LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 



interior. Their arrangements for ventilation were 

 admirable ; and by means of caleducts, or tubes of 

 baked earth, warm air was admitted, so as to pre- 

 serve a uniform temperature. The utmost labour 

 and skill were expended in embellishing the walls 

 and ceilings. Their tiles had a blue glazing over 

 them ; their paving-bricks were made of different 

 colours, blue, white, black, or yellow, which 

 when properly contrasted had a very agreeable effect. 

 Nothing is more astonishing than the durability of 

 the Moorish edifices. The stucco composition on 

 their walls became hard as stone ; and, even in the 

 present century, specimens are found without a 

 crack or a flaw on their whole surface. Their wood- 

 work also, which is of a more fragile nature, still 

 remains in a state of wonderful preservation. The 

 floors and ceilings of the Alhambra have withstood 

 the neglect and dilapidation of nearly 700 years ; the 

 pine-wood continues perfectly sound, without exhi- 

 biting the slightest mark of dry-rot, worm, or insect. 

 The coat of white paint retains its colour so bright 

 and rich, that it maybe mistaken for mother-of-pearl. 

 The history of Arabian architecture comprises a 

 period of about 800 years ; which M. Laborde has 

 divided into three distinct epochs, marking its rise, 

 progress, and decay. From the end of the thir- 

 teenth century, the era of its decline in Spain, 

 it exhibited a mixture of styles borrowed from the 

 revival of the arts in Italy. The origin of what 

 is called Gothic architecture, we know has been 

 much disputed ; but among the different hypothe- 

 ses, that of Sir Christopher Wren, which derives 

 it from the Arabs, is certainly the most probable. 

 The crescent arch, said to be the symbol of a cele- 





