aller and less gaudily coloured windows shed a more
religious ray, and are preferable to those of Toledo, which,
magnificent in themselves, attract an undue share of the observation,
instead of blending into one perfect composition of architectural
harmony.

Immediately above the arches of the principal nave and transept, at a
height of about ninety feet, runs a balustrade, the design of which
consists of a series of pointed arches. Above it are the windows,
reaching nearly to the ceiling. They are painted in rather dark tints,
and afford no more than a sort of _demi-jour_, which at the east end
decreases to twilight. Rather more light is admitted towards the western
extremity, from some windows of plain glass, in the lateral chapels,
without which the pictures they contain could not be viewed; but from
this end the high-altar is scarcely discernible. The simple grandeur of
this view loses nothing by the absence of all ornamental detail: the
portion most ornamented is the pavement, composed of a mosaic of the
richest marbles. About half-way between the portals and the choir, are
inserted two or three large slabs, bearing inscriptions; one of them is
to the memory of Christopher Columbus; another to his son. There are no
other details to draw the attention until we visit the chapels, in which
all the treasures of art are dispersed. A few pictures are scattered
here and there around the eastern part of the building; all of them are
good. A large one of Zurbaran, in the north transept, is a master-piece.
It represents St. Jerome, surrounded by an assembly of monks.

At the west end of the northernmost nave, the first door opens to a vast
church, called the chapel of the Sagrario, already alluded to as forming
the western boundary of the orange-court. It is nearly two hundred feet
in length; in the Italian style; the orders Doric and Ionic, but loaded
with heavy sculpture in the worst taste. After this a series of chapels,
of a style analogous to the body of the edifice, succeed each other,
commencing with that of San Antonio, and continuing all round the
church. Several of them contain beautiful details of ornament, and
handsome tombs. That of the Kings should be mentioned as an exception,
with regard to the architecture, since its style is the _plateresco_. It
contains the tombs of Alonzo the Tenth, and his Queen Beatrix, with
several others. The most beautiful of these chapels is that of Nuestra
Senora la Antigua, situa