Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/737

 ESCURIAL 725 When Pascal, the great Jansenist writer, as- sailed the doctrines and morals of the Jesuits, Escobar's theology was selected by the satirist, as being the authorized teaching of the whole society. Although Pascal's Lettres provin- ciates were afterward condemned by the French episcopacy as heretical and defamatory, Escobar's name has continued to be held as typical of extreme laxity in morals; and the terms escobarder, escobarderie, escolartin, then introduced into the French language, still sig- nify the reconciling of one's religious convic- tions with one's interest and passions. Among his works are : San Ignacio de Loyola, an heroic poem (1613) ; Historia de la Virgen Madre de Dios, an epic poem (1618); Summula Casuum Conscientm (1626); and Liber Theologies Mo- ralis, XXIV. Societatis Jesu Doctoribus rese- ratus, &c. (1646). ESCURIAL (Sp. el Escorial), a palace and mausoleum of the kings of Spain, in Escorial de Abajo, a town of 2,000 inhabitants, in a bar- ren region, 2,970 ft. above the sea, on the S. E. slope of the Sierra Guadarama, in New Castile, 25 m. N. W. of Madrid, with which it is con- nected by railway. The correct title of this celebrated palace is "El real sitio de San Lo- renzo el real del Escorial," so called from hav- ing been built in fulfilment of a vow made by Philip II. that he would build the most mag- nificent monastery in the world if St. Law- rence would give him victory over the French in the battle of St. Quentin, fought on that saint's day (Aug. 10, 1557). St. Lawrence suf- fered martyrdom by being broiled on a grid- iron, and by a quaint conceit of the king or his architects, the ground plan is in the form of a gridiron, with handle and bars complete. Vol- taire and other French writers have claimed for a Frenchman named Louis Foix the honor of having been the architect of the Escurial ; but it is beyond doubt that Juan Bautista de Toledo commenced it from his own plans, and on his death in 1567 it was continued by his pupil, The Escurial. Juan de Herrera. The foundation was com- menced on St. George's day, April 23, 1563. Twenty-one years' labor and a sum equal to $15,000,000 were expended in completing the work. The body of the gridiron is represented by 17 ranges of buildings, crossing each other at right angles, forming a parallelogram en- closing 24 courts, with a square tower 200 ft. high flanking each of the four corners of the edifice, thus representing a gridiron reversed, the towers being the upturned feet. A wing 460 ft. long represents the handle of the imple- ment, and contains the royal apartments. The average height of the walls is 60 ft. The total length of the edifice is 740 ft. IS. and S., and 580 ft. E. and W. It contains the royal palace, royal chapel, monastery with 200 cells, 2 col- leges, 3 chapter houses, 3 libraries, 5 great halls, 6 dormitories, 3 hospital halls, 27 other halls, 9 refectories, 5 infirmaries, a countless number of apartments for attendants, 80 stair- cases, 1,110 windows looking outward and 1,578 inward, or, including outhouses, 4,000 in all, besides 14 gates and 86 fountains. The whole edifice is built of white stone spotted with gray, resembling granite, and quarried on the site. The general aspect of the Escurial is that of a freshly erected pile, rising from the midst of plantations, and more imposing from its magnitude than from grandeur of architec- ture. The Doric is the prevailing order. The E. and W. terraces overlook the slopes ; the N. and W. sides front the mountain, and are connected with the village by a subterranean