ment of antique art in all its purity. In cathedrals success
was more difficult of attainment than in civil edifices; but the effort
is easily discerned, striving against the difficulties inseparable from
the system, which applies to the purposes of one creed the principles of
art invented for ministering to other forms. His cathedral of Valladolid
is an instance of this: the most unsuccessful portion of which (the
tower) has fallen before the completion of the edifice. Should the works
ever be continued, this would be a most fortunate circumstance, were it
not that the future builders are sure to persist in the same course, and
to disfigure the pile with another similar excrescence, in contempt of
symmetry and rule.

The Lonja of Seville is a structure so perfect as to bid defiance to
criticism. It might have been built by Vitruvius. The general plan is a
quadrangle, enclosing a court surrounded by an arcade. There are two
stories, ornamented externally by pilasters. The order is Tuscan, both
above and below. The court, staircase, and various apartments, are
decorated with a profusion of the rarest marbles. The whole is a
specimen, almost unique, of chaste elegance and massive solidity. In
this edifice, the resort of wealthy traders during the period of the
colonial prosperity of Spain, are contained, among the archives, the
original despatches of Columbus: and, it is also said, those of Cortez
and Pizarro.

The Ayuntamiento, or Town Hall, is an edifice of another sort. It is of
the _plateresco_ epoch. But Seville, having been apparently preserved by
especial favour from the introduction of specimens of bad taste; it is a
building of extreme beauty. The facade is divided into two unequal
parts. The smaller of the two is covered with sculpture, and contains an
open porch or vestibule, decorated throughout with a profusion of
ornament. I could not learn the name of the artist to whom these
sculptures are attributed, but they are worthy of the chisel of John of
Bologna. The other portion of the front is without ornament from the
ground to the first story, along the whole extent of which runs a series
of open arches supported by columns. These columns and arches are models
of lightness and grace.

The Ayuntamiento is situated in the Plaza de San Francisco; from one
extremity of which a street leads to the cathedral: at the other
commences the principal street of Seville, called the Calle de la
Sierpe. Here are all the b