324 THE HILL OF TEARS. 



marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella united all the 

 crowns of Spain. After eight centuries of almost inces- 

 sant war, after three thousand seven hundred battles, 

 the long crusade was ended ; Spain became once more 

 a Christian land ; and Boabdil, pausing on the Hill of 

 Tears, looked down for the last time on the beautiful 

 Alhambra, on the city nestling among rose gardens, 

 and the dark cypress waving over Moslem tombs. His 

 mother reproached him for weeping as a woman the 

 kingdom he had not defended as a man. He rode 

 down to the sea and crossed over into Africa. But 

 that country also was soon to be invaded by the 

 Christians. 



That part of the Peninsula which is called Portugal 

 preserved its independence and its dialect from the 

 encroachments of Castile. While the kingdom of 

 Granada was yet alive, the Portuguese monarch having 

 driven the Moors from the banks of the Tagus, re- 

 solved to pursue them into Africa. He possessed an 

 excellent crusade machinery, and naturally desired to 

 apply it to some purpose. In Portugal were troops of 

 military monks, who had sworn to fight with none but 

 unbelievers. In Portugal were large revenues granted 

 or bequeathed for that purpose alone. In Portugal 

 the passion of chivalry was at its height ; the throne 

 was surrounded by knights panting for adventure. It 

 is related that some ladies of the English court had 

 been grossly insulted by certain cavaliers, and had been 

 unable to find champions to redress their wrongs. An 

 equal number of Portuguese knights at once took ship, 

 sailed to London, flung down their gauntlets, overthrew 

 their opponents in the lists, and returned to Lisbon, 

 having received from the injured ladies the tenderest 

 proof of their gratitude and esteem. 



