led in the Dutch and Flemish rooms, among which may be counted
more than two hundred pictures of Teniers alone. I should observe, that
I am not answerable for this last calculation; being indebted for my
information to the director, and distinguished artist, Don Jose
Madrazo. There is no catalogue yet drawn up. Rubens has a suite of rooms
almost entirely to himself, besides his just portion of the walls of the
gallery. The Vandykes and Rembrandts are in great profusion. With regard
to the Spanish schools, it may be taken for granted that they are as
well represented as those of the foreign, although partially subject,
nations. The works of Velasquez are the most numerous; which is
accounted for by his situation of painter to the Court, under Philip the
Fourth. There are sixty of his paintings.

[Illustration: ITALIAN GALLERY AT THE MUSEO, MADRID.]

The Murillos are almost as numerous, and in his best style: but Seville
has retained the cream of the genius of her most talented offspring; and
even at Madrid, in the collection of the Academy, there is a
Murillo--the Saint Elizabeth--superior to any of those in the great
gallery. It is much to be wished that some artist, gifted with the pen
of a Joshua Reynolds, or even of a Mengs (author of a notice on a small
portion of these paintings), could be found, who would undertake a
complete critical review of this superb gallery. All I presume to say on
the subject is, were the journey ten times longer and more difficult,
the view of the Madrid Museo would not be too dearly purchased.

Before I left Madrid, I went to the palace, to see the traces of the
conspiracy of the 7th October, remaining on the doors of the Queen's
apartments. You will recollect that the revolt of October 1842 was that
in favour of Christina, when the three officers, Concha, Leon, and
Pezuela, with a battalion, attacked the palace in the night, for the
purpose of carrying off the Queen and her sister. On the failure of the
attempt, owing to its having been prematurely put in execution, the
Brigadier Leon was shot, and the two others escaped.

It appears that the execution of this officer, unlike the greater number
of these occurrences, caused a strong sensation in Madrid, owing to the
sympathy excited by his popular character, and the impression that he
was the victim of jealousy in the mind of the Regent. The fine speech,
however, attributed to him by some of the newspapers, was not pronounced
by him.