Transcription
My dearest M:
I have been so much accustomed of late to scribble / to some member of the family every two or three days, that it / appears a long time since I wrote last; tho I believe it is little / more than a week : I know that I suffered the last French / Courrier to go away with only a note to Mr. Irving, which is / quite contrary to my usual practice : by the next I must write / for the steamers of 19th and I thus begin to you my notices :
My arrangements are made; bargain struck; + / tomorrow morn’g at 7 precisely I set off for __ the Escurial : / much ado about nothing you’ll say, after passing a year within / 20 miles of it; and to tell the simple truth I cannot quite account / for it myself; but I have deferred it from time to time for good / weather and good company and now I hope I have secured both : neither is it such an easy matter as [^ (it would appear)] in your land of “People’s / lines” + no monopoly”; here you must hire a most antiquated / looking thing called a “carretela”, and you must have relays / on your route; and after all you must occupy 6 or 7 hours in / reaching your destination _ “My party consists of the Brazilian / Secretary “M. Siquiera, a very amiable young gentleman; and a / Belgian attaché : they breakfast with me, and at half past / six we set out in Mr. Irving’s carriage, for the Puerta San / Vicente where our fiery steeds, Mayoral + Zagal, will be in /
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Waiting on the road : _ We remain at the Escurial tomorrow and / return on Friday afternoon for the French courier of Saturday and a / “diner monstre” at the Danish Representatives _ I have been studying / the “Guia del Escorial” until I am bewildered with the Statues, pictures, / Courts and fountains _ There is moreover (I believe I’ve not mentioned it / before) a real Alcoran; one of the two or three sacred copies extant about / which there is a singular anecdote : a Turkish Ambassa it was captured / at the Battle of Lepanto where it was in the Admiral’s galley as a sort / of charm against the infidels and when it was afterwards exhibited / to a Turkish Ambassador at the Escorial, he fell on his knees before it _ / went through divers contortions and finally clasping it to his breast, placed / himself in the midst of his suite who with drawn swords were about to / face their way out, with the book as a trophy _ the halbardiers were / called and the Christian dogs made the true believers yield their prize __ / since then to guard against such accidents, a copy has been made which / is exhibited to the multitude as the real original, ?-arley?], which in [^ all] the / mean time [^ while] is [^ in] safety under double locks _ I have a note as an “opne / sesame” to see the book, and shall tell you what it looks like.
I have just returned from a pleasant visit to your / friends, the Calderons, who are now established at the other end of the / town, near the Albuquerque's _ Don Angel was very anxious to obtain / a number of the National Intelligencer, which contained a notice of his / works and as it arrived this morn’g I carried it to him _ He seems a very / amiable individual, but something of a proser, and Ive an idea Madame / is a little but of that same opinion _ she is lively and agreable and makes / a favourable impression upon every body _ the notice I have mentioned is / supposed to be by Prescott; very flattering, or as [MacGrawler?] would call [^ it] “in the / blustering style” _
I have letters from Mr. I. at Versailles_ not encouraging _ the
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Malady was brought [^ back] again with some violence by the Journey so that he / had ot left the house in ten days save in a carriage _ he intends putting / himself under the care of the best advice in Paris _ Brevoort had been out / to see him from Paris before leaving for England _
We are in pretty much the same [^ state] as when I last wrote; the / city being a sory of Entrenched Camp _ The Puerta del Sol is occupied every / night in force; sentinels posted; occasionally camion placed to make the approaches / and all the precautions taken as if in front of a vigilant enemy _ notices even / placed forbidding the formation of groups after dark and Navaez is repor : / :ted to have ordered the troops to fire whenever a crowd was collected; tho / this last I cannot believe _ an attempt was to have been made to raise the / alarm + give the signal of insurrection by ringing the bells of all the churches: / Orders have been issued in consequence forbidding the ringing of bells at / night even in case of fire; so there is now the choice between being burnt up / or blown up : The poor soldiers have hard duty marching + countermarching / at all hours of the day + night; but as they have such excellent bands, I cannot / find it in my heart to pity them _ There is no doubt ample reason for all / this display of force in the well known hostility of a great part of the national / Guard to the present Ministry and especially [^ to] the Christino Generals who support / it and the plots and conspiracies which are openly talked of; for it is one / of the many extraordinary points in this country that a political movement / is generally known some time before it takes place, by way of notice to thseo whom / it threatens and who are usually not a jot better prepared for it = Good / night _ I am tired with running about a good deal today and must prepare / for starting fresh early in the matin _ A.H. Saturday afternoon _ I returned / last Ev’g from the Escurial by moonlight without having met with an adventures / and after accomplishing all the sights connected with the Convent Church + Palace / all in one building _ You know the story about the origin _ Philip 2nd’s gratitude / [^ to] San Lorenzo (on whose day he gained the battle of St. Quintin), to whom he promised / a building in which they should live together and he certainly gave the Saint / the better part of the building : It is a grand pile . about 800 by 600 feet, in the /
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Form of a gridiron (to commemorate the broiling of the saint) of which Philip / modestly occupied the [handle?] _ The exterior is gloomy; the windows small and / generally grated give it a good deal the appearance of a prison : There are 10,000 / some odd windows in all _ The principal Church is magnificent and the / effect as fine as in any I have seen _ Saturday Ev’g 10. P.m. _ I was obliged to / stop here inorder to dress for D’Alborgo’s dinner _ having been occupied / great part of the morning with the first despatch under my own sign / manual to the Secretary, the hours passed more rapidly than I / supposed _ the dinner was terrible; only 34 at table _ Ministers of state, diplo: / mats + grandees in rather too close company for 3 mortal hours on a warm / Ev’g,; for altho we are beginning October, the sun is very hot + white pants the / order of the day, on midday, at least _ Mr. + Mad’e D’albuquerque , our half / countryman, Casa-Irujo whose father married a daughter of Judge McKean of / Pennsyl’a; Duke D’Assuna, and a sprinkling of Courts + Marquises, all very fine / folks in their way _ After the heat + discomfort I have been enjoying a drive / on the solitary Prado; by the light of a full moon, in a cloudless sky _ very / pretty + picturesque _ and have just returned to make up my package _
I have [^ more] letters from Mr. Irving at Versailles in which he / mentions the return of his malady _ probably brought on my travelling night and / day _ and his intention to place himself under the best advice in Paris . _ / Jasper Livingston is coming on here in two or three weeks as attaché _ I don’t know / him, but hear he is gentlemanlike + quiet : _ good taste he can’t have, as he does / not admire Miss Angelico _
By the bye I have hardly said anything about the Excurial / but descriptions are bad unless very good, + I shall bring you my guide book : / however I will mention one or two points in relation to Philip 2nd _ on a level with / the first platform below the high altar is a small door with lights, which leads to / a very small apartment or box, + there to his old palace _ here he lay ill with / the gout a year + died in sight of the altar; from his couch he could see the / Mass + months monks [^ priests]; from [^ whom] he was only distant 20 feet _ with the general views / of his character one would suppose he got as near to the Church as possible to es : / :cape the devil. _ In the choir, where the carved seats of the monks range round the / wall, he occupied one in the corner with a concealed door in the wainscot that / he might enter unobserved _ he was seated here during Mass, when a messenger / whispered the news of the victory of Lepanto _ he dismissed the officer /
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Without exhibiting any emotion : but when the ceremony was ended crossed out illegible [^ advanced] to the Prior + asked him to / celebrate a Te Deum in gratitude to God for this signal favor _ if he was a hypocrite as they say it must / be owned he acted well his part _ I hope for letters tomorrow by the steamer of the / 10th Sept. and to hear that you are all well and / happy : _ I shall probably write again by / mail to acknowledge the receipt of your / epistles in time for the packet of / Oct 19th _ A great deal of love to all.
Your affectionate
AHTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
