Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1850-12-28
Tho Escnrlal.


ebfated palace on the continent Of e
rope. It is Situated among the wi
. sonbre scenery of the old Ctistilian monl
tains, abont twenty-five miles from MI
i drid This enormous paIace, seven btu
/, dred and forty feet in length, by five hun
dret aud eighty feet in breadth, was rea
) ed by Philip IT,, in the middle Of the 81,
teenth century, at MI expense Of abor
J fifty millions of dollars. Philip, auster,
gloomy, fanatical, selected this wild an
gloomy fastness as the site of his palace
and reared the regal mansion in the form {
a gridiron, in commemoration of the ii
strnment of the martyrtlom of st. Law
renee. The embellishments Of more mod
cru kings, and the luxufient foliage o
trees and shrrbhery, have now investe,
even this llncouth order of architectm
| with kind Of venerable beauty. Fou
towers ut the angles represent the legs O
the gridiron. The Spanish description Q
this structure forms large quarto volume
Ii is stated that there are eleven thonsant
doors. This may be an exaggeration, ant
yet the enormous edifiee, with its cupola
its domes, its towers, its chapel, library
painting gallery and college, mausoleum
cloisters, regal saloons, apartments for do
mestics and artisans, its park, gardens
walks aud fountains, constitute almost a
city by itself. A statue Of ST. Lawrence
is over the grand entrance, with gil,
| gridiron in his hand
Spacious reservoirs, constructed upon
the neighboring mountains, collect t he wa.
ter, conveyed by acqueducts, to supply
ninety-two fountains A very beautiful
road, about mile in length, fringed with
lofty elns and lilldens, is the avenue to
this magnificent palace, and a subterran-
oaN corridor of equal length, arched with
stone, connects the edifice with the neigh.
boring village.
Underneath the building is the subter.
ranean chamber, called the Pantheon, the
burying place of the royal family, 1t isl
very magnificent apartment, circular in It's
form, thirty-six feet in diameter, its walls
encrusted with the most beautiful and
highly polished marble. Here repose the
Wondering remains of the Spanish mon.
archs. Their bodies lie in marble tombs,
one above another. A long, arched stair
way, lined with polished marble, beanti-
fully veined, conducts to tbs mausoeum,
far below the surface of the earth. "A
magnificent chandelier, suspended from
the ceiling, lighted upon extraordinary oc-
casions, aud sheds MONDAY brilliance upon
this grand, yet gloomy mansion of the
dead. The labor Of many years was de-
voted to the construction of this septllchrc.
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 winter's
sky. Many generations Of kings, with
their accumulated throng Of courtiers,
have, like ocean tides, ebbed aud flowed
through these halls. But now the Esctl-
rial is but a memorial Of the past, neglect
ed and forgotten. Two hundred monks,
like the spirits of dead ages, creeps noise
lessly through its cloisters, and the pensive
melody Of their mathis aud vespers floats
through their deserted halls.
Here have been witnessed scenes Of rev.
ehy and scenes of fanaticism-the spirit
Of sincere though misguided piety, and
the spirit of reckless and heaven defying
crime, such as few earthly abodes have
ever exhibited. The fountains still throw
up their beautiful jets, but the hautghy
cavaliers and the high-born maidens and
lanes who once thronged them have dis
appeared, and the. pensive friar, in sack
cloth and hempen-girdle, sits in solitude
upon the moss-grown stone. The blaze
Of illumninations once CLEANED from those
windows and corridors, and night was
.urned to day, as songs and dances re-
sounded through hall, and bower, and
grove Now midnight comes with mid
light silence, and solitude and gloom /;
ind noughtis to be seen but here and there
he glimmer of some faint taper from the.
,ell where some penitant monk keeps his
,ainful vigils. The jeweIry and the ilaunt-
rg robes Of fashion, and the merry peals
which have ushered in the bridal party, |
ave passed away, and now the convent
,el but calls world-renouncing, joyless
learts to the hour Of prayer, or tolls the
nell. as, in the shades Of night, the re-
mains Of some departed brother are borne,
With twinkling torches and funeral chants
o their burial. And yet how many are
here, weary of the world, with crushed
earts and dead hopes, who Wonld gladly
md, in these dim cloisters, a refuge from
lie storms of life Here soon, beneath
his marble canopy, the body of the hap
sss Isabella will moulder to the dust.
lay God grant, that when the trump oi
be archangel shall awake her from tie
,ng sleep OF the grave, she may arise to
it upon a more exalted throne. and to