Transcription
Madrid Saturday Ev’g April 15h ‘43
My dearest M:
About an hour and a half ago in a pelting / shower I arrived in this heroic city from my excursion to / Toledo and Aranjuez: to begin with the beginning and not the end / however, I must tell you that it was decided at the Comjmement / Commencement of this week that an Thursday morn’g at 4 Brevoort / should set off for Barcelona and Ames + myself to Toledo: This you / will imagine made quite a stir in a small family _ All day Wednesday / was occupied in preparations for Carson’s departure who is always / a quarter of an hour too late: I carried him about to make his / farewell visits in the Eve. and at 12: we left the English Embassy / to settle his accounts +c. +c. This occupied us until 3. When I threw / myself on a bed for half an hour at the end of which he came into / my room to shake my hand for the last time: at 4 our Shay, a / strange looking barouche or caleche appeared, with a long string / of mixed mules + horses scarcely to be distinguished in the grey / ‘o the morning _ In about an hour we rattled off to and thru part / of the town to pick up D’Albuquerque, bells jingling; the “Zagal” / trotting along side and occassionally stirring up the lagging beasts / with a long and formidable whip: our complement of four inside / Brazil, Belgium, and the U.S. represented by the two young [gem] men / being complete, We sallied forth by the Gate + Bridge of Toledo / having for escort M. Mercier of the French Embassy in the / Guy Majo dress of Andalusia _ The road to Toledo about 50 / miles lay through a very uninteresting Country: Spanish in the /
[END OF PAGE 1]
Most extreme degree _ a little after Sun down we saw from a high point / the old town of Toledo and entered the gate by the light of a full moon / “round as my shield”: _ Without exaggeration few cities have affected me so / much at the first entrance: the streets are so steep and narrow that / carriages do not enter them: we left ours therefore outside the Town and / and ascended a very steep hill to the hotel: the view was splendid as / we passed in succession through heavy dark gateways, roman, gothic, / moorish and Spanish, having all the while at our side a steep preci - / pice with projecting angles of the wall, and Tagus roaring and glistening / in the moon light far below _ Our Inn was directly under the old / Alcazar; the palace fortress of the Kings of all nations who have / held the place; and even the fatigue + hunger after a long tedious ride / had no effect on me to keep me in the house: _ Thursday was given / to the lions: The Cathedral with its splendid ceremonies of the holy week / so much talked of did not I confess answer my expectations: the wax lights / and the lighted flaming cross before the “monuments” as they call the high / altar with its relics and sacred images were very fine but the processions / were not much, and the music not at all: The Church itself is very / fine and as rish as gold, and Jewels can make it; you know this see was / possessed of immince [sic] wealth: Prescott I believe gives the amount of the / revenue, and besides all this the Spanish Sovereigns overwhelmed it with / presents, _ after much difficulty we were shown the treasures where are / preserved the articles of immense value, both for their unknown [lip?] and / the materials of which they are composed: one becomes quite detailed / with the sight of so many diamonds, rubies, sapphires, Emeralds, [beauty?] / +c +c: _ There was a robe of the Wirgin: a semicircle; at least 10 feet / in diameter embroidered in beautiful designs with pearls and almost / stiff with other precious stones; some of very great size; the whole surface / being covered with them: _ I should never finish if I attempted to go / through with the list: and indeed I am never very “aficionado” for these /
[END OF PAGE 2]
Things which but that it is proper to do the lions I should never take the / trouble to see for: _ Another Church “San Juan de los Reyes” built / by Isabella + Ferdinand or the “Reyes Catolicos” as they are always called here, / interested me much more. It is a fine Specimen of Gothic architecture and / is ornamented on the outside with the chains which were found upon the / Christian Captives liberated at the take of Granada: Have you a good idea / of the position of this City of Toledo? _ I don’t believe you have; and I / will make an effort to five you one; it is certainly a curious place and / interesting in every way: The Tagus after sauntering very quietly thro’ a / beautiful + fertile valley approaches a ragged chain of hills [^ apparently directly in the way]; still a passage / was left somewhat contracted around the promontory which advances into / the valley; but not content with this, the river forces a passage thro / a wild + narrow glen, where it is contracted to one fifth of its former / width and foams + boils along most fiercely; after making nearly / a circle and approaching the spot at which it first entered the gorge / it glides away quietly as before, thro a pleasant and rich valley and / proceeds peacefully towards the ocean. The rocky peninsula thus cut / off from its neighbours is the site of Toledo; it rises about 500 feet / about the river and is a very respectable specimen of the Sublime in / scenery: The Alcazar I have mentioned crowns the top of the rock + / before the days of “villainous saltpetre” was a fortress of immense / strength _ as it exists at present it exhibits as I have said a mixture / of Roman, Moorish, Gothic + Spanish architecture and tho greatly shrunk / from its original dimensions was gay + lively during our visit; owing to the / holy week which it has become lately the fashion to spend there = we / found the Countèn Montijo, Duchess of Berwick, Duke of Alba, and sprink: / ling of Marquis +c +c /
Poor D’Albuquerque with is nocturnal habit of tur: / :ning night into day was as much at a loss as a bat in the sunshine _ of / course he did not go to bed the night before our departure and every / night of our journey was lost to him as he was obliged to go to bed about /
[END OF PAGE 3]
Madrid 15th April
The hour his day usually begins I could not sleep in consequence. We left / Toledo yesterday afternoon and went up the valley of the Tagus to Aranjuez. / To an inhabitant of Madrid the wood and water, made it appear like a / paradise and I enjoyed the ride exceedingly, especially as we approached / the royal palace and entered a superb avenue of elms four or five miles / in length: at this point the yellow moon with much complaisance / appeared thru the tree tops and gave us a fine view of the park and the / old chateau : I was up at 6 this morning and before 9 had with the / young Trojan, walked several miles thro the Royal Gardens of immense / [extent?] and beauty : The Vegetation is as rich here as in any part of the world / and what is still more remarquable altho the trees + bushes are not / trimmed into fantastic shapes, the whole is kept in beautiful order : / The River pours over an aff artificial cascade just under the palace / windows that you may fish from the balcony, the other sweeping around / and forming an Island of hundreds of acres, as rich and beautiful / as the fruit trees and shrubs, statues and fountains can make it. I / set down on the marble wall which confines the river and enjoyed the / singing of the nightingales and the freshness and beauty of every thing / around me. I shall return a little later in the season, and hope / to persuade Uncle Geoffrey to accompany me : Versailles and all other royal / “sitios” I have seen do not compare with this at least during the Spring: /
We left at 10. I reached Madrid a little after five _ the water / pouring down after we entered the city; when we encountered the little queen / returning from her drive with a drenched escort:
Mr. Irving is going on well but acknowledges that it is not / very pleasant to be all alone in this large house : this idea [-i–ulted?] me on / the journey : tho it was his own request that I should go : _ I found a note / from Mrs. Storrow full of thanks and gratitude for my care of her dear / good uncle, and a letter from Carroll Livingston at Pau; expressing his desire to see me in the Pyrennees this summer.
I had the very great enjoyment to receive your letter of the / 15t + 16t March and Papers of the last of Feb’y which I took with me
[END OF PAGE 4]
[CROSSED ON PAGE 1]
To read on the journey _ Master Philip P. may thanks his queer reputation for sewing his bones / which deserve to me well cudgeled from more than one quarter _ Mr. Ir has read me his letters and / I am perfectly disgusted with him : Let us pass over this disagreeable subject, which I have / no donut will now rest quietly
I have scribbled in great haste for the / courier goes in 10 minutes and I don’t wish to rish / waiting until next Saturday _ more anon; in the / mean time I kiss you all a thousand times.
Your affectionate
A.H.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
