within some
bounds; and who, in deserting the old models, replaced them by a style,
if less pure, yet by no means inelegant. The architect Egas appears to
have partaken of both natures at different moments; for, while his court
above-mentioned is a specimen of consummate grace and good taste, the
entrance front of the building is one of the bad examples of the style
of the period.

The establishment covers a large space, about half the extent occupied
by the double palace of the Arab kings of Toledo. The remainder of the
site contains two convents,--that of Santiago, and that of the
Conception. The hospital was conducted formerly on a scale proportionate
to the extent of its accommodation; but it is now no more than a
reminiscence; the revenues having probably been incorporated in the
recent registrations of national property. The number of inmates at
present enjoying the benefits of the foundation amounts to fourteen
only.

The Convent of la Conception adjoins the hospital of Santa Cruz. From
the exterior are seen two churches, placed in close parallel contact,
and each composed of a single nave. Both are evidently very ancient, one
being in the Arab style; but the form of the other renders it probable
that it is the more ancient of the two. You are disappointed after being
shown this last, on being informed that the Moorish portion is forbidden
ground, being appropriated by the nuns to their private use, and
possessing no communication with the adjoining edifice, but a curtained
grating, through which its secluded inmates assist at religious
services. In the public church, a singular ornament figures on a
conspicuous part of the wall near the entrance; it is the carcass of a
large crocodile, fixed high enough to be out of reach, although no one
would be likely to purloin so unwieldy a curiosity. We are told the
animal frequented the neighbourhood of Toledo; where, under cover of the
pine forests, which formerly extended far over this mountainous region,
its existence had long filled with terror the few travellers whom their
mercantile pursuits compelled to pass within its accustomed haunts: that
at length a knight (it was in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella)
clothed in a full suit of armour, rode forth from Toledo, fully resolved
to try conclusions with the monster, in order if possible to immortalize
his name throughout the surrounding regions, by ridding them of so dire
a scourge. The battle took place, and vic