believed that this effigy perspires every Friday; that it
actually bleeds at certain times; and that it has performed miracles.
The beard and hair are the natural article, and so are the brows and
eyelashes, giving a disagreeable effect to the image.

The monastery of Miraflores, a rich and prosperous establishment before
the suppression of religious communities in Spain, is now quite
deserted, but of considerable interest as containing the famous tomb of
Juan II. and Isabella of Portugal. The old Gothic chapel has, in the
singularly elaborate and minutely sculptured sarcophagus standing before
the altar, a grand example of delicate and artistic workmanship in
alabaster. The two representative figures are raised about six feet
above the floor of the chapel, on a pedestal of the same
substance,--pure white alabaster,--the whole being ornamented with
figures of saints, angels, birds, fruits, and graceful vines. The
supports of the corners of the octagon base are sixteen lions, two at
each angle, all executed with infinite perfection of detail. The
remarkable imitation of embroidered lace upon the reclining figures,
with the indented cushions and robes, are admirable. We were glad to
learn the sculptor's name, Gil de Siloe. Sad and solemn was the
atmosphere surrounding the old monastery, now in charge of two or three
aged brothers of the Carthusian order, who pointed out, as we passed
into the open air, among the rank weeds, shaded by sombre cypresses, the
graves of some four hundred of their departed brothers, whose bodies lay
there without a stone or name to mark their last resting-place. Thus
these men had lived humble and forgotten, and so they sleep, "after
life's fitful fever," among the weeds.

From this interesting spot we drove to the convent known as Las Huelgas,
founded by the wife of Alonzo VIII., daughter of Henry II., and sister
of Richard Coeur de Lion. This large establishment, situated on the
other side of the Arlanzon, and nearer to the city than Miraflores, is
reached by a pleasant avenue of trees, and is surrounded by well-laid
out gardens. Though it is a nunnery, and has its body of completely
isolated, self-immolated nuns, still there is not the dead and forgotten
aspect about it which so characterized the old monastery we had just
left. To gain entrance here, the devotee must bring with her a dowry,
and also be born of noble blood. It was within these walls that Eugenie,
after losing husband and son