CHAPTER X.
THE ESCURIAL AND PHILIP II.
Before the train stopped, the students obtaineda fair view of the Escurial, which is a vast pileof buildings, located in the most desolate place to befound even in Spain. The village is hardly less solemnand gloomy than the tremendous structure that towersabove. The students breakfasted at the two _fondas_ inthe place; and then Mr. Mapps, as usual, had somethingto say to them:—
“The Escurial, or _El Escorial_ as it is called inSpanish, is a monastery, palace, and church. Thename is derived from _scoriæ_, the refuse of iron–loreafter it is smelted; and there were iron–mines in thisvicinity. The full name of the building is ‘_El RealSitio de San Lorenzo el Real del Escorial_,’ or, literally,‘The Royal Seat of St. Lawrence, the Royal, of theEscurial.’ It was built by Philip II. in commemorationof the battle of St. Quentin, in 1557, won by the armsof Philip, though he was not present at the battle. Hehad made a vow, that, if the saint gave him the victory,he would build the most magnificent monastery in theworld in his honor. St. Lawrence was kind enough toaccommodate him with the victory; and this remarkablepile of buildings was the result. Philip redeemed hisvow, and even did more than this; for, in recognitionof the fact that the saint was martyred on a gridiron,he built this monastery in the form of that useful cookingimplement. As you see, the structure is in theform of a square; and, within it, seventeen ranges ofbuildings cross each other at right angles. The towersat each corner are two hundred feet high; and thegrand dome in the centre is three hundred and twentyfeet high.
“The total length of the building is seven hundredand forty feet, by five hundred and eighty feet wide.It was begun in 1563, when Philip laid the corner–stonewith his own hands; and was completed twenty–oneyears later. It cost, in money of our time, fifteenmillions of dollars. It has four thousand windows;though you may see that most of them are rather small.The church, which is properly the chapel of the monastery,is three hundred and seventy–five feet long, andcontains forty chapels. The high altar is ninety feethigh, and fifty feet wide, and is composed of jasper.Directly under it is the royal tomb, in which are laidthe remains of all the sovereigns of Spain from CharlesV. to the present time. The Spaniards regard theEscurial as the eighth wonder of the world. It isgrand, solemn, and gloomy, like Philip who built it.In the mountain, a mile and a half from the Escurial,is a seat built of granite, which Philip used to occupywhile watching the progress of the work.”
The students separated, dividing into parties to suitthemselves. All the available guides were engaged forthem; and in a few minutes the interior of the churchpresented a scene that would have astonished thegloomy Philip if he could have stepped out of his shelfbelow to look at it, for a hundred young Americans—fromthe land that Columbus gave to Castile and Leon—wasan unusual sight within its cold and desertedwalls.
“I suppose you have read the lives of Charles V.and Philip II.,” said Dr. Winstock, as he entered thegreat building with his young friends.
Both of them had read Robertson and Prescott andIrving; and it was because they were generally wellread up that the doctor liked to be with them.
“It isn’t of much use for any one who has not readthe life of Philip II. to come here: at least, he wouldbe in the dark all the time,” added the doctor.
“I have seen it stated that Charles V. and hismother, Crazy Jane, both wanted a convent built whichshould contain a burial–place for the royal family,” saidSheridan.
“That is true. All of them were very pious, andinclined to dwell in convents. Charles V. showed histaste at his abdication by retiring to Yuste,” replied thesurgeon.
“The architecture of the building is very plain.”
“Yes,—simple, massive, and grand.”
“Like Philip, as Professor Mapps said.”
“It took him two years to find a suitable spot for thebuilding,” said the doctor.
“I don’t think he could have found a worse one,”laughed Murray.
“But he found just the one he wanted; and he didnot select it to suit you and me. Look off at thosemountains on the north,—the Guadarramas. Theytower above Philip’s mausoleum, but they do not belittleit. The region is rough but grand: it is desolate;but that makes it more solemn and impressive. It isa monastery and a tomb that he built, not a pleasure–house.”
“But he made a royal residence of it,” suggestedMurray.
“For the same reason that his father chose to endhis days in a monastery. Philip would be a wildfanatic in our day; but he is to be judged by his owntime. He was really a king and a monk, as much oneas the other. When we go into the room where hedied, and where he spent the last days of his life, andrecall some of his history there, we shall understandhim better. I don’t admire his character, but I am disposedto do justice to him.”
The party entered the church, called in Spanish_templo_: it is three hundred and twenty feet long, and itis the same to the top of the cupola.
“The interior is so well proportioned that you do notget an adequate idea of the size of it,” said the doctor.“Consider that you could put almost any church in ourown country into this one, and have plenty of room forits spire under that dome. It is severely plain; but Ithink it is grand and impressive. The high altar, whichI believe the professor did not make as large as it reallyis, is very rich in marbles and precious stones, and costabout two hundred thousand dollars.”
“That’s enough to build twenty comfortable countrychurches at home,” added Murray. “And this wholebuilding cost money enough to build fifteen thousandhandsome churches in any country. Of course thereare plenty of beggars in Spain.”
“That is the republican view of the matter,” repliedDr. Winstock. “But the builder of this mighty fabricbelieved he was serving God acceptably in rearing it;and we must judge him by his motive, and consider theage in which he lived. Observe, as Mr Ford says inhis hand–book, that the pantheon, or crypt where thekings are buried, is just under the steps of the highaltar: it was so planned by Philip, that the host, whenit was elevated, might be above the royal dead. Nowwe will go into the _relicario_.”
“I think I have seen about relics enough to last methe rest of my lifetime,” said Sheridan.
“You need not see them if you do not wish to doso,” laughed the surgeon. “This is a tolerably freecountry just now, and you can do as you please.”
But the captain followed his party.
“The French carried away vast quantities of thetreasures of the church when they were engaged inconquering the country. But they left the bones of thesaints, which the pious regard as the real treasures.Among other things stolen was a statue presented bythe people of Messina to Philip III., weighing two hundredpounds, of solid silver, and holding in its hand agold vessel weighing twenty–six pounds; besides forty–sevenof the richest vases, and a heavy crown set withrubies and other precious stones,” continued Dr. Winstock,consulting a guide–book he carried in his hand.“This book says there are 7,421 relics here now, amongwhich are ten whole bodies, 144 heads, 306 whole legsand arms; here is one of the real bars of the gridironon which St. Lawrence was martyred, with portions ofthe broiled flesh upon it; and there is one of his feet,with a piece of coal sticking between the toes.”
“But where did they get that bar of the gridiron?”asked Murray earnestly. “St. Lawrence was broiledin the third century.”
“I don’t know,” replied the doctor. “You must notask me any questions of that kind, for I cannot answerthem.”
The party returned to the church again; and the surgeoncalled the attention of his companions to the oratorios,one on each side of the altar, which are smallrooms for the use of the royal persons when they attendthe mass.
“The one on the left is the one used by Philip II.,”added the doctor. “You see the latticed windowthrough which he looked at the priest. Next to it ishis cabinet, where he worked and where he died. Weshall visit them from the palace.”
After looking at the choir, and examining the bishop’sthron
e, the party with a dozen others visited thepantheon, or royal tomb. The descent is by a flight ofmarble steps, and the walls are also of the same material.At the second landing are two doors, that on theleft leading to the “_pantheon de los infantes_,” which isthe tomb of those queens who were not mothers ofsovereigns of Spain, and of princes who did not sit onthe throne. There are sixty bodies here, includingDon Carlos, the son of Philip, Don John of Austria,who asked to be buried here as the proper reward forhis services, and other persons whose names are knownto history.
After looking at these interesting relics of mortality,the tourists descended to the pantheon, which is aheathenish name to apply to a Christian burial–placeerected by one so pious as Philip II. It is octagonalin form, forty–six feet in diameter and thirty–eight feethigh. It is built entirely of marble and jasper. Itcontains an altar of the same stone, where mass issometimes celebrated. These mortuary chapels werenot built by Philip II., who made only plain vaults;but by Philip III. and Philip IV., who did not inheritthe taste for simplicity of their predecessor on thethrone. Around the tomb are twenty–six niches, all ofthem made after the same pattern, each containing asarcophagus, in most of which is the body of a king orqueen. On the right of the altar are the kings, and onthe left the queens. All of them are labelled with thename of the occupant, as “Carlos V.,” “Filipe II.,”“Fernando VII.,” &c.
“Can it be possible that we see the coffins ofCharles V. and Philip II.?” said Sheridan, who wasvery much impressed by the sight before him.
“There is no doubt of it,” replied the doctor.
“I can hardly believe that the body of Philip II. isin that case,” added the captain. “I see no reason todoubt the fact; but it seems so very strange that Ishould be looking at the coffin of that cold and cruelking who lived before our country was settled, and ofwhom I have read so much.”
“I think before you leave Spain you will see somethingthat will impress you even more than this.”
“What is it?”
“I will not mention it yet; for it is better not toanticipate these things. All the kings of Spain fromCharles V. are buried here, except Philip V. and FerdinandVI.”
“What an odd way they have here of spellingCharles and Philip!” said Murray. “These namesdon’t look quite natural to me.”
“Carlos Quinto is the Spanish for Charles Fifth;and Ferdinand Seventh is Fernando Septimo, as yousee on the urn. But our way of writing these things isas odd to the Spaniards as theirs is to us. The latequeen and her father, when they came to the Escurial,used to hear mass at midnight in this tomb.”
“That was cheerful,” added Sheridan.
“They had a fancy for that sort of thing. MariaLouisa, Philip’s wife, scratched her name on one ofthese marble cases with her scissors.”
The party in the pantheon returned to the church tomake room for another company to visit it. Dr. Winstockand his friends ascended the grand staircase, andfrom the top of the building obtained a fine view ofthe surrounding country, which at this season was asdesolate and forbidding as possible. After this theytook a survey of the monastery, most of which hasthe aspect of a barrack. They looked with interest atsome of the portraits among the pictures, especially atthose of Philip and Charles V. In the library theyglanced at the old manuscripts, and at the cataloguein which some of Philip’s handwriting was pointed outto them.
They next went to the palace, which is certainly amean abode for a king, though it was improved andadorned by some of the builder’s successors. Philipasked only a cell in the house he had erected and consecratedto God; and so he made the palace very simpleand plain. Some of the long and narrow roomsare adorned with tapestries on the walls; but there isnothing in the palace to detain the visitor beyond afew minutes, except the apartments of Philip II. Theyare two small rooms, hardly more than six feet wide.One of them is Philip’s cabinet, where he worked onaffairs of state; and the other is the oratory, where heknelt at the little latticed window which commanded aview of the priests at the high altar of the church.The old table at which he wrote, the chair in which hesat, and the footstool on which he placed his gouty leg,are still there. The doctor, who had been here before,pointed them out to the students.
“It almost seems as though he had just left theplace,” said Sheridan. “I don’t see how a great kingcould be content to spend his time in such a gloomyden as this.”
“It was his own fancy, and he made his own nestto suit himself,” replied the doctor. “He was writingat that table when the loss of the invincible armadawas announced to him. It is said he did not move amuscle, though he had wasted eighteen years of hislife and a hundred million ducats upon the fleet andthe scheme. He was kneeling at the window whenDon John of Austria came in great haste to tell himof the victory of Lepanto; but he was not allowed tosee the king till the latter had finished his devotions.”
“He was a cool old fellow,” added Murray.
“When he was near the end, he caused himself tobe carried in a litter all over the wonderful buildinghe had erected, that he might take a last look at thework of his hands,” continued the doctor. “He wasfinally brought to this place, where he received extremeunction; and, having taken leave of his family, he died,grasping the crucifix which his father had held in hislast moments.”
The party passed out of the buildings, and gavesome time to the gardens and grounds of the Escurial.There are some trees, a few of them the spindling andghostly–looking Lombardy poplars; but, beyond theimmediate vicinity of the “eighth wonder,” the countryis desolate and wild, without a tree to vary the monotonyof the scene. The doctor led the way down thehill to the _Casita del Principe_, which is a sort of miniaturepalace, built for Charles IV. when he was a boy.It is a pretty toy, containing thirty–three rooms, all ofthem of reduced size, and with furniture on the samescale. It contains some fine pictures and other worksof art.
The tourists dined, and devoted the rest of the dayto wandering about in the vicinity of the village.Some of them walked up to the _Silla del Rey_, or king’schair, where Philip overlooked the work on the Escurial.At five o’clock the ship’s company took the slowtrain, and arrived at Madrid at half–past seven, usingup two hours and a half in going thirty–two miles.
“I am sorry it is too dark for you to see the country,”said the doctor, after the train started.
“Why, sir, is it very fine?” asked Sheridan.
“On the contrary, it is, I think, the most desolateregion on the face of the globe; with hardly a village,not a tree, nothing but rocks to be seen. It remindsme of some parts of Maine and New Hampshire, wherethey have to sharpen the sheep’s noses to enable themto feed among the rocks. The people are miserableand half savage; and it is said that many of themare clothed in sheepskins, and live in burrows in theground, for the want of houses; but I never saw anything of this kind, though I know that some of thegypsys in the South dwell in caves in the sides of thehills. Agriculture is at the lowest ebb, though Spainproduces vast quantities of the most excellent qualitiesof grain. Like a portion of our own country, the numerousvalleys are very fertile, though in the summerthe streams of this part of Spain are all dried up. Thegypsys camp in the bed of the Manzanares, at Madrid.Alexandre Dumas and his son went to a bull–fight atthe capital. The son was faint, as you may be, anda glass of water was brought to him. After taking aswallow, he handed the rest to the waiter, saying,‘Portez cela au Manzanares: cela lui fera plaisir.’(Carry that to the Manzanares: it will give it pleasure).”
“Good for Dumas, _fils_!” exclaimed Murray.
“There is a prejudice against trees in Spain. Thepeasants will not plant them, or suffer them to grow,except those that bear fruit; because they afford habitationsfor the birds which eat up their grain. Timberand wood for fuel are therefore very scarce and verydear in this part of the country. But this region wasnot always so barren and desolate as it is now. Inthe wars with the Moors, both armies began by cuttingdown the trees and burning the villages. More ofthis desolation, however, was ca
used by a very remarkableprivilege, called the _mesta_, granted to certain ofthe nobility. It gave them the right of pasturage overvast territories, including the Castiles, Estremadura,and La Mancha. It came to be a legal right, andpermitted immense flocks of sheep to roam across thecountry twice a year, in the spring and autumn. Inthe time of Philip II., the wandering flocks of sheepwere estimated at from seven to eight millions. Theydevoured every thing before them in the shape of grassand shrubs. This privilege was not abolished till1825.”
“I should think Philip and the rest of the kings wholived at the Escurial would have had a nice time ingoing to and from the capital,” said Sheridan. “Hedid not have a palace–car on the railroad in thosedays.”
“After Philip’s day they did not live there a greatdeal of the time, not so much because it was inconvenientas because it was a gloomy and cheerless place.They used to make it a rule to spend six weeks of theyear there; though the last of the sovereigns did notlive there at all, I believe. But they had good roadsand good carriages for their time. The Spaniards donot make many roads; but what they do make are first–class.I am sorry we do not go to Segovia, thoughthere is not much there except the cathedral and theRoman aqueduct, which is a fine specimen. But youhave seen plenty of these things. Six miles from Segoviais La Granja, or the Grange, which is sometimescalled the palace of San Ildefonso. It is a _real sitio_, orroyal residence, built by Philip V. It is a summerretreat, in the midst of pine forests four thousand feetabove the sea–level. We went through Valladolid inthe night. Columbus died there, you remember; andPhilip II. was born there; but there is nothing of greatinterest to be seen in the city.”
When the train arrived at Madrid, a lot of smallomnibuses, holding about eight persons each, werewaiting for the company; and they were driven to the_Puerta del Sol_, where the principal hotels are located.Half of the party went to the _Grand Hotel de Paris_,and the other half to the _Hotel de los Principes_. Dr.Winstock and his _protégés_ were quartered at theformer.
On shore no distinction was made between officersand seamen, and no better rooms were given to theformer than to the latter. As two students occupiedone wide bed, they were allowed to pair off for thispurpose. It so happened that the captain and the firstlieutenant had one of the worst rooms in the house.After they had gone up two pairs of stairs, a sign onthe wall informed them that they had reached the firststory; and four more brought them to the seven–by–ninechamber, with a brick floor, which they were tooccupy. The furniture was very meagre.
In Spain hotels charge by the day, the price beingregulated by the size and location of the room. Suchas that we have just described was thirty–five _reales_. Agood sized inside room, two flights nearer the earth,was fifty _reales_, with an increase of five _reales_ for anoutside room looking into the street. The table wasthe same for all the guests. The price per day variesfrom thirty to sixty _reales_ in Spain, forty being themost common rate at the best hotels out of Madrid.From two to four _reales_ a day is charged for attendance,and one or two for candles. Two dollars a dayis therefore about the average rate. Only two mealsa day are served for this price,—a breakfast at ten oreleven, and dinner at six.
It is the fashion in Spain, for an individual or companyto conduct several hotels in different cities. TheFallola brothers run the grand Hotel de Paris inMadrid, the ones with the same name in Seville and inCadiz, and the Hotel Suiza in Cordova; and they arethe highest–priced hotels on the peninsula, and doubtlessthe best. The company that manages the Hotelde Los Principes in Madrid also have the Rizzi inCordova, the Londres in Seville, the Cadiz in Cadiz,and the Siete Suelos in Granada, in which the pricesare more moderate. The Hotel Washington Irving atGranada, and the Alameda in Malaga, are under thesame management, and charge forty–four and forty_reales_ a day respectively, besides service and lights.Though Spain is said to be an expensive country tolive in, these prices in 1870 were only about half thosecharged in the United States.
Railroad fares are about two cents and a half a mile,second class; and about a third higher, first class. Aone–horse carriage for two costs forty cents an hour inMadrid; and for four persons, two horses, fifty cents.A very handsome carriage, with driver and footman inlivery, may be had for five dollars a day.
After supper the students walked about the _Puertadel Sol_, and took their first view of the capital ofSpain.