that it cannot be a Leonardo, and is scarcely bad
enough for a Raffaelle.

Without venturing _tantas componere lites_, I may be allowed to give my
impression, on an inspection as complete as the studied darkness of the
apartment, added to the glass and wooden case, would permit. It is a
half-figure of the Magdalene. The execution is very elaborate and highly
finished, but there are evident defects in the drawing. In colouring and
manner it certainly reminds you of da Vinci--of one of whose works it
may probably be a copy; but, whatever it is, it is easy to discover that
it is _not_ a Raffaelle.

This chapel does not occupy the precise centre of the apse. A line drawn
from the middle of the western door through the nave would divide it
into two unequal parts, passing at a distance of nearly two yards from
its centre. An examination of the ground externally gives no clue to the
cause of this irregularity, by which the external symmetry of the
edifice is rendered imperfect, although in an almost imperceptible
degree; it must therefore be accounted for by the situation of the
adjoining parochial chapel, of more ancient construction, with which it
was not allowable to interfere, and by the unwillingness of the founder
to diminish the scale on which his chapel was planned.

Before we leave the Chapel del Condestable, one of its ceremonies
deserves particular mention. I allude to the _missa de los carneros_
(sheep-mass). At early mass on All Souls day, a feast celebrated in this
chapel with extraordinary pomp, six sheep are introduced, and made to
stand on a large block of unpolished marble, which has been left lying
close to the tombs, almost in the centre of the chapel; near the six
sheep are placed as many inflated skins of pigs, resembling those
usually filled with the wine of the country; to these is added the
quantity of bread produced from four bushels of wheat: and all remain in
view during the performance of high mass. At the conclusion of the final
response, the sheep are removed from their pedestal, and make for the
chapel-gates, through which they issue; and urged by the voice of their
driver, the peculiar shrill whistle of Spanish shepherds, and by the
more material argument of the staff, proceed down the entire length of
the cathedral to the music of the aforesaid whistle, accompanied by
their own bleatings and bells, until they vanish through the great
western portal.

Returning to the transepts, we find two