of his age, seemed the
best for his country and his Church. He was perhaps even greater as a
Spaniard than as a churchman. His conceptions were all grand, and he was
as versatile as he was great. Victor in the greatest of all Spanish
toils, he executed the polyglot version of the Scriptures, the most
stupendous literary achievement of his age. Fitting his greatness is the
simplicity of his epitaph:--

Condideram musis Franciscus grande lyceum,
Condor in exiguo nunc ego sarcophago.
Praetextam junxi sacco, galeamque galero,
Frater, Dux, Praesul, Cardineusque pater.
Quin virtute mea junctum est diadema cucullo,
Cum mihi regnanti paruit Hesperia.

The figure of Cardinal Mendoza stands out clear and strong in the final
struggle with Granada. It was he who first planted the Cross where the
Crescent had waved for six centuries, and he was the first to counsel
Isabella to assist the great discoverer. His keen intellect made him
lend a ready ear and friendly hand to the rapid development of the
science of his time and the fast-spreading taste for literature.

And so the line of Toledo's illustrious bishops continues,--leaders of
the church militant, like the Montagues and Capulets, they fought from
the mere habit of fighting, but they seldom stained their swords in an
unworthy cause.

III

There is a great discrepancy between the interior and the exterior of
the Cathedral. The former is as grand as the latter is insignificant and
unworthy. The scale is tremendous. Only Milan and Seville cover a
greater area, if the Cathedral is considered in connection with its
cloisters. Cologne comes next to it in size. It runs from west to east,
with nave and double side aisles, ending in a semicircular apse with a
double ambulatory. As is characteristic of Spanish churches, it is
astonishingly wide for its length,--being 204 feet wide and 404 feet
long. The nave is 98 feet high and 44 feet wide, while the outer aisles
are respectively 26 and 32 feet across.

The exterior, with the exception of the ornamental portions of the
portals and a few carvings, is all built of a Berroquena granite. The
interior is of a kind of mouse-colored limestone taken from the quarries
of Oliquelas near Toledo. Like many limestones, it is soft when first
quarried, but hardens with time and exposure.

The impression of the exterior is strangely disappointing. Imposing and
massive, but irregular, squat, and encumbered by s