SPAIK. 54 i 



any of the edifices which the Moors erected in Spain. It was built 

 in 1280 by the second Moorish king of Granada ; and, in 1492, in the 

 reign of their eighteenth king, was taken by the Spaniards. It is 

 situate on a hill, which is ascended by a road bordered with hedges of 

 double or imperial myrtles, and rows of elms. On this hill, within, 

 the walls of the Alhambra, the emperor Charles V, began a new pa- 

 lace in 1568, which was never finished, though the shell of it remains. 

 It is built of yellow stone : the outside forms a square of one hundred 

 and ninety feet. The inside is a grand circular court, with a portico 

 of the Tuscan and a gallery of the Doric order, each supported by 

 thirty-two columns, made of as many single pieces of marble. The 

 grand entrance is ornamented with columns of jasper, on the pedes- 

 tals of which are representations of battles, in marble basso-relievo, 

 The Alhambra itself is a mass of many houses and towers, walled 

 round, and built of large stones of different dimensions. Almost all 

 the rooms have stucco walls and ceilings, some carved, some painted, 

 and some gilt, and covered with various Arabic sentences. Here are 

 several baths, the walls, floors, and ceilings of which are of white 

 marble. The gardens abound with orange and lemon trees, pome- 

 granates, and myrtles. At the end of the gardens is another palace 

 called Ginaraliph, situate on a more elevated station than the Alham- 

 bra. From the balconies ot this palace is one of the finest prospects 

 in Europe, over the whole fertile plain of Granada, bounded by snowy 

 mountains. The Moors to this day regret the loss of Granada, and 

 stili offer up prayers to God for the recovery of the city. Many other 

 noble monuments, erected in the Moorish times, remain in Spain, 

 some of them in tolerable preservation, and others exhibiting superb 

 ruins. 



History.... Spain was probably first peopled by the Celtae, from 

 Gaul, to which it lies contiguous ; or from Africa, from which it is 

 only separated by the narrow strait of Gibraltar. The Phoenicians 

 sent colonies thither, and built Cadiz and Malaga. Afterwards, upon 

 the rise of Rome and Carthage, the possession of this kingdom be- 

 came an object of contention between those powerful republics ; but 

 at length the Roman arms prevailed, and Spain remained in their 

 possession until the fall of that empire, when it became a prey to 

 the Goths. In the beginning of the fifth century; the Suevi, the Van- 

 dals, and the Alani, divided this kingdom among them : but in the 

 year 584, the Goths again became its masters. 



These, in their turn, were invaded by the Saracens, who, about the 

 end of the seventh century, had possessed themselves of the finest 

 kingdoms of Asia and Africa ; and, not content with the immense re- 

 gions that formerly composed great part of the Assyrian, Greek, and 

 Roman empires, crossed the Mediterranean, ravaged Spain, and esta- 

 blished themselves in the southerly provinces of that kingdom. 



Don Pelao is mentioned as the first old Spanish prince who distin- 

 guished himself against these infidels (who were afterwards known 

 by the name of Moors, the greater part of them having come from 

 Mauritania), and he took the title of the king of Austuria about the 

 year 720. His successes animated other christian princes to take 

 arms likewise, and the two kingdoms of Spain and Portugal for many- 

 ages were perpetually embroiled in bloody wars. 



The Moors in Spain were superior to all their contemporaries in 

 arts and arms, and the Abdoulrahman line retained possession of the 

 throne nearly three hundred years. Learning flourished in Spain, 



