pain. The sheets were
laced about with an English lace of half an ell deep. Over against it
were the chambers of Monteleon and Hijar's children, which were
furnished with white damask. Next to these is the little chamber of the
Duchess Hijar, furnished with crimson coloured velvet upon a gold
ground. Their rooms were no otherwise divided than by partitions of a
certain sweet wood; and they told me that six of their women lay in
their chambers upon beds brought thither at night. The ladies were in a
great gallery, spread with a very rich foot-cloth. There were set round
it crimson coloured velvet cushions embroidered with gold, and they are
longer than they are broad. There were also several great cabinets
inlaid, and adorned with precious stones; but they are not made in
Spain. And between them were tables of silver, and admirable
looking-glasses, both for their largeness and rich frames, the worst of
which were of silver. But that which I thought finest, were their
escaparates, which is a certain sort of close cabinet with one great
glass, and filled with all the rarities which one can imagine, whether
it be in amber, porcelain, crystal, bezoar-stone, branches of coral,
mother-of-pearl, filligreen in gold, and a thousand other things of
value."

[Illustration: PLATE 13

LEON

MDW 1869

CALLE DELLA TESORIERA. LEON.]

PLATE XIII.

_LEON._

DETAIL FROM A HOUSE IN THE CALLE DE LA TESORIERA.

THIS pretty little keystone, with its acanthus leaf well drawn and
freely cut in good cinque-cento style occurs over the Portal of an old
house in one of the secondary streets of Leon. The pot of lilies which
surmounts it is a pretty little "impresa," quaintly signifying the
devotion of the owner of the house to the especial object of every good
Spaniard's worship, the most holy Virgin "sin pecado concebida." The S
shaped irons, which appear on the right and left of the pot of lilies,
serve to help to support the light balcony, which generally occurs over
entrance doors of minor importance in Spain, and which often serves as a
small open air addition to the common sitting room, in which the women
of the house do much of the usual needle work, spinning, &c.

[Illustration: PLATE 14

SALAMANCA

CASA DE LAS CONCHAS

MDW 1869]

PLATE XIV.

_SALAMANCA._

EXTERIOR OF THE CASA DE LAS CONCHAS.

THIS is, upon the whole, the most complete house I met with of its
period, answering in Art, and nearly in poi