he very ceiling of the temple; and had the
capacity of the place allowed more, the execution of so extensive a
contrivance would not have been confined to so narrow limits. The
height of the socle was six feet, and it was thirty-nine feet
wide. In the center of it arose the catafalque, which was octagonal in
form. It was composed of two structures made after the best ideas of
architecture. The first structure was composed of sixteen columns,
with foundations on a like number of bases and pedestals crowned
with beautiful and curiously wrought capitals. On top of them arose
the entablatures with their friezes, architraves, fluted mouldings,
and pediment of the arch crowned with balusters--all regulated to the
requirements of art without detracting one jot from the idea [that
they expressed]. That structure ended in a cupola, [4] which well
supplied the place of the sky, when it was seen reflecting the lights,
and bathed in splendor. The cornices, mouldings, representations
of fruit, mouldings above, and brackets, were of a bronze color,
so cunningly done that they appeared rather the work of nature than
the imitation of art. The pedestals and capitals, touched with beaten
gold, heightened the fiction of the bronze which the brush and hand
of the artist feigned and imitated. The shafts of the columns, with
their pedestals, friezes and architraves were so vivid an imitation
of jasper that one would believe them to have been cut from that
mineral; or that they had stolen the confused variety of its colors,
so that one's sight was mistaken in it. Their beauty was heightened by
the brilliancy of silver work or broken crystals with which they were
wreathed. In the center of that structure shone forth majestically the
urn, which was placed under a canopy of solid silver covered with a
rich violet cloth of gold, with two cushions of the same material, and
and her of white cloth of gold, on which reposed the royal crown. On
its pedestal was seen a stanza of ten verses, as follows:

"Esta fatal urna encierra This fatal urn encloses a
fallida vna Magestad: ayer dead majesty, but yestreen
temida Deidad, oy breve a reverenced deity, now a mere
monton de tierra. heap of earth. Little gains
he, and much he errs, who,
Poco alcanca, y mucho hierra cautious, does not note the
quien prevenido, no advierte mutabili