JIttfaca, ^ttu ^atk 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY 
 
 COLLECTED BY 
 
 BENNO LOEWY 
 
 1854-1919 
 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PS 2056.A1 1896 
 
 3 1924 022 056 620 .im—i 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022056620 
 
THE ALHAMBRA 
 
Five Hundred Copies of this Large Paper 
 Edition, with Twelve Lithographs, were printed 
 December 1896. 
 
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 IVashin^ton Ir-juig's tooihs^ overlooking the Garden oj Lindaraxa. 
 
THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 BY • WASHINGTON • mVING 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 ELIZABETH ROBINS PENNELL 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH DRAWINGS 
 OF THE PLACES MENTIONED 
 BY JOSEPH PENNELL 
 
 LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. 
 
 NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1896 
 
ElCliARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 LONDON AND BUNGAY. 
 
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 4 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 It is not possilile to forget ^Vashington Irving in tlic 
 Alhambra. ^Vith a, single volume, the simple^ gentle, kindly 
 American man of letters became no less a figure in the Moor's 
 Red Palace than Boabdil and Lindaraxa of whom he wrote. 
 And yet, never perhaps did a book make so unconscious a bid 
 fqr popularity. Irving visited Granada in 1S2S. He returnetl 
 the following year, ^\"hen the Governor's apartments in the 
 Alhambra were lent to him as lodgings. There he spent 
 several weeks, his love for the place growing with every day 
 and hour. It was this affection, and no more complex 
 motive, that prompted him to describe its courts and gardens 
 and to record its legends. The work was the amusement of 
 his leisure moments, filling the interval between the completion 
 of one serious, and now all but unknown, history and the 
 beginning of the next. 
 
 Not many other men just then could write about Spain or 
 anything Spanish so naturally. For, m 1S29, while, witliin the 
 
viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 walls of Alhamar and Yusef, he was listening to the prattle of 
 Mateo and Dolores, in Paris, Alfred de Musset was writing 
 his Contes d'Espagne, and Victor Hugo was publishing a new 
 edition of his Orientates. A year later and the battle of 
 Hernani was to be fought at the Comedie Franfaise ; a few 
 more, and The'ophile Gautier would be on his way across the 
 Pyrenees. Time had passed since Chateaubriand, the pioneer 
 of romance, could dismiss the Alhambra with a word. Hugo, 
 in turning all eyes to the East, had declared that Spain also 
 was Oriental, and to his disciples the journey, dreamed or 
 made, through the land where Irving travelled in single-minded 
 enjoyment, was an excuse for the profession of their literary 
 faith. Irving, whatever his accomplishments, was unen- 
 cumbered with a mission and innocent of pose. There is no 
 reason to believe that he had ever heard of the Romanticists, 
 or the part Spain was playing in the revolution ; though he had 
 been in Paris when the storm was brewing ; though he returned 
 after the famous red waistcoat had been sported in the public's 
 face. At any rate, like the original genius of to-day, he kept 
 his knowledge to himself. 
 
 Literary work took Irving to Spain. Several years before, in 
 1818, he had watched the total wreck of his brother's business. 
 This was the second event of importance in his hitherto mild 
 and colourless existence. The first had been the death of the 
 girl he was to marry, a loss which left him without interest or am- 
 bition. There was then no need for him to work, and his health 
 was delicate. He travelled a little : an intelligent, sympathetic 
 and observant tourist. He wrote a litfle, discovering that he 
 was an author with Knickerbocker. But his writing was of the 
 desultory sort until, when he was thirty-five years old, his 
 brother's failure forced him to make literature his profession. 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 It was after he had published his Sketch-Book and Bracebridge 
 Hall and Old Christmas, after their reception had been of the 
 kind to satisfy even the present generation of writers who 
 measure the excellence of work by the price paid for it, that 
 some one suggested he should translate the journeys of 
 Columbus, which Navarrete, a Spanish author, had in hand. 
 Murray, it was thought, would give a handsome sum down for 
 the translation. Murray himself, however, was not so sure : 
 wanted, wise man, first to see a portion of the manuscript. 
 This was just what could not be until Irving had begun his 
 task. But already in Madrid, and assured of nothing, he found 
 the role of translator less congenial than that of historian, and 
 the Spanish work eventually resolved itself into his Life of 
 Columbus. " Delving in the rich ore " of the old chronicles 
 in the Jesuits' Library of St. Isidoro, there was one side issue 
 in the history he was studying that enchanted him above all 
 else. This was the Conquest of Granada, the brilliant episode 
 which had fascinated him ever since, as a boy at play on the 
 banks of the Hudson, his allegiance had been divided between 
 the Spanish cavalier, in gold and silver armour, prancing over 
 the Vega, and the Red Indian brandishing his tomahawk on 
 the war-path. Now, occasionally, Columbus was forgotten 
 that he might collect the materials for a new story of the 
 Conquest to be told by himself. To consult further documents 
 he started one spring (1828), when the almond trees were 
 blossoming, for Andalusia ; and Granada, of course, came into 
 his journey. Thus chance brought him to the Alhambra, 
 while (1829) the courtesy of the Governor and the kindness of 
 old Tia Antonia put him in possession of the rooms of the 
 beautiful Elizabeth of Parma, overlooking the oranges and 
 fountains of the Garden of Lindaraxa. 
 
X INTRODUCTION 
 
 The Alhambra reveals but half its charm to the casual 
 visitor. I know, of my own experience, how far custom is 
 from staling its infinite variety, how its beauty increases as 
 day by day one watches the play of light and shadow on its 
 walls, as day by day one yields to the indolent dreams for 
 which it was built. There was one summer when, all 
 through July and August, its halls and courts gave me 
 shelter from the burning, blinding sunshine of Andalusia, and 
 the weeks in passing strengthened the spell that held me there. 
 For Gautier, the place borrowed new loveliness from the one 
 night he slept in the Court of Lions. But by day and night 
 alike, it belonged to Irving; he saw it before it had de- 
 generated into a disgracefully managed museum and annex 
 to a bric-a-brac shop for the tourist ; and he had heard all its 
 stories, or had had time to invent them, before he was called 
 away by his appointment to some useless and unnecessary 
 diplomatic post at the American Legation in London. 
 
 The book was not published until more than two years 
 later (1832). Irving, though a hack in a manner, had too 
 much self-respect to rush into print on the slightest provocation. 
 Colburn and Bentley were his English publishers, their edition 
 preceding by a few months the American, brought out by Lea 
 and Carey of Philadelphia. The same year saw two further 
 issues in Paris, one by Galignani, and the other in Baudry's 
 Foreign Library, as well as a French translation from the house 
 of Fournier. The success of The Alhatnbra was immediate. 
 De Musset and Victor Hugo had left the great public in France 
 as indifferent as ever to the land beyond the Pyrenees. Irving 
 raised a storm of popular applause in England and America, 
 where, of a sudden, he made Spain, which the Romanticists 
 would have snatched as their spoils, the prey of the " bourgeois" 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 they despised. Nor was it the general pubHc only that ap- 
 plauded. There were few literary men in England who did 
 not welcome the book with delight. 
 
 I think to-day, without suspicion of disloyalty, one may 
 wonder a little at this success. Certainly, in its first edition, 
 The Alhambra is crude and stilted, though, to compare it with 
 the pompous trash which Roscoe published three years after- 
 ward, as text for the drawings of David Roberts, is to see in it 
 a masterpiece. Irving, more critical than his readers, knew 
 it needed revision. " It is generally labour lost," he said once in 
 a letter to Alexander Everett, " to attempt to improve a book that 
 has already made its impression on the public." Nevertheless, 
 The Alhambra was all but re-written in 1857, when he was 
 preparing a complete edition of his works for Putnam, the New 
 York publisher, and it gained enormously in the process. 
 It was not so much by the addition of new chapters, or 
 the re-arrangement of the old ; but rather by the changes 
 made in the actual text — the light touch of local colour 
 here, and there the rounding of a period, the developing 
 of an incident. For example "The Journey," so gay and 
 vivacious in the final version, was, at first, but a bare 
 statement of facts, with no space for the little adventures 
 by the way : the rest at the old mill near Seville ; the glimpses 
 of Archidona, Antiquero, Osuna, names that lend picturesque 
 value to the ride ; the talk and story-telling in the inn at Loxa. 
 Another change, less commendable, is the omission from the 
 late editions of the dedication to Wilkie. It was a pleasant 
 tribute to the British painter, who, with several of his fellows — 
 Lewis and Roberts — was carried away by that wave of Orien- 
 talism which sent the French Marilhat and Decamps, 
 Fromentin and Delacroix to the East, and had not yet 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 spent its force in the time of Regnault. The dedication was 
 well-written, kindly, appreciative : an amiable reminder of the 
 rambles the two men had taken together in Toledo and Seville, 
 and the interest they had shared in the beauty left by the 
 Moor to mark his passage through the land both were learning 
 to love. As a memorial to the friendship between author and 
 artist, it could less well have been spared than any one of 
 the historical chapters that go to swell the volume. 
 
 Even in the revised edition it would be easy to belittle 
 Irving's achievement, now that it is the fashion to disparage him 
 as author. Certainly, The Alhambra has none of the splendid 
 melodrama of Sorrow's Bible in Spain, none of the picturesque- 
 ness of Gautier's record. It is very far from being that 
 " something in the Haroun Alraschid style," with dash of 
 Arabian spice, which Wilkie had urged him to make it. 
 Nor are its faults wholly negative. It has its moments 
 of dulness. It abounds in repetitions. Certain adjec- 
 tives recur with a pertinacity that irritates. The Vega 
 is blooming, the battle is bloody, the Moorish maiden is 
 beauteous far more than once too often. Worse still, descrip- 
 tions are duplicated, practically the same passage reappearing 
 again and again, as if for the sake of padding, or else as the 
 mere babble of the easy writer. Indeed, many of the purely 
 historical chapters have been crowded in so obviously because 
 they happened to be at hand, and he without better means to 
 dispose of them, and then scattered discreetly, that there is 
 less hesitation in omitting them altogether from the present 
 edition. An edited Tom Jones, a bowdlerized Shakespeare 
 may be an absurdity. But to drop certain chapters from The 
 Alhambra is simply to anticipate the reader in the act of skip- 
 ping. There is no loss, since all important facts and descrip- 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 tions are given more graphically and entertainingly elsewhere in 
 the book. 
 
 Perhaps it may seem injudicious to introduce a new edition 
 of so popular a work by pointing out its defects. But one can 
 afford to be honest about Irving. The Alhatnbra might have 
 more serious blemishes, and its charm would still survive 
 triumphantly the test of the harshest criticism. For, whatever 
 subtlety, whatever elegance Irving's style may lack, it is always 
 distinguished by that something which, for want of a better 
 name, is called charm — a quality always as difficult to define 
 as Lowell thought when he found it in verse or in perfume. 
 But there it is in all Washington Irving wrote : a clue to the 
 lavish praise of his contemporaries — of Coleridge, who pro- 
 nounced The Conquest of Granada a chef (Tceuvre, and Camp- 
 bell, who believed he had added clarity to the English tongue ; 
 of Byron and Scott and Southey ; of Dickens, whose pockets 
 were at one time filled with Irving's books worn to tatters ; of 
 Thackeray, who likened the American to Goldsmith, describing 
 him as " one of the most charming masters of our lighter lan- 
 guage." 
 
 Much of this power to please is due, no doubt, to the sim- 
 plicity and sincerity of Irving's style at its best. Despite a 
 tendency to diffuseness, despite a fancy for the ornate, when 
 there is a story to be told, he can be as simple and straightfor- 
 ward as the child's " Once upon a time," with which he begins 
 many a tale : appropriately, since the legends of the Alhambra 
 are but stories for grown-up children. And there is no question 
 of the sincerity of his love for everything savouring of romance. 
 For that matter, it is seldom that he does not mean what he 
 says and does not say it so truly with his whole heart, that you 
 are convinced, where you distrust the emotion of De Amicis, 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 pumping up tears of admiration before the wrong thing, or of 
 Maurice Barrfes seeing all Spain through a haze of blood, volup- 
 tuousness, and death. It was the strength of his feeling for the 
 Alhambra that led Irving to write in its praise, not the desire to 
 write that manufactured the feeling. Humour and sentiment 
 some of his critics have thought the predominant traits of his 
 writing, as of his character. It is a fortunate combination : his 
 sentiment, though it often threatens, seldom overflows into 
 gush, kept within bounds as it is by the sense of humour that 
 so rarely fails him. His power of observation was of still 
 greater service. He could use his eyes. He could see things 
 for himself. And he was quick to detect character. Occasion- 
 ally one finds him slipping. In his landscape, the purple 
 mountains of Alhama rise wherever he considers them most 
 effective in the picture; and the snow considerately never 
 melts from the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, which I have seen 
 all brown at midsummer. He could look only through the 
 magnifying glass of tradition at the hand and key on the Gate 
 of Justice : symbols so gigantic in fiction, so insignificant in 
 fact that one might miss them altogether, did not every book, 
 paper, and paragraph, every cadging, swindling tout — I mean 
 guide — in Granada bid one look for them. But these are 
 minor discrepancies. In essentials, his observation never 
 played him false. There may not be a single passage to equal 
 in force and brilliance Gautier's wonderful description of the 
 bull-fight at Malaga; but his impressions were so clear, his 
 record of them so faithful, that the effect of his book remains, 
 while the accomplishment of a finer artist in words may be 
 remembered but vaguely. It is Irving who prepares one best 
 for the stern grandeur and rugged solemnity of the country 
 between Seville and Granada. The journey can now be made 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 by rail. But to travel by road as he did — as we have done — 
 is to know that his arid mountains and savage passes are no 
 more exaggerated than the pleasant valleys and plains that lie 
 between. For Spain is not all gaiety as most travellers would 
 like to imagine it, as most painters have painted it, save 
 Daumier in his pictures of Don Quixote among the barren hills 
 of La Mancha. And if nothing in Granada and the Alhambra 
 can be quite unexpected, it is because one has seen it all 
 beforehand with Irving, from the high Tower of Comares and 
 the windows of the Hall of Ambassadors, or else, following him 
 through the baths and mosque and courts of the silent Palace, 
 crossing the ravine to the cooler gardens of the Generalife, 
 and climbing the Albaycin to the white church upon its 
 summit. 
 
 There have been many changes in the Alhambra since Irving's 
 day. The Court of Lions lost in loveliness when the roses 
 with which he saw it filled were uprooted. The desertion he 
 found had more picturesqueness than the present restoration 
 and pretence of orderliness. Irving was struck with the 
 efforts which the then Commander, Don Francisco de Serna, 
 was making to keep the Palace in a state of repair and to arrest 
 its too certain decay. Had the predecessors of De Serna, he 
 thought, discharged the duties of their station with equal 
 fidelity, the Alhambra might have been still almost as the Moor, 
 or at least Spanish royalty had left it. What would he say, one 
 wonders, to the Alhambra under its present management? Frank 
 neglect is often less an evil than sham zeal. The student, 
 watched, badgered, oppressed by red-tapeism, has not gained 
 by official vigilance ; nor is the Palace the more secure because 
 responsibility has been transferred from a pleasant gossiping old 
 woman to half a dozen indolent guides. The burnt roof in 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 the ante-chamber to the Hall of Ambassadors shows the 
 carelessness of which the new officers can be guilty ; the 
 matches and cigarette ends with which courts and halls are 
 strewn explain that so eloquent a warning has been in vain. 
 And if the restorer has been let loose in the Alhambra, at 
 the Generalife there is an Italian proprietor, eager, it would 
 seem, to initiate the somnolent Spaniard into the brisker ways 
 of Young Italy. Cypresses, old as Zoraide, have already been 
 cut down ruthlessly along that once unrivalled avenue, and their 
 destruction, one fears, is but the beginning of the end. 
 
 But whatever changes the past sixty years have brought 
 about in Granada, the popularity of Irving's book has not 
 weakened with time. Not Ford, nor Murray, nor Hare has 
 been able to replace it. The tourist reads it within the walls it 
 commemorates as conscientiously as the devout read Ruskin in 
 Florence. It serves as text book in the Court of Lions and 
 the Garden of Lindaraxa. It is the student's manual in the 
 high mirador of the Sultanas and the court of the mosque 
 where Fortuny painted. In a Spanish translation it is pressed 
 upon you almost as you cross the threshold. Irving's rooms 
 in the Palace are always locked, that the guide may get 
 an extra fee for opening — as a special favour — an apartment 
 which half the people ask to see. As the steamers "Rip 
 Van Winkle " and " Knickerbocker " ply up and down the 
 Hudson, so the Hotel Washington Irving rises under 
 the shadow of the Alhambra. Even the spirits and spooks 
 that haunt every grove and garden are all of his creation, as 
 Spaniards themselves will be quick to tell you ; though who 
 Irving — or, in their familiar speech, " Vashington " — was, but 
 very few of them could explain. And thus his name has 
 become so closely associated with the place that, just as Died- 
 
INTRODUCTION xvi! 
 
 rich Knickerbocker will be remembered while New York stands, 
 so ^^'ashington Irving cannot be forgotten so long as the Red 
 Palace looks down upon the A'ega and the tradition of the 
 Moor lingers in Granada. 
 
 Elizabeth Robins Pennell. 
 
 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 The Journey 
 
 Palace of the Alhambra 
 
 LmportaaT Xegotiatiox;.— The Author Succeeds to 
 
 THE Throne of Boabdil 
 
 Inhabitants of the Alha^iera 
 
 The Hall of x\mbassadors 
 
 The Mysterious Chajibers 
 
 Panorama \'ie\v froji the Tower of Comares 
 
 The Balcony 
 
 The Adventure of the Mason 
 
 The Court of Lions 
 
 MEiiENTOES OF Boabdil 
 
 The House of the Weathercock .... 
 Legend of the Arabian Astrologer 
 
 Visitors to the Alha^iera 
 
 The Generalife 
 
 Legend of Prince Ahmed al Kamel, or, the Pilgrim 
 
 OF Love 
 
 A Ramble Among the Hills 
 
 Legend of the Moor's Leu.\cv 
 
 I 
 
 46 
 
 79 
 90 
 96 
 106 
 122 
 134 
 '44 
 151 
 163 
 172 
 176 
 199 
 207 
 
 217 
 259 
 270 
 
XX CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Tower of Las Infantas 293 
 
 Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses . . 297 
 Legend of the Rose of the Alhambra .... 326 
 
 The Veteran 346 
 
 The Governor and the Notary 350 
 
 Governor Mango and the Soldier 359 
 
 A Fete in the Alhamdra 377 
 
 Legend of the Two Discreet Statues .... 383 
 The Crusade of the Grand Master of Alc.\ntara . 401 
 An Expedition in Quest of a Diploma .... 413 
 The Legend of the Enchanted Soldier . . .417 
 The Author's Farewell to (tranada .... 432 
 
Seznilc 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 THE JOURNEY 
 
 In the spring of 1S29, the author of this work, whom 
 curiosity had brought into Spain, made a rambling expedition 
 from Seville to Granada in company with a friend, a member 
 of the Russian Embassy at Madrid. Accident had thrown us 
 together from distant regions of the globe and a similarity of 
 taste led us to wander together among the romantic mountains 
 of Andalusia. 
 
 And here, before setting forth, let me indulge in a few 
 previous remarks on Spanish scenery and Spanish travelling. 
 Many are apt to picture Spain to their imaginations as a soft 
 southern region, decked out with the luxuriant charms of 
 voluptuous Italy. On the contrary, though there are ex- 
 ceptions in some of the maritime provinces, yet, for the 
 greater part, it is a stern, melancholy country, with rugged 
 mountains, and long sweeping plains, destitute of trees, and 
 indescribably silent and lonesome, partaking of the savage and 
 solitary character of Africa. What adds to this silence and 
 loneliness, is the absence of singing-birds, a natural conse- 
 quence of the want of groves and hedges. The vulture and 
 g B 
 
THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 the eagle are seen wheeling about the mountain-clifrs, and 
 soaring over the plains, and groups of shy bustards stalk about 
 
 A sUni vidaucJioly connij-v. 
 
 the heaths ; but the myriads of smaller birds, which animate 
 the whole face of other countries, are met with in but few 
 
THE TOURNEY 3 
 
 provinces in Spain, and in tliose chiefly among llie orchards 
 and gardens which surround the habitations of man. 
 
 In the interior provinces the traveller occasionally traverses 
 great tracts cultivated with grain as far as the eye can reach, 
 waving at times with verdure, at other times naked and sun- 
 burnt, but he looks round in vain for the hand that has tilled 
 
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 'fyl-i^~^;¥r 
 
 ^•t5* k/-- 
 
 the soil, i^t length he perceives some village on a steep hill, 
 or rugged crag, with mouldering battlements and ruined watch- 
 tower : a stronghold, in old times, against civil v.-ar, or 
 }iIoorish inroad : for the custom among the peasantry of con- 
 gregating together for mutual protection is still kept up in most 
 parts of Spain, in consequence of the maraudings of roving 
 freebooters. 
 
 D 2 
 
THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 r^ ?^ 
 
 But though a great part of Spain is deficient in the garniture 
 of groves and forests, and the softer charms of ornamental culti- 
 vation, yet its scenery is 
 ^i^^ -^=^^^3 ■ ,. ^'^^^^'"^S^ noble in its severity and 
 
 y-^^. %,'^i-C^ ^J- .--<;> "' in unison with the attri- 
 
 and 
 
 ''^^IS^X^^'^^^^^' ^^ butes of its people;; 
 -^y/ >^ />J'^''^4^'CiJSlA, I think that I better 
 "•"^'^ ^J^" '' ' understand the proud, 
 
 '~^ii^* S^ '^\,^ hardy, frugal, and ab- 
 
 ~r>-^ _ .-^^'■"^ stemious Spaniard, his 
 ^" - ' -^C^' manly defiance of hard- 
 
 ships, and contempt of 
 effeminate indulgences, since I have seen the country he 
 inhabits. 
 
 There is something, too, in the sternly simple features of the 
 
 Spanish landscape, that impresses on the soul a feeling of 
 sublimity. The immense plains of the Castiles and of La 
 
THE ALlJA^rBRA 
 
 Mancha, extending as far as the eye can reach, derive an 
 interest from their very nakedness and immensity, and possess, 
 in some degree, the solemn grandeur of the ocean. In ranging 
 over these boundless wastes, the eye catches sight here and 
 there of a straggling herd of cattle attended by a lonely 
 herdsman, motionless as a statue, with his long slender 
 
 pike tapering up like a 
 lance into the air ; or 
 beholds a long train of 
 mules slowly moving 
 along the waste like a 
 train of camels in the 
 desert ; or a single 
 horseman, armed with 
 blunderbuss and sti- 
 letto, and prowling over 
 the plain. Thus the 
 country, the habits, the 
 very looks of the people, 
 have something of the 
 Arabian character. The 
 general insecurity of the 
 country is evinced in 
 the universal use of 
 weapons. The herds- 
 man in the field, the 
 shepherd in the plain, 
 has his musket and his knife. The wealthy villager rarely ventures 
 to the market-town without his trabtico, and, perhaps, a servant 
 on foot with a blunderbuss on his shoulder; and the most 
 petty journey is undertaken with the preparation of a warlike 
 enterprise. 
 
 The dangers of the road produce also a mode of travelling 
 resembling, on a diminutive scale, the caravans of the East''. 
 The arricros, or carriers, congregate in convoys, and set off in 
 
Roman Bridh^c^ Ronda, 
 
8 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 large and well-armed trains on appointed days ; while additional 
 travellers swell their number, and contribute to their slr^gth. 
 In this primitive way is the commerce of the country carried 
 on. The muleteer is the general medium of traffic, and the 
 legitimate traverser of the land, crossing the peninsula from the 
 Pyrenees and the Asturias to the Alpuxarras, the Serrania de 
 
 ,• 'A. 
 
 ■tv<. 
 
 
 {V 
 
 
 Ronda, and even to the gates of Gibraltar. He lives frugally 
 and hardily : his alforjas of coarse cloth hold his scanty stock 
 of provisions ; a leathern bottle, hanging at his saddle-bow, 
 contains wine or water, for a supply across barren mountains 
 and thirsty plains ; a mule-cloth spread upon the ground is his 
 bed at night, and his pack-saddle his pillow. His low, but 
 clean-limbed and sinewy form betokens strength ; his com- 
 plexion is dark and sunburnt; his eye resolute, but quiet in 
 its expression, except when kindled by sudden emotion ; his 
 
THE JOURNFA" 9 
 
 demeanour is frank, manly, and courteous, and he never passes 
 you witliout a grave salutation: ^' Dios guarde a listed/'' 
 '■ ]'a iis/cd co:i Dios, Cal'dl/eiv ! " "God guard you!" ''God 
 be with you, Ca^"alier ! " 
 
 .Vs these men ha^"e often their whole fortune at stake upon 
 the burden of their mules, they have their weapons at hand, 
 slung to their saddles, and ready to be snatched out for 
 desperate defence : but their united nimibers render them 
 
 ScJfaltul dc Ronda. 
 
 secure against petty bands of marauders, and the solitary 
 bandolero, armed to the teeth, and mounted on his Andalusian 
 steed, hovers about them, like a pirate about a merchant 
 convoy, without daring to assault. 
 
 The Spanish muleteer has an inexhaustible stock of songs 
 and ballads, with w-hich to beguile his incessant wayfaring. 
 The airs are rude and simple, consisting of but few inflections. 
 These he chants forth with a loud ^■oice, and long, drawling 
 cadence, seated sidewa\'3 on his mule, who seems to listen 
 
THK ALIIAMBRA 
 
 with infinite gravit)-, and to keep tune, with his paces, to the 
 tune. The couplets thus chanted are often old traditional 
 romances about the Moors, or some legend of a saint, or some 
 love-ditty ; or, what is still more frequent, some ballad about 
 a bold contrabandista, or hardy bandolero, for the smuggler 
 and the robber are poetical heroes among the common people 
 of Spain. Often, the song of the muleteer is composed at the 
 instant, and relates to some local scene, or some incident of 
 the journey. This talent of singing and improvising is frequent in 
 Spain, and is said to have been inherited from the Moors. There 
 
 is something 
 wildly pleas- 
 ing in listen- 
 ing to these 
 ditties among 
 the rude and 
 lonely scenes 
 they illustrate; 
 accompanied, 
 as they are, by 
 the occasional 
 jingle of the 
 mule-bell. 
 It has a 
 most picturesque effect also to meet a train of muleteers 
 in some mountain-pass. First you hear the bells of 
 the leading mules, breaking with their simple melody the 
 stillness of the airy height ; or, perhaps, the voice of the 
 muleteer admonishing some tardy or wandering animal, or 
 chanting, at the full stretch of his lungs, some traditionary 
 ballad. At length you see the mules slowly winding along the 
 cragged defile, sometimes descending precipitous cliffs, so as 
 to present themselves in full relief against the sky, sometimes 
 toiling up the deep arid chasms below you. As they approach, 
 you descry their gay decorations of worsted stuffs, tassels, and 
 
THE JOURNEY ii 
 
 saddle-cloths, while, as they pass by, the ever ready trabiiiO, 
 slung behind the packs and saddles, gives a hint of the 
 insecurity of the road. 
 
 The ancient kingdom of Granada, into which we were 
 about to penetrate, is one of the most mountainous regions of 
 Spain. \'ast sierras, or chains of mountains, destitute of shrub 
 
 '. '/■'■'''! '- 
 
 I'roni near Ehiya. 
 
 or tree, and mottled with wariegated marbles and granites, 
 elevate their sunburnt summits against a deep-blue sk)- ; yet in 
 their rugged bosoms lie ingulfed verdant and fertile valleys, 
 where the desert and the garden strive for mastery, and the 
 very rock is, as it were, compelled to yield the fig, the orange, 
 and the citron, and to blossom with the myrtle and the rose. 
 
THE ALIIAMBKA 
 
 In the wild passes of these mountains the sight of walled 
 towns and villages, built like eagles' nests among the cliffs, 
 and surrounded by Moorish battlements, or of ruined watch- 
 towers perched on lofty peaks, carries the mind back to the 
 chivalric days of Christian and Moslem warfare, and to the 
 romantic struggle for the conquest of Granada. In traversing 
 these lofty siei-ras the traveller is often obliged to alight, and 
 lead his horse up and down the steep and jagged ascents and 
 descents, resembling the broken steps of a staircase. Some- 
 times the road winds along dizzy precipices, without parapet to 
 guard him from the gulfs below, and then will plunge down 
 
 steep and dark and 
 ' '' •■ 1 dangerous declivities, 
 
 sometimes it strug- 
 gles through rugged 
 /' n-raihvs, or ravines, 
 « orn by winter tor- 
 lents, the obscure 
 path of the contni- 
 IhJiidista : while, ever 
 and anon, the omin- 
 ous cross, the monu- 
 ment of robbery and 
 murder, erected on a mound of stones at some lonely part of 
 the road, admonishes the traveller that he is among the haunts 
 of banchtti, perhaps at that very moment under the eye of 
 some lurking bandolero. Sometimes, in winding through the 
 narrow valleys, he is startled by a hoarse bellowing, and 
 beholds above him on some green fold of the mountain a herd 
 of fierce Andalusian bulls, destined for the combat of the 
 arena. I have felt, if I may so express it, an agreeable horror 
 in thus contemplating, near at hand, these terrific animals, 
 clothed with tremendous strength, and ranging their native 
 pastures in untamed wildness, strangers almost to the face of 
 man : they know no one but the solitary herdsman who attends 
 
THE JOURNEY 13 
 
 upon them, and even he at times dares not venture to approach 
 them. The low bellowing of these bulls, and their menacing 
 aspect as they look down from their rocky height, give ad- 
 ditional wildness to the savage scenery. 
 
 I have been betrayed unconsciously into a longer disquisition 
 than I intended on the general features of Spanish travelling ; 
 but there is a romance about all the recollections of the 
 Peninsula dear to the imagination. 
 
 As our proposed route to Granada lay through mountainous 
 regions, where the roads are little better than mule-paths, and 
 said to be frequently beset by robbers, we took due travelling 
 precautions. Forwarding the most valuable part of our 
 luggage a day or two in advance by the arrieros, we retained 
 merely clothing and necessaries for the journey and money for 
 the expenses of the road ; with a little surplus of hard dollars 
 by way of robber purse, to satisfy the gentlemen of the road 
 should we be assailed. Unlucky is the too wary traveller who, 
 having grudged this precaution, falls into their clutches empty- 
 handed; they are apt to give him a sound rib-roasting for 
 cheating them out of their dues. " CabaUeros like them 
 cannot afford to scour the roads and risk the gallows for 
 nothing." 
 
 A couple of stout steeds were provided for our own 
 mounting, and a third for our scanty luggage and the con- 
 veyance of a sturdy Biscayan lad, about twenty years of age, 
 who was to be our guide, our groom, our valet, and at all 
 times our guard. For the latter office he was provided with a 
 formidable trabuco or carbine, with which he promised to 
 defend us against rateros or solitary foot-pads ; but as to 
 powerful bands, like that of the " Sons of Ecija," he confessed 
 they were quite beyond his prowess. He made much vain- 
 glorious boast about his weapon at the outset of the journey ; 
 though, to the discredit of his generalship, it was suffered to 
 hang unloaded behind his saddle. 
 
 According to our stipulations, the man from whom we hired 
 
14 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 the horses was to be at the expense of their feed and stabHng 
 on the journey, as well as of the maintenance of our 
 Biscayan squire, who of course was provided with funds for 
 the purpose ; we took care, however, to give the latter a private 
 hint, that, though we made a close bargain with his master, it 
 was all in his favour, as, if he proved a good man and true, 
 both he and the horses should live at our cost, and the money 
 provided for their maintenance remain in his pocket. This 
 unexpected largess, with the occasional present of a cigar, won 
 his heart completely. He was, in truth, a faithful, cheery, 
 kind-hearted creature, as full of saws and proverbs as that 
 miracle of squires, the renowned Sancho himself, whose name, 
 by the by, we bestowed upon him, and, like a true Spaniard, 
 though treated by us with companionable familiarity, he never 
 for a moment, in his utmost hilarity, overstepped the bounds 
 of respectful decorum. 
 
 Such were our minor preparations for the journey, but above 
 all we laid in an ample stock of good-humour, and a genuine 
 disposition to be pleased ; determining to travel in true contra- 
 bandista style; taking things as we found them, rough or 
 smooth, and mingling with all classes and conditions in a kind 
 of vagabond companionship. It is the true way to travel in 
 Spain. With such disposition and determination, what a 
 country is it for a traveller, where the most miserable inn is as 
 full of adventure as an enchanted castle, and every meal is in 
 itself an achievement ! Let others repine at the lack of turn- 
 pike roads and sumptuous hotels, and all the elaborate comforts 
 of a country cultivated and civilised into tameness and common- 
 place ; but give me the rude mountain scramble ; the roving, 
 hap-hazard, wayfaring ; the half wild, yet frank and hospitable 
 manners, which impart such a true game-flavour to dear old 
 romantic Spain ! 
 
 Thus equipped and attended, we cantered out of " Fair 
 Seville city " at half-past six in the morning of a bright May 
 day, in company with a lady and gentleman of our acquaintance, 
 
THE TOURNEY 
 
 IS 
 
 who rode a few miles with us, in the Spanish mode of taking 
 leave. Our route lay through old Alcala de Guadaira (Alcala 
 
 
 
 • i/ 
 
 i0m^ 
 
 1 
 
 irti 
 
 
 on the river Aira), the benefactress of Seville, that supplies it 
 with bread and water. Here live the bakers who furnish Seville 
 
i6 
 
 THE AUIAMBRA 
 
 With that dehcious bread for which it is renowned ; here are fabri- 
 cated those roscas well known by the well-merited appellation of 
 pan de Dios (bread of God) ; with which, by the way, we 
 ordered our man, Sancho, to stock his alforjas for the journey. 
 
 ,.^.« 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 '-•^^•i. 
 
 Well has this beneficent little city been denominated the 
 " Oven of Seville " ; well has it been called Akala de los 
 Pa/iadeivs (Alcala of the bakers), for a great part of its in 
 habitants are of that handicraft, and the highway hence to 
 
 Seville is constantly tra- 
 versed by lines of mules 
 and donkeys laden with 
 great panniers of loaves 
 and roscas. 
 
 I have said Alcala sup- 
 plies Seville Avith water. 
 Here are great tanks or 
 reservoirs, of Roman and 
 Moorish construction, 
 whence water is conveyed 
 to Seville by noble aque- 
 ducts. The springs of Alcala are almost as much vaunted as 
 its ovens ; and to the lightness, sweetness, and purity of its 
 water is attributed in some measure the delicacy of its bread. 
 Here we halted for a time, at the ruins of the old Moorish 
 
 
 \f-^[ 
 
THE JOURNEY 
 
 17 
 
 
 ■'- ,. 
 
 
 'C-i'- 
 
 castle, a favourite resort for picnic parties from Seville, where 
 
 Ave had passed many a pleasant hour. The walls are of great 
 
 extent, pierced with loopholes ; enclosing a huge square tower or 
 
 keep, with the remains of niasiiiivas, or subterranean granaries. 
 
 The Guadaira winds its stream 
 
 roundthe hill,atthefoot of these 
 
 ruins, whimpering among reeds, 
 
 rushes, and pond lilies, and 
 
 overhung with rhododendron, 
 
 eglantine, yellow myrtle, and a 
 
 profusion of wild flowers and 
 
 aromatic shrubs ; while along 
 
 its banks are groves of oranges, citrons, and pomegranates, 
 
 among which we heard the early note of the nightingale. 
 
 A picturesque bridge was thrown across the little river, at 
 one end of which was the ancient Moorish mill of the castle, 
 defended by a tower of yellow stone ; a fisherman's net hung 
 against the wall to dry, and hard by in the river was his 
 boat ; a group of peasant women in bright-coloured dresses, 
 
 crossing the arched bridge, 
 \^^i-^^-^\ ^^^ '. .'' were reflected in the placid 
 
 vA, i ^;>*^^''^"' '" i^'lkj •■ ■,#-*''■ Stream. Altogether it was 
 ^ ■■!- .-■ ■■ an admirable scene for a 
 
 landscape-painter. 
 
 The old Moorish mills, 
 so often found on secluded 
 streams, are characteristic 
 objects in Spanish land- 
 scape, and suggestive of the 
 periloustimesof old. They 
 are of stone, and often in the form of towers with loopholes and 
 battlements, capable of defence in those warlike days when the 
 country on both sides of the border was subject to sudden 
 inroad and hasty ravage, and when men had to labour with their 
 weapons at hand, and some place of temporary refuge. 
 
 C 
 
i8 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 Our next halting-place ^yas at Gaiidul, where were the remains 
 of another Moorish castle, with its ruined tower, a nestling- 
 place for storks, and commanding a \'iew over a \"ast catiip'u'ia 
 or fertile plain, with the mountains of Ronda in the distance. 
 These castles were strongholds to protect the plains from the 
 laliis or fora)-s to which they were subject, when the fields of 
 corn would be laid waste, the flocks and herds swept from the 
 vast pastures, and, together with captive peasantry, hurried off 
 in long aivali^adas across the borders. 
 
 At Gandul we found a tolerable posada ; the good folks 
 could not tell us what time of day it was, the clock only struck 
 
 once in the day, two hours 
 .._,-'.,_ ■■•';%. "■■>»_ afternoon; until that time 
 
 it was guess-work. \\c 
 guessed it was full time to 
 eat ; so, alighting, we ordered 
 a repast. \\'hile that was 
 in preparation, we visited 
 the palace once the resi- 
 dence of the Marquis of 
 Clandul. All was gone to 
 decay ; there were but two 
 or three rooms habitable, and very poorly furnished. Yet here 
 were the remains of grandeur : a terrace, where fair dames and 
 gentle cavaliers may once have walked ; a fish-pond and ruined 
 garden, with grape-vines and date-bearing palm-trees. Here 
 we were joined by a fat curate, who gathered a bouquet of 
 roses, and presented it, very gallantly, to the lady who 
 accompanied us. 
 
 Below the palace was the null, with orange-trees and aloes 
 in front, and a pretty stream of pure water, ^^■e took a seat in 
 the shade ; and the miller.s, all leaving their work, sat down 
 and smoked with us ; for the Andalusians are always ready for 
 a gossip. They were waiting for the regular visit of the barber, 
 who came once a week to put all their chins in order. He 
 
THE JOURNEY 19 
 
 arrived shortly afterwards : a lad of seventeen, mounted on a 
 donkey, eager to display his new alforjas or saddle-bags, just 
 bought at a fair ; price one dollar, to be paid on St. John's day 
 (in June), by which time he trusted to have mown beards 
 enough to put him in funds. 
 
 By the time the laconic clock of the castle had struck two 
 we had finished our dinner. So, taking leave of our Seville 
 friends, and leaving the millers still under the hands of the 
 barber, we set off on our ride across the campina. It was one of 
 those vast plains, common in Spain, where for miles and miles 
 there is neither house nor tree. Unlucky the traveller who has to 
 traverse it, exposed as we were to heavy and repeated showers 
 of rain. There is no escape nor shelter. Our only protection 
 was our Spanish cloaks, which nearly covered man and horse, 
 but grew heavier every mile. By the time we had lived 
 through one shower we would see another slowly but inevitably 
 approaching ; fortunately in the interval there would be an out- 
 break of bright, warm, Andalusian sunshine, which would make 
 our cloaks send up wreaths of steam, but which partially dried 
 them before the next drenching. 
 
 Shortly after sunset we arrived at Arahal, a little town among 
 the hills. We found it in a bustle with a party of mtquekis, 
 who were patrolling the country to ferret out robbers. The 
 appearance of foreigners like ourselves was an unusual circum- 
 stance in an interior country town ; and little Spanish towns 
 of the kind are easily put in a state of gossip and wonderment 
 by such an occurrence. Mine host, with two or three old wise- 
 acre comrades in brown cloaks, studied our passports in a 
 corner of the posada, while an Alguazil took notes by the dim 
 light of a lamp. The passports were in foreign languages and 
 perplexed them, but our Squire Sancho assisted them in their 
 studies, and magnified our importance with the grandiloquence 
 of a Spaniard. In the meantime the magnificent distribution 
 of a few cigars had won the hearts of all around us ; in a little 
 while the whole community seemed put in agitation to make us 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE ALHAMBkA 
 
 welcome. The Conrgidur himself waited upon us, and a great 
 rush-bottomed arm-chair was ostentatiously bolstered into our 
 room by our landlad)', for the accommodation of that important 
 personage. The connnander of the patrol took supper with 
 us : a lively, talking, laughing Andahiz, who had made a cam- 
 paign in South America, and recounted his exploits in love and 
 war with much pomp of phrase, vehemence of gesticulation, 
 and mysterious rolling of the eye. He told us that he had a 
 list of all the robbers in the country, and meant to ferret out 
 every mother's son of them ; he offered us at the same time 
 some of his soldiers as an escort. " One is enough to protect 
 
 vou, scilors ; the robbers 
 
 v, '-J-jijj^i^^;' *--~^ " ■' ^?»'-,-,- ^ ' know me, and know my 
 
 ■' --" r" ■" - >v ' ■' :' '-''> ,-S-':" men: the sight of one is 
 
 ;,^.~-, i-i ' ■ ' ■ " -^' ::-r>H-'--'!'^""''i^'*'-' enough to spread terror 
 
 -^.^^S^f^S^^^mi^ through a whole sierra." 
 
 
 ty,' ■■ AVe thanked him for his 
 
 T- ' ■^- *^^^''^''' '^"'- assured him, 
 
 j;f--- ,:i^; '' /' .■•' ''^ "^T in his own strain, that 
 
 _,f'-^'^-4&rv~\'Hy\^ ^"'^^ ''^"^ protection of 
 
 J^jJ-y^i.'~!:/i'f^ ':. !^ 4': ■ our redoubtable squire, 
 
 Sancho, we were not 
 afraid of all the ladroncs of Andalusia. 
 
 'While we were supping with our drav/cansir friend, we heard 
 the notes of a guitar, and the click of castanets, and presently 
 a chorus of voices singing a popular air. In fact, mine host had 
 gathered together the amateur singers and musicians, and the 
 rustic belles of the neighbourhood, and, on going forth, the 
 court-yard m patio of the inn presented a scene of true Spanish 
 festivity. We took our seats with mine host and hostess and 
 the commander of the patrol, under an archway opening into 
 the court ; the guitar passed from hand to hand, but a jovial 
 shoemaker was the Orpheus of the place. He was a pleasant- 
 looking fellow, with huge black whiskers ; his sleeves were 
 rolled up to his elbows. He touched the guitar with masterly 
 
THE JOURNEY 21 
 
 skill, and sang a little amorous ditty with an expressive leer at 
 the women, with whom he was evidently a favourite. He 
 afterwards danced & fandango with a buxom Andalusian damsel, 
 to the great delight of the spectators. But none of the females 
 present could compare with mine host's pretty daughter, Pepita, 
 who had slipped away and made her toilette for the occasion 
 and had covered her head with roses ; and who distinguished 
 herself in a bolero with a handsome young dragoon. We 
 ordered our host to let wine and refreshment circulate freely 
 among the company, yet, though there was a motley assembly 
 of soldiers, muleteers, and villagers, no one exceeded the 
 bounds of sober enjoyment. The scene was a study for a 
 painter : the picturesque group of dancers, the troopers in their 
 half military dresses, the peasantry wrapped in their brown 
 cloaks ; nor must I omit to mention the old meagre Alguazil, 
 in a short black cloak, who took no notice of anything going 
 on, but sat in a corner diligently writing by the dim light of a 
 huge copper lamp, that might have figured in the days of Don 
 Quixote. 
 
 The following morning was bright and balmy, as a May 
 morning ought to be, according to the poets. Leaving Arahal 
 at seven o'clock, with all the posada at the door to cheer us 
 off, we pursued our way through a fertile country, covered with 
 grain and beautifully verdant ; but which in summer, when the 
 harvest is over and the fields parched and brown, must be 
 monotonous and lonely ; for, as in our ride of yesterday, there 
 were neither houses nor people to be seen. The latter all 
 congregate in villages and strongholds among the hills, as if 
 these fertile plains were still subject to the ravages of the 
 Moor. 
 
 At noon we came to where there was a group of trees, beside 
 a brook in a rich meadow. Here we alighted to make our 
 mid-day meal. It was really a luxurious spot, among wild 
 flowers and aromatic herbs, with birds singing around us. 
 Knowing the scanty larders of Spanish inns, and the house- 
 
2z THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 less tracts we might have to traverse, we had taken care to 
 have the alfoijas of our squire well stocked with cold provi- 
 sions, and his bota, or leathern bottle, which might hold a 
 f^allon, filled to the neck with choice Valdepenas wine.^ As 
 we depended more upon these for our well-being than even 
 his trabuco, vq exhorted him to be more attentive in keeping 
 them well charged ; and I must do him the justice to say that 
 his namesake, the trencher-loving Sancho Panza, was never 
 a more provident purveyor. Though the alforjas and the bota 
 were frequently and vigorously assailed throughout the journey, 
 they had a wonderful power of repletion, our vigilant squire 
 sacking everything that remained from our repasts at the inns 
 
 to supplying these jun- 
 I _ 1 ketings by the road-side, 
 
 which were his delight. 
 On the present occa- 
 sion he spread quite a 
 sumptuous variety of 
 remnants on the green- 
 sward before us, graced 
 with an excellent ham 
 brought from Seville ; 
 then, taking his seat at a Httle distance, he solaced himself 
 with what remained in the alforjas. A visit or two to the 
 bola made him as merry and chirruping as a grasshopper filled 
 with devi^. On my comparing his contents of the alforjas to 
 Sancho's skimming of the flesh-pots at the wedding of Cam- 
 macho, I found he was well versed in the history of Don Quixote, 
 
 ^ It may be as well to note here, that the alforjas are square pockets at 
 each end of a long cloth about a foot and a half wide, formed by turning up 
 its extremities. The cloth is then thrown over the saddle, and the pockets 
 hang on each side like saddle-bags. It is an Arab invention. The bota is 
 a leathern bag or bottle, of portly dimensions, with a narrow neck. It is 
 also Oriental. Hence the scriptural caution which perplexed me in my 
 boyhood, not to put new wine into old bottles. 
 
 , ? j\ it « 
 
THE JOURNEY 23 
 
 but, like many of the common people of Spain, firmly believed 
 it to be a true history. 
 
 "All that happened a long time ago, Seilor,'' said he, with 
 an inquiring look. 
 
 "A very long time," I rephed. 
 
 "I dare say more than a thousand years,"— still looking 
 dubiously. 
 
 " I dare say not less." 
 
 The squire was satisfied. Nothing pleased the simple-hearted 
 valet more than my comparing him to the renowned Sancho 
 for devotion to the trencher; and he called himself by no 
 other name throughout the journey. 
 
 Our repast being finished, we spread our cloaks on the green- 
 sward under the tree, and 
 
 took a luxurious siesta, in ': -. / \,,,j:;o-;r;i'««.4X'-'.,v'-' -S^ -."i-.' " 
 
 the Spanish fashion. The ■• .' ;"'• ' -. S; -f.'^^-.N ■.?^".' ■'■'^'"^"^J- ;;.'!> 
 
 clouding up of the weather, 
 however, warned us to 
 depart, and a harsh wind 
 sprang up from the south- 
 east. Towards five o'clock 
 we arrived at Osuna, a 
 
 town of fifteen thousand inhabitants, situated on the side of a 
 hill, with a church and a ruined castle. The posada was outside 
 of the walls ; it had a cheerless look. The evening being cold, 
 the inhabitants were crowded round a brasero in a chimney- 
 corner ; and the hostess was a dry old woman, who looked like 
 a mummy. Every one eyed us askance as we entered, as 
 Spaniards are apt to regard strangers ; a cheery, respectful 
 salutation on our part, caballeroing them and touching our 
 sombreros, set Spanish pride at ease ; and when we took our 
 seat among them, lit our cigars, and passed the cigar-box 
 round among them, our victory was complete. I have never 
 known a Spaniard, whatever his rank or condition, who would 
 suffer himself to be outdone in courtesy ; and to the common 
 
24 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Spaniard the present of a cigar fiiro is irresistible. Care, 
 however, must be tal;en never to offer him a present with an 
 
 air of superiority and 
 ' condescension : he is 
 too much of a cahallcyo 
 to receive favours at the 
 cost of his dignity. 
 
 Leaving Osuna at an 
 early hour the next morn- 
 ing, we entered the sierra 
 or range of mountains. 
 The road wound through picturesque scenery, but lonely ; and 
 a cross here and tliere by the roadside, the sign of a murder, 
 showed that we were now coming among the "robber haunts." 
 This wild and intricate country, with its silent plains and 
 valleys intersected by mountains, has ever been famous for 
 banditti. It was here that Omar Ibn Hassan, a robber-chief 
 among the Moslems, held ruthless sway in the ninth century, 
 disputing dominion 
 even with the califs 
 of Cordova. This too 
 was a part of the re- 
 gions so often ravaged 
 during the reign of 
 Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella by Ali Atar, the 
 old Moorish alcayde 
 of Loxa, father-in-law 
 of Boabdil so that it 
 was called Ali Atar's 
 garden, and here 
 ''Jose Maria," famous in Spanish brigand stor)-, had his 
 favourite lurking-places. 
 
 In the course of the day we passed through Fuente la Piedra, 
 near a little salt lake of the same name, a beautiful sheet of 
 
 ^-- ' 
 
 ^^^^-^^.^» 
 
 ■ ■' 'Wk 
 
 HB'. ' ' ^.ii^ii^taB 
 
 ^:.^^.^:^:^ 
 
 w£w«fjiPWWll 
 
 hmh 
 
 RBH^fr^l 
 
 HE 
 
 9Bhh 
 
 ^ 
 
 '2|, ^.,-/^ ^*. ■■-■ ..■■v>'^ 
 
THE JOURNEV 
 
 25 
 
 water, reflecting like a mirror the distant mountains. We now 
 came in sight of Antiquera, that old city of warlike reputation, 
 lymg in the lap of the great sierra which runs through Anda- 
 lusia. A noble vcga spread out before it, a picture of mild 
 fertility set in a frame of rock)' mountains. Crossing a gentle 
 river we approached the 
 
 city between hedges and ^i^^^M^^^'J-^- 
 gardens, in which nightin- 
 gales were pouring forth 
 their evening song. About 
 nightfall we arrived at the 
 gates. Everything in this 
 venerable city has a de- 
 cidedly Spanish stamp. It 
 
 lies too much out of the frequented track of foreign travel to 
 have its old usages trampled out. Here I observed old men still 
 wearing the montcro, or ancient hunting-cap, once common 
 throughout Spain ; while the young men wore the little round- 
 crowned hat, with brim turned up all round, like a cup turned 
 down in its saucer ; while the brim was set off with little 
 black tufts like cockades. The women, too, were all in 
 
 iiiaiitillas and basgiiinas. 
 The fashions of Faris had 
 not reached Antiquera. 
 
 Pursuing our course 
 through a spacious street, 
 we put up at the posada 
 ^ of San Fernando. As Anti- 
 
 quera, though a consider- 
 able city, is, as I observed, somewhat out of the track of 
 travel, I had anticipated bad charters and poor fare at the 
 inn. I was agreeably disappointed, therefore, by a supper- 
 table amply supplied, and what were still more acceptable, 
 good clean rooms and comfortable beds. Our man Sancho 
 felt himself as well off as his namesake when he had the run 
 
26 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 of the duke's kitchen, and let me know, as I retired for the 
 night, that it had been a proud time for the alforjas. 
 
 Early in the morning (May 4th) I 
 
 
 
 strolled to the ruins 
 of the old Moorish 
 castle, which itself had 
 been reared on the 
 ruins of a Roman for- 
 tress. Here, taking 
 my seat on the re- 
 mains of a crumbling 
 tower, I enjoyed a 
 grand and varied land- 
 scape, beautiful in it- 
 self, and full of storied 
 and romantic associ- 
 ations ; for I was now in the very heart of the country 
 famous for the chivalrous contests between Moor and Christian. 
 Below me, in its lap of hills, lay the old warrior city so often 
 mentioned in chronicle and ballad. Out of yon gate and down 
 yon hill paraded the 
 
 band of Spanish ca- " ^_y; ,, • . ■ - , aC 
 
 valiers, of highest rank 
 and bravest bearing, 
 to make that foray 
 during the war and 
 conquest of Granada, 
 which ended in the 
 lamentable massacre 
 among the mountains 
 of Malaga, and laid all 
 Andalusia in mourn- 
 ing. Beyond spread out the vega, covered with gardens 
 and orchards and fields of grain and enamelled meadows, 
 inferior only to the famous vega of Granada. To the right the 
 Rock of the T.overs stretched like a cragged promontory into 
 
 
THE JOUKNEY 27 
 
 the plain, ^vhence the daughter of the Moorish alcayde and her 
 lover, when closely pursued, threw themselves in despair. 
 
 The matin peal from church and convent belovif me rang 
 sweetly in the morning air, as I descended. The market-place 
 ■was beginning to throng with the populace, who traffic in the 
 abundant produce of the vega ; for this is the mart of an 
 
 f T ! ^1 
 
 t 
 
 
 '^jiH)iJ»"1T 
 
 
 
 ' ^-^ 
 
 sfc^ 
 
 %i 
 
 agricultural region. In the market-place were abundance of 
 freshly plucked roses for sale ; for not a dame or damsel of 
 Andalusia thinks her gala dress complete without a rose shining 
 like a gem among her raven tresses. 
 
 On returning to the inn I found our man Sancho in high 
 gossip with the landlord and two or three of his hangers-on. 
 He had just been telling some marvellous story about Seville, 
 which mine host seemed piqued to match with one equally 
 
2S THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 marvellous about Antiquera. There was once a fountain, he 
 said, in one of the public squares called II fiiente del toro (the 
 fountain of the bull), because the water gushed from the mouth 
 of the bull's head, carved of stone. Underneath the head was 
 
 inscribed, — 
 
 En (rente del loro 
 Se hallcn tesoro. 
 
 In front of the bull there is treasure. Many digged in front 
 of the fountain, but lost their labour and found no money. At 
 last one knowing fellow construed the motto a different way. It 
 is in the forehead fraite of the bull that the treasure is to 
 
 be found, said he to him- 
 ; i! '>7|^ i self, and I am the man 
 
 ,'€ .; rT'li to find it. Accordingly 
 
 1 »'"- >, ^ ■■■' S ''■'^\ he came, late at night, with 
 ' ' '."isSf * ■ <—?* a mallet, and knocked the 
 
 fw ^ y'^ - " head to pieces ; and what 
 ' ^(.^i:^^,^^ do you think he found ? 
 '^\f^'§£^l~-Sl''-. ■'*9^ " Plenty of gold and 
 'Kt ""^'~"''^^*"~^''' diamonds ! " cried Sancho, 
 ^ „^, eagerly. 
 
 "He found nothing," 
 rejoined mine host, dryl)', " and he ruined the fountain." 
 
 Here a great laugh was set up by the landlord's hangers-on ; 
 who considered Sancho completely taken in by what I presume 
 was one of mine host's standing jokes. 
 
 Leaving Antiquera at eight o'clock, we had a delightful ride 
 along the little river, and by gardens and orchards fragrant with 
 the odours of spring and vocal with the nightingale. Our road 
 passed round the Rock of the Lovers (el pefion de los enamo- 
 rados), which rose in a precipice above us. In the course of 
 the morning we passed through Archidona, situated in the 
 breast of a high hill, with a three-pointed mountain towering 
 above it, and the ruins of a Moorish fortress. It was a great 
 toil to ascend a steep stony street leading up into the city, 
 
THE JOURNEY 
 
 29 
 
 ■--*w-' 
 
 ■•■~^-:- 
 
 x: 
 
 •.^y 
 
 
 
 ^1-4, 
 
 although it bore the encouraging name of Gi/k Real del Llano 
 
 (the royal street of the plain), but it was a still greater toil to 
 
 descend from this mountain city on the other side. 
 
 At noon we halted in sight of Archidona, in a pleasant little 
 
 meadow among hills 
 
 covered with olive-trees. , -'/, / ' ■ ;. ■ 
 
 Our cloaks were spread 
 
 on the grass, under an 
 
 elm by the side of a 
 
 bubbling rivulet ; our 
 
 horses were tethered 
 
 where they might crop 
 
 the herbage, and Sancho 
 
 was told to produce his alforjas. He had been unusually 
 
 silent this morning ever since the laugh raised at his expense, 
 
 but now his countenance brightened, and he produced his 
 
 alforjas with an air 
 of triumph. They 
 contained the contri- 
 butions of four days' 
 lourneying, but had 
 been signally en- 
 riched by the foraging 
 of the previous even- 
 mg in the plenteous 
 mn at Antiquera ; 
 
 and this seemed to furnish him with a set-off to the banter 
 
 of mine host. 
 
 En f rente del tore 
 Se hallen teso7'o 
 
 would he exclaim, with a chuckling laugh, as he drew forth the 
 heterogeneous contents one by one, in a series which seemed to 
 have no end. First came forth a shoulder of roasted kid, very 
 little the worse for wear ; then an entire partridge ; then a great 
 morsel of salted codfish wrapped in paper ; then the residue of 
 
30 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 a ham ; then the half of a pullet, together with several rolls of 
 bread, and a rabble rout of oranges, figs, raisins, and walnuts. 
 His bota also had been recruited with some excellent wine of 
 Malaga. At every fresh apparition from his larder, he would 
 enjoy our ludicrous surprise, throwing himself back on the 
 grass, shouting with laughter, and exclaiming, " Frente del 
 toro !— frente del toro ! Ah, sefiors, they thought Sancho a 
 simpleton at Antiquera ; but Sancho knew where to find the 
 tesoro." 
 
 While we were diverting ourselves with his simple drollery, 
 a' solitary beggar approached, who had almost the look of a 
 pilgrim. He had a venerable gray beard, and was evidently 
 very old, supporting himself on a staff, yet age had not bowed 
 him down ; he was tall and erect, and had the wreck of a fine 
 form. He wore a round Andalusian hat, a sheep-skin jacket, 
 and leathern breeches, gaiters, and sandals. His dress, though 
 old and patched, was decent, his demeanour manly, and he 
 addressed us with the grave courtesy that is to be remarked in 
 the lowest Spaniard. We were in a favourable mood for such 
 a visitor ; and in a freak of capricious charity gave him some 
 silver, a loaf of fine wheaten bread, and a goblet of our choice 
 wine of Malaga. He received them thankfully, but without 
 any grovelling tribute of gratitude. Tasting the wine, he held 
 it up to the light, with a slight beam of surprise in his eye ; 
 then quaffing it off at a draught, " It is many years,'' said he, 
 "since I have tasted such wine. It is a cordial to an old 
 man's heart." Then, looking at the beautiful wheaten loaf, 
 " bendito sea tal pan 1 " " blessed be such bread ! " So saying, 
 he put it in his wallet. We urged him to eat it on the spot. 
 " No, senors," replied he, " the wine I had either to drink or 
 leave ; but the bread I may take home to share with my family." 
 
 Our man Sancho sought our eye, and reading permission 
 there, gave the old man some of the ample fragments of our 
 repast, on condition, however, that he should sit down and 
 make a meal. 
 
THE JOURNEY 31 
 
 He accordingly took his seat at some little distance from us, 
 and began to eat slowly, and with a sobriety and decorum that 
 would have become a hidalgo. There was altogether a 
 measured manner and a quiet self-possession about the old 
 man, that made me think that he had seen better days : his 
 language, too, though simple, had occasionally something 
 picturesque and almost poetical in the phraseology. I set him 
 down for some broken-down cavalier. I was mistaken ; it was 
 nothing but the innate courtesy of a Spaniard, and the poetical 
 turn of thought and language often to be found in the lowest 
 classes of this clear-witted people. For fifty years, he told us, 
 he had been a shepherd, but now he was out of employ and 
 destitute. " ^Vhen I was a young man," said he, " nothing 
 could harm or trouble me ; I was always well, always gay ; but 
 now I am seventy-nine years of age, and a beggar, and my heart 
 begins to fail me." 
 
 Still he was not a regular mendicant : it was not until recently 
 that want had driven him to this degradation ; and he gave a 
 touching picture of the struggle between hunger and pride, when 
 abject destitution first came upon him. He was returning from 
 Malaga without money ; he had not tasted food for some time, 
 and was crossing one of the great plains of Spain, where there 
 were but few habitations. When almost dead with hunger, he 
 applied at the door of a venta or country inn. " Perdon usted 
 por Dios hermano ! " (Excuse us, brother, for God's sake !) 
 was the reply — the usual mode in Spain of refusing a beggar. 
 " I turned away," said he, " with shame greater than my 
 hunger, for my heart was yet too proud. I came to a river 
 with high banks, and deep, rapid current, and felt tempted to 
 throw myself in : ' ^Vhat should such an old, worthless, 
 wretched man as I live for ? ' But when I was on the brink of 
 the current, I thought on the blessed Virgin, and turned away. 
 I travelled on until I saw a country-seat at a little distance 
 from the road, and entered the outer gate of the court-yard. 
 The door was shut, but there were two young senoras at a 
 
32 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 window. I approached and htggeA;—' Ferdon listed fo?- Dins 
 hermano ! '—and the window closed. I crept out of the court- 
 yard, but hunger overcame me, and my heart gave way : I 
 thought my hour at hand, so I laid myself down at the gate, 
 commended myself to the Holy Virgin, and covered my head 
 to die. In a little while afterwards the master of the house 
 came home: seeing me lying at his gate, he uncovered my 
 head, had pity on my gray hairs, took me into his house, and 
 gave me food. So, seilors, you see that one should always put 
 confidence in the protection of the Virgin." 
 
 The old man was on his way to his native place, Archidona, 
 which was in full view on its steep and rugged mountain. He 
 pointed to the ruins of its castle. " That castle," he said, 
 
 " was inhabited by a 
 Moorish king at the time 
 of the wars of Granada. 
 Queen Isabella invaded 
 it with a great army ; but 
 the king looked down 
 from his castle among the 
 clouds, and laughed her 
 to scorn ! Upon this the 
 \^irgin appeared to the queen, and guided her and her army 
 up a mysterious path in the mountains, which had never before 
 been known. AVhen the Moor saw her coming, he was astonished, 
 and springing with his horse from a precipice, was dashed to 
 pieces ! The marks of his horse's hoofs," said the old man, 
 "are to be seen in the margin of the rock to this day. And 
 see, se/iors, yonder is the road by which the queen and her 
 army mounted : you see it like a ribbon up the mountain's side; 
 but the miracle is, that, though it can be seen at a distance, 
 when you come near it disappears ! " 
 
 The ideal road to ^yhieh he pointed was undoubtedly a sandy 
 ravine of the mountain, which looked narrow and defined at a 
 distance, but became broad and indistinct on an approach. 
 
THE TOURNEY 
 
 As the old man's heart warmed with wine and wassail, he 
 went on to tell us a story of the buried treasure left under the 
 castle by the i^.Ioorish king. His own house was next to tire 
 foundations of the 
 castle. The curate 
 and notary dreamed 
 three times of the 
 treasure, and went to 
 work at the place 
 pointed out in their 
 dreams. His own 
 son-in-law heard the 
 sound of their pick- 
 axes and spades at night. What they found, nobody knows : 
 they became suddenly rich, but kept their own secret. Thus 
 the old man had once lieen next door to fortune, but was 
 doomed never to get under the same roof. 
 
 I have remarked that the stories of treasure buried by the 
 iMoors, so popular throughout Spain, are most current among 
 the poorest people. Kind nature consoles with shadows for 
 the lack of substantial. The thirsty man dreams of fountains 
 and running streams ; the hungry man of banquets ; and the 
 poor man of heaps of hidden gold : nothing certainly is more 
 opulent than the imagination of a beggar. 
 
 Our afternoon's ride took us through a steep and rugged 
 defile of the mountains, called Pu.erte del Key, the Pass of the 
 King ; being one of the great passes into the territories of 
 Granada, and the one by which King Ferdinand conducted his 
 army. Towards sunset the road, winding round a hill, brought 
 us in sight of the famous little frontier city of Loxa, which 
 repulsed Ferdinand from its walls. Its Arabic name implies 
 guardian, and such it was to the vega of Granada, being one of 
 its advanced guards. It was the stronghold of that fiery 
 veteran, old Ali Atar, father in-law of Boabdil ; and here it was 
 that the latter collected his troops, and sallied forth on that 
 
34 
 
 THE ALHAMBKA 
 
 disastrous foray Avliicli ended in the deatli of the old i:Iiayde 
 and his own captivity. From its commanding position at the 
 gate, as it were, of this mountain-pass, Loxa has not unaptly 
 been termed the key of Ciranada, It is wildly picturesque ; 
 built along the fa<'e of an arid mountain. The I'uius of a 
 Moorish itL'azai- or citadel crown a rocky mound vdiich rises 
 out of the centre ol the town. The river Xenil washes its base, 
 Aviading among rocks, and groves, and gardens, and meadows, 
 and crossed by a Moorish bridge. Above the city all is savage 
 
 and sterile, below is the richest vegetation and the freshest 
 verdure. A similar contrast is presented by the river : above 
 the bridge it is placid and grassy, reflecting groves and gardens ; 
 below It is rapid, noisy, and tumultuous. The Sierra Nevada, 
 the royal mountains of Granada, crowned with perpetual snow, 
 form the distant boundary to this varied landscape, one of the 
 most characteristic of romantic Spain. 
 
 iVlighting at tlie entrance of the city, we gave our horses to 
 Sancho to lead them to the inn, while we strolled about to 
 enjoy the singular beauty of the environs. As we crossed the 
 bridge to a fine ala/iwdn, or pubHc walk, the bells tolled the 
 
THE JOURNEY 55 
 
 hour of orison. At the sound the wayfarers, whetlier on 
 business or pleasure, paused, took off their hats, crossed them- 
 selves, and repeated their evening prayer : a pious custom still 
 rigidly observed in retired parts of Spain. Altogether it was a 
 solemn and beautiful evening scene, and we wandered on as the 
 evening gradually closed, and the new moon began to glitter 
 between the high elms of the alaincda. AVe were roused from 
 this quiet state of enjoyment by the voice of our trusty squire 
 hailing us from a distance. He came up to us, out of breath. 
 ''All, i\-/7i>rcs," cried he, " el pobi-e Sa/ic/io no cs nada sin Don 
 Quixote." (Ah, senors, poor Sancho is nothing without Don 
 nui.xote. ) He had been alarmed at our not coming to the 
 inn ■ Loxa was such a wild mountain place, fuU of u>?:fra- 
 
 Ihindistds, enciianters, and injiernos ; he did not well know what 
 might have happened, and set out to seek us, inquiring after us 
 of every person he met, until he traced us across the bridge, 
 and, to his great joy, caught sight of us strolling in the 
 alamcdd. 
 
 The inn to which he conducted us was called the Corona, or 
 Crown, and we found it quite in keeping with the character of 
 the place, the inhabitants of which seem still to retain the 
 bold, fiery spirit of the olden time. The hostess was a }-oung 
 and handsome Andalusian wido\v, Avhose trim basqiiina of 
 black silk, fringed with bugles, set off the play of a graceful 
 form and round pliant limbs. Her step was firm and elastic ; 
 her dark eye was full of fire and the coquetry of her air, 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 and varied ornaments of her person, showed that she was 
 accustomed to be admired. 
 
 She was well matched by a brother, nearly about her own 
 age ; they were perfect models of the Andalusian Majo and 
 Maja. He was tall, vigorous, and well-formed, with a clear 
 olive complexion, a dark beaming eye, and curling chestnut 
 whiskers that met under his chin. He was gallantly dressed in 
 a short green velvet jacket, fitted to his shape, profusely 
 decorated with silver buttons, with a white handkerchief in 
 each pocket. He had breeches of the same, with rows of 
 buttons from the hips to the knees ; a pink silk handkerchief 
 round his neck, gathered through a ring, on the bosom of a 
 neatly plaited shirt ; a sash round the waist to match ; bottinas, 
 or spatterdashes, of the finest russet leather, elegantly worked, 
 and open at the calf to show his stocking ; and russet shoes, 
 setting off a well-shaped foot. 
 
 As he was standing at the door, a horseman rode up and 
 entered into low and earnest conversation with him. He was 
 dressed in a similar style, and almost with equal finery ; a man 
 about thirty, square-built, with strong Roman features, hand- 
 some, though slightly pitted with the small-pox; with a free, 
 bold, and somewhat daring air. His powerful black horse was 
 decorated with tassels and fanciful trappings, and a couple of 
 broad-mouthed blunderbusses hung behind the saddle. He 
 had the air of one of those contrabandistas I have seen in the 
 mountains of Ronda, and evidently had a good understanding 
 with the brother of mine hostess ; nay, if I mistake not, he was 
 a favoured admirer of the widow. In fact, the whole inn and its 
 inmates had something of a contrabandista aspect, and a 
 blunderbuss stood in a corner beside the guitar. The horseman 
 I have mentioned passed his evening in the posada, and sang 
 several bold mountain romances with great spirit. As we were 
 at supper, two poor Asturians put in, in distress, begging food 
 and a night's lodging. They had been wiylaid by robbers as 
 they came from a fair among the mountains, robbed of a horse 
 
THE JOURNEY 37 
 
 v.'hich carried all their stock in trade, stripped of their money, 
 and most of their apparel, beaten for having offered resistance, 
 and left almost naked in the road. My companion, with a prompt 
 
 I\loorisk Gale, Konda. 
 
 generosity natural to him, ordered them a supper and a bed, 
 and gave them a sum of money to help them forward towards 
 their home. 
 
38 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 As the evening advanced, the dramatis personce thickened. 
 A large man, about sixty years of age, of powerful frame, came 
 strolling in, to gossip with mine hostess. He was dressed in 
 the ordinary Andalusian costume, but had a huge sabre tucked 
 under his arm ; wore large moustaches, and had something of 
 a lofty swaggering air. Every one seemed to regard him with 
 great deference. 
 
 Our man Sancho whispered to us that he was Don Ventura 
 Rodriguez, the hero and champion of Loxa, famous for his 
 prowess and the strength of his arm. In the time of the 
 French invasion he surprised six troopers who were asleep ; he 
 first secured their horses, then attacked them with his sabre, 
 killed some, and took the rest prisoners. For this exploit the 
 king allows him a peseta (the fifth of a duro, or dollar) per day, 
 and has dignified him with the title of Don. 
 
 I was amused to behold his swelling language and demeanour. 
 He was evidently a thorough Andalusian, boastful as brave. 
 His sabre was always in his hand or under his arm. He 
 carries it always about with him as a child does its doll, calls it 
 his Santa Teresa, and says, "When I draw it, the earth 
 trembles '' (tiembla la tierrd). 
 
 I sat until a late hour listening to the varied themes of this 
 motley group, who mingled together with the unreserve of a 
 Spanish posada. We had contrahandista songs, stories of 
 robbers, guerrilla exploits, and Moorish legends. The last were 
 from our handsome landlady, who gave a poetical account of 
 the infiernos, or infernal regions of Loxa, — dark caverns, in 
 which subterranean streams and waterfalls make a mysterious 
 sound. The common people say that there are money-coiners 
 shut up there from the time of the Moors ; and that the 
 Moorish kings kept their treasures in those caverns. 
 
 I retired to bed with my imagination excited by all that I 
 had seen and heard in this old warrior city. Scarce had I 
 fallen asleep when I was aroused by a horrid din and uproar, 
 that might have confounded the hero of La Mancha himself, 
 
THE JOURNEY 39 
 
 whose experience of Spanish inns was a continual uproar. It 
 seemed for a moment as if the Moors were once more breaking 
 into the town ; or the iiifiernos of which mine hostess talked 
 had broken loose. I sallied forth, half dressed, to reconnoitre. 
 It was nothing more nor less than a charivari to celebrate the 
 nuptials of an old man with a buxom damsel. Wishing him 
 joy of his bride and his serenade, I returned to my more quiet 
 bed, and slept soundly until morning. 
 
 "While dressing, I amused myself in reconnoitring the popu- 
 lace from my window. There were groups of fine-looking 
 young men in the trim fanciful Andalusian costume, with 
 brown cloaks, thrown about them in true Spanish style, which 
 cannot be imitated, and little round majo hats stuck on with a 
 peculiar knowing air. They had the same galliard look which 
 I have remarked among the dandy mountaineers of Ronda. 
 Indeed, all this part of Andalusia abounds with such game- 
 looking characters. They loiter about the towns and villages ; 
 seem to have plenty of time and plenty of money ; " horse to 
 ride and weapon to wear." Great gossips, great smokers, apt 
 at touching the guitar, singing couplets to their maja belles, and 
 famous dancers of the bolero. Throughout all Spain the men, 
 however poor, have a gentlemanlike abundance of leisure ; 
 seeming to consider it the attribute of a true cavaliero never to 
 be in a hurry ; but the Andalusians are gay as well as leisurely, 
 and have none of the squalid accompaniments of idleness. 
 The adventurous contraband trade which prevails throughout 
 these mountain regions, and along the maritime borders of 
 Andalusia, is doubtless at the bottom of this galHard 
 character. 
 
 In contrast to the costume of these groups was that of two 
 long-legged Valencians conducting a donkey, laden with articles 
 of merchandise ; their muskets slung crosswise over his back, 
 ready for action. They wore round jackets {jakcos), wide 
 linen bragas or drawers scarce reaching to the knees and look- 
 ing like kilts, red fajas or sashes swathed tightly round their 
 
40 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 waists, sandals of espartal or bass weed, coloured kerchiefs 
 round their heads somewhat in the style of turbans, but leaving 
 the top of the head uncovered ; in short, their whole appearance 
 having much of the traditional Moorish stamp. 
 
 On leaving Loxa we were joined by a cavalier, well mounted 
 and well armed, and followed on foot by an escopetero or 
 musketeer. He saluted us courteously, and soon let us into 
 his quality. He was chief of the customs, or rather, I should 
 suppose, chief of an armed company whose business it is to 
 patrol the roads and look out for contrabandistas. The 
 escopetero was one of his guards. In the course of our morn- 
 ing's ride I drew from him some particulars concerning the 
 smugglers, who have risen to be a kind of mongrel chivalry in 
 Spain. They come into Andalusia, he said, from various parts, 
 but especially from La Mancha ; sometimes to receive goods, 
 to be smuggled on an appointed night across the line at the 
 plaza or strand of Gibraltar ; sometimes to meet a vessel, which 
 is to hover on a given night off a certain part of the coast. 
 They keep together and travel in the night. In the daytime 
 they lie quiet in barrancas, gullies of the mountains, or lonely 
 farmhouses ; where they are generally well received, as they 
 make the family liberal presents of their smuggled wares. 
 Indeed, much of the finery and trinkets worn by the wives and 
 daughters of the mountain hamlets and farm-houses are presents 
 from the gay and open-handed contrabandistas. 
 
 Arrived at the part of the coast where a vessel is to meet 
 them, they look out at night from some rocky point or head- 
 land. If they descry a sail near the shore they make a con- 
 certed signal ; sometimes it consists in suddenly displaying a 
 lantern three times from beneath the folds of the cloak. If 
 the signal is answered, they descend to the shore and prepare 
 for quick work. The vessel runs close in ; all her boats are 
 busy landing the smuggled goods, made up into snug packages 
 for transportation on horseback. These are hastily thrown on 
 the beach, as hastily gathered up and packed on the horses, 
 
THE JOURNEY 
 
 41 
 
 and then the cflutnihaiidistas clatter off to the mountains. 
 They travel by the roughest, wildest, and most solitary roads, 
 where it is almost fruitless to pursue them. The custom-house 
 guards do not attempt it : they take a different course. When 
 they hear of one of these bands returning full freighted through 
 the mountains, they go out in force, sometimes twelve infantry 
 and eight horsemen, and take their station where the mountain 
 defile opens into the plain. The infantry, who lie in ambush 
 some distance within the defile, suffer the band to pass, then 
 rise and fire upon them. The contrahaiidistas dash forward, 
 but are met in front by the horsemen. A wild skirmish ensues. 
 The contfiibandistas, if hard pressed, become desperate. Some 
 dismount, use theirhorses 
 as breastworks, and fire 
 over their backs ; others 
 cut the cords, let the 
 packs fall off to delay the 
 enemy, and endeavour 
 to escape with their 
 steeds. Some get off in 
 this way with the loss of 
 their packages ; some are taken, horse,s, packages, and all ; 
 others abandon everything, and make their escape by scrambling 
 up the mountains. " And then," cried Sancho, wlio had been 
 listening with a greedy ear, "j-t' haccn ladroncs legifii/ios," — 
 and then they become legitimate rofjbers. 
 
 I could not help laughing at Sancho's idea of a legitimate 
 calling of the kind ; but the chief of customs told me it Avas 
 really the case that the smugglers, ^hen thus reduced to ex- 
 tremity, thought they had a kind of right to take to the road, 
 and lay travellers under contribution, until they had collected 
 funds enough to mount and equip themselves in coiitrabandista 
 style. 
 
 To\vards noon our wayfaring companion took leave of us and 
 turned up a steep defile, followed by his escnpelcro ; and 
 
42 
 
 THE AI.TIAMERA 
 
 shortly afterwards we cmcrL;"ed from the mountains, and entered 
 upon tlie far-famed tvi^a of C^ranada. 
 
 Our last mid-day's repast was taken under a grove of olive- 
 trees on the border of a rivulet. We were in a classical neigh- 
 bourhood ; fur not far off were the gro\es and orchards of the 
 Soto de Ivoma. This, according to fabulous tradition, was a 
 retreat founded by Count Julian to console his daughter 
 Florinda. It v.-as a rural resort of the Moorish kings of 
 Cranada ; and has in modern times been granted to the Duke 
 of \\'ellington. 
 
 Our worthy squire made a half melancholy face as he drew 
 forth, for the last time, the contents of his alforjas, lamenting 
 
 that our expedition was draw- 
 ing to a close, for, with such 
 cavaliers, he said, he could 
 travel to the world's end. Our 
 repast, howe'.er, vras a gay one; 
 made under such delightful 
 auspices. The day was with- 
 out a cloud. The heat of the 
 sun was tempered by cool l)reczes from the mountains. Leforc 
 us extended the glorious ?v;>77. In the distance was romantic 
 Clranada surmounted by the ruddy towers of the Alhambra, 
 while far above it the snowy summits of the Sierra Nevada 
 shone like sihx'r. 
 
 Our repast finished, we spread our cloaks and took our last 
 siesta al fresco, lulled by the humming of bees among the 
 flowers and the notes of doves among the olive-trees. When 
 the sultry hours were passed Ave resumed our journey. After a 
 time we overtook a pursy little man, shaped not unlike a toad 
 and mounted on a mule. He fell into conversation with 
 Sancho, and finding we were strangers, undertook to guide us 
 to a good Posada. He was an csiribano (notary), he .said, and 
 knew the city as thoroughly as his own pocket. '■ Ah 'jJios, 
 Scfion-s / what a city you are going to see. Such streets ! such 
 
THE JOURNEY 
 
 43 
 
 squares ! such palaces ! and then the women— ah, Santa Maria 
 J>urisima—\Yha.t women ! "— " But theposada you talk of," said 
 I, " are you sure it is a good one ? " 
 
 " Good ! Sa?ita Maria ! the best in Granada. Saloms 
 
 { 
 
 
 
 i^^%.^ 
 
 
 
 ■ .Mill 
 
 :-, ^-:\ ^ 
 
 grandes — camas de luxo — colchones de pluma (grand saloons 
 — luxurious sleeping-rooms — beds of down). Ah, Seiiores, you 
 will fare like King Chico in the Alhambra." 
 
 " And how will my horses fare ? " cried Sancho. 
 
 " Like King Chico's horses. Chocolate con leche y boUos fara 
 
44 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 almuerza " (chocolate and milk with sugar cakes for breakfast), 
 giving the squire a knowing wink and a leer. 
 
 After such satisfactory accounts, nothing more was to be 
 desired on that head. So we rode quietly on, the squab little 
 notary taking the lead, and turning to us every moment with 
 some fresh exclamation about the grandeurs of Granada and 
 the famous times we were to have at the posada. 
 
 Thus escorted, we passed between hedges of aloes and 
 
 ■•<.-.^- .-• --|^i^^Wf?^^^r;. 
 
 ,'.:'" VS-'". :i* ^ " i^i'^&.'^^^fed^i'i^ . "'" ■>( 
 
 .<.-^~' 
 
 
 Indian figs, and through that wilderness of gardens with which 
 the vega is embroidered, and arrived about sunset at the gates 
 of the city. Our officious little conductor conveyed us up one 
 street and down another, until he rode into the court-yard of 
 an inn where he appeared to be perfectly at home. Summon- 
 ing the landlord by his Christian name, he committed us to his 
 care as two cavalkros de mucho valor, worthy of his best apart- 
 ments and most sumptuous fare. We were instantly reminded 
 of the patronising stranger who introduced Gil Bias with such 
 
THE JOURNEY 45 
 
 a flourish of trumpets to the host and hostess of the inn at 
 Pennaflor, ordering trouts for his supper, and eating voraciously 
 at his expense. " You know not what you possess," cried he 
 to the innkeeper and his wife. " You have a treasure in your 
 house. Behold in this young gentleman the eighth wonder of 
 the world — nothing in this house is too good for Seiior Gil 
 Bias of Santillane, who deserves to be entertained like a 
 prince." 
 
 Determined that the little notary should not eat trouts at 
 our expense, like his prototype of Pennaflor, we forbore to ask 
 him to supper ; nor had we reason to reproach ourselves with 
 ingratitude, for we found before morning the little varlet, who 
 was no doubt a good friend of the landlord, had decoyed us 
 into one of the shabbiest posadas in Granada. 
 
 <■,:' 
 
 
 . -.■-,\^ mi) 
 
 
 rf'{% e 
 
 
 H^. '«-. 
 

 JT, 
 
 il?^-l^j^riim. 
 
 
 Piedralga Cassia. 
 
 PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 To the traveller imbued with a feeling for the historical and 
 poetical, so inseparately interwined in the annals of romantic 
 Spain, the Alhambra is as much an object of devotion as is the 
 
 
 Caaba to all true Moslems. How many legends and traditions, 
 true and fabulous, — how many songs and ballads, Arabian and 
 Spanish, of love and war and chivalry, are associated with this 
 Oriental pile ! It was the royal abode of the Moorish kings, 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 47 
 
 where, surrounded with the splendours and refinements of 
 Asiatic luxury, they held dominion over what they vaunted as 
 a terrestrial paradise, and made their last stand for empire in 
 Spain. The royal palace forms but a part of a fortress, the 
 n-alls of which, studded with towers, stretch irregularly round 
 the whole crest of a hill, a spur of the Sierra Nevada or Snowy 
 Mountains, and overlook the city ; externally it is a rude con- 
 gregation of towers and battlements, with no regularity of plan 
 
 
 nor grace of architecture, and giving little promise of the grace 
 and beauty which prevail within. 
 
 In the time of the Moors the fortress was capable of contain- 
 ing within its outward precincts an army of forty thousand men, 
 and served occasionally as a stronghold of the sovereigns 
 against their rebellious subjects. After the kingdom had 
 passed into the hands of the Christians, the Alhambra con- 
 tinued to be a royal demesne, and was occasionally inhabited 
 by the Castilian monarchs. The emperor Charles V. com- 
 menced a sumptuous palace within its walls, but was deterred 
 
48 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 
 ^im 
 
 .■HI 
 
 from completing it by repeated shocks of earthquakes. The 
 last royal residents were Philip V. and his beautiful queen, 
 
 Elizabetta of Parma, early in the eighteenth century. Great 
 preparations were made for their reception. The palace and 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 49 
 
 gardens were placed in a state of repair, and a new suite of 
 apartments erected, and decorated by artists brought from Italy. 
 The sojourn of the sovereigns was transient, and after their 
 departure the palace once more became desolate. Still the 
 place was maintained with some military state. The governor 
 held it immediately from the crown, its jurisdiction extended 
 down into the suburbs of the city, and was independent of the 
 
 '^sW.MJ:^^._ __^ 
 
 captain-general of Granada. A considerable garrison was kept 
 up ; the governor had his apartments in the front of the old 
 Moorish palace, and never descended into Granada without 
 some military parade. The fortress, in fact, was a little town 
 of itself, having several streets of houses within its walls, 
 together with a Franciscan convent and a parochial church. 
 
 The desertion of the court, however, was a fatal blow to the 
 Alhambra. Its beautiful halls became desolate, and some of 
 them fell to ruin ; the gardens were destroyed, and the 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 fountains ceased to play. By degrees the dwellings became 
 filled with a loose and lawless population : contrabandistas, 
 who availed themselves of its independent jurisdiction to carry 
 on a wide and daring course of smuggling, and thieves and 
 rogues of all sorts, who made this their place of refuge whence 
 they might depredate upon Granada and its vicinity. The strong 
 arm of government at length interfered ; the whole community 
 was thoroughly sifted ; none were suffered to remain but such 
 as were of honest character, and had 
 legitimate right to a residence ; the 
 greater part of the houses were de- 
 
 
 
 molished and a mere hamlet 
 left, with the parochial church 
 and the Franciscan convent. 
 During the recent troubles in Spain, when Granada was in 
 the hands of the French, the Alhambra was garrisoned 
 by their troops, and the palace was occasionally inhabited 
 by the French commander. With that enlightened taste 
 which has ever distinguished the French nation in their con- 
 quests, this monument of Moorish elegance and grandeur 
 was rescued from the absolute ruin and desolation that were 
 overwhelming it. The roofs were repaired, the saloons and 
 galleries protected from the weather, the gardens cultivated 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 51 
 
 the watercourses restored, the fountains once more made to 
 throw up their sparkling showers ; and Spain may thank her 
 invaders for having preserved to her tlie most beautiful and 
 interesting of her historical monuments. 
 
 On the departure of the French they blew up several towers 
 of the outer wall, and left the fortifications scarcely tenable. 
 Since that time the military importance of the post is at an 
 end. The garrison is a handful of invalid soldiers, whose 
 
 ;\ 
 
 
 
 
 principal duty is to guard some of the outer towers, which 
 serve occasionally as a prison of state; and the governor, 
 abandoning the lofty hill of the Alhambra, resides in the centre 
 of Granada, for the more convenient despatch of his official 
 duties. 
 
 Our first object of course, on the morning after our arrival, 
 was a visit to this time-honoured edifice ; it has been so often, 
 however, and so minutely described by travellers, that I shall 
 not undertake to give a comprehensive and elaborate account 
 
 E 3 
 
52 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 of it, but merely occasional sketches of parts, with the incidents 
 and associations connected with them. 
 
 Leaving our fosada, and traversing the renowned square of 
 the Vivarrambla, once the scene of Moorish jousts and tourna- 
 ments, now a crowded market-place, we proceeded along the 
 Zacatin, the main street of what, in the time of the Moors, was 
 the Great Bazaar, and where small shops and narrow alleys still 
 retain the Oriental character. Crossing an open place in front 
 of the palace of the captain-general, we ascended a confined 
 and winding street, the name of which reminded us of the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 chivalric days of Granada. It is called the Calle, or 
 street of the Gomeres, from a Moorish family famous in 
 chronicle and song. This street led up to the Puerta de 
 las Granadas, a massive gateway of Grecian architecture, built 
 by Charles V., forming the entrance to the domains of the 
 Alhambra. 
 
 At the gate were two or three ragged superannuated soldiers, 
 dozing on a stone bench, the successors of the Zegris and the 
 Abencerrages ; while a tall meagre varlet, whose rusty-brown 
 cloak was evidently intended to conceal the ragged state of his 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 S3 
 
 nether garments, was lounging in the sunshine and gossiping 
 with an ancient sentinel on duty. He joined us as we entered 
 the gate, and offered his services to show us the fortress. 
 
 I have a traveller's dislike to officious ciceroni, and did not 
 altogether like the garb of the applicant. 
 
 " You are well acquainted with the place, I presume ? " 
 " Ntnguno mas ; pues senor, soy hijo de la AlhambraJ' 
 
S4 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 (Nobody better ; in fact, sir, I am a son of the Alhambra !) 
 The common Spaniards have certainly a most poetical way 
 of expressing themselves. " A son of the Alhambra ! " the ap- 
 pellation caught me at once ; the very tattered garb of my new- 
 acquaintance assumed a dignity in my eyes. It was emble- 
 matic of the fortunes of the place, and befitted the progeny of 
 a ruin. 
 
 I put some further questions to him, and found that his title 
 
 X 
 
 
 |j. 
 
 K ">. 
 
 -SI I 
 
 ' -1. V' I /■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 %,' 
 
 ■^ 
 
 -.H' 1 
 
 
 
 w>. '■"'i*'V»''.(V''*;' 
 
 I/I 
 
 V!^ 
 
 
 was legitimate. His family had lived in the fortress from gene- 
 ration to generation ever since the time of the Conquest. His 
 name was Mateo Ximenes. " Then, perhaps," said I, " you 
 may be a descendant from the great Cardinal Ximenes ? " — 
 "Dios sabe ! God knows, Sefior ! It may be so. We are the 
 oldest family in the Alhambra, — Chris tiams viejos, old Chris- 
 tians, without any taint of Moor or Jew. I know we belong to 
 some great family or other, but I forgot whom. My father 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 55 
 
 knows all about it : he has the coat of arms hanging up in his 
 cottage, up in the fortress.'' There is not any Spaniard, how- 
 ever poor, but has some claim to high pedigree. The first 
 title of this ragged worthy, however, had completely captivated 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 I !, \: 
 
 
 '^^^ -'-'mmm 
 
 
 H!F^« 
 
 
 
 
 me ; so I gladly accepted the services of the " son of the 
 Alhambra." 
 
 We now found ourselves in a deep narrow ravine, filled with 
 beautiful groves, with a steep avenue, and various footpaths 
 
56 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 winding through it, bordered with stone seats, and ornamented 
 with fountains. To our left we beheld the towers of the Al- 
 hambra beetling above us ; to our right, on the opposite side 
 
 \ 
 
 of the ravine, we were equally dominated by rival towers on 
 a rocky eminence. These, we were told, were the Torres Ver- 
 mejos, or vermilion towers, so called from their ruddy hue. 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 57 
 
 No one knows their origin. They are of a date much anterior 
 to the Alhambra : some suppose them to have been built by 
 the Romans ; others, by some wandering colony of Phoeni- 
 cians. Ascending the steep and shady avenue, we arrived 
 at the foot of a huge square Moorish tower, forming a kind 
 of barbican, through which passed the main entrance to the 
 
 
 W.'.r: 
 
 m 
 
 
 "•,'~'■'*^^5^- 
 
 fortress. Within the barbican was another group ot veteran 
 invalids, one mounting guard at the portal, while the rest, 
 wrapped in their tattered cloaks, slept on the stone benches. 
 This portal is called the Gate of Justice, from the tribunal held 
 within its porch during the Moslem domination, for the imme- 
 diate trial of petty causes : a custom common to the Oriental 
 
58 
 
 Tlil'. ALHAMBKA 
 
 ill' \;: 
 
 1 ;i^ V 
 
 nations, and occasionall) alluded 
 to in the sacred Scriptures. 
 " Judges and officers shalt thou ->'■' 
 make thee i/i all thy gates, and 
 they shall judge the people with 
 just judgment." 
 
 The great vestibule, or porch of the gate, is formed by an 
 immense Arabian arch, of the horseshoe form, which springs 
 to half the height of the tower. On the keystone of this arch 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 59 
 
 is engraven a gigantic hand. 'Within the vestibule, on the key- 
 stone of the portal, is sculptured, in like manner, a gigantic 
 key. Those who pretend to some knowledge of Mohammedan 
 symbols, affirm that the hand is the emblem of doctrine ; the 
 five fingers designating the five principal commandments of 
 the creed of Islam, fasting, pilgrimage, alms-giving, ablution, 
 and war against infidels. The key, say they, is the emblem of 
 the faith or of power ; the key of Daoud, or David, transmitted 
 
 to the prophet. " And the key of the house of David will I 
 lay upon his shoulder ; so he shall open, and none shall shut, 
 and he shall shut, and none shall open." (Isaiah xxii. 22.) 
 The key we are told was emblazoned on the standard of the 
 Moslems in opposition to the Christian emblem of the cross, 
 when they subdued Spain or Andalusia. It betokened the 
 conquering power invested in the prophet. "He that hath 
 the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth ; and 
 shutteth, and no man openeth." (Rev. iii. 7.) 
 
6o 
 
 TIIK ALHyVMBRA 
 
 A tlifferent explanation of these emblems, however, was 
 given by the legitimate son of the Alhambra, and one more 
 in unison with the notions of the common people, who attach 
 something of mystery and magic to everything Moorish, and 
 have all kinds of superstitions connected with this old Moslem 
 fortress. According to Mateo, it was a tradition handed down 
 from the oldest inhabitants, and which he had from his father 
 and grandfather, that the hand and key were magical devices 
 
 
 .^\ 
 
 on which the fate of the Alhambra depended. The Moorish 
 king who built it Avas a great magician, or, as some believed, 
 had sold himself to the devil, and had laid the whole fortress 
 under a magic spell. By this means it had remained standing, 
 for several years, in defiance of storms and earthquakes, while 
 almost all other buildings of the Moors had fallen to ruin and 
 disappeared. This spell, the tradition went on to say, would 
 last until the hand on the outer arch should reach down and 
 grasp the key, when the whole pile would tumble to pieces, 
 and all the treasures buried beneath it by the Moors would 
 be revealed. 
 
 Notwithstanding this ominous prediction, we ventured to 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 6i 
 
 pass through the spell-bound gateway, feeling some little as- 
 surance against magic art in the protection of the Virgin, a 
 statue of whom we observed above the portal. 
 
 After passing through the barbican, we ascended a narrow 
 lane, winding between walls, 
 
 and came on an open es- ^ iA n \., s v.^,5^,^r«sv<r^:sj»* 
 
 planade within the fortress, ^NNllvl^^^^^^te* 
 called the Plaza de los lMM |^^^ ^r#:'Ml 
 
 Algibes, or Place of the .«MpWi^^^WW 
 
 Cisterns, from great reser- ^^ST' Wwi^^Wll' 
 
 voirs which undermine it, ^^^B^^, 'nf', fx^Hit^l'' 
 
 cut in the living rock by ^^»i|'-iH ^vwll^^fA'^'' 
 the Moors to receive the mwMmm 
 water brought by conduits f«i '^'"4'lllM|f '■':'^1^ 
 from the Darro, for the supply |M| ^ ^g 11 1 II-*: ■;.'-;i|' |^ 
 
 of the fortress. Here, also, ^^HiMW|W||^-/^Vlv-f| 'f 
 
 is a well of immense depth, '^^Hi.^^fe.RlIji'^"-— i" 
 
 monument of the delicate '^Hli'^®'^^^^^?Vl4l^?lr'i' 
 taste of the Moors, who were •BrV'^-5>'';l.^i5-'^4-?^?^j^ ' 
 indefatigable in their exer- ^^1!^ r~i^\»ii-~ -^ 
 tions to obtain that element * >' ~ ~^ 
 
 in its crystal purity. 
 
 In front of this esplanade is the splendid pile commenced 
 by Charles V., and intended, it is said, to eclipse the residence 
 of the Moorish kings. Much of the Oriental edifice in- 
 tended for the winter season was demolished to make way 
 for this massive pile. The grand entrance was blocked up ; 
 so that the present entrance to the Moorish palace is through 
 a simple and almost humble portal in a corner. With all the 
 massive grandeur and architectural merit of the palace of 
 Charles V., we regarded it as an arrogant intruder, and passing 
 by it with a feeling almost of scorn, rang at the Moslem 
 portal. 
 
62 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 While waiting for admittance, our self-imposed cicerone, 
 Mateo Ximenes, informed us that the royal palace was intrusted 
 to the care of a worthy old maiden dame called Dona Antonia- 
 
 Molina, but who, according 
 to Spanish custom, went by 
 the more neighbourly appel- 
 lation of Tia Antonia (Aunt 
 Antonia), who maintained 
 ]i the Moorish halls and gar 
 dens in order and showed 
 them to strangers. While 
 •we were talking, the door 
 was opened by a plump 
 little black-eyed Andalu- 
 sian damsel, whom Mateo 
 addressed as Dolores, but 
 who from her bright looks 
 and cheerful disposition 
 evidently merited a merrier 
 name. Mateo informed 
 me in a whisper that she 
 wq,s the niece of Tia An- 
 tonia, and I found she 
 was the good fairy who 
 was to conduct us through 
 the enchanted palace. Under her guidance we crossed 
 the threshold, and were at once transported, as if by 
 magic wand, into other times and an oriental realm, and 
 were treading the scenes of Arabian story. Nothing could 
 be in greater contrast than the unpromising exterior of the 
 pile with the scene now before us. We found ourselves in 
 a vast patio or court, one hundred and fifty feet in length, and 
 upwards of eighty feet in breadth, paved with white marble, 
 and decorated at each end with light Moorish peristyles, one 
 of which supported an elegant gallery of fretted architecture. 
 
 
 
 ;r^vs^ 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHA>[BRA 
 
 63 
 
 Along the mouldings of the cornices and on various parts 
 ot the walls were escutcheons and ciphers, and cufic and 
 
 _,■..■,■. ,\\'^c'" '« ( 1;'-' 
 
 ^ .v^?^ 
 
 
 ^':.M^i i^i^^' 4:^^^. V 
 
 
 '■ ^v, 
 
 
 t.wf!r.4M'>: 
 
 
 
 
 '"^^,' 
 
 Arabic characters in high relief, repeating the pious mottoes 
 of the Moslem monarchs, the builders of the Alhambra, or 
 extolling their grandeur and munificence. Along the centre 
 
64 
 
 Tllli ALUAMIJRA 
 
 of the court c\l(jndcd an immense basin or tank (fs/am/iic), 
 a hundred and twenty-four feet in length, twenty-seven in 
 breadth, and five in de])th, receiving its water from two 
 marble vases. Hence it is called the Court of the Albcrca 
 (from a/ hcei-kah, the Arabic for a pond or tank), (ireat 
 numbers of gold-fish were to be seen gleaming through the 
 
 
 ;.& Ill ? Ws\ ' %V hS f[A 
 
 
 ■ ■.If- >M«UW>>MI 
 
 waters of the basin, and it was bordered by hedges of 
 roses. 
 
 Passing from the court of the iVlberca under a Moorish 
 archway, we entered the renowned court of I.ions. No part 
 of the edifice gives a more complete idea of its original beauty 
 than this, for none has suffered so little from the ravages of 
 time. In the centre stands the fountain famous in song and 
 story. The alabaster basins still shed their diamond drops ; 
 the twelve lions which support them, and give the court its 
 name, still cast forth crystal streams as in the days of Boabdil. 
 'I'he lions, however, are unworthy of their Rime, being nf miser- 
 
66 
 
 Tllli ALIIAMIJRA 
 
 able sculpture, Ihc work ])rul)ably of some ('luistian raptivc. 
 The court is laid out in flower-beds, instead of its ancient and 
 
 ^'Si 
 
 
 ) 
 
 f' "^' 
 
 '3?. % 
 
 >"■ 
 
 Fhhponrls of I hi- Alhamhra. 
 
 appropriate pavement of tiles or marble; the alteration, an 
 instance of bad taste was made by the French when in posses- 
 
PALACE OF THE ALTIAMBRA 67 
 
 sion of Granada. Round the four sides of the court are light 
 Arabian arcades of open filigree work, supported by slender 
 
 isiii 
 
 3/<B^^3g 
 
 
 
 Court 0/ the Tank. 
 
 pillars of white marble, which it is supposed were originally 
 gilded. The architecture, like that in most parts of the interior 
 of the palace, is characterised by elegance rather than grandeur, 
 
 F 2 
 
6S 
 
 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 bespeaking a delicate and graceful taste, and a disposition to 
 indolent enjoyment. When one looks upon the fairy traces 
 
 Tover of Coruara 
 
 of the peristyles, and the apparently fragile fretwork of the 
 walls, it is difficult to believe that so much has survived the 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 69 
 
 wear and t.var c,f caiturics, the shocks of earthquakes, the 
 violence ot ^var, and the quiet, though no less baneful, pilferings 
 
 The Court 0/ ^iyrtU's. 
 
 of the tasteful traveller : it is almost sufficient to excuse the 
 
 popular tradition, that the whole is protected by a magic charm. 
 
 On one side of the court a rich portal opens into the Hall of 
 
7° 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 :^-4j,*Sr_ 
 
 L<r' 
 
 ^-N,v. 
 
 -asii. 
 
 -'^**'Eaa!*WSM»fl»;f^**,3; -* 
 
 .- ^., 
 
 ■'•"-*i^3:3'«ft.- 
 
 A", _ 'i*?^ 
 
 
 '• '^^.^tTi-^.^^ *•* 
 
 .^^0- ''^- 
 
 AUianihra frojn hlouniaiti of tlic Sun. 
 
 the Abencerrages : so called from the gallant cavaliers of that 
 
 illustrious line who were here 
 perfidiously massacred. There 
 are some who doubt the whole 
 story, but our humble cicerone 
 Mateo pointed out the very 
 wicket of the portal through 
 which they were introduced 
 one by one into the court of 
 Lions, and the white marble 
 fountain in the centre of the 
 hall beside which lliey were 
 beheaded. He showed us also 
 certain broad ruddy stains on 
 the pavement, traces of their 
 blood, which, according to 
 
 popular belief, can never be effaced. 
 
 Finding we listened to him apparently with easy faith, he 
 
PALACE OF THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 71 
 
 added, that there was often heard at night, in the court of 
 Lions, a low confused sound, resembHng the murmuring of a 
 multitude, and now and then a faint tinkling, like the distant 
 clank of chains. These sounds were made by the spirits 
 of the murdered Abencerrages, who nightly haunt the scene 
 
 
 of their suffering and invoke the vengeance of Heaven on 
 their destroyer. 
 
 The sounds in question had no doubt been produced, as I 
 had afterwards an opportunity of ascertaining, by the bubbling 
 currents and tinkling falls of water conducted under the 
 
72 
 
 Till-; ALIIAMBRA 
 
 l)aveniLnt tliiough pipes and dianncls to supply the fountains ; 
 but I was too considerate to intimate such an idea to the 
 humble chronicler of the Alhambra. 
 
 Encouraged by my easy credulity, Mateo gave me the follow- 
 ing as an undoubted fact, which he had from his grandfather : — 
 
 There was once an invalid soldier, who had charge of the 
 Alhambra to show it to strangers ; as he was one evening, 
 
 
 
 Jintrancc to Hall 0/ Al'cuccrfagcs. 
 
 about twilight, passing through the court of Lions, he heard 
 footsteps on the hall of the Abcncerrages ; supposing some 
 strangers to be lingering there, he advanced to attend upon 
 them, when to his astonishment he beheld four Moors richly 
 dressed, with gilded cuirasses and cimeters, and poniards 
 glittering with precious stones. They were walking to and 
 fro, with solemn pace ; but paused and beckoned to him. The 
 old soldier, however, took to flight, and could never afterwards 
 
TALACE OF THE ALlIAilBRA 
 
 73 
 
 be prevailed upon to enter the Alhambra. Thus it is that 
 men sometimes turn their backs upon fortune ; for it is the 
 firm opinion of iNIateo, that the Moors intended to reveal 
 the place where their treasures lay buried. A successor 
 to the invalid soldier was more knowinii ; he came to the 
 
 
 Court of Lioii!^. 
 
 Alhambra poor ; but at the end of a j'ear \vent off to Malaga, 
 bought houses, set up a carriage, and still li\'es there, one 
 of the richest as well as oldest men of the place ; all which, 
 Mateo sagely surmised, was in consequence of his finding out 
 the golden secret of these phantom Moors. 
 
74 
 
 THE ALlIAMIiRA 
 
 I now perceived I had made an invaluable aciiuaintancc in 
 this son of the Alhambra, one who knew all the apocryphal 
 history of the place and firmly believed in it, and whose 
 memory was stuffed with a kind of knowledge for which I 
 have a lurking fancy, but which is too apt to be considered 
 rubbish by less indulgent philosophers. I determined to 
 cultivate the acquaintance of this learned Theban. 
 
 Immediately opposite the hall of the Abenccrrages, a 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 I I \ ^ 
 
 I'otintaiii 0/ A/n-ncc) fagcs. 
 
 [lortal, richly adorned, leads into a hall of less tragical asso- 
 ciations. It is light and lofty, exquisitely graceful in its archi- 
 tecture, paved with white marble, and bears the suggestive name 
 of the Hall of the Two Sisters. Some destroy the romance 
 of the name l:)y attributing it to two enormous slabs of ala- 
 baster which lie side by side, and form a great part of the 
 pavement: an opinion strongly supported by Mateo Ximenes. 
 Others are disposed to give the name a more poetical 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 75 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 significance, as the vague 
 memorial of Moorish beauties 
 \vho once graced this hall, 
 which was evidently a part of 
 the ro3al harem. This opinion 
 I was happy to find enter- 
 tained by our little bright- 
 eyed guide, Dolores, who 
 pointed to a balcony over an 
 inner porch, which gallery, 
 she had been told, belonged 
 to the women's apartment. 
 "You see, si'/'/:jr," said she, 
 "it is all grated and latticed, 
 like the gallery in a convent 
 
 chapel where the nuns hear mass : for the Moorish kings," 
 
 added she, indignantly, "shut up their wives just like nuns." 
 
 ^,..,^^^^ The ]3.tticcdja/oi/sies, 
 
 
 lit I 
 
 _,-t|V<g3^[ [ / , ■('.. in fact, still remain, 
 
 whence the dark-eyed 
 beauties of the harem 
 might gaze unseen upon 
 the zainbras and other 
 dances and entertain- 
 ments of the hall below. 
 On each side of this 
 hall are recesses or 
 alcoves for ottomans 
 and couches, on which 
 the voluptuous lords 
 of the Alhambra in- 
 dulged in that dreamy 
 repose so dear to the 
 Orientalists. A cupola or lantern admits a tempered light 
 from above and a free circulation of air ; while on one side 
 
76 
 
 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 is heard the rclVcshing sound of waters from the fountain of 
 the hons, and on the other side the soft plash from the Ijasin 
 in the garden of Lindaraxa. 
 
 It is impossible to contemplate this scene, so perfectly 
 Oriental, without feeling the early associations of Arabian 
 romance, and almost expecting to see the white arm of some 
 
 A/iOVtr, Hall o/ Two Sislcrs. 
 
 mysterious princess beckoning from the gallery, or some dark 
 eye sparkling through the lattice. The abode of beauty is 
 here as if it had been inhabited but yesterday ; but where are 
 the two sisters, where the Zoraydas and Lindaraxas ! 
 
 An abundant supply of water, brought from the mountains 
 by old Moorish aqueducts, circulates throughout the palace, 
 supplying its baths and fish-pools, sparkling in jets within its 
 
PALACE OF THE ALHA>[BRA 
 
 77 
 
 halls or murmuring in channels along the marble pavements. 
 When it has paid its tribute to the royal pile, and visited its 
 gardens and parterres, it flows down the long avenue leading 
 to the city, tinkling in rills, gushing in fountains, and main- 
 taining a perpetual verdure in those groves that embower and 
 beautify the whole hill of the Alhambra. 
 
 Those only who have sojourned in the ardent climates 
 
 of the South can appreciate the delights of an abode combining 
 the breezy coolness of the mountain with the freshness and 
 verdure of the valley. While the city below pants with the 
 noontide heat, and the parched Vega trembles to the eye, the 
 delicate airs from the Sierra Nevada play through these lofty 
 halls, bringing with them the sweetness of the surrounding 
 gardens. Everything invites to that indolent repose, the bliss 
 of southern climes ; and while the half-shut eye looks out from 
 shaded balconies upon the glittering landscape, the ear is 
 
78 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 lulled by the rustling of groves and the murmur of running 
 streams. 
 
 I forbear for the present, however, to describe the other 
 delightful apartments of the palace. Afy object is merely 
 to give the reader a general introduction into an abode where, 
 if so disposed, he may linger and loiter with me day by day 
 until we gradually become familiar with all its localities. 
 
 
Cobra, 
 
 IMPORTANT NEGOTIATIONS.— THE 
 
 AUTHOR SUCCEEDS TO THE THRONE 
 
 OF BOABDIL 
 
 The day was nearly spent before we could tear ourselves from 
 this region of poetry and romance to descend to the city and 
 return to the forlorn realities of a Spanish posada. In a visit 
 of ceremony to the Governor of the Alhambra, to whom we 
 had brought letters, we dwelt with enthusiasm on the scenes 
 we had witnessed, and could not but express surprise that he 
 should reside in the city when he had such a paradise at his 
 command. He pleaded the inconvenience of a residence in 
 the palace from its situation on the crest of a hill, distant from 
 the seat of business and the resorts of social intercourse. It 
 did very well for monarchs, who often had need of castle walls 
 to defend them from their own subjects. " But, seilors," added 
 he, smiling, " if you think a residence there so desirable, my 
 apartments in the Alhambra are at your service." 
 
 It is a common and almost indispensable point of politeness 
 in a Spaniard, to tell you his house is yours. — " Esfa casa es 
 sienipre a la disposicion de Vni." — "This house is always at 
 the command of your Grace." In fact, anything of his which 
 you admire, is immediately offered to you. It is equally a 
 mark of good breeding in you not to accept it ; so we merely 
 bowed our acknowledgments of the courtesy of the Governor 
 
8o 
 
 THE ALHAMliRA 
 
 
 ^" 
 
 in offeriiiL; us a royal palace. \\'c wci-e mistaken, however. 
 The Go\ernor was in earnest. " Vou will find a rambling set 
 of empty, unfurnished rooms,'' said he ; " Ivut Tia Antonia, 
 who has charge of the palace, may be able to put them in 
 some kind of order, and to take care of )ou while you are 
 
 there. It you can 
 make any arrangement 
 witji her for your ac- 
 commodation, and are 
 content with scanty 
 fare in a royal abode, 
 the palace of King 
 Chieo is at your ser- 
 vice." 
 
 AV e took the 
 Governor at his word, 
 and hastened up the 
 steep Calle de los 
 Gomeres, and through 
 the Great Gate of 
 Justice, to negotiate 
 with Dame Antonia, — 
 doubting at times if 
 this were not a dream, 
 and fearing at times 
 that the sage Duefia 
 of the fortress might 
 be slow to capitulate. 
 AVe knew we had one 
 friend at least in the garrison, who would be in our favour, 
 the bright-eyed little Dolores, whose good graces we had 
 propitiated on our first visit ; and who hailed our return to the 
 palace with her brightest looks. 
 
 All, however, went smoothly. The good Tia Antonia had 
 a little furniture to put in the rooms, but it was of the com- 
 
IMPORTANT NEGOTIATIONS 
 
 8i 
 
 monest kind, ^\■c assured Iilt we could bivouac on the floor. 
 She could supply our table, but only in her own simple way ; 
 — we wanted nothing better. Her niece, Dolores, would wait 
 upon us ; and at the word we threw up our hats and the bargain 
 was complete. 
 
 The very next day we took up our abode in the palace, and 
 never did sovereigns share a divided throne with more perfect 
 harmony. Several days passed by like a dream, when my 
 
 ... „„^S^V 
 
 -^D- 
 
 zF^Sii#4 
 
 
 
 worthy associate, being summoned to Madrid on diplomatic 
 duties, was compelled to abdicate, leaving me sole monarch of 
 this shadowy realm. For myself, being in a manner a hap- 
 hazard loiterer about the world, and prone to linger in its 
 pleasant places, here have I been suffering day by day to steal 
 away unheeded, spell-bound, for aught I know, in this old en- 
 chanted pile. Having always a companionable feeling for my 
 reader, and being prone to live with him on confidential terms, 
 I shall make it a point to communicate to him my reveries and 
 researches during this state of delicious thraldom. If they have 
 
82 
 
 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 the power of im])arting to his imagination any of the Avitching 
 charms of the place, he will not repine at lingering witli me for 
 a season in the legendary halls of the Alhambra. 
 
 And first it is proper to give him some idea of my domestic 
 
 Gfilc oj tjic A lliambya 
 
 -■J 
 
 f 
 
 ^WM 
 
 
 arrangements: they are rather 
 of a simple kind for the occu- 
 pant of a regal palace ; but 
 I trust they will be less liable 
 to disastrous reverses than 
 those of my royal predecessors. 
 
 My quarters are at one end of the Governor's apartment, a 
 suite of empty chambers, in front of the palace, looking out upon 
 the great esplanade called la plaza de los algibes (the place of 
 
IMPORTANT NEGOTIATIONS 83 
 
 the cisterns) ; the apartment is modern, but the end opposite 
 to my sleeping-room communicates with a cluster of little 
 chambers, partly Moorish, partly Spanish, allotted to the 
 chatelaine Dona Antonia and her family. In consideration of 
 keeping the palace in order, the good dame is allowed all the 
 perquisites received from visitors, and all the produce of the 
 gardens ; excepting that she is expected to pay an occasional 
 tribute of fruits and flowers to the Governor. Her family con- 
 sists of a nephew and niece, the children of two different 
 brothers. The nephew, Manuel Molina, is a young man of 
 sterling worth and Spanish gravity. He had served in the 
 army, both in Spain and the West Indies, but is now studying 
 
 
 medicine in the hope of one day or other becoming physician 
 to the fortress, a post worth at least one hundred and forty 
 dollars a year. The niece is the plump little black-eyed 
 Dolores already mentioned ; and who, it is said, will one day 
 inherit all her aunt's possessions, consisting of certain petty 
 tenements in the fortress, in a somewhat ruinous condition it 
 is true, but which, I am privately assured by Mateo Ximenes, 
 yield a revenue of nearly one hundred and fifty dollars ; so that 
 she is quite an heiress in the eyes of the ragged son of the 
 Alhambra. I am also informed by the same observant and 
 authentic personage, that a quiet courtship is going on be- 
 tween the discreet Manuel and his bright-eyed cousin, and that 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 nothing is wanting to enable them to join their hands and ex- 
 pectations but his doctor's diploma, and a dispensation from 
 the Pope on account of their consanguinity. 
 
 The good dame Antonia fulfils faithfully her contract in 
 regard to my board and lodging ; and as I am easily pleased, I 
 find my fare excellent ; while the merry-hearted little Dolores 
 keeps my apartment in order, and officiates as handmaid at 
 meal-times. I have also at my command a tall, stuttering, 
 yellow-haired lad, named Pdpe, who works in the gardens, and 
 
 would fain have acted as valet ; but in this he was forestalled 
 by Mateo Ximenes, the " son of the Alhambra." This alert 
 and officious wight has managed, sornehow or other, to stick 
 by me ever since I first encountered him at the outer gate of 
 the fortress, and to weave himself into all my plans, until he 
 has fairly appointed and installed himself my valet, cicerone, 
 guide, guard, and historiographic squire ; and I have been 
 obliged to improve the state of his wardrobe, that he may not 
 disgrace his various functions ; so that he has cast his old brown 
 mantle, as a snake does his skin, and now appears about the 
 
IMPORTANT NEGOTIATIONS 
 
 85 
 
 
 , UV ".f 
 
 fortress with a smart Andalusian hat and jacket, to his infinite 
 satisfaction, and the great astonishment of his comrades. The 
 chief fault of honest Mateo is an over-anxiety to be useful. 
 Conscious of having foisted himself into my employ, and that 
 my simple and quiet habits render his. situation a sinecure, he 
 is at his wits' ends to devise modes of making himself import- 
 ant to my welfare. I am in a manner the victim of his offici- 
 ousness ; I cannot put my foot over the threshold of the palace 
 to stroll about the fortress, but he 
 
 is at my elbow, to explain every- ,. ''Vr .>''■'• 
 
 thing I see ; and if I venture to 
 ramble among the surrounding hills, 
 he insists upon attending me as a 
 guard, though I vehemently suspect 
 he would be more apt to trust to 
 the length of his legs than the 
 strength of his arms, in case of 
 attack. After all, however, the 
 poor fellow is at times an amusing 
 companion ; he is simple-minded 
 and of infinite good humour, with 
 the loquacity and gossip of a village 
 barber, and knows all the small- 
 talk of the place and its environs ; 
 but what he chiefly values himself 
 
 on, is his stock of local information, having the most marvellous 
 stories to relate of every tower, and vault, and gateway of the 
 fortress, in all of which he places the most implicit faith. 
 
 Most of these he has derived, according to his own account, 
 from his grandfather, a httle legendary tailor, who lived to the 
 age of nearly a hundred years, during which he made but two 
 migrations beyond the precincts of the fortress. His shop, for 
 the greater part of a century, was the resort of a knot of 
 venerable gossips, where they would pass half the night talking 
 about old times, and the wonderful events and hidden secrets 
 
86 THE ALIIAMHRA 
 
 of the iilace. The whole hving, moving, thinking, and acting 
 of this historical little tailor had thus been bounded by the 
 walls of the Alhambra ; within thenr he had been born, within 
 them he lived, breathed, and had his being ; witliin them he 
 died and was buried. Fortunately for posterity his traditionary 
 lore died not with him. The authentic Mateo, when an urchin, 
 used to be an attentive listener to the narratives of his grand- 
 father, and of the gossiping group assembled round the shop- 
 board, and is thus possessed of a stock of valuable knowledge 
 
 TIic S:iyj-ound}ng Hills. 
 
 concerning the Alhambra, not to be found in books, and well 
 worthy the attention of every curious traveller. 
 
 Such are the personages that constitute my regal household ; 
 and I question whether any of the potentates, Moslem or 
 Christian, who have preceded me in the palace, have been 
 waited upon with greater fidelity, or enjoyed a serener sway. 
 
 When I rise in the morning, Pc'pe, the stuttering lad from 
 the gardens, brings me a tribute of fresh-culled flowers, which 
 are afterwards arranged in vases by the skilful hand of Dolores, 
 who takes a feminine pride in the decoration of my chambers. 
 
IMPORTANT NEGOTIATIONS 
 
 87 
 
 
 My meals are made wherever caprice dictates; sometimes 
 in one of the Moorish halls, sometimes under the arcades of 
 the court of Lions, surrounded by flowers and fountains : and 
 when I walk out, I 
 am conducted by the 
 assiduous Mateo to 
 the most romantic re- 
 treats of the moun- 
 tains, and delicious 
 haunts of the adjacent 
 valleys, not one of 
 which but is the scene 
 of some wonderful tale. 
 Though fond of pass- 
 ing the greater part of 
 my day alone, yet I 
 occasionally repair in 
 the evenings to the 
 little domestic circle 
 of Dona Antonia. This 
 is generally held in an 
 old Moorish chamber, 
 which serves the good 
 dame for parlour, kit- 
 chen, and hall of au- 
 dience, and which must 
 have boasted of some 
 splendour in the time 
 of the Moors, if we 
 may judge from the 
 traces yet remaining ; 
 but a rude fireplace has been made in modern times in 
 one corner, the smoke from which has discoloured the 
 walls, and almost obliterated the ancient arabesques. A 
 window, with a balcony overhanging the valley of the Darro, 
 
THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 lets in the cool evening breeze ; and here I take my frugal 
 supper of fruit and milk, and mingle with the conversation of 
 the family. There is a natural talent or mother-wit, as it is 
 called, about the Spaniards, which renders them intellectual 
 and agreeable companions, whatever may be their condition in 
 life, or however imperfect may have been their education : add 
 to this, they are never vulgar ; nature has endowed them with 
 an inherent dignity of spirit. The good Tia Antonia is a 
 woman of strong and intelligent, though uncultivated mind ; 
 
 and the bright-eyed 
 Dolores, though she has 
 read but three or four 
 books in the whole 
 course of her life, has 
 an engaging mixture of 
 naivetd and good sense, 
 and often surprises me 
 by the pungency of her 
 artless sallies. Some- 
 times the nephew en- 
 tertains us by reading 
 some old comedy of 
 Calderon or Lope de 
 Vega, to which he is 
 evidently prompted by 
 a desire to improve as well as amuse his cousin Dolores; 
 though, to his great mortification, the little damsel generally 
 falls asleep before the first act is completed. Sometimes Tia 
 Antonia has a little \evie of humble friends and dependants, 
 the inhabitants of the adjacent hamlet, or the wives of the 
 invalid soldiers. These look up to her with great deference, 
 as the custodian of the palace, and pay their court to her by 
 bringing the news of the place, or the rumours that may 
 have straggled up from Granada. In listening to these evening 
 gossipings I have picked up many curious facts illustrative 
 
IMPORTANT NEGOTIATIONS 89 
 
 of the manners of the people and the peculiarities of the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 These are simple details of simple pleasures ; it is the nature 
 of the place alone that gives them interest and importance. I 
 tread haunted ground, and am surrounded by romantic associa- 
 tions. From earliest boyhood, when, on the banks of the 
 Hudson, I first pored over the pages of old Gines Perez de 
 Hytas's apocryphal but chivalresque history of the civil wars of 
 Granada, and the feuds of its gallant cavaliers, Zegries and 
 Abencerrages, that city has ever been a subject of my waking 
 dreams ; and often have I trod in fancy the romantic halls of the 
 Alhambra. Behold for once a day-dream realised ; yet I can 
 scarce credit my senses, or believe that' I do indeed inhabit the 
 palace of Boabdil, and look down from its balconies upon 
 chivalric Granada. As I loiter through these Oriental chambers, 
 and hear the murmur of fountains and the sorig of the nightin- 
 gale ; as I inhale the odour of the rose, and feel the influence 
 of the balmy climate, I am almost tempted to fancy myself in 
 the paradise of Mahomet, and that the plump little Dolores is 
 one of the bright-eyed houris, destined to administer to the 
 happiness of true believers. 
 
fi 
 
 A Moorish Mill. 
 
 INHABITANTS OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 I HAVE often observed that the more proudly a mansion has 
 been tenanted m the day of its prosperity, the humbler are its 
 inhabitants in the day of its decline, and that the palace 
 of a king commonly ends in being the nestling-place of the 
 beggar. 
 
 The Alhambra is in a rapid state of similar transition. 
 Whenever a tower falls to decay, it is seized upon by some 
 tatterdemalion family, who become joint-tenants, with the bats 
 and owls, of its gilded halls ; and hang their rags, those stand- 
 ards of poverty, out of its windows and loopholes. 
 
 I have amused myself with remarking some of the motley 
 characters that have thus usurped the ancient abode of royalty, 
 and who seem as if placed here to give a farcical termination 
 to the drama of human pride. One of these even bears the 
 mockery of a regal title. It is a little old woman named Maria 
 Antonia Sabonea, but who goes by the appellation of la Reyna 
 Coquina, or the Cockle-queen. She is small enough to be a 
 fairy ; and a fairy she may be for aught I can find out, for no 
 one seems to know her origin. Her habitation is in a kind of 
 closet under the outer staircase of the palace, and she sits in 
 the cool stone corridor, plying her needle and singing from 
 morning till night, with a ready joke for every one that passes ; 
 for thouglr one of the poorest, she is one of the merriest little 
 
INHABITANTS OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 91 
 
 women breathing. Her great merit is a gift for story-telling, 
 having, I verily believe, as many stories at her command as the 
 inexhaustible Scheherezade of the Thousand and One Nights. 
 Some of these I have heard her relate in the evening tertulias 
 of Dame Antonia, at which she is occasionally a humble 
 attendant. 
 
 That there must be some fairy gift about this mysterious 
 
 -. ^.■miM'M. 
 
 ■■■■■ J''- -"■•-■ r i^'tt-i-wv 
 
 im 
 
 
 %.>-;^<«?. Tk 
 
 
 little old woman, would appear from her extraordinary luck, 
 since, notwithstanding her being very little, very ugly, and very 
 poor, she has had, according to her own account, five husbands 
 and a half, reckoning as a half one a young dragoon, who died 
 during courtship. A rival personage to this little fairy queen 
 is a portly old fellow with a bottle-nose, who goes about in a 
 rusty garb, with a cocked hat of oil-skin and a red cockade. 
 He is one of the legitimate sons of the Alhambra, and has 
 hved here all his life, filling various offices, such as deputy 
 alguazil, sexton of the parochial church, and marker of a fives- 
 
92 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 court, established at the foot of one of the towers. He is as 
 poor as a rat, but as proud as he is ragged, boasting of his 
 descent from the illustrious house of Aguilar, from which 
 sprang Gonzalvo of Cordova, the grand captain. Nay, he 
 actually bears the name of Alonzo de Aguilar, so renowned in 
 the history of the Conquest ; though the graceless wags of the 
 fortress have given him the title of el padre santo, or the holy 
 father, the usual appellation of the Pope, which I had 
 thought too sacred in the eyes of true Catholics to be 
 V thus ludicrously applied. It is a whimsical caprice of 
 fortune to present, in the grotesque person of this tatter- 
 demalion, a namesake 
 and descendant of the 
 proud Alonzo de Aguilar, 
 the mirror of Anda- 
 lusian chivalry, leading 
 an almost mendicant 
 existence about this once 
 haughty fortress, which 
 his ancestor aided to re- 
 duce ; yet such might 
 have been the lot of the 
 descendants of Agamem- 
 non and Achilles, had 
 they lingered about the 
 ruins of Troy ! 
 
 Of this motley com- 
 munity, I find the family 
 of my gossiping squire, 
 their numbers at least, a 
 of being a son of the 
 
 Mateo Ximenes, to 
 very important part, 
 
 form, from 
 His boast 
 Alhambra is not unfounded. His family has inhabited the 
 fortress ever since the time of the Conquest, handing down an 
 hereditary poverty from father to son ; not one of them having 
 
 maravedi. His father, by 
 
 ever been known to be worth 
 

 INHABITANTS OF THE ALHAMBRA 93 
 
 trade a ribbon-weaver, and who succeeded the historical tailor 
 as the head of the family, is now near seventy years of age, 
 and lives m a hovel of reeds and plaster, built by his own 
 hands, just above the iron gate. The furniture consists of a 
 crazy bed, a table, and two or three chairs; a wooden chest, 
 containing, besides his scanty clothing, the " archives of the 
 family." These are nothing more nor less than the papers of 
 various lawsuits sustained by different generations ; by which 
 It would seem that, with all their apparent carelessness and good- 
 humour, they are a litigious 
 brood. Most of the suits 
 have been brought against 
 gossiping neighbours for 
 questioning the purity of 
 their blood, and denying 
 their being Christianas 
 viejos, i.e. old Christians, 
 without Jewish or Moorish 
 taint. In fact, I doubt 
 whether this jealousy about 
 their blood has not kept 
 them so poor in purse : 
 spending all their earnings 
 on escribanos and algua- 
 zils. The pride of the 
 hovel is an escutcheon 
 suspended against the wall, 
 in which are emblazoned 
 quarterings of the arms of 
 the Marquis of Caiesedo, 
 
 and of various other noble houses, with which this poverty- 
 stricken brood claim affinity. 
 
 As to Mateo himself, who is now about thirty-five years of 
 age, he has done his utmost to perpetuate his line and continue 
 the poverty of the family, having a wife and a numerous 
 
94 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 progeny, who inhabit an almost dismantled hovel in the hamlet. 
 How they manage to subsist, He only who sees into all 
 mysteries can tell ; the subsistence of a Spanish family of the 
 kind is always a riddle to me ; yet they do subsist, and what is 
 more, appear to enjoy their existence. The wife takes her 
 holiday stroll on the Paseo of Granada, with a child in her 
 arms and half a dozen at her heels ; and the eldest daughter, 
 now verging into wom.anhood, dresses her hair with flowers, 
 and dances gaily to the castanets. 
 
 There are two classes of people to whom life seems one 
 
 long holiday, — the very 
 rich and the very poor ; 
 one, because they need 
 do nothing ; the other, 
 because they have no- 
 thing to do ; but there 
 are none who under- 
 stand the art of doing 
 nothing and living upon 
 nothing, better than the 
 poor classes of Spain. 
 Climate does one half, 
 and temperament the 
 rest. Give a Spaniard 
 the shade in summer 
 and the sun in winter, 
 a little bread, garlic, oil, 
 and garbances, an old 
 brown cloak and a 
 guitar, and let the world 
 roll on as it pleases. 
 Talk of poverty ! with him it has no disgrace. It sits upon 
 him with a grandiose style, like his ragged cloak. He is a 
 hidalgo, even when in rags. 
 
 The '■ sons of the Alhambra " are an eminent illustration of 
 
INHABITANTS OF THE ALHAMBRA 95 
 
 this practical philosophy. As the Moors imagined that the 
 celestial paradise hung over this favoured spot, so I am inclined 
 at times to fancy that a gleam of the golden age still lingers 
 about this ragged community. They possess nothing, they do 
 nothing, they care for nothing. Yet, though apparently idle 
 all the week, they are as observant of all holy days and saints' 
 days as the most laborious artisan. They attend all fetes and 
 dancings in Granada and its vicinity, light bonfires on the hills 
 on St. John's eve, and dance away the moonlight nights on the 
 harvest-home of a small field within the precincts of the fortress, 
 which yield a few bushels of wheat. 
 
 Before concluding these remarks, I must mention one of the 
 amusements of the place, which has particularly struck me. I 
 had repeatedly observed a long lean fellow perched on the top 
 of one of the towers, manoeuvring two or three fishing-rods, as 
 though he were angling for the stars. I was for some time 
 perplexed by the evolutions of this aerial fisherman, and my 
 perplexity increased on observing others employed in like 
 manner on different parts of the battlements and bastions ; it 
 was not until I consulted Mateo Ximenes that I solved the 
 mystery. 
 
 It seems that the pure and airy situation of this fortress has 
 rendered it, like the castle of Macbeth, a prolific breeding-place 
 for swallows and martlets, who sport about its towers in myriads, 
 with the holiday glee of urchins just let loose from school. 
 To entrap these birds in their giddy circlings, with hooks baited 
 with flies, is one of the favourite amusements of the ragged 
 " sons of the Alhambra," who, with the good-for-nothing in- 
 genuity of arrant idlers, have thus invented the art of angling 
 in the sky. 
 

 .-in 
 
 "r^n^ 
 
 '^^ 
 
 THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS 
 
 In one of my visits to the old Moorish chamber where the 
 good Tia Antonia cooks her dinner and receives her compan)-, 
 I observed a mysterious door in one corner, leading apparently 
 into the ancient part of the edifice. My curiosity being aroused, 
 I opened it, and found myself in a narrow, Wind corridor, 
 groping along which I came to the head of a dark winding 
 staircase, leading down an angle of the tower of Comares. 
 Down this staircase I descended darkling, guiding myself by the 
 wall until I came to a small door at the bottom, throwing which 
 open, I was suddenly dazzled by emerging into the brilliant 
 antechamber of the Hall of Ambassadors ; with the fountain of 
 the court of the Alberca sparkling before me. The ante- 
 chamber is separated with the court by an elegant gallery, 
 supported by slender columns with spandrels of openwork in 
 the Morisco style. At each end of the antechamber are 
 alcoves, and its ceiling is richly stuccoed and painted. Passing 
 through a magnificent portal, I found myself in the far-famed 
 
THE liALL OF AJIBASSADORS 97 
 
 Hall of Ambassadors, the audience chamber of the Moslem 
 monarchs. It is said to be thirt)--seven feet square, and sixty 
 feet high ; occupies the whole interior of the Tower of Comares ; 
 and still bears the traces of past magnificence. The walls are 
 beautifully stuccoed and decorated with Morisco fancifulness ; 
 the lofty ceiling v^-as originally of the same favourite material, 
 with the usual frostwork and pensile ornaments or stalactites ; 
 
 which, with the embellishments of vivid colouring and gilding, 
 must have been gorgeous in the extreme. Unfortunatel)' it 
 gave way during an earthquake, and brought down with it an 
 immense arch which traversed the hall. It was replaced by 
 the present vault or dome of larch or cedar, with intersecting 
 ribs, the whole curiously wrought and richly coloured ; still 
 Oriental in its character, reminding one of " those ceilings of 
 
K 
 
 
 98 THE ALIIAMIJRA 
 
 cedar and vormilinn that wc read of in the Prophets and the 
 Ara/'ian Ni^i^/i/s." ' 
 
 From tile great heiglit of the vault above the windows, the 
 upper part of the hall is almost lost in obscurity ; yet there is 
 a magnificence as well as solemnity in the gloom, as through it 
 
 we have gleams of 
 ■|lMv;yWV%^l^fli rich gilding and the 
 
 i^t-.*'^'-'^^''''.''^'''-' ■■"-■'1* brilliant tints of tlie 
 
 Moorish pencil. 
 
 The royal throne 
 
 -'5 "v ■'■ ' ; i*!^ was placed opposite 
 
 '^ S^-"/ \*\\ 1 J / !l' the entrance in a re- 
 
 ^"^ v^^ w cess, which still bears 
 
 'w^.ja, ^ ^ ■ f" :; an inscription inti- 
 
 W rn ^M h&^'i ™"''"S that Yusef I. 
 
 "'" 'r'AMlfX ■'il^, ii-'c::>>'s (the monarch who 
 
 U/'W'k it'll- ii^'.^/':: "■ , ^ , „ A 11 
 
 completed the Alham- 
 
 bra) made this the 
 throne of his empire. 
 Everything in this 
 noble hall seems to 
 have been calculated 
 to surround the throne 
 with impressive dignity 
 and splendour ; there 
 was none of the 
 elegant voluptuous- 
 ness which reigns in other parts of the palace. The tower 
 is of massive strength, domineering over the whole edifice and 
 overhanging the steep hillside. On three sides of the Hall of 
 Ambassadors are windows cut through the immense thickness 
 of the walls and commanding extensive prospects. The balcony 
 of the central window especially looks down upon the verdant 
 
 ' Urquharl's Pillars of Ilcrculcs. 
 
 
THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS 
 
 99 
 
 vallc)- of the Darro, with its walks, its groves, and gardens. To 
 the left it enjoys a distant prospect of the Vega. ; while directly 
 in front rises the rival height of the Albaycin, with its medley 
 of streets, and terraces, and gardens, and once crowned by 
 a fortress that vied in power with the Alhambra. "Ill fated 
 the man who lost all this ! " exclaimed Charles V., as he 
 looked forth from this window upon the enchanting scenery 
 it commands. 
 
 The balcony of the window where this royal exclamation was 
 
 made, has of late become one of my fa^■ourite resorts. I have 
 just been seated there, enjoying the close of a brilliant long day. 
 The sun, as he sank behind the purple mountains of Alhama, 
 sent a stream of effulgence up the valley of the Darro, that 
 spread a melancholy pomp over the ruddy towers of the 
 Alhambra ; while the A'ega, covered witli a slight sultry vapour 
 that caught the setting ray, seemed spread out in the distance 
 like a golden sea. Not a breath of air disturbed the stillness 
 of the hour, and though the faint sound of music and merri- 
 ment now and then rose from the gardens of the Darro, it but 
 
 H 2 
 
lOO 
 
 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 rendered more impressive the monumental silence of the i)ik: 
 which overshado\\'cd me. It was one of those hours and scenes 
 in which memory asserts an almost magical power : and, like 
 the evening sun beaming on these mouldering towers, sends 
 back her retrospective rays to light up the glories of the 
 past. 
 
 As I sat Matching the effect of the declining daylight upon 
 
 this Moorish pile, I was led 
 ] into a consideration of the 
 light, elegant, and volup- 
 tuous character prevalent 
 throughout its internal ar- 
 chitecture, and to contrast 
 it with the grand but gloomy 
 solemnity of the Gothic 
 edifices reared by the 
 Spanish conquerors. The 
 very architecture thus be- 
 speaks the opposite and 
 irreconcilable natures of the 
 two warlike people who so 
 long battled here for the 
 mastery of the Peninsula. 
 By degrees I fell into a 
 course of musing upon the 
 singular fortunes of the 
 Arabian or Morisco-Spaniards, whose whole existence is as a 
 tale that is told, and certainly forms one of the most anomalous 
 yet splendid episodes in history. Potent and durable as was 
 their dominion, we scarcely know how to call them. They 
 were a nation without a legitimate country or name. A remote 
 wave of the great Arabian inundation, cast upon the shores of 
 Europe, the)' seem to ha^e all the impetus of the first rush of 
 the torrent. 'I'heir career of conquest, from the rock of Gibraltar 
 to the cliffs of the P)'renees, was as rapid and brilliant as the 
 
 
 I\Toi(7i fains nf Alhamltirt. 
 
Tomb o, St. Ferdinand, Seville. 
 
THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 
 ■-i^_ 
 
 ""[■), 
 
 ^'' 
 
 -'.'. i' 
 
 ^3 
 
 V', 
 
 /'J * 
 
 .\'^^ 
 
 .? 
 
 Moslem viciuncs of Syria and Egyi)t. Nay, had they not been 
 checked on the plauis of Tours, ah France, all Europe, might 
 have been overrun with the same facility as the empires of the 
 East, and the Crescent at this day have glittered on the fanes 
 of Paris and London. 
 
 Repelled within the limits of the Pyrenees, the mixed hordes 
 of Asia and Africa, that formed this great irruption, gave up 
 the Moslem principle of conquest, and sought to establish in 
 Spain a peaceful and permanent 
 f^ii dominion. As conquerors, their hero- 
 
 ism was only equalled by their moder- 
 ation ; and in both, for a time, they 
 excelled the nations Avith whom they 
 contended. Severed from their native 
 homes, they loved the land given them 
 as they supposed by Allah, and strove 
 to embellish it with everything that 
 could administer to the happiness of 
 man. Laying the foundations of their 
 power in a system of wise and equitable 
 laws, diligently cultivating the arts and 
 sciences, and promoting agriculture, 
 manufactures, and commerce, they 
 gradually formed an empire unrivalled 
 for its prosperity by any of the empires of Christendom ; and 
 diligently drawing round them the graces and refinements 
 which marked the Arabian empire in the East, at the time 
 of its greatest civilisation, tliey diffused the light of Oriental 
 knowledge through the western regions of benighted Europe. 
 The cities of Arabian Spain became the resort of Christian 
 artisans, to instruct themselves in the useful arts. The universi- 
 ties of Toledo, Cordova, Seville, and Cranada were sought by 
 the pale student from other lands to acquaint himself with the 
 sciences of the Arabs and the treasured lore of anticjuity ; the 
 lovers of the gay science resorted to Cordova and Granada, to 
 
 
THE HALL Ol' AMBASSADORS 103 
 
 imbibe tlic poetry and music of tlie East ; and tlie steel-clad 
 ^\■arriors of the North hastened thither to accomplish themselves 
 in the graceful exercises and courteous usages of chivahy. 
 
 If the i\[oslem monuments in Spain, if the Mosque of Cor- 
 dova, the jVlcazar of Seville, and the Alhambra of Granada, 
 still bear inscriptions fondly boasting of the power and per- 
 manency of their dominion, can the boast be derided as arro- 
 gant and vain? Generation after generation, century after 
 centurv, passed away, and still they maintained possession of 
 
 ■ .'Mt. 
 
 
 1 MwmL.uc''^^. L^M 
 
 . i 
 
 ^' 
 
 ^•^ 
 
 .JlS '•• '•■ - 
 
 the land. A period elapsed longer than that which has passed 
 since England was subjugated by the Norman Conqueror, and 
 the descendants of Musa and Taric might as little anticipate 
 being driven into exile across the same straits, traversed by 
 their triumphant ancestors, as the descendants of Rollo and 
 William, and their veteran peers, may dream of being driven 
 back to the shores of Normandy. 
 
 With all this, however, the Moslem empire in Spain was but 
 a brilliant exotic, that took no permanent root in the soil it 
 embellished. Severed from all their neighbours m tlie ^\'est by 
 
104 
 
 THE ALHAMERA 
 
 impassable barriers of faith and manners, and separated by seas 
 and deserts from their kindred of the East, the Morisco- 
 Spaniards were an isolated people. Their whole existence was 
 a prolonged, though gallant and chivalric struggle for a foothold 
 in a usurped land. 
 
 They were the outposts and frontiers of Islamism. The 
 
 
 
 
 < » I' 
 
 
 Garden o/ A/cazar, Sci'iUi:. 
 
 Peninsula was the great battle-ground where the Gothic con- 
 querors of the north and the Moslem conquerors of the East 
 met and strove for mastery ; and the fiery courage of the Arab 
 was at length subdued by the obstinate and persevering valour 
 of the Goth. 
 
 Never was the annihilation of a people more complete than 
 that of the Morisco-Spaniards. ^^'here are they? Ask the 
 
THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS 
 
 los 
 
 shores of Barbary and its desert places. The exiled remnant 
 of their once powerful empire disappeared among the barbarians 
 of Africa, and ceased to be a nation. They have not even left 
 a distinct name behind them, though for nearly eight centuries 
 they were a distinct people. The home of their adoption, and 
 of their occupation for ages, refuses to acknowledge them, 
 except as invaders and usurpers. A few broken monuments 
 are all that remain to bear witness to their power and dominion, 
 as solitary rocks, left far in the interior, bear testimony to the 
 extent of some vast inundation. Such is the Alhambra ; — a 
 Moslem pile in the midst of a Christian land ; an Oriental 
 palace amidst the Gothic edifices of the West ; an elegant 
 memento of a brave, intelligent, and graceful people, who con- 
 quered, ruled, flourished, and passed away. 
 
 Cadiz, 
 
iMn 
 
 » 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 ' 9 
 
 ^-^rc,-^,- 
 
 r^%H 
 
 wt 
 
 HWIi^ 
 
 %i. ■ 
 
 v-^d 
 
 •■1 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 ^vm^ 
 
 B^ 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS CHAMBERS 
 
 As 1 was rambling one day about the Moorish halls, my 
 attention was, for the first time, attracted to a door in a remote 
 gallery, communicating apparently with some part of the 
 Alhambra which I had not yet explored. I attemj)ted to open 
 it, but it was locked. I knocked, but no one answered, and 
 the sound seemed to reverberate through empty chambers 
 Here then was a mystery. Here was the haunted wing of the 
 castle. How was I to get at the dark secrets lierc shut up 
 from the public eye? Should I come privately at night with 
 lamp and sword, according to the prying custom of heroes of 
 romance ; or should I endeavour to draw the secret from Pe'pe 
 the stuttering gardener; or the ingenuous Dolores, or the 
 loquacious Mateo ? Or should I go frankly and openly to 
 Dame Antonia the chatelaine, and ask her all about it ? I 
 chose the latter course, as being the simplest though the least 
 romantic ; and found, somewhat to my disappointment, that 
 
THE MYSTERIOUS CHAMBERS 
 
 there was no mystery in the case, I was welcome to explore 
 tlie apartment, and there was the key. 
 
 Thus provided, I returned forthwith to tlie door. It opened 
 as I had surmised, to a range of vacant chambers ; but they 
 were quite diflerent from the rest of the palace. The archi- 
 tecture, though rich and antiquated, was European. There 
 was nothing Moorish about it. The first two rooms were lofty ; 
 the ceilmgs, broken in many places, were of cedar, deeply 
 panelled and skilfully carved with fruits and flowers, inter- 
 mingled with 
 grotesque masks 
 or faces. 
 
 The walls had 
 evidently in an- 
 cient times been 
 hung with da- 
 mask ; but now 
 were naked, and 
 scrawled over by 
 that class of as- 
 piring travellers 
 who defile noble "^ ":^^\<.^. 
 
 monuments with 
 
 their worthless names. The windows, dismantled and open to 
 wind and weather, looked out into a charming little secluded 
 garden, where an alabaster fountain sparkled among roses and 
 myrtles, and was surrounded by orange and citron trees, some 
 of which flung their branches into the chambers. Beyond these 
 rooms were two saloons, longer but less lofty, looking also into 
 the garden. In the compartments of the panelled ceilings were 
 baskets of fruit and garlands of flowers, painted by no mean 
 hand, and in tolerable preservation. The walls also had been 
 painted in fresco in the Italian style, but the paintings were 
 nearly obliterated ; the windows were in the same shattered 
 state with those of the other chambers. This fanciful suite of 
 
io8 
 
 Tin-: ALHAMBRA 
 
 rooms terminated in an open gallery with balustrades, running 
 at right angles along another side of the garden. The whole 
 apartment, so delicate and elegant in its decorations, so choice 
 and sequestered in its situation along this retired little garden, 
 and so different in architecture from the neighbouring halls, 
 awakened an interest in its history. I found on inquiry that it 
 was an apartment fitted up by Italian artists in the early part 
 of the last century, at the time when Philip V. and his second 
 wife, the beautiful Elizabetta of Farnese, daughter of the Duke 
 
 of Parma, were expected 
 
 ^'teS 
 
 at the Alhambra. It was 
 destined for the queen and 
 the ladies of her train. 
 One of the loftiest cham- 
 bers had been her sleep- 
 ing-room. A narrow stair- 
 case, now walled up, led 
 up to a delightful belvidere, 
 originally a mirador of the 
 Moorish sultanas, commu- 
 nicating with the harem ; 
 but which was fitted up 
 as a boudoir for the fair 
 Elizabetta, and still re- 
 tains the name of el 
 tocador de la Rcyiia, or the queen's toilette. 
 
 One window of the royal sleeping-room commanded a 
 prospect of the Generalife and its embowered terraces ; another 
 looked out into the little secluded garden I have mentioned, 
 which was decidedly Moorish in its character, and also had its 
 history. It was in fact the garden of Lindaraxa, so often 
 mentioned in descriptions of the Alhambra, but who this 
 Lindaraxa was I had never heard explained. A little research 
 gave me the few particulars known about her. She was a 
 Moorish beauty who flourished in the court of Muhamed the 
 

 ■- *^ -| 
 
 Gai-den of Lindarc 
 
no THE ALIIAMBKA 
 
 Lcft-Handcd, and was tine daughter of liis loyal adherent, the 
 nitaxde of Malaga, who sheltered him in his city when driven 
 
 
 
 Fornitain of Lindaraxa. 
 
 from the throne. On regaining his crown, the a/cayde Avas 
 rewarded for his fidelity. His daughter had her apartment in 
 the Alhambra, and was given by the king in marriage to 
 
THE MYSTERIOUS CHAMBERS in 
 
 Nasar, a young Cetimerien prince descended from Aben Hud 
 the Just. Their espousals were doubtless celebrated in the 
 royal palace and their honeymoon may have passed among 
 these very bowers.^ 
 
 Four centuries had elapsed since the fair Lindaraxa passed 
 away, yet how much of the fragile beauty of the scenes she 
 inhabited remained ! The garden still bloomed in which she 
 delighted ; the fountain still presented the crystal mirror in 
 which her charms may once have been reflected ; the alabaster, 
 it is true, had lost its whiteness ; the basin beneath, overrun 
 with weeds, had become the lurking-place of the lizard, but 
 there was something in the very decay that enhanced the 
 interest of the scene, speaking as it did of that mutability, the 
 irrevocable lot of man and all his works. 
 
 The desolation too of these chambers, once the abode of 
 the proud and elegant Elizabetta, had a more touching charm 
 for me than if I had beheld them in their pristine splendour, 
 glittering with the pageantry of a court. 
 
 When I returned to my quarters, in the governor's apart- 
 ment, everything seemed tame and commonplace after the 
 poetic region I had left. The thought suggested itself : Why 
 could I not change my quarters to these vacant chambers ? 
 that would indeed be living in the Alhambra, surrounded by 
 its gardens and fountains, as in the time of the Moorish 
 sovereigns. I proposed the change to Dame Antonia and her 
 family, and it occasioned vast surprise. They could not 
 conceive any rational inducement for the choice of an apart- 
 ment so forlorn, remote, and solitary. Dolores exclaimed 
 
 ' Una de las cosas en que tienen precisa intervencion los Reyes Moros 
 as en el matrimonio de sus grandes : de aqui nace que todos los senores 
 llegadas a la persona real si casan en palacio, y siempre huvo su quarto 
 destinado para esta ceremonia. 
 
 One of the things in which the Moorish kings interfered was in the 
 marriage of their nobles : hence it came that all the senors attached to the 
 royal person were married in the palace ; and there was always a chamber 
 destined for the ceremony. — Paseos por Granada, Paseo XXI. 
 
112 THE ALIIAMliRA 
 
 at its frightful loneliness ; nothing but bats aiul owls flitting 
 about, — and then a fox and wildcat, kept in the vaults 
 of the neighbouring baths, roamed about at night. 
 The good Tia had more reasonable objections. The neigh- 
 bourhood was infested by vagrants : gipsies swarmed in the 
 caverns of the adjacent Jiills ; the palace was ruinous and easy 
 to be entered in many places ; the rumour of a stranger 
 quartered alone in one of the remote and ruined apartments, 
 out of the hearing of the rest of the inhabitants, might tempt 
 unwelcome visitors in the night, especially as foreigners were 
 
 always supposed to be well 
 
 ■ -^- >'• ■?f\v^'!'S'^^vli'!l^'"S:-' stocked with money. 1 
 
 ■ ' '■' >>' " ''ii'^'!*'''^2 .j.v. - '" ^' was not to be diverted from 
 
 ''^'. ^' i a^''%f}''mi '''»v'' my humour, however, and 
 
 ■f^^^'''-'ynJI«WSIk.? ^ my will was law with these 
 
 /fit; Wl'1S%^'"^.''- S-d people. So, calling 
 
 ' r1^r- l\'/ i *!- ■iil''fe';*:'^., '■'' the assistance of a car ■ 
 
 -■-%^'' ''■\j^j-'*'^'|f'' "^,^pI •■■'■ penter, and the ever offi- 
 
 '^■'';,..^'' r\'.' ^"" cious Mateo Ximenes, the 
 
 \ ' J-,1-. '"-^ ,_,-■ doors and wmdows were 
 
 '\''<,^,'' '. soon placed in a state of 
 
 tolerable security, and the 
 sleeping-room of the stately Elizabetta prepared for my reception, 
 Mateo kindly volunteered as a body-guard to sleep in my ante- 
 chamber ; but I did not think it worth while to put his valour 
 to the proof. 
 
 With all the hardihood I had assumed and all the pre- 
 cautions I had taken, I must confess the first night passed in 
 these quarters was inexpressibly dreary. I do not think it was 
 so much the apprehension of dangers from without that affected 
 me, as the character, of the place itself, with all its strange 
 associations ; the deeds of violence committed there ; the 
 tragical ends of many of those who had once reigned there 
 in splendour. As I passed beneath the fated halls of the 
 tower of Comares on the way to my chamber, I called 
 
^"% 
 
 V. 
 
 % iTiTT^S 
 
 ^:^^' 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 Z'-.A./y)-.;;, M, //,,^,^,^^,,^,^^,^^ 
 
ii4 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 to mind a quotation that used to thrill me in the days of 
 boyhood : 
 
 " Fate sits on these dark battlements and frowns ; 
 And, as the portal opens to receive me, 
 A voice in sullen echoes through the courts 
 Tells of a nameless deed ! " 
 
 The whole family escorted me to my chamber, and took 
 leave of me as of one engaged in a perilous enterprise ; and when 
 I heard their retreating steps die away along the waste ante- 
 chambers and echoing galleries, and turned the key of my door, 
 I was reminded of those hobgoblin stories, where the hero is 
 left to accomplish the adventure of an enchanted house. 
 
 Even the thoughts of the fair Elizabetta and the beauties of 
 her court, who had once graced these chambers, now, by a 
 perversion of fancy, added to the gloom. Here was the scene 
 of their transient gaiety and loveliness ; here were the very 
 traces of their elegance and enjoyment ; but what and where 
 were they ? Dust and ashes ! tenants of the tomb ! phantoms 
 of the memory ! 
 
 A vague and indescribable awe was creeping over me. I 
 would fain have ascribed it to the thoughts of robbers awakened 
 by the evening's conversation, but I felt it was something more 
 unreal and absurd. The long-buried superstitions of the 
 nursery were reviving, and asserting their power over my 
 imagination. Everything began to be affected by the working 
 of my mind. The whispering of the wind among the citron- 
 trees beneath my window had something sinister. I cast my 
 eyes into the garden of Lindaraxa ; the groves presented a gulf 
 of shadows ; the thickets, indistinct and ghastly shapes. I was 
 glad to close the window, but my chamber itself became 
 infected. There was a slight rustling noise overhead; a bat 
 suddenly emerged from a broken panel of the ceiling, flitting 
 about the room and athwart my solitary lamp ; and as the 
 fateful bird almost flouted my face with his noiseless wing, the 
 
THE MYSTERIOUS CHAMBERS 
 
 115 
 
 grotesque faces carved in high relief in the cedar ceiling, whence 
 he had emerged, seemed to mope and mow at me. 
 
 Rousing myself, and half smiling at this temporary weakness, 
 [ resolved to brave it out in the true spirit of the hero of the 
 enchanted house ; so, taking lamp in hand, I sallied forth to 
 make a tour of the palace. Notwithstanding every mental 
 exertion the task was a severe one. I had to tra\-erse waste 
 halls and mysterious galleries, where the ra^'s of the lamp 
 extended but a short distance around me. I walked, as it 
 were, in a mere halo of light, walled in by impenetrable dark- 
 ness. The vaulted corridors were as caverns ; the ceilings of 
 the halls were lost in gloom. 
 
 I recalled all that had been ,.„_. '\i,-; ' ;§v-; 
 
 said of the danger from in- 
 terlopers in these remote 
 and ruined apartments. 
 Might not some vagrant foe 
 be lurking before or behind ,:, 
 me, in the outer darkness ? \ 
 My own shadow, cast upon 
 the wall, began to disturb 
 me. The echoes of my 
 own footsteps along the 
 corridors made me pause and look around, 
 ing scenes fraught with dismal recollections. One dark 
 passage led down to the mosque where Yusef, the Moorish 
 monarch, the finisher of the Alhambra, had been basely mur- 
 dered. In another place I trod the gallery where another 
 monarch had been struck down by the poniard of a relative 
 whom he had thwarted in his love. 
 
 A low murmuring sound, as of stifled voices and clanking 
 chains, now reached me. It seemed to come from the Hall of 
 the Abencerrages. I knew it to be the rush of water through 
 subterranean channels, but it sounded strangely in the night, 
 and reminded me of the dismal stories to which it had given rise. 
 
 I 2 
 
 J~.:iXiii- 
 
 I was travers- 
 
ii6 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Soon, however, my ear was assailed by sounds too fearfully 
 real to be the work of fancy. As I was crossing the Hall of 
 Ambassadors, low moans and broken ejaculations rose, as it 
 were, from beneath my feet. I paused and listened. They 
 then appeared to be outside of the tower — then again within. 
 Then broke forth bowlings as of an animal — then stifled shrieks 
 and inarticulate ravings. Heard in that dead hour and singular 
 place, the effect was thrilling. I had no desire for further 
 perambulation; but returned to my chamber with infinitely 
 more alacrity than I had sallied forth, and drew my breath 
 more freely when once more within its walls and the door 
 bolted behind me. When I awoke in the morning, with the 
 sun shining in at my window and lighting up every part of the 
 building with his cheerful and truth-telling beams, I could 
 scarcely recall the shadows and fancies conjured up by the 
 gloom of the preceding night ; or believe that the scenes around 
 me, so naked and apparent, could have been clothed with such 
 imaginary horrors. 
 
 Still, the dismal bowlings and ejaculations I had heard were 
 not ideal ; they were soon accounted for, however, by my hand- 
 maid Dolores : being the ravings of a poor maniac, a brother 
 of her aunt, who was subject to violent paroxysms, during 
 which he was confined in a vaulted room beneath the Hall of 
 Ambassadors. 
 
 In the course of a few evenings a thorough change took 
 place in the scene and its associations. The moon, which 
 when I took possession of my new apartments was invisible, 
 gradually gained each evening upon the darkness of the night, 
 and at length rolled in full splendour above the towers, pouring 
 a flood of tempered light into every court and hall. The 
 garden beneath my window, before wrapped in gloom, was 
 gently lighted up ; the orange and citron trees were tipped with 
 silver; the fountain sparkled in the moonbeams, and even 
 the blush of the rose was faintly visible. 
 
 I now felt the poetic merit of the Arabic inscription on the 
 
mi 
 
 
 
 
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 "-s^-'-^io' 
 
 
 '■s«lp 
 
 ■^ 
 
 
 K 
 
 ^ ,-X'^.t^ ",'■'-■' 
 
 
 
 
 ^>, 4..: .-),,' 4j-..-- u>^-'«--i«^ 
 
 
 
 
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 Ti 
 
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 s.T 
 
 
 
 
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 ►t. 
 
 
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 Oi'* a/>j 
 
 r*~ 
 
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 var- 
 
THE ArvsTF.raous ciiaaibers 
 
 n; 
 
 walls, — " How beauteous is this garden ; where the flowers of 
 the earth vie with the stars of heaven. What can compare 
 with the vase of yon alaliaster fountain filled with crystal water ? 
 nothing but the moon in her fulness, shining in the midst of an 
 unclouded sky ! " 
 
 On such heavenly nights I would sit for hours at my window 
 inhaling the sweetness of the garden, and musing on the 
 chequered fortunes of those whose history was dimly shadowed 
 out in the elegant memorials around. Sometimes, when all 
 
 was quiet, and the clock from the distant cathedral of Cranada 
 struck the midnight hour, I have sallied out on another tour 
 and wandered over the whole building ; but how different 
 from my first tour ! No longer dark and mysterious ; no 
 longer peopled with shadowy foes ; no longer recalling scenes 
 of violence and murder ; all was open, spacious, beautiful ; 
 everything called up pleasing and romantic fancies ; Lmdaraxa 
 once more walked in her garden ; the gay chivalry of Moslem 
 Granada once more glittered about the Court of Lions ! Who 
 can do justice to a moonlight night in such a climate and such 
 a place ? The temperature of a summer midnight in Andalusia 
 
THE ALIIAMLiRA 
 
 is perfectly ethereal. We seem lifted up into a purer atmo- 
 sphere ; we feel a serenity of soul, a buoyancy of spirits, an 
 elasticity of frame, which render mere existence happiness. 
 
 
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 ^ - -, Ciil" 
 
 A^ 
 
 
 ^^^"^^ ''- * ■ 
 
 *-<-• §***' 
 
 ^■13 
 
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 EI Tecador de la Reyna. 
 
 Bat when moonlight is added to all this, the effect is like 
 enchantment. Under its plastic sway the Alhambra seems to 
 regain its pristine glories. Every rent and chasm of time ; 
 
THE MYSTERIOUS CHAMBERS 
 
 119 
 
 every mouldering tint and weather-stain is gone : the marble 
 resumes its original whiteness ; the long colonnades brighten in 
 
 the moonbeams ; the halls are illuminated ^^•ith a softened 
 
 radiance, — we tread the enchanted palace of an Arabian tale! 
 
 What a delight, at such a time, to ascend to the little airy 
 
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 pavilion of the Cjueen's toilette {el focador de la reyna), 
 which, like a bird-cage, overhangs the valley of the Darro, and 
 
TIIF ALIIAMTiRA 
 
 gaze from its light arcades upon the moonhghl prospect ! To 
 tile right, the sweHing mountains of tiic Sierra Nevada, robbed 
 of their ruggedness and softened into a fairy land, with their 
 snow)' summits gleaming like silver clouds against the dee;) 
 blue sky. And then to lean over the parapet of the Tocador 
 and gaze down upon Granada and the Albaycin spread out 
 like a map below ; all buried in deep repose ; the white palaces 
 
 T 
 
 4 m;,^:^ '^'Z 
 
 ^'t^' ' vni, 
 
 flpiisc of the Grand Cafyiain. 
 
 and convents sleeping in the moonshine, and beyond all these 
 the vapoury Vega fading away like a dreamland in the distance. 
 S(.)metimes the faint click of castanets rise from the Alameda, 
 where some gay y\ndalusians are dancing away the summer 
 night. Sometimes the duliious tones of a guitar and the notes 
 of an amorous voice, tell perchance the whereabout of some 
 moonstruck lover serenading his lady's window. 
 
Till-: MVSTKRIOUS CIIAMEKRS 121 
 
 Such is a faint [lictiire of the moonlight nights I have passed 
 loitering about the courts and halls and balconies of this most 
 suggestive pile ; " feeding my fancy with sugared suppositions," 
 and enjoying that mixture of reverie and sensation which steal 
 away existence in a southern climate ; so that it has been 
 almost morning before I have retired to bed, and been lulled 
 to sleep by the falling waters of the fountain of Lindaraxa. 
 
 %. \ i'\ /"v A'^, /■''; 
 
 S 
 
 
 * 5' 
 
 ?l 
 
 
 
 •"..^"^ e-^ I -,'-4'". 
 
 ,^-^^^'^^^. 
 
 
 Toioer of f)-on 
 

 PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF 
 COMARES 
 
 It is a serene and beautiful morning : the sun has not gained 
 sufficient poAver to destroy the freshness of the night. What a 
 morning to mount to the summit of the Tower of Comares, 
 and take a bird's-eye view of Granada and its environs ! 
 
 Come then, wortliy reader and comrade, follow my steps 
 into this vestibule, ornamented with rich tracery, which opens 
 into tlie Hall of Ambassadors. We will not enter the hall, 
 however, but turn to this small door opening into the wall. 
 Have a care ! here are steep winding steps and but scanty 
 light; yet up this narrow, obscure, and spiral staircase, the 
 proud monarchs of Granada and their queens have often 
 ascended to the battlements to watch the approach of in- 
 vading armies, or gaze with anxious hearts on the battles in 
 the Vega. 
 
 At length we have reached the terraced roof, and may take 
 breath for a moment, while we cast a general eye over the 
 splendid panorama of city and country ; of rocky mountain. 
 
PANORA^IA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES 123 
 
 verdant valley, and lertile plain » of castle, cathedral, Moorish 
 towers, and Gothic domes, crumbling ruins, and blooming 
 groves. Let us approach the battlements, and cast our eyes 
 immediately below. See, on this side we have the whole plain 
 of the Alhambra laid open to us, and can look down into its 
 courts and gardens. At the foot of the tower is the Court of 
 the Alberca, with its great tank or fishpool, bordered with 
 flowers ; and yonder is the Court of Lions, with its famous 
 fountain, and its light Moorish arcades ; and in the centre of 
 
 M£^, 
 
 «w _^«'^ ~a!aUH SU9«s?'*';l^^^ '_' .«.»_• y^ 
 
 
 * li\l'^ «a*^='^^ ' ^ I 1 " 'i 
 
 1::^'^, 
 
 <5\ 
 
 
 'h ^ 
 
 
 the pile is the little garden of Lindaraxa, buried in the heart of 
 the building, with its roses and citrons and shrubbery of emerald 
 green. 
 
 That belt of battlements, studded with square towers, 
 straggling round the whole brow of the hill, is the outer 
 boundary of the fortress. Some of the towers, you may per- 
 ceive, are in ruins, and their massive fragments buried among 
 vines, fig-trees, and aloes. 
 
 Let us look on this northern side of the tower. It is a giddy 
 
124 
 
 THE AIJIAMBRA 
 
 height ; the very foundations of the tower rise abo\e the groves 
 of the steep hill-side. And see ! a long fissure in the massive 
 walls shows that the tower has been rent by some of the earth- 
 
 '^%. 
 
 
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 -r-rfl- 
 
 
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 -s-5'Jti.T* „. .1^ ■' ■>^. lP*v-*'?^v^ '^^^ ^^mS^m ^^Vvi'lfii .•^' Jri-S 
 
 
 quakes which from time to time have thrown Granada into 
 consternation ; and which, sooner or later, must reduce this 
 crumbling pile to a mere mass of ruin. The deep narrow glen 
 below us, which gradually widens as it opens from the moun- 
 
PANORAMA FROM TIIK TOWER OK COMARES 
 
 125 
 
 tains, IS the valley uf the Darro ; you see the little river winding- 
 its way under embowered terraces, and among orchards and 
 
 
 
 
 
 AS 
 
 VS#"". '£ 
 
 
 flower-gardens. It is a stream famous in old times for yielding 
 gold, and its sands are still sifted occasionally, in search of the 
 precious ore. Some of those white pavilions, which here and 
 
126 
 
 TTIK ALIIAMBRA 
 
 there gleam from among groves and vineyards, were rustic 
 retreats of the Moors, to enjoy the refreshment of their gardens. 
 Well have they been compared by one of their poets to so 
 many pearls set in a bed of emeralds. 
 
 The airy palace, with its tall white towers and long arcades, 
 which breasts yon mountain, among pompous groves and 
 hanging gardens, is the Generalife, a summer palace of the 
 Moorish kings, to which they resorted during the sultry months 
 to enjoy a still more breezy region than that of the Alhambra. 
 The naked summit of the height above it, where you behold 
 
 ^f% 
 
 / 
 
 «!:;' I ~'*i^' 
 
 ,^'i\' 
 
 
 / 
 
 f. 
 
 
 some shapeless ruins, is the Silla del Moro, or seat of the 
 Moor, so called from having been a retreat of the unfortunate 
 Boabdil during the time of an insurrection, where he seated 
 himself and looked down mournfully upon his rebellious city. 
 
 A murmuring sound of water now and then rises from the 
 valley. It is from the aqueduct of yon Moorish mill, nearly at 
 the foot of the hill. The avenue of trees beyond is the 
 Alameda, along the bank of the Darro ; a favourite resort in 
 evenings, and a rendezvous of lovers in the summer nights, 
 when the guitar may be heard at a late hour from the benches 
 along its walks. At present you see none but a few loitering 
 
PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES 127 
 
 monks there, and a group of water-carriers. The latter are 
 burdened with water-jars of ancient Oriental construction, 
 such as were used by the Moor^. They have been filled at 
 the cold and hmpid spring called the fountain of Avellanos 
 Yon mountain path leads to the fountain, a favourite resort of 
 Moslems as well as Christians; for this is said to be the 
 
 
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 \W:?3>M. .■i^rv''\%-i-- i.^^aw' m^-'-' [''''" 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 Adinamar (Aynn-l-adamar), the " Fountain of Tears," men- 
 tioned by Ibn Batuta the traveller, and celebrated in the 
 histories and romances of the Moors. 
 
 You start ! 'tis nothing but a hawk that we have frightened 
 from his nest. This old tower is a complete breeding-place 
 for vagrant birds ; the swallow and martlet abound in every 
 chink and cranny, and circle about it the whole day long ; 
 while at night, when all other birds have gone to rest, the 
 
128 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 moping owl comes out of its lurking-place, and utters its boding 
 cry from the battlements. See how the hawk we have dis- 
 lodged sweeps away below us, skimming over the tops of the 
 trees, and sailing up to the ruins above the Generalife ! 
 
 I see you raise your eyes to the snowy summit of yon pile Oi, 
 mountains, shining like a white summer cloud in the blue sky. 
 It is the Sierra Nevada, the pride and delight of Granada ; the 
 source of her cooling breezes and perpetual verdure ; of her 
 gushing fountains and perennial streams. It is this glorious 
 
 pile of mountains which gives to Granada that combination of 
 delights so rare in a southern city, — the fresh vegetation and 
 temperate airs of a northern climate, with the vivifying ardour 
 of a tropical sun, and the cloudless azure of a southern sky. 
 It is this aerial treasury of snow, which, melting in proportion 
 to the increase of the summer heat, sends down rivulets and 
 streams through every glen and gorge of the Alpuxarras, dif- 
 fusing emerald verdure and fertility throughout a chain of happy 
 and sequestered valleys. 
 
 Those mountains may be well called the glory of Granada. 
 
PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES 129 
 
 They dominate the whole extent of Andalusia, and may be 
 
 seen from its most distant parts. The muleteer hails them, as 
 
 he views their frosty peaks from the sultry level of the plain ; 
 
 and the Spanish mariner on the 
 
 deck of his bark, far, far off on the 
 
 bosom of the blue Mediterranean, 
 
 watches them with a pensive eye, 
 
 thinks of delightful Granada, and 
 
 chants, in low voice, some old 
 
 romance about the Moors. 
 
 See to the south at the foot of those mountains a line of 
 arid hills, down which a long train of mules is slowly moving. 
 Here was the closing scene of Moslem domination. From 
 the summit of one of those hills the unfortunate Boabdil cast 
 back his last look upon Granada, and gave vent to the agony 
 of his soul. It is the spot famous in song and story, " The 
 last sigh of the Moor." 
 
 Further this way these arid hills slope down into the luxurious 
 Vega, from which he had just emerged : a blooming wilderness 
 of grove and garden, and teeming orchard, with the Xenil 
 winding through it in silver links, and feeding innumerable 
 rills ; which, conducted through ancient Moorish channels, 
 
 , ^ maintain the landscape 
 
 •^ t"!> '" perpetual verdure. 
 Here were the beloved 
 bowers and gardens, and 
 rural pavilions, for which 
 the unfortunate Moors 
 fought with such des- 
 perate valour. The very 
 hovels and rude granges. 
 
 ^.k 
 
 
 -■■^i^t 
 
 f/ 
 
 Santa Fc. 
 
 now inhabited by boors, show, by the remains of arabesques 
 and other tasteful decoration, that they were elegant residences 
 in the days of the Moslems. Behold, in the very centre of 
 this eventful plain, a place which in a manner links the history 
 
130 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 of the Old World with that of the New. Yon line of walls 
 and towers gleaming in the morning sun, is the city of Santa 
 Fe, built by the Catholic sovereigns during the siege of Granada, 
 .» after a conflagration had de- 
 
 " ■- '"^:.;'^-^,-" '"'^ r'''^^^- --" stroyed their camp. It was 
 ~~,^;,- - ^i"f"^^^r^' to these walls Columbus was 
 
 :'iiy 
 
 __ '-^-fi- called back by the heroic 
 
 rj~./';;^'irTi2: ~-j ..^^-^-'f''^v queen, and within them the 
 
 rfil'^'jrf'^)^^^'-" '^' treaty was concluded which 
 
 ^ ^v< /t ' *■";■ led to the discovery of the 
 
 '''■^ Western World. Behind yon 
 
 Pass of Elvira. , . ,^ , ■ ^i 
 
 promontory to the west is the 
 bridge of Pinos, renowned for many a bloody fight between 
 Moors and Christians. At this bridge the messenger overtook 
 Columbus when, despairing of success with the Spanish sove- 
 reigns, he was departing to carry his project of discovery to the 
 court of France. 
 
 Above the bridge a range of mountains bounds the Vega to 
 the west, — the ancient barrier between Granada and the 
 Christian territories. Among their heights you may still dis- 
 cern warrior towns ; their gray walls and battlements seeming 
 of a piece with the rocks on which they are built. Here and 
 there a solitary atalaya, or ^^^ 
 
 watchtower, perched on a 
 mountain peak, looks down 
 as it were from the sky into 
 the valley on either side. 
 How often have these 
 atalayas given notice, by 
 fire at night or smoke by 
 day, of an approaching foe ! Aicaia. 
 
 It was down a cragged defile of these mountains, called the Pass 
 of Lope, that the Christian armies descended into the Vega. 
 Round the base of yon gray and naked mountain (the moun- 
 tain of Elvira), stretching its bold rocky promontory into the 
 
 S 
 
PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES 
 
 ik^-^ 
 
 A Icaudcie. 
 
 bosom of the plain, the invading squadrons would come 
 bursting into view, with flaunting banners and clangour of drum 
 and trumpet. 
 
 Five hundred years have elapsed since Ismael ben Ferrag, a 
 Moorish king of Granada, 
 beheld from this very tower 
 an invasion of the kind, and 
 an insulting ravage of the 
 Vega ; on which occasion 
 he displayed an instance 
 of chivalrous magnanimity, 
 often witnessed in the 
 Moslem princes; "whose 
 history," says an Arabian writer, " abounds in generous actions 
 and noble deeds that will last through all succeeding ages, and 
 live for ever in the memory of man." — But let us sit down on 
 this parapet, and I will relate the anecdote. 
 
 It was in the year of Grace 13 19, that Ismael ben Ferrag 
 beheld from this tower a Christian camp whitening the skirts 
 of yon mountain of Elvira. The royal princes, Don Juan and 
 Don Pedro, regents of Castile during the minority of Alphonso 
 XI., had already laid waste the country from Alcaudete to Alcala 
 
 la Real, capturing the castle 
 of Illora, and setting fire 
 to its suburbs, and they 
 now carried their insulting 
 ravages to the very gates 
 of Granada, defying the 
 king to sally forth and give 
 them battle. 
 "' '" Ismael, though a young 
 
 and intrepid prince, hesitated to accept the challenge. He 
 had not sufficient force at hand, and awaited the arrival of 
 troops summoned from the neighbouring towns. The Christian 
 princes, mistaking his motives, gave up all hope of drawing 
 
 K 2 
 
 j.«"i 
 
132 
 
 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 iTim forth, and ha\'ing glutted themselves with ravage, struck 
 their tents and began their homeward march. Don Pedro 
 led the Mtii, and Don Juan brought up the rear, but their 
 march was confused and irregular, the army being greatly 
 encumbered by the spoils and captives they had taken. 
 
 By this time King Ismael had received his expected resources, 
 and putting them under the command of Osmyn, one of the 
 
 bravest of his generals, sent them forth in hot pursuit of the 
 enemy. The Christians were overtaken in the defiles of the 
 mountains. A panic seized them ; they were completely 
 routed, and driven with great slaughter across the borders. 
 Both of the princes lost their lives. The body of Don Pedro 
 was carried off by his soldiers, but that of Don Juan was lost 
 in the darkness of the night. His son wrote to the Moorish 
 king, entreating that the body of his father might be sought 
 and honourabh' treated. Ismael forgot in a moment that Don 
 
PANORAMA FROM THE TOWER OF COMARES 133 
 
 Juan was an enemy, who had carried ravage and insult to the 
 very gate of his capital ; he only thought of him as a gallant 
 cavalier and a royal prince. By his command diligent search 
 was made for the body. It was found in a barranco and 
 brought to Granada. There Ismael caused it to be laid out in 
 state on a lofty bier, surrounded by torches and tapers, in one 
 of these halls of the Alhambra. Osmyn and other of the 
 noblest cavaliers were appointed as a guard of honour, and the 
 Christian captives were assembled to pray around it. 
 
 In the meantime, Ismael wrote to the son of Prince Juan to 
 send a convoy for the body, assuring him it should be faithfully 
 delivered up. In due time, a band of Christian cavaliers arrived 
 for the purpose. They were honourably received and enter- 
 tained by Ismael, and, on their departure with the body, the 
 guard of honour of Moslem cavaliers escorted the funeral train 
 to the frontier. 
 
 But enough ; the sun is high above the mountains, and 
 pours his full fervour on our heads. Already the terraced 
 roof is hot beneath our feet; let us abandon it, and refresh 
 ourselves under the Arcades by the Fountain of the Lions. 
 
 
 Vji 
 
 :,j /■ -:s- 't 
 
 iiMr 
 
 /,.■ \ .■• 
 
 
THE BALCONY 
 
 I HAVE spoken of a balcony of the central window of the 
 Hall of Ambassadors. It served as a kind of observatory, 
 where I used often to take my seat, and consider not merely 
 the heaven above but the earth beneath. Besides the magni- 
 ficent prospect which it commanded of mountain, valley, and 
 Vega, there was a little busy scene of human life laid open to 
 inspection immediately below. At the foot of the hill was an 
 alameda, or public walk, which, though not so fashionable 
 as the more modern and splendid paseo of the Xenil, still 
 boasted a varied and picturesque concourse. Hither resorted 
 the small gentry of the suburbs, together with priests and friars, 
 who walked for appetite and digestion ; majos and niajas, the 
 beaux and belles of the lower classes, in their Andalusian 
 dresses ; swaggering contrabandisias, and sometimes half-mufHed 
 and mysterious loungers of the higher ranks, on some secret 
 assignation. 
 
 It was a moving picture of Spanish life and character, which 
 
THE BALCONY 
 
 135 
 
 I delighted to study; and as the astronomer has his grand 
 telescope with which to sweep the skies, and, as it were, bring 
 the stars nearer for his inspection, so I had a smaller one, 
 of pocket size, for the use of my observatory, with which I 
 could sweep the regions below, and bring the countenances 
 of the motley groups so close as almost, at times, to make 
 me think I could divine their conversation by the play and 
 expression of their features. I was thus, in a manner, an 
 invisible observer, and, without quitting my solitude, could 
 
 
 
 ". »'«i\iW5(!»«»i>- 
 
 --:>fl^i^_..<^ 
 
 \1 
 
 throw myself in an instant into the midst of society, — a rare 
 advantage to one of somewhat shy and quiet habits, and fond, 
 like myself, of observing the drama of life without becoming 
 an actor in the scene. 
 
 There was a considerable suburb lying below the Alhambra, 
 filling the narrow gorge of the valley, and extending up the 
 opposite hill of the Albaycin. Many of the houses were built 
 in the Moorish style, round patios, or courts, cooled by foun- 
 tains and open to the sky ; and as the inhabitants passed much 
 of their time in these courts, and on the terraced roofs during the 
 
i?6 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 summer season, it follows that many a glance of their domestic 
 life might be obtained by an aerial spectator like myself, who 
 could look down on them from the clouds. 
 
 I enjoyed in some degree the advantages of the student in 
 the famous old Spanish story, who beheld all Madrid unroofed 
 for his inspection ; and my gossiping squire, Mateo Ximenes, 
 ofificiated occasionally as my Asmodeus, to give me anecdotes 
 
 of the different man- 
 their in- 
 
 sions and 
 habitants. 
 
 I preferred, however, 
 to form conjectural 
 histories for myself, 
 and thus would sit for 
 hours, weaving, from 
 casual incidents and 
 indications passing un- 
 der my eye, a whole 
 tissue of schemes, in- 
 trigues, and occupa- 
 tions of the busy mor- 
 tals below. There was 
 scarce a pretty face or 
 a striking figure that 
 I daily saw, about 
 which I had not thus 
 gradually framed a 
 dramatic story, though 
 some of my characters would occasionally act in direct 
 opposition to the part a;ssigned them, and disconcert the 
 whole drama. Reconnoitring one day with my glass the 
 streets of the Albaycin, I beheld the procession of a 
 novice about to take the veil ; and remarked several circum- 
 stances which excited the strongest sympathy in the fate of the 
 youthful being thus about to be consigned to a living tomb. I 
 
 • Z-^' 
 
 -/f.. 
 
 
 ■VV>-'£- 
 
 ,«*--?-**! 
 
 S^r-af f 
 
 'K 
 
 }^ '^'■^' 
 
 r 
 
 A-' 
 
 r-r 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 {' 
 s ■ 
 
 //' p 
 
THE BALCONY 137 
 
 ascertained to my satisfaction that she was beautiful, and, from 
 the paleness of her cheek, that she was a victim rather than a 
 votary. She was arrayed in bridal garments, and decked with 
 a chaplet of white flowers, but her heart evidently revolted at 
 this mockery of a spiritual union, and yearned after its earthly 
 loves. A tall stern-looking man walked near her in the proces- 
 sion : it was, of course, the tyrannical father, who, from some 
 bigoted or sordid motive, had compelled this sacrifice. Amid 
 the crowd was a dark handsome youth, in Andalusian garb, 
 who seemed to fix on her an eye of agony. It was doubtless 
 the secret lover from whom she was for ever to be separated. 
 My indignation rose as I noted the malignant expression 
 painted on the countenances of the attendant monks and 
 friars. The procession arrived at the chapel of the con- 
 vent ; the sun gleamed for the last time upon the chaplet 
 of the poor novice, as she crossed the fatal threshold and dis- 
 appeared within the building. The throng poured in with 
 cowl, and cross, and minstrelsy ; the lover paused for a mo- 
 ment at the door. I could divine the tumult of his feehngs ; 
 but he mastered them, and entered. There was a long interval. 
 I pictured to myself the scene passing within : the poor novice 
 despoiled of her transient finery, and clothed in the conventual 
 garb ; the bridal chaplet taken from her brow, and her beauti- 
 ful head shorn of its long silken tresses. I heard her murmur 
 the irrevocable vow. I saw her extended on a bier ; the death- 
 pall spread over her ; the funeral service performed that pro- 
 claimed her dead to the world ; her sighs were drowned in the 
 deep tones of the organ, and the plaintive requiem of the nuns ; 
 the father looked on, unmoved, without a tear ; the lover — no — 
 my imagination refused to portray the anguish of the lover — 
 there the picture remained a blank. 
 
 After a time the throng again poured forth, and dispersed 
 various ways, to enjoy the light of the sun and mingle with the 
 stirring scenes of life ; but the victim, with her bridal chaplet, 
 was no longer there. The door of the convent closed that 
 
138 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 severed her from the world for ever. I saw the father and 
 the lover issue forth ; they were in earnest conversation. The 
 latter was vehement in his gesticulations; I expected some 
 violent termination to my drama ; but an angle of a building 
 interfered and closed the scene. My eye afterwards was fre- 
 quently turned to that convent with painful interest. I re- 
 marked late at night a soHtary light twinkling from a remote 
 lattice of one of its towers. " There," said I, " the unhappy 
 nun sits weeping in her cell, while perhaps her lover paces the 
 street below in unavailing anguish." 
 
 The officious Mateo interrupted my meditations and de- 
 stroyed in an instant 
 the cobweb tissue of 
 my fancy. With his 
 usual zeal he had 
 gathered facts con- 
 cerning the scene, 
 which put my fictions 
 all to flight. The 
 heroine of my romance 
 was neither young nor 
 handsome ; she had 
 no lover ; she had 
 entered the convent of her own free will, as a respectable 
 asylum, and was one of the most cheerful residents within its 
 walls. 
 
 It was some little while before I could forgive the wrong 
 done me by the nun in being thus happy in her cell, in con- 
 tradiction to all the rules of romance ; I diverted my spleen, 
 however, by watching, for a day or two, the pretty coquetries 
 of a dark-eyed brunette, who, from the covert of a balcony 
 shrouded with flowering shrubs and a silken awning, was carrying 
 on a mysterious correspondence with a handsome, dark, well- 
 whiskered cavalier, who lurked frequently in the street beneath 
 her window. Sometimes I saw him at an early hour stealing 
 
THE BALCONY 139 
 
 forth wrapped to the eyes in a mantle. Sometimes he loitered 
 at a corner, in various disguises, apparently waiting for a private 
 signal to slip into the house. Then there was the tinkling of a 
 guitar at night and a lantern shifted from place to place in the 
 balcony. I imagined another intrigue like that of Almaviva, 
 but was again disconcerted in all my suppositions. The sup- 
 posed lover turned out to be the husband of the lady, and a 
 noted confrabandista ; and all his mysterious signs and move- 
 ments had doubtless some smuggling scheme in view. 
 
 I occasionally amused myself with noting from this bal- 
 cony the gradual changes of the scenes below, according to the 
 different stages of the day. 
 
 Scarce has the gray dawn streaked the sky, and the earliest 
 cock crowed from the cottages of the hill-side, when the suburbs 
 give sign of reviving animation ; for the fresh hours of dawning 
 are precious in the summer season in a sultry climate. All are 
 anxious to get the start of the sun, in the business of the day. 
 The muleteer drives forth his loaded train for the journey ; the 
 traveller slings his carbine behind his saddle, and mounts his 
 steed at the gate of the hostel ; the brown peasant from the 
 country urges forward his loitering beasts, laden with panniers 
 of sunny fruit and fresh dewy vegetables, for already the thrifty 
 housewives are hastening to the market. 
 
 The sun is up and sparkles along the valley, tipping the 
 transparent foliage of the groves. The matin bells resound 
 melodiously through the pure bright air, announcing the hour 
 of devotion. The muleteer halts his burdened animals before 
 the chapel, thrusts his staff through his belt behind, and enters 
 with hat in hand, smoothing his coal-black hair to hear a mass, 
 and to put up a prayer for a prosperous wayfaring across the 
 sierra. And now steals forth on fairy foot the gentle seiiora, 
 in trim basquina, with restless fan in hand, and dark eye flash- 
 ing from beneath the gracefully folded mantilla; she seeks 
 some well-frequented church to offer up her morning orisons ; 
 but the nicely adjusted dress, the dainty shoe and cobweb 
 
140 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 stocking, the raven tresses exquisitely braided, the fresh-plucked 
 rose, gleaming among them like a gem, show that earth divides 
 with Heaven the empire of her thoughts. Keep an eye upon 
 her, careful mother, or virgin aunt, or vigilant duenna, which- 
 ever you may be, that walk behind ! 
 
 As the morning advances, the din of labour augments on 
 every side ; the streets are thronged with man, and steed, and 
 beast of burden, and there is a hum and murmur, like the 
 surges of the ocean. As the sun ascends to his meridian, the 
 hum and bustle gradually decline ; at the height of noon there 
 
 11 
 
 
 --— "K^w:"^- 
 
 •^ 
 
 \ 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 i^^^^^S 
 
 Tie Market. 
 
 is a pause. The panting city sinks into lassitude, and for sev- 
 eral hours there is a general repose. The windows are closed, 
 the curtains drawn, the inhabitants retire into the coolest re- 
 cesses of their mansions ; the full-fed monk snores in his dor- 
 mitory; the brawny porter lies stretched on the pavement 
 beside his burden ; the peasant and the labourer sleep beneath 
 the trees of the Alameda, lulled by the sultry chirping of the 
 locust. The streets are deserted, except by the water-carrier, 
 who refreshes the ear by proclaiming the merits of his sparkling 
 beverage," colder than the mountain snow {inasfria que la nteve)." 
 
x^. ,\4le); 
 
 
 :>^ 
 
 House of the Darro. 
 
142 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 As the sun declines, there is again a gradual reviving, and 
 when the vesper bell rings out his sinking knell, all nature 
 seems to rejoice that the tyrant of the day has fallen. Now 
 begins the bustle of enjoyment, when the citizens pour forth to 
 breathe the evening air, and revel away the brief twilight in the 
 walks and gardens of the Darro and Xenil. 
 
 As night closes, the capricious scene assumes new features. 
 
 
 The Cotwent. 
 
 Light after light gradually twinkles forth ; here a taper from a 
 balconied window ; there a votive lamp before the image of a 
 saint. Thus, by degrees, the city emerges from the pervading 
 gloom, and sparkles with scattered lights, like the starry firma- 
 ment. Now break forth from court and garden, and street 
 and lane, the tinkling of innumerable guitars, and the click- 
 ing of castanets j blending, at this lofty height, in a faint but 
 
THE BALCONY 
 
 143 
 
 general concert. ■■ Enjoy the moment " is the creed of the gay 
 and amorous Andalusian, and at no time does he practise it 
 more zealously than on the balmy nights of summer, wooing 
 his mistress -with the dance, the love-ditty, and the passionate 
 serenade. 
 
 I was one evening seated in the balcony, enjoying the light 
 breeze that came rustling along the side of the hill, among the 
 tree-tops, when my humble historiographer INIateo, who was at 
 my elbow, pointed out a spacious house, in an obscure street 
 of the Albavcin, about which he related, as nearly as I can 
 recollect, the following anecdote. 
 

 
 
 •■I 
 
 I\Iosqi<C. 
 
 THE adventurp: of the mason 
 
 Thkre was once upon a time a poor mason, or bricklayer, 
 in Granada, who kept all the saints' days and holidays, and Saint 
 Monday into the bargain, and yet, with all his devotion, he 
 grew poorer and poorer, and could scarcely earn bread for his 
 numerous family. One night he was roused from his first 
 sleep by a knocking at his door. He opened it, and beheld 
 before him a tall, meagre cadaverous-looking priest. 
 
 " ' Hark ye, honest friend ! ' said the stranger ; ' I have 
 observed that you are a good Christian, and one to be trusted ; 
 will you undertake a job this very night ? ' 
 
 "' With all my heart, ^f;7(^r Padre, on condition that I am 
 paid accordingly.' 
 
 "'That )T)U shall he: but y(.)U must suffer yourself to lie 
 blindfolded." 
 
 "To this the mason made no objection. So, being hood- 
 winked, he was led by the priest through various rough lanes 
 
THE ADVENTURE OF THE MASON 
 
 145 
 
 and winding passages, until they stopped before the portal of a 
 house. The priest then applied a key, turned a creaking lock, 
 and opened what sounded like a ponderous door. They 
 
 House of the Priests. 
 
 entered, the door was closed and bolted, and the mason was 
 conducted through an echoing corridor and a spacious hall to 
 an interior part of the building. Here the bandage was 
 
146 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 removed from his eyes, and he found himself in a patio, or 
 court, dimly lighted by a single lamp. In the centre was the 
 dry basin of an old Moorish fountain, under which the priest 
 
 
 requested him to form a small vault, bricks and mortar being 
 at hand for the purpose. He accordingly worked all night, 
 but without finishing the job. Just before daybreak the priest 
 
THE ADVENTURE OF THE MASON 
 
 147 
 
 put a piece of gold into his hand, and having again blindfolded 
 him, conducted him back to his dwelling. 
 
 " ' Are you willing,' said he, ' to return and complete your 
 work ? ' 
 
 " ' Gladly, Senor Padre, provided I am so well paid.' 
 
 " ' Well, then, to-morrow at midnight I will call again.' 
 
 " He did so, and the vault was completed. 
 
 " ' Now,' said the priest, ' you must help me to bring 
 forth the bodies that are to be buried in this vault.' 
 
 
 «iP^fe' Sir 
 
 
 " The poor mason's hair rose on his head at these words •. 
 he followed the priest, with trembling steps, into a retired 
 chamber of the mansion, expecting to behold some ghastly 
 spectacle of death, but was relieved on perceiving three or four 
 portly jars standing in one corner. They were evidently full 
 of money, and it was with great labour that he and the priest 
 carried them forth and consigned them to their tomb. The 
 vault was then closed, the pavement replaced, and all traces of 
 the work were obliterated, The mason was again hoodwinked 
 
 h 3 
 
148 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 and led forth by a route different from that by which he had 
 come. After they had wandered for a long time through a 
 perplexed maze of lanes and alleys, they halted. The priest 
 then put two pieces of gold into his hand : ' Wait here,' said 
 he, ' until you hear the cathedral bell toll for matins. If you 
 presume to uncover your eyes before that time, evil will befall 
 you : ' so saying, he departed. The mason waited faithfully, 
 amusing himself by weighing the gold pieces in his hand, and 
 
 '>>^ 
 
 -:^r:^[-r-» « 
 
 
 
 
 ■< y^ 
 
 The Moorish Fountain. 
 
 clinking them against each other. The moment the cathedral 
 bell rang its matin peal, he uncovered his eyes, and found himself 
 on the banks of the Xenil ; whence he made the best of his way 
 home, and revelled with his family for a whole fortnight on the 
 profits of his two nights' work ; after which he was as poor as ever. 
 " He continued to work a httle, and pray a good deal, and 
 keep saints' days and holidays, from year to year, while his 
 family grew up as gaunt and ragged as a crew of gipsies. As 
 he was seated one evening at the door of his hovel, he was 
 accosted by a rich old curmudgeon, who was noted for owning 
 many houses, and being a griping landlord. The man of 
 
THE ADVENTURE OF THE MASON 
 
 i49 
 
 money eyed him for a moment from beneath a pair of anxious 
 
 shagged eyebrows. 
 
 ' I am told, friend, that you are very poor.' 
 
 ' There is no denying the fact, sefior, — it speaks for itself.' 
 
 ' I presume, then, that you will be glad of a job, and will 
 
 work cheap.' 
 
 '"As cheap, my master, as any mason in Granada.' 
 
 "'] 
 
 ft £ ' 
 
 ^v^ 
 
 
 Banks of Xenil, 
 
 " ' That's what I want. I have an old house fallen into 
 decay, which costs me more money than it is worth to keep it 
 in repair, for nobody will live in it ; so I must contrive to 
 patch it up and keep it together at as small expense as possible.' 
 
 " The mason was accordingly conducted to a large deserted 
 house that seemed going to ruin. Passing through several 
 empty halls and chambers, he entered an inner court, where 
 his eye was caught by an old Moorish fountain. He paused 
 
ijo TilE ALHAMBRA 
 
 for a moment, for a dreaming recollection of the place came 
 over him. 
 
 " ' Pray,' said he, ' who occupied this house formerly ? ' 
 
 "'A pest upon him !' cried the landlord; 'it was an old 
 miserly priest, who cared for nobody but himself. He was 
 said to be immensely rich, and, having no relations, it was 
 thought he would leave all his treasures to the Church. He 
 died suddenly, and the priests and friars thronged to take 
 possession of his wealth ; but nothing could they find but 
 a few ducats in a leathern purse. The worst luck has fallen 
 on me, for, since his death, the old fellow continues to occupy 
 my house without paying rent, and there is no taking the law 
 of a dead man. The people pretend to hear the clinking of 
 gold all night in the chamber where the old priest slept, as if 
 he were counting over his money, and sometimes a groaning 
 and moaning about the court. Whether true or false, these 
 stories have brought a bad name on my house, and not a 
 tenant will remain in it.' 
 
 " ' Enough,' said the mason sturdily : ' let me live in your 
 house rent-free until some better tenant present, and I will 
 engage to put it in repair, and to quiet the troubled spirit that 
 disturbs it. I am a good Christian and a poor man, and am 
 not to be daunted by the Devil himself, even though he should 
 come in the shape of a big bag of money ! ' 
 
 "The offer of the honest mason was gladly accepted; he 
 moved with his family into the house, and fulfilled all his en- 
 gagements. By little and little he restored it to its former 
 state ; the clinking of gold was no more heard at night in the 
 chamber of the defunct priest, but began to be heard by day 
 in the pocket of the living mason. In a word, he increased 
 rapidly in wealth, to the admiration of all his neighbours, and 
 became one of the richest men in Granada : he gave large 
 sums to the Church, by way, no doubt, of satisfying his 
 conscience, and never revealed the secret of the vault until on 
 his death-bed to his son and heir." 
 

 
 
 
 THE COURT OF LIONS 
 
 The peculiar charm of this old dreamy palace is its power 
 of calling up vague reveries and picturings of the past, and 
 thus clothing naked realities with the illusions of the memory 
 and the imagination. As I delight to walk in these "vain 
 shadows," I am prone to seek those parts of the Alhambra 
 which are most favourable to this phantasmagoria of the mind ; 
 and none are more so than the Court of Lions, and its sur- 
 rounding halls. Here the hand of time has fallen the lightest, 
 and the traces of Moorish elegance and splendour exist in 
 almost their original brilliancy. Earthquakes have shaken the 
 foundations of this pile, and rent its rudest towers ; yet see ! 
 not one of those slender columns has been displaced, not an 
 arch of that light and fragile colonnade given way, and all the 
 fairy fretwork of these domes, apparently as unsubstantial as 
 the crystal fabrics of a morning's frost, exist after the lapse of 
 centuries, almost as fresh as if from the hand of the Moslem 
 artist. I write in the midst of these mementoes of the past, in 
 the fresh hour of early morning, in the fated Hall of the Aben- 
 cerrages. The blood-stained fountain, the legendary monument 
 of their massacre, is before me ; the lofty jet almost casts its 
 
IS2 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 dew upon my paper. How difficult to reconcile the ancient 
 tale of violence and blood with the gentle and peaceful scene 
 around ! Everything here appears calculated to inspire kind 
 and happy feelings, for everything is delicate and beautiful. 
 The very light falls tenderly from above, through the lantern of 
 a dome tinted and wrought as if by fairy hands. Through the 
 ample and fretted arch of the portal I behold the Court of 
 Lions, with brilliant sunshine gleaming along its colonnades 
 and sparkling in its fountains. The lively swallow dives into 
 the court, and, rising with a surge, darts away twittering over 
 the roofs ; the busy bee toils humming among the flower-beds ; 
 and painted butterflies hover from plant to plant, and flutter 
 up and sport with each other in the sunny air. It needs but a 
 slight exertion of the fancy to picture some pensive beauty 
 of the harem, loitering in these secluded haunts of Oriental 
 luxury. 
 
 He, however, who would behold this scene under an aspect 
 more in unison with its fortunes, let him come when the 
 shadows of evening temper the brightness of the court, and 
 throw a gloom into the surrounding halls. Then nothing can 
 be more serenely melancholy, or more in harmony with the 
 tale of departed grandeur. 
 
 At such times I am apt to seek the Hall of Justice, whose 
 deep shadowy arcades extend across the upper end of the 
 court. Here was performed, in presence of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella and their triumphant court, the pompous ceremonial 
 of high mass, on taking possession of the Alhambra. The very 
 cross is still to be seen upon the wall, where the altar was erected, 
 and where officiated the Grand Cardinal of Spain, and others of 
 the highest religious dignitaries of the land. I picture to my- 
 self the scene when this place was filled with the conquering 
 host, that mixture of mitred prelate and shaven monk, and 
 steel-clad knight and silken courtier ; when crosses and crosiers 
 and religious standards were mingled with proud armorial- 
 ensigns and the banners of the haughty chiefs of Spain, and 
 
THE COURT OF LIONS 
 
 153 
 
 flaunted in triumph through these Moslem halls. I picture to 
 myself Columbus, the future discoverer of a world, taking his 
 
 ?'%ii 
 
 
 
 Court of Lions. 
 
 
 modest stand in a remote corner, the humble and neglected 
 spectator of the pageant. I see in imagination the Catholic 
 sovereigns prostrating themselves before the altar, and pouring 
 
IS4 
 
 ttlE ALttAMBRA 
 
 forth thanks for their victory ; while the vaults resound with 
 sacred minstrelsy, and the deep-toned Te Deum. 
 
 The transient illusion is over, — the pageant melts from the 
 
 Hall of Justice. 
 
 fancy, — monarch, priest, and warrior return into oblivion with 
 the poor Moslems over whom they exulted. The hall of their 
 triumph is waste and desolate. The bat flits about its twilight 
 vault, and the owl hoots from the neighbouring tower of Comares. 
 
THE COURT OF LIONS 
 
 t5S 
 
 Entering the Court of the Lions a few evenings since, I was 
 almost startled at beholding a turbaned Moor quietly seated 
 near the fountain. For a moment one of the fictions of the 
 place seemed realised : an enchanted Moor had broken the 
 spell of centuries, and become visible. He proved, however. 
 
 rJ'l 
 
 r,*^^. 
 
 ■m m 
 
 
 Kl 
 
 
 /fail of Justice. 
 
 to be a mere ordinary mortal : a native of Tetuan in Barbary, 
 who had a shop in the Zacatin of Granada, where he sold 
 rhubarb, trinkets, and perfumes. As he spoke Spanish fluently, 
 I was enabled to hold conversation with him, and found him 
 shrewd and intelhgent. He told me that he came up the hill 
 occasionally in the summer, to pass a part of the day in the 
 
IS6 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Alhambra, which reminded him of the old palaces in Barbary, 
 being built and adorned in similar style, though with more 
 magnificence. 
 
 As we walked about the palace, he pointed out several of the 
 Arabic inscriptions, as possessing much poetic beauty. 
 
 " Ah, sefior," said he, " when the Moors held Granada, they 
 were a gayer people than they are nowadays. They thought 
 
 only of love, music, and poetry. 
 They made stanzas upon every 
 occasion, and set them all to 
 music. He who could make the 
 best verses, and she who had the 
 most tuneful voice, might be sure 
 of favour and preferment. In 
 those days, if any one asked for 
 bread, the reply was, make me a 
 couplet ; and the poorest beggar, 
 if he begged in rhyme, would often 
 be rewarded with a piece of gold." 
 " And is the popular feeling for 
 poetry," said I, "entirely lost 
 among you ? " 
 
 " By no means, senor ; the 
 people of Barbary, even those of 
 the lower classes, still make coup- 
 lets, and good ones too, as in 
 ( '■>: old times; but talent is not re- 
 '"*' warded as it was then; the rich 
 
 prefer the jingle of their gold to the sound of poetry or music." 
 As he was talking, his eye caught one of the inscriptions 
 which foretold perpetuity to the power and glory of the Moslem 
 monarchs, the masters of this pile. He shook his head, and 
 shrugged his shoulders, as he interpreted it. " Such might 
 have been the case," said he ; " the Moslems might still have 
 been reigning in the Alhambra, had not Boabdil been a traitor, 
 
THE COURT OF LIONS 
 
 157 
 
 and given up his capital to the Christians. The Spanish 
 monarchs would never have been able to conquer it by open 
 force." 
 
 I endeavoured to vindicate the memory of the unlucky 
 Boabdil from this aspersion, and to show that the dissensions 
 
 A Wiiidiyw in ike Hall of Jtistue, 
 
 which led to the downfall of the Moorish throne originated in 
 the cruelty of his tiger-hearted father; but the Moor would 
 admit of no palliation. 
 
 " Muley Abul Hassan," said he, " might have been cruel ; 
 but he was brave, vigilant, and patriotic. Had he been 
 properly seconded, Granada would still have been ours; but 
 
158 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 his son Boabdil thwarted his plans, crippled his power, sowed 
 treason in his palace, and dissension in his camp. May the 
 curse of God light upon him for his treachery ! " With these 
 words the Moor left the Alhambra. 
 
 The indignation of my turbaned companion agrees with an 
 anecdote related by a friend, who, in the course of a tour in 
 Barbary, had an interview with the Pacha of Tetuan. The 
 Moorish governor was particular in his inquiries about Spain, 
 and especially concerning the favoured region of Andalusia, 
 the delights of Granada, and the remains of its royal palace. 
 The replies awakened all those fond recollections, so deeply 
 cherished by the Moors, of the power and splendour of their 
 ancient empire in Spain. Turning to his Moslem attendants, 
 the Pacha stroked his beard, and broke forth in passionate 
 lamentations, that such a sceptre should have fallen from the 
 sway of true believers. He consoled himself, however, with 
 the persuasion, that the power and prosperity of the Spanish 
 nation were on the decline ; that a time would come when the 
 Moors would conquer their rightful domains ; and that the day 
 was perhaps not far distant when Mohammedan worship would 
 again be offered up in the mosque of Cordova, and a Moham- 
 medan prince sit on his throne in the Alhambra. 
 
 Such is the general aspiration and belief among the Moors of 
 Barbary ; who consider Spain, or Andaluz, as it was anciently 
 called, their rightful heritage, of which they have been despoiled 
 by treachery and violence. These ideas are fostered and per- 
 petuated by the descendants of the exiled Moors of Granada, 
 scattered among the cities of Barbary. Several of these reside 
 in Tetuan, preserving their ancient names, such as Paez and 
 Medina, and refraining from intermarriage with any families who 
 cannot claim the same high origin. Their vaunted lineage is 
 regarded with a degree of popular deference rarely shown in 
 Mohammedan communities to any hereditary distinction, 
 excepting in the royal line. 
 
 These families, it is said, continue to sigh after the terrestrial 
 
THE COURT OF LIONS 
 
 159 
 
 paradise of their ancestors, and to put up prayers in their 
 mosques on Fridays, imploring Allah to hasten the time when 
 Granada shall be restored to the faithful ; an event to which 
 they look forward as fondly and confidently as did the Christian 
 Crusaders to the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. Nay, it is 
 added, that some of them retain the ancient maps and deeds 
 of the estates and gardens of their ancestors at Granada, and 
 even the keys of the houses ; holding them as evidences of their 
 
 
 
 Ml 
 
 - ,,v<WA, ■;i? 
 
 Sis*?; **> 
 
 Mosqus Cordoz'a. 
 
 hereditary claims, to be produced at the anticipated day of 
 restoration. 
 
 My conversation with the Moor set me to musing on the 
 fate of Boabdil. Never was surname more applicable than that 
 bestowed upon him by his subjects of el Zogoybi, or the 
 Unlucky. His misfortunes began almost in his cradle, and 
 ceased not even with his death. If ever he cherished the 
 desire of leaving an honourable name on the historic page, how 
 cruelly has he been defrauded of his hopes ! Who is there that 
 has turned the least attention to the romantic history of the 
 
l6o THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Moorish domination in Spain, without kindling with indignation 
 at the alleged atrocities of Boabdil ? Who has not been touched 
 with the woes of his lovely and gentle queen, subjected by him 
 to a trial of life and death, on a false charge of infidelity ? 
 Who has not been shocked by his alleged murder of his sister 
 and her two children, in a transport of passion ? Who has not 
 felt his blood boil at the inhuman massacre of the gallant 
 -Abencerrages, thirty-six of whom, it is affirmed, he ordered to 
 be beheaded in the Court of Lions ? All these charges have 
 been reiterated in various forms ; they have passed into ballads, 
 dramas, and romances, until they have taken too thorough 
 possession of the public mind to be eradicated. There is not 
 a foreigner of education that visits the Alhambra, but asks for 
 the fountain where the Abencerrages were beheaded ; and 
 gazes with horror at the grated gallery where the queen is said 
 to have been confined ; not a peasant of the Vega or the 
 Sierra, but sings the story in rude couplets, to the accompani- 
 ment of his guitar, while his hearers learn to execrate the very 
 name of Boabdil. 
 
 Never, however, was name more foully and unjustly slandered. 
 I have examined all the authentic chronicles and letters written 
 by Spanish authors, contemporary with Boabdil ; some of whom 
 were in the confidence of the Catholic sovereigns, and actually 
 present in the camp throughout the war. I have examined all 
 the Arabian authorities I could get access to, through the 
 medium of translation, and have found nothing to justify these 
 dark and hateful accusations. The most of these tales may be 
 traced to a work commonly called Tfie Civil Wars of Granada, 
 containing a pretended history of the feuds of the Zegries and 
 Abencerrages, during the last struggle of the Moorish empire. 
 The work appeared originally in Spanish, and professed to be 
 translated from the Arabic by one Gines Perez de Hita, an 
 inhabitant of Murcia. It has since passed into various lan- 
 guages, and Florian has taken from it much of the fable of his 
 Gonsalvo of Cordovo : it has thus, in a great measure, usurped 
 
THE COURT OF LIONS 
 
 i6i 
 
 the authority of real history, and is currently believed by the 
 people, and especially the peasantry of Granada. The whole 
 of it, however, is a mass of fiction, mingled with a few disfigured 
 truths, which give it an air of veracity. It bears internal 
 
 
 evidence of its falsity ; the manners and customs of the Moors 
 being extravagantly misrepresented in it, and scenes depicted 
 totally incompatible with their habits and their faith, and which 
 never could have been recorded by a Mohammedan writer. 
 
l62 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 I confess there seems to me something almost criminal in the 
 wilful perversions of this work : great latitude is undoubtedly 
 to be allowed to romantic fiction, but there are limits which it 
 must not pass ; and the names of the distinguished dead, which 
 belong to history, are no more to be calumniated than those of 
 the illustrious living. One would have thought, too, that the 
 unfortunate Boabdil had suffered enough for his justifiable 
 hostility to the Spaniards, by being stripped of his kingdom, 
 without having his name thus wantonly traduced, and rendered 
 a byword and a theme of infamy in his native land, and in the 
 very mansion of his fathers ! 
 
 Entrance to Hall of Ahencerrages 
 

 
 MEMENTOES OF BOABDIL 
 
 AVhile my mind was still warm with the subject of the 
 unfortunate Boabdil, I set forth to trace the mementoes of him 
 still existing in this scene of his sovereignty and misfortunes. 
 In the tower of Comares, immediately under the Hall of 
 Ambassadors, are two vaulted rooms, separated by a narrow 
 passage ; these are said to have been the prisons of himself and 
 his mother, the virtuous Ayxa la Horra ; indeed, no other part 
 of the tower would have served for the purpose. The external 
 walls of these chambers are of prodigious thickness, pierced with 
 small windows secured by iron bars. A narrow stone gallery, 
 with a low parapet, extends along three sides of the tower just 
 below the windows, but at a considerable height from the 
 ground. From this gallery, it is presumed, the queen lowered 
 her son with the scarves of herself and her female attendants 
 during the darkness of the night to the hill-side, where some of 
 his faithful adherents waited with fleet steeds to bear him to 
 the mountains. 
 
 Between three and four hundred years have elapsed, yet this 
 scene of the drama remains almost unchanged. As I paced 
 
 M 3 
 
THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 the gallery, my imagination pictured the anxious queen leaning 
 over the parapet, listening, with the throbbings of a mother's 
 heart, to the last echoes of the horse's hoofs as her son scoured 
 along the narrow valley of the Darro. 
 
 I next sought the gate by which Boabdil made his last exit 
 from the Alhambra, when about to surrender his capital and 
 
 kingdom. With the melan- 
 
 
 mm 
 
 ^'^^^^^\ 
 
 choly caprice of a broken 
 spirit, or perhaps with some 
 superstitious feeling, he re- 
 quested of the Catholic mon- 
 archs that no one afterwards 
 might be permitted to pass 
 through it. His prayer, ac- 
 cording to ancient chronicles, 
 was complied with, through 
 the sympathy of Isabella, 
 and the gate was walled up. 
 I inquired for some time 
 in vain for such a portal; 
 at length my humble attend- 
 ant, Mateo Ximenes, said 
 it must be one closed up 
 with stones, which, according 
 to what he had heard from 
 his father and grandfather, 
 was the gateway by which 
 King Chico had left the fortress. There was a mystery about 
 it, and it had never been opened within the memory of the 
 oldest inhabitant. 
 
 He conducted me to the spot. The gateway is in the centre 
 of what was once an immense pile, called the Tower of the 
 Seven Floors (/a Torre de los siete suelos). It is famous in the 
 neighbourhood as the scene of strange apparitions and Moorish 
 enchantments. According to Swinburne the traveller, it was 
 
Mementoes of boabdil 
 
 165 
 
 originally the great gate of entrance. The antiquaries of 
 Granada pronounce it the entrance to that quarter of the 
 royal residence where the king's bodyguards were stationed. It 
 therefore might well form an immediate entrance and exit to the 
 palace ; while the grand Gate of Justice served as the entrance 
 of state to the fortress. When Boabdil sallied by this gate to 
 descend to the Vega, where he was to surrender the keys of 
 the city to the Spanish sovereigns, he left his vizier Aben 
 
 Comixa to receive, at the gate of Justice, the detachment 
 from the Christian army and the officers to whom the fortress 
 was to be given up. 
 
 The once redoubtable Tower of the Seven Floors is now a 
 mere wreck, having been blown up with gunpowder by the 
 French, when they abandoned the fortress. Great masses of 
 the wall lie scattered about, buried in luxuriant herbage, or 
 overshadowed by vines and fig-trees. The arch of the gateway, 
 though rent by the shock, still remains ; but the last wish of 
 poor Boabdil has again, though unintentionally, been fulfilled, 
 
1 66 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 for the portal has been closed up by loose stones gathered 
 from the ruins, and remains impassable. 
 
 Mounting my horse, I followed up the route of the Moslem 
 monarch from this place of his exit. Crossing the hill of Los 
 Martyros, and keeping along the garden-wall of a convent 
 
 /• 
 
 '■\J.i.>- 
 
 ■^ r5 ?■ .;2. 
 
 
 '^v;: 
 
 ?■-'" 
 
 ^ ^f: 
 
 **"'^-?^?^<:, 
 
 
 
 bearing the same name, I descended a rugged ravine beset by 
 thickets of aloes and Indian figs, and lined with caves and 
 hovels swarming with gipsies. The descent was so steep and 
 broken that I was fain to alight and lead my horse. By this 
 via dolorosa poor Boabdil took his sad departure to avoid 
 
MEMENTOES OF BOABDIL 
 
 167 
 
 passing through the city ; partly, perhaps, through unwilHngness 
 that its inhabitants should behold his humiliation ; but chiefly, 
 in all probability, lest it might cause some popular agitation. 
 For the last reason, undoubtedly, the detachment sent to take 
 possession of the fortress ascended by the same route. 
 
 Emerging from this rough ravine, so full of melancholy 
 associations, and passing by the puerta de los molinos (the gate 
 of the mills), I issued forth upon the public promenade called 
 the Prado ; and pursuing the course of the Xenil, arrived at a 
 
 
 
 
 small chapel, once a mosque, now the Hermitage of San 
 Sebastian. Here, according to tradition, Boabdil surrendered 
 the keys of Granada to King Ferdinand. I rode slowly thence 
 across the Vega to a village where the family and household 
 of the unhappy king awaited him, for he had sent them forward 
 on the preceding night from the Alhambra, that his mother 
 and wife might not participate in his personal humiliation, or be 
 exposed to the gaze of the conquerors. Following on in the 
 route of the melancholy band of royal exiles, I arrived at the 
 foot of a chain of barren and dreary heights, forming the skirt 
 
[68 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 of the Alpuxarra Mountains. From the summit of one of 
 these the unfortunate Boabdil took his last look at Granada ; it 
 bears a name expressive of his sorrows, La Cuesta de las 
 Lagrimas (the hill of tears). Beyond it, a sandy road winds 
 
 'ivf^' 
 
 \* 
 
 ' •'''■.\-..3^M<^.'/f"A' ■% ~ 
 
 
 ,»^v- 
 
 
 
 
 '■I ■ m 
 
 across a rugged cheerless waste, doubly dismal to the unhappy 
 monarch, as it led to exile. 
 
 I spurred my horse to the summit of a rock, where Boabdil 
 uttered his last sorrowful exclamation, as he turned his eyes 
 from taking their farewell gaze : it is still denominated e/ ultimo 
 suspiro del Moro (the last sigh of the Moor). Who can wonder 
 at his anguish at being expelled from such a kingdom and such 
 
MEMENTOES OF BOABDIL 
 
 169 
 
 an abode ? With the Alhambra he seemed to be yielding up 
 all the honours of his line, and all the glories and delights of 
 life. 
 
 It was here, too, that his affliction was embittered by the 
 reproach of his mother, Ayxa, who had so often assisted him in 
 times of peril, and had vainly sought to instil into him her own 
 
 resolute spirit. " You do well," said she, " to weep as a woman 
 over what you could not defend as a man ; " a speech savour- 
 ing more of the pride of the princess than the tenderness of 
 the mother. 
 
 ^Vhen this anecdote was related to Charles V., by Bishop 
 Guevara, the emperor joined in the expression of scorn at the 
 weakness of the wavering Boabdil. "Had I been he, or he 
 been I," said the haughty potentate, " I would rather have 
 
170 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 made this Alhambra my sepulchre than have lived without a 
 kingdom in the Alpuxarra." How easy it is for those in 
 
 power and prosperity to preach heroism to the vanquished ! 
 how little can they understand that life itself may rise in value 
 with the unfortunate when naught but life remains ! 
 
 Slowly de- 
 scending the 
 " Hill of 
 Tears," I let 
 my horse 
 take his own 
 loitering gait 
 back to Gran- 
 ada, while I 
 turned the 
 story of the 
 unfortunate 
 Boabdil over 
 in my mind. 
 In summing up the particulars, I found the balance inclining 
 in his favour. Throughout the whole of his brief, turbulent, and 
 disastrous reign, he gives evidence of a mild and amiable char- 
 acter. He, in the first instance, won the hearts of his people by 
 
MEilKNTOES OF BOABDIL 171 
 
 his aftablc and gracious manners ; lie was always placable, and 
 ne^"el■ inflicted any severity of punishment upon those who occa- 
 sionally rebelled against him. He was personally brave, but 
 w^anted moral courage ; and, in times of difticulty and per- 
 plexity, was wavering and irresolute. This leebleness of spirit 
 hastened his downfall, while it deprived him of that heroic 
 grace which would have given grandeur and dignity to his fate, 
 and rendered him worthy of closing the splendid drama of the 
 Moslem domination in Spain. 
 
 w. 
 
 r-^' J 
 
 -y- 
 
 ''' it^^/l'i ^''^.i"/* 
 
 
 ■jr 
 
 
 
 'r- 
 
 ^^ 
 
 W' 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 li-i. 
 
 p- 
 
 *v 
 
 
 Ritblnns; from the Loiiuiiciiwrali-'C ria,jHL_ in In,. ,iall oj tiu Ihin.ita^^ of 
 ^a.11 2icbastiaii. 
 
/■(Mj- of Lope. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF THE WEATHERCOCK 
 
 On the brow of the lofty hill of the Albaycin, the highest 
 part of Granada, and which rises from the narrow valley of the 
 Darro, directly opposite to the Alhambra, stands all that is left 
 of what was once a royal palace of the Moors. It has, in fact, 
 fallen into such obscurity, that it cost me much trouble to find 
 it, though aided in my researches by the sagacious and all- 
 knowing Mateo Ximenes. This edifice has borne for centuries 
 the name of " The House of the Weathercock " {La casa del 
 Gallo de Viento), from a bronze figure on one of its turrets, in 
 ancient times, of a warrior on horseback, and turning with 
 every breeze. This weathercock was considered by the 
 Moslems of Granada a portentous talisman. According to 
 some traditions, it bore the following Arabic inscription : 
 
 Calet el Bedici Aben Habuz, 
 Quidat ehahet Lindabuz. 
 
 Which has been rendered into Spanish : 
 
 Dice el sabio Aben Habuz, 
 Que asi se defiende el Andiiluz. 
 
 And into English : 
 
 In this way, says Aben Habnz the Wise, 
 AndaUiz guards against surprise. 
 
 This Aben Habuz, according to some of the old Moorish 
 
•n 
 
174 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 chronicles, was a captain in the invading army of Taric, one of 
 the conquerors of Spain, who left him as Alcayde of Granada. 
 He is supposed to have intended this effigy as a perpetual 
 warning to the Moslems of Andaluz, that, surrounded by foes, 
 their safety depended upon their being always on their guard 
 and ready for the field. 
 
 Others, among whom is the Christian historian Marmol, 
 
 affirms " Badis Aben Habus" to have been a 
 
 Moorish sultan of Granada, and that the weather- 
 
 >A ■■':_, cock was intended as a perpetual admonition of 
 
 "• ^'' •' the instability of Moslem power, bearing the 
 
 - - '' following words in Arabic ; 
 
 " Thus Ibn Habus al 
 badise predicts Andaluz 
 shall one day vanish and 
 pass away." 
 
 Another version of this 
 portentous inscription is 
 given by a Moslem his- 
 torian, on the authority 
 of Sidi Hasan, a faquir 
 who flourished about the 
 time of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, and who was 
 present at the taking 
 down of the weathercock, 
 when the old Kassaba 
 was undergoing repairs. 
 "I saw it," says the venerable ^(7?«>, "with my own eyes ; 
 it was of a heptagonal shape, and had the following inscription - 
 in verse : 
 
 " The palace at fair Granada presents a talisman.'' 
 " The horseman, though a solid body, turns with every wind." 
 " This to a wise man reveals a mystery. In a little while 
 comes a calamity to ruin both the palace and its owner.'' 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE WEATHERCOCK 175 
 
 In effect it was not long after this meddling with the por- 
 tentous weathercock that the following event occurred. As 
 old Muley Abul Hassan, the king of Granada, was seated 
 under a sumptuous pavilion, reviewing his troops, who paraded 
 before him in armour of polished steel and gorgeous silken 
 robes, mounted on fleet steeds, and equipped with swords, 
 spears, and shields embossed with gold and silver, — suddenly a 
 tempest was seen hurrying from the south-west. In a little 
 while black clouds overshadowed the heavens and burst forth 
 with a deluge of rain. Torrents came roaring down from the 
 mountains, bringing with them rocks and trees ; the Darro 
 overflowed its banks ; mills were swept away, bridges destroyed, 
 gardens laid waste ; the inundation rushed into the city, under- 
 mining houses, drowning their inhabitants, and overflowing 
 even the square of the Great Mosque. The people rushed in 
 affright to the mosques to implore the mercy of Allah, regarding 
 this uproar of the elements as the harbinger of dreadful 
 calamities ; and, indeed, according to the Arabian historian Al 
 Makkari, it was but a type and prelude of the direful war 
 which ended in the downfall of the Moslem kingdom of 
 Granada. 
 
 I have thus given historic authorities sufficient to show the 
 portentous mysteries connected with the House of the Weather- 
 cock, and its talismanic horseman. 
 
 I now proceed to relate still more surprising things about 
 Aben Habuz and his palace ; for the truth of which, should 
 any doubt be entertained, I refer the dubious reader to Mateo 
 Ximenes and his fellow-historiographers of the Alhambra, 
 
Av!Of"^ f/rr Ililh'. 
 
 LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER. 
 
 In old times, many hundred years ago, there was a Moorish 
 king named Aben Habuz, who reigned over the kingdom of 
 Granada. He was a retired conqueror, that is to say, one who, 
 having in his more youtliful days led a life of constant foray 
 and depredation, now that he was grown feeble and superan- 
 nuated, " languished for repose," and desired nothing more 
 than to live at peace with all the world, to husband his laurels, 
 and to enjoy in quiet the possessions he had wrested from his 
 neighbours. 
 
 It so happened, however, that this most reasonable and 
 pacific old monarch had young rivals to deal Avlth ; princes full 
 of his early passion for fame and fighting, and who were dis- 
 posed to call him to account for the scores he had run up with 
 their fathers. Certain distant districts of his own territories, 
 also, which during the days of his vigour he had treated with a 
 high hand, were prone, now that he languished for repose, to 
 rise in rebellion and threaten to invest him in his capital. 
 Thus he had foes on every side ; and as Granada is surrounded 
 by wild and craggy mountains, which hide the approach of an 
 enemy, the unfortunate Aben Habuz was kept in a constant 
 state of vigilance and alarm, not knowing in what quarter 
 hostilities might break out. 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER 
 
 177 
 
 It was in vain that he built watch-towers on the mountains, 
 and stationed guards at every pass with orders to make fires by 
 night and smoke by day, on the approach of an enemy. His 
 
 The Toml of Ferdinand and Isaiella. 
 
 alert foes, baffling every precaution, would break out of some 
 unthought-of defile, ravage his lands beneath his very nose, and 
 |hen make off with prisoners and booty to the mountains. 
 
 N 
 
178 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Was ever peaceable and retired conqueror in a more uncom- 
 fortable predicament ? 
 
 While Aben Habuz was harassed by these perplexities and 
 molestations, an ancient Arabian physician arrived at his court. 
 His gray beard descended to his girdle, and he had every mark 
 of extreme age, yet he had travelled almost the whole way from 
 Egypt on foot, with no other aid than a staff, marked with 
 hieroglyphics. His fame had preceded him. His name was 
 Ibrahim Ebn Abu Ayub ; he was said to have lived ever since 
 the days of Mahomet, and to be son of Abu Ayub ; the last of 
 the companions of the Prophet. He had, when a child, followed 
 the conquering army of Amru into Egypt, where he had remained 
 many years studying the dark sciences, and particularly magic, 
 among the Egyptian priests. 
 
 It was, moreover, said that he had found out the secret of 
 prolonging life by means of which he had arrived to the great 
 age of upwards of two centuries, though, as he did not discover 
 the secret until well stricken in years, he could only perpetuate 
 his gray hairs and wrinkles. 
 
 This wonderful old man was honourably entertained by the 
 king ; who, like most superannuated monarchs, began to take 
 physicians into great favour. He would have assigned him an 
 apartment in his palace, but the astrologer preferred a cave in 
 the side of the hill which rises above the city of Granada, being 
 the same on which the Alhambra has since been built. He 
 caused the cave to be enlarged so as to form a spacious and 
 lofty hall, with a circular hole at the top, through which, as 
 through a well, he could see the heavens and behold the stars 
 even at mid-day. The walls of this hall were covered with 
 Egyptian hieroglyphics with cabalistic symbols, and with the 
 figures of the stars in their signs. This hall he furnished with 
 many implements, fabricated under his directions by cunning 
 artificers of Granada, but the occult properties of which were 
 known only to himself. 
 
 In a little while the sage Ibrahim became the bosom coun- 
 
&-::t «i;^H W^^'^S5I^W^'\ 
 
 
 
i8o THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 sellor of the king, who applied to him for advice in every 
 emergency. Aben Habuz was once inveighing against the 
 injustice of his neighbours, and bewailing the restless vigilance he 
 had to observe to guard himself against their invasions ; when 
 he had finished, the astrologer remained silent for a moment, 
 and then replied, " Know, O king, that, when I was in Egypt, 
 I beheld a great marvel devised by a pagan priestess of old. 
 On a mountain, above the city of Borsa, and overlooking the 
 great valley of the Nile, was a figure of a ram, and above it a 
 figure of a cock, both of molten brass, and turning upon a 
 pivot. Whenever the country was threatened with invasion, 
 the ram would turn in the direction of the enemy, and the 
 cock would crow ; upon this the inhabitants of the city knew of 
 the danger, and of the quarter from which it was approaching, 
 and could take timely means to guard against it.'' 
 
 " God is great ! " exclaimed the pacific Aben Habuz, " what 
 a treasure would be such a ram to keep an eye upon these 
 mountains around me ; and then such a cock, to crow in time 
 of danger ! Allah Akbah 1 how securely I might sleep in my 
 palace with such sentinels on the top ! " 
 
 The astrologer waited until the ecstasies of the king had sub- 
 sided, and then proceeded : 
 
 " After the victorious Amru (may he rest in peace !) had 
 finished his conquest of Egypt, I remained among the priests 
 of the land, studying the rites and ceremonies of their idolatrous 
 faith, and seeking to make myself master of the hidden know- 
 ledge for which they are renowned. I was one day seated on 
 the banks of the Nile, conversing with an ancient priest, when 
 he pointed to the mighty pyramids which rose like mountains 
 out of the neighbouring desert. ' All that we can teach thee,' 
 said he, 'is nothing to the knowledge locked up in those 
 mighty piles. In the centre of the central pyramid is a 
 sepulchral chamber, in which is enclosed the mummy of the 
 high priest who aided in rearing that stupendous pile; and 
 with him is buried a wondrous book of knowledge, containing 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER i8i 
 
 all the secrets of magic and art. This book was given to Adam 
 after his fall, and was handed down from generation to genera- 
 tion to King Solomon the Wise, and by its aid he built the 
 Temple of Jerusalem. How it came into the possession of 
 the builder of the pyramids is known to Him alone who knows 
 all things.' 
 
 " When I heard these words of the Egyptian priest, my heart 
 burned to get possession of that book. I could command the 
 services of many of the soldiers of our conquering army, and of 
 a number of the native Egyptians : with these I set to work, 
 and pierced the solid mass of the pyramid, until, after great 
 toil, I came upon one of its interior and hidden passages. 
 Following this up, and threading a fearful labyrinth, I pene- 
 trated into the very heart of the pyramids, even to the sepulchral 
 chamber, where the mummy of the high-priest had lain for ages. 
 I broke through the outer cases of the mummy, unfolded its 
 many wrappers and bandages, and at length found the precious 
 volume on its bosom. I seized it with a trembling hand, and 
 groped my way out of the pyramid, leaving the mummy in its 
 dark and silent sepulchre, there to await the final day of 
 resurrection and judgment." 
 
 " Son of Abu Ayub," exclaimed Aben Habuz, " thou hast 
 been a great traveller, and seen marvellous things ; but of what 
 avail to me is the secret of the pyramid, and the volume of 
 knowledge of the wise Solomon ? " 
 
 " This it is, O king ! By the study of that book I am in- 
 structed in all magic arts, and can command the assistance of 
 genii to accomplish my plans. The mystery of the Talisman 
 of Borsa is therefore familiar to me, and such a talisman can I 
 make, nay, one of greater virtues." 
 
 " O wise son of Abu Ayub," cried Aben Habuz, " better 
 were such a talisman than all the watch towers on the hills, and 
 sentinels upon the borders. Give me such a safeguard, and 
 the riches of my treasury are at thy command." 
 
 The astrologer immediately set to work to gratify the wishes 
 
i82 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 of the monarch. He caused a great tower to be erected upon 
 the top of the royal palace, which stood on the brow of the hill 
 of the Albaycin. The tower was built of stones brought from 
 Egypt, and taken, it is said, from one of the pyramids. In the 
 upper part of the tower was a circular hall, with windows looking 
 towards every point of the compass, and before each window 
 was a table on which was arranged, as on a chess-board, a 
 mimic army of horse and foot, with the effigy of the potentate 
 that ruled in that direction, all carved of wood. To each of 
 these tables there was a small lance, no bigger than a bodkin, 
 on which were engraved certain Chaldaic characters. This 
 hall was kept constantly closed, by a gate of brass, with a 
 great lock of steel, the key of which was in possession of the 
 king. 
 
 On the top of the tower was a bronze figure of a Moorish 
 horseman, fixed on a pivot, with a shield on one arm, and his 
 lance elevated perpendicularly. The face of this horseman 
 was towards the city, as if keeping guard over it ; but if any foe 
 were at hand, the figure would turn in that direction, and 
 would level the lance as if for action. 
 
 When this talisman was finished, Aben Habuz was all 
 impatient to try its virtues, and longed as ardently for an 
 invasion as he had ever sighed after repose. His desire was 
 soon gratified. Tidings were brought, early one morning, by 
 the sentinel appointed to watch the tower, that the face of the 
 bronze horseman was turned towards the mountains of Elvira, 
 and that his lance pointed directly against the Pass of Lope. 
 
 " Let the drums and trumpets sound to arms, and all 
 Granada be put on the alert,'' said Aben Habuz. 
 
 '■ O king," said the astrologer, " let not your city be dis- 
 quieted, nor your warriors called to arms ; we need no aid of 
 force to deliver you from your enemies. Dismiss your at- 
 tendants, and let us proceed alone to the secret hall of the 
 tower." 
 
 The ancient Aben Habuz mounted the staircase of the 
 
The Gate of Justid 
 
i«4 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 tower, leaning on the arm of the still more ancient Ibrahim 
 Ebn Abu Ayub. They unlocked the brazen door and entered. 
 The window that looked towards the Pass of Lope was open. 
 "In this direction,'' said the astrologer, "lies the danger; 
 approach, O king, and behold the mystery of the table." 
 
 King Aben Habuz approached the seeming chessboard, on 
 which were arranged the small wooden effigies, when, to his 
 surprise, he perceived that they were all in motion. The 
 horses pranced and curveted, the warriors brandished their 
 weapons, and there was a faint sound of drums and trumpets, 
 and the clang of arms, and neighing of steeds ; but all no 
 louder, nor more distinct, than the hum of the bee, or the 
 summer-fly, in the drowsy ear of him who lies at noontide in 
 the shade. 
 
 "Behold, O king," said the astrologer, "a proof that 
 thy enemies are even now in the field. They must be ad- 
 vancing through yonder mountains, by the Pass of Lope. 
 Would you produce a panic and confusion amongst them, and 
 cause them to retreat without loss of life, strike these effigies 
 with the butt-end of this magic lance ; would you cause bloody 
 feud and carnage, strike with the point.'' 
 
 A livid streak passed across the countenance of Aben Abuz ; 
 he seized the lance with trembling eagerness ; his gray beard 
 wagged with exultation as he tottered toward the table : " Son 
 of Abu Ayub," exclaimed he, in chuckling tone, " I think we 
 will have a little blood ! " 
 
 So saying, he thrust the magic lance into some of the pigmy 
 effigies, and belaboured others with the butt-end, upon which 
 the former fell as dead upon the board, and the rest turning 
 upon each other, began, pell-mell, a chance-medley fight. 
 
 It was with difficulty the astrologer could stay the hand of 
 the most pacific of monarchs and prevent him from absolutely 
 exterminating his foes ; at length he prevailed upon him to 
 leave the tower, and to send out scouts to the mountains by 
 the Pass of Lope. 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER 185 
 
 They returned with the intelligence that a Christian army 
 had advanced through the heart of the Sierra, almost within 
 sight of Granada, where a dissension had broken out among 
 them ; they had turned their weapons against each other, and 
 after much slaughter had retreated over the border. 
 
 Aben Habuz was transported with joy on thus proving the 
 efficacy of the talisman. " At length," said he, " I shall lead a 
 life of tranquillity, and have all my enemies in my power. O 
 wise son of Abu Ayub, what can I bestow on thee in reward 
 for such a blessing ? " 
 
 " The wants of an old man and a philosopher, O king, are 
 few and simple ; grant me but the means of fitting up my cave 
 as a suitable hermitage, and I am content." 
 
 " How noble is the moderation of the truly wise ! " ex- 
 claimed Aben Habuz, secretly pleased at the cheapness of the 
 recompense. He summoned his treasurer, and bade him 
 dispense whatever sums might be required by Ibrahim to 
 complete and furnish his hermitage. 
 
 The astrologer now gave orders to have various chambers 
 hewn out of the solid rock, so as to form ranges of apartments 
 connected with his astrological hallj these he caused to be 
 furnished with luxurious ottomans and divans, and the walls to 
 be hung with the richest silks of Damascus. " I am an old 
 man," said he, " and can no longer rest my bones on stone 
 couches, and these damp walls require covering." 
 
 He had baths too constructed, and provided with all kinds 
 of perfumes and aromatic oils. " For a bath," said he, " is 
 necessary to counteract the rigidity of age, and to restore 
 freshness and suppleness to the frame withered by study." 
 
 He caused the apartments to be hung with innumerable 
 silver and crystal lamps, which he filled with a fragrant oil 
 prepared according to a receipt discovered by him in the 
 tombs of Egypt. This oil was perpetual in its nature, and 
 diffused a soft radiance like the tempered light of day. " The 
 light of the sun," said he, " is too garish and violent for the 
 
1 86 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 eyes of an old man, and the light of the lamp is more con- 
 genial to the studies of a philosopher." 
 
 The treasurer of King Aben Habuz groaned at the sums 
 daily demanded to fit up this hermitage, and he carried his 
 complaints to the king. The royal word, however, had been 
 given ; Aben Habuz shrugged his shoulders : " We must have 
 patience," said he ; " this old man has taken his idea of a 
 philosophic retreat from the interior of the pyramids, and of 
 the vast ruins of Egypt ; but all things have an end, and so 
 will the furnishing of his cavern." 
 
 The king was in the right; the hermitage was at length 
 complete, and formed a sumptuous subterranean palace. The 
 astrologer expressed himself perfectly content, and, shutting 
 himself up, remained for three whole days buried in study. 
 At the end of that time he appeared again before the treasurer. 
 " One thing more is necessary," said he, " one trifling solace for 
 the intervals of mental labour." 
 
 " O wise Ibrahim, I am bound to furnish everything 
 necessary for thy solitude ; what more dost thou require ? " 
 
 " I would fain have a few dancing-women." 
 
 " Dancing-women," echoed the treasurer, with surprise. 
 
 " Dancing-women," replied the sage gravely ; "and let them 
 be young and fair to look upon ; for the sight of youth and 
 beauty is refreshing. A few will suffice, for I am a philosopher 
 of simple habits and easily satisfied." 
 
 While the philosophic Ibrahim Ebn Abu Ayub passed his 
 time thus sagely in his hermitage, the pacific Aben Habuz 
 carried on furious campaigns in efiigy in his tower. It was a 
 glorious thing for an old man, like himself, of quiet habits, 
 to have war made easy, and to be enabled to amuse himself in 
 his chamber by brushing away whole armies like so many 
 swarms of flies. 
 
 For a time he rioted in the indulgence of his humours, and 
 even taunted and insulted his neighbours, to induce them 
 to make incursions; but by degrees they grew wary from 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER 187 
 
 repeated disasters, until no one ventured to invade his 
 territories. For many months the bronze horseman re- 
 mained on the peace estabhshment, with his lance elevated 
 in the air ; and the worthy old monarch began to repine at 
 the want of his accustomed sport, and to grow peevish at his 
 monotonous tranquillity. 
 
 .:\.t length, one day, the talismanic horseman veered sud- 
 denly round, and lowering his lance, made a dead point 
 towards the mountains of Guadix. Aben Habuz hastened to 
 his tower, but the magic table in that direction remained quiet : 
 not a single warrior was in motion. Perplexed at the cir- 
 cumstance, he sent forth a troop of horse to scour the moun- 
 tains and reconnoitre. They returned after three days' ab- 
 sence. 
 
 " U'e have searched every mountain pass," said they, " but 
 not a helm nor spear was stirring. All that we have found in 
 the course of our foray, was a Christian damsel of surpassing 
 beauty, sleeping at noontide beside a fountain, whom we have 
 brought away captive." 
 
 " A damsel of surpassing beauty ! " exclaimed Aben Habuz, 
 his eyes gleaming with animation ; "let her be conducted into 
 my presence.' 
 
 The beautiful damsel was accordingly conducted into his 
 presence. She was arrayed with all the luxury of ornament 
 that had prevailed among the Gothic Spaniards at the time of 
 the Arabian conquest. Pearls of dazzling whiteness were 
 ent\v'ined with her raven tresses ; and jewels sparkled on her 
 forehead, rivalling the lustre of her eyes. Around her neck 
 was a golden chain, to which was suspended a silver lyre, 
 which hung by her side. 
 
 The flashes of her dark refulgent eye were like sparks of fire 
 on the withered, yet combustible, heart of Aben Habuz ; the 
 swimming voloptuousness of her gait made his senses reel. 
 "Fairest of women," cried he, with rapture, "who and what 
 art thou ? " 
 
I88 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 " The daughter of one of the Gothic princes, who but lately 
 ruled over this land. The armies of my father have been 
 destroyed, as if by magic, among these mountains ; he has 
 been driven into exile, and his daughter is a captive." 
 
 " Beware, O king ! " whispered Ibrahim Ebn Abu Ayub, 
 " this may be one of those nothern sorceresses of whom we 
 have heard, who assume the most seductive forms to beguile 
 the unwary. Methinks I read witchcraft in her eye, and 
 sorcery in every movement. Doubtless this is the enemy 
 pointed out by the talisman." 
 
 " Son of Abu Ayub," replied the king, " thou art a wise 
 man, I grant, a conjuror for aught I know ; but thou art little 
 versed in the ways of woman. In that knowledge will I yield 
 to no man ; no, not to the wise Solomon himself, notwith- 
 standing the number of his wives and concubines. As to this 
 damsel, I see no harm in her ; she is fair to look upon, and 
 finds favour in my eyes." 
 
 " Hearken, O king ! " replied the astrologer. " I have given 
 thee many victories by means of my talisman, but have never 
 shared any of the spoil. Give me then this stray captive, to 
 solace me in my solitude with her silver lyre. If she be indeed 
 a sorceress, I have counter spells that set her charms at 
 defiance." 
 
 " What ! more women ! " cried Aben Habuz. " Hast thou 
 not already dancing-women enough to solace thee ? " 
 
 " Dancing-women have I, it is true, but no singing-women. 
 I would fain have a little minstrelsy to refresh my mind when 
 weary with the toils of study." 
 
 " A truce with thy hermit cravings," said the king, im- 
 patiently. " This damsel have I marked for my own. I see 
 much comfort in her : even such comfort as David, the father 
 of Solomon the Wise, found in the society of Abishag the 
 Shunammite." 
 
 Further solicitations and remonstrances of the astrologer 
 only provoked a more peremptory reply from the monarch, and 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER 189 
 
 they parted in high displeasure. The sage shut himself up in 
 his hermitage to brood over his disappointment ; ere he de- 
 parted, however, he gave the king one more warning to beware 
 of his dangerous captive. But where is the old man in love 
 that will listen to counsel ? Aben Habuz resigned himself to 
 the full sway of his passion. His only study was how to render 
 himself amiable in the eyes of the Gothic beauty. He had 
 not youth to recommend him, it is true, but then he had 
 riches ; and when a lover is old, he is generally generous. The 
 Zacatin of Granada was ransacked for the most precious 
 merchandise of the East ; silks, jewels, precious gems, exquisite 
 perfumes, all that Asia and Africa yielded of rich and rare, 
 were lavished upon the princess. All kinds of spectacles and 
 festi\'ities were devised for her entertainment ; minstrelsy, 
 dancing, tournaments, bull-fights ; — Granada for a time was a 
 scene of perpetual pageant. The Gothic princess regarded all 
 this splendour with the air of one accustomed to magnificence. 
 She received everything as a homage due to her rank, or rather 
 to her beauty ; for beauty is more lofty in its exactions even 
 than rank. Nay, she seemed to take a secret pleasure in 
 exciting the monarch to expenses that made his treasury shrink, 
 and then treating his extravagant generosity as a mere matter 
 of course. With all his assiduity and munificence, also, the 
 venerable lover could not flatter himself that he had made any 
 impression on her heart. She never frowned on him, it is true, 
 but then she never smiled. Whenever he began to plead his 
 passion, she struck her silver lyre. There was a mystic charm 
 in the sound. In an instant the monarch began to nod ; a 
 drowsiness stole over him, and he gradually sank into a sleep, 
 from which he awoke wonderfully refreshed, but perfectly cooled 
 for the time of his passion. This was very baffling to his suit ; 
 but then these slumbers were accompanied by agreeable dreams, 
 which completely enthralled the senses of the drowsy lover j so 
 he continued to dream on, while all Granada scoffed at his 
 infatuation, and groaned at the treasures lavished for a song. 
 
igo THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 At length a danger burst on the head of Aben Habuz, 
 against which his tahsman yielded him no warning. An in- 
 surrection broke out in his very capital ; his palace was sur- 
 rounded by an armed rabble, who menaced his life and the life 
 of his Christian paramour. A spark of his ancient warlike 
 spirit was awakened in the breast of the monarch. At the 
 head of a handful of his guards he sallied forth, put the rebels 
 to flight, and crushed the insurrection in the bud. 
 
 When quiet was again restored, he sought the astrologer, 
 who still remained shut up in his hermitage, chewing the bitter 
 cud of resentment. 
 
 Aben Habuz approached him with a conciliatory tone. " O 
 wise son of Abu Ayub," said he, "well didst thou predict 
 dangers to me from this captive beauty : tell me then, thou 
 who art so quick at foreseeing peril, what I should do to avert 
 it." 
 
 " Put from thee the infidel damsel who is the cause." 
 
 " Sooner would I part with my kingdom," cried Aben 
 Habuz. 
 
 " Thou art in danger of losing both," replied the astrologer. 
 
 " Be not harsh and angry, O most profound of philosophers ; 
 consider the double distress of a monarch and a lover, and 
 devise some means of protecting me from the evils by which I 
 am menaced. I care not for grandeur, I care not for power, I 
 languish only for repose ; would that I had some quiet retreat 
 where I might take refuge from the world, and all its cares, 
 and pomps, and troubles, and devote the remainder of my days 
 to tranquillity and love." 
 
 The astrologer regarded him for a moment from under his 
 bushy eyebrows. 
 
 "And what wouldst thou give, if I could provide thee such 
 a retreat ? " 
 
 " Thou shouldst name thy own reward ; and whatever it 
 might be, if within the scope of my power, as my soul liveth, it 
 should be thine," 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER 
 
 i<3l 
 
 " Thou hast heard, O king, of the garden of Irem, one of 
 the prodigies of Arabia the happy." 
 
 " I have heard of that garden ; it is recorded in the Koran, 
 even in the chapter entitled 'The Dawn of Day.' I have, 
 moreover, heard marvellous things related of it by pilgrims 
 who had been to Mecca ; but I considered them wild fables, 
 such as travellers are wont to tell who have visited remote 
 countries." 
 
 " Discredit not, O king, the tales of travellers," rejoined the 
 astrologer, gravely, " for they contain precious rarities of know- 
 ledge brought from the ends of the earth. As to the palace 
 and garden of Irem, what is generally told of them is true ; I 
 have seen them with mine own eyes ; — listen to my adventure, for 
 it has a bearing upon the object of your request. 
 
 " In my younger days, when a mere Arab of the desert, I 
 tended my father's camels. In traversing the desert of Aden, 
 one of them strayed from the rest, and was lost. I searched 
 after it for several days, but in vain, until, wearied and faint, I 
 laid myself down at noontide, and slept under a palm-tree by 
 the side of a scanty well. When I awoke I found myself at 
 the gate of a city. I entered, and beheld noble streets, and 
 squares, and market-places ; but all were silent and without an 
 inhabitant. I wandered on until I came to a sumptuous palace, 
 with a garden adorned with fountains and fish-ponds, and 
 groves and flowers, and orchards laden with delicious fruit ; 
 but still no one was to be seen. Upon which, appalled at this 
 loneliness, I hastened to depart ; and, after issuing forth at the 
 gate of the city, I turned to look upon the place, but it was no 
 longer to be seen : nothing but the silent desert extended 
 before my eyes. 
 
 " In the neighbourhood I met with an aged dervise, learned 
 in the traditions and secrets of the land, and related to him 
 what had befallen me. ' This,' said he, ' is the far-famed 
 garden of Irem, one of the wonders of the desert. It only 
 appears at times to some wanderer like thyself, gladdening him 
 
192 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 with the sight of towers and palaces and garden-walls overhung 
 with richly-laden fruit trees, and then vanishes, leaving nothing 
 but a lonely desert. And this is the story of it. In old times, 
 when this country was inhabited by the Addites, King Sheddad, 
 the son of Ad, the great grandson of Noah, founded here a 
 splendid city. When it was finished, and he saw its grandeur, 
 his heart was puffed up with pride and arrogance, and he 
 determined to build a royal palace, with gardens which should 
 rival all related in the Koran of the celestial paradise. But 
 the curse of heaven fell upon him for his presumption. He 
 and his subjects were swept from the earth, and his splendid 
 city, and palace, and gardens, were laid under a perpetual spell, 
 which hides them from human sight, excepting that they are 
 seen at intervals, by way of keeping his sin in perpetual re- 
 meniorance.' 
 
 " This story, O king, and the wonders I had seen, ever dwelt 
 in my mind ; and in after years, when I had been in Egypt, and 
 was possessed of the book of knowledge of Solomon the Wise, I 
 determined to return and revisit the garden of Irem. I did so, 
 and found it revealed to my instructed sight. I took possession 
 of the palace of Sheddad, and passed several days in his mock 
 paradise. The genii who watch over the place were obedient 
 to my magic power, and revealed to me the spells by which 
 the whole garden had been, as it were, conjured into existence, 
 and by which it was rendered invisible. Such a palace and 
 garden, O king, can I make for thee, even here, on the 
 mountain above thy city. Do I not know all the secret spells ? 
 and am I not in possession of the book of knowledge of 
 Solomon the Wise ? " 
 
 " O wise son of Abu Ayub ! " exclaimed Aben Habuz, 
 trembling with eagerness, " thou art a traveller indeed, and 
 hast seen and learned marvellous things ! Contrive me such a 
 paradise, and ask any reward, even to the half of my kingdom." 
 
 " Alas ! " repUed the other, " thou knowest I am an old man, 
 and a philosopher, and easily satisfied ; all the reward I ask is 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER 193 
 
 the first beast of burden, with its load, which shall enter the 
 magic portal of the palace." 
 
 The monarch gladly agreed to so moderate a stipulation, 
 and the astrologer began his work. On the summit of the hill, 
 immediately above his subterranean hermitage, he caused a 
 great gateway or barbican to be erected, opening through the 
 centre of a strong tower. 
 
 There was an outer vestibule or porch, with a lofty arch, and 
 within it a portal secured by massive gates. On the keystone 
 of the portal the astrologer, with his own hand, wrought the 
 figure of a huge key ; and on the keystone of the outer arch of 
 the vestibule, which was loftier than that of the portal, he 
 carved a gigantic hand. These were potent talismans, over 
 which he repeated many sentences in an unknown tongue. 
 
 When this gateway was finished, he shut himself up for two 
 days in his astrological hall, engaged in secret incantations ; on 
 the third he ascended the hill, and passed the whole day on its 
 summit. At a late hour of the night he came down, and 
 presented himself before Aben Habuz. " At length, O king,'' 
 said he, " my labour is accomplished. On the summit of the 
 hill stands one of the most delectable palaces that ever the 
 head of man devised, or the heart of man desired. It contains 
 sumptuous halls and galleries, delicious gardens, cool fountains, 
 and fragrant baths ; in a word, the whole mountain is converted 
 into a paradise. Like the garden of Irem, it is protected by a 
 mighty charm, which hides it from the view and search of 
 mortals, excepting such as possess the secret of its talismans." 
 
 "Enough ! " cried Aben Habuz, joyfully, " to-morrow morning 
 with the first light we will ascend and take possession." The 
 happy monarch slept but little that night. Scarcely had the 
 rays of the sun begun to play about the snowy summit of the 
 Sierra Nevada, when he mounted his steed, and, accompanied 
 only by a few chosen attendants, ascended a steep and narrow 
 road leading up the hill. Beside him, on a white palfrey, rode 
 the Gothic princess, her whole dress sparkling with jewels, 
 
 
 
194 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 while round her neck was suspended her silver lyre. The 
 astrologer walked on the other side of the king, assisting his 
 
 
 
 mw-^ t, 
 
 '^mSW 
 
 U 
 
 The Mystic Hand. 
 
 ... ..f,i,,,» ? 
 
 '^'^-^^i'- 
 
 steps with his hieroglyphic staff, for he never mounted steed of 
 any kind. 
 
 Aben Habuz looked to see the towers of the palace bright- 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER 195 
 
 ening above him, and the embowered terraces of its gardens 
 stretching along the heights ; but as yet nothing of the kind 
 was to be descried. " That is the mystery and safeguard of the 
 place," said the astrologer, " nothing can be discerned until you 
 have passed the spell-bound gateway, and been put in possession 
 of the place." 
 
 As they approach the gateway, the astrologer paused, and 
 pointed out to the king the mystic hand and key carved upon 
 the portal of the arch. " These," said he, " are the talismans 
 which guard the entrance to this paradise. Until yonder hand 
 shall reach down and seize that key, neither mortal power nor 
 magic artifice can prevail against the lord of this mountain." 
 
 While Aben Habuz was gazing, with open mouth and silent 
 wonder, at these mystic talismans, the palfrey of the princess 
 proceeded and bore her in at the portal, to the very centre of 
 the barbican. 
 
 " Behold," cried the astrologer, " my promised reward ; the 
 first animal with its burden which should enter the magic gate- 
 way." 
 
 Aben Habuz smiled at what he considered a pleasantry of 
 the ancient man ; but when he found him to be in earnest, his 
 gray beard trembled with indignation. 
 
 " Son of Abu Ayub," said he, sternly, " what equivocation is 
 this ? Thou knowest the meaning of my promise : the first 
 beast of burden, with its load, that should enter this portal. 
 Take the strongest mule in my stables, load it with the most 
 precious things of my treasury, and it is thine ; but dare not 
 raise thy thoughts to her who is the delight of my heart." 
 
 "What need I of wealth ? " cried the astrologer, scornfully; 
 " have I not the book of knowledge of Solomon the Wise, and 
 through it the command of the secret treasures of the earth ? 
 The princess is mine by right ; thy royal word is pledged ; I 
 claim her as my own." 
 
 The princess looked down haughtily from her palfrey, and a 
 light smile of scorn curled her rosy lip at this dispute between 
 
 P ? 
 
196 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 two gray beards for the possession of youth and beauty. The 
 wrath of the monarch got the better of his discretion. " Base 
 son of the desert," cried he, " thou mayst be master of many 
 arts, but know me for thy master, and presume not to juggle 
 with thy king.'' 
 
 " My master ! my king ! " echoed the astrologer, — " the 
 monarch of a mole-hill to claim sway over him who possesses 
 the talismans of Solomon ! Farewell, Aben Habuz ; reign 
 over thy petty kingdom, and revel in thy paradise of fools; for 
 me I will laugh at thee in my philosophic retirement." 
 
 So saying, he seized the bridle of the palfrey, smote the 
 earth with his staff, and sank with the Gothic princess through 
 the centre of the barbican. The earth closed over them, and 
 no trace remained of the opening by which they had de- 
 scended. 
 
 Aben Habuz was struck dumb for a time with astonishment. 
 Recovering himself, he ordered a thousand workmen to digi 
 with pickaxe and spade, into the ground where the astrologer 
 had disappeared. They digged and digged, but in vain ; the 
 flinty bosom of the hill resisted their implements ; or if they 
 did penetrate a little way, the earth filled in again as fast as 
 they threw it out. Aben Habuz sought the mouth of the 
 cavern at the foot of the hill, leading to the subterranean 
 palace of the astrologer ; but it was nowhere to be found. 
 Where once had been an entrance, was now a solid surface of 
 primeval rock. With the disappearance of Ibrahim Ebn Abu 
 Ayub ceased the benefit of his talismans. The bronze horse- 
 man remained fixed, with his face turned toward the hill, and 
 his spear pointed to the spot where the astrologer had de- 
 scended, as if there still lurked the deadliest foe of Aben 
 Habuz. 
 
 From time to time the sound of xnusic, and the tones of a 
 female voice, could be faintly heard from the bosom of the 
 hill ; and a peasant one day brought word to the king, that in 
 the preceding night. he had found a fissure in the rock, by 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARABIAN ASTROLOGER 197 
 
 which he had crept in, until he looked down into a sub- 
 terranean hall, in which sat the astrologer, on a magnificent 
 divan, slumbering and nodding to the silver lyre of the 
 princess, which seemed to hold a magic sway over his senses. 
 
 Aben Habuz sought the fissure in the rock, but it was again 
 closed. He renewed the attempt to unearth his rival, but all 
 in vain. The spell of the hand and key was too potent to be 
 counteracted by human power. As to the summit of the 
 mountain, the site of the promised palace and garden, it 
 remained a naked waste; either the boasted elysium was 
 hidden from sight by enchantment, or was a mere fable of the 
 astrologer. The world charitably supposed the latter, and 
 some used to call the place "The King's Folly"; while others 
 named it " The Fool's Paradise." 
 
 To add to the chagrin of Aben Habuz, the neighbours 
 whom he had defied and taunted, and cut up at his leisure 
 while master of the talismanic horseman, finding him no 
 longer protected by magic spell, made inroads into his 
 territories from all sides, and the remainder of the life of the 
 most pacific of monarchs was a tissue of turmoils. 
 
 At length Aben Habuz died, and was buried. Ages have 
 since rolled away. The Alhambra has been built on the 
 eventful mountain, and in some measure realises the fabled 
 delights of the garden of Irem. The spellbound gateway still 
 exists entire, protected no doubt by the mystic hand and key, 
 and now forms the Gate of Justice, the grand entrance to the 
 fortress. Under that gateway, it is said, the old astrologer 
 remains in his subterranean hall, nodding on his divan lulled 
 by the silver lyre of the princess. 
 
 The old invalid sentinels who mount guard at the gate hear 
 the strains occasionally in the summer nights ; and, yielding to 
 their soporific power, doze quietly at their posts. Nay, so 
 drowsy an influence pervades the place, that even those who 
 watch by day may generally be seen nodding on the stone 
 benches of the barbican, or sleeping under the neighbouring 
 
igS 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 trees ; so that in fact it is the drowsiest military post in all 
 Christendom. All this, say the ancient legends, will endure 
 from age to age. The princess will remain captive to the 
 astrologer ; and the astrologer, bound up in magic slumber by 
 the princess, until the last day, unless the mystic hand shall 
 grasp the fated key, and dispel the whole charm of this en- 
 chanted mountain. 
 
 
 1 -f^V;^ * 
 
VISITORS TO THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 For nearly three months had I enjoyed undisturbed my 
 dream of sovereignty in the Alhambra, — a longer term of quiet 
 than had been the lot of many of my predecessors. During 
 this lapse of time the progress of the season had wrought the 
 usual change. On my arrival I had found everything in the 
 freshness of May ; the foliage of the trees was still tender and 
 transparent ; the pomegranate had not yet shed its brilliant 
 crimson blossoms ; the orchards of the Xenil and the Darro 
 were in full bloom ; the rocks were hung with wild-flowers, 
 and Granada seemed completely surrounded by a wilderness of 
 roses ; among which innumerable nightingales sang, not merely 
 in the night, but all day long. 
 
 Now the advance of summer had withered the rose and 
 silenced the nightingale, and the distant country began to look 
 parched and sunburnt; though a perennial verdure reigned 
 immediately round the city and in the deep narrow valleys at 
 the foot of the snow-capped mountains. 
 
 The Alhambra possesses retreats graduated to the heat of 
 the weather, among which the most peculiar is the almost 
 subterranean apartment of the baths. This still retains its 
 ancient Oriental character, though stamped with the touching 
 
SoO 
 
 THE ALMAMBRA 
 
 traces of decline. At the entrance, opening into a small court 
 formerly adorned with flowers, is a hall, moderate in size, but 
 light and graceful in architecture. It is overlooked by a small 
 gallery supported by marble pillars and moresco arches. An 
 alabaster fountain in the centre of the pavement still throws up 
 a jet of water to cool the place. On each side are deep alcoves 
 with raised platforms, where the bathers, after their ablutions, 
 
 Safic/um SaiWtorunl. 
 
 reclined on cushions, soothed to voluptuous repose by the 
 fragrance of the perfumed air and the notes of soft music from 
 the gallery. Beyond this hall are the interior chambers, still 
 more retired ; the sanctum sandorutn of female privacy ; for here 
 the beauties of the Harem indulged in the luxury of the baths. 
 A soft mysterious light reigns through the place, admitted 
 through small apertures (liimbreras) in the vaulted ceiling. 
 The traces of ancient elegance are still to be seen ; and the 
 
VISITORS TO THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 201 
 
 alabaster baths in which the sultanas once reclined. The 
 prevailing obscurity and silence have made these vaults a 
 favourite resort of bats, who nestle during the day in the darlc 
 nooks and corners, and on being disturbed, flit mysteriously 
 about the twilight chambers, heightening, in an indescribable 
 degree, their air of desertion and decay. 
 
 In this cool and elegant, though dilapidated retreat, which 
 had the freshness and seclusion of a grotto, I passed the sultry 
 
 > "i 
 
 The Small Court. 
 
 hours of the day as summer advanced, emerging towards sunset ; 
 and bathing, or rather swimming, at night in the great reservoir 
 of the main court. In this way I was enabled in a measure to 
 counteract the relaxing and enervating influence of the climate. 
 My dream of absolute sovereignty, however, came at length 
 to an end. I was roused one morning by the report of fire- 
 arms, which reverberated among the towers as if the castle had 
 been taken by surprise. On sallying forth, I found an old 
 
ioi 
 
 The alHambrA 
 
 cavalier with a number of domestics in possession of the Hall 
 of Ambassadors. He was an ancient count who had come up 
 from his palace in Granada to pass a short time in the Alhambra 
 for the benefit of purer air; and who, being a veteran and 
 inveterate sportsman, was endeavouring to get an appetite for 
 his breakfast by shooting at swallows from the balconies. It 
 was a harmless amusement; for though, by the alertness of 
 his attendants in loading his pieces, he was enabled to keep up 
 
 TAc Great Reservoir. 
 
 a brisk fire, I could not accuse him of the death of a single 
 swallow. Nay, the birds themselves seemed to enjoy the sport, 
 and to deride his want of skill, skimming in circles close to the 
 balconies, and twittering as they darted by. 
 
 The arrival of this old gentleman changed essentially the 
 aspect of affairs, but caused no jealousy nor collision. We 
 tacitly shared the empire between us, like the last kings of 
 Granada, excepting that we maintained a most amicable 
 alliance. He reigned absolute over the Court of the Lions and 
 
6)1:..- 
 
 -^-^:%j^:;-r5^ 
 
 Entrance 
 
 to Hall of Amiassadors. 
 
204 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 
 its adjacent halls, while I maintained peaceful possession of 
 the regions of the baths and the little garden of Lindaraxa. 
 We took our meals together under the arcades of the court, 
 where the fountains cooled the air, and bubbling rills ran along 
 the channels of the marble pavement. 
 
 In the evenings a domestic circle would gather about the 
 worthy old cavalier. The countess, his wife by a second 
 
 marriage, would come 
 up from the city ac- 
 companied by her 
 step - daughter Car- 
 men, an only child, a 
 charming little being, 
 still in her girlish 
 years. Then there 
 were always some of 
 his official depend- 
 ants, his chaplain, his 
 lawyer, his secretary, 
 his steward, and other 
 officers and agents of 
 his extensive posses- 
 sions, who brought 
 him up the news or 
 gossip of the city, and 
 formed his evening 
 party of tresillo or 
 ombre. Thus he held 
 a kind of domestic 
 court, where each one paid him deference, and sought to 
 contribute to his amusement, without, however, any appear- 
 ance of servility, or any sacrifice of self-respect. In fact, 
 nothing of the kind was exacted by the demeanour of the 
 count ; for whatever may be said of Spanish pride, it rarely 
 chills or constrains the intercourse of social or domestic life. 
 
 
 4'"' if 
 
 -1^'', 
 i^-' 
 
 
 Garden of Lindaraxa. 
 
VISITORS TO THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 205 
 
 Among no people are the relations between kindred more 
 unreserved and cordial, or between superior and dependant 
 more free from haughtiness on the one side, and obsequiousness 
 on the other. In these respects there still remains in Spanish 
 life, especially in the provinces, much of the vaunted simplicity 
 of the olden time. 
 
 The most interesting member of this family group, in my 
 eyes, was the daughter of the 
 
 
 
 count, the lovely little Carmen. 
 She was but about sixteen 
 years of age, and appeared to 
 be considered a mere child, 
 though the idol of the family, 
 going generally by fhe child- 
 like but endearing appellation 
 of la Niiia. Her form had 
 not yet attained full maturity 
 and development, but pos- 
 sessed already the exquisite 
 symmetry and pliant grace so 
 prevalent in this country. 
 Her blue eyes, fair complexion, 
 and light hair, were unusual 
 in Andalusia, and gave a 
 mildness and gentleness to 
 her demeanour in contrast to the usual fire of Spanish 
 beauty, but in unison with the guileless and confiding 
 innocence of her manners. She had at the same time the 
 innate aptness and versatility of her fascinating country- 
 women. Whatever she undertook to do she did well and 
 apparently without effort. She sang, played the guitar and 
 other instruments, and danced the picturesque dances of her 
 country to admiration, but never seemed to seek admiration. 
 Everything was spontaneous, prompted by her own gay spirits 
 and happy temper. 
 
2o6 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 The presence of this fascinating little being spread a new 
 charm about the Alhambra, and seemed to be in unison with 
 the place. While the count and countess, with the chaplain or 
 secretary, were playing their game of tresillo under the vestibule 
 of the Court of Lions, she, attended by Dolores, who acted as 
 her maid of honour, would sit by one of the fountains, and 
 accompanying herself on the guitar, would sing some of those 
 popular romances which abound in Spain, or, what was 
 still more to my taste, some traditional ballad about the 
 Moors. 
 
 Never shall I think of the Alhambra without remembering 
 this lovely little being, sporting in happy and innocent girlhood 
 in its marble halls, dancing to the sound of the Moorish 
 castanets, or mingling the silver warbling of her voice with the 
 music of its fountains. 
 
THE GENERALIFE 
 
 High above the Alhambra, on the breast of the mountp.in, 
 amidst embowered gardens and stately terraces, rise the lofty 
 
 
 
 towers and white walls of the Generalife ; a fairy palace full of 
 storied recollections. Here are still to be seen the famous 
 
208 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 cypresses of enormous size which flourished in the time of the 
 Moors, and which tradition has connected with the fabulous 
 story of Boabdil and his sultana. 
 
 Here are preserved the portraits of many who figured in the 
 romantic drama of the Conquest. Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 Ponce de Leon, the gallant Marquis of Cadiz, and Garcilaso de 
 la Vega, who slew in desperate fight Tarfe the Moor, a 
 champion of Herculean strength. Here too hangs a portrait 
 
 Hall of Portraits. 
 
 which has long passed for that of the unfortunate Boabdil, but 
 which is said to be that of Aben Hud, the Moorish king from 
 whom descended the princes of Almeria. From one of these 
 princes, who joined the standard of Ferdinand and Isabella 
 towards the close of the Conquest, and was Christianised by 
 the name of Don Pedro de Granada Venegas, was descended 
 the present proprietor of the palace, the Marquis of Campotejar. 
 The proprietor, however, dwells in a foreign land, and the 
 palace has no longer a princely inhabitant. 
 
 Yet here is everything to delight a southern voluptuary : 
 fruits, flowers, fragrance, green arbours and myrtle hedges. 
 

 
 
 
 
 Ouiff Court of the Gawrnlife. 
 
TlIF, ALIIAMTiRA 
 
 dclicale air and yushiii.u, waters. Here 1 had an opporlunity 
 of witnessing those scenes wliich painters are lond ol 
 depicting about southern palaces and gardens. It was t1ie 
 
 Cciicralif: /-, oin .-Mlta^nhra. 
 
 saint's day of the count's daughter, and she had brought \\\\ 
 several ol lier youlliful Cf)mpanions from (Jranada, to sport 
 awa\' a long summer's day among the l)reezy halls and bowers 
 

212 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 of the Moorish palaces. A visit to the Generalife was the 
 morning's entertainment. Here some of the gay company 
 dispersed itself in groups about the green walks, the bright 
 fountains, the flights of Italian steps, the noble terraces and 
 marble balustrades. Others, among whom I was one, took 
 their seats in an open gallery or colonnade commanding a vast 
 prospect ; with the Alhambra, the city, and the ^''ega, far 
 
 below, and the distant horizon of mountains — a dreamy world, 
 all glimmering to the eye in summer sunshine. "\\'hile thus 
 seated, the all-pervading tinkling of the guitar and click of the 
 castanets came stealing up from the valley of the Darro, and 
 half-way down the mountain we descried a festive party under 
 the trees, enjoying themselves in true Andalusian style ; some 
 lying on the grass, others dancing to the music. 
 
 All these sights and sounds together with the princely 
 

 
 
214 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 seclusion of the place, the sweet quiet which prevailed around, 
 and the delicious serenity of the weather, had a witching effect 
 
 upon the mind, and drew from some of the company, versed 
 in local story, several of the popular fancies and traditions 
 
X.X 
 
 Court of the Aqueduct. 
 
2l6 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 connected with this old Moorish palace ; they were " such 
 stuff as dreams are made of," but out of them I have shaped 
 the following legend, which I hope may have the good fortune 
 to prove acceptable to the reader. 
 
 
 
 T/te Cypress Walk, Gencyall/i-, destroyed in 1896. 
 
LEGEND OE PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL; 
 
 THE ITIXxRI.M OF LOVE 
 
 There was once a Moorish king of Granada, who had but 
 one son, whom he named Ahmed, to which liis courtiers 
 added the surname of al J\a//hi, ur the Perfect, from the in- 
 dubitable signs of super-excellence which they perceived in him 
 in his very infanc)-. The astrologers countenanced them in 
 their foresight, predicting e^"er)thing in his favour that could 
 make a perfect prince and a prosperous sovereign. Ojic cloutl 
 only rested upon his destiny, and even that was of a roseate 
 hue : he would be of an amorous temperament, and run great 
 perils from the tender passion. li', ho\ve\"er, he could be kept 
 from the allurements of love until of mature age, these dangers 
 would be averted, and his life thereafter be one uninterrupted 
 course of felicit)-. 
 
 'J'o prevent all danger of the kind, thcLing wiseh' determined 
 to rear the prince in a seclusion where lie should never see a 
 female face, nor hear e\"en the name ol ]o\"e. For this purpjose 
 he bmlt a beautiful pakice on tlie brow of tlie hill above the 
 Alhambra, in the midst of delightful gardens, but surrounded by 
 lofty walls, being, in firct, the same [)alace known at the present 
 da}- by the name of the Cieneralifc. In this pakrce the youth- 
 
2i8 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 ful prince was shut up, and intrusted to the guardianship and 
 instruction of Eben Bonabben, one of the wisest and dryest of 
 Arabian sages, who had passed the greater part of his life in 
 Egypt, studying hieroglyphics, and making researches among 
 the tombs and pyramids, and who saw more charms in an 
 Egyptian mummy than in the most tempting of living beauties. 
 The sage was ordered to instruct the prince in all kinds of 
 knowledge but one,— he was to be kept utterly ignorant of love. 
 " Use every precaution for the purpose you may think proper," 
 said the king, " but remember, O Eben Bonabben, if my son 
 learns aught of that forbidden knowledge while under your 
 care, your head shall answer for it." A withered smile came 
 over the dry visage of the wise Bonabben at the menace. 
 " Let your majesty's heart be as easy about your son, as mine 
 is about my head : am I a man likely to give lessons in the 
 idle passion ? " 
 
 Under the vigilant care of the philosopher, the prince grew 
 up in the seclusion of the palace and its gardens. He had 
 black slaves to attend upon him — hideous mutes who knew 
 nothing of love, or if they did, had not words to communicate 
 it. His mental endowments were the peculiar care of Eben 
 Bonabben, who sought to initiate him into the abstruse lore of 
 Egypt j but in this the prince made little progress, and it was 
 soon evident that he had no turn for philosophy. 
 
 He was, however, amazingly ductile for a youthful prince, 
 ready to follow any advice, and always guided by the last 
 counsellor. He suppressed his yawns, and listened patiently 
 to the long and learned discourses of Eben Bonabben, from 
 which he imbibed a smattering of various kinds of knowledge, 
 and thus happily attained his twentieth year, a miracle of 
 princely wisdom — but totally ignorant of love. 
 
 About this time, however, a change came over the conduct 
 of the prince. He completely abandoned his studies, and 
 took to strolling about the gardens, and musing by the sides of 
 the fountains. He had been taught a little music among his 
 
'-■N,' 
 
 Fountain 0/ the Ccnera/i/e, 
 
220 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 \arious accomplishments ; it now engrossed a great part of his 
 time, and a turn for poetry became apparent. The sage Eben 
 Bonabben took the alarm, and endeavoured to work these idle 
 humours out of him by a severe course of Algebra ; but the 
 prince turned from it with distaste. " I cannot endure algebra," 
 said he ; " it is an abomination to me. I want something that 
 speaks more to the heart." 
 
 The sage Eben Bonabben shook his dry head at the words. 
 Here is an end to philosophy," thought he. " The prince has 
 discovered he has a heart ! " He now kept anxious watch upon 
 his pupil, and saw that the latent tenderness of his nature was 
 in activity, and only wanted an object. He wandered about 
 the gardens of the Generalife in an intoxication of feelings of 
 which he knew not the cause. Sometimes he would sit plunged 
 in a delicious reverie ; then he would seize his lute and draw 
 from it the most touching notes, and then throw it aside, and 
 break forth into sighs and ejaculations. 
 
 By degrees this loving disposition began to extend to in- 
 animate objects ; he had his favourite flowers, which he 
 cherished with tender assiduity ; then he became attached to 
 various trees, and there was one in particular, of a graceful form 
 and drooping foliage, on which he lavished his amorous devo- 
 tion, carving his name on its bark, hanging garlands on its 
 branches, and singing couplets in its praise, to the accompani- 
 ment of his lute. 
 
 Eben Bonabben was alarmed at this excited state of his 
 pupil. He saw him on the very brink of forbidden knowledge 
 — the least hint might reveal to him the fatal secret. Tremb- 
 ling for the safety of the prince and the security of his own 
 head, he hastened to draw him from the seductions of the 
 garden, and shut him up in the highest tower of the Generalife. 
 It contained beautiful apartments, and commanded an almost 
 boundless prospect, but was elevated far above that atmosphere 
 of sweets and those witching bowers so dangerous to the feel- 
 ings of the too susceptible Ahmed. 
 
LEGEND OF PRIXCE AHMED AL KAMEL 
 
 221 
 
 \Miat was to be clone, however, to reconcile him to this 
 restraint and to beguile the tedious hours ? He had exhausted 
 almost all kinds of agreeable knowledge ; and algebra was not to 
 be mentioned. Fortunately Eben Bonabbcn had been instructed, 
 when in Egypt, in the language of birds by a Jewish Rabbin, 
 who had received it in lineal transmission from Solomon the 
 ^Vise, who had been taught it by the queen of Shelia. At the 
 very mention of such a 
 study, the eyes of the 
 prince sparkled with ani- 
 mation, and he applied 
 himself to it with such 
 avidity, that he soon be- 
 came as great an adept 
 as his master. 
 
 The tower of the 
 Generalife was no longer 
 a solitude ; he had com- 
 panions at hand with 
 whom he could con- 
 verse. The first ac- 
 quaintance he formed 
 was with a hawk, who 
 built his nest in a crevice 
 of the lofty battlements, 
 whence he soared far and 
 wide in quest of prey. 
 The prince, however, 
 found little to like or esteem in him. He was a mere pirate 
 of the air, swaggering and boastful, whose talk was all about 
 rapine and carnage, and desperate exploits. 
 
 His next acquaintance was an owl, a mighty wise-looking 
 bird, with a huge head and staring eyes, who sat blinking and 
 goggling all day in a hole in the wall, but roamed forth at 
 night. He had great pretensions to wisdom, talked something 
 
 highest Tmvcr. 
 
222 TH1-: ALIIAMBRA 
 
 of astrology and the moon, and hinted at the dark sciences ; he 
 was grievously given to metaphysics, and the prince found his 
 prosings even more ponderous than those of the sage Eben 
 Bonabben. 
 
 Then there was a bat, that hung all day by his heels in the 
 dark corner of a vault, but sallied out in slipshod style at twi- 
 light. He, however, had but twilight ideas on all subjects, 
 derided things of which he had taken but an imperfect view, 
 and seemed to take delight in nothing. 
 
 Besides these there was a swallow, with whom the prince was 
 at first much taken. He was a smart talker, but restless, 
 bustling, and for ever on the wing ; seldom remaining long 
 enough for any continued conversation. He turned out in the 
 end to be a mere smatterer, who did but skim over the surface 
 of things, pretending to know everything, but knowing nothing 
 thoroughly. 
 
 These were the only feathered associates with whom the 
 prince had any opportunity of exercising his newly acquired 
 language ; the tower was too high for any other birds to fre- 
 quent it. He soon grew weary of his new acquaintances, whose 
 conversation spoke so little to the head and nothing to the 
 heart, and gradually relapsed into his loneliness. A winter 
 passed away, spring opened with all its bloom and verdure and 
 breathing sweetness, and the happy time arrived for birds to 
 pair and build their nests. Suddenly, as it were, a univer.sal 
 burst of song and melody broke forth from the groves and 
 gardens of the Generalife, and reached the prince in the soli- 
 tude of his tower. From every side he heard the same uni- 
 versal theme— love — love — love — chanted forth, and responded 
 to in every variety of note and tone. The prince listened in 
 silence and perplexity. " What can be this love," thought he, 
 "of which the world seems so full, and of which I know 
 nothing?" He applied for information to his friend the hawk. 
 The ruffian bird answered in a tone of scorn: "You must 
 apply," said he, " to the \ulgar peaceable birds of earth, who 
 
LEGKXD OF,rRINCE AHiFED AL KAMEL 223 
 
 are made for the prey of us princes of the air. My trade is 
 war, and fighting my dehght. I am a warrior, and know 
 nothing of this thing called love." 
 
 The prince turned from him with disgust, and sought the 
 owl in his retreat. " This is a bird," said he, " of peaceful 
 habits, and may be able to solve my question." So he asked 
 the owl to tell him what was this love about which all the birds 
 in the groves below were singing. 
 
 Upon this the owl put on a look of offended dignity. " My 
 
 
 nights," said he, " are taken up in study and research, and my 
 days in ruminating in my cell upon all that I have learnt. As 
 to these singing birds of whom you talk, I never listen to them 
 — I despise them and their themes. Allah be praised, I cannot 
 sing ; I am a philosopher, and know nothing of this thing 
 called love.'' 
 
 The prince now repaired to the vault, where his friend the 
 bat was hanging by the heels, and propounded the same 
 question. The bat wrinkled up his nose into a most snappish 
 expression. " Why do you disturb me in my morning's nap 
 with such an idle question ? " said he, peevishly. " I only fly 
 
224 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 by twilight, when all birds are, asleep, and never trouble myself 
 with their concerns. I am neither bird nor beast, and I thank 
 heaven for it. I have found out the villainy of the whole of 
 them, and hate them one and all. In a word, I am a misan- 
 thrope — and know nothing of this thing called love." 
 
 As a last resort, the prince now sought the swallow, and 
 stopped him just as he was circling about the summit of the 
 tower. The swallow, as usual, was in a prodigious hurry, and 
 had scarce time to make a reply. " Upon my word," said he, 
 " I have so much public business to attend to, and so many 
 pursuits to follow, that I have had no time to think on the sub- 
 ject. I have every day a thousand visits to pay ; a thousand 
 affairs of importance to examine into, that leave me not a 
 moment of leisure for these little sing-song matters. In a word, 
 I am a citizen of the world — I know nothing of this thing 
 called love." So saying, the swallow dived into the valley, and 
 was out of sight in a moment. 
 
 The prince remained disappointed and perplexed, but with 
 his curiosity still more piqued by the difificulty of gratifying it. 
 While in this mood, his ancient guardian entered the tower. 
 The prince advanced eagerly to meet him. " O Eben Bonab- 
 ben," cried he, " thou hast revealed to me much of the wisdom 
 of the earth ; but there is one thing of which I remain in utter 
 ignorance, and would fain be informed." 
 
 " My prince has but to make the inquiry, and everything 
 within the limited range of his servant's intellect is at his 
 command." 
 
 " Tell me then, O most profound of sages, what is the nature 
 of this thing called love ? " 
 
 Eben Bonabben was struck as with a thunderbolt. He 
 trembled and turned pale, and felt as if his head sat but 
 loosely on his shoulders. 
 
 " What could suggest such a question to my prince, — where 
 could he have learnt so idle a word ? " 
 
 The prince led him to the window of the tower. " Listen, 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 225 
 
 Eben Bonabben," said he. The sage listened. The nightingale 
 sat in a thicket below the tower, singing to his paramour the 
 rose ; from every blossomed spray and tufted grove rose a 
 strain of melod}' ; and love — love — love was still the unvarying 
 strain. 
 
 " Allah Akbar ! God is great ! " exclaimed the wise Bonabben. 
 " A\'ho shall pretend to keep this secret from the heart of man, 
 when even the birds of the air conspire to betray it ? " 
 
 Then turning to Ahmed — " O my prince," cried he, " shut 
 thine ears to these seductive strains. Close thy mind against 
 this dangerous knowledge. Know that this love is the cause of 
 half the ills of wretched mortality. It is this which produces 
 bitterness and strife between brethren and friends ; which 
 causes treacherous murder and desolating war. Care and 
 sorrow, weary days and sleepless nights, are its attendants. It 
 withers the bloom and blights the joy of youth, and brings on 
 the ills and griefs of premature old age. Allah preserve thee, 
 my prince, in total ignorance of this thing called love ! " 
 
 The sage Eben Bonabben hastily retired, leaving the prince 
 plunged in still deeper perplexity. It was in vain he attempted 
 to dismiss the subject from his mind ; it still continued upper- 
 most in his thoughts, and teased and exhausted him with vain 
 conjectures. Surely, said he to himself, as he listened to the 
 tuneful strains of the birds, there is no sorrow in those notes ; 
 everything seems tenderness and joy. If love be a cause of 
 such wretchedness and strife, why are not these birds drooping 
 in solitude, or tearing each other in pieces, instead of fluttering 
 cheerfully about the groves, or sporting with each other among 
 the flowers ? 
 
 He lay one morning on his couch, meditating on this inex- 
 plicable matter. The window of his chamber was open to 
 admit the soft morning breeze, which came laden with the 
 perfume of orange-blossoms from the valley of the Darro. The 
 voice of the nightingale was faintly heard, still chanting the 
 worsted therne. As the prince was listening and sighing, there 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 was a sudden rushing noise in the air ; a beautiful dove, pur- 
 sued by a hawk, darted in at the window, and fell panting on 
 the floor, while the pursuer, balked of his prey, soared off to 
 the mountains. 
 
 The prince took up the gasping bird, smoothed its feathers. 
 
 
 Bridg;c on the Darro, 
 
 and nestled it in his bosom. When he had .soothed it by his 
 caresses, he put it in a golden cage, and offered it, with his own 
 hands, the whitest and finest of wheat and the purest of water. 
 The bird, however, refused food, and sat drooping and pining, 
 and uttering piteous moans. 
 
 " What aileth thee ?" said Ahmed. "Hast thou not every- 
 thing thy heart can wish ? " 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 
 
 227 
 
 "Alas, no!" replied the dove ; "am I not separated from 
 the partner of my heart, and that too in the happy spring-time, 
 the very season of love ! " 
 
 " Of love ! " echoed Ahmed. " I pray thee, my pretty bird, 
 canst thou then tell me what is love ? " 
 
 "Too well can I, my prince. It is the torment of one, the 
 felicity of two, the strife and enmity of three. It is a charm 
 
 
 
 •■■■ .■"..yjrf, ^, 
 
 
 
 The Moorish Mint. 
 
 which draws two beings together, and unites them by delicious 
 sympathies, making it happiness to be with each other, but 
 misery to be apart. Is there no being to whom you are drawn 
 by these ties of tender affection ? " 
 
 "I like my old teacher Eben Bonabben better than any 
 other being ; but he is often tedious, and I occasionally feel 
 myself happier without his society." 
 
 " That is not the sympathy I mean. I speak of love, the 
 great mystery and principle of life : the intoxicating revel of 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 youth ; the sober delight of age. Look forth, my prince, and 
 behold how at this blest season all nature is full of love. 
 Every created being has its mate ; the most insignificant bird 
 sings to its paramour ; the very beetle woos its lady-beetle in 
 the dust, and yon butterflies which you see fluttering high 
 above the tower and toying in the air, are happy in each other's 
 loves. Alas, my prince ! hast thou spent so many of the 
 precious days of youth without knowing anything of love ? Is 
 there no gentle being of another sex — no beautiful princess 
 nor lovely damsel who has ensnared your heart, and filled your 
 bosom with a soft tumult of pleasing pains and tender wishes ? " 
 
 "I begin to understand," said the prince, sighing; "such a 
 tumult I have more than once experienced, without knowing 
 the cause ; and where should I seek for an object such as you 
 describe in this dismal solitude ? " 
 
 A little further conversation ensued, and the first amatory 
 lesson of the prince was complete. 
 
 "Alas ! " said he, " if love be indeed such a delight, and its 
 interruption such a misery, Allah forbid that I should mar the 
 joy of any of its votaries." He opened the cage, took out the 
 dove, and having fondly kissed it, carried it to the window. 
 " Go, happy bird," said he, "rejoice with the partner of thy 
 heart in the days of youth and spring-time. Why should I 
 make thee a fellow-prisoner in this dreary tower, where love 
 can never enter ? " 
 
 The dove flapped its wings in rapture, gave one vault into the 
 air, and then swooped downward on whistling wings to the 
 blooming bowers of the Darro. 
 
 The prince followed him with his eyes, and then gave way 
 to bitter repining. The singing of the birds, which once 
 delighted him, now added to his bitterness. Love ! love ! love ! 
 Alas, poor youth ! he now understood the strain. 
 
 His eyes flashed fire when next he beheld the sage Bonab- 
 ben. " Why hast thou kept me in this abject ignorance ? " 
 cried he. " AVhy has the great mystery and principle of life 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 
 
 229 
 
 been withheld from me, in which I find the meanest insect is 
 so learned ? Behold all nature is in a revel of delight. Every 
 created being rejoices with its mate. This — this is the love 
 about which I have sought instruction. Why am I alone 
 
 Generalife. The First Court's Cool Canal. 
 
 debarred its enjoyment ? Why has so much of my youth been 
 wasted without a knowledge of its raptures ? " 
 
 The sage Bonabben saw that all further reserve was useless ; 
 for the prince had acquired the dangerous and forbidden know- 
 ledge. He revealed to him, therefore, the predictions of the 
 astrologers and the precautions that had been taken in his 
 
230 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 education to avert the threatened evils. " And now, my 
 prince,'' added he, " my life is in your hands. Let the king 
 your father discover that you have learned the passion of 
 love while under my guardianship, and my head must answer 
 for it." 
 
 The prince was as reasonable as most young men of his age, 
 and easily listened to the remonstrances of his tutor, since 
 nothing pleaded against them. Besides, he really was attached 
 to Eben Bonabben, and being as yet but theoretically acquainted 
 with the passion of love, he consented to confine the knowledge 
 of it to his own bosom, rather than endanger the head of the 
 philosopher. 
 
 His discretion was doomed, however, to be put to still 
 further proofs. A few mornings afterwards, as he was rum- 
 inating on the battlements of the tower, the dove which had 
 been released by him came hovering in the air, and alighted 
 fearlessly upon his shoulder. 
 
 The prince fondled it to his heart. " Happy bird," said he, 
 " who can fly, as it were, with the wings of the morning to the 
 uttermost parts of the earth. Where hast thou been since we 
 parted ? " 
 
 " In a far country, my prince, whence I bring you tidings in 
 reward for my liberty. In the wild compass of my flight, which 
 extends over plain and mountain, as I was soaring in the air, I 
 beheld below me a delightful garden with all kinds of fruits and 
 flowers. It was in a green meadow, on the banks of a wander- 
 ing stream : and in the centre of the garden was a stately 
 palace. I alighted in one of the bowers to repose after my 
 weary flight. On the green bank below me was a youthful 
 princess, in the very sweetness and bloom of her years. She 
 was surrounded by female attendants, young like herself, who 
 decked her with garlands and coronets of flowers ; but no 
 flower of field or garden could compare with her for loveliness. 
 Here, however, she bloomed in secret, for the garden was 
 surrounded by high walls, and no mortal man was permitted to 
 
Seville Cathedral,, 
 
232 tllE ALHAMBRA 
 
 enter. A\'hen I beheld this beauteous maid, thus young and 
 innocent and unspotted by the world, I thought, here is the 
 being formed by heaven to inspire my prince with love." 
 
 The description was a spark of fire to the combustible heart 
 of Ahmed ; all the latent amorousness of his temperament had 
 at once found an object, and he conceived an immeasurable 
 passion for the princess. He wrote a letter, couched in the 
 most impassioned language, breathing his fervent devotion, but 
 bewailing the unhappy thraldom of his person, which prevented 
 him from seeking her out and throwing himself at her feet. He 
 added couplets of the most tender and moving eloquence, for 
 lie was a poet by nature, and inspired by love. He addressed 
 his letter — " To the Unknown Beauty, from the captive Prince 
 Ahmed ; " then perfuming it with musk and roses, he gave it to 
 the dove. 
 
 " Away, trustiest of messengers ! " said he. " Fly over 
 mountain, and valley, and river, and plain ; rest not in bower, 
 nor set foot on earth, until thou hast given this letter to the 
 mistress of my heart." 
 
 The dove soared high in air, and taking his course darted 
 away in one undeviating direction. The prince followed him 
 with his eye until he was a mere speck on a cloud, and gradually 
 disappeared behind a mountain. 
 
 Day after day he watched for the return of the messenger of 
 love, but he watched in vain. He began to accuse him of 
 forgetfulness, when towards sunset one evening the faithful 
 bird fluttered into his apartment, and falling at his feet 
 expired. The arrow of some wanton archer had pierced his 
 breast, yet he had struggled with the Hngerings of life to 
 execute his mission. As the prince bent with grief over this 
 gentle martyr to fidelity, he beheld a chain of pearls round his 
 neck, attached to which, beneath his wing, was a small enamelled 
 picture. It represented a lovely princess in the very flower of 
 her years. It was doubtless the unknown beauty of the garden ; 
 but who and where was she ? — how had she received his letter ? 
 
Legend of pkmcE ahmed al kamel iH 
 
 and was this picture sent as a token of her approval of his 
 passion? Unfortunately the death of the faithful dove left 
 everything in mystery and doubt. 
 
 The prince gazed on the picture till his eyes swam with 
 tears. He pressed it to his lips and to his heart ; he sat for 
 hours contemplating it almost in an agony of tenderness. 
 " Beautiful image ! " said he, " alas, thou art but an image ! 
 Yet thy dewy eyes beam tenderly upon me ; those rosy lips 
 look as though they would speak encouragement : vain fancies ! 
 Have they not looked the same on some more happy rival ? 
 But where in this wide world shall I hope to find the original ? 
 Who knows what mountains, what realms may separate us ; 
 what adverse chances may intervene ? Perhaps now, even 
 now, lovers may be crowding around her, while I sit here a 
 prisoner in a tower, wasting my time in adoration of a painted 
 shadow." 
 
 The resolution of Prince Ahmed was taken. " I will fly from 
 this palace," said he, " which has become an odious prison ; 
 and, a pilgrim of love, will seek this unknown princess through- 
 out the world." To escape from the tower in the day when 
 every one was awake, might be a difficult matter ; but at night 
 the palace was slightly guarded ; for no one apprehended any 
 attempt of the kind from the prince, who had always been so 
 passive in his captivity. How was he to guide himself, how- 
 ever, in his darkling flight, being ignorant of the country ? He 
 bethought him of the owl, who was accustomed to roam at 
 night, and must know every by-lane and secret pass. Seeking 
 him in his hermitage, he questioned him touching his know- 
 ledge of the land. Upon this the owl put on a mighty self- 
 important look. " You must know, O prince," said he, " that 
 we owls are of a very ancient and extensive family, though 
 rather fallen to decay, and possess ruinous castles and palaces 
 in all parts of Spain. There is scarcely a tower of the 
 mountains, or a fortress of the plains, or an old citadel of 
 a city, but has some brother, or uncle, or cousin, quartered in 
 
234 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 it ; and in going the rounds to visit this my numerous kindred, 
 I have pried into every nook and corner, and made myself 
 acquainted with every secret of the land." 
 
 The prince was overjoyed to find the owl so deeply versed 
 in topography, and now informed him, in confidence, of his 
 tender passion and his intended elopement, urging him to be 
 his coinpanion and counsellor. 
 
 " Go to ! " said the owl, with a look of displeasure ; 'f am I a 
 bird to engage in a love-affair ? — I, whose whole time is devoted 
 to meditation and the moon ? " 
 
 " Be not offended, most solemn owl," rephed the prince ; 
 " abstract thyself for a time from meditation and the moon, 
 and aid me in my flight, and thou shalt have whatever heart 
 can wish." 
 
 " I have that already," said the owl : " a few mice are 
 sufficient for my frugal table, and this hole in the wall is 
 spacious enough for my studies ; and what more does a philo- 
 sopher like myself desire ? " 
 
 " Bethink thee, most wise owl, that while moping in thy cell 
 and gazing at the moon, all thy talents are lost to the world. I 
 shall one day be a sovereign prince, and may advarice thee to 
 some post of honour and dignity." 
 
 The owl, though a philosopher and above the ordinary wants 
 of life, was hot above ambition, so he was finally prevailed on 
 to elope with the prince, and be his guide and mentor in his 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 The plans of a lover are promptly executed. The prince 
 collected all his jewels, and concealed them about his person 
 as travelling funds. That very night he lowered himself by 
 his scarf from a balcony of the tower, clambered over the outer 
 walls of the Generalife, and, guided by the owl, made good his 
 escape before morning to the mountains. 
 
 He now held a council with his nientor as to his future 
 course. 
 
 " Might I advise," said the owl, " I would recommend you 
 
The Ciralda 'fozvcr, Sc''i/ic. 
 
236 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 to repair to Seville. You must know that many years since 1 
 was on a visit to an uncle, an owl of great dignity and power; 
 who lived in a ruined wing of the Alcazar of that place. In my 
 
 
 i^m0h. 
 
 
 T/t£ ALazar. Scrilk. 
 
 hoverings at night over the city I frequently remarked a light 
 burning in a lonely tower. At length I alighted on the battle- 
 ments, and found it to proceed from the lamp of an Arabian 
 magician : he was surrounded by his magic books, and on his 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 237 
 
 shoulder was perched his familiar, an ancient raven who had 
 come with him from Egypt. I am acquainted with that raven, 
 and owe to him a great part of the knowledge I possess. The 
 magician is since dead, but the raven still inhabits the tower, 
 for these birds are of wonderful long life. I would advise you, 
 O prince, to seek that raven, for he is a soothsayer and a 
 conjurer, and deals in the black art, for which all ravens, and 
 especially those of Egypt, are renowned. 
 
 The prince was struck with the wisdom of this advice, and 
 accordingly bent his course towards Seville. He travelled only 
 in the night to accommodate his companion, and lay by during 
 the day in some dark cavern or mouldering watch-tower, for 
 the owl knew every hiding-hole of the kind, and had a most 
 antiquarian taste for ruins. 
 
 At length one morning at daybreak they reached the city of 
 Seville, where the owl, who hated the glare and bustle of 
 crowded streets, halted without the gate, and took up his 
 quarters in a hollow tree. 
 
 The prince entered the gate, and readily found the magic 
 tower, which rose above the houses of the city, as a palm-tree 
 rises above the shrubs of the desert ; it was in fact the same 
 tower standing at the present day, and known as the Giralda, 
 the famous Moorish tower of Seville. 
 
 The prince ascended by a great winding staircase to the 
 summit of the tower, where he found the cabalistic raven, — an 
 old, mysterious, gray-headed bird, ragged in feather, with a 
 film over one eye that gave him the glare of a spectre. He 
 was perched on one leg, with his head turned on one side, 
 poring with his remaining eye on a diagram described on the 
 pavement. 
 
 The prince approached him with the awe and reverence 
 naturally inspired by his venerable appearance and supernatural 
 wisdom. " Pardon me, most ancient and darkly wise raven," 
 exclaimed he, " if for a moment I interrupt those studies which 
 are the wonder of the world. You behold before you a votary 
 
238 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 of love, who would fain seek your counsel how to obtain the 
 object of his passion." 
 
 "In other words," said the raven, with a significant look, 
 " you seek to try my skill in palmistry. Come, show me your 
 hand, and let me decipher the mysterious lines of fortune." 
 
 " Excuse me," said the prince, " I come not to pry into the 
 decrees of fate, which are hidden by Allah from the eyes of 
 mortals ; I am a pilgrim of love, and seek but to find a clue to 
 the object of my pilgrimage." 
 
 "And can you be at any loss for an object in amorous 
 Andalusia?" said the old raven, leering upon him with his 
 single eyes ; " above all, can you be at a loss in wanton Seville, 
 where black-eyed damsels dance the zambra under every orange 
 grove ? " 
 
 The prince blushed, and was somewhat shocked at hearing 
 an old bird with one foot in the grave talk thus loosely. 
 "Believe me," said he gravely, "I am on no such light and 
 vagrant errand as thou dost insinuate. The black-eyed damsels 
 of Andalusia who dance among the orange groves of the Guadal- 
 quiver are as nought to me. I seek one unknown but immacu- 
 late beauty, the original of this picture ; and I beseech thee, 
 most potent raven, if it be within the scope of thy knowledge or 
 the reach of thy heart, inform me where she may be found ? " 
 
 The gray-headed raven was rebuked by the gravity of the 
 prince. 
 
 " What know I," replied he, dryly, " of youth and beauty ? 
 my visits are to the old and withered, not the fresh and fair ; 
 the harbinger of fate am I ; who croak bodings of death from 
 the chimney-top, and flap my wings at the sick man's window. 
 You must seek elsewhere for tidings of your unknown beauty." 
 
 "And where can I seek if not among the sons of wisdom, 
 versed in the book of destiny ? Know that I am a royal prince, 
 fated by the stars, and sent on a mysterious enterprise on which 
 may hang the destiny of empires." 
 
 When the raven heard that it was a matter of vast moment, 
 
J,;tJW^ft'-<i- 
 
 
 / 
 
 T/ie Palm T?-ee, Cordova 
 
240 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 in which the stars took interest, he changed his tone and 
 manner, and listened with profound attention to the story of 
 the prince. When it was concluded, he replied, " Touching this 
 princess, I can give thee no information of myself, for my flight 
 is not among gardens, or around ladies' bowers ; but hie thee 
 to Cordova, seek the palm-tree of the great Abderahman, which 
 stands in the court of the principal mosque ; at the foot of it 
 thou wilt find a great traveller who has visited all countries and 
 courts, and been a favourite with queens and princesses. He 
 will give thee tidings of the object of thy search.'' 
 
 " Many thanks for this precious information," said the prince. 
 " Farewell, most venerable conjurer." 
 
 " Farewell, pilgrim of love," said the raven, dryly, and again 
 fell to pondering on the diagram. 
 
 The prince sallied forth from Seville, sought his fellow- 
 traveller the owl, who was still dozing in the hollow tree, and 
 set off for Cordova. 
 
 He approached it along hanging gardens, and orange and 
 citron groves, overlooking the fair valley of the Guadalquiver. 
 When arrived at its gates the owl flew up to a dark hole in the 
 wall, and the prince proceeded in quest of the palm-tree planted 
 in days of yore by the great Abderahman. It stood in the 
 midst of the great court of the mosque, towering from amidst 
 orange and cypress trees. Dervishes and Faquirs were seated 
 in groups under the cloisters of the court, and many of the 
 faithful were performing their ablutions at the fountains before 
 entering the mosque. 
 
 At the foot of the palm-tree was a crowd listening to the 
 words of one who appeared to be talking with great volubility. 
 "This," said the prince to himself, " must be the great traveller 
 who is to give me tidings of the unknown princess." He 
 mingled in the crowd, but was astonished to perceive that they 
 were all listening to a parrot, who with his bright-green coat, 
 pragmatical eye, and consequential top-knot, had the air of a, 
 bird on excellent terms with himself 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMEJD AL KAMEL 
 
 241 
 
 "How is this," said the prince to one of the by-standers, 
 " that so many grave persons can be dehghted with the garrulity 
 of a chattering bird ? " 
 
 " You know not whom you speak of," said the other ; " this 
 parrot is a descendant of the famous parrot of Persia, renowned 
 
 
 Entrance to Mosque^ Cordova. 
 
 for his story-telling talent. He has all the learning of the East 
 at the tip of his tongue, and can quote poetry as fast as he can 
 talk. He has visited various foreign courts, where he hai been 
 considered an oracle of erudition. He has been a universal 
 favourite also with the fair sex, who have a vast admiration for 
 erudite parrots that can quote poetry." 
 
 R 
 
242 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 "Enough,'' said the prince, "I will have some private talk 
 with this distinguished traveller.'' 
 
 He sought a private interview, and expounded the nature of 
 his errand. He had scarcely mentioned it when the parrot 
 burst into a fit of dry rickety laughter, that absolutely brought 
 tears into his eyes. " Excuse my merriment," said he, " but the 
 mere mention of love always sets me laughing." 
 
 The prince was shocked at this ill-timed mirth. " Is not 
 love," said he, " the great mystery of nature, the secret principle 
 of life, the universal bond of sympathy ? " 
 
 " A fig's end ! " cried the parrot, interrupting him ; "prithee 
 where hast thou learned this sentimental jargon ? trust me, love 
 is quite out of vogue ; one never hears of it in the company of 
 wits and people of refinement.'' 
 
 The prince sighed as he recalled the different language of his 
 friend the dove. But this parrot, thought he, has lived about the 
 court, he affects the wit and the fine gentleman, he knows nothing 
 of the thing called love. Unwilling to provoke any more ridicule 
 of the sentiment which filled his heart, he now directed his in- 
 quiries to the immediate purport of his visit. 
 
 "Tell me," said he, "most accomplished parrot, thou who 
 hast everywhere been admitted to the most secret bowers of 
 beauty, hast thou in the course of thy travels met with the 
 original of this portrait?" 
 
 The parrot took the picture in his claw, turned his head from 
 side to side, and examined it curiously with either eye. " Upon 
 my honour," said he, " a very pretty face, very pretty ; but then 
 one sees so many pretty women in one's travels that one can 
 hardly — but hold — bless me ! now I look at it again — sure 
 enough, this is the Princess Aldegonda : how could I forget one 
 that is so prodigious a favourite with me ! " 
 
 " The Princess Aldegonda ! " echoed the prince ; " and 
 where is she to be found ? " 
 
 " Softly, softly," said the parrot, " easier to be found than 
 gained. She is the only daughter of the Christian king who 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 243 
 
 reigns at Toledo, and is shut up from the world until her 
 seventeenth birthday, on account of some prediction of those 
 meddlesome fellows the astrologers. You'll not get a sight of 
 her ; no mortal man can see her. I was admitted to her 
 presence to entertain her, and I assure you, on the word of a 
 parrot who has seen the world, I have conversed with much 
 sillier princesses in my time." 
 
 " A word in confidence, my dear parrot,'' said the prince. 
 " I am heir to a kingdom, and shall one day sit upon a throne. 
 I see that you are a bird of parts, and understand the world. 
 Help me to gain possession of this princess, and I will advance 
 you to some distinguished place about court." 
 
 " With all my heart," said the parrot ; " but let it be a 
 sinecure if possible, for we wits have a great dislike to labour." 
 
 Arrangements were promptly made : the prince sallied forth 
 from Cordova through the same gate by which he had entered ; 
 called the owl down from the hole in the wall, introduced him 
 to his new travelling companion as a brother savant, and away 
 they set off on their journey. 
 
 They travelled much more slowly than accorded with the 
 impatience of the prince ; but the parrot was accustomed to high 
 life, and did not like to be disturbed early in the morning. 
 The owl, on the other hand, was for sleeping at mid-day, and 
 lost a great deal of time by his long siestas. His antiquarian 
 taste also was in the way ; for he insisted on pausing and 
 inspecting every ruin, and had long legendary tales to tell about 
 every old tower and castle in the country. The prince had 
 supposed that he and the parrot, being both birds of learning, 
 would delight in each other's society, but never had he been 
 more mistaken. They were eternally bickering. The one 
 was a wit, the other a philosopher. The parrot quoted poetry, 
 was critical on new readings and eloquent on small points of 
 erudition ; the owl treated all such knowledge as trifling, and 
 relished nothing but metaphysics. Then the parrot would 
 sing songs and repeat ^ons mots and crack jokes upon his 
 
 R 2 
 
244 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 solemn neighbour, and laugh outrageously at his own wit ; all 
 which proceedings the owl considered as a grievous invasion of 
 his dignity, and would scowl and sulk and swell, and be silent 
 
 for a whole day together. 
 The prince heeded 
 not the wranglings of 
 his companions being 
 wrapped up in the 
 dreams of his own 
 fancy and the contem- 
 plation of the portrait 
 of the beautiful prin- 
 cess. In this way they 
 journeyed through the 
 stern passes of the 
 Sierra Morena, across the sunburnt plains of La Mancha and 
 Castile, and along the banks of the " Golden Tagus," which 
 winds its wizard mazes over one half of Spain and Portugal. 
 At length they came in sight of a strong city with walls and 
 towers built on a rocky promontory, round the foot of which 
 the Tagus circled with brawling violence. 
 
 " Behold," exclaimed the owl, " the ancient and renowned city 
 of Toledo; a city famous for its antiquities. Behold those vener- 
 able domes and towers, hoary with time and clothed with legend- 
 ary grandeur in which so many of my ancestors have meditated." 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 
 
 245 
 
 " Pish ! " cried the parrot, interrupting his solemn antiquarian 
 rapture, "what have we to do with antiquities, and legends, 
 and your ancestry ? Behold what is more to the purpose — 
 behold the abode of youth and beauty — behold at length, O 
 prince, the abode of your long-sought princess." 
 
 The prince looked in the direction indicated by the parrot, 
 and beheld, in a delightful green meadow on the banks of the 
 Tagus, a stately palace rising from amidst ths bowers of a 
 delicious garden. It was just such a place as had been 
 
 i'''-^^^ "^"^^ir^ft 
 
 y ^-S1K'^*=«^^-5«^- 
 
 Toledo. 
 
 described by the dove as the residence of the original of the 
 picture. He gazed at it with a throbbing heart ; " perhaps at 
 this moment," thought he, " the beautiful princess is sporting 
 beneath those shady bowers, or pacing with delicate step those 
 stately terraces, or reposing beneath those lofty roofs ! " As 
 he looked more narrowly, he perceived that the walls of the 
 garden were of great height, so as to defy access, while 
 numbers of armed guards patrolled around them. 
 
 The prince turned to the parrot. " O most accomplished 
 of birds," said he, " thou hast the gift of human speech. Hie 
 
246 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 thee to yon garden ; seek the idol of my soul, and tell her that 
 Prince Ahmed, a pilgrim of love, and guided by the stars, has 
 arrived in quest of her on the flowery banks of the Tagus." 
 The parrot, proud of his embassy, flew away to the garden, 
 
 ■i':,\" 
 
 wm 
 
 I ^' ^// 
 
 ^i'''^: 
 
 ■■■'■I- -J. 
 
 mounted above its lofty i|i 
 
 walls, and after soaring for i^ ~ 
 
 a time over the lawns and 
 
 groves, alighted on the 
 
 balcony of a pavilion that overhung the river. Here looking 
 
 in at the casement, he beheld the princess reclining on a couch, 
 
 with her eyes fixed on a paper, while tears gently stole after 
 
 each other down her pallid cheek. 
 
 Pluming his wings for a moment, adjusting his bright-green 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 247 
 
 coat, and elevating his top-knot, the parrot perched himself 
 beside her with a gallant air ; then assuming a tenderness of 
 tone, " Dry thy tears, most beautiful of princesses," said he ; 
 " I come to bring solace to thy heart." 
 
 The princess was startled on hearing a voice, but turning 
 and seeing nothing but a little green-coated bird bobbing and 
 bowing before her, " Alas ! what solace canst thou yield," said 
 she, " seeing thou art but a parrot ? " 
 
 The parrot was nettled at the question. " I have consoled 
 many beautiful ladies in my time," said he ; " but let that pass. 
 At present I come as ambassador from a royal prince. Know 
 that Ahmed, the prince of Granada, has arrived in quest of 
 thee, and is encamped even now on the flowery banks of the 
 Tagus." 
 
 The eyes of the beautiful princess sparkled at these words 
 even brighter than the diamonds in her coronet. " O sweetest 
 of parrots," cried she, " joyful indeed are thy tidings, for I was 
 faint and weary, and sick almost unto death with doubt of the 
 constancy of Ahmed. Hie thee back, and tell him that the 
 words of his letter are engraven in my heart, and his poetry 
 has been the food of my soul. Tell him, however, that he 
 must prepare to prove his love by force of arms ; to-morrow is 
 my seventeenth birthday, when the king my father holds a 
 great tournament ; several princes are to enter the lists, and 
 my hand is to be the prize of the victor." 
 
 The parrot again took wing, and rustling through the groves, 
 flew back to where the prince awaited his return. The rapture 
 of Ahmed on finding the original of his adored portrait, and 
 finding her kind and true, can only be conceived by those 
 favoured mortals who have had the good fortune to realise day- 
 dreams and turn a shadow into substance : still there was one 
 thing that alloyed his transport — this impending tournament. 
 In fact, the banks of the Tagus were already glittering with 
 arms, and resounding with trumpets of the various knights, 
 who, with proud retinues, were prancing on towards Toledo to 
 
24S THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 attend the ceremonial. The same star that had controlled the 
 destiny of the prince had governed that of the princess, and 
 until her seventeenth birthday she had been shut up from the 
 world, to guard her from the tender passion. The fame of her 
 charms, however, had been enhanced rather than obscured by 
 this seclusion. Several powerful princes had contended for 
 her hand ; and her father, who was a king of wondrous 
 shrewdness, to avoid making enemies by showing partiality, 
 had referred them to the arbitrament of arms. Among the 
 rival candidates were several renowned for strength and 
 prowess. What a predicament for the unfortunate Ahmed, 
 unprovided as he was with weapons, and unskilled in the 
 exercise of chivalry ! " Luckless prince that I am ! " said he, 
 "to have been brought up in seclusion under the eye of a 
 philosopher ! Of what avail are algebra and philosophy in 
 affairs of love ? Alas, Eben Bonabben ! why hast thou 
 neglected to instruct me in the management of arms ? " Upon 
 this the owl broke silence, preluding his harangue with a pious 
 ejaculation, for he was a devout Mussulman. 
 
 '^ Allah Akbar! God is great!" exclaimed he; "in his 
 hands are all secret things — he alone governs the destiny ot 
 princes ! Know, O prince, that this land is full of mysteries, 
 hidden from all but those who, like myself, can grope after 
 knowledge in the dark. Know that in the neighbouring 
 mountains there is a cave, and in that cave there is an iron 
 table, and on that table there lies a suit of magic armour, and 
 beside that table there stands a spell-bound steed, which have 
 been shut up there for many generations." 
 
 The prince stared with wonder, while the owl, blinking his 
 huge round eyes, and erecting his horns, proceeded. 
 
 " Many years since I accompanied my father to these parts on 
 a tour of his estates, and we sojourned in that cave ; and thus 
 became I acquainted with the mystery. It is a tradition in 
 our family which I have heard from my grandfather, when I 
 was yet but a very little owlet, that this arrnour belonged to z, 
 
LEr.END OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 
 
 249 
 
 Moorish magician, who toolc refuge in this cavern wlien Toledo 
 was captured Ij)- the Christians, and died here, leaving his 
 steed and weapjns under a mystic spell, ne^er to be used but 
 by a ^iloslcm, and by him only from sunrise to mid-day. In 
 that inter\-al, whoever uses ihem will overthrow every opponent." 
 
 " Enough : let us seek this ca\-e I " exclaimed Ahmed. 
 
 Cluided by his legendary mentor, the prince found the ca\-ern, 
 which was in one of the wildest recesses of those rocky cliffs 
 \vhich rise around 'J'oledo : none but the mousing tye of an 
 owl or an antiquary could have discovered the entrance to it. 
 A sepulchral 
 lamp of everlast- 
 ing oil shed a 
 solemn light 
 through the 
 place. On an 
 iron table in the 
 centre of the 
 cavern lay the 
 magic armour, 
 against it leaned 
 the lance, and 
 beside it stood 
 an Arabian steed, caparisoned for tire field, but motionless as a 
 statue. The armour was bright and unsullied as it had gleamed 
 in days of old ; the steed in as good condition as if just from 
 the pasture ; and when Ahmed laid his hand upon his neck, he 
 pawed the ground and gave a loud neigh of joy that shook the 
 walls of the cavern. Thus amply provided with " horse and 
 rider and weapon to wear," the prince determined to defy the 
 field in the impending tourney. 
 
 The eventful morning arrived. The lists for the combat 
 were prepared in the Vega, or plain, just below the cliff-built 
 walls of Toledo, where stages and galleries were erected for the 
 spectators, covered with rich tapestry, and sheltered from the 
 
250 
 
 TI-IE ALHAMBRA 
 
 sun by sUken awnings. All the beauties of the land were 
 assembled in those galleries, Avhile below pranced plumed 
 knights with their pages and esrjuires, among whom figured 
 conspicuously the princes who were to contend in the tournc)'. 
 All the beauties of the land, however, were eclipsed when the 
 Princess Aldegonda appeared in the royal pavilion, and for the 
 first time broke forth upon the gaze of an admiring world. A 
 murmur of wonder ran through the crowd at her transcendent 
 loveliness ; and the princes who were candidates for he-r hand, 
 
 merely on the faith of her reported charms, now felt tenfold 
 ardour for the conflict. 
 
 The princess, however, had a troubled look. The colour 
 came and went from her cheek, and her eye wandered Avith a 
 restless and unsatisfied expression over the plumed throng of 
 knights. The trumpets were about sounding for the encounter, 
 when the herald announced the arrival of a strange knight ; 
 and Ahmed rode into the field. A steel helmet studded with 
 gems rose above his turban ; his cuirass was embossed with 
 
LKGEND OF I'UIXCE AHMED AL KA^IF.L 251 
 
 gold ; his cime-ter and dagger were of tlic workmanship of Fez, 
 and flamed with precious stones. A round shield Nvas at his 
 shoulder, and in his hand he bore the lance of charmed \-irtue. 
 The ea[)arison of his Araliian steed was richly embroidered and 
 swept the ground, and the proud animal pranced and sniffed 
 the air, and neighed with joy at once more beholding the array 
 ot arms. The lofty and graceful demeanour of the pruice struck 
 every e3e, and when his appellation «as announced, '-The 
 Pilgrim of Love," a universal flutter and agitation pre\-ailed 
 among the fair dames in the galleries. 
 
 When Ahmed presented himself at the lists, however, they 
 
 rhc Caillc. Tc'Iclo. 
 
 were closed against him : none but princes, he was told, were 
 admitted to the contest. He declared his name and rank. 
 Still worse ' — he was a Moslem, and could not engage in a 
 tourney where the hand of a Christian princess was the prize. 
 
 The rival princes surrounded him with haughty and menacing 
 aspects ; and one of insolent demeanour and herculean frame 
 sneered at his light and youthful form, and scoffed at his 
 amorous appellation. The ire of the jirince was roused. He 
 defied his rival to the encounter. 'I'hey took di.stance, wheeled, 
 and charged ; and at the first touch of the magic lance, the 
 brawny scoffer was tilted from his saddle. Here the prince 
 would have paused, but, alas ! he had to deal with a demoniac 
 
2S2 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 horse and armour ; once in action, nothing could control them. 
 The Arabian steed charged into the thickest of the throng ; the 
 lance overturned everything that presented ; the gentle prince 
 was carried pell-mell about the field, strewing it with high and 
 low, gentle and simple, and grieving at his own involuntary 
 exploits. The king stormed and raged at this outrage on his 
 subjects and his guests. He ordered out all his guards — they 
 were unhorsed as fast as they came up. The king threw off his 
 robes, grasped buckler and lance, and rode forth to awe the 
 stranger with the presence of majesty itself. Alas ! majesty 
 fared no better than the vulgar ; the steel and lance were no 
 respecters of persons ; to the dismay of Ahmed, he was borne 
 full tilt against the king, and in a moment the royal heels were 
 in the air, and the crown was rolling in the dust. 
 
 At this moment the sun reached the meridian ; the magic 
 spell resumed its power ; the Arabian steed scoured across the 
 plain, leaped the barrier, plunged into the Tagus, swam its 
 raging current, bore the prince breathless and amazed to the 
 cavern, and resumed his station, like a statue, beside the iron 
 table. The prince dismounted right gladly, and replaced the 
 armour, to abide the further decrees of fate. Then seating 
 himself in the cavern, lie ruminated on the desperate state to 
 which this demoniac steed and armour had reduced him. 
 Never should he dare to show his face at Toledo after inflicting 
 such disgrace upon its chivalry, and such an outrage on its king. 
 What too would the princess think of so rude and riotous an 
 achievement ? Full of anxiety, he sent forth his winged mes- 
 sengers to gather tidings. The parrot resorted to all the pubUc 
 places and crowded resorts of the city, and soon returned with 
 a world of gossip. All Toledo was in consternation. The 
 princess had been borne off senseless to the palace ; the tourna- 
 ment had ended in confusion ; every one was talking of the 
 sudden apparition, prodigious exploits, and strange disappear- 
 ance of the Moslem knight. Some pronounced him a Moorish 
 magician; others thought him a demon who had assumed a 
 
LK(;K^'^ ov i'rtxci' Ainn-i) al kamel 253 
 
 human shape, while others rehUcd traditions of enchanted war- 
 iiors hidden in the eaves of the mountains, and thought iL 
 mi-ht l>e one ol these, who had made a sudden irruption from 
 Ills den. All agreed that no mere ordinary mortal could have 
 wrought surh wonders, or unhorsed such accomplished and 
 stalwart (_'hristian warriors. 
 
 ^ 'I'he owl tlew forth at night and hovered about the dusky 
 city, perching on roofs and chimneys. He then wheeled his 
 flight up to the ro\-al palace, which stood on a rocky summit 
 of Toledo, and went i)rowling about its terraces and battle- 
 ments, ea\es- 
 dropping at 
 every crann\', 
 and glaring in 
 with his big 
 goggUng e}'es al 
 every window 
 where there ^vas 
 a light, so as to 
 throw two or 
 tliree maids of 
 honOLir into tits. 
 It was not until 
 the gre\' dawn 
 Ijcgan to peer aljove the mountains that lie returned from his 
 mousing expedition, and related to the prince wliat he had seen. 
 ''As I was prying about one of the loftiest towers of llie 
 palace," said he, " 1 beheld through a casement a beautiful 
 princess. She was reilining on a couch with attendant.s and 
 ph\sici.ins around lnr, but she would none of their ministr)- 
 and relii-f. When the)' reiir(/d, I beheli.l her dra\\- forth a 
 letter from her bosom, and reail and kiss it, and give way 
 to loud lamentations ; at which, philosopher as I am, I could 
 but be greatly moved." 
 
 'I'he tender heart of Ahiiieti was distressed at these tidings. 
 
254 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 " Too Irue were thy words, O sage Eben Bonabben," cried he ; 
 " care and sorrow and sleepless nights are the lot of lovers. 
 Allah preserve the princess from the blighting influence of this 
 thing called love ! " 
 
 Further intelligence from Toledo corroborated the report of 
 the owl. The city was a prey to uneasiness and alarm. The 
 princess was conveyed to the highest tower of the palace, every 
 avenue to which was strongly guarded. In the meantime a 
 devouring melancholy had seized upon her, of which no one 
 could divine the cause — she refused food and turned a deaf 
 ear to every consolation. The most skilful physicians had 
 essayed their art in vain ; it was thought some magic spell had 
 been practised upon her, and the king made proclamation, 
 declaring that who ever should effect her cure should receive 
 the richest jewel in the royal treasury. 
 
 When the owl, who was dozing in a corner, heard of this 
 proclamation, he rolled his large eyes and looked more 
 mysterious than ever. 
 
 " Allah Akbar/" exclaimed he, "happy the man that shall 
 effect that cure, should he but know what to choose from the 
 royal treasury." 
 
 " \Vhat mean you, most reverend owl? " said Ahmed. 
 
 " Hearken, O prince, to what I shall relate. We owls, you 
 must know, are a learned body, and much given to dark and 
 dusty research. During my late prowling at night about the 
 domes and turrets of Toledo, I discovered a college of anti- 
 quarian owls, who hold their meetings in a great vaulted tower 
 where the royal treasury is deposited. Here they were dis- 
 cussing the forms and inscriptions and designs of ancient gems 
 and jewels, and of golden and silver vessels, heaped up in the 
 treasury, the fashion of every country and age ; but mostly 
 they were interested about certain relics and talismans that 
 have remained in the treasury since the time of Roderick the 
 Goth. Among these was a box of sandal-wood secured by 
 bands of steel of Oriental workmanship, and inscribed with 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 255 
 
 mystic characters known only to the learned few. This box 
 and its inscription had occupied the college for several sessions, 
 and had caused much long and grave dispute. At the time of 
 my visit a very ancient owl, who had recently arrived from 
 Egypt, was seated on the lid of the box, lecturing upon the 
 inscription, and he proved from it that the coffer contained the 
 silken carpet of the throne of Solomon the wise ; which doubt- 
 less had been brought to Toledo by the Jews who took refuge 
 there after the downfall of Jerusalem." 
 
 When the owl had concluded his antiquarian harangue, the 
 prince remained for a time absorbed in thought. "I have 
 heard," said he, " from the sage Eben Bonabben, of the 
 wonderful properties of that talisman, which disappeared at the 
 fall of Jerusalem, and was supposed to be lost to mankind. 
 Doubtless it remains a sealed mystery to the Christians of Toledo. 
 If I can get possession of that carpet, my fortune is secure." 
 
 The next day the prince laid aside his rich attire, and 
 arrayed himself in the simple guard of an Arab of the desert. 
 He dyed his complexion to a tawny hue, and no one could 
 have recognised in him the splendid warrior who had caused 
 such admiration and dismay at the tournament. With staff in 
 hand, and scrip by his side, and a small pastoral reed, he 
 repaired to Toledo, and presenting himself at the gate of the 
 royal palace, announced himself as a candidate for the reward 
 offered for the cure of the princess. The guards would have 
 driven him away with blows. " '\\^hat can a vagrant Arab like 
 thyself pretend to do," said they, " in a case where the most 
 learned of the land have failed ? " The king, however, overheard 
 the tumult, and ordered the Arab to be brought into his presence. 
 
 " Most potent king," said Ahmed, " you behold before you 
 a Bedouin Arab, the greater part of whose life has been passed 
 in the solitudes of the desert. These solitudes, it is well 
 known, are the haunts of demons and evil spirits, who beset us 
 poor shepherds in our lonely watchings, enter into and possess 
 our flocks and herds, and sometimes render even the patient 
 
256 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 camel furious ; against these, our counter-charm is music ; and 
 we have legendary airs handed down from generation to 
 generation, that we chant and pipe, to cast forth these evil 
 spirits. I am of a gifted line, and possess this power in its fullest 
 force. If it be any evil influence of the kind that holds a spell 
 over thy daughter, I pledge my head to free her from its sway. 
 
 The king, who was a man of understanding, and knew the 
 wonderful secrets possessed by the Arabs, was inspired with 
 hope by the confident language of the prince. He conducted 
 him immediately to the lofty tower, secured by several doors, in 
 the summit of which was the chamber of the princess. The 
 windows opened upon a terrace with balustrades, commanding 
 a view over Toledo and all the surrounding country. The 
 windows were darkened, for the princess lay within, a prey to 
 a devouring grief that refused all alleviation. 
 
 The prince seated himself on the terrace, and performed 
 several wild Arabian airs on his pastoral pipe, which he had 
 learnt from his attendants in the Generalife at Granada. The 
 princess continued insensible, and the doctors who were present 
 shook their heads, and smiled with incredulity and contempt : 
 at length the prince laid aside the reed, and, to a simple melody, 
 chanted the amatory verses of the letter which had declared his 
 passion. 
 
 The princess recognised the strain — a fluttering joy stole to 
 her heart ; she raised her head and listened ; tears rushed 
 to her eyes and streamed down her cheeks ; her bosom rose 
 and fell with a tumult of emotions. She would have asked for 
 the minstrel to be brought into her presence, but maiden coy- 
 ness held her silent. The king read her wishes, and at his 
 command Ahmed was conducted into the chamber. The 
 lovers were discreet : they but exchanged glances, yet those 
 glances spoke volumes. Never was triumph of music more 
 complete. The rose had returned to the soft cheek of the 
 princess, the freshness to her lip, and the dewy light to her 
 languishing eyes. 
 
 All the physicians present stared at each other with astonish- 
 
LEGEND OF PRINCE AHMED AL KAMEL 257 
 
 ment. The king regarded the Arab minstrel with admiration 
 mixed with awe. " Wonderful youth ! " exclaimed he, " thou 
 shalt henceforth be the first physician of my court, and no other 
 prescription will I take but thy melody. For the present receive 
 thy reward, the most precious jewel in my treasury." 
 
 " O king," replied Ahmed, " I care not for silver or gold or 
 precious stones. One relic hast thou in thy treasury, handed 
 down from the Moslems who once owned Toledo — a box of 
 sandal-wood containing a silken carpet : give me that box, and 
 I am content." 
 
 All present were surprised at the moderation of the Arab, 
 and stiU more when the box of sandal-wood was brought and 
 the carpet drawn forth. It was of fine green silk, covered with 
 Hebrew and Chaldaic characters. The court physicians looked at 
 each other, shrugged their shoulders, and smiled at the simplicity 
 of this new practitioner, who could be content with so paltry a fee. 
 
 " This carpet," said the prince, " once covered the throne of 
 Solomon the Wise ; it is worthy of being placed beneath the 
 feet of beauty." 
 
 So saying, he spread it on the terrace beneath an ottoman 
 that had been brought forth for the princess ; then seating 
 himself at her feet — 
 
 " Who," said he, " shall counteract what is written in the 
 book of fate ? Behold the prediction of the astrologers verified. 
 Know, O king, that your daughter and I have long loved each 
 other in secret. Behold in me the Pilgrim of Love ! " 
 
 These words were scarcely from his lips when the carpet rose 
 in the air, bearing off the prince and princess. The king and 
 the physicians gazed after it with open mouths and straining 
 eyes until it became a little speck on the white bosom of a 
 cloud, and then disappeared in the blue vault of heaven. 
 
 The king in a rage summoned his treasurer. " How is this," 
 said he, " that thou hast suffered an infidel to get possession 
 of such a tahsman ? " 
 
 "Alas, sir, we knew not its nature, nor could we decipher the 
 inscription of the box. If it be indeed the carpet of the throne 
 
 s 
 
25S 
 
 TIIK AIJIAMIiKA 
 
 <)i the wise Solomon, il is possessed of mat^ie power, ami can 
 transport its o^vncr from place to place through the air." 
 
 The king assembled a mighty arm)', and set off for Granada 
 in pursuit of the fugitives. His march was long and toilsome. 
 Encam[)ing in the Vega, he sent a herald to demand restitution 
 of his daughter. The king himself came forth with all his court 
 to meet him. In the king he beheld the real minstrel, for 
 Ahmed had succeeded to the throne on the death of his fathei', 
 and the beautiful Aldegonda was his sultana. 
 
 The Christian king was easily pacified when he found that 
 his daughter was suffered to continue in her faith ; not that he 
 was particularly pious, but religion is always a point of pride 
 and etiquette with ]irinces. Instead of bloody battles, there 
 was a succession of feasts and rejoicings, after which the king 
 returned well pleased to 'J'oledo, and the youthful couple con- 
 tinued to reign as happily as wisely, in the Alhambra. 
 
 It is proper to add, that the owl and the [larrot had severally 
 followed the prince by easy stages to (Iranada ; the former 
 travelling by night, and stopping at the various hereditary 
 possessions of his famil)' ; the latter figuring in gay circles of 
 every town and city on his route. 
 
 Ahmed gratefully requited the services wliich they had 
 rendered on his pilgrimage. He appointed the owl his prime 
 minister, the parrot his master of ceremonies. It is needless to 
 say that never was a realm more sagid)' administered, nor a 
 court conducted with more exact punctilio. 
 
A RAMBLE AMONG THE HILLS 
 
 I USED frequently to amuse myself towards the close of the 
 day, when the heat had subsided, with taking long rambles 
 about the neighbouring hills, and the deep umbrageous valleys, 
 accompanied by my historiographic squire, Mateo, to whose 
 passion for gossiping I on such occasions gave the most un- 
 bounded license; and there was scarce a rock, or ruin, or 
 broken fountain, or lonely glen, about which he had not some 
 marvellous story ; or, above all, some golden legend ; for never 
 was poor devil so munificent in dispensing hidden treasures. 
 
 In the course of one of these strolls Mateo was more than 
 usually communicative. It was toward sunset that we sallied 
 forth from the great Gate of Justice, and ascended an alley of 
 trees until we came to a clump of figs and pomegranates at the 
 foot of the Tower of the Se^'en Floors (de los siete suelos), the 
 identical tower whence Boabdil is said to have issued, when he 
 surrendered his capital. Here, pointing to a low archway in 
 the foundation, Mateo informed me of a monstrous sprite or 
 hobgoblin, said to infest this tower, ever since the time of the 
 Moors, and to guard the treasures of a Moslem king. Some- 
 times it issues forth in the dead of the night, and scours the 
 
 s 3 
 
26o 
 
 TTTP', AI,IIAMBR/\ 
 
 avenues of the Alhambra, and the streets of Granada, in tlie 
 shape of a headless horse, pursued by six dogs with terrible 
 
 yells and bowlings. 
 
 " But have you ever 
 met with it yourself, 
 Mateo, in any of your 
 rambles ? " demanded I. 
 " No, Senor, God be 
 thanked ! but my grand- 
 father, the tailor, knew 
 several persons that had 
 seen it, for it went about 
 much oftener in his time 
 than at present ; some- 
 times in one shape, sometimes in another. Everybody in 
 Granada has heard of the Belludo, for the old women and the 
 nurses frighten the children with it when they cry. Some say 
 it is the spirit of a cruel Moorish king, who killed his six sons 
 and buried them in these vaults, and that they hunt him at 
 nights in revenge." 
 
 f Jorbear to dwell upon the marvellous details given by the 
 simple-minded Mateo about 
 
 Among flic If ills. 
 
 
 
 this redoubtable phantom, 
 which has, in fact, been time 
 out of mind a favourite 
 theme ojf nursery tales and 
 popular tradition in Granada, 
 and of which honourable 
 mention is made by an an- 
 cient and learned historian 
 and topographer of the 
 place. 
 
 Leaving this eventful pile, we continued our course, skirling 
 the fruitful orchards of the Generalife, in which two or three 
 nightingales were pouring forth a rich strain of melody. 
 
A RAMBLE AMONG THE HILLS 
 
 261 
 
 Behind these orchards we passed a number of Moorish tanks, 
 with a door cut into the rocky bosom of the hill, but closed up. 
 These tanks, Mateo informed me, were favourite bathing-places 
 of himself and his comrades in boyhood, until frightened away 
 by a story of a hideous Moor, who used to issue forth from the 
 door in the rock to entrap unwary bathers. 
 
 Leaving these haunted tanks behind us, we pursued our 
 ramble up a solitary mule-path winding among the hills, and 
 
 Fruitful Orchards. 
 
 soon found ourselves amidst wild and melancholy mountains, 
 destitute of trees, and here and there tinted with scanty verdure. 
 Everything within sight was severe and sterile, and it was scarcely 
 possible to realise the idea that but a short distance behind us 
 was the Generalife, with its blooming orchards and terraced gar- 
 dens, and that we were in the vicinity of delicious Granada, 
 that city of groves and fountains. But such is the nature of 
 Spain ; wild and stern the moment it escapes from cultivation ; 
 the desert and the garden are ever side by side. 
 
 The narrow defile up which we were passing is called, accord- 
 
262 
 
 TlIK AL1IA.MI;RA 
 
 ing to Mateo, cl Barraiuo de la li/iaja, or the ravine of the 
 jar, because a jar full of Moorish gold was found here in old 
 time. The brain (jf pour Mateo was continually running upon 
 these golden legends. 
 
 "But what is the meaning of the cross I see yonder 
 up'Ui a heap of stones, in that narrow i)art of the ra\"ine?" 
 
 J'hc Dcscii and If, 
 
 " Oh, that's notliing — a muleteer was murdered there some 
 years since." 
 
 "So then, Mateo, you have robbers and murderers even at 
 the gates of the Alhambra ? " 
 
 " Not at present, Senor ; that was formerly, when there used 
 to be many loose fellows about the fortress ; but they've all 
 been weeded out. Not but that the gypsies who live in caves 
 in the hill-sides, just out of the fortress, are many of them fit for 
 anything ; but we have had no murder about here for a long 
 time past. The man who murdered the muleteer was hanged 
 in the fortress." 
 
A RAMBLE AJIONi; THE HILLS 
 
 263 
 
 Our path continued up the barranco, with a bold, rugged 
 height to our left, called the Silla del Moro, or Chair of the 
 Moor, from the tradition already alluded to, that the unfortu- 
 nate Boabdil fled thither during a popular insurrection, and 
 remained all day seated on the rocky summit, looking mourn- 
 fully down on his factious city. 
 
 \\'e at length arrived on the highest part of the promontory 
 
 ^"^^ ^ '■/',' '■''.''■ ' k ^^ V > , ', !, A / "-.1 i- :i 
 
 -•^ i4\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Garden at Seville, 
 
 above Granada, called the mountain of the sun. The evening 
 was approaching ; the setting sun just gilded the loftiest 
 heights. Here and there a solitary shepherd might be de- 
 scried driving his flock down the declivities, to be folded for the 
 night j or a muleteer and his lagging animals, threading some 
 mountain path to arrive at the city gates before nightfall. 
 
 Presently the deep tones of the Cathedral bell came swelling 
 up the defiles, proclaiming the hour of oration or prayer. 
 The note was responded to from the belfry of every church, and 
 
264 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 from the sweet bells of the convents among the mountains. 
 The shepherd paused on the fold of the hill, the muleteer in 
 the midst of the road ; each took off his hat and remained 
 motionless for a time, murmuring his evening prayer. There is 
 
 
 ■r; »".':!„ 1. 
 
 SiUa del More. 
 
 always something pleasingly solemn in this custom, by which, 
 at a melodious signal, every human being throughout the land 
 unites at the same moment in a tribute of thanks to God for 
 the mercies of the day. It spreads a transient sanctity over 
 
A RAMBLE AMONG THE HILLS 265 
 
 the land, and the sight of the sun sinking in all his glory adds 
 not a little to the solemnity of the scene. 
 
 In the present instance the effect was heightened by the wild 
 and lonely nature of the place. We were on the naked and 
 broken summit of the haunted mountain of the sun, where 
 ruined tanks and cisterns, and the mouldering foundations of 
 extensive buildings, spoke of former populousness, but where 
 all was now silent and desolate. 
 
 As we were wandering about among these traces of old times, 
 we came to a circular pit, penetrating deep into the bosom of the 
 mountain; which Mateo pointed out . as one of the wonders 
 and mysteries of the place. I supposed it to be a well dug' by 
 the indefatigable Moors, to obtain their favourite element in its 
 greatest purity. Mateo, ■ however, had. a different story, and 
 one much more to his hurhour. According to a tradition, in 
 which his father and • grandfather firmly believed, this was an 
 entrance tojhe subterranean caverns of the mountain, in which 
 Boabdil and his court lay bound in magic spell ; and whence 
 they sallied forth at night, at allotted times, to revisit their 
 ancient abodes. 
 
 "Ah, ^^wr, this mountain ' is full . of wonders of the kind. 
 In another place there was a hole somewhat like this, and just 
 within it hung an iron pot by a chain ; nobody knew what was 
 in that pot, for, it was always covered up ; but' everybody sup- 
 posed it fuir of Moorish gold. Many tried to draw it forth, for 
 it seemed just within reach ; but the moment it was touched it 
 would sink far, far down, and not come up again for some 
 time. At last one who thought it must be enchanted touched 
 it with the cross, by way of breaking the charm ; and faith he 
 did break it; for the pot sank out of sight and never was seen 
 any more. 
 
 "All this is a fact, Senor ; for my grandfather was an eye- 
 witness." 
 
 " What ! Mateo ; did he see the pot ? " 
 
 " No, Seiior, but he saw the hole where the pot had hung," 
 
266 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 " It's the same thing, Mateo." 
 
 The deepening twilight, which in this climate is of short 
 duration, admonished us to leave this haunted ground. As we 
 descended the mountain defile, there was no longer herdsman 
 nor muleteer to be seen, nor anything to be heard but our own 
 footsteps and the lonely chirping of the cricket. The shadows 
 of the valley grew deeper and deeper, until all was dark around 
 us. The lofty summit of the Sierra Nevada alone retained a 
 lingering gleam of daylight ; its snowy peaks glaring against the 
 dark blue firmament, and seeming close to us, from the extreme 
 purity of the atmosphere. 
 
 " How near the Sierra looks this evening ! " said Mateo ; "it 
 seems as if you could touch it with your hand ; and yet it is 
 many long leagues off." AVhile he was speaking, a star ap- 
 peared over the snowy summit of the mountain, the only one 
 yet visible in the heavens, and so pure, so large, so bright and 
 beautiful, as to call forth ejaculations of delight from honest 
 Mateo. 
 
 " Que estrella hermosa ! que dara y Umpia es 1 — No piieda 
 ser estrella mas brillante I " 
 
 (What a beautiful star ! how clear and lucid — a star could 
 not be more brilliant !) 
 
 I have often remarked this sensibility of the common people 
 of Spain to the charms of natural objects. The lustre of a 
 star, the beauty or fragrance of a flower, the crystal purity of a 
 fountain, will inspire them with a kind of poetical delight ; and 
 then, what euphonious words their magnificent language affords, 
 with which to give utterance to their transports ! 
 
 " But what lights are those, Mateo, which I see twinkling 
 along the Sierra Nevada, just below the snowy region, and which 
 might be taken for stars, only that they are ruddy, and against 
 the dark side of the mountain ? " 
 
 " Those, Senor, are fires, made by the men who gather snow 
 and ice for the supply of Granada. They go up every afternoon 
 with mules and asses, and take turns, some to rest and warm 
 
A RAMBLE AMONG THE HILLS 267 
 
 themselves by the fires, while others fill the panniers with ice. 
 They then set off down the mountains, so as to reach the gates 
 of Granada before sunrise. That Sierra Nevada, Seiior, is a 
 lump of ice in the middle of Andalusia, to keep it all cool in 
 summer.'' 
 
 It was now completely dark ; we were passing through the 
 barranco, where stood the cross of the murdered muleteer, when 
 I beheld a number of lights moving at a distance, and ap- 
 parently advancing up the ravine. On nearer approach, they 
 proved to be torches borne by a train of uncouth figures arrayed 
 in black : it would have been a procession dreary enough at 
 any time, but was peculiarly so in this wild and solitary place. 
 
 Mateo drew near, and told me, in a low voice, that it was a 
 funeral train bearing a corpse to the burying-ground among the 
 hills. 
 
 As the procession passed by, the lugubrious light of the 
 torches, falling on the rugged features and funeral weeds of the 
 attendants, had the most fantastic effect, but was perfectly 
 ghastly, as it revealed the countenance of the corpse, which 
 according to the Spanish custom, was borne uncovered on an 
 open bier. I remained for some time gazing after the dreary 
 train as it wound up the dark defile of the mountain. It put 
 me in mind of the old story of a procession of demons bearing 
 the body of a sinner up the crater of Stromboli. 
 
 " Ah ! Seiior" cried Mateo, " I could tell you a story of a 
 procession once seen among these mountains, but then you'd 
 laugh at me, and say it was one of the legacies of my grand- 
 father the tailor." 
 
 " By no means, Mateo. There is nothing I relish more than 
 a marvellous tale." 
 
 " Well, Senor, it is about one of those very men we have 
 been talking of, who gather snow on the Sierra Nevada. 
 
 " You must know, that a great many years since, in my grand- 
 father's time, there was an old fellow, Tio Nicolo [Uncle 
 Nicholas] by name, who had filled the panniers of his mule 
 
268 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 with snow and ice, and was returning down the mountain. 
 Being very drowsy, he mounted upon the mule, and soon falling 
 asleep, went with his head nodding and bobbing about from 
 side to side, while his surefooted old mule stepped along the 
 edge of precipices, and down steep and broken barrancas, just 
 as safe and steady as if it had been on plain ground. At 
 length Tio Nicolo awoke, and gazed about him, and rubbed his 
 eyes— and, in good truth, he had reason. The moon shone 
 almost as bright as day, and he saw the city below him, as 
 plain as your hand, and shining with its white buildings, like a 
 silver platter, in the moonshine ; but. Lord ! Senor, it was 
 nothing like the city he had left a few hours before ! Instead of 
 the cathedral, with its great dome and turrets, and the churches 
 with their spires, and the convents with their pinnacles, all 
 surmounted with the blessed cross, he saw nothing but Moorish 
 mosques, and minarets, and cupolas, all topped off with glitter- 
 ing crescents, such as you see on the Barbary flags. Well, 
 Setior, as you may suppose, Tio Nicolo was mightily puzzled at 
 all this, but while he was gazing down upon the city, a great 
 army came marching up the mountains, winding along the 
 ravines, sometimes in the moonshine, sometimes in the shade. 
 As it drew nigh, he saw that there were horse and foot, all in 
 Moorish armour. Tio Nicolo tried to scramble out of their 
 way, but his old mule stood stock still, and refused to budge, 
 trembling at the same time, like a leaf, — for dumb beasts, 
 Seiior, are just as much frightened at such things as human 
 beings. Well, Senor, the hobgoblin army came marching by ; 
 there were men that seemed to blow trumpets, and others to 
 beat drums and strike cymbals, yet never a sound did they 
 make ; they all moved on without the least noise,- just as I have 
 seen painted armies move across the stage in the theatre of 
 Granada, and all looked as pale as death At last, in the rear 
 of the army, between two black Moorish horsemen, rode the 
 Grand Inquisitor of Granada, on a mule as white as snow. 
 Tio Nicolo wondered to see him in such company, for the 
 
A RAMBLE AMONG THE HILLS 269 
 
 Inquisitor was famous for his hatred of Moors, and, indeed, of 
 all kinds of Infidels, Jews, and heretics, and used to hunt them 
 out with fire and scourge. However, Tio Nicolo felt himself safe, 
 now that there was a priest of such sanctity at hand. So making 
 the sign of the cross, he called out for his benediction, when, 
 hombre I he received a blow that sent him and his old mule 
 over the edge of a steep bank, down which they rolled, head- 
 over-heels, to the bottom ! Tio Nicolo did not come to his senses 
 until long after sunrise, when he found himself at the bottom 
 of a deep ravine, his mule grazing beside him, and his panniers 
 of snow completely melted. He crawled back to Granada 
 sorely bruised and battered, but was glad to find the city looking 
 as usual, with Christian churches and crosses. When he told 
 the story of his night's adventure, every one laughed at him ; 
 some said he had dreamed it all, as he dozed on his mule ; 
 others thought it all a fabrication of his own ; but what was 
 strange, Senor, and made people afterwards think more seriously 
 of the matter, was, that the Grand Inquisitor died within the 
 year. I have often heard my grandfather, the tailor, say, that 
 there was more meant by that hobgoblin army bearing off the 
 resemblance of the priest, than folks dared to surmise." 
 
 " Then you would insinuate, friend Mateo, that there is a 
 kind of Moorish limbo, or purgatory, in the bowels of these 
 mountains, to which the padre Inquisitor was borne off." 
 
 "God forbid, Senor! I know nothing of the matter. I 
 only relate what I heard from my grandfather." 
 
 By the time Mateo had finished the tale, which I have more 
 succinctly related, and which was interlarded with many com- 
 ments, and spun out with minute details, we reached the gate 
 of the Alhambra. 
 
 The marvellous stories hinted at by Mateo, in the early part 
 of our ramble about the Tower of the Seven Floors, set me as 
 usual upon my goblin researches. I found that the redoubtable 
 phantom, the Belludo, had been time out of mind a favourite 
 theme of nursery tales and popular traditions in Granada, and 
 
270 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 that honourable mention had even been made of it by an ancient 
 historian and topographer of the place. The scattered mem- 
 bers of one of these popular traditions I have gathered 
 together, collated them with infinite pains, and digested them 
 into the following legend; which only wants a number of 
 learned notes and references at bottom to take its rank among 
 those concrete productions gravely passed upon the world for 
 Historical Facts. 
 
 
i ,. 
 
 Z« Plaza, de los A(^ihs, 
 
 LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 
 
 Just within the fortress of the Alhambra, in front of the 
 royal palace, is a broad open esplanade, called the Place or 
 Square of the Cisterns, {La Plaza de los Algibes), so called from 
 being undermined by reservoirs of water, hidden from sight, 
 and which have existed from the time of the Moors. At one 
 corner of this esplanade is a Moorish well, cut through the 
 living rock to a great depth, the water of which is cold as ice 
 and clear as crystal. The wells made by the Moors are always 
 in repute, for it is well known what pains they took to penetrate 
 to the purest and sweetest springs and fountains. The one of 
 which we now speak is famous throughout Granada, insomuch 
 that water-carriers, some bearing great water-jars on their 
 shoulders, others driving asses before them laden with earthem 
 vessels, are ascending and descending the steep woody 
 avenues of the Alhambra, from early dawn until a late hour of 
 the night. 
 
 Fountains and wells, ever since the scriptural days, have 
 been noted gossiping-places in hot climates ; and at the well in 
 question there is a kind of perpetual club kept up during the 
 livelong day, by the invalids, old women, and other curious 
 do-nothing folk of the fortress, who sjt here on the stone 
 
272 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 benches, under an awning spread over the well to shelter the 
 toll-gatherer from the sun, and dawdle over the gossip of the 
 fortress, and question every water-carrier that arrives about the 
 
 - , I, ' * ■ 
 
 ■■■; ••«/,jrfj'js';/n •■«■.> •■■■■:."<.■ 
 
 1,1, :l T^? ;;Xv *=~-^. ■"■^v« H%., •■>. ^. 
 
 
 news of the city, and make long comments on everything they 
 hear and see. Not an hour of the day but loitering housewives 
 and idle maid-servants may be seen, lingering, with pitcher on 
 head or in hand, to hear the last of the endless tattle of these 
 worthies. 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 273 
 
 Among the water-carriers who once resorted to this well, 
 there was a sturdy, strong-backed, bandy-legged little fellow, 
 named Pedro Gil, but called Peregil for shortness. Being a 
 water-carrier, he was a Gallego, or native of Gallicia, of course. 
 Nature seems to have formed races of men, as she has of 
 animals, for different kinds of drudgery. In France the shoe- 
 blacks are all Savoyards, the porters of hotels all Swiss, and in 
 the days of hoops and hair-powder in England, no man could 
 give the regular swing to a sedan-chair but a bog-trotting 
 Irishman. So in Spain, the carriers of water and bearers of 
 burdens are all sturdy little natives of GalUcia. No man says, 
 " Get me a porter," but, "call a Galkgo." 
 
 To return from this digression, Peregil the Galkgo had 
 begun business with merely a great earthen jar which he 
 carried upon his shoulder ; by degrees he rose in the world, 
 and was enabled to purchase an assistant of a correspondent 
 class of animals, being a stout shaggy-haired donkey. On each 
 side of this his long-eared aide-de-camp, in a kind of pannier, 
 were slung his water-jars, covered with fig leaves to protect 
 them from the sun. There was not a more industrious water- 
 carrier in all Granada, nor one more merry withal. The streets 
 rang with his cheerful voice as he trudged after his donkey, 
 singing forth the usual summer note that resounds through the 
 Spanish towns : " Quien quiere agua — agua mas fria que la 
 nieve ? " — " Who wants water — water colder than snow ? Who 
 wants water from the well of the Alhambra, cold as ice and 
 clear as crystal ? " When he served a customer with a sparkling 
 glass, it was always with a pleasant word that caused a smile ; 
 and if, perchance, it was a comely dame or dimpling damsel, it 
 was always with a sly leer and a compliment to her beauty that 
 was irresistible. Thus Peregil the Galkgo was noted through- 
 out all Granada for being one of the civilest, pleasantest, and 
 happiest of mortals. Yet it is not he who sings loudest and 
 jokes most that has the lightest heart. Under all this air of 
 merriment, honest Peregil had his cares and troubles. He had 
 
 T 
 
274 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 a large family of ragged children to support, who were hungry 
 and clamorous as a nest of young swallows, and beset him with 
 their outcries for food whenever he came home of an evening. 
 He had a helpmate, too, who was anything but a help to him. 
 She had been a village beauty before marriage, noted for her 
 skill at dancing the bolero and rattling the castanets ; and she 
 still retained her early propensities, spending the hard earnings 
 of honest Peregil in frippery, and laying the very donkey under 
 requisition for junketing parties into the country on Sundays 
 and saints' days, and those innumerable holidays, which are 
 rather more numerous in Spain than the days of the week. 
 With all this she was a little of a slattern, something more of a 
 lie-abed, and, above all, a gossip of the first water ; neglecting 
 house, household, and everything else, to loiter slipshod in the 
 houses of her gossip neighbours. 
 
 He, however, who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, ac- 
 commodates the yoke of matrimony to the submissive neck. 
 Peregil bore all the heavy dispensations of wife and children 
 with as meek a spirit as his donkey bore the water-jars ; and, 
 however he might shake his ears in private, never ventured to 
 question the household virtues of his slattern spouse. 
 
 He loved his children, too, even as an owl loves its owlets, 
 seeing in them his own image multiplied and perpetuated ; for 
 they were a sturdy, long-backed, bandy-legged little brood. 
 The great pleasure of honest Peregil was, whenever he could 
 afford himself a scanty holiday, and had a handful of maravedis 
 to spare, to take the whole litter forth with him, some in his 
 arms, some tugging at his skirts, and some trudging at his 
 heels, and to treat them to a gambol among the orchards of 
 the Vega, while his wife was dancing with her holiday friends 
 in the Angosturas of the Darro. 
 
 It was a late hour one summer night, and most of the water- 
 carriers had desisted from their toils. The day had been un- 
 commonly sultry ; the night was one of those delicious moon- 
 lights which tempt the inhabitants of southern climes to 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 275 
 
 indemnify themselves for the heat and inaction of the day, by 
 lingering in the open air, and enjoying its tempered sweetness 
 until after midnight. Customers for water were therefore still 
 abroad. Peregil, like a considerate, painstaking father, thought 
 of his hungry children. " One more journey to the well," said 
 he to himself, "to earn a Sunday's J>uc/iero for the little ones.'' 
 So saying, he trudged manfully up the steep avenue of the 
 Alhambra, singing as he went, and now and then bestowing a 
 hearty thwack with a cudgel on the flanks of his donkey, either 
 by way of cadence to the song, or refreshment to the animal ; 
 for dry blows serve in lieu of provender in Spain for all beasts 
 of burden. 
 
 "When arrived at the well, he found it deserted by every one 
 except a solitary stranger in Moorish garb, seated on a stone 
 bench in the moonlight. Peregil paused at first and regarded 
 him with surprise, not unmixed with awe, but the Moor feebly 
 beckoned him to approach. "I am faint and ill," said he; 
 " aid me to return to the city, and I will pay thee double what 
 thou couldst gain by thy jars of water." 
 
 The honest heart of the little water-carrier was touched with 
 compassion at the appeal of the stranger. " God forbid," said 
 he, " that I should ask fee or reward for doing a common act 
 of humanity.'' He accordingly helped the Moor on his donkey, 
 and set off slowly for Granada, the poor Moslem being so weak 
 that it was necessary to hold him on the animal to keep him 
 from falling to the earth. 
 
 When they entered the city, the water-carrier demanded 
 whither he should conduct him. " Alas I " said the Moor, 
 faintly, " I have neither home nor habitation ; I am a stranger 
 in the land. Suffer me to lay my head this night beneath thy 
 roof, and thou shalt be amply repaid." 
 
 Honest Peregil thus saw himself unexpectedly saddled with 
 an infidel guest, but he was too humane to refuse a night's 
 shelter to a fellow-being in so forlorn a plight ; so he conducted 
 the Moor to his dwelling. The children, who had sallied forth 
 
 X 2 
 
276 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 open-mouthed as usual on hearing the tramp of the donkey, 
 ran back with affright when they beheld the turbaned stranger, 
 and hid themselves behind their mother. The latter stepped 
 forth intrepidly, like a ruffling hen before her brood when a 
 vagrant dog approaches. 
 
 "What infidel companion," cried she, "is this you have 
 brought home at this late hour, to draw upon us the eyes of 
 the inquisition ? " 
 
 " Be quiet, wife," replied the Gallego ; " here is a poor sick 
 stranger, without friend or home ; wouldst thou turn him forth 
 to perish in the streets ? " 
 
 The wife would still have remonstrated for although she 
 lived in a hovel, she was a furious stickler for the credit of her 
 house ; the little water-carrier, however, for once was stiffnecked, 
 and refused to bend beneath the yoke. He assisted the poor 
 Moslem to alight, and spread a mat and a sheepskin for him, 
 on the ground, in the coolest part of the house ; being the 
 only kind of bed that his poverty afforded. 
 
 In a little while the Moor was seized with violent con- 
 vulsions, which defied all the ministering skill of the simple 
 water-carrier. The eye of the poor patient acknowledged 
 his kindness. During an interval of his fits he called him to 
 his side, and addressing him in a low voice, " My end," said 
 he, " I fear is at hand. If I die, I bequeath you this box as a 
 reward for your charity : " so saying, he opened his albornoz, 
 or cloak, and showed a small box of sandal-wood, strapped 
 round his body. " God grant, my friend," replied the worthy 
 little Gallego, "that you may live many years to enjoy your 
 treasure, whatever it may be." The Moor shook his head ; he 
 laid his hand upon the box, and would have said something 
 more concerning it, but his convulsions returned with increasing 
 violence, and in a little while he expired. 
 
 The water-carrier's wife was now as one distracted. "This 
 comes," said she, " of your foolish good-nature, always running 
 into scrapes to oblige others. What will become of us when 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 277 
 
 this corpse is found in our house ? We shall be sent to prison as 
 murderers ; and if we escape with our lives, shall be ruined by 
 notaries and alguazils." 
 
 Poor Peregil was in equal tribulation, and almost repented 
 himself of having done a good deed. At length a thought 
 struck him. " It is not yet day," said he ; "I can convey the 
 dead body out of the city, and bury it in the sands on the 
 banks of the Xenil. No one saw the Moor enter our dwelling, 
 and no one will know anything of his death." 
 
 So said, so done. The wife aided him ; they rolled the body 
 of the unfortunate Moslem in the mat on which he had expired, 
 laid it across the ass, and Peregil set out with it for the banks 
 of the river. 
 
 As ill luck would have it, there lived opposite to the water- 
 carrier a barber named Pedrillo Pedrugo, one of the most 
 prying, tattling, and mischief-making of his gossip tribe. He 
 was a weasel-faced, spider-legged varlet, supple and insinuating ; 
 the famous barber of Seville could not surpass him for his 
 universal knowledge of the affairs of others, and he had no 
 more power of retention than a sieve. It was said that he 
 slept but with one eye at a time, and kept one ear uncovered, 
 so that even in his sleep he might see and hear all that was 
 going on. Certain it is, he was a sort of scandalous chronicle 
 for the quidnuncs of Granada, and had more customers than 
 all the rest of his fraternity. 
 
 The meddlesome barber heard Peregil arrive at an unusual 
 hour at night, and the exclamations of his wife and children. 
 His head was instantly popped out of a Uttle window which 
 served as a look-out, and he saw his neighbour assist a man in 
 Moorish garb into his dwelling. This was so strange an occur- 
 rence, that Pedrillo Pedrugo slept not a wink that night. Every 
 five minutes he was at his loophole, watching the lights that 
 gleamed through the chinks of his neighbour's door, and before 
 daylight he beheld Peregil sally forth with his donkey unusually 
 laden. 
 
278 THE ALHAMBEA 
 
 The inquisitive barber was in a fidget ; he slipped on his 
 clothes, and, stealing forth silently, followed the water-carrier at 
 a distance, until he saw him dig a hole in the sandy bank of 
 the Xenil, and bury something that had the appearance of a 
 dead body. 
 
 The barber hied him home, and fidgeted about his shop, 
 setting everything upside down, until sunrise. He then took a 
 basin under his arm, and sallied forth to the house of his daily 
 customer the alcalde. 
 
 The alcalde was just risen. Pedrillo Pedrugo seated him in 
 a chair, threw a napkin round his neck, put a basin of hot 
 water under his chin, and began to mollify his beard with his 
 fingers. 
 
 " Strange doings ! " said Pedrugo, who played barber and 
 newsmonger at the same time, — " strange doings ! Robbery, 
 and murder, and burial all in one night ! " 
 
 " Hey ! — how ! — what is that you say ? " cried the alcalde. 
 
 " I say," replied the barber, rubbing a piece of soap over the 
 nose and mouth of the dignitary, for a Spanish barber disdains 
 to employ a brush, — " I say that Peregil the Gallego has 
 robbed and murdered a Moorish Mussulman, and buried him, 
 this blessed night. Maldita sea la noche ; — Accursed be the 
 night for the same ! " 
 
 " But how do you know all this?" demanded the alcalde. 
 
 " Be patient, Seiior, and you shall hear all about it," replied 
 Pedrillo, taking him by the nose and sliding a razor over his 
 cheek. He then recounted all that he had seen, going through 
 both operations at the same time, shaving his beard, washing 
 his chin, and wiping him dry with a dirty napkin, while he was 
 robbing, murdering, and burying the Moslem. 
 
 Now it so happened that this alcalde was one of the most 
 overbearing, and at the same time most griping and corrupt 
 curmudgeons in all Granada. It could not be denied, however, 
 that he set a high value upon justice, for he sold it at its weight 
 in gold. He presumed the case in point to be one of murder 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 279 
 
 and robbery ; doubtless there must be a rich spoil ; how was it 
 to be secured into the legitimate hands of the law ? for as to 
 merely entrapping the delinquent — that would be feeding the 
 gallows ; but entrapping the booty — that would be enriching the 
 judge, and such, according to his creed, was the great end of 
 justice. So thinking, he summoned to his presence his truest 
 alguazil — a gaimt, hungry-looking varlet, clad, according to the 
 custom of his order, in the ancient Spanish garb, a broad 
 black beaver turned up at its sides; a quaint ruff; a small 
 black cloak dangling from his shoulders ; rusty black under- 
 clothes that set off his spare wiry frame, while in his hand he 
 bore a slender white wand, the dreaded insignia of his office. 
 Such was the legal bloodhound of the ancient Spanish breed, 
 that he put upon the traces of the unlucky water-carrier, and 
 such was his speed and certainty, that he was upon the haunches 
 of poor Peregil before he had returned to his dwelling, and 
 brought both him and his donkey before the dispenser of 
 justice. 
 
 The alcalde bent upon him one of the most terrific frowns. 
 " Hark ye, culprit ! " roared he, in a voice that made the knees of 
 the little Gallego smite together, — " hark ye, culprit ! there is 
 no need of denying thy guilt, everything is known to me. A 
 gallows is the proper reward for the crime thou hast committed, 
 but I am merciful, and readily listen to reason. The man that has 
 been murdered in thy house was a Moor, and infidel, the enemy 
 of our faith. It was doubtless in a fit of religious zeal that 
 thou hast slain him. I will be indulgent, therefore ; render up 
 the property of which thou hast robbed him, and we will hush 
 the matter up." 
 
 The poor water-carrier called upon all the saints to witness 
 his innocence ; alas ! not one of them appeared ; and if they 
 had, the alcalde would have disbelieved the whole calendar. 
 The water-carrier related the whole story of the dying Moor 
 with the straightforward simplicity of truth, but it was all in 
 vain. "Wilt thou persist in saying," demanded the judge. 
 
28o THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 " that this Moslem had neither gold nor jewels, which were the 
 object of thy cupidity ? " 
 
 " As I hoped to be saved, your worship," replied the water- 
 carrier, " he had nothing but a small box of sandal-wood, which 
 he bequeathed to me in reward for my services." 
 
 " A box of sandal-wood ! a box of sandal-wood ! " exclaimed 
 the alcalde, his eyes sparkling at the idea of precious jewels, 
 " And where is this box ? where have you concealed it ? " 
 
 " An' it please your grace," replied the water-carrier, " it is in 
 one of the panniers of my mule, and heartily at the service of 
 your worship." 
 
 He had hardly spoken the words, when the keen alguazil 
 darted off, and reappeared in an instant with the mysterious 
 box of sandal wood. The alcalde opened it with an eager and 
 trembling hand ; all pressed forward to gaze upon the treasure 
 it was expected to contain ; when, to their disappointment, 
 nothing appeared within, but a parchment scroll, covered with 
 Arabic characters, and an end of a waxen taper. 
 
 When there is nothing to be gained by the conviction of a 
 prisoner, justice, even in Spain, is apt to be impartial. The 
 alcalde, having recovered from his disappointment, and found that 
 there was really no booty in the case, now listened dispassionately 
 to the explanation of the water-carrier, which was corroborated 
 by the testimony of his wife. Being convinced, therefore, of 
 his innocence, he discharged him from arrest ; nay more, he 
 permitted him to carry off the Moor's legacy, the box of sandal- 
 wood and its contents, as the well-merited reward of his 
 humanity ; but he retained his donkey in payment of costs and 
 charges. 
 
 Behold the unfortunate little Gallego reduced once more to 
 the necessity of being his own water-carrier, and trudging up to 
 the well of the Alhambra with a great earthen jar upon his 
 shoulder. 
 
 As he toiled up the hill in the heat of a summer noon, his 
 usual good-humour forsook him. " Dog of an alcalde ! " would 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 281 
 
 he cry, " to rob a poor man of the means of his subsistence, of 
 the best friend he had in the world ! " And then at the 
 remembrance of the beloved companion of his labours, all the 
 kindness of his nature would break forth. "Ah, donkey of 
 my heart ! " would he exclaim, resting his burden on a stone, and 
 wiping the sweat from his brow, — "ah, donkey of my heart ! I 
 warrant me thou thinkest of thy old master ! I warrant me 
 thou missest the water-jars — poor beast." 
 
 To add to his afflictions, his wife received him, on his 
 return home, with whimperings and repinings ; she had clearly 
 the vantage-ground of him, having warned him not to commit 
 the egregious act of hospitality which had brought on him all 
 these misfortunes ; and, like a knowing woman, she took every 
 occasion to throw her superior sagacity in his teeth. If her 
 children lacked food, or needed a new garment, she could 
 answer with a sneer, " Go to your father — he is heir to king 
 Chico of the Alhambra : ask him to help you out of the Moor's 
 strong box." 
 
 Was ever poor mortal so soundly punished for having done 
 a good action ? The unlucky Peregil was grieved in flesh and 
 spirit, but still he bore meekly with the railings of his spouse. 
 At length, one evening, when, after a hot day's toil, she taunted 
 him in the usual manner, he lost all patience. He did not 
 venture to retort upon her, but his eye rested upon the box of 
 sandal-wood, which lay on a shelf with lid half open, as if 
 laughing in mockery at his vexation. Seizing it up, he dashed 
 it with indignation to the floor. " Unlucky was the day that I 
 ever set eyes on thee," he cried, "or sheltered thy master 
 beneath my roof ! " 
 
 As the box struck the floor, the lid flew wide open, and the 
 parchment scroll rolled forth. 
 
 Peregil sat regarding the scroll for some time in moody 
 silence. At length rallying his ideas, "Who knows," thought 
 he, " but this writing may be of some importance, as the Moor 
 seems to have guarded it with such care?" Picking it up 
 
282 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 therefore, he put it in his bosom, and the next morning as he 
 was crying water through the streets, he stopped at the shop of 
 a Moor, a native of Tangiers, who sold trinkets and perfumery 
 in the Zacatin, and asked him to explain the contents. 
 
 The Moor read the scroll attentively, then stroked his beard 
 
 and smiled. "This manu- 
 script," said he, "is a 
 form of incantation for 
 the recovery of hidden 
 V! treasure that is under the 
 ;' power of enchantment. 
 ^. ^ )' 1 ' S It is said to have such 
 y ''' \ j' virtue that the strongest 
 i'V; bolts and bars, nay, the 
 * L,' adamantine rock itself, 
 „,;*,,„. ,|~j, will yield before it ! " 
 UitM^^ " Bah ! " cried the litde 
 j /i)^ GrtZ/d-^o, " what is all that 
 
 \ >':'. chanter, and know no- 
 ^i ]'.\ thing of buried treasure." 
 "ijfj'l' So saying, he shouldered 
 ' I , I his water-jar, left the 
 ' I scroll in the hands of the 
 I ' Moor, and trudged for- 
 ward on his daily rounds. 
 / That evening, however, 
 '! - — , ' -'■^ as he rested himself 
 
 about twilight at the 
 well of the Alhambra, he found a number of gossips 
 assembled at the place, and their conversation, as is not 
 unusual in that shadowy hour, turned upon old tales and 
 traditions of a supernatural nature. Being all poor as rats, 
 they dwelt with peculiar fondness upon the popular theme of 
 enchanted riches left by the Moors in various parts of the 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 283 
 
 Alhambra. Above all, they concurred in the belief that there 
 were great treasures buried deep in the earth under the tower 
 of the seven floors. 
 
 These stories made an unusual impression on the mind of the 
 honest Peregil, and they sank deeper and deeper into his thoughts 
 as he returned alone down the darkling avenues. " If, after all, 
 there should be treasure hid beneath that tower ; and if the 
 scroll I left with the Moor should enable me to get at it ! " In 
 the sudden ecstasy of the thought he had well-nigh let fall his 
 water-jar. 
 
 That night he tumbled and tossed, and could scarcely get a 
 wink of sleep for the thoughts that were bewildering his brain. 
 Bright and early he repaired to the shop of the Moor, and told 
 him all that was passing in his mind. " You can read Arabic,'"' 
 said he ; '" suppose we go together to the tower, and try the 
 effect of the charm ; if it fails, we are no worse off than before ; 
 but if it succeeds, we will share equally all the treasure we may 
 discover." 
 
 " Hold," replied the Moslem ; " this writing is not sufficient 
 of itself ; it must be read at midnight, by the light of a taper 
 singularly compounded and prepared, the ingredients of which 
 are not within my reach. Without such a taper the scroll is 
 of no avail." 
 
 "Say no more !" cried the little Gallego , "I have such a 
 taper at hand, and will bring it here in a moment." So saying, 
 he hastened home, and soon returned with the end of yellow 
 wax taper that he had found in the box of sandal-wood. 
 
 The Moor felt it and smelt to it. " Here are rare and costly 
 perfumes,'' said he, " combined with this yellow wax. This is 
 the kind of taper specified in the scroll. While this burns, the 
 strongest walls and most secret caverns will remain open. 
 Woe to him, however, who lingers within until it be ex- 
 tinguished. He will remain enchanted with the treasure." 
 
 It was now agreed between them to try the charm that very 
 night. At a late hour, therefore, when nothing was stirring but 
 
284 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 bats and owls, they ascended the woody hill of the Alhambra, 
 and approached that awful tower, shrouded by trees and 
 rendered formidable by so many traditionary tales. By the 
 light of a lantern they groped their way through bushes, and 
 over fallen stones, to the door of a vault beneath the tower. 
 With fear and trembling they descended a flight of steps cut 
 into the rock. It led to an empty chamber, damp and drear, 
 from which another flight of steps led to a deeper vault. - In 
 this way they descended four several flights, leading into as 
 many vaults, one below the other, but the floor of the fourth 
 was solid ; and though, according to tradition, there remained 
 three vaults still below, it was said to be impossible to penetrate 
 further, the residue being shut up by strong enchantment. 
 The air of this vault was damp and chilly, and had an earthy 
 smell, and the light scarce cast forth any rays. They paused 
 here for a time, in breathless suspense, until they faintly heard 
 the clock of the watch-tower strike midnight ; upon this they lit 
 the waxen taper, which diffused an odour of myrrh and frankin- 
 cense and storax. 
 
 The Moor began to read in a hurried voice. He had scarce 
 finished when there was a noise as of subterraneous thunder. 
 The earth shook, and the floor, yawning open, disclosed a 
 flight of steps. Trembling with awe, they descended, and by 
 the light of the lantern found themselves in another vault 
 covered with Arabic inscriptions. In the centre stood a great 
 chest, secured with seven bands of steel, at each end of which 
 sat an enchanted Moor in armour, but motionless as a statue, 
 being controlled by the power of the incantation. Before the 
 chest were several jars filled with gold and silver and precious 
 stones. In the largest of these they thrust their arms up to the 
 elbow, and at every dip hauled forth handfuls of broad yellow 
 pieces of Moorish gold, or bracelets and ornaments of the same 
 precious metal, while occasionally a necklace of Oriental pearl 
 would stick to their fingers. Still they trembled and breathed 
 short while cramming their pockets with the spoils ; and cast 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 285 
 
 many a fearful glance at the two enchanted Moors, who sat 
 grim and motionless, glaring upon them with miwinking eyes. 
 At length, struck with a sudden panic at some fancied noise, 
 they both rushed up the staircase, tumbled over one another 
 into the upper apartment, overturned and extinguished the 
 waxen taper, and the pavement again closed with a thundering 
 sound. 
 
 Filled with dismay, they did not pause until they had groped 
 their way out of the tower, and beheld the stars shining through 
 the trees. Then seating themselves upon the grass, they 
 divided the spoil, determining to content themselves for the 
 present with this mere skimming of the jars, but to return on 
 some future night and drain them to the bottom. To make 
 sure of each other's good faith, also, they divided the talismans 
 between them, one retaining the scroll and the other the taper ; 
 this done, they set off with light hearts and well-lined pockets 
 for Granada. 
 
 As they wended their way down the hill, the shrewd Moor 
 whispered a word of counsel in the ear of the simple little 
 water-carrier. 
 
 "Friend Peregil," said he, "all this affair must be kept a 
 profound secret until we have secured the treasure, and con- 
 veyed it out of harm's way. If a whisper of it gets to the ear 
 of the alcalde, we are undone ! " 
 
 " Certainly, replied the Gallego, " nothing can be more 
 true." 
 
 " Friend Peregil," said the Moor, " you are a discreet man, 
 and I make no doubt can keep a secret ; but you have a wife." 
 
 " She shall not know a word of it," replied the little water- 
 carrier, sturdily. 
 
 " Enough," said the Moor, " I depend upon thy discretion 
 and thy promise." 
 
 Never was promise more positive and sincere ; but, alas ! 
 what man can keep a secret from his wife ? Certainly not such 
 a one as Peregil the water-carrier, who was one of the most 
 
286 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 loving and tractable of husbands. On his return home, he 
 found his wife moping in a corner. " Mighty well," cried she 
 as he entered, " you've come at last, after rambling about until 
 this hour of the night. I wonder you have not brought home 
 another Moor as a house-mate." Then bursting into tears, 
 she began to wring her hands and smite her breast. " Unhappy 
 woman that I am ! " exclaimed she, " what will become of me ? 
 My house stripped and plundered by lawyers and alguaziis ; 
 my husband a do-no-good, that no longer brings home bread 
 to his family, but goes rambling about day and night, with 
 infidel Moors ! O my children ! my children ! what will 
 become of us ? We shall all have to beg in the streets ! " 
 
 Honest Peregil was so moved by the distress of his spouse, 
 that he could not help whimpering also. His heart was as full 
 as his pocket, and not to be restrained. Thrusting his hand 
 into the latter he hauled forth three or four broad gold pieces, 
 and slipped them into her bosom. The poor woman stared 
 with astonishment, and could not understand the meaning of 
 this golden shower. Before she could recover her surprise, the 
 little Gallego drew forth a chain of gold and dangled it before her, 
 capering with exultation, his mouth distended from ear to ear. 
 
 " Holy Virgin protect us ! " exclaimed the wife. " What 
 hast thou been doing, Peregil ? surely thou hast not been 
 committing murder and robbery ! " 
 
 The idea scarce entered the brain of the poor woman, than 
 it became a certainty with her. She saw a prison and a 
 gallows in the distance, and a little bandy-legged Gallego 
 hanging pendent from it; and, overcome by the horrors 
 conjured up by imagination, fell into violent hysterics. 
 
 What could the poor man do ? He had no other means of 
 pacifying his wife, and dispelling the phantoms of her fancy, 
 than by relating the whole story of his good fortune. This, 
 however, he did not do until he had exacted from her the 
 most solemn promise to keep it a profound secret from every 
 living being. 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 287 
 
 To describe her joy would be impossible. She flung her 
 arms round the neck of her husband, and almost strangled him 
 with her caresses. "Now, wife," exclaimed the Htde man 
 with honest exultation, "what say you now to the Moor's 
 legacy? Henceforth never abuse me for helping a fellow- 
 creature in distress." 
 
 The honest Gallego retired to his sheepskin mat, and slept 
 as soundly as if on a bed of down. Not so his wife ; she 
 emptied the whole contents of his pockets upon the mat, and 
 sat counting gold pieces of Arabic coin, trying on necklaces 
 and earrings, and fancying the figure she should one day make 
 when permitted to enjoy her riches. 
 
 On the following morning the honest Gallego took a broad 
 golden coin, and repaired with it to a jeweller's shop in the 
 Zacatin to offer it for sale, pretending to have found it among 
 the ruins of the Alhambra. The jeweller saw that it had an 
 Arabic inscription, and was of the purest gold; he offered, 
 however, but a third of its value, with which the water-carrier 
 was perfectly content. Peregil now bought new clothes for his 
 little flock, and all kinds of toys, together with ample pro- 
 visions for a hearty meal, and returning to his dwelling, set all 
 his children dancing around him, while he capered in the 
 midst, the happiest of fathers. 
 
 The wife of the water-carrier kept her promise of se<;recy 
 with surprising strictness. For a whole day and a half she 
 went about with a look of mystery and a heart swelling almost 
 to bursting, yet she held her peace, though surrounded by her 
 gossips It is true, she could not help giving herself a few 
 airs, apologized for her ragged dress, and talked of ordering a 
 new basquina all trimmed with gold lace and bugles, and a 
 new lace mantilla. She threw out hints of her husband's 
 intention of eaving off his trade of water-carrying, as it 
 did not altogether agree with his health. In fact she 
 thought they should all retire to the country for the 
 summer, that the children might have the benefit of the 
 
288 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 mountain air, for there was no living in the city in this sultry 
 season. 
 
 The neighbours stared at each other, and thought the poor 
 woman had lost her wits ; and her airs and graces and elegant 
 pretensions were the theme of universal scoffing and merriment 
 among her friends, the moment her back was turned. 
 
 If she restrained herself abroad, however, she indemnified 
 herself at home, and putting a string of rich Oriental pearls 
 round her neck, Moorish bracelets on her arms, and an 
 aigrette of diamonds on her head, sailed backwards and 
 forwards in her slattern rags about the room, now and then 
 stopping to admire herself in a broken mirror. Nay, in the 
 impulse of her simple vanity, she could not resist, on one 
 occasion, showing herself at the window to enjoy the effect of 
 her finery on the passers-by. 
 
 As the fates would have it, Pedrillo Pedrugo, the meddlesome 
 barber, was at this moment sitting idly in his shop on the opposite 
 side of the street, when his ever-watchful eye caught the sparkle 
 of a diamond. In an instant he was at the loophole recon- 
 noitring the slattern spouse of the water-carrier, decorated with 
 the splendour of an eastern bride. No sooner had he taken an 
 accurate inventory of her ornaments, than he posted off with all 
 speed to the alcalde. In a little while the hungry alguazil was 
 again on the scent, and before the day was over the unfortunate 
 Peregil was once more dragged into the presence of the judge. 
 
 " How is this, villain ! " cried the alcalde, in a furious voice. 
 " You told me that the infidel who died in your house left 
 nothing behind but an empty coffer, and now I hear of 
 your wife flaunting in her rags decked out with pearls and 
 diamonds. Wretch that thou art ! prepare to render up the 
 spoils of thy miserable victim, and to swing on the gallows 
 that is already tired of waiting for thee.'' 
 
 The terrified water-carrier fell on his knees, and made a full 
 relation of the marvellous manner in which he had gained his 
 wealth. The alcalde, the alguazil, and the inquisitive barber 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 289 
 
 listened with greedy ears to this Arabian tale of enchanted 
 treasure. The alguazil was despatched to bring the Moor who 
 had assisted in the incantation. The Moslem entered half 
 frightened out of his wits at finding himself in the hands of the 
 harpies of the law. When he beheld the water-carrier standing 
 with sheepish looks and downcast countenance, he compre- 
 hended the whole matter. " Miserable animal," said he, as he 
 passed near him, " did I not warn thee against babbling to thy 
 wife ? " 
 
 The story of the Moor coincided exactly with that of his 
 colleague ; but the alcalde affected to be slow of belief, and 
 threw out menaces of imprisonment and rigorous investigation. 
 
 " Softly, good Seiior Alcalde,^' said the Mussulman, who by 
 this time had recovered his usual shrewdness and self- 
 possession. " Let us not mar fortune's favours in the scramble 
 for them. Nobody knows anything of this matter but our- 
 selves ; let us keep the secret. There is wealth enough in the 
 cave to enrich us all. Promise a fair division, and all shall 
 be produced; refuse, and the cave shall remain forever 
 closed." 
 
 The alcalde consulted apart with the alguazil. The latter 
 was an old fox in his profession. " Promise anything," said 
 he, " until you get possession of the treasure. You may then 
 seize upon the whole, and if he and his accomplice dare to 
 murmur, threaten them with the fagot and the stake as infidels 
 and sorcerers." 
 
 The alcalde relished the advice. Smoothing his brow and 
 turning to the Moor, " This is a strange story," said he, "and 
 may be true, but I must have ocular proof of it. This very 
 night you must repeat the incantation in my presence. If 
 there be really such treasure, we will share it amicably between 
 us, and say nothing further of the matter ; if ye have deceived 
 me, expect no money at my hands. In the meantime you 
 must remain in custody." 
 
 The Moor and the water-carrier cheerfully agreed to these 
 
 u 
 
2go THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 conditions, satisfied that the event would prove the truth of 
 their words. 
 
 Towards midnight the alcalde sallied forth secretly, attended 
 by the alguazil and the meddlesome barber, all strongly armed. 
 They conducted the Moor and the water-carrier as prisoners, 
 and were provided with the stout donkey of the latter to bear 
 off the expected treasure. They arrived at the tower without 
 being observed, and tying the donkey to a fig-tree, descended 
 into the fourth vault of the tower. 
 
 The scroll was produced, the yellow waxen taper lighted, and 
 the Moor read the form of incantation. The earth trembled as 
 before, and the pavement opened with a thundering sound, 
 disclosing the narrow flight of steps. The alcalde, the alguazil, 
 and the barber were struck aghast, and could not summon 
 courage to descend. The Moor and the water-carrier entered 
 the lower vault, and found the two Moors seated as before, 
 silent and motionless. They removed two of the great jars 
 filled with golden coin and precious stones. The water-carrier 
 bore them up one by one upon his shoulders, but though a 
 strong-backed little man, and accustomed to carry burdens, 
 he staggered beneath their weight, and found, when slung on 
 each side of his donkey, they were as much as the animal could 
 bear. 
 
 "Let us be content for the present," said the Moor ; "here 
 is as much treasure as we can carry off without being per- 
 ceived, and enough to make us all wealthy to our heart's 
 desire." 
 
 " Is there more treasure remaining behind ? " demanded the 
 alcalde. 
 
 "The greatest prize of all," said the Moor, "a huge coffer 
 bound with bands of steel, and filled with pearls and precious 
 stones." 
 
 " Let us have up the coffer by all means," cried the grasping 
 alcalde. 
 
 "I will descend for no more," said the Moor, doggedly; 
 
LEGEND OF THE MOOR'S LEGACY 291 
 
 "enough is enough for a reasonable man — more is super- 
 fluous." 
 
 "And I," said the water-carrier, "will bring up no further 
 burden to break the back of my poor donkey." 
 
 Finding commands, threats, and entreaties equally vain, the 
 alcalde turned to his two adherents. "Aid me," said he, "to 
 bring up the coffer, and its contents shall be divided between 
 us." So saying, he descended the steps, followed with tremb- 
 ling reluctance by the alguazil and the barber. 
 
 No sooner did the Moor behold them fairly earthed than he 
 extinguished the yellow taper; the pavement closed with its 
 usual crash, and the three worthies remained buried in its 
 womb. 
 
 He then hastened up the different flight of steps, nor 
 stopped until in the open air. The little water-carrier followed 
 him as fast as his short legs would permit. 
 
 "What hast thou done ?" cried Peregil, as soon as he could 
 recover breath. " The alcalde and the other two are shut up 
 in the vault." 
 
 " It is the will of Allah ! " said the Moor, devoutly. 
 
 "And will you not release them?" demanded the Gallego. 
 
 "Allah forbid!" repHed the Moor, smoothing his beard. 
 " It is written in the book of fate that they shall remain 
 enchanted until some future adventurer arrive to break the 
 charm. The will of God be done ! " so saying, he hurled 
 the end of the waxen taper far among the gloomy thickets of 
 the glen. 
 
 There was now no remedy ; so the Moor and the water- 
 carrier proceeded with the richly-laden donkey toward the city, 
 nor could honest Peregil refrain from hugging and kissing his 
 long-eared fellow-labourer, thus restored to him from the 
 clutches of the law ; and, in fact, it is doubtful which gave the 
 simple-hearted httle man most joy at the moment, the gaining 
 of the treasure, or the recovery of the donkey. 
 
 The two partners in good luck divided their spoil amicably 
 
 u 2 
 
292 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 and fairly, except that the Moor, who had a little taste for 
 trinketry, made out to get into his heap the most of the pearls 
 and precious stones and other baubles, but then he always 
 gave the water-carrier in lieu magnificent jewels of massy gold, 
 of five times the size, with which the latter was heartily content. 
 They took care not to linger within reach of accidents, but 
 made off to enjoy their wealth undisturbed in other countries. 
 The Moor returned to Africa, to his native city of Tangiers, 
 and the Gallego, with his wife, his children, and his donkey, 
 made the best of his way to Portugal. Here, under the 
 admonition and tuition of his wife, he became a personage of 
 some consequence, for she made the worthy little man array 
 his long body and short legs in doublet and hose, with a 
 feather in his hat and a sword by his side, and laying aside his 
 familiar appellation of Peregil, assume the more sonorous title 
 of Don Pedro Gil : his progeny grew up a thriving and merry- 
 hearted, though short and bandy-legged generation, while 
 Seilora Gil, befringed, belaced, and betasselled from her head 
 to her heels, with glittering rings on every finger, became a 
 model of slattern fashion and finery. 
 
 As to the alcalde and his adjuncts, they remained shut up 
 under the great tower of the seven floors, and there they re- 
 main spellbound at the present day. Whenever there shall be 
 a lack in Spain of pimping barbers, sharking alguazils, and cor- 
 rupt alcaldes, they may be sought after ; but if they have to 
 wait until such time for their deliverance, there is danger of 
 their enchantment enduring until doomsday. 
 

 
 '"^Cjk- 
 
 
 ^i' 
 
 THE TOWER OF LAS INFANTAS 
 
 In an evening's stroll up a narrow glen, overshadowed by 
 fig-trees, pomegranates, and myrtles, which divides the lands 
 
 
 -f" 
 
 ,v^ 
 
 
 s' /I 
 
 PJ^il 
 
 of the fortress from those of the Generalife, I was struck with 
 the romantic appearance of a Moorish tower in the outer wall 
 of the Alhambra, rising higli above the tree-tops, and catching 
 
294 
 
 THE ALII AM BRA 
 
 the ruddy rays of the setting sun. A solitary window at a great 
 height commanded a ^"iew of the glen ; and as I was regarding 
 it, a young female looked out, with her head adorned with 
 flowers. She was evidently superior to the usual cl-ass of 
 people inhabiting the old towers of the fortress ; and this 
 sudden and picturesque glimpse of her reminded me of the 
 
 descriptions of captive 
 
 ^fi 
 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 ; ;l 
 
 13"^'*! 
 
 beauties in fairy talcs. 
 These fanciful associa- 
 tions were increased on 
 being informed by my 
 attendant Mateo, that 
 this was the Tower of 
 the Princesses (La Torre 
 de las Infantas) ; so 
 called, from having been, 
 according to tradition, 
 the residence of the 
 daughters of the Moor- 
 ish kings. I have since 
 visited the tower. It 
 is not generally shown 
 to strangers, though well 
 worthy of attention, for 
 the interior is equal, for 
 beauty of architecture 
 and delicacy of orna- 
 ment, to any part of 
 The elegance of the central hall, with its 
 marble fountain, its lofty arches, and richly fretted dome ; 
 the arabesques and stucco-work of the small but well-propor- 
 tioned chambers, though injured by time and neglect, all 
 accord with the story of its being anciently the abode of 
 royal beauty. 
 
 The little old fairy queen who lives under the staircase at the 
 
 the palace 
 
THE TOWER OF LAS INFANTAS 
 
 295 
 
 Alhambra, and frequents the evening tertulias of Dame 
 Antonia, tells some fanciful traditions about three Moorish 
 princesses who were once shut up in this tower by their father, a 
 tyrant king of Granada, and were only permitted to ride out at 
 night about the hills, when no one was permitted to come in their 
 way under pain of death. They still, according to her account, 
 may be seen occasionally when the moon is in the full, riding 
 
 
 in lonely places along the mountain-side, on palfreys richly 
 caparisoned and sparkling with jewels, but they vanish on being 
 spoken to. 
 
 But before I relate anything further respecting these 
 princesses, the reader may be anxious to know something about 
 the fair inhabitant of the tower, with her head dressed with 
 flowers, who looked out from the lofty window. She proved to 
 be the newly-married spouse of the worthy adjutant of invalids ; 
 who, though well stricken in years, had had the courage to 
 take to his bosom a young and buxom Andalusian damsel. 
 May the good old cavalier be happy in his choice, and find the 
 
296 
 
 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 Tower of the Princesses a more secure residence for female 
 beauty than it seems to have proved in the time of the 
 Moslems, if we may believe the following legend. 
 
 Torye dc las Infatitas, 
 
t., ,' .- ■■ • , '■■:,( 
 
 n 
 
 LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL 
 PRLNCESSES 
 
 In old times there reigned a Moorish king in Granada, 
 whose name was Mohamed, to which his subjects added the 
 appellation ol El Hayzari, or "The Left-handed." Some say 
 he was so called on account of his being really more expert with 
 his sinister than his dexter hand ; others, because he was prone 
 to take everything by the wrong end, or, in other words, to mar 
 wherever he meddled. Certain it is, either through misfortune 
 or mismanagement, he was continually in trouble : thrice was 
 he driven from his throne, and on one occasion barely escaped 
 to Africa with his life, in the disguise of a fisherman. Still he 
 was as brave as he was blundering ; and though left-handed, 
 wielded his cimeter to such purpose, that he each time re- 
 established himself upon his throne by dint of hard fighting. 
 Instead, however, of learning wisdom from adversity, he 
 hardened his neck, and stiffened his left arm in wilfulness. The 
 evils of a public nature which he thus brought upon himself 
 and his kingdom may be learned by those who will delve into 
 the Arabian annals of Granada ; the present legend deals but 
 with his domestic policy. 
 
29S 
 
 THE y\T,TrAMDRA 
 
 As Ibis Afolianu'd was one day ridinjj; forlh Avidi a train of 
 his courlicis, by the foot of llic mountain of Eh'ini, lie met a 
 l)and of borsemen returning from a foray into the land of the 
 Christians. 'Jliey were conducting a long string of mules laden 
 ;vith spoil, and many captives of both sexes, among whom the 
 monarch was struck with the appearance of a beautiful damsel, 
 richly attired, who sat weeping on a low palfrey, and heeded 
 not the consoling words of a duenna who rode beside her. 
 
 The monarch was struck with her beauty, and, on inquiring (jf 
 the captain of the troop, found that she was the daughter of the 
 alcayde of a frontier fortress, that had been surprised and sacked 
 in the course of the foray. Mohamad claimed her as his royal 
 
 share of the booty, and 
 had her conveyed to his 
 harem in the Alliambra. 
 'J'here everything was 
 devised to soothe her 
 melancholy ; and the 
 monarch, more and more 
 enamoured, sought to 
 make her his (jueen. 
 The Spanish maid at first rejiulsed his addresses : he was an 
 infidel ; he Avas the open foe of her country; what was worse, 
 he was stricken in years ! 
 
 The monarch, finding his assiduities of no avail, determined 
 to enlist in liis favour the diicniia, who had been captured with 
 the lady. She was an Andalusian by birth, whose (Christian 
 name is forgotten, being mentioned in Moorish legends by no 
 other appellation than that of the discreet Kadiga ; and discreet 
 in truth she was, as her whole history makes evident. No sooner 
 had the Moorish king held a little private conversation with her, 
 that she saw at once the cogency of his reasoning, and under- 
 took his cause with her young mistress. 
 
 " Go to, now ! " cried she ; " what is there in all this to weep 
 and wail about ? Is it not better to be mistress of this beauti- 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 299 
 
 ful palace, with all its gardens and fountains, than to be shut up 
 within your father's old frontier tower ? As to this Mohamed 
 being an infidel, what is that to the purpose ? You marry him, 
 not his religion ; and if he is waxing a little old, the sooner 
 will you be a widow, and mistress of yourself ; at any rate, you 
 are in his power, and must either be a queen or a slave. When 
 in the hands of a robber, it is better to sell one's merchandise 
 for a fair price, than to have it taken by main force." 
 
 The arguments of the discreet Kadiga prevailed. The 
 Spanish lady dried her tears, and became the spouse of 
 Mohamed the Left-handed ; she even conformed, in appear- 
 ance, to the faith of her royal husband; and her discreet 
 duenna immediately became a zealous convert to the Moslem 
 doctrines ; it was then the latter received the Arabian name of 
 Kadiga, and was permitted to remain in the confidential employ 
 of her mistress. 
 
 In due process of time the Moorish king was made the proud 
 and happy father of three lovely daughters, all born at a birth : 
 he could have wished they had been sons, but consoled him- 
 self with the idea that three daughters at a birth were pretty 
 well for a man somewhat stricken in years, and left-handed ! 
 
 As usual with all Moslem monarchs, he summoned his 
 astrologers on this happy event. They cast the nativities of the 
 three princesses, and shook their heads. " Daughters, O king ! " 
 said they, "are always precarious property; but these will most 
 need your watchfulness when they arrive at a marriageable age ; 
 at that time gather them under your wings, and trust them to 
 no other guardianship." 
 
 Mohamed the Left-handed was acknowledged to be a wise 
 king by his courtiers, and was certainly so considered by him- 
 self. The prediction of the astrologers caused him but little 
 disquiet, trusting to his ingenuity to guard his daughters and 
 outwit the Fates. 
 
 The threefold birth was the last matrimonial trophy of the 
 monarch ; his queen bore him no more children, and died 
 
30O THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 within a few years, bequeathing her infant daughters to his love, 
 and to the fidelity of the discreet Kadiga. 
 
 Many years had yet to elapse before the Princesses would 
 arrive at that period of danger — the marriageable age. It is 
 good, however, to be cautious in time," said the shrewd 
 monarch ; so he determined to have them reared in the royal 
 castle of Salobrena. This was a sumptuous palace, incrusted, 
 as it were, in a powerful Moorish fortress on the summit of a 
 hill overlooking the Mediterranean sea. It was a royal retreat, 
 in which the Moslem monarchs shut up such of their relatives 
 
 ■V -.■,';»•,•.... , .'■' ^ 
 
 
 as might endanger their safety; allowing them all kinds of luxuries 
 and amusements, in the midst of which they passed their lives in 
 voluptuous indolence. Here the princesses remained, immured 
 from the world, but surrounded by enjoyment, and attended by 
 female slaves who anticipated their wishes. They had delightful 
 gardens for their recreation, filled with the rarest fruits and 
 flowers, with aromatic groves and perfumed baths. On three 
 sides the castle looked down upon a rich valley, enamelled with 
 all kinds of culture, and bounded by the lofty Alpuxarra 
 mountains ; on the other side it overlooked the broad sunny sea. 
 In this delicious abode, in a propitious climate, and under a 
 cloudless sky, the three princesses grew up into wondrous 
 beauty ; but, though all reared alike, they gave early tokens of 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 301 
 
 diversity of character. Their names were Zayda, Zorayda, and 
 Zorahayda ; and such was their order of seniority, for there had 
 been precisely three minutes between their births. 
 
 Zayda, the eldest, was of an intrepid spirit, and took the lead 
 of her sisters in everything, as she had done in entering into 
 the world. She was curious and inquisitive, and fond of 
 getting at the bottom of things. 
 
 Zorayda had a great feeling for beauty, which was the reason, 
 no doubt, of her delighting to regard her own image in a mirror 
 or a fountain, and of her fondness for flowers, and jewels, and 
 other tasteful ornaments. 
 
 As to Zorahayda, the youngest, she was soft and timid, and 
 extremely sensitive, with a vast deal of disposable tenderness, 
 as was evident from her number of pet-flowers, and pet-birds, 
 and pet-animals, all of which she cherished with the fondest 
 care. Her amusements, too, were of a gentle nature, and 
 mixed up with musing and reverie. She would sit for hours in 
 a balcony, gazing on the sparkling stars of a summer's night, or 
 on the sea when lit up by the moon ; and at such times, the 
 song of a fisherman, faintly heard from the beach, or the notes 
 of a Moorish flute from some gliding bark, sufficed to elevate 
 her feelings into ecstasy. The least uproar of the elements, 
 however, filled her with dismay; and a clap of thunder was 
 enough to throw her into a swoon. 
 
 Years rolled on smoothly and serenely ; the discreet Kadiga, 
 to whom the princesses were confided, was faithful to her trust, 
 and attended them with unremitting care. 
 
 The castle of Salobrena, as has been said, was built upon a 
 hill on the sea-coast. One of the exterior walls straggled down 
 the profile of the hill, until it reached a jutting rock overhang- 
 ing the sea, with a narrow sandy beach at its foot, laved by the 
 rippling billows. A small watch-tower on this rock had been 
 fitted up as a pavilion, with latticed windows to admit the sea- 
 breeze. Here the princesses used to pass the sultry hours of 
 mid-day. 
 
302 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 The curious Zayda was one day seated at a window of the 
 pavilion, as her sisters, reclining on ottomans, were taking the 
 siesta or noontide slumber. Her attention was attracted to a 
 galley which came coasting along, with measured strokes of the 
 oar. As it drew near, she observed that it was filled with 
 armed men. The galley anchored at the foot of the tower : a 
 number of Moorish soldiers landed on the narrow beach, con- 
 ducting several Christian prisoners. The curious Zayda 
 awakened her sisters, and all three peeped cautiously through 
 the close jalousies of the lattice which screened them from 
 sight. Among the prisoners were three Spanish cavaliers, richly 
 dressed. They were in the flower of youth, and of noble 
 presence ; and the lofty manner in which they carried them- 
 selves, though loaded with chains and surrounded with enemies, 
 bespoke the grandeur of their souls. The princesses gazed with 
 intense and breathless interest. Cooped up as they had been 
 in this castle among female attendants, seeing nothing of the 
 male sex but black slaves, or the rude fishermen of the sea- 
 coast, it is not to be wondered at that the appearance of three 
 gallant cavaliers, in the pride of youth and manly beauty, 
 should produce some commotion in their bosoms. 
 
 " Did ever nobler being tread the earth than that cavalier in 
 crimson?" cried Zayda, the eldest of the sisters. "See 
 how proudly he bears himself, as though all around him were 
 his slaves ! " 
 
 "But notice that one in green ! " exclaimed Zorayda. "What 
 grace ! what elegance ! what spirit ! " 
 
 The gentle Zorahayda said nothing, but she secretly gave 
 preference to the cavalier in blue. 
 
 The princesses remained gazing until the prisoners were out 
 of sight ; then heaving long-drawn sighs, they turned round, 
 looked at each other for a moment, and sat down, musing and 
 pensive, on their ottomans. 
 
 The discreet Kadiga found them in this situation; they 
 related what they had seen, and even the withered heart of the 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 303 
 
 duenna was warmed. " Poor youths ! " exclaimed she, " I'll 
 warrant their captivity makes many a fair and high-born lady's 
 heart ache in their native land ! Ah ! my children, you have 
 little idea of the life these cavaliers lead in their own country. 
 Such prankling at tournaments ! such devotion to the ladies ! 
 such courting and serenading ! " 
 
 The curiosity of Zayda was fully aroused ; she was insatiable 
 in her inquiries, and drew from the duenna the most animated 
 pictures of the scenes of her youthful days and native land. 
 The beautiful Zorayda bridled up, and slyly regarded herself in 
 a mirror, when the theme turned upon the charms of the 
 Spanish ladies ; while Zorahayda suppressed a struggling sigh 
 at the mention of moonlight serenades. 
 
 Every day the curious Zayda renewed her inquiries, and 
 every day the sage duenna repeated her stories, which were 
 listened to with profound interest, though with frequent sighs, 
 by her gentle auditors. The discreet old woman awoke at 
 length to the mischief she might be doing. She had been 
 accustomed to think of the princesses only as children; but 
 they had imperceptibly ripened beneath her eye, and now 
 bloomed before her three lovely damsels of the marriageable 
 age. It is time, thought the duenna, to give notice to the 
 king. 
 
 Mohamed the Left-handed was seated one morning on a 
 divan in a cool hall of the Alhambra, when a slave arrived from 
 the fortress of Salobrena, with a message from the sage Kadiga, 
 congratulating him on the anniversary of his daughters' birth- 
 day. The slave at the same time presented a deHcate little 
 basket decorated with flowers, within which, on a couch of vine 
 and fig-leaves, lay a peach, an apricot, and a nectarine, with 
 their bloom and down and dewy sweetness upon them, and all 
 in the early stage of tempting ripeness. The monarch was 
 versed in the Oriental language of fruits and flowers, and 
 rapidly divined the meaning of this emblematical offering. 
 
 "So," said he, "the critical period pointed out by the 
 
304 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 astrologers is arrived : my daughters are at a marriageable age. 
 What is to be done ? They are shut up from the eyes of men ; 
 they are under the eyes of the discreet Kadiga, — all very 
 good, — but still they are not under my own eye, as was pre- 
 scribed by the astrologers : I must gather them under my wing, 
 and trust to no other guardianship." 
 
 So saying, he ordered that a tower of the Alhambra should 
 be prepared for their reception, and departed at the head of 
 his guards for the fortress of Salobrena, to conduct them home 
 in person. 
 
 About three years had elapsed since Mohamed had beheld 
 his daughters, and he could scarcely credit his eyes at the won- 
 derful change which that small space of time had made in their 
 appearance. During the interval, they had passed that won- 
 drous boundary line in female life which separates the crude, 
 unformed, and thoughtless girl from the blooming, blushing, 
 meditative woman. It is like passing from the flat, bleak, 
 uninteresting plains of La Manche to the voluptuous valleys 
 and swelling hills of Andalusia. 
 
 Zayda was tall and finely formed, with a lofty demeanour and 
 a penetrating eye. She entered with a stately and decided 
 step, and made a profound reverence to Mohamed, treating him 
 more as her sovereign than her father. Zorayda was of the 
 middle height, with an alluring look and swimming gait, and a 
 sparkling beauty, heightened by the assistance of the toilette. 
 She approached her father with a smile, kissed his hand, and 
 saluted him with several stanzas from a popular Arabian poet, 
 with which the monarch was delighted. Zorahayda was shy 
 and timid, smaller than her sisters, and with a beauty of that 
 tender beseeching kind which looks for fondness and protection. 
 She was little fitted to command, like her elder sister, or to 
 dazzle like the second, but was rather formed to creep to the 
 bosom of manly affection, to nestle within it, and be content. 
 She drew near to her father, with a timid and almost faltering 
 step, and would have taken his hand to kiss, but on looking up 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 305 
 
 into his face, and seeing it beaming with a paternal smile, 
 the tenderness of her nature broke forth, and she threw 
 herself upon his neck. 
 
 Mohamed the Left-handed surveyed his blooming daughters 
 with mingled pride and perplexity, for while he exulted in their 
 charms, he bethought himself of the prediction of the astro- 
 logers. " Three daughters ! three daughters ! " muttered he 
 repeatedly to himself, "and all of a marriageable age ! Here's 
 tempting Hesperian fruit, that requires a dragon watch ! " 
 
 He prepared for his return to Granada, by sending heralds 
 before him, commanding every one to keep out of the road 
 by which he was to pass, and that all doors and windows should 
 be closed at the approach of the princesses. This done, he 
 set forth, escorted by a troop of black horsemen of hideous 
 aspect, and clad in shining armour 
 
 The princesses rode beside the king, closely veiled, on beauti- 
 ful white palfreys, with velvet caparisons, embroidered with gold, 
 and sweeping the ground ; the bits and stirrups were of gold, 
 and the silken bridles adorned with pearls and precious stones. 
 The palfreys were covered with little silver bells, which made 
 the most musical tinkling as they ambled gently along. Woe 
 to the unlucky wight, however, who lingered in the way when 
 he heard the tinkling of these bells ! — the guards were ordered 
 to cut him down without mercy. 
 
 The cavalcade was drawing near to Granada, when it overtook, 
 on the banks of the river Xenil, a small body of Moorish 
 soldiers with a convoy of prisoners. It was too late for the 
 soldiers to get out of the way, so they threw themselves on 
 their faces on the earth, ordering their captives to do the like. 
 Among the prisoners were the three identical cavaliers whom 
 the princesses had seen from the pavilion. They either did 
 not understand, or were too haughty to obey the order, and 
 remained standing and gazing upon the cavalcade as it 
 approached. 
 
 The ire of the monarch was kindled at this flagrant defiance 
 
3o6 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 is; 
 
 :n- 
 
 of his orders. Drawing his cimeter, and pressing forward, he 
 
 was about to deal a left-handed blow that might have been 
 
 fatal to at least one of the gazers, when the princesses crowded 
 
 round him, and implored mercy for the prisoners ; even the 
 
 timid Zorahayda forgot her shyness, and became eloquent in 
 
 their behalf. Mohamed paused, with uplifted cimeter, when 
 
 the captain of the guard threw himself at his feet. " Let not 
 
 your highness," said he, "do a deed that may cause great 
 
 I scandal throughout the kingdom. 
 
 I '•' *■ — '- A These are three brave and noble 
 
 I I ) Spanish knights, who have been 
 
 taken in battle, fighting like lions j 
 
 they are of high birth, and may bring 
 
 '" ■ great ransoms." 
 
 y-./ " Enough ! " said the king. " I 
 
 V . will spare their lives, but punish 
 
 r ' ■ their audacity — let them be taken 
 
 5;';.,' to the Vermihon Towers, and put 
 
 to hard labour." 
 
 Mohamed was making one of his 
 usual left-handed blunders. In the 
 tumult and agitation of this bluster- 
 ing scene, the veils of the three 
 princesses had been thrown back, 
 and the radiance of their beauty 
 revealed; and in prolonging the 
 parley, the king had given that beauty 
 time to have its full effect. In those 
 days people fell in love much more suddenly than at present, 
 as all ancient stories make manifest : it is not a matter of 
 wonder, therefore, that the hearts of the three cavaliers were 
 completely captured ; especially as gratitude was added to their 
 admiration; it is a little singular, however, though no less 
 certain, that each of them was enraptured with a several beauty. 
 As to the princesses, they were more than ever struck with the 
 
 
 VertitUion Tmveys. 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL TRINCESSES 307 
 
 noble demeanour of the captives, and cherished in their breasts 
 all that they had heard of their ^■alour and noble lineage. 
 
 The cavalcade resumed its march ; the three princesses rode 
 pensi^•ely along on their tinkling palfreys, now and then stealing 
 
3o8 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 a glance behind in search of the Christian captives, and the latter 
 were conducted to their allotted prison in the Vermilion Towers. 
 The residence provided for the princesses was one of the 
 most dainty that fancy could devise. It was in a tower some- 
 what apart from the main palace of the Alhambra, though con- 
 nected with it by the wall which encircled the whole summit of 
 the hill. On one side it looked into the interior of the fortress, 
 and had, at its foot, a small garden filled with the rarest flowers. 
 On the other side it overlooked a deep embowered ravine 
 separating the grounds of the Alhambra 
 r%^ from those of the Generalife. The 
 
 "• V interior of the tower was divided into 
 
 ji \ small fairy apartments, beautifully orna- 
 
 ';, j mented in the light Arabian style, sur- 
 
 ^' .', : -r'-" N rounding a lofty hall, the vaulted roof 
 
 y.'[ 8 f)}.^ ' I ^{ of which rose almost to the summit of 
 
 i; ■, :''^;.. "" j./j the tower. The walls and the ceilings 
 T; (S^ [':':' of the hall were adorned with arabesque 
 
 ,^,iVjjfj ..'.-.A and fretwork, sparkling with gold and 
 ";,"/';; '^£v.-,'''-^" with brilliant pencilling. In the centre 
 ^ /,,;=' 7-1 ■' of the marble pavement was an ala- 
 baster fountain, set round with aro- 
 matic shrubs and flowers, and throwing up a jet of water 
 that cooled the whole edifice and had a lulling sound. Round 
 the hall were suspended cages of gold and silver wire, containing 
 singing-birds of the finest plumage or sweetest note. 
 
 The princesses had been represented as always cheerful when 
 in the Castle of the Salobrena; the king had expected to see 
 them enraptured with the Alhambra. To his surprise, however, 
 they began to pine, and grow melancholy, and dissatisfied with 
 everything around them. The flowers yielded them no fragrance, 
 the song of the nightingale disturbed their night's rest, and they 
 were out of all patience with the alabaster fountain, with its 
 eternal drop-drop and splash-splash, from morning till night and 
 from night till morning. 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 309 
 
 
 
 The king, who was of a somewhat testy, tyrannical disposition, 
 took this at first in high dudgeon ; but he reflected that his 
 daughters had arrived at an age when the female mind expands 
 and its desires augment. " They are no longer children," said 
 he to himself, " they are women grown, and require suitable 
 objects to interest them." He put in requisition, therefore, all 
 the dressmakers, and the jewellers, and the artificers in gold 
 and silver throughout the Zacatin of Granada, and the princesses 
 were overwhelmed with robes of silk, and tissue, and brocade, 
 and cashmere shawls, and necklaces of pearls and diamonds, 
 and rings, and 
 bracelets, and ank- 
 lets, and all man- 
 ner of precious 
 things. 
 
 All, however, 
 was of no avail ; 
 the princesses con- 
 tinued pale and 
 languid in the 
 midst of their 
 
 finery, and looked like three blighted rose-buds, drooping from 
 one stalk. The king was at his wits' end. He had in general 
 a laudable confidence in his own judgment, and never took 
 advice. " The whims and caprices of three marriageable 
 damsels, however, are sufl5cient," said he, "to puzzle the 
 shrewdest head." So for once in his life he called in the aid 
 of counsel. 
 
 The person to whom he applied was the experienced duenna. 
 
 " Kadiga," said, the king, " I know you to be one of the most 
 discreet women in the whole world, as well as one of the most 
 trustworthy ; for these reasons I have always continued you 
 about the persons of my daughters. Fathers cannot be too 
 wary in whom they repose such confidence ; I now wish you to 
 find out the secret malady that is preying upon the princesses, 
 
 V-' 
 
310 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 and to devise some means of restoring them to health and 
 cheerfulness.'' 
 
 Kadiga promised implicit obedience. In fact she knew more 
 of the malady of the princesses than they themselves. Shutting 
 herself up with them, however, she endeavoured to insinuate 
 herself into their confidence. 
 
 " My dear children, what is the reason you are so dismal and 
 downcast in so beautiful a place, where you have everything 
 that heart can wish ? " 
 
 The princesses looked vacantly round the apartment and 
 sighed. 
 
 "What more then would you have? Shall I get you the 
 wonderful parrot that talks all languages, and is the delight of 
 Granada ? " 
 
 ',' Odious ! " exclaimed the princess Zayda. " A horrid 
 screaming bird, that chatters words without ideas : one must be 
 without brains to tolerate such a pest." 
 
 " Shall I send for a monkey from the rock of Gibraltar, to 
 divert you with his antics ? " 
 
 " A monkey ! faugh ! " cried Zorayda ; " the detestable mimic 
 of man. I hate the nauseous animal.'' 
 
 " What say you to the famous black singer Casern, from the 
 royal harem, in Morocco ? They say he has a voice as fine as 
 a woman's." 
 
 " I am terrified at the sight of these black slaves," said the 
 delicate Zorahayda ; " besides I have lost all relish for music." 
 
 " Ah ! my child, you would not say so," replied the old 
 woman slyly, " had you heard the music I heard last evening, 
 from the three Spanish cavaliers whom we met on our journey. 
 But bless me, children ; what is the matter that you blush so 
 and are in such a flutter ? " 
 
 " Nothing, nothing, good mother ; pray proceed." 
 
 "Well; as I was passing by the Vermilion Towers last 
 evening, I saw the three cavaliers resting after their day's 
 labour. One was playing on the guitar, so gracefully, and the 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 311 
 
 Others sang by turns ; and they did it in such style, that the 
 very guards seemed like statues, or men enchanted. Allah 
 forgive me ! I could not help being moved at hearing the songs 
 
 .J- -».'''■■■ "'11 
 
 
 Gibraltar, 
 
 of my native country. And then to see three such noble and 
 handsome youths in chains and slavery ! " 
 
 Here the kind-hearted old woman could not restrain her 
 
 tears. 
 
312 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 " Perhaps, mother, you could manage to procure us a sight 
 of these cavaliers," said Zayda. 
 
 "I think," said Zorayda, "a little music would be quite 
 reviving." 
 
 The timid Zorahayda said nothing, but threw her arms round 
 the neck of Kadiga. 
 
 " Mercy on me ! " exclaimed the discreet old woman, " what 
 are you talking of, my children ? Your father would be the 
 death of us all if he heard of such a thing. To be sure, these 
 cavaliers are evidently well-bred, and high-minded youths ; but 
 what of that ? they are the enemies of our faith, and you must 
 not even think of them but with abhorrence." 
 
 There is an admirable intrepidity in the female will, par- 
 ticularly when about the marriageable age, which is not to be 
 deterred by dangers and prohibitions. The princesses hung 
 round their old duenna, and coaxed, and entreated and declared 
 that a refusal would break their hearts. 
 
 What could she do ? She was certainly the most discreet 
 old woman in the whole world, and one of the most faithful 
 servants to the king ; but was she to see three beautiful 
 princesses break their hearts for the mere tinkling of a guitar ? 
 Besides, though she had been so long among the Moors, and 
 changed her faith in imitation of her mistress, like a trusty 
 follower, yet she was a Spaniard born, and had the lingerings 
 of Christianity in her heart. So she set about to contrive how 
 the wish of the princesses might be gratified. 
 
 The Christian captives, confined in the Vermilion Towers, 
 were under the charge of a big-whiskered, broad-shouldered 
 1-enegado, called Hussein Baba, v/ho was reputed to have a 
 most itching palm. She went to him privately, and slipping a 
 broad piece of gold into his hand, " Hussein Baba," said she, 
 " my mistresses, the three princesses who are shut up in the 
 tower, and in sad want of amusement; have heard of the 
 musical talents of the three Spanish cavaliers, and are desirous 
 of hearing a specimen of their skill. I am sure you 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 313 
 
 are too kind- 
 hearted to re- 
 fuse them so 
 innocent a 
 gratification." 
 
 "What! and 
 to have my 
 head set grin- 
 ning over the 
 gate of my own 
 tower ; for that 
 would be the 
 reward, if the 
 king should 
 discover it." 
 
 " No danger 
 of anything of 
 the kind ; the 
 affair may be 
 managed so 
 that the whim 
 of the princes- 
 ses may be 
 gTatified, and 
 their father be 
 never the wiser. 
 You know the 
 deep ravine 
 outside of the 
 walls which 
 passes imme- 
 diately below 
 the tower. Put 
 the three Chris- 
 tians to work 
 
 Nig'ht 01! t/iC Scn-frojii 0/ A Igcciraz. 
 
314 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 there, and at the intervals of their labour, let them play and 
 sing, as if for their own recreation. In this way the princesses 
 ^vill be able to hear thena from the windows of the tower, and 
 you may be sure of their paying well for your compliance." 
 
 As the good old woman concluded her harangue, she kindly 
 pressed the rough hand of the renegado, and left within it 
 another piece of gold. 
 
 Her eloquence was irresistible. The very next day the three 
 cavaliers were put to work in the ravine. During the noontide 
 heat, when their fellow-labourers were sleeping in the shade, 
 and the guard nodding drowsily at his post, they seated them- 
 selves among the herbage at the foot of the tower, and sang a 
 Spanish roundelay to the accompaniment of the guitar. 
 
 The glen was deep, the tower was high, but their voices rose 
 distinctly in the stillness of the summer noon. The princesses 
 listened from their balcony, they had been taught the Spanish 
 language by their duenna, and were moved by the tenderness 
 of the song. The discreet Kadiga, on the contrary, was terribly 
 shocked. " Allah preserve us ! " cried she, " they are singing a 
 love-ditty, addressed to yourselves. Did ever mortal hear of 
 such audacity ? I will run to the slave-master, and have them 
 soundly bastinadoed." 
 
 " What ! bastinado such gallant cavaliers, and for singing so 
 charmingly ! " The three beautiful princesses were filled with 
 horror at the idea. With all her virtuous indignation, the good 
 old woman was of a placable nature, and easily appeased. 
 Besides, the music seemed to have a beneficial effect upon her 
 young mistresses. A rosy bloom had already come to their 
 cheeks, and their eyes began to sparkle. She made no further 
 objection, therefore to the amorous ditty of the cavaliers. 
 
 When it was finished, the princesses remained silent for a 
 time; at length Zorayda took up a lute, and with a sweet, 
 though faint and trembling voice, warbled a little Arabian air, 
 the burden of which was, " The rose is concealed among her 
 leaves, but she listens with delight to the song of the nightingale." 
 
3i6 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 From this time forward the cavaliers worked almost daily in 
 the ravine. The considerate Hussein Baba became more and 
 more indulgent, and daily more prone to sleep at his post. 
 For some time a vague intercourse was kept up by popular 
 songs and romances, which in some measure responded to each 
 other, and breathed the feelings of the parties. By degrees 
 the princesses showed themselves at the balcony, when they 
 could do so without being perceived by the guards. They con- 
 versed with the cavaliers also, by means of flowers, with the 
 symbolical language of which they were mutually acquainted ; 
 the difificulties of their intercourse added to its charms, and 
 strengthened the passion they had so singularly conceived ; for 
 love delights to struggle with difficulties, and thrives the most 
 hardily on the scantiest soil. 
 
 The change effected in the looks and spirits of the princesses 
 by this secret intercourse, surprised and gratified the left- 
 handed king ; but no one was more elated than the discreet 
 Kadiga, who considered it all owing to her able management. 
 
 At length there was an interruption in this telegraphic corre- 
 spondence : for several days the cavaliers ceased to make their 
 appearance in the glen. The princesses looked out from the 
 tower in vain. In vain they stretched their swan-like necks 
 from the balcony ; in vain they sang like captive nightingales 
 in their cage : nothing was to be seen of their Christian lovers ; 
 not a note responded from the groves. The discreet Kadiga 
 sallied forth in quest of intelligence, and soon returned with a 
 face full of trouble. " Ah, my children ! " cried she, " I saw 
 what all this would come to, but you would have your way ; 
 you may now hang up your lutes on the willows. The Spanish 
 cavaliers are ransomed by their families ; they are down in 
 Granada, and preparing to return to their native country." 
 
 The three beautiful princesses were in despair at the tidings. 
 Zayda was indignant at the slight put upon them, in thus being 
 deserted without a parting word. Zorayda wrung her hands 
 and cried, and looked in the glass, and wiped away her tears, 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 317 
 
 and cried afresh. The gentle Zorahayda leaned over the 
 balcony and wept in silence, and her tears fell drop by drop 
 among the flowers of the bank, where the faithless cavaliers had 
 so often been seated. 
 
 The discreet Kadiga did all in her power to soothe their 
 sorrow. "Take comfort, my children," she said, "this is 
 nothing when you are used to it. This is the way of the world. 
 Ah ! when you are as old as I am, you will know how to value 
 these men. I'll warrant these cavaliers have their loves among 
 the Spanish beauties of Cordova and Seville, and will soon be 
 serenading under their balconies, and thinking no more of the 
 Moorish beauties in the Alhambra. Take comfort, therefore, 
 my children, and drive them from your hearts." 
 
 The comforting words of the discreet Kadiga only redoubled 
 the distress of the three princesses, and for two days they con- 
 tinued inconsolable. On the morning of the third the good old 
 woman entered their apartment, all ruffling with indignation. 
 
 " Who would have believed such insolence in mortal man ! " 
 exclaimed she, as soon as she could find words to express 
 herself; "but I am rightly served for having connived at this 
 deception of your worthy father. Never talk more to me of 
 your Spanish cavaliers." 
 
 " Why, what has happened, good Kadiga ? " exclaimed the 
 princesses in breathless anxiety. 
 
 " What has happened ? — treason has happened ! or, what is 
 almost as bad, treason has been proposed ; and to me, the 
 most faithful of subjects, the trustiest of duennas I Yes, my 
 children, the Spanish cavaliers have dared to tamper with me, 
 that I should persuade you to fly with them to Cordova, and 
 become their wives ! " 
 
 Here the excellent old woman covered her face with her 
 hands, and gave way to a violent burst of grief and indignation. 
 The three beautiful princesses turned pale and red, pale and 
 red, and trembled, and looked down, and cast shy looks at 
 each other, but said nothing. Meantime the old woman sat 
 
3i8 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 rocking backward and forward in violent agitation, and now 
 and then breaking out into exclamations, — " That ever I 
 should live to be so insulted ! — I, the most faithful of 
 servants ! " V 
 
 At length the eldest princess, who had most spirit and always 
 took the lead, approached her, and laying her hand upon her 
 shoulder, "Well, mother," said she, " supposing we were willing 
 to fly with these Christian cavaliers — is such a thing possible ? " 
 
 The good old woman paused suddenly in her grief, and 
 looking up, " Possible," echoed she; "to be sure it is possible. 
 Have not the cavaliers already bribed Hussein Baba, the 
 renegado captain of the guard, and arranged the whole plan ? 
 But, then, to think of deceiving your father ! your father, who 
 has placed such confidence in me ! " Here the worthy woman 
 gave way to a fresh burst of grief, and began again to rock 
 backward and forward, and to wring her hands. 
 
 " But our father has never placed any confidence in us," said 
 the eldest princess, " but has trusted to bolts and bars, and 
 treated us as captives." 
 
 " Why, that is true enough," replied the old woman, again 
 pausing in her grief; "he has indeed treated you most un- 
 reasonably, keeping you shut up here, to waste your bloom in 
 a moping old tower, like roses left to wither in a flower-jar. 
 But, then, to fly from your native land ! " 
 
 " And is not the land we fly to the native land of our mother, 
 where we shall live in freedom ? And shall we not each have 
 a youthful husband in exchange for a severe old father ? " 
 
 " Why, that again is all very true ; and your father, I must 
 confess, is rather tyrannical ; but what then," relapsing into her 
 grief, " would you leave me behind to bear the brunt of his 
 vengeance ? " 
 
 " By no means, my good Kadiga ; cannot you fly with us ? " 
 
 " Very true, my child ; and, to tell the truth, when I talked 
 the matter over with Hussein Baba, he promised to take care 
 of me, if I Vi'ould accompany you in your flight ; but then, 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 319 
 
 bethink you, my children, are you willing to renounce the faith 
 of your father ? " 
 
 " The Christian faith was the original faith of our mother," 
 said the eldest princess ; " I am ready to embrace it, and so, I 
 am sure, are my sisters." 
 
 " Right again," exclaimed the old woman, brightening up ; 
 " it was the original faith of your mother, and bitterly did she 
 lament, on her death-bed, that she had renounced it. I 
 promised her then to take care of your souls, and I rejoice to 
 see that they are now in a fair way to be saved. Yes, my 
 children, I too was born a Christian, and have remained a 
 Christian in my heart, and am resolved to return to the faith. 
 I have talked on the subject with Hussein Baba, who is a 
 Spaniard by birth, and comes from a place not far from my 
 native town. He is equally anxious to see his own country, 
 and to be reconciled to the Church ; and the cavaliers have 
 promised that, if we are disposed to become man and wife, 
 on returning to our native land, they will provide for us 
 handsomely." 
 
 In a word, it appeared that this extremely discreet and 
 provident old woman had consulted with the cavaliers and the 
 renegado, and had concerted the whole plan of escape. The 
 eldest princess immediately assented to it ; and her example, 
 as usual, determined the conduct of her sisters. It is true the 
 youngest hesitated, for she was gentle and timid of soul, and 
 there was a struggle in her bosom between filial feeling and 
 youthful passion : the latter, however, as usual, gained the 
 victory, and with silent tears and stifled sighs she prepared 
 herself for flight. 
 
 The rugged hill on which the Alhambra is built was, in old 
 times, perforated with subterranean passages, cut through the 
 rock, and leading from the fortress to various parts of the city, 
 and to distant sally-ports on the banks of the Darro and the 
 Xenil. They had been constructed at different times by the 
 Moorish kings, as means of escape from sudden insurrections, 
 
320 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 or of secretly issuing forth on private enterprises. Many of 
 them are now entirely lost, while others remain, partly choked 
 with rubbish, and partly walled up,— monuments of the jealous 
 precautions and warlike stratagems of the Moorish government. 
 By one of these passages Hussein Baba had undertaken to 
 conduct the princesses to a sally-port beyond the walls of the 
 city, where the cavaliers were to be ready with fleet steeds, to 
 bear the whole party over the borders. 
 
 The appointed night arrived ; the tower of the princesses 
 
 
 
 had been locked up as usual, and the Alhambra was buried in 
 deep sleep. Towards midnight the discreet Kadiga listened 
 from the balcony of a window that looked into the garden. 
 Hussein Baba, the renegado, was already below, and gave the 
 appointed signal. The duenna fastened the end of a ladder of 
 ropes to the balcony, lowered it into the garden and descended. 
 The two eldest princesses followed her with beating hearts; 
 but when it came to the turn of the youngest princess, 
 Zorahayda, she hesitated and trembled. Several times she 
 ventured a delicate little foot upon the ladder, and as often 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 321 
 
 drew it back, while her poor little heart fluttered more and 
 more the longer she delayed. She cast a wistful look back 
 into the silken chamber ; she had lived in it, to be sure, like a 
 bird in a cage ; but within it she was secure ; who could tell 
 what dangers might beset her, should she flutter forth into the 
 wide world ! Now she bethought her of her gallant Christian 
 lover, and her little foot was instantly upon the ladder ; and 
 anon she thought of her father, and shrank back. But fruitless 
 is the attempt to describe the conflict in the bosom of one so 
 young and tender and loving, but so timid and so ignorant of 
 the world. 
 
 In vain her sisters implored, the duenna scolded, and the 
 renegado blasphemed beneath the balcony : the gentle little 
 Moorish maid stood doubting and wavering on the verge of 
 elopement ; tempted by the sweetness of the sin, but terrified 
 at its perils. 
 
 Every moment increased the danger of discovery. A distant 
 tramp was heard. " The patrols are walking their rounds," 
 cried the renegado ; "if we linger, we perish. Princess, 
 descend instantly, or we leave you." 
 
 Zorahayda was for a moment in fearful agitation ; then 
 loosening the ladder of ropes, with desperate resolution she 
 flung it from the balcony. 
 
 " It is decided ! " cried she ; " flight is now out of my 
 power ! Allah guide and bless ye, my dear sisters ! " 
 
 The two eldest princesses were shocked at the thoughts of 
 leaving her behind, and would fain have lingered, but the 
 patrol was advancing ; the renegado was furious, and they were 
 hurried away to the subterraneous passage. They groped their 
 way through a fearful labyrinth, cut through the heart of the 
 mountain, and succeeded in reaching, undiscovered, an iron 
 gate that opened outside of the walls. The Spanish cavaliers 
 were waiting to receive them, disguised as Moorish soldiers of 
 the guard, commanded by the renegado. 
 
 The lover of Zorahayda was frantic when he learned that she 
 
322 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 had refused to leave the tower ; but there was no time to waste 
 in lamentations. The two princesses were placed behind their 
 lovers, the discreet Kadiga mounted behind the renegado, and 
 they all set off at a round pace in the direction of the Pass of 
 Lope, which leads through the mountains towards Cordova. 
 
 They had not proceeded far when they heard the noise of 
 drums and trumpets from the battlements of the Alhambra. 
 " Our flight is discovered ! " said the renegado. 
 " We have fleet steeds, the night is dark, and we may distance 
 all pursuit," replied the cavaliers. 
 
 They put spurs to their horses, and scoured across the Vega. 
 
 They attained the 
 foot of the mountains 
 of Elvira, which 
 stretches like a pro- 
 montory into the 
 plain. The renegado 
 paused and listened. 
 "As yet," said he, 
 " there is no one on 
 our traces, we shall 
 make good our es- 
 cape to the moun- 
 tains." While he 
 spoke, a light blaze sprang up on the top of the watch-tower 
 of the Alhambra. 
 
 " Confusion ! " cried the renegado, " that bale fire will put 
 all the guards of the passes on the alert. Away ! away ! Spur 
 like mad, — there is no time to be lost." 
 
 Away they dashed — the clattering of their horses' hoofs 
 echoed from rock to rock, as they swept along the road that 
 skirts the rocky mountain of Elvira. As they galloped on, the 
 bale fire of the Alhambra was answered in every direction ; 
 light after light blazed on the Atalayas, or watch-towers of the 
 mountains. 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 323 
 
 "Forward! forward!" cried the renegado, with many an 
 oath," " to the bridge,— to the bridge, before the alarm has 
 reached there ! " 
 
 They doubled the promontory of the mountains, and arrived 
 in sight of the famous Bridge of Pinos, that crosses a rushing 
 stream often dyed with Christian and Moslem blood. To their 
 confusion, the tower on the bridge blazed with lights and 
 glittered with armed men. The renegado pulled up his steed, 
 rose in his stirrups and looked about him for a moment ; then 
 beckoning to the cavaliers, he struck off from the road, skirted 
 the river for some distance, and dashed into its waters. The 
 cavaliers called upon the princesses to cling to them, and did 
 the same. They were borne for some distance down the rapid 
 current, the surges roared round them, but the beautiful 
 princesses clung to their Christian knights, and never uttered 
 a complaint. The cavaliers attained the opposite bank in 
 safety and were conducted by the renegado, by rude and un- 
 frequented paths and wild barrancos, through the heart of the 
 mountains, so as to avoid all the regular passes. In a word, 
 they succeeded in reaching the ancient city of Cordova ; where 
 their restoration to their country and friends was celebrated 
 with great rejoicings, for they were of the noblest families. 
 The beautiful princesses were forthwith received into the bosom 
 of the Church, and, after being in all due form made regular 
 Christians, were rendered happy wives. 
 
 In our hurry to make good the escape of the princesses 
 across the river, and up the mountains, we forgot to mention 
 the fate of the discreet Kadiga. She had clung like a cat to 
 Hussein Baba in the scamper across the Vega, screaming at 
 every bound, and drawing many an oath from the whiskered 
 renegado ; but when he prepared to plunge his steed into the 
 river, her terror knew no bounds. " Grasp me not so tightly," 
 cried Hussein Baba; "hold on by my belt and fear nothing." 
 She held firmly with both hands by the leathern belt that 
 girded the broad-backed renegado ; but when he halted with 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 the cavaliers to take breath on the mountain summit, the duenna 
 was no longer to be seen. 
 
 " ^Vhat has become of Kadiga ? " cried the princesses in 
 alarm. 
 
 " Allah alone knows ! " replied the renegado ; " my belt came 
 loose when in the midst of the river, and Kadiga was swept 
 with it down the stream. The will of Allah be done ! but it 
 was an embroidered belt, and of great price." 
 
 There was no time to waste in idle regrets ; yet bitterly did 
 the princesses bewail the loss of their discreet counsellor. That 
 excellent old woman, however, did not lose more than half of 
 her nine lives in the water : a fisherman, who was drawing his 
 nets some distance down the stream, brought her to land, and 
 was not a little astonished at his miraculous draught. What 
 further became of the discreet Kadiga, the legend does not 
 mention ; certain it is that she evinced her discretion in 
 never venturing within the reach of Mohamed the Left- 
 handed. 
 
 Almost as little is known of the conduct of that sagacious 
 monarch when he discovered the escape of his daughters, and 
 the deceit practised upon him by the most faithful of servants. 
 It was the only instance in which he had called in the aid of 
 counsel, and he was never afterwards known to be guilty of a 
 similar weakness. He took good care, however, to guard his 
 remaining daughter, who had no disposition to elope ; it is 
 thought, indeed, that she secretly repented having remained 
 behind : now and then she was seen leaning on the battlements 
 of the tower, and looking mournfully towards the mountains in 
 the direction of Cordova, and sometimes the notes of her lute 
 were heard accompanying plaintive ditties, in which she was 
 said to lament the loss of her sisters and her lover, and to 
 bewail her solitary life. She died young, and, according to 
 popular rumour, was buried in a vault beneath the tower, and 
 her untimely fate has given rise to more than one traditionary 
 fable. 
 
LEGEND OF THE THREE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESSES 3^5 
 
 The following legend, which seems in some measure to 
 spring out of the foregoing story, is too closely connected with 
 high historic names to be entirely doubted. The Count's 
 daughter, and some of her young companions, to whom it 
 was read in one of the evening tertulias, thought certain parts 
 of it had much appearance of reaUty ; and Dolores, who was 
 much more versed than they in the improbable truths of the 
 Alhambra, believed every word of it. 
 
!i„' 
 
 LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE 
 ALHAMBRA 
 
 For some time after the surrender of Granada by the 
 Moors, that delightful city was a frequent and favourite re- 
 sidence of the Spanish sovereigns, until they were frightened 
 away by successive shocks of earthquakes, which toppled down 
 various houses, and made the old Moslem towers rock to their 
 foundation. 
 
 Many, many years then rolled away, during which Granada 
 was rarely honoured by a royal guest. The palaces of the 
 nobility remained silent and shut up ; and the Alhambra, like a 
 slighted beauty, sat in mournful desolation among her neglected 
 gardens. The tower of the Infantas, once the residence of the 
 three beautiful Moorish princesses, partook of the general desola- 
 tion ; the spider spun her web athwart the gilded vault, and bats 
 
328 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 and owls nestled in those chambers that had been graced by the 
 presence of Zayda, Zorayda, and Zorahayda. The neglect of 
 this tower may have been partly owing to some superstitious 
 
 ^-^lO-'- 
 
 notions of the neighbours. It was rumoured that the spirit of 
 the youthful Zorahayda, who had perished in that tower, was 
 often seen by moonlight seated beside the fountain in the hall, 
 or moaning about the battlements, and that the notes of her 
 
i: ■ . <tt z ■ - 
 
 ■..■>,,/ • ■ '■// ¥ 'I, 
 
330 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 silver lute would be heard at midnight by wayfarers passing 
 along the glen. 
 
 At length the city of Granada was once more welcomed by 
 the royal presence. All the world knows that Philip V. was the 
 first Bourbon that swayed the Spanish sceptre. All the world 
 knows that he married, in second nuptials, Elizabetta or Isa- 
 bella (for they are the same), the beautiful princess of Parma j 
 and all the world knows that by this chain of contingencies a 
 French prince and an Italian princess were seated together on 
 the Spanish throne. For a visit of this illustrious pair, the 
 Alhambra was repaired and fitted up with all possible expedi- 
 tion. The arrival of the court changed the whole aspect of the 
 lately deserted palace. The clangor of drum and trumpet, the 
 tramp of steed about the avenues and outer court, the glitter of 
 arms and display of banners about barbican and battlement, re- 
 called the ancient and warlike glories of the fortress. A softer 
 spirit, however, reigned within the royal palace. There was the 
 rustling of robes and the cautious tread and murmuring voice 
 of reverential courtiers about the ante-chambers ; a loitering of 
 pages and maids of honour about the gardens, and the sound 
 of music stealing from open casements. 
 
 Among those who attended in the train of the monarchs was 
 a favourite page of the queen, named Ruyz de Alarcon. To 
 say that he was a favourite page of the queen was at once to 
 speak his eulogium, for every one in the suite of the stately 
 Elizabetta was chosen for grace, and beauty, and accomplish- 
 ments. He was just turned of eighteen, light and lithe of 
 form, and graceful as a young Antinous. To the queen he 
 was all deference and respect, yet he was at heart a roguish 
 stripling, petted and spoiled by the ladies about the court, and 
 experienced in the ways of women far beyond his years. 
 
 This loitering page was one morning rambling about the 
 groves of the Generalife, which overlook the grounds of the 
 Alhambra. He had taken with him for his amusement a 
 favourite ger-falcon of the queen. In the course of his 
 
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 331 
 
 rambles, seeing a bird rising from a thicket, he unhooded the 
 hawk and let him fly. The falcon towered high in the air, 
 made a swoop at his quarry, but missing it, soared away, re- 
 gardless of the calls of the page. The latter followed the 
 truant bird with his eye, in its capricious flight, until he saw it 
 alight upon the battlements of a remote and lonely tower, in 
 the outer wall of the Alhambra, built on the edge of a 
 
 ^/^-, 
 
 h'. 
 
 
 ravine that separated the royal fortress from the grounds 
 of the Generalife. It was in fact the "Tower of the 
 Princesses." 
 
 The page descended into the ravine and approached the 
 tower, but it had no entrance from the glen, and its lofty 
 height rendered any attempt to scale it fruitless. Seeking one 
 of the gates of the fortress, therefore, he made a wide circuit to 
 that side of the tower facing within the walls. 
 
332 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 A small garden, enclosed by a trellis-work of reeds overhung 
 with myrtle, lay before the tower. Opening a wicket, the page 
 passed between beds of flowers and thickets of roses to the 
 door. It was closed and bolted. A crevice in the door gave 
 him a peep into the interior. There was a small Moorish hall 
 with fretted walls, light marble columns, and an alabaster 
 fountain surrounded with flowers. In the centre hung a gilt 
 cage containing a singing-bird ; beneath it, on a chair, lay a 
 tortoise-shell cat among reels of silk and other articles of 
 female labour, and a guitar decorated with ribbons leaned 
 against the fountain. 
 
 Ruyz de Alarcon was struck with these traces of female taste 
 and elegance in a lonely, and, as he had supposed, deserted 
 tower. They reminded him of the tales of enchanted halls 
 current in the Alhambra ; and the tortoise-shell cat might be 
 some spell-bound princess. 
 
 He knocked gently at the door. A beautiful face peeped 
 out from a little window above, but was instantly withdrawn. 
 He waited, expecting that the door would be opened, but 
 he waited in vain ; no footstep was to be heard within — 
 all was silent. Had his senses deceived him, or was this 
 beautiful apparition the fairy of the tower? He knocked 
 again, and more loudly. After a little while the beaming face 
 once more peeped forth ; it was that of a blooming damsel of 
 fifteen. 
 
 The page immediately doffed his plumed bonnet, and 
 entreated in the most courteous accents to be permitted to 
 ascend the tower in pursuit of his falcon. 
 
 " I dare not open the door, Senor," replied the litde damsel, 
 blushing, " my aunt has forbidden it." 
 
 " I do beseech you, fair maid — it is the favourite falcon of 
 the queen : I dare not return to the palace without it." 
 
 " Are you then one of the cavaliers of the court ? " 
 
 "I am, fair maidj but I shall lose the queen's favour and 
 my place, if I lose this hawk," 
 
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA 333 
 
 " Santa Maria ! It is against you cavaliers of the court my 
 aunt has charged me especially to bar the door." 
 
 " Against wicked cavaliers doubtless, but I am none of these, 
 but a simple, harmless page, who will be ruined and undone if 
 you deny me this small request." 
 
 The heart of the little damsel was touched by the distress of 
 the page. It was a thousand pities he should be ruined for the 
 want of so trifling a boon. Surely too he could not be one of 
 those dangerous beings whom her aunt had described as a 
 species of cannibal, ever on the prowl to make prey of thought- 
 less damsels ; he was gentle and modest, and stood so entreat- 
 ingly with cap in hand, and looked so charming. 
 
 The sly page saw that the garrison began to waver, and 
 redoubled his entreaties in such moving terms that it was not 
 in the nature of mortal maiden to deny him ; so the blushing 
 little warden of the tower descended, and opened the door with 
 a trembling hand, and if the page had been charmed by a mere 
 glimpse of her countenance from the window, he was ravished 
 by the full-length portrait now revealed to him. 
 
 Her Andalusian bodice and trim basgmna set off the round 
 but delicate symmetry of her form, which was as yet scarce 
 verging into womanhood. Her glossy hair was parted on her 
 forehead with scrupulous exactness, and decorated with a fresh- 
 plucked rose, according to the universal custom of the country. 
 It is true her complexion was tinged by the ardour of a 
 southern sun, but it served to give richness to the mantling 
 bloom, of her cheek, and to heighten the lustre of her melting 
 eyes. 
 
 Euyz de Alarcon beheld all this with a single glance, for it 
 became him not to tarry ; he merely murmured his acknow- 
 ledgments, and then bounded lightly up the spiral staircase in 
 quest of his falcon. 
 
 He soon returned with the truant bird upon his fist. The 
 damsel, in the meantime, had seated herself by the fountain in 
 the hall, and was winding silk ; but in her agitation she let fall 
 
334 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 the reel upon the pavement. The page sprang and picked it 
 up, then dropping gracefully on one knee, presented it to her ; 
 but, seizing the hand extended to receive it, imprinted on it a 
 kiss more fervent and devout than he had ever imprinted on 
 the fair hand of his sovereign. 
 
 " Ava Maria Seiiorl" exclaimed the damsel, blushing still 
 deeper with confusion and surprise, for never before had she 
 received such a salutation. 
 
 The modest page made a thousand apologies, assuring her it 
 was the way at court of expressing the most profound homage 
 and respect. 
 
 Her anger, if anger she felt, was easily pacified, but her 
 agitation and embarrassment continued, and she sat blushing 
 deeper and deeper, with her eyes cast down upon her work, 
 entangling the silk which she attempted to wind. 
 
 The cunning page saw the confusion in the opposite camp, 
 and would fain have profited by it, but the fine speeches he 
 would have uttered died upon his lips ; his attempts at gallantry 
 were awkward and ineffectual ; and to his surprise, the adroit 
 page, who had figured with such grace and effrontery among the 
 most knowing and experienced ladies of the court, found himself 
 awed and abashed in the presence of a simple damsel of fifteen. 
 
 In fact, the artless maiden, in her own modesty and inno- 
 cence, had guardians more effectual than the bolts and bars 
 prescribed by her vigilant aunt. Still, where is the female 
 bosom proof against the first whisperings of love ? The little 
 damsel, with all her artlessness, instinctively comprehended all 
 that the faltering tongue of the page failed to express, and her 
 heart was fluttered at beholding, for the first time, a lover at 
 her feet — and such a lover ! 
 
 The diffidence of the page, though genuine, was short-lived, 
 and he was recovering his usual ease and confidence, when 
 a shrill voice was heard at a distance. 
 
 " My aunt is returning from mass ! " cried the damsel in 
 affright : " I pray you, Senbr, depart." 
 
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA 335 
 
 "Not until you grant me that rose from your hair as a 
 remembrance. 
 
 She hastily untwisted the rose from her raven locks. 
 "Take it," cried she, agitated and blushing, "but pray 
 begone." 
 
 The page took the rose, and at the same time covered with 
 kisses the fair hand that gave it. Then, placing the flower 
 in his bonnet, and taking the falcon upon his fist he bounded 
 off through the garden, bearing away with him the heart of the 
 gentle Jacinta. 
 
 ^Vhen the vigilant aunt arrived at the tower, she remarked 
 the agitation of her niece, and an air of confusion in the hall ; 
 but a word of explanation sufficed. " A ger-falcon had pursued 
 his prey into the hall." 
 
 " Mercy on us ! to think of a falcon flying into the tower. 
 Did ever one hear of so saucy a hawk ? Why, the very bird in 
 the cage is not safe ! " 
 
 The vigilant Fredegonda was one of the most wary of ancient 
 spinsters. She had a becoming terror and distrust of what 
 she denominated "the opposite sex," which had gradually 
 increased through a long life of celibacy. Not that the good 
 lady had ever suffered from their wiles, nature having set up a 
 safeguard in her face that forbade all trespass upon her 
 premises ; but ladies who have least cause to fear for 
 themselves are most ready to keep a watch over their more 
 tempting neighbours. 
 
 The niece was the orphan of an officer who had fallen in the 
 wars. She had been educated in a convent, and had recently 
 been transferred from her sacred asylum to the immediate 
 guardianship of her aunt, under whose overshadowing care she 
 vegetated in obscurity, like an opening rose blooming beneath 
 a brier. Nor indeed is this comparison entirely accidental; 
 for, to tell the truth, her fresh and dawning beauty had caught 
 the public eye, even in her seclusion, and, with that poetical 
 turn common to the people of Andalusia, the peasantry of the 
 
336 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 neighbourhood had given her the appellation of " the Rose of 
 the Alhambra." 
 
 The wary aunt continued to keep a faithful watch over her 
 tempting little niece as long as the court continued at Granada, 
 and flattered herself that her vigilance had been successful. It 
 is true the good lady was now and then discomposed by the 
 tinkling of guitars and chanting of love-ditties from the moonlit 
 groves beneath the tower ', but she would exhort her niece to 
 shut her ears against such idle minstrelsy, assuring her that it 
 was one of the arts of the opposite sex, by which simple maids 
 were often lured to their undoing. Alas ! what chance with a 
 simple maid has a dry lecture against a moonlight serenade ? 
 
 At length king Philip cut short his sojourn at Granada, and 
 suddenly departed with all his train. The vigilant Fredegonda 
 watched the royal pageant as it issued forth from the Gate of 
 Justice, and descended the great avenue leading to the city. 
 When the last banner disappeared from her sight, she returned 
 exulting to her tower, for all her cares were over. To her 
 surprise, a light Arabian steed pawed the ground at the wicket- 
 gate of the garden ; — to her horror she saw through the thickets 
 of roses a youth in gaily embroidered dress, at the feet of her 
 niece. At the sounds of her footsteps he gave a tender adieu, 
 bounded lightly over the barrier of reeds and myrtles, sprang 
 upon his horse, and was out of sight in an instant. 
 
 The tender Jacinta, in the agony of her grief, lost all thought 
 of her aunt's displeasure. Throwing herself into her arms, she 
 broke forth into sobs and tears. 
 
 "Ay de mil''' cried she; "he's gone! — he's gone! — he's 
 gone ! -and I shall never see him more ! " 
 
 " Gone ! — who is gone? — what youth is that I saw at your 
 feet?" 
 
 "A queen's page, aunt, who came to bid me farewell." 
 
 " A queen's page, child ! " echoed the vigilant Fredegonda, 
 faintly, "and when did you become acquainted with the 
 queen's page ? " 
 
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 337 
 
 "The morning that the ger-falcon came into the tower. 
 It was the queen's ger-falcon, and he came in pursuit of it." 
 
 "Ah silly, silly girl ! know that there are no ger-falcons half 
 so dangerous as these young prankling pages, and it is precisely 
 such simple birds as thee that they pounce upon." 
 
 The aunt was at first indignant at learning that in despite of 
 her boasted vigilance, a tender intercourse had been carried on 
 by the youthful lovers, almost beneath her eye ; but when she 
 found that her simple-hearted niece, though thus exposed, 
 without the protection of bolt or bar, to all the machina- 
 tions of the opposite sex, had come forth unsinged from the 
 fiery ordeal, she consoled herself with the persuasion that it 
 was owing to the chaste and cautious maxims in which she 
 had, as it were, steeped her to the very lips. 
 
 While the aunt laid this soothing unction to her pride, the 
 niece treasured up the oft-repeated vows of fidelity of the page. 
 But what is the love of restless, roving man? A vagrant 
 stream that dallies for a time with each flower upon its bank, 
 then passes on, and leaves them all in tears. 
 
 Days, weeks, months elapsed, and nothing more was heard 
 of the page. The pomegranate ripened, the vine yielded up 
 its fruit, the autumnal rains descended in torrents from the 
 mountains ; the Sierra Nevada became covered with a snowy 
 mantle, and wintry blasts howled through the halls of the 
 Alhambra — still he came not. The winter passed away. 
 Again the genial spring burst forth with song and blossom and 
 balmy zephyr ; the snows melted from the mountains, until 
 none remained but on the lofty summit of Nevada, glistening 
 through the sultry summer air. Still nothing was heard of the 
 forgetful page. 
 
 In the meantime the poor little Jacinta grew pale and 
 thoughtful. Her former occupations and amusements were 
 abandoned, her silk lay entangled, her guitar unstrung, her 
 flowers were neglected, the notes of her bird unheeded, and 
 her eyes, once so bright, were dimmed with secret weeping. If 
 
 z 
 
338 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 any solitude could be devised to foster the passion of a lo\e- 
 lorn damsel it would be such a place as the Alhambra, where 
 everything seems disposed to produce tender and romantic 
 reveries. It is a very paradise for lovers : how hard then to be 
 alone in such a paradise — and not merely alone, but forsaken ! 
 
 " Alas, silly child ! " would the staid and immaculate 
 Fredegonda say, when she found her niece in one of her 
 desponding moods — " did I not warn thee against the wiles 
 and deceptions of these men ? What couldst thou expect, 
 too, from one of a haughty and aspiring family — thou an 
 orphan, the descendant of a fallen and impoverished line ? Be 
 assured, if the youth were true, his father, who is one of tlic 
 proudest nobles about the court, would prohibit his union 
 with one so humble and portionless as thou. Pluck up thy 
 resolution, therefore, and drive these idle notions from thy 
 mind." 
 
 The words of the immaculate Fredegonda only served to 
 increase the melancholy of her niece, but she sought to 
 indulge it in private. At a late hour one midsummer night, 
 after her aunt had retired to rest, she remained alone in the 
 hall of the tower, seated beside the alabaster fountain. It 
 was here that the faithless page had first knelt and kissed her 
 hand ; it was here that he had often vowed eternal fidelity. 
 The poor litde damsel's heart was overladen with sad and 
 tender recollections, her tears began to flow, and slowly fell 
 drop by drop into the fountain. By degrees the crystal water 
 became agitated, and— bubble— bubble— bubble— boiled up 
 and was tossed about, until a female figure, richly clad in 
 Moorish robes, slowly rose to view. 
 
 Jacinta was so frightened that she fled from the hall, and 
 did not venture to return. The next morning she related 
 what she had seen to her aunt, but the good lady treated it as 
 a fantasy of her troubled mind, or supposed she had fallen 
 asleep and dreamt beside the fountain. "Thou hast been 
 thinking of the story of the three Moorish princesses that once 
 
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA 339 
 
 inhabited this tower," continued she, "and it has entered into 
 thy dreams.'' 
 
 "What story, aunt ? I know nothing of it." 
 
 "Thou hast certainly heard of the three princesses, Zayda, 
 Zorayda, and Zorahayda, who were confined in this tower by 
 the king their father, and agreed to fly with three Christian 
 cavaliers. The two first accomplished their escape, but the 
 third failed in her resolution, and, it is said, died in this 
 tower." 
 
 " I now recollect to have heard of it," said Jacinta, " and to 
 have wept over the fate of the gentle Zorahayda." 
 
 " Thou mayest well weep over her fate," continued the 
 aunt, " for the lover of Zorahayda was thy ancestor. He long 
 bemoaned his Moorish love : but time cured him of his grief, 
 and he married a Spanish lady, from whom thou art 
 descended." 
 
 Jacinta ruminated upon these words. " That what I have 
 seen is no fantasy of the brain," said she to herself, " I am 
 confident. If indeed it be the spirit of the gentle Zorahayda, 
 which I have heard lingers about this tower, of what should I 
 be afraid ? I'll watch by the fountain to-night — perhaps the 
 visit will be repeated." 
 
 Towards midnight, when everything was quiet, she again 
 took her seat in the hall. As the bell in the distant watch- 
 tower of the Alhambra struck the midnight hour, the fountain 
 was again agitated; and bubble — bubble — bubble — it tossed 
 about the waters until the Moorish female again rose to view. 
 She was young and beautiful ; her dress was rich with jewels, 
 and in her hand she held a silver lute. Jacinta trembled and 
 was faint, but was reassured by the soft and plaintive voice of 
 the apparition, and the sweet expression of her pale, melancholy 
 countenance. 
 
 " Daughter of mortality," said she, " what aileth thee ? Why 
 do thy tears trouble my fountain, and thy sighs and plaints 
 disturb the quiet watches of the night ? " 
 
 z 2 
 
340 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 " I weep because of the faithlessness of man, and I bemoan 
 my soHtary and forsaken state." 
 
 "Take comfort; thy sorrows may yet have an end. Thou 
 beholdest a Moorish princess, who, Hke thee, was unhappy in 
 her love. A Christian knight, thy ancestor, won my heart, and 
 would have borne me to his native land and to the bosom of 
 his church. I was a convert in my heart, but I lacked 
 courage equal to my faith, and lingered till too late. For this 
 the evil genii are permitted to have power over me, and I 
 remain enchanted in this tower until some pure Christian will 
 deign to break the magic spell. \Vilt thou undertake the 
 task ? " 
 
 " I will," replied the damsel, trembling. 
 
 " Come hither then, and fear not ; dip thy hand in the 
 fountain, sprinkle the water over me, and baptize me after the 
 manner of thy faith ; so shall the enchantment be dispelled, 
 and my troubled spirit have repose." 
 
 The damsel advanced with faltering steps, dipped her hand 
 in the fountain, collected water in the palm, and sprinkled it 
 over the pale face of the phantom. 
 
 The latter smiled with ineffable benignity. She dropped 
 her silver lute at the feet of Jacinta, crossed her white arms 
 upon her bosom, and melted from sight, so that it seemed 
 merely as if a shower of dewdrops had fallen into the fountain. 
 
 Jacinta retired from the hall filled with awe and wonder. 
 She scarcely closed her eyes that night ; but when she awoke 
 at daybreak out of a troubled slumber, the whole appeared to 
 her like a distempered dream. On descending into the hall, 
 however, the truth of the vision was established, for beside the 
 fountain she beheld the silver lute glittering in the morning 
 sunshine. 
 
 She hastened to her aunt, to relate all that had befallen her, 
 and called her to behold the lute as a testimonial of the reality 
 of her story. If the good lady had any lingering doubts, they 
 were removed when Jacinta touched the instrument, for she 
 
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA 341 
 
 drew forth such ravishing tones as to thaw even the frigid 
 bosom of the immaculate Fredegonda, that region of eternal 
 winter, into a genial flow. Nothing but supernatural melody 
 could have produced such an effect. 
 
 The extraordinary power of the lute became every day more 
 and more apparent. The wayfarer passing by the tower was 
 detained, and, as it were, spell-bound in breathless ecstasy. 
 The very birds gathered in the neighbouring trees, and hushing 
 their own strains, listened in charmed silence. 
 
 Rumour soon spread the news abroad. The inhabitants of 
 Granada thronged to the Alhambra to catch a few notes of 
 the transcendent music that floated about the tower of Las 
 Infantas. 
 
 The lovely little minstrel was at length drawn forth from her 
 retreat. The rich and powerful of the land contended who 
 should entertain and do honour to her ; or rather, who should 
 secure the charms of her lute to draw fashionable throngs to 
 their saloons. Wherever she went her vigilant aunt kept a 
 dragon watch at her elbow, awing the throngs of impassioned 
 admirers who hung in raptures on her strains. The report of 
 her wonderful powers spread from city to city. Malaga, 
 Seville, Cordova, all became successively mad on the theme ; 
 nothing was talked of throughout Andalusia but the beautiful 
 minstrel of the Alhambra. How could it be otherwise among 
 a people so musical and gallant as the Andalusians, when the 
 lute was magical in its powers, and the minstrel inspired by 
 love ! 
 
 While all Andalusia was thus music mad, a different mood 
 prevailed at the court of Spain. Philip V., as is well known, 
 was a miserable hypochondriac, and subject to all kinds of 
 fancies. Sometimes he would keep to his bed for weeks 
 together, groaning under imaginary complaints. At othet 
 times he would insist upon abdicating his throne, to the great 
 annoyance of his royal spouse, who had a strong relish for the 
 splendours of a court and the glories of a crown, and guided 
 
342 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 the sceptre of her imbecile lord with an expert and steady 
 hand. 
 
 Nothing was found to be so efficacious in dispelling the 
 royal megrims as the power of music ; the queen took care, 
 therefore, to have the best performers, both vocal and 
 instrumental, at hand, and retained the famous Italian singer 
 Farinelli about the court as a kind of royal physician. 
 
 At the moment we treat of, however, a freak had come over 
 the mind of this sapient and illustrious Bourbon that surpassed 
 all former vagaries. After a long spell of imaginary illness, 
 which set all the strains of Farinelli and the consultations of a 
 whole orchestra of court fiddlers at defiance, the monarch 
 fairly, in idea, gave up the ghost, and considered himself 
 absolutely dead. 
 
 This would have been harmless enough, and even convenient 
 both to his queen and courtiers, had he been content to 
 remain in the quietude befitting a dead man ; but to their 
 annoyance he insisted upon having the funeral ceremonies 
 performed over him, and, to their inexpressible perplexity, 
 began to grow impatient, and to revile bitterly at them for 
 negligence and disrespect, in leaving him unburied. What 
 was to be done ? To disobey the king's positive commands 
 was monstrous in the eyes of the obsequious courtiers of a 
 punctilious court — but to obey him, and bury him alive would 
 be downright regicide ! 
 
 In the midst of this fearful dilemma a rumour reached the 
 court of the female minstrel who was turning the brains of all 
 Andalusia. The queen despatched missions in all haste to 
 summon her to St. Ildefonso, where -the court at that time 
 resided. 
 
 Within a few days, as the queen with her maids of honour 
 was walking in those stately gardens, intended, with their 
 avenues and terraces and fountains, to eclipse the glories of 
 Versailles, the far-famed minstrel was conducted into her 
 presence. The imperial Elizabetta gazed with surprise at the 
 
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA 343 
 
 youthful and unpretending appearance of the little being that 
 had set the world madding. She was in her picturesque 
 Andalusian dress, her silver lute in hand, and stood with 
 modest and downcast eyes, but with a simplicity and freshness 
 of beauty that still bespoke her " the Rose of the Alhambra." 
 
 As usual she was accompanied by the ever-vigilant Frede- 
 gonda, who gave the whole history of her parentage and 
 descent to the inquiring queen. If the stately Elizabetta had 
 been interested by the appearance of Jacinta, she was still more 
 pleased when she learnt that she was of a meritorious though 
 impoverished line, and that her father had bravely fallen in the 
 service of the crown. " If thy powers equal thy renown," said 
 she, " and thou canst cast forth this evil spirit that possesses 
 thy sovereign, thy fortunes shall henceforth be my care, and 
 honours and wealth attend thee." 
 
 Impatient to make trial of her skill, she led the way at once 
 to the apartment of the moody monarch. 
 
 Jacinta followed with downcast eyes through files of guards 
 and crowds of courtiers. They arrived at length at a great 
 chamber hung with black. The windows were closed to ex- 
 clude the light of day : a number of yellow wax tapers in silver 
 sconces diffused a lugubrious light, and dimly revealed the 
 figures of mutes in mourning dresses, and courtiers who glided 
 about with noi^seless step and woe-begone visage. In the midst 
 of a funeral bed or bier, his hands folded on his breast, and the 
 tip of his nose just visible, lay extended this would-be-buried 
 monarch. 
 
 The queen entered the chamber in silence, and pointing to 
 a footstool in an obscure corner, beckoned to Jacinta to sit 
 down and commence. 
 
 At first she touched her lute with a faltering hand, but 
 gathering confidence and animation as she proceeded, drew forth 
 such soft aerial harmony, that all present could scarce believe 
 it mortal. As to the monarch, who had already considered 
 himself in the world of spirits, he set it down for some angelic 
 
344 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 melody or the music of the sphere. By degrees the theme was 
 varied, and the voice of the minstrel accompanied the instru- 
 ment. She poured forth one of the legendary ballads treating of 
 the ancient glories of the Alhambra and the achievements of 
 the Moors. Her whole soul entered into the theme, for with 
 the recollections of the Alhambra was associated the story of 
 her love. The funeral-chamber resounded with the animating 
 strain. It entered into the gloomy heart of the monarch. He 
 raised his head and gazed around : he sat up on his couch, his 
 eye began to kindle — at length, leaping upon the floor, he 
 called for sword and buckler. 
 
 The triumph of music, or rather of the enchanted lute, was 
 complete ; the demon of melancholy was cast forth ; and, as it 
 were, a dead man brought to life. The windows of the apart- 
 ment were thrown open ; the glorious effulgence of Spanish 
 sunshine burst into the late lugubrious chamber ; all eyes 
 sought the lovely enchantress, but the lute had fallen from her 
 hand, she had sunk upon the earth, and the next moment was 
 clasped to the bosom of Ruyz de Alarcon. 
 
 The nuptials of the happy couple were celebrated soon after- 
 wards with great splendour, and " the Rose of the Alhambra " 
 became the ornament and delight of the court. " But hold — 
 not so fast " — I hear the reader exclaim ; " this is jumping to 
 the end of a story at a furious rate ! First let us know how 
 Ruyz de Alarcon managed to account to Jacinta /or his long 
 neglect ? " Nothing more easy ; the venerable, time-honoured 
 excuse, the opposition to his wishes by a proud, pragmatical 
 old father : besides, young people who really like one another 
 soon come to an amicable understanding, and bury all past 
 grievances when once they meet. 
 
 But how was the proud, pragmatical old father reconciled to 
 the match ? 
 
 Oh ! as to that, his scruples were easily overcome by a word 
 or two from the queen ; especially as dignities and rewards were 
 showered upon the blooming favourite of royalty. Besides, the 
 
LEGEND OF THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA 345 
 
 lute of Jacinta, you know, possessed a magic power, and could 
 control the most stubborn head and hardest breast. 
 
 And what came of the enchanted lute ? 
 
 Oh, that is the most curious matter of all, and plainly proves 
 the truth of the whole story. That lute remained for some 
 time in the family, but was purloined and carried off, as was 
 supposed, by the great singer Farinelli, in pure jealousy. At 
 his death it passed into other hands in Italy, who were ignorant 
 of its mystic powers, and melting down the silver, transferred 
 the strings to an old Cremona fiddle. The strings still retain 
 something of their magic virtues. A word in the reader's ear, 
 but let it go no further : that fiddle is now bewitching the 
 whole world, — it is the fiddle of Paganini ! 
 

 THE VETERAN 
 
 Among the curious acquaintances I made in my rambles 
 about the fortress, was a brave and battered old colonel of 
 Invalids, who was nestled like a hawk in one of the Moorish 
 towers. His history, which he was fond of telling, was a tissue 
 of those adventures, mishaps, and vicissitudes that render the 
 life of almost every Spaniard of note as varied and whimsical as 
 the pages of Gil Bias. 
 
 He was in America at twelve years of age, and reckoned 
 among the most signal and fortunate events of his life, his 
 having seen General Washington. Since then he had taken a 
 part in all the wars of his country ; he could speak experi- 
 mentally of most of the prisons and dungeons of the Peninsula : 
 had been lamed of one leg, crippled in his hands, and so cut 
 up and carbonadoed that he was a kind of walking monument 
 of the troubles of Spain, on which there was a scar for every 
 battle and broil, as every year of captivity was notched upon 
 the tree of Robinson Crusoe. The greatest misfortune of the 
 brave old cavalier, however, appeared to have been his having 
 commanded at Malaga during a time of peril and confusion, 
 and been made a general by the inhabitants, to protect them 
 from the invasion of the French. This had entailed upon him 
 a number of just claims upon government, that I feared would 
 
THE VETERAN 
 
 347 
 
 employ him until his dying day in writing and printing petitions 
 and memorials, to the great disquiet of his mind, exhaustion of 
 his purse, and penance of his friends ; not one of whom could 
 visit him without having to listen to a mortal document of half 
 an hour in length, and to carry away half a dozen pamphlets 
 in his pocket. This, however, is the case throughout Spain ; 
 everywhere you meet with some worthy wight brooding in a 
 corner, and nursing up some pet grievance and cherished wrong. 
 
 
 Besides, a Spaniard who has a lawsuit, or a claim upon govern- 
 ment, may be considered as furnished with employment for the 
 remainder of his life. 
 
 I visited the veteran in his quarters in the upper part of the 
 Torre del Vino, or Wine Tower. His room was small but 
 snug, and commanded a beautiful view of the Vega. It was 
 arranged with a soldier's precision. Three muskets and a 
 brace of pistols, all bright and shining, were suspended against 
 the wall, with a sabre and a cane hanging side by side, and 
 
348 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 above them two cocked hats, one for parade, and one for 
 ordinary use. A small shelf, containing some half dozen 
 books, formed his library, one of which, a little old mouldy 
 volume of philosophical maxims, was his favourite reading. 
 This he thumbed and pondered over day by day ; applying 
 
 >■- r^'zy- *^..-«; 
 
 every maxim to his own particular case, provided it had a little 
 tinge of wholesome bitterness, and treated of the injustice of 
 the world. 
 
 Yet he was social and kind-hearted, and, provided he could 
 be diverted from his wrongs and his philosophy, was an enter- 
 
THE VETERAN 349 
 
 taining companion. I like these old weather-beaten sons of 
 fortune, and enjoy their rough campaigning anecdotes. In the 
 course of my visits to the one in question, I learnt some curious 
 facts about an old military commander of the fortress, who 
 seems to have resembled him in some respects, and to have had 
 similar fortunes in the wars. These particulars have been 
 augmented by inquiries among some of the old inhabitants of 
 the place, particularly the father of Mateo Ximenes, of whose 
 traditional stories the worthy I am about to introduce to the 
 reader was a favourite hero. 
 
 ■s. 
 
 '( * 
 
 •-#- 
 
 
 -...:p 
 
 
f . If ! 
 
 4 i II 
 
 
 A Beetling Bastion. 
 
 THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY 
 
 In former times there ruled, as governor of the Alhambra, a 
 doughty old cavalier, who, from having lost one arm in the 
 wars, was commonly known by the name of el Gobernador 
 Manco, or "the one-armed governor." He in fact prided 
 himself upon being an old soldier, wore his moustaches curled 
 up to his eyes, a pair of campaigning boots, and a toledo as 
 long as a spit, with his pocket-handkerchief in the basket-hilt. 
 
 He was, moreover, exceedingly proud and punctilious, and 
 tenacious of all his privileges and dignities. Under his sway 
 the immunities of the Alhambra, as a royal residence and 
 domain, were rigidly exacted. No one was permitted to enter 
 the fortress with fire-arms, or even with a sword or staff, unless 
 he were of a certain rank ; and every horseman was obliged 
 to dismount at the gate, and lead his horse by the bridle. Now 
 as the hill of the Alhambra rises from the very midst of the 
 
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY 
 
 351 
 
 city of Granada, being, as it were, an excrescence of the capital, 
 it must at all times be somewhat irksome to the captain-general, 
 who commands the province, to thus have an imperium in 
 imperio, a petty independent post in the very centre of his 
 domains. It was rendered the more galling, in the present 
 instance, from the irritable jealousy of the old governor, that 
 
 took fire on the least question of authority and jurisdiction ; 
 and from the loose vagrant character of the people who had 
 gradually nestled themselves within the fortress, as in a sanctu- 
 ary, and thence carried on a system of roguery and depredation 
 at the expense of the honest inhabitants of the city. 
 
 Thus there was a perpetual feud and heart-burning between 
 the captain-general and the governor, the more virulent on the 
 part of the latter, inasmuch as the smallest of two neighbouring 
 
352 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 potentates is always the most captious about his dignity. The 
 stately palace of the captain-general stood in the Plaza Nueva, 
 immediately at the foot of the hill of the Alhambra ; and here 
 was always a bustle and parade of guards, and domestics, and 
 city functionaries. A beetling bastion of the fortress over- 
 looked the palace and public square in front of it ; and on this 
 bastion the old governor would occasionally strut backwards 
 and forwards, with his toledo girded by his side, keeping a 
 wary eye down upon his rival, like a hawk reconnoitring his 
 quarry from his nest in a dry tree. 
 
 Whenever he descended into the city, it was in grand parade ; 
 on horseback, surrounded by his guards ; or in his state coach, 
 an ancient and unwieldy Spanish edifice of carved timber and 
 gilt leather, drawn by eight mules, with running footmen, out- 
 riders, and lackeys ; on which occasions he flattered himself he 
 impressed every beholder with awe and admiration as vice- 
 gerent of the king ; though the wits of Granada, particularly 
 those who loitered about the palace of the captain-general, 
 were apt to sneer at his petty parade, and, in allusion to the 
 vagrant character of his subjects, to greet him with the appella- 
 tion of " the king of the beggars." One of the most fruitful 
 sources of dispute between these two doughty rivals was the 
 right claimed by the governor to have all things passed free of 
 duty through the city that were intended for the use of himself 
 or his garrison. By degrees this privilege had given rise to ex- 
 tensive smuggling. A nest of contrabandistas took up their 
 abode in the hovels of the fortress and the numerous caves in 
 its vicinity, and drove a thriving business under the connivance 
 of the soldiers of the garrison. 
 
 The vigilance of the captain-general was aroused. He con- 
 sulted his legal adviser and factotum, a shrewd meddlesome 
 escribano, or notary, who rejoiced in an opportunity of perplex- 
 ing the old potentate of the Alhambra, and involving him in a 
 maze of legal subtleties. He advised the captain-general to 
 insist upon the right of examining every convoy passing through 
 
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY 
 
 3S3 
 
 the gates of his city, and penned a long letter for him in vin- 
 dication of the right. Governor Manco was a straightforward 
 cut-and-thrust old soldier, who hated an escribano worse 
 than the devil, and this one in particular worse than all other 
 escribanos. 
 
 " What ! " said he, curling up his moustaches fiercely, " does 
 the captain-general set his man of the pen to practise confusions 
 upon me ? I'll let him see an old soldier is not to be baffled 
 by Schoolcraft." 
 
 He seized his pen and scrawled a short letter in a crabbed 
 
 w 
 
 .^^ 
 
 «TwSH ' i?-i-S 
 
 
 
 
 T/ie Gate of Xenil. 
 
 hand, in which, without deigning to enter into argument, he 
 insisted on the right of transit free of search, and denounced 
 vengeance on any custom-house officer who should lay his un- 
 hallowed hand on any convoy protected by the flag of the 
 Alhambra. While this question was agitated between the two 
 pragmatical potentates, it so happened that a mule laden with 
 supplies for the fortress arrived one day at the gate of Xenil, 
 by which it was to traverse a suburb of the city on its way 
 to the Alhambra. The convoy was headed by a testy old 
 
 A A 
 
354 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 corporal, who had long served under the governor, and was a 
 man after his own heart ; as rusty and staunch as an old toledo 
 blade. 
 
 As they approached the gate of the city, the corporal placed 
 the banner of the Alhambra on the pack-saddle of the mule, 
 and drawing himself up to a perfect perpendicular, advanced 
 with his head dressed to the front, but with the wary side-glance 
 of a cur passing through hostile ground and ready for a snap 
 and a snarl. 
 
 " Who goes there ? " said the sentinel at the gate. 
 
 " Soldier of the Alhambra ! " said the corporal, without 
 turning his head. 
 
 " What have you in charge ? " 
 
 " Provisions for the garrison." 
 
 " Proceed." 
 
 The corporal marched straight forward, followed by the 
 convoy, but had not advanced many paces before a posse of 
 custom-house officers rushed out of a small toll-house. 
 
 " Hallo there ! " cried the leader. " Muleteer, halt, and open 
 those packages." 
 
 The corporal wheeled round and drew himself up in battle 
 array. " Respect the flag of the Alhambra," said he ; " these 
 things are for the governor." 
 
 " Kfigo for the governor and & figo for his flag. Muleteer, 
 halt, I say." 
 
 " Stop the convoy at your peril ! " cried the corporal, cocking 
 his musket. " Muleteer, proceed." 
 
 The muleteer gave his beast a hearty thwack ; the custom- 
 house officer sprang forward and seized the halter ; whereupon 
 the corporal levelled his piece and shot him dead. 
 
 The street was immediately in an uproar. 
 
 The old corporal was seized, and after undergoing 
 sundry kicks, and cuffs, and cudgellings, which are generally 
 given impromptu by the mob in Spain as a foretaste of the after 
 penalties of the law, he was loaded with irons and conducted 
 
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY 355 
 
 to the city prison, while his comrades were permitted to pro- 
 ceed with the convoy, after it had been well rummaged, to 
 the Alhambra. 
 
 The old governor was in a towering passion when he heard 
 of this insult to his flag and capture of his corporal. For a 
 time he stormed about the Moorish halls, and vapoured about 
 the bastions, and looked down fire and sword upon the palace 
 of the captain-general. Having \'ented the first ebullition of 
 his wrath, he despatched a message demanding the surrender 
 of the corporal, as to him alone belonged the right of sitting in 
 judgment on the offences of those under his command. The 
 captain-general, aided by the pen of the delighted escribano, 
 replied at great length, arguing, that, as the offence had been 
 committed within the walls of his city, and against one of his 
 civil officers, it was clearly within his proper jurisdiction. The 
 governor rejoined by a repetition of his demand ; the captain- 
 general gave a sur-rejoinder of still greater length and legal 
 acumen ; the governor became hotter and more peremptory in 
 his demands, and the captain-general cooler and more copious 
 in his replies ; until the old lion-hearted soldier absolutely 
 roared with fury at being thus entangled in the meshes of legal 
 controversy. 
 
 While the subtle escribano was thus amusing himself at the 
 expense of the governor, he was conducting the trial of the 
 corporal, who, mewed up in a narrow dungeon of the prison, 
 had merely a small grated window at which to show his iron- 
 bound visage and receive the consolations of his friends. 
 
 A mountain of written testimony was diligently heaped up, 
 according to Spanish form, by the indefatigable escribano ; the 
 corporal was completely overwhelmed by it. He was convicted 
 of murder, and sentenced to be hanged. 
 
 It was in vain the governor sent down remonstrance and 
 menace from the Alhambra. The fatal day was at hand, and 
 the corporal was put in capilla, that is to say, in the chapel 
 of the prison, as is always done with culprits the day before 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 execution, that they may meditate on their approaching end 
 and repent them of their sins. 
 
 Seeing things drawing to extremity, the old governor 
 determined to attend to the affair in person. For this purpose 
 he ordered out his carriage of state, and, surrounded by his 
 guards, rumbled down the avenue of the Alhambra into the 
 city. Driving to the house of the escribano, he summoned him 
 to the portal. 
 
 The eye of the old governor gleamed like a coal at beholding 
 the smirking man of the law advancing with an air of 
 exultation. 
 
 " What is this I hear," cried he, " that you are about to put 
 to death one of my soldiers ? " 
 
 " All according to law — all in strict form of justice,'' said the 
 self-sufficient escribano, chuckling and rubbing his hands ; " I 
 can show your Excellency the written testimony in the case." 
 
 " Fetch it hither," said the governor. The escribano bustled 
 into his office, delighted with having another opportunity of dis- 
 playing his ingenuity at the expense of the hard-headed veteran. 
 He returned with a satchel full of papers, and began to read a 
 long deposition with professional volubiUty. By this time a 
 crowd had collected, listening with outstretched necks and 
 gaping mouths. 
 
 " Prithee, man, get into the carriage, out of this pestilent 
 throng, that I may the better hear thee," said the governor. 
 
 The escribano entered the carriage, when, in a twinkling, the 
 door was closed, the coachman smacked his whip, — mules, 
 carriage, guards, and all dashed off at a thundering rate, leaving 
 the crowd in gaping wonderment ; nor did the governor pause 
 until he had lodged his prey in one of the strongest dungeons 
 of the Alhambra. 
 
 He then sent down a flag of truce in military style, proposing 
 a cartel, or exchange of prisoners, — the corporal for the notary. 
 The pride of the captain-general was piqued ; he returned a 
 contemptuous refusal, and forthwith caused a gallows, tall and 
 
THE GOVERNOR AND THE NOTARY 357 
 
 Strong, to be erected in the centre of the Plaza Nueva for the 
 execution of the corporal. 
 
 " Oho ! is that the game ? " said Governor Manco. He gave 
 orders, and immediately a gibbet was reared on the verge of 
 great beetling bastion that overlooked the Plaza. "Now," 
 said he, in a message to the captain-general, " hang my soldier 
 when you please ; but at the same time that he is swung off in 
 
 
 
 
 "^iifi- 
 
 the square, look up to see your escribano dangling against the 
 sky." 
 
 The captain-general was inflexible ; troops were paraded in 
 the square; the drums beat, the bell tolled. An immense 
 multitude of amateurs gathered together to behold the execu- 
 tion. On the other hand, the governor paraded his garrison 
 on the bastion, and tolled the funeral dirge of the notary from 
 the Torre de la Campana, or Tower of the Bell. 
 
 The notary's wife pressed through the crowd, with a whole 
 
358 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 progeny of little embryo escribanos at her heels, and throwhig 
 herself at the feet of the captain-general, implored him not to 
 sacrifice the life of her husband, and the welfare of herself and 
 her numerous little ones, to a point of pride ; "for you know 
 the old governor too well," said she, " to doubt that he will put 
 his threat in execution, if you hang the soldier." 
 
 The captain-general was overpowered by her tears and 
 lamentations, and the clamours of her callow brood. The 
 corporal was sent up to the Alhambra, under a guard, in his 
 gallows garb, like a hooded friar, but with head erect and a 
 face of iron. The escribano was demanded in exchange, ac- 
 cording to the cartel. The once bustling and self-sufficient man 
 of the law was drawn forth from his dungeon more dead than 
 alive. All his flippancy and conceit had evaporated ; his hair, 
 it is said, had nearly turned gray with affright, and he had a 
 downcast, dogged look, as if he still felt the halter round his 
 neck. 
 
 The old governor stuck his one arm akimbo, and for a 
 moment surveyed him with an iron smile. " Henceforth, my 
 friend," said he, " moderate your zeal in hurrying others to 
 the- gallows ; be not too certain of your safety, even though 
 you should have the law on your side ; and above all, take care 
 how you play off your Schoolcraft another time upon an old 
 soldier." 
 
 ' \y ' :-''■■'■' ''■ ■' 
 
 

 mpik. 
 
 
 
 '/^/^ro: ilr-:'-.. 
 
 
 <\ 
 
 GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER 
 
 While Governor Manco, or " the one-armed," kept up a 
 show of military state in the Alhambra, he became nettled at 
 the reproaches continually cast upon his fortress, of being a 
 nestling-place of rogues and contrabandistas. On a sudden, 
 the old potentate deteiTnined on reform, and setting vigorously 
 to work, ejected whole nests of vagabonds out of the fortress 
 and the gipsy caves with which the surrounding hills are honey- 
 combed. He sent out soldiers, also, to patrol the avenues and 
 footpaths, with orders to take up all suspicious persons. 
 
 One bright summer morning a patrol, consisting of the testy 
 old corporal who had distinguished himself in the affair of the 
 notary, a trumpeter, and two privates, was seated under the 
 garden-wall of the Generalife, beside the road which leads 
 down from the Mountain of the Sun, when they heard the 
 tramp of a horse, and a male voice singing in rough, though 
 not unmusical tones, an old Castilian campaigning-song. 
 
 Presently they beheld a sturdy, sunburnt fellow, clad in the 
 
36o THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 ragged garb of a foot-soldier, leading a powerful Arabian horse 
 caparisoned in the ancient Morisco fashion. 
 
 Astonished at the sight of a strange soldier descending, steed 
 in hand, from that solitary mountain, the corporal stepped 
 forth and challenged him. 
 
 " Who goes there ? " 
 
 " A friend. 
 
 " Who and what are you ? " 
 
 " A poor soldier just from the wars, with a cracked crown 
 and empty purse for a reward." 
 
 By this time they were enabled to view him more narrowly. 
 He had a black patch across his forehead, which, with a 
 grizzled beard, added to a certain dare-devil cast of countenance, 
 while a slight squint threw into the whole an occasional gleam 
 of roguish good-humour. 
 
 Having answered the questions of the patrol, the soldier 
 seemed to consider himself entitled to make others in return. 
 " May I ask," said he, " what city is that which I see at the 
 foot of the hill ? " 
 
 " What city ! " cried the trumpeter ; " come, that's too bad. 
 Here's a fellow lurking about the Mountain of the Sun, and 
 demands the name of the great city of Granada ! " 
 
 " Granada ! Madre di Dios 1 can it be possible ? " 
 
 " Perhaps not ! " rejoined the trumpeter ; " and perhaps you 
 have no idea that yonder are the towers of the Alhambra." 
 
 " Son of a trumpet," replied the stranger, " do not trifle with 
 me ; if this be indeed the Alhambra, I have some strange 
 matters to reveal to the governor." 
 
 "You will have an opportunity," said the corporal, "for we 
 mean to take you before him." By this time the trumpeter 
 had seized the bridle of the steed, the two privates had each 
 secured an arm of the soldier, the corporal put himself in front, 
 gave the word, " Forward — march ! " and away they marched 
 for the Alhambra. 
 
 The sight of a ragged foot-soldier and a fine Arabian horse, 
 
GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER 361 
 
 brought in captive by the patrol, attracted the attention of all 
 the idlers of the fortress, and of those gossip groups that gener- 
 ally assemble about wells and fountains at early dawn. The 
 wheel of the cistern paused in its rotations, and the slip-shod 
 servant-maid stood gaping, with pitcher in hand, as the corporal 
 passed by with his prize. A motley train gradually gathered in 
 the rear of the escort. 
 
 Knowing nods and winks and conjectures passed from one 
 to another. " It is a deserter," said one ; " A contrabandista" 
 said another; "A bandolero,^' said a third; — until it was 
 affirmed that a captain of a desperate band of robbers had 
 been captured by the prowess of the corporal and his patrol. 
 " "Well, well," said the old crones, one to another, " captain or 
 not, let him get out of the grasp of old Governor Manco if he 
 can, though he is but one-handed." 
 
 Governor Manco was seated in one of the inner halls of the 
 Alhambra, taking his morning's cup of chocolate in company 
 with his confessor, — a fat Franciscan friar from the neighbouring 
 convent. A demure, dark-eyed damsel of Malaga, the daughter 
 of his housekeeper, was attending upon him. The world 
 hinted that the damsel, who, with all her demureness, was a 
 sly buxom baggage, had found out a soft spot in the iron heart 
 of the old governor, and held complete control over him. But 
 let that pass — the domestic affairs of these mighty potentates 
 of the earth should not be too narrowly scrutinised. 
 
 When word was brought that a suspicious stranger had been 
 taken lurking about the fortress, and was actually in the outer 
 court, in durance of the corporal, waiting the pleasure of his 
 Excellency, the pride and stateliness of office swelled the bosom 
 of the governor. Giving back his chocolate-cup into the hands 
 of the demure damsel, he called for his basket-hilted sword, 
 girded it to his side, twirled up his moustaches, took his seat in 
 a large high-backed chair, assumed a bitter and forbidding 
 aspect, and ordered the prisoner into his presence. The 
 soldier was brought in, still closely pinioned by his captors, 
 
362 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 and guarded by the corporal. He maintained, however, a 
 resolute self-confident air, and returned the sharp, scrutinising 
 look of the governor with an easy squint, which by no means 
 pleased the punctilious old potentate. 
 
 "Well, culprit," said the governor, after he had regarded him 
 for a moment in silence, " what have you to say for yourself — 
 who are you ? " 
 
 "A soldier, just from the wars,, who has brought away 
 nothing but scars and bruises." 
 
 " A soldier— humph — a foot-soldier by your garb. I 
 understand you have a fine Arabian horse. I presume you 
 brought him too from the wars, besides your scars and 
 bruises." 
 
 " May it please your Excellency, I have something strange 
 to tell about that horse. Indeed I have one of the most 
 wonderful things to relate. Something too that concerns the 
 security of this fortress, indeed of all Granada. But it is a 
 matter to be imparted only to your private ear, or in presence 
 of such only as are in your confidence." 
 
 The governor considered for a moment, and then directed 
 the corporal and his men to withdraw, but to post themselves 
 outside of the door, and be ready at a call. " This holy friar," 
 said he, " is my confessor, you may say anything in his 
 presence ; — and this damsel," nodding towards the handmaid, 
 who had loitered with an air of great curiosity, " this damsel 
 is of great secrecy and discretion, and to be trusted with 
 anything." 
 
 The soldier gave a glance between a squint and a leer at the 
 demure handmaid. " I am perfectly willing," said he, " that 
 the damsel should remain." 
 
 When all the rest had withdrawn, the soldier commenced 
 his story. He was a fluent smooth-tongued varlet, and had a 
 command of language above his apparent rank. 
 
 " May it please your Excellency," said he, " I am, as I before 
 observed, a soldier, and have seen some hard service, but my 
 
GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER 363 
 
 term of enlistment being expired, I was discharged, not long 
 since, from the army at Valladolid, and set out on foot for my 
 native village in Andalusia. Yesterday evening the sun went 
 down as I was traversing a great dry plain of Old Castile." 
 
 " Hold ! " cried the governor, " what is this you say ? Old 
 Castile is some two or three hundred miles from this." 
 
 "Even so," replied the soldier, coolly. "I told your 
 Excellency I had strange things to relate ; but not more 
 strange than true, as your Excellency will find, if you will 
 deign me a patient hearing." 
 
 " Proceed, culprit," said the governor, twirling up his 
 moustaches. 
 
 "As the sun went down," continued the soldier, " I cast my 
 eyes about in search of quarters for the night, but as far as my 
 sight could reach there were no signs of habitation. I saw 
 that I should have to make my bed on the njiked plain, with 
 my knapsack for a pillow; but your Excellency is an old 
 soldier, and knows that to one who has been in the wars, such 
 a night's lodging is no great hardship." 
 
 The governor nodded assent, as he drew his pocket- 
 handkerchief out of the basket-hilt to drive away a fly that 
 buzzed about his nose. 
 
 " Well, to make a long story short," continued the soldier, 
 "I trudged forward for several miles until I came to a bridge 
 over a deep ravine, through which ran a little thread of water, 
 almost dried up by the summer heat. At one end of the 
 bridge was a Moorish tower, the upper end all in ruins, but a 
 vault in the foundation quite entire. Here, thinks I, is a good 
 place to make a halt ; so I went down to the stream, and took 
 a hearty drink, for the water was pure and sweet, and I was 
 parched with thirst ; then, opening my wallet, I took out an 
 onion and a few crusts, which were all my provisions, and 
 seating myself on a stone on the margin of the stream, began 
 to make my supper, — intending afterwards to quarter myself 
 for the night in the vault of the tower ; and capital quarters 
 
364 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 they would have been for a campaigner just from the wars, as 
 your Excellency, who is an old soldier, may suppose." 
 
 " I have put up gladly with worse in my time," said the 
 governor, returning his pocket-handkerchief into the hilt of his 
 sword. 
 
 " While I was quietly crunching my crust," pursued the 
 soldier, " I heard something stir within the vault ; I listened — 
 it was the tramp of a horse. By-and-by a man came forth 
 from a door in the foundation of the tower, close by the water's 
 edge, leading a powerful horse by the bridle. I could not well 
 make out what he was, by the starlight. It had a suspicious 
 look to be lurking among the ruins of a tower, in that wild 
 solitary place. He might be a mere wayfarer, like myself; he 
 might be a contrabandista ; he might be a bandolero ! what of 
 that ? thank heaven and my poverty, I had nothing to lose ; so 
 I sat still and crunched my crust. 
 
 " He led his horse to the water, close by where I was sitting, 
 so that I had a fair opportunity of reconnoitring him. To my 
 surprise he was dressed in a Moorish garb, with a cuirass of 
 steel, and a polished skull-cap that I distinguished by the 
 reflection of the stars upon it. His horse, too, was harnessed 
 in the Morisco fashion, with great shovel stirrups. He led 
 him, as I said, to the side of the stream, into which the animal 
 plunged his head almost to the eyes, and drank until I thought 
 he would have burst. 
 
 " ' Comrade,' said I, ' your steed drinks well ; it's a good 
 sign when a horse plunges his muzzle bravely into the water.' 
 
 " ' He may well drink,' said the stranger, speaking with a 
 Moorish accent ; ' it is a good year since he had his last 
 draught.' 
 
 " ' By Santiago^ said I, ' that beats even the camels I have 
 seen in Africa. But come, you seem to be something of a 
 soldier, will you sit down and take part of a soldier's fare ? ' In 
 fact, I felt the want of a companion in this lonely place, and 
 was willing to put up with an infidel. Besides, as your 
 
GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER 365 
 
 Excellency well knows, a soldier is never very particular about 
 the faith of his company, and soldiers of all countries are com- 
 rades on peaceable ground." 
 
 The governor again nodded assent. 
 
 " Well, as I was saying, I invited him to share my supper, 
 such as it was, for I could not do less in common hospitality. 
 ' I have no time to pause for meat or drink,' said he, ' I have 
 a long journey to make before morning.' 
 
 " ' In what direction ? ' said I. 
 
 " 'Andalusia,' said he. 
 
 " ' Exactly my route,' said I ; 'so, as you won't stop and eat 
 with me, perhaps you will let me mount and ride with you. I 
 see your horse is of a powerful frame ; I'll warrant he'll carry 
 double.' 
 
 "'Agreed,' said the trooper; and it would not have been 
 civil and soldierlike to refuse, especially as I had offered to 
 share my supper with him. So up he mounted, and up I 
 mounted behind him. 
 
 " ' Hold fast,' said he, ' my steed goes like the wind.' 
 
 " 'Never fear me,' said I, and so off we set. 
 
 " From a walk the horse soon passed to a trot, from a trot to 
 a gallop, and from a gallop to a harum-scarum scamper. It 
 seemed as if rocks, trees houses, everything flew hurry-scurry 
 behind us. 
 
 " ' What town is this ? ' said I. 
 
 " ' Segovia,' said he ; and before the word was out of his 
 mouth, the towers of Segovia were out of sight. We swept up 
 the Guadarama mountains, and down by the Escurial ; and we 
 skirted the walls of Madrid, and we scoured away across the 
 plains of La Mancha. In this way we went up hill and, down 
 dale, by towers and cities, all buried in deep sleep, and across 
 mountains, and plains, and rivers, just glimmering in the star- 
 light. 
 
 "To make a long story short, and not to fatigue your 
 Excellency, the trooper suddenly pulled up on the side of a 
 
366 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 mountain. ' Here we are,' said he, 'at the end of our journey.' 
 I looked about, but could see no signs of habitation ; nothing 
 but the mouth of a cavern. While I looked I saw multitudes of 
 people in Moorish dresses, some on horseback, some on foot, 
 arriving as if borne by the wind from all points of the compass, 
 and hurrying into the mouth of the cavern like bees into a 
 hive. Before I could ask a question, the trooper struck his 
 long Moorish spurs into the horse's flanks, and dashed in with 
 the throng. We passed along a steep winding way, that 
 descended into the very bowels of the mountain. As we 
 pushed on, a light began to glimmer up, by little and little, like 
 the first glimmerings of day, but what caused it I could not 
 discern. It grew stronger and stronger, and enabled me to see 
 everything around. I now noticed, as we passed along, great 
 caverns, opening to the right and left, like halls in an arsenal. 
 In some there were shields, and helmets, and cuirasses, and 
 lances, and cimeters, hanging against the walls ; in others there 
 were great heaps of warlike munitions and camp-equipage lying 
 upon the ground. 
 
 " It would have done your Excellency's heart good, being an 
 old soldier, to have seen such grand provision for war. Then, 
 in other caverns, there were long rows of horsemen armed to 
 the teeth, with lances raised and banners unfurled, all ready for 
 the field ; but they all sat motionless in their saddles, like so 
 many statues. In other halls were warriors sleeping on the 
 ground beside their horses, and foot-soldiers in groups ready to 
 fall into the ranks. All were in old-fashioned Moorish dresses 
 and armour. 
 
 "Well, your Excellency, to cut a long story short, we at 
 length entered an immense cavern, or I may say palace, of 
 grotto-work, the walls of which seemed to be veined with gold 
 and silver, and to sparkle with diamonds and sapphires and all 
 kinds of precious stones. At the upper end sat a Moorish king 
 on a golden throne, with his nobles on each side, and a guard 
 of African blacks with drawn cimeters. All the crowd that 
 
GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER 367 
 
 continued to flock in, and amounted to thousands and thousands, 
 passed one by one before his throne, each paying homage as 
 he passed. Some of the multitude were dressed in magnificent 
 robes, without stain or blemish, and sparkling with jewels; 
 others in burnished and enamelled armour ; while others were 
 in mouldered and mildewed garments, and in armour all 
 battered and dented and covered with rust. 
 
 " I had hitherto held my tongue, for your Excellency well 
 knows it is not for a soldier to ask many questions when on 
 duty, but I could keep silent no longer. 
 
 " ' Prithee, comrade,' said I, ' what is the meaning of all 
 this ? ' 
 
 " ' This,' said the trooper, ' is a great and fearful mysterj'. 
 Know, O Christian, that you see before you the court and army 
 of Boabdil the last king of Granada.' 
 
 " ' What is this you tell me ? ' cried I. ' Boabdil and his 
 court were exiled from the land hundreds of years agone, and 
 all died in Africa.' 
 
 " ' So it is recorded in your lying chronicles,' replied the 
 Moor ; ' but know that Boabdil and the warriors who made the 
 last struggle for Granada were all shut up in the mountain by 
 powerful enchantment. As for the king and army that marched 
 forth from Granada at the time of the surrender, they were 
 a mere phantom train of spirits and demons, permitted to 
 assume those shapes to deceive the Christian sovereigns. And 
 furthermore let me tell you, friend, that all Spain is a country 
 under the power of enchantment. There is not a mountain 
 cave, not a lonely watch-tower in the plains, nor ruined castle 
 on the hills, but has some spellbound warrior, sleeping from age 
 to age within its vaults, until the sins are expiated for which Allah 
 permitted the dominion to pass for a time out of the hands of 
 the faithful. Once every year, on the eve of St. John, they are 
 released from enchantment, from sunset to sunrise, and per- 
 mitted to repair here to pay homage to their sovereign ! and 
 the crowds which you beheld swarming into the cavern are 
 
368 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Moslem warriors from their haunts in all parts of Spain. For 
 my own part, you saw the ruined tower of the bridge in Old 
 Castile, where I have now wintered and summered for many 
 hundred years, and where I must be back again by daybreak. 
 As to the battalions of horse and foot which you beheld drawn 
 up in array in the neighbouring caverns, they are the spellbound 
 warriors of Granada. It is written in the book of fate, that 
 when the enchantment is broken, Boabdil will descend from 
 the mountain at the head of this army, resume his throne in the 
 Alhambra and his sway of Granada, and gathering together the 
 enchanted warriors from all parts of Spain, will re-conquer the 
 Peninsula and restore it to Moslem rule.' 
 
 " ' And when shall this happen ? ' said I. 
 
 " ' Allah alone knows : we had hoped the day of deliverance 
 was at hand ; but there reigns at present a vigilant governor in 
 the Alhambra, a stanch old soldier, well known as Governor 
 Manco. While such a warrior holds command of the very 
 outpost, and stands ready to check the first irruption from the 
 mountain, I fear Boabdil and his soldiery must be content to 
 rest upon their arms.' " 
 
 Here the governor raised himself somewhat perpendicularly, 
 adjusted his sword, and twirled up his moustaches. 
 
 " To make a long story short, and not to fatigue your Excel- 
 lency, the trooper, having given me this account, dismounted 
 from his steed. 
 
 " ' Tarry here,' said he, ' and guard my steed while I go and 
 bow the knee to Boabdil.' So saying, he strode away among 
 the throng that pressed forward to the throne. 
 
 " ' What's to be done ? ' thought I, when thus left to myself, 
 ' shall I wait here until this infidel returns to whisk me off on 
 his goblin steed, the Lord knows where ; or shall I make the 
 most of my time and beat a retreat from this hobgoblin com- 
 munity ? ' A soldier's mind is soon made up, as your Ex- 
 cellency well knows. As to the horse, he belonged to an 
 avowed enemy of the faith and the realm, and was a fair prize 
 
GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER 369 
 
 according to the rules of war. So hoisting myself from the 
 crupper into the saddle, I turned the reins, struck the Moorish 
 stirrups into the sides of the steed, and put him to make the best 
 of his way out of the passage by which he had entered. As we 
 scoured by the halls where the Moslem horsemen sat in motion- 
 less battalions, I thought I heard the clang of armour and a 
 hollow murmur of voices. I gave the steed another taste of 
 the stirrups and doubled my speed. There was now a sound 
 behind me like a rushing blast ; I heard the clatter of a 
 thousand hoofs ; a countless throng overtook me. I was borne 
 along in the press, and hurled forth from the mouth of the 
 cavern, while thousands of shadowy forms were swept off in 
 every direction by the four winds of heaven. 
 
 " In the whirl and confusion of the scene I was thrown 
 senseless to the earth. When I came to myself, I was lying 
 on the brow, of a hill, with the Arabian steed standing 
 beside me ; for in falling, my arm had slipped within the 
 bridle, which, I presume, prevented his whisking off to Old 
 Castile. 
 
 " Your Excellency may easily judge of my surprise, on 
 looking round, to behold hedges of aloes and Indian figs 
 and other proofs of a southern climate, and to see a great city 
 below me, with towers, and palaces, and a grand cathedral. 
 
 " I descended the hill cautiously, leading my steed, for I 
 was afraid to mount him again, lest he should play me some 
 slippery trick. As I descended I met with your patrol, who 
 let me into the secret that it was Granada that lay before me, 
 and that I was actually under the walls of the Alhambra, 
 the fortress of the redoubted Governor Manco, the terror of all 
 enchanted Moslems. When I heard this, I determined at once 
 to seek your Excellency, to inform you of all that I had seen, 
 and to warn you of the perils that surround and undermine 
 you, that you may take measures in time to guard your fortress, 
 and the kingdom itself, from this intestine army that lurks in 
 the very bowels of the land." 
 
370 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 "And prithee, friend, you who are a veteran campaigner, 
 and have seen so much service," said the governor, " how 
 would you advise me to proceed, in order to prevent this 
 evil ? " 
 
 " It is not for a humble private of the ranks," said the 
 soldier, modestly, " to pretend to instruct a commander of 
 your Excellency's sagacity, but it appears to me that your 
 Excellency might cause all the caves and entrances into the 
 mountains to be walled up with solid mason-work, so that 
 Boabdil and his army might be completely corked up in their 
 subterranean habitation. If the good father, too," added the 
 soldier, reverently bowing to the friar, and devoutly crossing 
 himself, " would consecrate the barricadoes with his blessing, 
 and put up a few crosses and relics and images of saints, 
 I think they might withstand all the power of infidel enchant- 
 ments." 
 
 "They doubtless would be of great avail," said the friar. 
 
 The governor now placed his arm akimbo, with his hand 
 resting on the hilt of his toledo, fixed his eye upon the 
 soldier, and gently wagging his head from one side to the 
 other, — 
 
 " So, friend," said he, " then you really suppose I am to be 
 gulled with this cock-and-bull story about enchanted mountains 
 and enchanted Moors ? Hark ye, culprit ! — not another word. 
 An old soldier you may be, but you'll find you have an older 
 soldier to deal with, and one not easily outgeneralled. Ho ! 
 guards there ! put this fellow in irons.'' 
 
 The demure handmaid would have put in a word in favour 
 of the prisoner, but the governor silenced her with a look. 
 
 As they were pinioning the soldier, one of the guards felt 
 something of bulk in his pocket, and drawing it forth, found a 
 long leathern purse that appeared to be well filled. Holding 
 it by one corner, he turned out the contents upon the table 
 before the governor, and never did freebooter's bag make 
 more gorgeous delivery. Out tumbled rings, and jewels, 
 
GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER 371 
 
 and rosaries of pearls, and sparkling diamond crosses, and 
 a profusion of ancient golden coin, some of which fell jingling 
 to the floor, and rolled away to the uttermost parts of the 
 chamber. 
 
 For a time the functions of justice were suspended ; there 
 was a universal scramble after the glittering fugitives. The 
 governor alone, who was imbued with true Spanish pride, 
 maintained his stately decorum, though his eye betrayed a 
 little anxiety until the last coin and jewel was restored to the 
 sack. 
 
 The friar was not so calm ; his whole face glowed like a 
 furnace, and his eyes twinkled and flashed at sight of the 
 rosaries and crosses. 
 
 " Sacrilegious wretch that thou art ! " exclaimed he ; "what 
 church or sanctuary hast thou been plundering of these sacred 
 relics ? " 
 
 " Neither one nor the other, holy father. If they be sac- 
 rilegious spoils, they must have been taken, in times long past, 
 by the infidel trooper I have mentioned. I was just going to 
 tell his Excellency when he interrupted me, that, on taking 
 possession of the trooper's horse, I unhooked a leathern sack 
 which hung at the saddle-bow, and which I presume contained 
 the plunder of his campaignings in days of old, when the Moors 
 overran the country." 
 
 " Mighty well ; at present you will make up your mind to 
 take up your quarters in a chamber of the Vermilion Tower, 
 which, though not under a magic spell, will hold you as safe as 
 any cave of your enchanted Moors." 
 
 "Your Excellency will do as you think proper," said the 
 prisoner, coolly, " I shall be thankful to your Excellency for 
 any accommodation in the fortress. A soldier who has been 
 in the wars, as your Excellency well knows, is not particular 
 about his lodgings. Provided I have a snug dungeon and 
 regular rations, I shall manage to make myself comfortable. I 
 would only entreat that while your Excellency is so careful 
 
 B B 2 
 
372 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 about me, you would have an eye to your fortress, and think 
 on the hint I dropped about stopping up the entrances to the 
 mountain." 
 
 Here ended the scene. The prisoner was conducted to a 
 strong dungeon in the Vermilion Tower, the Arabian steed was 
 led to his Excellency's stable, and the trooper's sack was de- 
 posited in his Excellency's strong box. To the latter, it is true- 
 the friar made some demur, questioning whether the sacred 
 relics, which were evidently sacrilegious spoils, should not be 
 placed in custody of the church ; but as the governor was 
 peremptory on the subject, and was absolute lord in the 
 Alhambra, the friar discreetly dropped the discussion, but 
 determined to convey intelligence of the fact to the church 
 dignitaries in Granada. 
 
 To explain these prompt and rigid measures on the part of 
 old Governor Manco, it is proper to observe, that about this 
 time the Alpuxarra mountains in the neighbourhood of 
 Granada were terribly infested by a gang of robbers, under 
 the command of a daring chief named Manuel Borasco, who 
 were accustomed to prowl about the country, and even to enter 
 the city in various disguises, to gain intelligence of the depar- 
 ture of convoys of merchandise, or travellers with well-lined 
 purses, whom they took care to waylay in distant and solitary 
 passes of the road. These repeated and daring outrages had 
 awakened the attention of government, and the commanders of 
 the various posts had received instructions to be on the alert, 
 and to take up all suspicious stragglers. Governor Manco was 
 particularly zealous in consequence of the various stigmas that 
 had been cast upon his fortress, and he now doubted not he 
 had entrapped some formidable desperado of this gang. 
 
 In the meantime the story took wind, and became the talk 
 not merely of the fortress, but of the whole city of Granada. 
 It was said that the noted robber Manuel Borasco, the terror 
 of the Alpuxarras, had fallen into the clutches of old Governor 
 Manco, and been cooped up by him in a dungeon of the 
 
GOVERNOR MANCO AXD THE SOLDIER 373 
 
 Vermilion Tower ; and every one who had been robbed by him 
 flocked to recognize the marauder. The Vermilion Tower, as 
 is well known, stands apart from the Alhambra on a sister hill, 
 separated from the main fortress by the ravine down which 
 passes the main avenue. There were no outer walls, but a 
 sentinel patrolled before the tower. The window of the 
 chamber in which the soldier was confined was strongly 
 grated, and looked upon a small esplanade. Here the good 
 folks of Granada repaired to gaze at him, as they would at a 
 laughing hyena, grinning through the cage of a menagerie. 
 Nobody, however, recognized him for Manuel Borasco, for 
 that terrible robber was noted for a ferocious physiognomy, 
 and had by no means the good-humoured squint of the 
 prisoner. Visitors came not merely from the city, but from 
 all parts of the country ; but nobody knew him, and there 
 began to be doubts in the minds of the common people 
 whether there might not be some truth in his story. That 
 Boabdil and his army were shut up in the mountain, was 
 an old tradition which many of the ancient inhabitants had 
 heard from their fathers. Numbers went up to the Mountain 
 of the Sun, or rather of St. Elena, in search of the cave 
 mentioned by the soldier ; and saw and peeped into the deep 
 dark pit, descending, no one knows how far, into the mountain, 
 and which remains there to this day — the fabled entrance to 
 the subterranean abode of Boabdil. 
 
 By degrees the soldier became popular with the common 
 people. A freebooter of the mountains is by no means the 
 opprobrious character in Spain that a robber is in any other 
 country, on the contrary he is a kind of chivalrous personage in 
 the eyes of the lower classes. There is always a disposition, 
 also, to cavil at the conduct of those in command ; and many 
 began to murmur at the high-handed measures of old Governor 
 Manco, and to look upon the prisoner in the light of a 
 martyr. 
 
 The soldier, moreover, was a merry, waggish fellow, that 
 
374 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 had a joke for every one who came near his window, and a 
 soft speech for every female. He had procured an old guitar 
 also, and would sit by his window and sing ballads and love- 
 ditties to the delight of the women of the neighbourhood, who 
 would assemble on the esplanade in the evening and dance 
 boleros to his music. Having trimmed off his rough beard, 
 his sunburnt face found favour in the eyes of the fair, and the 
 demure handmaid of the governor declared that his squint was 
 perfectly irresistible. This kind-hearted damsel had from the 
 first evinced a deep sympathy in his fortunes, and having in 
 vain tried to mollify the governor, had set to work privately 
 to mitigate the rigour of his dispensations. Every day she 
 brought the prisoner some crumbs of comfort which had fallen 
 from the governor's table, or been abstracted from his larder, 
 together with, now and then, a consoling bottle of choice Val 
 de Penas, or rich Malaga. 
 
 While this petty treason was going on in the very centre of 
 the old governor's citadel, a storm of open war was brewing up 
 among his external foes. The circumstance of a bag of gold 
 and jewels having been found upon the person of the supposed 
 robber, had been reported, with many exaggerations, in 
 Granada. A question of territorial jurisdiction was immedi- 
 ately started by the governor's inveterate rival, the captain- 
 general. He insisted that the prisoner had been captured 
 without the precincts of the Alhambra, and within the rules 
 of his authority. He demanded his body therefore, and the 
 spolia opima taken with him. Due information having been 
 carried likewise by the friar to the grand inquisitor of the 
 crosses and rosaries, and other relics contained in the bag, he 
 claimed the culprit as having been guilty of sacrilege, and in- 
 sisted that his plunder was due to the church, and his body to 
 the next auto-da-fe. The feuds ran high ; the governor was 
 furious, and swore, rather than surrender his captive, he would 
 hang him up within the Alhambra, as a spy caught within the 
 purlieus of the fortress. 
 
GOVERNOR MANCO AND THE SOLDIER 375 
 
 The captain-general threatened to send a body of soldiers 
 to transfer the prisoner from the Vermilion Tower to the city. 
 The grand inquisitor \Yas equally bent upon despatching a 
 number of the familiars of the Holy Office. Word was brought 
 late at night to the governor of these machinations. " Let 
 them come," said he, " they'll find me beforehand with them ; 
 he must rise bright and early who would take in an old soldier." 
 He accordingly issued orders to have the prisoner removed, 
 at daybreak, to the donjon-keep within the walls of the 
 Alhambra. "And d'ye hear, child," said he to his demure 
 handmaid, " tap at my door, and wake me before cock-crowing, 
 that I may see to the matter myself." 
 
 The day dawned, the cock crowed, but nobody tapped at 
 the door of the governor. The sun rose high above the 
 mountain-tops, and glittered in at his casement, ere the 
 governor was awakened from his morning dreams by his 
 veteran corporal, who stood before him with terror stamped 
 upon his iron visage. 
 
 "He's off! he's gone!" cried the corporal, gasping for 
 breath. 
 
 " Who's off—who's gone ? " 
 
 " The soldier — the robber — the devil, for aught I know ; his 
 dungeon is empty, but the door locked : no one knows how he 
 has escaped out of it." 
 
 " Who saw him last ? " 
 
 " Your handmaid ; she brought him his supper." 
 
 " Let her be called instantly." 
 
 Here was new matter of confusion. The chamber of the 
 demure damsel was likewise empty, her bed had not been 
 slept in : she had doubtless gone off with the culprit, as she 
 had appeared, for some days past, to have frequent conversa- 
 tions with him. 
 
 • This was wounding the old governor in a tender part, but he 
 had scarce time to wince at it, when new misfortune broke 
 upon his view. On going into his cabinet he found his strong 
 
376 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 box open, the leather purse of the trooper abstracted and with 
 it a couple of corpulent bags of doubloons. 
 
 But how, and which way had the fugitives escajjed ? An 
 old peasant who lived in a cottage by the road-side leading up 
 into the Sierra, declared that he had heard the tramp of a 
 powerful steed just before daybreak, passing up into the moun- 
 tains. He had looked out at his casement, and could just 
 distinguish a horseman, with a female seated before him. 
 
 " Search the stables ! " cried Governor Manco. The stables 
 were searched ; all the horses were in their stalls, excepi&ag the 
 Arabian steed. In his place was a stout cudgel taol to the 
 manger, and on it a label bearing these words, "A Gifi: to 
 Governor Manco, from an Old Soldier." 
 
 
 
 
 The Mosque. 
 

 '. .' "^J ''^i.^ C I'^ C H 
 
 ,v ^-rt-r.>-2;.-- 
 
 ,-^--Si>" ' 
 
 A FETE IN THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 The Saint's day of my neighbour and rival potentate, the 
 count, took place during his sojourn in the Alhambra, on which 
 occasion he have a domestic fefe ; assembling round him the 
 members of his family and household, while the stewards 
 and old servants from his distant possessions came to pay him 
 reverence and partake of the good cheer which was sure to 
 be provided. It presented a type, though doubtless a faint 
 one, of the establishment of a Spanish noble in the olden 
 time. 
 
 The Spaniards were always grandiose in their notions of 
 style. Huge palaces ; lumbering equipages, laden with foot- 
 men and lackeys ; pompous retinues, and useless dependents 
 of all kinds ; the dignity of a noble seemed commensurate with 
 the legions who loitered about his halls, fed at his expense, and 
 seemed ready to devour him alive. This, doubtless, originated 
 
37S THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 in the necessity of keeping up hosts of armed retainers during 
 the wars with the Moors ; wars of inroads and surprises j when 
 a noble was Hable to be suddenly assailed in his castle 
 by a foray of the enemy, or summoned to the field by his 
 sovereign. 
 
 The custom remained after the wars were at an end ; and 
 what originated in necessity was kept up through ostentation. 
 The wealth which flowed into the country from conquests and 
 discoveries fostered the passion for princely establishments. 
 According to magnificent old Spanish usage, in which pride and 
 generosity bore equal parts, a superannuated servant was never 
 turned off, but became a charge for the rest of his days ; nay, 
 his children, and his children's children, and often their relatives 
 to the right and left, became gradually entailed upon the family. 
 Hence the huge palaces of the Spanish nobility, which have 
 such an air of empty ostentation from the greatness of their 
 size compared with the mediocrity and scantiness of their 
 furniture, were absolutely required, in the golden days of 
 Spain, by the patriarchal habits of their possessors. They 
 were little better than vast barracks for their hereditary 
 generations of hangers-on that battened at the expense of a 
 Spanish noble. 
 
 These patriarchal habits of the Spanish nobility have declined 
 with their revenues ; though the spirit which prompted them 
 remains, and wars sadly with their altered fortunes. The 
 poorest among them have always some hereditary hangers-on, 
 who live at their expense, and make them poorer. Some who, 
 like my neighbour the count, retain a modicum of their once 
 princely possessions, keep up a shadow of the ancient system, 
 and their estates are overrun and the produce consumed by 
 generations of idle retainers. 
 
 The count held estates in various parts of the kingdom, 
 some including whole villages ; yet the revenues collected from 
 them were comparatively small ; some of them, he assured me 
 
A F^TE IX THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 379 
 
 barely fed the hordes of dependents nestled upon them, who 
 seemed to consider themselves entitled to live rent-free and be 
 maintained into the bargain, because their forefathers had been 
 so since time immemorial. 
 
 The saint's day of the old count gave me a glimpse into a 
 Spanish interior. For two or three days previous preparations 
 were made for \h.&fete. Viands of all kinds were brought up 
 from town, greeting the olfactory nerves of the old invalid 
 guards, as they were borne past them through the Gate of 
 Justice. Servants hurried officiously about the courts ; the 
 ancient kitchen of the palace was again alive with the tread of 
 cooks and scullions, and blazed with unwonted fires. 
 
 When the day arrived I beheld the old count in patriarchal 
 state, his family and household around him, with functionaries 
 who mismanaged his estates at a distance and consumed the 
 proceeds ; while numerous old worn-out servants and pensioners 
 were loitering about the courts and keeping within smell of 
 the kitchen. 
 
 It was a joyous day in the Alhambra. The guests dispersed 
 themselves about the palace before the hour of dinner, enjoying 
 the luxuries of its courts and fountains, and embosomed gardens, 
 and music and laughter resounded through its late silent halls. 
 
 The feast, for a set dinner in Spain is literally a feast, was 
 served in the beautiful Morisco Hall of " Las dos HermanasT 
 The table was loaded with all the luxuries of the season : there 
 was an almost interminable succession of dishes ; showing how 
 truly the feast at the rich Camachos' wedding in " Don Quixote " 
 was a picture of a Spanish banquet. A joyous conviviality pre- 
 vailed round the board ; for though Spaniards are generally 
 abstemious, they are complete revellers on occasions like the 
 present, and none more so than the Andalusians. For my part, 
 there was something peculiarly exciting in thus sitting at a feast 
 in the royal halls of the Alhambra, given by one who might 
 claim remote affinity with its Moorish kings, and who was a 
 
38o THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 lineal representative of Gonsalvo of Cordova, one of the most 
 distinguished of the Christian conquerors. 
 
 The banquet ended, the company adjourned to the Hall cf 
 Ambassadors. Here every one endeavoured to contribute to 
 the general amusement, singing, improvising, telling wonderful 
 tales, or dancing popular dances to that all-pervading talisman 
 of Spanish pleasure, the guitar. 
 
 The count's gifted little daughter was as usual the life and 
 delight of the assemblage, and I was more than ever struck with 
 her aptness and wonderful versatility. She took a part in two 
 or three scenes of elegant comedy with some of her companions, 
 and performed them with exquisite point and finished grace ; 
 she gave imitations of the popular Italian singers, some serious, 
 some comic, with a rare quality of voice, and, I was assured, 
 with singular fidelity ; she imitated the dialects, dances, ballads, 
 and movements and manners of the gypsies and the peasants 
 of the Vega with equal felicity ; but everything was done with 
 an all-pervading grace and a ladylike tact perfectly fascinating. 
 
 The great charm of everything she did was its freedom from 
 pretension or ambitious display, its happy spontaneity. Every- 
 thing sprang from the impulse of the moment ; or was in prompt 
 compliance with a request. She seemed unconscious of the 
 rarity and extent of her own talent, and was like a child at home 
 revelling in the buoyancy of its own gay and innocent spirits. 
 Indeed I was told she had never exerted her talents in general 
 society, but only, as at present, in the domestic circle. 
 
 Her faculty of observation and her perception of character 
 must have been remarkably quick, for she could have had only 
 casual and transient glances at the scenes, manners, and customs 
 depicted with such truth and spirit. " Indeed it is a caluntnio 
 wonder to us," said the countess, "where the child [/a JVt/ia] 
 has picked up these things, her life being passed almost entirely 
 at home, in the bosom of the family.'' 
 
 Evening approached ; twilight began to throw its shadows 
 
38i 
 
 about the halls, and the bats to steal forth from their lurking- 
 place and flit about. A notion seized the little damsel and 
 some of her youthful companions, to set out, under the guidance 
 of Dolores, and explore the less frequented parts of the palace 
 in quest of mysteries and enchantments. Thus conducted, 
 they peeped fearfully into the gloomy old mosque, but quickly 
 drew back on being told that a Moorish king had been mur- 
 dered there ; they ventured into the mysterious regions of the 
 bath, frightening themselves with the sounds and murmurs of 
 hidden aqueducts, and flying with mock panic at the alarm of 
 phantom Moors. They then undertook the adventure of the 
 Iron Gate, a place ot baleful note in the Alhambra. It is a 
 postern gate, opening into a dark ravine ; a narrow covered way 
 leads down to it, which used to be the terror of Dolores and 
 her playmates in childhood, as it was said a hand without a body 
 would sometimes be stretched out from the wall and seize hold 
 of the passers-by. 
 
 The little party of enchantment-hunters ventured to the 
 entrance of the covered way, but nothing would tempt them to 
 enter, in this hour of gathering gloom ; they dreaded the grasp 
 of the phantom arm. 
 
 At length they came running back into the Hall of Ambas- 
 sadors in a mock paroxysm of terror : they had positively seen 
 two spectral figures all in white. They had not stopped to 
 examine them ; but could not be mistaken, for they glared 
 distinctly through the surrounding gloom. Dolores soon 
 arrived and explained the mystery. The spectres proved to be 
 two statues of nymphs in white marble, placed at the entrance 
 of a vaulted passage. Upon this a grave, but, as I thought, 
 somewhat sly old gentleman present, who, I believe, was the 
 count's advocate or legal adviser, assured them that these 
 statues were connected with one of the greatest mysteries of 
 the Alhambra ; that there was a curious history concerning them, 
 and, moreover, that they stood a living monument in marble of 
 
382 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 female secrecy and discretion. All present entreated him to 
 tell the history of the statues. He took a little time to recollect 
 the details, and then gave them in substance the following 
 legend. 
 
 I- • 
 
 V I.I i.- 
 
 
 ^r 
 

 
 
 y'.i-- ■■'„"' ■-j^.'.^'^'-^'^'* "-~-"-> 
 
 
 
 
 -- ^- 
 
 i:^Z 
 
 ^, >'^ 
 
 LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 
 
 There lived once in a waste apartment of the Alhambra a 
 merry little fellow, named Lope Sanchez, who worked in the 
 gardens, and was as brisk and as blithe as a grasshopper, 
 singing all day long. He was the life and soul of the fortress ; 
 when his work was over, he would sit on one of the stone 
 benches of the esplanade, strum his guitar, and sing long ditties 
 about the Cid, and Bernardo del Carpio, and Fernando del 
 Pulgar, and other Spanish heroes, for the amusement of the old 
 soldiers of the fortress ; or would strike up a merrier tune, and 
 set the girls dancing boleros and fandangos. 
 
 Like most little men, Lope Sanchez had a strapping buxom 
 dame for a wife, who could almost have put him in her 
 pocket ; but he lacked the usual poor man's lot — instead of 
 ten children he had but one. This was a little black-eyed girl 
 about twelve years of age, named Sanchica, who was as merry 
 as himself, and the delight of his heart. She played about him 
 
384 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 as he worked in the gardens, danced to his guitar as he sat in 
 the shade, and ran as wild as a young fawn about the groves 
 and alleys and ruined halls of the Alhambra. 
 
 It was now the eve of the blessed St. John, and the holiday- 
 loving gossips of the Alhambra, men, women, and children, 
 went up at night to the Mountain of the Sun, which rises above 
 the Generalife, to keep their midsummer vigil on its level 
 summit. It was a bright moonlight night, and all the 
 mountains were gray and silvery, and the city, with its domes 
 and spires, lay in shadows below, and the Vega was like a fairy 
 land, with haunted streams gleaming among its dusky groves. 
 On the highest part of the mountain they lit up a bonfire, 
 according to an old custom of the country handed down from 
 the Moors. The inhabitants of the surrounding country were 
 keeping a similar vigil, and bonfires, here and there in the 
 Vega, and along the folds of the mountains, blazed up palely in 
 the moonlight. 
 
 The evening was gayly passed in dancing to the guitar of 
 Lope Sanchez, who was never so joyous as when on a holiday 
 revel of the kind. While the dance was going on, the little 
 Sanchica with some of her playmates sported among the ruins 
 of an old Moorish fort that crowns the mountain, when, in 
 gathering pebbles in the fosse, she found a small hand curiously 
 carved of jet, the fingers closed, and the thumb firmly clasped 
 upon them. Overjoyed with her good fortune, she ran to her 
 mother with her prize. It immediately became a subject of 
 sage speculation, and was eyed by some with superstitious 
 distrust. " Throw it away,'' said one ; " it's Moorish, — depend 
 upon it, there's mischief and witchcraft in it.'' " By no means," 
 said another ; " you may sell it for something to the jewellers of 
 the Zacatin." In the midst of this discussion an old tawny soldier 
 drew near, who had served in Africa, and was as swarthy as a 
 Moor. He examined the hand with a knowing look. " I have 
 seen things of this kind," said he, "among the Moors of Bar- 
 bary. It is a great virtue to guard against the evil eye, and all 
 
LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 385 
 
 kinds of spells and enchantments. I give you joy, friend Lope, 
 this bodes good luck to your child." 
 
 Upon hearing this, the wife of Lope Sanchez tied the little 
 hand of jet to a ribbon, and hung it round the neck of her 
 daughter. 
 
 The sight of this talisman called up all the favourite supersti- 
 tions about the Moors. The dance was neglected, and they 
 sat in groups on the ground, telling old legendary tales handed 
 down from their ancestors. Some of their stories turned upon 
 the wonders of the very mountain upon which they were 
 seated, which is a famous hobgoblin region. One ancient 
 crone gave a long account of the subterranean palace in the 
 bowels of that mountain where Boabdil and all his Moslem 
 court are said to remain enchanted. " Among yonder ruins," 
 said she, pointing to some crumbling walls and mounds of earth 
 on a distant part of the mountain, " there is a deep black pit 
 that goes down, down into the very heart of the mountain. For 
 all the money in Granada I would not look down into it. Once 
 upon a time a poor man of the Alhambra, who tended goats 
 upon this mountain, scrambled down into that pit after a kid 
 that had fallen in. He came out again all wild and staring, and 
 told such things of what he had seen, that every one thought 
 his brain was turned. He raved for a day or two about the 
 hobgoblin Moors that had pursued him in the cavern, and 
 could hardly be persuaded to drive his goats up again to the 
 mountain. He did so at last, but, poor man, he never came 
 down again. The neighbours found his goats browsing about 
 the Moorish ruins, and his hat and mantle lying near the mouth 
 of the pit, but he was never more heard of." 
 
 The little Sanchica listened with breathless attention to this 
 story. She was of a curious nature, and felt immediately a 
 great hankering to peep into this dangerous pit. Stealing away 
 from her companions, she sought the distant ruins, and, after 
 groping for some time among them, came to a small hollow, or 
 basin, near the brow of the mountain, where it swept steeply 
 
 c c 
 
386 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 down into the valley of the Darro. In the centre of this basin 
 yawned the mouth of the pit. Sanchica ventured to the verge, 
 and peeped in. All was as black as pitch, and gave an idea of 
 immeasurable depth. Her blood ran cold ; she drew back, 
 then peeped in again, then would have run away, then took 
 another peep, — the very horror of the thing was delightful to 
 her. At length she rolled a large stone, and pushed it over the 
 brink. For some time it fell in silence ; then struck some 
 rocky projection with a violent crash ; then rebounded from 
 side to side, rumbling and tumbling, with a noise like thunder ; 
 then made a final splash into water, far, far below, — and all 
 was again silent. 
 
 The silence, however, did not long continue. It seemed as 
 if something had been awakened within this dreary abyss. A 
 murmuring sound gradually rose out of the pit like the hum 
 and buzz of a beehive. It grew louder and louder, there was 
 the confusion of voices as of a distant multitude, together with 
 the faint din of arms, clash of cymbals and clangor of trumpets, 
 as if some army were marshalling for battle in the very bowels 
 of the mountain. 
 
 The child drew off with silent awe, and hastened back to the 
 place where she had left her parents and their companions. All 
 were gone. The bonfire was expiring, and its last wreath of 
 smoke curling up in the moonshine. The distant fires that 
 had blazed along the mountains and in the Vega were all ex- 
 tinguished, and everything seemed to have sunk to repose. 
 Sanchica called her parents and some of her companions by 
 name, but received no reply. She ran down the side of the 
 mountain, and by the gardens of the Generalife, until she 
 arrived in the alley of trees leading to the Alhambra, when she 
 seated herself on a bench of a woody recess, to recover breath. 
 The bell from the watch-tower of the Alhambra tolled midnight. 
 There was a deep tranquillity as if all nature slept ; excepting 
 the low tinkling sound of an unseen stream that ran under the 
 covert of the bushes. The breathing sweetness of the atmos- 
 
LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 387 
 
 phere was lulling her to sleep, when her eye was caught by 
 something glittering at a distance, and to her surprise she be- 
 held a long cavalcade of Moorish warriors pouring down the 
 mountain-side and along the leafy avenues. Some were armed 
 with lances and shields ; others, with cimeters and battle-axes, 
 and with polished cuirasses that flashed in the moonbeams. 
 Their horses pranced proudly and champed upon their bits, but 
 their tramp caused no more sound than if they had been shod 
 with felt, and the riders were all as pale as death. Among 
 them rode a beautiful lady, with a crowned head and long 
 golden locks entwined with pearls. The housings of her palfrey 
 were of crimson velvet emljroidered with gold, and swept the 
 earth ; but she rode all disconsolate, with her eyes ever fixed 
 upon the ground. 
 
 Then succeeded a train of courtiers magnificently arrayed in 
 robes and turbans of divers colours, and amidst them, on a 
 cream-coloured charger, rode king Boabdil el Chico, in a royal 
 mantle covered with jewels, and a crown sparkling with 
 diamonds. The little Sanchica knew him by his yellow beard, 
 and his resemblance to his portrait, which she had often seen 
 in the picture-gallery of the Generalife. She gazed in wonder 
 and admiration at this royal pageant, as it passed glistening 
 among the trees ; but though she knew these monarchs and 
 courtiers and warriors, so pale and silent, were out of the com- 
 mon course of nature, and things of magic and enchantment, 
 yet she looked on with a bold heart, such courage did she derive 
 from the mystic talisman of the hand, which was suspended 
 about her neck. 
 
 The cavalcade having passed by, she rose and followed. It 
 continued on to the great Gate of Justice, which stood wide 
 open ; the old invalid sentinels on duty lay on the stone 
 benches of the barbican, buried in profound and apparently 
 charmed sleep, and the phantom pageant swept noiselessly by them 
 with flaunting banner and triumphant state. Sanchica would 
 have followed ; but to her surprise she beheld an opening in 
 
 C c 3 
 
388 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 the earth, within the barbican, leading down beneath the 
 foundations of the tower. She entered for a little distance, and 
 was encouraged to proceed by finding steps rudely hewn in the 
 rock, and a vaulted passage here and there lit up by a silver 
 lamp, which, while it gave light, diffused likewise a grateful 
 fragrance. Venturing on, she came at last to a great hall, 
 wrought out of the heart of the mountain, magnificently fur- 
 nished in the Moorish style, and lighted up by silver and 
 crystal lamps. Here, on an ottoman, sat an old man in 
 Moorish dress, with a long white beard, nodding and dozing, 
 with a staff in his hand, which seemed ever to be slipping from 
 his grasp ; while at a little distance sat a beautiful lady, in 
 ancient Spanish dress, with a coronet all sparkling with 
 diamonds, and her hair entwined with pearls, who was softly 
 playing on a silver lyre. The little Sanchica now recollected a 
 story she had heard among the old people of the Alhambra, 
 concerning a Gothic princess confined in the centre of the 
 mountain by an old Arabian magician, whom she kept bound 
 up in magic sleep by the power of music. 
 
 The lady paused with surprise at seeing a mortal in that 
 enchanted hall. " Is it the eve of the blessed St. John ? " said 
 she. 
 
 " It is,'' replied Sanchica. 
 
 " Then for one night the magic charm is suspended. Come 
 hither, child, and fear not. I am a Christian like thyself, 
 though bound here by enchantment. Touch my fetters with 
 the talisman that hangs about my neck, and for this night I 
 shall be free." 
 
 So saying, she opened her robes and displayed a broad 
 golden band round her waist, and a golden chain that fastened 
 her to the ground. The child hesitated not to apply the little 
 hand of jet to the golden band, and immediately the chain fell 
 to the earth. At the sound the old man woke and began to 
 rub his eyes ; but the lady ran her fingers over the chords of 
 the lyre, and again he fell into a slumber and began to nod, and 
 
LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 3S9 
 
 his staff to falter in his hand. " Now," said the lady, " touch 
 his staff with the talismanic hand of jet." The child did so, 
 and it fell from his grasp, and he sank in a deep sleep on the 
 ottoman. The lady gently laid the silver lyre on the ottoman, 
 leaning it against the head of the sleeping magician ; then 
 touching the chords until they vibrated in his ear, — " O potent 
 spirit of harmony," said she, " continue thus to hold his senses 
 in thraldom till the return of day. Now follow me, my child," 
 continued she, " and thou shalt behold the Alhambra as it was 
 in the days of its glory, for thou hast a magic talisman that 
 reveals all enchantments." Sanchica followed the lady in 
 silence. They passed up through the entrance of the cavern 
 into the barbican of the Gate of Justice, and thence to the 
 Plaza de los Algibes, or esplanade within the fortress. 
 
 This was all filled with Moorish soldiery, horse and foot, 
 marshalled in squadrons, with banners displayed. There were 
 royal guards also at the portal, and rows of African blacks with 
 drawn cimeters. No one spoke a word, and Sanchica passed on 
 fearlessly after her conductor. Her astonishment increased on 
 entering the royal palace, in which she had been reared. The 
 broad moonshine lit up all the halls and courts and gardens 
 almost as brightly as if it were day, but revealed a far different 
 scene from that to which she was accustomed. The walls of 
 the apartments were no longer stained and rent by time. In- 
 stead of cobwebs, they were now hung with rich silks of 
 Damascus, and the gildings and arabesque paintings were 
 restored to their original brilliancy and freshness. The halls, 
 no longer naked and unfurnished, were set out with divans and 
 ottomans of the rarest stuffs, embroidered with pearls and 
 studded with precious gems, and all the fountains in the courts 
 and gardens were playing. 
 
 The kitchens were again in full operation : cooks were 
 busy preparing shadowy dishes, and roasting and boiling the 
 phantoms of pullets and partridges ; servants were hurrying to 
 and fro with silver dishes heaped up with dainties, and arrang- 
 
^90 tHE ALHAMBRA 
 
 ing a delicious banquet. The Court of Lions was thronged 
 with guards, and courtiers, and alfaquis, as in the old times of 
 the Moors ; and at the upper end, in the saloon of judgment, 
 sat Boabdil on his throne, surrounded by his court, and sway- 
 ing a shadowy sceptre for the night. Notwithstanding all this 
 throng and seeming bustle, not a voice nor a footstep was to be 
 heard ; nothing interrupted the midnight silence but the splash- 
 ing of the fountains. The little Sanchica followed her con- 
 ductress in mute amazement about the palace, until they came 
 to a portal opening to the vaulted passages beneath the great 
 tower of Comares. On each side of the portal sat the figure of 
 a nymph, wrought out of alabaster. The heads were turned 
 aside, and their regards fixed upon the same spot within the 
 vault. The enchanted lady paused, and beckoned the child 
 to her. "Here,'' said she, "is a great secret, which I will 
 reveal to thee in reward for thy faith and courage. These dis- 
 creet statues watch over a treasure hidden in old times by a 
 Moorish king. Tell thy father to search the spot on which 
 their eyes are fixed, and he will find what will make him richer 
 than any man in Granada. Thy innocent hands alone, how- 
 ever, gifted as thou art also with the talisman, can remove the 
 treasure. Bid thy father use it discreetly, and devote a part of 
 it to the performance of daily masses for my deliverance from 
 this unholy enchantment." 
 
 When the lady had spoken these words, she led the child 
 onward to the little garden of Lindaraxa, which is hard by the 
 vault of the statues. The moon trembled upon the waters of 
 the solitary fountain in the centre of the garden, and shed a 
 tender light upon the orange and citron trees. The beautiful 
 lady plucked a branch of myrtle and wreathed it round the head 
 of the child. " Let this be a mementoV said she, " of what I 
 have revealed to thee, and a testimonial of its truth. My hour 
 is come ; I must return to the enchanted hall ; follow me not, 
 lest evil befall thee ; — farewell. Remember what I have said, 
 and have masses performed for my deliverance." So saying. 
 
LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 391 
 
 the lady entered a dark passage leading beneath the tower of 
 Comares, and was no longer seen. 
 
 The faint crowing of a cock was now heard from the cottages 
 below the Alhambra, in the valley of the Darro, and a pale 
 streak of light began to appear above the eastern mountains. A 
 slight wind arose, there was a sound like the rustling of dry 
 leaves through the courts and corridors, and door after door 
 shut to with a jarring sound. 
 
 Sanchica returned to the scenes she had so lately beheld 
 thronged with the shadowy multitude, but Boabdil and his 
 phantom court were gone. The moon shone into empty halls 
 and galleries stripped of their transient splendour, stained and 
 dilapidated by time, and hung with cobwebs. The bat flitted 
 about in the uncertain light, and the frog croaked from the 
 fish-pond. 
 
 Sanchica now made the best of her way to a remote staircase 
 that led up to the humble ' apartment occupied by her family. 
 The door as usual was open, for Lope Sanchez was too poor to 
 need bolt or bar ; she crept quietly to her pallet, and, putting 
 the myrtle wreath beneath her pillow, soon fell asleep. 
 
 In the morning she related all that had befallen her to her 
 father. Lope Sanchez, however, treated the whole as a mere 
 dream, and laughed at the child for her credulity. He went 
 forth to his customary labours in the garden, but had not been 
 there long when his little daughter came running to him almost 
 breathless. " Father ! father ! " cried she, " behold the myrtle 
 wreath which the Moorish lady bound round my head ! " 
 
 Lope Sanchez gazed with astonishment, for the stalk of the 
 myrtle was of pure gold, and every leaf was a sparkling 
 emerald ! Being not much accustomed to precious stones, he 
 was ignorant of the real value of the wealth, but he saw enough 
 to convince him that it was something more substantial than 
 the stuff of which dreams are generally made, and that at any rate 
 the child had dreamt to some purpose. His first care was to 
 enjoin the most absolute secrecy upon his daughter ; in this 
 
39; THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 respect, however, he was secure, for she had discretion far be- 
 yond her years or sex. He then repaired to the vault, where 
 stood the statues of the two alabaster nymphs. He remarked 
 that their heads were turned from the portal, and that the 
 regards of each were fixed upon the same point in the interior 
 of the building. Lope Sanchez could not but admire this most 
 discreet contrivance for guarding a secret. He drew a line from 
 the eyes of the statues to the point of regard, made a private 
 mark on the wall, and then retired. 
 
 All day, however, the mind of Lope Sanchez was distracted 
 with a thousand cares. He could not help hovering within 
 distant view of the two statues, and became nervous from the 
 dread that the golden secret might be discovered. Every foot- 
 step that approached the place made him tremble. He would 
 have given anything could he but have turned the heads of the 
 statues, forgetting that they had looked precisely in the same 
 direction for some hundreds of years, without any person being 
 the wiser. 
 
 " A plague upon them," he would say to himself, " they'll 
 betray all ; did ever mortal hear of such a mode of guarding a 
 secret ? " Then on hearing any one advance, he would steal 
 off, as though his very lurking near the place would awaken 
 suspicion. Then he would return cautiously, and peep from a 
 distance to see if everything was secure, but the sight of the 
 statues would again call forth his indignation. " Ay, there 
 they stand," would he say, "always looking, and looking, and 
 looking, just where they should not. Confound them ! they 
 are just like all their sex ; if they have not tongues to tattle 
 with, they'll be sure to do it with their eyes." 
 
 At length, to his relief, the long anxious day drew to a close. 
 The sound of footsteps was no longer heard in the echoing 
 halls of the Alhambra ; the last stranger passed the threshold, 
 the great portal was barred and bolted, and the bat and the 
 frog and the hooting owl gradually resumed their nightly 
 vocations in the deserted palace. 
 
LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 393 
 
 Lope Sanchez waited, however, until the night was far 
 advanced before he ventured with his little daughter to the hall 
 of the two nympths. He found them looking as knowingly 
 and mysteriously as ever at the secret place of deposit. " By 
 your leaves, gentle ladies," thought Lope Sanchez, as he passed 
 between them, " I will relieve you from this charge that must 
 have set so heavy in your minds for the last two or three 
 centuries." He accordingly went to work at the part of the wall 
 which he had marked, and in a little while laid open a con- 
 cealed recess, in which stood two great jars of porcelain. He 
 attempted to draw them forth, but they were immovable, until 
 touched by the innocent hand of his little daughter. With her 
 aid he dislodged them from their niche, and found, to his great 
 joy, that they were filled with pieces of Moorish gold, mingled 
 with jewels and precious stones. Before daylight he managed 
 to convey them to his chamber, and left the two guardian statues 
 with their eyes still fixed on the vacant wall. 
 
 Lope Sanchez had thus on a sudden become a rich man ; 
 but riches, as usual, brought a world of cares to which he had 
 hitherto been a stranger. How was he to convey away his 
 wealth with safety? How was he even to enter upon the 
 enjoyment of it without awakening suspicion ? Now, too, for 
 the first time in his life the dread of robbers entered into his 
 mind. He looked with terror at the insecurity of his habitation, 
 and went to work to barricade the doors and windows ; yet 
 after all his precautions he could not sleep soundly. His 
 usual gaiety was at an end, he had no longer a joke or a song 
 for his neighbours, and, in short, became the most miserable 
 animal in the Alhambra. His old comrades remarked this altera- 
 tion, pitied him heartily, and began to desert him ; thinking he 
 must be falling into want, and into danger of looking to them 
 for assistance. Little did they suspect that his only calamity 
 was riches. 
 
 The wife of Lope Sanchez shared his anxiety, but then she 
 had ghostly comfort. Vie ought before this to have mentioned 
 
394 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 that Lope, being rather a light inconsiderate little man, his wife 
 was accustomed, in all grave matters, to seek the counsel and 
 ministry of her confessor Fray Simon, a sturdy, broad-shouldered 
 blue-bearded, bullet-headed friar of the neighbouring convent 
 of San Francisco, who was in fact the spiritual comforter ot half 
 the good wives of the neighbourhood. He was moreover in 
 great esteem among divers sisterhoods of nuns ; who requited 
 him for his ghostly services by frequent presents of those little 
 dainties and knick-knacks manufactured in convents, such as 
 delicate confections, sweet biscuits, and botdes of spiced cor- 
 dials, found to be marvellous restoratives after fasts and vigils. 
 
 Fray Simon thrived in the exercise of his functions. His 
 oily skin glistened in the sunshine as he toiled up the hill of 
 the Alhambra on a sultry day. Yet notwithstanding his sleek 
 condition, the knotted rope round his waist showed the austerity 
 of his self-discipline ; the multitude doffed their caps to him as 
 a mirror of piety, and even the dogs scented the odour of 
 sanctity that exhaled from his garments, and howled from their 
 kennels as he passed. 
 
 Such was Fray Simon, the spiritual counsellor of the comely 
 wife of Lope Sanchez ; and as the father confessor is the 
 domestic confidant of women in humble life in Spain, he was 
 soon acquainted, in great secrecy, with the story of the hidden 
 treasure. 
 
 The friar opened his eyes and mouth, and crossed himself a 
 dozen times at the news. After a moment's pause, " Daughter 
 of my soul ! " said he, " know that thy husband has committed 
 a double sin — a sin against both state and church ! The 
 treasure he hath thus seized upon for himself, being found in 
 the royal domains, belongs of course to the crown ; but being 
 infidel wealth, rescued as it were from the very fangs of Satan, 
 should be devoted to the church. Still, however, the matter 
 may be accommodated. Bring hither thy myrtle wreath." 
 
 When the good father beheld it, his eyes twinkled more than 
 ever with admiration of the size and beauty of the emeralds. 
 
LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 395 
 
 "This," said he, "being the first-fruits of this discovery, should 
 be dedicated to pious purposes. I will hang it up as a votive 
 offering before the image of San Francisco in our chapel, and 
 will earnestly pray to him, this very night, that your husband 
 be permitted to remain in quiet possession of your wealth." 
 
 The good dame was delighted to make her peace with heaven 
 at so cheap a rate, and the friar, putting the wreath under his 
 mantle, departed with saintly steps towards his convent. 
 
 When Lope Sanchez came home, his wife told him what had 
 .passed. He was excessively provoked, for he lacked his wife's 
 devotion, and had for some time groaned in secret at the 
 domestic visitations of the friar. " Woman," said he, " what hast 
 thou done? thou hast put everything at hazard by thy tattling." 
 
 " What ! " cried the good woman, " would you forbid my 
 disburdening my conscience to my confessor ? " 
 
 " No, wife ! confess as many of your own sins as you please; 
 but as to this money-digging, it is a sin of my own, and my 
 conscience is very easy under the weight of it." 
 
 There was no use, however, in complaining ; the secret was 
 told, and, like water spilled on the sand, was not again to be 
 gathered. Their only chance was, that the friar would be discreet. 
 
 The next day, while Lope Sanchez was abroad, there was an 
 humble knocking at the door, and Fray Simon entered with 
 meek and demure countenance. 
 
 " Daughter," said he, " I have earnestly prayed to San 
 Francisco, and he has heard my prayer. In the dead of the 
 night the saint appeared to me in a dream, but with a frowning 
 aspect. 'Why,' said he, 'dost thou pray to me to dispense 
 with this treasure of the Gentiles, when thou seest the poverty 
 of my chapel ? Go to the house of Lope Sanchez, crave in my 
 name a portion of the Moorish gold, to furnish two candlesticks 
 for the main altar, and let him possess the residue in peace.' " 
 
 When the good woman heard of this vision, she crossed 
 herself with awe, and going to the secret place where Lope had 
 hid the treasure, she filled a great leathern purse with pieces of 
 
396 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Moorish gold, and gave it to the friar. The pious monk bestowed 
 upon her, in return, benedictions enough, if paid by Heaven, 
 to enrich her race to the latest posterity ; then slipping the 
 purse into the sleeve of his habit, he folded his hands upon 
 his breast, and departed with an air of humble thankfulness. 
 
 When Lope Sanchez heard of this second donation to the 
 church, he had well-nigh lost his senses. " Unfortunate man," 
 cried he, "what will become of me? I shall be robbed by 
 piecemeal ; I shall be ruined and brought to beggary ! " 
 
 It was with the utmost difficulty that his wife could pacify 
 him, by reminding him of the countless wealth that yet re- 
 mained, and how considerate it was for San Francisco to rest 
 contented with so small a portion. 
 
 Unluckily, Fray Simon had a number of poor relations to be 
 provided for, not to mention some half-dozen sturdy bullet- 
 headed orphan children and destitute foundlings that he had 
 taken under his care. He repeated his visits, therefore, from 
 day to day, with solicitations on behalf of Saint Dominick, 
 Saint Andrew, Saint James, until poor Lope was driven to 
 despair, and found that unless he got out of the reach of this 
 holy friar, he should have to make peace-offerings to every 
 saint in the calendar. He determined, therefore, to pack up 
 his remaining wealth, beat a secret retreat in the night, and 
 make off to another part of the kingdom. 
 
 Full of his project, he bought a stout mule for the purpose, 
 and tethered it in a gloomy vault underneath the tower of the 
 seven floors ; the very place whence the Belludo, or goblin 
 horse, is said to issue forth at midnight, and scour the streets 
 of Granada, pursued by a pack of hell-hounds. Lope Sanchez 
 had little faith in the story, but availed himself of the dread 
 occasioned by it, knowing that no one would be likely to pry 
 into the subterranean stable of the phantom steed. He sent 
 off his family in the course of the day, with orders to wait for 
 him at a distant village of the Vega. As the night advanced, 
 he conveyed his treasure to the vault under the tower, and 
 
LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 397 
 
 having loaded his mule, he led it forth, and cautiously descended 
 the dusky avenue. 
 
 Honest Lope had taken his measures with the utmost secrecy, 
 imparting them to no one but the faithful wife of his bosom. 
 By some miraculous revelation, however, they became known 
 to Fray Simon. The zealous friar beheld these infidel treasures 
 on the point of slipping forever out of his grasp, and determined 
 to have one more dash at them for the benefit of the church 
 and San Francisco. Accordingly, when the bells had rung for 
 animas, and all the Alhambra was quiet, he stole out of his 
 convent, and descending through the Gate of Justice, concealed 
 himself among the thickets of roses and laurels that border the 
 great avenue. Here he remained, counting the quarters of 
 hours as they were sounded on the bell of the watch-tower, and 
 listening to the dreary hootings of owls, and the distant barking 
 of dogs from the gypsy caverns. 
 
 At length he heard the tramp of hoofs, and, through the 
 gloom of the overshading trees, imperfectly beheld a steed 
 descending the avenue. The sturdy friar chuckled at the 
 idea of the knowing turn he was about to serve honest Lope, 
 
 Tucking up the skirts of his habit, and wriggling like a cat 
 watching a mouse, he waited until his prey was directly 
 before him, when darting forth from his leafy covert, and 
 putting one hand on the shoulder and the other on the crupper, 
 he made a vault that would not have disgraced the most 
 experienced master of equitation, and alighted well-forked 
 astride the steed. "Ah ha!" said the sturdy friar, "we shall 
 now see who best understands the game." He had scarce 
 uttered the words when the mule began to kick, and rear, and 
 plunge, and then set off full speed down the hill. The friar 
 attempted to check him, but in vain. He bounded from rock 
 to rock, and bush to bush ; the friar's habit was torn to ribbons 
 and fluttered in the wind, his shaven poll received many a hard 
 knock from the branches of the trees, and many a scratch from 
 the brambles, To add to his terror and distress, he found a 
 
398 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 pack of seven hounds in full cry at his heels, and perceived, 
 too late, that he was actually mounted upon the terrible 
 Belludo ! 
 
 Away then they went, according to the ancient phrase, " pull 
 devil, pull friar," down the great avenue, across the Plaza 
 Nueva, along the Zacatin, around the Vivarrambla — never did 
 huntsman and hound make a more furious run, or more infernal 
 uproar. In vain did the friar invoke every saint in the calendar, 
 and the holy Virgin into the bargain ; every time he mentioned 
 a name of the kind it was like a fresh application of the spur, 
 and made the Belludo bound as high as a house. Through 
 the remainder of the night was the unlucky Fray Simon carried 
 hither and thither, and whither he would not, until every bone 
 in his body ached, and he suffered a loss of leather too grievous 
 to be mentioned. At length the crowing of a cock gave the 
 signal of returning day. At the sound the goblin steed wheeled 
 about, and galloped back for his tower. Again he scoured the 
 Vivarrambla, the Zacatin, the Plaza Nueva, and the avenue of 
 fountains, the seven dogs yelling, and barking, and leaping up, 
 and snapping at the heels of the terrified friar. The first streak 
 of day had just appeared as they reached the tower ; here the 
 goblin steed kicked up his heels, sent the friar a summerset 
 through the air, plunged into the dark vault followed by the 
 infernal pack, and a profound silence succeeded to the late 
 deafening clamour. 
 
 ■ Was ever so diabolical a trick played off upon a holy friar ? 
 A peasant going to his labours at early dawn found the un- 
 fortunate Fray Simon lying under a fig-tree at the foot of the 
 tower, but so bruised and bedevilled that he could neither 
 speak nor move. He was conveyed with all care and tenderness 
 to his cell, and the story went that he had been waylaid and 
 maltreated by robbers. A day or two elapsed before he re- 
 covered the use of his limbs; he consoled himself, in the 
 meantime, with the thoughts that though the mule with the 
 treasure had escaped him, he had previously had some r^ro 
 
LEGEND OF THE TWO DISCREET STATUES 399 
 
 pickings at the infidel spoils. His first care on being able to 
 use his limbs, was to search beneath his pallet, where he had 
 secreted the myrtle wreath and the leathern pouches of gold 
 extracted from the piety of dame Sanchez. What was his 
 dismay at finding the wreath, in effect, but a withered branch 
 of myrtle, and the leathern pouches filled with sand and gravel ! 
 
 Fray Simon, with all his chagrin, had the discretion to hold 
 his tongue, for to betray the secret might draw on him the 
 ridicule of the public and the punishment of his superior. It 
 was not until many years afterwards, on his death-bed, that he 
 revealed to his confessor his nocturnal ride on the Belludo. 
 
 Nothing was heard of Lope Sanchez for a long time after his 
 disappearance from the Alhambra. His memory was always 
 cherished as that of a merry companion, though it was feared, 
 from the care and melancholy observed in his conduct shortly 
 before his mysterious departure, that poverty and distress had 
 driven him to some extremity. Some years afterwards one of 
 his old companions, an invalid soldier, being at Malaga, was 
 knocked down and nearly run over by a coach and six. The 
 carriage stopped ; an old gentleman, magnificently dressed, 
 with a bag-wig and sword, stepped out to assist the poor 
 invalid. What was the astonishment of the latter to behold 
 in this grand cavalier his old friend Lope Sanchez, who was 
 actually celebrating the marriage of his daughter Sanchica with 
 one of the first grandees in the land. 
 
 The carriage contained the bridal party. There was Dame 
 Sanchez, now grown as round as a barrel, and dressed out with 
 feathers and jewels, and necklaces of pearls, and necklaces of 
 diamonds, and rings on every finger, altogether a finery of 
 apparel that had not been seen since the days of Queen Sheba. 
 The little Sanchica had now grown to be a woman, and for 
 grace and beauty might have been mistaken for a duchess, if 
 not a princess outright. The bridegroom sat beside her — 
 rather a withered spindle-shanked little man, but this only 
 proved him to be of the true-blue blood ; a legitimate Spanish 
 
400 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 grandee being rarely above three cubits in stature. The match 
 had been of the mother's making. 
 
 Riches had not spoiled the heart of honest Lope. He kept 
 his old comrade with him for several days ; feasted him like a 
 king, took him to plays and bull-fights, and at length sent him 
 away rejoicing, with a big bag of money for himself, and 
 another to be distributed among his ancient messmates of the 
 Alhambra. 
 
 Lope always gave out that a rich brother had died in America 
 and left him heir to a copper mine ; but the shrewd gossips of 
 the Alhambra insist that his wealth was all derived from his 
 having discovered the secret guarded by the two marble nymphs 
 of the Alhambra. It is remarked that these very discreet 
 statues continue, even unto the present day, with their eyes 
 fixed most significantly on the same part of the wall ; which 
 leads many to suppose there is still some hidden treasure re- 
 maining there well worthy the attention of the enterprising 
 traveller. Though others, and particularly all female visitors, 
 regard them with great complacency as lasting monuments of 
 the fact that women can keep a secret. 
 
 ..■ / ' TO wH'/"'""'.-. ' ■ 
 
 

 
 .ft 
 
 ^^';;|te'5#^M III 
 
 THE CRUSADE OF THE GRAND MASTER 
 OF ALCANTARA 
 
 In the course of a morning's research among the old 
 chronicles in the Library of the University, I came upon a 
 little episode in the history of Granada, so strongly cha- 
 racteristic of the bigot zeal which sometimes inflamed the 
 Christian enterprises against this splendid but devoted city, 
 that I was tempted to draw it forth from the parchment-bound 
 volume in which it lay entombed, and submit it to the reader. 
 
 In the year of redemption, 1394, there was a valiant and 
 devout grand master of Alcantara, named Martin Yaiiez de 
 Barbudo, who was inflamed with a vehement desire to serve 
 God, and fight the Moors. Unfortunately for this brave and 
 pious cavalier, a profound peace existed between the Christian 
 and Moslem powers. Henry III. had just ascended the throne 
 of Castile, and Yusef ben Mohammed had succeeded to the 
 throne of Granada, and both were disposed to continue the 
 peace which had prevailed between their fathers. The grand 
 
 D D 
 
402 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 master looked with repining at Moorish banners and weapons, 
 which decorated his castle-hall, trophies of the exploits of his 
 
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 -^'■^ '•l:^."" '""'■'■-- - ')-: ''''=t 
 
 predecessors ; and repined at his fate to exist in a period of 
 such inglorious tranquillity. 
 
 At length his impatience broke through all bounds, and 
 seeing that he could find no public war in which to engage, he 
 resolved to carve out a little war for himself, Such at least i? 
 
CRUSADE OF THE GRAND MASTER OF ALCANTARA 
 
 403 
 
 the account given by some ancient chronicles, though others 
 give the following as the motive for this sudden resolution to 
 go campaigning. 
 
 As the grand master was one day seated at table with 
 several of his cavaliers, a man suddenly entered the hall, — 
 tall, meagre, and bony, with haggard countenance and fiery 
 eye. All recognized him for a hermit, who had been a soldier 
 
 in his youth, but now led a life of penitence in a cave. 
 He advanced to the table and struck upon it with a fist 
 that seemed of iron. "Cavaliers," said he, "why sit ye 
 here idly, with )-our Vi-eapons resting against the wall, while 
 the enemies of the faith lord it over the fairest portion of the 
 land ? " 
 
 "Holy father, what wouldst thou have us do," asked the 
 o-rand master, " seeing the wars are over and our swords bound 
 up by treaties of peace ? " 
 
 " Listen to my words," replied the hermit. " As I was seated 
 
 D 1) 2 
 
404 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 late at night at the entrance of my cave, contemplating the 
 heavens, I fell into a reverie, and a wonderful vision was pre- 
 sented to me. I beheld the moon, a mere crescent, yet 
 luminous as the brightest silver, and it hung in the heavens 
 over the kingdom of Granada. AVhile I was looking at it, 
 behold there shot forth from the firmament a blazing star, 
 which, as it went, drew after it all the stars of heaven ; and 
 they assailed the moon and drove it from the skies ; and the 
 whole firmament was filled with the glory of the blazing star. 
 While mine eyes were yet dazzled by this wondrous sight, some 
 one stood by me with snowy wings and a shining countenance. 
 ' Oh man of prayer,' said he, ' get thee to the grand master of 
 Alcantara and tell him of the vision thou hast beheld. He is 
 the blazing star, destined to drive the crescent, the Moslem 
 emblem, from the land. Let him boldly draw the sword and 
 continue the good work begun by Pelazo of old, and victory 
 will assuredly attend his banner.' " 
 
 The grand master listened to the hermit as to a messenger 
 from heaven, and followed his counsel in all things. By his 
 advice he despatched tvfo of his stoutest warriors, armed cap- 
 A-pie, on an embassy to the Moorish king. They entered the 
 gates of Granada without molestation, as the nations were at 
 peace ; and miade their way to the Alhambra, where they were 
 promptly admitted to the king, who received them in the Hall 
 of Ambassadors. They delivered their message roundly and 
 hardly. "We come, O King, from Don Martin Yanez de 
 Barbudo, grand master of Alcantara ; who affirms the faith of 
 Jesus Christ to be true and holy, and that of Mahomet false 
 and detestable, and he challenges thee to maintain the contrary, 
 hand to hand, in single combat. Shouldst thou refuse, he 
 offers to combat with one hundred cavaliers against two 
 hundred; or, in like proportion, to the number of one 
 thousand, always allowing thy faith a double number of 
 champions. Remember, O King, that thou canst not refuse 
 

 
4o6 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 this challenge ; since thy prophet, knowing the impossibility 
 of maintaining his doctrines by argument, has commanded his 
 followers to enforce them with the sword." 
 
 The beard of king Yusef trembled with indignation. " The 
 master of Alcantara," said he, " is a madman to send such a 
 message, and ye are saucy knaves to bring it." 
 
 So saying, he ordered the ambassadors to be thrown into a 
 dungeon, by way of giving them a lesson in diplomacy ; and 
 they were roughly treated on their way thither by the populace, 
 who were exasperated at this insult to their sovereign and their 
 faith. 
 
 The grand master of Alcantara could scarcely credit the 
 tidings of the maltreatment of his messengers ; but the hermit 
 rejoiced when they were repeated to him. " God," said he, 
 " has blinded this infidel king for his downfall. Since he has 
 sent no reply to thy defiance, consider it accepted. Marshal 
 thy forces, therefore ; march forward to Granada ; pause not 
 until thou seest the gate of Elvira. A miracle will be 
 wrought in thy favour. There will be a great battle ; the 
 enemy will be overthrown ; but not one of thy soldiers will 
 be slain." 
 
 The grand master called upon every warrior zealous in the 
 Christian cause to aid him in this crusade. In a little while three 
 hundred horsemen and a thousand foot-soldiers rallied under 
 his standard. The horsemen were veterans, seasoned to battle 
 and well armed ; but the infantry were raw and undisciplined. 
 The victory, however, was to be miraculous ; the grand master 
 was a man of surpassing faith, and knew that the weaker the 
 means the greater the miracle. He sallied forth confidently, 
 therefore, with his little army, and the hermit strode ahead, 
 bearing a cross on the end of a long pole, and beneath it the 
 pennon of the order of Alcantara. 
 
 As they approached the city of Cordova they were overtaken 
 by messengers, spurring in all haste, bearing missives from the 
 Castilian monarch, forbidding the enterprise. The grand 
 
CRUSADE OF THE GRAND MASTER OF ALCANTARA 407 
 
 master was a man of a single mind and a single will; in 
 other words, a man of one idea. "Were I on any other 
 errand," said he, " I should obey these letters as coming from 
 my lord the king ; but I am sent by a higher power than the 
 king. In compliance with its commands I have advanced the 
 cross thus far against the infidels ; and it would be treason to 
 the standard of Christ to turn back without achieving my 
 errand." 
 
 So the trumpets were sounded ; the cross was again reared 
 aloft, and the band of zealots resumed their march. As they 
 passed through the streets of Cordova the people were amazed 
 at beholding a hermit bearing a cross at the head of a warlike 
 multitude ; but when they learnt that a miraculous victory was 
 to be effected and Granada destroyed, labourers and artisans 
 threw by the implements of their handicrafts and joined in the 
 crusade ; while a mercenary rabble followed on with a view of 
 plunder. 
 
4o8 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 A number of cavaliers o. rank who lacked faith in the 
 promised miracle, and dreaded the consequences of this 
 unprovoked irruption into the country of the Moor, assembled 
 at the bridge of the Guadalquivir and endeavoured to dissuade 
 the grand master from crossing. He was deaf to prayers, 
 expostulations, or menaces ; his followers were enraged at this 
 opposition to the cause of the faith ; they put an end to the 
 parley by their clamours; the cross was again reared and 
 borne triumphantly across the bridge. 
 
 The multitude increased as it proceeded ; by the time the 
 grand master had reached Alcala la Real, which stands on a 
 
 mountain overlooking the Vega of Granada, upwards of five 
 thousand men on foot had joined his standard. 
 
 At Alcala came forth Alonzo Fernandez de Cordova, Lord 
 of Aguilar, his brother Diego Fernandez, Marshal of Castile, 
 and other cavaliers of valour and experience Placing them- 
 selves in the way of the grand master, " What madness is this, 
 Don Martin ? " said they ; " the Moorish king has two hundred 
 thousand foot soldiers and five thousand horse within his walls ; 
 what can you and your handful of cavaliers and your noisy 
 rabble do against such force ? Bethink you of the disasters 
 which have befallen other Christian commanders who have 
 
CRUSADE OF THE GRAND MASTER OF ALCANTARA 409 
 
 crossed these rocky borders with ten times your force. Think, 
 too, of the mischief that will be brought upon this kingdom by 
 an outrage of the kind committed by a man of your rank and 
 importance, a grand master of Alcdntara. Pause, we entreat 
 you, while the truce is yet unbroken. Await within the borders 
 the reply of the king of Granada to your challenge. If he 
 agree to meet you singly, or with champions two or three, it 
 will be your individual contest, and fight it out in God's name ; 
 if he refuse, you may return home with great honour and the 
 disgrace will fall upon the Moors." 
 
 Several cavaliers, who had hitherto followed the grand 
 master with devoted zeal, were moved by these expostulations, 
 and suggested to him the policy of listening to this 
 advice. 
 
 " Cavahers," said he, addressing himself to Alonzo Fernandez 
 de Cordova and his companions, " I thank you for the 
 counsel you have so kindly bestowed upon me, and if I were 
 merely in pursuit of individual glory I might be swayed by it. 
 But I am engaged to achieve a great triumph of the faith, which 
 God is to effect by miracle through my means. As to you, 
 cavaliers," turning to those of his followers who had wavered, 
 "if your hearts fail you, or you repent of having put your 
 hands to this good work, return, in God's name, and my 
 blessing go with you. For myself, though I have none to 
 stand by me but this holy hermit, yet will I assuredly proceed ; 
 until I have planted this sacred standard on the walls of 
 Granada, or perished in the attempt." 
 
 " Don Martin Yanez de Barbudo," replied the cavaliers, " we 
 are not men to turn our backs upon our commander, however 
 rash his enterprise. We spoke but in caution. Lead on, 
 therefore, and if it be to the death, be assured to the death we 
 will follow thee." 
 
 By this time the common soldiers became impatient. 
 " Forward ! forward ! " shouted they. " Forward in the cause 
 of faith." So the grand master gave signal, the hermit again 
 
4IO THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 reared the cross aloft, and they poured down a defile of the 
 mountain, with solemn chants of triumph. 
 
 That night they encamped at the river of Azores, and the 
 next morning, which was Sunday, crossed the borders. Their 
 first pause was at an atalaya or solitary tower, built upon a 
 rock ; a frontier post to keep a watch upon the border, and 
 give notice of invasion. It was thence called el Torre del 
 Exea (the tower of the spy). The grand master halted before 
 it and summoned its petty garrison to surrender. He was 
 answered by a shower of stones and arrows, which wounded 
 him in the hand and killed three of his men. 
 
 "How is this, father?" said he to the hermit; "you 
 assured me that not one of my followers would be slain ! " 
 
 'True, my son, but I meant in the great battle of the 
 infidel king ; what need is there of miracle to aid in the capture 
 of a petty tower ? " 
 
 The grand master was satisfied. He ordered wood to be 
 piled against the door of the tower to burn it down. In the 
 meantime provisions were unloaded from the sumpter-mules, 
 and the crusaders, withdrawing beyond bow-shot, sat down on the 
 grass to a repast to strengthen them for the arduous day's work 
 before them. While thus engaged, they were startled by the 
 sudden appearance of a great Moorish host. The atalayas had 
 given the alarm by fire and smoke from the mountain-tops of 
 " an enemy across the border," and the king of Granada had 
 sallied forth with a great force to the encounter. 
 
 The crusaders, nearly taken by surprise, flew to arms and 
 prepared for battle. The grand master ordered his three 
 hundred horsemen to dismount and fight on foot in support of 
 the infantry. The Moors however, charged so suddenly that 
 they separated the cavaliers from the foot-soldiers and pre- 
 vented their uniting. The grand master gave the old war-cry, 
 " Santiago 1 Santiago ! and close Spain ! " He and his knights 
 breasted the fury of the battle, but were surrounded by a 
 countless host and assailed with arrows, stones, darts, and 
 
CRUSADE OF THE GRAND MASTER OF ALCANTARA 411 
 
 arquebuses. Still they fought fearlessly, and made prodigious 
 slaughter. The hermit mingled in the hottest of the fight. In 
 one hand he bore the cross, in the other he brandished a sword, 
 with which he dealt about him like a maniac, slaying several of 
 the enemy, until he sank to the ground covered with wounds. 
 The grand master saw him fall, and saw too late the fallacy of 
 his prophecies. Despair, however, only made him fight the 
 more fiercely, until he also fell overpowered by numbers. His 
 devoted cavaliers emulated his holy zeal. Not one turned his 
 back nor asked for mercy ; all fought until they fell. As to the 
 foot-soldiers, many were killed, many were' taken prisoners; the 
 residue escaped to Alcala la Real. When the Moors came to 
 strip the slain, the wounds of the cavaliers were all found to be 
 in front. 
 
 Such was the catastrophe of this fanatic enterprise. The 
 Moors vaunted it as a decisive proof of the superior sanctity of 
 their faith, and extolled their king to the skies when he returned 
 in triumph to Granada. 
 
 As it was satisfactorily shown that this crusade was the 
 enterprise of an individual, and contrary to the express orders 
 of the king of Castile, the peace of the two kingdoms was 
 not interrupted. Nay, the Moors evinced a feeling of respect 
 for the valour of the unfortunate grand master, and readily gave 
 up his body to Don Alonzo Fernandez de Cordova, who came 
 from Alcala to seek it. The Christians of the frontier united 
 in paying the last sad honours to his memory. His body was 
 placed upon a bier, covered with the pennon of the order of 
 Alcantara ; and the broken cross, the emblem of his confident 
 hopes and fatal disappointment, was borne before it. In this 
 way his remains were carried back in funeral procession, through 
 the mountain tract which he had traversed so resolutely. 
 Wherever it passed, through a town or village, the populace 
 followed, with tears and lamentations, bewailing him as a 
 valiant knight and a martyr to the faith. His body was 
 interred in the chapel of the convent of Santa Maria de 
 
412 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Almocovara, and on his sepulchre may still be seen engraven 
 in quaint and antique Spanish the following testimonial to his 
 bravery : — 
 
 HERE LIES ONE WHOSE HEART NEVER KNEW FEAR. 
 {Aquiyaz aqttel, que far neva ccsa niinca eve favor en seu corazon.) 
 
■- ~''"iTjt.'ff Tf f7V';» " fi[lll''i»''. 
 
 'is 
 
 AN EXPEDITION IN QUEST OF A 
 DIPLOMA 
 
 One of the most important occurrences in the domestic life 
 of the Alhambra, was the departure of Manuel, the nephew of 
 Dona Antonia, for Malaga, to stand examination as a physician. 
 I have already informed the reader that, on his success in 
 obtaining a degree depended in a great measure the union and 
 future fortunes of himself and his cousin Dolores ; at least so 
 I was privately informed by Mateo Ximenes, and various cir- 
 cumstances occurred to corroborate his information. Their 
 courtship, however, was carried on very quietly and discreetly, 
 and I scarce think I should have discovered it, if I had not 
 been put on the alert by the all-observant Mateo. 
 
 In the present instance, Dolores was less on the reserve, and 
 had busied herself for several days in fitting out honest Manuel 
 for his expedition. All his clothes had been arranged and 
 packed in the neatest order, and above all she had worked a 
 smart Andalusian travelling-jacket for him with her own hands. 
 On the morning appointed for his departure, a stout mule on 
 which be was to perform the journey was paraded at the portal 
 
414 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 of the Alhambra, and Tio Polo (Uncle Polo), an old invalid 
 soldier, attended to caparison him. This veteran was one of 
 the curiosities of the place. He had a leathern lantern visage 
 tanned in the tropics, a long Roman nose, and a black beetle 
 eye. I had frequently observed him reading, apparently with 
 intense interest, an old parchment-bound volume ; sometimes 
 he would be surrounded by a group of his brother invalids ; 
 some seated on the parapets, some lying on the grass, listening 
 with fixed attention, while he read slowly and deliberately out 
 of his favourite work, sometimes pausing to explain or expound 
 for the benefit of his less enlightened auditors. 
 
 I took occasion one day to inform myself of this ancient 
 book, which appeared to be his vade mecum, and found it to be 
 an odd volume of the works of Padre Benito Geronymo Feyjoo ; 
 and that one which treats about the Magic of Spain, the 
 mysterious caves of Salamanca and Toledo, the Purgatory of 
 San Patricio (St. Patrick), and other mystic subjects of the 
 kind. From that time I kept my eye upon the veteran. 
 
 On the present occasion I amused myself with watching him 
 fit out the steed of Manuel with all the forecast of an old 
 campaigner. First he took a considerable time in adjusting to 
 the back of the mule a cumbrous saddle of antique fashion, 
 high in front and behind, with Moorish stirrups like shovels ; 
 the whole looking like a relic of the old armoury of the 
 Alhambra ; then a fleecy sheepskin was accommodated to the 
 deep seat of the saddle ; then a maleta, neatly packed by the 
 hand of Dolores, was buckled behind; then a mania was 
 thrown over it to serve as either cloak or couch ; then the all- 
 important alforjas carefully stocked with provant, were hung in 
 front, together with the bota, or leathern bottle for either wine 
 or water, and lastly the trabucho, which the old soldier slung 
 behind, giving it his benediction. It was like the fitting out in 
 old times of a Moorish cavalier for a foray or a joust in the 
 Vivarrambla. A number of the lazzaroni of the fortress had 
 gathered round, with some of the invalids, all looking on, all 
 
AN EXrEDITION IN QUEST OF A DIPLOJ.IA 415 
 
 offering their aid, and all giving advice, to the great annoyance 
 of Tio Polo. 
 
 ^^'hen all was ready Manuel took leave of the household ; 
 Tio Polo held his stirrup while he mounted, adjusted the girths 
 and saddle, and cheered him off in military style; then turning to 
 Dolores, who stood admiring her cavalier as he trotted off, 
 " Ah, Dolorocita," exclaimed he, with a nod and a wink, " es muy 
 gitapo Manuelito in su Xaqueta " (Ah Dolores, Manuel is 
 mighty fine in his jacket). The little damsel blushed and 
 laughed, and ran into the house. 
 
 Days elapsed without tidings from Manuel, though he had 
 promised to write. The heart of Dolores began to misgive her. 
 Had anything happened to him on the road ? Had he failed 
 in his examination? A circumstance occurred in her little 
 household to add to her uneasiness and fill her mind with fore- 
 boding. It was almost equal to the escapado of her pigeon. 
 Her tortoise-shell cat eloped at night and clambered to the 
 tiled roof of the Alhambra. In the dead of the night there was 
 a fearful caterwauling ; some grimalkin was uncivil to her ; then 
 there was a scramble ; then a clapper-clawing ; then both 
 parties rolled off the roof and tumbled from a great height among 
 the trees on the hill-side. Nothing more was seen or heard 
 of the fugitive, and poor Dolores considered it but the prelude 
 to greater calamities. 
 
 At the end of ten days, however, Manuel returned in triumph, 
 duly authorised to kill or cure ; and all Dolores' cares were 
 over. There was a general gathering in the evening of the 
 humble friends and hangers-on of Dame Antonia to congratulate 
 her and pay their respects to el Senor Medico, who, peradventure, 
 at some future day might have all their lives in his hands. One 
 of the most important of these guests was old Tio Polo ; and I 
 gladly seized the occasion to prosecute my acquaintance with 
 him. " Oh Senor," cried Dolores, " you who are so eager to 
 learn all the old histories of the Alhambra, Tio Polo knows more 
 about them than any one else about the place. More than 
 Mateo Ximenes and his whole family put together. Vaya— 
 
4l6 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 Vaya — Tio Polo, tell the Senor all those stories you told us 
 one evening, about enchanted Moors, and the haunted bridge 
 over the Darro, and the old stone pomegranates, that have 
 been there since the days of King Chico.'' 
 
 It was some time before the old invalid could be brought 
 into a narrative vein. He shook his head — they were all idle 
 tales ; not worthy of being told to a cavaUero like myself. It was 
 only by telling some stories of the kind myself I at last got him 
 to open his budget. It was a whimsical farrago, partly made 
 up of what he had heard at the Alhambra, partly of what he 
 had read in Padre Feyjoo. I will endeavour to give the reader 
 the substance of it, but I will not promise to give it in the very 
 words of Tio Polo. 
 
 
 .-J I 
 
 .7 
 
\ 
 
 .''V^A.%^ 
 
 ^mh 
 
 .:!^i^\h 
 
 
 .^!^ T 
 
 '1r 
 
 
 
 
 >/■• ■ 
 
 
 THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED 
 SOLDIER 
 
 Everybody has heard of the Cave of St. Cyprian at Sala- 
 manca, where in old times judicial astronomy, necromancy, 
 chiromancy, and other dark and damnable arts were secretly 
 taught by an ancient sacristan ; or, as some will have it, by the 
 devil himself, in that disguise. The cave has long been shut up 
 and the very site of it forgotten ; though, according to tradition, 
 the entrance was somewhere about where the stone cross stands 
 in the small square of the seminary of Carvajal ; and this tradition 
 appears in some degree corroborated by the circumstances of 
 the following story. 
 
 There was at one time a student of Salamanca, Don Vicente 
 by name, of that merry but mendicant class, who set out on 
 the road to learning without a penny in pouch for the journey, 
 and who, during college vacations, beg from town to town and 
 village to village to raise funds to enable them to pursue their 
 studies through the ensuing term. He was now about to set 
 forth on his wanderings ; and being somewhat musical, slung 
 
 E E 
 
4i8 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 on his back a guitar with which to amuse the villagers, and pay 
 for a meal or a night's lodging. 
 
 As he passed by the stone cross in the seminary square, he 
 pulled off his hat and made a short invocation to St. Cyprian, 
 for good luck ; when casting his eyes upon the earth, he per- 
 ceived something glitter at the foot of the cross. On picking 
 it up, it proved to be a seal-ring of mixed metal, in which gold 
 and silver appeared to be blended. The seal bore as a device 
 two triangles crossing each other, so as to form a star. This 
 device is said to be a cabalistic sign, invented by king Solomon 
 the Wise, and of mighty power in all cases of enchantment ; 
 but the honest student, being neither sage nor conjurer, knew 
 nothing of the matter. He took the ring as a present from St. 
 Cyprian in reward of his prayer ; slipped it on his finger, made 
 a bow to the cross, and strumming his guitar, set off merrily on 
 his wandering. 
 
 The life of a mendicant student in Spain is not the most 
 miserable in the world; especially if he has any talent at 
 making himself agreeable. He rambles at large from village 
 to village, and city to city, wherever curiosity or caprice may 
 conduct him. The country curates, who, for the most part, 
 have been mendicant students in their time, give him shelter 
 for the night, and a comfortable meal, and often enrich him with 
 several quartos, or halfpence in the morning. As he presents 
 himself from door to door in the streets of the cities, he meets 
 with no harsh rebuff, no chilling contempt, for there is no dis- 
 grace attending his mendicity, many of the most learned men 
 in Spain having commenced their career in this manner ; but 
 if, like the student in question, he is a good-looking varlet and 
 a merry companion ; and, above all, if he can play the guitar, 
 he is sure of a hearty welcome among the peasants, and smiles 
 and favours from their wives and daughters. 
 
 In this way, then, did our ragged and musical son of learning 
 make his way over half the kingdom ; with fixed determination 
 to visit the famous city of Granada before his return. Some- 
 
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER 419 
 
 times he was gathered for the night into the fold of some 
 village pastor ; sometimes he was sheltered under the humble, 
 but hospitable roof of the peasant. Seated at the cottage door 
 with his guitar, he delighted the simple folk with his ditties ; or 
 striking up a fandango or bolero, set the brown country lads 
 and lasses dancing in the mellow twilight. In the morning he 
 departed with kind words from host and hostess, and kind looks 
 and, peradventure, a squeeze of the hand from the daughter. 
 
 At length he arrived at the great object of his musical vaga- 
 bondising, the far-famed city of Granada, and hailed with 
 wonder and delight its Moorish towers, its lovely mga, and its 
 snowy mountains glistening through a summer atmosphere. It 
 is needless to say with what eager curiosity he entered its gates 
 and wandered through its streets, and gazed upon its oriental 
 monuments. Every female face peering through a window or 
 beaming from a balcony was to him a Zorayda or a Zelinda, 
 nor could he meet a stately dame on the Alameda but he was 
 ready to fancy her a Moorish princess, and to spread his 
 student's robe beneath her feet. 
 
 His musical talent, his happy humour, his youth and his 
 good looks, won him a universal welcome in spite of his ragged 
 robes, and for several days he led a gay life in the old Moorish 
 capital and its environs. One of his occasional haunts was the 
 fountain of Avellanos, in the valley of Darro. It is one of the 
 popular resorts of Granada, and has been so since the days of 
 the Moors ; and here the student had an opportunity of pur- 
 suing his studies of female beauty ; a branch of study to which 
 he was a little prone. 
 
 Here he would take his seat with his guitar, improvise love- 
 ditties to admiring groups of majos and majas, or prompt with 
 his music the ever-ready dance. He was thus engaged one 
 evening when he beheld a padre of the church advancing, at 
 whose approach every one touched the hat. He was evidently 
 a man of consequence ; he certainly was a mirror of good if not 
 of holy living ; robust and rosy-faced, and breathing at every 
 
 E E 2 
 
420 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 pore with the warmth of the weather and the exercise of the 
 walk. As he passed along he would every now and then draw 
 a maravedi out of his pocket and bestow it on a beggar with 
 an air of signal beneficence. " Ah, the blessed father ! " would 
 be the cry ; " long life to him, and may he soon be a bishop ! " 
 
 To aid his steps in ascending the hill he leaned gently now 
 and then on the arm of a handmaid, evidently the pet-lamb of 
 this kindest of pastors. Ah, such a damsel ! Andulas from 
 head to foot ; from the rose in her hair, to the fairy shoe and 
 lacework stocking ; Andalus in every movement ; in every 
 undulation of the body : — ripe, melting Andalus ! — But then 
 so modest ! — so shy ! — ever, with downcast eyes, listening to the 
 words of the padre ; or, if by chance she let flash a side glance, 
 it was suddenly checked and her eyes once more cast to the 
 ground. 
 
 The good padre looked benignantly on the company about 
 the fountain, and took his seat with some emphasis on a stone 
 bench, while the handmaid hastened to bring him a glass of 
 sparkling water. He sipped it deliberately and with a relish, 
 tempering it with one of those spongy pieces of frosted eggs 
 and sugar so dear to Spanish epicures, and on returning the 
 glass to the hand of the damsel pinched her cheek with infinite 
 loving-kindness. 
 
 "Ah, the good pastor !" whispered the student to himself; 
 " what a happiness would it be to be gathered into his fold 
 with such a pet-lamb for a companion ! " 
 
 But no such good fare was likely to befall him. In vain he 
 essayed those powers of pleasing which he had found so irre- 
 sistible with country curates and country lasses. Never had 
 he touched his guitar with such skill ; never had he poured 
 forth more soul-moving ditties, but he had no longer a country 
 curate or country lass to deal with. The worthy priest evidently 
 did not relish music, and the modest damsel never raised her 
 eyes from the ground. They remained but a short time at the 
 fountain; the good padre hastened their return to Granada, 
 
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER 421 
 
 The damsel gave the student one shy glance in retiring; but 
 it plucked the heart out of his bosom ! 
 
 He inquired about them after they had gone. Padre Tomds 
 was one of the saints of Granada, a model of regularity; 
 punctual in his hour of rising; his hour of taking a. paseo for 
 an appetite ; his hours of eating ; his hour of taking his siesta ; 
 his hour of playing his game of tresillo, of an evening, with 
 some of the dames of the Cathedral circle ; his hour of sup- 
 ping, and his hour of retiring to rest, to gather fresh strength 
 for another day's round of similar duties. He had an easy 
 sleek mule for his riding ; a matronly housekeeper skilled in 
 preparing tit-bits for his table ; and the pet-lamb, to smooth 
 his pillow at night and bring him his chocolate in the morning. 
 Adieu now to the gay, thoughtless life of the student ; the 
 side-glance of a bright eye had been the undoing of him. Day 
 and night he could not get the image of this most modest 
 damsel out of his mind. He sought the mansion of the padre. 
 Alas ! it was above the class of houses accessible to a strolling 
 student like himself. The worthy padre had no sympathy 
 with him; he had never been Estudiante sopista, obliged to 
 sing for his supper. He blockaded the house by day, catching 
 a glance of the damsel now and then as she appeared at a case- 
 ment ; but these glances only fed his flame without encourag- 
 ing his hope. He serenaded her balcony at night, and at one 
 time was flattered by the appearance of something white at a 
 window. Alas, it was only the night-cap of the padre. 
 
 Never was lover more devoted ; never damsel more shy : the 
 poor student was reduced to despair. At length arrived the 
 eve of St. John, when the lower classes of Granada swarm into 
 the country, dance away the afternoon, and pass midsummer's 
 night on the banks of the Darro and the Xenil. Happy are 
 they who on this eventful night can wash their faces in those 
 waters just as the cathedral bell tells midnight, for at that 
 precise moment they have a beautifying power. The student, 
 having nothing to do, suffered himself to be carried away by 
 
/|22 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 the holiday-seeking throng until he found himself in the narrow 
 valley of the Darro, below the lofty hill and ruddy towers of the 
 
 Alhambra. The dry 
 
 f-^ bed of the river ; the 
 
 -■:■ '-^\ ''■"'' , , ,.'•!. '\}'}'k , .,) rocks which border 
 
 it ; the terraced gar- 
 ,' dens which overhang 
 it, were alive with 
 variegated groups, 
 dancing under the 
 vines and fig-trees to 
 the sound of the 
 guitar and castanets. 
 The student re- 
 mained for some 
 time in doleful dumps, 
 leaning against one 
 of the huge misshapen 
 stone pomegranates 
 which adorn the ends 
 of the little bridge 
 over the Darro. He 
 cast a wistful glance 
 upon the merry scene, 
 where every cavalier 
 had his dame ; or, to 
 speak more appro- 
 priately, every Jack 
 his Jill ; sighed at his 
 own solitary state, a 
 victim to the black 
 eye of the most unapproachable of damsels, and repined at 
 his ragged garb, which seemed to shut the gate of hope against 
 him. 
 
 By degrees his attention was attracted to a neighbour 
 
 
 
 
 '■% 
 
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER 423 
 
 equally solitary with himself. This was a tall soldier, of a 
 stern aspect and grizzled beard, who seemed posted as a 
 sentry at the opposite pomegranate. His face was bronzed 
 by time; he was arrayed in ancient Spanish armour, with 
 
 ,#Ki*V'' i 
 
 lip 
 
 
 buckler and lance, and stood immovable as a statue. What 
 surprised the student was, that though thus strangely equipped, 
 he was totally unnoticed by the passing throng, albeit that 
 many almost brushed against him. 
 
 "This is a city of old time peculiarities," thought the 
 
424 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 student, " and doubtless this is one of them with which the 
 inhabitants are too familiar to be surprised." His own curi- 
 osity, however, was awakened and being of a social disposition, 
 he accosted the soldier. 
 
 
 
 
 " A rare old suit of armour that which you wear, comrade. 
 May I ask what corps you belong to ? " 
 
 The soldier gasped out a reply from a pair of jaws which 
 seemed to have rusted on their hinges. 
 
 " The royal guard of Ferdinand and Isabella." 
 
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER 425 
 
 " Santa Maria ! Why, it is three centuries since that corps 
 was in service." 
 
 " And for three centuries have I been mounting guard. Now 
 I trust my tour of duty draws to a close. Dost thou desire 
 fortune ? " 
 
 The student held up his tattered cloak in reply. 
 
 " I understand thee. If thou hast faith and courage, follow 
 me, and thy fortune is made." 
 
 " Softly, comrade, to follow thee would require small courage 
 in one who has nothing to lose but life and an old guitar, 
 neither of much value ; but my faith is of a different matter, 
 and not to be put in temptation. If it be any criminal act by 
 which I am to mend my fortune, think not my ragged cloak 
 will make me undertake it." 
 
 The soldier turned on him a look of high displeasure. " My 
 sword," said he, " has never been drawn but in the cause of the 
 faith and the throne. I am a Cristiano viejo ; trust in me and 
 fear no evil." 
 
 The student followed him wondering. He observed that no 
 one heeded their conversation, and that the soldier made his way 
 through the various groups of idlers unnoticed, as if invisible. 
 
 Crossing the bridge, the soldier led the way by a narrow 
 and steep path past a Moorish mill and aqueduct, and up the 
 ravine which separates the domains of the Generalife from 
 those of the Alhambra. The last ray of the sun shone upon 
 the red battlements of the latter, which beetled far above ; and 
 the convent-bells were proclaiming the festival of the ensuing 
 day. The ravine was overshadowed by fig-trees, vines, and 
 myrtles, and the outer towers and walls of the fortress. It was 
 dark and lonely, and the twilight-loving bats began to flit about. 
 At length the soldier halted at a remote and ruined tower, ap- 
 parently intended to guard a Moorish aqueduct. He struck 
 the foundation with the butt-end of his spear. A rumbling 
 sound was heard, and the solid stones yawned apart, leaving 
 an opening as wide as a door. 
 
4^6 
 
 THE ALUAMIIRA 
 
 " Enter in the name of the Holy Trinity," said the soldier, 
 "and fear nothing." The student's heart quaked, but he made 
 the sign of the cross, muttered his A\-e Maria, and followed his 
 
 I .l-.'Vi 
 
 
 ^' 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 il ' 
 
 
 :i 
 
 
 l'^ 
 
 
 mysterious guide into a deep vault cut out of the solid rock 
 under the tower, and covered with Arabic inscriptions. The 
 soldier pointed to a stone seat hewn along one side of the 
 vault. " Behold," said he, " my couch for three hundred 
 
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER 427 
 
 years." The bewildered student tried to force a joke. " By the 
 blessed St. Anthony," said he, "but you must have slept 
 soundly, considering the hardness of your couch." 
 
 " On the contrary, sleep has been a stranger to these eyes ; 
 incessant watchfulness has been my doom. Listen to my lot. 
 I was one of the royal guards of Ferdinand and Isabella ; but 
 was taken prisoner by the Moors in one of their sorties, and 
 confined a captive in this tower. When preparations were 
 made to surrender the fortress to the Christian sovereigns, I 
 was prevailed upon by an Alfaqui, a Moorish priest, to aid him 
 in secreting some of the treasures of Boabdil in this vault. I 
 was justly punished for my fault. The Alfaqui was an African 
 necromancer, and by his infernal arts cast a spell upon me — to 
 guard his treasures. Something must have happened to him, 
 for he never returned, and here have I remained ever since, 
 buried alive. Years and years have rolled away ; earthquakes 
 have shaken this hill ; I have heard stone by stone of the tower 
 above tumbling to the ground, in the natural operation of time ; 
 but the spell-bound walls of this vault set both time and earth- 
 quakes at defiance. 
 
 " Once every hundred years, on the festival of St. John, the 
 enchantment ceases to have thorough sway ; I am permitted to 
 go forth and post myself upon the bridge of the Darro, where 
 you met me, waiting until some one shall arrive who may have 
 power to break this magic spell. I have hitherto mounted guard 
 there in vain. I walk as in a cloud, concealed from mortal 
 sight. You are the first to accost me for now three hundred 
 years. I behold the reason. I see on your finger the seal-ring 
 of Solomon the Wise, which is proof against all enchantment. 
 With you it remains to deliver me from this awful dungeon, 
 or to leave me to keep guard here for another hundred years." 
 
 The student listened to this tale in mute wonderment. He 
 had heard many tales of treasures shut up under strong enchant- 
 ment in the vaults of the Alhambra, but had treated them as 
 fables. He now felt the value of the seal-ring, which had, in a 
 manner, been given to him by St. Cyprian. Still, though 
 
428 THE ALIIAMBRA 
 
 armed by so potent a talisman, it was an awful thing to find 
 himself tete-h-tete in such a place with an enchanted soldier, 
 who, according to the laws of nature, ought to have been 
 quietly in his grave for nearly three centuries. 
 
 A personage of this kind, however, was quite out of the 
 ordinary run, and not to be trifled with, and he assured him he 
 might rely upon his friendship and good will to do everything 
 in his power for his deliverance. 
 
 " I trust to a motive more powerful than friendship," said 
 the soldier. 
 
 He pointed to a ponderous iron coffer, secured by locks, 
 inscribed with Arabic characters. "That coffer,'' said he, 
 " contains countless treasure in gold and jewels and precious 
 stones. Break the magic spell by which I am enthralled, and 
 one half of this treasure shall be thine." 
 
 " But how am I to do it ? " 
 
 "The aid of a Christian priest and a Christian maid is 
 necessary. The priest to exorcise the powers of darkness ; the 
 damsel to touch this chest with the seal of Solomon. This 
 must be done at night. But have a care. This is solemn 
 work, and not to be effected by the carnal-minded. The priest 
 must be a Cristiano viejo, a model of sanctity ; and must 
 mortify the flesh before he comes here, by a rigorous fast of 
 four-and-twenty hours : and as to the maiden, she must be 
 above reproach, and proof against temptation. Linger not in 
 finding such aid. In three days my furlough is at an end ; if 
 not delivered before midnight of the third, I shall have to 
 mount guard for another century." 
 
 " Fear not," said the student, " I have in my eye the very 
 priest and damsel you describe ; but how am I to regain ad- 
 mission to this tower ? " 
 
 " The seal of Solomon will open the way for thee." 
 
 The student issued forth from the tower much more gaily 
 than he had entered. The wall closed behind him, and re- 
 mained solid as before. 
 
 The next morning he repaired boldly to the mansion of .the 
 
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER 429 
 
 priest, no longer a poor strolling student, thrumming his way 
 with a guitar ; but an ambassador from the shadowy world, 
 with enchanted treasures to bestow. No particulars are told of 
 his negotiation, excepting that the zeal of the worthy priest was 
 easily kindled at the idea of rescuing an old soldier of the faith 
 and a strong-box of King Chico from the very clutches of 
 Satan ; and then what alms might be dispensed, what churches 
 built, and how many poor relatives enriched with the Moorish 
 treasure ! 
 
 As to the immaculate handmaid, she was ready to lend her 
 hand, which was all that was required, to the pious work ; and 
 if a shy glance now and then might be believed, the ambassador 
 began to find favour in her modest eyes. 
 
 The greatest difficulty, however, was the fast to which the 
 good Padre had to subject himself. Twice he attempted it, 
 and twice the flesh was too strong for the spirit. It was only 
 on the third day that he was enabled to withstand the tempta- 
 tions of the cupboard ; but it was still a question whether he 
 would hold out until the spell was broken. 
 
 At a late hour of the night the party groped their way up the 
 ravine by the light of a lantern, and bearing a basket with 
 provisions for exorcising the demon of hunger so soon as the 
 other demons should be laid in the Red Sea. 
 
 The seal of Solomon opened their way into the tower. They 
 found the soldier seated on the enchanted strong-box, awaiting 
 their arrival. The exorcism was performed in due style. The 
 damsel advanced and touched the locks of the coffer with the 
 seal of Solomon. The lid flew open ; and such treasures of 
 gold and jewels and precious stones as flashed upon the eye ! 
 
 " Here's cut and come again ! " cried the student exultingly, 
 as he proceeded to cram his pockets. 
 
 " Fairly and softly," exclaimed the soldier. " Let us get the 
 coffer out entire, and then divide." 
 
 They accordingly went to work with might and main ; but it 
 was a difficult task ; the chest was enormously heavy, and had 
 
430 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 been imbedded there for centuries. While they were thus 
 employed the good dominie drew on one side and made a 
 vigorous onslaught on the basket, by way of exorcising the 
 demon of hunger which was raging in his entrails. In a little 
 while a fat capon was devoured, and washed down by a deep 
 potation of Val de peHas; and, by way of grace after meat, he 
 gave a kind-hearted kiss to the pet-lamb who waited on him. 
 It was quietly done in a corner, but the tell-tale walls babbled 
 it forth as if in triumph. Never was chaste salute more awful 
 in its effects. At the sound the soldier gave a great cry of 
 despair ; the coffer, which was half raised, fell back in its place 
 and was locked once more. Priest, student, and damsel, found 
 themselves outside of flie tower, the wall of which closed with a 
 thundering jar. Alas ! the good Padre has broken his fast too 
 soon! 
 
 When recovered from his surprise, the student would have 
 re-entered the tower, but learnt to his dismay that the damsel, 
 in her fright, had let fall the seal of Solomon ; it remained 
 within the vault. 
 
 In a word, the cathedral bell tolled midnight ; the spell 
 was renewed ; the soldier was doomed to mount guard for 
 another hundred years, and there he and the treasure remain to 
 this day — and all because the kind-hearted Padre kissed his 
 handmaid. " Ah father ! father ! " said the student, shaking 
 his head ruefully, as they returned down the ravine, " I fear 
 there was less of the saint than the sinner in that kiss ! " 
 
 Thus ends the legend as far as it has been authenticated. 
 There is a tradition, however, that the student had brought off 
 treasure enough in his pocket to set him up in the world ; that 
 he prospered in his affairs, that the worthy Padre gave him the 
 pet-lamb in marriage, by way of amends for the blunder in the 
 vault ; that the immaculate damsel proved a pattern for wives 
 as she had been for handmaids, and bore her husband a 
 numerous progeny ; that the first was a wonder ; it was born 
 
THE LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER 
 
 431 
 
 seven months after her marriage, and though a seven-month's 
 boy, was the sturdiest of the flock. The rest were all born in 
 the ordinary course of time. 
 
 The story of the enchanted soldier remains one ot the popular 
 traditions of Granada, though told in a variety of ways ; the 
 common people affirm that he still mounts guard on midsummer 
 eve, beside the gigantic stone pomegranate on the Bridge of 
 the Darro ; but remains invisible excepting to such lucky 
 mortals as may possess the seal of Solomon, 
 
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THE AUTHOR'S FAREWELL TO GRANADA 
 
 My serene and happy reign in the Alhambra was suddenly 
 brought to a close by letters which reached me, while indulging 
 in oriental luxury in the cool hall of the baths, summoning me 
 away from my Moslem elysium, to mingle once more in the 
 bustle and business of the dusty world. How was I to en- 
 counter its toils and turmoils, after such a life of repose and 
 reverie ! How was I to endure its commonplace, after the 
 poetry of the Alhambra ! 
 
 But little preparation was necessary for my departure. A 
 two-wheeled vehicle, called a tartana, very much resembling a 
 covered cart, was to be the travelling equipage of a young 
 Englishman and myself through Murcia, to Ahcant and 
 Valencia, on our way to France ; and a long-limbed varlet, who 
 had been a conirabandista, and, for aught I knew, a robber, 
 was to be our guide and guard. The preparations were soon 
 made, but the departure was the difficulty. Day after day was 
 
LEGEND OF THE ENCHANTED SOLDIER, 433 
 
 it postponed ; day after day was spent in lingering about my 
 favourite haunts, and day after day they appeared more 
 dehghtful in my eyes. 
 
 The social and domestic little world also, in which I had 
 been moving, had become singularly endeared to me ; and the 
 concern evinced by them at my intended departure, convinced 
 me that my kind feehngs were reciprocated. Indeed, when at 
 length the day arrived, I did not dare venture upon a leave- 
 taking at the good dame Antonia's ; I saw the soft heart of 
 little Dolores, at least, was brim full and ready for an 
 overflow. So I bade a silent adieu to the palace and its 
 inmates, and descended into the city as if intending to return. 
 There, however, the tartana and the guide were ready ; so, 
 after taking a noon-day's repast with my fellow-traveller at 
 the Posada, I set out with him on our journey. 
 
 Humble was the cortege and melancholy the departure of 
 El Rey Chico the Second ! Manuel, the nephew of Tia 
 Antonia, Mateo, my officious but now disconsolate squire, and 
 two or three old invalids of the Alhambra with whom I had 
 grown into gossiping companionship, had come down to see 
 me off ; for it is one of the good old customs 01 Spain to sally 
 forth several miles to meet a coming friend, and to accompany 
 him as far on his departure. Thus then we set out, our long- 
 legged guard striding ahead, with his escopeta on his shoulder ; 
 Manuel and Mateo on each side of the tartana, and the old 
 invalids behind. 
 
 At some little distance to the north of Granada, the road 
 gradually ascends the hills; here I alighted and walked up 
 slowly with Manuel, who took this occasion to confide to me 
 the secret of his heart and of all those tender concerns between 
 himself and Dolores, with which I had been already informed 
 by the all-knowing and all-revealing Mateo Ximenes. His 
 doctor's diploma had prepared the way for their union, and 
 nothing more was wanting but the dispensation of the Pope, on 
 
 F F 
 
434 
 
 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 account of their consanguinity. Then, if he could get the 
 post of Medico of the fortress, his happiness would be complete ! 
 I congratulated him on the judgment and good taste he had 
 shown in his choice of a helpmate ; invoked all possible felicity 
 on their union, and trusted that the abundant affections of 
 the kind-hearted little Dolores would in time haive more 
 
 stable objects to occupy them than recreant cats and truant 
 pigeons. 
 
 It was indeed a sorrowful parting when I took leave of 
 these good people and saw them slowly descend the hills ; now 
 and then turning round to wave me a last adieu. Manuel, it 
 is true, had cheerful prospects to console him, but poor Mateo 
 seemed perfectly cast down. It was to him a grievous fall 
 from the station of prime minister and historiographer, to his 
 
THE AUTHOR'S FAREWELL TO GRANADA 435 
 
 old brown cloak and his starveling mystery of ribbon-weaving ; 
 and the poor devil, notwithstanding his occasional officiousness, 
 had, somehow or other, acquired a stronger hold on my 
 sympathies than I was aware of. It would have really been 
 a consolation in parting, could I have anticipated the good 
 fortune in store for him, and to which I had contributed ; for 
 the importance I had appeared to give to his tales and gossip 
 and local knowledge, and the frequent companionship in which 
 I had indulged him in the course of my strolls, had elevated 
 his idea of his own qualifications and opened a new career to 
 him; and the son of the Alhambra has since become its 
 regular and well-paid cicerone ; insomuch that I am told he 
 has never been obliged to resume the ragged old brown cloak 
 in which I first found him. 
 
 Towards sunset I came to where the road wound into the 
 mountains, and here I paused to take a last look at Granada. 
 The hill on which I stood commanded a glorious view of the 
 city, the Vega, and the surrounding mountains. It was at 
 an opposite point of the compass from La cuesta de las lagrimas 
 (the hill of tears) noted for the " last sigh of the Moor." I 
 now could realize something of the feelings of poor Boabdil 
 when he bade adieu to the paradise he was leaving behind, 
 and beheld before him a rugged and sterile road conducting 
 him to exile. 
 
 The setting sun as usual shed a melancholy effulgence on 
 the ruddy towers of the Alhambra. I could faintly discern the 
 balconied window of the tower of Comares, where I had 
 indulged in so many delightful reveries. The bosky groves 
 and gardens about the city were richly gilded with the sunshine, 
 the purple haze of a summer evening was gathering over the 
 Vega ; everything was lovely, but tenderly and sadly so, to my 
 parting gaze. 
 
 " I will hasten from this prospect," thought I, " before the 
 
436 THE ALHAMBRA 
 
 sun is set. I will carry away a recollection of it clothed in all 
 its beauty." 
 
 With these thoughts I pursued my way among the mountains. 
 A little further and Granada, the Vega, and the Alhambra, were 
 shut from my view; and thus ended one of the pleasantest 
 dreams of a life, which the reader perhaps may think has been 
 but too much made up of dreams. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 RICHAED CLAV AND SONS, LIMITED; I..ONDON AND BUNGAY.