and his jaula or cage is still shown: he died March 8, 1550, and was canonised in 1699 by Urban VIII. Consult his Biografia, by Francisco de Castro, 8vo., Granada, 1613, and printed again at Burgos, 1621. Over the entrance is his statue by Mora in the usual attitude in which he is painted and carved, namely, that in which he expired-on his knees, as did our Alexander Cruden author of the Bible Concordance. His body was kept in an urna, with pillars and canopy of silver, melted by Sebastiani, who also "removed" the best pictures. The hospital has two courts;

Next visit the Cartuja convent, a little way out of the town to the rt., once so rich in works of art, piety, and value: Sebastiani, having first pillaged and desecrated everything, made it into a magazine; then disappeared the pillars of silver, and the fine pictures by Cano; now it is suppressed. The doors of the chapel are beautifully inlaid with ebony and tortoiseshell: the sanctuary is paved with a rich marble pattern in black and white. Observe the Comodas in the Sacristia, the Azulejo in the cloisters, and a cupola by Palomino. Here also are some poor paintings | by J. S. Cotan, of the English Car- the outer has a fountain and open thusians, martyred, in 1535, by Henry VIII.; this is a favourite subject in Spanish Cartujas, in order to increase the national dread and antiLutheran bigotry; but everything now is fast hastening to ruin. The gardens are charming: those who have leisure may pursue their ride or walk to Visnar, a villa of the archbishop, built by Moscoso y Peralta, which is deliciously situated and overlooks the Vega.

Returning to the Plaza del Triunfo, at the corner is the Hospital de los Locos, founded by Ferdinand and Isabella, and one of the earliest of all lunatic asylums. It is built in the transition style from the Gothic to the plateresque, having been finished by Charles V. The initials and badges of all parties are blended. Observe the patio and the light lofty pillars. The interior is clean, but devoid of good management; all the lunatics, except those who are locked up because dangerous, are allowed to associate together, with little attempt adopted to promote their recovery. At the upper end of this Plaza is the bull-fight arena, and near it "Las eras de Cristo," "the threshing-floor of Christ." In the adjoining Calle de San Lazaro is a large hospital, and a real lazar-house. Retracing our steps to the Calle de San Juan de Dios, visit the hospital founded by this saint himself. Juan de Robles was a truly philanthropic and good man, and before the spirit of his age; thus from his preaching the necessity of foundling hospitals he was shut up as a madman,

galleries; the inner is painted with the saint's authentic miracles: in one he tumbles from his horse, and the Virgin brings him water; in another, when sick, the Virgin and St. John visit him, wiping his forehead. In the W. angle of the outer court over a staircase is a fine artesonado ceiling.

This once

Hence to San Jeronimo. superb convent, now a cavalry barrack, was begun by the catholic sovereigns in 1496. The chapel was designed by Diego de Siloe left incomplete, the building was finished by the widow of the Great Captain, as Blenheim was by Old Sarah. On the exterior is a tablet supported by figures of Fortitude and Industry, inscribed “Gonsalvo Ferdinando de Cordoba magno Hispanorum duci, Gallorum ac Turcorum Terrori:" below are his arms, with soldiers as supporters. The grand patio is noble, with its elliptical arches and Gothic balustrades. The chapel is spacious, but suffered much in the earthquake of 1804. The Retablo of four stories bore the armorial shields of Gonzalo. The effigies of the Captain and his wife knelt on each side of the high altar, before which he was buried: the epitaph of this truly great man is simple and worthy of his greatness :-"Gonzali Fernandez de Cordova, qui propriâ virtute magni ducis nomen proprium sibi fecit, ossa perpetuæ tandem luci restituenda huic interea loculo credita sunt, gloria minime consepulta." This convent was pillaged by Sebastiani's troops, who insulted the dead lion's ashes, before

whom, when alive, their ancestors had always fled. Serrano gives the details, p. 255. They tore down the Sacristia for the sake of the wood, while Sebastiani destroyed the tower in order to use the materials in building a bridge over the Genil; they carried off the Great Captain's sword and pulled down his banners. The final ruin of the monument of artistical and military greatness dates from domestic revolutionists and Vandals. At the suppression of convents in 1836 a Spanish mob robbed and destroyed everything; even the bones of the Great Captain and his wife were dug up and cast out.

de los Reyes. Observe the tower; this was the first Moorish mosque consecrated by the good Archbishop Ferdinand de Talavera: here Isabel attended mass, and gave a Retablo with portraits of herself and husband by Antonio Rincon. In the Calle de Elvira is the heavy, ill-executed fountain del Toro, erroneously attributed to Berruguete, for it is a libel on that eminent artist.

EXCURSIONS NEAR GRANADA.

These are numerous and full of interest to the historian, artist, and geologist. The Englishman, be his pursuits what they may, will first visit the Soto de Roma, not that it has much intrinsic interest beyond that reflected on it by the Great Captain of England. This property lies about 3 L. from Granada, and is bounded to the W. by the Sierra de Elvira, which rises like a throne of stone over the carpeted Vega, for its advanced guard or sentinel; a spring of water, however, gushes from this rocky alembic, and is good for cutaneous complaints. Near Atarfe are some remains of the ancient city Illiberis. Here the celebrated Council was held about the year 303, at which Osius of Cordova presided over 19 Spanish bishops. The 81 canons breathe a merciless anathema and death, worthy of the land of the future Inquisition. The crimes and penalties give an insight into the manners of the age. The canons are printed in Pedraza, 217. The best edition of the early councils and canons of Spain is the Collectio Maxima,' José Saenz de Aguirre, fol., 4 vols. Roma, 1693-4; or the fol., 6 vols. Roma, Jos. Catalani, 1753. See also La Defensa y aprobacion del Concilio Illiberitano,' F. Mendoza, fol., Mad. 1594.

We are now approaching the aristocratical portion of Granada, and the Calle de las Tablas. Here the Conde de Luque has a fine mansion. There is not much else to be seen in Granada. The churrigueresque San Angustias, on the Darro walk, has 12 apostles carved by Pedro Duque Cornejo, and a rich jasper Camarin, under which is the miraculous image, la Patrona de Granada, which once upon a time came from Toledo of its own accord. This idol is carried in a pagan Pompa to the cathedral every Easter Monday. Christina, in 1846, gave it a crown of gold as an offering of gratitude for its having dethroned Espartero, and the servile priest-ridden town petitioned that it might be raised to the rank of Captain General. The city was moreover honoured with the title Heroica, because its mob assisted Concha to hunt his brother-in-law Espartero out of Spain, and it was permitted to add to its shield the banner of Castile, waving from the Torre de la Vela! Near San Francisco, now turned into the postoffice, is a quaint old house, La Casa de Tiros, with a façade of soldiers and projecting arms. Another house worth This hill possesses a mournful fame looking at is the Casa de Castril, in Spanish history from the defeat of near the San Pedro y Pablo, with the Infantes Pedro and Juan. They good cinque-cento ornaments inside had advanced against the Moors with and out, after designs of Diego de "numbers that covered the earth." Siloe, 1539. There are sundry tales After much vainglorious boasting they about the motto, Esperandola, &c., not retired, and were followed, June 26, worth recording. In Santa Catalina 1319, by about 5000 Moorish cavalry, de Zafra is a tolerable picture of the and entirely put to rout: 50,000 are said marriage of the tutelar, by Alonso to have fallen, with both the Infantes. Cano. Visit by all means the San Juan | The body of Don Pedro was skinned.

stuffed, and put over the gate of reconveyance; and this is one of the few Elvira; many princes were slain, and of their grants which Ferdinand VII. among them the Lord of Ilkerinter- confirmed, but very reluctantly: the rah, or England, just as Lord Macduff Duke of Wellington held it by escritura was wounded at the very similar affair de posesion, in fee simple, and unenof Ocaña. This disaster was amply tailed. It contains about 4000 acres, avenged 21 years after by Alonso XI. and was celebrated for its pheasants that at Tarifa, and again by Juan II., or Charles V. had introduced, and which rather Alvaro de Luna, who here, in were destroyed in the time of Sebastiani. June, 1431, defeated the Moors. The battle is generally called de la Hiqueruela, from the little fig-tree under which the king bivouacked, or others say, from the bribes enclosed in figs with which Alvaro corrupted the Moorish captains: of this engagement there is a most curious chiaro oscuro drawing on a wall at the Escorial.

fith," as if in mockery of the Punic perfidy with which every stipulation was subsequently broken. Nulla fides servanda est hereticis. It was from Santa Fé that Columbus started to discover the New World, and also to find, when success had rewarded his toils, every pledge previously agreed upon scandalously disregarded. Cosas de España.

ASCENT OF THE SIERRA NEVADA.

--

Passing El Dornajo, an alpine jumble of rocks, we mount above the lower ranges of the pinnacles, and now the true elevation of the Picacho begins to become manifest, and seems to soar higher in proportion as we ascend. The next stage is las Piedras de San Francisco, whose black masses are seen from below resting on the snowy bosom of the Sierra. Now commence the Ventisqueros, or pits of snow, from which The lover of alpine scenery should the mountain is seldom free, as patches by all means ascend the Sierra Nevada. remain even in the dog-days. These, The gossiping book of Dr. F. Pfendler which, when seen from below, appear d'Ottensheim 8° Sevilla, 1848-is small, and like white spots on a panther's useful as to the altitudes, botany and hide, are, when approached, vast fields. Hygienic details. The highest peak At El Prevesin is a stone enclosure, is the Mulahacen, so called from Boab- built up by the Neveros as an asylum dil's father. The next is El Pi- during sudden storms; and here the cacho de la Veleta, "the watch-first night may be passed, either aspoint," which appears to be loftier, cending to the summit in 3 h., to see because nearer to Granada, and of a the sun set, and then returning, or conical, not a rounded shape. This mounting early to see the sun rise, a eternal rampart of the lovely Vega is sight which no pen can describe. The very impressive: the sharp mother-of-night passed on these heights is piercpearl outline cuts the blue sky; clear and defined, yet mysteriously distant, size, solitude, and sublimity are its characteristics. The adventurous are inspired to scale the heights, and win the favours of this cold beauty, and she will be melted by such daring. The distance to this point is about 20 m., and may be accomplished in 9 h. Those who start in the night may return the next day. The author has been up twice-a sort of Spanish Mont Blanc ascent in those days-sleeping the first time al fresco near the summit, and the second at the Cortijo del Puche -the pipkin-when a delicate English lady and a grave ambassador composed the party. The greater part of the ascent may be ridden; for the Neveros, who go nightly up for snow, have worn with their mules a roadway.

Leaving Granada, and crossing the Xenil, a charming view of the city is obtained from San Antonio. Thence skirting the Cuesta de la Vaca, an hour and a half's ride leads to the Fuente de los Castaños, and another hour and a half to the Puche, where the mountain is cultivated. Near here is El Barranco de Viboras, the viper cleft: these snakes enjoy a medicinal reputation second only to those of Chiclana.

66

ing cold-" the air bites shrewdly;" but with a provend" of blankets, and of good Vino de Baza, it will kill no one. While beds are making for man and beast, the foragers must be sent to collect the dry plants and dead underwood, of which such a bonfire can be made as will make the gaping Granadians below think the Picacho is going to be a volcano, probatum est. No diamonds ever sparkle like the stars on the deep firmament, seen from hence, at midnight, through the rarified medium. After the Prevesin begins the tug of war. For the first hour there is a sort of track, which may be ridden; the rest must be done on foot. The effects produced by the rarity of the air on the lungs and body are not felt while seated on a mule; but now that muscular exertion is necessary, a greater strain is required than when in a denser atmosphere. The equilibration of air, which supports the bones, as water does the fish, is wanting, and the muscles have to bear the additional weight; hence the exhaustion.

The Picacho is a small platform over a yawning precipice. Now we are raised above the earth, which, with all its glories, lies like an opened map at our feet: when the vapour

even

ascend from the ocean, they are spread The geologist may take a pleasant out in the plains beneath like a fleecy day's ride from Granada to the quarries sea, out of which the black pin- from whence the green serpentine is nacles of lower mountains emerge obtained. They lie under the Picacho like islands; when the thunder-storms de la Veleta, and belong to the Marquis roll below your feet, you look down de Mondejar. Ascend the charming on the lightnings. Now the valley of the Xenil to Senes, 1 L.: eye travels over the infinite space, thence to Pinos, 1 L.; and to Huecar, swifter than by railroad, comprehend- 1 L. Here vast quantities of silkworms ing it all at once. On one hand is the are reared. The whole process of the blue Mediterranean lake, with the faint breeding, &c., is nasty; cocoons are outline even of Africa in the indis- placed in hot water to destroy the tinct horizon. Inland, jagged sierras animal, and the winding the thread is rise one over another, the barriers of anything but a sweet-smelling job; the central Castiles. The cold subli- but seen from afar, as the peasants mity of these silent eternal snows is prepare the golden tissue in most pafully felt on the very pinnacle of the triarchal poverty, the poetry and the Alp, which stands out in friendless picturesque is perfect. While the state, isolated like a despot, and too dinner is getting ready at the tidy Tio elevated to have anything in common Pardo's (Nunky Brown) (bring the with aught below. On this barren materials with you), ride up the defile wind-blown height vegetation and life to the Barranco de San Juan, 13 L., have ceased, even the last lichen or taking a Huecar guide. The green pale violet, which blooming like beauty serpentine blocks lie in the bed of on the verge of ruin, wastes its sweet- the stream. Return to Huecar, and ness wherever a stone offers shelter let both men and beasts dine. from the snow; thousands of winged insects lie frozen, each in its little cell, having thawed itself a shroud, with its last warmth of life. In the scarped and soil-denuded heights the eagle builds; she must have mountains for her eyrie. Here she reigns unmolested on her stony throne; and lofty as are these peaks above the earth, these birds, towering above, mere specks in the blue heaven,

Another morning ride will be over the cricket-looking grounds, Los Llanos de Armilla, to Alhendin, and thence by the Padul road to some sandy knolls, where, from want of water, all is a desert, tawny and rugged as the few goats which there seek a scanty pasturage. Granada now is lost sight of, and hence the spot is called El ultimo suspiro del Moro, or La cuesta de las lagrimas, for here Boabdil, Jan. 2, 1492, sighed and wept his last farewell. Then the banner of Santiago floated on his red towers, and all was lost. Behind was an Eden, like the glories of his past reign; before him a desert, cheerless as the prospects of a dethroned king. Then, as tears burst from his water-filled eyes, he was re

To the botanist this sierra is unrivalled. The herbal of Spain was always celebrated (Pliny, N. H.' xxv. 3). The vegetation commences with the lichen and terminates with the sugar-cane. At the tails of the snow-proached by 'Ayeshah, his mother, fields the mosses germinate, and from these the silver threads of new-born rivers issue. The principal heights of the Alpujarras chain are thus calculated by Rojas Clemente:

Feet. 12,762

12,459 12,300 12,138

10,908

10,890

10,100

whose rivalries had caused the calamity. "Thou dost well to weep like a woman for that which thou hast not defended like a man.' When this anecdote was told to Charles V., " She spake well," observed the Emperor, "for a tomb in the Alhambra is better than a palace in the Alpujarras." Thither, and to Purchena, Boabdil retired, but not for long. He sickened in his exile, and passing over into Africa, is