ejoice in proving to you my entire devotion. Excuse my _impolitesse_. I
am called for in the next room. I kiss your hand." It is needless, in
fact the attempt would baffle human intelligence, to conjecture what the
real object of these very liberal and very political gentlemen might be,
in honouring all parts of Spain with their visit.

The more distant environs of Toledo, principally towards the south and
south-east, are remarkable for a profusion of ruined castles. Supposing
a circle drawn at a distance of thirty miles from Toledo as its centre,
and divided, as it would be, by the Tagus, descending from east to west,
into two equal parts, the southern half, and the western portion of the
other, are so plentifully strewed with these fortresses, that, in many
instances, five or six are visible from the same point of view.

A chain of low mountains crosses the southern portion of the semicircle,
in a parallel line with the Tagus. Some of its branches advance into
this region, and terminate in detached peaks, which have afforded to the
aristocracy of former times favourable positions for their strongholds;
and a still greater number of proprietors, not being possessed of the
same advantages of site, were compelled to confide in the solidity of
their walls and turrets, which they constructed in the plain, usually
adjoining the villages or towns inhabited by their vassals. The greater
number of these edifices are of a date subsequent to the surrender of
Toledo to the Christians, and were erected on the distribution of the
different towns and estates among the nobility, on their being
successively evacuated by their Moorish proprietors. The Count of
Fuensalida, Duke of Frias, is the most considerable landed proprietor on
this side of Toledo, and several of the ruined castles have descended to
him.

I will not fatigue you by the enumeration of all these remains, of which
but a few are remarkable for picturesque qualities, and still fewer for
the possession of historical interest, as far as can be known at
present. One of them, situated ten miles to the south-east of Toledo,
and visible from its immediate neighbourhood, attracts notice owing to
its striking position. Occupying the summit of a conical hill, which
stands alone on the plain, and placed at four times the elevation of
Windsor Castle, you expect to find it connected with the history of some
knightly Peveril of the Peak, but learn with surprise that it was the
stro