sed for the walls,
would almost have defied the chisel which should have attempted to
fashion its surface into the delicate forms required by the Arab mode of
decorating. This argument, therefore, being set aside--remains the
masonry, which is more likely from its appearance to be Gothic or Arab,
than Roman.

It is probably entirely Arab. It encloses a quadrangular space of about
a quarter of an acre, and is a ruin; but the walls and towers are almost
entire. There are three small towers, that is of small diameter, but
lofty; and two larger, one of which is circular: the other is a
parallelogram terminating by a semicircle at one of its extremities.
This tower has lost apparently about a third of its elevation. Their
walls are so perfectly constructed as to appear externally like solid
rocks smoothed and rounded. Each larger tower contains two rectangular
brick projections, in which are small elegantly-arched openings for
windows.

The edifice was thoroughly repaired by Don Pedro Tenorio, archbishop of
Toledo; the same who built the bridge of San Martin. It has since played
its part in numberless wars, and was at length reduced to a ruin during
the insurrection headed by Juan de Padilla, at the commencement of
Charles the Fifth's reign.

During the Peninsular war of the present century, the old battlements
echoed once more with the sounds of warfare. It was occupied by a body
of French, who repaired a portion of the masonry at the summits of the
towers, and erected a low wall along the whole length of the Toledo
side. They were able, from their position, to batter the Alcazar, which
is immediately opposite, but on a higher level; and to command the
bridge of Alcantara, and road to Aranjuez.

In the other valley which extends to the west of Toledo exist the
remains of a circus for chariot races, generally supposed, at first
sight, to be Roman. They present, in fact, every characteristic of a
Roman work. The rough interior masonry is all that remains; and that
only rising to a height of from three to four feet from the ground, with
the exception of a single arch. The earth mingled with ruins, has
apparently filled up much of the interior, and surrounding the exterior
simultaneously, has only left visible the upper portion of the edifice.
The end which is in the best preservation is of a semicircular form.
From it the sides run in parallel directions, and lose themselves in the
ruins of a more recently erected convent