dream to walk the narrow, sombre streets of
this famous old capital. Strangely steep, winding, and irregular, they
are! The reason for constructing them thus was doubtless that they might
be the more easily defended when attacked by an enemy. In the days of
her prime, Toledo saw many battles, both inside and outside of her
gates. One can touch the houses of these streets, in many instances, on
both sides at the same time by extending the arms. There are scores of
deserted buildings, securely locked up, the heavy gates studded with
great iron nails, while the lower windows are closely iron-grated. Some
of them are open and unguarded, having paved entrances or court-yards,
with galleries around them, upon which the rooms open. Everything
bespeaks their Moorish origin. Some of these houses, which were palaces
once, are now used as storehouses, some as carpenter-shops, some
occupied as manufactories, while the appearance of all shows them to
have been designed for a very different use.

The whole valley which Toledo overlooks, now lying so dead and silent,
once teemed with a dense population, and sent forth armies, and fought
great battles, in the days of the Goths. The cathedral of this old city
is visited by architects from all parts of Europe and America, solely
for the purpose of professional study, it being one of the finest
examples of the Gothic order in existence, while the richness of its
ornamentation and its artistic wealth, not to mention in detail its gold
and silver plate, make it the rival of most cathedrals in the world,
with the possible exception of that at Burgos. Its size is vast, with a
tower reaching three hundred feet heavenward, the interior having five
great aisles, divided by over eighty aspiring columns. It is said to
contain more stained-glass windows than any other cathedral that was
ever built. The high altar, a marvel of splendid workmanship and minute
detail, is yet a little confusing from the myriads of single statues,
groups, columns, and ornaments generally.

Toledo stands upon the boldest promontory of the Tagus, a dead and
virtually deserted city. Coveted by various conquerors, she has been
besieged more than twenty times; so that the river beneath her walls has
often flowed red with human gore where it is spanned by the graceful
bridge of Alcantara. Phoenicians, Romans, Goths, Moors, and Christians
have all fought for, and at different times have possessed the place.
Only the skeleton