SEGOVIA, a town of Spain, in Old Castile, and capital of a province of the same name, is situated on a rocky eminence between two steep valleys, one of which is watered by a brook called Clamares, and the other by the river Erosma, which is crossed by five handsome bridges. It is supposed to resemble a ship v.ith its stern to the east. It is between three and four miles in circuit, and is surrounded with a turreted Moorish wall. The streets are narrow, crooked, and irregular, and in some places steep, but the suburbs are built on more level ground.
Segovia, which is an episcopal sec, contains a num ber of churches and convents, and other public build ings. The Mint is a handsome edifice, the opera tions of which are carried on by hydraulic machinery. The town-house is handsome, having two compart ments in front, with double rows of doric pillars. The cathedral is a mixture of Gothic and Greek ar chitecture. It was built in the 16th century, and has its principal altar of marble. The convent of the Carmelites, and that of the Capuchins, with a sub terraneous chapel, are good buildings. The alcazar, the residence of the Castilians, and celebrated as the place where Alphonso composed his astronomical tables, is a venerable ancient pile, containing apart ments fretted with Mosaic work still fresh.
The greatest curiosity of Segovia is its aqueduct, which, though supposed by some to be Egyptian, is more probably the work of Licinius or Trajan. It begins with a large stone basin, fifty yards from the town, the water of which it conveys to an open canal to the streets. It is built of rough square freestones, with cement, and consists of a long range of 75 arches, the first of which is fourteen feet six inches long, and the last, at the convent of St. Francisco,
thirty-three feet six inches. At this place there be gins a double row of arches, one above another, ex tending east and west, and crossing the valley and the plain of Azoquejo. The greatest height of this is eighty feet ten inches. The whole aqueduct contains 159 arches, sustained by pilasters, most of which are six feet eleven inches in front, and nine feet four in ches on the inner side. Alter distributing its water to different parts of the town, the aqueduct terminates at the Alcazar. The magnificent appearance of that fine building is disfigured by houses built against its pilasters. This city, situated in the midst of the finest sheep pasturage, has been long distinguished for its cloth and woollen manufactures. It is said that 34,000 persons were once employed in them, but they have greatly declined. The quantity of cloth at present manufactured is stated to be about 4000 pieces, coarse and line. Dyeing is also extensively car ried on, and delft ware, paper, and lead, are among its other manufactures. It has an extensive trade in wool, which is brought from Villacastin, and sent to different ports, particularly Bilboa. The number of families is estimated at 5000, and the population at only 10,000. There is an artillery school, and several hospitals in the town. West long. 4° 1' North lat.
41° 3'.