objects worthy of notice. The
cathedral having been erected on uneven ground, rising rapidly from
south to north, the entrance to the north transept opens at an elevation
of nearly thirty feet from the pavement. To reach this door there is an
ornamental staircase, of a sort of white stone, richly carved in the
_renaissance_ style. This door is never open, a circumstance which
causes no inconvenience; the steps being so steep as to render them less
useful than ornamental, as long as any other exit exists.

A beautifully carved old door, of a wood become perfectly black,
although not so originally, gives access to the cloister from the east
side of the south transept. The interior of the arch which surmounts it
is filled with sculpture. A plain moulding runs round the top, at the
left-hand commencement of which is carved a head of the natural size,
clothed in a cowl.

[Illustration: HEAD OF SAINT FRANCIS.][3]

The attention is instantly rivetted by this head: it is not merely a
masterpiece of execution. Added to the exquisite beauty and delicate
moulding of the upper part of the face, the artist has succeeded in
giving to the mouth an almost superhuman expression. This feature, in
spite of a profusion of hair which almost covers it, lives and speaks. A
smile, in which a barely perceptible but irresistible and, as it were,
innate bitterness of satire and disdain modifies a wish of benevolence,
unites with the piercing expression of the eyes in lighting up the stone
with a degree of intellect which I had thought beyond the reach of
sculpture until I saw this head. Tradition asserts it to be a portrait
of Saint Francis, who was at Burgos at the period of the completion of
the cathedral; and who, being in the habit of examining the progress of
the works, afforded unconsciously a study to the sculptor.

The two sacristies are entered from the cloister: one of them contains
the portraits of all the bishops and archbishops of Burgos.
Communicating with this last is a room destined for the reception of
useless lumber and broken ornaments. Here the cicerone directs your
attention to an old half-rotten oaken chest, fixed against the wall at a
considerable height. This relic is the famous Coffre del Cid, the
self-same piece of furniture immortalised in the anecdote related of the
hero respecting the loan of money obtained on security of the supposed
treasure it enclosed. The lender of the money, satisfied by the weight
of the t