essions were immense, and
she enjoyed the sovereign sway over an extensive district, including
several convents, thirteen towns, and about fifty villages. In many
respects her jurisdiction resembles that of a bishop. The following is
the formula which heads her official acts:

"We, Dona ..., by the grace of God and of the Holy Apostolic See, Abbess
of the royal monastery of Las Huelgas near to the city of Burgos, order
of the Cister, habit of our father San Bernardo, Mistress, Superior,
Prelate, Mother, and lawful spiritual and temporal Administrator of the
said royal monastery, and its hospital called 'the King's Hospital,' and
of the convents, churches, and hermitages of its filiation, towns and
villages of its jurisdiction, lordship, and vassalage, in virtue of
Apostolic bulls and concessions, with all sorts of jurisdiction, proper,
almost episcopal, _nullius diocesis_, and with royal privileges, since
we exercise both jurisdictions, as is public and notorious," &c.

The hospital alluded to gives its name to a village, about a quarter of
a mile distant, called "Hospital del Rey." This village is still in a
sort of feudal dependance on the abbess, and is the only remaining
source of revenue to the convent, having been recently restored by a
decree of Queen Isabella; for the royal blood flowing in the veins of
the present abbess had not exempted her convent from the common
confiscation decreed by the revolution. The hospital, situated in the
centre of the village, is a handsome edifice. The whole place is
surrounded by a wall, similar to that which encloses the convent and its
immediate dependances, and the entrance presents a specimen of much
architectural beauty. It forms a small quadrangle, ornamented with an
elegant arcade, and balustrades of an original design.

LETTER VII.

ROUTE TO MADRID. MUSEO.

Toledo.

The route from Burgos to Madrid presents few objects of interest. The
country is dreary and little cultivated; indeed, much of it is incapable
of culture. For those who are unaccustomed to Spanish routes, there may,
indeed, be derived some amusement from the inns, of which some very
characteristic specimens lie in their way. The Diligence halts for the
night at the Venta de Juanilla, a solitary edifice situated at the foot
of the last or highest _etage_ of the Somo Sierra, in order to leave the
principal ascent for the cool of early dawn. The building is seen from a
considerable distance, and lo