of my stay and
the hurry of my departure from Madrid, which immediately followed. I
preserved, however, memoranda of the limited explorations which were to
be made during a flying visit of three days, and will now give you the
benefit of them, such as they are; as also of my experience of the
public travelling in that direction. You will recommend your friends,
who may visit this land of adventure, and are careful at the same time
of their personal comforts, to wait the introduction of railroads,
before attempting this excursion, when you hear that I met with three
upsets in one night, and was afforded, in all, nearly five hours'
leisure for contemplating the effect of moonlight upon the sleeping
mules and an upside-down carriage!

The town of Valladolid contains monuments of much interest, although
none of great antiquity. The greater number date from the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, and form a chain, illustrative of the progress of
architecture in this country, subsequently to the abandonment of the
Gothic style. This style is, however, worthily represented by two
edifices, placed in juxtaposition, and ornamented each with a facade of
extraordinary richness. I will content myself with the endeavour to give
you some idea of these two buildings, which, although belonging to a
style so common in England and France, are totally unlike all the Gothic
specimens I am acquainted with in those countries.

[Illustration: FACADE OF SAN PABLO.]

The largest of the two is the monastery of San Pablo. It was a
foundation of much magnificence, and the building has sustained very
little injury, owing to its having, immediately on the expulsion of the
monks, been applied to other uses, instead of being deserted and left to
decay. It is now a Presidio, or central prison for condemned
malefactors. The cloister is a superb quadrangle, of the pointed style
of the end of the fourteenth century, and is the usual resort of the
prisoners, who are grouped so thickly over its pavement, that it is with
difficulty one passes between them, without adding to the clanking of
chains as their wearers change their posture to make way. The facade of
the church is enclosed between two small octagon towers without
ornament, like a picture in a frame. Within these all is sculpture. The
door-way is formed of a triple concentric arch, flanked by rows of
statues, all of which are enclosed within another arch, which extends
across the whole width, fr