The Republican journal., 1900-07-19

ragged slopes and clothed them with
flowers and verdure and raised hanging
gardens and fountains. in imitation of
those on the declivities of the Alham,
bra, which are all artificial, though rival
ling nature herself in beauty. Occupy
ing an emminence bare of trees. the pal
ace is directly exposed to winds from
the snowy Guadarrama. and in winter.is
often SO bitterly cold that the sentries
are almost frozen. Despite all their
royal splendors, the poor kings and
queens of Spain, shivering i'll these
vast, draughty apartments, with their
marble floors and no decent heating
apparatus. are not half so comfortable
as the servants in our ordinary furnace
heated homes of the United States.
1t seems but a natural step from this
abode of royalty to the last resting
place of Spanish kings. though the
EScorial is thirty -four kilometres north
west from Madrid, by railway. Its
location is admirably chosen. consider
ing the purpose for which it was design
ed, both site and structure being emf
nently typical of the gloomy spirit of
Philip II. Standing Just under the
crest OF the icy Sierra, its massive walls
and towers looking as if lewn 10y Titans
from a single block of stone. the first
view of the tremendous pile produces a
feeling of depression in the mind of the
visitor; which grows apace in the gloom
lei interior until it develops into first
class ease of 1.-THE blues. Rarely. in
deed, does the sun ever Shine upon its
mist-enshrouded towers: while the
Ieadem Sky, the entire absence of animal
life. and the bare rocks. destitute of the
slightest trace of vegetation. harmonic
perfectly with the somhre and trowning
aspect of this palace of the dead. Think
what a victim to hypochondria Philip
lei Prndente" must have been to
choose such site for his home i'll all
the sunny land OF Spain. His object
was to carry out the will Of his father
III constructing royal burial-place and
at the same time to fulfil a VOW made
at the battle of san Quentin Aug. 10
1157l, when he implored the aid of San
LorenZo-he who was broiled, over a
slow fire. by order of Nalentianus. SO
the building whose correct title is Eel
Real sitio de san Lorenzo el Real del
Escorlal," is at once temple. a palace,
a treasury, a tomb and museum, I'm
1868, thousands of laborers worked
thirty years to build it, at cost of
about sixty million dollars. The plan
us everybody knows, is fashioned after
a gridiron, the instrument of san Lor
enzo's martydom, and the grim struc-
ture is unrelieved by any sort of orna
mentation, as betitted the abode of those
strict disciplinarians. the geronymite
friars The central point of interest in
the EscoriaI is its superb church-largt
as an ordinary cathedral, and more i'm
pressive in effect by reason of the sim
plicity of its grand proportions. Eacl
of the four pillars which support the
dome contains chapel of sufficient size
to accommodate any congregation in
Belfast On either side of the altar are
IL cfaf # ri
Philip II, with their wives, in gilded
bronze, their elaborate vestments blazon
ed with the arms of Spain and Austria,
in mosaics of precious stones. Most OF
the principal decorations of the altar
and the massive reliquaries enshrined
in it's inches, We're destroyed or stolen
/ by the French; but from the few that re
main some idea may be gained of the
enormous value of those that disappear
ed The chapel of the Escorial contains
more holy relics than any other in Chris
tendon. All told, there are four thous
and seven hundred and twenty-five OF
them, and many volumes have been writ
| utll COllCVIiIlI uIICIlI lIlC
they have performed. They include ten
perfect bodies of Saints and martyrs, an(
enough skulls and odd bones to stock q
graveyard. The most venerated are
kept in reliquaries of solid gold, ant
those of inferior sanctity in Baskets OF
repousse silver. The magnificent taber
nacle, broken into bits by the French
was the masterpiece of a famous Italian
artist, who spent ten years in the work
1t was in the form of double Grecia1
temple and was composed of bronze
gold, enamel and rock-crystal, set will
emeralds and rubies of extraordinary siZt
and beauty. Back on the high altar arr
the three rooms in which Philip II
lived for fourteen years-half king, hall
monk, Boosting that from the foot of {