The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-06-29

| ed on all sides by an open portico OF
arches. The second gallery is enclosed
with glass windows, and doors open
| from it into the royal apartments ana
| the magnificent chapel A grand stair
case of black and white marble ascends
| to this gallery. In the court are stat
| ues of four Roman emperors who were
natives of Spain-Trajan, Adrian, Hon
| orius and Theodosius On the first floor
| are thirty salons, with elegant French
| furniture and marvellous frescoed cell
| ings. The most precious marbles are
| lavishly used in floorings and doorWays,
and once the walls We're hung with glo-
rious pictures which are now mostly IN
| the museum That queer king, FeTdi-
nand VII, whose especial hobby was
clocks, had the pictures elected in order
to put up silken hangings, There were
multitude of clocks of all designs and
nationalities, the hated French predomi-
mating. When Charles fell heir to the
palace and it's treasures he had the
clocks packed away in the cellar, witt
ly observing that If a king could not
make any two clocks go precisely alike,
he need not expect to make mems
father of the present king acceded to
the throne he had an overhauling of the
vaults and houses, resulting in the
restoration of much fine old furniture
and bric-a-brac of great value, includ-
ing the many fine bronzes vases and
over seven hundred clocks, that now
adorn the principal 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
marred by irregular, unsightly chimney
pots and odd, square portfolios, called
in local parlance Quita ruidos, meaning
literally to "let out noise 1t has no
cooling shade, its walls Of glaring 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 a mandatory rather than a
royal residence. The statues in the
courtyard are VIGOROUSLY bad, and most
atrocious of the lot is the bewigged and
Sinking carcature of Charles Ill
which disfgures the grand stairway.
OF course the paid Of lions. one asleep,
the other awake, which is to Spain what
the eagle is to the United States and
are numerously seen in all her possess
sions. 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 brother
Joseph, laid his hand on one of these
white marble lions and said, "Je la
ITEMS enfin, 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, ia
pestry and gliding. marble halls and
magnificent distances" IN which lords
Of the bed-chamber armed guards and
fiunRies without number dog your foot
steps and make anything like inspection
we'll 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 one hundred thousand vol
umes, and much priceless manuscript.
Among the illuminated miasals is
prayer-book, said to have belonged to
Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic,
afterwards used by their daughter, poor
Juana la Loca C'the Crazy.") whose
portrait it contains. The binding is
adorned with exquisite characterization
and the arms of Leon and CASTLE in en-
amel The royal chapel though plum
dered In 1908 by General Beliard, who
carried off all the pictures painted for
Philip IT and sold them in Brussels for
an enormous SUMS still magnificent In
the extreme Ecclesiastical objects In
gold and silver, some of them set with
gems, are ranged in glass cases for in
spection, On Epiphany, Easter and
Corpus Cristi. 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, be-
ginning at 10;45.
The coach-house and stable are enor-
nous, the latter containing at least one
hundred stalls always filled with thor
oughbreds, Arabian, English and Nor
man In the coach house are carriages
and hearses Of all ages and patterns,
from the cumbrous stage" of early
days to the Cupid bedizzened 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 roy
atty on it's last short journey. Some of
the carriages are gilded and bronzed,
inlaid with pearls and other precious
stones, adorned with costly paintings
and invested with traditions and mem
cries. Among them is the coach in
which Crazy Jane, wife Of Philip I, car
cied about with her the dead body of
her husband. She was mad with jeal-
ousy while he lived, ana when he died
she would not let his corpse be buried
until she could lie beside him IN the
grave. The harness room, too, is filleo
with rarest specimens of ancfent ana
modern trappings, some of them SUI
perb, wrought in satin. silver and gold.
FANNIE b. WARD
NATION AT, ,EAGTTE