The weekly Louisianian., 1872-10-12

abroad, in 4 lecture. Should he dc
SO, the people at the places whore
he proposes to speak may expect 9
rare treat.-Nationa! Rcuie,v.
@@.snza.rE.@v.-
| The Es:ar:al.
The dispatches by cable from
Spain last week, relative to the
burning of this noted building, were
read with sadness, particularly by
such as have had the good fortune
to visit the Escurial in it's splendor'
The last telegram of the week,
Saturday morning, noting the ex-
tinguishment Of the coptlagration
with an estimated damage of only
$3.50, GOO, and the salvation of the
many valuble objects to which it
had been thought would perish,
afforded much relief. A portion Of
the library OF this palace was de-
stroyed in 1871, 200 years ago, and
again in 17Gi. Those who have
seen this immense gcanitic-lookins 9
pile could with difficulty believe
it possible to burn, particularly mar
bic mausoleum beneath it, in which
are stored the porphyric coffins con-
tanning the remains OF all the sove-
re;gns Of Spain since Charles w.,
which tho first dispatch, mentioning
the liy':;llins; stroke, said there was
little ptos..'e5 saving. Vest Tlay
morning ) dispatch reduces the es-
innate OF damage to $125,Goo.
This palace and mausoleum Of the
kings OF Spain is very curious one,
and since the destruction OF the
great banqueting hall Of Tamar or
Tara celebrated in poetry by Moore)
which was 900 feet square, and
which feasted 1000 guests daily and
was the great seat Of the Irish kings
to the time Of Mall, it is probably
the largest in the world. 1t is sit
uated in a barren region in the
Gaudarama mountains of New Cas-
tile, twenty-four miles northwest
from Madrid, built in fulillment OF
a VOW made by Philip II, that he
would Lu;ll the most magnificent
monastery in the world if st. Law
renee would give him victory over
the French in the battle of st.
Quentin, 1867. St. Lawrence suf-
fered martyrdon by being broiled
on gridiron, and the King ordered
his architects to build the ground
plain in form Of a grid:ron.
Twenty-one years. labor and
$15,000,000 were expended in COM
pleting the work. It is so feet high,
74o feet long and $50 wide. Itcon-
tains royal palace, chapel, n'onas-
terry of 200 cells, two colleges, three
chapter houses, threo labraries, five
great halls covered with the finest
silk tapestry, with pictures from the
masters, six dormitories, three hos
pital halls, twenty-sever other halls,
nine refectories, five infrmacies, a
number Of apartments for
nttendents, eighty staircrses, lilo
windows looking outward and 1873
inward, Or, including outhouaes,
1000 windows in all, besides four
teen gates anu eighty~six fountains.
The whole editice is built of white
stone, spotted with gray, resembling
granite. The church part of the
building is in imitation of St. Peters
1t Rome, and has forty chapels, all
The floor paved with marble, with q
dome $50 feet above it, painted to
heaven, and the artists
likeness sits on a white throne there
IN. The mausoleum, under the
nigh alter, already mentioned, is Of
The finest marble, and was added
By Philip w., designed from the
Roman Pantheon. It is octagonal
thirty-six feet high, with jasper and
o!ack marble walls. It was from |
his great library that Prescott,
Irving, Motley and Ticknor drew
heir greatest stores of Spanish his
;ory. So that, even if the Escurial
be destroyed, We can. Jared Sparks
says, ssreadsthe history of the Span
sh empire, not IN the ancient Spar
sh authors, ro5 in black letter
chronicles, but in the volumes. Of
Prescott" and the other authors
named above.-Repub2iean. |
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