stically they are lodged.

Going on to the old Cathedral Square, we faced the ancient Exchange with
its splendid cornice and decorations of medallion heads of the bygone
kings and warriors of Aragon. The Gothic interior is very interesting,
with low, vaulted passages leading to the one great room with its high
roof and fine pointed windows, where once the merchants of the town
carried on their operations. It would seem that in those past days the
sale of stocks and shares, the great questions of finance, did not
imply a contempt for the charms of outline and refinement. They loved to
surround themselves with the splendours of architecture; and in more
than one Spanish town the last and best remnant of the Gothic age is to
be found in the Exchange.

The whole square was striking. In the centre was a splendid fountain, at
which a group of women for ever stood with their artistic pitchers,
filling them in turn. Fun and laughter seemed the order of the day. The
square echoed with merriment, to which the many-mouthed plashing
fountain added its music.

On the further side of the square is the great glory, not of Zaragoza
alone, but of the whole kingdom of Aragon--the old cathedral of La Seo.

The exterior has been much modernised, and perhaps was never specially
striking. It is curious only at the N.E. angle, where the wall is inlaid
with coloured tiles of the fourteenth century; of all shapes, sizes,
patterns and colours. The whole has a rich Moorish effect almost
dazzling when the sun shines upon them. Above this rises an octagonal
tower decorated with Corinthian pillars.

From all this glare and sound, hurry and bustle of life, you pass into
the interior and at once are charmed, mesmerised. Calmness and repose
fall upon the spirit; in a moment you have suddenly been removed from
the world. At once it takes its place in the mind as ranking next to
Barcelona. If some of its details are not to be too closely examined,
the general effect is magnificent in the extreme.

In form it is peculiar and unlike any other cathedral, for it is almost
a perfect square, but this is not observed at the first moment; the Coro
occupies the centre, and a multitude of splendid columns support and
separate the double aisles. The nave and aisles are all roofed to the
same level, giving a very lofty appearance to the whole interior. The
vaulting springs from the capitals of the main columns with an effect of
beauty and grace seldom equalled