Vine and Olive by Oliver Optic

After an early breakfast-early for Spain-the students were assembled in a large hall provided by the landlord; and Professor Mapps gave the usual lesson relating to the city they were visiting: -

"The population of Madrid has fallen off from about four hundred thousand to the neighborhood of three hundred thousand. The city was in existence in the tenth century, but was not of much account till the sixteenth, when Charles V. took up his residence here. Toledo was at that time the capital, as about every prominent city of Spain had been before. In 1560 Philip III. made Madrid the sole capital of the country; and it has held this distinction down to this day, though Philip II. tried to move it to Valladolid. It is twenty–two hundred feet above the level of the sea; and the cutting off of all the trees in the vicinity-and I may add in all Spain-has injuriously affected the climate. This region has been said to have but two seasons,-‘nine months of winter, and three months of hell. ' If it is very cold in winter, it is probably by comparison with the southern part of the peninsula. Like many other cities of Spain, Madrid has been captured by the English and the French."