THE MERINO BREED. 131 



work, and others of their cities were scarcely less distinguished 

 for the same class of manufactures. The woollen tissues of 

 Spain were then the finest in the world, and not only sup- 

 plied the demands of luxury at home, but were carried to 

 other parts of Europe, to Africa, and all the countries of the 

 Levant. 



But the splendid dominion of the Moors in Spain had early 

 begun to be circumscribed by warlike enemies, and at length, 

 in the course of ages, passed away. The Christians, under 

 their Gothic leaders, emerging from their northern fast- 

 nesses, wrested back, by slow degrees, kingdom after king- 

 dom ; and, after the lapse of 780 years of heroic struggles, 

 unexampled in the history of mankind, Granada alone re- 

 mained to the Moslem conquerors of all their rich dominions. 

 This, too, fell after a gallant defence ; the inhabitants being 

 left, by treaty, in possession of their property and the exercise 

 of their religion. The fall of Granada took place in 1492, by 

 which time all the separate kingdoms of Spain had beSn 

 united, by conquest or inheritance, in the persons of Ferdi- 

 nand and Isabella, so that Spain once more became a king- 

 dom ; and the discovery of the New World, with its bound- 

 less treasures, seemed to render it at once the most powerful 

 in Europe. 



But the seeds of decay had been sown along with the Chris- 

 tian triumphs. As one kingdom after another was wrested 

 from the Moors, they were partitioned among the great seig- 

 niors, and the system of feudal vassalage was established in 

 its worst form. The powers conferred on these warlike feuda- 

 tories were alike in opposition to the rights of the people, and 

 the prerogatives of the executive power. The laws were dis- 

 regarded by subjects so powerful, and tumults and conflicting 

 jurisdictions destroyed the peace of the country. Religious 

 intolerance, and the usurpations of priestly authority, aggra- 

 vated the civil disorders ; and triumphs, which should have 

 been hailed as the harbingers of peace, did nothing to pro- 

 mote the industry and happiness of the country. Ferdinand 



