ates, to half a League without the
Town, you have Wine for two Pence the Quart; but within the Place, you
drink it little cheaper than you may in _London_. The Mud Walls
therefore well enough answer their Intent of forcing People to reside
there, under pretence of Security; but in reality to be tax'd, for other
Things are taxable, as well as Wine, tho' not in like Proportion.

All Embassadors have a Claim or Privilege, of bringing in what Wine
they please Tax-free; and the King, to wave it, will at any Time
purchase that Exemption of Duty at the price of five hundred Pistoles
_per Annum_. The Convents and Nunneries are allowed a like Licence of
free Importation; and it is one of the first Advantages they can boast
of; for, under that Licence having a liberty of setting up a Tavern near
them, they make a prodigious Advantage of it. The Wine drank and sold in
this Place, is for the most part a sort of white Wine.

But if the Mud Walls gave me at first but a faint Idea of the Place; I
was pleasingly disappointed, as soon as I enter'd the Gates. The Town
then show'd itself well built, and of Brick, and the Streets wide, long,
and spacious. Those of _Atocha_, and _Alcala_, are as fine as any I ever
saw; yet is it situated but very indifferently: For tho' they have what
they call a River, to which they give the very fair Name of _la
Mansuera_, and over which they have built a curious, long, and large
Stone Bridge; yet is the Course of it, in Summer time especially, mostly
dry. This gave occasion to that piece of Railery of a Foreign
Embassador, _That the King would have don wisely to have bought a River,
before he built the Bridge_. Nevertheless, that little Stream of a River
which they boast of, they improve as much as possible; since down the
Sides, as far as you can see, there are Coops, or little Places hooped
in, for People to wash their Linen (for they very rarely wash in their
own Houses) nor is it really an unpleasing Sight, to view the regular
Rows of them at that cleanly Operation.

The King has here two Palaces; one within the Town, the other near
adjoining. That in the Town is built of Stone, the other which is called
_Bueno Retiro_, is all of Brick. From the Town to this last, in Summer
time, there is a large covering of Canvas, propt up with tall Poles;
under which People walk to avoid the scorching heats of the Sun.

As I was passing by the Chapel of the _Carmelites_, I saw several blind
Men, some led, some