The Escurial.

the battle was won , and Philip went home to perform his vow . When the building was finished Philip at once retired to some humble apartments in tt , and

there , with his monkish advisers , ruled the world for 14 years—and there he died . Visitors are still shown his chair and stool , his writing table and letter book , and the crucifix

which he held in his hand when he died , and which had belonged to Charles V . Philip expired on the anniversary of the comp letion of the Escurial in ljjoS . His successor

added to the building , in which it was the etiquette of the Court that the Royal Family should spend six weeks of every year . They built the magnificent mausoleum in which ever

since the dead sovereigns of Spam have been entombed on one side , and the consorts on the other . Only twei kings arc not buried here , so our contemporary observes— " Philip V .,

Ferdinand VI ., and Ferdinand VII ., the father of the exiled Queen Isabella , was the last carried thither , and the empty niche under him would have received his daughter , had she died em the

throne 01 bpain . The famous crypt beneath the church , is the last resting p lace of the Sovereigns of Spain , anel the bodies of the monarchs are arranged in niches

round the octagonal chapel , each in a black marble sarcophagus . Here mass is always said on AH Souls ' Day and on the anniversaries of their deaths . It is said that the Queen , now in

exile , came once and looked at the empty urn waiting for her , but did not repeat the experiment . " i . " I have come once of my own free will , " she

said , " but the next time I shall be brought here without it . " It is a dismal resting place , and in fact the

palace altogether , vast as it is , and grand from its very vastuess , is still sombre , gloomy , and funereal .

Lady Herbert , of Lea , in her charming work about Spain , thus speaks of the celebrated Spanish palace . She says that on leaving Madrid they were

soon carried away from the cultivated environs of the city to a country which , for desolation , wihlness , and grandeur , resembles the scenery at Nicoleisi in the ascent of Etna .

In the midst of this rugged mass of rocks and scrubby oak trees , the- large gloomy Escuvial rises up under the shadow , as it were , of the snowy jaggeel peaks of the Sierra Guadarrama

which forms its back ground . There is a picture of it by Rubens , in the gallery at Longford Castle , which gives the best possible idea of the complete isolation of the great building itself , and

ofihe savage character of the whole 01 the surrounding country . Lady Herbert describes it as a gigantic pile of

masonry , built by Philip II . as 11 thanksgiving Cot the success of the battle of St . Quentin , ami in the shape of a gridiron , being dedicated to St .

Lawrence , em the day oi whose martyrdom tlie vow was made . ,: Celui qui faisait tin si grand vi / 'ii doit avoir tin grande

puuir ! " was the ' , saying of the Duke of Brabaganxa , and the cold grey character of the whole place is but the reflex of the King ' s temperament . He employed the famous architect

The Escurial.

Herrera , whose genius was , however , much cramped by the King ' s insistance on the shape being maintained . It was finished in 1 , 584 . We learn from the work quoted , Lady Herbert ' s " Impressions of Spain , " that the Jeronimite works have been scattered to the winds ,

and the convent has been turned into a college , where there are about 250 students ; for the Escurial is at once a monastery , a college , a palace , and a royal mausoleum .

It is , in truth , a wonderful place , especially for relics and works of art . Here is the famous white marble figure of our Lord , the size of life , by Bcnvenuto Cellini , and here the skull and windi ' no- sheet of St . Lawrence , not to mention

the iron bars of his gridiron . Here , also / is the head of St . Hermengilele , sent to the King from Seville , and the arm and head of St . Agatha ; four MS . books of St . Theresas , written by - her own hand ; a veil , worked by

St . Elizabeth of Hungary , anel sent by her to St . Margaret ; a Greek missal , beautifull y illuminated , once belonging to St . Chrysostom ; a pot from Cana of Galilee ( Lady Herbert , from whom we are ([ noting , does not say whether it

was one ol' those from which the water was made wine ) , and the body of one of the Holy Innocents , sent from Bethlehem . Altogether , as there are more than 7000 relics , it must be a sight to see . We , ourselves , have

seen the skeletons of the 11 , 000 virgins of Cologne * and are prepared to believe anything . Some idea of the size of this vast edifice may be gathered from the following description , take-n from the D 11 I 11 News : —

"The Escurial is some thirty miles from Madrid , anel is visible soon after leaving the city . It stands some 2 , 700 feet above the level of the sea , and in a most exposed and inclement situation . The body of the gridiron is representee ! by seventeen

ranges of buildings , which cross each other at right angles , and thus form four-and-twenty square quadrangles or courts . These buildings are all of the grey granite stone from the hills on which they stand ; they are about sixty feet high ,

and with a number of small windows and leaden roofs , look more like a barrack than a palace . Rumour says that llie King would have 11 , 000 windows in compliment to the virgins of Cologne . The pile thus forming the body of the gridiron

is 744 feet long by 3 S 0 wide , and has a tower at each corner 200 feet high , the four representing the unturned feet of the instrument of St .

Lawrence ' s martyrdom . The handle of the gridiron is the Royal Palace , a buileling some 4 60 feet in length , and , like the rest , of the Doric order oi architecture . Jt is evident from these details

that the building has at least the magnihcence of size . A royal palace and chapel , a monastery with 200 cells , two colleges , three

chapterhouses , three libraries , six . dormitories , three hospital halls , 27 other halls , nine refectories , five infirmaries , and ei ghty staircases , form a catalogue which bewilders the imagination .

The central structure , around which all this vast aggregate of buildings spreaels , is the magnificent temple built on the model of St . Peter ' s at Rome . It stands in the centre of the parallelogram which forms the gridiron , and is

in the shape of a Greek cross , with a splendid dome . 15 , 3 0 feet high in the centre , and lofty towers at the ends . All the wealth of Spain was lavished on this church It is 374 feet lonu : and 230 broad , is divided into seven aisles ,

paved with black marble , and the walls are everywhere covered with porphyry , jasper , and marbles of infinite variety , anil ' . villi statue portraits of the Kings of Spain . This Church forms one

side of the central Court of the building . On the other side is the grand central Doric anel Ionic portal which opens twice for every Spanish Monarch . , first when he is carried to hie ; baptism , last when he is borne to his grave by three

The Escurial.

nobles and three monks . The Patio de Ios Rei / es , where the present conflagration is said to have broken out , is so called because it is surrounded by six statues , 17 feet high , of the Kings of Judah , who were connected with the temple of

Jerusalem . They were all cut , it is said , from one solid block , and enough still remains of it to complete the dozen . The Church itself contains 40 chapels , each with its altar ; the ceiling is covered with the frescoes of Giordano ,

forming a pictorial history of Christianity ; and of the 42 pictures which adorn the sacristry , each one is said to be a masterpiece . The Church is described by Ford as " the triumph of architecture ; it takes awav the breath of the beholder

from its majestic simplicity . All is quiet , solemn , unadorned ; no tinsel statues or tawdry gildings mar the perfect proportion of the chaste Christian temple ; the religious -sentiment pervades the whole of this House of God , everything

mean or trivial is forgotten . This part of the edilice has , according to the telegrams , been destroyed by the present fire . Wc are glael to believe that our contemporary was wrong , however , in supposing that the results of the fire were so disastrous as at first

supposed . We can hardly claim the Escurial as a buildingerected , like our own noble Gothic Cathedrals

by the Freemasons , since it was built at a time when the decadence of architecture had begun , and the Craft as a building fraternity had almost ceased to be .

During the Bourbon dynasty , in truth , Freemasonry had very little chance of success in Spain—the only Prince of the house who favoured the Craft was the late unfortunate Don Henrique , who was killed , as our readers will

remember , in a duel with Due de Montpensier . Let us hope that under the new regime Freemasonry may flourish under institutions at once more liberal in their truest sense , and more in consonance with the spirit of the age ; and we

cannot but be assured that the introduction of Masonic light will prove beneficial to Spain and Spanish institutions , even to such evidences of the bigotry , superstition , anel yet the grandeur of Spain , as the wonder of the land , the Escurial .

Reports Of Masonic Meetings.

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS .

Cvaft lllitsonnr .

METROPOLITANKoi'iiRATKs LODIIB ( No . 2 J 2 ) . —The periodical meeting of this lodge took place on Wednesday evening , 2 . 3 rd October , at the Masons' Hall Tavern , Basinghall-street , at six o ' clock precisely . The minutes of the previous meeting being

read and confirmed , the W . M ., Bro . William Field , proceeded with the business of the evening . Bro , Stein was raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason , and Jiro . Goodall passed from his Apprenticeship and became a Craftsman . A ballot having proved unanimous in

favour of Mr . C . H . Evans , as well as for Mr . A . Bergman , and for Mr . R . Gore , the two former gentlemen were intiated in the mysteries and were made eligible to partake of the many privilege ; , pertaining to ancient Freemasonry . The latter gentleman was unable to attend through indisposition . The three ceremonials were

admirably worked , and great praise is due to the W . M . and his officers for the calm perseverance and patient study evinced in acquiring so early a proficiency in the Masonic art , the correctness ol this opinio ' n was . strengthened before the final closing of the loelge , by the eulogistic encomiums prollereel by Bro . Swabe , and loudly .. 'couiesced in by many of the brethren . Business