Rambles in sunny Spain . n which Philip opens out toward the high altar of the church, so that themonarch-monk was able to hear mass without leaving his bed. Herehe died, holding the crucifix his father (whom he idolized, and whosecommands he implicitly obeyed) had in his own fingers when soul andbody parted company. His life here proved the sincerity of his dec-laration that he desired but a cell in the palace he had built to of the Escorial, destroyer of the prosperity of Spain, slayer ofheretics, who had lived to see the consummation of almost everygigantic scheme, he
Rambles in sunny Spain . n which Philip opens out toward the high altar of the church, so that themonarch-monk was able to hear mass without leaving his bed. Herehe died, holding the crucifix his father (whom he idolized, and whosecommands he implicitly obeyed) had in his own fingers when soul andbody parted company. His life here proved the sincerity of his dec-laration that he desired but a cell in the palace he had built to of the Escorial, destroyer of the prosperity of Spain, slayer ofheretics, who had lived to see the consummation of almost everygigantic scheme, he died as he had desired (but not in the manner hemay have desired), in the building he had erected to cover the tombsof himself and his royal father. We saw a few relics of Philip in theshape of his stool, chair, and table, and the grooves worn in the stonefloor by the moving of his bedstead. There remain yet many things to see, but we shall only ask ourreaders to glance at the library. This also is of a grandeur commen-. INTERIOR OF THE LIBRARY OF THE ESCORIAL. fJV THE EIGHTH WOXDER OF THE WORLD. 95 surate with the Escorial, the room being nearly two hundred feet long,broad and lofty in proportion. The cases are of choice woods, thebooks arranged with their edges toward the reader instead of theirbacks. The effect is strange, and of course unique. All are gilded,and have their titles inscribed on their edges. Many books, rich andrare, are buried here, including Spanish, Gothic, and Arabic manu-scripts. Perhaps there are fifty thousand volumes remaining, after thespoliations of the thievish French. We find here the Codice Aureo, of the four gospels, in letters ofgold, begun, it is said, under Conrad II., Emperor of the West, andfinished about the middle of the eleventh century. Marble and jas-per tables adorn the room, and a valuable old globe of the time ofPhilip II. We saw a MS. Biblia of the sixteenth century, andthe Codice de Oro, of date about 1050, the Devocionario of Isa
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