ortraits: two or three of kings, suspended
opposite to an equal number of queens; the two likenesses of the
celebrated judges Nuno Rasura and Lain Calvo, near which are seen the
simple square oaken chairs from within the angular and hard embrace of
which they administered the laws and government of Castile; a
full-length of Fernan Gonzalez; and lastly, one of the Cid.

Owing to the singularity of this last portrait, it is the first to
attract attention. The hero is represented in the most extraordinary of
attitudes: the head is thrown back, and the face turned towards one
side; the legs in a sort of studied posture; a drawn sword is in the
right hand, the point somewhat raised. The general expression is that of
a comic actor attempting an attitude of mock-heroic impertinence; and is
probably the result of an unattained object in the mind of the artist,
of producing that of fearless independence.

Beyond this apartment is the Chapel, a plain, not large room, containing
but two objects besides its very simple altar, with its, almost black,
silver candlesticks. Over the altar is a Conception, by Murillo; and, in
the centre of the chapel, a highly polished and neatly ornamented
funereal urn, composed of walnut-wood, contains the remains of the Cid:
the urn stands on a pedestal. On its two ends in letters of gold, are
inscriptions, stating its contents, and the date of its application to
its present purpose. I was told that the bones were contained in a
leaden box, but that a glass one was being prepared, which, on opening
the lid of the urn, would afford a view of the actual dust of the
warrior.

The remains of the Cid have only recently been conveyed to Burgos from
the monastery of San Pedro de Cardenas, about four miles distant. They
had been preserved there ever since his funeral, which took place in the
presence of King Alonzo the Sixth, and the two Kings, sons-in-law of the
hero, as soon as the body arrived from Valencia.

This monastic retreat, if dependence may be placed on the testimony of
the Cerberus of the Alcalde,--the cicerone (when duly propitiated) of
the municipal edifice,--did not turn out to be altogether a place of
repose to the warrior. According to this worthy, an amusing interpreter
of the popular local traditions, the exploits performed subsequently to
the hero's interment were such as almost to throw a shadow over those he
enacted during his mortal existence. One specimen will suffice. Some
twent