ARANJUEZ, a town in the province of New Castile, where the king of Spain has a palace and gardens which are reckoned the most delightful in the world.
This place is 20 miles from Madrid, by a noble road, planted on each side with trees, lately made at the expence of 120,000. sterling. It is delightfully situated at the conflux of the rivers Tagus and Jarama; which run through the gardens, and add new beauty to this charming spot, where art and nature seem to go hand and hand with the most pleasing and rural simplicity. On one side, fine avenues of stately oaks and lofty elms convey the truest ideas of magnificence, while they afford the most reviving shade; on the other, the sudden transitions to lawns and wilderness, the cascades of water breaking through the thickets, the tuneful songs of numberless birds sheltered in these
cool recesses, the occasional appearance and passage of the monarch attended by the grandees of his kingdom; all these objects united, and concentrated in one point, fill the imagination with pleasing ideas, and impress the mind of a traveller with a thousand agreeable sensations.
The general situation is in a very large plain surrounded with large hills, of a most disagreeable aspect indeed, but seldom appearing, being well hidden by the noble rows of trees that extend across the flat in every direction. The main body of the palace is an old building, to which have been lately added two new wings. The first part of the building was erected by Philip II. who purchased the estate, planted many of the avenues, and, in order to extend his chate, or to indulge his splenetic disposition, had all the vines that grew on the hills rooted up. By that means he drove away the inhabitants, and rendered the environs of his villa a perfect desert.—The apartments are good; but contain nothing very particular to take off from the enjoyment of so many fine objects abroad. In one of the new wings is a playhouse, and in the other a chapel. Part of the ceiling of the former was painted by Mengs, who was also sent to Rome to paint a holy family for the principal altar in the chapel. There are seven fine pictures of Luca Jordano in the apartment called El Gabinete Antiguo, and six others in that De los Mayordomos. The portraits of the grand duke and duchess of Tuscany, by Mengs, are in a new apartment called the king's dressing room. In the chapel, over the great altar, there is a fine picture of the Annunciation, by Titian, presented by him to Charles V. and brought from the convent of Juile, after the death of that emperor. The porcelain cabinet, where there are several large pieces of the king's own manufacture, is also a object of curiosity to a traveller.
As to the gardens, the whole of them may be thrown into three grand divisions, distinguished by the names of La Huerta Valenciana, Los Deleites, and El Cortijo. In the Huerta Valenciana, agriculture and gardening are carried on in the same manner as in that fruitful province, and they plough with hoes. In the Cortijo they use oxen, as in Andalusia; and in other places they scratch up the ground with mules, as is still practised in some parts of Spain. Whichever way one looks round, a constant variety pleases the eye, and enraptures the mind. At one moment the sturdy buffalo moves before you, drawing his heavy burden; soon after, the slow camel, with his ponderous load; while the swift zebra with his striped garment frisks over the plains. If you approach the farm, every object of convenience is consulted, and in the dairy every degree of neatness. The Dutch cow enjoys a luxuriant pasture, the brood mares greatly enliven the landscape, and the stables are filled with the most excellent horses; and an immense nursery furnishes all manner of trees and plants. The fine avenue, which serves also for a public walk, called Calle de Reyna, has nothing equal to it at Versailles. It is three miles long, quite straight from the palace gate, crossing the Tagus twice before it loses itself in the thickets, where some noble spreading elms and weeping poplars hang beautifully over the deep still pool. Near this road is a flower garden for the spring, laid out with great taste by Mr Wall during his ministry. The gay variety of flowers