The Capilla de los Reyes Catolicos communicates with the Cathedral, but is under a separate roof. It is of Gothic architecture, and celebrated for a flat arch of remarkable boldness, which supports its roof. The remains of Ferdinand and Isabella, and their immediate successors, Philip and Joanna, are deposited in this chapel. Their tombs, executed by order of the Emperor Charles V., are superbly sculptured. That of the “Catholic Kings” is the most elaborately wrought and highly finished; but the other is lighter, and displays more elegance of design. The recumbent figures of Ferdinand and Isabella are remarkably well carved;—the repose in the queen’s countenance is incomparably expressed. The same cannot be said of the manner in which the “mad” Joanna and her Austrian husband have been sculptured; with the latter of whom, at all events, the artist could not offer the usual excuse, that crowned heads are difficult subjects to manage, since the Spaniards themselves surnamed Philip “El Hermoso.”[143]
In ascending rather too hastily and unguardedly from the tomb of the conquerors of Granada, I struck my head against the iron grating above, and was laid prostrate and senseless at the foot of the altar. It required a good pint of the church wine—which our worthy, priestly cicerone insisted upon administering, both internally and externally—to set me up again; and, as a reward for my patience under suffering, he showed us the splendidly illuminated missal, used by the “Catholic Kings,” and deposited with the crown, sword, and sceptre of the great Ferdinand, in the sacristy of the Cathedral.
The church of San Geronimo is one of the oldest in Granada—which city boasts of being the first in Spain that embraced Christianity—San Cicilio, one of the seven apostles ordained by Peter and Paul, having founded a church at Eliberi, in the first century.[144] It contains some paintings said to be by Murillo, but is more celebrated as being the burial-place of Gonzalvo de Cordoba. A plain white marble slab, let into the pavement at the foot of the principal altar, and bearing the following simple inscription, is all that marks the spot where the remains of the greatest captain Spain ever produced were interred.
Gonzali Fernandez
de Cordova
Sui propriâ virtute
magni ducis nomen
proprium sibi fecit
ossa
perpetua tandem
luci restituenda
huic interea loculo
credita sunt
gloria minime consepulta.
The church of San Juan de Dios is well worthy a visit; though its decorations are rather gaudy than handsome. It contains a few small, but very good paintings by Cano, and a valuable silver urn, embossed with gold, wherein are deposited—so the Spaniards assert—the bones of our Saviour’s favourite disciple, who died at Granada.
There are many other churches deserving of the traveller’s notice, but it would be tedious to enumerate them. To the lovers of Rossini’s music, however, I would recommend a visit to that of San Domingo during High Mass. I once heard there the whole of the airs from Mosé in Egitto, besides various pezzi scelti from the Gazza ladra, to which, in England, we dance quadrilles.
The Carthusian Convent (extra muros) is noted for its riches, and collection of paintings. We could not gain admission on our first visit; as, after toiling up the eminence on which it is situated, we found the grating in the portal closed by a board, announcing “Hoy se sacan animas”—To-day souls are extracting from purgatory;—a praiseworthy occupation, from which it would have been sinful to take the worthy friars; although it was gently hinted to us, that a few pesetas would remove any scruples they might entertain. The day following, however,—the funds for suborning the devil having been exhausted,—we were admitted to inspect the interior of the convent. It contains numerous paintings, some few said to be by Murillo, others by Cano; but I doubt whether either of those great masters ever touched them. The rest are mere daubs, representing the persecutions of the monks by Henry VIII, by the Moors, and by the German Lutherans.
The Hermita de San Anton is a small edifice on the outskirts of the city, which, on a certain day in the spring of the year, is endowed with the singular power of curing horses of the cholic; all that is required being to ride them nine times, at a brisk pace, round the exterior of the church—ni mas ni menos.
CHAPTER XII.
GRANADA CONTINUED—THE ZACATIN—MARKET PLACE—BAZAAR—POPULATION—THE GRANADINOS—THEIR PREDILECTION FOR THE FRENCH COSTUME—LOVE OF MASKED BALLS—MADAME MARTINEZ DE LA ROSA’S TERTULIA—AN ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCE METAMORPHOSED—SPECIMEN OF SPANISH TASTE IN FITTING UP COUNTRY HOUSES—THE MARQUES DE MONTIJO—ANECDOTE OF THE LATE KING AND THE CONDE DE TEBA—CONSTITUTIONAL ENTHUSIASM OF GRANADA—ENDS IN SMOKE—MILITARY SCHOOLS—OBSERVATIONS ON THE SPANISH ARMY—DEPARTURE FOR CORDOBA—PINOS DE LA PUENTE—PUERTO DE LOPE—MOCLIN—ALCALA LA REAL—SPANISH PEASANTS—MANNER OF COMPUTING DISTANCE—BAENA—NOT THE ROMAN TOWN OF ULIA—CASTRO EL RIO—OCCUPIED BY A CAVALRY REGIMENT—VALUABLE FRIEND—CURIOSITY OF THE SPANISH OFFICERS—DITTO OF OUR NEW ACQUAINTANCE—INFLUENCE OF “SHERRIS SACK”—HE RELATES HIS HISTORY—CONTINUATION OF OUR JOURNEY TO CORDOBA—FIRST VIEW OF THAT CITY.