le. La montagne n'a pas un
arbre. La variete nait des mouvements du sol et des anfractuosites du
rocher; les perspectives sont courtes, mais frappantes; tantot l'oeil
plonge sur le Tage, qui serpente en meandres verdatres entre les deux
collines; tantot la ville apparait herissee de ses innombrables
clochers, puis le rideau retombe, et enferronne dans une gorge deserte
et muette, on pourrait se croire tout d'un coup transporte dans quelque
solitude primitive. Ces brusques alternatives ont un grand charme; elles
impriment a ce paysage austere et melancolique un profond cachet
d'originalite."

[Illustration: PLATE 36

TOLEDO

BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA

MDW 1869]

PLATE XXXVI.

_TOLEDO_.

BRIDGE OF ALCANTARA.

The brief words in which Ford gives the chronology of this "Bridge of
Bridges," carries one to the long series of Lords and Masters who have
made of Toledo a perfect mine of Archaeological interest. "The Roman
one," he says, "was repaired in 687 by the Goth Sala; destroyed by an
inundation, it was rebuilt in 871, by the Alcaide Halaf, repaired in
1258 by Alonzo el Sabio,[22] restored by Archbishop Tenorio about 1380,
and fortified in 1484 by Andres Manrique." To crown the whole and make
it safe for ever, Philip II. placed it, by solemn dedication, under the
especial protection of San Ildefonso, who certainly appears to have done
his duty hitherto, as I saw few signs of repair or want of it from the
middle of the sixteenth century till now. I need scarcely say, that it
crosses the River Tagus in one noble and most lofty span, and connects
the walled city with its dependencies "across the water." Nothing can be
more picturesque than this bridge, or indeed than the whole aspect of
the position of the city placed upon seven hills, forming one lofty and
rocky eminence, around which, on more than two sides, tears the Tagus.
Conspicuous in my sketch is the lofty Tower controlling access from the
Bridge to the City on the side of the commanding "Alcazar," as literally
the "royal residence," as Alcantara is in Arabic "the Bridge." Cean
Bermudez[23] tells us, that one Mateo Paradiso was the architect, who in
1217 constructed a tower (probably, in at least the greatest part, the
same which now remains) upon this famous bridge. In support of his
opinion, he cites Estevan de Garibay, who in the ninth volume of his
"unedited Works" fol. 512 tit. 6