Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1849-09-01
THE ESCURIAL.

TIE ESCURlAL.
The ~Escurial is perhaps the most cele
brated palace on the continent of Europe
Ii is situated among the wild, sombre scene
ry OF the old CasIiian mountains, about
twenty-five miles from Madrid. This
enormous palace, seven hundred and forty
feet in length, by FIVE hundred and eighty
feet in breadth, was reared by Philip IL, in
the middle of the sixteenth century, at an
expense of about fifty millions of dollars
Philip, austere, gloomy, fanatical, selec-
ted this wild and gloomy fasfness as the
site Of his palace, and reared the regal
mansion in the form Of gridiron in CON.
msmoration of the instrument of the mar
tyTdom of ST. Lawrence The embeIlish
mentS of modern kings, and the luxuriant
foliage Of trees and shrubbery. have now
invested even this uncouth order of archi-
lecture with kind of venerable beauty
-Four towers at the angles represent the
legs ofthe gridiron. The Spanish descrip.
tion of this structure forms a large quarto
volume. Ii is stated that there are eleven
thousand doors. This may be an exagper.
alton, and yet the enormous edifce, with
It's cupola, lis domes, lis towers, its chap
ell, library, painting gallery and college,
mausoleum, cloisters, regal saloons, apart
ments for domestics and artizans, its parks,
gardens, walks, and fountains, constitute
almost city by itself A statue of ST.
Lawrence is over the grand entrance, with
gilt gridiron in his hand.
Spacious reservoirs, constructed upon
the neighboring mountains, collect the wa.
ter, conveyed by aqueducts, to supply
ninety.two fountains. A very beautiful
road, about mile in length, fringed with
lofty elms and lindens, is the avenue to this
magnificent palace, and subterranean cor.
riGor of equal length, arched with stone,
connects the edifce with The neighboring
village.
Underneath the building is the subteIra.
mean chamber called the Pantheon, the
buryIng place of the royal family. 1t is a
very magnificent apartment, circular in lis
form, thirty-six feet in diameter, its walls
encrusted with the most beautiful and
highly polished marble. Here repose the
moUldering remains Of the Spanish mon
archs. Their bodies lie in marble tombs.
one above another. A long arched stair.
way, lined with polished marble, beaut-
fully veined, conducts to this mausoIeum,
far below the surface Of the earth. mag.
nfcent chandelier, suspended from the
ceiling, is lighted upon extraordinary occa.
sions, aud sheds MONDAY bfilliance upon
this grand yet g loomy mansion Of the dead
The labor Of many years was devoted to
the construction Of the sepulchre.
For nearly three hundred years, the
domes and towers of this monument of
Spanish grandeur and superstition have
withstood the storms which have swept
the summer, and wrecked the winters skv /
Many generations OF kings, with their ac.
throng Of courters, have like /.
ocean tides, ebbed and flowed through I
these halls. But now the Escural is but |
a memorial of the past, neglected and for. |
gotten. Two hundred monks, like the |
spirits Of dead ages, creep noiseIessly |
through its cloisters, and the penslve mel.
odv of their mathis and vespers floats /
through their deserted halls. |
Here have been witnessed scenes of revel- |
ry and scenes Of (anaticism-the spirit Of SIM
cere though misguided Piety, and the spir-
il of reckless and heaven deiying crime, I
such as few earthly abodes have ever ex-
hibited. The fountains still throw up their
beautiful Jets, but the naughty cavaliers
and the highborn maidens and danes who
once lhronged them have disappeared, and
The pensive friar, 10 sackcloth and hempen
girdIe, sits in solitude upon the moss. grown
stone. The blaze of iluminalions once
cleaned from those windows and corri-
doris, and night was turned to day, as songs
and dances resounded through hall, and !
bower, aud grove. Now midnight comes
with midnight silence, and solitude, and
gloom; and nought is to be seen but here
and there the glimner OF some fant taper
rom the cell where some peoitent monk
keeps his painful Vigls. The jewelry
and the Haunting robes of fashion, and the
merry peaIs which have ushered in the
bridal party, have passed away. and now
he convent bell but calls world renoun.
ling, ioyless hearts to the hour of prayer,