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 LIBRARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 JOHN & ANNA GILLESPIE
 
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 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN
 
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 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
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 BARCELONA, MADRID, TOLEDO 
 CORDOVA, SEVILLE, GRANADA 
 
 BY 
 
 FREDERICK H. A. SEYMOUR 
 
 WITH TWENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY 
 
 31 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 
 1906
 
 {All rights reserved.)
 
 Preface 
 
 FOR many reasons, the author of these pages 
 decided to limit his tour in Spain to but a 
 small portion of the Peninsula. He was desirous 
 chiefly of visiting those Cities where the Moors 
 had founded their greatest seats. And therefore 
 Andalucia forms the greater portion of the volume. 
 There is no country in Europe where hasty travel- 
 ling is more to be deprecated. What is called a 
 "scamper through Spain," leads to no profitable 
 result. Not only is the Country so vast, but the 
 distinctions of Race, and the divergencies of 
 language are so marked, that each day of travel 
 convinces the least observant that the term "Spain" 
 is indeed a geographical expression. The Spaniards 
 never talk of a " Spain." It is with them " Las 
 Espanas." 
 
 Even if you call a Spaniard, a Spanish "Hidalgo," 
 he is not flattered. He is a Catalonian : he is a 
 Castillan : he is an Andalucian (as the case may 
 be). These strong marked idiosyncrasies, — this 
 provincio-mania : this superb parochialism of theirs,
 
 6 PREFACE 
 
 greatly enhances the interesting character of the 
 country, from whatever point of view it be 
 regarded. It, nevertheless, has continued greatly 
 to retard the political development. For the 
 Spanish Provinces with their idiosyncrasies of 
 race, language, and customs, and with their mutual 
 jealousies and suspicions, have rendered real union 
 impossible. 
 
 Such things make it difficult for the foreigner to 
 acquire a real knowledge of the country as a whole, 
 or to make much progress in an ever-varying 
 language. From the Basque Provinces to Granada, 
 you will encounter almost as many tongues as were 
 prevalent at Babel. 
 
 At Madrid, e.g., you have picked up a little 
 choice Castillan, (the Spanish equivalent of the 
 "lingua Toscana in bocca Romana,") and upon 
 stepping over to Seville, you find yourself not 
 " understanded " of the people. A man of Toledo, 
 again, cannot comprehend a Sevillan, — and so 
 forth. 
 
 Thus, many of the anomalies and contradictions, 
 which become so apparent as you go on in your 
 travels, may be explained by such ethnological 
 diversities. 
 
 So many Races have poured themselves forth 
 upon the Peninsula, from every point of the com- 
 pass, that Spain may be regarded as a conglomera- 
 tion of nations. In this regard she is the exact 
 counterpart of Sicily. The same Races in the 
 same order have descended upon her. 
 
 For the Normans, substitute the Vandals and the
 
 PREFACE 7 
 
 Visigoths, and the parallel seems complete. It is 
 an astonishing retrospect ! 
 
 How many great names belonging to these 
 nations have indelibly inscribed themselves upon 
 her varied history, and how magnificent are the 
 heroes that have swayed her shifting fortunes !
 
 Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Historical Sketch of the Moorish Occupation of 
 Spain . . . . . . .21 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Barcelona . . . . . . -63 
 
 The Moors— The Wise Men of the East— "The Traveller 
 wishes to get upon their track " — A Spanish Manchester — The 
 Rambla a City-centre — Flower-market — Ethnological peculiari- 
 ties of inhabitants — Paseo de Gracia, Chief Promenade — Hill of 
 S. Pedro Martir — The Montagna — View of Montserrat — The 
 Game of Spanish Tennis — Commercial Prosperity — Merchant- 
 Princes — Their embellishment of the City — Churches of the 
 10th Century— The Cathedral— Church S. Maria del Mar- 
 Mediaeval Palaces — Casa Consistorial — Casa de la Disputacion 
 — Casa Lonja — Relics of Roman Power. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Madrid . . . . . . .72 
 
 An attractive City — Puerta del Sol, much the reverse, and a 
 " Pandemonium " — Avoid Hotel de la Paix — Pleasing change to 
 the Hotel de Rome — Royal Palace — The Plaza thereof — Guard- 
 mounting — The Armoury — Historical memories and records — 
 The Accademiade San Fernando — " The Junta in Session " — The 
 three great Murillos — Obstacles and Hindrances to studying 
 them — Other Pictures here. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 The Museo del Prado . . . . .89 
 
 What is to be seen here — Preponderance of Velasquez — 
 Murillo and Ribera — Quantity, rather than quality as regards 
 Murillo — Zurbaran — Other Spanish Masters — Titian's pre- 
 
 9
 
 10 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ponderance, a " revelation " — Raphaels — Tintorettos — Paul 
 Veronese — Astonishing numbers of " Luca-fa-presto," and 
 Rubens — Antonio Moro — J. V. Eyck — Beauty of Rembrandt's 
 one Portrait — Thirty-one Vandykes — Two thousand works 
 here — Deficiencies and Absence of Florentine and Lombard 
 Artists, and of the lesser Venetians, and of the Bolognese — 
 Several Galleries more comprehensive and representative than 
 the Prado — Many Pictures from the collection of Charles I — 
 Our gratitude to Philip IV — The love of Art covers a multitude 
 of sins — Titian's Pictures — Notices and comments — Murillo, 
 Ribera, or Lo Spagnaletto ; Rubens — Velasquez — Zurbaran — 
 Other Spanish " Lights "— S. Coello, his Portrait of the Infanta 
 Isabel — Anecdote of her and the siege of Ostend — Other 
 S. Coellos — Pantoja — Religious Art of Spain previously to Velas- 
 quez — Antonio Rincon — Moralez — Juanez — Absence of Spanish 
 Landscape-painters — Moralez and Juanez again — Navarate, 
 "El Mudo" — A. Berrugette — Ribalta, J. Roelas, J. de Pareja, 
 A. di Cafio — Del Mazo, often taken for Velasquez — Villaviciencio, 
 Murillo died in his arms — Resemblance to his master — Claudio 
 Coello, last of the great Painters — Few of his works here — 
 Carreiio de Miranda — His Portrait of Charles II and his mother 
 — F. Rizi — His "auto-da-fe" — Comments thereon — Caxes — 
 Goya, "Ultimus Romanorum" — Dutch and Flemish works here — 
 The one Van Eyck — " Luca-fa-presto " again — Antonio Moro at 
 his best in Madrid — Anecdote of him and Philip II — Raphael's 
 Pictures here, " The one great disappointment " — Notices — His 
 " Cardinal Bibiena," the best — Velasquez purchased Tintorettos 
 — Notes on them — Vandyke's super-eminent specimens — Paul 
 Veronese — " Pieta," D. Crespi — Mantegna — Correggio — G. B. 
 Tiepolo and his son — Paucity of Landscapes by foreign Artists 
 also — Injuries to, destruction, and neglect of works of Art in 
 Madrid. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Escurial ...... 146 
 
 Erection by Philip II — Dedication to St. Laurence — 
 Position and appearance — Architectural Features — Immense 
 dimensions — The Church of the Escurial — Object of the 
 Architect— Death of Philip in the Building — The Pudridero — 
 Opening of the Coffin of Charles V — Morbid craving of the 
 Spanish Monarchs — An indoor-Campo Santo — Tomb of Don 
 John — " La Santa Forma " — Picture in the Sacristy — Palace 
 Garden — English Elms — No Spanish Monarch born in the 
 Palace, Ferdinand VII excepted — Philip V hated all things 
 Spanish — Buried at La Granja (" the Grange ") — Had abdicated 
 there — Hasty Resumption of Power — Frescoes, Tapestries, no 
 great things— Transference of Pictures to Madrid. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Toledo ....... 155 
 
 Supposed resemblance to Rome — Alcazar, the dominant 
 feature — Neglected opportunities — River Tagus — The Alcantara
 
 CONTENTS 11 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bridge — An ethnological Mosaic — Paucity of Moorish remains 
 — Jewish, rather than Moorish — Treatment of the Jews — Two 
 Synagogues — Churches — S. Maria la Bianca — El Transito 
 — El Tome — El Greco's famous Picture — Alcazar, History of 
 — The Prison of two Queens — A second Don John — Hospital de 
 la Santa Cruz— Marble Relief of S. Helena. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Toledo Cathedral ..... 162 
 
 Commenced by S. Ferdinand — He destroyed the Mosque — A 
 breach of promise — Former Gothic Cathedral on the site — The 
 Virgin's favourite resort — Present Cathedral finished in 16th 
 Century — Dimensions — A Museum of Art — Painted Glass of 
 15th Century — Western Facade — Puerta del Perdon, the finest 
 entrance — The Coro — Magnificent Retablo — Height of the 
 Cathedral — Mental Perception of great Fabrics — A gradual 
 absorption — Beauty of the Carved Stalls — El Rodrigo and Vigarny 
 — Wondrous Metal-pulpits — Tomb of Alvaro de Luna — " Spite " 
 of Henry of Aragon — Capilla Mayor — Fine Retablo — Tombs of 
 "los Reyes Viejos " — Queen Catherine, Daughter of John of 
 Gaunt — Philip IPs descent from her — Purport of his "Armada" 
 — Legend of S. Ildelfonso, Primate — The sacred "Casulla" — 
 Madonna's Black Image — Vigarny's Reliefs of the Legend — 
 Vicissitudes of the Image — Ildefonso's Body — Virgin's Regalia — 
 Deported to Paris — Vestments, Gold and Silver Plate — Capilla, 
 S. Eugenio and de Invierno — Traces of Moorish Art. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Toledo ....... 169 
 
 Sala Capitular — Series of Portraits of Primates — Unique position 
 of the Primates — Wealth of the See — Cardinal Wolsey's Pension — 
 Archbishop Carillo — His immense power — Fame of Archbishop 
 Ximenes — His encouragement of learning — His Greek Testament 
 published — A merciless Persecutor — Grand Inquisitor — The 
 "Black Friar" of Philip and Mary — Ancient Frescoes in Capilla 
 de San Bias — Archbishop Tenorio here interred — Beautiful 
 Cloisters — Tenorio's " Pious Fraud," to oust the Jews — Bridges 
 Alcantara ; S. Martino — Tenorio, an " all-round man " — Pagoda- 
 like Tower of Cathedral— Archbishop's Palace and Town Hall 
 " much criticised "—Cathedral ; exterior less impressive than 
 interior — No circuit possible — Toledo Cathedral the Spanish 
 Lateran — The Pope and the Spanish Sovereign always Canons 
 — Fined if failing to attend Christmas Chapter — Church of S. 
 Juan de Los Reyes — Fine views thence — The Church, built by 
 Ferdinand and Isabella — Rack and Ruin — Pronunciation of 
 " Juan " — Chapel better preserved — Modern Sword-factory — 
 Toledo blades still sought after — Toledo-streets — Massive Doors 
 — Street architecture not specially Moorish — Weirdly picturesque 
 effect of Toledo.
 
 12 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cordova ....... 177 
 
 Yellow aspect of Country — "La Mancha," or "Dry Land" — 
 Sparse population — Sites historical — Aranjuez and Palace — Capo 
 di Monte ware — Villapenas-wine — Le Navas deTolosa — Moorish 
 defeat near — A mining centre — Linares, and a Roman Victory 
 — The Guadalquivir — " Lifts you " to Cordova — Corduba, " Gem 
 of the South" — A Roman Colony — Magnificence as Moorish 
 Capital — Birthplace of great Romans — Excavations of City 
 urged — Indifference of Spaniards — Possible reasons — Anti- 
 quarian treasures awaiting research — Charles V upon the 
 desecration of Mosque — Details of the splendours of the 
 Caliphate — Great extent of the City — A Dream of Cordova — 
 Tennyson's " Haroun-al-Raschid " — Roman Mosaic unearthed. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Cordova — The Mosque ..... 186 
 
 Cordova Cathedral or Mosque — Marble Columns — General Im- 
 pressions — An architectural Garden — Roman occupation of the 
 site — Utilisation of ancient materials — Unique character of this 
 Mosque — The Maksurah— " Caliph's Seat " — Cupola of Capilla 
 de San Pedro — Mihrab or " Sanctuary " — Exterior Walls — 
 Puerta del Perdon — Campanile — Court of Oranges — Roman 
 Miliary Columns — Reflections in Court of Oranges — A Saracen 
 Renaissance — The Mosque a " Pharos of Art " — Unique among 
 all Mosques — Cordoya's venerable appearance — Antiquity of 
 Bridge — Moorish Mills in River — Fortress-like character of the 
 Mosque — Modern aspects of City contrasted with ancient. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Seville ....... 195 
 
 Anticipations of Seville — Still dc jure Capital — Reminiscences 
 and associations — Don Juan's house — Donas Annas and Elviras 
 — Figaro — Mozart's and Rossini's operas — Byron's " Childe 
 Harold" — Borrow — "Masher" or " Majar " — Commercial 
 position of Seville — Spanish neglect of Navigable Rivers — 
 Approach to Seville from Cordova, " yellow and arid " — First 
 sight of Seville disappointing — Dissimilarity to Naples — Modern 
 appearance generally — Great extent of Cathedral — Dominates 
 City — Exterior less impressive than Interior — Height and 
 width of Nave — Painted Glass — Trophies of Art — Former 
 Mosque much later than that of Cordova — Hunting-up traces 
 of Moorish Art — The Giralda Tower, the " Muezzin," what 
 Giotto's Campanile is to the Duomo of Florence — History 
 of the Giralda — Threat of the Moors — Counter-threat of St. 
 Ferdinand, or his son — Saints Justa and Rufina withstand the 
 buffeting of Satan's winds — Heat of Seville in June — Unwilling 
 ascent of the Giralda — Interview with Custode — Inadequacy
 
 CONTENTS 13 
 
 PAGE 
 
 of Castillan language here— Sudden linguistic legerdemain 
 — " Giralda might have proved to be a Tower of Babel "— 
 Views from the summit — Guadalquivir, Italica, S. Lucar — 
 Towers and Turrets — The Alcazar — Relics of old Walls — Lonja 
 —Archbishop's Palace — Bull-ring — The Seville Trastevere— 
 Rellections upon the Siege of fourteen months — View of the 
 Court of Oranges— Well— The Moorish Puerta del Perdon— 
 Ancient bronze doors thereof. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Seville Cathedral ..... 206 
 
 The Cathedral-aisles a thoroughfare, or " short-cut," for pedes- 
 trians — Thirty-one Chapels to be seen — Number of Janitors — 
 Huge " Rejas "—Chief Monuments— Retablo of High Altar — 
 Image of the Virgin — Gift of St. Louis — Splendid Church Plate 
 — Murillo's Pictures— Theft of " St. Anthony "— Murillo's " Guar- 
 dian Angel " — Goya's Saints Rufina and Justa — Ford's Anecdote 
 —Puerta de S. Cristobal— De Vergas's "Gamba" Picture- 
 Legend of S. Cristobal — Moorish Walls — Roman Relics — 
 Seville and Milan Cathedrals compared. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Festival of Corpus Christi . . . .214 
 
 Elaborate Ceremonial— Bustle in the Cathedral— Wonders of 
 Silver Plate — Troops of Processional Boys — Their " dressing-up " 
 — Half the population of Seville " assisting " — Decorations — Miles 
 of Red Damask — The Plaza de la Constitucion — Rank and fashion 
 — The oi polloi — Manners and appearance of a Spanish Crowd — 
 Absence of Mantillas — Ladies dressed in the extremest " modes " 
 — Beauty (or otherwise ?) — Andalucian " eyes " — Complexions — 
 Lavish Powdering — Passion for whitewash — The Procession 
 debouches — A stream of Functionaries — Splendour and colour — 
 Incense and Chanting — Imbecile Images and Busts — Enormous 
 Silver Monstrance — Bearers thereof — Church Dignitaries — The 
 Sacred Host — Reception by the Crowd — Music insufficient — 
 Courtiers a la Philip IV — Procession defective — Inferior to that 
 of Orvieto — The Sight of this Day — Dance of Choristers in the 
 Cathedral — Seville, a Phoenician Settlement— Sephela, Ishbiliah, 
 Seville — " Muy leal y noble " — Zenith under Pedro " the Cruel " 
 — Abandonment by Charles V — Present Aspect — Houses main- 
 tain a Moorish character — Arrangement, Pompeiian — Luxurious- 
 ness of Seville cafes — Plazas — Plaza Nueva — Absence of Gar- 
 dens in the City — Promenades — The " Delicias " — River-banks 
 and Quays — Southern Flowers and Shrubs — Columbus, Pizarro, 
 and Cortez — The Torre-del'-Oro — Don Juan's Residence.
 
 14 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Museo, Seville ..... 224 
 
 Plaza de Murillo — His Bust — Numerous Works of his 
 here — Four or Five Masterpieces — A disestablished Convent — 
 Fine Azulejos, modern — Murillo's Masterpieces described — 
 Zurbaran's Pictures — Roelas— Valdez Leal — Pacheco — " Pretty 
 rather than great" — But one Cano — Alanis Vicente — His 
 powerful " Prodigal Son " — Portraits here " terribly bad "— 
 Torrigiano's Terra-cotta — Anecdotes of Torrigiano — The Patio 
 here — Roman Antiquities from Italica — A great "Diana" — 
 Moorish Vases — The first Museo in the " Lonja," founded by 
 Murillo and other Artists— " La Caridad"— A 16th Century 
 Alms-house — Renovated by " a reformed Rake " — The Chapel — 
 Murillo's six Pictures — Description of them — "San Juan de Dios," 
 the finest — Who he was — Pedro Roldan's " Descent from the 
 Cross" — The Pictures by Valdez Leal — Murillo's remark — 
 V. Leal's jealousy of Murillo — Murillo's Pictures journeyed to 
 Paris. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Seville — The Alcazar ..... 232 
 
 A Saracen Palace — Fanciful derivation from " Caesar " — 
 Moorish Architecture equally adapted for religious and 
 domestic purposes — Suggested by a hot climate— Loveliness of 
 apartments— Rival those of the Alhambra— Skill of modern 
 Spaniards in renovation — The " Alcazar " replete with associ- 
 ations — Pedro " the Cruel " — Maria Padilla— Two of their 
 daughters wives of English Princes — John of Gaunt claimed 
 the Spanish Throne — His daughter First Princess of Asturias — 
 Spanish blood in English veins — The assistance of Pedro by the 
 " Black Prince " — Story of Pedro, and the Great Ruby — Court of 
 the Ambassadors — Pedro's victims — Pedro's subsequent fate — 
 The Gate of "Las Banderas " — Pedro's "Justice" — Maria 
 Padilla's Apartments — Comtesse de Paris born here — Chapel — 
 Charles V married there — Antiquities from Italica — Rooms of 
 Isabella "the Catholic "—Gardens of the Palace— An Ideal 
 realised — Groves and Labyrinths — A Realm of Pleasaunce — 
 Baths of Maria Padilla— A Prison ? — Palace of S. Telmo not 
 far from River — Built by Ferdinand Columbus, son of Chris- 
 topher — Dedicated to the Mariner's Saint — Formerly Due 
 de Montpensier's Palace, and Picture Gallery — Extensive 
 Gardens — Adjoin the Public one — Tobacco Factory, colossal — 
 A Tobacco Escurial — Has been a Convent, or Convents — 
 Cuba no longer available as a Government-source — Thousands 
 of women employed — " Natural " sticking of cigars not per- 
 mitted — Babies and female relatives, but no " followers " — An 
 absence of " Carmens " — " Mancia " for guides not cheerfully 
 accepted — Recollections of Naples more forcible — Seville com- 
 paratively free from mendicants — Casa de Pilatos — Another 
 Saracen Palace — Erected by Enriquez de Ribera — A "mysti- 
 cal " original in Jerusalem — Azulejos ; Columns ; Moulded 
 Vaults — Patio with Fountains — Statues from Italica — A Mosaic
 
 CONTENTS 15 
 
 PAGE 
 
 of the " Crowing-cock "—A coup-de-gracc to the tradition — 
 The Grand Staircase, a development of Moorish architec- 
 ture here — No access to the fine Gardens— Italica — A short 
 drive there, through Triana, a " doubtful " suburb — River has 
 changed its ancient course — Italica the birthplace of two 
 Emperors — Amphitheatre thoroughly excavated — Absence of 
 other ruins — Has been made a " quarry "—A Coin of Adrian — 
 Return by another route — Castileja de la Cuesta — Birthplace and 
 Residence of Cortez — Buried here — Ashes removed to Mexico — 
 Other Excursions round Seville — Hurrying Tourists. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 The Alhambra ...... 246 
 
 From Cordova to Granada by rail— Road through featureless, 
 yellow tracts— Montilla an " Oasis "—First verdant spot— La 
 Roda, Seville Junction — Thence to Granada, smiling scenes 
 
 — Beautiful Hill-scenery — Look out for "Loja" — Neigh- 
 bourhood, rife with Moorish associations — Broiling journey 
 
 — Arrival at Granada — Another Clime, another Country 
 — Entrance to precincts of Alhambra — Gate of Charles V — A 
 beautiful Forest— Fountains and Running Waters— Nightingales 
 
 — Hotels, "Washington Irving," " Siete Suelos " — " Siete 
 Suelos," not of the Hotel— Blocked-up Tower— Boabdil-el-Chico 
 —Alhambra, an ideal Fortress— The Romans were here, too— 
 Similarity to Italian Hill-cities, or Indian Fortresses— Entrance 
 to Palace through a small door— Puerta della Giustizia— " Sub- 
 lime Porte "—Description of— The Mystic Hand— The Key- 
 Imposing scene of yore— Keynote as Fortress— Torre de la 
 Vega— Ramparts and Towers— Torre del Vino— Plaza de los 
 Algibes — Moorish Cisterns — Renaissance Palace of Charles V 
 —Entrance into the Alhambra Palace— Patio de la Alberca— 
 Tower of Comares — Arabian Art-atmosphere — Perfection of 
 Moorish Art— A preternatural race of Bees— Ornamentation, 
 "Inscriptions" Sermons in stucco — Freshness of — Artistic 
 renovation— Alhambra, no Pompeii or Palatine— The Moors, 
 " out for the day "—Perpetual youth— Contemporary Art-critics 
 —Fountain in " Court of Lions "— " Pyramus and Thisbe," re- 
 called— "Las Dos Hermanas," "The Two Sisters "—Ford's 
 remarks — Sultan's favourite rooms destroyed — Upper Story — 
 Patio Lindaraja— Sala de los Abencerrages, and Court— The 
 Mezquita— King Yusuf, stabbed— The oldest portion of the 
 Alhambra— Transformed and rebuilt, temp. Charles V— Charles's 
 Architect, Machuca— Garden, so-named— A fascinating Chamber 
 — Mirador, della Reina— Loveliness of Views thence— El Bano 
 del Rey— Chamber "del Riposo "—Gallery— Silence and langour 
 — Spirit of the Alhambra. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 The Alhambra ..... 
 
 Ecstatic writing unavoidable— Moors, flawlessly perfect— Risk of 
 forgetting more modern figures— Charles V's Honevmoon here 
 —Remark on Boabdil by him— His Renaissance Palace never 
 
 259
 
 16 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 roofed — His Gallery in the Tocador — Devote a day to marking 
 well Alhambra bulwarks — Towers of the "Cautiva Isabella," and 
 " Dos Infantas " — The Alhambra, as Fortress — Dimensions — 
 Torres Bernue first fortified — " Al Hamra," or " Enclosure of 
 the Red," the Palace Proper— Torre de la Vela, or "Watch- 
 tower " — Vega from thence — Sota de Roma — Iron-Duke's Pro- 
 perty — Santa Fe — Mendoza's Silver Cross — Other Towers — 
 Another Mezquita, a jewel, sympathetic Custodes — Convent of 
 St. Francis — Ferdinand and Isabella's Coffins — Irving's "Tales 
 of the Alhambra " — " Dazzling white " or " colour " ? — Torre del 
 Agua — Hill of the Generalife — Torre " Siete Suelos," again— El 
 Chico's Monument ! — His last request to Ferdinand — His " Via 
 Dolorosa " — La Cuesta de las Lagrimas — " El Ultimo Suspiro 
 del Moro " — The Woman's Last Word— Belshazzar's Doom — 
 Kismet and Vasoul — The Tower, blown up by the French ! — 
 Can be partially explored — Torre Gran Capitano — An unforget- 
 table Walk — The Generalife Palace — A Purchase, not a confis- 
 cation — An annexe to Alhambra — An enchanting Residence — 
 Present Proprietor an Absentee — Destruction of trees — Canals 
 and Fountains — The River Darro — Courts and Colonnades — A 
 Portrait Gallery, Apocryphal — Terraces and Hanging Gardens — 
 " La Silla del Moro." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Granada ....... 271 
 
 City of Granada an appanage of the Alhambra — Immense popu- 
 lation once — The Albaycin Suburb — Still Moorish — Bridges and 
 Arches — The Elvira Arch-tradition — Boabdil's "shivered Spear" 
 — El Zogoybi taken Prisoner — Recovers his liberty — Albaycin 
 derived from Bayisin— A second fortress — Old Granada — S. 
 Nicola, the Summit — Consummate views — Abode of Zitanas — 
 Their pursuits — Dancing-maidens — The merits of Granada 
 Cathedral overrated by Ferguson — Too modern aspect — Greco- 
 Roman style — Fine Tombs — Ferdinand and Isabella — Huge 
 Rejas — Gothic Chapel, refreshing after cold Renaissance — 
 Vigarny's Statues of the Monarchs — Peralta's Tomb of Juana 
 and her husband — Torrigiano's blighted hopes — Ferdinand's 
 remarriage — Contrast with Juana's long widowhood — Capilla de 
 los Reyes — A Subject worthy of a Gibbon or a Macaulay — 
 Mementoes of the Sovereigns — Portions of the old Mosque — 
 Valiant Act of Herman del Pulgar — His reward — Ferdinand's 
 Place of Burial — The effigies of Ferdinand and Isabella — Those 
 of Juana and Philip — Isabella's last directions — Isabella too 
 bigoted to be "Great" — Juana's Pilgrimage to Granada — The 
 opened Coffin — Same morbid craving inherent in her de- 
 scendants — Henry VII sought her hand — Vigarny's Bassi- 
 relievi in the Capilla de los Reyes — Kneeling Effigies of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella — Alonzo Cano's Pictures and Sculptures 
 — Bad Light— Velasquez's Portrait of Cafio at Madrid — Philip IV 
 made him a Canon — Remonstrance and Reply — Cafios' finest 
 Picture stolen and recovered — Torrigiano's "Charity" — West 
 Door, a Moorish Cloister — Casa del Carbon — Washington 
 Irving's Inn — Grim Abodes — " Civil " Carboneros — The Chan-
 
 CONTENTS 17 
 
 PAGE 
 
 * 
 
 celleria, Plateresque — Barracks — An old Palace — Grenada 
 Streets generally dull — Shops bad — Good Antiquities — Beauty 
 of an Antiquary's Courtyard — "Zok Market," our "Soke," at 
 Winchester, e.g. — The Alameda, " Public Garden " — River 
 Xenil — Promenade — Carriage-folk — White Mantillas — " Did 
 Zara drop her ear-rings here " ? — Dappled Waters — Gold in the 
 Darro River ? — Sources of the Xenil— The one Glacier of the 
 Sierra Nevada— Granada, " Pomegranate " (?) — Phoenician Kar- 
 nattah — Excursions from Granada — The Cartuja — Hovering 
 Mendicants — The Cartuja Convent — A monument of "bad 
 taste " — Rich decoration in the Chapel— Fine Spanish Marbles 
 — General neglect of Spanish Marble — Alonzo Carlo's Madonna 
 — Cloisters and Frescoes — Carthusians martyred by Henry 
 VIII? — An irate Custode — Author suspected of being an 
 accomplice of Henry VIII — The Mad-house or Hospital de 
 Locos — Plateresque style — Ferdinand, Isabella, and Juana — 
 Plaza del Triunfo, once the execution-ground — Then a Bull- 
 ring — Hospital S. Geronimo — S. Juan de Dios — A Lunatic (?) 
 confined in Cage — Convent of S. Geronimo — Its chequered 
 history — " El Gran Capitano " here interred — A Corpus Christi 
 Procession again — Preponderance of Children — Shadows and 
 Shades — Glamour of the Old Race — Unseasonable Reflections 
 — " Hasta la Vista," to Alhambra, and to Rey Chico. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 RONDA . .... 289 
 
 Byron's lines on Cintra applied to the Vega — " The Kashmir " of 
 Spain — Verdancy of the Vega, thanks to the Moors ! — Fertility 
 and fighting — Archidona's chalk-soil — Mountain scenes — Cork 
 Woods — Arrival at Ronda — An English Country-town — Hotel 
 at Station, possible, and convenient — Modern City a dead-level 
 of whitewash — Old City unique — " Make for the ancient 
 Bridge" — The "Taja" chasm — Strongest natural fortress of 
 Spain — Aldaguela's Bridge — A monument of his hapless fate — 
 Similar destinies of Murillo and Corenzio — Another Bridge above 
 — The Casa Mandragon and Garden — An architectural gem — 
 Coats of arms whitewashed — Why ? — Market-place ; Norman 
 Arcades — Tower of Ronda Cathedral — Wood-carvings — Youth- 
 ful Cicerones — Half of the Building the old Mosque ? — Very 
 Modern aspect — Alcazar in the Plaza — Present occupation — 
 Moorish Towers — Calle de San Pedro — Casa del Rey Moro — A 
 Polyphemus — Ford's story — Victims' skulls for drinking-cups — 
 Rock-hewn Stairs, to River — " Mina del Ronda" — Moorish 
 remains sparse — Prevalence of Moorish blood — Alameda — 
 The Paseo for populace of 25,000 inhabitants — Longevity, a Pro- 
 verb in Ronda — "Chickens" at eighty! — Grand old Men — An 
 inducement to live here — Old Testament types — Drives and rides 
 innumerable — Roman Aqueduct, a " snare " — Malaga Road — An 
 abandoned Posada — Good Wine — Electric Light at Ronda — 
 River-power utilised here — Flour Mills, old and new — Less ap- 
 parent Poverty in Spain than in Italy — Beggars more restricted 
 — Better treatment of animals — Cleaner personal habits. 
 
 2
 
 18 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Algeciras and the Rock .... 299 
 
 Approach the "Rock" by Algeciraz — Hopes to have entered 
 by a tunnel — Algeciraz bristles with romance — Moorish " Green 
 Island " — Alfonso XV — Donizetti's " Favorita " — Medina-Sidonia 
 — Phoenician " Sidon " — Guzman Buenos — Algeciraz, Moorish 
 Key to Spain — King of Spain, emphatically King of Algeciraz — 
 Ruins of Roman Carteria (" El Rocadille ") — " Queen Isabella's 
 Chair " — Fears that " Seat " may unseat us — Custom-house at 
 Gibraltar — Gentle treatment — How unlike Victoria and Charing 
 Cross ! — Rooke's Rock — War of Spanish Succession — Gibraltar, 
 loved of British Subalterns — Spirit of "Rule, Britannia" — 
 Eastern appearance — Costumes — Moors and "Handy-men" — 
 Tailless monkeys — Descendants of Solomon's apes (?) — Anda- 
 lucia — Tarshish ? — Solomon and Queen of Sheba— Absence of 
 " native " gold — Gibraltar fears the " Levanter " — Once famous 
 for unhealthiness — Plague or Drains ? — Water-supply — Monkeys 
 " clear out " when the Levanter blows — Hot discussion about 
 the Moles — Experts — Possible Spanish Batteries — Leonine 
 Form of the Rock — Kinglake's " Eothen " — A Lion Couchant — 
 " Watching jealous Navies from his lair " — Britannia rules the 
 Waves ! 
 
 Reference-Sketch of Early History of Spain . 307 
 
 Explanation of and Dates of Certain Terms used 
 in Spanish Architecture .... 308
 
 List of Illustrations 
 
 Cordova ...... 
 
 The Mosque, Cordova .... 
 
 The Armoury, Madrid . . . . 
 
 Charles V. {Titian) .... 
 
 The Infant Saviour and St. John. (Murillo) 
 
 The Holy Family — "El Pajarito." (Murillo) 
 
 The Virgin and St. Ildefonso. (Murillo) 
 
 Philip IV. on Horseback. (Velasquez) 
 
 Queen Isabella — An Equestrian Portrait 
 (Velasquez) ..... 
 
 The Conde Duque of Olivarez. (Velasquez) 
 
 St. Anthony's Visit to St. Paul. (Velasquez) . 
 
 The Triumph of the Church. (Hubert Van Eyck) 
 
 Cardinal da Bibiena. (Raphael) 
 
 19 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Fact 
 
 ngp. 55 
 75 
 93 
 
 IOI 
 102 
 IO3 
 112 
 
 113 
 II 4 
 117 
 
 134 
 I 4 I
 
 20 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The Countess of Oxford. (Vandyke) . Facing p. 142 
 
 Toledo ....... n 155 
 
 The Mosque, Cordova .... „ 189 
 
 Seville ........ 197 
 
 Seville — The Giralda .... „ 201 
 
 Seville Cathedral ...... 206 
 
 Seville — Pilate's House .... „ 243 
 
 Granada — The Alhambra ....,, 248 
 
 Granada, from the Alhambra ... „ 262 
 
 Granada ....... 272 
 
 Granada, from San Geronimo ... „ 286
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 
 MOORISH OCCUPATION OF SPAIN 
 
 THE Phoenicians, — those Yankees of the antique 
 world, — with their skill in navigation and their 
 bustling energy in the development of trade and 
 commerce, were the first to acquaint themselves 
 with the inexhaustible resources of the mineral 
 wealth of the Peninsula, to which the indigenous 
 population of the country have maintained a 
 lethargic indifference. 
 
 To the Phoenicians succeed the bellicose Cartha- 
 ginians, with even greater energy, and in a wider 
 field. For Hannibal, the most splendid military 
 genius that has ever appeared in History, made 
 Spain the basis of operations for his astonishing 
 campaigns in Italy. 
 
 The echoes of those tremendous conflicts, — the 
 Punic Wars, — seem scarcely yet to have died out. 
 
 It was but natural that the ubiquitous Romans, 
 who were on the road to universal Empire, would 
 seize the slightest pretext for adding so splendid a 
 region of the earth to their dominion. The quarrel 
 between themselves and Hannibal, over the small 
 
 21
 
 22 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 City of Saguntum (Murviedro), which led to the 
 second Punic War, gave them their opportunity. 
 Doubtless, had that casus belli failed them, they 
 could have found another equally serviceable for 
 their pretensions. 
 
 So it came about, that Spain, in her turn, had to 
 pass beneath the Roman yoke, and that later on in 
 Roman History the two greatest of the Scipios, and 
 finally the greatest of all Romans, Julius Csesar, 
 have gathered some of their most imperishable 
 laurels in that harassed land. 
 
 When, in its turn, the Roman Empire was 
 tumbling to pieces, it was the Vandals, and then 
 the Visigoths, in Spain, who were to complete 
 the ruin of that once world-wide Empire. 
 
 The year 409 is given as the date of the arrival 
 of the Vandals in Spain. 
 
 This Confederacy of Teutonic Races from the 
 North Coast of Germany, seems to have been 
 possessed of even greater restlessness than most 
 of the tribes of similar origin. For we have 
 scarcely met with them in the sunny regions 
 of Spain, which to them should have appeared 
 as a veritable Land of Promise, after their 
 sojourn in the sterile tracts of Dacia and Pan- 
 nonia ; then they are found, twenty years after 
 their arrival in Spain, passing over to Africa. 
 Probably, only a portion of them, whatever too 
 brusque chroniclers may have said. For the 
 Vandals certainly founded a powerful kingdom, 
 that of Vandalusia, one which still bears their 
 name.
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 23 
 
 Kingdoms are not formed so rapidly, nor are 
 migrations of whole peoples quite so cursory. 
 
 It may be assumed, therefore, upon very palpable 
 grounds, that when the Visigoths came down upon 
 Spain from Italy, where they had a hundred years 
 previously signalised themselves under Alaric by 
 the plunder of Rome, they may have been not at 
 all hostilely actuated towards their kith and kin 
 who had preceded them in the occupation of the 
 country. Be that as it may, the kingdom of the 
 Visigoths endured for over two centuries. 
 
 Perhaps a brief period in the life of a nation, but 
 a memorable one in the history of Christianity. 
 
 For, in Spain was fought out to its end the long 
 and bitter struggle between Arianism and the 
 orthodox Faith. Ever since the days of Constantine, 
 Europe had been divided into hostile camps, 
 arrayed against each other upon this absorbing 
 question. It need but briefly be mentioned in this 
 place, that it was in Spain that the Arian Heresy 
 was now totally and finally subdued. From that 
 hour to the present, Spain has maintained her proud 
 position of unswerving devotion to the Faith as 
 promulgated by the See of Saint Peter. 
 
 In the course of subsequent centuries, we know 
 but too well how mercilessly the Spanish monarchs 
 have suppressed any swerving from the orthodox 
 Faith. But we have no reason to believe that the 
 cruelties inflicted by them have been obnoxious to 
 the Spanish people. If the rulers have been re- 
 morseless bigots, their subjects have met them quite 
 half way.
 
 24 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 In the sufficiently long list of the Gothic Kings, 
 there are but two names that need here be 
 mentioned. 
 
 They are those of Wamba, 672 ; and of Roderic, 
 the Last of the Goths, 709. In the earlier years of 
 Kino- Wamba, the African Saracens, whom we 
 know as the Moors, had already begun to cast 
 covetous glances towards the opposite coast. 
 Letting " I dare not wait upon I would " was 
 never an adag;e amonost Saracenic Proverbs. It 
 
 o o 
 
 was still early in Wamba's reign that, the Moors, 
 having got together a large fleet, made a desperate 
 attempt to land upon the Spanish coast. Wamba 
 was ready for them, and having assembled a still 
 more formidable fleet, was able to scatter the 
 Moorish forces to the winds, even capturing, as it 
 is said, two hundred and seventy vessels. This 
 was the first occasion upon which the Moors and 
 Spanish Goths had encountered each other. This 
 defeat, disastrous as it had turned out for the 
 Moors, would have been for many other nations 
 annihilation. The Saracen is not so summarily to 
 be disposed of. In the hour of unsuccessful battle, 
 that fine tenet of his Faith, " Islam," or, Resignation, 
 is no longer regarded as a cardinal point. 
 
 The Moor comprehends better than any other 
 man " se reculer pour mieux sauter." When the 
 African Saracens made their second and successful 
 spring, which was to give them the Dominion of 
 Spain for more than seven hundred years, another 
 monarch was seated on the Gothic throne. It was 
 in the year 709 that, Roderic, the Last of the
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 25 
 
 Goths, commenced his brief reign, and it was in 
 the year 7 1 2 that he was defeated by Tarik in the 
 fateful Battle of Guadalete, a few miles from Cadiz. 
 That victory, surely one of the decisive battles 
 of the world, put an end for ever to the Gothic 
 dynasty. 
 
 Tarik, who was merely a freedman of the 
 Saracen Viceroy in Africa, — Muza, — has won an 
 enduring monument in the Rock of Gibraltar. 
 
 For the name of Jebul-Tarik, — mountain of 
 Tarik — was thenceforth given to what had been 
 known as the Rock of Calpe. Roderic's fate has 
 remained doubtful. The Arabs declare that he 
 was killed by Tank's own spear, and that the head 
 of the defeated King was sent to the Caliph at 
 Damascus. The Spaniards chose to hold other- 
 wise, and occupied themselves, (or their poets did 
 so,) in weaving many a legend in celebration of his 
 subsequent adventures. Lockhart, in his " Spanish 
 Poems," has translated one of the most poetical. 
 Southey, in his " Last of the Goths," has employed 
 himself in a similar spirit in a poem of considerable 
 length. Walter Scott, too, wrote " A Vision of Don 
 Roderic." 
 
 But all the legends of Roderic's survival seem 
 summarily disposed of by the fact that Abdalaziz, — 
 the son of Muza, — and who ruled Spain from Seville 
 in the absence of his ill-fated father, espoused 
 Roderic's widow, by name Egilona. But it is not 
 important whether Roderic were killed or not. The 
 Moorish dynasty was established by his defeat. 
 
 The astonishing rapidity with which the change
 
 26 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 of dynasties was effected in Spain, and the wonder- 
 ful success of the Moors in the establishment of 
 sound government and good order throughout the 
 Peninsula, whilst enhancing our admiration for the 
 administrative genius of that great Race, cannot but 
 cause our wonder that the Spanish Nation, (or, as 
 we might term it, the Roman-Gothic) should have 
 been so little capable of resistance. 
 
 There must have been something radically weak 
 in the national character. 
 
 The besetting sin of the Race, a narrow pro- 
 vincialism, an incapacity for union, must, even then, 
 have been working at the roots. Even religious 
 feeling, that thirst for the triumph of their Faith, 
 which has often, in Spain, been found to be a 
 substitute for patriotism, seems at that time to have 
 been, if not absent, inoperative. 
 
 It does not surprise us, therefore, that the Moors, 
 dazzled as they were, by the extraordinary brilliancy 
 of their triumph, should have been led into the 
 fatal mistake of even under-rating the capacity of 
 so weak an enemy. They should have recognised 
 in the feeble opposition which they had met, the 
 pernicious results of disunion. They had scarcely 
 established themselves upon the seats of their 
 predecessors, when they were agitated by all the 
 evils which rivalries, jealousies, and dissensions 
 engender. 
 
 The facile triumph which the Crescent had 
 gained over the Cross blinded their eyes to the 
 apparently insignificant, but really portentous fact 
 that their still remained in Asturias a small Christian
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 27 
 
 Power, which would swell and increase until it 
 finally attained such formidable proportions as to 
 challenge the very existence of the Moorish 
 Supremacy. 
 
 The Moors, as they well might do, over-rated 
 their own strength. Strong as they undoubtedly 
 had proved themselves to be, they were in too 
 great a hurry to manifest their indomitable qualities 
 to the rest of Europe. Like Alexander, they sighed 
 for other worlds to conquer. But it was before that 
 they had consolidated the conquests they had 
 already made. It was but twenty-one years since 
 that Tarik had landed at Gibraltar, when Abderah- 
 man, the Emir, burst over the Pyrenees at the head 
 of an immense host and flung himself upon Charles 
 Martel, at or near Tours, 732. It is a matter of 
 history, the reception which Abderahman and his 
 huge army met upon those disastrous fields. 
 
 Abderahman was killed, and such of his hosts, 
 (there could not have been many of them,) as found 
 their way back to Spain, had but a doleful tale to 
 recount to their brothers of the Crescent upon the 
 Spanish side of the Pyrenees. 
 
 Charles Martel showed no inclination to complete 
 his huge victory, by any pursuit of the vanquished 
 army. Another surprising feature was, that the 
 people of Spain should not have seized the oppor- 
 tunity of rising during the absence from the 
 Kingdom of so large a proportion of their con- 
 querors. It must be supposed that Abderahman 
 had taken every precaution against such an 
 eventuality. Yet not even the destruction of a
 
 28 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 host so vast, it would seem, could put any heart 
 into the cowed people of the Peninsula. 
 
 Recognising the fatal error they had made in 
 their hasty attempt to subjugate the Frankish Race, 
 the Emirs, thenceforward, directed all their energies 
 to consolidate their Empire in Spain. So far as 
 they could be assisted in their self-imposed labours, 
 by inexhaustible supplies of the followers of 
 Mahomet from all the regions which acknow- 
 ledged his sway, their task was no difficult one. 
 
 Their only embarrassment was to find territories 
 and occupations sufficient to satisfy the demands 
 and expectations of the new-comers. 
 
 Singularly skilful hands are required so to ap- 
 portion and distribute new acquisitions of territory 
 to colonists whose imaginations have already been 
 set aflame by travellers' tales of the Eldorados 
 and Californias which await occupation in distant 
 lands. 
 
 Each man, whatever be his origin, conceives him- 
 self to possess a peculiar claim and right to that 
 far more advantageous strip of ground which may 
 have been assigned to a less deserving neighbour. 
 Eventually, however, it seems that all the motley 
 hordes from all parts of the East were induced to 
 settle down in the diverse regions allotted to them 
 by the Emirs. 
 
 We hear of soldiers from Damascus planted in 
 Cordova and the environs. They were fortunate 
 men indeed, for Cordova was destined to rival, 
 even to surpass, Baghdad in splendour and luxury. 
 Upon the immigrants from Palestine was bestowed
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 29 
 
 Algeciraz. Toledo and the vicinity were assigned 
 to Persians, and to Arabs from Arabia Felix. 
 Egyptians gratefully accepted the Western Coast of 
 Portugal (for Portugal, too, had passed into the 
 possession of the Moors). 
 
 But the most fertile and attractive region of 
 Spain, — Granada, — became the heritage of ten 
 thousand Syrian horsemen. 
 
 These references to the different Races, — all sons 
 of Mahomet, — who now spread themselves over 
 Spain and Portugal, — may give some idea of the 
 miscellaneous blood that has modified the character 
 of the Celt-Iberian Stock. 
 
 Napoleon is reported to have said : " Scratch a 
 Russian and you will show up the Tartar." 
 
 What race would he have found uppermost had 
 he caused that operation to be performed upon a 
 native of the Iberian Peninsula, the which he in 
 vain had sought to subdue ? 
 
 It was in the year 750 that the horribly-famous 
 Massacre of the Omeyads took place at Damascus. 
 It must be referred to, even in this outline of the 
 Moorish occupation of Spain, because of the instan- 
 taneous and momentous effect that it had upon 
 Spain and her subsequent history. For some few 
 years previous to that shocking occurrence, Spain 
 had been convulsed by dissensions amongst the 
 Emirs. The jealous and short-sighted policy of 
 the Caliphs at Damascus, had always been one 
 of fomenting the rivalries of the eminent men to 
 whom they owed the acquisition of the Spanish 
 Peninsula. By such means Damascus gave herself
 
 30 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 an excuse of ridding herself, by assassination or 
 banishment, of such men whose inconvenient pro- 
 minence might threaten her own predominance. 
 
 But the hideous Massacre of the Omeyads, at 
 Damascus, came as a final shock to the forbearance 
 of the Moorish Chiefs. That forced them to deter- 
 mine that their own security as well as the welfare 
 of the kingdom should no longer be at the mercy 
 of some capricious Abbasid Caliph in far-distant 
 Damascus. There must have been many adherents 
 and friends of the great Omeyad Clan at that time 
 in Spain, and to them the rulers of the country 
 would have naturally resorted for a solution of their 
 difficulties. It was known, fortunately enough, 
 that one of the great Race had succeeded in evading 
 the pursuit of the blood-hounds who were upon his 
 track, and that he had taken refuge in Africa. 
 
 Upon his being discovered somewhere upon the 
 Coast of Barbary, he was immediately invited to 
 land in Spain and to oust the unpopular nominee 
 of the Abbasid faction from the throne. Abd-al- 
 Rahman, (such was the name of the young Omeyad,) 
 elected to make Cordova his Seat of government, 
 and forthwith assumed the title of Caliph of that 
 City. His firm yet gentle character, — his virtues 
 and accomplishments at once captivated the imagi- 
 nation of his new subjects, and inaugurated so happy 
 a condition of things that the Epoch of Abd-al- 
 Rahman, and that of his direct Successors, — a 
 period embracing over 270 years, — has been always 
 regarded as the Golden Age of the Moorish regime 
 in Spain.
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 31 
 
 That remarkable prince, during the long course 
 of his thirty years' reign, devoted his existence 
 towards the improvement and development of his 
 Country. He took under his special care the con- 
 struction of roads and bridges, — the erection of 
 Schools and hospitals, and the maintenance of 
 Mosques. We may be sure that he did not neglect 
 the embellishment of his own Capital, which, for 
 splendour, and luxury, and learning, soon rivalled 
 Baghdad. 
 
 He declared that he would build a Mosque which 
 for size and magnificence should surpass that of 
 Damascus. He kept his word. If he did not live 
 to complete it, he commenced and designed it with 
 artists under his personal supervision. It remains 
 to the present day, although tampered with, by a 
 Race even more fantastical than his own, the admira- 
 tion of the world ; a stupendous monument of the 
 architectural genius of the Saracen- Race and of his 
 own undying fame. 
 
 During the period in which Abd-al-Rahman 
 flourished a remarkable change had passed over 
 the character of the Arabian Race. The fiery and 
 restless nature of the nation seemed softened by 
 the progress of years. Since the repulse suffered 
 by their arms upon the Field of Tours, we hear no 
 more of the necessity for the subjugation of Europe. 
 The delight of battle seems to have yielded to a 
 desire for repose, — for the softer attractions of litera- 
 ture and for the indulgence of refined tastes. Not 
 that the Arabs had been wholly insensible to the 
 charms of a certain literary culture. During their
 
 32 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 wanderings over their huge deserts in the course of 
 centuries, their vivid imagination had often been 
 fired by the contemplation of the boundless expanses 
 of the starry heavens above them. Even more 
 irresistibly the beauty of their maidens appealed to 
 their ardent souls as they found themselves alone 
 with the objects of their passion, far away from the 
 bustle and hum of the haunts of men. Even the 
 matchless qualities of one of their fleet steeds of 
 unblemished lineage, or the swiftness of some camel, 
 almost as valuable, would elicit from one of their 
 Bedouin-poets an ode or a sonnet as full of fire 
 and imagery as a poem of Hafiz or a song of 
 Solomon. 
 
 Yet there had been nothing hitherto to account 
 for the extraordinary thirst now suddenly manifested 
 for all the great literary productions, and in all 
 languages, of the genius of the Western Unbelievers. 
 
 It was little more than a hundred years since the 
 blind and unreasonable hatred of fanatics for all 
 the productions of European intellect had culminated 
 in the destruction by Omar of the priceless Alex- 
 andria Library. 
 
 And now the dreams of Western Sages, the 
 speculations of Philosophy, the researches of Science 
 were being discussed and debated upon the shores 
 of the Tigris or the Guadalquivir with as much 
 ardour as they had formerly been upon the banks 
 of the Ilissus. Never before or since have swords 
 so unexpectedly and suddenly been laid aside upon 
 book-shelves ! 
 
 A short passage from Croly's " History of
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 33 
 
 Arabia" may be quoted here. His account of 
 the Caliphate of Haroun-al-Raschid in Bagh- 
 dad elucidates a very similar state of things at 
 Cordova. Abd-al- Rahman, it may be stated, died 
 very shortly after the accession of Haroun-al- 
 Raschid, which took place in the year j86. 
 Baghdad then became the resort of poets, philo- 
 sophers, and mathematicians, from every country 
 and of every Creed. Ambassadors and agents in 
 Armenia, Syria, and Egypt, were ordered to collect 
 the most important books that could be discovered. 
 Hundreds of camels might be seen entering Bagh- 
 dad, laden with volumes of Greek, Hebrew, and 
 Persian literature : and such as were thought to be 
 adapted to instruction, were, by the royal command, 
 translated by the most skilful interpreters into the 
 Arabic language, that all classes might read and 
 understand them. 
 
 It is further said that, the Arabs acknowledged as 
 their chief Philosopher, Aristotle himself. And it is 
 even alleged that through their medium it was that 
 the works of the great Stagy rite were made known 
 to Europe. Dr. Croly goes on to say that, Arabian 
 learning shone with even greater brilliancy in Spain 
 herself, and flourished to a later period than in the 
 Eastern schools. 
 
 But to return to the attractive personality of 
 Spain's first Omeyad Caliph. It is needful to 
 inquire what was the attitude which Abd-al- Rahman 
 assumed towards the Christians in Spain. Tolera- 
 tion towards heretics, once upon a time, had been 
 by no means a characteristic of the Saracens. 
 
 3
 
 34 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 The Moors in Spain now proved themselves a 
 
 singularly adaptive Race. At no time in that 
 
 country, not even upon their first landing, did they 
 
 ever think it necessary to hunt down the Christians 
 
 upon the score of faith. Abd-al-Rahman himself is 
 
 certainly not open to the charge of severity in his 
 
 dealings with his Christian subjects. Indeed, the 
 
 Moors might rather have reproached him, for 
 
 having relaxed too much the bonds of repression. 
 
 For certainly in after-times, Abd-al-Rahman and 
 
 his successors were indifferent to the growth of 
 
 the small Christian kingdom in Asturias, and 
 
 to another later on in Galicia, with that of 
 
 Navarre in addition. All these small powers 
 
 formed the nucleus of after-resistance to the 
 
 Moors. For, thence was to descend in after-times 
 
 Alfonso I of Castile, and Leon, himself, who 
 
 became a Christian champion of the Faith scarcely 
 
 inferior in popular estimation to the Cid who fought 
 
 under his banner, and one certainly more dreaded 
 
 by the Moors. 
 
 Abd-al-Rahman, however, though not reducing 
 the rulers of these kingdoms to absolute depen- 
 dence, as he should have done, forced them to 
 become his tributaries, and in the case of Ismela, 
 the King of Asturias, subjected him to certain tolls 
 and tributes. 
 
 One of these tributes was a very curious one. 
 Ismela had to send the Caliph annually a present 
 of a hundred maidens. Fifty of noble birth, the 
 others of lesser distinction. There is a weird 
 old-world touch about this fanciful tribute. It sets
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 35 
 
 one thinking of the hoary legends of Theseus and 
 the Minotaur. 
 
 A pretty and attractive feature in the character 
 of Abd-al- Rahman is related. The first recorded 
 poem and the first palm-tree in Spain were his. 
 He brought from Africa the first palm-tree, that 
 had been seen in Spain, and planted it at Cordova. 
 In the graceful and touching address to his tree, he 
 bewails his own cruel fate as an exile and that of 
 his murdered Race. 
 
 A notable event occurred in Abd-al- Rahman's 
 Caliphate. No less a one than that of the appearance 
 of Charlemagne in Spain. It may be supposed 
 that he desired to complete the victory of his grand- 
 father, Charles Martel. Charlemagne's object was 
 certainly not attained. The great rout at Ronces- 
 valles, in which the Spaniards and Moors fought 
 side by side, was, in its way, as disastrous to 
 Charlemagne as the Battle of Tours had been to 
 the Moorish army. How history repeats itself! 
 The modern Charlemagne also sought to add Spain 
 to his own over-swollen Empire, with similarly 
 disastrous result. Spain has never known so pro- 
 tracted a period of prosperity as that which she 
 enjoyed under the sway of the Omeyad Caliphs. 
 It had not hitherto been given to any country in 
 Europe to be ruled by the same dynasty for near 
 three hundred years. The fact speaks volumes for 
 the conciliatory, firm, and intelligent qualities of the 
 ruling Race. It was an epoch, too, when the Moors 
 had convinced themselves of the necessity of union 
 amongst themselves in order to preserve a firm
 
 36 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 and serried front against any show of disaffection 
 amongst the conquered. 
 
 Something- has been said here of the remarkable 
 toleration extended by the Moors to the profession 
 and practice of the Christian Faith. The Spanish 
 Christians were allowed full control over their 
 religious establishments, and to worship in their 
 churches when and where they pleased. Their 
 bishops, and priests, and monks, and nuns were 
 left undisturbed in the possession of the ecclesiastical 
 and conventual building. Notwithstanding, how- 
 ever, the generous position towards their Christian 
 subjects assumed by the civil power, it was in- 
 evitable that religious animosities would break 
 out at times between the lower orders of both 
 parties. 
 
 There were those, too, amongst the Christians, 
 (it has been so in many countries,) who courted 
 persecution, — who were irritated by the superior airs 
 which a ruling power is thought to be giving itself, 
 when it confers toleration as a favour, and refuses 
 to confer the honours of martyrdom upon those 
 who are ostentatiously seeking to become martyrs. 
 In the reign of Abd-al- Rahman II, who was Caliph 
 in 821, the Spanish Christians succeeded in forcing 
 that ruler to persecute and punish them. It is 
 very probable that the Christians often received 
 public provocations from their enemies in the 
 streets, although certainly not from those in autho- 
 rity. But whatever the insults may have been, 
 nothing could justify the Christians for the abusive 
 and outrageous terms which they sometimes heaped
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 37 
 
 upon the venerated name of Mahomet, even in 
 the public Courts and Offices. 
 
 That the policy of toleration became much 
 modified under Abd-al-Rahman II and most of 
 his Omeyad successors cannot be doubted. But 
 it was certainly owing to the insolent bearing 
 and language of the Christians themselves. 
 
 In the year 103 1 the great dynasty of the 
 Omeyads, which upon the whole had been the 
 means of conferring immense benefits upon Spain, 
 came to an end by the deposition of Hixem III. 
 This most untoward event put an end to the 
 Caliphate of Cordova, and we consequently now 
 find a whole host of conflicting rivals, each strug- 
 gling to possess himself of a portion of the spoil. 
 Almost every considerable place became a small 
 kingdom under a separate king, — and all were at 
 war one with another. 
 
 Towards the end of the Century, however, things 
 mended somewhat. The weakest had succumbed, 
 and by the survival of the fittest the general con- 
 fusion that had ensued was dispelled, and Moorish 
 Spain reappears governed by four Caliphs : of 
 Seville, Badajoz, Toledo ; and Saragossa with a 
 portion of Portugal. 
 
 By a very remarkable coincidence, at exactly 
 the same time when these events were occurring 
 in Moorish Spain, the Christian portions of Spain 
 also were found to consist of four kingdoms, 
 those of Leon, Castile, Aragon, and Navarre. 
 
 It seems as if it were fated that these rival 
 kingdoms should engage each other upon numeri-
 
 38 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 cally equal terms, — as regards the number of pro- 
 vinces at least. And now again the ancient curse 
 of want of unity amongst themselves, so beneficially 
 averted during the generations of Omeyad Rule, 
 was once more to exercise its baneful effects in the 
 ranks of the Moors. 
 
 Very gradually and slowly, it is true, for the 
 Spaniards were also divided amongst themselves ; 
 and it was not till the year 1085 that the first heavy 
 blow descended upon the Moorish cause in the 
 Fall of Toledo. And that first great success of 
 Alfonso of Castile meant the loss to the Moors 
 of New Castile. 
 
 Alfonso, encouraged by this startling feat of 
 arms of his own, immediately set about to reduce 
 the cities of Seville and Cordova. But Mohammed, 
 the then King of Seville, was by no means prepared 
 to yield up his kingdom even to the conqueror 
 of Toledo. He determined to invite the aid of 
 a peculiarly fanatical and warlike Tribe who had 
 lately possessed themselves of the whole of Northern 
 Africa. The Almoravides, (as they were called,) 
 did not hesitate to accept the invitation of the King 
 of Seville. War in any shape was their peculiar 
 delight, and having specially dedicated themselves 
 to the services of Allah and his Prophet, they were 
 thirsting for an opportunity of manifesting their 
 religious zeal. 
 
 It was a few months after tne capture of Toledo, 
 that Alfonso encountered the united hosts of the 
 King of Seville and the Almoravides at Talaca, 
 near Badajos, and was completely defeated.
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 39 
 
 Mohammed seems to have thought that a great 
 victory, without any substantial fruits to his now 
 inconvenient friends, would be its own sufficing 
 reward. He expected, — very short-sightedly, — 
 (having given them a much longed-for opportunity 
 of smiting the soldiers of the Cross,) that they 
 would forthwith pack up, bag and baggage, and 
 return to their native shores. 
 
 But the Almoravides, quite contrary to his 
 expectations, had come to stay. They found the 
 attractions of the Spanish Peninsula very far 
 superior to those of their native Seats, and under 
 their leader, Yusef, determined to annex the king- 
 dom of Seville. And now a startling event 
 occurred. Mohammed, in the desperate condition 
 in which he now found himself, had actually to beg 
 the assistance of Alfonso, his late enemy, and 
 whom he had so lately overcome by the aid of 
 his new allies, to rid himself of the very formid- 
 able Tribe which he had just summoned from 
 Africa. 
 
 This unhallowed alliance, however, led to no 
 success. The Almoravides soon disposed of the 
 united forces of Mohammed and Alfonso. 
 
 Mohammed was deposed and deported to Africa, 
 to announce to the African Saracens that the 
 Almoravides had no thoughts of returning. In 
 the meantime, Yusef, their general, mounted the 
 vacant throne of Seville, thus founding a new 
 dynasty. 
 
 This event greatly alarmed the Moorish 
 sovereigns then reigning throughout Spain. Yusef
 
 40 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 was now the common enemy of Moors and 
 Christians alike. Alfonso joined his forces to 
 those of the petty Moorish kings, once more 
 thoroughly united amongst themselves, and for 
 some years the unique spectacle was to be witnessed 
 of Moors and Christians fighting in unison under 
 the same banners. Even the famous " Cid " 
 (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar), that stalwart champion 
 of the Cross ! was found willing to wield his blade 
 on the side of the Moslems when State-policy 
 required. 
 
 But neither his efforts nor those of any other of 
 the present Moorish-Christian League could make 
 head against Yusef. 
 
 And thus, in the year 1094 we find Moorish 
 Spain once more re-united under one sovereign, 
 and the Almoravides dynasty of Yusef and his 
 successors paramount in Spain for half a century. 
 Yet during this period, although the Moors were 
 fairly united amongst themselves, the Christians 
 had never been more active or more daring in their 
 encroachments upon Moorish territory. Alfonso, 
 King of Aragon and Navarre, who had married 
 Urraca, the daughter and heiress of Alfonso of 
 Castile, especially proved himself a redoubtable 
 champion of the Christian cause. By his prowess 
 he had gained for himself the title of " El Batal- 
 lador," for he claimed victory over the Moors in 
 no less than twenty-nine stubborn fights. 
 
 Saragossa and Taragona were wrested by him 
 from the Moors, as well as the less important 
 Daroca and Tudela. He substantially added to
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 41 
 
 his patrimony of Aragon and Navarre, and made 
 greater inroads upon the South than any of the 
 Christian Generals had yet dared. He was univer- 
 sally regarded as the most formidable antagonist 
 whom the Moors had yet encountered, and his 
 long series of successes were followed with the 
 same expectant interest as those of his father-in-law 
 had been in the previous century. But, in 1133, 
 his good fortune deserted him. He sustained a 
 defeat and died shortly afterwards. Yet his ill- 
 success in the later years of his life must not be 
 allowed to diminish our estimation of the immense 
 progress that the Christians had made in the 
 recovery of Spain. Both he and his father-in-law 
 had been the means of severely shaking the general 
 belief in the invincibility of the Moors. 
 
 Both monarchs may certainly be regarded as 
 having been the Avant-couriers of the great St. 
 Ferdinand, who was to capture Seville about a 
 hundred years after. The death of Alfonso, King 
 of Navarre and Aragon, who left no heirs, was 
 the cause of considerable confusion amongst the 
 Christians. 
 
 Aragon and Navarre, respectively, had to select 
 new sovereigns. Leon and Castile went to Alfonso 
 Raymond, his wife's son, though those kingdoms 
 had been practically in the possession of Raymond 
 during his stepfather's lifetime. 
 
 An infant niece of the deceased monarch 
 succeeded to the kingdom of Aragon, and her 
 betrothal to the Count of Barcelona was the means 
 of uniting the then French Provinces of Catalonia
 
 42 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 to Aragon. That was an occurrence of great 
 historical import in after-times. 
 
 Just about this period, Portugal, which had been 
 gradually slipping from the Moorish grasp for 
 many years past, declared her complete indepen- 
 dence, not only of the Moors, but of the Kings 
 of Castile. For that portion of Portugal, which 
 had been recovered from the Moors by Alfonso I, 
 of Leon and Castile, had been for some years 
 governed by a Viceroy. The name of the first 
 independent King of Portugal was Alfonso Hen- 
 riquez. (1139.) 
 
 Thus by this rise of another Christian Power 
 upon her flank, the Moorish Power was becoming 
 sadly hemmed in. And almost simultaneously a 
 foreign enemy was engaging the attention of the 
 Almoravid Ali, the then Caliph. A new tribe of 
 Mussulmans again, the Almohades, were threaten- 
 ing Spain from Africa just as Ali's own ancestors 
 had done. Neither Ali, nor his son, were able to 
 put down these upstart brethren of theirs. Their 
 successor fared very much worse. He was cap- 
 tured in Morocco and beheaded by the leader 
 of the Almohades, Abdulmumen. 
 
 This event put an end to the sway of the 
 Almoravides, and by the accession of the pre- 
 sent Conqueror to the vacant throne of Moorish 
 Spain, yet another Moorish dynasty came into 
 power. 
 
 In the earlier years of the 13th Century, then, 
 it seemed as though the two hostile Races in 
 Spain were marking time. No leader of the first
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 43 
 
 rank upon either side was at this time to the 
 fore. 
 
 Yet though no decisive blow was at present 
 imminent, the comparative calm was deceptive. 
 Each race kept grim watch within their tented 
 fields. Their mailed hands never left their sword- 
 hilts ; their unsleeping eyes ever upon the alert, 
 to watch any premature movement. Neither side 
 seemed at this time to have yielded an acre, yet 
 the influence of the Christians was spreading 
 beyond their own borders. 
 
 They were advancing by the weight of a half- 
 conscious momentum without the effort of any 
 fresh enterprise of their own. 
 
 As we moderns could put it, the tide was with 
 them, and public opinion was on their side. 
 
 About the year 1230, however, the aspect of 
 affairs underwent a considerable though a gradual 
 change. The presence of certain determined and 
 energetic men in the Christian provinces pointed 
 to a not far distant crisis. 
 
 Moorish Spain had again slipped into the hands 
 of three Rulers, of Almohad blood, instead of one 
 only. That fresh partition did not augur an 
 increase of vitality. 
 
 Confronted by Leon and Castile under the 
 energetic sway of the indomitable Ferdinand ; by 
 Aragon, ruled by the equally able James I ; by 
 Navarre, under Thibault I, (not to mention Por- 
 tugal ruled by Sancho,) the Moors seemed fairly 
 driven into a corner. 
 
 Indeed, they had no outlet left to them in
 
 44 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 case of supreme disaster, but in the direction of 
 Granada. 
 
 And the shadow of that disaster, and of the 
 inevitable flight, was already upon them. Yet they 
 had ample warning given them, and could give no 
 excuses of unpreparedness, or of sudden surprise ; 
 of unlooked-for panic, or even of being out- 
 numbered. 
 
 St. Ferdinand and James of Aragon, the new 
 Twin- Brethren who were at last to lead the Cross 
 to long-expected victory, advanced into Andalucia 
 with slow and measured steps, — certain of each yard 
 of ground before they possessed themselves of 
 another, never under-rating now the enemy they 
 had to deal with, having learned by fatal ex- 
 perience how often fields had been lost by that 
 folly. 
 
 And, above all, keeping alive in the breasts 
 of their soldiers the flame of a religious ardour, 
 not inferior to, or less hot, than that which ever 
 blazed in the souls of their equally fanatical 
 opponents. 
 
 Thus, slowly and gradually, cities and towns 
 fell before the ponderous advance of these new 
 Crusaders, and the undulating lands of Andalucia, 
 which generations of Moors had planted, and 
 watered, and reaped, — slowly, very slowly, became 
 the prizes of the conquering Christians. And at 
 last, — the greatest prize of all for which Moslems 
 and Christians had ever contended, — the great City 
 of Cordova was captured by St. Ferdinand in June, 
 1236 (some say 1235).
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 45 
 
 The fame of Cordova had gone forth into all 
 lands. She had long been regarded by all nations 
 as the great jewel of the South, the chief emblem 
 of Saracen dominion in Spain, and as one of the 
 greatest Cities of the world, the stronghold of 
 Western civilisation and luxury, of Oriental learn- 
 ing and of Oriental art. We have a difficulty 
 now in realising all that Cordova meant to the 
 Saracen Race, for that Race has so completely 
 vanished from our ken in Europe. But we may 
 be sure that to the Eastern world the news came 
 as though it were the fall of a second Nineveh. 
 And, perhaps, even upon the ear of a Spaniard, 
 — (it is not an imaginative Race) — the echo of the 
 plaintive cry, " Pan is dead ! " may have fallen, 
 when Cordova fell. 
 
 The prestige of Mohammed had been for ever 
 shattered in Spain, and his votaries must now have 
 realised, if not before, that any hopes of extending 
 his empire in Europe had been relegated to the 
 Land of Dreams. Whilst St. Ferdinand was step 
 by step rescuing Andalucia from the Moorish yoke, 
 James of Aragon was harrying the heathen in the 
 Eastern Provinces, and in 1238 or 1239, captured 
 the city of Valencia, another ancient and famous 
 stronghold of the Moors, and boasting one of the 
 most considerable Ports of the Country. The 
 Province had been the scene of one of the earliest 
 conquests of the Crescent and had been placed 
 under the control of Cordova. It had thrown over 
 its allegiance to Cordova, at the moment of the fall 
 of the Omeyad Dynasty, and had decided for
 
 46 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 independence. But dissensions having broken out 
 between rival factions, Spanish aid was called in. 
 The City was the scene of some of the most famous 
 exploits of the Cid, and also, if the Saracen his- 
 torian may be credited, of some of his most cruel 
 deeds. The Cid, dying in 1099, bequeathed the 
 City to his widow, Ximena, who, after two years 
 of nominal possession, had to yield the City to the 
 Moors. 
 
 By the present victory of James, Valencia became 
 an appanage of his ancestral dominions, and 
 eventually passed to Ferdinand, the husband of 
 Isabella of Castile. 
 
 St. Ferdinand, the captor of Cordova, was a 
 cautious general, and decided thoroughly to con- 
 solidate his conquests before moving on. If his 
 military qualities and the valour of his army are not 
 to be disputed, he owed much of his success to the 
 support of the Moors themselves, who had been for 
 years past much more occupied by fighting for 
 supremacy amongst each other than in stemming 
 the progress of the Christians. 
 
 It is probable, too, that Ferdinand placed no 
 great faith in such unstable allies, and was quite 
 aware that any check to his arms would be the 
 signal for a general rally against him. Whatever 
 may have been the causes of Ferdinand's long halt, 
 it was not till the year 1 248, — some twelve years 
 after the capture of Cordova, — that Seville surren- 
 dered to him. And then only after a siege of more 
 than a year. 
 
 Although the fall of Seville was a final blow to
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 47 
 
 the Saracen cause in Andalucia, in moral effect, it 
 was less important than that of Cordova. 
 
 The capture of that City had sounded the death- 
 knell of the Caliphate. Seville represented nothing 
 now. There was no bond of union or common 
 interest left, except that of fanaticism, to soften 
 mutual hatred, and to reconcile rival chiefs. 
 
 Ephemeral kings possessed themselves of a few 
 hours of power, only to be dispossessed by suc- 
 cessors of equally brief tenure. Indeed, at the 
 time of the capture of the City, Ferdinand found a 
 sort of Republic, with a nominal chief at the head 
 of affairs. And he owed his success as usual to 
 Saracen treachery quite as much as to the valour of 
 his own army. 
 
 In the hour of victory, St. Ferdinand always 
 showed himself calm and reasonable in his treatment 
 of the conquered. When he had divided the spoils 
 of the City of Seville amongst his soldiers, he pro- 
 ceeded to deal generously with the recreant Moors, 
 who had assisted him in its capture. To Ibn-1- 
 Ahmar, Sheik of Jaen, the chief instrument of 
 Ferdinand's success, a splendid reward was assigned. 
 The City of Granada and the fertile lands of its 
 far-famed Vega, Jaen, — the small independent 
 kingdom of which Ibn-1-Ahmar was the ruler, — 
 is not far from Granada, and it may be supposed 
 that the Sheik had long ago turned his eyes upon 
 that Elysium of Spain. 
 
 That he was, in return for an acquisition so 
 valuable and delightful, to acknowledge Ferdinand 
 as his Suzerain, was no immoderate condition.
 
 48 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Ibn-1-Ahmar, upon his arrival in his new do- 
 minions, was greeted by his subjects with shouts 
 of " Long live the conqueror ! " 
 
 That was a rather too eloquent tribute to the 
 part which the "Conqueror" had taken in the 
 reduction of Seville ! But that seems to have been 
 regarded as a great " feather in his cap." It is said 
 that Ibn-1-Ahmar, immediately after his arrival, 
 commenced to build the Alhambra. But it is 
 certain that the hill upon which that noble Palace 
 stands, was built upon, centuries before the advent 
 of the "Conqueror." 
 
 Meantime, St. Ferdinand and his army settled 
 down in their new capital. For Seville now 
 assumed that position, until Charles V thought 
 good to transfer the seat of power to Valladolid. 
 
 It does not seem that St. Ferdinand had occasion 
 to engage in any further crusades. He died at 
 Seville in 1252, at a time when he was supposed, 
 however, to be contemplating an invasion of Africa. 
 His canonisation by Pope Clement IX took place 
 in 1668. 
 
 It may have seemed to some, weakness upon 
 Ferdinand's part to sutler a great Moorish City 
 and province to grow up upon the flank of the 
 recently recovered Province of Andalucia, a district 
 to which it was certain that most of the ousted 
 and disaffected Moors would speedily betake 
 themselves. We hear, indeed, about this time, of 
 the population of Granada as already numbering 
 450,000 souls. Probably, Ferdinand was of opinion 
 that even if he had not killed the snake, he had
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 49 
 
 scotched it so effectually that it would be dormant 
 in his time. It was better, too, to have the mischief 
 brought to a head in one spot, than to be rankling 
 in many. 
 
 In any case, the Moorish population was so large 
 that he had no other means of dealing with it. 
 And Ferdinand was too wise and humane to antici- 
 pate the insensate and wicked policy of the second 
 and third Philips of later generations. Ibn-1-Ahmar, 
 meantime, proved himself worthy of the confidence 
 reposed in him, and ruling ably and intelligently, 
 evinced no desire to renounce the allegiance which 
 he had sworn to maintain. Granada increased and 
 throve under his successors, and became in the eyes 
 of the Faithful all that Cordova had been. So great, 
 so powerful, so luxurious, that her rulers soon 
 forgot by what means the City had become theirs. 
 And so for two hundred years the great struggle 
 between the Moors and Christians, — only tem- 
 porarily interrupted, — was recommenced and con- 
 tinued with all its former vigour, — in all its brilliant 
 phases, and picturesque alternations of doughty 
 deeds, of stirring feats of arms, of desperate 
 valour. 
 
 It became one of the most protracted, absorbing, 
 brilliant and romantic struggles ever seen in any 
 part of the world. Again, the supremacy of the 
 Cross or Crescent was in question, and Europe 
 looked on at the development of this new and 
 long Crusade, as though it were a struggle in an 
 arena, or a duel between two perfectly matched 
 gladiators. 
 
 4
 
 50 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 The long contest was brought to a death- 
 struggle just at the period when Ferdinand and 
 Isabella had united, by their marriage, the larger 
 portion of Spain beneath their sceptres, and when 
 Muley-Aben-Hassan, one of the most able of the 
 later rulers, was seated on the throne of Granada. 
 
 The casus belli of this last long struggle, which 
 lasted from the year 1481 until the capture of 
 Granada in 1492, was the refusal of the powerful 
 Moorish Ruler to pay the tribute originally agreed 
 upon between Granada and St. Ferdinand. 
 
 The conditions upon which Granada had been 
 made over to the Moors were, that the kings of 
 Granada should annually hand over to their Spanish 
 Suzerain a sum of two thousand golden pistoles 
 and sixteen hundred Christian captives, or if these 
 latter were not forthcoming, an equal number of 
 Moors, to be considered as the slaves of the 
 Spanish Rulers. These latter, moreover, were to 
 be delivered in the City of Cordova, which still was 
 regarded in the eyes of the Moors, although no 
 longer theirs, as the Spanish Mecca, and chiefly so 
 because it contained their greatest and most famous 
 Mosque. It may easily be imagined how this 
 yearly consignment of their unfortunate brethren 
 into the hands of their Spanish masters in the very 
 stronghold of their Faith must have made the 
 Saracen population wince. Any evasion of that 
 clause must have gained all their sympathies. 
 
 Muley Hassan, as has been noted, had for some 
 years refused to carry out any of these stipulations. 
 And, accordingly, when Ferdinand and Isabella
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 51 
 
 sent envoys to Granada to demand the arrears of 
 the tribute due to them, they received the haughtiest 
 of replies : " The kings of Granada who used to 
 pay what you demand of me are no longer in 
 existence. My mint coins only the blades of 
 scimitars, and lance-heads." That was the drift 
 of Muley Hassan's answer. 
 
 Muley Hassan being the last of the heroic Moors, 
 will always live in Spanish History, not only for his 
 own surpassing qualities, but as the father of the 
 last of the Moorish Sovereigns, Boabdil-el-Chico. 
 He was but a phantom-king, a mere puppet ; during 
 the last days of his reign in the hands of Ferdinand, 
 until it suited that sovereign to dispossess him 
 altogether. 
 
 Yet the chequered career, the imprisonments, the 
 romantic adventures, the melancholy fate of that 
 "Child of Destiny," and more than all the pathetic 
 exit of the last of his Race, from the gates of the 
 City, upon the 25th of November, 1491, impress 
 the imagination as much as any event in modern 
 history. How many, whilst perusing the record of 
 the final struggle, have echoed the ultimo suspiro 
 of that last of the Moors ! 
 
 In this rapid sketch of the Moorish Raj in Spain, 
 however imperfect, the reader may perhaps realise 
 as the writer has realised, that Moors and Spaniards 
 during their seven hundred years' co-existence were 
 not always at daggers drawn. 
 
 The two nations, — it cannot be conceived as 
 otherwise, — must have come together at many 
 points.
 
 52 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 The immeasurably greater qualities of the Saracen 
 conquerors moulded and influenced the national 
 character of the Visigothic people to a far greater 
 extent than we think. 
 
 All that they learned of the arts of peace, and 
 much of those of war, came to that rude people from 
 their conquerors. Nor had the Moors any scruples 
 at all in taking to their bosoms Christian wives. 
 The Roman-Gothic Spaniards were not less 
 sensible to the attractions of the dusky daughters 
 of their African conquerors. Intermarriages must 
 have been very frequent. So much so, that if 
 one ethnological feature be more apparent than 
 another in the modern Spaniard, it certainly is that 
 of the Oriental. 
 
 If every now and then the fierce feelings en- 
 gendered by antagonistic creeds broke out, and 
 urged them to undertake intermittent Crusades, 
 doubtless those mutual ties of relationship mitigated 
 the fury of them, and allowed the fires to burn 
 down. 
 
 The triumph of the Cross or the Crescent, then, 
 could not always have been the one predominant 
 idea, even in those parts of Spain where the Moors 
 were regarded as temporary invaders rather than 
 as permanent rulers. I n the case of two nationalities, 
 whom long familiarity had nearly fused into one, 
 mundane considerations would have had fully as 
 great an influence as those of Creed. Occasions 
 were often arising when it became of the first 
 importance to join hands irrespectively of their 
 beliefs,
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 53 
 
 One Moorish tribe was in arms against another, 
 and the jealous Spaniards were only too proud that 
 they still had swords to throw into the balance, and 
 yet were not too proud to invoke the assistance 
 of the warlike Moslems in their turn, when they 
 also suffered intertribal disputes. 
 
 It has already been noted, that the Cid himself 
 was not above brandishing his famous sword in 
 alliance with those very heathen whom he a few 
 years before had been scattering far and wide. As 
 we have seen in the instance of Charlemagne's 
 rout at Roncesvalles, Spaniards and Moors could 
 put aside all their differences when the invasion of 
 their common Country inspired them with a fellow- 
 feeling. And, here it may be noted, that the autho- 
 rity of the legend which attributes Charlemagne's 
 presence in Spain to the invitation of certain 
 Saracen Tribes, is very apocryphal. So that, (it 
 is fairly evident now,) in the long course of cen- 
 turies the futility of incessant struggles between 
 the two Nations had become palpable to both — 
 that Moors and Spaniards had learned to settle 
 down and to live in comparative harmony with one 
 another. 
 
 And the Spaniards, moreover, even if not loving 
 their conquerors, could not close their eyes to the 
 immense benefits which the country had derived 
 from the civilisation and the knowledge of the arts 
 possessed by the Moors. 
 
 It is more than doubtful whether the Moors, upon 
 their arrival, found any such advantages amongst 
 the people whom they conquered with such facility.
 
 54 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Whatever may be said in favour of the Visigoths, 
 they were undoubtedly not what we should term an 
 "advanced" Race. Excessive pride is, generally, 
 the companion of ignorance. Would it be a hard 
 saying to express an opinion that those qualities 
 have never deserted the Spanish Race ? 
 
 If, in the days of the Moorish possession of the 
 Country, they could not deny that they were indebted 
 to their conquerors for many benefits, they were 
 certainly not appreciative of those storehouses of 
 learning at Cordova and elsewhere, which have 
 already been referred to. 
 
 Although the Spaniards, in their superior ignor- 
 ance, might smile at the enthusiasm which caused 
 the Saracens to hunt after parchments and manu- 
 scripts inscribed with the writings of Aristotle and 
 Plato, and of all the chief philosophers of the West, 
 they were not indifferent to the medical science 
 of their conquerors. Their knowledge of medicine 
 and chemistry had placed the Saracens at the head 
 of European professors of those sciences. 
 
 Even Spanish pride would yield when there was 
 a question of the treatment of wounds, or the 
 alleviation of fevers. Many of the drugs and pre- 
 parations, which are still used in Europe, have 
 Arabic names, and were first prescribed by Saracen 
 Leeches. 
 
 " Ex oriente Lux " may emphatically be applied 
 to the Moors. Upon what department of Science 
 and Art did that strange people not shed light, when 
 Europe was labouring along in that Slough of 
 Despond which we term the "Dark Ages"?
 
 ■< 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 o 
 O 
 
 = 
 
 o
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 55 
 
 Their proficiency in the arts of agriculture, horti- 
 culture and irrigation still awaken our surprise and 
 admiration. They made the desert blossom like 
 the rose. Even now the luxuriance and verdure of 
 the far-famed Vega of Granada, — the synonyme 
 of plenty and prosperity, — remain as an enduring 
 monument to the skill and foresight of the vanished 
 Race. In architecture, religious and domestic, they 
 originated another style which, in fascination at 
 least, excels all other Orders. No building in 
 Europe surpasses the Cordova Mosque. 
 
 The Alhambra, — of which the name alone con- 
 jures up a vision of gorgeous yet harmonious 
 ornamentation, combined with a mathematical 
 precision of construction, — has had no rival in the 
 world. 
 
 And here we may thank the Saracen for his term 
 of "arabesque." 
 
 Chivalry, too, the "generous loyalty to rank and 
 sex — the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enter- 
 prise," — is declared to be the discovery of the 
 Crusaders. It was discovered by them, for they 
 found it already existent in that Land of Saladin — 
 which they over-ran for a brief period. 
 
 The Saracens have been justly belaboured for the 
 fanatical cruelties perpetrated by the earlier Caliphs 
 in the propagation of Islam. But the excesses of 
 their blood-stained youth must not cause us to close 
 our eyes to the serener greatness of their maturer 
 years. 
 
 In this rdsumd oi the substantial benefits conferred 
 by the Moors upon Spain, enough has been said
 
 56 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 to convince the reader that their regime was not so 
 ephemeral as has often been imagined, and it will, 
 perhaps, encourage him to follow up his researches 
 in Moorish Spain. In Andalucia and Granada the 
 Moorish spell is very potent still. In cities such as 
 Cordova, Toledo, Seville, and above all Granada, 
 the complete Exodus of the old conquerors is not 
 easily realised. What Granada was, — what it is 
 still, — the eloquent words of Washington Irving, in 
 his History of the "Conquest of Granada," well 
 summarise. 
 
 "The renowned Kingdom of Granada, was 
 situate in the southern part of Spain, bordering 
 on the Mediterranean Sea, and defended on the 
 land-side by lofty and rugged mountains, locking- 
 up within their embraces deep, rich, and verdant 
 valleys, where the sterility of the surrounding 
 heights was repaid by prodigal fertility. The city 
 of Granada lay in the centre of the Kingdom, 
 sheltered, as it were, in the lap of the Sierra 
 Nevada, or chain of snowy Mountains. It covered 
 two lofty hills, and a deep valley which divides 
 them, through which flows the River Darro. One 
 of these hills was crowned by the royal palace and 
 fortress of the Alhambra, capable of containing forty 
 thousand men within its walls and towers. Never 
 was there an edifice accomplished in a superior 
 style of barbaric magnificence : the stranger who, 
 even at the present day, wanders amongst its silent 
 and deserted courts and ruined halls, gazes with 
 astonishment at its gilded and fretted domes and 
 luxurious decorations, still retaining their brilliancy
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 57 
 
 and beauty in defiance of the ravages of time. 
 Opposite to the hill, on which stood the Alhambra, 
 was its rival hill, on the summit of which was a 
 spacious plain covered with houses and crowded 
 with inhabitants. The declivities and skirts of the 
 two hills were covered with houses to the number of 
 seventy thousand, separated by narrow streets and 
 small squares according to the custom of Moorish 
 cities. The houses and interior courts and gardens, 
 refreshed by fountains and running streams, and set 
 out with oranges, citrons, and pomegranates. So 
 that, as the edifices of the city rose above each 
 other on the sides of the hill, they presented a 
 mingled appearance of city and grove delightful to 
 the eye. The whole was surrounded by high walls, 
 three leagues in circuit, with twelve gates and 
 fortified by a thousand and thirty towers. 
 
 " The elevation of the city and the neighbour- 
 hood of the Sierra Nevada, crowned with perpetual 
 snows, tempered the fervid rays of the summer : 
 and thus, while other cities were panting with the 
 sultry and stifling heat of the dog-days, the most 
 salubrious breezes played through the marble halls 
 of Granada. The glory of the city, however, was 
 its ' vega,' or plain, which spread out to a circum- 
 ference of thirty-seven leagues, surrounded by lofty 
 mountains. It was a vast garden of delight, re- 
 freshed by numerous fountains, and by the silver 
 windings of the Xenil. The labour and ingenuity 
 of the Moors had diverted the waters of the river 
 into thousands of rills and streams, and diffused 
 them over the whole surface of the plain.
 
 58 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 " Indeed they had wrought up this happy region 
 to a degree of wonderful prosperity, and took a 
 pride in decorating it as if it had been a favourite 
 mistress. 
 
 " The hills were clothed with orchards and vine- 
 yards, the valleys embroidered with gardens, and 
 the wide plains covered with waving grain. Here 
 were seen in profusion the orange, citron, fig, 
 pomegranate, with large plantations of mulberry 
 trees, from which was produced the finest of silk " 
 (Washington Irving has omitted to mention the 
 silk-worms who fed upon those trees). 
 
 " The vine clambered from tree to tree, the 
 grapes hung in rich clusters about the peasant's 
 cottages, and the groves were rejoiced by the per- 
 petual song of the nightingale. In a word, so 
 beautiful was the earth, so pure the air, and so 
 serene the sky, that the Moors imagined the 
 Paradise of their Prophet to be situated in that 
 part of the heaven which overhung the Kingdom 
 of Granada." 
 
 Such were the main features of the enchanting 
 region which then passed into the possession of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella. What Kashmir is to the 
 burning plains of Hindustan, that is Granada to 
 Spain. What Noormabal had sung upon the Lake 
 of Kashmir, the Moors had often repeated in 
 their Shalimar. And Ferdinand and Isabella, too, 
 though not giving it utterance, may well have felt 
 the sentiment. The struggle had been very long 
 and arduous, but the triumph had been worth a 
 hundred such strucm-les.
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 59 
 
 And it was not Granada only that had fallen into 
 Spanish hands. That conquest had completed the 
 capture of the kingdom of Andalucia. " Los Coatros 
 Reinos de Andalucia" — the four Kingdoms of Seville, 
 Cordova, Jaen and Granada. And Andalucia gone, 
 meant that Spain was in Spanish hands, and that 
 Ferdinand and Isabella ruled from sea to sea, — from 
 Cadiz to Valencia, — and from Leon to Gibraltar. 
 It was indeed a moment to render dizzy the coolest 
 of heads. It is much in the favour of the joint- 
 sovereigns that they retained the balance of their 
 souls and showed themselves calm and even con- 
 ciliatory in the hour of their triumph. 
 
 The conditions of Surrender were even remarkably 
 lenient, and ample time was given to the Moors to 
 comply with them. For the Sovereigns did not 
 enter into their new Capital (January, 1492) for two 
 months after the capitulation. 
 
 The Moors were allowed to retain their pro- 
 perty, their horses and arms (artillery excepted) : 
 they were to be free in the exercise of their 
 religion, and even to be governed by their own 
 laws under their own Cadis. They were to be 
 exempted from payment of tribute for three years : 
 and to those who desired to leave the country within 
 the same period free passages, from whatever Port 
 they might select, were to be granted. 
 
 Nor was it desired then to get rid altogether of 
 the fallen people. To Boabdil-el-Chico was assigned 
 a territory in the Alpuxares Mountains, where he 
 could have played with his followers around him 
 with a semblance of Sovereignty.
 
 60 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 But he found the position an impossible one, and 
 soon elected to return to the home of his forefathers 
 in Africa. 
 
 The leniencyof the Spanish Monarchs, — creditable 
 to them at first, — did not prevail very long. The 
 mania for proselytising, — that ruling passion ever 
 uppermost in the breasts of the Spanish Kings, — 
 soon manifested itself. 
 
 The bigotry of Ferdinand and Isabella was more 
 than seconded by their chief adviser, Cardinal 
 Ximenes, — a sort of Spanish Wolsey. 
 
 Accordingly we find those Moors who had been 
 promised free exercise of their own religion, but 
 ten years before, now forced, often at the sword's 
 point, to embrace the religion of their con- 
 querors. And not Moors only but Jews. Thou- 
 sands of both races accepted baptism to save their 
 lives. 
 
 Thousands of others fled to Africa to avoid it. 
 The cruel policy of persecution, inaugurated by 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, was fully developed by 
 their successors, until it attained a climax of ferocity 
 in the reign of Philip III. 
 
 For under the atrocious edict of that Monarch 
 even Moorish converts suffered. It was not only 
 infidelity that awoke Philip's wrath, it was race- 
 hatred. He expelled a million of his subjects from 
 the Kingdom only for the crime of being of Eastern 
 blood. But even he could not shut his eyes to the 
 superior qualities of the Moorish people, nor to the 
 ignorance of his own : six families were selected 
 from each hundred to remain in the country to
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 61 
 
 teach the Spaniards the arts of their whilom 
 Conquerors. 
 
 Yet if " Peace hath her victories no less than 
 War," even in that hour of ruthless and insensate 
 barbarism, the Moors remained the Victors.

 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BARCELONA 
 
 The Moors — The Wise Men of the East — "The Traveller 
 wishes to get upon their track " — A Spanish Manchester — 
 The Rambla a City-centre — Flower- market — Ethnological 
 peculiarities of inhabitants — Paseo de Gracia, Chief 
 Promenade — Hill of S. Pedro Martir — The Montagna — 
 View of Montserrat — The Game of Spanish Tennis — Com- 
 mercial Prosperity — Merchant-Princes — Their embellish- 
 ment of the City — Churches of the ioth Century — The 
 Cathedral — Church S. Maria del Mar — Mediaeval Palaces — 
 Casa Consistorial — Casa de la Disputacion — Casa Lonja — 
 Relics of Roman Power. 
 
 I IMAGINE that three-fourths of the travellers 
 visiting Spain have the Moors uppermost in 
 their minds, and that their chief object is to get 
 upon the track of that remarkable Race, those 
 wise men from the East who taught the Spaniards 
 all that they themselves knew in science, art and 
 war. I fear that since those far-removed days the 
 Spaniards have not learned much more ; have even 
 forgotten what they learnt. The traveller then will 
 not tarry long in Barcelona, although that celebrated 
 city is by no means devoid of objects of interest. 
 For the commercial and mercantile classes indeed, 
 
 63
 
 64 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 if not the only City of the kind in Spain, it is 
 certainly the most important. The numerous and 
 industrious population which throngs its factories, 
 and loads the steamers with their produce, not 
 unworthy of Manchester itself, is proud to regard 
 the City as the Spanish Manchester. But you will 
 observe no resemblance in its gay thoroughfares, 
 in its spacious and well-planned streets, or in its 
 tasteful residences, to the grimy Capital of the 
 Midlands. Barcelona, historically, should be of 
 great interest to British eyes, for it was the scene of 
 one of the many brilliant successes of that dashing 
 hero, Lord Peterborough, during the War of the 
 Spanish Succession. The Spaniards are a for- 
 giving if not a grateful Race, so they have doubtless 
 forgiven, and even forgotten, our abandonment of 
 them and the cause of the Austrian claimant to the 
 Spanish throne. 
 
 Directly that you have landed, and ascended an 
 imposing flight of steps, whereon you will behold 
 a sufficient number of picturesque dawdlers and 
 slumberers, you find yourself confronting the great 
 Columbus Statue, which terminates one of the prin- 
 cipal thoroughfares of the City. It is called the 
 " Rambla," and is one of the chief resorts of 
 flaneurs and pedestrians, and the site of some 
 of the best hotels and buildings of the City. 
 You will be reminded much of the Unter den 
 Linden of Berlin. Here is a collection of flower- 
 stalls, which in the spring or summer quite dazzles 
 the eyes. Nowhere in the world will you see such 
 a blaze of colour, such banks of roses and. carnations
 
 BARCELONA 65 
 
 of all hues and sizes, and in such quantities, as 
 must be far in excess of the needs of even this 
 large City. All this colour is very grateful to you, 
 for with the exception of these profusely poured out 
 cornucopias and the gaily ornamented houses, you 
 will not meet with much that is cheerful in the 
 appearance and demeanour of the inhabitants. 
 Indeed, for gravity of carriage, absence of comeli- 
 ness in both sexes, and sadness of attire, I should 
 award to the Spaniards of Barcelona, at least, the 
 first place amongst all the nations with whom I 
 have any acquaintance at all. A small race 
 generally, of very serious, if not sad aspect, with 
 small, cheerless eyes, and of complexion yellow 
 rather than sallow. The mouth is the characteristic 
 feature, and of a type cruelly persistent throughout 
 Spain. Not good-natured mouths, with pinched 
 cautious lips, ever upon their guard. From such 
 lips you are like to get but scant information, and 
 no one, I think, much love. They sigh, if they stop 
 to put questions one to the other, as though they 
 were being asked tiresome and stale conundrums. 
 And if their pinched lips should break into a smile, 
 they are rapidly pulled back into their former shape, 
 as though they were reproving themselves for 
 conduct so derogatory to nature's own caballeros. 
 Saving your presence, there is a serene " Be 
 
 d dedness " in their bearing, quite sui generis. 
 
 Therefore, (and it has its saving virtue,) vulgar 
 chaff, giggling, and pushing, are unknown to these 
 impassive caballeros. You do not meet with many 
 of very dark hair, colouring and eyes. You will 
 
 5
 
 66 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 see far more of that type in Italy, and in Southern 
 France. Here, the character of face and colouring 
 is almost Eastern. Not Moorish, however, but, 
 oddly enough, something of a Siamese flavour 
 about them. You could not for an instant mistake 
 these insouciant pedestrians for Italians or French- 
 men. I try to satisfy myself where, ethnologically, 
 I should place this Race, so different in appear- 
 ance from any other. Despite the long Roman 
 regime, there is nothing Roman about them. 
 What the Visigoths may have been like it is 
 not easy to pronounce. Could one be justified 
 in ascribing their unique plainness to the Cartha- 
 ginians ? I am inclined to think that the Hannibals, 
 the Hasdrubals, the Hamilcars, were just such men 
 as you may see here, promenading in the Rambla. 
 If the noblest study of mankind be Man, (and 
 certainly the most interesting one,) an hour passed 
 upon a seat here will certainly not be misspent. 
 The " Rambla," though always thronged by pedes- 
 trians, and at times by carriages, has been superseded 
 of late years by the great Paseo de Gracia which 
 extends through nearly the whole length of the city 
 skirting the suburbs, as far as the " Gracias." It is 
 quite double the width of the Rambla and has two 
 avenues of trees, and is immeasurably longer than 
 the old promenade. Here, at evening, you will see 
 all that is gay and fashionable in Barcelona, — in 
 smart carriages, or upon horseback. And upon 
 either side of the drive, immense and luxurious 
 cafes thronged by idlers. You may prolong your 
 drive indefinitely, skirting charming villas, and
 
 *■ A* 
 
 BARCELONA 67 
 
 country houses, all boasting beautiful gardens, until 
 you come to the hills of S. Pedro Martir. A fine 
 carriage-drive has been made beyond, and you 
 ascend what is generally and almost affectionately 
 known as the " Montagna." The views, as you 
 continue the ascent of wooded hills, of the great 
 city, and of the sea beyond, are very fine. There 
 is a big Hotel, (some seven miles from Barcelona) 
 situated in the midst of beautiful scenery, which you 
 must visit in order to gaze at the splendid mountain 
 of Montserrat. ^ h U 
 
 Every one has heard of the Monastery there, 
 famous for Ignatius Loyola's dedication of himself 
 to the Church. But whether you go there, or not, 
 you must look at the mountain, which is one of the 
 most splendid shapes of all hills in the world. 
 Whatever hue it assumes, it is sublime in colour, as 
 it is in mass, and fantastic in its details of serrated 
 peak and crag. It is a vision of those " gorgeous 
 palaces and cloud-capped towers," of which Prospero 
 spoke. Were it not so substantial, it would resemble 
 nothing so much as one of those huge masses of 
 cloud, which upon a summer's day overspread the 
 heavens, and wherein you can figure to yourself the 
 phantom shapes of gods, and heroes, or the serried 
 masses of contending hosts of celestial armies. 
 Should your tastes urge you in that direction, you 
 will have many opportunities at Barcelona of 
 witnessing bull-fights, (the "ungentle sport" of 
 Byron) — even female ones ! Not wishing to attend 
 one myself, I excused myself to a Spanish friend, 
 upon the honest grounds of detesting cruelty
 
 68 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 to animals in any form. He replied : " My 
 objection lies rather in the stupidity of the 
 show." 
 
 Thereupon he took me off to quite another form 
 of amusement, and one which I shall always re- 
 member, Spanish Tennis. It is in the vernacular 
 called "Juega de Pelota a cesta"; i.e., game of 
 ball with basket. 
 
 To give an idea of the commercial prosperity of 
 Barcelona, it is said that out of a population of 
 some 500,000, 100,000 are employed in spinning 
 and weaving. There are some 4,000 factories and 
 workshops, 100 soap factories, and 200 tanneries. 
 It need not be inferred from these figures that 
 Barcelona owes her phenomenal wealth to any 
 sudden and feverish demands for her productions. 
 She has, from the earliest times, enjoyed a repu- 
 tation for commercial enterprise. Like Genoa in 
 old days, her unique maritime position has always 
 given opportunities of acquiring wealth. There 
 are those who trace her name to that of " Barca," — 
 Hamilcar Barca, the Carthaginian. The subsequent 
 rise of Tarragona, under the Romans, somewhat 
 eclipsed for a time her pride of place, but the 
 destruction of Tarragona by the Moors was the 
 means of restoring to her the commercial supremacy 
 which she has ever since maintained. Her pros- 
 perity, indeed, has been in such marked contrast to 
 the rest of Spain, that her dream has always been 
 to cut herself adrift from that much-suffering land. 
 Catalonia has always sighed, and is still sighing for 
 independence. " We are Catalonians, we are not
 
 BARCELONA 69 
 
 Spaniards," is the cry ever upon her lips. The 
 wealth that Barcelona has so honourably acquired, 
 has been for the most part nobly spent. The 
 generosity and taste of her merchant princes have 
 been manifested in the erection of charitable 
 institutions, and hospitals, as well as in the en- 
 couragement of art and science, and in the embel- 
 lishment of the City and the environs. The laying 
 out of fine parks and beautiful gardens are amongst 
 the undertakings fostered and encouraged by the 
 enterprise of private citizens. Catalonia can boast 
 of great artists, and amongst the foremost names is 
 that of Antonio Viladomnat, born at Barcelona 
 1678, and that of Fortuny. A few walks in 
 Barcelona will suffice to prove that Barcelona is no 
 mere mushroom commercial city. You will see 
 several fine mediaeval palaces, three or four of them 
 dating as far back as the 14th Century. The 
 Casa Consistorial, for example ; the Casa de la 
 Disputacion (Parliament House) which face each 
 other, and the " Casa Lonja " (Exchange). These 
 are all extremely picturesque. Some small relics of 
 the Roman epoch are elsewhere to be seen, in the 
 way of columns, sarcophagi, and in the remains of 
 an aqueduct. It is unusual to find in Europe 
 churches of the 10th Century. There are two here, 
 viz., San Pablo del Campo, and San Pedros de Las 
 Puellas. But save as landmarks of Christianity, in 
 an age when the greater part of Spain was overrun 
 by Pagans, they possess little of interest now. For 
 those who have already visited the great cathedrals 
 of Spain, Toledo, Seville, Granada, Burgos, and
 
 r 
 
 70 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 others, the cathedral of Barcelona may appear 
 inferior. Certainly in the more than dim religious 
 twilight which prevails throughout the building, 
 you are, at first, conscious of nothing, save that you 
 are standing in a church of vast proportions and of 
 majestic height. Gradually, as your sense of vision 
 adapts itself to the solemn obscurity, you become 
 aware that the Coro, in compliance with the almost 
 universal custom throughout Spain, is placed some- 
 where about the centre of the nave. You perceive 
 later that the lofty painted windows are enriched 
 with glass of the finest antique period. The Coro 
 is historically famous for an installation of the 
 " Golden Fleece " held here by Charles V. It was 
 the solitary celebration of the kind ever held in 
 Spain, up to recent times at least. Upon one of 
 the stalls are emblazoned the arms of the English 
 Henry VIII. The Cathedral is of the 14th 
 Century, and it possesses one architectural pecu- 
 liarity which is interesting. The great buttresses, 
 by which the thrust of the vaults are met, are 
 brought inside, and are made to serve as division 
 walls between the side chapels. 
 
 Nor should the other great Church of Barcelona, 
 known as " Santa Maria del Mar," be overlooked. 
 It is of the same epoch as the Cathedral, and, there- 
 fore, must have taken its name from the old Chapel 
 of the Goths which it replaced. That may have 
 been washed by the waves of the sea, and if so, 
 what an antiquity it must have claimed ! " There 
 where the long street roars, hath been the stillness 
 of the central sea ! "
 
 BARCELONA 71 
 
 The Church is of vast size, and much resembles 
 in construction the Cathedral. After havinsf seen 
 the beautiful painted windows of the Cathedral, you 
 will not be able to admire the glass here. All is 
 modern, I think, though some is good.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 MADRID 
 
 An attractive City — Puerta del Sol, much the reverse, and 
 a " Pandemonium " — Avoid Hotel de la Paix — Pleasing 
 change to the Hotel de Rome — Royal Palace — The Plaza 
 thereof — Guard-mounting — The Armoury — Historical memo- 
 ries and records — The Accademia de San Fernando — "The 
 Junta in Session" — The three great Murillos — Obstacles and 
 Hindrances to studying them — Other Pictures here. 
 
 MADRID, after Barcelona, will be found a 
 notable change. The latter city is in all 
 respects Spanish, or rather in deference to the 
 prejudices of the inhabitants, Catalonian. Madrid 
 might be, excepting in the physical aspect of the 
 people, which is purely Spanish, a portion of Paris. 
 The City and the environs thereof have been so 
 much disparaged by guide-books, and by those who 
 follow suit, that I was agreeably surprised to find 
 Madrid one of the gayest and prettiest capitals with 
 which I have become acquainted. It is distinctly 
 modern, it is true, but it has not claimed to be 
 otherwise. It possesses all the attractions of a fine 
 Capital in excessively broad thoroughfares, beautiful 
 and stately buildings, public and private, smart 
 
 72
 
 MADRID 73 
 
 shops, and delightful parks and gardens. The 
 streets and boulevards are clean, and well looked 
 after, and are in general thronged by smart and 
 well-turned-out carriages, and by pedestrians as 
 well-clad, and as orderly and self-respecting as any 
 you will see in Europe. I should not consider 
 myself as despitefully used were I sentenced to take 
 up my abode in this bright and cheerful town. It 
 is true that I was here in May, and it is possible 
 that in the winter, were snow lying upon the streets, 
 and if keen blasts from the Guadarrama pursued my 
 footsteps, along the great broad thoroughfares, a 
 counterblast would be forthcoming to anathematise 
 the climate. 
 
 The one spot of the City which not to visit once, 
 were to manifest an indifference to the most his- 
 torical, most frequented, and most often referred to 
 of all places in Madrid, is also the most vulgar, 
 noisy and antipathetic. 
 
 The reader has already anticipated me when he 
 says, " Of course the Puerta del Sol!" The sight- 
 seer must inevitably, in the course of his pere- 
 grinations, stumble upon this centre, for here almost 
 half of the streets converge. Here all the tram- 
 cars and public vehicles, and all the idlers, and 
 loiterers, and unoccupied of both sexes, pour in 
 from morn to midnight. Here, bes^ars and 
 hawkers, and pedlars, vendors of latest editions, 
 lucifer-matches, sweets, fruits, old umbrellas, straw- 
 hats, cigarettes, socks, needles, walking-sticks, and 
 of all rubbish unneeded, and unclean, unite to make 
 a pandemonium of deafening cries and of not over
 
 74 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 odorous smells. It is as much as your life is worth 
 to thread your way across the Plaza, amongst 
 opposing currents of tramcars and omnibuses. It 
 is as much as your pocket is worth to tarry, and 
 survey the seething multitude. Indeed there is no 
 temptation to tarry, except to find means of extri- 
 cating yourself from the swarm. There are no 
 picturesque shapes to gaze upon, no costume to 
 admire. So far as apparel goes, you will see 
 nothing more gay than you have seen in the Piazza 
 del Duomo, at Milan, or in the Piazza Colonna at 
 Rome, or in the Piazza S. Ferdinando at Naples. 
 And that means that the crowd is clad in the most 
 familiar costermonger type. Just such as you may 
 see in Trafalgar Square, or in St. James's Park, 
 or wherever else the lowest class of European 
 humanity resorts. The writer, not having suffi- 
 ciently instructed himself in these aspects of the 
 Puerta del Sol, was ill-advised enough to pitch upon 
 this site for his Hotel, the Hotel de la Paix (Pay?). 
 Thence, he, upon the morrow incontinently fled, and 
 to the Hotel de Rome, situated in the cheerful and 
 not ill-named " de Los Caballeros." That he found 
 to be in all respects a most agreeable and econo- 
 mical abode. So that, if these pages may so 
 far weigh with the traveller as to induce him to 
 shun the Place of Fearful Noises, and to avoid 
 the meaningless and ceaseless clamour of the 
 
 o 
 
 Hotel de Paris, and the cool extortions of the 
 Hotel de la Paix, the writer will not have written 
 in vain. 
 
 The Royal Palace, built by Philip V, (after
 
 MADRID 75 
 
 the conflagration of 1734 had destroyed the old 
 Palace,) occupies nearly the western extremity of 
 Madrid. For beyond this point there are but few 
 buildings, and those Barracks, or the Northern 
 Railway Station. It commands fine and varied 
 views upon the Western and Southern sides, of 
 gardens and woods. The much descried river 
 Manzanares flows beneath, and beyond its bosky 
 banks and woods an undulating landscape is 
 backed by the mountains of the Sierra Guadarrama. 
 So that, when you gaze from the Palace at least, 
 Madrid does not seem to be quite the featureless, 
 waterless, grim monotony as generally described. 
 The Building is vast and even stately, but, externally, 
 does not possess architectural merits greater than 
 those of most Royal Palaces in Europe. It is worth 
 while coming to the large Plaza, or Palace Court- 
 yard, to see the Guard-mounting one morning. The 
 singularly brilliant uniforms of the soldiers, whether 
 of the Cavalry or Artillery or Infantry, render the 
 spectacle very gay and animated. I imagine, 
 however, that it will be neither to see the Palace 
 itself, nor the ceremony of Guard-mounting, that 
 will bring the visitor here. His first visit at least, 
 will be to the world-famous Armoury. That un- 
 equalled collection will be found at the Eastern 
 Extremity of the Colonnade, which surrounds the 
 Plaza del Palacio. This saloon, 227 feet long, is 
 said to be the only portion of the old Alcazar which 
 occupied the site of the present Palace. There is 
 but one step from the outer air and the threshold of 
 this Hall of Enchantment. There is but one step,
 
 76 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 it seems, between the prosaic and the romantic, and 
 as you put down your foot you have entered into 
 the " Land of Dreams." Has some necromancer, 
 such as old Michael Scott, just waved his wand 
 and summoned from their sepulchres those ranks of 
 dead Monarchs and Princes, and even Queens, of 
 Bishops, and Discoverers of new Worlds, and Con- 
 querors, and great Captains. All warriors, all, for 
 they are clad in armour, and with vizored helmets, 
 as they lived and fought. It is an incarnate poem 
 of another Wizard, another Scott — Walter Scott. 
 Thus you have entered into the Spanish Walhalla. 
 These be the Demi-Gods of the Spanish Race. 
 Their Princes and Kings (or " Koning "-men as 
 Carlyle will have it, and most cunning ones, — those 
 Kings of craft and fraud) to whom in life their 
 subjects and their countrymen slavishly bowed down. 
 Men of iron will, and brazen impudence, mostly 
 with feet of clay ! What phalanxes of panoplied 
 warriors on horse or afoot ! Life-size all of them, 
 with features carved and copied from the most 
 authentic pictures. With stony gaze, but, per- 
 chance, not stonier than when in life, some of them, 
 fixed with icy glare, both foe and friend. The 
 colour is bright upon their cheeks, brighter much 
 than in life, and upon their lips, too persistently 
 hereditary as they were, those malformed swollen 
 lips, as though they had grown so by sucking the 
 life-blood out of their fellow-Christians' veins. See, 
 there, upon armour-clad black horse, Charles-Caesar, 
 as they, his subjects and flatterers, called him, 
 (others Charles " le Triche,") the man himself,
 
 MADRID 77 
 
 arrayed in the very armour and casque, which he 
 wore upon that day, of one of his many triumphs, 
 Miihlberg, and with his lance in rest, just as he 
 harried the Protestants, and John the Elector who 
 commanded them. The man himself, just as you 
 see him in Titian's still glorious masterpiece in the 
 Museo. Every other suit of armour or weapon 
 here, defensive, or offensive, seems to have 
 belonged to Charles ; and what wondrous suits ! 
 Damascened, gold-inlaid, arabesqued, repousees. . 
 There can be no more splendid examples of the 
 armourer's craft (Italian and German chiefly) to be 
 seen in Europe. Not far from Charles, you will see 
 his captive, (but not his prisoner,) the Elector John, 
 (for one of his Generals was the actual captor, upon 
 that day of Miihlberg, 1547). There, glorious in 
 armour, which he seldom used, is Philip II, a 
 name fraught with interest for the English. A 
 man without genius, without talent, without heart. 
 Merciless, bigoted, most "Catholic," most sensual, 
 most cruel. Not incapable of merriment at times, 
 (unlike his successor,) and at the announcement of 
 the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, roared with 
 laughter, and incontinently, despatched off 6,000 
 crowns to the assassin of Coligny. And he was 
 not a wealthy or a generous sovereign, as Don 
 John of Austria knew to his own cost. There is 
 Isabella the Catholic, in the armour which she is 
 supposed to have worn before Granada and the 
 other Moorish towns, captured in the later years of 
 the 15th Century. Others say that, the monogram 
 " Isabel " worked upon the vizor refers to another
 
 78 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Isabel, daughter of Philip II, and Regent of 
 Flanders, and that her husband wore it. Isabel 
 " The Catholic " possessed some fine qualities, and 
 knew how to be merciful at times, even to the 
 Moors, and gained some of their hearts even. Had 
 she not fallen under the accursed influence of 
 Torquemada and his Inquisition, she might even 
 have been called " Great." But unblemished 
 greatness was not to be found amongst the 
 monarchs of Spain. There stands the splendid 
 effigy of the only monarch amongst them that can 
 be said to have a claim to true greatness, " Saint" 
 Ferdinand. He captured Seville, and Cordova from 
 the Moors, but was clement, and generous towards 
 them. He made a sacred vow and kept it, which 
 is a rare thing in the annals of Spanish monarchs, 
 that he would never draw his sword against those 
 that held the faith of Christ. Would that some of 
 his successors had been equally magnanimous ! 
 He was canonised by Clement IX, in compliance 
 with the wishes of Philip IV. He was grandfather 
 of our Queen Eleanor, who inherited his virtues. 
 The effigy here owes what resemblance it may bear 
 to him, to a portrait at Seville. Certainly not the 
 one in the Madrid Museo, for that appears to be 
 by Murillo, who lived some four hundred years 
 later. There stands another effigy of Philip II, 
 wearing the identical armour as in one of the 
 pictures of him by Titian in the Madrid Museo. 
 What graceful elegance in those rows of young 
 princes ! all so slim and boyish in their beautiful 
 suits of full armour, one of the young - wearers
 
 MADRID 79 
 
 being Philip III, and given to him by the Duque 
 de Ossuna of that day. Philip III. was one of the 
 worst of the Spanish line. He is reported to have 
 smiled but three times in his life, one of those 
 occasions, doubtless, was when he committed one 
 of the most hideous crimes in modern history, the 
 abominable expulsion of the Moors from Spain in 
 1609. The uprooting and dispersion of an entire 
 race ! Such a colossal piece of iniquity set in 
 motion by the agency of one man has never been 
 equalled. And the folly was as immense as the 
 crime. Spain has never since regained the fruitful- 
 ness, the fertility of her lands. She owed them to 
 the Moors. Her barrenness since has been her 
 curse. You might spend days here amongst these 
 avenues of armed men and armour, and teach your- 
 self the history of Spain, of her rise and her decline 
 and fall. There stands Hernan Cortez, one of 
 her greatest sons, and there, likewise in the same 
 suit of full armour which he wore at his victory of 
 Lepanto, stands Don John of Austria. 1 There was 
 a man whose too early death cut off the ripening of 
 the great qualities of which he had already given 
 many a proof. It is always to be regretted that he 
 was not the legitimate son of Charles V. What 
 
 1 Don John has an additional interest for Englishmen in that 
 Queen Elizabeth desired to entangle him in one of her very 
 numerous flirtations. She did not find him at all responsive to 
 her " maiden-meditations." He expressed himself very vigorously 
 to Philip, his brother, upon the subject, and upon the damaged 
 character which he considered that the " Imperial votaress " had 
 acquired in the eyes of Europe.
 
 80 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 misery and suffering might not Spain and the 
 Netherlands have been spared. Near him is another 
 great man, Columbus, in armour, black and white. 
 He is one of the glories of which Italy can boast, 
 though it was his misfortune to have served Spain 
 and to break his heart in her service. And to how 
 many of her own sons did that occur? The "Great 
 Captain," Gonsalvo de Cordova, for example, a 
 name scarcely less cherished by his countrymen 
 than that of the national hero, the " Cid," how were 
 his immense services repaid by his master, Ferdi- 
 nand the " Catholic " ? As handsome and as brave 
 as Don John of Austria himself, his talents and his 
 virtues had much impressed Isabella "la Catholica." 
 It was she who induced her husband to o-ive him 
 the command of the Spanish army in Italy. Thence 
 he expelled the French, and gave his master the 
 Crown of Naples in 1503. For his successful 
 services there, he received — gratitude, — and all sorts 
 of promises from Ferdinand, which "in more 
 hispanico " were unfulfilled. He was therefore 
 shelved at Loja, (a second-rate town upon the road 
 to Granada,) and of which he received the thankless 
 post of Governor. He appears here four times, 
 clad in superb armour, and with the sword with 
 which he shaped out a kingdom for his perfidious 
 sovereign. The great Captain's motto : " Ingenuity 
 surpasses strength," should have been made over to 
 Ferdinand, with the added words : "of services." 
 
 The other memorable effigy, one of a youth 
 whose name has excited far more warmth among 
 sympathisers than it deserved, will be -therefore
 
 MADRID 81 
 
 regarded with some interest. That of the ill-fated 
 son of Philip II, Don Carlos. He is superbly clad 
 in armour, which seems not to have been worn so 
 constantly as it should have been by a Prince, who 
 was in the habit of openly expressing his hatred and 
 contempt for his royal parent. 
 
 He seems to have been a very malicious, cruel, 
 and contemptible youth. According to the modern 
 phrase, " quite impossible." There is no proof 
 whatever that he was made away with by any other 
 hand than his own, and his paroxysms of outrageous 
 temper render suicide as the most likely explanation 
 of his death. And now, having passed in private 
 review, in battle order, the monarchs and heroes that 
 have greatly striven upon historic fields, or that 
 have left names, some of them "at which the world 
 grew pale," you thread your path, and still with 
 bated breath, among ranks of lesser " light and 
 leading," but as splendidly accoutred. The Al- 
 fonsos, and Pedros, and earlier Ferdinands, Kings 
 of Leon or Aragon, or Castile, who passed their 
 stormy lives in the harrying of the Pagans, for some 
 five hundred years, until their interminable Crusades 
 culminated in the final crash at Granada. Here 
 most of them are in glittering array. Brave in 
 morion and casque, with nodding plumes, in breast- 
 plates and greaves, and coats of mail, all of splendid 
 workmanship and of temper indestructible. And 
 who will be bold enough to affirm that the day will 
 never come when such triple brass may again be 
 needed ? We have had to clothe our ships of 
 war in steel, we may yet have to revive an art that 
 

 
 82 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 seemed to have had its day, for the protection of 
 those that man our steel-clad vessels. 
 
 The walls of this grand Hall are encrusted with, 
 and ablaze with weapons of all kinds and sorts, that 
 have ever served for the slaughtering- of enemies 
 public or private. Swords, poniards, stilettos, 
 daggers, rapiers, axes, maces, halberts, spears, 
 guns, muskets, pistols, — everywhere gleam and 
 sparkle, o'er-canopied by flags and banners, the 
 spoils of many a long campaign. 
 
 What tales of blood ; what infamies of treacherous 
 thrusts ; what agonies ; what massacres, — these 
 innumerable weapons might recount ! You seem 
 to smell the blood which once trickled from those 
 nefarious blades. What trophies indeed of man's 
 cruel hate to man ! 
 
 Amongst the most famous of these weapons, they 
 point out to you, the sword, — the legendary " Durin- 
 dana," of the famous Paladin, Rolando, or Orlando, 
 with which the hero clave the Pyrenees. The 
 sword of " Bernardo del Carpio," a highly mythical 
 personage, but none the less venerated by the 
 Spaniards. The sword of St. Ferdinand, and that 
 of Isabella the Catholic, with a jewelled hilt. The 
 sword of the immortal Cid, the hero of Valencia, 
 whence he drove out the Moors. Then those of 
 Pizarro, and the famous Duque de Alva. Here is 
 the sword of " El Gran Capitano," one still in use. 
 For so honoured it is, and honourable, that knight- 
 hood is still conferred with a touch of the great 
 man's blade. 
 
 Here also is the halbert of Don Pedro the Cruel,
 
 MADRID 83 
 
 of Castile, whose history is so connected with our 
 own. For the Black Prince fought for him, and 
 reinstated him upon the throne, after the Battle of 
 Navarate. And John of Gaunt married Don 
 Pedro's daughter. No one will contemplate without 
 interest the sword and the helmet of Boabdil, "El 
 Zogoybi " " The Unfortunate," — the last Monarch of 
 the Moorish dynasty. Who that has perused the 
 touching history of the last years of Moorish 
 dominion, has not felt disposed to shed a tear over 
 the misfortunes of that ill-starred King ? He whose 
 sad destiny it was to connect his name for ever with 
 the verb " to weep." Even upon the " Cuesta des 
 Lagrimas," nigh to Granada, where he halted to 
 take one last, long, despairing look at the proud 
 paternal Towers of the Citadel — Alhambra, — and 
 which, for six hundred years, had been the home of 
 his ancestors. There is here another sword con- 
 nected with the history of Granada. It is that of 
 Garcilasso de Vega, who slew, in the vicinity of the 
 City, a Moor that had mocked at an " Ave Maria " 
 to the Madonna. You must admire also, two 
 splendid shields of the finest repousee work, repre- 
 senting the "Rape of the Sabines " and "The 
 Triumph of Love." You should also visit the 
 trophies of the Battles of Pavia and Lepanto, those 
 two victories which have conferred immortal fame 
 upon the Victor, Charles, and his natural son, 
 Don John of Austria. Turn over, before you leave 
 this bewildering armoury, a parchment book that 
 lies open for inspection. It is the catalogue of 
 Charles's armour and arms. Many of the speci-
 
 84 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 mens are illustrated. Were it possible, how one 
 would like to linger on here, and to lie concealed 
 until nightfall, when the moonbeams might be pour- 
 ing in through those huge high windows, and flood- 
 ing with mysterious splendours this world of armed 
 monarchs and knightly forms. What a magical 
 aspect this room would then assume ! One of the 
 wizards, aforesaid, would wave his wand, and would 
 call back to life, and motion, these petrified lords of 
 the vanished Past. Then, all these cold, mailed, 
 silent warriors, on horse, or afoot, would stir, would 
 advance, and gather around the most potent of 
 their race, even Caesar-Charles. 
 
 There would be joy, and rapture of meeting, and 
 warmth, and clasp of mailed hands. But there 
 might be also upbraidings and recriminations, 
 angry words, and daggers once more drawn. 
 Bigots would reproach bigots, and hypocrites 
 revile hypocrites. Better not to await such magic 
 rites ! And now, as at length, with aching eyes 
 and fevered brow, you issue forth into outer air, 
 and hear and see again the common sights and 
 sounds that make up daily existence in a modern 
 city, do you not feel that you have just emerged 
 from some Hall of Eblis ? That, by invisible 
 hands, you have been made to traverse the grim 
 abodes of petrified monarchs and warriors ? 
 
 You have been threading the silent avenues of 
 a Necropolis, of a splendid City, not quite of the 
 Dead, but rather one of suspended animation. You 
 have been in the world of Arabian Nights. Had 
 you touched one of those mailed warriors, had you
 
 MADRID 85 
 
 reached your hand towards one of their jewelled 
 stilettoes, had you grasped at one of their shadowy 
 crowns, you would surely have been transfixed by 
 the sudden thrust of a Charles's spear, or have been 
 crushed by the ponderous mace of an Alfonso. So 
 rash you were not, for your skin is whole and 
 sound. No ! you did but weep, (your eyes are yet 
 moist) in sympathy with that old Vizier of the 
 Eastern tale, who stumbled upon some subter- 
 ranean City of the Dead, and tottering amongst 
 the superb ranks of Caliphs, and Emirs, and Knights, 
 all frozen to silence, " wept till he became insen- 
 sible " ! Wept for the exceeding mournfulness of 
 human destiny ; wept for the melancholy brittle- 
 ness of human glory, and for the endless unfruit- 
 fulness of human endeavour ! Your dream, too, in 
 this enchanted palace, has been much of the same 
 nature, almost, indeed, a sort of gorgeous night- 
 mare. Neither have you, any more than the Vizier, 
 solved the riddle of Destiny. Yet you feel your- 
 self nearer to Wisdom than you were before you 
 entered. 
 
 The Sala des Sessiones in the Accademia de 
 San Fernando, where are placed the three finest 
 works of Murillo, is unfortunately dedicated to the 
 purposes of a Board, and possibly when you visit 
 the Gallery, you may be informed by the jealous 
 janitor who stands guard over the mysterious pro- 
 ceedings of the Junta referred to, that you cannot 
 upon any account be admitted until their delibera- 
 tions are terminated. It will seem strange to you 
 that world-famous pictures, such as these, and
 
 86 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 annually visited by hundreds, should be, as it 
 were, mere parentheses in the pompous records 
 which these gentlemen have met to draw up. But 
 we are in Spain, and that kind of thing ought never 
 to surprise you. However, if you have to wait 
 upon the pleasure of these potent, grave, and 
 reverend Senoros, you will find in the rooms lead- 
 ing to the Council-Chamber some pictures quite 
 worthy of your attention. These are, two by 
 Antonio Pereda, (ob. 1669) with which I was 
 much taken ; one an Allegory,— an Angel watching 
 over a sleeping youth. Upon a table nigh to the 
 youth are piled treasures of gold and silver goblets 
 with a mask and a skull. The Allegory is triteness 
 itself, but the picture is very finely painted, in the 
 strong contrasts of light and shade, so much in 
 favour with Spanish Artists. The other, " Pereda," 
 is of a man in armour, kneeling before a skull. 
 Zurbaran, Cafio, RibeYa, Morales, and some other 
 notable Spanish Masters, are represented here. 
 There are two, also, by Murillo, of St. Francis. 
 I had at length to represent to the functionary 
 aforementioned, that I could not leave the Gallery 
 without seeing the Murillo, and that he must get 
 the gentlemen, who were apparently quite unneces- 
 sarily protracting their proceedings, to give me 
 permission to enter. I found them sitting round 
 a table in all possible Spanish solemnity, but they 
 were courtesy itself, and allowed me to stay as long 
 as I chose. And the three pictures are so beautiful, 
 (Murillo quite at his best,) that no one would choose 
 a short visit to them. Of course they were once
 
 MADRID 87 
 
 carried off to Paris by the irrepressible Soult. 
 They are said to have suffered many things from 
 over-cleaning and over-restoring. But the craft of 
 the restorer, or the cleaner, seems for once to have 
 been most mercifully exercised. I have rarely 
 seen pictures of the 17th Century so fresh in 
 appearance and so little injured. The "Tinoso," 
 that in which St. Elizabeth of Hungary is repre- 
 sented as washing, or medicating, the head of a 
 "Tinoso," or "ulcerous " beggar, with other mendi- 
 cants about her, is a marvel. The face of St. 
 Elizabeth is quite divinely beautiful, with her 
 expression of holy benevolence. The beggars are 
 painted with startling force, and with the realistic 
 power which so especially characterised Murillo in 
 his treatment of such subjects. The two other 
 pictures of Murillo in this room, represent the 
 famous legend of the erection of the Church now 
 known as Santa Maria Maggiore, upon the Esqui- 
 line Hill at Rome. In the first of these pictures, a 
 Roman Patrician of the 4th Century and his wife 
 are asleep. A book has fallen from the hands of 
 the Senator, and no doubt his dream — the vision of 
 the Virgin Mary, who is appearing to them, — arises 
 from what he had been reading. The Virgin 
 directs him and his wife, — for they had besought 
 her, not being blessed with children, to point out 
 to them how they should dispose of their wealth. 
 They are told to build a Church to her, upon a 
 spot where a miraculous fall of snow — (for it was 
 summer) — should be found upon the following day. 
 In the second picture, the Roman couple are seen,
 
 88 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 kneeling before Pope Liberius, and narrating to 
 him what had been divulged to them, on the pre- 
 vious night. The Pope had, also, been vouchsafed 
 a vision of the same nature, and therefore has no 
 difficulty in pointing out to his fellow-dreamers the 
 site of the future Church, Santa Maria della Neve, — 
 as it was first called. Nothing can exceed the 
 beautiful simplicity with which Murillo has repre- 
 sented the legend. Both pictures show Murillo at 
 his best, and Murillo at his best is very nigh per- 
 fection. These pictures alone would have sufficed 
 to have placed him in the first rank of the greatest. 
 Merely as a detail, — but as an instance of Murillo's 
 extraordinary bold and rapid touch, — remark the 
 procession in the background, of the Pope Liberius 
 picture, wending its progress to the Esquiline. At 
 this point my jealous janitor, who seems to think 
 that I have been making arrangements to pocket 
 these splendid works " in more," Marshal Soult, 
 again appears upon the scene, and, like the Ghost 
 of Hamlet's father, waves me forth.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 
 
 What is to be seen here — Preponderance of Velasquez — 
 Murillo and Ribera — Quantity, rather than quality as 
 regards Murillo — Zurbaran — Other Spanish Masters — 
 Titian's preponderance, a "revelation" — Raphaels — Tin- 
 torettos — Paul Veronese — Astonishing numbers of " Luca- 
 fa-presto," and Rubens — Antonio Moro — J. V. Eyck — 
 Beauty of Rembrandt's one Portrait — Thirty-one Van- 
 dykes — Two thousand works here — Deficiencies and 
 Absence of Florentine and Lombard Artists, and of the 
 lesser Venetians, and of the Bolognese — Several Galleries 
 more comprehensive and representative than the Prado — 
 Many Pictures from the collection of Charles I — Our grati- 
 tude to Philip IV — The love of Art covers a multitude of 
 sins — Titian's Pictures — Notices and comments — Murillo, 
 Ribera, or Lo Spagnoletto ; Rubens — Velasquez — Zurbaran 
 —Other Spanish " Lights "— S. Coello, his Portrait of the 
 Infanta Isabel — Anecdote of her and the siege of Ostend 
 — Other S. Coellos — Pantoja — Religious Art of Spain pre- 
 viously to Velasquez — Antonio Rincon — Moralez — Juanez 
 — Absence of Spanish Landscape-painters — Moralez and 
 Juanez again — Navarate, "El Mudo " — A. Berrugette — 
 Ribalta, J. Roelas, J. de Pareja, A. di Cafio — Del Mazo, often 
 taken for Velasquez — Villaviciencio, Murillo died in his arms 
 — Resemblance to his master — Claudio Coello, last of the 
 great Painters — Few of his works here— Carreno de Miranda 
 — His Portrait of Charles II and his mother — F. Rizi 
 — His " Auto-da-Fe " — Comments thereon — Caxes — Goya,
 
 90 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 " Ultimus Romanorum " — Dutch and Flemish works here 
 — The otie Van Eyck — " Luca-fa-presto " again — Antonio 
 Moro at his best in Madrid — Anecdote of him and Philip II 
 — Raphael's Pictures here, " The one great disappoint- 
 ment " — Notices — His "Cardinal Bibiena," the best — 
 Velasquez purchased Tintorettos — Notes on them — Van- 
 dyke's super-eminent specimens — Paul Veronese — " Pieta," 
 D. Crespi — Mantegna — Correggio — G. B. Tiepolo and his 
 son — Paucity of Landscapes by foreign Artists also — Injuries 
 to, destruction, and neglect of works of Art in Madrid. 
 
 W 
 
 H ETHER we subscribe or not, to the rather 
 glib verdict, that the Madrid Museo forms 
 the finest collection of pictures in Europe, it will 
 be as well to ascertain not only what is to be seen, 
 but what is not to be seen upon the walls of this 
 Gallery. 
 
 That Velasquez, so numerically strong here, 
 (there are three or four apartments entirely dedi- 
 cated to his works) can nowhere else be seen in 
 such plenitude and power, forms doubtless the chief 
 attraction of this collection for students and con- 
 noisseurs of Art. Sixty-two of his best pictures are 
 to be seen here. Of Murillo, the greatest of the 
 Spanish Religious School, although there is much 
 and notable work, — (forty-six pictures are here 
 assigned to him) the finest examples are to be 
 seen elsewhere. Of Ribera, who, although he 
 passed most of the years of his life in Naples, was 
 one of the foremost of Spanish Artists, there are no 
 less than fifty-eight works. Of Zurbaran, whose 
 bold and vigorous style, almost recalls Velasquez, 
 there are fourteen specimens. To the lesser lights 
 of the Spanish School, the Coellos, the Pantojas,
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 91 
 
 the Canos, the Goyas, reference will be made as 
 occasion offers. That the Spanish School should 
 be numerically strong in this Gallery was only to be 
 expected. But that Titian should be represented 
 by nearly as many pictures as Murillo, i.e., by forty- 
 three, was, to the writer at least, a revelation. Of 
 other great Italian artists, there are ten Raphaels, 
 thirty-three Tintoretti, twenty-one of Paul Veronese, 
 and the astonishing number of fifty-five by that 
 astonishing Luca Giordano, (Luca-fa-presto). Of 
 the great Flemings there are sixty-two Rubens, 
 and thirteen by Antonio Moro. 1 There is, further, 
 one splendid Jean V. Eyck, one of the greatest 
 glories of the Gallery. Rembrandt is also repre- 
 sented by only one picture, but it is one of the very 
 greatest works that ever came from the easel of that 
 immortal artist. It is of a lady fair and rosy. I 
 think it is a portrait of his first wife, Saskia. There 
 are, further, twenty-one pictures by Vandyke, and 
 some of them as fine as anything he ever painted. 
 I think that I have named the chief artists that are 
 represented in this Gallery, and though there are 
 upwards of two thousand works to be seen here, 
 there are very numerous deficiencies as regards the 
 representation of other Schools of Art. The 
 Florentine Schools, (both the Early and the Late 
 ones,) are scarcely represented at all. From 
 Giotto X down to Fra Bartolomeo, with all the 
 great names, that may be included within their 
 
 1 The number of pictures by the different artists is only 
 approximate, for since the catalogue was printed, pictures have 
 been added from the Escurial, and other places.
 
 92 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 respective epochs, no artist, with the exception of 
 Fra Angelico and Andrea del Sarto, is represented 
 upon these walls. No Massacio, no Botticelli, no 
 Roselli, neither of the Ghirlandi, no Lorenzo da 
 Credi ; neither of the Lippis. The Gallery- 
 possesses nothing of the Lombard School, so dis- 
 tinguished by the great names of Leonardo da 
 Vinci, Bernardino Luini and Guadenzio Ferrari. It 
 is surprising that Charles V did not see to that in 
 the instance of Leonardo da Vinci. It is also sur- 
 prising, considering the vast numbers of the Vene- 
 tian School to be seen here, in the shape of Titian 
 and Veronese and Tintoretto, that there should be 
 so many others of that great School unrepresented. 
 There is a great Giorgione, it is true, but only one 
 Mantegna, (although he is properly of the School of 
 Padua,) — none of the Bellini, neither Carpaccio, nor 
 Bonifazio, nor the Palmas, nor Crivelli. The Bolog- 
 nese School, too, is very poorly represented. Of 
 the Sienese School nothing. Guido has one or 
 two inferior pictures here ; Domenichino, who, 
 although he has to answer for some inferior pro- 
 ductions, has certainly given a stupendous master- 
 piece to the world, in his " Last Communion of 
 St. Jerome," has but one inferior production. Nor 
 has Francia anything. Unless we place Raphael 
 and Pinturicchio in the Umbrian School, there 
 seem to be no others of the School here, and there 
 is not one Perugino. Michael Angelo's "absence" 
 is not " conspicuous," for he painted but few easel 
 pictures. As Ribera was the head of the naturalists 
 in Naples, it is strange that with the exception of
 
 Chari.es V. 
 
 By Titian. 
 
 To face p. 93.
 
 THE MUS^O DEL PRADO 93 
 
 his own works here, there should be none or few 
 of the works of Caravasfaio and of Salvator Rosa 
 to be seen. I think it must be conceded, then, im- 
 mense as are the attractions of this Museo, unique 
 of their kind, perhaps, that Dresden, Florence, 
 London, Berlin, and even Munich, possess far more 
 comprehensive collections. In all of those Galleries, 
 I think, the history of Art, from its dawn to its 
 twilight, may be more profitably studied. Gene- 
 rally, those Galleries are more representative of 
 Schools, and with the exception of two masters 
 only, they can boast the best specimens of the 
 
 greatest men. 
 
 To an Englishman one of the greatest attractions 
 of this Gallery will always be that there are forty- 
 four pictures that came from the collection of the 
 unfortunate Charles I. Englishmen, then, will pay 
 the tribute of their gratitude to Philip IV, for 
 having rescued them in time from the hands of 
 Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan myrmidons. The 
 love of Art covers a multitude of sins. And what- 
 ever crimes are to be attributed to the Spanish 
 Monarchs, we may place to their credit side this 
 fact, that from Charles V, to Philip V, a passion for 
 art and artists was one of their ruling characteristics. 
 We all know that Velasquez was the Apelles of 
 Philip IV, even as Titian had been of his great- 
 grandfather, Charles V. I will commence with 
 the first Apelles. 
 
 Charles V on Horseback. — Appears as the Victor 
 of Miihlberg, 1547 ; a more monumental portrait- 
 picture does not exist. Like many other monu-
 
 94 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 ments, it has suffered from time, burning, and 
 "restorations." But it is still glorious, a magnifi- 
 cent ruin. He bestrides us all like the Colossus of 
 Rhodes, and we petty men peep about betwixt his 
 huge legs. It was really a chestnut horse that 
 Charles rode that day, though it has been rendered 
 black. Fresh from the easel, it must have been 
 facile princeps of all portraits ever given to the 
 world, and alone would have immortalised the 
 artist. No one could help remarking the extra- 
 ordinary senility of a man who was then only 
 forty-seven years of age. In the prime of life, 
 and yet an old man ! Gout, stone, dyspepsia — the 
 results of astounding gluttony — say some. Inces- 
 sant campaigning, say others. His abdication was 
 doubtless owing- to attacks of indigestion. What 
 surprises us then is, that when he took the cowl at 
 Yuste he did not take the vows of abstinence. He 
 appears, there, to have continued his gluttonous 
 habits. We do not wonder then, that he died 
 within three years of his abdication. " He who 
 ruleth himself is better than he that taketh a strong 
 tower." Charles had not that prime and chief re- 
 quisite of a Ruler. 
 
 Portrait of Charles V (Titian). — The Potentate 
 has his Irish wolf-dog by his side. A grand- 
 seigneur picture. Serious but affable, thoughtful 
 but not severe. It is Charles in his every-day 
 mood, taken at a moment when he would be 
 approachable and conversable, and had even time 
 to caress his dog. He might just then have 
 stooped to pick up the paint-brush which Titian
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 95 
 
 had let fall. But that story is told of the 
 " Charles V " now in the Munich Gallery. The 
 dog is alive. 
 
 Most great painters have loved dogs, and have 
 painted them surpassingly well. Titian, Rubens, 
 Antonio Moro, Pourbus, Murillo, P. Veronese, Mil- 
 lais, Landseer and others. And we meaner men 
 love them too. If you cannot be a hero to your 
 valet, you are always a god to your dog. This is 
 the sort of picture to hang over your fireplace, 
 and to live with. This masterpiece was given to 
 Charles I, when he came to Madrid in search of 
 an Infanta, by Philip IV. I think Charles well 
 rewarded for his journey, though he failed to obtain 
 his Infanta. It was purchased back by Philip 
 amongst the other English pictures after Charles's 
 death. Few pictures have made more suggestive 
 journeys. 
 
 Philip II in Armour {Titian). — This is the 
 Portrait that completed the Conquest of English 
 Mary ; in the self-same armour that is preserved in 
 the " Armeria." Portraits of this Spanish hero are 
 so numerous that his face is as familiar to us as 
 those of our Elizabeth, or our Charles I. Here he 
 is shown to us in his youth, but whether we see him 
 in his early years, or in his maturity, he always looks 
 as though he saw a ghost. Likely enough that he 
 saw myriads of ghosts, the Spanish or Flemish 
 victims of his insatiable cruelty. The face, never- 
 theless, possesses a certain degree of shrewdness, 
 and is less uncomely and stupid than those of his 
 son and his grandson, who succeeded him upon the
 
 96 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 throne, of which he had made anything rather than 
 a bed of roses. His whole existence is a record of 
 terrible crimes against humanity. And his death, 
 of long-spun-out terrors more frightful than, though 
 similar to, those of Sylla and of Herod. Titian, 
 almost to the end of his immensely protracted life, 
 continued to paint for the son, as he had done for 
 the father. There is no other instance of a patri- 
 archal artist preserving command of sight and 
 manual dexterity, almost undiminished, to his latest 
 years. 
 
 La Gloria (Titian). — This was the favourite 
 picture of Charles V. He carried it with him, 
 upon his abdication, to Yuste, and left directions 
 in his will that it was to adorn the place of his 
 interment. When his body was removed to the 
 Escurial, it accompanied his corpse, and was after- 
 wards, (within very recent years,) placed in this 
 Museo. It is, therefore, a most interesting picture, 
 though as a work of art, if still astonishing, a 
 wreck. Charles, his Empress, his son Philip, and 
 his daughters are here represented in their night- 
 gowns, in presence of the Trinity, and of the 
 spiritual hierarchy, Noah inclusive, with whom 
 they appear to be upon quite intimate terms. The 
 Venetian painters were much in the habit of thus 
 representing their doges, monarchs, and other great 
 men. Titian, if he had any sense of humour, must 
 have smiled when he had to present men such as 
 Charles and his son, in guise so highly spiritualised. 
 But he gives us, notwithstanding, his own portrait 
 below.
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 97 
 
 The Victory of Lepanto (Titian 1 ). — Not a repre- 
 sentation of the Battle, but an allegory, much of the 
 same kind as the "Gloria." Philip II is repre- 
 sented, smartly arrayed, as offering his infant son to 
 Fame, who in return presents the boy with a palm 
 or plume, which he somewhat hesitatingly accepts. 
 Philip and his son take all the glory of that great 
 battle, which was won for them by Don John of 
 Austria, Philip's half-brother. Titian painted this 
 picture in his ninety-sixth year. The child, Fer- 
 nando, did not live to grow up. The battle, 
 1 57 1, was the greatest victory of Don John, and 
 it may be considered as the Navarino of the 16th 
 Century. 
 
 Duke (Alfonso) of Ferrara (Titian). — A very 
 fine portrait, of one of Titian's greatest and most 
 importunate patrons, (you will remember the finer 
 portrait in the Pitti Palace). He was famous as an 
 Art-collector, and also as the husband of Lucrezia 
 Borgia. She does not seem to have had her por- 
 trait painted by Titian, or by any other artist. She 
 has been painted by history, or scandal, much 
 blacker than probability at least warrants. Alfonso 
 possessed the adjacent picture by Titian, known as 
 the " Fecundidad," or "Worship of Venus," as 
 " Goddess of Fecundity." 
 
 Fecundidad ( Titian). — The most delightful 
 Romp of Cupids below, and Cherubs above, that 
 
 1 It is noteworthy, as regards this picture of the "Victory of 
 Lepanto," that Sanchez Coello made sketches of this amongst 
 others for Titian, and took them to Titian at Venice. This 
 shows the estimation in which Coello was held by Titian. 
 
 7
 
 98 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 was ever imagined, since Greek artists frescoed 
 with similar decorations Pompeian walls. 
 
 This picture, when in Rome, became a sort of 
 culte amongst the artists. Domenichino is said 
 to have shed tears when the picture was removed. 
 
 The Empress Isabella {Titian). — Painted after 
 her death. Probably from Titian's sketch. Her 
 husband Charles V was so fond of this picture, 
 and indeed of her, that he took it with him to 
 Yuste, and it was before him in his dying hours. 
 It is said that had she lived longer, she would also 
 have taken monastic vows. It is to be regretted 
 that she died so early, for Philip their son, who was 
 then only twelve years of age, might have been a 
 different man had she lived to influence him. 
 
 A Knight of Malta (Titian). — Unnamed. An 
 extremely fine portrait of a man dressed in black 
 with large red cross embroidered upon his breast. 
 
 Portrait of the Painter {Titian). — It is the well- 
 known, handsome Head of the Artist in his old age. 
 Most, too, of Titian's religious subjects in this 
 Gallery were painted in his very mature years, and 
 many of them have been injured by repainting ; of 
 such is the " Entombment," a grand work executed 
 in his eighty-second year. 
 
 It is very similar to that in the Louvre of the 
 same subject, painted much earlier in life. 
 
 Christ Presented to the People by Pilate 
 {Titian). — A fine picture, interesting, too, because 
 it is mentioned by Velasquez himself as " muy 
 bueno," and also as being "restored" even then. 
 The " Mater Dolorosa " (on slate), beautiful in 

 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 99 
 
 itself, also has an additional interest in having 
 been before Charles's eyes upon his death-bed. 
 Titian's principal " profane " subjects in the Museo 
 are the "Venus and Adonis," the " Danae," 
 the "Abandoned Ariadne," and the "Repose in 
 Egypt " (?). The last picture referred to is now 
 classed amongst the "uncertified" Titians. It is 
 one of the reposeful, poetic Idylls, which Titian has 
 so often, and even lovingly, put before us. There 
 is the delicious, dreamy landscape of his own 
 country, bathed in a light as of sapphires, an 
 interchange of tender blues and greens, melting 
 into each other, and blending into the haze of the 
 horizon. It is scarcely to be doubted that this pic- 
 ture, so Titianesque, issued from a Venetian studio, 
 and probably from that of Titian. The family of 
 Vecelli, son, brother and cousin, Orazio, Cesare, 
 Francesco, were famous for reproducing Titian's 
 manner and colouring. Very many of the " Titians " 
 in the Galleries of Europe, public and private, are 
 works of his relatives. 
 
 The "Ariadne," or "Bacchanal," forms one of 
 the series, of which the magnificent example in the 
 National Gallery of London stands pre-eminent. 
 
 The " Venus and Adonis," too, is another in- 
 stance of the kind. There are many replicas 
 elsewhere. But both of the pictures here noted, 
 are full of the power and charm which distinguish 
 Titian's idyllic subjects. The " Danae " is a very 
 fine example of Titian's genius in mythological 
 subjects, but this picture is probably a little inferior 
 to a splendid rendering of the same, or nearly the
 
 100 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 same picture in the Museum at Naples. Another 
 is at St. Petersburg. There are two copies of 
 famous mythological pictures by Titian here, " Pro- 
 metheus " and " Sisyphus." The originals, together 
 with " Ixion and Tantalus" all painted for Mary of 
 Hungary, the sister of Charles V, were destroyed 
 by fire in 1604 or 1608 when the Palace "del 
 Pardo " was burnt. It therefore seems as if some 
 artist copied them, with a kind of prescience of 
 their coming destruction. These copies are always 
 affirmed to have been by Sanchez Coello. It is 
 certain that Sanchez Coello died 1590-91. 
 
 Murillo (1618-1682). — If there be an artist 
 towards whom we feel almost a personal affection, 
 I think, it is Murillo. And I believe the reason 
 to be that his personal individuality is so impressed 
 upon his works. His goodness, gentleness, and 
 simplicity, were as remarkable as his sense of 
 beauty and his genius. His intense love for his 
 kind, for Humanity, comes out in all his pictures. 
 It is demonstrated in depicting what we should 
 term "ugly" subjects, such as his beggars, cripples, 
 peasants, fully as much as in his Madonnas, Saints, 
 and sacred pictures generally. He saw the inherent 
 beauty of human nature, even when he was repre- 
 senting physical defects, and the lower types of 
 man or woman. He never caricatured the ugly 
 or the misshapen. And therein I think lies his 
 superiority to Velasquez, who often uglified his 
 dwarfs and mendicants. The Saints, and holy men 
 and women, who clothed the naked and fed the 
 hungry, or who bathed their sores and alleviated
 
 »-5 
 
 s. 
 
 r- 
 
 I
 
 THE MUS^O DEL PRADO 101 
 
 their sufferings, irresistibly appealed to Murillo's 
 heart. It would have been a St. Francis, rather 
 than a St. Domenic, to arouse Murillo's sympathy. 
 Not the least, too, of the former great Saint's great 
 qualities in the eyes of Murillo, would have been 
 his tender compassion for animals. Another 
 characteristic of Murillo. 
 
 St. Francis of Assist, "La Porcianczcla." — 
 The little strip of ground (near the modern Railway 
 Station of Assisi) which was given to St. Francis to 
 build his little Chapel. Here St. Francis has one 
 of his many visions, as he prays before the Altar. 
 It was here that in buffeting the assaults of the 
 Evil One, he cast himself into the thorn-bushes, 
 which were transformed, as if in response to his 
 supplications, into red and white roses and which 
 cherubs are showering down upon the Saint's head. 
 
 Here St. Francis died, and upon the place of his 
 death a fine Cathedral has in recent times been 
 erected. His ashes, as we know, were transferred 
 to the magnificent Church that crowns the heights 
 of Assisi. 
 
 St. Francis de Paulo [Murillo). — He is kneel- 
 ing before a veil whereon is written " Charitas." 
 His motto, and of Murillo, too. 
 
 The Infant Saviour and St. John [Murillo). — 
 Murillo's children have never been surpassed. This 
 is one of the best examples. The Infant Baptist 
 drinks heartily from a shell, which the Infant 
 Saviour presents to his lips, and a beautiful lamb 
 looks on as though he would also drink. The scene 
 is suffused in a vaporous glow. That " vaporoso"
 
 e 
 * 
 
 102 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 softness, which is peculiar to Murillo. From above, 
 the heads of cherubim are contemplating the scene. 
 
 Holy Family, "El Pajarito" {Murillo). — To 
 my view the most beautiful and entirely satisfactory 
 of Murillo's larger compositions in the Gallery. It 
 has the repose, and the softness of light and colour 
 of one of the Venetian masters. The gentleness 
 and sweetness which characterise the countenances 
 of the Infant Saviour and of the Virgin and St. 
 Joseph are peculiar to Murillo. They are all types 
 unmistakably Spanish, but of the highest and 
 noblest kind. It is purely a domestic scene, suffi- 
 ciently idealised, but not too much so. I think 
 that the bird, whence the picture is named, is too 
 tightly squeezed in the Infant's hands. That rather 
 "jars " in the thoughts of the spectator. Otherwise 
 the execution is wholly admirable. There may be 
 something in the colour to recall Ribera. Perhaps 
 in the treatment of the "bird," but not of that of 
 the picture. 
 
 The Immaculate Conception (Murillo). — There 
 are two or three in the Gallery of this subject so 
 congenial to Murillo. They vary much in merit. 
 Two of them hang close together, and those two 
 are the best here. There are several others of the 
 same subject at Seville and elsewhere in Spain, 
 but they are all surpassed by the famous picture at 
 Paris, one of Marshal Souk's numerous thefts. But 
 in all, Murillo maintains the same type of the 
 Virgin. No semi-divine or even divine, person, 
 was the Virgin as he conceived her. He has no 
 sympathy with those artists who desired to elevate
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 o
 
 The Virgin \m> St. Ildefonso. 
 
 By Slurillo. 
 
 To hue p. 103.
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 103 
 
 her into equality with the Sacred Trinity. He had 
 no idea of her being " Deipara." A beautiful, 
 youthful, simple, lowly-born maiden whose crown 
 was that of purity, innocence, and holiness, and 
 from such a type he has never swerved. 
 
 Of Murillo s other pictures here, I believe that 
 the best will be considered to be the following : — 
 
 The Apparition of the Virgin to St. Ildefonso, 
 in which the Virgin, and Angels, appear, bearing a 
 "Casulla," or Chasuble, for his acceptance. St. 
 Ildefonso was a Benedictine Monk and Archbishop 
 of Toledo in the 7th Century. 
 
 The Vision of St. Bernard (Mnrillo). — The 
 execution of this picture is worthy of all praise, but 
 " the literal representation of a spiritual idea," does 
 not commend itself as beautiful to the ordinary 
 mind. " The Annunciation," and the " St. Anna 
 teaching the Virgin to read," are the two others of 
 Murillo's which chiefly deserve notice. 
 
 Ribera, called " Lo Spagnoletto" (1 588-1 656). — 
 Almost all the numerous works of this powerful 
 Master are placed together, so that the sombre 
 colouring, the weird masses of strongly contrasted 
 "chiaroscuro," and the equally sombre choice of 
 subjects, which distinguish this artist, can be studied 
 better here than anywhere else. He, no doubt, 
 owes to his chief master, M. A. de Caravaggio, his 
 preference for blackness. His choice of wild and 
 painful subjects is peculiarly his own. It is with 
 relief, that you turn from "martyrdoms," and 
 " Tortures of Saints," however vigorously, and 
 even splendidly painted, to gentler subjects equally
 
 104 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 finely represented, such as " St. Peter released from 
 prison " ; " Heads of Silenus " ; and of the " Sibyl " ; 
 and above all and before all, " Jacob's dream." 
 
 A superb young man in clerical garb, a long 
 black cassock, and with sandals upon his feet, lies 
 prone upon the earth, in most serene and undis- 
 turbed repose. Slumber, so profound and happy, 
 that it gives no space to dreams, of " Jacob's 
 Ladder " or of anything else. A gnarled tree upon 
 Jacob's right hand partly shelters him. The picture 
 is, evidently, a portrait, and worthy of Titian himself, 
 — the black dress included. I would that the artist 
 had given us more such "dreams." 
 
 Ribera has nevertheless given us one, (as I 
 believe) of the great masterpieces of the world. 
 The"Pieta" in the beautiful St. Martino Chapel, 
 upon Monte St. Elmo, at Naples, No one who 
 has ever beheld it, but must wish to see again that 
 most touching picture. Another very great picture 
 of his ; a most splendid " Saint Simeon with the 
 Infant Christ." It belongs to Lord Bristol, and 
 was in the year 1901 exhibited at the Guildhall. 
 
 Ribera (1 588-1656) forsook his own country as a 
 youth, and settled at Naples. It would be more 
 correct to say that he "settled" everybody else. 
 He seems to have been of a violent and tyrannical 
 temper. He made himself head of a " Camorra " 
 of painting. He may be considered as one of the 
 founders of that autocratic establishment which in 
 other branches continues to flourish to the pre- 
 sent day. 
 
 No one was allowed to paint, unless he was a
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 105 
 
 " Naturalist " or a " Tenebroso." War to the knife 
 was declared against the " Eclectic " School. Do- 
 menichino was rash enough to visit Naples, but 
 was soon driven away in danger of his life. Stanz- 
 ioni, one of the foremost Neapolitan painters, had 
 the satisfaction of seeing one of his greatest pictures 
 destroyed with vitriol by Ribera, who had been 
 good enough to volunteer to clean or " improve " 
 the picture for him. Yet whatever defects of style, 
 or temper, Ribera may have had, I never see a 
 picture of his but I acknowledge what a very great 
 painter he was. 
 
 Adam and Eve {Titian); Copy by Rubens 
 ( 1 577-1 640). — This copy was made for Charles I. 
 
 The two pictures have been placed near to each 
 other. The original is not in the condition that it 
 was, when Rubens made this fine copy. We may 
 therefore look upon the copy as being the best of 
 the two, at the present moment. It is remarkable 
 how Rubens has suppressed his own flesh-ideals, in 
 order to give a faithful rendering of the flesh-tints 
 peculiar to the older master. Rubens has, however, 
 permitted himself to make a small addition to the 
 original, and also a small subtraction. The former 
 is that of a gorgeous " macaw " ; the omission is 
 that of Adam's fig-leaf. Rubens' passion for the 
 human form divine, was so consistent that he some- 
 times grudged a figment of a fig-leaf. He was 
 historically wrong here, for the event represented 
 is the " Fall of man, (and woman,") and Genesis 
 tells us that they thereupon "made unto themselves 
 aprons," (or "breeches," as one version has it).
 
 106 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 A " burst" of Rubens' triumphant themes salutes 
 you in the entrance-hall, and in the adjacent rooms 
 of the Gallery. The light here is not of the best, 
 perhaps that is the reason why these rooms have 
 been assigned to personages of a Pantheon, who 
 have not only not made any toilettes at all, but wish 
 for no other garb than that which our primitive 
 Mother Eve is wearing in the picture noted 
 above. 
 
 We are conscious, rather than critically observant, 
 of vigorous Syrens, mature enchantresses, of Dianas 
 and Venuses, Pomonas and Cereses, splendidly un- 
 ashamed, and all heartily alive. 
 
 Flashes of golden tresses, and rose-like lips, and 
 laughing eyes. Dreams of fat women, and of god- 
 like men, with glowing muscles, swelling contours, 
 herculean limbs, fanfaronades of pink flesh. A 
 carnival of colour, and of luxuriant healthiness. 
 
 All recklessly thrown off, as it were, from an 
 anvil of the gods. And all instinct with the glow 
 and fire of a sort of volcanic artist. 
 
 You have almost to look through your fingers at 
 the profuse and dazzling splendour of them all. 
 But you do look, much like the famous " Vergognosa 
 dclla Vendemmia" in the picture of " Noah Intoxi- 
 cated," on the walls of the Campo Santo at Pisa. 
 Where did Rubens meet with that peculiar type of 
 woman, — a type from which he rarely departed ? 
 You do not come across such massive, golden-haired 
 ladies, with complexions of lilies mingled with peonies, 
 and with curled poppy lips, in Belgium. Vandyke, 
 likewise a Fleming, and Rubens' foremost pupil, did
 
 THE MUS^O DEL PRADO 107 
 
 not see them, and Rubens, a much- travelled man, 
 could not have met them in Spain, or Italy, or in 
 England. The fair daughters of those countries 
 might have given him other models. His wives, 
 Isabella and Helena, were on the large scale, however. 
 Rubens adored his wives, and beyond them, per- 
 haps, did not care to look. Rubens was very fond 
 of the "Judgment of Paris," as a subject. Natu- 
 rally, or even necessarily, the subject demanded an 
 abhorrence of drapery. But how difficult he made 
 for Paris, the award of the apple. For Juno and 
 Minerva are merely repetitions of Venus. But, at 
 moments, this great artist has risen, and triumphed 
 over the flesh. In such a moment he painted : 
 
 Moses Serpent. — A most pathetic picture, and 
 a very noble conception of a touching subject. 
 Here, Rubens has not thought of "showing off," 
 or of demonstrating his powers in depicting unclad 
 Humanity. It is a triumph of execution all the 
 same. I know of no more expressive or impressive 
 work of his. The woman, who is struggling to live, 
 and to fix her eyes upon the life-giving serpent, is 
 sublime. 
 
 Rubens was born in 1577, — in the year after that 
 of Titian's death. He was born opportunely. All 
 the great Italian Masters had disappeared when 
 Rubens began to study painting. He may be said 
 to have re-kindled the sacred flame which had 
 become extinguished in Italy. He became to 
 monarchs, what Titian had been, and what his 
 contemporary and friend, Velasquez, was to be to 
 Philip IV of Spain. And what eternal gratitude
 
 108 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 do we not owe him when we think of the wondrous 
 Raphael-Cartoons which he bought for Charles I. 
 
 A headlong genius, excelling in all subjects upon 
 which he laid his hand. Whether it were a " Cruci- 
 fixion " or a "Judgment of Paris," or a " Rainbow 
 Landscape," a " Gambol of Cupids," or a "Garden 
 of Peacocks," or of flowers, or a portrait, or animals, 
 always unsurpassed and pre-eminent. Immense 
 Artist, also Diplomatist, Ambassador, trustworthy 
 friend, loyal companion, genial spirit, bon-enfant, 
 loved, admired, and honoured of all. You have, 
 in spite of (and, perhaps, just a little because 
 of,) all your swimming buxomnesses, and your 
 flamboyant nudenesses, chained us all to your 
 triumphant car. You were a law unto yourself, 
 even as Shakespeare and Turner. 
 
 You used your giant strength most tyrannically, 
 but we all bow down to you and take off our hats as 
 you sit enthroned in the front rank of the Immortals, 
 side by side with V. Eyck and Rembrandt, with 
 Titian and Velasquez. 
 
 Velasquez (1599- 1 660). — Passing from the glow- 
 ing splendours of Rubens into the presence of Ve- 
 lasquez, is like leaving the glare of the midday sun, 
 to shelter in the shade of avenues of cypress trees, 
 bordered by hedges of clipped yew. The sun still 
 shines there, but his rays are broken and subdued. 
 Velasquez possesses this suite of apartments by right 
 of genius, as he held the others in the old consumed 
 Palace of the Alcazar as King Philip's " Apasen- 
 tados Mayor," or " Master of the Household." It 
 is in one of these now-consumed rooms, then,
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 109 
 
 adorned as it was with pictures of his artist-friend 
 Rubens, that we find Velasquez putting the finishing 
 strokes to his just completed and wonderful picture 
 known as : 
 
 Las Menlnas {The Maids of Honour). — The 
 handsome, swarthy artist stands up before his 
 easel upon your left. The little Infanta Maria, the 
 daughter of Philip IV, and of his second wife, 
 Mariana of Austria, is seated, receiving from a 
 " Menina " kneeling, a cup of water, which she 
 doubtless needed after a protracted sitting. Another 
 Menina is at hand, and in the foreground are two 
 dwarfs, one a female with a dog, who is being teased 
 by one of them, which must have rather interfered 
 with the sitting. An officer and a lady of the 
 Court are in the background, for it would not have 
 been seemly that an Infanta of Spain should have 
 been left with the scanty retinue in front. There is 
 another figure, too, in the background, in the open 
 door. A mirror upon the wall reflects the most 
 Catholic Sovereigns, who are with you, contemplating 
 the scene. So delighted was Philip with this 
 picture, that he then and there took up the painter's 
 brush, and painted with his own royal hands the red 
 cross of the Order of Santiago upon the artist's 
 breast. And thus, as he said, he supplied the only 
 thing lacking to make a perfect picture. And 
 perfect it is, as every one has said, who has seen it 
 for the last three hundred years or more. Strangely 
 enough, it does not seem to have been swept off to 
 Paris with all the other art-loot of the insatiable 
 French Generals. But en revanche, the Church
 
 110 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 S. Juan, where Velasquez was buried, was des- 
 troyed by them, and the immortal artist's ashes 
 dispersed to the winds. It was the last great 
 picture that Velasquez painted, for he died shortly 
 afterwards, in 1 660. 
 
 The Surrender of Breda ( Velasquez). — The 
 greatest of the historical compositions of the artist. 
 It immortalises one of the few victories that can be 
 credited to Philip IV. Spinola took Breda for him, 
 June 2, 1626. Prince Justin of Nassau is presenting 
 the Victor with his sword. Nothing can exceed the 
 courteous demeanour of the chivalrous conqueror as 
 he hastens, with genial smile, and with deprecating 
 hands, to reassure the vanquished General. Both of 
 them are painted with extraordinary skill, and the 
 character of both heads are noble in the extreme. 
 The picture is crowded with knights, and soldiers, 
 Spanish, Italian, and Flemish, the individuality of 
 each Race being indicated with immense force, not 
 alone as regards the features, but also by details of 
 costume. Velasquez, it is supposed, has introduced 
 his own head into the picture. That, upon the 
 right, with a plumed hat. But it did not strike me 
 as very similar to the undoubted Portrait, in the 
 picture of the " Meninas." The picture is known in 
 Spain as " Las Lanzas," from the pikes and lances 
 that bristle in the painting. After having admired 
 the lofty, and chivalrous character, expressed in the 
 countenance and bearing of Spinola, it is sad to 
 remember that the hero's services were so ill-repaid 
 by Philip, that his life was shortened by the cruel 
 treatment of his Sovereign. In Spain it seems to
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 111 
 
 have been in the natural course of things, that 
 Sovereigns should neglect and defame the Ministers 
 who served them best and should break the hearts 
 of the Generals by their ingratitude. 
 
 Don Balthazar Carlos ( Velasquez). — This sturdy 
 little boy, whose features we so well know, is 
 represented as riding a pony, as full of life and 
 spirit as himself, full tilt at you. You, involuntarily, 
 turn aside to avoid being ridden over. The joyous 
 abandon of equestrian youth, and willing steed 
 united, has never been more skilfully expressed. 
 The picture lives, and moves, — and gallops. Don 
 Balthazar's father, Philip IV, was as good an 
 equestrian as was to be found in Spain. It is 
 evident that the father intended the son to be as 
 good as himself upon a horse. The boy was as 
 often as his father a subject of Velasquez-canvases. 
 There are three other pictures of him here, and 
 several also in English collections, e.g., those of the 
 Duke of Abercorn and Lord Bristol. 
 
 The death of the Prince, at the age of seventeen, 
 was a serious blow to the cause of monarchy in Spain. 
 Had he lived, there would have been no King 
 called Charles II, no War of the Spanish Succession, 
 and no Bourbon dynasty upon the throne of Spain. 
 
 Four Dwarfs (Velasqtiez). — It is to be re- 
 gretted that the wonderful powers of the painter 
 had to be so often exercised in delineating the ugly 
 or unsympathetic features of dwarfs, beggars, fools, 
 etc. Dwarfs and fools, however, were amongst the 
 adjuncts of the rigid and serious Spanish Court, and 
 the Spanish Monarchs, some of whom could rarely
 
 112 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 be induced to smile, found relaxation, I suppose, in 
 the grimaces and antics of such creatures. Dwarfs 
 are generally conceited, and in these instances seem 
 to have been endowed with a singular appreciation 
 of their own surpassing merits. Their looks express 
 boundless satisfaction with their appearance, as well 
 as the supreme honour they were conferring upon 
 the great artist, by condescending to sit to him. 
 
 There are other specimens of the kind in the 
 Gallery, also by Velasquez ; one known as 
 " D. Antonio el Ingles " (the Englishman). 
 
 Philip IV on Horseback ( Velasquez). — This mag- 
 nificent portrait disputes, with that of Charles V 
 by Titian, the right of being the greatest of eques- 
 trian portraits. Certainly the art of portraiture 
 could no further go. Philip bestrides his splendid 
 Andalusian charger, with the calm consciousness of 
 being the best horseman of his day. He is in 
 armour, with a baton in his hand. Serious, impassive, 
 unapproachable, with lack-lustre eye, he might be 
 marble. His horse, full of life and spirit, is in the 
 strongest contrast to his master. 
 
 Philip, here, indeed, reminds one of some stern 
 Commendatore, rather to be figured in marble than 
 painted on canvas. Would any Don Giovanni have 
 ever been bold enough to invite this unearthly- 
 looking warrior to a banquet at his house? Or 
 would he have rather gone to Charles V, in the 
 Miihlberg picture? It would have demanded all 
 imaginable courage to address either of these poten- 
 tates in festive terms. He would have had better 
 success, with Charles, who loved any chance of 

 
 Philip IV. on II' irseb ick. 
 By Velasquez. 
 
 To face p. 112.
 
 Queen Isabella. 
 
 An Equestrian Portrait. 
 
 By Velasquez. 
 
 To face p. 113.
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 113 
 
 eating, and would also, have equally enjoyed the 
 chances of consigning his godless host to the flames 
 beneath immediately afterwards. It is said that 
 Philip IV enjoyed reading "Don Quixote." He 
 does not look here, as though he were fresh from 
 the perusal of that humorous book. There is here 
 a more pleasing portrait though not so splendid a 
 picture, of Philip IV, as a stripling in shooting 
 dress, with gun and dog. There are six other 
 portraits of him here by Velasquez. 
 
 Queen Isabella ( Velasqtiez). — The first wife 
 of Philip IV, and mother of Don Balthazar, (of 
 the pony-picture) and sister to Henrietta Maria. 
 She is dressed in black velvet embroidered with 
 pearls, and seated upon a white horse. A very 
 fine and stately picture of a beautiful woman. Her 
 daughter Maria Theresa married Louis XIV, 
 through which alliance he based his claims to 
 the Spanish succession. 
 
 Equestrian Portraits : Philip III and Queen 
 Margaret (of Austria) ( Velasquez). — Both very 
 much to be admired. Supposed to have been 
 copied from originals by Pantoja de la Cruz. 
 For, Velasquez was not painting in their life- 
 time. This Oueen seems to have been a orood 
 and sensible woman. She even loved her weak 
 and gloomy husband, and sought to cheer the man, 
 (who is reported to have smiled but once in his 
 life,) by dancing boleros with him. Of Philip, one 
 or two anecdotes are told. It is said that he was 
 actually sentenced by the Holy Inquisition to the 
 punishment of bleeding as an atonement, for having 
 
 8
 
 114 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 shuddered at seeing a young Jewess consigned to 
 the flames at an "auto-da-fe"! 
 
 He came, himself, within measurable distance of 
 an "auto-da-fe." The room in which he was 
 seated upon one occasion became overheated. 
 It was against etiquette that he should remove 
 any of the burning coals from the fire, or that 
 he should remove himself. The servant, whose 
 office it was to attend to such matters, could not 
 be found. It was not the etiquette that any one 
 else should meddle with the fire. In the meantime 
 Philip got hotter and hotter, and by the time 
 that the missing servant had arrived, the Sovereign 
 had not become a cinder, but had contracted a fever 
 from which he had not strength to rally. He was 
 entirely governed by his Chamberlain, favourite, 
 and first Minister, the Duque de Lerma. But 
 Philip, despite his insignificance of character, has 
 been placed in the pillory of everlasting infamy 
 by one surpassing crime. The expulsion of the 
 Moriscoes. The immensity of the wickedness has 
 rescued him from oblivion. 
 
 Don Gaspar de Guzman Conde, Duque de 
 Olivarez. — One of Velasquez's greatest equestrian 
 portraits ; so well known from replicas and copies. 
 In this picture the horse is galloping away from 
 the spectator, and the equestrian duke, whilst 
 turning a sardonic glance over his shoulder from 
 his treacherous and cruel eyes, has got perilously 
 forward upon the noble animal's neck. Again, it 
 has been Velasquez's fate to have to represent one 
 of the most repulsive of faces. Notwithstanding 
 

 
 The Conde-Di'QUE of Ouvarez. 
 
 By Velasquez. 
 
 /•.«.-<?/>. 114.

 
 THE MUSEO DEL PR ADO 115 
 
 he has triumphed nobly, with horse and over 
 rider. 
 
 The rider was for years the omnipotent Minister 
 of Philip IV. When he was in power, Charles and 
 Buckingham came down to Madrid, to seek for 
 the sister of Philip IV as a bride for Charles. 
 Buckingham took a violent aversion to Olivarez, 
 and was in return heartily disliked by the Minister. 
 Perhaps the animosities of the two favourites may 
 have contributed to the failure of the expedition. 
 Both favourites — Olivarez and Buckingham — had 
 risen to the highest rung of the ladder in the 
 estimation of their Sovereigns. 
 
 Both were to experience the blows of untoward 
 destiny. Buckingham fell a victim to the dagger 
 of an assassin. Olivarez was relegated, like 
 Wolsey, by the fiat of a capricious monarch to 
 meditate in obscurity upon the excellence of the 
 Psalmist's counsel : " Put not your trust in princes." 
 Artists only could do that, (and it is something 
 to the credit of Spanish Kings,) and Olivarez was 
 a great lover of the fine arts and a generous patron 
 of artists. He shared with his master Philip IV 
 that one merit at least. 
 
 Queen Mariana, Second Wife of Philip 1 V ( Velas- 
 quez). — This highly-rouged lady was the niece of 
 her husband. She had been betrothed to Philip's 
 son, Balthazar Carlos. The sadly premature death 
 of that youth left her disengaged, and so she 
 became the second wife of Philip. I think that 
 Velasquez must have portrayed her not displeasing 
 features as often as those of the saturnine Philip.
 
 116 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 There is more than one picture of her here, and 
 visitors to the fine show of Velasquez's works at 
 the Guildhall in the year 1901 will have seen 
 three more portraits of her. Very pink, very fair, 
 with her hair parted on one side, and with ample 
 hoop, she makes a memorable if not a very hand- 
 some portrait. Beauty, so fatefully absent from 
 the Spanish line of monarchs (indeed that family 
 seems to have disputed with the Florence Medici 
 of glorious memory, the palm for plainness), appears 
 not to have been imported by marriage into 
 Castilian blood. Only Isabel, daughter of Henry 
 Quatre, Philip's first wife, possessed that fatal gift, 
 and she died too early to make much impression 
 upon the hopeless stock. Mariana possessed, how- 
 ever, a sense of humour, and showed herself 
 susceptible to the fooleries of Court-jesters. One 
 cannot imagine why such creatures were appended 
 to Courts, unless to make a little diversion for their 
 solemn masters. Yet Philip reproved his wife for 
 being amused by their antics, and pointed out to 
 her with Spanish gravity that Queens of Spain did 
 not laugh. Her more cheerful disposition, no doubt 
 enabled her to outlive Philip and to observe, (not 
 with laughter I fear,) the antics of her half-crazy 
 son, Charles II. There is a picture here of 
 Mariana in widow's dress. It is by Carreno de 
 Miranda, who was portrait-painter to Charles II, 
 and had been introduced to royal notice by the 
 ever kindly Velasquez in the previous reign. 
 
 The Crucifixion {Velasquez). — It seems to be 
 the very moment of the " Eloi ! Eloi ! lama sabach-
 
 
 To face p. 117. 
 
 St. Anthony's Visit to St. Paul. 
 By Velasquez. 

 
 THE MUS^O DEL PRADO 117 
 
 thani ? " when the Redeemer of the world, abandoned 
 by all, believed Himself to have been forsaken by 
 His Father also. That terrible cry of insupportable 
 anguish seems to sound in our very ears, as we 
 contemplate this sublime and solitary Figure. 
 Velasquez must have rent his own soul in realising 
 the awful moment which he has here pictured with 
 such terrific force and pathos. Never equalled, I 
 think, by any artist, unless it be Guido in his 
 picture in the " Lorenzo in Lucina " Church at 
 Rome, also a solitary figure. 
 
 St. Pmd of Thebes and St. Anthony of Alex- 
 andria (Velasquez). — This is another instance of 
 the devout artist at his best. It is instinct with 
 religious sentiment and suffused with the mystic 
 glow of an Egyptian atmosphere. The conception 
 and treatment of the subject is so original, and yet 
 you are somehow reminded of the best moments of 
 John Bellini or Mantegna. These two Saints had 
 betaken themselves to the Egyptian deserts, trust- 
 ing there to find the peace and tranquillity of soul 
 which their own cities had been unable to afford 
 them. St. Anthony, as we know, from many a 
 legend and picture, had been wrestling with the 
 temptations to which his peculiar temperament 
 had predisposed him. And now, in the desert, 
 he fights and strives and vanquishes himself and 
 confides to the crowds who visit him in his 
 seclusion those secrets by which they too may 
 gain the victory over the flesh. But now St. 
 Anthony is assailed by another tempter. He 
 has only just issued forth, clean and pure,
 
 118 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 from the Scylla of Despond, to find himself 
 being pulled down into the Charybdis of Self- 
 Righteousness. Then a dream is vouchsafed to 
 him. He is directed to seek the counsels and 
 the guidance of an even stauncher brother, — of 
 a still more steadfast Saint, even St. Paul of 
 Thebes. In this picture we see in three scenes the 
 accomplishment of the journey. St. Anthony seeks 
 admission into St. Paul's cave. There in the fore- 
 ground of the picture the two holy men are seated 
 together, whilst a raven ministers to their bodily 
 needs. But the time for St. Paul's removal from 
 the earthly scene has now arrived, even during 
 the visit of his brother. 
 
 There two lions are seen digging a grave meet 
 for the dead Saint, and wherein the much-travelled 
 St. Anthony is to place the earthly remains of his 
 lately found and revered companion. 
 
 The final scene is that of St. Anthony kneeling 
 in ecstatic prayer, prayer for himself certainly, and 
 praise to God for the translation from earth to 
 heaven of the best of men. 
 
 There is extraordinary fascination in this picture. 
 The point of view, whence it was painted, is 
 altogether dissimilar from that of the Spanish 
 religious painters. 
 
 Teniers has a picture here dealing with the same 
 subject. 
 
 Las Hilanderas ( The Weavers) ( Velasquez). — 
 The beautiful craft of weaving, would naturally 
 enlist the sympathies of an artist such as Velasquez. 
 Madrid was famous once for the productions of its
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 119 
 
 looms, famous no more, I fear. Here is a repre- 
 sentation of a scene which Velasquez saw with his 
 own eyes, and painted with the truthfulness and 
 vigour so characteristic of him. In the foreground 
 an old woman is seated at her wheel, whilst a girl 
 is engaged in winding off the spun wool, and other 
 girls, less inclined for work, are playing with a 
 kitten. In the background a possible lady purchaser 
 is examining with critical eyes a piece of tapestry. 
 The light and atmosphere of the picture are worthy 
 of Rembrandt. 
 
 Portrait of Juana de Pacheco {Velasquez). — For 
 forty years the devoted wife of Velasquez. She 
 was the daughter of Pacheco, Velasquez's master, 
 from whom, however, he did not learn much. This 
 portrait is not that of a beautiful woman, but that 
 of a simple and unpretentious one. She nursed 
 Velasquez through his sudden short illness, and 
 died eight days after his death. That looks as 
 though her grief for his loss had been aggravated 
 by fatigue. 
 
 Don Ferdinand ( Velasquez). — A manly figure, 
 not a handsome man, for he was brother to 
 Philip IV. Like him, a sportsman, and here 
 represented with a big dog and gun. He was 
 known as the " Cardinal Infante." An infantine 
 Cardinal he really was, in the curious manner of 
 those days, and also gained a battle early, that 
 of Nordlin^en. 
 
 He died very young, like so many of the 
 princes of the house, aged only twenty-nine. 
 This is one of Velasquez's great portraits. Com-
 
 120 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 pare this with Rubens' and Vandyke's equestrian 
 portraits of the same subject. I think that Velas- 
 quez's great qualities of disposition shine out 
 upon his canvases. A portrait-painter expresses 
 himself in his pictures, nearly as much as his 
 subjects. Absolute truthfulness is the characteristic 
 of Velasquez. He never beautifies the uncomely, 
 or softens down the unbecoming-. " He would not 
 flatter Neptune for his trident, nor Jove for his 
 power to thunder." Bos well said once, in answer 
 to some one who wished the great Jove-Johnson's 
 asperities to be toned down, " No ! — I won't cut 
 off his claws, and I won't make a cat of a tiger 
 for any man's pleasure." 
 
 It was the same with Velasquez ; he was truth- 
 fulness itself. And that I take to be the mission 
 of great painter and of great historian alike. And 
 what a kind and generous man ! Nothing small or 
 jealous in his nature. He loved the unfamous 
 artist, as much as he loved Art. He befriended 
 all who sought him. It was his happy, self-chosen 
 lot, to encourage and to bring forward Murillo 
 himself. And to him it is to be attributed, that 
 men like Zurbaran, Claudio Coello, and Carrefio de 
 Mirande, did not have to wither in the shade of 
 obscurity. Even in the wayward nature of Ribera, 
 his kindly eyes detected something sympathetic, 
 and he made a friend of that turbulent and disturb- 
 ing personality. He travelled in Italy to collect 
 work, especially of the Venetian School, for his 
 master Philip IV. Too many of them perished in 
 the frequent fires which have destroyed Madrid
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 121 
 
 Palaces, but there are still some, (especially Tinto- 
 rely) to remind lovers of Art, what they owe in so 
 many ways to the great Velasquez. Not the least 
 memorable event of his life was his friendship and 
 admiration for Rubens. Kindred spirits they must 
 have been. One can picture those two consummate 
 artists and most genial men learning from each 
 other in Madrid. In this Gallery we are so over- 
 powered by the best works of Velasquez and Titian, 
 that certain painters of great note are liable to be 
 overlooked; Zurbaran, for instance, 1 598-1662. 
 Those who have seen two noble pictures of his in 
 the London National Gallery, will have already 
 become acquainted with his great powers. His 
 three best here, will be considered, probably, " The 
 Infant Saviour sleeping upon a Cross," and "San 
 Pedro Nolasco," a Saint of the 13th Century, (also 
 dressed in white,) and the same Saint, transfixed 
 upon the cross, appearing to the artist. He is to 
 be better studied elsewhere, especially at Seville. 
 He was called the " Caravaggio of Spain," but he 
 was a finer artist, I think, and does not indulge in 
 the exaggeration of style peculiar to the Neapolitan 
 Master. He was very fond of representing figures 
 clothed in white, especially Carmelite Monks. In 
 the Guildhall Exhibition of 1901 there was a noble 
 picture of the kind called " Un Fraile Carmelite." 
 Philip IV had immense admiration for him, and 
 going one day into the artist's studio, placed his 
 hand encouragingly upon the painter's shoulder, 
 and exclaimed : " Painter to the King, and King 
 of Painters ! " The foremost portrait-painters of
 
 122 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Spain, before the days of Velasquez, were Alonso 
 Sanchez Coello, and his pupil, Pantoja de la Cruz, 
 both of them in the service of Philip II. The 
 former was a friend of Antonio Moro, who also was 
 in high favour, for some time, with Philip II. 
 A. S. Coello might be termed rather the Spanish 
 Moro, although Philip was accustomed to call him 
 the "El Tiziano Portuguez," and further, "my 
 beloved son " ! Amongst his best works in this 
 Gallery are: "The Infanta C. E. Isabella," the 
 much-beloved daughter of Philip II. "His mirror 
 and the light of his eyes." He bequeathed the 
 Netherlands to her, and a very large share of his 
 illimitable bigotry. She made a vow to the Virgin, 
 that she would not change her linen until Ostend 
 was taken. The famous siege of that city lasted 
 for three years. The condition of her underclothing 
 when the place was finally captured, may therefore 
 be described as " indescribable." An idea only 
 may be formed of it by the fact, that the supposed 
 hue of her linen was the origin of a new and 
 fashionable tint called " Isabeau " ! 
 
 Portrait of Antonio Perez, by Alonso Sanchez 
 Coello (15 1 3-1 590). — This man was at first Secre- 
 tary to the Prince of Eboli, Minister to Philip II, 
 and afterwards Minister himself. He became the 
 tool and accomplice of Philip in some of his worst 
 crimes. He, subsequently, not only fell from power, 
 but was imprisoned for long years, tortured, and 
 finally buried, in the dungeons of the Inquisition. 
 He had the luck, however, to be rescued, thanks to 
 a popular insurrection. He escaped to France and
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 123 
 
 soon afterwards to England, where he published an 
 account of his sufferings and those of his wife and 
 family. But he never returned to Spain, and worn 
 out by disgrace and misfortunes, died in poverty at 
 Paris. 
 
 Don Carlos (Sanchez Coello). — As a boy of 
 twelve or fourteen. He died mysteriously, aged 
 twenty-four. He was the son of Philip's "first 
 wife " Maria of Portugal, who died a few days after 
 his birth. Isabella of France, Philip's third wife, to 
 whom Don Carlos had himself been betrothed, showed 
 great sympathy and compassion for the youth during 
 his quarrels with his father, and his subsequent 
 imprisonment. She also died mysteriously within 
 three months of her step-son's tragic death. It was 
 natural that her death, as well as that of Don Carlos, 
 should have been attributed to Philip's jealousy. 
 There are no proofs, but strong suspicions, and 
 upon such Schiller has founded his dramatic 
 romance. There are several other portraits of the 
 princesses of Philip's house to be seen here, and all 
 are good. Sanchez Coello's famous copies of 
 Titian's " Prometheus " and " Sisyphus," have 
 already been referred to. Sanchez Coello also 
 devoted his talents to the painting of religious 
 subjects, but not with any marked success. 
 Observe another most excellent Portrait of a Lady 
 dressed in white. 
 
 Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (i 551-1609), his pupil, 
 was his worthy successor, as a portrait-painter. It 
 is very probable, that the fine equestrian portraits 
 of Philip III, and his wife, Margaret, which bear
 
 124 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 the name of " Velasquez," were painted almost 
 entirely by Pantoja, for Velasquez never saw those 
 royal personages. 
 
 Portrait of Charles V [Pantoja). — A copy from 
 some picture (artist unknown). A very striking 
 picture nevertheless. Pantoja signs himself thereon 
 " Traductor." 
 
 Philip II [Pantoja). — One of the best, and 
 certainly most interesting portraits here. Philip is 
 presented in his sixtieth year, old and grey-headed, 
 with a rosary in his hand, every bead of which 
 represents a crime. Bigotry and intolerance are 
 the only expressions of that expressionless and too 
 faithfully rendered countenance. One wonders 
 what Philip thought of his own portrait. He was 
 not without vanity, it is said, and touchy upon the 
 subject of grey hair. Pantoja does not seem to 
 have turned his attention to religious subjects, like 
 his master Coello. Pantoja may be looked upon, 
 I suppose, as the third in rank of the great portrait- 
 painters. As regards the religious Art of Spain, 
 previous to Velasquez, and Murillo, I do not per- 
 ceive any striking instance of original genius. It is 
 to be remembered that Italian or Flemish Art 
 dominated the earlier School, so much, that we can 
 scarcely find a Spanish picture that rises above the 
 level of the second-rate artists of those countries. 
 Spanish Art was a singularly late one. The en- 
 couragement of Italian artists by the Spanish 
 Monarchs, from a date as early even as that of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, and the overwhelming 
 influence of Titian, especially, must have contri-
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 125 
 
 buted to the tardy dawn of an independent Art in 
 Spain. Again, the baleful influence of the Inqui- 
 sition more than explains, the absence of originality 
 in Spanish treatment of religious subjects. What- 
 ever may have been the cause, it is certain that 
 there never was in Spain, the spontaneous and 
 prodigal outburst of Art, — that prodigious mani- 
 festation of the aspirations and the yearnings for 
 the divine-in-life of an entire nation, and which we 
 call the Italian Renaissance. Such Art as there 
 was in Spain, was never a national movement. 
 Pictures for churches, the decoration of chapels, and 
 altars, (but always strictly in conformity with the 
 conventional treatment prescribed by the Inquisi- 
 tion,) would naturally be required. Where there 
 was a great Cathedral for instance, as at Toledo, 
 Antonio Rincon, and his pupils e.g., may be con- 
 sidered as the earliest of Spanish artists employed 
 in that way. Even then, the date would not be 
 previous to the middle of the 15th Century. Too 
 often it was by artistic monks, that such works 
 were to be carried out, and it was not probable that 
 the treatment would be considered from an original 
 point of view. 
 
 Pictures such as these may often interest, and in 
 certain instances, may awake admiration. But, so 
 far as I have been able to judge, you will not meet 
 in Spain, with any works of this epoch that would 
 bear comparison with those of the best second-class 
 works in Italy. J. Van Eyck travelled once in 
 Portugal and Spain, and doubtless, the influence of 
 that extraordinary artist may have long rested in
 
 126 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 the country, and have been handed down by- 
 inferior artists to the days of Rincon, and later, of 
 Moralez. But I should not say, with the exception, 
 perhaps, of the latter artist, and of Juanez, 1523, 
 that any one in Spain in the early 16th Century 
 ever rose to the best level of Mabuse or Matsys. 
 
 As regards Italy, I doubt whether any Spanish 
 artists, before the days of Murillo, approached 
 Lorenzo d. Credi, or the Lippis. Juanez, 1523, 
 whose best works are in Valencia, excellent also 
 as a portrait-painter. Alonzo Carlo, (but here we 
 come to the days of Murillo,) and works of his date 
 may be considered as we meet them. 
 
 One remark, en passant, may be added about 
 Spanish Art. That is, as regards Landscape 
 Painting, or rather the nearly total absence of it. 
 One would have thought, that Granada at least, 
 which has been such a fruitful scene of inspiration 
 to Spanish artists of late years, would have 
 furnished subjects to some Spanish Claude or 
 Poussin. But save a few of Velasquez, in that 
 branch of Art, there are scarcely any landscapes to 
 be seen. Perhaps, the prevalent yellows and browns 
 of Spanish landscapes, may have deterred artists 
 from expending their talents in that field ! 
 
 But, whatever may be the merits, or demerits, of 
 the Spanish Religious School, the best exemplars 
 are not to be found in this Gallery. I speak of 
 artists, of course other than Velasquez, Murillo, 
 Ribera, and Zurbaran. 
 
 Moralez (1 509-1 586). — "Ecce Homo" and "Vir- 
 gen de los Dolores."
 
 THE MUS^O DEL PRADO 127 
 
 Painted in the marked devotional style, charac- 
 teristic of this master, but showing the influence of 
 the Flemish School, and in no way dissimilar to the 
 usual treatment observable in the works of that 
 School. Moralez was styled "El Divino" — because 
 he devoted himself to the portrayal of sacred heads. 
 
 Juan de Juanez (1523). — A series of pictures 
 representing the "Martyrdom of St. Stephen," and 
 " The Last Supper." I imagine Juanez to be the 
 greatest of the Prse-Murillo School. But it is at 
 Valencia, where his works abound, that his great 
 talents are to be appreciated. He studied in Rome, 
 under Raphael's pupils, and has been rather extra- 
 vagantly styled the "Spanish Raphael." He re- 
 garded his profession as a sacred calling, and was 
 accustomed to pray, and even to receive the Holy 
 Sacrament, before commencing a picture. Another 
 picture of Juanez' may be noted, " The Visitation." 
 Fine, yet not so original in treatment, as to give a 
 just idea of his powers. " The Descent from the 
 Cross " is a better instance. 
 
 Navarate el Mudo (1526-1579). — "The Bap- 
 tism." It is rather from the touching circumstances 
 of this artist having been deaf and dumb, than from 
 the superlative merits of the artist that this picture 
 will interest the spectator. He was a careful student 
 of Titian, and may even have met him at Venice. 
 Philip II had a regard for him, and this work was 
 painted for the King's colossal Mausoleum, the 
 " Escurial." His works at the Escurial have been 
 immensely admired. 
 
 An Auto-da-Ft? (A. Berrugette, 1480-1545). —
 
 128 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 There are several reasons why this picture should 
 be looked at and remembered. It is the first repre- 
 sentation of such a subject, and it is presided 
 over by "Saint" Domingo de Guzman; the Holy 
 Inquisitor. 
 
 It makes one shudder to think, that the " Holy " 
 ceremony in all probability conduced to the Saint's 
 canonisation. A course of his "miracles," appro- 
 priately enough, are to be seen close to the above 
 picture of horrors. Berrugette has given his name 
 to the " Cinque-cento" architecture in Spain, and he 
 is therefore sure of immortality. His pictures are 
 very few, and doubts have been thrown upon the 
 above. But he seems, nevertheless, to have been 
 "painter" to Charles V and Philip II. But as 
 architect, and sculptor, he is really famous, and he 
 was actually one of Michael Angelo's pupils. 
 
 Of Ribalta (i 551-1628), one of the most 
 famous of the School of Valencia and master to 
 Ribera, there appear to be but two in this Gallery. 
 They give a very high idea of his powers. One 
 represents " An angel appearing to St. Francis." 
 (The " lamb " in the picture was the favourite com- 
 panion of the Saint.) The other is "Christ sup- 
 ported by angels." 
 
 Juan Roelas (1558-1625). — Of this painter there 
 appears to be one example in this Gallery, and 
 even the authenticity of that is doubted — " Moses 
 striking the Rock." At Seville, Roelas's native 
 city, his works are numerous. 
 
 Juan de Pareja, the half-caste servant of Velas- 
 quez, must be referred to, in a fine work entitled,
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 129 
 
 " The Calling of St. Matthew," and one which, 
 curiously enough, does not recall the style of his 
 Master (doubly his Master ! ). 
 
 His history is a touchingly curious one. As a 
 servant, or a slave (for it appears that any of the 
 hated and lately expelled races, still existent in 
 Spain had not the rights of men) it fell to his lot to 
 look after Velasquez's paints and brushes. But 
 during his services in Velasquez's studio, he became 
 inspired by his master's talents, and when alone 
 would attempt to do likewise. He accompanied 
 Velasquez to Rome, and there also, he studied and 
 imitated in secret. One day, Philip IV, a constant 
 visitor to the great artist's studio, saw hanging upon 
 the wall a picture reversed. He had it put before 
 him, and at once asked for the name of the painter. 
 The slave fell at the monarch's feet, and acknow- 
 ledged his own art-child. This incident gave rise 
 to one of Philip's gracious speeches to artists. " A 
 man who can paint like that must not remain a 
 slave." But Pareja, though a free man hence- 
 forward, could not leave the studio of a master so 
 honoured and admired. You will see, in the back- 
 ground of this picture, the dark features of the 
 faithful artist-servant. I know not if this picture be 
 the one discovered by King Philip. 
 
 Alonzo di Carlo. — " Virgin and Child." "St. 
 Benedict." "The dead Christ." To my mind 
 Alonzo di Cano is the most pleasing of all the lesser 
 lights of the Spanish School. In his predilection 
 for the less than life-size of some of his works, in his 
 grouping, and even in his colouring, he distantly 
 
 9
 
 130 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 resembles Titian. He has been, (surely very ab- 
 surdly,) styled the Spanish Michael Angelo. Such 
 titles, and they abound in Spain, always damage 
 the artist's reputation. He has eight works here, 
 all pleasing. But he, like so many other Spanish 
 artists, is most favourably seen elsewhere in 
 Spain. 
 
 Alonzo Cafio was also a priest, and a sculptor, 
 likewise a friend of Velasquez. Philip IV had a 
 regard for him and had him made a Canon of 
 Granada Cathedral. The Chapter did not like it, 
 or him, and remonstrated. To which Philip made 
 reply, " I can make you all canons ; God Almighty 
 alone can make an Alonzo Cano." Perhaps the 
 fact that he had been married, caused the Chapter 
 to object. Anyhow he was a very religious and 
 charitable man. He also was the pupil of Pacheco, 
 father-in-law, and second master of Velasquez. 
 Many of his works are to be seen elsewhere in 
 Spain. His statues and sculptures at Toledo, and 
 elsewhere, are noteworthy. 
 
 Del Mazo (1630- 1687). — Although not a painter 
 of religious subjects, this artist's works are much 
 prized, both for their own very great merits and for 
 the fact that some of them have been taken for 
 original Velasquezes. He was one of the great 
 artist's pupils, and married his master's daughter. 
 " Don Tibuecio do Redin " is one of his great por- 
 traits. Look also at his " Zaragossa," a fine land- 
 scape, with figures, the latter needlessly attributed to 
 Velasquez. He painted a portrait of the often- 
 depicted young " Balthazar Carlos," son of Philip IV.
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 131 
 
 Indeed, after the death of Velasquez, he was ap- 
 pointed Court Painter to that Monarch. 
 
 Villaviciencio, a pupil and friend of Murillo (who 
 died in his arms), excelled in the representation of 
 peasants, and " ragged boys," such as his master 
 delineated with such brilliant success. There is 
 one such picture here, quite a Murillo, " Boys play- 
 ing at Dice." It is said, that many such works of 
 his, in European Galleries, are attributed to Murillo. 
 Certainly, the Munich series of five such subjects, 
 however, can be assigned only to Murillo. Never 
 did that great artist paint more brilliantly, and 
 successfully than in those extraordinary representa- 
 tions of Spanish peasant-boys. It is surprising 
 that the second, Coello, Claudio Coello, should be so 
 little to the fore in this Gallery. His greatest work, 
 1 La Santa Forma," it is true, may be seen at the 
 Escurial. But he was a fine portrait-painter, like 
 his namesake of the days of Philip II. He was 
 nominated by Philip IV as one of the Royal 
 painters, and was employed by that Monarch chiefly 
 at the Escurial. He is generally considered as the 
 last of the great Spanish painters of the Prse-Goya 
 epoch, at least. He is said to have died from 
 jealousy of the irrepressible Luca Giordano, to 
 whom had been entrusted the decoration of the 
 Grand staircase of the Escurial. The ceiling above 
 was painted in seven months by " Luca-fa-pres- 
 tissimo ! " 
 
 Carreilo de Miranda (1614—1685), cotemporary 
 with C. Coello, has here a portrait of Charles II, 
 one very life-like, if the term can be considered
 
 132 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 appropriate of a poor creature, who was never but 
 half-alive. His most animated moments were those 
 spent at "auto-da-fes." His only redeeming quality 
 was his adoration for his beautiful Queen, Marie 
 Louise d'Orleans, daughter of the equally beautiful 
 " Madame." She, like her mother, died young and 
 like her after a mysteriously sudden illness of two 
 or three days. The Kingdom of Spain passed into 
 French hands after Charles's death, and the country 
 was devastated by the " War,'" known as that of 
 " The Spanish Succession." Truly the Spanish 
 Race is a strange one. You are lost in wonder, that 
 Spaniards should have endured for fifteen years, the 
 imbecile rule of a man like Charles, and then, that 
 they should have suffered themselves " bag and 
 baggage," to be handed over, as though they were the 
 King's personal effects, to his nearest neighbour. A 
 good artist, though, Carreno de Miranda, as this, 
 and another portrait, the Mother of Charles, in her 
 widow's dress, and a portrait of a buffoon of Charles, 
 named " Francisco Bazan," testify. Also to be 
 remarked Potemkin, Russian Ambassador to the 
 Spanish King. To exhaust the list of Spanish 
 artists in the Gallery, the name of Francisco Rizi 
 must be mentioned. In his picture of an auto-da-fe, 
 of the year of grace 1680 (little over two hundred 
 years ago), Charles has been made an inheritor of 
 undying disgrace, and not Charles only, but his wife 
 and mother, and the grandeur of the Spanish Court, 
 the hidalgoes, and the high-born of both sexes, are 
 gathered together in their bravest attire, and most 
 elaborate toilettes, upon "grand stands," smiling
 
 THE MUS^O DEL PRADO 133 
 
 and sparkling, to feast their ogling eyes upon their 
 fellow-creatures being agonised, and done to death, 
 because — because they did not believe in a wafer 
 being the body of Christ, because they did not 
 believe that the Grand Inquisitor was the appointed 
 Minister of God upon earth, or that the Roman 
 Pontiff was immaculately conceived, or that all those 
 gaudily dressed sovereigns and courtiers, in those 
 boxes up there, were saints from Heaven. So, all 
 these poor huddled-together creatures, so piteously 
 weeping, so crying out for mercy, so bereft of all 
 that made earth desirable, and so stripped of all the 
 hopes that Heaven had promised and all mocked at 
 in grotesque costumes, one and all to be butchered 
 to make a Spanish holiday! It is because of such 
 things having been possible, having been, that the 
 Spanish Monarchy met its " Mene, mene, tekel 
 upharsin." It is because that such horrors were 
 enacted two hundred years ago, that Spain almost 
 passed away from the ken of nations, that her 
 history since then, has been one constant record 
 of blood, bloodshed, battles, rebellion, massacre ; 
 of evil monarchs, corrupt statesmen, Messalina- 
 Oueens. 
 
 Happier days have now commenced. Let us 
 pray and hope, that her long penance may at last 
 have ceased. 
 
 Coxes ( 1 577-1 642) must not be omitted from a 
 list of Spanish painters, no less so, because of his 
 " Philip IV " — a masterly portrait, and of which 
 the London National Gallery possesses a replica. 
 Remark, too, " Siege of Cadiz by the English in
 
 134 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 1625," under Lord Wimbledon. Of Goya, " ulti- 
 mus Romanorum " of the Spanish School, as Tie- 
 polo was of the Venetian, a versatile, original, and 
 sometimes powerful master, this Gallery possesses 
 very numerous examples. He had the ill-luck to 
 have to portray the Kings, Queens, and families of 
 the Bourbon race, who excelled, if it were possible 
 to do so, in eccentric uncomeliness, those of the 
 Spanish Royal Race. 
 
 There are many works of this painter in England, 
 a large number of which found their way into the 
 Guildhall Exhibition of the year 1901. 
 
 However wanting in examples of Florentine Art, 
 and of other Schools of Italy, this Gallery may be, 
 it cannot be denied that Dutch and Flemish Artists 
 are very numerously, and, in many instances, 
 worthily represented. The Spanish Monarchs had 
 unequalled opportunities for the acquisition, not 
 only of the great works of Rubens, Vandyke, and 
 Antonio Moro, but also those of the Teniers, 
 Breughel, Wouverman, Bosch, Van der Weyden, 
 Cranach, Patrin, and others. But the one Van 
 Eyck here, is worth all the latter. I should con- 
 sider it as nearly rivalling the immortal " Adoration 
 of the Lamb " at Ghent. It is said to represent 
 the " Triumph of the Church over the Synagogue." 
 In the upper portion of the Picture appears the 
 Almighty with the Lamb at His feet. Below 
 are a vast crowd of angels, saints, and doctors 
 carrying the sacred emblems of the Mass in the 
 midst of Gothic Architecture and grouped round
 
 The Triumph of the Church. 
 By Hubert Van Eyck. 
 
 To face p 134.
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 135 
 
 fountains through which runs a stream proceed- 
 ing from the Throne of God. It is a miracle of 
 minute work, and permeated with a mystical spirit 
 of holiness, impressive beyond words. The finish 
 of the details is wonderful, and the freshness of the 
 picture astonishing. It is certainly one of the 
 greatest, as it is one of the rarest works, of that 
 early School, that has come down to our times. I 
 have been on thorns, since first seeing it, for fear 
 lest I should hear that it was a copy. Who knows ? 
 That terrible Luca Giordano was capable of any- 
 thing in the way of imitation, and there's many 
 a super-eminent master here and elsewhere, that 
 would be proud to claim for his own, some startling 
 copy of his handiwork by the Neapolitan Proteus. 
 That despair, and wonder of the 17th Century, 
 known as " Luca-fa-presto," was summoned from 
 Italy by Philip IV, ever on the qui vive for talent, 
 with the desire chiefly, of employing him in the 
 decoration of the Escurial. 
 
 Luca came, and drove every one half mad with 
 jealousy, and envy. Claudio Coello died because 
 of him. But Luca went on throwing up his 
 scaffoldings, and painting ceilings, and roofs, and 
 behaving rather like an Art electrical-machine, 
 than an everyday artist. Even in this Gallery, 
 there are fifty-five pictures of his. And there is not 
 a Gallery in Europe which is not made more glad 
 by his ubiquitous presence. The pity was, that with 
 his enormous talents, he should have preferred to 
 show all artists that he could equal them in their 
 own styles, upon their own ground, rather than
 
 136 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 paint masterpieces of his own " Nullius addictus 
 jurare in verba magistri." Rather than be himself, 
 he elected to " pose " as all the Masters. 
 
 He presents himself in the jousts of Art ready to 
 combat all the past-masters of the Art. He over- 
 comes many with their own weapons and unhorses 
 most of those who oppose him. Then he rides 
 off, and disappears. No one has been much 
 hurt, but everybody's " tone " has been a little 
 lowered. He is the Freooli of Art. He outdoes 
 Tintoretto, who blazoned over his studio door, 
 "The colouring of Titian and the composition of 
 Michael Angelo." 
 
 He waves away with a sweep of his magic brush 
 the infallibilities of imperious oracles, such as Titian, 
 with his " black, red and white, and all well in 
 hand." He wrests from their glowing palettes the 
 secrets of Rubens, and Tintoretto, and of Titian 
 and Raphael. He will weave you a Correggio, 
 with all the magical chiaro-oscuro of that painter, 
 and he will delineate you a Venus or a Danae, such 
 as might cause Titian uneasy tremors in his 
 Venetian Mausoleum. Luca is startling here, in 
 two pictures especially. Naturally, I was at first 
 taken in, for I was murmuring, "What a Rubens ! " 
 " And that Raphael is far more Raphaelesque than 
 the Perla ! " Now I would call in any Royal 
 Academician you will and ask him. But the pic- 
 tures are, first, Rubens' " Peace driving away War." 
 Rubens is seated at his easel in the centre of the 
 picture. He is as well dressed as ever, with his 
 plumed hat upon his head as we know him so well in
 
 THE MUS^O DEL PRADO 137 
 
 pictures of his own, and he is engaged (I suppose) 
 in dashing off the congenial bravuras of the 
 " Triumph of Peace " which Luca has depicted in 
 a grand flourish a la Rubens, quite in the style and 
 colour of the great Fleming Artist. And then 
 straight from this Rubens "impressions," to be 
 whisked off to a Luca Giordano " after " Raphael ! 
 A lovely Madonna and Holy Family with the little 
 St. John kissing the foot of the Infant Jesus. 
 And neither artist would have felt humiliated to 
 have claimed as his own one of those surprising 
 facsimiles. And yet Luca cannot be said to have 
 had no "convictions." He is himself every now 
 and then ; e.g., two or three very fine works in the 
 S. Maria della Salute in Venice, and in a tremendous 
 tour de force in the Church of the Gerolomini at 
 Naples in which our Saviour is depicted with all 
 the force of Rubens or Tintoretto, as in a whirl- 
 wind of wrath, putting to flight the vendors of all 
 kinds of merchandise out of the Temple. There 
 can never be another Luca-fa-presto, and though 
 in the cause of Art perhaps it were not to be wished, 
 yet, if there were, how one might fill one's private 
 gallery with " undoubted " Rubens and Morones, 
 and with how many other notable works. 
 
 Antonio Moro. — I think that for an adequate 
 notion of what Antonio Moro is at his best, one 
 must visit Madrid. Charles V first made him 
 welcome here, and also sent him to England, to 
 paint that fine and most realistic portrait of Queen 
 Mary for his son Philip. 
 
 The painter brought it back with him, and
 
 138 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 strange to say it did not cause Philip to renounce 
 at once, and for ever, any idea of mating with his 
 singularly uncomely cousin. He could never com- 
 plain that he had not had the bare and ugly truth 
 presented to him, (unlike his great uncle by mar- 
 riage, Henry, who incontinently, and in high-swelling 
 disgust, packed off Anne of Cleves, so falsely had 
 his Court-Artist misrepresented her). 
 
 Poor Mary ! here she looks capable of all the 
 worst crimes of bigotry and fanaticism, and had she 
 lived a little with her congenial spouse, what refine- 
 ments of torture surpassing all previous attempts in 
 that line, might not she and Philip have contrived 
 together ! 
 
 There is another very cross lady here, (possibly 
 one of Philip's daughters). She has a very cleverly 
 painted dog under her arm. 
 
 A. Moro certainly did not flatter. Rather too 
 blunt also, in his ways. For Philip II one day, 
 whilst standing over his favourite painter's work, 
 placed his arm approvingly round the artist's neck. 
 A. Moro, so far from being flattered by this mark 
 of condescension, responded by dabbing his wet 
 brush upon the Royal Hand. It is not surprising, 
 therefore, that the Artist's brush was not afterwards 
 in any request at all. Indeed, it is said, that the 
 Inquisition, suspiciously soon after this little ad- 
 venture, was not quite satisfied about the religious 
 opinions of the Dutch Fleming Artist, and that his 
 departure from Spain was much accelerated in 
 consequence. 
 
 Some of his best portraits here may be men-
 
 THE MUS^IO DEL PRADO 139 
 
 tioned. "Queen of Portugal" (Sister of Charles V). 
 Parjeron, a Jester, a masterpiece. " Princess 
 Juana " (daughter of Charles V). " The Emperor 
 Maximilian and his wife Donna Maria " (daughter 
 of Charles V). But all the portraits by Antonio 
 Moro are good. They are generally of ladies, 
 Spanish or Austrian Princesses. But in many cases 
 their identity has been lost, or not established. 
 
 Sir A. Moro was knighted by Queen Mary in 
 acknowledgment, I suppose, of his services in 
 painting her portrait. 
 
 Raphael. — The one disappointment, (it is a con- 
 siderable one,) of this Gallery is that the glorious 
 name of Raphael, should be associated with so 
 many pictures unworthy of his fame. Your feeling 
 is that your beloved Raphael has broken faith with 
 you. The most Raphaelesque, and best preserved, 
 are two small pictures, one called the "Agnus Dei," 
 and the other "A Holy Family," in which the 
 Infant Saviour is mounted upon a Lamb. The 
 latter also might be called an " Agnus Dei." But 
 the former has been thus termed, because the 
 Infant St. John holds a scroll inscribed with those 
 words. It should more appropriately be termed, 
 " della Lucerta," from the lizard that is eliding 
 from beneath a broken column. Indeed, I believe 
 that it has been so named. Both these pictures 
 are full of the religious beauty, and serenity, 
 peculiar to Raphael, and they have not been 
 tampered with, and discoloured — or miscoloured, 
 like most of the others of his. 
 
 ' La Perla " (so called, as all the world knows,
 
 140 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 from Philip's delight in it,) has been terribly mal- 
 treated. It was painted for the Duke of Mantua, 
 obtained from him by Charles I, and came into 
 the hands of Philip IV, with forty-three others of 
 the collection formed by our ill-starred King. One 
 can scarcely doubt that the hand of Raphael 
 designed it. But to whom is owing the black-red, 
 confused colouring ? That we shall never know. 
 The Virgin is sweetness itself, but her legs are out 
 of drawing, and the St. Anne is out of temper. 
 Philip paid ,£2,000 for this picture, an enormous 
 sum for that time. It must have been quite 
 another work then. By its inevitable journey to 
 Paris in Napoleonic times, it could not have been 
 improved. Near " La Perla " is " El Pasmo di 
 Sicilia," famous for its almost miraculous sea- 
 voyage, and for a land journey also to Paris, and 
 where it was transferred from wood to canvas. 
 One does not wonder, therefore, that the colouring 
 should be quite otherwise than Raphaelesque. 
 The vessel which was conveying this picture to 
 Sicily, for the Convent or Church known as " La 
 Madonna del Spasimo," was wrecked, and the 
 chest containing the work floated to Genoa. Had 
 a lesser artist painted this picture, it would have 
 been deemed a masterpiece. But as Raphael's 
 handiwork it leaves the mind unsatisfied. The 
 attitudes of the principal personages seem to me 
 strained, and the whole picture is unconvincing. 
 The " Salutation of Elizabeth " was made to suffer 
 the same fate at Paris, as the one above referred 
 to. Surely never was there such a "Salutation' 1

 
 Cardinal i>a Bibiesa. 
 
 By Raphael. 
 
 To face p. 141.
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 141 
 
 as this. A masculine woman, with giant strides, 
 bears down upon the justly shrinking Virgin, 
 about to sweep her from the path of the Saluter. 
 It must be said, however, that the Virgin in her 
 lovely humility is worthy of Raphael. 
 
 " The Madonna del Pez," also transferred to 
 canvas from wood at Paris. Here again the colour- 
 ing is strangely red. But the grand "drawing 
 and graceful treatment are certainly Raphael's 
 own." 
 
 " Cardinal da Bibiena." A great portrait by one 
 of the greatest of portrait-painters. There is a 
 very fine copy here of Raphael's " Transfiguration " 
 by his pupils, G. Romano and F. Penni. It may 
 have been one of the numerous acquisitions, made 
 by Velasquez, and if so, probably in his second 
 journey to Italy. 
 
 Amongst those which Velasquez purchased for 
 the King, in his first visit to Italy, were several by 
 Tintoretto. Velasquez had a very great admiration 
 for Tintoretto, and some Art critics have considered 
 that he founded his " second manner " upon the 
 great Venetian. 
 
 There are as many as thirty-three pictures in this 
 Gallery by Tintoretto, and amongst them there are, 
 of course, very many to be admired. One very 
 noteworthy picture, historically remarkable at least, 
 is the original sketch for the immense " Last 
 Judgment' in the Doge's Palace at Venice. It 
 was purchased at Venice by Velasquez, for 
 Philip IV. " Judith and Holofernes," and "Joseph 
 and Potiphar's Wife," are two subjects represented
 
 142 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 ad nauseam. But these are splendidly painted, 
 although one wishes that Tintoretto had left them 
 alone. " Turkish pirates attacking Christian Ships " 
 is more adapted to his dash and vigour, and this 
 picture has them in full measure. His portraits 
 should be looked at, for he excelled in that line, 
 and one especially to be rioted is " Sebastian Vinier, 
 a Venetian General." It is not surprising, consider- 
 ing the high estimation of all the Philips for the 
 great Flemings, that Vandyke should hold a 
 conspicuous place in this collection, both as a 
 painter of religious subjects and of portraits. 
 Amongst the latter most to be remarked are : " Lord 
 Bristol ' and the " Artist " ; " The Countess of 
 Oxford " ; " David Ryckaert," the painter ; " Henri 
 Comte de Berz " ; a small " Charles I " on horseback ; 
 "Princess of Orange"; the " Infante Cardinal," Don 
 Fernando of Austria " (see also the same by 
 Rubens, and also by Velasquez). I am not much 
 impressed generally by Vandyke's religious subjects, 
 but there is one of that kind in this Gallery, which 
 gives me a very high idea of Vandyke's powers. 
 It is the " Betrayal of our Lord." Although the 
 picture shows the influence of Rubens, it is never- 
 theless one of the finest works here. 
 
 Paul Veronese has some very splendid pictures 
 amongst the laro-e number assigned to him. I 
 should especially mention, as amongst his best, 
 " The Cana Marriage Feast." This work was a 
 possession of Charles I, and was much admired by 
 Velasquez. " Cain and his Wife " ; " The Mag- 
 dalene"; " Venus and Adonis" (purchased at Venice
 
 The Countess of Oxford. 
 By Vandyke. 
 
 To face p. 112.
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 143 
 
 by Velasquez) ; " Christ preaching in the Temple." 
 I think that Paul Veronese gives you as much 
 pleasure, and satisfaction, as any artist. No painter 
 maintained such a consistently high level. As a 
 portrait-painter, also, he is very eminent. With 
 the exception of Titian, Velasquez and Raphael, I 
 know of no one superior to him. 
 
 These notes have swelled out to an extent not 
 intended. I have only space, therefore, to refer to 
 three or four other pictures with which I have been 
 struck. "A Pieta," by D. Crespi. 1 There was a 
 family in Northern Italy of the name, and four of 
 them were painters in the 16th Century. It is 
 said that all of them died of the plague. There are 
 in the Bibliothek Ambrosiana, Milan, two fine 
 pictures by him. I wonder that the above work has 
 not been more noticed. This " Pieta " is exces- 
 sively fine, the colouring and treatment somewhat 
 resembling those of Correggio. The Madonna's 
 attitude, and countenance of despairing appeal, are 
 sublime. 
 
 Mantegna. — A small, but beautiful, and very 
 elaborate in more suo, " Death of the Virgin," 
 should be remarked. It is next to the small 
 " Holy Family," by Raphael. I believe that doubts 
 have been entertained as to the authenticity of this 
 picture. But, to me at least, it appears a most 
 genuine work. 
 
 1 One of the Crespis was known as " Lo Spagnuolo." It 
 was doubtless "D. Crespi's," for obvious reasons. G. B. Crespi 
 has a fine picture in the Turin Gallery, " St. Francis, holding in 
 his arms the Infant Saviour." He is known as " II Cerano."
 
 144 
 
 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Correggio (" Noli me Tangere "). — In spite of the 
 misdrawing, or perhaps " repainting," of the 
 Saviour's leg — for indeed the picture has suffered 
 from repainting — I cannot but consider this a 
 Q-enuine work. The Magdalene's attitude is 
 notably fine, and this rather than her features 
 discloses the hand of the master. This picture, or 
 a replica of it, was, together with the famous 
 "Aguador" of Velasquez, captured by the then 
 Lord Wellington, out of Joseph's fleeing chariot. 
 
 J. B. Tiepolo is not to be confounded with his 
 son, to whom most of the Tiepolos in the Gallery 
 are to be attributed. He (J. B.) is rarely seen out 
 of Venice. He was invited to Madrid by Charles 
 III. He is a great artist, original, and superb in 
 technique. He was the last great Venetian, and 
 inspired many with the hope that the glories of the 
 School were not to be extinguished. Observe 
 especially, the " Immaculate Conception." The 
 Virgin stands upon the serpent, who holds in his 
 jaws the fateful apple. The cherub below has been 
 injured. But the picture has been as beautifully 
 conceived as executed. 
 
 The Gallery is poor in landscape painting. A 
 few Claudes, but not of the painter's best. Perhaps 
 two Ruysdaels, but no Hobbema, nor Both, nor 
 Cuyp, nor Poussin. It is painful to observe what 
 injuries have been inflicted upon many of the great 
 pictures here. Time, fire, restoration, and neglect 
 have all been at work. As to neglect, it seems as 
 though many of the later Sovereigns had taken as 
 great pains to allow these invaluable works to go to
 
 THE MUSEO DEL PRADO 145 
 
 rack and ruin as their predecessors had lavished in 
 the acquisition of them. Yet when we remember 
 how many great works of Titian and Velasquez and 
 others perished in the flames which destroyed the 
 Alcazar and El Pardo, we must be thankful how 
 much yet remains (though too often in an impaired 
 condition) to awaken our admiration and enjoyment. 
 
 10
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE ESCURIAL 
 
 Erection by Philip II — Dedication to St. Laurence — Position 
 and appearance — Architectural Features — Immense dimen- 
 sions — The Church of the Escurial — Object of the Archi- 
 tect — Death of Philip in the Building — The Pudridero — 
 Opening of the Coffin of Charles V — Morbid craving of 
 the Spanish Monarchs — An indoor-Campo Santo — Tomb 
 of Don John — " La Santa Forma " — Picture in the Sacristy 
 — Palace Garden — English Elms — No Spanish Monarch 
 born in the Palace, Ferdinand VII excepted — Philip V 
 hated all things Spanish — Buried at La Granja (the 
 "Grange") — Had abdicated there — Hasty Resumption of 
 Power — Frescoes, Tapestries, no great things — Transference 
 of Pictures to Madrid. 
 
 THE great but barren Victory of St. Quentin 
 having been won for Philip upon the ioth 
 of August, 1557, St. Laurence's Day, the King 
 ascribed to the great Aragonese Saint the honours 
 of the triumph. 
 
 To the Saint was decreed the erection of the 
 vastest monument in Europe, and to Philip, and 
 the Monarchs that would succeed him, this Pantheon 
 for their sepulture. The Escurial seems a world 
 
 146
 
 THE ESCURIAL 147 
 
 too large, as a monument for a victory that is 
 forgotten, and of which it is the solitary but pon- 
 derous trophy. Popular opinion has been pleased 
 to assume that the architect sought to express the 
 form of a gridiron in his immense creation. One 
 would like to believe it true. It would have been 
 an imperishable symbol of the cruel Sovereign's own 
 propensities towards the grilling and frying of his 
 wretched subjects, much more than a memorial of 
 the Saint's martyrdom. But in truth any building 
 of a rectangular parallelogram in form, and laterally 
 crossed by lines of Courtyards, may be compared to 
 a gridiron. I was agreeably surprised by the elevated 
 position of the Escurial. It is a cheerful pull up 
 hill to arrive there, and it is grandly backed by a 
 chain of rugged hills. Indeed, it seems to issue 
 from the mountain in rear of it. It is its child, and 
 formed of itself. 
 
 The huge whitish granite mass is monotonous to 
 a degree. An immense quadrangle with a towered 
 pinnacle at each corner, and pierced by rows of 
 interminable small windows. Some say that they 
 designedly correspond in number, to the eleven 
 thousand virgins of Cologne. It is an ideal Barracks 
 for half an Army, and were even half the rooms 
 inhabited, it would not weigh upon your spirits with 
 the sense of awful solemnity as at present. One 
 thinks of Pope's epitaph upon Vanbrugh, the 
 architect of Blenheim, " Lay heavy on him, 
 Earth ! " Only instead of the architect one thinks 
 of those heavy Spanish Monarchs, and substitutes 
 "them" for "him."
 
 148 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 It is not of a very original style even, for it only 
 repeats, upon an inordinately larger scale, the form 
 generally of the Toledo Alcazar, which again was 
 in part the work of Herrera, the architect of the 
 Escurial. Herrera was certainly an Egyptian, or 
 an American, in his proclivities towards the " vast." 
 You believe cheerfully, involuntarily, anything you 
 are told about its hugeness. Unless you are a born 
 statistician, the mind is stunned rather than en- 
 lightened bv statements of measurements. You are 
 told, however, that the square of the building covers 
 500,000 feet, and it is three-quarters of a mile walk 
 round, that it contains sixteen courtyards, fifteen 
 cloisters, eighty-six staircases, and eighty-eight 
 fountains, and notwithstanding this array of figures, 
 it is less extensive than Versailles or even Caserta ! 
 Who could compass an expedition to verify such 
 assertions? The mind, not to speak of legs and 
 feet, shrinks from such a task. The Courts that I 
 visited certainly did not encourage me to proceed. 
 That one especially, the " Patio de los Reyes," 
 whence you pass into the church, is monumental 
 in ugliness, with colossal statues (17 feet high) 
 of the Kings of Judah. Upon the other hand, it 
 must be said that the " Court of the College " is 
 really fine — an arcaded cloister with garden and 
 one of the eighty-eight fountains in the centre. 
 But the " sight " of the Escurial is the Church, " El 
 Tempio," par excellence, as it is termed. It is one 
 of the really great Renaissance churches of Europe, 
 and alone would have handed down the name of 
 Herrera as a great architect. The Church, with its
 
 THE ESCURIAL 149 
 
 two towers and its dome, though forming a portion 
 of the palace, may be considered and studied as 
 quite a separate and detached architectural glory. 
 Herrera had the brilliant inspiration of not placing 
 his Coro "in modo Hispanico," in the centre of the 
 nave. You pass under it, and thus the whole length 
 of the vast nave up to the Retablo of the High 
 Altar is revealed. You at once take in, and 
 comprehend, the grand simplicity, the perfect pro- 
 portions, the harmony of the architecture. It is 
 awfully solemn ; it is appalling in its gloom ; — the 
 architect has struck the chord which he intended — 
 the nothingness of man ; the omnipresence of 
 Death ! 
 
 The gay note of the irrepressible Luca, over- 
 head, is swallowed up in these profundities, and the 
 gorgeously decorated Retablo, and the painted 
 effigies of the kneeling Kings and Queens, serve 
 only to render the gloom more palpable. Herrera 
 knew what he was about when he planned a temple, 
 so consonant to the gloomy temperament of 
 Philip II, where the ruling idea was to be funeral- 
 masses or funeral-rites for dead Sovereigns. 
 
 On either side of the High Altar is an oratory 
 for royal use. Above them are gilded effigies. 
 Upon one side, Charles V, his wife, his daughter, 
 and his two sisters, kneel in prayer. Opposite are 
 seen, in the same reverential attitude, Philip II, 
 three of his wives, (poor Mary omitted from the 
 group !) and even Don Carlos. Philip died close 
 by in a little poky chamber, whence he could have 
 full view of the High Altar, and of the Celebration
 
 150 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 of the Mass. Here he languished for several 
 months, until death put an end to his sufferings, on 
 September 15, 1598. Notwithstanding the terrible 
 nature of his malady, he forced himself to attend to 
 the minutest details regarding his funeral, giving 
 the most elaborate directions as to the disposal of 
 his body, and the manner in which it should be 
 conveyed to the " Pudridero " beneath. He even 
 ordered, that his coffin, of gilt-bronze, should be 
 brought into his cell, and should be lined with 
 white satin and lace. He called his children (none 
 of his four wives were alive) around him to receive 
 admonitions, advice and gifts. He had his father's 
 scourge taken from its case and pointed out its 
 blood-stains, as a proof of the Christian virtues of 
 his predecessor. He finally died, holding his father's 
 crucifix in his hand, but, as some say, not quite 
 satisfied at the last, that his prodigious efforts in 
 the suppression of heresy had been rightly directed. 
 I was referring to the symmetrical proportions of 
 this admirable building, one fact, connected with 
 which, is worth mentioning. 
 
 The height of the Church to the top of the cupola, 
 is of the same dimensions as the length of the naves, 
 i.e., 320 feet. The breadth of the Church is 230 feet, 
 about the same, i.e., as the width of the Milan 
 Duomo. You descend into the pretty octagonal 
 " Pudridero, " or " Pantheon," by a fine staircase of 
 green and yellow marble (one so slippery, however, 
 that it would be as well not to have nails on your 
 soles). You are surprised to find yourself in quite 
 a cheerful chamber, although scantily lit. Shelves,
 
 THE ESCURIAL 151 
 
 round the octagon from basement to roof, support 
 black marble coffins, of pretty boat-like shapes, 
 highly ornamented with gilt bronze decorations. 
 From Charles V to Alfonso XII, the Kings are 
 upon the right ; their Queens, or Queens Regnant, 
 or Mothers, upon the left, for none but crowned 
 heads are allowed to rest here. Some of the 
 Sarcophagi are untenanted as yet. Two of the 
 Kings since Charles V, viz., Philip V and 
 Ferdinand VI, are not interred here. When 
 Philip II built the Escurial, he contemplated only 
 a plain vault for the reception of his father's remains 
 and his own. The present comparatively smart 
 octagon and entrance, were the works of the son 
 and grandson. And then Philip IV, in 1654, 
 moved in the royal bodies, and at the same time 
 caused the coffin of his royal great-grandfather to 
 be opened. Charles's body was found well pre- 
 served, and Philip said, as he contemplated, 
 " Cuerpo muy honrado." Curiosity has caused the 
 same scene to be re-enacted some thirty years ago. 
 It was in this Pantheon, too, that another coffin was 
 opened by the last of the Race ; the imbecile 
 Charles II. It was that of his first wife, Marie 
 Louise d'Orleans, whose sadly early death has been 
 alluded to. Most of the Spanish Kings had a 
 passion for the inspection of corpses, for the con- 
 templation of death in its material aspects, or in 
 gloomy meditations and reflections. Even Philip IV, 
 who enjoyed life in many ways, loved art and 
 artists, had a passion for hunting and shooting and 
 would laugh over " Don Quixote," would come here
 
 152 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 and listen to Mass, ensconced in the niche where 
 his own coffin would one day rest. After leaving 
 the Pantheon it seemed to me that one had to 
 traverse a perfect marble " Campo Santo " of 
 Infantes and Infantas, and of other royal or semi- 
 royal personages. This portion of the Escurial is 
 really an indoor Cemetery. Not gloomy by any 
 means, for most of the tombs and monuments are 
 of white marble, and very often rich in decoration, 
 painting, and gilding. Amongst the most note- 
 worthy being those of the two Don Johns of 
 Austria, Don Carlos, the unhappy son of Philip II, 
 the Due de Vendome, natural son of Louis XIV, 
 and of a number of recently deceased Princes and 
 Princesses. It is only of late years that a hand- 
 some monument (recumbent statue) has been 
 erected over the tomb of the famous Don John of 
 Austria, the Victor of Lepanto. Upon it are 
 inscribed the words, uttered by the Pope of the 
 day, Pius V, upon hearing of that great Victory 
 over the infidel : " There was a man sent by God 
 whose name was John." There are still some 
 famous pictures in the Church, and Sacristy, but 
 generally the light is so bad that a trustworthy 
 opinion cannot be passed as to their merits. One 
 at least in the Anti-Sacristia, however, should be 
 seen. It is by the second Coello : " La Santa Forma." 
 It celebrates the famous miracle of the Holy Wafer 
 bleeding when trampled upon by heretics in 
 Holland. 1 The picture introduces the portraits of 
 Charles II, the Duke of Medinaceli, and others, as 
 1 A repetition of the famous Bolsena " Miracle."
 
 THE ESCURIAL 153 
 
 present at the apotheosis of this wafer. The wafer, 
 actually, is preserved in the altar, behind the picture. 
 Its preservation is very astonishing, as the Escurial 
 was more or less plundered by the inevitable French 
 soldiery. The Bleeding of a Wafer has happened 
 more than once, it seems, as those who have visited 
 Orvieto, or have seen Raphael's fresco of the 
 " Miracle of Bolsena," will remember. The Palace 
 Garden of clipped yew and box is very pretty and 
 quaint. Indeed, there are bigger trees to be seen, 
 in the garden here, for Philip II had some elm- 
 trees transported from England, and he planted 
 others at Aranjuez. It is a solitary human ray that 
 warms up his character a little ! Philip was per- 
 mitted not only to commence this huge Palace and 
 Sepulchre, but to finish it, and to be taken there to 
 die. Though he took over thirty years to complete 
 it, he did not die until forty-one years after he had 
 commenced the stupendous self-imposed task. The 
 " eighth wonder of the world," as he styled this 
 laborious creation of his. The Escurial has had 
 the privilege of being the birthplace of one Monarch, 
 — that of Ferdinand VII. Noteworthy, any joyful 
 event in a building consecrated to death. But I do 
 not think that a royal marriage was ever cele- 
 brated here. Ferdinand VI and Philip V and their 
 Oueens are not buried here. The last-mentioned 
 Sovereign hated all the traditions and associations 
 connected with Monarchs of Spanish and Austrian 
 blood, and caused himself therefore to be buried at 
 "La Granja " together with his Queen, Elizabeth 
 Farnese. "La Granja," — "Grange" or Farm
 
 154 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 House, — had been purchased by Philip V as a 
 country residence, and transformed by him into a 
 French Chateau. There Philip, — rather in the 
 style of one of the Spanish Sovereigns, whom he so 
 disliked, — went through the form of an Abdication. 
 But either the death of his son a few months after- 
 wards, or the distaste of his wife for private life, 
 induced him to resume the power which he had too 
 hastily renounced. 
 
 So much of the Escurial as has been here 
 described or referred to, will be found more than 
 ample to employ the nimblest legs, and to slake 
 the keenest historical thirst in the space of one 
 day. 
 
 If the conscientious traveller should think it 
 incumbent upon him to do so, some of the innumer- 
 able rooms in this huge building might be worth 
 visiting upon a second occasion. There are 
 frescoes, — not of very great merit, — and a certain 
 number of tapestries to be seen. But almost every- 
 thing of historical or artistic value has now been 
 removed to Madrid.
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 o
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 TOLEDO 
 
 Supposed resemblance to Rome — Alcazar, the dominant feature 
 — Neglected opportunities — River Tagus — The Alcantara 
 Bridge — An ethnological Mosaic — Paucity of Moorish 
 remains — Jewish, rather than Moorish — Treatment of the 
 Jews — Two synagogues — Churches — S. Maria la Bianca 
 — Ei Transito — El Tome — El Greco's famous Picture — 
 Alcazar, History of — The Prison of two Queens — A second 
 Don John — Hospital de la Santa Cruz — Marble Relief of 
 St. Helena. 
 
 HISTORY does not record the name of the 
 original Founder of this time-worn city. 
 That it was a place of sufficient importance to be 
 " taken " by the Romans some two hundred years 
 B.C. would suggest an antiquity not greatly inferior 
 to Rome herself. To Rome, indeed, a resemblance 
 has been found in that the city is enthroned upon 
 seven hills. I do not think that the hills are as 
 well defined, or as well named, as those of Rome. 
 Certainly Toledo can never have approached Rome 
 in size or circuit. Another resemblance, and a 
 better one, might be found in the fact that both 
 cities are seated upon noble rivers. 
 
 155
 
 156 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 The glory of Toledo is, as every one knows, her 
 Cathedral. But that is not the dominant note here, 
 as is St. Peter's at Rome. For upon entering 
 Toledo, the great building, which from its size and 
 commanding position arrests the attention of the 
 traveller, is the Alcazar. Here, had been the true 
 Capital of Spain had Spaniards but recognised their 
 opportunity, and had made use of what Providence 
 had provided, i.e., the Tagus. What a suggestive 
 title would be that of "The history of neglected 
 sites." We might place Toledo at the head of such 
 barren records. The noble river, the Tagus, going 
 begging, because Spaniards had neither enterprise 
 nor energy. When the original founders of Toledo 
 settled down here, they, doubtless, did so, because 
 the river suggested to them all sorts of possibilities — 
 a errand means of communicatino- with the ocean 
 and of cities springing up upon the banks of this 
 noble river ; infinite opportunities of irrigation for 
 overcoming the sterility of a rocky soil, and of 
 fortified bridges to protect them on three sides from 
 covetous enemies. Perhaps the Races that peopled 
 Toledo, succeeded each other too rapidly. But 
 everything was open to Philip II when he added 
 Portugal to the possessions of the Spanish crown. 
 And he did nothing. 
 
 The Bridge, the two-arched Alcantara, 1 is a 
 history in itself of all the Races that have possessed 
 Toledo. Romans, Moors, Goths, and Spaniards, 
 
 1 In the time of Trajan eleven cities of Lusitania bore the cost 
 of the great Bridge, " Alcantara," over the Tagus (Gregorovius, 
 " Life of Adrian ").
 
 TOLEDO 157 
 
 have all left traces of their handiwork here. Toledo 
 was the Gothic capital, and replaced Sevile as such 
 until the fatal day of Guadelete, 712 a.d., put an end 
 to Gothic dominion under Roderic, and established 
 a Moslem Power in Spain. The Moors held Toledo 
 for upwards of three hundred years and built a noble 
 Mosque, which the Cathedral has entirely displaced. 
 It is regrettable, considering the length of the 
 Moorish rule, that there should be comparatively 
 little of Moorish architecture to be seen. I should 
 imagine, notwithstanding the type of Moorish archi- 
 tecture prevalent in the character of the houses, that 
 the city, generally, has been rebuilt. Nor have I 
 remarked in the features and colouring of the 
 inhabitants, anything that could be regarded as of 
 distinctly Moorish origin. Toledo was always 
 rather a Jewish city than a Moorish one. Indeed, 
 it was largely owing to the Jews, that not only 
 Toledo, but Cordova and Granada, fell into the 
 hands of the Moslems. The Jews had been cruelly 
 oppressed by the Goths, and when the Moors 
 entered Spain, they made common cause with the 
 invaders. And again, three hundred years after- 
 wards, when they had discovered to their cost that 
 the Moors had been more than oblivious of their 
 services, they hastened to the assistance of the 
 advancing Christians under Alonzo VI, and helped 
 them to capture the city. But the unhappy race 
 did not long continue in the good graces of their 
 new-found friends. Here, as elsewhere in Europe, 
 Jews had acquired the fatal reputation of being 
 wealthy. To be plundered and ill-used was the
 
 158 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 heritage of the Hebrew race. And when the 
 Inquisition became an establishment in Spain it 
 was as natural to torture Jews and Moors, or any- 
 other species of heretic, and even more profitable. 
 Nor was Cardinal Ximenes, the celebrated Regent 
 of the Kingdom during the minority of Charles V, 
 likely to be more tolerent to them, seeing that he 
 was not only Grand Inquisitor, but was himself 
 suspected of having Jewish blood in his veins. 
 Mai sangre was a terrible blot, even upon the 
 escutcheon of a Grand Inquisitor. But that Jews 
 must have been here in large numbers is proved by 
 there being still in existence a Jewish quarter and 
 two synagogues therein which have been trans- 
 formed into Christian churches. These are " Santa 
 Maria la Bianca," and " El Transito." The former 
 is the most ancient. But both must have been built 
 by Moorish workmen, as they are entirely in the 
 Moorish style, even to their details, which are 
 extremely pretty. In the former, the fine capitals 
 of the columns, representing lumps of wheat-ears or 
 fruit, are remarkable. There is, too, a great deal of 
 Moorish tiling, ancient and modern. This church 
 has been very well restored, and is now well tended 
 and looked after. It has been said, that the beams 
 and rafters were made from cedars brought from 
 Lebanon, and that some of the sacred earth of 
 Palestine is enclosed beneath the tiles in some part 
 of the building. The Church of " El Tome" should 
 be visited, in order to see the famous picture of El 
 Greco, of the " Burial of Count Orgaz " in this very 
 church. It is a very fine work, dark and sombre
 
 TOLEDO 159 
 
 in colouring. It is considered as the masterpiece of 
 the artist, who, Greek by birth, made Toledo his 
 home, and was famous also as an architect. To 
 him is attributed the Mozarabic Chapel (or a portion 
 of it) in the Cathedral. Close to this church, is 
 the old palace of Conde de Fuensalida, where the 
 wife of Charles V, the Empress Isabel, died. 
 
 The Alcazar. — The Alcazar was the Fortress 
 Palace of Toledo, even in Moorish times. It has 
 served as a fortress, a palace, a royal prison, or even 
 as a workhouse. In more modern times as barracks 
 and military schools. It has repeatedly suffered 
 from fires, either intentional or accidental. In its 
 present shape it is chiefly the work of Alonzo de 
 Covarrubias and Herrera, the architects respec- 
 tively of Charles V and Philip II. It is a four- 
 towered stone building, of two stories upon a raised 
 basement. The western facade is fine, with much 
 ornamented square windows surmounted by pedi- 
 ments. The Quadrangle Courtyard, with its two- 
 storied arcade, is one of the best works of Herrera. 
 The bronze statue in the centre of Charles V in 
 armour, with a figure in fetters beneath him, is 
 worthy of admiration. 
 
 The inscription upon the pedestal runs thus : " Si 
 en la Pelea veis caer mi caballo, y mi Estandarte 
 levant al primero, este que a mi," — which may be 
 rendered : " If in the shock of battle thou shouldst 
 behold my horse go down, and then my standard, 
 be the first to fly aloft, — so may I be the first to 
 leap to my feet." I suppose the chained figure to 
 refer to conquered Tunis.
 
 160 
 
 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 The Alcazar is memorable for having served as the 
 gilded prison of two queens. Blanche of Bourbon, 
 the wife merely in name of the ferocious Pedro the 
 Cruel, and repudiated almost immediately after the 
 wedding and deserted for the beautiful Maria 
 Padilla, lived here in state. Her cause was enthu- 
 siastically embraced by most of the nobles as well 
 as by the populace. But it was not for long that 
 she was enabled to prolong the struggle. Toledo 
 was entered eventually by Pedro, and the hapless 
 Queen was put to death by her husband. 
 
 The other Queen who took refuge in this com- 
 manding fortress was Mariana of Austria, — the 
 widow and niece of Philip IV, — the blonde Queen 
 so often depicted by Velasquez. She had been 
 appointed Regent during the minority of her son — 
 the idiotic Charles II. But she was ousted from 
 the Regency by the popular Don John, the natural 
 son of her husband, — whose influence was para- 
 mount over the weak King. Don John, however, 
 died early, and Queen Mariana regained her liberty, 
 but not her influence. Her character inspires no 
 respect whatever, as she was wholly a slave to her 
 confessor, Nithard, and her paramour, Valenzuela. 
 The views of the city, the Tagus, and of the wild 
 and bleak country from all sides of the Alcazar, are 
 excessively attractive. Immediately below the 
 Alcazar, upon the western front, — where you en- 
 tered, is the Hospital de la Santa Cruz. It is a 
 descent of a few seconds through a shrubbery. 
 The building is all going to rack and ruin, but it 
 is well worth visiting to look at the beautiful marble
 
 TOLEDO 161 
 
 relief over the entrance porch of " St. Helena and 
 the Invention of the Cross." It will recall to you 
 many an Italian work, — such as you may see in 
 Florence or Siena, or San Gemignano, and might 
 have been called a work of one of the Delia 
 Robbias. The whole edifice is of the early 
 1 6th Century, by Enrique de Egas. The vast 
 church has been stripped of ornaments, and the 
 chancel walled up. It is now, partly a Military 
 Gymnasium, a School Board, a Barrack, an Arsenal, 
 and I know not what else. The soldiers in the 
 courtyard are good-natured, and are not suspicious 
 of your wishing to run away with parallel bars and 
 trapezes, etc. So you may look about you for fine 
 staircases, and finely-moulded ceilings and frag- 
 ments of coats of arms, and architectural mouldings, 
 and so forth. But it is a melancholy scene, of 
 corroded splendours and worm-eaten magnificence. 
 
 11
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 TOLEDO CATHEDRAL 
 
 Commenced by St. Ferdinand — He destroyed the Mosque — A 
 breach of promise — Former Gothic Cathedral on the site — 
 The Virgin's favourite resort — Present Cathedral finished 
 in 15th Century — Dimensions — A Museum of Art — 
 Painted Glass of 15 th Century — Western Facade — 
 Puerta del Perdon, the finest entrance — The Coro — Mag- 
 nificent Retablo — Height of the Cathedral — Mental Percep- 
 tion of great Fabrics — A gradual absorption — Beauty of 
 the Carved Stalls — El Rodrigo and Vigarny — Wondrous 
 Metal-pulpits — Tomb of Alvaro de Luna — "Spite" of 
 Henry of Aragon — Capilla Mayor — Fine Retablo — Tombs 
 of "los Reyes Viejos" — Queen Catherine, Daughter of 
 John of Gaunt — Philip IPs descent from her — Purport of 
 his "Armada" — Legend of S. Ildelfonso, Primate — The 
 sacred " Casulla " — Madonna's Black Image — Vigarny's 
 Reliefs of the Legend — Vicissitudes of the Image — Ildel- 
 fonso's Body — Virgin's Regalia — Deported to Paris — Vest- 
 ments, Gold and Silver Plate — Capilla, S. Eugenio and 
 de Invierno — Traces of Moorish Art. 
 
 TO Ferdinand III, the "Saint," belongs the 
 peculiar glory of having commenced the two 
 great Cathedrals of Burgos and Toledo, and within 
 four or five years of each other, in the early 
 13th Century. Had he possessed any aesthetic 
 
 162
 
 TOLEDO CATHEDRAL 163 
 
 sentiments whatever, he would have spared some 
 portion, at least, of the Mosque that stood here. 
 Those who built Seville and Cordova Cathedrals 
 were not so remorseless. The destruction of the 
 Mosque at Toledo was also a breach of faith. For 
 when Toledo was captured from the Moors by 
 Alonzo VI, in the nth Century, it had been 
 promised that their Mosque should remain in their 
 possession. But some Saints are a law unto them- 
 selves. There are rumours that a Cathedral, dedi- 
 cated to the Virgin, had stood here in very ancient 
 times, indeed in the lifetime of the Madonna her- 
 self. According to Church Chronicles, it was a 
 favourite resort of the Virgin, and she is declared 
 to have often attended Divine service here, accom- 
 panied by Saints Peter, Paul, and Sant Iago. Loreto, 
 that holds the Virgin's house in jealous keeping, 
 would not be pleased to hear of this story. 
 
 For us, however, it is good enough to know 
 that the present very beautiful building is a 
 magnificent Cathedral commenced in the 13th 
 Century and finished in the 15th; that it 
 possesses five naves, about 464 feet long by 204 
 feet wide ; that it contains some of the finest 
 monuments, tombs, carved work, and works of Art, 
 to be found in any Cathedral. Here some of the 
 most powerful and conspicuous of Spaniards have 
 found their last resting-places. The 16th Cen- 
 tury painted windows are marvels. The trans- 
 lucent Saints and Prophets thereon depicted, seem 
 to be regaining warmth, and life, and motion, in 
 another transitory existence, which is mystically
 
 164 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 evolving itself from a conflagration of jewels. As 
 from shattered rainbows, iridescent flakes are boun- 
 teously flung around, glorifying with haloes and 
 aureoles, sculptured saints and recumbent heroes. 
 Not the least of the great Arts and Crafts is that of 
 Painted Glass. 
 
 How much a Cathedral lacks, that has not that ! 
 
 If you take a guide, (I hope you will not, for he 
 will probably be unintelligible, and he will certainly 
 be always intercepting your view,) he will try to 
 make you enter the Cathedral by the Northern 
 Door, — Puerta del Raloj, — as the nearest to your 
 Hotel. The street runs up to the door, and is so 
 crowded and narrow, that you scarcely realise that 
 you have a great Cathedral in front of you. Make 
 rather for the western facade, the Puerta del Per- 
 don. This is not only incomparably the finest 
 entrance of the four, but your eyes will be enabled 
 to sweep up the Nave, and over the Coro (placed, 
 as usual, in the middle of the Nave), and up to the 
 magnificent Retablo of the Capilla Mayor. We 
 are told that as regards height, this Cathedral is 
 somewhat disappointing. I do not think so, though 
 the Seville Cathedral is higher. So many of us, 
 for fear that we should miss any of the details and 
 objects, referred to in guide-books, neglect to let the 
 idea of a great fabric sink gradually into the sense. 
 And it is when you wish to absorb in its entirety, 
 and as a whole, some building such as this, that a 
 chattering guide becomes quite intolerable. But 
 sooner or later we must be tightly clutching our 
 Murray, or Baedeker, and upon one of those indis-
 
 TOLEDO CATHEDRAL 165 
 
 pensable companions, friends, guides, we must be 
 relying for information about " storied urn and 
 animated bust." No assistance of the kind will be 
 needed for the appreciation of the extraordinary 
 beauty of the Coro. When you have wondered 
 at the exceeding richness of the I5th-i6th 
 Century stalls, — especially of the upper row, — you 
 will look above them and see the genealogy of 
 Jesus Christ carved in alabaster. But the orna- 
 mentation of the Lower Stalls is not only beautiful 
 in itself, it contains a most valuable historical record. 
 The campaigns of Ferdinand and Isabella, — (the 
 surrender of the Alhambra included), are here 
 represented, by a contemporary artist, El Maestro 
 Rodrigo. Make a note of the name of Vigarny, 
 who is responsible for thirty-five of the stalls, for a 
 great work of his will be seen later, at Granada. 
 He died at Toledo in 1543, and is buried here. 
 Between the two Coros, two wondrous pulpits of 
 metal gilt must be admired. They will be sugges- 
 tive, too, of feelings other than admiration. They 
 were formed of the bronze tomb erected for himself 
 by Alvaro de Luna, Constable of Castile, Master of 
 the Order of Santiago. That tomb was broken up 
 by the spiteful Henry, Infante of Aragon, in petty 
 revenge for his own defeat at Olmedo. However, 
 the great Alvaro had also erected the fine Gothic 
 Chapel of Santiago, as the family burial-place ; that 
 has been spared, and there he was laid, after 
 his execution, by his ungrateful and vindictive 
 Sovereign. The present alabaster tombs (muti- 
 lated) containing his headless body, and that of his
 
 166 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 wife, were erected by his daughter. The Capilla 
 Mayor, beautiful in itself, and possessing a superb 
 retablo (1500), contains the tombs of some of the 
 older Kings, " los Reyes Viejos " ; Alonzo VII, 
 Sancho El Deseado, and Sancho el Brevo; the 
 Infante Don Pedro, and other Princes. Here also 
 lies the famous Cardinal Mendoza. He was the 
 great adviser and counsellor of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, and was even termed " Tertius Rex." 
 One is reminded of another Cardinal with his " Ego 
 et Rex Meus " ! But Mendoza was a shrewder 
 man than Wolsey. Next to the Santiago Chapel 
 is that of the New Kings, " Los Reyes Nuevos." 
 The tombs here are the most beautiful in the 
 Cathedral, and the most interesting. Here lies 
 buried, Enrique II, his wife Juana, and their son 
 Juan I and his wife Leonora, (1 379-1 390), En- 
 rique III and his wife Catherine, daughter of John 
 of Gaunt, "time-honoured Lancaster." It was 
 through his descent from Catherine that Philip II 
 claimed the English throne. It will be remembered, 
 too, that Mary Queen of Scots, amongst her other 
 nefarious deeds, had made over her rights to 
 Philip II, and had disinherited her son James for 
 heresy. Her action was confirmed by the Pope 
 of the day. No wonder, therefore, that Philip 
 regarded the English crown, upon the death of 
 Mary, as his own de jtire if not de facto. 
 Thence, the Spanish Armada, hurled against his 
 usurping sister-in-law, — was, in his eyes, as in 
 those of the Holy Father, the logical assertion of 
 his rights.
 
 TOLEDO CATHEDRAL 167 
 
 The Virgin Mary, having taken under her 
 especial protection the Cathedral of Toledo, and 
 also San Ildefonso, Primate of Toledo, in the 
 7th Century, it will be taken for granted that 
 the Cathedral is not without visible signs and traces 
 of the Madonna, and of her protege". A famous 
 Image in black wood, of the Virgin, enthroned and 
 enshrined, and canopied by silver work, will be seen 
 in the Capilla de Nuestra Senora. In the Chapel 
 of San Ildefonso will be seen the re al slab, encased 
 and railed off, whereon the Virgin alighted, when 
 she descended from above, bearing with her the 
 sacred "casulla" or chasuble, with which she pre- 
 sented the favoured Saint. A pyramidal Gothic 
 shrine has been erected over the sacred spot. The 
 famous sculptor Vigarny has here represented the 
 oft-depicted miracle in some fine bassi-relievi. The 
 body of San Ildefonso, and the Image of the Virgin 
 have alike gone through strange vicissitudes, of not 
 an unfamiliar type. They have been carried off, — 
 lost, concealed, and eventually recovered. Of course 
 the Virgin, or rather her sacred Image, has been 
 bounteously endowed with a Regalia of jewels ; 
 rings, bracelets, crowns, necklaces have been 
 showered upon her. She also possesses, (or did 
 possess,) a wonderful manto (I am not sure whether 
 or not this was the "casulla" which she presented 
 to S. Ildefonso,) which was a mass of decoration, 
 in precious stones. 
 
 None of these precious objects can be seen, 
 unless, perhaps, upon a festal day. Repeated 
 depredations have made the Chapter nervous.
 
 168 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Masses of jewels, and even the sacred Image itself, 
 were once carried off to Paris by the universal 
 plunderers — the French. Only thirty years ago, a 
 successful thief carried off a crown and bracelets. 
 Whether it be a Pope, e.g., Pius VII, whose needs 
 urged him to draw upon the equally blazing shrine 
 of our Lady of Loreto, or a thief, who considers 
 that his bodily wants excuse him for appropriating 
 some of the superfluous jewels that adorn a black 
 doll, one's sympathies are rather with the despoiler, 
 than the despoiled. Rich vestments, embroidered 
 albs, and chasubles, vessels of silver and gold, "incen- 
 sarios," " relicarios," for the service of the Church 
 and the Priesthood, and so forth, are quite other 
 matters, and some magnificent specimens of all such 
 things maybe seen in the "Ochavo" where they 
 are stored. It will be disappointing to those, who 
 are eagerly hunting after Moorish workmanship, to 
 find so few traces in this Cathedral of Moorish Art. 
 In the Chapel of San Eugenio, there is an arch and 
 tomb of "Turkish" work, with Arabic inscriptions, 
 and a splendid ceiling in the Sala Capitular de 
 In vista, which are proofs that their Spanish masters 
 sometimes had to confess that the hand of the 
 conquered Race could still make itself felt in Art 
 if no longer in War.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TOLEDO 
 
 Sala Capitular — Series of Portraits of Primates — Unique position 
 of the Primates — Wealth of the See — Cardinal Wolsey's 
 Pension — Archbishop Carillo — His immense power — Fame 
 of Archbishop Ximenes — His encouragement of learning — 
 His Greek Testament published — A merciless Persecutor — 
 Grand Inquisitor — The "Black Friar" of Philip and Mary — 
 Ancient Frescoes in Capilla de San Bias — Archbishop 
 Tenorio here interred — Beautiful Cloisters — Tenorio's 
 "Pious Fraud," to oust the Jews — Bridges Alcantara; S. 
 Martino — Tenorio, an " all-round man " — Pagoda-like Tower 
 of Cathedral — Archbishop's Palace and Town- Hall "much 
 criticised " — Cathedral ; exterior less impressive than interior 
 — No circuit possible — Toledo Cathedral the Spanish 
 Lateran — The Pope and the Spanish Sovereign always 
 Canons — Fined if failing to attend Christmas Chapter — 
 Church of S. Juan de Los Reyes — Fine views thence — The 
 Church, built by Ferdinand and Isabella — Rack and Ruin — 
 Pronunciation of "Juan" — Chapel better preserved — 
 Modern Sword-factory — Toledo blades still sought after — 
 Toledo-streets — Massive Doors — Street architecture not 
 specially Moorish — Weirdly picturesque effect of Toledo. 
 
 IN the last-mentioned Chapel, above the seats, is 
 a most interesting series of portraits, — ninety- 
 four in number, — of the Primates. From Ximenes 
 downwards ; they are said to be from life. In a 
 
 169
 
 170 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 priest-governed country like Spain, the Primates of 
 Toledo have always made their influence felt for 
 good or for evil. Many of them have been the 
 counsellors, and Prime Ministers of monarchs, who 
 have not been averse in many instances, to draw 
 upon the revenues of the richest Spanish See, when 
 urged by necessity, or avarice. The portrait of 
 Cardinal Archbishop Sandoval, by Tristan, recalls 
 such an instance of trafficking in ecclesiastical funds. 
 He owed both his hat and his mitre to the fact that 
 he was uncle to the Duque de Lerma, the powerful 
 Prime Minister of Philip III. The Duque de 
 Lerma, (I suppose as a quid pro quo) was then able 
 to abstract from the ecclesiastical revenues a sum of 
 ,£20,000 a year. We must hope that the sum did 
 not remain in the Duke's personal chest. A still 
 more singular instance of Church property being 
 regarded as an available source of profit to State 
 and Statesman may be mentioned. The Revenues 
 of this See were charged with a pension to Cardinal 
 Wolsey, by the orders of Charles V ! Amongst 
 other notable portraits may be cited Archbishop 
 Carillo, noted for his power over Isabella the 
 Catholic, and for his resistance to Papal dominion 
 in Spain. He actually drove Ximenes out of a 
 living, which he had received from the Pope, and 
 imprisoned him for six years for opposition to his 
 will. Cardinal Mendoza has already been referred 
 to. His portrait is by Borgona. The portrait of 
 Ximenes is also by Borgona. Ximenes was 
 certainly one of the greatest men that Spain has 
 produced. He restored the "Mozarabic" Liturgy,
 
 TOLEDO 171 
 
 and to this day it is still celebrated in the Chapel 
 so-called, in this Cathedral, and which was built 
 and endowed by him. He was Prime Minister to 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, and Regent of Spain 
 during the minority of their grandson Charles V. 
 It was owing: to his firmness that Charles was 
 acknowledged King upon the death of Ferdinand — 
 a service most ill-acknowledged by Charles. The 
 chief glory of Ximenes was the impulse which he 
 gave to the revival of learning and the study of the 
 Hebrew and Greek languages. From the Univer- 
 sity of Alcala, which he founded, issued his Polyglot 
 Bible. The New Testament in Greek was in 
 Spanish hands, two years before that of Erasmus, 
 and eight years before that of Luther appeared. 
 Notwithstanding his enlightened views, and his 
 desire that men should have recourse to the source 
 and fountain of the Christian Religion, he was as 
 intolerant a persecutor as most of his brotherhood. 
 He was Grand Inquisitor for eleven years whilst 
 hundreds were burned for their religious views by 
 his orders. " Carranza de Miranda," (by Luis de 
 Carbajal,) must be looked at. He was the cele- 
 brated "Black Friar" of Mary's time. He went 
 to England with Philip as Confessor, and exerted 
 great and baneful influence over Philip's wife. He 
 attended Charles V during his last hours, but did 
 not soothe them, for his peculiarly harsh voice 
 annoyed Charles's highly strung nerves. 
 
 I think that the last of the Primates of Toledo 
 who exercised a great influence upon the destinies 
 of Spain was Puerto Carrero, Prime Minister of
 
 172 
 
 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Charles II, the last of the Spanish House. Carrero 
 was, for some reason or another, devoted to 
 Louis XIV, and was determined that Charles 
 should leave his possessions to France, and not 
 to Austria, which latter course the King had been 
 desirous of adopting-. As we know, the Cardinal 
 triumphed. If the light will allow you, try and 
 decipher the very ancient frescoes in the Capilla de 
 San Bias. They are grotesque, are said to be of 
 the 14th Century, and are probably the oldest 
 paintings in Spain, where such things do not 
 abound as in Italy. Archbishop Tenorio, — the 
 energetic founder of the Cathedral, and the be- 
 ginner of the great picturesque Tower, lies interred 
 in this chapel. The beautiful Cloisters, a most 
 attractive spot, were also erected by him. It was 
 formerly the Jews' Market-place. Tenorio wanted 
 at first to buy it of them, but as they would not 
 come to terms, he conceived a brilliant idea, that 
 of dispossessing them. He instigated the mob to 
 burn them out, and thus obtained the coveted site 
 for nothing. Truly Jesuitical ! 
 
 Archbishop Tenorio was, what we should call, 
 an " all-round " man, and turned his attention to 
 most things. Both the bridges, the "Alcantara," 
 and " San Martino," are indebted to him for restora- 
 tions and additions. His Tower, turreted and 
 pinnacled, though he did not complete it, is of 
 mixed styles, here square, there an octagon, and 
 over three hundred feet high. It is picturesque 
 rather than fine, and almost a pagoda towards the 
 summit with projecting spikes, like a tiara of thorns,
 
 TOLEDO 173 
 
 in three rows. The Gothic Cloisters, planted with 
 shrubs and flowers, invite you to repose, after a 
 prolonged tramp among tombs and monuments. 
 It is the prettiest place in Toledo, and the worthy 
 couple, who have appointed themselves custodians 
 thereof, will give you flowers, and will discoun- 
 tenance those naughty beggars who have been 
 scenting the open-hearted foreigner from afar. 
 You can approach the Cloisters from a fine stair- 
 case, (which leads to the upper storey,) from the 
 Capilla de San Bias, before mentioned, or from 
 three beautiful portals, below, viz., the Puerta di 
 Santa Catalina, the Puerta de la Presentacion, and 
 the Puerta de los Canonigos. The two last are in 
 the transition style, from Gothic, to what is called 
 in Spain " plateresque." The West Plaza of the 
 Cathedral, where you should have entered, contains 
 two fine buildings ; the Archbishop's Palace, and 
 the Casa del Ayuntamiento (Town Hall). The 
 latter especially is a fine specimen of the ornate 
 architecture of the 17th Century. Both have had 
 to suffer much harsh criticism for not being- in 
 
 o 
 
 better taste. You will scarcely be able to get a 
 good idea of the exterior of the Cathedral in its 
 entirety. You cannot walk " round," for the 
 building is quite blocked by narrow streets upon 
 the North. But what you do see, will certainly 
 not impress you as much as the exteriors of Milan, 
 or Amiens, or Seville, or Canterbury, or, indeed, 
 any twenty other Cathedrals of the Gothic order. 
 It is the interior of the Cathedral that is the glory 
 thereof, and the contents of the building. And
 
 174 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 that, notwithstanding the lavish outlay of white- 
 wash throughout. You would think that there 
 was something absolutely holy in whitewash here, 
 — like the red paint with which the old Roman 
 Priests smeared themselves. There is positively 
 an inscription over one of the doors exalting the 
 name of one of the whitewashes, and handing 
 down his name, — with conscious pride, for the 
 admiration of future generations ! You must regard 
 Toledo, and the Primacy thereof, as the Lateran of 
 Spain. It assumed the dignity, like the Roman 
 See, of the Mother of Churches in Spain. The 
 Primate was almost always a sort of rival to the 
 Roman Pontiff, and to his behests and decisions 
 far greater deference was paid than to the Holy 
 Father, not only as being a great Prince in 
 spiritual matters, but as a great Column of the 
 State. And when he added to his dignities, as 
 he generally did, the overwhelming influence of 
 Grand Inquisitor, it may be supposed that he was 
 scarcely the inferior of the Monarch. It was the 
 privilege and pride of the Pope himself, as of the 
 Kings of Spain, to be Canons of the Chapter of 
 which nearly a hundred great spiritual dignitaries 
 consisted. The Kings of Spain were fined heavy 
 sums, if they failed as Canons, to put in an appear- 
 ance at Christmas-tide. 
 
 There is in Toledo so much to see and ponder 
 over, that you must make more than a flying visit 
 to this most interesting City. But if you cannot 
 Sfo round her old battlements, and mark well her 
 bulwarks, and her two lines of defences, you must
 
 TOLEDO 175 
 
 take up a position upon the elevated bluff, whereon 
 stands the famous and now ruinous Church of San 
 Juan de Los Reyes. Thence you may behold the 
 grand one-arched Bridge of San Martin which 
 spans the swelling waters of the Tagus that storms 
 along far below, and coursing between its crumbling 
 banks, reflects, upon either side of it, the ruined 
 remains of many epochs. It is a scene fraught 
 with historical interest. And having taken all this 
 into your historical conscience, you will turn round 
 and see the Church, above referred to, (mind you 
 say San "Kwan" — very quickly too, for they will 
 not here understand your excellent pronunciation, 
 " Huan"). It is unexplained that such a beautiful 
 Church, — of very fine Gothic, built by Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, and once intended by them to be * 
 their place of sepulture, should have been allowed 
 to go to rack and ruin. The statues of Saints 
 upon the walls are headless and mutilated ; badges, 
 shields, and most of the beautiful ornamented 
 details, defaced, and crumbling. The chief en- 
 trance, and the Cloisters, too, are quite uncared 
 for, but still beautiful. The Convent-Chapel owes 
 its better preservation to the fact that it served as 
 a stable for the French Invaders whose names are 
 more generally synonymous with plunder and 
 destruction. Upon the walls are hung chains. 
 They are the fetters of Christian prisoners who 
 were released from Moorish dungeons upon the 
 fall of Granada. A portion of the Convent has 
 been turned into a Museum of little value. A few 
 steps further you will come upon the modern Arms-
 
 176 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Manufactory, for Toledo still exercises the Art of 
 producing sword-blades, and the damascened work 
 for which she was always famous. Outside the 
 building- there are large modern plaques and tiles 
 bearing the Royal arms and other devices. If 
 Toledo does not look exactly Moorish (and I think 
 that the slanting irregular roofs of faded tiles are 
 rather European than Eastern), its appearance of 
 hoary antiquity will satisfy the archaeological pro- 
 clivities of most people. The old square Towers, 
 pierced occasionally with Moorish horse-shoe 
 windows, the irregular, tortuous streets, with their 
 balconies, and bow-windows, and the beautiful, 
 singularly massive doors, studded with nails and 
 bosses, whence issue hooded forms, black-hooded, 
 and black-draped, (like ghosts from the buried 
 past,) — all these things are of immense and pictu- 
 resque interest. I can imagine an artist unwilling 
 to tear himself away, until he has illustrated all the 
 phases, Gothic, Moorish and Spanish, with which 
 Toledo is so replete. Even the ordinary tourist 
 is loth to go, crammed as he is with his recently- 
 stirred memories of Wambas and Roderics and 
 Count Julians, and Moorish Sovereigns, and 
 Alonzos, down to the comparatively modern 
 Ferdinands, Tenorios, Ximenes and Mendozas. 

 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 CORDOVA 
 
 Yellow aspect of Country— "La Mancha" or "Dry Land" — 
 Sparse population — Sites historical — Aranjuez and Palace — 
 Capo di Monte ware — Villapefias-wine — Le Navas de Tolosa 
 — Moorish defeat near — A mining centre — Linares, and 
 a Roman Victory — The Guadalquivir — " Lifts you " to 
 Cordova — Corduba, "Gem of the South" — A Roman 
 Colony — Magnificence as Moorish Capital — Birthplace of 
 great Romans — Excavations of City urged — Indifference 
 of Spaniards — Possible reasons — Antiquarian treasures 
 awaiting research — Charles V upon the desecration of Mosque 
 — Details of the splendours of the Caliphate — Great extent 
 of the City — A Dream of Cordova — Tennyson's " Haroun- 
 al-Raschid" — Roman Mosaic unearthed. 
 
 IF there be travellers who have come to Spain, 
 with the expectation of seeing the loveliness of 
 Umbrian and Tuscan scenes, and sites, even faintly 
 reproduced in this country, they will speedily have 
 to renounce such pleasing dreams of fancy. Yellow 
 table-lands, arid hills, treeless, and generally water- 
 less plains, those are the physical features of the 
 country which the railway traverses. The district 
 of La Mancha (especially immortalised by some of 
 
 12 177
 
 178 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 the adventures of the Knight of Cervantes' creation,) 
 with its tawny steppes, and barren plains, is indeed 
 the very synonyme, as its name imports — of" Dry 
 Land." Genius can idealise even such sterility as 
 this. But what an absence of human beings ! An 
 occasional group of bemantled peasants, — with gaily 
 caparisoned horses, and mules, gathered around a 
 village inn ; — a few toilers in the yellow fields, — just 
 rescue the country from the reproach of complete 
 abandonment. But, disappointing and even de- 
 pressing as the aspect of the country may be, these 
 are still sites of historical interest, and districts of 
 mineral wealth which relieve the monotonous 
 character of the country. 
 
 Aranjuez, with its Royal Palace, and its frescoed 
 walls, and its hoard of the famous " Buen Retiro " 
 china, and its avenues and gardens, where are the 
 famous elm-trees, imported by Philip II from 
 England, and immortalised by Evelyn. The " Buen 
 Retiro " is the same ware as the notable " Capo di 
 Monte " of Naples. The fabric was here, set up 
 by Charles II of Naples and Spain. Then you 
 pass (for there is no cause to descend) Villapefias, — 
 so noted for its excellent and strongish wine of a 
 Burgundy kind. You will find that wine more 
 generally drunk in Spain than any other, with the 
 exception, perhaps, of Xeres. 
 
 Near the Station of Vidher is Le Navas de 
 Tolosa, famous for a crushing Moorish defeat in 
 the 13th Century by Alonzo VIII. At Linares the 
 railway traverses a great mining centre, a district 
 rich in copper, and lead, and even silver. It is
 
 CORDOVA 179 
 
 chiefly owing to the enterprise of British owners 
 that the mineral wealth has been exploited. When 
 will the Spaniards wake up, and realise how great 
 are the resources of their native country ! Not far 
 from the Linares Station is another famous, and yet 
 more ancient Battle-field, where Scipio gained one 
 of his many victories. What debts do we not owe 
 to Romans and Moors for strewing with the laurels 
 of their fame these unpromising and unprolific 
 plains ? The Guadalquivir is crossed two or three 
 times during the journey. As we approach Cor- 
 dova, we are conscious, at last, of a most grateful 
 verdancy, of pomegranate groves, of orange and 
 lemon-trees, of olive-trees, and of waving crops. 
 Finally the grand river seems to give us another 
 lift upon its broad shining shoulders, and sets us 
 down at Cordova Station, from whence the famous 
 City is scarcely visible. 
 
 Cordova ! " The Gem of the South," as the 
 Carthaginians called her, Corduba " Patricia," par 
 excellence, of the Romans. Desolated and depopu- 
 lated by Claudius Marcellus, about 56 b.c. for 
 having sided with Pompey, thousands of impe- 
 cunious Roman Patricians were given a home here 
 by the ever vigilant Julius Caesar. We hear little 
 of Cordova in the Gothic epoch. But under the 
 Moors, breaking away from the Caliphate of 
 Damascus, it became the Capital of Moorish Spain, 
 the Athens of the West, and for five hundred years 
 maintained a splendid supremacy. The magnificent 
 statistics of the City, during the Moorish sway, are 
 quite startling. A million inhabitants, with three
 
 180 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 hundred mosques to worship in, nine hundred 
 baths for their ablutions, and six hundred inns for 
 the entertainment of the faithful, give some idea of 
 the magnitude of Cordova as well as of the atten- 
 tion paid to the behests of Mahomet. What city 
 indeed, since the decadence of Rome, and Antioch, 
 and Syracuse, could have surpassed her ! She gave 
 birth, too, to such noble Romans as Seneca and 
 Lucan, and to one of the greatest of Spaniards, 
 " El Gran Capitano " Guzades de Cordova, and the 
 Jew, Moses-Maimonides, the most famous of the 
 Commentators on the Talmud. And hence it was, 
 upon the capture of the City by St. Ferdinand, in 
 1235, that Ibnu-1-Ahmar went off to Granada to 
 re-found the last splendid seat of the Moors upon 
 the eyry Fortress of the Alhambra. Cordova, in 
 her ancient splendour, may be likened to Damascus, 
 to Antioch, to Athens, to Bagdad or to Florence. 
 For she rivalled all those great cities in pride of 
 place, in learning, in wealth, and luxury, and in the 
 arts and sciences. But now how shrunken and 
 faded ! Her silent and grass-grown streets a world 
 too large for the insignificance of to-day ! 
 
 Were we not in Spain, it would seem strangely 
 unenterprising that so famous a city should not 
 have been partially restored to the light of day ; 
 that old Cordova should not have given up some 
 of its secrets for the study of the historian, for the 
 delight of the antiquarian. It has been with com- 
 paratively slight labour that Athens, and Rome, 
 Pompeii and Ostia have been reconstructed, and 
 that even the infinitely more ancient sites of Thebes,
 
 CORDOVA 181 
 
 Memphis, Nineveh, and Babylon, have been laid 
 bare before us. A few hundred picks and shovels 
 wielded by stout arms, and backed up by intelligence 
 and enthusiasm, and the dry bones of extinct civili- 
 sation are re-animated by some flashes of their 
 ancient fire. 
 
 Is there still amongst the Spaniards some crass 
 indifference to the glories of their former rulers ; — 
 some jealousy of heretical ancestors, — so much more 
 capable than themselves ? Or does some stupid 
 superstition still exist that evil spirits may be 
 lingering amongst and beneath the old Seats of the 
 Moorish Power? It is well known how many 
 legends of the kind, — begotten of ignorance and 
 fear, — are still current in the courts and colonnades 
 of the Alhambra. Modern Cordova, such as it is, 
 has been raised upon the old. But it would not be 
 requisite only to rummage there. The ruins of 
 so vast a city must extend far away into what is 
 now the country. Very unlaborious diggings 
 would disclose portions of the innumerable mosques, 
 baths, palaces, academies, and libraries which 
 formerly rendered Cordova proverbial for magni- 
 ficence. And even allowing that many of the 
 details of those buildings, that much of the orna- 
 mentation may have been of a perishable nature, — 
 as at Pompeii and elsewhere, — we know from the 
 remains of the great mosque, and of the Granada 
 Alhambra, that the composition of the walls and 
 towers was of a cement defying time, and rivalling 
 that of Rome in its indestructibility. The Moors, 
 too, took pleasure in the employment of precious
 
 182 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 marbles, and putting upon one side the great 
 resources which they possessed near at hand, they 
 imported from distant lands every kind of that 
 valuable material, as we see in the many-coloured 
 monoliths still erect in their Great Mosque. Of the 
 beautiful Azulejos-work, too, which is practically 
 indestructible, there must be almost inexhaustible 
 supplies very near the surface of the ground. 
 
 The desire for these radiant tilings, alone, should 
 urge the modern Spaniards to "wake up." For 
 the Azulejos-work is the one art which they have 
 not been too proud to imitate. In many buildings 
 in Spain, where the Moorish original has to be 
 restored or replaced, you will find the modern 
 artists as proficient as the older. But these things 
 are but details in the greater discoveries that await 
 the excavator. For beneath Cordova and its envi- 
 rons mines of antiquarian wealth are concealed. 
 
 Though cupolas, and domes, minarets, and por- 
 ticoes, have perished, there must exist the ground- 
 plans, at least, of courts and corridors, saloons, and 
 fountains, and the designs of which would be 
 perceptible even to an unskilled eye. 
 
 Treasures, too, of wrought marble and stone, 
 friezes, capitals, and arabesques, still bright with 
 colour. Six hundred years of sepulture is as an 
 hour in the suspended life of buried cities, and lay 
 about them as they would, the captors of the great 
 City, in the 13th Century, must have found the 
 work of total obliteration too much even for them. 
 Their fanatical and destructive ardour was, we have 
 seen, baffled by the indestructibility of the Great
 
 CORDOVA 183 
 
 Mosque itself. In similar instances destruction has 
 been found to be an undertaking almost as laborious 
 as that of construction. The Spanish conquerors, 
 in the case of the Mosque, at least, had to confess 
 with a sigh, that the task of destruction was too 
 hard for them. Even three hundred years later on 
 when scooping their Coro out of the Mosque, their 
 destructive hands were stayed rather by the solidity 
 of the great structure than by respect for the 
 superlative qualities of the architecture. And what 
 they did effect in the way of spoliation was justly 
 condemned by Charles V, on his visit to Cordova, 
 two years later. 
 
 He said, "You have built here what you, or 
 any one, could have built elsewhere. But in doing 
 so you have destroyed what was unique in the 
 world." Brave words ! and braver still, Charles 
 would have been, had he stepped in earlier, and 
 forbidden the sacrilege. It is a matter of wonder 
 to us now, how so much of the City could ever have 
 disappeared. It is true that ruins have a way, — a 
 pathetic way, — of getting themselves covered up 
 and concealed. Yet, directly the skilful excavator 
 comes upon the scene, that which, hitherto, has 
 seemed to be a shapeless mass of "ruinous con- 
 fusion," — "a mighty maze without a plan," — turns 
 out to be anything but undecipherable. 
 
 And what does the historian tell us, in brief, of 
 the extent and magnificence of Cordova ? We 
 need not re-enumerate the details of mosques, baths, 
 shops, academies, inns, libraries, and so forth, that 
 existed principally in the heart of the City. We
 
 184 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 hear that the banks of the Guadalquiver for twenty- 
 four miles in length, and six miles in breadth, were 
 crowded with palaces, mosques, streets, gardens, 
 and public edifices. That, for ten miles these 
 thoroughfares were lit up during the night — "lamps 
 which outburn'd Canopus." Those who have seen 
 the Alhambra, or who have steeped themselves in 
 the "Arabian Nights," may imagine the scene. The 
 gorgeous magnificence of the fairy-like palaces, — 
 tempered by the exquisite and harmonious taste of 
 the Saracen architects ; the arcades and alcoves ; 
 the fretted balustrades and balconies ; the golden 
 pavilions, the marble stairs and columns, the odorous 
 bowers, the patios with their spangled fountains, 
 the doors of cedar, — the shrines blazing with a 
 thousand tints ! Do not a thousand vestiges of 
 such splendour await the researches of the tardy 
 excavator? At least, we should like to thread our 
 way through the tangled mazes of such remains, as 
 we do at Pompeii or in Egyptian Thebes. The 
 least imaginative of us, would like to give the reins 
 to his fancy, and to evoke the memories of those 
 who flitted their brief hours of splendour amid these 
 palaces and mosques. To imagine, that we saw 
 again reflected in the fountains and running waters, 
 the flashing eyes, the graceful forms of Fatimas and 
 Zuliekas, or the long-garbed, mailed figures of those 
 dusky warriors, — the Mucas and the Abdullahs, — 
 who still warm from the embraces of such Houris, 
 leaped into the saddle, and rode forth to the hotter 
 frenzy of battle ! 
 
 It needs but the removal, — the uncovering, of a
 
 CORDOVA 185 
 
 few leagues of earth, and with the pliancy of a 
 willing imagination, we could conjure up again the 
 vision of an enchanting City where Babylon and 
 Bagdad were rivalled, and whose delights very far 
 outshone the banal attractions of all our modern 
 capitals. And how Tennyson, in his exquisite 
 dream of Bagdad, — in the "golden prime of good 
 Haroun-al-Raschid," — would aid us in our dream! 
 A Roman mosaic, — unearthed beneath a shoe- 
 maker's shop, (unwittingly, perhaps,) — has stimu- 
 lated somewhat the preceding reflections. If a 
 relic of that elder time has come down to us, does 
 not that urge us on to supplicate the Spaniards 
 to show a little inquisitiveness as to the traces of 
 their great forerunners ?
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 CORDOVA — THE MOSQUE 
 
 Cordova Cathedral or Mosque — Marble Columns — General im- 
 pressions — An architectural Garden — Roman occupation of 
 the site — Utilisation of ancient materials — Unique character 
 of this Mosque — The Maksurah — " Caliph's Seat " — Cupola 
 of Capilla de San Pedro — Mihrab or " Sanctuary "— 
 Exterior Walls — Puerta del Perdon — Campanile — Court of 
 Oranges — Roman Miliary Columns — Reflections in Court of 
 Oranges — A Saracen Renaissance — The Mosque a " Pharos 
 of Art " — Unique among all Mosques — Cordova's venerable 
 appearance — Antiquity of Bridge — Moorish Mills in River — 
 Fortress-like character of the Mosque — Modern aspects of 
 City contrasted with ancient. 
 
 I CAN quite picture to myself that a votary of the 
 Prophet might enter there to-day, and not be 
 conscious of any great disturbance having been 
 wrought in one of the greatest shrines of his Faith. 
 In some one of the sequestered and twilight groves 
 of this marble forest, he could unfold his praying- 
 carpet, and with his face Mecca-wards pour out his 
 orisons to Allah, scarcely heeding the muffled music 
 of the Feringhee organ in the Coro, wherein his 
 despoilers are invoking their God. Your first 
 impressions, — after you recover from the wonder 
 and admiration which this superb building has 
 
 186
 
 CORDOVA— THE MOSQUE 187 
 
 awakened, — are those of gratitude and amazement, 
 that defacement and destruction should have been 
 so mercifully slight. There has been no laying 
 about them of rude and fanatical hands. What the 
 builders of the Cathedral seem chiefly to have done, 
 was that they scooped out and cleared away so 
 much of the centre of the Mosque as they required 
 for their Coros and High Altar, rearing above, a 
 stately groined roof, and to have placed Chapels 
 and shrines in other portions of the Moorish edifice. 
 And they effected all this, — it seems to me, — with 
 a minimum of dilapidation. Much no doubt has 
 gone, but what an immensity remains ! Of the 
 original 1,200 monolithic columns, e.g., no less than 
 1,096 are still in situ. Each monolith is of some 
 precious ancient marble, of porphyry, or verde 
 antique, or pavonazetto, or jasper. And it is even 
 known whence they came. Carthage, Seville, and 
 Tarragona, Nimes and Narbonne, and even dis- 
 tant Constantinople, — were drawn upon to form 
 these groves of marble. The aisle-avenues, which 
 are thus formed, are in number 19 longitudinal and 
 $S transverse. One cannot doubt but that the 
 idea present to the mind of the architect was that 
 of the lovely gardens of his native land. 
 
 These marble avenues seem to you to be twilight 
 glades formed of low palm-trees, which bend over, 
 one to the other, and fling their arched garlands 
 from one stem to the other. Were birds fluttering 
 from stem to stem and carolling in the capitals you 
 would think it a most natural mistake. And that 
 idea of a garden seems accentuated in the upper
 
 188 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 row of arches, upspringing as it were in lavish 
 fecundity from the grove beneath. Just as the 
 naves and aisles of the great Gothic Cathedrals 
 make you think of the noblest forest-avenues that 
 you have seen, so this unsurpassable Mosque seems 
 to be a reproduction by those consummate old 
 Saracen artists of the Eastern eardens and glades 
 so loved of their possessors. Or, again, and it 
 seems to me very consonant to the spirit of an 
 Eastern, — the architect of this splendid fabric may 
 have had present to his thought one of the mar- 
 vellous Banyan-trees of Orient lands, " that lavish 
 strikes his root reiterant and incessant, begetting 
 forests, till beneath the glades and spreading laby- 
 rinths a multitude may couch." 
 
 Picture to yourself the spectacle, when this 
 Mosque shone in the meridian of its splendour, 
 twelve hundred worshippers, (one only if you like, 
 for each many-hued column thereof,) kneeling upon, 
 and touching his prayer-carpet with his turbaned- 
 head, communing with and invoking his God, just 
 as in the groves of Paradise Adam and Eve would 
 seek after and bend before the tremendous and as 
 yet undreaded presence of their Father. Not at 
 Damascus, nor in the Kaaba at Mecca, nor in the 
 beauteous Omar-Mosque at Jerusalem, could there 
 have been witnessed a scene more impressive in 
 solemnity, more replete with fervid emotion ! And 
 here infinitely more imposing in the vast numbers 
 of the worshippers, prostrate in simultaneous genu- 
 flections. The name itself of " Mezquita," (or 
 Mosque,) a title it still bears, is derived from the
 
 The Mosque, Cordova (Unrestored portion). 
 
 To face p. 189.
 
 CORDOVA— THE MOSQUE 189 
 
 Arabic word " Masegad," to "worship prostrate." 
 The original Basilica which stood here and which 
 served as the old Cathedral of the Goths, previous 
 to their subjugation by the Moors, stood upon the 
 site of a Roman Temple, dedicated to Janus. Thus 
 the Arabs were well supplied with materials for the 
 erection of their Mosque. The greater number of 
 the Corinthian capitals and probably all those of the 
 Western aisles, (the most ancient portion of the 
 Arab building,) were of Roman workmanship, 
 those of the Eastern aisles having been imitated 
 by the Arabs. Nor are those traces of the Roman 
 occupation the only relics of a more ancient regime 
 than that of the Arabs. In the Capilla de San 
 Pedro, ,once the Holiest of Holies, the "Zecca," 
 some very fine mosaics of Roman or Byzantine 
 workmanship will arouse your curiosity. But such 
 details of an earlier occupation of Cordova do not 
 in the least affect the originality of the Saracen 
 architecture. Nothing similar to this can anywhere 
 be seen. In Europe, of course, it is altogether 
 solitary and unique. And in the East nothing 
 precisely of the same type is to be met with. In 
 the Cupola of the Capilla de Villaviciosa, once 
 the "Maksurah," or "seat of the Caliph," will 
 be seen some of that rich and fanciful ornamenta- 
 tion in stucco, peculiarly the invention of the 
 Saracens, and with which we shall become so 
 familiar at Granada. Greatly to be admired, too, 
 are the cupolas and arches of the Capilla de San 
 Pedro (referred to above,) where three Chapels 
 meet ; the centre one leading to the Mihrab or
 
 190 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 " Sanctuary." At the end of the Capilla is a 
 lovely heptagon, with a shell-shaped roof of the 
 same beautiful stucco-ornamentation. 
 
 The exterior of this grand Temple is little less 
 to be admired than the interior. Moorish walls 
 and towers, from 30 to 60 feet high, with their 
 latticed openings and characteristic ornaments, so 
 massive, and unaltered, are not elsewhere to be 
 seen in Europe. For, of the old Moorish walls 
 in Seville almost all has gone. The Puerta 
 del Perdon, which is the gate of access to the 
 Court here, with its bronze plating of Gothic and 
 Moorish texts is magnificent. And so is the 
 Campanile, close at hand, though inferior to the 
 splendid Giralda Tower at Seville, of which it 
 seems to be the prototype. The Courtyard of 
 the " Oranges " forms a noble open vestibule to 
 the Temple. It is 430 feet long by 210 feet broad. 
 Formerly all the nineteen aisles of the Mosque 
 were approached from this Court. All are closed 
 now with the exception of three. Here are to be 
 seen two very ancient relics of Roman times. 
 These are two miliary Columns, (they are supposed 
 to have formed part of the old Temple of Janus) 
 and are inscribed with the distance from that 
 Temple to Cadiz, the " key ' : to Andalucia, as the 
 Romans termed it, and probably the most ancient 
 City in Europe. This Court is a perfect dream 
 of Southern beauty. Huge orange-trees, palm- 
 trees and cypresses, overgrown with roses, and 
 in the centre King Abd-al- Rahman's Well. It is a 
 spot to rest in, and to reflect upon all that you
 
 CORDOVA— THE MOSQUE 191 
 
 have seen to-day, and to steep yourself in Moorish 
 traditions and in the witchery of Saracenic art. 
 How came such a Fabric, — such a triumphant 
 type of Architecture, unparalleled even in the 
 East, whence the type came, and wholly un- 
 known elsewhere in Europe, to have sprung up 
 here in the Dark Ages? We all know that in 
 the 8th Century, throughout Europe Art had 
 fled from her ancient thrones, and had utterly 
 deserted the abodes of those who had been 
 civilised. For centuries Athens had been living 
 upon reminiscences ; and upon the wrecks and 
 ruins of what had been Rome, a blackness of 
 ignorance had descended, so thick, that she had 
 forgotten how to build. Europe, for the most 
 part, was worshipping in woods and forests, or in 
 Stonehenges or in Caves. Venice had not yet 
 arisen. All the Lamps of Art and Architecture 
 had long since been extinguished. And by whom 
 was the spark to be rekindled, by whose hands 
 was the Dunciad of ignorance and fororetfulness 
 to be dispelled? By Arabs, — by Saracens, — by a 
 fanatical Race, whose name was synonymous with 
 slaughter and rapine. Those fierce warriors were 
 to originate a type of architecture, more exquisite, 
 more refined, than the world had yet seen. Here, 
 more than the budding, was the blossoming of the 
 original tree, which nurtured and tended into even 
 richer forms, was one day, though very distant 
 yet, to develop into the very Crown and apotheosis 
 of all earthly architecture, — the unsurpassed and 
 unsurpassable "Taj Mahal." For us in Europe,
 
 192 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Cordova Mosque represents the re-birth ; the 
 Recovery of Art. And therein it has become, 
 and will ever remain, a priceless possession, 
 " Krjj/xa 6c au," for all Europe. Not to be 
 regarded as a mere Mosque amongst other 
 mosques, but a true and original Art- Idea. 
 And when afterwards we behold the loveliness 
 of Saracenic Art, either at Granada, or Seville, or 
 in Cairo, or Damascus, or in India, this Mosque 
 ought not to be, and cannot be cited as some- 
 thing, more or less great, or attractive, than others 
 there, or elsewhere. There should not be any 
 question of comparison. This Mosque is absolutely 
 a thing apart. A creation, unique and dwelling 
 apart like a star, apart from all other stars. It 
 was a great light that dispelled the age-long chaotic 
 gloom of that epoch which we call "dark." By 
 whomsoever a sacred flame has been once more 
 rekindled, and by whomsoever Art has been 
 rescued and has been set once more upon her 
 throne, a great, an immortal service has been 
 rendered to Mankind. And therefore let us 
 glorify and render all thanks to the Saracens 
 who reared on high this Pharos of Art for 
 Europe. 1 
 
 Cordova is certainly the most ancient-looking 
 City now to be seen upon the globe, and its 
 
 1 Of all places in the world, the Renaissance of Art was to 
 burst forth at Cordova, and of all Races in the world it was 
 to be Mohammedans to effect it. Here, really came into being 
 the Revival of Art in Europe, a " Renascimento " worked out 
 and developed neither by Italians, nor Spaniards, but by Arabs.
 
 CORDOVA— THE MOSQUE 193 
 
 famous Bridge of sixteen Arches over the Guadal- 
 quivir is the most picturesque one in Europe. It 
 even possesses a hoarier antiquity than the Mosque 
 itself. For the foundations are Roman and the 
 arches Moorish, dating from the earlier years of 
 the 8th Century. Standing at the Southern end, 
 nothing can exceed the melancholy, indescribably 
 ancient appearance of the grey old walled City, 
 and of the Bridge itself. The noble Guadalquivir 
 majestically sweeping through these sixteen grey 
 Arches, curving round about the battlemented 
 walls, and ruinous Convent enclosures, and neglected 
 gardens of tangled palms and olive-yards and for- 
 gotten Hospedenas, and Huertas, as though it were 
 seeking to stir them all into life once more ! So 
 few inhabitants about ! And those few tending 
 their pigs and goats upon the river banks, with 
 great solicitude, lest they should be swept away 
 in the tumultuous leapings of the grey river. 
 I seemed to be in India again. Look over the 
 Bridge at the Moorish Mills in the centre of the 
 river. From this standpoint, too, the best view 
 of the exterior of the Mosque is obtained. You 
 realise here the massive fortress character of the 
 Moorish architecture. And at the Northern (the 
 City-side) entrance to the Bridge a Gothic Gate- 
 way of crumbling stone, and a Saint upon a 
 column ; and upon the Southern side a grand 
 octagonal tower of the 15th Century, — very 
 Moorish in style, — all these, as it were, for 
 Cordova to put in a claim to a Mediaeval character. 
 For modern life and its exigencies, you must return 
 
 13
 
 194 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 to that portion of the City which lies towards the 
 Railway Station. There you will find a wholly 
 modern Boulevard, and Plazas entirely given up to 
 drinking and feasting and cafes, and the festive 
 thrumming of guitars. For even at Cordova, the 
 most cafe-loving populace in the world cannot get 
 on without most spacious and luxurious haunts of 
 that kind. But along the banks of the Guadal- 
 quivir which washes the walls and banks of this 
 venerable City, no longer is to be heard the tinkle 
 of the viol or the lute, or the chime of bells (except 
 those of the Cathedral). And the veiled fair-one, 
 ensconced in her lattice window, and in the bays 
 of the old Moorish houses is wooed no more, and 
 sits unbesought by throbbing guitarra of dusky 
 Abdullah or Hosein.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 SEVILLE 
 
 Anticipations of Seville — Still de jure Capital — Reminiscences 
 and associations — Don Juan's house — Donas Annas and 
 Elviras — Figaro — Mozart's and Rossini's operas — Byron's 
 " Childe Harold "—Borrow—" Masher " or " Majar "— 
 Commercial position of Seville — Spanish neglect of Navigable 
 Rivers — Approach to Seville from Cordova, " yellow and 
 arid " — First sight of Seville disappointing — Dissimilarity to 
 Naples — Modern appearance generally — Great extent of 
 Cathedral — Meets you at all points — Dominates City — 
 Exterior less impressive than Interior — Height and width 
 of Nave — Painted Glass — Trophies of Art — Former Mosque, 
 much later than that of Cordova — Hunting-up traces of 
 Moorish Art — The Giralda Tower, the " Muezzin," what 
 Giotto's Campanile is to the Duomo of Florence — History 
 of the Giralda — Threat of the Moors — Counter-threat of St. 
 Ferdinand, or his son — Saints Justa and Rufina withstand 
 the buffeting of Satan's winds — Heat of Seville in June — 
 Unwilling ascent of the Giralda — Interview with Custode — 
 Inadequacy of Castillan language here — Sudden linguistic 
 legerdemain — " Giralda might have proved to be a Tower of 
 Babel" — Views from the summit — Guadalquivir, Italica, 
 S. Lucar — Towers and Turrets — The Alcazar — Relics of 
 old Walls — Lonja — Archbishop's Palace — Bull-ring — The 
 Seville Trastevere — Reflections upon the Siege of fourteen 
 months — View of the Court of Oranges — Well — The 
 Moorish Puerta del Perdon — Ancient bronze doors thereof. 
 
 195
 
 196 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 QUITE regardless of the seat of Government, 
 of the de facto rights of Madrid, as the capital 
 of Spain, Europe generally has taken Seville 
 to its bosom and crowned her as Queen of Spain. 
 She represents the Capital to the artistic sense of 
 the world — to poets, painters, authors, and to the 
 host innumerable of travellers and tourists. And 
 Seville has even prescriptive and antecedent rights : 
 for she was the Capital from the time of Julius 
 Caesar down to that of Charles V. But it is not 
 her historical records that chiefly stimulate the 
 imagination of the traveller, although even Colum- 
 bus be one of her golden memories. It is rather 
 of her romantic associations, her legends, and even 
 of the picturesqueness of her every-day life that 
 we are thinking as we near Seville. 
 
 We know something already of the glories of 
 her famous Cathedral and of her even more famous 
 Giralda Campanile : of celebrated buildings of many 
 and varied epochs : of Roman and Moorish relics 
 and remains, and of all those sights and subjects 
 which the tourist chiefly goes forth to behold. Yet 
 there are associations with Seville earlier than these. 
 
 The mind travels back to the days of our child- 
 hood, when we first heard of bull-fights, and 
 matadors, of gitanos, and of zingarellas clattering 
 their castanets, of their ditties and dances : of 
 serenades, of the tinklings of lute and harp, and 
 of throbbing- auitarras. 
 
 And was it not in Seville, too, that Don Giovanni 
 and Leporello used to thrum upon the too susceptible
 
 s
 
 SEVILLE 197 
 
 hearts of love-lorn Donas, just as they twanged 
 upon the throbbing strings of their guitars? We 
 are instinctively looking out for Donas Annas, 
 and Elviras, and Zerlinas, flitting through those 
 Cloisters, for Don Giovanni was born in a house 
 which has been turned into a Convent. 
 
 A metamorphosis indeed ! And did not the 
 most historical Barber ever heard of, here play 
 his pranks, Figaro of Seville ? 
 
 And so long as Mozart's and Rossini's music 
 endure, are not their creations as much assured 
 of immortality as Julius Caesar himself? And we 
 shall think, too, of the first canto of " Childe 
 Harold," in which some, (unfortunately too few) 
 of Byron's loveliest verses, are in praise of Seville 
 and Seville's fair Zitellas. Yet, Byron was more 
 in love with Cadiz than with Seville. That, too, 
 was strange, for some of Seville's ladies were very 
 affectionately disposed towards the English poet. 
 
 One wishes much that Byron had dilated more 
 upon Seville, and had dedicated more of his 
 " Childe Harold " to her salient features. For 
 there are few exhaustive English works upon the 
 attractive theme either in prose or poetry. Borrow, 
 that great writer, should have given us more, for he 
 had great opportunities. 
 
 That Seville is the great centre of the Tobacco- 
 trade will not be the least of attractions to some of 
 us, perhaps. We used some years ago to hear in 
 England of what were called "Mashers." I know not 
 if the class be still existent, or even, if as a "class," 
 it ever did exist. The term at least was prevalent.
 
 198 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 And so it is not without interest to learn that it had 
 its origin from the Andalucian word " Majo," derived 
 from the Moorish " Majar," the beau, — the dandy : 
 the arch-type of an influential and ornamental section 
 of that superb insouciance which distinguishes the 
 bearing of the inhabitants of this famous town. 
 
 We have to thank the Moors, then, for one more 
 word, of the many that are current in our languages 
 in the present day. And yet we could without a 
 pang, even gratefully, make them a present of such 
 descendants of their " Majars " as may still be 
 lingering amongst us. We are told that Seville 
 is increasing in commerce and trade, although her 
 growing population is still very greatly outnumbered 
 by Madrid. 
 
 With such a fine navigable river as the Guadal- 
 quivir, she should be now, whilst the commercial 
 spirit is everywhere paramount, (even in Spain,) 
 " taking that flood of the tide which leads on to 
 fortune." 
 
 For, so many of the Cities in Spain fail to realise 
 their advantages of situation. Grand rivers have 
 been given them by Providence, and some evil 
 genius has stepped in to forbid them making use 
 of them. 
 
 After the verdure and verdancy of the groves 
 round about Cordova, the country to Seville 
 reverts to the general Spanish type. Yellow 
 table-lands and hills of modest elevation, sparse 
 inhabitants, little cultivation, a yellow glare, rather, 
 of non-cultivation. The first sight of Seville is 
 disappointing. A monotonous level of two-storied
 
 SEVILLE 199 
 
 stuccoed houses, and an uninteresting modernness 
 of appearance throughout the streets. I had not 
 prepared my mind by the perusal of guide-books, 
 purposely, for with all respect to the talented writers 
 of such works, I feared their too common invitation 
 to regard all geese as swans. 
 
 I cannot exactly say what it was, that I expected 
 to see upon arrival in this famous City. But I 
 imagined that I should behold something in the 
 streets of the irregularity of Naples, architecturally, 
 and socially also. I thought to see plazas full of 
 rollicking Southern life ; Churrigueresque columns, 
 surmounted by Saints Simeon Stylites-wise ; 
 heavily ornamented arches gaudily decorated in 
 the proverbially Spanish "bad taste." Later on 
 I came to know, upon exploration of houses and 
 streets, that Seville, though by no means a pic- 
 turesque City generally, has attractions and 
 characteristics of her own, albeit afflicted with 
 more modernity than I could have wished. 
 Wherever you pitch your tent, or rather, what- 
 ever Hotel you may pitch upon, you can scarcely 
 direct your footsteps, or those of your horse, with- 
 out coming in touch with the Cathedral. That 
 Colossus seems to monopolise the City, and so 
 stretches himself in all directions, that you cannot 
 avoid, and you certainly do not wish it otherwise, — 
 the building sinking into the recesses of your archi- 
 tectural moral consciousness, and so becoming for 
 ever one of your most cherished art-acquaintances. 
 If outwardly it does not possess the serene beauty, 
 the fervent Gothic character of York or Canter-
 
 200 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 bury or Lincoln, it has picturesque, though irregular 
 beauties all its own. The abrupt transitions from 
 one style to another, which are apparent, are, of 
 course, owing to the changes of Church-architecture 
 during the many years occupied by its erection. 
 Internally the great fabric is probably the vastest 
 and most impressive now to be seen. The height 
 of the nave is about the same as the naves of Milan 
 and Florence, whilst the width of the aisles far 
 exceeds either, as it does those of Toledo by some 
 50 feet. The painted glass of the windows (ninety- 
 three in number) is most beautiful, and many of them 
 are dated as of the 16th Century. The artists were 
 Flemings. When we think of the vicissitudes 
 which Spain has undergone, and of her spoliation 
 by foreign armies, we may well gasp with admiration 
 at such trophies of Art. 
 
 The " Mezquita," or Mosque, which occupied the 
 site of the Cathedral, is said to have been much of 
 the same style, design, and size as that of the very 
 much earlier Cordova Mosque. It was built four 
 hundred years later, indeed, by Abu Jusuf, Yakub 
 (Abu-Joseph-Jacob), and his son, of the same name, 
 added the magnificent Giralda Tower, the orna- 
 ment, glory, and dominant note of Moorish and 
 Christian Seville alike ! Only the forms (that of 
 an oblong square) and the extent of the original 
 Mosque were preserved in the erection of the 
 Cathedral. 
 
 The Mosque, then, having been improved out of 
 all recognition, we hunt after any Moorish traces 
 that remain, with all the greater interest. And
 
 WmlW, 
 
 
 
 i* 
 
 Seville. The Giuai.da. 
 
 To face p. 201.
 
 SEVILLE 201 
 
 chiefly, therefore, we admire and examine inside 
 and outside, the great Giralda Tower, one of the 
 greatest monuments of Moorish ascendancy that 
 has anywhere been left to us. It is to Seville 
 what Giotto's Campanile is to Florence. It was 
 the Mueddin or Muezzin Tower whence the faithful 
 were summoned to their devotions, and served, no 
 doubt, as a watch-tower whence the advance of an 
 enemy over the flat country round about could very 
 soon be descried. Its original height was 250 feet, 
 but the Belfry added in 1568 by Fernando Ruez 
 has raised it by a hundred feet more. The Belfry 
 is graceful and pretty. The Pinnacle is crowned 
 with a bronze female figure of La Fe — generally 
 known as "El Giradillo," "La Giralda" — the 
 " Turning One." For it is a Vane, and though 
 weighing several hundredweight, turns upon the 
 slightest provocation of the breeze. The work has 
 been artistically done, and is not incongruous with 
 the Moorish architecture below. The Moors were 
 so proud of their beautiful Tower that they desired 
 to destroy it before they yielded the City to the 
 Spanish conquerors. But as St. Ferdinand, or his 
 son, Alonzo El Sabio, threatened to do the same to 
 the City, should the Moors persist, the tower was 
 spared, for the delight and admiration of successive 
 generations. The Giralda is under the especial 
 protection of the Saints Justa and Rufina who are 
 very dear to the inhabitants of Seville. These holy 
 ladies are invariably represented in pictures and 
 sculptures as engaged in supporting the Tower. In 
 the 1 6th Century the Devil is reported as having
 
 202 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 summoned forth the winds at their highest to blow 
 away the whole fabric, but the Saints in question 
 scared him and his blasts away. 
 
 Than Seville in June there is probably no hotter 
 place in the world, unless it be Seville in August, 
 and I know what heat is at Jubbulpore and Aden 
 as well as at Tanjore and Travancore. I had not, 
 therefore, contemplated an ascent of the Giralda at 
 any hour a.m. on June 5, 1901. I had gone to 
 the Cathedral for its mighty and reposeful shade. 
 And certainly when I asked one of the numerous 
 employes there, to show me the Capilla Capitolar, 
 I had not the remotest idea that in his view of the 
 sphere of operations, it was becoming that an 
 ascent of the Giralda should be included therein. 
 I spoke (being fresh from Madrid) in my best 
 Castillana, such as it might be, a language quite 
 inadequate in Andalucia, but he was good enough 
 not to make the uncharitable remark that he did not 
 understand English. I remembered suddenly, as 
 we were climbing the great broad (not too steep) 
 ascent within the magnificent Tower, that at any 
 cost I must adapt myself to the Andalucian dialect. 
 By some sudden mental legerdemain I transformed 
 my Castillan " ths " into "cs," I dispensed with 
 "ds" (that was a great stroke) and hurled away 
 my "J-hs" (for that is too Delia Cruscan for an 
 Andalucian breath) for something like " kh." 
 Before we had accomplished the gradual ascent, 
 we had a fairly good understanding of Spanish 
 " as she is spoke " in Andalucia, and were con- 
 versing like two noble hidalgos whose friendship
 
 SEVILLE 203 
 
 was of ancient date. It might have been so 
 different. The Tower promised to be that of the 
 Confusion of Tongues ! I hope that I did not 
 appear to him to take too much upon myself, when 
 I called upon him for the sea and for San Lucar 
 harbour, some forty miles distant, whence Columbus 
 sailed upon his first voyage. I think that he was 
 impressed by my knowledge of Andalucian geo- 
 graphy, as well as of the Andalucian tongue. But 
 he observed coldly that San Lucar could not be 
 seen, because like the memorably-invisible Spanish 
 Fleet in the " Critic," it was not in sight. But 
 there is a very extensive, if not a very beautiful, 
 view of the country for miles round Seville, sandy, 
 flat, yellow. But the gleaming Guadalquivir lights 
 up the country to the south and west, and beyond 
 the river, (probably through clouds of dust) about 
 ten miles off, you descry the site of the old 
 vanished Roman City of Italica. The City of 
 Seville occupies so large a space that from this 
 Tower at least, it seems immense. And yet the 
 population is, I believe, not more than 130,000 or 
 140,000. From here, too, the City has much 
 more of an Eastern appearance. The Towers and 
 turrets, which are very numerous, are many of them 
 Moorish, and if you cast your glance at the Alcazar, 
 close beneath you, and the lovely gardens thereof, 
 and the small portion of the old walls that yet 
 remain, you will have less of the uncomfortably 
 modern feelings which have hitherto oppressed 
 you. Between you and the Alcazar is the fine 
 " Lonja" (the Exchange), a work of Herrera, and
 
 204 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 to the west of that is the Churrigueresque " Arch- 
 bishop's Palace." Further southwards an immense 
 Convent-looking fabric, with great courts, will 
 catch your eye. It is the celebrated Tobacco- 
 factory ; it would be an ideal Barrack for half a 
 dozen regiments. Further to the west, San Juan 
 de la Palma, an old Moorish Mosque, will be 
 pointed out to you. Beyond again is San Marcos, 
 also formerly a Mosque ; its tall Tower is one of 
 the highest in Seville. To the south-east, near the 
 River, a large Amphitheatre will catch your eye. 
 Your first hope is that it may be Roman, but it is 
 only the inevitable Bull-fighting Ring. Beyond 
 the River over the Bridge there is the " Triana " 
 District, — the Seville " Trastevere." The proud 
 inhabitants of the Roman Quarter would not thank 
 you for the comparison, for they pique themselves 
 greatly upon their alleged pure Roman blood. And 
 " Triana " is anything but a fashionable quarter of 
 hidalgos. If we may judge by appearances, the 
 population there is of a very mongrel character. 
 Gipsies, smugglers and others of that large class 
 who are supposed to live very much by the exercise 
 of their wits, are a preponderating class. The 
 name Triana is derived from the Emperor Trajan, 
 who was born in this district. So Triana has eone 
 terribly down hill since the days of the great 
 Emperor. One can well imagine how all the 
 interests, hopes and fears of Moorish Seville came 
 to be concentrated upon the summit of this Tower, 
 especially after the Fall of Cordova. For, twelve 
 years were to elapse before Ferdinand the Saint
 
 SEVILLE 205 
 
 could follow up his success in capturing the more 
 Northern City. The movements of the enemy in a 
 flat country could so easily be discerned from here. 
 Attacks could easily be warded off, reinforcements 
 at threatened points could be despatched at a 
 moment's notice. An enemy could be held at bay 
 indefinitely, so long as unity prevailed within the 
 walls, and rival leaders could devote themselves to 
 the one overmastering object of defeating the 
 Christians. Had the Moors been what they once 
 were, and had not been torn by dissensions 
 amongst themselves, they could have held out for 
 years. As it was, the siege lasted for fourteen 
 months. 
 
 Look down into the fine Patio " de los Naranjas," 
 for Seville has also her Court of Oranges. Not as 
 beautiful, nor as unchanged as that of Cordova, but 
 still venerable and picturesque and with the Moorish 
 Khalifs Well in the centre. The Moorish Puerta 
 del Perdon, too, is very fine — like that of Cordova — 
 and its ancient bronze doors are also Moorish.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 SEVILLE CATHEDRAL 
 
 The Cathedral-aisles a thoroughfare, or "short-cut," for pedes- 
 trians — Thirty-one Chapels to be seen — Number of Janitors 
 — Huge " Rejas " — Chief Monuments — Retablo of High 
 Altar — Image of the Virgin — Gift of St. Louis — Splendid 
 Church Plate— Murillo's Pictures— Theft of " St. Anthony " 
 — Murillo's " Guardian Angel " — Goya's Saints Rufina and 
 Justa — Ford's Anecdote — Puerta de S. Cristobal — De 
 Vergas's "Gamba" Picture — Legend of S. Cristobal — 
 Moorish Walls — Roman Relics — Seville and Milan Cathe- 
 drals compared. 
 
 THE Cathedral being so notably the centre of 
 Seville life, you are not surprised to observe 
 that the aisles are made a thoroughfare or short-cut 
 by all sorts and conditions of the Seville populace. 
 Women enter by any one of the numerous Puertas, 
 and hurry along with babies or baskets, and men 
 with bags of tools or even loads over their shoulders, 
 pass up or down to their business beyond. It is 
 even quaintly attractive. It does not strike you as 
 incongruous or irreverential, as there is no unseemly 
 noise or bustle. At Westminster or York the 
 vergers would have hysterics. Here it is scarcely 
 noticed, the Cathedral being so vast, there is room 
 
 206 

 
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 1 
 

 
 SEVILLE CATHEDRAL 207 
 
 enough for all comers, whether devotion, sight- 
 seeing, or business be their object. There are 
 some thirty-one Chapels to be seen, and if you 
 mean to see them all, you will have to provide 
 yourself with much small change. For there be 
 almost as many janitors as " Rejas " (" Rejas " are 
 the great iron gates which are kept jealously 
 locked,) surrounding nearly every Chapel. Janitors 
 start up around you brandishing their huge bunches 
 of formidable-looking keys, and each of them 
 expects something for his admission, and if that 
 something does not amount to what each gaoler 
 considers himself entitled, you will probably not hear 
 the last of his grievance for some little time to come. 
 These huge rejas of generally gilded iron give 
 rather a sombre effect to the Cathedral. But 
 I suppose they are necessary, for robberies formerly 
 were frequent; e.g., in 1874 the "San Antonio," 
 of Murillo, in the Chapel of that Saint, was cut out 
 of the picture and carried off to New York, but was 
 fortunately recovered. Although the view of the 
 grand Nave is impeded by the position of the Coro 
 in the centre, the effect of the whole is startlingly 
 fine. You seldom see a Nave 150 feet high. The 
 first monument which strikes the eye, just beyond 
 the Grand Entrance, or Puerta Mayor, is that of 
 Fernando Columbus, the son of the great Chris- 
 topher. Many go away from the Cathedral under 
 the impression that they have seen the Tomb of the 
 greater man, ignoring the fact that the tired bones 
 of the immortal navigator at last are at rest in the 
 Havanah. And now the remains and the Island
 
 208 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 have passed into the keeping of another Power ! 
 Advancing, the magnificent Coro, with its Trascoro, 
 and four Chapels clustered around it, will arouse 
 your attention and admiration for some time. The 
 two immense organs, the sculptures, the 117 stalls, 
 the rejas, the marbles, the carvings, and finally the 
 Gothic Retablo of the High Altar. The Retablo 
 (in 44 compartments), containing groups of sculpture, 
 painted and gilded, representing scenes from the 
 Bible, was executed in the 15th and 16th Centuries. 
 Many of the figures are of life size. In the centre 
 of the work is a silver statue of "Our Lady de 
 la Sede," a work of Francisco Alfaro in 1596. No 
 retablo in Spain surpasses this in size and gorgeous 
 tout-ensemble. Crossing the Transept, the "Capilla 
 Mayor," the Sacristia of the same, and, finally, the 
 " Capilla Real" occupy the remainder of the Nave. 
 In the " Capilla Real "centres the historical interest 
 of the Cathedral. Here rests the body of Ferdinand 
 the Saint in a silver shrine made in the iSth 
 Century. His body, said to be in a remarkable 
 state of preservation, — he died in 1252, — four years 
 after his capture of Seville — is exhibited upon 
 certain great occasions. This Chapel contains 
 several relics of the famous Sovereign. An ivory 
 statuette of the Virgin of "Las Batellas," which 
 Ferdinand was accustomed to fasten to his saddle 
 during his campaigns, is placed upon the Altar. His 
 sword, (one of his numerous swords,) is also in this 
 Chapel. Underneath the Altar is the original coffin 
 in which his corpse was first placed. Epitaphs 
 upon his " Urna," composed by his sons, in Latin,
 
 SEVILLE CATHEDRAL 209 
 
 Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic, are of interest. 
 Behind the Reja are the Tombs of that son, Alonzo 
 " El Sabio," and of his wife, Queen Beatrix. Here 
 also is buried the famous Maria de Padilla, the 
 Mistress of Pedro the Cruel. Perhaps the most 
 interesting relic of former days here, is the life-size 
 Image of the Virgin de los Reyes, presented to 
 Ferdinand by no less a personage than St. Louis 
 himself. It is made like a marble lay-figure, the 
 hair is of spun gold, and her shoes are like those 
 of the 13th Century, ornamented with the lilies of 
 France and the word "Amor." The Image is 
 seated upon a silver throne of the 13th Century, 
 embossed with the arms of Castile and Leon. St. 
 Ferdinand increased the value of the figure by 
 presenting her with a golden crown. It was 
 carried off by a thief in 1873. In the 13th and 
 14th Centuries, upon the anniversary of the King's 
 death, one hundred Moors used to be sent by 
 the Moorish King of Granada, to stand round the 
 Catafalque of his Suzerain with lighted torches in 
 their hands. That must have been a strikingly 
 picturesque spectacle ! 
 
 In the Sacristia Mayor are to be seen other 
 relics of St. Ferdinand, e.g., a cup of rock-crystal, 
 and the identical keys given up to him upon his 
 entry into Seville ; there are also some splendid 
 works of silver plate and reliquaries ; a highly 
 sculptured large silver Monstrance of the 16th 
 Century ; a Gothic cross and candlestick pre- 
 sented by Alonzo El Sabio ; the silver altar of 
 the Monstrance ; and the famous Tenebrario, or 
 
 U
 
 210 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 bronze candlestick, of huge size, used in the Holy- 
 Week. There is here the famous picture of the 
 " Descent from the Cross," by Pedro Campana, 
 (born in Brussels 1503). It suffered much of 
 Soult's " braves," and was damaged with no 
 apparent object, but that of wanton destruction. 
 The Sacristia itself is one of the finest of the 
 productions of the Plateresque style. But of 
 all the Chapels in the Cathedral, the Sala Capi- 
 tulas (Chapter House) is the most beautiful. It 
 appears to be Pantheon-like round, but it is really 
 elliptical. The roof is elaborately worked, and 
 corresponds with the pavement in design. Sixteen 
 marble medallions of Genoese work adorn the 
 walls, and the eight oval paintings are by Murillo. 
 The very fine Immaculate Conception, also by 
 Murillo, above the altar is only second to the 
 Louvre picture of the same subject by him, and 
 certainly the most beautiful Conception by Murillo 
 in Spain. The Chapel, indeed, might be named 
 the " Murillo Chapel," did not the architectural 
 beauty of the Chapel entitle it to the name it bears. 
 It is indeed an architectural gem, reminding you 
 much of the celebrated Chapter House or 
 Jerusalem Chapel at Westminster. Murillo should 
 have been buried here, and his ashes might then 
 have escaped the desecration that was worked by 
 the French brigands. For by his own desire he 
 was buried in the Church of Santa Cruz, where 
 the picture of the "Descent from the Cross" by 
 Campana, above referred to, then stood. Murillo 
 was a passionate admirer of that picture, and
 
 SEVILLE CATHEDRAL 211 
 
 desired to rest beneath it. The Church was 
 destroyed by the French ; the remains of the 
 immortal Artist scattered to the winds, and the 
 picture, as above observed, wantonly mutilated. 
 And of these Frenchmen, is the nation that 
 considers itself to be the modern Athens, and her 
 sons the descendants of Phidias ! As we are 
 looking out for Murillos, do not fail to see the 
 beautiful " Saint Anthony of Padua " in the Chapel 
 of the Baptistry. The adventure of the Picture 
 at the hands of a private thief has already been 
 related, as also its restoration, in the most 
 favourable sense of the term. By Zurbaran there 
 is also a good picture in the same Chapel. Another 
 of Murillos best and most famous works is to be 
 seen in the Chapel del Santo Angel, the Chapel, 
 i.e., upon the left of the Puerta Mayor. The 
 Picture has given its name to the Chapel, and was 
 painted, it may be assumed, for the Chapel. An 
 Angel, with outspread wings, leads and directs 
 with his hand a confiding boy. He points to 
 brighter worlds, to the cloud with a silver lining 
 above. The picture is generally not to be seen 
 in a good light. One would wish it removed to 
 the Museum. But if you have the good-fortune 
 to see it in a favourable light, you will be struck 
 with its grace, refinement, and religious feeling. 
 A very different style of picture is near, and must 
 be looked at, firstly because the artist Goya who 
 died in 1828 is enormously admired just now, and 
 secondly because it represents the famous protec- 
 tress-saints of Seville, viz., Saints Rufina and Justa.
 
 212 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Ford say's that two ladies of not saint-like virtue 
 sat to Goya for the picture. You should make 
 your exit by the Porta de la Lonja (or S. Cris- 
 tobal) in order to see two famous pictures, which 
 unvisited, you might be taxed with having failed 
 to see, the principal "lions" of the Cathedral. 
 The " Generacion " by Luis de Vergas, commonly 
 known as the " Gamba" from the "leg" of Adam. 
 The nickname requires explanation. Had it been 
 called the " Rib," for instance, we should not have 
 been puzzled, as that portion of Adam plays so 
 conspicuous a part in the "Generacion" of the first 
 woman. It obtained the name then of "Gamba," 
 merely from the modest remark of Perez de Alesio, 
 the painter of the huge fresco of San Cristobal 
 hard by. He declared that the leg of Adam alone 
 was worth more than the whole of his own fresco. 
 St. Christopher figures so often in Italian and 
 Spanish works that the Saint's legend may here 
 be referred to. St. Christopher, a giant in stature 
 and whose walking-stick was a palm-tree, was on 
 one stormy day besought by a child to carry him 
 across a swollen river. When with his burden 
 upon his shoulders he had reached the opposite 
 bank, not without strenuous labour, he laid the 
 child down and demanded whom he had had 
 the honour of bearing. For although but a child, 
 it had seemed to the Saint that he had been like 
 another Atlas, carrying the weight of the world 
 upon his shoulders. The Child replied that that 
 was true. That the Saint had borne not only 
 the world but the Creator of the world. Then
 
 SEVILLE CATHEDRAL 213 
 
 St. Christopher perceived that the Child was the 
 Holy One of Israel, and he fell down and wor- 
 shipped. It is pleasing to be informed that you 
 will not come to an untimely end, on the day your 
 eyes behold St. Christopher's portrait. You should 
 specially observe, upon the northern side of the 
 Cathedral, the large remains of the Moorish wall, 
 and also the Roman columns as mementoes of 
 the Roman rule. They had been utilised in the 
 Moorish Mosque. It is as regards the interior, 
 that Seville Cathedral strikes you as vaster and 
 more solemnly impressive than any other of similar 
 style. Milan Cathedral perhaps reminds you more 
 than any other of Seville, chiefly because the 
 height of either is nearly similar, and also, perhaps, 
 because of the gorgeous painted windows. But 
 those of Seville are greater in number and gene- 
 rally superior in antiquity. Seville Cathedral, too, 
 is far greater in width than Milan Cathedral, and 
 indeed than any other Gothic Church, and it is that 
 which chiefly gives the impression of vastness. 
 Seville Cathedral, too, has not a roof painted to 
 represent carved stone, which detracts so much 
 from the effect at Milan. The beautiful transept 
 roof also far surpasses that of Milan Cathedral. 
 This Cathedral is much larger than Toledo 
 Cathedral, and possesses a greater number of 
 Chapels. But the Tombs and monuments of the 
 latter are finer, more interesting, and more 
 numerous. But outwardly Seville is grander, 
 vaster, and more impressive, and its splendid 
 Giralda Tower gives it a proud pre-eminence not 
 to be equalled elsewhere,
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 FESTIVAL OF CORPUS CHRISTI 
 
 Elaborate Ceremonial — Bustle in the Cathedral — Wonders of 
 Silver-plate — Troops of Processional Boys — Their "dressing- 
 up " — Half the Population of Seville " assisting " — Decora- 
 tions — Miles of Red Damask — The Plaza de la Constitucion 
 — Rank and Fashion — The oi polloi — Manners and 
 appearance of a Spanish Crowd — Absence of Mantillas — 
 Ladies dressed in the extremest "mode" — Beauty (or 
 otherwise?) — Andalucian " eyes " — Complexions — Lavish 
 Powdering — Passion for whitewash — The Procession de- 
 bouches — A stream of Functionaries — Splendour and colour 
 — Incense and chanting — Imbecile Images and Busts — 
 Enormous Silver Monstrance — Bearers thereof — Church 
 Dignitaries — The Sacred Host — Reception by the Crowd — 
 Music insufficient — Courtiers a la Philip IV — Procession 
 defective — Inferior to that of Orvieto — The Sight of this 
 Day — Dance of Choristers in the Cathedral — Seville, a 
 Phoenician Settlement — Sephela, Ishbiliah, Seville — " Muy 
 leal y noble" — Zenith under Pedro "the Cruel" — Abandon- 
 ment by Charles V — Present aspect — Houses maintain a 
 Moorish character — Arrangement, Pompeiian — Might be 
 cooler — Luxuriousness of Seville Cafes — Plazas — Plaza 
 Nueva — Absence of Gardens in the City — Promenades — 
 The "Delicias" — River-banks and Quays — Southern Flowers 
 and Shrubs — Columbus, Pizarro, and Cortez — The Torre- 
 del'-Oro — Don Juan's Residence. 
 
 214
 
 FESTIVAL OF CORPUS CHRISTI 215 
 
 AT Seville, no less than in Italy, the great 
 Festival of Corpus Christi is celebrated 
 with very elaborate ceremonial. At an early hour 
 in the morning of the great day, the vast Cathedral 
 presents a most animated spectacle. Preparations 
 of the quaintest and most amusing character are 
 being made. You go behind the scenes and into 
 the green-room, as it were, to watch the mar- 
 shalling of processions, the distribution of costumes, 
 the production of time-honoured "properties," the 
 hoisting-up of venerated relics, the ransacking of 
 plate-chests, and the transference of sainted idols 
 from their shrines and altars on to movable 
 platforms. Wonders of the silversmith's craft 
 were being carried down the aisles by very much 
 unclad workmen, to be marshalled in due order 
 in the procession. Endless troops of boys, more 
 or less stubborn or unintelligent, were being- 
 grappled with by priests, vergers, and school- 
 masters, and made to hold in their hands wax 
 tapers as long as fishing-rods and of many colours 
 (red preferred). Other lads were being arrayed 
 in red stockings, and crowned with gilt or tin 
 tiaras. Affectionate parents and admiring friends 
 were lending a hand to assist, or to encourage 
 puny relatives, upon whom so much depended 
 for the successful development of the pageant. 
 Country people, porters, carriers, messengers, ladies 
 in mantillas, and ladies without mantillas — all sorts 
 and conditions of people were flocking together, 
 to see what could be seen, to criticise, or to admire.
 
 216 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Half the population of Seville seemed to be throng- 
 ing the nave and the aisles of the vast edifice, such 
 was the crowd, the bustle, the conversation, the 
 excitement. Meanwhile, the streets outside were 
 bristling with expectation. The thoroughfares were 
 canopied and every house in the line which the 
 procession was to follow was hung with red damask. 
 Red damask was de rigueur. There must have been 
 miles of it. In the Plaza de la Constitucion, the 
 first Plaza whereon the procession upon leaving 
 the Cathedral was to debouch, all the rank and 
 fashion of Seville were gathered together. Rows 
 of chairs were already occupied by very smartly 
 dressed ladies and by officers and officials of all 
 kinds. The balconies and windows and roof of 
 the fine Town Hall which fronts upon the Plaza 
 de la Constitucion, and the Plaza Nueva, were 
 thronged with eager spectators of both sexes. 
 The ot polloi were content to take up positions 
 on foot and to watch the dlite, and to pass their 
 remarks upon them during the considerable interval 
 that was to elapse before the evolution of the pro- 
 cession. For a foreigner it was an admirable 
 opportunity for studying the manner, appearance, 
 and characteristics of a festive Spanish crowd. 
 Mantillas amongst the upper classes seemed to 
 have entirely "gone out." Many women of the 
 lower middle class still cling to them, but many 
 of the lower classes are content with sticking a 
 sinorle flower in the centre of their hair. Ladies 
 dress here in the extreme fashion of other capitals, 
 especially as regards their hats, which are, as
 
 FESTIVAL OF CORPUS CHRISTI 217 
 
 elsewhere, miniature flower shows. Rather trying 
 to the features, I think, in Seville. For, despite 
 what has been written, I should not think that 
 Andalucian ladies are generally beautiful. Eyes 
 and hair go a long way, however, and in general 
 effect you may pronounce the Seville ladies at- 
 tractive-looking. The men generally are singularly 
 plain. But the ladies' eyes would deserve a 
 chapter, — or even chapters, — to do justice to them. 
 The eyes are never still. They glide, they swim, 
 they dilate, they contract, they half close, they 
 languish, they curve, they sweep round the corners, 
 and preternaturally recovering themselves, they 
 drop upon yours with a sudden glow. They do 
 all things that eyes and tongue and lips can do. 
 But one thing they cannot do, and that is to keep 
 still ; but they never stare. That is the character- 
 istic of the Andalucian type of beauty if you will. 
 How fatigued must all those eyes be at the close 
 of day, and O ! when the lids are at last permitted 
 to drop down upon them in slumber, what blessed 
 repose ! 
 
 What the complexions may be like it is not only 
 extremely difficult but impossible to pronounce ! 
 Whether it comes from some idea of keeping 
 the face cool, or from a horror of appearing 
 flushed, I know not, but a custom of lavishly 
 powdering not only those portions of the face 
 which fashion has deemed it permissible to correct 
 with such aid, but the entire features, is so pre- 
 valent. 
 
 We have seen what a passion for whitewashing
 
 218 
 
 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 fanes and temples possesses the Spanish Race. 
 Can the idea that such methods beautify and 
 intensify have extended even to the human face 
 divine ? I know of no other solution. 
 
 At length, after an hour of patient, but not 
 uninteresting expectation, the procession comes 
 in sight. The slowly-moving stream of function- 
 aries commences with Priests, Canons, Choristers, 
 and Acolytes swinging their great incense-censers 
 of silver and brass, bearers of crucifixes, and 
 images, Franciscan Monks, with their bare feet 
 and coarse brown frocks, striking the only grave 
 note in their unadorned habiliments, amongst such 
 a blaze of colour and splendour. Myriads of the 
 aforesaid small boys, each with his taper, and 
 the whole procession chanting and intoning hymns. 
 Imbecile busts of venerated saints, gilded and 
 coloured, shedding stony, unmeaning smiles over 
 the heads of the admiring populace. Two tottering 
 sisters, Saints Rufina and Justa, with marionette- 
 fixed grins, pretending to support a tottering 
 Giralda, at a greater height, survey the multi- 
 tude, with exasperating self-complacency. And now 
 advance, borne with difficulty, some of the weightier 
 and more valuable treasures of the Cathedral, 
 splendid trophies of the silversmith's art, some 
 of them Reliquaries, and Shrines and Pyxes, the 
 chief amongst them all, in size and value, the 
 famous Silver Monstrance and Altar. It is in form 
 a Doric Temple, and upon its platform takes 
 twenty men to bear it along. One pitied the 
 sweltering bearers beneath the drapery which
 
 FESTIVAL OF CORPUS CHRISTI 219 
 
 concealed them, and kept such air as there was 
 to breathe excluded from them. Then comes with 
 banners and flags, and escorted by a crowd of 
 Monsismori and other Church dignitaries, the Sacred 
 Host, and then the Archbishop and his Satellites 
 beneath a canopy. Most knelt, all uncovered, and 
 crossed themselves, the while the Archbishop dis- 
 pensed his blessings upon either side, with his two 
 raised fingers. Bands of music, and an immense 
 number of officers, military and civil, accompanied 
 the Procession. But the quaintest part of it was 
 a crowd of courtiers, in the old Spanish Court- 
 costume of sad colours, with hatless heads clothed 
 with flaxen wigs. These, both in colour and 
 shape, modelled upon the coiffure peculiar to 
 Philip IV such as we know in his pictures. 
 
 But of music there was not sufficient, though the 
 artillery and cavalry, who had been occupying the 
 Plaza throughout, had done what they could in 
 that way to enliven the long "wait." The pro- 
 cession was also too broken, and halts were con- 
 tinually being made to enable lagging porters to 
 come up. There was an absence, too, of different 
 " orders " of monks and friars. Of nuns, too, 
 there were none. In Italy processions are in 
 those respects much more diversified. At Orvieto, 
 e.g., the fountain-head of this great ceremony, the 
 procession upon this day is far more striking. 
 Even at little Capri I have seen more colour 
 and variety. But the sight, upon this day of 
 "Corpus Christi" is the dance of choristers in 
 the Cathedral. It is only to-day, at Christmas and
 
 220 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 during Holy Week, that this quite unique spectacle 
 can be seen. A dozen boy-choristers, attired as 
 Court-pages, in slashed scarlet and gold coats, in 
 white stocking's and three-cornered plumed hats, 
 dance in front of the Coro. They oscillate and 
 gyrate in a kind of " Tempete " in minuet time, 
 singing and playing castanets, whilst an orchestra 
 assists their movements with a larger volume of 
 melody. I do not think that there is any similar 
 ceremony to be seen elsewhere. What may be 
 the origin of it I do not know. But it is quaint, 
 picturesque, and original in the highest degree. 
 
 That Seville was the site of a Phoenician 
 settlement seems proved by the Phoenician name 
 of Sephela. The Moors scarcely transformed 
 the name by calling it in their tongue Ishbiliah. 
 The change is very slight to the Spanish " Sevilla." 
 Under the Spanish rule it was dignified as a City 
 " muy leal y noble." "Leal" it certainly was 
 not under the Moors. For during their sway 
 of 536 years, changes of government under rival 
 sheiks were frequent. And it was mainly owing to 
 their dissensions, that St. Ferdinand found the 
 capture of the City a comparatively easy task. 
 Under Pedro the Cruel, the contemporary and ally 
 of our Black Prince, Seville, his " Ciudad pre- 
 dilecto," reached its high point of prosperity ; 
 Charles V rather strangely preferred Valladolid 
 as a Capital. Most of the broad and deep, but 
 low, houses of Seville still maintain a Moorish 
 character. The windows are protected by " rejas," 
 iron gratings, and shaded by awnings ; balconies
 
 FESTIVAL OF CORPUS CHRISTI 221 
 
 are universal. An entrance-porch, — " Zaguan," — 
 leads to the "Cancel" or Gate of fine iron-work, 
 which opens upon the "Patio" or Courtyard. 
 This "Patio" is the characteristic of all the 
 houses. It serves as the principal drawing-room, 
 and is at once the reception-room, the garden and 
 the resort of the family. It is surrounded with 
 columned arcades, often beautifully decorated with 
 " Azulejos " (Moorish tile-work) and sometimes 
 frescoed. A fountain in the centre with flowers, 
 trees, and shrubs, and a heavy awning above, 
 completes the style. 
 
 The " Patio," then, is not unlike a Pompeiian 
 house and combines the atrium, the Impluvium, 
 and the Peristyle. But although the heat can 
 be sensibly reduced by these arrangements, the 
 Sevillans miodit well borrow some of the Indian 
 customs for the further reduction of the tempera- 
 ture. Punkahs, thermantidotes, and wetted tatties 
 of cus-cus grass, might well be introduced in a 
 climate almost as sultry as India. Far the coolest 
 resorts in Seville are the great Cafes, and Restau- 
 rants, e.g., in the Calle de la Sierpe. The Cafes 
 in this Calle especially are magnificent, — really 
 palaces. The wide and well-paved Calle* is cano- 
 pied above, and reserved for pedestrians ; noise 
 and dust are excluded from these Calles by 
 wheeled traffic being banished. Most of the Cafes 
 are of quite Moorish architecture, becolumned and 
 arcaded, and so are many of the shops in these 
 cool Calles. No wonder, with such palaces for 
 Cafes, that the Spaniards are, in Seville at least,
 
 222 
 
 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 the most Cafe-loving race in Europe. No wonder, 
 too, that they are of all nations the most loth to 
 put themselves under the yoke of Cook, to put 
 a girdle round the world in eighty days. Where 
 could they find elsewhere such luxury and comfort ? 
 How they would sigh over their delightful resorts, 
 were they to find themselves in the Boulevards of 
 Paris, or in the Regent Street of London. The 
 monotonous exterior of the streets, of low two- 
 storied houses, is broken by the number of Plazas, 
 small for the most part, but generally boasting 
 some highly decorated church, or public building, 
 and enlivened by trees and seats, and the stalls 
 of vendors of cooling drinks. Ouite the largest 
 Plaza in Seville is the Plaza Nueva or Ayun- 
 tamento, which is the site of the very beautiful 
 "Casas Capitolares," or Town Hall, and of some 
 of the better inns. You will generally be passing 
 through this Plaza on your way to the Cathedral, 
 and other notable sights. It is the chief resort 
 for flaneurs and loungers, and being well furnished 
 with seats, is a good place to watch the lower life 
 of Seville. But the Citv is ill-furnished with 
 gardens and shade. You must go outside the 
 town for parks and gardens, which lie along the 
 left Bank of the River. The " Delicias," as they 
 are called, are the resort of carriage-folk, and 
 equestrians, and there all the smartest equipages 
 and the best-mounted caballeros assemble in the 
 evening. It is an animated scene at that hour, 
 and very beautiful in the richness and abundance 
 of Southern flowers and foliage. The River, too,
 
 FESTIVAL OF CORPUS CHRISTI 223 
 
 is a scene of animation. Broad Quays have been 
 laid out, and at times steamers and shipping are 
 here in considerable numbers. Although we know 
 that Columbus embarked here upon his first voyage 
 of discovery, I did not know that Seville was so 
 considerable a Port. It is said that Pizarro and 
 Cortez also started on their wonderful enterprises 
 from Seville. 
 
 The picturesque tower, a little higher up the 
 river, should be looked at as a relic of Moorish 
 days. Although why it should be called " Torre- 
 del'-Oro " requires explanation. Some say that 
 the Moors kept their treasure there, but it seems 
 to be in rather an exposed position for such a 
 purpose. I think that the name may have a more 
 plausible solution in gold connected with the dis- 
 coveries of Christopher Columbus. Whilst we are 
 upon the search for great or notorious Sevillans, 
 one of the most famous names is that of Don Juan. 
 He seems to be no mere invention of poet or 
 romance, and even the Commendatore of whom Don 
 Juan made such short work was a very real flesh- 
 and-blood Sevillan. Don Juan's name was Tenorio. 
 It is to be hoped that he was not a member of 
 the family rendered famous by one Archbishop of 
 Toledo at least. But he certainly lived in a house 
 which is now a Convent, that of San Leandro, and 
 he betook himself to the family Chapel in a 
 Franciscan Convent, as "Sanctuary," when he 
 had disposed so summarily of the unfortunate father 
 of the injured Dona Anna.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE MUSEO SEVILLE 
 
 Plaza de Murillo — His Bust — Numerous Works of his here 
 — Four or five Masterpieces — A disestablished Convent 
 — Fine Azulejos, modern — Murillo's Masterpieces de- 
 scribed — Zurbaran's Pictures — Roelas — Valdez Leal — 
 Pacheco — "Pretty rather than great" — But one Caho 
 — Alanis Vicente — His powerful " Prodigal Son " — Portraits 
 here "terribly bad" — Torrigiano's Terra-cotta — Anecdotes 
 of Torrigiano — The Patio here — Roman Antiquities from 
 Italica — " A great Diana " — Moorish Vases — The first Museo 
 in the " Lonja," founded by Murillo and other artists — " La 
 Caridad" — A 16th Century Alms-house — Renovated by 
 a " reformed rake " — The Chapel — Murillo's six Pictures — 
 Description of them — " San Juan de Dios," the finest — 
 Who he was — Pedro Roldan's " Descent from the Cross " — 
 The Pictures by Valdez Leal — Murillo's remark — V. Leal's 
 jealousy of Murillo — Murillo's Pictures journeyed to Paris. 
 
 THE Musdo is situated in one of the prettiest 
 Plazas, that of the Musdo or " de Murillo." 
 His bust stands in the centre. It is a recent work, 
 but seems as a portrait of the Painter to have been 
 well and faithfully copied from his well-known 
 portraits by himself. The Musdo is chiefly at- 
 tractive owing to the numerous works of Murillo, 
 
 224
 
 THE MUSEO, SEVILLE 225 
 
 twenty-four of which are here. It must be admitted 
 that there is much of the master that could have 
 been spared. But still there are four or five of 
 his very greatest masterpieces. The building itself 
 is an old and ugly convent, that of " La Merced," 
 and was founded by St. Ferdinand himself. Upon 
 entering you will be greatly struck by the splendid 
 decorations of <( Azulejos" or "Moorish" tiling, 
 which adorn the walls. They are chiefly, if not 
 entirely, of Spanish work, and most interesting as 
 proofs that the secrets of the art did not die with 
 the Moors. They form an exhibition of them- 
 selves, and for the most part have been gathered 
 together from the many disestablished conventual 
 domiciles in Seville. In the large room, for- 
 merly the Convent-Church, now called the Salon 
 de Murillo, all Murillo's pictures are placed. " Si 
 monumentum quceras, circumspice " ! The four 
 works of his, which universal admiration have 
 declared his best, are the following : "St. Thomas 
 de Villanueva" ; " St. Francis embracing the Cruci- 
 fied Saviour"; "San Felix Cantalicis," with the 
 Infant in his arms; "San Antonio de Padua," 
 kneeling before the Infant. San Tomaso de 
 Villanueva is succouring the poor and is giving 
 alms in a Church-porch to a beggar and is sur- 
 rounded by other expectant mendicants. In senti- 
 ment and in execution, the picture recalls to you 
 the famous St. Elizabeth at Madrid. Both in con- 
 ception and execution the work is one of Murillo's 
 greatest. So he thought himself, and called it 
 " Mi Quadro." But the " San Felix," next to that, 
 
 15
 
 226 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 runs it very close. The Saint upon his knees, 
 bears the Infant in his arms. His face and posture 
 express the utmost love and devotion. A celestial 
 vision appears to him from above. The Virgin, 
 attended by angels and cherubs, stretches out her 
 arms to her Son. As a composition this picture 
 may be considered by some as even superior to 
 the " St. Thomas." But the nobleness of the 
 countenances and the inspired sweetness of expres- 
 sion of both are quite perfect. The accessories, too, 
 of either picture, whether of cherubs, or angels, or 
 beggars, are just sufficient, and do not draw away 
 the attention from the chief personages represented. 
 That characteristic is always one of Murillo's great 
 qualities, one so often absent from works of the 
 Spanish School. There is here another picture 
 of " San Felix," but much inferior. The " Vision 
 of St. Francis " is an extremely beautiful work. 
 The Crucified Saviour is withdrawing His right 
 hand from the beam of the Cross, and is resting 
 His hand upon the shoulder of the Saint, who em- 
 braces the body of his crucified Lord. Two cherubs 
 upon the left support an open book, where you read 
 the words, " Qui non renunciat omnibus qui pos- 
 sidet, non potest meus esse discipulus." St. Anthony 
 of Padua, with his arms round the Infant Jesus, who 
 returns his embrace, is seated upon a book. Above 
 these are four Cherubs. These four pictures are 
 the glories of this Museum. The " Pieta " I think 
 to be the best of Murillo's other works here. The 
 very large "Immaculate Conception" was painted 
 for the Cathedral. It has been much damaged,
 
 THE MUS^O, SEVILLE 227 
 
 but it never could have been equal to other repre- 
 sentations by Murillo, of the same subject. " The 
 Madonna della Servilleta," too, has been cruelly 
 ill-used. It is said to have been painted upon a 
 " napkin." Hence its title. But it is a very inferior 
 picture. 
 
 Of Zurbaran, one of the chief lights of the School 
 of Seville, there are numerous instances here. His 
 best work in this Gallery is the " St. Thomas 
 Aquinas." It represents the Apotheosis of the 
 Saint, and the Foundation of the College of St. 
 Thomas of Seville. It is very large and is 
 certainly a fine picture. All the colossal Saints 
 and Fathers of the Church represented here are 
 grandly drawn, and the figures of Christ and the 
 Virgin above, nobly expressed. It is an interest- 
 ing picture also, the artist having introduced, upon 
 the right, portraits of Charles V and himself. But 
 the picture altogether is wanting in poetical feeling, 
 and St. Thomas certainly lacks spirituality. Zur- 
 baran was apt to overcrowd his larger pictures. I 
 prefer him in his smaller subjects, and even in his 
 single figures. But he is undeniably in the front 
 rank of the Spaniards. There is no other picture 
 in this Gallery which in any way marks a distinc- 
 tive epoch in Spanish Art. Many should be looked 
 at, more perhaps from the painters having been 
 masters of great artists than from any merit of their 
 own. Roelas, the master of Zurbaran has, how- 
 ever, great powers of colouring. The same remark 
 may apply to Valdez Leal, a powerful master, who 
 delighted in rather repulsive subjects.
 
 228 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Pacheco, the master and father-in-law of Velas- 
 quez, has a good " Immaculate Conception," 
 pretty rather than great. Castillo, the master of 
 Murillo and Caiio, has pictures here, but nothing 
 remarkable. It is disappointing that the latter 
 master, undoubtedly one of the most pleasing of 
 Spanish painters, has but one picture in this 
 Gallery. To Alanis Vicente is ascribed a rude 
 and realistic, but certainly powerful " Prodigal 
 Son." Some of the modern pictures are worth 
 looking at, but all the portraits are terribly bad. 
 An extremely fine terra-cotta of " St. Jerome," by 
 the famous Torrigiano should not be overlooked. 
 The artist is well known to Englishmen, as the 
 Sculptor of the Henry VII Tomb at Westminster. 
 But he has secured an even more certain immor- 
 tality by having modelled the nose of Michael 
 Angelo in a mode quite otherwise than natural. 
 A dispute arose between the two great men at 
 Florence, and Torrigiano made use of his hammer, 
 in a very inartistic spirit, upon the nose of the 
 divine artist. Torrigiano visited Spain once too 
 often for his own personal advantage, for he ended 
 his days there as a prisoner to the Holy Spanish 
 Inquisition. Not the least attractive portion of 
 this Museo is the Patio, assigned to Sculptures and 
 Roman antiquities from Italica chiefly, and also to 
 Moorish capitals, tiles and vases. First and fore- 
 most among the Roman Antiquities, is a really 
 great work, a statue of Diana. It is one of the 
 finest representations of the Huntress-Goddess that 
 I have anywhere seen, and would do honour to any
 
 THE MUSEO, SEVILLE 229 
 
 Gallery. Excepting the loss of portions of both 
 arms, it is perfect ; the head is very beautiful. 
 The countenance serious. The position is easy 
 and graceful, and the drapery very boldly worked. 
 Behind the Goddess is the trunk of a tree with a 
 deer-skin. It is, I should think, a Roman copy of 
 a Greek original. There are here also several 
 torsos of statues, one colossal, (without a head,) 
 and a great many busts, one of which is Hadrian. 
 Mosaic pavements, columns, Cippi pottery and 
 statuettes in considerable numbers, all from Italica, 
 are here to attest to the importance of that City. 
 Some of the Moorish vases deserve to be looked 
 at, especially a large green one, with rows of ribs 
 in relief. This Museum and Gallery have only 
 been in existence during recent years, but it may 
 be noted that Murillo, Valdez Leal, Herrera, and 
 other artistic notabilities founded an Academy of 
 Art in the year 1660, and established it in that 
 fine building of Juan Herrera, the Lonja or 
 Exchange. 
 
 The spirit of Murillo dominates so many of the 
 buildings in Seville. He rules our spirits from his 
 urn, it might be said, if the brutality of man had 
 not shattered and scattered the sacred dust. And 
 the creative faculty of the great Master is by no 
 means least powerfully manifested in the "Caridad," 
 as it is called. 
 
 This Institution is an Alms-house, founded in 
 the 1 6th Century, for the shelter of some eighty 
 poor old men. It was renovated in the following 
 century by a certain Don Miguel de Menasa, a
 
 230 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 reformed rake and a friend of Murillo. Here he is 
 buried. It was fitting, then, that his friend should 
 have adorned the walls of this Chapel with such 
 pictures as these. They form a fine monument to 
 the charity of the one, and to the genius of the 
 other. The Chapel is gorgeously ornate in other 
 ways. But the six pictures of Murillo form the 
 attraction. The three most celebrated, (and the 
 largest,) are: "The Miracle of the Loaves and 
 Fishes" ; " Moses striking the Rock " ; " San Juan 
 de Dios." The first presents a wonderfully fine 
 group. Our Saviour, in the centre, is blessing the 
 five loaves, and St. Peter, near Him, is taking the 
 two fishes from the hands of a youth. The 
 " Moses " is equally fine. All are pressing forward 
 with healthy and headlong eagerness to drink. 
 Man, woman, and beast, and not the least to be 
 observed, is one of Murillo's characteristically 
 masterly dogs, who slakes his thirst with a calm 
 delight quite in contrast with his human companions. 
 San Juan de Dios (he was canonised in the 16th 
 Century) is said to have been remarkable, even in 
 that charitable age, for his boundless charities to 
 the poor. He is supposed to have been the first 
 founder of a "refuge" for the poor. His picture 
 is appropriate enough in the Chapel of an Alms- 
 house. In this picture he is represented as bearing 
 upon his back an apparently dying beggar. He 
 looks upward for assistance. An Angel appears 
 above, shining through the gloom of the stormy 
 night, to strengthen the Saint in his self-appointed 
 labours. To Murillo's kindly heart it was peculiarly
 
 THE "CARIDAD," SEVILLE 231 
 
 congenial to chronicle such pious acts, and in no 
 picture of his has he more brilliantly asserted his 
 power of representing them. The other three works 
 of his in this Chapel are: "The Annunciation"; 
 "The Infant St. John" and a small "Madonna 
 and Infant." "The Annunciation " is not one of 
 Murillo's best works. The "Infant St. John" is. 
 The " Madonna and Infant " is exquisite. It is 
 painted with such startling force, that at first sight 
 I imagined it to be a work in relief. There are 
 three other pictures in the Chapel worthy of 
 admiration. The powerful " Descent from the 
 Cross," over the altar, by Pedro Roldan. Two 
 pictures by Juan Valdez Leal. Death, as a skeleton 
 careering over treasures and types of luxury and 
 wealth, and a putrefying Bishop surrounded with 
 treasures ; " Sic transit gloria mundi " is inscribed. 
 It is repugnant, (both are repugnant), but the 
 decaying corpse is represented with consummate 
 power. Murillo had so high an opinion of the 
 realistic force of the picture, that he said : " You 
 must hold your nose, when you approach it." 
 Valdez Leal was born in Cordova. He was 
 extremely jealous of Murillo, though he did not die 
 of the disease, as did one of the Castillos. As 
 regards Murillo's pictures here, it is almost needless 
 to observe that five of them made the inevitable 
 journey to Paris early in the century. However, 
 they do not seem to have suffered. They are in 
 good condition.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 SEVILLE — THE ALCAZAR 
 
 The Alcazar — A Saracen Palace — Fanciful derivation from 
 " Caesar " — Moorish Architecture equally adapted for 
 religious and domestic purposes — Suggested by a hot 
 climate — Loveliness of apartments — Rival those of the 
 Alhambra — Skill of modern Spaniards in renovation — 
 The "Alcazar" replete with associations — Pedro "the 
 Cruel" — Maria Padilla — Two of their daughters wives of 
 English Princes — John of Gaunt claimed the Spanish 
 Throne — His daughter First Princess of Asturias — Spanish 
 blood in English veins — The assistance of Pedro by the 
 "Black Prince" — Story of Pedro, and the Great Ruby — 
 Court of the Ambassadors — Pedro's victims — Pedro's sub- 
 sequent fate — The Gate of "Las Banderas" — Pedro's 
 " Justice " — Maria Padilla's apartments — Comtesse de Paris 
 born here — Chapel — Charles V married there — Antiquities 
 from Italica — Rooms of Isabella " the Catholic " — Gardens 
 of the Palace — An Ideal realised — Groves and Labyrinths — 
 A Realm of Pleasaunce — Baths of Maria Padilla — A Prison? 
 — Palace of S. Telmo not far from River — Built by Ferdi- 
 nand Columbus, son of Christopher — Dedicated to the 
 Mariner's Saint — Formerly Due de Montpensier's Palace, 
 and Picture Gallery — Extensive Gardens — Adjoin the 
 Public one. Tobacco Factory, colossal — A Tobacco 
 Escurial — Has been a Convent, or Convents — Cuba no 
 longer available as Government-source — Thousands of 
 women employed — "Natural" sticking of cigars not per- 
 mitted — Babies and female relatives, but no " followers " — 
 
 232
 
 SEVILLE— THE ALCAZAR 233 
 
 An absence of " Carmens " — " Mancia " for guides not 
 cheerfully accepted. Recollections of Naples more forcible 
 — Seville comparatively free from mendicants — Casa de 
 Pilatos — Another Saracen Palace — Erected by Enriquez 
 de Ribera — A " mystical " original in Jerusalem — Azulejos ; 
 Columns ; Moulded Vaults — Patio with Fountains — Statues 
 from Italica — A Mosaic of the " crowing-cock " — A coup- 
 de-grace to the tradition — The Grand Staircase, a 
 development of Moorish architecture here — No access 
 to the fine Gardens — Italica — A short drive there, through 
 Triana, a "doubtful" suburb — River has changed its 
 ancient course — Italica the birthplace of two Emperors 
 — Amphitheatre thoroughly excavated — Absence of other 
 ruins — Has been made a " quarry " — A coin of Adrian 
 — Return by another route — Castileja de la Cuesta — 
 Birthplace and residence of Cortez — Buried here — Ashes 
 removed to Mexico — Other excursions round Seville — 
 Hurrying Tourists. 
 
 I DO not know why our guide-books should 
 be at pains to derive this name from " Csesar." 
 "Alcala"was the Moorish name for " Castle " or 
 " Fort." The transition is slight enough, to 
 "Alcazar." The Moors knew nothing- about 
 Caesar, and you find an "Alcala" in most of the 
 towns occupied by them. Besides, how unlikely 
 that a Castle or Hunting Box (as this probably was) 
 should be styled " Caesar." The Spanish word 
 even, " Casa " (House), if another derivation be 
 preferred, would be simpler and more natural. 
 The early Saracens are probably the only artistic 
 people that have invented a style of architecture 
 equally adapted for religious or for domestic pur- 
 poses. No style could be better adapted for a hot 
 climate than these arched and colonnaded courts
 
 234 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 and cloisters. These alcoves and grottoes, screened 
 and shrouded from the sun's glare, and from the 
 hubbub of the streets, invited repose, or stimulated 
 to religious contemplation. Silent worship would 
 develop into soothing recitation, and thence into 
 fervent exhortation of the Deity. Then as the 
 congregations of the Faithful became larger and 
 more intent upon religious observations, the build- 
 ings preserving the same character would become 
 larger and more spacious. Anyhow, more lovely 
 suites of Arab apartments than those in the 
 Alcazar are scarcely to be seen, not even at 
 Granada. 
 
 Where restoration has been needed (and of 
 course in the longf vicissitudes of centuries it 
 has been imperative) of roofs, ceilings, floors and 
 doors, it has been carried out with the utmost taste 
 and with fidelity to the spirit in which the old 
 architects worked. Even if it had been otherwise, 
 the ineffable grace and elegance of the architectural 
 forms and designs could scarcely have been marred. 
 The beauty of the colouring of the Azulejos, the 
 many-coloured stalactite decoration of alcoves and 
 domes, the carved ceilings, the joinings and fittings 
 of marble pavements, and columns, have been pre- 
 served and renovated in a true artistic spirit. The 
 whole dazzling series of the chambers of this bril- 
 liant and fascinating Palace are full of historical 
 and romantic interest as well. These colonnades 
 and courts vibrate with the echoes of love and 
 poetry, or with the dark memories of cruelty and 
 assassination. Pedro "the Cruel" and his wife,
 
 SEVILLE— THE ALCAZAR 235 
 
 the lovely and gentle Maria Padilla, seem still to 
 haunt the scenes of their pomp, their power and 
 their loves. To Maria Padilla, the husband of her 
 heart was no mere bloody tyrant, and his constancy 
 to the beauteous golden-haired Maria has covered 
 a multitude of his crimes. Both are specially 
 interesting to Britons, for two of their daughters 
 married English Princes, John of Gaunt and the 
 Duke of York. After Pedro's death at the hands 
 of his illegitimate brother, Henry of Transtamarre, 
 John of Gaunt unsuccessfully claimed the Spanish 
 throne. He had, however, the consolation later, of 
 seeing his daughter (the first Princess of the 
 Asturias, by the way) wearing the crown of Castile 
 and Leon. For she married the grandson of the 
 above-named Henry, and who afterwards became 
 Henry III. She was the granddaughter, there- 
 fore, of Maria Padilla. Thus in the veins of the 
 rival Houses of York and Lancaster, Spanish blood 
 flowed. This connection with England it was, 
 in conjunction with later alliances, upon which 
 Philip II based his claims to the English crown. 
 Pedro the Cruel lost his throne for a time, having 
 been defeated by his brother, Henry of Transta- 
 marre and the famous Du Guesclin. Our still more 
 famous Black Prince, however, then resident at his 
 Court of Bordeaux, espoused the cause of his rela- 
 tive, the defeated Monarch, and by his victory at 
 Navarate placed Pedro once more upon the throne. 
 The huge ruby in the crown of the English 
 Monarch, which we have all admired at the Tower 
 of London, was presented to the Black Prince in
 
 236 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 acknowledgment of his victory. It was in this very 
 palace (likely enough in the most beautiful of all 
 the apartments, in the Court of the Ambassadors) 
 that Pedro had possessed himself, by a most in- 
 iquitous act, of this famous precious stone. An 
 usurping King of Granada, Abu Said, had in his 
 turn become a fugitive, and, trusting to the good 
 faith of Pedro, had taken refuge in his Court in the 
 Alcazar. Pedro, with even more than his cus- 
 tomary cruelty, was not ashamed to commit the 
 blackest of treacherous crimes. He murdered the 
 wretched man and seized his treasures. We will 
 hope that the ill-gotten ruby may never bring down 
 misfortune upon any English head that may wear 
 the crown, whereof it is the most distinctive orna- 
 ment. You will not be in a hurry to leave the 
 splendid Hall, where we suppose the above-men- 
 tioned deed of blood to have been consummated. 
 So perfect is it in proportions, so fancifully gorgeous 
 in the decoration of its roof, and in the brilliancy of 
 its Azulejos work. But you will either go out, or 
 enter by a doorway, where the exact spot of Don 
 Fadrique's murder will be pointed out. He was 
 the King's left-handed brother, and bore the rank 
 of Master of Santiago. He had come expressly to 
 his brother's Court to swear allegiance to him. 
 Maria de Padilla, who was aware of her husband's 
 designs upon his brother's life, had done all in her 
 power to move the King to pity. But Pedro was 
 not a man to be moved to mercy, especially when a 
 brother's life was in question. It was fully in 
 accordance with historical retribution, that Pedro
 
 SEVILLE— THE ALCAZAR 237 
 
 himself was to fall a victim to the dagger of another 
 brother. The latter event is the subject of a 
 Spanish poem, which, with many other Spanish 
 ballads, has been spiritedly done into English by 
 Lockhart In the great gate of " Las Banderas " 
 (for here the Royal banner is upon occasion hoisted) 
 Pedro was wont to seat himself in Eastern manner, 
 for the administration of what he called justice. It 
 must have been a queer kind of justice, — not much 
 differing, one supposes, from that which has been 
 termed the "wild Justice of revenge." Pedro must 
 have been half a Moor indeed in this way, and also 
 in the erection or renovation of this splendid 
 Moorish Palace by Moorish artists. We are shown 
 the lovely apartments of Maria Padilla, in one of 
 which the present Comtesse de Paris first saw the 
 fierce Spanish light. For the Palace is used still 
 as a Royal residence. All has been so cared for 
 and so artistically renewed in the best manner, that 
 it is not only in every way a suitable residence, 
 adapted to modern usages in a most sultry clime, 
 but one of the most unique and splendid of Palaces. 
 In the Chapel above, Charles V married Isabel of 
 Portugal. He erected the fireplaces, too, for even 
 in this fervent climate, the slow circulation of 
 Caesar's blood required accelerating. In one of the 
 rooms a great trouvaille of Roman antiquities from 
 Italica was, for a long time, placed, and so forgotten 
 eventually, that they ran the risk of again being 
 buried. They were at length unearthed again, by 
 an artistic Alcayde, and were placed in the Museo, 
 where we have already seen them. Other inter-
 
 238 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 esting rooms are those of the Grandmother of 
 Charles V, Isabella the Catholic. In your search 
 for the garden of the Palace, you will have to make 
 a circuitous route, for you are not allowed to 
 descend, as could be wished, from any balcony or 
 steps, from one of the apartments. It would be 
 a pity to miss seeing these Hesperian Gardens, 
 for they are such, that any one with an ideal in 
 his soul of what a truly Southern Garden should 
 be, and to behold which has been the aspi- 
 ration of his life, will make his heart bound 
 with the delight of realisation. It is a small 
 Arcadia, tempered by cinque-cento beds of myrtle 
 and box, fantastically fashioned into the eagles of 
 Charles V and other quaint heraldic devices. 
 Bosky labyrinths of cypress and box, groves of 
 pomegranates, blossomed with their little feathery 
 tongues of flame, alleys and lanes of citrons, and 
 palms and orange trees, — the last clipped and 
 nurtured into towering avenues. 
 
 " Imbowered vaults of pillar'd palm, 
 Imprisoning sweets of violets and rose ; 
 A realm of pleasaunce, many a mound, 
 And many a shadow-chequer'd lawn, 
 And deep myrrh-thickets blowing round 
 The stately cedar. Tamarisks, thick rosaries 
 Of scented thorn, — tall orient shrubs." 
 
 It would seem that Tennyson had been in 
 Seville ! In one's ugly modern garb one is an 
 anachronism here. Man, at least, is an anachron- 
 ism. It is aTwelfth Night " Pleasaunce." Olivia
 
 SEVILLE 239 
 
 and Malvolio should be haunting these terraces and 
 groves and fountains. The gardens should be 
 crowded by stately forms of Seiloras and Hidalgos 
 arrayed in all the sumptuousness of cinque-cento 
 costume. You will also see vast vaulted alcoves, 
 beneath the Palace, at the top of the garden. They 
 are Maria Padilla's baths. They are quite Roman 
 in style and scale, and still echoing with the plash- 
 ing ripple of waters. It is said that they have also 
 been used as prisons. 
 
 The Palace of " San Telmo," close to the left 
 bank of the River, and which you will pass every 
 day on your way to the " Delicias" or Rotten Row 
 of Seville, is worthy of admiration. It is a very 
 picturesque building of the 16th Century, built by 
 Fernando Columbus as a Naval College. It is 
 " Churrigueresque," and as that term is, in the 
 mouth of architectural purists, almost synonymous 
 with contempt, we should not be allowed, I sup- 
 pose, to glance at it with admiration. But, both as 
 a fine building, and as a monument to the memory 
 of the son of Christopher Columbus, it must come 
 in for some of our attention. Fernando Columbus 
 dedicated the College to San Telmo, the mariner's 
 Saint, and as some suppose, as a special offering 
 for mercies vouchsafed during a more than usually 
 perilous voyage of his. It was recently the Palace 
 of the Due de Montpensier, and once contained a 
 collection of pictures, and objets dart. But it is 
 no longer a Royal residence, and is, I believe, 
 again devoted to secular purposes, by the Seville 
 Municipality. It possesses a fine garden, which,
 
 240 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 again, abuts upon another large garden — a public 
 one — with restaurants and cafes, where entertain- 
 ments, musical and others, make glad the souls of 
 pleasure-hunting Sevillans after dark. Being so 
 near the famous Tobacco Factory, that institution 
 will probably be visited when you are sight-seeing 
 in this part of the town. One requires a very large 
 pen to describe this colossal edifice. A pen six 
 feet in length, like those which the Apostles bran- 
 dish in the spandrels of St. Peter's dome in Rome. 
 It is a Tobacco Escurial in magnitude. The sue- 
 cession of Courts bewilders one, and the rooms are 
 past counting. I suppose it to have been a Con- 
 vent originally. For even with the unbounded 
 capacity of all true Spaniards for consuming cigar- 
 ettes and cigars and snuff, and with every allow- 
 ance for the exportation of the same, this fabric 
 might supply Europe with tobacco. Formerly, the 
 Spaniards had the huge resources of Cuba and 
 other Colonies to draw upon, duty-free ; now the 
 loss of their American possessions has materially 
 curtailed the supply of their tobaccos. Even now 
 some thousands of women derive their living from 
 the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes. I was 
 glad to see, as I went through these crowds of pale 
 females, that they did not employ natural moisture 
 in rolling cigarettes, or in flattening tobacco-leaves. 
 Bowls and goblets of water are ranged along the 
 tables, where these toilers are seated. I fear that 
 their day's work is a day of ten hours. Those who 
 have got babies, (the majority of them, I should 
 say,) are allowed to take them here, and other
 
 SEVILLE 241 
 
 relatives too, I imagine, for they were not all at 
 work. Men seem to be rigidly excluded. Indeed, 
 if they were admitted, I suppose that very few of 
 the ten hours would be occupied in making cigars. 
 It may be imagined that these huge rooms are not 
 caves of silence, nor that Spanish babies have lungs 
 less obstreperous than those of other nations. Let 
 no one come here with the expectation of finding any 
 " Carmens " : I really did not see a pretty face ; all 
 of commonplace feature and colouring, and even so 
 the dress unassisted by mantillas. Another illusion 
 gone, for " Carmens," with coquettish glance and 
 roguish becks, have been conspicuous by their 
 absence. You, of course, hand a little "mancia" to 
 the matronly lady who has been conducting you 
 through the mazes of feminine fascinations for so 
 long, and the janitor who had the honour of con- 
 ducting you to her presence will not be forgotten. 
 I thought that I detected a shade of disappointment 
 passing over both parchment visages. But to that 
 manifestation of chagrin I have become inured. 
 The modest recompense, which in Italy at least is 
 cheerfully accepted, appears to be deemed short of 
 the justly-due in Spain. So you must bear it like 
 a man unless you prefer requiting such services 
 with needless generosity. I have been more 
 strongly reminded of Naples to-day, than I have 
 been since I came to Seville. Perhaps it has been 
 in the larger buildings that I have seen, especially 
 those that boast of Churrigueresque, or Baroque 
 ornamentation, or in the predominance in this 
 part of the City of spacious Convents whether dis- 
 
 16
 
 242 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 established or not, or in the freer port and carriage 
 of the populace. 
 
 Certainly there is a remarkably Spanish character 
 in portions of Naples, both in the ethnological type, 
 and architecturally. There is one great dissimilarity. 
 Seville is pleasingly free from beggars ; one cannot 
 say that of the other attractive but cttcousu city. 
 Whilst upon this subject, I am tempted to hazard 
 a remark that in Spain the average of comfort 
 and " well-to-do-ishness " (excuse Barroqueness of 
 expression) seems much more general than in Italy. 
 
 You would search in vain at Jerusalem for the 
 original of the very beautiful Casa de Pilatos. 
 Yet Fadrique Enriquez de Ribera, who built it in 
 the 1 6th Century, is credited by the chroniclers as 
 having erected it after the model of a house existing 
 in the Holy City known as the House of Pilate. 
 It is possible that upon its site, some one may have, 
 in years long subsequent to the epoch of Pontius 
 Pilate, built to his soul a lordly pleasure house in 
 the Saracenic style. But of such a building we 
 know nothing. We are quite content, however, to 
 accept this Palace as a very splendid example of 
 Moresque Architecture whatever may have been 
 the cause of its erection. Its present owner is the 
 Duke of Medina-Celdi, one of the greatest of 
 Spanish families. It is a Palace worthy of housing 
 so illustrious a stock. All the lovely things that 
 make a Moorish Palace so delightful are here in 
 abundance. Azulejos-tilings of singularly varied 
 hues and patterns, graceful columns, with glittering 
 capitals, carved ceilings, brilliant pavements and
 
 3
 
 SEVILLE 243 
 
 symmetrical colonnades, and a grand Patio with 
 fountains. In this Patio are placed Roman statues 
 and busts, which are said to be spoils from the 
 Roman City of Italica. There was not any one 
 of surpassing merit, but for general decorative effect 
 good enough. The grand staircase (a work of 
 supererogation for a Moorish house) struck me as 
 magnificent. The Moorish style of decoration 
 being carried on without stint, and with splendid 
 effect, especially in the cupola and ceilings. To 
 keep up the idea of Pontius Pilate, a "crowing 
 cock" has been introduced in " Azulejos " upon the 
 staircase. That particular decoration gives the 
 finishing stroke to the other lavishly beautiful 
 tilings — and also to the credibility of the legend 
 that the house represented that of Pontius Pilate. 
 I was not permitted, I know not why, to enter the 
 gardens, but from the glimpses which I obtained 
 from above, it seemed to me almost a second 
 edition of those of the Alcazar. 
 
 The considerable relics of the old Roman City 
 scattered about in Seville, (at the Museo especially) 
 will inspire most people to visit the site of Italica. 
 It is very easily reached in an hour and a half. 
 You cross the river, through the Triana quarter, 
 and that doubtful quarter cleared, you find yourself 
 upon an extremely dusty and ill-kept road. The 
 country, too, is uninteresting, sparsely cultivated, 
 and with but few dwellings. The River, since 
 Roman times, has played false to Italica by altering 
 its course, which accounts both for the desertion of 
 the City and for the sterile aspect of the Country.
 
 244 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 As the birthplace of one of the greatest Roman 
 Emperors, Trajan, and also of Theodosius, one 
 expected and would have wished, indeed, to have 
 beheld the City unveiled. But, with the exception 
 of the Amphitheatre, there are no remains whatever 
 visible now. The Amphitheatre repays a visit. 
 It is a large one, the rows of seats still fairly 
 defined, and the corridors and vomitoria thoroughly 
 excavated. The custode, too, will be sure to have 
 a coin or two to sell you, as a memento of your 
 visit, and presented me with a small silver penny 
 of Adrian. The absence of other ruins, or remains, 
 may be explained by the place having been made 
 use of as a quarry. If you return by another road, 
 that near Castileja de la Cuesta, you have learned 
 where one of the very greatest of Spaniards, 
 Hernan Cortez, lived and died. " He was first 
 buried in the village-chapel upon the site of Italica." 
 His bones were subsequently removed to Mexico, 
 the scene of his astonishing and chequered glory. 
 Any one with time at his disposal will, no doubt, 
 visit many other sites, and objects, near Seville, 
 such as are duly noted in the guide-books, but 
 many, I think, will content themselves with seeing 
 what has been detailed above. I think that one is 
 generally apt to see too much rather than too little. 
 Crowding too many sights into a few days, results 
 in weakening, rather than in vivifying the impres- 
 sion subsequently. If we visit two or three 
 churches in one day, for example, what do we really 
 remember of each one six weeks later ? Or, if we 
 run through two picture galleries, or museums, one
 
 SEVILLE 245 
 
 after the other, will our recollections of this or that 
 Murillo, or of that tomb, or monument, be very- 
 clear when afterwards we strive to bring them 
 before us again ? And then again, in endeavouring 
 to ransack all those records of the Past, which a 
 tourist is told by his guide-books to be indispen- 
 sably necessary to his education, is he not wont to 
 shut his eyes entirely to the Present. When pro- 
 pelling himself out of one Gallery or Church, and 
 into another, the mind of many a tourist must often 
 I think, turn to the reverse of that antique medal, 
 the Past, to find out what people are doing in the 
 Present. To have a glimpse of the commerce and 
 trade which are employing thousands of toilers ; to 
 visit one of those charitable institutions, or factories ; 
 even to converse with that shopkeeper, and to 
 acquaint oneself with his ideas and his interests, 
 for all these things, the tourist has no time. I 
 suppose it is inevitable, and thus there is scarcely 
 a City, perhaps, in the course of our headlong 
 sight-seeing that one can be said to know.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 From Cordova to Granada by rail — Road through featureless, 
 yellow tracts — Montilla an " Oasis " — First verdant spot — 
 La Roda, Seville Junction — Thence to Granada, smiling 
 scenes — Beautiful Hill-scenery — Look out for " Loja " — 
 Neighbourhood rife with Moorish associations — Broiling 
 journey — Arrival at Granada — Another Clime, another 
 Country — Entrance to precincts of Alhambra — Gate of 
 Charles V — A beautiful Forest — Fountains and Running 
 Waters — Nightingales — Hotels — " Washington Irving," 
 "Siete Suelos "— " Siete Suelos " not of the hotel— Blocked- 
 up Tower — Boabdil-el-Chico — Alhambra, an ideal Fortress — 
 The Romans were here, too— Similarity to Italian Hill-cities, 
 or Indian Fortresses — Entrance to Palace through a small 
 door — Puerta della Giustizia — " Sublime Porte " — Descrip- 
 tion of — The Mystic Hand — The Key — Imposing scene 
 of yore — Keynote as Fortress — Torre de la Vega — Ramparts 
 and Towers — Torre del Vino — Plaza de los Algibes — 
 Moorish Cisterns — Renaissance Palace of Charles V — En- 
 trance into the Alhambra Palace— Patio de la Alberca — 
 Tower of Comares — Arabian Art-atmosphere — Perfection of 
 Moorish Art — A preternatural race of Bees — Ornamentation, 
 " Inscriptions," Sermons in stucco — Freshness of — Artistic 
 renovation — Alhambra, no Pompeii or Palatine — The Moors, 
 "out for the day" — Perpetual youth — Contemporary Art- 
 critics — Fountain in "Court of Lions" — " Pyramus and 
 Thisbe," recalled — "Las dos Hermanas " ("The Two 
 Sisters ") — Ford's remarks — Sultan's favourite rooms de- 
 
 246
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 247 
 
 stroyed — Upper story — Patio Lindaraja — Sala de los Aben- 
 cerrages and Court — The Mezquita — King Yusuf stabbed — 
 The oldest portion of the Alhambra — Transformed and 
 rebuilt, temp. Charles V — Charles's Architect, Machuca — 
 Garden, so-named — A fascinating Chamber — Mirador, della 
 Reina — Loveliness of views thence — El Bafio del Rey — 
 Chamber "del Riposo" — Gallery — Silence and languor — 
 Spirit of the Alhambra. 
 
 IT is not until Montilla is reached, upon this 
 Railway line, that the country becomes inter- 
 esting. Hitherto, it has been bare and sandy and 
 nearly featureless. Montilla has a pleasing sound 
 for those who have ever imbibed the very good 
 wine for which this district is deservedly famous. 
 Your heart has been cheered before now by its 
 vintage, and now it leaps up to greet the first pretty 
 spot you have seen since leaving Cordova. Montilla 
 stands high up on your right, much exposed to 
 the sun, but girdled below by groves of pome- 
 granates and olive orchards. The district is famous 
 for olive oil, and the cultivation of the trees extends 
 far and wide in this part of Spain. But it is at 
 La Roda, where the Seville line meets that of 
 Cordova, where the really pretty country com- 
 mences. And thence to Granada the eye is grati- 
 fied by beautiful hill-scenery and a varied landscape. 
 Look out for beautiful Loja, both town and district, 
 crowned with Moorish history and traditions. 
 After the hottest of journeys ever to be experienced, 
 nothing could be more gratifying than the arrival at 
 Granada, the cool fountain-tinkling city. The feel- 
 ing was that of being in another country, and in 
 another clime. And so it is. You have left Spain
 
 248 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 behind you, you are in Granada. They are worlds 
 apart. The longer you stop in Granada (and who 
 has ever willingly torn himself away ?) the stronger 
 will be your conviction that Spain is merely a feoff 
 of Granada. It is by a handsome modern gate (that 
 erected by Charles V) that you enter the precincts 
 of the Alhambra, the " Red " Fortress- Palace of 
 the Moorish Sovereigns. It is a stiff pull up hill, 
 and the slower you go the better, for you are in a 
 beautiful wood of plane and elm and poplar and 
 lime and cherry trees, and you hear the splashing 
 sounds of running waters and fountains all about 
 you, with the pipings of nightingales thrown in ! It 
 is a joy, after so many leagues of treeless, yellow 
 Spain. 
 
 Your coach sets you down at the end of these 
 charming forest-groves, at one of the two Hotels, 
 the " Siete Suelos," and the " Washington Irving," 
 which face each other. The name " Siete Suelos," 
 " Seven Stories," does not refer to the Hotel. It 
 commemorates the much blocked-up Tower of that 
 name, immortalised as that from which the hapless 
 ejected Boabdil-el-Chico, the last of the Moorish 
 Sovereigns, took his sorrowful farewell of the 
 glorious home of his ancestors. The elevated 
 position of the Alhambra must, long before the 
 Moorish epoch, have made it an ideal Fortress, — an 
 Acropolis, — for whatever Races may have preceded 
 the Moors. The ubiquitous Romans must needs 
 have been here, but I suppose that any work of 
 theirs has disappeared beneath the buildings of later 
 Conquerors. You may be reminded, perhaps, of
 
   
 
 • V 
 
 .. . ,' t 
 
 M 
 
 
 < 
 
 « 
 C5 
 
 •5. 
 

 
 THE ALHAMBRA 249 
 
 some of the fine Hill-cities of Italy — Perugia, or 
 Cortona, or Orvieto, upon your first sight of the 
 Alhambra. But it may be likened rather to one 
 of the vast Fortress-Palaces of India, such as Dow- 
 lutabad (near Aurungabad), or that of Pertabghur, 
 in the Mahratta Country. 
 
 It is to be regretted that you should not enter into 
 the lovely Courts and colonnades of the Alhambra, 
 by one of the grand Moorish arches. It would be 
 much more impressive than having to creep in 
 through a small door near the Palace of Charles V. 
 
 o 
 
 But you do enter the precincts of the Alhambra by 
 the grandest gate of all, that known as the Puerta 
 della Giustizia, The Porch, the "Sublime Porte" 
 par excellence. It is the typical Entrance-Gate of 
 a Palace, such as you have often seen in illustrations 
 to the "Arabian Nights." Over the Arch is in- 
 scribed a large hand, open, and open especially to 
 any interpretation you may put into it. The Gate 
 was erected in 1348, by Yusuf I, one of the 
 greatest decorators of the Alhambra. His name 
 is introduced here, and in countless other places in 
 the Palace, as was only fitting and appropriate. 
 You will see before you, high on the inner Arch, 
 another mystic sign, a " Key." A " key " is sug- 
 gestive of so many meanings, and here again you 
 are at liberty to interpret the symbol as you will. 
 In this magnificent entrance to the Palace, the 
 Sovereign dispensed justice with "open hand" (as 
 above) surrounded by his Wuzeers and ministers, 
 and generals, and men of war. One can imagine 
 the imposing splendour of the scene. The now
 
 250 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 swallow-haunted gate is not without ingeniously- 
 contrived defences, and at night, when attack might 
 be reasonably expected, the invader would have 
 found the intricate tortuous passage that gives 
 access to the Plaza beyond, hard to negotiate. It 
 is this Gate that gives the keynote to the whole 
 Alhambra as a Fortress. And as soon as you have 
 passed through and seen the great Tower de la Vega 
 rearing itself before you, and the Ramparts, and 
 other Towers springing up from the long circuit of 
 fortified walls, you realise that it is not only a 
 succession of lovely apartments that you have come 
 to see, but the strongest Fortress of Moorish Spain. 
 Do not fail, before you pass on, to look at an 
 isolated Tower, — called "del Vino," — with a lovely 
 Arch, encrusted with radiant and many-coloured 
 Moorish tiles. Proceeding onward, you cross the 
 famous Plaza de los Algibes, with its truly Moorish 
 cisterns. They are filled by the River Darro. It 
 is considered to be the best water in Granada. 
 Donkeys, mules, and ponies are always ascending 
 to carry off the much-prized water, forming scenes 
 worthy of the East and of the painter's brush. 
 This Plaza divides the Palace from the Citadel 
 proper. Fine as may be the never-finished Renais- 
 sance Palace of Charles V, which is the next object 
 which presents itself, you will be disinclined to tarry 
 now, and you make for the obscure and insignifi- 
 cant door, in rear of that Palace, which is to admit 
 you into the glories of the Alhambra. You have to 
 swallow your objections to entering by a portal of so 
 small impressiveness. You find yourself at once in
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 251 
 
 the Patio de la Alberca (" Fish Pond"). It was 
 altered and interfered with by Philip V, and more 
 usually bears the name of that Monarch. It recalls 
 to mind the very similar avenue of waters and fish 
 ponds, that leads up to the world-famous Taj Mahal. 
 The marble pavement shines brilliantly through the 
 waters, which are bordered by verdure of orange 
 trees and myrtle and Japanese medlar. Upon your 
 right, as you stand contemplating, the further end, 
 which is overshadowed by another grand Tower, 
 that called "Comares," runs a fascinating double 
 colonnade. Your feelings at the outset of your 
 journey, and so they continue to be, are not those 
 of bewilderment as they were when you first plunged 
 into the labyrinths of the Mosque at Cordova, but 
 rather of intense admiration. Here, and through- 
 out the Palace, all is much what you expected to 
 see. You have been from childhood, perhaps, 
 half-familiar with these pillared grottoes, these 
 arabesqued courts. But how serenely beautiful, 
 how fairy-like, how restful, how enchanting ; how 
 noble even, were the courts and colonnades not so 
 intricate and shrouded. How delicate and dream- 
 ful it all is, as you seem to pass without an effort 
 upon your part into the Arabian atmosphere of the 
 13th Century. What a perception of beauty these 
 old Moorish artists possessed ! What a prodigality 
 of fancy, yet always restrained in its expression. 
 What a sense of harmony, proportion, balance, 
 colour ! and everywhere the refinement of a perfect 
 taste. The Moors absolutely revel in ornamen- 
 tation. So lavishly and so minutely, too, has their
 
 252 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 genius for decoration impelled them to overspread 
 with ornament and colour every apartment of the 
 Alhambra, that you are prone to overlook the regu- 
 larity, the almost mathematical precision of their 
 mode of work. You would almost say that the 
 intricate delicacies of the honeycomb work of the 
 domes and recesses, had been executed by a 
 preternatural race of bees. That the filagree- 
 like beauty of the stalactites, the recurrent 
 embroideries as of lace-work, had been formed 
 by specially-selected coral-insects or ants. Who 
 thinks when he first casts his eyes around the 
 incessant ornamentation of these walls, and domes, 
 that he is regarding inscriptions ? Yet so it is. 
 The walls of these lovely apartments are open 
 books in Arabic or Cufic. Verses from the 
 Koran, pious aspirations, poems or records in 
 praise of those who built or reigned here. Verily 
 sermons in stones! In praise, too, of the Buildings 
 themselves ; ejaculations to Allah, — all sentences 
 couched in the flowery style peculiar to the 
 Easterns. Here, the tired warrior, or the medi- 
 tative lounger, had no need of books, when the 
 walls around them soothed them with poems and 
 sentiments, or aroused their devotion to Allah, or 
 to the occupant of the throne. Who would have 
 thought it possible that mere Arabic inscriptions 
 could have produced such infinite combinations of 
 patterns, and of decorative effects ? Solomon in 
 all his glory would have sighed for such a Palace 
 as this. It is a marvel that so much of a perishable 
 nature should have been preserved. Certainly the
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 253 
 
 modern Spaniards have so carried out the repairs in 
 a most conscientious, careful, and artistic spirit, that 
 the bewildering succession of lovely halls and apart- 
 ments seem to be as fresh as when the original 
 workmen laid down their tools. They tell you that 
 many of the rooms have been destroyed, altered, 
 and removed. Of that you are not conscious, 
 whatever may have been the case fifty or a 
 hundred years ago. You are only wonderingly 
 and expansively grateful for the treasures that 
 remain. For here in the Alhambra, there is no 
 question of ruined Palaces, nor of abandoned seats 
 of fallen greatness, crumbling and shattered. The 
 Alhambra is no roofless and desolated Pompeii, no 
 ruinous and gutted Palatine. It still remains what 
 it always was, a vision of architectural beauties, and 
 a scene of ever-renewed enchantment. You do not 
 realise that there ever has been any abandonment 
 of their splendid courts and corridors. The Moors 
 surely have only gone out for the day. And so 
 you go, onward, spellbound from Court to Corridor 
 — Courts of "Lions," " Abencerrages," "Ambassa- 
 dors," " Mezquitas," apartments of Princesses and 
 Sultanas, bowers and boudoirs ; bewildering oriels 
 and balconies ; baths and latticed nooks, and niches, 
 and alcoves, for solitude and meditation ; glimpses 
 of lovely gardens, or views of valley and mountain ; 
 sounds of gurgling waters, and plashing fountains ; 
 and each chamber seeming more magical and more 
 entrancing than another. 
 
 And it is not only the freshness and vividness of 
 colour and decoration throughout the Alhambra
 
 254 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 that give a perpetual youth to its really venerable 
 walls. It is also that we are placed upon the same 
 standpoint as that of the founders and architects, by 
 reading the very criticisms and opinions of contem- 
 porary poets, upon the beauties of the building, and 
 which are inscribed upon certain alcoves and door- 
 ways, medallions and fountains. These very poeti- 
 cal observations are couched in the highly ornate 
 style peculiar to Eastern Poets, and are perfectly in 
 keeping with the romantically beautiful architectural 
 effects to which these poets have drawn the atten- 
 tion. But what an original idea, that of inscribing 
 upon the walls of a Building, the opinions of con- 
 temporary poets upon the artistic details ! Some of 
 the inscriptions r round the basin of the Fountain in 
 the " Court of Lions " runs thus : " Blessed be he 
 who gave the Imam Mohammed a mansion which 
 in beauty exceeds all other mansions. . . . Look at 
 this solid mass of pearl glistening all around. . . . 
 For what else is this Fountain, but a beneficent 
 cloud pouring out its abundant supplies over the 
 Lions underneath like the hands of the Khalif, 
 when he rises in the morning to distribute plentiful 
 rewards amongr his soldiers, the Lions of War ? 
 Oh ! thou who beholdest these Lions crouching, 
 fear not : life is wanting to enable them to show 
 their fury," etc. One is amused by the spectator 
 being entreated not to give way to fear ; that the 
 Lions are really not savage beasts at all ! The 
 mind is carried back to the delightful burlesque 
 
 1 It should be here observed that all the inscriptions here 
 quoted are from the vivid renderings of the eminent Mr. Ford.
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 255 
 
 of " Pyramus and Thisbe," interpolated in the 
 " Midsummer Night's Dream," where the ladies 
 are reassured by the Lion declaring himself to be 
 only Snug the Joiner. As is well known, the 
 Koran prohibited the Faithful from the represen- 
 tation of graven images of living things. If here 
 the Artist seems at first sight to have departed 
 from that commandment, he might well have 
 pleaded that he had made these lions as little like 
 real lions as possible. They are quite guiltless of 
 being at all leonine. They are lions as quaintly 
 conventional as anything you may see in Verona 
 or Pisa. Again, in the lovely Sala, " Las dos Her- 
 manas " ("The Two Sisters") — so called from the 
 two similar slabs of marble which are inserted into 
 the pavement, "an apartment," says Ford, "un- 
 equalled for the beauty, and symmetry of its 
 ornaments and its stalactite roof," may be read 
 the following glowing lines, none too laudatory of 
 the exquisite architecture thereof: "Look atten- 
 tively at my elegance, and reap the benefit of a 
 commentary on decoration ; here are columns orna- 
 mented with every perfection, and the beauty of 
 which has become proverbial, — columns which, 
 when struck by the rays of the rising sun, one 
 might fancy, notwithstanding their colossal dimen- 
 sions, to be so many blocks of pearl. Indeed, we 
 never saw a palace more lofty than this in the 
 exterior ; more brilliantly decorated in its interior, 
 or having more extensive apartments." This last 
 remark refers, probably, to others of the same suite, 
 which have been destroyed and which were the
 
 256 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 private rooms of the Sultan. There is an upper 
 storey with latticed windows, whence the ladies of 
 the Harem could behold, without being beheld, all 
 that micrht be Qroine on below of festive or romantic. 
 The "storey "is a romance in itself. Nor should 
 the window at the extremity of the Sala be left 
 unvisited, for it commands the shaded orange 
 groves, and the fountain of the Patio de Lindaraja. 
 Another inscription in this Boudoir of the Sultana 
 runs thus : " Praise to God ! delicately have the 
 fingers of the Artist embroidered my robe after 
 setting the jewels of my diadem. People compare 
 me to the throne of a Bride, but I surpass it in this, 
 that I can secure the felicity of those who possess 
 me." How one likes the pious aspiration beginning 
 these sentences ! " Exquisitely lovely dwellings, 
 ease, luxury, refinement, were not given to man 
 only for his selfish enjoyment. God must be first 
 praised that He had made such things possible to 
 human ingenuity." The Sala just noticed is 
 opposite that of the " Sala de los Abencerrages," 
 where Muly Abul Hassan had the unfortunate 
 Abencerrages massacred. It is one of the Courts 
 most celebrated for its wonderful beauty. The 
 guides will not point out the blood-stains, unless 
 you insist. For another deed of blood, — if not for 
 its own sake, the " Mezquita " must be visited. 
 Here Yusuf, King of Granada, was stabbed. It is 
 considered as being the oldest portion of the 
 Alhambra, and has one or two square doors. It 
 was transformed, and more or less rebuilt in the 
 Moorish style, during the reign of Charles, as a
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 257 
 
 Chapel. Machuca, Charles's architect, lived in this 
 portion of the Palace, and the truly lovely garden 
 which you can look at from the windows here as 
 well as from the Court of the Ambassadors, is 
 named after Machuca. Another most fascinating 
 Chamber is that called the " Tocador " or " Mirador 
 della Reina," the Queen's Dressing-room. It is 
 small, but it is a gem of architecture. One can 
 suppose that the lady who had the privilege of 
 attiring herself in this exquisite boudoir would never 
 hurry over her toilette. Indeed, she would be 
 always laying aside her combs, and cosmetics, in 
 order to raze at the beautiful views which sur- 
 rounded her. For the boudoir is surrounded by 
 one of the most lovely colonnades it is possible 
 to conceive, and through each of the horse-shoe 
 arches some enchanting view of the surrounding 
 country discloses itself. There, the snowy peaks 
 of the Sierra Nevada ; and there the Country 
 Palace of the Generalife, embowered in groves 
 and gardens, and cypress-avenues. And through 
 another arch, there is a background of more rugged 
 hills, and through another, you catch glimpses of 
 gardens and towers of the Alhambra itself. To 
 complete the luxuriousness of this delicious room, a 
 portion of the floor is perforated in order to admit 
 a current of perfumed air from below. Truly a 
 superfluity of Eastern luxury, worthy of Haroun-al- 
 Raschid himself, or of Nero in his Golden House. 
 Nor are the Moorish Baths, called " El Barlo del 
 Rey" and " El Bano del Principe," inferior to the 
 " Tocador," in graceful splendour and in refine- 
 
 17
 
 258 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 ment of taste. Perhaps the most exquisite of the 
 chambers devoted to purposes of the kind, is that 
 called " del Riposo." The upper portion is sur- 
 rounded by a gallery. The light is here subdued 
 and soft, and yet the colouring and the decorations 
 are so vivid, that you seem to be inside of a prism, 
 where an amethystine hue prevails. The pensive 
 silence of the room steeps your senses in a dream- 
 ful languor. It is a place where a "Lotos-eater" 
 would be content to breathe out his soul into a kind 
 of Nirvana. He would here feel that all the rest 
 of the world were idle bustle, mere weariness to the 
 flesh. It is in such retreats as these, that the spirit 
 of the Alhambra takes full possession of you. More 
 so, I think, than in the more spacious Courts. 
 These "creep into the study of imagination" more 
 potently. You think of them afterwards with even 
 greater delight. 
 
 It is interesting to note that just before the 
 Mussulman Power was being crushed in Spain 
 by the capture of Granada in 1492, another of the 
 heads of the Hydra should have reared itself so 
 fatally over the East of Europe by the capture 
 of Constantinople in 1453.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Ecstatic writing unavoidable — Moors, flawlessly perfect — Risk 
 of forgetting more modern figures — Charles V's Honey- 
 moon here — Remark on Boabdil by him — His Renaissance 
 Palace never roofed — His Gallery in the Tocador — Devote a 
 day to marking well Alhambra bulwarks— Towers of the 
 " Cautiva Isabella," and " Dos Infantas " — The Alhambra, 
 as Fortress — Dimensions — Torres Bernue first fortified — 
 " Al Hamra," or " Enclosure of the Red "—The Palace 
 proper — Torre de la Vela, or " Watch-tower " — Vega from 
 thence — Soto de Roma — Iron-Duke's property — Santa Fe — 
 Mendoza's Silver Cross — Other Towers — Another Mezquita 
 — A Jewel — Sympathetic Custodes — Convent of St. Francis 
 — Ferdinand and Isabella's Coffins — Irving's " Tales of the 
 Alhambra" — "Dazzling white" or "colour"? — Torre del 
 Agua — Hill of the Generalife — Torre " Siete Suelos," again 
 — El Chico's Monument ! — His last request to Ferdinand — 
 His " Via Dolorosa " — La Cuesta de las Lagrimas — " El 
 Ultimo Suspiro del Moro" — The Woman's Last Word — 
 Belshazzar's Doom — Kismet and Yasoul — The Tower, blown 
 up by the French ! — Can be partially explored — Torre Gran 
 Capitano — An unforgettable Walk — The Generalife Palace — 
 A purchase, not a confiscation — An annexe to Alhambra — 
 An enchanting Residence — Present proprietor, an absentee — 
 Destruction of trees — Canals and Fountains — The River 
 
 259
 
 260 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Darro — Courts and Colonnades — A Portrait Gallery, apocry- 
 phal — Terraces and Hanging Gardens — "La Silla del 
 Moro." 
 
 IT is difficult when writing about the Alhambra, 
 to abstain from a style hyperbolical or ecstatic. 
 You seem to be dipping your pen in the rainbow- 
 like tints of the Moorish artists. You are always 
 in danger of overstepping the boundaries that divide 
 prose from poetry. It would be a relief to your 
 soul if you could only, as Time has done, pick holes 
 here and there ; the Moors are too faultless, too 
 flawlessly perfect, and you cannot do so. So, you 
 are ever protesting too much, like the actress in the 
 play in " Hamlet." You are in danger here, too, 
 of forgetting more recent personages who have 
 strutted their brief hour upon this Moorish stage. 
 And so it must be recalled to mind that above the 
 apartments, just referred to, there is another suite 
 of rooms that Charles V had modernised for his 
 honeymoon in 1526. The very place for a honey- 
 moon, any one of these rooms in the Alhambra, 
 every one would say. 
 
 But Charles V, or his wife, found them all too 
 small or unadapted for a residence, I suppose, or 
 why should they ever have thought it necessary to 
 erect a Palace here, which, however fine in itself, 
 is quite incongruous and out of keeping with the 
 Alhambra. And the more inexplicable as Charles 
 greatly admired the Saracenic style of architecture. 
 
 " Ill-fated the man," (he is said to have observed 
 in the Comares Tower,) " who lost all this ! ' And 
 he was extremely annoyed by the partial destruc-
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 261 
 
 tion of the Cordova Mosque. But I believe that 
 he is to be acquitted from the charge of having 
 destroyed any portion of the Alhambra, in erecting 
 his Palace. Its erection was in every way a mis- 
 take, for after eight years had been employed in 
 building, it was abandoned, and has never been 
 furnished with even a roof. Among other handi- 
 work of Charles V, is the Gallery in the " Tocador " 
 quarter, decorated somewhat in the Pompeiian style ; 
 there are frescoes and medallions, some representing 
 mythological subjects, and some the campaigns of 
 Charles in Tunis by land and sea. 
 
 The views of Carthage, as it then existed, are 
 especially noteworthy. One day at least, ought to 
 be devoted to going round the bastions, to visiting 
 all the Towers, and to exploring those which are 
 to be opened when required. Indeed, two of the 
 Towers (those of the " Cautiva Isabella," and the 
 "Dos Infantas") may strike some people as more 
 romantically beautiful than any other portion of the 
 Alhambra. It is as a great and splendid Fortress, as 
 much as a lovely Palace, that the Alhambra demands 
 our attention. No Fortress in Europe can com- 
 pare with it either in beauty, or in interest, or in 
 antiquity. It is to Spain much what the Tower of 
 London once was to England. 
 
 The space within the walls is roughly about 
 2,690 ft. long by 730 ft. in width. The walls are 
 30 ft. in height, and some 6 ft. in thickness. It is 
 worth noting that this famous Citadel should not 
 have been the first work upon this hill. That por- 
 tion of the hill which directly overlooks the City of
 
 262 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Granada, known as the "Torres Bernuejas," was 
 the first fortified post, and was certainly in existence 
 in the 9th Century. The Alhambra as we now 
 see it, emphatically called the " Kassabah Al- 
 Hamra," — "the enclosure of the Red," — was com- 
 menced by Habus Ibn Makesen in the nth 
 Century. 
 
 The fine square towers which rear themselves 
 above the curtains, are, generally, in good pre- 
 servation and are eleven in number. The Torre 
 de la "Vela," the "Watch-tower" par excellence, 
 confronts you as you clear the Puerta de la 
 Justicia, — well styled the Watch-tower, for it 
 commands the whole country of the Vega, with 
 all its varied interchange of irrigated plain 
 and glistening river, verdant meads and rugged 
 mountains. 
 
 There was the site of old Illiberis, where Goths and 
 Vandals possessed a town before Granada existed, 
 and not far thence were the woods which enclose the 
 Soto de Roma, the property conferred upon our 
 "Gran Capitano " — Wellington. There is Santa 
 Fe, a mere vestige of the famous town built by 
 Ferdinand and Isabella during their long operations 
 against the Moors of Granada. It was thence that 
 the intrepid Columbus started upon his momentous 
 journey, having at length bent to his will the 
 Spanish Sovereigns. From hence not a horse 
 could move, nor a cavalcade start without being 
 perceived. The task of subduing the Moors, ever 
 upon the watch, like eagles from their eyries, might 
 indeed have appeared hopeless. Upon this Tower, 

 
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 THE ALHAMBRA 263 
 
 when the Moors did at length surrender, Mendoza 
 planted the Silver Cross presented to him by 
 Sextus IV. 
 
 Next comes the Torre del " Homenage," (Eng. : 
 " Homage,") and then the Torre de Comares, 
 seemingly the loftiest and most massive, and con- 
 taining, or commanding some of the most exquisite 
 apartments of the Palace. 
 
 Then comes the Torre de los " Picos," com- 
 mandinof the ravine which runs round the Alhambra 
 upon the north and the Generalife Palace. You 
 can make your exit here by the Moorish postern 
 gate below. 
 
 This Tower is pierced by one or two beautiful 
 windows. The French — (the French again ! ) were 
 designing, for some reason — or no reason — to blow 
 up this Tower, but missed their fell opportunity. 
 In the vicinity of this Tower are pretty gardens 
 and detached buildings, once the residences of 
 courtiers or ladies, — " Torres de las Damas." Hard 
 by, is one of the very choicest specimens of archi- 
 tecture — a little Mezquita — perched in a lovely little 
 garden full of cypress and odorous shrubs and 
 clipped box-hedges. Two " Moorish " lions guard 
 the entrance. They are more terrible of aspect 
 than their cousins in the Court of Lions. They 
 came here from the Mint. This " Mezquita " is a 
 gem of architecture and an ideal of poetical dream- 
 fulness. And it is all the more valuable from a 
 religious point of view, as the Great Mosque that 
 stood near has disappeared. A particularly nice 
 couple act here as custodians. It was agreeable to
 
 264 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 hear their subdued remarks, and they seemed to 
 enjoy the society of a sympathetic traveller. 
 
 Here you are within a stone's-throw of the 
 Convent of S. Francesco, founded by the first 
 Alcayde of the Alhambra. I fear that he must 
 have been guilty of great disrespect to the Moorish 
 artists in the erection of his building-. 
 
 But the Convent is noteworthy from the fact that 
 the coffins of Ferdinand and Isabella rested here, 
 whilst their splendid tombs in the Cathedral were 
 being prepared to receive them. After passing the 
 Torre de los Picos, we arrive at a portion of the 
 w r alls, where the towers seem to have been set apart 
 for Princesses or Sultanas. Three Towers in suc- 
 cession bear the names respectively "de la Cautiva 
 Isabella," "de la Sultana," " de las Infantas." 
 What historical authority gives them these names I 
 know not. Legend is all that is wanted here, and 
 Washington Irving has re-peopled these Towers 
 for us. 
 
 The retired position of these Towers would point 
 them out as specially adapted for the seclusion in 
 which Moorish ladies were placed. But never 
 could prisoners have found their confinement 
 so little irksome, or prison-bars so gilded, as in 
 these beautiful two-storied palaces. Nowhere in 
 the Alhambra could they have enjoyed more en- 
 trancing views, not only of the Alhambra itself, 
 but of the Generalife Gardens of the Sierra Nevada, 
 and of all the fine and varied scenery of the far- 
 famed Vega. 
 
 The architecture is fully as exquisite as in any
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 265 
 
 other part of the Alhambra. And here, strangely 
 enough, colour has been almost abandoned, but the 
 ornamentation, though white, is quite as intricately 
 beautiful, and increases the resemblance to lace. 
 There is, too, an absence of Azulejos-tiling, on 
 walls and flooring-. You begin now to think that 
 you prefer dazzling whiteness to colouring, however 
 brilliant. It will be remembered that Washington 
 Irving has made the " Torre de las Infantas " the 
 scene of one of his most attractive stories ; that of 
 the " Three Princesses." No one will ever compete 
 with Washington Irving in resuscitating the Moorish 
 past. Certainly he had unequalled opportunities for 
 doing so. Who, like him, can ever hope to occupy 
 rooms looking into the garden of Lindaraja, and to 
 live amongst the denizens of his own day, who 
 really believed that the Moors were still about them 
 in a sort of suspended animation ? Who can ever 
 hope to attend a banquet in the beautiful Tower of 
 11 Las dos Hermanas," and to adjourn thereafter to 
 a concert in the Hall of the Ambassadors? And 
 these were some of the privileges of Washington 
 Irving-. 
 
 The last Tower upon this side of the walls, which 
 have been skirting the ravine which separates the 
 Alhambra from the Hill of the Generalife, is the 
 Torre del Agua. 
 
 As its name imports, it is connected with the 
 water-supply. An aqueduct, forming a most pic- 
 turesque arch over the ravine, joins the Hill to this 
 Tower. Hence, until you reach the Torre " Siete 
 Suelos," there is no Tower demanding especial
 
 266 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 attention. This Tower of the " Seven Stories " may- 
 be regarded as a monument to the last King of 
 Granada — an indestructible mausoleum of ruined 
 greatness and a sign-post upon the path of exile. 
 Hence it was that Boabdil the Unfortunate, El Re 
 Chico, " Zogoybi," the " Luckless One," emerged, 
 upon that fateful morning, 1492, as he left for ever 
 the Throne and the Palace which his fathers had 
 occupied for some five hundred years. He is said 
 to have made a last request to Ferdinand and 
 Isabella that none should ever pass through the 
 Sfate aoain. There seems no reason to doubt this 
 story. History has left a record of the sorrowful 
 road, a Via Dolorosa indeed, traversed by the 
 Man of Destiny and his followers upon the disas- 
 trous morning. 
 
 The sad cavalcade, upon issuing forth for the last 
 time, from the " Torre de los Siete Suelos," pursued 
 a course almost due south, down the ravine, where 
 now stands the Church of " Los Martyros." Thence, 
 passing to the " Puerta de los mulinos," and skirting 
 the City upon the right, they found themselves upon 
 the River Xenil. Poor Boabdil had every reason to 
 avoid the City no longer his. Then they arrived at 
 a mosque, now the site of the " Hermitage of San 
 Sebastian." There, so it is recorded, Boabdil gave 
 up the keys of his beloved City to King Ferdinand. 
 He had before leaving his Palace sent his Vizier 
 Aben-Comixa to the Puerta de la Justicia to hand 
 over the Fortress of the Alhambra to Ferdinand's 
 officers. Having gone through that pathetic cere- 
 mony, Boabdil passed southwards to a little village
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 267 
 
 situated upon the skirts of the Alpuxarra Mountains, 
 amongst some bare and barren spurs thereof. 
 There, his family, who had preceded him, met 
 him upon a little hill — " La Cuesta de las Lagrimas," 
 the " Hill of Tears," thence for ever to be known as 
 such. From that little hill Boabdil took his last 
 farewell of the glorious heritage that yesterday had 
 been his. " El Ultimo Suspiro del Moro," " You 
 do well," said his high-spirited mother Ayxa, or, as 
 others say, his wife, " to weep as a woman over that 
 which you had not the courage to defend." 
 
 A woman has always the last word ; Boabdil had 
 the last sigh. Nothing in history has been more 
 pathetic than that exit of a great Race from the 
 Kingdoms won by heroic deeds and preserved by 
 sleepless vigilance for some seven hundred years. 
 The sceptre so forcibly wielded for centuries, had at 
 length passed into feeble hands. Belshazzar's doom 
 had been written upon the Alhambra's Walls. 
 Mahomet's once invincible dominion was no 
 longer to give the law in Western Europe. 
 "Kismet" was the conqueror. 
 
 The fateful word " Yasoul " ("it will all come to 
 an end ") had been uttered, and had extinguished 
 the Crescent. 
 
 It is to be regretted that an Hotel should have 
 sprung up in front of the " Torre de los Siete 
 Suelos." But you can explore some of the 
 " Suelos " still. A portion of the winding stair- 
 case within exists, and you can descend to a floor 
 beneath the present level. But the entrance-gate, 
 which still exists, is not to be negotiated. It has
 
 268 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 been blocked up in a way that poor Boabdil did 
 not anticipate. For the French were here more 
 fortunate in their destructive efforts than they were 
 at the " Torre de los Picos " ; fragments of wall, 
 and huge stones, half buried beneath pines and 
 pomegranate, are scattered about, a picturesque 
 scene of ruinous confusion. 
 
 There is another Tower beyond this, known as 
 that of the " Gran Capitano." It is inhabited by 
 some of the fortunate loafers to whom so many of 
 the Alhambra Towers have been granted as resi- 
 dences. A few paces further on you come in sight 
 again of Charles's Palace, — and you have completed 
 one of the most interesting and beautiful walks that 
 you have ever undertaken. 
 
 The beautiful country-villa of the Generalife 
 or Garden of the Architect, was purchased by 
 the reigning Sultan in the 14th Century. One 
 is glad to hear of purchase, not of confiscation. 
 It has already become a very familiar object, 
 as we have been regarding it from Towers and 
 other "coigns of vantage" during our visits to 
 the Alhambra. It seems strange that the Monarch 
 should have felt the want to possess another Palace 
 so near to the Alhambra, from which it is separated 
 only by a narrow ravine which skirts it on the 
 south. For it is scarcely more of a country resi- 
 dence than the Alhambra itself. I suppose, how- 
 ever, that the Sultan objected to being overlooked 
 by a subject. And he was right. The modern 
 road, whereon the Hotels are situated, brings you 
 to the entrance in a few minutes. It is an enchant-
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 269 
 
 ing residence, although the present possessor, the 
 Conte Palavicini of Genoa, does not appear to be 
 in love with it. All the better, therefore, for the 
 foreigners, who are permitted access thereto every 
 day. 
 
 The proprietor, or his representative, has had 
 but little respect for the place, for havoc has been 
 played with the grand cypress-trees, which have 
 been uprooted or cut down in a very inexplicable 
 manner. The most famous trees disappeared as 
 lately as 1896. But the Palace and Gardens still 
 remain worthy of Italy itself, with the added charm 
 of Saracenic Architecture of the 14th Century; 
 gardens and terraces, abounding with flowers and 
 verdure, trees, shrubs, peculiar to a Southern clime; 
 avenues, and arbours, and bushy groves, canals 
 and fountains, and gushing waters ; and every- 
 where the joyous and ceaseless piping of delighted 
 birds. 
 
 The canals and fountains are fed by the waters 
 of the dashing Darro, which disappears into yonder 
 ravine, until you again discover the river hurrying 
 from below to join the sister-river, the Xenil, in the 
 Vega. After admiring the beautiful courts and 
 colonnades of architecture similar to the Alhambra 
 itself, you are asked to inspect a small collection 
 of portraits (?) of Moorish and Spanish notabilities. 
 They are mostly bad, and all, I should suppose, 
 quite apocryphal as representations from life — 
 El Ray Chico, Ferdinand and Isabella, El Gran 
 Capitano, some of the Philips of Spain, &c. Then 
 you will climb up terraces, and hanging gardens,
 
 270 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 with more hurrying waters, until you reach the 
 summit of the hill known as " La Silla del Moro," 
 — "the Moor's seat, — a point always made for, as 
 much for the sake of its associations as for the 
 consummate views of the Alhambra, Granada, and 
 the whole of the historic country spread around. 
 A little further on upon the hill are remains of what 
 seems to have been a fort.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 GRANADA 
 
 City of Granada an appanage of the Alhambra — Immense 
 population once — The Albaycin Suburb — Still Moorish — 
 Bridges and Arches — The Elvira Arch-tradition — Boabdil's 
 " shivered Spear " — El Zogoybi taken prisoner — Recovers 
 his liberty — Albaycin derived from Bayisin — A second 
 fortress — Old Granada — S. Nicola, the Simmit — Consum- 
 mate views — Abode of Zitanas — Their pursuits— Dancing- 
 maidens — The merits of Granada Cathedral over-rated by Fer- 
 guson — Too modern aspect — Graeco-Roman style — Fine 
 Tombs — Ferdinand and Isabella — Huge Rejas — Gothic 
 Chapel, refreshing after cold Renaissance — Vigarny's Statues 
 of the Monarchs — Peralta's Tomb of Juanaand her husband 
 — Torrigiano's blighted hopes — Ferdinand's remarriage — 
 Contrast with Juana's long widowhood — Capilla de los 
 Reyes — A subject worthy of a Gibbon or a Macaulay — 
 Mementoes of the Sovereigns — Portions of the old Mosque 
 — Valiant Act of Herman del Pulgar — His reward — Ferdi- 
 nand's Place of Burial — The Effigies of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella — Those of Juana and Philip— Isabella's last direc- 
 tions — Isabella too bigoted to be " Great " — Juana's Pil- 
 grimage to Granada — The opened Coffin — Same morbid 
 craving inherent in her descendants— Henry VII sought her 
 hand — Vigarny's Bassi-relievi in the Capilla de los Reyes 
 — Kneeling Effigies of Ferdinand and Isabella — Alonzo 
 
 Caho's Pictures and Sculptures — Bad light — Velasquez's 
 
 271
 
 272 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Portrait of Carlo at Madrid — Philip IV made him a 
 Canon — Remonstrance and reply — Carlo's finest Picture 
 stolen and recovered — Torrigiano's " Charity " — West Door, 
 a Moorish Cloister — Casa del Carbon — Washington 
 Irving's Inn — Grim Abodes — "Civil" Carboneros — The 
 Chancelleria, Plateresque — Barracks — An old Palace — 
 Granada Streets generally dull — Shops bad — Good An- 
 tiquities — Beauty of an Antiquary's Courtyard — " Zok " 
 ("Market"), our "Soke," at Winchester, e.g.— The Ala- 
 meda, " Public Garden " — River Xenil — Promenade — 
 Carriage-folk — White Mantillas — " Did Zara drop her 
 ear-rings here?" — Dappled Waters — Gold in the Darro 
 River ? — Sources of the Xenil — The one Glacier of the Sierra 
 Nevada — Granada, " Pomegranate "(?) — Phoenician Karnattah 
 — Excursions from Granada — The Cartuja — Hovering Mendi- 
 cants — The Cartuja-Convent — A monument of " bad taste " 
 — Rich decoration in the Chapel — Fine Spanish Marbles — 
 General neglect of Spanish Marble — Alonzo Carlo's Ma- 
 donna — Cloisters and Frescoes — Carthusians martyred by 
 Henry VIII (?) — An irate Custode — Author suspected of 
 being an accomplice of Henry VIII — The Mad-house or 
 Hospital de Locos — Plateresque style — Ferdinand, Isabella, 
 and Juana — Plaza del Triunfo, once the execution-ground — 
 Then a Bull-ring — Hospital S. Geronimo — S. Juan de Dios 
 — A Lunatic (?) confined in Cage — Convent of S. Geronimo — 
 Its chequered history — " El Gran Capitano " here interred — 
 A Corpus Christi Procession again — Preponderance of Chil- 
 dren — Shadows and Shades — Glamour of the Old Race — 
 Unseasonable reflections — " Hasta la Vista," to Alhambra, 
 and to Rey Chico. 
 
 TH E City of Granada suffers from her position. 
 She seems to be a poor though proud rela- 
 tive of the Alhambra, an appanage merely. 
 
 "If not the Rose herself, I have always lived 
 beneath her shade," she seems to say. No doubt 
 in Moorish times, when she boasted of 400,000 
 inhabitants, with mosques, and palaces, and forts in

 
 GRANADA 273 
 
 proportion, she must have made a much more 
 impressive figure than with her population of to- 
 day, shrunken to 75,000, and with houses generally 
 modern and prosaic. Yet, if it were not for that 
 overpowering Alhambra above her, she might be 
 giving herself Moorish airs. For one of her 
 suburbs, that of the Albaycin Quarter, climbing 
 up the hill to the west of the Alhambra, separated 
 therefrom by the brawling Darro, is still half- 
 Moorish in population and architectural features. 
 Houses hang over the river quite Moorish in archi- 
 tecture, and there are bridges, and arches, without 
 doubt of the same work. The Elvira Arch, too, 
 whence the road from this Quarter passes into the 
 country beyond, to the old town and mountain-pass 
 of Elvira, is Saracenic, though terribly disfigured 
 by Spanish restorations. A Moorish tradition in 
 connection with this gate has been handed down. 
 When Boabdil upon one occasion had been worked 
 up to go forth and fight the ever-advancing 
 Spaniards, his lance struck against the archway 
 and was shivered by the contact. His mother, 
 Ayxa, and his newly-married wife, Morayma, who 
 had been watching his departure, wept over the 
 ill omen. Their fears were justified. " El Zo- 
 goybi," the " ill-starred one," was taken prisoner 
 in the ensuing battle, and his grim old father, 
 whom Boabdil had displaced, returned for a while 
 to his Alhambra-throne. 
 
 The Albaycin (" Bayisin ") was assigned to fugi- 
 tives from Baeza in the 13th Century, when their 
 town had been captured by Spaniards. Hence its 
 
 18 

 
 274 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 name. It may now be termed "Old Granada." 
 Its great height, nearly as elevated as the Alhambra 
 hill, suggested itself as a second fortress. It has 
 been surrounded by walls and forts of different 
 epochs, many remains of which are interesting to 
 trace, and picturesque to draw. 
 
 As has been suggested, it is the only beauti- 
 ful portion of the City. Certainly the views of the 
 Alhambra, backed by the Sierra Nevada, from 
 this Albaycin Quarter, and notably from the Church 
 of S. Nicola, its highest point, are quite stupen- 
 dous. You are here pursued by gipsy-women. For 
 this Quarter has long been the abode of gipsies, 
 no doubt of Moorish blood. They offer you all 
 kinds of little brass toys, and are importunate to 
 tell your fortunes. The little girls, too, are amus- 
 ing. They break into dances about you, snapping 
 their fingers like castanets, and swaying about their 
 lithe little bodies with indescribably supple move- 
 ments, the secrets of which they have inherited 
 from their long-ago Saracen progenitresses. This 
 Quarter is the portion of Granada, that after 
 the Alhambra itself, you will most frequently visit. 
 I think that Ferguson, in his " History of Archi- 
 tecture," although a very notable authority, is 
 inclined to over-estimate the merits of the Granada 
 Cathedral. 
 
 It will be allowed that the proportions are fine, 
 that it is very large, and that the dome is more 
 impressive than cupolas in Spanish architecture 
 are in general. But, owing chiefly, perhaps, to the 
 avalanche of whitewash that has descended upon
 
 GRANADA 275 
 
 the building, within and without, the Cathedral 
 presents a painfully modern appearance. It is a 
 1 6th Century edifice, built in what is called the 
 Graeco-Roman style, when the Gothic style was 
 being supplanted by the Renaissance. There are 
 some fine things to be seen in the way of pictures, 
 statues, effigies, monuments, and tombs, and the 
 iron work of the " Rejas " is often superb. The 
 splendid Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella are 
 notably the objects towards which the wandering 
 footsteps of tourists are directed. 
 
 These monuments of departed greatness are 
 enclosed in the Capilla Real or " de los Reyes," 
 by the hugest and highest of " Rejas " — an immense 
 girdle of iron and gilt work wrought by Maestre 
 Bartolome. 
 
 The Chapel itself is in the Gothic style, thus 
 rescuing the Cathedral from the imputation of being 
 wholly given over to the new and cold architecture 
 of the Renaissance. The sepulchres of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella and their fine recumbent statues are 
 by Vigarny, a Spaniard ; those of their daughter 
 Juana, and her husband Philip "the Handsome" of 
 Burgundy, and their effigies are by Peralta. The 
 rival claims for excellence are difficult to decide. 
 They are both very splendid, both in the full-length 
 figures and in the very ornate execution of the bassi- 
 relievi which surround them. 
 
 Torrigiano, who made himself a great name in 
 Westminster Abbey, is said to have come to Spain 
 expressly, with hopes of being employed in the 
 execution of the Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella.
 
 276 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Their grandson, Charles V, however, entrusted the 
 work to Vigarny. Ferdinand survived Isabella 
 only about twelve years, and very unnecessarily 
 remarried. But poor Juana struggled through an 
 unhappy existence, always half demented from the 
 loss of her passionately adored husband, for some 
 forty-nine years after his decease. In fact, she died 
 in the same year as her famous son, Charles V. 
 
 It is indeed a solemn and a sacred shrine, this 
 Capilla de los Reyes, filled to overflowing with 
 great associations and immortal memories, and 
 where an imperishable chapter by some Gibbon or 
 Macaulay of the future has yet to be written. 
 
 The Chapel is full of records of the past and of 
 relics connected with the Capture of Granada, each 
 of which serves to bring the old Moorish epoch 
 very near to our own ; e.g., the Royal standards 
 that floated over the victorious army ; King 
 Ferdinand's sword which he wielded over the 
 conquered City; the Queen's own missal, and a 
 chasuble embroidered by her own hands ; a 
 sceptre, a crown; authentic portraits of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, and their effigies in marble and 
 wood. 
 
 A dark passage connects this Chapel with the 
 Sagrario which was the original Mosque, and 
 especially famous for the daring deed of Herman 
 del Pulgar, who during the siege of Granada rode 
 in and affixed a taper and an "Ave Maria" upon 
 its doors. 
 
 In reward of his pious daring, he was buried here, 
 and before his death had the privilege of a special
 
 GRANADA 277 
 
 seat in the Coro. There is a picture here repre- 
 senting the Knight's doughty deed. 
 
 In the vault beneath the Chapel and their 
 effigies, rest the bodies of the great King and 
 Queen, and of their unhappy daughter and her 
 husband. 
 
 Isabella died near Valladolid. Her body was 
 transported to Granada by her own desire. She 
 had in her will expressed two paramount wishes ; 
 one was that she should be buried at Granada, the 
 crowning scene of her glory ; the other, that 
 Gibraltar should never be relinquished. 
 
 Isabella had some very great qualities, but she 
 was not oreat enough to resist the baneful influence 
 of Torquemada. The extirpation of heresy, whether 
 Jewish, Moorish, or Christian, was her ruling 
 passion, overshadowing fine qualities of both head 
 and heart, and one that became hereditary in the 
 Royal House. It has been said that Gloucester, 
 afterwards Richard III, had been a suitor for her 
 hand. 
 
 Philip's body had to make a still longer journey to 
 this vault. He died at Burgos, aged only twenty- 
 eight. His distraught widow determined person- 
 ally to conduct his corpse to Granada. To make 
 the long drawn-out ceremony still more gloomily 
 impressive, she would only travel by night. Three 
 months after her husband's death she had his coffin 
 opened in order to gaze at the remains of one who 
 had been known as " Philip the Handsome." She 
 thus seems to have been the first of the Royal House 
 to develop that morbid craving for contemplating
 
 278 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 the dead which afterwards became so strongly 
 marked a characteristic of her descendants. She 
 seems never to have desired to remarry, during her 
 long widowhood, although Henry VII is supposed 
 to have made her an offer of marriage. That saga- 
 cious Monarch was probably desirous of becoming 
 King Consort of Castile. 
 
 The Retablo of the Capilla " de los Reyes," 
 is famous for some very quaintly-remarkable bas- 
 reliefs by Vigarny. It contains a history in marble 
 of the Surrender of Granada. For a complete 
 chronicle of the great event, for portraiture of the 
 personages concerned, both Christian and Moors, 
 and for details of the costumes of the day, these 
 bas-reliefs speak more eloquently than a volume of 
 history. On each side of the High Altar are 
 kneeling effigies of Ferdinand and Isabella. It 
 is a pity that the light for the proper appreciation 
 of the pictures here, especially those of Alonzo 
 Cano, should be so defective. 
 
 Alonzo Cano is nowhere else to be seen in such 
 force as in the Cathedral of his native City. I 
 always regard him as the most attractive artist of 
 the day. Not to be compared with Velasquez or 
 Murillo, of course, but bearing somewhat of the 
 same relations to those great men that Palma bore 
 to Titian or Parmegiano to Correggio. 
 
 He was a fine sculptor also. Perhaps the reader 
 may remember a portrait of him in the Madrid 
 Gallery by Velasquez, and also a remark made by 
 Philip IV, when remonstrated with by the Chapter 
 of the Cathedral for having made Cano a Canon
 
 GRANADA 279 
 
 thereof: " God alone can make an Alonzo Cano ! " 
 He lies buried in this Cathedral which so many of 
 his works with brush and chisel adorn. There are 
 seven great pictures of his, representing the chief 
 events in the Life of the Virgin, in that Chapel 
 sacred to her. Above the High Altar are two large 
 Heads of Adam and Eve, carved and painted by 
 Cano. 
 
 Another great carving of his, "The Virgin and 
 Child," is now in the Sacristia. Two other carvings 
 by him, in the Capilla "de la Vergin del Carmen," 
 are the life-size heads of Saints John and Paul. 
 Another work of his, in the smaller Sacristia, is a 
 " Concepcion." In the Capilla de San Miguel is 
 his kneeling "Virgin de la Soledad," perhaps his 
 finest work here. The canvas was cut out of its 
 frame a few years ago. Fortunately the thief did 
 not escape very far with his booty. It was found, 
 not long after, in a house in the Garrera de Darro 
 in the Albaycin. 
 
 Over the door of the Sala Capitular is a 
 " Charity " by Torrigiano, said to have been offered 
 as a specimen of his powers when he came to 
 Granada in the hope of being employed upon the 
 sepulchral monuments of Ferdinand and his Queen. 
 Upon leaving the Cathedral by the west door, you 
 come upon a sort of Moorish cloister. The arches 
 have been filled up with shops and modern houses. 
 Probably it formed a portion of the Great Mosque. 
 As a genuine Moorish relic, in a part of Granada 
 where so little of such architecture is to be seen, 
 it will, one hopes, long be preserved. In the
 
 280 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 " Zocatin," the shopping street, — the "Zok" 
 ("Market"), there is, however, one very fine 
 Moorish Archway still. It is the entrance into a 
 most picturesque Courtyard, known as the " Casa 
 del Carbon." It is quite a Caravanserai of the 
 Oriental type, and has been an Inn. It was, I 
 think, to this very hostelry that Washington Irving 
 was conducted by his too civil friend the Notary, 
 some seventy years ago, as affording the very best 
 accommodation in Granada. Irving describes the 
 scene with all the bonhomie habitual to him, and 
 with his customary picturesqueness of style. 
 
 The Court is now the abode of all sorts and 
 conditions of men and women of humble trades, — 
 chiefly Carboneros. I found them civil enough, 
 and they pressed me to enter. But the noise and 
 grimyness of their abodes rather put me off from 
 exploring this scene of picturesque untidyness. 
 
 Apropos of " Zok," the Arabic word meaning 
 " Market," — referred to above. It is curious that 
 the word has been preserved in English. "Soke" 
 is still a term in England, e.g., at Winchester, for 
 a market-place. 
 
 For those in search of fine architecture, other 
 than the overmastering Saracenic of the Alhambra, 
 there are some pretty facades and gateways of the 
 15th and 1 6th Centuries. One of the best speci- 
 mens is in the Plaza Nueva, where ends, or com- 
 mences, the chief street, known as the " Zucatin." 
 
 It is the Chancelleria, once the residence of the 
 terrible official known as the " Captain-General." 
 Balustraded, and "pepper-boxed," with ornate
 
 GRANADA 281 
 
 windows surmounted by pediments, it belongs 
 to the latter years of the 16th Century when the 
 "elegant exuberance" of the Plateresque style was 
 beginning to make way for the cold formality of 
 the Grseco-Roman. 
 
 In connection with this building, read the amus- 
 ing story of the " Governor and the Notary," in 
 Washington Irving's Tales. Some of the troops 
 occupy a picturesque Churrigueresque Palace, near 
 the Public Gardens, and the Plaza Campilla. An 
 ornamented facade here, a pretty gateway there, 
 just redeem the Granada streets from the charge 
 of being monotonously dull and uniform. 
 
 The shops are common and bad, except one or 
 two of the Antiquaries, — where I saw a great deal 
 that was distinctly good. One such collection 
 deserves a visit, if only to see the attractive 
 beauty of the owner's house, and his pillared court- 
 yard, " Cura Campo," " Carrera de Darro," which 
 part of Granada, as has been remarked, is in the 
 old and pretty portion. But every one will be 
 glad to get away from the streets, and to wander 
 about the Alameda, or to rest in the charming 
 Public Gardens upon the banks of the historical 
 Xenil, with canopies of great white-blossomed 
 "Bomba" trees overhead. And when you are 
 tired of watching the gay crowds, who here make 
 holiday in the evenings, and you have finished 
 admiring the pretty horses and mules and the 
 carriages of the Senoritas, who, with their pretty 
 soft faces, so resemble lumps of rahat la koum, 
 even to the powder with which that Turkish sweet-
 
 282 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 meat is covered, and their white mantillas, (it is 
 your first experience probably of the white man- 
 tillas) you can get up and stroll along the banks of 
 the River. And now you find yourself once more 
 amonest the scenes of romantic history. You may 
 wonder in which well it was that "Zara" dropped 
 her ear-rings {vide Lockhart's Spanish Ballads), or 
 where it was that Abu-Abdillah (Boabdil) met 
 Ferdinand and Isabella,— and by which path it was 
 that he and his immemorially sad cavalcade reached 
 the unforgettable " Cuesta de las Lagrimas." 
 
 You may look into the dappled waters, and half 
 fancy, that as in some magic crystal, Moorish dusky 
 faces are turned up to yours, and that you have 
 caught a gleam of a falchion or the flash of a rejon ; 
 and perhaps you may really pick up a piece of 
 Azulejos and treasure it thereafter as a true relic 
 of the old legendary Moors. 
 
 But if you wish for gold (and who does not ?), 
 you must go to the other river, the Darro, where, 
 even to this day, the Spanish peasant washes a few 
 grains out of its sand. 
 
 The Xenil has its source in a glacier, — the one 
 glacier, they say, which the Sierra Nevada can 
 claim. Its waters, when swollen by the melting 
 snow, are not in request for drinking purposes by 
 the Granadites. 
 
 Although Granada has taken the pomegranate as 
 her badge, in the belief that the City was so named 
 from the Roman word " granatum, — it seems much 
 more probable, that Granada is only a corruption of 
 Karnattah, her Phoenician name, and the " Kar" as
 
 GRANADA 283 
 
 also in the case of Carthage, merely signifies an 
 " eminence." One does not feel very eager to 
 make excursions out of Granada, at least I did 
 not, although any one with leisure at his command 
 would gladly go over some of the villages and 
 ruinous towns to the west of Granada to study the 
 ousting of the Moors from site to site until finally 
 they were hemmed in and overcome in their ancient 
 Capital. 
 
 Those also who have proclivities towards geology 
 and botany would find a wide field, I am told, in 
 visits to the Alpuxarros and the Sierra Nevada. 
 
 And I was also told, that no one with any pre- 
 tensions to his duties as a tourist, could omit taking 
 into the sphere of his operations a drive to the 
 suppressed Carthusian Convent, known as the 
 " Cartuja." 
 
 It is only an excursion of an hour, over an 
 extremely ill- kept road, to the west of Granada. 
 All the beggars of the district apparently make it 
 their resort. Never did I see such an ill-con- 
 ditioned gathering of the halt, and the maimed, 
 the distorted, and the bandaged brotherhood, — 
 like a swarm of vultures, awaiting the coming - of 
 the "forasteros." 
 
 The Convent is very spacious, with its Court and 
 Cloisters and Chapels, and is a striking monument of 
 perfect bad taste. I was nevertheless glad to have 
 gone there, if only to see the lavish expenditure of 
 tortoise-shell, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and marble 
 displayed, — principally upon the doors of the 
 Chapel, and in " Comodas " (cupboards) of the
 
 284 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 Sacristy. Here also, I had my first sight of the 
 beautiful marbles of the Sierra Nevada. Not so 
 much of the rather sad-coloured brown kind, of 
 which the Capilla del Sagramento almost wholly 
 consists, but more of the excessively beautiful 
 "splashed " white and brown in the Sacristia. This 
 marble has the appearance of very white frozen 
 snow, intermingled with large streaks of earth, of 
 a fine brown colour. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the Spaniards avail 
 themselves so little of their native productions in 
 marble. 
 
 Even the Tombs in the Granada Cathedral are 
 of Carrara marble. There is one very pretty 
 Madonna by Alonzo Carlo, over the Altar. For- 
 merly, there were many pictures here by the same 
 artist, but they were swooped upon as usual by the 
 irrepressible French under Sebastiani. The Cloisters 
 contain some highly sensational, not to say repulsive, 
 frescoes by Fra Cotan, a Carthusian monk. They 
 purport to be authentic representations of martyred 
 brother Carthusians in England, suffering for their 
 faith, by command of Henry VIII. The custode 
 (a very grumpy person), who was vengefully 
 pointing out these mendacious frescoes to me, 
 glared at me defiantly when I ventured to suggest 
 to him the probability of their being fictitious. 
 Shaking his keys at me, as though he had reason to 
 suspect me of being, at least, an accessory after the 
 fact, he declared them to be as authentic as the 
 Gospel. 
 
 I assured him that I had not been an accomplice,
 
 GRANADA 285 
 
 nor even a contemporary, of Henry VIII, although 
 one of the wives of the much-married King had 
 been a kinswoman of mine. I refrained from 
 crushing him with the additional information that 
 the said kinswoman had not been one of the decapi- 
 tated. For I knew, that either he would have shed 
 scalding tears of rage, or, (and that is more probable) 
 that he would have crushed me with the information, 
 (such is the superficial omniscience of the spiteful) 
 that Henry only refrained from sending her, too, to 
 the scaffold because she had died in child-birth ! He 
 was quite pleased when I left the building, and shut 
 the door with a bang, as much as to say, to a would- 
 be assassin like myself never should ingress be 
 again permitted. No creature is nicer than a well- 
 educated Spaniard. No creature can make himself 
 more disagreeable than a Spaniard who is not well 
 educated. 
 
 Look at the fine Hospital de "los Locos " (Mad- 
 house) in the Plaza del Triunfo, — as you go back. 
 You will not want to go inside. It was founded by 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, and finished by Charles V. 
 It is in the fine "plateresque" style. Some suppose 
 that Isabella felt especially sympathetic towards the 
 crazy, both her mother, and Juana, her daughter, 
 having been distraught. 
 
 This Plaza was once the place for the execution 
 of criminals, or those who were looked upon by the 
 laws as such. Later it was the Bull-ring. " San 
 Geronimo," and the Hospital of " San Juan de 
 Dios," are two other buildings that should be seen. 
 The latter Saint was a miracle of goodness and
 
 286 SAUNTBRINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 charity. He was, naturally, in Spain, looked upon 
 as a madman, and shut up in a cage accordingly. 
 His casre is shown. The Convent of S. Geronimo 
 is still splendid, although a wreck of what it was 
 and of what it was intended to be. It first fell from 
 its pride of place by being plundered by the French. 
 It was, and should have been still, a worthy monu- 
 ment to " El Gran Capitano," who built it, and whose 
 ashes are supposed to rest here still. It has been, 
 and is now, devoted to military requirements, in 
 honour possibly of the Great Soldier — Barracks, 
 Arsenal, Cavalry Stables. 
 
 The great whitewashed arcades of the Cathedral 
 assume a less garish hue in the evening, when a 
 softer and more genial light is streaming through 
 some of the fine painted windows. It was at 
 such a time that I went there again in order that 
 I might haply establish some kinder relations 
 between ourselves. I was rewarded by coming 
 in for a beautiful procession. 
 
 It was one of my last days in Granada, and when 
 the Corpus Christi Festival was verging on its 
 conclusion. The seemingly interminable procession 
 consisted chiefly of children. Upon such occasions 
 children are more than usually attractive. They 
 take themselves and the occasion so seriously, with 
 their innocent rivalry one of the other, and their 
 pretty efforts to keep step to the chanting, and to 
 maintain their candles alight and straight. And as 
 their chanting and the hymns of the priests and 
 acolytes woke up the echoes, and their torches, 
 through the gathering gloom, threw here and there
 
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 GRANADA 287 
 
 weird shadows about them, I strove to keep my 
 mind directed to the scene and to its suggestions. 
 But the other Shadows and Shades would not have 
 it so, and seemed to command that I should evoke 
 Abduls, and should summon Ahmids and Ishmaels 
 from their long- slumber in the Alhambra above. 
 The glamour of the old Race, even in this fane 
 dedicated to a creed other than theirs, is too potent 
 to be resisted. The Saracens rule our spirits even 
 from the urns of their conquerors. Our sympathies 
 are always with the Moors. They were the 
 stronger Race, and they went down, because 
 of their own dissensions, because they failed 
 to present an united front in presence of their 
 foes. They seem to have wrought their own defeat, 
 and to have dealt themselves the final blow. No 
 one can say that the Spaniards, although they 
 could boast of many great Capitano, great Kings 
 and Cardinals, Saints and Poets and Artists, were 
 the greater Race. 
 
 In the arts of war and peace, in science and 
 agriculture, in law and order, the Moors were 
 undoubtedly far greater. Their greatness, their 
 virtues, their knowledge, were always in excess of 
 their rivals. And whatever we may think of the 
 creed of Mahomet, when we recall to mind the 
 gloomy superstition, the frightful persecutions of 
 Jews, Saracens and Heretics, which represented, for 
 the Spaniards, the symbols of the Gospel, it will 
 scarcely be urged that in practical religion the 
 Spaniards were in advance of the Moors. 
 
 It is almost a personal pain leaving Granada.
 
 288 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 You feel more sympathy than ever for poor El Rey 
 Chico, and you re-echo his immortal " Ultimo 
 Suspiro," as you throw your last glance at the 
 hillock where it was breathed. But your farewell 
 to the Alhambra is very gradual, for it will be 
 long before those pruud Towers fade from the view. 
 You watch them recede, as you have watched 
 some stately vessel far out at sea, with its great 
 burden of invaluable lives and precious freight, 
 until it "sinks, with all we love" — perhaps, — 
 "below the verge." 

 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 RONDA 
 
 Byron's lines on Cintra applied to the Vega — " The Kashmir " of 
 Spain — Verdancy of the Vega, thanks to the Moors ! — 
 Fertility and Fighting — Archidona's chalk soil — Mountain 
 scenes — Cork Woods — Arrival at Ronda — An English 
 Country-town — Hotel at Station, possible, and convenient 
 — Modern City a dead-level of whitewash — Old City unique 
 — " Make for the ancient Bridge " The " Taja " chasm- 
 Strongest natural fortress of Spain — Aldaguela's Bridge — A 
 monument of his hapless fate — Similar destinies of Murillo 
 and Corenzio — Another Bridge above — The Casa Mandra- 
 gon and Garden — An architectural gem — Coats of arms 
 whitewashed. Why? — Market-place; Norman Arcades — 
 Tower of Ronda Cathedral — Wood-carvings — Youthful 
 Cicerones — Half of the Building the old Mosque (?) — Very 
 modern aspect — Alcazar in the Plaza — Present occupation — 
 Moorish Towers — Calle de San Pedro — Casa del Rey Moro 
 — A Polyphemus — Ford's story — Victims' skulls for drinking- 
 cups — Rock-hewn Stairs, to River — " Mina del Ronda " — 
 Moorish remains sparse — Prevalence of Moorish blood — 
 Alameda — The Paseo for Populace of 25,000 inhabitants — 
 Longevity, a Proverb in Ronda — " Chickens " at eighty ! — 
 Grand old Men — An inducement to live here — Old Testa- 
 ment types — Drives and rides innumerable — Roman aque- 
 duct, a " snare " — Malaga Road — An abandoned Posada — 
 Good Wine — Electric Light at Ronda — River-power utilised 
 here — Flour Mills, old and new — Less apparent Poverty in 
 Spain than in Italy — Beggars more restricted — Better treat- 
 ment of animals — Cleaner personal habits. 
 
 19 289
 
 290 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 O 
 
 CHRIST ! It is a goodly sight to see, 
 
 What Heaven hath done for this delicious land 
 
 What fruits of fragrance blush on every tree, 
 What goodly prospects o'er the hills expand." 
 
 Byron's exclamation over the beauties of Cintra 
 are more than applicable to the Vega over which 
 the train now careers. These verdant meads, — 
 some thirty miles in length and twenty-five in 
 width, sparkling with streams and irrigating rills, 
 bringing forth all kinds of crops and fruits, and 
 delighting all the senses, — might be termed the 
 Kashmir of Spain. 
 
 All that Moore has written of the Vale of 
 Kashmir, might be re-echoed here, " And, O ! if 
 there be an Elysium on earth it is this, it is this ! " 
 There is nothing in Spain, to compare with it. 
 And, fruitful and productive as it is now, it must 
 have been a hundred times more so under the 
 enlightened and fostering care of the Moors, who 
 always made the most of the slightest gifts of 
 Providence. They never wearied in their efforts 
 to get the fullest profit out of every stream and to 
 increase it a hundredfold. They even knew how 
 to make the desert blossom like a rose. It can be 
 imagined what they made of the Vega. Yet the 
 Vega was by no means always the synonym of 
 peace and plenty. These streams have been dyed 
 with blood, and countless war-horses have quenched
 
 RONDA 291 
 
 their thirst in the waters of the Xenil and the 
 Darro, which have so often reflected the glittering 
 arms of heroes and the watch-fires of opposing 
 hosts. These fields have too often been fertilised 
 with blood. Such things, let us hope, are of the 
 Past. May the peacefulness and the verdancy of 
 the Vega to-day long be undisturbed ! 
 
 After you have got over these green and fertile 
 plains, the scenery, through which you pass on 
 your way to Ronda, except for the mountain ranges 
 which adorn the distant landscape, becomes less 
 attractive, though the cultivation continues to be 
 plentiful enough to remind you that you are still 
 in the Garden of Spain. At Archidona you come 
 upon a chalk soil and a range of fine mountains 
 setting their faces south and west. 
 
 Some hours before you reach Ronda you are 
 passing along and through the cork woods of an 
 undulating country surrounded by bold and rocky 
 mountains. It is a journey of eight hours from 
 Granada to Ronda. You discover nothing of the 
 beauty of this celebrated City from the Railway 
 Station. But it is better to put up at the little Hotel 
 there, which affords you sufficient comfort, instead 
 of pitching upon some other, less comfortable, in the 
 modern town itself. That portion of the City con- 
 sists of a perfectly dead-level of whitewashed houses, 
 and you feel entirely disappointed until you get into 
 the real old City. Almost every house in the 
 former portion of the town has a bow-window 
 grille, upon the ground-floor, rather resembling 
 in that respect some of the old country-towns in
 
 292 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 England. The glare of all these whitewashed 
 houses is very trying to the eyes under a burning 
 Southern sun. But in the real Ronda, — although 
 not ungarnished with liberal whitewash, an artist 
 would spend many a delightful hour in its 
 picturesque, tortuous old streets full of artistic effects 
 in colour and varied architecture. You have only 
 to make for the fine one-arched Bridge over the 
 River Gandiaro to take in instantaneously the 
 splendidly romantic position of the City. You are 
 hanging over a huge chasm, called the "Taja," 
 which divides the two towns. Some 350 feet 
 below you dashes wildly through this rent the 
 Gandiaro. It is one of those stupendous scenes to 
 which Turner alone, perhaps, could do full justice. 
 It seems to you as though an earthquake had rent 
 the two towns apart, without, however, disturbing 
 the equilibrium of the churches and castles and 
 other buildings of either, and then that the 
 convulsion had evoked out of the heights the 
 river which dashes down the ravine into the plains 
 beyond. 
 
 And so this great fissure became a natural 
 impregnable barrier around the Moorish City, 
 and combined with the precipices that surround 
 it made Ronda what it is, the strongest natural 
 fortress in Spain. The noble bridge itself was 
 thrown over this chasm in 1761, and was the 
 work of Jose Martin Aldeguela. A strangely 
 cruel destiny has made it not only the triumphal 
 arch of his own engineering genius, but also the 
 monument of his tragic fate. He fell from the
 
 RONDA 293 
 
 parapet of his bridge into the abyss beneath. One 
 seems to hear the despairing cry of the poor fellow 
 as he, Icarus-like, beheld the Shadow of the Valley 
 of Death beneath him. 
 
 In that brief moment of his fall it must have 
 seemed to him as though he had been dealt a 
 death-stroke by the hand of his own offspring. 
 One thinks of other artists who have met an almost 
 similar fate in the contemplation of their master- 
 pieces. Murillo at Cadiz fell from his platform 
 when painting, and died from his injuries at 
 Seville. 
 
 Belisario Corenzio also tumbled from a dizzy 
 height whilst engaged in decorating the vaulted 
 roof of San Severino at Naples, and was buried in 
 the Nave beneath. 
 
 There is a fine Bridge, higher up, of some 
 eighteen small arches, as picturesque in its way as 
 this arch of painful memories. Ronda is quite 
 unsurpassed in Spain for romantic and extensive 
 views in all directions. From any one of the 
 buildings which gird the heights and precipices 
 upon which the City is built your eye is equally 
 delighted. 
 
 To one small Palace, the Cassa Mandragon, you 
 should make a point of going, if only for the views 
 from the little terrace. You have as a foreground, 
 
 o 
 
 gardens full of pomegranates, lemons and myrtles, 
 and bright flowers, and an immense sweep of plain 
 and valley far beneath you, (for you are standing 
 upon a precipitous cliff) with glorious mountains of
 
 294 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 every shape and size, flung around. This little 
 Palace should also be seen upon its own account, 
 for it is an architectural gem in the Moorish style, 
 with pretty pillared arcades, and courts, — shining 
 with Azulejos. The Proprietor does not live here, 
 is always absent, I should think, otherwise he would 
 scarcely have permitted his fine coats of arms to be 
 whitewashed. I have observed shields thus treated 
 in other parts of the City. Is it possible that the 
 stains upon the family escutcheons can only in 
 this way be expunged ? 
 
 The graceful Norman Arcades of the Market- 
 place, (close to the Bridge,) although of a fine 
 stone, have also been whitewashed nearly out of 
 architectural recognition. The pretty Moorish 
 Tower of the Cathedral has been spared a baptism 
 of this kind, and so is one of the most agreeable 
 features in the City, as well as the most ornamental 
 portion of the Cathedral, to which it seems to stand 
 as Godfather. 
 
 The Cathedral, inside, has little to boast of, 
 except the wood-carving of the Choir. 
 
 The young man who conducted me through the 
 building, and showed it off, I thought, with more 
 pride than it deserves, desired to impress me with 
 the fact (?) that exactly one-half of it had been the 
 Moslem Mosque. If so, that half has been most 
 successfully transformed into the likeness of the 
 other half, which is admittedly modern of the most 
 modern. 
 
 The Alcazar, which occupies the greater portion 
 of the rest of this Plaza, is a handsome building,
 
 RONDA 295 
 
 probably of the 17th Century. There seems now 
 to be a lack of magnates, military or civil, in 
 Ronda, for most of the rooms are closed, and others 
 have been occupied as schools. There are several 
 Moorish Towers, besides the Campanile of the Cathe- 
 dral, still standing. The principal one, in the Calle 
 San Pedro, of the Casa del Rey Moro was, it is 
 said, built in 1042, by Al Motadhed, the Polyphemus 
 of these parts, if the records have not belied him. 
 Ford, at least, is responsible for the ghastly story, 
 that not only did he drink wine in defiance of his 
 Prophets behest, but that he quaffed the un- 
 believer's beverage in jewelled goblets, formed 
 out of the skulls of the unfortunate men whom he 
 had, with his own hands, decapitated. Hence a 
 staircase hewn out of the rock descends to the 
 river below, for the service of those slaves who 
 had to convey its waters above. 
 
 Water was required, I suppose, for the ablutions, 
 at least, of this bibulous monster. " Mina del 
 Ronda," is the name of this staircase. 
 
 The Moorish remains in Ronda are not as con- 
 spicuous as those in many other Spanish Cities. 
 It is in the antique appearance generally of the old 
 City, in the lineaments of the inhabitants, and in 
 the black-robed, black-hooded women, that you 
 see the prevalence of the Moorish type. The 
 Alameda, the public garden, is remarkable rather 
 for the excessive beauty of its position, perched, 
 as it is, upon a precipitous cliff some 1,000 feet 
 above the plains beneath, than for any botanical 
 merits of its own. Apparently, the inhabitants do
 
 296 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 not cry out for those charms in the way of 
 eardeninof, to which we are so accustomed in 
 most cities of the present day. But it is the 
 resort, the promenade, the Paseo of the people of 
 Ronda, who number over 25,000. Ronda has one 
 recommendation, an enormous one, if true, that 
 longevity here has passed into a proverb — " En 
 Ronda los nombres a ochenta son pollones." To be 
 quite a " chicken" at eighty, is more than a recom- 
 mendation to repair to Ronda. What numbers of 
 grand old men the City must harbour ! And now I 
 think of it, I did come across a great many apparent 
 patriarchs. 
 
 But appearances, as to age, are very deceptive in 
 Southern climes. Men and women in hot climates 
 are disposed to avail themselves of the privileges 
 of age upon very moderate provocation and to 
 retire upon their reputation, (without pensions, I 
 fear,) as having attained an Old Testament span of 
 years. You certainly will feel the air inspiriting 
 and invigorating even in June. I should have 
 liked to have passed all June here. The drives 
 and rides are infinite. The country is not only 
 lovely, but rejoices your heart with its agricul- 
 tural capabilities encouraged to the utmost. A 
 drive along the Malaga Road, at least, will prove 
 that. 
 
 I chiefly went in search of the Roman Aqueduct, 
 of which guide-books speak too encouragingly. 
 The remains are small and dwindling. I took the 
 opportunity of trying to find some of the excellent 
 wine upon which the aforesaid guides so often
 
 RONDA 297 
 
 lavish undeserved encomiums. Upon this occasion 
 I was fortunate to discover in a very large, though 
 almost deserted Posada, near the aqueduct referred 
 to, some really good light, country white wine, 
 which gave me a higher opinion of the Spanish 
 grapes than I had hitherto held. Steeped in 
 mediaeval twilight as Ronda may seem at first 
 sight, the City is not too proud, nor too ignorant, 
 to avail herself of the electric light of to-day. The 
 river-power has been utilised to illuminate the 
 town as well as to turn the flour mills, of which 
 latter service, however, the Moors long ago availed 
 themselves as they did at Toledo, and Cordova, 
 and elsewhere. You may see the millers far below 
 you, when you are upon the bridge, still making 
 use of the Moorish mills. 
 
 The electric light, — so much more common in 
 
 Spain and Italy, than in most of our own rather 
 
 behind-the-times, small towns, — adds immensely to 
 
 the traveller's comfort, and economises his time. 
 
 You are able, now, to stroll about at night, to 
 
 extend your observations, and to restudy much 
 
 that you may have only glanced at by day. The 
 
 Spaniards are generally supposed to be a very 
 
 impoverished Race. There is no doubt but that 
 
 their want of enterprise and energy, in working 
 
 and taking advantage of the many sources of 
 
 wealth which so abound in this fine country, has 
 
 prevented, and still does prevent, a much greater 
 
 diffusion of wealth and comfort. But so far as 
 
 a tourist's observation may justify him in expressing 
 
 an opinion upon the subject, I should be inclined
 
 298 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 to think that there is much less poverty in Spain 
 than in Italy. That may arise from Spain being 
 less densely populated than Italy, for the Italians 
 are certainly more industrious than the Spaniards. 
 We hear many complaints, too, about Spanish 
 beggars, but in that respect also, I think, Spain 
 has the advantage. Certainly, in Church-porches 
 and in similar places, the Spanish beggars become 
 a great nuisance to travellers. But in such spots 
 they seem to concentrate themselves. For in 
 the streets themselves, they do not appear in 
 anything like the numbers with which you have 
 to struggle in Cities like Rome, and Naples, for 
 example. 
 
 I should also say that the Spanish lower classes 
 were far cleaner in themselves, and in their habits, 
 than the Italians. 
 
 In another, a most essential, point, the superiority 
 of the Spaniards to the Italians is remarkably 
 evinced. That is their care of, and attention to, 
 their animals. I have never seen any gross cruelty 
 to horses, mules, or donkeys. And I really believe 
 that a Spaniard would stint himself, if necessary, so 
 that his beast should not want. Hence the far 
 superior condition of animals in Spain. In Italy, 
 upon the other hand, scarcely a day passes, but 
 you see the galled jade wincing and every creature 
 having his withers cruelly wrung ! — with what 
 cruel reflex action upon your own feelings, every 
 traveller in Italy can attest.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 ALGECIRAZ AND THE ROCK 
 
 Approach the " Rock " by Algeciraz — Hopes to have entered 
 by a tunnel — Algeciraz bristles with romance — Moorish 
 "Green Island "—Alfonso XV— Donizetti's " Favorita "— 
 Medina-Sidonia — Phoenician " Sidon " — Guzman Buenos — 
 Algeciraz, Moorish Key to Spain— King of Spain, emphati- 
 cally King of Algeciraz — Ruins of Roman Carteia 
 ("El Rocadille ")— " Queen Isabella's Chair"— Fears that 
 "Seat" may unseat us — Custom-house at Gibraltar — 
 Gentle treatment — How unlike Victoria and Charing Cross — 
 Rooke's Rock — War of Spanish Succession — Gibraltar, 
 loved of British Subalterns — Spirit of " Rule, Britannia " — 
 Eastern appearance — Costumes — Moors and "Handy-men" 
 — Tailless Monkeys — Descendants of Solomon's Apes ? — 
 Andalucia — Tarshish — Solomon and Queen of Sheba — 
 Absence of " native " gold — Gibraltar fears the " Levanter " 
 — Once famous for unhealthiness — Plague or Drains? — 
 Water-supply — Monkeys " clear out " when the Levanter 
 blows — Hot discussion about the Moles — Experts— Possible 
 Spanish Batteries — Leonine Form of the Rock — Kinglake's 
 " Eothen " — A Lion Couchant — " Watching jealous Navies 
 from his lair " — Britannia rules the Waves ! 
 
 THE shadow of the Great Rock, " Rooke's 
 Rock," seems to assert its supremacy over 
 you even at Ronda. It is only like turning a 
 corner suddenly and finding yourself in the arms 
 
 299
 
 300 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 of an old friend. You may perhaps have been 
 aroused by the boom of its multitudinous guns 
 long ere you have quitted Spanish soil. So you 
 must be throwing aside fanciful pieces of costume, 
 Spanish or Moorish, with which you may have 
 supplied the deficiencies of a dwindling wardrobe, 
 and appear wholly in the garb of a right-minded 
 Briton. Short as is the distance from Ronda to 
 British soil, — it is much magnified by having to 
 embark at Algeciraz, for half an hour's trip across 
 the Bay. I had dreamily pictured to myself, a 
 luxurious drive up to the Rock, diversified by an 
 occasional challenge from a Khakied British 
 Sentry, or perhaps passing through a tunnel. The 
 latter mode would be such a convenience. And 
 one tunnel more or less through the honeycombed 
 old Rock, would make so little difference. The 
 nerves of the leonine eyrie Fortress would not be 
 affected. 
 
 For miles round Algeciraz the country bristles 
 with romance, and sparkles with knightly traditions. 
 The Algeciraz of the Moors {their name for it was 
 "Green Island") was destroyed by Alfonso XI. 
 To all who have seen Donizetti's " Favorita," 
 Alfonso is a familiar figure. For Leonora de Guzman 
 was his " Favorita." A few miles distant is Medina- 
 Sidonia, a place that has given a title to her de- 
 scendants, — the " Guzman Buenos," one of the 
 greatest Spanish Patricians. But that family is a 
 mushroom of modernity in comparison with the 
 origin of the title. The Phoenician emigrants are 
 declared to have given it the name of " Sidon " in 

 
 ALGECIRAZ AND THE ROCK 301 
 
 commemoration of the City whence they had come. 
 Algeciraz was the Moorish Key to Spain. The 
 King of Spain is emphatically styled " King of 
 Algeciraz." 
 
 Algeciraz has been partly formed from the ruins 
 of Carteia (now known as "El Rocadille,") where 
 the Romans had a colony, and before them the 
 Phoenicians, and the Greeks. Before fixing your 
 eyes upon the Great Rock which is looming nearer 
 and nearer to you, cast a glance at the commanding 
 hill, (almost as high it seemed to me as the Rock 
 itself,) known as " Queen Isabella's Chair." 
 
 Some of the more nervous amongst us predict 
 that that seat, unless jealously looked after, may 
 unseat us. You have to pass through a Custom- 
 house, when you descend upon the British Rock. 
 A not very formidable ordeal, for the authorities 
 will accept your parole d'honneur about your goods. 
 If only they would do as much in those highly 
 civilised bear-gardens, known as Charing Cross, 
 and Victoria ! 
 
 And this Rock was Calpe, — the European Pillar 
 of Hercules, as Abyle, (now Ceuta) was the African 
 Pillar. Then " Gebal-Tarik," from its Saracen 
 Conqueror, — the " Hill of Tarik," a Moorish pos- 
 session for six hundred years, then Spanish, thanks 
 to the Guzmans aforesaid. The Spaniards held it 
 for some three hundred years. The great Rooke 
 captured it in 1704. It is one of the few material 
 guarantees that remain to us for our sacrifices in 
 the Spanish War of Succession. 
 
 It is a monument to English valour at least
 
 302 
 
 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 during the long and barren contests of the Wars 
 of the Spanish Succession. What centuries lie 
 between the old Moorish Chief and the British 
 Admiral ! 
 
 Now it is "Gib." tout court / '—the "Gib." loved 
 of British middies, and subalterns, whereto they 
 bring all their sports, and pastimes to make a 
 British holiday lark, — hunting, cricket, rackets, 
 races, and what not! And yet "Gib." though 
 suffused with British spirits, (and others!) and 
 steeped, too, in the spirit of " Rule, Britannia," 
 remains one of the most Eastern-looking 
 places. 
 
 There is an incessant bustle in the precipitous 
 streets — a perpetual masquerade of Arab and Moors, 
 in caftans, and burnouses, going on for the 
 benefit especially of red-coated and white-helmeted 
 "Tommies" and of white-trousered, straw-hatted 
 "Jacks." 
 
 During your visits to and clamberings up of 
 galleries, and batteries, you may, possibly, with a 
 good pair of glasses, discern one of the tailless 
 monkeys, of which " Gib." is justly proud. You 
 may, if you have proper faith in the tales of Biblical 
 annotators, welcome them as descendants of 
 " Solomon's Apes," who again, of course, were 
 also descended from his Ancestors, and your own. 
 For this is Tarshish, or rather Andalucia was 
 Tarshish, (so it is declared,) and supplied King 
 Solomon with gold, silver, ivory, peacocks, and 
 apes. 
 
 Yet one thinks that the wisest of Kings could
 
 ALGECIRAZ AND THE ROCK 303 
 
 have procured all those commodities very much 
 nearer home and at a much more reasonable rate. 
 The Queen of Sheba, for instance, who certainly 
 was very good at receiving presents, must have 
 had plenty of spare articles of the kind at her 
 disposal. 
 
 Anyhow, some one seems to have drained 
 "Tarshish" quite dry of the gold. For the always 
 impoverished Spaniards seem rarely to have had 
 anything more than a bowing acquaintance with the 
 most precious of metals, except during their brief 
 sway of the New World. 
 
 And in "Gib." itself, British sovereigns have 
 quite ousted whatever may be or may have been 
 the Spanish equivalents, such as "doblons," and 
 "doblons d'Isabel." 
 
 Gibraltar, in spite of its great heat, is generally 
 supposed to be healthy. But "rock-fever" can be, 
 though not often, deadly, as well as disagreeable. 
 It is most to be feared when the extremely de- 
 pressing Levanter blows. 
 
 That wind has much the same effect upon the 
 nerves as the Sirocco in Italy. The monkeys even, 
 are affected by it, and change their spots (unlike the 
 leopards) to get out of its path. 
 
 But it must be noted that "Gib." has not always 
 enjoyed a reputation for healthiness. In the early 
 years of the last century, a malignant and most 
 deadly sickness long raged upon the Rock. Whether 
 it was a kind of plague brought over from Africa 
 or elsewhere, or whether it proceeded from the 
 quality of the water, (and the latter supposition
 
 304 SAUNTERINGS IN SPAIN 
 
 seems a probable explanation,) cannot be deter- 
 mined. As there has been no return of this 
 mysterious epidemic, since the water supply and 
 the drainage question have been dealt with, it may 
 be assumed that it had its source both in the 
 defective quality of the water and in bad drainage. 
 
 The Rock nearly faces the west. Its length 
 from north to south, at Europa Point, is about three 
 miles. It is about 1,430 feet high at its highest 
 point. There has been much hot discussion of late 
 years about the Moles. " Experts," or those who 
 consider themselves as such, wish us to abandon 
 the Moles upon the West Bay, as being liable to 
 destruction, by some (as yet unconstructed) Spanish 
 Batteries. These "critics" would substitute harbours 
 upon the south-east of Europa Point, whereon the 
 whole force of the formidable Levanter discharges 
 itself. These " experts " add, that the south-west 
 wind encountered by the present Moles, or those in 
 construction, is fully as violent. It is to be hoped 
 that those who have lived at Gibraltar, and who 
 have studied these winds and currents and tides for 
 years, may be permitted to decide the question. 
 
 I thought it rather pleasing amongst other aspects, 
 physical or moral, of Gibraltar, to admire the leonine 
 form of the Rock, — a British Lion in form as in 
 symbol. The words of "Eothen," when in con- 
 templation of the Sphinx, came to me as strangely 
 appropriate. That page, (" Islam " having been 
 here also,) may be, with but little change, applied 
 to our " Rock." 
 
 "And we, — we shall die, — and Islam will wither
 
 ALGECIRAZ AND THE ROCK 305 
 
 away, — and the Englishman, leaning far over to hold 
 his loved India, will plant a firm foot upon the 
 "Rock," and sit in the midst of the Faithful, and 
 still that sleepless ' Rock ' will lie watching and 
 watching." 
 
 And, as I said, the vast and massive Rock 
 resembles a Lion couchant^ — regarding from his 
 great sea-lair, all that pass below him in the ocean 
 beneath, and disregarding with majestic unconcern 
 the jealous Navies that seem to gnash their iron 
 teeth with envy, as they glance, with impotent 
 rage, upon the Rock whence Britannia rules the 
 waves. And hence she means to rule them and 
 here to hold on (with God's Providence) so long as 
 Land and Sea jog on together. 
 
 20
 
 REFERENCE-SKETCH OF EARLY HISTORY 
 
 OF SPAIN 
 
 Phoenicians, occupying the South of Spain, lived 800 B.C., or 
 
 if Andalucia were "Tarsish," as has been supposed, 
 
 long before the above-mentioned date, Solomon's era 
 
 being 1015 B.C. 
 Carthaginians held Southern Spain from 235-206, during the 
 
 the second Punic War, Spain generally having been the 
 
 base of Hannibal's Invasion of Italy. 
 Romans in Spain up to 412 a.d. 
 Visigoths conquered Spain 412 a.d. 
 Moors defeat Roderic, the last of the Visigothic kings, with the 
 
 assistance of the renegade Count Florestan, at the 
 
 Battle of Gaudalete, 712 a.d. 
 
 Moorish Dynasties. 
 The Moorish Dynasties are divided into four periods : — 
 
 The First Moorish Period. 
 
 The first extended from 711 a.d., the year in which Tarik 
 took possession of the Rock of Gibraltar, to 756 a.d. During 
 this period their Spanish dominions were governed by Emirs 
 deputed by the Caliph of Damascus. 
 
 The Second Moorish Period. 
 
 The second Moorish period extended from 756 a.d., in which 
 year Abd-al-Rahman declared his independence of Damascus, 
 till 1009 a.d. Abd-al-Rahman made Cordova his capital, and 
 commenced the mosque in that city. During this second period 
 ten Sultans reigned. 
 
 The Third Moorish Period. 
 
 The third period extends from 1009 to 1227 a.d. It is marked 
 by the internecine dissensions of two great religious factions — the 
 
 307
 
 308 SPANISH ARCHITECTURE 
 
 Almoravides-Murabitins and the Almohades. The latter fanatics 
 
 (founded by a Mahdi, " Ibn-Abdullah ") eventually got the upper 
 
 hand. 
 
 The Fourth Moorish Period. 
 
 The fourth period, signalised by the capture of the great 
 Moorish capital, Cordova by "Saint" Ferdinand, dates from 
 1235 to 1492 a.d., when the Moorish dominion was put an end 
 to by Ferdinand and Isabella the " Catholic." 
 
 Ibnu-1-Ahmar, the vassal of St. Ferdinand, had founded the 
 last dynasty, that of Granada, when Cordova had fallen in 
 1235 A.D. 
 
 It is to be noted, as regards the Moorish dominion, that 
 although the Moors had been supreme in Andalucia, and in their 
 superb capitals of Toledo, Cordova, Seville, and Granada, they 
 never possessed themselves of the entire kingdom. 
 
 Although they occupied Portugal and foraged far and wide 
 to the north and west as far as Leon and Oviedo, and even 
 established themselves for a time in Saragossa, where their kings 
 ruled from 1014-1118 a.d., the chief seats of their power con- 
 tinued to be in Andalucia, Toledo, and also in Valencia. 
 
 Notwithstanding the overthrow of Roderic at Gaudalete in 
 712 a.d., small Visigothic dynasties had continued to rule in 
 Oviedo, in Leon, and in the Asturias. Castile, Aragon, and 
 Navarre still possessed rulers who rarely ceased to wage war upon 
 the Moors and to resist their encroachments. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF AND DATES OF CERTAIN 
 TERMS USED IN SPANISH ARCHITECTURE 
 
 Plateresque. An "elegant exuberance," circa 1490-1555. 
 
 Gr,eco-Romano Renaissance. Prevalent during the reigns of 
 Philip II, III, and IV. Characteristics : " heavy and 
 pedantic," and not unsuitable to the characters of those 
 nionarchs. 
 
 Churrigueresque, generally " Baroque," chiefly obtaining dur- 
 ing the century that succeeded a.d. 1650. 
 
 UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHA1! PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.
 
 John Chinaman at Home 
 
 By the Rev. E. J. HARDY, 
 
 Author of " How to be Happy though Married " ; lately Chaplain 
 to H.M. Forces in Hong Kong. 
 
 With 36 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth, 10/6 net. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Hong Kong ; Tientsin and Peking ; Canton ; On the 
 West River ; Swatow, Amoy, Foochow ; Up the Yangtze ; 
 Village Life ; Topsy-turvy ; Some Chinese Characteristics ; 
 Chinese Food ; Medicine and Surgery ; Chinese Clothes ; 
 Houses and Gardens ; Chinese Servants ; Betrothal and 
 Marriage ; Death and Burial ; Mourning ; Education in 
 China; Boys in China; Girls and Women; Chinese Manners; 
 Government in China; Punishments; Chinese Soldiers; The 
 Religions of China ; Outside and Inside a Temple ; New 
 Year's Day ; Monks and Priests ; Spirits ; Feng shiu and 
 other Superstitions ; Missionaries ; as the Chinese See Us. 
 
 The reader will not be bored with politics or the " future 
 of China," for the book only treats of the common every-day 
 things of the Chinese which seem so peculiar to us. These 
 are described and, when possible, explained. Anecdotes are 
 freely used to illustrate. 
 
 LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.
 
 In Search of £1 Dorado: 
 
 A Wanderer's Experiences. 
 
 By ALEXANDER MACDONALD, F.R.G.S. 
 
 With 32 Illustrations. Demy Svo, cloth, 10/6 net. 
 
 READERS with a taste for adventure will find this book a 
 storehouse of good things, for in the course of various 
 mineralogical expeditions the author has roughed it in many remote 
 quarters of the globe, and a large share of strange and thrilling 
 experiences has fallen to his lot. At the same time he possesses 
 a literary skill with which few travellers are gifted. 
 
 The episodes in his career which the book relates fall under 
 three heads. In Part I., " The Frozen North," he gives some vivid 
 sketches of rough and tumble life in the Klondyke region ; Part II., 
 "Under the Southern Cross," describes his adventures while pro- 
 specting for gold in Western Australia ; Part III., " Promiscuous 
 Wanderings," tells of his experiences in the Queensland Back 
 Blocks, in the Opal Fields of New South Wales, in British New 
 Guinea, in the Gum Land of Wangeri, New Zealand, and with the 
 Pearlers of Western Australia. 
 
 " It was with a secret joy that we sat up till the small hours of 
 the morning to finish Mr. Alexander Macdonald's new book, ' In 
 Search of El Dorado : A Wanderer's Experiences.' The author's 
 wanderings have led him all over the world, digging for gold, silver, 
 opals, and gum. The wonderful characters are vividly drawn, and 
 his two companions, Mac and Stewart, are men one would like to 
 shake hands with. . . . We can conscientiously say that we have 
 had as much pleasure from this book as from the half dozen best 
 novels of the year." — Bystander. 
 
 LONDON: T. FISHER UN WIN. 

 
 Demy 8vo, doth, 10/6 net. 
 
 The Age of the Earth, and 
 other Geological Studies 
 
 By W. J. SOLLAS, LL.D., D.Sc, F.R.S. 
 
 Professor of Geology in the University of Oxford. 
 
 Illustrated. 
 
 THIS volume, while written by one of the foremost of 
 English geologists, will be found interesting and attractive 
 by the reader who has no special knowledge of the science. 
 The essay which gives the book its title sets forth the bearing of 
 the doctrine of evolution on geological speculation, and par- 
 ticularly on the vexed question of our planet's antiquity. The 
 subjects of the other studies include the following : The Figure 
 of the Earth, and the Origin of the Ocean ; Geologies and 
 Deluges ; the Volcanoes of the Lipari Isles ; the History and 
 Structure of a Coral Reef ; the Origin and Formation of Flints; 
 the Evolution of Freshwater Animals ; and the Influence of 
 Oxford on Geology. 
 
 " They range over a great variety of subjects, including many which are 
 of sufficiently wide interest to bring the geologist into sympathetic touch with 
 the general reader. What educated man can fail to be interested in such 
 subjects, for instance, as the age of the earth, the building of coral islands, 
 the cause of volcanic action, or the Deluge ? Of all these matters the 
 Professor discourses pleasantly and well, writing with command of much 
 scientific learning, yet always readably, sometimes with brilliancy of diction, 
 and occasionally with a touch of humour." — Athenceum. 
 
 LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN.
 
 Demy Svo, cloth, 21/- 
 
 Somerset House, Past and 
 
 Present 
 
 By RAYMOND NEEDHAM and 
 ALEXANDER WEBSTER. 
 
 With Photogravure Frontispiece and many Illustrations. 
 
 THIS book deals with the history of Somerset House from 
 its foundation by the Lord Protector in 1547 to the 
 present day. It is as far as possible a continuous record of the 
 events which in times gone by gathered illustrious personages 
 within the walls of the old palace and made it a centre of 
 English social life. For two centuries Somerset House was the 
 home of Queens and Princesses ; it was associated with the 
 stalwart Protestants of the Reformation and the intriguing 
 Catholics of the Revolution ; it has passed through greater 
 vicissitudes than almost any other secular edifice in London. 
 The modern building housed the early exhibitions of the Royal 
 Academy of Arts, a Naval Museum, the Royal and other learned 
 Societies, until, within the last fifty years, it was given over to 
 its present occupants and the matter-of-fact romance of the 
 Imperial Revenue. The history includes the story of King's 
 College, which since its inauguration has occupied a building 
 erected on the eastern edge of the site, and designed to 
 harmonise with the main structure. The volume is illustrated 
 by reproductions of rare old prints and a fine series of modern 
 photographs. 
 
 LONDON:- T. FISHER UNWIN.
 
 Siberia : 
 
 A Record of Travel, Climbing, and Exploration. 
 By SAMUEL TURNER, F.R.G.S. 
 
 WITH A PREFACE BY BARON HEYKING. 
 
 With more than ioo Illustrations, and with 2 Maps. 
 Demv 8vo, cloth, 21/- net. 
 
 THE materials for this book were gathered during a journey in 
 Siberia in 1903. Helped by over 100 merchants (Siberian, 
 Russian, Danish and English) the writer was able to collect much 
 information, and observe the present social and industrial condition 
 of the country. The trade and country life of the mixed races of 
 Siberia is described, and valuable information is given about their 
 chief industry (dairy produce), which goes far to dissipate the 
 common idea that Siberia is snow-bound, and to show that it is now 
 one of the leading agricultural countries in the world. 
 
 The author describes his unaccompanied climbs in the mountains 
 which he discovered in the Kutunski Belki range in the Altai, about 
 800 miles off the Great Siberian Railway line from a point about 
 2,500 miles beyond Moscow. He made a winter journey of 1,600 
 miles on sledge, drosky, and horseback, 250 miles of this journey 
 being through country which has never been penetrated by any 
 other European even in summer. He also describes 40 miles of 
 what was probably the most difficult winter exploration that has 
 ever been undertaken, proving that even the rigour of a Siberian 
 winter cannot keep a true mountaineer from scaling unknown peaks. 
 
 The volume is elaborately illustrated from photographs by the 
 author. 
 
 "To the trader and to the explorer, and to many who are neither, but who 
 love to read books of travel and to venture in imagination into wild places of the 
 earth, this book is heartily to be commended. It is lively, entertaining, in- 
 structive. It throws fresh light on the Empire of the Czars. Above all, it is a 
 record of British pluck." — Scotsman. 
 
 LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.
 
 Standard Works. 
 
 COMPLETE POPULAR EDITIONS. ILLUSTRATED. 
 Large Crown 8vo, Cloth. Price 2/6 net 
 
 Lord Beacon sfield : A Biography. 
 
 By T. P. O'Connor. 
 
 "Clever and brilliant. . . . Worth reading by everybody who either 
 admires or hates his subject." — Guardian 
 
 " A slashing and vastly interesting book." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 Rome and Pompeii. Archaeological 
 
 Rambles. 
 
 By Gaston Boissier. 
 
 Cl 
 
 M. Gaston Boissier is one of the few living archaeologists who can 
 make the dead bones of the past live again. While his researches show 
 the accuracy and thoroughness which we associate with German scholar- 
 ship, he has a gift of exposition which is wholly French. We can 
 imagine therefore, no better handbook for traveller or archaeologist than 
 this one. — Daily Mail. 
 
 Holyoake : Sixty Years of an Agitator's 
 
 Life. 
 
 By George Jacob Holyoake. 
 
 "A valuable contribution to the political, social, intellectual, and even 
 revolutionary history of our time." — Times. 
 
 ' ' The book is full of interest ; it produces a vivid, personal impression, it 
 contains contemporary notes on men and women of the century, it has 
 shrewd and vigorous sentences, and illustrates our own progress in 
 civilising thought." — Spectator. 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 By Major Martin A. S. Hume. 
 
 "An admirable book which ought to be read by every one who takes 
 any interest in things that ought to interest all — the building of the 
 Empire and the men who built it. There is not a dull page in it, and with 
 his skilful telling of it, the story of Raleigh's life and of his times reads 
 like a romance." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN, Publisher, 
 i Adelphi Terrace, London, W.C.
 
 Six Standard Works. 
 
 COMPLETE POPULAR EDITIONS. ILLUSTRATED. 
 Large Crown 8vo, Cloth. Price 2/6 net. 
 
 The Life of Richard Cobden. 
 
 By John Morley. 
 
 " One of the most important and interesting works of its class in the 
 English language." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 The Life and Times of Savonarola. 
 
 By Professor Pasquale Villari. 
 
 "The most interesting religious biography that we know of in modern 
 times. It is difficult to speak of its merits without seeming exaggeration." 
 — Spectator. 
 
 The Life and Times of Machiavelli. 
 
 By Professor Pasquale Villari. 
 
 " Machiavelli is represented for all time in the pages of Villari." 
 — Guardian. 
 
 The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat. 
 
 By John Smith Moffat. 
 
 "A loving record of a noble life, whieh has left the world a lesson for 
 all time of the power of earnest labour and simple faith." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 The History of Florence. 
 
 By Professor Pasquale Villari. 
 
 "This volume is indeed worthy of the reputation of its author. . . . We 
 feel very grateful to him for having given us the most concise, and at the 
 same time perhaps the most complete constitutional history that has yet 
 appeared of the first two centuries of the Florentine Republic." — Speaker. 
 
 English Wayfaring Life in the 
 Middle Ages (XlVth Century). 
 
 By J. J. Jusserand, French Ambassador at Washington 
 
 "One of those enchanting volumes which only Frenchmen have the gift 
 of writing. Buy it if you are wise, and keep it as a joy for ever." — Dr 
 Augustus Jessopp in the Nineteenth Centi*ry. 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN, Publisher, 
 i, Adei.phi Terrace, London, W.d
 
 THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 
 
 A SERIES OF POPULAR HISTORIES. 
 
 Each Volume Is furnished with Maps, Illustrations, and Index. Large Crown 
 8vo, fancy cloth, gold lettered, or Library Edition, dark cloth, burnished red 
 top, 5s. each.— Or may be had in half Persian, cloth sides, gilt tops; Price 
 on application. 
 
 9- 
 
 IO. 
 
 II. 
 
 12. 
 
 13- 
 
 i .;. 
 
 IS- 
 
 16. 
 
 17- 
 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 
 -j 1. 
 
 23. 
 
 2 3- 
 14. 
 
 as- 
 
 26. 
 
 27' 
 
 2?. 
 29. 
 
 3<». 
 
 3 1 - 
 
 32- 
 
 33- 
 34- 
 
 35- 
 
 Rome. By Arthur Gilman, M.A. 
 The Jews. By Prof. J. K. Hosmer. 
 Germany. By Rev. S. Baring- 
 Gould, M.A. 
 Carthage. By Prof. Alfred J. 
 
 Church. 
 Alexander's Empire. By Prof. 
 
 J. P. Mahaffy. 
 The Moors in Spain. BySTANLEV 
 
 Lane-Poole. 
 Ancient Egypt. By Prof. George 
 
 Rawlinson. 
 Hungary. By Prof. Arminius 
 
 Vambery. 
 The Saracens. By Arthur Gil- 
 man, M.A. 
 Ireland. By the Hon. Emily 
 
 Lawless. 
 Chaldea. ByZ^NAi'DEA. Ragozin. 
 The Goths. Bv Henry Bradley. 
 Assyria. By Zenaide A. Ragozin. 
 Turkey. By Stanley Lane-Poole. 
 Holland. By Prof. J. E. Thorold 
 
 Rogers. 
 Mediaeval France. By Gustave 
 
 Masson. 
 Persia. By S. G. W. Benjamin. 
 Phoenicia. By Prof. G. Rawlinson. 
 Media. By Zenaide A. Ragozin. 
 The Hansa Towns. By Helen 
 
 Zimmern. 
 Early Britain. By Prof. Alfred 
 
 J. Church. 
 The Barbary Corsairs. By 
 
 Stanley Lane-Poole. 
 Russia. By W. R. Morfill, M.A. 
 The Jews under the Romans. By 
 
 W. D. Morrison. 
 Scotland. By John Mackintosh, 
 
 LL.D. 
 Switzerland. By Mrs Lina Hug 
 
 and R. Stead. 
 Mexico. By Susan Hale. 
 Portugal. By H. Morse Stephens. 
 The Normans. By Sarah Orne 
 
 Jewett. 
 The Byzantine Empire. By C 
 
 W. C. Oman. 
 Sicily : Phoenician, Greek and 
 
 Roman. By the late Prof. E. A. 
 
 Freeman. 
 The Tuscan Republics. By Bella 
 
 Duffy. 
 Poland. By W. R. Morfill, M.A. 
 Parthia. By Prof. George 
 
 Rawlinson. 
 The Australian Commonwealth. 
 
 By Grevili.e Tregarthen. 
 
 36. Spain. By H. E. Watts. 
 
 37. Japan. By David Murray, Ph.D. 
 
 38. South Africa. By George M. 
 
 Theal. 
 
 39. Venice. By Alkthea Wiel. 
 
 40. The Crusades. By T. A. Archer 
 
 and C. L. Kingsford. 
 
 41. Vedic India. By Z. A. Ragozin. 
 
 42. The West Indies and the Span- 
 
 ish Main By James Rodway. 
 
 43. Bohemia. Py C. Edmund 
 
 Maurice. 
 
 44. The Balkans. By W. Millbk, 
 
 M.A. 
 
 45. Canada. By Sir J. G. Bourinot, 
 
 LL.D. 
 
 46. British India. By R. W. Frazer, 
 
 LL.B. 
 
 47. Modern France. By Andr£ Le 
 
 Bon. 
 
 48. The Franks. By Lewis Sergeant. 
 
 49. Austria. By Sidney Whitman. 
 
 50. Modern England. Before the Re- 
 
 form Bill. By Justin McCarthy. 
 
 51. China. By Prof. R. K. Douglas. 
 
 52. Modern England. From the 
 
 Reform Bill to the Present Time. 
 By Justin McCarthy. 
 
 53. Modern Spain. By Martin A. S. 
 
 Hume. 
 
 54. Modern Italy. By Pietro Orsi. 
 
 55. Norway. By H. H. Boyesen. 
 
 56. Wales. By O. M. Edwards. 
 
 57. Mediaeval Rome. By W.Miller, 
 
 M.A. 
 
 58. The Papal Monarchy. By 
 
 William Barry, D.D. 
 
 59. Mediaeval India under Moham- 
 
 medan Rule. 
 Lane-Poole. 
 
 60. Buddhist India. 
 
 Rhys-Davids. 
 
 61. Parliamentary 
 
 Edward Jenks, M.A. 
 
 62. Mediaeval England. By Mary 
 
 Bateson. 
 
 63. The Coming of Parliament. By 
 
 L. Cecil Jane. 
 
 64. The Story of Greece. From the 
 
 Earliest Times to a.d. 14. By 
 E. S. Shuckburgh. 
 In Preparation. 
 The Story of Greece. From the Roman 
 Occupation to a.d. 1453. By E. S. 
 Shuckburgh. 
 The Story of the Roman Empire (b.c 
 29 to a.d. 476). By H. Stuart 
 Jones. 
 
 By Stanley 
 By Prof. T. W. 
 England. By 
 
 T. Fisher Unwin, Publishci, i, Adelphi Terrace, London, W.C.
 
 
 (joJ-Wv 
 
 
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