, 1878-08-10
The Royal Burial Place Of Spain.

II
tits the most splendid, yet the gliastliest
place of regal intermert III the whole
world. The Indian emperor built III the
Tai Mahal fairy palace IS tomb tcr his
dead bride. The sultarg of Turkey sleep
in dainty mosques. all adorned wI,h artl-
fic;al flowers and pendant ostrich e@cs,
and their jewcled tGrborchcs surmount-
ing the rich Persian shawls which swathe
the fretted marble of their cenotaphs- IN
sarcophaci embaliished with curi"rsiy
quaint byzantine magnlticence, the ,zarS
Of Russia. from Peter Ne:Ike downward,
are inferred in the church of the fortress
of 81. Peter and 81. PAN. The royal
tombs in Westminster Abbey and IN 81
Georges chapel. Windsor are 50 many
pages. er.and aud s"lemH, Lat so appalling,
in the historv Of England. We forget
death almost amid the salutary and the
mosaic, the bronses and the guiding oI
st. Peters. But the pantheon strikes
chill even to the marrow in the bones.
Its very gorgeousness makes it all the
ghastler. The royal vault is placed di-
rec.ly under the high altar, so that the
priest who celebrates nass for the souls
Of the dead may stand directly over their
remains. Philip H., the morose hIgot
who founded the escori&l, contemplated
only a plain vault Of brick work for the
reception Of his Own corpse and that OF
his father, the great emperor and KING,
who "when the lust of sway had lost lis
onickening spell, east crowns for roSaries
away" and retired TO die, a dlscontented
archorite at the monastery of Iuste. The
idiotic Philip Ill, however, insisted on
building charnel house all tinsel ard
,aricgated marble The crypt is reached
ty staircase, the walls of which are
lined with green and yellow jasper; and
the interior of the vault itself is over
laden with fiorid scrollwork and tagdry
angels in gilt bronze. 4 garlsh chande-
Iier hangs from the roof, and III % inches
round the sides Of the octagon are sarco-
phagi of sham classic design, some empty,
some tenanted by the dust of . Kings
and the Mothers of Kings Thus con
time to decay the bones Of CarlosQuimto.
The coffin was reopcned not long since,
and Sir Austen Layard has picture Ct
the remains Ca:l"ses and Ferdinands
are no longer mischevous here their
crimes and their f.liies are forgotten, s.ve
in their remotest consequences. On the
ledees of one Of the inches, was scratched
with . pair of ciSsors long years since,
the letters 81. H." 1t was III this niche
that Isabel Segunda, eX-queen regnant OF
Spain, elected that she should be inferred
when her time came. But, vanity Of
vanities. at the first landing or GcscGnso
of the staircase leading to this m&squc-
rade of mortality is tn door "f another
chamber of horrors, dreadful hole,
callously termed "El Podridero the
rotten-place. Into this pit are flung,
without parade or pomp, the Collins oi
the infantes and infantas of Spain
pelemele new born babies, the aged prin-
cess or princesses, from the murdered
Don Carlos to the last child Of Queen
isabella Undertaking etiquette III Spain
DEGREES that royal children are not 10 be
permitted to sleep the last sleep by The
side of their parents But etiquette has
now been satisfied to the full. The grand
central Doric portal IF The palace escort
al, never opened save to admit royalty
alive, or dead has suddenly yawned to rc.
ceived the corpses Of Queen Mercedes
and the coffin, carried, according To I'M
memorial usage, by three grandses oi
Spain and three monks, has been dePosi
ted in its dcpointcd niche. "INaTt
honrudo," quoth Philip ", to Don Louis
de Haro, when his majesty Sazed on tn,
exhumed bones Of Charles V ''Cu5Ypt
muy honrm|o,' replied Don Luis. with :
bow" \ most honored body. Etiquett,
has done its utmost at the escorial. II
can do but little, perchance, to console :
broken hearted young king -Loadca u;
egrdph.