Vievj of Madrid. 381 



nares. This river was so dry that the many picturesque-look- 

 ing washerwomen could scarcely find w-ater enough in its bed 

 for their purposes. After thunderstorms the river is said to 

 swell within a few hours to a dangerous size, but this is, how- 

 ever, only of very short duration. 



From a casa del campo in the Manzanares valley one has a 

 beautiful view of Madrid, especially of the palace and of the 

 artillery barracks, which acquired some notoriety on account 

 of what happened there in the revolt. There, at the side of 

 the monastery of St. Fernando, is also the palace of the Duke 

 of Ossuna. 1 wanted to see it, but was refused entrance with- 

 out tickets. These were of course easily procured, and when 

 people heard that I was a relative of the duchess, everything 

 was shown me most readily. It is a splendid dwelling, and I 

 admired much the order in which it was kept by the creditors 

 of the duke, who had taken possession of the palace. 



Though the duke is perhaps the richest man in Spain, his 

 whole fortune consists in landed property ; half Andalusia be- 

 longs to him, I believe ; but owing to the unsettled state of 

 Spain, the fields were not tilled, and the farmers did not pay 

 any rent. Thus it may be easily understood that the richest 

 man in Spain was momentarily in difficulties and in the hands 

 of his creditors. 



I saw, of course, all the sights of Madrid and its celebrated 

 picture-gallery. An amiable artist, Senor de Grau, of whom I 

 bought a fine aquarelle, was kind enough to be our cicerone. 

 I took with me photographs of the most celebrated pictures of 

 Titian, Velasquez, Murillo, and Ruebens, but will not describe 

 them, because ' my paper is at an end,' and Mr. Ford has done 

 it sufficiently. 



The Arraeria 1 visited also, and admired the wonderful 

 armoury of kings and heroes. The finest armour seems to me 

 that of Philip II., which was presented to him by the city of 

 Pampeluna. The most wonderful is, however, that of the 

 Elector of Saxe — I do not know which — which has ample 

 room for a couple of Spanish nights. Astonishing to me was 

 the armour of Christopher Columbus, w;hom I always imagined 

 with a compass and not with a sword in his hand. He must 

 have had not only a big head, but also an almost gigantic body, 

 offering a rather ugly appearance. / 



In the cupboards are exhibited many historical curiosities, 



