New-York tribune., 1902-06-04
OLD SPAIN.
THE ESCORIAL AND ITS ENVIRONMENT
-EMBATTLED TOLEDO IN ITS
LAST COMBAT.
Toledo, May IL.

loving saunterers and gossips are ever disposed
10 cease from chatter and to mediate upon the
vicissitudes of mortality. One is the Escorial.
and the other is battlemented Visgothic Toledo.
Each has picturesque setting of rugged noun
tains and parched and barren landscape. and
each defles with robust strength and invincible
majesty the ravages of time. The Escorial has
suffered less from human neglect than moss
grown venera BILE Toledo. For, although IL has
been despoiled of many of its art treasures and
has lost its tabled pre-emnence as one of the
eight wonders of the world the fortress-monas-
+ery has remained the most magnificent burial
place for royalty in Europe. Even if it were
only the grim mausoleum of Charles and
Philip 1.-THE sovereign who renounced the
pomp and glory of empire for the peaceful medi-
tations Of a monastery, and also Of the King
Of the Inquisition and the Armada. who spent
his closing years like a monk in a cell and died
within sight of the high altar with his fathers
cruciffx in his hands-t would he a unique and
impressive place. The original simplicity of the
sombre burial vault under the altar has been
enriched with marble and gold until the effect
of supreme stateliness has been produced. Apart
from the royal Pantheon, with its twenty-six
inches filed with black marble sarcophagi and
the burial vaults Of princes and prncesses, there
is the unique charm Of the Escorial itself tow
pring in sombre dignity among the rocky crests
Of the desolate Serras and seeming to belong
among them and to be equally indestructible
The design may have been rigid in its lines
as ST Lawrences gridiron. and the architectural
details as formal as the etiquette Of the Spanish
court; but the gray Escorial, cold, stern and
austere is in absolute harmony with its envi-
ronrnent-a titanic monument among the ever
lasting hills. The Escorial among the public
gardens of Madrid would be inartistic in its lack
Of fexibility, variety and charm. Where it is
It overpowers the imagination, and is a law
unto itself.
The guides have full occupation for morning
and an afternoon in conducting visitors through
the Escorial There are the burial vaults, with
their Latin inscriptions, their stately uniformity
and their carved saints. There is the grand
sacrIsty with its arabesques and frescos, and
Coello's Retablo representing the reception of
one of the sacred relics venerated by Philip IL
There is the upper choir, with the monks stall
where the King was wont to sit, and near by
is Collinis marble cruciix. There is the
church with its great dome and lantern, It's
costly high altar. its bronze-glt figures and ITS
frescos and painted medallions. There are the
cloisters the library and the palace. with its
Spanish and Flemish tapestries All these de-
tails are wearisome to spectators. who nave
been trannping up and down Spanish cathedrats
and listening to the chatter Of guides Despite
the r:cnness Of the materials and the splendors
small cell where Philip II. after exhausting the
resources of imperial power, was content to re-
ceive his ministers and TO pray with eyes upon
the high altar This was another Of the fanati-
cal Kings rniscalculations. In building at vast
EXPENSE a fortress monastery where his father
might be buried, he desired to eface hlInseI
from mems memories: but his cells. stalls and
furniture are today the most interesting OBJ |
1ects in the Escorial.
The visitor listens listessly as he strolls about
with the guide, and IS unconscious of emotion
except when the tornhs of Velasquez's royal Sit
ters are pointed out to him. The painter by his
splendid realism has made all the royal hgures
NJ +ha Snanish Court in his day so intensely
vital that Philip ", dissoiute and treacherous
monarch as he was is transformed into a plct-
11resoue personality. whereas his predecessors
and successors on the throne are hardly more
than names AS for Don Baltasar, the sensitive
visitor shudders when the sarcophagus OF lhe
winsorne youth is pointed out and the truth Is
known that he viii never again tease MS d"arl'
nor play with his dog. nor ride in the spanish
sunshine on his prancing pony. neglected. 10
ask the guide where the little Princess Margaret
Of Los Meninas buried; but 1t was hardiy
necessary to d. So The builders Of the Escorial'
NTH its burial vaults could not have left a va
,an+ corner or niche for her. VelasqueZ caught
her in a single precious instant when she was
with her maids Of honor her mischieVous
dwarfs and her lazy dog, and she cannot DC III
the marble halls of the Escorial. nor anywhere
axcert in the picture-inmortalized for all tfhe'
Grim indeed is the satire upon the mutabillty
Of human fortunes. when the crafty court oui-
foon. Don Juan. and the ugly dwarfs "aolh
velasouez painted with supreme power are IN
vested with perennial freshness and Vltahty'
while the monarchc and princes OF the f-ScoiA0i
are forgotten in their stately sleep!
ro1edo &c even more irnpersonal than the Es-
coraI in its interest for the traveller. once the
oapjtal of the kings of CASTLE when Maarlo
WAS an INSIGNIFICANT village, IL has shrunk INTO
a small provincial town, with the title and resi-
dence of the Prinate of Spain as the only YES
tige of its bygone power and influence AS
picturesque ruin, IT hardly be rlValieo IN
the Oldest sections Of Spain. Even Jaded traF-
eller surfeited with sightseeing, is conscious
of fine flush of enthusiasm when. strolling from
the railway station TO the bridge of Alcantara'
he catches his first glimpse of the fortress town
towering high above the rocky gorge OF the
Tagus and girdIed with high battlemented
walls His admiration increases when he crosses
The yellow Moorish bridge and, looking back
ward sees the ruins of the feudal castle which
once commanded il while high above the town
Is the Aicazar-a citadel converted into a palace
BY a long incline ancient gateway In the
massive walls is reached. and thence by a fresh
series OF zigzags and a maze Of winding streets
the commanding view from the Alcazar is oo-
tanned Toledo is revealed as an inaccessible
fortress built upon a steep hill among noun
tains. with the horseshoe gorge of the Tagus as
g moat. and with narrow wedge OF preclpltous
rock connecting it with the open plain Of Cas-
tile. 1t is a fantastic tumble of feudal battle
lnC or,I