savage justice. The king overheard three of his
judges combining to give a false judgment in a
certain case about which they had been bribed, and
then quarrel about their respective shares of their
ill-gotten spoils. He suddenly appeared before
them, and causing them to be instantly beheaded,
placed their heads in the niches where now the
paintings perpetuate the remembrance of the
punishment. Less excusable was another tragedy
enacted within these walls, in the assassination of
the brother of the king, who had been invited as a
guest, and came unsuspicious of treachery. A deep
red stain of blood in the marble floor still marks
the spot of the murder. Well may Spain's most
popular modern poet, the Duque de Rivas, in his
beautiful poem, exclaim: —
Ann en las losas sc mira
Una tenaz mancha oscnra; . . .
Ni las edades la limpian! . . .
Sangre! sangre! Oh cielos! cnantos,
Sin saber que lo es, la pisan! [1]
The gardens adjoining the palace are quaintly beautiful, the borders edged with myrtle and box, cut low and thick, with terraces and fountains, and kiosks, and 'surprises' of 'jets d'eau,' and arched walls festooned with beautiful hanging
- ↑ "One still sees on the pavement a dark spot — the lapse of ages has not effaced it! Blood! blood! O Heaven! how many tread it under foot without knowing it! '
