However, here we are, for better or for worse, safely landed at the best hotel in Madrid, on the Puerta del Sol, and we are bound to say we did not find it as a married man, on the authority of a well-known anecdote, is said to have found his wife,--all worse and no better. The Hotel de los Principes will take a deal of beating from any hotel in Europe in point of comfort, cleanliness, and civility. Situated on the sunny side of the Puerta del Sol one has the pleasure of looking on an ever-changing and busy scene below, as he smokes the morning _cigarillo_ in the balcony. On this spot, in former days, according to a popular legend, there stood a church upon whose door the sun, for some mystic reason, remained long after it had left all other doors. The gateway or door of this church was consequently called _La Puerta del Sol_, from which the present _plaza_ derives its name. This open space is the life and heart of Madrid, all the principal arteries of the city proceeding from it. Here, all business is done, and pleasure taken; speculations are entered into, and politics discussed (as much as is consistent with personal security); and, consequently, it is the first place to which foreigners resort. It is the exchange, the betting-ring, and the general lounge. The garrison, with flags and band, march through it once a day; and to those who were so minded, here was the best chance, at the time of our visit, of looking upon the countenance of Queen Isabel II., as she passed in her chariot and four-in-hand of mules. FOOTNOTES: [5] Motto in old French, now to be seen over the Abbey door of Medmenham, near Harleyford, the seat of Sir W. R. Clayton, Bart., where the Hell-Fire Club held its carousals. [6] Some of the walls composing the fortifications, which are a sample of the engineering skill of the eleventh century, are forty feet in height and twelve in breadth. [7] The Madrileños, however, are very proud of their city, hence the proverb:--"_Hay una ventana en el cielo para mirar Madrid_." [Illustration: [++] Decorative Image] [Illustration: [++] Decorative Image] CHAPTER VII. MADRID.--GREAT ENGINEERING FEAT.--THE PICTURE-GALLERY.--PASTIMES AND OCCUPATIONS OF THE MADRILEÑOS.--THE BATH AND TOILET.--QUEEN ISABEL AND THE KING CONSORT.--THE VIRGIN'S WARDROBE.--THE ROYAL ARMERIA.--REMARKABLE PAINTINGS.--CHURCH IN THE CALLE DE TOLEDO.