ed by an appeal to a sort of neutral power; and
Mars was selected, probably on account of his being a person
disinterested in the affair. A champion was chosen by each party, and a
day appointed for settling the difference by single combat. Accordingly,
the court, the clergy, and the people being assembled, the
representatives of the two missals took their station, lance in rest,
and on the appointed signal spurred to the encounter. The ancient missal
was approved of by the warlike god; but the King and his party were
dissatisfied with the result, and resolved on another trial. A large
fire was lighted in the principal plaza, and the two missals were thrown
into it.

Again the ancient forms conquered, the rival parchment having caught the
flame and being drawn out in a blaze. The populace now commenced a cry
of triumph; but, to their great disappointment, the King, in his quality
of umpire, pronounced a judgment which he might as easily have put in
execution before the trials: namely, that considering that the Roman
Missal, although on fire, was not consumed, they were both equally
agreeable to the deity--they should therefore both be preserved, and
that some of the more ancient churches should continue the exercise of
the Mozarabic service, while the Roman ritual should be established in
the metropolitan temple, and in the greater number of the parishes.

Before we leave the cathedral, the cloister claims our attention. It is
a spacious and handsome quadrangle, inclosing a garden. The eastern wall
is adorned with excellent frescos of comparatively modern date, and all
bearing the same signature--Francisco Bayeu. There are seven subjects on
that side, being the number of intervals corresponding with the arcades,
and three more continuing down another side. The best are two, taken
from the history of Saint Casilda; and three from that of San Eugenio,
first archbishop of Toledo, martyrised in France. The arcades on the
east side are shut in by large pieces of sail-cloth, in order to protect
the paintings against the sun's rays.

The library of manuscripts belonging to this cathedral is distinguished
rather by the quality than the quantity of its contents. It is
approached by a staircase communicating with the cloister, and is a
handsome room. It contains a copy of the Talmud on the papyrus leaves,
and in the Coptic dialect. The following are also among its treasures:
The Book of Esther in Hebrew, on a single piece of pa