Architecture in the United States. 267. 



the walks are carefully sprinkled in anticipation, and if it be a feast 

 day the fountains throw their waters higher. In the evening, thous- 

 ands of chairs are placed in readiness, in which the ladies take their 

 seats in circles, and hold their tertulias under the trees. Bare- 

 headed boys circulate with lighted matches for the accommodation 

 of the smokers. Aguadores are at hand with water that is fresh and 

 sparkling. Half-naked Valencians offer oranges and pomegranates. 

 Old women praise their dukes, or sweetmeats, for which the Medri- 

 lenias have quite a passion, whilst the waiters of a neighboring bot- 

 tilleria bring ices and sherbets to gratify the palates of the thirsty- 

 Children are heard on every side, collected in noisy groups, at their 

 pleasant games and pastimes, whilst the humbler crowd seat them- 

 selves in circles under the trees, and scratch their guitars, and raise 

 their voices, to make music for a light-heeled couple, who trip it 

 gaily in the midst. Meantime, the falling waters of the neighboring 

 fountains impart a coolness to the air, which comes perfumed from 

 the neighboring garden with the aromas of every clime, and burdened 

 with the song of the ruisenior. 



" Who can say enough in praise of the Paseo ? It furnishes an amuse- 

 ment at once delightful and innocent, and from which, not even the 

 poorest are excluded — a school where the public manners, and the 

 public morals are beautified and refined by social intercourse, and by 

 mutual observation ; where famiUes meet families, and friends meet 

 friends, as upon a neutral ground, inform themselves of each other's 

 affairs, unrestrained by ceremonial, and keep alive an intimacy, with- 

 out the formalities of a visit. In these delightful associations, persons of 

 every rank and of every calling forget their exclusive pretensions, whilst 

 the softer sex to whom belong the attributes of modesty and grace, 

 banish indecorum, and shed a charm over the whole assemblage."* 



Whatever the public may think of the present importance ol the 

 subjects hitherto under discussion, all must feel the practical charac- 

 ter of the one I now approach, which is burying grounds. Every 

 city must have these, and I shall pass at once to consider their best 

 position and plan, after which I shall depart somewhat from the course 

 I have hitherto pursued, to say a few words on monuments, and mon- 

 umental inscriptions. There seems to be so little probability that the 

 custom of burying under churches, will become prevalent among us, 

 that it seems scarcely necessary to spend time upon it here. I know 

 only one thing that can be said in favor of it, which is, that monuments 



* A year in Spain, by a young American, p. 153. 



