xtreme southern shores of the Peninsula, a
marriage unites the two principal kingdoms, and leads to the subjection
of all Spain, as at present, under one monarch.

It is still more attractive to repair subsequently to the country
itself; and from this central, pyramidal summit--elevated by the hand of
Nature to a higher level than the rest of the Peninsula; its bare and
rugged surface exposed to all the less genial influences of the
elements, and crowned by its modern capital, looking down in all
directions, like a feudal castle on the fairer and more fertile regions
subject to its dominion, and for the protection of which it is there
proudly situated,--to take a survey of this extraordinary country, view
the localities immortalized by the eventful passages of its history, and
muse on its still varying destinies.

Madrid has in fact already experienced threatening symptoms of the
insecurity of this feudal tenure, as it were, in virtue of which it
enjoys the supreme rank. Having no claim to superiority derived from its
commerce, the fertility of its territory, the facility of its means of
communication and intercourse with the other parts of the kingdom or
with foreign states,--nothing, in fact, but its commanding and central
position, and the comparatively recent choice made of it by the
sovereigns for a residence; it has seen itself rivalled, and at length
surpassed in wealth and enterprize, by Barcelona, and its right to be
continued as the seat of government questioned and attacked. Its fall is
probably imminent, should some remedy not be applied before the
intermittent revolutionary fever, which has taken possession of the
country, makes further advances, or puts on chronic symptoms; but its
fate will be shared by the power to which it owes its creation. No
residence in Europe bears a prouder and more monarchical aspect than
Madrid, nor is better suited for the abode of the feudal pomp and
etiquette of the most magnificent--in its day--of European courts: but
riding and country sports have crossed the Channel, and are
endeavouring to take root in France; fresco-painting has invaded
England; in Sicily marble porticoes have been painted to imitate red
bricks; and a Constitutional monarchy is being erected in Spain.
Spaniards are not imitators, and cannot change their nature, although
red bricks should become the materials of Italian _palazzi_, Frenchmen
ride after fox-hounds, and Englishmen be metamorphosed to Michae