Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1859-02-04

tmputatlon OF any excessive eNpendftGre
incurred in its erecion,--a common
theme of complaint It seems, and one
/ thar was urged with strong marks Of ais
content BY contemporary writer's. Pre-
tba5ly no single edfice ever continued
sneh an amount and variety OF inestiTna-
fble treasures as the Escorial, many
paintings and SCULPTURES by the greatest
mastcrs,-so many articles Of exquisite
workmanship. composed Of the most
precious raaterials Il would be a mis-
take TO suppose That. when tlie building
WIS finished, the labors Of Philip were
al an end. One might almost say they
were but begun. The casket was com
pleted; but tie remainder cf 6Ts days
was to be passed in filling it with the
rarest and richest gems. This was a
labor never to be completed. 1t was to
be bequeathed to his successors, who,
with more or less taste, but with the re-
venues of the Indias at their disposal;
continued to lavish them on the embel-
lishment of the Escorial
Philip the second set the example,
lie omitted nothing which could give a
value real or imaginary, to his museum.
He gathered, at an immense cost. sever
al hundred cases Of the bones Of saints
and martyrs, depositing them in rich sill
yer shrines, Of elaborate workmanship.
He collected four thousand volumes, in
various languages, especially the Orient
al, as the basis of the fne library Of the
2 Escorial.
The care Of successive princes who
continued to spend there a part of eve
ry year, preserved the palace-monastery
and its contents from the rude touch of
+ time. But what the hand Of Time had
spared, the hand of violence destroyed.
2 The French, who in the early part Of
the present century swept like a horde Of
Vandals over the Peninsula did not over
u look the Escorial. For in it they saw
the monument designed to commemorate
: their own humiliating defeat. A body
} of dragroons under La Houssaye burst
y into the monastery in the winter of 1908;
J. and the ravages Of few days demolsh-
: ed what it had cost years and the high
est effort Of art TO construct. The APP
D prehension similar violence from the
T. Carists in 1857, led to the removal Of
! the finest paintings TO Madrid. The es-
'e corial ceased to be a royal residence
u Tenantless and unprotected, it was left TO
J. the fury 5f the blasts which swept down
y the hills Of the Guadarrama.
The traveller who now visits the place
!. viii find its condition very different from
what it was in the beginning Of the cen
tury. The bare and mildewed walls no
u longer glow with the magical tints Of
''' Raphael and Titan, and the sober pomp
ne of the Ca-tilan school. The exquisite
a specimen Of the art with which the halls
y were filled have been wantonly demol-
y isbed, or more frequently pillered for the
u sake Of the rich materials. The monks
- so long the guardians Of the place, have
shared the fate Of their brethren else
nf
u where, since the suppression Of religion:
III houses, and their venerable forms have
lis disappeared. Silence and solitude reigr
ne throughout the courts, undistuTbed By
any sound save that Of the ceaseles
IN winds, which scenic be ever chanting
lrt' their melancholy dirge over the fadet
Fer glories Of the Escorial. There is it'll
ere now TO remind one of tie palace or O
Us the monastery. OF three great object
the TO which the edfce was devoted, one on
'll ly surviyes-that OF a mausoleum fc
lde the royal line Of CASTLE. The spirit q
to the dead broods over the place,-of th
nk' sceptred dead, who lie in the same dar
OF chamber where they have laid for Ger
turtles, unconscious Of the changes tbs
he have been going on all around them.