within its borders, though there is no lack of modern churches; but it
is a large and fine city, with some four hundred thousand inhabitants.
It is not noticeable, like Genoa, Rome, and Florence, for palaces and
ancient monuments; but it is well laid out; the streets are broad and
nicely paved; while numerous squares ornament the city, filled with
attractive shrubbery, fountains, and statues. Among the latter we
recall those of Murillo, Philip III., Cervantes, Lopez de Vega, Philip
V., Calderon, and others. The finest statue in the city, to our taste,
is that of Philip IV., representing the monarch as on horseback, the
animal in a prancing position,--a wonderfully life-like bronze, designed
by Velasquez and cast by Pietro Tacca at Florence. It forms the centre
of the Plaza del Oriente, directly in front of the royal palace, from
which it is separated, however, by a broad thoroughfare. According to
history, Galileo showed how the true balance of the horse could be
sustained in its remarkable position, the whole weight of rider and
animal resting on the hind legs. On the Prado, the grand public drive of
the citizens, there are fine marble statues and groups, combined with
fountains, representative of Neptune, Apollo, and Cybele.

The Puerto del Sol is the Place del 'Opera of Madrid, always full of
sparkle, life, and color, radiating from which there are a dozen large
streets with two or three broad boulevards. Here all the lines of
tramways meet and diverge, and the congregated fashionable idlers of the
town hold high carnival daily and nightly. Our windows overlooked the
Puerto del Sol (the Gate of the Sun), where the whirl of carriages, the
rush of pedestrians, the passing of military bands with marching
regiments, equestrians; priests decked out in church paraphernalia,
preceded by smoking incense, burning candles, etc., bound to some
death-bed; itinerant peddlers, and news-vendors, each hastening on some
individual purpose, made the plaza a scene of incessant movement from
early morning until midnight. Like Paris and Vienna, Madrid does not
seem to awake until evening, and the tide of life becomes the most
active under the glare of gas-lights which are as numerous at midnight
as the fireflies that float over a sugar plantation. The fine shops
surrounding this brilliant square, which is the real geographical heart
of Madrid, are more Parisian than Spanish. The large plate-glass windows
present a tempting array of jewelr