The New York Herald Newspaper, January 6, 1879, Page 4

4 You look in vain for ® single liue that shows hu- manity. The thick lips, hollow cheeks, the firm clamped jaw, the snake-like eyes, all combine to fascinate you, even as the serpent in the fables is sup- posed to fascinate his prey. A few paces of is the portrait of his wite-—-Mary of Kngland— Painted for the King, a souvenir of their love days, “Bloody Mary,” a6 unkind historians have called her, and in somo respects a wonderful portrait. | Mary has a plain, hard, serious face, without emo- tion, not cruel, but pitiless, a face of stone, and eyes frow which sorrow and love and passion had ever Deen absent. Her person is decked with jewels, and in her hand she holds ® red rese—the rose of Eng- land—with which she was about to deck the crown of Spain. You can fancy there might be something to love in this plain, hard face; but after all she was a woman, and, they say, really loved Philip, and tried to be a patient, willing wife; but turn to the King, and love vanishes, and you see cruelty, energy, power—a' masterful face, but delighting in cruelty Decatise he loved it, and satisfying his conscience by calling it faith, These two portraits in the museum--- Philip and Mary—wonderful in themselves as works of art, are even more wonderful as lighting up a whole era of Spanish and English history. They re- mind you of the greatness of Spain, its grandeur and its fall. THE HISTORY OF ‘THE ESCURTAL. Well, the cold winds are active in the cloisters, and we are told that it were wise to draw our heavy gar- ments about us. It seems so natural that our wel- come should be achitling one in the home of Philip Il. Our party to-day is composed of General and Mrs. Grant, James Russell Lowell, our Minister, and his wife; Colonel Noeli, the Spanish soldier and gen- tleman, in weiting on the General, and your corre- spondent. We have learned certain facts about the Escurial which may interest the reader before we go further, The name ‘“Escurial’’ means iron dross, according to some authoritios, based npon the mines of iron that are found here. Accord- ing to others it means the place of rocks, from the Arabic, The building was intended as a convent rnd » palace—more especially a convent. When the King began to bughe had been some years on the throne end had beg to learn the vanity of earthly ambi- tions. On April 23, the first stone was Inid, and the last stone on September 13, 1584, As you pass into the courtyard the guide shows you this stone, marked with a croes, on one of the eaves. The King eame to live here in 1584, as soon a8 the building was habitable, and here he lived until his death in 1598. The site of the palace is 2,700 fect ®@bove the sea level, and its form is a rectangular parallelogram—744 feet from the north to the south and 580 trom east to west. There ere courts and win- dows, with turrets. A tradition has grown up that these aro made to represent the gridiron on which St, Lawrence enffered martyrdom—that if yon were to go up in a belloon and look down on the Escurial it would resemble a huge gridiron, with the feet turned upward, I would rather believe this story than not, for there is something charming in the idea of a great king taking a ¢ on as an emblem of erchitectural beauty and building therefrom one of the most wonderful monuments in the world. There was so much of the gridiron in the character of this la- mented sovereign—the desire to roast people for the glory of God and the grandeur of Spain—that one hates to abandon the table, and I rather fancy that tradition is right, and that, whether the King in- tended it or not, his nature asserted itself and we have a gridiron after all. as you enter is that of St. Lawrence, for whom this convent is named and in whose honor it was built. The saint has a gridiron in his band as a token of his martyrdom. The steel kno’ that opens the door of the church is in the form of @ gridiron. In one of the rooms which we shall soon sce is a picture of the martyr- dom of the saint, by Titian—a tremendous picture, fall of gloom and power; one of the few martyrdoms which attract and do not repel, so grent is the genius of the artist. You observe, therefore, that the gridiron has much to do with the Escurial. In 1567, in the earliest days of the King’s reign—before his father had @ied, in fact—al- though he was among the monks in Estramadura, Philip fought the French at St. Quentin. Tho battle going “badly with him, he called on St. Law- rence. This saint was a Spaniard, born in the Arar- gon country, near the Pyrenees, and was broiled on a gridiron over a slow fire by one of the Roman em- perors in 261. So Philip called to Lawrence and ‘vowed that if he were only mare free of the French or strengthened to défeat them ho wonld build a monument to the saint #o vast that the world would ever hold it in awe. So the saint took a hand in the fight and destroyed the French, and Philip could have taken Paris had he been so minded. But out of this came the Escurial and t_e tradition of the gridiron, Ido not sce how one can resist the story. It is the whim of a king, and what should wo hold more in reverence than the whims of kings? Bo were the Pyramids—the only monument thet re- minds you of the Escurial. It was the whim of Frederick's fathor to hve tall soldiers, of Louis XVI. to fily locks, of George IV. to work overt the buttons and trousers of his sol- diers, Let us reverence the whims of the kings! How much more of aking, this Philip, to pat away sol- diers and locks and trousers, and, rising to the dig- nity of his gridiron, make it the emblem of beanty— make it, even as you now see it, ® monument of the superstition, the tyranny, the grandeur and the gloomy pride of an age when the cloister swayed his sceptro and his sceptre rnled the world! THE SIZE OF ‘THE ESCURTAL. We aro told, and I repeat the information as a mathematical fact, that tho building covers a half million square fect; that there are 88 fountains, 15 Cloisters, 46 staircases, 16 courtyards and 9,000 feet of fresco, This courtyard over which we are passing is the court of the kings. It leads to the church, which is surmounted by four kings of Judah. I have forgot- ten their names, but remember Melchizedok and Solomon. These statues are seventeen feet high, cut ont of granite, the heads and hands of marbie, the crowns of bronze. There is nothing striking about them except thelr size. In fact, you aré not allowed to eseapo from the impression (hat tame tpon you as you were toiling over the raflway over the stony ridges. It is all ston®, cold, sombre tnd opprossive. It breathés the spirit of Philip and talls upon you like a burden. MODERN ROYAL HOMES, ‘We were escorted into the royal apartments, for kings have lived here, although not as in Philip's day. What we see are a serics of rooms, rooms run- ning into rooms, plainly furnished, with geome excep- tions. The tapestry is worth studying, and perhaps we should study it, but General Grant has no eye for * tapestry, would be quite as wyll pleased with wall paper, ond pushes on to the windows, where he can tee something growing, and beyoud which you may not only see the tocky hills but a garden that has been ravaged from the rocks, As yott look from the window, up against the hill, you are shown a recess, two or three rocks formed like a chair, whore Philip was wont to sit and brood over his gridiron as it grew into shape, Wo are reminded that it would be well worth climbing up the hitt ana kitting in Philip's seat. But the way i# long and the ascent is rough, and a cold wind is blowing, and one ean seo as much of Escurial as he wante without encountering pneumonia. The tapestry represents pictures of Goya and Teniers, and goes back to the time of Charles TI, and Cherlos IV. Charles If. was almbat good as king to have been a President of the Unitod States, and he is, porhaps, the only one since Charies V. who conid have atood the tests of a candidature, and he did many things to improve Spain, to restore hor paleces and add to her prosperity. The only rooms that rise to royal value aro a suit of four chambers in a corner which were occupied by Ieabella, I do not think there are four more beautiful rooins in the world, The walls are Inlaid with rare woods, the floors, the window sills, every portion has been as carefully decorated as though they had eon tho masterpieces Of Cellini, Thero was a table on which Isabella was wont to write her letters and proclamations, a gem of decoration, a8 periect ## a picture, The whole is in exquisite tance, and shows lavish expense and ex- treme care in workmanship. The cost of the rooms alone is set down at $1,100,000, 1 did not learn under which king this was done, but prosnme it was Charles 1¥. ‘Philip nover spent so much money on wood- carving. He kept it for relics wud sto: TUR LIBAARY OF THE RecuntAL, We were taken io the library. A polite attendant showed us somo of the yems of this room, which NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 1879.-TRIPLE SHEET. looked warm and cosey, really the only living room in the Escurial, There were pictures--Philip with his snake eyes, Charles with his drooling, drooping jowl; Charles I. in armor, and one of the third Philip, almost as great a fool as Charles IL, with a weak but human face, The floorsot this library are marble, und the walls are gayly colored, and you ob- serve that the edges of the books are turned toward you, and not the backs, There seemed to be no reason for this, but it had always been the cnstoni in the Eseurial, You observed, however, that the names of the books were printed on the edges in light letters, and so for all useful purposes the books are as accessible as if the backs were toward you, The library has shifted backward and forward, and during oue of the shift- ings, when the later Ferdinand was king, about ten thousand volumes were lost. What became of them A statue | no one ‘knows, It is not. polite to ask questions of a king. It must have been a@ rare library in its day, especially in works of chivalry and theology. I ran along some of the shelves, as our party was pattering about the room, but they seemed mostly works of fathers and commentaries on the faith, We were shown some prayer books and missals—the rqil book from which Philip sang and prayed—well thumbed, and the prayer books of others of the family, There were also some Arabic manuscripts, said to be of great value, but not attractive to avy of our party. SCHOOLBOYS IN THE ESCUBIAL, We strolled about the corridors and looked at some curious wall paintings in aroom where the guards assembled to wait on majesty and protect it, These were curious frescoes, showing the Moors at war with the Christians. They are not in the best preser- vation. Frenchmen have been here—so the guides assert—and the palace has been neglected; and rain and damp, and the fearful storms that sometimes come down from the mountains, have affected them. As types of medimval civilization, of war as it was before America was discovered, these frescoes are valuable. The painter was sincere, and never gave the Mbor achanco at the Christian, but made his work an encourage- ment to faithful Christians. There were other battle pieces—Lepanto and San Quentin, where St. Lawrence came down with his gridiron and whipped the French—leading, among other consequences, to this convent. As we stroll through the corridors, and hear our guides humming over their narratives—hay- ing our own thonghts, and feeling at times as if we would like to murder the guides for intruding upon them—as we walk through these stern cloisters and lock out into the courtyards at fountains which de not play, and trace the magni- tude and uselessnoss of this stupendous pile, wo hear the yoices of childreu—of lads scampering and at play. They comp tpon you with a peculiar import, these laughing, foyous sounds ringing through these vaulted cotridors. Why should they disturb the well earned gloom which rests on the ashes of Philip? Bub alas for the decadence of the age! We learn that here, even in the Escurial, a school has been opened, and that the boys have broken from their lessons and are at play, So sad are the inroads of this iconoclastic age when even the schoolmaster invades the Escurial. THE GLOOM OF THE ESCURTAL, In its days of glory the Fscurial was the home of monks. We are shown the cells, their refectory, where they prayed and washed and waited for dinner. ‘The monks have vanished, although the few priests who remain might have served. One priést showed us his quarters, which were cosey and pleasant, with & good ontlook upon the gardens and the rocks, so that the holy man might turn his thonghts to nature when he wearied over the Psalms. There was not much hardship in the cells if all were as pleasant as this, although early prayers in the chapter house must have been atest of piety. We pass along other corridors toward the church. If you yisit these cloisters you will sce how severe and plain they are. There is no Gothio woggishness, no grotesque carvings, no sem- blance of fruits and flowers to divert the worshipper from his béoks. All is stone— heavy, well clamped, arched ‘stone, with a few lines at the top of the columns—plain straight lines—no more, No imagination, no poetry, no harmony—simple etrength. The builder had no time to waste on the beautiful. One idea pervaded the whole desiga—the idea of stern, remorseless strength. I can think of nothing more wearisome in time than life in these sombre, pitiless walls, through which you wander and wander until there would seem to be no end. How grateful it is to hear the shouts of the children at play! VHE ESCURTAL chun We open’ door, the handle of which is of steel, shaved like a gridiron, and we pause s moment to note how well the workman did that bit of work. But for that matter and this, let it bo said in passing, all the work in the Escurial bas been well dono—well hammered, weil paved, well joined. It seemsus if the workmen had only left it; and yet for 180 years the storms have beaten on these walls. Dut the eye of the master was upon the workmen, and whoever Inbored under that eye did honest work. We open & door and come into the church, the heart of the Eacurial, from which the building draws ite lite, ‘There is not much in the church, and the impression at first is one of disappointment. We have heard so much of it—and is this all? We pass into the en- closure, and see only space. A few worshippers are kneeling on the stone floor, We hear the voices of priests chanting their offices. ‘The bell tinkles and we know that the mass is saying— 2 late mass at a side altar for tardy Christians. In a few minutes the priest passes us, cartying the sacred vessels in his hand, @ couple of boys in surplices tugging after. The priest has his cyes partly shut and mutters a prayer. A group of assisting-priests follow, also muttering prayers. The mass is over, and they are hurrying to breakfast. ‘The congrega- tion, not more than a dozen, disrolves, one or two of them as they pass stopping to knbdw if auyof us would, for the sake of God and the Virgin and the saints, givothem alms. All of this as wo wandor into the church and try to work out the problem of its beauty. It ie vast enough—in fact the impression is of #pace. There seems room to have done so much more. We are told by our guide that those aisles are 320 feet lohg, 230 fect wide and 320 high, and that there are three of them. But the mind has become 80 accustomed to other things in the way of churches, to tho Gothic magnificence of Burgos and Seville and Toledo, to the marvellous sweep of St. Paul's; we are so familiar with Italian and other schools, to the high vaulted arch and the groined colurgns, that something scoms wanting. Ro, a8 we are Lidden, we go up to the grand alter and study that, Note those broad marble stops that you are ascending, That screon, which is nearly o hundred feet high, wae the work of an Italian, Who gave seven years to its fulfilment. ‘There are columns of jasper and bronze, medallions and statues. The bronze tabernacle that was once a wonder of the world has gone, and what we seo is wood. Some French soldiers came hero, and they were very much in the position of Bismarck whon vefore Patis—they wa mvney. Bismarck got his money out of the authorities, but the Frenchmen | had only their axes. So they hammered at tho | bronze tabernacle, supposing it to be silver, ‘and now only the fragmenta romain, I ‘sup- pose Bismarck would haye hammerod down evory tabornacle in Paris if he had not been paid his inoney, and the losson I learned from this act of rapine waa that invaders are about the same thing all the world over, and disposed to take what thoy can get. Tt is a pity some one did not tell the Frenchinon that they were hammering down bronze. We might have the tabernacle to-day. GLORY To THE KiNas! Somehow the church is not what we oxpected, Tt {s only space. We note as wo ate standing on the altar step that above tts, on the right and the left, are two groups of statnes, effigies in bronze and gilt, which look so ptecfous that we wonder tio Frenchmen did not try their hammers tpon them, On tho left side, looking toward tho altar, kneeling, with hands clasped in prayer and eyes fixed on the crucifix, is Chaties V, His wife, daughter aud two sistors kneel with him, Opposite i# Philip IL, also kneeling, his hands clasped in prayer. Philip has three of his wives with him and one of his children, the unhappy Don Carlos, One wife ts nilesing—Mary of England. After the Armada and the strange Jop<es that England was thon making from the holy faith I presto Mary was not worthy, even thongh she had been the sponse of so mighty @ king, to be admitted into thebe lily precincts, This is the nearest approach that the makers of the Escurial per- mifted in the way of human pride. I suppose it is hardly fair to call it pride, for certainly there is a moral in these effigies, a moral’ to all who worship-— that no king is so mighty but that he niust kneel be+ fore God; kneel and plead for his soul like the mean- est beggar who sprawis on the clay. THE SANCTUARY OF RELICS. You will remember that this gracious King, who now rests with God, und whose bones are now mouldering in the vaults beneath our feet, had a passion for religs. The bone of a saint delighted him more than the capture of a citadel, and he felt more joy over the possession Of @ Tempant-of tho tess than over the victory of Lepanto. Kings must have their whims, and -atter. building this church to the glory of St. Lawrence and his gridiron Philip te- solved to have a museum of the most precious relics in the world. In those days the way to royai favor was tho bone of a aint, and’Spantards who wished ta rise in Philip's grace possessed themselves with holy things. The relic closet was shown us, and many were the objects of interest. But it is not what Philip left. The-French were here, wanting money like Bismarck before Paris, and nothing was available but Philip’s relic collection and enriched by his pious successors, To show his respect for the relics Pflilip encased them in gold and silver. If he had sheathed them in lyuh ox |tvoncthey would hive lost none of their value as mementoes; but y gold and silver would do, And so when the h treasure seekers came with their axcs irresistible logic of events took them into’ this relic closet, No one knows what havoc they made, There were a hundred sacred vessels in gdid and silver, All were taken, ‘Thers\'was a special statue of the Virgin in silver—an object precious to the faithful; but it was precious to the French because of the silver and the gems. It was melted into ingots, and the gems found a place on pofane bosoms, Mournful, too, was the fate of the statue of St. Lawrence—a full length figure, weighing 450 pounds—of pure silver. In the hend the image held one of the real bars of the gridiron on which the saint suffered, This bar was setin gold. All vanished, all but the iron. Silver and gold went into the melting pots, the iron was saved by some miracle and still remains at the'Esourial,-e éomfort to believers, Itis said that fourteen wagons were re- quired to carry off relic plunder to Madri@. This shows how war has advanced; for Bismarck carried his plunder, in value more than that of twenty relic closets, in the folds of a’bankbook. It was sad enough to lose all this gold and silver, but the relica Jost their value. The bones bécame mixed, for the rapacious Ffench, intent only on the gold and silver and gems, gave uo heed to the holy remnants. So when the heartbroken priests came to their own again nothing remained but the bones, all heaped and strewn. Some were saved—among them the precious bar of the gridiron, Which once itvhad shed its gold casings was of no yalue to French eyes. Asa collec- tion of relics the treasure of Philfp;was no more, and the sense of the loss still remains inthe Escurial. All of which should be taken as a lesson, that when you have a relic keep it free from the dross of the money- emaving world, Philfp lost his relics beeause he de- based them with silver and gold. THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS. ‘The Escurial is something more than a palace. It isa school,achurch anda tomb. When Charles V. was about to leav® his throne he charged his son to build a royal tomb worthy of tho kings of Spain. So Philip combined two vows, one to his’ father and the other to St. Lawrence of the Gridiron, and the result is the Escurial. Undér the church—directly. under the altar, so that when the priest raises the host at the moment of the elevation he stands imme- diately over the sepulchre—this tomb was built. Our why down was over smooth steps of marble and jasper, so smooth that. "we were warned to walk warily. The room is dark, aud the atiendants carry tapers, which. throw a glimmering light. It was Philip’s idea to have the tomb severely plain, in keeping with the Escurial, but his son added marbles and bronzes and other decorftions, an@-you note that the room is one of splendor. It is an octagon, thirty-six feet in diameter and thirty-eight feet high. ‘There is a chandelier, bronze angels, a large crucifix, quite life size, and an altar before which a lamp burns. The monarchs rest in shelves, four shelves int a row one over the other, each range separated from the other by double columns in bas-relief, with Co- rinthian caps. The decorations are elaborate, out of kecping with the Escurial, and not seemly in a tomb. ‘There were twenty-six compartments all of them filled with coftins, but many of the coffins wanting in oc- cupants. The coffing’are ready, and if the monarchy lasts there are enough for generations of kings tn- born. Kings and queens reigning, and the mothers of reigning sovereigns alone are admitted. The cof. fins are of black merble, with spaces hollowed out for the shells of the dead sovereigns. The first is Charles V. His name is engraved on his cofiin in plain Roman letters... He rests in the top compart- ment, on the left of the crucifix. ‘The qneens are ranged in order on the left. Here repose the ashes of all the Spanish sovereigns since Charles, with the exception of Philip V, and “Ferdinand VI. They pre- ferred to sleep elseWliere, not caring to have the com- pany, even in death, of the Austrian soyereiguss \'The remains ere not brought here until some years after decease, They are kept in another part of the Escurial known as the place of putrefaction, In this placé, which we passed” as we came down, are the remains of Don Carlos, of whom Schiller wrote; Don John of Austria, who was famons in his day, and the Duke of Venddme, whose name: is. given to the Napoled ‘square in Paris, Within tho present year two have died, whose place will be in this Pantheon—Christina, queen of Ferdinand VIL, grandmother of the King, and grandmother, too, of the hapless young Mercedes, queen of Alfonso, who sleeps up ‘stairs ih peace after a Brief honey- moon. During the Republic a commission opened the coffin of Charles V. The body had been dead for over three centuries, but {t was so well preserved that even in its decay you could trace the features which the pencil of Titian has made immortal. This coffin had been opened once before, nearly a hundred years after death, Philip IV. was prompted to hold ghastly intercouree with his great ancestor. Ho found tho body woll preservoed—so ft fdund the story in print—and after looking for some time turned to his courtiers, “Don ‘Inis,a great man?” “Yes, my lord, very groat.” It was here that Charles II. came after he lost his fair young qneen. Ho looked at her fixed and fad- ing form, and rushed out in tears, ox- claiming, “She is gone, and I shall soon be with her.” Very soon he was bronght down the marble and Jasper steps, 1 idle sightsoers tap his coffin with @ cane, the very coffin where he has slept for a hundred andeighty years, Not long since, says ono of our attendants, a Spaniard came in and knelt at the altar, asking to be aloue a little whilo that ho might pray for the repose of the illustrious dead about him. In a few minutes the attendants re- turned and found that he had shot himself with» pistol, He had # mod fancy to die in royai society, _ FAMOUS TELICR, ‘We are glad enough to see stinshine and to Iéave the tom, even although it were not unprofitnble to linger and meditate upon the lessons of humen vanity which are nowhere so sternly tanght as in the Bsetirial, Somos practical sot proposes breakfast, and that done, fome one of the party, not quite eo practival, pro- | pores that we return and wander through the church and look at the felics, As & epecitl honor to tho General we aro to be shown a fragment of the trie ‘eross and the gridiron bar which was miraculously saved ftom the French. But the General tins seen enogh of the Factrial mpd prefers to walk under the troos and seo things grow aiid sntoke his cigar, His mind is hot receptive a4 to relics, and le te willing fo take them fot gtatited, espevinily the true Foss, which he has seen in various European pinces, So he wantlers down the road and we return to tie convent. A young priest with an ascetic face, Huch a one aw you ae on sone cantHses of Raphael, attends veand we are Yea once fore tite the depository of the most siered ‘emblems of the O#tholte faith, ‘fut PRECIOUS TREASURES, Tanepect it was tho cigar and the inviting san. shine and the desire to stroll slong the «treet of Kecurfal village that deprived the General of the only chance he will éver have of sveing these holy treasures, Our yoting priest led us to them with reverence, ‘To him, whatever they may have been to ie, trey were the embodiments of his faith, When ‘he looked at then: he bent his head in adoration. ‘When he took them in itis hands it was to press thom feverently to his lips, as @ som might revere the form of 9 dead pareut. He believed it all in com- plete humility, and it was beautiful, coming as we did out of the icy, cynical world, our minds filled with Eastern questions and Spanish politics, and tavern charges and Tammany Hall clections—it was beautifd to see the loyal acceptance our friend gave to his treasures, This little glass tube, for instance; it might be a vial from the pharmacy, with drops, but it contains » fragment of the purple robe that was thrown oyer our Saviour, You cam see that the robe retains its color, although shere is not enough to cover @ button on your whisteoat, ‘That fragment, no larger than the tip of your little finger, is a fragment of the cross on which gur blessed Lord was nailed, and this that you can ‘dimly see through the darkened glass is one of the thorns that pierced His gracious brows. ‘This bone, which, if you smell, gives out a fragrance like musk or in+ cense, was a boneof some saint—Lawrence, if I re- member; while the faded altar cloth covered with @lass was used by Beckét when he served the masé inCanterbury. There are iron weapons which were used in early days to torture the Christians, and more interesting than all are some manuscripts of St. Toresa—'Theresa of Jesus, as she signs hery self. St. Teresa has always begn a favorite saint. ‘Tho motive of hor life was so beautiful—self-denials self-sacrifite, doing her work ig humble ways, with: out pretence, withont) ambition, Your saints wha did extravagant things are very good in their way, and God forbid that Ja mero sinner, wandering in dark and wicked ways, should dare to criticise those whom achurch has deemed holy, If St. Denis car- ried his head under his, arm, and St. Ignatius mad¢ religion a battle and lived in constant war with his enemies, it was their Way of devotion, St. Teresa lived her life for the good she could do—like the field flower that blooms under the rock, blooms from the felicity of blooming, and after doing its Part fades into the darkness and the dew. IfLever build a church it will be to St. Teresa, Buildin, churches, however, is a thing which many a well+ meaning person mean#¢o do some day without eves doing it, like joining the Masons, or owning a yacht or subscribing for the North American Review, oF becoming ® reform didate for Congress. Sol give St, Teresa my benediction, and thanking the priest for opening his treasures, we wander out into tho corridors. ~~ ‘TITIAN'S “LAST SUPPER.” There are pictures-to be seen, although the best of them are down at theMadrid Museum, I remember the “Last Supper” of ‘Titian, among the greatest of hig works, Last suppers have never been a satis- factory theme in art. You might call them anything. ‘The motive does rotappear. I can understand how Titian’s men might have been apostles, fishers of men, saviors of men; Ican understand that the man Jesus looked.even so when He was with us. So much strength, so much purity, so mugh resignation—the painter with his brush telling the story of man’s redemption. Tho scéne is the moment when Christ announces His betrayal and His departure. John Jeans on the table in an agony of grief, while Jesus, with loving touch, rests one hand on his shoulder, ‘The other hand rests on the table, the fingers ex+ tended in the act of conversation. ‘The hand tells the story, and ag a stndy of hands alone—of ex+ pression as found in the hand—this picture is a marvel. Note, for instance, the group at the extreme loft of the picture. A Jew—some follower of friend of the apostles—comes in hastily and whispers his message. Thegriéf, the ‘horror of the message, are expressed in the hands, one of which falls on the breast in despair, while the other inadvertently clutches 2 fragtnent of bread on the table, ag though it would dare fate. Sorrow, grie?, anger, fear, even xomorse, are written on the varying faces, While ovet all the holy présenco falls like ® Benediction, and you cap almost hear the words of hope and resighation trom Divine lips. How well this work is done! How the colors’ glow, as though they had “been painted only yesterday! And yet three centuries have passed since they were flushed on the canvas, ‘There is @ Jacob and his children, from Velasquez, which shows the character but not the strength of that great master. Even as a gallery of art the ‘Yseurial Would be worth studying were it not that all galleries in Spainare thrown into the shade by the uurivalled collection in the musenm at Madrid. » THE GRANDECR OF THE CHURCH. But the church! Somenow it disappoints us; and yot we delight to stroll about it; and it grows, and in'timo the ide#of the builder, the idea of space, sim> ple space, becomes impressive. You have something of the feeling with which St, Peter’s impresses you+ isappointment at first, and in the end awe. The Escurial Chureh does not compare with St. Peter's in magnitude or in splendor of conception. But it is a noble thought and grows upon you more and mora, ‘The mind is not carried away by decorations and perplexities of Moulding and stone carving, as i8 some of the miodern churches. You miss the ma; esty of the Gothic art, in which every line seems 4 aspiration for a better life and where the devotion generations finds expression in stone, But the sink plicity of it, the xepose, the subordination of everys thing to tho {dea of worship, make the Church the Escurfal memorable among religious monument Wo went up into-the choir, where the monks sat im monkisly days an@ chanted their prayers, There were the rows of seis, in hard wood, plainly carved, well worn and tawny with generations of devotees. In theicortier was the seat of Philip. The King came with his mopks and. ssid his prayers, Hore hesat chanting his Misereres like a cowled friar. You sit ih the royal seat and look out upon the vast space ani trace the decorations of the altar and think of the t gaudy tomb, where resis fo much greatness and am- | bition, ahd try-té comprehend this Escurial, which | falls upon you with a sense of oppression, it 18 so gloomy and sombre and strange, and to trace out the mind of the unhappy tyrant who vainly sought refuge from himself. All have vanished—the monks with their cowls, the king with his crown, the armics he commanied, the princes who feared him, tho majesty that was omnipotent—all have vanished, The church remains and priests still recite their oM- ces and pray that the glory of Philip's days may ro- turn to Spain. Ifis sceptre and his crown remain; but, alas! under what conditions! They are but shadows of what he left beliind him, and so fickle is the world that any moment a storm may come and evon the shadows will depart. POOR MERCEDES! BRIDE AXD QUEEN. Hero for a moment let us pause at an altar, beforo which lamps are butning, overladen with flowers and immortelles and beads and every form of deco- ration. This ia the resting place of the young Queen Mercedes—her tomporaty resting place before she is gatliered into the Pantheon to sleep with her ances- tors. In January she was a bride, in June she was a corpse—all in this yod, Spain is in mourning for her. She was so young, so beautiful, such a winning little thing. In January she was married in San ‘Autocha, Montpensier leading her to the altar, and never was such a pageant known in Spain. The Fing, 80 young, bounding with freslness and ambi- tion; the Queen, all grace, beauty, kindness. Surely no monarchy evet set out under happier auspices, ‘The King a Spaniard, the Queen aSpaniard—why not Jook forward to the longost aad happiest of reigns? Twas looking at a picture book the other day—an anntial almanac, with illtetrations telling the events | of the year—s Christniat publication which nowsboys hawk afound Madrid, There was one full pige etyraving of the niarringo--tho King and the Queen making their vows, the Archbishop powriug opiate of coin into the royal hands, lords in waiting sue taining the long train, attending priests following the service, and in thé background the beauty, the randent, the nobility of Spain come to smile upon the nuptials. This was the 2a of January, Afew pages on and there was another picture, It isa room in the royal palace, The body ot the poor Queen ts lying in stato, her head in a ntin’s cap, in her hand a crows, Huge torches rrownd the bier, Men at ems areon guard, In frontis acrucifix, life size; lords iu waiting, in ft!l apparel, attend Her Majosty— one of them, his face buried in his handkerehief, weep- iny. A barrier Keeps off the streaming crowd coming te take farewell of the Queen. By tho aide ts standard bearing the arms of her house, This was on June U7, 1878, And this is the end of it alla corner in the Esourial Chapel, overladen with flowers and deco. rations, # privwt kneeling at prayer and a group of idle travellers Who see this among other sights and pass on. PUILIY's HOME AND DRATHDED, But before We say farewell to the Esewrial let ts pay a visit to the home of the great King who founded it. We pasa up a stiirway and ovter a «mall cell, paved with brick. Thero is ® larger rooin ad- joining. I! one of the cells Philip lived and died, in the other attendants awaited his will. A window of the cel] opens into the church, and the King, a8 he lay on his pallet, could fix his eyes on the priest at mass, on the Sacred Host as it typified the act of explation, on the kneeling statue of his father. ‘This is what it ail came to—this ruler of many continents—nothing but this dingy cell, info which no light comes, an ol4 mon, m agony and fear and self-reproach, dreaa- ing, ‘wondering, trembling over the brink of his fate, hoping that” prayer and song and sorrow and priestly intercessions may save his soul. The rooms are as Philip left them, if we except the neces- sary cleaning and scrubbing. There is a fuded tapestry on the wall, in which youtrace the royal arms of Auatrit—his father's arms. Thero is 3 monk's chair on which Philip sat to receive ambas- sadors and ministers; two plain stuffed wooden chairs, where thoy could sit in his royal presence if he so willed. The floors are of plain brick, trampled and worn. Here was the end of his royalty and pomp. Here he died in misery, aud with him the greatness of Spain, if it can be called greatness, which I much question, | Philip was the lust of the Spanish kings. In him was embodied sil that went to make a king—divine right, absolute poWer, indifference to human suffering, fanaticism, ibigotry, subserviency to the darkest forms of mediwval superstition. He was the last of the kings, and it seems poetic in its justice that ho should die as he did—thit he should leave behind him this stupendous trophy of his character and his name. Grateful is the sunshine, grateful the growing elms under which we walk back to our stopping place. It is like coming out of the seventeenth into the nineteenth century. And as the train tugs back to Madrid—and we cast a last look at the Escurial through the gray, deepening shadows of the coming night—the wonder that we have felt at a work so unique and stupendous gives place to grati- tude that the age which made it possible has passed away—that the power which it embodied has gone into the depths, with the criines and follies of ante- cedent generations, and that its only value now is as the monument of a dreary, cruel and degrading age. ICE YACHTING: PROSFECTS FOR LIVELY SPORT ON THE HUD- SON—PERSONNEL AND YACHTS OF THE POUGH-.| KEEPSIE AND NEW HAMBURG CLUBS. Povanxrerste, Jan. 5, 1879. Winter sports on the Hudsoa River will be fully inaugurated this weck. Prominent among these is ice yachting, and during all of yesterday the yachts- men were busy putting their novel crafts in trim, and: many of the yachts were placed upon the ice. Here at Poughkeepsie a large amount of. moncy is imvested in ice yachts—great, handsome crafts, elegantly constructed, haying wire rigging, nickel plated iron work, and timbers and railings and run- ner planks made of the most durable and costly woods. There is notayacht in the fleet but what can make @ mile a minute in a stiif breeze. The com- modore of the Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club is Mr. John A. Roosevelt, who is o thoroughgoing ice yachts- man in every respect, and hoowns the largest and best appointed ice yacht in the world, called the Icicle. She carries a cloud of canvas and glides along over the ice at terrific speed. Shoe was built for racing purposes and is supplied with costly robes and blankets for the comfort of the voyager. The Vice Commodore of the club is Theodore V. Johnston, of the Hudson River Railroad restaurant; the Treasurer is Dr. Guy C. Bayley, and tho Secretary Thomas Ransom. The Regatta, Comittee is com- posed of Hudson Taylor, Henry 8. lrost and William C, Arnold, all’ solid men of the city and great ad- mirers of the exciting sport. POUGHKEEPSIE YACHTS, The yachts owned by the club are as follows, all sloop rigged:— Yacht, Owner, Avalanche. .-E, Harrison Sanford, Advance. E. Harrison Sanford. Oliver IH. Booth. Charles R. Forrest, Henry Bergh, Jr. E. Harrison Sanford, E. Harrison Sanford. Harrison Sanford. E, Harrison Sanford, T. Y. Ransom, The Haze is a wonderful yacht, her sailing qualities being the admiration of the whole flect, and sho has already won several prizes. NEW HAMBURG ICEBOAT CLUB. - Down at New Hamburg is anothor splendid floct of ice yachts, owned by the New Hamburg Icebont Club, of which Irving Grinnell is commodore; "J. R. Lawson, vice commodore’ P. A. M. Van Wyck, sécre- tary; P. Le Roy, treasurer, and W. Losee, measurer. ‘The yachts belonging to the club are as handsome ag those owned by the Poughkeepsie Association, and are as follows:— i y Millard, Irving Grinnell. Irving Grinnell, |. Van Wyck. . F. Satterthwaite, Le Roy. i Vive. .Charles Le Roy. Su M. Hughes. ‘S fering: Grinnell, ng G ving Grinne?l. et tert! Comet... - Sattertp waite, The Rog C is composed of Philli Schuyler, of the New York Yacht Ciub; John Le Ro; and He Van Wyck. Positions for the start in the three regular races of the clib have already‘ been drawn. No delay will by experionced on the morning of any regular regatta. Tho first race will bo “The Owners’ Race,’ first olass, and “Owners’ Race,” second class; to be followed by the “Non-Owners’ co;"* all of which will be called in the wbove drder just a8 soon os the ice will permit. The cltb has “also the o to the Poug! 46 Club of three years ago to sail for thi by th latter, aud New Hamburg is cages to wrest this prize from lier sister club; therefore the next strayyle will excitiny. ‘The best of feeling pervades the whole club, and, as the prospects are Kc by for alinost immediate ; is visible dreutest activity and us pre] nm, Lhe ice is in excellentcondi- tion tor racing both here and at New Hemburg, and in ail ptobavility the races for both clubs will be ordered on early next week. On Fishkill flats Saturday morning # heavy squall struck an iceboat under full sail and drove her over the top of an ico hummock., The helmsman «was hurled out and rolled over the ico a lomy distaneo, oe Pree ‘The boat was righted, her ey |, an jolly voyager Was soon ineking a @ minute once more ovor tho glib surface, YACHTING, New Youn, Jan. 4, 1379, ‘fo ram Eprrot or the Henaup:-- About this time last year a few gentlemen began to agitate the question of a “anion regatta” in New York Bay for ail open boats not exeeeding thirty foot in length, It was well received by the yachting fra- ternity and culminated on the 27th of dune in ono of the most exciting and beautiful races ever wit- neseed in New York Bay, ‘To this auspicious inauguration of @ regatta which should be repeated annually so long ee or city and Day exist there was an unfortunate ending. Fifty boats, divided into five cladses, contended for the prizes, which were to have been as follows :—To the first boat in each class, time allowance considered, $100 in Cash, aud to the sevond, $50, The amounts aotnaily paid were less than half, For instance, the W. G. Brown, boing the first boat in the first class, received about $45, aud the Dare Devil, being second in the same class, recelved about $12, A similar re- Avetion was mare in ail the other wen, © ‘it is fale to prestime that the gentlemen whe man- aged the regatin acted honestly and made the best dis- position of the funds in hand; but they blundered in promising to pay more than their moans would jum tify—the result of which has caused unfavorable com- ment from various quarters aud would jeopardize the ee of another regatta under the same man- agement, ee the yacht clubs in New York and elstwhere could be induced to send doieyates to a general convention, with power to act mpou all matt toa sien ie acomplia at to the ion of all nrg Darties intervetek TACHTBMAN, -- SUNDAY ON THE ICE. Central Park Lake Besieged by Mighty Multitude. SCENES. AND, INCIDENTS. One Hundred. Thousand Atoms in the Wintry Kaleidoscope. Although skates, sleds and chairs on rupners aro: on salo in hundreds* of stores all through the city, there are but half a dozen great warehouses where trading in those aids to pleasure and chillblains is a sperialty, Careful inquiry shows that in spite of the immense holiday scles of rkates for presents there was on Saturday Iast 4 greater sale than in all the previous weck. Indeed, it would almost seem safeto aoy that there is not a skateless boy in the city Umits. Unfortunately such is not the happy tact, a8 the-sad scenes in the Park yesterday afternoon abundantly prove. The fact is that the men and women of the present generation are indisposed to leave the enjoyments of the pond to their heirs and assigns, but hold on to their ancient privileges with @ tonacity as cxacting as it is, to some, amusing. PREPARATIONS AT THE PARK, The skating of Saturday night lasted so long that it was impossible to make preparations at the Park for the multitude looked tor yesterday until early in the morning, Consequently Superintendent Daw, son, following the direction of the Commissioners, ordered a large force of sweepers and cleaners to be on duty at five in the morning, when in the cold and frosty starlight, by the aid of flaming torches, the men found their way to the cut and ruffled surface and, set to work with scraper, broom and shovel. There was no loafing, it was too bitterly cold for giiat. Every man worked with a will, and in conse- quence by seven o'clock the great lake stretched out in the early dawn like a crystal mirror, roady for the coming of the day and the crowd, Forowarned by the tantalizing experiences of the preceding Sunday the parties in chargo of the Lake House and the refreshments determined to be prepared for the demands of the hungry devo- tees, Great wagons loaded with hams, tongues, oys” ters, bread, butter, coffee, tea, cigars, cigarettes, cheese, bolivars, crackers, cider, cake, crullers, Jock- om balls and roast beef, whirled laboriously along the heavy roads and deposited their burdens at the doors, whence they were expetitiously taken by Poy Ryan sud his busy men snd transformed into tempt ing eata bles and drinkables for old and young, In reponse to a question tho caterer saic "Toa much?, I guess not, Just look in for yourself about three o’clock, when it’s all gone, and the youngsters are grumbling for more.” “Do. ‘youngsters’. buy of you?” “Bless your heart, they are worse than any picnic you ever saw. They stand five and six deep. They beat the crowd in a cheap Sixth avenue dry goods store the night before Christmas. I’m a patient man and have been for fifty years, but I tell you it just ‘uses me and my patience up. They grab and eat, and grab and oat like famished dog: utase rule they for what they ge! PA What do they neem {0 prefer ?” « “Bolivar? It'sa cake of different shapes, but 9 Universal toughness, A real tough bolivar, well crusted with cheap sugar, or sugar and sand as tho case may be, is aa much better to the average boy on skates than @ broiled spring chicken as you can well ine.” ‘But how can they afford cigarettes 7” “What, at a cent apiece?” “Are the} for anything?” “Certainly; by noontime the place is a cloud of smoke and far out on the lake you can trace the skaters as they skim by the blue of their smoke when the light’s dim,”” . ‘THE EARLY ARRIVALS. ‘The catliest #rtivals came trom Harlem. It seems that ex-Aldermen Long, who is too busy to skate on week days, made by Sak ttle breakfast party in Har- ‘em, comprising fitteen young men noted as fancy eurlers and skutets, They reached tho lake at a little Yefore eight and Superintendent Dawson, who had been invited to join them at breskfast, granted the ty the privilege of the ice a few minntes before regulation time. They skated with gusto until half-past eight, whon they adjourned to the restaurant and refreshed the inner men with oyster stews, beefsteak and coffee. By this tinio nearly a hundred boys had put in an appearance and tho sun had deigned to cast an encouragi upon the ice, Slo: ot first, but more rapidly as the morning waned, vame people from far and near, and long before the clevou o'clock parson announced. his text in the sanctuary the outdoor congregation numbered many, phoossnds on the ice. erally the Central skating is “goods” yes. terday it was better than ‘good.’ had on been for the crowd, it be safely asserted there never was better skating, The drives were busy aud merry with sleighs and bells and the bo: of the lake was fringed from time to. time by sleighing parties, by as ond mamas anxious for their scions anos the Fee“ Universal jollity reigned ¢upreme, and althoush here and there a bump, an «ltercation, a harsh word and a threat might be encountered, the spirit of the scene was gay and full of joy. every way—the temperature, the ce, the mult! In ‘way. ww tem: ure, moulti- tude—yesterday’s development was. better than thas of the Sunday provious. ‘The surfuce of tho entire lake—both sect:ons—was thrown Md to the public, thns atfording vastly greater field of exploration. And well it waa that it was 80; for if there were 75,000 oply there s week ago there were not less than Yoo, v0 there on this ocecasion. Words are utterly inadequate to picture the fiving “panorama, #'rom two o'clock till five there was the ‘jambdest jam” ever seen in New York city, Broad- way has been densely packed at times, but it wae as nothing Lh — a the icy Coches had the Park ‘eaterday. way crow erally move in Berti a skstin crowd is like the Sisee bits in a kalefdorcope. lim e a multitude on skates, each atom yoing its own way and no two «like, in shape, sizeor momentum. Accidents wero infrequent, because no one could fall fer. Bumpinys, entanyle- and entoreed alliances were coustant. Kain drops on # window pane like skates on a pond run to- gether for sell-protection. It was a bad place for a cross may and a worse place for an evil-disposed per- son. The police Cy tng they are rarely called on to intertore aud that they Seu occasion to rebuke offenders. There were rude ‘4, a8 there always are, but their pranks were not unbearable and in occa- sional instahces only became unpardonable rude- Perhaps the scones in the restauraut and at the ro- freshment counter were a# unique and fiteresiing as any. As hat been writtn the sons for the a ie juuday a ter al, Ww! Ms tie caterer ‘wito dun foretell with pro. cision the stonitichic capacity of the small boy of Gotham ? The gentiémen at Central Park can come heat it, but cven they afwr 20,000 ¢! had beea sole, smoked were erg to. at cach other an “What ext?” to & Jads in furs aud tén dollar skates took chicken salad, had none. ‘Loo pov such satixfaction as they could obtain in slidiDg, rin fing, playing tag and by for pennies. Bog. Ping Voys stood in yroups, with taeir visoriess ca] ther threadvare coats, tucir trousers their broken shoes, ‘The genial of the room ot fac" a tw suger aM ot Uy the ov « " ad Doli va that wi Now sn SD. it ua desperate ance ct a that’ 6 ove of thom real soo that Lis rear wee sale, make & id pus for the le of or caket, areb = three font, sit then protected by the throng of tellowship about him, fly like @ lamplighter to the realm of saloty on the ice, Agreat imany tender h men took ov: on the little chaps whi near thom a# they ptirchased for their own, and invitet a test (he Park provender. course no such Invitation wan ‘decline ‘oud the charitable individual ariably glad to buat # retreat (rom tho pipe thy yalitoels ‘whose fitness inéreased on what they HOMEWARD BOUND, the heart Hoaph would have warmed yao evens tt i © ‘Token ia tho great army, the ye by muaitit as the masses ome ward eye an the Park. livery glistenod. Every nose was red, Every #@ glorious blush. Rich and — poor, paint that nature bowntifully pore ke arrayed in the femur, wale Urinuly ovor tho crkekliny a0 hug. uti w 1» pushing, ar Patt pdaed tad it ong. were many ‘millionaires. behind their famous Uishod ‘The neys, and many im gorgeous sleighs aud costly rol the Doubtless they too were enjoying lie; but it is fair to infer “thut in al that ot dhe Hiking coog Hees 0s OSS Daa eek tae Fe have erp. : kates for ouny fo tifitons and youth tor with the Tnfltonnaire merchant or the ‘ietingutste’ mon, It was ber 9 concerned; @ day of so far as the pastimes of the and the Commissionors, the juperin' the police and all concorned in the preparation mauagemont of the ice are deserving of public thanks. ’