Explore the extremities of the Calle de la Reyna.--Destructive rage
for improvement.--Loveliness of the valley of
Aranjuez.--Undisturbed happiness of the animals
there.--Degeneration of the race of grandees.--A royal cook.
Wednesday, Dec. 2nd, 1795.
It was near eleven before a thick fog, which had arisen from the groves
and waters of Aranjuez, dispersed. I took advantage of a bright sunshine
to issue forth on horseback, and explore the extremities of the Calle de
la Reyna. Most of the ancient elms which compose this noble avenue, are
dead-topped, many have lost their flourishing heads since I was last
here, but on every side innumerable plantations of oak, elm, poplar, and
plane, are springing up in all the vigour and luxuriance of youth. I was
sorry to see many, very many acres of unmeaning shrubbery, serpentine
walks, and clumps of paltry flowers, encroaching upon the wild thickets
upon the banks of the Tagus.
The King, the Queen, the favourite, are bitten by the rage of what they
fancy to be improvement, and are levelling ground, and smoothing banks,
and building rock-work, with pagodas and Chinese-railing. The laburnums,
weeping-willows, and flowering shrubs, which I admired so much seven
years ago in all their native luxuriance, are beginning to be trimmed
and tortured into what the gardener calls genteel shapes. Even the
course of the Tagus has been thwarted, and part of its waters diverted
into a broad ditch in order to form an island; flat, swampy, and dotted
over with exotic shrubs, to make room for which many a venerable arbele
and poplar has been laid low.
Hard by stands a large brick mansion, just erected, in the dullest and
commonest Spanish taste, very improperly called Casa del Labrador. It
has nothing rural about it, not even a hen-roost or a hog-sty; but the
kitchen is snug and commodious, and to this his Catholic Majesty often
resorts, and cooks with his own royal hands, and for his own royal
self, creadillas, (alias lamb’s fry,) garlick-omelets, and other savoury
messes, in the national style.
Nothing delights the good-natured monarch so much as a pretence for
descending into low life, and creeping out of the sight of his court,
his council, and his people; therefore Madrid is almost totally
abandoned by him, and many capricious buildings are starting up in every
secluded corner of the royal parks and gardens. This last is the ugliest
and most unmeaning of all. I recollect being pleased with the casinos he
built whilst Prince of Asturias, at the Escurial and the Pardo. His
present advisers, in matters of taste, are inferior even to those who
direct his political movements; and the workmen, who obey the first,
still more unskilful and bungling than the generals, admirals, and
engineers, who carry the plans of the latter into execution.
If they would but let Aranjuez alone, I should not care. Nature has
lavished her charms most bountifully on this valley; the wild hills
which close it in, though barren, are picturesquely-shaped; the Tagus
here winds along in the boldest manner, overhung by crooked willows and
lofty arbeles; now losing itself in almost impervious thickets, now
under-mining steep banks, laying rocks bare, and forming irregular coves
and recesses; now flowing smoothly through vast tracts of low shrubs,
aspens, and tamarisks; in one spot edged by the most delicate
greensward, in another by beds of mint and a thousand other fragrant
herbs. I saw numerous herds of deer bounding along in full enjoyment of
pasture and liberty; droves of horses, many of a soft cream-colour, were
frisking about under some gigantic alders; and I counted one hundred and
eighty cows, of a most remarkable size, in a green meadow, ruminating in
peace and plenty.
The animal creation at Aranjuez seem, undoubtedly, to enjoy all the
blessings of an excellent government. The breed is peculiarly attended
to, and no pains or expense spared, to procure the finest bulls from
every quarter. Cows more beautifully dappled, more comfortably sleek, I
never beheld.
If the race of grandees could, by judicious crossing, be sustained as
successfully, Spain would not have to lament her present scurvy,
ill-favoured generation of nobility. Should they be suffered to dwindle
much longer, and accumulate estates and diseases by eternal
intermarriages in the same family, I expect to see them on all-fours
before the next century is much advanced in its course. These little
men, however, are not without some sparks of a lofty, resolute spirit;
very few, indeed, have bowed the knee to the Baal of the present hour,
to the image which the King has set up. A train of eager, hungry
dependants, picked out of inferior and foreign classes, form the company
of the Duke of Alcudia. Notwithstanding his lofty titles, unbounded
wealth, solid power, and dazzling magnificence, he is treated by the
first class with silent contempt and passive indifference. They read the
tale of his illustrious descent with the same sneering incredulity, as
the patents and decrees which enumerate the services he has done the
state. Few instances, perhaps, are upon record, of a more steady,
persevering contempt of an object in actual power, stamped with every
ornament royal favour can devise to give it credit, value, and currency.
A thousand interesting reflections arising from this subject crowded my
mind as I rode home through the stately and now deserted alleys of
Aranjuez. The weather was growing chill, and the withered leaves began
to rustle. I was glad to take refuge by a blazing fire. Money, which
procures almost everything, had not failed to seduce the best salads and
apples from the royal gardens, admirable butter and good game; so I
feasted royally, though I dare say I should have done more so, in the
most extensive sense of the word, could some supernatural power or
Frenchified revolution have procured me the royal cook. His Majesty, I
am assured, by those I am far from suspecting of flattery, has real
talents for this most useful profession.
The comfortable listlessness which had crept over me was too pleasant to
be shaken off, and I remained snug by my fireside the whole evening.