Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

at length fixed upon one lying between them, on the slope of the mountains of Guadarrama. The wild spot selected for the future edifice, the motives which occasioned its erection, and the edifice itself, a stupendous yet gloomy combination of palace, convent, and cemetery,-are alike worthy of each other, and of the stern spirit, at whose command its huge masses were raised in such a place.

The work was commenced in 1563, under the superintendence of Juan Bautista Manegro, who made the plans, and on his death left the completion of them to his disciple Juan de Herrera. More than thirty years were consumed in the construction of the whole, twenty-one in the main parts of the edifice, and the rest in the pantheon or cemetery, which was not finished until the reign of Philip IV.,--so that the founder himself did not live to see its completion. Its cost was enormous; but notwithstanding the onerous expenditures of his government, which all the riches of the New World were unable to meet, Philip would not suffer anything to interfere with the execution of his magnificent purposes in this favourite object. From the spot known as the King's Seat, on the brow of the mountain above the Escorial, the gloomy despot was accustomed, in his lonely walks, to look down upon the immediate work of his power at his feet, and on the wide realms which he ruled, from the mountains of Guadalajara on the left to those of Toledo on the right, including the city of 9

VOL. I.

Madrid, and the ridge-broken expanse of New Castile, spreading out like the undulating surface of troubled ocean.

a

It was at the close of the year, that I prepared to visit this celebrated edifice. In Madrid, it is impossible, in the winter months, not to look towards the region of the Escorial as the scene of desolation and horror. Sharp airs blow from the bleak summits of the Guadarrama, across an open tract of country, and come sweeping through Madrid, like the breath of a polar circle let loose upon the sunny south; and the capital, which in the summer season is subject to oppressive heats, is now consigned for awhile to the dominion of intense cold; and the sentry, as he keeps his nightly guard by the royal palace, is not seldom frozen to death on his post. But winter, of course, had no terrors for me; and if, at this time, I might see little of the rural beauties, which are not wanting in the gardens and environs of the Escorial, I knew that I could not fail to be profoundly impressed with its desolate grandeur and peculiar style of magnificence.

I was accompanied in my visit by a Spanish gentleman, who, although for many years a resident of Madrid, had never yet seen the wonders of -the Escorial. It was necessary for him, as for me before taking so trifling a journey as a single day's ride into the country, to be furnished with a pass port duly visé by the police, specifying the precise day of departure as well as the direction of travel,

-such is the jealous supervision, with which the motions of every person in Spain are watched. This passport, moreover, must be submitted to the inspection of the local authorities every night passed on the road. Strongly as this fact illustrates the abuses of the government, the situation and circumstances of my companion did so in a still more striking manner.

Don Jaime, as, from considerations of delicacy, I shall call him, was a native of the pastoral region in the rear of Cordoba. His uncle, an ecclesiastic of talent and standing, designed him for the same profession, and left means to enable him to study to advantage. The property was invested in public funds, and disappeared under the dilapidations of Godoy, and the consequences of Napoleon's invasion. Of course, young Jaime was soon obliged to leave his college and studies, the troubles of his country cutting off his prospects and deranging his plans, as happened to so many others of his countrymen at that disastrous period. Matrimony and an official employment at length fixed him at Madrid. But then came the constitution and the Cortes, the second invasion of the French, and the restoration of absolutism; and Don Jaime, although his careless temper and unambitious spirit were little likely to cause him to embark in measures of revolution, had the misfortune to find his name on the list of impurificados, or persons suspected of liberalism, who roquined to be purified before they

could be restored to the functions and emoluments of office. By means of the friendship of the Count of Ofalia, Don Jaime got through the process of purification. But what followed? Don Jaime's employment had meanwhile been bestowed upon another; and, according to every rule of common sense and rational government, he himself, if he was considered worthy of public consideration, should have been appointed to some vacant office within his competency. But in Spain they view it otherwise. Don Jaime was neither restored to office, nor left to seek a livelihood by his own industry; but became one of a class of persons, peculiar to Spain, who receive a stated portion of the salary attached to office, but have no duties to perform, and in theory are considered as having claims to the first vacancy. But the ministry have their friends to gratify, their dependants to compensate, and their partisans to reward; and whenever a vacancy occurs, it will, in all probability, be filled by some new man, while the displaced pretendiente must remain content with idleness and half-pay. Such was the predicament of Don Jaime, who was fain to eke out his means by affording occasional instruction to foreigners, who needed his services, and even thus found scanty employment for intelligence and capacity worthy of a better lot.

We bargained, over night, with a horse-letter of the Calle del Barquillo, for a calesa, a stout horse, and a mozo or driver, to convey us from Madrid to

the Escorial; but notwithstanding our precaution in making a price beforehand, the knavish old Catalan contrived, as it turned out in the sequel, to cheat us in his terms, after all our forethought. Our carriage was too characteristic of Spain to pass unnoticed. The calesa closely resembles a cabriolet or common chaise; but differs in some curious particulars. The form is large and square at the top, like the venerable chaises of other times, whose model we occasionally see reproduced among us at the present time, by those who choose to sacrifice appearance to comfort. The body is painted in gaudy colors without, and the inside is hung with a profusion of silk linings in festoons or other ornamental forms. The shafts being short and thick, the wheels rather small, and the saddle high, the carriage inclines backward, and is rendered insecure by the closeness and convergence of the wheels on the ground. A profusion of woollen tassels of bright colors, with a kind of crest of the same materials, and a bunch of bells, adorn the head of the horse or mule, and a tall brass knob usually bedecks the saddle. To the fantastic appearance of the whole, the costume of the mozo adds an additional feature of singularity, in his low broad-brimmed hat with its band of bugles, his particolored jacket, and his fanciful chausserie. Thus borne and attended, we started for the Escorial, which is situated at some seven leagues distance from Madrid.

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »