[38] These stalls are like late Flemish work, but wrought by a Spaniard, Martin Sanchez, circa A.D. 1480, who received 125,000 maravedis for his labour.
[39] See Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., vi. 171.
[40] A decidedly hyperbolical inscription is quoted by Ponz, in which the Chapel of Miraflores is called a Temple, “second to none in the world for monuments, beauty and curiousness.”—Ponz, Viage de Esp., xii. 61. The remark might fairly have been made if had referred only to the monuments.
[41] Quoted by Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist., iv. 378.
[42] There is an illustration of this monument in Mr. Waring’s book.
[43] See España Sagrada, xxvii. 559. Cean Bermudez, Dicc. Hist. iv. 324, vi. 285, and Arq. de España, i. 106 and 121.
[44] “Nobilis Vir Gonsalvus Polauco, atque ejus conjux Eleonora Miranda hujus sacri altaris auctores hoc tumulo conquiescunt:” “Obiit ille anno 1505 hæc vero 1503.”
[45] I fear I must add that Roman Catholics still seem to be fond of western galleries; for one of the most recent, and I hope the most hideous of their works, the new Italian church in Hatton Garden, has, in addition to all its other faults, the glaring one of a western gallery fitted up like an orchestra, whilst the part of the floor which, according to all old usage, was given to the choir to sing praises to God, seems from the aspect of the chairs with which it is filled to be reserved for the more “respectable” part of the congregation! Extremes meet, and this Italian church would be easily convertible, as it would be most suitable, to the use of the baldest form of Dissent!
[46] Ponz, Viage de Esp., xii. 21, gives an inscription on one of the towers of the castle, which states that Pedro Sanchez, “Criado y Ballistero,” servant and archer to the King (Enrique II.), was its Mayordomo during its construction in the year 1295.
[47] In Braun and Hohenburgius’ Théâtre des Villes, A.D. 1574, there is a view of Burgos, which must have been drawn somewhat earlier as the Chapel of the Constable is not shown in the cathedral: San Esteban is represented with a spire on its tower.