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[Illustration: THE ESCORIAL
This remarkable edifice, at once a convent, a church, a palace, and a
royal mausoleum, is situated in a sterile and gloomy wilderness about
twenty-seven miles from Madrid. It was begun by Philip II in 1563 A.D.
and was completed twenty-one years later. The Escorial is dedicated to St.
Lawrence, that saint's day (August 10, 1557) being the day when the
Spanish king won a great victory over the French at the battle of St.
Quentin. The huge dimensions of the Escorial may be inferred from the fact
that it includes eighty-six staircases, eighty-nine fountains, fifteen
cloisters, 1,200 doors, 2,600 windows, and miles of corridors. The
building material is a granite-like stone obtained in the neighborhood.
The Escorial contains a library of rare books and manuscripts and a
collection of valuable paintings. In the royal mausoleum under the altar
of the church lie the remains of Charles V, Philip II, and many of their
successors.]
PHILIP'S FAILURES
But the successes of Philip were more than
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