ployed in it, and the entrance being on the side of the mountain, the ore is procured at a small expence. They have no occasion for a steam-engine, having met with no water in the mine. The veins dip from north to south, are formed of quartose matter, in which sulphuret of iron is intermixed with sulphurets and other combinations of copper, and some specimens of muriate of copper have been found. It is generally believed that there are veins of silver under the latter. The walls of Seville are supposed to have been constructed by the Romans, and the turrets are by the historians attributed to Julius Cæsar; they are of little use in the present state of the art of war, and the new facine batteries, lately erected, are not more serviceable: indeed the place is incapable of defence without an expence on the fortifications which the position does not merit. Some of the gates are very magnificent, especially that of Triana, which leads to the bridge of boats over the Gaudalquivir. The gate of Xeres possesses more simple grandeur, and over it is this inscription: HERCULES ME EDIFICO; JULIO CESAR ME CERCO DE MUROS, Y TORRES ALTAS; Y EL REY SANTO ME GANÓ CON GARCI PEREZ DE VARGAS. LETTER XII. LA LONJA-AMERICAN PAPERS JUAN DE HERRERA CASA MONEDA-ALCAZAR -TIME OF ERECTION-INTERIOR-MOORISH GARDEN-ANCIENT SCULPTURE HOUSE OF DON JOSSE MARIA PEREZ—HIGH MASS-RELIGION—PREACHING— AURICULAR CONFESSION. SEVILLE, OCT. 1809. ONE of the buildings in Seville which displays the best architectural taste is La Lonja, built originally at the expence of the merchants, and designed for an exchange. It forms a square, and each front is two hundred feet in length, and being raised on steps, has a magnificent appearance. The staircase leading to the upper rooms is superbly built of coloured marble, about twenty-five feet in breadth, with balustrades, supported by pillars of the same substance: the apartments consist of three rooms in front, each one hundred and eighty feet long, and four others, lighted from the patio, of smaller dimensions; the whole forms a grand building, and does honour to the taste of the age in which it was erected. The apartments are furnished with book-cases, which contain all the correspondence with America, from its first discovery to the present time, arranged and neatly docketed; and reference may be made to any paper with great facility. The original letters of Cortez and Pizarro are deposited in these cases, and will some day probably throw light on the history of that period. It is certain that the Spanish historians have neglected to examine these valuable documents, and the writers of later date have contented themselves with quoting Robertson, whose book, with all its deficiencies, contains more accurate views, and more extensive knowledge, of the affairs of the Spaniards in America three hundred years ago, than the work of any author of their own nation. La Lonja was completed in the year 1598 by Juan de Herrera, one of the most celebrated architects in Spain. In early life he visited Italy in a military capacity, and availed himself of that opportunity to study the various models of art with which that country abounds: he was an excellent mathematician, and applied his knowledge and taste to the study of architecture. After the death of Juan Bautista de Toledo he was employed in completing the Escurial, which established his fame, and occasioned his being created a knight of St. Iago, Quarter-master General of the Royal Palace, and Superintendant of the Royal Mansions. I wished to make a sketch of this building, and one of the Canons of the Cathedral introduced me to the house of a lady opposite, where I had a good view of it. As I used the camera lucida, the astonishment of the good lady and her domestics was not a little excited; and perhaps I might have been taken for a magician if I had not been the friend of a priest, for nothing could exceed their surprise when they saw the building before them reflected on the paper, reduced to a small compass, and every part exact. The Casa Moneda, or mint, is at present very little used; owing to the scarcity of silver, few of the presses were at work, but enough |