ble vestiges of Charles V. and Philip II. which escaped the
Gaul." The situation of this city on the direct line of railway
communication between France and Madrid has greatly helped forward this
"modernising" and even as this is written, numerous old streets are
being pulled down to make way for the convenient, but far from
picturesque monotony in which the nineteenth century usually writes its
date upon its street architecture. In one respect, especially, the glory
of Valladolid has entirely departed. In this, the city of the Arphes, in
which as Navagiero[5] says, (writing in 1525), "Sono in Valladolid assai
artefeci di ogni sorte, e se vi lavora benissimo di tutte le arti, e
sopra tutto d'argenti, e vi sono tanti argenteri quanti non sono in due
altre terre," no gold or silversmith's work is to be found worthy a
moment's attention. The "Plateria" still remains, and the shops of the
Plateros still abound, but, with the exception of two or three little
old fragments saved from the melting pot, the elegant types of the
"Varia commensuracion" of Villafane have disappeared, giving place to
poor imitations of bad French work.

[Illustration: PLATE 4

VALLADOLID

PATIO DE SAN GREGORIO.

MDW 1869

MDW 1869]

PLATE IV.

_VALLADOLID._

DETAIL FROM THE "PATIO DE SAN GREGORIO."

THE portion of the great Dominican Convent of Valladolid which formed
the subject of the last sketch, is supposed to have been the
commencement of a second Patio, or courtyard, around which were to have
been arranged apartments, mainly intended for the reception of guests or
visitors, lay as well as ecclesiastic. The arcading, of which Plate IV
is a sketch, surrounds the great Patio of the monastic establishment of
which the "Colegio" proper is the Church. Around this noble courtyard
were grouped the apartments in which resided the powerful Black
Friars--so called from their dress--worthy adherents to the traditions
of the founder of the Order, himself an old Castilian, whose activity as
Preachers, and still more as Inquisitors, made them, perhaps, even more
powerful in controlling the destinies of the Peninsula than the
political heads of the State. The first stone of this great
establishment, dedicated to St. Gregory, and founded by Alonso of
Burgos, Bishop of Palencia, was laid in the year 1488. Some idea of the
rapid growth and elevation of the Dominicans about this period may be
derived from an observation of the fact that this