The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-09-15


and lie in wait for him to come on
again. Somewhat higher than those il
the social scale, but probably ever
more needy, since their pride forbidS
the asking of assistance, are hundreds
of starving hidalgoes, whose only bust
ness in life is to perambulate the plazas
at regulation hours, carefully adjusting
the capas of their capacious cloaks sc
as to screen themselves from every
breath of air-and maybe. also, to hid6
a lamentable lack of linen. 1t is Curl
Gus to watch one of these stately gem
tlemen as he approaches the corner of a
street and solemnly pauses to arrange
anew his capa against the possible cur
rent of air which he is about to encoun-
ter. The true Castilian breads nothing
so much as fresh air-unlesS it be fresh
water. Even the beggars stalk about
with inconceivable dignity, mutfled to
the eyes in tattered and threadbare
cloaks, which they arrange just as
carefully as do their betters. AS to the
aristocratic classes-the Castilian gen.
tleman seems to have reached his high
est development in BurgoS. Always
charming in manner, frank, loyal, ig-
norant and vain, he Is a sparing of
words as prodigal of courtesy; he is a
staunch supporter of the church rather
from tradition and habit than from re-
ligious conviction; and in pretension Of
high lineage, he rivals the celebrated
Constable Don Pedro de Velasco, who,
when some bold courtier ventured to
question his title an nobility, answered
with true Spanish hyperbole: Before
| God was God, before the sun shone
upon the rocks, already was noble the
| house of Velasco"
The city is built on sloping ground, in
the midst of a plain, between the river,
which washes one side of it, and the hill
on the other, crowned with the ancient
| castle. Between ridge and river the
| space is necessarily confined so that
the fine old gateway of Santa Maria,
built in honor of Charles " is disgrace
fully crowded upon by insignificant
modern buildings: and even the cathe-
dral-the glory of Burgos and the boast
of Spain--is so hemmed in by common
place structures that it is difficult to
obtain any good view of the exterior.
So great is the slope of the town that
while the front of the vast cathedral
opens upon a little plaza considerably
that hem it in, the rear of it actually
abuts against the hill. so that in enter
ing from that side one must descend a
staircase to the pavement. Such infe-
licities of osition would Kill the effect of
any ordinary structure; but nothing
can even mar the grandeur of this.
Though dirty, bustling, sordid streets
come up to it's very doors, like the
waves of the sea to the foot of mighty
cliff, it left it's head throughout the CEN
turtles unmoved by the tumult of pigmy
generations that come and go. Stand
ing at the foot of the lace-work towers
and looking up, you feel very small in
deed. There Is nothing to be told of
this sanctuary that has not been hum
dred times narrated. 1t is tremendous
in size and beautiful in parts, but not
nearly so striking, as a whole, as many |
less celebrated Spanish churches. But |
it is the great attraction of this old |
capital-some disappointed travellers
say the only attraction so much does it |
overshadow all the others. Indeed. one |
might describe Burgos as a cathedral /
with a town attached to it, so COM !
pletely Is the latter dwarfed and dwin- |
died by the central mass of towers ris- |
ing far above it. Before entering the
building you feel constrained to walk |
around ito loiter outside and daily /
with the exterior, for it seems almost |
to rush into such pres
ence without due preparation of eye
and mind. Every Spanish cathedral Is
a kind of Westminster Abbey-a place
Of burial for the great of former gene
rations, Here they lie, the scuptured
forms that rest above their sepulchres, !
them as they appeared in
the bloom of life; the bishop in his
robes, with hands folded on his breast;
the king with crown and sceptre; the
knight in his armor, who will never go
forth to battle again. One may read
the history of Spain in these memorials
Of the past An illustrat ton of this is
seen in the chapel of the Constable of
CASTLE. He was a warrior bold, of the
history making time of Ferdinand and
Isabella, and by their side he inferred
Grenada. Like all the rest of the old
time Spanish heroes, his religion was
mixed with war. On his
tomb appears not only his sword and
helmet and coat of mail, but the ivory
1rucifix which went with him on all his
campaigns, ana the SdC1d1nP0Chl NeS-
sells with which he always had mass
on the field of battle. His
warfare over, he has slept here more
han four hundred years beside his
beloved wife, whose lap-dog lies al her
'eet.
The first view of Burgos cathedral
lazzles one by the elaborate richness of
he carvings, the mass Of horid decora-
ion. the paintings, the statues, the gilt
ering affairs and thousands of burning
apers. But notwithstanding the gor-
robustness of color and gliding, there is
lothing tawdry or in bad taste, as too
,ften is seen in Spanish sanctuaries.
This is as much due to the massive
grandeur and vast size of the edifice as
o the dim religious light" of the
tanned windows, which modifies with
nut impairing the richness of the gene
al effect, and The fact that the soften
ne hand of ime has subdued he bril- ,
fancy of coioring, Among many OBJ
ects of interest you are shown the CO.
re del Cid-a trunk clamped with iron
nd now fastened to the wall, which the !
Id filled with sand and then pledged
o the Jews as full of gold for loan of :,
tx hundred marks-which, it is said,
e afterwards honestly repaid But af-
er all, the greatest interest is with he
ead-in the cloisters where sleep the
eroes whose zeal and prowess made !,
DOR, old Impoverished Spain once the =
~ E.g-. n Hon Of t1,A