this he was paid by
the Chapter one hundred ducats, no mean sum in those days. Called from
Seville to Leon, Badajoz seems to have immediately set in hand the
Capilla Mayor of the Church of San Isidro. In Leon and elsewhere he
appears to have been much employed, until in 1537 he commenced the
Convent of San Zoil at Carrion (about twelve leagues from Leon,) for the
Condes of that place. The taste for elaborate ornamental sculpture
greatly increasing at that time, Juan de Badajoz seems to have taken
pains to surround himself with the most skilful carvers of his days, and
on all occasions to have pushed them forwards as their merits deserved.
Hence, when called upon, shortly after setting in hand the works at
Carrion, to commence the even more elaborate and important ones of San
Marcos, he was able to carry on the two for a time concurrently, and
ultimately to resign the charge of what he began and advanced
considerably single-handed at Leon, to his deputy, Pedro di Castrillo.

On San Marcos, Juan de Badajoz appears to have worked pertinaciously, at
any rate until the year 1543, when more than half the whole work was
completed. In the sculpture, of which there is an enormous quantity, he
had the assistance, as principal sculptor, of Guillermo Doncel. The
ornamental details[8] are excellent, far better than those involving a
knowledge of the proportions and forms of the human figure. The size of
the building is enormous, and its general effect very picturesque. The
works appear to have been suspended while still far from complete. They
were not resumed until the year 1715.

[Illustration: PLATE 10

MDW 1869 LEON SAN MARCOS]

PLATE X.

_LEON._

CLOISTER OF THE CONVENT OF SAN MARCOS.

IT used to be a proud old boast of the brothers of the Military Order of
Sant' Iago that their Palace, or Convent, call it which you will, at
Leon, was quite as fine and spacious as the palace occupied by the Kings
of Spain at Madrid. Knowing this, I visited it with a certain amount of
apprehension as to my reception by such successors to the magnates of
old, as might still occupy the building. My fears were groundless, for I
found after much knocking and ringing, that a solitary policeman was the
only occasional tenant of its vast halls, and almost numberless rooms.
It was indeed melancholy to see such a structure so evidently and
entirely "out of joint with fortune" and "the times," as to be
apparently inapplicable and inconve