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ESCORIAL

SUBJECT PLATE

SAN ILDEFONSO, LA GRANJA

View of the Palace, 21 View of the Palace and the Cascade, 22 View of the Palace, 23 View of the Palace and Fountain of the Fama, 24 View of the Palace from the Fountain of the Fama, 25 View of the Palace, 26 The Palace in perspective, 27 Entrance to the Palace, 28 View of the Collegiate Church and the Palace, 29 Palace of Rio Frio, 30 Cascade, 31 Palace and Fountain of Fama, 32 Fountain of Fama, 33 Fountain of Fama, 34 Fountain of the Courser, 35 Fountain of the Three Graces, 36 Fountain of the Three Graces, 37 Fountain of Neptune, 38 Fountain of Neptune, 39 Part of the Fountain of Neptune, 40 Fountain of Neptune, 41 Fountain of the Baths of Diana, 42 Fountain of Dragons, 43 Fountain of Latona, 44 Fountain of Eslo, or of the Winds, 45 Fountain of Andromeda, 46 Fountain of the Canastillo, 47 Fountain of the Cup, 48 Fountain of the Cup, 49 Source of the Arno, underground river, 50 The River, 51 The Reservoir, 52 The Reservoir, 53 Cascade of the Reservoir, 54 The Lake, 55 Group of Vases in the Parterre of Andromeda, 56 Three Vases in the Parterre of Andromeda, 57 Vase in the Parterre de la Fama, 58 Vase in the Parterre de la Fama, 59 Vase in the Parterre de la Fama, 60 Vase of the Baths of Diana, 61 Vase in the Parterre of Andromeda, 62 Vase in the Parterre of Andromeda, 63 Vase in the Parterre of Andromeda, 64

EL PARDO

View of the Palace from the Grounds, 65 The Palace, 66 The Palace, 67 The Palace, 68 The Palace, 69 Hall of Ambassadors, 70 Hall of Ambassadors, 71 Dining Room, 72 Ante-Room, 73 Ante-Room, 74 Private Room, 75 Private Room, 76 Scene of the Royal Theatre, 77 Royal Box in the Theatre, 78 Casa del Principe, 79

ARANJUEZ

Principal Fa?ade of the Palace, 80 Southern Fa?ade of the Palace, 81 Royal Palace from the Parterre, 82 Royal Palace from the Gardens, 83 Royal Palace and Suspension Bridge over the Tajo, 84 The Grand Staircase, 85 Porcelain Room, Japanese style, 86 Detail of Porcelain Room, Japanese style, 87 Detail of Porcelain Room, Japanese style, 88 Detail of the Porcelain Room, Japanese style, 89 Detail of the Porcelain Room, Japanese style, 90 Casa del Labrador, 91 Convent of San Antonio, 92 Entrance to the Gardens of the Island, 93 Fountain in the Plaza de San Antonio, 94 Avenue of the Catholic Sovereigns in the Gardens of the Island, 95 Jupiter, bronze group in the Gardens of the Island, 96 Ceres, bronze group in the Gardens of the Island, 97 Juno, bronze group in the Gardens of the Island, 98 Pavilions of the River, in the Garden of the Prince, 99 Fountain of Apollo, in the Garden of the Prince, 100 Fountain of Ceres, in the Garden of the Prince, 101 Fountain of Narcissus, in the Garden of the Prince, 102 Fountain of the Swan, in the Garden of the Prince, 103 General View of the Tajo and the Parterre, 104 Fountain of Hercules, in the Gardens of the Island, 105 Fountain of Hercules, in the Gardens of the Island, 106 Fountain of Apollo, in the Gardens of the Island, 107

MIRAMAR

Side View of the Palace, 108 Reception Room, 109 Billiard Room, 110

SEVILLE

Fa?ade of the Alcazar, 111 Alcazar, Gates of the Principal Entrance, 112 Interior of the Hall of Ambassadors, 113 Interior of the Hall of Ambassadors, 114 Interior of the Hall of Ambassadors, 115 Hall of Ambassadors, 116 Hall of Ambassadors, 117 Court of the Hundred Virgins, 118 Court of the Dolls, 119 Court of the Dolls, from the Room of the Prince, 120 Court of the Dolls, 121 Court of the Dolls, 122 Court of the Dolls, 123 Upper Part of the Court of the Dolls, 124 Dormitory of the Moorish Kings, 125 Sleeping Saloon of the Moorish Kings, 126 Entrance to the Dormitory of the Moorish Kings, 127 View of the Gallery from the second floor, 128 Hall in which King St. Ferdinand died, 129 Interior of the Hall of St. Ferdinand, 130 Interior of the Hall of St. Ferdinand, 131

MADRID

Royal Palaces of Spain

THE ESCORIAL

As the inheritor of divine rights, Philip could do no wrong, and as the greatest king of the greatest kingdom of the world, he always rose superior to personal or national calamity. His arms suffered overwhelming reverses in the Netherlands; he retaliated with massacre and extermination, and was deaf to entreaty. The defeat of his 'invincible' Armada was the death-blow to his hopes of converting England to the true faith, but he heard the news of this crowning catastrophe of his life without suffering his 'marble serenity' to be ruffled. Into his dying ears was poured the story of the dire devastation of Cadiz by the English fleet, but he only gnawed his rude crucifix and resigned himself the more devoutly to the will of God.

This was the man who in the leisure of thirty years of his life stamped his individuality upon the Royal Palace and Monastery of the Escorial, and fashioned this mighty pile to be a monument to his power and a revelation of his mind--a mind diseased with that virus of morbidity which turned from the contemplation of mercy, charity, and love to ponder on the awful and retributive side of religion. The man explains the edifice, and the edifice is the picture of the man. The granite towers, resting on deep massive foundations, rise boldly into the heavens--lofty, aspiring, severe, like the prayers his stern heart sent up to God. The spacious halls and lofty corridors, all leading finally to the church and the altar, have been likened to the avenues of his mind.

'In acknowledgment of the many and great blessings which it has pleased God to heap on us, and continue to us daily, and, inasmuch as He has been pleased to direct and guide our deeds and acts to His holy service, and in maintenance and defence of His holy faith and religion, and of justice and peace within our realms; considering likewise what the emperor and king, my lord and father, in a codicil which he lately made, committed to our care, and charged us with, respecting his tomb, the spot and place where his body and that of the empress and queen, my lady and mother, should be placed; it being just and meet that their bodies should be most duly honoured with a befitting burial-ground, and that for their souls be said continually masses, prayers, anniversaries, and other holy records, and because we have, besides, determined that whenever it may please God to take us away to Him, our body should rest in the same place and spot near theirs ... for all these reasons we found and erect the Monastery of San Lorenzo el Real, near the town of El Escorial, in the diocese and archbishopric of Toledo, the which we dedicate in the name of the Blessed St. Lawrence, on account of the special devotion which, as we have said, we pray to this glorious saint, and in memory of the favour and victories which on this day we received from God....

Although located in a desolate waste of rugged mountains and treeless plains, amid surroundings which most men would shun, the site of the Escorial was selected as the result of much careful thought and personal investigation by 'the holy founder,' as Philip is called by the monks. His sentimental attachment to the spot is explained by its air of unrelieved melancholy, but he was also influenced in his choice by the fact that the district contained the abundance and quality of stone suitable for his purpose. Already he had conceived the form and dimensions of his hermitage and sanctuary, the austerity and magnitude of which were to be in harmony with its natural surroundings. Before the work of clearing the land was begun he had erected upon the newly acquired site a rude temporary lodging for his own accommodation. He entrusted his ideas for the construction of the building to Juan Bautista de Toledo, whose plans, ambitious and eccentric in the first place, were severely revised by Philip. On April 23, 1563, the first stone was laid, and from that time until September 13, 1584, when the pile was completed, the king, assailed by the fear that he might die before his scheme was brought to completion, devoted every moment he could seize from affairs of State to superintending the work, and urging architects, artists, and decorators to greater efforts in the accomplishment of their several tasks.

'En este estrecho recinto muri? Felipe segundo, cuando era peque?o el mundo al hijo de Carlos quinto.'

There still remain the bedroom he had built next to the royal oratory; the study, some of the chairs he used, and two chairs without arms on which he used to repose the leg in which he had gout. The ceiling is smooth and without ornaments; the walls are whitewashed, and the floor is of brick. From this bedroom the high altar can be seen through two doors that lead to the galleries.

The palace contains a series of small rooms, the most remarkable of which are a set of four. The other apartments are covered with beautiful tapestry made from designs by Rubens, Teniers, and Goya, but the walls of these particular rooms are covered with the finest inlaid woodwork. The hinges, locks, and handles of the doors are in gilt-bronze and steel, and the ceilings are painted by Maella. The entire work is said to have cost ?280,000.

Of the three hundred and thirty-eight rich tapestries in the palace, one hundred and fifty-two of them were manufactured in the old Royal Factory of Madrid; one hundred and sixty-three in Flanders, from designs for the most part by David Teniers; twenty in France and five in Italy. Nearly all represent country scenes, landscapes, Spanish customs, views of Madrid, and hunting scenes.

LA GRANJA

The building itself, which cannot compare with the Palace of Versailles, is a severe-looking structure of two stories, and is the antithesis of the proud, gloomy Escorial on which it turns its back. The fa?ade facing the gardens is white and cheerful, but the multitude of windows gives it the air of a monster conservatory. The place, which is so essentially French, appears incongruous amid surroundings which are so characteristically Spanish; but the Castilian people find no fault with it on that account. It is, they say, a worthy ch?teau of the King of Spain. As he is the first and loftiest of all earthly sovereigns, so his abode soars nearest to Heaven. The argument is Spanish and unanswerable!

The church is in the shape of a Latin cross, the ends of the four arms being occupied by the high altar, choir, and two principal doors.

Here, where Art is truly French, and Nature is truly Spanish, where even Nature conceives in bleak discomfort for eight months in each year to bring forth four months of flowers and fa?rie, the King of Spain and his English bride retired to surroundings amid which a honeymoon will not be forgotten. Madrid has its magnificent royal palaces; El Pardo boasts its wondrous tapestries; Aranjuez its gardens, and Rio Frio its orchards; El Escorial is the eighth wonder of the world, and Miramar looks over the yellowest of golden sands into the bluest of blue waters; but La Granja, in the Guadarrama Mountains, is that place apart where lovers may find a bower

'Of coolest foliage, musical with birds';

and here one may listen to

'The murmurs of low fountains that gush forth I' the midst of roses!'

The apartments on the first floor, which with the exception of the sacristy and chapel on the ground floor are the only rooms that call for description, are decorated and furnished with a simplicity that would seem to betoken actual poverty. This is accounted for by the fact that the royal family very seldom resides in this palace; and at such times whatever is required is conveyed there from the palace of San Ildefonso. On the other hand, the collection of pictures is superior in number and merit to that of San Ildefonso, for among its six hundred and fifty-eight pictures there are many originals of the great masters of the different schools. There is one each of Van Dyck, Titian, Albert D?rer, and Goya; two by Zurbaran, Navarrete, Guido de Reni, Pantoja de la Cruz, and Correggio; eight by Jord?n, three by Teniers, four by Domenichino, and six by Poussin.

EL PARDO

To the Royal Patrimony also belongs the parish church and the Capuchin convent of Santo Cristo, situated on the left bank of the river, and hither, on St. Eugene's day, the people of Madrid journey in crowds. On other feast days, also, the beautifully wooded slopes and shady avenues of El Pardo attract thousands of visitors from the city. It would be difficult to find anywhere in Europe, at the very doors of the capital, such beautiful rustic scenery as that enclosed in this royal estate.

ARANJUEZ

Although this secret resolution was carefully guarded, a rumour of the projected flight got about, and the mob vented their anger upon Godoy, whom they believed was prepared to sell the country to the Corsican. In vain Charles addressed proclamations to 'my dear vassals,' and assured them that his dear ally, the Emperor of the French, was only making use of Spanish soil to reach points threatened by the English enemy; in vain he denied the story of his intended flight. The greater part of the garrison in Madrid was ordered to Aranjuez, but with the soldiers went an army of country people who surrounded the king's palace and the palace of the favourite, and closely guarded every avenue of escape. At midnight of the 17th March a bugle-call rang out, a shot responded to the summons, and in a moment the revolution was in full swing. Around the royal residence, in which Charles was lying ill with gout, the mob contented itself by howling threats and imprecations, but Godoy's palace was carried by assault. The work of destruction was stayed for a few moments while the Princess of the Peace, a member of the royal family, and her daughter were respectfully conveyed to the royal palace. Then the ruffians got to work in terrible earnest. With murderous thoroughness they searched every room and corridor for the despised author of the national trouble, wrecking everything in their path. But Godoy had slipped from his bed, and found a refuge under a roll of matting in a neighbouring lumber-room. For thirty-six hours he remained in hiding until hunger and thirst drove him from his retreat, and he was led from his ruined house to the barrack guardroom through a populace that thirsted for his life. The wretched fugitive, ill with fear and fatigue, was placed between two mounted guards, and the journey was made at a sharp trot, but he could not out-distance the vengeance of the crowd, and his guards could not protect him. Fierce blows were rained upon him by the infuriated multitude, and the man who had been master of Spain, bleeding from a score of wounds and gasping for breath, was only rescued from instant death by a miracle.

'The happy days in fair Aranjuez Are past and gone.'

'Intriguing courtiers no longer crowd its halls,' he reflects; 'its spacious circus, where Manchegan bulls once roared in rage and agony, is now closed, and the light tinkling of guitars is no longer heard amidst its groves and gardens.' One feels as one reads these passages that Borrow was not at his best as a moralist. One prefers him when he is describing in his lively, absorbing manner his personal experiences, and is glad to learn that he disposed of eighty Testaments in desolate Aranjuez, and that he 'might have sold many more of these Divine books' if he had remained there a longer period.

MIRAMAR

The real Casa de Campo de Miramar is composed of three departments: the palace, the offices, and the stables and coach-houses. The palace is a three-storied building, in the style of an English country house. On the ground-floor, at the entrance, is a spacious central gallery, which extends nearly the whole length of the palace, dividing it into two parts. On the right are the king's study, the library, the oratory, the reading-room and the dining-room, which is rectangular, and boasts a magnificent balcony. On the left are the hall, the official reception rooms, and the billiard-room. Between the study and the library is a large drawing-room. On the first floor are the apartments of the king and queen and the old playroom of his Majesty, all communicating with each other by a terrace which overlooks the sea and the garden. From the king's room a tower is reached, which is surmounted by a flag-staff. The rooms occupied by the royal servants are on the upper floor. A long gallery connects the main building with the house in which are lodged the chief officials of the palace, and the stables, which are fashioned on the most modern English pattern, form a separate building.

EL ALCAZAR

SEVILLE

The beautiful Moorish palace of the Alcazar at Seville, unlike the more famous Alhambra of Granada, is still a royal palace, though only occasionally the residence of their Catholic Majesties. The upper floor, containing the royal apartments, is always kept ready for these illustrious tenants, and in consequence is rarely accessible by the tourist and sight-seer. The palace proper is one of a group of buildings known as the Alcazares, which is surrounded by an embattled wall, and includes several open spaces and numerous private dwellings. Immediately inside the wall are two squares called the Patio de las Banderas and Patio de la Monteria. At the far end of the former is the office of the governor of the palace, and to the right of this is an entrance whence a colonnaded passage called the Apeadero leads straight through to the gardens, or, by turning to the right, to the Patio del Leon. On one side this latter square communicates with the Patio de la Monteria; on the other side is the palace of the Alcazar itself. I hope this will make the rather puzzling topography of the place a little more intelligible.

Whether or not the Roman 'Arx' stood on this spot, as tradition avers, I cannot pretend to say. But there is no room for doubt that a palace stood here in the days of the Abbadite amirs, and that this building was restored and remodelled by the Almohades. To outward seeming the Alcazar is as Moorish a monument as the Alhambra. In reality, few traces remain of the palace raised by the Moslem rulers of either dynasty, and the present building was mainly the work of the Castilian kings--especially of Pedro the Cruel. But though built under and for a Christian monarch, it is practically certain that the architects were Moors and good Moslems, and that their instructions and intentions were to build a Moorish palace. Historically, you may say, the Alcazar is a Christian work; artistically, Mohammedan.

The actual palace occupies only a small part of the site of the older structures, and incorporates but a few fragments of their fabrics. Since Pedro the Cruel's day, so many sovereigns have restored, remodelled, and added to the building, that it is far from being homogeneous, though we can hardly agree with Contreras that it is 'far from being a monument of Oriental art.'

Pedro built more than one palace, or, more correctly, two or three wings of the same palace, in this enclosure. Traces of his Stucco Palace remain. Pedro looms very large in the history of Seville. He plays the same part here as Har?n-al-Rashid in the story of Bagdad. He was fond of the Moors, and affected their costumes and customs. He also favoured the Jews, and was alleged by his enemies to be the changeling child of a Jewess. His treasurer and trusted adviser was an Israelite named Simuel Ben Levi. He served the king long and faithfully, till one day it was whispered that half the wealth that should fill the royal coffers had been diverted into his own. Ben Levi was seized without warning and placed on the rack, whereupon he expired, not of pain, but of sheer indignation. Under his house--so the story goes--was found a cavern in which were three piles of gold and silver, twice as high as a man. Pedro on beholding these was much affected. 'Had Simuel surrendered a third of the least of these piles,' he exclaimed, 'he should have gone free. Why would he rather die than speak?'

Stories innumerable are told of this king, a good many, no doubt, being pure inventions. There is no reason to question the account of his treatment of Abu Sa?d, the Moorish Sultan of Granada. This prince had usurped his throne, and being solicitous of Pedro's alliance, came to visit him at the Alcazar with a magnificent retinue. The costliest presents were offered to the Castilian king, whose heart, however, was bent on possessing the superb ruby in the regalia of his guest. Before many hours had passed, the Moors were seized in their apartments and stripped of their raiment and valuables. Abu Sa?d, ridiculously tricked out, was mounted on a donkey, and with thirty-six of his courtiers, hurried to a field outside the town, where they were bound to posts. A train of horsemen appeared, Don Pedro at their head, and transfixed the helpless men with darts, the king shouting, as he hurled his missiles at his luckless guest: 'This for the treaty you made me conclude with Aragon! This for the castle you took from me!' The ruby which had been the cause of the Moor's death was presented by his murderer to the Black Prince, and now adorns the crown of England.

Nor did Pedro confine his fury to the sterner sex. Do?a Urraca Osorio, because her son was concerned in Don Enrique's uprising, was burned at the stake on the Alameda. Her faithful servant, Leonor D?valos, seeing that the flames had consumed her mistress's clothing, threw herself into the pyre to cover her nakedness, and was likewise burnt to ashes. Having conceived a passion for Do?a Maria Coronel, the king caused the husband to be executed in the Torre del Oro. The widow, far from yielding to his entreaties and threats, took the veil and destroyed her beauty by means of vitriol. Pedro at once transferred his attentions to her sister, Do?a Aldonza, and met with more success. If a chronicler is to be believed, he threw his brother Enrique's young daughter naked to the lions, like some Christian virgin martyr. The generous brutes refused the proffered prey, and the whimsical tyrant ever afterwards treated the maiden kindly. In memory of her experience, she was known as 'Leonor de los Leones.'

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