The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1900-07-05

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resulting in the restoration of much
fine old furniture and bric-a-brac Of
great value, including the many fine
bronzes, vases and over seven hundred
clocks, that now adorn the principa
rooms.
Splendid as it is, ON closer inspection
there is much that is disappointing
| about the ancestral home of the kings
of Spain. Outside the general effect is
married by irregular, unsightly chimney
pots and odd, square portfolios, called
in local parlaee, quita ruidos, meaning
literally to '1et out noise" 1t has no
cooling shade, its walls of glazing white
being left to the mercy of sun and dust;
the wings and hanging gardens are yet
unfinished, and the glazed upper gallery
looks like mandatory rather than a
royal residence. The statues in the
courtyard are VIGOROUSLY bad, and
most atrocious of the lot is the bewig-
ged and Sinking caricature of Charles
= ii v,
OF course the pair of lions, one asleep
the other awake. which is to Spain what
the eagle is to the United States and
are numerously seen i'll all her posses
slons. past and present. from Cuba to
the Canaries, are greatly in evidence.
1t is said that Bonaparte, when he as
cended these stately steps with his broth
Ell Joseph, laid his hand on one of these
white marble lions and said, 'Je la
items entin. cette Espagne. 81 desiree -
But France at last discovered that
Spain is a morsel easier to be swallowed
than digested.
Like other tiresome foreign palaces,
this is eminently house Of velvet, tap
estry and gliding marble halls and mag
niticent distances, in which lords of
the bed-cbamber, armed guards and
tlunkies without number dog your foot
steps and make anything like inspection
well-nigh impossible. Only the library,
the chapel and the royal stables are
open to the public, each ON a certain
day of the week. The palace library,
belonging to the Crown, contains up
wards of 100000 volumes, and much
priceless manuscript. Among the illu-
minated missals is a prayer-book, said
to have belonged to Ferdinand and Isa-
bella the Catholic, afterwards used by
their daughter. poor Juana la Loca
Cthe CraZy'), whose portrait it con-
tains. The binding is adorned with
exquisite concentrations and the arms
of Leon and CASTLE. in enamel. The
royal chapel, though plundered in 1908
by Gen. Belliard, who carried off all
the pictures painted for Philip II. and
sold them in Brussels foran enormous
SUMS still magnificent in the extreme
Ecclesiastical objects in gold and silver,
some of them set with gems. are rang
ed III glass cases for Inspection On
Epiphany, Easter and Corpus Christi,
the galleries leading to the chapel are
hung with the unique and splendid
tapestries that belong to the Spanish
Crown. Full mass, with fine orchestral
accompaniment, may be heard here
every sunday morning, beginning at
1915.
The coach-house and stable are enor-
nous, the latter containing at least 100
stalls, always filled with thoroughbreds,
Arabian. English and Norman. In the
coach-house are carriages and hearses
OF all ages and patterns, from the cum
brous stage of early days to the Cupid
bedlZZened chariot of state: from the
most primitive mule-vehicle, to the
very latest turn-outS from Paris and
London; from the giddy Irish jaunting-
car, to the sombre. black-palled hearse
which conveys dead royalty on it's last
short journey. Some of the carriages
are gilded and bronzed, inlaid with
pearls and other precious stones. adorn-
ed with costly paintings and invested
with traditions and memories. Among
them is the coach in which Crazy Jane
wife of Philip L.. carried about with her
the dead body of her husband She was
mad with jealousy While he lived, and
when he died she would not let his
corpse be buried until she could lie be-
side him in the grave. The harness
room, too, is filled with rarest speci-
mems of ancient and modern trappings,
some of them superb, wrought in satin,
silver and gold
FANNIE B. WARD.
Jell-O, The New Dessert
pleases all the family. Four f1avors LEM