Twenty years around the world

by John Guy Vassar

LXXXVII.

The Escorial, May 1, 1853.

On this busy, bustling day at home, I find myself wandering quietly and solitary through the untenanted gorgeous palace of the Escorial, with its minute combinations of convent, royal cemetery, and residence of the former kings of Spain. My guide is nearly seventy years of age, and has been blind for the last fifty-six years; yet he is active, mounts the cupola through the numerous passages, and describes the particular localities and points of view. This immense edifice measures seven hundred and forty-four feet by five hundred and eighty feet, and the entire square covers more than three thousand feet. In the centre is the chapel, surmounted by a dome. There are, so says the guide, sixty-three fountains, twelve cloisters, eighty staircases, sixteen court yards, and three thousand feet of fresco work, commenced in 1553, and finished in 1584.

The chapel has three naves three hundred and twenty feet long, two hundred and thirty feet wide, and three hundred and twenty feet to the top of the cupola. It is built of granite, in fine proportion, and superb for its simplicity, with richly decorated altars of jasper, and various marble and bronze gilt statues of great size. The painting, statuary, frescoes, and other ornaments are in proportion, to give you a faint idea of this immense work. Philip II., half monk, half king, died here in 1598, boasting that from the foot of a mountain he governed half the world with a scrap of paper. The lavish expenditure of millions upon millions could only have been supplied from newly discovered America.

From Madrid the distance is eight leagues by diligence, most of the way over a barren, desert country, where the immense glowing piles are discovered, at the base of the mountain, with its small village which is resorted to in summer by the citizens of Madrid, to escape the heat, glare, and dust of the city. The royal family never visit here, as it is the resting-place of their deceased relatives. The lawns, gardens, and promenades are pretty, as is also a miniature country house, ornamented with marble arabesques, rich paintings, and all the paraphernalia of a palace. Philip II. accumulated some seven thousand relics, which are preserved in five hundred and fifteen shrines. The French carried off much of the bullion of gold, but the exhibition is still sufficient to satisfy the most fastidious. The Pantheon, or burial-place, is a vaulted chamber under the high altar, approached by green and yellow colored jasper staircases, by torchlight; it is an octagon-formed chamber, thirty-six feet wide, and equally high, where in niches repose the kings and mothers of kings, the sexes being on opposite sides. The hosts of monks who were formerly here under the patronage of the king, no longer exist; and the services to the departed dead, and the few living who repair here, are performed by a limited number of priests.

Since I last wrote you from Madrid, I have visited the antiquated city of Toledo, and the summer residence of the royalty at Aranjuez. From Madrid to Toledo is twelve leagues, over a dull, dusty road, with straggling villages; among the number Illescas, which merits its reputation of having served up a stewed cat to Gil Blas, instead of a hare; but on approaching the venerable and imposing old city, the country improves, and is tolerably cultivated. It is built upon an almost impregnable rock of seven hills, and is two thousand four hundred feet above the level of the sea; the river Tayos rolls through the gorge which separates it from the opposite eminence; it has only one approach by the land side, which is protected by mammoth towers and castellated walls. The diligence enters on the outside road, which is of modern construction, and can only pass through the old gates and the narrow and circuitous lanes by means of cutting places for the form of the hubs to pass. It was a relief to escape from the heat, and glare, and dust of Madrid, and find oneself in the elevated, fresh, and invigorating atmosphere of this old city, with its shaded terraces and huts, protected from the sun’s rays by tall, substantial, Moorish-like houses, with clean courts, not unlike those of Seville; and although it was gloomy and tomb-like, its dilapidated population having dwindled down from two hundred thousand to fifteen thousand, it was an agreeable change from the noisy, bustling capital. My eyes having suffered from the dust, which in Madrid, at this season of the year, amounts to an epidemic, I wore blue goggles. I went quite opportunely, however, to see the town in convention, as the following day the ex-queen Christina and daughters came to see the Cardinal, her confessor. It being her first visit to this old city, it was quite a festival day; the priests were in full regalia, and the troops under arms; high mass was performed in the old cathedral; this, and the firing of cannon from the towering platform of the Alcazar, the banners, curtains, and counterpanes suspended from the balconies of the curious antique Plaza, gave the old city an animated appearance. Christina, in her gracious, smiling, and captivating manner, responded to the salutations of the people, who at heart despise her for her intriguing and audacious disposition. She was remarkably well, and appears nearly as young as when I saw her in Rome during her exile.

In the heart of the city towers one of the finest cathedrals in Spain; it is two hundred and four feet wide, and its central nave is one hundred and sixty feet high. It is a perfect museum of art, architecture, sculpture, and painting, which cannot well be described on paper. The illuminated stained glass windows, when seen at sunset, resembled rubies and emeralds. The view from the tower is very extensive. The chiming of the many ponderous bells, coming upon you while in the tower, is deafening. There are various churches and galleries, of antique and Moorish architecture, which occupy one’s time to advantage. Toledo, famous for its arms, has still its government manufactory, which employs about two hundred men; it is situated about one and a half miles from the city, on the banks of the river, and is well worth a visit. Although the machinery is dull and heavy, the work turned out is very superior. The finest armory I have seen was in Madrid, which has a vast collection, and contains a variety of ancient as well as modern blades. The collection of horse and warrior armor is of the choicest and most exquisite composition. The blades are of fine temper and polish, and so elastic that they can be coiled like the mainspring of a watch, and packed up. The collection of new arms in the form of all the antiques, Arab and Turkish, in use, is very interesting. The introduction of fire-arms was destructive to the interests of Toledo.

From Toledo I proceeded along the river bank six leagues to Aranjuez, through a rich agricultural and beautiful country, the property of the queen; it was sparsely populated, and little productive, from its unnatural tenure. The shady avenues for nearly a league approaching the royal abode are agreeable. The court resides here until the middle of June, when fevers sometimes prevail from the miasma of the river, then the town is quite deserted, and royalty departs to La Granza for the summer and autumn, until it returns to Madrid. Nature was in her prettiest attire, the vast and extensive gardens were filled with shade-trees of all countries. In the long walks, studded with thickly covered foliage, among the flowering fruit-trees, the fountains abundantly supplied with water, the statues and groups of Neptunes, Tritons, Dolphins, and hosts of allegorical figures, among the singing of birds, and the murmuring of the cataracts of water, one is transported as if by enchantment into a fairy land. The workmen were all busy in getting the grounds in order for the arrival of the queen.

I returned to the capital. The usual display of military took place at the departure of the queen, whose absence gave me an opportunity of seeing the royal stables, carriage houses, and harness rooms, which are among the richest in Europe for equipage. Some of the antique carriages were superbly decorated with gold and silver. The stable contained two hundred horses, one hundred and fifty mules, and one hundred and fifty equipages, which can be turned out on state occasions with appropriate harness and trappings. The employees in and about the palace are about eight hundred in number, so a very good idea may be formed of the expenses of a monarchical government, and an easy solution of the enormous imposts and taxation. Spain, with a population reduced from twenty-four millions to thirteen millions, pays the queen two and a half million of dollars per annum, while the glorious Republic of double the population, considers twenty-five thousand pretty good pay for a President. How often, while standing at the gates of the walled cities, noticing the wrangling between the officials and the hardy peasantry of the country, who are obliged to submit to the impost upon every article of production, have I reflected upon our free and untrammelled farmers at home, enjoying liberty of action, opinion, and religion, and free from passports and spies. How much we have to be thankful for, and how much we undervalue the privileges we possess.

I shall proceed across the mountain to La Granja, the last royal seat I have to visit, and shall continue to the ancient cities of Leyena and Valladolid.