L E T T E R X ,
The royal feat and gardens o f St. Ildefonfo, with fame account o f
the city o f Segovia.
T T 7 HOEVER has feen the gardens of Aranjuez will
’ ' not think it extraordinary that the fovereign of
Spain ihould have another agreeable feat in the fertile
dominions of his crown, but when a traveller has crolf-
ed the craggy and bleak mountains of Guadarrama, it
will be a matter o f lingular furprife to behold one of
the moil dreary rocks embelliihed with an agreeable
villa, where the mines of Mexico have been laviihed
to efiefl the alteration; fuch is the royal feat of St.
Ildefonfo; for in few parts o f the world, the powers
o f art have been more ftrenuoufly exerted to correct
the rugged flate o f nature, and convert a horrid rock
into a fumptuous garden, decorated with beautiful
fountains, throwing up water to a great height, like
thofe o f Verfailles; while a variety of trees, brought
from different parts o f the world, furnilh ihady walks,
in a fpot unfavourable by nature to all kind o f vegetation
; ihewing to what the art of man can attain, and
fully evincing the efforts o f Philip the Vth. who at
the
the expence of millions o f dollars changed a barren
and folitary mountain, into one o f the moil defirable
fpots in his kingdom ; yet not without thofe inconve-
niencies which all the power of art cannot conquer; for
on account o f its lofty iituation, the night air, even after
the hotted fummer’s day, is fo piercing, that it makes
precaution neceffary, to guard againftits fudden and pernicious
effeils. In other refpeils nothing can be more
reviving during the fummer heats, than the ihade of
thefe gardens, invigorating the languid courtier, whole
fpirits are further revived by the coolnefs of the groves,
added to the mod limpid water that eyes can behold, in
fome places flying up into the air, to an immenfe
height, in others rolling doWn in torrents, which, when
catched by the rays o f the fun, feem like fo many fheets
o f liquid filver, o f a mod amazing brightnefs. As the
cold air of this place keeps every thing back, the king
finds a new fpring after he has left Aranjuez, while his
fubjefls are dying with heat at Madrid. The earlied
fruits are but jud ripe in Augud at St. Ildefonfo, carnations
and rofes then adorn the parterres; September
is the fcafon for flrawberrieS, rafp berries, currants, and
barberries; and fnow lies on the mountains till the beginning
o f June. Many fprings run down from the
fumrnit, and lides of the 'mountains, and are collecfled
into a confiderable bafon at the upper end of the garden,
to which they have given the name o f EL Mar,
“ the