The New York herald., 1879-01-06

fascinae YOU even as the serpent in the fables sup
posed to fascnate his prey. few PAGES OF is
the portrait OF his wife--Mary of England
painted for the King, souvenir of their love
days. Bloody Mary" as unkind historians have
called her, and in some respects awondcrtul portrait
Mary has a plain, hard, serious face without emo
ton not cruel but ptiless face of stone. and eyes
from which sorrow and love and passion had ever
been absent. Her person is decked with jewels, and
in her hand she holds a red rose-the Of Eng
land-wth which she was about to deck the crown or
Spain. You can fancy there might be something TO
love in this plain hard face; but after all she was
and they say. really loved Philip. and tried
to be patient willing wife but turn to the hing'
and love vanishes. and you see cruelty, energy,
power-a masterful face. but delighting in cruelty
because he loved it, and satisfying his conscience by
calling it faith. These two portraits in the museum
Philip and Mary--wonderfu in themselves as works
of art, arc even wonderful as lighting up
whole of Spanish and English history. They re-
mind you of the greatness of SPAIN its grandeur and
its fall.
THE HISTORY EscURIAL
Well the cold winds active in the cloisters. and
we are told that il were wise to draw heavy gar
ments about 1t natural that our well
come should be chilling in the home of Philip
ii. Our party to-day is composed of General and
Mrs. Grant. James Russell Lowell. our Minister, and
his wife; Colonel Noe the Spanish soldier and gem
teman. in waiting the General and your corre-
spondent. We have learned certain facts about
the Escurial which may interest the reader before
we go further. The 'Escurial" means iron
dross. according to some authorities, based
upon the mines Of iron that are found here Accord
ing others it the place Of rocks. from the
Arabic. The building intended as convent and
hpalace-more especially convent. When the King
began to bu he had been some years on the throne
and had begun TO learn the vanity of earthly amb
tions. On April a. 1863 the first stone laid and
the last stone on September 49, 1884. As You pass
into the courtyard the guide shows you this stone
marked with a cross OF the caves.
The King came to live here in 1884. soon as
the building habitabe, and here he lived until
his death in $685. The site of the palace is 2700 feet
above the level and it's form is a rectangular
parallelogram-TA feet from the north to the south
and $50 from east to west. There courts and win
dows. with turrets. A tradition has grown up that
these are made to represent the gridiron which
st. Lawrence suffered martyrdom--that il you were
to go up in balloon and look down tho Escuria
itwould resemble huge gr aron with the feet turned
upward. would rather believe this story than not
for there is something charming in the idea Of great
king taking gridiron emblem of architectural
beauty and building therefrom one Of the most
wonderful monuments in the world. There
much OF the grdiron in the character Of this Ia
mented sovereign-he desire to roast people for the
glory of God and the grandeur OF Span--that one
hates to abandon the fable, and rather fancy that
tradition is right and that, whether the King in
tended it or not. his nature asserted itself
and we have gridron after all. statue
you enter is that of St. Lawrence for whom
this convent is named and in whose honor
it built. The saint has gridron in his
hand token of his martyrdom. The
steel knob that opens the door OF the church
is in the form Of a gridiron. In one of the rooms
which we shall soon see is picture of the martyr
dom of the saint, by Titian-a tremendous picture,
full of gloom and power of tine few martyrdoms
which attract and do not repel, so great is the
genius OF the artist. You observe, therefore,
that the gridiron has much to do with the
Escurial. In 1867. in the earliest days Of the
Kings reign-before his father had died. in facial
though he was among the monks in Estramadura,
Philip fought the French at st. Quentin. The
battle going badly with him, he called on ST. Law
renee. This saint spaniard. born in the Ara
gon country, the Pyrenees and was broiled a
gridiron q slow fire by one OF the Roman
perors in 261. So Philip called to Lawrence and
vowed that II he were only made free of the
french or strengthened TO defeat them no
would build o monument to the saint vast
that the world would hold it in SO the saint
tooka hand in the fight and destroyed the French and
Philip could have taken Paris had he been minded.
But out Of this came the Escurial and tie tradition
of the gridiron. do not see how resist the
etory. 1t is the whim of king. and what should we
hold IN reverence than the whims of kings?
DO were the Pyramids--the only monument that
minds you of the Escurial. II was the whim
of Frederick's father to have tall soldiers,
OF Louis XVI to fls locks Of George ".
10 work over the buttons and trousers of his SOL
diers Let reverence the whims Of the kings! How
much more Of king. this Philip, TO put away sol
diers and locks and trousers and. rising to the dig
nifty Of his grdiron make ii the emblem of beauty
make IT. even you see it. monument of the
superstition, the tyranny, the grandeur and the
gloomy pride of age when the closter swayed his
sceptre and his sceptre ruled the world!
THE SIZE or THE EscuRIAL.
We told, and I repeat the information as
mathematical fact, that tho building covers n half
million square feet; that there IS fountains Is
costers s6 sarcases 1G courtyards and 1000 feet of
fresco. This courtyard over which we are passing is
the court of the kings II leads to the church. which is
srrmounted by four kings OF Judah have forgot
ten their names, but remember Melchzedek and
Solomon. These statues are seventeen feet high,
cut ont of granite. the heads and hands
Of marble. the crowns of bronze. There is nothing
striking about them except their size In fact, you
are not allowed to escape from the impression that
came upon you you were toiiing the railway
the stony ridges. II is all stone cold sombre
and oppressive. II breathes the spirit Of Philip and
falls upon you like burden.
ROYAL HOMES.
We escorted into the royal apartments for
kings have lived here. although not as in Philips
day. What a series Of rooms rooms run
ming into rooms plainly furnished with some excep-
tons. The tapestry is worth studying, and perhaps
should study Il. but General Grant has eye for
tapestry, would be quite well pleased with wall
paper. end pushes on to the windows. where he can
see something growing. and hey ond which you may
not only the rocky hills but garden that
has been ravaged from the rocks. As you look
from the window. up against the hill, you
shown recess. two or three rocks formed like
chair. whore Philip wont TO sit and brood over
his gridron as IL grew into shape. We are reminded