large brilliants. This sword was given the Emperor by Anne, Queen of
England.

In the church are six silver candlesticks, nine palms high, made to hold
wax flambeaux. There are diamonds and jewels, given by the Countess de
Aranda, Count Alba, Duchess of Medina, and forty other people of high
rank, from the different courts of Europe, to the value of more than an
hundred thousand ducats.--But were I to recite every particular from the
list of donations, which my friend, _Pere Pascal_, gave me, and which
now lies before me, with the names of the donors, they would fill a
volume instead of a letter.




LETTER XXVIII.


I know you will expect to hear something of the Ladies of Spain; but I
must confess I had very little acquaintance among them: when they appear
abroad in their coaches, they are dressed in the modern French fashion,
but not in the extreme; when they walk out, their head and shape is
always covered with a black or white veil, richly laced; and however
fine their gowns are, they must be covered with a very large black silk
petticoat; and thus holding the fan in one hand, and hanging their
_chapelets_ over the wrist of the other, they walk out, preceded by one
or two shabby-looking servants, called pages, who wear swords, and
always walk bare-headed.

I have already told you, that the most beautiful, indeed the only