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nearly as fact can be supposed lo approach to romance, 

 the description of the Happy Valley in Rasselas. It is 

 situated about thirty miles from Madrid, at the con- 

 fluence of the noble river Tagus, which is here of 

 very moderate size, with one of its smaller branches, 

 called the Jarama. The country in this part of 

 Spain, though not barren, is destitute of wood, and 

 wears, through the greater part of the year, a parch- 

 ed and dry appearance. After passing over several 

 miles of this monotonous landscape, you descend into 

 an extensive valley of six or eight miles in length 

 and two or three in breadth, covered with the most 

 luxuriant vegetation, and laid out entirely in grounds 

 and gardens ; in the midst of which are embosomed 

 the buildings that form the royal residence and the 

 neighboring village. The two divisions, of which 

 ornamented grounds are naturally composed, that is, 

 a flower and fruit garden, and a park tastefully 

 planted and disposed, are here combined in high per- 

 fection. In the immediate neighborhood of the Pal- 

 ace, are two gardens devoted chiefly to flowers, and 

 planted with alleys of elms, sycamores, cypresses, 

 acacias, and various other sorts of ornamental trees, 

 which, in this rich and well-watered soil, grow luxu- 

 riantly, and rise, in some cases, to a very great 

 height. The rest of the valley is laid out into open 

 lawns, intersected by roads and variegated by clumps 

 of trees, which occasionally thicken into a sort of 

 forest, particularly at the point where the junction of 

 the rivers presents a scene, similar in kind, and pro- 

 bably not inferior in beauty, to the celebrated Meet- 

 ing of the Waters in the Vale of Avoca, in Ireland. 



