George Ticknor, Life, letters and journals of George Ticknor
George Hillard, Ed.

[221] princes gradually enlarged it,. . . . it remained little more than a fine country-house, until Charles IV.¹—who seems to have had a sense for the beauties of nature, though he certainly had it for little else—made it his favorite residence, and added the Casa del Labrador and its immense gardens.

The Palace is an ordinary building, but full of pictures. Such Murillos, Velasquez, and Riberas I had never seen, except a few in the Palace and Academy at Madrid; and I was delighted to find that the Marquis de Sta. Cruz had marked them all with his ‘M.’ for the new Royal Gallery, where they will be, for the first time, in a situation in which their merit will be known and felt.

What there is curious and interesting in architecture, here, is the Casa del Labrador, or, as we should translate it, ‘the Farm-house,’ —a little plaything of Charles IV.,—standing in the midst of a fine wood, about half a mile from the Palace. It is the merest little jewel. There is but one suite of apartments in it, and only two large saloons; all the rest being divided into small rooms, cabinets, etc., each ornamented with beautiful embroidered tapestry; the roofs painted in miniature frescos, and the floors paved in mosaic. Everything, in short, has a neatness and perfection in its finish, and the whole has an air of comfort, and a preservation of unity in its style, such as I have seldom met; while in the richness of its ornaments, which are often of gold and sometimes of platina, it is absolutely unrivalled.

The Sitio of Aranjuez, however, is not to be so much considered in relation to its architecture and ornaments, as in relation to its natural situation and the beauty of its scenery. It stands in a valley formed by the Tagus, which winds gracefully through it, and forms one large island in front of the Palace,—where is the principal garden,—and two waterfalls, that have been managed by art so as to produce a considerable effect. This is to be regarded as merely the central point of the establishment, while on all sides, where the valley opens, fine groves have been formed, picturesque alleys and walks cut, and rural ornaments distributed for many miles round; so that as a park, or, in fact, as a fine country establishment, there are few, I suspect, in Europe, to compare with it. . . . .

Aranjuez, like the Escorial and St. Ildefonso, marks its Fasti with several famous events, of which the most remarkable is the last. I mean the Revolution, which finally broke out here, on the 17th-18th