SPAIN. 527 



palaces round it are designed for hunting seats, or houses of retire- 

 ment for their kings. Some of them contain fine paintings and good 

 statues. Tne chief of those palaces are the Buen Retiro (now stript 

 of all its best pictures and furniture) Casa del Campo, Aranjeuz, and 

 St. Iidefonso. 



A late traveller has represented the palace of Aranjeuz, and its 

 gardens, as extremely delightful. Here is also a park many leagues 

 round, intersected, in different parts, by alleys of two, three, and even 

 four miles extent. Each of those alleys is formed by two double 

 rows of elmtrees ; one double row on the right, and one on the left, 

 which renders the shade thicker. The alleys are wide enough to 

 admit four coaches abreast, and betwixt each double row there is a 

 narrow channel, through which runs a stream of water. Between 

 these alleys there are thick groves of smaller trees of various kinds ; 

 and thousands of deer and wild boars wander there at large, besides 

 numberless hares, rabbits, pheasants, partridges, and several other 

 kinds of birds. The river Tagus runs through this place, and divides 

 it into two unequal parts. The central point of this great park is 

 the king's palace, which is partly surrounded by the garden, and is 

 exceedingly pleasant, adorned with fountains and statues ; and it also 

 contains a vast variety of the most beautiful flowers, both American 

 and European. As to the palace of Aranjuez itself, it is rather an 

 elegant than a magnificent building. 



The palace of St. Iidefonso is built of brick, plaistered and paint- 

 ed, but no part ol the architecture is agreeable. It is two stories 

 high, and the garden front has thirty-one windows, and twelve rooms 

 in a suit. The gardens are on a slope, on the top of which is a great 

 reservoir of water, called here El Mar (the sea) which supplies the 

 fountains : this reservoir is furnished from the torrents which pour 

 down the mountains. The water works are excellent, and far sur- 

 pass those of Versailles. The great entry of the palace is some- 

 what similar to that of Versailles, and with a large iron palisade. In 

 the gardens are twenty-seven fountains ; the basins are of white mar- 

 ble, and the statues, many of which are excellent, are of lead, bronzed 

 and gilt. These gardens are in the formal French style, but orna- 

 mented with sixty-one very fine marble statues, as large as the life, 

 with twenty-eight marble vases, and twenty leaden vases gilt. The 

 upper part of the palace contains many valuable paintings, and the 

 lower part antique statues, busts, and basso-relievos. 



The pride of Spain, however, is the Escurial ; and the natives say, 

 perhaps with justice, that the building of it cost more than that of 

 any other palace in Europe. The description of this palace forms a 

 sizeable quarto volume; and it is said that Philip II, who was its 

 founder, expended upon it six millions of ducats. It is situate about 

 twenty miles from Madrid, in a deep recess at the foot of the Gua- 

 darama mountains. It contains a prodigious number of windows, 

 200 in the west front, and in the east 366; and the apartments are 

 decorated with an astonishing variety of paintings, sculpture, tapestry, 

 ornaments of gold and silver, marble, jasper, gems, and other curious 

 stones. This building, besides its palace, contains a church, large, 

 and richly ornamented ; a mausoleum, cloisters, a convent, a college, 

 and a library containing about thirty thousand volumes ; but it is 

 more particularly valuable for the Arabic and Greek manuscripts 

 with which it is enriched. Above the shelves are paintings in fresco, 

 by Barthelemi Carducho, the subjects of which are taken from sacred 



