ed by our best
people. This fine estate was presented to her, for valuable services, by
the Spanish government. It is remarkable for its spacious and
beautifully arranged grounds, combining ornamentation and usefulness in
a striking degree, and extending over some twenty acres of ground. Here
are vineyards, fruit orchards, choice flower gardens, trees of various
tropical species, among which we saw dates, cocoanuts, and figs, in
thrifty condition, besides orchards of pears, plums, peaches, and
apricots. Miniature waterfalls, lakes, and rivers, shaded walks,
aviaries, and many other attractions showed a lavish expenditure in
beautifying the place. The villa itself was closed, Madame Calderon
being absent in England. At the keeper's lodge we found a Spanish family
who carried on a large dairy, the cattle on the estate being of the
choicest breed, and their management a favorite idea with the mistress
of the estate. Butter of good quality is scarce in Spain. That which was
here produced found a ready market at the Washington Irving Hotel.

In strolling about the town many spacious squares were seen, old
palaces, houses in ruins, and deserted convents, all in apparent keeping
with the general aspect of this faded and fading old city. We were taken
by our intelligent guide to several notable localities, and among them
to the humble dwelling-house where the ex-empress Eugenie was born, and
where her childhood was passed. A conspicuous tablet set in the facade
of the house makes formal mention of the circumstance, observing which
it was natural to recall, in one comprehensive thought, the strange,
romantic, and tragic story of the now childless mother and unhonored
widow of Chiselhurst. There would have been no Franco-Prussian War but
for her reckless machinations; the Prince Imperial would not, in
consequence of reverses thereby induced, have gone to Zululand to throw
away his life; the map of Europe would not have been changed by the
division of Alsace-Lorraine; and there would probably have been no
Republic in France to-day.

There are some very odd and very ancient stone fountains in the city,
supported by grotesque animals and impossible fishes, erected far back
in the regal days of Ferdinand and Isabella. The sort of fancy which
could have induced these unartistic designs it is difficult to conceive
of; they only require a dragon's head on a human body to make them quite
Chinese. The little, narrow, winding streets reca