320 ARAB SPAIN. 



That country had been taken from the natives by 

 the Carthaginians, from the Carthaginians by the 

 Romans, from the Romans by the Goths, from the 

 Goths by the Arabs and the Moors. It was the first 

 province of the Holy Empire of the Caliphs to shake 

 itself free, and to crown a monarch of its own. The 

 Arabs raised Spain to a height of prosperity which it 

 has never since attained ; they covered the land with 

 palaces, mosques, hospitals, and bridges ; and with 

 enormous aqueducts which, penetrating the sides of 

 mountains, or sweeping on lofty arches across valleys, 

 rivalled the monuments of ancient Rome. The Arabs 

 imported various tropical fruits and vegetables, the 

 culture of which has departed with them. They grew, 

 prepared, and exported sugar. They discovered new 

 mines of gold and silver, quicksilver and lead. They 

 extensively manufactured silks, cottons, and merino 

 woollen goods, which they despatched to Constantinople 

 by sea, and which were thence diffused through the 

 valley of the Danube over savage Christendom. When 

 Italians began to navigate the Mediterranean, a hue of 

 ports was opened to them from Tarragona to Cadiz. 

 The metropolis of this noble country was Cordova. It 

 stood in the midst of a fertile plain washed by the 

 waters of the Guadalquivir. It was encircled by sub- 

 urban towns ; there were ten miles of lighted streets. 

 The great mosque was one of the wonders of the 

 mediaeval world ; its gates embossed with bronze ; its 

 myriads of lamps made out of Christian bells ; and its 

 thousand columns of variegated marble supporting a 

 roof of richly carved and aromatic wood. At a time 

 when books were so rare in Europe that the man who 

 possessed one often gave it to a church, and placed it 

 on the altar pro remedio animce suae, to obtain remis- 



