 bishops, especially one under an ele- 
 gant niche or arch, and another which 
 is an isolated sarcophagus. The church 
 San Gil is full of Gothic sepulchres; 
 observe that of the De Castros, 1529. 
 In the Calle de San Juan , once the 
 residence of grandees and now of 
 paupers, is the Hospicio. Observe the 
 facade and porches, also the machi- 
 colated gate of San Juan, to the 1. In 
 San Nicolas are the tombs of the Polanco 
 family, 1412-1503, by whom the high 
 altar and skreen were given. Observe 
 the engrailed arch. In San Lesmes 
 is a vile churrigueresque high altar; 
 observe, however, a good retablo in the 
 Capilla Mayor, with excellent sculpture, 
 relating to Santa Isabel and San Juan, 
 inscribed MRS, i.e. Martines, by whom 
 it was executed in 1560, as well as the 
 tomb of Juan de San Martin. 
 
 Near the Isla , a short walk below 
 Burgos, is the celebrated Cistertian 
 nunnery of Santa Maria la Real, com- 
 monly called las Ilaelg ts, because built 
 in some “ Gardens of Recreation ;” 
 these belonged to Alonso VIII., who 
 founded it to expiate his sins, which 
 had entailed on him the loss of the 
 battle of Alarcos, and to gratify the 
 wish of his wife Leonora, daughter of 
 our Henry II. The pious work was 
 begun in 1180, and was rewarded by 
 the victory of las Navas de Tolosa. 
 It presents a wall-enclosed jumble of 
 ignoble buildings of different periods, 
 granges, offices, &c., parasites which 
 cluster around and block up the con- 
 vent. The details offer an epitome of 
 every style of Spanish architecture, 
 during a space of seven centuries, 
 from the half-fortress convent and 
 Moro-Gothic down to the Royal Aca- 
 demical. No convent ever had more 
 extraordinary privileges. The abbess 
 was a princess palatinate, and styled by 
 “ the Grace of God,” and the nunnery 
 was nullius diocesis, possessing more 
 than fifty villages, with all feudal 
 rights of Eorca ycuchillo, hanging, &c. 
 Passing to the chapel through the 
 patios, and the ancient vestibule with 
 its tombs and Gothic work, observe 
 
 the Gothic front, with a statue of the 
 Conception, raised by Ferdinand and 
 Isabella: here also are ranged many 
 old sepulchres. Inside there are two 
 cloisters; one, called la Claustrilla, was 
 part of the founder’s palace ; they re- 
 semble those of Amalfi and Calabria, 
 in the form of the roundheaded arches ; 
 notice these obras de los Godos, and 
 the grouped pillars and Norman-like 
 capitals. In the coro of the chapel is 
 the tomb of the founder and foundress ; 
 other royal bodies are placed in 
 urnas resting on lions, but these and 
 other monuments are imperfectly seen 
 through the gratings, as the interior 
 is in strict clausura, and no males are 
 allowed to enter. This convent was 
 the Escorial, the St. George’s chapel 
 of the early kings of Spain, and here 
 St. Ferdinand knighted himself; here 
 his son Alonso El Sabio conferred, in 
 1254, that honour on our Edward I. ; 
 here the gallant Alonso XI. kept his 
 vigil, and knighted and crowned him- 
 self ; here was the articulated statue of 
 Santiago, which, on some occasions, 
 placed the crown on the head of Spa- 
 nish monarchs. For the forms of Spa- 
 nish chivalry, consult * Tesoro Militar 
 de Caballeria,* with curious plates, 
 Joseph Micheli Marquez, fol. Mad. 
 1642. Night and day solemn services 
 were chanted over royal ashes, the 
 nuns singing the sweetest near the 
 tomb of their sainted foundress, as the 
 nightingales of Greece did near the 
 grave of Orpheus (Paus. ix. 30, 6), until 
 the invaders plundered everything and 
 converted the chapel into a stable. 
 Observe a curious old painting of the 
 victory at las Navas de Tolosa, and a 
 gilt pulpit, in which San Vicente de 
 Ferrer preached. In the interior is 
 the chapel of Belem (Bethelem), which 
 is built in a transition style between 
 the Gothic and Moorish; indeed, the 
 arches and lienzos might belong to the 
 mosque of Cordova. For past glories, 
 details of abbesses, illustrious dead, &c., 
 consult ‘ Esp . Sag. 1 xxvii. 574, and 
 * Ponz,’ xii. 61 ; see also ‘ Apuntes 
 sobre las Huelgas, 1 Jose Maria Calvo, 
 4to. Burgos, 1846. 
 
 Continuing the walk beyond Las 
 Huelgas is the Hospital del Rey, founded 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 115. — M1RAFLORES. 
 
 853 
 
 for poor pilgrims. Observe over the 
 entrance a rich coronetted ornamental 
 work, with niches, shields, and the 
 Virgin. A finely carved oak door 
 deserves notice. 
 
 Burgos, being a town of passage, 
 was constantly made the quarters of 
 advancing or retiring French armies ; 
 hence the dilapidation of sacred edi- 
 fices, and, what is worse, caused by 
 Roman Catholics; for our Protestant 
 Duke directed, by a general order, that 
 “ churches were not to be used by 
 troops without permission of the in- 
 habitants and clergy, and when used 
 the utmost care was to, be taken of the 
 sacred vessels and those articles which 
 serve for religious purposes ; neither 
 horses nor other animals were to be 
 put into churches, on any account what- 
 ever.” Recent changes have finished 
 what the Gaul began; San Ildefonso 
 is now a depot of artillery, San Agus- 
 tin is an inn, the Trinidad and San Fran- 
 cisco are pulled down, San Juan Bautista 
 a prison, the Puerta de San Juan, and 
 the magnificent monastery Frex del 
 Val, sold to a contractor for the mate- 
 rials ; but while the dark ages of Spain 
 covered the land with works of piety, 
 taste, and learning, the enlightened 
 19th ? century will scarcely leave the 
 ruins ! In compensation, a manufac- 
 turing spirit has recently come over 
 used-up Burgos : a paper-mill has been 
 set up, and a fabrica of hardware at 
 el Vadillo ; a new theatre is begun on 
 a grand scale near the bridge of San 
 Pablo. 
 
 Excursions near Burgos. 
 
 Every one should devote a day to a 
 pilgrimage to Miraflores, and to the tomb 
 of the Cid. Crossing the river and 
 turning to the 1., the road soon ascends 
 the bleak hills, and the Carthusian 
 convent is seen at a distance of two 
 miles, rising, with its nave and but- 
 tresses, like Eton College Chapel. It 
 was built in 1441, on the site of a 
 palace of Henrique III., by his son 
 Juan II., for a royal burial-place; 
 having been accidentally burnt in 1452, 
 it was restored by Henrique IV., and 
 finished in 1488 by Isabella, after de- 
 signs of Juan de Colonia, in the finest 
 
 style of the florid Gothic; she also 
 raised the magnificent retablo, the coro, 
 and the sepulchre of her parents, which 
 are unequalled in Spain or elsewhere. 
 The artist was el Maestro Gil , father of 
 the celebrated Diego de Siloe ; it was 
 completed in 1493, and well might 
 Philip II. — a good judge of art — ex- 
 claim when he saw it, “ We have done 
 nothing at the Escorial.” Here lie 
 Juan II. and his second wife Isabella, 
 with his son the Infante Alonso, who 
 died at Cardenosa July 15, 1470, aged 
 16, thus opening the succession to his 
 illustrious sister. Their alabaster sepul- 
 chres baffle pen and pencil alike, faltan 
 ojos para mirarlos , the eye can scarcely 
 master the marvellous details. No- 
 thing can surpass the execution of the 
 superb costumes, animals, ornaments, 
 apostles, saints, evangelists, &c. The 
 royal effigies were placed on each 
 side of the retablo, which was richly 
 decorated with subjects from our 
 Saviour’s life; that of the infante is 
 kneeling on a framework of lace-like 
 filigree. The retablo* with circle o t 
 angels, deserves much notice. It is 
 truly grievous to behold the wanton 
 mutilations of the invaders. The fine 
 silleria del coro was carved by Martin 
 Sanchez in 1 480 ; the chapel, as usual 
 in Cartuja convents, is divided into 
 three portions — the outer one for the 
 people, the middle for the lay monks 
 Legos, and the innermost for the Sacer - 
 dotes . The painted glass is of the 
 fifteenth century ; the walls were 
 framed with Berruguete shell-work, and 
 festoons for pictures of the life of the 
 Virgin. The fine reja is by Salamanca. 
 The splendid oratory, or portable tra- 
 velling altar, of Juan, painted in 1445 
 by Maestro Rogel (Roger of Brusselles), 
 and given that year by Pope Martin V. 
 to Juan II., who gave it to the con- 
 vent, was stolen by a French officer ; 
 some say General D’Armagnac sold it 
 in Burgos, and now belongs to the King 
 of Holland ; then were “ removed” ail 
 the fine Florentine pictures, and those 
 relating to the life of San Bruno, by 
 Diego de Leyva, who died here a monk 
 in 1 637 ; and also the five grand pictures 
 of the life of St. John the Baptist, 
 painted in 1496-99 by Juan Flamenco, 
 2 P 3 
 
854 
 
 ROUTE 115. — THE CID— HIS CHARACTER. Sect. XI. 
 
 who is thought to be Hans Hemling. 
 The French next proceeded to ravage 
 the gardens and burial-ground ; now a 
 few cypresses, sad mourners, remain 
 in the weed-encumbered cloister, while 
 in the angles frames remain from 
 whence the paintings were torn. Con- 
 sult 4 Flores de Miraflores,’ 4 to. Burgos, 
 1657; and 4 Apuntes Historicos,' 'Juan 
 Arias de Miranda, 4to. Burgos, 1843. 
 
 Continuing the ride over bald downs, 
 San Pedro de Cardena appears with a 
 few trees and its walls. The facade 
 was modernised in 1739. Over the 
 portal, the Cid mounted on Babieca, 
 cuts down Moors a la Santiago; the 
 gallant war-steed was honoured in life 
 and death, like Copenhagen, the Wa- 
 terloo charger of our Cid, for none ever 
 rode Babieca after her master departed : 
 and when she followed him her grave 
 was prepared before the entrance of 
 the monastery by Gil Diaz, one of the 
 Campeador’s most faithful subalterns. 
 
 The invaders under D’Armagnac 
 arrived here Aug. 10, 1808, gutted 
 the buildings, and burnt one of the 
 most curious archives and libraries of 
 Spain; fortunately many of the old 
 muniments had been printed by a monk 
 of this convent, whose work is now of 
 such authority as to be admitted as 
 evidence in Spanish courts of law. Let 
 every book -collector secure the 4 Anti- 
 giiedades de Espana,’ Francisco de Ber- 
 ganza, 2 vols. fol. Mad. 1719-21. This 
 monastery was the first ever founded 
 in Spain for the Benedictine order, and 
 was raised by the Princess Sancha, in 
 537, in memorial of her son Theodoric, 
 who died while out hunting, at the 
 fountain Cara digna , whence the name 
 Cardena. The convent was sacked by 
 the Moors in the autumn of 872, who 
 killed 200 monks ; but it was restored 
 in 899 by Alonso II. of Leon, and the 
 blood of the murdered friars always 
 issued out every year at the anniversary 
 of their martyrdom ; it ceased in 1492, 
 when their manes were satisfied by the 
 final downthrow of the infidel. Pre- 
 viously, however, by way of compen- 
 sation, the body of S n * Sisebuto, twenty- 
 ninth abbot, began to work such mira- 
 cles that the peasants prayed to him as 
 their intercessor with God, and also 
 
 offered money at his sepulchre, at 
 which cripples were regularly cured 
 (Florez, 4 Esp. Sag ./ xxvii. 238). 
 
 The French ravages were partially 
 restored by a monk named Bernardo 
 Zubiaur, of Bilbao, a learned basque, 
 whom we saw there, and whose curi- 
 ous collections no doubt are now lost 
 for ever. The singular register-book, 
 el Libro Becerro , of the date 1092, was 
 saved by a monk named Miguel Garcia, 
 who happened to be consulting it when 
 the invaders arrived. The Benedic- 
 tines, in 1823, unfortunately* restored 
 the chapel with tawdry reds and 
 yellows, and picked out the pillars in 
 black and white. Among the few in- 
 scriptions that escaped the destroyers 
 was that on the tomb of Sancha, obt. 
 sera 580 ; they however mutilated the 
 sepulchre of Theodoric. The old 
 cloisters have also been modernised, 
 but some of the original short pillars 
 and capitals may be traced, and a slab 
 still marks the spot where the 200 
 monks bled annually. 
 
 One word on the Cid, now we stand 
 near his grave. Rodrigo Ruy Diaz of 
 Vibar, where he was born in 1026, is 
 the Prince, the Champion of Spain, el 
 Cid Campeador, the hero of Gotho- 
 Spanish epos, a Castilian 44 to the back- 
 bone, ” Castellano a las derechas. No 
 incident of his guerillero condottieri 
 career was left unrecorded in song, 
 that form of primitive history. Thus, 
 as Schlegel says, 44 He is worth a whole 
 library for the understanding the spirit 
 of his age, of which he was the per- 
 sonification ; for six centuries his feats 
 have formed the real reading of the 
 Spanish people, and all now delight in 
 his Bomancero ; and just as in the time 
 of Cervantes nos quita canas (Don 
 Quix. i. 32), they gladden and pre- 
 vent grey hairs. 
 
 This doughty Champion of Chris- 
 tendom was cast in the stern mould of 
 a disputed creed and hostile invasion, 
 when men fought for their God and 
 their fatherland, for all they had in 
 this world, or hoped for in the next ; 
 the Cid, who possessed the virtues and 
 vices of the mediaeval Spaniard, en- 
 grafted the daring personal valour, the 
 cool determination and perseverance of 
 
The Castiles. route 115 . — the poema del cid. 
 
 855 
 
 the sledgehammering, crushing North- 
 man, on the subtle perfidy and brilliant 
 chivalry of the Oriental. Like an 
 Alaric or Tamerlane, he was terrible 
 to his enemies, kind and generous to 
 his friends, charitable to the poor, li- 
 beral and submissive to the priest, a'nd 
 thus presented that strange mixture, 
 which still marks Spanish and Arab 
 character, of harshness and benevo- 
 lence, cruelty and generosity, rapacity 
 and munificence : for darker traits we 
 must consult the Moorish annalists, 
 since the early Spanish histories , being 
 compiled exclusively by clergymen, 
 naturally painted in a couleur de rose, 
 not blood, their champion, by whom 
 infidel kings were destroyed and their 
 temples overturned, while Christian 
 altars were endowed with the spoil. 
 
 The 4 Poema del Cid 9 was written in 
 the twelfth century ; and this, the epic 
 of Spain, like the 4 Iliad/ and at once 
 the earliest and finest work in the lan- 
 guage, is stamped with a poetry of 
 heroism. Even then its Achilles, the 
 Cid was spoken of with pride and 
 affection, being already, like Nelson, 
 the property of his whole nation, El 
 mio Cid — my Cid. “ He who was born 
 in a good hour ” — “ he who in an aus- 
 picious moment girded on sword and 
 he feels himself to be the honour of 
 of his country, “ Soy el Cid , Hour a de 
 Espana 99 which he is always ready to 
 prove by his good sword. The leading 
 events of his life have been handed 
 down in an unbroken series of Spanish 
 and Moorish writers; thus Alonso el 
 Sabio, in the thirteenth century, speaks 
 of him as already the hero of many 
 early ballads, while Conde and Gay- 
 angos find the Arabic authors tallying 
 exactly with the Spanish in dates and 
 facts : but they paint him, as he really 
 was to them , a fierce , perfidious , and mer - 
 ciless enemy. The type of the Cid is 
 Oriental, and Biblical history abounds 
 in parallel chiefs who raised them- 
 selves to power ; such were Jephthah, 
 Rezin, David, &c. And as the latter 
 was persecuted by Saul, so the Cid 
 was by Alonso : and both being com- 
 pelled to carve out their fortunes with 
 their own good sword, gathered around 
 them “ vain and light persons ” (Judges 
 
 ix. 4), “ people in debt and discon- 
 tented” (1 Sam. xxii. 2) ; and just the 
 sort of desperate characters with no- 
 thing to lose and everything to gain, 
 who are so well described by Sallust 
 (b.c. 14) as forming the recruits of 
 the radical patriot Catiline. 
 
 Again, in semi-barbarous nations and 
 periods, agriculture and war are the 
 only professions which do not degrade. 
 The Iberian of old, like the Pindarree 
 of Hindostan, loved the joys of battle, 
 the excitement of the raid, and the 
 possession of red gold ; while the 
 chase, that mimic war, with love, the 
 guitar, and personal decoration filled 
 up his brief hours of peace. These 
 elements still exist, and form the basis 
 of Spanish character : thus to this day 
 they are personally brave, fond of ad- 
 venture, and prodigal of life ; and never 
 has a Sertorius, a Hafssun,a Cid, wanted 
 gallant followers. So in our times the 
 Minas and Zumalacarreguys have en- 
 acted deeds which only require the 
 distance of centuries to appear almost 
 equally fabulous ; but these very qua- 
 lities, admirable for predatory forays, 
 ambuscades, and a desultory irregular 
 petty war— a guerilla in which Spain 
 shines the best — have always incapaci- 
 tated her from producing a really great 
 general, for the Great Captain is the 
 exception, which only proves the rule. 
 
 There is nothing in the Cid’s rise or 
 career more strange or eventful than 
 in those of Jephthah or David. He, 
 like them, was superstitious and reck- 
 less of the rights of property and of the 
 life and happiness of men : but he was 
 true to his faith and king, as to the 
 Lord’s anointed, while a halo of power 
 gilded over his misdeeds. Thus during 
 the French invasion, church and palace 
 plunder if committed by armed mar- 
 shals, is, it seems, to be overlooked ; 
 while, had private men done the same, 
 it would have justly been stigmatized 
 as robbery and sacrilege ; but in those 
 unprincipled and semi-civilized days, 
 no disgrace was attached to bold vio- 
 lence, for those, got, who had the power, 
 and those kept, who could. Thus the 
 conduct of David towards the people 
 of his protector Achish is recorded but 
 not condemned by Samuel (1, xxvii. 8), 
 
856 
 
 ROUTE 115. — THE CID— -HIS CHARACTER. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 nor is the ferocity combined with 
 perfidy of the Cid stigmatized by his 
 clerical chroniclers. There is little 
 doubt as to the accuracy of their 
 general although flattering statements : 
 thus Niebuhr, the decided sceptic of old 
 history, considers the Cid to be a real 
 character, and cites his ballad memoirs 
 as early instances of records based on 
 truth, yet hovering on the verge of 
 fabulous times. Masdeu, however, 
 thought fit to doubt his very existence ; 
 but this arose from his ignorance of 
 the MS. of Leon (see p. 553), and from 
 a secret pique against Florez and Eisco, 
 his rival antiquarians : and in our 
 times Dr. Dunham, in Dr. Lardner’s 
 cyclopediac compilations, has repeated 
 these absurd Patranas. Our readers 
 will do better to refer to the 4 Chronica 
 del Cid,' fol. Burgos, 1593; to 4 La 
 Castilla ,' Manuel Eisco, 4to., Mad., 
 1792 ; to the 4 Romancero del Cid ,' Juan 
 Muller, duo., Francfort, 1828, which 
 is well fitted for the alforjas of the tra- 
 veller. In his library at home let him 
 place the new edition of the 4 Chronica 
 del Cid,' by Herr Von Huber, Marburg, 
 1844. Our estimated friend and able 
 Spanish scholar is the author of the 
 4 Skitzen aus Spanien ,’ one of the best 
 sketches of this original people and 
 country. The Cid again is the hero 
 of Spanish ballad poetry, the most 
 convenient edition of which is that 
 published in five volumes at Madrid, 
 1828-32, by Agustin Duran: Depping 
 also, in 1817, printed at Leipzig a 
 good selection, 4 Samlrng der besten 
 alten Spanischen Bomancen ,’ and his 
 countryman Nicolas Bohl y Faber 
 edited at Hamburg an excellent 4 Flo - 
 resta.' See also on the Cid the lively 
 duo. volume of Mr. Dennis, 1845. The 
 whole subject of Spanish ballads has 
 been treated by us in two Eeviews of 
 Mr. Lockhart’s, one in the Edinburgh, 
 No. cxlvi., and the other in the West- 
 minster, No. lxv. 
 
 Suffice it now to state that the Cid, 
 out of favour at court, was thrown on 
 his own resources : and as the rich 
 lands of the infidels in those days were 
 considered fair game by the Christians, 
 he assembled an army of bold adven- 
 turers and captured Valencia, where 
 
 he ruled on his own account, and died 
 in 1099. His body was then brought 
 to Cardeha, mounted on Babieca,* and 
 placed armed on a throne, with Tisona, 
 44 the sparkling brand,” in his hand, 
 according to legends, as Charlemagne 
 had been with his Joyeuse. The Cid, 
 however well he had paid off the 
 Hebrews while alive, when dead 
 knocked down a Jew, whose valour 
 plucked the dead lion by the beard. 
 Ximena, his widow, in order to keep 
 him quiet, then had the body put under 
 ground. The still existing tomb was 
 raised in 1272, by Alonso el Sabio, who 
 composed the still legible epitaph — 
 
 Belliger, invictus, famosus marte triumphis, 
 CJauditur hoc tumulo magnus Didaci Rodericus. 
 
 Some, however, consider the style of 
 armour to be later than 1272. The 
 original sepulchre was erected in the 
 site of honour, near the high altar; 
 but when the chapel was remodelled 
 in 1447, the abbot, Pedro de Burgo, 
 moved it into the sacristia, from whence 
 it was turned out in 1541 ; thereupon 
 the garrison of Burgos complained to 
 Charles V., who ordered the good Cid’s 
 tomb back into the chapel ; but in Feb. 
 5, 1736, it was moved into the chapel 
 of San Sisebuto, which was fitted up 
 by Philip V. in 1736, in a semi-theatri- 
 cal manner, with trumpery shields, &c. 
 Around him were interred his faithful 
 wife Ximena, their two daughters, 
 Maria Sol, queen of Arragon, and Elvira 
 queen of Navarre, who rest with their 
 husbands, authentic history to the con- 
 trary notwithstanding. The Cid’s only 
 son was killed at the battle of Consuegra, 
 together with Martin Antolinez, Pero 
 Bermudez, and others, of his most 
 faithful followers ; among whom was 
 Alvar Fanez Minaya, his first cousin 
 and Fidus Achates, or as he used to 
 call him his 44 right arm.” The Cid 
 blazoned on his shield, his two swords 
 Tizona and Colada, crossed, with a cross 
 between them, enclosed with a chain. 
 
 Paltry as was this Pantheon, the 
 ashes of the Cid were not yet allowed 
 to rest here in peace. In 1808, when 
 the French invaded Spain, 44 their 
 
 * Down to the end of the last century bodies 
 of hidalgos in the neighbourhood were taken 
 to be buried on horse-back. 
 
The Castiles . route 11 6 . —burgos to santander. 
 
 857 
 
 curiosity,” says Southey (Chr. of Cid, 
 432), was excited by nothing until 
 they came to Burgos, and when they 
 heard that Chimene (for thus dignified 
 Dona Ximena is Frenchified into a 
 tragic coquette) was buried at Cardena , 
 then parties were daily made to visit 
 her tomb, and passages were spouted 
 from 44 Corneille,” or rather from what 
 Corneille had adapted from 4 Las Mo- 
 cedades del Cid 9 of Guillem de Castro, 
 and the 4 El Honrador de su Padre, 9 
 of Juan Bautista Diamante. The 
 spouters next 44 removed” the church 
 plate, and pilfered even the bones of the 
 Cid, and 44 sa chere Chimene ” (Schep. 
 ii. 255) ; they next 44 removed” the old 
 sepulchre itself to decorate their new 
 promenade at Burgos, a theatrical af- 
 fair which made even a French 44 apo- 
 thicaire 99 sick ; what, ho, apothecary ! 
 This gent, in his amusing 4 Memoires 9 
 (ch. 42), administers a brisk cathartic 
 to one General Thibeault, who, in the 
 hopes, as he says, of linking his insig- 
 nificance with the immortality of Ro- 
 drigo, had inscribed his name on the 
 tomb as perpetrator of the transporta- 
 tion. But the Duke, el gran Lor , 
 avenged his colleague, el mio Cid , and 
 fell in with this Thibeault (whom he 
 had before trounced at Vimiero) at 
 Aldea de Puente , Sept. 29, 1811 ; there- 
 upon Monsieur , or rather Doctor 
 Thiebault, for he had forced the 
 Dons of Salamanca, where doctores 
 sine doctrina, are common, to make 
 him a L.L.D., took to his heels; 
 and yet, according to Mons. Gautier 
 (Lett. 4), he used to sleep with some 
 of the Cid’s bones, pour se hausser la 
 valeur. The Cid’s sepulchre was taken 
 back to Cardena in great pomp July 
 30, 1826: but when convents were 
 sequestered, they were put into a rococo 
 walnut tea-urn and conveyed to the 
 Casas Consistoriales , or Mansion-house 
 of Burgos, a motion which does honour 
 to the absolute wisdom of Spanish 
 mayors and the proverbial taste of most 
 municipal corporations in the Penin- 
 sula or out : requiescant in pace ! 
 
 Now-a-days, according to Mons. A. 
 F. Ozanam (Pelerinage au Pays du Cid, 9 
 Paris, 1853,^ p. 24), the Cid’s bones 
 were thus saved from some 44 touriste 
 
 Anglais! 99 This poetical pilgrim en- 
 tirely ignores the ravages of his coun- 
 trymen, or the presence of a single 
 avenging red coat. 
 
 Those who arrive coming from 
 France are advised to go to Madrid 
 by Valladolid, Segovia, and the Esco- 
 rial (see R. 78, 80, 101), and thus avoid 
 the most dreary line (R. 1 1 5) through 
 Aranda. Burgos being a central point 
 is quite a coach town ; it has diligence 
 communications wdth Bayonne, Ma- 
 drid, Valladolid, Santander, Vitoria, 
 Logrono, and thence to Tudela, Pam- 
 plona, Zaragoza, and Barcelona. 
 
 Route 116. — Burgos to Santander. 
 
 Quintana Duenas . . 
 
 . 1 
 
 
 Huermeces . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 4 
 
 Urbel del Castillo . . 
 
 . 24- . 
 
 . 64 
 
 Basconcillos . . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 94 
 
 Llanillo . 
 
 . 14 . 
 
 . 11 
 
 Canduela .... 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 134 
 
 Fuenvellida 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 16 
 
 Reinosa . . . . , 
 
 . 14 . 
 
 . 174 
 
 Barcena pie de concha 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 204 
 
 Molledo .... 
 
 1 . 
 
 . 214 
 
 Cartes 
 
 . 34 . 
 
 
 Arce 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 27 
 
 Santander .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 30 
 
 There is another road to the rt., 29j 
 L., through Vivar, Pesadas, Ontaneda , 
 and Vargas. There is a diligence. 
 This excursion will lead the angler 
 into some of the finest salmon and 
 trout fishing in Spain, as from San- 
 tander he may either turn to Bilbao 
 and the Basque provinces, or strike to 
 the 1. to Oviedo, Lugo, and the Vierzo. \ 
 Leaving Burgos the road enters the 
 valley of the river Urbel. Vibar, where 
 the Cid is said to have been born, lies 
 to the rt., and the hills of Villadiego 
 rise on the 1. Next we ascend to Urbel 
 del Castillo, built on La Pinza, over 
 its trout-stream. This decayed place 
 was originally the seat of the see of 
 Burgos; hence by the range which 
 divides the basins of the Ebro and 
 Pisuerga to Canduela and Reincsa. 
 The latter is the chief town of its dis- 
 trict. The mountains around are very 
 lofty, and often covered with snow. 
 This is the nucleus whence las Mon- 
 tanas de Santander and those de Burgos 
 diverge. They abound in natural and 
 neglected forests of oak and chesnut. 
 The botanist, artist, and angler should 
 
858 
 
 ROUTE 116. — BURGOS TO SANTANDER. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 make for the environs of Liebana . This 
 mountainous district, with its crater- 
 like valleys is a wild and ill-used 
 arboretum. Potes will be a good head- 
 quarter ; it stands in the centre of four 
 charming Swiss-like valleys, the Val de 
 Prado , Cereceda , Val de Baro , and Cillo- 
 rigo. The fishing in the Deva, and parti- 
 cularly in the N ansa, and Sal, is excellent. 
 Potes where the hill and valley scenery 
 is most Swiss-like, was one of the first 
 towns entered by Soult, who, with 
 the Parisian guards, was welcomed 
 with palms, but the place was forth- 
 with sacked, and the inhabitants but- 
 chered (Schepeler, ii. 116). A good 
 light wine is made in these districts. 
 The forests of Liebana are magnificent, 
 but much neglected ; nor are foreigners 
 allowed to cut what the Spaniard per- 
 mits to rot; nor are even those who 
 would turn it to better account, al- 
 lowed permission. Thus, in 1843, a 
 proposition was made to the Minister 
 of Marine by Messrs. Septimius Arabin 
 and Co., for the purchase or working 
 of the forests of Asturias for a term of 
 20 years. The company engaged to 
 furnish to the State all the building 
 timber necessary for the navy, and 
 undertook to build whatever vessels 
 might be required from models fur- 
 nished by the minister. In order to 
 cover their expenses, the company re- 
 quired a grant to be made to them of 
 500,000 trees. The following was the 
 reply of the minister : — “ The Spanish 
 people duly appreciate the importance 
 of their forests. The company desire 
 to receive two trees for one which they 
 will cut down for the interest of Spain ; 
 so that for the acquisition of one ship, 
 Spain would give two to a foreign 
 nation. The Spanish government has 
 still the means of improving and in- 
 creasing her navy without destroying 
 her forests. The government is, how- 
 ever, grateful for the interest shown 
 by the English house for the Spanish 
 navy, and is not surprised at the 
 feeling. Spain has for a long time had 
 multiplied reasons to believe that a 
 great number of nations feel an ardent 
 wish for the diminution of the Spanish 
 navy. As long as the present minister 
 shall remain at the head of the Marine 
 
 department, he can never listen to a 
 proposition which can give rise to an 
 idea similar to that which in his opi- 
 nion has dictated the proposition.” 
 Meanwhile the forests of Liebana will 
 remain in their primaeval repose and 
 natural decay, while El Ferrol can 
 scarcely supply a spar for a cock-boat ; 
 but “ to boast of his strength is the 
 national disease” of a Spanish mis- 
 minister, whose words are greater than 
 his ideas, and who will repose under 
 his laurels, having thus proudly re- 
 jected the foreigner . This amusing 
 
 state paper did credit to a cabinet, of 
 which Senor Bravo, the ci-devant editor 
 of the Madrid 4 4 slang,” or Satirist 
 paper, was the Premier — Cosas de 
 Espana. 
 
 A bad road leads to Eeinosa (Pop. 
 1700), the chief place of the mouq- 
 tainous district by which it is encom- 
 passed, and generally called las Mon- 
 tanas de Burgos . Some of the passes 
 to the N.W. slopes are very high: 
 the Portillo de Bedore rises 3800 feet, 
 and that de Lunada 3400 feet above the 
 sea-level. The Ebro gushes forth in 
 Fontibre or Fuentes de Ebro , from a wild 
 and rocky source. It flows 342 miles 
 through the Rioja, and divides Aragon. 
 Peinosa is a tidy hill town, with a good 
 street and fine bridge over the beautiful 
 Ebro. It is a busy place, frequented 
 by carriers, who convey across the 
 Puerto the corn and wine of the plains, 
 and bring back the iron and fish from 
 the coasts. Santander may be called 
 the seaport of Madrid : many projects 
 have been formed to facilitate this 
 important communication. Thus the 
 grand canal of Castile, which was be- 
 gun in 1753, and is not yet finished 
 ( Cosas de Espana — donde se empieza 
 tarde y se acaba nunca), was to con- 
 nect Segovia and Burgos ; next a new 
 and shorter road was to be opened to 
 Burgos; and now the Castile canal 
 company and municipality of Santander 
 propose to construct a railroad from 
 the latter town to Reinosa, which, 
 when accomplished, will be a great 
 benefit to central and cereal Spain. 
 
 The fairs of July 25 and Sept. 21 at 
 Reinosa are attended by most pic- 
 turesque peasants and Pasiegas. There 
 
KOUTE 117. — BURGOS TO LOGRONO. 
 
 859 
 
 The Castiles . 
 
 is good fishing in the valleys and wild 
 shooting in the hills, especially in the 
 Montes and Brenas , near Val de Arroyo, 
 and near the Dominican convent Monte 
 Clciros. This naturally almost impreg- 
 nable country, which might have been 
 made the Torres Vedras of Gallicia, 
 was absurdly abandoned in 1808 by 
 Blake, who quitted it to court defeat at 
 Espinosa. Then Reinosa was so wan- 
 tonly and dreadfully sacked by Soult, 
 that Schepeler (ii. 39) imagined the 
 invaders wished to leave it as a monu- 
 ment of the greatest horrors which 
 even sans culottes could by any means 
 perpetrate. 
 
 Crossing the noble mountain Puerto , 
 we descend, with the trout-stream, the 
 Besaya. This lofty range extends about 
 12 leagues, and is one of the coldest in 
 Spain. The hard rocks will, however, 
 offer fine opportunities for our engineers 
 to exhibit their skill in tunneling and 
 circumventing. Somaoz , in the valley of 
 Buelna , lies half-way between Reinosa 
 and Santander, and the country is truly 
 Swiss-like and alpine. The Pas is soon 
 crossed, where the Santillana and 
 Oviedo road joins in (see p. 643). This 
 valley is the healthy home of las Pasi- 
 egas , who, as Amas de Cria , and burst- 
 ing with mountain juices, suckle the 
 puny children of the better classes in 
 sickly Madrid. Ama in Arabic means 
 mother, or one that feeds. In their 
 native hills they carry their own babies 
 in Cuebanos , which sometimes contain 
 cotton wares, for there is great smug- 
 gling in these parts. For Santander 
 see Rte. 119. 
 
 Route 117.— Burgos to Logrono. 
 
 Zalduendo . . . 
 
 . . 3 
 
 
 Villafranca . . . 
 
 . . 3 . 
 
 . 6 
 
 Belorado 
 
 . . 2 . 
 
 ,. 8 
 
 Villaypun . . . 
 
 . . 2 , 
 
 ,. 10 
 
 Santo Domingo de la Calzada 2 . 
 
 ,. 12 
 
 Najera . . 
 
 
 
 Navarrete . . 
 
 
 ,. 18 
 
 Logrono . . . 
 
 
 . . 20 
 
 This is the direct and shortest route, 
 but the one usually taken by the dili- 
 gences goes up to Pancorbo on the 
 Vitoria road, 11 L. (see Rte. 118), and 
 then branches off to the rt. The cir- 
 cuit is about 2 L. longer, but the road 
 
 is better. There is a diligence which 
 communicates from Logrono with Tu- 
 dela, and thence to Pamplona and Zara- 
 goza and Barcelona. The hilly broken 
 country continues to Velorado , over the 
 mountains of Oca. In the valley Ata- 
 puerca, near Zalduendo , was fought, in 
 1053, the battle between Ferdinand I. 
 of Castile and his brother Garcia of 
 Navarre, who was killed and buried at 
 Najera: thus Rioja was annexed to 
 Castile. Mariana (ix. 4) details the 
 Iberian strategics and Punic perfidy of 
 these fratricidal princes. 
 
 The district of La Rioja lies between 
 Burgos, Soria, and Alava, and is so 
 called from its river, la Oja, el Rio Oja, 
 which rises in the hills of San Lorenzo. 
 The rich valley is in the shape of an 
 S, being some 24 L. in length, with an 
 unequal breadth, varying from 8 to 
 10 L. It is divided into high, alta, 
 and low, baja. The former runs from 
 Villafranca de Montes de Oca to Lo- 
 grono, and the latter from Logrono to 
 Agreda; the two are divided by the 
 chain which separates the basins 
 of the Ebro and Duero. The whole 
 extent is about 270 square leagues, 
 with a population of 25,000. The 
 soil is rich, but most slovenly culti- 
 vated; indeed from its fertility it is 
 called La Andalucia del nord ; being 
 productive in corn and wine, it never 
 wanted pious priests to pray while the 
 peasants ploughed ; so many indeed 
 were the convents and holy men that 
 the province was called La JJrna de 
 Santos. One of them, San Yitores, 
 preached for many days after his head 
 was cut off ( Anguiano , p. 250) ; but 
 these sort of miracles are always absurd 
 in proportion to the remoteness of the 
 locality and ignorance of the flock. 
 
 For this district consult ‘ Compendio 
 Historial de Rioja,’ Domingo Hidalgo 
 de Torres y la Cerda, 4to. Mad. 1701, 
 or the second edition by Matteo de 
 Anguiano, 4to. Mad. 1704; also ‘ Epi- 
 log o de la Rioja,’ Juan Josef de Salazar, 
 4to. Mad. 1732; ‘ Memorias Politicas,’ 
 Eugenio Larruga, vol. xxvii. 206 ; and 
 the ‘ Diccionario Geografico,* Angel 
 Casimiro de Govantes, fol. Mad. 1846. 
 
 A dreary ride of some 1 1 hours over 
 bleak hills, with here and there some 
 
860 
 
 ROUTE 117.— SANTO DOMINGO DE LA CALZADA. Sect. XI. 
 
 oak, leads from Burgos to Santo Do- 
 mingo de la Calzada (of the Cause- 
 way), Posada de Atauri: this town 
 (Pop. some 5000) stands on the Oca, 
 and rises with a tall overloaded belfry, 
 over a rich plain : it shares with Cala- 
 horra in the dignity of a bishopric, re- 
 sembling Jaen and Baeza, and our Bath 
 and Wells. The cathedral, of a simple, 
 massy, early Gothic, was begun in 1 180 
 by Alonso VIII., and finished in 1235, 
 but was much injured by fire in 1825. 
 The coro , high altar, and chapel of the 
 tutelar Santo Domingo , are in the 
 Berruguete style. The reja of the 
 chapel of the Magdalen is a fine speci- 
 men of the plateresque. 
 
 This Santo Domingo was not the holy 
 Inquisidor, his namesake, but a local 
 saint, born in these parts about 1010. 
 He was induced to quit his hermitage 
 by San Gregorio of Ostia, a judicious 
 bishop, who having expelled the rapa- 
 cious locusts, settled there himself; 
 his follower became a mediaeval Mac- 
 adam, constructed the 44 Causeway ” 
 for pilgrims to Santiago, worked infinite 
 miracles, built bridges, inns, and hos- 
 pitals, restored masons to life, while 
 wild bulls carried stones for him. His 
 good works are fully detailed in 
 4 Anguiano : 9 consult also 4 Sigiienzas 
 Ilistoria de la Orden &c. iii. ch. x. 
 His crowning feat is charged on the 
 city arms, 44 argent, a tree vert, with a 
 sickle, a cross, a cock and hen proper.” 
 Southey made a ballad on these charges, 
 more droll, it is true, than reverential ; 
 the pith of his 4 Legend of the Cock 
 and Hen, or the Pilgrim to Compos- 
 tella,’ is detailed in historical prose by 
 Moya in his 4 Rasgo,’ p. 283. The 
 city arms tell the true story, as it 
 were in hieroglyphics, which is to be 
 interpreted after this wise: the trees 
 represent the primeval forest, which 
 the saint cut away with a sickle , build- 
 ing a venta on the clearance ; the 
 Maritornes of the new hotel fell in love 
 with a handsome French pilgrim, who 
 resisted, whereupon she hid some 
 spoons in this Joseph’s wallet, accused 
 him of theft, so our traveller was taken 
 up by the Alcalde, and forthwith 
 hanged. But his parents some time 
 afterwards passing under the dead body, 
 
 were assured by it that he was inno- 
 cent, and saved by the intercession of 
 St. Domenick, who was also dead; 
 thereupon the parents proceeded forth- 
 with to the Alcalde, who was going to 
 dine off two roasted fowls, and, on hear- 
 ing their report, remarked, 44 You might 
 as well tell me that this cock,” point- 
 ing to one on the dish, would crow ; 
 whereupon it did crow, and was taken 
 with its hen to the cathedral, and two 
 chicks were regularly hatched every 
 year. The birds always white were 
 kept in a rich cage near the high altar, 
 and their feathers were worn by pil- 
 grims in their caps, and the Alcalde's 
 house in the Barrio Viejo , with a cock 
 over the door, was long shown as a 
 lion. Prudent writers will, however, 
 without minding Santo Domingo, put 
 a couple of ordinary roast fowls into 
 their “provend,” for hungry is the 
 road to Logrono. Much as Spaniards 
 may have neglected ordinary orni- 
 thology, they have always excelled in 
 the miraculous investigation and breed- 
 ing of fowls : thus Lampridius, praising 
 Alexander Severus, says he beat even 
 the Augurs of Spain : San Vicente too 
 had his crows (p. 199) ; San Millan was 
 famous for his cocks and hens. The 
 scholar may compare these portentous 
 pullets with the pagan pulli , by which 
 the aruspices enlightened the ancients, 
 and they too were kept in cavese ; their 
 revelations were so clear, that even 
 most Boeotian augurs could interpret 
 the Growings of their Gallos Gallinaceos 
 (Cic. 4 de Div.’ i. 34) : Livy (xxxi. 1) 
 records that a cock and hen changed 
 sexes. But fowls have long figured 
 in mythologies; witness the cock of 
 Esculapius, the doves of Venus and 
 Santa Teresa. If sacred Geese cackled 
 in the capitol, Jupiter at least had an 
 eagle ; but those who reflect on the dog 
 of Santo Domingo, and the pig of San 
 Antonio, will ask, like Cicero (N.D. iii. 
 17), how low you are to descend in 
 this bathos ? 44 Si dii sunt, suntne etiam 
 nymphse dese ? si nymphse, Panisci et 
 Satyri. Turn Charon turn Cerberus 
 dii putandi ;” but such things, as the 
 Roman philosopher observed, are the 
 invention of poets ; and well might he 
 wonder how any two aruspices could 
 
The Castiles. route 117 . — san millan — najera. 
 
 861 
 
 meet in the street and keep their coun- 
 tenances. 
 
 Santo Domingo’s other miracles are 
 detailed in the works of Luis de Vega, 
 4to. Burgos, 1606 ; and Andrea de Sala- 
 zar, 4to. Pamplona, 1624 ; see also the 
 4 Historia,’ by Gonzalez de Tejada, fol. 
 1702, and Ribadeneyra, ii. .68. 
 
 In going from Santo Domingo de la 
 Calzada to Najera you may make a 
 detour of some 3 L. over bare hills to 
 San Acencion , a village prettily perched 
 on a rocky range, behind which, in 
 its valley, is the Jeronomite convent 
 La Estrella , in which el Mudo learned 
 to paint. Thence strike S. to San 
 Millan , so called from its tutelar, whose 
 authentic legend is fully given by 
 Anguiano (p. 403). Born in Rioja, he 
 died about 564, and Bishop Braulio 
 wrote his life in 638. Originally a 
 shepherd, he passed 40 years in a cave 
 on the Gerro de San Lorenzo , where he 
 worked infinite miracles thus : he 
 wrestled with the devil and beat him ; 
 a touch of his staff put out of his 
 cave cured the sick, lengthened short 
 beams for carpenters, and multi- 
 plied wine for vintners. This poor 
 hamlet was famed for its once noble 
 Benedictine convent, de la Cogolla. 
 The upper and elder convent, el Souso, 
 was founded in 537 by St. Millan him- 
 self; but when the monks got rich, 
 the acclivity became inconvenient, so in 
 1053 the holy body was brought down. 
 But on reaching a pleasant spot the 
 bulls that drew it were found miracu- 
 lously to be unable to move a peg 
 further; so a new convent was built 
 there, and called el de Abajo % de Yuso ; 
 but only a few fragments of this can 
 be traced, as the monks moved again, 
 and in 1554 raised the present pile, 
 which, from its splendour, was called 
 the Escorial de Rioja ; it is built in 
 the severe style of Herrera. The fine 
 cloister contains curious tombs, and 
 among them those of the seven In- 
 fantes de Lara(?); the church, large 
 as some cathedrals, and now used as a 
 parroquia, was built in 1642. Observe 
 in the retablo the tutelar, on a white 
 horse, charging the Saracens a la 
 Santiago. Observe also those which 
 represent his other miracles, casting 
 
 out devils, putting out fires, &c. The 
 modern church is very ornate ; notice 
 the pulpit and the overgilt altar and 
 arch. 
 
 The ashes of San Millan were col- 
 lected in the year 1033 by Sancho el 
 Mayor, and the identical urna or chest 
 existed until stripped by the French, 
 in 1808, of all the gold and silver or- 
 naments. These lovers of bullion fortu- 
 nately neglected the most curious con- 
 temporary ivory carvings, wrought by 
 Apariccio and Rodolpho. In 1 8 1 3 these 
 were let into a new urna, and deserve 
 careful notice. The convent w~as very 
 comfortable, with its fine ambulatorio ; 
 the rich library has been much pil- 
 laged. The choice things have been 
 moved to the Academia de la Historia , 
 at Madrid ; some of the MSS. were older 
 than the Moorish invasion; among them 
 was a ritual earlier than even the Mos- 
 arabic. The library still possesses a 
 copy of the polyglott Bible of Ximenez. 
 In the lofty tower bell-fanciers may 
 look at one called La Bomba , of the 
 date 1269. But the glories of St. 
 Millan are passed. Sequestration has 
 succeeded to the “ repairs and beauti- 
 fy mgs” of Ventura Rodriguez, and 
 farmers have taken the places of the 
 friars, and bullocks and asses of the 
 monks. Besides this saint, here was 
 born Gonzalo Berceo, one of the earliest 
 poets of Spain. 
 
 The distance to Najera is about 2^ 
 L. ; the name has been derived from 
 Nahr, a river, and better perhaps as 
 meaning 44 a place in rocks,” and many 
 are the caves, the refuges in the hills, 
 to which the Goths fled at the Moor- 
 ish invasion : one is much venerated 
 and visited, the cueva in which San 
 Millan lived for forty years. 
 
 Najera — Posada de la Campana — • 
 rises on the Najerilla (called here el 
 Canal), in a rich vega, under a ruined 
 castle, which crowns the hill. Pop. 
 2500. Now decayed, it was once the 
 court of Navarre, and here St. Fer- 
 dinand was crowned. The Benedict- 
 ine S a . Maria is fine and well kept; 
 the library, however, and archives 
 have been sadly pillaged. This also was 
 once a sort of Escorial, for here lie 35 
 bodies of the royal families of Castile 
 
862 
 
 ROUTE 117. — NAVARRETE — THE RATTLE. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 and Navarre. The elaborate Gothic 
 coro was carved by el Maestro Andres 
 and Nicolas in 1495, and the fine 
 ruined cloister was filled with statues 
 by A. Gallego, 1542-46. Observe the 
 delicate tracery in the openings of the 
 arches. Observe the retablos of Juan 
 Vascardo and Pedro Margoledo, 1631, 
 and the early painting of Maestro 
 Luiz, 1442. 
 
 You can ride from Najera to Lo- 
 grono easily in 3^ hours. It was be- 
 tween Najera and Navarrete that the 
 Black Prince replaced on his throne 
 the perfidious, cruel, and ungrateful 
 Don Pedro, just as Wellington at the no 
 distant Vitoria , restored the beloved 
 Ferdinand VII.; and striking is the 
 parallel throughout, for thus the past 
 is the prophet of the future, and the 
 present vouches for the past. Then, 
 as in our times, the Peninsula was 
 made the arena for the war between 
 rival giants, between England and 
 France; then the Black Prince, in 
 despite of inferior forces, everywhere 
 defeated the Du Guesclins, just as the 
 Duke trounced the Soults ; then, as re- 
 cently, the single-handed Spaniards 
 were easily defeated by the French; 
 then, as now, the Spanish juntas were 
 proud, obstinate, and self-confident 
 when danger was distant, but craven 
 and clamorous for aid when it drew 
 near ; then as now, when the foreigner 
 had done their work, they treated him 
 ungratefully, violating every promise, 
 nay, robbing him even of his glory. 
 
 The French were valorous, chival- 
 rous, and soldierlike, but cruel, false, 
 and plunderers. The English were 
 brave in battle and honest in word and 
 deed; they, as in our times, never 
 took up a position which they did not 
 hold, and never attacked an enemy's 
 which they did not carry. They were 
 only subdued by climate, starvation, 
 and wine, ever their worst of foes: 
 they duly appreciated the gallant 
 French “ as the only troops worth 
 fighting against ; 99 and the French, 
 like Buonaparte, in our times, felt that 
 “ the English alone were to be dreaded.” 
 “ II n’y a de dangereux en Espagne 
 que les Anglais, le reste n'est que des 
 partisans que ne peuvent jamais se 
 
 tenir en campagne ” (‘ Mem. de 
 
 Joseph 9 vii. 241). The Spaniards re- 
 sented this inferred menosprecio , and 
 hated friends and foes alike, using and 
 abusing them alternately — “ a plague 
 on both your houses." So the beloved 
 Ferdinand wished to see his English^ 
 allies Los Borrachos , hung up con las 
 entranas of his French enemies los ga - 
 vachos, just as a good Moor's prayer 
 runs, Ensara fee senara , le hood fee se - 
 food, the Christian to the hook, the 
 Jew to the spit. 
 
 Froissart has graphically painted 
 the campaign ; begin at ch. 230. Pe- 
 dro, the king, was opposed by his 
 natural brother Henrique de Trasta- 
 mara, who was backed by France; 
 Pedro’s ill-usage of his wife, Blanche of 
 Bourbon, was put forward as the osten- 
 sible pretext for invasion, while the real 
 object was to combat British influ- 
 ence, and to give employment to her 
 revolutionary legions, les pillards , les 
 compagnies , w'hose trade was war, and 
 who, by the peace with England, were 
 left without employment. It was to 
 get rid of these mercenary freebooters, 
 some 20,000 in number, by which 
 France was overrun, that the ransom 
 of Du Guesclin was paid by Charles, 
 who would gladly have seen him and 
 them hanged ; so they were vomited 
 forth into unhappy Spain, which, like 
 Algeria in our times, was made a 
 safety-valve, where glory and plun- 
 der-baited grave-traps were laid. Don 
 Pedro, far away at Seville, at first 
 “ boasted of his strength,” and, “ re- 
 posing under his laurels," made no 
 sort of preparation for defence; but, 
 when the formidable French advanced, 
 like the juntas of 1810 and 1823, he 
 crouched into the mire, and ran at 
 once to beg the aid of Edward III., 
 just as in our times the patriots did 
 of George III. The Black Prince 
 crossed the Pyrenees in Feb. 1367; 
 he arrived at Logrono , “ enduring the 
 greatest anguish of mind," from want 
 of food and every promised co-opera- 
 tion. Such anguish, and from the same 
 causes, was endured by our Duke after 
 Talavera ; but neither of our chiefs de- 
 spaired, being sufficient in themselves. 
 The morn of April 2 beheld 30,000 
 
The Castiles. route 117. — navarrete — the black prince. 
 
 863 
 
 English (Mariana, xvii. 10, says 
 20,000) opposed at Navarrete to 80,000 
 French and Spaniards, enough, as our 
 Duke said at Rueda , to “eat him up.” 
 The Spaniards despised the foot-sore 
 Britons, who were shrewdly out of 
 Monsieur Foy’s “beef and rum.” 
 They were only afraid that we should 
 run away before they could catch us 
 all in a net; so thought the Cuestas 
 when “hunting” the French. 
 
 In vain Du Guesclin, who remem- 
 bered Poictiers (an untoward affair, 
 which Henry of Trastamara, who was at 
 it, might also have remembered) spoke 
 of prudence, and counselled a Fabian 
 defence. He said, like Soult on the 
 Tonnes, “ Let them starve in hungry 
 Navarre, and rot on the marshes of the 
 Ebro.” The French counsels, like those 
 of our Duke before Ocana , were lost on 
 the Spanish chiefs, who cried “We are 
 double their number, we will out- 
 general and beat them.” The French 
 opened the battle with one of their 
 characteristic en avant attacks, but the 
 English stood silent, and firm, re- 
 ceiving the head of the column with 
 an iron sleet of arrowy shower. Then 
 the foe wavered ; then “ Up, guards, 
 and at them ! ” then followed the usual 
 “ Sauve qui peut.” The French were 
 sacrificed by their allies; for Don 
 Telmo, who before the battle had 
 been the greatest boaster, now ran ere 
 it commenced, and thus exposed the 
 flank of his allies, who were left to 
 bear the whole brunt, to do the work ; 
 just as the Cuestas, La Penas, and 
 Blakes did in regard to us at Talavera, 
 Barrosa, and Albuera. Don Telmo 
 next himself set the example of flight, 
 like Areizaga and Venegas at Ocana 
 and Almonacid. 
 
 The victory was settled before 
 twelve o’clock, the English having 
 lost, according to even Froissart, a 
 French author, only 40 men, while 
 the loss of their opponents amounted 
 to 17,500, a mistake, no doubt, 
 in subtraction and addition. The 
 Spanish army disbanded “ each man 
 to his own city.” Pedro now pro- 
 ceeded to butcher his prisoners, and 
 his murderous venganza was with 
 difficulty restrained by the Black 
 
 Prince, as Cuesta was by the Duke 
 after Talavera; sweet mercy is no- 
 bility’s true badge, and humanity in 
 the hour of victory is an older Eng- 
 lish adage than even immortal Nelson 
 thought. Pedro next claimed all the 
 glory for himself. Active in “ vile, 
 black blood-shedding,” he neither 
 repaid one farthing of the loans nor 
 made good one promise or pledge. 
 At length the Black Prince — bright 
 mirror of English good faith and 
 chivalry — quitted Spain in disgust, 
 exclaiming that “the Castilian had 
 shamefully and dishonourably failed 
 in his engagements ;” and so the Duke 
 retired after Talavera : and so again, 
 when he had finally replaced Ferdi- 
 nand on the throne, he withdrew from 
 the scurvy concern. “ Le gouverne- 
 ment ayant manque a tons les en- 
 gagements faits avec moi, j’ai donne 
 ma demission ” (‘ Disp.’ Oct. 30, 1813). 
 No sooner were the English under 
 the Black Prince withdrawn than the 
 French reappeared; and now, having 
 only the Spaniards to deal with, over- 
 ran the Peninsula at a hand-gallop : 
 thus the promenade militaire of the 
 stout Du Guesclin in 1369 was but the 
 prototype of that of the puny Angou- 
 leme in 1823. 
 
 Navarrete. was the Vitoria of the age, 
 as it cleared Spain of the pillaging 
 invaders, while their general fell a 
 prisoner into the hands of the Black 
 Prince, who, knowing well how to 
 honour a brave opponent, saved him 
 from the false ferocious Pedro. 
 
 Meantime no satire can be more se- 
 vere on Las Cosas de Espana than the 
 account of Mariana himself, who by 
 the way calls Du Guesclin, Bertran 
 Claquin. Henrique II., when enabled 
 to dethrone his brother by this foreign 
 general, granted to him his own pre- 
 vious title of Conde de Trastamara , and 
 also made him Duque de Molina : thus 
 introducing the ducal title for the first 
 time in Spain. But the new Duke was 
 robbed of his appanages by insurrec- 
 tions fostered at the Spanish court, 
 just as Pedro, having granted the 
 Sehorio of Biscay to the Black Prince, 
 sent secret orders to impede his 
 taking possession. Such has before 
 
864 
 
 ROUTE 118. — BURGOS TO VITORIA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 been the reward which foreign gene- 
 rals have received from Spanish 
 kings ; so their ancestors the Car- 
 thaginians, having been saved by Xan- 
 tippus, a Lacedemonian, covered him 
 publicly with honours, but had him 
 privately drowned (App. ‘ B. P.,’ 6). 
 
 Now-a-days Spanish historians simply 
 talk of a “ decisive battle between 
 Don Pedro and his brother,” the part 
 of Hamlet being left out. Senor Go- 
 vantes, in his 4 History!’ p. 129, does 
 not even name the Black Prince : Don 
 Pedro and Nosotros do all the work — 
 Cosas de Espana . And so Senor Mel- 
 lado and Co. blink our great Duke’s 
 recent doings, while, to complete the 
 traits of national character, Mons. Foy 
 (i. 205) ingeniously ascribes this vic- 
 tory, not to the English, but the “ Nor- 
 mans and Gascons ” who served under 
 the Black Prince. Well done, Gascons ! 
 See also Roncesvalles. Near Najera is 
 the hamlet Tricio , the ancient Tricium, 
 founded, according to Anguiano(ch. 36), 
 by Noah, and preached in by St. Paul, 
 and where Roman antiquities and in- 
 scriptions are at all events often found. 
 
 For Logrono and its communications 
 see R. 137. 
 
 Route 118.— Burgos to Yitoria. 
 
 Quintanapalla . 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 Castel de Peones . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 5 
 
 Briviesca .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 Cubo 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 91 
 
 Ameyugo .... 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 12 
 
 Miranda de Ebro . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 15 
 
 Puebla de Argamon . 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . m 
 
 Yitoria 
 
 
 
 This is the great line from Madrid to 
 France, and is travelled by many mails 
 and diligences; the road is tolerable, and 
 runs through a hilly but well-cultivated 
 and agreeable country. Briviesca, Vi- 
 rovesca, has a good inn, where the dilly 
 stops. It is a square regularly-built 
 town on the Oca, and Isabella took it 
 as a model for Santa Fe, near Granada. 
 In the Colegiata , in the retablo of Santa 
 Casilda, are images of St. Peter and St. 
 Paul, by Becerra. Look at the sacris- 
 tia , the fine custodia , and the chapel of 
 the Marquises of Sopraga, by Diego de 
 Guillen. The retablo of Santa Clara, 
 by Quillen, 1 523, is fine. At Briviesca 
 
 in 1388 Juan I. held a Cortes, in which 
 he gave to his eldest son the title of 
 Prince of the Asturias, in imitation of 
 our Prince of Wales, and at the express 
 desire of John of Gaunt, whose daughter 
 was married to the heir apparent. 
 
 Those who have time should make 
 an excursion to the celebrated Bene- 
 dictine convent at Ona, which stands 
 in its hamlet near the Ebro, about 
 4.i L. from Briviesca: for details con- 
 sult Florez (‘%. Sag .’ xxvii. 250) 
 and Berganza (i. 30). It is dedicated 
 to San Salvador , and once lorded over its 
 rich hill-encompassed valley, watered 
 by the sweet rivers the Vesga, Omino, 
 Oca, and Bureba ; the gardens and fish- 
 ponds were delightful. The perennial 
 fountain Sagredo gushes out in a volume 
 of crystal water. The whole merindad 
 of Valdivielso is truly Swiss and pasto- 
 ral. The mills are very artistical. 
 About 1 L. from Ona is la Horadada, 
 a lofty bridge of one arch thrown over 
 the Ebro, and thought to be Roman. 
 The convent was founded in 1011 by 
 the Conde Don Sancho for his burial- 
 place; he died Feb. 5, 1017; his epi- 
 taph, in a Leonine versification and 
 play upon words, records his deeds and 
 worth. Ona has been derived from 
 Maiona, the count’s mother, who, fear- 
 ing her son was about to marry a 
 Moorish princess, gave him poison in 
 a cup, which he managed to make her 
 drink, and then raised the monastery 
 in expiation. Mariana (viii. 2) states 
 that the custom of women drinking 
 before men arose from this maternal 
 malice (see the ballad, Duran, iv. 203). 
 The exterior of the convent is ancient, 
 simple, and severe; the interior was 
 formerly duplex , that is, conveniently 
 arranged for monks and nuns under 
 the same roof— abuses which were 
 reformed in 1032. The Gothic chapel 
 was begun in 1470; the cloisters were 
 finished in 1503, and are most airy 
 and elegant, and of the finest period. 
 Observe the slim windows, pin- 
 nacles, and shields, and among the 
 lay sepulchres those of the Bureva, 
 Sandoval, and Salvador families: the 
 royal tombs in the chapel consist of 
 four rich urnas ; here repose the Infante 
 Garcia, Sancho de Navarra and his wife, 
 
The Castile s. 
 
 ROUTE 118. — PANCORBO -—THE EBRO. 
 
 865 
 
 and Sancho II., who was assassinated 
 at Zamora. Observe the old paintings 
 and shrinework canopies. The prosody 
 of Sancho’s epitaph would perplex 
 Porson : “ Sanctus forma Paris, et ferox 
 Hector in armis,” &c. It was on the 
 high altar here that St. Ferdinand was 
 placed by his mother until the Virgin 
 cured him of the worms ; on this 
 miracle Alonso el Sabio wrote a ‘ ro- 
 mance This convent was pillaged by 
 the invaders, who burnt the fine li- 
 brary; again in 1835 it was made a 
 barrack by Cordova, who used the 
 cloisters as a stable, while his troopers 
 added new injuries to the already mu- 
 tilated sepulchres. The halt of this 
 Bombastes was made here during one 
 of his absurd “ marchings and counter- 
 marchings” over mountains higher, as 
 he said, than eagles ever soared, in 
 order to tire his unfortunate troops, 
 which he did, and to assist Gen. Evans, 
 which he did not , as he left his brave 
 ally in the lurch in the hour of danger. 
 Socorros de Espana ! But the grievous 
 .military mistake of wasting time and 
 strength in operations which can lead 
 to nothing, passes for vigour, activity, 
 and skill in most Spanish generals. 
 The progress of ruin has been recently 
 arrested by the new purchaser, who 
 formerly a great slave-dealer, is doing 
 penance by the obras pias of restoring 
 a sacred edifice. There is a finely engi- 
 neered road from Ona to Villacayo, 6 L. 
 over the heights. 
 
 After quitting Briviesca the road con- 
 tinues to Pancorbo, Porta Augusta, the 
 picturesque pass between the defiles 
 of the mountains of Oca and the Pyre- 
 nean spurs ; the river Oroncillo and 
 the road have scarcely room to thread 
 the shadowy narrow gorge ov gar g ant a, 
 a cleft in the limestone rock ; in the 
 middle is a chapel to Nuestra Senora 
 del Camino, our Holy Lady, and. way 
 warden, who superintends the road, and 
 protects travellers from avalanches ; all 
 around arise fantastic rocks, which hem 
 in this natural portal and barrier of Cas- 
 tile, and in which the old Spaniards 
 defied the Moorish advance, and where 
 the modern ones ran away frightened 
 at the mere name of Buonaparte. 
 Above, to the W., is a ruined castle, 
 
 which commands a fine view of the 
 Rioja; in it Roderick is said to have 
 seduced the ill-omened Cava : ay ! de 
 Espana perdida por un gusto . The 
 modern fort, Santa Engracia, built in 
 1795, was dismantled in 1823 by An- 
 gouleme, who, although then the ally 
 to Spain, was glad to destroy a barrier 
 to future French invasions. Now all 
 is hors de combat, except the Moorish 
 caverns or algibes ; not even the guns 
 spiked by the French, nor the shot and 
 shells rolled down the rocky crevices, 
 were removed when last we there there, 
 and this military gate, the natural de- 
 fence of Madrid, is barely stronger 
 than a turnpike one. 
 
 Leaving Pancorbo, soon the Bilbao 
 road branches off to the 1. ; the Ebro is 
 passed at Miranda by a fine bridge. 
 Nature becomes fresher, fountains more 
 abundant, the population increases, and 
 the towns have more trees and gardens 
 near them ; the face of man, too, is 
 ruddier. How beautiful the contrast 
 of these Welsh-like hills and dales after 
 the dreary desert of the Castiies ! The 
 open belfry of the churches now is 
 changed for a square tower. Miranda, 
 with a decent diligence inn, contains 
 2300 souls, and is utterly uninteresting. 
 Here are placed the custom-house 
 offices, as this is the fiscal frontier of 
 Castile, whose system does not obtain 
 in the Basque provinces, which we now' 
 enter. The Ebro is a geographical and 
 vegetable line of demarcation; soon 
 maize becomes the staple food, and the 
 cereal region is left behind. Miranda 
 has an ancient church with the porch 
 in front, the common protection against 
 weather in these damp N.W. provinces. 
 Logrouo lies 10 L. from Miranda de 
 Ebro ; the first three to Haro are pic- 
 turesque, as following the windings of 
 the river. Haro, with its 6000 inha- 
 bitants, is prettily placed on the Ebro 
 in a fertile vega, where much wine 
 is grown ; but all its time-honoured 
 glories and interests belong to the past. 
 
 La Puebla de Arganzon is placed in 
 the defile of the Morillas hills, and is 
 the gorge by which the waters of the 
 basin of Vitoria, once a lake, made their 
 exit. The road and the river Zadorra 
 run through this pass into the plains, 
 
866 
 
 ROUTE 118 . — BATTLE OF VITORIA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 at the head of which Vitoria rises in 
 the distance. This undulating basin 
 is about 12 miles in length by 10 in 
 width, and is cut up by the Zadorra, 
 which serpentines down the portion to 
 the 1. ; it is interspersed with woods, 
 villages, and broken ground, with good 
 wild-fowl shooting in winter. This 
 rugged country offered strong positions 
 of defence to the French against the 
 English attack. 
 
 On the 20th of June, 1813, our army 
 bivouacked on the Bayas, a mountain 
 stream which flows to the 1. of the 
 road, and occupied Tuto , Subijana de 
 Morales (the Duke’s head-quarters), 
 Zuazo , Vitoriano , and Marquina. The 
 enemy, commanded by Joseph and 
 Jourdan, was strongly posted in front, 
 at the opening of the pass ; their rt. was 
 drawn up at Tres Puentes , and their 1. at 
 Subijana de Alava , with the hill of 
 Arinez in their centre, not far from 
 which is a height called Inglesmendi, 
 the “ English mound/’ where five cen- 
 turies before they had defeated the 
 French. On the 21st the Duke ordered 
 Hill to open the ball : he, with Morillo, 
 scaled the elevations to the rt., where 
 Col. Cadogan fell mortally wounded ; 
 he begged to be so placed that he 
 might die happy at the sight of 
 the foe in flight, and his last wish 
 was gratified, for the French under 
 Gazan and Darricau were forth- 
 with driven down. Meanwhile Gra- 
 ham, who had been sent with 20,000 
 men from Marquina , on the extreme 1., 
 to sweep round to the Bilbao road, 
 routed Reille at every point, Lonja 
 and the Spaniards holding Gamarra 
 menor , and the English turning the 
 enemy at Gamarra mayor and Abechuco , 
 and thus depriving them of the possi- 
 bility of retreating by the Irun road. 
 While these two distinct battles and 
 victories were being gained, the Duke 
 led the centre and struck the heart of 
 his opponents. He threaded the defile 
 by Nanclares, Kempt at the same time, 
 with the light division, crossing the 
 Zadorra at Tres Puentes , and, bursting 
 into the French position, of which the 
 Mamario de Arinez was the key ; Joseph 
 wavered and detached Villate to Go- 
 mecha in his rear ; the Duke saw the 
 
 moment — and ordered the splendid 
 rush at the hill of Arinez. Old Picton 
 led on his “ invincible division,” en- 
 couraging them kindly as he was wont, 
 “ forward, ye fighting villains!” and 
 they followed their brave leader to a 
 man ; although opposed to five times 
 their numbers and to 50 cannon, they 
 bore everything down before them, 
 Joseph being the first to run ; just as 
 at Cressy, where, says old Aleyn, “ the 
 kinge turned head, and so soon his 
 men turned tayle.” The French, re- 
 lates Southey, “ were beaten before the 
 town, in the town, through the town, out 
 of the town, behind the town, and all 
 about the town.” They fled, leaving 
 behind them baggage, eagles, 6000 
 killed and wounded, 150 cannon, and 
 even their plunder. The battle was 
 soon over, for, as at Salamanca, the 
 numbers being nearly equal, the Duke 
 took the aggressive ; yet not two- 
 thirds of his army were British, and 
 the returns of losses separate the wheat 
 from the chaff, our loss was 3308, 
 the Portuguese 1049, the Spanish 553, 
 who now .claim the glory as theirs. Ac- 
 cording to the Memoirs of poor Joseph 
 — who ended in believing his own lies 
 — the English force was double de la 
 notre ! How unlucky ! 80,000 to 39,000. 
 Even then had but Foy and Clausel 
 obeyed his orders, the English must 
 have been culbute! — risum teneatis? 
 Be that as it may, the victory was 
 so complete that the French at 
 least have not yet claimed it as 
 theirs; Gen. Clausel, who had had a 
 taste of the British bayonet at Sala- 
 manca, again escaped by a miracle to 
 Iluesca , us J oseph did to Roncesvalles ; 
 while Foy, who had failed to come up 
 to the battle, fled to France by the 
 Basque hills. 
 
 Then the Duke pressed on in his 
 pursuit of the fugitives to the Pyrenees, 
 and on their summits, says Napier, 
 “ emerging from the chaos of the 
 Peninsular struggle, he stood a recog- 
 nised conqueror ; then, on those lofty 
 pinnacles, the clangour of his trumpets 
 pealed clear and loud, and his splen- 
 dour appeared as a flaming beacon to 
 warring nations.” Alone he did it, for 
 the blundering Bentincks and Murrays, 
 
The Castiles, 
 
 ROUTE 118. — BATTLE OF VITORIA. 
 
 867 
 
 by repeated failures on the E. coast, 
 had, like the Spanish generals, been an 
 incumbrance to him instead of an aid, 
 and this alike when present and when 
 absent ; the former had departed for 
 Sicily, just when most needed to act as 
 a diversion, having just before crippled 
 the Duke’s finance by sweeping the 
 money-market with most ill-advised 
 competition. 
 
 Vitoria not only cleared Spain of 
 the invader, but cheered Europe at 
 large, for the recoil shook Buonaparte 
 at Dresden, as Salamanca had done 
 when he was in Russia. He indeed 
 kept the news of this “ affaire ” even 
 from his minister Maret ; but when 
 the event was learnt by Lord Castle- 
 reagh, it “ at once,” as he wrote 
 Desp. viii. 45, “ put us on strong 
 ground,” and thus realized the political 
 objects of the Duke. It induced the. 
 allies to refuse the armistice, fixed the 
 wavering adhesion of Austria, and thus 
 was harbinger of glorious Leipzig. 
 Mons. Bory de St. Vincent (Laborde, 
 i. 132), describing this battle, after 
 severely criticising the mollesse of the 
 English attack, continues thus : — “ Les 
 braves, debandes par le decouragement 
 des chefs, se jeterent vers les Pyrenees, 
 tandis que Lord Wellington, qui se crut 
 vainqueur de Vitoria, s’arreta paisible- 
 ment avec toutes ses forces dans une 
 ville sans importance (which he did 
 not), au lieu de marcher vivement sur 
 Bayonne. Sans avoir vaincu selon la 
 signification da mot , les Anglais de- 
 meurerent en possession de quatre- 
 vingt pieces de canon au moins (i. e. 
 151). La France n’eut pas £ regretter 
 plus de cent braves (*. e. 6000) tues ou 
 blesses qui resterent sur le champ de 
 bataille.” ! ! The comparative smallness 
 of the French loss arose, first, because, 
 as at Oudenarde and Ramillies, they 
 were beaten by us too quickly ; and, 
 secondly, because, as at Salamanca, 
 their fugitives threw away arms, &c. — 
 all that constitutes a soldier, but im- 
 pedes escape. 
 
 Again, the enormous booty, to save 
 which the French risked the battle, 
 and which the runaways left behind, 
 offered a temptation which our troops 
 could not resist ; they who had defied 
 
 the steel of the enemy were van- 
 quished by his gold. And yet these 
 were fair battle prizes, won from 
 strong men by stronger; and after a 
 well-fought field, not the pillage of 
 unresisting citizens. Now five mil- 
 lions of dollars were taken by the 
 English troops, but thereby all “ order 
 and discipline were annihilated,” as the 
 indignant Duke said, who, as a soldier 
 and gentleman, hated the very sound 
 of pillage : “ je suis assez long temps 
 soldat pour savoir,” wrote he in his 
 nervous Anglo-fran^ais, and how truly 
 English both the sentiment and the 
 French form he puts it in ! “ que les 
 pillards et ceux que les encouragent ne 
 valent rien devant l’ ennemi” (Desp. Dec. 
 23, 1813, March 5, 1814, June 27, 
 1815). The English troops wearied 
 themselves in searching for booty rather 
 than in following up their victory, and 
 thus stopping to pick up gold, they lost, 
 like Atalanta, the race of honour. The 
 old curse of the Aurum Tolosanum pur- 
 sued both conquerors and the con- 
 quered. Here, as at Bailen (see p. 
 233), the French movements were 
 hopelessly hampered, for behind the 
 town was collected in nearly 2000 
 vehicles the aggregate French plunder 
 of the whole Peninsula during five 
 years. These impedimenta rendered 
 retreat by the high road impossible ; 
 so there was some truth in poor 
 Joseph’s lamentation ( f Mem.’- vii. 462) 
 — “Tout ce que Ton a vole ici, est 
 paye tot ou tard par le sang Franyais.” 
 Southey has graphically described the 
 variety of the church plate and pic- 
 tures, the delicate eatables, the mis- 
 tresses, the poodles, parrots, and mon- 
 keys. Poor Joseph, after all his 
 gigantic pickings, narrowly escaped 
 with only one Napoleon in his royal 
 pocket (‘ Mem’ x. 342). His carriage 
 was taken, like that of his brother at 
 Waterloo, and it was filled, says Toreno 
 (xxii.), with pickings and stealings and 
 obscene objects, while Marshal Jour- 
 dan’s baton was found in his fourgon de 
 comestibles l this, with the colours of 
 the 100th regiment was “ laid by the 
 Duke at the Prince Regent’s feet,” 
 who, with great good taste, repaid the 
 compliment by returning the staff of 
 
838 
 
 ROUTE 118. — SPOLIA OPIMA OF VITORIA. 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 an English field-marshal to the captor. 
 The enemy’s losses were so complete 
 as to furnish jokes to themselves. Thus 
 V Apothicaire, in his clever ‘ Memoires 9 
 (chr. 42), consoled his friends, so 
 cleaned out by this Wellington purge, 
 or steel prescription, by quoting Ho- 
 race : “ You all of you came into Spain 
 thinner than weasels, and now as thin 
 you must go out.” The French sol- 
 diers also derided their general, who 
 from his continual beatings at Tala- 
 vera and elsewhere, was called the 
 “ anvil/’ and exclaimed irreverently, 
 “ The sea fled, and Jordan was driven 
 back.” 
 
 Joseph’s own carriage was gorged 
 with stolen goods, for his Royal and 
 Imperial Majesty had there stowed 
 away in its imperial many of Ferdi- 
 nand’s choicest cabinet pictures, which 
 now worthily ornament Apsley House. 
 These spolia opima are indeed fair 
 battle-won trophies, not the free gift 
 of bayonet - threatened chapters, nor 
 the fee of bribed violence, a la Soult 
 (see pp. 180, 610). Nay, no sooner had 
 the Duke learnt that the pictures were 
 more valuable than he thought, than 
 he wrote to express his desire to 
 “ restore ” them to Ferdinand, sus- 
 pecting that they might have been 
 “ robbed by Joseph ” from the royal pa- 
 laces (Desp. March 16, 1814). Accord- 
 ing, however, to Napier (xx. 8) all the 
 plundering on this great day was now on 
 our side, and the French in consequence 
 “ were not half beaten.” Another 
 prize, more precious for the sacred cause 
 of truth and history than plate or paint- 
 ings, was also taken here in the usurper’s 
 carriage, namely, the official and con- 
 fidential correspondence between Ma- 
 drid and Paris; this reveals some 
 secrets of Buonaparte’s prison-house 
 and lifts up a corner of his mantle of 
 ruse doublee de force ; these thoughts, 
 shot from his innermost quiver, give 
 the best contradiction to his public 
 bulletins and “ enormous lies,” that 
 poison with which he fed his slaves 
 instead of bread. These private papers, 
 never destined for the Moniteur, fully 
 corroborate the Duke’s public de- 
 spatches, for the noble mind will dare 
 do all but lie. Bon sang ne peut 
 
 mentir , and when will any French 
 marshal venture to print his private 
 letters ? 
 
 Our Duke, as unlike the gang of 
 revolutionary “ Victors ,” as like the 
 heroes of antiquity, preferred bright 
 honour to filthy lucre ; his motto was 
 ripn puXXov n TconyLKTcc^ his pursuit 
 was “ gloriam ingentem, divitias ho- 
 nestas.” He never contaminated his 
 golden mind with the dross of pecula- 
 tion or pillage. He never sold his large 
 glory “ for what might be grasped 
 thus.” His shrine of renown was only 
 to be approached through the temple 
 of virtue, and he trusted to a grateful 
 country to provide means for the sup- 
 port of a dignity which he carved out 
 with an untarnished soldier -sword. 
 Such also is our sailor 9 s maxim. “ Cor- 
 sica,” writes Nelson (Desp. June, 27, 
 1794), “ in respect to prizes, pro- 
 duces nothing but honour far above 
 wealth. 99 But the Massenas and Soults 
 and Co., marshals of the rapacious 
 eagle, qui se ressemblent comme deux 
 gouttes de feu, have proved that mili- 
 tary heroism may exist with an utter 
 absence of all moral or principle : 
 officers but not gentlemen— -they rose 
 it is true from the ranks. 
 
 Mons. Bory attributed the loss of 
 Vitoria to the soldiers’ want of con- 
 fidence in their chiefs; so Sallust (B. C. 
 i.) dated the decay of Roman arms to 
 the misconduct of the Syllas in Asia, 
 who then first collected “ tabulas pictas 
 — vasa cselata.” These spoilers never 
 scrupled “ ea privatim ac publice 
 rapere, delubra spoliare, sacra profa- 
 naque omnia polluere ;” but there is 
 nothing new under the sun. Tel maitre 
 tels valets . And who can fail to apply 
 to these marshals’ master, that wonder- 
 ful man, one of true Italian intellect 
 and Machiavellianism, all those cha- 
 racteristics which Livy (xxi. 4) so 
 unjustly predicated of the mighty 
 Hannibal ? — ‘ ‘ Has tantas viri virtutes, 
 ingentia vitia equabant, inhumanacru- 
 delitas, perfidia plusquam punica, ni- 
 hil veri, nihil sancti, nullus Deum 
 metus, nullum jus jurandum, nulla re- 
 ligio.” For Vitoria . see p. 878. 
 
The Castiles . route 119 . — vitoria to Santander. 
 
 869 
 
 Route 119. — Yitoria to Santander. 
 
 Miranda de Ebro . . 
 
 . 6 
 
 
 Ameyugo .... 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 84 
 
 Valderada .... 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 124 
 
 Frias 
 
 
 
 Trespaderne ... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 16 
 
 Monco 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 
 Villarcayo .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 204 
 
 Espinosa .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 234 
 
 Salcedillo .... 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 244 
 
 San Roque .... 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 27 
 
 Lierganes .... 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 29 
 
 Santander .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 32 
 
 Retracing our steps to Miranda de 
 Ebro , we soon turn off from the high 
 road to Frias , a dilapidated old town 
 hanging over the Ebro, with a bridge 
 said to be of Roman foundation ; from 
 the ruined castle of this place the great 
 Velasco family derive their ducal 
 title. At Villarcayo the Burgos road 
 branches down, and crosses the Ebro 
 at Puente de Arenas , by which the 
 Duke, June 14, 1813, marched and 
 turned the enemy’s position at Pan- 
 corbo , “ the glories of twelve victories 
 playing about their bayonets, their 
 foes flying like sheep before wolves, 
 all their combinations baffled, rivers 
 dried up, ravines levelled by the 
 genius of him who was soon to annihh 
 late them” (Napier, xx. 7). Our 
 brave men poured through the in- 
 tricate passes between Frias and Or- 
 duna, in which they toiled for six 
 days, and then “ trickling from the 
 mountains like raging streams from 
 every defile, went foaming into the 
 basin of Vitoria,” to victory. 
 
 Not far from Villarcayo , on the road 
 to Bilbao, is the old Castilian city of 
 Medina de Pomar , pop. 1200. It 
 is pleasantly placed on the trout- 
 streams the Trueba and Nela, and has 
 a good bridge, a fine fountain on the 
 Plaza , and some grand tombs of the 
 Velasco family in Santa Clara. One 
 Duke of Frias lies clad in armour, 
 with his wife near him ; observe the 
 animals at their feet. But the time- 
 honoured tombs of this ancient family, 
 the hereditary constables of Castile, 
 have decayed like their degenerate 
 chief. The Fugue de Frias of our day 
 used to boast, so it was said, that he 
 possessed all the essentials of grandee- 
 
 Spain . — II. 
 
 ship, that he was chico, endeudado, y 
 cornudo. From Villarcayo to San- 
 tander there are two roads, one by 
 Soncillo, 3J, and hence 12 by the 
 Camino Peal de la Piojci , and the other, 
 a bridle and shorter, by Cabada and 
 Espinosa. Espinosa, pop. 2000, lies 
 on a slope of the 8omo, in a pleasant 
 valley watered by the Trueba, which, 
 with the Nela soon joins the Ebro. 
 The inhabitants had the privilege of 
 mounting guard over the king’s person 
 at night: hence it is called Espinosa 
 de los Monteros. This honour was 
 granted in reward of the valour of 
 Sancho Montero, by whom the Conde 
 Sancho’s life was saved in 1113. Con- 
 sult ‘ Origen de los Monteros ,’ Pedro de 
 la Escalera Guevara. 4to. Mad. 1632, 
 or the reprint, Mad. 1735. 
 
 At Espinosa, Nov. 10 and 11, 1808, 
 Blake, Mahy, and Mendizabal, when 
 posted on strong heights, were sur- 
 prised by Victor, and put to instant 
 flight, and this just at the moment when 
 Castanos was losing the battle of Tu- 
 dela ; thus Moore, who had advanced 
 into the Castiles, relying on Spanish 
 co-operation, was left with his handful 
 of Britons to bear the whole brunt. 
 The incapables Blake and Mahy, when 
 out of breath, halted at Peinosa, from 
 whence and its almost impregnable 
 passes they again fled at the mere 
 report of the French approach, leaving 
 Santander to its fate, which was utterly 
 and most brutally sacked. 
 
 Lierganes lies on the trout-stream 
 Miera, and furnishes itinerant black- 
 smiths and needy knife-grinders. 
 Here was born, in 1660, Francisco de 
 la Vega Caz, the Spanish merman, or 
 hombre pez. He took to the sea in 
 1674, and was caught in some nets 
 near Cadiz in 1679, whereupon Senor 
 Caz, on being hauled out, exclaimed 
 “ Pan , vino , tabaco,” bread, wine, to- 
 bacco; on hearing which the sailors 
 saw at once that he was a countryman 
 and Christian,; and, as he afterwards 
 said “ Lierganes they identified his 
 locality. However, this amphibious 
 mountaineer, like a fish out of water, 
 soon got sick of land, and disappeared 
 again among his finny friends. His na- 
 tural history was vouched for by Span- 
 2 Q 
 
870 
 
 ROUTE 119. — SANTANDER. 
 
 ish archbishops, and even Feijoo, the 
 refuter of popular fallacies, gives the 
 whole critical account, 4 Teatro Cri - 
 tico ,’ vi. Dis. 8. 
 
 Now we enter the iron district, and 
 the best mines are those of Pamanes, 
 Vizmaya, Montecillo ; but Somorrostro, 
 the finest of all, is distant 12 L. The 
 forests of oak and beech furnish a bad 
 fuel for the furnaces ; yet the port of 
 Gijon could supply coal to any amount. 
 At La Gavada, on the Miera, Charles 
 III. established an artillery foundry. 
 
 Santander , although some Spaniards 
 assert that it was founded by Noah ! ! 
 others only by Tubal ! was probably 
 the Roman Portus Blendium. Inns : 
 El Suisso, Cafe Frances , la Fonda de 
 Boggio , de Cristou, and el Parador de 
 Moral , Calle de Becedo. The damp 
 and wind-blown town is picturesquely 
 placed on the extremity of a headland, 
 protected by a hill, with a harbour 
 of easy access, sheltered to the N. and 
 N.E., but open to the S. ; it has a 
 lighthouse and good anchorage: pop. 
 16,000. It has atheatre, made out of the 
 old convent S. Agustin, a Circulo, Liceo , 
 and good baths. The fine quay and 
 newly-built houses of the chief mer- 
 chants have rather a French than a Spa- 
 nish look, and the shops abound with 
 Parisian colifichets and poor hagiogra- 
 phical engravings. The busy quay, 
 with its bales, sugars, flour-barrels, 
 and bustle, contrasts with the fishy 
 poverty of the older town, especially 
 the quarter of San Pedro. Here 
 porter’s work, as in Bilbao, is done by 
 women, if those androgynous epicene 
 Amazons can so be called. The local 
 carts are coffin-looking concerns, built 
 after the Affghan waggon with solid 
 creaking wheels. The fresh-aired walks 
 on the hill command pretty views 
 over the Ria, the Muelle de los Naos , 
 the mole crowded with shipping, and 
 the Castillo de San Felipe: the Ala- 
 medas de Becedo and de los Barcos are 
 the fashionable promenades. Santander 
 is a cheap and well-provided place ; 
 the fish both of sea and fresh water is 
 plentiful and excellent. The green 
 valleys of the Pas supply butter, which 
 is brought in by Swiss-like pasiegas , 
 who carry baskets, cuebanos, fastened 
 
 Sect. XI. 
 
 with straps, and by which they are 
 bent double ; however, when the weight 
 is removed, they spring up straight 
 like a bent cane. The vin du pays is 
 a poor cidery chacoli, nor is the water 
 good, but there is a mineral spring 
 called la Salud about two miles off, 
 which is much frequented for visceral 
 disorders from June to October, and 
 about 20 miles off, at Ontaneda, there 
 are baths, with a large and decent 
 parador. 
 
 Santander is the residence of the 
 provincial authorities, and the see of a 
 bishop, suffragan to Burgos, which 
 was founded in 1174 by Alonso IX.: 
 the cathedral is one of the least 
 important in Spain ; the ancient 
 tower has been disfigured by a 
 modern cupola of bad taste, and the 
 curious crypt underneath painted ! in 
 1845 ; the cloister commands pretty 
 sea- views. The relics of Saints Eme- 
 terio and Celedonio (see p. 945) 
 sanctify this cathedral, of which the 
 Christian baptismal fount is an Arabic 
 one, with an Arabic inscription, like 
 the Pope’s chair at St. Peter’s. 
 
 Santander has long been a seaport : 
 the bay and port were much esteemed 
 in the early periods of Spanish history. 
 From hence, in 1248, St. Ferdinand’s 
 fleet sailed to blockade Seville, which 
 is commemorated on the city’s shield. 
 It afterwards decayed into a mere 
 fishing-town, but rose when made a 
 puerto habilitado, or a port entitled 
 to trade with S. America; it still 
 supplies Cuba with corn from the 
 Castiles, bringing back colonial pro- 
 duce ; and as it is, in fact, the sea- 
 port of Madrid, whenever the canal of 
 Castile or the railroad to Reinosa be 
 finished, it must necessarily profit 
 largely. Now, next to fish, cigars are 
 the staple, and the Santa Cruz convent 
 has been converted into a fabrica of 
 the filthy weed. 
 
 Here Charles V. landed, July 16, 
 
 1 522, to take possession of Spain ; and 
 from the same quay our Charles, em- 
 barked to quit Spain after his romantic 
 visit to Madrid ; he arrived here on 
 the 11th of Sept., 1623 (old style, i. e. 
 on St. Matthew’s, the 21st), and was 
 nearly drowned on Friday the 12th, 
 
The Castiles. 
 
 ROUTE 119.-— SANTANDER. 
 
 871 
 
 when going to visit his ship; he 
 sailed, however, on the 1 7th, and 
 landed safely at Portsmouth on Sun- 
 day October 5, to the inexpressible 
 joy of the whole nation, which, 26 
 years afterwards almost as gladly saw 
 him beheaded. 
 
 Santander was ferociously sacked by 
 Soult, Nov. 16, 1808, and yet no place 
 during the war exhibited more selfish 
 localism or greater unfriendliness to 
 our delivering armies. The Junta 
 having clamoured for our aid, turned 
 round like Berbers when it was granted, 
 abusing and ill-using its defenders ; the 
 citizens refused even to lodge the 
 Duke’s couriers, although paid for by 
 England and for Spanish purposes. 
 They placed his wounded in quaran- 
 tine, and in the most offensive manner 
 (‘ Disp.’ Jan. 14, 1814). “The town 
 of Santander,” wrote he, “ has at one 
 stroke virtually cut of the supplies of 
 the allied armies of every description, 
 and has thereby done that which the 
 enemy has never been able to effect.’' 
 Again, Oct. 14, 1813, he notices the 
 “bad temper shown by Santander to 
 the English, which he had not ob- 
 served in any other part of Spain.” 
 
 In fact, next to “ His Majesty ’s” Oppo- 
 sition at home (see p. 486), the Duke’s 
 worst enemies abroad were his allies 
 the Liberals of Cadiz. The democratic 
 party, from feeling that the cause of 
 
 Royalty was upheld by him, set them- 
 selves to thwart his efforts ; thus their 
 patriotic tool Ballasteros neutralised 
 the victory of Salamanca. The Cortes, 
 which insulted and injured the priest- 
 hood, led the church party to fancy 
 the Duke was the upholder of the 
 absurd constitution. Thus, when Wel- 
 lington had delivered the Peninsula, 
 and finished the good work despite of 
 the Spaniards, and when he stood a 
 conqueror in France, his chief anxiety 
 arose from his friends! in the rear; 
 and he recommended our Ministers 
 “to take steps with a view to a war 
 with Spain ” (‘ Despd Nov. 27, 1813). 
 This painful conclusion to a career so 
 glorious was averted by the sudden 
 downfall of Buonaparte. 
 
 The Santandrians have not changed, 
 for again when Gen. Evans landed with 
 his legion, the citizens refused to con- 
 tribute to the bare necessities of those 
 brave men whose assistance had been 
 implored. The capital fishing districts 
 extending westwards to Oviedo have 
 been described in Rtes. 95 and 96. 
 There are diligences from Santander 
 to Burgos, Rte. 116, and to Valladolid, 
 Rte. 77 ; one runs to Madrid in about 
 55 hours; a coasting steamer com- 
 municates up and down between San 
 Sebastian and Cadiz, and sometimes to 
 Havre and Liverpool. For the land 
 route to Bilbao , see Rte. 125. 
 
 2 Q 2 
 
( 872 ) 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 THE BASQUE PROVINCES. 
 
 ALAYA; YIZCAYA ; GUIPUZCOA. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Provinces ; the Fueros ; Character of Natives and Country ; Manners and 
 
 Language. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 VITORIA 878 
 
 ROUTE 120. — VITORIA TO IRUN. . . .879 
 
 ROUTE 121. — VITORIA TO PAM- 
 PLONA 881 
 
 ROUTE 122 — VITORIA TO BILBAO. .882 
 
 ROUTE 123. VITORIA TO BILBAO. .882 
 
 ROUTE 124.— VITORIA TO BILBAO. .883 
 Durango, the Decree ; Bilbao, the Sieges. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ROUTE 125, — SANTANDER TO BIL- 
 
 BAO 887 
 
 ROUTE 126. — BILBAO TO SAN SE- 
 BASTIAN 889 
 
 The Tree of Guernica. 
 
 ROUTE 127 — BAYONNE TO IRUN .. .890 
 St. Jean de Luz ; the Bidasoa ; Irun ; 
 
 San Martial, the Battle. 
 
 ROUTE 128. — IRUN TO TOLOSA BY 
 SAN SEBASTIAN 898 
 
 FuenterrabiJ ; San Sebastian, the Sieges, 
 Libels; Azpeitia. 
 
 Las Provincias Vasoongadas consist of the three united provinces of Alava , 
 Vizcaya , and Guipuzcoa . Vizcaya , the largest, contains about 106 square 
 
 leagues ; Guipuzcoa , the smallest, only 52, but it is the most densely peopled, 
 and at the rate of 2000 inhabitants to the square league ; Alava , containing 
 about 180 square leagues, lies between Guipuzcoa and Navarre. These provinces, 
 forming the mountainous triangle of the N.W. of the Peninsula, constituted 
 the Cantabria of the ancients, a name derived by some from Kent-Aber , which they 
 interpret the “ Corner of the Water.” This corner of the land, like our Wales, is 
 the home of the remnant of the indigenes or aboriginal inhabitants, who never 
 have been expelled or subdued ; * thus the character of an unadulterated pri- 
 mitive race, an ethnological fossil, remains strongly marked in language and 
 nationality. These highlanders, bred on metal-pregnant mountains, and nursed 
 amid storms in a cradle indomitable as themselves, in a country difficult to take 
 and not much worth the taking, have always known how to forge their iron 
 into arms, and to wield them in defence of their independence ; and what sword 
 equals that moulded from the ploughshare ? This sufficiency in self is the meaning 
 which Senor Perochegui reads in the Basque name, a word derived by him from 
 Payascogara , “ somos bastantes.” A sense of separate weakness has taught 
 
 * The Goths could not subdue these rebellious highlanders, although Recared, as San Isidoro 
 tells us, used especially to send his troops there to keep his soldiers’ hands in fighting condition 
 — quasi in palaestri ludo (Chron. Era 585). 
 
LOS FUEROS. 
 
 873 
 
 Basque Provinces. 
 
 these provinces the secret of union. This federal association is expressed in 
 their national symbol of three hands joined together, with the motto 44 Irurac 
 Bat,” which is equivalent to the tria juncta in uno of the Bath order of our 
 united kingdoms. The armorial shield is 4 4 argent, the tree of Guernica vert, 
 two wolves gules, with an orle of eight crosses or.” 
 
 The Basques have been less successful in resisting invasions by sea, for they 
 were partly overcome about the year 870 by a fair-haired Northman, named 
 Zuria, an adventurer either from Norway or Scotland ; and to this foreign 
 admixture their fair complexions and immemorial representative government 
 have been traced. These provinces, when the descendants of the Goths began 
 to gain ground on the Moorish invaders, formed themselves into a confederation 
 of small detached tribes or republics, placed under a nominal Lord or Senor, 
 until at length, in the 14th century, Nuha, the 19th Lord, died, leaving two 
 daughters, one of whom having married Juan of Arragon, Pedro the Cruel 
 seized the opportunity, put her husband to death, and annexed the Lordship {el 
 Senorio) to the crown of Castile. Soon afterwards he ceded it to the Black Prince, 
 in reward for his assistance at Navarrete ; however, private instruction's were 
 given to the Basques not to allow the foreigner to take possession, which he 
 never did : and considering the Punic character of Don Pedro el cruel, his 
 deliverer was fortunate to escape even with life. The Basques have not for- 
 gotten their double-dealing monarch's hint, and have turned his own arm 
 against his successors ; thus, whenever they have issued decrees militating against 
 their fueros, they have been received with lip obedience, and treated like waste 
 paper — obedecido pero no cumplido, obeyed but not carried out. Although 
 incorporated with the Castilian monarchy, these provinces were considered 
 exentas ; the national fueros were rigidly retained ; and these, the kings of 
 Spain, as Senores only of Biscay, always swore on their accessions to 
 maintain, and as regularly endeavoured to subvert. The first impolitic 
 act of Castanon, after Ferdinand VII. 's death, was to abolish these fueros, 
 which threw the Basques into the cause of Don Carlos, in whom they 
 beheld a non-innovating principle ; their cry was, 44 Conservar intactas la 
 F', y las costumbres antiguas;” and they fought more for their own inde- 
 pendence than for his cause. The Basque fueros were regularly classified 
 and digested for the first time in 1526, by a native commission appointed by 
 Charles V., and have been often printed : these privileges breathe a parochial 
 isolation and monopoly, each partido or district treating its neighbours as rivals, 
 and almost as enemies, seldom even purchasing anything from them until all 
 raised at home be first consumed ; but men will bear and glory in any chains 
 provided they be self-imposed, and in local self-government national character 
 and fitness for liberty is formed ; therefore the Basques, who take the good with 
 the bad, and who have been happy and free under their chartered rights, cling 
 to them as guarantees of future vitality and prosperity ; and their shadows of 
 liberties, as we English may think them, were as bright lights shining in the 
 circumambient darkness. The fueros of the Peninsula ; have survived many a 
 change and chance, and have resisted many a foe domestic and foreign ; they 
 have continued to exist when little Spanish existed save the fertile soil and the 
 noble hearts of the honest people ; they kept Spain Spanish, because such insti- 
 tutions were congenial to national character, which, essentially local, abhors a 
 foreign centralising system. They again have grown with the country’s growth, 
 and have become part and parcel of the constitution ; and although not perhaps 
 abstractedly the best, yet are the only ones which it has been possible to 
 obtain and maintain. Sooner or later, however, the Basque fueros must be 
 abolished whenever a really strong government can be formed. Meantime the 
 policy of an imperium in imperio continues, and the alcalde is the Sheikh, and 
 the cura the petty Pope, of their particular villages, which they rule in temporals 
 and spirituals, indifferent to the orders -or wishes of those who are their nominal 
 
874 
 
 CHARACTER AND OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 superiors, whose commands they either evade or disobey. The religious indepen- 
 dence secured by the fueros presents a strange anomaly in prelatical Spain ; here 
 the episcopal office is unknown, and the parish priest is exempt from all diocesan 
 control. The amount of taxes, again, is determined by the popularly elected 
 representatives, and the supply is called donativo, a gift, not a tribute or service, 
 as it is in Navarre. The Basques are free also from the quinta , or conscription, 
 that contribucion de sangre , as Spaniards call this blood- tax, the fit invention of a 
 French Revolution which, like Saturn, devoured its own children. Each 
 partido here raises its own tercios or militia, who are not compellable to serve 
 beyond their respective provinces ; hence the difficulty which Don Carlos had 
 to get his Basques to advance into Aragon or the Castiles. Again, the Basques 
 are exempt from the burdensome papel sellado and stamps and taxes of Castile, 
 from governmental escribanos , and from the fiscal scourge of Spanish custom- 
 houses and their officers, which are placed on the Ebro, not the Bidasoa. 
 
 Another privilege is universal nobility, the appanage secured to all by the 
 mere fact of being born in these provinces. Sons of old and good Christians, 
 free from all Jewish and Moorish taint, they represent the “ Hebrew of the 
 Hebrews,” and are the most Gothic gentlemen of Spain, and are consequently 
 all Caballeros hijos de algo. It is true that where all are so noble, the distinction 
 is of small importance ; nevertheless, like other Highlanders, they are 
 grievously affected with genealogy and goitre : thus Perochegui (Origen, p. 96) 
 modestly eulogises his beloved Cantaberria : “ Hidalga en abstracto, rio caudaloso 
 de Nobleza , solar indicativo y demonstrative de Nobleza , antiquisimo seminario de la 
 Nobleza de Espana.” Peppery as the Welsh, proud as Lucifer, and combustible 
 as his matches, these pauper peers fire up when their pedigree is questioned, 
 and well did Don Quixote (i. 8) know how to annoy a Biscayan by telling him 
 that “ he was no gentleman,” Basque gentility often consists rather in blood 
 than in manners ; better born than bred, the Cantabrian is not always courteous 
 nor over quick in rendering honour to whom honour is due ; he considers a sort 
 of boorishness to indicate a republican independence, and thinks the deference 
 which one well-conditioned person pays to another, to be a degradation to his 
 noble birthright ; their provinces may be the three Graces of Spain, but the 
 natives sacrifice but little to those amiable types. 
 
 The modern Basques, however brave and active as individuals, form very bad 
 regular soldiers, as they are too obstinate and self-opinionated to tolerate drill 
 and discipline ; again, they can only be managed, and that imperfectly, by one 
 of themselves ; hence Gonzalo de Cordova affirmed that he would rather be a 
 keeper of wild beasts than a commander of Basques. As Guerilleros they are 
 excellent, since their active mountain and smuggling habits educate them for 
 a desultory war of frontier ambuscade, foray, and bush-fighting. In the wild 
 sierras of Guipuzcoa bands were raised by the shepherd Caspar Jauregui, which 
 were always a thorn in the path of the invader. The treatment which our 
 soldiers have met with from the Basques, from the Black Prince down to Sir 
 De Lacy Evans, has always been the reverse of friendly, even while fighting 
 their battles. The Duke never found an enemy among the honest people of 
 Spain until he entered these provinces, when the Basques, saved from the 
 invaders by him alone, rose in his rear, as in olden time, “ impacatos a tergo 
 horrebis Iberos ” (‘ Georg * iii. 408) ; so they repaid Charlemagne, whom they 
 had called in to assist them. From such allies well might the Duke pray to 
 be delivered ; from all enemies in front he could protect himself ; and at last, 
 when a conqueror on the Pyrenees, ever prescient, he warned the ministry at 
 home to prepare for a war with that very country which without him would 
 have remained a province of Buonaparte’s, who had been welcomed by the 
 Basques with arches of triumph, inscribed, “ h l’heros invaincu, les Cantabres 
 invaincus.” 
 
 The English are not very popular in these parts; the lies and libels of 
 
875 
 
 Basque Provinces . character and occupations. 
 
 St. Sebastian, circulated by the Afrancesados (see p. 901 ), are remembered and 
 rankle. Nor are the deeds of the Legion forgotten, who, not themselves exactly 
 the elite of society, put down Don Carlos, the favourite of the Basques, and the 
 hero of their fueros. 
 
 In time of peace, commerce and fishing form the occupations of those who 
 dwell on the sea-board, while agricultural and pastoral pursuits do of those who 
 live inland : the ores of the iron-pregnant hills are also worked at smithies rude 
 as in the days of the Iberians. The limited attractions offered to strangers are 
 chiefly those of nature, for the towns are without much social, historical, or 
 artistical attraction, while the villages have been almost all ravaged during the 
 civil wars. Nevertheless there is less of squalid poverty and ragged misery in 
 them than in the mendicant mud hamlets of Castile and La Mancha. A tour in 
 these provinces is rather suited to the lover of nature than of arts. The chief 
 cities have small charms except to commercial travellers, for these republican 
 nonepiscopalians have neither palaces, picture-galleries, nor cathedrals ; and since 
 wealthy prelates and chapters have been wanting, there are few churches of 
 architectural pretension. The towns are Swiss-like, surrounded with green hills 
 and enlivened by clear trout- streams ; the streets are often drawn in straight 
 lines, which intersect each other at right angles ; the alamedas are pretty ; a 
 Juego de Pelota, or fives-court, and a public plaza, are seldom wanting: the 
 defences and walls are solid, for stone and iron abound, and the climate is 
 damp and rainy. The sombre- looking balconied dwellings are so strongly built 
 that they look like fortresses ; here every gentleman’s house is indeed his castle : 
 they also resemble prisons from the iron rejas with which they are barred and 
 blockaded. The soffits which support the projecting sheltering eaves are often 
 richly carved ; the eaves, indeed, protect the houses from the rains, but deluge 
 passengers with shower-baths. To these Casas, Solares or family manor-houses 
 is added a pomp of heraldry, as armorial shields large as the pride of the owners 
 are sculptured over the portals. 
 
 The antiquarian will not fare much better in these provinces than the 
 dilletante or ecclesiologist. The towers of the ancient factions between the 
 Gamboino and Ohecino are fast disappearing : these local Guelfs and Ghibelines 
 differed to the death on the mode of offering lighted candles at religious 
 ceremonies ; the former bearing them aloft, the latter carrying them low. 
 
 Agriculture, as being the occupation of Adam, the first gentleman who bore 
 arms, is not held to degrade these peasant peers. Their hidalgos , or better 
 classes, are something between our small squires and substantial yeomen, and 
 their claim to nobility is much higher in regard to birth than intellect : 
 whole coveys of them would never make a single Cervantes ; but how 
 can he get wisdom that only holdeth a plough, and whose talk is about 
 bullocks ; here there are neither turnpike trusts nor quarter-sessions, 
 which so enliven and enlighten some of our country gentlemen. As both 
 skill and capital are scarce, cultivation is imperfectly conducted ; human 
 thews and sinews supply the place of machinery, and overworked man, woman, 
 and child are truly maquinas de sangre . Both the roads and agriculture are 
 better managed here than in Spain. The Basque farms are small, many not 
 exceeding four or five acres, or so much land as a man, his wife, and family 
 can labour : cultivation with the spade is much in vogue, or rather with a sort 
 of prong-fork or mattock called laya. Meanwhile the peasantry are the best 
 portion of the Basques, and if kindly treated are civil and hospitable as far as 
 their humble means allow. Simple, hardy, and patient, they have the virtues 
 and vices of highlanders ; from knowing no better, they do not repine at 
 their lot, but feeling strongly the attaching power of a mountain home, love 
 their rocks and Alps, and are wretched when torn from them. 
 
 These provinces are made up of mountain and valley, with a sea-board line. 
 The plains are verdurous from damp, and cultivated with great industry. 
 
876 
 
 MANNERS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 The elevated slopes are covered with oak and chesnut trees ; the produce of 
 the latter is exported to England, or enters into the diet of the frugal natives. 
 As this pastoral country is akin to portions of the Asturias and Gallicia, refer 
 to the introductory observations of Sections ix. and x. Corn only ripens in 
 favoured localities; maize is the staple “ bread-stuff ;” good milk, bad cheese, 
 and fine apples are plentiful. A poor wine also is made called chacoli, Arabice 
 chacalet , weakness, thinness ; and the drink justifies the derivation, since it is far 
 inferior to good Devonshire cider, and resembles those very ordinaire French 
 wines de Surenne and de Brie. The Basques, from having little better, drink it 
 copiously, and, from habit, have even got to like it ; however, it disagrees with 
 the palate and stomach of most foreigners, who have not the dura Bascorum 
 ilia ; but the bowels, digestion, and endurance of the Cantabrian are inherited 
 by the Basques, who are still u hiemisque sestusque famisque invicti ” (‘ Sil Itatt 
 iii. 326). The lower classes, as in the East, are frugal rather from poverty 
 than will, temperate from necessity, not choice. Where meat and drink are set 
 before them, they will consume any given quantity, and lay in a provision for 
 at least 24 hours, being always uncertain of getting a similar supply. The way 
 to their heart lies through their belly, and their blessing on the hospitable 
 stranger is connected with “ savoury meat.’" 
 
 The Basque, as being the head of the Iberian family, is naturally prejudiced 
 in favour of his country and himself ; ultra local, he rarely quits even his 
 parish, and therefore overrates his own ignorance as much as he underrates the 
 intelligence of others. If the Castellano sees double in his own favour, the 
 Basque sees quadruple, and his power of vision is keen in all that concerns 
 himself and has interests, for in his limited scope self forms the foreground and 
 emphatic feature of his parochial picture ; but self being placed so near, stands 
 forward in too large a scale and in too bright colour ; and as his eye for per- 
 spective is as defective as it is for proportion, every thing and person beyond 
 his boundary appears too diminutive and subordinate. 
 
 Sunday, the day to observe the costume and amusements of the peasantry, 
 is still called Astartea , or the feast dedicated to Astarte, who is practically 
 replaced by the Virgin. 
 
 The Basque holidays are celebrated with the song, dance, single-stick, and 
 broken heads, amusements which they love as much as do their neighbours 
 the Asturians, whom they hate. Their songs resemble those of the Galli- 
 cians, whom otherwise they abhor. Their so-called musical instruments 
 consist of the Moorish pandero and gaita , or bagpipe. Gayt in Arabic 
 signifies the. long neck of the ostrich, and hence its secondary meaning 
 of a pipe. The Basque dances are Salic and singular; the Zortico , Zorzico , 
 or “ evolution of eight,” consists of two parts, la danza real , the opening, and 
 the arrin arrin , or the conclusion. This is largely capered at Azpeitia to 
 the sounds of rude fifes, tambourines, and a sort of flageolet, el silbato , which 
 resembles those rude instruments of the Pifferari at Rome, and is probably 
 equally antique. The Carrica is a dance performed in the streets ; the JEspata 
 danza is a remnant of the primitive Tripudium of the Iberians. The Basques 
 delight in every other sort of noises, and especially in the Moorish lab el barood , 
 the firing off guns at weddings. Their costume is not becoming, their shocking 
 bad hats are quite Irish. These hirsute and galligaskined rustics wear brogues, 
 abarcas , espadillos , made of skins and tied loosely with thongs ; thus the water 
 and mud ooze out. In dry weather they prefer the sandal, alpargata, which, 
 however, will not stand much wet. Shoes are in some places a rarity, whether 
 of leather or of wood, madrenas . The women wear their hair in long plaited 
 tresses, trenzas % and cover their heads with a hood or capuz , which is more 
 convenient than picturesque : when young they are fresh and fair, somewhat 
 muscular ; their beauty, from overwork, poor fare, and exposure, is shortlived 
 and they pass into haghood after thirty. The Basques are much given to pil- 
 
MANNERS AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 877 
 
 Basque Provinces. 
 
 grimages to holy sites in the hills, where the chacoli and shillelaK are devoutly 
 used : and how well chosen are these 44 high places ! ” How the fresh air exhila- 
 rates, how the views delight, how as we ascend is the earth left below, while 
 we mount as it were to heaven, and then with what an appetite do all descend, 
 and how sweet is sleep when the conscience is at rest and the frame is weary 
 from this combination of devotion and exercise ! 
 
 Among other antique customs corn and bread are offered to the manes of 
 the deceased on the anniversary of death ; these oblations are called robos , from 
 an Aragonese measure taken from the Moorish arroba . Compare the 44 Sparsse 
 fruges ” of Ovid (Fasti, ii. 538), and the barley offered to the Polian Jupiter 
 (Paus. i. 24. 4). The Basques, as becomes a people sui generis, have a lan- 
 guage of their own, which few but themselves can understand ; nor is it 
 worth the trouble of learning, as it is without a written literature, while the 
 conversation of the natives is scarcely of that high intellectual quality which 
 repays the study. The enunciation is not easy, at least, if the Andalucian’s 
 joke be true, who says, 44 that the Basque writes Solomon and pronounces it 
 Nebuchadnezzor.” The fine-eared fastidiousness of the ancients rejected as 
 barbarous these Basque words, spellings, and sounds ; they could neither be 
 written nor spoken from their ro omhg rm (Strabo, iii. 234 ; see also 
 
 Pliny, i N. H’ iii. 3 ; and Martial, iv. 55-9), Pomponius Mela (iii. 1) goes 
 farther 44 Quorum nomina nostro ore concipi nequeant,” We therefore 
 protest against being held responsible for the spelling or meaning of any 
 Basque word which we may be compelled to use. Again, our readers are 
 cautioned against the wild philological theories and treatises of Basque 
 antiquarians, which rival the Irish Vallencey’s and such like. Humboldt, a 
 critical German, and free from national prejudices and predilections, is the 
 safest guide. He considers the Basque to have been formerly spoken all over 
 the Peninsula, as is evidenced in the nomenclature of localities and other things 
 which are not subject to changes. 
 
 The Basques call themselves Euscaldunac , their country Euscaleria , and their 
 language Euscara. This Eusc is the old Osc, Vesc, Vasq, of Italy and Iberia. 
 According to Perochegui, Adam spoke Basque, as being the language of angels, 
 which seems strange. This idiom was, moreover, brought pure into Spain, by 
 Tubal, long before the confusion of tongues at Babel. Angelic or not, it is so 
 difficult that the devil, who is no fool, is said to have studied seven years in the 
 Bilboes, and to have learnt only three words. The grammar and declensions, 
 as therefore may be supposed, are very intricate. The language is distinct 
 from the Irish, Celtic, and Welsh, with which it has been often supposed to 
 be a sister idiom. Mr. Borrow believes that the Basque is of a Tartar origin, 
 resembling in structure the Manchou and the Mongolian, with a decided 
 Sanscrit element. The Basque student is referred to the philological works 
 of Larramendi, 4 Antigiiedad y Universilidad del Bascuence,’ 8vo. Salamanca ; 
 
 4 El imposible Vencido o Arte de la Lengua Bascongada 8vo. Sal. 1729; 4 Diccionario 
 Trilingue 2 vols. fol. St. Sebastian, 1745. 
 
 The best general works to consult on these provinces are 4 Averiguaciones de 
 Cantabria Gabriel de Henao, fol. Salamanca, 1689; 4 Illustraciones de Vizcaya 
 Zaragoza, 1631; 4 Noticia Utriusque Vasconjice * Arnold, Oihenart, 4to. Paris, 
 1638-56; 4 Discursos Historicos , fyc., de Vizcaya ,’ Lorenzo Roberto de la Linde, 
 
 2 vols. 8vo. Sevilla, 1740 ; 4 Discurso Historico de las tres Provincias M. Larra- 
 mendi, 8vo. Mad. 1736; 4 Urbewohner von Hispanien ,’ Wm. Von Humboldt, 4to. 
 Berlin, 1821 ; six volumes of curious documents in Simancas, (collected by 
 Dr. Tomas Gonzalez) 4 Coleccionde Cedulas ,’ 4to. Mad. 1829-33; ‘La Cantabria ’ 
 Florez, 4to. Mad. 1768; ‘ Historia de Alava,’ Joaquin Landazuri, 4to. Vitoria, 
 1798; 4 Noticias Historicas de las tres Provincias, fyc.’ (there is a good map of 
 Alava by Martin de Sabacibar ) ; 4 Historia Ecclesiastica , fyc.,de Alava ’ Pamplona, 4to. 
 1797, 4 Compendios Historicos , §c.,de Alava ,’ Pamplona, 4to. 1798, Juan Antonio 
 
 2 Q 3 
 
878 
 
 VITORIA. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 Llorente, 4to. 5 vols. Mad. 1806-8; and the excellent 4 Diccionario Geographico 
 de la Academia ,’ by different authors, 4to. 2 vols. Mad. 1 802 : unfortunately it 
 has not been continued. We may add, 4 Historia de las Naciones Bascas ,’ J. A. de 
 Zamacola, 3 vols. 8vo. Auch, 1818; i Semanes Historica Bascongada ,’ Thomas de 
 Sorregineta, 4to. Pampl. 1804 ; 4 Bela Antigua Lengua , fyc., de Cantabria Andres 
 de Poca, 4to. Bilbao, 1587 ; 4 Discursos de la Antiguedad de la Lengua Cantabria ,’ 
 Balthasar de Echave, 4to. Mexico, 1607. 
 
 VITORIA is a busy, flourishing 
 coach town, and, being on the high 
 road between France and Madrid, is 
 full of diligences and decent inns ; el 
 Parador Viejo , el Parador Nuevo , 
 Parador de Post as, de Pallares — good. 
 
 Vitoria , pop. about 10,000, is the 
 capital of Alava : it is placed on a 
 gentle eminence above its plain , for 
 such the word Beturia signifies in 
 Basque. The city was much improved 
 about 1181 by Sancho el Sabio of Na- 
 varre, to commemorate a victory gained 
 here over the Moors. That name Wel- 
 lington has confirmed and fixed forever 
 (for the victory see p. 866). The town 
 is divided into the old and new por- 
 tions, which contrast with each other ; 
 the former, the Campillo or Villa Suso, 
 with its curious plaza , its dark tor- 
 tuous streets, being in perfect contrast 
 with the latter, which is all line and 
 rule. Vitoria has a Colegiata. which 
 Adrian VI., who in this place received 
 the intelligence of his having been 
 elected Pope, promised to elevate to a 
 see, but which he did not. 
 
 The public alamedas are charming, 
 especially la Florida and el Prado , out- 
 side the town, where under leafy 
 avenues the lower classes meet and 
 dance. There is, moreover, a theatre, 
 a Liceo , and Circulo. The climate is 
 temperate, the living cheap and abun- 
 dant, the fruits and vegetables much 
 like those in the west of England. 
 The fine modern plaza nueva , like that 
 at Salamanca, which was its model, is 
 an arcaded square of 220 feet, and was 
 built in 1791 from designs of Justo 
 Antonio de Olaguibel. The Casa Con - 
 sistorial, with fine portal and staircase, 
 is handsome. There is little to be seen 
 else. Visit the hospital with its clas- 
 
 sical fa 9 ade, designed in 1630 by the 
 Capuchin Lorenzo Jordanes ; the dark 
 stone from the quarries of Anda adds 
 to the grandiose character. Ascend 
 the belfry of the collegiate Santa Maria; 
 the vast plain is studded with some 
 168 villages. Observe the porch under 
 this tower, with niche- work and sta- 
 tuary; before the high altar widows 
 prostrate themselves the anniversary of 
 their husbands’ death on a black cloth, 
 lighted with yellow tapers. In the 
 Sacristia is or was an injured 44 Dead 
 Christ” by Ribera, 1645, and in el No- 
 viciado , upstairs, a 44 St. Peter and St. 
 Paul,” by the same painter. 
 
 Look at the retablos in the churches 
 of San Vicente, once a fortress in the old 
 city, and San Miguel : the latter is built 
 by Hernandez ; the statue of the Con- 
 ception is excellent. Vitoria bears for 
 arms 44 a castle supported by two 
 lions.” The inhabitants, like those 
 of most other Basque towns, dur- 
 ing the Peninsular war denied all 
 assistance to our wounded, although 
 the army expended in it most of 
 the money and booty wrested from 
 the invaders, thus enriching a place 
 which the enemy had impoverished. 
 Again, the authorities refused the use 
 of empty convents and churches which 
 had been gutted when Vitoria was 
 sacked by Verdier, June 5, 1808. The 
 treatment of Gen. Evans and his gal- 
 lant legion was even more inhospitable. 
 There is a local 4 Historia, 9 by Joaquin 
 Joseph Landazuri y Romarate, 4to. 
 Mad. 1780. 
 
 There are diligence communications 
 with Irun, Route 120; Burgos, Route 
 118; Madrid, Route 116; Pamplona, 
 Route 121 ; Bilbao, Route 122 ; Cestona 
 Deva ; and the baths of Santa Agueda. 
 
87ff 
 
 Basque Provinces . route 120.— vitoria to irun. 
 
 Route 120. — Vitoria to Irun. 
 
 Arroyabe 2 
 
 Salinas de Leniz . . . 2b . . 4 b 
 
 Escoriaza 1 . . 
 
 Mondragon 1 . . 6i 
 
 Vergara 2 . . 8 b 
 
 Villareal 2b .. 11 
 
 Villafranca 3 . . 14 
 
 Tolosa 3 . . 17 
 
 Andoain 2 . . 19 
 
 Astigarraga . . . . 2 ..21 
 
 Oyarzun 2b .. 23b 
 
 Iran 2b . . 26 
 
 Quitting Vitoria, we soon enter the 
 Welsh-like hills with green copses, 
 maize-crops, and pretty vill ages perched 
 on the eminences, amid cliesnut-groves. 
 Now the Irish-looking hat gives place 
 to the low blue cap or bereta. The 
 legs of the peasants are swathed up to 
 the knees with Moorish bandages, and 
 their feet encased in Iberian abarcas , 
 brogues. The women toil at their 
 hard tasks, and look old and broken. 
 The architect will now remark the 
 pepper - pot belfry - domes of the 
 .churches, the carved coats of arms 
 over the portals of the family mansions, 
 and the solidly built houses, with pro- 
 jecting cornices and protecting roofs. 
 Here rain and damp are the enemies 
 of the climate, while stone and iron are 
 the drugs of the soil. 
 
 Soon we ascend the ridge of Adrian. 
 At Arlabany May 25, 1811, the Guer- 
 rillero Mina surprised Col. Lafitte, who 
 was convoying Massena’s accumula- 
 tions of plunder to France after San- 
 tarem had settled his pretensions to 
 soldiership Mina spared his captives, 
 but Massena he meant to have hung, 
 had he not escaped by accident, from 
 having loitered behind in the stews of 
 Vitoria. Consult the 4 Memorias,’ of 
 Mina, 5 vols, published in Madrid in 
 1851 by his widow. The enor- 
 mous booty became, says Toreno 
 (xv.) a powerful incentive to new 
 recruits, who swelled the roving bands, 
 confirming thereby Napier’s assertion, 
 that much of this sort of patriotism 
 was grafted on the stock of pillage — • 
 Viva Fernando , y vamos robando ■ — a re- 
 mark which, because true, gave such 
 dire offence to Arguelles, who, like Mal- 
 donado (ii. 442), beheld in these semi- 
 bandits the personifications of purity 
 
 and patriotism, and the real and sole 
 deliverers of Spain. That these guerril- 
 leros were a most formidable nuisance 
 to the invaders cannot be doubted, and 
 none more cheerfully acknowledged 
 the value of their co-operation than 
 the Duke; but great military armies, 
 like the French, are never to be sub- 
 dued by such desultory antagonists, 
 however brave or active. Indirectly 
 they did us good service by scaring the 
 French and causing them to break up 
 their armies, by detaching troops to 
 chase the phantom of the partizan; 
 thus neither Foy nor Clausel were 
 present at the scratch of Vitoria. 
 
 After descending the ridge of Salinas 
 the province of Guipuzcoa is entered. 
 Escoriaza , a fine hamlet of 1600 souls, 
 has a parish church, with a good nave 
 and transept, and a hospital founded 
 in the 15th century by Juan de Mon- 
 dragon, and now abandoned. Observe 
 the bridge and arch over the trout- 
 stream, the devious Deva. To the r. 
 are the baths of Arechavaleta , much 
 frequented for cutaneous disorders. 
 
 Mondragon, a walled town, is also 
 well placed on this beautiful river and 
 the Aramayana. Diligence inn, de- 
 cent ; pop. 2500, and chiefly black- 
 smiths. The isolated el Campanzar 
 may, in the words of Pliny (N. H., 
 xxxiv. 14), be termed “ a hill of iron.” 
 Here is a mine of most remote an- 
 tiquity; the ore is found in a reddish 
 clay, and yields at least 40 per cent, of 
 the finest metal. Very fine iron is 
 also procured from la mina de hierro 
 helado, “ the ice-brook’s temper,” and 
 from la Cueva de Udala. (For steel and 
 swords, see pp. 835, 796.) One L. 
 from Mondragon are the excellent 
 sulphur-baths of Santa Agueda. 
 
 Vergara, whudi lies 2 L. out of the 
 road from Mondragon, is a Swiss-like 
 town on the banks of the Deva, whose 
 pleasant basin is girdled by mountains. 
 Paradur de las Diligencias. Pop. about 
 4000. The plaza has a good casa con- 
 sistorial ; there is, as usual, a capital 
 fives-court. The town was taken by 
 the Carlists under Zumalacarregui in 
 1835. It soon witnessed the conclu- 
 sion of the famous, or infamous, con- 
 vention, or Carlist capitulation, of 
 
80 
 
 ROUTE 120. — CONVENTION OF VERGARA. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 Aug. 31, 1839, between Maroto and 
 Espartero. In this, the former, reek- 
 ing with the blood of his comrades 
 whom he had executed at Estella (see 
 p. 956), consummated his career by 
 betraying his king and master. Thus 
 were sold those mountain posts which, 
 defended by stout highlanders, long 
 had defied alike the Christinos and 
 Legionaries. For this transacion , 
 consult 6 El Campo y la Corte de Don 
 Carlos ,’ with an appendix of 4 El Con - 
 venio de Vergara 3rd edit. Mad. 
 1840., Dissensions prevailed in the 
 camp of Don Carlos, who himself was 
 fitter to : lose than to win a crown, for, 
 had he evinced a particle of talent or 
 spirit, he long before must have been 
 at Madrid ; at last even the wearied 
 and impoverished Basques were anxi- 
 ous to fraternise. The site of the Judas 
 kiss is, called el Campo del Abrazo. 
 But Ardoz paid off Vergara , and then 
 Espartero in his turn was bought and 
 sold, and the first then to abandon him 
 was the very Zabala who here had 
 been his go-between with Maroto ; 
 this worthy soon fell into universal 
 disgrace, and obtained permission to 
 exile himself to Cuba : “ ’tis sport to 
 see the engineer hoist with his own 
 petard.” Spaniards, like the Orientals, 
 have no horror of treachery in the 
 abstract ^ had Zimri peace who slew 
 his master ? If the treachery fails, 
 then they turn on their base agent, 
 threatening sword and “ fire ” (com- 
 pare Judges xiv. 15). Maroto pub- 
 lished a ‘ Vindication? Mad. 1846 ; 
 but his name, in Spain and out, became 
 a synonym to vile turncoats, who prove 
 false to professions of their life, ruin 
 their parties, and play the enemies’ 
 game ; and even here, while all re- 
 joiced to see the civil wars concluded 
 by fair means or foul , in the latter case 
 none esteemed the instrument ; la trai- 
 cion aplace , pero no e l que la hace. 
 
 Passing Villareal is Ormairtagui , 
 where Zumalacarregui, the excellent 
 Cuerrillero chieftain of Don Carlos, 
 was born Dec. 29, 1788; now a ridge 
 is crossed which separates the valleys 
 irrigated by the Deva and Oria. A 
 new road is to be made, which is to go 
 by Ohate , aiid thus avoid this ascent. 
 
 Villafranca is a solid, well-built town ; 
 on the heights of Descar g a. Zumala- 
 carregui entirely routed Espartero, 
 driving with his wild guerrilleros the 
 regular troops before him into Vergara. 
 Passing a Swiss-like country, inter- 
 sected by trout-streams, of which the 
 Zubin is renowned, we reach Tolosa , 
 with a decent parador de las diligencias. 
 Tolosa Ituriza (Ituria in Basque means 
 “ a fountain”) is one of the best towns 
 of Guipuzcoa, of which it is the central 
 place, and therefore has been made the 
 capital, to the infinite disgust of San 
 Sebastian . The neighbours hate each 
 other like poison. It is built on the Oria 
 and Arages, under the mountains Ernio 
 to the W., and Loaza to the E. Pop. 
 under 8000. The town consists of six 
 streets, intersected by three others ; 
 the fine old gates were wantonly de- 
 faced by the invaders. There is the 
 usual fives-court on the new plaza . 
 The church Santa Maria has a good 
 portico between its towers : the retablo, 
 of a simple classical elevation, is en- 
 riched with different local marbles. 
 Tolosa abounds in the casas solar es, the 
 family houses of men of ancient pedi- 
 gree, among whom Mifiano mentions 
 that Andia, in whom he erroneously 
 states that our order of the Garter is 
 hereditary , it having been conferred on 
 their ancestor Domenjou Gonzales, 
 Aug, 20, 1471, by Edward IV., in 
 compliment to the aid rendered to him 
 by a legion sent from Guipuzcoa to 
 meddle in English civil wars. The 
 records of our Garter are missing from 
 the 7th to the 12th year of Edward 
 IV. (Anstis. ii. 184) ; and possibly 
 this Basque member may have been 
 decorated in that disturbed interval. 
 During the civil wars this city 
 was the court of Don Carlos. Being 
 a regular coach town, it is full ofdillies 
 and tables d’hote. During the Penin- 
 sular war, the authorities of Tolosa 
 not only refused assistance to our sol- 
 diers, but “ positively ordered the 
 inhabitants not to give it for payment 
 they plundered even our magazines, 
 and refused to give up their pillage 
 when discovered. (‘ Disp.,’ Nov. 27, 
 1813). Call ye that backing your 
 friends ? 
 
881 
 
 Basque Provinces, route 121. — vitoria to pamplona. 
 
 From Tolosa there are diligences to 
 San Sebastian , distant 4i L. ; but the 
 traveller, if he be bound for that sea- 
 place, had better by far make the 
 detour by Azpeitia (see R. 128). 
 There is also a very good diligence to 
 Pamplona (R. 140), to Bilbao , and 
 elsewhere, for this is a regular coach 
 town. 
 
 The road continues through an ex- 
 cellent fishing and sketching country, 
 and, crossing the rivers Oria and 
 Leizaran, ascends by the strong de- 
 fences of Andoain (from whence a new 
 road is to be carried to Irun round by 
 San Sebastian, thus avoiding the 
 heights of Oyarzun , &c.) to Hernani , a 
 long narrowish street, which is built 
 under the fortified hill Santa Barbara 
 on the river Urumea: although shat- 
 tered and scarred during the civil 
 wars, it has a good town-house and 
 fives-court. Pop. about 2300. Here 
 the Legion suffered a defeat, March 16, 
 1837, when Evans, relying on being 
 assisted from the Lecumberri side by 
 Hie Christinos under Sarsfield, sallied 
 forth from San Sebastian, distant about 
 ll L., to assault the strong Carlist 
 lines both here and on Santa Barbara 
 to the 1. ; but in the moment of dan- 
 ger he was left by his allies to bear the 
 whole brunt, for Sarsfield, scared by 
 “ a snow-storm l” marched not to the 
 field of battle, but back to Pamplona, 
 and that without giving Evans proper 
 notice. Thus unsupported, the false 
 position of the Legionaries was com- 
 pleted by the withdrawal of the 450 
 royal marines, who, by a widish inter- 
 pretation of the laws of non-interven- 
 tion and the rules of sea-service, had 
 been marched inland: nothing then 
 could impede the Carlist advance, and 
 the Legion were compelled to turn. 
 Hernani has two good streets, called 
 Mayor and Urumea, and some pretty 
 alamedas on the road-sides, and is a 
 good head-quarter for the man of the 
 sketch-book, rod, and gun. 
 
 The road continues hence to Asti - 
 gar rag a, amid dove-tailing mountains : 
 Inns, parador and casa depostas ; thence 
 crossing a crystal stream, the Chapar- 
 rea , into picturesque Oyarzun , with its 
 square tower rising over the defile : 
 
 the arcades indicate the constant rain 
 and necessity for shelter. It has a 
 pretty alameda and the usual fives- 
 court. The Pyrenees now soar to the 
 r., while to the 1. lies rock-built San 
 Sebastian and the land-locked bay of 
 Pasages. This line of broken country 
 was taken by our libeller Foy when 
 running away from Bilbao after the 
 battle of Vitoria, when he made for 
 France with such extraordinary ra- 
 pidity — practice makes perfect — that 
 even our gallant fox-hunter Graham 
 could not catch him; but Foy’s pace 
 was ever a subject of praise to his fond 
 eulogists (see p. 490). 
 
 Route 121. — Vitoria to Pamplona. 
 
 Salvatierra 4 . . 
 
 Aranaz 5 . . 9 
 
 Irurzun 3i . . 124 
 
 Pamplona ..... 3 . . 15i 
 
 This is the line by which the Black 
 Prince advanced in 1367 to victory, 
 and that by which Marshal Jourdan 
 retreated, in 1813 after his defeat at 
 Vitoria. The rich country or basin 
 lies between the Sierras of San Adrian 
 and Andia, and the scenery is fresh 
 and full of fruit and cultivation. Gue- 
 vara lies to the 1. on the Zadorra, and 
 was one of the strongholds of the Car- 
 lists ; the castle on the hill was meant 
 to be an imitation of that of St. Angelo 
 at Rome. Observe in the town the 
 casa solar or casa fuerte of the Ladrones 
 de Guevara, an illustrious house ; the 
 name Ladron, “robber,” was given as 
 an augmentation of honour , a good thief 
 as it were, to Sancho de Guevara, in 
 the tenth century. In the year 885 
 Garci Iniguez, king of Navarre, was 
 surprised at St. Juan de la Pena by 
 the Moors, who, having killed him and 
 his queen, left their bodies naked on 
 the plain, after which Sancho, riding 
 by, perceived a hand issuing from the 
 female corpse, which he delivered of a 
 boy, and, after bringing up the orphan, 
 ultimately presented him to the people, 
 having thus robbed death of their king. 
 His descendant Gen. Santos Ladron 
 was the first victim of the recent civil 
 war, having been executed by the 
 Christino Castanon. The Ladrones of 
 Spain, no doubt indigenous, are scat- 
 
882 
 
 routes 122 & 123.“ 
 
 tered over the length and breadth of 
 the land, and are to be found some- 
 times on the high roads, and often in 
 the offices and treasuries of cities. 
 Good thieves being scarce are propor- 
 tionally estimated ; thus San Dimas is 
 universally worshipped as El buen La- 
 dron , but the patron of the light- 
 fingered and unprincipled is San 
 Nicolas, our “ old Nick,” who is also 
 the sea- god of modern Greek pirates. 
 The lady patroness in Spain of rogues 
 is N a Senora del Carmel , who is gene- 
 rally represented with a large crowd 
 of kings and monks, &c., who creep 
 under her capacious petticoat. 
 
 Salvatierra, safe ground, a name 
 which Joseph, resting for the first time 
 after his sauve qui peut from Vitoria, 
 must have thought very appropriate, 
 is the chief place of its Hermandad. 
 Pop. about 1000. It stands pictu- 
 resquely near the Zadorra, on the spurs 
 of the hills, overlooking a rich plain, 
 w T hich its agricultural inhabitants cul- 
 tivate. The ancient walls were very 
 perfect previously to the late civil 
 wars. Passing hence to the valley of 
 Borunda, are the villages Alzazua and 
 others, the scenes of petty v:ars between 
 the Carlists and Christinos. At 
 Echauri is a small but clean vent a, 
 where good wine and trout are to be 
 had. The road in some parts enters 
 Old Castile and then Navarre through 
 a pleasant farm-studded country ; soon 
 the two Sierras Avalar and Andia , to the 
 r., stand like mountain sentinels guard- 
 ing the gorge ; then after wilder 
 bleaker districts we reach the capital 
 Pamplona. 
 
 Vitoria to Bilbao. There are several 
 routes; those who love a mountain ride 
 may bid adieu to wheels, and scale the 
 heights of Altubi, and then thread the 
 valleys of Orozco . 
 
 Route 122. — Vitoria to Bilbao. 
 
 Murguia . . 
 
 
 
 Barambio 
 
 
 . 5 
 
 Orozco . . . 
 
 
 
 Areta . . . 
 
 
 
 Bilbao . . . 
 
 
 
 Another good but circuitous road 
 strikes up the Swiss-like valley of 
 Orduna , starting from Miranda de Ebro. 
 
 -VITORIA TO BILBAO. Sect. XII. 
 
 Route 123 .— Vitoria to Bilbao. 
 
 Miranda de Ebro . . 
 
 . 6 
 
 
 Berquendo . . . . 
 
 . 2i .. 
 
 . 8 * 
 
 Berberana .... 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 Hi 
 
 Orduna 
 
 . 2i .. 
 
 14 
 
 Llodio 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 17 
 
 Areta 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 20 
 
 Bilbao 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 23 
 
 The country is hilly and pastoral. 
 At Beberana there is an old castle and 
 a new posada. Then the hills are 
 ascended, at the top of which, 1 long 
 L., is the ominously named Venta del 
 Hambre ; attend to the provend. The 
 road over la pena sobre Orduna is finelv 
 engineered, while from the eminences 
 the panoramas are noble. Orduna, from 
 its position, and backed by Amurrio, is 
 of great military importance ; the latter 
 spot, as commanding four roads, was 
 strongly fortified by Espartero, and 
 became to Bilbao what Ramales is 
 to Santander, the inner or land-side 
 outwork. It was for taking Ramales 
 that Espartero was made the Duke of 
 Victory. Orduna, one of the last towns 
 of Old Castile, is placed on its beauti- 
 ful plain, near the Nervion, which 
 flows hence to Bilbao. Pop. 2400, and 
 principally agricultural. This city, 
 long the only one in the Basque pro- 
 vinces, preserves its ancient walls and 
 towers; it has a good plaza, with 
 arcades, and shops under them, and a 
 handsome custom-house and fountain : 
 the principal streets communicate with 
 this square. The climate is damp, the 
 fruit and trout-fishing good. Ancient 
 Orduna was built nearer to its celebrated 
 Alp la pena de Orduna, which formed 
 the mountain barrier frontier of the 
 refugee Iberians; the peaks are covered 
 with snow the greater part of the year. 
 The road now follows the Nervion 
 river through a charming cultivated 
 country filled with villages, with an 
 air of industry, comfort, and rural 
 prosperity, more like England than 
 the desolate and poverty-stricken dis- 
 tricts of the central Castiles. From 
 Orduna Gomez started in June, 1836, 
 on his military tour of Spain, and 
 passed unmolested through the length 
 and breadth of the land, frightening 
 Christino towns and armies out of 
 their propriety. He was pursued by 
 
883 
 
 Basque Provinces. route 124 . — durango decree. 
 
 Espartero and Narvaez ; but these 
 great generals were always just too 
 late, arriving, as their bulletins stated, 
 after the “ bandit had fled in terror 
 from their victorious veterans.” 
 
 Route 124. — Vitoeia to Bilbao. 
 
 Luco 
 
 Ochandiano 3 . . 5£ 
 
 Durango 3 . . 8£ 
 
 Zornoza li . . 10 
 
 Bilbao 3 .. 13 
 
 This, the diligence road, is well en- 
 gineered : leaving Vitoria, it passes 
 through the villages Gamarra menor y 
 mayor , and the sites where Graham 
 dislodged and beat Reille during the 
 battle of Vitoria, thereby turning the 
 French position and forcing them to 
 abandon the Iran high road and re- 
 treat by Salvatierra. After a succes- 
 sion of hills, dales, clear streams, 
 and villages, we reach Durango , a 
 Swiss-like walled old town, with rec- 
 tangular streets, placed on its river of 
 the same name ; pop. about 2600. 
 Here are the usual alamedas and fives- 
 court. The altar in the church of 
 Santa Ana was raised in 1774 by the 
 academical Ventura Rodriguez. Du- 
 rango , the capital of its Merindad , from 
 the central position is an important 
 military point. Between it and Elorio , 
 at the hermitage of San Antolin, Ma- 
 roto met Espartero, Aug. 25, 1839, to 
 plan the betrayal of Don Carlos, who, 
 instead of boldly advancing with his 
 Castilian battalions and seizing his 
 traitor-general, fled to Villareal , and 
 thus encouraged defection. 
 
 From Durango he had before issued 
 his decree, that all foreigners taken in 
 arms against him should be put to 
 death without trial ; an Oriental and 
 Draco proceeding, which, however 
 disgusting to Europe, was in perfect 
 accordance with all the immemorial 
 and still existing laws and feelings of 
 Spaniards, among whom it was, is, and 
 will be of an every-day occurrence, 
 being simply one of the common form, 
 and almost stereotyped Bandos , which 
 every Spanish man armed with brief 
 authority issues at once, and acts upon 
 without mercy or remorse ; witness 
 the wholesale executions, without form 
 
 or trial, of the Espanas, Eguias, Minas, 
 Rodils, Zurbanos, &c., for their name 
 is legion : or cross the Atlantic, and 
 observe the identical policy and prac- 
 tice carried out by the cognate Oribes, 
 Rosas, Santa Anas, &c. Here and 
 there they are so completely cosas de 
 Espana, or matters of course, that 
 they create neither surprise nor pain ; 
 and this Durango decree, like the 
 similar bando and executions at Malaga 
 of Moreno, only attracted European 
 notice because some foreigners were its 
 victims. 
 
 By some wiseacres it has been as- 
 cribed to the personal cruelty of Don 
 Carlos, who has been stigmatised by 
 penny-a-liners as a monster, on the 
 ground that he was the inventor of 
 such a summary process ; but such 
 accusers are either biassed by political 
 prejudices or utterly ignorant of the 
 history and philosophy of Spain and 
 Spaniards, when they thus argue about 
 the matter as if it had taken place in 
 England. Don Carlos, whatever may 
 have been his faults, which were 
 rather those of head than heart, was a 
 man of strict honour, and one by no 
 means of a sanguinary or unforgiving 
 disposition : he merely acted as his 
 cabinet advised him, and exactly as 
 ninety-nine out of one hundred Spa- 
 niards always have done before him, 
 and always will do. There, as in the 
 East, a policy of perfidy and death 
 has generally been pursued against ene- 
 mies, and especially if they be inter- 
 meddling foreigners ; there war as- 
 sumes a personal character, and be- 
 comes one of petty hatred and revenge 
 rather than a general contest for great 
 principles ; there life has never at any 
 time been valued ; in the prevailing 
 indifference or fatalism, all know that 
 they owe nature a death, and fancy 
 that the moment is predetermined, 
 which no forethought or precaution of 
 theirs either can advance or retard 
 when the fatal hour is come ; and this 
 is one of the secrets of the valour of 
 the individual Spaniard and Oriental. 
 In Spain life is staked every day, and 
 all parties stand the hazard of the die ; 
 those who win exacting the whole 
 pound of flesh, and those who lose 
 
884 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 ROUTE 124 .— 
 
 paying the forfeit as a matter of course; 
 to beg for or grant pardon would alike 
 degrade the petitioner and sparer, as 
 strength is estimated by the blows 
 struck, not by those that are withheld, 
 Mercy to a foe when down is thought 
 imbecility or treachery ; the slightest 
 forbearance, concession, conciliation, 
 or hesitation would be imputed, not to 
 kindly principles, but to weakness 
 and timidity. Fair play and equity 
 are motives which would be received 
 with incredulity or shouts of derisive 
 laughter ; for here, as in the East, 
 wherever there is power, it is used 
 without scruple, and is submitted to 
 however unjustly exercised, as each 
 and every individual Spaniard feels 
 that he in similar circumstances would 
 have done the same. To attempt to 
 conciliate those who are not to be con- 
 ciliated is holding out a premium to 
 agitation ; and whenever a people from 
 inherent vices of race are unfit for self- 
 government, and have no control from 
 within, they must have it forced upon 
 them from without. 
 
 A real Spanish authority prides itself 
 on a stern, harsh inexorability, and 
 adopts what have been blandly termed 
 “ prudent and vigorous ” measures, a 
 “ salutary intimidation/’ by just lop- 
 ping off opponents’ heads, as Tarquin 
 did those of the sweet lillies. Poli- 
 tical antagonists, and much more, if 
 foreign ones, are presumed to be 
 guilty, and, if identified, are shot on 
 the spot, without trial. However frigid 
 and dilatory the government may be 
 on all questions of domestic improve- 
 ment, when traitors take the field, it 
 is indeed brief — off with their heads : 
 nor on these occasions does it ever 
 become unpopular with Spaniards, 
 who, like Orientals, have no other 
 abstract notion of sovereignty except 
 a despotism: it is the really strong 
 and civilised who alone can afford to 
 be generous, while the weak resort to 
 cruelty, which is proportionate to their 
 previous terror. 
 
 To defraud, ill-use, and abuse the 
 foreigner is one essence of Espaholismo , 
 against whom the Iberians waged a 
 war of fire vrugivo;, one a cuchillo, to 
 the knife, and without quarter or 
 
 ■ESPANOLISMO. 
 
 treaty ourvovto; (Polyb. xxxv. 1, i. 65). 
 In the East prisoners have always 
 been killed almost as a matter of 
 course (see 1 Sam. xi. 34 ; 1 Sam. xv. ; 
 Isa. xiii. 6). And as Amaziah cast 
 down ten thousand at once from a 
 rock (ii. Chr. xxv. 12), so Hannibal 
 cut the throats of five thousand Ro- 
 mans ; IVOC fJby) iv <TM ViUTlOKTUav 
 
 (App. 6 An. 9 556), or que nohayanovedad , 
 as a modern Spaniard would say while 
 starving them or doing the same thing : 
 and the common phrase of the day is 
 assegurarles, to make sure of them ; 
 just as the soldiers proposed to do 
 with St. Paul (Acts xxvii. 42). Mercy 
 is held to be expensive, while death is 
 economical, and saves rations, which 
 are scarce in Spain. The manner in 
 which the Spaniards massacred the 
 French prisoners during the war is 
 well known ; and in justification it 
 may be stated that such reprisals were 
 a natural retaliation for the wholesale 
 executions of the terrorist Victors, who 
 first taught the lesson, and were only 
 compelled to lean to mercy by having 
 their own measure of death dealt out 
 to them. In vain the Duke counselled 
 amnesties towards the Afrancesados 
 (‘ Eisp.’ June 11, 1813) : in vain again 
 did he send Lord Eliot to stay the 
 fratricidal bloodshed. The Spanish 
 premier, for only listening to the pro- 
 posal, was hurled from office amid 
 the mueras of Madrid. A copious 
 “ shedding of vile black blood ” is the 
 ancient uninterrupted panacea of all 
 military Sangrados, whatever their 
 shade of politics. Amnesties, &c. 
 have always been scouted as the base 
 inventions of the foreigner and enemy ; 
 therefore, when the Spaniard, whether 
 Carlist or Christinist, perused the 
 diatribes in the English press against 
 the decree of Durango, they only 
 smiled at the writer’s total ignorance 
 of Spanish common-sense and customs, 
 and murdered on, unchecked by the 
 public opinion of Europe, of which 
 they are either entirely ignorant, or 
 for which they have a profound 
 scorn and contempt. Those, there- 
 fore, who prefer the practice of West- 
 minister Hall to the summary pro- 
 ceedings of cuatro tiros, pasale por las 
 
ROUTE 124. — BILBAO. 
 
 885 
 
 Basque Provinces. 
 
 armas , and the bowstring garrote, 
 should not interpose in the domestic 
 quarrels either of Spain or Barbary. 
 The foreign adventurers moreover 
 sought the penalties of the decree of 
 Durango, of which they came fore- 
 warned, for it was passed before they 
 landed ; nor had even a Christino 
 packed jury been assembled, would it 
 have found Don Carlos guilty, as 
 regarded these foreigners , of infringing 
 the laws of Spain, or of doing anything 
 repugnant to the feelings of the nation. 
 Those who measure Spaniards by a 
 European standard, and condemn their 
 things because differing from ours, 
 certainly prove that they have better 
 hearts than heads, and a clearer per- 
 ception of the laws of humanity and 
 justice than of logical reasonings or of 
 the usages of this Oriental country 
 and people. 
 
 Approaching Bilbao is Arrigorriga, 
 where Espartero and Evans were de- 
 feated by the Carlists, Sept. 11, 1835. 
 The puente nuevo , near the scene of 
 battle, is made for the artist. 
 
 Bilbao. — Posadas : La de- Maria 
 
 Anton, C. Sombrereria; the San Nicolas. 
 Bilbao (Bello vao, “the beautiful bay 
 or ford”), the capital of Vizcaya, is 
 placed on the Nervion, the Mia , which 
 divides the old town from the new : 
 the river disembogues at Portugalete , 
 distant about six miles, and has a dan- 
 gerous bar. The name in Basque is 
 Ibaizabel , and this is the “ narrow 
 river,” whose windings are “ the Bil- 
 boes,” where in steam-tugless days our 
 ancient mariners feared to be caught, 
 and to whose entanglements Beau- 
 mont and Fletcher ( ( Wild Goose 
 Chase/ i. 2) compared the noose of 
 being married. The passage boats to 
 Portugalete are called Carrozas , car- 
 riages. Bilbao, being situated in a 
 gorge of hills, is damp, liable to be 
 overflooded, and pulmonary diseases 
 are prevalent; pop. about 11,000: the 
 city is purely mercantile, and possesses 
 very little fine art ; many of its older 
 churches and convents were destroyed 
 during the recent sieges, or since sup- 
 pressed. There is a poor Museo, a 
 public library, a theatre, liceo, and a 
 good civil hospital in the Doric style. 
 
 The principal streets are straight and 
 well built, the houses lofty and sub- 
 stantial; the roofs project, forming 
 penthouses and protections against sun 
 and rain. Bilbao is well supplied with 
 fish, flesh, fowl, and green herbs, and 
 the foreign merchants are hospitable. 
 The Cafe Suizo is a favourite resort, 
 where the Biscayans eat ices, play at 
 dominos and at Mus , a game of cards, 
 and grimace. They are, moreover, 
 considerable cock-fighters. There is 
 very little else to be seen. The Campo 
 Santo, or new burial-ground, is ad- 
 mired by judges of cemeteries. The 
 Arenal,. or “ Strand,” is the favourite 
 alameda and public walk. The Nervion 
 is crossed by a new iron suspension- 
 bridge ; but the old bridge de San Anton 
 of the twelfth century, is much more 
 artistical, and was also once the boast 
 of Bilbao ; it still forms the charge of 
 the city arms with two wolves, the 
 cognizance of Diego Lopez (Lupus) de 
 Haro, Lord of Biscay, who built it 
 circa 1&56.. On the plaza vieja is the 
 Casa Torre , the site where, June 12, 
 1358, Don Pedro the Cruel had the 
 infanta Juan, who aspired to be Lord 
 of Biscay, thrown out of the window 
 andkilled. (Chro. Ch. 6.) The Tuscan 
 carniceria , or shambles, is also con- 
 sidered to be a lion, second only to the 
 cemetery— pleasant sights ! The streets 
 are clean and the town quiet, for no 
 carts or carriages are allowed to enter, 
 and goods are drawn about on trucks. 
 The female porters, las Cargueras , have 
 strong legs and show them. The 
 women in Bilbao do porter’s work, 
 just as in the fields they do that 
 of men and asses. The walk to the 
 Punta de Banderas , whence the mer- 
 chants telegraph arriving ships, is 
 agreeable, being enlivened with gar- 
 dens, mountains, and sea. There the 
 river presents a considerable show of 
 business. For the river and coast see 
 Rtes. 125, 126. 
 
 The Bilbaoese during the Peninsular 
 war refused even the use of the con- 
 vents which the French had gutted, for 
 the wounded English, who, by their 
 victory at Vitoria, had delivered their 
 city (Disp., Aug. 19, 1813); and yet 
 the place had been sacked without re- 
 
886 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 ROUTE 124. — BILBAO — THE SIEGES. 
 
 morse by Gen. Merlin, who boasted in 1 
 his bulletin that “ he had extinguished 
 the insurrection in the blood of 1200 
 men” (Toreno, v.). This conjuror , like 
 Victor at Talavera, obtained, by a wand 
 of iron, everything that was denied to 
 the gold of a merciful ally. 
 
 Bilbao , in the recent civil wars, was 
 twice exposed to destructive sieges; 
 the dilapidations have, however, been 
 much repaired. Don Carlos, in the 
 first case, had absurdly ordered Zu- 
 malacarregui to attack this place, in 
 order to satisfy Russia, and the other 
 powers, who complained that he had 
 mastered no important city in the 
 Basque provinces : thus his cause was 
 lost, for had . he at once pushed on 
 to Madrid, it must have surrendered. 
 Such was the prestige of the GruerriU 
 lero’s victories over the Rodils, Que- 
 sadas, Osmas, and other regular 
 Christino generals; thus in the War 
 of the Succession the Archduke 
 Charles forced Peterborough to be- 
 siege Barcelona, instead of pouncing 
 on the dispirited capital, and these 
 sieges lost to both these Charleses the 
 crown of Spain. Bilbao was defended 
 by Mirasol, a personally brave man, 
 but “ a child in the art of war,” who 
 selected a line of defence beginning 
 at the rise Larrinaga, on to Santa 
 Cruz, and down to the Zendeja, thus 
 actually leaving to the enemy the 
 heights Morro and Artagan, which 
 commanded his position and. the town. 
 On the 10th of June, 1835, Zuma- 
 iacarregui, having routed Espartero 
 at Descarga, came to Bilbao and 
 seized the church and Palacio de 
 Begona (the holy image here is much 
 venerated, the grand holiday is Aug. 
 15) ; from this position the town is com- 
 manded, which, having been left by 
 Mirasol undefended, must have capitu- 
 lated had not a ball struck el Tio Tomas 
 in the calf of his right leg while stand- 
 ing in the balcony. The Basque sur- 
 geons did the rest, and with him died 
 the Carlist cause, for Eraso raised the 
 siege on the 1st of the ensuing July. 
 The conduct of the Christinist generals, 
 Mirasol inside and Alaix outside, was, 
 in the words of even their partisan, Mr. 
 Bacon, “a burlesque on war;” both 
 
 did everything that they ought not to 
 have done, and did nothing that they 
 ought to have done ; the chief and 
 real work was performed by the Eng- 
 lish sailors, under Captains Ebs worth, 
 Lapidge, and Henry. Bilbao, relieved 
 by others, now called itself a modern Sa- 
 guntum, and, reposing under its laurels, 
 made no sort of preparation against 
 future attack, although warned of its 
 approach ; thus, October 23rd, when 
 the Carlists re-appeared they at once 
 carried all the undefended positions on 
 the right bank of the Nervion, from 
 San Agustin to Los Capuchinos , the 
 Christino general San Miguel aban- 
 doning everything without a struggle ; 
 and then, had the Carlist Eguia occu- 
 pied, as he ought to have done, the 
 Begona hill and the opposite Miravilla , 
 the ciudad invicta would have been con- 
 quered at once. But now the English 
 blue-jackets, came again to the rescue. 
 Meanwhile Espartero, either from want 
 of means or talent, was busy doing 
 nothing but “ marching and counter- 
 marching” his poor soldiers, and issu- 
 ing orders, counter-orders, and dis- 
 orders ; he wasted fourteen precious 
 days in moving from Balmaceda , dis- 
 tant only twenty miles, and that never 
 would have been done had not every 
 sort of supply been furnished by us. 
 Such, indeed, was the destitution of this 
 army, that its officers wished to retire 
 and leave Bilbao to its fate. Then it 
 was that Captain Lapidge and Colonel 
 Wylde, the real heroes, pointed out 
 the true line of relief by crossing the 
 river to Espartero, and, it is said, 
 using towards him a gentle violence : 
 then English sailors prepared rafts, 
 which the fire of English artillery 
 protected, and so the Nervion was 
 first passed by Espartero, and next 
 the Asua was crossed at Luchana ; 
 thus Bilbao was relieved, after a sixty 
 days’ siege, on which the whole ques- 
 tion of the war turned ; and one short 
 day more would have exhausted both 
 the townsfolk and their enemies, who 
 were equally reduced to the last extre- 
 mities of destitution, and the weather 
 was terrific. The Carlists made a very 
 feeble resistance against the Christin- 
 I ists, who advanced in a snow storm, 
 
887 
 
 Basque Provinces, route 125 . — espartero at Bilbao. 
 
 and bivouacked that night without I 
 food and half naked, on the ground, 
 with true Spanish endurance of hard- 
 ships. The garrison in Bilbao in the 
 meanwhile offered no sort of co- 
 operation by way of sortie, such was 
 the incredible ignorance or want of 
 vigilance on the part of their com- 
 manders. Espartero, although in bad 
 health, displayed much courage under 
 fire, while the besieged and besiegers, 
 during the desultory contests, fought 
 with all the desperate personal valour 
 and individual implacability of local 
 hatreds, hand to hand, knife to knife. 
 The emphatic want on both sides, when 
 everything was alike wanting, was a 
 head to plan the war greatly and carry 
 it out worthily. Cosas de Espana. 
 
 The best Carlist account is Hen- 
 ningsen’s ‘ Twelve Months * Campaign 
 with Zumalacarregui for Christinist 
 details consult ‘ Scenes and Ad- 
 ventures’ of Toco Mas , in which Mr. 
 Moore, a hearty partisan, while “ re- 
 porting” the glories of his “ grace,” 
 proves beyond doubt that Wylde and 
 the English did the work. Again, Mr. 
 Bacon, an equally staunch and honest 
 partisan, admits, in his * Six Years in 
 Biscay ’ that “ no satire can be written 
 equal to the official bulletins” of the 
 Christinos on this burlesque of war ; 
 and those who wish to see a choice 
 specimen of the style called Rigmarole 
 are referred to Madoz, iv. 333. But 
 the Castilian is such a sonorous sesqui- 
 pedalian language that it seems to be 
 made for valientes who trumpet forth 
 their own prodig ios de valor, their own 
 ‘ ‘ glorias y fatigas .” Espartero was only 
 compared, on this 24th of December, 
 to our Saviour ! The Madrid govern- 
 ment responded with equal eloquence ; 
 cheap ribbons, thanks, odes, oranges, 
 and cigars, in short every reward was 
 given except money; and now Mel- 
 lado, writing in 1843, does not even 
 allude to the English ; thus the stout 
 Legion was done not only out of its 
 glory, but its pay. And only the other 
 day, April 15, 1848, the minister Soto- 
 mayor wrote to our envoy, Sir H. 
 Bulwer, “ that his loyal countrymen 
 could and would have fixed the crown 
 on their youthful Isabel by their own 
 
 unassisted effort !” So much for Lord 
 Palmerston’s non-intervention of the 
 Marines, 500,000Z. advanced in stores 
 (and not yet paid for), to say nothing 
 of Evans and the stout Legion which 
 did the work. Cosas de Espana: How- 
 ever there is nothing new in all this, 
 and the Black Prince fared no better 
 (see Navarrete, p. 863). And when 
 will our worthy countrymen, who 
 fight and pay for all, consult Spanish 
 history, that old almanac, but in every 
 page of which it stands thus recorded, 
 for the benefit of foreigners — 
 
 Those who in our “ things” interpose j 
 Will only get a bloody nose ? 
 
 There is a dull 4 Guia de Bilbao 1846. 
 
 There is some talk of a railroad 
 from Bilbao to Madrid ; meanwhile, 
 there are plenty of diligences for in- 
 land -communication, and steamers and 
 ships for the seaboard. 
 
 Rotjte 125. — Santander to Bilbao. 
 
 Langre ...... 2 
 
 Meruelo ...... 3 .. 5 
 
 Santona 2 . . 1 
 
 Laredo 1 . . 8 
 
 Islares 2 . . 10 
 
 Castro Urdiales . . . 2 . . 12 
 
 Somorrostro .... 2 .. 14 
 
 Bilbao . . . . . . 34 . . 114 
 
 For Santander see p. 870. This 
 bridle-road is much out up by the bays 
 and rivers of a hilly and indented 
 coast, and almost impracticable in 
 winter; an occasional steam-commu- 
 nication in summer offers a shorter and 
 more convenient passage by sea. If 
 the weather be fair cross the rio to 
 Langre, thus avoiding the land circuit. 
 If you ride, take a local guide, and 
 attend to the provend. The arm of 
 the sea, half a mile across, with bad 
 boats for horses, but better ones for 
 fishing. Santona and Laredo rise op- 
 posite each other on their excellent 
 bay ; but neither need be entered, as 
 they can be passed by on the 1. San- 
 tona, pop. 700, was formed by nature 
 to be the Gibraltar of Cantabria, how- 
 ever neglected by the poco curante 
 Spaniards. The Monte, under which 
 it is built, is severed by the Isthmus 
 I el Arenal de Berria, which intervenes 
 
888 
 
 ROUTE 125. — LAREDO. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 between the hills Brusco and Groma 
 and the isolated Ano, just as the neu- 
 tral ground does between the “ Rock ” 
 and San Roque. The land approach 
 was much strengthened by orders of 
 Buonaparte, who at once saw the im- 
 portance of this stronghold, of this key 
 of the coast. The view over the 
 sea is not extensive. The city is 
 protected chiefly by the miraculous 
 little image of the patroness, which 
 came from Antioch. It is wor- 
 shipped in the Parroquia la Virgen del 
 Puerto ; the grand fete, September 
 7, is celebrated by the peasantry 
 and sailors: her votive offerings are 
 costly. The bay contracts opposite 
 Santona , and is crossed at the passage 
 Pasage de Salue . The Franciscan 
 convent, higher up on the Canal de 
 Ano , is pleasantly situated. From 
 Santona the corn of Castile and iron 
 of Biscay are largely exported. The 
 storms off the coast are sometimes 
 terrific ; and here, in October, 1810, a 
 British squadron was wrecked. San- 
 tona, , during the war, was fortified by 
 the French, who were regularly sup- 
 plied from France by seal and be- 
 came one of their chief magazines. 
 See the indignant Lesaca correspond- 
 ence of the Duke to Lord Melville, 
 who so miserably mismanaged our 
 admiralty. The place capitulated in 
 March, 1814; but the Duke refused 
 to ratify the treaty in consequence of 
 the breach of all faith shown by the 
 French garrison of Jaca (Disp. April 
 1, 1814). 
 
 Laredo is protected by its headland 
 and fort el Bastillar , which defends the 
 S. side of the bay. The lands gain on 
 the coast ; and this port, which under 
 the Romans contained 14,000 souls, 
 now has dwindled to 3000. Part of 
 the Moorish chain of the Seville 
 bridge was long hung up in the Santa 
 Maria here, having been broken by a 
 Laredo ship, and it forms the charge 
 of the city’s shield. All this line of 
 coast is very picturesque and pisca- 
 tose ; the men labour on the waters 
 and the women on the lands ; soon we 
 enter the province of Santander. Cas- 
 tro Urdiales , pop. 3000, is placed on a 
 pleasant peninsula, and once could 
 
 boast of our Black Prince as its Sefior . 
 This pretty port has also its* bay, 
 headland, rocks, castle, and hermitage 
 of Santa Ana , of wdiich the artist 
 should sketch the curious rocks and 
 arches. The place was sacked by our 
 libeller, M. Foy, May 11, 1813, on 
 quitting it to retreat to France, when, 
 says Southey (Chr. 43), “ He butchered 
 men and women, sparing none, and 
 inflicting upon them cruelties which 
 none but a devilish nature could de- 
 vise.” His troops marched out with 
 babies stuck on their bayonets. The 
 ravaged town has since been rebuilt. 
 M. Foy could not destroy the port, 
 one so beloved by the sailors of the 
 storm-tossed Bay of Biscay, that they 
 say, “ A Castro 6 al Cielo.” On this 
 iron-bound coast the mighty Atlantic 
 is first repelled, and the volume ol 
 waters thrown back on the fresh in- 
 coming waves, and thus a boiling race 
 is created. At San Anton , near the 
 town, is a mined convent of the Tem- 
 plars ; the fish is excellent, especially 
 the besugo and bonito, a sort of tunny 
 and bream. The rocky hills are ter- 
 raced with vines, which produce a 
 poor chacoli , a sort of cidrous wine, to 
 which the natives are more partial 
 than strangers. The Somorrostro dis- 
 trict has been immemorially celebrated 
 for iron ; the ore occurs abundantly 
 in beds from 3 to 10 ft. deep, in a cal- 
 careous earth, and, when taken up and 
 wetted, sometimes it is of a blood 
 colour. It yields from 30 to 35 per 
 cent, metal ; it is softer and with a 
 longer fibre than our iron, because 
 smelted with charcoal, not coal ; the 
 mining and smithies are primitively 
 rude. Foreigners, however, are slowly 
 introducing more scientific methods; 
 the steel for swords was better made, 
 a manufacture in which the warlike 
 Spaniards have always excelled : the 
 “ good Bilbos ” of Falstaff were 
 wrought from the produce of the hill 
 Triano. (For swords see p. 796.) 
 
 All this district affords much occu- 
 pation to the mineralogist and geolo- 
 gist, as the Monte Serrantes was once 
 a volcano; leaving it to the r., and 
 crossing the Concha de Bilbao , is Por- 
 tugalete , placed on the neck of the 
 
889 
 
 THE TREE OF GUERNICA. 
 
 Basque Provinces . route 126 . 
 
 Nervion, with a dangerous bar ; six 
 pleasant miles lead to Bilboa ; tq the 
 1. is the convent el Desierto , now indeed 
 a desert, but once a monastic paradise ; 
 near the Desierto , which is placed on 
 the confluence of the Galindo and Ner- 
 vion, was the roadstead of the English 
 non-intervening squadron, by which 
 alone Bilbao was twice relieved, and 
 Don Carlos twice defeated. Proceed- 
 ing onwards on the r. bank is Luchana , 
 from whence Espartero took his title 
 of Conde. Those who cross the river 
 will enter Bilbao by the upper road 
 through Deusto ; those who continue 
 on the 1. bank will pass the Cadagua , 
 and, continuing under the ridge of 
 Castrojana, enter the old town under 
 the fort of Miravilla. 
 
 Botjte 126. — Bilbao to San 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Algorta .2 
 
 Plencia 2 . . 4 
 
 Baguio 2 . . 6 
 
 Bermeo .2 . . 8 
 
 Guernica 2 . . 10 
 
 Elancobe 2 . . 12 
 
 Lequeitio 2 . . 14 
 
 Ondarrea 2 . . 1 6 
 
 Motrico H . . 17£ 
 
 Deva 1 .. 181 
 
 Yenta de Ibarrieta . . 2 ..201 
 
 Orio 2 221 
 
 San Sebastian . . . . 21 . . 25 
 
 The steam communication is prefer- 
 able to the bridle-road, except to an- 
 glers ; those who adventure by land, 
 after crossing the Asua , will reach the 
 fishing-town Algorta , and thence turn- 
 ing to the r. Plencia with its bridge, 
 and Villano with its signal Atalaya ; 
 thence leaving the headland Machi - 
 chaco to the 1. on to Bermeo, Flavio 
 Briga, which has a good harbour and 
 free from any bar. This busy fishing- 
 town contains some 4000 amphibious 
 inhabitants. The hills abound with 
 game. In the parish church of 8a. 
 Fufemia the Kings of Castile swear, 
 after the Junta at Guernica, to observe 
 the Fueros of the Basque provinces. 
 See the tombs, and that of the Bp. Men- 
 doza. Here, also, is the Casa Solar of 
 Alonso de Ercilla, the soldier-poet of 
 Spain, whose best authors have been 
 men of the sword, and this hero wrote 
 
 the finest stanzas of his versified bul- 
 letins or despatches — for such in truth 
 his epic is — on the pommel of his 
 saddle. At Mundaca, famous for tun- 
 nies, the road to Guernica follows the 
 1. bank of the river. 
 
 Guernica, as its Basque name sig- 
 nifies, is placed on the “slope of a 
 hill, 7 ' below which is a “reedy flat/ 7 
 called el Juncal, much subject to inun- 
 dations, and full of snipes and wild 
 fowl in winter. At Guernica was held 
 the Parliament of Basque senators, or 
 apoderados de las ante-iglesias. This 
 Calzarra, congress, or Witenagemote, 
 originally sat near the hermitage of 
 Na. Sa. de la Antigua, under the over- 
 spreading canopy of an ancient oak, 
 which the town still bears on its shield. 
 Among rude primitive people, before 
 temples were raised by the hand, a 
 noble tree inspired a reverential awe, 
 and was dedicated to the Deity (Pliny, 
 N.H.xii. 1). Joshua (xxiv. 26), placed 
 the book of the law under an oak, “by 
 the sanctuary/ 7 Such, again, was the 
 sacred A %vs of the Druids ; such were 
 the Ygdraisel, or consecrated trees, un- 
 der which were seated the twelve dei- 
 fied judges of the Norwegians. The 
 association of religion with trees and 
 groves long survived after the erection 
 of temples. St. Bridget of Ireland 
 formed her “ chapel 77 out of an oak, 
 her kill Dara. So our Fairlop oak, 
 like the terebinth-tree of Abraham, is 
 an example of the admixture of re- 
 ligion and traffic which always charac- 
 terized these silvan sanctuaries. 
 
 The casas consistoriales, and more 
 than half the town of Guernica, were 
 burnt in 1808 by the French repub- 
 licans, the preachers of universal free- 
 dom and philanthropy ; these theorists, 
 who planted sham trees of liberty and 
 real guillotines at home, cut down the 
 time-honoured oak of the free Basques, 
 a tree which was very old even in 1334 
 (see Mariana, xvi. 3); it was one “ Reli- 
 gionepatrum longos servataperannos, 77 
 and under whose venerable canopy 
 Ferdinand and Isabella swoTe in 1476 
 to uphold the Basque Fueros, as their 
 grandson Charles V. did again, April 
 5, 1526. When the English cleared 
 Spain of the French, an oak sapling 
 
890 
 
 ROUTE 127. — BAYONNE TO IRUN. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 was planted to replace the original, 
 but even that tender plant, Arbol de la 
 Libertad , was hewed down by Armil- 
 dez de Toledo, a general of the then 
 liberal Christina. The oak of Guernica 
 was a refuge for debtors, and formed a 
 sort of place of habeas corpus return, or 
 court of appeal, as no Basque could be 
 arrested without a summons to appear 
 under it, and learn the charge against 
 him, and thus prepare his defence. 
 The word rendered grove in our Bible 
 (Gen. xxi. 33) is read, by Parkhurst as 
 asel , oak, and he conjectures that the 
 Asylum , or sanctuary of Romulus, 
 which was placed between two oaks, 
 may be derived from it. Those who 
 have pictured to themselves a wide- 
 shadowing oak , under whose boughs 
 mossed with age, and high tops bald 
 with dry antiquity, silver-haired men 
 sat in council, just as one reads of in 
 4 Telemaque,’ and other equally true 
 delineations of society as it is not, 
 will find to their horror that the Casa 
 de Juntas , built in 1826, is an ungainly 
 mass of stone of passing pretension, 
 and a sort of Corinthian summer- 
 house, while Basque senators, who 
 assemble July 1 every two years, in 
 French pea-jackets, complete the ruin of 
 all national, primitive, and picturesque 
 associations. They offer a strange con- 
 trast to the series of old Sehores, whose 
 bad portraits hang in a row. 
 
 About a mile from the town is a 
 Roman encampment, which is not 
 worth visiting. Returning to the 
 coast at Lequeitio , a post strong by na^ 
 ture and art, and. placed on its river, 
 girdled by the Lumencha and Otoya 
 hills, we enter the easily defended 
 country which all the way up to Gue- 
 taria was abandoned to the Carlists in 
 1836 by Iriarte and Cordova. Ondar- 
 roa , the 44 mouth of sand,” has a snug 
 but not a deep port, a decent church 
 built on piles, and a good bridge over 
 its river. Now we quit Vizcaya and 
 enter Guipuzcoa. The name of the 
 town, Motrica (tucio-turbolico) , whence 
 much fish is sent to Madrid, in 
 the Basque signifies a hedgehog, 
 tricu, which the rock is said to 
 resemble. This pretty port is sur- 
 rounded with wooded hills ; the land 
 
 teems with fruit and vines, which are 
 trellised over the fishermen’s cottages. 
 Here is produced a poor red chacoli. 
 In the church were a Crucifixion, attri- 
 buted to Murillo, and a Santa Cathe- 
 rine by Johan Boechorst, 1663 : inquire 
 for them. Deva is charming, and con- 
 tains some 3000 piscatose souls : here 
 the orange and olive ripen. It was 
 proposed to make this place the port 
 of a canal, which, by means of the 
 rivers Zadorra and Ebro, was to con- 
 nect the Atlantic with the Mediter- 
 ranean, and still the sheltered secure 
 bay is the outport of Vitoria and 
 Mpndragon. The square town, with 
 streets intersecting each other at right 
 angles, lies below the slope of the 
 Iciar , with two plazas. The parish 
 church is one of the finest in these 
 provinces, and near it is the mansion- 
 house with portico and clock-tower. 
 The panorama from the summit of the 
 Izarraiz is magnificent, and the wide 
 expanse of ocean contrasts with the 
 mountain jumble of the land. At Zu- 
 maya we cross the excellent salmon 
 and trout stream Urola ( Ur, water, ola , 
 smithy), then the Oria, which, rising 
 near the Puerto San Adrian, finishes its 
 beautiful course, separated by a ridge 
 from the basin of the Deva ; both 
 rivers are precious to the angler. 
 Thence to San Sebastian , rising on its 
 conical rocky knoll (see Rte. 128). 
 
 In briefly describing the route from 
 Bayonne to Irun, we refer, for all de- 
 tails which do not touch on English 
 or Spanish interests, to Mr. Murray’s 
 4 Handbook for France’ (R. 76). And 
 first we strongly advise all entering 
 Spain for the first time to run over our 
 preliminary pages in Part I. 
 
 Route 127. — Bayonne to Ieun. 
 
 Bayonne Posts. 
 
 Bidart H 
 
 St. Jean de Luz . . . li . . 3 
 
 Urugne 2£ . . 51 
 
 Irnn 2 . . 71 
 
 Bayonne (Hotel de Saint Etienne, 
 excellent ; H6tel de Commerce , ditto) , 
 the Basque Bay-o-na, 44 the good port,” 
 is placed on the Nive and Adour (Ur, 
 Duero, the Sussex Adur), most 
 
ROUTE 127. — BAYONNE. 
 
 891 
 
 Basque Provinces . 
 
 picturesquely, with its beautiful river 
 and distant mountain chains. Fail not 
 to enjoy the panorama from the tower 
 of the cathedral. The strong citadel, 
 fortified by Vauban, was the key of 
 Soult’s position in 1814, and the scene 
 of one of the last most murderous 
 and unnecessary conflicts between the 
 French and English. Buonaparte's 
 abdication on the 7th of April, 1814, 
 was known to the sanguinary Soult 
 on the 12th, and a suspension of arms 
 had been proposed by the Duke ,* ac- 
 cordingly, our troops were off their 
 guard, when on the 14th, before day- 
 light, a sortie was made by the French, 
 which was signally beaten back ; but 
 this tragical episode to the war cost 
 the lives of 2000 brave men. Here 
 the bayonet finished the work, and on 
 the spot where it was first used by 
 some Basques, who stuck their knives 
 in their muskets' muzzles: now it is 
 the English weapon, which few foes 
 like facing twice. 
 
 In the old castle of Bayonne, oppo- 
 site the Prefecture, in 1563, did Ca- 
 therine de Medicis, an Italian Machia- 
 velli, meet Alva, a Spanish man of 
 blood and bigotry. Here this pretty 
 pair planned the massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew, which was executed Aug. 
 24, 1572, to the joy of the Vatican 
 and the Escorial, for Philip II. never 
 laughed heartily but that once. 
 
 There are plenty of mails and dili- 
 gences from Bayonne to Madrid, vi& 
 Tolosa and Burgos ; the mail does the 
 distance in some 50 hours : hard and 
 jolting work ; from Tolosa others run 
 to Pamplona and Zaragoza. Those 
 who are not hurried should stop at 
 I run, and take up the Vitoria road 
 after making a detour through San 
 Sebastian (R. 128). A carriage with 
 three horses may be hired here for 
 about 90 francs, including driver, for 
 the excursion to San Sebastian, sleep- 
 ing one night and returning the next 
 day. N.B. In passing from France to 
 Spain with hired horses, remember 
 that arrangements be made for the 
 guide to leave, at the Spanish frontier, 
 a deposit, generally about 13 dollars 
 per horse. If this be not done, or se- 
 curity found for the return of each 
 
 horse, they will not be admitted. At 
 Bayonne the bother of passports must 
 be attended to, from which no honest 
 men are exempt, except robbers and 
 smugglers. The document must be 
 vised by the Spanish and English con- 
 suls, the latter charging certain francs 
 for his permit. Should the traveller 
 be desirous of returning to France, he 
 must have the vise of the French con- 
 sul also. 
 
 Bayonne is quitted by the Porte 
 d’LJspagne: soon to the 1. is the Chateau 
 Marrac , whose dishonourable recollec- 
 tions long will survive those ruined 
 walls in which Buonaparte embraced 
 his decoyed guest Ferdinand VII., 
 and then sent him from his table to 
 a dungeon. To the r., about 5 miles 
 from Bayonne, is Biaritz, the pleasant 
 Brighton of Bayonne, from whose 
 cliff-built Phare the rocky iron-bound 
 coast of hard Iberia looms in view. 
 This first glance of a new land and 
 people relieves the dull monotony of 
 the commonplace Landes which extend 
 to Bordeaux. Now what a change 
 awaits those who love surprises, con- 
 trasts, and comparisons ! It is the 
 passing into a new planet, or like 
 crossing from Dover to Calais. 
 
 At Bidart the Basque country is 
 entered, and the peasantry are at least 
 cognate with those on each side of the 
 Bidasoa, but theirs is a neutral ground, 
 and they are Basques — that is, neither 
 French nor Spaniards. St Jean de 
 Luz — inn, la Poste — placed on the Ni- 
 velle is, like Iran, a Basque misnomer, 
 for it is not a “ city of light," but of 
 44 mud," and a rather Lutetia, or lucus a 
 non lucendo. Here, in 1660, Louis XIV. 
 was married to Maria Teresa, daughter 
 of Philip IV. ; and higher up to the 
 1. are the heights of Ainhoiie , where, 
 Nov. 10, 1813, the Duke routed Soult 
 and Foy, driving them headlong from 
 their tremendous fortifications, and 
 capturing 51 cannon. Here, again, the 
 Duke long had his head-quarters, win- 
 ning golden opinions from his very 
 foes the French by protecting them 
 from the plunder not only of the Spa- 
 niards, but of their own countrymen. 
 “ Je suis assez long-temps soldat pour 
 savoir que les pillards et ceux qui les 
 
892 - 
 
 route 127 . THE BIDASOA— URUGNE. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 encouragent ne valent rien devant 
 1’ennemi” (* Disp.’ June 27, 1815). 
 How truly English is the sentiment, 
 as well as the language in which it is 
 expressed; for the Duke created a 
 new Anglo-French dialect, which his 
 Dispatches have rendered classical. 
 The gallant French estimated the 
 worth and valour of their generous 
 foe as the Carthaginians did of Scipio, 
 exclaiming that “one like the gods 
 had come among them who overcame 
 all alike by his goodness as by his 
 arms ” (Livy, xxvi. 50). The autho- 
 rities everywhere presented addresses 
 to him, which the modest hero, who 
 did good by stealth and blushed to 
 find it fame, begged Lord Bathurst 
 not to publish (* Disp. 9 Nov. 21, 1813 ; 
 April 12, 1814). Like the old Roman, 
 he never trumpeted forth his own pro- 
 digies of valour — that he left to others : 
 “ optimus quisqu efacere, quam dicere, 
 et sua ab aliis benefacta laudari male- 
 bat ” (Sal. B. C. 8). The French 
 offered prayers to heaven to long pre- 
 serve “ un heros aussi grand que sage,” 
 and one whom they had learnt to es- 
 teem both in war and peace. They also 
 proved by their actions that a brave 
 enemy can become a noble friend ; for 
 here did the Duke receive “ repeated 
 intelligence and warning from the 
 French ! of acts of treachery meditated 
 by the Spanish !!” (Disp . Jan. 1 3, 1 8 1 4) . 
 
 Urugne , the last post station in 
 France, is in the spurs of the mountain 
 range which, called the Pyrenean , ex- 
 tends from the Mediterranean to the 
 mouth of the Mino in Gallicia. The 
 French custom-house is at Behovie, 
 Behobia, a small village with a Hotel 
 de la Bidasoa, which prepares the tra- 
 veller for a Spanish posada, Here the 
 baggage of those coming from Spain 
 is severely searched by the semi-soldier 
 douanier , who thus wages war in peace- 
 time ; nor are the persons even of 
 ladies always respected ; but on both 
 sides of the Bidasoa a strait waist- 
 coat seems to be put on all fair, free, 
 commercial enterprise, to the benefit of 
 the smuggler and inconvenience of the 
 honest merchant and uncommercial 
 traveller. The objects most searched 
 for are tobacco and sealed letters. 
 
 Coined money is not allowed to be 
 taken out of Spain; you may bring 
 into it as much as you please. Beware, 
 if you love a quiet life, of having any- 
 thing contraband, and make a full de- 
 claration of whatever is doubtful, and 
 begrudge not a compliment to the well- 
 known politesse of la Grande Nation , 
 which softens even a douanier’s heart. 
 Touch, therefore, and take off your 
 hat ; take out and offer your keys ; 
 at all events be patient and good- 
 tempered, for these detentions and 
 scrutinies, so inexpressibly odious to 
 tourists, and like passports, the curse of 
 continental travelling, cannot be es- 
 caped and must be endured. Those 
 who proceed from Spain to Bayonne 
 are advised to have their luggage 
 plornbe at Behobia, paying for each 
 package a sous, as the leaden seal 
 keeps off the custom-house harpies, 
 like the seal of Solomon did the devil 
 himself. 
 
 A wooden bridge painted with a 
 dingy red, which, although the san- 
 guinary colour of the guillotine, is a 
 very favourite one for shutters, &c. 
 on the French side, crosses the Bidasoa , 
 which flows between the two anti- 
 pathetic nations. The name means in 
 Basque either the “ way to the west,” 
 or vida, “ two,” and osoa , “ streams,” 
 because composed of two streams flow- 
 ing one from Elisondo and the other 
 from the Baztan. The length of the 
 Bidasoa is about 45 miles, and it forms 
 for the last 12 the boundary between 
 the two antipathetic countries. In olden 
 times Spain claimed not only the whole 
 river, because rising in Navarra, but 
 so much of the French bank as its 
 waters covered at high tide (Mariana, 
 xxiii. 5). These questions, long mat- 
 ters of rivality , were settled by the 
 French republic and Charles IV., by 
 each country retaining its own shore. 
 The question of boundary was opened 
 by France in 1851, and Spain will 
 probably be done by the neighbour, 
 as after Jaca was occupied in 1823, by 
 the French troops, allies of Ferdinand 
 VII., the original papers of the con- 
 vention, kept at San Juan de la Pena , 
 were found “ missing.” The river 
 widens below the bridge into a tidal 
 
893 
 
 — THE BIDASOA — LOUIS XIV. 
 
 Basque Provinces, route 127 . 
 
 rio or estuary, and the embouchure is 
 guarded on the Spanish side by Fuen - 
 terrabid , which looks strong at a dis- 
 tance, which it is not : it faces Andaye , 
 a French village celebrated for its 
 brandy. Between the bridge and the 
 sea are some fords which are prac- 
 ticable at low water, being covered at 
 least 14 feet at high tide. These were 
 made known to the Duke by a Basque 
 fisherman, and thus, as at Oporto, he 
 was enabled again to surprise and de- 
 feat Soult. At the close of a thunder- 
 storm, Oct. 7, 1813, our troops, at a 
 given signal, wound slowly like ser- 
 pents across the sands, effected a pas- 
 sage, dashed up the Montague d*Ar- 
 rhune , and carried by sheer daring the 
 rugged, natural frontier of France, 
 which skilful engineers had been forti- 
 fying for three months. 
 
 Standing on the bridge and looking 
 up the river to the 1., in front rises the 
 celebrated hill of San Marcial (see next 
 page), and on the flats below the bridge 
 are the wretched huts set up by the 
 Spanish authorities as lazaretos , or 
 quarantine-houses, during the cholera 
 of 1833: charnel-houses would be a 
 fitter term. Looking down the stream 
 is an ignoble patch in the waters, which 
 a lively Frenchman compares to a fried 
 sole, but Spaniards dignify the strip by 
 the name of la Isla delos Faisanes, the 
 Island of Pheasants, which are about as 
 plentiful here as phoenixes or birds of 
 paradise are in the Champs Elysees at 
 Paris. On this neutral ground, in 
 1463, Louis XI. had an interview with 
 Henrique IV. The perfidious award 
 of the former led to the formation of 
 the Spanish league and deposition of 
 the latter (Prescott, ch. iii.). Mariana 
 (xxiii. 5) and Comines (ch. 36) have 
 described this meeting. The mean 
 appearance of Louis offended the 
 Spaniards, who always visit in grand 
 costume, while the French satirically 
 laughed at the Don’s boato ; so the two 
 kings embraced, and then, like the 
 devils in Asmodeus, hated each other 
 ever afterwards. Here, Nov. 1615, 
 Isabella, daughter of Henry IV., was 
 exchanged as wife for Philip IV., 
 against his sister Anne of Austria, 
 the celebrated queen of Louis XIII. 
 
 Spain. — II. 
 
 Here again, in 1660, Cardinal Mazarin 
 met Louis de Haro, and arranged the 
 marriage between the daughter of 
 Philip IV. and Louis XIV. (see for 
 details, * Esp. Sag.,’ xxxii. 118). . The 
 singular mutual suspicions and eti- 
 quette are accurately described by 
 Dunlop (Memoirs, ch. xi.). It was while 
 fitting up the saloon of conference that 
 Velazquez sickened of a tertian fever, 
 of which he soon after died at Madrid. 
 Thus Spain’s greatest artist was sacri- 
 ficed on the altar of upholstery. For 
 the particulars of his death see Palo- 
 mino (Mas. Pit. ii. 521). This Spanish 
 Vasari gives us a full-length portrait 
 of the magnificent costume worn by 
 Velazquez on the occasion, who eclipsed 
 the lords of the bedchamber as much 
 in the sparkle of his diamonds as in 
 the brilliancy of his intellect. See for 
 details ‘ Viaje del Bey,’ &c., by Leonardo 
 del Castillo, 4to., Madrid, 1667; and our 
 Biography of Velazquez in the ‘ Penny 
 Cyclopaedia,’ and his Life by Stirling. 
 
 Louis XIV., le Grand Monarque , 
 lived to afterwards deprive the Cata- 
 lonians of their liberties, which he 
 had pledged his honour to uphold, 
 and he moreover placed his grand- 
 son on the throne of Spain, which he 
 had then and there, at his marriage 
 with the daughter of Philip IV., gua- 
 ranteed never to do : thus the weaker 
 kingdom became locked in the embrace 
 of the stronger one, and from that fatal 
 moment has been alternately her dupe 
 or victim. The Spanish policy of 
 Louis XIV. became a French axiom 
 of state, “ une pensde immuable,” 
 whether the yoke is to be placed on 
 by the sword or ring of a Buonaparte 
 or a Bourbon. Foy (ii. 211) candidly 
 remarks, “ La soumission absolue, et 
 avec une garantie stable de l’Espagne, 
 n’etait-elle pas la consequence naturelle 
 et neeessaire de l’extension de la 
 France au-delk des Alpes et du Rhin, 
 ses limites naturelles ? ” He proceeds 
 to term these views saines et politiques, 
 as undoubtedly they are for one party, 
 since the Pyrenean boundary, says the 
 Duke, is “ the most vulnerable frontier 
 of France, probably the only vulnerable 
 frontier” (Disp., Dec. 21, 1813). Ac- 
 cordingly France has always endea- 
 2 R 
 
894 
 
 ROUTE 127 * — BASQUE PROVINCES — IRUN. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 Voured to weaken and denationalize 
 her neighbour, to dismantle the Spa* 
 nish defences, and to foster insurrec- 
 tions and pronunciamientos in Cata- 
 lonia ; for Spain’s infirmity is her op- 
 portunity, and therefore the “ sound 
 policy” of Europe is to see Spain 
 strong, independent, and able to hold 
 her own Pyrenean key. 
 
 The Bidasoa once crossed, the Basque 
 provinces are entered. The geology 
 of both sides is alike ; how unlike the 
 ethnology ! Just as the country is 
 cognate, the natives differ : the very 
 sentinels show it. But Spain is a land 
 of contrasts herself, and this first 
 change is not the least striking. Now, 
 as on passing the lines at .Gibraltar, we 
 step from a highly*organized power, 
 of the most amiable social civilization, 
 to One where nothing is raglementaire , 
 where nothing is done in real style, 
 where a lazy, Oriental, unbusiness, 
 make-shift character pervades every 
 civil and military department. The 
 authorities seem to have put Spain 
 and Spaniards into our Chancery, such 
 is the dilapidation of things real and 
 personal. If, however, the neglected 
 soldiers, &c., be such as Falstaff would 
 not march through Coventry with* 
 each individual is a fine, brave, tem- 
 perate, and patient felloe, and for a 
 picturesque foreground group in your 
 first sketch of Spain is worth a dozen 
 French marshals. Recent travellers 
 report, that in matters of pen and pencil 
 many changes have taken place for 
 the better, and that the man of the 
 note-book and sketch-book is not likely 
 to be annoyed ; but it is always best 
 to be on the safe side, and to feel your 
 way on the spot, applying to the autho- 
 rities if necessary. In our times, as 
 in the East, the best-intentioned tra- 
 vellers were liable to be taken up for 
 spies and not well treated (2 Sam, x. 
 3). Our experience leads us to co* 
 incide with that of Capt. Widdrington 
 (ii. 202), who loves Spain and Spa- 
 niards so well and understands them 
 so perfectly: he “never visited bar- 
 racks at all ; ” he never “ attempted 
 anything of that sort even in the most 
 quiet times,” as all have here a 
 “ paltry and contemptible feeling of 
 
 jealousy which is highly - discredit- 
 able.” Nor is much lost by restraining 
 curiosity as regards citadels, arsenals, 
 hospitals, &c., which generally, as in 
 Moorish Barbary, are full of nothing- 
 ness, and “ wanting in everything at 
 the most critical moment ; ” a state of 
 things which arises partly from the 
 poverty, and more from the bad ma- 
 nagement and apathy, of those rogues 
 or incapables who too generally mis- 
 govern these fine but ill-fated lands. 
 
 The first sight and welcome of Spain 
 scarcely will inspire love— oh dura 
 tellus Iberiae 1 — tut the people, and 
 their wild, racy, original country, im- 
 prove on better acquaintance, and the 
 more as we advance into the sunny 
 Oriental east and south, for these pro- 
 vinces are not Spain but Basque. 
 Now you have quitted Europe and 
 French things, all around breathes ajo 
 y Espanolismo , mules and mantillas ; 
 and however lacking in surface and 
 sensual civilization, man is here the 
 vigorous plant of a strong soil ; here 
 he stands erect, full of personal dignity 
 and individual worth and independ- 
 ence : the members, indeed, are strong 
 in masculine virility and vitality, al- 
 though a head be wanting. Yet the 
 Spanish people are still unbroken in 
 despite of Austrian and Bourbon, who 
 have failed to dwarf their high spirit 
 and character, and have been unable 
 to sacrifice their worth, valour, and 
 intelligence to advance the personal 
 intrigues of unworthy rulers in 
 church, camp, and cabinet. 
 
 IRUN, the first Spanish town, rises 
 conspicuously in front on its hill ; the 
 Posada de las Diligencias is decent, and 
 Ramon, “mine host,” obliging. As 
 he combines also a little coach-office 
 managing with “ neat accommodation 
 for travellers,” conciliate him with a 
 cigar, and consult with him as to get- 
 ting on to Burgos, having made the 
 tour to Tolosa vid San Sebastian. 
 
 I run, Irunia , signifies in Basque the 
 “good town,” possibly in irony, as, 
 after all, it is rather a good-for-nothing 
 place, peopled with some 4000 pau- 
 pers, who live on the crumbs of those 
 who come and those who depart : 
 placed, however, at the entrance of 
 
895 
 
 Basque Provinces, route 127 , — irun — san marcial. 
 
 Spain, and on the high road to Madrid, 
 it at least is a good coach-town, and 
 means of escape are plentiful. Few 
 travellers remain here long ; they are 
 either in a hurry to get into the Cas- 
 tiles, or in a far greater hurry to get 
 out again. Consult ‘ Historia de Irun ’ 
 Fro. de GainzaUranzu, fol., Pamplona, 
 1738. Mails and diligences start for 
 Madrid by Vitoria (Rte. 1 20), and thence 
 by Burgos (Rte. 118) or Valladolid (Rte. 
 78), which we strongly recommend as the 
 most interesting line . Coaches run to 
 Pamplona (Rte. 141), and hence by Tu- 
 dela (Rte. 135) to Zaragoza, from whence 
 diligences run to Barcelona (Rte. 129). 
 Another mode of reaching the capital 
 of Aragon is by the diligence to Tudela, 
 which branches off at Tolosa (Rte. 1 20) 
 in about 11 hrs., and then passes on to 
 Pamplona (Rte. 138) and to Tudela (Rte. 
 135). Those who quit social, sensual 
 France will miss many a comfort on 
 the road, and take but little ease in 
 their inn. The conveyances are, how- 
 ever, cheaper ; sometimes a brief 
 period at night offers to the very tired 
 the means of snatching some repose if 
 voltigeurs winged and creeping permit. 
 Some delicate travellers, however, have 
 compared the mattresses to sacks of 
 walnuts or potatoes. At the improved 
 inns clean water and towels greet the 
 dusty, thirsty passenger ; a tolerable 
 dinner is provided for those who can 
 stand oil and garlic. At early dawn a 
 cup or jixara of good chocolate and 
 some roasted or fried bread is ready* 
 N.B. Drink water after this cup, oh 
 ye bilious ones ! The prices for these 
 comforts are moderate, and moreover 
 fixed ; thus the stranger is protected 
 from rogueish venter os, if he cannot 
 escape their vermin. The average 
 expense at Spanish posadas for a day’s 
 board and lodging may be taken at 
 from a dollar to a dollar and a half, 
 which is cheap enough. On some 
 roads small guide-books, or ‘ Manuales 
 de Biligencia,’ are sold for a trifle, and 
 are worth the purchase. 
 
 Those going to Madrid, who are not 
 pressed for time, are recommended, in- 
 stead of pursuing the direct but dull 
 diligence line through Burgos and 
 Lerma, first to visit San Sebastian (Rte. 
 
 128), and branch off from Burgos (Rte. 
 78) to Valladolid, and thence by Segovia 
 and the Escorial to the capital. 
 
 The military man, while his first 
 puchero is stewing at Irun, may walk 
 out to the hill of San Marcial, the site 
 of the crowning boast and glory of 
 Spanish arms. The panorama of ocean 
 and mountain is grand. Seated on the 
 knoll near the hermitage, a stone covers 
 the ashes of the brave who died here ; 
 and a cannon on the anniversary used 
 to fire salvos in their honour, sounds 
 unpleasing to the echoes of the opposed 
 heights. The hill is so called after 
 an obscure saint, on whose day, in 
 1 522, Beltran de la Cueva here defeated 
 the French under Bonnivet, who had 
 invaded Spain, in the hopes of revers- 
 ing their previous disasters at Logrono ; 
 and now, Aug. 30, 1813, Soult, making 
 an ill-conceived, ill-executed, but des- 
 perate attempt to relieve San Sebas- 
 tian, ordered Reille to cross the Bidasoa 
 and attack the Spaniards, who, under 
 the nominal command of Freire, were 
 posted on San Marcial. At that moment 
 the Duke rode up, and his presence 
 produced the cheering influence which 
 that of Hercules and Santiago did in 
 olden times (see Zubiri, p. 955). Now 
 the Spaniards felt that they were wor- 
 thily commanded, and worthily did 
 they do their duty, proving to Europe 
 that those qualities yet remained un- 
 injured which once rendered their 
 infantry the terror of the world. 
 Eighteen thousand right gallant French 
 scaled the Monte de los Lobos ; but now 
 12,000 Merinos, who knew that the 
 shepherd was near, turned upon the 
 wolves, charging them manfully with 
 the bayonet, and driving them back 
 headlong. “ Their conduct,” says the 
 Duke, “ was equal to that of any 
 troops I have ever seen engaged.” 
 Every repeated French '“attack was 
 defeated with the same gallantry and 
 determination.” And the Duke — their 
 Santiago or presiding tutelar — writing 
 to Castanos, who once commanded this 
 very corps, observed, “ Je l’ai fait 
 battre Soult toute seule.” He readily 
 left the whole glory to the Spaniards, 
 to whom he could well spare some 
 crumbs from his ample banquet. He 
 2 R 2 
 
896 
 
 ROUTE 127 . SAN MARCIAL — BATTLE. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 ■who had led the Sepoys to victory 
 knew well bow the native soldier 
 lights his courage at the example of 
 an English leader’s skill and bravery ; 
 and gladly did the Spanish people 
 trust in the foreigner, whatever might 
 be the prejudice of their own unworthy 
 leaders. Nor ever had the ill-used 
 
 Spanish soldier a better friend than in 
 the Duke, who in vain, but over and 
 over again stated their cruel wants to 
 their ministers ; and now, at Saint 
 Marcial, he rejoiced in putting 
 them in a good position, and thus de- 
 monstrating that their previous dis- 
 asters had been the result not of the 
 members, but their brainless heads. 
 Here it was the Duke, and none other 
 but the Duke, who commanded and 
 conquered. Thus the last battle 
 fought on the soil of Spain, like Bailen 
 one of the first, added a laurel to the 
 national chaplet; and to these, the 
 Alpha and Omega of the Peninsular 
 war, the Spanish annalists turn proudly, 
 nor let any one begrudge their well- 
 earned glory. To these two glorious 
 days their Maldonados and Co. mainly 
 ascribe the deliverance of their country 
 and of Europe eventually, and small is 
 the mention made of the ally who did 
 the interveningwork ; nor does Mellado 
 even allude to the English at San 
 Marcial. This very Freire, whose 
 name is almost synonymous with de- 
 feat, is now the Spanish god of war, 
 and here Nosotros alone fluttered the 
 eagles of Austerlitz ; but how stands 
 the truth? The Spaniards, says the 
 Duke, were “ supported and protected” 
 by the British on all sides ; the first 
 division, under Lord Aylmer, was be- 
 tween them and Irun, two brigades of 
 the 4th division, under Cole, were to 
 their r., while the 7th division, under 
 Inglis, was close at hand. The Spa- 
 niards 44 were a little desirous of being 
 relieved towards the end of the day, 
 but I savj that the enemy were done, 
 and I would not relieve them” (Disp., 
 Sept. 3, 1813). Venit,w^£,vicit; for this 
 pobrecito Freire never won a battle before 
 or after, while he had taken a leading 
 part in almost every flight and disgrace 
 (see his name in Index). The French 
 repulse was most complete. Soult, at- 
 
 tended by our libeller Foy, beheld the 
 rout from the opposite hill of Louis 
 XIV.; while the conflict was going on, 
 the Bidasoa most patriotically swelled 
 its waters, and thus rendered a reford- 
 ing impossible. The beaten heart-and- 
 foot-sore foe had to retreat round by 
 the bridge of Vera, and there must 
 have been cut off to a man, had 
 Skerret, instead of remaining half a 
 mile off and inactive, listened to the 
 repeated entreaties of a handful of our 
 rifles to be reinforced (Napier, xx. 3). 
 
 And as the boundaries of France 
 and Spain lie at our feet like an opened 
 map, how recollections crowd on the 
 memory ; how many spirit-stirring 
 events have disturbed the repose of the 
 now quiet scene ; how much blood of the 
 brave has dyed that clear stream which 
 now winds peacefully to the ocean ! 
 
 Princely forms and belted knights 
 come and depart like shadows : there 
 slouches the mean, false Bourbon Louis 
 XI., cheating with sombre smile his 
 gorgeous silly dupe the impotent Hen- 
 rique IV.; next passes Francis I., 
 model of French chivalry — he who at 
 Pavia said he had lost all save honour; 
 slowly he treads that bridge, and now, 
 on touching again the “ sacred soil ” 
 of France, gathers strength, like An- 
 taeus, and, shaking off the prison-dust 
 of hard Iberia, gallops furiously away, 
 exclaiming, “ I am yet a king ! ” but 
 his second thought is how soonest he 
 can break his plighted word ; nor is a 
 Clement VII. wanting to sanctify dis- 
 honour by absolving the obligation of 
 a royal oath. 
 
 Next advances the stately Louis 
 XIV., in the opening pride of a mag- 
 nificent monarchy, of which he was 
 the impersonation ; with love and 
 pledges on his lips, ambition and per- 
 fidy in his heart, he accepts the daugh- 
 ter of Philip IV. for his bride, soon to 
 rob her country of liberty and crown ; 
 but the avenger is at hand; now a 
 usurper greater than he, sits on the 
 ruins of the Bourbon throne, and 
 grudges to the descendant of le Grand 
 Monarque the sceptre of Spain: that 
 prize of French fraud is again seized 
 by French treachery ; Ferdinand, lured 
 by Savary, crosses this Rubicon April 
 
897 
 
 ROUTE 127. — duke’s DEEDS IN SPAIN. 
 
 Basque Provinces . 
 
 20, 1808, welcomed by Buonaparte 
 (who, like a viper, could only proceed 
 by a tortuous career) with a Judas 
 kiss, soon he is dismissed, having tasted 
 his salt, a prisoner and unkinged. And 
 now across that narrow and creaking 
 bridge legions press on legions with 
 dense and heavy tread. How brilliant, 
 this, the most splendid soldiery on 
 earth, save that by whom it was driven 
 back ! how few destined ever to return 
 to their beloved France ! The war, 
 begun with perfidy and carried out 
 with terror, was, in the words of the 
 French themselves, a source of making 
 fortunes to the generals, of misery to 
 the officers, and a grave to the poor 
 soldier. Arguelles demonstrates (‘Hist/ 
 ii. 367) that 549,750 Frenchmen en- 
 tered from Irun alone, of whom only 
 236,555 ever returned ; while the loss 
 on the Catalonian side exceeded 
 160,000. 
 
 The first legions were led across 
 the Bidasoa Oct. 18, 1808, by Ge- 
 nerals Laborde and our libeller M. 
 Foy, who were the first to meet the 
 English and defeat at Roleia, while by 
 a poetical justice this identical Foy was 
 the first to run and escape to France, 
 Oct. 17, 1813, when Vitoria had con- 
 summated the Duke’s career of un- 
 interrupted victory; then, as Napier 
 says, thousands of the finest and 
 bravest troops in the world fled like 
 sheep before the wolf; say rather 
 from that leopard which their Mas- 
 senas boasted they would drown 
 in the sea, provided it would only 
 dare to await their approach. And 
 how trifling were the means by 
 which this glorious result was ob- 
 tained ! “ By having kept about 
 
 30,000 men in the Peninsula, the Bri- 
 tish government gave for five years 
 employment to at least 200,000 French 
 troops of the best Napoleon had ; for 
 it is ridiculous to suppose that either 
 the Spaniards or the Portuguese could 
 have resisted one moment if the Bri- 
 tish force had been withdrawn” (Disp., 
 Dec. 21, 1813). The “same who 
 fought at Vimiero and Talavera fought 
 also at Sorauren” (Disp., Aug. 23, 
 1812). Neither was he adequately 
 supported by all the “ Or et Marine ” 
 
 of England, or by the “ patriot ismo in - - 
 vencible ” of Spain, since the “ service 
 was stinted and starved ” on land by 
 Lord Bathurst, while the French, cre- 
 dite posteri ! were left by Lord Mel- 
 ville masters by sea of the Basque 
 coast, and the conduct of the Spaniards 
 was terrible” (Disp., Feb. 7, 1814). 
 But it will be long ere the race of minis- 
 terial mediocrities is extinct, and the 
 sins of official drivellers not washed out 
 with the blood of the best and bravest. 
 The Duke in himself supplied the de- 
 ficiencies of others ; he husbanded his 
 “ handful of brave men,” which “ strug- 
 gled through its difficulties for nearly 
 six years” (Disp., April 7, 1814). He 
 was chary of them as of his children ; 
 thus, while Frederick the Great calcu- 
 lated the loss in every army during 
 each campaign at one-third of its num- 
 bers, the average loss of the Duke did 
 not exceed a sixth — see even Foy (i. 
 315), a notorious calumniator of our 
 general and soldiers — and this result 
 he obtained when contending against 
 an enemy “ every one of whose gene- 
 rals was prodigal of men ” (Disp., Aug. 
 23, 1813) ; for truly and sadly has Foy 
 remarked (i. 58) that the field of battle 
 was the natural death-bed of the French 
 conscript. Buonaparte’s murderous 
 strategies consisted either in “ En 
 avant, mes colonnes,” or in rapidity 
 backed by numerical superiority; he 
 fought at the rate of 10,000 men per 
 day. “ Vaincre, et trouver des instru- 
 mens de victoire, etait,” says Foy (i. 
 157), “le travail de sa vie,” and the 
 travail and death to millions. Yet, so 
 long as wounds were hidden under lau- 
 rels, and the groans of dying drowned 
 in shouts of victory, martial France 
 grudged not her valorous children to 
 the altar of her Moloch, military 
 glory ; and how much greater is the 
 glory of him who, thwarted by mise- 
 rable ministerial mediocrities at home 
 and abroad, opened with his handful 
 of men a campaign on the most western 
 rock of Europe ; and then proceeded, 
 in a steady advance of uninterrupted 
 triumph, to crush marshal after mar- 
 shal, the bravest of the brave, to rout 
 armies after armies the previous con- 
 querors of the world, until he perfected 
 
893 
 
 ROUTE 128 . — FUENTERRABIA. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 the good work by annihilating their 
 mighty master himself, and planting 
 the red banner of St. George on the 
 captured walls of Imperial Paris ! then 
 indeed, having cropped all their large 
 honours to make a garland for his 
 brows and given peace to the world, 
 he exchanged for a civil wand a sword 
 untarnished by cold bloodshed or pil- 
 lage. 
 
 Those going to Madrid, who have 
 leisure and wish to see San Sebastian, 
 will secure their places beforehand in 
 the diligence for Burgos, to be taken 
 up at Tolosa, allowing three days for 
 the excursion. 
 
 Route 128. — Irun to San Sebastian 
 and Tolosa. 
 
 FuenterrabiA 
 
 Lezo. 
 
 Renteria. 
 
 Passages. 
 
 San Sebastian . ... 41 
 
 Orio . . . . . . 2 .. 61 
 
 Zumaya ...... 2 .. 81 
 
 Azpeitia 3 ..111 
 
 Tolosa 4 151 
 
 A new road from Trun passes through 
 Renteria and San Sebastian, and then 
 joins the highway to Madrid at An - 
 doain; thus all the severe hills of 
 Urnieta, Ernani, and Oyarzun are 
 avoided, and at least two hours saved, 
 but many a Swiss-like view will be 
 lost. There is a diligence to San Se- 
 bastian ; or ladies, sick of comforts 
 and a carriage, may try, by way 
 of change, a little Spanish vice versa , 
 and may ride this tour en cacolet, 
 on quiet and prudent donkeys ; there 
 is a direct road by Renteria , but 
 a detour may be made to Fuenterrabia, 
 a name corrupted from the Latin. 
 Fons rapidus, which rises on the swift 
 Bidasoa, is 3 short m. from Irun : 
 here Milton placed, somewhat un geo- 
 graphically, the “ dolorous rout" of 
 Charlemagne ; yet, such is the gilding 
 power of genius, that this chance ex- 
 pression confers on obscure sites an 
 undying interest, and thus Fuenterrabia 
 rivals Vallombrosa. In itself it is a 
 miserable dilapidated spot, although 
 termed, by a grandiloquent misnomer, 
 a ‘‘city," while the four quarterings 
 
 bear an angel holding a key, a whale, 
 and two syrens, a castle between two 
 stars, which were bestowed by Philip 
 IV. in 1638, when the Prince de Conde 
 was here repulsed by the admiral of 
 Castile : consult ‘ Sitio y Socorro ,’ Pala- 
 fox y Mendoza, 4to., Madrid, 1639, 
 and 1793. 
 
 This then important key was then 
 placed under the especial protection of 
 the Virgin of Guadalupe ; but the 
 French, in 1794, completely dismantled 
 the place. The Fuenterrabians, in the 
 Peninsular war, begrudged during 
 winter-time even lodging to our sick ; 
 nay, the authorities wished to take 
 away even the hard boards on which 
 our disabled were stretched ; and these, 
 said the Duke, “are the people to whom 
 we have given medicines, & c., whose 
 wounded and sick we have taken into 
 our hospitals, and to whom we have 
 rendered every service in our power, 
 after having recovered their country 
 from the enemy !" (Disp., Nov. 27, 
 1813.) 
 
 Riding along the coast about 5 m. 
 over a wild, shaggy, scrubby country, 
 with patches of maize, is Lezo , situ- 
 ated under the Jaizquivel, on what 
 nature had scooped out as a port, but 
 which man’s neglect has allowed to be 
 choked up. It once was a celebrated 
 dockyard, and still possesses a Santo 
 Cristo , an image to which a grand pil- 
 grimage is made every Sept. 16, which 
 all travellers in this part of the world 
 at that time should join, in order to 
 see Basque costume and manners. Ren- 
 teria , distant about i L., with a pop. 
 of 1600, is placed on its stream, which, 
 running down from the valley of 
 Oyarzun , disembogues into the bay of 
 Pasages: the once excellent port has 
 from carelessness been much injured 
 by deposits : the deep land-locked bay 
 is one of the best harbours on this 
 rock-bound coast ; the narrow entrance 
 is defended by the Arando grande and 
 chico : when once inside, ships ride 
 safely : the bay narrows at la Punta 
 de las Cruzes , opposite to which is the 
 castle de Santa Isabel; the anchorage 
 between them is good ; higher up the 
 water gets shallow. Those pressed for 
 time may leave Lezo and Renteria to 
 
899 
 
 ROUTE 128 . — SAN SEBASTIAN — SIEGE. 
 
 Basque Provinces. 
 
 the 1., and cross over from Pasages , 
 and so either by the coast or by Her- 
 rera to San Sebastian. During the 
 Carlist struggle the opposing lines 
 closely approached each other : the 
 Christino, or Ametzas barrier, ran from 
 Pasages to Alza , joining the Ayete 
 lines below Loyola, and ending S. of 
 San Sebastian; those of the Carlists 
 began at Renteria, included the fort 
 of San Marco, came down to the 
 Urumea, and then crested heights to 
 Oriamendi, with Hernani behind. San 
 Sebastian was gallantly saved, Dec. 
 13, 1836, from the Carlists b^ Col. 
 Arbuthnot and the Legion, without 
 whom it must have fallen, for “ not a 
 piece of artillery there was fit for ser- 
 vice,” although a year’s time had been 
 given to the Spanish authorities to 
 prepare their defences. 
 
 The town of San Sebastian is built on 
 an isthmus under the conical hill Urgull 
 or Orgollo, which rises some 400 ft. 
 above the sea, afid is crowned by the 
 mota or strong castle, which renders 
 this fortress the Gibraltar of the 
 N. of Spain ; the place is isolated 
 by the tidal river Urumea , up which 
 salmon run : the marisma , or marshes, 
 are partly flooded at high water, ex- 
 cept the chofres , or sand-knolls ; the 
 winter wild-fowl shooting is excellent. 
 San Sebastian is the Brighton of 
 Madrid, and much frequented for sea- 
 bathing ; then small huts are run up 
 made of reeds, canas, which do the 
 service of machines, and, as they have 
 a tent-like look, are called el campa- 
 mento : when the tide is in, San Sebas- 
 tian seems to rise out of the sea : the 
 Urumea is crossed either by its long 
 wooden bridge, which is to be replaced 
 by one of stone, or in boats, which are 
 rowed by women, supposing the femi- 
 nine gender can be given to such am- 
 phibious fish-fags. These she-Charons 
 decorate their heads with beribboned 
 hats, and exercise their tongues with 
 the choicest Basque Billingsgate : so 
 report those who have the happiness 
 to understand the androgynous mer- 
 maids. The posadas are good : Parador 
 Real , kept by Mons. Lafitte, whose son 
 is an excellent guide ; Posada de Santa 
 Isabel, and the new one built by Don 
 
 Martin Oleyza, outside the town, near 
 the bathing-tents, El campamento. San 
 Sebastian used to be the capital of its 
 province ; now Tolosa has been sub- 
 stituted, and mutual hatred is the con- 
 sequence ; the town is modern, the 
 older one having been almost destroyed 
 during the war, but has since risen 
 like a phoenix from its ashes, and was 
 built on a regular rectangular plan, 
 which is more convenient than pic- 
 turesque, but vastly admired here 
 as being so “ civilized ; ” the lofty 
 and uniform houses with balconies 
 look rather un-Spanish: the hand- 
 some plaza, with its shops and 
 arcades, is used for bullfights and 
 executions. The town is the residence 
 of local authorities, and has a theatre ; 
 pop. about 10,000, and mercantile : 
 there is little to be seen : the citadel 
 is an irregular fortress, with five fronts. 
 The tombs of several Englishmen who 
 fell here are at the back of the rock. 
 The partido of San Sebastian is a jum- 
 ble of hill and vale ; the Arrobi, or 
 Iqueldo, rises some 3100 ft. high, and 
 commands a panorama over the ocean 
 and sandy landes of France : the hills 
 are somewhat denuded on the sea-side, 
 but inland are clothed with oak, ches- 
 nut, walnut, and aromatic underwood ; 
 a bad chacoli is made in sheltered loca- 
 lities, and a better cider : the apple 
 papandvja is excellent, the sea-fish de- 
 licious, abundant, and cheap ; fishing, 
 indeed, is the occupation of the poorer 
 classes. 
 
 San Sebastian is memorable for its 
 sieges, lies, and libels. It was obtained 
 in March, 1808, by Thevenot, when 
 the French got in under false pre- 
 tences as at Pamplona and elsewhere : 
 they held it during the war ; and being 
 in the rear of the Duke when ad- 
 vancing in 1813 on the Pyrenees, it 
 retarded his progress, and its posses- 
 sion became absolutely necessary ; 
 this was a work of great difficulty ; in 
 1813 it was garrisoned by 3000 
 French veterans under Gen. Rey ; the 
 Duke, from the usual neglect of our 
 “ archmediocrity” ministers, was again 
 left to sue the place in forma pauperis, 
 as at Badajoz and Burgos. In spite 
 of repeated applications to Lord Ba- 
 
900 
 
 ROUTE 128. — SAN SEBASTIAN— SIEGE — LIBELS. Sect XII* 
 
 thurst, he waited from July 25th to 
 August 26th for want of means even to 
 commence operations, during which 
 time the active enemy strengthened 
 their defences, being supplied from 
 France by sea ! (‘ Disp.’ Aug. 11, 1813). 
 In vain the Duke had warned Lord 
 Melville, “ under whose fatal rule,” 
 says Napier, “the navy of England 
 was first exposed to defeat, and who 
 now did his best to ensure a similar 
 misfortune to the army read the 
 heart-burning correspondence from 
 Lesaca, especially of the 19tli, 20th, 
 and 21st of August: and to make 
 matters worse, Graham, to whom the 
 siege was intrusted, neglected the 
 advice of Sir C. Felix Smith, the 
 defender of Tarifa, and of Sir Rd. 
 Fletcher: this fine officer, the Vauban 
 of the Torres Vedras, soon was killed 
 here. Graham having failed in a night 
 attack, Aug. 24, the Duke w T as forced 
 to come in person to s^t matters right, 
 although thereby he was obliged to 
 leave Pamplona exposed to be relieved 
 by Soult, which was all but effected : 
 the Duke’s arrival was, as usual, the 
 omen of victory : now the town was 
 assaulted as it ought to have been at 
 first, from the chofres , and was taken 
 Aug. 31 ; the French, after a most 
 gallant defence retired to the upper 
 citadel, on which, by the almost super- 
 human efforts of the engineers, backed 
 by the blue-jackets, guns w r ere brought 
 to bear ; it surrendered Sept. 9th, two- 
 thirds of the valorous garrison having 
 perished, while nearly 5000 English 
 troops were killed and wounded. The 
 spirited conduct of Rey was stained by 
 his unmanly behaviour to women and 
 cruelty to prisoners (Southey, 44), 
 and he forced the English, “ contrary 
 to all the rules of war” (the Duke), to 
 labour at the works sans blindages, and 
 at points the most exposed to their own 
 countrymen’s fire ; “ of such conduct,” 
 said the Duke, “ I have never heard” 
 (Disp., Sept. 3rd, 5th, 1813). San 
 Sebastian was sacked by the captors 
 according to all the usages of war, and 
 such ever is the sad fate of all places 
 taken bv storm. This event, which 
 gave infinite sorrow and disgust to the 
 Duke, is now made a standing libel 
 
 against the English, as the xefe politico 
 of San Sebastian. One Conde de Villa 
 Fuentes, accused our officers of purposely 
 burning the town because it traded w ith 
 France, as if this paltry beggarly 
 Basque port could excite the jealousy 
 of the masters of the world’s com- 
 merce. This gentleman next called on 
 the Spaniards to revenge themselves 
 on the English ! — of a truth, hov r - 
 ever rude sundry of Basque worthies 
 may be in forging their native iron, few 
 excel in “ forging lies,” either in 
 favour of himself or in disparagement 
 of others. These infamous falsehoods 
 were printed by O’Donoju, the war 
 minister at Cadiz, in his anti-English 
 paper el Duende ; thereupon the Duke 
 called the Regency to account, who 
 formally contradicted the libel in their 
 official gazette of Oct. 20th, 1813. This 
 O’Donoju sprung from a refugee Irish 
 Catholic family, was aide-de-camp to 
 Godoy and then to Cuesta, and, al- 
 though he rose higher from British 
 protection (Schep. iii. 100), repaid his 
 patrons by bitter anti-English ingrati- 
 tude, insomuch that the quiet Duke 
 talked of him as the “ greatest of all 
 blackguards” (Disp., Nov. 19th, 1813). 
 Such were poor Spain’s v 7 ar ministers ; 
 this base scion of the great black chief 
 the O’Donogue Dhuw, died poisoned 
 by his own subalterns in Mexico— 
 Cosas de Espaha. The truth, the 
 whole truth, and nothing but the 
 truth, is recorded in the Duke’s let- 
 ters (Disp., Oct. 9th, 23rd, and Nov. 
 2nd, 1813). These documents our un- 
 fair inveterate calumniators never 
 quote, while they continue to repeat 
 every refuted falsehood ad nauseam. 
 Even the Duke’s iron-nerved temper 
 gave way, although he had hitherto 
 taken no more notice of angry words 
 than the man in the moon does of the 
 swelling tides, or Shakspere’s cliff of 
 the chattering choughs. Being accus- 
 tomed in regard to himself to repose 
 on the pedestal of his own glory and 
 good conscience, he intertwined these 
 paper inventions of the worsted enemy 
 amid his victorious laurels, and trusted 
 to time, which reveals everything; 
 yet now, stung by the vermin who 
 attacked his officers, his indignation 
 
901 
 
 — SAN SEBASTIAN — LIBELS. 
 
 Basque Provinces, route 128 . 
 
 was such “ that, if he were to direct, 
 he would not have kept the army in 
 Spain for an hour.” So when Bernar- 
 din Mendoza (called Mendacia from 
 his “pack of lies”), the Spanish am- 
 bassador at France, converted defeats 
 into victories, and published libels 
 against the officers of Elizabeth, our 
 Drake, who never noticed personal 
 abuse against himself, at once over- 
 whelmed his calumniator, and showed 
 that he could deal with such an enemy 
 as readily with his pen as with his 
 sword. 
 
 How stand real facts ? — stern things 
 — -San Sebastian beyond a shadow of 
 a doubt was set on fire by the French 
 July 22nd, as is admitted by Bey 
 in his own dispatch, and it was done 
 for the express purpose of annoying 
 the English by preventing their 
 progress ; this it so effectually did, 
 that many of our soldiers were actually 
 shot by the Basque townsfolk while 
 extinguishing those very flames which 
 they are now accused of having lighted ! 
 The text furnished by Buonaparte, a 
 man who abhorred terrorism and false- 
 hood, ran thus: “ Les Anglais com- 
 mettent des horreurs dont les annales 
 de la guerre offrent peu d'exemples, 
 et dont cette nation barbare etait seule 
 capable dans un siecle de civilisation” 
 (‘ (Euv. de Buon.,' i. 116). These be 
 hard words, Master Pistol, and scarcely 
 civil withoutbeing at all true ; neverthe- 
 less the so-called historians on both sides 
 of the Pyrenees who write, as regards 
 England, so much in hate and so little 
 in honour, took up this imperial thema 
 with variations, or, to use one of the 
 truthful Duke's straightforward facts, 
 with “ an improvement of the lies even 
 of the Moniteur” (Disp., Sept. 16th, 
 1813) ; and to this day they are warmed 
 up by those very candid persons who 
 befoul their English nests to conciliate 
 the disciples of Voltaire and of revolu- 
 tionary terrorism : these, forsooth, are 
 unusual atrocities when British troops 
 are concerned, but only des horreurs 
 inevitables when perpetrated by Buo- 
 napartists. But the English generals 
 everywhere repressed these outrages, 
 and so tender was the Duke of Spanish 
 cities, that he never used mortars ex- 
 
 cept when it could not be helped (Disp., 
 July 30, 1813), whereas the invaders, 
 to quote another of their conqueror's 
 quiet truthful expressions, everywhere 
 and invariably “ committed horrors 
 until then unheard of” (Disp. Nov. 
 22nd, 1812), and particularly with the 
 bomb, as Spain in ruins still testifies. 
 Southey (ch. 44) has with an eloquent 
 indignation refuted these libels, and 
 demonstrated the terrific atrocities 
 habitually perpetrated by our calumni- 
 ators, by those plundering, butchering, 
 bulletin-forging Victors h la Medellin. 
 Our general, brave as merciful, wept 
 like Scipio at burning cities ; and, 
 from his not rejoicing like a Nero in 
 the “ beauty of the fire,” our libeller 
 Foy accuses him and his troops of a 
 dull insensibility to the “ sublimity of 
 destruction” (see Lerida and Manresa, 
 Ucles, Cuenca, Coria, Bioseeo, Tarra- 
 gona, et passim) ; but the horrors 
 habitually practised at these and other 
 places by these heros de cent razzias 
 were a disgrace to even revolutionary 
 nature, and they remain undetailed in 
 these pages from the ineffable dis- 
 gust they give writer and reader. 
 Tel maitre tel valet , and we have only 
 to consult the early and untampered 
 volumes of the Memoires of Joseph, 
 to see that the positive orders of 
 Napoleon were, to fire, pillage, execute 
 and terrorize, without mercy. 
 
 Quitting these sad scenes, lies, and 
 libels, and taking the coast-road to 
 Zumaya , we ascend the clear pictu- 
 resque TJrola , the “ water of smithies,” 
 which flows through the delicious 
 green valley of Loyola , about 1 short 
 L. from Azpeitia. At the head of the 
 valley are the ferruginous baths of 
 Cestona, which are much frequented 
 from June to September ; the accom- 
 modations are tolerable, and the build- 
 ing will take in 140 persons ; the 
 warm water is conveyed into stone 
 basins, which are sunk in bathing 
 chambers or alcoves. 
 
 There is sometimes a steamer runs 
 from San Sebastian to La Ceste in 
 France, which communicates with 
 Bordeaux by rail. 
 
 Azpeitia , with a decent Parador , is 
 
 pleasantly situated amid its gardens, 
 2 R 3 
 
902 
 
 ROUTE 128. — AZPEITIA — LOYOLA. 
 
 Sect. XII. 
 
 under the hill Izarraiz ; pop. 4200. 
 It is a walled place and has four gates. 
 The Doric facade of the church San 
 Sebastian was planned in 1767 by 
 Ventura Rodriguez, and the heavy 
 statue of the tutelar was carved by one 
 Pedro Michel, who was no Michael 
 Angelo. You may also look at the 
 tomb of a Bishop of Tuy. Inside is 
 the Pila, the font at which Loyola was 
 baptized : the French, in 1794, carried 
 off the silver cover : yet mothers flock 
 here with their babies to have them 
 christened Ignacio. Sterile women 
 used to offer their shifts at this shrine 
 in the hopes of becoming happy 
 mothers : to what shifts must they 
 now be put since the burly Jesuits are 
 gone ! 
 
 Make an excursion to the Fundicion 
 de Iraeta and visit the iron-works ; also 
 to the ferruginous baths at Cestona ; 
 but the marvel of the locality is the 
 large Jesuit college, which was built 
 out of the residence formerly belong- 
 ing to the family of Ignacio Loyola ; 
 being pleasantly placed under the 
 heights, with a fertile plain in front, 
 the site exactly suited an order which 
 never was known to found a convent in 
 a barren ground. The santuario was 
 founded in 1671 by Mariana of Aus- 
 tria, from designs of Carlo Fontana, a 
 Roman architect. The edifice is now 
 untenanted, excepting by a chaplain 
 
 who shows it to visitors. The church 
 is handsome, and enriched with jas- 
 pers from the hill Izarraiz , “ the rock 
 the cimborio or cupola supported by 
 pillars is elegant: observe the marbles 
 and mosaics. The entrance-hall to 
 the monastery is noble, and the double 
 corridor beyond is handsome ; in a long 
 low room up stairs San Ignacio was 
 born in 1491, and now the sacred site 
 is encased and venerated, like the 
 house of the Virgin, which angels 
 moved from Palestine to Loretto. 
 This Santa Casa, in fact, is here com- 
 pared to Bethlehem ! and was made a 
 temple, as used to be done in Pagan 
 times (Mart. ix. 2) ; the religio loci was 
 turned to profit. The chapel in which 
 Loyola recovered from his wounds 
 received at the siege of Pamplona — • 
 this “ holiest of holies , 99 to which St. 
 Peter came down from heaven to 
 attend this patient! — is divided by a 
 reja, and is ornamented with bold 
 carvings, some gilt and painted, which 
 illustrate the authentic marvels and 
 subjects in his life. Consult his ‘ Vida,’ 
 &c., Pedro Ribadeneira, Duo., Mad., 
 1586; and see p. 424. 
 
 From Azpeitia to Tolosa is a charm- 
 ing pastoral, Swiss-like ride, especially 
 the last four or five miles among the 
 hills, wild woods, and long-leaved 
 chesnuts. 
 
Arragon . 
 
 ( 903 ) 
 
 SECTION XIII. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF ARRAGON. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Geography, Constitutional Liberties, and Character of the Natives ; 
 
 Works to consult. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ZARAGOZA 906 
 
 ROUTE 129. — ZARAGOZA TO BAR- 
 CELONA 919 
 
 Lerida. 
 
 THE PYRENEES 923 
 
 ROUTE 130. — ZARAGOZA TO URDAX 928 
 San J uan de la Pena. 
 
 ROUTE 131. — JACA TO SALLENT . . 930 
 
 ROUTE 132. — JACA TO BRECHA DE 
 ROLDAN 932 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ROUTE 133. — ZARAGOZA TO HUESCA 934 
 
 ROUTE 134.— ZARAGOZA TO GISTAIN 937 
 
 Barbas tro ; Ainsa; the Maledeta; Be- 
 nasque ; Valle de Aran. 
 
 ROUTE 135.— ZARAGOZA TO TUDELA 941 
 
 ROUTE 136. — TUDELA TO ARANDA 
 
 DEL DUERO * Q42 
 
 Tarazona ; Agreda ; Soria. 
 
 ROUTE 137. — TUDELA TO LOGROnO 944 
 Calahorra; Logrono. 
 
 The warm months are the best periods for visiting Arragon, and especially the Pyrenean dis- 
 tricts. Zaragoza, Huesca, and Route 134 are the objects of chief interest. 
 
 El Beino de Aragon . — The kingdom of Arragon, once a separate and inde- 
 pendent state, was, Castile alone excepted, the most warlike and powerful 
 one in the Peninsula. It extends in length about 140 miles E. to W., and 
 about 200 miles N. and S., and is encompassed by mountains on all sides 
 — viz. the Pyrenees, the Sierras of Morelia, Albarracin, Molina, and Soria. 
 The Ebro, which might be made navigable, flows through the central basin, 
 N.W. to S.E., and divides the kingdom almost equally. The climate varies ac- 
 cording to locality and elevation : generally speaking, the province, from being 
 so exposed to mountains, is much wind-blown ; thus the plains over which the 
 cutting blasts descend from the Moncayo, the home of iEolus, are most miser- 
 able. The chief winds are El Cierzo, the N.W., El Bochorno, the S.E., both of 
 which are keen and cold, while El Faqueno , the W. (Favonius), brings showers, 
 warmth, and fertility. The vegetable productions are varied, as the soil ranges 
 from the snow-capt mountain to the sunny plain under the latitude 41. The 
 botany and Flora of the Spanish Pyrenees, as well as the natural history, 
 geology, and mineralogy, have yet to be properly investigated. The Montes 
 abound with game, the hill lochs, Tbones , and hill streams with trout. 
 The population is under a million, which is scanty for an area of 15,000 
 English miles. Accordingly, large tracts of fertile land are left in a state of 
 nature, depopulated and uncultivated. Much, however, is of that hungry 
 
904 
 
 ARRAGON — TI-IE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 description which, according to the old traveller in Purchas, produces little 
 except “ craggez and stonez, that maketh pilgrymez weary bonez.” The 
 Arragonese themselves consider liberty to have been the great compensation by 
 which their ancestors were indemnified for such a hard soil and climate. This 
 district, too ungenial for the Moors of the plain, was chiefly peopled by the Ber- 
 ber mountaineers, but they were soon expelled by the children of the Goth, who, 
 so early as 819, united together in the’ fastnesses of Sobrarbe, where their primi- 
 tive laws were drawn up, which became the model of the Fueros of many other 
 cities. The government was conducted by patres et Seniores, heads of families, 
 and elders, and from the latter word the Spanish term Senor or lord is derived. 
 These Fueros were digested into a code by Vital, bishop of Huesca, and con- 
 firmed in that town in 1246, by Jaime I. The prerogatives of the kings, who 
 were scarcely more than presidents, were much curtailed by these Arragonese 
 Ephori, whose allegiance was but limited and conditional ; thus the crown was 
 but the coronet of the noble, with a somewhat richer jewellery, for each vassal 
 singly held himself to be as good as his king, and all united held themselves to be 
 better. About the year 1137 Petronilla, daughter of Ramon el Monge, and heiress 
 of the crown, married Ramon Berenguer, sovereign count of Barcelona ; thus 
 military Arragon was incorporated with commercial Catalonia, and the united 
 people extended their conquests and trade alike by sea and land, becoming 
 masters of the Mediterranean, Naples, Sicily, and Valencia. All these acqui- 
 sitions were carried to the crown of Castile by the marriage, in 1479, of Ferdi- 
 nand, heir apparent of Arragon, with Isabella; thus the first link of their 
 golden wedding-ring joined Arragon to Castile, and the last link connected the 
 New World to Spain; all these consolidations descended from them to 
 their grandson Charles V. As Ferdinand had jealously maintained his sepa- 
 rate rights of a sovereign perfectly independent of Castile, the Arragonese, after 
 his death, insisted on the continuance of their own peculiar laws and Fueros , 
 which almost guaranteed republican institutions under an ostensible monarchy ; 
 but such was the peculiarity of most of the early Peninsular popular liberties, 
 which were enjoyed to a greater extent than any other European nation, 
 England not excepted. 
 
 The Arragonese Fueros , which almost guaranteed republican institutions under 
 an ostensible monarchy, are now curiosities for legal antiquarians. The Parlia- 
 ment met in four Brazos , branches — the clergy, the nobility, the gentry, and the 
 people — and each voted separately, the consent of all four being necessary to pass 
 a law. The greatest jealousy against the monarch was exhibited in all matters 
 of finance and personal liberty, while a high officer, called el Justicia , the im- 
 personation of masculine Justice, Mr. Justice, was the guardian of the laws, 
 and stood a Juez medio or go-between the king and the people. In all appeals 
 when the Fueros were infringed, the appellant was said to be manifestado , &c. ; 
 his person vras thus brought under the custody of the court, as by our Habeas 
 Corpus, and his cause removed from ordinary tribunals, as by our writ of quo 
 warranto and certiorari. The society at large was secured by the “ Union” or 
 a confederacy, whose members, in case the king violated the law, were absolved 
 from allegiance. This element of disunion was abolished in 1348, when Pedro 
 IV. cut the parchment to pieces with his dagger, and having wounded himself 
 in his haste, exclaimed, Tal fuero sang re de Bey habia costar , “ Such a charter 
 ntust cost a king’s blood:” hence he was called El del Punal. The French 
 destroyed, in 1808, his curious portrait in this attitude. In 1591 the notorious 
 Antonio Perez fled, to Zaragoza, and appealed to Juan Lanuza, the Justicia , 
 whereupon Philip II. marched an army into Arragon, and hanged the judge, 
 with whom perished this privilege ; and whatever liberties were then respected 
 were abolished in 1707 by Philip V. Zaragoza has now an Audiencia or tri- 
 bunal supremo de Justicia , with a jurisdiction over more than 750,000 souls : the 
 number of persons tried is usually about 1 in every 340. 
 
ARRAGON — WORKS TO CONSULT. 
 
 905 
 
 Arragon. 
 
 For the ancient constitutional curiosities of Arragon consult its Coke, Gero- 
 nimo Zurita ; the early edition of his * Anales * is rare, 6 vols. fol. Zaragoza, 
 1562-80-85. It was republished in 7 vols. fol. in 1610-21, and continued by 
 Vincencio Blasco de Lanuza, 2 vols. 1622, and by Bartolome Leonardo de Ar- 
 gensola, 1 vol. fol. 1630; 4 Coronaciones / &c. Geronimo de Blancas, 4to. Zar. 
 1641 ; by Miguel Ramon Zapater, 1 vol. fol. 1663 ; by Diego de Sayas Rabanera 
 y Ortuna, 1 vol. fol. 1666 ; by Diego Joseph Dormer, 1 vol. fol. 1697 ; and by 
 Jose de Panyano, 1 vol. fol. 1705. All this series was printed at Zaragoza. 
 
 4 Corona real del Pireneo / Domingo de la Ripa, 2 vols. fol. Zar. 1685 ; and his 
 4 Defensa Historica de Sobrabe,’ fol. Zar. 1675. Consult also 4 Anales de Aragon / 
 B. L. Argensola, 1st part, fol. Zar. 1630; and 2nd part by Uztaroz, fol. Zar, 
 1663 ; 4 Teatro Historico de las Iglesias de Aragon / Lamberto Zaragoza. Pamp. 
 1782-5, 4to. 4 vols. This excellent work was continued by Ramon de Huesca, 
 1785-1807, 5 vols. 4to. ; the complete set is in 9 vols.: ‘Los Reyes de Aragon ,’ 
 Pedro Abarca, 2 vols. fol. Mad. 1682-4, and ‘ Historia de la Economia Political 
 D. J. de Asso, 4to. Zar. 1705. The best catalogue of works of Spanish consti- 
 tutions and jurisprudence, and especially as regards Arragon and Catalonia, is 
 4 Sacra Themidis Hispance Arcana’ 8vo. Mad. 1780. This work was compiled 
 by the learned Juan Lucas Cortes, but was purloined, and first published as his 
 own, by a Dane, one Gerard de Frankenau. For Arragonese authors, consult 
 4 La Tassu,’ 8 vols. 4 to. 
 
 Arragon, a disagreeable province, is inhabited by a disagreeable people. 
 Obstinacy , indeed, is the characteristic of the testarudo natives, who are said to 
 drive nails into walls with their heads, into which when anything is driven, 
 nothing can get it out. They have, however, a certain serious Spartan sim-i 
 plicity, and are fine, vigorous, active men, warlike, courageous, and enduring to* 
 the last. Like the Catalonians, they have the antipathies of position and the 
 hankerings after former independence ; they detest the Castilians and abhor the 
 French, using them both for their own objects and then abusing them. Their 
 costume differs from the Catalonian, as knee breeches take the place of panta- 
 loons, and broad-brimmed slouching hats do of the red Phrygian cap or a hand- 
 kerchief. The lower classes are fond of red and blue colours, and wear very broad 
 silken sashes. The favourite national air and dance is La Jota Aragonesa , which 
 is brisk and jerky, but highly spirit-stirring to the native, on whom, when afar 
 from Arragon, it acts like the Ranz des Y aches on the Swiss, creating an irre- 
 sistible Nostalgia or home-sickness. The arms of Arragon are 44 Or four bars 
 gules/’ said to have been assumed by Wifred el Velloso , who, when wounded in 
 battle, drew his bleeding fingers across his golden shield, a truly soldierlike 
 blazon, cruor horrida tinxerat arma. 
 
 The finest portions of the Pyrenees lie in Arragon, and have yet to be inves- 
 tigated by geologists, botanists, artists, and sportsmen; while the French slope; 
 is full of summer watering-places, social, sensual, and civilized, the Spanish 
 side is rude, savage, and Iberian, the lair of the smuggler, and of wild bird and 
 beast. All who venture into the recesses must attend to the provend, and take 
 a local guide. 
 
 This lofty range stretches far beyond the transversal spine, for the mountains 
 of the Basque provinces, Asturias and Gallicia, are but its continuation. The 
 width of the range is narrowest to theE., being only about 20 miles across near 
 Figueras , while the heights are the lowest at the W. extremity, seldom exceed- 
 ing 9000 feet. The width opposite Pamplona ranges at about 40 miles. The 
 average height of perpetual snow ranges between 8000 feet and 9000 feet, a 
 datum which is useful in calculating elevations. In the Alps this line is at 
 6600 feet, in the Andes 14,000 feet. 
 
 The two best carriageable lines of intercommunication are placed at each ex- 
 tremity : that to the W. passes through Trim, that to the E. through Figueras . 
 On these lines are the best towns and accommodations. The chief secondary 
 
906 
 
 ZARAGOZA. — EARLY SIEGES. Sect. XIII. 
 
 passes are the Puerto de Maya and de Poncesvalles in Navarre; those of Can- 
 franc Panticosa , Gavarnir, Vielsa , Brecha de Boldan, and Marcaudau m Arragon : 
 and of Plan de Ause , Puigcerda, and the Col de Pertus in Catalonia. For more 
 details on the Pyrenees, see p. 926. 
 
 ZARAGOZA is the time-honoured, 
 immortal capital of Arragon : Inns, 
 Las Cuatro Naciones ; Fonda de las 
 Diligencias ; el Leon de Oro , Calle del 
 Coso ; el Turco, Calle Areocineja. 
 There are good baths at la Casa de 
 Banos and del Haerva. 
 
 Zaragoza was the Celtiberian Sal- 
 duba; but when Augustus, a.c. 25, 
 became its benefactor, it was called 
 Caesarea Augusta , K 
 (Strabo, iii. 225), of which the pre- 
 sent name is a corruption ; always a 
 free city or Colonia immunis , haying its 
 own charters ; it was a Conventus Juri- 
 dicus , or seat of judicial assizes. It had 
 a mint, of which Florez (‘ Med/ i. 186) 
 enumerates sixty-six coins, ranging 
 from Augustus to Caligula. There 
 are no remains of the Roman city, 
 which Moors and Spaniards have used 
 as a quarry, and whatever antiquities 
 turn up in digging new foundations 
 are reinterred as “ useless old stones ; ” 
 Cean Berm. Sum°. 131. 
 
 Zaragoza set an early example of 
 renouncing Paganism, and here Aulus 
 Prudentius, the first Christian poet, 
 was born, a.d. 348 (some, however, 
 say at Calahorra). Then the city 
 could boast of primitive martyrs and 
 real Christianity, Christus in totis ha- 
 bitat platoeis, Christus ubique est 
 (Peris, iv. 71). Now, however, the 
 Virgin reigns paramount. It is, and 
 always has been, a city of relics ; thus 
 in 542, when besieged by the French, 
 under Childebert, the burgesses car- 
 ried the stole or Estola of San Vicente 
 round the walls, which at once scared 
 away the invaders (f Esp. Sag.’ viii. 
 187 ; xxx. 127). But the French grew 
 wiser in 1200 years; thus when the 
 Duke of Orleans, in 1707, overran 
 Arragon with troops, the Conde de 
 Puebla assured the Zaragozans that 
 there were no real French at all, but 
 that their appearance was a “ magical 
 illusion so the old stole was brought 
 
 out against them in the old style, but 
 the invaders took the town forthwith 
 (Mahon, 4 War of Sue.’ vi.). 
 
 Zaragoza was captured by the Moors 
 in the eighth century, but the victors 
 being chiefly of Berber extraction, 
 soon waged war against the Kalif of 
 Cordova. Thus their Sheikh, Suley- 
 man Al-Arabi (the Ibn Alarabi of old 
 Spanish Chronicles), went in 777 to 
 Paderborn, to implore the aid of Char- 
 lemagne ; but when this especial cham- 
 pion of Christian Fnirope against the 
 Saracens, thus invited, entered Ar- 
 ragon in 778, the. perverse people 
 refused to admit their allies into their 
 garrison, and rose upon them when re- 
 turning to France by Roncesvalles. 
 Zaragoza was recovered from the 
 Moors in 1118 by Alonso el bat al- 
 lador, after a siege of five years, when 
 the stubborn population had almost all 
 perished from hunger. Nevertheless, 
 as most things in Spain are accidental, 
 in 1591, when Philip II. advanced on 
 Zaragoza, the citizens “ committed 
 themselves to such safety as their heels 
 might procure them , abandoning their 
 guest, Antonio Perez, and presently 
 after the city of Zaragoza” (Corne- 
 wayle in Somers Tracts, iii. 311). 
 So in 1823 the Patriots swaggered 
 stupendously, and forthwith surren- 
 dered to Molitor, Ballesteros being the 
 first to seek safety in his heels. For 
 the resistances of nobler renown, see 
 post, p. 917. 
 
 Zaragoza is a dull, gloomy, and old- 
 fashioned town : Pop. about 65,000. 
 Being the capital of the province, it 
 is the residence of a Captain-General, 
 and chief military and civil authori- 
 ties, and the seat of an audiencia. It 
 has a. theatre, museo, circulo or club, 
 Plaza de Toros, and university, with 
 the usual civil and military establish- 
 ments ; it is the see of an archbishop 
 since 1318, whose suffragans are Hu- 
 esca, Barbastro, Jaca, Tarazona, Al- 
 
ZARAGOZA — EARLY ARTISTS. 907 
 
 Arragon . 
 
 barracin, and Teruel. It is placed in 
 a fertile plain which is irrigated by 
 the Ebro ; this river separates the city 
 from its suburb, and is crossed by a 
 good stone bridge ; seen from outside, 
 the town, with its slim towers and 
 spires, has an imposing character from 
 without, but inside it is full of beggars 
 and poverty ; the streets are mostly 
 tortuous lanes, ill-paved and worse 
 lighted, with the exception of the 
 Coso or Pozo moat, which is the aorta 
 of the town, and the great passage of 
 circulation, or el curso, like the Corso 
 at Rome. The houses are indeed 
 castles, being built in solid masonry ; 
 but time-honoured Zaragoza has been 
 battered by French bombs, and sacri- 
 ficed to upstart Madrid ; too many of 
 the mansions of an absentee nobility 
 are either left in a cliancery-like dila- 
 pidation, or let to agriculturists, who 
 talk about bullocks in stately saloons, 
 and convert noble Patios into farm- 
 yards and dung-heaps. These rude 
 rustics also block up the city lanes 
 with their cumbersome primitive carts; 
 these they moreover fill with dismal 
 noises, of their, own and their creak- 
 ing wheels making, to which are added 
 certain iron clanking cymbals, that 
 give notice of their approach, as in 
 very few streets can two vehicles 
 pass ; hence the din, dirt, stench, and 
 insolent obstructions are intolerable. 
 At Zaragoza the architect will fully 
 comprehend the substantial style of 
 Arragonese building ; and observe the 
 superbly carved soffits, rafters, and ex- 
 ternal cornices, the rich internal 
 cinque-cento decorations, and the 
 slim church belfry towers, which are 
 usually constructed in brick, angular 
 in form, and ornamented outside with 
 an embroidered tracery. The artist 
 may here study a school of painting 
 which is little known in Spain, and 
 quite unknown out of it. As the 
 entire observations of Cean Ber- 
 mudez were fortunately still in MS., 
 the French not having a printed 
 guide, did not know where to go 
 for art-plunder, not but what their 
 fatal bombs destroyed much of 
 what they otherwise would have col- 
 lected : consult Minano’s 4 Diccionario,’ 
 
 x. 80. The chief artists are Ramon 
 Torrente , obt. 1323, and his pupil 
 Guillen Fort ; Bonant de Ortiga , who 
 flourished in 1437 ; Pedro de Aponte , 
 painter in 1479 to Ferdinand, and a 
 pupil in Italy of Signorelli and Ghir- 
 landajo ; Tomas Pelegret, a co-pupil of 
 Polidoro Caravaggio, who introduced 
 the cinque-cento style, which Damian 
 Forment , the Berruguete of Arragon, 
 carried to such perfection in sculpture. 
 Antonio Galderan , who painted so much 
 at Barbastro, in 1588; Geronimo de 
 Mora , who studied, in 1587, under F. 
 Zuccaro, in the Escorial : Francisco 
 Ximenez , obt. 1666, who painted in the 
 Seu the life of San Pedro Arbues. 
 Arragonese art ceased with Goya and 
 Bayeu, being then strangled by the 
 commonplace R. Academical. Zara- 
 goza bears for 'arms “Gules, a lion 
 rampant, or,” granted, say the natives, 
 by Augustus Csesar. The lay of the 
 old and smaller town is clearly marked 
 out by those streets, which have since 
 been built on the former boulevards or 
 circumvallation : it began at the river, 
 passed up the Mercado Nuevo , in the 
 Coso, thence to the Puerta del Sol, 
 where a few Roman ruins have been 
 traced ; here the rivulet Huerba flows 
 into the Ebro ; the south side is laid 
 out in public walks, and long lines of 
 poplar trees. The favourite Alamedas 
 are Santa Engracia , the Torrero , and 
 Casa blanca ; the latter is especially 
 frequented on June 24, El dia de San 
 Juan , and June 29, of San Pedro. 
 
 Zaragoza will not detain the tra- 
 veller long, for here the invaders, as 
 at Burgos, Salamanca, and Toledo, 
 have ruined palaces, libraries, hospi- 
 tals, churches, etc. For what the city 
 was before that visitation, consult 
 4 Tropheos y Antigiiedades,’ Luis Lopez 
 de Lino, 4to., Barcelona, 1639 ; 4 Obe- 
 lisco de Zaragoza Juan Fr°. Andres, 
 4to., Zar., 1646; Ponz, 4 Viaje’ xv. : 
 for Zaragozan worthies, 4 Inscripciones 
 en la B,eal Sala de la Diputacion ,’ Gero- 
 nimo de Blancas, 4to., Zaragoza, 1680 : 
 for the ecclesiastical and hagiogra- 
 phical, Florez, ‘ Esp. Sag ’ xxx. xxxi., 
 and 4 Historia de Iglesia’ Diego Mu- 
 rillo, 4to., Barcelona, 1616. 
 
 Commence sight-seeing at the noble 
 
908 
 
 ZARAGOZA— THE OLD CATHEDRAL. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 stone bridge which was thrown across 
 the muddy Ebro in 1437. The two 
 cathedrals now rise in front ; for in 
 Spain, that land of contrasts, this pro- 
 vincial city has two metropolitans, 
 while the capital, Madrid, has none. 
 The chapter reside .alternately for six 
 months in each of these cathedrals, 
 w r hich in exterior, interior, and creed, 
 are also complete contrasts: one is an 
 ancient severe church raised to the Sa- 
 viour ; the other a modern theatrical tem- 
 ple dedicated to the Great Diana, for 
 now we are in the very Ephesus of Spa- 
 nish Mariolatry. The former edifice 
 rises to the S. or to the 1., looking 
 from the bridge, and is called the Sea 
 (Sedes, See ; Cathedra, Cathedral). The 
 style is Gothic, but the exterior of the 
 entrance unfortunately was modernised 
 by Julian Yarza, in the pseudo style 
 of 1683. The whitewashed frippery, 
 pillars, and lumbering statues of 
 apostles, by one Giral, contrast with 
 portions of the original arabesque 
 brick-work. One octangular belfry- 
 tower, struck by lightning, April 7, 
 1850, is drawn out into four divisions 
 like a telescope, and was finished by 
 Juan Baptista C-ontini, with heavy 
 ornaments ; the other is unfinished. 
 The gate of La Pavorderia is of the 
 better period of Charles Y. The Pa- 
 vorde is peculiar to Arragon, Catalonia, 
 and Valencia. The word has been 
 derived by some from pascor pavi, be- 
 cause certain rations were furnished 
 by this dignitary. 
 
 On entering, the noble spacious 
 cathedral, in spite of the choir, shows 
 very well from the W. end. Observe 
 the red marble pavement, with rays 
 in black, diverging from the bases of 
 the piers, and the roof studded with 
 gilt rosettes and wheels. The very 
 rich retablo of the high altar was 
 erected in 1456 by B. P. Dalmau de 
 Mur ; the three divisions are canopied 
 by Gothic shrines. The singular mo- 
 saic work, Angels bearing Shields, the 
 Adoration, Transfiguration, and Ascen- 
 sion, were wrought by Martinez de 
 Donatelo. The under divisions are 
 smaller and somewhat heavy. Observe 
 the sedilia to the r. used by El Sacer- 
 dote, who consecrates the host, El 
 
 Diacono , who reads the gospel, and El 
 Subdiacono, who reads the epistle. 
 Near is the fine tomb and recumbent 
 figure of Archbishop Juan, obt. 1531, 
 and of Archbishop Alfonso, obt. 1520 : 
 to the 1. is deposited the heart of Don 
 Baltazar, son to Philip IV. ; he was 
 the Infante so often painted by Velaz- 
 quez, who died here of small -pox, 
 Oct. 9, 1616, aged 17. The octangular 
 Cimborio was commenced by Benedict 
 III., and finished, as a Gothic inscrip- 
 tion records, in 1 520. Here Ferdinand 
 el Catolico, born at Sos in 1456, was 
 baptised. The Coro is Gothic ; observe 
 the archbishop’s throne ; good facistol, 
 1413. The fine cinque-cento trascoro 
 was executed in 1538 by Tudelilla of 
 Tarazona, who had studied in Italy ; 
 and in it Catholicity struggles with 
 Paganism, fauns with saints, satyrs 
 with inquisidors, and cupids with 
 martyrs; the materials are clay, stucco, 
 and marble. The workmanship is 
 coarse, but the general effect is strik- 
 ingly rich. Observe the San Lorenzo 
 with his gridiron, and the magnificent 
 Peja , with figures, masks, and bold 
 scroll-work. A tabernacle of black 
 and white Salominic pillars marks 
 the spot where the Virgin spoke to the 
 Canon Funes who kneels beside it; 
 but the images of antiquity were even 
 more loquacious. (Ovid, Fast. vi. 6 1 5 : 
 Val. Max. i. 8.) 
 
 Many of the portals inside this 
 cathedral have quite a Moorish cha- 
 racter. The chapels are generally en- 
 closed in their own pur close among 
 these rejas observe that of San Gabriel, 
 which, although dark, is of excellent 
 plateresque. The founder, Gabriel de 
 Zaporta — obt. 1579 — lies in the Ca. de 
 San Miguel ; his effigy, clad in his mer- 
 chant robes, is of Italian sculpture, and 
 savouring rather of the Pantheon than 
 of a Christian cathedral ; the reja is ex- 
 cellent. In San Bernardo observe the 
 retablo and carving, especially the Cir- 
 cumcision, and the tutelar to whom the 
 Virgin dictates a book, as Egeria did to 
 Numa. This saint was an ultra-advocate 
 of Mariolatry, in reward of which the 
 Virgin suckled him, as Juno did Her- 
 cules, a subject which Murillo was fond 
 of painting. Yet Bernardo was a very 
 
Arragon. 
 
 severe saint, for, when her graven 
 image spoke to him in the Cathe- 
 dral of Spires, he replied, not over 
 politely, Mulier taceat in Ecclesia. The 
 superb sepulchre and recumbent figure 
 of the founder, Archbishop Fernando, 
 grandson of Ferdinand the Catholic, 
 is by Diego Morlanes, son of Juan, an 
 excellent Biscayan sculptor, who intro- 
 duced the tedesque style into Zara- 
 goza in the fifteenth century. Diego, 
 who inherited his talent, adopted the 
 cinque-cento, which was next the pre- 
 vailing taste. The small alabaster 
 44 Resurrection” is by Becerra, who 
 gave it to Diego, with whom he lived 
 on his return from Italy ; by Diego 
 also is the enriched tomb opposite, of 
 Anna Gurrea, mother of the prelate. It 
 is placed rather too high to be well 
 seen. The Capilla Santiago is chur- 
 rigueresque, and in strange contrast- 
 with the preceding, especially the tomb 
 of the founder, Archbishop Herrera; 
 the stucco ornaments are ridiculous, 
 the bad paintings by one Raviela. In 
 that of Maria la Blanca are collected 
 the grave -stones of early prelates, 
 which were removed when the cathe- 
 dral was repaved ; observe also the 
 arch and pilasters. The tutelar is 
 San Pedro Arbues de Epila, who, like 
 Thomas a Becket, was murdered by 
 Vidal Duranso, Sept. 15, 1495 ; this 
 deed, which has at least done fine art 
 a good service, took place close to 
 the column on the Epistola side ; his 
 body is buried under the baldaquino 
 of black Salominic pillars. This fero- 
 cious inquisidor while alive had goaded 
 the citizens to madness. His kneel- 
 ing effigy is by Jose Ramirez, and the 
 paintings by Francisco Ximenez of 
 Tarazona. This martyrdom was chosen 
 by Murillo for one of his finest pic- 
 tures, just as Titian selected for his 
 masterpiece another Dominican Peter, 
 who was also a persecutor, and also a 
 victim to popular revenge. Ferdinand 
 caused the murderers of Arbues to be 
 burnt alive, adding sundry combustible 
 Jews to improve the bonfire. fPulgar, 
 Chro. chr. 95.) The opposition of the 
 Zaragozans to the holy tribunal arose 
 from there being very few rich Jews or 
 Moors living among them, therefore | 
 
 909 
 
 they suspected that this engine was 
 armed against their own persons and 
 properties. For an account of this 
 inquisidor, and his beatification by 
 Alexander VII., April 17, 1664, see 
 Llorente 4 Histoire ,’ i. 192. Paris edit., 
 1817. Now the Zaragozans hope to 
 save their souls by appealing to a man 
 who burnt their fathers’ bodies, just as 
 the simple Pagans did, 44 Caeci et impru- 
 dentes in contrarium cadunt, adorant 
 itaque hostes suos ; interfectores suos, 
 animas suas cum thure ipso cremandas 
 aris detestabilibus imponunt.” Lac- 
 tantius de Just., v. 20. 
 
 Visit next the Sacristia , and observe 
 the plateresque door. Here are some 
 fine ternos ; one, a pontifical, cost 
 14,000 dollars; also a delanie de una 
 casulla, embroidered with Adam and 
 Eve, which was bought at our Refor- 
 mation from the old Cathedral of St. 
 Paul’s, London. The church plate 
 before the invasion was splendid, but 
 very little escaped from Marshal 
 Lannes and the French. Observe, 
 however, an enamelled chalice of 1 655, 
 a plateresque and rather overcharged 
 silver custodia of 1537; some silver 
 busts, with enamel and Gothic inscrip- 
 tions, given by Benedict XIII. The 
 once splendid jewel-studded Gothic 
 cross, presented by Archbishop Lope 
 de Luna, and carried before the king 
 at his coronation, was melted by the 
 Liberals in 1820, who “ took away 
 that bauble.” In the Capilla del Na - 
 cimiento is a classical retablo, and some 
 pictures by Juan Galvan, who painted 
 the cupola in fresco, and German 
 looking. The Seu is also full of rich 
 marbles, but unfortunately many alter- 
 ations were made at a period when 
 money was more plentiful than good 
 taste. These old portals and retablos 
 were removed for desatinos , mamarra- 
 chadas y churriguerismo ; specimens of 
 choice gilt gingerbread for grown-up 
 children may be seen in the chapels 
 of San Vicente, San Valero, and Santa 
 Elena . In the Sola Capitular are some 
 paintings by Ribera, and two fine Zur- 
 barans : notice the drapery in the dead 
 Christ. There is an account of the 
 cathedral, 4 Catedra Episcopal * Juan 
 de Arruego, fol. Zar., 1653. 
 
 ZARAGOZA — PEDRO DE ARBUES. 
 
910 
 
 ZARAGOZA — THE OLD CATHEDRAL— EL PILAR. Sect. XII I. 
 
 Leaving the Seu to the rt. is the 
 vast archiepiscopal palace, which the 
 invaders gutted and plundered. Near 
 was the beautiful Casa de Diputacion , 
 or Parliament-house, which was built 
 in 1437-40 by Alonso V. The saloons 
 were magnificent, and contained the 
 rich national archives which came 
 down from the earliest period, and the 
 excellent library, while the walls were 
 ornamented with portraits of Arra- 
 gonese worthies ; but almost every- 
 thing was destroyed by the invaders, 
 and a seminario was erected on the site 
 in 1848. The inscriptions, now removed, 
 are preserved in 4 Inscripciones Latinas * 
 Ger°. Blancas, 4to. Zar., 1680. Oppo- 
 site is the Lonja, the Exchange, built 
 in 1551 ; remark the projecting and 
 enriched soffit of this square brick 
 edifice, and the heads of kings and 
 warriors let into circular frames in a 
 fine Holbein taste ; the towers are tiled 
 with white and green Azidejo. The 
 interior is noble and solid ; observe 
 the Doric columns, the staircase, and 
 ceilings. Turned to base purposes, it 
 is fast decaying, and was used in 1846 
 as a shop for carpenters. Aldermen 
 on their travels may inquire for the 
 44 Gigantes,” the Gog and Magog of 
 .church and civil processions. 
 
 Next visit the second cathedral, el 
 Pilar , so called from the identical 
 pillar on which the Virgin descended 
 from heaven ; the clustering domes 
 outside, roofed with green, yellow, and 
 white glazed tiling, which glitter in the 
 sun, have an Oriental harlequinade 
 look ; the edifice has been much mo- 
 dernised, and is still unfinished both 
 inside and outside. These 44 improve- 
 ments, ’’ begun in 1677, at a period of 
 vilest taste, were planned by the pre- 
 sumptuous Herrera el mozo , and were 
 not amended by the academical Ven- 
 tura Rodriguez, who, in 1753, rebuilt 
 portions, and left drawings for the fa- 
 cade. The building, spacious, lofty, 
 and imposing from size, is in details 
 tawdry and incongruous. It is quad- 
 rangular, in length about 500 feet, 
 with three naves ; the pillar and its 
 image are placed at the end, and is 
 thus enclosed, like the house of the 
 Virgin which the angels moved from 
 
 Palestine to Loretto. The interior is 
 unpleasing, as one half is left plain 
 with whitewashed walls and heavy 
 pilasters picked out in an unsightly 
 blue and buff, and worthy of the poor 
 Mariolatrous frescoes in some of the 
 cupolas by Bayeu and Moya ; the 
 tomb of the Duque de Montemar , a ge- 
 neral of Philip V., is the perfec- 
 tion of abominable rococo of 1763. 
 The retablo in San Lorenzo is a poor 
 performance of Ventura Rodriguez. 
 The ancient coro is fine, and of better 
 times; the silleria of 115 seats was 
 admirably carved in oak by Juan 
 Moreto of Florence, in 1542, with 
 subjects principally connected with 
 Mariolatrous legends. The superb reja 
 is the masterpiece of Juan Celma, 
 1574. The Gothic altar mayor is com- 
 posed of alabaster from the quarries 
 .of Escatron. It is composed of three 
 grand canopied niches of the richest 
 Gothic, with seven smaller compart- 
 ments below. To the left, Santiago as 
 a pilgrim, and San Braulio, who is 
 buried here, keep watch and ward 
 over the whole. The subjects are dif- 
 ferent events connected with the local 
 miracle. The all-engrossing subject 
 is the 44 Assumption of the Virgin 
 the infinite forms and figures baffle 
 pen or pencil. This, the masterpiece 
 of Damian Forment (observe the me- 
 dallion profile portrait of the sculptor), 
 is certainly the finest thing of the kind 
 in Arragon ; but the detestable new 
 colouring of parts of the cathedral 
 makes this noble old work look some- 
 what dark and dingy. In the crypt 
 beneath, the canons used to be buried, 
 an arrangement common in the cathe- 
 drals of Arragon and Catalonia. 
 
 Zaragoza is the great pilgrim city of 
 Arragon, as all flock in there from far 
 and wide to see the Pillar and the 
 image of the Virgin which came down 
 from heaven and alighted on it, like 
 the Palladium of Troy (Paus. i. 26, 6). 
 While this prudent Pagan did not like to 
 give an opinion on this fact, the modern 
 miracle has been declared authentic 
 by so many Popes, that Diego de 
 Astorga, primate of Spain, excommu- 
 nicated, Aug. 17, 1720, all who even 
 questioned it; while Risco, writing iu 
 
Arragon. 
 
 1775, holds 44 its truth to be established 
 on such firm grounds that nothing now 
 can shake it.” And now in 1850! 
 Madoz (xvi. 569), the enlightened 
 liberal, asserts, that as more than 90 
 foreign, and 400 Spanish, authors, todos 
 clctssicos, maintain the legend, it cannot 
 be apocryphal. Wecite somechurch au- 
 thorized books on this classical legend, 
 as future ages will not believe the 
 audacity which invented such pious 
 frauds, or the extent of human gulla- 
 bility that could believe them : but so 
 it always has been ; and 44 the priests 
 have rule by their means and my 
 people love to have it so,” (Jer. v. 31.) 
 Lovers of modern Hagiology should 
 consult 1 Fundacion,’ &c., Luiz Diaz de 
 Aux., Zar. 1605; 4 Fundacion Milagrosa/ 
 Diego Murillo, Barcelona, 1616; 4 Co- 
 lumna Tmmobilis / Juan Lecana, 4to. 
 Lug. Bat. 1661 ; 4 Basa de la Tradi- . 
 cion/ Pab. de Osera, Mad. 1720. For 
 official details, 4 Compendia / and Vil- 
 lafane, Mad. 1740, pp. 406 to 437; 
 
 ‘ Historia Cronologica/ Juan Andres, 
 4to. Zaragoza, 1766 ; 4 Compendio de 
 Milagros/ Jose Amada, 4to, Zar. 1780. 
 Qni decipi vult, decipiatur. 
 
 The legend may soon be explained. 
 When the Moors of Cordova cast off 
 their allegiance from the kalif of the 
 East, the reciprocal enmity which 
 ensued rendered a pilgrimage to Mecca 
 impossible ; a substitute was therefore 
 established at Cordova, in the Ceca of 
 its mosque. Whereupon the imitating 
 Castilians, unable to go to Jerusalem, 
 set up their opposition sepulchre and 
 holy place of pilgrimage at Santiago ; 
 but the Arragonese, who were then 
 independent of Castile, did not choose 
 to offer up prayers or gold at a foreign 
 shrine, and accordingly they esta- 
 blished one of their own, and se- 
 lected their capital for obvious finan- 
 cial views. Nothing of all this had 
 been attempted at Zaragoza during the 
 Roman and Gothic periods, simply 
 because, as there were then no Moors 
 in Spain, no antagonistic Mecca was 
 wanted; accordingly Prudentius, who 
 wrote so largely on Zaragozan Chris- 
 tianity (Peris, iv. 71), omits the Pilar 
 altogether, as does San Isidore (Orig. 
 xv. 1 ) when describing the geographical 
 
 911 
 
 and religious advantages of Zaragoza, 
 44 Loci amenitate et deliciis prsestantius 
 civitatibus Hispanise cunctis atque il- 
 lustrius, ftorens sanctorum martyrum 
 sepulturis.” The authorised history of 
 the legend is printed at length in the 
 4 Esp. Sag./ xxx. 426 ; it states that 
 Santiago, soon after the crucifixion, 
 applied to the Virgin for her permission 
 to preach the Gospel in Spain ; having 
 4 4 kissed her hand,” came to Zaragoza, 
 converted eight Pagans, and fell asleep ; 
 then, Jan. 2, a.d. 40, the angels of 
 heaven brought her alive to him from 
 Palestine on a jasper pillar, and car- 
 ried her back again, after she had 
 desired him to raise a chapel on 
 the spot. This he did, and to it 
 the Virgin often came afterwards 
 to mass as Minerva used to do 
 (Od. iii. 435). These Pillars or Bai- 
 tulia ( Bethel , the house of God) are 
 decidedly Oriental : compare that of 
 the 44 mother of the gods” at Acro- 
 corinth (Paus. ii. 46) ; that given by 
 Minerva at Kysicos (Antho. Anath. vi. 
 342); or the golden one of Juno at 
 Croto (Livy, xxiv. 3). 
 
 The Sanctum Sanctorum , or chapel 
 of the Filar or Pillar , is raised in the 
 centre of the cathedral, a chapel as 
 it were in a chapel, and covered over 
 much as we do cucumbers. It is 
 placed near the altar in the centre of 
 a circular chapel ; this oval adytum 
 was designed by Rodriguez, and with 
 its gilt reja , lamps always burning 
 (compare the eternal fires of Vesta), 
 shines like the plateau on a banquet 
 table ; it is open on three sides, while 
 the roof being perforated admits the 
 cupola above, on which the Virgin’s 
 descent is painted in poor fresco 
 by one Antonio Velazquez, 1793, 
 who was not even distantly connected 
 with his immortal namesake. The 
 pavement is of the richest marbles ; the 
 retablo is much overcharged with sta- 
 tuary and detail ; observe among the 
 medallions the Descent of the Virgin 
 and Vision of Santiago, by Jose Ra- 
 mirez ; and some others by the poor 
 academician Manuel Alvarez. Among 
 the ancients, men were not allowed to 
 see the Perantiquum Signum Veneris 
 (Cicero in V er. iv. 45) ; which was also 
 
 ZARAGOZA — VISIT OF SANTIAGO. 
 
912 
 
 ZARAGOZA DESCENT OF THE VIRGIN. 
 
 Sect, XIII. 
 
 waited on by women priests. So here 
 the Pilar is too sacred to be wholly seen ; 
 but at the back there is a hole in the 
 casing where the devout may peep, 
 kneel, worship, and kiss the consecrated 
 marble ; and a large dent is worn 
 by multitudinous labial devotion. The 
 material, which from being covered 
 with dust, looks like wood, is of the 
 purest alabaster, as the hand of Santiago 
 proves, cleansed by pious kisses, like 
 the beard of Esculapius (Cic. in Ver. 
 iv. 43 ), or the modern head of St. 
 Peter on the bronze Jupiter at Rome. 
 This kissing ad os is the essence of 
 adoration. The marble steps are also 
 osculated, as in the days of Apuleius, 
 “ exosculatis Dece vestigiis” (Met. xi. 
 251), and worn “ pedibus volgi,” as in 
 the times of Lucretius (R. N. i. 309). 
 To prevent impertinent curiosity, a 
 railing keeps off the profane vulgar, in- 
 side which none may enter save kings, 
 cardinals, and the appointed priests. 
 Women are expressly prohibited, as 
 they were in the temple of Hercules 
 at Gades (Sil. Ttal. iii. 22). The holy 
 image itself is small, and graven — cer- 
 tainly not by Phidias — out of a resin- 
 ous, almost black wood ; but the most 
 sacred representations of the Virgin, 
 and especially those carved by St. 
 Luke, are very dark-coloured, “ black 
 but comely ” (Sol. Song, i. 3), and are 
 said to have been designed when she 
 was tanned during the flight into 
 Egypt. Among the Pagans, the making 
 a deity atri- coloris was thought to be 
 a puerile want of sense (Pliny, ii. 7). 
 The figure holds the infant in one 
 hand and collects its drapery with the 
 other. As a work of art it is rude and 
 second rate, but it inspires the natives 
 with a conventional awe. Here, in- 
 deed, the worship of the Virgin is 
 openly avowed and practised ; but 
 Oct. 12, the Anniversary of her De- 
 scent, is the great festival of Zaragoza, 
 since Innocent III. announced that 
 “ God alone can count the miracles 
 which are then performed here ; ’’ 
 50,000 pilgrims have been known to 
 flock into the town. Then her shrine 
 is crowded with all ages and sexes of 
 peasants, chiefly from the villages — 
 Pagani — who, like the Contadini at 
 
 Rome, sit, kneel, and pray, falling 
 by pilgrim instinct into most pic- 
 turesque groups. 
 
 This Pillar , the support of the popu- 
 lace during peace and war, is indeed 
 “ La gloriosa Colonna in cui s’appogia 
 nostra speranza.” The battle hymn 
 against the invaders ran thus — 
 
 “ La Virgen del Pilar dice 
 Que no quiere ser Francesa, 
 
 Que quiere ser capitana 
 Be la gente Aragonesa !” 
 
 This doggrel, so little compatible with 
 the reverence due to the Queen of 
 Heaven, recalls the degradation which 
 Plutarch (de Pyth. vii. 604, Reiske) 
 lamented as resulting from scurrilous 
 poetry of the /2 Mf*oXo%ov yivos towards 
 the Pagan mother of the gods. 
 
 As at Valencia (p. 371), this Virgin 
 was applied to for protection and vic- 
 tory (compare Val. Max. i. 2). “But 
 they that have no knowledge set up 
 the wood of their graven image, and 
 pray unto a god that cannot save.” 
 (Isa. xlv. 20.) In Spain, however, this 
 religious excitement and confidence in 
 supernatural assistance is equal to 
 brandy and double rations with colder 
 Protestants. No wonder, therefore, 
 that the great Jaime L, the conqueror, 
 raised, as Saavedra says, 1000 churches, 
 and all dedicated to the Virgin, and 
 her universal worship here to this day 
 disputes with that of tobacco and 
 money : countless are the mendicants, 
 the halt, blind, and lame, who cluster 
 around her shrine as that of Minerva 
 (Mart. iv. 53), and beg charity for her 
 sake. She, in fact, is the Spanish 
 Hsr/avjj, who, according to Pausanias 
 (ii. 27, 5), made patients better. The 
 cures worked by this Minerva Medica 
 are almost incredible, and the oil of 
 her lamps is more efficacious than that 
 of Macassar, since Cardinal Retz relates 
 in his Memoires (iii. 409) that he saw 
 here in 1649 a man who had lost his 
 leg, which grew again on being rubbed 
 with it ; and this portent was long 
 celebrated, as well it deserved, by an 
 especial holiday. The lamps are hung 
 outside in order to preserve the “ simul- 
 aero ” (Ponz, xv. 8) from smoke, the 
 “ nigra fado simulacra fumo ” to which 
 Horace alludes (iii. Od. vi. 4) : see also 
 
Arragon. 
 
 Baruch vi. 21. Silver angels also 
 holding candelabra decorate the dainty 
 show. The 22nd of February is also 
 a grand lamp-lighting-up day here. 
 This candlemas is but a copy of the 
 n tmv 'k'x.pvrcibwv v)u.zpa. in honour of 
 Ceres, and of the Egyptian festival at 
 Sain (Herod, ii. 62). Again, Pausanias 
 (i. 26, 6) tells us that the “ image of 
 Minerva, which also came down from 
 heaven,” also had lamps — what are 
 those of Aladdin to them ? — whose 
 oil burnt miraculously for a whole 
 year without being replenished. These 
 Lychnuchi P ensiles (Pliny, 4 N. H.’ 
 xxiv. 3) and illuminations were, it 
 is true, among the first Pagan su- 
 perstitions which the primitive Chris- 
 tians put down, believing that idols 
 when so lighted up, were animated by 
 devils. The pious French accordingly 
 removed most of the silver chande- 
 liers; some, however, have been re- 
 placed by Zaragozan Devotos a la San - 
 tisima , and the scene is now very much 
 that against which Jeremiah (xliv. 15) 
 so much inveighed when 44 incense 
 was offered to the Queen of Heaven,” 
 44 to Diana the mooned Astaroth.” 
 
 All around the shrine are suspended 
 votive tablets, which con- 
 
 sist, as in the East (1 Sam, vi), of offer- 
 ings of models of the members afflicted 
 and healed by the Virgin’s intercession, 
 e. g. eyes, noses, and legs, naturally 
 enough here, but so it always was, 
 4< pendent tibi crura” (Ovid, 4 Am.’ iii. 
 2, 63, 4 Fast.’ iii. 268). Sometimes 
 the cured parts are presented in silver, 
 whereat the priests rejoice ; but wax 
 is the usual material, as being cheaper. 
 In the neighbouring plateria, or sil- 
 versmiths’ quarter, Pillars, Virgins, 
 Penates, &c., are made for the Pagani , 
 or male and female villagers, just as 
 they were at Ephesus and are at Santi- 
 ago: see p. 611. Rudely engraved prints 
 also are sold of the Virgin’s Descent, 
 which, when hung up in bed-rooms, 
 among other Dii cubiculares, allure 
 Morpheus, and expel Satan and the 
 nightmare. All this indeed is the 
 consecration and apotheosis of error, 
 for such devotion is a sin, and such 
 observance a wickedness. 
 
 To understand the literature of 
 
 913 
 
 Spanish female worship, consult An- 
 tonio (Bib. Nova, ii. 553), who enu- 
 merates 84 works on particular Virgins, 
 and 430 works on her generally, for 
 like his she is /uv^ovopo;. This intole- 
 rable quantity of sack, with the half- 
 penny worth of publications of real 
 religion or of useful knowledge, bears 
 in literature much the same ratio as 
 reading and education did in our time, 
 in Spanish cities, where one public 
 library was allotted in proportion to 
 30 churches or convents. 
 
 The Spanish authorised biography of 
 the Virgin is 4 La Mystica Ciudad’ fol. 
 Mad. 1670, which Maria Coronet 
 ( Santa Maria de Agreda ) was 44 inspired 
 to write by a divine revelation.” This 
 work was so ultra absurd that the 
 shrewd Sorbonne and Vatican con- 
 demned it, in spite of the efforts and 
 protests of the Spanish ambassador. 
 
 The worship of Isis, Astarte, Sa- 
 lambo, and Diana, the invention of the 
 sexual Oriental, was engrafted on the 
 Iberian stock by its Phoenician colo- 
 nisers, and is better suited to warm and 
 southern latitudes than to chilly north- 
 ern ones ; so Marianism is practically 
 the religion of the great bulk of the 
 Spaniards ; and notwithstanding that 
 many of the higher classes venture to 
 disbelieve 44 what Popes for gospel do 
 receive,” here, indeed, the honour and 
 worship due to the Creator alone is 
 transferred to the creature ; here she 
 rules triumphantly as Empress of 
 heaven and earth, of angels and 
 mortals ; the stern doctrine of retribu- 
 tion for sin is melted down into a soft, 
 easy dependence on this Esther with 
 whom the celestial kingdom is par- 
 titioned ; nay, the Deity has all but 
 abdicated in her favour, having given 
 to her all that he could ; everything, in 
 short, save his own essence. She is 
 La Senora de la Merced, the Lady of 
 Mercy ; La Senora here being used in 
 the sense of El Senor, the Lord God. 
 She administers grace, equity, and re- 
 mission of sins. Thus the Almighty 
 is robbed of his prerogative, and his 
 sceptre rendered barren, to the exclu- 
 sion and derogation of the 44 only one 
 name and none other.” The Virgin, 
 as Regina et Conjux , 44 calms the rage of 
 
 ZARAGOZA — WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN. 
 
914 
 
 ZARAG OZA — MARIOLATRY. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 her heavenly husband,’ ’ and tempers 
 “ an angry judge,” whose only office 
 is to punish ; while as a mother she 
 “ commands and compels her son,” to 
 whom “ she is superior by reason of 
 his humanity, and because she as his 
 mother has done more for him than he 
 could have done for her.” He saves 
 chiefly by her intercession, for it is she , 
 who in the Roman vulgate bruises the 
 serpent’s head; she has her rituals, 
 litanies, creeds, offices, festivals, &c. ; 
 to her are dedicated almost all t^e 
 cathedrals of Spain ; her graven image, 
 elevated above the high altars in the 
 place of honour, is bowed down to and 
 worshipped ; it holds the Son either as 
 a helpless babe or as a dying victim, for 
 thus He is made subordinate in both 
 respects, and dependent on her. 
 
 The Scriptures are utterly, and 
 as it were prophetically, silent of 
 everything which by possibility could 
 raise the “ handmaid ” into the mis- 
 tress. Thus even the scantiness of the 
 holy word is instructive ; the mystery 
 of the Incarnation is indeed plainly 
 revealed, but not one word of the Im- 
 maculate Conception, Death, Assump- 
 tion, Coronation, &c. of the “ woman,” 
 an expression used purposely, so 
 thought Bishop Epiphanius, as if in 
 anticipation of this anti-christian Ma*- 
 idolatry. To this foresight also has 
 been referred the apparent neglect and 
 marked distinction between the “ Fa- 
 ther ” and the “ woman ; ” the mother, 
 not the parent; the vessel, the bringer 
 forth of the Son of Man, of him who 
 was God, which is observable in 
 all the Son’s language. She is 
 < dzoTozo s, Deipara, and not A 
 or Dei Mater : compare Luke ii. 
 49 ; John ii. 4 ; Mathew xii. 48 ; 
 Mark iii. 33 ; Luke xi. 28. Nei- 
 ther doesSt. John, after the crucifixion, 
 ever mention the Virgin, nor was she 
 ever present at any of the Saviour’s 
 appearances after the resurrection, al- 
 though so many other females were ; 
 nor is any situation assigned her in the 
 Apocalypse. For any deference or 
 worship of her by the Apostles there 
 is no shadow of foundation. “ And I 
 doubt not,” says our old orthodox 
 Barrow, “ but if s / airdririi — if she 
 
 from her seat of bliss doth behold 
 these perverse services or absurd flat- 
 teries— she with holy regret and dis- 
 dain doth distaste, loathe, and regret 
 them, with a non nobis Domine — not 
 unto us, Oh, Lord ! — and, with the 
 angel in the Apocalypse, o%k pn — see 
 thou do it not.” 
 
 Mariolatry, utterly unknown in the 
 primitive Christian church, began in 
 Arabia, in the 4th century, where some 
 women, like their mothers of old (Jere- 
 miah xliv. 17), “made offerings” to her 
 of cakes. This collyridian heresy was 
 soon put down, but was revived in the 
 7th century. But how clearly the 
 Romish worship of the Virgin is con- 
 trary to Scripture and the practice of 
 the early church, has been proved 
 to demonstration in the reverential, 
 learned, and unanswerable work by 
 Dr. Tyler, Lond. 1844. 
 
 The Sagrario of the Pillar contains 
 the splendid wardrobe of the image, 
 none of which of a verity came from 
 her real wardrobe on earth ; this, 
 is more fitted for a Venus than 
 for her who was so meek, modest, and 
 lowly ; the treasures in jewels and 
 gold were once enormous, and rivalled 
 those of Loretto, Montserrat, and Gua- 
 dalupe : but they were plundered by 
 the invaders, for no “ Virgin inter- 
 fered,” as occurred when the old Gaul 
 Brennus attempted to pillage the Do - 
 narium of Delphi (Cic. ‘Div.’ i. 37). 
 Mellado (p. 366, ed. 1843) estimates 
 at 129,411 dollars the “ obsequio” or 
 “ complimentary gift” made by the 
 chapter to Marshal Lannes: see also 
 Toreno, vii. App. 6, and for the items 
 and their value Madoz, xvi .671. Look, 
 however, in the Sacristia for a cinque- 
 cento frame and some relics in an 
 oaken chest. A diamond necklace and 
 cross, carefully concealed during the 
 French visit, are among the finest 
 things of this kind in Spain. 
 
 Leaving the Pilar , proceed to the 
 Plateria , and purchase and pay for 
 honestly a silver Virgin. Observe 
 among the trinkets made for the pea- 
 santry the earrings, which are per- 
 fectly antique, especially those with 
 three dropping petals made after the 
 identical pattern on the Siracusan 
 
ZARAGOZA — THE TORRE NEUVA. 915 
 
 Arragon. 
 
 medals ; occasionally a good old rapier 
 may be purchased, as Andreas Ferrara 
 lived at Zaragoza ; the best local 
 blades are those marked with the bear 
 and little dog, el oso y el perrillo. For 
 swords, see Toledo, p. 797. 
 
 The chief street in Zaragoza is el 
 Coso ; the houses are still pitted and 
 riddled with shot-marks, the honour- 
 able scars of the memorable sieges. 
 Here are many good specimens of Za- 
 ragozan architecture : observe No. 168, 
 and la Casa de los Gigantes . Among 
 other houses are la del Comercio , Calle 
 Santa Maria mayor , with fine azulejos , 
 ceilings, and spiral pillars, windows, 
 and delicate open work, in the patio; 
 also those of Castel Florit and the 
 Duque del Hijar, and No 26, Calle 
 Zaporta , with fine mouldings. The 
 house, however, which no amateur or 
 architect should fail to visit, is that 
 of the Infanta , No. 77, Calle de San 
 Pedro, which was built, in 1550, by 
 the wealthy merchant Gabriel Zaporta, 
 in the richest Arragonese cinque-cento 
 style. Enter the beautifully-decorated 
 patio , and observe the fluted pillars 
 and torsos, the projecting medallions 
 with most Italian-like heads. The 
 magnificent staircase has a rich roof 
 with groups of musicians, but all is 
 hastening to decay. 
 
 Among the churches, visit San 
 Pablo , a.d. 1259, with its brick oc- 
 tangular tower, fine faqade, and co- 
 lumns: the high altar, a grand spe- 
 cimen of the plateresque, is the work 
 of the illustrious Damian Forment. In 
 the Cap ill a de San Miguel is the tomb 
 of Diego de Monreal, bishop of Huesca, 
 ob. 1607. The cupola is painted by 
 Geronimo Secano. Inquire for the 
 silver Gancho. Visit also the church 
 of Santiago ; a chapel marks the site 
 where the Apostle lodged when on 
 his tour to Zaragoza. This church 
 glories in the possession of his pil- 
 grim’s staff, and also boasts of a 
 Campana Goda , or bell, cast by the 
 Goths. The Museo Nacional , in the 
 old convent of Santa Fe, contains some 
 300 indifferent pictures. 
 
 Visit the Torre Neuva , plaza San 
 Felipe. The view from it, especially 
 of different points of the siege, is ex- 
 
 tensive. This octangular clock-tower 
 for the city, built in 1504, leans some 
 9 feet out of the perpendicular, like 
 those of Pisa and Bologna, which is 
 unpleasing, as conveying a feeling of 
 insecurity opposed to the essence of 
 architectural principle. It seems to 
 totter to its fall — Ruituraque semper, 
 stat mirum ! Here this want of the 
 perpendicular is not the silly triumph 
 of an architect, but has arisen from 
 .the sinking of a faulty foundation ; 
 and there has been some talk of 
 taking it down ; it is richly orna- 
 mented with brickwork, which at 
 a distance looks Moorish, but it is 
 much coarser both in design and 
 execution. The noble university, with 
 its precious library, was destroyed by 
 the invaders, but a new one has been 
 partly constructed with a fine quad- 
 rangle. The grand Hospital, el general, 
 is dedicated to the Virgin, and is one 
 of the largest in Spain. The former 
 one was burnt by the enemy with its 
 patients in it alive. In vain a white 
 flag was hoisted, imploring mercy for 
 the wretched inmates, for that very flag 
 was made the especial mark for their 
 bombs ; but the enemy spared nothing, 
 and when the town was entered, the 
 sick, and even lunatics, were massacred 
 in their beds (Toreno v.). The Casa 
 de Misericordia — there was no mercy 
 then — is a sort of large hospital 
 and poor-house, in which some 600 
 to 700 young and old are taken in 
 and employed at most trades ; the 
 funds, however, are inadequate. Near 
 it is the Plaza de Toros, and the grand 
 fights are in honour of the Virgin, 
 when the profits go to aid the hos- 
 pitals. The N. W. gate, el Portillo , is 
 the spot where Agustina, the maid of 
 Zaragoza, snatched the match from a 
 dying artilleryman’s hand, and fired 
 at the invaders ; hence she was called 
 la Artillera. This Amazon, although a 
 mere itinerant seller of cool drinks, 
 vied in heroism with the noble Condesa 
 de Burita, who amid the crash of war 
 tended the sick and wounded, resem- 
 bling in looks and deeds a ministering 
 angel. 
 
 Outside the Portillo is the Aljaferia , 
 
 the old irregular citadel, built, for the 
 
916 
 
 ZARAGOZA CANAL OF ARRAGON. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 city’s Alcazar, by tbe Moor Abu Giafar 
 Ahmed, king of Zaragoza, and hence 
 called Giafariya ; this palatial fortress 
 was assigned to the Inquisition by 
 Ferdinand the Catholic, partly to in- 
 vest the hated tribunal with the prestige 
 of royalty, and partly as the strong 
 walls offered a security to the judges 
 after the murder of Arbues (see 
 p. 909). Here also Antonio Perez was 
 confined in 1591, and liberated by the 
 populace. Suchet having first damaged 
 the palace with his bombs, used it as 
 a barrack; afterwards it became a 
 military hospital, and was degraded 
 into a prison during the civil wars, 
 hence its present deplorable condition. 
 It is a true type of dilapidated Spain, 
 fallen from its pride of place ; some 
 talk of restoration has taken place, but 
 4 4 no funds ” — the old story — has al- 
 lowed decay to be let alone ; nothing 
 has been done, barring some white- 
 washing, and a burial of his baby by a 
 Captain-General. For this official Mse- 
 cenas see Madoz, xvi. 568 — Cosas de 
 Espana. Observe the once splendid stair- 
 case, adorned with the badges of Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella. One room is called 
 el Salon de Santa Isabel , because the 
 sainted queen of Hungary was born in 
 it in 1271 : above hangs, luckily out 
 of reach, and in contrast with present 
 decay, the glorious blue and gold 
 artesonado roof with stalactical orna- 
 ments ; notice an elegant gallery, 
 and a rich cornice with festoons of 
 grape leaves ; a Gothic inscription 
 bears the memorable date 1492, which 
 was that of the conquest of Granada, 
 and of the discovery of the new world : 
 and the first gold brought from it was 
 employed by Ferdinand in gilding this 
 ceiling. There is a poor account of 
 this edifice by Dr. M. Nougues y 
 Secall. 
 
 The other gates of Zaragoza best 
 worth notice, are that of Toledo , used 
 as a prison, as a Newgate, and that 
 of La Ceneja , so called from the ashes 
 of martyrs found there in 1492, 
 when it was rebuilt by Ferdinand. 
 The public walks, with long lines 
 of poplars, extend on this side of 
 the city, close under the walls, 
 and up to La Casablanca , a house 
 
 placed on the canal, where there is a 
 decent Fonda , much frequented by the 
 Zaragozans, who dance and junket here 
 on the festivals of San Juan , June 24, 
 and San Pedro, June 29. El Canal 
 de Aragon was one of the first to be 
 begun in Europe, as it probably will 
 be the last to be finished. This grand 
 conception was projected in 1528 by 
 Charles V., in order to connect the 
 Mediterranean with the Atlantic : vast 
 in promise, slow in execution, and im- 
 potent in conclusion, only 8 leagues 
 were cut by 1546; then the affair 
 was dropped and languished until 
 1770, when one Ramon Pignatelli 
 advanced it a few more leagues. It 
 now connects Zaragoza with Tudela, 
 and a boat plies backwards and 
 forwards with passengers. The en- 
 gineer may walk out and exam’ine 
 the manner in which the canal is car- 
 ried over the Jalon , and consult for 
 details 4 La Descripcion ,’ & c., fol. Za- 
 ragoza, 1796, and Ponz. xv. 102. This 
 canal suggested that of the Canal du 
 Midi to Louis XIV., which was begun 
 in 1681, and finished with Roman mag- 
 nificence : thus is Spain ever outstript 
 by those to whom she sets an ex- 
 ample. A foreign company, they say, 
 is to finish it, and make the Ebro 
 navigable. Veremos. 
 
 Now return to the hill called El 
 Torrero : below this, Aug. 20, 1 7 1 0, Stan- 
 hope came up with Philip V., who was 
 flying from his defeat at Lerida ; but 
 the German allies hesitated to advance, 
 when the English general charged 
 alone, crying 44 This is a day to re- 
 trieve Almansa,” and it did so most 
 effectually : although our troops were 
 foot-sore and starving, they drove the 
 foe everywhere before them, whot 
 abandoned cannon, 63 colours, and 
 everything. The modern French ver** 
 sion is, 44 Here Stanhope obtint quelques 
 av ant ages ! ” (Biog. Un., xliii. 430.) 
 Stanhope’s first care then was for the 
 disabled French, for 4 4 among the 
 wounded,” said he, “there are no 
 enemies” (Mahon, viii.). The heavy 
 Austrian Charles now entered Zara- 
 goza in triumph, and the crown might 
 have been his, for Stanhope urged an 
 immediate advance on cowed Madrid, 
 
ZARAGOZA — THE SIEGES — TIO JORGE. 
 
 917 
 
 Arragon. 
 
 but, like our Duke, he was thwarted 
 by the pottering generals of his ally, 
 and mediocre ministers at home. 
 
 The Torero being an elevated and 
 commanding point, was strongly held 
 by the Spaniards in 1808, when the 
 invaders advanced ; instead, however, 
 of checking the enemy, Col. Falco, the 
 officer in command, fled at their first 
 approach, and thus not only abandoned 
 the key of this front, but left behind 
 him all the tools of the canal company, 
 as if on purpose to furnish the be- 
 siegers with instruments in which 
 they were deficient (compare p. 596). 
 Accordingly it was from this side 
 that the enemy attacked Zaragoza, 
 and entered at what was the beau- 
 tiful convent of Santa Engracia , which 
 they destroyed : this, commenced in 
 the richest Gothic of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, was completed in 1517 
 by Charles V., who could finish con- 
 vents, but not canals : the portal, in 
 the form of a retablo, was filled with 
 marble sculpture by Juan Morlanes, 
 1505. The elegant semi-Saracenic 
 cloisters, with round-headed arches, 
 were the exquisite design and work of 
 Tudelilla, and there reposed the ashes 
 of the learned Zurita and Blancas, 
 which, with their splendid libraries, 
 were all burnt by the invaders, and 
 this in spite of the tutelar, Santa En- 
 gracia. She was a Portuguese virgin, 
 who, accompanied by 18 gentlemen 
 (tu decern sanctos revehes et octo, Prud. 
 Peri. iv. 53), was on her way to 
 France to be married, but went out 
 of it, to insult Dacian, who put her and 
 her suite to death, April 16, 304; 
 part of her liver was seen and im- 
 mortalised by Prudentius (Peri. iv. 
 137), Vidimus partem jecoris revul- 
 sam, &c., and this relic was long re- 
 sorted to in Spain, in cases where in 
 England blue pill would have been 
 preferred : the remains of the martyrs 
 were inixed up with the bones of 
 criminals, with which they would not 
 amalgamate, but separated into white 
 masses ; hence the curious subter- 
 ranean chapel is called de las masas 
 santas, not from the misas , or masses 
 sung there : remark also the well out 
 of which in 1389 the bones were fished 
 Spain. — II, 
 
 up, pink, say all the church autho- 
 rities, as roses : there is a Roman sar- 
 cophagus, which is here called the tomb 
 of a Christian martyr. The oil of 
 these lamps cured lamparones , or tu- 
 mours in the neck. The oil which 
 burnt before the statue of Minerva, 
 which fell from heaven, lasted for a 
 year without any fresh supply (Pausan. 
 i. 26-7) ; it, however, did smoke, and 
 the smoke was conveyed away by a 
 brazen palm. Consult 1 Historia del 
 Subterraneo Santuario * by Leon Benito 
 Marton, fol. Zar. 1737. 
 
 The modern martyrs are those brave 
 peasants who fought and died like „ 
 men ; si monumentum queeris, cir- 
 cumspice : look around at the terrific 
 ravages of the invader, which testify 
 his relentless warfare, and the stub- 
 born defence during the two sieges 
 which have rendered Zaragoza a ruin 
 indeed, but immortal in glory. One 
 word of record. This city, like others 
 in Spain, rose after the executions of 
 Murat on the dos de Mago , 1808; on 
 the 25th Guillelmi the governor was 
 deposed, and the lower classes were 
 organised by Tio Jorge Ibort , Gaffer 
 George, one of themselves ; a nominal 
 leader of rank being wanted, one 
 Jose Palafox, an Arragonese noble, 
 who had just escaped from Bayonne 
 in a peasant’s dress, was selected, 
 partly from accident, and because he 
 was an hijo de Zaragoza and handsome , 
 for in Spain, as in the East, personal 
 appearance is always influential. 
 
 “ There is none like him, long live the 
 king” (1 Sam. x. 24). Palafox had 
 served in the Spanish royal body- 
 guards, and therefore, as Mr. Vaughan 
 justly says, necessarily “knew nothing 
 whatever of the military profession ;” 
 according to Toreno (vi.) and Schep. 
 
 (i. 205), he was totally unfitted for 
 the crisis, nay, even his courage was 
 doubted ; but he was in the hands of 
 better men : thus his tutor Basilio 
 Boggiero wrote his proclamations, the 
 priest Santiago Sas managed the mira- 
 culous, while Tio Jorge commanded, 
 and with two peasants, Mariano Ce- 
 rezo and Tio Marin, for his right 
 and left hands, did the fighting: all 
 the means of defence under Guil- 
 2 s 
 
918 
 
 ZAKAGOZA — THE SIEGES. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 lelmi (says Southey, ch. ix.) were 
 220 men, 100 dollars, 16 cannon, 
 and a few old muskets. Lefebvre 
 arrived June 15, 1808, and had he 
 pushed on at once must have taken 
 the place, but he paused, and thus 
 enabled Tio Jorge to prevent a coup- 
 de-main : to the French summons of 
 surrender, the bold Tio replied, 44 War 
 to the knife.” The invaders in their 
 strategics did not evince either common 
 humanity or military skill ; but the 
 defeat of Dupont at Bailen relieved 
 Zaragoza, which, when it occurred, 
 was on the point of surrendering; 
 then Lefebvre retired Aug. 15, boast- 
 ing, and with truth, that he had left 
 the city 44 un amas de decombres,” see 
 Belmas (ii. 115). Compare the siege 
 of Illiturgis, when Scipio and his dis- 
 ciplined veterans were desperately re- 
 sisted by brave Iberian peasants (Livy, 
 xxviii. 19). Palafox, una cabeza llenade 
 viento, now went madder with vanity 
 than any Gascon or Andaluz ; puffed out 
 with smoke, he claimed all the glory to 
 himself in stilty bombast, and reposing 
 under his laurels, neglected every pre- 
 paration for future defence ; mean- 
 while Buonaparte silently made ready 
 for his great revenge, and in three short 
 months, while Juntas were talking 
 about invading France, appeared at 
 Vitoria, and crushed all the ill-equip- 
 ped armies of Spain at one blow, the 
 heroes of Bailen and Zaragoza being 
 the first to fly ; for Castanos at Tudela, 
 Nov. 23rd, scarce gave the French 
 time to charge, and had they then 
 pushed on at once Zaragoza again 
 would have fallen: the city was soon 
 invested, and attacked by Buonaparte’s 
 sagacious suggestion on both sides, and 
 especially from the Jesuit convent on 
 the other bank of the Ebro, which the 
 Spaniards had neglected to secure. 
 Now four marshals conducted the 
 siege, Lannes, Mortier, Moncey, and 
 Junot ; and after 62 days of dreadful 
 attack and resistance, plague and fa- 
 mine subdued Zaragoza. The city capi- 
 tulated Feb. 20, 1809, the rest of Spain 
 having looked on with apathy, while 
 Infantado, with an idle army, did 
 not even move one step to afford 
 relief — socorros de Espana tarde 6 nunca . 
 
 Lannes had pledged his honour that 
 Palafox should depart free, and that 
 no one should be molested; and the 
 capitulation was printed in the Madrid 
 Gazette : but, in the words of Southey, 
 44 this man was one after Buonaparte’s 
 own heart, and with so little human 
 feeling, that he would have carried 
 out the system of terror to any ex- 
 tremity:” accordingly he pillaged the 
 temples, shed innocent blood in tor- 
 rents, put Boggiero and others to death 
 under prolonged torture, insulted Pa- 
 lafox, robbed him 44 even of his shirt,” 
 although sick, and then sent him to 
 the dungeons of Vincennes ; 44 thus 
 every law of war and humanity was 
 violated,” says Toreno, vii. But the 
 Virgin avenged her insulted shrine 
 and massacred people, and ere one 
 short year was fled, she winged a 
 bullet at Essling which sent this man 
 to his dread account, after a life, says 
 Mons. Savary, of kidnapping veracity, 
 44 too short for his friends, although a 
 career of glory and honour without 
 parallel.” Lannes the Ajax of his 
 camp, valiant, but coarse and unscru- 
 pulous, had risen from being a journey- 
 man dyer of cloth to be a wholesale 
 dyer scarlet in blood. (See Michaud, 
 Biog. Univ. xxix. 474.) He first tried 
 his talents for plundering the Peninsula 
 at Lisbon, where according to Bour- 
 rienne, he was sent to make money by 
 Buonaparte, who wanted to get rid 
 of him. 
 
 These two sieges cost the lives of 
 nearly 60,000 brave men, which were 
 lost for nothing, as the defence of the 
 town was altogether a military mistake, 
 and entirely the result of popular im- 
 pulse and accident, the moving powers 
 of things in Spain. The Spaniards now 
 liken Zaragoza to Numantia ; but the 
 old Iberians died and did not sur- 
 render ; then and there 4000 of them 
 resisted 40,000 Romans for fourteen 
 years (Florus, ii. 18), and this they did 
 in a really weak town, whereas Zara- 
 goza was a city of castles, and how 
 strong it was may be estimated by 
 what has escaped the bomb and mine. 
 The junta of Seville passed a paper 
 decree to re-build the place at the 
 I public expense, but it need not be said 
 
ROUTE 129. BELL OF YELILLA. 
 
 919 
 
 Arragon. 
 
 that not one real of cash has been forth- 
 coming. Ferdinand VII. visited Za- 
 ragoza after leaving France, and 
 created a Maestranza, which, with 
 fine epithets, were all the rewards be- 
 stowed. Palafox was not made a 
 Duque until 1833, and even then not 
 from any national gratitude, but 
 simply because Christina wished to 
 make herself a party ; and now Tio 
 Jorge is scarcely mentioned by name, 
 for it would offend the pride of Spain’s 
 misleaders to admit the merit of a 
 peasant, whose valour and intelligence 
 shamed the cowardice and incapacity 
 of the Alachas and Imazes. The Tio 
 was a true son of the people of Spain, 
 and his treatment from his so-called 
 betters is purely Oriental and national. 
 Thus “ there came a great king against 
 a small city and besieged it ; now 
 there was found in it a poor wise man, 
 and he by his wisdom delivered the 
 city, yet no man remembered that 
 same poor wise man,” Eccles. ix. 
 15. For details of the sieges consult 
 4 Memorias ,’ &c., Fernando Garcia 
 
 y Marin, duo. Mad. 1817; 1 Historia 
 de los dos Sitios ,’ Agustin Alcaide 
 Ibieca, 2 vols. 8vo. Mad. 1830; read 
 also the interesting Narrative of Mr. 
 Vaughan ; the French account of Rog- 
 niart ; consult the romantic description 
 of Southey : and the scornful truth of 
 Napier, in their respective histories. 
 
 Zaragoza is a central point of many 
 indifferent roads : beginning S. is the 
 diligence road to Madrid, R. 114. 
 This branches off at Calatayud for 
 Daroc-a, R. 112, and so on to Molina 
 de Aragon, Teruel, and Cuenca, 111, 
 and thence to Murcia and Valencia. 
 R. 113 leads to Murviedro, and thence 
 to Valencia or Barcelona. For com- 
 munications with Navarre, see Sect, 
 xiv. There is talk of a railway which 
 is to connect Madrid and Barcelona 
 via Zaragoza, and also a project of 
 forming a canal from the latter to 
 Lerida. 
 
 Route 129. — Zaragoza to Barce- 
 lona. 
 
 La Puebla 3 
 
 Osera ....... 3 .. 6 
 
 V a . de Santa Lucia . . . 3 . . 9 
 
 Bujaroloz . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Candasnos . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V a . de Fraga 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 17 
 
 Fraga . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Alcarraz . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ldrida . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Belloch. . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 261 
 
 Golmes. 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 29 
 
 Villagrasa . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 311 
 
 Cervera 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 34 
 
 La Panadella 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 361 
 
 A1 Gancho . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Igualada . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Castelloli . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 21 . 
 
 . 431 
 
 Codul . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Martorell . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 49 
 
 Molins del Bey 
 
 
 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 51 
 
 Barcelona . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This route, which takes about 36 
 hours per diligence, is extremely un- 
 interesting. Crossing the Ebro is an 
 arrabal or suburb, which was almost 
 demolished by the invaders : here on 
 every Thursday is held a sort of horse- 
 market, which is frequented by pic- 
 turesque blackguards. Soon the clear 
 Gallego is passed over by a new sus- 
 pension bridge, while the old brick 
 one remains high and dry on the land. 
 The road now enters the desert of Ar- 
 ragon, and dreary is the waste, without 
 trees, life, or cultivation ; the soil is 
 poor and chalky, the climate ungenial. 
 The Ebro flows to the r., and on it 
 stands Velilla , a village so named 
 from the alarum bell of its church 
 San Nicolas, which tolled of its own 
 accord whenever coming calamities 
 cast their shadows over Arragon. 
 There are in fact three bells in this 
 belfry, but the real one, La Campana 
 del Milagro , was cast by the Goths, 
 who threw into the fused metal one of 
 the thirty pieces of silver received by 
 Judas Iscariot. When this bell was 
 inclined to toll, “ninguno puede detener 
 la lengua:” its clapper, like the tongue 
 female, was not to be stopped. Canon 
 de Castro, who tried in 1601, got a 
 pain in his arm for his pains, which he 
 never got rid of. It rang furiously in 
 1516, when announcing the death of 
 Ferdinand the Catholic, and again in 
 1679 for the twentieth and last time, 
 giving notice in fact of its own disso- 
 lution and funeral. The soldier-like 
 Romans, in whose days bells were 
 not invented, were warned of ap- 
 proaching danger by the clashing of 
 2 s 2 
 
920 
 
 ROUTE 129. — ZARAGOZA TO BARCELONA. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 arms in heroic sepulchres (Cic°- Div. 
 i. 34) ; but armed men, and not 
 cowled priests, were then the ma- 
 nagers of miracles. For details, see 
 4 Discursos Varios,’ by Diego Josef 
 Dormer, 4to., p. 198, Zaragoza, 1683, 
 and 4 Discursos ,’ by Juan de Quinones, 
 4to. Mad. 1625. Velilla bears this bell 
 gules on its shield. The tale and toll 
 are now pretty well worn out, or the 
 clapper would indeed have worked 
 hard during the Peninsular w T ar, so 
 multitudinous were Spanish reverses 
 in this very valley of the Ebro from 
 Tudela downwards. 
 
 When Bailen had delivered Madrid, 
 and forced the defeated French to fall 
 back on the Ebro, 44 for the sake only 
 of better water,” according to Buona- 
 parte’s truthful bulletin, the third Spa- 
 nish army was advanced on this impor- 
 tant line, and destined to co-operate on 
 the r. with Belveder at Burgos in the 
 centre, and with Blake at Epinosa. 
 Castahos was the chief in command, 
 but nothing could exceed the ineffi- 
 ciency of the troops, who were left by 
 the central government 44 in want of 
 everything at the critical moment.” 
 The natural consequence was that the 
 powerful French everywhere scattered 
 them like sheep at the first attack. At 
 Maria , Suchet, with 6000 men, had, 
 June 15, 1809, put Blake and his 17,000 
 men to flight, one cavalry charge under 
 D’AigremontandBurthe being enough. 
 Blake, however, on whom experience of 
 defeat was thrown away, halted, for he 
 was a brave man, at Belchite , where the 
 French came up, June 18, and again, 
 by one charge of Burthe, routed the 
 remnant, killing nearly 4000 men, and 
 only losing 40 themselves. Lower down 
 is Alcaniz, where, January 26, 1809, 
 Vattier, with 500 men, had with equal 
 ease defeated 4000 Spaniards under 
 Areizaga (of Ocana misconduct) ; 
 the wretched town was almost demo- 
 lished in 1813 bySeveroli, in pure spite, 
 as his parting legacy when evacuating 
 it after the French rout by the Duke 
 at Vitoria. 6 L. from Alcaniz, on the 
 road to Morelia, is Monroyo , a red hill, 
 near which is the hermitage of our 
 Lady of the Fountain , whose waters are 
 medicinal. The chapel once belonged I 
 
 to the Templars, and curious paintings 
 still exist under the coro alto. 
 
 Continuing our route is Bujaroloz , 
 population 1900, and placed in a fertile 
 valley ; hence to ruined Fraga (Fra- 
 gosa, Stony), with a dismantled castle, 
 and built on a slope above the Cinca, 
 over which there is a suspension- 
 bridge ; a modern convenience, which 
 has superseded the ancient Maza . This 
 poor, rough, ilhpaved place is worthy 
 of its name — population 3500. The 
 environs, however, abound in pome- 
 granate and figs : the small green ones 
 are delicious, and when dried are the 
 staple ; but they are very inferior to 
 those of Smyrna, although our medi- 
 aeval pilgrim in Purchas (ii. 1233) de- 
 scribes them in terms of rapture : — 
 
 “ And figez full gret so God me save, 
 
 Thei be like to a great warden, 
 
 Blew and faat as any bacon.” 
 
 There is a bridle-communication 
 with Mequinenza , 3 L., and thence by 
 Flix to Tortosa (see R. 43). 
 
 The Cinca divides Arragon from 
 Catalonia. The wearisome country 
 now resembles that near Guadix, and 
 is cut up with ravines and studded 
 with small conical hills. JMrida (pop. 
 40,000) is a well-supplied, cheap 
 place, and healthy, although exposed 
 to cold winds, especially the N. or 
 Tarp , and the S.E. or Morelia . The 
 district is well irrigated by Acequias ; 
 an engineer may visit that of the 
 Segre at Riba Gorzana. The best 
 inns are La Posada del Hospital and 
 La de San Luis. There is a local di- 
 ligence to Barcelona, in case the tra- 
 veller may wish to halt in this city of 
 classical and military recollections. 
 
 Le'rida , Ilerda, a name which Bochart 
 derives from the Syriac Illi, lofty, is 
 built on the river Segre (Sicoris), under 
 its acropolis ; this rises an imposing 
 mass of lines of fortifications, with its 
 old cathedral and lofty tower, some 
 3000 feet above the Segre. The prin- 
 cipal street below consists of one long 
 line of white houses with red and 
 green balconies. Le'rida , being one of 
 the keys of Catalonia, has from time 
 immemorial been the theatre of sieges 
 and war. 
 
 Ilerda, when a Celtiberian city, is 
 
ROUTE 129. — LERIDA — THE SIEGES. 921 
 
 Arragon. 
 
 well described by Lucan (B. C., iv. 13), 
 “Colle tumet modico,” &c., and the 
 foundations of the present fine stone- 
 bridge are built on those of the Ro- 
 mans. It was held for Pompey by 
 Afranius and Petreus, who were en- 
 camped on Fort Garden, until out- 
 generalled and beaten by Caesar : here, 
 therefore, read his terse dispatches 
 (B.C., i., 37, &c.), and compare them 
 with those of our Duke before Badajoz, 
 for the iron energy of their swords 
 passed into their pens. Everything 
 was against them both, the elements as 
 well as man, but both, left wanting in 
 means, supplied all deficiency in them- 
 selves and triumphed. Her da soon 
 
 recovered its prosperity, and had a 
 mint: for the coinage see Florez (Med., 
 ii. 450). It became a Municipium and 
 a university, one, however, of such dis- 
 agreeable 44 residence ” that the recu- 
 sant youth of Rome were threatened to 
 be rusticated there (Hor. E. I. xx. 13). 
 In after times Lerida was made the 
 chief university, the Salamanca of Ar- 
 ragon, and its annalists boast with 
 pride of its pupils, San Vicente Ferrer 
 and Calixtus III. (Borgia), i. e., a 
 bloody inquisidor and a iobbing pro- 
 fligate pope. 
 
 The Goths, after the downfall of the 
 empire, patronised Lerida, and held 
 here a celebrated council, having 
 raised it to a bishopric in 546. Moor- 
 ish Lerida was sacked by the French in 
 799, but recovered and rebuilt in 1149 
 by Ramon Berenguer, who restored the 
 see. It was the site of the death of 
 Herodias and her capering daughter, 
 who were drowned while performing 
 pirouettes on the frozen Segre, while 
 the ice broke and the young lady fell 
 in ; but her head got cut off and con- 
 tinued dancing of itself (see, for authen- 
 tic details, p. 183, 4 Lithologia,’ Josd V. 
 del Olmo, 4to., Valencia, 1653). 
 
 Lerida, in the Catalonian revolt of 
 1640, chose Louis XIII. for its king, 
 and Leganez, the general of Philip 
 IV., by failing in his attempt to retake 
 it, entailed the downfall of his kins- 
 man, the great Conde Duque Olivares. 
 Thereupon Philip IV. came in person 
 to the siege, and defeated La Mothe , 
 who commanded the invaders. The 
 
 French, in 1644, failed to regain it, 
 whereupon the Grand Conde opened 
 another siege to the tune of violins, 
 but Gregorio Brito, the Portuguese 
 governor, sallied out and drove fid- 
 dlers and Frenchmen headlong before 
 him ; so ’tis said Lord Percy at Lex- 
 ington, advanced playing Yankee 
 Doodle, and retired to the tune of 
 Chevy Chase. Next day Brito sent 
 to the Grand Conde some iced fruits, 
 begging him to excuse his non-return 
 of the serenade compliment from a 
 want of catgut, but promising, if his 
 previous accompaniment was agree- 
 able, to repeat it as often as his High- 
 ness did him the honour to perform 
 before Lerida ; this did not last long, 
 for the Great Conde soon departed re 
 infecta, and did not print his intended 
 parallel between himself and Caesar: 
 venit, vidit, et evasit; but who has 
 not read the piquant description of this 
 siege in Grammont’s Memoires, ch. 
 viii. ? Consult 4 Gratulacion de la Feliz 
 Restaur acion de Ij.\ Francisco Ortiz 
 Valdez, 4to., Mad. 1644. 
 
 Lerida, in the War of Succession, 
 was again long besieged in 1707 by the 
 French under Berwick and Orleans. 
 It capitulated in November, but, 
 nevertheless, was most cruelly and 
 faithlessly sacked. However, it was 
 avenged July 27, 1710, by Stanhope, 
 who near it, at Almenara (4 L.) com- 
 pletely routed Philip V. The allies 
 were inferior in number, and the pot- 
 tering Archduke Staremberg and heavy 
 Germans refused to advance, like La- 
 peha at Barrosa. Cries of shame 
 resounded in the British ranks, and 
 Stanhope threatened to withdraw from 
 Spain, as the Duke did after Tala- 
 vera: but the English bayonet-charge 
 was irresistible, and the French fled 
 in every direction. Philip escaped 
 by mere accident: his baggage was 
 taken, like Joseph’s was in our times 
 at Vitoria. 44 Had there been two hours 
 more daylight,” wrote Stanhope, 44 not 
 a Frenchman would have got away.” 
 But there is nothing new in this — so 
 wrote Wellington after Salamanca, 
 Marlborough after Ramillies— nor that 
 M. Madoz (i. 92) should ascribe the 
 victory to the Germans ! or that neither 
 
022 
 
 ROUTE 129. — LERIDA — CERVERA. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 the English nor Stanhope should be 
 named by him — Cosas de Espana ! 
 Philip V., afterwards writhing under 
 recollections of this disgrace, trans- 
 ferred the university to Cervera, and 
 the two places have detested each other 
 ever since. 
 
 Lerida, in the Peninsular war, was 
 taken by Suchet, May 14, 1810. Gen. 
 Harispe having seized upon Fort Gar- 
 den and the town ; the unarmed inha- 
 bitants, women and children, were 
 driven out on to the glacis, and there 
 exposed to the fire both of the citadel 
 and. the invader ; thus they were 
 harassed all night and next day by 
 shells, until the Spanish governor, 
 Garcia Conde, overpowered by the 
 frightful scene, hoisted the white flag. 
 Suchet, in his ‘ Memoires/ ch. 4, 
 dwells with honest pride on this well- 
 imagined destruction, which he re- 
 peated at Tarragona and elsewhere —a 
 proceeding which Col. Napier thought 
 “ politic , indeed, but scarcely admis- 
 sible within the pale of civilisation.” 
 Confound their politics ! but the elo- 
 quent Mons. Foy (i. 258) sneers at our 
 dull soldiers as being insensible to 
 “ Les revelations sublimes du Genie 
 de la Destruction, qui eveille une 
 puissance de pensee superieure k celle 
 qni preside aux creations de la poesie 
 et de la philosophic.” Suchet, after 
 this splendid feat, which thus out- 
 clipsed the sublime of Milton and 
 Burke, removed from Zaragoza to 
 Lerida, where “ Madame” held her 
 “ court,” and ruled him as her hair- 
 dresser ruled her, for she was consist- 
 ent at least in love for a profession of 
 which her husband had once been a 
 bright ornament (Schep. iii. 352). 
 Suchet was a simple scourge of God : 
 he had no feeling for art, and, com- 
 pared to the Verres Soult, was a mere 
 Mummius. 
 
 Lerida is the second city of Cata- 
 lonia, and is strongly fortified : the 
 engineer may examine the W. side, the 
 fort Garden , el Pilar , and San Fernando ; 
 the artist and ecclesiologist should 
 ascend the hill and the belfry of the old 
 cathedral, which commands a glorious 
 hill and plain panorama. This cathe- 
 dral presents a jumble of styles, having 
 
 been converted from a mosque about 
 a.d. 1202. All is going to ruin: the 
 entrance is dilapidated, and the statues 
 dethroned. In the Capilla de Jesus lies 
 a natural son of Fernando el Catolico. 
 Look at the transept and semi-moresque 
 cloister. The ruin of this sacred pile 
 dates from 1707, when the French 
 made it a fortress ; nor has it ever been 
 restored to pious uses, for in the piping 
 times of peace the steep walk proved 
 too much for the pursy canons, who 
 abandoning their lofty church, em- 
 ployed General Sabatini ! to build them 
 a new cathedral below in the con- 
 venient and Corinthian style. The old 
 churches of San Juan and San Lorenzo 
 were originally mosques. 
 
 Pilgrims on their road to Zaragoza 
 and Compostella may visit at the 
 Plazuela de la Pescaderia the Pen del 
 Rameu , where the Apostle ran a thorn 
 in his foot by night, when angels 
 brought lanterns, a pious custom still 
 adhered to by the good little boys and 
 girls of Lerida. 
 
 Proceeding onwards between Golmes 
 and Villafranca , and near Bellpuig , in 
 the Franciscan convent, is (or was) the 
 magnificent tomb of Ramon de Car- 
 dona, viceroy of Sicily, which was 
 raised by Isabel his widow. The 
 armed noble lies on a splendid cinque- 
 cento Urna, which is enriched with 
 mythological and marine deities, while 
 the basement is divided into three por- 
 tions: in the centre is a sea-battle ; the 
 others are inscribed with Latin verses 
 on tablets supported by children ; in 
 the 1. corner is the name of the Nea- 
 politan sculptor, “ Joannes Nolanus, 
 faciebat 1522.” Observe above the 
 Caryatides, and the Virgin and Child 
 in a vesica piscis of clouds upheld by 
 angels. 
 
 The dreary country which now en- 
 sues, and the interminable leagues, 
 have long been the horror of riding- 
 travellers. Tarega a Cervera , legua 
 enter a, y si fuere mojada cuentela por 
 jornada. 
 
 Cervera is built on an eminence 
 which descends to Barcelona: pop. 
 4000. To this place Philip V. trans- 
 ferred the university of Lerida, which 
 recently has been removed to Barce- 
 
Arragon. 
 
 Iona; there he raised the huge un- 
 sightly edifice with pointed roofs and 
 French towers, which Suchet and 
 others afterwards gutted, having first 
 burnt the library in order to fit it up for 
 a barrack. Cervera is seen from afar 
 on all sides, and its heights command 
 extensive views. The Gothic church 
 has a good chapel of La Vera Cruz , 
 and there is a fine cloister in the Do- 
 minican convent. At Cervera , Oct. 1 1 , 
 1811, Eroles defeated the invaders and 
 took their Corregidor , one Isidoro 
 Perez Canino, prisoner; this rene- 
 gade Spaniard had before placed 
 all his countrymen who did not 
 pay French contributions into a cage, 
 leaving outside their heads be- 
 smeared with honey to attract a plague 
 of flies. This Afrancesado was torn 
 to pieces by the populace (Toreno, 
 xvi.) ; but in the words of the Duke 
 (‘ Disp.,’ Nov. 22, 1812), such a wretch 
 
 923 
 
 had been “ guilty of the greatest crime 
 of which any individual in modem 
 times can be guilty, viz., he has aided 
 the French in invading his native 
 country, in which they committed hor- 
 rors until then unheard of.” 
 
 From Cervera the road is more inte- 
 resting, running through wooded ra- 
 vines and Swiss-like scenery to Igualada, 
 which is also built on an eminence. 
 The older portions are narrow and 
 tortuous, but the Earnbla is a good 
 street, and the new suburb handsome. 
 Here also is a fine arch constructed to 
 introduce water ; here, in the summer 
 of 1840, Christina met Espartero, and 
 by persisting in the French scheme of 
 abolishing local fueros, prepared the 
 way to her loss of the regency and 
 expatriation. Soon commence rich 
 corn- plains and vineyards, which con- 
 tinue along a busy road (see p. 407) to 
 Barcelona. 
 
 THE SPANISH PYRENEES. 
 
 THE SPANISH PYRENEES. — This mountain range was called by the 
 Romans Montes and Saltus Pyrenei , and by the Greeks probably from a 
 
 local Iberian word, but which they, as usual, catching at sound, not sense, 
 connected with their Uvg ; they then bolstered up their erroneous derivation by a 
 legend framed to fit the name, asserting-Ahat it either alluded to a fire through 
 which certain precious metals were discovered, or because the lofty summits 
 were often struck with lightning and dislocated by volcanos. According to the 
 Iberians, Hercules, when on his way to “ lift” Geryon’s cattle, was so hos- 
 pitably received by one Bebryx, a petty ruler in these mountains, that the 
 demigod got drunk and ravished his host’s daughter Pyrene , who died of grief; 
 whereupon Hercules,. sad and sober, made the whole range re-echo with her 
 name (Sil. Ital., iii. 420") : but Pliny (N. H., iii. 1) held this Spanish legend to 
 be an idle fiction. Bochart (Can. i. 35) supposes that the Phoenicians called 
 these ranges Put'ani, from the forests, Pura signifying wood in Hebrew. The 
 Basques have, of course, their etymology, some saying that the real root is Biri, 
 an elevation, while others prefer Bierri enac , the “ two countries,” which, sepa- 
 rated by the range, were ruled by Tubal (‘ Origen ’ Perochegui, p. 19) ; but 
 when Spaniards once begin with Tubal, the best plan is to shut the book. 
 
 This gigantic barrier, which divides Spain and France, is connected with the 
 dorsal chain which comes down from Tartary and Asia. It stretches far beyond 
 the transversal spine, for the mountains of the Basque Provinces, Asturias and 
 Gallicia, are its continuation. The Pyrenees, properly speaking, are placed 
 between 42° 10' and 43° 20' N. latitude, and extend E. to W., in length about 
 270 miles, and being both broadest and highest in the central portions, where 
 the width is about GO miles, and the elevations exceed 11,000 feet. The spurs 
 and offsets penetrate on both sides like ribs from a back-bone into the lateral 
 valleys. The central nucleus slopes gradually E. to the Mediterranean, and 
 W. to the Atlantic, in a long uneven swell: thus from Monte Perdido , which is 
 11,264 ft. high (some say more), it descends, rising again at the Maladeta to 
 11,424 ft.; then it descends into the valley of Andorra , rising again in the 
 
THE SPANISH PYRENEES. 
 
 924 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 Moncal to 10,663 ft.; dips once more, rising again in the Canigu to 9141 ft., and 
 then shelves into the Mediterranean. 
 
 The Maladeta is the loftiest peak, although the Pico del Mediodia and the 
 Canigu , because rising at once out of plains and therefore having the greatest 
 apparent altitudes, were long considered to be the highest; but now these 
 French usurpers are dethroned. This central nucleus is a net-work of gigantic 
 masses and heights, which rise almost from the same bases : thus Neouvielle 
 (ancient snows) soars 9702 ft., Marbore 10,950 ft., Monte Perdido 11,264 ft., and 
 Viguemale 10,330 ft. : all these are placed between Huesca and Tarbes. 
 
 The width of the range is narrowest to the E., being only about 20 miles 
 across near Figueras , while the heights are the lowest at the W. extremity, 
 seldom exceeding 9000 ft. The width opposite Pamplona ranges at about 
 40 miles. Seen from a distance the general outline appears to be one mountain- 
 ridge, with broken pinnacles ; but, in fact, it consists of two distinct lines, 
 which are parallel, but not continuous. The one which commences at the 
 ocean is at least 30 miles more in advance towards the south than the corre- 
 sponding line, which commences from the Mediterranean. The centre is the 
 point of dislocation, where the ramifications and reticulations are the most 
 intricate ; it is the key-stone of the system, which is buttressed up by Las Tees 
 Sorellas, the tria juncta in uno of those sisters three, the Monte Perdido, Cglindro, 
 and Marbore. Here is the source of the Garonne, La Garona ; here the scenery 
 is the grandest, and the lateral valleys the longest and widest. The Spanish 
 or S. front is most in advance, is the steepest, and descends abruptly ; 
 while on the French or N. side the acclivities shelve down in tiers with a suc- 
 cession of terraces, dips, and basins; and the natives of each side differ no less 
 than nature: the French all smooth, social, and civilized — the Spaniards 
 hard, sullen, and uncouth. Oh dura tellus Iberise ! The average height of 
 perpetual snow ranges between 8000 ft. and 9000 ft., a datum which is useful 
 in calculating elevations. In the Alps this line is at 6600 ft., in the Andes 
 14,000 ft. 
 
 In the highest elevations on the French side are glaciers, Sernelhes, and frozen 
 lochs ; and in general there are more lakes on that side than on the Spanish, 
 which being steeper, affords fewer positions in which waters can lodge. The 
 lake on Monte Perdido is 8393 ft. above the sea. The smaller buttresses or spurs 
 of the great range enclose valleys, down each of which pours a stream : thus 
 the Ebro, Garona, and Bidasoa are fed from the mountain alembic. These 
 tributaries are generally called in France Gaves ,* and in some parts on the 
 Spanish side Gcxbas ; but Gav signifies a “ river,” and may be traced in our 
 Avon ; and Humboldt derives it from the Basque Gav, a “ hollow or ravine;” 
 cavus, koiXos. The parting of these waters or their flowing down either N. or S. 
 should naturally mark the line of division geographically between France and 
 Spain : such, however, is not the case politically, as part of Cerdeua belongs to 
 the former, while Aran belongs to the latter ; thus each country possesses a 
 key in its neighbour’s territory. It is singular that this obvious inconvenience 
 should not have been remedied by some exchange when the long-disputed 
 boundary-question was settled between Charles IV. and the French republic 
 (see also ‘ Esp. Sag/ xlii. 236). 
 
 The lateral valleys vary in length from 10 to 40 miles ; sometimes they nar- 
 row into gorges, gargantas, or expand into basins, ollas, which are encircled by 
 mountains as by an amphitheatre ; hence they are called by the French oules 
 Cirques. These circular recesses were once lakes, from which the waters have 
 
 * The word davacho, which is the most offensive vituperative of the Spaniard against the 
 Frenchman, has by some been thought to mean “ those who dwell on Gaves.” Marina, how- 
 ever (Mem. Acad. His. iv. 59), derives it, and correctly, from the Arabic Cabach, detestable, 
 filthy, or “ qui prava indole est, moribusque.” Some, however, say that the word is derived from 
 gavache, a cloak worn in the Pyrenees. 
 
Arragon. the Spanish Pyrenees. 925 
 
 burst : the smaller lochs, Ibones , abound in trout. The valleys in Arragon are 
 among the most beautiful in the whole range, especially those of Anso , Can- 
 franc , Biescas, Broto, Gistain, and Benasque. 
 
 The highest points or pinnacles are called Puigs in Catalonia, Pueyos and 
 puertos in Arragon, Poyos in Navarre, Puys in French, words which are said to 
 be a corruption of Podium , an elevation. Poyo , however, in Castilian signifies 
 a stone doorpost. The depressioDS at the heads of valleys or necks of the ridges 
 are called Cells , and in Castilian Collados , and over them the passes of inter- 
 communication are carried; hence they are called Puertos , gates , doorways , 
 Portce ; and the smaller ones Portillos. The equivalent terms on the French 
 side are Col , Hourque , Hourquette , Fourque , Core , Breche , and Porte. Of these in 
 the whole range, there are some 70 or 80, but scarcely a dozen of them are 
 practicable for the rudest wheel-carriages. They remain much in the same 
 state as in the time of the Moors, who from them called the Pyrenean 
 range Albert , the ridge of ‘‘gates" or Portae. Many of the wild passes, 
 only known to the natives and smugglers, are often impracticable from the 
 snow, while even in summer they are dangerous, being exposed to mists and 
 hurricanes of mighty rushing winds. Generally speaking, the ascents are the 
 easiest from the French side, and to those who cross the barrier the following 
 local names may be useful: — Cacou , Couilla , a shepherd’s cabin ; Chaos, a heap 
 of rocks — “ chaos come again Couret , the course of a river when it leaves a 
 
 lake ; Estibef fine meadows ; Pene , the extreme point of a mountain ; Pouey , 
 Puch, Peek , Puy , Sarre, Serre, Sarrat ( Sierra , Cerro , Arabice), a back ; Tuc , Tuque , 
 a mountain ; Tar on, a hillock ; Ramade, a large flock of sheep. 
 
 The two carriageable lines of intercommunication are placed at each ex- 
 tremity ; that to the W. passes through Irun , that to the E. through Figueras. 
 On these lines are the best towns and accommodations. The chief secondary 
 passes are the Puerto de Maya and De Roncesvalles in Navarre ; those of Canfranc, 
 Panticosa, Gavarnie, Vielsa, Brecha de Roldan and Marcadau in Arragon ; and of 
 Plan de Ause , Puigcerdd, and the Col de Pertus in Catalonia. 
 
 The Spanish Pyrenees offer a few attractions to the lovers of the fleshly 
 comforts of cities, for the objects of interest relate solely to Nature, who 
 here wantons in her loneliest, wildest forms. The scenery, sporting, geology, 
 and botany, are Alpine, and will repay those who can “ rough it ’’ considerably. 
 The contrast which the southern or Spanish side offers to the northern or 
 French side is great, alike in man and nature : the mountains themselves are 
 less abrupt, less covered with snow, while the numerous and. much frequented 
 baths on the latter, frequented as watering-places “ in the season," have given 
 rise to roads, diligences, hotels, table-d’hotes, cooks, cicerones, donkeys, and 
 other things suitable for the Badaux de Paris : they indeed (the badaux) babble 
 about green fields and des belles horreurs, but seldom go beyond the immediate 
 vicinity and hackneyed “ lions a want of good taste and real perception of the 
 
 sublime and beautiful is nowhere more striking, says Mr. Erskine Murray, than 
 on the French side, where mankind remains profoundly ignorant of the real 
 beauties of the Pyrenees ; these have been chiefly explored by English tourists, 
 who love Nature with their heart, strength, and soul, who worship her alike in 
 her shyest retreats, in her wflldest forms. Nevertheless, on the French side infinite 
 comfopts and appliances are to be had ; nay, invalids and ladies in search of the 
 picturesque can ascend even to the Brecha de Roldan. Once, however, cross the 
 frontier, and a sudden change comes over all facilities of locomotion and the 
 comforts of existence. Stern and inhospitable is the welcome of Spain, and 
 scarce is the food for body or mind, and deficient the accommodation for man 
 or beast, for which there is small demand. No Spaniard ever comes here for 
 pleasure ; hence the localities are given up to the smuggler and izzard. The 
 Oriental inmsthetic incuriousness for things, old stones, wild scenery, &c., is 
 increased by political reasons and fears. France, from the time of the Celt 
 
 2 s 3 
 
926 
 
 FEAR AND HATRED OF FRANCE. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 down to to-day, has been the ravager and terror of Spain. While she therefore 
 has improved her means of approach and invasion, Spain, to whom the past is 
 prophetic of the future, has raised obstacles, and has left her protecting barrier 
 as broken and hungry as when planned by her tutelar divinity. The frontier 
 castles and defences with which the country, especially on the Catalan side, was 
 once studded, since the war of the Succession have been dismantled by the 
 French, and an inroad thrown open. Here, however, dwell highlanders, less 
 practicable than their broken fastnesses, the smuggler, the rifle sportsman, the 
 faccioso, and all who defy the law ; here is bred the hardy peasant, who, 
 accustomed to scale mountains and fight wolves, becomes a ready raw material 
 for the guerrilleros ; and none were ever more formidable to Rome or France 
 than those marshalled in these glens by Sertorius and Mina ; when the tocsin 
 bell rings out, a hornet swarm of armed men, the weed of the hills, starts up 
 from every rock and brake. As Burke said in 1791, so now 14 this old national 
 hatred of France is the only safety of Spain ; ” the best of barriers is one based 
 not on treaties and parchments, but on eternal national antipathies. There are 
 crimes, say the semi- Oriental Spaniards, who are better Catholics than Chris- 
 tians, too evident to be blinked, and which never can be written away or lied 
 down ; they are too deadly to be forgiven, and to revenge them becomes a 
 sacred duty. The hatred of the Frenchman, which the Duke said formed 44 part 
 of a Spaniard’s nature,” seems to increase in intensity in proportion to vicinity 
 and better acquaintance, and, as they touch, they rub and fret each other : to 
 hate 44 your neighbour ” is indeed so natural, that a command to love him was 
 necessary for Spaniards. Here it is the antipathy of an antithesis, the incom- 
 patibility of the saturnine and slow, with the mercurial and rapid; of the 
 proud, enduring and ascetic, against the vain, the fickle, and sensual ; of the 
 enemy of innovation and change to the lover of variety and novelty ; this party- 
 wall of ice and the hurricane, these mountains 
 
 That like giants stand 
 To sentinel enchanted land, 
 
 we may trust, will never be removed by a phrase ; and however despots or 
 tricksters may assert in the gilded galleries of Versailles, II n’y a plus cle 
 Pyrenees , the barriers do and will exist for ever; placed there by Providence, 
 quasi de industria, said even the Goths (S n . Isid. Or. xv. 8), they ever have 
 forbidden and ever will forbid the banns of an unnatural alliance ; so it was 
 said in the days of Silius Italicus (iii. 417) : 
 
 Pyrene celsa nimbosi verticis arce 
 Divisos Celtis late prospectat Hiberos 
 Atque aeterna tenet magnis divortia terris. 
 
 If the eagle of Buonaparte could not build in the Arragonese Sierra, the lily 
 of the Bourbon assuredly will not take root in the Castilian plain ; so says 
 Ariosto (xxxiii. 10) : 
 
 Che non lice 
 
 Che T giglio in quel terreno habbia radice ! 
 
 This inveterate condition either of pronounced hostility, or at best of armed 
 neutrality, often renders these localities dangerous and disagreeable to the man 
 of the note-book. Again, these localities consist of a series of secluded districts, 
 which constitute the entire world to the natives, who seldom go beyond the 
 natural walls by which they are bounded, except to smuggle. This vocation is the 
 curse of the country, fosters a wild reliance on self-defence, a habit of border 
 foray and insurrection, which almost seems necessary as a moral excitement 
 and combustible element, as carbon and hydrogen are in the constitution of 
 their physical bodies. No preventive service, no cordon of custom-house 
 officers, can put down contraband in these broken ranges, nor guard the 
 
Arragon . smuggling and sporting. 927 
 
 infinite tracks ’which thread the wild rocks, forests, and glaciers. Again, 
 the recent civil wars were injurious, by whetting the suspicion against 
 prying foreigners; this Oriental and Iberian instinct soon converts a curious 
 traveller into a spy or partisan. Spanish authorities can no more under- 
 stand than a Turk the gratuitous braving of hardship and danger for 
 its own sake — the botanizing and geologizing, & c., of the nature and 
 adventure-loving English. The impertinente curioso may escape observation 
 in a Spanish city and crowd, but not in these lonely hills : he at once 
 becomes the observed of all observers, who, from long smuggling and 
 sporting habits, are always on the look-out, and keen-sighted as hawks, 
 \gipseys, and beasts of prey. Meanwhile the gaping, gazing stranger is as 
 unconscious of the portentous emotions and fears which he is exciting as 
 were the birds of old of the meaning attached to their movements by the 
 Roman augurs, and few augurs ever rivalled a Spanish Alcalde in quick sus- 
 picion and perception of evil, especially where none is intended. As it is 
 always well, even in pleasant and peaceful times, to be on the right side, be 
 careful to have the passport en regie, and always to call on the Alcalde and 
 frankly state the object of the visit. When, however the suspicions of these 
 semi-barbarian officials are once allayed, they become civil and hospitable 
 according to their humble means. Latterly some of those who, by being placed 
 immediately under the French boundary, have seen the glitter of the tourist’s 
 coin, have consequently become more humanized, and anxious to obtain a share 
 in the profits of the season. Generally speaking, a local guide is necessary: 
 those tourists who can speak Spanish will of course get on the best, and will 
 easily find some bold smuggler or local sportsman to attend them ; those who 
 only speak French must put up with one of those amphibious guides who are 
 always to be found on the French side, and who, occasionally, besides being 
 bilingual, are also both rogues and ignorant. They conduct strangers to the same 
 places, to the conventional lions, omitting the secret and yet to be explored 
 charms of the terra incognita. For guide-books in the French Pyrenees, con- 
 sult the excellent 6 Observations de M. diamond,’ Paris, 1789; the Saussure of 
 these Alps : also a ‘ Summer in the Pyrenees by Mr. Erskine Murray, and 
 * Handbook for France by Mr. John Murray. 
 
 The geology and botany have yet to be properly investigated. In the metal- 
 pregnant Pyrenees rude forges of iron abound, conducted on a small, unscientific 
 scale, and probably after the unchanged, primitive Iberian system. Fuel is 
 scarce, and transport of ores on muleback expensive. The iron is at once 
 inferior to the English and dearer ; the tools and implements used on both 
 sides of the Pyrenees are at least a century behind ours ; while absurd tariffs, 
 which prohibit the importation of a cheaper and better article, prevent im- 
 provements in agriculture and manufactures, and perpetuate poverty and 
 ignorance among backward, half-civilised populations. The natural woods of 
 these Saltus Pyrencei have long been celebrated, and Strabo (iii. 245) observed 
 how much more the southern slopes were covered than the northern ones. The 
 timber, however, has suffered much from the usual neglect, waste, and im- 
 providence of the natives, who destroy more than they consume, and rarely 
 replant. The sporting in these lonely, wild districts is attractive, for where 
 man seldom penetrates the ferae naturae multiply : the bear is, however, getting 
 scarce, as a premium is paid for the head of every one destroyed. The grand 
 object of the Cazador is the Cabra Montes , or Rupicabra , the Bouquetin of the 
 French, and the Izzard ( Ibex , becco, bouc, bock, buck). The fascination of this 
 pursuit, like that of the Chamois in Switzerland, leads to constant and even 
 fatal accidents, as this shy animal lurks in almost inaccessible localities, and 
 must be stalked with the nicest skill. The sporting on the French side is far 
 inferior, as the cooks of the table-d’hotes have waged a guerra a cuchillo , a war to 
 the knife, and fork too, against even les petits oiseaux ; but a true cook, a cordon 
 
928 
 
 ROUTE 130. — ZARAGOZA TO URDAX. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 bleu persecutes even minnows, as all sport and fair play is scouted, and every- 
 thing gives way for the pot. The Spaniards, less mechanical and gastronomic, 
 leave the feathered and finny tribes in comparative peace. Accordingly 
 the streams abound with trout, and those which flow into the Atlantic with 
 salmon. The lofty Pyrenees are not only alembics of cool crystal streams, 
 but contain, like the heart of Sappho, sources of warm springs under a bosom 
 of snow. The most celebrated, issue on the French side, or at least those the 
 most known and frequented, for the Spaniard is a small bather, and no great 
 drinker of medicinal waters. Accommodations at the baths on his side scarcely 
 exist, while even those in France are second-rate when compared to the spas 
 of Germany, and are dirty and indecent when contrasted with those of England. 
 The artist may spend the dog days most pleasantly in the Pyrenees. The scenery 
 is magnificent, and he can soon fly from the common-place coats and cooks. 
 The native highlanders in summer lead their flocks up to mountain huts and 
 dwell witli their cattle, struggling against poverty and endeavouring really to 
 keep the wolf from the door: their watch-dogs are magnificent: the sheep 
 are under admirable control, being, as it were, in the presence of the enemy, 
 they know the voice of their shepherds, or rather the peculiar whistle and 
 cry : their wool is smuggled into France, to be re- smuggled back again when 
 manufactured in the shape of coarse cloth. But, however poor, they are pas- 
 toral, poetical, and picturesque, as most people are who live in mountains ; 
 the plains may be richer in “ bread stuffs,” but what can a painter or traveller 
 make of them? According to Spanish divines the Pyrenees concealed Spain 
 from our Saviour, and fortuijately, they say, when the devil tempted him by 
 the offer of all the glories of the earth ; but, lofty as these mountains are, they 
 have never hidden her from the keen eye of the Cock or Eagle of France. 
 
 Route 130.— Zaragoza to Urdax. 
 
 Villanueva. ... 
 
 . . 2 
 
 
 Zuera 
 
 
 
 Gurrea del Gallego . 
 
 . . 3 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 Venta de Tulinana . 
 
 . . 2 . 
 
 . 9 
 
 Ayerbe 
 
 
 
 Auzanigo .... 
 
 . . 3 . 
 
 . 15 
 
 Bernues .... 
 
 
 
 Jaca 
 
 
 
 Canfranc .... 
 
 
 
 Urdax ..... 
 
 
 
 There is a sort of diligence commu- 
 nication part of the way in summer; 
 generally, however, travellers ride. 
 The mountain roads are bad, but the 
 scenery is picturesque. The route 
 commences over bald dreary plains, 
 with aromatic wastes extending to the 
 rt., while the Gallego eats its way to 
 the 1, Those who leave Zaragoza late 
 may sleep at a solitary venta about 
 2 L. short of Gurrea. Approaching 
 Ayerbe the Pyrenees grow larger as 
 the road grows worse, Crossing a 
 ridge which separates the water-courses 
 of the Aragon and Gallego, and wind- 
 ing through pretty well-watered glens, 
 Jaca , Jacca — Posada del Canfranc — is 
 
 reached ; this place has immemorially 
 been of some importance, as lying on 
 the frontier. This ancient walled town 
 is tolerably built : Pop. about 3000. 
 Near it the river Gas joins the Aragon 
 and fertilizes the valleys. Jaca is the 
 see of a bishop, suffragan to Zaragoza. 
 The simple solid cathedral was founded 
 by Ramiro in 814. The tutelar is a 
 Santa Orosia, whose body is venerated 
 in a silver case in her chapel. The 
 Capilla de S. Miguel has a superb pla- 
 teresque portal, with foliaged columns 
 and medallions in high relief : in the C % 
 de su Ma jest ad opposite is a grand tomb 
 of a bishop, mitred and canopied : in La 
 Trinidad notice the noble marble re- 
 tablo, with the Father holding the 
 crucified Saviour, executed in a Ber- 
 ruguete and Florentine style. 
 
 Jaca was taken from the Spaniards 
 by M. P. Cato, a.c. 195, became the 
 capital of its district, was fortified, and 
 portions of the Roman wall are yet 
 preserved. It was wrested from the 
 Moors so early as 795, when Don Asnar, 
 its Pelayus, sallied forth from the 
 
ROUTE 130. JACA — LEGEND OF VOTO. 
 
 929 
 
 Arragon, 
 
 mountains and dispossessed the infidels; 
 they, 90,000 in number, made a des- 
 perate attempt to recover it, but were 
 repulsed, the women fighting like men: 
 see 4 Espana Restaurada Martin de la 
 Cruz, 4to. Zar. 1627. The Moors fled, 
 leaving behind them the heads of four 
 of their kings, i.e. shiekhs, which Jaca 
 quarters on her shield to this day. The 
 site of the battle, called Las Tiendas, 
 is still visited on the first Friday in 
 May, when the daughters of these 
 Amazons go gloriously to a sham fight. 
 A church also was raised on the site 
 dedicated to la Virgen de la Victoria , 
 | a L. on the Navarre road. 
 
 The old castle of Jaca, during the 
 Peninsular war, was repaired and 
 strongly garrisoned by the French 
 under Lomet, a wholesale executioner 
 of prisoners (Schep. ii. 252). After 
 Soult’s defeats in the Pyrenees, the 
 garrison capitulated, under promise not 
 to serve against the allies ; but no 
 sooner had the troops reached France 
 than this pledge was violated, and the 
 Duke in consequence refused to ratify 
 the capitulations of their countrymen 
 at Santoha (Disp. April 1, 1814). So 
 at Aboukir, when Nelson landed the 
 prisoners on a pledge that they were 
 not to serve again, before the fleet was 
 out of sight they were all drafted by 
 Buonaparte into regiments. 
 
 Jaca — el muy noble, muy leal y ven- 
 cedora — had surrendered at once to the 
 French in 1809, as it did to Mina in 
 1814: so much for heroic nomencla- 
 ture antecedents. 
 
 Jaca is interesting to the constitu- 
 tional antiquarian, as its fuero, or mu- 
 nicipal charter, is reckoned among the 
 earliest in Spain ; it dates from the 
 Moorish expulsion, and was confirmed 
 in 1063 by Sanchez Ramirez. In Jaca 
 also was held the first parliament on 
 record. All those who have leisure 
 should visit the mines and pine-forests 
 of Oroel, and the picturesque ruined 
 Benedictine convent of San Juan de la 
 Pena ; after 2 L. you reach Santa Cruz ; 
 near the village is a most ancient semi- 
 norman church, with a lofty square 
 tower, and 3 tiers of double-arched 
 windows : observe the portal and wheel 
 and lettered devices ; and inside, the 
 
 grotesque capitals, billet mouldings, 
 and the 2 plain tombs : also the roof 
 of the Sal a Capitular : hence about f of 
 a L., by a vile road, with glorious 
 pines and scenery, to the convent. 
 Near this site the Arragonese in 760 
 built their first city, called Panno ; this 
 was soon destroyed by the Moors, when 
 the natives fled to the cavern, where 
 the convent was afterwards built, and 
 thus became the rocky cradle of the 
 monarchy, as Covadunga did in the 
 Asturias. Here the early patriots were 
 joined by the mountaineers from Sob- 
 rarbe , and drew up the so-called Fueros. 
 The foundation of the convent was 
 after this wise : a hunter named Voto, 
 while riding after a stag, came so 
 suddenly on the chasm under which 
 the building now nestles, that the fore- 
 legs of the galloping steed hung over 
 the gulph, much as that of Don Quixote 
 was suspended on the brink, at the 
 bottom of which was Sancho Panza 
 (ii. 35). . In this dilemma our Voto 
 invoked St. John, and the horse be- 
 came fixed, hanging in mid-air. In 
 evidence of this portent, the prints of 
 the steed’s hoofs were long shown on 
 the rock ; but these things were com- 
 mon enough in the Peninsula ; and a 
 similar horse -feat and miracle oc- 
 curred also in Portugal in 1182, when 
 Don Juan discovered the Virgin of 
 Nazareth, whose shrine was pillaged 
 by the invaders under Thomieres 
 (Southey, 4 Lon Rod,’ note 28). 
 
 Voto then dismounted, and descend- 
 ing into the cave found the stag dead 
 from the fall, and by its side a deceased 
 hermit, on whose stone pillow was in- 
 scribed his name, “ Juan,” and a state- 
 ment that he had here founded a chapel 
 to the Baptist. This relic was unfor- 
 tunately lost in 1094, to the grief of the 
 historian Abarca (i. 22), whose account 
 we abridge. While all this was going 
 on Voto’s horse remained statuesquely 
 suspended over the abyss. Voto, on 
 his return to Jaca, persuaded his brother 
 to turn hermit, and both lived and died 
 in the cave, since which “ miracles 
 have been continually worked, and 
 salvation secured by their intercession.” 
 Hence the site became, says Suchet, 
 the “ object of popular superstition,” 
 
930 
 
 ROUTE 131. JACA TO THE PUERTO DE SALLENT. Sect. XIII. 
 
 and produced a new asserter of liberty, 
 one Sarasa, a local guerrillero ; where- 
 upon the invaders under Musnier, 
 xAug. 25, 1809, burnt the monastery to 
 the ground, and with it the precious 
 MSS. and archives of early Arragonese 
 liberties — and melancholy are the pic- 
 turesque ruins, and more sad the vile 
 modern repairs and restorations. The 
 position somewhat recalls the rock- 
 built temples of Petrsea. In this pri- 
 mitive sanctuary, an early Escorial, a 
 long line of the early kings of Arragon 
 down to Alonso II. were interred, but 
 their ashes were scattered to the winds 
 by Suchet’s troops. The Pantheon lies 
 down the hill amid pine groves. The 
 church is placed under an overhanging 
 rock, which serves as a roof to the 
 Mausoleum : you enter by a vestibule, 
 with arms and names of the royal 
 deceased ; the altar has plain Norman 
 arches : then to the cloisters, one side 
 of old wood work has escaped : observe 
 the chapel of San Victorian , the curious 
 capitals with life of the Saviour. Here, 
 on Wednesday, March 30, 1071, was 
 celebrated the first Roman mass per- 
 formed in the Peninsula, a novelty 
 effected by Cardinal Hugo Candido, 
 legate of Alexander II., who influenced 
 the king, Sancho Ramirez. This 
 event, which was cited as the proud- 
 est boast by Abarca (i. 119), in reality 
 opened the door to the yoke of 
 Rome. Then the primitive vernacular 
 ritual was exchanged for one in Latin, 
 which the people did not understand, 
 until misgoverned, deluded Spain, 
 having been alternately the inquisitor, 
 executioner, champion, and banker of 
 the Vatican, sunk into bigotry and in- 
 tolerance, and became a bye-word to 
 the world, enslaved, weak, ignorant, 
 and impoverished. For all details of 
 this monastery consult 4 Historia , fyc.,de 
 San Juan de la Pena * by its abbot, 
 Juan Briz Martinez, fol. Zaragoza, 
 1620. 
 
 Leaving Jaca, by its poplar-planted 
 alameda, the Pyrenean defiles are soon 
 entered, and the road becomes wild 
 and alpine. It is a hours ride, mule- 
 pace, to Canfranc, a miserable hamlet 
 placed in the jaws of the pass. The 
 road follows the course of the river 
 
 Arragon, which boils down from its 
 mountain source, forcing its way 
 through the rocks ; passing Castello in 
 a declivity, then a picturesque bridge 
 at Villanova, we reach Canfranc , a dog- 
 hole in the alpine height. The Puerto is 
 said to be 6713 feet above the level of 
 the sea. The overhanging castle com- 
 mands splendid views. Behind lies 
 the province Arragon, and above 
 towers the snowy cloud-capped Can 
 Gran, one of the most remarkable 
 heights of the range. The inha- 
 bitants of Canfranc are canes franci, 
 and worthy of their name, being much 
 addicted to smuggling ; this they carry 
 on in face of the Dogana and custom- 
 house officers of the two countries, des 
 veritables chiens, who worry the honest 
 traveller. Canfranc is the last town 
 in Arragon. Adieu, hungry, racy, 
 rough Spain, with thy mountain passes, 
 ilex woods, and fragrant wildernesses, 
 and welcome the talented flesh-pots 
 and superb cuisine of La Belle France, 
 of which Urdax , however, offers but 
 poor samples. Hence in summer a 
 diligence runs to Oleron (see Hand- 
 book for France, R. 82). From the 
 Puerto de Canfranc the pedestrian may 
 strike off to the rt., under the Pico del 
 Mecliodia , to Gabas, where the French 
 douane is placed, and so on to Eaux 
 Chaudes. The Pic du Midi may be 
 ascended from Gabas in from 2 to 3 
 hours : it is said to be 9500 feet high. 
 The ascent from Grip requires from 
 5 to 6 hours. The views over the 
 lofty Maladeta Perdido contrast with 
 the plains of France. 
 
 Route 131 , — Jaca to the Puerto 
 he Sallent. 
 
 Larres 2 
 
 Biescas 2 . . 4 
 
 Pueyo . 2 . . 6 
 
 Puerto de Sallent. . . . 2 .. 8 
 
 Attend to the provend, and take a 
 local guide, who can generally procure 
 lodgings and some sort of accommoda- 
 tion in private houses in the villages, 
 which are cleaner and quieter than the 
 posadas, i. e. receptacles for smugglers 
 and their beasts. The beautiful valley 
 of Tena, with the mineral baths of 
 Panticosa , lies between the valley of 
 
ROUTE 131. — PANTICOSA — SALLENT. 931 
 
 Arragon . 
 
 Canfranc W., and that of Broto E., and 
 each are divided from the other by 
 ridges or spurs, which shoot down 
 laterally from the Pyrenees ; they in- 
 tercommunicate by wild paths, known 
 however to the natives. The valley 
 of Tena is about 4 L. long N. and S., 
 and 3 L. wide, being some 11 L. in 
 circumference; it is watered by the 
 Gallego $ Salient is the chief hamlet. 
 TurningW. from Jaca , soon after Larres, 
 the Gallego is neared, which flows on 
 the 1. with its tributaries, until crossed 
 and recrossed near the truly Swiss-like 
 village : pop. 800. Biescas, with a de- 
 cent posada near the bridge, is a good 
 sporting quarter : as in addition to its 
 rivers it communicates both with the 
 valley of Tena and Broto , which the 
 izzard hunters consider most favourite 
 ground, as lying under the gnarled 
 roots of the Monte Perdido group. The 
 gushing torrent at Sa. Elena, 1^ L., is 
 a Vaucluse on a smaller scale. 
 
 Proceeding to Panticosa the defiles 
 narrow in, and the scenery increases 
 in Alpine character ; about a mile up 
 is the Barranco de Estaquer , a wild. 
 rambla like the bed of a torrent, and 
 thence by another longer mile the sweet 
 glens of Taguen and Laciesa. Visit 
 the Fuente Gloriosa, which gushes glo- 
 riously from the cave of the Santuario 
 de Santa Elena , in which the daughter 
 of Constantine the Great is said to have 
 taken refuge ; on the hill above is an 
 intermittent fountain. 
 
 Panticosa is a poor village in a hill- 
 locked valley, that owes its celebrity 
 to the mineral baths, which lie distant 
 a mountain league, or a 2 hours’ walk; 
 after ascending a steep ridge, through 
 the rocky gorge el Escalar, a truly 
 romantic site and severed from the 
 world, all around the dell rise granite 
 ranges, soaring into eternal snow, as 
 this is one of the highest inhabited 
 spots in the Pyrenees, being some 
 8500 feet above the sea. The place is 
 deserted in winter, but in summer a 
 decent French inn is opened by one 
 Michel. The bathing accommoda- 
 tions are far from first rate : there are 
 different springs and establishments, 
 and according to ailment, you can resort 
 to the Higado , Estomago , &c. : the Casa 
 
 de la Pradera is the least bad ; the 
 season is from June to September ; for 
 an analysis of the waters consult ‘ Me - 
 moria,’ Francisco Xavier Cabanes, 
 Mad., 1832. You can get from Eaux 
 Bonnes to Panticosa on horseback. 
 
 There are several routes to France : 
 one leads to Eaux Bonnes, is tolerable, 
 and may be performed on foot in about 
 12 hours, but it will try a stout pedes- 
 trian : that to Cauterez by the desolate 
 Col de Marcadau , which is usually pre- 
 ferred, is a wild and difficult ride of 
 about 8 hours ; you pass a series of 
 lakes, near the first of which is a large 
 rocking stone ; in 2j hours cross the 
 crest of the Col, and descend in 1 hour 
 to Cauterez , Lion d’Or, Hotel de 
 France; the scenery on the French 
 side is magnificent, especially the Lac 
 de Goube and the Pont d’Espagne ; the 
 lake is one of the most elevated in the 
 Pyrenees, and abounds in trout : here 
 the Vignemale is seen in all its Alpine 
 grandeur and solitude ; the Petit Pic is 
 said to be 11,000 feet above the sea, 
 and has been ascended. 
 
 The best plan for seeing the Pic du 
 Midi, and the group of mountains to 
 the E. of Canfranc , is to avoid the 
 Spanish side and to put up at Eaux 
 Bonnes or Canterez in France, where 
 fleshly comforts, cooks, guides, and 
 donkeys abound. Luz will do well for 
 Ija Brecha de Rolan, and Gavarnie for 
 the Cirque de Marbore. In France 
 these excursions are just as much the 
 fashion as they are not among the in- 
 curious uncomfortable Spaniards (see 
 ‘ Handbook for France,’ R. 85). 
 
 Leaving Panticosa, a 2 hours’ and 
 steep ride leads to Salient, the capital 
 of the valley of Tena, and the seat of 
 the Spanish Aduana. The posada is 
 indifferent; consult ‘ Salient Cabeza de 
 el Valle,’ Leon Marton, 4to, Pamplona, 
 1750. There are several wild passes 
 into France. The W., Puerto de For - 
 ■migal, is the easiest of passage, as those 
 by the Cuello de Sova and La Forqueta 
 are fitter for smugglers and izzard- 
 hunters. The route to Eaux Chaudes 
 in France, by the valley of Ossau, is 
 much frequented, and highly pic- 
 turesque ; ascend the course of the 
 Gallego to the Port d’Aneou; the first 
 
932 ROUTE 132. — JACA TO THE BRECHA DE ROLDAN - . - Sect. XIII. 
 
 more than 2000 men, capturing men 
 and baggage ; it was a Roncesvalles on 
 a smaller scale. 
 
 The Venta de Bujaruefo is miserable, 
 while all around is sublimely alpine 
 and picturesque, as we are now in the 
 very heart of the grandest scenery of 
 the Pyrenees; the Spanish side is by 
 far the wildest and most abrupt. The 
 venta is distant from Torlci about lj L., 
 being at the foot of the Three Sisters,' 
 las Tres Sorellas, or Sorores. The Three 
 Sisters, that is the Monte Perdido Cy- 
 linder o, and Marbore, 10,950 feet, form 
 the central buttress of the Pyrenean 
 range, and the point of dislocation: 
 these mountains do not consist of one 
 continuous line, but of two parallel 
 ranges ; the southern, which begins at 
 the ocean, being some 30 m. in advance 
 of the northern. Visit particularly la 
 Brecha de Pioldan : this mighty fissure 
 in the mountain-wall, and a much- 
 frequented smugglers’ pass, can be seen 
 from Huesca, and some say even from 
 Zaragoza ; it then appears only a small 
 notch in the stony ridge, but when ap- 
 proached becomes a gigantic gate in 
 the natural barrier, which rises more 
 than 9500 feet above the sea ; the for- 
 mation is somewhat convex on the 
 French side, and really, when beheld 
 from afar, the barrier appears to be an 
 artificial wall, to which that of China 
 is the work of pigmies. It varies in 
 height from 300 to COO ft., and in 
 thickness from 50 to 80 ; the breach is 
 shaped like the square opening in the 
 battlement of a frontier defence. This 
 gap, in moments of storms, so frequent 
 in these tempest-haunted heights, be- 
 comes truly terrific. Then, indeed, it 
 is the portal of ^Eolus, or the narrow 
 funnel through which the hurricanes 
 that are checked by the mountains 
 tear, sweeping everything away, and 
 rendering impossible any attempt to 
 pass through against them. Some have 
 compared the gap to that in a jaw from 
 whence a tooth has been extracted; 
 this Brecha , according to authentic le- 
 gends, was struck out by Orlando, the 
 redoubtable paladin Roland ; he with 
 one blow of his trusty blade Durandal, 
 thus opened a passage for his pursuit of 
 the infidel, and his potent sword is still 
 
 house in France is called la Case de 
 Brousette , and is a sort of governmental 
 Hospice , built for the refuge of storm- 
 lost travellers ; afterwards turn amid 
 rocks and firs off to the 1. to the Pla- 
 teau de Bioux Artiques, to enjoy the 
 splendid view. The Pico del Mediodia 
 soars magnificently ; those who wish 
 to ascend it will do well to take a 
 French guide from Cabas, which is 
 the first hamlet in France, and the seat 
 of la douane. It has a small Cabaret 
 (see 4 Handbook for France,’ R. 83). 
 
 Route 132. — Jaca to la Bbecha de 
 Roldan. 
 
 Biescas 4 
 
 Linas 3 .. 1 
 
 Broto . 3 . . io 
 
 Torla 2 ..12 
 
 Venta de Bujaruelo . . . i£ . . 13 | 
 
 Attend to the provend, and take a 
 local guide ; to Biescas see preceding 
 route. Broto , a small hamlet of 300 
 souls, stands under the Monte Perdido, 
 on the Arci, which flows down the wild 
 valley ; it has two difficult puertos into 
 France, those of Cerbillonar and Pe- 
 tr aueda ; continuing up the streamlet 
 Cerbillonar to its junction with the 
 Ara, about a L. N., is Torla, with 400 
 souls, and chief of the four Vicos or 
 departments into which this district is 
 divided ; the forests are magnificent ; 
 the timber sues y ruilles is floated down 
 from these “ Pyrenaei frondosa cacu- 
 mina Montis ” to Tortosa ; this being a 
 central point in these elevations, is 
 much frequented in summer by shep- 
 herds, who drive their flocks to pas- 
 tures averaging from 7000 to 9000 feet 
 above the sea. The Vignemale , 10,330 
 feet, and Monte Perdido, 11,264 feet 
 each the highest mountain in their 
 respective kingdoms, rise from this 
 nucleus base. The precipices are the 
 haunts of the izzard, and the lochs — 
 Ibones — and streams abound in trout. 
 The passage into France, by the Port de 
 Gavarnie, is truly magnificent. In the 
 Escala or ladder-pass into France, a 
 band of 60 mountaineers surprised in 
 1510 the Comte de Foix, who was in- 
 vading Arragon, in order to support 
 Juan Albret of Navarre against Ferdi- 
 nand the Catholic : they destroyed 
 
ROUTE 132 . — MONTE PERDIDO — FANLO. 933 
 
 Arragon . 
 
 shown at Madrid ; but the weapons 
 made in those days far surpassed the 
 fabrics of Toledo or Sheffield, and of 
 such class was the sword of Paredes, 
 with which, like the mace of the Per- 
 sian Roostem, whole armies were kept 
 at bay. 
 
 The descent into France by the 
 Cirque (Hispanice Olid) de Gavarnie 
 is difficult. Those who wish to ascend 
 the Monte Perdido , 11,168 ft. above the 
 sea, are advised to do so from the 
 French side, taking French guides. 
 An active tourist may start from 
 Gedre , gain the top, and return the 
 same day. The best route is as fol- 
 lows: leaving Gedre, and its oasis in 
 a rocky desert, make for Chaos , an ap- 
 propriate name for a scene where chaos 
 is come again. The Cirque de Gavarnie , 
 at the head of the valley of Lavedan , is 
 most romantic, and there is a small inn 
 in the village. Visit the cataract of 
 the Gave de Pan, and then proceed to 
 the Serrades , or sheep pastures, under 
 the glorious barrier of the Marbore , and 
 thence to the Brecha de Poldan; the 
 Monte Perdido , which is a secondary 
 formation on primitive rock, and is 
 now to be ascended by a series of ter- 
 race-like ridges. The summit was first 
 reached in 1802 by Ramond, who was 
 attended by one Rondo, a guide from 
 Gedre, some of whose descendants yet 
 live there, and are well acquainted with 
 every step. Occasionally tourists sleep 
 the first night at Millar is , a plain en- 
 closed by the Tres Sorellas ; and after 
 the summit has been gained descend to 
 the Brecha de Roldan , and thence by 
 Aragnoet and the beautiful valley of 
 Tramesaigu.es , and so on to Viel. 
 
 You can walk from Bujaruelo to the 
 baths of Panticosa , by the following 
 route: — to Torla 2j hours, Fragin 1, 
 TJnas f, Jesera 2^, Viescas 2, Pueyo 3, 
 Panticosa Baths 2^. Those who start 
 from Panticosa, taking a local guide, 
 may, by climbing the Puerto de Bende- 
 nera, reach in one long day either 
 Gavarnie , or Broto and Torla; whereas 
 the preceding route by Viescas requires 
 2 long days, and is far less interesting. 
 Leaving Panticosa, in ascending, you 
 pass on the rt. a precipitous mountain 
 like the Balahalish end of Glencoe : the 
 
 top of the Puerto is reached in 3§ h. ; 
 a descent of about the same time brings 
 you to the poor venta of Bujaruelo. 
 The scenery is grand, and improves on 
 the road to Torla. 
 
 From Bujaruelo to Gavarnie , by the 
 easy puerto, requires 3^ h. ; so that a 
 traveller in France might ride from 
 Gavarnie to Bujaruelo. Go on for 1 
 h. towards Torla, see all the finest 
 country, and return to Gavarnie the 
 same day ; or proceed from Bujaruelo to 
 Torla, a very picturesque walk, in 2 h., 
 passing after 2 m. a superb gorge; then 
 ^ an hour on to Broto, and 4 more to 
 Fanlo, a village at the back of the 
 Brecha de Roldan, from the summit of 
 which it is a descent of 5 h. ; to the rt. 
 one looks down into a vast tortuous 
 ravine, hollowed out by the melted 
 snow torrents which pour down from 
 Las Tres Sorellas. Near the bottom is 
 a dense mass of forest, the stronghold 
 of the Bouquetin ; the precipitous sides 
 are covered with fir. Antonio Sanchez 
 has a decent fonda at Fanlo, and is 
 most anxious to please his guests ; his 
 charges for two good meals and bed are 
 1 dollar per day ; the mutton is capital. 
 Close to Fanlo is a narrow cleft in a 
 rock, as if formed by an earthquake, 
 through which a stream eats its way ; 
 ascend above and look down into this 
 Tajo, and on the tops of the trees, for 
 the river flows beneath, heard but not 
 seen ; however it may be descended to 
 by means of a rope-ladder. To the E. 
 of Fanlo the wild angular mountain 
 San Victorian stands forth, and about 
 5 m. beyond rise tiers above tiers of 
 dark wooded precipices ; between these 
 is one of the grandest ravines of the 
 Pyrenees, which is best to be explored 
 from Nerin, a village distant from 
 Fanlo 1t| h. The Cura Don Joaquin 
 Sanchon will entertain an Englishman 
 for a dollar per day very well : he is a 
 disciple of Isaac Walton, and a good 
 guide, for which service he expects 
 from 3 to 4 francs more a day. Here 
 you may perhaps find the Bouquetin, 
 the Cobra montes, and the Izzard , a 
 small reddish variety of the chamois. 
 From Nerin to the hamlet of Cercuet 
 1 h.; the little church is picturesque; 
 an h. more to the mountain shoulder, 
 
934 
 
 - ROUTE 133. — ZARAGOZA TO HUESCA. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 whence you gaze down on the splendid 
 Taj o t or chasm hollowed out like a 
 mighty vessel, while the curved strata 
 resemble ribs; deep below boils the 
 emerald-coloured Billos, a stream of 
 melted snow, hemmed in by forests, 
 and precipices piled on precipices up to 
 the very sky. Descend to the river 
 by a rude staircase path, into the 
 primeval forest safe from the wood- 
 man’s axe. The firs, ewes, oaks, 
 beeches, birches, ashes, &c., are 
 drawn up tali and thin in their search 
 of air and light, while their elegant 
 stems contrast with the rugged Sal- 
 vator- Rosa-like rocks. The caves of 
 the highest precipices are the haunts 
 of eagles, who are always slowly 
 wheeling about. An hour’s scramble 
 leads to the picturesque Puente de 
 Cumae , beyond which it is needless to 
 proceed. 
 
 Every artist will make another day’s 
 excursion from Nerin to another Al- 
 pine bridge, which spans the preci- 
 pices ; crossing this to a chapel in a 
 cave, descend to the bed of the river 
 in the direction of the bridge : return 
 to the bridge and ascend the opposite 
 side to a natural arch of rock, amid a 
 dislocated jumble of rocks called la 
 Tierra Mala. 
 
 From Fanlo to Vio is 3 hours : 1 
 hour short of Vio the mountains to the 
 E. are very grand. Breakfast at the 
 house of Manuel Cerezuela, who has 
 eggs, wine, and bread ; bring your 
 mutton therefore from Fanlo. From 
 Vio to Escalona , 3 hours ; 1 hour short, 
 you descend to the village Puyarruebo, 
 whose cultivated slopes contrast with 
 the barren San Victorian ; at Escalona 
 there is a quaint Venta and chapel 
 under the same roof; however dirty 
 and dear, it is much frequented by mule- 
 teers ; the Ventero , however, is careless, 
 and without a conscience — the nearer 
 the church the farther from God. The 
 sunset view of the mountains from the 
 neighbouring fountain is glorious ; 
 hence into France by Vielsa, 6 hours. 
 To the summit of the Puerto de Vielsa, 
 4 hours ; to the 1. as you ascend is a 
 very fine cascade ; 2 hours’ descent lead 
 to the French village Le Plan ; thence 
 through Val d' Aure to Arreau , 6 hours. 
 
 Another route from Escalona runs 
 to the convent of San Victorian, on the 
 Pena Montauesa, 3 hours of gentle 
 ascent through the village Espumas. 
 This monastery is a nobly placed 
 building, and contains some very an- 
 cient portions, although rudely con- 
 structed and cruelly modernised ; here 
 some of the early kings of Arragon 
 are interred. When the property was 
 appropriated by the Government, they 
 allowed the abbot Don Jose Gonzalez 
 y Marin to remain here to take care 
 of the building : although he has never 
 received a farthing of promised aid, or 
 of his miserable stipend, the fine old 
 monk entertains or entertained travel- 
 lers, who pay their expenses. The cave 
 of the tutelar, up in the precipices 
 behind the convent, deserves a visit. 
 From hence a dreary five hours leads 
 to Campo, through a miserable, bare, 
 slaty, crumbling, and arid district, 
 which in winter is torn by torrents, 
 and in summer burnt up. The clear 
 stream flowing through Campo, and 
 the vines trained to the houses, give 
 an artistical character to this poverty- 
 stricken village, in which, however, 
 a bed and dinner are to be got. From 
 Campo to Venasque is 6 hours. The 
 first portion is inferior to the pass be- 
 tween Bujaruelo and Forla, and after- 
 wards the country becomes tame. 
 
 From Jaca to Huesca , 14 L., the so- 
 called road is sometimes a dry river 
 bed, sometimes a mere track, winding 
 up amid rocks shaggy w T ith brushwood. 
 It passes under the bold precipice Pena 
 de Fuel to Bermues , 2 L.,2 hours’ ride 
 — then to Azanigo, 2 L., to Venta de 
 Garroneta, a lone house, prettily situ- 
 ated on the river G allego — thence by 
 Loare 2 L., Bolea 2 L., and the valley 
 of the Isuela to Huesca 4 L. 
 
 Route 133. — Zaeagoza to Huesca. 
 
 Villanueva del Gallego . . 2 
 
 Zuera 2 . . 4 
 
 Venta de Violada. . . . 2 .. 6 
 
 Almudevar 2 . . 8 
 
 Huesca ....... 3 . . 11 
 
 There is a diligence, which is the 
 best, because the most expeditious, 
 means of getting over the treeless, 
 uninteresting, and almost abandoned 
 
Arragon. route 133 
 
 plains in some 8 hours : yet the soil 
 is fertile and the climate favourable, 
 and wherever irrigation is adopted the 
 fruits of the earth abound. La Hoya 
 or La Huerta , near Zuera, was doubt- 
 less, under the Moors, a garden, as the 
 name implies. The Gallego is crossed 
 soon after Zuera , and the road con- 
 tinues over the bald Llano de Violada 
 to Huesca, Osca, which is pleasantly 
 situated on the Lsuela , and looks at a 
 distance somewhat like a ship, with 
 the cathedral tower for a mast. Inns: 
 El Parador de las Diligencias , small but 
 the best ; Posada de Narciso Brualla, 
 de San Miguel , and San Francisco. 
 This ancient Arragonese city is 
 seldom visited by foreigners, but may 
 be taken by those going to the baths 
 of Panticosa , as they will find a re- 
 gular intercommunication in summer. 
 Proto is distant 14L. through Solanilla 
 and Vegua. Those going to Barcelona 
 may rejoin the high road (R. 129) by 
 taking the diligence to Barbastro, 8 
 L. from Huesca , and thence more 
 to Le'rida. 
 
 Huesca , Pop. about 9000, situated in 
 its rich plain or Hoya , on a sort of am- 
 phitheatre open to the N. It has a most 
 ancient aspect, although only two of its 
 99 towers remain on the walls. Being 
 out of the way it has escaped modern 
 repairs and beautifyings, and contains 
 vestiges of past pride and state. It is 
 the chief town of its province, and 
 the see of a bishop, suffragan to Za- 
 ragoza; it has a university, theatre, 
 an instituto , and the usual establish- 
 ments, being the residence of the local 
 authorities. This decayed and decay- 
 ing city is one of great antiquity : ori- 
 ginally called Ileosca (Strabo, iii. 224), 
 and the capital of the Vascitani, it was 
 chosen by the guerrillero Sertorius as 
 the seat of the university which he 
 founded u.c. 677, ostensibly for the 
 education of noble youths, but in 
 reality to hold them as hostages of 
 their fathers’ allegiance. The un- 
 scrupulous Romans, unable to subdue 
 him by fair fight, set a price on his 
 head, as the French did on that of 
 Mina and others, of whom he was a 
 type. At last (u.c. 680) Metellus 
 bribed Perpenna, one of the officers of 
 
 !. — HUESCA. 935 
 
 Sertorius, to invite his chief to a ban- 
 quet (compare Maroto, p. 956), where, 
 when full of wine, he was murdered. 
 On opening the will of his victim, the 
 assassin was found to be largely re- 
 membered therein. Perpenna himself 
 was soon after put to death by Pom- 
 peius (App. B. C. i. 700) ; all these 
 cosas de Espana are according to 
 genuine Iberian maxims, where the 
 abstract treachery is approved of, but 
 the base agent, when used, is not. 
 La traicion aplace , pero no el que la hace. 
 
 Huesca, under Sertorius, grew to be 
 an important place, insomuch that 
 Plutarch (in Vit. Sert.) calls it “a 
 great city.” It became a municipium 
 under the Romans, by name 44 Osca 
 Urbs Victrix,” and had a mint, with 
 a numerous coinage. See Florez, 
 
 4 Med.’ ii. 513. The Nummi Oscenses of 
 which such quantities are mentioned 
 by Livy as sent to Rome by the plun- 
 dering and contribution-levying mar- 
 shals, have often been referred, but 
 erroneously, to this town, the word 
 oscenses simply meaning Spanish. Hues- 
 ca not only produced coins, but coin- 
 collectors, as here lived the famous 
 Vincencio Juan de Lastanosa . He pub- 
 lished a curious catalogue of his ca- 
 binet, * Museo de las Medullas descono- 
 cidas ,’ 4to., Huesca, 1645, which is 
 enriched with etchings: for an ac- 
 count of the author see p. 295 of the 
 charming 4 Voyage d’Espagne? Elzevir, 
 a Cologne, 1667 ; or p. 201 of the 
 English translation printed for Her- 
 ringman, London, 1673 (see post, 
 p. 936). 
 
 Huesca glories in having given birth 
 to San Lorenzo, of gridiron and Esco- 
 rial celebrity, but this honour is hotly 
 disputed by Huescar. The rival pre- 
 tensions are set forth in 4 Defensa de la 
 P atria de San Lorenzo ,’ J. F. Andres 
 de Ustaroz, Zar., 4to. 1638; and 4 Mo- 
 numentode Santos Marty res, 3 &c., Hues- 
 ca, 8vo. 1644; and in 4 Defensa de la 
 Tradition? Juan Aguas, Zar, 4to. 1677. 
 The better opinion, in which we co- 
 incide, assigns the honour to this 
 Huesca. 
 
 Roman Osca was destroyed by the 
 Moors, and, whenever excavations are 
 made, buried fragments of antiquity 
 
936 
 
 ROUTE 133 . HUESCA. 
 
 turn up, which are either used up as 
 old stones for building materials, or 
 reinterred as rubbish. The Moors re- 
 built the place after their fashion, and 
 it became the capital of a surt of inde- 
 pendent half-Berber tribe, who, placed 
 between two fires, sided alternately 
 with the French and Cordovese, hating 
 both equally, and only using them for 
 their own local and selfish purposes, 
 and then abusing and ill-treating them. 
 Thus Amoroz, its celebrated Emir, 
 called in the aid of Charlemagne 
 against the Kalifof Cordova, and then 
 refused to admit his allies into the 
 place. For the other treacheries, as- 
 sassinations, &c., of this Hispano- 
 Oriental chief, see Reinaud, ‘ Invas. 
 des Sarrasins,’ 119. 
 
 Huesca was recovered by the Chris- 
 tians November 25, 1096, after a siege 
 of two years and a defence of Numan- 
 tian and Arragonese obstinacy, and, 
 like Jaca, it bears for its arms the 
 heads of four Moorish kings-- shiekhs, 
 who were then killed, with the addi- 
 tion of a cross which appeared mira- 
 culously in the air. Consult, however, 
 chapter 13, 4 Fundacion y Excellences 
 de Huesca ,’ Francisco Diego de Aynsa 
 y Iriarte, fol., Huesca, 1619, and 8vo., 
 1644, a curious local book. 
 
 Huesca , a very fine specimen of an 
 old Arragonese city, looks nobly from 
 the outside with its cathedral spire 
 and pinnacles, and fringed with poplar 
 alamedas, solidly built, and pictu- 
 resque. The chief street, the fashion- 
 able lounge as at Zaragoza, is called 
 El Coso . The town is cheap, and well 
 supplied with the products of hill and 
 plains, or the Campos , which are irri- 
 gated by the rivers Flumen and Isuela. 
 The hydraulist should visit the grand 
 reservoir of P/xntano, near Arquis , 4 L. 
 N. of Huesca, where the Isuela is 
 dammed up in a gorge by a stupendous 
 wall, built by Francisco Artigas. 
 
 The see of Huesca, which dates from 
 the 6th century, was restored in 1096 
 by Pedro I. The beautiful Gothic 
 cathedral was built in excellent ma- 
 sonry, by Juan de 01otzaga,a Biscayan, 
 in 1400. It is well placed on its plaza, 
 el Aseo , where so many fine buildings 
 are grouped ; the Bishop’s palace, the 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 Prison, and the Casa del Ayuntamiento 
 with its miradores and open gallery. 
 The grand entrance is studded with 
 rows of statues of apostles, &c. ; below 
 are many larger than life, and above, 
 many more smaller ones, in niches. 
 Above the portal the Virgin occupies 
 the position of chief honour, and on the 
 sides are the Adoration of Kings, and 
 the Saviour appearing to the Magdalen. 
 Higher up, under a sort of canopy, is 
 a model of the cathedral as it was 
 originally designed by Olotzaga: the 
 interior is simple, with three naves. 
 Visit the chapel of the Lastanozas , 
 erected by the coin collector of that 
 family : observe the full-length por- 
 traits of himself and brother, a 
 canon ; as the light is bad, get tapers ; 
 Don Vincencio lies clad in armour, 
 as engraved in his book : the epi- 
 taphs on the two marble sarcophagi 
 below, were written by himself ; ob- 
 serve the retablo of black marble, with 
 twisted columns and pietre dure. The 
 alabaster grand retablo , one of the 
 finest things in Arragon, is the master- 
 piece of Damian Forment : begun in 
 1520, it was not finished until 1533, 
 tantae molis erat ! This Cellini-like, 
 most cinque-cento work is divided into 
 three partitions. Observe the Passion 
 of the Saviour, carved in full relief, 
 and the medallion portraits of the artist 
 and his wife. Going into the ruined 
 cloister to the 1., is a damaged retablo 
 of his school, brought from the Convent 
 of Monte de Aragon, and also some 
 pictures of St. Jerome, by Zaran Mar- 
 tinez : also there is the monument 
 of one of Damian’s pupils, Pedro 
 Munoz, put up by his master in 1522. 
 The rich vessels of silver and gold 
 were mostly carried off by the invaders ; 
 a silver Custodia has escaped, it is 
 about 4 feet high in the Graeco 
 Romano style, and was made by Josef 
 de Velazquez of Pamplona, 1601. As- 
 cend the belfry tower, for the pano- 
 ramic view is glorious. 
 
 Huesca was the Salamanca of Arra- 
 gon. The modern university, which 
 in reference to the ancient one, bears 
 the name of Sertorio, was founded in 
 1354, by Pedro IV. The edifice, has 
 a florid door way, and a pretty octagon 
 
ROUTE 134. — BELL OF HUESCA. 937 
 
 Arragon. 
 
 patio with doric pillars; there are 
 some poor portraits : observe, however, 
 on staircase that of a full-length canon, 
 Dolz de Castellar, 1640, now left to 
 rot. The library, an unmolested un- 
 frequented room, is at the end of a 
 hall : you clamber up to the doors 
 some 2 or 3 feet above the flooring. 
 The Colegio de Santiago , founded by 
 Charles V., a picturesque building, 
 groups well with the cathedral and 
 manor house : it contains some bad 
 pictures, brought from the suppressed 
 convents : the college of San Vicente, 
 by Jay me Callen, was founded in 1587, 
 and the Seminario or Santa Cruz in 1580. 
 The schools, libraries, &c., ravaged 
 by the invaders during the war, have 
 never recovered. 
 
 Next visit the ancient Palacio de 
 los Reyes de Aragon , built into Santi- 
 ago, and now a college ; descend into 
 the vault called la Campana, the 
 4 4 bell,” from the following classical 
 and Spanish event. In the year 1136 
 King Kamiro II., being thwarted by 
 his turbulent aristocracy, consulted 
 Frotardo, abbot of San Pedro de 
 Tomeras; the learned priest, who 
 either had read Ovid’s ‘ Fasti ’ (ii. 
 704), or possessed naturally a Tarqui- 
 nian instinct, was walking in his 
 garden when the royal messenger 
 arrived, and simply by way of answer, 
 cut off with his stick the tallest cab- 
 bages. Kamiro thereupon summoned 
 his grandees to consult on the casting 
 a bell, which should be heard all over 
 Arragon; and as each man arrived 
 singly, he cut off his head, casting the 
 bodies into the vault; they were 
 afterwards taken out, and buried 
 in San Juan de Jerusalem , a very 
 curious old church, which once be- 
 longed to the Templars, some of whose 
 sepulchres exist, or existed, for the 
 pile has been pulled down for a Plaza 
 de Toros ! Abarca (i. 190) questions 
 this bell massacre : see, however, 
 Mariana (x. 16) and ‘ Mem. Acad. Hist ’ 
 iii. 508. 
 
 The architect may also look into the 
 parish church of San Pedro , and at 
 the houses of the Conde de G uara and 
 the Abarcas : the patios are here called 
 Lunas . The church of San Pedro , said 
 
 to have been Musarabic, and of the 
 time of the Goths, with its truncated 
 sexagon tower, ancient cloister and 
 tombs, may be examined. 
 
 Near Huesca are two remarkable 
 monasteries : one, the Ermita de San 
 Miguel de Foces , contains some most 
 ancient tombs, with singular arched 
 work, and early paintings of a Byzan- 
 tine style, which, long doomed to neg- 
 lect, will soon be reckoned among the 
 things that were ; the other, the Mo- 
 nasterio real , is placed at Monte Aragon , 
 1 L. from Huesca. Here, in a crypt, 
 is the simple but very singular tomb 
 of Alonso el Batallador : the engrailed 
 arches deserve notice. 
 
 Koute 134 — Zaragoza to Gistain. 
 
 Villamayor 14 
 
 Perdiguera 2 3 4 
 
 Lerinena 1 . . 44 
 
 Alcubierre ..... 2 ., 64 
 
 Polinino 24 .. 9 
 
 Venta de Vallerias . . . 24 . . 114 
 
 Berbegal 24 .. 14 
 
 Barbastro 24 .. 164 
 
 Naval 4 .. 204 
 
 Ainsa 6 . . 264 
 
 Puertolas 3 ..294 
 
 Gistain 3 . . 324 
 
 The first portion of this route runs 
 over the dreary plains of the desert of 
 Arragon. Passing Perdiguera , to the 
 E. rises the Monte Oscuro. At Leri~ 
 nena the Guerrillero Mina overtook 
 General Paris, who had evacuated 
 Zaragoza July 8th, 1813, on the first 
 news of the battle of Vitoria ; but his 
 progress was impeded by the accu- 
 mulated plunder ; and here again, like 
 the Aurum Tolosanum of old, the 
 crime entailed its punishment, and 
 brought a just judgment on this Paris* 
 Compare p. 233. (Toreno xxii.) 
 
 Polinino is placed near the Flumen 9 
 which comes down from the hills ; 
 next the Alcanadre is crossed, which, 
 just above Huerta , has been joined by 
 the Guatizalesma , Arabice “ the river 
 of the tribe of Zelem ; ” and both are 
 excellent fishing rivers. Barbastro , 
 
 Posada Bazas , kept by a Frenchman, 
 pop. about 7000, is placed on the Vero , 
 which intersects it. This ancient city 
 is the see of a cathedral, with a fine 
 retablo, in the style of Damian Forment, 
 
938 
 
 ROUTE 134. — GISTAIN— 
 
 ^hich contains some paintings by An- 
 tonio Galceran, 1588. This starving 
 mediaeval town, contains vestiges of 
 past prosperity; it continues to hate 
 • its neighbour Huesca , and to struggle 
 for the honour of being the capital of 
 the province. Consult 4 Ordinaciones 
 de Barbastro, Cabezo,’ 4to, Zar. 1657. 
 
 The road now turns N., with the 
 Cinca flowing to the E., which is 
 joined by the Ara at Ainsa, an ancient 
 town, and once the court of the kings 
 of Sobrarbe ,. some remains of whose Al- 
 cazar yet exist. The church is col- 
 legiate. About li mile distant is the 
 cross of Sobrarbe, placed on a stone 
 shaft, which imitates the trunk of a 
 tree, and is canopied by a Doric 
 cupola. This marks the site where 
 Garcia Ximenez Ennequez, or Iniguez, 
 fastened a cross on an oak as his battle 
 standard, when he defeated the Moors 
 about the year 750, and founded the 
 kingdom of Sobrarbe, taking for its 
 arms, “or, a cross gules, on an oak 
 vert.” 7 L. from Barbastro, is one of 
 the oldest monasteries in Spain, San 
 Victorian, now suppressed, but the 
 Byzantine chapel and cloisters deserve 
 a visit (see p. 934). 
 
 Now we quit the plains, and enter into 
 the Pyrenean spurs. Puertolas stands 
 in a narrow valley, watered by the 
 Bellos , while on each side ridges divide 
 it from the valleys of Vio and Vielsa ; 
 a communication with the latter is car- 
 ried by the wild pass el Portillo de 
 Telia , and thence to the French fron- 
 tier, by the Puerto de Folqueta, and on 
 to Arreau. 
 
 Gistain , on the Cinqueta , is the 
 chief village of the valley Gistan , 
 which is intersected by the spurs of 
 the Barbachina. Here are some cele- 
 brated cobalt-mines: a fragment of 
 one was originally discovered by a 
 peasant, and taken to Zaragoza, whence, 
 as none could tell what it was, it was 
 sent to Germany to be analysed. The 
 assayer, however, kept his secret, came 
 in person and persuaded the peasant to 
 sue for a licence to work the mine, as 
 if being a lead one, and then purchased 
 it all, sending some 600 quintals a-year 
 to Strasbourg until the fraud was dis- 
 covered. 
 
 -PUERTO DE BENASQUE. Sect. XIII. 
 
 Gistain has several communications 
 with France by the Puerto de la Ma- 
 dera, the Aura de Plan , and by La 
 Pez , which is 9930 feet high, and 
 practicable only for foot passengers. 
 La Clarabida is still wilder and is 
 often blocked up with snow. Up in 
 heights on the French side is a sin- 
 gular tunnel, which was cut in order 
 to convey the Spanish pine-timber of 
 Gistan into the Val de Louron. The 
 mountains in this locality are superb, 
 as the Monte Perdido rises to the 1. of 
 Vielsa , while the Maladeta soars to the 
 r., over Benasque. 
 
 You had better put up at Bagneres 
 de Luchon ; 8 hours to Benasque ; 3 
 to Port Castanese ; hence to Vitalles 
 6^, 4 to the Hospice, lg to the Port of 
 Viella, 2-§ to Viella. 
 
 The beautiful valley of Benasque is 
 7 L. in length, and 18 L. in circum- 
 ference, and is bounded to the W. by 
 that of Gistan , and to the E. by that of 
 Aran, with which it communicates by 
 the Puerta de la Picada , and is sepa- 
 rated^ by the river Rivagorzana. It 
 contains several mineral springs, of 
 which little use is made ; one near the 
 Pueblo del Barranco , and called de los 
 Padellasos , is cold and ferruginous. 
 There is also a silver-mine in the hill, 
 or the col de Toro , and others of 
 copper and coal, but all are much neg- 
 lected. *= Benasque , Vercelia, the capital, 
 contains 1000 inhab., and is situated 
 on the Esera, about 3829 feet above 
 the sea-leveh It has two parish 
 churches, one of a Romanesque style, 
 a small picturesque castle, and some 
 Prout-like old houses: the place was 
 cruelly sacked by the French in 1809. 
 There are many wild Alpine com- 
 munications with France, of which the 
 Puerto de Benasque is the easiest, and 
 ladies may be carried across in literas , 
 or portable chairs. The route ascends 
 the Esera, and passing through a 
 woody slope reaches a valley with a 
 waterfall to the 1. The camino real , as 
 this royal mule-track is called, winds 
 on through a rocky scene to the Banos 
 de San Roque , which are only used by 
 peasants, ascending continually until 
 it reaches the Hospitalet , 5542 ft. above 
 the sea, which affords an imperfect 
 
939 
 
 ROUTE 134. — THE MALADETA — PUERTO D’OO. 
 
 Arragon . 
 
 shelter from the winds and cold. 
 Now the Maladeta rises in all its 
 “ glorious horrors,” and denuded 
 masses, to the height of 11,424 ft.; 
 but its apparent elevation is dimi- 
 nished, like that of the Sierras of Cen- 
 tral Spain, from its being a mountain 
 rising out of a mountain base : the 
 highest peak ever ascended is the Puig 
 de Nethou. Maladeta is called the ac- 
 cursed , because, devoid itself of pas- 
 turage, it severs the valleys of Be- 
 nasque and Aran, thus cutting off their 
 natural inter-communication. This 
 skeleton of a mountain, which is a fine 
 subject for the naturalist who wishes to 
 investigate Alpine conformation and 
 development, is an offset from the 
 great dorsal chain. The Puerto is 
 cut through the Pena Blanca , 7917 ft. 
 high, and in storms the mighty winds 
 rush fearfully through the funnel 
 fissures, while in the depths below 
 the Esera springs and tumbles into the 
 lake del Toro , from whence, after a 
 short underground course, it re-emerges 
 near the Hospitalet. 
 
 The Maladeta rises in Spain, as the 
 boundary between France here makes 
 an angle inwards N., and including the 
 Valle de Aran , which, if the flow of 
 waters had been taken as a geographical 
 demarkation, ought to have belonged 
 to France. Here, again, is the point of 
 dislocation in the two great ranges of 
 the Pyrenees. From the Puerto we 
 descend to Bagneres de Luchon. A 
 zigzag staircase track leads to a stone 
 hut, the Hospice de France, but the 
 hospitality is nothing particular. For 
 the frozen Lochs and Glaciers, sern- 
 helles, see ‘ Handbook for France/ 
 Route 87. 
 
 To the 1. of Benasque rises the 
 Puerto d’Oo , which leads to the village 
 of Oo in France. The pass is 9850 
 ft. above the sea, and is extremely 
 wild and difficult, being chiefly used 
 by smugglers. It however is full of 
 interest, especially on the French side, 
 where are the lakes or tarns of Seculejo 
 set deeply in their mountain-frames; 
 observe the frozen loch La Sehl de la 
 Vaque. The valley of Lys is a mini- 
 ature Arcadia, while the gorge of Es- 
 quierry is celebrated for its flowers and 
 
 botany; nor can anything be more 
 pastoral than the valley of Lasto. All 
 these localities, however, will be best 
 visited from Bagneres de Luchon. 
 
 The communications with Aran are 
 carried under the Pena Blanca , and 
 behind the Maladeta; they break off 
 to the E. by the Puerto de la Picada 
 which is 7872 ft. high, and is so called 
 from a rock-like obelisk. This route 
 communicates also with the Hospice de 
 France ; and thus in a few hours the 
 traveller may pass from France into 
 Arragon, and return through part of 
 Catalonia. Another longer, but easier 
 track, leads to Aran, which winds 
 under the apple-headed Pomeron, and 
 is very wild, and varied with lakes, 
 torrents, and cascades. It descends 
 through the woods of Balican to Vielsa, 
 which is the chief place of the Valle 
 de Aran . Consult ‘ Pelacion del Nombre , 
 fyc., del Valle de Aran Juan Fr. Gar- 
 cia Tolva, 4to. Huesca, 1613, 8vo.,Barc. 
 1640, or the Madr. ed., 8vo., 1793; 
 also ‘ Privileges Franques, &fc., de la Valle 
 de Aran,' 8vo., Barcelona, 1640. 
 
 This beautiful valley lies as it were 
 a shell encompassed by the spurs of 
 the Maladeta. It is some 7 L. long, 
 by 6 L. wide, and belongs to the 
 bishopric of Urgel. Damp and cold 
 in winter, it is hot in summer, being 
 exposed to the S. Here again, if the 
 fall of waters were to be taken as an 
 indication of boundary, this corner 
 should belong to France, as indeed it 
 once did before it passed by marriage 
 in 1192 to Arragon. It abounds in 
 fine woods that fringe the Garona, 
 which rises in this valley. The rivers 
 which run into Spain are the Noguera , 
 Ribagorzana, which separates Aran from 
 Benasque, and the Pallaresa , a tri- 
 butary of the Segre, which rises near 
 the Puerto de Pallas and runs into the 
 Valle de Esterri. A ridge of hills 
 divides the two valleys, and is passed 
 by the Puerto de Caldas or Bonaguia. 
 These Cordilleras are continuations of 
 the Spurs of the Maladeta, and wall 
 out the Aran from Spain. The com- 
 munications in winter are much blocked 
 up by snow, and many lives are lost, 
 from the necessity of crossing them for 
 supplies. A good central road over 
 
940 
 
 ROUTE 134. YIELSA — TROU DE TORO. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 the Pyrenees is much wanted ; it has 
 been suggested to tunnel the Roca de 
 Toro. 
 
 Vielsa , where there is a tolerable 
 posada , is the chief place ; pop. about 
 800. The Garona rises from many 
 sources, especially under the Mont- 
 garri; many other springs, which are 
 fed by the glaciers of the Maladeta, 
 ooze out of their rocky pores: some 
 again disappear for a time among the 
 broken rocks, and then burst up anew ; 
 hence they are called the Quell , the 
 Eyes,los Ojos de la Garona (compare 
 those of la Guadiana, p. 243). The 
 chief communications with France are 
 to the E. by the Puerto de las Aulas, 
 • which leads to Castillon and St. Girons. 
 Another, which passes to San Beat , 
 follows the Garona by Gastel Leon, 
 which the French ruined, and by Les, 
 an ancient barony, with a dismantled 
 castle of Roman foundation, where are 
 some mineral baths: advancing, the 
 rocks narrow in, and a wooden bridge 
 over a tributary of the Garona , and 
 called El puente del Reg, separates the 
 two kingdoms. 
 
 The communication with the Valle 
 de Luchon passes over the Portillon , 
 and commands glorious views. The 
 usual excursion made from Bagneres 
 de Luchon into Spain may be just de- 
 scribed. Leaving Luchon, a 2 hours’ 
 ride up the Pique river leads to the 
 Hospital, a stone shealing for the cus- 
 tom-house preventive guard. The 
 views of the two gorges or chief passes, 
 the Port de Picade and Port de Ve- 
 nasque, are superb ; the latter almost 
 appears like an artificial slit in a wall 
 of mountain rock. The Maladeta rises 
 in a huge sugar-loaf form, with all its 
 dark crest emerging from a mantle of 
 snow and glaciers : its real height is 
 however greater than the apparent, for 
 it is seen from elevated ground. The 
 PicdeNethouis some 10,050 ft. high; but 
 the highest summit has never yet been 
 reached, yet it might be accomplished 
 in August. Now descend to the basin, 
 and cross the Port de Pomeron ; near 
 it the Port de Picade leads back again 
 to Luchon. Continue, however, to the 
 valley of Artique Telline, which is in 
 Spain: observe the Trou de Toro, or 
 
 gulf of dissolved glacier-water. Next 
 thread the pastoral valley after passing 
 the waters which reappear from the 
 Trou after their subterraneous course ; 
 a noble forest leads to the Trou de 
 Geneou, from whence the waters gush 
 out as over a river. The scenery on 
 to Bosorte is truly Ruisdael-like ; down 
 this stream timber and logs, sues y 
 rutiles, are floated into France, to be 
 sawed into planks at the mills of Foz 
 and St. Beat, which latter place is re- 
 markable for its marbles. The waste 
 of these noble forests is scandalous : 
 hence to miserable Bosorte, and crossing 
 the Pont du Roi, back again into 
 France. Thus by this valley of Aran 
 Spain has a ready approach into her 
 neighbour’s territory. 
 
 The following rather longer Spanish 
 excursion may be made from Bagneres 
 de Luchon to Benasque and back again. 
 Passing through the beech woods, 
 reach the French Hospice at the foot of 
 the puerto in 2% hours ; and gain in 
 2 J hours the heights, enjoying splendid 
 views of the Maladeta, with its ram- 
 pant lines of precipices. Thence in 1 
 hour into Spain, to the vile posada at 
 the hospitalet. Observe three singular 
 cone-like pinnacles. There are some 
 sulphur-baths in an isolated house. 
 Hence in 3 hours to Benasque, with its 
 castle on a mound at the head of the 
 river. Now strike to Vitalles, passing 
 the village of Sarli and mountain of 
 Castaneze, where the botany is remark- 
 able. In 3 hours you reach the dreary 
 Puerto ; and thence descend over green 
 hills and into the romantic defile of 
 Castaneze , 4 hours ; and then in 2§ to 
 Vitalles, having now entered Catalonia. 
 Hence to Viella, striking N. up a 
 rambla or valley, hedged by bold 
 barren mountains, to the village of 
 Anatou . The scenery is a superb 
 
 jumble of rock and forest, and the 
 haunt of bears and bouquetins. In 4 
 hours you reach the hospice in its park- 
 like Vega, and thence ascend the Port 
 de Viella, an austere tremendous pass 
 of 8300 ft. high, where the glaciers of 
 Maladeta contrast with the plains of 
 Catalonia ; thence descending into the 
 village-studded valley of Aran to 
 Viella, in a funnel of the hills. The 
 
Arragon. 
 
 beech woods of Baracoude and valley 
 of Joncou are charming. Visit the 
 Ojos de la Garona ; and quitting the 
 road to Luchon, ascend the valley to 
 the Hospice de Artique Telline , where 
 you can sleep: the valley is delicious. 
 Having examined the gushing streams 
 and beech woods, ascend to Artique de 
 Pomairo in its green mountain basin. 
 On leaving the valley, pass through 
 Las Bordas , Castel Leon , and over the 
 wooded heights of the Port de Por- 
 tillon to Bagneres de Luchon. 
 
 The Pyrenean districts are the cream 
 of Arragon. The traveller is earnestly 
 advised to avoid all the tract of coun- 
 try between Zaragoza, Burgo de Osma, 
 Logrono, and Tudela, as the towns are 
 poor, and devoid alike of social or arti- 
 ficial interest, while the wearisome 
 plains are inhabited by a backward, 
 uninteresting peasantry. 
 
 Route 13d. — Zaragoza to Tudela. 
 
 Las Casetas ..... 2 
 
 Alagon 2 . . 4 
 
 Cabanas 1 ... 5 
 
 Pedrola 1 . . 6 
 
 Mallen 3 . . 9 
 
 Cortes . 1 . . 10 
 
 Tudela 4 . . 14 
 
 There is also a passage-boat by the 
 canal : the vessels are long and 
 
 narrow, and are drawn by mules 
 at about four miles an hour. You 
 embark at Casablanca . A halt is 
 sometimes made at Gallur , half-way, 
 where there is a posada. Thence to 
 El Bocal , which is four miles from 
 Tudela, to which omnibuses are al- 
 ways ready to convey passengers. The 
 voyage is usually performed in about 
 eleven hours, and in fine weather is 
 not disagreeable. There is a table 
 d'hote on board. The Palacio imperial , 
 however grand the name, is not worth 
 visiting. La obra , or “the work” for 
 letting out the waters, may interest the 
 liydraulist. The length of the canal 
 is about 40 miles, and it comes within 
 a few miles of Tudela. The water- 
 hatches generally are named after 
 saints, like the wine-vaults at Xerez, 
 or salt-pans in the Isla. The irriga- 
 tion about Gallur is well conducted. 
 The castle of the Duke, at which 
 
 Spain. — II. 
 
 941 
 
 Don Quixote was so well received, is 
 said to be near Predrola , and the scene 
 of the enchanted bark is laid near 
 Boquinen , 7 L. from Zaragoza. 
 
 The Navarese company runs dili- 
 gences to Tudela, and thence to 
 Bayonne by Pamplona. The road 
 follows between the lines of the canal 
 and the Ebro, but the country is un- 
 interesting. At Alagon , June 14, 1808, 
 Lefebvre Desnouettes routed Palafox, 
 as completely and as easily as he had 
 the day before defeated his brother at 
 Mallen, the worthy pair in both in- 
 stances being the first to set an example 
 of flight to their unfortunate troops. 
 Consult ‘ Antigiiedades de Mallen / Juan 
 Andres de Uztaroz, 4to., Zar. 1641. 
 
 Soon the frontier of Navarre is 
 crossed, in which kingdom Cortes is 
 situated. Near Tudela , Gastahos, La 
 Pena, -and Cartoajal had united their 
 armies, and were talking of invading 
 France ; but when Lefebvre and Mau- 
 rice Mathieu advanced, Nov. 23, 1808, 
 they ran before the enemy could get 
 near them ; nor did the hero of Bailen 
 halt until he reached Calatayud ; and 
 had Ney used the commonest expedi- 
 tion in his pursuit, instead of delaying 
 to plunder, not a man would have 
 escaped. 
 
 Tudela , Tutela, although lying low, 
 is situated on an angle formed by the 
 Ebro and the Queyles. The diligence 
 Parador is good ; the Cuatro Naciones 
 large and tolerable. Here the Ebro 
 is crossed by a long, level, most vene- 
 rable, fortified stone bridge ; the arches 
 differ in style and size. The bridge 
 was once defended by three towers, 
 which the city still bears on its shield, 
 enclosed with the chains of Navarre. 
 Tudela, pop. 8000, is a dull town, the 
 streets narrow, the houses solidly built 
 and lofty : there is a good plaza, and 
 some pleasant walks near the river, 
 and vestiges of former fortifications 
 and of departed greatness. 
 
 Tudela was taken from the Moors 
 in 1114 by Alonso I. The ancient 
 interesting Gothic collegiate church 
 was raised to be a see in 1783 : observe 
 a very fine portal with curious bas- 
 reliefs of biblical subjects, in eight 
 rows of small figures — the beatitudes 
 2 t 
 
 ROUTE 135. — ZARAGOZA TO TUDELA. 
 
942 
 
 ROUTE 136. — TUDELA TO ARANDA DE DUERO. Sect. XIII. 
 
 of the blessed, the sufferings of the 
 damned. The interior is fine and lofty : 
 observe two tombs of black marble 
 under an elaborate canopy, and also 
 an ancient painted retablo: observe 
 the tomb of Sancho el Fuerte, and the 
 chain broken at Las Navas de Tolosa ; 
 the curious old cloister contains By- 
 zantine work ; notice the curious 
 single and double shafts, the clustered 
 groups of figures, and the cruel white- 
 wash. The river is celebrated for its 
 sturgeons, and eels, and its island Me- 
 jana for fruit. Tudela is the birth-place 
 of the learned Jew Benjamin, who tra- 
 velled from 1159 to 1173, and wrote 
 down what he saw and heard : his 
 works have been translated into Latin 
 by Arias Montano. His Itinerary has 
 been translated into English (2 vols-, 
 1840), with excellent notes and essays, 
 by A. Asher, a learned Hebrew of 
 Berlin. Tudela was a great mediseval 
 authority. 
 
 For details of the city consult 1 Pro- 
 pugnaculo historico ; Tudela IZustrada,’ 
 
 Conchillos, 4 to., Zar. 1666. This 
 town is the central point of many 
 branch roads. 
 
 Route 136. — Tudela to Soria and 
 Aeanda de Duero. 
 
 Cascante 
 
 
 
 Tarazona 
 
 
 4 
 
 Agreda 
 
 
 8 
 
 A Idea del Pozo . . . 
 
 .4 .. 
 
 12 
 
 Fuen Sanco .... 
 
 
 14 
 
 Soria 
 
 
 16 
 
 Villa Cuervos .... 
 
 .3 .. 
 
 19 
 
 Val de Albillo . . . 
 
 . 4 .. 
 
 23 
 
 Burgo de Osma . . . 
 
 . 3 .. 
 
 26 
 
 Osma 
 
 . 4 .. 
 
 264 
 
 San Esteban de Gormaz . 
 
 .14.. 
 
 28 
 
 Langa 
 
 
 31 
 
 Padecondes .... 
 
 
 334 
 
 Aranda 
 
 
 354 
 
 Cascante , Cascantum, 
 
 hangs 
 
 over 
 
 the Queyles, which has two bridges ; 
 Pop. 3500. The church, dedicated to 
 the Assumption of the Virgin, was 
 built in 1476 by Luiz de Gramondi 
 and Anton Albizturiz; the retablo , 
 which is one of the few fine things in 
 these parts, was carved in 1596 by 
 Pedro Gonzalez de San Pedro and 
 Ambrosio de Vengochea; the three 
 divisions contain subjects from the 
 
 Virgin’s life; her assumption is by 
 Ancheta. Observe the Holy Rood, 
 and the statues of St. Peter, St. Paul, 
 and the Magdalen. The Sagrario is 
 enriched with the mysteries of the 
 Passion. A pleasant walk under a 
 covered way leads up to an old church, 
 also sacred to La Santisima Maria , in 
 which is an image called La Virgen del 
 Romero , to which “ High Place ” pil- 
 grimages are made. In Cascante is a 
 mineral spring, which is beneficial in 
 visceral complaints, notwithstanding 
 its ill-omened name, La Fuente del 
 Matador. 
 
 Tarazona , Turiaso, is a fine old 
 town, rising over a wind-blown plain, 
 and exposed to the blasts of the bleak 
 Moncayo in front, and to the Pyrenees 
 behind : the trough of the Ebro is often 
 misty and foggy: the general views, 
 however, of the river, ^backed by the 
 pile of buildings, is fine. Here, in olden 
 times, a handful of disciplined Romans 
 routed a Celtiberian army, led by in- 
 competent chiefs (Livy, xv. 51), as 
 easily as the French did in our own 
 times. Turiaso became a municipium 
 under the conquerors : protected by 
 the Goths, it was celebrated for its 
 steel. It is now the see of a bishop 
 suffragan to Zaragoza, and has a Gothic 
 cathedral. The cathedral has a slim 
 spire of brick, worked in patterns ; a 
 sadly-modernised portal, and a good 
 cloister. The fa$ade of the town- 
 house on the Plaza is enriched with 
 elaborate basso-relievos of martial 
 processions. The bishop’s palace, 
 Alcazar de Hercules , has a grand sala, 
 a patio, and gallery with episcopal 
 portraits. Tarazona has a Moorish 
 alcazar , two old bridges over the 
 Queyles, and a picturesque wear or 
 Azuda. Pop. about 6000, and chiefly 
 pastoral and agricultural. Consult 
 ‘ Gloria de Tarazona * 4to. Mad. L708, 
 a book much attacked by Moret and 
 others ; also the Life of its Tute- 
 lar, 6 Vida de San Prudencio / Ber- 
 nardo Ibanez de Echevarri, 4to. Vic- 
 toria, 1753. 
 
 A broken country, through which 
 the new road is to pass, leads to Agreda , 
 Grceeubis, a town also placed on the 
 Queyles, crossed by a fine bridge of 
 
ROUTE 136. — SORIA — NUMANTIA. 943 
 
 Arragon. 
 
 one arch. It is not very agradable , 
 being much exposed to the Moncayo : 
 pop. about 3500. The river here is 
 carried under ground as at Granada, 
 with the plaza , a fountain, and the 
 casas consistoriales over it. The view 
 up the river is fine, with the group 
 formed by the Episcopal palace, 
 church, perpendicular rocks, &c. No- 
 tice the front of the Casa del Ayunta- 
 miento, on the Plaza, with elaborate 
 bassi-relievi, martial processions, &c. 
 The cathedral rises with a slim spire, 
 and is remarkable for a battlemented 
 balustrade of enriched brick-work : 
 observe the fine front of the high 
 altar and the cloisters. Observe 
 the mansions of the Ayamonte and 
 Velamazan families. Agreda vies 
 with Avila in its sainted Maria de 
 Jesus: she was abbess of the convent 
 here of “ The Immaculate Concep- 
 tion,” where the MS. of her ‘ Mystica 
 Ciudad de Dios 9 is held in veneration 
 in spite of the censure of the Sorbonne. 
 Her biography, by Jos. Xim. Sama- 
 niego, 4to. Mad. 1720, is rich and rare. 
 See also Geddes, ‘ Tracts 9 (ed. London, 
 1730), vol. iii. p. 141. 
 
 Now the traveller has re-entered 
 the bald regions of Old Castile, and 
 the best thing is to get out of them 
 again as quickly as possible. Soria , 
 which calls itself Numantia, thus filch- 
 ing the honours of others, is the chief 
 town of its denuded province, and was 
 ceded to Castile by Arragon in 1136. 
 The city is very ancient, and is still 
 surrounded with its walls, which were 
 raised in 1290, and are well preserved. 
 Soria was given by Pedro the Cruel 
 to the famous Talbot in reward for 
 services, but our stout warrior never 
 could obtain possession : compare the 
 treatment of Du Quesclin, p. 824. To 
 the E. rises the Alcazar, once a strong 
 castle, but now a ruin. Soria lies low, 
 and is placed on the Duero, with a fine 
 bridge, pop. about 5000 ; it is a dull 
 place, inhabited by agriculturists. The 
 Doric balustraded house of the Conde de 
 Gomara may be looked at. The climate 
 is cold, and the environs are rugged. 
 Among the rocks is placed a celebrated 
 sanctuary dedicated to San Saturio, 
 the local tutelar. The wide valdios y 
 
 dehesas, especially the common of Val - 
 donsadero , are grazed by hungry flocks, 
 which produce much and excellent 
 wool. The corn plains are very fertile, 
 and the pastures maintain a dairy, 
 the butter of which, celebrated in 
 Spain, is to our tastes rank and ill- 
 flavoured. Coal-beds exist near Ob- 
 lega and Prejano. Soria is 34 L. from 
 Madrid, and a new road is contem- 
 plated which is to run by Pamplona 
 to France. For local details con- 
 sult vols. xx. and xxi. of the ‘ Me- 
 morias Politicas 9 by Eugenio Larruga, 
 and ‘ Compendio Historial , 9 Pedro Tutor 
 y Melo, 4to., Soria, 1690. Soria was 
 dreadfully sacked in 1808 by Ney, 
 who, allured by plunder, forgot his 
 military duties, and. thus allowed Cas- 
 tanos and a remnant of the Spanish 
 forces to escape (Pen. Camp., i. 387). 
 
 Numantia, of classical fame, is said 
 to lie near the Puente de Garray , lj 
 L. N. of Soria; but all this is mere 
 conjecture, as the terrorist Romans 
 passed a ploughshare over the site of 
 a city which defied their arms. Frag- 
 ments of antiquity are occasionally 
 found and destroyed: thus, in 1825, a 
 most curious silver chain was melted 
 by the Curate into a bit of church- 
 plate. The character of the present 
 natives remains unchanged; they, like 
 the Arragonese and Zaragozans, are 
 distinguished for obstinacy, endurance 
 of privations, and a dogged resistance 
 to the yoke of a foreign invader. Here, 
 at all events read the tragedy by 
 Cervantes, which comes nearer to 
 iEschylus than most modern ones do. A 
 full account of the siege by Scipio, and 
 of the general antiquities of these 
 localities w r ill be found in the 3rd Book 
 of the ‘ Compendio Historial : 9 where 
 those curious to seethe miracles worked 
 by Spanish saints on Spanish stews, she 
 foxes, and fowls, may turn to p. 408. 
 
 From Soria there is a bridle road to 
 Logrono. The localities to the N.W. 
 abound in immemorial pine forests, 
 Los pinares de Soria , which rival those 
 at Cuenca, and produced the fine ma- 
 terial which the chisels of Juni and 
 Hernandez converted into such splendid 
 forms of art and religion. 
 
 Passing a dreary country, we reach 
 2 T 2 
 
944 
 
 ROUTE 137. — TUDELA TO LOGRONO. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 Osma , Oxoma, another of these de- 
 cayed agricultural towns : population 
 under 1000. Once of great importance, 
 being a frontier city, it was taken 
 from the Moors in 746 by Alonso II. 
 of Leon and destroyed : rebuilt in 938, 
 by Gonzalo Tellez, and fortified in 
 1019 by Sancho Garcia, Count of 
 Castile, it stands on a slope above the 
 CJcero and Albion, tributaries of the 
 Duero ; but the Roman city was placed 
 on the hill, and some traces of their 
 buildings yet remain. The cathedral 
 was erected in 1232 by Juan, chan- 
 cellor of St. Ferdinand. The ancient 
 part is curious ; observe the entrances, 
 with saints and figures, delicate work 
 and overhanging frieze, also the battle- 
 ments and balustrades ; inside there 
 is a good pulpit, and in a chapel to 
 the N. 16 interesting paintings repre- 
 senting subjects connected with the 
 Virgin. The Capilla mayor is very 
 grand, and the retab.lo and trascoro 
 were excellently carved in 1556 by 
 Juan de Juni, with incidents con- 
 nected with the passion of Christ. 
 The superb reja was wrought in 1505 
 by Juan Frances, and at the cost of 
 the princely primate of Toledo, Alonso 
 de Fonseca. The fa9ade, tower, and 
 sacristia of this interesting cathedral 
 were unfortunately “ beautified ” in 
 the last century by Juan de Sagar- 
 vinaga ; then too was raised the Ca- 
 pilla de Palafox , designed by the 
 commonplace Sabatini; the ecclesiolo- 
 gist should examine the exterior to 
 the S. and W. and the fine spacious 
 cloister. Consult for Osma, Florez, 
 i Esp. Sag ’ vii. 265; the account in 
 the 2nd vol. of Canon Loperraez, 
 and ‘ El Teatro Ecclesiastico de Osma,* 
 by Gil Gonzalez ; ‘ Descripcion Historica 
 del Obispado de Osma* with portrait, 
 J. L. Corvalan, 3 vols., 4to., Madr. 
 1788. The ancient city of Clunia lay 
 about 5 L. west of Osma, at the hamlet 
 of Corunna el Conde, so called because 
 refounded by the Conde Gonzalo Fer- 
 nandez, a.d., 942. And here, as at 
 Penalva, are some few ill-treated re- 
 mains of antiquity. The old theatre, 
 however, being cut in the rock, has 
 resisted the farmer and builder. Osma 
 lies 13 L. from Sigiienza , and 9j from 
 
 Aranda de Duero, and nothing can be 
 more uninteresting than the interven- 
 ing country. 
 
 The ferocious Inquisidor St. Dome- 
 nick, here called El Santo Domingo, was 
 born at Calavega, near Osma, Aug. 4, 
 1060 ; his mother previously dreamt 
 that she was pregnant of a dog with a 
 torch in his mouth, a symbol that the 
 order of Dominicans, which, he was 
 destined to found, should, as Domini 
 canes, hunt heretics to hell ; the blazing 
 implement of the Furies alluded, it is 
 interpreted, not to the furnaces of 
 the holy tribunal, but to the eloquence 
 of these preachers, whose sermons were 
 to enlighten the world. The god- 
 mother of the babe next saw a star on his 
 forehead at his baptism, and his nurse 
 was scared by bees which clustered 
 round his mouth. Dominick rose to be 
 a canon of Osma , and at thirty became 
 an itinerant preacher. One of his first 
 miracles was performed with his rosary 
 on Sancha, queen of France, who, pre- 
 viously barren, now became the mother 
 of St. Louis, He was afterwards com- 
 missioned by the Pope and French 
 king to deliver them from the Albi- 
 genses, Protestants ; and thus, by the 
 aid of the bloody Simon de Montfort, 
 “ 100,000 lost souls were converted,” 
 20,000 persons being killed at Moruel 
 alone. See, however, for his feats and 
 miracles, Ribadeneyra (ii. 424), and 
 for his family descent, ‘ Disertacion 
 — del Santisimo Patriarchal Lorenzo 
 Roberto de la Linde, 4to, Sevilla, 
 1740 ; l De Gusmana stirpe * A. Bremond, 
 4to. Rome, 1740. See also ‘ Vida de San 
 Domingo de Guzman ,* F. de Posadas, 
 4to. Mad., 1721. The best work on 
 the Dominican order and its founder 
 is the 4 Historia general * F°. de Cartillo, 
 2 vols. folio. Vol. 1, Mad. 1584. 
 Vol. 2, Valladolid, 1592, where the 
 work was reprinted in 2 vols, 1612. 
 
 Route 137. — Tudela to Logrono. 
 
 Alfaro 3 
 
 Aldea Nueva . . t . . . 2‘T.. 5 
 
 Calahorra . . . * . . .2 .. 7 
 
 Venta de Ansejo . . . .4 . . 11 
 
 Venta de Tamarices . . .2 . . 13 
 
 Logrono 2 . . 15 
 
 You must either ride or hire a 
 tartana for this two days’, journey. 
 
Arragon. route 137.- 
 
 The road ascends the basin of the 
 Ebro ; the country on each side of the 
 banks is sufficiently fertile. Alfaro , 
 a largish town, is placed on the bor- 
 ders of Navarre, under a wind blown 
 hill, which is .washed by the Al/iamct , 
 a tributary of the Ebro, pop. 4000. 
 The church is collegiate. Calahorra, 
 the Calagurris Nasica of the Vasconi 
 and Celtiberi, is a convenient halting- 
 place, and comfortable quarters may 
 be had at an humble-looking posada 
 below and outside the walls. This 
 most ancient town, pop. 0000, rises 
 on a gentle hill at the extremity of 
 Navarre and Arragon, and is watered 
 by the Cidacos, which empties itself 
 close by into the Ebro. These -sources 
 of irrigation fill the fields with corn 
 and the gardens with fruits : the 
 cherries and cauliflowers are renowned. 
 Being placed on an acclivity the 
 aspect is picturesque, otherwise it is a 
 dull, decaying, old Castilian town; the 
 main ascent leads to the plaza. The 
 architect will observe the round-headed 
 arches of the numerous porticoes, the 
 casa del ayuntamiento, and the weather- 
 worn brick facade of the cathedral, 
 which is built on a confined platform 
 above. 
 
 Ancient Calagurris rivalled Nu- 
 mantia, and both were types of des- 
 perate Arragonese defence. Pompey 
 besieged it u.c. 678, but was com- 
 pelled by Sertorius to retire, after 
 a loss of 3000 men ; four years after- 
 wards it was taken and burnt by 
 Afranius, after a famine so dreadful 
 that it passed into a proverb : then 
 husbands fed on their wives, while 
 mothers killed and salted their children: 
 but they died rather than surrender. 
 (See Juv. xv. 93; Livy, xxxix. 21. 
 Val. Max. vii. 6 ; Florus, iii. 22.) So 
 when Ben Hadad went up against 
 Samaria, women boiled and ate their 
 offspring (2 Kings vi. 29). And 
 Alonso X., in the ‘ Partidas ’ (iv. 17. 8), 
 enjoined a father, who had a royal 
 castle to defend, to eat his son rather 
 than surrender. 
 
 Modern Calahorra blazons on her 
 shield “ two naked arms fighting with 
 swords, from which sparks issue/’ in 
 reference to a vision which Hannibal 
 
 -CALAHORRA. 945 
 
 beheld when he captured the city. 
 The crest is a woman wielding a sabre 
 in one hand and a naked arm in the 
 other, with the motto, “ Prevaleci contra 
 Cartago y Roma.” A modest untruth, 
 seeing that the town was beaten both 
 by Carthaginian and Homan. On the 
 Plaza was rudely painted this woman 
 eating a human arm. The constancy, 
 however, of the Calagurritans was pro- 
 verbial ; thus Bebricus, one of the 
 Devoti or liegemen of Sertorius, would 
 not survive his master’s murder, but 
 offered himself to his manes, true in 
 death as in life. Augustus Caesar 
 (Suet. 49) chose his body-guard from 
 the City of Fidelity. In 1789, Juan An- 
 tonio Llorente published an 8vo. on a 
 * Monumento Romano / a relic of anti- 
 quity found here the year before. 
 
 Of ancient Calagurris some portions 
 of towers, a circus maximus, an aque- 
 duct, and of a Naumachia , have been 
 traced ; but the remains have long 
 been worked up as a quarry by Moor 
 and Spaniard. Florez (M. i. 255) de- 
 scribes thirty coins of the mint. It 
 was the birthplace of Quintilian, and, 
 according tosome,of Aulus Prudentius, 
 the first Christian poet, who has left 
 a hymn in honour of the city tutelars, 
 Emeterio and Celedonio. These mar- 
 tyrs were decapitated about a.d. 300. 
 The Casa Santa where they were 
 imprisoned is a local lion ; their 
 heads, on being thrown into the Ebro, 
 floated away together on an iron bar 
 into the Mediterranean, and having 
 coasted Spain, passed the Straits, and 
 worked up to Santander, where they 
 were hailed from throwing out lights — 
 ? blue — by a sailor named Andrew, St. 
 Andero: whereupon they became the 
 pride and defence of the city (see for 
 details ‘ Esp . Sag * xxxiii. 272). A 
 cathedral w^as erected at Calagurris, 
 over their remains, which were the 
 object of holy pilgrimage every Aug. 
 31. When the Moors captured the 
 city the headless corpses rose from the 
 graves and marched away into the 
 hills, from whence they were ma rched 
 back again in grand pomp in 1395 — 
 “ Ce n’est que le premier p as,J;qui 
 coute : ” the bodies were fou nd per- 
 fectly well preserved after 100 0 years, 
 
946 
 
 ROUTE 137. — CALAHORRA — LOGRONO. 
 
 Sect. XIII. 
 
 'without being salted h la Celtibe- 
 rienne. 
 
 Calahorra was retaken in 1045 by 
 Garcia VI., who raised it to be a see, 
 conjointly with Santo Domingo de Cal- 
 zada ; the ancient cathedral was almost 
 destroyed in one of those inundations 
 to which the city is subject, from the 
 confluence of the Cidacos, Ega, and 
 Ebro. It was restored in 1485 by 
 El Maestre Juan ; it is now a thing of 
 patch- work ; the additions beyond the 
 transept are of the 17 th and 18th cen- 
 tury : the principal portal and fac^ade, 
 as well as the chapel of La Epifania , 
 were altered in the bad period of 
 Philip V., when the goto also was dis- 
 figured. The celebrated warm baths of 
 Arnedillo lie distant about 4 L. S.S.E., 
 following up the course of the river 
 Cid ; they are much frequented from 
 June 1 4 to Sept. 20, and are considered 
 the Bareges of La Rioja. The average 
 heat is 42° Reaum. : the principal in- 
 gredient is muriate of soda; consult, 
 however, the chemical 1 Ensayo’ of 
 them by Proust. At Prejano , 4 L. off, 
 are some coal-mines. 
 
 A flat, uninteresting, but fertile 
 cereal country, subject, however, to 
 inundations, continues up the Ebro ; 
 for la Rioja Alta y Baja see Rte. 117. 
 
 The battle of Clavijo , at which San- 
 tiago killed 60,000 Moors (more or 
 less), took place on the Lera, near 
 Murillo , 2 L. from Logrono. See for 
 details p. 604; 4 Esp. Sag.,’ xix. 331, 
 and 4 Compendia de Bioja,’ Anguiano, 
 p. 646. 
 
 Logrono, Julia Briga, Pop. 6500, has 
 a good and pleasantly situated posada 
 of the Diligence : the town is placed 
 on the Ebro, in a hill-enclosed rich 
 plain, on the confines of Navarre, 
 Alava, and Old Castile. This chief 
 town of its province, and once of im- 
 portance, is surrounded by walls and 
 a moat, which can be flooded. The 
 Old Castle is a ruin ; the city, fresh- 
 ened by the rivulet Iregua, has a Plaza 
 “ del Coso /’ and pretty walks, especi- 
 ally la Alameda de los Muros, a theatre 
 and Liceo. The central street has 
 porticos ranged at the sides ; the 
 others are but dirty and tortuous 
 lanes. The fertile plains abounding 
 
 in corn and fruit render this place 
 cheap and well provided, while its 
 central position makes it a mart of 
 considerable traffic; it accordingly is 
 a fair specimen of a prosperous Cas- 
 tilian country-town. Navarrete el 
 Mudo was born here in 1526 : the 
 Gothic Colegiata, built by order of 
 Constantine the Great 1 is dedicated 
 to Santa Maria la Bedonda ; the two 
 spires to the W. are somewhat over- 
 loaded ; the coro has some good carving 
 and some poor frescoes in the new 
 trascoro, by Joseph Vexes, ob. 1782, 
 by whom also are the Passion of 
 Christ, painted for the cloister of the 
 parish church, del Palacio Imperial. 
 The convent of Carmelitas Descalzas 
 is memorable in monastic annals, as 
 it was discovered that the friars of 
 an opposite convent had burrowed 
 a tunnel, by which they visited 
 the sisterhood somewhat unspiritually. 
 This commerce continued from the 
 years 1712 to 1737 before it was found 
 out ; it resulted, from an ecclesias- 
 tical inquiry, that out of 21 nuns, 17 
 at one period had repented of their 
 vows of vestal chastity. 
 
 The strong bridge over the Ebro 
 deserves great notice, having been 
 built in 1138 by the hermit San Juan 
 de Ortega, who is now looked up to by 
 the peasantry as Saint John Nepomu- 
 cene is in Bohemia. This staunch 
 Dominican was quite a pontifex maxi- 
 mus ; he built other bridges at Najera, 
 Logrono, and Santo Domingo de Cal- 
 zada. Observe its huge triangular 
 buttresses and corresponding recesses, 
 each recess being spanned by an arch ; 
 the city bears for arms this puente in 
 a border of fleurs de lys, granted by 
 Charles V. in 1523, in honour of the 
 citizens, who, led by the Duque de 
 Najera, signally repulsed the French 
 under Andre de Foix. The Duque 
 was aided by the “ glorious martyr ” 
 and local tutelar San Formedio, who 
 made cheeses from she lions, tigers, 
 bears, and other good beasts, who, in 
 gratitude for his sermons, came to be 
 milked by him, and made into cheeses, 
 which the saint was told by an angel to 
 give to the poor. See Anquiano, p. 191. 
 In the time of Charles V. the French had 
 
Arragon. 
 
 penetrated thus far, taking advantage 
 of Spain’s infirmity during the civil 
 wars of the Comuneros. Logrono was 
 ferociously sacked by Verdier, June 5, 
 1808, and. again by Ney, Oct. 27, 
 1808, although no resistance was 
 oifered, the Spanish armies having in 
 both cases run away (Foy, iii. 267). 
 
 Here, April 27, 1835, the Eliot 
 Treaty of Mercy was signed, which, 
 in the internecine Iberian struggle, 
 gave such infinite disgust to the nation 
 that the Ministry was kicked out. 
 Cosas de Espana. 
 
 Here Espartero married Jacinta de 
 Santa Cruz, a wealthy heiress ; and, 
 here again, in 1838, he fixed his head- 
 quarters, when proposing to take Es- 
 tella, then held by the Carlists under 
 Maroto. As, however, both these 
 notabilities only waged war with paper 
 pellets, cigars, and frothy bombast 
 bulletins, it has been suspected that 
 some mutual understanding existed, 
 which ripened into the convention of 
 Vergara. At the same time both 
 armies were equally hors de combat, 
 and were “ wanting in everything at 
 the critical moment/ ’while their condi- 
 tion was rendered more pitiable by the 
 “ marchings and counter-marchings,” 
 and other much-ados-about-nothing of 
 their incompetent generals. More men 
 probably perished on both sides from 
 hunger, than from bullet or bayonet. 
 To Logrono Espartero retired after his 
 first exile, and lived truly happy and 
 contented, his real ambition being 
 
 947 
 
 simply to become the Alcalde de su 
 lugar. 
 
 Here Villalonga executed, Jan. 20, 
 1845, the redoubtable Christino gene- 
 ral Zurbano, and this without any form 
 of trial beyond simple identification. 
 He was shot in the back, when almost 
 out of his mind from privations and 
 grief at the death of his brother-in- 
 law, Cayetano Muro, and his two sons, 
 Benito and Feliciano, accomplices in 
 his ill-advised revolt. Villalonga, in 
 order to add to the bitterness of a 
 father’s death, selected for the site of 
 the execution the spot where his chil- 
 dren had been killed. Zurbano was the 
 son of a small farmer of Barea , and 
 from being a smuggler rose in the 
 civil wars to high command. He was a 
 brave, active guerrillero , but false and 
 sanguinary. For these districts con- 
 sult ‘ Memorial de Logrono ,’ Ferdinand 
 Alvia de Castro, fol. Lisbon, 1633. 
 
 From central Logrono many branch 
 roads diverge; they are none of the 
 best, nor possess the least interest ex- 
 cept Rte. 118, over which a diligence 
 runs. A bridle and cart track leads 
 to Soria, 17 L. ; to Miranda de Ebro, 
 by Haro , 10 L. ; to Vitoria , by Pena - 
 cerrada , 10 L. : this is carriageable; 
 the shorter bridle-road by Bernedo is 
 only 9 L. The road to Pamplona by 
 Estella is carriageable, 14^ L. If one 
 were made from Madrid to France, 
 via Soria , Logrono , and Pamplona , this 
 main communication would be con- 
 i siderably shortened. 
 
 ROUTE 137. — LOGRONO — ESPARTERO. 
 
( 948 ) 
 
 Sect. XIV. 
 
 SECTION XI Y. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF NAVARRE. 
 
 The Province, and Works to consult. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 EJEA DE LOS CABALLEROS 951 
 
 ROUTE 138. — ZARAGOZA TO PAM- 
 PLONA 951 
 
 ROUTE 139. — PAMPLONA TO LO- 
 
 GRONO 956 
 
 Estella. 
 
 ROUTE 140. — PAMPLONA TO TO- 
 LOSA. 957 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ROUTE 141. — PAMPLONA TO IRUN 957 
 Lesaca ; Yera. 
 
 ROUTE 142. — PAMPLONA TO BA- 
 YONNE 959 
 
 Puerto de Maya; Urdax. 
 
 ROUTE 143. PAMPLONA TO 
 
 FRANCE BY RONCESVALLES .... 960 
 
 The best periods for visiting Navarre are the summer months, as the Springs are rainy, arid 
 the Winters cold in the hilly regions : the cities are devoid of attraction, but the wild country 
 possesses charms for the sportsman, artist, and naturalist ; while to the British soldier the 
 frontier-line offers the sites of some of the hardest-fought battles and most glorious triumphs 
 by which the Duke concluded the Peninsular campaign. 
 
 El Beino de Navarra , the ancient Vasconia, is another of the small early inde- 
 pendent kingdoms of which the bundle of the present Spanish monarchy is 
 composed. Nav, a common Iberian prefix, signifies a “ plain under hills/' 
 and is the best description of the province, which, shaped in an irregular square, 
 80 miles in length by 60 in width, is bounded to the N. by the Pyrenees : the 
 whole population is under 300,000, and is chiefly pastoral, agricultural, and 
 given to iron mining. The Ebro, which flows to the S.E., and the Bidasoa, 
 which runs to the W., are the main trunks that receive the smaller mountain 
 tributaries. Thus the province is both sheltered and irrigated : — 
 
 Los montes le dan abrigo , 
 
 Los rios frescura y riego. 
 
 The kingdom is divided into five Merindades , or departments, each of which 
 has its petty capital ; they lie thus — Pamplona, N., Tafalla, S., Olite , in the 
 centre, Estella , E., and Sangueza, W. The northern barrier is very mountainous, 
 being composed of the western slopes of the Pyrenees, which dip down to the 
 ocean from Monte Perdido, and these wild and broken glens became the natural 
 fastnesses of the unconquered natives, when retiring before the Romans and 
 Moors. They found their Pelayus against the latter in Garci Ximenez, and 
 made common cause with the highlanders of Arragon, until about 842, when 
 Inigo Arista was chosen king of Navarre at Pamplona, while the national 
 liberties were guaranteed by the celebrated Fueros de Sobrarbe. The kingdom 
 bears for arms “gules and chains or/' in memorial of the achievement of 
 Sancho III., el Fuerte, who broke down the chains of the Moorish general’s tent 
 
Navarre . 
 
 CHARACTER OF NATIVES. 
 
 949 
 
 at las Navas de Tolosa. Navarre was annexed to Castile in 1512, by Ferdinand 
 el Catolico, partly by force and partly by fraud (see Prescott, Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, cb. 24) : Jean d’Albret, the rightful heir, being abandoned by his 
 French allies, who profited by his ruin, as the territory was partitioned, 
 Ferdinand seizing all S. of the Pyrenees, while the N. portion ultimately passed 
 with Henri IV. into the crown of France. The French side is interesting to 
 Englishmen, as having been long possessed by the Black Prince, and being the 
 scene of many of Froissart’s delightful narrations. 
 
 The intercommunications between Navarre and Arragon, N. of the Ebro, are 
 carried over a desolate country, while those S. of the Pyrenees are extremely 
 mountainous and difficult, being seldom traversed except by smugglers. The 
 Navarrese live very much to themselves, each in their valley, which is to them 
 the whole world ; here in the green meadow or wooded hill-side they tend their 
 flocks, while in the warmer plains they till the earth, and labour in the vine- 
 yard, and the wines of Peralta , Azagra , and Cascante are deservedly popular. 
 These simple peasants, far from cities, have few wants and few vices ; and their 
 bane is the all-corrupting habit of smuggling, which their intricate frontier 
 favours. The scenery is alpine and picturesque ; the trout fishing and wild 
 shooting excellent. The mountains are not so high as those in Arragon ; the 
 Altobiscar reaches, however, 5380 feet, and the Adi 5218; the valleys are 
 beautiful, especially those of Boztan (Arabice, the Garden ), Santisteban , and 
 Cincovillas. 
 
 The highlanders of Navarre are remarkable for their light, active, physical 
 forms, their temperate habits, endurance of hardships and privation, individual 
 bravery, and love of perilous adventure; the pursuits of the chase, smuggling, 
 with a dash of robbery, form their moral education : thus their sinewy limbs 
 are braced, and their hawk-eyed self-reliance sharpened. Naturally, therefore, 
 they have always been first-rate guerrilleros. Placed by position on the borders 
 of France, Arragon, and Castile, and alternately the dupe and victim of each, 
 necessity has forced them to be always on their guard against neighbours whom 
 they fear and abhor. Thus a spirit of nationality burns in every heart, which 
 broods with retentive memory over wrongs that are never forgotten or forgiven. 
 A watch and ward system of an armed armistice dates from their earliest laws ; 
 as by the Fueros de Sobrarbe a provision was made that by a given signal of 
 danger the whole male population should hurry to the first place of meeting 
 (Abarca, i. 115). This preparation still exists along the Pyrenean frontier; 
 and the Catalan borderer is called Somaten, from the summoning tocsin-bell. 
 As Sertorius made Huesca his stronghold, so Mina sallied forth from “his 
 country,” from the glens of Navarre, with his bold followers, a race that never 
 will be extinct in these hills, whose vigorous weed man waxes in all his native 
 unsophisticated energy. 
 
 Imitating the example of the terrorist Romans, the French endeavoured to 
 ex terminate these irregular opponents by every means fair or foul : they burnt 
 their houses, set prices on the leaders’ heads, and executed them when taken. 
 It suited the invaders to consider the patriot insurgents as “ bandits ” — not 
 soldiers, because they wore no uniform ; but the grand crosses and gold lace 
 of a robbing and murderous marshal are not necessary to make an honest 
 defender of invaded hearths and altars ; nor is uniform a thing of Spain or the 
 East, where these regulation niceties are scouted. The cruelties of the invaders 
 led, as in the time of the Romans (Livy, xv. 39), to just retaliations ; they 
 swelled the bands with infuriated recruits — spoliatis arma supersunt. Those 
 whose homes are reduced to ashes must take to arms for existence and revenge ; 
 and whatever the Iberian has to learn of the Gaul in revenge and personal 
 ferocity, he will better the instruction. “The hornet swarms,” as the Duke 
 said (Desp. June 18, 1812), “ caused the utmost annoyance to the French, 
 exactly as they had done to the Romans ” (Livy, xxviii. 22). They were a 
 
 2 T 3 
 
950 
 
 NA VARESE SOLDIERS. 
 
 Sect. XIT. 
 
 thorn in their path, by intercepting communications, cutting off convoys and 
 stragglers. But these partisans were utterly unable, from want of organiza- 
 tion and of every sinew of war, to wage any great war, or carry out any sus- 
 tained operation against an enemy in position ; nor have any great contests 
 ever been successfully conducted by undisciplined numbers. The Maldonados, 
 &c., being well aware of the unvaried failures of the Cuestas, Blakes, and so- 
 called regular Spanish generals — children in the art of war — are reduced to 
 ascribe the salvation of Spain to these desultory bush-fightings of half-armed 
 peasants. This assumption is no less ridiculous than it is humiliating to a 
 warlike nation, at whose name Europe once trembled. The French, in order 
 to undervalue the merits of the English, by whom they were so beaten, re-echo 
 this nonsense. 
 
 The Duke, sagacious as just, did full justice to the merits of the guerillero „ 
 He knew that he was “the only useful arm, and better acquainted with his 
 trade than what is called the officer of the regular Spanish army; and, above all , 
 he has no pretensions to the military character ” (Desp. May 3, 1812). The 
 physical dislocation of the Peninsula seems to suggest this broken and desul- 
 tory style of warfare, one so congenial to the Bedouin and the Highlander. 
 These armed freebooters multiply like wild beasts in their safe retreats ; these 
 rugged homes are the cradles of the wolf, the vulture, and of the guerillero . 
 Active, quick-sighted, bold, cruel, and predacious (compare Livy xxii. 18), 
 they sweep down into the plains ; nor has the raid or foray ever been deemed 
 a disgrace — that consisted rather, as among the Greek pirates, in returning 
 empty- handed (Strabo, iii. 223, 231). But, as our author observes, this robbing 
 propensity incapacitated the old Iberians from producing a great general ; it 
 rendered them only fit for a little war, for a guerilla ; they were indeed only 
 <ru, fuzpa, roX pwvns. Such was the school and career of Viriatus (Florus, ii. 
 17, 15); and he was a true type of the Minas and other Rob Roys and Bobbing 
 Hoods of the Peninsula — Viva Fernando y vamos robando l 
 
 In vain the Duke urged on the Spanish government the adoption of a defen- 
 sive partisan warfare ; but the orgullo Espahol took offence, and the pride of 
 donkey juntas and drivelling Cuestas would choose nothing but fighting pitched 
 battles and forthwith losing them, Mina, with his Navarese, acted better. 
 They — warlike but not military — preferred the rude native poetic form of war, 
 which suited their roving habits and love of personal independence ; they 
 rejected the prosaic, yet effective, system of drill and discipline, by which the 
 individual is merged in order to form an exercitus — an exercised and really 
 formidable machine. Again, their point of honour was that of the Iberian, 
 not of the modern soldier ; they counted it no disgrace to turn and run when 
 a disorderly attempt failed (Caes. 4 B. C.’ i. 44), nor deemed the taking any 
 unfair advantage to be at all dishonourable (see also Ronda, p. 252.) 
 
 The best works to consult on Navarre are the 4 Espaha Sagrada,” xxxiii. ; 
 4 Historia apologetica y Descripcion del Beyno de Navarra,’ Garcia de Gongora, fol. 
 Pamplona, 1628; 4 Investigaciones Historicas ,’ Josef de Moret, fol. Pamplona, 
 1665, or the later edition of 5 vols. fol. Pamplona, 1766 ; 4 Anales de Navarra,’ 
 & c., fol. 5 vols. Pamplona, 1684; 4 Congressiones Apologeticas,’ Josef de Moret, 
 4to. Pamplona. 1678; 4 Diccionario de las Antiguedades del Beyno de Navarra:’ 
 Janguas y Miranda. There is a paper on the royal genealogy, by Joaquin 
 Traggia, in the 3rd vol. of the 4 Memorias de la Academia de Historia.’ 
 
 The district to the N.W. of Zara- 
 goza is called De las Cincovillas, and 
 these “five” towns are Tauste, Ejea , 
 Sadava , Castillo, and Sos. They were 
 
 raised by Philip Y. to the rank of 
 Villa, which is higher than Pueblo and 
 lower than Ciudad, to reward them for 
 assistance rendered during the War of 
 
Navarre . 
 
 ROUTE 138. — ZARAGOZA TO PAMPLONA. 
 
 9 51 
 
 Succession ; but they are very unin- 
 teresting. 
 
 Ejea de los Caballeros , about 12 L. 
 N.W. of Zaragoza, rises on a slope 
 above two rivers : pop. 2300. Notice 
 the tower on its walls in which Queen 
 Urraca was confined by Alonso I. of 
 Arragon. Here a tauromachian suerte, 
 or trick, was played off against 
 the French. In July, 1808, a de- 
 tachment arrived on a plundering 
 expedition, when the inhabitants shut 
 all the gates except one, through which 
 about 150 of the pillagers entered, 
 meeting with no resistance ; but when 
 they reached the plaza , a herd of bulls 
 were let loose on them. The invaders 
 not being matadores or picadores , re- 
 treated before these unusual opponents, 
 when the inhabitants fired at them 
 from the windows, and all not killed 
 were taken prisoners (see Ibieca, 6 Sitios 
 de Zaragoza ,’ sup. 153; and Schep. i. 
 194.) This bull-fighting strategy is 
 arch- Iberian ; thus the Spaniards 
 defeated Amilcar by driving bullocks 
 against his troops (App., ‘B. H,’ 428). 
 Thus Hannibal baffled Fabius by mak- 
 ing his Spanish rear-guard drive against 
 the Romans 2000 oxen, to whose horns 
 lighted torches had been tied, as was 
 done by Samson to the foxes’ tails 
 (Polyb. iii. 93; Livy, xxii. 16). For 
 history, consult 1 Idea de Exea,’ Jose 
 Ferrer y Bacax, 4to. Pamplona, 1790. 
 
 Route 138. — Zaragoza to Pam- 
 plona. 
 
 Tudela 
 
 . 14 
 
 
 Yaltierra 
 
 . 3 
 
 .. 17 
 
 Caparroso .... 
 
 . 4 , 
 
 .. 21 
 
 Tafalla 
 
 . 4 
 
 .. 25 
 
 Venta del Piojo . . . 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 ,. 28 
 
 Pamplona .... 
 
 
 ,. 31 
 
 For Tudela see p. 941 ; leaving it 
 and crossing the Ebro, the dreary com- 
 mon La Bardena expands to the rt. 
 
 . Valtierra, with 3000 inhab., has a ruined 
 Moorish castle. It boasts — (Madoz, xv. 
 496) — to be the birth-place of Gen. 
 Lapena of Barrosa misconduct. Hence 
 a bald country stretches to the Capar - 
 roso , with its church and Alcazar on an 
 eminence. Crossing the Arragon by a 
 fine bridge, and quitting a few vine- 
 yards and olive-grounds, we leave to 
 
 the 1. Peralta , famous for its wines 
 made from Berbez grape. Olite , pop. 
 1700, is built on the Cidacos. The 
 Alcazar, once the residence of the kings 
 of Navarre, was destroyed by the 
 French republicans in 1792. The 
 Gothic tower of San Pedro, and the 
 old pila in Santa Maria, may be looked 
 at. Olite and Tafalla were the flowers 
 of the Navarrese crown, — Olite y Ta- 
 falla — Flor de Navarra; now they are 
 both in the sear and fall. The best 
 inn at Tafalla is the Parador de las Dili- 
 gencias , at which the coach usually 
 stops. 
 
 Tafalla , Tubalia, because founded 
 by Tubal, is placed almost in the cen- 
 tre of Navarre, and was once the court 
 of the kings. Here Semen Lezano in 
 1419 built for Charles III. a fine 
 palace, now a sad ruin. The old city 
 walls have escaped better. The Plaza 
 de armas is on an eminence. The 
 climate is delicious and the place salu- 
 brious, and there is good shooting in 
 the Montes , near Artajona , at El Plano 
 and El bosque del Condestable ; near 
 this flows the Arga, coming down 
 from the Baztan, and is a good trout 
 stream. Tafalla is now much impo- 
 verished : pop. under 4500. Visit 
 the hermitage Santa Catalina, where 
 the Bishop of Pamplona, Nicolas Eche- 
 varri, the head of the Agramont party, 
 was murdered Nov. 23, 1469, during 
 the sitting of the Cortes, by the con- 
 stable Pierres de Peralta, the chief of 
 the Beaumont faction. Parties ran so 
 high that this deed was done even in 
 the presence of the Infanta, whom he 
 was visiting. The Parroquia de Santa 
 Maria has a fine cinquecento retablo, 
 by Miguel de Aneheta, representing 
 the lives of the Saviour and the Virgin. 
 Observe the Doric and Ionic tabernacle, 
 and the bassi-rilievi, especially the 
 Saviour exhibiting his wounded side. 
 
 Crossing the Cidacos, whose banks 
 are pretty, half way to Barassoain is 
 La vent a de las Campanas, famous for 
 Navarre wine and huevos cocidos. Be- 
 lascoain lies to the E. on the Ega, and 
 was celebrated for its baths : its bridge 
 and fort were carried, in May, 1839, 
 when Diego Leon defeated the Carlists, 
 the English legionary battalion really 
 
952 
 
 ROUTE 138. — PAMPLONA. 
 
 Sect, XIV. 
 
 doing the brunt of the work. Diego 
 was made a Conde for this affair, but 
 he met with a melancholy end, being 
 shot afterwards for treason. Emerg- 
 ing from the defiles of Olarzy, near 
 Noam, to the 1. of Arlequy, is the 
 fine aqueduct of Pamplona, which 
 we now enter, crossing the Monreal. 
 Inns, El Pcirador general de las Dili - 
 gencias (good), Posada de la Viuda de 
 Florentino Echevarria , and Posada de 
 Antonio Cortes. 
 
 Pamplona , founded by Tubal too, is 
 the capital and frontier-key of Navarre, 
 being the chief city of the plains. The 
 Delate chain of the Pyrenees is distant 
 4 L, It is situated on the 1. of the 
 Arga, which here forms a horse-shoe 
 bend N. ; this river is one of the chief 
 tributaries which “make a man” of 
 the Ebro : — 
 
 Arga Ega y Aragon , 
 
 H'acen at Ebro, Baron. 
 
 The Arga flows through the beauti- 
 ful Cuenca , 7 L. in circumference, the 
 Concha , the shell of which Pamplona is 
 the pearl. The climate is somewhat 
 damp and cold, but the gardens are 
 fruitful and the meadows verdant. 
 The position is well adapted for a for- 
 tress as overawing the plains, while 
 from a sloping eminence it is not com- 
 manded itself. The Pyrenees and 
 spurs rise charmingly in the distance, 
 especially when seen from the citadel 
 and from El Mirador on the walk. The 
 sons of Pompey were induced by local 
 considerations to rebuild this place in 
 the year 68 b.c., whence it was called 
 Pompeiopolis (Strabo, iii. 245). This 
 the Moors corrupted into Bambilonah. 
 The city remained faithful to the cause 
 of its founders, and was therefore 
 slighted by Augustus. According to 
 some, in the middle ages it was called 
 Irunia , “ the good town.” It was con- 
 quered from the Romans by Euric in 
 466, and again by the French in 542, 
 under Childibert, who sacked it and 
 laid waste the whole country. The 
 French again destroyed it in 778 under 
 Charlemagne. That great emperor had 
 been invited by the Berber chiefs of 
 Navarre to assist them against the 
 Moors of Cordova, but when the Franc 
 
 troops arrived they were refused ad- 
 mittance into the garrisons by their 
 called for allies, just as occurred in re- 
 gard to ourselves during the Peninsular 
 war. Pamplona,which beat off* the Moors 
 in 907, and the Castilians in 1138, has 
 always yielded to the arts and arms of 
 France. Buonaparte, whose policy was 
 ruse doublee de force , obtained the 
 Spanish frontier almost before the na- 
 tives suspected his perfidy, or were 
 aware of their own strength (compare 
 Floras, ii. 17. 3; App. B. H. 479); ac- 
 cordingly in Feb. 1808, he sent Gen. 
 D’Armagnac under the guise of an 
 alliance with Charles IY., when the 
 Spanish authorities were weak enough 
 to serve out rations to their friends in 
 the citadel itself : thereupon some 
 French grenadiers, under the pretence 
 of playing at snowball, secured the 
 drawbridge and captured the place. 
 This feat, pronounced un moyen tres 
 adroit by M. Thiers (lib. 29), was too 
 much for even D’Armagnac : Ces sont 
 la de vilaines missions , wrote he. The 
 French held the place until it was block- 
 aded by the Duke after his victory at 
 Vitoria. Soult made a desperate attempt 
 to relieve it, but was signally repulsed : 
 then Gen. Cassan threatened to blow 
 up the defences ; but the decided Duke 
 was near, and wrote at midnight to the 
 Conde deEspaha (Disp., Oct. 20, 1813) 
 in case of such an act, “ contrary to the 
 laws of war,” to “order him, without 
 further orders,” to shoot the governor 
 and all the officers, and decimate the 
 garrison. Cassan, who perceived that 
 there was no mistake , surrendered the 
 next day, and thus the citadel of Pam- 
 plona escaped the usual parting legacy 
 of the invader, whose policy was to 
 dismantle the defences of a neighbour. 
 Pamplona accordingly, thanks to the 
 Duke, is the chief Plaza de Armas of 
 this frontier, and the Cortes voted a 
 statue to be erected there in honour of 
 the preserver, which has not yet been 
 erected. 
 
 Pamplona is denominated Muy noble , 
 muy leal , y muy heroica , and bears for 
 arms a lion rampant with a sword in 
 dexter paw, and the chains of Navarre 
 as an orle. The town, clean and well 
 built, pop. about 15,000, is the resi* 
 
Navarre . 
 
 ROUTE 138. — PAMPLONA — SAN FERMIN. 
 
 953 
 
 dence of a Captain-General, who was 
 formerly called the Viceroy. It is the 
 see of a bishop, founded in 1130, and 
 suffragan to Burgos : it possesses an 
 Audiencia and a plaza de Toros. It 
 has a fine theatre, a Liceo , a Casa de 
 Espositos , two good fives courts : visit 
 tht 1 trinquete. There are charming 
 alamedas or public walks on the roads 
 leading to Madrid, France, and La 
 Rioja ; that called La Taconera in the 
 town is the most frequented : the streets 
 are well paved but dull, and the uni- 
 formity is increased by the similarity 
 of the projecting eaves, balconies, and 
 rejas , which are all generally painted 
 at the same time. There are many 
 family houses, casas solares , which the 
 heraldic shields denote ; notice that of 
 the Espeleta family. The fountains 
 are well supplied from the noble aque- 
 duct, which was built in a Roman 
 style and solidity by Ventura Rodri- 
 guez ; the water is brought from 
 the hills of Francoa, L. distant. 
 One portion of about 2300 ft. in length, 
 contains 97 arches of 35 ft. in 
 span and 65 in height. The town is’ 
 cheap and we\\ provisioned; the prin- 
 cipal square, la plaza del Castillo , one 
 of the finest in Spain, and converted 
 into a plaza de Toros on great festivals, 
 is adorned with a fountain with statuary, 
 a conspicuous new theatre, and a rather 
 obscure Casa de la Diputacion. Visit la 
 plaza de abajo , or the market-place, 
 -which is well supplied ; observe the 
 town-house, the buxom peasant girls, 
 las Payesas, with their long trenzas , 
 and the Boyna , or Beret a cap of the 
 males. The river is crossed by several 
 bridges ; the suburb de Rochapea was 
 almost destroyed by the French, and 
 suffered much during the O’Donnell 
 Christina outbreak in 1841, when it 
 was fired at for 3 days from the citadel, 
 by which San Lorenzo and the Casa 
 del Ayuntamiento — now rebuilt — were 
 almost ruined. 
 
 Pamplona is soon seen : the Gothic 
 cathedral was built in 1397 by Charles 
 III. of Navarre, who then took down 
 the older edifice of 1100 ; he left, how- 
 ever, a portion of the beautiful cloisters, 
 whose double galleries, quaint capitals 
 to pillars, and iron palisado, in the 
 
 Capilla de la Santa Cruz 9 a relic from 
 the battle of las Navas de Tolosa , de- 
 serve notice ; the grand entrance is in 
 a heavy incongruous Corinthian, and 
 was put up in 1783 by Ventura Rodri- 
 guez during the pseudo-classical and 
 Royal Academical mania; the portal 
 is the Assumption of the Virgin, and 
 the tutelar of the city, San Fermin, 
 whose grand holiday is on the 7th of 
 July ; then Los Gigantes , or Gog and 
 Magog images, representing Moors, 
 Normans, &c. (see p. 164), visit the 
 town-hall, dance before the cathedral, 
 and then pay their respects to their 
 patron’s image at San Lorenzo. The 
 period to visit Pamplona is during this 
 Feria or fair, which is held every year 
 in his honour, from June 29 to July 
 18, as the place is then thronged with 
 villagers and mountaineers, who come 
 to combine a little business with de- 
 votion and pleasure. San Fermin , 
 a great local saint was also born 
 in Pamplona, went to preach in 
 France, and was put to death at 
 Amiens, Sept. 25, 303. According to 
 Ribadeneyra (iii. 92), the body while 
 underground worked so many miracles, 
 that Salvio, bishop of Amiens, prayed 
 that the site might be revealed to him ; 
 accordingly, after one of his sermons 
 supernatural lights illuminated the 
 spot, and, on digging, the aromas of 
 Araby the blessed issued forth, and 
 such, says one annalist, as no per- 
 fumer, not even a French one, ever 
 devised. The congregation thought 
 that they were in Elysium, and sung 
 extemporaneous hymns ; when the 
 body was raised, although it was deep 
 winter, the weather became so warm 
 that the townsfolk imagined the rest 
 of the world to be on fire ; trees burst 
 forth into leaf, plants into flower, and 
 all the sick who gathered them were 
 immediately healed. 
 
 The cathedral is small, but the in- 
 terior is of a good light Gothic. The 
 silleria delcoro has some excellent carv- 
 ings of saints, patriarchs, &c., by Mi- 
 guel Ancheta, wrought, it is said, out 
 of English oak. This excellent sculp- 
 tor lies buried in the cloister ; the 
 epitaph deserves record : 
 
954 
 
 ROUTE 138. — PAMPLONA — LOYOLA. 
 
 Sect. XIV. 
 
 Aqui jace Ancheta : ' 
 
 El que sus obras no aldbd, 
 
 Ni las agenas desprecio. 
 
 Observe the interesting tombs of Carlos 
 el noble and his Queen Leonor of Cas- 
 tile, at full-length, and over-berailed ; 
 the king died in 1426. The rejas both 
 of the quire and high chapel are ex- 
 cellent. Visit the basilica or chapel 
 of Ignacio Loyola. The burial crypt 
 of the canons is in the cruciform sa- 
 wistia . In the sala preciosa is a very 
 remarkable tomb of the Conde de 
 Gajes on his war-horse, which was 
 removed in 1813 from the Capuchinos. 
 A part of the ancient refectory and 
 kitchen of the canons, who formerly 
 lived in a conventual community, is 
 preserved in the light and pleasant 
 cloisters. The cathedral library is 
 tolerable ; the books are arranged 
 with their edges, not backs, turned 
 to the spectator; the Archivo de Contos 
 contains some curious papers relating 
 to Navarre. Look out of the window 
 at the fine view. The traveller will 
 often see in this cathedral the offerings 
 made of loaves, corn, &c., to the manes 
 of the deceased, whose souls are thus 
 supposed to be extracted from purga- 
 tory. Consult 4 Catalogo de los Obispos ,’ 
 Fr. Sandoval, fol. Pamp. 1613, and 
 4 Historia de la Yglesia de Pamplona ,’ 
 Gregorio Fernando Perez, 3 vols. 4to. 
 Madrid. 
 
 In the Diputacion , where the Cortes 
 of Navarre sat, are some second-rate 
 royal portraits. The bridges over the 
 river are picturesque, but it is as well 
 to refrain from sketching the citadel 
 without leave from the authorities. This 
 important fortress is separated from the 
 town by a glacis or esplanade. The 
 works were much strengthened in 1521, 
 for Charles V., by Pedro Machuca, and 
 enlarged by Philip II. in 1551. The 
 citadel is pentagonal; two bastions, 
 la Bochapea and la Magdalena , front 
 the river. Foreigners are not readily 
 admitted, but may console themselves 
 with the assurance that 44 everything 
 is wanting,” as Alaix officially re- 
 ported to Espartero, entering into 
 appalling details, which Ribera, the 
 painter of horrors and starvation, alone 
 could have portrayed in a picture 
 
 (‘ Campo de Don Carlos ,’ 3rd ed-, p. 
 18) ; but so it always was. 
 
 It was in defending the ancient 
 citadel on the Plaza del Castillo , 1521, 
 that Ignacio Loyola was wounded ; and 
 just before you reach the Puerta de 
 San Nicolas is a chapel, founded in 
 1691, on the very site, which some 
 paintings illustrate. He conceived, 
 during the tedious progress of his 
 cure, the idea of founding his semi- 
 soldier order for the defence of the 
 Papacy, and to rule politics through 
 polemics, having crushed the rights 
 of mind (see p. 424). Pamplona was 
 at that time besieged by the French, 
 under Andre de Foix, sent by Francois 
 I., under the pretence of assisting 
 Henri D’Albret of Navarre, in the 
 recovery of his hereditary dominions ; 
 but the real motive was to profit in a 
 moment of Spain's infirmity, during 
 the absence of Charles V. and his 
 armies, and when the country was 
 torn by the civil discontent, which 
 ended in the Comunero outbreak. The 
 citadel being, as usual, unprepared 
 and unfinished, soon surrendered ; then 
 the French threw off the mask and 
 invaded Castile, but they were defeated 
 at Logrono, and forced to evacuate the 
 Peninsula ; when Francois I. basely 
 deserted his friend Henry, whose 
 country was partitioned between 
 Spain and France. In the fosse of 
 this citadel Santos Ladron de Gue- 
 vara, one of the first victims of the 
 recent civil wars, was shot, Oct. 15, 
 1839; he had proclaimed Don Carlos 
 at Estella. 
 
 The vicinity of Pamplona is of the 
 highest interest to the British soldier. 
 The Duke, after defeating Joseph and 
 Jour dan at Vitoria, was obliged to 
 blockade Pamplona, instead of besieg- 
 ing it, the consequence of Sir John 
 Murray's wretched failure before Tar- 
 ragona. Suchet was thereby left at 
 liberty to co-operate with Soult, and 
 fall on the English flank, which he did 
 not do, from the usual jealousies be- 
 tween rival marshals. On the 23rd 
 July, 1813, Soult crossed the frontier, 
 having had every possible advantage 
 in choice of time, easy communica- 
 tions, and an overwhelming numerical 
 
Navarre . 
 
 KOUTE 138. — PAMPLONA — THE SIEGE. 
 
 955 
 
 superiority ; he judiciously poured his 
 greatest force on our weakest points, 
 and attacked Byng and Cole at Ron- 
 cesvalles, who fell back on Zubiri , while 
 Drouet, with 20,000 men, was arrested 
 & whole day at the Maya pass, by Stew- 
 art, with only 1 500 : the Duke, who 
 was absent at San Sebastian, setting 
 the blunders of others to right, only 
 heard of the French advance on the 
 night of the 25th. Picton and Cole 
 had retired on Pamplona, and were 
 posted between Sorauren and Zabaldica; 
 had the French pushed on at once 
 Pamplona must have been relieved, 
 and the Duke’s advance into France 
 arrested ; the enemy’s hesitation in- 
 duced 44 Fighting old Picton” to stand 
 firm, and thus precious time was gained, 
 and the Duke arrived on the 27th ; he 
 had ridden from the Baztan , almost 
 alone, when he reached Sorauren , and 
 saw at once the real state of things ; 
 he pencilled a few wizard orders on the 
 parapet of the bridge, and then gal- 
 loped up the hill, the French entering 
 the village, “luckily,” as he said, 
 “about two minutes” after he had 
 left it. On what trifles do the destinies 
 of nations turn ! Had this one man 
 been taken all would have been lost. 
 And now, as this one man rode up 
 alone, his soldiers saw and knew him : 
 every man felt what Foy (i. 81) de- 
 scribes as the magic of the mere presence 
 of Buonaparte. “ A l’approche du 
 danger, ce qu’on sentait pour lui, etait 
 plus que P admiration; on lui rendait 
 un culte , comme au Dieu tutelaire de 
 l’armee,” and the great Emperor knew 
 his power. “ A la Guerre,” said he, 
 “les hommes ne sont rien, c’est un 
 homme qui est tout.” E i<r ipoi /uugioi, 
 wrote Cicero to Atticus (Ep. xvi. 11). 
 Thus the spirit of a single master-mind 
 makes that of multitudes take one di- 
 rection. The Portuguese brigade, on 
 beholding the Duke ride up, felt fully 
 the inspiring influence, and shouted, 
 Alla van treinta mil hombres ; such was 
 their estimate of the value of a real 
 4 4 Head,” the thing wanting in Penin- 
 sular camps and councils. The British 
 army responded in that true English 
 cheer, the certain omen of victory, 
 whereupon the Duke, who could see 
 
 Soult, remarked, “ He will hear that 
 cheer, and, from caution, will hesitate 
 attacking ; this will give time for the 
 6th division to arrive, and I shall beat 
 him.” Having made his dispositions 
 he amused himself with reading the 
 newspapers. Accordingly, Soult, al- 
 though commanding 25,000 French, 
 hesitated to attack 16,000 English, and 
 thus lost a day, which, as usual, lost 
 him. 
 
 The next morning, while the Duke 
 was writing to Graham, Soult attacked 
 in force; then the pen was thrown 
 down for the bayonet, and the assail- 
 ants were repulsed at every point — the 
 40th, 7th, 20th, and 23rd, charging 
 the superb French masses no less than 
 four times each ; Soult gave way, and 
 fled with Mons. Foy, abandoning their 
 almost impregnable positions. The 
 Duke, when he had “settled” Soult, 
 quietly resumed his letter, without 
 even adding the postscript of Csesar, 
 Veni, Vidi , Vici . 
 
 Soul t’s plan of relief was daring, and 
 well conceived, but feebly carried 
 out ; repeated defeats had cowed him 
 and his troops, and the presence of the 
 Duke, which raised the English from 
 despondency to confidence, had the 
 contrary effect on their assailants. 
 Soult indeed, even in the words of his 
 staunch friend Napier (xxi. 5), failed 
 from 44 slowness and indecision, which 
 seemed injudicious.” Monsieur Savary, 
 however, attributes the failure to the 
 old story of the 44 elements,” to 44 a 
 deluge of rain in the mountains, which 
 compelled Soult to recall his columns ;” 
 but the weather did not compel the 
 Duke to order his lines to advance and 
 follow. The news of this important 
 repulse reached the Allied Sovereigns 
 while deliberating on making terms 
 with Buonaparte, and much influenced 
 their final rejection : thus, the non- 
 relief of Pamplona led to the first 
 capture of Paris. Soult soon disap- 
 peared from the Peninsular theatre. 
 He ranks high in France as a general, 
 although he never met the Duke but 
 to be beaten : if constant failure infers 
 some failing in the art of war, at least 
 infinite defeats taught him the value 
 of a peace with England. He excelled 
 
956 
 
 ROUTE 139. — MAROTO. 
 
 Sect. XIV. 
 
 as an administrator; as a plunder- 
 master-general, he was the modern 
 Yerres. Born the son of an attorney, 
 he was well ■versed in the arts of con- 
 veyancing. u Steal , foh ! a fico for the 
 phrase ; convey the wise it call.” 
 
 Pamplona , when besieged by the 
 Spaniards in 1379, had before been 
 successfully relieved by the English 
 under Sir Thomas Trivet, the Cas- 
 tilians retreating at the mere rumour 
 of his advance. 
 
 Route 139. — Pamplona to Logrono. 
 
 Astrain 
 
 
 
 Puente de la Reina . . 
 
 . 2 . 
 
 . 4 
 
 Estella 
 
 
 
 Los Arcos .... 
 
 . 3 . 
 
 . 10* 
 
 Viana 
 
 
 
 Logroiio 
 
 
 
 This, the best route to Burgos, was 
 one of the grand lines taken by the 
 pilgrims on their road to Santiago, and 
 owes, in common with many others, 
 its bridges, hospitals, and accommoda- 
 tions to pious benefactors who wished 
 to facilitate the progress of the devout. 
 Near Astrain is a “ high place ” on 
 which is a temple of La Virgen de la 
 Peniega , or el Perdon , much visited by 
 the peasantry. A good wine is made 
 near Puente de la Peina, a tidy place, 
 pop. 3300, where several streams meet 
 in the plain. Visit the convent San 
 Juan de Crucifijo, which originally be- 
 longed to the Templars : in the chapel 
 is the marble tomb of the grand prior 
 Juan de Beaumont. 
 
 The ancient city of Estella , the ca- 
 pital of its Merindad , is built on the 
 Ega, which is joined here by the 
 Amescoa, and both are good trout- 
 streams : pop. under 6000, and chiefly 
 agricultural. A tolerable wine is made 
 on the rocky slopes. The walnut 
 Alameda is pretty, so is the Paseo 
 de los Llanos: there are two old 
 churches, one is enriched with the 
 shoulder-blade of the Apostle An- 
 drew. There is a nice arcaded plaza , 
 and a ruined Alcazar on an eminence. 
 Estella was long the head- quarters of 
 Don Carlos, who was proclaimed king 
 here in Nov. 1833, by Santos Ladron 
 de Guevara. Here, on Feb. 17, 1839, 
 
 Maroto, the Judas Iscariot of Vergara, 
 arrested six of his chief brother Carlist 
 officers and .executed them without 
 even the form and farce of a Spanish 
 trial; one of them, General Garcia, 
 was put to death in the dress of a 
 clergyman, in which he had disguised 
 himself when attempting to escape. 
 Another, General Carmona, was lured 
 into the trap, by a friendly invitation 
 from Maroto, with whom he break- 
 fasted , after which his host begged 
 him to il speak with his adjutant on 
 business,” who took him to El Puig 
 and had him shot instanter. (S ee‘Campo 
 de Eon Carlos ,’ p. 192.) Butin Spain, as 
 in the East, the man in power is as sus- 
 picious of rivals as if he were standing 
 on mined ground: competitors have long 
 been soon despatched. Thus Joab 
 greeted Amasa with a kiss and “ my 
 brother,” and then smote him such a one 
 blow that he died (2 Sam. xx. 9); so had 
 he before dealt with Abner (1 Sam. iii. 
 27) : so the Carthaginian Agathodes 
 invited Aphellas to supper “blando 
 alloquioet humili adulatione” (Justin, 
 xxii. 7), and then killed him; so 
 Perpenna feasted Sertorius at neigh- 
 bouring Huesca and then murdered 
 him ; so Trueba II. had there bidden 
 all his chief nobility to a banquet, and 
 then had them slaughtered, just as 
 Mehemet Ali treated the Mamelukes ; 
 so Don Pedro feasted the king of 
 Granada and then murdered him ; so 
 Alva, Spain’s great Duke, invited Eg- 
 mont and Horn to dinner, and then 
 had them arrested and executed, say- 
 ing, according to Brantdme, that he 
 liked to catch the large salmon and 
 leave the sprats alive: things of Spain 
 and of the East, where the ethics of 
 treachery and bloodshed are identical, 
 immemorial, and unchangeable. 
 
 About J a L. S. of Estella is the 
 famousBenedictine monastery oiLrache, 
 where many early books were printed, 
 and the curious history of that order 
 in Spain by Yepes. This extensive 
 edifice was long used as a college for 
 clerical students. 
 
 The uneven plains, or upper Ames- 
 coas between Estella and Salvatierra, 
 and the country in the Valle de Ara~ 
 quit near the pass of Borunda, were 
 
Navarre . routes 140, 141. — pamplona to tolosa And irun. 957 
 
 the scenes of the victories gained by 
 Zumalacarregui, in 1835, over Valdes 
 and other Christino generals. Los 
 Arcos is another of these hill-fort cities 
 with its ancient castle and torre de 
 homenctje . Vianet, an ancient city in a 
 rich corn country, with the Ebro flow- 
 ing S., was founded in 1219 by Don 
 Sancho el Fuerte, as a frontier place 
 against the Castilians : pop. about 
 3000. It is a cheerful town, has a 
 good plaza and fine church on it, La 
 Santa Maria , with extensive views 
 over the rich plains. For Logrono see 
 p. 946, and for Pamplona to Vitoria 
 see R. 121. 
 
 The company of diligences of Na- 
 varra run coaches between Bayonne, 
 Tolosa, Tudela, Pamplona, and Zara- 
 goza. There are four routes from 
 Pamplona to Bayonne and France ; 
 that by Tolosa long was the only one 
 carriageable, but recently a new and 
 shorter route has been opened by Vera ; 
 the other passes are merely bridle and 
 mountain roads. 
 
 Route 140. — Pamplona to Tolosa. 
 
 Irurzun 3 
 
 Lecumberri 24 .. 54 
 
 Aribe 24 . . 8 
 
 Tolosa 3 .. 11 
 
 You quit Pamplona by a bad road, 
 over arid and bald plains; but after 
 passing Berrio piano the ascent com- 
 mences and the scenery improves. 
 The valley of Araquil is Swiss-like, 
 and you enter the mountains at the 
 pass of the two sister rocks Las dos 
 Hermanas . Irurzun is one of the four- 
 teen villages of Araquil. Lecumberri , 
 where mine host of the posada, Don 
 Sebastian, is a fine hearty fellow, 
 stands in its pretty valley, the Larraun, 
 as Aribe does in that of Ariaz, under 
 the noble hill Elosua, and by the rapid 
 torrent Aspiroz . The royal road soon 
 enters Guipuzcoa, and Tolosa is reached 
 by a mountain defile, through which a 
 crystal stream flows pleasantly : from 
 thence to Irun see R. 120. 
 
 Route 141. — Pamplona to Ieun. 
 
 Ostiz ....... 24 
 
 Latasa 14 .. 4 
 
 San Esteban 4 . . 8 
 
 Sumbilla 1 . . 9 
 
 Vera 4 .. 13 
 
 Irun ^ ...... 4 .. 17 
 
 We now turn into the Pyrenees of 
 Navarre, into its passes and defiles, 
 those natural fortresses out of which 
 the Duke drove Soult headlong in 1813. 
 These localities have been officially 
 surveyed by English engineers, and 
 the maps published on a grand scale 
 by Wild, in 1840. The volume is, 
 however, far too cumbrous for the tra- 
 veller, and almost too big for the 
 library. The apple-bearing valley of 
 which San Esteban de Lerin is the chief 
 hamlet, is truly Swiss-like. Here two 
 streams, one coming down from Elir- 
 sondo, unite into the Bidasoa, which 
 some hence interpret Vida, two, Osoa^ 
 united in one. The delicious valley 
 of Baztan is (as the word implies in 
 Arabic) a 44 garden.” Consult ‘ Exe- 
 cutoria de la Nobleza del Valle del Baz- 
 tan/ Juan de Goneche, 4to. Mad. 1685. 
 The plains abound in fruit and pasture, 
 the rivers in trout ; the hills are 
 wooded, and the mountain cottages, 
 which are here called Bordas, resemble 
 the Chalets of Switzerland and the 
 Brenas of the Asturias. The pea- 
 santry are simple mountaineers and 
 pastoral. They seldom marry out of 
 their clans, adhere to old usages and 
 costumes, are hospitable at their 
 holidays, love dancing and fives, and 
 wear in winter the curious monk-like 
 cowl, called the Capuzay. 
 
 In these recesses formerly lived the 
 Agotes , who, resembling the Cagots of 
 Luchon, have long been a stumbling- 
 block to antiquarians ; persecuted on 
 both sides of the Pyrenees as “ an 
 accursed thing,” in Spain the pro- 
 scribed caste was held to be wanting 
 in Limpieza de Sangre , none therefore 
 would intermarry or associate with 
 beings of “ unclean blood thus the 
 outcasts were in some instances denied 
 even the sacraments, and were not 
 allowed to enter churches except at a 
 side door. Monsh Ramon erroneously 
 derives the word cagot, quasi Caas Goth, 
 u sons of the Goth,” which, so far from 
 being a disgrace, is the most honoured 
 source of descent in Spain. They are 
 termed in the old For de Navarra of 
 
958 
 
 ROUTE 141. — AGOTES AND GAFOS. 
 
 Sect. XIV. 
 
 1704, Caff os; Gafo means a leper, 
 from the Hebrew Cafah, distorted, a 
 cripple, from whence the Arabic term 
 of opprobrium Kafir, a rebeller against 
 God. Gafo took precedence in the 
 five actionable words of slander in old 
 Spanish law, because combining the 
 horrors of a physically infectious 
 leprosy with the moral taint of heresy, 
 which affected body and soul. Thus 
 the curse of Gehazi was the common 
 penalty in mediaeval Spanish deeds to 
 all who broke the covenants. Time, 
 which has cured this leprosy (substi- 
 tuting the goitre) has softened the 
 hearts of persecutors, and as the odium 
 theologicum decreased, pity reappeared, 
 until the Agotes became merged among 
 the peasantry, and now are more talked 
 about than really existing, and furnish 
 materials for essays, not persecution ; 
 indeed there is so little difference in 
 their appearance and treatment, that 
 they are all but absorbed : some of them 
 are millers in the Baztan , while others 
 occupy the quarter Bozate in the valley 
 of Aizcun. Some think them the rem- 
 nant of the Arians who fled here in the 
 sixth and seventh centuries : others, 
 and with greater probability, think 
 them the descendants of the Protestant 
 Albigenses, who hid themselves in these 
 mountains six centuries later, when 
 flying from the sword of Simon de 
 Montfort and the faggot of St. Domi- 
 nick. Being treated as heretics, they 
 obtained the additional name of Gafo, 
 because it is the worst in the Spanish 
 language, just as they were sometimes 
 called by the Moors Christaos , or 
 Christian dogs ; others held them to 
 be remnants of persecuted Jews and 
 Moors ; a taint, however, of some heresy 
 is evident. Consult 4 Histoire des Races 
 maudites de la France et de VEspagne,’ 
 Francisque Michel. 
 
 Now we enter the Merindad de Cinco 
 villas: these five hamlets are Echalar, 
 Lesaca, Vera , Yanci, and Aranaz. Iron 
 is found in the hills, which is smelted 
 and wrought in Fraguas y Ferrerias , 
 forges and smithies, as rude and pic- 
 turesque as those of the old Canta- 
 brians. The Bidasoa flows through the 
 village of Sumbilla, pursuing its sweet 
 course to J and, at the bridge of which, 
 
 had the Spaniards Longa and Barcenas 
 done the shadow of their duty, Aug. 31, 
 1813, not a Frenchman could have 
 escaped, when Soult, after the splendid 
 repulse of what the Duke termed a 
 44 mauvaise operation,” was forced to 
 retreat with six divisions along the 
 narrow defile. The retreating in- 
 vaders were so beaten, morally and 
 physically, and their cries for quarter 
 were so piteous, that our Rifles, merci- 
 ful as brave, and victorious, scorned 
 to destroy a foe half-dead from panic 
 alone. Napier (xxi. 5). 
 
 Lesaca was for many months the 
 head-quarters of the Duke ; from hence 
 are dated those memorable despatches 
 which reveal in true colours the miser- 
 able ministerial mediocrities of England 
 and Spain, who were dragged out of 
 their mire by his triumphal car. In 
 vain did he din into Lord Bathurst 
 that 44 the brave little army was stinted 
 in everything;” in vain did he reite- 
 rate to Lord Melville that the French 
 were masters of the sea ! The dull ear 
 of official red-tapeism was deaf to his 
 prayers, as it had before been to those 
 of Nelson. Our wretched cabinet was 
 at this moment lavishing millions on 
 jobbing Spanish juntas, and paltry 
 German princes, Homburgs and hum- 
 bugs, who neither had the means nor 
 even the intention of repayment or 
 doing their duty. Stores and gold were 
 cast into the lap of foreigners, while 
 the brain, blood, and bone of glorious 
 old England was pining for dry bread, 
 whilst our starving countrymen were 
 being hung on trees for robbing bee- 
 hives, when they had no rations and 
 no money to procure food ! 
 
 Soon we approach the charming 
 valley of Vera. Hie ver purpureum. 
 Here again were the sites of new 
 triumphs of the invincible Light divi- 
 sion. Here Soult, July 31, 1813, made 
 a second and desperate attempt to force 
 the English lines, but was splendidly 
 repulsed in every direction ; and now, 
 had Skerrett — who seldom succeeded 
 — see Tarifa, Tarragona — supported the 
 Rifles, not a Frenchman could have 
 escaped. Here again, Oct. 7, the enemy 
 was utterly and magnificently routed, 
 the English army passing triumphantly 
 
Navarre, 
 
 ROUTE 142 . — PAMPLONA TO BAYONNE. 
 
 959 
 
 into France, Soult and Foy flying 
 before them. The whole ride on to 
 Irun, by the beautiful Bidasoa, is all 
 that the artist or angler can desire.— 
 For LaRhune (LaRuna),San Marcial, 
 and military events, see pp. 893, 895. 
 
 Route 142. — Pamplona by Maya to 
 Bayonne. 
 
 Ostiz .... 
 
 
 
 Lanz .... 
 
 
 
 Berrueta . . . 
 
 . . . 3 . 
 
 . n 
 
 Elizondo . . . 
 
 
 
 Maya .... 
 
 . . . 2 . 
 
 . 104 
 
 Urdax. . . . 
 
 
 
 Anoa .... 
 
 
 
 Bayonne . . . 
 
 . . . 4i . 
 
 
 This is the central of the three 
 mountain routes, and all are alike wild, 
 alpine, and full of military interest. 
 Now we tread the ground where the 
 Duke foiled Soult in his attempt to 
 relieve Pamplona. Sorauren is the ham- 
 let which witnessed his narrow escape 
 (see p. 955). Look at that bridge, 
 reader, on which he pencilled the 
 death-warrant of his enemy. In this 
 now quiet village many most desperate 
 encounters took place; the first oc- 
 curred on the 4th anniversary of the 
 glorious victory of Talavera ; then our 
 27th and 48th regiments fell three 
 times on the whole brigade of Reille, 
 “ rolling back his crowded masses in 
 disorder, and throwing them violently 
 down the mountain’s side ” (Nap. xxi. 
 5). Meanwhile, on the hill above, the 
 Spanish regiment of Pravia disbanded 
 and gave way, leaving the 40th alone 
 to bear the brunt. That regiment “ in 
 stern silence” received four separate 
 attacks of a whole French brigade, re- 
 pulsing them every time, until three 
 companies alone drove the depressed 
 enemy, headlong down with the bayo- 
 net, and their sons at Inkermann proved 
 themselves worthy ol such sires. 
 
 The second combat began two days 
 afterwards at daylight, when “ fighting 
 old Picton” advanced against Foy, 
 while Inglis, with 500 men of the 7th 
 division, broke at “ one shock” the 
 two French regiments which covered 
 Clausel’s right, and drove them pell- 
 mell down the valley of Lanz. Then 
 the 28th, under Byng, charged up the 
 
 village, taking 1400 prisoners. The 
 enemy now retreated in piteous dis- 
 order, flying for refuge with Foy, who 
 had remained safe on the top of a hill, 
 from whence he ran away into the 
 woods (Napier, xxi. 5) nor could any- 
 thing induce him to face the British 
 bayonet, which he survived to attack 
 with his pen. How, if the Duke could 
 then have foreseen the calumnies of 
 this historian — cui opimus fallere et 
 effugere triumphus — would he not 
 have smiled contemptuously ? It is 
 pleasant, said Lord Bacon, “ to stand in 
 the window of a castle, and to see a 
 battle ; but no pleasure is comparable 
 to the standing on the vantage ground 
 of truth , a hill not to be commanded.” 
 
 At Ostiz the road branches off to 
 the 1., to Ayoca; keep on, however, by 
 the r. to Olague , from whence another 
 track strikes off by the r. to Bonces - 
 valles. Bearing to the 1. is Lanz , where 
 the 7th division beat the French at the 
 same moment as the 6th division did 
 the same at Sorauren . The Spaniard 
 Morillo cooperating by keeping out of 
 the way to the N.E., on the hill of 
 Santa Barbara , the patroness of Spanish 
 artillery, and who this day preserved 
 him safely. 
 
 From Olague to Almandoz the puerto 
 
 of Yelate, cut through the rock, is 
 passed, after a considerable ascent. 
 The road is well provided with ventas, 
 bridges, viaducts, of recent construc- 
 tion ; observe the one which joins the 
 dip near Almandoz ; hence passing Ber- 
 rueta to hill-girt Elizondo , pop. 1200, 
 and the central and chief place of the 
 valley of Baztan , with a decent posada , 
 la de Archea, in which the lover of 
 fives and fishing may linger : from 
 this central point in its valley many 
 rude mountain paths diverge. Keeping 
 to the r., you cross and recross the 
 Bidasoa, and emerging from the sweet 
 valley, wind up the rocky path to the 
 Puerto de Maya ; from this lofty emi- 
 nence the country towards Bayonne is 
 displayed as an opened map. Here the 
 English army , catching sight of France, 
 cheered, as the victorious troops of 
 Hannibal, when they beheld from the 
 Alps that Italy which they were about 
 to invade. But their courage was 
 
960 
 
 ROUTE 143. — DEATH OF MORENO. 
 
 Sect. XIV. 
 
 cooled by the necessity of guarding 
 these bleak and exposed heights, during 
 the long delay occasioned by the siege 
 of Pamplona. The cold was piercing, 
 the night duties severe, and winter 
 clothes and supplies were not forwarded 
 by Lord Bathurst. This important pass 
 was held July 25, 1813, by General 
 Stewart, when Soult attempted to re- 
 lieve Pamplona. According to Napier 
 (xxi. 5), our general mistook the real 
 point of the French attack, and marched 
 up his regiments singly, against the 
 enormous masses of the enemy ; but 
 the magnificent defence of Barnes’s 
 brigade and the 82nd checked Drouet, 
 who was so stunned by their soldier 
 welcome, that he remained 24 hours 
 doing nothing, with 20,000 men, in- 
 stead of seizing the nick of time, and 
 joining Soult before Pamplona: thus 
 the whole well-devised plan of the 
 enemy was frustrated. 
 
 Quitting Elizondo about 3 L. distant 
 is the Puerto de Osondo, from whence 
 you descend to JJrdax , where a small 
 trout - stream, about two miles on, 
 divides Spain from France. The 
 aduana is in the barrio de Landivar . 
 The fine oak-woods form the wealth of 
 the peasantry; of these, in 1793, the 
 French republicans wantonly cut 
 down 23,000 trees. Here, Sept. 14, 
 1839, Don Carlos, after the transacion 
 of Vergara, passed a second time into 
 the prisons of France ; first confined at 
 Valen£ay by the usurper Buonaparte, 
 and secondly at Bourges by his Bour- 
 bon cousin Louis-Philippe. 
 
 The magnificent new road to France, 
 finished in 1847, proceeds to JJrdax , 
 and then passes the frontier over the 
 bridge of Danchariena , under the Ve- 
 late : JJrdax, Posada de la Toreta , rises 
 over the trout-stream Gave, with high- 
 pointed slate roofs : pop. 600. Here is 
 the Spanish customhouse, and tedious 
 formalities. A fortress is being raised 
 for the defence of this pass. 
 
 At JJrdax , Vincente Moreno, of Tor- 
 rijos infamy, was murdered Sept. 6, 
 1839. His death, according to the 
 letter of his aide-de-camp, Antonio 
 Acena ( see p. 215, 4 Campo de Don 
 Carlos *), was a premeditated crime. 
 Moreno, after the crowning treachery 
 
 of Maroto, retreated to the French 
 frontier with his wife and family. 
 During a delay, occasioned by a failure 
 of a promised escort, he was shot and 
 bayoneted by some soldiers of the 
 1 1th batallion of Navarre, in the pre- 
 sence of one Mendoza, their officer, 
 and the miserable women. It is said 
 that he prayed for a confessor and a 
 short grace : “ Kill me to-morrow ; let 
 me live to-day ; but half-an-hour ! ” 
 “ Die ! ” exclaimed his executioners ; 
 “ such mercy as you showed to Torri- 
 jos shall be shown to you” (see p. 286). 
 
 Eoitte 143. — Pamplona to France 
 BY RONCESVALLES. 
 
 Zavaldica .... 
 
 . 2k . 
 
 
 Zubiri ...... 
 
 
 
 Burguete 
 
 
 
 Bonces valles . . . 
 
 . 1 . 
 
 . 84 
 
 Valcarlos . . . . , 
 
 . 4 . 
 
 . 124 
 
 St. Jean Pied du Port . 
 
 . 24 . 
 
 . 14! 
 
 This journey must be ridden, the 
 carriage road terminating f of a L 
 from Pamplona. The scenery through- 
 out is Swiss-like and alpine, the defiles 
 magnificent, the hills and dales diver- 
 sified with wood and water. A horse and 
 guide to St. Jean Pied de Port generally 
 may be hired for 30 francs, the guide 
 paying his keep, and not entitled to 
 any return-money. 
 
 Crossing the Arga, and then the 
 Esteribar 3 times, we reach Huarte 
 in its narrow valley, by which the 3rd 
 division advanced, July 30, 1813, driv- 
 ing the French to Poncesvalles, the 
 scene of a former “ dolorous rout.” 
 Keeping to the r. after Zubiri , cross a 
 stream before Zizoain and another 
 beyond Viscarret , and descend into 
 the pastoral valleys of Burguete and 
 Poncesvalles . At Burguete a track 
 
 branches off to the 1., to the Alduides, 
 and another from Poncesvalles to the 
 r., to Orbaiceta , 3 L., where the royal 
 foundries were almost destroyed by the 
 French. 
 
 Poncesvalles , Roscida vallis, a small 
 hamlet with a great name, stands in 
 the beautiful park-like valley de Val- 
 carlos ; itself a charming pastoral plat- 
 form : the road passes under the now 
 untenanted Augustine convent, which 
 was dedicated to our Lady of the Val- 
 
Navarre. 
 
 ROUTE 143. — RONCESVALLES. 
 
 9G1 
 
 ley, by whom the army of Charle- 
 magne was cut off. The church, once 
 an important sanctuary, enriched with 
 royal ashes and relics, is still used as 
 a parochial one, and there is a tidy inn 
 opposite. The winter-cold in these 
 exposed localities is severe, and the 
 hardships which were endured by the 
 army of the Black Prince, when enter- 
 ing Spain, were intense. 
 
 It was at Roncesvalles, in 778, that 
 the army of Charlemagne, with all 
 “ his peerage, fell.” The invasion of 
 the Peninsula by this great Emperor 
 of the West is involved in some ob- 
 scurity. It would seem that this 
 
 arbiter of nations was invited to Zara- 
 goza, to settle the dissensions of the 
 rival houses of Abbas and Omar, 
 just as Buonaparte interfered between 
 Charles IV. and Ferdinand VII. 
 Charlemagne gladly raised the banner 
 of the cross against the crescent, for the 
 advancing Infidel was then the dread 
 of Europe ; hence the religious charac. 
 ter given by Dante to the crusade — 
 
 Dopo la dolorosa rotta, quando 
 
 Carlo magno perde la santa gente. 
 
 But the Spaniards and Moors, Chris- 
 tians as well as Mahomedans, were 
 little influenced by the sanctity of the 
 Franc invaders ; nay, their hatred of 
 foreign dictation reconciled all pre- 
 vious differences, which were merged 
 in one common greater loathing of 
 the Gavacho, a name said to have then 
 been first applied to the French. In 
 vain did Alonso el Casto of Leon make 
 over Spain to Charlemagne, as Charles 
 IV. did to Buonaparte. The noble 
 people rose to a man, and found a 
 leader in Bernardo del Carpio, the 
 reputed nephew of Alonso ; probably 
 both he and Orlando, who was slain 
 by him, are, like Achilles, the pure 
 creatures of romance, but they truly 
 depict the spirit of the age, and so far 
 are historical. One of the Basque bal- 
 lads, Altabizaren Cantua , is supposed to 
 be of the period itself. Some of the 
 more modern in Spanish are among 
 the finest in any language. The march 
 of Bernardo (Duran, iv. 1 57) tells the 
 gathering, the uprising of the nation ; 
 the cry was, “Arm for your indepen- 
 
 dence ! Has the Frenchman perad* 
 venture already conquered the land ? 
 Does he expect a bloodless victory ? 
 Never ! It may be said of the Leonese 
 that ‘ they die, but never that they 
 surrender ” and this was a truth, not 
 the idle boast of a Cambronne, the first 
 to be taken prisoner and alive (Duke’s 
 Disp., June 19, 1815). The invaders 
 retiring from Spain, were caught in the 
 mountain gorges, and all but exter- 
 minated. 
 
 The Spaniards now arrogate all the 
 glory of Roncesvalles for themselves, 
 while the Moors called it their victory 
 (Conde, i. 201). Nay, now even the 
 defeated French ingeniously claim the 
 disputed deed for themselves. Les 
 Arabes, et meme les Espagnols, pre- 
 tendent h l’honneur de cette victoire ; 
 il n’appartient ni aux uns, ni aux 
 autres: les Fran^ais de la Seine ne 
 furent vaincus que par les Fran§ais de 
 l’Adour et de la Garonne ! Maries 
 (Conde i. 234). So Mons. Foy (i. 205) 
 discovered that the victories “ de Creci, 
 de Poitiers, et d’Azincourt,” were not 
 won by Englishmen, but by French 
 troops, composed of “ Normans, Poite- 
 vins, and Gascons.” Be these things 
 and Gascons as they may, the English, 
 under General Byng, were cheered on 
 these identical spots by the Spaniards, 
 who sang the old ballads of Bernardo, 
 nor will the religio loci , or even the 
 “ romance,” ever be lied or explained 
 away. This time-honoured locality was 
 marked with a pillar, which comme- 
 morated the defeat of Charlemagne, 
 but it was pulled down in 1794, to the 
 tune of a “musique touch ante,” by 
 two commissioners of the French re- 
 public, who entered the valley with 
 a column of men, called by themselves 
 la Infernale , who carried fire and 
 sword, rapine and butchery, every- 
 where; see even their countryman’s 
 account, ‘ Viet . et Con iii. 180. The 
 parish church was then pillaged, where 
 long had hung the identical chains 
 which guarded the Moorish chiefs 
 tent at las Navas de Tolosa , and through 
 which Sancho el Fuerte broke ; through 
 this memorable valley, by which the 
 Black Prince led his legions in Fe- 
 bruary, 1367, to the victory of Na- 
 
962 
 
 ROUTE 143 .' — RONCES VALLES. 
 
 Sect. XIV. 
 
 varrete, did poor Joseph Buonaparte 
 fly after the “ dolorous rout/' and 
 the Duke’s victory at Vitoria. Here 
 also was Don Carlos proclaimed king, 
 by Eraso, Oct. 12, 1833. 
 
 Three mountain routes branch 
 hence ; the best is the central, which 
 goes up the delicious valley, Valcarlos , 
 with its park-like scenery. A small 
 rivulet, a tributary of the Nive, divides 
 antipathetic Spain and France. The 
 
 boundary-line is indicated by land- 
 marks, placed in 1792 by mutual re- 
 ferees. The exact raya , or frontier 
 line, is, however, still an open ques- 
 tion, and will not probably be settled 
 by the Neighbour to the advantage of 
 Spain. One L. leads to St. Jean Pied 
 du Port. The frontier on both sides is 
 marked by customhouse-officers, those 
 pests of travellers. 
 
 HIC FINIS CHARTiEQUE VI^QTJE. 
 
 Da veniam scriptis, quorum non gloria nobis 
 Causa, sed utilitas officiumque fuit.” 
 
 Ovid. iii. Ex Pont. ix. 55. 
 
 [Note. — M. de Verneuil has recently published in the ‘ Comptes rendus des 
 Seances de V Academie des Sciences / tom. xl., some accurate observations on 
 the geology and altitudes in Spain. The scientific world looks forward to 
 a geological map, and to the results of new investigations by this distin- 
 guished savant. N.B. The French metre used by him is about 3| feet 
 English measure.] 
 
 Index. 
 
( 963 ) 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. 
 
 Abbreviations : — Sp. Spain, Spanish, Spaniards. E. England, 
 
 F. France, French. 
 
 ABADIA. 
 
 Abadia, 500. 
 
 Abamia, 649 
 Abandares, 649 
 Abanico, fan, 67, 112 
 Abasside, dynasty, 225 
 Abderahman, 225 
 Abencerrages, the, 292 
 Abres, 626 
 
 Abu Jusuf Yacub, 173 
 Abu Said, murder of, 186 
 Academy, R. Sp., 671 
 Accident, influence of, 7, 
 300, 417, 508, 642, 
 907, 918 
 Acebuche, 215 
 Aceite, 215 
 Acequias, 361 
 Aclimatacion, garden of, 
 154 
 
 Adam, Sir F. , defeat, 407 
 Addington, Mr., 300 
 Adjuration, 748 
 Adobes, 505 
 Adorare, 848 
 Adoration of Virgin, 912 
 Adra, $31 
 
 to Cartagena, 333 
 
 to Granada, 329 
 
 to Malaga, 332 
 
 Aficion, la, 67 
 Afrancesado, 102, 884 
 Africa, view of, 148 
 Agotes, 957 
 Agraz, 664 
 Agreda, 942 
 
 •, S a . M a . de, 913 
 
 Agua bendita, 58 
 Aguado, 641 
 
 alcaiA. 
 
 Aguardiente, 25 
 Aguas dulces, 255 
 Aguila, Conde del, 211 
 Aguilar, A. de, 281 
 Agustin, San, 203 
 Agustin, Archbishop, 404 
 Air, Sp., dry and rare- 
 fied, 32 
 
 Aire de Madrid, 658 
 Airs and melody, Sp., 107 
 Ajaracas, 174 
 Ajarafe, 165 
 Alacha, Conde de, 397 
 A ladisposicionde V., 122 
 Alameda, 136, costumes 
 on, 117 
 
 Alameda, town of, 255 
 Alarcon, Sehor, 326, 814 
 Alarde, 357 
 Alba de Tormes, 528 
 Albacete, 803 
 Albaicin, 296, 323 
 Albarracin, 819 
 Alberca, 502 
 Alberique, 806 
 Albigenses, 207 
 Albornoz, Card., 812 
 Alborotos, 669 
 Albuera, the battle, 249 
 
 , Fr. version of, 
 
 250 
 
 Sp. claims, 250 
 
 Albufera, the lake, 381 
 Albuhol, 332 
 Alcaide, 170 
 Alcala de Guadaira, 159 
 
 de Gisbert, 388 
 
 de Henares, 825 
 
 AND II. 
 
 English. M. Moors, Moorish. 
 
 ALICANTE. 
 
 Alcala del Rio, 221 
 
 la Real, 257 
 
 Alcaiseria, 322 
 Alcantara, 491 
 
 order of, 491 
 
 Alcanices, 532 
 Alcarrazas, 232 
 Alcarria, la, 831 
 Alcazaba, 302 
 Alcazar of Seville, 185 
 Alcira, 359, 383 
 Alcolea, 232 
 Alconetar, 493 
 Alcoy, 356 
 Alcublas, 384 
 Aldrete, escape of, 323 
 Alerce, 180, 228, 308 
 Aletes, 325 
 Alexander VI., 359 
 Alfarache, San Juan de, 
 155 
 
 Alfaques, los, 389 
 Alfaro, 945 
 
 Alfonsinas, las tablas, 183 
 Algara, la, 304, 477 
 Algarabia, 66 
 Algarrobo, 362 
 Algebra, 174 
 Algeciras, siege of, 152 
 Algibes, 302 
 Alhama, 40, 289 
 Alhamilla, 234 
 Alhambra, 297 
 
 by night, 312 
 
 Alharas, 227 
 Alhaurin, 283 
 Alicante, 354 
 to Carthagena, 351 
 
964 
 
 ALICANTE. 
 
 Alicante to Elche, 354 
 
 • to Xativa, 355 
 
 Aljamia, 66 
 A1 jihad, 604, 834 
 Allariz, 542, 624 
 All Halloween, 208 
 Almaden del Azogue, 220 
 Almaden to Seville, 216 
 
 to Valdepenas, 246 
 
 Almadraba, 145 
 Almagra, 334 
 Almagrera, 335 
 Almandralejo, 249 
 Al-Mann, 307 
 Almansa, battle of, 805 
 Almansur, 547, 604 
 
 , death, 833 
 
 Almaraz, 483 
 Almazarron, 334 
 Almenara, 387, 921 
 Almeria, 333 
 
 to Granada, 329 
 
 to Jaen, 325 
 
 Almizates, 172 
 Almohades, 226 
 Almonacid, battle of, 799 
 Almoravides-Murabi- 
 tins, 226 
 Almuhecar, 332 
 Alonso el Casto, 639 
 Alonso VI., 809 
 Alonso el Sabio, 169 
 Aloque, wine, 354 
 Alpargata, 235, 365 
 Alpuj arras, 329 
 Alva, Duke of, 501 
 
 , palace of y 717 
 
 Alvar Fanez, 366 
 Alvarez, F°., 501 
 Alvarez, M., 435 
 Alvaro, M. de, 376 
 Alvito, Bp., 550 
 Amandi, 642 
 Amantes de Teruel, 819 
 Amargura, calle de, 176 
 Amas, 189 
 
 Amontillado, 140, 157 
 Amphitheatre at Italica, 
 213 
 
 Amposta, 389 
 
 to Fraga, 396 
 
 Ampurias, 438 
 Anchela, M. de, 846, 951, 
 953 
 
 Ancient mines, 340 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND IT. 
 
 ARCHENA. 
 
 Andalosh, 126 
 Andalucia, 126 
 Andaluza, girl singing, 
 106 
 
 Andar de Zeca en Meca, 
 228 
 
 Andas, 53 
 Andino, C. de, 846 
 Andorra, 429 
 Andriani, L., 386 
 Andujar, 232 
 
 to Granada, 258 
 
 Anglers, hints to, 48 
 Anguiano, M. de, 859 
 Angustias, San, 325 
 Annals of Peninsular 
 campaigns, 46 
 
 of Sp. artists, 72 
 
 Anne of Austria, 893 
 Anson, Admiral, 618 
 Ansurez, C. de, 566, 574 
 Antella, 383 
 Antequera, 264 
 Antipathy, Sp., to trees, 
 42, 653 
 
 Antolin, San, 561, 583 
 Antonio, Nicolas, 83 
 Antonio, San, 704 
 Apelles, 672 
 Apes of Gibraltar, 277 
 Apsley House, pictures, 
 868 
 
 Aqueduct, Merida, 475 
 
 , Segovia, 767 
 
 , Tarragona, 402 
 
 Arabes en Espaha, His. 
 de, 72 
 
 Aracena, 218 
 Arahal, 254 
 Arana, 107 
 Aranda, 840 
 Aranjuez, 800 
 
 , gardens, 246 
 
 to Toledo, 799 
 
 Aranzada, 71 
 Arapiles, 512 
 Araucana, poem, 246 
 Arbos, 407 
 
 Arbues, San Pedro, 909 
 Arbusias, 431 
 Arbuthnot, Col., 899 
 Area of Oviedo, 637 
 Areas de Noe, 588 
 Archidona, 255, 265 
 Archena, 348 
 
 ARTOIS. 
 
 Architects of Sp., 57 
 Architecture, Sp., 55 
 
 , books on Sp.* 73 
 
 Archives of Alhambra, 
 307 
 
 of Arragon, 415 
 
 Archivo de las Indias, 177 
 Arco de Bara, 407 
 Arcos de la Frontera, 263 
 Ardillas, 808 
 Ardites, 394 
 Ardoz, battle of, 825 
 Areizaga, J. C., defeat, 
 245, 920 
 
 Arenas, Puerto de, 259 
 Arfe, Juan de, 182, 576, 
 846 
 
 Argamasilla de Alba, 244 
 Arganda, 807 
 Argentum Oscense, 721 
 Argote, Simon de, 295 
 Arguelles, 633 
 Arjona, J.M., 90,160,208 
 Arlanza, S n . Pedro Ale, 
 841 
 
 Armeria, Sp., 722 
 Armorial bearings of 
 Sp., 63 
 
 of the Virgin, 196 
 
 Armour, Italian, 723 
 
 , Sp., 723 
 
 Arrabal, 296 
 Arragon, 903 
 Arrayanes, Patio de los, 
 306 
 
 Arrecifes, 20 
 Arrieros, muleteers, 23, 
 537 
 
 Arriguela, 256 
 Arrizafa, 231 
 Arroba, 71 
 
 Arroyo del Puerco, 490 
 Arroyo Molinos, 488 
 Arroyos, 32 
 Arroz, 361 
 Arrozales, 359, 362 
 Arsenal, Sp. naval, 350 
 Art, modern Sp., 672, 685 
 Arte de Pintura, 75 
 Artesonado, 172, 308 
 Artillery, first use of, 149 
 Artistical tour, 45 
 Artists, Arragonese, 907 
 
 , hints to, 45, 894 
 
 Artois, Comte d’, 273, 764 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 965 
 
 ASCENT. 
 
 Ascent of Sierra Ne- 
 vada, 327 
 Asfeld, Gen., 357 
 Ashdr, 305 
 Asja, 305 
 Asmodeus, 643 
 Assonants, 106 
 Ast, 632 
 Astapa, 255 
 Astas, 96 
 Astorga, 535 
 Astorga, M 3 . of, 548 
 Astorga to Leon, 545 
 Asturias, the, 631 
 Asturias, Prince of, 864 
 Asturians, the, 633, 640 
 Astyr, 632 
 Atalayas, 162 
 Atarazanas, 209 
 Atendrio, San, 259 
 Atocha, Virgen de, 711 
 Atriles, 58 
 
 Atun escahechado, 145 
 Audiencia at Madrid, 732 
 Augereau cruelties, 432, 
 435 
 
 Aumale, Due d’, 826 
 Aurum Tolosanum, 233, 
 867, 937 
 
 Auseva, Cueva de, 647 
 Austrians, 831 
 Authorities quoted, 71 
 Authors, hints to, 86 
 Auto de Fe, 206, 577 
 Ave Maria, 321, 612 
 
 Purisima, 195 
 
 Averroes, 224, 518 
 Avila, 743 
 
 to Escorial, 749 
 
 to Madrid, 742 
 
 Aviles, 627 
 Ayacuchos, los, 247 
 Ayala, J. J. de, 75 
 Ayamonte, 165 
 — — to San Lucar, 162 
 Ayat, 304 
 
 Ay ! de mi Alhama, 290 
 Ayfac, 383 
 Azafran, 654 
 Azahar, 186 
 Azjeitia, 902 
 Azulejo, 173 
 Azulejos, colours of, 305 
 
 * of the Alhambra, 305 
 
 ■ of Valencia, 380 
 
 Spain . — II. 
 
 BARCELONA. 
 
 B. 
 
 Babieca, 854 
 Bable, the, 634 
 Bacalao, 209 
 Bacaudse, 395 
 Backshish, 121 
 Badajoz, 466 
 
 made over to Soult 
 
 by Imaz, 467 
 , Beresford’s failure, 
 
 467 
 
 , siege and capture, 
 
 468 
 
 to Alcantara, 471 
 
 — — to Lisbon, 470 
 
 to Madrid, 471 
 
 to Seville, 248, 249 
 
 Badalona, 432 
 Bad government, Sp., 8, 
 12,28, 74, 209, 462,726 
 Bad taste, clerical, Sp., 
 189 
 
 Baena, 256 
 Baeza, 336 
 Bsetican zone, 29 
 Baile, nacional, 102 
 Bailen, the battle, 233 
 
 , effects of, 235 
 
 Baird, Gen., 595 
 Balatt, Ludheric, 227 
 Balax, 186 
 
 Ball ornament, 290, 795 
 Ballads, Sp. Lockhart, 
 S56 
 
 Ballesteros, misconduct, 
 354, 633, 635, 647, 649, 
 850 
 
 — — , origin, 648 
 Ballotas, las, 627 
 Banado, 184, 682 
 Banda, la, 185 
 Banditti, 27 
 Banesa, la, 535 
 Banking, Sp. 17 
 Banos, 499 
 
 Banos de Padilla, 186 
 Bar Lachi, 674 
 Barateros, 205 
 Baratillo, el, 210 
 Barbara, Queen, 738 
 Barbara, S\, 725 
 Barbaries Botanica, 42 
 Barbastro, 937 
 Barcelona, 408 
 
 BEIRA. 
 
 Barcelona, to Gerona, 
 432 
 
 to Perpinan, 431 
 
 to Tarragona, 406 
 
 to Urgel, 418 
 
 to Zaragoza, 719 
 
 Barceloneta, 417 
 Barcino, 409 
 Barcos encantados, 603 
 Bardulia, 652 
 Barilla, 339 
 Barley and straw, 589 
 Barossoain, 951 
 Barragana, 189 
 Barrancos, 32 
 Barranco Jaroso, 325 
 — — de S. Juan, 328 
 Barringer, Mr., 662 
 Barros Saguntinos, 385 
 Barrosa, battle, 144 
 Barrow, Dr., on Mario- 
 latry, 914 
 Barsisa, 421 
 Basque provinces, 872 
 
 language, 877 
 
 Bastan, al, 346 
 Bastan, el, 338, 957 
 Batata, la, 288 
 Baths, Sp., 928 
 Baths of Alhama, 291 
 Baths, mineral, 40 
 Bathurst, Lord, misma- 
 nagement, 897, 899, 
 900, 958, 960 
 Battle of Xerez, 148 
 Batuecas, 500 
 Bay of Cadiz, 139 
 Bayona, 621 
 Bayonne, 890 
 
 to Irun, 890 
 
 Bayonet, 891 
 — — , E., 798 
 Baza, 343 
 Bean, 626 
 Bebedores, los, 688 
 Becerra, G., 337, 536 
 Becerril, 808 
 Becerro, 638 
 Bedel, Pierres, 820, 821 
 Beef and rum, E., 76 
 Beggars, Sp., 120, 671 
 
 , specific against, 185 
 
 Begona, 886 
 Behobia, 892 
 Beira, la, 764 
 2 u 
 
966 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 BEJAR. 
 
 Bejar, 500 
 Belalcazar, 220 
 Belay, one, 648 
 Belchite, 920 
 Belerma, tears of, 243 
 Bell of Huesca, 937 
 
 the Alhambra, 303 
 
 Santiago, 605 
 
 Velilla, 919 
 
 Belli nervos, 343 
 Belliard, Genl., 720, 739 
 Bellota, 200, 464 
 Bellpuig, 922 
 Bells, Sp., 175 
 Bells, self-ringing, 624 
 Belmas, J., 76 
 Beltraneja, la, 586 
 Bembimbre, 538 
 Benameji, 257 
 Benavente, 533 
 
 to Leon, 534 
 
 to Orense, 541 
 
 Benasque, 938 
 Bendeja, la, 288 
 Beni, 267 
 Benicarlo, 388 
 Benidorme, 354 
 Benisano, 383 
 Benjamin of Tudela, 941 
 Bensaken, E., 296 
 Bentinck, Lord Wm., 406 
 
 , defeat, 407 
 
 Berbers, Vandals, 225, 
 226, 272 
 
 Beresford, 467 ; at Al- 
 buera, 250 
 
 Berganza, F. de, 854 
 Berduredo, 629 
 Berja, 331 
 Berkah, 306 
 Bermeo, 889 
 Bermudez, J. A. C., 
 books, 72, 642 
 Bernardo, San, 908 
 Bernardo del Carpio, 961 
 Bernardo, Archb., 531, 
 826, 832 
 
 Berruguete, A., 523, 555, 
 580 
 
 Berwick, Duke of, 357, 
 409, 805 
 
 Bessi&res, Marshal, vic- 
 tories and misdeeds, 
 560, 57 3, 581,584,830, 
 843, 848 
 
 BOATO. 
 
 Betanzos, 592 
 Beteta, 817 
 Biar, 353 
 Biaritz, 891 
 Bible in Sp., 120 
 
 , the Compluten- 
 
 sian, 826 
 
 Bibliotheca Hispana, 83 
 Bicuna, 772 
 Bidasoa, the, 892 
 Bienheureuses Peche- 
 resses. 434 
 Biescas, 931 
 Bigots, 761, 827 
 Bilbao, 885 
 
 , sieges of, 886 
 
 to Santander, 887 
 
 to Sn. Sebastian, 889 
 
 » — to Vittoria, 883 
 Bilbilis, 835 
 
 Biographie Universelle, 
 76 
 
 Bisagra, Pedro, 821 
 Bishop of Urgel, 429 
 Bisonos, 70 
 Bisquet, 819 
 Black dress, 111, 120 
 
 Prince, the, 862 
 
 Prince, ruby of, 186 
 
 strap, 388 
 
 blood, 825 
 
 — — Virgins, 912 
 Blake, E., Admiral, 289 
 
 , Sp., Genl., defeats, 
 
 250, 289, 367, 386, 
 559, 633, 920 
 Blanche of Bourbon, 144 
 Blayney, Lord, defeat, 
 282 
 
 Blessing the sea, 620 
 Blind mules and saints, 
 427 
 
 Blood marks on stones, 
 310 
 
 Blue beard, 173 
 Blue blood, 224 
 
 jackets, E., 438 
 
 Boabdil, King, 293 
 
 taken prisoner, 257 
 
 , adieu to Granada, 
 
 328 
 
 , death of, 329 
 
 Boasting of strength, S., 
 558 
 
 Boato, 128, 253 
 
 BRACING CLIMATE. 
 
 Bobadilla, B. de, 770 
 Bobos de Coria, 493 
 Bocanegra, A, 319 
 Boccadoro, Giovanni, 421 
 Bodegas, 156 
 Bodon, el,E. success, 50 
 Bofarull, P. de, 416 
 Bohl y Faber, 856 
 Boja abajo, 26 
 Bolero, 103 
 Boletin de sombra, 91 
 Bon Feu, 200 
 Bonaigua to Urgel, 430 
 Bonanza, 156 
 Bonaplata, 393 
 Bone deposits, 820 
 Bonifaz, Ramon, 851 
 Bonnemaison, M., 695 
 Bonnet, Genl., 635, 641, 
 642 
 
 Book collectors, hints 
 to, 83 
 
 Books, French, in Sp., 85 
 Books, Sp., 85 
 Bookseller, a Sp., 85 
 Books on proverbs, 242 
 Bor das, las, 957 
 Bordon, el, 615 
 Bore, Sp., 34 
 Borgia family, 358 
 
 , Jesuit saint, 359 
 
 Borgona, F. de, 844 
 Borona, 631 
 
 , pan, de, 588 
 
 Borrow on Gipsies, 67, 
 201, 617 
 Borugo, 215 
 
 Bory de St. Vincent, 76, 
 610 
 
 -, on apes, 277 
 
 Bosque, el, 263 
 Botanical tours, 42 
 Botany, 710 
 Boulou, el, 437 
 Bourbons, Sp., 672 
 Bourgoin, M., 764 
 Boutelou, E., 158 
 Bow to altar, 59 
 Bowles, J., Don Quixote, 
 241 
 
 Boyd, Genl., 273 
 
 , execution of Mr., 
 
 286 
 
 Bracing climate of Sp., 
 37 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II, 
 
 967 
 
 BRACKENBURY. 
 
 Brackenbury, Sir John, 
 142, S29 
 
 Bragging of the past, S., 
 558 
 
 Branas, las, 630 
 Brasero, avoid, 121 
 Bravo, Senor, 858 
 Breach of parole, 533 
 
 of promise, great 
 
 Captain’s, 358 
 Bread, Sp., 160 
 Breba, 317 
 
 Brecha de Roldan, 932 
 Brennus, 233 
 Brihnega, 831 
 Briviesca, 864 
 Brogiotti, 387 
 Broglie, D. de, 567 
 Broiled fish, 210 
 Bruce, the heart of the, 
 264 
 
 Bruch, 419 
 Buchanan, Mr., 829 
 Buen Retiro, 679 
 Buena Vista, 674, 679 
 Buenache, 814 
 Buenaventuranza, la, 559 
 Buen Retiro, 679 
 Buenos jarretes, Sp., 839 
 Buscapie, el, 546 
 Bujo de San Vicente, 
 748 
 
 Bula de Cruzada, 204 
 Bull fight, books on, 100 
 
 , details of, 88 
 
 , philosophy of, 98 
 
 at Madrid, 675 
 
 at Ronda, 262 
 
 Bull of Llerena, 219 
 
 S° Marcos, 218 
 
 , Sp. fighting strate- 
 gies, 951 
 
 , orthodox, 556 
 
 Buonaparte, N. ; his 
 works and bulletins, 
 75, 396 
 
 , at Madrid, 719 
 
 , at Tordesillas, 562 
 
 , on sacks, 843, 844, 
 
 901 
 
 , arithmetic, 149, 648 
 
 — — , in a snow storm, 
 584 
 
 , military genius, 75, 
 
 838, 868 
 
 CA CERES. 
 
 Buonaparte, N. ; his cha- 
 racter and genius, 75, 
 77, 868 
 
 , on E. soldiers, 862 
 
 , system of deceit 
 
 and terror, 77, 234, 
 837 ? 844, 891,897, 901 
 
 , dislike of truth, 
 
 75, 77, 534, 538, 539, 
 592, 596, 897, 920, 
 929 
 
 , on Trafalgar, 147 
 
 , on Sp. armies and 
 
 Bailen, 234 
 
 , on Ocana, 245 
 
 , perfidy, 409, 897 
 
 , murderous strate- 
 gies, 566, 897 
 Burdet, Robert, 400 
 Burgas, las, 623 
 Burgo de Osma, 842 
 Bur go, el, 266 
 Burgos, 843 
 
 , siege of, 849 
 
 , sacked, 843 
 
 , Cathedral of, 844 
 
 to Logrono, 859 
 
 to Madrid, 836 
 
 to Vitoria, 864 
 
 to Santander, 857 
 
 Burial, E. in Sp., 142, 286, 
 667 
 
 Burjasot, 387 
 Busaco, E. victory of, 560 
 Busot, 355 
 
 Bustamente, Padre, 198 
 Butin infame, F., 233 
 Byron, Ld., on bulls, 676 
 
 C. 
 
 Caballeros en plaza, 89 
 Cabestros, 91 
 Cabeza Colorada, 217 
 Cabezas de San Juan, 
 161 
 
 Cabezon, 581 
 Cabo de Creux, 439 
 
 de Gata, 334 
 
 Cabra, 257 
 Cabrera, 389 
 Cabrera’s mother, 398 
 Cabrillas, 813 
 Caceres, 490 
 
 calvo. 
 
 Cachetero, 97 
 Cachucha, la, 106 
 Cacolet, en, 898 
 Cactus opuntia, 284 
 Cadiar, 330 
 
 Cadiz — aspect, Inns, gui- 
 tars, books to consult, 
 131 ; antiquity, profli- 
 gacy, sieges ; Lord 
 Essex, Wimbleton, Or- 
 mond, Victor, 133 ; 
 ingratitude, diseases, 
 art, cathedrals, ram- 
 parts, 134; Alameda, 
 tides, ladies, 136 ; cos- 
 tume, feet, 137 ; fishes, 
 Cortes, 138 ; Bay, 139. 
 Cadiz to Gibraltar, 142 
 
 to Seville by land, 
 
 155 
 
 to Seville by steam, 
 
 153 
 
 to Southampton, 
 
 130 
 
 Caffarelli, Genl., 562 
 Cagots, 957 
 Caimo, Padre, 73 
 Cal de Moron, 260 
 Calabria, duke of, 386 
 Calahorra, 945 
 Calatanazor, 547 
 Calatayud, 835 
 
 to Teruel, 820 
 
 Calavega, 944 
 Caldas, las, 40 
 
 de Cuntis, 619 
 
 — — de Reyes, 619 
 Caldelas, hams of, 623 
 Calder, Sir Robt., 618 
 Caldereta, la, 507 
 Calderon, Rodrigo, 841 
 Cales ; Gaddir, Gades, 
 132 
 
 Calesuega, 840 
 Calixtus II., 531, 606 
 Calixtus III., 358 
 Calle de los Abades, 
 189 
 
 Callida junctura, 646 
 Callosa, 351 
 Callos y menudos, 205 
 Calomarde, 764 
 Calpe, 271 
 Calverley, H., 556 
 Calvo, Baltazar, 367 
 2 u 2 
 
968 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II, 
 
 CALZADA. 
 
 Calzada, S° Domingo de 
 la, 860 
 
 Camara Santa, 636 
 Cambrils, 390 
 Cambronne, 961 
 Caminos reales, 20 
 Camino de Plata, 474 
 
 de Santiago, 589 
 
 Campana, Pedro, 182 
 Campazant, 623 
 Campbell, Sir Colin, 150, 
 269, 280 
 
 Campo de Gibraltar, 268 
 
 de Montiel, 243 
 
 Campo Grande, 578 
 Camprodon, 430 
 Campus juncarius, 437 
 Campus Stellge, 601 
 Canal of Arragon, 916 
 
 de Castilla, 557,567, 
 
 582, 858 
 Canas, las, 105 
 Cancel, 173 
 Can deal, 654 
 Candil, el, 215 
 Canfranc, 930 
 Cangas de Onis, 647 
 
 de Tineo, 629 
 
 to Villafranca, 629 
 
 to Leon, 630 
 
 Canigu, the, 430, 438 
 Canning, Mr., 534 
 Cannon, early, 343 
 Cano, Alonso, 318 
 
 , pictures by, 318, 
 
 319 
 
 , wife murder, 384 
 
 , carving, 347 
 
 Canos de Carmona, 204 
 Cantabrian zone, 28 
 Cantillana, 221 
 Capa, 110, 113, 654 
 Capara, arch of, 500 
 Capataz, 157 
 Cape S. Vincent, 130 
 Capeo, el, 90 
 Capilla Peal, 59 
 Capilla, 612 
 Capmany, Antonio, 396 
 Capo de Monte, 801 
 Caracedo, 545 
 Caravaca, 345 
 
 , cross of, 345 
 
 Caravanchel, 739 
 Carcel de la Corte, 732 
 
 CASA DEL CARBON. 
 
 Car coma, la, 598 
 Cardeha, S. Pedro de, 854 
 Cardenales, 615, 624 
 Cardenas, venta de, 238 
 Cardenas, B., 570 
 Cardener, river, 424 
 Cardenete, 813 
 Carder era, Don V., 49, 
 57 
 
 Cardona, 426 
 Carduche, V., 580 
 Caridad, la, 190 
 Carinena, 824 
 Carlos, Don, 757, 873, 883 
 
 , Don, de Espaiia, 
 
 misconduct, 509, 512, 
 528 
 
 Carlos, San, de la Rabi- 
 ta, 389 
 
 Carlos Tercero, order of, 
 195 
 
 Carlota, 223 
 Carmenes, 296 
 Carmona, 222 
 Carob tree, 362 
 Carolina, 236 
 Carpio, 232 
 Carpentry, 229 
 Carraca, la, 140 
 Carratraca, 288 
 Carreno, J. de, 628 
 Carreteria, la, 210 
 Carriages, royal S., 720 
 Carrion, 556 
 Cartagena, 349 
 
 to Adra, 333 
 
 to Alicante, 351 
 
 Cartagena to Murcia, 349 
 Carta-pueblo of Aviles, 
 628 
 
 Cartama, 266, 283 
 Carteia, 153 
 Carter, F., book, 153 
 Carthaginians in Spain, 
 349 
 
 Cartoajal, Conde, defeat 
 of, 247 
 
 Carts, Sp., 532 
 Cartuja dePortaceli, 384 
 
 of Grenada, 324 
 
 of Seville, 211 
 
 of Xerez, 158 
 
 Carvings by Cano, 319 
 Casarabonela, 266 
 Casa del Carbon, 322 
 
 CAZORLA. 
 
 Casa del Gallo, 323 
 
 de Pilatos, 172, 187 
 
 Pupilos, 25 
 
 Sanchez, 313 
 
 Cascales, F., 339 
 Cascante, 942 
 Casiri, Miguel, 760 
 Cassagne, F. Gen., 259 
 Cassan, Genl., 952 
 Castalla, 356 
 Castanets, 104 
 Castanos, character of, 
 234 
 
 at Bailen, 233 
 
 Caste, Sp., 522 
 Castellano viejo, 656 
 Castellar, 279 ; defeats, 
 536, 850, 920, 941 
 Castellon de la Plana, 
 387 
 
 Castile heat and dust, 741 
 Castiles, the, 652 
 Castilian language, 67, 
 239 
 
 , Charles V. on, 65 
 
 , master, 67 
 
 Castles in Sp., 653 
 Castro, A. de, 546 
 Castrojeriz, 557 
 Castropol, 627 
 Castro Urdiales, 888 
 Casulla, 637 
 Catacomb system, 208 
 Catalan bay, 278 
 Catalines in cotton, 393 
 Catalonia, 391 
 Catalonia, books on, 395 
 Catalan character, 392 
 
 costume, 394 
 
 hatred of France, 
 
 295 
 
 rebellions, 395 
 
 superstitions, 394 
 
 Cathedral of Seville, 178 
 Catholic kings, tombs of, 
 320 
 
 Cato, P., razzias, 611 
 Caudete, 820 
 Caulaincourt, Genl., 808 
 Cava, La, 280, 285 
 Caveda, Jose, 73 
 Cavedo, J., 634 
 Caza mayor y menor, 47 
 Cazalla, 221 
 Cazorla, 336 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 969 
 
 CAZUELA. 
 
 Cazuela, la, 101 
 Ceca, la, 228 
 Ceceo, el, 128 
 Cecilio, San, 323 
 Ceinos, 558 
 Celadores, 185 
 Celanova, 624 
 Celidonio, San, 945 
 Cell of S. Francis, 415 
 Cellini, B., 759 
 Celma, J. B., 615, 846, 
 910 
 
 Celtiberian, the, 394 
 Centon Epistolario, 527 
 Central table-land, 28 
 Cepa de Cordova, 224 
 Cepero, Dean, 188, 192 
 Cerbeza con limon, 664 
 Cerda, la, 358, 834 
 Ceremonial, forms of, 123 
 Ceremonious murder, 96 
 Cerrageria, la, 192 
 Cerros de Ubeda, 336 
 Cervantes, remarks on, 
 238, 738, 943 
 
 * , best editions of, 
 
 241 
 
 Cerezo, M. de, 847 
 Cervera, 922 
 Cesante, el, 670 
 Cestona, 902 
 Cesures, el Puente, 619 
 Caesar at Munda, 282 
 ■ at Cadiz, 132 
 
 Borgia, 358, 363, 
 
 563 
 
 Cespedes, Pablo de, 183, 
 225 
 
 Ceuta, 280 
 Chabran, Genl., 407 
 Chacoli, 876 
 Challenges, Sp. sentinels’, 
 123 
 
 Champion of Spain, 854 
 Chamartin, 837 
 Chancery, Sp., 568 
 Chao, E., 72 
 Chap books, 84 
 Character, Sp., 546 
 Charge of F.cavalry, one, 
 235, 248, 437, 528, 643 
 Charlemagne, 906, 961 
 Charles X., 273 
 Charles I., 688, 732, 737, 
 770, 870 
 
 CID. 
 
 Charles V., 754, 826, 856 
 
 on Boabdil, 328 
 
 at Cordova, 230 
 
 , palace of, 298, 303 
 
 armour, 725 
 
 , body, 756 
 
 , will, 565 
 
 at Yuste, 497 
 
 Charro y charra, 506 
 Chaste marriages, 641 
 Chateaubriand, M. de, 
 75, 179, 294, 322, 834 
 Chateau en Espagne, 32, 
 303 
 
 Chateau Renaud, Count, 
 621 
 
 Chatham, Ld., 508 
 Chelva, 384 
 Cherta, la, 396 
 Chestalgar, 384 
 Chiclana, snakes, 143 
 Child eating, Sp., 945 
 Chillar, el, 532 
 Chimene, 857 
 China, la (libels), 680 
 Chinchilla, 805 
 Chinchon, Conde de, 770 
 Chirivel, 344 
 Chirrio, el, 532 
 Chivata, la, 94 
 Chocolate, Sp., 663, 895. 
 Chorizo, 465 
 Christian tombs, Sp., 49 
 Christopher, St., 181,616 
 
 , his tooth, 370 
 
 Chulilla, 384 
 Church plate, Sp., 575 
 
 terms, 58 
 
 — — seeing, hints on, 
 58 
 
 Churriguerismo, el, 56, 
 516, 548 
 
 Churruca, C., 598 
 Cid, the, 854 
 
 , cofre del, 847 
 
 , crucifix of, 520 
 
 , daughters of, 556 
 
 , house of, 849 
 
 , MS. of 553 
 
 , Poema del, 855 
 
 — — , sons-in-law, 556 
 
 , swords, 798 
 
 , tomb, 854 
 
 , Valencia, at, 366 
 
 , Zamora, at, 530 
 
 COD-LIVER OIL. 
 
 Cies, 621 
 Cieza, 348 
 Cigarito, 109 
 Cigars, 109, 206 
 Cigarreras, 206 
 Cilia, 382 
 Cimborio, 58 
 Cincovillas, las, 950 
 Cinta la, of Tortosa, 398 
 Cirio Pasqual, 180 
 Cisneros, Card., 791, 826 
 Cisterns, M., 302 
 Cistus of Venus, 398 
 Citadel of Barcelona, 417 
 Ciudad Real, 247 
 Ciudad Rodrigo, sieges, 
 capture by the Duke, 
 Ney, Massena, 508 
 
 , excursions from it, 
 
 509 
 
 Civitas Episcoporum,635 
 Claude Lorraine, 701 
 Claudius Caesar, 701 
 Clausel, Gen., 512, 867 
 Claustro chico, 190 
 Clavijo, 604, 946 
 Clay figures, Sp., 287 
 Cleaning, Sp. pictures, 
 682 
 
 Clemente, S. Rojas, 158 
 Clement VII., 896 
 Cleons in calico, 393 
 Clergy of Seville, 61, 189 
 Clergy of Toledo, 796 
 Cleverness, F., 646 
 Climate of Spain, 37 
 
 of Malaga, 283 
 
 of Seville, 167, 170 
 
 , trees a test of, 235 
 
 Cloak, 110, 114 
 Clopicki, Genl., 823 
 Cloth, Sp., 772 
 Clunia, 841, 944 
 Coal mines, 221, 641 
 Cob walls, 162 
 Cobbett on Talavera, 486 
 Coca, 585 
 
 Coche de Colleras, 23 
 Cock and Hen, legend, 
 860 
 
 Cockfighting, 380 
 Cochrane, Lord, 435, 438 
 Coco, el, 514, 595. 
 Cod-fish, salted, 209 
 Cod-liver oil, 121 
 
970 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 CODRINGTON. 
 
 Codrington, Adml., 400 
 Coello, Claudio, 757 
 Coffee, 663 
 Cofradias, 49-52, 364 
 Coger la verbena, 200 
 Coin, Sp., 721 
 
 , ancient, 74 
 
 Colada, la, 723 
 Colbato, 419 
 Colbert, Genl., 538 
 Colegios May ores, 517 
 Colegio, el, 91 
 Colgaduras, 59 
 Colico de Madrid, 658 
 Coll de Balaguer, 390 
 Colleges, fellows of Sp., 
 826 
 
 Collingwood, Lord, 147 
 Colmenar, 657 
 Colon, tomb of, 179 
 Colonia, J. de, 853 
 Columbina, la, 176 
 Columbus on bridge of 
 Pinos, 257 
 
 at Palos, 163 
 
 at Salamanca, 524. 
 
 , death, 167, 567 
 
 Colunga, 643 
 Combermere, Lord, 219 
 Comedy, Sp., 735 
 Comer hierro, 173 
 Commerce, Sp., passive, 
 558 
 
 Commerce of Sp., past, 
 558 
 
 Commis-voyageurs, 394 
 Compania, jesuit, 425 
 Comparsas y Rocas, 364 
 Compludo, convent, 544 
 Complutensian Bible, 826 
 Complutum, 826 
 Compostella, 601 
 Compostellana, la, 606 
 Comuneros, los, 526, 561, 
 719 
 
 Conca de Berbera, 406 
 Concejos, 631 
 Concentaina, 357 
 Concepciones by Mu- 
 rillo, 196 
 
 Concubines of clergy, 189 
 Condado, El, 162 
 Conde de Espaiia, 410 
 
 , death, 428 
 
 Conde, J. A., 72, 760 
 
 cork wood. 
 
 Conde de Morelia, 389 
 Conde de Castilla, 843 
 Conde Duque, the, 829 
 
 at Toro, 561 
 
 Conde de Haro, 562 
 Condestable, el, 846 
 Condeza de Teba, 264 
 Conduct, hints on, 118 
 Conejo, the rabbit, 47 
 Confession, evils of, 614 
 Confessionals, 613 
 Confessors, Sp., 613 
 Congreso, Sp., 727 
 Conil, 145 
 
 Conscription, Sp., 874 
 Constantina, 221 
 Constitucion, Sp., 656, 727 
 
 upset, 820. 
 
 Consulado del Mar, 409 
 Contaduria of Seville, 
 177 
 
 Contemporary sove- 
 reigns, 62 
 
 Contraband, Sp., 892 
 Contrabandista, el, 252 
 Contricion, 613 
 Convention of Cintra, 
 233 
 
 Convents in the Vierzo, 
 545 
 
 Conversational phrases, 
 Sp., 68 
 
 Conveyancing, M., 316, 
 322 
 
 Cooke, Capt. See Widd- 
 rington 
 
 Co-operation, Sp., 509, 
 514. 595, 805, 850, 862 
 Copper mines, Rio 
 Tinto, 217 
 Cor, 593 
 Corcubion, 617 
 Corcul, bridge of, 539 
 Cordova, 224 
 
 to Granada, 256 
 
 Cordova, Genl., 865 
 Cordova, Gonzalo de, 
 225, 358 
 
 at Loja, 256 
 
 Cordovese horses, 232 
 Corderos de Pascua, 205 
 Cordilleras, las, 28, 30 
 Cordwain, 230 
 Coria, 155,493 
 Cork wood, the, 279 
 
 CROSS. 
 
 Corn and dry measures, 
 71 
 
 Cornejo, P. D., 230 
 Cornudo paciente, 213 
 Cor pa, 829 
 
 Corporales of Daroca,821 
 Corporation, a Sp., 582 
 Corpus, at Valencia, 364 
 Corral del Conde, 188 
 Correa, Don P. P., Mi- 
 racle, 218 
 Correggio, 717 
 Cortadura, la, 142 
 Corte, la, 659 
 Cortes of Cadiz, 133, 138 
 Cortes, Hernando, 471 
 Cortes, Sp., 727 
 
 , Duke on, 139 
 
 Cortijo del Puche, 327 
 Corn offerings, 534 
 Coruna del Conde, 842, 
 944 
 
 Coruna, la, 592 
 
 , battle of, 596. 
 
 Coruna, la, to Santiago, 
 499 
 
 Cosas de Espaiia, 70 
 Coso, 409, 915 
 Costume, 110 
 
 , change of, 677 
 
 Co to del Rey, 157, 165 
 Council of Illiberis, 325 
 Country life in Sp., 34 
 Court of Lions, 310 
 Courtesy, forms of Sp., 
 122 
 
 Covadunga, 647 
 
 , victory, 648 
 
 Covarrubias, Don S., 67, 
 841 
 
 Craddock, Genl., 596 
 Creed, cautions as to 
 Sp., 120, 207 
 Creux, Jaime, 434 
 Crevillente, 352 
 Cristiano Viejo, 118, 522 
 Cristina, 740, 764 
 Cristobal, S., the moun- 
 tain, 263 
 
 Cristo de la Cepa, 573 
 
 de Bey rut, 379 
 
 de Burgos, 847 
 
 Crochart, M., 38 7^ 
 
 Cross engraved with the 
 nails, 229 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 971 
 
 CROSS. 
 
 Cross of Caravaca, 345 
 Crosses of Murder, 263 
 Crows, Holy, 199 
 Crucifying boys by 
 Jews, 244 
 
 Crucifix of Valencia, 
 374 
 
 of Burgos, 847 
 
 of the Cid, 520 
 
 Cruz del Campo, 359 
 
 de la Victoria, 637 
 
 of Angels, 637 
 
 Cruz, M s ., S a ., 681 
 Cruzada, bull of, 204 
 Cuacos, 498 
 Cuarenta horas, 591 
 Cuarto real, 315 
 Cuarto (coin), 16 
 Cuatro Reinos, los, 127 
 Cuatro tiros, 275, 884 
 Cuchillo, 803 
 Cuchillos, Senora de los, 
 569 
 
 Cucufat, S., 415 
 Cuchiller, Juan el, 847 
 Cuellar, 586 
 Cuenca, 806, 808 
 
 to Madrid, 816 
 
 to Teruel, 819 
 
 to Valencia, 813 
 
 Cuentas del Gran Capi- 
 tan, 565. 
 
 Cuernos, 96 
 
 Cuesta, Gen., defeats: — 
 at Merida, 473 ; Me- 
 dellin, 477 ; Talavera, 
 484,500; 560,582,584 
 Cuesta ; arriba, abajo, 
 30 
 
 Cuesta de las lagrimas, 
 328 
 
 Cueva Santa, 384 
 Cueya del Gato, 262 
 
 de Sn. Ignacio, 424 
 
 de Mengal, 266 
 
 de Montesinos, 243 
 
 del Becerro, 264 
 
 Cuevas de Silencio, 544 
 Cufic, 305 
 Cullar de Baza, 344 
 Culler a, 382 
 Cuna, La, 134, 201 
 Cuneus, 130 
 Cup, sacramental, 823 
 Curate’s mule, 427 
 
 DEVIL. 
 
 Cures for cuts, 805 
 Curtis, Dr., 525 
 Custodia, 60 
 
 , Seville, 182 
 
 Custom-houses and offi- 
 cers, 15, 253, 286, 892 
 Cutler poetry, 803 
 Cypresses of Generalife, 
 314 
 
 D. 
 
 Dagger, Sp., 798 
 Dalias, 333 
 
 Dances of Gipsies, 104 
 Dances, Sp., 103, 735 
 Danza prima, 632 
 Daoiz, L., 678 
 D’Armagnac, 853, 952 
 D’Arphes, the, 576 
 Daroca, 820 
 Darro, river, 316 
 Darsejia, la, 598 
 David, M., 673, 685 
 Deal, how to deal with 
 Sp., 278 
 Decoration, 305 
 Decree of Andujar, 233 
 Dehesas y despoblados, 
 129, 254 
 
 Delena, P. R., 545 
 Delicias, las, 208 
 Denia, 382 
 
 Dentenza, B., Don, 821 
 Dentition, 658 
 Dens, Dr., 614 
 Depping, book, 73 
 Departmentalization, 32 
 Derechos de puerta, 15 
 Desaire, 546 
 Descabellar, el, 98 
 Descent of Virgin, 9 1 0 
 Desengano, el, 422 
 Desert of Arragon, 919 
 Desjarretar, el, 97 
 Despejo, el, 92 
 Despena-perros, 237 
 Despotic builders, 765 
 Desprecio, 678 
 Dessolles, Genl., 237 
 Deten tu el dia, 218 
 Deva, river, 649, 642 
 Devil, riding the, 259 
 dancing on a thea- 
 tre, 231 
 
 DRAKE. 
 
 Devil’s Bridge, 402, 418, 
 468 
 
 Devisa, la, 95 
 Dia de su Santo, 122 
 Dial, 408 
 Diaz, D. V., 578 
 Dibdin, Dr., 295 
 Dictionary, Sp., 67 
 
 de Bellas Artes, 72 
 
 Dientes, las, de la Vieja, 
 269, 343 
 Diezma, 342 
 Digestions, Sp., 38 
 Dijous gras, 410 
 Diligences, 23 
 Diligences, Sp., 895 
 Dilletante tours, 48 
 Dilletante works, best, 57 
 Dimas, San, 882 
 Dining, Sp., 736 
 Diplomacy, E., 660 
 Directions of letters, 124 
 Disciplina arcani, 424 
 Disco of Theodosius, 249 
 Dispatches, Wellington’s, 
 81 
 
 Distances, 71 
 Divo Augusto, 400 
 Dizas, D., 572 
 Doblon, 16 
 
 Documents, F. and Sp., 
 76, 79 
 
 Dolce far niente life, 38, 
 171 
 
 Dolores, 300 
 Domecq wine, 158 
 Domenick St., Rosary of, 
 612 
 
 , St., 944 
 
 Domini Canes, 379, 944 
 Don, the title, 101 
 Don, Genl., 269 
 Don Juan, 201 
 Dons of Salamanca, 518, 
 524 
 
 Dormer, Jane, 248 
 Dornajo, el, 327 
 Dos de Mayo, 678 
 Douglas, the good Lord 
 James, 264 
 
 Downie, Sir John, 170 
 Dragon tree, 135 
 Drake, Adml.E., 351,901 
 Drake at Vigo, 621 
 | Drake and Nelson, 594 
 
972 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 DRAKE. 
 
 Drake and Norris, 595 
 Dressing graven images, 
 52 
 
 Drought, 33, 338, 653 
 Druidical cave, 266 
 Dryness of Sp. climate, 
 29, 32 
 
 Dubreton, Genl., 850 
 Ducado, 17 
 Ducal titles, 825. 
 Duende, el, 900 
 Duenas, 582 
 Duero, the, 529 
 Duhesme, F. Genl., 419, 
 423, 433, 435, 437 
 Duke, the, see Welling- 
 ton 
 
 Dulce, Col., 720 
 Dulces, sweetmeats, 355 
 Dulcinea delToboso, 244 
 Dumanoir, Adi., F., 146 
 Dunham, Dr., 856 
 Dupont, F. Genl., defeat, 
 plate plunder, 229, 
 231, 233 
 
 Dupona, una, 235 
 Duque de Bailen, 234 
 Duque de Ciudad Ro- 
 drigo, 509 
 Duran, Agos., 856 
 Durandal, 724 
 Durango decree, 883 
 Duro, dollar, 16 
 Dutch pictures, 703 
 Dwarfs, Sp., 688 
 
 E. 
 
 Eagle catchers, 87th, 150 
 Early cannon, 343 
 Ebro, the river, 389 
 Echandole en cueros, 26 
 Echaverri, P., defeat of, 
 232 
 
 Ecija, 223 
 
 Ecclesiological tour, 58 
 Eden, Sir Wm., 3 
 Editions of Cervantes, 
 240 
 
 Education, Jesuit, 425 
 Egilona, 168 
 Egregious doctor, 168, 
 550 
 
 Ejea de los Caballeros, 
 950 
 
 ERAS DE CRISTO. 
 
 Elche, 352 
 
 the Palms, 352 
 
 to Alicante, 354 
 
 to Madrid, 352 
 
 to Xativa, 353 
 
 Elda, 353 
 Elements, the, 594 
 Elephantiasis, 202 
 Eleven thousand vir- 
 gins, 337 
 
 Elevations, Sp., 962 
 Elio, Sp. genl., 367 
 
 restored when 
 
 dead, 378 
 Eliot treaty, 947 
 Eliott, E. General, 273 
 Elisondo, 959 
 Elorza, Col., 221 
 Elyas, 470 
 Elvira and Sol, 556 
 Elvira, Puerta de, 323 
 Embassy, E., 674 
 Embolados, 90 
 Embozo, el, 115 
 Emeterio, San, 945 
 Emigdio, San, 352 
 Emir al Mumenin, 225 
 Empenos, Sp., 427, 659 
 Emplazado, el, 259 
 Empleado, el, 670 
 Emporise, 438 
 Emporio de el Orbe, 132 
 Empress of Heaven, 913, 
 943 
 
 Encierro, el, 91 
 English fire-arms, 1 5 
 
 victories in Sp., 130, 
 
 144, 146,150, 249,273, 
 417,468, 483, 484, 489, 
 508, 510,512, 528, 533, 
 557, 595,618, 620, 863, 
 866, 899, 955 
 
 defeats, E., 183, 282, 
 
 407, 401, 805, 831, 849 
 Engotterte, 380 
 Engracia, S a ., 917 
 Engravings, Sp., 55, 733 
 Enredos y embustes, 278 
 Entomology, 466 
 Eo, river, 626 
 Epistolar forms, 124 
 Epistola, lado de, 59 
 Era, the, 64 
 Eras, 245 
 
 Eras de Cristo, 324 
 
 ESTOFAR. 
 
 Ercilla, Alonso de, 246, 
 810, 889 
 Escaldos, 429 
 Escalona, 487 
 Escanda, 631 
 Esclavina, 615 
 Escoiquiz, 678 
 Escopeteros, 27 
 Escorial, 750; size, ele- 
 vation, ravages F., 
 Monk’s chapel, monu- 
 ments, pictures, relics, 
 754; tombs, cloisters, 
 758 ; library, royal 
 quarters, Ferdinand 
 VII., Philip II., 762 
 Escorial to Avila, 749 
 
 to Madrid, 749 
 
 Escosura, P., 57 
 Escovedo, Juan, 768 
 Esfoyanas, 632 
 Esgueva, river, 567 
 Espada, la, 96 
 Espadan, 387 
 Espana artistica, 57 
 
 Sagrada, 74, 739 
 
 Espanas, las, 12 
 Espanol, Juan, 238 
 
 Ilustrado, 46 
 
 Espanoles sobre todos, 
 677 
 
 Espanolismo, 12, 78, 88, 
 118,193, 232, 235,289, 
 417,538,546,644, 646, 
 648,656, 686,673,678, 
 850, 884, 894 
 Espardinos, 365 
 Espartero, Baldomero, 
 247,720, 727, 805,825, 
 886, 947 
 Esparto, 339 
 Esparraguera, 419 
 Espinel, Vicente de, 262 
 Espinosa de los Monteros, 
 869 
 
 Espinosa, I. G., 375 
 Esq., avoid it in directing 
 E. letters to Spain, 22 
 Estremenos, los, 462 
 Essex, Lord, 132 
 Estaciones, las, 187 
 Estamento, 679 
 Estella, 956 
 Estepona, 281 
 Estofar, el, 52 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II, 
 
 973 
 
 ESTREftA. 
 
 Estrena, 122 
 Estrevillo, 107 
 Estremadura, 461 
 Estudiante, el, 517 
 Etymology, erroneous, 
 168 
 
 Eulalia, S., of Barce- 
 lona, 413 
 
 Eulalia, S a „ of Merida, 
 472, 476, 636 
 Euphemia, S a ., 624 
 Europa point, 271 
 Euscara, 877 
 Evans, Gen., 878, 881, 887 
 Evangelio, lado de, 59 
 Evaporation & drought, 
 31, 149 
 
 Evil eye, 302, 632 
 Exaggeration, F., of E. 
 numbers, 486, 534, 
 
 837 
 
 , Sp., 127, commer- 
 cial, 558 
 Excellencia, 124 
 Exchange, par, 17 
 Excursions near Gra- 
 nada, 325 
 
 Executions, Sp., 947 
 Exercitatorium, 424 
 Expulsion of Jesuits, 
 425 
 
 of Moriscos, 293 
 
 Eye lotion, 121 
 
 Eyes of women, 112, 201 
 
 F. 
 
 Fabian warfare, 235 
 Fabrica de tabacos, 206 
 Fa£on de parler, 77 
 Facistoles, 58 
 Factor, Beato Nicolas, 
 376 
 
 Facundo, S n ., 555 
 Failures, cause of Fr., 
 837 
 
 Fair of S n . Isidro, 715 
 Falco Tinunculoides, 175 
 Falta de fondos, Sp., 642 
 Fan, 67, 112 
 Fanega, 71 
 Fandango, 103 
 Fanfaron, 128 
 Fanlo, 933 
 
 FILABRES. 
 
 Farnese, Elizabeth, 719 
 Faroles, 195 
 Farrapos, N a . S a . de, 542 
 Fatalism, Sp., 883 
 Favila, 649 
 Fe, la, 120 
 Fear of F., Sp., 926 
 Feet of crucifix, 637 
 Feijoo, Padre, 640 
 
 , escudeiro, 625 
 
 Felipe, San, 357 
 Feliu, San, 434 
 Female goddess, popu- 
 lar, 53, 746, 913 
 Female preacher, 404 
 Ferdinand VII., 761, 
 719, 764, 682, 801,820, 
 823, 862, 891, 897; re- 
 turn to Sp., 436 ; fune- 
 ral, 721 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 tombs of, 320 
 Feria de Honda, 262 
 
 de Santi Ponce, 213 
 
 de Sevilla, 200 
 
 of Madrid, 669 
 
 Ferias, 61 
 Fermin, San, 953 
 Fernando, San, king, 169 
 
 , tomb, 183 
 
 , effigy. 726 
 
 in heaven, 723 
 
 — — , town, 142 
 Ferrara, Andre, 798 
 Ferrer, Sn. Vicente de, 
 378, 526 . 
 
 Ferro Carril, the rail, 19 
 Ferrol, el, 597 
 
 to Mondonedo, 599 
 
 Festina lente, 139, 144, 
 156 
 
 Fetish worship, 258, 573 
 Fever of Gibraltar, 274 
 Fiamettaof Ariosto, 357 
 Fiestas de precepto, 197 
 
 de Calle, 364 
 
 de Sevilla, 167 
 
 Fiesta real, 89, 732 
 
 de Toros, 89 
 
 Fig of Spain, 67 
 Fighting old Picton, 955 
 Figueras, 436, 626 
 
 to Rosas, 438 
 
 Figueroas, the, 248 
 Filabres, Sierra de, 335 
 
 FOY, 
 
 Filangieri murdered, 538 
 Filthy lucre, 868 
 Fin del romaje, 615 
 Fine weather, effect of, 
 143 
 
 Finisterre, 617 
 Fioda, 639 
 
 Fire-arms, English, 48 
 Fireworks consecrated, 
 608 
 
 First approach of Sp., 
 894 
 
 Fishing, 631 
 Fishing tour, 47 
 Flagellation, self, 731 
 Flax, 344 
 
 Flies of Sn. Narciso, 434 
 Florentina, Saint, 347 
 Florez, H., his works, 74, 
 738 
 
 Florida, la, 717 
 Flos Sanctorum, 75 
 Focaria, 189 
 Fonda, 24 
 Fons divinus, 265 
 
 Mellaria, 219 
 
 Foot, female, Sp., 137 
 Ford, Richard, works on 
 Sp., 88 
 
 Foreigner, Sp. hatred of, 
 20, 125, 234, 236, 509, 
 558, 561, 831, 839 
 Forma Santa, 757, 882 
 Formedio," San, 946 
 Forment, Daniel, 910, 
 915, 936 
 
 Forms of Sp. courtesy, 
 122 
 
 Fortress, Sp., a faiblesse, 
 437 
 
 Forwarding baggage par- 
 cels, 19 
 
 Fountain, Sp., 628 
 Foy, F., Genl., his 
 works, 75 
 
 — — , retreats, and opi- 
 nions, 490, 532, 584, 
 595, 624, 881, 888, 
 897, 959, 961 
 
 on E. cavalry, 557 
 
 on E. beef, 489, 
 
 557, 592 
 
 — • — on E. honour, 533 
 
 on E. rum, 557 
 
 on E. sieges, 509 
 
 2 u 3 
 
974 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 TOY. 
 
 Foy on destruction, 541, 
 901, 922 
 
 on Wellington, 77 
 
 Fraga, 920 
 
 to Amposta, 396 
 
 Frail ladies converted, 
 434 
 
 Francis I. prisoner, 383 
 
 at Madrid, 731 
 
 , sword of, 724 
 
 , breach of word, 826, 
 
 830, 896 
 
 Francis, Dr., work on 
 climate of Sp., 37 
 Francisco, San, bust of, 
 847 
 
 , rope of, 612 
 
 Frankenau on Sp. he- 
 raldry, 64, 905 
 Fraser, river, 430 
 Freire, Sp. Genl. defeats, 
 245,257,343,344,347, 
 772, 896 
 
 Frenchmen, fine qualities 
 of, 80, 87, 236, 468, 
 473, 546, 646, 838, 
 
 862, 898 
 
 victories, 231, 237, 
 
 245, 247,367, 386,400, 
 407, 423, 432,435,437, 
 439,477, 508, 559, 635, 
 670, 805, 807, 831,838, 
 849,869,899,917 
 
 defeats, 144, 146, 
 
 150,152, 233, 249,273, 
 419,483, 485, 489, 508, 
 557,567, 596,618, 624, 
 862,866,896, 899,921 
 
 alliance with E., 
 
 happy, 80 
 Freneda, 510 
 Frere, Mr., 534 
 Frias, 869 
 Froissart, 863 
 
 on Sp., 599 
 
 Fromista, 557 
 Froylan, San, 548 
 Fructuoso, San, 404, 540 
 Fuad Effendi, 675 
 Fuen Saldana, 581 
 Fuengirola, 282 
 Fuensanta, Virgin of, 
 346 
 
 Fuente Guinaldo, 509 
 ■ de Ebro, 858 
 
 GARBANZO. 
 
 Fuentes de Onoro, 511 
 Fuenterrabi&, 898 
 Fuente de Siete Hogazas, 
 829 
 
 de los Avellanos, 
 
 322 
 
 de la Higuera, 354 
 
 de Ovejuna, 219 
 
 Fueros Basque, 873 
 
 de Sobrarbe, 949 
 
 Fuggers, the, 219, 220 
 Funcion, 104 
 
 de Gitanos, 201 
 
 en Triana, 166 
 
 Fundicion,la, of Seville, 
 204 
 
 Funeral, royal Sp., 721 
 
 G. 
 
 Gabacho, 285, 924 
 Gabriel, Infante D., 763 
 Gachard, Mr., 365, 498 
 Gadea, S a , 848 
 Gaditanian dancers, 104 
 Gaditanse improbsc, 132 
 Gaddir, 132 
 Gador, Sierra de, 331 
 Gafo, 202 
 Gaita, la, 876 
 Galapagar, 750 
 Galera, 23 
 
 Galeria reservada, 707 
 Galisteo, 494 
 Gallantry, Sp., 895 
 Gallegos, F., 521 
 Gallicia, kingdom of, 587 
 Gallicians, the, 589 
 Gallinetas,woodcocks, 47 
 Gallocanta, lake of, 824 
 Gallumbo, 90 
 Gallur, 941 
 Galway, Lord, 805 
 Gamba, la, 181 
 Gamboino, 875 
 Gambote, 394 
 Game in Spain, 47 
 Ganando horas, 22 
 Ganapan, 587 
 Gandaras, 588 
 Gandia, 382 
 Gandul, 254 
 Garay, Blasco de, 417 
 Garbanzo, 654 
 
 GIRANDILLO. 
 
 Garcia, Serjeant, 586, 765 
 Gardens of La Granja, 
 765 
 
 Garrocha, 90 
 Garrovillas, 493 
 Garters, Manchegan, 
 242 
 
 Gaucin, 267 
 GaveS, 924 
 Gaya, river, 406 
 Gayates, 388 
 Gayangos, P. de, 72, 
 226, 231, 272,294, 723 
 Gazmonas, 661 
 Gazpacho, 216, 362 
 Gebal Tarik, 272 
 Gelmirez, Arch., 606 
 Gelves, 214 
 Genadio, S., 540 
 General of Jesuits, 425 
 Generalife, 315 
 Generals, Sp., 839 
 Gens togata, 400, 612 
 Gentlemen, E., 517 
 Geography ofSp., 27 
 
 , books on, Sp., 73 
 
 Geological construction 
 of Sp., 28 
 
 Geology, abstract of Sp., 
 42 
 
 of Catalonia, 392 
 
 Gerigonza, 67 
 Germania, 67 
 Gerona, 435 
 
 to Barcelona, 432 
 
 to Perpinan, 436 
 
 to Sn. Laurent, 435 
 
 to Urgel, 430 
 
 Geronimo, Bp., 520, 531 
 Gerundio, Fray, 646 
 Geryon, his bulls, 89, 
 142 
 
 Gesticulation, S., 67 
 Gibraleon, 165 
 Gibraltar, 269 
 
 , value of, 273 
 
 to Cadiz, 142, 143 
 
 to Malaga, 280 
 
 to Honda, 267 
 
 Gijon, 642 
 Gil Bias, 644, 770 
 Gil, Maestro, 853 
 Gipsey dances, 104, 201 
 Giralda, la, 173 
 Girandillo, el, 174 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 975 
 
 GIRARD. 
 
 Girard, Genl., defeat, 488 
 Giron, Pedro, 254 
 Girones, 566 
 Gistain, 938 
 
 to Zaragoza, 937 
 
 Gistan, valley, 938 
 Gitanos, 67, 201 
 Gloire, La, 75 
 Gloria, la, 616, 658 
 Gloria , the, of Titian, 497 
 Goat soup, Fr., 233 
 Godoy, Manuel, 469, 802 
 Gog and Magog, 164 
 Gold washers, 316 
 Golden Fleece, installa- 
 tion, 413, 772 
 Goles, 201 
 
 Gondomar, Conde de, 581 
 
 , Library, 581, 720 
 
 Gongora, Luis de, 225 
 Gonzalez, Canon, 498, 
 565 
 
 Gonzalez, Conde Fernan, 
 841 
 
 Good thief, the, 422 
 Gor, Yenta de, 343 
 Gordon, wine, 140, 158 
 Gorman, wine, 154 
 Gorro, 394 
 Gothalunia, 391 
 Gough, Lord, 150 
 Goya, 182, 686 
 Gracia, Andaluza, 128 
 Gradas, las, 58, 177 
 Grado, 629 
 
 Graeco Romano style, 56 
 Graells, M., 674 
 Graena, 343 
 
 Graham, Genl., victory 
 at Barrosa, 144, 866, 
 900 
 
 Granada, kingdom of, 29 1 
 Granada. — Inns, guides, 
 Yega, 295 ; society, 
 condition, Alhambra , 
 history of rise, 297 ; 
 motto, Charles Y., in 
 neglect and decay, 
 299; partial restora- 
 tion, 300 ; Torres Ber- 
 mejas, fountains, gate, 
 301; emblems, cis- 
 terns, Alcazaba, Yega, 
 302 ; Torre de la Yela, 
 adarves, Palace of 
 
 GRANADA. 
 
 Charles Y., 303; ex- 
 terior, architecture, 
 304 ; decoration, in- 
 scriptions, azulejos, 
 305 ; stalactical pen- 
 dentives, courts, 306 ; 
 archives, Mezquita, 
 307 ; halls, 308 ; baths, 
 Court of Lions, 309 ; 
 of the Abencerrages, 
 painted ceilings, Sala 
 de Justicia, 311 ; re- 
 flections on, 312; hill 
 of, Casa Sanchez, Mez- 
 quita towers, 313 ; 
 towers, ravages of Se- 
 bastiani, Generalife, 
 cypresses, 314 ; Cam- 
 po Santo, Mazmorras, 
 Los Martires, Museo, 
 Cuarto real, 315 ; 
 River Darro, Zacatin, 
 Xenil, 316; gates, 
 plaza, figs, 317 ; ca- 
 thedral, pictures, car- 
 vings by Cano, 319 ; 
 Capilla de los reyes, 
 tombs, Isabella, 320 ; 
 relics, Pulgar, H. de, 
 321 ; Alcaiseria, Casa 
 del Carbon, chancery, 
 Monte Sacro, pious 
 frauds, 322 ; San Ce- 
 cilio, San Nicolas, Al- 
 baicin, Triunfo, 323 ; 
 Cartuja, Juan de Dios, 
 San Jeronimo, Great 
 Captain, 324 ; San An- 
 gustias, excursions near 
 Granada, Soto de Roma, 
 325 ; Santa Fe, 326 ; 
 ascent of Sierra Ne- 
 vada, 327 ; summit- 
 heights of mountains, 
 Huecar, ultimo sus- 
 piro del Moro, 328 ; 
 Zubia, 329. 
 
 Granada, Books on, 294 
 
 , effects of conquest 
 
 of, 294 
 
 , arms of, 63 
 
 to Adra, 329 
 
 to Almeria, 329 
 
 to Andujar, 258 
 
 to Cordova, 256 
 
 GUERILLERO. 
 
 Granada to Motril, 332 
 
 to Murcia, 342 
 
 to Ronda, 264 
 
 to Seville, 254 
 
 to Seville by Jaen, 
 
 258 
 
 Granatula, 247 
 GranCapitan,el. SeeGon- 
 zalo de Cordova, 225, 
 256 
 
 Grand Conde, 921 
 Grandees, Sp., 737 
 Grandiloquence, Sp., 65 
 Granja, La, 32, 763 
 Gran Lor, el, 506 
 Grao, el, 381 
 Gratificacioncita, 25 
 Gravina, Adml., 138 
 
 -, dying speech, 146 
 
 Gravity, 655 
 Grazalema, 263 
 Great Diana of Catalo- 
 nia, 420 
 
 Great Captain, the. See 
 G.de Cordova, 225, 256 
 
 , tomb of, 324 
 
 Great men, paucity in 
 Sp. of, 139, 519, 950 
 Greatness of Sp. short- 
 lived, 87 
 Green eyes, 281 
 Grey, Lord, on Talavera, 
 486 
 
 Grievances, Sp., unre- 
 dressed, 661 
 Grouchy, Genl., 678 
 Groyne, the, 593 
 Guadairo, venta del, 267 
 Guadalajara, 829 
 Guadalcanal mines, 219 
 Guadalete, el, 158 
 Guadalquivir river, 154 
 Guadalupe, 480 
 
 , the Virgin’s image 
 
 plundered by Victor, 
 482 
 
 Guadamar, 798 
 Guadarrama, the, 584 
 Guadiana, ojos de, 243 
 Guadix, 342 
 Guardias civiles, 27 
 Guarin, Juan, 421 
 Guellen, Don A., 526 
 Guerillas, 78, 148 
 Guerillero, the, 235, 252 
 
976 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II, 
 
 GUERILLEROS. 
 
 HOST. 
 
 Guerilleros, Sp., 252, 419, 
 649, 839, 855, 950 
 Guerra a cuchillo, 343, 
 798, 803 
 
 Guerras de Granada, 294 
 Guesclin, du, 243, 824, 
 862 . 
 
 Guernica, 889 
 Guevara, 881 
 Guides, Sp., bad, 5 
 Guide du Voyageur,F., 84 
 Guisando, 743 
 
 , toros de, 527, 529, 
 
 769 
 
 Guitars, Sp., 106, 131 
 Guizot, M., 711 
 Gumiel, Pedro, 826, 840 
 Gurdus, 501 
 Guste v. comer, 123 
 Gusto plateresco, 576 
 Guzman el Bueno, He- 
 roism, 149, 534 
 , tomb, 213 
 
 H. 
 
 Habas verdes, 106 
 Hablar Castellano, 66 
 Hacha, la, 397 
 Hallarse en cinta, 398 
 Hall, Basil, 617 
 Halley, Dr., 149 
 Hamilton, Genl., 528 
 Hammer of Victor, 486 
 Hams, Sp., 331, 464 
 Hands, female, Sp., 403 
 Hannibalis turres, 1 62 
 Hardales, 288 
 Hatred, Sp., of neigh- 
 bour, 620, 799, 926 
 
 of France, 395, 926 
 
 of foreigners, 509, 
 
 558, 561, 831, 839 
 
 of Portuguese, 47 1 
 
 Haro, 865 
 Hay, Mr., 279 
 Hazahas, El de las, 321 
 Head, Sir E. W., 72 
 Health of a riding tour, 
 23, 28, 39 
 
 Health officers, Sp., 131 
 Hecho de bronze, 39 
 Hedionda, 281 
 Hegira, the Moorish, 64 
 
 Hellin, 348 
 
 Henar, Virgin del, 586 
 Henri IV., 80 
 Henriod, Genl., 817 
 Heraldry, Sp. books on, 
 64 
 
 Hercules, 928 
 
 , Cave of, 796 
 
 , Temple of, 141 
 
 Heredia, M. A. de, 287 
 Hermandad, la S a , 247 
 Hermitages of Cordova, 
 231 
 
 Hermits, 540 
 Hermits of Monserrat, 
 422 
 
 Hernandez, 569, 574 
 Hernandez, S. 562 
 
 , his style, 571, 579 
 
 Hernani, 881 
 Herodias, daughter of, 
 921 
 
 Heroic title of Sp. cities, 
 64 
 
 Heroica, 134, 172 
 Herradura, la, 90, 801 
 Herrera el Mozo, 176 
 Herrera el Viejo, 1 92, 204 
 Herrera, J. de, 751 
 Heyne, Dr., 553 
 Hien de la Encina, 831 
 Hierro helado, 798 
 High places, 877 
 Higuera, la real, 218 
 Higueruela, battle of, 761 
 Hijos de Ganancia, 189 
 Hill forts of Sp., 252 
 Hill, Lord, at Almaraz, 
 483 
 
 , victory, 489, 494 
 
 Himilce, 337 
 Hints to artists, 45 
 
 Invalids, 37, 283 
 
 Hispal, 168 
 Hogazas, 159 
 Hojas volantes, 670 
 Holy Fennel, 358 
 Hombre de bien, 654 
 Hombre pez, 869 
 Honneur, F., 77 
 Hope, Genl., 596 
 Horca y cuchillo, 842 
 Hospitalet, 390 
 Hospitals, Sp., 712 
 Host, the, 60, 120 
 
 IMITATIONS. 
 
 Hostalrich, 432 
 Hostia, 823 
 
 Hostias, miraculous, 882 
 Houris, 312 
 House of Juni, 578 
 Houses, Sp., suited to 
 climate, 412 
 Houssaye, La, F. Genl., 
 595, 754, 808 
 Howden, Lord, 674 
 Howell, 661 
 
 Howlings of Tarshish, 
 107 
 
 Huber, 856 
 Huecar, 328 
 Huelgas, las, 852 
 Huell, Senor, 568 
 Huelva, 163 
 Huerta, 527 
 Huerta de Murcia, 346 
 
 de Valencia, 361 
 
 Huete, 818 
 Huesca, 935 
 
 to Zaragoza, 934 
 
 Hugo, Genl., 808 
 Humilladero, 161 
 Husillos, 555 
 Hygienic hints on Sp. 
 climate, 37 
 
 I. 
 
 Iberus, 389 
 
 Iberian or Eastern zone, 
 29 
 
 Ibi, 356 
 Ibn Zohr, 224 
 Ibn Abdallah, 226 
 Ibnu-l-ahmar, 226, 258, 
 292 
 
 Iconoclasm, 48 
 Iglesia juradera, 551, 848 
 Ignacio Loyola, 424 
 
 , bust of, 197 
 
 , San, cave of, 424 
 
 Ildefonso, San, 637, 763 
 Uliberis, 292, 325. 
 
 l llo, Pepe, 100 
 Image of St. Iago, 614 
 Images, holy, dressed and 
 
 painted, 51 
 
 Imagenes Sagradas, 52 
 
 l maz, J., 467 
 Imitations, Sp., 661 
 
IMMACULATE. 
 
 Immaculate Conception, 
 details of, 194 
 Impertinente curioso, 87 
 Implicit obedience, 358 
 Index expurgatorius, 83, 
 827 
 
 Individual man, 655 
 
 , Sp., 12, 546, 838 
 
 Inedia et labor, 171 
 Infan tado, D. of, 830 
 Infante of Antequera, 265 
 Infantes de la Cerda, 358 
 Infantry, Sp., 895 
 Infidels, 827 
 Inglesmendi, 866 
 Ingratitude, Sp., 133,477, 
 513 
 
 Insssthetic Sp., 925 
 Inquisition, Sp., 84, 206 
 
 of Seville, 200 
 
 Intrigue, Sp., 659 
 Introduction, letters of, 
 121 
 
 Invalids, hints to, 37 
 Invincible armada, 594 
 Irache, 956 
 Iriarte, 161 
 Irrigation, M., 361 
 Irun, 894 
 
 to Bayonne, 890 
 
 to Pamplona, 957 
 
 to Sn. Sebastian, 898 
 
 to Tolosa, 898 
 
 to Vitoria, 879 
 
 Isabel Farnese, 764 
 Isabelinos, coin, 16 
 Isabella la Catolica, 321, 
 764 
 
 at Baza, 343 
 
 , her death, 563 
 
 , her will, 565 
 
 Isidore, San, 168, 198 
 550 
 
 Isidro, San, appears as a 
 shepherd, 236, 715 
 Isla de Leon, 141 
 Isla de los Faizanes, 893 
 Isla, La, 141 
 Isla, Padre, 646 
 Italica, 212 
 
 J. 
 
 Jabea, 382 
 Jabeque, un, 804 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 JUBINAL. 
 
 Jaca, 928 
 
 to Salient, 930 
 
 to Brecha de Rol- 
 
 dan, 932 
 Jaen, 258 
 
 to Almeria, 335 
 
 Jaime de Crevillente, 352 
 J aime the Conqueror, 
 406 
 
 Jameson, Mrs., 421, 434 
 Jamones, 464 
 J amones de Tre velez, 330 
 Janitore, 138 
 Jarama, bulls, 90 
 Jaraisejo, 482 
 Jarro con a^ucenas, 196 
 Jealousy, Sp., 894 
 Jerga, 67 
 Jeronomites, 753 
 Jervis, Adml., 131 
 Jesica, 824 
 Jesuits, the, 424 
 ■— — , costume, 425 
 
 , how painted in Sp., 
 
 425 
 
 Jeune France, la, 610 
 Jews of Gibraltar, 273 
 Jixara, 895 
 Joanes, V., 375, 692 
 John of Austria, Don, 41 5, 
 759 
 
 of Gaunt, 594, 599 
 
 Jordan, E., 559, 579 
 Jorge, Anita, 552 
 Josb Maria, 255 
 Joseph, King, 868, 837 
 Joseph’s Memoirs, 844 
 Jota Arragonesa, 905 
 Jourdan’s baton, 868 
 Journalisme, S., 667 
 Jovellanos, 627, 642 
 Joyas, 225 
 Juan II., 577 
 
 , tomb, 853 
 
 Juan de Alfarache, San, 
 214 
 
 Juan de Dios, San, 324 
 Juan de Juni, 557, 559, 
 569 ; his style, 571, 580, 
 944 
 
 Juan, Prince, 748 
 Juan, S n , de la Pena, 929 
 Juana la Loea, 562 
 Jubara, 719 
 Jubinal, M., 723 
 
 977 
 
 LAKES. 
 
 Judiada, 538 
 Julian, Count, 280 
 Julian, San, 639, 810 
 Juliana, S a , 643 
 Junot, 536 
 Junquera, la, 437 
 Junta, Sp., 79, 139, 561, 
 617, 621,635, 679,839, 
 918 
 
 Junta de Venganza, 501 
 Jura, la, 679 
 Jurdes, las, 501 
 Justicia, Sp., 410, 568 
 
 , el, 904 
 
 Justina y Rufina, 175 
 Justo y Pastor, 828 
 
 K. 
 
 Kabah, 605 
 Karnattah, 292 
 Keily, Mr., 628 
 Kellerman, Genl., 528, 
 567 
 
 Kermes cochenilla, 284 
 Key to decypher Sp., 7 
 Key, symbol of, 302 
 Kiblah, 229 
 
 Kingdom of Granada, 29 1 
 Kings of Sp., list, 61 
 Kissing, Sp., 676 
 Knife, names of Sp., 804 
 Knives, Sp., 343, 803 
 Kouscosou, 279 
 Krasinski charge, 840 
 
 L. 
 
 Labaro, 175 
 Lab el Barood, 610 
 Laborde, Genl., 897 
 Laborde, A., book, 76 
 La China, libels, 680 
 Ladies of Cadiz, 136 
 Lado de la Epistola, 59 
 
 del Evangelio, 59 
 
 Ladrones en grande, 26 
 Ladrones de Guevara, 
 881 
 
 Lady of the Die, 548 
 Lagarto, el, 177 
 Lagartos, 213 
 Lagunas de Ruidera, 243 
 Lain, Calvo, 843 
 Lakes, absence of Sp., 31 
 
978 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 LANDSKIP PAINTING. 
 
 Landskip painting, Sp., 
 699 
 
 Langosta, 465 
 Langreo, 641 
 Language, character of 
 superb, Sp., 64 
 Lanjaron, 330 
 Lannes, Marsl., plunder, 
 914, 918 
 Lanzas, las, 690 
 Laredo, 888 
 Lastanosa, V. J., 935 
 Lay a, 875 
 Laynez, Diego, 424 
 Lazaretos, 621 
 Leather, Sp., for book- 
 binding, 366 
 Lebrija, 161 
 
 Leche de Almendras, 664 
 Leche y sangre, 193 
 Ledesma, baths of, 529 
 Lee, Mr., books and pass- 
 ports, 67 
 
 Lefebvre Desnouettes, 
 Marshal, defeat, breach 
 of parole, 533, 918 
 Leg bail, Sp., 839 
 Legenda Aurea, 75 
 Legends, Sp., crows of 
 St. Vincent, 130 ; Jus- 
 tina and Rufina, 175; 
 St. Christopher, 181 ; 
 of Tentudia, 218 ; of 
 the bull Marcos, 218 ; 
 of the Holy Face, 258 ; 
 of Caravaca, 345; of 
 the crucifix of Beyrut, 
 378; S n Vicente Fer- 
 rer, 380; the Cinta, 
 398; S a Tecla, 403; S a 
 Eulalia of Barcelona, 
 413 ; Monserrat, 420 ; 
 Guarin and Riquilda, 
 421 ; Loyola, 424 ; San 
 Nonat, 426; S n Feliu, 
 434 ; S n Narciso and 
 flies, 434; Eulalia of 
 Merida, 476; ark of 
 Pelayus, 491 ; S n Iso- 
 doro, 551 ; Cristo de 
 la Cepa, 573; Santi- 
 ago, 601 ; ark of Ovi- 
 edo, 637 ; San Isidro, 
 715; S a Teresa, 745; 
 S a Forma, 757 ; S a 
 
 LINDERAJA. 
 
 Leocadia, 778 ; S n Ilde- 
 fonso, 789 ; Gothic 
 mass-book, 791 ; Cor- 
 porales of Daroca, 821; 
 Cristo de Burgos, 847 ; 
 St. Domenick, 860 ; 
 El Pilar, 910 ; bell of 
 Velilla, 919; Voto,929; 
 San Fermin, 953 
 Leguas, leagues, 20 
 Leitariegos, 630 
 Lejias, 362, 382 
 Leon, L. de, 525 
 Leon, kingdom of, 505 
 Leon, 546 
 
 to Burgos, 555 
 
 to Cangas de Tineo, 
 
 630 
 
 Oviedo, 649 
 
 Palencia, 554 
 
 Valladolid, 557 
 
 Leonora de Guzman, 144 
 
 Lepanto, battle of, 759 
 
 Lepe, 164 
 
 Lepers, 202 
 
 Ldrida, 920 
 
 Lerma, 840 
 
 Lesaca, 958 
 
 Le Sage, 643 
 
 Lethe, 159 
 
 Letters, how to be di- 
 rected, 22 ; post-office, 
 21 ; of introduction, 
 121 
 
 Lezo, 898 
 
 Liberty, Sp. idea of, 656 
 Liberties, early, Sp., 904 
 Libels, chief on E., 901 
 Librada, S a , 833 
 Library, a Sp., 827 
 
 of Columbus, 176 
 
 Librito de fumar, 357 
 Libro del Consulado, 396 
 Libros Cabreos, 638 
 Liebana, forests of, 858 
 Lierganes, 869 
 Liger Bellair, sack of, 242 
 Lightning conductors, 
 Sp., 352 
 
 Lilies of the Virgin, 265 
 Limia, 159, 542, 625 
 Limpieza de sangre, 517, 
 522 
 
 Linares, 337 
 Linderaja, Patio de, 312 
 
 LOYOLA. 
 
 Lines, the, of Gibraltar, 
 268 
 
 Literature, Sp., 84 
 Liquid measures, 7 1 
 Liria, 383 
 Lisbon, 470 
 
 , earthquake, 145 
 
 Liver, relic, 917 
 Llanes, 643 
 
 Llano Ponte, Genl., 643 
 Llauder, Genl., 410 
 Llerena, 218 
 Llivia, 429 
 Llobregat, the, 408 
 Llorente, 646 
 Loan, of the Cid, 847 
 Loans, Sp., 733 
 Localism, Sp., 12, 33, 
 630, 634 
 
 Lockhart, Sp. Ballads, 
 856 
 
 Locusts, 465 
 Lodgings to let, the 
 sign, 25, 663 
 Loeches, 829 
 Logrosan, 480 
 Logrono, 946 
 
 to Burgos, 859 
 
 to Pamplona, 956 
 
 to Tudela, 944 
 
 Loison, Genl., F., 536, 
 541, 624 
 
 Loja, siege of, 255 
 Lomas de Ubeda, 336 
 Lomet, General, 929 
 Longanizas, 431 
 Lonja, 58 
 
 of Seville, 177 
 
 Lorca, 344 
 Lorenzana, 626 
 Lorenzo, San, legend of, 
 751, 935 
 Lorqui, 348 
 Lorraine, Claude, 664 
 Loss of guns, Murray, 
 Sir John, 400 
 Louis le Jeune, 610 
 Louis XI., 893, 896 
 Louis XIV., 893, 896 
 
 , Sp. policy, 894 
 
 Lover’s leap and rock, 266 
 Lovemaking, Sp., 676 
 Loyola, portrait of, 197 
 
 ’s cave, 424 
 
 ’s house, 902 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 979 
 
 LOYOLA. 
 
 Loyola wounded, 955 
 Luca fa presto, 758 
 Lucar, San, 153 
 — — to Portugal, 165 
 Lucida Sidera, 604 
 Lucena, 257 
 Luchana, 889 
 Lucina sine concubitu, 
 196 
 
 Luggage, 119 
 Lugo, 590 
 
 to la Coruna, 592 
 
 to Orense, 625 
 
 to Oviedo, 625 
 
 to Oviedo, 628 
 
 to Santiago, 600 
 
 Luna, Alvaro de, 577 
 Luna, the Pope, 388 
 Lupiana, 831 
 Lusitanian or Western 
 zone, 29 
 
 M. 
 
 Macael, 335 
 Macarena, 202 
 Macdonald, Marshal, 
 battles, 423, 426, 437 
 Machuca, Pedro, 203, 303 
 
 , el, 1 76 
 
 Macharnudo, sherry, 158 
 MacKiniey, Capt., 620 
 Madexa, 169 
 Madoz, Pasc., Diet 0 . 
 Geo°., 73 
 
 Madrazo, J., 682, 687, 
 708 
 
 •, son, 673 
 
 , P. 698 
 
 Madre vino, 158 
 Madrenas, 535 
 Madrid, foundation, the 
 court,position, drought, 
 geology, 657 ; climate, 
 air, insalubrity, dis- 
 eases, pretensions, 658; 
 the only court, centre 
 of jobs, dreary envi- 
 rons, population, build- 
 ings, titles, churrigue- 
 resque, 659 ; houses, in- 
 hospitality, dislike of 
 foreigners, E. diplo- 
 macy, 660; unredressed 
 
 MADRID. 
 
 grievances, population, 
 want of nationality, 
 improvements, imita- 
 tion of foreigners, 661 ; 
 life in Madrid, dear- 
 ness, 662; inns, lodg- 
 ings, living, pastry, 
 wines, drinks, clubs, 
 reading-rooms, 664 ; 
 cabs, carriages, baths, 
 diligences, tradesmen, 
 booksellers, books on 
 Madrid, 666 ; news- 
 papers, press, protestant 
 burial, sight - seeing, 
 
 hints as to, 667 ; police, 
 puerta del sol, shops, 
 traffic, feria, post-office, 
 telegraph, Buen Suceso, 
 669; idling, lounging, 
 place hunting, scandal, 
 beggars, raffles, calle 
 de Alcala, R. Academy, 
 671 ; exhibitions, ar- 
 tists, natural history, E. 
 Embassy, Buena Vista, 
 674; Plaza de Toros, 
 bull 'fight, the Prado, 
 costume, Dos de Mayo, 
 effect of, 678; Buen 
 Retiro, Buena Vista, 
 La China, libels, 680 ; 
 Museo, origen, Ma- 
 drazo, picture-cleaning, 
 opinions of Europe, 
 the Catalogo, 684 ; con- 
 tents, modern S. art, 
 influence of Mengs and 
 David, Velazquez, 687 ; 
 Murillo, 691; Joannes 
 and Ribera, Zurbaran 
 and Morales, 693 ; Ra- 
 phaels, offer to sell them 
 to E., 696 ; Titian, land- 
 skip, S., 699 ; Claude 
 Lorraine and Poussin, 
 701 ; Dutch pictures, 
 Rubens, 703; Galeria 
 reservada, 707 ; antique 
 cinque cento cups, S. 
 sculpture, 707 ; new 
 museum, Porciuncula, 
 la, 708 ; Snakes, botany 
 and astronomy, 710; 
 the Virgin of Atocha, 
 
 MALADETA. 
 
 hospitals and medical 
 men, S., 712; Manza- 
 nares,the, 714 ; San Isi- 
 dro, miracles and fair, 
 716 ; Palace, Plaza del 
 Oriente, 718 ; royal 
 carriages, royal fune- 
 ral, library and coins, 
 721 ; Armeria, swords, 
 S., 724 ; ministers, con- 
 gress, 727 ; government 
 and constitutions, 729 ; 
 Moreria, Francis I., 7 3 1 ; 
 prisons and tribunals, 
 732 ; stock exchange, 
 loans, justification ofS., 
 734 ; banks, theatres, 
 735; dining, grandees, 
 737 ; Salesas, las, en- 
 virons, Caravanchel, 
 Vista Alegre, 740 ; 
 communications, ex- 
 cursions, 742 
 Madrid to Avila, 742 
 
 to Burgos, 836 
 
 to Cuenca, 806 
 
 to Cuenca, 816 
 
 to Elche, 352 
 
 to Escorial, 749 
 
 to Segovia, 749 
 
 to Seville, 221 
 
 to Valencia, 802 
 
 to Zaragoza, 825 
 
 Madrigalejo, 480 
 Madridejos, 244 
 Maestranza, 91, 919 
 Maestrasgo, 389 
 Maestre de Santiago, el, 
 602 
 
 Magioges, 164 
 Magnanimamensogna, 79 
 Mahon, Lord, 81 
 Mahy, Sp. Genl., defeat, 
 367 
 
 Maid of Zaragoza, 915 
 Mail coaches, Sp., 22 
 Mairena, fair of, 222 
 Maison, Mons., plagia- 
 risms, 87, 295 
 Majo, 128 
 
 at a fair, 222 
 
 Xerezano, 156 
 
 Majolica, 173, 380 
 Maksurah, 229 
 Maladeta, the, 938, 940 
 
980 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 MALAGA. 
 
 Malaga, 283 
 
 to Adra, 332 
 
 to Gibraltar, 280 
 
 to Granada, 288 
 
 to Ronda, 266 
 
 Malbrook, 824 
 Mai de ojo, 365 
 Mai de Rosa, 633 
 Maldonado, J. M., book, 
 78 
 
 Mallara, Joan de, on 
 Proverbs, 242 
 Malpartida, 494 
 Mamed, Sierra de, 542 
 Man, Sp., 894 
 Manana, 127, 467 
 Manara, 190 
 Mancha, la, 237 
 Manchego, el, 237 
 Manchester, the, of Ca- 
 talonia, 408 
 Manifestado, 891 
 Manises, 383 
 
 , clay of, 380 
 
 Manner, Sp., 673 
 Manners, Sp., 671 
 Mannert, K., 73 
 Mano a la teta, 193 
 Manolo, 661 
 Manos blancas, 403 
 Manoeuvres, naval, F., 
 146 
 
 Manresa, 423 
 Mansanara, 628 
 Mansanares, the, 714 
 Mansilla, 554 
 Mantillas, 110, 137 
 Manuscripts burnt, Sp., 
 826 
 
 Manzanares, town of, 243 
 Manzanilla wine, 154 
 Maqueda, 487 
 Maquinas de sangre, 204 
 Maragatos, 536 
 Maravedi, 15 
 Marbella, 281 
 Marbles, Sp., 674 
 March, E., 376 
 Marchena, J. P. de, 163 
 Marcial, San, 895 
 
 , Battle, 895 
 
 , Freire, 895 
 
 Maria, Sa., de Agreda, 
 943 
 
 Maria, infanta, 688 
 
 MELCARTH. 
 
 Mariana, Historia de, 72 
 Mariola, Sierra de, 357 
 Mariolatry, 913 
 Marcos, San, de Leon, 
 553 
 
 Marisma, 154, 155 
 Marismillas, 165 
 Mark, Mr., 284 
 Marmont, Marshal, 509, 
 512 
 
 Marola, la, 597 
 Maroto, treachery, 880, 
 947, 956 
 
 Marquito, miracle, 219 
 Marshals, F., rivalry, 14 5, 
 467, 485, 508, 513, 
 594 
 
 Martial, poet, 835 
 Martin, San, 612 
 Martires, los, convent 
 of, 315 
 
 Martorell, 419 
 Mascagni, A., 580 
 Masdeu, J. F., book, 73 
 Massena, defeats and. pil- 
 lage, 510, 511, 879 
 Master, Sp. language, 67 
 Matador, 92 
 Matagorda, 140 
 Mataro, 433 
 Mateo, Maestro, 616 
 Mateo Ximenez, 300 
 Matrimonio, Sanchez de, 
 225 
 
 Mauregato, 556, 639 
 Maurice, Mathieu, 401 
 Maya, 959 
 Mazmorras, 315, 387 
 Mazorga, 557 
 Meats, Sp., 200 
 Medallas de Espaha, 74 
 Medellin, 476 
 Media Espada, 97 
 
 Luna, 97 
 
 Valenciana, 365 
 
 Medias caladas, 137 
 Medical men, Sp., 712 
 Medina del Campo, 563 
 
 Celi, 833 
 
 de Rio Seco, 558 
 
 Sidonia, 143 
 
 Mediterranean, 151 
 Megaterio, el, 674 
 Melach, 284 
 Melcarth, 153 
 
 MINES. 
 
 Melville, Ld., bad ma- 
 nagement, 888, 897, 
 899, 900, 958 
 Mena, J. de, 526 
 Mena, Juan de, 236 
 Menacho, R., 467 
 Mendez, F., book, 83 
 Mendizabal, G., 467, 473 
 Mendoza, Card., 320, 572, 
 796 
 
 Mendoza, B., 901 
 
 , J. L. de, 643 
 
 Mendozas, the, 830 
 Meneo, 137 
 
 Mengal, Cueva de, 266 
 Mengibar, 258 
 Mengs, R., 672, 685, 719 
 Menosprecio, 546, 862 
 Mentirasy disperates, 125 
 Mequinenza, 399 
 Merchant’s mark, 409 
 Merida, 472 ; Roman 
 ruins, Sta.Eulalia,Musa 
 at Merida, coins, sieges, 
 aqueducts, 475 
 
 to Plasencia, 488 
 
 Merino, 463 
 Mesa del Rey, 161 
 Mesta, 462 
 
 Mezquita of Alhambra, 
 307 
 
 de Cordova, 227 
 
 Micalet, el, 368 
 Michalot de Prades, 363 
 Mid-day at Madrid, 668 
 Midwifery, Sp„ 398, 426 
 Miel de Cana, 289 
 Migas, 216 
 Mignet, M., 498, 644 
 Miguelites, 27 
 Mih-rab, 229 
 Milagros, Los, 475 
 Military, E., agents to Sp., 
 356 
 
 matters, books on, 75 
 
 romancing, F., 76, 
 
 78 
 
 Military tour, 46 
 Millan, San, 861 
 Mina, 398, 879 
 Mina de Ronda, 262 
 Minano, S., book, 73 
 Minaya, A. F., 829, 856 
 Mineral baths, 40 
 Mines, ancient, 340, 341 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 981 
 
 MINES. 
 
 Mines of Murcia, 339 
 Minglanilla, 814 
 Mining mania, 339 
 Ministerial departments, 
 Sp., 33 
 
 Ministerial mediocrity, 
 E., 958 
 
 Ministers, Sp., 726 
 Minutoli, his book, 33 
 Mino, river, 590 
 
 Miracles, Sp., 
 
 130, 
 
 175, 
 
 181, 
 
 199, 
 
 218, 
 
 219, 
 
 259, 
 
 345, 
 
 378, 
 
 398, 
 
 420, 
 
 426, 
 
 434, 
 
 550. 
 
 552, 
 
 603, 
 
 637, 
 
 715, 
 
 757, 
 
 778, 
 
 781, 
 
 821, 
 
 956 
 
 
 
 
 Miraflores, 853 
 Miranda de Azan, 511 
 
 del Ebro, 865 
 
 Mirasol, Genl., 886 
 Misa de Madrugada, 117 
 Miserere at Valencia, 373 
 Misgovernment, Sp., 28, 
 74 
 
 Mitj y mitj, 664 
 Mitjana, R., 266 
 Mocado, 394 
 Mode de Paris, 661 
 Mogigangas, 164 
 Moguer, 163 
 Mohamedan dynasties in 
 Sp., 72 
 
 Molina, Argote de, 169 
 Molina de Aragon, 824 
 Molins del Rey, 407 
 Mombuey, 542 
 Mo.ncayo, range of, 835 
 Moncey, Marshal, 367, 
 837 
 
 Moncloa, la, 739 
 Monda, the battle, 282 
 Mondejar, on the Era, 64 
 Mondonedo, 626 
 Mondragon, 879 
 Money, first want of Sp., 
 15, 633 
 
 Monforte, 353, 625 
 Mongd, el, 382 
 Monjuich, 417 
 Monkeys of Gibraltar, 
 277 
 
 Monnier, C., 664 
 Mono, el, 365 
 Monos, los, 277 
 
 MORLANES. 
 
 Monopodio, 210 
 Monovar, 353 
 Monserrat, 419, 422 
 Montana, 30 
 
 Montanas de Santander, 
 857 
 
 Montanches hams, 489 
 Mon tan.es, el, 157 
 
 , Virgin by, 1 79 
 
 Montaneses, 633 
 Montano, Arias, 197,218, 
 760 
 
 Montantes, 725 
 Montblanch, 406 
 Montbrun, F. Genl., 349, 
 353, 354, 509, 511 
 Monte Agudo, 346 
 
 Sacro, 322 
 
 Monte Furado, 543 
 
 Perdido, 932 
 
 Sagro, 650 
 
 Montes de Toledo, 482 
 Monteagle, Ld., 698 
 Montejaque, 262 
 Montpensier, D. of, 837 
 Montera, 237 
 Monterey, 542 
 
 , Conde de, 524 
 
 Montes, F., 100 
 Montesa, 354 
 Montesinos, Manuel, 377 
 Montiel, battle of, 243 
 Montijo, Conde de, 842 
 Montilla, wine, 224 
 Montluis to Urge!, 428 
 Monumento, el, 60 
 
 of Seville, 179 
 
 Moore, Genl., 531, 534, 
 591, 596 
 
 Moorish architecture, 56 
 Mora de Ebro, 399 
 Morales, Ambrosio de, 
 225, 693 
 
 el divino, pictures, 
 
 218, 469, 490,539 
 Morbid self-love, Sp., 87 
 Morel, B., 174 
 Morelia, 389 
 Moreno, Sp. Genl., 286 
 
 , death, 960 
 
 Moreria, La, 188 
 Moriscos, los, 293 
 Moriscoes, expulsion of, 
 293 
 
 Morlanes, Diego, 909 
 
 MURRAY. 
 
 Moro, taller del, 796 
 Moron, 260 
 
 Morris dances, 105, 582 
 Moscas de San Narciso, 
 434 
 
 Mosquitos, remedy, 121 
 Motrica, 890 
 Motril, 332 
 
 to Granada, 332 
 
 Mottoes, knife, 803 
 Mountainous character of 
 Sp., 28 
 
 Mountain wines, 287 
 Moya, honey, 819 
 Moya on Sp. heraldry, 64 
 Mozo y Muchacha, 25 
 Mudo, el, 755 
 Muelas, 532 
 
 Muelas, resurrection of 
 Sp., 178 
 Mulahacen, 327 
 Mulatto, 522 
 Mule arbiter, with relics, 
 427, 822 
 
 Muleteers, Arrieros, 23 
 Munecas, patio de las, 186 
 Muneira, 632 
 Munoz, Hernando, 807, 
 825 
 
 Muraddin, 522 
 Murat bloodshed, 678,724 
 Murchison, Sir R„, 42 
 Murcia, kingdom of, 338 
 , 346 
 
 to Granada, 342 
 
 to Cartagena, 349 
 
 to Madrid, 348 
 
 Murder crosses, 263 
 
 , removed, 359 
 
 Murder of Sp. Generals, 
 538, 838 
 
 Murillo, B., three styles, 
 191, 691, 673 
 
 , house, 188 
 
 , conceptions by, 196 
 
 , death, 191 
 
 , ashes scattered, 182 
 
 , pictures, Seville, 
 
 193 
 
 at theCaridad, 191 
 
 Muros, 627 
 
 Murphy, C., book, 295 
 Murray, Sir John, mis- 
 management, 353, 356, 
 400, 435 
 
982 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 MURVIEDRO. 
 
 AIurvied.ro, 385 
 Muscatels, 287 
 Museo of Madrid, 681 
 Museo of Seville, 192 
 Music, Sp., 102, 157 
 Muwallads, 226 
 
 N. 
 
 Najera, 861 
 Nalon, 641 
 Namanco, 621 
 Napier, history, 80, 81, 
 250, 513, 535, 597 
 
 on Soult, 897 
 
 Napoleon. See Buona- 
 parte. 
 
 Napoleones (coin), 16 
 Naranja, 214 
 Naranco, Sa. Ma. de, 638 
 Narcea, the, 629 
 Narciso, Sn., his flies, 434 
 Narvaez, alcaide, 265 
 
 , Genl., 256, 805, 825 
 
 Nation of shopkeepers, 
 En., 394 
 
 National resistance, Sp., 
 79, 435, 679 
 
 disease, 656 
 
 undertaker, 513 
 
 weakness, Sp. 15, 
 
 23, 125, 558, 623, 727 
 Nationality, Sp., 677 
 Natural children of Sp. 
 kings, 246 
 
 Natural History, Sp , 674 
 Naturalistic tours, 41 
 Nature worshippers, E., 
 925 
 
 Nava del Rey, 562 
 Navaja, Sp., 804 
 Naval tour, 46 
 Navarre, kingdom of, 948 
 Navarrete, battle of, 862 
 Navareze, the, 949 
 Navarro, P. G., 388 
 Navas, 236 
 
 Navas, las, de Toloso, 
 battle, 236 
 Navia, river, 629 
 Navigation of Ebro, 389 
 Navy, Sp., 141, 350, 598 
 Nebritsensis, 161 
 Necessity, plea of, 610, 
 847 
 
 NOSOTROS. 
 
 Negro de Hueso, 682 
 Negroli, 724 
 Neighbour, Sp., hatred 
 of, 353, 395, 471, 593, 
 629, 880, 926 
 Nelli, Fabio, 580 
 Nelson, Thiers on, 77 
 
 at St. Vincent, 130 
 
 at Trafalgar, 145 
 
 on honour, 868 
 
 and Drake, 594 
 
 Nelsonic touch, 557, 618 
 Neskhi, 305 
 
 Neufchateau, Cte. de, 
 644 
 
 Neutral ground, 269 
 New style in Sp., 64 
 Ney, Marshal, victories, 
 defeats, and ravages, 
 523, 524, 610, 615, 
 
 620, 629, 635, 637, 
 943 
 
 Nicodemus, image carved 
 by, 379, 637, 848 
 Nicolas, San, 323, 355, 
 579 
 
 Niculoso, 186 
 Niebla, 164 
 Niebuhr, 856 
 Night in Seville, 199, 209 
 Nino de Guardia, 244 
 Ninos de Ecija, 223 
 Noble nuns, 766 
 N octurnal promenades, 
 199 
 
 Nodo, el, 169 
 Nodus Herculis, 169 
 Nogales, 539 
 Nogueras, Genl., woman 
 murder, 398 
 No se puede, 5, 39 
 Non Natus, the Saint, 
 426 
 
 Nonsense, annuals, 312 
 
 , Mr. Urquhart, 271 
 
 Noria, the, 361 
 Normans in Spain, 164, 
 639 
 
 Norman style in Sp., 
 403, 413, 531 
 Nosotros, claims of, 70, 
 74, 78, 133, 144, 151, 
 233, 236, 250, 332, 354, 
 417, 486, 759, 806, 
 864, 896 
 
 OLD NICK. 
 
 Nothus, 337 
 Novillos, 90 
 
 Nuevas Poblaciones, 236 
 Nuevo progreso, 677 
 Nuggets, 316 
 Nulla fides servanda est 
 Hereticis, 425 
 Nummi Oscenses, 935 
 Numantia, 943 
 Nunez y Taboada, diet 0 ., 
 67 
 
 Nuts, 392, 405 
 
 0 . 
 
 Oak of Guernica, 890 
 Oaths, Sp. 67 
 Obedience, Sp., implicit 
 to king, 358 
 Obispado, 518 
 Oblada, 632 
 Oblivion, river of, 159 
 Obras de Devocion, 84 
 
 de los Godos, 56, 
 
 638 
 
 Obregon, Marcos de, 262 
 Oca, Senora de, 846 
 Ocana, 246 
 
 , battle of, 245 
 
 Ocean, the, 130 
 Ochavo, 16 
 O’Donnell, Jose, 356 
 O’Donoju, 899, 900 
 Offer to E. of Sp. Ra- 
 phaels, 698 
 
 Offering your house, Sp., 
 122 
 
 dinner, 123 
 
 Office, man in, Sp., 661 
 Officials, Sp., 927 
 Ojala, 127 
 Ojen, 282 
 
 Ojos de laGuadiana, 243, 
 940 
 
 Ojos grandes, MV de los, 
 591 
 
 Ojos verdes, 281 
 Olavide, Pablo, 236 
 Old Castilian, 686 
 Oldegar, Sn., legend, 
 403, 414 
 
 Old gods popular, 364 
 Nick, 623, 882 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II, 
 
 983 
 
 OLD PLATE. 
 
 Old plate, Sp., 637 
 
 sites, 228, 261, 385 
 
 — style, 64 
 O’Lea, casa de, 187 
 Olite, 951 
 
 Olivares, Conde Duque, 
 688 
 
 Olivares, town of, 199 
 Olive farm and oil, 214 
 Olla, 664 
 Olloniego, 650 
 Olmedo, 584 
 Olmo, J. de, 208 
 Olot, 431 
 Olvera, 260 
 Ona, 864 
 
 One cavalry charge, ef- 
 fects of, on Sp., 235, 
 248, 431, 437, 528, 
 
 558, 560, 584, 622, 
 
 643, 799, 839, 920 
 Onecino, 875 
 Ontanon, J. G. de, 769 
 Onza, (coin, precautions), 
 16 
 
 Opera, Sp., 735 
 Oppas, 566 
 
 Opposition, the En., 80 
 Oranges of Seville, 214 
 Orbigo, 630 
 
 , bridge of, 545 
 
 Orchata, 664 
 Orche, 818 
 Ordal, 407 
 
 Orders, religious mili- 
 tary, 602 
 Ordono, II., 548 
 Orense, 623 
 
 to Lugo, 625 
 
 to Santiago, 625 
 
 Orgullo Espanol, 78, 648, 
 950 
 
 Organa, 427 
 Orgaz, 799 
 
 , Conde de, burial 
 
 of, 781 
 
 Oriente, Plaza del, 718 
 Orihuela, 351 
 Orjiba, 330 
 
 Orinal de Espana, 607, 
 Orleans, Regent, 397 
 Ormond, Lord. 133 
 Oropesa, 388, 483 
 Orospedan chain, 342 
 Orozuz, 351 
 
 PALLADIUM. 
 
 Orrente, P., style, 375 
 Ortega, Juan de, 946 
 Oscensis, 721 
 Osculation, pious, 615 
 Osius, Bishop, 224, 325 
 Osma, 944 
 Osorio, MS. of, 536 
 Osorio, Uraca, 213 
 Osuna, 254 
 
 , Duque de, 533, 643, 
 
 710, 730, 739 
 Oviedo, 635. 
 
 to Lugo, 625, 628 
 
 to Leon, 649 
 
 to Santander, 642, 
 
 647 
 
 Owen Jones, 295, 304 
 Ozanum, Z. A., 857 
 
 P. 
 
 Pace, of Sp., 839 
 Pacheco, F., 75 
 Paciecus, 279 
 Paciencia y barajar, 7 
 Padilla, 561 
 
 , Maria de, 186 
 
 Padres y garanones, 801 
 Padron, El, 603, 619 
 Padul, 330 
 
 Paget, Ld., 556, 557, 595 
 Painted sculpture, Sp., 
 51, 571 
 
 Painters, chief Sp., 55 
 Paintings in Alhambra, 
 311 
 
 Painting, tour, 54 
 Pajares, 650 
 Pajarete, 158 
 Pajez, guitars, 107, 131 
 Pakenham, Genl., 511 
 Palabras, Sp., 65, 139 
 Palace of Madrid, 718 
 Palacios, los, Sp. 161 
 Palafox, Jose, 917, 941 
 Palencia, 583 
 Paleozoic, rocks of, Sp., 
 43 
 
 Palladium of Barcelona, 
 413 
 
 of Catalonia, 422 
 
 of Granada, 325 
 
 of Guadalupe, 482 
 
 I of Santiago, 600 
 
 PASTRY. 
 
 Palladium of Tortosa, 
 398 
 
 of Valencia, 371 
 
 of Zaragoza, 910 
 
 Palm trees, the, 352 
 
 of Cordova, 230 
 
 Palmitos, 129 
 Palos, 163 
 
 Palomino, book on art, 
 75 
 
 Pamplona, 952 
 
 to Irun, 957 
 
 to Logrono, 956 
 
 to Roncesvalles, 960 
 
 to Tolosa, 957 
 
 — - — to Vittoria, 881 
 
 to Zaragoza, 951 
 
 Pancorbo, 865 
 Pan de Dios, 159 
 Pano pardo, 116, 237 
 Pantano de Lorca, 344 
 — — de Tibi, 355 
 Panteon, 49, 755 
 
 of Quadalajara, 830 
 
 of Leon, 552 
 
 Panticosa, 931 
 Pan y Peces, Murillo, 
 191 
 
 Papel de hilo, 357 
 Parameras, las, 28, 653 
 Parapanda, 303 
 Pardo, el, 739 
 Pardoe, Miss, 552 
 Paredes, D. de, 478 
 Paredes de Nava, 554 
 Parklike scenery, 218 
 Parque, D. del, 528 
 Parole, F., 77 
 Parra, la, 177 
 Parral, el, 771 
 Parti pretre, 422 
 Partisans, value of Sp., 
 879 
 
 Pasajes, 899 
 Pasiegas, 643, 677, 859 
 Pasmo de Sicilia, 695 
 Paso of the Virgin, 53 
 Pasos, 50 
 
 Passamonte, Juan, 244 
 Passavant, J. D., Book, 
 72, 684 
 
 Passo Honroso, 545 
 Passport and precautions, 
 
 13; 
 
 Pastry, Sp., 664 
 
984 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 PATERNOSTER. 
 
 Paternoster, 612 
 Patio, 173 
 
 de la Alberca, 306 
 
 de Leones, 309 
 
 de los Naranjos, 176 
 
 Patisserie, F., 664, 701 
 Patricio, San, 345 
 Patriotism, Sp., 879 
 Patrona of Barcelona, 
 413 
 
 of Granada, 325 
 
 Paular, el, 767 
 Paul of Spain, the St., 378 
 Pay, effect of, 838 
 Payo, S., 639 
 Paz con Inglaterra, 595 
 Peace, Sp., longing for, 
 729 
 
 Pedestrian tours (avoid), 
 23 
 
 Pedigree, an old, 279 
 Pedigrees, Sp., 634 
 Pedro el Cruel, palace, 
 185 
 
 , murder of, 243 
 
 at Toro, 561, 862, 
 
 873 
 
 Pedro Mato, 537 
 Pedroso, el, 221 
 Pega, 510 
 Pelar la pava, 173 
 Pelayus, 647, 648 
 Pellejos jaspeados, 366 
 Peluquero, el, 372 
 Pembroke, Lord, 751 
 Pena de Francia, 502 
 Penafior, 629 
 Pena golosa, 387 
 Penalara, la, 763 
 Pena, La, Sp. Genl., mis- 
 conduct, 144 
 Penal va, 944 
 Peharanda de Braca- 
 monte, 527 
 
 de Duero, 842 
 
 Pendentives, stalactical, 
 306 
 
 Penetenciario, 613 
 Peninsular steamers, 18 
 Peniscola, 388 
 Penon de los Enamora- 
 dos, 266 
 
 People of Spain, 8, 79, 
 679, 719, 728, 838, 
 874, 894, 896 
 
 PICO DE VELETA. 
 
 Peralta, 951 
 Perrillo, el, 798 
 Percy, Lord, 921 
 
 , Sir Thomas, 623 
 
 Perez, Antonio, 904 
 Pereyra, M„ 709 
 Perfide Albion, Tor, 467 
 Perillo, 390 
 Perla, la, 695 
 Permian rocks, 43 
 Perpenna, 935 
 Perpinan to Barcelona, 
 431 
 
 to Gerona, 435 
 
 Perros, 95 
 Pertus, col de, 437 
 Peseta, 16 
 Peso, 17 
 Petaca, 109. 
 
 Peterborough, Lord, 400, 
 818 
 
 Peter Martyr of Angle- 
 ria, 294, 255, 298, 343, 
 563 
 
 Petos, 611 
 Petrel, 353 
 
 Petticoat embroidering, 
 711 
 
 Pfendler, Dr., 327 
 Philip II. 525, 578, 751, 
 760, 761 
 
 , character, 762 
 
 — — , dispatches, 565 
 
 , laugh, 891 
 
 , death, 761 
 
 at Mass, 759 
 
 at Yuste, 497 
 
 Philip IV. el Grande, 
 290, 689 
 
 , statue of, 718 
 
 Philip V., 719, 763 
 Philippon, General, 468 
 Philosophy of 4 if/ 633 
 Phoenician policy, 349 
 Phormio and Hannibal, 
 81 
 
 Phosphorite of lime, 480 
 Phrases, Sp., 68 
 Physiognomy, Sp., 677 
 Picacho, el, 327 
 Picadores, 93 
 Picardias, 113 
 Pichot, A., 498 
 Pickman, Mr., 212, 227 
 Pico de Veleta, 327 
 
 PLATE. 
 
 Pico Sagro, 618 
 Picton, 468, 510, 866, 
 959 
 
 Picture cleaning, F., 695 
 
 Sp., 682, 708 
 
 Pictures, Sp., 55 
 , cautions to pur- 
 chasers, 55 
 
 Picturesque Barbarians, 
 5, 46, 506 
 
 Pieces officielles, F., 79 
 Piedra Iman, 674 
 Piedrahita, 528 
 Pigeon-fanciers, 368 
 Pigs, Sp., 464 
 Pila de So. Domingo, 840 
 Pilatos, casa de, 187 
 Pilgrimage, 601 
 
 , benefits of, 607 
 
 , evils of, 607 
 
 Pilgrim city, 911 
 Pilgrims to Compostella, 
 860 
 
 Pillar of Zaragoza, 911 
 Pillars of Hercules, 271 
 Pillo Andaluz, 234 
 Pilona, la, 628 
 Pineda, J. de, 545 
 
 , Mariana, 323 
 
 Pinos, bridge of, 257 
 Pintado, 804 
 Pinto, 246 
 
 Pintor, de la Concepcion, 
 196 
 
 Piombo, S. del, 846 
 Pio Nono, his panacea, 
 194 
 
 Pious curiosity, 364 
 
 frauds, relics, 322, 
 
 911 
 
 Pisuerga, 564 
 Pitt, Wm., in Sp., 598 
 Pizarro, F., 479 
 Place-hunters, Sp., 671 
 Plasencia, 494 
 
 to Salamanca, 499 
 
 to Trujillo, 495 
 
 to Madrid, 496 
 
 to Yuste, 496 
 
 to Cuidad Rodrigo, 
 
 500 
 
 Plagiarist, 646 
 Plate plunder, Fr., 60, 
 511, 638, 646, 808, 
 
 855, 867 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 985 
 
 PLATE. 
 
 Plate, Sp., 576 
 — — /ancient, 575 
 - — , early, 616 
 Plateresco, el, 56 
 Pleonasms, Sp., 66 
 Plunder, F., 
 Plunder-Master-general 
 Soult, 177 
 Plus ultra, 63 
 Pobla de Lillet, 430 
 Poblet, 406 
 
 Pobreza no es vileza, 646 
 Poema del Cid, 855 
 Poker of Augereau, 436 
 Police, Sp., 668 
 Policy, F. to Sp., 893 
 Polizones, 27 
 Polio; el, 116, 671 
 Pomegranate, 297 
 Pompey, 153, 438 
 Ponderacion, Sp., 127 
 Ponferrada, 538 
 
 to Orense, 544 
 
 Ponte d’Eume, 597 
 Pontejos, M s . de, 661 
 Pontevedra, 620 
 Pontifex Maximus, 402 
 Ponz, A., Viaje de, 73 
 Poore, Laurence, 175 
 Popes, Sp., 359 
 Populacho, Sp., 659 
 Population, Sp., 33 
 Porcelos, Diego de, 843 
 Porciuncula, la, 708 
 Porron, 394 
 Portuguese, 471 
 Port Vendres, 439 
 Posada, 24 
 
 Post-horses, charges, 21 
 Post-office and letters, 21 
 Pott on gipsies, 67 
 Poussin, 702 
 Practical men, 704 
 Prado, Senor, 674 
 Prado, the, 676, 677 
 Pradt, Abbe de, 77 
 Pravia, viva, 628 
 Precautions, travelling, 
 24 
 
 Premiers, Sp., 726, 727 
 Prescott, 163, 256, 294, 
 321, 479 
 Presidio, 411 
 
 correccional, 377 
 
 Press, free, Sp., 666, 667 
 
 PUNDONOR. 
 
 Pretendiente, el, 659, 670 
 Priego, 817 
 
 Primary rocks, Sp., 42 
 Primera mano, de, 682 
 Primitive saints, 634 
 
 churches, 634, 638 
 
 Principality of Catalo- 
 nia, 391 
 
 Prints inSp., 55 
 Prisons, Sp., 732, 782 
 Prisoners, massacre of, 
 234, 884 
 
 Procella equestris, 839 
 ( see One charge) 
 Proceres, 679 
 Processions at Seville, 
 194 
 
 Procrastination, Sp., 467 
 Prodigios de valor, Sp., 
 74, 232 
 
 Prompt uarios, 614 
 Pronunciation, 66 
 Pronunciamiento, 285, 
 354 
 
 Propina, 21 
 Protestant burial, 667 
 Protestantism, Eng., 120 
 Proverbs, Sancho Pan- 
 za’s,'242 
 
 Provincial divisions, Sp., 
 33 
 
 Prudentius, 906 
 Puchero, 664 
 Pudridero, el, 757 
 Puebla de Montalban, 
 487 
 
 de Sanabria, 542 
 
 Puerta del Sol, 669 
 Puente del Diablo, 402, 
 418, 768 
 
 de Espia, 428 
 
 de Ferreras, 402 
 
 Puerto Lapiche, 244 
 
 • de Miravate, 483 
 
 — — Real, 140 
 
 de S. Maria, 139 
 
 Serrano, 260 
 
 Puertos, mountain passes, 
 30 
 
 Puigcerd^, 428 
 Pulgar, H. P. de, 256, 
 321 
 
 Pulteney, General, 599 
 Punal, 803 
 Pundonor, 12, 546 
 
 RATEROS. 
 
 Punica fides, 99, 208,286, 
 327, 329, 358, 386 
 Puntilla, 97 
 Purchas Pilgrimes, 614 
 Purchasers of art, hints 
 to, 55 
 
 Purchena, 335 
 Purones, 109 
 Pursuits, Sp., 676 
 Purullena, 342 
 Putos, 224 
 
 Pyrenees, 437, 923, 925 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quarenta Horas, 59 
 Queen’s, Sp., marriage, 
 711 
 
 Quemadero, 206 
 Quesada, General, 147, 
 272 
 
 , venta de, 243 
 
 Queslin, Du, 243 
 Queter, Mon r ., 564 
 Quicksilver mine, 219, 
 220 
 
 Quien sabe, 5 
 Quinta, 874 
 
 Quintin, St., battle of, 7 51 
 Quiros, casa de, 628 
 Quixote, Don, critique 
 of, 238 
 
 R. 
 
 Rabbit, the conejo, 47 
 Rabida, Sa. Maria de, 
 163 
 
 Rabitos, 163, 802 
 Rada, Rodrigo X. de, 
 834 
 
 Radishes, 566, 576 
 Ragged staff, 277 
 Raid, 855 
 
 Railway, Ferro carril, S., 
 8, 19, 741 
 Raisins, 287 
 Rambla, 20, 259 
 Ramon Nonat, St., 426 
 Ramos, 632 
 Raphael, 695 
 
 , Sp., offered to E. 
 
 for sale, 698 
 
 Rasgo Heroico, book, 64 
 Rateros, Raterillos, 26 
 
986 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 READING. 
 
 Reading public, no Sp., 
 666 
 
 Real (coin), 16 
 Realite atroce, 675 
 Reding, Genl., at Bailen, 
 233 
 
 , death of, 405 
 
 Redondela, 620 
 Reflections on the Al- 
 hambra, 312 
 Refranes, 242 
 Regalada, la, 232 
 Regalado, Padre, 567,572 
 Regia de Santiago, 189 
 Regnier, Genl., 473 
 Reille, Genl., 849 
 Reino de Murcia, 338 
 
 de Valencia, 360 
 
 Reinosa, 858 
 Reja, 58, 172 
 Rejeros, best, 60 
 Rejon, 89 
 Relicario, el, 60 
 Relics forged, 322 
 Relics, Sp., 636, 754 
 
 of Oviedo, 636 
 
 Religion, in Spain, ^61, 
 120, 207 ; nomencla- 
 ture, 324 
 
 , stimulant, 422 
 
 , tour, 61 
 
 Rembel, Mr., 628 
 Remembrances of riding 
 tours, 38 
 
 Renaissance, the, 615 
 Renteria, 898, 899 
 Repartimiento of Seville, 
 169 
 
 Repique, el, 175 
 Requena, 813 
 Restauracion, la, 682 
 Resignation of Sp., 7 
 Restoration of Virginity, 
 421 
 
 Retablo, 59 
 
 Retirement, Sp., to a cell, 
 422. See, Tendency to 
 turn monks 
 Retz, Cardl., 912, 942 
 Reus, Condes de, 405 
 Reus to Poblet, 405 
 Revenge, Sp., 883 
 Revenue of Sp., 33 
 Rey Bermejo, 186 
 Chico, el, 293 
 
 ROBLEDO. 
 
 Rey Chico, portrait, 314 
 Rey, F. Genl., 899 
 Reyes Catolicos, 63 
 Reyna Coquina, 300 
 Reynaud, Genl., 509 
 Riano, D. de, 182 
 Rianzares, 802, 807 
 
 , title, 807 
 
 Ribadeneyra, P., 75 
 Ribalta, pictures, 374, 
 375 
 
 — — at Oxford, 375 
 Ribera, F. E. de, 187 
 Ribera, J. de, “lo Spag- 
 noletto,” 359, 525, 692 
 Rice, 361 
 
 Richard, Cceur de Lion, 
 824 
 
 Richards, Genl., 355 
 Rico, the monk, 367 
 Riding post, Sp., 22 
 Riding tour, benefits of, 
 23, 38 
 
 Riego, 142, 640 
 Rifas, 671 
 Rigmarole, S., 887 
 Rigodones, 104 
 Rincon, Antonio, 315, 743 
 Rioja, la, 859 
 
 , ode of, 21^ 
 
 Rio Tinto, 217 
 
 Verde, 281 
 
 Rio Seco to Valladolid, 
 560 
 
 , battle of, 559 
 
 Ripperda, 770 
 Ripoll, 431 
 
 Riquilda, legend of, 420 
 Risco, Manuel, 553 
 Rito Galico, 791 
 Ritual, roman, 930 
 Rivadavia, 623 
 Rivadeo, 626 
 Rivalry of F. marshals, 
 145, 294, 467, 485, 
 
 508, 513, 954, 837 
 Rivers in Spain, 28, 30 
 Rivers, Lord, 255 
 Roads, Sp., 20 
 Roamers, 601 
 Robbers, precautions, 26 
 Roberts, David, 295 
 Robertson, Dr., errors, 
 498 
 
 Robledo de Chavela, 742 
 
 ROSSMASSLER. 
 
 Robos, -877 
 Robur Hispaniae, 655 
 Rocadillo, el, 153 
 Roca, Conde de la, 474 
 Roca estrecha, 422 
 Rocca, his book, 260 
 Rocha Frida, 243 
 Roche, Col., 356 
 Rock, the, 271 
 Roda, 255 
 
 Roderick, Don, 634, 796 
 Roderick K. of the Goths, 
 148, 796 
 
 Rodrigo, fighting Archb., 
 236 
 
 Roelas, style of, 197, 198, 
 199 
 
 Roger of Brussels, 853 
 Roig on Sp. Flies, 434 
 Rollo, el, 223 
 Rollo y Picote, 842 
 Roman roads, 488 
 Romana, Marquis, 538, 
 554, 629, 635 
 Romance, language, 66 
 Romerias, 61 
 Romey, Sp. History of, 73 
 Roncali, Count, 355 
 Roncesvalles, 960 
 
 to Pamplona, 960 
 
 Ronda, 261 
 
 , the Fair, 262 
 
 — — to Granada, 251,264 
 
 * to Gibraltar, 267 
 
 to Malaga, 266 
 
 to Seville by Esija, 
 
 260 
 
 to Seville, by Ol- 
 vera, 260 
 
 — to Seville, by Za- 
 hara, 260 
 
 to Xerez, 263 
 
 la Vieja, 261 
 
 Rondena, 107 
 Ronquillo, Alcalde de, 
 249, 564 
 
 Rooke, Adml., 622 
 Rooke, Sir George, 272 
 Roque, San, 268 
 Rosa, M. de la, 292, 679 
 Rosario of Virgin, 194, 
 611 
 
 Rosas, 438 
 
 Rosas to Figueras, 438 
 Rossmassler, book, 412 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 987 
 
 ROUGH. 
 
 Rough it in Sp., 129 
 Rovira, Dr., 437 
 Royal tombs, 406 
 Rubens, 572, 703, 829 
 Rubrica, 125 
 Rueda, 562 
 
 Ruin, Spain one great, 57 
 Ruvigni, Henri de, 805 
 Ruiz, Fernando, 174 
 Ruiz, J., 678 
 Rum and Beef, E., Foy 
 on, 77 
 
 Ruse double de terreur, 
 77 
 
 Russell, J., Lord, 499 
 
 S. 
 
 Sacando pianos, 13 
 Sacedon, 817 
 Saceruela, 242 
 Sack, sherris, 157 
 Saeristia, 60 
 Ssetabis, 357 
 Sacristan, el, 60 
 Safar, 64 
 Sagrario, 60 
 Sagres, 130 
 Saguntum, 385 
 Sahagun, 555 
 Sainete, 101, 736 
 Saints, Sp., walk without 
 their heads, 181, 791 
 St. George, Hospital of, 
 153 
 
 St. Jean de Luz, 891 
 St. Sebastian, 
 
 , siege, 
 
 , libels, 899 
 
 , E. victory, 900 
 
 , F. repulse, 900 
 
 to Bilbao, 889 
 
 to Irun, 898 
 
 St. Vincent, legend, 130 
 Sala Capitular, 60 
 
 de las dos Herma- 
 
 nas, 311 
 
 de los Embajadores, 
 
 308 
 
 Salado, battle of, 149 
 Sal ados, 31 
 
 Salamanca: Hannibal at 
 it, 514; F. ravages, 
 heads and costume, 
 colleges, schools, re- 
 
 SAHTIAGO. 
 
 forms, students, educa- 
 tion, poor students, 
 518 ; the Dons, tuition, 
 books, PJaza, cathe- 
 drals new and old, 
 520 ; F. Gallegos, Las 
 Escuelas, library, treat- 
 ment of Columbus, 524 
 Salamanca to Madrid, 
 527 
 
 to Valladolid, 528 
 
 to Lugo, 528 
 
 Salas, 629 
 Salazar, S. de, 131 
 Salduba, 281 
 Saleras, las, 737 
 Salic law, 764 
 Salido de madre, 493 
 Salinas, las, 142 
 Salitres, 203 
 Salient, 931 
 
 to Jaca, 930 
 
 Salmon fishing, 857 
 Salmonetes, 138 
 Salobrena, 332 
 Salon, el, 136, 208 
 Salou, port of, 405 
 Salt mines, 814 
 Salt mine at Cardona, 426 
 Salto, M a . del, 770 
 Salto tras cuerno, 96 
 Salvatierra, 882 
 Samur, 530 
 Sancha, infanta, 552 
 Sanchez, Julian, 509 
 
 , Jesuit, 225, 614 
 
 , casa, 300 
 
 Sancho el Bravo, 530 
 Sancho Ortiz de Roelas, 
 187 
 
 Sancho Panza, remarks 
 on, 239 
 
 Sancti Petri, 140 
 Sanctuary, 618 
 Sangre, la, 203 
 
 azul, su, 224 
 
 San Pau, 397 
 Santa Faz, la, 258 
 
 Fe, the town, 326 
 
 Santander, 870 
 
 to Bilbao, 887 
 
 to Burgos, 857 
 
 to Oviedo, 642 
 
 to Oviedo, 647 
 
 Santiago, Maestre de, 186 
 
 SAVARY. 
 
 Santiago, canon or regia 
 of, 189 
 
 Santiago, 601 ; Legend of 
 Apostle, church autho- 
 rities, origin of pilgri- 
 mage to Compostella, 
 Mecca, Rabitos, re- 
 ligious military orders, 
 self-navigating body, 
 ancient Padron, rocks 
 soften, miraculous bulls 
 and lights, 604; Voto 
 de Santiago, the fraud, 
 A1 jihad, A1 Mansur at 
 Santiago, Moorish ac- 
 count, the apostle’s 
 body, legend ques- 
 tioned at Rome, certi- 
 fied by Urban VIII., 
 pilgrimage decayed, 
 hospital, seminario, 
 fire works, 609; F. plun- 
 der, Ney, plateros, ca- 
 thedral, confessions, 
 613; image of Santi- 
 ago, pilgrim ceremo- 
 nials, relics, early plate, 
 university, 616 
 Santiago to Finisterre, 
 617 
 
 to Lugo, 618 
 
 to Orense, 625 
 
 at Zaragosa, 911 
 
 Santillana, 643 
 Santi Ponce, 212 
 Santisima, la, 59 
 Santo Calix, 370 
 
 Fraile, el, 426 
 
 Ribera, el, 373 
 
 Rostro, el, 258 
 
 , el, 607 
 
 Santocildes, J. M. de, 536 
 Santo Sudario, 637 
 Santona, 887 
 San Roman, 536 
 Sarahuells, 365 
 Sarrai, 412 
 Sarrat, Genl., 643 
 Sarsfield, Genl., 881 
 Saucejo, 261 
 Saumarez, Adml., 152 
 Saunterers, 601 
 Savalo, 202 
 
 Savary, Genl., F., 678, 
 836, 837 
 
988 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 SCEPTICISM. 
 
 Scepticism, Sp., 827 
 Schak, on Sp. theatre, 
 108 
 
 Schepeler, book, 78 
 Schultz, 634 
 Schwartz, blunders, 419 
 Scipio’s tomb, 402 
 
 at Carthagena, 349 
 
 duel, 546 
 
 Scorpions of the rock, 274 
 Scull goblets, 261 
 Sculptors, chief Sp., 51 
 Sculpture, Sp., 49, 707 
 
 painted, 50, 570 
 
 tours, 48 
 
 Sebastian!, victory, 247 
 
 , pillage, 285, 294, 
 
 324, 347, 348, 829 
 , ravages, Alham- 
 bra, 299, 313, 325 
 
 , cruelty, 294, 313, 
 
 319, 331, 347 
 Seco, 157 
 
 Secondary rocks of Sp., 
 43 
 
 Securities, avoid Sp., 121 
 Sed, la, Murillo, 191 
 Segorbe, 384 
 Segovia, 767 ; books 
 on, aqueduct, cathe- 
 dral, 769 ; Alcazar, 
 Gil Bias, 770 ; Charles 
 I.; mint; Parral, el; 
 sack of ; mesta ajid 
 wool, 772 
 
 to Madrid, 749 
 
 Segre, river, 428 
 Seguidillas, 238 
 Segundera, Sierra de, 542 
 Segura, forest of, 336 
 
 , river, 346 
 
 de Leon, 218 
 
 Seguro de Tordesillas, 
 562 
 
 Seises, los, 183 
 Self-love, Sp., 87, 125, 
 422, 670, 839, 876 
 Seneca, 701 
 
 Senectutis nidulus, 423 
 Senora, N., delos Desam- 
 parados, 371 
 
 del O, 211 
 
 Sensi, Gaspar, 722 
 Sentinels, challenges, Sp., 
 123] 
 
 SEVILLE. 
 
 Seo de Urgel, 427 
 Sephan, 47 
 
 Sepulchral monuments, 
 49 
 
 Serenos, 363 
 Serio-comic, Sp., 671 
 Serna, la, Vandalisms, 
 300, 306 
 
 Serpentine, rock, 328 
 Serrania de Ronda, 251 
 Serranos, snails, 339 
 Sertorius, 935, 945, 956 
 Settled Boney, 81 
 Seville ; inns, lackeys, 
 1.66 ; tradesmen, cli- 
 mate, books on, plans, 
 167 ; early history, 
 Roman, Moorish, 168; 
 conquest, armorial 
 bearings, motto, 169 ; 
 Junta of, Soult, plun- 
 der and defeat, majos, 
 monuments, life in, 
 walls, 171 ; Roman 
 antiquities, Moorish, 
 streets and houses, 172; 
 azulejos, Giralda, 173; 
 bells, patronesses, ca- 
 thedral library, 176; 
 exterior of cathedral, 
 Gradus, Lonja, 177; 
 cathedral described, to 
 185 ; Alcazar, ib. ; gar- 
 dens, 186 ; Moorish 
 houses, 187 ; Casa de 
 Pilatos, Murillo’s 
 house, 188 ; the clergy, 
 189 ; Caridad, Muril- 
 los, Soult’s plunder, 
 190 ; pictures, collec- 
 tions, cautions to pur- 
 chasers, 191 ; Museo, 
 Murillos, 193; Imma- 
 culate Conception, the 
 dogma and observance, 
 how painted, Univer- 
 sity, 196 ; churches, 
 198 ; plazas and pro- 
 menades, 199 ; La Fe- 
 ria, 200 ; markets, La 
 Cuna, gipsies, 201 ; 
 Savalo, Buena Vista, 
 Macarena, 202 ; La 
 Sangre, salitres, 203 ; 
 Canos de Carmona, 
 
 SIEGE. 
 
 Fundicion, Bula de 
 Crusada, 204 ; Bara- 
 teros, 205 ; Fabrica de 
 Tabacos, cigars, snuff, 
 Quemadero, Inquisi- 
 tion, 206 ; catacombs, 
 Allhalloween, walks, 
 208 ; San Telmo, Torre 
 del Oro, Atarazanas, 
 bacalao, 209 ; Bull- 
 fights, quays, 210 ; 
 bridges, Triana, 211 ; 
 La Cartuja, Italica, 
 213; oranges and olives, 
 214 
 
 Seville to Almaden, 216 
 
 to Badajoz, 248 
 
 — — to Cadiz, by water, 
 153 
 
 to Cadiz, by land, 
 
 155 
 
 to Granada by Cor- 
 dova, 256 
 
 — — to Granada by Jaen, 
 258 
 
 to Granada by Osu- 
 
 na, 254 
 
 to Madrid, 221 
 
 — — ■ to Niebla, 164 
 
 to Rio Tinto, 216 
 
 to Ronda by Ecija, 
 
 260 
 
 to Ronda by Ol- 
 vera, 260 
 
 to Xerez, 161 
 
 to Ronda by Za- 
 
 hara, 260 
 
 Shaking Sp. Ladies’ 
 hands, 122 
 Shant Yakob, 605 
 
 Pelay, 639 
 
 Sheep-shearing, 772 
 Shepherd Guide, mira- 
 culous, 236 
 Sherry wines, 157 
 Shooting tour, 47 
 Shops at Madrid, 668 
 Sicuendes, 807 
 Siege of Algeciras, 152, 
 
 of Badajoz, 468 
 
 of Baza, 343 
 
 of Burgos, 849 
 
 of Ciudad Rodrigo, 
 
 508 
 
 of Gerona, 435 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 989 
 
 SIEGE. 
 
 Siege of Gibraltar, 273 
 
 of Numantia, 943 
 
 of Pamplona, 955 
 
 of Tarragona, 400 
 
 of S n Sebastian, 
 
 899 
 
 of Zaragoza, 917 
 
 Sierra, 30 
 
 Sierra de Gador, 331 
 
 del Puerco, 144 
 
 Morena, 221 
 
 Nevada, 329 
 
 , ascent of, 327 
 
 Siesta, 668 
 Siete Suelos, 314 
 Sigiienza, 832 
 
 , work of, 497, 751 
 
 Sil, the, 543 
 Silius Italicus, 212 
 Silkworms, 328 
 Silla del Key, 763 
 Sillas correo, mails, 22 
 Silos, 315, 556 
 
 , S° Domingo de, 841 
 
 Silversmiths of Santiago, 
 611 
 
 Silverwork, 575 
 Simancas, 564 
 
 , archives plundered 
 
 and burnt by the F., 
 564 
 
 Simon de Montfort, 207 
 Simulacros y Imagenes, 
 49 
 
 Single combats, 546 
 Sin Pecados, 194 
 Sitios reales, 742 
 Skelton, T. (Don Quix- 
 ote), 241 
 
 Skerret, Col., 150, 400, 
 896,958 
 
 Sketching precautions, 13 
 Slidell, Mr., book, 389 
 Slings, 267 
 Smith, C. Felix, 150 
 Smugglers of Ronda, 252 
 Smuggling, Sp., 393 
 Snails, 339 
 Snake broth, 143 
 Snake eating, 710 
 Snare, Mr., 689 
 Sobrado, 539, 600 
 Socorros de Espana, 57, 
 127, 139, 144, 156, 
 
 467, 485, 500, 509, 
 
 
 SOULT. 
 
 514, 
 
 562, 
 
 595, 596. 
 
 623, 
 
 850, 
 
 871, 885. 
 
 886, 
 
 898, 
 
 899, 918, 
 
 959 
 
 
 
 Solan de Cabras, 817 
 Solano, wind, 134 
 Soldados de Pavia, 210 
 Soldier and gentleman, 
 E., 82 
 
 Soldiers, Sp., 894, 896, 
 
 954 
 
 , F., 897 
 
 Solis, A., 646 
 Sollo, el, 202 
 Sol, Maria, 856 
 Sol, puesta del, 668 
 Solsona, 427 
 Somaten, 949 
 Somatenes, 419 
 Sombrero, gacho, 119 
 Somorostro, 888 
 Somosierra, battle of, 
 
 , defeat S., 838 
 
 Sopones, 518 
 Sorauren, 955 
 Soria, 943 
 
 • to Tudela, 942 
 
 Soto de Roma, 257, 325 
 Soubrie, Seiior, 570 
 Soul, saving the Sp., 712 
 Soult, Marshal, defeat, 
 Albuera, 250 
 
 at Banos, 500 
 
 at Corunna, 595 
 
 at Leon, 551 
 
 at Oporto, 624 
 
 at Orense, 624 
 
 at Tuy, 623 
 
 defeats and ra- 
 vages, 170, 204, 212, 
 213, 254, 494, 541, 
 
 552, 592, 672, 837, 
 859, 871, 895, 955, 
 958 
 
 — desecration, 182, 
 197, 201, 203, 246 
 , hesitation, 514, 592, 
 
 955 
 
 , jealous of Sebasti- 
 
 ani, 294 
 
 , origin, 956 
 
 , art plunder of, 170 
 
 177, 180, 190, 254 
 — — , sale of plunder, 191 
 , talents, 955 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Soult, victory, Ocana, 245 
 Soult’s brother, 348 
 Sounds in sepulchres, 551 
 Southampton to Cadiz, 
 130 
 
 Southey, history, 80 
 
 at Merida, 473 
 
 Spagnoletto, 359, 375 
 Spain, geography, 28 
 , excellencies and at- 
 tractions, 7, 8, 27, 36, 
 37, 39, 46, 49, 55, 56, 
 64, 78, 112, 117, 118, 
 137, 438, 673, 671, 
 674, 879 
 
 and Spaniards, 12, 
 
 36, 297 
 
 — — , architecture, 55 
 
 , bad government, 8, 
 
 28, 74, 209, 293 (see 
 Juntas, Cortes.) 
 
 , baths, 40, 291 
 
 , beggars, 120, 185 
 
 , books, 85 
 
 , bull-fights, 88-100 
 
 — — , cigars, 109, 206 
 
 , clergy, 189 
 
 , climate, 29, 32, 37, 
 
 149 
 
 — — , co-operation, 144, 
 and see Socorros. 
 
 , costumes, 110, 111, 
 
 117, 120 
 
 , dances, 102, 104 
 
 , defeats, 130, 146, 
 
 148, 235, 245, 247, 
 
 248, 250, 273, 289, 
 344, 347, 367, 386, 
 
 407, 437, 467, 477, 
 559, 594, 621, 635, 
 799, 807, 839, 869, 
 918, 920, 941 
 
 , documents, 76 
 
 , Espanolismo, 12, 
 
 33, 65, 79, 87, 118, 
 235, 289, 417, 648, 
 
 678 
 
 for herself, 677 
 
 , forms of courtesy, 
 
 122 
 
 , geography, 27 
 
 , geology, 42, 127, 
 
 426 
 
 , grandiloquence, 65, 
 
 127, 138, 239 
 2 x 
 
990 
 
 SPAIN'. 
 
 Spain, heraldry, 64 
 
 , how to deal with 
 
 Sp., 278 
 
 , Illustrado, el, 46 
 
 , images and idols, 
 
 49, 51 
 
 , inns, 24 
 
 , ingratitude, 133, 
 
 163, 213, 240, 280 
 — , inquisition, 206 
 
 , Jesuits, 424 
 
 , language, 64 
 
 ~, Mariolatry, 53, 128, 
 
 194, 195, 247, 325, 
 364, 371, 398, 413, 
 419, 422 
 
 , military works, 78 
 
 , mines, 339, 341 
 
 , money, 15, 16, 633 
 
 , mountains, divi- 
 sion into zones, 28 
 
 , murder crosses, 263, 
 
 359 
 
 , music, 102, 157 
 
 , national resistance, 
 
 grand, 78, 79, 435, 
 679 
 
 , nationality, treason 
 
 to, 677 
 
 , navy, 141, 350, 598 
 
 , neighbour, hatred 
 
 of, 620, 799, 926 
 , nosotros, preten- 
 sions of, 70, 78, 133, 
 145, 151, 232, 236, 
 
 333, 354, 417, 565 
 
 , painting, 54 
 
 , palabras, 65, 139, 
 
 127 
 
 , paucity of great 
 
 men, 139, 519, 953 
 , people of, fine qua- 
 lities, 8, 12, 27, 36, 79, 
 116, 118, 127, 139, 
 
 235, 237, 393, 546, 
 
 655, 678, 879, 895 
 , picturesque barba- 
 rians, 5, 46 
 
 , Punica fides, 99, 
 
 234, 236, 358, 386 
 
 , rails, 741 
 
 , repudiation, 1 34, 
 
 734 
 
 , religion, 120 
 
 , resignation, 7 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 STIRLING 
 
 Spain rivals, hatred of, 
 956 
 
 , rivers, 28, 30 
 
 , robbers, 26 
 
 , self-love, 87, 125, 
 
 422, 670, 839, 876 
 
 , sculpture, 51 
 
 , short-lived great- 
 ness of, 87 
 
 , smuggling, 252, 
 
 393 
 
 , tendency to monk- 
 hood, 231, 406, 419, 
 422, 498 
 
 , test of, 7 
 
 — , theatre, 101 
 
 , truth, Eng., a libel, 
 
 8, 73, 125, 683 
 
 , twaddle, 65, 73, 119, 
 
 646 
 
 , weakness, 1 5, 23, 
 
 87, 125, 558, 623, 727 
 
 , winels, 37, 157, 242, 
 
 287, 388 
 
 , women, 
 
 112 
 
 
 worthies of, 
 
 149. 
 
 168, 191, 
 
 256, 
 
 320, 
 
 375, 424, 
 
 467, 
 
 477. 
 
 478, 479, 
 
 555, 
 
 571, 
 
 648, 678, 
 
 686, 
 
 691, 
 
 826, 854, 917 
 
 
 , victories, 149, 169, 
 
 232, 236, 255, 272, 
 290, 295, 389, 565, 
 
 648, 751, 759, 895, 
 921, 951, 961 
 2 orav/a, 70, 269, 847 
 Spanoclista, 575 
 Spinola, Genl., 690 
 Spolia opima, 868 
 Standish, Mr., 158,826 
 Stanhope, Genl., 831, 
 916, 921 
 
 Stanzioni, 525, 699 
 Staremberg, Genl., 832 
 Steam communications, 
 18 
 
 Steamers, Sp. invention 
 of, 417 
 
 Sterility, cure for, 381, 
 427, 902 
 
 Stew of Rice, miracle, 
 379 
 
 Stirling, W., books, 72, 
 499, 684 
 
 TALAVERA. 
 
 Stock exchange, S., 733 
 Stones, softened, 829 
 
 , sermons in, 263 
 
 Stork, the, 474 
 Strachan, Adml., 618 
 Straits of Gibraltar, 148 
 Subjects for authors, 35 
 Sublime of destruction, 
 547 
 
 Suchet, Marshal, vandal- 
 isms, 375, 385, 400, 
 405, 422, 916, 922 
 Sueca, 382 
 
 Suero de Quinones, 545 
 Sugar-cane, 289 
 Suicide, 569 
 Su Majestad, 823 
 Sumbilla, 958 
 Sun of Spain, 91, 143, 
 741 
 
 — -, course arrested, 
 218, 791 
 
 Superstition, Valencia, 
 364 
 
 Suria, 426 
 Sweetmeats, 355 
 Swords, of Spain, 724, 
 797 
 
 , marks on, 798 
 
 Synagogue, 275 
 Syros, 315 
 
 T. 
 
 Taas, 329 
 
 Tabaco de fraile, 206 
 Tabardillo, el, 200 
 Tablada, 210 
 Tablas, las, 93 
 Tabula post Naufragium, 
 423 
 
 Tacca, P., 718 
 Tadmor, 338 
 Tafalla, 951 
 Tagarete, el, 209 
 Tagus, 493 
 
 , source of, 817 
 
 Tajo, el, de Ronda, 261 
 Taking off hat, import- 
 ance of, 14 
 Talas, 462 
 
 Talavera la Vieja, 483 
 
 Real, 472 
 
 de la Reina, 484 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 991 
 
 TALAVERA. 
 
 Talavera, the battle, 
 Cuesta’s misconduct, 
 485 
 
 Talca, 212 
 Talega, 641 
 Talismans, 611 
 Tambourine, 104 
 Tambre, tbe, 600 
 Tangiers, 279 
 Tanto Monta, 63 
 Tapadas, las, 150 
 Tapers, green, 848 
 Tapia, 162 
 Tarancon, 807 
 Taranzona, 942 
 Tarif for landing from 
 steamers, 19 
 Tarifa, siege, 149 
 Tarifenas, las, 150 
 Tarik, 272 
 Tarkish, 49 
 Tarragona, 400 
 — — , siege of, 400 
 
 to Barcelona, 406 
 
 — — to Tortosa, 399 
 
 to Valencia, 386 
 
 Tartana, 368 
 Tartessus, 126 
 Tauromaquia, 88 
 Tauromaquian terms, 92, 
 97 
 
 Taza de plata, 132 
 Tea, la, 197 
 'Teba, 264 
 Tecla, Santa, 403 
 Telegraph, electric, 669, 
 740 
 
 Telmo, San, 209, 622 
 Tembleque, 244 
 Templars, the order, 
 355 
 
 , ch. of, 531 
 
 Tendido, el, 92 
 Tendilla, 818 
 — , Conde de, 313 
 Tenebrario, el, 180 
 Teniers, D., 705 
 Tenorio, Juan, 201 
 Tent wine, 139 
 Tentudia, 218 
 Tepentes Buxus, 187 
 Tera, river, 542 
 Teresa, S a , 603, 722 
 
 , life, miracles, and 
 
 works, 745 
 
 TINAJAS. 
 
 Terno, from St. Paul’s, 
 370, 404 
 
 Terra cottas, 287 
 Terraza, la, 265 
 Terrorism, F., 600, 678, 
 843, 844, 940 
 Tertiary rocks of Spain, 
 44 
 
 Tertius Rex, 572 
 Tertulia, la, 101 
 
 , medical, 713 
 
 Tertulianos, los, 101 
 Teruel, 819 
 
 to Calatayud, 820 
 
 to Cuenca, 819 
 
 to Valencia, 824 
 
 Tesoro escondido, 646 
 Test of fire, 791 
 Testarudo, 905 
 Tetuan, 279 
 Teucer, 589 
 Texo, el, 749 
 Theatre, Sp., 101, 735 
 Thebais of Spain, 540 
 Tliegrim, 292 
 Theodoric, 351 
 Theology, books in Sp., 
 521 
 
 Theoto-cupoli, see el 
 Greco, 781 
 
 Thibeault, Genl., 857 
 Thiers, Mons., Historical 
 Romances, 76, 618, 
 
 678 
 
 on Bailen, 235 
 
 on Trafalgar, 147 
 
 on Nelson, 77 
 
 on Wellington, 77, 
 
 81 
 
 , Sp., opinion of, 147 
 
 — — settled by Napier, 
 81 
 
 Thomieres, 512, 929 
 Threshing-floors, 245 
 Tia Antonia, 300 
 Tibi, 356 
 
 Tierra Caliente, 30 
 
 de la Santisima, 
 
 128, 195 
 
 de Campos, 505, 
 
 556 
 
 Tilli, M. de, 738 
 
 , Count, 233 
 
 Timber, planting, 653 
 Tinajas de Totana, 345 
 
 TORRE TURPIANA. 
 
 Tinoso, el, 672 
 Tinto, 139 
 Tintoretto, 698 
 Tio Jorge, 917 
 Tioda, 639 
 
 Tirante lo Blanc, 375 
 Tirso, S’., 639 
 
 de Molina, 201 
 
 Tisona, la, 856 
 Titian, 696, 698 
 Titles, Sp., 124 
 Toboso, el, 244, 802 
 Tocador de la Reina, 308 
 Tocino, 464 
 Tofino, V., 131 
 Toldo, 173 
 
 Toledo to Aranjuez, 799 
 
 to Madrid, 103 
 
 , J. B. de, 751 
 
 Toledan clergy, 796 
 
 swords, 797 
 
 Tolosa, 880 
 
 to Irun, 898 
 
 — — to Pamplona, 957 
 
 Tomar el fresco, 136 
 Tomb of Scipio, 402 
 Tombs, Christian, 833 
 Tooth of St. Christopher, 
 370 
 
 Torcal, el, 265 
 Torcuato, San, 342 
 Tordesillas, 561 
 
 , G. de, 561, 572 
 
 Toreno, Conde, 79, 633, 
 644 
 
 Torquemada, 584 
 
 , Card., 568 
 
 Toril, el, 92 
 Tormes, the, 515 
 Toro, 560 
 
 , vino de, 518 
 
 Toros de Cuerda, 90 
 
 da Ronda, 262 
 
 de Guisando, 743 
 
 749 
 
 Torre de Breny, 423 
 
 de los Escipiones 
 
 402 
 
 Farfan, F. de, 167 
 
 de Hercules, 593 
 
 del Oro, 172, 209 
 
 del Pico, 313 
 
 de la Vela, 303 
 
 Lodones, 585 
 
 turpiana, 322 
 
 2x2 
 
992 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND IL 
 
 TORREDEMBARRA. 
 
 Torredembarra, 407 
 Torrejon de Ardoz, 825 
 Torremolinos, 283 
 Torres Bermejas, 301 
 Torrigiano, P., 193 
 Torrijos, Gen. 286 
 Torta Francesa, 204 
 Tortells, 410 
 Tortosa, 396 
 
 to Tarragona, 399 
 
 Tostado, el, 745 
 Totana, 345 
 
 Tours in Sp., various, 34, 
 41 
 
 for naturalists, 41 
 
 for summer, 45 
 
 Trafalgar, the Victory, 
 145 
 
 , Buonaparte on, 147 
 
 , Thiers on, 147 
 
 Tragacete, 817 
 Tragedy, S„ 735 
 Transubstantiation, 822 
 Trasparente, el, 59 
 Trasparente of Leon, 548 
 
 * of Toledo, 788 
 
 Trastamara, H. de, 862 
 Treachery, Sp., 892 
 Treasure hunting, 620 
 Tree, venerated, 889 
 Trees, antipathy to, Sp., 
 653 
 
 Tres puentes, los, 427 
 
 • Tours, 410 
 
 Sorellas, las, 933 
 
 Tre velez, 331 
 Trezzo, G., 754 
 Triana, 171, 211 
 Tribagia, 187 
 Tribunal of Irrigation, 
 361 
 
 del repeso, 368 
 
 Tribute of virgins, 556 
 Trigueros, 165 
 Trillo, 83], 832 
 — — , el, 245 
 Trinkets, Arragonese, 
 914 
 
 Triunfo, el, 211 
 Trocadero, 140 
 Trou de Toro, 940 
 
 de Geneou, 940 
 
 Trout-fishing, 48 
 Trujillo, 478 
 to Plasencia, 495 
 
 URGEL. 
 
 Truth, E., unpopular in 
 Sp., 8, 73, 87, 683 
 
 , English, 82, 667 
 
 Tsefysa, 229 
 Tubal, 928 
 Tudela, 941 
 
 to Logrono, 944 
 
 to Soria, 942 
 
 to Zaragoza, 941 
 
 del Duero, 585 
 
 Tudense, el, 623 
 Tudelilla, 908, 917 
 Tumbos, 638 
 Tunante, 518 
 Tunnies, 145 
 Tupper, Mr., 367 
 Turba deorum, 380 
 Turia, river, 361 
 Turkey and Truffle, 425 
 Turres Hannibalis, 162 
 Turriano, J., 497 
 Turrones, 355 
 Tutear, el, 12^ 
 
 Tutelars, local, 364 
 
 of Barcelona, 413 
 
 of Tarragona, 403 
 
 Tuy, 622 
 
 Twaddle, Sp., 65, 73, 
 119, 646 
 
 U. 
 
 Ubeda, 336 
 Ucles, battle of, 807 
 Udina, G., da, 309 
 Ujijar, 331 
 Ukert, F. A., 73 
 Urraca, Queen, 530 
 Ultimo sospiro del Moro, 
 328 
 
 Ummeyah, dynasty, 225 
 Undertakers, Sp., 281 
 U niversity of Seville, 196 
 Unto del Ombre, 805 
 Urbina, defeat of Sp. 
 
 Genl. 247 
 Urdax, 960 
 
 to Zaragoza, 928 
 
 Urgel, 427 
 
 to Barcelona, 418 
 
 to Bonaigua, 430 
 
 to Gerona, 430 
 
 to Montluis, 428 
 
 to Tarascon, 429 
 
 VAN HALEN. 
 
 Urquhart, Mr. David, 271 
 L T sted, V., 124 
 Utiel, 813 
 Utrera, 159 
 Uva passa, 287 
 
 V. 
 
 V. Usted, 124 
 Vago Italiano, 73 
 Val Paraiso, 529 
 Valcarlos, 962 
 Valdios, 462 
 Valdelvira, P. de, 336 
 Valdemoro, 246 
 Valdepenas, wine, 242 
 
 to Almaden, 246 
 
 Valencia, the kingdom of 
 360, 366 
 
 , books on, 365 
 
 , city ; cathedral and 
 
 painters, 376 
 
 , saints and miracles, 
 
 379 
 
 to Cuenca, 813 
 
 to Madrid, 802 
 
 — — to Murviedro, 383 
 
 to Tarragona, 386 
 
 to Teruel, 824 
 
 to Xativa, 359 
 
 ■ de Leon, 218 
 
 Valencian cuisine, 362 
 
 costume, 365 
 
 stockings, 365 
 
 writers, 363 
 
 Valentias, 362 
 Valido, el, 577 
 Valladolid, 566; F. "Ra- 
 vages, Museo, Painted 
 Sculpture, Juni, Her- 
 nandez, the Christ of 
 the vine stock, the 
 D’Arphes’ silver work, 
 Plaza Mayor, Campo 
 Grande, 578 
 
 Valladolid to Burgos, 584 
 
 to Madrid, 584, 585 
 
 to Santander, 581 
 
 Valle de Aran, 428, 939 
 Valloria, 526 
 Vails, 405 
 Valsain, 7 66 
 Vamos alia, 205 
 Van Halen, J., 399 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II, 
 
 993 
 
 VANDA. 
 
 Vanda, la, 63, 298 
 Vandolino, el, 225 
 Vandyke, 705 
 Vaporoso style, 191 
 Vaqueros, 630 
 Vargas, L. de, 174, 181 
 Varia Commensuracion, 
 576 
 
 Varon, Baron, 603 
 Vedel, Genl., at Bailen, 
 233 
 
 Vega, 324 
 
 Vega de Lauro, 622 
 
 Vegas, 291 
 
 of Granada, 296, 
 
 302 
 
 Veguerias, 395 
 Vejer, the insurrection, 
 147 
 
 Velad Arrum, 225 
 Veladas, 61, 200 
 Vela, Mons r . Simon, 503 
 Velarde, P., 678 
 Velazquez, 673, 687, 893 
 Velasco, P. H. de, 845 
 Velez Malaga, 289 
 — — el Rubio, 344 
 Velilla, 919 
 Velo, 173 
 
 Vendome, Due de, 388, 
 831 
 
 Vendrell, 407 
 Venegas, Sp. Genl., de- 
 feat, 799, 807 
 Veneras, the, 606 
 Venere Callipige, 103 
 Venido en coche, 122 
 Venta, 24 
 Ventisqueros, 327 
 Venus Salambo, 175 
 Venysollo, 383 
 Vera, 958 
 Vergara, 879 . 
 
 — — capitulation of, 879 
 Verneuil, Mons. de, 42, 
 962 
 
 Veronese, P., 698 
 Veronica, Santa, 258 
 Versailles en Espanol, 
 766 
 
 Vetus du climat, 202 
 Viaje de Espana, 73 
 Viardot, Mons., 184, 686 
 Viatico, el, 823 
 Vibar, 857 
 
 VIRGIN. 
 
 Vicente, San, his crow, 
 199 
 
 Vicente de Ferrer, San, 
 364, 378 
 
 Victor, Marshal, vic- 
 tories, defeats, and 
 ravages, 133, 140, 144, 
 150, 807 
 
 at Medellin, 477 
 
 Talavera, 485 
 
 , Buonaparte on, 141 
 
 Victorian, San, 934 
 Victoires et Conquetes, 
 F., 76 
 Vid, la, 842 
 Vidrieras, 60 
 Vieja, la, old site, 228 
 Vielsa, 940 
 Vierzo, el, 539 
 
 , excursions in, 543 
 
 Vignemale, 932 
 Vigo, 621 
 — , sack of, 621 
 Villafranca de Panades, 
 407 
 
 Villafranca del Vierzo, 
 538 
 
 to Cangas de Tineo, 
 
 630 
 
 Villalar, 561 
 Villa Sirga, 557 
 Villalpando, 560 
 Villarente, 554 
 Villamil, G. P., 57 
 Villanueva del Rio, 216, 
 221 
 
 Villa Viciosa, 642, 832 
 Villena, 353 
 
 Villeneuve, Admiral, F., 
 147, 618 
 
 Villena’ s hall, 526 
 Vellido Dolphos, 530 
 Villo-domat, Antonio, 
 414, 416 
 
 Villoutreys, F., Genl., 
 231 
 
 Vinaroz, 388 
 Vino de Toro, 518 
 Vino moro, 242 
 Vique, 431 
 
 Virgen Aparecida, 211 
 — — de la Antigua, 181 
 
 de Atocha, 711 
 
 de las Batallas, 841 
 
 — — del Pez, 695 
 
 WAR. 
 
 Virgen de los Desampara- 
 dos, 364 
 
 del Prado, 247 
 
 Virgin of Monserrat, 419 
 
 , Miracles, books on, 
 
 421 
 
 Virgins, the eleven thou- 
 sand, 337 
 
 Virgin’s image, 793 
 
 feet not shown, 525 
 
 milk, 615, 637, 692 
 
 worship, 364, 912, 
 
 and see Mariolatry 
 Viril, 59 
 
 Visiting, hints on Sp. 
 
 forms of, 122, 123 
 Viso, 221 
 Vista Alegre, 739 
 Vitambena, 550 
 Vitores, San, 859 
 Vitoria, 878 
 
 battle of, 866 
 
 to Bilbao, 883 
 
 to Burgos, 864 
 
 to Irun, 879 
 
 to Pamplona, 881 
 
 Viva Pravia, 628, 641 
 Vivarambla, 317 
 Vivianus, 545, 624 
 Vocales, 138, 738 
 Volapie, el, 97 
 Volcanic district, 348, 
 817 
 
 Voragine, J., legends, 
 75 
 
 Vos, M. de, 193 
 Votive tablets, 199, 913 
 Vultures, Sp. under- 
 takers, 281 
 
 W. 
 
 Wafer turns flesh, 591 
 
 Wa la ghaliba ilia Allah, 
 298 
 
 Walking in Sp. streets, 
 122 
 
 Wall, Richard, 298 
 
 Walmsley, Sir Joshua, 
 628 
 
 Want, first want of Sp., 
 633, 726 
 
 War, E, and F., of giants 
 in Sp., 46 
 
994 
 
 INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II, 
 
 WAR. 
 
 War in Sp., F., 897 
 War, poetic form, 950 
 War inter se, Sp., 947 
 Wardrobe, Virgin’s, 914 
 Washington Irving, 163 
 Way-warden, S., 589 
 Weights and Measures, 
 Sp., 71 
 
 Welcome, of Sp., 925 
 Wellesley, Lord, 176 
 Wellington, Duke, cha- 
 racter of, 81, 82 
 , armies, 838 
 
 — at Lesaca, 958 
 
 at Madrid, 719 
 
 at Maya, 959 
 
 at Sn. Marcial, 896 
 
 at Sorauren, 955 
 
 at Talavera, 485 
 
 at Vitoria, 866 
 
 compared to Buona- 
 parte, 81 
 
 — — criticised by Napier, 
 81 
 
 , deeds, 897 
 
 — , dispatches, 81 
 
 , estate near Granada, 
 
 326 
 
 , F. opinion of, 76, 
 
 77, 837, 892 
 
 , great want, on the, 
 
 ofSp., 726 
 
 , his Anglo French, 
 
 892 _ 
 
 his own editor, 82 
 
 , hatred of pillage, 
 
 82, 891, 867 
 
 — — , love of truth, 81, 
 667 
 
 , master mind, 955 
 
 , modesty, 892 
 
 on Afrancesados, 
 
 923 
 
 on Albuera, 250 
 
 on Bailen, 235 
 
 on Ballesteros, 649 
 
 on Barrosa, 144 
 
 on Cortes of Cadiz, 
 
 138 
 
 on defence of Tari- 
 
 fa, 150 
 
 — on defending Cadiz, 
 133 
 
 on Ferdinand VII. 
 
 436 
 
 WINES. 
 
 Wellington on F. bulle- 
 tins, 75 
 
 on F. parole, 77 
 
 on libels, 680 
 
 on Ocaiia, 245 
 
 on politics of Jun- 
 tas, 139 
 
 on Sir John Mur- 
 ray’s failures, 353, 401 
 
 on Sp. documents, 
 
 79 
 
 on Sp. guerrilleros, 
 
 252, 950 
 
 on Sp. officers, 145, 
 
 235, 245, 256,356, 386, 
 538, 950 
 
 ph the salvation of, 
 
 Sp., 78 
 
 on the want of great 
 
 men in Sp., 139, 850 
 
 , opinion on Sp., 6,1 5 
 
 , presence, effect of, 
 
 895, 955, 
 
 , repulse at Burgos, 
 
 849 
 
 , respect for churches, 
 
 853 
 
 , temper, 900 
 
 , victories, 468, 484, 
 
 508,510, 511, 512,719, 
 866, 896, 900,955,959 
 Wells, Sp., women at, 
 628 
 
 Wetherell, Mr., 208 
 What not to observe in 
 Sp., 34 
 Wheat, 654 
 
 Wheel, miraculous, 821 
 Whigs on Talavera, 486 
 White bait, 715 
 Widdrington (Cooke) 
 Capt., 617, 683, 894 
 Wilfred el Velloso, 418, 
 905 
 
 Williams, Don Julian, 
 166 
 
 Wilson, Sir B., 499 
 Wimbleton, Lord, 133 
 Windmills, Don Quix- 
 ote’s, 244 
 
 Wine-making, Sp., 388 
 Wines of Malaga, 287 
 
 of Montilla, 224 
 
 of Valdepenas, 242 
 
 of Xerez, 157 
 
 ZANCARRON. 
 
 Wit, Sp., 671 
 Woodcocks, 47 
 Wool of Segovia, 772 
 Woman, Sp., 661 
 Working mines, 341 
 Worth a million, 825 
 Wylde, Col., 886 
 
 X. 
 
 Xanas, 632 
 Xamete, 811 
 Xantippa, Santa, 223 
 Xativa, 357 
 
 to Alicante, 355 
 
 to Elche, 353 
 
 to Valencia, 359 
 
 Xenil, 316 
 Xerez, 156 
 
 to Ronda, 263 
 
 to Seville, 161 
 
 de los Caballeros, 
 
 218 
 
 Xijona, 355 
 Ximena, 278, 856 
 
 , Dona, 857 
 
 Ximenez, Card., 628,791, 
 826, 828 
 Xiquena, 344 
 
 y. 
 
 Yanez, Hernando, 812 
 Yecla, 353 
 
 Yellow, Judas Iscariot 
 in, 51 
 Yepes, 799 
 
 , A. de, 578 
 
 Yuste, 497 
 
 , visit to, 499 
 
 Yusuf I., 298 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zacatin, 316 
 Zafra, 248, 487 
 Zaguan, el, 173 
 Zahara, 260 
 Zamarra, 113 
 Zamora, 529 
 
 , Bp. of, hung, 564 
 
 Zancarron, 229 
 
INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. 
 
 995 
 
 ZAPATEO. 
 
 Zapateo, 104 
 Zaporta, casa de, 915 
 Zaragoza, 906 ; Aljaferia, 
 Canal, El Coso, El 
 Pilar, 910 ; Maid of, 
 915; Mariolatry, 914 ; 
 old cathedral, 908 ; 
 Santiago and Pilgrims, 
 siege and sackings, 919 
 Zaragoza to Barcelona, 
 919 
 
 — — to Gistain, 937 
 to Huesca, 934 
 
 zoil. 
 
 Zaragoza to Madrid, 825 
 
 to Pamplona, 951 
 
 — — to Tudela, 941 
 
 to Urdax, 928 
 
 , Virgin adoration, 
 
 912 
 
 Zarcillo, F., 347 
 Zarinenas, the, 376 
 Zegris, the, 292 
 Zeigler, his book, 33 
 Zeviya, 166 
 Zincali, 201 
 Zoil, S., 556 
 
 Z QRGTJEN. 
 
 Zones of Sp., 28 
 Zorayah, the frail, 292, 
 315 
 
 Zuazo, pnente de, 141 
 Zubia, 329 
 Zubiaur, B., 854 
 Zubiri, 955 
 
 Zumalacarregui, 880, 
 886, 947 
 
 Zuniga, annals, 167 
 Zurbaran,F., 192,482,693 
 Zurbano, death, 947 
 Zurguen, 527 
 
 It is hoped that all who can speak from personal knowledge, will obligingly 
 communicate to the Publisher, 50, Albemarle-street, any new information, 
 corrections, &c., by which these pages may be rendered more useful and 
 accurate. Meanwhile, gentle reader, 
 
 Be to their merits very kind. 
 
 And to their faults a little blind. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 

V 
 
 
 
 G~X 6