Of the various ornamented grounds and gardens which I had opportunity of visiting while in Europe, the one which approaches most nearly to the description of the Happy Valley in Rasselas, is the country residence or sitio, as it is called,- of the kings of Spain, at the village of Aranjuez, about twenty miles south of Madrid. It is situated in a valley surrounded by low hills, on a point of land formed by the confluence of the Tagus with one of its smaller branches called the Jarama. On leaving Madrid to visit this place, you pass over the bridge of Toledo, a massy, stone structure, elevated to a great height over the little river Manzanares. This is, at all times, a meagre stream, and during the hot season it dwindles into a few threads of water, winding their way painfully through a bed of dry sand. An English traveller affirms, that on a public occasion, when a queen of Spain was to make her entry into the capital over the Toledo bridge, the bed of the river below it was watered, in order to prevent her majesty from being incoinmoded by the dust. But this is, of course, a traveller's story, and is found, in fact, in the work of one of a class of persons who, as Sir Henry Wotton said, are "honest men sent abroad to tell lies for the good of their country." The road to Aranjuez is a very fine one, and passes through a fertile country, laid out for the most part in wheat fields, which are interspersed here and there with a few scattered olive trees. For the information

of those who are not familiar with the appearance of this tree, it may be remarked that it resembles the peach tree in size, and in the shape of its leaves, although their color is a little less vivid. The celebrated old Gothic city of Toledo is situated in the same direction from Madrid with Aranjuez, though a little off from the direct road, and is generally taken by the traveller on his way either out or home. Although the soil of this part of Spain is productive, it is, like the rest of the vast central plateau, formed of the two Castilles, almost wholly destitute of wood, and but scantily supplied with water,- so that it wears to the eye, especially in the hot season, a monotonous and dusty, not to say dreary appearance, which heightens by contrast the effect of the luxuriant vegetation of Aranjuez. On descending into the valley you find yourself at once transported, as it were, into a sort of Elysian garden. The ground is covered with the richest verdure, and under the influence of the ample supply of moisture afforded by the two rivers, the flowers put on their brightest colors, and the trees rise to a height which I have hardly seen equalled in any other part of Spain.

Aranjuez was originally a country residence of the Grand Master of the military order of Santiago, and came into possession of the king when that dignity was united to the crown by Ferdinand the Catholic. It was first occupied as a royal residence by the Emperor Charles V., and has been ever

and

since a constant object of attention with the family, who regularly pass several weeks there every spring. The palace was planned by the celebrated architect Herrera, the same who built the Escurial, though an edifice of no great pretension, is commodious and in good taste. The village is said to have been originally a very confused mass of ordinary and irregular little dwellings, but about the middle of the last century, during the reign of Charles III, it was laid out anew under the direction of the minister Grimaldi, who had been ambassador at the Hague, and felt an ambition to give to Aranjuez the neat and regular appearance of that stately village. He accordingly, in the exercise of a discretion which, even in Spain, would have seemed almost indiscreet, ordered the old village to be removed, and having swept the ground entirely clear, built up a new one, laid out in regular streets and squares, bordered by pretty houses of uniform size and construction. In this state the village remained for some years; but in one of the various revolutions which have swept the surface of Spain like successive hurricanes, since the commencement of the present century, this sequestered spot has suffered great damage, and when I visited it, the village was in a great measure in ruins. Whether it has since been repaired I am not informed.

The beauty of Aranjuez does not lie, however, in the palace or the village, but in the gardens and grounds, which stretch for two or three miles along the Tagus, and form, as I remarked at the beginning, one of the most agreeable creations of the kind to be found in Europe. "Formerly," says Ponz, in his description of Spain, "Aranjuez was renowned for the extraordinary richness and beauty of its vegetation, but, with the exception of the palace, and public offices, was no better than a disorderly collection of ill-constructed houses and mud cottages, in which the court were compelled to find lodgings of the most inconvenient kind. All this is now changed: - the gardens have been greatly extended, and the whole valley embellished in a truly royal style. From a point in the centre, broad streets planted with lofty and beautiful elm trees, stretch forth toward the east, west, north and south,

- some of them to the distance of a league. Parallel to the river, at a distance of half a mile from it, extends in a straight line along the side of the gardens, the Calle de la Reyua, or Queen Street, perhaps the most agreeable drive in Europe. The intervening space between the river and the Calle de la Reyua, is entirely filled up with trees, shrubs and flowering plants, regularly disposed in groves, parterres and alleys, interspersed with ornamental buildings and groups of statuary. An ample supply of

It has been the usage of the Spanish court for many years past to visit this beautiful retreat every spring, and remain there for several weeks. They generally leave Madrid about the middle of April, and reside at Aranjuez till about the first of June, when the heat becomes so intense, that the exhalations from a moist soil are thought to be dangerous. The executive departments and foreign delegations generally accompany the court on these excursions, and find a very agreeable relief from the somewhat monotonous life of the capital in rambling about among the flowery parterres and green alleys of this terrestrial paradise. The spring of 1827, which I passed at Aranjuez, was enlivened by a greater number of court festivals than usual, in consequence of the birth of a princess. A brief notice of these may perhaps be amusing to some readers.

The first in order was one of the usual public receptions, commonly called a Besa manos, or Hand-Kissing. There were at that time eight of these in the course of the year: four for the birth days and saint's days of the king and queen, and four for the happy return of the king to his kingdom and his capital, from his two captivities in France and at Cadiz. On these occasions, all persons of either sex who have been presented at court, are expected to attend, and are permitted to kneel and kiss the hand of the king, queen, and other members of the royal family. The ladies and gentlemen are received at different hours. It may be as well, however, to employ the past time, for during the fifteen years that have since elapsed there have been at least half a dozen complete revolutions in the administration and government of the kingdom, which has no doubt changed as often the aspect and usages of the court. At that time, however, to be strictly correct, the reception took place in a large and magnificent saloon, at one end of which were placed two arm chairs for the king and queen, who were the only persons seated. At twelve o'clock, after receiving some other visits in a more private manner, their majesties entered the hall, and placed themselves in front of the chairs, with the princes and princesses of their family in a line on their left. Behind them stood the chamberlains and other great household officers, all in gala dresses, as were also the royal

family. The king and princes wore on these occasions blue coats nearly covered with gold or silver lace, broad ribbons and stars, with red underclothes. The queen and princesses commonly appeared in robes of cloth of gold or silver, or very richly embroidered velvet or silk, and displayed a profusion of pearls, diamonds, birds of paradise, and other plumes, with toques and turbans of various descriptions. Their long trains were held up by attendant pages. This cortège occupied one end of the hall. The side on the king's right hand was appropriated to the diplomatic agents of foreign powers, headed by the pope's nuncio in his cardinal's dress, consisting of a flowing scarlet robe, and broad-brimmed hat of the same color, with a surplice of broad white lace, reaching to the knees. The nuncio at that time was Prince Giustiniani, archbishop in partibus of Tyre.After him followed the Austrian, Russian, Dutch, English, American, Prussian, Sardinian and Saxon ministers, and below them the chargés d'affairs, secretaries and attachès-making in the whole about thirty persons, arranged in their respective classes, according to the time of their arrival. As Madrid is not, in general, a very favorite residence, the succession of incumbents in these places is somewhat rapid, and a man rises in his class almost as rapidly as a clever boy at a country school. There was at this time no French ambassador at Madrid, but the vacancy was shortly after filled by the appointment of the Marquis De Moustiers, a son of one of the earliest French ministers in the United States. The most prominent members of the diplomatic body were the English minister, Sir Frederick Lamb, a brother of Lord Melbourne, since created a peer himself, I forget by what title, -and the Russian minister M. d'Oubril, whose name is pretty well known in the diplomacy of Europe. The file of diplomatic agents occupied one side of the hall: the bottom opposite to the royal family and the other side was taken up by the principal military and civil functionaries of the kingdom. The secretary of state, or prime minister at this time was Don Manuel Gonzalez Salmon, who held the place ad interim for some time after the resignation of the Duke del Infantado. Calomarde, the minister of grace and justice, was, however, regarded as the real head of the government. In the mean time the adjoining rooms were filled by a crowd of other persons of inferior dignity. When the arrangement of the reception room was completed, the king and queen took their seats, the door at the bottom of the hall was opened, and the loyal subjects entered in procession in single file, passed round the hall immediately in front of the line

that had been formed, and made their exit through another door. Each person, as he passed before the royal family, kneels and kisses their hands. The act of kneeling is regarded in the feudal countries as an acknowledgment of allegiance, and is, of course, not performed by foreigners of any rank,- least of all, by those who represent the governments of their respective countries. It is easy to conceive, therefore, what astonishment must have been created by the conduct of one of our ministers at St. Petersburgh, who insisted, notwithstanding the objections of the emperor, upon kneeling at his audience of reception.

There seems to be little or no order in the arrangement of the persons who make up the procession on these occasions. It consists of the various officers in the different departments of the public service, political, military and ecclesiastical, and these are all mingled together pell-mell, excepting that those of the highest rank, who are placed in the hall, come last. The confusion of costumes produced in this way, gives to the affair somewhat the effect of a masquerade. Monks of the several orders are liberally interspersed, and their dresses contrast singularly with the ordinary apparel of the rest of the company. After a file of chamberlains, in their blue coats, stiffly embroidered with gold, you will see, perhaps, a couple of capuchins with long beards, heads entirely shaved excepting a narrow ecliptic of hair running round them, and their flowing pepper-and-salt, woollen robes with hoods thrown back upon the shoulders. Then will follow some religious knights or military monks, like Bois Guilbert in the romance of Ivanhoe,- belonging to some one of the four military orders of this description, established in the kingdom, habited in full blue silk mantles, with large crosses fantastically wrought upon them in green, red, white or blue silk, according to the rule of each particular foundation. Next will follow, perhaps, three or four boys of eight or ten years old, sons of grandees, who are brought out in this way to give an early promise of their future loyalty. The little rogues appear to feel very consequential on the occasion, and go through the ceremony quite as well as the grown children around them. I remarked one of them, whose father, the Conde de Puebla, was standing near the king, and when he caught the eye of his son made a sign of recognition to him. The boy lifted up his hand and returned his father's salute in the Spanish manner, by moving his fingers. backward and forward, but without departing, in the least, from the gravity that had doubtless been enjoined upon him, before he left home. When he reached the door where the procession passed out, his father