60 



CALIPHS OF SPAIN. 



to building, and the remaining third to the royal 

 exchequer. Our imagination is dazzled with this 

 picture of courtly splendour ; yet, if we consult the 

 experience of the possessor, it will perhaps excite 

 our pity, rather than our envy or admiration. In 

 a memorial, written with his own hand, and found 

 in his closet after his decease, he has left an authentic 

 estimate of his felicity. Amidst riches and honours, 

 power and pleasure, Alnasar, (f the heir of prosperity," 

 found, in a reign of fifty years and seven months, 

 only fourteen days of undisturbed enjoyment. The 

 glories of this period were even eclipsed by that of his 

 son Hakem, who subdued the provinces of Barbary, 

 and annexed to his other dominions the sovereignty 

 of Western Africa. But the luxury, the tyranny, and 

 the negligence of the last princes of the house, lost 

 them the conquests which had been won by the valour 

 of their ancestors, and were the causes of this fine 

 kingdom passing into other hands. Lieutenants and 

 viziers rebelled, and aspired to independent rule. 

 The Caliph Hesham was deposed by the army, and 

 with him was finally extinguished the power of the 

 Spanish Ommiades (A. D. 1036). 



Their downfal became the signal for feuds and 

 contentions ; usurpers divided the sovereignty among 

 themselves, and there arose as many dynasties as 

 there were principal towns. Malaga, Algesiras, 

 Cordova, Toledo, Seville, Jaen, Lisbon, Tortosa, 

 Badajos, Saragossa, Valencia, Murcia, Almeria, 

 Denia, and the Balearic Isles, had each its separate 

 king and government. In consequence of their mu- 

 tual jealousies, frequent wars, massacres, and intes- 

 tine commotions, these petty monarchs either fell a 

 prey to each other, or were gradually subdued by 

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