A LEAR OF CITIES.--GOTHIC, ROMAN, AND MOORISH
REMAINS.--COMMENTARIES ON STREET’S GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, AND ON
TOLEDAN LANDLORDS.--TILES, AND A DISCOURSE THEREON.
The railway journey from Madrid to Toledo is easy enough, occupying
about eight hours. Time is given for refreshment on the way, and you are
almost certain to be alone if you travel first-class, which, if you are
a wise traveller, you will be sure to do. Every one knows how much
easier it is to take long journeys in an uncrowded vehicle, and by
following this precaution always we saved up strength for future ordeal.
Toledo looks imposing from the railway station, but it is the dirtiest,
dreariest, most uncomfortable town in the world. We were driven from the
station at a furious rate in the diligence drawn by four mules, and the
driver lashed them so furiously and vociferated so franticly that we
thought he must be mad or drunk. Over the bridge we went at a galloping
rate, and so on, up-hill, down-hill, till we reached the town. Here, at
least, I thought, we should stop in our mad career, for the streets of
Toledo, like all Moorish streets, are mere bridle-tracks, paved with
flint-stone; and as the town, like Rome, is built on seven hills, you
are always ascending or descending. But our driver never slackened whip
or reins for one moment; and, wonderful to say, the cumbersome vehicle
emerged safely from break-neck alleys which looked hardly wide enough
for a wheelbarrow. With such dash, indeed, did we drive into the
court-yard of the Hôtel de Leno that we had taken the flattering unction
to our souls that we were very welcome guests. But on alighting no one
took any notice of us; and, though the master of the house, with a staff
of waiters and maids, were standing about, it never seemed to occur to
them that we needed their services. There we stood in the midst of our
luggage--two portmanteaus and ten packages of smaller dimensions--for
about a quarter of an hour, when the landlord came up and with a civil
manner conducted us to our rooms. This apparent uncourteousness meant
nothing more than Spanish indifference, as we afterwards found out, for
never were we better treated than in this same Fonda de Leno. Finding
that we objected to dine in the smoky _salle-à-manger_, the master
himself served us in our rooms, and served us, I believe, to the best of
his ability. He was a heavy-looking man, and his manners at first were a
little disconcerting, but we liked him on better acquaintance, and he
chatted a good deal about English travellers. I think our patience and
smattering of “Castellano” won his good graces. The house was
scrupulously clean, and the food, though ultra-Spanish, quite good
enough for any one excepting an epicure.
Toledo boasts of an excellent guide, without whom the traveller would
fare ill there, despite clean beds and wholesome food. What a debt of
gratitude do we not owe to you, good Señor Cabezas, for having guided us
so well through this more than Cretan myth--not I am sure from gain’s
sake only, but from an honest antiquarian love of it! “I am a son of
Toledo, _hijo de Toledo_,” he said to us; “and there is not a stone of
the place unknown to me:” and this speech was made without any
self-arrogance or vanity. It was the simple truth. There is this good
trait about the Spaniard of the lower ranks, that he never affects, and
is consequently never a snob. He treats you--a little too familiarly, I
daresay, to please aristocratic palates--but always with a quiet dignity
and self-possession, reminding you of the Arabs, and most likely
inherited from them. How much, indeed, has not the Spaniard inherited
from the Arab?
Señor Cabezas is a slightly-built, prematurely old man, with eyes of
extraordinary vivacity, very small hands and feet (a veritable _cosa de
España_), and a chronic cough that makes one think the climate of Toledo
does not suit her son. He carries a stick, with which he points out any
precious relic that comes in the way, and is so peremptory and so like a
schoolmaster in making you understand the history of it, that you dread
lest the stick should descend upon your knuckles or shoulders if guilty
of inattention. But only really idle people would deserve the stick,
for Cabezas thoroughly understands what he is talking about, and, like
all wise men, reserves his talk for occasions worthy of it. You are
never wearied by him, but follow his eyes and the point of the stick
with unflagging interest.
Cabezas is always busy, and we had to accept thankfully as much of his
time as he could spare.
“I have engaged myself this afternoon,” he said, “to an old French
gentleman, a silk-merchant bound to Murcia, but, if you like, you can
accompany us in our rounds.” This we did, and the silk-merchant proved
not only an inoffensive, but a very amusing person.
The poor man seemed so tormented with the idea of seeing all the sights
of Toledo that one would have fancied he was thereby doing penance for
his sins. When he found himself in the Cathedral, his melancholy became
overwhelming. The beautiful painted windows, the richly-carved stalls of
the choir, the exquisite Retablo, the chapels, each so full of monuments
and treasures, the pictures, relics, and jewels of the Sacristy, and
the _coup d’œils_ of the whole interior, could only elicit from him a
dreary expression of regret that there was so much to see.
As we were led from chapel to chapel, he raised his hands and repeated,
“Il y a trop à voir, il y a trop à voir”--which was perfectly true.
There is too much to see, but then why not accept the fact cheerfully?
To see every part of the Cathedral of Toledo would indeed require weeks,
and to describe it, even in general terms, would fill a volume. I advise
all travellers who have no time for a series of visits, or a scrupulous
reading of many books, to go into the Cathedral alone and read nothing
about it whatever. By following this plan you obtain one distinct and
ineffaceable impression, whilst a hurried visit, with a garrulous
_cicerone_ at your heels, and a guide-book in your hands, results in
very little but mortification. Grateful as we felt to good Señor Cabezas
for his painstaking services, we were never so happy in the grand old
place, as when we stole in by ourselves at early morning and twilight.
Nothing then marred the prevailing impression of splendour and beauty;
and we wandered up and down the quiet aisles, and looked at the tiers
of gorgeously-coloured windows, lost in a rapture of wonder and delight.
I do not remember to have seen any finer sight in Europe than the
interior of Toledo Cathedral; the whole is so magnificent, the detail so
harmonious, the colouring so beautiful; such an impression never fades
from the mind’s eye, but remains “a thing of joy,” and a storehouse of
beauty, for ever.
It is a great pity that the exquisite chapels are so disfigured with
images and altars dressed up in every form and fashion of tinsel. You
are taken too to see the jewels and wardrobe of the Virgin--the
strangest sight. It is difficult to reconcile the character of the lowly
Mother of Christ with these gorgeous robes of velvet and brocade, stiff
with gold and pearls, with these necklets, rings, and bracelets; with
these tiaras of diamonds and emeralds. But everywhere you see the same
thing, only on a smaller scale; the Virgin is petted and pampered with
costly gifts as if she were something below an ordinary woman, since
even ordinary women aspire to higher things than a fine toilette.
There was a homely German lady in the Sacristy with us, who had
surveyed the aisles very calmly, but went into raptures over these
jewelled mantles and petticoats.
“_Himmel!_” she said, touching the rich stuffs gingerly with her
fingers, “what a pity such beautiful things are not worn; the silks must
have cost six thalers a-yard at least.”
Putting aside the idea of profanity, no one can help enjoying the blaze
of so many gems. It is like walking in Aladdin’s enchanted garden.
Diamonds, emeralds, pearls, sapphires, rubies, are here collected in
such masses, that one’s eyes get too dazzled and blinded at last to see
any more. Nor does the treasure-house of the Cathedral stop here. There
is a fabulous amount of gold and silver in the form of candelabras,
urns, reliquaries and _incensarios_, or vessels for holding incense;
there is an altar composed of pure amber; there are banners heavy with
gold and precious stones, relics of saints more precious to the good
Catholic than any jewels, and last, not least, illuminated Bibles and
missals blazing with gold.
Well might the silk-merchant raise his hands and sigh, “There is too
much to see!” I think it would take a month to see all these wonderful
things fairly, and more than that to master their history. Then there
are the sacred legends which would, doubtless, outnumber the Virgin’s
pearls and diamonds, and are of infinite more comfort to the humblest of
her worshippers. And how beautiful and tender are some of them! that,
for instance, of the shrine of San Ildefonso. San Ildefonso was the
primate of Toledo, and one day the Virgin came down from heaven to
attend matins at the Cathedral. It all happened on a sudden, as miracles
do. A moment before, the place had been empty, now it was filled--by
whom? Could it be any other than the Mother of God, with those sweet
eyes, that golden hair, that shining aureole around her head? Think of
the awe, and bewilderment, and pious joy of the people worshipping
there, especially the poor, who thrill with pride at sight of an earthly
Queen. How they must have wept and wondered then! how they must have
wept and smiled at repeating the story afterwards!
It is thirteen hundred years since this took place; the marble slab
where the Virgin’s feet alighted has been hollowed with the kisses of
thousands of worshippers, and the story moves to tears of joy still. No
one can help feeling the enduring power of these old church legends
before such evidence, and no one can help being, for the time, carried
away by their simple pathos or burning faith. You should never travel in
Spain without a book about the saints and martyrs. Every step you take
leads across some way watered with holy blood and tears. Every town is
peopled with the sorrowful ghosts of men and women whom the Church has
tried and crowned; and only those who are obstinately blind can deny the
influence exercised by their names still. Often and often have I found
myself, as in the convent of _Las Huelgas_, realising the religious
spirit of the middle ages in its vigour and purity. But, alas! only for
a little while, and I think the most devout Romanist would hardly find
Spain the country of his expectation.
Excepting the Cathedral, nearly all the glories of Toledo are Moorish.
The Moors, those true artists and most conscientious workers, have here
left an Alcazar, gateways, bridges, mosques, palaces, and towers, to
perpetuate their golden age; and though the grand old metropolitan
church remains the crowning jewel of the desolate old city (a Lear of
cities, deaf, blind, decaying), all these anticipate the marvels of
Cordova and Granada. But the Cathedral takes you back to quite another
epoch of art and religion. Pass along the tortuous street called the
Calle de la Chapinerier, and enter the north transept, and you might
fancy yourself in one of the early Gothic churches of France.
The view into the double aisles round the choir across the magnificent
Capilla Mayor, and down the side aisles of the nave, is superb, whilst
the atmosphere of the whole place, so dusky, and twilight always, gives
wonderful solemnity to the whole. The windows are large and numerous,
but all are filled with beautiful stained glass, so that not a ray falls
that is not quite marvellous in beauty of colours. The choir and aisles
are arranged in three gradations of height, and the effect of the three
tiers of coloured windows is full of charm. It is in the intermediate
aisle that the practised eye recognises at a glance the influence of the
Moor, for the arcade of the triforium has the unmistakeable horse-shoe
arch; and very beautiful is the effect, and testifying to the good sense
of the architect who so wisely imitated what was good in foreign art.
Spend hours in wandering from aisle to aisle from chapel to chapel, till
you have mastered the grand outline of the architect in all its
simplicity and perfection, and then how much yet remains to study! There
is the beautiful arrangement of columns, about which Mr. Street writes
so enthusiastically, the noble rose-window of the transept, the doorway
of St. Catharine with its elaborate mouldings, the screens round the
Coro, the chapel of San Ildefonso with its richly-sculptured tombs, all
remarkable as specimens of fourteenth century work; then there are the
cloister and chapel of San Blas; the chapel of Santiago, great and
interesting works of the fifteenth century; the massive brass and iron
screens, the grand and gorgeous Retablos, and lastly, the beautiful
stained glass medallions of all periods. What treasures of tradition, of
thought, of time, are here! Who leaves Toledo without a regret that
none can be properly studied in a passing visit?
The cathedrals of Burgos and Toledo were all that we were able to see of
Gothic architecture in Spain, but these more than fulfilled any
expectations held out to us. Toledo, I presume, equals any church in
Europe in the grandeur of its plan and the beauty of every part; and
certainly surpasses any I have seen for solemnity. I would fain set out
on another pilgrimage at some future time, to see the Cathedrals of
Leon, Segovia, Salamanca, and the beautiful old churches of Cataluña.
Indeed, so rich is Spain in ecclesiastical architecture, often exotic,
but belonging to her by right of possession nevertheless, and so more
than rich in church furniture, that such a journey would be unequalled
in interest and instruction. Think for a moment of the treasures
scattered by the way. There are the magnificent Retablos of Salamanca
and Gerona, richly sculptured and covered with gold, with silver and
with painting; there are the elaborately carved choir stalls of Toledo
and Valencia, the sumptuous monuments of Avila, Miraflores, and Burgos,
the exquisite screens or Rejas in metal, so plentiful in all the
churches, curious old organs, carved doors and ceilings, regal
magnificence and abundant labour manifested everywhere.
What is very curious in the history of Moorish and Christian art in
Spain, is their distinction from each other. The two arts ran in
parallel lines; and whilst the Moors were building the Mosque at
Cordova, the Alcazar and Giralda at Seville, and the Alhambra, the
Christians were raising the beautiful Gothic churches so thickly
scattered all over the country. To this rule there are, of course,
exceptions; such for instance as the triforium of the choir at Toledo,
which is decidedly Moorish in design, the Moorish carpentry plentifully
found in late Gothic buildings, the Moorish battlement constantly seen
on the walls of Spanish towns; and there are other examples, though none
on the whole of importance. The Moors and Christians were alternately
conquerors and vanquished, and always enemies; so that it was not to be
expected that they should have copied each other’s art, however ready
they might be to adopt modifications of it. The Moorish builders and
architects often worked for and with their Christian masters; and this
accounts for the Moorish elements predominant in the streets and
buildings of such a city as Toledo. But the arts of the two people
remained as separate as their languages.
Toledo is a most bewildering place, and without good Señor Cabezas, the
traveller would find himself lost in every sense. The streets are
thoroughly Moorish, tortuous, narrow, steep, and ill-paved; and you
might fancy yourself in Algiers in any one of these dark alleys, so
admirably built for coolness, seclusion, and security. You might fancy
yourself in Algiers, or indeed, in any Eastern city, on other accounts,
especially the singing,--that monotonous, dreary, interminable singing
you hear everywhere among the Arabs. The Spaniard, among other things,
has borrowed of the Oriental those dreary “howlings of Tarshish,”[6]
which in Toledo, in Cordova, and in Granada, recall the East, if the
East has come within your range of travel, and if not, set you
wondering whence so lively a people acquired so melancholy a kind of
recreation. Anything more depressing than these same “howlings of
Tarshish” cannot be conceived. If you are in a thoroughly Spanish inn
you hear them incessantly from morning to night. The servants begin
hours before you rise, the children of the house take up the strain,
master and mistress sing over their cookery and ledger-writing,
stable-boy and gardener sing over their work without. Strive as you may,
you cannot get away from the sound. It is better to sing yourself, and
then you like it.
Again, setting aside the old Moorish houses still remaining, you find
that the modern Toledans have built on the same plan, shutting
themselves up within four walls like true Orientals, and delighting
their eyes with foliage and fountain in sunny courts. But the beautiful
precept of cleanliness is not imposed on the Toledans as it was on the
Moors, and everywhere one regrets it. The streets are filthy, and so
rugged that they make you lame in an hour; and yet there is so much to
see that, lame or no, you must keep walking on.
What irritates you beyond endurance is the culpable neglect of
everything valuable to both historian and antiquary. Ruin runs riot as
she pleases, and not a hand is put forth to stay her progress. Inlaid
ceilings of cedar-wood, delicate diapers of plaster-work, pavements of
beautiful tiles,--all are allowed to go to ruin; and they go so fast,
that my advice to all interested in the wonderful Moorish antiquities of
Toledo is, that they should see them at once. A few years hence there
will be none to see.
Cabezas, who has a genuine love of what is really good in art and
curious in antiquities, bewailed with us this cruel contempt of both on
the part of his countrymen. There was something quite touching in the
way he lingered over every relic, as if it were a living thing fading
before his eyes. It is the same with every kind of artistic or
archæological treasure, Roman, Gothic, and Moorish, all share the same
fate. I don’t think Spaniards, as a rule, care much for what the Moors
left behind them; rather it is cavilled at and despised.
A few years ago a most precious treasure-trove was discovered near
Toledo and sold--oh! indifferent Spain!--to the Emperor of the French.
It consisted of five or six crowns, with crosses suspended to them, and
three smaller ones without crosses,--all of pure gold, beautifully
worked and adorned with jewels. These crowns, now exhibited in the Hôtel
de Cluny, are relics of the Gothic kings of Spain, and are evidently
votive crowns, of the age of Recesvinthus, and the episcopate of San
Ildefonso; and, though belonging to a very early period of art, about
650-672, exhibit extraordinary knowledge of the goldsmith’s art.
Doubtless, from time to time, other _reliquiæ_, quite as interesting,
will come to light; but what will become of them, Heaven only knows.
I don’t know which phase of Spanish history is most generally
interesting--the Mahomedan, the Catholic, or the Aristocratic: the
former being typified in the Alhambra, the second in the paintings of
Murillo and Zurbaran, and the third in the splendid courts of the
Philips. I confess that for me the Mahomedan phase, so graceful, so
artistic, so beneficent as it was, surpasses in interest every other.
Look a little into the history of Spain, and what do facts tell you? To
whom is she indebted for her most sumptuous monuments, her most fertile
districts, her most elegant arts, her most picturesque costumes, her
most precious products?--To the Moors. Who brought down the cool waters
from rocky prisons, turning whole wastes into sunny vineyards and
gardens?--The Moors. Who built bridges, fortifications, and
watch-towers?--The Moors. Who made the Spanish language what it is now,
the most sonorous and picturesque of any in Europe?--The Moors. Who
planted the orange-tree and the palm, the fig and the olive?--The Moors.
One cannot help crying out against the ingratitude of the Spaniards, who
not only disclaim the good things thus inherited, but do their best to
defile them. Nowhere is this defilement more obvious than at Toledo. It
is as if everything Moorish were infected with the plague.
A wonderful lesson in history is this dreary old Spanish town, and
offering food enough and to spare for the hungry antiquary. Toledo may
be called a palimpsest; in its outermost surface is the Spanish
writing, clear, and new, and plain; scratch it, and you see the Moorish,
all glowing in colour and gold; scratch deeper, and you have the stately
Roman; deeper, still, the rude Gothic; deeper still, the barbaric
Carthaginian. Take up a handful of dust, and who can say what it
is--ashes of Roman prætors, Gothic kings, or Moorish patrons of art and
science? Or cast your eyes over the vast panorama of bridge and gateway,
watch-tower and church, fort and pleasure-ground--which of these is not
as much Roman as Moorish, more Moorish than Christian, and has not first
belonged to an earlier civilization than either?
Nothing more forcibly recalls the East than the embroidered
mule-trappings one meets at every step. Here in Toledo, as in all
Moorish cities, the mules are as gorgeously dressed up as if each
belonged to a prince; and, with that inexhaustible invention and love of
ornament one finds among Orientals, no two trappings are made alike.
These bits of colour in some measure redeem the monotony of the streets,
which are tiring both to feet and eyes. All the beauties are hidden in
ugly backgrounds, like toads’ eyes, and without a good guide you would
never find them out. With such helps as Ford, Street, and good Señor
Cabezas, the intelligent traveller need not remain ignorant of any; and
though the relics of Moorish art may not have the attractions for every
one that they had for us, none can but admire the exquisite little
mosque turned into a place for Christian worship, the superb ceilings of
cedar-wood, blue and white, the arches, courts, doors, tiles, and other
_disjecta membra_ of the age of the royal race of Granada long passed
away.
We were particularly interested in the beautiful encaustic tiles, of
which one sees so many specimens here. Cabezas very obligingly took us
to a private house rich in this sort of ornament, and we spent the whole
afternoon in copying the prettiest specimens. The master and mistress
were handsome young people who seemed to have nothing to do but laugh
and talk in their balcony, overlooking the _patio_ where we sat. It was
a very pretty place, so Eastern in colour and character. The court was
open to the sky, the floor was of coloured tiles, the walls pure white
above and gay with tiles below, whilst overhead burned and glowed a
bright blue Southern sky.
Our host and hostess watched us at our work with child-like curiosity,
and quizzing us not a little. “What curious people are they, these
English! What in the world do they want to copy our tiles for?” said the
lady, and the husband answered, “To sell ’em, I suppose.” “Come now,
Señor Cabezas,” said the lady, “and tell us who these ladies are, and
what they come here to paint for? I should think they might find
something better to do than paint a few old Moorish tiles.” Cabezas
explained apologetically that we were tourists much interested in
anything Moorish, that one of us had a house in Algiers, that we had
come to Spain on purpose to see the beautiful ruins of Toledo and
Granada, and so forth.
“But how queerly they dress! Do all English ladies wear those funny
things on their heads instead of mantillas?--And then they don’t wear
chignons: what frights they look, to be sure!”
To be sure there is no accounting for tastes: we had thought the immense
lumps of wool and false hair worn by Spanish women of all classes
anything but pretty.
The lady had a hundred more questions to ask, the great object of
inquiry seeming to be the relationship between my companion and myself.
“It’s impossible they can be sisters,” she observed, “for one is twice
as big as the other.”
“Oh! what has that to do with it?” rejoined her husband; “one often sees
sisters as unlike each other as can be.”
“Well, I should say,” the lady went on, “that the tall one with the
golden hair is no relation to the little one whatever--unless it be her
brother’s wife.” And finally they settled it so.
Meantime we got on admirably with our work, and made copies of several
very beautiful tiles. Before coming away, the lady of the house
descended from the balcony to look at them and us.
“They are very pretty,” she said, turning over the drawings one by one;
“but what are they good for?”
“We want to compare them with those in the Alhambra and in the old
Moorish buildings in Algeria,” we said, “to see which are the
prettiest.”
She seemed by no means convinced.
“But what does it matter which is the prettiest?”
To this, of course, we found no satisfactory answer. What, indeed, does
anything about anything matter to some people? and to the little Spanish
lady, like Peter Bell, a Moorish tile and a primrose was a Moorish tile
and a primrose--nothing more.
My friend did a little sketching out-of-doors and was sure to have a
little crowd round her. In most cases it would be grave, portly,
well-dressed peasants, who came to look on, and their behaviour was
always respectful and intelligent. I liked the look of these Castilian
farmers and shepherds, who wear their sheepskin, or coarse brown woollen
rug bordered with colours over their shoulders with quite a noble air.
They would come up to us, say simply “Buenos dias,” and then stand by,
without either impertinence or apology. This pleasant freedom of manner,
alike removed from obsequiousness or vulgarity, strikes a foreigner as
much as the fine, thoughtful Velasquez face he often sees among the
Castilian peasantry.
Once it was a dozen schoolboys who gathered round the English Señora to
see what she was drawing. They were just coming home from school, and,
by way of keeping them out of my companion’s light, I drew them aside
and asked to look at their books. This seemed to create no little
amusement; but when I opened a grammar and began a random examination,
there was a chorus of laughter. It was a very learned and dry grammar
that these young Toledans, all apparently of the lower classes, had to
learn; but they seemed to know it very well. And there were also dry
books of a theological tendency, besides a catechism and a history. No
wonder Toledo remains orthodox in religion and grammar, when the sons of
artisans and peasants are instructed so exclusively in both. It is said
that here the noble Castilian tongue is spoken in all its purity; a
matter in which the passing traveller is hardly able to judge, but the
multitude of priests thronging the streets bespeaks the thoroughgoing
Catholicism of the place. Despite the railway and the increased number
of travellers it brings, an English lady seems to be as much an object
of curiosity here as ever; and though the curiosity is not ill-natured,
it rather spoils the enjoyment of one’s walks. Yet one is obliged to
walk from morning to night; there is so much to see, and as _fiacres_
are not to be heard of, there is no other way of getting about. The
streets are not picturesque in themselves, but the view of the vast,
scattered, decayed, and decaying old city, with its grand gates, walls,
and bridges, from the Alcazar to the river side, is extraordinarily
fine. The Tagus is a narrow, deep green stream, which runs amid dark
rocks of rugged and fantastic shape: or waters soft green _vegas_, the
sweeter, because so rare. Hardly the Tiber is more historic, and one
leaves its banks lingeringly.
We had not seen half enough of Toledo when we came away, and should have
stayed longer but for the cold. It was warm and brilliant all day long;
but when evening came, and, tired and footsore, we reached our Fonda,
the cold seemed insupportable. There were no fireplaces anywhere, and
no other means of heating the room but a charcoal-pan, which is a
wretched contrivance, never of use except when so heated as to be
dangerous. We took refuge, as usual, in our soft, clean beds, and, by
dint of rugs and wraps, contrived to get warm at last.
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