878 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



Ancient Chimneys. ^From L'Am- 

 bigu, Nov. 1809.] 



In a subterraneous habitation, 

 lately discovered by digging into the 

 ruins of Pompeia, was found a tube 

 of clay, in one of the corners of it, 

 intended to let out the smoke. This 

 discovery decides the question so 

 long agitated among the learned, 

 whether or no the ancients were 

 acquainted with tubed chimneys. 



Description of the celebrated Moor- 

 ish Palace and Fortress ofAlham- 

 hra. \_From Semplc's Second 

 Journej/in Spain. 2 



The Alhambra is, however, the 

 great object of attraction to every 

 traveller visiting Granada, and has 

 been the subject of many descrip- 

 tions. As has been already mention- 

 ed, this great Moorish palace and 

 fortress stands upon a steep ridge 

 which bounds the city to the east- 

 ward, or rather which forms an 

 acute angle entering it on that side. 

 The walls follow with sufficient ac- 

 curacy the general outline of the 

 edges of the ridge, and before the 

 invention of gunpowder must have 

 been, from their strength and situa- 

 tion, nearly impregnable. The ex- 

 treme length of the whole is about 

 600 yards, with a breadth nearly 

 uniform of about 150. Within this 

 space the Moorish rnonarcbs of 

 Grenada had accumulated all that, 

 according to tlieir notions, was se- 

 cure in war, or magnificent and lux- 

 urious in peace; and the towers, 

 the walls, the halls of audience, 

 the bed-chambers, and the baths, 

 which still exist in excellent pre- 

 servation, all tend to give us a 



h'vely idea of what these notion* 

 were. 



The Alhambra has been often 

 described ; 1 wish rather to collect 

 in my own mind the impression 

 made by the whole, than to enter 

 into a minute account of its endless 

 details. It was commenced by Mo- 

 hammed Abu Abdallah, king of 

 Granada, about the year 1260, and 

 was called by him Medina Alham- 

 bra, or the Red City, supposed to 

 be from the colour of the soil, 

 which abounds in many parts in 

 oxyd of iron. As the;^first walls 

 were composed chiefly of earth 

 mixed on the spot with a small 

 quantity of chalk, it is easy to ob- 

 serve, by their present state, what 

 was the prevailing nature of the 

 soil ; for wherever we find them in 

 the greatest decay, there the oxyd 

 of iron has been so abundant as to 

 prevent the union of the other ma- 

 terials with the chalk. The princi- 

 pal entrance is from the street of 

 Gomeres, where we ascend, and 

 pass first through a kind of tri- 

 umphal arch erected in the time of 

 Charles the Fifth. Here the hill 

 begins to be covered with trees, 

 which, from the broken nature of 

 the ground, produce a pleasing 

 effect. On the left is a sloping 

 terraee faced with stone, by which 

 we ascend, and enter the great 

 gate of the fortress, called the gate 

 of the tribunal, according to the 

 eastern custom of judging in the 

 gate, and to which allusions are so 

 frequently made in the Scriptures. 

 Over the entrance is sculptured an 

 arm with a hand, the symbol of 

 power, and of various other mysti- 

 cal qualities among the Arabians. 

 According to an inscription in Ara- 

 bic characters, this gate was built 



in 



