1809.] 
these present a vast fund of information 
and entertainment to the traveller of 
taste and science, far beyond what it is 
but too common fon strangers to imagine 
can be found in Madrid. 
Having remained some weeks in Ma- 
drid, I proceeded on the 25thof Novem- 
ber on a tour to the celebrated convent 
and palace of the Escurial, the royal seat 
of San Jldefonso and Segovia. /The 
road from Madrid w the Escurial is kept 
inexcellent order, and trees have been 
planted on each side: great part of the 
country, however, is in forest, and allotted 
for the ro¥al hunt. _ {t is impossible to 
view, without admiration, the vast ex- 
. tent of the Escurial, its noble simplicity 
in the exterior, and the invaluable riches 
of the interior, in architecture, sculp- 
ture, and painting. The edifice covers a 
space of 750 feet in length, by near 600 
in breadth, exclusive of the projection 
from the middle of the east front, which 
is the only portion af the building appro- 
priated for the royal residenee, all the 
rest comprising many courts and cJoisters, 
being the abode of the Hieronymite fa- 
thers. The library is especially valuable 
for the collection of Greek, Arabic, and 
other oriental manuscripts. 
The situation has been much criticised 
as extremely wild and inconvenient: but 
for the retreat of a single hermit, ora 
small community of retired religious, no 
lace could be better chosen. ‘he edi- 
Ree occupies nearly the whole of an ele- 
vated plain, seated like a shelf in the bo- 
som of bofty rugged mourtains, rearing 
their hoary sides and summits to a con- 
siderable height. Behind the building is 
a deep valley, running far into the moun- 
tains, and to that quarter is the front di- 
rected. From the opposite side, the view 
extends far and wide over a tract of plain 
country, the fore-ground being one wide 
forest, exhibiting a curious specimen of 
those forests of nature’s planting, for 
which Spain once was, and still, in some 
degree, is renowned. The trees are not 
placed out in regular arrangemeut, nor 
1 contiguous shade, as in some of our 
English woods, but are scattered up and 
down, at one time single, at another in 
thick clamps, with bare tecks and patches 
of pasture interspersed. The only fault 
6f the Escurial seems therefore to have 
been, that so vast an establishment should 
have been erected in that spot, where 
tle monks, to the number of three hun- 
dred, being assembled, and accommodated 
jn the most splendid habitation which the 
wealth of both worlds could enable Philip 
Account of recent Travels in Spatn. 
535 
the Second to provide, eyery idea of so- 
litude and of religious austerity was 
overturned. Parailel to the north frout 
of the convent a regular handsome little 
town is erected, for the convenience of the 
ministers and strangers who reside there, 
while the king makes the Escurial his 
abode. 
The mountains on whose side this su- 
perb edifice is constructed, are part of a 
long range extending from east to west, 
and forming the hmit between Old and 
New Castille. 
A league or more to the northward of 
the Escurial, the road. having skirted the 
mountains on the left to the village of 
Guadarama, there winds up, ina zig-zag 
direction, over a low neck'or pass, known, 
as well as the adjoining mountains, by 
the name of Guadarama, from the village 
below. The road is well constructed, and 
kept in good repair, and the neighbour- 
ing hills present many tracts of pine 
forest. This pass is considered of grea 
Importance if a military view, as besides 
it there is no other track practicable for 
a carriage, either to the riyht or rhe left 
for a considerable distance; the road by 
Guadalajara to Siguenza and Navarre, 
which is a common country course, lying 
40 or 50 miles to the north east. 
From the summit of the pass of Gua- 
darama, is a distant view of ‘the plains 
extending to Madrid on the south, and on 
the other side of those stretching towards 
Valladolid on the north: the great road 
continuing on by that town to Burgost 
Vittoria, &c. to Bayonne. On the 27th 
of Nevember, when [ traversed these 
mountains, they were covered with deep 
snow, and it was with difficulty the mules 
wére able to draw the light chaise, or 
caleza, up the steep, while the driver and 
I walked behind to prevent their recoil- 
ing. On the summit of the pass, or 
puerto, is a convenient little inn on a 
small level spot, beyond which the road 
descends, by a long gradual slope, tos 
wards the plain on the north, which séems 
to be considerably more elevated than 
that on the south. 
An how’s journey from the mountains 
stands a large and commodious inn, called 
San Rafael, one of a number erected by 
government, and properly fitred up for 
the accommodation of travellers of alf 
descriptions, comfortably furnished, and — 
duly supplied with provisions. These 
inns, which, by adopting a term used in 
the Levant, and in some: sea-ports of 
Italy, are called Fondus, are usually kept 
by Swiss, Milanese, or other foreigners 
acquainted 
