MADRID. [SPAIN.] MADRID, their knives. Joseph Bonaparte was also compelled to fly before them. In the month of December of the same year Napoleon entered the city in person, and reinstated his brother, who occupied the throne four years, up to 1812, at which time the city was taken by the English. In 1823 it was again occupied by the French, under the Duc d'Angoulême. Of the manners and customs of Madrid a recent writer says, "They can only be learned by viewing the habits of the mid possible for a stranger, even with good introductions, to know enough of the aristocracy to form a correct judgment of their domestic habits, owing, we believe, in a great measure, to the general poverty, which, with the high rate of living in Madrid, is an effectual bar to hospitality. Almost all families, except those in the very highest ranks, live, as in Paris and Edinburgh, in stories or flats, each story being a distinct house. The outer door, which is of enormous strength, has a small window or grating, with a sliding shutter, and the usual salutation from the porter when one rings for admittance, "Gentez de paz”—people of peace—and the door in ordinary cases is opened. This precaution of surveying strangers is, per The absence of trees in the vicinity of Madrid is doubtless one of the real causes of the severity of the climate. There is nothing in winter to preserve the city from the sharp north wind, and in summer to shade it from the burning rays of the sun. The Spaniards, however, are reconciling themselves by degrees to the trees, which for some time they seemed to consider as enemies, and they are continually planting them, so that Madrid stands in a fair way of regaining its original climate. According to the Spaniards, Madrid was foundeddle classes; for, indeed, it is next to ima few centuries after the deluge, and preceded Rome by more than a thousand years. This is about as ridiculous as the statement made by some French writers, that it was founded in the 16th century. Most readers of Spanish history are aware that Madrid was captured by Alonzo in 1083. Henry III. was crowned there in 1394. His successors, Juan II., Henry IV., and the Catholic kings, inhabited the Alcazar, and fortified it. It was at Madrid that Charles V. received the news of the victory of Pavia. It was to Madrid that Francis I. was carried prisoner; and at Madrid the treaty of peace was signed between France and Spain. During the Middle Ages, Spain, which was divided into several Mussulman and Christian kingdoms, had quite a number of capitals-haps, attributable to a feeling of personal Toledo, Cordova, Seville, Granada, Leon, Burgos, and Saragossa. These capitals were reduced to one after the capture of Granada. The Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella had not yet thought of a fixed capital. During the reign of Charles V., who was always either fighting or traveling, this important question was not decided until he abdicated the throne in favor of his son, Philip II.; he, as we have seen, gave the preference to Madrid, from a political motive, that none of the other capitals might have any jealousy in the matter, and that all Spain might become reconciled, all speak the same tongue-in fact, all be Spaniards. He declared its court to be the only one in the world. The subsequent history of Madrid is not of much importance until the commencement of the French wars. It was entered by Murat at the head of the French forces in 1808. Two months afterward they were compelled to retire, the Manolos making fearful havoc with insecurity consequent on bad government and religious persecution. A suite of apartments usually consists of a large, well-lighted, and respectably-furnished saloon, with a recess on one side, in which is a bed, wholly unconcealed and without curtains; and at another side is a door leading into a smaller chamber, similarly furnished to that just described. The lady's boudoir is always handsomely decorated; and the worst rooms in an establishment are invariably the library, or study, and the dining-room, both of which are small and wretchedly furnished. The apartments are always kept remarkably clean. "The manner of living in Madrid is somewhat more generous than in the northern provinces. A rich soup is usually added to the everlasting olla or cochido, which is much better made and more highly seasoned than in the rest of Spain; and dinner is always followed by cakes, sweetmeats, and fruits, accompanied by a mod |