Year: 1875

A WRITER in the PaU HaH Gdzette says
of Madrid: ITO find Madrid even tolcrable


it is necessary to have been born there,


and to he unacquainted with anything bet


ter. Not only is it SO unhealthy that in


life you are always in the shadow of death,


but many of the necessaries of existence
are deficient, while most of its agreements


are wanting altogether. There is super


abundance of dust, but so little water that
the Galcians retail it by the pint. After
the fist fresh days of spring the vegeta-


ton in the urban promenades begins to
sicken and 10 parch up; and, broad as is


the view from the commanding heights in
the town, nothing can be more depressing
than its glaring nakedness. Not that you
have many opportunities of looking over
it in the long hot season, unless you are a
very early riser indeed. The sun is un-
bearabIe in. the heat Of the day, and the
dense clouds of dust cling round the city
like sitting wells. Most luXuries are
either imported or produced by foreign
labor, and therefore are very dear. The
native cooking is excellent in its way; but
pork and beans are scarcely preferable
when the palate is in need of tempting. M,
L'Hendy and other capable artists VIII
treat you we'll, it is true, but even the ma
terials they 20 To work upon have to be
brought from some distance, and naturally
they consider in their bills their science as
well as,their exile. The wines of Xeres
are too fiery; those of France are extrava-
pautly dear; the Val det Penas and other
native Vintages are very apt to taste OF
the pig-skin. Moreover, you are thrown
chiefly on your own resources for en-
tertainment, for hospitality has always
been at Il discount in the Peninsula. n
wealthy fnancier may occasionally give a
state repast, but most of the mlty rtcds are
blue-blooded hidalgos, who, secluding
themselves in contemplation OF their hun,
dreds of quarterings, set an inhospitable
example within the walls of their convent
| like palaces. The minor nobility, the
gentry and the bOurgeOisie are scrambling
to live at the cost of each other or the
country; and when one of the place hunt
ers has the luck to get place he sets Wig


orously to work TO make hay while the
sun shines. Evening crushes and "a'
homes" are but moderately amusing any
where when one has passed middle-agC
and falls in love with arm-chairs; bu
Madrid tertuIias, with their water glasses
and dzucdTSlLOs, remind one of those crowd
ed studies of Christian martyrdOm tina


were so dear to the artists of some Spanish


schools. The drive or ride in the Retro


the lounging round the evening band


among the shriveled foliage in the Prado


are the excitements Of your day and th'


solace of your monotonOus existence


There is the grand Sunday bull-tght, it i


true, or the quieter cockpit, if your taste
lie that way; there is the stall in the thea


ter or opera-house, if you choose TO risl


suhocation. But unless you break out fo


day or two and take train for the height


of St Idefonso or the groves of Aranjuez


there is neither relief nor refreshment 70


you. You are prisoner at large in al
Inferno Of bricks and mortar, ringed in b
! broad Virdle of sandyOr stony desert"