y, laces, silver-ware and rich fancy
goods, in a style and of a quality that would do no discredit to the Rue
de la Paix or the Boulevard des Italiens. Indeed, it is mostly French
people who keep these shops, and there is a manifest tendency of the
upper classes to adopt French manners, customs, and language. Paris
serves as a model to Madrid in all matters relating to fashionable life.
There is a large fountain and mammoth basin of water in the centre of
the square, a stream being forced to a height of fifty or sixty feet, in
a graceful column, night and day, the effect of which is heightened by
the brilliant array of gas-lights. The sidewalks are here at least forty
feet wide, upon which, in business hours, many merchants are accustomed
to meet for the discussing of affairs, and to gossip before the several
hotels which front on the plaza.

Speaking of the fountain in the Puerto del Sol recalls the fact that the
citizens owe it to the energy and skill of foreign engineers that they
enjoy the luxury of an ample supply of good water; and foreign engineers
are doing or have done the same thing for other Spanish cities, though,
in fact, only restoring the ancient supplies first constructed by the
quick-witted Moors, and wantonly permitted to crumble into ruin by the
Spaniards. They are not sufficiently enterprising or progressive to
originate any such scheme for the public good. They even dislike the
railroads, though they are compelled to use them; dislike them because
they force them to observe punctuality, the native instinct being of the
Chinese school, retrospective and retrograding. Everything is exotic in
Madrid; nothing is produced in or near the city which its daily
consumption demands. Strawberries, butter, cheese, fruits, meats, each
comes from some special region far away to this human hive located in
the desert. The city adds to its other drawbacks that of being very
unwholesome as a residence, and would die out from natural causes if its
population were not constantly renewed from the several provinces. There
is a native proverb to the effect that so subtle is the air of Madrid,
it kills a man but does not put out a candle. Why it is so unhealthy a
place, especially for strangers, it is impossible to say. The same
extreme difference between the sunshine and the shade is here realized
which one experiences at Nice, Mentone, and Naples. The air seemed pure
and clear enough during our two weeks' stay, but every