of a once great and thriving capital remains. It has
no commerce, and but one industry, the manufacture of arms and
sword-blades, which gives occupation to a couple of hundred
souls--hardly more. The coming and going of visitors from other lands
gives it a little flutter of daily life,--like a fitful candle, blazing
up for a moment, and then dying down in the socket, making darkness only
the more intense by the contrast. The one sword factory is found to be
of little interest, though we are told that better blades are
manufactured here to-day than of old.

In looking at the present condition of this once famous seat of industry
and power, recalling her arts, manufactures, and commerce, it must be
remembered that outside of the immediate walls, which formed the citadel
of a large and extended population, were over forty thriving towns and
villages in the valley of the Tagus, under the shadow of her wing. These
communities and their homes have all disappeared, pastures and fields of
grain covering their dust from the eyes of the curious traveller. The
narrow, silent, doleful streets of the old city, with its overhanging
roofs and yawning arches, leave a sad memory on the brain as we turn
thoughtfully away from its crumbling walls and picturesque, antique
Moorish gates.

Thirty-five miles from Madrid by rail will bring us to the Escurial,
which the Spaniards call the eighth wonder of the world. This vast pile
of stone buildings is more than three hundred years in age, and nearly a
mile in circumference,--tomb, palace, cathedral, monastery, all in one.
It was the royal home of that bigoted monarch Philip II., but is now
only a show place, so to speak, of no present use except as an
historical link and a royal tomb. One hall, over two hundred feet long
and sixty wide, contains nearly seventy thousand bound volumes, all
arranged with their backs to the wall so that the titles cannot be read,
a plan which one would say was the device of some madman. The shelves,
divided into sections and ornamental cases, are made of ebony, cedar,
orange, and other choice woods. What possible historic wealth may here
lie concealed, what noble thoughts and minds embalmed! In the domestic
or dwelling portion of the Escurial, the apartments are very finely
inlaid with various woods, besides containing some delicate and antique
furniture of great beauty. A few cabinet pictures are seen upon the
walls, and one or two large apartments are hung with