344 LETTERS FROM SPAIN. LETTER L. DOMINICAN CONVENT AT RONDA SINGULAR SITUATION OF ZAHARA — ALGAUCIN VISIT TO THE CORREGIDOR CHEERFUL EVENING DEPAR TURE FROM ALGAUCIN ARRIVAL AT ST. ROGUE. ¥ ST. ROGUE, JAN. l8l0. Before we left Ronda, we visited the church of the Dominican convent, to see some paintings in fresco of Alonzo Vasquez, a native of that city, who, about the year 1598, obtained considerable celebrity among his contemporaries. Some of his pic tures are preserved in the cathedral of Seville, and in the collections of the amateurs of that city. The paintings in the church of the Dominicans are not in good preservation, nor do they, in my judg ment, justify his high reputation. Those in the cloisters of the Franciscan convent of Seville are much superior, having proba bly been executed when he had obtained a greater proficiency in his art. In the cloister of this convent w'e saw, what I have frequently observed, but not mentioned to you before, the words “ aqui se sacan las animas,” literally, here souls are drawn; import ing that masses are said in this place for the liberation of souls from purgatory.