lways set its peculiar mark on its monuments, whether
civil, military, or religious, but especially the last; which monuments,
surviving the reign of the power to which they owe their existence,
prolong and sanctify its memory, while they stand, erect and silent,
over its grave; and furnish valuable information and benefit to those
future generations sufficiently enlightened to consult them.

If this theory of successions and vicissitudes be consonant (which
probably no one will deny) with the march of events on the surface of
this our planet, then do the circumstances of the present situation
invest, as far as regards Spain, those relics of human genius and human
enthusiasm, the venerable temples of her declining faith, with an
interest beyond that which they have possessed at any period since their
foundation. It is impossible to have paid any attention to the events of
the last few years, without having received the conviction that the
reign of Christianity is here fast approaching,--not the commencement,
but the termination of its decline. Spaniards will never do things by
halves; and will probably prefer the entire overthrow of ancient customs
to the system pursued in France, of propping up, by government
enactments and salaries, a tottering edifice of external forms, long
since divested of its foundation of public belief.

To speak correctly, the decline of religious supremacy in Spain is by no
means recent. It was coeval with that of the arts, and of the political
grandeur of the country. The gradual cessation of the vast gifts and
endowments for the erection of the religious establishments was a
symptom of devotional enthusiasm having passed its zenith. Had not this
occurred nearly three centuries back, Madrid would not have wanted a
Cathedral. Nothing could ever have tended more directly to compromise
the durability of Christianity in Spain, than the final expulsion or
extermination of the Moors and Jews. Had Torquemada and a few others
possessed heads as clear and calculating as their hearts were resolute
and inexorable--a knowledge of human nature as profound as their
ambition of divine honours was exalted, they would have taken care not
entirely to deprive the Church of food for its passions and energies.
They would not have devoured all their heretics at a single meal, but
would have exercised more _menagement_ and less voracity. They would
have foreseen that by burning a few hundred Jews and Arabs less eac