The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1900-08-09

a retreat which scars nearest heaven
The palace itself-a rather Theatrical
French chateau, the very antithesis OF
the proud and gloomy Escorial-looks
to the foreigner as if it might have
been moved by slaves of Aladdin's
lamp from the bald level of the Seine
to the wild Spanish sierra. A long
line of fanciful railing, like that of
the Carrousal at Paris, divides three
sides of a square. The over-windowed
facade, resembling long-drawn-out
conservatory, fronts a garden which is
said to be the finest in Spain and in
cludes $50 acres. The grand walk in
front, called the parterre, for every
thing here is French in name and style)
overlooks boundless expanse of flow
ers, water and mountains. As every
thing is artificial, like the character of
Its builder, the cost was enormous.
reaching to $4,000, 700 piastres-the ex-
act sum in which Philip V. died indebt-
ed. After all, San Ildefonso is but an
imitation, on a smaller scale, of the
garden of Versailles: but the fountains
OF this Spanish Versailles are more real
than those of their French original,
being no turbid puddle forced up by
machinery but the genuine crystal
Installations fresh from the mountain
alembic. The Cascador Cenador, a
splendid natural sheet of falling water
glittering like molten silver under the
brilliant sun OF CASTLE, supplies a large
reservoir below, which with characteris-
tic Spanish modesty, is termed Ell Mar.
the ocean. There are thirty fountains
! in the grounds, the most famous being
the Fama which shoots up water l3C
feet. Poor Philip V. is said to have
| stopped before it a few minutes upon
its completion and to have exclaimed,
| 1T has cost me three million piastres
| for the three minutes | have been
amused" Multitudes of statues and
marble vases deck the avenues and
labyrinthine walks, their artifciality
contrasting sharply with the wild hills
and rocks, clothed with sombre pines.
Inside the palace are great bare marble
tioored saloons, lined with paintings
and antiques. The royal apartments
we did not see. In one of them, in the
winter of 1924, Philip ". abdicated the
crown, but resumed it again the follow
ing August, urged thereto by his wife.
who soon wearied of private life. Here
Charles III. received Count d'Artois
Charles NJ when on his way to take
Gibraltar which he did not do. Here. in
1896, Goday signed the famous and fatal
treaty by which Spain was virtually
handed over to revolutioniZed France.
Here Ferdinand VII, in 1882, revoked
the decree by which he abolished the
Sale law and declared his daughter lisa
bella to be heiress to the crown-an act
which cursed his ill-fated country with
civil wars from which she has never re-
covered. AS if by poetic justice, this
same palace became the theatre of
another tragedy, in which Christiana, in
her turn, was deprived of her royal
rights. inundated by small band of
rude soldiery, headed by sergeant.
she was compelled to proclaim the
Cadlz democratical Constitution of
1872, which resulted in the downfall
and exile OF the Queen regent and the
restoration Of things to the old order.
Charles Ill. used to come every year to
La Granja to shoot and fish. and as his
second hobby was the forcing of manu-
features, he set up here La Fabrica de
Crlstales, where excellent glass and fine
mirrors We're made Pisciculture has
also been tried, in Ell Mar, (the reser-
volr) with singular success.
\ few miles distant, and easily reach
ed on horse back-though the bride
path is very rough and guide is need
eds the beautiful ruined monastery
of Ell Pauler; a Carthusian convent
raised by John I. to carry out a VOW
which his father had made while cam
paigning in France There is also in the