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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #50727 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50727)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spain, v. 2 (of 2), by Edmondo de Amicis
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: Spain, v. 2 (of 2)
-
-Author: Edmondo de Amicis
-
-Translator: Stanley Rhoads Varnall
-
-Release Date: December 20, 2015 [EBook #50727]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPAIN, V. 2 (OF 2) ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Les Galloway and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber's Notes
-
- Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected and
- inconsistencies of hyphenation have been removed. All other variations
- in spelling, punctuation and accents are unchanged from the original.
-
- The following corrections have been made to the Index.
- Rembrandt von changed to Rembrandt van Rijn
- Pousin, Nicola changed to Poussin, Nicolas
- Zorilla, Ruiz changed to Zorrilla, Ruiz
-
- Repetition of chapter titles on consecutive pages has been removed.
-
- Italics are indicated thus _italic_.
-
-
- * * * * *
-
-
- SPAIN
-
-
-[Illustration: _Alcazar, Seville_]
-
-
- _EDITION ARTISTIQUE_
-
- The World's Famous
- Places and Peoples
-
-
-[Illustration: Flower]
-
-
- SPAIN
-
-
- BY
-
- EDMONDO DE AMICIS
-
-
- _Translated
- by Stanley Rhoads Yarnall, M.A._
-
-
- In Two Volumes
-
- Volume II.
-
-
- MERRILL AND BAKER
- New York London
-
-
-THIS EDITION ARTISTIQUE OF THE WORLD'S FAMOUS PLACES AND PEOPLES IS
-LIMITED TO ONE THOUSAND NUMBERED AND REGISTERED COPIES, OF WHICH THIS
-COPY IS NO. _______
-
-
- Copyright, Henry T. Coates & Co., 1895
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
- PAGE
-
- ARANJUEZ 7
-
- TOLEDO 15
-
- CORDOVA 53
-
- SEVILLE 97
-
- CADIZ 147
-
- MALAGA 165
-
- GRANADA 175
-
- VALENCIA 257
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-VOLUME II
-
-
- PAGE
-
- ALCAZAR, SEVILLE _Frontispiece_
-
- GATE OF THE SUN, TOLEDO 18
-
- ALCAZAR AND BRIDGE OF SAN MARTIN, TOLEDO 40
-
- COURT OF ORANGES, MOSQUE OF CORDOVA 68
-
- MOORISH ARCHES, ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 124
-
- CADIZ 158
-
- MALAGA 170
-
- COURT OF MYRTLES, ALHAMBRA 194
-
- FOUNTAIN IN THE COURT OF LIONS, ALHAMBRA 200
-
- QUEEN'S BOUDOIR, ALHAMBRA 212
-
- COURT OF GENERALIFE, GRANADA 226
-
- THE ALHAMBRA AND THE VALLEY OF THE DARRO 250
-
-
-
-
-ARANJUEZ.
-
-
-As on arriving at Madrid by way of the north, so on leaving it by way
-of the south, one must pass through a desolate country that resembles
-the poorest provinces of Arragon and Old Castile. There are vast
-plains, parched and yellow, which look as though they would echo like a
-hollow passageway if one were to strike them, or crumble like the crust
-of a crisp tart. And through the plains are scattered a few wretched
-villages of the same color as the soil, which seem as though they would
-take fire like a pile of dry leaves if one were to touch a torch to
-the corner of one of the huts. After an hour of travel my shoulders
-sought the cushions of the carriage, my elbow sought for a support,
-my head sought my hand, and I fell into a deep sleep like a member of
-Leopardi's "Assembly of Listeners." A few minutes after I had closed
-my eyes I was rudely awakened by a desperate cry from the women and
-children, and leaped to my feet, demanding of my neighbors what had
-occurred.
-
-But before I had ended my question a general burst of laughter
-reassured me. A company of huntsmen, scattered over the plain, on
-noticing the approach of the train, had planned to give the travellers
-a little scare. At that time there was a rumor that a band of Carlists
-had appeared in the vicinity of Aranjuez. The huntsmen, pretending to
-be the vanguard of the band, had given a loud shout while the train
-was passing, as if to call the great body of their comrades to their
-assistance, and as they shouted they went through the motions of firing
-at the railway-carriages; hence arose the fright and the cries of my
-fellow-travellers. And then the huntsmen suddenly threw the butts of
-their guns into the air to show that it was all a joke.
-
-When the alarm, in which I too shared for a moment, had subsided, I
-fell once more into my academic doze, but was again awakened in a few
-moments in a manner much more pleasant than on the first occasion.
-
-I looked around: the vast barren plain had been transformed as by magic
-into a great garden full of the most charming groves, traversed in all
-directions by wide avenues, dotted with country-houses and cottages
-festooned with verdure; here and there the sparkling of fountains,
-shady grottoes, flowering meadows, vineyards, and bridle-paths--a
-verdure, a freshness, a vernal odor, an atmosphere of happiness and
-peace, that enchanted the soul. We had arrived at Aranjuez. I left the
-train, walked up a beautiful avenue shaded by two rows of noble trees,
-and after a few steps found myself in front of the royal palace.
-
-The minister Castelar had written in his memorandum a few days before
-that the fall of the ancient Spanish monarchy was predoomed on that
-day when a mob of the populace, with curses on their lips and hatred
-in their hearts, had invaded the palace of Aranjuez to disturb the
-majestic repose of their sovereigns. I had reached that square where
-on the 17th of March, 1808, occurred those events which were the
-prologue of the national war, and, as it were, the first word of the
-death-sentence of the ancient monarchy. My eyes quickly sought the
-windows of the apartments of the Prince of Peace; I imagined him,
-as he fled from room to room, pale and distracted, searching for a
-hiding-place as the echo of the cry followed him up the stairs; I saw
-poor Charles IV., as with trembling hands he placed the crown of Spain
-on the head of the prince of the Asturias; all the scenes of that
-terrible drama were enacted in fancy before my eyes, and the profound
-silence of the place and the sight of that palace, closed and desolate,
-sent a chill to my heart.
-
-The palace has the appearance of a castle: it is built of brick, with
-trimmings of light stone, and covered with a tile roof. Every one knows
-that it was built for Philip II. by the celebrated architect Herrera,
-and that it was adorned by all the later kings, who made it their
-summer residence. I enter: the interior is magnificent; there is the
-stupendous reception-hall of the ambassadors, the beautiful Chinese
-cabinet belonging to Charles V., the marvellous dressing-chamber of
-Isabella II., and a profusion of the most precious ornaments. But all
-the riches of the palace are as nothing to the beauty of the gardens.
-The expectation is not disappointed.
-
-The gardens of Aranjuez (Aranjuez is the name of a little town which
-lies a short distance from the palace) seem to have been laid out for
-a race of Titan kings, to whom the royal parks and gardens of our
-country would have seemed like the flower-beds on their terraces or
-the plots before their stables. Endless avenues, bordered by trees
-of measureless height with arched branches interlacing as if bent
-toward each other by contrary winds, extend in every direction like a
-forest whose boundaries one cannot see, and through this forest the
-Tagus, a wide, swift stream, flows in a majestic curve, forming here
-and there cascades and lakes: an abundant and luxuriant vegetation
-springs up amid a labyrinth of bypaths, crossways, and sylvan glades;
-and in every part gleam statues, vases, columns, and fountains rising
-to a great height and falling in spray, festoons, and drops of water,
-placed in the midst of all manner of flowers from Europe and America;
-and, mingling with the majestic roar of the cascades of the Tagus, a
-flood of song from innumerable nightingales, which make the mysterious
-gloom of the lonely paths ring with their mellow notes. In the depths
-of the gardens rises a small marble palace of modest proportions
-which contains all the wonders of the most magnificent royal abode;
-and here one may still breathe, so to speak, the air of the inmost
-life of the kings of Spain. Here are the small secret chambers whose
-ceilings one may touch with the hand, the billiard-room of Charles
-IV., his cue, the cushions embroidered by the hands of his queens, the
-musical clocks which enlivened the playtime of his children, the narrow
-staircases, the little windows about which cluster a hundred traditions
-of princely caprices, and, finally, the richest retiring-room in
-Europe, created at a whim of Charles V., containing in itself alone
-sufficient riches to adorn a palace, without depriving it of the noble
-primacy which it proudly holds among all other cabinets designed for
-the same use. Beyond this palace and all around the groves extend
-vineyards and olive-groves and orchards of fruit-bearing trees and
-smiling meadows. It is a veritable oasis in the midst of the desert--an
-oasis which Philip II. chose to create on a day when he was in good
-humor, as if to enliven with one cheerful image the black melancholy
-of the Escurial. On returning from the little marble palace toward
-the great royal palace through those endless avenues, in the shade of
-those noble trees, in that profound forest silence, I thought of the
-splendid trains of ladies and cavaliers who once wandered about in the
-footsteps of the gay young monarchs or the capricious and dissolute
-queens to the sound of amorous music and songs which told of the
-grandeur and glory of unconquered Spain; and I sadly repeated with the
-poet, Ricanati,
-
- ... "All is peace and silence,
- And their names are no longer heard."
-
-But as I looked at those marble seats, half hidden in the shrubbery,
-and fixed my eyes on the shadow of certain distant paths, and thought
-of those queens, those lovers, and those mad pranks, I could not
-refrain from a sigh, which was not one of pity, and a secret sense of
-bitterness stung me to the heart; and I said, like poor Adan in the
-poem _Diablo Mundo_, "How are these grand ladies made? How do they
-live? What do they do? Do they talk, make love, and enjoy like us?"
-And I left for Toledo, imagining the love of a queen like a young
-adventurer of the Arabian Nights.
-
-
-
-
-TOLEDO.
-
-
-When one approaches an unknown city one ought to have near by some one
-who has already seen it and is able to indicate the opportune moment to
-put one's head out of the window and get the first view. I had the good
-fortune to be informed in time. Some one said to me, "There is Toledo!"
-and I sprang to the window with an exclamation of wonder.
-
-Toledo rises on a sheer rocky height, at whose foot the Tagus describes
-a grand curve. From the plain one sees only the rocks and the walls
-of the fortress, and beyond the wall the tips of the belfries and
-the towers. The houses are hidden from view; the city seems to be
-closed and inaccessible, and presents the appearance of an abandoned
-stronghold rather than of a city. From the walls to the river-banks
-there is not a single house nor tree; all is bare, parched, craggy,
-precipitous; not a soul is in sight; you would say that to make the
-ascent it would be necessary to climb, and it seems that at the first
-appearance of a man on the face of those rocks a shower of arrows would
-fall upon him from the top of the wall.
-
-You leave the train, get into a carriage, and arrive at the entrance
-of a bridge. It is the famous bridge Alcantara, which spans the Tagus,
-surmounted by a beautiful Moorish gate in the form of a tower, which
-gives it a bold, severe appearance. Crossing the bridge, you turn
-into a wide roadway which winds up in large serpentine curves until
-it reaches the top of the mountain. Here it really seems that you are
-under a fortified city of the Middle Ages, and you imagine yourself in
-the guise of a Moor or a Goth or a soldier of Alfonso VI. From every
-part precipitous rocks hang over your head, crumbling walls, towers,
-and the ruins of ancient bastions, and higher up the last wall which
-encircles the city, black, crowned with enormous battlements, opened
-here and there by great breaches, behind which the imprisoned houses
-rear their heads; and as you climb higher and higher the city seems
-to draw back and hide itself. Halfway up the ascent you come to the
-_Puerto del Sol_, a jewel of Moorish architecture, consisting of two
-embattled towers which are joined over a very graceful double-arched
-colonnade, under which runs the ancient street; and from that point, if
-you look back, you may see at a glance the Tagus, the valley, and the
-hills. You go on and find other walls and other ruins, and finally the
-first houses of the city.
-
-What a city! At the first moment I caught my breath. The carriage had
-turned down a little street, so narrow that the hubs of the wheels
-almost touched the walls of the houses.
-
-[Illustration: _Gate of the Sun, Toledo_]
-
-"Why do you turn in here?" I asked the driver.
-
-He laughed and answered, "Because there is no wider street."
-
-"Is all Toledo like this?" I asked again.
-
-"It is all like this," he replied
-
-"Impossible!" I exclaimed.
-
-"You will see," he added.
-
-To tell the truth, I did not believe him. I entered a hotel, dropped my
-valise in a room, and ran headlong down the stairs to take a look at
-this very strange city. One of the hotel-porters stopped me at the door
-and asked with a smile,
-
-"Where are you going, _caballero_?"
-
-"To see Toledo," I replied.
-
-"Alone?"
-
-"Yes; why not?"
-
-"But have you ever been here before?"
-
-"Never."
-
-"Then you cannot go alone."
-
-"And why not?"
-
-"Because you will get lost."
-
-"Where?"
-
-"As soon as you go out."
-
-"For what reason?"
-
-"The reason is this," he answered, pointing to a wall on which hung a
-map of Toledo. I approached and saw a network of white lines on a black
-background that seemed like one of those flourishes which school-boys
-make on their slates to waste the chalk and vex their teacher.
-
-"No matter," said I; "I am going alone, and if I get lost, let them
-come and find me."
-
-"You will not go a hundred steps," observed the porter.
-
-I went out and turned down the first street I saw, so narrow that on
-extending my arms I touched both walls. After fifty paces I turned into
-another street, narrower than the first, and from this passed into a
-third, and so on.
-
-I seemed to be wandering not through the streets of the city, but
-through the corridors of a building, and I went forward, expecting
-momentarily to come out into an open place. It is impossible, I
-thought, that the whole city is built in this manner; no one could
-live in it. But as I proceeded the streets seemed to grow narrower and
-shorter; every moment I was obliged to turn; after a curving street
-came a zigzag one, and after this another in the form of a hook, which
-led me back into the first, and so I wandered on for a little while,
-always in the midst of the same houses. Now and then I came out at a
-crossway where several alleys ran off in opposite directions, one of
-which would lose itself in the dark shadow of a portico, another would
-end blindly in a few paces against the wall of a house, a third in
-a short distance would descend, as it were, into the bowels of the
-earth, while a fourth would clamber up a steep hill; some were hardly
-wide enough to give a man passage; others were confined between two
-walls without doors or windows; and all were flanked by buildings of
-great height, between whose roofs one could see a narrow streak of sky.
-
-One passed windows defended by heavy iron bars, great doors studded
-with enormous nails, and dark courtyards. I walked for some time
-without meeting anybody, until I came out into one of the principal
-streets, lined with shops and full of peasants, women, and children,
-but little larger than an ordinary corridor. Everything is in
-proportion to the streets: the doors are like windows, the shops like
-niches, and by glancing into them one sees all the secrets of the
-house--the table already spread, the babies in the cradle, the mother
-combing her hair, and the father changing his shirt; everything is
-on the street, and it does not seem like a city, but like a house
-containing a single great family.
-
-I turned into a less-frequented street, where I heard only the buzzing
-of a fly; my footsteps echoed to the fourth story of the houses and
-brought some old women to the windows. A horse passes; it seems like a
-squadron; everybody hurries to see what is going on. The least sound
-re-echoes in every direction; a book falls in a second story, an old
-man coughs in a courtyard, a woman blows her nose in some unknown
-place; one hears everything.
-
-Sometimes every sound will suddenly cease; you are alone, you see no
-sign of life: you seem to be surrounded by the houses of witches,
-crossways made for conspirators, blind alleys for traitors, narrow
-doorways suitable for any crime, windows for the whispers of guilty
-lovers, gloomy doorways suggestive of blood-stained steps. But yet in
-all this labyrinth of streets there are no two alike; each one has
-its individuality: here rises an arch, there a column, yonder a piece
-of statuary. Toledo is a storehouse of art-treasures. Every little
-while the walls crumble, and there are revealed in every part records
-of all the centuries--bas-reliefs, arabesques, Moorish windows, and
-statuettes. The palaces have doorways defended by plates of engraved
-metal, historical knockers, nails with carved heads, 'scutcheons and
-emblems; and they form a fine contrast to the modern houses painted
-with festoons, medallions, cupids, urns, and fantastic animals.
-
-But these embellishments detract in no way from the severe and gloomy
-aspect of Toledo. Wherever you look you see something to remind you of
-the city fortified by the Arabs; however little your imagination may
-exert itself, it will succeed in rearranging from the relics scattered
-here and there the whole fabric of that darkened image, and then the
-illusion is complete: you see again the glorious Toledo of the Middle
-Ages, and forget the solitude and silence of its streets. But it is a
-fleeting illusion, and you soon relapse into sad meditation and see
-only the skeleton of the ancient city, the necropolis of three empires,
-the great sepulchre of the glory of three races. Toledo reminds you of
-the dreams which come to young men after reading the romantic legends
-of the Middle Ages. You have seen many a time in your dreams dark
-cities encircled by deep moats, frowning walls, and inaccessible rocks;
-and you have crossed those draw-bridges and entered those tortuous,
-grass-grown streets, and have breathed that damp, sepulchral, prison
-air. Well, then, you have dreamed of Toledo.
-
-The first thing to see, after making a general survey of the city, is
-the cathedral, which is justly considered one of the most beautiful
-cathedrals in the world. The history of this cathedral, according to
-popular tradition, dates from the times of the apostle Saint James,
-first bishop of Toledo, who selected the place where it should be
-erected; but the construction of the edifice as it appears to-day
-was begun in 1227, during the reign of San Fernando, and was ended
-after twenty-five years of almost continuous labor. The exterior of
-this immense church is neither rich nor beautiful, as is that of
-the cathedral of Burgos. A little square extends in front of the
-façade, and is the only place from which one can get a view of any
-considerable part of the building. It is entirely surrounded by a
-narrow street, from which, however much you may twist your neck, you
-can see only the high outer walls which enclose the church like a
-fortress. The façade has three great doorways, the first of which is
-named _Pardon_, the second _Inferno_, and the third _Justice_. Over it
-rises a substantial tower which terminates in a beautiful octagonal
-cupola. Although in walking around the building one may have remarked
-its great size, on first entering one is struck by a profound sense of
-wonder, which quickly gives place to another keen sense of pleasure,
-the result of the freshness, the repose, the soft shadow, and the
-mysterious light which steals through the stained glass of innumerable
-windows and breaks in a thousand rays of blue, golden, and rosy light
-which glides here and there along the arches and columns like the
-bands of a rainbow. The church is formed of five great naves divided
-by eighty-eight enormous pilasters, each of which is composed of
-sixteen turned columns as close together as a bunch of spears. A sixth
-nave cuts the other five at right angles, extending from the great
-altar to the choir, and the vaulted roof of this principal nave rises
-majestically above the others, which seem to be bowing to it as if in
-homage. The many-colored light and the clear tone of the stone give
-the church an air of quiet cheerfulness which tempers the melancholy
-appearance of the Gothic architecture without depriving it of its
-austere and serious character. To pass from the streets of the city to
-the naves of this cathedral seems like coming out of a dungeon into an
-open square: one looks around, draws a deep breath, and begins to live
-again.
-
-The high altar, if one wished to examine it minutely, would require
-as much time as the interior of a church: it is itself a church--a
-miracle of little columns, statuettes, traceries, and ornaments of
-endless variety, creeping along the iron frames, rising above the
-architraves, winding about the niches, supporting one another, climbing
-and disappearing, presenting on every side a thousand outlines, groups,
-combinations, effects in gilding and color, every sort of grace that
-art can devise--giving to the whole an effect of magnificence, dignity,
-and beauty. Opposite the high altar rises the choir, divided into
-three orders of stalls, marvellously carved by Philip of Bourgogne
-and Berruguete, with bas-reliefs representing historical events,
-allegories, and sacred legends--one of the most famous monuments of art.
-
-In the centre, in the form of a throne, stands the seat of the
-archbishop surrounded by a circle of enormous jasper columns, with
-colossal statues of alabaster resting on the architraves; on either
-side rise enormous bronze pulpits provided with two great missals, and
-two gigantic organs, one in front of the other, from which it seems
-that at any moment a flood of melody may burst forth and make the vault
-tremble.
-
-The pleasure of one's admiration in these great cathedrals is almost
-always disturbed by importunate guides, who wish at any cost to amuse
-you after their fashion. And it was my misfortune to become convinced
-that the Spanish guides are the most persistent of their kind. When
-one of them has gotten it into his head that you are to spend the day
-with him, it is all over. You may shrug your shoulders, refuse to
-notice him, let him talk himself hoarse without so much as turning to
-look at him, wander about on your own account as though you had not
-seen him: it is all the same thing. In a moment of enthusiasm before
-some painting or statue a word escapes you, a gesture, a smile: it
-is enough. You are caught, you are his, you are the prey of this
-implacable human cuttle-fish, who, like the cuttle-fish of Victor Hugo,
-does not leave his victim until he has cut off his head. While I stood
-contemplating the statuary of the choir I saw one of these cuttle-fish
-out of the corner of my eye--a miserable old rake, who approached me
-with slow steps sidewise, like a cutthroat with the air of one who was
-saying, "Now I have got you!" I continued to look at the statues; the
-old man came up to my side, and he too began to look; then he suddenly
-asked me, "Do you wish my company?"
-
-"No," I replied, "I don't need you."
-
-And he continued, without any embarrassment,
-
-"Do you know who Elpidius was?"
-
-The question was so remarkable that I could not keep from asking in my
-turn,
-
-"Who was he?"
-
-"Elpidius," he replied, "was the second bishop of Toledo."
-
-"Well, what of him?
-
-"'What of him?' It was the bishop Elpidius who conceived the idea of
-consecrating the church to the Virgin, and that is the reason why the
-Virgin came to visit the church."
-
-"Ah! how do you know that?"
-
-"How do you know it? You see it."
-
-"Do you mean to say that it has been seen?"
-
-"I mean to say that it is still to be seen: have the goodness to come
-with me."
-
-So saying, he started off, and I followed him, very curious to
-learn what this visible form of the descent of the Virgin might be.
-We stopped in front of a sort of chapel close to one of the great
-pilasters of the central nave. The guide pointed out a white stone set
-in the wall covered by an iron net, and with this inscription running
-around it:
-
- "Quando la reina del cielo
- Puso los pies en el suelo,
- En esta piedra los puso."
-
- "When the Queen of heaven
- Descended to the earth,
- Her feet rested on this stone."
-
-"Then the Holy Virgin has actually placed her feet on this stone?" I
-asked.
-
-"On this very stone," he replied; and, thrusting a finger between the
-strands of the iron net, he touched the stone, kissed his finger, made
-the sign of the cross, and turned toward me as if to say, "Now it is
-your turn."
-
-"My turn?" I replied. "Oh, really, my friend, I cannot do it."
-
-"Why?"
-
-"Because I do not feel myself worthy to touch that sacred stone."
-
-The guide understood, and, looking hard at me with a serious aspect, he
-asked, "You do not believe?"
-
-I looked at a pilaster. Then the old man made a sign for me to follow,
-and started toward a corner of the church, murmuring with an air of
-sadness, "_Cadanno es dueño de su alma_" (Every man is master of his
-soul).
-
-A young priest who was standing near, and who had divined the cause of
-his words, cast a piercing glance at me, and went off in an opposite
-direction, muttering I know not what.
-
-The chapels correspond in style with that of the church: almost all of
-them contain some fine monuments. In the chapel of Santiago, behind
-the high altar, are two magnificent tombs of alabaster which contain
-the remains of the constable Alvaro de Luna and his wife; in the chapel
-of San Ildefonso, the tomb of the cardinal Gil Carrillo de Albornoz;
-in the chapel of the "New Kings," the tombs of Henry II., John II.,
-and Henry III.; in the chapel of the sacristy, a stupendous group of
-statues and busts of marble, silver, ivory, and gold, and a collection
-of crosses and relics of inestimable value, the remains of Saint
-Leucadia and Saint Eugenia preserved in two silver caskets exquisitely
-chased.
-
-The Chapel Mozarabe, which is under the tower of the church, and was
-erected to perpetuate the tradition of the primitive Christian rite,
-is probably the most worthy of attention. One of its walls is entirely
-covered with a fresco, in the Gothic style, representing a conflict
-between the Moors and the Toledans--marvellously preserved, even to
-the most delicate lines. It is a painting worth a volume of history.
-In it one sees the Toledo of those times with all its walls and its
-houses; the habiliments of the two armies; the arms, faces, everything
-portrayed with an admirable finish and an unspeakable harmony of color
-which answers perfectly to the vague and fantastic idea which one may
-have formed of those centuries and those races. Two other frescoes on
-either side of the first represent the fleet which bore the Arabs into
-Spain, and they offer a thousand minute details of the mediæval marine
-and the very air of those times, if one may so speak, which makes one
-think of and see a thousand things not represented in the painting, as
-one hears distant music on looking at a landscape.
-
-After the chapels one goes to see the sacristy, where are gathered
-enough riches to restore the finances of Spain to a sound basis. There
-is, among others, a vast room on the ceiling of which one sees a
-fresco by Luca Giordano, which represents a vision of paradise, with
-a myriad of angels, saints, and allegorical figures floating in the
-air or standing out like statues from the cornices of the walls in a
-thousand bold attitudes, with so much action and foreshortening that
-one is bewildered. The guide, pointing out this miracle of imagination
-and genius, which in the estimation of all artists, to use a very
-curious Spanish expression, is a work of _merito atroz_ (of atrocious
-merit),--the guide bids you to look attentively at the ray of light
-which falls upon the walls from the centre of the vaulted ceiling. You
-look at it and then make a circuit of the room, and wherever you find
-yourself that ray of light is falling directly upon your head.
-
-From this hall you pass into a room which is also beautifully painted
-in fresco by the nephew of Berruguete, and from it into a third, where
-a sacristan lays the treasures of the cathedral before your eyes--the
-enormous silver candlesticks; the pyxes flashing with rubies; the
-golden stands for the elevation of the Host, studded with diamonds;
-the damask vestments, embroidered in gold; the robes of the Virgin,
-covered with arabesques, garlands of flowers, and stars of pearl, which
-at every motion of the cloth flash forth in a thousand rays and colors
-and quite dazzle one's eyes. A hour is scarcely sufficient to see
-hurriedly all that display of treasures, which would certainly satisfy
-the ambition of ten queens and enrich the altars of ten cathedrals;
-and when, after he has shown you everything, the sacristan looks in
-your eyes for an expression of surprise, he finds only astonishment and
-stupefaction, which give evidence of an imagination wandering in far
-distant regions--in the realms of the Arabian legends where the kindly
-genii gather all the riches dreamed of by the glowing fancy of enamored
-sultans.
-
-It was the eve of _Corpus Domini_, and in the sacristy they were
-preparing the robes for the processional. Nothing can be more
-unpleasant or more at variance with the quiet and noble sadness of
-the church than the theatrical hurry-scurry which one sees on such
-occasions. It is like being behind the scenes on the evening of a
-dress rehearsal. From one room of the sacristy to another half-dressed
-boys were coming and going with a great clatter, carrying armfuls
-of surplices, stoles, and capes; here a sour-tempered sacristan was
-opening and banging the doors of a wardrobe; there a priest, all red
-in the face, was calling angrily to a chorister who did not hear him;
-yonder other priests were running through the room with their robes
-partly on their backs and partly trailing behind them; some laughing,
-some screaming, and some shouting from one room to another at the top
-of their voices; everywhere one heard a swish of skirts, a breathless
-panting, and an indescribable stamping and tramping.
-
-I went to see the cloister, but, as the door was open through which one
-reaches it from the church, I saw it before entering. From the middle
-of the church one gets a glimpse of a part of the cloister-garden, a
-group of fine leafy trees, a little grove, a mass of luxuriant plants
-which seem to close the doorway and look as though they are framed
-beneath a graceful arch and between the two slender columns of the
-portico which extends all around. It is a beautiful sight, which makes
-one think of Oriental gardens encircled by the columns of a mosque.
-The cloister, which is very large, is surrounded by a colonnade,
-graceful, though severe in form; the walls covered with great frescoes.
-The guide advised me to rest here a little while before ascending to
-the campanile. I leaned against a low wall in the shade of a tree,
-and remained there until I felt able to make another expedition, as
-the expression is. Meanwhile, my commander extolled in bombastic
-language the glories of Toledo, carrying his impudence so far, in his
-patriotism, as to call it "a great commercial city" which could buy
-and sell Barcelona and Valencia, and a city strong enough, if need be,
-to withstand ten German armies and a thousand batteries of Krupp guns.
-After each of his exaggerations I kept spurring him on, and the good
-man enjoyed himself to the full. What pleasure there is in knowing how
-to make others talk! Finally, when the proud Toledan was so swollen
-with glory that the cloister could no longer hold him, he said to me,
-"We may go now," and led the way toward the door of the campanile.
-
-When we were halfway up we stopped to take breath. The guide knocked at
-a little door, and out came a swaggering little sacristan, who opened
-another door, and made me enter a corridor where I saw a collection of
-gigantic puppets in very strange attire. Four of them, the guide told
-me, represented Europe, Asia, America, and Africa, and two others Faith
-and Religion; and they were so made that a man could hide in them and
-raise them from the ground.
-
-"They take them out on the occasions of the royal fêtes," the sacristan
-added, "and carry them around through the city;" and, to show me how
-it was done, he crept in under the robes of Asia. Then he led me to
-a corner where there was an enormous monster which when touched, I
-know not where, stretched out a very long neck and a horrible head
-and made a dreadful noise. But he could not tell me what this ugly
-creature signified, and so invited me instead to admire the marvellous
-imagination of the Spaniards, which creates so "many new things" to
-sell in all the known world. I admired, paid, and continued the ascent
-with my Toledan cuttle-fish. From the top of the tower one enjoys a
-splendid view--the city, the hills, the river, a vast horizon, and,
-below, the great mass of the cathedral, which seems like a mountain of
-granite. But there is another elevation, a short distance away, from
-which one sees everything to a better advantage, and consequently I
-remained in the campanile only a few moments, especially as at that
-hour the sun was shining very strongly, confusing all the colors of the
-city and country in a flood of light.
-
-From the cathedral my guide led me to see the famous church of _San
-Juan de los Reyes_, situated on the banks of the Tagus. My mind is
-still confused when I think of the windings and turnings which we were
-obliged to make in order to reach it. It was mid-day, the streets were
-deserted; gradually, as we went farther from the centre of the city,
-the solitude became more depressing; not a door or window was open, not
-the slightest sound was heard. For a moment I suspected that the guide
-was in league with some assassin to entice me into an out-of-the-way
-place and rob me; he had a suspicious face, and then he kept glancing
-here and there with a suspicious air, like one meditating a crime.
-
-"Is it much farther?" I would ask from time to time, and he would
-always answer: "It is right here," and yet we never reached it.
-
-At a certain point my uneasiness changed into fear: in a narrow,
-tortuous street a door opened; two bearded men came out, made a sign
-to the cuttle-fish, and fell in behind us. I thought it was all over
-with me. There was only one way of escape--to strike the guide, knock
-him down, jump over his body, and run. But which way? And on the other
-side there came into my mind the high praises which Thiers bestows
-on the "Spanish legs" in his _History of the War of Independence_;
-and I thought that flight would only prove an opportunity to plant a
-dagger in my back instead of my stomach, Alas! to die without seeing
-Andalusia! To die after taking so many notes, after giving so many
-tips--to die with pockets full of letters of introduction, with a purse
-fat with doubloons--to die with a passport covered with seals--to die
-by treachery! As God willed, the two bearded men disappeared at the
-first corner and I was saved. Then, overwhelmed by compunction for
-suspecting that the poor old man could be capable of a crime, I came
-over to his left side, offered him a cigar, said that Toledo was worth
-two Romes, and showed him a thousand courtesies. Finally we arrived at
-_San Juan de los Reyes_.
-
-It is a church which seems like a royal palace: the highest part is
-covered by a balcony surrounded with a honeycombed and sculptured
-breastwork, upon which rises a series of statues of kings, and in the
-middle stands a graceful hexagonal cupola which completes the beautiful
-harmony of the edifice. From the walls hang long iron chains which were
-suspended there by the Christian prisoners released at the conquest of
-Granada, and which, together with the dark color of the stone, give
-the church a severe and picturesque appearance. We entered, passed
-through two or three large, bare rooms, unpaved, cluttered with piles
-of dirt and heaps of rubbish, climbed a staircase, and came out upon
-a high gallery inside the church, which is one of the most beautiful
-and noblest of the monuments of Gothic architecture. It has a single
-great nave divided into four vaults, whose arches intersect under rich
-rosettes. The pilasters are covered with festoons and arabesques;
-the walls ornamented with a profusion of bas-reliefs, with enormous
-shields bearing the arms of Castile and Arragon, eagles, dragons,
-heraldic animals, trailing vines, and emblematic inscriptions; the
-gallery running all around the room is perforated and carved with great
-elegance; the choir is supported by a bold arch; the color of the stone
-is light gray, and everything is admirably finished and preserved, as
-if the church had been built but a few years ago, instead of at the
-end of the fifteenth century.
-
-From the church we descended to the cloister, which is, in truth,
-a miracle of architecture and sculpture. Graceful slender columns
-which could be broken in two by the stroke of a hammer, looking like
-the trunks of saplings, support capitals richly adorned like curving
-boughs; arches ornamented with flowers, birds, and grotesque animals
-in every sort of carving. The walls are covered with inscriptions
-in Gothic characters in a framework of leaves and very delicate
-arabesques. Wherever one looks one finds grace mingled with riches in
-enchanting harmony: it would not be possible to accumulate in an equal
-space and with more exquisite art a larger number of the most delicate
-and beautiful objects. It is a luxuriant garden of sculpture, a grand
-saloon embroidered, quilted, and brocaded in marble, a great monument,
-majestic as a temple, magnificent as a palace, delicate as a toy, and
-graceful as a flower.
-
-After the cloisters one goes to see a picture-gallery which contains
-only some paintings of little value, and then to the convent with its
-long corridors, its narrow stairs, and empty cells, almost on the point
-of falling into ruins, and in some parts already in ruins; throughout
-bare and squalid like a building gutted by fire.
-
-A little way from _San Juan de los Reyes_ there is another monument
-well worthy of attention, a curious record of the Judaic period--the
-synagogue now known by the name of Santa Maria la Blanca. One enters
-an untidy garden and knocks at the door of a wretched-looking house.
-The door opens. There is a delightful sense of surprise, a vision of
-the Orient, a sudden revelation of another religion and another world.
-There are five narrow alleys divided by four long rows of little
-octagonal pilasters, which support as many Moorish arches with stucco
-capitals of various forms; the ceiling is of cedar-wood divided into
-squares, and here and there on the walls are arabesques and Arabic
-inscriptions. The light falls from above, and everything is white. The
-synagogue was converted into a mosque by the Arabs, and the mosque into
-a church by the Christians, so that, properly, it is none of the three,
-although it still preserves the character of the mosque, and the eye
-surveys it with delight, and the imagination follows from arch to arch
-the fleeting images of a sensuous paradise.
-
-When I had seen Santa Maria la Blanca, I had not the strength to see
-anything else, and, refusing all the tempting propositions of the
-guide, I told him to lead me back to the hotel. After a long walk
-through a labyrinth of narrow, deserted streets we arrived there; I put
-a _peseta_ and a half in the hand of my innocent assassin, who found
-the fee too small, and asked (how I laughed at the word!) for a little
-_gratificacion_.
-
-I went into the dining-room to eat a chop or _chuleta_ (which is
-pronounced _cuileta_), as the Spanish call it--a name at which they
-would turn up their noses in some of the provinces of Italy.
-
-Toward evening I went to see the Alcazar. The name raises expectations
-of a Moorish palace, but there is nothing Moorish about it except the
-name. The building which one admires to-day was built in the reign of
-Charles V. on the ruins of a castle which was in existence as early
-as the eighth century, although the notices of it in contemporary
-chronicles are vague. This edifice rises upon a height overlooking the
-city, so that one sees its walls and towers from every point above the
-level of the streets, and the foreigner finds it a sure landmark amid
-the confusion and labyrinths of the city. I climbed the height by a
-broad winding street, like that one which runs from the plain up to
-the city, and found myself in front of the Alcazar. It is an immense
-square palace, at whose corners rise four great towers that give it the
-formidable appearance of a fortress. A vast square extends in front
-of the façade, and all around it runs a chain of embattled bulwarks
-of Oriental design. The entire building is of a decided chalky color,
-relieved by a thousand varied shades of that powerful painter of
-monuments, the burning sun of the South, and it appears even lighter
-against the very clear sky upon which the majestic form of the building
-is outlined.
-
-The façade is carved in arabesques in a manner at once dignified and
-elegant. The interior of the palace corresponds with the exterior: it
-is a vast court surrounded by two orders of graceful arches, one above
-the other, supported by slender columns, with a monumental marble
-staircase starting at the centre of the side opposite the door, and a
-little way above the pavement divides into two parts that lead to the
-interior of the palace, the one on the right, the other on the left.
-To enjoy the beauty of the courtyard it is necessary to stand on the
-landing where the staircase separates: from that point one comprehends
-at a glance the complete harmony of the edifice, which inspires a sense
-of cheerfulness and pleasure, like fine music performed by hidden
-musicians.
-
-Excepting the courtyard, the other parts of the building--the
-stairways, the rooms, the corridors--everything is in ruins or falling
-to ruins. They were at work turning the palace into a military school,
-whitewashing the walls, breaking down the partitions to make great
-dormitories, numbering the doors, and converting the palace into
-a barracks. Nevertheless, they left intact the great subterranean
-chambers which were used for stables at the time of Charles V., and
-which are still able to hold several thousand horses. The guide made
-me approach a window from which I looked down into an abyss that
-gave me an idea of their vastness. Then we climbed a series of unsteady
-steps into one of the four towers; the guide opened with pincers and a
-hammer a window that had been nailed fast, and with the air of one who
-was announcing a miracle said to me, "Look, sir!"
-
-[Illustration: _Alcazar and Bridge of San Martin, Toledo_]
-
-It was a wonderful panorama. One had a bird's-eye view of the city of
-Toledo, street by street and house by house, as if one were looking at
-a map spread upon a table: here the cathedral, rising above the city
-like a measureless castle, and making all the buildings around it seem
-as small as toy houses; there the balcony of _San Juan de las Reyes_,
-crowned with statues; yonder the embattled towers of the New Gate, the
-circus, the Tagus running at the foot of the city between its rocky
-banks; and beyond the river, opposite the bridge of Alcantara, on a
-precipitous crag, the ruins of the ancient castle of San Servando;
-still farther off a verdant plain, and then rocks, hills, and mountains
-as far as the eye can see; and over all a very clear sky and the
-setting sun, which gilded the summits of the old buildings and flashed
-on the river like a great silver scarf.
-
-While I was contemplating this magic spectacle the guide, who had
-read the _History of Toledo_ and wished me to know the fact, was
-telling all sorts of stories with that manner, half poetical and half
-facetious, which is distinctive of the Spaniards of the South. Above
-all, he wished to explain the history of the work of fortification,
-and although, where he said that he saw clear and unmistakable remains
-which he pointed out to me, I saw nothing at all, I succeeded,
-nevertheless, in learning something about it.
-
-He told me that Toledo had been thrice surrounded by a wall, and that
-the traces of all three walls were still clear. "Look!" he said;
-"follow the line which my finger indicates: that is the Roman wall,
-the innermost one, and its ruins are still visible. Now look a little
-farther on: that other one beyond it is the Gothic wall. Now let your
-glance describe a curve which embraces the first two: that is the
-Moorish wall, the most recent. But the Moors also built an inner wall
-on the ruins of the Roman wall: this you can easily see. Then observe
-the direction of the streets, which converge toward the highest point
-of the city; follow the line of the roofs--here, so; you will see that
-all the streets go up zigzag, and they were built purposely in this
-manner, so that the city could be defended even after the walls had
-been destroyed; and the houses were built so close one against another
-in order that it would be possible to jump from roof to roof, you
-see; and then the Arabs have left it in their writings. This is the
-reason that the Spanish gentlemen from Madrid make me laugh when they
-come here and say, 'Pooh! what streets!' You see, they do not know a
-particle of history: if they knew the least bit, if they read a little
-instead of spending their days on the Prado and in the Recoleto, they
-would understand that there is a reason for the narrow streets of
-Toledo, and that Toledo is not a city for ignoramuses."
-
-I began to laugh.
-
-"Do you not believe?" continued the custodian: "it is a sacred fact.
-Not a week ago, to cite a case, here comes a dandy from Madrid with
-his wife. Well, even as they were climbing the stairs they began to
-run down the city, the narrow streets, and the dark houses. When they
-came to this window and saw those two old towers down yonder on the
-plain on the left bank of the Tagus, they asked me what they were, and
-I answered, '_Los palacios de Galiana_.' 'Oh! what beautiful palaces!'
-they exclaimed, and began to laugh and looked in another direction.
-Why? Because they did not know their history. Now, I imagine that
-you do not know any better; but you are a stranger, and that makes a
-difference. Know, then, that the great emperor Charlemagne came to
-Toledo when he was a very young man. King Galafro was reigning then,
-and dwelt in that palace. King Galafro had a daughter Galiana, as
-beautiful as an angel; and, as Charlemagne was a guest of the king
-and saw the princess every day, he fell in love with her with all
-his heart, and so did the princess with him. But there was a rival
-between them, and this rival was the king of Guadalajara, a Moorish
-giant of herculean strength and the courage of a lion. This king, to
-see the princess without being seen, had a subterranean passage made
-all the way from the city of Guadalajara to the very foundation of the
-palace. But what good did it do? The princess could not even bear to
-see him, and as often as he came, so often did he return crestfallen;
-but not for this did the enamored king stop paying his court. And so
-much did he come hanging around that Charlemagne, who was not a man to
-be imposed upon, as you can imagine, lost his patience, and to end the
-matter challenged him. They fought: it was a terrible struggle, but the
-Moor, for all he was a giant, got the worst of it. When he was dead
-Charlemagne cut off his head and laid it at the feet of his love, who
-approved the delicacy of his offering, became a Christian, gave her
-hand to the prince, and went away with him to France, where she was
-proclaimed empress."
-
-"And the head of the Moor?"
-
-"You may laugh, but these are sacred facts. Do you see that old
-building down there at the highest point of the city? It is the church
-of San Ginés. And do you know what is inside of it? Nothing less than
-the door of an underground passage which extends three leagues beyond
-Toledo. You do not believe it? Listen! At the place where the church
-of San Ginés now stands there once was an enchanted palace before the
-Moors invaded Spain. No king had ever had the courage to enter it,
-and those who might possibly have been so bold did not do it because,
-according to the tradition, the first man who crossed that threshold
-would be the ruin of Spain. Finally King Roderic, before setting out
-for the battle of Guadalete, hoping to find in it some treasures which
-would furnish him means to resist the invasion of the Moors, had the
-doors broken open and entered, preceded by his warriors, who lighted
-the way. After a great deal of trouble to keep their torches lighted
-for the furious wind which came through the underground passages,
-they reached a mysterious room where they saw a chest which bore the
-inscription, 'He who opens me will see miracles.' The king commanded
-that it be opened: with incredible difficulty they succeeded in opening
-it, but, instead of gold or diamonds, they found only a roll of
-linen, on which were painted some armed Moors, with this inscription
-underneath: '_Spain will soon be destroyed by these_.' That very night
-a violent tempest arose, the enchanted palace fell, and a short time
-afterward the Moors entered Spain. You don't seem to believe it?"
-
-"What stuff you are talking! How can I believe it?"
-
-"But this history is connected with another. You know, without doubt,
-that Count Julian, the commandant of the fortress of Ceuta, betrayed
-Spain and allowed the Moors to pass when he might have barred the way.
-But you do not know why Count Julian turned traitor. He had a daughter
-at Toledo, and this daughter went every day with a number of her young
-friends to bathe in the Tagus. As misfortune willed it, the place
-where they went to bathe, which was called _Los Baños de la Cava_, was
-near a tower in which King Roderic was accustomed to pass the mid-day
-hours. One day Count Julian's daughter, who was called Florinda, tired
-of sporting in the water, sat down on the river-bank and said to her
-companions, 'Companions, let us see who is the most beautiful.'--'Let
-us see!' they cried, and as soon done as said. They seated themselves
-around Florinda, and each one revealed her beauty. But Florinda
-surpassed them all, and, unfortunately, just at the moment when she
-said to the others, 'Look!' King Roderic put his head out of the window
-and saw them. Young and dissolute, you may imagine he took fire like a
-match, paid his court to the beautiful Florinda, ruined and abandoned
-her; and from this followed the fury of the revenge of Count Julian,
-the treason, and the invasion."
-
-At this point it seemed that I had listened long enough: I gave the
-custodian two _reales_, which he took and put in his pocket with a
-dignified air, and, giving a last look at Toledo, I descended.
-
-It was the hour for promenading. The principal street, hardly wide
-enough for a carriage to pass through, was full of people; there may
-have been a few hundred persons, but they seemed like a great crowd;
-it was dusk, the shops were closing, and a few stray lights began to
-flicker here and there. I went to get my dinner, but came out quickly,
-so as not to lose sight of the promenade. It was night: there was
-no other illumination save the moonlight, and one could not see the
-faces of the people; I seemed to be in the midst of a procession
-of spectres, and was overwhelmed with sadness. "To think that I am
-alone!" I said--"that in all this city there is not a soul who knows
-me; that if I fall dead at this moment, there would not be a dog to
-say, 'Poor man! he was a good fellow!'" I saw joyous young men pass,
-fathers of families with their children, husbands or those who had
-the air of husbands with beautiful creatures on their arms; every one
-had a companion; they laughed and talked, and passed without so much
-as looking at me. How wretched I was! How happy I should have been if
-a boy, a beggar, or a policeman had come up and said, "It seems to
-me that I recognize you, sir"!--"It is impossible, I am a foreigner,
-I have never been in Toledo before; but it makes no matter; don't go
-away; stay here, and we will talk a while, for I am lonely."
-
-In a happy moment I remembered that at Madrid I had received a letter
-of introduction to a Toledan gentleman. I hurried to the hotel, took
-out my letter, and was at once shown to his house. The gentleman was
-at home and received me courteously. It was such a pleasure to hear my
-own name again that I could have thrown my arms around his neck. He was
-Antonio Gamero, the author of a highly esteemed _History of Toledo_. We
-spent the evening together. I asked him a hundred things; he told me a
-thousand, and read me some splendid passages from his book, which made
-me better acquainted with Toledo than I should otherwise have been in a
-month's residence there.
-
-The city is poor, and worse than poor: it is dead; the rich have
-abandoned it for Madrid; the men of genius have followed the rich; it
-has no commerce; the manufacture of cutlery, the only industry which
-flourishes, provides a livelihood for some hundreds of families, but
-not for the city; popular education is neglected; the people are lazy
-and miserable.
-
-But they have not lost their ancient character of nobility. Like all
-the peoples of great declining cities, they are proud and chivalrous;
-they abhor baseness, deal justice with their own hands, when they
-can, to assassins and thieves and murderers; and, although the poet
-Zorilla, in one of his ballads, has bluntly called them a silly
-people, they are not so; they are alert and bold. They combine the
-seriousness of the Spaniards of the North with the vivacity of the
-Spaniards of the South; they hold the middle ground between the
-Castilian and the Andalusian; they speak the language with refinement,
-with a greater variety of inflexion than the people of Madrid, and
-with greater precision than the people of Cordova and Seville; they
-love poetry and music; they are proud to number among their great men
-the gentle Garcilaso de la Vega, the reformer of Spanish poetry, and
-the illustrious Francisco de Rojas, the author of the _Garcia del
-Castañar_; and they take pride in welcoming within their walls artists
-and students from all the countries in the world who come to study the
-history of three nations and the monuments of three civilizations.
-But, whatever its people may be, Toledo is dead; the city of Wamba,
-of Alfonso the Brave, and of Padilla is nothing but a tomb. Since
-Philip II. took from it the crown of the capital, it has been steadily
-declining, and is still declining, and it is consuming itself little by
-little, solitary on the summit of its gloomy mountain, like a skeleton
-abandoned on a rock in the midst of the waves of the sea.
-
-I returned to the hotel shortly before midnight. Although the moon was
-shining brightly--for on moonlight nights they do not illuminate the
-streets, although the light of that silvery orb does not penetrate
-those narrow ways--I was obliged to grope my way along like a thief.
-With my head full, as it was, of fantastic ballads which describe the
-streets of Toledo traversed at night by cavaliers muffled in their
-cloaks, singing under the windows of their ladies, fighting and killing
-one another, climbing into palaces and stealing the maidens away, I
-imagined I should hear the tinkle of guitars, the clashing of swords,
-and the cries of the dying. Nothing of the kind: the streets were
-deserted and silent and the windows dark, and one heard faintly from
-time to time at the corners and crossways the light step of some one
-passing or a fugitive whisper, the source of which one could in no way
-discover. I reached the hotel without harming any fair Toledan, which
-might have caused me some annoyance, and also without having any holes
-made in my stomach, which was undoubtedly a consolation.
-
-The morning of the next day I visited the beautiful building of the
-hospital of San Cruz, the church of _Nuestra Señora del Transito_, an
-ancient synagogue, the ruins of an amphitheatre and of an arena where
-naval battles were fought in Roman times, and the famous manufactory
-of arms, where I bought a beautiful dagger with a silver handle and a
-blade covered with arabesques, which at this moment lies on my table,
-and when I shut my eyes and take it in my hand I seem to be still
-there, in the courtyard of the factory, a mile out of Toledo, under
-the mid-day sun, surrounded by a group of soldiers, and enveloped in a
-cloud of smoke from their cigarettes. I remember that as I was walking
-back to Toledo, as I was crossing a bit of country solitary as a
-desert and silent as the Catacombs, a terrible voice cried out, "Away
-with the foreigner!"
-
-The voice came from the city. I stopped--I was the foreigner, that cry
-was directed at me, and my blood curdled; the solitude and silence of
-the place increased my fear. I started forward and the voice cried
-again, "Away with the foreigner!"
-
-"Is it a dream?" I exclaimed, stopping again, "or am I awake? Who is
-shouting? Where is he? Why does he do it?"
-
-I started on again, and the voice came the third time, "Away with the
-foreigner!"
-
-I stopped the third time, and when, all disturbed, I cast my eyes
-around, I saw a boy sitting on the ground, who looked at me with a
-laugh and said, "He is a crazy man, who thinks he is living in the time
-of the War of Independence. Look, sir! that is the insane asylum."
-And he pointed out the place on a hill among the outermost houses of
-Toledo. I drew a long breath which would have blown out a torch.
-
-In the evening I left Toledo, regretting that I had not time to see
-once and again all that was ancient and wonderful in it: this regret
-was tempered, however, by my ardent desire for Andalusia, which had
-not allowed me a moment's peace. But how long I saw Toledo before my
-eyes! How long I remembered and dreamed of those headlong rocks, those
-enormous walls, those dark streets, that fantastic appearance of a
-mediæval city! Even to-day I review the picture with a sort of sombre
-pleasure and grave melancholy, and with this picture before me my mind
-wanders back in a thousand strange thoughts among distant times and
-marvellous events.
-
-
-
-
-CORDOVA.
-
-
-On arriving at Castillejo I was obliged to wait until midnight for
-the Andalusia train. I dined on hard-boiled eggs and oranges, with
-a little sprinkling of Val de Peñas, murmured a poem of Espronceda,
-chatted a little with a custom-house officer who between parentheses
-made me a confession of his political faith--Amadeus, liberty, an
-increase of wages to the custom-house officers, etc; finally I heard
-the long-desired whistle, entered a railway-carriage crowded full of
-women, children, civil guards, boxes, cushions, and wraps, and away
-with a speed unusual for the Spanish railways. It was a beautiful
-night; my travelling-companions talked of bulls and Carlists; a
-beautiful girl, whom more than one devoured with his eyes, pretended
-to sleep that she might still further heighten their curiosity; some
-were rolling cigarettes, some peeling oranges, others humming songs
-from the _Zarzuela_. Nevertheless, I fell asleep in a few minutes. I
-believe I had already dreamed of the mosque of Cordova and the Alcazar
-of Seville, when I was aroused by a hoarse cry, "Daggers!"
-
-"Daggers? Heavens! for whom?" Before I discovered who had shouted
-there flashed before my eyes a long sharp blade, and the unknown voice
-asked again,
-
-"Do you like it?"
-
-One must admit that there are pleasanter ways to be awakened. I
-looked in the faces of my travelling-companions with an expression of
-consternation, which made them all burst into a shout of laughter.
-Then they explained that at every railway-station there are vendors of
-knives and daggers who offer tourists their wares, just as the boys
-offer newspapers and refreshments in our country. Assured that my life
-was safe, I bought my scarecrow--five francs; a splendid dagger for a
-villain in a tragedy, with an ornamented handle, inscriptions on the
-blade, and a sheath of embroidered velvet; and I put it in my pocket,
-thinking that I might find it useful in Italy to settle difficulties
-with my publishers.
-
-The vendor must have had fifty of those knives in a great red sash
-tied around his waist. Other travellers bought them, the civil guards
-complimented one of my neighbors on the good selection he had made; the
-boys cried, "Buy me one too!" The mammas answered, "We will buy you a
-bigger one some other time." "O happy Spain!" I exclaimed, and thought
-with horror of our barbarous laws, which forbid the innocent amusement
-of a little cold steel.
-
-We crossed La Mancha, the celebrated La Mancha, the immortal
-theatre of the adventures of Don Quixote. It is such a place as I
-imagined--wide, bare plains, long tracts of sandy soil, here and there
-a windmill, a few wretched villages, lonely lanes, and forsaken huts.
-On seeing these places I felt that vague sense of melancholy which
-steals over me as I read the book of Cervantes, and repeated to myself
-what I always say on reading it: "This man cannot make one laugh
-without also making one's tears flow as the laughter dies away."
-
-Don Quixote is a sad and sombre figure: his madness is a lament;
-his life is the history of the dreams, illusions, awakenings, and
-aberrations of each of us; the struggle of reason with imagination, of
-truth with falsehood, of the ideal with the real. We all have something
-of Don Quixote in our nature; we all mistake windmills for giants; we
-are all now and then spurred on by the impulse of enthusiasm, only
-to be driven back by the laugh of scorn; we are each a mixture of
-the sublime and the ridiculous; we all feel bitterly and profoundly
-the eternal conflict between the grandeur of our aspirations and the
-impotence of our powers. O beautiful dreams of childhood and youth!
-Generous impulses to consecrate our life to the defence of virtue and
-justice, fond imaginations of dangers faced, of adventurous struggles,
-of magnanimous deeds, and sublime loves, fallen one by one, like the
-petals of a flower, in the narrow and uneventful paths of life! To what
-new life have they arisen in our soul, and what vague thoughts and
-profound inspirations have we derived from thee, O generous and hapless
-cavalier of the sad figure!
-
-We arrived at Argamasilla de Alba, where Don Quixote was born and died,
-and where poor Cervantes, the tax-gatherer of the great priory of San
-Juan, was arrested by angry debtors and imprisoned in a house which is
-said to be still in existence, and where he probably conceived the plan
-of his romance. We passed near the village of Val de Peñas, which gives
-its name to one of the most exquisite wines of Spain--dark, tingling,
-exhilarating, the only one, forsooth, which permits the foreigner from
-the North to indulge in copious libations at his meals; and finally we
-arrived at Santa Cruz de Mudela, a village famous for its manufactories
-of _navajas_ (knives and razors), near which the way begins to slope
-gently upward toward the mountain.
-
-The sun had risen, the women and children had left the carriage, and a
-number of peasants, officers, and _toreros_ had entered on their way
-to Seville. One saw in that small space a variety of costume which
-would not be seen even in an Italian market-place--the pointed caps of
-the peasants of the Sierra Morena, the red trousers of the soldiers,
-the great sombreros of the _picadores_, the shawls of the gypsies, the
-mantles of the Catalans, Toledo blades hanging from the walls, capes,
-belts, and finery of all the colors of a harlequin.
-
-The train entered the rocks of the Sierra Morena, which separate the
-valley of the Guadiana from that of the Guadalquivir, famous for the
-songs of poets and the deeds of brigands. The railway runs at times
-between two walls of rock sheer from the very peaks, so high that to
-see the top one must put one's head all the way out of the window
-and turn one's face up, as if to look at the roof of the carriage.
-Sometimes the rocks are farther away and rise one above the other, the
-first like enormous broken stones, the last straight and sharp like
-bold towers rising upon measureless bastions; between them a mass of
-boulders cut into teeth, steps, crests, and humps, some almost hanging
-in the air, others separated by deep caverns and frightful precipices,
-presenting a confusion of curious forms, of fantastic suggestions
-of houses, gigantic figures and ruins, and offering at every step a
-thousand outlines and surprising appearances; and, together with this
-infinite variety of form, an infinite variety of color, shadow, dancing
-and changing light. For long distances, to the right, to the left, and
-overhead, one sees nothing but stone, without a house, a path, or a
-patch of ground where a man could set his foot, and, as one advances,
-rocks, ravines, and precipices: everything grows larger, deeper, and
-higher until one reaches the summit of the Sierra, where the solemn
-majesty of the spectacle provokes a cry of wonder.
-
-The train stopped a few minutes, and all the travellers put their heads
-out of the window.
-
-"Here," said one in a loud voice,--"here Cardenio jumped from rock to
-rock to do penance for his sins" (Cardenio, one of the most remarkable
-characters in _Don Quixote_, who jumped about among the rocks of the
-Sierra in his shirt to do penance for his sins). "I wish," continued
-the traveller, "that Sagasta might have to do the same."
-
-They all laughed, and began to find, each one on his own account,
-some political enemy upon whom in imagination he might inflict this
-punishment: one proposed Serrano, another Topete, and a third another,
-and so on, until in a few minutes, if their desires had been realized,
-one might have seen the entire Sierra filled with ministers, generals,
-and deputies in their shirts skipping from crag to crag like the famous
-rock of Alessandro Manzoni.
-
-The train started, the rocks disappeared, and the delightful valley
-of the Guadalquivir, the garden of Spain, the Eden of the Arabs, the
-paradise of painters and of poets, blessed Andalusia, revealed herself
-to my eyes. I can still feel the thrill of childish joy with which I
-hurried to the window, saying to myself, "Let me enjoy it."
-
-For a long distance the country does not offer any new appearance to
-the ardent curiosity of the traveller. At Vilches there is a vast
-plain, and beyond it the level country of Tolosa, where Alfonso VIII.,
-king of Castile, won the celebrated victory of _de las Navas_ over the
-Mussulman army. The sky was as clear as air--in the distance rose the
-mountains of the Sierra de Segura. Suddenly I made one of those quick
-motions which seemed to correspond to an unuttered cry of astonishment:
-the first aloes with their broad heavy leaves, the unexpected
-harbingers of the tropical vegetation, rise beside the road. Beyond
-them the fields sprinkled with flowers begin to appear. The first
-fields sprinkled, those which follow almost covered, then vast tracts
-of country wholly clothed, with wild poppies, daisies, iris, mushrooms,
-cowslips, and buttercups, so that the country appears like a succession
-of vast carpets of purple and gold and snowy white, and far away, among
-the trees, innumerable streaks of blue, white, and yellow until the eye
-is lost; and hard by, on the edge of the ditches, the mounds, and the
-banks, even to the very track, flowers in beds, groups, and clusters,
-one above the other, fashioned like great bouquets, trembling on their
-stems, which one can almost touch with the hand. Then waving fields
-of grain with great heavy bearded heads, bordered by long gardens of
-roses; then orange-orchards and vast olive-groves; hillocks varied
-by a hundred shades of green, surmounted by ancient Moorish towers,
-dotted with many-colored cottages, with here and there white, graceful
-bridges, which span rivulets hidden by the trees. On the horizon rise
-the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada, and below this white line other
-blue undulating lines of the nearer mountains. The country grows ever
-more various and blooming: Arjonilla, embowered in an orange-grove
-whose limits are lost in the distance; Pedro Abad, in the midst of a
-plain covered with vineyards and orchards; Ventas de Alcolea, on the
-hills of the Sierra Morena, crowned with villas and gardens. We are
-drawing near to Cordova: the train flies; one sees little stations half
-hidden among trees and flowers; the wind blows the rose-leaves into
-the cars, great butterflies sail past the windows, a delicious perfume
-fills the air, the travellers are singing, we pass through an enchanted
-garden, the aloes, oranges, palms, and villas become more frequent; one
-hears a cry: "Here is Cordova!"
-
-How many beautiful images and how many memories are recalled by that
-name!
-
-Cordova, the ancient pearl of the Occident, as the Moorish poets called
-her, the city of cities, Cordova of the thirty burgs and the three
-thousand mosques, which contained within her walls the greatest temple
-of Islam! Her fame spread through the Orient and obscured the glory
-of ancient Damascus,--from the remotest regions of Asia the faithful
-journeyed toward the banks of the Guadalquivir to prostrate themselves
-in the marvellous mihrab of her mosque, in the blaze of a thousand
-brazen lamps cast from the bells of the Spanish cathedrals. From every
-part of the Mohammedan world artists, scholars, and poets crowded to
-her flourishing schools, her vast libraries, and the magnificent courts
-of her caliphs. Hither flowed wealth and beauty, drawn by the fame of
-her splendor.
-
-And from here they separated, eager for knowledge, along the coasts of
-Africa, among the schools of Tunis, Cairo, Bagdad, and Cufa, as far as
-India and China, in search of books, inspiration, and memories; and the
-poems sung on the slopes of the Sierra Morena flew from harp to harp
-even to the valleys of the Caucasus, to make the hearts of pilgrims
-burn within them. The beautiful, the mighty, the wise Cordova, crowned
-with three thousand villages, proudly reared her white minarets among
-her orange-groves and spread through the divine valley a voluptuous air
-of gladness and glory.
-
-I descend from the train, cross a garden, and look around: I am
-alone; the travellers who came with me have disappeared in different
-directions; I still hear the rumble of the receding carriages; then all
-is silent.
-
-It is mid-day: the sky is very clear, the air burning. I see two white
-cottages; it is the opening of a street; I enter and go forward. The
-street is narrow, the houses small as the little villas built on the
-hillocks of artificial gardens; nearly all of them are one story in
-height, with windows a little way from the ground, roofs so low that
-one can almost touch them with a cane, and very white walls. The street
-makes a turn; I look down it; no one is in sight; I do not hear a
-step nor a voice. "It must be an abandoned street," I say, and turn
-in another direction: white cottages, closed windows, solitude, and
-silence. "Where am I?" I ask myself.
-
-I walk on: the street is so narrow and crooked that a carriage could
-not pass through it; to the right and left one sees other deserted
-streets, other white houses, and other closed windows; my step echoes
-as in a corridor; the white of the walls is so bright that the
-reflection almost blinds me, and I am obliged to walk with my eyes
-closed; I seem to be passing through snow. I reach a little square:
-everything is closed, there is no one about. Then a feeling of vague
-melancholy begins to steal into my heart, such as I have never felt
-before, a mingling of enjoyment and sorrow like that which children
-experience when after a long run they find themselves in a beautiful
-country-place and enjoy it, but with a tremor of fear at being so
-far away from home. Above the many roofs rise the palms of the inner
-gardens. O fantastic legends of odalisques and caliphs!
-
-On from street to street and square to square; I meet a few persons,
-but they all pass and disappear like phantoms. The streets are all
-alike, the houses have only two or four windows; and there is not a
-stain, not a scratch, not a crack in the walls, which are as smooth
-and white as a sheet of paper. Now and then I hear a whisper behind a
-venetian blind, and almost at the same moment see a dark head with a
-flower in the hair peep out and disappear. I approach a door.
-
-A _patio_! How shall I describe a _patio_? It is not a courtyard, it
-is not a garden, it is not a room; it is the three in one. Between the
-_patio_ and the street there is a vestibule. On the four sides of the
-_patio_ rise graceful columns which support a sort of balcony enclosed
-in glass at the height of the second story; over the balcony extends a
-canvas which shades the court. The vestibule is flagged with marble,
-the doorway supported by columns surmounted by bas-reliefs and closed
-by a delicate iron lattice of very beautiful design. At the back of
-the _patio_, opposite the doorway, stands a statue, in the centre a
-fountain, and all around chairs, work-tables, paintings, and vases of
-flowers. I run to another door. Another _patio_, its walls covered with
-ivy, and a line of niches containing statuettes and urns. I hurry to
-a third door. A _patio_ with its walls adorned with mosaic, a palm in
-the centre, and all around a mass of flowers. A fourth door. Behind
-the _patio_ another vestibule, and then a second _patio_, in which one
-sees other statues, columns, and fountains. And all these rooms and
-gardens are clean and tidy, so that you could pass your hands over the
-walls and along the floor without leaving a mark; and they are fresh
-and fragrant, lighted with a dim light which heightens their beauty and
-mystery.
-
-Still forward, from street to street, at random. Gradually, as I walk
-on, my curiosity increases and I hasten my steps. It seems impossible
-that the whole city can be like this: I am afraid of coming upon a
-house or finding a street which will remind me of other cities and
-rouse me from my pleasant dream.
-
-But, no: the dream is unbroken. Everything is small, graceful,
-mysterious. Every hundred paces a deserted little square, in which I
-stop breathless; now and then a crossway, and not a living soul; and
-everything always white--closed windows and silence. At every door
-there is a new spectacle: arches, columns, flowers, fountains, palms;
-a marvellous variety of design, color, light, perfume, here of roses,
-there of oranges, yonder of violets; and with the perfume a breath of
-fresh air, and borne on the air the subdued sound of women's voices,
-the rustling of leaves, and the singing of birds--a sweet and various
-harmony, which, without disturbing the silence of the street, soothes
-the ear like the echo of distant music. Ah! it is not a dream! Madrid,
-Italy, Europe, surely they are far, far away. Here one lives another
-life, here one breathes the air of another world; I am in the Orient.
-
-I remember that at a certain point I stopped in the middle of the
-street and suddenly discovered, I know not how, that I was sad
-and restless, and that in my heart there was a void which neither
-admiration nor enjoyment could fill. I felt an irrepressible necessity
-of entering those houses and those gardens, of tearing asunder, so to
-speak, the mysterious veil which concealed the life of the unknown
-people within; of sharing in that life; of grasping some hand and
-gazing into two pitying eyes, and saying, "I am a stranger, I am alone;
-I too want to be happy; let me linger among your flowers, let me enjoy
-all the secrets of your paradise, teach me who you are and how you
-live; smile on me and calm me, for my head is burning!"
-
-And this sadness grew upon me until I said to myself, "I cannot stay in
-this city; I am suffering here; I will leave it!"
-
-And I believe I should have left if at a happy moment I had not
-remembered that I carried in my pocket a letter of introduction to
-two young men of Cordova, brothers of a friend of mine in Florence. I
-dismissed the idea of leaving, and started at once to find them.
-
-How they laughed when I told them of the impression Cordova had made
-upon me! They proposed that we go at once to see the cathedral; so we
-turned down a narrow white street and were off.
-
-The mosque of Cordova, which was converted into a cathedral after the
-overthrow of the Moors, but which must always remain a mosque, was
-built on the ruins of the original cathedral, a little way back from
-the bank of the Guadalquivir. Abdurrahman commenced its construction
-in the year 785 or 786 A. D. "Let us rear a mosque," said he, "which
-shall surpass that of Bagdad, of Damascus, and of Jerusalem--a mosque
-which shall be the greatest temple of Islam, one which shall become the
-Mecca of the West." They undertook the work with great ardor. Christian
-slaves carried the stone for its foundations from their ruined
-churches; Abdurrahman himself worked an hour every day; in a few years
-the mosque was built, the caliphs who succeeded Abdurrahman embellished
-it, and after a century of almost continuous labor it was finished.
-
-"Here we are!" said one of my friends, stopping suddenly in front of a
-vast edifice.
-
-I thought it was a fortress, but it was the wall which surrounds the
-mosque--an old embattled wall in which there were at one time twenty
-great bronze doors ornamented with the most beautiful arabesques, and
-arched windows supported by graceful columns, now covered by a triple
-coat of plaster. A turn around this wall is a nice little walk to
-take after dinner: one may judge, therefore, of the vast size of the
-building.
-
-[Illustration: _Court of Oranges, Mosque of Cordova_]
-
-The principal door of the enclosure is north of the point where rises
-the minaret of Abdurrahman, from whose summit floated the Mohammedan
-standard. We entered: I expected to see at once the interior of the
-mosque, but found myself in a garden full of orange trees, cypresses,
-and palms, surrounded on three sides by a very beautiful portico and
-closed on the fourth side by the façade of the mosque. In the midst
-of this garden there was, in the time of the Moors, the fountain for
-their ablutions, and in the shade of these trees the faithful refreshed
-themselves before entering the sanctuary.
-
-I stood for some moments looking around and breathing in the fresh
-odorous air with the liveliest sense of pleasure, and my heart leaped
-at the thought of the famous mosque standing there before me, and I
-felt myself impelled toward the door by a boundless curiosity, and
-at the same time restrained by I know not what feeling of childish
-hesitation.
-
-"Let us enter," said my companions. "One moment more," I replied: "let
-me thoroughly enjoy the delight of anticipation." Finally I moved
-forward and entered, without so much as looking at the marvellous
-doorway which my companions pointed out.
-
-What I did or said on entering I do not know, but some strange
-exclamation must surely have escaped me or I must have made an odd
-gesture, for some persons who were just then coming toward me began to
-laugh and turned again to look around, as if to discover the reason of
-the profound emotion which I had manifested.
-
-Imagine a forest and suppose yourself in the thickest part, where
-you see only the trunks of trees. So in the mosque wherever you turn
-your gaze is lost among the columns. It is a forest of marble whose
-boundaries one cannot discover. One follows with the eye, one by one,
-those lengthening rows of columns crossed at every step by innumerable
-other rows, and perceives a dimly-lighted background in which one
-seems to see the gleaming of still other columns. There are nineteen
-naves which extend in the direction in which you enter, crossed by
-thirty-three other naves, and supported, in all, by more than nine
-hundred columns of porphyry, jasper, onyx, and marble of every color.
-Each column is surmounted by a pilaster, and between one column and
-the next bends an arch, and a second arch above the first extends from
-pilaster to pilaster, both of them in the form of a horseshoe; and so,
-imagining the columns to be the trunks of so many trees and the arches
-to represent the branches, the resemblance of the mosque to a forest is
-complete.
-
-The central nave, much larger than the others, leads to the Maksura,
-the most sacred part of the temple, where they worshipped the Koran.
-Here from the vaulted windows steals a faint ray of light which glides
-along a row of columns; there a dark place, and yonder another ray
-pierces the gloom of another nave. It is impossible to express the
-feeling of mystical wonder which fills one's mind at this spectacle.
-It is like the sudden revelation of a religion, a nature, and a life
-unknown, leading the fancy captive among the delights of that paradise
-of love and pleasure where the blessed, sitting in the shade of leafy
-plane trees and of thornless roses, drink from crystal beakers wine
-gleaming like pearls, mixed by immortal children, and repose in the
-embrace of lovely virgins with great dark eyes! All the images of
-that external pleasure, eager, warm, and glowing, which the Koran
-promises to the faithful, crowd upon the mind at the first sight of the
-mosque, and give one a delicious moment of intoxication which leaves
-in the heart an indescribable feeling of gentle melancholy. A brief
-tumult in the mind and a rapid thrill which goes tingling through the
-veins,--such is one's first sensation on entering the cathedral of
-Cordova.
-
-We began to wander from passage to passage, examining everything
-minutely. What a variety in that edifice which at first sight appears
-so uniform! The proportions of the columns, the design of the capitals,
-the form of the arches change, one may say, at every step. The greater
-part of the columns are old and were taken by the Moors from Northern
-Spain, Gaul, and Roman Africa, and one is said to have belonged
-to a temple of Janus, upon whose ruins stood the church which the
-Arabians destroyed to build the mosque. On several of the capitals
-one may still see the traces of the crosses carved upon them, which
-the Arabians broke off with their hammers. In some of the columns
-iron rings are fastened to which it is said the Arabians bound the
-Christians, and among the others there is one pointed out to which the
-popular tradition narrates a Christian was bound for many years, and
-in that time, by continually scratching with his nails, he succeeded
-in engraving a cross on the stone, which the guides show with profound
-veneration.
-
-We entered the Maksura, which is the most perfect and marvellous work
-of Moorish art of the twelfth century. At the entrance there are three
-continuous chapels, with vaulted roofs formed by indented arches, and
-walls covered with magnificent mosaics which represent wreaths and
-flowers and passages from the Koran. At the back of the middle chapel
-is the principal _mihrab_, the holy place, where dwelt the Spirit of
-God. It is a niche with an octagonal base enclosed above by a colossal
-marble shell. In the _mihrab_ was kept the Koran written by the hands
-of the caliph Othman, covered with gold, adorned with pearls, suspended
-above a seat of aloe-wood; and here came thousands of the faithful to
-make the circuit of it seven times on their knees. On approaching the
-wall I felt the pavement slipping from under me: the marble had been
-worn hollow!
-
-On leaving the niche I stood a long time contemplating the vault and
-the walls of the principal chapel, the only part of the mosque which
-has been preserved almost intact. It is a dazzling flash of crystals
-of a thousand colors, an interweaving of arabesques which confuse the
-mind, a mingling of bas-reliefs, gilding, ornaments, and minute details
-of design and coloring of a delicacy, grace, and perfection which would
-prove the despair of the most patient artist. It is impossible to
-retain in one's mind any part of that prodigious work: you might return
-a hundred times to look at it, but in reality it would only remain
-before your eyes as a tantalizing blur of blue, red, green, golden,
-and luminous shades of colors, or a very intricate piece of embroidery
-continually and rapidly changing in color and design. Only from the
-ardent and tireless imagination of the Moors could such a miracle of
-art have issued.
-
-We began to wander through the mosque again, observing here and there
-on the walls the arabesques of the ancient doorways which are now
-and then discovered under the detestable plaster of the Christians.
-My companions looked at me, laughed, and whispered something to each
-other. "Have you not seen it yet?" one of them asked me.
-
-"What do you mean?"
-
-They looked at me again and smiled.
-
-"You think you have seen all the mosque, do you?" continued my
-companion.
-
-"Yes, indeed," I replied, looking around.
-
-"Well," said the first, "you have not seen it all, and what remains to
-be seen is nothing less than a church."
-
-"A church?" I exclaimed stupefied, "but where is it?"
-
-"Look!" answered my other companion, pointing; "it is in the very
-centre of the mosque."
-
-"By the powers!" And I had not seen it!
-
-From this one may judge of the vastness of the mosque.
-
-We went to see the church. It is beautiful and very rich, with a
-magnificent high altar and a choir worthy to stand beside those in the
-cathedrals of Burgos and Toledo, but, like everything out of place,
-it moves one to anger rather than admiration. Without this church
-the appearance of the mosque would be much improved. Charles V., who
-himself gave the chapter permission to build it, repented when he saw
-the Mohammedan temple for the first time. Besides the church there is a
-sort of Moorish chapel in a good state of preservation, rich in mosaics
-not less varied and splendid than those of the Maksura, and where it is
-said the ministers of the faith used to assemble to discuss the book of
-the Prophet.
-
-Such is the mosque to-day. But what must it have been in the time of
-the Arabs! It was not entirely enclosed by a wall, but open, so that
-one could see the garden from every side, and from the garden one
-could look to the very end of the long naves, and the fragrance of
-orange-blossoms and flowers was wafted even to the vaulted roofs of the
-Maksura. The columns, which now number less than a thousand, were then
-fourteen hundred in number; the ceiling was of cedar-wood and larch,
-carved and enamelled with exquisite workmanship; the walls were lined
-with marble; the light of eight hundred lamps filled with fragrant oil
-made the crystals in the mosaic-work flash like pearls, and produced on
-the pavement, the arches, and the walls a marvellous play of color and
-reflection. "A sea of splendors," sang a poet, filled the mysterious
-enclosure, and the warm air was laden with perfume and harmony, and the
-thoughts of the faithful wandered and were lost in the labyrinth of
-columns gleaming like lances in the sun.
-
-Frederick Schrack, the author of a good work on the _Poetry and Art
-of the Moors in Spain and Sicily_, gives a description of the mosque
-on a day of solemn festival, which forms a very lively image of the
-Mohammedan religion and completes the picture of the monument.
-
-On both sides of the almimbar, or pulpit, wave two banners, to signify
-that Islam has triumphed over Judaism and Christianity and that the
-Koran has conquered both the Old and the New Testament. The _almnedani_
-ascend to the gallery of the high minaret and intone the salam, or
-salutation, to the Prophet. Then the aisles of the mosque are filled
-with believers, who with white vestments and in festal attire come
-together to worship. In a few moments, throughout the length and
-breadth of the edifice, one sees only kneeling people. The caliph
-enters by the secret way which leads from the Alcazar to the temple,
-and seats himself in his elevated station. A reader of the Koran reads
-a _sura_ from the low desk of the pulpit.
-
-The voice of the muezzin sounds again, calling men to mid-day prayer.
-All the faithful rise and murmur their prayers, bowing as they do so.
-An attendant of the mosque opens the doors of the pulpit and seizes a
-sword, and, holding it, he turns toward Mecca, admonishing the people
-to worship Mohammed, while the _mubaliges_ are chanting his praises
-from the gallery. Then the preacher mounts the pulpit, taking from
-the hand of the servant the sword, which calls to mind and symbolizes
-the subjection of Spain to the power of Islam. It is the day when
-the _Djihad_, or the holy war, must be proclaimed, the call for all
-able-bodied men to go to war and descend into the battlefield against
-the Christians. The multitude listens with silent devotion to the
-sermon, woven from texts of the Koran, which begins in this wise:
-
-"Praise be to Allah, who has increased the glory of Islam, thanks to
-the sword of the champion of the faith, who in his holy book has
-promised succor and victory to the believer.
-
-"Allah scatters his benefits over the world.
-
-"If he did not put it in the hearts of men to take up arms against
-their fellows, the world would be lost.
-
-"Allah has ordained to fight against the people until they know that
-there is but one God.
-
-"The torch of war will not be extinguished until the end of the world.
-
-"The blessing of God will fall upon the mane of the war-horse to the
-day of judgment.
-
-"Armed from head to foot or but lightly clad, it matters not--up and
-away!
-
-"O believers! what shall be done to you if, when called to the battle,
-you remain with face turned to the earth?
-
-"Do you prefer the life of this world to the life to come?
-
-"Believe me, the gates of paradise stand in the shadow of the sword.
-
-"He who dies in battle for the cause of God shall wash away with his
-blood all the defilement of his sins.
-
-"His body shall not be wasted like the other bodies of the dead, for on
-the day of judgment his wounds shall yield a fragrance like musk.
-
-"When the warriors present themselves at the gates of paradise, a voice
-within shall ask, 'What have you done in your life?'
-
-"And they shall answer, 'We have brandished the sword in the struggle
-for the cause of God.'
-
-"Then the eternal doors will swing open, and the warriors will enter
-forty years before the rest.
-
-"Up, then, ye faithful; leave your women, your children, your kindred,
-and your goods, and go out to the holy war!
-
-"And thou, God, Lord of this present world and of that which is to
-come, fight for the armies of those who recognize thy unity! Cast down
-the unbelievers, the idolaters, and the enemies of thy holy faith!
-Overwhelm their standards, and give them, with whatever they possess,
-as a prey to the Mussulman!"
-
-The preacher as he ends his discourse turns toward the congregation and
-exclaims, "Ask of God!" and begins to pray in silence.
-
-All the faithful, with heads bowed to the ground, follow his example.
-The _mubaliges_ chant, "Amen! Amen, O Lord of all being!" Burning like
-the heat which precedes the oncoming tempest, the enthusiasm of the
-multitude, restrained at first in awful silence, now breaks out into
-deep murmurs, which rise like the waves and swell through all parts of
-the temple, until finally the naves, the chapels, and the vaulted roofs
-resound to the echo of a thousand voices united in a single cry: "There
-is no God but Allah!"
-
-The mosque of Cordova is even to-day, by universal consent, the most
-beautiful temple of Islam and one of the most marvellous monuments in
-the world.
-
-When we left the mosque it was already long past the hour of the
-siesta, which everybody takes in the cities of Southern Spain, and
-which is a necessity by reason of the insupportable heat of the noon
-hours. The streets began to fill with people. "Alas!" said I to my
-companions, "how badly the silk hat looks in the streets of Cordova!
-How have you the heart to introduce the fashion-plates in this
-beautiful Oriental picture? Why do you not adopt the dress of the
-Moors?" Coxcombs pass, workmen, and girls: I looked at them all with
-great curiosity, hoping to find one of those fantastic figures which
-Doré has represented as examples of the Andalusian type, with that
-dark-brown complexion, those thick lips, and large eyes, but I saw
-none. Walking toward the centre of the city, I saw the first Andalusian
-women--ladies, girls and women of the middle classes--almost all small,
-graceful, and well-formed, some of them beautiful, many attractive in
-appearance, but the greater part neither one thing nor the other, as is
-the case in all countries. In their dress, with the exception of the
-so-called mantilla, they do not differ at all from the French women nor
-from those of our country--great masses of false hair in plaits, knots,
-and long curls, short petticoats, long plaited over-skirts, and boots
-with heels as sharp as daggers. The ancient Andalusian costume has
-disappeared from the city.
-
-I thought that in the evening the streets would be crowded, but I saw
-only a few people, and only in the streets of the principal quarters;
-the others remain as empty as at the hour of the siesta. And one must
-pass through those deserted streets at night to enjoy Cordova. One sees
-the light streaming from the _patios_; one sees in the dark corners
-fond lovers in close colloquy, the girls usually at the windows, with
-a hand resting lightly on the iron grating, and the young men close to
-the wall in poetic attitudes, with watchful eyes, but not so watchful,
-however, as to make them take their lips from those hands before
-they discover that some one is passing; and one hears the sound of
-guitars, the murmur of fountains, sighs, the laughter of children, and
-mysterious rustlings.
-
-The following morning, still stirred by the Oriental dreams of the
-night, I again began my wandering through the city. To describe all
-that is remarkable there one would require a volume: it is a very
-museum of Roman and Arabian antiquities, and one finds a profusion of
-martial columns and inscriptions in honor of the emperors; the remains
-of statues and bas-reliefs; six ancient gates; a great bridge over the
-Guadalquivir dating from the time of Octavius Augustus and restored
-by the Arabians; ruins of towers and walls; houses which belonged to
-the caliphs, and which still contain the columns and the subterranean
-arches of the bathing apartments; and everywhere there are doors,
-vestibules, and stairways that would delight a legion of archæologists.
-
-Toward noon, as I was passing through a lonely little street, I saw
-a sign on the wall of a house beside a Roman inscription, _Casa de
-huespedes. Almuerzos y comidas_, and as I read I felt the gnawing, as
-Giusti says, of such a desperate hunger that I determined to give it a
-quietus in this little shop upon which I had stumbled. I passed through
-a little vestibule, and found myself in a _patio_. It was a poor little
-_patio_, without marble floor and without fountains, but white as snow
-and fresh as a garden. As I saw neither tables nor chairs, I feared I
-had mistaken the door and started to go out. A little old woman bustled
-out from I know not where and stopped me.
-
-"Have you anything to eat?" I demanded.
-
-"Yes, sir," she answered.
-
-"What have you?"
-
-"Eggs, sausages, chops, peaches, oranges, and wine of Malaga."
-
-"Very good: you may bring everything you have."
-
-She commenced by bringing me a table and a chair, and I sat down and
-waited. Suddenly I heard a door open behind me and turned.... Angels
-of heaven! what a sight I saw!--the most beautiful of all the most
-beautiful Andalusians, not only of those whom I saw at Cordova, but
-of all those whom I afterward saw at Seville, Cadiz, and Granada: if
-I may be allowed to use the word, a superb girl, who would make one
-flee or commit some deviltry; one of those faces which make you cry,
-"O poor me!" like Giuseppe Baretti when he was travelling in Spain.
-For some moments she stood motionless with her eyes fixed on mine as
-if to say, "Admire me;" then she turned toward the kitchen and cried,
-"_Tia, despachate!_" ("Hurry up, aunty!") This gave me an opportunity
-of thanking her with a stammering tongue, and gave her a pretence for
-approaching me and replying, "It is nothing," with a voice so gentle
-that I was obliged to offer her a chair, whereupon she sat down. She
-was a girl about twenty years old, tall, straight as a palm, and dark,
-with two great eyes full of sweetness, lustrous and humid as though she
-had just been in tears: she wore a mass of wavy jet-black hair with a
-rose among her locks. She seemed like one of the Arabian virgins of the
-tribe of the Usras for whom men died of love.
-
-She herself opened the conversation:
-
-"You are a foreigner, I should think, sir?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"French?"
-
-"Italian."
-
-"Italian? A fellow-countryman of the king?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Do you know him, sir?"
-
-"By sight!"
-
-"They say he is a handsome young fellow."
-
-I did not answer, and she began to laugh, and asked me, "What are you
-looking at, sir?" and, still laughing, she hid her foot, which on
-taking her seat she thrust well forward that I might see it. Ah! there
-is not a woman in that country who does not know that the feet of the
-Andalusians are famous throughout the world.
-
-I seized the opportunity of turning the conversation upon the fame of
-the Andalusian women, and expressed my admiration in the most fervent
-words of my vocabulary. She allowed me to talk on, looking with great
-attention at the crack in the table, then raising her face, she asked
-me, "And in Italy, how are the women there?"
-
-"Oh, there are beautiful women in Italy too."
-
-"But ... they are cold?"
-
-"Oh no, not at all," I hastened to respond; "but, you know, ... in
-every country the women have an _I-know-not-what_ which distinguishes
-them from the women of all other countries; and among them all the
-_I-know-not-what_ of the Andalusians is probably the most dangerous for
-a poor traveller whose hairs have not turned gray. There is a word to
-express what I mean: if I could remember it, I would say it to you; I
-would say, "_Señorita_, you are the most ..."
-
-"_Salada_," exclaimed the girl, covering her face with her hands.
-
-"_Salada!_ ... the most _salada_ Andalusian in Cordova."
-
-_Salada_ is the word commonly used in Andalusia to describe a woman
-beautiful, charming, affectionate, languid, ardent, what you will--a
-woman with two lips which say, "Drink me," and two eyes which make one
-close one's teeth.
-
-The aunt brought me the eggs, chops, sausage, and oranges, and the girl
-continued the conversation: "Sir, you are an Italian: have you seen the
-Pope?"
-
-"No, I am sorry to say."
-
-"Is it possible? An Italian who has not seen the Pope! And tell me,
-sir: why do the Italians make him suffer so much?"
-
-"Suffer in what way?"
-
-"Yes. They say that they have shut him up in his house and thrown
-stones at the windows."
-
-"Oh no! Don't believe it! There is not a particle of truth in it,"
-etc., etc.
-
-"Have you seen Venice, sir?"
-
-"Venice? oh yes."
-
-"Is it true that it is a city which floats on the sea?"
-
-And here she made a thousand requests that I would describe Venice,
-and that I would tell her what the people were like in that strange
-city, and what they do all the day long, and how they dress. And while
-I was talking besides the pains I took to express myself with a little
-grace, and to eat meanwhile the badly-cooked eggs and stale sausage--I
-was obliged to see her draw nearer and nearer to me, that she might
-hear me better perhaps, without being conscious of the act. She came
-so close that I could smell the fragrance of the rose in her hair and
-feel her warm breath; I was obliged, I may say, to make three efforts
-at once--one with my head, another with my stomach, and a third with
-both--especially when, now and then, she would say, "How beautiful!"--a
-compliment which applied to the Grand Canal, but which had upon me the
-effect a bag full of napoleons might have upon a beggar if swung under
-his nose by an insolent banker.
-
-"Ah, señorita!" I said at last, beginning to lose patience, "what
-matters it, after all, whether cities are beautiful or not? Those who
-are born in them think nothing of it, and the traveller still less. I
-arrived at Cordova yesterday: it is a beautiful city, without doubt.
-Well--will you believe it?--I have already forgotten all that I have
-seen; I no longer wish to see anything; I do not even know what city I
-am in. Palaces, mosques, they make me laugh. When you have a consuming
-fire in your heart, do you go to the mosque to quench it?--Excuse me,
-will you move back a little?--When you feel such a madness that you
-could grind up a plate with your teeth, do you go to look at palaces?
-Believe me, the traveller's life is a sad one. It is a penance of the
-hardest sort. It is torture. It is...." A prudent blow with her fan
-closed my mouth, which was going too far both in words and action. I
-attacked the chop.
-
-"Poor fellow!" murmured the Andalusian with a laugh after she had given
-a glance around. "Are all the Italians as ardent as you?"
-
-"How should I know? Are all the Andalusians as beautiful as you?"
-
-The girl laid her hand on the table.
-
-"Take that hand away," I said.
-
-"Why?" she asked.
-
-"Because I want to eat in peace."
-
-"Eat with one hand."
-
-"Ah!"
-
-I seemed to be pressing the little hand of a girl of six; my knife fell
-to the ground; a dark veil settled upon the chop.
-
-Suddenly my hand was empty: I opened my eyes, saw the girl all
-disturbed, and looked behind me. Gracious Heavens! There was a handsome
-young fellow, with a stylish little jacket, tight breeches, and a
-velvet cap. Oh terrors! a _torero_! I gave a start as if I had felt two
-_banderillas de fuego_ planted in my neck.
-
-"I see it at a glance," said I to myself, like the man at the comedy;
-and one could not fail to understand. The girl, slightly embarrassed,
-made the introduction: "An Italian passing through Cordova," and she
-hastened to add, "who wants to know when the train leaves for Seville."
-
-The _torero_, who had frowned at first sight of me, was reassured,
-told me the hour of departure, sat down, and entered into a friendly
-conversation. I asked for the news of the last bull-fight at Cordova:
-he was a _banderillero_, and he gave me a minute description of the
-day's sport. The girl in the mean time was gathering flowers from the
-vases in the _patio_. I finished my meal, offered a glass of Malaga to
-the _torero_, drank to the fortunate planting of all his _banderillas_,
-paid my bill (three _pesetas_, which included the beautiful eyes,
-you understand), and then, putting on a bold front, so as to dispel
-the least shadow of suspicion from the mind of my formidable rival,
-I said to the girl, "_Señorita!_ one can refuse nothing to those who
-are taking leave. To you I am like a dying man; you will never see
-me again; you will never hear my name spoken: then let me take some
-memento; give me that bunch of flowers."
-
-"Take it," said the girl; "I picked it for you."
-
-She glanced at the _torero_, who gave a nod of approval.
-
-"I thank you with all my heart," I replied as I turned to leave. They
-both accompanied me to the door.
-
-"Have you bull-fights in Italy?" asked the young man.
-
-"Oh heavens! no, not yet!"
-
-"Too bad! Try to make them popular in Italy also, and I will come to
-_banderillar_ at Rome."
-
-"I will do all in my power.--_Señorita_, have the goodness to tell me
-your name, so that I may bid you good-bye."
-
-"Consuelo."
-
-"God be with you, Consuelo!"
-
-"God be with you, _Señor Italiano_!"
-
-And I went out into the lonely little street.
-
-There are no remarkable Arabian monuments to be seen in the
-neighborhood of Cordova, although at one time the whole valley was
-covered with magnificent buildings. Three miles to the south of the
-city, on the side of the mountain, rose the Medina Az-Zahra, the
-city of flowers, one of the most marvellous architectural works of
-the caliph Abdurrahman, begun by the caliph himself in honor of his
-favorite Az-Zahra. The foundations were laid in the year 936, and ten
-thousand workmen labored on the edifice for twenty-five years. The
-Arabian poets celebrated Medina Az-Zahra as the most splendid of royal
-palaces and the most delightfullyl garden in the world. It was not an
-edifice, but a vast chain of palaces, gardens, courts, colonnades,
-and towers. There were rare plants from Syria--the fantastic playing
-of lofty fountains, streams of water flowing in the shade of palm
-trees, and great basins overflowing with quicksilver, which reflected
-the rays of the sun like lakes of fire; doors of ebony and ivory
-studded with gems; thousands of columns of the most precious marbles;
-great airy balconies; and between the innumerable multitudes of
-statues twelve images of animals of massy gold, gleaming with pearls,
-sprinkling sweetened water from their mouths and noses. In this vast
-palace swarmed thousands of servants, slaves, and women, and hither
-from every part of the world came poets and musicians. And yet this
-same Abdurrahman III., who lived among all these delights, who reigned
-for fifty years, who was powerful, glorious, and fortunate in every
-circumstance and enterprise, wrote before his death that during his
-long reign he had been happy only fourteen days, and his fabulous city
-of flowers seventy-four years after the laying of its first stone was
-invaded, sacked, and burned by a barbarian horde, and to-day there
-remain only a few stones which hardly recall its name.
-
-Of another splendid city, called Zahira, which rose to the east of
-Cordova, built by the powerful Almansur, governor of the kingdom, not
-even the ruins remain: a handful of rebels laid it in ashes a little
-while after the death of its founder.
-
- "All returns to the great ancient mother."
-
-Instead of taking a drive around Cordova, I simply wandered here and
-there, weaving fancies from the names of the streets, which to me is
-one of the greatest pleasures in which a traveller may indulge in a
-foreign city. Cordova, _alma ingeniorum parens_, could write at every
-street-corner the name of an artist or an illustrious author born
-within her walls; to give her due honor, she has remembered them all
-with maternal gratitude. You find the little square of Seneca and the
-house where he may have been born; the street of Ambrosio Morales,
-the historian of Charles V., who continued the _Chronicle General of
-Spain_ commenced by Florian d'Ocampo; the street of Pablo de Cespedes,
-painter, architect, sculptor, antiquary, and the author of a didactic
-poem, "The Art of Painting," unfortunately not finished, though adorned
-with splendid passages. He was an ardent enthusiast of Michelangelo,
-whose works he had admired in Italy, and in his poem he addressed a
-hymn of praise to him which is one of the most beautiful passages in
-Spanish poetry, and, in spite of myself, the last verses have slipped
-from my pen, which every Italian, even if he does not know the sister
-language, can appreciate and understand. He believes, he tells the
-reader, that one cannot find the perfection of painting anywhere except
-
- "Que en aquela escelente obra espantosa
- Mayor de cuantas se han jamas pintado,
- Que hizo el Buonarrota de su mano
- Divina, en el etrusco Vaticano!
-
- "Cual nuevo Prometeo en alto vuelo
- Alzándose, estendiò los alas tanto,
- Que puesto encima el estrellado cielo
- Una parte alcanzò del fuego santo;
- Con que tornando enriquecido al suelo
- Con nueva maravilla y nuevo espanto,
- Diò vida con eternos resplandores
- À marmoles, à bronces, à colores.
- ¡O mas que mortal hombre! ¿Angel divino
- O cual te nomaré? No humano cierto
- Es tu ser, que del cerco empireo vino
- Al estilo y pincel vida y concierto:
- Tu monstraste à los hombres el camino
- Por mil edades escondido, incierto
- De la reina virtud; a ti se debe
- Honra que en cierto dia el sol renueve."
-
-"In that excellent marvellous work, greater than all that has ever been
-painted, which Buonarroti made with his divine hand in the Etruscan
-Vatican!
-
-"Look how the new Prometheus, rising in lofty flight, extends his
-wings so wide that above the starry sky he has obtained a part of
-the celestial fire; with it, returning, he enriched the earth with
-new marvels and new surprises, giving life, with eternal splendors,
-to marble, bronze, and colors. More than mortal man! angel divine!
-or what shall I call thee? Surely thou art not human, who from the
-empyrean circle came, bringing life and harmony to chisel and brush!
-Thou hast shown men the road hidden for a thousand ages, uncertain of
-the sovereign virtue; to thee belongs honor which one day the sun will
-bestow."
-
-Murmuring these lines, I came out into the street of Juan de Mena,
-the Ennius of Spain, as his compatriots call him, the author of a
-phantasmagorial poem called "The Labyrinth," an imitation of _The
-Divina Commedia_ very famous in its day, and in truth not without
-some pages of inspired and noble poetry, but, on the whole, cold and
-overloaded with pedantic mysticism. John II., king of Castile, went mad
-over this "Labyrinth," kept it beside the missal in his cabinet, and
-carried it with him to the hunt; but witness the caprice of a king! The
-poem had only three hundred stanzas, and to John II. this number seemed
-too small, and do you know the reason? It was this: the year contains
-three hundred and sixty-five days, and it seemed to him that there
-ought to be as many stanzas in the poem as there are days in the year,
-and so he besought the poet to compose sixty-five other stanzas, and
-the poet complied with his request--most cheerfully, the flatterer!--to
-gain an occasion for flattering still more, although he had already
-flattered his sovereign to the extent of asking him to correct the poem.
-
-From the street of Juan de Mena I passed into the street of Gongora,
-the Marini of Spain, and no less a genius than he, but perhaps one
-who corrupted the literature of his country even more than Marini
-corrupted that of Italy, for he spoiled, abused, and corrupted the
-language in a thousand ways: for this reason Lope de Vega wittily
-makes a poet of the Gongorist school ask one of his hearers, "Do you
-understand me?"--"Yes," he replies; and the poet retorts, "You lie! for
-I do not even understand myself." But Lope himself is not entirely free
-from Gongorism, for he has the courage to write that Tasso was only the
-rising of Marini's sun; nor is Calderon entirely free of it, nor some
-other great men. But enough of poetry: I must not digress.
-
-After the siesta I hunted up my two companions, who took me through
-the suburbs of the city, and here, for the first time, I saw men and
-women of the true Andalusian type as I had imagined them, with eyes,
-coloring, and attitudes like the Arabians, and here too, for the first
-time, I heard the real speech of the Andalusian people, softer and more
-musical than in the Castiles, and also gayer and more imaginative,
-and accompanied by livelier gestures. I asked my companions whether
-that report about Andalusia is true, affirming that with their early
-physical development vice is more common, manners more voluptuous, and
-passion less restrained. "Too true," they replied, giving explanations,
-descriptions, and citing cases which I forbear to repeat. On returning
-to the city they took me to a splendid casino, with gardens and
-magnificent rooms, in one of which, the largest and richest, adorned
-with paintings of all the illustrious men of Cordova, rises a sort of
-stage where the poets stand to read their works on evenings appointed
-for public contests of genius; and the victors receive a laurel crown
-from the hands of the most beautiful and cultured girls in the city,
-who, crowned with roses, look on from a semi-circle of seats. That
-evening I had the pleasure of meeting several young Cordovese ardently
-attached, as they say in Spain, to the cultivation of the Muses--frank,
-courteous, and vivacious, with a medley of verses in their heads,
-and a smattering of Italian literature; and so imagine how from dusk
-to midnight, through those mysterious streets, which from the first
-evening had made my head whirl, there was a constant, noisy interchange
-of sonnets, hymns, and ballads in the two languages, from Petrarch to
-Prati, from Cervantes to Zorilla; and a delightful conversation closed
-and sealed by many cordial hand-clasps and eager promises to write, to
-send books, to come to Italy, to visit Spain again, etc. etc.--merely
-words, as is always the case, but words not less dear on that account.
-
-In the morning I left for Seville. At the station I saw Frascuelo,
-Lagartijo, Cuco, and the whole band of _toreros_ from Madrid, who
-saluted me with a benevolent look of protection. I hurried into a dusty
-carriage, and as the train moved off and my eyes rested on Cordova
-for the last time, I bade the city adieu in the lines of the Arabian
-poet--a little too tropical, if you will, for the taste of a European,
-but, after all, admirable for the occasion:
-
-"Adieu, Cordova! Would that my life were as long as Noah's, that I
-might live for ever within thy walls! Would that I had the treasures
-of Pharaoh, to spend them upon wine and the beautiful women of Cordova
-with the gentle eyes which invite kisses!"
-
-
-
-
-SEVILLE.
-
-
-The journey from Cordova to Seville does not awaken a sense of
-astonishment, as does that from Toledo to Cordova, but it is even
-more beautiful: there are continuous orange-orchards, boundless
-olive-groves, hills clothed with vineyards, and meadows carpeted with
-flowers. A few miles from Cordova one sees the ruined towers of the
-frowning castle of Almodovar standing on a very high rock-platform,
-which overlooks a vast extent of the surrounding country; at
-Hornachuelos another old castle on the summit of a hill, in the midst
-of a lonely, melancholy landscape; and then, beyond, the white city of
-Palma, hidden in a dense orange-grove, which is surrounded in its turn
-by a circle of truck-farms and flower-gardens. As the train runs on
-one is carried through the midst of golden fields of grain, bordered
-by long hedges of Indian fig trees and rows of dwarf palms, and dotted
-with groves of pine and frequent orchards of fruit-bearing trees; and
-at short intervals there are hills and castles, roaring streams, the
-slender village belfries hidden among the trees, and the purple peaks
-of distant mountains.
-
-Most beautiful of all are the little country-houses scattered along the
-road. I do not remember to have seen a single one of them that was not
-as white as snow. The house was white, the neighboring well-curb was
-white, the little wall around the kitchen-garden was white, as were
-also the two posts of the garden-gate: everything seemed as if it had
-been whitewashed the day before. Some of these houses have one or two
-mullioned windows of Moorish design; others have arabesques over the
-door; and still others roofs covered with variegated tiles like Arabian
-houses. Here and there through the fields one sees the red-and-white
-capes of the peasants, velvet hats against the green grass, and sashes
-of all colors. The peasants whom one sees in the furrows and those who
-run to see the train pass are dressed in the costumes of forty years
-ago as they are represented in paintings: they wear velvet hats with
-very broad brims which roll slightly back, with little crowns like
-a sugar-loaf; short jackets, open waistcoats, breeches gathered in
-at the knee like those of the priests, gaiters which almost meet the
-breeches, and sashes around the waist. This style of dress, picturesque
-but inconvenient, is exceedingly becoming to the slender figures of
-these men, who prefer discomfort, if it be attended by beauty, to
-comfort without it, and who spend half an hour every morning adorning
-themselves, besides the time required to get into a pair of tight
-breeches which will display a shapely thigh and a well-turned leg.
-They have nothing in common with our Northern peasant of the hard face
-and dull eye. Their great black eyes meet your own with a smile, as
-if they would say, "Don't you remember me?" They cast daring glances
-at the ladies who put their heads out of the windows, run to fetch a
-match before you have so much as asked for it, sometimes answer your
-questions in rhyme, and are even capable of laughing to show their
-white teeth.
-
-At Rinconado the campanile of the cathedral of Seville comes into view
-in a line with the railroad, and to the right, beyond the Guadalquivir,
-one sees the beautiful low hills, covered with olive-groves, at the
-foot of which lie the ruins of Italica. The train rolled on, and I said
-to myself, under my breath, speaking faster and faster as the houses
-became thicker, with that suspense, full of longing and delight, which
-one feels on approaching the doorway of one's love, "Seville! this is
-Seville! The queen of Andalusia is at hand, the Athens of Spain, the
-mother of Murillo, the city of poets and lovers, the storied Seville,
-whose name I have pronounced from a child with a sentiment of loving
-sympathy! What should I have given a few years since to have seen
-it? No, it is not a dream! Those are really the houses of Seville;
-those peasants yonder are Sevillians; that campanile which I see is
-the Giralda! I am at Seville! How strange! It makes me laugh! What is
-my mother doing at this moment? Would that she were here! Would that
-this friend and that were here! It is a sin to be alone! See the white
-houses, the gardens, the streets.... We are in the city.... It is time
-to get out.... Ah! how beautiful is life!"
-
-I went to a hotel, threw down my valise in the _patio_, and began
-to stroll about the city. It seemed like seeing Cordova over again,
-on a large scale, embellished and enriched; the streets are wider,
-the houses higher, the _patios_ more spacious, but the general
-appearance of the city is the same: there is the same spotless white,
-the same intricate network of streets, everywhere the fragrance of
-orange-blossoms, that subtile air of mystery, that Oriental atmosphere,
-filling one's heart with a delicious sense of amorous melancholy, and
-calling to mind a thousand fancies, desires, and visions of a distant
-world, a new life, an unknown people, and an earthly paradise of
-love, pleasure, and content. In those streets one reads the history
-of the city: every balcony, every fragment of sculpture, every lonely
-crossway, recalls some nocturnal adventure of a king, the inspiration
-of a poet, the romance of a beauty, an amour, a duel, an abduction, a
-story, or a festival. Here a memento of Maria de Padilla, there one of
-Don Pedro; yonder of Cervantes, Columbus, Saint Theresa, Velasquez, or
-Murillo. A column tells of the Roman dominion; a tower, the splendor of
-Charles V.'s monarchy; and an alcazar, the magnificence of the Arabian
-court. Beside the modest white cottages rise sumptuous marble palaces;
-the little tortuous streets open into vast squares full of orange
-trees; from silent, deserted corners one enters with a short turn a
-street filled with a noisy crowd: and wherever one passes one sees
-on the opposite side the graceful lattices of the _patios_, flowers,
-statues, fountains, flights of stairs, walls covered with arabesques,
-small Moorish windows, and slender columns of costly marble; and
-at every window and in every garden little women clothed in white,
-half hidden, like timid nymphs, among the leaves of grapevines and
-rosebushes.
-
-Passing from street to street, I came at length to the bank of the
-Guadalquivir, close to the avenues of the Christina promenade, which
-is to Seville what the Lung d'arno is to Florence. Here one enjoys a
-charming spectacle.
-
-I first approached the famous Torre del Oro. This famous tower was
-called the Golden, either because it received the gold which the
-Spanish ships brought from America or because King Don Pedro hid his
-treasures there. It is an octagonal structure of three stories, growing
-smaller as they ascend, crowned with battlements and washed by the
-river. The story runs that this tower was built in Roman times, and
-that for a long period the king's most beautiful favorite dwelt there
-after it had been joined to the Alcazar by an edifice which was torn
-away to make room for the Christina promenade.
-
-This promenade extends from the ducal palace of Montpensier to the
-Torre del Oro. It is entirely shaded with Oriental plane trees, oaks,
-cypresses, willows, poplars, and other trees of northern latitudes,
-which the Andalusians admire, as we admire the palms and aloes of the
-plains of Piedmont and Lombardy. A great bridge spans the river and
-leads to the suburb of Triana, from which one sees the first houses on
-the opposite bank. A long line of ships, coasting vessels, and barges
-extends along the river, and from the Torre del Oro to the ducal palace
-there is a coming and going of rowboats. The sun was setting. A crowd
-of ladies filled the avenues, groups of workmen were crossing the
-bridge, the workmen on the ships labored more busily, a band of music
-was playing among the trees, the river was rose-colored, the air was
-fragrant with the perfume of flowers, the sky seemed all on fire.
-
-I returned to the city and enjoyed the marvellous spectacle of Seville
-by night. All the _patios_ were illuminated--those of the humble
-houses with a half light, which gave them an air of mysterious beauty,
-those of the palaces, full of little flames which were reflected in
-the mirrors and flashed like jets of quicksilver in the spray of the
-fountains, and shone with a thousand colors on the marbles of the
-vestibules, the mosaics of the walls, the glass of the doors, and
-the crystal of the candlesticks. Inside one saw a crowd of ladies,
-everywhere one heard the sound of laughter, low voices, and music;
-one seemed to be passing through so many ball-rooms; from every door
-flowed a stream of light, fragrance, and harmony; the streets were
-crowded; among the trees of the squares, in the avenues, at the end
-of the narrow streets, and on the balconies,--everywhere were seen
-white skirts fluttering, vanishing, and reappearing in the darkness,
-and little heads ornamented with flowers peeped coquettishly from
-the windows; groups of young men broke through the crowd with merry
-shouts; people called to each other and talked from window to street,
-and everywhere were rapid motion, shouting, laughter, and festal
-gaiety. Seville was simply an immense garden in which revelled a people
-intoxicated with youth and love.
-
-Such moments are very sad ones for a stranger. I remember that I could
-have struck my head against the wall. I wandered here and there almost
-abashed, with hanging head and sad heart, as if all that crowd was
-amusing itself for the sole purpose of insulting my loneliness and
-melancholy. It was too late to present my letters of introduction, too
-early to go to bed: I was the slave of that crowd and that gaiety, and
-was obliged to endure it for many hours. I found a solace in resolving
-not to look at the faces of the women, but I could not always keep my
-resolve, and when my eyes inadvertently met two black pupils the wound,
-because so unexpected, was more grievous than if I had encountered
-the danger more boldly. Yes, I was in the midst of those wonderfully
-famous women of Seville! I saw them pass on the arms of their husbands
-and lovers; I touched their dresses, breathed their perfume, heard the
-sound of their soft speech, and the blood leaped to my head like a
-flame of fire. Fortunately, I remembered to have heard from a Sevillian
-at Madrid that the Italian consul was in the habit of spending the
-evening at the shop of his son, a merchant; I sought out the shop,
-entered, and found the consul, and as I handed him a letter from a
-friend I said, with a dramatic air which made him laugh, "Dear sir,
-protect me; Seville has terrified me."
-
-At midnight the appearance of the city was unchanged: the crowd and
-light had not disappeared; I returned to the hotel and locked my door
-with the intention of going to bed. Worse and worse! The windows
-of my room opened on a square where crowds of people were swarming
-around an orchestra that played without interruption, when the music
-finally ended the guitars commenced, together with the cries of the
-water-carriers and snatches of song and laughter; the whole night
-through there was noise enough to wake the dead. I had a dream at
-once delightful and tantalizing, but rather more tantalizing than
-delightful. I seemed to be tied to the bed by a very long tress of dark
-hair twisted into a thousand knots, and felt on my lips a mouth of
-burning coals which sucked my breath, and around my neck two vigorous
-little hands which were crushing my head against the handle of a guitar.
-
-The following morning I went at once to see the cathedral.
-
-To adequately describe this measureless edifice one should have at
-hand a collection of the most superlative adjectives and all the most
-extravagant similes which have come from the pens of the grand writers
-of every country whenever they have described something of prodigious
-height, enormous size, appalling depth, and incredible grandeur. When
-I talk to my friends about it, I too, like the Mirabeau of Victor
-Hugo, involuntarily make _un colossal mouvement d'epaules_, puff out
-my throat, and gradually raise my voice, like Tommaso Salvini in the
-tragedy of _Samson_ when, in tones which make the parquet tremble, he
-says that he feels his strength returning to his limbs. To talk of the
-cathedral of Seville tires one like playing a great wind instrument or
-carrying on a conversation across a roaring torrent.
-
-The cathedral of Seville stands alone in the centre of a vast square,
-and consequently one can measure its vastness at a single glance. At
-the first moment I thought of the famous motto which the chapter of the
-primitive church adopted on the eighth of July, 1401, when they decreed
-the erection of the new cathedral: "Let us build a monument which will
-make posterity declare that we were mad." Those reverend canons did not
-fail in their intention. But one must enter to be sure of this.
-
-The exterior of the cathedral is grand and magnificent, but not to
-be compared with the interior. The façade is lacking: a high wall
-surrounds the entire building like a fortress. However much one walks
-around and looks at it, one cannot succeed in fixing in one's mind a
-single outline which, like the preface of a book, will give a clear
-conception of the design of the work; one admires and occasionally
-breaks out in the exclamation, "It is stupendous!" but it does not
-please, and one hurries into the church, hoping to feel a sentiment of
-deeper admiration.
-
-On first entering one is amazed, and feels as if one were lost in an
-abyss, and for some moments the eye can only describe immense curves
-through that vast space, as if to assure you that the sight is real
-and that fancy is not deceiving you. Then you approach one of the
-pilasters, measure it, and look at the others in the distance: they are
-as massive as towers, and yet they look so slender that one trembles
-to think the edifice is resting on them. You run from one to another
-with a rapid glance, follow their lines from pavement to vaulted
-arch, and seem to be able to count the moments which it would take
-for the eye to climb them. There are five naves, each of which would
-form a great church, and in the central nave one could build another
-high cathedral with its cupola and belfry. Altogether they form sixty
-light, noble vaults which seem to be slowly expanding and rising as
-one looks at them. Everything in this cathedral is enormous. The great
-chapel in the middle of the principal nave, so high that it almost
-touches the roof, seems like a chapel built for giant priests, to whose
-knees the common altars would scarcely reach; the Easter candle seems
-like the mast of a ship, the bronze candlestick which supports it,
-like the pilaster of a church; the organs are like houses; the choir
-is a museum of sculpture and carving which alone deserves a day's
-study. The chapels are worthy of the church: in them are scattered
-the masterpieces of sixty-seven sculptors and thirty-eight painters.
-Montegna, Zurbaran, Murillo, Valdes, Herrera, Boldan, Roelas, and
-Campana have left a thousand immortal traces of their handiwork. The
-chapel of Saint Ferdinand, which contains the tombs of this king,
-his wife Beatrice, Alfonso the Wise, the celebrated minister Florida
-Blanca, and other illustrious personages, is one of the richest and
-most beautiful. The body of King Ferdinand, who rescued Seville from
-the dominion of the Arabs, clothed in his coat-of-mail with crown and
-royal robe, rests in a crystal casket covered with a pall; on one side
-lies the sword which he wore on the day of his entrance into Seville;
-on the other, the staff, an emblem of authority. In this same chapel
-is preserved a little ivory Virgin which the sainted king carried with
-him to war, and other relics of great value. In the other chapels there
-are great marble altars, Gothic tombs, statues of stone, wood, and
-silver enclosed in large glass cases, with the breast and hands covered
-with diamonds and rubies; there are also magnificent paintings, but,
-unfortunately, the dim light which falls from the high windows does not
-make them clear enough to be enjoyed in all their beauty.
-
-From the examination of the chapels, paintings, and sculptures one
-returns unwearied to admire the cathedral in its grand and, if one
-may say, its formidable aspect. After climbing to those dizzy heights
-one's glance and thoughts, as if exhausted by the effort, fall back
-to the earth to gather new strength for another ascent. And the
-images which multiply in one's head correspond to the vastness of the
-basilica--measureless angels, heads of enormous cherubim, great wings
-like the sails of a ship, and the fluttering of immense white robes.
-The impression produced by this cathedral is wholly religious, but
-it is not depressing: it is that sentiment which bears the thought
-into interminable spaces and the awful silences where the thoughts of
-Leopardi lost themselves; it is a sentiment full of yearning and holy
-boldness, that delightful shudder which one feels on the brink of a
-precipice, the turbulence and confusion of great thoughts, the divine
-fear of the infinite.
-
-As the cathedral is the most various of Spain (since the Gothic,
-Germanic, Græco-Roman, Moorish, and, as it is vulgarly called, the
-plateresque styles of architecture, have each left their individual
-impress upon it), it is also the richest and has the greatest
-privileges. In the times of greater clerical power they burned in
-it every year twenty thousand pounds of wax; in it every day were
-celebrated five hundred masses on eighty altars; the wine consumed
-in the sacrifice amounted to the incredible quantity of eighteen
-thousand seven hundred and fifty litres. The canons had trains of male
-attendants like monarchs, came to church in splendid carriages drawn
-by superb horses, and while they were celebrating mass had priests to
-fan them with enormous fans adorned with feathers and pearls--a direct
-concession from the Pope of which some avail themselves even in this
-day. One need not speak of the festivals of Holy Week, which are still
-famous the world over, and to which people gather from all parts of
-Europe.
-
-But the most curious privilege of the cathedral of Seville is the
-so-called dance _de los seises_, which takes place every evening at
-dusk for eight consecutive days after the festival of _Corpus Domini_.
-I was in Seville during those days, and went to see it, and it seems
-to me worth describing. From what had been told me I expected to see
-a scandalous piece of buffoonery, and entered the church with my
-mind prepared for a feeling of indignation at the desecration of the
-sanctuary. The church was dark; only the great chapel was lighted; a
-crowd of kneeling women filled the space between the chapel and the
-choir. Some priests were sitting to the right and left of the altar; in
-front of the altar-steps was spread a great carpet; two lines of boys
-from eight to thirteen years of age, dressed like Spanish cavaliers
-of the Middle Ages, with plumed hats and white stockings, were drawn
-up, one before the other, facing the altar. At a signal from a priest
-a soft strain from violins broke the profound silence of the church,
-and the two rows of boys advanced with the step of a contra-dance, and
-began to divide, intermingle, separate, and come together again with a
-thousand graceful movements, and then all together they broke into a
-harmonious musical chant, which echoed through the gloom of the vast
-cathedral like the singing of an angelic choir; and a moment later
-they began to accompany the dance and the chant with tamborines. No
-religious ceremony has ever moved me like this. It is impossible to
-express the effect produced by those young voices under those immense
-domes, those little creatures at the foot of the towering altars, that
-dance, solemn and almost humble, the ancient costume, the kneeling
-crowd, and the surrounding gloom. I left the church with my soul calmed
-as if I had been praying.
-
-A very curious anecdote is related in connection with this ceremony.
-Two centuries ago an archbishop of Seville, who regarded the dance
-and tamborines as unworthy instruments of praising God, wished to
-prohibit the ceremony. Everything was thrown into confusion: the
-people protested; the canons made themselves heard; the archbishop was
-obliged to appeal to the Pope. The Pope, whose curiosity was aroused,
-wished to see this silly dance with his own eyes, that he might decide
-intelligently in the matter. The boys in their cavalier dress were
-taken to Rome, received at the Vatican, and made to dance and sing
-before His Holiness. His Holiness laughed, did not disapprove, and,
-wishing to give one knock on the hoop and another on the barrel, and so
-to satisfy the canons without offending the archbishop, decreed that
-the boys should continue to dance so long as the clothes which they
-then wore lasted; after that time the ceremony was to be abolished.
-The archbishop laughed in his beard, if he had one; the canons laughed
-too, as if they had already found the way to outwit both the Pope and
-the archbishop. And, in fact, they renew some part of the boys' dress
-every year, so that the whole garment can never be said to have worn
-out, and the archbishop, as a scrupulous man, who observed the commands
-of the Pope to the letter, could not oppose the repetition of the
-ceremony. So they continued to dance, and they dance and will dance so
-long as it pleases the canons and the Lord.
-
-As I was leaving the church a sacristan made me a sign, led me behind
-the choir, and pointed out a tablet in the pavement, upon which I read
-an inscription which stirred my heart. Under that stone lay the bones
-of Ferdinand Columbus, the son of Christopher, who was born at Cordova,
-and died at Seville on the twelfth of July, 1536, in the fiftieth
-year of his age. Under the inscription run some Latin verses with the
-following significance:
-
-"Of what avail is it that I have bathed the entire universe with my
-sweat, that I have three times passed through the New World discovered
-by my father, that I have adorned the banks of the gentle Beti, and
-preferred my simple taste to riches, that I might again draw around
-thee the divinities of the Castalian spring, and offer thee the
-treasures already gathered by Ptolemy,--if thou, passing this stone in
-silence, returnest no salute to my father and givest no thought to me?"
-
-The sacristan, who knew more about the inscription than I did,
-explained it to me. Ferdinand Columbus was in his early youth a page of
-Isabella the Catholic and of the prince Don Juan; he travelled to the
-Indies with his father and his brother the admiral Don Diego, followed
-the emperor Charles V. in his wars, made other voyages to Asia, Africa,
-and America, and everywhere collected with infinite care and at great
-expense the most precious books, from which he composed a library which
-passed after his death into the hands of the chapter of the cathedral,
-and remains intact under the famous name of the Columbian Library.
-Before his death he wrote these same Latin verses which are inscribed
-on the tablet of his tomb, and expressed a desire to be buried in the
-cathedral. In the last moments of his life he had a vessel full of
-ashes brought to him and sprinkled his face with them, pronouncing
-as he did so the words of Holy Writ, _Memento homo quia pulvis es_,
-chanted the _Te Deum_, smiled, and expired with the serenity of a
-saint. I was at once seized with a desire to visit the library and left
-the church.
-
-A guide stopped me on the threshold to ask me if I had seen the _Patio
-de los Naranjos_--the Court of Oranges--and, as I had not done so, he
-conducted me thither. The Court of Oranges lies to the north of the
-cathedral, surrounded by a great embattled wall. In the centre rises a
-fountain encircled by an orange-grove, and on one side along the wall
-is a marble pulpit, from which, according to the tradition, Vincenzo
-Ferrer is said to have preached. In the area of this court, which is
-very large, rose the ancient mosque, which is thought to have been
-built toward the end of the twelfth century. There is not the least
-trace of it now. In the shade of the orange trees around the margins of
-the basin the good Sevillians come to take the air in the burning noons
-of summer, and only the delightful verdure and the perfumed air remain
-as memorials of the voluptuous paradise of Mohammed, while now and then
-a beautiful girl with great dark eyes darts between the distant trees.
-
-The famous Giralda of the cathedral of Seville is an ancient Moorish
-tower, built, it is affirmed, in the year one thousand after the design
-of the architect Geber, the inventor of algebra. The upper part has
-been changed since Spain was reconquered, and has been rebuilt like a
-Christian bell-tower, but it will always retain its Moorish appearance,
-and, after all, is prouder of the banished standards of the vanquished
-than of the cross recently planted upon it by the victors. It is a
-monument which produces a strange sensation: it makes one smile; it is
-measureless and imposing as an Egyptian pyramid, and at the same time
-light and graceful as a summer-house. It is a square brick tower of a
-mellow rose-color, unadorned to a certain height, and from that point
-up ornamented with mullioned Moorish windows, which appear here and
-there like the windows of a house provided with balconies, and give
-it a very beautiful appearance. From the platform, which was formerly
-covered by a variegated roof surmounted by an iron pole which supported
-four enormous golden balls, now rises the Christian bell-tower in three
-stories, the first of which is taken up by the bells, the second is
-encircled by a balcony, and the third consists of a sort of cupola
-upon which, like a weather-vane, turns a colossal gilded statue which
-represents Faith, with a palm in one hand and a banner in the other.
-This statue is visible a long distance from Seville, and flashes when
-the sun strikes it like an enormous ruby in the crown of a gigantic
-king, who sweeps with his glance the entire valley of Andalusia.
-
-I climbed all the way to the top, and was there amply rewarded for
-the fatigue of the ascent. Seville, all white like a city of marble,
-encircled by a diadem of gardens, groves, and avenues, surrounded by a
-landscape dotted with villas, lay open to the view in all the wealth of
-its Oriental beauty. The Guadalquivir, freighted with ships, divides
-and embraces it in a majestic curve. Here the Torre del Oro casts its
-graceful shadow on the azure waters of the river; there the Alcazar
-rears its frowning towers; yonder the gardens of Montpensier raise
-above the roofs of the building an enormous mass of verdure: one's
-glance penetrates the bull-ring, the public gardens, the _patios_ of
-the homes, the cloisters of the churches, and all the streets which
-converge toward the cathedral; in the distance appear the villages
-of Santi Ponce, Algaba, and others which whiten the slopes of the
-hills; to the right of the Guadalquivir the great suburb of Triana;
-on one side along the horizon the broken peaks of the Sierra Morena;
-and in the opposite direction other mountains enlivened by infinite
-azure tints; and over all this marvellous panorama the clearest, most
-transparent, and entrancing sky which has ever smiled upon the face of
-man.
-
-I descended from the Giralda and went to see the Columbian Library,
-located in an old building beside the Court of Oranges. After I had
-seen a collection of missals, Bibles, and ancient manuscripts, one of
-which is attributed to Alfonso the Wise, entitled "The Book of the
-Treasure," written with the most scrupulous care in the ancient Spanish
-language, I saw--let me repeat it, I saw--I, with my own moist eyes,
-as I pressed my hand on my beating heart--I saw a book, a treatise
-on cosmography and astronomy in Latin, with the margins covered with
-notes written in the hand of Christopher Columbus! He had studied that
-book while he revolved his great design in his mind, had pored over
-its pages in the night-watches, had touched it perhaps with his divine
-forehead in those exhausting vigils when sometimes he bent over the
-parchments with utter weariness and bathed them with his sweat. It is
-a tremendous thought! But there is something better. I saw a writing
-in the hand of Columbus in which are collected all the prophecies of
-the ancient writers, sacred and profane, in regard to the discovery of
-the New World, written, it is said, to induce the sovereigns of Spain
-to provide the means to carry out his enterprise. There is, among
-others, a passage from the _Medea_ of Seneca, which runs: _Venient
-annis saecula seris, quibus oceanus vincula rerum laxet et ingens
-pateat tellus_. And in the volume of Seneca, which may also be found
-in the Columbian Library, alongside of this passage there is a note
-by Ferdinand Columbus, which says: "This prophecy was fulfilled by my
-father, the admiral Christopher Columbus, in the year 1492." My eyes
-filled with tears; I wished I were alone, that I might have kissed
-those books, have tired myself out turning and re-turning their leaves
-between my hands, have detached a tiny fragment, and carried it with me
-as a sacred thing. Christopher Columbus! I have seen his characters! I
-have touched the leaves which he has touched! I have felt him very near
-me! On leaving the library, I know not why--I could have leaped into
-the midst of the flames to rescue a child, I could have stripped myself
-to clothe a beggar, I could joyfully have made any sacrifice--I was so
-rich!
-
-After the library the Alcazar, but before reaching it, although it is
-in the same square as the cathedral, I felt for the first time what the
-Andalusian sun is like. Seville is the hottest city of Spain, it was
-the hottest hour of the day, and I found myself in the hottest part
-of the city; there was a flood of light; not a door, not a window,
-was open, not a soul astir; if I had been told that Seville was
-uninhabited, I should have believed it. I crossed the square slowly
-with half-shut eyes and wrinkled face, with the sweat coursing in great
-drops down my cheeks and breast, while my hands seemed to have been
-dipped in a bucket of water. On nearing the Alcazar I saw a sort of
-booth belonging to a water-carrier, and dashed under it headlong, like
-a man fleeing from a shower of stones. I took a little breathing-spell,
-and went on toward the Alcazar.
-
-The Alcazar, the ancient palace of the Moorish kings, is one of the
-best-preserved monuments in Spain. From the outside it looks like a
-fortress: it is entirely surrounded by high walls, embattled towers,
-and old houses, which form two spacious courtyards in front of the
-façade. The façade is bare and severe, like the rest of the exterior;
-the gate is adorned with gilded and painted arabesques, between which
-one sees a Gothic inscription which refers to the time when the Alcazar
-was restored by order of King Don Pedro. The Alcazar, in fact, although
-a Moorish palace, is the work of Christian rather than of Moorish
-kings. It is not known exactly in what year it was built: it was
-reconstructed by King Abdelasio toward the end of the twelfth century,
-conquered by King Ferdinand toward the middle of the thirteenth
-century; altered a second time, in the following century, by King Don
-Pedro; and then occupied for longer or shorter periods by nearly all
-the kings of Castile; and finally selected by Charles V. as the place
-for the celebration of his marriage with the infanta of Portugal. The
-Alcazar has witnessed the loves and crimes of three generations of
-kings; every stone awakens a memory and guards a secret.
-
-You enter, cross two or three rooms in which there remains little
-of the Moorish excepting the vaulted ceiling and the mosaics around
-the walls, and come out into a court where you stand speechless with
-wonder. A portico of very delicate arches extends along the four sides,
-supported by slender marble columns, joined two by two, and arches
-and walls and windows and doors are covered with carvings, mosaics,
-and arabesques most intricate and exquisite, here perforated like
-lace, there closely woven and elaborate like embroidered tapestry,
-yonder clinging and projecting like masses and garlands of flowers;
-and, except the mosaics, which are of a thousand colors, everything
-is white, clean, and smooth as ivory. On the four sides are four
-great doors, through which you enter the royal apartments. Here
-wonder becomes enchantment: whatever is richest, most various, and
-most splendid, whatever the most ardent fancy sees in its most ardent
-dreams, is to be found in these rooms. From pavement to the vaulted
-ceiling, around the doors, along the window-frames, in the most hidden
-corners, wherever one's glance falls, one sees such a luxuriance
-of ornaments in gold and precious stones, such a close network of
-arabesques and inscriptions, such a marvellous profusion of designs and
-colors, that one has scarcely taken twenty steps before one is amazed
-and confused, and the wearied eye wanders here and there searching for
-a hand's breadth of bare wall where it may flee and rest. In one of
-these rooms the guide pointed out a red spot which covered a good part
-of the marble pavement, and said in a solemn voice, "These are the
-blood-stains of Don Fadrique, grand master of the order of Santiago,
-who was killed on this very spot, in the year 1358, by order of his
-brother, King Don Pedro."
-
-I remember that when I heard these words I looked in the face of the
-custodian, as if to say, "Come, let us be going," and that good man
-answered in a dry tone,
-
-"_Caballero_, if I had told you to believe this thing on my word, you
-would have had every reason to doubt; but when you can see the thing
-with your very eyes, I may be wrong, but--it seems to me...."
-
-"Yes," I hastened to say--"yes, it is blood: I believe it, I see it;
-let's say no more about it."
-
-But if one can be playful over the blood-spots, one cannot be so over
-the story of the crime; the sight of the place revives in the mind all
-the most horrible details. Through the great gilded halls one seems
-to hear the echo of Don Fadrique's footsteps, followed by those of
-the bowmen armed with bludgeons; the palace is immersed in gloom; one
-hears no other sound save that of the executioners and their victim;
-Don Fadrique tries to enter the courtyard; Lopez de Padilla catches
-him; Fadrique throws him off and is in the court; he grasps his sword;
-curses on it! the cross of the hilt is held fast in the mantle of
-the order of Santiago; the bowmen gain upon him; he has not time to
-unsheath the sword; he flees here and there, groping his way; Fernandez
-de Roa overtakes him and fells him with a blow of his club; the others
-run up and set upon him, and Fadrique dies in a pool of blood....
-
-But this sad recollection is lost among the thousand images of the
-sensuous Moorish kings. Those graceful little windows, where it seems
-as if you ought to see every other moment the languid face of an
-odalisque; those secret doors, at which you pause in spite of yourself,
-as if you heard the rustle of garments; those sleeping chambers of
-the sultans, shrouded in mysterious gloom, where you seem to hear
-only the confused amorous lament of all the maidens who there lost
-the flower of their virgin purity; that prodigal variety of color and
-line, which like a tumultuous and ever-changing harmony arouses the
-senses to such fantastic flights that you doubt whether you are waking
-or sleeping; that delicate and lovely architecture, all of slender
-columns, that seem like the arms of women; capricious arches, little
-rooms, arched ceilings crowded with ornaments hanging in the form of
-stalactites, icicles, and clusters of grapes, of as many colors as a
-flower-garden;--all this stirs your desire to sit down in the middle of
-one of those rooms and to press to your heart a lovely brown Andalusian
-head which will make you forget the world and time, and, with one long
-kiss that drinks away your life, give you eternal sleep.
-
-On the ground floor the most beautiful room is the Hall of the
-Ambassadors, formed by four great arches which support a gallery
-with forty-four smaller arches, and above a beautiful cupola carved,
-painted, gilded, and chased with inimitable grace and fabulous splendor.
-
-On the upper floor, where were the winter apartments, there remain only
-an oratory of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic, and a little room in
-which the king Don Pedro is said to have slept. From it one descends by
-a narrow mysterious staircase to the rooms where dwelt the famous Maria
-de Padilla, the favorite of Don Pedro, whom popular tradition accuses
-of instigating the king to kill his brother.
-
-[Illustration: _Moorish Arches, Alcazar, Seville_]
-
-The gardens of the Alcazar are neither very large nor particularly
-beautiful, but the memories which they recall are of greater value than
-extent or beauty. In the shade of those orange trees and cypresses, to
-the murmur of those fountains, when the great white moon was shining in
-that limpid Andalusian sky, and the many groups of courtiers and slaves
-rested there, how many long sighs of ardent sultanas! how many lowly
-words from proud kings! what passionate loves and embraces! "Itimad, my
-love!" I murmured, thinking of the famous mistress of King Al-Motamid
-as I wandered from path to path as if following her phantom,--"Itimad,"
-I repeated, "do not leave me alone in this silent paradise! Dost
-thou remember how thou camest to me? Thy wealth of hair fell over my
-shoulder, and dearer than the sword to the warrior wert thou to me! How
-beautiful thou art! Thy neck is soft and white as the swan's, and like
-berries are thy red, red lips! How marvellous is the perfection of thy
-beauty! How dear thou art, Itimad, my love! Thy kisses are like wine,
-and thy eyes, like wine, steal away my reason!"
-
-While I was thus making my declarations of love with phrases and images
-stolen from the Arabian poets, at the very moment when I turned into
-a bypath all bordered with flowers, suddenly I felt a stream of water
-first on one leg and then on the other. I jumped aside, and received
-a spray in my face; I turned to the right, and felt another stream
-against my neck; to the left, another jet between my shoulders. I began
-to run: there was water under me and around me in every direction, in
-jets, streams, and spray; in a moment I was as wet as if I had been
-dipped in the bath-tub. Just as I opened my mouth to call for help it
-all subsided, and I heard a ringing laugh at the end of the garden. I
-turned and saw a young fellow leaning against a low wall looking at me
-as if he were saying, "How did you like it?" When I came out he showed
-me the spring he had touched to play this little joke, and comforted me
-with the assurance that the sun of Seville would not leave me long in
-that dripping condition, into which I had passed so rudely, alas! from
-the lovely arms of my sultana.
-
-That evening, in spite of the voluptuous images which the Alcazar had
-called to my mind, I was sufficiently calm to contemplate the beauty
-of the women of Seville without fleeing to the arms of the consul for
-safety. I do not believe that the women of any other country are so
-bewitching as the fair Andalusians, not only because they tempt one
-into all sorts of mischief, but because they seem to have been made to
-be seized and carried away, so small, graceful, plump, elastic, and
-soft are they. Their little feet could both be put easily into one's
-coat-pocket, and with an arm one could lift them by the waist like
-babies, and by the mere pressure of the finger could bend them like
-willow wands. To their natural beauty they add the art of walking and
-looking in a way to turn one's head. They fly along, glide, and walk
-with a wave-like motion, and in a single moment, as they pass, they
-show a little foot, make you admire an arm or a slender waist, reveal
-two rows of the whitest teeth, and dart at you a long veiled glance
-that melts and dies in your own; and on they go with an air of triumph,
-certain of having turned your blood topsy-turvy.
-
-To form an idea of the beauty of the women of the people and the
-picturesqueness of their dress you must go by day to visit the
-tobacco-manufactory, which is one of the largest establishments of
-the kind in Europe and employs not less than five thousand hands. The
-building faces the vast gardens of the duke of Montpensier: almost all
-of the women work in three immense rooms, each divided into three parts
-by as many rows of pillars. The first view is astounding: there, all
-at once, eight hundred girls present themselves before one's eyes in
-groups of five or six, sitting around work-tables as close as possible,
-the farthest indistinct and the last scarcely visible; all of them
-young and a few children--eight hundred jet-black heads and eight
-hundred brown faces from every province of Andalusia, from Jaen to
-Cadiz, from Granada to Seville!
-
-One hears a buzzing as of a square full of people. The walls, from one
-door to the other, in all three of the rooms are lined with skirts,
-shawls, kerchiefs, and scarfs; and--a very curious thing--that entire
-mass of garments, which would fill to overflowing a hundred old-clothes
-shops, presents two predominant colors, in two continuous lines one
-above the other, like the stripes of a very long flag--the black of the
-shawls above, and the red mixed with white, purple, and yellow--so that
-one seems to see an immense costumer's shop or an immense ball-room
-where the ballet-dancers, in order to be free, have hung on the walls
-every part of their dress which it is not absolutely necessary to wear.
-The girls put on these dresses when they go out, and wear old clothes
-to work in; but white and red predominate in those dresses also. The
-heat is insupportable, consequently they lighten their clothing as
-much as possible, and among those five thousand one will scarcely find
-fifty whose arms and shoulders the visitor may not contemplate at
-his pleasure, without counting the extraordinary cases which present
-themselves suddenly as one passes from room to room, behind the doors
-and columns, and around the distant corners. There are some very
-beautiful faces, and even those who are not beautiful have something
-about them which attracts one's glance and lingers in the memory--the
-complexion, the eyes, the brow, or the smile. Many of them, especially
-so-called _Gitane_, are as dark as dark mulattos and have protruding
-lips; others have eyes so large that a faithful picture of them would
-be considered a monstrous exaggeration; the greater part are small and
-well-formed, and all have a rose or carnation or some sort of wild
-flower in their hair. They are paid in proportion to the work they do,
-and the most skilful and industrious earn as much as three francs per
-day; the lazy ones--_las holgazanas_--sleep with their arms crossed on
-the table and their heads resting on their arms; mothers are working,
-and swinging a leg to which is bound a cord that rocks the cradle.
-From the cigar-room one passes to the cigarette-room, and from it to
-the box-factory, and from the box-factory to the packing-room, and in
-them all one sees the red skirts, black hair, and fine eyes. In each of
-those rooms how many stories of love, jealousy, despair, and misery!
-On leaving the factory one seems for some time to see black eyes in
-every direction regarding him with a thousand varying expressions
-of curiosity, indifference, sympathy, cheerfulness, sadness, and
-drowsiness.
-
-The same day I went to see the Museum of Painting. The Seville gallery
-does not contain very many paintings, but those few are worth a
-great museum. There are the masterpieces of Murillo, and among them
-his immortal _Saint Anthony of Padua_, which is said to be the most
-divinely inspired of his works, and one of the greatest achievements
-of human genius. I visited the gallery in the company of Señor Gonzalo
-Segovia and Ardizone, one of the most illustrious young men of Seville,
-and I wish he were here beside my table at this moment to testify in a
-foot-note that when my eyes first lit upon the picture I seized his arm
-and uttered a cry.
-
-Only once in my life have I felt such a profound stirring of my soul as
-that which I felt on seeing this picture. It was one beautiful summer
-night: the sky was bright with stars, and the vast plain lay extended
-before me from the high place where I stood in deep silence. One of
-the noblest creatures I have ever met in my life was at my side. A few
-hours before we had been reading some pages from one of Humboldt's
-works: we looked at the sky and talked of the motion of the earth, the
-millions of worlds, and the infinite with those suppressed tones as of
-distant voices which one unconsciously uses in speaking of such things
-in the silent night. Finally we were still, and each, with eyes fixed
-on the heavens, gave himself up to fancies. I know not by what train
-of thought I was led; I know not what mysterious chain of emotions was
-formed in my heart; I know not what I saw or felt or dreamed. I only
-know that suddenly a veil before my mind seemed to be rent asunder; I
-felt within me a perfect assurance of that which hitherto I had longed
-for rather than believed; my heart expanded with a feeling of supreme
-joy, angelic peace, and limitless hope; a flood of scalding tears
-suddenly filled my eyes, and, grasping the hand of my friend, which
-sought my own, I cried from the depths of my soul, "It is true! It is
-true!" and began to cry like a child.
-
-The _Saint Anthony of Padua_ brought back the emotions of that evening.
-The saint is kneeling in the middle of his cell; the child Jesus in
-a nebulous halo of white vaporous light, drawn by the power of his
-prayer, is descending into his arms. Saint Anthony, rapt in ecstasy,
-throws himself forward with all his power of body and soul, his head
-thrown back, radiant with an expression of supreme joy. So great was
-the shock which this picture gave me that when I had looked at it a few
-moments I was as exhausted as if I had visited a vast gallery, and a
-trembling seized me and continued so long as I remained in that room.
-
-Afterward I saw the other great paintings of Murillo--a _Conception_, a
-_Saint Francis embracing Christ_, another version of _Saint Anthony_,
-and others to the number of twenty or more, among them the famous and
-enchanting _Virgin of the Napkin_, painted by Murillo upon a real
-napkin in the Capuchin convent of Seville to gratify a desire of a lay
-brother who was serving him: it is one of his most delicate creations,
-in which is revealed all the magic of his inimitable coloring--but none
-of these paintings, although they are objects of wonder to all the
-artists of the world, drew my heart or thoughts from that divine _Saint
-Anthony_.
-
-There are also in this gallery paintings by the two Herreras, Pacheco,
-Alonzo Cano, Pablo de Cespedes, Valdes, Mulato, a servant of Murillo
-who ably imitated his style, and finally the large famous painting of
-the _Apotheosis of Saint Thomas of Aquinas_, by Francesco Zurbaran,
-one of the most eminent artists of the seventeenth century, called
-the Spanish Caravaggio, and possibly his superior in truth and moral
-sentiment,--a powerful naturalist, a strong colorist, and an inimitable
-painter of austere friars, macerated saints, brooding hermits, and
-terrible priests, and an unsurpassed poet of penitence, solitude, and
-meditation.
-
-After seeing the picture-gallery Señor Gonzalo Segovia led me through
-a succession of narrow streets to the street _Francos_, one of the
-principal ways of the city, and stopped me in front of a little
-draper's shop, saying with a laugh, "Look! Doesn't this shop make you
-think of something?"
-
-"Nothing at all," I replied.
-
-"Look at the number."
-
-"It is number fifteen: what of it?"
-
-"Oh! plague on it!" exclaimed my amiable guide,
-
- "'Number fifteen,
- On the left-hand side'!"
-
-"The shop of the _Barber of Seville_!" I cried.
-
-"Precisely!" he responded--"the shop of the Barber of Seville; but
-be on your guard when you speak of it in Italy; do not take your
-oath, for traditions are often misleading, and I would not assume the
-responsibility of confirming a fact of such importance."
-
-At that moment the merchant came to the door of the shop, and, divining
-why we were there, laughed and said, "_No esta_" ("Figaro is not
-here"), and with a gracious bow he retired.
-
-Then I besought Señor Gonzalo to show me a _patio_, one of those
-enchanting _patios_ which as I looked at them from the street made me
-imagine so many delightful things. "I want to see at least one," I said
-to him--"to penetrate once into the midst of those mysteries, to touch
-the walls, to assure myself that it is a real thing and not a vision."
-
-My desire was at once fulfilled: we entered the _patio_ of one of his
-friends. Señor Gonzalo told the servant the object of our visit, and we
-were left alone. The house was only two stories in height. The _patio_
-was no larger than an ordinary room, but all marble and flowers, and
-a little fountain in the middle, and paintings and statues around,
-and from roof to roof an awning which sheltered it from the sun. In
-a corner was a work-table, and here and there one saw low chairs and
-little benches whereon a few moments previously had doubtless rested
-the feet of some fair Andalusian, who at that moment was watching us
-from between the slats of a blind. I examined everything minutely, as
-I would have done in a house abandoned by the fairies: I sat down,
-closed my eyes, imagined I was the master, then arose, wet my hand with
-the spray of the fountain, touched a slender column, went to the door,
-picked a flower, raised my eyes to the windows, laughed, sighed, and
-said, "How happy must those be who live here!" At that moment I heard
-a low laugh, and saw two great black eyes flash behind a blind and
-instantly disappear. "Truly," I said, "I did not believe that it was
-possible to still live so poetically upon this earth. And to think that
-you enjoy these houses all your life! and that you have the inclination
-to rack your brains about politics!"
-
-Señor Gonzalo showed me the secrets of the house. "All this furniture,"
-said he, "these paintings, and these vases of flowers disappear on
-the approach of autumn and are taken to the second story, which is
-the living apartment from autumn to spring. When summer comes beds,
-wardrobes, tables, chairs--everything is brought down to the rooms on
-the ground floor, and here the family sleep and eat, receive their
-friends, and do their work, among the flowers and marbles to the murmur
-of the fountain. And at night they have the doors open, and from the
-sleeping-rooms one can see the _patio_ flooded with moonlight and
-smell the fragrance of roses."
-
-"Oh, stop!" I exclaimed, "stop, Señor Gonzalo! Have pity on strangers!"
-And, laughing heartily, we both went out on our way to see the famous
-_Casa de Pilato_.
-
-As we were passing along a lonely little street I looked in a window
-of a hardware-shop and saw an assortment of knives so long, broad,
-and unusual that I felt a desire to buy one. I entered: twenty were
-displayed before my eyes, and I had the salesman to open them one by
-one. As each knife was opened I took a step backward. I do not believe
-it is possible to imagine an instrument more barbarous and terrifying
-in appearance than one of them. The handles are of wood, copper, and
-horn, curved and carved in open patterns, so that one may see through
-their little pieces of isinglass. The knives open with a sound like a
-rattle, and out comes a large blade as broad as the palm of your hand,
-as long as both palms together, and as sharp as a dagger, in the form
-of a fish, ornamented with red inlaying, which suggests streaks of
-clotted blood, and adorned with fierce and threatening inscriptions.
-On the blade of one there will be written in Spanish, _Do not open
-me without reason, nor shut me without honor_; on another, _Where I
-strike, all is over_; on a third, _When this snake bites, there is
-nothing left for the doctor to do_; and other gallantries of the same
-sort. The proper name of these knives is _navaja_--a word which also
-has the meaning of razor--and the _navaja_ is the popular duelling
-weapon. Now it has fallen into disuse, but was at one time held in
-great honor; there were masters who taught its use, each of whom had
-his secret blow, and duels were fought in accordance with the rules
-of chivalry. I bought the most terrible _navaja_ in the shop, and we
-entered the street again.
-
-The _Casa de Pilato_, held by the Medina-Coeli family, is, after
-the Alcazar, the most beautiful monument of Moorish architecture in
-Seville. The name, _Casa de Pilato_, comes from the fact that its
-founder, Don Enriquez de Ribera, the first marquis of Tarifa, had
-it built, as the story goes, in imitation of the house of the Roman
-prætor, which he had seen in Jerusalem, where he went on a pilgrimage.
-The edifice has a modest exterior, but the interior is marvellous.
-One first enters a court not less beautiful than the enchanting court
-of the Alcazar, encircled by two orders of arches, supported by
-graceful marble columns, forming two very light galleries, one above
-the other, and so delicate that it seems as if the first puff of wind
-would cast them into ruins. In the centre is a lovely fountain resting
-on four marble dolphins and crowned by a bust of Janus. Around the
-lower part of the walls run brilliant mosaics, and above these every
-sort of fantastic arabesque, here and there framing beautiful niches
-containing busts of the Roman emperors. At the four corners of the
-court the ceilings, the walls, and the doors are carved, embroidered,
-and covered with flowers and historic tapestries with the delicacy of
-a miniature. In an old chapel, partly Moorish and partly Gothic in
-style, and most delicate in form, there is preserved a little column,
-scarcely more than three feet in height, the gift of Pius V. to a
-descendant of the founder of the palace, at one time viceroy of Naples:
-to that column, says the tradition, was bound Jesus of Nazareth to be
-scourged. This fact, even if it were true, would prove that Pius V. did
-not believe it in the slightest degree. For he would not lightly have
-committed the unpardonable mistake of depriving himself of a valuable
-relic to make a present to the first comer. The entire palace is full
-of sacred memories. On the first floor the custodian points out a
-window which corresponds to that by which Peter sat when he denied his
-Lord, and the little window from which the maid-servant recognized him.
-From the street one sees another window with a little stone balcony,
-which represents the exact position of the window where Jesus, wearing
-the crown of thorns, was shown to the people.
-
-The garden is full of fragments of ancient statuary brought from Italy
-by that same Don Pedro Afan de Ribera, viceroy of Naples. Among the
-other fables that are told about this mysterious garden is one to the
-effect that Don Pedro Afan de Ribera placed in it an urn brought
-from Italy containing the ashes of the emperor Trajan, and a curious
-person carelessly struck the urn and overturned it; the emperor's ashes
-were thus scattered over the grass, and no one has ever succeeded in
-collecting them. So this august monarch, born at Italica, by a very
-strange fate has returned to the vicinity of his natal city, not in the
-very best condition in which to meditate upon its ruins, to tell the
-truth, but he was near it, at any rate.
-
-In spite of all that I have described, I may say that I did not see
-Seville, but just commenced to see it. Nevertheless, I shall stop
-here, because everything must have an end. I pass by the promenaders,
-the squares, the gates, the libraries, the public buildings, the
-mansions of the grandees, the gardens and the churches; but allow
-me to say that, after several days' wandering through Seville from
-sunrise to sunset, I was obliged to leave the city under the weight of
-a self-accusing conscience. I did not know which way to turn. I had
-reached such a condition of weariness that the announcement of a new
-object to be seen filled me with foreboding rather than pleasure. The
-good Señor Gonzalo kept up my courage, comforted me, and shortened the
-journeys with his delightful company, but, nevertheless, I have only a
-very confused remembrance of all that I saw during those last days.
-
-Seville, although it no longer merits the glorious title of the
-Spanish Athens, as in the times of Charles V. and Philip II., when it
-was mother and patron of a large and chosen band of poets and artists,
-the seat of culture and of the arts in the vast empire of its monarchs,
-is even yet that one among the cities of Spain, with the exception
-of Madrid, in which the artistic life is most vigorously maintained,
-as is evidenced by the number of its men of genius, the liberality
-of its patrons, and the popular love of the fine arts. It contains a
-flourishing academy of literature, a society for the protection of the
-arts, a well-known university, and a colony of scholars and sculptors
-who enjoy an honorable distinction throughout Spain. But the highest
-literary fame in Seville belongs to a woman--Catharine Bohl, the
-author of the novels which bear the name of Fernan Caballero, widely
-read in Spain and America, translated into almost all the languages
-of Europe, and known also in Italy (where some of them were published
-not long since) by every one who at all occupies himself with foreign
-literature. They are admirable pictures of Andalusian manners, full
-of truth, passion, and grace, and, above all, possessing a vigor of
-faith and a religious enthusiasm so fearless and a Christian charity
-so broad that they would startle and confuse the most skeptical man
-in the world. Catharine Bohl is a woman who would undergo martyrdom
-with the firmness and serenity of a Saint Ignatius. The consciousness
-of her power is revealed in every page: she does not hesitate to
-defend her religion, and confronts, assails, threatens, and overthrows
-its enemies; and not only the enemies of religion, but every man and
-everything that, to use a common expression, conforms to the spirit
-of the age, for she never forgives the least sin which has been
-committed from the times of the Inquisition to our own day, and she is
-more inexorable than the Pope's syllabus. And herein perhaps lies her
-greatest defect as a writer--that her religious convictions and her
-invectives are entirely too frequent and grow tiresome, and disgust and
-prejudice the reader rather than convince him of her own beliefs. But
-there is not a shadow of bitterness in her heart, and as her books, so
-is her life, noble, upright, and charitable. In Seville she is revered
-as a saint. Born in that city, she married early in life, and is now a
-widow for the third time. Her last husband, who was Spanish ambassador
-at London, committed suicide, and from that day she has never laid
-aside her mourning. At the time of my visit she was almost seventy; she
-had been very beautiful, and her noble, placid face still preserved
-the impress of beauty. Her father, who was a man of considerable
-genius and great culture, taught her several languages in early life:
-she knows Latin thoroughly and speaks Italian, German, and French
-with admirable facility. At this time, however, she is not writing at
-all, although the editors and publishers of Europe and America are
-offering her large sums for her works. But she does not live a life of
-inactivity. From morning to night she reads all sorts of books, and
-while she reads she is either knitting or embroidering, for she very
-firmly believes that her literary studies ought not to take one minute
-from her feminine employments. She has no children, and lives in a
-lonely house, the best part of which has been given to a poor family;
-she spends a great part of her income in charity. A curious trait of
-her character is her great love of animals: she has her house full of
-birds, cats, and dogs, and her sensibilities are so delicate that she
-has never consented to enter a carriage, for fear of seeing the horse
-beaten on her account. All suffering affects her as if she herself
-were bearing it: the sight of a blind man or of a sick person or of a
-cripple of any sort distresses her for an entire day; she cannot close
-her eyes to sleep unless she has wiped away a tear; she would joyfully
-forego all her honors to save any unknown person a heartache. Before
-the Revolution her life was not so isolated: the Montpensier family
-received her with great honor, and the most illustrious families of
-Seville vied with each other in entertaining her at their homes: now
-she lives only among her books and a few friends.
-
-In Moorish times Cordova took the lead in literature and Seville in
-music. "When a scholar dies at Seville," said Averroes, "and they wish
-to sell his books, they send them to Cordova; but if a musician dies
-at Cordova, they send his instruments to Seville to be sold." Now
-Cordova has lost her literary primacy, and Seville holds first place
-both in literature and music. Truly the times are past in which a poet
-by singing of the beauty of a maiden draws around her a crowd of lovers
-from all parts of the realm, and when one prince envies another simply
-because a poet has sung in his praise a verse more beautiful than any
-which the other had inspired, and a caliph rewards the author of a
-noble hymn by a gift of a hundred camels, a troop of slaves, and a vase
-of gold--when a happy strophe improvised at an opportune time releases
-a slave from his chains or saves the life of one condemned to death,
-and when the musicians are followed through the streets of Seville by
-a train of monarchs, and the favor of poets is more sought than that
-of kings, and the lyre is more terrible than the sword. But the people
-of Seville are always the most poetic people of Spain. The _bon mot_,
-the word of love, the expression of joy and enthusiasm, fly from their
-lips with a fascinating spontaneity and grace. The common people of
-Seville improvise, and talk as though they are singing, gesticulate as
-if they are declaiming, laugh and play like children. One never grows
-old at Seville. It is a city where life melts away in a continuous
-smile, with no other thought than the enjoyment of the beautiful sky,
-the lovely little houses, and the delightful little gardens. It is
-the most peaceful city in Spain, and the only one which since the
-Revolution has not been agitated by those sad political commotions
-which have stirred the others: politics do not penetrate the surface;
-the Sevillians are content to make love; all else they take in jest.
-_Todo lo toman de broma_, say the other Spaniards of the Sevillians;
-and in truth with that fragrant air, with those little streets like
-those of an Oriental city, with those fiery little women, why should
-they trouble themselves? At Madrid they speak ill of them; they say
-they are vain, false, fickle, and silly. It is jealousy: they envy them
-their happy indolence, the sympathy which they inspire in strangers,
-their girls, their poets, their painters, their orators, their Giralda,
-their Alcazar, their Guadalquivir, their life, and their history. So
-say the Sevillians, striking their breasts with one hand and puffing
-into the air a cloud of smoke from the inseparable _cigaritto_; and
-their lovely little women revenge themselves upon their envious sisters
-and all the other women in the world, speaking with spiteful pity of
-long feet, large waists, and dull eyes, that in Andalusia would not
-receive the honor of a glance or the homage of a sigh. A charming and
-amiable people, in truth; but, alas! one must look at the reverse side
-of the medal: superstition reigns and schools are lacking, as is the
-case throughout all Southern Spain; this is partly their own fault and
-partly not; but the negative is probably the smaller part.
-
-The day of my departure arrived unexpectedly. It is strange: I remember
-scarcely any particulars of my life at Seville; it is remarkable if
-I can tell where I dined, what I talked about with the consul, how I
-spent the evenings, and why I chose any given day to take my departure.
-I was not myself; I lived, if I may use the expression, out of myself;
-all the while I remained in the city I was a little dazed. Apart from
-the art-gallery and the _patio_ my friend Segovia must have found that
-I knew very little; and now, I know not why, I think of those days
-as of a dream. Of no other city are my recollections so vague as of
-Seville. Even to-day, while I am certain of having been at Saragossa,
-Madrid, and Toledo, sometimes when I think of Seville a doubt steals
-upon me. It seems to me like a city much farther away than the most
-distant boundaries of Spain, and that to journey there again I must
-travel months and months, cross unknown continents and wide seas,
-among people totally different from our own. I think of the streets
-of Seville, of certain little squares and certain houses, as I would
-think of the spots on the moon. Sometimes the image of that city passes
-before my eyes like a white figure, and disappears almost before I
-can grasp it with my mind--sometimes in a breath of air, at certain
-hours of the day, at a garden-gate; in humming a song which I heard a
-boy sing on the steps of the Giralda. I cannot explain this secret to
-myself; I think of Seville as of a city which I have still to see, and
-I enjoy looking at the prints and thumbing the books which I bought
-there, for they are tangible things that convince me of my visit. A
-month ago I received a letter from Segovia which said, "Come back to
-us." It gave me untold pleasure, but at the same time I laughed as if
-he had written, "Make a voyage to Pekin." It is for this very reason
-that Seville is dearer to me than all the other cities of Spain; I
-love it as I might love a beautiful unknown woman who, crossing a
-mysterious wood, might look my way and throw me a flower. How often in
-the theatre or at the café, when a friend shakes me and asks, "What are
-you thinking about?" I am obliged to leave the little room of Maria de
-Padilla to return to him, or a boat that is gliding along in the shade
-of the Christina plane trees, or Figaro's shop, or the vestibule of a
-_patio_ full of flowers, fountains, and lights.
-
-I embarked on a boat of the Segovia Company, near the Torre del Oro, at
-an hour when Seville is wrapped in deep sleep and a burning sun covers
-it with a flood of light. I remember that a few moments before the
-boat started a young man came on board in search of me, and gave me a
-letter from Gonzalo Segovia, containing a sonnet which I still cherish
-as one of my most precious mementos of Seville. On the boat there was
-a company of Spanish singers, an English family, some laboring-men,
-and babies. The captain, being a good Andalusian, had a cheery word
-for everybody. I soon began a conversation with him. My friend Gonzalo
-was a son of the proprietor of the line, and we talked of the Segovia
-family, of Seville, the sea, and a thousand pleasant things. Ah! the
-poor man was far from thinking that a few days later the unlucky ship
-would founder in the midst of the sea and bring him to such a terrible
-end! It was the _Guadaira_, that was lost a short distance from
-Marseilles by the bursting of the boiler on the sixteenth day of June,
-1872.
-
-At three o'clock the boat started for Cadiz.
-
-
-
-
-CADIZ.
-
-
-That was the most delightful evening of all my journey.
-
-A little while after the ship had commenced to move there sprang up one
-of those gentle breezes which played with one as an infant plays with
-one's cravat or a lock of one's hair, and from stem to stern there was
-a sound of the voices of women and children, like that which one hears
-among a group of friends at the first crack of the whip announcing
-their departure for a merry outing. All the passengers gathered at the
-stern in the shade of a gayly-colored awning like a Chinese pavilion:
-some were sitting on coils of rope, others were stretched at full
-length on the benches, others were leaning against the rail--every one
-looked back in the direction of the Torre del Oro to enjoy the famous
-and enchanting spectacle of Seville as it faded away in the distance.
-Some of the women had not yet dried the tears of parting, and some of
-the children were still a little frightened by the sound of the engine.
-And some ladies were still quarrelling with the porters for abusing
-their baggage; but in a few moments all was serene again, and the
-passengers began to peel oranges, light cigars, pass little flasks of
-liquor, converse with their unknown neighbors, sing and laugh, and in a
-quarter of an hour we were all friends.
-
-The boat glided along as smoothly as a gondola over the still, limpid
-waters, which reflected the white dresses of the ladies like a mirror,
-and the breeze brought the delightful fragrance from the orange-groves
-of the villas scattered along the shore. Seville was hidden behind
-her circle of gardens, and we saw only an immense mass of trees of
-vivid green, and above them the black pile of the cathedral and the
-rose-colored Giralda surmounted by its statue flaming like a tongue
-of fire. As the distance widened the cathedral appeared grander and
-more majestic, as if it were following the vessel and gaining upon
-her: now, although still following, it seemed to retire a great way
-from the shore; now it would seem to be spanning the river; one
-moment it would appear suddenly to return to its place; a moment
-later it looked so close that we suspected the boat had turned back.
-The Guadalquivir wound along in short curves, and as the boat turned
-this way and that Seville appeared and disappeared, now peeping out
-in one place as if it had stolen beyond its boundaries, now raising
-its head suddenly behind a wood, gleaming like a snowclad mountain,
-now revealing some white streaks here and there amid the verdure, and
-suddenly disappearing from view and performing all sorts of fantastic
-wiles, like a coquettish woman. Finally it disappeared and we saw it
-no more: the cathedral alone remained. Then every one turned to look
-at the shore. We seemed to be sailing on the lake of a garden. Here
-was a hillside clothed with cypresses, here a hilltop all covered
-with flowers, yonder a village extending along the shore, and under
-the garden trellises and along the terraces of the villas sat ladies
-looking at us with spy-glasses; and here and there were peasants'
-families in brightly-colored dresses, sail-boats; and naked boys who
-plunged into the water and turned sommersaults, frisked about, shouted,
-and waved their hands toward the ladies on the boat, who covered their
-faces with their fans. Some miles from Seville we met three steamboats,
-one after the other. The first came upon us so suddenly at a turn of
-the river that, having had no experience in that sort of navigation,
-I was afraid, for a moment, that we should not have time to avoid a
-collision; the two boats almost grazed each other in passing, and the
-passengers of each saluted each other and threw across oranges and
-cigars, and charged each other with messages to be borne to Cadiz or
-Seville.
-
-My fellow-voyagers were almost all Andalusians, and so, after an
-hour of conversation, I knew them from first to last as well as if
-we had all been friends from infancy. Every one instantly told every
-one else, whether he wanted to know it or not, who he was, his age,
-occupation, and where he was going, and one even went so far as to tell
-how many sweethearts he had and how many pesetas were in his purse. I
-was taken for a singer; and this is not strange if one considers that
-in Spain the people think three-fourths of the Italians are trained to
-sing, dance, or declaim. One gentleman, noticing that I had an Italian
-book in my hand, asked me, point-blank, "Where did you leave the
-company?"
-
-"What company?" I demanded.
-
-"Weren't you singing with Fricci at the Zarzuela?"
-
-"I am sorry, but I have never appeared on the stage."
-
-"Well, I must say, then, that you and the second tenor look as much
-alike as two drops of water."
-
-"You don't say so?"
-
-"Pray excuse me."
-
-"It's of no consequence."
-
-"But you are an Italian?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Do you sing?"
-
-"I am sorry, but I do not sing."
-
-"How strange! To judge by your throat and breast, I should have said
-that you must have a splendid tenor voice."
-
-I put my hand to my chest and neck, and replied, "It may be so; I will
-try--one never knows. I have two of the necessary qualifications: I am
-an Italian and have the throat of a tenor; the voice ought to follow."
-
-At this point the prima donna of the company, who had overheard the
-dialogue, entered the conversation, and after her the entire company:
-
-"Is the gentleman an Italian?"
-
-"At your service, madam."
-
-"I ask the question because I wish him to do me a favor. What is the
-meaning of those short verses from _Il Trovatore_ which run--
-
- "Non può nemmeno un Dio
- Donna rapirti a me."
- (Not even a god can steal my lady from me.)
-
-"Is the lady married?"
-
-They all began to laugh.
-
-"Yes," replied the prima donna; "but why do you ask me that?"
-
-"Because ... 'not even a god can steal you from me' is what your
-husband ought to say, if he has two good eyes in his head, every
-morning when he rises and every night when he goes to bed."
-
-The others laughed, but to the prima donna this imaginary presumption
-on the part of her husband in affirming that he was secure even against
-a god seemed too extravagant, possibly because she knew that she had
-not always been sufficiently wary in her regard for men; and so she
-scarcely deigned by so much as a smile to show that she had understood
-my compliment. She at once asked the meaning of another verse, and
-after her the baritone, and after the baritone the tenor, and after
-the tenor the second lady, and so on, until for a little while I did
-nothing but translate poor Italian verses into worse Spanish prose, to
-the great satisfaction of some of them, who for the first time were
-able to repeat intelligently a little of what they had so often sung
-with an air of perfect knowledge. When every one had learned as much
-as he wished to know, the conversation came to a close, and I stood
-talking a little while with the baritone, who hummed me an air from
-the _Zarzuela_; then I attached myself to one of the chorus, who told
-me that the tenor was making love to the prima donna; then I went off
-with the tenor, who told me about the baritone's wife; then I talked
-with the prima donna, who said disagreeable things about the whole
-company; but they were all good friends, and when they met, as they
-walked about the boat and gathered under the awning, the men pulled
-each other's beards and the women kissed each other, and one and all
-exchanged glances and smiles which revealed secret understandings. Some
-ran through the gamut here, some hummed yonder, others practised trills
-in a corner, and others again tried a guttural _do_ that ended in a
-wheezing sound in the throat; and meanwhile they all talked at once
-about a thousand trifles.
-
-Finally, the bell sounded and we rushed headlong to the table, like
-so many officials invited to a spread at the unveiling of a monument.
-At this dinner, amid the cries and songs of all those people, I drank
-for the first time an unmixed glass of that terrible wine of Xeres
-whose wonders are sung in the four corners of the earth. I had scarcely
-swallowed it before I seemed to feel a spark run through all my veins,
-and my head burned as if it was full of sulphur. All the others drank,
-and all were filled with unrestrained mirth and became irresistibly
-loquacious; the prima donna began to talk in Italian, the tenor in
-French, the baritone in Portuguese, the others in dialect, and I in
-every tongue; and there were toasts and snatches of song, shouts,
-arch glances, clasping of hands above table and the kicking of feet
-below, and declarations of good fellowship exchanged on all sides,
-like the personalities in Parliament when the opposing factions join
-battle. After dinner we all went on deck, flushed and in great spirits,
-breathless and enveloped in a cloud of smoke from our cigarettes, and
-then, in the light of the moon, whose silvery rays gleamed on the wide
-river and covered the hillsides and the groves with limpid light, we
-began again a noisy conversation, and after the conversation there
-was singing, not only the trifling airs of _Zarzuela_, but passages
-from operas, with solos, duets, trios, and choruses, with appropriate
-gestures and stage strides, diversified with declamations from
-the poets, stories, and anecdotes, hearty laughter, and tumultuous
-applause; finally, tired and breathless, we were all silent, and some
-fell asleep with upturned faces, others went to lie down under cover,
-and the prima donna seated herself in a corner to look at the moon.
-The tenor was snoring. I profited by the occasion to go and have an
-aria from the _Zarzuela_--_El Sargento Federico_--sung to me in a low
-voice. The courteous Andalusian did not wait to be pressed: she sang,
-but suddenly she was silent and hid her face. I looked at her: she
-was weeping. I asked her the cause of her distress, and she answered,
-sadly, "I am thinking of a perjury." Then she broke into a laugh and
-began to sing again. She had a melodious, flexible voice, and sang with
-a feeling of gentle sadness. The sky was all studded with stars, and
-the boat glided so smoothly through the water that it scarcely seemed
-to be moving; and I thought of the gardens of Seville, of the near
-African shore, and of the dear one waiting for me in Italy, and my eyes
-too were wet, and when the lady stopped singing, I said, "Sing on, for--
-
- 'Mortal tongue cannot express
- That which I felt within my breast....'"
-
-At dawn the boat was just entering the ocean; the river was very wide.
-The right bank, scarcely visible in the distance, stretched along like
-a tongue of land, beyond which shone the waters of the sea. A moment
-later the sun rose above the horizon, and the vessel left the river.
-Then there unfolded before my eyes a sight that could not be described
-if it were possible to join poetry, painting, and music in one supreme
-art--a spectacle whose magnificence and enchantment I believe not even
-Dante could describe with his grandest images, nor Titian with his
-most brilliant colors, nor Rossini with his most perfect harmonies,
-nor even all three of them together. The sky was a miracle of sapphire
-light unflecked by a cloud, and the sea was so beautiful that it seemed
-like an immense carpet of shimmering silk; the sun was shining on the
-crests of the little ripples caused by a light breeze, and it seemed as
-if they were tipped with amethyst. The sea was full of reflections and
-luminous bands of light, and in the distance were streaks of silver,
-with here and there great white sails, like the trailing wings of
-gigantic fallen angels. I have never seen such brilliancy of color,
-such splendor of light, such freshness, such transparency, such limpid
-water and sky. It seemed like a daybreak of creation, which the fancy
-of poets had pictured so pure and effulgent that our dawns are only
-pale reflections in comparison. It was more than Nature's awakening and
-the recurring stir of life: it was a hallelujah, a triumph, a new birth
-of creation, growing into the infinite by a second inspiration of God.
-
-I went below deck to get my spyglass, and when I returned Cadiz was in
-sight.
-
-The first impression which it made upon me was a feeling of doubt
-whether it was a city or not. I first laughed, then turned toward my
-fellow-traveller with the air of one seeking to be assured that he is
-not deceived. Cadiz is like an island of chalk. It is a great white
-spot in the midst of the sea, without a cloud, without a black line,
-without a shadow--a white spot as clear and pure as a hilltop covered
-with untrodden snow, standing out against a sky of beryl and turquoise
-in the midst of a vast flooded plain. A long, narrow neck of land
-unites it to the continent; on all other sides it is surrounded by the
-sea, like a boat just ready to sail bound to the shore only by a cable.
-As we approached, the forms of the campaniles, the outlines of the
-houses, and the openings of the streets became clear, and everything
-seemed whiter, and, however much I looked through my spyglass, I could
-not have discovered the smallest spot in that whiteness, either on a
-building near the harbor or in the farthest suburbs. We entered the
-port, where there were but a few ships and those a great way apart. I
-stepped into a boat without even taking my valise with me, for I was
-obliged to leave for Malaga that same evening, and so eager was I to
-see the city that when the boat came to the bank, I jumped too soon
-and fell to the ground like a corpse, although, alas! I still felt the
-pains of a living body.
-
-[Illustration: _Cadiz_]
-
-Cadiz is the whitest city in the world; and it is of no use to
-contradict me by saying that I have not seen every other city, for
-my common sense tells me that a city whiter than this, which is
-superlatively and perfectly white, cannot exist. Cordova and Seville
-cannot be compared with Cadiz: they are as white as a sheet, but Cadiz
-is as white as milk. To give an idea of it, one could not do better
-than to write the word "white" a thousand times with a white pencil
-on blue paper, and make a note on the margin: "Impressions of Cadiz."
-Cadiz is one of the most extravagant and graceful of human caprices:
-not only the outer walls of the houses are white, but the stairs are
-white, the courts are white, the shop-walls are white, the stones are
-white, the pilasters are white, the most secret and darkest corners
-of the poorest houses and the loneliest streets are white; everything
-is white from roof to cellar wherever the tip of a brush can enter,
-even to the holes, cracks, and birds' nests. In every house there is
-a pile of chalk and lime, and every time the eagle eye of the inmates
-spies the least spot the brush is seized and the spot covered. Servants
-are not taken into families unless they know how to whitewash. A
-pencil-scratch on a wall is a scandalous thing, an outrage upon the
-public peace, an act of vandalism: you might walk through the entire
-city, look behind all the doors, and poke your nose into the very
-holes, and you would find white, only and always and eternally.
-
-But, for all this, Cadiz does not in the least resemble the other
-Andalusian cities. Its streets are long and straight, and the houses
-are high, and lack the _patios_ of Cordova and Seville. But, although
-the appearance is different, the city does not appear less interesting
-and pleasant to the eye of the stranger. The streets are straight, but
-narrow, and, moreover, they are very long, and many of them cross the
-entire city, and so one can see at the end, as through the crack in a
-door, a slender strip of sky, which makes it seem as if the city was
-built on the summit of a mountain cut on all sides in regular channels:
-moreover, the houses have a great many windows, and, as at Burgos,
-every window is provided with a sort of glass balcony which rises in
-tiers from story to story, so that in many streets the houses are
-completely covered with glass, and one sees scarcely any traces of the
-walls. It seems like walking through a passage in an immense museum.
-Here and there, between one house and the next, rise the graceful
-fronds of a palm; in every square there is a luxuriant mass of verdure,
-and at all the windows bunches of grass and bouquets of flowers.
-
-Really, I had been far from imagining that Cadiz could be so gay
-and smiling--that terrible, ill-fated Cadiz, burned by the English
-in the sixteenth century, bombarded at the end of the eighteenth,
-devastated by the pestilence, hostess of the fleets of Trafalgar, the
-seat of the revolutionary council during the War of Independence, the
-theatre of the horrible butchery of the Revolution of 1820, the target
-of the French bombs in 1823, the standard-bearer of the Revolution
-which hurled the Bourbons from the throne,--Cadiz always restless
-and turbulent and first of all to raise the battle-cry. But of such
-calamities and such struggles there remain only some cannon-balls
-half buried in the walls, for over all the traces of destruction has
-passed the inexorable brush, covering every dishonor with a white veil.
-And as it is with the latest wars, so too there remains not a trace
-of the Phœnicians who founded the city, nor of the Carthaginians and
-Romans who enlarged and beautified it, unless one wishes to consider
-as a trace the tradition which says, "Here rose a temple to Hercules,"
-"There rose a temple to Saturn." But time has done a worse thing than
-to deprive Cadiz of her ancient monuments: it has stolen away her
-commerce and her riches since Spain lost her possessions in America,
-and now Cadiz lies there inert on her solitary rock, waiting in vain
-for the thousand ships which once came with flags and festoons to offer
-her the tribute of the New World.
-
-I had a letter of introduction to the Italian consul, and after
-receiving it he courteously took me to the top of a tower from which I
-was able to get a bird's-eye view of the city. It was a novel sight and
-a very lively surprise: seen from above, Cadiz is white, entirely and
-perfectly white, just as it appears from the sea; there is not a roof
-in all the city; every house is covered on top by a terrace surrounded
-by a low whitewashed wall; on almost every terrace rises a little white
-tower, which is surmounted, in its turn, by another smaller terrace
-or by a little cupola or sort of sentry-box: everything is white; all
-these little cupolas, these pinnacles, and these towers, which give
-the city a very odd and uneven appearance, gleam and stand out white
-against the vivid blue of the sea. One's view extends over the entire
-length of the isthmus which connects Cadiz to the main land, embraces
-a far-off strip of distant coast whitened by the cities of Puerto Real
-and Puerto Santa Maria, dotted with villages, churches, and villas, and
-includes also the port and the clear and a very beautiful sky which
-vies with the sea in transparency and light. I could not look enough
-at that strange city. On closing my eyes it appeared as if covered
-by an immense sheet. Every house seemed to have been built for an
-astronomical observatory. The entire population, in case the sea should
-inundate the city, as in ancient times, might gather on the terraces
-and remain there in perfect ease, saving the fright.
-
-I was told that a few years ago, on the occasion of some eclipse
-of the sun, this very spectacle was witnessed: the seventy thousand
-inhabitants of Cadiz all ascended to the terraces to watch the
-phenomenon. The city changed its perfect whiteness for a thousand
-colors; every terrace was thick with heads; one saw at a single glance,
-quarter after quarter, and finally the entire population: a low murmur
-rose to heaven like the roar of the sea, and a great movement of arms,
-fans, and spy-glasses, pointing upward, made it seem as if the people
-were awaiting the descent of some angel from the solar sphere. At a
-certain moment there was a profound silence: when the phenomenon was
-over the entire population gave a shout, which sounded like a clap of
-thunder, and a few moments later the city was white again.
-
-I descended from the tower and went to see the cathedral, a vast
-marble edifice of the sixteenth century, not to be compared to the
-cathedrals of Burgos and Toledo, but nevertheless dignified and bold in
-architecture and enriched by every sort of treasure, like all the other
-Spanish churches. I went to see the convent where Murillo was painting
-a picture over a high altar when he fell from the scaffold and received
-the wound which caused his death. I passed through the picture-gallery,
-which contains some fine paintings of Zurbaran; entered the bull-ring,
-built entirely of wood, which was created in a few days to provide
-a spectacle for Queen Isabella. Toward evening I took a turn in the
-delightful promenade along the sea-shore, in the midst of orange trees
-and palms, where the most beautiful and elegant ladies of the city
-were pointed out to me, one by one. Whatever may be the judgment of
-the Spaniards, to me the feminine type of Cadiz did not seem at all
-inferior to the celebrated type of Seville. The women are a little
-taller, a little heavier, and are somewhat darker. Some observer has
-ventured to say that they closely resemble the Grecian type, but I do
-not know in what respect. I saw no difference from the Andalusian type
-except in stature, and that was enough to make me heave sighs which
-might have propelled a ship, and constrained me to return as soon as
-possible to the vessel as a place of refuge and peace.
-
-When I arrived on board it was night; the sky was all twinkling with
-stars, and the breeze bore faintly to my ears the music of a band
-playing on the promenade of Cadiz. The singers were asleep; I was
-alone, and the sight of the city lights and the recollection of the
-lovely faces filled me with melancholy. I did not know what to do
-with myself, so I went down to the cabin, took out my note-book, and
-commenced the description of Cadiz. But I only succeeded in writing ten
-times the words, "White, blue, snow, brightness, colors," after which I
-made a little sketch of a woman and then closed my eyes and dreamed of
-Italy.
-
-
-
-
-MALAGA.
-
-
-The next day, at sunset, the vessel was passing through the Straits of
-Gibraltar.
-
-Now, as I look at that point on the map, it seems so near home that
-when I am in the humor and my domestic finances permit I ought not to
-hesitate a moment to pack my valise and run down to Genoa on my way
-to enjoy a second time the most beautiful sight of two continents.
-But then it seemed to be so far away that when I had written a letter
-to my mother on the rail of the ship, intending to give it to one of
-the passengers for Gibraltar to post, as I was writing the address I
-laughed at my confidence, as if it were impossible for a letter to
-travel all the way to Turin. "From here!" I thought--"from the Pillars
-of Hercules!" and I pronounced the Pillars of Hercules as if I had said
-the Cape of Good Hope or Japan.
-
-"... I am on the ship Guadaira: behind me is the ocean, and in front
-the Mediterranean, on the left Europe and on the right Africa. On this
-side I see the cape of Tarifa, and on that the mountains of the African
-coast, which look indistinct like a gray cloud; I see Ceuta, and a
-little beyond it Tangiers like a white spot, and in a direct line with
-the ship rises the Rock of Gibraltar. The sea is as placid as a lake,
-and the sky is red and gold; all is serene, beautiful, and magnificent,
-and I feel in my mind an inexpressible and delightful stirring of great
-thoughts, which, if I could put them into words, would become a joyful
-prayer beginning and ending with thy name...."
-
-The vessel stopped in the Gulf of Algeciras: the entire company of
-singers got into a large boat from Gibraltar, and went off, waving fans
-and handkerchiefs as a parting salute. It was growing dark when the
-boat started again. Then I was able to measure the enormous mass of the
-Rock of Gibraltar at every turn. At first I thought we should leave
-it behind in a few moments, but the moments became hours. Gradually,
-as we approached, it towered above us, and presented a new appearance
-every instant--now the silhouette of some measureless monster, now the
-image of an immense staircase, now the outline of a fantastic castle,
-now a shapeless mass like a monstrous aërolite fallen from a world
-shivered in a battle of the spheres. Then, on nearer view, behind a
-high rock like an Egyptian pyramid, there came into sight a great
-projection as large as a mountain, with fissures and broken boulders
-and vast curves which lost themselves in the plain. It was night; the
-rock stood outlined against the moonlit sky as clear and sharp as a
-sheet of black paper on a pane of glass. One saw the lighted windows
-of the English barracks, the sentry-boxes on the summit of the dizzy
-crags, and a dim outline of trees which seemed little larger than a
-tuft of grass among the nearest rocks. For a long time the boat seemed
-motionless or else the rock was receding, so close and threatening did
-it always appear; then, little by little, it began to diminish, but our
-eyes were weary of gazing before the rock grew weary of threatening us
-with its fantastic transformations. At midnight I gave a final salute
-to that formidable, lifeless sentinel of Europe, and went to wrap
-myself up in my little corner.
-
-At break of day I awoke a few miles from the port of Malaga.
-
-The city of Malaga, seen from the port, presents a pleasing appearance
-not wholly without grandeur. On the right is a high rocky mountain,
-upon the top of which and down one side, even to the plain, are the
-enormous blackened ruins of the castle of Gibralfaro, and on the
-lower slopes stands the cathedral towering majestically above all the
-surrounding buildings, lifting toward heaven, as an inspired poet might
-say, two beautiful towers and a very high belfry. Between the castle
-and the church and on the face and sides of the mountain there is a
-mass--a _canaille_, as Victor Hugo would say--of smoky little houses,
-placed confusedly one above the other, as if they had been thrown down
-from above like stones. To the left of the cathedral, along the shore,
-is a row of houses, gray, violet, or pale yellow in color, with white
-window-and door-frames, that suggest the villages along the Ligurian
-Riviera. Beyond rises a circle of green and reddish hills enclosing the
-city like the walls of an amphitheatre, and to the right and left along
-the sea-shore extend other mountains, hills, and rocks as far as the
-eye can see. The port was almost deserted, the shore silent, and the
-sky very blue.
-
-Before landing I took my leave of the captain, who was going on to
-Marseilles, said good-bye to the boatswain and passengers, telling them
-all that I should arrive at Valencia a day ahead of the boat, and I
-should certainly join them again and go on to Barcelona and Marseilles,
-and the captain replied, "We shall look for you," and the steward
-promised that my place should be saved for me. How often since then
-have I remembered the last words of those poor people!
-
-[Illustration: _Malaga_]
-
-I stopped at Malaga with the intention of leaving that same evening
-for Granada. The city itself offers nothing worthy of note, excepting
-the new part, which occupies a tract of land formerly covered by
-the sea. This is built up in the modern style, with wide, straight
-streets and large, bare houses. The rest of the city is a labyrinth
-of narrow, winding streets and a mass of houses without color,
-without _patios_, and without grace. There are some spacious squares
-with gardens and fountains; columns and arches of Moorish buildings, no
-modern monuments; a great deal of dirt, and not a great many people.
-The environs are very beautiful, and the climate is milder than that of
-Seville.
-
-I had a friend at Malaga, and after finding him we passed the day
-together. He told me a curious fact: At Malaga there is a literary
-academy of more than eight hundred members, where they celebrate the
-birthdays of all the great writers, and hold twice a week a public
-lecture on some subject connected with literature or science. That same
-evening they were to celebrate a solemn function. Some months earlier
-the academy had offered a prize of three golden flowers, enamelled
-in different colors, to the three poets who should compose the best
-ode on "Progress," the best ballad on the "Recovery of Malaga," and
-the best satire on one of the most prevalent vices of modern society.
-The invitation had been extended to all the poets of Spain; poems had
-poured in in abundance; a board of judges had secretly considered them;
-and that very evening the choice was to be announced. The ceremony was
-to be conducted with great pomp. The bishop, the governor, the admiral,
-the most conspicuous personages of the city, with dress-coats, orders,
-and shoulder-scarfs, and a great number of ladies in evening dress,
-were to be present. The three most beautiful Muses of the city were
-to present themselves on a sort of stage adorned with garlands and
-flags, each of whom was to open the roll containing the prize poem
-and to proclaim three times the name of its author: if the author
-were present, he was to be invited to read his verses and receive his
-flower; if he were not present, his verses were to be read for him.
-Throughout the whole city they talked of nothing but the academy,
-guessed the names of the victors, predicted the wonders of the three
-poems, and extolled the decorations of the hall. This festival of
-poetry, called the _juegos floreales_, had not been celebrated for ten
-years. Others may judge whether such contests and displays benefit or
-injure poets and poetry. As for me, whatever may be the dubious and
-fleeting literary glory which is bestowed by the sentence of the jury
-and the homage of a bishop and a governor, I believe that to receive
-the gift of a golden flower from the hand of a most beautiful woman
-under the eyes of five hundred fair Andalusians, to the sound of soft
-music and amid the perfume of jessamine and roses, that would be a
-delight even truer and more lively than any which comes from real and
-enduring glory. No? Ah! we are sincere.
-
-One of my first thoughts was to taste a little of the genuine Malaga
-wine, for no other reason than to repay myself for the many headaches
-and stomachaches caused by the miserable concoctions sold in many
-Italian cities under the false recommendation of its name. But either
-I did not know how to ask or they did not wish to understand: the
-fact remains that the wine they gave me at the hotel burned my throat
-and made my head spin. I was not able to walk straight even to the
-cathedral, or from the cathedral to the castle of Gibralfaro, or to
-the other places, nor could I form an idea of the beauties of Malaga
-without seeing them double and unsteadily, as some spiteful person
-might suppose.
-
-On our walk my friend talked to me about the famous Republican people
-of Malaga, who are every moment doing something on their own account.
-They are a very fiery people, but fickle and yet tractable, like all
-people who feel much and think little; and they act upon the impulse
-of passion rather than the strength of conviction. The least trifle
-calls together an immense crowd and stirs up a tumult that turns
-the city topsy-turvy; but on most occasions a resolute act of a man
-in authority, an exhibition of courage, or a burst of eloquence is
-sufficient to quiet the tumult and disperse the crowd. The nature of
-the people is good on the whole, but superstition and passion have
-perverted them. And, above all, superstition is perhaps more firmly
-entrenched in Malaga than in any other city of Andalusia, by reason
-of the greater popular ignorance. Altogether, Malaga was the least
-Andalusian of the cities I had seen: even the very language has been
-corrupted, and they speak worse Spanish than at Cadiz, where, forsooth!
-they speak badly enough.
-
-I was still at Malaga, but my imagination was far away among the
-streets of Granada and in the gardens of the Alhambra and the
-Generalife. Shortly after the noon hour I took my leave from the only
-city in Spain, to tell the truth, that I left without a sigh of regret.
-When the train started, instead of turning for a last look, as I had
-done in all of its sister towns, I murmured the verses sung by Giovanni
-Prati at Granada when the duke d'Aosta was leaving for Spain:
-
- "Non più Granata è sola
- Sulle sur mute pietre;
- L'inno in Alhambra vola
- Sulle Moresche cetre."
-
-(_No more does Granada stand alone on her silent stones: the hymn flies
-to the Alhambra on Moorish lyres._)
-
- * * * * *
-
-And now, as I write them again, it seems to me that the music of the
-band of the National Guard of Turin inspires peace and gladness more
-even surely than Moorish lyres, and that the pavement of the porticoes
-of the Po, although it be ever so silent, is better laid and smoother
-than the stones of Granada.
-
-
-
-
-GRANADA.
-
-
-GRANADA.
-
-
-The journey from Malaga to Granada was the most adventurous and
-unfortunate that I made in Spain.
-
-In order that my compassionate readers may pity me as much as I
-desire, they must know (I am ashamed to occupy people with these
-little details) that at Malaga I had eaten only the lightest sort of
-an Andalusian repast, of which at the moment of departure I retained
-a very vague recollection. But I started, feeling sure that I could
-alight at some railway-station where there would be one of those rooms
-or public choking-places where one enters at a gallop, eats until one
-is out of breath, pays as one scampers out to rush into a crowded
-carriage, suffocated and robbed, to curse the schedule, travel, and the
-minister of public works who deceives the country. I departed, and for
-the first hours it was delightful. The country was all gently sloping
-hills and green fields, dotted with villages crowned with palms and
-cypresses, and in the carriage, between two old men who rode with their
-eyes shut, there was a little Andalusian who kept looking around with
-a roguish smile which seemed to say, "Go on; your lovelorn glances
-do not offend me." But the train crept along as slowly as a worn-out
-diligence, and we stopped only a few moments at the stations. By sunset
-my stomach began to cry for help, and, to render the pangs of hunger
-even more severe, I was obliged to make a good part of the journey on
-foot. The train stopped at an unsafe bridge, and all the passengers got
-out and filed around, two by two, to meet the train on the other side
-of the river. We were surrounded by the rocks of the Sierra Nevada,
-in a wild, desert place, which made it seem as if we were a company
-of hostages led by a band of brigands. When we had clambered into the
-carriage the train crawled along no faster than before, and my stomach
-began to complain more desperately than at first. After a long time we
-arrived at a station all crowded with trains, where a large part of the
-travellers hurried out before I could reach the step.
-
-"Where are you going?" asked a railroad official, who had seen me
-alight.
-
-"To dine," I replied.
-
-"But aren't you going to Granada?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Then you won't have time; the train starts immediately."
-
-"But the others have gone."
-
-"You will see them come back on the run in a minute."
-
-The freight-trains in front prevented me from seeing the station; I
-thought it was a great way off, and so stayed where I was. Two minutes
-passed, five, eight; the tourists did not return and the train did not
-start. I jumped out, ran to the station, saw a café, and entered a
-large room. Great heavens! Fifty starving people were standing around
-a refreshment-table with their noses in their plates, elbows in the
-air, and their eyes on the clock, devouring and shouting; another fifty
-were crowding around a counter seizing and pocketing bread, fruit, and
-candies, while the proprietor and the waiters, panting like horses
-and streaming with sweat, ran about, tucked up their sleeves, howled,
-tumbled over the seats and upset the customers, and scattered here and
-there streams of soup and drops of sauce; and one poor woman, who must
-have been the mistress of the café, imprisoned in a little niche behind
-the besieged counter, ran her hands through her hair in desperation. At
-this sight my arms hung down helplessly. But suddenly I roused myself
-and made an onslaught. Driven back by a feminine elbow in my chest, I
-rushed in again; repulsed by a jab in the stomach, I gathered all my
-strength to make a third attack. At this point the bell rang. There was
-a burst of imprecations and then a falling of seats, a scattering of
-plates, a hurry-scurry, and a perfect pandemonium. One man, choking
-in the fury of his last mouthfuls, became livid and his eyes seemed
-bursting from his head as though he were being hanged; another in
-stretching out his hand to seize an orange, struck by some one rushing
-past, plunged it into a bowl of cream; another was running through the
-room in search of his valise with a great smear of sauce on his cheeks;
-another, who had tried to drink his wine at one gulp, had strangled
-and coughed as if he would tear open his stomach; the officials at the
-door cried, "Hurry!" and the travellers called back from the room,
-"Ahogate!" (choked), and the waiters ran after those who had not paid,
-and those who wanted to pay could not find the waiters; and the ladies
-swooned, and the children cried, and everything was upside down.
-
-By good fortune I was able to get into my carriage before the train
-started.
-
-But there a new punishment awaited me. The two old men and the little
-Andalusian, who must have been the daughter of the one and niece of
-the other, had been successful in securing a little booty in the midst
-of that accursed crowd at the counter, and they were eating right and
-left. I began to watch them with sorrowful eyes like a dog beside his
-master's table, counting the mouthfuls and the number of times they
-chewed. The little Andalusian noticed it, and, pointing to something
-which looked like a croquet, made a gracious bow as if to ask if I
-would take it.
-
-"Oh no, thank you," I replied with the smile of a dying man; "I have
-eaten."
-
-My angel, I continued to myself, if you only knew that at this moment
-I would prefer those two croquets to the bitter apples--as Sir Niccolo
-Machiavelli would generously say--even those bitter apples from the
-famous garden of the Hesperides!
-
-"Try a drop of liquor at least," said the old uncle.
-
-I do not know what childish pique against myself or against those good
-people took possession of me, but it was a feeling which other men
-experience on similar occasions; however, I replied this time too, "No,
-thank you; it would be bad for me."
-
-The good old man looked me over from head to foot as if to say that I
-did not appear like a man to be the worse for a drop of liquor, and the
-Andalusian smiled, and I blushed for shame.
-
-Night settled down, and the train went on at the pace of Sancho Panza's
-steed for I knew not how many hours. That night I felt for the first
-time in my life the pangs of hunger, which I thought I had felt already
-on the famous day of the twenty-fourth of June, 1866. To relieve these
-torments I obstinately thought of all the dishes which filled me with
-repugnance--raw tomatoes, snails in soup, roasted crabs, and snails
-in salad. Alas! a voice of derision told me, deep down in my vitals,
-that if I had any of them I should eat them and lick my fingers. Then I
-began to make imaginary messes of different dishes, as cream and fish,
-with a dash of wine, with a coat of pepper, and a layer of juniper
-preserves, to see if I could thus hold my stomach in check. Oh misery!
-my cowardly stomach did not repel even those. Then I made a final
-effort and imagined that I was at table in a Parisian hotel at the time
-of the siege, and that I gently lifted a mouse by the tail out of some
-pungent sauce, and the mouse, unexpectedly regaining life, bit my thumb
-and transfixed me with two wicked little eyes, and I, with raised fork,
-hesitated whether to let it go or to spit it without pity. But, thank
-Heaven! before I had settled this horrible question, to perform such an
-act as has never been recorded in the history of any siege, the train
-stopped and a ray of hope revived my drooping spirits.
-
-We had reached some nameless village, and while I was putting my head
-out of the window a voice cried, "All out for Granada!" I rushed
-headlong from the carriage and found myself face to face with a huge
-bearded fellow, who took my valise, telling me that he was going to put
-it in the diligence, for from that village to I know not how many miles
-from _imperial Granada_ there is no railway.
-
-"One moment!" I cried to the unknown man in a supplicating voice: "how
-long before you start?"
-
-"Two minutes," he replied.
-
-"Is there an inn here?"
-
-"There it is." I flew to the inn, bolted a hard-boiled egg, and rushed
-back to the diligence, crying, "How much time now?"
-
-"Two minutes more," answered the same voice.
-
-I flew back to the hotel, seized another egg, and ran again to the
-diligence with the question, "Are you off?"
-
-"In a minute."
-
-Back again to the inn, and a third egg, and then to the diligence: "Are
-we going?"
-
-"In half a minute."
-
-This time I heaved a mighty sigh, ran to the inn, swallowed a fourth
-egg and a glass of wine, and rushed toward the diligence. But before
-I had taken ten steps my breath gave out, and I stopped with the egg
-halfway down my throat. At this point the whip cracked.--"Wait!" I
-cried in a hoarse voice, waving my hands like a drowning man.
-
-"_Que hay?_" (What's the matter?) demanded the driver.
-
-I could not reply.
-
-"He has an egg stuck in his throat," some stranger answered for me.
-
-All the travellers burst into a laugh, the egg went down; I laughed
-too, overtook the diligence, which had already started, and, regaining
-my breath, gave my companions an account of my troubles, and they were
-much interested, and pitied me even more than I had dared to hope after
-that cruel laugh at my suffocation.
-
-But my troubles were not ended. One of those irresistible attacks
-of sleepiness which used to come upon me treacherously in the long
-night-marches among the soldiers seized me all at once, and tormented
-me as far as the railway-station without my being able to get a moment
-of sleep. I believe that a cannon-ball suspended by a cord from the
-roof of the diligence would have given less annoyance to my unfortunate
-companions than my poor nodding head gave as it bobbed on all sides as
-if it was attached to my neck by a single tendon. On one side of me sat
-a nun, on the other a boy, and opposite a peasant-woman, and throughout
-the entire journey I did nothing but strike my head against these three
-victims with the monotonous motion of a bell-clapper. The nun, poor
-creature! endured the strokes in silence, perhaps in expiation for her
-sins of thought; but the boy and peasant-woman muttered from time to
-time, "He is a barbarian!"--"This must stop!"--"His head is like lead!"
-Finally, a witticism from one of the passengers released all four of us
-from this suffering. The peasant-woman was lamenting a little louder
-than usual, and a voice from the end of the diligence exclaimed, "Be
-consoled; if your head is not yet broken, you may be sure it will
-not be, for it must certainly be proof against the hammer." They
-all laughed; I awakened, excused myself, and the three victims were
-so happy to find themselves released from that cruel thumping that,
-instead of taking revenge with bitter words, they said, "Poor fellow!
-you have slept badly. How you must have hurt your head!"
-
-We finally arrived at the railway, and behold what a perverse fate!
-Although I was alone in the railway-carriage, where I might have slept
-like a nabob, I could not close my eyes. A pang went through my heart
-at the thought of having made the journey by night when I could not see
-anything nor enjoy the distant view of Granada. And I remembered the
-lovely verses of Martinez de la Rosa:
-
-"O my dear fatherland! At last I see thee again! I see thy fair soil,
-thy joyful teeming fields, thy glorious sun, thy serene sky!
-
-"Yes! I see the fabled Granada stretching along the plain from hill to
-hill, her towers rising among her gardens of eternal green, the crystal
-streams kissing her walls, the noble mountains enclosing her valleys,
-and the Sierra Nevada crowning the distant horizon.
-
-"Oh, thy memory haunted me wherever I went, Granada! It destroyed my
-pleasures, my peace, and my glory, and oppressed my heart and soul! By
-the icy banks of the Seine and the Thames I remembered with a sigh the
-happy waters of the Darro and the Genil, and many times, as I carolled
-a gay ballad, my bitter grief overcame me, and weeping, not to be
-repressed, choked my voice.
-
-"In vain the delightful Arno displayed her flower-strewn banks, sweet
-seats of love and peace! 'The plain watered by the gentle Genil,' said
-I, 'is more flowery, the life of the lovely Granada is more dear.' And
-I murmured these words as one disconsolate, and, remembering the house
-of my fathers, I raised my sad eyes to heaven.
-
-"What is thy magic, what thy unspeakable spell, O fatherland! O sweet
-name! that thou art so dear? The swarthy African, far from his native
-desert, looks with sad disdain on fields of green; the rude Laplander,
-stolen from his mother-earth, sighs for perpetual night and snow; and
-I--I, to whom a kindly fate granted birth and nurture in thy bosom
-blest by so many gifts of God--though far from thee, could I forget
-thee, Granada?"
-
-When I reached Granada it was quite dark, and I could not see so much
-as the outlines of a house. A diligence drawn by two horses,
-
- "... anzi due cavallette
- Di quella de Mosé lá dell' Egitto,"
-
-landed me at a hotel, where I was kept waiting an hour while my bed was
-being made, and finally, just before three o'clock in the morning, I
-was at last able to lay my head on the pillow. But my troubles were not
-over: just as I was falling into a doze I heard an indistinct murmur in
-the next room, and then a masculine voice which said distinctly, "Oh,
-what a little foot!" You who have bowels of compassion, pity me. The
-pillow was torn a little; I pulled out two tufts of wool, stuffed them
-in my ears; and, rehearsing in thought the misfortunes of my journey, I
-slept the sleep of the just.
-
-In the morning I went out betimes and walked about through the streets
-of Granada until it was a decent hour to go and drag from his home
-a young gentleman of Granada whom I had met at Madrid at the house
-of Fernandez Guerra, Gongora by name, the son of a distinguished
-archeologist and a descendant of the famous Cordovan poet Luigi
-Gongora, of whom I spoke in passing. That part of the city which I
-saw in those few hours did not fulfil my expectation. I had expected
-to find narrow mysterious streets and white cottages like those of
-Cordova and Seville, but I found instead spacious squares and some
-handsome straight streets, and others tortuous and narrow enough, it is
-true, but flanked by high houses, for the most part painted in false
-bas-reliefs with cupids and garlands and flourishes and draperies, and
-hangings of a thousand colors, without the Oriental appearance of the
-other Andalusian cities.
-
-The lowest part of Granada is almost all laid out with the regularity
-of a modern city. As I passed along those streets I was filled with
-contempt, and should certainly have carried a gloomy face to Señor
-Gongora if by chance as I walked at random I had not come out into
-the famous _Alameda_, which enjoys the reputation of being the most
-beautiful promenade in the world, and it repaid me a thousand times for
-the detestable regularity of the streets which lead to it.
-
-Imagine a long avenue of unusual width, along which fifty carriages
-might pass abreast, flanked by other smaller avenues, along which run
-rows of measureless trees, which at a noble height form an immense
-green arch, so dense that not a sunbeam can penetrate it, and at the
-two ends of the central avenue two monumental fountains throwing up
-the water in two great streams which fall again in the finest vaporous
-spray, and between the many avenues crystal streams, and in the middle
-a garden all roses and myrtle and jessamine and delicate fountains; and
-on one side the river Genil, which flows between banks covered with
-laurel-groves, and in the distance the snowclad mountains, upon whose
-sides distant palms raise their fantastic fronds; and everywhere a
-brilliant green, dense and luxuriant, through which one sees here and
-there an enchanting strip of azure sky.
-
-As I turned off of the Alameda I met a great number of peasants
-going out of the city, two by two and in groups, with their wives and
-children, singing and jesting. Their dress did not seem to me different
-from that of the peasants in the neighborhood of Cordova and Seville.
-They wore velvet hats, some with very broad brims, others with high
-brims curved back; a little jacket made with bands of many-colored
-cloth; a scarf of red or blue; closely-fitting trousers buttoned along
-the hip; and a pair of leathern gaiters open at the side, so as to show
-the leg. The women were dressed like those in the other provinces, and
-even in their faces there was no noticeable difference.
-
-I reached my friend's house and found him buried in his archæological
-studies, sitting in front of a heap of old medals and historic stones.
-He received me with delight, with a charming Andalusian courtesy, and,
-after exchanging the first greetings, we both pronounced with one voice
-that magic word that in every part of the world stirs a tumult of great
-recollections in every heart and arouses a sense of secret longing;
-that gives a final spur toward Spain to one who has the desire to
-travel thither and has not yet finally resolved to start; that name at
-which hearts of poets and painters beat faster and the eyes of women
-flash--"The Alhambra!"
-
-We rushed out of the house.
-
- * * * * *
-
-The Alhambra is situated upon a high hill which overlooks the city,
-and from a distance presents the appearance of a fortress, like almost
-all Oriental palaces. But when, with Gongora, I climbed the street of
-_Los Gomeles_ on our way toward the famous edifice, I had not yet seen
-the least trace of a distant wall, and I did not know in what part of
-the city we should find it. The street of _Los Gomeles_ slopes upward
-and describes a slight curve, so that for a good way one sees only
-houses ahead, and supposes the Alhambra to be far away. Gongora did not
-speak, but I read in his face that in his heart he was greatly enjoying
-the thought of the surprise and delight that I should experience. He
-looked at the ground with a smile, answering all my questions with a
-sign which seemed to say, "Wait a minute!" and now and then raised
-his eyes almost furtively to measure the remaining distance. And I so
-enjoyed his pleasure that I could have thrown my arms around his neck
-in gratitude.
-
-We arrived before a great gate that closed the street. "Here we are!"
-said Gongora. I entered.
-
-I found myself in a great grove of enormously high trees, leaning one
-toward another, on this side and on that, along a great avenue which
-climbs the hill and is lost in the shade: so close are the trees that
-a man could scarcely pass among them, and wherever one looks one sees
-only their trunks, which close the way like a continuous wall. The
-branches meet above the avenues; not a sunbeam penetrates the wood; the
-shade is very dense; on every side glide murmuring streams, and the
-birds sing, and one feels a vernal freshness in the air.
-
-"We are now in the Alhambra," said Gongora: "turn around, and you will
-see the towers and the embattled barrier-wall."
-
-"But where is the palace?" I demanded.
-
-"That is a mystery," he answered; "let us go forward at random."
-
-We climbed an avenue running along beside the great central avenue that
-winds up toward the summit. The trees form overhead a green pavilion
-through which not a particle of sky is visible, and the grass, the
-shrubbery, and the flowers make on either side a lovely border, bright
-and fragrant, sloping slightly toward each other, as if they are trying
-to unite, mutually attracted by the beauty of their colors and the
-fragrance of their perfume.
-
-"Let us rest a moment," I said: "I want to take a great breath of this
-air; it seems to contain some secret germs that if infused into the
-blood must prolong one's life; it is air redolent of youth and health."
-
-"Behold the door!" exclaimed Gongora.
-
-I turned as if I had been struck in the back, and saw a few steps ahead
-a great square tower, of a deep-red color, crowned with battlements,
-with an arched door, above which one sees a key and a hand cut in the
-stone.
-
-I questioned my guide, and he told me that this was the principal
-entrance of the Alhambra, and that it was called the Gate of Justice,
-because the Moorish kings used to pronounce sentence beneath that arch.
-The key signifies that this door is the key to the fortress, and the
-hand symbolizes the five cardinal virtues of Islam--Prayer, Fasting,
-Beneficence, Holy War, and the Pilgrimage to Mecca. The Arabian
-inscription attests that the edifice was erected four centuries ago
-by the Sultan Abul Hagag Yusuf, and another inscription, which one
-sees everywhere on the columns, says, "There is no God but Allah, and
-Mohammed is his Prophet! and there is no power, no strength, apart from
-Allah!"
-
-We passed under the arch and continued the ascent along an enclosed
-street until we found ourselves at the top of the hill, in the middle
-of an esplanade surrounded by a parapet and dotted with shrubs and
-flowers. I turned at once toward the valley to enjoy the view,
-but Gongora seized me by the arm and made me look in the opposite
-direction. I was standing in front of the great palace of the
-Renaissance, partly in ruins and flanked by some wretched little houses.
-
-"Is this a joke?" I demanded. "Have you brought me here to see a
-Moorish castle, for me to find the way closed by a modern palace?
-Whose abominable idea was it to run up this building in the gardens of
-the caliphs?"
-
-"Charles V.'s."
-
-"He was a vandal. I have not yet forgiven him for the Gothic church he
-planted in the middle of the mosque of Cordova, and now these barracks
-fill me with utter loathing of his crown and his glory. But, in the
-name of Heaven, where is the Alhambra?"
-
-"There it is."
-
-"Where?"
-
-"Among those huts."
-
-"Oh, fudge!"
-
-"I pledge you my word of honor."
-
-I folded my arms and looked at him, and he laughed."
-
-"Well, then," I exclaimed, "this great name of the Alhambra is only
-another of those usual false exaggerations of the poets. I, Europe, and
-the world have been shamefully deceived. Was it worth while to dream of
-the Alhambra for three hundred and sixty-five nights in succession, and
-then to come to see a group of ruins with some broken columns and smoky
-inscriptions?"
-
-"How I enjoy this!" answered Gongora with a peal of laughter. "Cheer up
-now; come and be persuaded that the world has not been deceived: let us
-enter this rubbish-pile."
-
-We entered by a little door, crossed a corridor, and found ourselves
-in a court. With a sudden cry I seized Gongora's hand, and he asked
-with a tone of triumph,
-
-"Are you persuaded?"
-
-I did not answer, I did not see him: I was already far away; the
-Alhambra had already begun to exercise upon me that mysterious and
-powerful fascination which no one can avoid nor any one express.
-
-We were in the _Patio de los Arrayanes_, the Court of the Myrtles,
-which is the largest in the edifice, and presents at once the
-appearance of a room, a courtyard, and a garden. A great rectangular
-basin full of water, surrounded by a myrtle hedge, extends from one
-side of the _patio_ to the other, and like a mirror reflects the
-arches, arabesques, and the mural inscriptions.
-
-To the right of the entrance there extend two orders of Moorish
-arches, one above the other, supported by slender columns, and on the
-opposite side of the court rises a tower with a door through which
-one sees the inner rooms in semi-darkness and the mullioned windows,
-and through the windows the blue sky and the summits of the distant
-mountains. The walls are ornamented to a certain height from the
-pavement with brilliant mosaics, and above the mosaics with arabesques
-of very intricate design that seem to tremble and change at every step,
-and here and there among the arabesques and along the arches they
-stretch and creep and intertwine, like garlands, Moorish inscriptions
-containing greetings, proverbs, and legends.
-
-[Illustration: _Court of Myrtles, Alhambra_]
-
-Beside the door of entrance is written in Cufic characters: Eternal
-Happiness!--Blessing!--Prosperity!--Felicity!--Praised be God for the
-blessing of Islam!
-
-In another place it is written: I seek my refuge in the Lord of the
-Morning.
-
-In another place: O God! to thee belong eternal thanksgiving and
-undying praise.
-
-Elsewhere there are verses from the Koran and entire poems in praise of
-the caliphs.
-
-We stood some minutes in silent admiration; not the buzz of a fly was
-heard; now and then Gongora started toward the tower, but I clutched
-him by the arm and felt that he was trembling with impatience.
-
-"But we must make haste," said he, finally, "or else we shall not get
-back to Granada before evening."
-
-"What do I know of Granada?" I answered; "what do I know of morning or
-evening or of myself? I am in the Orient!"
-
-"But this is only the antechamber of the Alhambra, my dear Arabian,"
-said Gongora, urging me forward. "Come, come with me where it will
-really seem like being in the Orient."
-
-And he led me, reluctant though I was, to the very threshold of the
-tower-door. There I turned to look once more at the Court of Myrtles
-and gave a cry of surprise. Between two slender columns of the arched
-gallery which faces the tower, on the opposite side of the courtyard,
-stood a girl, a beautiful dark Andalusian face, with a white mantle
-wound around her head and falling over her shoulder: she stood leaning
-upon the railing in a languid attitude, with her eyes fixed upon us.
-I cannot tell the fantastic effect produced by that figure at that
-moment--the grace imparted by the arch which curved above the girl's
-head and the two columns which formed a frame around her, and the
-beautiful harmony which she gave to the whole court, as if she were
-an ornament necessary to its architecture conceived in the mind of
-the architect at the moment he imagined the whole design. She seemed
-like a sultana awaiting her lord, thinking of another sky and another
-love. She continued looking at us, and my heart began to beat faster. I
-questioned my friend with my eyes, as if to be assured that I was not
-deceived. Suddenly the sultana laughed, dropped her white mantle, and
-disappeared.
-
-"She is a servant," said Gongora.
-
-Still I remained in the mist.
-
-She was, in fact, a servant of the custodian of the Alhambra who was in
-the habit of practising that joke upon strangers.
-
-We entered the tower called the Tower of Comares, or, vulgarly, the
-Tower of the Ambassadors. The interior forms two halls, the first of
-which is called the Hall of the Barca, and takes its name either from
-the fact that it is shaped like a boat or because it was called by the
-Moors the Hall of _Baraka_, or Blessing, a word which might have been
-contracted by the people into _barca_ (a boat.) This hall hardly seems
-the work of human hands: it is all a vast network of tracery in the
-form of garlands, rosettes, boughs of trees, and leaves, covering the
-vaulted ceiling, the arches, and the walls in every part and in every
-way--closely twining, checkered, climbing higher and higher, and yet
-marvellously distinct and combined in such a manner that the parts
-are presented to the eye altogether at a single glance, affording a
-spectacle of dazzling magnificence and enchanting grace. I approached
-one of the walls, fixed my eyes upon the extreme point of an arabesque,
-and tried to follow its windings and turnings: it was impossible; my
-eye was lost, my mind confused, and all the arabesques from pavement
-to ceiling seemed to be moving and blending, as if to conceal the
-thread of their inextricable network. You may make an effort not to
-look around, to centre your whole attention upon a single spot of the
-wall, to scan it closely and follow the thread with your finger: it
-is futile; in a moment the tracery is a tangled skein, a veil steals
-between you and the wall, and your arm falls. The wall seems woven
-like a web, wrought like brocade, netted like lace, and veined like a
-leaf; one cannot look at it closely nor fix its design in one's mind:
-it would be like trying to count the ants in an anthill: one must be
-content to look at the walls with a wandering glance, then to rest and
-look again later, and then to think of something else and talk. After I
-had looked around a little with the air of a man overcome with vertigo
-rather than admiration, I turned toward Gongora, so that he might read
-in my face what I would have spoken.
-
-"Let us enter the other pile of ruins," he answered with a smile as he
-drew me into the great Hall of the Ambassadors, which fills all the
-interior of the tower, for, really, the Hall of the _Barca_ belongs to
-a little building which does not form a part of the tower, although it
-is joined to it. The tower is square in form, spacious, and lighted
-with nine great arched windows in the form of doors, which present
-almost the appearance of so many alcoves, so great is the thickness of
-the wall; each one is divided down the middle toward the outside by a
-little marble column that supports two beautiful arches surmounted in
-their turn by two little arched windows. The walls are covered with
-mosaics and arabesques indescribably delicate and multiform, and with
-innumerable inscriptions extending like wide embroidered ribbons over
-the arches of the windows, up the massive cornices, along the friezes,
-and around the niches where once stood vases full of flowers and
-perfumed water. The ceiling, which rises to a great height, is inlaid
-with cedar-wood, white, gold, and azure, joined together in circles,
-stars, and crowns, and forming many little arches, cells, and vaulted
-windows, through which falls a wavering light, and from the cornice
-which joins the ceiling to the walls hang tablets of stucco-work cut in
-facets chiselled and moulded like stalactites and bunches of flowers.
-The throne stood at the central window on the side opposite the door of
-entrance. From the windows on that side one enjoys a stupendous view
-of the valley of the Darro, deep and silent, as if it too felt the
-fascination of the Alhambra's grandeur; from the windows on the other
-two sides one sees the boundary-wall and the towers of the fortress;
-and through the entrance the light arches of the Court of the Myrtles
-in the distance and the water of the basin, which reflects the blue of
-the sky.
-
-"Well!" Gongora demanded; "was it worth dreaming of the Alhambra for
-three hundred and sixty-five nights?"
-
-"There is a strange thought passing through my brain at this moment," I
-replied. "That court as it looks from here, that hall, those windows,
-those colors, everything that surrounds me, seems familiar; it seems to
-correspond with a picture which I have carried in my head I know not
-how long and I know not in what manner, confused with a thousand other
-things, perhaps born of a dream--how should I know? When I was sixteen
-years old I was a lover, and the young girl and I alone in a garden in
-the shade of a summer-house, as we gazed in each other's eyes, uttered
-unconsciously a cry of joy that stirred our blood as if it had come
-from the mouth of a third person who had discovered our secret. Well,
-since that time I have often longed to be a king and to have a palace;
-but in giving form to that desire my imagination did not rest merely in
-the grand gilded palaces of our country; it flew to distant lands, and
-there on the summit of a lofty mountain reared a castle of its own in
-which everything was small and graceful and illumined by a mysterious
-light; and there were long suites of rooms adorned with a thousand
-fanciful and delicate ornaments, with windows through which we two
-alone might look, and little columns behind which my little one might
-almost hide her face playfully as she listened to my step approaching
-from hall to hall, or heard my voice mingled with the murmur of the
-fountains in the garden. All unconsciously, in building that castle
-in fantasy, I was building the Alhambra; in those moments I imagined
-something like these halls, these windows, and this court that we see
-before us--so similar, indeed, that the more I look around the better
-I remember and seem to recognize the place just as I have seen it a
-thousand times. All lovers dream a little of the Alhambra, and
-if they were able to reproduce all their dreams in line and color,
-they would make pictures that would amaze us by their likeness to all
-one sees here. This architecture does not express power, glory, and
-grandeur; it expresses love and passion--love with its mysteries, its
-caprices, its fervor, its bursts of God-given gratitude; passion with
-its melancholy and its silences. There is, then, a close connection, a
-harmony, between the beauty of this Alhambra and the souls of those who
-have loved at sixteen, when longings are but dreams and visions. And
-hence arises the indescribable fascination exercised by this beauty,
-and hence the Alhambra, although deserted and ruined as it is, is
-still the most enchanting castle in the world, and to the end of time
-visitors will leave it with a tear. For in parting with the Alhambra
-we bid a last adieu to the most beautiful dreams of youth revived
-among these walls for the last time. We bid adieu to faces unspeakably
-dear that have broken the oblivion of many years to stand beside us a
-last time by the little columns of these windows. We bid adieu to all
-the fancies of youth. We bid adieu to that love which will never live
-again."
-
-[Illustration: _Fountain in the Court of Lions, Alhambra_]
-
-"It is true," answered my friend, "but what will you say when you have
-seen the Court of the Lions? Come, let us hurry."
-
-We left the tower with hasty steps, crossed the Court of Myrtles, and
-came to a little door opposite the door of entrance.
-
-"Stop!" cried Gongora.
-
-I stopped.
-
-"Do me a favor?"
-
-"A hundred."
-
-"Only one: shut your eyes and don't open them until I tell you."
-
-"Well, they are shut."
-
-"See that you keep them so; I sha'n't like it if you open them."
-
-"Never fear."
-
-Gongora took me by the hand and led me forward: I trembled like a leaf.
-
-We took about fifteen steps and stopped.
-
-"Look!" said Gongora in an agitated voice.
-
-I looked, and I swear by the head of my reader I felt two tears
-trickling down my cheeks.
-
-We were in the Court of the Lions.
-
-If at that moment I had been obliged to go out as I had come in, I
-could not have told what I had seen. A forest of columns, a vision of
-arches and tracery, an indefinable elegance, an unimaginable delicacy,
-prodigious wealth; an irrepressible sense of airiness, transparency,
-and wavy motion like a great pavilion of lace; an appearance as of
-an edifice which must dissolve at a breath; a variety of lights and
-mysterious shadows; a confusion, a capricious disorder, of little
-things; the grandeur of a castle, the gayety of a summer-house; an
-harmonious grace, an extravagance, a delight; the fancy of an enamored
-girl, the dream of an angel; a madness, a nameless something,--such is
-the first effect of the Court of the Lions.
-
-The court is not larger than a great ball-room; it is rectangular in
-form, with walls no higher than a two-storied Andalusian cottage.
-A light portico runs all around, supported by very slender white
-marble columns grouped in symmetrical disorder, two by two and three
-by three, almost without pedestals, so that they are like the trunks
-of trees standing on the ground: they have varied capitals, high and
-graceful, in the form of little pilasters, above which bend little
-arches of very graceful form, which do not seem to rest upon the
-columns, but rather to be suspended over them like curtains upholding
-the columns themselves and resembling ribbons and twining garlands.
-From the middle of the two shortest sides advance two groups of
-columns forming two little square temples of nine arches in the form
-of stalactites, fringes, pendants, and tassels that seem as though
-they ought to swing and become tangled with the slightest breeze.
-Large Arabian inscriptions run along the four walls, over the arches,
-around the capitals, and along the walls of the little temple. In the
-middle of the court rises a great marble basin supported by twelve
-lions and surrounded by a paved channel, from which flow four other
-smaller channels that make a cross between the four sides of the
-court, cross the portico, enter the adjoining rooms, and join the
-other water-courses which surround the entire edifice. Behind the two
-two little temples and in the middle of the other two sides there
-appear halls and suites of rooms with great open doors, through which
-one can see the dark background broken by the white columns, gleaming
-as if they stood at the mouth of a grotto. At every step the forest
-of columns seems to move and rearrange itself in a new way; behind
-a column that is apparently single spring up two, three, a row of
-columns; some fade away, others unite, and still others separate:
-on looking back from the end of one of the halls everything appears
-different; the arches on the opposite side seem very far away; the
-columns appear out of place; the little temples have changed their
-form; one sees new arches rising beyond the walls, and new columns
-gleaming here in the sunlight, there in the shadow, yonder scarcely
-visible by the dim light which sifts through the tracery of the stucco,
-and the farthest lost in the darkness. There is a constant variety of
-scene, distance, deceptive effects, mysteries, and playful tricks of
-the eye, produced by the architecture, the sun, and one's heightened
-imagination.
-
-"What must this _patio_ have been," said Gongora, "when the inner
-walls of the portico were resplendent with mosaics, the capitals of
-the columns flashed with gold, the ceilings and vaults were painted
-in a thousand colors, the doors hung with silken curtains, the niches
-full of flowers, and under the little temples and through the halls ran
-streams of perfumed water, and from the nostrils of the lions spurted
-twelve jets which fell into the basin, and the air was heavy with the
-most delicious perfumes of Arabia!"
-
-We remained in the court over an hour, and the time passed like a
-flash; and I too did what all have done in that place--Spaniards and
-foreigners alike, men and women, poets and those who are not poets. I
-ran my hand along the walls, touched all the little columns, clasped
-them one by one with my two hands like the waist of a child, hid among
-them, counted them, looked at them from a hundred directions, crossed
-the court in a hundred ways; tried if it were true that by speaking a
-word in a deep voice in the mouth of one of the lions you could hear
-it distinctly from the mouths of all the others; searched along the
-marbles for the blood-spots of the romantic legends, and wearied my
-eyes and brain in following the arabesques. There were a number of
-ladies present. In the Court of the Lions ladies show every sort of
-childish delight: they look out between two twin columns, hide in the
-dark corners, sit on the floor, and stand for hours motionless, resting
-their heads upon their hands, dreaming. These ladies did likewise.
-There was one dressed in white who, as she passed behind the distant
-columns, when she thought no one saw her assumed a certain majestic
-air, like a melancholy sultana, and then laughed with one of her
-friends: it was enchanting.
-
-"Let us go," said my friend.
-
-"Let us go," I replied, and could not move a step. I was experiencing
-not only a delightful sense of surprise, but I was trembling with
-pleasure, and was filled with a longing to touch, to probe, and in some
-way to see behind those walls and those columns, as if they were made
-of some secret material and ought to disclose in their inmost part the
-first cause of the fascination which the place exerts. In all my life I
-have never thought or said, or shall ever say, so many fond words, so
-many foolish expressions, so many pretty, happy, senseless things, as I
-thought and said at that hour.
-
-"But one must come here at sunrise," said Gongora, "one must come at
-sunset, or at night when the moon is full, to see the miracles of
-color, light, and shade. It is enough to make one lose one's head."
-
-We went to see the halls. On the eastern side is the Hall of Justice,
-which is reached by passing under three great arches, each of which
-corresponds with a door opening into the court. It is a long, narrow
-hall, with intricate arabesques and precious mosaics, and its vaulted
-ceiling all points and hollows and clusters of stucco that hang down
-from the arches and run along the walls, clustered together here and
-there, drooping, growing one out of the other, crowding and overtopping
-each other, so that they seem to dispute the space like the bubbles
-in boiling water, and still presenting in many parts traces of old
-colors that must have given the ceiling the appearance of a pavilion
-covered with flowers and hanging fruit. The hall has three little
-alcoves, in each of which one may see a Moorish painting, to which time
-and the extreme rarity of works remaining from the brush of Moorish
-artists have given a very high value. The paintings are on leather,
-and the leather is fastened to the wall. In the central alcove there
-are painted on a golden ground ten men, supposed to be ten kings of
-Granada, clothed in white, with cowls on their heads and scimitars in
-their hands, sitting on embroidered cushions. The paintings in the
-other two alcoves represent castles, ladies and cavaliers, hunting
-scenes, and love episodes whose significance it is difficult to
-understand. But the faces of the ten kings are marvellously true to
-the picture one has formed of their race: there is the dark olive
-complexion, the sensuous lips, the black eyes, with an intense
-mysterious glance that seems always to be shining in the dark corners
-of the halls of the Alhambra.
-
-On the north side of the court there is another hall, called the
-hall _De las dos Hermanas_ (of the two sisters), so called from two
-great marble slabs which form the pavement. It is the most beautiful
-hall in the Alhambra--a little square arched room, with one of those
-ceilings in the form of a cupola which the Spaniards call half oranges,
-supported by slender columns and arches arranged in a circle, all
-adorned, like a grotto full of stalactites, with an infinite number
-of points and hollows, colored and gilded, and so light to the view
-that it seems as if they are suspended in the air, and would tremble
-at a touch like a curtain or separate like a cloud or disappear like
-a cluster of soap-bubbles. The walls, like those of all the other
-halls, are bedecked with stucco and carved with arabesques incredibly
-intricate and delicate, forming one of the most marvellous works of
-human patience and imagination. The more one looks, the more numberless
-become the lines which blend and cross, and from one figure springs
-another, and from that a third, and all three produce a fourth that
-has escaped the eye, and this divides suddenly into ten other figures
-that have passed unnoticed, and then they mingle again and are again
-transformed; and one never ceases to discover new combinations, for
-when the first reappear they are already forgotten, and produce the
-same effect as at the beginning. One would lose sight and reason in
-trying to comprehend that labyrinth: it would require an hour to
-study the outlines of a window, the ornaments of a pilaster, and the
-arabesques of a frieze; an hour would not be sufficient to fix upon
-the mind the design of one of the stupendous cedar doors. On either
-side of the hall there are two little alcoves, and in the centre a
-little basin with a pipe for a fountain that empties into the channel
-that crosses the portico and flows to the Fountain of the Lions.
-
-Directly opposite the entrance there is another door, through which one
-passes into another long, narrow room called the Hall of the Oranges.
-And from this hall, through a third door, one enters a little chamber
-called the Cabinet of Lindaraja, very richly ornamented, at the end of
-which there is a graceful window with two arches overlooking a garden.
-
-To enjoy all the beauty of this magical architecture one must leave the
-Hall of the Two Sisters, cross the Court of the Lions, and enter a room
-called the Hall of the Abencerrages, which lies on the southern side,
-opposite the Hall of the Two Sisters, to which it is very similar in
-form and ornamentation. From the end of this hall one looks across the
-Court of the Lions through the Hall of the Two Sisters into the Hall
-of the Oranges and even into the Cabinet of Lindaraja and the garden
-beyond, where a mass of verdure appears under the arches of that jewel
-of a window. The two sides of this window, so diminutive and full of
-light when seen in the distance from the end of that suite of darkened
-rooms, look like two great open eyes, that look at you and make
-you imagine that beyond them must lie the unfathomable mysteries of
-paradise.
-
-After seeing the Hall of the Abencerrages we went to see the baths,
-which are situated between the Hall of the Two Sisters and the Court
-of the Myrtles. We descended a flight of stairs, passed a long narrow
-corridor, and came out into a splendid hall called the hall _De las
-Divans_, where the favorites of the king came to rest on their Persian
-rugs to the sound of the lyre after they had bathed in the adjoining
-rooms. This hall was reconstructed on the plans of the ancient ruins,
-and adorned with arabesques, gilded and painted, by Spanish artists
-after the ancient patterns; consequently one may consider it a room of
-the Moorish period remaining intact in every part. In the middle is a
-fountain, and in the opposite walls are two alcoves where the women
-reposed on divans, and overhead the galleries where the musicians
-played. The walls are laced, dotted, checkered, and mottled with a
-thousand brilliant hues, presenting the appearance of a tapestry of
-Chinese stuff shot with golden threads, with an endless interweaving of
-figures that must have maddened the most patient mosaic-worker on earth.
-
-Nevertheless, a painter was at work in the hall. He was a German who
-had worked for three months in copying the walls. Gongora knew him, and
-asked, "It is wearisome work, is it not?"
-
-And he answered with a smile, "I don't find it so," and bent again over
-his picture.
-
-I looked at him as if he had been a creature from another world.
-
-We entered the little bathing-chambers, vaulted and lighted from above
-by some star-and flower-shaped apertures in the wall. The bathing-tubs
-are very large, single blocks of marble enclosed between two walls. The
-corridors which lead from one room to the other are low and narrow,
-so that a man can scarcely pass through them; they are delightfully
-cool. As I stood looking into one of these little rooms I was suddenly
-impressed with a sad thought.
-
-"What makes you sad?" asked my friend.
-
-"I was thinking," I replied, "of how we live, summer and winter, in
-houses like barracks, in rooms on the third floor, which are either
-dark or else flooded with a torrent of light, without marble, without
-water, without flowers, without columns; I was thinking that we
-must live so all our lives and die between those walls without once
-experiencing the delights of these charmed palaces; I was thinking that
-even in this wretched earthly life one may enjoy vastly, and that I
-shall not share this enjoyment at all; I was thinking that I might have
-been born four centuries ago a king of Granada, and that I was born
-instead a poor man."
-
-My friend laughed, and, taking my arm between his thumb and finger, as
-if to give me a pinch, he said, "Don't think of that. Think of how much
-beauty, grace, and mystery these tubs must have seen; of the little
-feet that have played in their perfumed waters; of the long hair which
-has fallen over their rims; of the great languid eyes that have looked
-at the sky through the openings in the vaulted ceiling, while beneath
-the arches of the Court of the Lions sounded the hastening step of
-an impatient caliph, and the hundred fountains of the castle sighed
-with a quickening murmur, 'Come! come! come!' and in a perfumed hall
-a trembling slave reverently closed the windows with the rose-colored
-curtains."
-
-"Ah! leave my soul in peace!" I replied, shrugging my shoulders.
-
-We crossed the garden of the Cabinet of Lindaraja and a mysterious
-court called the _Patio de la Reja_, and by a long gallery that
-commands a view of the country reached the top of one of the farthest
-towers of the Alhambra, called the _Mirador de la Reina_ (the Queen's
-toilet), shaded by a little pavilion and open all round, hanging over
-an abyss like an eagle's nest. The view one enjoys from this point--one
-may say it without fear of contradiction--has not its equal on the face
-of the earth.
-
-[Illustration: _Queen's Boudoir, Alhambra_]
-
-Imagine an immense plain, green as a meadow, covered with young grass,
-crossed in all directions by endless rows of cypresses, pines, oaks,
-and poplars, dotted with dense orange-groves that in the distance look
-no larger than shrubs, and with great orchards and gardens so crowded
-with fruit trees that they look like green hillocks; and the river
-Xenil winding through this immense plain, gleaming among the groves
-and gardens like a great silver ribbon; and all around wooded hills,
-and beyond the hills lofty rocks of fantastic form, which complete the
-picture of a barrier-wall with gigantic towers separating that earthly
-paradise from the world; and there, just beneath one's eyes, the city
-of Granada, partly extending to the plain and partly on the slope of
-the hill, all interspersed with groups of trees, shapeless masses of
-verdure which rise and wave above the roofs of the houses like enormous
-plumes, until it seems as if they were striving to expand and unite
-and cover the entire city; and still nearer the deep valley of the
-Darro more than covered--yes, filled to overflowing and almost heaped
-full--with its prodigious growth of vegetation, rising like a mountain,
-and above it there rises yet again a grove of gigantic poplars tossing
-their topmost boughs so close under the windows of the tower that one
-can almost touch them; and to the right beyond the Darro, on a high
-hill towering toward heaven, bold and rounded like a cupola, the palace
-of the Generalife, encircled by its aërial gardens and almost hidden
-in a grove of laurels, poplars, and pomegranates; and in the opposite
-direction a marvellous spectacle, a thing incredible, a vision of a
-dream--the Sierra Nevada, after the Alps, the highest mountain-range in
-Europe crowned with snow, white even to a few miles from the gates of
-Granada, white even to the hills on whose sides spread the pomegranates
-and palms, and where a vegetation almost tropical expands in all its
-splendid pomp.
-
-Imagine now over this vast paradise, containing all the smiling graces
-of the Orient and all the severe beauties of the North, wedding Europe
-to Africa, and bringing to the nuptials all the choicest marvels of
-nature, and exhaling to heaven all the perfumes of the earth blended
-in one breath,--imagine above this happy valley the sky and sun of
-Andalusia, rolling on to its setting and tinting the peaks with a
-divine rose-color, and painting the mountain-sides of the Sierra
-with all the colors of the rainbow, and clothing them with all the
-reflections of the most limpid azure pearls, its rays breaking in a
-thousand mists of gold, purple, and gray upon the rocks encircling
-the plain, and, as it sinks in a flame of fire, casting like a last
-good-night a luminous crown about the gloomy towers of the Alhambra and
-the flower-crowned pinnacles of the Generalife, and tell me if this
-world can give anything more solemn, more glorious, more intoxicating
-than this love-feast of the earth and sky, before which for nine
-centuries Granada has trembled with delight and throbbed with pride?
-
-The roof of the _Mirador de la Reina_ is supported by little Moorish
-columns, between which extend flattened arches which give the pavilion
-an extremely fanciful and graceful appearance. The walls are frescoed,
-and one may see along the friezes the initials of Isabella and Philip
-interwoven with cupids and flowers. Close by the door there still
-remains a stone of the ancient pavement, all perforated, upon which
-it is said the sultanas sat to be enveloped in the clouds of perfumed
-vapor which arose from below.
-
-Everything in this place tells of love and happiness. There one
-breathes an air as pure as that on a mountain-peak, there one perceives
-a mingled fragrance of myrtles and roses, and no other sound reaches
-the ear save the murmur of the Darro as it dashes among the rocks of
-its stony bed, and the singing of a thousand birds hidden in the dense
-foliage of the valley; it is truly a nest of loves, a hanging alcove
-where to go and dream of an aërial balcony to which one might climb and
-thank God for being happy.
-
-"Ah, Gongora," I exclaimed after contemplating for some moments that
-enchanting spectacle, "I would give years of my life to be able to
-summon here, with a stroke of a magic wand, all the dear ones who are
-looking for me in Italy."
-
-Gongora pointed out a large space on the wall, all black with dates and
-names of visitors to the Alhambra, written with crayon and charcoal and
-cut with knives.
-
-"What is this written here?" he demanded.
-
-I approached and uttered a cry: "Chateaubriand!"
-
-"And here?"
-
-"Byron!"
-
-"And here?"
-
-"Victor Hugo!"
-
-After descending from the _Mirador de la Reina_ I thought I had seen
-the Alhambra, and was so imprudent as to tell my friend so. If he had
-had a stick in his hand, I verily believe he would have struck me; but,
-as he had not, he contented himself by regarding me with the air of one
-demanding whether or not I had lost my senses.
-
-We returned to the Court of the Myrtles and visited the rooms situated
-on the other side of the Tower of Comares, the greater part in ruins,
-the rest altered, some absolutely bare, without either pavement or
-roof, but all worth seeing, both in remembrance of what they had
-been and for the sake of understanding the plan of the edifice. The
-ancient mosque was converted into a chapel by Charles V., and a great
-Moorish hall was changed into an oratory; here and there one still
-sees the fragments of arabesques and carved ceilings of cedar-wood;
-the galleries, the courts, and the vestibules remind one of a palace
-dismantled by fire.
-
-After seeing that part of the Alhambra I really thought there was
-nothing else left to see, and a second time was imprudent enough to
-say so to Gongora: this time he could no longer contain himself, and,
-leading me into a vestibule of the Court of Myrtles and pointing to a
-map of the building hanging on the wall, he said, "Look, and you will
-see that all the rooms of the courts and the towers that we have so far
-visited do not occupy one-twentieth part of the space embraced within
-the walls of the Alhambra; you will see that we have not yet visited
-the remains of the three other mosques, the ruins of the House of Cadi,
-the water-tower, the tower of the Infantas, the tower of the Prisoner,
-the tower of Candil, the tower of the Picos, the tower of the Daggers,
-the tower of the _Siete Suelos_, the tower of the Captain, the tower of
-the Witch, the tower of the Heads, the tower of Arms, the tower of the
-Hidalgos, the tower of the Cocks, the tower of the Cube, the tower of
-Homage, the tower of Vela, the Powder Tower, the remains of the House
-of Mondejar, the military quarters, the iron gate, the inner walls, the
-cisterns, the promenades; for I would have you know that the Alhambra
-is not a palace: it is a city, and one could spend his life in studying
-its arabesques, reading its inscriptions, and every day discovering
-a new view of the hills and mountains, and going into ecstasies
-regularly once every twenty-four hours."
-
-And I thought I had seen the Alhambra!
-
-On that day I did not wish to learn anything more, and the dear
-knows how my head ached when I returned to the hotel. The day after,
-at the peep of dawn, I was back at the Alhambra, and again in the
-evening, and I continued to go there every day so long as I remained
-at Granada, with Gongora, with other friends, with guides, or alone;
-and the Alhambra always seemed vaster and more beautiful as I wandered
-through the courts and halls, and passed hour after hour sitting among
-the columns or gazing out of the windows with an ever-heightening
-pleasure, every time discovering new beauties, and ever abandoning
-myself to those vague and delightful fancies among which my mind had
-strayed on the first day. I cannot tell through which entrances my
-friends led me into the Alhambra, but I remember that every day on
-going there I saw walls and towers and deserted streets that I had not
-seen before, and the Alhambra seemed to me to have changed its site,
-to have been transformed, and surrounded as if by enchantment with new
-buildings that changed its original appearance. Who could describe
-the beauty of those sunset views; those fantastic groves flooded with
-moonlight; the immense plain and the snow-covered mountains on clear,
-serene nights; the imposing outlines of those enormous walls, superb
-towers, and those measureless trees under a starry sky; the prolonged
-rustling of those vast masses of verdure overflowing the valleys and
-climbing the hillsides? It was a spectacle before which my companions
-remained speechless, although they were born in Granada and accustomed
-from infancy to look upon these scenes. So we would walk along in
-silence, each buried in his own thoughts, with hearts oppressed by mild
-melancholy, and sometimes our eyes were wet with tears, and we raised
-our faces to heaven with a burst of gratitude and love.
-
-On the day of my arrival at Granada, when I entered the hotel at
-midnight, instead of finding silence and quiet, I found the _patio_
-illuminated like a ball-room, people sipping sherbet at the tables,
-coming and going along the galleries, laughing and talking, and I was
-obliged to wait an hour before going to sleep. But I passed that hour
-very pleasantly. While I stood looking at a map of Spain on the wall a
-great burly fellow, with a face as red as a beet and a great stomach
-extending nearly to his knees, approached me and, touching his cap,
-asked if I was an Italian. I replied that I was, and he continued with
-a smile, "And so am I; I am the proprietor of the hotel."
-
-"I am delighted to hear it, the more so because I see you are making
-money."
-
-"Great Heavens!" he replied in a tone which he wished to seem
-melancholy. "Yes, ... I cannot complain; but, ... believe me, my dear
-sir, however well things may go, when one is far from his native land
-one always feels a void here;" and he put his hand upon his enormous
-chest.
-
-I looked at his stomach.
-
-"A great void," repeated mine host; "one never forgets one's
-country.... From what province are you, sir?"
-
-"From Liguria. And you?"
-
-"From Piedmont. Liguria! Piedmont! Lombardy! They are countries!"
-
-"They are fine countries, there is no doubt of that, but, after all,
-you cannot complain of Spain. You are living in one of the most
-beautiful cities in the world, and are proprietor of one of the finest
-hotels in the city; you have a crowd of guests all the year round, and
-then I see you enjoy enviable health."
-
-"But the void?"
-
-I looked again at his stomach.
-
-"Oh, I see, sir; but you are deceived, you know, if you judge me by
-appearances. You cannot imagine what a pleasure it is when an Italian
-comes here. What you will? Weakness it may be.... I know not, ... but
-I should like to see him every day at table, and I believe that if my
-wife did not laugh at me I should send him a dozen dishes on my own
-account, as a foretaste."
-
-"At what hour do you dine to-morrow?"
-
-"At five. But, after all, ... one eats little here, ... hot country,
-... everybody lives lightly, ... whatever their nationality may be....
-That is the rule.... But you have not seen the other Italian who is
-here?"
-
-So saying, he turned around, and a man came forward from a corner of
-the court where he had been watching us. The proprietor, after a few
-words, left us alone. The stranger was a man of about forty, miserably
-dressed, who spoke through closed teeth, and kept continually clenching
-his hands with a convulsive motion as if he was making an effort to
-keep from using his fists. He told me he was a chorus-singer from
-Lombardy, and that he had arrived the day before at Granada with other
-artists booked to sing at the opera for the summer season.
-
-"A beastly country!" he exclaimed without any preamble, looking around
-as if he wished to make a speech.
-
-"Then you do not remain in Spain voluntarily?" I asked.
-
-"In Spain? I? Excuse me: it is just as if you had asked me whether I
-was staying voluntarily in a galley."
-
-"But why?"
-
-"Why? But can't you see what sort of people the Spaniards
-are--ignorant, superstitious, proud, bloodthirsty, impostors, thieves,
-charlatans, villains?"
-
-And he stood a moment motionless in a questioning attitude, with the
-veins of his neck so swollen that they seemed ready to burst.
-
-"Pardon me," I replied; "your judgment does not seem favorable enough
-to admit of my agreeing with you. When it comes to ignorance, excuse
-me, it will not do for us Italians, for us who still have cities where
-the schoolmasters are stoned and the professors are stabbed if they
-give a zero to their scholars,--it will not do for us, I say, to pick
-flaws in others. As for superstition, alas for us again! since we may
-still see in that city of Italy in which popular instruction is most
-widely diffused an unspeakable uproar over a miraculous image of the
-Madonna found by a poor ignorant woman in the middle of a street!
-As for crime, I frankly declare that if I were obliged to draw a
-comparison between the two countries before an audience of Spaniards,
-with the statistics now in hand, without first proving my data and
-conclusions, I should be very much alarmed.... I do not wish to say
-by this that we are not, on the whole, sailing in smoother water than
-is Spain. I wish to say that an Italian in judging the Spanish, if he
-would be just, must be indulgent."
-
-"Excuse me: I don't think so. A country without political direction!
-a country a prey to anarchy! a country--Come, now, cite me one great
-Spaniard of the present day."
-
-"I cannot, ... there are so few great men anywhere."
-
-"Cite me a Galileo."
-
-"Oh, there are no Galileos."
-
-"Cite me a Ratazzi."
-
-"Well, they have none."
-
-"Cite me ... But, really, they have nothing. And then, does the country
-seem beautiful to you?"
-
-"Ah! excuse me; that point I will not yield: Andalusia, to cite a
-single province, is a paradise; Seville, Cadiz, and Granada are
-splendid cities."
-
-"How? Do you like the houses of Seville and Cadiz, with walls that
-whiten a poor devil from head to foot whenever he happens to touch
-them? Do you like those streets along which one can hardly pass after
-a good dinner? And do you find the Andalusian women beautiful with
-their devilish eyes? Come, now, you are too indulgent. They are not a
-_serious_ people. They have summoned Don Amadeus, and now they don't
-want him. They are not worthy of being governed by a _civilized man_."
-(These were his actual words.)
-
-"Then you don't find any good in Spain?"
-
-"Not the least."
-
-"But why do you stay?"
-
-"I stay ... because I make my living here."
-
-"Well, that is something."
-
-"But what a living! It is a dog's life! Everybody knows what Spanish
-cooking is."
-
-"Excuse me: instead of living like a dog in Spain, why not go and live
-like a man in Italy?"
-
-Here the poor artist seemed somewhat disconcerted, and I, to relieve
-his annoyance, offered him a cigar, which he took and lighted without
-a word. And he was not the only Italian in Spain who had spoken to me
-in those terms of the country and its inhabitants, denying even the
-clearness of the sky and the grace of the Andalusian women. I do not
-know what enjoyment there can be in travelling after this fashion, with
-the heart closed to every kindly sentiment, and continually on the
-lookout to censure and despise, as if everything good and beautiful
-which one finds in a foreign country has been stolen from our own,
-and as if we are of no account unless we run down everybody else. The
-people who travel in such a mental attitude make me pity rather than
-condemn them, because they voluntarily deprive themselves of many
-pleasures and comforts. So it appears to me, at least, to judge others
-by myself, for wherever I go the first sentiment which the sights and
-the people inspire in me is a feeling of sympathy; a desire not to find
-anything which I shall be obliged to censure; an inclination to imagine
-every beautiful thing more beautiful; to conceal the unpleasant things,
-to excuse the defects, to be able to say candidly to myself and others
-that I am content with everything and everybody. And to arrive at this
-end I do not have to make any effort: everything presents itself
-almost spontaneously in its most pleasing aspect, and my imagination
-benignly paints the other aspects a delicate rose-color. I know well
-that one cannot study a country in this way, nor write sage essays, nor
-acquire fame as a profound thinker; but I know that one travels with a
-peaceful mind, and that such travels are of unspeakable benefit.
-
-The next day I went to see the Generalife, which was a sort of villa
-of the Moorish kings, and whose name is linked to that of the Alhambra
-as is that of the Alhambra to Granada; but now only a few arches and
-arabesques remain of the ancient Generalife. It is a small palace,
-simple and white, with few windows, and an arched gallery surrounded
-with a terrace, and half hidden in the midst of a grove of laurel and
-myrtles, standing on the summit of a mountain covered with flowers,
-rising upon the right bank of the Darro opposite the hill of the
-Alhambra. In front of the façade of the palace extends a little garden,
-and other gardens rise one above another almost in the form of a
-vast staircase to the very top of the mountain, where there extends
-a very high terrace that encloses the Generalife. The avenues of the
-gardens and the wide staircases that lead from one to another of the
-flower-beds are flanked by high espaliers surmounted by arches and
-divided by arbors of myrtle, curved and intertwined with graceful
-designs, and at every landing-place rise white summer-houses shaded by
-trellises and picturesque groups of orange trees and cypresses. Water
-is still as abundant as in Moorish times, and gives the place a grace,
-freshness, and luxuriance impossible to describe. From every part one
-hears the murmur of rivulets and fountains; one turns down an avenue
-and finds a jet of water; one approaches a window and sees a stream
-reaching almost to the window-sill; one enters a group of trees and
-the spray of a little waterfall strikes one's face; one turns and sees
-water leaping, running, and trickling through the grass and shrubbery.
-
-From the height of the terrace one commands a view of all those gardens
-as they slope downward in platforms and terraces; one peers down
-into the abyss of vegetation which separates the two mountains; one
-overlooks the whole enclosure of the Alhambra, with the cupolas of its
-little temples, its distant towers, and the paths winding among its
-ruins; the view extends over the city of Granada with its plain and
-its hills, and runs with a single glance along all the summits of the
-Sierra Nevada, that appear so near that one imagines they are not an
-hour's walk distant. And while you contemplate that spectacle your ear
-is soothed by the murmur of a hundred fountains and the faint sound of
-the bells of the city, which comes in waves scarcely audible, bearing
-with it the mysterious fragrance of this earthly paradise which makes
-you tremble and grow pale with delight.
-
-[Illustration: _Court of the Generalife, Granada_]
-
-Beyond the Generalife, on the summit of a higher mountain, now bleak
-and bare, there rose in Moorish times other royal palaces, with gardens
-connected with each other by great avenues lined with myrtle hedges.
-Now all these marvels of architecture encircled by groves, fountains,
-and flowers, those fabulous castles in the air, those magnificent and
-fragrant nests of love and delight, have disappeared, and scarcely
-a heap of rubbish or a short stretch of wall remains to tell their
-story to the passer-by. But these ruins, that elsewhere would arouse a
-feeling of melancholy, do not have such an influence in the presence
-of that glorious nature whose enchantment not even the most marvellous
-works of man have ever been able to equal.
-
-On re-entering the city I stopped at one end of the _Carrera
-del Darro_, in front of a house richly adorned with bas-reliefs
-representing heraldic shields, armor, cherubs, and lions, with a little
-balcony, over one corner of which, partly on one wall and partly on
-another, I read the following mysterious inscription stamped in great
-letters:
-
- "ESPERANDO LA DEL CIELO,"
-
-which, literally translated, signifies "_Awaiting her in Heaven_."
-Curious to learn the hidden meaning of those words, I made a note of
-them, so that I might ask the learned father of my friend about them.
-He gave me two interpretations, the one almost certainly correct, but
-not at all romantic; the other romantic, but very doubtful. I give the
-last: The house belonged to Don Fernando de Zafra, the secretary of
-the Catholic kings. He had a very beautiful daughter. A young hidalgo,
-of a family hostile or inferior in rank to the house of Zafra, became
-enamored of the daughter, and, as his love was returned, he asked
-for her hand in marriage, but was refused. The refusal of her father
-stirred the love of the two young hearts to flame: the windows of the
-house were low; the lover one night succeeded in making the ascent
-and entered the maiden's room. Whether he upset a chair on entering,
-or coughed, or uttered a low cry of joy on seeing his beautiful love
-welcoming him with open arms, the tradition does not tell, and no one
-knows; but certain it is that Don Fernando de Zafra heard a noise, ran
-in, saw, and, blind with fury, rushed upon the ill-fated young man
-to put him to death. But he succeeded in making his escape, and Don
-Fernando in following him ran into one of his own pages, a partisan
-of the lovers, who had helped the hidalgo to enter the house: in his
-haste his master mistook him for the betrayer, and, without hearing his
-protests and prayers, he had him bound and hanged from the balcony. The
-tradition runs that while the poor victim kept crying, "Pity! pity!"
-the outraged father responded as he pointed toward the balcony, "Thou
-shalt stay there _esperando la del Cielo_!" (awaiting her in heaven)--a
-reply which he afterward had cut in the stone walls as a perpetual
-warning to evil-doers.
-
-I devoted the rest of the day to the churches and monasteries.
-
-The cathedral of Granada deserves to be described part by part in
-an even higher degree than the cathedral of Malaga, although it too
-is beautiful and magnificent; but I have already described enough
-churches. Its foundation was laid by the Catholic kings in 1529 upon
-the ruins of the principal mosque of the city, but it has never been
-finished. It has a great façade with three doorways, adorned with
-statues and bas-reliefs, and it consists of five naves, divided by
-twenty measureless pilasters, each composed of a bundle of slender
-columns. The chapels contain paintings by Boccanegra, sculptures by
-Torrigiano, and tombs and other precious ornaments. Admirable above all
-is the great chapel, supported by twenty Corinthian columns divided
-into two orders, upon the first of which rise colossal statues of
-the twelve apostles, and on the second an entablature covered with
-garlands and heads of cherubs. Overhead runs a circle of magnificent
-stained-glass windows, which represent the Passion, and from the frieze
-which crowns them leap ten bold arches forming the vault of the chapel.
-Within the arches that support the columns are six great paintings by
-Alonzo Cano, which are said to be his most beautiful and finished work.
-
-And since I have spoken of Alonzo Cano, a native of Granada, one of
-the strongest Spanish painters of the seventeenth century, although
-a disciple of the Sevillian school rather than the founder, as some
-assert, of a school of his own, but less original than his greatest
-contemporaries,--since I have spoken of him, I wish here to record some
-traits of his genius and anecdotes of his life little known outside
-of Spain, although exceedingly remarkable. Alonzo Cano was the most
-quarrelsome, the most irascible, and the most violent of the Spanish
-painters. He spent his life in contention. He was a priest. From 1652
-to 1658, for six consecutive years, without a day's intermission, he
-wrangled with the canons of the cathedral of Granada, of which he was
-steward, because he was not willing to become subdeacon in accordance
-with the stipulated agreement; before leaving Granada he broke into
-pieces with his own hands a statue of Saint Anthony of Padua which he
-had made to the order of an auditor of the chancery, because the man
-allowed himself to observe that the price demanded seemed a little
-dear. Chosen master of design to the royal prince, who, as it appears,
-was not born with a talent for painting, he so exasperated his pupil
-that the boy was obliged to have recourse to the king that he might
-be taken out of his hands. Remanded to Granada, to the neighborhood
-of the chapter of the cathedral, as an especial favor, he bore such a
-deep rancor from his old litigations with his canons that throughout
-his life he would not do a stroke of work for them. But this is a small
-matter. He nursed a blind, bestial, inextinguishable hatred against the
-Hebrews, and was firmly convinced that in any way to touch a Hebrew or
-any object that a Hebrew had touched would bring him misfortune. Owing
-to this conviction he did some of the most extravagant feats in the
-world. If in walking along the street he ran against a Jew, he would
-strip off the infected garment and return home in his shirt-sleeves.
-If by chance he succeeded in discovering that in his absence a servant
-had admitted a Jew into the house, he discharged the servant, threw
-away the shoes with which he had touched the pavement profaned by the
-circumcised, and sometimes even had the pavement torn up and reset. And
-he found something to find fault with even as he was dying. When he was
-approaching the end of life the confessor handed him a clumsily-made
-crucifix that he might kiss it, but he pushed it away with his hand,
-saying, "Father, give me a naked cross, that I may worship Jesus Christ
-as He Himself is and as I behold Him in my mind." But, after all, his
-was a rare, charitable nature which abhorred every vulgar action,
-and loved with a deep and very pure love the art in which he remains
-immortal.
-
-On returning to the church after I had made the round of all the
-chapels and was preparing to leave, I was impressed by a suspicion that
-there was something else still to be seen. I had not read the Guidebook
-and had been told nothing, but I heard an inner voice which said to
-me, "Seek!" and, in fact, I sought with my eyes in every direction,
-without knowing what I sought. A cicerone noticed me and sidled up to
-me, as all of his kind do, like an assassin, and asked me with an air
-of mystery, "_Quiere usted algo?_" (Do you wish something, sir?)
-
-"I should like to know," I replied, "if there is anything to see in
-this cathedral besides that which I have seen already?"
-
-"How!" exclaimed the cicerone; "you have not seen the royal chapel,
-have you, sir?"
-
-"What is there in the royal chapel?"
-
-"What is there? Caramba! Nothing less than the tombs of Ferdinand and
-Isabella the Catholics."
-
-I could have said so! I had in my mind a place ready for this idea,
-and the idea was lacking! The Catholic kings must certainly have been
-buried in Granada, where they fought the last great chivalrous war of
-the Middle Ages, and where they gave Christopher Columbus a commission
-to fit out ships which bore him to the New World. I ran rather than
-walked to the royal chapel, preceded by the limping cicerone; an old
-sacristan opened the door of the sacristy, and before he allowed me to
-enter and see the tombs he led me to a sort of glass cupboard full of
-precious objects, and said to me, "You will remember that Isabella the
-Catholic, to furnish Christopher Columbus with the money that he needed
-to supply the ships for the voyage, not knowing where to turn because
-the coffers of the state were empty, put her jewels in pawn."
-
-"Yes: well?" I demanded impatiently; and, divining the answer, felt my
-heart beat faster the while.
-
-"Well," replied the sacristan, "that is the box in which the queen
-locked her jewels to send them to be pawned."
-
-And so saying he opened the cupboard and took out the box and handed it
-to me.
-
-Oh! brave men may say what they will; as for me, there are things that
-make me tremble and weep. I have touched the box that contained the
-treasure by which Columbus was enabled to discover America. Every time
-I repeat those words my blood is stirred, and I add, "I have touched it
-with these hands," and I look at my hands.
-
-That cupboard contains also the sword of King Ferdinand, the crown and
-sceptre of Isabella, a missal and some other ornaments of the king and
-queen.
-
-We entered the chapel. Between the altar and a great iron chancel that
-separates it from the remaining space stand two great mausoleums of
-marble adorned with statuettes and bas-reliefs of great value. Upon
-one of them lie the statues of Ferdinand and Isabella in their royal
-robes, with crown, sword, and sceptre; on the other the statues of the
-other two princes of Spain, and around the statues lions, angels, and
-arms, and various ornaments, presenting a regal appearance, austere and
-magnificent.
-
-The sacristan lighted a flambeau, and, pointing out a sort of trap-door
-in the pavement between the two mausoleums, asked me to open it and
-descend into the subterranean chamber. With the cicerone's aid I opened
-the trap-door; the sacristan descended, and I followed him down a
-narrow little staircase until we reached a little room. There were five
-caskets of lead, bound with iron bands, each sealed with two initials
-under a crown. The sacristan lowered the torch, and, touching all five
-of them, one after another, with his hand, said in a slow, solemn voice,
-
-"Here rests the great queen Isabella the Catholic.
-
-"Here rests the great king Ferdinand V.
-
-"Here rests the king Philip I.
-
-"Here rests Queen Joanna the Mad.
-
-"Here rests Lady Maria, her daughter, who died at the age of nine years.
-
-"God keep them all in his holy peace!"
-
-And, placing the torch on the ground, he crossed his arms and closed
-his eyes, as if to give me time for meditation.
-
-One would become a hunchback at his desk if he were to describe all
-the religious monuments of Granada--the stupendous Cartuja; the Monte
-Sacro, containing the grottoes of the martyrs; the church of San
-Geronimo, where the great leader Gonzalez di Cordova is buried; the
-convent of Santo Domingo, founded by Torquemada the Inquisitor; the
-convent of the Angels, containing paintings by Cano and Murillo and
-many others; but I suppose that my readers may be even more weary than
-I am, and will consequently pardon me for passing by a mountain of
-description which probably would only give them a confused idea of the
-things described.
-
-But as I have mentioned the sepulchre of the great commander, Gonzalez
-di Cordova, I cannot forbear translating a curious document in
-reference to him which was shown me in the church of San Geronimo by a
-sacristan who was an admirer of the deeds of that hero. The document,
-in the form of an anecdote, is as follows:
-
-"Every step of the great captain Don Gonzalez di Cordova was an
-assault, and every assault a victory; his sepulchre in the convent of
-the Geronomites at Granada was adorned with two hundred banners which
-he had taken. His envious rivals, and the treasurers of the kingdom of
-Naples in particular, induced the king in 1506 to demand a statement
-from Gonzalez of the use he had made of the great sums received from
-Spain for the conduct of the war in Italy; and, in fact, the king was
-so small as to consent, and even to be present on the occasion of the
-conference.
-
-"Gonzalez acceded to the demand with the haughtiest disdain, and
-proposed to give a severe lesson to the treasurers and the king upon
-the treatment and consideration to be accorded a conqueror of kingdoms.
-
-"He replied with great indifference and calmness that he would prepare
-his accounts for the following day, and would let it appear which was
-the debtor, himself or the exchequer, which demanded an account of one
-hundred and thirty thousand ducats delivered upon the first payment,
-eighty thousand crowns upon the second, three millions upon the third,
-eleven millions upon the fourth, thirteen millions upon the fifth,
-and so on as the solemn, nasal, foolish secretary who authorized so
-important an act continued to enumerate the sums.
-
-"The great Gonzalez kept his word, presented himself at the second
-audience, and, bringing out a voluminous book in which he had noted his
-justification, he began with the following words in a deep, sonorous
-voice:
-
-"'Two hundred thousand seven hundred and thirty-six ducats and nine
-reales to the fathers, the nuns, and the poor, to the end that they
-might pray God for the triumph of the Spanish arms.
-
-"'One hundred thousand ducats for powder and shot.
-
-"'Ten thousand ducats for perfumed gloves to protect the soldiers from
-the stench of the corpses of the enemy left on the field of battle.
-
-"'One hundred and seventy thousand ducats for renewing bells worn out
-by continuous ringing for constant new victories over the enemy.
-
-"'Fifty thousand ducats for brandy for the soldiers on the day of
-battle.
-
-"'A million and a half ducats for the maintenance of the prisoners and
-wounded.
-
-"'A million for returning thanks and Te Deums to the Omnipotent.
-
-"'Three hundred millions in masses for the dead.
-
-"'Seven hundred thousand four hundred and ninety-four ducats for spies
-and ...
-
-"'One hundred millions for the patience which I showed yesterday on
-hearing that the king demanded an account from the man who has given
-him his kingdom.'
-
-"These are the celebrated accounts of the great captain, the originals
-of which are in the possession of Count d'Altimira.
-
-"One of the original accounts, with the autograph seal of the great
-captain, exists in the Military Museum of London, where it is guarded
-with great care."
-
-On reading this document I returned to the hotel, making invidious
-comparisons between Gonzalez di Cordova and the Spanish generals of our
-times, which, for grave state reasons, as they say in the tragedies, I
-dare not repeat.
-
-In the hotel I saw something new every day. There were many university
-students who had come from Malaga and other Andalusian cities to take
-the examination for the doctor's degree at Granada, whether because
-they were a little easier there or for what other reason I do not
-know. We all ate at a round table. One morning at breakfast one of the
-students, a young man of about twenty, announced that at two o'clock
-he was to be examined in canon law, and that, not feeling very sure of
-himself, he had decided to take a glass of wine to refresh the springs
-of eloquence. He was accustomed to drink only wine weakened with water,
-and committed the imprudence of emptying at a single draught a glass
-of the vintage of Xerez. His face changed in an instant in so strange
-a manner that if I had not seen the transformation with my own eyes I
-should not have believed that he was the same person.
-
-"There! that is enough!" cried his friends.
-
-But the young man, who already felt that he had become suddenly strong,
-keen, and confident, cast a compassionate glance at his companions, and
-with a lordly gesture ordered the waiter to fetch him another glass.
-
-"You will be drunk," they said.
-
-His only response was to drain a second glass.
-
-Then he became wonderfully talkative. There was a score of persons
-at table: in a few minutes he was conversing with them all, and he
-revealed a thousand secrets of his past life and his plans for the
-future. He said that he was from Cadiz, that he had eight thousand
-francs a year to spend, and that he wished to devote himself to a
-diplomatic career, because with that revenue, added to something which
-his uncle would leave him, he should be able to cut a good figure
-wherever he might be; that he had decided to take a wife at thirty, and
-to marry a woman as tall as himself, because it was his opinion that
-the wife should be of the same stature as her husband, to keep either
-from getting the upper hand of the other; that when he was a boy he
-was in love with the daughter of an American consul as beautiful as a
-flower and strong as a pine, but she had a red birth-mark behind one
-ear, which looked badly, although she knew how to cover it very well
-with her scarf, and he showed us with his napkin how she covered it;
-and that Don Amadeus was too ingenuous a man to succeed in governing
-Spain; that of the poets Zorilla and Espronceda, he had always
-preferred Espronceda; that it would be folly to cede Cuba to America;
-that the examination on canon law made him laugh; and that he wished to
-drink another four fingers of Xerez, the finest wine in Europe.
-
-He drank a third glass in spite of the good counsel and disapprobation
-of his friends, and after prattling a little longer amid the laughter
-of his audience, he suddenly became silent, looked fixedly at a lady
-sitting opposite to him, dropped his head, and fell asleep. I thought
-that he could not present himself for the examination that day, but
-was mistaken. A short hour later they awakened him; he went up stairs
-to wash his face, ran off to the university still drowsy, took his
-examination, and was promoted, to the greater glory of the wine of
-Xerez and Spanish diplomacy.
-
-I devoted the following days to visiting the monuments, or, to be
-more accurate, the ruins of the Moorish monuments which besides the
-Alhambra and the Generalife attest the ancient splendor of Granada.
-Insomuch as it was the last bulwark of Islam, Granada is the city which
-presents the most numerous relics of all the cities of Spain. On the
-hill called the hill of _Dinadamar_ (the Fountain of Tears) one may
-still see the ruins of four towers rising at the four corners of a
-great cistern into which flowed the waters from the Sierra to supply
-the highest part of the city. There were baths, gardens, and villas of
-which not a trace remains: from that point one overlooked the city with
-its minarets, its terraces, and its mosques gleaming among the palms
-and cypresses. Near there one sees a Moorish gate called the gate of
-Elvira--a great arch crowned with battlements--and beyond it are the
-ruins of the palaces of the caliphs. Near the Alameda promenade stands
-a square tower in which there is a great hall ornamented with the usual
-Arabian inscriptions. Near the convent of San Domingo are the remains
-of gardens and palaces once joined to the Alhambra by a subterranean
-passage. Within the city is the Alcaiceria, a Moorish market almost
-perfectly preserved, formed of a few little streets as straight and
-narrow as corridors, lined with two rows of shops, one adjoining the
-other, and presenting the strange appearance of an Asiatic bazaar.
-In short, one cannot take a step in Granada without coming face to
-face with an arch, an arabesque, a column, or a pile of stones which
-suggests its fantastic, luxurious past.
-
-What turns and windings have I not made through those tortuous streets
-at the hottest hour of the day, under a sun that shrivelled my brain,
-without meeting a living soul! At Granada, as in the other cities of
-Andalusia, the people are alive only at night, and the night repays
-them for the imprisonment of the day; the public promenades are crowded
-and confused by the hurry and jostling of a multitude, one half of
-which seems to be seeking the other half upon urgent business. The
-crowd is densest in the Alameda, but, for all that, I spent my evenings
-on the Alameda with Gongora, who talked to me of Moorish monuments, and
-with a journalist who discoursed on politics, and also with another
-young man who talked of women, and frequently with all three of them
-together, to my infinite pleasure, because those cheery meetings, like
-those of school-boys, at odd times and places, refreshed my mind, to
-steal a beautiful simile, like a summer shower refreshes the grass as
-it falls faster and faster, dancing for joy.
-
-If I were obliged to say something about the people of Granada, I
-should be embarrassed, because I have not seen them. In the day-time
-I met no one in the streets, and at night I could not see them. The
-theatres were not open, and when I might have found some one in the
-city I was wandering through the halls or avenues of the Alhambra; and
-then I had so much to do to see everything in the short time which I
-had allowed myself that no unoccupied moments remained for those chance
-conversations, like the ones I had in the other cities, in the streets
-and the cafés, with whomever I happened to meet.
-
-But from what I learned from men who were in a position to give me
-trustworthy information, the people of Granada do not enjoy an enviable
-reputation in Spain. They are said to be ill-tempered, violent,
-vindictive, and bloodthirsty; and this arraignment is not disproved by
-the pages of the city newspapers. It is not publicly stated, but every
-one knows it for a fact, that popular instruction in Granada is at a
-lower ebb than even in Seville and the other smaller Spanish cities,
-and, as a rule, everything that cannot be produced by the sun and the
-soil, which produce so bountifully, goes to the bad, either through
-indolence or ignorance or shiftlessness. Granada is not connected
-by railway with any important city: she lives alone, surrounded by
-her gardens, enclosed by her mountains, happy with the fruits which
-Nature produces under her hand, gently lulling herself to sleep in the
-vanity of her beauty and the pride of her history--idle, drowsy, and
-fanciful, content to answer with a yawn to any one who reproves her
-for her condition: "I gave Spain the painter Alonzo Cano, the poet
-Louis de Leon, the historian Fernando de Castillo, the sacred orator
-Luis di Grenada, and the minister Martinez de la Rosas. I have paid
-my debt, leave me in peace;" and this is the reply made by almost all
-the southern cities of Spain, more beautiful, alas! than wise and
-industrious, and proud rather than civilized. Ah! one who has seen them
-can never have done exclaiming, "What a pity!"
-
-"Now that you have seen all the marvels of Moorish art and tropical
-vegetation there remains the suburb of the Albaicin to be seen before
-you can say that you know Granada. Prepare your mind for a new world,
-put your hand on your purse, and follow me."
-
-So said Gongora to me on the last evening of my sojourn in Granada.
-A Republican journalist was with us, Melchiorre Almago by name, the
-director of the _Idea_, a congenial, affable young man, who to
-accompany us sacrificed his dinner and a leading article that he had
-been cogitating since morning.
-
-We walked on until we came to the square of the _Audiencia_. There
-Gongora pointed out an alley winding up a hill, and said to me, "Here
-commences the Albaicin;" and Señor Melchiorre, touching a house with
-his cane, added, "Here commences the territory of the republic."
-
-We turned up the alley, passed from it into another, and from that into
-a third, always ascending, without my seeing anything extraordinary,
-although I looked curiously in every direction. Narrow streets, squalid
-houses, old women dozing on the doorsteps, mothers carefully inspecting
-their children's heads, gaping dogs, crowing cocks, ragged boys running
-and shouting, and the other things that one always sees in the suburbs;
-but in those streets nothing more. But gradually, as we ascended, the
-appearance of the houses and the people began to change; the roofs
-became lower, the windows fewer, the doors smaller, and the people more
-ragged. In the middle of every street ran a little stream in a walled
-gutter, in the Moorish style; here and there over the doors and around
-the windows one saw the remains of arabesques and fragments of columns,
-and in the corners of the squares fountains and well-curbs of the time
-of the Moorish dominion. At every hundred steps it seemed as if we had
-gone back fifty years toward the age of the caliphs. My two companions
-touched me on the elbow from time to time, saying as they did so, "Look
-at that old woman!"--"Look at that little girl!"--"Look at that man!"
-and I looked, and asked, "Who are these people?" If I had unexpectedly
-found myself in that place, I should have believed on seeing those men
-and women that I was in an African village, so strange were the faces,
-the dress, the manner of moving, talking, and looking, at so short a
-distance from the centre of Granada--so different were they from the
-people that I had seen up to that time. At every turn I stopped to look
-in the face of my companions, and they answered, "That is nothing; we
-are now in the civilized part of the Albaicin; this is the Parisian
-quarter of the suburb; let us go on."
-
-We went on, and the streets seemed like the bed of a torrent--paths
-hollowed out among the rocks, all banks and gullies, broken and
-stony--some so steep that a mule could not climb them, others so narrow
-that a man could scarcely pass; some blocked by women and children
-sitting on the ground, others grass-grown and deserted; and all so
-squalid, wild, and uncouth that the most wretched of our villages
-cannot give one an idea of them, because this is a poverty that bears
-the impress of another race and another continent. We turned into a
-labyrinth of streets, passing from time to time under a great Moorish
-arch or through a high square from which one commanded a view of the
-wide valleys, the snow-covered mountains, and a part of the lower city,
-until finally we arrived at a street rougher and narrower than any we
-had yet seen; and there we stopped to take breath.
-
-"Here commences the real Albaicin," said the young archeologist. "Look
-at that house!"
-
-I looked; it was a low, smoke-stained, ruinous house, with a door that
-seemed like the mouth of a cavern, before which one saw, under a mass
-of rags, a group, or rather a heap, of old women and little children,
-who upon our approach raised their eyes heavy with sleep, and with bony
-hands removed from the threshold some filth which impeded our passage.
-
-"Let us enter," said my friend.
-
-"Enter?" I demanded.
-
-If they had told me that beyond those walls there was a facsimile of
-the famous Court of Miracles which Victor Hugo has described, I should
-not have doubted their word. No door has ever said more emphatically
-than that, "Stand back!" I cannot find a better comparison than the
-gaping mouth of a gigantic witch breathing out pestilential vapors. But
-I took courage and entered.
-
-Oh, marvellous! It was the court of a Moorish house surrounded by
-graceful little columns surmounted by lovely arches, with those
-indescribable traceries of the Alhambra along the porticoes and around
-the mullioned windows, with the beams and ceiling carved and enamelled
-with little niches for vases of flowers and urns of perfume, with a
-pool in the middle, and all the traces and memorials of the delicate
-life of an opulent family. And in that house lived those wretched
-people!
-
-We went out and entered other houses, in all of which I found some
-fragments of Moorish architecture and sculpture. From time to time
-Gongora would say to me, "This was a harem. Those were the baths of
-the women; up yonder was the chamber of a favorite;" and I fixed my
-eyes upon every bit of the arabesqued wall and upon all the little
-columns of the windows, as if to ask them for a revelation of their
-secrets--only a name or a magic word with which I might reconstruct in
-an instant the ruined edifice and summon the beautiful Arabians who had
-dwelt there. But, alas! amid the columns and under the arches of the
-windows there were only rags and wrinkled faces.
-
-Among other houses, we entered one where we found a group of girls
-sewing under the shade of a tree in the courtyard, directed by an old
-woman. They were all working upon a great piece of cloth that seemed
-like a mat or a bed-spread, in black and gray stripes. I approached and
-asked one of the girls, "What is this?"
-
-They all looked up and with a concerted movement spread the cloth open,
-so that I could see their work plainly. Almost before I had seen it I
-cried, "I will buy it."
-
-They all began to laugh. It was the mantle of an Andalusian
-mountaineer, made to wear in the saddle, rectangular in form, with
-an opening in the middle to put one's head through, embroidered in
-bright-colored worsteds along the two shortest sides and around the
-opening. The design of the embroideries, which represented birds
-and fantastic flowers, green, blue, white, red, and yellow, all in
-a mass, was as crude as a pattern a child might make: the beauty of
-the work lay altogether in the harmony of the colors, which was truly
-marvellous. I cannot express the sensation produced by the sight of
-that mantle, except by saying that it laughed and filled one with its
-cheerfulness; and it seems to me impossible to imagine anything gayer,
-more festive, or more childishly and gracefully capricious. It was a
-thing to look upon in order to bring yourself out of a bad humor, or
-when you wish to write a pretty verse in a lady's album, or when you
-are expecting a person whom you wish to receive with your brightest
-smile.
-
-"When will you finish these embroideries?" I asked one of the girls.
-
-"_Hoy mismo_" (to-day), they all replied in chorus.
-
-"And what is the mantle worth?"
-
-"_Cinco_" (five), stammered one.
-
-The old women pierced her with a glance which seemed to say,
-"Blockhead!" and answered hastily, "Six _duros_."
-
-Six _duros_ are thirty francs; it did not seem much to me, and I put my
-hand in my pocket.
-
-Gongora cast a withering glance at me which seemed to say, "You
-simpleton!" and, drawing me back by the arm, said, "One moment: six
-_duros_ is an exorbitant price."
-
-The old woman shot him another glance which seemed to say, "Brigand!"
-and replied, "I cannot take less."
-
-Gongora gave her another glance, which seemed to say, "Liar!" and said,
-"Come, now; you can take four _duros_; you would not ask more from the
-country-people."
-
-The old woman insisted, and for a while we continued to exchange with
-our eyes the titles of simpleton, swindler, marplot, liar, pinch-penny,
-spend-thrift, until the mantle was sold to me for five duros, and I
-paid and left my address, and we went out blessed and commended to
-God by the old woman and followed a good way by the black eyes of the
-embroiderers.
-
-We went on from street to street, among houses increasingly wretched
-and growing blacker and blacker, and more revolting rags and faces. But
-we never came to the end, and I asked my companions, "Will you have the
-goodness to tell me if Granada has any limits, and if so where they
-are? May one ask where we are going and how we shall return home?" But
-they simply laughed and went forward.
-
-"Is there anything stranger than this to be seen?" I asked at a certain
-point.
-
-"Stranger?" they both replied. "This second part of the suburb which
-you have seen still belongs to civilization: if not the Parisian, it is
-at least the Madrid, quarter of the Albaicin, and there _is_ something
-else; let us go on."
-
-We passed through a very small street containing some scantily-clothed
-women, who looked like people fallen from the moon; crossed a little
-square full of babies and pigs in friendly confusion; passed through
-two or three other alleys, now climbing, now descending, now in the
-midst of houses, now among piles of rubbish, now between trees and
-now among rocks, until we finally arrived at the solitary place on a
-hillside from which we saw in front the Generalife, to the right the
-Alhambra, and below a deep valley filled with a dense wood.
-
-It was growing dark; no one was in sight and not a voice was heard.
-
-"Is this the end of the suburb?" I asked.
-
-My two companions laughed and said, "Look in that direction."
-
-[Illustration: _The Alhambra and the Valley of the Darro_]
-
-I turned and saw along the street that was lost in a distant grove
-an interminable row of houses. Of houses? Rather of dens dug in the
-earth, with a bit of wall in front, with holes for windows and
-crevices for doors, and wild plants of every sort on top and along
-the sides--veritable caves of beasts, in which by the glow of faint
-lights, scarcely visible, swarmed the gypsies by hundreds; a people
-multiplying in the bowels of the mountain, poorer, blacker, and more
-savage than any seen before; another city, unknown to the greater part
-of Granada, inaccessible to the police, closed to the census-officers,
-ignorant of every law and of all government, living one knows not
-how, how numerous no one knows, foreign to the city, to Spain, and to
-modern civilization, with a language and statutes and manners of their
-own--superstitious, false, thieving, beggarly, and fierce.
-
-"Button up your coat and look out for your watch," said Gongora to me,
-"and let us go forward."
-
-We had not taken a hundred steps when a half-naked boy, black as the
-walls of his hovel, ran out, gave a cry, and, making a sign to the
-other boys who followed him, dashed toward us; behind the boys came the
-women; behind the women the men, and then old men, old women, and more
-children; and in less time than it takes to tell it we were surrounded
-by a crowd. My two friends, recognized as Granadines, succeeded in
-saving themselves; I was left in the lurch. I can still see those
-horrid faces, still hear those voices, and still feel the pressure of
-those hands: gesticulating, shouting, saying a thousand things which I
-did not understand; dragging at my coat, my waistcoat, and my sleeves,
-they pressed upon me like a pack of famished people, breathed in my
-face, and cut off my very breath. They were, for the most part, half
-naked and emaciated--their garments falling in tatters, with unkempt
-hair, horrible to see; I seemed to be like Don Roderick in the midst of
-a crowd of the infected in that famous dream of the August night.
-
-"What do these people want?" I asked myself. "Where have I been
-brought? How shall I get out of this?" I felt almost a sense of fear,
-and looked around uneasily. Little by little I began to understand.
-
-"I have a sore on my shoulder," said one; "I cannot work; give me a
-penny."
-
-"I have a broken leg," said another.
-
-"I have a palsied arm."
-
-"I have had a long sickness."
-
-"_Un cuarto, Señorito!_"
-
-"_Un real, caballero!_"
-
-"_Una peseta para todos!_"
-
-This last request was received with a general cry of approval: "_Una
-peseta para todos!_" (a _peseta_ for us all).
-
-With some little trepidation I drew out my purse; they all stood on
-tiptoe; the nearest poked their chins into it; those behind put their
-chins on the heads of those in front; the farthest stretched out their
-arms.
-
-"One moment," I cried. "Who has the most authority among you all?"
-
-They all replied with one voice, stretching out their arms toward the
-same person, "That one."
-
-It was a terrible old hag, all nose and chin, with a great tuft of
-white hair standing straight above her head like a bunch of feathers,
-and a mouth which seemed like a letter-box, with little clothing save a
-chemise--black, shrivelled, and mummified; she approached me bowing and
-smiling, and held out her hands to take mine.
-
-"What do you want?" I demanded, taking a step backward.
-
-"Your fortune," they all cried.
-
-"Tell my fortune, then," I replied, holding out my hand.
-
-The old woman took my poor hand between her ten--I cannot say fingers,
-but shapeless bones--placed her sharp nose on it, raised her head,
-looked hard at me, pointed her finger toward me, and, swaying and
-pausing at every sentence as if she were reciting poetry, said to me in
-inspired accents, "Thou wert born upon a famous day.
-
-"Upon a famous day also shalt thou die.
-
-"Thou art the possessor of amazing riches."
-
-Here she muttered I know not what about sweethearts and marriage and
-felicity, from which I understood that she supposed I was married,
-and then she continued: "On the day of thy marriage there was great
-feasting in thy house; there were many to give and take.
-
-"And another woman wept.
-
-"And when thou seest her the wings of thy heart open."
-
-And so on in this strain, saying that I had sweethearts and friends
-and treasures and jewels in store for me every day of the year, in
-every country of the world. While the old woman was speaking they
-were all silent, as if they believed she had prophesied truly. She
-finally closed her prophecy with a formula of dismissal, and ended the
-formula by extending her arms and making a skip in a dancing attitude.
-I gave her the peseta, and the crowd broke into shouting, applause,
-and singing, making a thousand uncanny hops and gestures around me,
-saluting me with nudges and slaps of the hand on my back, as if I were
-an old friend, until finally, by dint of wriggling and striking now
-one and then another, I succeeded in opening a passage and rejoined
-my friends. But a new danger threatened us. The news of the arrival
-of a foreigner had spread, the tribes were in motion, the city of the
-gypsies was all in an uproar; from the neighboring houses and from the
-distant huts, from the top of the hill and the bottom of the valley,
-ran boys, women with babies about their necks, old men with canes,
-cripples, and professional imposters, septuagenarian prophetesses who
-wished to tell my fortune--an army of beggars coming upon us from every
-direction. It was night; there was no time for hesitation; we broke
-into a run toward the city like school-boys. Then a devilish cry broke
-out behind us, and the nimblest began to chase us. Thanks to Heaven!
-after a short race we found ourselves in safety--tired and breathless,
-and covered with dust, but safe.
-
-"It was necessary to escape at any cost," said Señor Melchiorre with a
-laugh; "otherwise we should have gone home without our shirts."
-
-"And take notice," added Gongora, "that we have seen only the door of
-Gypsy-town, the civilized part, not the Paris nor the Madrid, but at
-least the Granada, of the Albaicin. If we could only have gone on! if
-you could have seen the rest!"
-
-"But how many thousand are there of those people?" I demanded.
-
-"No one knows."
-
-"How do they live?"
-
-"No one can imagine."
-
-"What authority do they recognize?"
-
-"One only--_los reyes_ (the kings), the heads of families or of houses,
-those who have the most money and years. They never go out of their
-city; they know nothing, they live in the dark as to all that happens
-beyond the circle of their hovels. Dynasties fall, governments change,
-armies clash, and it is a miracle if the news ever reaches their ears.
-Ask them if Isabella is still on the throne; they do not know. Ask
-them who Amadeus is; they have never heard his name. They are born
-and perish like flies, and they live as they lived centuries ago,
-multiplying without leaving their own boundaries, ignorant and unknown,
-seeing nothing all their lives beyond the valleys lying below their
-feet and the Alhambra towering above their heads."
-
-We passed again through all the streets that we had traversed, now
-dark and deserted, and endless as it seemed to me; and, climbing and
-descending, turning and twisting, and turning again, we finally arrived
-at the square of the Audiencia in the middle of the city of Granada--in
-the civilized world. At the sight of the brightly-lighted cafés and
-shops I experienced a feeling of pleasure, as if I had just returned to
-city-life after a year's sojourn in an uninhabited wilderness.
-
-On the evening of the next day I left for Valencia. I remember that a
-few moments before starting, as I was paying my hotel-bill, I observed
-to the proprietor that there was an overcharge for one candle, and
-playfully asked him, "Will you deduct it for me?" The proprietor seized
-his pen, and, deducting twenty centimes from the total charge, replied
-in a voice which he wished to appear emotional, "The devil! among
-Italians!"
-
-
-
-
-VALENCIA.
-
-
-The journey from Granada to Valencia, made all _de un tiron_ (at one
-breath), as they say in Spain, is one of those recreations in which a
-rational man indulges only once in his life. From Granada to Menjibar,
-a village on the left bank of the Guadalquivir, between Jaen and
-Andujar, is a night's ride by diligence; from Menjibar to the Alcazar
-de San Juan is a half-day's journey by railway in an uncurtained
-carriage, through a plain as bare as the palm of one's hand, under
-a blazing sun; and from the Alcazar de San Juan to Valencia, taking
-account of an entire evening spent in the station of the Alcazar, makes
-another night and another morning before one reaches the longed-for
-city at noon, where Nature, as Emile Praga would say, is horrified at
-the dreadful idea that there are still four months of summer.
-
-But it must be said that the country through which one passes is
-so beautiful from beginning to the end that if one were capable of
-appreciation when one is dead with sleep and finds one's self turning
-into water by reason of the heat, one would go into ecstasies a
-thousand times. It is a journey of unexpected landscapes, sudden
-vistas, remarkable contrasts, theatrical effects of Nature, so to
-speak--marvellous and fantastic transformations, which leave in the
-mind an indescribable, vague illusion of having passed not through a
-part of Spain, but along an entire meridian of the earth across the
-most dissimilar countries. From the _vega_ of Granada, which you cross
-in the moonlight, almost opening a way among the groves and gardens,
-in the midst of a luxuriant vegetation that seems to crowd around
-you like a tossing sea, ready to overflow and engulf you with its
-billows of verdure,--from this you emerge into the midst of ragged
-and precipitous mountains, where not a trace of human habitation is
-to be seen; you graze the edge of precipices, wind along the banks of
-mountain-torrents, run along at the bottom of the ravines, and seem to
-be lost in a rocky labyrinth. Then you come out a second time among
-the green hills and flowery fields of upper Andalusia, and then, all
-suddenly, the fields and hills disappear and you find yourself in the
-midst of the rocky mountains of the Sierra Morena, that hang over
-your head from every direction and close the horizon all around like
-the walls of an immense abyss. You leave the Sierra Morena, and the
-desert plains of La Mancha stretch before you; you leave La Mancha and
-advance through the flowery plain of Almansa, varied by every sort of
-cultivation, presenting the appearance of a vast carpet of checkered
-pattern colored in all the shades of green that can be found upon the
-pallet of a landscape-painter. And, finally, the plain of Almansa opens
-into a delightful oasis, a land blest of God, a true earthly paradise,
-the kingdom of Valencia, from whose boundaries, even to the city
-itself, you pass through gardens, vineyards, fragrant orange-groves,
-white villas encircled by terraces, cheerful, brightly-colored
-villages, clusters, avenues, and groves of palms, pomegranates,
-aloes, and sugar-canes, interminable hedges of Indian fig, long
-chains of low hills, and conical mounds cultivated as kitchen-gardens
-and flower-beds, laid out with minute care from top to bottom, and
-variegated like great bunches of grass and flowers; and everywhere a
-vigorous vegetation which hides every bare spot, covers every height,
-clothes every projection, climbs, falls, trails along, marches forward,
-overflows, intertwines, shuts off the view, impedes the road, dazzles
-with its verdure, wearies with its beauty, confounds with its caprices
-and its frolics, and produces an effect as of a sudden parting of the
-earth raised to fever heat by the fires of a secret volcano.
-
-The first building which meets the eye on entering Valencia is an
-immense bull-ring situated to the right of the railway. The building
-consists of four orders of superimposed arches rising on stout
-pilasters, all of brick, and in the distance resembling the Colosseum.
-It is the bull-ring where on the fourth of September, 1871, King
-Amadeus, in the presence of thousands of spectators, shook hands with
-Tato, the celebrated one-legged _torero_, who as director of the
-spectacle had asked permission to render his homage in the royal box.
-Valencia is full of mementos of the duke d'Aosta. The sacristan of the
-cathedral has in his possession a gold chronometer bearing the duke's
-initials in diamonds, with a chain of pearls, which was presented by
-him when he went to pray in the chapel of Our Lady of the Desolate.
-In the hospice of the same name the poor remember that one day they
-received their daily bread from his hand. In the mosaic workshop of
-one Nolla they preserve two bricks, upon one of which he cut his own
-name with his sword, and upon the other the name of the queen. In the
-Plaza di Tetuan the people point out the house of Count di Cervellon,
-where he was entertained; it is the same house in which Ferdinand
-VII. signed the decrees annulling the constitution in 1814, in which
-Queen Christina abdicated the throne in 1840, in which Queen Isabella
-spent some days in 1858. In short, there is not a corner of the city
-of which it cannot be said, Here he shook hands with a working-man,
-here he visited a factory, there he passed on foot far from his suite,
-surrounded by a crowd, trustful, serene, and smiling.
-
-It was in Valencia, since I am speaking of the duke d'Aosta,--it was
-in the city of Valencia that a little girl of five years in reciting
-some verses touched upon that terrible subject of a _foreign king_
-with probably the noblest and most considerate words spoken in Spain
-for many years previous to that time--words which, if all Spain had
-remembered and pondered then, would perhaps have spared her many of
-those calamities which have befallen her, and others which still
-threaten; words which perhaps one day some Spaniard may repeat with
-a sigh, and which already at this time draw from events a marvellous
-light of truth and beauty. And, since these verses are graceful and
-simple, I transcribe them here. The poem is entitled "God and the
-King," and runs as follows:
-
- "Dios, en todo soberano,
- Creó un dia á los mortales,
- Y á todos nos hizo iguales
- Con su poderosa mano.
-
- "No reconoció Naciones
- Ni colores ni matices?
- Y en ver los hombres felices
- Cifró sus aspiraciones.
-
- "El Rey, che su imágen es,
- Su bondad debe imitar
- Y el pueblo no ha de indagar
- Si es aleman ó francés.
-
- "Porqué con ceño iracundo
- Rechazarle siendo bueno?
- Un Rey de bondades lleno
- Tiene por su patria el mundo.
-
- "Vino de nacion estraña
- Cárlos Quinto emperador,
- Y conquistó su valor
- Mil laureles para España.
-
- "Y es un recuerdo glorioso
- Aunque en guerra cimentado,
- El venturoso reinado
- De Felipe el Animoso.
-
- "Hoy el tercero sois vos
- Nacido en estraño suelo
- Que viene á ver nuestro cielo
- Puro destello de Dios.
-
- "Al rayo de nuestro sol
- Sed bueno, justo y leal,
- Que á un Rey bueno y liberal
- Adora el pueblo español.
-
- "Y á vuestra frente el trofeo
- Ceñid de perpetua gloria,
- Para que diga la historia
- --Fué grande el Rey Amadeo."
-
-"God, Ruler over all, created mortals one day, and made all equal
-with His mighty hand. He recognized neither nations nor colors nor
-divisions, and to behold men happy was His desire. The king, who is His
-image, ought to imitate His goodness, and the people have no need to
-ask whether he be German or French. Why, then, with angry frown repulse
-him if he be good? A king abounding in good deeds holds the world as
-his country. Charles V., the emperor, came from a foreign nation, and
-by his valor won a thousand laurels for Spain. And the fortunate reign
-of Philip the Courageous is a glorious memory even though founded upon
-war.
-
-"To-day a third king rules you born on a foreign soil, who comes to
-look upon our sky, a clear spark of God. His love is true and just and
-loyal to the light of our sun, and this is a good and liberal king
-Spanish people adore. And around your brows you shall wear the trophy
-of perpetual glory upon which history shall write, 'Great was King
-Amadeus.'"
-
-Oh, poor little girl! how many wise things you have said! and how many
-foolish things others have done!
-
-The city of Valencia, if one enters it with one's mind full of the
-ballads in which the poets sang of its marvels, does not seem to
-correspond to the lovely image formed of it; neither, on the other
-hand, does it offer that sinister appearance for which one is prepared
-if one considers its just fame as a turbulent, warlike city, the
-fomenter of civil strife--a city prouder of the smell of its powder
-than of the fragrance of its orange-groves. It is a city built in the
-midst of a vast flowery plain on the right bank of the Guadalquivir,
-which separates it from the suburbs, a little way from the roadstead
-which serves as a port, and consists all of tortuous streets lined with
-high, ungainly, many-colored houses, and on this account less pleasing
-in appearance than the streets of the Andalusian cities, and entirely
-devoid of that evasive Oriental grace which so strangely stirs one's
-fancy. Along the left bank of the river extends a magnificent promenade
-formed of majestic avenues and beautiful gardens. These one reaches by
-going out of the city through the gate of the Cid, a structure flanked
-by two great embattled towers named after the hero because he passed
-through it in 1094 after he had expelled the Moors from Valencia. The
-cathedral, built upon the spot where stood a temple of Diana in Roman
-times, then a church of San Salvador in the time of the Goths, then
-a mosque in Moorish times, afterward converted into a church by the
-Cid, changed a second time into a mosque by the Moors in 1101, and
-for the third time into a church by King Don Jayme after the final
-overthrow of the invaders, is a vast structure, exceedingly rich in
-ornaments and treasures, but it cannot bear comparison with the greater
-number of the other Spanish cathedrals. There are a few palaces worth
-seeing, besides the palace of the Audiencia, a beautiful monument of
-the sixteenth century in which the Cortes of the kingdom of Valencia
-assembled; the _Casa de Ayuntamiento_, built between the fifteenth and
-sixteenth centuries, in which are preserved the sword of Don Jayme, the
-keys of the city, and the banner of the Moors; and, above all, _the
-Lonja_--the Bourse of the merchants--notable for its celebrated hall
-consisting of three great naves divided by twenty-four spiral columns,
-above which curve the light arches of the vaulted roof in bold lines,
-the architecture imparting to the eye a pleasing impression of gayety
-and harmony. And, finally, there is the art-gallery, which is not one
-of the least in Spain.
-
-But, to tell the truth, in those few days that I remained at Valencia
-waiting for the boat I was more occupied by politics than by art. And
-I proved the truth of the words I heard an illustrious Italian say
-before I left Italy--one who knew Spain like his his own home: "The
-foreigner who lives even for a short time in Spain is drawn little
-by little, almost insensibly, to heat his blood and muddle his brain
-over politics, as if Spain were his own country or as if the fortunes
-of his country were depending upon those of Spain. The passions are
-so inflamed, the struggle is so furious, and in this struggle there
-is always so clearly at stake the future, the safety, and the life of
-the nation, that it is impossible for any one with the least tinge
-of the Latin blood in his imagination and his system to remain an
-indifferent spectator. You must needs grow excited, speak at party
-meetings, take the elections seriously, mingle with the crowd at the
-political demonstrations, break with your friends, form a clique of
-those who think as you think--make, in a word, a Spaniard of yourself,
-even to the whites of your eyes. And gradually, as you become Spanish,
-you forget Europe, as if it were at the antipodes, and end in seeing
-nothing beyond Spain, as if you were governing it, and as if all its
-interests were in your hands."
-
-Such is the case, and this was my experience. In those few days the
-Conservative ministry was shipwrecked and the Radicals had the wind
-behind them. Spain was all in a ferment; governors, generals, officials
-of all grades and of all administrations fell; a crowd of parvenus
-burst into the offices of the ministry with cries of joy: Zorilla was
-to inaugurate a new era of prosperity and peace; Don Amadeus had had an
-inspiration from heaven; liberty had conquered; Spain was saved. And
-I, as I listened to the band playing in front of the new governor's
-mansion under a clear starry sky in the midst of a joyous crowd,--I too
-had a ray of hope that the throne of Don Amadeus might finally extend
-its roots, and reproached myself for being too prone to predict evil.
-And that comedy which Zorilla played at his villa when he would by no
-means accept the presidency of the ministry, and sent back his friends
-and the members of the deputation, and finally, tired of continually
-saying no, fell into a swoon on saying yes, this, I say, gave me at
-the time a high opinion of the firmness of his character and led me to
-augur happily for the new government. And I said to myself that it was
-a sin to leave Spain just when the horizon was clearing and the royal
-palace of Madrid was tinted rose-color. And I had already considered
-the plan of returning to Madrid that I might have the satisfaction
-of sending some consoling news to Italy, and so be pardoned for the
-imprudence of sending unvarnished accounts of the situation up to that
-time. And I repeated the verses of Prati:
-
- "Oh qual destin t'aspetta
- Aquila giovenetta!"
-
-(Oh what a destiny awaits thee, young eagle!) And, save a little
-bombast in the appellation, it seemed to me that they contained a
-prophecy, and I imagined meeting the poet in the Piazza Colonna at
-Rome and running toward him to offer my congratulations and press his
-hand....
-
-The most beautiful sight in Valencia is the market. The Valencian
-peasants are the most artistic and bizarre in their dress of all the
-peasants of Spain. To cut a good figure in a group of maskers at one
-of our masquerades they need only enter the theatre dressed as they
-would be on a festival or market-day in the streets of Valencia and
-along the country roads. On first seeing them dressed in this style,
-one laughs, and cannot in any way be brought to believe that they are
-Spanish peasants. They have an indescribable air of Greeks, Bedouins,
-buffoons, tightrope-walkers, women partly undressed on their way to
-bed, the silent characters of a play not quite ready to make their
-appearance, or facetious people who wish to make themselves generally
-ridiculous. They wear a full white shirt that takes the place of a
-jacket; a parti-colored velvet waistcoat open at the breast; a pair of
-zouave linen breeches which do not reach the knee, looking like drawers
-and standing out like the skirts of a ballet-dancer; a red or blue sash
-around the waist; a sort of embroidered white woollen stockings that
-leave the knee bare; a pair of corded sandals like those of the Catalan
-peasants; and on their heads, which are almost all shaved like those
-of the Chinese, they wear a handkerchief, red, sky-blue, yellow, or
-white, bound around like a cornucopia, and knotted at the temples or
-at the nape of the neck. They sometimes wear small velvet hats similar
-in shape to those worn in the other provinces of Spain. When they go
-into the city they nearly all carry around their shoulders or on their
-arms, now like a shawl, now like a mantle, or again like a little
-cape, a woollen _capa_, long and narrow, in brightly-colored stripes
-in which white and red predominate, adorned with fringe and rosettes.
-One may easily imagine the appearance presented by a square where there
-are gathered some hundreds of men dressed after this fashion: it is a
-Carnival scene, a festival, a tumult of colors, that makes one feel as
-gay as a band of music; a spectacle at once clownish, pretty, imposing,
-and ridiculous, to which the haughty faces and the majestic bearing
-which distinguish the Valencian peasants add an air of gravity which
-heightens the extraordinary beauty of the scene.
-
-If there is an insolent, lying proverb, it is that old Spanish one
-which says, "In Valencia flesh is grass, grass is water, men are
-women, and the women nothing." Leaving that part about the flesh and
-the grass, which is a pun, the men, especially those of the lower
-classes, are tall and robust, and have the bold appearance of the
-Catalans and Arragonese, with a livelier and more luminous expression
-of the eye; and the women, by the consent of all the Spaniards and
-of as many foreigners as have travelled in Spain, are the most
-classically beautiful in the country. The Valencians, who know that
-the eastern coast of the Peninsula was originally settled by Greeks
-and Carthaginians, say, "It is a clear case. The Grecian type of
-beauty has lingered here." I do not venture to say yes or no to this
-assertion, for to describe the beauty of the women of a city where
-one has passed only a few hours would seem to me like a license to be
-taken only by the compiler of a "Guide." But one can easily discover
-a decided difference between the Andalusian and Valencian types of
-beauty. The Valencian is taller, more robust, and fairer, with more
-regular features, gentler eyes, and a more matronly walk and carriage.
-She does not possess the bewitching air of the Andalusian, which makes
-it necessary to bite one's finger as if to subdue the sudden and
-alarming insurrection of one's capricious desires at sight of her; but
-the Valencian is a woman whom one regards with a feeling of calmer
-admiration, and while one looks one says, as La Harpe said of the
-Apollo Belvidere, "_Notre tete se releve, notre maintien s'ennoblit_,"
-and instead of imagining a little Andalusian house to hide her from the
-eyes of the world, one longs for a marble palace to receive the ladies
-and cavaliers who will come to render her homage.
-
-If one is to believe the rest of the Spaniards, the Valencian people
-are fierce and cruel beyond all imagination. If one wishes to get rid
-of an enemy, he finds an obliging man who for a few crowns undertakes
-the business with as much indifference as he would accept a commission
-to carry a letter to the post. A Valencian peasant who finds that he
-has a gun in his hands as he passes an unknown man in a lonely street
-says to his companion, "See if I can aim straight?" and takes aim and
-fires. This actually occurred not many years ago: I was assured of its
-truth. In the cities and villages of Spain the boys and young men of
-the people are accustomed to play at being bulls, as they call it. One
-takes the place of the bull and does the butting; another, with a sharp
-stick under his arm like a lance, climbs on the back of a third, who
-represents the horse, and repulses the assaults of the first. Once a
-band of young Valencians thought they would introduce some innovations
-into this sport, and so make it seem a little more realistic and afford
-the spectators and the participants a little more amusement than the
-customary way of playing it; and the innovations were to substitute
-for the stick a long sharp-pointed knife, one of those formidable
-_navajas_ that we saw at Seville, and to give the man who took the part
-of the bull two other shorter knives, which, fastened firmly on either
-side of his head, answered the purpose of horns. It seems incredible,
-but it is true. They played with the knives, shed a sea of blood,
-several were killed, some were mortally wounded, and others badly hurt,
-without the game becoming a fight, without the rules of the sport
-being transgressed, and without any one raising his voice to end the
-slaughter.
-
-I tell these things as they were told to me, although I am far from
-believing all that is said against the Valencians; but it is certain
-that at Valencia the public safety, if not a myth, as our papers
-poetically say in speaking of Romagna and Sicily, is certainly not the
-first of the good things which one enjoys after the blessing of life. I
-was persuaded of this fact the first evening of my stay in the city. I
-did not know the way to the port, but thought I was near it, and asked
-a shop-woman which way I should take. She uttered a cry of astonishment:
-
-"Do you wish to go to the port, _caballero_?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"_Ave Maria purissima!_ to the port at this hour?"
-
-And she turned toward a group of women who were standing by the door,
-and said to them in the Valencian dialect, "Women, do you answer for
-me: this gentleman is asking me the way to the port!"
-
-The women replied in one voice, "God save him!"
-
-"But from what?"
-
-"Don't risk yourself, sir."
-
-"What is your reason?"
-
-"A thousand reasons."
-
-"Tell me one of them?"
-
-"You would be murdered."
-
-One reason was enough for me, as any one can imagine, and I did not go
-to the port.
-
-For the rest, at Valencia as elsewhere, in whatever intercourse I had
-with the people I met only with courtesy as a foreigner and as an
-Italian--a friendly welcome even among those who would not hear foreign
-kings discussed in general, and princes of the house of Savoy in
-particular, and such men were numerous, but they were courteous enough
-to say at once, "Let us not harp on that string." To a foreigner who,
-when asked whence he comes, replies, "I am a Frenchman," they respond
-with an agreeable smile, as if to say, "We recognize each other." To
-one who answers, "I am a German or an Englishman," they make a slight
-inclination of the head, which implies, "I bow to you;" but when one
-replies, "I am an Italian," they eagerly extend the hand as if to
-say, "We are friends;" and they look at one with an air of curiosity,
-as you look for the first time at a person who is said to resemble
-you, and they smile pleasantly on hearing the Italian tongue, as you
-would smile on hearing some one, though in no mocking spirit, imitate
-your voice and accents. In no country in the world does an Italian
-feel nearer home than in Spain. The sky, the speech, the faces, and
-the dress remind him of his fatherland; the veneration with which
-the Spanish pronounce the names of our great poets and our great
-painters, that vague and pleasing sense of curiosity with which they
-speak of our famous cities, the enthusiasm with which they cultivate
-our music, the impulsiveness of their affections, the fire of their
-language, the rhythms of their poetry, the eyes of their women, the air
-and the sun,--oh! an Italian must be without a spark of love for his
-fatherland who does not feel an emotion of sympathy for this country,
-who does not feel inclined to excuse its errors, who does not sincerely
-deplore its misfortunes, who does not desire for it a happy future. O
-beautiful hills of Valencia, smiling banks of the Guadalquivir, charmed
-gardens of Granada, little white cottages of Seville, proud towers of
-Toledo, roaring streets of Madrid, and venerable walls of Saragossa!
-and you, kindly hosts and courteous companions of my travels--you who
-have spoken to me of Italy as of a second fatherland, who with your
-festal gayety have scattered my restless melancholy!--I shall always
-carry deep down in my heart a feeling of gratitude and love for you,
-and I shall cherish your images in my memory, as one of the dearest
-recollections of my youth, and shall always think of you as one of the
-loveliest dreams of my life.
-
-I repeated these words to myself at midnight as I looked over
-brightly-lighted Valencia, leaning against the rail of the good ship
-_Xenil_, which was on the point of sailing. Some young Spaniards had
-come on board with me. They were going to Marseilles to take ship from
-that port to the Antilles, where they expected to remain for some
-years. One of them stood alone weeping; suddenly he raised his head and
-looked toward the shore between two anchored vessels, and exclaimed in
-a tone of desolation, "Oh, my God! I hoped she would not come!"
-
-In a few moments a boat approached the ship; a little white figure,
-followed by a man enveloped in a cloak, hastily climbed the ladder, and
-with a deep sob threw herself into the arms of the young man, who had
-run to meet her.
-
-At that moment the boatswain called, "All off, gentlemen!"
-
-Then there followed a most distressing scene: the two young persons
-were torn apart, and the young lady was borne almost fainting to the
-boat, which pushed off a little and remained motionless.
-
-The ship started.
-
-The young man dashed madly forward toward the rail, and, sobbing, cried
-in a voice that pierced one's heart, "Adieu, darling! adieu! adieu!"
-
-The little white figure stretched out her arms and perhaps responded,
-but her voice was not heard. The boat was dropped behind and
-disappeared.
-
-One of the young men said to me in a whisper, "They are betrothed."
-
-It was a lovely night, but sad. Valencia was soon lost to view, and I
-thought I should never see Spain again, and wept.
-
-
-END OF VOL. II.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX.
-
-
-A.
-
- Abdelasio reconstructs the Alcazar of Seville, ii. 121.
-
- Abdurrahman I. builds the mosque of Cordova, ii. 68.
-
- Abdurrahman I. builds Medina Az-Zahra, ii. 88;
- his happy days, ii. 89.
-
- Abencerrages, Hall of the, Alhambra, ii. 209.
-
- Abrantes, duke d', at the bull-fights, 209.
-
- Absolutist party, 96.
-
- Academy, a dream of the, 280.
-
- Academy of San Fernando, Madrid, 193.
-
- Acquasola gardens, Genoa, 10.
-
- Alameda, Granada, ii. 188, ii. 241.
-
- Alarcon y Mendoza, Juan Ruiz de, dramatist, 169.
-
- Alarmed travellers, ii. 9, ii. 55.
-
- Albaicin at Granada, ii. 244;
- courtyard in, ii. 246;
- fortune-telling, ii. 253;
- government of, ii. 255;
- ignorance in, ii. 256;
- Parisian quarter, ii. 245;
- squalor of, ii. 251.
-
- Albornoz, Gil Carillo de, tomb of, Toledo, ii. 29.
-
- Alcaiceria, Granada, ii. 241.
-
- Alcala street, Madrid, 156, 168.
-
- Alcanadre, Roman aqueduct at, 91.
-
- Alcantara, bridge of, Toledo, ii. 18.
-
- Alcazar de San Juan, ii. 259;
- of Seville, ii. 120;
- of Toledo, ii. 39.
-
- Alcayde of Saragossa's bold republicanism, 83.
-
- Aleardi Gaetano, on the can-can, 171.
-
- Alfonso and the Cid, 121.
-
- Alfonso the Wise, MSS. of, ii. 118;
- tomb of, ii. 109.
-
- Alfonso VIII. defeats the Moors at las Navas de Tolosa, ii. 61.
-
- Alfonso XII., favored by the Moderate party, 96.
-
- Algaba, ii. 118.
-
- Algeciras, Gulf of, ii. 168.
-
- Alhambra, arabesques, ii. 197, 208, ii. 210, ii. 211;
- baths, ii. 211;
- cabinet of Linderaja, ii. 209;
- Charles V.'s palace, ii. 192;
- Court of Lions, ii. 201;
- Court of Myrtles, ii. 194;
- fascination of, ii. 205;
- Gate of Justice, ii. 192;
- grounds of ii. 190;
- Hall of Abencerrages, ii. 209;
- Hall of Barca, ii. 197;
- Hall of Divans, ii. 210;
- Hall of Justice, ii. 206;
- Hall of Oranges, ii. 209;
- Hall of the Ambassadors, ii. 198;
- Hall of the Two Sisters, ii. 207;
- Mirador de la Reina, ii. 212, ii, 215;
- mosque, ii. 216;
- paintings in, ii. 207;
- Patio de la Reja, ii. 212;
- realization of a dream, ii. 200;
- situation of, ii. 190;
- Tower of Commares, ii. 196;
- Tower of the Ambassadors, ii. 196;
- vastness of the, ii. 217;
- view from, ii. 213.
-
- Ali Pacha, relics of, 176.
-
- Almago, Melchiorre, republican journalist, ii. 243.
-
- Almansa, plain of, ii. 260.
-
- Almansur builds Zahira, ii. 89.
-
- Almodovar, castle of, ii. 99.
-
- Altimura, Count d', possesses the fiscal accounts of Gonzalez di
- Cordova, ii. 237.
-
- Alvarez, Gen., house of, at Gerona, 16.
-
- Amadeus at Gerona, 16;
- at Logroño, 85;
- at Madrid, 166, 194;
- at Saragossa, 82;
- at the bull-fights, 213;
- at Valencia, ii. 262;
- character of, 201;
- courage of, 199;
- court-life of, 194;
- encourages bull-fights, 223, 235;
- hostility of the newspapers to, 93, 200;
- hostility of the soldiery to, 204;
- prejudice against, 15, 33, 80.
-
- Ambassadors, Hall of the, Alhambra, ii. 198;
- at Seville, ii. 124;
- Tower of the, Alhambra, ii. 196.
-
- Amusements, 168.
-
- Andalusian characteristics, 36;
- dialect, ii. 93;
- scenery, ii. 61, 100, ii. 177;
- women, ii. 79, ii. 93, ii. 126.
-
- Angels, convent of, Granada, ii. 238.
-
- Ansurez, Pedro, tomb of, 137.
-
- Aosta, duke d'. See Amadeus.
-
- Aqueduct, Roman, at Segovia, 124.
-
- Arabesques in the Alhambra, beauty of, ii. 197;
- intricacy of design, ii. 197, ii. 208, ii. 210, ii. 211.
-
- Aranjuez, arrival at, ii. 10;
- gardens, ii. 12;
- historic associations, ii. 11;
- royal palace, ii. 11;
- suburbs of, ii. 10.
-
- Argamasilla de Alba, birthplace of Don Quixote, ii. 58.
-
- Argensola, the brothers, 72;
- sonnet by, 73.
-
- Arjonilla, ii. 62.
-
- Armory, royal, at Madrid, 174.
-
- Arragon, decay of, 52;
- dialect of, 54;
- independence of, 49;
- mountains of, 48.
-
- Artillery museum at Madrid, 180.
-
- Asturia, prince of, title instituted, 98.
-
- Atocha, Church of Our Lady of, Madrid, 166, 204;
- street of, Madrid, 174.
-
- Avilo, 124.
-
- "Awaiting her in heaven," ii. 227.
-
- Ayala, d', dramatist, 169.
-
-
- B.
-
- Banderillas, de fuego, 226.
-
- Barber of Seville, house of the, ii. 132.
-
- Barcelona, arrival at, 20;
- cafés, 30;
- carnival masqueraders, 22;
- Catalonian peculiarities, 35;
- cathedral, 24;
- cemetery, 27;
- Cervantes on, 42;
- circus, 235;
- dialect, 21;
- foreign hotel waiters, 20;
- palaces, 26;
- revolutionary proclivities, 35;
- Roman ruins, 26;
- streets, 22;
- suburbs, 22;
- theatre, 40;
- women of, 41.
-
- Baretti, Giuseppe, 206; ii. 82.
-
- Barili, Anton Giulio, travelling companion, 10.
-
- Batista, Juan, architect of the Escurial, 260.
-
- Beatrice, Queen, tomb of, ii. 109.
-
- Beggary, modest, 135.
-
- Berruguete, Alonzo, carvings by, at Toledo, ii. 25;
- at Valladolid, 146.
-
- Berseo, poet, 283.
-
- Blanca, Florida, tomb of, Seville, ii. 109.
-
- Boabdil's helmet, 176.
-
- Boccanegra, paintings by, at Granada, ii. 229.
-
- Bohl, Catherine de Faber ("Fernan Caballero"), 281;
- ascetic character of, ii. 140;
- charity of, ii. 141;
- genius of, ii. 139;
- history of, ii. 140.
-
- Boldan, painting by, at Seville, ii. 109.
-
- Bollo, a delicious cake, 31.
-
- Boscan, Juan, poet, influence on Spanish literature, 37.
-
- Bosch, Jacob van den, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Bourse, the, at Saragossa, 74;
- at Valencia, ii. 266.
-
- Brazil, Dom Pedro, emperor of, arrives at Burgos, 123.
-
- Breton de los Herreres, Manuel, dramatist, 169, 281.
-
- Breughel, Jan, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Bridge of Alcantara, Toledo, ii. 18.
-
- Briviesca, States-general, 98.
-
- Brujola, mountain of, 98.
-
- Buen Retiro garden at Madrid, 166, 174.
-
- Bull-fights at Madrid, 206;
- accidents, 225;
- anticipations of, 207;
- arena, the, 203;
- attendance, 208;
- banderillas, de fuego, 226;
- banderilleros, 214, 219, 220;
- brutality of, 227, 229;
- capeadors, 214, 217, 219, 220;
- chulos or apprentices, 214, 216, 217;
- dangers of, 229;
- death of the bull, 222, 228;
- disgusting spectacle, 218;
- entrance of the cuadrilla, 214;
- entrance of the bull, 215;
- espadas, 221;
- excitement of audience, 215, 224;
- exits, the, 232;
- fights in the audience, 230;
- final impressions, 231;
- getting into position, 215;
- history of, 234;
- Homeric struggle, 221;
- national amusement, the, 235;
- picadores, 214, 216, 218;
- picturesque scene, 214;
- sale of tickets, 207;
- torturing the bulls into fighting, 226;
- trophies of victory, 223;
- with other wild animals, 239.
-
- Bull-fighters, amateur, 237;
- artistic gradations, 241;
- dress, 240;
- female toreros, 238;
- lucrative business, 241.
-
- Burgos, arrival at, 98;
- birthplace of the Cid, 119;
- cathedral, 104;
- Cid's coffer, 112;
- gate of St. Maria, 104;
- houses, 101;
- municipal palace, 103;
- "remains of the Cid," 103;
- seats of the first judges, 103;
- "The Christ," 111;
- streets, 101;
- tobacco-shops, 118;
- undertaker's shop, 117;
- women hotel servants, 99.
-
- Byron, Lord, writing of, at the Alhambra, ii. 216.
-
-
- C.
-
- Caballero, Fernan. See Bohl, Catherine.
-
- Cadiz, arrival at, ii. 158;
- astronomical facilities, ii. 163;
- bird's-eye view, ii. 162;
- cathedral, ii. 163;
- circus, 235;
- commercial decay, ii. 161;
- historical remains, ii. 161;
- houses, ii. 160;
- Murillo's last painting, ii. 163;
- revolutionary tendencies, ii. 160;
- streets, ii. 160;
- whiteness, ii. 158;
- women, ii. 164.
-
- Cafés: Barcelona, 30;
- Madrid, 173;
- Miranda, 95.
-
- Calahorra, battle of, 91.
-
- Calderon de la Barca, Pedro, poet, 169;
- ii. 93.
-
- Calderon, Francesco, the matador, 207;
- patronizes cock-fights, 249, 250.
-
- Campana, Pedro, paintings by, at Seville, ii. 109.
-
- Can-can at Madrid, 171.
-
- Candan, political leader, 96.
-
- Cano, Alonzo, character of, ii. 231;
- hatred of Jews, ii. 231;
- history of, ii. 230;
- paintings by, at Granada, ii. 230, ii. 235;
- at Madrid, 182, 193;
- at Seville, ii. 132.
-
- Canovas del Castillo, political leader, 96.
-
- Canovist party, 96.
-
- Carbajal, Bernardino, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 193.
-
- Cardenas, paintings by, at Valladolid, 143.
-
- Cardenio's penance, scene of, ii. 60.
-
- Carducci, Vincenzo, paintings by, at Madrid, 182;
- at Valladolid, 143.
-
- Carlists, 32, 33, 96, 194.
-
- Carlos I., Don, tomb of, 266.
-
- Carlos II., Don, tomb of, 266.
-
- Carlos III., Don, tomb of, 266.
-
- Carnival masqueraders at Barcelona, 22;
- at Saragossa, 65, 68.
-
- Cartuja convent, Granada, ii. 245.
-
- Castaños, Gen. Francisco Xavier, defeated at Tudela, 91.
-
- Castelar, Emilio, as an orator, 279;
- as a political leader, 80, 96;
- eloquence, 276;
- friendship, 291;
- on Arragon, 50;
- personal popularity, 277;
- ruler of the Assembly, 279.
-
- Castilian dialect, 39, 55;
- scenery, 124.
-
- Castillego, ii. 55.
-
- Castles: Almodovar, ii. 99;
- Hornachuelos, ii. 99;
- Monzon, 51;
- Pancorbo, 98;
- San Servando, ii. 41.
-
- Catalan characteristics, 35;
- dialect, 15, 39;
- dress, 18;
- hospitality, 148;
- school-boys, 46.
-
- Catalonia, description of, 18, 48.
-
- Cathedrals: Barcelona, 24;
- Burgos, 104;
- Cadiz, ii. 163;
- Cordova, ii. 74;
- Granada, ii. 329;
- Our Lady of the Pillar, Saragossa, 60;
- San Salvador, Saragossa, 65;
- Seville, ii. 108;
- Toledo, ii. 23;
- Valencia, ii. 266;
- Valladolid, 136.
-
- Cava, Los Baños de la, at Toledo, ii. 46.
-
- Cayetano, the matador, 214, 240.
-
- Cellini, Benvenuto, crucifix by, at the Escurial, 263.
-
- Cemetery, Barcelona, 27.
-
- Cervantes, Saavedra Miguel de, at Seville, ii. 103;
- house at Valladolid, 137;
- imprisoned at Argamasilla de Alba, ii. 58;
- naturalness of Don Quixote, ii. 57;
- on Barcelona, 42;
- popularity of, 286;
- statue at Madrid, 156;
- story of, 139.
-
- Cervellon, Count di, entertains Amadeus at Valencia, ii. 262.
-
- Cervera, 48.
-
- Ceuta, ii. 168.
-
- Cespedes, Pablo de, born at Cordova, ii. 90;
- paintings by, at Seville, ii. 132;
- quotation from, ii. 90.
-
- Charlemagne and the Moor, ii. 43.
-
- Charles I. (afterward Emperor Charles V. of Germany), altar at
- the Escurial, 272;
- anger at the destruction of mosque of Cordova, ii. 74;
- apartments at Aranjuez, ii. 13;
- a bull-fighter, 234;
- converts mosque of the Alhambra into a chapel, ii. 216;
- married in Alcazar of Seville, ii. 121;
- monumental gate at Burgos, 104;
- on the Spanish language, 160;
- palace in the Alhambra, ii. 192;
- relics of, 175, 176, ii. 112;
- statue at the Escurial, 262;
- tomb at the Escurial, 265, 267.
-
- Charles II. encourages bull-fights, 234;
- portrait at the Escurial, 264.
-
- Charles III. forbids bull-fights, 235;
- statue at Burgos, 102.
-
- Charles IV.'s billiard-room in palace of Aranjuez, ii. 13;
- resigns the crown, ii. 11.
-
- Chateaubriaud, François Auguste, Viscount de, writing in the
- Alhambra, ii. 216.
-
- Chocolate, Spanish, 31.
-
- Chorizos, 14, 162.
-
- Christina abdicates the throne at Valencia, ii. 262;
- promenade, Seville, ii. 104.
-
- Chulos, 214.
-
- Churches: Nuestra Señora, Toledo, ii. 50;
- Our Lady of Atocha, Madrid, 166;
- San Geronimo, Granada, ii. 235;
- San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo, ii. 36;
- Santiago, Saragossa, 74;
- St. Agnes, Burgos, 121.
-
- Cid Campeador, the, and King Alfonso, 121;
- and the Jew, 120;
- at Valencia, ii. 266;
- birthplace, 120;
- coffer, 112;
- portrait of, 104;
- remains, 103;
- statue, 104;
- sword, 176;
- originator of bull-fights, 234.
-
- Cigars and cigarettes, 118;
- vs. pipes, 132.
-
- Cimbrios party, 96.
-
- Claude, Lorraine, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Clot, 19.
-
- Cock-fighting at Madrid, 248;
- arena, the, 249;
- audience, 250;
- disgusting spectacle, 256;
- gambling on, 252, 254.
-
- Coello, Claudio, paintings by, at Madrid, 193;
- at the Escurial, 264.
-
- Colantes as an orator, 276.
-
- Collantes, Francisco, paintings by, at Madrid, 193.
-
- College of San Gregorio, Valladolid, 135;
- Santa Cruz, Valladolid, 443.
-
- Columbian library at Seville, ii. 118.
-
- Columbus, Christopher, annotations in books in library of
- Seville, ii. 118;
- armor of, 175;
- portrait of, 178;
- mementoes of, ii. 103.
-
- Columbus, Ferdinand, history of, ii. 115;
- library of, ii, 118;
- note on his father's annotations, ii. 118;
- tomb of, ii. 114.
-
- Concerts at Madrid, 173.
-
- Conde, Henry II. de Bourbon, prince de, sword of, 176.
-
- Conservative party, 96.
-
- Consuelo the beautiful, ii. 81.
-
- Consul, seeking the protection of the, ii. 106.
-
- Convents: Angels, Granada, ii. 235;
- Cartuja, Granada, ii. 235;
- of the Escurial, 268;
- Santo Domingo, Granada, ii. 235;
- San Pablo, Valladolid, 134.
-
- Cook, Capt. James, cane of, 180.
-
- Cookery, Spanish, 14, 160; ii. 223.
-
- Cordova, arrival at, ii. 62;
- at night, ii. 80;
- cathedral, ii. 74;
- Consuelo the beautiful, ii. 81;
- departed glory, ii. 62;
- impressions of, ii. 67;
- mosque, ii. 68;
- patio, a, ii. 65;
- pearl of the Orient, ii. 66;
- preaching the Holy War, ii. 75;
- relics of the past, ii. 80;
- streets of, ii. 64.
-
- Cordova, General de, at Saragossa, 84.
-
- Corregio, Antonio Allegri da, painting by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Cortes, the, 274;
- deputies, 274;
- oratorical displays, 275.
-
- Cortez, Hernando, portrait of, 178;
- sword of, 176.
-
- Cosa, Juan de la, map by, at Madrid, 178.
-
- Costumes of peasantry: Andalusian, ii. 100;
- Catalan, 18;
- Cordovan, ii. 58;
- Granadan, ii. 189;
- Madrid, 165;
- Saragossan, 56;
- Valencian, ii. 270.
-
- Country houses, ii. 100.
-
- Courts: Lions, Alhambra, ii. 201;
- Myrtles, Alhambra, ii. 194;
- Oranges, Seville, ii. 115.
-
- Court-life under Amadeus, 198.
-
- Courtesy inherent in the Spanish people, 53, 290.
-
- Cuco the matador, 207; ii. 94.
-
- Currency, Spanish, 118.
-
- Custejon, 92.
-
- Customs officials, 14, 95.
-
- Cybele, fountain of, at Madrid, 166.
-
-
- D.
-
- "Daggers," ii. 55.
-
- Daguet, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- "Dance de los seises," ii. 112.
-
- Darro, the, ii. 213.
-
- Democratic party, 96.
-
- Democratic Progressionist party, 96, 97.
-
- Deronda, Francisco Romero, the torero, 235.
-
- Dialects: Andalusian, ii. 93;
- Arragonese, 55;
- Barcelonian, 20;
- Castilian, 55;
- Catalan, 15, 39;
- Madrid, 158;
- Perpignan, 12;
- Valencian, ii. 275;
- Valladolid, 132.
-
- Dinadamar, hill of, ii. 240.
-
- Discoveries, cabinet of, Naval Museum, Madrid, 177.
-
- Djihad, or Holy War, ii. 76.
-
- Domenichino, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Dominoes, popularity of game of, 31.
-
- Don Quixote on Barcelona, 42;
- popularity of, 286;
- true to life, ii. 57.
-
- Door-keys in Madrid, 171.
-
- Drama, 169.
-
- Drunkenness rare in Spain, 162.
-
- Dumas, Alexandre, on Spanish cookery, 160.
-
- Dürer, Albert, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
-
- E.
-
- Ebro, commerce on the, 51;
- description of, 92.
-
- Economist party, 96.
-
- Education in Granada, ii. 242.
-
- Egon ad Agoncilla, ruins of, 91.
-
- Elpidius, bishop of Toledo, ii. 27.
-
- Elvira Gate, Granada, ii. 240.
-
- Escurial, the, arrival at, 258;
- altar of Santa Forma, 264;
- cell of Philip II., 261;
- church, 262;
- convent, 268;
- courtyard, 261;
- gardens, 272;
- gloominess, 273;
- history of, 260;
- holy relics, 272;
- horrible place, 267;
- library, 268;
- pantheon, 265;
- picture-gallery, 268;
- royal palace, 261;
- sacristy, 264;
- statues, 262;
- tombs, 265;
- view from, 153, 272;
- village, 259.
-
- Espadas, famous, 214;
- dangerous life of, 230;
- skill of, 221.
-
- Espartero, Gen. Baldemero, addresses Amadeus, 85.
-
- Esperondo la del Cielo, house of, ii. 227.
-
- Esproncedo, Jose de, the Byron of Spain, 282;
- popularity of, 287;
- quotation from, 136.
-
- Exaggeration, the national failing, 287.
-
-
- F.
-
- Fadrique, Don, blood of, ii. 122;
- murdered by Don Pedro's orders, ii. 123.
-
- Farcical revenge, a, 71.
-
- Fatherly admonitions, 54.
-
- Federalist party, 96, 97.
-
- Ferdinand III. (the Saint) captures Seville, ii. 121;
- relics of, ii. 110;
- tomb of, 109.
-
- Ferdinand V. (the Catholic), oratory in Alcazar of Seville, 124;
- relics of, ii. 233;
- tomb of, ii. 234.
-
- Ferdinand VII. annuls the constitution, ii. 262;
- encourages bull-fighting, 235;
- tomb of, 266.
-
- Ferrer, Vincenzo, in Seville cathedral, ii. 116.
-
- Figueras, political leader, 80, 96.
-
- First glimpses of Spain, 14.
-
- Florinda, legend of, ii. 46.
-
- Flor, Roger de, a typical Arragonese, 50.
-
- Fomento picture-gallery, Madrid, 193.
-
- Fortune-telling in the Albaicin, Granada, ii. 253.
-
- Fountain of Cybele, Madrid, 166.
-
- Fra Angelica, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Francis I., shield of, 176.
-
- Frascuelo the matador, 207, 214, 221, 225, 240, 242; ii. 94;
- interview with, 242.
-
- Fricci in opera at Madrid, 168; ii. 152.
-
- Fronterizos party, 96.
-
- Fruit, Spanish, 162.
-
- Fugitive wife, a, 69.
-
- Funeral memorial ceremonies of the second of May, 243.
-
-
- G.
-
- Galafro, legend of King, ii. 43.
-
- Galiana, palaces of, ii. 43.
-
- Gallegos, Don Juan Nicasio, poet, 282.
-
- Gamero, Antonio, historian of Toledo, ii. 48.
-
- Garbanzos, 161.
-
- Garcilaso de la Vega, poet, 37;
- armor of, 176.
-
- Gardens: Alcazar, Seville, ii. 125;
- Aranjuez, ii. 12;
- Buen Retiro, Madrid, 174;
- Escurial, 271;
- Montpensier, Seville, ii. 117.
-
- Garrido, political leader, 96.
-
- Gates: Elvira, Granada, ii. 240;
- Justice, Alhambra, ii. 192;
- Santa Maria, Burgos, 104.
-
- Gayangos, Pascual y, the Orientalist, 281.
-
- Geber, architect of the Giralda at Seville, ii. 116.
-
- Generalife, Granada, ii. 213;
- description of, ii. 225;
- view from, ii. 226.
-
- Genoa, 10.
-
- Gerona, arrival at, 16;
- Amadeus at, 16.
-
- Gibraltar, rock of, ii. 168;
- Straits of, ii. 167.
-
- Giordano Luci, paintings by, at Madrid, 182;
- frescoes by, at the Escurial, 262, 264, 268;
- at Toledo, ii. 30.
-
- Giralda of Seville, the, ii. 116;
- first sight of, ii. 101;
- view from, ii. 117.
-
- Gitane of Seville, the, ii. 128.
-
- Godoy, Alvarez de Faria Rios Sanches y Zarsoa, Prince of Peace, ii. 11.
-
- Golden Tower, Seville, ii. 103.
-
- Gongora y Argote, Luis, poet, 129;
- birthplace at Cordova, ii. 92.
-
- Gongora, Señor, ii. 187, _et seq._
-
- Gonzales, Ferdinand (first Count of Castile), monument to, 119;
- portrait of, 104;
- statue of, 104;
- sword of, 176;
- tomb of, 114.
-
- Gonzalez, Fernandez y, novelist, 282.
-
- Gonzalez di Cordova, anecdote of, ii. 235;
- tomb, ii. 235.
-
- Goya, Francisco, criticism on, 185;
- love of bull-fights, 184;
- paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183;
- sanguinary genius, a, 184;
- tapestries by, in the Escurial, 261.
-
- Granada, Alameda, ii. 188;
- Albaicin, ii. 244;
- Alcaiceria, ii. 241;
- Alhambra, ii. 190;
- arrival at, ii. 186;
- Audiencia square, ii. 244;
- birthplace of famous men, ii. 243;
- Cartuja, ii. 235;
- cathedral, ii. 229;
- church of San Geronimo, ii. 235;
- convent of Santa Domingo, ii. 235;
- convent of The Angels, ii. 235;
- education, ii. 242;
- Generalife, ii. 213, ii. 225;
- markets, ii. 241;
- Monte Sacro, ii. 235;
- royal chapel, ii. 232;
- ruins, ii. 240;
- streets, ii. 187, ii. 190, ii. 241;
- Vega, ii. 260.
-
- Granada, Fray Louis de, ii. 243.
-
- Granallers, 19.
-
- Gravina, Admiral Frederick de, relics of, 179.
-
- Guadaira, ill-fated steamer, ii. 146.
-
- Guadalquivir, the, ii. 59, ii. 60, ii. 101; ii. 118, ii. 150.
-
- Guadiana, valley of the, ii. 59.
-
- Guerra, Fernandez, archæologist, 281, 291; ii. 187.
-
- Guides, Spanish, persistency of, ii. 26.
-
- Guido, Reni, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Guest-houses, 157.
-
- Gutierrez, Antonio Garcia, dramatist, 169.
-
-
- H.
-
- Halls: Abencerrages, Alhambra, ii. 209;
- Ambassadors, Alhambra, ii. 198;
- Barca, Alhambra, ii. 197;
- Divans, Alhambra, ii. 210;
- Justice, Alhambra, ii. 206;
- Oranges, Alhambra, ii. 209;
- Two Sisters, Alhambra, ii. 207.
-
-
- Hartzenbusch, Juan Eugenio, dramatist, 169, 281, 291.
-
- Heat, intense, ii. 260.
-
- Henry II. (de Transtamare), defeated by Pedro the Cruel, 91;
- tomb of, ii. 29
-
- Henry III. and Papa Moscas, 113;
- tomb of, ii. 29.
-
- Hernandez, sculptures by, at Valladolid, 146.
-
- Herrera, Francisco, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 193;
- at Seville, ii. 109, ii. 132;
- at the Escurial, 263.
-
- Herrera, Juan de, architect of palace of Aranjuez, ii. 11;
- of the Escurial, 260.
-
- Historical Progressionist party, 96.
-
- Holy Cross, relics of the, 272.
-
- "Honor of Spain," 290.
-
- Hornachuelos, castle of, ii. 99.
-
- Hospitality, Catalan, 148.
-
- Hospital of Santa Cruz, Toledo, ii. 44.
-
- Hotel porters at Barcelona, 20;
- women as, 99.
-
- Huerva river, at Saragossa, 77.
-
- Hugo Victor's Mirabeau, ii. 107;
- at the Alhambra, ii. 216.
-
-
- I.
-
- "Il Trovatore," quotation from, ii. 153.
-
- Inquisition, palaces of; at Barcelona, 26;
- at Valladolid, 146.
-
- International Socialist party, 96.
-
- Isabella the Catholic opposed to bull-fights, 234;
- oratory in the Alcazar of Seville, ii. 124;
- relics of, ii. 233;
- sword of, 176;
- tomb of, ii. 234.
-
- Isabella II. at Madrid, 197;
- at Valencia, ii. 262;
- dressing-chamber at Aranjuez, ii. 12;
- encourages bull-fighting, 235;
- favored by the Moderate party, 96.
-
- Isabella, Empress, statue of, 262.
-
- Italian, the language of opera, 171.
-
- Italians, prejudice against, 34, 138.
-
- Italica, ruins of, ii. 101.
-
-
- Italy and Spain, compared, ii. 220.
-
- Itimad, a dream of, ii. 125.
-
-
- J.
-
- Jerez, circus at, 235.
-
- Joanes, Juan de, criticism on, 192;
- paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.
-
- Joanna the Mad, tomb of, ii. 234.
-
- John, Don, of Austria, 25.
-
- John I. of Castile and the States-General, 98.
-
- John II. of Austria, heart of, 63;
- sword of, 176.
-
- John II., admiration of de Mena's "Labyrinth," ii. 92;
- tomb of, ii. 29.
-
- John Frederick, duke of Saxony, armor of, 176.
-
- Jordaens, Jacob, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Juegos floreales, ii. 172.
-
- Julian, Count, revenge of, ii. 46.
-
- Juni, Juan de, sculptures by, at Valladolid, 146.
-
-
- K.
-
- Knives, ii. 135.
-
-
- L.
-
- La Costa, Gen., killed at Saragossa, 59.
-
- La Cruz, Ramon de, dramatist, 170.
-
- Lagartijo the matador, 214, 240, 241; ii. 94.
-
- La Harpe, Jean François, on the Apollo Belvidere, ii. 272.
-
- Lainus Calvo, judge of Castile, 103.
-
- La Mancha, ii. 56, ii. 260.
-
- Language, Italian, in opera, 171;
- Spanish, allied to the Italian, 159;
- pronunciation of, 159.
- See also Dialect.
-
- Lauria, Roger de, 50.
-
- Leon, Louis de, 54;
- born in Granada, ii. 243.
-
- Leonardo, Lupercio, sonnet to, 73.
-
- Leopardi Giacomo, Count, 283;
- ii. 9;
- in Seville cathedral, ii. 111;
- on Spanish pride, 284.
-
- Lepanto, relics of battle of, 25, 174, 176.
-
- Lerida, 48.
-
- Light-fingered gentry, 98.
-
- Literature, discouragements of, 282;
- dramatic, 283;
- national pride in, 287;
- present state of, 280;
- contests of genius at Cordova, ii. 94.
-
- Logroño, Amadeus at, 85;
- Moorish ruins at, 91.
-
- Loneliness of travel, ii. 47, ii. 67, ii. 105.
-
- Lope de Vega's criticism of Gongorist poets, ii. 93;
- houses at Madrid, 156;
- popularity, ii. 9.
-
- Lorraine. See Claude Lorraine.
-
- Louis I., tomb of, 266.
-
- Love, travelling for, 13.
-
- Loyola, Ignatius, at Montserrat, 46.
-
- Luna, Don Alvaro de, tomb of, ii. 29.
-
- Lunatic asylum, Toledo, ii. 51.
-
-
- M.
-
- Madrazo, Federico de, paintings by, at Madrid, 183.
-
- Madrid, academy of San Fernando, 193;
- amusements, 168;
- armory, 174;
- arrival at, 154;
- Buen Retiro garden, 174;
- bull-fights, 206;
- cafés, 173;
- church of Our Lady of Atocha, 166;
- Fomento art-gallery, 193;
- guest-houses, 157;
- language, 157;
- markets, 174;
- museum of artillery, 180;
- museum of fine arts, 181;
- naval museum, 177;
- opera, 168;
- Prado, 166;
- Puerta del Sol, 155;
- Recoletos promenade, 167;
- royal palace, 154;
- serenos, 172;
- streets, 156, 163;
- suburbs, 173.
-
- Maksura of mosque of Cordova, ii. 69.
-
- Malaga, ii. 170;
- literary academy, ii. 171;
- poetical contests, ii. 172;
- popular characteristics, ii. 173;
- streets, ii. 170;
- wine of, ii. 172.
-
- Manners of the Spaniards, 290.
-
-
- Manzoni, Alessandro, 189.
-
- Margall, Pi y, political leader, 96;
- oratory of, 276.
-
- Maria, granddaughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, tomb of, ii. 234.
-
- Maria Louisa of Savoy, tomb of, 266.
-
- Marini, Giambattista, influence on Italian poetry, ii. 92.
-
- Markets: Granada, ii. 241;
- Madrid, 174;
- Valencia, ii. 269;
- Valladolid, 132.
-
- Marseilles, 11.
-
- Martina the torera, 238.
-
- Martinez de la Rosa, Francisco, 282, ii. 243;
- exiled in London, 65;
- quotation from, ii. 185.
-
- Martos, political leader, 96;
- oratory of, 226.
-
- Mascagni, Donato, paintings by, at Valladolid, 143.
-
- Masked balls, 86.
-
- May, second of, funeral memorial ceremonies, 243;
- monument to, 247.
-
- Medina Az-Zahra, ii. 88.
-
- Medina-Coeli, family, owners of the Casa de Pilato, ii. 136.
-
- Mena, Juan de, "Labyrinth," ii. 92;
- popularity of, 287;
- street of, ii. 92.
-
- Menendez, paintings by, at Madrid, 193.
-
- Mengs, Anton Rafael, paintings by, at Madrid, 183.
-
- Menjibar, ii. 259.
-
- Merced, marquis de, 207.
-
- Merriones, Gen., victories over Carlists, 288.
-
- Michelangelo, Buonarroti, Cespedes's tribute to, ii. 90;
- paintings by, at Burgos, 109;
- at Madrid, 182.
-
- Mihrab of mosque of Cordova, ii. 72.
-
- Military Museum of London possesses Gonzalez di Cordova's fiscal
- accounts, ii. 237.
-
- Militia system, 202.
-
- Mirabeau, Victor Hugo's description of, ii. 107.
-
- Miranda, 94.
-
- Moderate party, 96, 97.
-
- Monastery of Montserrat, 46.
-
-
- Monegro, Battista, statue by, 262.
-
- Montegna, paintings by, at Seville, ii. 109.
-
- Montpensier gardens, Seville, ii. 117, ii. 127;
- palace, ii. 104.
-
- Montpensier, duke of, at Madrid, 197;
- party, 96, 97.
-
- Montserrat, description of, 45;
- excursion to, 46;
- monastery of, 46.
-
- Monzon, 50;
- castle, 51.
-
- Moorish art, ii. 207;
- ruins, ii. 240.
-
- Morales, Ambrosio, born in Cordova, ii. 90.
-
- Moret, political leader, 96.
-
- Moreto, Don Augustin, dramatist, 169.
-
- Mosque of Cordova, ii. 68;
- of the Alhambra, ii. 216.
-
- Mozarabe chapel, Toledo, ii. 29.
-
- Mulato, paintings by, at Seville, ii. 109, ii. 132.
-
- Murat, Joachim, 50.
-
- Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban, a painter of saints and virgins, 191;
- death of, ii. 163;
- estimate of his genius, 192;
- last painting, ii. 163;
- mementoes of, ii. 103;
- painting by, at Granada, ii. 235;
- at Madrid, 182, 183;
- at Seville, ii. 109, ii. 129;
- statue at Madrid, 156, 292.
-
-
- N.
-
- Naples, king of, demands an accounting from Gonzalez di Cordova, ii. 235.
-
- Navagero, Andrea, influences poetry of Boscan, 37.
-
- Navajas, ii. 136.
-
- Navarrete, battle of, 91.
-
- Navarrete, Juan Fernandez (El Mudo), paintings by, at Madrid, 193;
- at the Escurial, 263.
-
- News from Spain, 10.
-
- Newspapers hostile to Amadeus, 93, 200.
-
- Nun, the flirting, 53.
-
- Nunes, Duke Ferdinand, at the bull-fight, 209.
-
- Night journey to Aranjuez, ii. 9;
- to Barcelona, 13;
- to Burgos, 97;
- to Cadiz, ii. 149;
- to Cordova, ii. 55;
- to Granada, ii. 181.
-
-
-
- O.
-
- O'Campo, Florian d', at Toledo, ii. 90.
-
- O'Donnell, Gen. Leopold, Spanish estimate of, 288.
-
- Olesa de Montserrat, 47.
-
- Olivares, Duke de, portrait of, by Velasquez, 183, 188;
- sword of, 176.
-
- Opera at Madrid, 168.
-
- Oranges, Court of, Cordova, ii. 69;
- Court of Seville, ii. 15;
- Hall of, Alhambra, ii. 207.
-
- Our Lady of Atocha, church of, at Madrid, 166;
- of the Pillar, Saragossa, 60.
-
-
- P.
-
- Pacheco, Francisco, paintings by, at Madrid, 193;
- at Seville, ii. 132.
-
- Padilla, Lopez de, assists in the murder of Don Fadrique, ii. 123.
-
- Padilla, Maria de, apartments of, in the Alcazar of
- Seville, ii. 124, 145;
- mementoes of, ii. 102.
-
- Painting, museums: Escurial, 268;
- Fomento, Madrid, 193;
- Madrid, 181;
- Seville, ii. 129;
- Toledo, ii. 37;
- Valencia, ii. 260;
- Valladolid, 143.
-
- Palaces: Audiencia, Valencia, ii. 266;
- Burgos, 102;
- Charles V., Granada, ii. 192;
- Consistorial, Barcelona, 26;
- Deputation, Barcelona, 26;
- Galiana, 43;
- Inquisition, Barcelona, 26;
- Inquisition, Valladolid, 146;
- Royal, Aranjuez, ii. 11;
- Royal, Escurial, 261;
- Royal, Madrid, 154;
- Royal, Valladolid, 133.
-
- Palafox, José, at Saragossa, 77.
-
- Palma, ii. 99.
-
- Pancorbo, 98;
- castle destroyed, 98.
-
- Paolo Veronese, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.
-
- Papal question, the, 12, 34, 138.
-
- Papa Moscas, legend of, 113.
-
- Pareja, Juan de, paintings by, at Cordova, ii. 58;
- at Madrid, 193.
-
- Party spirit, 96, 289, ii. 60.
-
- Patio, described, ii. 65;
- at Seville,
- ii. 163;
- de la Reja, Alhambra, ii. 212;
- de los Arrayanes, Alhambra, ii. 194.
-
- Patriotism vs. common sense, ii. 222.
-
- Peasantry: Andalusian, ii. 100;
- Catalan, 18;
- Cordovan, ii. 58;
- of Madrid, 165;
- Saragossan, 56.
-
- Pedro Abad, ii. 62.
-
- Pedro the Cruel, apartments of, in the Alcazar of Seville, ii. 124;
- defeats Henry of Transtamare, 91;
- mementoes of, ii. 103;
- murders Don Fadrique, ii. 122;
- restores the Alcazar of Seville, ii. 120;
- treasure-house, ii. 103.
-
- Perpignan dialect, 12.
-
- Pescara, Marquis de, armor of, 176.
-
- Philibert, Emmanuel, armor of, 175, 176.
-
- Philip I., tomb of, ii. 231.
-
- Philip II., armor of, 175, 176;
- birthplace at Valladolid, 134;
- books in the library of the Escurial, 268;
- builds palace of Aranjuez, ii. 11, ii. 13;
- builds the Escurial, 260;
- cell of, 261;
- his personality pervades the Escurial, 271;
- statue of, 262;
- sword of, 176;
- tomb of, 265, 266.
-
- Philip III. encourages bull-fights, 234;
- tomb of, 265, 266.
-
- Philip IV., a royal bull-fighter, 235;
- statue of, 156;
- tomb of, 265, 266.
-
- Philip V. encourages bull-fights, 235;
- his garden of St. Ildefonso, 124.
-
- Philip of Bourgoyne, carvings by, at Burgos, 111;
- at Toledo, ii. 25.
-
- Piedmontese waiters in hotel at Barcelona, 20.
-
- Pilate's house, Seville, ii. 136.
-
- Pillar, church of Our Lady of the, Saragossa, 60.
-
- Pius V. presents holy relics to Ribera, ii. 137.
-
- Pizarro, Francisco, as a bull-fighter, 234;
- portrait of, 178;
- sword of, 176.
-
-
- Plazas: Alameda, Granada, ii. 188, ii. 241;
- Campo Grande, Valladolid, 131;
- Constitution, Saragossa, 74;
- Cortez, Madrid, 156;
- Mayor, Burgos, 123;
- Mayor, Madrid, 156;
- Mayor, Valladolid, 131;
- Orient, Madrid, 156;
- Puerto del Sol, Madrid, 155;
- San Pablo, Valladolid, 133.
-
- Poetical contests, ii. 171;
- rivalry, 38.
-
- Politeness, Spanish, 52.
-
- Political leaders, 96.
-
- Politics, absorbing interest in, 15, 32, 95, 147;
- partisanship in, 289; ii. 267.
-
- Pompey defeated by Sertorius at Calahorra, 91.
-
- Poussin, Nicolas, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Prado, Madrid, 166.
-
- Praga, Emile, on Nature, ii. 259.
-
- Prati, Giovanni, quotation from, ii. 269.
-
- Pride, national, characteristic of the Spanish, 284.
-
- Priests, friendly, 46, 54.
-
- Prim, Gen. Juan, assassination of, at Madrid, 156, 166;
- high estimation of, 288.
-
- Puchero, the national dish, 161.
-
- Puerto del Sol, at Madrid, 155, 163;
- at Toledo, ii. 18.
-
- Puerto Real, ii. 162.
-
- Puerto de Santa Maria, ii. 162;
- circus at, 238.
-
- Pyrenees, the, 48, 92;
- crossing the, 13.
-
-
- Q.
-
- Quintana, Manuel José, poet of the Revolution, 282, 291.
-
- Quevedo, Francisco Gomez, on Valladolid, 129.
-
-
- R.
-
- Radical party, 96.
-
- Railway travel, 52; ii. 55; ii. 175.
-
- Raphael, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.
-
- Rasura, Nunnius, judge of Castile, 103.
-
- Recoletos promenade at Madrid, 167.
-
-
- Rembrandt von, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Republican opinions, 15, 16, 32, 80;
- of the soldiers, 205;
- party, 96, 97.
-
- Restaurants, Cordova, ii. 81.
-
- Revenge, a farcical, 71.
-
- Ribera, Enriquez de, builds the Casa de Pilato, ii. 136.
-
- Ribera, José, criticism of his genius, 186;
- a lover of the horrible, 188;
- paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183;
- at the Escurial, 264.
-
- Ribera, Pedro Afan de, viceroy of Naples, ii. 137.
-
- Ribero, political leader, 96.
-
- Ricanati, quotation from, ii. 14.
-
- Rinconado, ii. 101.
-
- Rios, Amador de los, critic, 281.
-
- Rivas, Duke de, 282.
-
- Rizzi, Francisco, paintings by, at Madrid, 193.
-
- Roa, Ferdinand de, kills Don Fadrique, ii. 123.
-
- Roderic and the enchanted tower, ii. 45;
- and Florinda, ii. 46.
-
- Roelas, Juan de las, paintings by, at Seville, ii. 109.
-
- Rojas, Francisco de, 169;
- native of Toledo, ii. 49
-
- Rodriguez as an orator, 276, 291;
- political leader, 96.
-
- Roman aqueduct at Alcanadre, 91;
- at Segovia, 124;
- ruins at Barcelona, 26.
-
- Ros de Olano invents the soldier cap, 24.
-
- Rosas, Rios y, political leader, 96;
- oratory of, 276.
-
- Resell, Gen., at Saragossa, 84.
-
- Rubens, Peter Paul, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183;
- at Valladolid, 144.
-
- Ruins of Alcanadre, 91;
- Egon ad Agoncilla, 91;
- Logroño, 91.
-
- Ruiz Garcia, political leader, 96.
-
-
- S.
-
- Saavedra, Señor, 291, 292.
-
- Sagasta, Praxedes Mateo, political leader, 79, 96, 97;
- a modern Cardenio, ii. 60.
-
- St. Agnes, church of, Burgos, 121.
-
-
- St. Andrea de Palomar, 19.
-
- St. Anthony of Padua, Murillo's, ii. 129.
-
- St. Eugenia, tomb of, ii. 29.
-
- St. Eulalia, tomb of, 28.
-
- St. Ferdinand, chapel of, Seville, ii. 109.
-
- St. George Chapel, Barcelona, 26.
-
- St. Ildefonso, garden of Philip V., 124.
-
- St. Isadore, memorial ceremony at church of, 244.
-
- St. James, the first bishop of Toledo, ii. 23;
- and the Virgin Mary, 61.
-
- St. Lawrence, Philip II.'s vow to, 260;
- relic of, 272.
-
- St. Leucadia, tomb of, ii. 29.
-
- St. Theresa, birthplace of, 124;
- inkhorn of, 272;
- mementoes of, ii. 103.
-
- Salamanca, a suburb of Madrid, 167, 208.
-
- Salvator Rosa, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Salvini, Tommaso, as Samson, ii. 107.
-
- San Fernando, Madrid, academy of, 193.
-
- San Geronimo, church of, ii. 235.
-
- San Ginés, church of, ii. 44.
-
- San Gregorio, college of, 135.
-
- San José, church of, Madrid, 204.
-
- San Juan de los Reyes, church of, ii. 36.
-
- San Pablo, convent of, 134.
-
- San Quentin, Philip II.'s vow at battle of, 260;
- relics of, 174.
-
- San Salvador, Saragossa, 65.
-
- San Servando, castle of, ii. 41.
-
- Santa Cruz, hospital of, ii. 50.
-
- Santa Cruz de Mudela, ii. 58.
-
- Santa Cruz, Marquis of, armor of, 176.
-
- Santa Domingo, convent of, ii. 235.
-
- Santa Maria, gate of, Burgos, 104.
-
- Santa Maria la Blanca, synagogue of, ii. 38.
-
- Santi Ponce, ii. 118.
-
- Saragossa, 56;
- alcayde's bold
- speech, 82;
- Amadeus enters, 82;
- arrival at, 55;
- Bourse, 74;
- carnival maskers, 65, 68;
- cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar, 60;
- cathedral of San Salvador, 65;
- church of Santiago, 74;
- costume of peasantry, 56;
- masked balls, 87;
- new tower, 75;
- siege of, 59, 77;
- streets, 58;
- suburbs, 91.
-
- Sarto, Andrea del, paintings by, at Burgos, 109;
- at Madrid, 182.
-
- Schoen, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- School-boys, 46.
-
- Shrack, Frederick, description of the Djihad, ii. 75.
-
- Sea, beauty of the, ii. 157.
-
- Sebastian of Portugal, a royal bull-fighter, 234.
-
- Segovia, 124.
-
- Segovia and Ardizone, Gonzalo, ii. 130, 132, 145;
- sad fate of, ii. 146.
-
- Seneca, born in Cordova, ii. 90.
-
- Seo, Saragossa, 65.
-
- Serenos, 172.
-
- Serrano, Gen. Francesco, political leader, 96, 97;
- reputation of, 288.
-
- Sertorius defeats Pompey at Calahorra, 91.
-
- Seville, Alcazar, ii. 120;
- at night, ii. 106;
- Barber of, ii. 132, 14;
- cathedral, ii. 108;
- Columbian library, ii. 118;
- gaiety of, ii. 143;
- gardens, ii. 125;
- Giralda, ii. 101, ii. 116;
- house of Pilate, ii. 136;
- literary and artistic fame, ii. 139;
- museum of painting, ii. 129;
- Oriental character, ii. 102;
- patios, ii. 133;
- poetical character of, ii. 142;
- streets, ii. 120;
- Torre del Oro, ii. 103, 117;
- tropical heat, ii. 120;
- women of, ii. 126.
-
- Sierra de Segura, ii. 61.
-
- Sierra Morena, ii. 59, ii. 62, ii. 118, ii. 260.
-
- Sierra Nevada, ii. 214, ii. 226.
-
- Siestas necessary, ii. 79.
-
- Socialist party, 96.
-
- Soldiers, 23;
- political feeling shown by, 204;
- reviewed by Amadeus, 202.
-
-
- Soria, 124.
-
- Stagno in opera at Madrid, 168.
-
- Streets of Barcelona, 22, 27;
- Burgos, 101;
- Cadiz, ii. 160;
- Cordova, ii. 64;
- Granada, ii. 187;
- Madrid, 166;
- Malaga, ii. 170;
- Saragossa, 58;
- Seville, ii. 102;
- Toledo, ii. 17;
- Valencia, ii. 265.
-
- Studying for a degree, ii. 238.
-
-
- T.
-
- Tagus, the, at Aranjuez, ii. 12;
- at Toledo, ii. 17.
-
- Tamayo, dramatist, 169, 281, 291.
-
- Tangiers, ii. 168.
-
- Tarifa, Cape, ii. 167.
-
- Tasso, Torquato, influence on Italian poetry, ii. 93.
-
- Tato, the one-legged torero, ii. 262.
-
- Teniers, David, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.
-
- Theatres at Barcelona, 40;
- at Madrid, 168;
- and literature, 169, 282.
-
- Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, paintings by, at Madrid, 183.
-
- Tintoretto, Giacomo, paintings by, at Madrid, 182;
- at the Escurial, 264.
-
- Tirso de Molina, dramatist, 169.
-
- Titian, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.
-
- Tobacco manufactories at Burgos, 118;
- at Madrid, 173;
- at Seville, ii. 127;
- cigarettes vs. pipes, 132.
-
- Toledo, Alcazar, ii. 39;
- arrival at, ii. 17;
- at night, ii. 47;
- bridge of Alcantara, ii. 18;
- cathedral, ii. 23;
- church of San Juan de los Reyes, ii. 36;
- church of San Ginés, ii. 44;
- church of Nuestra Señora di Transito, ii. 50;
- dead city, a, ii. 48;
- historical, ii. 22;
- hospital of Santa Cruz, ii. 50;
- legends of, ii. 43;
- lunatic asylum, ii. 51;
- manufactory of arms, ii. 50;
- popular characteristics, ii. 48;
- Puerto del Sol, ii. 18;
- Santa Maria la Blanca, ii. 38;
- view from cathedral, ii. 34;
- silent and gloomy, ii, 21;
- streets, ii. 19.
-
-
- Tolosa, Las Navas de, battlefield, ii. 60.
-
- Topete, Juan, ii. 60.
-
- Toreros, 213;
- dangers of, 229;
- dress of, 240;
- highly respectable, 239;
- lucrative business, 241.
-
- Torrigiano, Pietro, sculptures by, at Granada, ii. 229.
-
- Torquemada, Tomas de, founds the convent of Santa Domingo, ii. 235;
- origin of, 235.
-
- Torre del Oro, Seville, ii. 103.
-
- Tower, new, Saragossa, 75;
- Golden, Seville, ii. 103.
-
- Trafalgar, relics of, 179.
-
- Trajan's ashes brought to Seville, ii. 138.
-
- Travelling for love, 13;
- amenities of, 48, 52;
- miseries of, ii. 177;
- opera troupes, ii. 153;
- philosophy of, ii. 224;
- soldiers, ii.
-
- Triana, ii. 118.
-
- Tudela, battle of, 91;
- canal, 51, 92.
-
-
- U.
-
- Undertaker's shop, 117.
-
- Unionist party, 96, 97.
-
- University students at Granada, ii. 238;
- at Valladolid, 148.
-
-
- V.
-
- Val de Peñas, ii. 58;
- wine of, 162; ii. 58.
-
- Valencia, ii. 265;
- Amadeus at, ii. 262;
- art-gallery, ii. 267;
- bull-ring, 235; ii. 262;
- Casa de Ayuntamiento, ii. 266;
- cathedral, ii. 266;
- dress of peasantry, ii. 270;
- historic houses, ii. 262;
- Lonja, ii. 266;
- market, ii. 269;
- palace of the Audiencia, ii. 266;
- popular characteristics, ii. 271;
- streets, ii. 266;
- women, ii. 271.
-
- Valdes Leal, Juan de, paintings by, at Seville, ii. 109, 132.
-
- Valera, Señor, 291.
-
- Valladolid, 129;
- cathedral, 136;
- convent of San Pablo, 134;
- college of San Gregorio, 135;
- decay of, 131;
- dialect of, 132;
- hospitality, 148;
- house of Cervantes, 137;
- house of Zorilla, 141;
- Inquisition, 146;
- markets, 132;
- picture-gallery, 143;
- Plaza Major, 132;
- polite beggary, 135;
- royal palace, 133.
-
- Van Dyke, Antonio, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.
-
- Vega, Granada, ii. 260.
-
- Vega, de Armijo, Marquis de, 207.
-
- Vega, Garcilasso de la, armor of, 176;
- native of Toledo, ii. 49.
-
- Velasquez, Don Diego, masterpieces, 188;
- mementoes of, ii. 103;
- paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.
-
- Ventas de Alcolea, ii. 62.
-
- Ventura de la Vega, dramatist, 169.
-
- Veragua, duke of, 207.
-
- Victoria, at Madrid, 195;
- charity of, 196;
- learning of, 199;
- universal respect for, 81, 200.
-
- Vilches, ii. 61.
-
- Villadomat, paintings by, at Barcelona, 26.
-
- Villaseca, dowager of, 307.
-
- Vinci, Leonardo da, paintings by, at Burgos, 109.
-
- Virgin Mary appears to St. James at Toledo, ii. 27;
- miraculous image of, 61;
- robes of, ii. 31.
-
-
- W.
-
- Walk of the Spanish women, 136.
-
- War of Independence influences Spanish national character, 35, 285;
- relics of, 174.
-
- Water abundant in the Alhambra, ii. 226.
-
-
- Wife, a fugitive, 69.
-
- Wine of Malaga, ii. 172;
- Val de Peñas, 162; ii. 58;
- Xeres, ii. 155.
-
- Women of Barcelona, 41;
- Cadiz, ii. 164;
- Cordova, ii. 79;
- Madrid, 165;
- Saragossa, 57;
- Seville, ii. 126;
- Valencia, ii. 271;
- Valladolid, 136;
- toreros, 238;
- walk of Spanish, 136.
-
-
- X.
-
- Xenil river, ii. 213.
-
- Xeres, wine of, ii. 155.
-
- Ximenes, wife of the Cid, remains of, 103.
-
-
- Z.
-
- Zafra, Don Fernando de, legend of, ii. 228.
-
- Zahira, ii. 89.
-
- Zainete, 170.
-
- Zarzuela, the, 168, 170; ii. 154, ii. 156
-
- Zorrilla, Ruiz, political leader, 86, 69, 97;
- consents to accept office, ii. 268.
-
- Zorrilla, José, 281;
- birthplace at Valladolid, 141;
- influence on Spanish literature, 141;
- on people of Toledo, ii. 48;
- popularity of, 142.
-
- Zouave officers, 11.
-
- Zuera, 54.
-
- Zurbaran, Francisco de, paintings by, at Cadiz, ii. 163;
- at Madrid, 193;
- at the Escurial, 264;
- at Seville, ii. 109, ii. 132.
-
-
-[Illustration: Map of SPAIN & PORTUGAL]
-
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-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spain, v. 2 (of 2), by Edmondo de Amicis
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: Spain, v. 2 (of 2)
-
-Author: Edmondo de Amicis
-
-Translator: Stanley Rhoads Varnall
-
-Release Date: December 20, 2015 [EBook #50727]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPAIN, V. 2 (OF 2) ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Les Galloway and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="transnote">
-<h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3>
-
-<p>Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected and
-inconsistencies of hyphenation have been removed. Other variations in spelling,
-accents and punctuation remain as in the original.</p>
-
-<p>The following corrections have been made to the Index.<br />
-Rembrandt von changed to Rembrandt van Rijn<br />
-Pousin, Nicola changed to Poussin, Nicolas<br />
-
-Zorilla, Ruiz changed to Zorrilla, Ruiz</p>
-
-<p>Repetition of chapter titles on consecutive pages has been removed.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="half-title">SPAIN</p>
-
-<div class="figcenterb" ><a id="Alcazar_Seville"></a>
-<img src="images/illus-a004s.jpg" alt="" />
-<div class="caption"><i>Alcazar, Seville</i></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<div class="box1">
-<div class="box2">
-<p class="center"><i><b>EDITION ARTISTIQUE</b></i></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="box2"><div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/title1.jpg" alt="The World’s Famous Places and Peoples" />
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="box2">
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
-<tr valign="middle">
-<td>
-
-<img src="images/title2.jpg"
-style="border:2px solid rgb(243,0,2);padding:.1em;"
-width="97"
-height="374"
-alt="Flower"
-/>
-</td>
-<td><span style="margin-left: 4em;">&nbsp;</span></td>
-<td>
-
-<h1>SPAIN</h1>
-
-<p class="center"><small>BY</small><br />
-EDMONDO DE AMICIS</p>
-
-<p class="center small spaced"><i>Translated<br />
-by Stanley Rhoads Yarnall, M.A.</i></p>
-
-<p class="center"><b><i>In Two Volumes<br />
-Volume II</i>.</b></p></td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class="box2"><p class="center">
-MERRILL AND BAKER<br />
-New York &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; London</p>
-</div>
-</div></div>
-
-
-
-<div class="pn">
-<p class="space-above"><small>THIS EDITION ARTISTIQUE OF THE WORLD'S
-FAMOUS PLACES AND PEOPLES IS LIMITED
-TO ONE THOUSAND NUMBERED AND REGISTERED
-COPIES, OF WHICH THIS COPY IS
-NO</small>. _______</p></div>
-
-
-<p class="center space-above xs">Copyright, Henry T. Coates &amp; Co., 1895</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
-
-
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
-<tr><td align="left"></td><td></td><td align="right"><span class="xs">PAGE</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#ARANJUEZ">Aranjuez</a></span></td><td> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </td><td align="right">7</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#TOLEDO">Toledo</a></span></td><td></td><td align="right">15</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#CORDOVA">Cordova</a></span></td><td></td><td align="right">53</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#SEVILLE">Seville</a></span></td><td></td><td align="right">97</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#CADIZ">Cadiz</a></span></td><td></td><td align="right">147</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#MALAGA">Malaga</a></span></td><td></td><td align="right">165</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#GRANADA">Granada</a></span></td><td></td><td align="right">175</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#VALENCIA">Valencia</a></span></td><td></td><td align="right">257</td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-
-
-
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
-
-<p class="center">VOLUME II</p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
-<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right"><span class="xs">PAGE</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Alcazar_Seville">Alcazar, Seville</a></span></td><td align="right"><i>Frontispiece</i></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Gate_of_the_Sun">Gate of the Sun, Toledo</a></span></td><td align="right">18</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Alcazar_and_Bridge_of_San_Martin">Alcazar and Bridge of San Martin, Toledo</a></span></td><td align="right">40</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Court_of_Oranges">Court of Oranges, Mosque of Cordova</a></span></td><td align="right">68</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Moorish_Arches">Moorish Arches, Alcazar, Seville</a></span></td><td align="right">124</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Cadiz_p">Cadiz</a></span></td><td align="right">158</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Malaga_p">Malaga</a></span></td><td align="right">170</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Court_of_Myrtles">Court of Myrtles, Alhambra</a></span></td><td align="right">194</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Court_of_Lions">Fountain in the Court of Lions, Alhambra</a></span></td><td align="right">200</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Queens_Boudoir">Queen's Boudoir, Alhambra</a></span></td><td align="right">212</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Court_of_the_Generalife">Court of Generalife, Granada</a></span></td><td align="right">226</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><a href="#The_Alhambra">The Alhambra and the Valley of the Darro</a></span></td><td align="right">250</td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="ARANJUEZ" id="ARANJUEZ"></a>ARANJUEZ.</h2>
-
-
-<p>As on arriving at Madrid by way of the north, so
-on leaving it by way of the south, one must pass
-through a desolate country that resembles the poorest
-provinces of Arragon and Old Castile. There
-are vast plains, parched and yellow, which look as
-though they would echo like a hollow passageway if
-one were to strike them, or crumble like the crust
-of a crisp tart. And through the plains are scattered
-a few wretched villages of the same color as
-the soil, which seem as though they would take fire
-like a pile of dry leaves if one were to touch a torch
-to the corner of one of the huts. After an hour of
-travel my shoulders sought the cushions of the carriage,
-my elbow sought for a support, my head
-sought my hand, and I fell into a deep sleep like a
-member of Leopardi's "Assembly of Listeners." A
-few minutes after I had closed my eyes I was rudely
-awakened by a desperate cry from the women and
-children, and leaped to my feet, demanding of my
-neighbors what had occurred.</p>
-
-<p>But before I had ended my question a general
-burst of laughter reassured me. A company of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span>
-huntsmen, scattered over the plain, on noticing the
-approach of the train, had planned to give the travellers
-a little scare. At that time there was a rumor
-that a band of Carlists had appeared in the vicinity
-of Aranjuez. The huntsmen, pretending to be the
-vanguard of the band, had given a loud shout while
-the train was passing, as if to call the great body
-of their comrades to their assistance, and as they
-shouted they went through the motions of firing at
-the railway-carriages; hence arose the fright and
-the cries of my fellow-travellers. And then the
-huntsmen suddenly threw the butts of their guns
-into the air to show that it was all a joke.</p>
-
-<p>When the alarm, in which I too shared for a
-moment, had subsided, I fell once more into my
-academic doze, but was again awakened in a few
-moments in a manner much more pleasant than on
-the first occasion.</p>
-
-<p>I looked around: the vast barren plain had been
-transformed as by magic into a great garden full of
-the most charming groves, traversed in all directions
-by wide avenues, dotted with country-houses and
-cottages festooned with verdure; here and there the
-sparkling of fountains, shady grottoes, flowering
-meadows, vineyards, and bridle-paths&mdash;a verdure, a
-freshness, a vernal odor, an atmosphere of happiness
-and peace, that enchanted the soul. We had arrived
-at Aranjuez. I left the train, walked up a
-beautiful avenue shaded by two rows of noble trees,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span>
-and after a few steps found myself in front of the
-royal palace.</p>
-
-<p>The minister Castelar had written in his memorandum
-a few days before that the fall of the ancient
-Spanish monarchy was predoomed on that day when
-a mob of the populace, with curses on their lips and
-hatred in their hearts, had invaded the palace of
-Aranjuez to disturb the majestic repose of their sovereigns.
-I had reached that square where on the 17th
-of March, 1808, occurred those events which were
-the prologue of the national war, and, as it were,
-the first word of the death-sentence of the ancient
-monarchy. My eyes quickly sought the windows of
-the apartments of the Prince of Peace; I imagined
-him, as he fled from room to room, pale and distracted,
-searching for a hiding-place as the echo of
-the cry followed him up the stairs; I saw poor
-Charles IV., as with trembling hands he placed the
-crown of Spain on the head of the prince of the
-Asturias; all the scenes of that terrible drama were
-enacted in fancy before my eyes, and the profound
-silence of the place and the sight of that palace,
-closed and desolate, sent a chill to my heart.</p>
-
-<p>The palace has the appearance of a castle: it is
-built of brick, with trimmings of light stone, and
-covered with a tile roof. Every one knows that it
-was built for Philip II. by the celebrated architect
-Herrera, and that it was adorned by all the later
-kings, who made it their summer residence. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span>
-enter: the interior is magnificent; there is the stupendous
-reception-hall of the ambassadors, the beautiful
-Chinese cabinet belonging to Charles V., the
-marvellous dressing-chamber of Isabella II., and a
-profusion of the most precious ornaments. But all
-the riches of the palace are as nothing to the beauty
-of the gardens. The expectation is not disappointed.</p>
-
-<p>The gardens of Aranjuez (Aranjuez is the name
-of a little town which lies a short distance from the
-palace) seem to have been laid out for a race of
-Titan kings, to whom the royal parks and gardens
-of our country would have seemed like the flower-beds
-on their terraces or the plots before their
-stables. Endless avenues, bordered by trees of
-measureless height with arched branches interlacing
-as if bent toward each other by contrary winds, extend
-in every direction like a forest whose boundaries
-one cannot see, and through this forest the
-Tagus, a wide, swift stream, flows in a majestic
-curve, forming here and there cascades and lakes:
-an abundant and luxuriant vegetation springs up
-amid a labyrinth of bypaths, crossways, and sylvan
-glades; and in every part gleam statues, vases,
-columns, and fountains rising to a great height and
-falling in spray, festoons, and drops of water, placed
-in the midst of all manner of flowers from Europe
-and America; and, mingling with the majestic roar
-of the cascades of the Tagus, a flood of song from
-innumerable nightingales, which make the mys<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span>terious
-gloom of the lonely paths ring with their
-mellow notes. In the depths of the gardens rises
-a small marble palace of modest proportions which
-contains all the wonders of the most magnificent
-royal abode; and here one may still breathe, so to
-speak, the air of the inmost life of the kings of
-Spain. Here are the small secret chambers whose
-ceilings one may touch with the hand, the billiard-room
-of Charles IV., his cue, the cushions embroidered
-by the hands of his queens, the musical
-clocks which enlivened the playtime of his children,
-the narrow staircases, the little windows about which
-cluster a hundred traditions of princely caprices,
-and, finally, the richest retiring-room in Europe,
-created at a whim of Charles V., containing in itself
-alone sufficient riches to adorn a palace, without
-depriving it of the noble primacy which it proudly
-holds among all other cabinets designed for the same
-use. Beyond this palace and all around the groves
-extend vineyards and olive-groves and orchards of
-fruit-bearing trees and smiling meadows. It is a
-veritable oasis in the midst of the desert&mdash;an oasis
-which Philip II. chose to create on a day when he
-was in good humor, as if to enliven with one cheerful
-image the black melancholy of the Escurial. On
-returning from the little marble palace toward the
-great royal palace through those endless avenues, in
-the shade of those noble trees, in that profound
-forest silence, I thought of the splendid trains of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span>
-ladies and cavaliers who once wandered about in the
-footsteps of the gay young monarchs or the capricious
-and dissolute queens to the sound of amorous music
-and songs which told of the grandeur and glory of
-unconquered Spain; and I sadly repeated with the
-poet, Ricanati,</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">... "All is peace and silence,</div>
- <div class="verse indent4">And their names are no longer heard."</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>But as I looked at those marble seats, half hidden
-in the shrubbery, and fixed my eyes on the shadow
-of certain distant paths, and thought of those queens,
-those lovers, and those mad pranks, I could not
-refrain from a sigh, which was not one of pity, and
-a secret sense of bitterness stung me to the heart;
-and I said, like poor Adan in the poem <i>Diablo
-Mundo</i>, "How are these grand ladies made? How
-do they live? What do they do? Do they talk,
-make love, and enjoy like us?" And I left for
-Toledo, imagining the love of a queen like a young
-adventurer of the Arabian Nights.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span></p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a><br /><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="TOLEDO" id="TOLEDO"></a>TOLEDO.</h2>
-
-
-<p>When one approaches an unknown city one ought
-to have near by some one who has already seen it
-and is able to indicate the opportune moment to put
-one's head out of the window and get the first view.
-I had the good fortune to be informed in time.
-Some one said to me, "There is Toledo!" and I
-sprang to the window with an exclamation of
-wonder.</p>
-
-<p>Toledo rises on a sheer rocky height, at whose
-foot the Tagus describes a grand curve. From the
-plain one sees only the rocks and the walls of the
-fortress, and beyond the wall the tips of the belfries
-and the towers. The houses are hidden from view;
-the city seems to be closed and inaccessible, and
-presents the appearance of an abandoned stronghold
-rather than of a city. From the walls to the river-banks
-there is not a single house nor tree; all is
-bare, parched, craggy, precipitous; not a soul is in
-sight; you would say that to make the ascent it
-would be necessary to climb, and it seems that at
-the first appearance of a man on the face of those
-rocks a shower of arrows would fall upon him from
-the top of the wall.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span></p>
-
-<p>You leave the train, get into a carriage, and
-arrive at the entrance of a bridge. It is the famous
-bridge Alcantara, which spans the Tagus, surmounted
-by a beautiful Moorish gate in the form of
-a tower, which gives it a bold, severe appearance.
-Crossing the bridge, you turn into a wide roadway
-which winds up in large serpentine curves until it
-reaches the top of the mountain. Here it really
-seems that you are under a fortified city of the
-Middle Ages, and you imagine yourself in the guise
-of a Moor or a Goth or a soldier of Alfonso VI.
-From every part precipitous rocks hang over your
-head, crumbling walls, towers, and the ruins of
-ancient bastions, and higher up the last wall which
-encircles the city, black, crowned with enormous
-battlements, opened here and there by great
-breaches, behind which the imprisoned houses rear
-their heads; and as you climb higher and higher the
-city seems to draw back and hide itself. Halfway
-up the ascent you come to the <i>Puerto del Sol</i>, a
-jewel of Moorish architecture, consisting of two
-embattled towers which are joined over a very graceful
-double-arched colonnade, under which runs the
-ancient street; and from that point, if you look
-back, you may see at a glance the Tagus, the valley,
-and the hills. You go on and find other walls and
-other ruins, and finally the first houses of the city.</p>
-
-<p>What a city! At the first moment I caught my
-breath. The carriage had turned down a little
-street, so narrow that the hubs of the wheels almost
-touched the walls of the houses.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i><a id="Gate_of_the_Sun"></a>Gate of the Sun, Toledo</i></div>
-
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b018c.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span></p>
-
-<p>"Why do you turn in here?" I asked the driver.</p>
-
-<p>He laughed and answered, "Because there is no
-wider street."</p>
-
-<p>"Is all Toledo like this?" I asked again.</p>
-
-<p>"It is all like this," he replied</p>
-
-<p>"Impossible!" I exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p>"You will see," he added.</p>
-
-<p>To tell the truth, I did not believe him. I entered
-a hotel, dropped my valise in a room, and ran headlong
-down the stairs to take a look at this very
-strange city. One of the hotel-porters stopped me
-at the door and asked with a smile,</p>
-
-<p>"Where are you going, <i>caballero</i>?"</p>
-
-<p>"To see Toledo," I replied.</p>
-
-<p>"Alone?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes; why not?"</p>
-
-<p>"But have you ever been here before?"</p>
-
-<p>"Never."</p>
-
-<p>"Then you cannot go alone."</p>
-
-<p>"And why not?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because you will get lost."</p>
-
-<p>"Where?"</p>
-
-<p>"As soon as you go out."</p>
-
-<p>"For what reason?"</p>
-
-<p>"The reason is this," he answered, pointing to a
-wall on which hung a map of Toledo. I approached
-and saw a network of white lines on a black back<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span>ground
-that seemed like one of those flourishes
-which school-boys make on their slates to waste the
-chalk and vex their teacher.</p>
-
-<p>"No matter," said I; "I am going alone, and if
-I get lost, let them come and find me."</p>
-
-<p>"You will not go a hundred steps," observed the
-porter.</p>
-
-<p>I went out and turned down the first street I saw,
-so narrow that on extending my arms I touched both
-walls. After fifty paces I turned into another street,
-narrower than the first, and from this passed into a
-third, and so on.</p>
-
-<p>I seemed to be wandering not through the streets
-of the city, but through the corridors of a building,
-and I went forward, expecting momentarily to come
-out into an open place. It is impossible, I thought,
-that the whole city is built in this manner; no one
-could live in it. But as I proceeded the streets
-seemed to grow narrower and shorter; every
-moment I was obliged to turn; after a curving
-street came a zigzag one, and after this another in
-the form of a hook, which led me back into the
-first, and so I wandered on for a little while, always
-in the midst of the same houses. Now and then I
-came out at a crossway where several alleys ran off
-in opposite directions, one of which would lose itself
-in the dark shadow of a portico, another would end
-blindly in a few paces against the wall of a house,
-a third in a short distance would descend, as it were,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span>
-into the bowels of the earth, while a fourth would
-clamber up a steep hill; some were hardly wide
-enough to give a man passage; others were confined
-between two walls without doors or windows; and
-all were flanked by buildings of great height, between
-whose roofs one could see a narrow streak
-of sky.</p>
-
-<p>One passed windows defended by heavy iron bars,
-great doors studded with enormous nails, and dark
-courtyards. I walked for some time without meeting
-anybody, until I came out into one of the principal
-streets, lined with shops and full of peasants,
-women, and children, but little larger than an ordinary
-corridor. Everything is in proportion to the
-streets: the doors are like windows, the shops like
-niches, and by glancing into them one sees all the
-secrets of the house&mdash;the table already spread, the
-babies in the cradle, the mother combing her hair,
-and the father changing his shirt; everything is on
-the street, and it does not seem like a city, but like
-a house containing a single great family.</p>
-
-<p>I turned into a less-frequented street, where I
-heard only the buzzing of a fly; my footsteps
-echoed to the fourth story of the houses and brought
-some old women to the windows. A horse passes;
-it seems like a squadron; everybody hurries to
-see what is going on. The least sound re-echoes in
-every direction; a book falls in a second story,
-an old man coughs in a courtyard, a woman blows<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span>
-her nose in some unknown place; one hears
-everything.</p>
-
-<p>Sometimes every sound will suddenly cease; you
-are alone, you see no sign of life: you seem to be
-surrounded by the houses of witches, crossways
-made for conspirators, blind alleys for traitors, narrow
-doorways suitable for any crime, windows for the
-whispers of guilty lovers, gloomy doorways suggestive
-of blood-stained steps. But yet in all this labyrinth
-of streets there are no two alike; each one
-has its individuality: here rises an arch, there a
-column, yonder a piece of statuary. Toledo is a
-storehouse of art-treasures. Every little while the
-walls crumble, and there are revealed in every part
-records of all the centuries&mdash;bas-reliefs, arabesques,
-Moorish windows, and statuettes. The palaces have
-doorways defended by plates of engraved metal, historical
-knockers, nails with carved heads, 'scutcheons
-and emblems; and they form a fine contrast to the
-modern houses painted with festoons, medallions,
-cupids, urns, and fantastic animals.</p>
-
-<p>But these embellishments detract in no way from
-the severe and gloomy aspect of Toledo. Wherever
-you look you see something to remind you of the
-city fortified by the Arabs; however little your imagination
-may exert itself, it will succeed in rearranging
-from the relics scattered here and there the
-whole fabric of that darkened image, and then the
-illusion is complete: you see again the glorious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span>
-Toledo of the Middle Ages, and forget the solitude
-and silence of its streets. But it is a fleeting illusion,
-and you soon relapse into sad meditation and
-see only the skeleton of the ancient city, the necropolis
-of three empires, the great sepulchre of the
-glory of three races. Toledo reminds you of the
-dreams which come to young men after reading the
-romantic legends of the Middle Ages. You have
-seen many a time in your dreams dark cities encircled
-by deep moats, frowning walls, and inaccessible
-rocks; and you have crossed those draw-bridges
-and entered those tortuous, grass-grown
-streets, and have breathed that damp, sepulchral,
-prison air. Well, then, you have dreamed of
-Toledo.</p>
-
-<p>The first thing to see, after making a general survey
-of the city, is the cathedral, which is justly considered
-one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the
-world. The history of this cathedral, according to
-popular tradition, dates from the times of the apostle
-Saint James, first bishop of Toledo, who selected the
-place where it should be erected; but the construction
-of the edifice as it appears to-day was begun in
-1227, during the reign of San Fernando, and was
-ended after twenty-five years of almost continuous
-labor. The exterior of this immense church is
-neither rich nor beautiful, as is that of the cathedral
-of Burgos. A little square extends in front of the
-façade, and is the only place from which one can get<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span>
-a view of any considerable part of the building. It
-is entirely surrounded by a narrow street, from
-which, however much you may twist your neck, you
-can see only the high outer walls which enclose the
-church like a fortress. The façade has three great
-doorways, the first of which is named <i>Pardon</i>, the
-second <i>Inferno</i>, and the third <i>Justice</i>. Over it rises
-a substantial tower which terminates in a beautiful
-octagonal cupola. Although in walking around the
-building one may have remarked its great size, on
-first entering one is struck by a profound sense of
-wonder, which quickly gives place to another keen
-sense of pleasure, the result of the freshness, the
-repose, the soft shadow, and the mysterious light
-which steals through the stained glass of innumerable
-windows and breaks in a thousand rays of blue,
-golden, and rosy light which glides here and there
-along the arches and columns like the bands of a
-rainbow. The church is formed of five great naves
-divided by eighty-eight enormous pilasters, each of
-which is composed of sixteen turned columns as
-close together as a bunch of spears. A sixth nave
-cuts the other five at right angles, extending from
-the great altar to the choir, and the vaulted roof of
-this principal nave rises majestically above the
-others, which seem to be bowing to it as if in
-homage. The many-colored light and the clear
-tone of the stone give the church an air of quiet
-cheerfulness which tempers the melancholy appear<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span>ance
-of the Gothic architecture without depriving it
-of its austere and serious character. To pass from
-the streets of the city to the naves of this cathedral
-seems like coming out of a dungeon into an open
-square: one looks around, draws a deep breath, and
-begins to live again.</p>
-
-<p>The high altar, if one wished to examine it minutely,
-would require as much time as the interior
-of a church: it is itself a church&mdash;a miracle of little
-columns, statuettes, traceries, and ornaments of endless
-variety, creeping along the iron frames, rising
-above the architraves, winding about the niches,
-supporting one another, climbing and disappearing,
-presenting on every side a thousand outlines, groups,
-combinations, effects in gilding and color, every sort
-of grace that art can devise&mdash;giving to the whole an
-effect of magnificence, dignity, and beauty. Opposite
-the high altar rises the choir, divided into three
-orders of stalls, marvellously carved by Philip of
-Bourgogne and Berruguete, with bas-reliefs representing
-historical events, allegories, and sacred legends&mdash;one
-of the most famous monuments of
-art.</p>
-
-<p>In the centre, in the form of a throne, stands the
-seat of the archbishop surrounded by a circle of
-enormous jasper columns, with colossal statues of
-alabaster resting on the architraves; on either side
-rise enormous bronze pulpits provided with two
-great missals, and two gigantic organs, one in front<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span>
-of the other, from which it seems that at any moment
-a flood of melody may burst forth and make the
-vault tremble.</p>
-
-<p>The pleasure of one's admiration in these great
-cathedrals is almost always disturbed by importunate
-guides, who wish at any cost to amuse you after
-their fashion. And it was my misfortune to become
-convinced that the Spanish guides are the most persistent
-of their kind. When one of them has gotten
-it into his head that you are to spend the day with
-him, it is all over. You may shrug your shoulders,
-refuse to notice him, let him talk himself hoarse
-without so much as turning to look at him, wander
-about on your own account as though you had not
-seen him: it is all the same thing. In a moment of
-enthusiasm before some painting or statue a word
-escapes you, a gesture, a smile: it is enough. You
-are caught, you are his, you are the prey of this
-implacable human cuttle-fish, who, like the cuttle-fish
-of Victor Hugo, does not leave his victim until
-he has cut off his head. While I stood contemplating
-the statuary of the choir I saw one of these
-cuttle-fish out of the corner of my eye&mdash;a miserable
-old rake, who approached me with slow steps sidewise,
-like a cutthroat with the air of one who was
-saying, "Now I have got you!" I continued to look
-at the statues; the old man came up to my side, and
-he too began to look; then he suddenly asked me,
-"Do you wish my company?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span></p>
-
-<p>"No," I replied, "I don't need you."</p>
-
-<p>And he continued, without any embarrassment,</p>
-
-<p>"Do you know who Elpidius was?"</p>
-
-<p>The question was so remarkable that I could not
-keep from asking in my turn,</p>
-
-<p>"Who was he?"</p>
-
-<p>"Elpidius," he replied, "was the second bishop
-of Toledo."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, what of him?</p>
-
-<p>"'What of him?' It was the bishop Elpidius
-who conceived the idea of consecrating the church
-to the Virgin, and that is the reason why the Virgin
-came to visit the church."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! how do you know that?"</p>
-
-<p>"How do you know it? You see it."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you mean to say that it has been seen?"</p>
-
-<p>"I mean to say that it is still to be seen: have
-the goodness to come with me."</p>
-
-<p>So saying, he started off, and I followed him,
-very curious to learn what this visible form of the
-descent of the Virgin might be. We stopped in
-front of a sort of chapel close to one of the great
-pilasters of the central nave. The guide pointed
-out a white stone set in the wall covered by
-an iron net, and with this inscription running
-around it:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Quando la reina del cielo</div>
- <div class="verse">Puso los pies en el suelo,</div>
- <div class="verse">En esta piedra los puso."</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"When the Queen of heaven</div>
- <div class="verse">Descended to the earth,</div>
- <div class="verse">Her feet rested on this stone."</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>"Then the Holy Virgin has actually placed her
-feet on this stone?" I asked.</p>
-
-<p>"On this very stone," he replied; and, thrusting
-a finger between the strands of the iron net, he
-touched the stone, kissed his finger, made the sign
-of the cross, and turned toward me as if to say,
-"Now it is your turn."</p>
-
-<p>"My turn?" I replied. "Oh, really, my friend,
-I cannot do it."</p>
-
-<p>"Why?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because I do not feel myself worthy to touch
-that sacred stone."</p>
-
-<p>The guide understood, and, looking hard at me
-with a serious aspect, he asked, "You do not
-believe?"</p>
-
-<p>I looked at a pilaster. Then the old man made
-a sign for me to follow, and started toward a corner
-of the church, murmuring with an air of sadness,
-"<i>Cadanno es dueño de su alma</i>" (Every man is
-master of his soul).</p>
-
-<p>A young priest who was standing near, and who
-had divined the cause of his words, cast a piercing
-glance at me, and went off in an opposite direction,
-muttering I know not what.</p>
-
-<p>The chapels correspond in style with that of the
-church: almost all of them contain some fine monu<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span>ments.
-In the chapel of Santiago, behind the high
-altar, are two magnificent tombs of alabaster which
-contain the remains of the constable Alvaro de Luna
-and his wife; in the chapel of San Ildefonso, the
-tomb of the cardinal Gil Carrillo de Albornoz; in
-the chapel of the "New Kings," the tombs of Henry
-II., John II., and Henry III.; in the chapel of the
-sacristy, a stupendous group of statues and busts
-of marble, silver, ivory, and gold, and a collection of
-crosses and relics of inestimable value, the remains
-of Saint Leucadia and Saint Eugenia preserved in
-two silver caskets exquisitely chased.</p>
-
-<p>The Chapel Mozarabe, which is under the tower
-of the church, and was erected to perpetuate the
-tradition of the primitive Christian rite, is probably
-the most worthy of attention. One of its walls is
-entirely covered with a fresco, in the Gothic style,
-representing a conflict between the Moors and the
-Toledans&mdash;marvellously preserved, even to the most
-delicate lines. It is a painting worth a volume of
-history. In it one sees the Toledo of those times
-with all its walls and its houses; the habiliments
-of the two armies; the arms, faces, everything portrayed
-with an admirable finish and an unspeakable
-harmony of color which answers perfectly to the
-vague and fantastic idea which one may have formed
-of those centuries and those races. Two other frescoes
-on either side of the first represent the fleet
-which bore the Arabs into Spain, and they offer a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span>
-thousand minute details of the mediæval marine and
-the very air of those times, if one may so speak,
-which makes one think of and see a thousand things
-not represented in the painting, as one hears distant
-music on looking at a landscape.</p>
-
-<p>After the chapels one goes to see the sacristy,
-where are gathered enough riches to restore the
-finances of Spain to a sound basis. There is, among
-others, a vast room on the ceiling of which one sees
-a fresco by Luca Giordano, which represents a vision
-of paradise, with a myriad of angels, saints, and
-allegorical figures floating in the air or standing out
-like statues from the cornices of the walls in a thousand
-bold attitudes, with so much action and foreshortening
-that one is bewildered. The guide,
-pointing out this miracle of imagination and genius,
-which in the estimation of all artists, to use a very
-curious Spanish expression, is a work of <i>merito atroz</i>
-(of atrocious merit),&mdash;the guide bids you to look attentively
-at the ray of light which falls upon the
-walls from the centre of the vaulted ceiling. You
-look at it and then make a circuit of the room, and
-wherever you find yourself that ray of light is falling
-directly upon your head.</p>
-
-<p>From this hall you pass into a room which is also
-beautifully painted in fresco by the nephew of
-Berruguete, and from it into a third, where a sacristan
-lays the treasures of the cathedral before
-your eyes&mdash;the enormous silver candlesticks; the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span>
-pyxes flashing with rubies; the golden stands for the
-elevation of the Host, studded with diamonds; the
-damask vestments, embroidered in gold; the robes
-of the Virgin, covered with arabesques, garlands of
-flowers, and stars of pearl, which at every motion
-of the cloth flash forth in a thousand rays and colors
-and quite dazzle one's eyes. A hour is scarcely sufficient
-to see hurriedly all that display of treasures,
-which would certainly satisfy the ambition of ten
-queens and enrich the altars of ten cathedrals; and
-when, after he has shown you everything, the sacristan
-looks in your eyes for an expression of surprise,
-he finds only astonishment and stupefaction,
-which give evidence of an imagination wandering
-in far distant regions&mdash;in the realms of the Arabian
-legends where the kindly genii gather all the riches
-dreamed of by the glowing fancy of enamored
-sultans.</p>
-
-<p>It was the eve of <i>Corpus Domini</i>, and in the sacristy
-they were preparing the robes for the processional.
-Nothing can be more unpleasant or more at
-variance with the quiet and noble sadness of the
-church than the theatrical hurry-scurry which one
-sees on such occasions. It is like being behind the
-scenes on the evening of a dress rehearsal. From one
-room of the sacristy to another half-dressed boys
-were coming and going with a great clatter, carrying
-armfuls of surplices, stoles, and capes; here a sour-tempered
-sacristan was opening and banging the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span>
-doors of a wardrobe; there a priest, all red in the
-face, was calling angrily to a chorister who did not
-hear him; yonder other priests were running through
-the room with their robes partly on their backs and
-partly trailing behind them; some laughing, some
-screaming, and some shouting from one room to
-another at the top of their voices; everywhere one
-heard a swish of skirts, a breathless panting, and an
-indescribable stamping and tramping.</p>
-
-<p>I went to see the cloister, but, as the door was
-open through which one reaches it from the church,
-I saw it before entering. From the middle of the
-church one gets a glimpse of a part of the cloister-garden,
-a group of fine leafy trees, a little grove, a
-mass of luxuriant plants which seem to close the
-doorway and look as though they are framed beneath
-a graceful arch and between the two slender columns
-of the portico which extends all around. It is a
-beautiful sight, which makes one think of Oriental
-gardens encircled by the columns of a mosque. The
-cloister, which is very large, is surrounded by a colonnade,
-graceful, though severe in form; the walls
-covered with great frescoes. The guide advised me
-to rest here a little while before ascending to the
-campanile. I leaned against a low wall in the shade
-of a tree, and remained there until I felt able to
-make another expedition, as the expression is.
-Meanwhile, my commander extolled in bombastic
-language the glories of Toledo, carrying his impu<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span>dence
-so far, in his patriotism, as to call it "a great
-commercial city" which could buy and sell Barcelona
-and Valencia, and a city strong enough, if need be,
-to withstand ten German armies and a thousand batteries
-of Krupp guns. After each of his exaggerations
-I kept spurring him on, and the good man enjoyed
-himself to the full. What pleasure there is in
-knowing how to make others talk! Finally, when
-the proud Toledan was so swollen with glory that
-the cloister could no longer hold him, he said to me,
-"We may go now," and led the way toward the
-door of the campanile.</p>
-
-<p>When we were halfway up we stopped to take
-breath. The guide knocked at a little door, and out
-came a swaggering little sacristan, who opened
-another door, and made me enter a corridor where I
-saw a collection of gigantic puppets in very strange
-attire. Four of them, the guide told me, represented
-Europe, Asia, America, and Africa, and two others
-Faith and Religion; and they were so made that a
-man could hide in them and raise them from the
-ground.</p>
-
-<p>"They take them out on the occasions of the
-royal fêtes," the sacristan added, "and carry them
-around through the city;" and, to show me how it
-was done, he crept in under the robes of Asia.
-Then he led me to a corner where there was an
-enormous monster which when touched, I know not
-where, stretched out a very long neck and a horrible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span>
-head and made a dreadful noise. But he could not
-tell me what this ugly creature signified, and so
-invited me instead to admire the marvellous imagination
-of the Spaniards, which creates so "many new
-things" to sell in all the known world. I admired,
-paid, and continued the ascent with my Toledan
-cuttle-fish. From the top of the tower one enjoys
-a splendid view&mdash;the city, the hills, the river, a vast
-horizon, and, below, the great mass of the cathedral,
-which seems like a mountain of granite. But there
-is another elevation, a short distance away, from
-which one sees everything to a better advantage,
-and consequently I remained in the campanile only
-a few moments, especially as at that hour the sun
-was shining very strongly, confusing all the colors
-of the city and country in a flood of light.</p>
-
-<p>From the cathedral my guide led me to see the
-famous church of <i>San Juan de los Reyes</i>, situated on
-the banks of the Tagus. My mind is still confused
-when I think of the windings and turnings which we
-were obliged to make in order to reach it. It was
-mid-day, the streets were deserted; gradually, as
-we went farther from the centre of the city, the
-solitude became more depressing; not a door or
-window was open, not the slightest sound was heard.
-For a moment I suspected that the guide was in
-league with some assassin to entice me into an
-out-of-the-way place and rob me; he had a suspicious
-face, and then he kept glancing here and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span>
-there with a suspicious air, like one meditating a
-crime.</p>
-
-<p>"Is it much farther?" I would ask from time to
-time, and he would always answer: "It is right
-here," and yet we never reached it.</p>
-
-<p>At a certain point my uneasiness changed into
-fear: in a narrow, tortuous street a door opened;
-two bearded men came out, made a sign to the
-cuttle-fish, and fell in behind us. I thought it was
-all over with me. There was only one way of
-escape&mdash;to strike the guide, knock him down, jump
-over his body, and run. But which way? And on
-the other side there came into my mind the high
-praises which Thiers bestows on the "Spanish legs"
-in his <i>History of the War of Independence</i>; and I
-thought that flight would only prove an opportunity
-to plant a dagger in my back instead of my stomach,
-Alas! to die without seeing Andalusia! To die after
-taking so many notes, after giving so many tips&mdash;to
-die with pockets full of letters of introduction, with
-a purse fat with doubloons&mdash;to die with a passport
-covered with seals&mdash;to die by treachery! As God
-willed, the two bearded men disappeared at the first
-corner and I was saved. Then, overwhelmed by
-compunction for suspecting that the poor old man
-could be capable of a crime, I came over to his left
-side, offered him a cigar, said that Toledo was worth
-two Romes, and showed him a thousand courtesies.
-Finally we arrived at <i>San Juan de los Reyes</i>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span></p>
-
-<p>It is a church which seems like a royal palace:
-the highest part is covered by a balcony surrounded
-with a honeycombed and sculptured breastwork,
-upon which rises a series of statues of kings, and
-in the middle stands a graceful hexagonal cupola
-which completes the beautiful harmony of the edifice.
-From the walls hang long iron chains which
-were suspended there by the Christian prisoners
-released at the conquest of Granada, and which,
-together with the dark color of the stone, give the
-church a severe and picturesque appearance. We
-entered, passed through two or three large, bare
-rooms, unpaved, cluttered with piles of dirt and
-heaps of rubbish, climbed a staircase, and came out
-upon a high gallery inside the church, which is one
-of the most beautiful and noblest of the monuments
-of Gothic architecture. It has a single great nave
-divided into four vaults, whose arches intersect
-under rich rosettes. The pilasters are covered with
-festoons and arabesques; the walls ornamented with
-a profusion of bas-reliefs, with enormous shields
-bearing the arms of Castile and Arragon, eagles,
-dragons, heraldic animals, trailing vines, and emblematic
-inscriptions; the gallery running all around the
-room is perforated and carved with great elegance;
-the choir is supported by a bold arch; the color of
-the stone is light gray, and everything is admirably
-finished and preserved, as if the church had been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span>
-built but a few years ago, instead of at the end of
-the fifteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>From the church we descended to the cloister,
-which is, in truth, a miracle of architecture and
-sculpture. Graceful slender columns which could
-be broken in two by the stroke of a hammer, looking
-like the trunks of saplings, support capitals
-richly adorned like curving boughs; arches ornamented
-with flowers, birds, and grotesque animals in
-every sort of carving. The walls are covered with
-inscriptions in Gothic characters in a framework of
-leaves and very delicate arabesques. Wherever one
-looks one finds grace mingled with riches in enchanting
-harmony: it would not be possible to accumulate
-in an equal space and with more exquisite art a
-larger number of the most delicate and beautiful
-objects. It is a luxuriant garden of sculpture, a
-grand saloon embroidered, quilted, and brocaded in
-marble, a great monument, majestic as a temple,
-magnificent as a palace, delicate as a toy, and graceful
-as a flower.</p>
-
-<p>After the cloisters one goes to see a picture-gallery
-which contains only some paintings of little value,
-and then to the convent with its long corridors, its
-narrow stairs, and empty cells, almost on the point
-of falling into ruins, and in some parts already in
-ruins; throughout bare and squalid like a building
-gutted by fire.</p>
-
-<p>A little way from <i>San Juan de los Reyes</i> there is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span>
-another monument well worthy of attention, a curious
-record of the Judaic period&mdash;the synagogue
-now known by the name of Santa Maria la Blanca.
-One enters an untidy garden and knocks at the door
-of a wretched-looking house. The door opens.
-There is a delightful sense of surprise, a vision of
-the Orient, a sudden revelation of another religion
-and another world. There are five narrow alleys
-divided by four long rows of little octagonal pilasters,
-which support as many Moorish arches with
-stucco capitals of various forms; the ceiling is of
-cedar-wood divided into squares, and here and there
-on the walls are arabesques and Arabic inscriptions.
-The light falls from above, and everything is white.
-The synagogue was converted into a mosque by the
-Arabs, and the mosque into a church by the Christians,
-so that, properly, it is none of the three,
-although it still preserves the character of the
-mosque, and the eye surveys it with delight, and
-the imagination follows from arch to arch the fleeting
-images of a sensuous paradise.</p>
-
-<p>When I had seen Santa Maria la Blanca, I had
-not the strength to see anything else, and, refusing
-all the tempting propositions of the guide, I told him
-to lead me back to the hotel. After a long walk
-through a labyrinth of narrow, deserted streets we
-arrived there; I put a <i>peseta</i> and a half in the hand
-of my innocent assassin, who found the fee too<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span>
-small, and asked (how I laughed at the word!) for a
-little <i>gratificacion</i>.</p>
-
-<p>I went into the dining-room to eat a chop or <i>chuleta</i>
-(which is pronounced <i>cuileta</i>), as the Spanish call it&mdash;a
-name at which they would turn up their noses in
-some of the provinces of Italy.</p>
-
-<p>Toward evening I went to see the Alcazar. The
-name raises expectations of a Moorish palace, but
-there is nothing Moorish about it except the name.
-The building which one admires to-day was built
-in the reign of Charles V. on the ruins of a castle
-which was in existence as early as the eighth century,
-although the notices of it in contemporary chronicles
-are vague. This edifice rises upon a height overlooking
-the city, so that one sees its walls and towers
-from every point above the level of the streets, and
-the foreigner finds it a sure landmark amid the confusion
-and labyrinths of the city. I climbed the
-height by a broad winding street, like that one
-which runs from the plain up to the city, and found
-myself in front of the Alcazar. It is an immense
-square palace, at whose corners rise four great
-towers that give it the formidable appearance of a
-fortress. A vast square extends in front of the
-façade, and all around it runs a chain of embattled
-bulwarks of Oriental design. The entire building is
-of a decided chalky color, relieved by a thousand
-varied shades of that powerful painter of monuments,
-the burning sun of the South, and it appears<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span>
-even lighter against the very clear sky upon which
-the majestic form of the building is outlined.</p>
-
-<p>The façade is carved in arabesques in a manner at
-once dignified and elegant. The interior of the
-palace corresponds with the exterior: it is a vast
-court surrounded by two orders of graceful arches,
-one above the other, supported by slender columns,
-with a monumental marble staircase starting at the
-centre of the side opposite the door, and a little
-way above the pavement divides into two parts that
-lead to the interior of the palace, the one on the
-right, the other on the left. To enjoy the beauty of
-the courtyard it is necessary to stand on the landing
-where the staircase separates: from that point one
-comprehends at a glance the complete harmony of
-the edifice, which inspires a sense of cheerfulness
-and pleasure, like fine music performed by hidden
-musicians.</p>
-
-<p>Excepting the courtyard, the other parts of the
-building&mdash;the stairways, the rooms, the corridors&mdash;everything
-is in ruins or falling to ruins. They
-were at work turning the palace into a military
-school, whitewashing the walls, breaking down the
-partitions to make great dormitories, numbering the
-doors, and converting the palace into a barracks.
-Nevertheless, they left intact the great subterranean
-chambers which were used for stables at the time of
-Charles V., and which are still able to hold several
-thousand horses. The guide made me approach a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span>
-window from which I looked down into an abyss that
-gave me an idea of their vastness. Then we climbed
-a series of unsteady steps into one of the four towers;
-the guide opened with pincers and a hammer a window
-that had been nailed fast, and with the air of
-one who was announcing a miracle said to me,
-"Look, sir!"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i><a id="Alcazar_and_Bridge_of_San_Martin"></a>Alcazar and Bridge of San Martin, Toledo</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b040cs.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It was a wonderful panorama. One had a bird's-eye
-view of the city of Toledo, street by street and
-house by house, as if one were looking at a map
-spread upon a table: here the cathedral, rising above
-the city like a measureless castle, and making all
-the buildings around it seem as small as toy houses;
-there the balcony of <i>San Juan de las Reyes</i>, crowned
-with statues; yonder the embattled towers of the
-New Gate, the circus, the Tagus running at the foot
-of the city between its rocky banks; and beyond
-the river, opposite the bridge of Alcantara, on a
-precipitous crag, the ruins of the ancient castle of
-San Servando; still farther off a verdant plain, and
-then rocks, hills, and mountains as far as the eye can
-see; and over all a very clear sky and the setting
-sun, which gilded the summits of the old buildings
-and flashed on the river like a great silver scarf.</p>
-
-<p>While I was contemplating this magic spectacle
-the guide, who had read the <i>History of Toledo</i> and
-wished me to know the fact, was telling all sorts of
-stories with that manner, half poetical and half
-facetious, which is distinctive of the Spaniards of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span>
-the South. Above all, he wished to explain the history
-of the work of fortification, and although, where
-he said that he saw clear and unmistakable remains
-which he pointed out to me, I saw nothing at all, I
-succeeded, nevertheless, in learning something about
-it.</p>
-
-<p>He told me that Toledo had been thrice surrounded
-by a wall, and that the traces of all three walls were
-still clear. "Look!" he said; "follow the line
-which my finger indicates: that is the Roman wall,
-the innermost one, and its ruins are still visible.
-Now look a little farther on: that other one beyond
-it is the Gothic wall. Now let your glance describe
-a curve which embraces the first two: that is the
-Moorish wall, the most recent. But the Moors also
-built an inner wall on the ruins of the Roman wall:
-this you can easily see. Then observe the direction
-of the streets, which converge toward the highest
-point of the city; follow the line of the roofs&mdash;here,
-so; you will see that all the streets go up zigzag,
-and they were built purposely in this manner, so that
-the city could be defended even after the walls had
-been destroyed; and the houses were built so close
-one against another in order that it would be possible
-to jump from roof to roof, you see; and then the
-Arabs have left it in their writings. This is the
-reason that the Spanish gentlemen from Madrid
-make me laugh when they come here and say,
-'Pooh! what streets!' You see, they do not know<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span>
-a particle of history: if they knew the least bit, if
-they read a little instead of spending their days on
-the Prado and in the Recoleto, they would understand
-that there is a reason for the narrow streets
-of Toledo, and that Toledo is not a city for ignoramuses."</p>
-
-<p>I began to laugh.</p>
-
-<p>"Do you not believe?" continued the custodian:
-"it is a sacred fact. Not a week ago, to cite a
-case, here comes a dandy from Madrid with his wife.
-Well, even as they were climbing the stairs they
-began to run down the city, the narrow streets, and
-the dark houses. When they came to this window
-and saw those two old towers down yonder on the
-plain on the left bank of the Tagus, they asked me
-what they were, and I answered, '<i>Los palacios de
-Galiana</i>.' 'Oh! what beautiful palaces!' they exclaimed,
-and began to laugh and looked in another
-direction. Why? Because they did not know their
-history. Now, I imagine that you do not know any
-better; but you are a stranger, and that makes a
-difference. Know, then, that the great emperor
-Charlemagne came to Toledo when he was a very
-young man. King Galafro was reigning then, and
-dwelt in that palace. King Galafro had a daughter
-Galiana, as beautiful as an angel; and, as Charlemagne
-was a guest of the king and saw the princess
-every day, he fell in love with her with all his heart,
-and so did the princess with him. But there was a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span>
-rival between them, and this rival was the king of
-Guadalajara, a Moorish giant of herculean strength
-and the courage of a lion. This king, to see the
-princess without being seen, had a subterranean
-passage made all the way from the city of Guadalajara
-to the very foundation of the palace. But
-what good did it do? The princess could not even
-bear to see him, and as often as he came, so often
-did he return crestfallen; but not for this did the
-enamored king stop paying his court. And so much
-did he come hanging around that Charlemagne, who
-was not a man to be imposed upon, as you can
-imagine, lost his patience, and to end the matter
-challenged him. They fought: it was a terrible
-struggle, but the Moor, for all he was a giant, got
-the worst of it. When he was dead Charlemagne
-cut off his head and laid it at the feet of his love,
-who approved the delicacy of his offering, became a
-Christian, gave her hand to the prince, and went
-away with him to France, where she was proclaimed
-empress."</p>
-
-<p>"And the head of the Moor?"</p>
-
-<p>"You may laugh, but these are sacred facts.
-Do you see that old building down there at the
-highest point of the city? It is the church of San
-Ginés. And do you know what is inside of it?
-Nothing less than the door of an underground
-passage which extends three leagues beyond Toledo.
-You do not believe it? Listen! At the place<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span>
-where the church of San Ginés now stands there
-once was an enchanted palace before the Moors
-invaded Spain. No king had ever had the courage
-to enter it, and those who might possibly have been
-so bold did not do it because, according to the tradition,
-the first man who crossed that threshold
-would be the ruin of Spain. Finally King Roderic,
-before setting out for the battle of Guadalete, hoping
-to find in it some treasures which would furnish
-him means to resist the invasion of the Moors, had
-the doors broken open and entered, preceded by his
-warriors, who lighted the way. After a great deal
-of trouble to keep their torches lighted for the
-furious wind which came through the underground
-passages, they reached a mysterious room where
-they saw a chest which bore the inscription, 'He
-who opens me will see miracles.' The king commanded
-that it be opened: with incredible difficulty
-they succeeded in opening it, but, instead of gold or
-diamonds, they found only a roll of linen, on which
-were painted some armed Moors, with this inscription
-underneath: '<i>Spain will soon be destroyed by
-these</i>.' That very night a violent tempest arose,
-the enchanted palace fell, and a short time afterward
-the Moors entered Spain. You don't seem to
-believe it?"</p>
-
-<p>"What stuff you are talking! How can I
-believe it?"</p>
-
-<p>"But this history is connected with another.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span>
-You know, without doubt, that Count Julian, the
-commandant of the fortress of Ceuta, betrayed
-Spain and allowed the Moors to pass when he might
-have barred the way. But you do not know why
-Count Julian turned traitor. He had a daughter at
-Toledo, and this daughter went every day with a
-number of her young friends to bathe in the Tagus.
-As misfortune willed it, the place where they went
-to bathe, which was called <i>Los Baños de la Cava</i>,
-was near a tower in which King Roderic was accustomed
-to pass the mid-day hours. One day Count
-Julian's daughter, who was called Florinda, tired of
-sporting in the water, sat down on the river-bank
-and said to her companions, 'Companions, let us
-see who is the most beautiful.'&mdash;'Let us see!' they
-cried, and as soon done as said. They seated themselves
-around Florinda, and each one revealed her
-beauty. But Florinda surpassed them all, and,
-unfortunately, just at the moment when she said to
-the others, 'Look!' King Roderic put his head out
-of the window and saw them. Young and dissolute,
-you may imagine he took fire like a match, paid his
-court to the beautiful Florinda, ruined and abandoned
-her; and from this followed the fury of the revenge
-of Count Julian, the treason, and the invasion."</p>
-
-<p>At this point it seemed that I had listened long
-enough: I gave the custodian two <i>reales</i>, which he
-took and put in his pocket with a dignified air, and,
-giving a last look at Toledo, I descended.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span></p>
-
-<p>It was the hour for promenading. The principal
-street, hardly wide enough for a carriage to pass
-through, was full of people; there may have been a
-few hundred persons, but they seemed like a great
-crowd; it was dusk, the shops were closing, and a
-few stray lights began to flicker here and there. I
-went to get my dinner, but came out quickly, so as
-not to lose sight of the promenade. It was night:
-there was no other illumination save the moonlight,
-and one could not see the faces of the people; I
-seemed to be in the midst of a procession of spectres,
-and was overwhelmed with sadness. "To think that
-I am alone!" I said&mdash;"that in all this city there is
-not a soul who knows me; that if I fall dead at this
-moment, there would not be a dog to say, 'Poor
-man! he was a good fellow!'" I saw joyous young
-men pass, fathers of families with their children,
-husbands or those who had the air of husbands
-with beautiful creatures on their arms; every one
-had a companion; they laughed and talked, and
-passed without so much as looking at me. How
-wretched I was! How happy I should have been if
-a boy, a beggar, or a policeman had come up and
-said, "It seems to me that I recognize you, sir"!&mdash;"It
-is impossible, I am a foreigner, I have never
-been in Toledo before; but it makes no matter;
-don't go away; stay here, and we will talk a while,
-for I am lonely."</p>
-
-<p>In a happy moment I remembered that at Madrid<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span>
-I had received a letter of introduction to a Toledan
-gentleman. I hurried to the hotel, took out my letter,
-and was at once shown to his house. The gentleman
-was at home and received me courteously.
-It was such a pleasure to hear my own name again
-that I could have thrown my arms around his neck.
-He was Antonio Gamero, the author of a highly esteemed
-<i>History of Toledo</i>. We spent the evening
-together. I asked him a hundred things; he told
-me a thousand, and read me some splendid passages
-from his book, which made me better acquainted with
-Toledo than I should otherwise have been in a
-month's residence there.</p>
-
-<p>The city is poor, and worse than poor: it is dead;
-the rich have abandoned it for Madrid; the men of
-genius have followed the rich; it has no commerce;
-the manufacture of cutlery, the only industry which
-flourishes, provides a livelihood for some hundreds
-of families, but not for the city; popular education
-is neglected; the people are lazy and miserable.</p>
-
-<p>But they have not lost their ancient character of
-nobility. Like all the peoples of great declining cities,
-they are proud and chivalrous; they abhor baseness,
-deal justice with their own hands, when they can, to
-assassins and thieves and murderers; and, although
-the poet Zorilla, in one of his ballads, has bluntly
-called them a silly people, they are not so; they are
-alert and bold. They combine the seriousness of the
-Spaniards of the North with the vivacity of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span>
-Spaniards of the South; they hold the middle ground
-between the Castilian and the Andalusian; they
-speak the language with refinement, with a greater
-variety of inflexion than the people of Madrid, and
-with greater precision than the people of Cordova
-and Seville; they love poetry and music; they are
-proud to number among their great men the gentle
-Garcilaso de la Vega, the reformer of Spanish poetry,
-and the illustrious Francisco de Rojas, the author of
-the <i>Garcia del Castañar</i>; and they take pride in
-welcoming within their walls artists and students
-from all the countries in the world who come to
-study the history of three nations and the monuments
-of three civilizations. But, whatever its
-people may be, Toledo is dead; the city of Wamba,
-of Alfonso the Brave, and of Padilla is nothing but
-a tomb. Since Philip II. took from it the crown of
-the capital, it has been steadily declining, and is still
-declining, and it is consuming itself little by little,
-solitary on the summit of its gloomy mountain, like
-a skeleton abandoned on a rock in the midst of the
-waves of the sea.</p>
-
-<p>I returned to the hotel shortly before midnight.
-Although the moon was shining brightly&mdash;for on
-moonlight nights they do not illuminate the streets,
-although the light of that silvery orb does not penetrate
-those narrow ways&mdash;I was obliged to grope my
-way along like a thief. With my head full, as it
-was, of fantastic ballads which describe the streets<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span>
-of Toledo traversed at night by cavaliers muffled in
-their cloaks, singing under the windows of their
-ladies, fighting and killing one another, climbing
-into palaces and stealing the maidens away, I
-imagined I should hear the tinkle of guitars, the
-clashing of swords, and the cries of the dying.
-Nothing of the kind: the streets were deserted and
-silent and the windows dark, and one heard faintly
-from time to time at the corners and crossways the
-light step of some one passing or a fugitive whisper,
-the source of which one could in no way discover.
-I reached the hotel without harming any fair Toledan,
-which might have caused me some annoyance,
-and also without having any holes made in my
-stomach, which was undoubtedly a consolation.</p>
-
-<p>The morning of the next day I visited the beautiful
-building of the hospital of San Cruz, the church
-of <i>Nuestra Señora del Transito</i>, an ancient synagogue,
-the ruins of an amphitheatre and of an arena
-where naval battles were fought in Roman times,
-and the famous manufactory of arms, where I bought
-a beautiful dagger with a silver handle and a blade
-covered with arabesques, which at this moment lies
-on my table, and when I shut my eyes and take it
-in my hand I seem to be still there, in the courtyard
-of the factory, a mile out of Toledo, under the mid-day
-sun, surrounded by a group of soldiers, and enveloped
-in a cloud of smoke from their cigarettes.
-I remember that as I was walking back to Toledo,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span>
-as I was crossing a bit of country solitary as a desert
-and silent as the Catacombs, a terrible voice cried
-out, "Away with the foreigner!"</p>
-
-<p>The voice came from the city. I stopped&mdash;I was
-the foreigner, that cry was directed at me, and my
-blood curdled; the solitude and silence of the place
-increased my fear. I started forward and the voice
-cried again, "Away with the foreigner!"</p>
-
-<p>"Is it a dream?" I exclaimed, stopping again, "or
-am I awake? Who is shouting? Where is he?
-Why does he do it?"</p>
-
-<p>I started on again, and the voice came the third
-time, "Away with the foreigner!"</p>
-
-<p>I stopped the third time, and when, all disturbed,
-I cast my eyes around, I saw a boy sitting on the
-ground, who looked at me with a laugh and said,
-"He is a crazy man, who thinks he is living in the
-time of the War of Independence. Look, sir! that
-is the insane asylum." And he pointed out the
-place on a hill among the outermost houses of
-Toledo. I drew a long breath which would have
-blown out a torch.</p>
-
-<p>In the evening I left Toledo, regretting that I had
-not time to see once and again all that was ancient
-and wonderful in it: this regret was tempered, however,
-by my ardent desire for Andalusia, which had
-not allowed me a moment's peace. But how long I
-saw Toledo before my eyes! How long I remembered
-and dreamed of those headlong rocks, those enor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span>mous
-walls, those dark streets, that fantastic appearance
-of a mediæval city! Even to-day I review
-the picture with a sort of sombre pleasure and grave
-melancholy, and with this picture before me my
-mind wanders back in a thousand strange thoughts
-among distant times and marvellous events.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span></p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a><br /><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
-
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="CORDOVA" id="CORDOVA"></a>CORDOVA.</h2>
-
-
-<p>On arriving at Castillejo I was obliged to wait
-until midnight for the Andalusia train. I dined on
-hard-boiled eggs and oranges, with a little sprinkling
-of Val de Peñas, murmured a poem of Espronceda,
-chatted a little with a custom-house officer who between
-parentheses made me a confession of his political
-faith&mdash;Amadeus, liberty, an increase of wages
-to the custom-house officers, etc; finally I heard
-the long-desired whistle, entered a railway-carriage
-crowded full of women, children, civil guards, boxes,
-cushions, and wraps, and away with a speed unusual
-for the Spanish railways. It was a beautiful night;
-my travelling-companions talked of bulls and Carlists;
-a beautiful girl, whom more than one devoured
-with his eyes, pretended to sleep that she might still
-further heighten their curiosity; some were rolling
-cigarettes, some peeling oranges, others humming
-songs from the <i>Zarzuela</i>. Nevertheless, I fell
-asleep in a few minutes. I believe I had already
-dreamed of the mosque of Cordova and the Alcazar
-of Seville, when I was aroused by a hoarse cry,
-"Daggers!"</p>
-
-<p>"Daggers? Heavens! for whom?" Before I dis<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span>covered
-who had shouted there flashed before my
-eyes a long sharp blade, and the unknown voice
-asked again,</p>
-
-<p>"Do you like it?"</p>
-
-<p>One must admit that there are pleasanter ways to
-be awakened. I looked in the faces of my travelling-companions
-with an expression of consternation,
-which made them all burst into a shout of laughter.
-Then they explained that at every railway-station
-there are vendors of knives and daggers who offer
-tourists their wares, just as the boys offer newspapers
-and refreshments in our country. Assured that my
-life was safe, I bought my scarecrow&mdash;five francs;
-a splendid dagger for a villain in a tragedy, with an
-ornamented handle, inscriptions on the blade, and a
-sheath of embroidered velvet; and I put it in my
-pocket, thinking that I might find it useful in Italy
-to settle difficulties with my publishers.</p>
-
-<p>The vendor must have had fifty of those knives
-in a great red sash tied around his waist. Other
-travellers bought them, the civil guards complimented
-one of my neighbors on the good selection
-he had made; the boys cried, "Buy me one too!"
-The mammas answered, "We will buy you a bigger
-one some other time." "O happy Spain!" I exclaimed,
-and thought with horror of our barbarous
-laws, which forbid the innocent amusement of a little
-cold steel.</p>
-
-<p>We crossed La Mancha, the celebrated La Mancha,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span>
-the immortal theatre of the adventures of Don
-Quixote. It is such a place as I imagined&mdash;wide,
-bare plains, long tracts of sandy soil, here and there
-a windmill, a few wretched villages, lonely lanes,
-and forsaken huts. On seeing these places I felt
-that vague sense of melancholy which steals over
-me as I read the book of Cervantes, and repeated to
-myself what I always say on reading it: "This man
-cannot make one laugh without also making one's
-tears flow as the laughter dies away."</p>
-
-<p>Don Quixote is a sad and sombre figure: his madness
-is a lament; his life is the history of the dreams,
-illusions, awakenings, and aberrations of each of us;
-the struggle of reason with imagination, of truth
-with falsehood, of the ideal with the real. We all
-have something of Don Quixote in our nature; we
-all mistake windmills for giants; we are all now and
-then spurred on by the impulse of enthusiasm, only
-to be driven back by the laugh of scorn; we are
-each a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous;
-we all feel bitterly and profoundly the eternal conflict
-between the grandeur of our aspirations and the
-impotence of our powers. O beautiful dreams of
-childhood and youth! Generous impulses to consecrate
-our life to the defence of virtue and justice,
-fond imaginations of dangers faced, of adventurous
-struggles, of magnanimous deeds, and sublime loves,
-fallen one by one, like the petals of a flower, in the
-narrow and uneventful paths of life! To what new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span>
-life have they arisen in our soul, and what vague
-thoughts and profound inspirations have we derived
-from thee, O generous and hapless cavalier of the
-sad figure!</p>
-
-<p>We arrived at Argamasilla de Alba, where Don
-Quixote was born and died, and where poor Cervantes,
-the tax-gatherer of the great priory of San Juan,
-was arrested by angry debtors and imprisoned in a
-house which is said to be still in existence, and
-where he probably conceived the plan of his
-romance. We passed near the village of Val de
-Peñas, which gives its name to one of the most
-exquisite wines of Spain&mdash;dark, tingling, exhilarating,
-the only one, forsooth, which permits the
-foreigner from the North to indulge in copious
-libations at his meals; and finally we arrived at
-Santa Cruz de Mudela, a village famous for its
-manufactories of <i>navajas</i> (knives and razors), near
-which the way begins to slope gently upward toward
-the mountain.</p>
-
-<p>The sun had risen, the women and children had
-left the carriage, and a number of peasants, officers,
-and <i>toreros</i> had entered on their way to Seville.
-One saw in that small space a variety of costume
-which would not be seen even in an Italian market-place&mdash;the
-pointed caps of the peasants of the
-Sierra Morena, the red trousers of the soldiers, the
-great sombreros of the <i>picadores</i>, the shawls of the
-gypsies, the mantles of the Catalans, Toledo blades<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span>
-hanging from the walls, capes, belts, and finery of
-all the colors of a harlequin.</p>
-
-<p>The train entered the rocks of the Sierra Morena,
-which separate the valley of the Guadiana from that
-of the Guadalquivir, famous for the songs of poets
-and the deeds of brigands. The railway runs at
-times between two walls of rock sheer from the very
-peaks, so high that to see the top one must put one's
-head all the way out of the window and turn one's
-face up, as if to look at the roof of the carriage.
-Sometimes the rocks are farther away and rise one
-above the other, the first like enormous broken
-stones, the last straight and sharp like bold towers
-rising upon measureless bastions; between them a
-mass of boulders cut into teeth, steps, crests, and
-humps, some almost hanging in the air, others separated
-by deep caverns and frightful precipices, presenting
-a confusion of curious forms, of fantastic suggestions
-of houses, gigantic figures and ruins, and
-offering at every step a thousand outlines and surprising
-appearances; and, together with this infinite
-variety of form, an infinite variety of color, shadow,
-dancing and changing light. For long distances, to
-the right, to the left, and overhead, one sees nothing
-but stone, without a house, a path, or a patch of
-ground where a man could set his foot, and, as one
-advances, rocks, ravines, and precipices: everything
-grows larger, deeper, and higher until one
-reaches the summit of the Sierra, where the solemn<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span>
-majesty of the spectacle provokes a cry of wonder.</p>
-
-<p>The train stopped a few minutes, and all the travellers
-put their heads out of the window.</p>
-
-<p>"Here," said one in a loud voice,&mdash;"here Cardenio
-jumped from rock to rock to do penance for
-his sins" (Cardenio, one of the most remarkable characters
-in <i>Don Quixote</i>, who jumped about among
-the rocks of the Sierra in his shirt to do penance for
-his sins). "I wish," continued the traveller, "that
-Sagasta might have to do the same."</p>
-
-<p>They all laughed, and began to find, each one on
-his own account, some political enemy upon whom
-in imagination he might inflict this punishment:
-one proposed Serrano, another Topete, and a third
-another, and so on, until in a few minutes, if their
-desires had been realized, one might have seen the
-entire Sierra filled with ministers, generals, and
-deputies in their shirts skipping from crag to crag
-like the famous rock of Alessandro Manzoni.</p>
-
-<p>The train started, the rocks disappeared, and the
-delightful valley of the Guadalquivir, the garden of
-Spain, the Eden of the Arabs, the paradise of
-painters and of poets, blessed Andalusia, revealed
-herself to my eyes. I can still feel the thrill of
-childish joy with which I hurried to the window,
-saying to myself, "Let me enjoy it."</p>
-
-<p>For a long distance the country does not offer any
-new appearance to the ardent curiosity of the travel<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span>ler.
-At Vilches there is a vast plain, and beyond it
-the level country of Tolosa, where Alfonso VIII.,
-king of Castile, won the celebrated victory of <i>de las
-Navas</i> over the Mussulman army. The sky was as
-clear as air&mdash;in the distance rose the mountains of
-the Sierra de Segura. Suddenly I made one of
-those quick motions which seemed to correspond to
-an unuttered cry of astonishment: the first aloes
-with their broad heavy leaves, the unexpected harbingers
-of the tropical vegetation, rise beside the
-road. Beyond them the fields sprinkled with flowers
-begin to appear. The first fields sprinkled, those
-which follow almost covered, then vast tracts of
-country wholly clothed, with wild poppies, daisies,
-iris, mushrooms, cowslips, and buttercups, so that
-the country appears like a succession of vast carpets
-of purple and gold and snowy white, and far away,
-among the trees, innumerable streaks of blue, white,
-and yellow until the eye is lost; and hard by, on the
-edge of the ditches, the mounds, and the banks, even
-to the very track, flowers in beds, groups, and clusters,
-one above the other, fashioned like great
-bouquets, trembling on their stems, which one can
-almost touch with the hand. Then waving fields of
-grain with great heavy bearded heads, bordered by
-long gardens of roses; then orange-orchards and
-vast olive-groves; hillocks varied by a hundred
-shades of green, surmounted by ancient Moorish
-towers, dotted with many-colored cottages, with here<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span>
-and there white, graceful bridges, which span rivulets
-hidden by the trees. On the horizon rise the
-snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada, and below this
-white line other blue undulating lines of the nearer
-mountains. The country grows ever more various
-and blooming: Arjonilla, embowered in an orange-grove
-whose limits are lost in the distance; Pedro
-Abad, in the midst of a plain covered with vineyards
-and orchards; Ventas de Alcolea, on the hills
-of the Sierra Morena, crowned with villas and gardens.
-We are drawing near to Cordova: the train
-flies; one sees little stations half hidden among trees
-and flowers; the wind blows the rose-leaves into the
-cars, great butterflies sail past the windows, a delicious
-perfume fills the air, the travellers are singing,
-we pass through an enchanted garden, the aloes,
-oranges, palms, and villas become more frequent;
-one hears a cry: "Here is Cordova!"</p>
-
-<p>How many beautiful images and how many memories
-are recalled by that name!</p>
-
-<p>Cordova, the ancient pearl of the Occident, as the
-Moorish poets called her, the city of cities, Cordova
-of the thirty burgs and the three thousand mosques,
-which contained within her walls the greatest temple
-of Islam! Her fame spread through the Orient and
-obscured the glory of ancient Damascus,&mdash;from the
-remotest regions of Asia the faithful journeyed
-toward the banks of the Guadalquivir to prostrate
-themselves in the marvellous mihrab of her mosque,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span>
-in the blaze of a thousand brazen lamps cast from
-the bells of the Spanish cathedrals. From every
-part of the Mohammedan world artists, scholars, and
-poets crowded to her flourishing schools, her vast
-libraries, and the magnificent courts of her caliphs.
-Hither flowed wealth and beauty, drawn by the
-fame of her splendor.</p>
-
-<p>And from here they separated, eager for knowledge,
-along the coasts of Africa, among the schools of Tunis,
-Cairo, Bagdad, and Cufa, as far as India and
-China, in search of books, inspiration, and memories;
-and the poems sung on the slopes of the Sierra
-Morena flew from harp to harp even to the valleys
-of the Caucasus, to make the hearts of pilgrims burn
-within them. The beautiful, the mighty, the wise
-Cordova, crowned with three thousand villages,
-proudly reared her white minarets among her orange-groves
-and spread through the divine valley a
-voluptuous air of gladness and glory.</p>
-
-<p>I descend from the train, cross a garden, and look
-around: I am alone; the travellers who came with
-me have disappeared in different directions; I still
-hear the rumble of the receding carriages; then all is
-silent.</p>
-
-<p>It is mid-day: the sky is very clear, the air burning.
-I see two white cottages; it is the opening of
-a street; I enter and go forward. The street is narrow,
-the houses small as the little villas built on the
-hillocks of artificial gardens; nearly all of them are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span>
-one story in height, with windows a little way from
-the ground, roofs so low that one can almost touch
-them with a cane, and very white walls. The street
-makes a turn; I look down it; no one is in sight; I
-do not hear a step nor a voice. "It must be an
-abandoned street," I say, and turn in another direction:
-white cottages, closed windows, solitude, and
-silence. "Where am I?" I ask myself.</p>
-
-<p>I walk on: the street is so narrow and crooked
-that a carriage could not pass through it; to the
-right and left one sees other deserted streets, other
-white houses, and other closed windows; my step
-echoes as in a corridor; the white of the walls is so
-bright that the reflection almost blinds me, and I am
-obliged to walk with my eyes closed; I seem to be
-passing through snow. I reach a little square:
-everything is closed, there is no one about. Then a
-feeling of vague melancholy begins to steal into my
-heart, such as I have never felt before, a mingling
-of enjoyment and sorrow like that which children
-experience when after a long run they find themselves
-in a beautiful country-place and enjoy it, but
-with a tremor of fear at being so far away from
-home. Above the many roofs rise the palms of the
-inner gardens. O fantastic legends of odalisques
-and caliphs!</p>
-
-<p>On from street to street and square to square; I
-meet a few persons, but they all pass and disappear
-like phantoms. The streets are all alike, the houses<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span>
-have only two or four windows; and there is not a
-stain, not a scratch, not a crack in the walls, which
-are as smooth and white as a sheet of paper. Now
-and then I hear a whisper behind a venetian blind,
-and almost at the same moment see a dark head with
-a flower in the hair peep out and disappear. I approach
-a door.</p>
-
-<p>A <i>patio</i>! How shall I describe a <i>patio</i>? It is not
-a courtyard, it is not a garden, it is not a room; it is
-the three in one. Between the <i>patio</i> and the street
-there is a vestibule. On the four sides of the <i>patio</i>
-rise graceful columns which support a sort of balcony
-enclosed in glass at the height of the second
-story; over the balcony extends a canvas which
-shades the court. The vestibule is flagged with
-marble, the doorway supported by columns surmounted
-by bas-reliefs and closed by a delicate iron
-lattice of very beautiful design. At the back of the
-<i>patio</i>, opposite the doorway, stands a statue, in the
-centre a fountain, and all around chairs, work-tables,
-paintings, and vases of flowers. I run to another
-door. Another <i>patio</i>, its walls covered with ivy,
-and a line of niches containing statuettes and urns.
-I hurry to a third door. A <i>patio</i> with its walls
-adorned with mosaic, a palm in the centre, and all
-around a mass of flowers. A fourth door. Behind
-the <i>patio</i> another vestibule, and then a second <i>patio</i>,
-in which one sees other statues, columns, and fountains.
-And all these rooms and gardens are clean<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span>
-and tidy, so that you could pass your hands over the
-walls and along the floor without leaving a mark;
-and they are fresh and fragrant, lighted with a dim
-light which heightens their beauty and mystery.</p>
-
-<p>Still forward, from street to street, at random.
-Gradually, as I walk on, my curiosity increases and
-I hasten my steps. It seems impossible that the
-whole city can be like this: I am afraid of coming
-upon a house or finding a street which will remind
-me of other cities and rouse me from my pleasant
-dream.</p>
-
-<p>But, no: the dream is unbroken. Everything is
-small, graceful, mysterious. Every hundred paces a
-deserted little square, in which I stop breathless;
-now and then a crossway, and not a living soul;
-and everything always white&mdash;closed windows and
-silence. At every door there is a new spectacle:
-arches, columns, flowers, fountains, palms; a marvellous
-variety of design, color, light, perfume, here
-of roses, there of oranges, yonder of violets; and
-with the perfume a breath of fresh air, and borne on
-the air the subdued sound of women's voices, the
-rustling of leaves, and the singing of birds&mdash;a sweet
-and various harmony, which, without disturbing the
-silence of the street, soothes the ear like the echo of
-distant music. Ah! it is not a dream! Madrid,
-Italy, Europe, surely they are far, far away. Here
-one lives another life, here one breathes the air of
-another world; I am in the Orient.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span></p>
-
-<p>I remember that at a certain point I stopped in
-the middle of the street and suddenly discovered, I
-know not how, that I was sad and restless, and that
-in my heart there was a void which neither admiration
-nor enjoyment could fill. I felt an irrepressible
-necessity of entering those houses and those gardens,
-of tearing asunder, so to speak, the mysterious veil
-which concealed the life of the unknown people
-within; of sharing in that life; of grasping some
-hand and gazing into two pitying eyes, and saying,
-"I am a stranger, I am alone; I too want to be
-happy; let me linger among your flowers, let me
-enjoy all the secrets of your paradise, teach me who
-you are and how you live; smile on me and calm me,
-for my head is burning!"</p>
-
-<p>And this sadness grew upon me until I said to
-myself, "I cannot stay in this city; I am suffering
-here; I will leave it!"</p>
-
-<p>And I believe I should have left if at a happy
-moment I had not remembered that I carried in my
-pocket a letter of introduction to two young men of
-Cordova, brothers of a friend of mine in Florence.
-I dismissed the idea of leaving, and started at once
-to find them.</p>
-
-<p>How they laughed when I told them of the impression
-Cordova had made upon me! They proposed
-that we go at once to see the cathedral; so
-we turned down a narrow white street and were
-off.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span></p>
-
-<p>The mosque of Cordova, which was converted
-into a cathedral after the overthrow of the Moors,
-but which must always remain a mosque, was built
-on the ruins of the original cathedral, a little way
-back from the bank of the Guadalquivir. Abdurrahman
-commenced its construction in the year 785
-or 786 <span class="smcap">A. D.</span> "Let us rear a mosque," said he,
-"which shall surpass that of Bagdad, of Damascus,
-and of Jerusalem&mdash;a mosque which shall be the
-greatest temple of Islam, one which shall become
-the Mecca of the West." They undertook the work
-with great ardor. Christian slaves carried the stone
-for its foundations from their ruined churches; Abdurrahman
-himself worked an hour every day; in
-a few years the mosque was built, the caliphs who
-succeeded Abdurrahman embellished it, and after a
-century of almost continuous labor it was finished.</p>
-
-<p>"Here we are!" said one of my friends, stopping
-suddenly in front of a vast edifice.</p>
-
-<p>I thought it was a fortress, but it was the wall
-which surrounds the mosque&mdash;an old embattled wall
-in which there were at one time twenty great bronze
-doors ornamented with the most beautiful arabesques,
-and arched windows supported by graceful columns,
-now covered by a triple coat of plaster. A turn
-around this wall is a nice little walk to take after
-dinner: one may judge, therefore, of the vast size
-of the building.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i><a id="Court_of_Oranges"></a>Court of Oranges, Mosque of Cordova</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b068c.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span></p>
-
-<p>The principal door of the enclosure is north of
-the point where rises the minaret of Abdurrahman,
-from whose summit floated the Mohammedan standard.
-We entered: I expected to see at once the
-interior of the mosque, but found myself in a garden
-full of orange trees, cypresses, and palms, surrounded
-on three sides by a very beautiful portico and closed
-on the fourth side by the façade of the mosque.
-In the midst of this garden there was, in the time
-of the Moors, the fountain for their ablutions, and
-in the shade of these trees the faithful refreshed
-themselves before entering the sanctuary.</p>
-
-<p>I stood for some moments looking around and
-breathing in the fresh odorous air with the liveliest
-sense of pleasure, and my heart leaped at the
-thought of the famous mosque standing there before
-me, and I felt myself impelled toward the door by
-a boundless curiosity, and at the same time restrained
-by I know not what feeling of childish hesitation.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us enter," said my companions. "One
-moment more," I replied: "let me thoroughly enjoy
-the delight of anticipation." Finally I moved forward
-and entered, without so much as looking at
-the marvellous doorway which my companions
-pointed out.</p>
-
-<p>What I did or said on entering I do not know, but
-some strange exclamation must surely have escaped
-me or I must have made an odd gesture, for some
-persons who were just then coming toward me began
-to laugh and turned again to look around, as if to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span>
-discover the reason of the profound emotion which
-I had manifested.</p>
-
-<p>Imagine a forest and suppose yourself in the
-thickest part, where you see only the trunks of
-trees. So in the mosque wherever you turn your
-gaze is lost among the columns. It is a forest of
-marble whose boundaries one cannot discover. One
-follows with the eye, one by one, those lengthening
-rows of columns crossed at every step by innumerable
-other rows, and perceives a dimly-lighted background
-in which one seems to see the gleaming of
-still other columns. There are nineteen naves which
-extend in the direction in which you enter, crossed
-by thirty-three other naves, and supported, in all,
-by more than nine hundred columns of porphyry,
-jasper, onyx, and marble of every color. Each
-column is surmounted by a pilaster, and between one
-column and the next bends an arch, and a second
-arch above the first extends from pilaster to pilaster,
-both of them in the form of a horseshoe; and so,
-imagining the columns to be the trunks of so many
-trees and the arches to represent the branches, the
-resemblance of the mosque to a forest is complete.</p>
-
-<p>The central nave, much larger than the others,
-leads to the Maksura, the most sacred part of the
-temple, where they worshipped the Koran. Here
-from the vaulted windows steals a faint ray of light
-which glides along a row of columns; there a dark
-place, and yonder another ray pierces the gloom of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span>
-another nave. It is impossible to express the feeling
-of mystical wonder which fills one's mind at this
-spectacle. It is like the sudden revelation of a religion,
-a nature, and a life unknown, leading the
-fancy captive among the delights of that paradise
-of love and pleasure where the blessed, sitting in the
-shade of leafy plane trees and of thornless roses,
-drink from crystal beakers wine gleaming like
-pearls, mixed by immortal children, and repose in
-the embrace of lovely virgins with great dark eyes!
-All the images of that external pleasure, eager,
-warm, and glowing, which the Koran promises to
-the faithful, crowd upon the mind at the first sight
-of the mosque, and give one a delicious moment of
-intoxication which leaves in the heart an indescribable
-feeling of gentle melancholy. A brief tumult
-in the mind and a rapid thrill which goes tingling
-through the veins,&mdash;such is one's first sensation on
-entering the cathedral of Cordova.</p>
-
-<p>We began to wander from passage to passage, examining
-everything minutely. What a variety in
-that edifice which at first sight appears so uniform!
-The proportions of the columns, the design of the
-capitals, the form of the arches change, one may
-say, at every step. The greater part of the columns
-are old and were taken by the Moors from Northern
-Spain, Gaul, and Roman Africa, and one is said to
-have belonged to a temple of Janus, upon whose
-ruins stood the church which the Arabians destroyed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span>
-to build the mosque. On several of the capitals one
-may still see the traces of the crosses carved upon
-them, which the Arabians broke off with their
-hammers. In some of the columns iron rings are
-fastened to which it is said the Arabians bound the
-Christians, and among the others there is one
-pointed out to which the popular tradition narrates
-a Christian was bound for many years, and in that
-time, by continually scratching with his nails, he
-succeeded in engraving a cross on the stone, which
-the guides show with profound veneration.</p>
-
-<p>We entered the Maksura, which is the most perfect
-and marvellous work of Moorish art of the twelfth
-century. At the entrance there are three continuous
-chapels, with vaulted roofs formed by indented
-arches, and walls covered with magnificent mosaics
-which represent wreaths and flowers and passages
-from the Koran. At the back of the middle chapel
-is the principal <i>mihrab</i>, the holy place, where dwelt
-the Spirit of God. It is a niche with an octagonal
-base enclosed above by a colossal marble shell. In
-the <i>mihrab</i> was kept the Koran written by the hands
-of the caliph Othman, covered with gold, adorned
-with pearls, suspended above a seat of aloe-wood;
-and here came thousands of the faithful to
-make the circuit of it seven times on their knees.
-On approaching the wall I felt the pavement slipping
-from under me: the marble had been worn
-hollow!</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span></p>
-
-<p>On leaving the niche I stood a long time contemplating
-the vault and the walls of the principal
-chapel, the only part of the mosque which has been
-preserved almost intact. It is a dazzling flash of
-crystals of a thousand colors, an interweaving of
-arabesques which confuse the mind, a mingling of
-bas-reliefs, gilding, ornaments, and minute details of
-design and coloring of a delicacy, grace, and perfection
-which would prove the despair of the most patient
-artist. It is impossible to retain in one's mind
-any part of that prodigious work: you might return
-a hundred times to look at it, but in reality it would
-only remain before your eyes as a tantalizing blur
-of blue, red, green, golden, and luminous shades of
-colors, or a very intricate piece of embroidery continually
-and rapidly changing in color and design.
-Only from the ardent and tireless imagination of the
-Moors could such a miracle of art have issued.</p>
-
-<p>We began to wander through the mosque again,
-observing here and there on the walls the arabesques
-of the ancient doorways which are now and then
-discovered under the detestable plaster of the Christians.
-My companions looked at me, laughed, and
-whispered something to each other. "Have you
-not seen it yet?" one of them asked me.</p>
-
-<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
-
-<p>They looked at me again and smiled.</p>
-
-<p>"You think you have seen all the mosque, do
-you?" continued my companion.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span></p>
-
-<p>"Yes, indeed," I replied, looking around.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," said the first, "you have not seen it all,
-and what remains to be seen is nothing less than a
-church."</p>
-
-<p>"A church?" I exclaimed stupefied, "but where
-is it?"</p>
-
-<p>"Look!" answered my other companion, pointing;
-"it is in the very centre of the mosque."</p>
-
-<p>"By the powers!" And I had not seen it!</p>
-
-<p>From this one may judge of the vastness of the
-mosque.</p>
-
-<p>We went to see the church. It is beautiful and
-very rich, with a magnificent high altar and a choir
-worthy to stand beside those in the cathedrals of
-Burgos and Toledo, but, like everything out of
-place, it moves one to anger rather than admiration.
-Without this church the appearance of the mosque
-would be much improved. Charles V., who himself
-gave the chapter permission to build it, repented
-when he saw the Mohammedan temple for the first
-time. Besides the church there is a sort of Moorish
-chapel in a good state of preservation, rich in mosaics
-not less varied and splendid than those of the
-Maksura, and where it is said the ministers of the
-faith used to assemble to discuss the book of the
-Prophet.</p>
-
-<p>Such is the mosque to-day. But what must it
-have been in the time of the Arabs! It was not entirely
-enclosed by a wall, but open, so that one could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span>
-see the garden from every side, and from the garden
-one could look to the very end of the long naves,
-and the fragrance of orange-blossoms and flowers
-was wafted even to the vaulted roofs of the Maksura.
-The columns, which now number less than a thousand,
-were then fourteen hundred in number; the
-ceiling was of cedar-wood and larch, carved and enamelled
-with exquisite workmanship; the walls were
-lined with marble; the light of eight hundred lamps
-filled with fragrant oil made the crystals in the mosaic-work
-flash like pearls, and produced on the pavement,
-the arches, and the walls a marvellous play of
-color and reflection. "A sea of splendors," sang a
-poet, filled the mysterious enclosure, and the warm
-air was laden with perfume and harmony, and the
-thoughts of the faithful wandered and were lost in
-the labyrinth of columns gleaming like lances in the
-sun.</p>
-
-<p>Frederick Schrack, the author of a good work on
-the <i>Poetry and Art of the Moors in Spain and Sicily</i>,
-gives a description of the mosque on a day of solemn
-festival, which forms a very lively image of the Mohammedan
-religion and completes the picture of the
-monument.</p>
-
-<p>On both sides of the almimbar, or pulpit, wave
-two banners, to signify that Islam has triumphed
-over Judaism and Christianity and that the Koran
-has conquered both the Old and the New Testament.
-The <i>almnedani</i> ascend to the gallery of the high<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span>
-minaret and intone the salam, or salutation, to the
-Prophet. Then the aisles of the mosque are filled
-with believers, who with white vestments and in
-festal attire come together to worship. In a few
-moments, throughout the length and breadth of the
-edifice, one sees only kneeling people. The caliph
-enters by the secret way which leads from the Alcazar
-to the temple, and seats himself in his elevated
-station. A reader of the Koran reads a <i>sura</i> from
-the low desk of the pulpit.</p>
-
-<p>The voice of the muezzin sounds again, calling
-men to mid-day prayer. All the faithful rise and
-murmur their prayers, bowing as they do so. An
-attendant of the mosque opens the doors of the pulpit
-and seizes a sword, and, holding it, he turns
-toward Mecca, admonishing the people to worship
-Mohammed, while the <i>mubaliges</i> are chanting his
-praises from the gallery. Then the preacher mounts
-the pulpit, taking from the hand of the servant the
-sword, which calls to mind and symbolizes the subjection
-of Spain to the power of Islam. It is the
-day when the <i>Djihad</i>, or the holy war, must be proclaimed,
-the call for all able-bodied men to go to
-war and descend into the battlefield against the
-Christians. The multitude listens with silent devotion
-to the sermon, woven from texts of the Koran,
-which begins in this wise:</p>
-
-<p>"Praise be to Allah, who has increased the glory
-of Islam, thanks to the sword of the champion of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span>
-faith, who in his holy book has promised succor and
-victory to the believer.</p>
-
-<p>"Allah scatters his benefits over the world.</p>
-
-<p>"If he did not put it in the hearts of men to take
-up arms against their fellows, the world would be lost.</p>
-
-<p>"Allah has ordained to fight against the people
-until they know that there is but one God.</p>
-
-<p>"The torch of war will not be extinguished until
-the end of the world.</p>
-
-<p>"The blessing of God will fall upon the mane of
-the war-horse to the day of judgment.</p>
-
-<p>"Armed from head to foot or but lightly clad, it
-matters not&mdash;up and away!</p>
-
-<p>"O believers! what shall be done to you if, when
-called to the battle, you remain with face turned to
-the earth?</p>
-
-<p>"Do you prefer the life of this world to the life
-to come?</p>
-
-<p>"Believe me, the gates of paradise stand in the
-shadow of the sword.</p>
-
-<p>"He who dies in battle for the cause of God shall
-wash away with his blood all the defilement of his
-sins.</p>
-
-<p>"His body shall not be wasted like the other
-bodies of the dead, for on the day of judgment his
-wounds shall yield a fragrance like musk.</p>
-
-<p>"When the warriors present themselves at the
-gates of paradise, a voice within shall ask, 'What
-have you done in your life?'</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span></p>
-
-<p>"And they shall answer, 'We have brandished
-the sword in the struggle for the cause of God.'</p>
-
-<p>"Then the eternal doors will swing open, and the
-warriors will enter forty years before the rest.</p>
-
-<p>"Up, then, ye faithful; leave your women, your
-children, your kindred, and your goods, and go out
-to the holy war!</p>
-
-<p>"And thou, God, Lord of this present world
-and of that which is to come, fight for the armies
-of those who recognize thy unity! Cast down the
-unbelievers, the idolaters, and the enemies of thy
-holy faith! Overwhelm their standards, and give
-them, with whatever they possess, as a prey to the
-Mussulman!"</p>
-
-<p>The preacher as he ends his discourse turns toward
-the congregation and exclaims, "Ask of God!" and
-begins to pray in silence.</p>
-
-<p>All the faithful, with heads bowed to the ground,
-follow his example. The <i>mubaliges</i> chant, "Amen!
-Amen, O Lord of all being!" Burning like the heat
-which precedes the oncoming tempest, the enthusiasm
-of the multitude, restrained at first in awful silence,
-now breaks out into deep murmurs, which rise like
-the waves and swell through all parts of the temple,
-until finally the naves, the chapels, and the vaulted
-roofs resound to the echo of a thousand voices
-united in a single cry: "There is no God but
-Allah!"</p>
-
-<p>The mosque of Cordova is even to-day, by uni<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span>versal
-consent, the most beautiful temple of Islam
-and one of the most marvellous monuments in the
-world.</p>
-
-<p>When we left the mosque it was already long past
-the hour of the siesta, which everybody takes in the
-cities of Southern Spain, and which is a necessity
-by reason of the insupportable heat of the noon
-hours. The streets began to fill with people.
-"Alas!" said I to my companions, "how badly the
-silk hat looks in the streets of Cordova! How have
-you the heart to introduce the fashion-plates in this
-beautiful Oriental picture? Why do you not adopt
-the dress of the Moors?" Coxcombs pass, workmen,
-and girls: I looked at them all with great
-curiosity, hoping to find one of those fantastic
-figures which Doré has represented as examples
-of the Andalusian type, with that dark-brown complexion,
-those thick lips, and large eyes, but I saw
-none. Walking toward the centre of the city, I
-saw the first Andalusian women&mdash;ladies, girls and
-women of the middle classes&mdash;almost all small, graceful,
-and well-formed, some of them beautiful, many
-attractive in appearance, but the greater part neither
-one thing nor the other, as is the case in all countries.
-In their dress, with the exception of the so-called
-mantilla, they do not differ at all from the
-French women nor from those of our country&mdash;great
-masses of false hair in plaits, knots, and long
-curls, short petticoats, long plaited over-skirts, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span>
-boots with heels as sharp as daggers. The ancient
-Andalusian costume has disappeared from the city.</p>
-
-<p>I thought that in the evening the streets would be
-crowded, but I saw only a few people, and only in
-the streets of the principal quarters; the others
-remain as empty as at the hour of the siesta. And
-one must pass through those deserted streets at night
-to enjoy Cordova. One sees the light streaming
-from the <i>patios</i>; one sees in the dark corners fond
-lovers in close colloquy, the girls usually at the windows,
-with a hand resting lightly on the iron grating,
-and the young men close to the wall in poetic attitudes,
-with watchful eyes, but not so watchful, however,
-as to make them take their lips from those
-hands before they discover that some one is passing;
-and one hears the sound of guitars, the murmur
-of fountains, sighs, the laughter of children, and
-mysterious rustlings.</p>
-
-<p>The following morning, still stirred by the Oriental
-dreams of the night, I again began my wandering
-through the city. To describe all that is remarkable
-there one would require a volume: it is a
-very museum of Roman and Arabian antiquities,
-and one finds a profusion of martial columns and
-inscriptions in honor of the emperors; the remains
-of statues and bas-reliefs; six ancient gates; a great
-bridge over the Guadalquivir dating from the time
-of Octavius Augustus and restored by the Arabians;
-ruins of towers and walls; houses which belonged<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span>
-to the caliphs, and which still contain the columns
-and the subterranean arches of the bathing apartments;
-and everywhere there are doors, vestibules,
-and stairways that would delight a legion of archæologists.</p>
-
-<p>Toward noon, as I was passing through a lonely
-little street, I saw a sign on the wall of a house
-beside a Roman inscription, <i>Casa de huespedes.
-Almuerzos y comidas</i>, and as I read I felt the gnawing,
-as Giusti says, of such a desperate hunger that
-I determined to give it a quietus in this little shop
-upon which I had stumbled. I passed through a
-little vestibule, and found myself in a <i>patio</i>. It was
-a poor little <i>patio</i>, without marble floor and without
-fountains, but white as snow and fresh as a garden.
-As I saw neither tables nor chairs, I feared I had
-mistaken the door and started to go out. A little
-old woman bustled out from I know not where and
-stopped me.</p>
-
-<p>"Have you anything to eat?" I demanded.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, sir," she answered.</p>
-
-<p>"What have you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Eggs, sausages, chops, peaches, oranges, and
-wine of Malaga."</p>
-
-<p>"Very good: you may bring everything you
-have."</p>
-
-<p>She commenced by bringing me a table and a
-chair, and I sat down and waited. Suddenly I heard
-a door open behind me and turned.... Angels of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span>
-heaven! what a sight I saw!&mdash;the most beautiful of
-all the most beautiful Andalusians, not only of those
-whom I saw at Cordova, but of all those whom I
-afterward saw at Seville, Cadiz, and Granada: if I
-may be allowed to use the word, a superb girl, who
-would make one flee or commit some deviltry; one
-of those faces which make you cry, "O poor me!"
-like Giuseppe Baretti when he was travelling in
-Spain. For some moments she stood motionless
-with her eyes fixed on mine as if to say, "Admire
-me;" then she turned toward the kitchen and cried,
-"<i>Tia, despachate!</i>" ("Hurry up, aunty!") This
-gave me an opportunity of thanking her with a
-stammering tongue, and gave her a pretence for approaching
-me and replying, "It is nothing," with a
-voice so gentle that I was obliged to offer her a
-chair, whereupon she sat down. She was a girl
-about twenty years old, tall, straight as a palm, and
-dark, with two great eyes full of sweetness, lustrous
-and humid as though she had just been in tears:
-she wore a mass of wavy jet-black hair with a rose
-among her locks. She seemed like one of the Arabian
-virgins of the tribe of the Usras for whom men
-died of love.</p>
-
-<p>She herself opened the conversation:</p>
-
-<p>"You are a foreigner, I should think, sir?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"French?"</p>
-
-<p>"Italian."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span></p>
-
-<p>"Italian? A fellow-countryman of the king?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you know him, sir?"</p>
-
-<p>"By sight!"</p>
-
-<p>"They say he is a handsome young fellow."</p>
-
-<p>I did not answer, and she began to laugh, and
-asked me, "What are you looking at, sir?" and,
-still laughing, she hid her foot, which on taking her
-seat she thrust well forward that I might see it.
-Ah! there is not a woman in that country who does
-not know that the feet of the Andalusians are famous
-throughout the world.</p>
-
-<p>I seized the opportunity of turning the conversation
-upon the fame of the Andalusian women, and
-expressed my admiration in the most fervent words
-of my vocabulary. She allowed me to talk on, looking
-with great attention at the crack in the table,
-then raising her face, she asked me, "And in Italy,
-how are the women there?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, there are beautiful women in Italy too."</p>
-
-<p>"But ... they are cold?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh no, not at all," I hastened to respond; "but,
-you know, ... in every country the women have
-an <i>I-know-not-what</i> which distinguishes them from
-the women of all other countries; and among them all
-the <i>I-know-not-what</i> of the Andalusians is probably
-the most dangerous for a poor traveller whose hairs
-have not turned gray. There is a word to express
-what I mean: if I could remember it, I would say<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span>
-it to you; I would say, "<i>Señorita</i>, you are the
-most ..."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Salada</i>," exclaimed the girl, covering her face
-with her hands.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Salada!</i> ... the most <i>salada</i> Andalusian in
-Cordova."</p>
-
-<p><i>Salada</i> is the word commonly used in Andalusia
-to describe a woman beautiful, charming, affectionate,
-languid, ardent, what you will&mdash;a woman with
-two lips which say, "Drink me," and two eyes
-which make one close one's teeth.</p>
-
-<p>The aunt brought me the eggs, chops, sausage,
-and oranges, and the girl continued the conversation:
-"Sir, you are an Italian: have you seen the
-Pope?"</p>
-
-<p>"No, I am sorry to say."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it possible? An Italian who has not seen the
-Pope! And tell me, sir: why do the Italians make
-him suffer so much?"</p>
-
-<p>"Suffer in what way?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes. They say that they have shut him up in
-his house and thrown stones at the windows."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh no! Don't believe it! There is not a particle
-of truth in it," etc., etc.</p>
-
-<p>"Have you seen Venice, sir?"</p>
-
-<p>"Venice? oh yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Is it true that it is a city which floats on the
-sea?"</p>
-
-<p>And here she made a thousand requests that I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span>
-would describe Venice, and that I would tell her
-what the people were like in that strange city, and
-what they do all the day long, and how they dress.
-And while I was talking besides the pains I took
-to express myself with a little grace, and to eat
-meanwhile the badly-cooked eggs and stale sausage&mdash;I
-was obliged to see her draw nearer and nearer
-to me, that she might hear me better perhaps, without
-being conscious of the act. She came so close
-that I could smell the fragrance of the rose in her
-hair and feel her warm breath; I was obliged, I may
-say, to make three efforts at once&mdash;one with my
-head, another with my stomach, and a third with
-both&mdash;especially when, now and then, she would say,
-"How beautiful!"&mdash;a compliment which applied to
-the Grand Canal, but which had upon me the effect
-a bag full of napoleons might have upon a beggar if
-swung under his nose by an insolent banker.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, señorita!" I said at last, beginning to lose
-patience, "what matters it, after all, whether cities
-are beautiful or not? Those who are born in them
-think nothing of it, and the traveller still less. I
-arrived at Cordova yesterday: it is a beautiful city,
-without doubt. Well&mdash;will you believe it?&mdash;I have
-already forgotten all that I have seen; I no longer
-wish to see anything; I do not even know what city
-I am in. Palaces, mosques, they make me laugh.
-When you have a consuming fire in your heart, do
-you go to the mosque to quench it?&mdash;Excuse me,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span>
-will you move back a little?&mdash;When you feel such a
-madness that you could grind up a plate with your
-teeth, do you go to look at palaces? Believe me,
-the traveller's life is a sad one. It is a penance of
-the hardest sort. It is torture. It is...." A
-prudent blow with her fan closed my mouth, which
-was going too far both in words and action. I attacked
-the chop.</p>
-
-<p>"Poor fellow!" murmured the Andalusian with a
-laugh after she had given a glance around. "Are
-all the Italians as ardent as you?"</p>
-
-<p>"How should I know? Are all the Andalusians
-as beautiful as you?"</p>
-
-<p>The girl laid her hand on the table.</p>
-
-<p>"Take that hand away," I said.</p>
-
-<p>"Why?" she asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Because I want to eat in peace."</p>
-
-<p>"Eat with one hand."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!"</p>
-
-<p>I seemed to be pressing the little hand of a girl
-of six; my knife fell to the ground; a dark veil
-settled upon the chop.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly my hand was empty: I opened my
-eyes, saw the girl all disturbed, and looked behind
-me. Gracious Heavens! There was a handsome
-young fellow, with a stylish little jacket, tight
-breeches, and a velvet cap. Oh terrors! a <i>torero</i>!
-I gave a start as if I had felt two <i>banderillas de
-fuego</i> planted in my neck.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span></p>
-
-<p>"I see it at a glance," said I to myself, like the
-man at the comedy; and one could not fail to understand.
-The girl, slightly embarrassed, made the introduction:
-"An Italian passing through Cordova,"
-and she hastened to add, "who wants to know when
-the train leaves for Seville."</p>
-
-<p>The <i>torero</i>, who had frowned at first sight of me,
-was reassured, told me the hour of departure, sat
-down, and entered into a friendly conversation. I
-asked for the news of the last bull-fight at Cordova:
-he was a <i>banderillero</i>, and he gave me a minute
-description of the day's sport. The girl in the
-mean time was gathering flowers from the vases in
-the <i>patio</i>. I finished my meal, offered a glass of
-Malaga to the <i>torero</i>, drank to the fortunate planting
-of all his <i>banderillas</i>, paid my bill (three <i>pesetas</i>,
-which included the beautiful eyes, you understand),
-and then, putting on a bold front, so as to dispel the
-least shadow of suspicion from the mind of my
-formidable rival, I said to the girl, "<i>Señorita!</i> one
-can refuse nothing to those who are taking leave.
-To you I am like a dying man; you will never see
-me again; you will never hear my name spoken:
-then let me take some memento; give me that bunch
-of flowers."</p>
-
-<p>"Take it," said the girl; "I picked it for you."</p>
-
-<p>She glanced at the <i>torero</i>, who gave a nod of
-approval.</p>
-
-<p>"I thank you with all my heart," I replied as I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span>
-turned to leave. They both accompanied me to the
-door.</p>
-
-<p>"Have you bull-fights in Italy?" asked the young
-man.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh heavens! no, not yet!"</p>
-
-<p>"Too bad! Try to make them popular in Italy
-also, and I will come to <i>banderillar</i> at Rome."</p>
-
-<p>"I will do all in my power.&mdash;<i>Señorita</i>, have the
-goodness to tell me your name, so that I may bid
-you good-bye."</p>
-
-<p>"Consuelo."</p>
-
-<p>"God be with you, Consuelo!"</p>
-
-<p>"God be with you, <i>Señor Italiano</i>!"</p>
-
-<p>And I went out into the lonely little street.</p>
-
-<p>There are no remarkable Arabian monuments to
-be seen in the neighborhood of Cordova, although at
-one time the whole valley was covered with magnificent
-buildings. Three miles to the south of the
-city, on the side of the mountain, rose the Medina
-Az-Zahra, the city of flowers, one of the most
-marvellous architectural works of the caliph Abdurrahman,
-begun by the caliph himself in honor
-of his favorite Az-Zahra. The foundations were
-laid in the year 936, and ten thousand workmen
-labored on the edifice for twenty-five years. The
-Arabian poets celebrated Medina Az-Zahra as the
-most splendid of royal palaces and the most delightfullyl
-garden in the world. It was not an edifice, but
-a vast chain of palaces, gardens, courts, colonnades,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span>
-and towers. There were rare plants from Syria&mdash;the
-fantastic playing of lofty fountains, streams of
-water flowing in the shade of palm trees, and great
-basins overflowing with quicksilver, which reflected
-the rays of the sun like lakes of fire; doors of
-ebony and ivory studded with gems; thousands of
-columns of the most precious marbles; great airy
-balconies; and between the innumerable multitudes
-of statues twelve images of animals of massy gold,
-gleaming with pearls, sprinkling sweetened water
-from their mouths and noses. In this vast palace
-swarmed thousands of servants, slaves, and women,
-and hither from every part of the world came poets
-and musicians. And yet this same Abdurrahman
-III., who lived among all these delights, who reigned
-for fifty years, who was powerful, glorious, and fortunate
-in every circumstance and enterprise, wrote
-before his death that during his long reign he had
-been happy only fourteen days, and his fabulous city
-of flowers seventy-four years after the laying of its
-first stone was invaded, sacked, and burned by a
-barbarian horde, and to-day there remain only a few
-stones which hardly recall its name.</p>
-
-<p>Of another splendid city, called Zahira, which rose
-to the east of Cordova, built by the powerful Almansur,
-governor of the kingdom, not even the ruins
-remain: a handful of rebels laid it in ashes a little
-while after the death of its founder.</p>
-
-<p>
-"All returns to the great ancient mother."<br />
-</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span></p>
-
-<p>Instead of taking a drive around Cordova, I
-simply wandered here and there, weaving fancies
-from the names of the streets, which to me is one
-of the greatest pleasures in which a traveller may
-indulge in a foreign city. Cordova, <i>alma ingeniorum
-parens</i>, could write at every street-corner the name
-of an artist or an illustrious author born within her
-walls; to give her due honor, she has remembered
-them all with maternal gratitude. You find the
-little square of Seneca and the house where he may
-have been born; the street of Ambrosio Morales, the
-historian of Charles V., who continued the <i>Chronicle
-General of Spain</i> commenced by Florian d'Ocampo;
-the street of Pablo de Cespedes, painter, architect,
-sculptor, antiquary, and the author of a didactic
-poem, "The Art of Painting," unfortunately not
-finished, though adorned with splendid passages.
-He was an ardent enthusiast of Michelangelo, whose
-works he had admired in Italy, and in his poem he
-addressed a hymn of praise to him which is one of
-the most beautiful passages in Spanish poetry, and,
-in spite of myself, the last verses have slipped from
-my pen, which every Italian, even if he does not
-know the sister language, can appreciate and understand.
-He believes, he tells the reader, that one
-cannot find the perfection of painting anywhere
-except</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Que en aquela escelente obra espantosa</div>
- <div class="verse">Mayor de cuantas se han jamas pintado,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span>
- <div class="verse">Que hizo el Buonarrota de su mano</div>
- <div class="verse">Divina, en el etrusco Vaticano!</div>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Cual nuevo Prometeo en alto vuelo</div>
- <div class="verse">Alzándose, estendiò los alas tanto,</div>
- <div class="verse">Que puesto encima el estrellado cielo</div>
- <div class="verse">Una parte alcanzò del fuego santo;</div>
- <div class="verse">Con que tornando enriquecido al suelo</div>
- <div class="verse">Con nueva maravilla y nuevo espanto,</div>
- <div class="verse">Diò vida con eternos resplandores</div>
- <div class="verse">À marmoles, à bronces, à colores.</div>
- <div class="verse">¡O mas que mortal hombre! ¿Angel divino</div>
- <div class="verse">O cual te nomaré? No humano cierto</div>
- <div class="verse">Es tu ser, que del cerco empireo vino</div>
- <div class="verse">Al estilo y pincel vida y concierto:</div>
- <div class="verse">Tu monstraste à los hombres el camino</div>
- <div class="verse">Por mil edades escondido, incierto</div>
- <div class="verse">De la reina virtud; a ti se debe</div>
- <div class="verse">Honra que en cierto dia el sol renueve."</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>"In that excellent marvellous work, greater than
-all that has ever been painted, which Buonarroti
-made with his divine hand in the Etruscan Vatican!</p>
-
-<p>"Look how the new Prometheus, rising in lofty
-flight, extends his wings so wide that above the
-starry sky he has obtained a part of the celestial
-fire; with it, returning, he enriched the earth with
-new marvels and new surprises, giving life, with
-eternal splendors, to marble, bronze, and colors.
-More than mortal man! angel divine! or what shall
-I call thee? Surely thou art not human, who from
-the empyrean circle came, bringing life and harmony
-to chisel and brush! Thou hast shown men the road<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span>
-hidden for a thousand ages, uncertain of the sovereign
-virtue; to thee belongs honor which one day the sun
-will bestow."</p>
-
-<p>Murmuring these lines, I came out into the street
-of Juan de Mena, the Ennius of Spain, as his compatriots
-call him, the author of a phantasmagorial
-poem called "The Labyrinth," an imitation of <i>The
-Divina Commedia</i> very famous in its day, and in
-truth not without some pages of inspired and noble
-poetry, but, on the whole, cold and overloaded with
-pedantic mysticism. John II., king of Castile, went
-mad over this "Labyrinth," kept it beside the missal
-in his cabinet, and carried it with him to the hunt;
-but witness the caprice of a king! The poem had
-only three hundred stanzas, and to John II. this
-number seemed too small, and do you know the
-reason? It was this: the year contains three
-hundred and sixty-five days, and it seemed to him
-that there ought to be as many stanzas in the poem
-as there are days in the year, and so he besought
-the poet to compose sixty-five other stanzas, and the
-poet complied with his request&mdash;most cheerfully, the
-flatterer!&mdash;to gain an occasion for flattering still
-more, although he had already flattered his sovereign
-to the extent of asking him to correct the poem.</p>
-
-<p>From the street of Juan de Mena I passed into the
-street of Gongora, the Marini of Spain, and no less
-a genius than he, but perhaps one who corrupted
-the literature of his country even more than Marini<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span>
-corrupted that of Italy, for he spoiled, abused, and
-corrupted the language in a thousand ways: for this
-reason Lope de Vega wittily makes a poet of the
-Gongorist school ask one of his hearers, "Do you
-understand me?"&mdash;"Yes," he replies; and the poet
-retorts, "You lie! for I do not even understand
-myself." But Lope himself is not entirely free from
-Gongorism, for he has the courage to write that
-Tasso was only the rising of Marini's sun; nor is
-Calderon entirely free of it, nor some other great
-men. But enough of poetry: I must not digress.</p>
-
-<p>After the siesta I hunted up my two companions,
-who took me through the suburbs of the city, and
-here, for the first time, I saw men and women of the
-true Andalusian type as I had imagined them, with
-eyes, coloring, and attitudes like the Arabians, and
-here too, for the first time, I heard the real speech
-of the Andalusian people, softer and more musical
-than in the Castiles, and also gayer and more imaginative,
-and accompanied by livelier gestures. I
-asked my companions whether that report about
-Andalusia is true, affirming that with their early
-physical development vice is more common, manners
-more voluptuous, and passion less restrained. "Too
-true," they replied, giving explanations, descriptions,
-and citing cases which I forbear to repeat. On returning
-to the city they took me to a splendid casino,
-with gardens and magnificent rooms, in one of which,
-the largest and richest, adorned with paintings of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span>
-all the illustrious men of Cordova, rises a sort of
-stage where the poets stand to read their works on
-evenings appointed for public contests of genius;
-and the victors receive a laurel crown from the
-hands of the most beautiful and cultured girls in the
-city, who, crowned with roses, look on from a semi-circle
-of seats. That evening I had the pleasure of
-meeting several young Cordovese ardently attached,
-as they say in Spain, to the cultivation of the Muses&mdash;frank,
-courteous, and vivacious, with a medley of
-verses in their heads, and a smattering of Italian
-literature; and so imagine how from dusk to midnight,
-through those mysterious streets, which from
-the first evening had made my head whirl, there was
-a constant, noisy interchange of sonnets, hymns, and
-ballads in the two languages, from Petrarch to Prati,
-from Cervantes to Zorilla; and a delightful conversation
-closed and sealed by many cordial hand-clasps
-and eager promises to write, to send books, to come
-to Italy, to visit Spain again, etc. etc.&mdash;merely
-words, as is always the case, but words not less dear
-on that account.</p>
-
-<p>In the morning I left for Seville. At the station
-I saw Frascuelo, Lagartijo, Cuco, and the whole
-band of <i>toreros</i> from Madrid, who saluted me with
-a benevolent look of protection. I hurried into a
-dusty carriage, and as the train moved off and my
-eyes rested on Cordova for the last time, I bade the
-city adieu in the lines of the Arabian poet&mdash;a little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span>
-too tropical, if you will, for the taste of a European,
-but, after all, admirable for the occasion:</p>
-
-<p>"Adieu, Cordova! Would that my life were as
-long as Noah's, that I might live for ever within thy
-walls! Would that I had the treasures of Pharaoh,
-to spend them upon wine and the beautiful women
-of Cordova with the gentle eyes which invite
-kisses!"</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a><br /><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a><br /><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
-
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="SEVILLE" id="SEVILLE"></a>SEVILLE.</h2>
-
-
-<p>The journey from Cordova to Seville does not
-awaken a sense of astonishment, as does that from
-Toledo to Cordova, but it is even more beautiful:
-there are continuous orange-orchards, boundless
-olive-groves, hills clothed with vineyards, and
-meadows carpeted with flowers. A few miles from
-Cordova one sees the ruined towers of the frowning
-castle of Almodovar standing on a very high rock-platform,
-which overlooks a vast extent of the surrounding
-country; at Hornachuelos another old
-castle on the summit of a hill, in the midst of a
-lonely, melancholy landscape; and then, beyond,
-the white city of Palma, hidden in a dense orange-grove,
-which is surrounded in its turn by a circle
-of truck-farms and flower-gardens. As the train
-runs on one is carried through the midst of golden
-fields of grain, bordered by long hedges of Indian
-fig trees and rows of dwarf palms, and dotted with
-groves of pine and frequent orchards of fruit-bearing
-trees; and at short intervals there are hills and
-castles, roaring streams, the slender village belfries<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span>
-hidden among the trees, and the purple peaks of
-distant mountains.</p>
-
-<p>Most beautiful of all are the little country-houses
-scattered along the road. I do not remember to
-have seen a single one of them that was not as
-white as snow. The house was white, the neighboring
-well-curb was white, the little wall around
-the kitchen-garden was white, as were also the two
-posts of the garden-gate: everything seemed as if
-it had been whitewashed the day before. Some of
-these houses have one or two mullioned windows of
-Moorish design; others have arabesques over the
-door; and still others roofs covered with variegated
-tiles like Arabian houses. Here and there through
-the fields one sees the red-and-white capes of the
-peasants, velvet hats against the green grass, and
-sashes of all colors. The peasants whom one sees
-in the furrows and those who run to see the train
-pass are dressed in the costumes of forty years ago
-as they are represented in paintings: they wear
-velvet hats with very broad brims which roll
-slightly back, with little crowns like a sugar-loaf;
-short jackets, open waistcoats, breeches gathered in
-at the knee like those of the priests, gaiters which
-almost meet the breeches, and sashes around the
-waist. This style of dress, picturesque but inconvenient,
-is exceedingly becoming to the slender
-figures of these men, who prefer discomfort, if it be
-attended by beauty, to comfort without it, and who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span>
-spend half an hour every morning adorning themselves,
-besides the time required to get into a pair
-of tight breeches which will display a shapely thigh
-and a well-turned leg. They have nothing in common
-with our Northern peasant of the hard face and
-dull eye. Their great black eyes meet your own
-with a smile, as if they would say, "Don't you
-remember me?" They cast daring glances at the
-ladies who put their heads out of the windows, run
-to fetch a match before you have so much as asked
-for it, sometimes answer your questions in rhyme,
-and are even capable of laughing to show their
-white teeth.</p>
-
-<p>At Rinconado the campanile of the cathedral of
-Seville comes into view in a line with the railroad,
-and to the right, beyond the Guadalquivir, one sees
-the beautiful low hills, covered with olive-groves, at
-the foot of which lie the ruins of Italica. The train
-rolled on, and I said to myself, under my breath,
-speaking faster and faster as the houses became
-thicker, with that suspense, full of longing and
-delight, which one feels on approaching the doorway
-of one's love, "Seville! this is Seville! The
-queen of Andalusia is at hand, the Athens of Spain,
-the mother of Murillo, the city of poets and lovers,
-the storied Seville, whose name I have pronounced
-from a child with a sentiment of loving sympathy!
-What should I have given a few years since to have
-seen it? No, it is not a dream! Those are really<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span>
-the houses of Seville; those peasants yonder are
-Sevillians; that campanile which I see is the
-Giralda! I am at Seville! How strange! It
-makes me laugh! What is my mother doing at
-this moment? Would that she were here! Would
-that this friend and that were here! It is a sin to
-be alone! See the white houses, the gardens, the
-streets.... We are in the city.... It is time to
-get out.... Ah! how beautiful is life!"</p>
-
-<p>I went to a hotel, threw down my valise in the
-<i>patio</i>, and began to stroll about the city. It seemed
-like seeing Cordova over again, on a large scale,
-embellished and enriched; the streets are wider, the
-houses higher, the <i>patios</i> more spacious, but the general
-appearance of the city is the same: there is the
-same spotless white, the same intricate network of
-streets, everywhere the fragrance of orange-blossoms,
-that subtile air of mystery, that Oriental atmosphere,
-filling one's heart with a delicious sense
-of amorous melancholy, and calling to mind a thousand
-fancies, desires, and visions of a distant world,
-a new life, an unknown people, and an earthly paradise
-of love, pleasure, and content. In those streets
-one reads the history of the city: every balcony,
-every fragment of sculpture, every lonely crossway,
-recalls some nocturnal adventure of a king, the inspiration
-of a poet, the romance of a beauty, an
-amour, a duel, an abduction, a story, or a festival.
-Here a memento of Maria de Padilla, there one of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span>
-Don Pedro; yonder of Cervantes, Columbus, Saint
-Theresa, Velasquez, or Murillo. A column tells of
-the Roman dominion; a tower, the splendor of
-Charles V.'s monarchy; and an alcazar, the magnificence
-of the Arabian court. Beside the modest
-white cottages rise sumptuous marble palaces; the
-little tortuous streets open into vast squares full of
-orange trees; from silent, deserted corners one
-enters with a short turn a street filled with a noisy
-crowd: and wherever one passes one sees on the
-opposite side the graceful lattices of the <i>patios</i>,
-flowers, statues, fountains, flights of stairs, walls
-covered with arabesques, small Moorish windows,
-and slender columns of costly marble; and at every
-window and in every garden little women clothed in
-white, half hidden, like timid nymphs, among the
-leaves of grapevines and rosebushes.</p>
-
-<p>Passing from street to street, I came at length to
-the bank of the Guadalquivir, close to the avenues
-of the Christina promenade, which is to Seville what
-the Lung d'arno is to Florence. Here one enjoys a
-charming spectacle.</p>
-
-<p>I first approached the famous Torre del Oro.
-This famous tower was called the Golden, either
-because it received the gold which the Spanish ships
-brought from America or because King Don Pedro
-hid his treasures there. It is an octagonal structure
-of three stories, growing smaller as they ascend,
-crowned with battlements and washed by the river.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span>
-The story runs that this tower was built in Roman
-times, and that for a long period the king's most
-beautiful favorite dwelt there after it had been
-joined to the Alcazar by an edifice which was torn
-away to make room for the Christina promenade.</p>
-
-<p>This promenade extends from the ducal palace of
-Montpensier to the Torre del Oro. It is entirely
-shaded with Oriental plane trees, oaks, cypresses,
-willows, poplars, and other trees of northern latitudes,
-which the Andalusians admire, as we admire
-the palms and aloes of the plains of Piedmont and
-Lombardy. A great bridge spans the river and
-leads to the suburb of Triana, from which one sees
-the first houses on the opposite bank. A long line
-of ships, coasting vessels, and barges extends along
-the river, and from the Torre del Oro to the ducal
-palace there is a coming and going of rowboats.
-The sun was setting. A crowd of ladies filled the
-avenues, groups of workmen were crossing the
-bridge, the workmen on the ships labored more
-busily, a band of music was playing among the
-trees, the river was rose-colored, the air was fragrant
-with the perfume of flowers, the sky seemed
-all on fire.</p>
-
-<p>I returned to the city and enjoyed the marvellous
-spectacle of Seville by night. All the <i>patios</i> were
-illuminated&mdash;those of the humble houses with a half
-light, which gave them an air of mysterious beauty,
-those of the palaces, full of little flames which were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span>
-reflected in the mirrors and flashed like jets of quicksilver
-in the spray of the fountains, and shone with
-a thousand colors on the marbles of the vestibules,
-the mosaics of the walls, the glass of the doors, and
-the crystal of the candlesticks. Inside one saw a
-crowd of ladies, everywhere one heard the sound of
-laughter, low voices, and music; one seemed to be
-passing through so many ball-rooms; from every
-door flowed a stream of light, fragrance, and harmony;
-the streets were crowded; among the trees
-of the squares, in the avenues, at the end of the
-narrow streets, and on the balconies,&mdash;everywhere
-were seen white skirts fluttering, vanishing, and reappearing
-in the darkness, and little heads ornamented
-with flowers peeped coquettishly from the
-windows; groups of young men broke through the
-crowd with merry shouts; people called to each
-other and talked from window to street, and everywhere
-were rapid motion, shouting, laughter, and
-festal gaiety. Seville was simply an immense garden
-in which revelled a people intoxicated with
-youth and love.</p>
-
-<p>Such moments are very sad ones for a stranger.
-I remember that I could have struck my head
-against the wall. I wandered here and there almost
-abashed, with hanging head and sad heart, as if all
-that crowd was amusing itself for the sole purpose
-of insulting my loneliness and melancholy. It was
-too late to present my letters of introduction, too<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span>
-early to go to bed: I was the slave of that crowd
-and that gaiety, and was obliged to endure it for
-many hours. I found a solace in resolving not to
-look at the faces of the women, but I could not
-always keep my resolve, and when my eyes inadvertently
-met two black pupils the wound, because
-so unexpected, was more grievous than if I had encountered
-the danger more boldly. Yes, I was
-in the midst of those wonderfully famous women
-of Seville! I saw them pass on the arms of their
-husbands and lovers; I touched their dresses,
-breathed their perfume, heard the sound of their
-soft speech, and the blood leaped to my head like a
-flame of fire. Fortunately, I remembered to have
-heard from a Sevillian at Madrid that the Italian
-consul was in the habit of spending the evening at
-the shop of his son, a merchant; I sought out the
-shop, entered, and found the consul, and as I handed
-him a letter from a friend I said, with a dramatic air
-which made him laugh, "Dear sir, protect me; Seville
-has terrified me."</p>
-
-<p>At midnight the appearance of the city was unchanged:
-the crowd and light had not disappeared;
-I returned to the hotel and locked my door with the
-intention of going to bed. Worse and worse! The
-windows of my room opened on a square where
-crowds of people were swarming around an orchestra
-that played without interruption, when the music
-finally ended the guitars commenced, together with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span>
-cries of the water-carriers and snatches of song and
-laughter; the whole night through there was noise
-enough to wake the dead. I had a dream at once
-delightful and tantalizing, but rather more tantalizing
-than delightful. I seemed to be tied to the bed by a
-very long tress of dark hair twisted into a thousand
-knots, and felt on my lips a mouth of burning coals
-which sucked my breath, and around my neck two
-vigorous little hands which were crushing my
-head against the handle of a guitar.</p>
-
-<p>The following morning I went at once to see the
-cathedral.</p>
-
-<p>To adequately describe this measureless edifice
-one should have at hand a collection of the most
-superlative adjectives and all the most extravagant
-similes which have come from the pens of the grand
-writers of every country whenever they have described
-something of prodigious height, enormous
-size, appalling depth, and incredible grandeur.
-When I talk to my friends about it, I too, like the
-Mirabeau of Victor Hugo, involuntarily make <i>un
-colossal mouvement d'epaules</i>, puff out my throat,
-and gradually raise my voice, like Tommaso Salvini
-in the tragedy of <i>Samson</i> when, in tones which make
-the parquet tremble, he says that he feels his strength
-returning to his limbs. To talk of the cathedral of
-Seville tires one like playing a great wind instrument
-or carrying on a conversation across a roaring
-torrent.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span></p>
-
-<p>The cathedral of Seville stands alone in the centre
-of a vast square, and consequently one can measure
-its vastness at a single glance. At the first moment
-I thought of the famous motto which the chapter of
-the primitive church adopted on the eighth of July,
-1401, when they decreed the erection of the new
-cathedral: "Let us build a monument which will
-make posterity declare that we were mad." Those
-reverend canons did not fail in their intention. But
-one must enter to be sure of this.</p>
-
-<p>The exterior of the cathedral is grand and magnificent,
-but not to be compared with the interior.
-The façade is lacking: a high wall surrounds the
-entire building like a fortress. However much one
-walks around and looks at it, one cannot succeed in
-fixing in one's mind a single outline which, like the
-preface of a book, will give a clear conception of the
-design of the work; one admires and occasionally
-breaks out in the exclamation, "It is stupendous!"
-but it does not please, and one hurries into the
-church, hoping to feel a sentiment of deeper admiration.</p>
-
-<p>On first entering one is amazed, and feels as if
-one were lost in an abyss, and for some moments the
-eye can only describe immense curves through that
-vast space, as if to assure you that the sight is real
-and that fancy is not deceiving you. Then you approach
-one of the pilasters, measure it, and look at
-the others in the distance: they are as massive as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span>
-towers, and yet they look so slender that one trembles
-to think the edifice is resting on them. You
-run from one to another with a rapid glance, follow
-their lines from pavement to vaulted arch, and seem
-to be able to count the moments which it would take
-for the eye to climb them. There are five naves,
-each of which would form a great church, and in the
-central nave one could build another high cathedral
-with its cupola and belfry. Altogether they form
-sixty light, noble vaults which seem to be slowly
-expanding and rising as one looks at them. Everything
-in this cathedral is enormous. The great
-chapel in the middle of the principal nave, so high
-that it almost touches the roof, seems like a chapel
-built for giant priests, to whose knees the common
-altars would scarcely reach; the Easter candle
-seems like the mast of a ship, the bronze candlestick
-which supports it, like the pilaster of a church;
-the organs are like houses; the choir is a museum
-of sculpture and carving which alone deserves a
-day's study. The chapels are worthy of the church:
-in them are scattered the masterpieces of sixty-seven
-sculptors and thirty-eight painters. Montegna,
-Zurbaran, Murillo, Valdes, Herrera, Boldan, Roelas,
-and Campana have left a thousand immortal traces
-of their handiwork. The chapel of Saint Ferdinand,
-which contains the tombs of this king, his
-wife Beatrice, Alfonso the Wise, the celebrated
-minister Florida Blanca, and other illustrious per<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span>sonages,
-is one of the richest and most beautiful.
-The body of King Ferdinand, who rescued Seville
-from the dominion of the Arabs, clothed in his coat-of-mail
-with crown and royal robe, rests in a crystal
-casket covered with a pall; on one side lies the
-sword which he wore on the day of his entrance into
-Seville; on the other, the staff, an emblem of authority.
-In this same chapel is preserved a little
-ivory Virgin which the sainted king carried with
-him to war, and other relics of great value. In the
-other chapels there are great marble altars, Gothic
-tombs, statues of stone, wood, and silver enclosed
-in large glass cases, with the breast and hands
-covered with diamonds and rubies; there are also
-magnificent paintings, but, unfortunately, the dim
-light which falls from the high windows does not
-make them clear enough to be enjoyed in all their
-beauty.</p>
-
-<p>From the examination of the chapels, paintings,
-and sculptures one returns unwearied to admire the
-cathedral in its grand and, if one may say, its formidable
-aspect. After climbing to those dizzy
-heights one's glance and thoughts, as if exhausted
-by the effort, fall back to the earth to gather new
-strength for another ascent. And the images which
-multiply in one's head correspond to the vastness of
-the basilica&mdash;measureless angels, heads of enormous
-cherubim, great wings like the sails of a ship, and
-the fluttering of immense white robes. The impres<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span>sion
-produced by this cathedral is wholly religious,
-but it is not depressing: it is that sentiment which
-bears the thought into interminable spaces and the
-awful silences where the thoughts of Leopardi lost
-themselves; it is a sentiment full of yearning and
-holy boldness, that delightful shudder which one
-feels on the brink of a precipice, the turbulence and
-confusion of great thoughts, the divine fear of the
-infinite.</p>
-
-<p>As the cathedral is the most various of Spain
-(since the Gothic, Germanic, Græco-Roman, Moorish,
-and, as it is vulgarly called, the plateresque
-styles of architecture, have each left their individual
-impress upon it), it is also the richest and has the
-greatest privileges. In the times of greater clerical
-power they burned in it every year twenty thousand
-pounds of wax; in it every day were celebrated
-five hundred masses on eighty altars; the wine consumed
-in the sacrifice amounted to the incredible
-quantity of eighteen thousand seven hundred and
-fifty litres. The canons had trains of male attendants
-like monarchs, came to church in splendid
-carriages drawn by superb horses, and while they
-were celebrating mass had priests to fan them with
-enormous fans adorned with feathers and pearls&mdash;a
-direct concession from the Pope of which some avail
-themselves even in this day. One need not speak
-of the festivals of Holy Week, which are still<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span>
-famous the world over, and to which people gather
-from all parts of Europe.</p>
-
-<p>But the most curious privilege of the cathedral
-of Seville is the so-called dance <i>de los seises</i>, which
-takes place every evening at dusk for eight consecutive
-days after the festival of <i>Corpus Domini</i>.
-I was in Seville during those days, and went to see
-it, and it seems to me worth describing. From
-what had been told me I expected to see a scandalous
-piece of buffoonery, and entered the church
-with my mind prepared for a feeling of indignation
-at the desecration of the sanctuary. The church
-was dark; only the great chapel was lighted; a
-crowd of kneeling women filled the space between
-the chapel and the choir. Some priests were sitting
-to the right and left of the altar; in front of the
-altar-steps was spread a great carpet; two lines of
-boys from eight to thirteen years of age, dressed
-like Spanish cavaliers of the Middle Ages, with
-plumed hats and white stockings, were drawn up,
-one before the other, facing the altar. At a signal
-from a priest a soft strain from violins broke the
-profound silence of the church, and the two rows of
-boys advanced with the step of a contra-dance, and
-began to divide, intermingle, separate, and come together
-again with a thousand graceful movements, and
-then all together they broke into a harmonious musical
-chant, which echoed through the gloom of the
-vast cathedral like the singing of an angelic choir;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span>
-and a moment later they began to accompany the
-dance and the chant with tamborines. No religious
-ceremony has ever moved me like this. It is impossible
-to express the effect produced by those young
-voices under those immense domes, those little
-creatures at the foot of the towering altars, that
-dance, solemn and almost humble, the ancient
-costume, the kneeling crowd, and the surrounding
-gloom. I left the church with my soul calmed as if
-I had been praying.</p>
-
-<p>A very curious anecdote is related in connection
-with this ceremony. Two centuries ago an archbishop
-of Seville, who regarded the dance and tamborines
-as unworthy instruments of praising God,
-wished to prohibit the ceremony. Everything was
-thrown into confusion: the people protested; the
-canons made themselves heard; the archbishop was
-obliged to appeal to the Pope. The Pope, whose
-curiosity was aroused, wished to see this silly dance
-with his own eyes, that he might decide intelligently
-in the matter. The boys in their cavalier dress
-were taken to Rome, received at the Vatican, and
-made to dance and sing before His Holiness. His
-Holiness laughed, did not disapprove, and, wishing
-to give one knock on the hoop and another on the
-barrel, and so to satisfy the canons without offending
-the archbishop, decreed that the boys should
-continue to dance so long as the clothes which they
-then wore lasted; after that time the ceremony was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span>
-to be abolished. The archbishop laughed in his
-beard, if he had one; the canons laughed too, as if
-they had already found the way to outwit both the
-Pope and the archbishop. And, in fact, they renew
-some part of the boys' dress every year, so that the
-whole garment can never be said to have worn out,
-and the archbishop, as a scrupulous man, who observed
-the commands of the Pope to the letter, could
-not oppose the repetition of the ceremony. So they
-continued to dance, and they dance and will dance
-so long as it pleases the canons and the Lord.</p>
-
-<p>As I was leaving the church a sacristan made me
-a sign, led me behind the choir, and pointed out a
-tablet in the pavement, upon which I read an inscription
-which stirred my heart. Under that stone
-lay the bones of Ferdinand Columbus, the son of
-Christopher, who was born at Cordova, and died at
-Seville on the twelfth of July, 1536, in the fiftieth
-year of his age. Under the inscription run some
-Latin verses with the following significance:</p>
-
-<p>"Of what avail is it that I have bathed the entire
-universe with my sweat, that I have three times passed
-through the New World discovered by my father, that
-I have adorned the banks of the gentle Beti, and preferred
-my simple taste to riches, that I might again
-draw around thee the divinities of the Castalian spring,
-and offer thee the treasures already gathered by Ptolemy,&mdash;if
-thou, passing this stone in silence, returnest
-no salute to my father and givest no thought to me?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span></p>
-
-<p>The sacristan, who knew more about the inscription
-than I did, explained it to me. Ferdinand Columbus
-was in his early youth a page of Isabella the
-Catholic and of the prince Don Juan; he travelled
-to the Indies with his father and his brother the admiral
-Don Diego, followed the emperor Charles V.
-in his wars, made other voyages to Asia, Africa, and
-America, and everywhere collected with infinite care
-and at great expense the most precious books, from
-which he composed a library which passed after his
-death into the hands of the chapter of the cathedral,
-and remains intact under the famous name of the
-Columbian Library. Before his death he wrote these
-same Latin verses which are inscribed on the tablet
-of his tomb, and expressed a desire to be buried in
-the cathedral. In the last moments of his life he
-had a vessel full of ashes brought to him and
-sprinkled his face with them, pronouncing as he did
-so the words of Holy Writ, <i>Memento homo quia pulvis
-es</i>, chanted the <i>Te Deum</i>, smiled, and expired
-with the serenity of a saint. I was at once seized
-with a desire to visit the library and left the church.</p>
-
-<p>A guide stopped me on the threshold to ask me if
-I had seen the <i>Patio de los Naranjos</i>&mdash;the Court of
-Oranges&mdash;and, as I had not done so, he conducted
-me thither. The Court of Oranges lies to the north
-of the cathedral, surrounded by a great embattled
-wall. In the centre rises a fountain encircled by an
-orange-grove, and on one side along the wall is a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span>
-marble pulpit, from which, according to the tradition,
-Vincenzo Ferrer is said to have preached. In
-the area of this court, which is very large, rose the
-ancient mosque, which is thought to have been built
-toward the end of the twelfth century. There is
-not the least trace of it now. In the shade of the
-orange trees around the margins of the basin the
-good Sevillians come to take the air in the burning
-noons of summer, and only the delightful verdure
-and the perfumed air remain as memorials of the
-voluptuous paradise of Mohammed, while now and
-then a beautiful girl with great dark eyes darts between
-the distant trees.</p>
-
-<p>The famous Giralda of the cathedral of Seville is
-an ancient Moorish tower, built, it is affirmed, in the
-year one thousand after the design of the architect
-Geber, the inventor of algebra. The upper part has
-been changed since Spain was reconquered, and has
-been rebuilt like a Christian bell-tower, but it will
-always retain its Moorish appearance, and, after all,
-is prouder of the banished standards of the vanquished
-than of the cross recently planted upon it by
-the victors. It is a monument which produces a
-strange sensation: it makes one smile; it is measureless
-and imposing as an Egyptian pyramid, and
-at the same time light and graceful as a summer-house.
-It is a square brick tower of a mellow rose-color,
-unadorned to a certain height, and from that
-point up ornamented with mullioned Moorish win<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span>dows,
-which appear here and there like the windows
-of a house provided with balconies, and give it a
-very beautiful appearance. From the platform, which
-was formerly covered by a variegated roof surmounted
-by an iron pole which supported four enormous golden
-balls, now rises the Christian bell-tower in three
-stories, the first of which is taken up by the bells,
-the second is encircled by a balcony, and the third
-consists of a sort of cupola upon which, like a
-weather-vane, turns a colossal gilded statue which
-represents Faith, with a palm in one hand and a
-banner in the other. This statue is visible a long
-distance from Seville, and flashes when the sun
-strikes it like an enormous ruby in the crown of a
-gigantic king, who sweeps with his glance the entire
-valley of Andalusia.</p>
-
-<p>I climbed all the way to the top, and was there
-amply rewarded for the fatigue of the ascent. Seville,
-all white like a city of marble, encircled by a
-diadem of gardens, groves, and avenues, surrounded
-by a landscape dotted with villas, lay open to the
-view in all the wealth of its Oriental beauty. The
-Guadalquivir, freighted with ships, divides and embraces
-it in a majestic curve. Here the Torre del
-Oro casts its graceful shadow on the azure waters
-of the river; there the Alcazar rears its frowning
-towers; yonder the gardens of Montpensier raise
-above the roofs of the building an enormous mass of
-verdure: one's glance penetrates the bull-ring, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span>
-public gardens, the <i>patios</i> of the homes, the cloisters
-of the churches, and all the streets which converge
-toward the cathedral; in the distance appear the
-villages of Santi Ponce, Algaba, and others which
-whiten the slopes of the hills; to the right of the
-Guadalquivir the great suburb of Triana; on one
-side along the horizon the broken peaks of the Sierra
-Morena; and in the opposite direction other mountains
-enlivened by infinite azure tints; and over all
-this marvellous panorama the clearest, most transparent,
-and entrancing sky which has ever smiled
-upon the face of man.</p>
-
-<p>I descended from the Giralda and went to see the
-Columbian Library, located in an old building beside
-the Court of Oranges. After I had seen a collection
-of missals, Bibles, and ancient manuscripts, one of
-which is attributed to Alfonso the Wise, entitled
-"The Book of the Treasure," written with the most
-scrupulous care in the ancient Spanish language, I
-saw&mdash;let me repeat it, I saw&mdash;I, with my own
-moist eyes, as I pressed my hand on my beating
-heart&mdash;I saw a book, a treatise on cosmography and
-astronomy in Latin, with the margins covered with
-notes written in the hand of Christopher Columbus!
-He had studied that book while he revolved his
-great design in his mind, had pored over its pages
-in the night-watches, had touched it perhaps with
-his divine forehead in those exhausting vigils when
-sometimes he bent over the parchments with utter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span>
-weariness and bathed them with his sweat. It is a
-tremendous thought! But there is something better.
-I saw a writing in the hand of Columbus in which
-are collected all the prophecies of the ancient
-writers, sacred and profane, in regard to the discovery
-of the New World, written, it is said, to induce
-the sovereigns of Spain to provide the means
-to carry out his enterprise. There is, among others,
-a passage from the <i>Medea</i> of Seneca, which runs:
-<i>Venient annis saecula seris, quibus oceanus vincula
-rerum laxet et ingens pateat tellus</i>. And in the
-volume of Seneca, which may also be found in the
-Columbian Library, alongside of this passage there
-is a note by Ferdinand Columbus, which says:
-"This prophecy was fulfilled by my father, the
-admiral Christopher Columbus, in the year 1492."
-My eyes filled with tears; I wished I were alone,
-that I might have kissed those books, have tired
-myself out turning and re-turning their leaves between
-my hands, have detached a tiny fragment,
-and carried it with me as a sacred thing. Christopher
-Columbus! I have seen his characters! I
-have touched the leaves which he has touched! I
-have felt him very near me! On leaving the library,
-I know not why&mdash;I could have leaped into the
-midst of the flames to rescue a child, I could have
-stripped myself to clothe a beggar, I could joyfully
-have made any sacrifice&mdash;I was so rich!</p>
-
-<p>After the library the Alcazar, but before reaching<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span>
-it, although it is in the same square as the cathedral,
-I felt for the first time what the Andalusian sun is
-like. Seville is the hottest city of Spain, it was the
-hottest hour of the day, and I found myself in the
-hottest part of the city; there was a flood of light;
-not a door, not a window, was open, not a soul astir;
-if I had been told that Seville was uninhabited, I
-should have believed it. I crossed the square
-slowly with half-shut eyes and wrinkled face, with
-the sweat coursing in great drops down my cheeks
-and breast, while my hands seemed to have been
-dipped in a bucket of water. On nearing the
-Alcazar I saw a sort of booth belonging to a water-carrier,
-and dashed under it headlong, like a man
-fleeing from a shower of stones. I took a little
-breathing-spell, and went on toward the Alcazar.</p>
-
-<p>The Alcazar, the ancient palace of the Moorish
-kings, is one of the best-preserved monuments in
-Spain. From the outside it looks like a fortress:
-it is entirely surrounded by high walls, embattled
-towers, and old houses, which form two spacious
-courtyards in front of the façade. The façade is
-bare and severe, like the rest of the exterior; the
-gate is adorned with gilded and painted arabesques,
-between which one sees a Gothic inscription which
-refers to the time when the Alcazar was restored by
-order of King Don Pedro. The Alcazar, in fact,
-although a Moorish palace, is the work of Christian
-rather than of Moorish kings. It is not known<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span>
-exactly in what year it was built: it was reconstructed
-by King Abdelasio toward the end of the
-twelfth century, conquered by King Ferdinand toward
-the middle of the thirteenth century; altered
-a second time, in the following century, by King Don
-Pedro; and then occupied for longer or shorter
-periods by nearly all the kings of Castile; and
-finally selected by Charles V. as the place for the
-celebration of his marriage with the infanta of
-Portugal. The Alcazar has witnessed the loves
-and crimes of three generations of kings; every
-stone awakens a memory and guards a secret.</p>
-
-<p>You enter, cross two or three rooms in which
-there remains little of the Moorish excepting the
-vaulted ceiling and the mosaics around the walls,
-and come out into a court where you stand speechless
-with wonder. A portico of very delicate arches
-extends along the four sides, supported by slender
-marble columns, joined two by two, and arches and
-walls and windows and doors are covered with carvings,
-mosaics, and arabesques most intricate and exquisite,
-here perforated like lace, there closely
-woven and elaborate like embroidered tapestry,
-yonder clinging and projecting like masses and
-garlands of flowers; and, except the mosaics, which
-are of a thousand colors, everything is white, clean,
-and smooth as ivory. On the four sides are four
-great doors, through which you enter the royal
-apartments. Here wonder becomes enchantment:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span>
-whatever is richest, most various, and most splendid,
-whatever the most ardent fancy sees in its most
-ardent dreams, is to be found in these rooms. From
-pavement to the vaulted ceiling, around the doors,
-along the window-frames, in the most hidden corners,
-wherever one's glance falls, one sees such a luxuriance
-of ornaments in gold and precious stones, such
-a close network of arabesques and inscriptions, such
-a marvellous profusion of designs and colors, that
-one has scarcely taken twenty steps before one is
-amazed and confused, and the wearied eye wanders
-here and there searching for a hand's breadth of
-bare wall where it may flee and rest. In one of
-these rooms the guide pointed out a red spot which
-covered a good part of the marble pavement, and
-said in a solemn voice, "These are the blood-stains
-of Don Fadrique, grand master of the order of
-Santiago, who was killed on this very spot, in the
-year 1358, by order of his brother, King Don
-Pedro."</p>
-
-<p>I remember that when I heard these words I
-looked in the face of the custodian, as if to say,
-"Come, let us be going," and that good man answered
-in a dry tone,</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Caballero</i>, if I had told you to believe this thing
-on my word, you would have had every reason to
-doubt; but when you can see the thing with your
-very eyes, I may be wrong, but&mdash;it seems to
-me...."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span></p>
-
-<p>"Yes," I hastened to say&mdash;"yes, it is blood: I
-believe it, I see it; let's say no more about it."</p>
-
-<p>But if one can be playful over the blood-spots,
-one cannot be so over the story of the crime; the
-sight of the place revives in the mind all the most
-horrible details. Through the great gilded halls one
-seems to hear the echo of Don Fadrique's footsteps,
-followed by those of the bowmen armed with
-bludgeons; the palace is immersed in gloom; one
-hears no other sound save that of the executioners
-and their victim; Don Fadrique tries to enter the
-courtyard; Lopez de Padilla catches him; Fadrique
-throws him off and is in the court; he grasps his
-sword; curses on it! the cross of the hilt is held fast
-in the mantle of the order of Santiago; the bowmen
-gain upon him; he has not time to unsheath the
-sword; he flees here and there, groping his way;
-Fernandez de Roa overtakes him and fells him with
-a blow of his club; the others run up and set upon
-him, and Fadrique dies in a pool of blood....</p>
-
-<p>But this sad recollection is lost among the thousand
-images of the sensuous Moorish kings. Those
-graceful little windows, where it seems as if you
-ought to see every other moment the languid face
-of an odalisque; those secret doors, at which you
-pause in spite of yourself, as if you heard the rustle
-of garments; those sleeping chambers of the sultans,
-shrouded in mysterious gloom, where you seem to
-hear only the confused amorous lament of all the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span>
-maidens who there lost the flower of their virgin
-purity; that prodigal variety of color and line, which
-like a tumultuous and ever-changing harmony arouses
-the senses to such fantastic flights that you doubt
-whether you are waking or sleeping; that delicate
-and lovely architecture, all of slender columns, that
-seem like the arms of women; capricious arches,
-little rooms, arched ceilings crowded with ornaments
-hanging in the form of stalactites, icicles, and clusters
-of grapes, of as many colors as a flower-garden;&mdash;all
-this stirs your desire to sit down in the middle
-of one of those rooms and to press to your heart a
-lovely brown Andalusian head which will make you
-forget the world and time, and, with one long kiss
-that drinks away your life, give you eternal sleep.</p>
-
-<p>On the ground floor the most beautiful room is the
-Hall of the Ambassadors, formed by four great
-arches which support a gallery with forty-four
-smaller arches, and above a beautiful cupola carved,
-painted, gilded, and chased with inimitable grace
-and fabulous splendor.</p>
-
-<p>On the upper floor, where were the winter apartments,
-there remain only an oratory of Ferdinand
-and Isabella the Catholic, and a little room in which
-the king Don Pedro is said to have slept. From it
-one descends by a narrow mysterious staircase to the
-rooms where dwelt the famous Maria de Padilla, the
-favorite of Don Pedro, whom popular tradition accuses
-of instigating the king to kill his brother.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i><a id="Moorish_Arches"></a>Moorish Arches, Alcazar, Seville</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b124c.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span></p>
-
-<p>The gardens of the Alcazar are neither very large
-nor particularly beautiful, but the memories which
-they recall are of greater value than extent or
-beauty. In the shade of those orange trees and
-cypresses, to the murmur of those fountains, when
-the great white moon was shining in that limpid Andalusian
-sky, and the many groups of courtiers and
-slaves rested there, how many long sighs of ardent
-sultanas! how many lowly words from proud kings!
-what passionate loves and embraces! "Itimad, my
-love!" I murmured, thinking of the famous mistress
-of King Al-Motamid as I wandered from path to
-path as if following her phantom,&mdash;"Itimad," I repeated,
-"do not leave me alone in this silent paradise!
-Dost thou remember how thou camest to me?
-Thy wealth of hair fell over my shoulder, and dearer
-than the sword to the warrior wert thou to me! How
-beautiful thou art! Thy neck is soft and white as
-the swan's, and like berries are thy red, red lips!
-How marvellous is the perfection of thy beauty!
-How dear thou art, Itimad, my love! Thy kisses
-are like wine, and thy eyes, like wine, steal away
-my reason!"</p>
-
-<p>While I was thus making my declarations of love
-with phrases and images stolen from the Arabian
-poets, at the very moment when I turned into a
-bypath all bordered with flowers, suddenly I felt a
-stream of water first on one leg and then on the
-other. I jumped aside, and received a spray in my<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span>
-face; I turned to the right, and felt another stream
-against my neck; to the left, another jet between
-my shoulders. I began to run: there was water
-under me and around me in every direction, in jets,
-streams, and spray; in a moment I was as wet as if
-I had been dipped in the bath-tub. Just as I opened
-my mouth to call for help it all subsided, and I heard
-a ringing laugh at the end of the garden. I turned
-and saw a young fellow leaning against a low wall
-looking at me as if he were saying, "How did you
-like it?" When I came out he showed me the
-spring he had touched to play this little joke, and
-comforted me with the assurance that the sun of Seville
-would not leave me long in that dripping condition,
-into which I had passed so rudely, alas!
-from the lovely arms of my sultana.</p>
-
-<p>That evening, in spite of the voluptuous images
-which the Alcazar had called to my mind, I was sufficiently
-calm to contemplate the beauty of the
-women of Seville without fleeing to the arms of the
-consul for safety. I do not believe that the women
-of any other country are so bewitching as the fair
-Andalusians, not only because they tempt one into
-all sorts of mischief, but because they seem to have
-been made to be seized and carried away, so small,
-graceful, plump, elastic, and soft are they. Their
-little feet could both be put easily into one's coat-pocket,
-and with an arm one could lift them by the
-waist like babies, and by the mere pressure of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span>
-finger could bend them like willow wands. To their
-natural beauty they add the art of walking and looking
-in a way to turn one's head. They fly along,
-glide, and walk with a wave-like motion, and in a
-single moment, as they pass, they show a little foot,
-make you admire an arm or a slender waist, reveal
-two rows of the whitest teeth, and dart at you a long
-veiled glance that melts and dies in your own; and
-on they go with an air of triumph, certain of having
-turned your blood topsy-turvy.</p>
-
-<p>To form an idea of the beauty of the women of
-the people and the picturesqueness of their dress
-you must go by day to visit the tobacco-manufactory,
-which is one of the largest establishments of
-the kind in Europe and employs not less than five
-thousand hands. The building faces the vast gardens
-of the duke of Montpensier: almost all of the
-women work in three immense rooms, each divided
-into three parts by as many rows of pillars. The
-first view is astounding: there, all at once, eight
-hundred girls present themselves before one's eyes
-in groups of five or six, sitting around work-tables
-as close as possible, the farthest indistinct and the
-last scarcely visible; all of them young and a few
-children&mdash;eight hundred jet-black heads and eight
-hundred brown faces from every province of
-Andalusia, from Jaen to Cadiz, from Granada to
-Seville!</p>
-
-<p>One hears a buzzing as of a square full of people.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span>
-The walls, from one door to the other, in all three
-of the rooms are lined with skirts, shawls, kerchiefs,
-and scarfs; and&mdash;a very curious thing&mdash;that entire
-mass of garments, which would fill to overflowing a
-hundred old-clothes shops, presents two predominant
-colors, in two continuous lines one above the other,
-like the stripes of a very long flag&mdash;the black of the
-shawls above, and the red mixed with white, purple,
-and yellow&mdash;so that one seems to see an immense
-costumer's shop or an immense ball-room where the
-ballet-dancers, in order to be free, have hung on the
-walls every part of their dress which it is not absolutely
-necessary to wear. The girls put on these
-dresses when they go out, and wear old clothes to
-work in; but white and red predominate in those
-dresses also. The heat is insupportable, consequently
-they lighten their clothing as much as possible,
-and among those five thousand one will
-scarcely find fifty whose arms and shoulders the
-visitor may not contemplate at his pleasure, without
-counting the extraordinary cases which present
-themselves suddenly as one passes from room to
-room, behind the doors and columns, and around the
-distant corners. There are some very beautiful
-faces, and even those who are not beautiful have
-something about them which attracts one's glance
-and lingers in the memory&mdash;the complexion, the
-eyes, the brow, or the smile. Many of them,
-especially so-called <i>Gitane</i>, are as dark as dark<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span>
-mulattos and have protruding lips; others have eyes
-so large that a faithful picture of them would be
-considered a monstrous exaggeration; the greater
-part are small and well-formed, and all have a rose
-or carnation or some sort of wild flower in their
-hair. They are paid in proportion to the work they
-do, and the most skilful and industrious earn as
-much as three francs per day; the lazy ones&mdash;<i>las
-holgazanas</i>&mdash;sleep with their arms crossed on the
-table and their heads resting on their arms; mothers
-are working, and swinging a leg to which is bound
-a cord that rocks the cradle. From the cigar-room
-one passes to the cigarette-room, and from it to the
-box-factory, and from the box-factory to the packing-room,
-and in them all one sees the red skirts,
-black hair, and fine eyes. In each of those rooms
-how many stories of love, jealousy, despair, and
-misery! On leaving the factory one seems for some
-time to see black eyes in every direction regarding
-him with a thousand varying expressions of curiosity,
-indifference, sympathy, cheerfulness, sadness, and
-drowsiness.</p>
-
-<p>The same day I went to see the Museum of
-Painting. The Seville gallery does not contain very
-many paintings, but those few are worth a great
-museum. There are the masterpieces of Murillo,
-and among them his immortal <i>Saint Anthony of
-Padua</i>, which is said to be the most divinely inspired
-of his works, and one of the greatest achieve<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span>ments
-of human genius. I visited the gallery
-in the company of Señor Gonzalo Segovia and
-Ardizone, one of the most illustrious young men
-of Seville, and I wish he were here beside my table
-at this moment to testify in a foot-note that when
-my eyes first lit upon the picture I seized his arm
-and uttered a cry.</p>
-
-<p>Only once in my life have I felt such a profound
-stirring of my soul as that which I felt on seeing
-this picture. It was one beautiful summer night:
-the sky was bright with stars, and the vast plain lay
-extended before me from the high place where I
-stood in deep silence. One of the noblest creatures
-I have ever met in my life was at my side. A few
-hours before we had been reading some pages from
-one of Humboldt's works: we looked at the sky
-and talked of the motion of the earth, the millions
-of worlds, and the infinite with those suppressed
-tones as of distant voices which one unconsciously
-uses in speaking of such things in the silent night.
-Finally we were still, and each, with eyes fixed on
-the heavens, gave himself up to fancies. I know
-not by what train of thought I was led; I know not
-what mysterious chain of emotions was formed in
-my heart; I know not what I saw or felt or dreamed.
-I only know that suddenly a veil before my mind
-seemed to be rent asunder; I felt within me a perfect
-assurance of that which hitherto I had longed
-for rather than believed; my heart expanded with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span>
-a feeling of supreme joy, angelic peace, and limitless
-hope; a flood of scalding tears suddenly filled my
-eyes, and, grasping the hand of my friend, which
-sought my own, I cried from the depths of my soul,
-"It is true! It is true!" and began to cry like a
-child.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Saint Anthony of Padua</i> brought back the
-emotions of that evening. The saint is kneeling in
-the middle of his cell; the child Jesus in a nebulous
-halo of white vaporous light, drawn by the power
-of his prayer, is descending into his arms. Saint
-Anthony, rapt in ecstasy, throws himself forward
-with all his power of body and soul, his head thrown
-back, radiant with an expression of supreme joy.
-So great was the shock which this picture gave me
-that when I had looked at it a few moments I was
-as exhausted as if I had visited a vast gallery, and a
-trembling seized me and continued so long as I
-remained in that room.</p>
-
-<p>Afterward I saw the other great paintings of
-Murillo&mdash;a <i>Conception</i>, a <i>Saint Francis embracing
-Christ</i>, another version of <i>Saint Anthony</i>, and others
-to the number of twenty or more, among them the
-famous and enchanting <i>Virgin of the Napkin</i>, painted
-by Murillo upon a real napkin in the Capuchin convent
-of Seville to gratify a desire of a lay brother
-who was serving him: it is one of his most delicate
-creations, in which is revealed all the magic of his
-inimitable coloring&mdash;but none of these paintings,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span>
-although they are objects of wonder to all the artists
-of the world, drew my heart or thoughts from that
-divine <i>Saint Anthony</i>.</p>
-
-<p>There are also in this gallery paintings by the two
-Herreras, Pacheco, Alonzo Cano, Pablo de Cespedes,
-Valdes, Mulato, a servant of Murillo who ably imitated
-his style, and finally the large famous painting
-of the <i>Apotheosis of Saint Thomas of Aquinas</i>, by
-Francesco Zurbaran, one of the most eminent artists
-of the seventeenth century, called the Spanish Caravaggio,
-and possibly his superior in truth and
-moral sentiment,&mdash;a powerful naturalist, a strong
-colorist, and an inimitable painter of austere friars,
-macerated saints, brooding hermits, and terrible
-priests, and an unsurpassed poet of penitence, solitude,
-and meditation.</p>
-
-<p>After seeing the picture-gallery Señor Gonzalo
-Segovia led me through a succession of narrow
-streets to the street <i>Francos</i>, one of the principal
-ways of the city, and stopped me in front of a little
-draper's shop, saying with a laugh, "Look! Doesn't
-this shop make you think of something?"</p>
-
-<p>"Nothing at all," I replied.</p>
-
-<p>"Look at the number."</p>
-
-<p>"It is number fifteen: what of it?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! plague on it!" exclaimed my amiable guide,</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"'Number fifteen,</div>
- <div class="verse">On the left-hand side'!"</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>"The shop of the <i>Barber of Seville</i>!" I cried.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span></p>
-
-<p>"Precisely!" he responded&mdash;"the shop of the
-Barber of Seville; but be on your guard when you
-speak of it in Italy; do not take your oath, for traditions
-are often misleading, and I would not assume
-the responsibility of confirming a fact of such importance."</p>
-
-<p>At that moment the merchant came to the door of
-the shop, and, divining why we were there, laughed
-and said, "<i>No esta</i>" ("Figaro is not here"), and
-with a gracious bow he retired.</p>
-
-<p>Then I besought Señor Gonzalo to show me a
-<i>patio</i>, one of those enchanting <i>patios</i> which as I
-looked at them from the street made me imagine so
-many delightful things. "I want to see at least
-one," I said to him&mdash;"to penetrate once into the
-midst of those mysteries, to touch the walls, to
-assure myself that it is a real thing and not a
-vision."</p>
-
-<p>My desire was at once fulfilled: we entered
-the <i>patio</i> of one of his friends. Señor Gonzalo told
-the servant the object of our visit, and we were
-left alone. The house was only two stories in
-height. The <i>patio</i> was no larger than an ordinary
-room, but all marble and flowers, and a little fountain
-in the middle, and paintings and statues around,
-and from roof to roof an awning which sheltered it
-from the sun. In a corner was a work-table, and
-here and there one saw low chairs and little benches
-whereon a few moments previously had doubtless<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span>
-rested the feet of some fair Andalusian, who at that
-moment was watching us from between the slats of a
-blind. I examined everything minutely, as I would
-have done in a house abandoned by the fairies: I sat
-down, closed my eyes, imagined I was the master,
-then arose, wet my hand with the spray of the
-fountain, touched a slender column, went to the
-door, picked a flower, raised my eyes to the windows,
-laughed, sighed, and said, "How happy must
-those be who live here!" At that moment I heard
-a low laugh, and saw two great black eyes flash
-behind a blind and instantly disappear. "Truly," I
-said, "I did not believe that it was possible to still
-live so poetically upon this earth. And to think
-that you enjoy these houses all your life! and that
-you have the inclination to rack your brains about
-politics!"</p>
-
-<p>Señor Gonzalo showed me the secrets of the
-house. "All this furniture," said he, "these paintings,
-and these vases of flowers disappear on the approach
-of autumn and are taken to the second story,
-which is the living apartment from autumn to
-spring. When summer comes beds, wardrobes,
-tables, chairs&mdash;everything is brought down to the
-rooms on the ground floor, and here the family sleep
-and eat, receive their friends, and do their work,
-among the flowers and marbles to the murmur of
-the fountain. And at night they have the doors
-open, and from the sleeping-rooms one can see the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span>
-<i>patio</i> flooded with moonlight and smell the fragrance
-of roses."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, stop!" I exclaimed, "stop, Señor Gonzalo!
-Have pity on strangers!" And, laughing heartily,
-we both went out on our way to see the famous <i>Casa
-de Pilato</i>.</p>
-
-<p>As we were passing along a lonely little street I
-looked in a window of a hardware-shop and saw an
-assortment of knives so long, broad, and unusual
-that I felt a desire to buy one. I entered: twenty
-were displayed before my eyes, and I had the salesman
-to open them one by one. As each knife was
-opened I took a step backward. I do not believe it
-is possible to imagine an instrument more barbarous
-and terrifying in appearance than one of them.
-The handles are of wood, copper, and horn, curved
-and carved in open patterns, so that one may see
-through their little pieces of isinglass. The knives
-open with a sound like a rattle, and out comes a
-large blade as broad as the palm of your hand, as
-long as both palms together, and as sharp as a
-dagger, in the form of a fish, ornamented with red
-inlaying, which suggests streaks of clotted blood,
-and adorned with fierce and threatening inscriptions.
-On the blade of one there will be written in Spanish,
-<i>Do not open me without reason, nor shut me without
-honor</i>; on another, <i>Where I strike, all is over</i>; on
-a third, <i>When this snake bites, there is nothing left
-for the doctor to do</i>; and other gallantries of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span>
-same sort. The proper name of these knives is <i>navaja</i>&mdash;a
-word which also has the meaning of razor&mdash;and
-the <i>navaja</i> is the popular duelling weapon. Now
-it has fallen into disuse, but was at one time held in
-great honor; there were masters who taught its use,
-each of whom had his secret blow, and duels were
-fought in accordance with the rules of chivalry. I
-bought the most terrible <i>navaja</i> in the shop, and we
-entered the street again.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Casa de Pilato</i>, held by the Medina-Coeli
-family, is, after the Alcazar, the most beautiful monument
-of Moorish architecture in Seville. The name,
-<i>Casa de Pilato</i>, comes from the fact that its founder,
-Don Enriquez de Ribera, the first marquis of Tarifa,
-had it built, as the story goes, in imitation of the
-house of the Roman prætor, which he had seen in
-Jerusalem, where he went on a pilgrimage. The
-edifice has a modest exterior, but the interior is marvellous.
-One first enters a court not less beautiful
-than the enchanting court of the Alcazar, encircled
-by two orders of arches, supported by graceful
-marble columns, forming two very light galleries, one
-above the other, and so delicate that it seems as if
-the first puff of wind would cast them into ruins.
-In the centre is a lovely fountain resting on four
-marble dolphins and crowned by a bust of Janus.
-Around the lower part of the walls run brilliant
-mosaics, and above these every sort of fantastic
-arabesque, here and there framing beautiful niches<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span>
-containing busts of the Roman emperors. At the
-four corners of the court the ceilings, the walls, and
-the doors are carved, embroidered, and covered
-with flowers and historic tapestries with the delicacy
-of a miniature. In an old chapel, partly Moorish
-and partly Gothic in style, and most delicate in form,
-there is preserved a little column, scarcely more than
-three feet in height, the gift of Pius V. to a descendant
-of the founder of the palace, at one time viceroy
-of Naples: to that column, says the tradition, was
-bound Jesus of Nazareth to be scourged. This fact,
-even if it were true, would prove that Pius V. did
-not believe it in the slightest degree. For he would
-not lightly have committed the unpardonable mistake
-of depriving himself of a valuable relic to make a
-present to the first comer. The entire palace is full
-of sacred memories. On the first floor the custodian
-points out a window which corresponds to that by
-which Peter sat when he denied his Lord, and the
-little window from which the maid-servant recognized
-him. From the street one sees another window
-with a little stone balcony, which represents the
-exact position of the window where Jesus, wearing
-the crown of thorns, was shown to the people.</p>
-
-<p>The garden is full of fragments of ancient statuary
-brought from Italy by that same Don Pedro Afan de
-Ribera, viceroy of Naples. Among the other fables
-that are told about this mysterious garden is one to
-the effect that Don Pedro Afan de Ribera placed in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span>
-it an urn brought from Italy containing the ashes
-of the emperor Trajan, and a curious person carelessly
-struck the urn and overturned it; the emperor's
-ashes were thus scattered over the grass, and
-no one has ever succeeded in collecting them. So this
-august monarch, born at Italica, by a very strange
-fate has returned to the vicinity of his natal city,
-not in the very best condition in which to meditate
-upon its ruins, to tell the truth, but he was near it,
-at any rate.</p>
-
-<p>In spite of all that I have described, I may say
-that I did not see Seville, but just commenced to see
-it. Nevertheless, I shall stop here, because everything
-must have an end. I pass by the promenaders,
-the squares, the gates, the libraries, the public buildings,
-the mansions of the grandees, the gardens and
-the churches; but allow me to say that, after several
-days' wandering through Seville from sunrise to sunset,
-I was obliged to leave the city under the weight
-of a self-accusing conscience. I did not know which
-way to turn. I had reached such a condition of
-weariness that the announcement of a new object to
-be seen filled me with foreboding rather than pleasure.
-The good Señor Gonzalo kept up my courage,
-comforted me, and shortened the journeys with his
-delightful company, but, nevertheless, I have only a
-very confused remembrance of all that I saw during
-those last days.</p>
-
-<p>Seville, although it no longer merits the glorious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span>
-title of the Spanish Athens, as in the times of
-Charles V. and Philip II., when it was mother and
-patron of a large and chosen band of poets and
-artists, the seat of culture and of the arts in the vast
-empire of its monarchs, is even yet that one among
-the cities of Spain, with the exception of Madrid, in
-which the artistic life is most vigorously maintained,
-as is evidenced by the number of its men of genius,
-the liberality of its patrons, and the popular love of
-the fine arts. It contains a flourishing academy of
-literature, a society for the protection of the arts, a
-well-known university, and a colony of scholars and
-sculptors who enjoy an honorable distinction throughout
-Spain. But the highest literary fame in Seville
-belongs to a woman&mdash;Catharine Bohl, the author of
-the novels which bear the name of Fernan Caballero,
-widely read in Spain and America, translated into
-almost all the languages of Europe, and known also
-in Italy (where some of them were published not
-long since) by every one who at all occupies himself
-with foreign literature. They are admirable pictures
-of Andalusian manners, full of truth, passion, and
-grace, and, above all, possessing a vigor of faith and
-a religious enthusiasm so fearless and a Christian
-charity so broad that they would startle and confuse
-the most skeptical man in the world. Catharine
-Bohl is a woman who would undergo martyrdom
-with the firmness and serenity of a Saint Ignatius.
-The consciousness of her power is revealed in every<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span>
-page: she does not hesitate to defend her religion,
-and confronts, assails, threatens, and overthrows its
-enemies; and not only the enemies of religion, but
-every man and everything that, to use a common
-expression, conforms to the spirit of the age, for
-she never forgives the least sin which has been committed
-from the times of the Inquisition to our own
-day, and she is more inexorable than the Pope's syllabus.
-And herein perhaps lies her greatest defect
-as a writer&mdash;that her religious convictions and her
-invectives are entirely too frequent and grow tiresome,
-and disgust and prejudice the reader rather
-than convince him of her own beliefs. But there is
-not a shadow of bitterness in her heart, and as her
-books, so is her life, noble, upright, and charitable.
-In Seville she is revered as a saint. Born in that
-city, she married early in life, and is now a widow
-for the third time. Her last husband, who was
-Spanish ambassador at London, committed suicide,
-and from that day she has never laid aside her
-mourning. At the time of my visit she was almost
-seventy; she had been very beautiful, and her noble,
-placid face still preserved the impress of beauty.
-Her father, who was a man of considerable genius
-and great culture, taught her several languages in
-early life: she knows Latin thoroughly and speaks
-Italian, German, and French with admirable facility.
-At this time, however, she is not writing at all,
-although the editors and publishers of Europe and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span>
-America are offering her large sums for her works.
-But she does not live a life of inactivity. From
-morning to night she reads all sorts of books, and
-while she reads she is either knitting or embroidering,
-for she very firmly believes that her literary
-studies ought not to take one minute from her feminine
-employments. She has no children, and lives
-in a lonely house, the best part of which has been
-given to a poor family; she spends a great part of
-her income in charity. A curious trait of her character
-is her great love of animals: she has her
-house full of birds, cats, and dogs, and her sensibilities
-are so delicate that she has never consented
-to enter a carriage, for fear of seeing the horse beaten
-on her account. All suffering affects her as if she
-herself were bearing it: the sight of a blind man or
-of a sick person or of a cripple of any sort distresses
-her for an entire day; she cannot close her eyes to
-sleep unless she has wiped away a tear; she would
-joyfully forego all her honors to save any unknown
-person a heartache. Before the Revolution her life
-was not so isolated: the Montpensier family received
-her with great honor, and the most illustrious families
-of Seville vied with each other in entertaining
-her at their homes: now she lives only among her
-books and a few friends.</p>
-
-<p>In Moorish times Cordova took the lead in literature
-and Seville in music. "When a scholar dies
-at Seville," said Averroes, "and they wish to sell<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span>
-his books, they send them to Cordova; but if a
-musician dies at Cordova, they send his instruments
-to Seville to be sold." Now Cordova has lost her
-literary primacy, and Seville holds first place both
-in literature and music. Truly the times are past
-in which a poet by singing of the beauty of a maiden
-draws around her a crowd of lovers from all parts
-of the realm, and when one prince envies another
-simply because a poet has sung in his praise a verse
-more beautiful than any which the other had inspired,
-and a caliph rewards the author of a noble
-hymn by a gift of a hundred camels, a troop of
-slaves, and a vase of gold&mdash;when a happy strophe
-improvised at an opportune time releases a slave
-from his chains or saves the life of one condemned
-to death, and when the musicians are followed
-through the streets of Seville by a train of monarchs,
-and the favor of poets is more sought than that of
-kings, and the lyre is more terrible than the sword.
-But the people of Seville are always the most poetic
-people of Spain. The <i>bon mot</i>, the word of love,
-the expression of joy and enthusiasm, fly from their
-lips with a fascinating spontaneity and grace. The
-common people of Seville improvise, and talk as
-though they are singing, gesticulate as if they are
-declaiming, laugh and play like children. One
-never grows old at Seville. It is a city where life
-melts away in a continuous smile, with no other
-thought than the enjoyment of the beautiful sky,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span>
-the lovely little houses, and the delightful little
-gardens. It is the most peaceful city in Spain,
-and the only one which since the Revolution has
-not been agitated by those sad political commotions
-which have stirred the others: politics do not penetrate
-the surface; the Sevillians are content to make
-love; all else they take in jest. <i>Todo lo toman de
-broma</i>, say the other Spaniards of the Sevillians;
-and in truth with that fragrant air, with those little
-streets like those of an Oriental city, with those
-fiery little women, why should they trouble themselves?
-At Madrid they speak ill of them; they
-say they are vain, false, fickle, and silly. It is
-jealousy: they envy them their happy indolence,
-the sympathy which they inspire in strangers, their
-girls, their poets, their painters, their orators, their
-Giralda, their Alcazar, their Guadalquivir, their
-life, and their history. So say the Sevillians, striking
-their breasts with one hand and puffing into the
-air a cloud of smoke from the inseparable <i>cigaritto</i>;
-and their lovely little women revenge themselves
-upon their envious sisters and all the other women
-in the world, speaking with spiteful pity of long feet,
-large waists, and dull eyes, that in Andalusia would
-not receive the honor of a glance or the homage of
-a sigh. A charming and amiable people, in truth;
-but, alas! one must look at the reverse side of the
-medal: superstition reigns and schools are lacking,
-as is the case throughout all Southern Spain; this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span>
-is partly their own fault and partly not; but the
-negative is probably the smaller part.</p>
-
-<p>The day of my departure arrived unexpectedly.
-It is strange: I remember scarcely any particulars
-of my life at Seville; it is remarkable if I can tell
-where I dined, what I talked about with the consul,
-how I spent the evenings, and why I chose any
-given day to take my departure. I was not myself;
-I lived, if I may use the expression, out of myself;
-all the while I remained in the city I was a little
-dazed. Apart from the art-gallery and the <i>patio</i>
-my friend Segovia must have found that I knew very
-little; and now, I know not why, I think of those
-days as of a dream. Of no other city are my recollections
-so vague as of Seville. Even to-day, while
-I am certain of having been at Saragossa, Madrid,
-and Toledo, sometimes when I think of Seville a
-doubt steals upon me. It seems to me like a city
-much farther away than the most distant boundaries
-of Spain, and that to journey there again I must
-travel months and months, cross unknown continents
-and wide seas, among people totally different from
-our own. I think of the streets of Seville, of certain
-little squares and certain houses, as I would think
-of the spots on the moon. Sometimes the image of
-that city passes before my eyes like a white figure,
-and disappears almost before I can grasp it with my
-mind&mdash;sometimes in a breath of air, at certain hours
-of the day, at a garden-gate; in humming a song<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span>
-which I heard a boy sing on the steps of the Giralda.
-I cannot explain this secret to myself; I think of
-Seville as of a city which I have still to see, and
-I enjoy looking at the prints and thumbing the
-books which I bought there, for they are tangible
-things that convince me of my visit. A month ago
-I received a letter from Segovia which said, "Come
-back to us." It gave me untold pleasure, but at the
-same time I laughed as if he had written, "Make a
-voyage to Pekin." It is for this very reason that
-Seville is dearer to me than all the other cities of
-Spain; I love it as I might love a beautiful unknown
-woman who, crossing a mysterious wood, might
-look my way and throw me a flower. How often in
-the theatre or at the café, when a friend shakes me
-and asks, "What are you thinking about?" I am
-obliged to leave the little room of Maria de Padilla
-to return to him, or a boat that is gliding along in
-the shade of the Christina plane trees, or Figaro's
-shop, or the vestibule of a <i>patio</i> full of flowers,
-fountains, and lights.</p>
-
-<p>I embarked on a boat of the Segovia Company,
-near the Torre del Oro, at an hour when Seville is
-wrapped in deep sleep and a burning sun covers it
-with a flood of light. I remember that a few
-moments before the boat started a young man came
-on board in search of me, and gave me a letter from
-Gonzalo Segovia, containing a sonnet which I still
-cherish as one of my most precious mementos of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span>
-Seville. On the boat there was a company of Spanish
-singers, an English family, some laboring-men,
-and babies. The captain, being a good Andalusian,
-had a cheery word for everybody. I soon began a
-conversation with him. My friend Gonzalo was a
-son of the proprietor of the line, and we talked of
-the Segovia family, of Seville, the sea, and a thousand
-pleasant things. Ah! the poor man was far
-from thinking that a few days later the unlucky ship
-would founder in the midst of the sea and bring him
-to such a terrible end! It was the <i>Guadaira</i>, that
-was lost a short distance from Marseilles by the
-bursting of the boiler on the sixteenth day of June,
-1872.</p>
-
-<p>At three o'clock the boat started for Cadiz.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span></p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a><br /><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="CADIZ" id="CADIZ"></a>CADIZ.</h2>
-
-
-<p>That was the most delightful evening of all my
-journey.</p>
-
-<p>A little while after the ship had commenced to
-move there sprang up one of those gentle breezes
-which played with one as an infant plays with one's
-cravat or a lock of one's hair, and from stem to
-stern there was a sound of the voices of women and
-children, like that which one hears among a group
-of friends at the first crack of the whip announcing
-their departure for a merry outing. All the passengers
-gathered at the stern in the shade of a gayly-colored
-awning like a Chinese pavilion: some were
-sitting on coils of rope, others were stretched at full
-length on the benches, others were leaning against
-the rail&mdash;every one looked back in the direction of
-the Torre del Oro to enjoy the famous and enchanting
-spectacle of Seville as it faded away in the distance.
-Some of the women had not yet dried the
-tears of parting, and some of the children were still
-a little frightened by the sound of the engine. And
-some ladies were still quarrelling with the porters
-for abusing their baggage; but in a few moments
-all was serene again, and the passengers began to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span>
-peel oranges, light cigars, pass little flasks of liquor,
-converse with their unknown neighbors, sing and
-laugh, and in a quarter of an hour we were all
-friends.</p>
-
-<p>The boat glided along as smoothly as a gondola
-over the still, limpid waters, which reflected the
-white dresses of the ladies like a mirror, and the
-breeze brought the delightful fragrance from the
-orange-groves of the villas scattered along the shore.
-Seville was hidden behind her circle of gardens, and
-we saw only an immense mass of trees of vivid
-green, and above them the black pile of the cathedral
-and the rose-colored Giralda surmounted by
-its statue flaming like a tongue of fire. As the
-distance widened the cathedral appeared grander and
-more majestic, as if it were following the vessel and
-gaining upon her: now, although still following, it
-seemed to retire a great way from the shore; now it
-would seem to be spanning the river; one moment
-it would appear suddenly to return to its place; a
-moment later it looked so close that we suspected
-the boat had turned back. The Guadalquivir
-wound along in short curves, and as the boat turned
-this way and that Seville appeared and disappeared,
-now peeping out in one place as if it had stolen
-beyond its boundaries, now raising its head suddenly
-behind a wood, gleaming like a snowclad mountain,
-now revealing some white streaks here and there
-amid the verdure, and suddenly disappearing from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span>
-view and performing all sorts of fantastic wiles, like
-a coquettish woman. Finally it disappeared and we
-saw it no more: the cathedral alone remained. Then
-every one turned to look at the shore. We seemed
-to be sailing on the lake of a garden. Here was a
-hillside clothed with cypresses, here a hilltop all
-covered with flowers, yonder a village extending
-along the shore, and under the garden trellises
-and along the terraces of the villas sat ladies looking
-at us with spy-glasses; and here and there
-were peasants' families in brightly-colored dresses,
-sail-boats; and naked boys who plunged into the
-water and turned sommersaults, frisked about,
-shouted, and waved their hands toward the ladies
-on the boat, who covered their faces with their fans.
-Some miles from Seville we met three steamboats,
-one after the other. The first came upon us so suddenly
-at a turn of the river that, having had no
-experience in that sort of navigation, I was afraid,
-for a moment, that we should not have time to avoid
-a collision; the two boats almost grazed each other
-in passing, and the passengers of each saluted each
-other and threw across oranges and cigars, and
-charged each other with messages to be borne to
-Cadiz or Seville.</p>
-
-<p>My fellow-voyagers were almost all Andalusians,
-and so, after an hour of conversation, I knew them
-from first to last as well as if we had all been friends
-from infancy. Every one instantly told every one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span>
-else, whether he wanted to know it or not, who he
-was, his age, occupation, and where he was going,
-and one even went so far as to tell how many sweethearts
-he had and how many pesetas were in his
-purse. I was taken for a singer; and this is not
-strange if one considers that in Spain the people
-think three-fourths of the Italians are trained to
-sing, dance, or declaim. One gentleman, noticing
-that I had an Italian book in my hand, asked me,
-point-blank, "Where did you leave the company?"</p>
-
-<p>"What company?" I demanded.</p>
-
-<p>"Weren't you singing with Fricci at the Zarzuela?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am sorry, but I have never appeared on the
-stage."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, I must say, then, that you and the second
-tenor look as much alike as two drops of water."</p>
-
-<p>"You don't say so?"</p>
-
-<p>"Pray excuse me."</p>
-
-<p>"It's of no consequence."</p>
-
-<p>"But you are an Italian?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Do you sing?"</p>
-
-<p>"I am sorry, but I do not sing."</p>
-
-<p>"How strange! To judge by your throat and
-breast, I should have said that you must have a
-splendid tenor voice."</p>
-
-<p>I put my hand to my chest and neck, and replied,
-"It may be so; I will try&mdash;one never knows. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span>
-have two of the necessary qualifications: I am an
-Italian and have the throat of a tenor; the voice
-ought to follow."</p>
-
-<p>At this point the prima donna of the company,
-who had overheard the dialogue, entered the conversation,
-and after her the entire company:</p>
-
-<p>"Is the gentleman an Italian?"</p>
-
-<p>"At your service, madam."</p>
-
-<p>"I ask the question because I wish him to do me
-a favor. What is the meaning of those short verses
-from <i>Il Trovatore</i> which run&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent4">"Non può nemmeno un Dio</div>
- <div class="verse indent4">Donna rapirti a me."</div>
- <div class="verse">(Not even a god can steal my lady from me.)</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>"Is the lady married?"</p>
-
-<p>They all began to laugh.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," replied the prima donna; "but why do
-you ask me that?"</p>
-
-<p>"Because ... 'not even a god can steal you
-from me' is what your husband ought to say, if he
-has two good eyes in his head, every morning when
-he rises and every night when he goes to bed."</p>
-
-<p>The others laughed, but to the prima donna this
-imaginary presumption on the part of her husband
-in affirming that he was secure even against a god
-seemed too extravagant, possibly because she knew
-that she had not always been sufficiently wary in her
-regard for men; and so she scarcely deigned by so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span>
-much as a smile to show that she had understood
-my compliment. She at once asked the meaning of
-another verse, and after her the baritone, and after
-the baritone the tenor, and after the tenor the second
-lady, and so on, until for a little while I did nothing
-but translate poor Italian verses into worse Spanish
-prose, to the great satisfaction of some of them, who
-for the first time were able to repeat intelligently a
-little of what they had so often sung with an air of
-perfect knowledge. When every one had learned as
-much as he wished to know, the conversation came
-to a close, and I stood talking a little while with the
-baritone, who hummed me an air from the <i>Zarzuela</i>;
-then I attached myself to one of the chorus, who
-told me that the tenor was making love to the
-prima donna; then I went off with the tenor, who
-told me about the baritone's wife; then I talked
-with the prima donna, who said disagreeable things
-about the whole company; but they were all good
-friends, and when they met, as they walked about
-the boat and gathered under the awning, the men
-pulled each other's beards and the women kissed
-each other, and one and all exchanged glances and
-smiles which revealed secret understandings. Some
-ran through the gamut here, some hummed yonder,
-others practised trills in a corner, and others again
-tried a guttural <i>do</i> that ended in a wheezing sound
-in the throat; and meanwhile they all talked at once
-about a thousand trifles.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span></p>
-
-<p>Finally, the bell sounded and we rushed headlong
-to the table, like so many officials invited to a spread
-at the unveiling of a monument. At this dinner,
-amid the cries and songs of all those people, I drank
-for the first time an unmixed glass of that terrible
-wine of Xeres whose wonders are sung in the four
-corners of the earth. I had scarcely swallowed it
-before I seemed to feel a spark run through all my
-veins, and my head burned as if it was full of sulphur.
-All the others drank, and all were filled with
-unrestrained mirth and became irresistibly loquacious;
-the prima donna began to talk in Italian, the
-tenor in French, the baritone in Portuguese, the
-others in dialect, and I in every tongue; and there
-were toasts and snatches of song, shouts, arch
-glances, clasping of hands above table and the
-kicking of feet below, and declarations of good fellowship
-exchanged on all sides, like the personalities
-in Parliament when the opposing factions join battle.
-After dinner we all went on deck, flushed and in
-great spirits, breathless and enveloped in a cloud of
-smoke from our cigarettes, and then, in the light of
-the moon, whose silvery rays gleamed on the wide
-river and covered the hillsides and the groves with
-limpid light, we began again a noisy conversation,
-and after the conversation there was singing, not
-only the trifling airs of <i>Zarzuela</i>, but passages from
-operas, with solos, duets, trios, and choruses, with
-appropriate gestures and stage strides, diversified<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span>
-with declamations from the poets, stories, and anecdotes,
-hearty laughter, and tumultuous applause;
-finally, tired and breathless, we were all silent, and
-some fell asleep with upturned faces, others went to
-lie down under cover, and the prima donna seated
-herself in a corner to look at the moon. The tenor
-was snoring. I profited by the occasion to go and
-have an aria from the <i>Zarzuela</i>&mdash;<i>El Sargento Federico</i>&mdash;sung
-to me in a low voice. The courteous
-Andalusian did not wait to be pressed: she sang,
-but suddenly she was silent and hid her face. I
-looked at her: she was weeping. I asked her the
-cause of her distress, and she answered, sadly, "I
-am thinking of a perjury." Then she broke into
-a laugh and began to sing again. She had a melodious,
-flexible voice, and sang with a feeling of
-gentle sadness. The sky was all studded with stars,
-and the boat glided so smoothly through the water
-that it scarcely seemed to be moving; and I thought
-of the gardens of Seville, of the near African shore,
-and of the dear one waiting for me in Italy, and my
-eyes too were wet, and when the lady stopped singing,
-I said, "Sing on, for&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">'Mortal tongue cannot express</div>
- <div class="verse">That which I felt within my breast....'"</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>At dawn the boat was just entering the ocean;
-the river was very wide. The right bank, scarcely
-visible in the distance, stretched along like a tongue<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span>
-of land, beyond which shone the waters of the sea.
-A moment later the sun rose above the horizon, and
-the vessel left the river. Then there unfolded before
-my eyes a sight that could not be described if
-it were possible to join poetry, painting, and music
-in one supreme art&mdash;a spectacle whose magnificence
-and enchantment I believe not even Dante could
-describe with his grandest images, nor Titian with
-his most brilliant colors, nor Rossini with his most
-perfect harmonies, nor even all three of them together.
-The sky was a miracle of sapphire light
-unflecked by a cloud, and the sea was so beautiful
-that it seemed like an immense carpet of shimmering
-silk; the sun was shining on the crests of the little
-ripples caused by a light breeze, and it seemed as
-if they were tipped with amethyst. The sea was
-full of reflections and luminous bands of light, and
-in the distance were streaks of silver, with here and
-there great white sails, like the trailing wings of
-gigantic fallen angels. I have never seen such
-brilliancy of color, such splendor of light, such
-freshness, such transparency, such limpid water and
-sky. It seemed like a daybreak of creation, which
-the fancy of poets had pictured so pure and effulgent
-that our dawns are only pale reflections in comparison.
-It was more than Nature's awakening and
-the recurring stir of life: it was a hallelujah, a
-triumph, a new birth of creation, growing into the
-infinite by a second inspiration of God.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span></p>
-
-<p>I went below deck to get my spyglass, and when
-I returned Cadiz was in sight.</p>
-
-<p>The first impression which it made upon me was
-a feeling of doubt whether it was a city or not. I
-first laughed, then turned toward my fellow-traveller
-with the air of one seeking to be assured that he is
-not deceived. Cadiz is like an island of chalk. It
-is a great white spot in the midst of the sea, without
-a cloud, without a black line, without a shadow&mdash;a
-white spot as clear and pure as a hilltop covered
-with untrodden snow, standing out against a sky of
-beryl and turquoise in the midst of a vast flooded
-plain. A long, narrow neck of land unites it to the
-continent; on all other sides it is surrounded by the
-sea, like a boat just ready to sail bound to the shore
-only by a cable. As we approached, the forms of
-the campaniles, the outlines of the houses, and the
-openings of the streets became clear, and everything
-seemed whiter, and, however much I looked through
-my spyglass, I could not have discovered the
-smallest spot in that whiteness, either on a building
-near the harbor or in the farthest suburbs. We
-entered the port, where there were but a few ships
-and those a great way apart. I stepped into a boat
-without even taking my valise with me, for I was
-obliged to leave for Malaga that same evening, and
-so eager was I to see the city that when the boat
-came to the bank, I jumped too soon and fell to the
-ground like a corpse, although, alas! I still felt the
-pains of a living body.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i><a id="Cadiz_p"></a>Cadiz</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b158ct.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span></p>
-
-<p>Cadiz is the whitest city in the world; and it is
-of no use to contradict me by saying that I have
-not seen every other city, for my common sense
-tells me that a city whiter than this, which is superlatively
-and perfectly white, cannot exist. Cordova
-and Seville cannot be compared with Cadiz:
-they are as white as a sheet, but Cadiz is as white
-as milk. To give an idea of it, one could not do
-better than to write the word "white" a thousand
-times with a white pencil on blue paper, and make
-a note on the margin: "Impressions of Cadiz."
-Cadiz is one of the most extravagant and graceful
-of human caprices: not only the outer walls of the
-houses are white, but the stairs are white, the courts
-are white, the shop-walls are white, the stones are
-white, the pilasters are white, the most secret and
-darkest corners of the poorest houses and the loneliest
-streets are white; everything is white from
-roof to cellar wherever the tip of a brush can enter,
-even to the holes, cracks, and birds' nests. In every
-house there is a pile of chalk and lime, and every
-time the eagle eye of the inmates spies the least
-spot the brush is seized and the spot covered.
-Servants are not taken into families unless they
-know how to whitewash. A pencil-scratch on a
-wall is a scandalous thing, an outrage upon the
-public peace, an act of vandalism: you might walk<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span>
-through the entire city, look behind all the doors,
-and poke your nose into the very holes, and you
-would find white, only and always and eternally.</p>
-
-<p>But, for all this, Cadiz does not in the least resemble
-the other Andalusian cities. Its streets are
-long and straight, and the houses are high, and lack
-the <i>patios</i> of Cordova and Seville. But, although
-the appearance is different, the city does not appear
-less interesting and pleasant to the eye of the
-stranger. The streets are straight, but narrow, and,
-moreover, they are very long, and many of them
-cross the entire city, and so one can see at the end,
-as through the crack in a door, a slender strip of
-sky, which makes it seem as if the city was built on
-the summit of a mountain cut on all sides in regular
-channels: moreover, the houses have a great many
-windows, and, as at Burgos, every window is provided
-with a sort of glass balcony which rises in
-tiers from story to story, so that in many streets the
-houses are completely covered with glass, and one
-sees scarcely any traces of the walls. It seems like
-walking through a passage in an immense museum.
-Here and there, between one house and the next,
-rise the graceful fronds of a palm; in every square
-there is a luxuriant mass of verdure, and at all the
-windows bunches of grass and bouquets of flowers.</p>
-
-<p>Really, I had been far from imagining that Cadiz
-could be so gay and smiling&mdash;that terrible, ill-fated
-Cadiz, burned by the English in the sixteenth cen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span>tury,
-bombarded at the end of the eighteenth, devastated
-by the pestilence, hostess of the fleets of Trafalgar,
-the seat of the revolutionary council during
-the War of Independence, the theatre of the horrible
-butchery of the Revolution of 1820, the target
-of the French bombs in 1823, the standard-bearer
-of the Revolution which hurled the Bourbons from
-the throne,&mdash;Cadiz always restless and turbulent and
-first of all to raise the battle-cry. But of such
-calamities and such struggles there remain only
-some cannon-balls half buried in the walls, for over
-all the traces of destruction has passed the inexorable
-brush, covering every dishonor with a white veil.
-And as it is with the latest wars, so too there remains
-not a trace of the Phœnicians who founded
-the city, nor of the Carthaginians and Romans who
-enlarged and beautified it, unless one wishes to consider
-as a trace the tradition which says, "Here rose
-a temple to Hercules," "There rose a temple to
-Saturn." But time has done a worse thing than to
-deprive Cadiz of her ancient monuments: it has
-stolen away her commerce and her riches since
-Spain lost her possessions in America, and now Cadiz
-lies there inert on her solitary rock, waiting in
-vain for the thousand ships which once came with
-flags and festoons to offer her the tribute of the
-New World.</p>
-
-<p>I had a letter of introduction to the Italian consul,
-and after receiving it he courteously took me to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span>
-top of a tower from which I was able to get a bird's-eye
-view of the city. It was a novel sight and a
-very lively surprise: seen from above, Cadiz is
-white, entirely and perfectly white, just as it appears
-from the sea; there is not a roof in all the
-city; every house is covered on top by a terrace
-surrounded by a low whitewashed wall; on almost
-every terrace rises a little white tower, which is surmounted,
-in its turn, by another smaller terrace or
-by a little cupola or sort of sentry-box: everything
-is white; all these little cupolas, these pinnacles,
-and these towers, which give the city a very odd
-and uneven appearance, gleam and stand out white
-against the vivid blue of the sea. One's view extends
-over the entire length of the isthmus which
-connects Cadiz to the main land, embraces a far-off
-strip of distant coast whitened by the cities of
-Puerto Real and Puerto Santa Maria, dotted with villages,
-churches, and villas, and includes also the port
-and the clear and a very beautiful sky which vies
-with the sea in transparency and light. I could not
-look enough at that strange city. On closing my
-eyes it appeared as if covered by an immense sheet.
-Every house seemed to have been built for an astronomical
-observatory. The entire population, in
-case the sea should inundate the city, as in ancient
-times, might gather on the terraces and remain there
-in perfect ease, saving the fright.</p>
-
-<p>I was told that a few years ago, on the occasion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span>
-of some eclipse of the sun, this very spectacle was
-witnessed: the seventy thousand inhabitants of Cadiz
-all ascended to the terraces to watch the phenomenon.
-The city changed its perfect whiteness for
-a thousand colors; every terrace was thick with heads;
-one saw at a single glance, quarter after quarter, and
-finally the entire population: a low murmur rose to
-heaven like the roar of the sea, and a great movement
-of arms, fans, and spy-glasses, pointing upward,
-made it seem as if the people were awaiting the
-descent of some angel from the solar sphere. At a
-certain moment there was a profound silence: when
-the phenomenon was over the entire population gave
-a shout, which sounded like a clap of thunder, and
-a few moments later the city was white again.</p>
-
-<p>I descended from the tower and went to see the
-cathedral, a vast marble edifice of the sixteenth century,
-not to be compared to the cathedrals of Burgos
-and Toledo, but nevertheless dignified and bold in
-architecture and enriched by every sort of treasure,
-like all the other Spanish churches. I went to see
-the convent where Murillo was painting a picture
-over a high altar when he fell from the scaffold and
-received the wound which caused his death. I
-passed through the picture-gallery, which contains
-some fine paintings of Zurbaran; entered the bull-ring,
-built entirely of wood, which was created in a
-few days to provide a spectacle for Queen Isabella.
-Toward evening I took a turn in the delightful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span>
-promenade along the sea-shore, in the midst of
-orange trees and palms, where the most beautiful
-and elegant ladies of the city were pointed out to
-me, one by one. Whatever may be the judgment
-of the Spaniards, to me the feminine type of Cadiz
-did not seem at all inferior to the celebrated type
-of Seville. The women are a little taller, a little
-heavier, and are somewhat darker. Some observer
-has ventured to say that they closely resemble the
-Grecian type, but I do not know in what respect.
-I saw no difference from the Andalusian type except
-in stature, and that was enough to make me heave
-sighs which might have propelled a ship, and constrained
-me to return as soon as possible to the vessel
-as a place of refuge and peace.</p>
-
-<p>When I arrived on board it was night; the sky
-was all twinkling with stars, and the breeze bore
-faintly to my ears the music of a band playing on
-the promenade of Cadiz. The singers were asleep;
-I was alone, and the sight of the city lights and the
-recollection of the lovely faces filled me with melancholy.
-I did not know what to do with myself, so I
-went down to the cabin, took out my note-book, and
-commenced the description of Cadiz. But I only
-succeeded in writing ten times the words, "White,
-blue, snow, brightness, colors," after which I made a
-little sketch of a woman and then closed my eyes
-and dreamed of Italy.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span></p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a><br /><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="MALAGA" id="MALAGA"></a>MALAGA.</h2>
-
-
-<p>The next day, at sunset, the vessel was passing
-through the Straits of Gibraltar.</p>
-
-<p>Now, as I look at that point on the map, it seems
-so near home that when I am in the humor and my
-domestic finances permit I ought not to hesitate a
-moment to pack my valise and run down to Genoa
-on my way to enjoy a second time the most beautiful
-sight of two continents. But then it seemed to
-be so far away that when I had written a letter to
-my mother on the rail of the ship, intending to give
-it to one of the passengers for Gibraltar to post, as I
-was writing the address I laughed at my confidence,
-as if it were impossible for a letter to travel all the
-way to Turin. "From here!" I thought&mdash;"from
-the Pillars of Hercules!" and I pronounced the Pillars
-of Hercules as if I had said the Cape of Good
-Hope or Japan.</p>
-
-<p>"... I am on the ship Guadaira: behind me is
-the ocean, and in front the Mediterranean, on the
-left Europe and on the right Africa. On this side
-I see the cape of Tarifa, and on that the mountains
-of the African coast, which look indistinct like a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span>
-gray cloud; I see Ceuta, and a little beyond it
-Tangiers like a white spot, and in a direct line with
-the ship rises the Rock of Gibraltar. The sea is as
-placid as a lake, and the sky is red and gold; all is
-serene, beautiful, and magnificent, and I feel in my
-mind an inexpressible and delightful stirring of
-great thoughts, which, if I could put them into
-words, would become a joyful prayer beginning and
-ending with thy name...."</p>
-
-<p>The vessel stopped in the Gulf of Algeciras: the
-entire company of singers got into a large boat
-from Gibraltar, and went off, waving fans and handkerchiefs
-as a parting salute. It was growing dark
-when the boat started again. Then I was able to
-measure the enormous mass of the Rock of Gibraltar
-at every turn. At first I thought we should leave
-it behind in a few moments, but the moments became
-hours. Gradually, as we approached, it towered
-above us, and presented a new appearance every instant&mdash;now
-the silhouette of some measureless monster,
-now the image of an immense staircase, now
-the outline of a fantastic castle, now a shapeless
-mass like a monstrous aërolite fallen from a world
-shivered in a battle of the spheres. Then, on nearer
-view, behind a high rock like an Egyptian pyramid,
-there came into sight a great projection as large as
-a mountain, with fissures and broken boulders and
-vast curves which lost themselves in the plain. It
-was night; the rock stood outlined against the moon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span>lit
-sky as clear and sharp as a sheet of black paper
-on a pane of glass. One saw the lighted windows
-of the English barracks, the sentry-boxes on the
-summit of the dizzy crags, and a dim outline of
-trees which seemed little larger than a tuft of grass
-among the nearest rocks. For a long time the boat
-seemed motionless or else the rock was receding, so
-close and threatening did it always appear; then,
-little by little, it began to diminish, but our eyes
-were weary of gazing before the rock grew weary
-of threatening us with its fantastic transformations.
-At midnight I gave a final salute to that formidable,
-lifeless sentinel of Europe, and went to wrap myself
-up in my little corner.</p>
-
-<p>At break of day I awoke a few miles from the
-port of Malaga.</p>
-
-<p>The city of Malaga, seen from the port, presents
-a pleasing appearance not wholly without grandeur.
-On the right is a high rocky mountain, upon the top
-of which and down one side, even to the plain, are
-the enormous blackened ruins of the castle of Gibralfaro,
-and on the lower slopes stands the cathedral
-towering majestically above all the surrounding
-buildings, lifting toward heaven, as an inspired poet
-might say, two beautiful towers and a very high
-belfry. Between the castle and the church and on
-the face and sides of the mountain there is a mass&mdash;a
-<i>canaille</i>, as Victor Hugo would say&mdash;of smoky
-little houses, placed confusedly one above the other,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span>
-as if they had been thrown down from above like
-stones. To the left of the cathedral, along the shore,
-is a row of houses, gray, violet, or pale yellow in
-color, with white window-and door-frames, that
-suggest the villages along the Ligurian Riviera.
-Beyond rises a circle of green and reddish hills enclosing
-the city like the walls of an amphitheatre,
-and to the right and left along the sea-shore extend
-other mountains, hills, and rocks as far as the eye
-can see. The port was almost deserted, the shore
-silent, and the sky very blue.</p>
-
-<p>Before landing I took my leave of the captain,
-who was going on to Marseilles, said good-bye to
-the boatswain and passengers, telling them all that I
-should arrive at Valencia a day ahead of the boat,
-and I should certainly join them again and go on to
-Barcelona and Marseilles, and the captain replied,
-"We shall look for you," and the steward promised
-that my place should be saved for me. How often
-since then have I remembered the last words of those
-poor people!</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i><a id="Malaga_p"></a>Malaga</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b170cs.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>I stopped at Malaga with the intention of leaving
-that same evening for Granada. The city itself
-offers nothing worthy of note, excepting the new
-part, which occupies a tract of land formerly
-covered by the sea. This is built up in the modern
-style, with wide, straight streets and large, bare
-houses. The rest of the city is a labyrinth of narrow,
-winding streets and a mass of houses without<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span>
-color, without <i>patios</i>, and without grace. There are
-some spacious squares with gardens and fountains;
-columns and arches of Moorish buildings, no modern
-monuments; a great deal of dirt, and not a great
-many people. The environs are very beautiful, and
-the climate is milder than that of Seville.</p>
-
-<p>I had a friend at Malaga, and after finding him
-we passed the day together. He told me a curious
-fact: At Malaga there is a literary academy of more
-than eight hundred members, where they celebrate
-the birthdays of all the great writers, and hold twice
-a week a public lecture on some subject connected
-with literature or science. That same evening they
-were to celebrate a solemn function. Some months
-earlier the academy had offered a prize of three
-golden flowers, enamelled in different colors, to the
-three poets who should compose the best ode on
-"Progress," the best ballad on the "Recovery of
-Malaga," and the best satire on one of the most prevalent
-vices of modern society. The invitation had
-been extended to all the poets of Spain; poems had
-poured in in abundance; a board of judges had secretly
-considered them; and that very evening the choice
-was to be announced. The ceremony was to be
-conducted with great pomp. The bishop, the governor,
-the admiral, the most conspicuous personages
-of the city, with dress-coats, orders, and shoulder-scarfs,
-and a great number of ladies in evening dress,
-were to be present. The three most beautiful Muses<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span>
-of the city were to present themselves on a sort of
-stage adorned with garlands and flags, each of whom
-was to open the roll containing the prize poem and
-to proclaim three times the name of its author: if
-the author were present, he was to be invited to read
-his verses and receive his flower; if he were not
-present, his verses were to be read for him.
-Throughout the whole city they talked of nothing
-but the academy, guessed the names of the victors,
-predicted the wonders of the three poems, and extolled
-the decorations of the hall. This festival of
-poetry, called the <i>juegos floreales</i>, had not been celebrated
-for ten years. Others may judge whether
-such contests and displays benefit or injure poets
-and poetry. As for me, whatever may be the
-dubious and fleeting literary glory which is bestowed
-by the sentence of the jury and the homage of a
-bishop and a governor, I believe that to receive
-the gift of a golden flower from the hand of a most
-beautiful woman under the eyes of five hundred fair
-Andalusians, to the sound of soft music and amid
-the perfume of jessamine and roses, that would be
-a delight even truer and more lively than any which
-comes from real and enduring glory. No? Ah! we
-are sincere.</p>
-
-<p>One of my first thoughts was to taste a little of
-the genuine Malaga wine, for no other reason than
-to repay myself for the many headaches and stomachaches
-caused by the miserable concoctions sold in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span>
-many Italian cities under the false recommendation
-of its name. But either I did not know how to ask
-or they did not wish to understand: the fact remains
-that the wine they gave me at the hotel burned my
-throat and made my head spin. I was not able to
-walk straight even to the cathedral, or from the
-cathedral to the castle of Gibralfaro, or to the other
-places, nor could I form an idea of the beauties of
-Malaga without seeing them double and unsteadily,
-as some spiteful person might suppose.</p>
-
-<p>On our walk my friend talked to me about the
-famous Republican people of Malaga, who are every
-moment doing something on their own account.
-They are a very fiery people, but fickle and yet
-tractable, like all people who feel much and think
-little; and they act upon the impulse of passion
-rather than the strength of conviction. The least
-trifle calls together an immense crowd and stirs up a
-tumult that turns the city topsy-turvy; but on most
-occasions a resolute act of a man in authority, an
-exhibition of courage, or a burst of eloquence is
-sufficient to quiet the tumult and disperse the crowd.
-The nature of the people is good on the whole, but
-superstition and passion have perverted them. And,
-above all, superstition is perhaps more firmly entrenched
-in Malaga than in any other city of Andalusia,
-by reason of the greater popular ignorance.
-Altogether, Malaga was the least Andalusian of the
-cities I had seen: even the very language has been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span>
-corrupted, and they speak worse Spanish than at
-Cadiz, where, forsooth! they speak badly enough.</p>
-
-<p>I was still at Malaga, but my imagination was far
-away among the streets of Granada and in the gardens
-of the Alhambra and the Generalife. Shortly
-after the noon hour I took my leave from the only
-city in Spain, to tell the truth, that I left without a
-sigh of regret. When the train started, instead of
-turning for a last look, as I had done in all of its
-sister towns, I murmured the verses sung by Giovanni
-Prati at Granada when the duke d'Aosta was leaving
-for Spain:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Non più Granata è sola</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">Sulle sur mute pietre;</div>
- <div class="verse">L'inno in Alhambra vola</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">Sulle Moresche cetre."</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>(<i>No more does Granada stand alone on her silent
-stones: the hymn flies to the Alhambra on Moorish
-lyres.</i>)</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>And now, as I write them again, it seems to me
-that the music of the band of the National Guard of
-Turin inspires peace and gladness more even surely
-than Moorish lyres, and that the pavement of the
-porticoes of the Po, although it be ever so silent, is
-better laid and smoother than the stones of Granada.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span></p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a><br /><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="GRANADA" id="GRANADA"></a>GRANADA.</h2>
-
-
-<p>The journey from Malaga to Granada was the
-most adventurous and unfortunate that I made in
-Spain.</p>
-
-<p>In order that my compassionate readers may pity
-me as much as I desire, they must know (I am
-ashamed to occupy people with these little details)
-that at Malaga I had eaten only the lightest sort of
-an Andalusian repast, of which at the moment of
-departure I retained a very vague recollection.
-But I started, feeling sure that I could alight at
-some railway-station where there would be one of
-those rooms or public choking-places where one
-enters at a gallop, eats until one is out of breath,
-pays as one scampers out to rush into a crowded
-carriage, suffocated and robbed, to curse the schedule,
-travel, and the minister of public works who
-deceives the country. I departed, and for the first
-hours it was delightful. The country was all gently
-sloping hills and green fields, dotted with villages
-crowned with palms and cypresses, and in the carriage,
-between two old men who rode with their eyes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span>
-shut, there was a little Andalusian who kept looking
-around with a roguish smile which seemed to say,
-"Go on; your lovelorn glances do not offend me."
-But the train crept along as slowly as a worn-out
-diligence, and we stopped only a few moments at
-the stations. By sunset my stomach began to cry
-for help, and, to render the pangs of hunger even
-more severe, I was obliged to make a good part of
-the journey on foot. The train stopped at an unsafe
-bridge, and all the passengers got out and filed
-around, two by two, to meet the train on the other
-side of the river. We were surrounded by the
-rocks of the Sierra Nevada, in a wild, desert place,
-which made it seem as if we were a company of
-hostages led by a band of brigands. When we had
-clambered into the carriage the train crawled along
-no faster than before, and my stomach began to
-complain more desperately than at first. After a
-long time we arrived at a station all crowded with
-trains, where a large part of the travellers hurried
-out before I could reach the step.</p>
-
-<p>"Where are you going?" asked a railroad official,
-who had seen me alight.</p>
-
-<p>"To dine," I replied.</p>
-
-<p>"But aren't you going to Granada?"</p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"Then you won't have time; the train starts
-immediately."</p>
-
-<p>"But the others have gone."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span></p>
-
-<p>"You will see them come back on the run in a
-minute."</p>
-
-<p>The freight-trains in front prevented me from
-seeing the station; I thought it was a great way
-off, and so stayed where I was. Two minutes
-passed, five, eight; the tourists did not return and
-the train did not start. I jumped out, ran to the
-station, saw a café, and entered a large room.
-Great heavens! Fifty starving people were standing
-around a refreshment-table with their noses in
-their plates, elbows in the air, and their eyes on the
-clock, devouring and shouting; another fifty were
-crowding around a counter seizing and pocketing
-bread, fruit, and candies, while the proprietor and
-the waiters, panting like horses and streaming with
-sweat, ran about, tucked up their sleeves, howled,
-tumbled over the seats and upset the customers,
-and scattered here and there streams of soup and
-drops of sauce; and one poor woman, who must
-have been the mistress of the café, imprisoned in a
-little niche behind the besieged counter, ran her
-hands through her hair in desperation. At this
-sight my arms hung down helplessly. But suddenly
-I roused myself and made an onslaught. Driven
-back by a feminine elbow in my chest, I rushed in
-again; repulsed by a jab in the stomach, I gathered
-all my strength to make a third attack. At this
-point the bell rang. There was a burst of imprecations
-and then a falling of seats, a scattering of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span>
-plates, a hurry-scurry, and a perfect pandemonium.
-One man, choking in the fury of his last mouthfuls,
-became livid and his eyes seemed bursting from
-his head as though he were being hanged; another
-in stretching out his hand to seize an orange, struck
-by some one rushing past, plunged it into a bowl
-of cream; another was running through the room in
-search of his valise with a great smear of sauce on
-his cheeks; another, who had tried to drink his
-wine at one gulp, had strangled and coughed as if
-he would tear open his stomach; the officials at the
-door cried, "Hurry!" and the travellers called back
-from the room, "Ahogate!" (choked), and the
-waiters ran after those who had not paid, and those
-who wanted to pay could not find the waiters; and
-the ladies swooned, and the children cried, and
-everything was upside down.</p>
-
-<p>By good fortune I was able to get into my carriage
-before the train started.</p>
-
-<p>But there a new punishment awaited me. The
-two old men and the little Andalusian, who must
-have been the daughter of the one and niece of the
-other, had been successful in securing a little booty
-in the midst of that accursed crowd at the counter,
-and they were eating right and left. I began to
-watch them with sorrowful eyes like a dog beside
-his master's table, counting the mouthfuls and the
-number of times they chewed. The little Andalusian
-noticed it, and, pointing to something which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span>
-looked like a croquet, made a gracious bow as if to
-ask if I would take it.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh no, thank you," I replied with the smile of
-a dying man; "I have eaten."</p>
-
-<p>My angel, I continued to myself, if you only knew
-that at this moment I would prefer those two croquets
-to the bitter apples&mdash;as Sir Niccolo Machiavelli
-would generously say&mdash;even those bitter apples
-from the famous garden of the Hesperides!</p>
-
-<p>"Try a drop of liquor at least," said the old
-uncle.</p>
-
-<p>I do not know what childish pique against myself
-or against those good people took possession of me,
-but it was a feeling which other men experience on
-similar occasions; however, I replied this time too,
-"No, thank you; it would be bad for me."</p>
-
-<p>The good old man looked me over from head to
-foot as if to say that I did not appear like a man to
-be the worse for a drop of liquor, and the Andalusian
-smiled, and I blushed for shame.</p>
-
-<p>Night settled down, and the train went on at the
-pace of Sancho Panza's steed for I knew not how
-many hours. That night I felt for the first time in
-my life the pangs of hunger, which I thought I had
-felt already on the famous day of the twenty-fourth
-of June, 1866. To relieve these torments I obstinately
-thought of all the dishes which filled me with
-repugnance&mdash;raw tomatoes, snails in soup, roasted
-crabs, and snails in salad. Alas! a voice of derision<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span>
-told me, deep down in my vitals, that if I had any
-of them I should eat them and lick my fingers.
-Then I began to make imaginary messes of different
-dishes, as cream and fish, with a dash of wine, with
-a coat of pepper, and a layer of juniper preserves,
-to see if I could thus hold my stomach in check.
-Oh misery! my cowardly stomach did not repel
-even those. Then I made a final effort and imagined
-that I was at table in a Parisian hotel at the time of
-the siege, and that I gently lifted a mouse by the
-tail out of some pungent sauce, and the mouse, unexpectedly
-regaining life, bit my thumb and transfixed
-me with two wicked little eyes, and I, with
-raised fork, hesitated whether to let it go or to spit
-it without pity. But, thank Heaven! before I had
-settled this horrible question, to perform such an act
-as has never been recorded in the history of any
-siege, the train stopped and a ray of hope revived
-my drooping spirits.</p>
-
-<p>We had reached some nameless village, and while
-I was putting my head out of the window a voice
-cried, "All out for Granada!" I rushed headlong
-from the carriage and found myself face to face with
-a huge bearded fellow, who took my valise, telling
-me that he was going to put it in the diligence, for
-from that village to I know not how many miles
-from <i>imperial Granada</i> there is no railway.</p>
-
-<p>"One moment!" I cried to the unknown man in
-a supplicating voice: "how long before you start?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span></p>
-
-<p>"Two minutes," he replied.</p>
-
-<p>"Is there an inn here?"</p>
-
-<p>"There it is." I flew to the inn, bolted a hard-boiled
-egg, and rushed back to the diligence, crying,
-"How much time now?"</p>
-
-<p>"Two minutes more," answered the same voice.</p>
-
-<p>I flew back to the hotel, seized another egg, and
-ran again to the diligence with the question, "Are
-you off?"</p>
-
-<p>"In a minute."</p>
-
-<p>Back again to the inn, and a third egg, and then
-to the diligence: "Are we going?"</p>
-
-<p>"In half a minute."</p>
-
-<p>This time I heaved a mighty sigh, ran to the inn,
-swallowed a fourth egg and a glass of wine, and
-rushed toward the diligence. But before I had
-taken ten steps my breath gave out, and I stopped
-with the egg halfway down my throat. At this
-point the whip cracked.&mdash;"Wait!" I cried in a
-hoarse voice, waving my hands like a drowning
-man.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Que hay?</i>" (What's the matter?) demanded the
-driver.</p>
-
-<p>I could not reply.</p>
-
-<p>"He has an egg stuck in his throat," some
-stranger answered for me.</p>
-
-<p>All the travellers burst into a laugh, the egg went
-down; I laughed too, overtook the diligence, which
-had already started, and, regaining my breath, gave<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span>
-my companions an account of my troubles, and they
-were much interested, and pitied me even more than
-I had dared to hope after that cruel laugh at my
-suffocation.</p>
-
-<p>But my troubles were not ended. One of those
-irresistible attacks of sleepiness which used to come
-upon me treacherously in the long night-marches
-among the soldiers seized me all at once, and tormented
-me as far as the railway-station without my
-being able to get a moment of sleep. I believe that
-a cannon-ball suspended by a cord from the roof of
-the diligence would have given less annoyance to
-my unfortunate companions than my poor nodding
-head gave as it bobbed on all sides as if it was attached
-to my neck by a single tendon. On one side
-of me sat a nun, on the other a boy, and opposite a
-peasant-woman, and throughout the entire journey I
-did nothing but strike my head against these three
-victims with the monotonous motion of a bell-clapper.
-The nun, poor creature! endured the strokes
-in silence, perhaps in expiation for her sins of
-thought; but the boy and peasant-woman muttered
-from time to time, "He is a barbarian!"&mdash;"This
-must stop!"&mdash;"His head is like lead!" Finally, a
-witticism from one of the passengers released all four
-of us from this suffering. The peasant-woman was
-lamenting a little louder than usual, and a voice from
-the end of the diligence exclaimed, "Be consoled; if
-your head is not yet broken, you may be sure it will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span>
-not be, for it must certainly be proof against the
-hammer." They all laughed; I awakened, excused
-myself, and the three victims were so happy to
-find themselves released from that cruel thumping
-that, instead of taking revenge with bitter words,
-they said, "Poor fellow! you have slept badly.
-How you must have hurt your head!"</p>
-
-<p>We finally arrived at the railway, and behold
-what a perverse fate! Although I was alone in the
-railway-carriage, where I might have slept like a
-nabob, I could not close my eyes. A pang went
-through my heart at the thought of having made
-the journey by night when I could not see anything
-nor enjoy the distant view of Granada. And I
-remembered the lovely verses of Martinez de la
-Rosa:</p>
-
-<p>"O my dear fatherland! At last I see thee
-again! I see thy fair soil, thy joyful teeming fields,
-thy glorious sun, thy serene sky!</p>
-
-<p>"Yes! I see the fabled Granada stretching along
-the plain from hill to hill, her towers rising among
-her gardens of eternal green, the crystal streams
-kissing her walls, the noble mountains enclosing her
-valleys, and the Sierra Nevada crowning the distant
-horizon.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, thy memory haunted me wherever I went,
-Granada! It destroyed my pleasures, my peace,
-and my glory, and oppressed my heart and soul!
-By the icy banks of the Seine and the Thames<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span>
-I remembered with a sigh the happy waters of
-the Darro and the Genil, and many times, as I carolled
-a gay ballad, my bitter grief overcame me,
-and weeping, not to be repressed, choked my
-voice.</p>
-
-<p>"In vain the delightful Arno displayed her
-flower-strewn banks, sweet seats of love and peace!
-'The plain watered by the gentle Genil,' said I, 'is
-more flowery, the life of the lovely Granada is more
-dear.' And I murmured these words as one disconsolate,
-and, remembering the house of my fathers,
-I raised my sad eyes to heaven.</p>
-
-<p>"What is thy magic, what thy unspeakable spell,
-O fatherland! O sweet name! that thou art so dear?
-The swarthy African, far from his native desert,
-looks with sad disdain on fields of green; the rude
-Laplander, stolen from his mother-earth, sighs for
-perpetual night and snow; and I&mdash;I, to whom a
-kindly fate granted birth and nurture in thy bosom
-blest by so many gifts of God&mdash;though far from thee,
-could I forget thee, Granada?"</p>
-
-<p>When I reached Granada it was quite dark, and
-I could not see so much as the outlines of a house.
-A diligence drawn by two horses,</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"... anzi due cavallette</div>
- <div class="verse indent4">Di quella de Mosé lá dell' Egitto,"</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>landed me at a hotel, where I was kept waiting an
-hour while my bed was being made, and finally, just<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span>
-before three o'clock in the morning, I was at last
-able to lay my head on the pillow. But my troubles
-were not over: just as I was falling into a doze I
-heard an indistinct murmur in the next room, and
-then a masculine voice which said distinctly, "Oh,
-what a little foot!" You who have bowels of compassion,
-pity me. The pillow was torn a little; I
-pulled out two tufts of wool, stuffed them in my
-ears; and, rehearsing in thought the misfortunes
-of my journey, I slept the sleep of the just.</p>
-
-<p>In the morning I went out betimes and walked
-about through the streets of Granada until it was a
-decent hour to go and drag from his home a young
-gentleman of Granada whom I had met at Madrid
-at the house of Fernandez Guerra, Gongora by
-name, the son of a distinguished archeologist and a
-descendant of the famous Cordovan poet Luigi Gongora,
-of whom I spoke in passing. That part of
-the city which I saw in those few hours did not fulfil
-my expectation. I had expected to find narrow
-mysterious streets and white cottages like those of
-Cordova and Seville, but I found instead spacious
-squares and some handsome straight streets, and
-others tortuous and narrow enough, it is true, but
-flanked by high houses, for the most part painted in
-false bas-reliefs with cupids and garlands and flourishes
-and draperies, and hangings of a thousand
-colors, without the Oriental appearance of the other
-Andalusian cities.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span></p>
-
-<p>The lowest part of Granada is almost all laid out
-with the regularity of a modern city. As I passed
-along those streets I was filled with contempt, and
-should certainly have carried a gloomy face to
-Señor Gongora if by chance as I walked at random
-I had not come out into the famous <i>Alameda</i>, which
-enjoys the reputation of being the most beautiful
-promenade in the world, and it repaid me a thousand
-times for the detestable regularity of the
-streets which lead to it.</p>
-
-<p>Imagine a long avenue of unusual width, along
-which fifty carriages might pass abreast, flanked by
-other smaller avenues, along which run rows of
-measureless trees, which at a noble height form an
-immense green arch, so dense that not a sunbeam
-can penetrate it, and at the two ends of the central
-avenue two monumental fountains throwing up the
-water in two great streams which fall again in the
-finest vaporous spray, and between the many
-avenues crystal streams, and in the middle a garden
-all roses and myrtle and jessamine and delicate
-fountains; and on one side the river Genil,
-which flows between banks covered with laurel-groves,
-and in the distance the snowclad mountains,
-upon whose sides distant palms raise their fantastic
-fronds; and everywhere a brilliant green, dense
-and luxuriant, through which one sees here and
-there an enchanting strip of azure sky.</p>
-
-<p>As I turned off of the Alameda I met a great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span>
-number of peasants going out of the city, two by
-two and in groups, with their wives and children,
-singing and jesting. Their dress did not seem to
-me different from that of the peasants in the neighborhood
-of Cordova and Seville. They wore velvet
-hats, some with very broad brims, others with high
-brims curved back; a little jacket made with bands
-of many-colored cloth; a scarf of red or blue;
-closely-fitting trousers buttoned along the hip;
-and a pair of leathern gaiters open at the side,
-so as to show the leg. The women were dressed
-like those in the other provinces, and even in their
-faces there was no noticeable difference.</p>
-
-<p>I reached my friend's house and found him buried
-in his archæological studies, sitting in front of a heap
-of old medals and historic stones. He received me
-with delight, with a charming Andalusian courtesy,
-and, after exchanging the first greetings, we both
-pronounced with one voice that magic word that in
-every part of the world stirs a tumult of great recollections
-in every heart and arouses a sense of secret
-longing; that gives a final spur toward Spain to one
-who has the desire to travel thither and has not yet
-finally resolved to start; that name at which hearts
-of poets and painters beat faster and the eyes of
-women flash&mdash;"The Alhambra!"</p>
-
-<p>We rushed out of the house.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span></p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>The Alhambra is situated upon a high hill which
-overlooks the city, and from a distance presents the
-appearance of a fortress, like almost all Oriental
-palaces. But when, with Gongora, I climbed the
-street of <i>Los Gomeles</i> on our way toward the famous
-edifice, I had not yet seen the least trace of a distant
-wall, and I did not know in what part of the city we
-should find it. The street of <i>Los Gomeles</i> slopes upward
-and describes a slight curve, so that for a good
-way one sees only houses ahead, and supposes the
-Alhambra to be far away. Gongora did not speak,
-but I read in his face that in his heart he was greatly
-enjoying the thought of the surprise and delight that
-I should experience. He looked at the ground with
-a smile, answering all my questions with a sign
-which seemed to say, "Wait a minute!" and now
-and then raised his eyes almost furtively to measure
-the remaining distance. And I so enjoyed his pleasure
-that I could have thrown my arms around his
-neck in gratitude.</p>
-
-<p>We arrived before a great gate that closed the
-street. "Here we are!" said Gongora. I entered.</p>
-
-<p>I found myself in a great grove of enormously
-high trees, leaning one toward another, on this side
-and on that, along a great avenue which climbs the
-hill and is lost in the shade: so close are the trees
-that a man could scarcely pass among them, and
-wherever one looks one sees only their trunks,
-which close the way like a continuous wall. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span>
-branches meet above the avenues; not a sunbeam
-penetrates the wood; the shade is very dense;
-on every side glide murmuring streams, and the
-birds sing, and one feels a vernal freshness in the
-air.</p>
-
-<p>"We are now in the Alhambra," said Gongora:
-"turn around, and you will see the towers and the
-embattled barrier-wall."</p>
-
-<p>"But where is the palace?" I demanded.</p>
-
-<p>"That is a mystery," he answered; "let us go
-forward at random."</p>
-
-<p>We climbed an avenue running along beside the
-great central avenue that winds up toward the summit.
-The trees form overhead a green pavilion
-through which not a particle of sky is visible, and
-the grass, the shrubbery, and the flowers make on
-either side a lovely border, bright and fragrant,
-sloping slightly toward each other, as if they are
-trying to unite, mutually attracted by the beauty of
-their colors and the fragrance of their perfume.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us rest a moment," I said: "I want to take
-a great breath of this air; it seems to contain some
-secret germs that if infused into the blood must
-prolong one's life; it is air redolent of youth and
-health."</p>
-
-<p>"Behold the door!" exclaimed Gongora.</p>
-
-<p>I turned as if I had been struck in the back, and
-saw a few steps ahead a great square tower, of a
-deep-red color, crowned with battlements, with an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span>
-arched door, above which one sees a key and a
-hand cut in the stone.</p>
-
-<p>I questioned my guide, and he told me that this
-was the principal entrance of the Alhambra, and that
-it was called the Gate of Justice, because the Moorish
-kings used to pronounce sentence beneath that arch.
-The key signifies that this door is the key to the
-fortress, and the hand symbolizes the five cardinal
-virtues of Islam&mdash;Prayer, Fasting, Beneficence, Holy
-War, and the Pilgrimage to Mecca. The Arabian
-inscription attests that the edifice was erected four
-centuries ago by the Sultan Abul Hagag Yusuf, and
-another inscription, which one sees everywhere on
-the columns, says, "There is no God but Allah, and
-Mohammed is his Prophet! and there is no power,
-no strength, apart from Allah!"</p>
-
-<p>We passed under the arch and continued the
-ascent along an enclosed street until we found ourselves
-at the top of the hill, in the middle of an
-esplanade surrounded by a parapet and dotted with
-shrubs and flowers. I turned at once toward the
-valley to enjoy the view, but Gongora seized me
-by the arm and made me look in the opposite direction.
-I was standing in front of the great palace of
-the Renaissance, partly in ruins and flanked by some
-wretched little houses.</p>
-
-<p>"Is this a joke?" I demanded. "Have you
-brought me here to see a Moorish castle, for me to
-find the way closed by a modern palace? Whose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span>
-abominable idea was it to run up this building in the
-gardens of the caliphs?"</p>
-
-<p>"Charles V.'s."</p>
-
-<p>"He was a vandal. I have not yet forgiven him
-for the Gothic church he planted in the middle of
-the mosque of Cordova, and now these barracks
-fill me with utter loathing of his crown and his
-glory. But, in the name of Heaven, where is the
-Alhambra?"</p>
-
-<p>"There it is."</p>
-
-<p>"Where?"</p>
-
-<p>"Among those huts."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, fudge!"</p>
-
-<p>"I pledge you my word of honor."</p>
-
-<p>I folded my arms and looked at him, and he
-laughed."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, then," I exclaimed, "this great name of
-the Alhambra is only another of those usual false
-exaggerations of the poets. I, Europe, and the world
-have been shamefully deceived. Was it worth while
-to dream of the Alhambra for three hundred and
-sixty-five nights in succession, and then to come to
-see a group of ruins with some broken columns and
-smoky inscriptions?"</p>
-
-<p>"How I enjoy this!" answered Gongora with a
-peal of laughter. "Cheer up now; come and be
-persuaded that the world has not been deceived:
-let us enter this rubbish-pile."</p>
-
-<p>We entered by a little door, crossed a corridor,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span>
-and found ourselves in a court. With a sudden cry
-I seized Gongora's hand, and he asked with a tone
-of triumph,</p>
-
-<p>"Are you persuaded?"</p>
-
-<p>I did not answer, I did not see him: I was already
-far away; the Alhambra had already begun to exercise
-upon me that mysterious and powerful fascination
-which no one can avoid nor any one express.</p>
-
-<p>We were in the <i>Patio de los Arrayanes</i>, the Court
-of the Myrtles, which is the largest in the edifice,
-and presents at once the appearance of a room, a
-courtyard, and a garden. A great rectangular basin
-full of water, surrounded by a myrtle hedge, extends
-from one side of the <i>patio</i> to the other, and like a
-mirror reflects the arches, arabesques, and the mural
-inscriptions.</p>
-
-<p>To the right of the entrance there extend two
-orders of Moorish arches, one above the other, supported
-by slender columns, and on the opposite side
-of the court rises a tower with a door through which
-one sees the inner rooms in semi-darkness and the
-mullioned windows, and through the windows the
-blue sky and the summits of the distant mountains.
-The walls are ornamented to a certain height from
-the pavement with brilliant mosaics, and above the
-mosaics with arabesques of very intricate design
-that seem to tremble and change at every step, and
-here and there among the arabesques and along the
-arches they stretch and creep and intertwine, like
-garlands, Moorish inscriptions containing greetings,
-proverbs, and legends.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i><a id="Court_of_Myrtles"></a>Court of Myrtles, Alhambra</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b194cs.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span></p>
-
-<p>Beside the door of entrance is written in Cufic characters:
-Eternal Happiness!&mdash;Blessing!&mdash;Prosperity!&mdash;Felicity!&mdash;Praised
-be God for the blessing
-of Islam!</p>
-
-<p>In another place it is written: I seek my refuge
-in the Lord of the Morning.</p>
-
-<p>In another place: O God! to thee belong eternal
-thanksgiving and undying praise.</p>
-
-<p>Elsewhere there are verses from the Koran and
-entire poems in praise of the caliphs.</p>
-
-<p>We stood some minutes in silent admiration; not
-the buzz of a fly was heard; now and then Gongora
-started toward the tower, but I clutched him by the
-arm and felt that he was trembling with impatience.</p>
-
-<p>"But we must make haste," said he, finally,
-"or else we shall not get back to Granada before
-evening."</p>
-
-<p>"What do I know of Granada?" I answered;
-"what do I know of morning or evening or of
-myself? I am in the Orient!"</p>
-
-<p>"But this is only the antechamber of the Alhambra,
-my dear Arabian," said Gongora, urging me
-forward. "Come, come with me where it will
-really seem like being in the Orient."</p>
-
-<p>And he led me, reluctant though I was, to the
-very threshold of the tower-door. There I turned
-to look once more at the Court of Myrtles and gave<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span>
-a cry of surprise. Between two slender columns
-of the arched gallery which faces the tower, on the
-opposite side of the courtyard, stood a girl, a beautiful
-dark Andalusian face, with a white mantle
-wound around her head and falling over her shoulder:
-she stood leaning upon the railing in a languid
-attitude, with her eyes fixed upon us. I cannot
-tell the fantastic effect produced by that figure
-at that moment&mdash;the grace imparted by the arch
-which curved above the girl's head and the two
-columns which formed a frame around her, and the
-beautiful harmony which she gave to the whole
-court, as if she were an ornament necessary to its
-architecture conceived in the mind of the architect
-at the moment he imagined the whole design. She
-seemed like a sultana awaiting her lord, thinking
-of another sky and another love. She continued
-looking at us, and my heart began to beat faster.
-I questioned my friend with my eyes, as if to be
-assured that I was not deceived. Suddenly the
-sultana laughed, dropped her white mantle, and
-disappeared.</p>
-
-<p>"She is a servant," said Gongora.</p>
-
-<p>Still I remained in the mist.</p>
-
-<p>She was, in fact, a servant of the custodian of
-the Alhambra who was in the habit of practising
-that joke upon strangers.</p>
-
-<p>We entered the tower called the Tower of Comares,
-or, vulgarly, the Tower of the Ambassadors.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span>
-The interior forms two halls, the first of which is
-called the Hall of the Barca, and takes its name
-either from the fact that it is shaped like a boat or
-because it was called by the Moors the Hall of
-<i>Baraka</i>, or Blessing, a word which might have been
-contracted by the people into <i>barca</i> (a boat.) This
-hall hardly seems the work of human hands: it is
-all a vast network of tracery in the form of garlands,
-rosettes, boughs of trees, and leaves, covering
-the vaulted ceiling, the arches, and the walls in
-every part and in every way&mdash;closely twining,
-checkered, climbing higher and higher, and yet
-marvellously distinct and combined in such a manner
-that the parts are presented to the eye altogether
-at a single glance, affording a spectacle of
-dazzling magnificence and enchanting grace. I
-approached one of the walls, fixed my eyes upon
-the extreme point of an arabesque, and tried to
-follow its windings and turnings: it was impossible;
-my eye was lost, my mind confused, and all the
-arabesques from pavement to ceiling seemed to be
-moving and blending, as if to conceal the thread of
-their inextricable network. You may make an
-effort not to look around, to centre your whole
-attention upon a single spot of the wall, to scan
-it closely and follow the thread with your finger:
-it is futile; in a moment the tracery is a tangled
-skein, a veil steals between you and the wall, and
-your arm falls. The wall seems woven like a web,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span>
-wrought like brocade, netted like lace, and veined
-like a leaf; one cannot look at it closely nor fix its
-design in one's mind: it would be like trying to
-count the ants in an anthill: one must be content
-to look at the walls with a wandering glance, then
-to rest and look again later, and then to think of
-something else and talk. After I had looked around
-a little with the air of a man overcome with vertigo
-rather than admiration, I turned toward Gongora,
-so that he might read in my face what I would have
-spoken.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us enter the other pile of ruins," he answered
-with a smile as he drew me into the great
-Hall of the Ambassadors, which fills all the interior
-of the tower, for, really, the Hall of the <i>Barca</i>
-belongs to a little building which does not form a
-part of the tower, although it is joined to it. The
-tower is square in form, spacious, and lighted with
-nine great arched windows in the form of doors,
-which present almost the appearance of so many
-alcoves, so great is the thickness of the wall; each
-one is divided down the middle toward the outside
-by a little marble column that supports two beautiful
-arches surmounted in their turn by two little
-arched windows. The walls are covered with
-mosaics and arabesques indescribably delicate and
-multiform, and with innumerable inscriptions extending
-like wide embroidered ribbons over the arches
-of the windows, up the massive cornices, along the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span>
-friezes, and around the niches where once stood
-vases full of flowers and perfumed water. The
-ceiling, which rises to a great height, is inlaid with
-cedar-wood, white, gold, and azure, joined together
-in circles, stars, and crowns, and forming many
-little arches, cells, and vaulted windows, through
-which falls a wavering light, and from the cornice
-which joins the ceiling to the walls hang tablets
-of stucco-work cut in facets chiselled and moulded
-like stalactites and bunches of flowers. The throne
-stood at the central window on the side opposite the
-door of entrance. From the windows on that side
-one enjoys a stupendous view of the valley of the
-Darro, deep and silent, as if it too felt the fascination
-of the Alhambra's grandeur; from the windows
-on the other two sides one sees the boundary-wall
-and the towers of the fortress; and through the
-entrance the light arches of the Court of the Myrtles
-in the distance and the water of the basin, which
-reflects the blue of the sky.</p>
-
-<p>"Well!" Gongora demanded; "was it worth
-dreaming of the Alhambra for three hundred and
-sixty-five nights?"</p>
-
-<p>"There is a strange thought passing through
-my brain at this moment," I replied. "That court
-as it looks from here, that hall, those windows, those
-colors, everything that surrounds me, seems familiar;
-it seems to correspond with a picture which I have
-carried in my head I know not how long and I know<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span>
-not in what manner, confused with a thousand other
-things, perhaps born of a dream&mdash;how should I
-know? When I was sixteen years old I was a
-lover, and the young girl and I alone in a garden
-in the shade of a summer-house, as we gazed in
-each other's eyes, uttered unconsciously a cry of
-joy that stirred our blood as if it had come from
-the mouth of a third person who had discovered our
-secret. Well, since that time I have often longed
-to be a king and to have a palace; but in giving
-form to that desire my imagination did not rest
-merely in the grand gilded palaces of our country;
-it flew to distant lands, and there on the summit of
-a lofty mountain reared a castle of its own in which
-everything was small and graceful and illumined by
-a mysterious light; and there were long suites of
-rooms adorned with a thousand fanciful and delicate
-ornaments, with windows through which we two
-alone might look, and little columns behind which
-my little one might almost hide her face playfully
-as she listened to my step approaching from hall to
-hall, or heard my voice mingled with the murmur
-of the fountains in the garden. All unconsciously,
-in building that castle in fantasy, I was building
-the Alhambra; in those moments I imagined something
-like these halls, these windows, and this court
-that we see before us&mdash;so similar, indeed, that the
-more I look around the better I remember and seem
-to recognize the place just as I have seen it a thou<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span>sand
-times. All lovers dream a little of the Alhambra,
-and if they were able to reproduce all their
-dreams in line and color, they would make pictures
-that would amaze us by their likeness to all one sees
-here. This architecture does not express power,
-glory, and grandeur; it expresses love and passion&mdash;love
-with its mysteries, its caprices, its fervor,
-its bursts of God-given gratitude; passion with its
-melancholy and its silences. There is, then, a close
-connection, a harmony, between the beauty of this
-Alhambra and the souls of those who have loved at
-sixteen, when longings are but dreams and visions.
-And hence arises the indescribable fascination exercised
-by this beauty, and hence the Alhambra, although
-deserted and ruined as it is, is still the most
-enchanting castle in the world, and to the end of
-time visitors will leave it with a tear. For in parting
-with the Alhambra we bid a last adieu to the
-most beautiful dreams of youth revived among these
-walls for the last time. We bid adieu to faces unspeakably
-dear that have broken the oblivion of
-many years to stand beside us a last time by the
-little columns of these windows. We bid adieu to
-all the fancies of youth. We bid adieu to that love
-which will never live again."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i>Fountain in the <a id="Court_of_Lions"></a>Court of Lions, Alhambra</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b200cs.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>"It is true," answered my friend, "but what will
-you say when you have seen the Court of the Lions?
-Come, let us hurry."</p>
-
-<p>We left the tower with hasty steps, crossed the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span>
-Court of Myrtles, and came to a little door opposite
-the door of entrance.</p>
-
-<p>"Stop!" cried Gongora.</p>
-
-<p>I stopped.</p>
-
-<p>"Do me a favor?"</p>
-
-<p>"A hundred."</p>
-
-<p>"Only one: shut your eyes and don't open them
-until I tell you."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, they are shut."</p>
-
-<p>"See that you keep them so; I sha'n't like it if
-you open them."</p>
-
-<p>"Never fear."</p>
-
-<p>Gongora took me by the hand and led me forward:
-I trembled like a leaf.</p>
-
-<p>We took about fifteen steps and stopped.</p>
-
-<p>"Look!" said Gongora in an agitated voice.</p>
-
-<p>I looked, and I swear by the head of my reader I
-felt two tears trickling down my cheeks.</p>
-
-<p>We were in the Court of the Lions.</p>
-
-<p>If at that moment I had been obliged to go out as
-I had come in, I could not have told what I had seen.
-A forest of columns, a vision of arches and tracery,
-an indefinable elegance, an unimaginable delicacy,
-prodigious wealth; an irrepressible sense of airiness,
-transparency, and wavy motion like a great
-pavilion of lace; an appearance as of an edifice
-which must dissolve at a breath; a variety of lights
-and mysterious shadows; a confusion, a capricious
-disorder, of little things; the grandeur of a castle,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span>
-the gayety of a summer-house; an harmonious grace,
-an extravagance, a delight; the fancy of an enamored
-girl, the dream of an angel; a madness, a
-nameless something,&mdash;such is the first effect of the
-Court of the Lions.</p>
-
-<p>The court is not larger than a great ball-room; it
-is rectangular in form, with walls no higher than a
-two-storied Andalusian cottage. A light portico
-runs all around, supported by very slender white
-marble columns grouped in symmetrical disorder, two
-by two and three by three, almost without pedestals, so
-that they are like the trunks of trees standing on the
-ground: they have varied capitals, high and graceful,
-in the form of little pilasters, above which bend
-little arches of very graceful form, which do not
-seem to rest upon the columns, but rather to be
-suspended over them like curtains upholding the
-columns themselves and resembling ribbons and
-twining garlands. From the middle of the two
-shortest sides advance two groups of columns forming
-two little square temples of nine arches in the
-form of stalactites, fringes, pendants, and tassels that
-seem as though they ought to swing and become
-tangled with the slightest breeze. Large Arabian
-inscriptions run along the four walls, over the arches,
-around the capitals, and along the walls of the little
-temple. In the middle of the court rises a great
-marble basin supported by twelve lions and surrounded
-by a paved channel, from which flow four<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span>
-other smaller channels that make a cross between
-the four sides of the court, cross the portico, enter
-the adjoining rooms, and join the other water-courses
-which surround the entire edifice. Behind the two
-two little temples and in the middle of the other two
-sides there appear halls and suites of rooms with
-great open doors, through which one can see the
-dark background broken by the white columns,
-gleaming as if they stood at the mouth of a grotto.
-At every step the forest of columns seems to move
-and rearrange itself in a new way; behind a
-column that is apparently single spring up two,
-three, a row of columns; some fade away, others
-unite, and still others separate: on looking back
-from the end of one of the halls everything appears
-different; the arches on the opposite side seem very
-far away; the columns appear out of place; the little
-temples have changed their form; one sees new
-arches rising beyond the walls, and new columns
-gleaming here in the sunlight, there in the shadow,
-yonder scarcely visible by the dim light which sifts
-through the tracery of the stucco, and the farthest
-lost in the darkness. There is a constant variety of
-scene, distance, deceptive effects, mysteries, and
-playful tricks of the eye, produced by the architecture,
-the sun, and one's heightened imagination.</p>
-
-<p>"What must this <i>patio</i> have been," said Gongora,
-"when the inner walls of the portico were resplendent
-with mosaics, the capitals of the columns flashed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span>
-with gold, the ceilings and vaults were painted in
-a thousand colors, the doors hung with silken curtains,
-the niches full of flowers, and under the little
-temples and through the halls ran streams of perfumed
-water, and from the nostrils of the lions
-spurted twelve jets which fell into the basin, and
-the air was heavy with the most delicious perfumes
-of Arabia!"</p>
-
-<p>We remained in the court over an hour, and the
-time passed like a flash; and I too did what all have
-done in that place&mdash;Spaniards and foreigners alike,
-men and women, poets and those who are not poets.
-I ran my hand along the walls, touched all the little
-columns, clasped them one by one with my two hands
-like the waist of a child, hid among them, counted
-them, looked at them from a hundred directions,
-crossed the court in a hundred ways; tried if it were
-true that by speaking a word in a deep voice in the
-mouth of one of the lions you could hear it distinctly
-from the mouths of all the others; searched
-along the marbles for the blood-spots of the romantic
-legends, and wearied my eyes and brain in following
-the arabesques. There were a number of ladies
-present. In the Court of the Lions ladies show every
-sort of childish delight: they look out between two
-twin columns, hide in the dark corners, sit on the
-floor, and stand for hours motionless, resting their
-heads upon their hands, dreaming. These ladies did
-likewise. There was one dressed in white who, as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span>
-she passed behind the distant columns, when she
-thought no one saw her assumed a certain majestic
-air, like a melancholy sultana, and then laughed
-with one of her friends: it was enchanting.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us go," said my friend.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us go," I replied, and could not move a step.
-I was experiencing not only a delightful sense of
-surprise, but I was trembling with pleasure, and was
-filled with a longing to touch, to probe, and in some
-way to see behind those walls and those columns, as
-if they were made of some secret material and ought
-to disclose in their inmost part the first cause of the
-fascination which the place exerts. In all my life I
-have never thought or said, or shall ever say, so
-many fond words, so many foolish expressions, so
-many pretty, happy, senseless things, as I thought
-and said at that hour.</p>
-
-<p>"But one must come here at sunrise," said Gongora,
-"one must come at sunset, or at night when
-the moon is full, to see the miracles of color, light,
-and shade. It is enough to make one lose one's
-head."</p>
-
-<p>We went to see the halls. On the eastern side is
-the Hall of Justice, which is reached by passing
-under three great arches, each of which corresponds
-with a door opening into the court. It is a long, narrow
-hall, with intricate arabesques and precious mosaics,
-and its vaulted ceiling all points and hollows
-and clusters of stucco that hang down from the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span>
-arches and run along the walls, clustered together
-here and there, drooping, growing one out of the
-other, crowding and overtopping each other, so that
-they seem to dispute the space like the bubbles in boiling
-water, and still presenting in many parts traces of
-old colors that must have given the ceiling the appearance
-of a pavilion covered with flowers and hanging
-fruit. The hall has three little alcoves, in each of
-which one may see a Moorish painting, to which
-time and the extreme rarity of works remaining
-from the brush of Moorish artists have given a very
-high value. The paintings are on leather, and the
-leather is fastened to the wall. In the central alcove
-there are painted on a golden ground ten men, supposed
-to be ten kings of Granada, clothed in white,
-with cowls on their heads and scimitars in their
-hands, sitting on embroidered cushions. The paintings
-in the other two alcoves represent castles,
-ladies and cavaliers, hunting scenes, and love episodes
-whose significance it is difficult to understand.
-But the faces of the ten kings are marvellously true
-to the picture one has formed of their race: there is
-the dark olive complexion, the sensuous lips, the
-black eyes, with an intense mysterious glance that
-seems always to be shining in the dark corners of
-the halls of the Alhambra.</p>
-
-<p>On the north side of the court there is another
-hall, called the hall <i>De las dos Hermanas</i> (of the two
-sisters), so called from two great marble slabs which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">208</span>
-form the pavement. It is the most beautiful hall in
-the Alhambra&mdash;a little square arched room, with one
-of those ceilings in the form of a cupola which the
-Spaniards call half oranges, supported by slender
-columns and arches arranged in a circle, all adorned,
-like a grotto full of stalactites, with an infinite number
-of points and hollows, colored and gilded, and
-so light to the view that it seems as if they are
-suspended in the air, and would tremble at a touch
-like a curtain or separate like a cloud or disappear
-like a cluster of soap-bubbles. The walls, like those
-of all the other halls, are bedecked with stucco and
-carved with arabesques incredibly intricate and delicate,
-forming one of the most marvellous works of
-human patience and imagination. The more one
-looks, the more numberless become the lines which
-blend and cross, and from one figure springs another,
-and from that a third, and all three produce a fourth
-that has escaped the eye, and this divides suddenly
-into ten other figures that have passed unnoticed,
-and then they mingle again and are again transformed;
-and one never ceases to discover new combinations,
-for when the first reappear they are
-already forgotten, and produce the same effect as at
-the beginning. One would lose sight and reason in
-trying to comprehend that labyrinth: it would require
-an hour to study the outlines of a window, the
-ornaments of a pilaster, and the arabesques of a
-frieze; an hour would not be sufficient to fix upon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">209</span>
-the mind the design of one of the stupendous cedar
-doors. On either side of the hall there are two
-little alcoves, and in the centre a little basin with a
-pipe for a fountain that empties into the channel that
-crosses the portico and flows to the Fountain of the
-Lions.</p>
-
-<p>Directly opposite the entrance there is another
-door, through which one passes into another long,
-narrow room called the Hall of the Oranges. And
-from this hall, through a third door, one enters a
-little chamber called the Cabinet of Lindaraja, very
-richly ornamented, at the end of which there is a
-graceful window with two arches overlooking a
-garden.</p>
-
-<p>To enjoy all the beauty of this magical architecture
-one must leave the Hall of the Two Sisters,
-cross the Court of the Lions, and enter a room called
-the Hall of the Abencerrages, which lies on the
-southern side, opposite the Hall of the Two Sisters, to
-which it is very similar in form and ornamentation.
-From the end of this hall one looks across the
-Court of the Lions through the Hall of the Two
-Sisters into the Hall of the Oranges and even into
-the Cabinet of Lindaraja and the garden beyond,
-where a mass of verdure appears under the arches
-of that jewel of a window. The two sides of this
-window, so diminutive and full of light when seen in
-the distance from the end of that suite of darkened
-rooms, look like two great open eyes, that look at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">210</span>
-you and make you imagine that beyond them must
-lie the unfathomable mysteries of paradise.</p>
-
-<p>After seeing the Hall of the Abencerrages we
-went to see the baths, which are situated between
-the Hall of the Two Sisters and the Court of the
-Myrtles. We descended a flight of stairs, passed a
-long narrow corridor, and came out into a splendid
-hall called the hall <i>De las Divans</i>, where the favorites
-of the king came to rest on their Persian rugs
-to the sound of the lyre after they had bathed in
-the adjoining rooms. This hall was reconstructed
-on the plans of the ancient ruins, and adorned with
-arabesques, gilded and painted, by Spanish artists
-after the ancient patterns; consequently one may
-consider it a room of the Moorish period remaining
-intact in every part. In the middle is a fountain,
-and in the opposite walls are two alcoves where the
-women reposed on divans, and overhead the galleries
-where the musicians played. The walls are
-laced, dotted, checkered, and mottled with a thousand
-brilliant hues, presenting the appearance of a
-tapestry of Chinese stuff shot with golden threads,
-with an endless interweaving of figures that must
-have maddened the most patient mosaic-worker on
-earth.</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, a painter was at work in the hall.
-He was a German who had worked for three months
-in copying the walls. Gongora knew him, and
-asked, "It is wearisome work, is it not?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">211</span></p>
-
-<p>And he answered with a smile, "I don't find it
-so," and bent again over his picture.</p>
-
-<p>I looked at him as if he had been a creature from
-another world.</p>
-
-<p>We entered the little bathing-chambers, vaulted
-and lighted from above by some star-and flower-shaped
-apertures in the wall. The bathing-tubs
-are very large, single blocks of marble enclosed between
-two walls. The corridors which lead from
-one room to the other are low and narrow, so that
-a man can scarcely pass through them; they are
-delightfully cool. As I stood looking into one of
-these little rooms I was suddenly impressed with
-a sad thought.</p>
-
-<p>"What makes you sad?" asked my friend.</p>
-
-<p>"I was thinking," I replied, "of how we live,
-summer and winter, in houses like barracks, in
-rooms on the third floor, which are either dark or
-else flooded with a torrent of light, without marble,
-without water, without flowers, without columns; I
-was thinking that we must live so all our lives and
-die between those walls without once experiencing
-the delights of these charmed palaces; I was thinking
-that even in this wretched earthly life one may
-enjoy vastly, and that I shall not share this enjoyment
-at all; I was thinking that I might have been
-born four centuries ago a king of Granada, and that
-I was born instead a poor man."</p>
-
-<p>My friend laughed, and, taking my arm between<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">212</span>
-his thumb and finger, as if to give me a pinch, he
-said, "Don't think of that. Think of how much
-beauty, grace, and mystery these tubs must have
-seen; of the little feet that have played in their
-perfumed waters; of the long hair which has fallen
-over their rims; of the great languid eyes that have
-looked at the sky through the openings in the
-vaulted ceiling, while beneath the arches of the
-Court of the Lions sounded the hastening step of
-an impatient caliph, and the hundred fountains of
-the castle sighed with a quickening murmur, 'Come!
-come! come!' and in a perfumed hall a trembling
-slave reverently closed the windows with the rose-colored
-curtains."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! leave my soul in peace!" I replied, shrugging
-my shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>We crossed the garden of the Cabinet of Lindaraja
-and a mysterious court called the <i>Patio de la
-Reja</i>, and by a long gallery that commands a view
-of the country reached the top of one of the
-farthest towers of the Alhambra, called the <i>Mirador
-de la Reina</i> (the Queen's toilet), shaded by a little
-pavilion and open all round, hanging over an abyss
-like an eagle's nest. The view one enjoys from
-this point&mdash;one may say it without fear of contradiction&mdash;has
-not its equal on the face of the
-earth.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i><a id="Queens_Boudoir"></a>Queen's Boudoir, Alhambra</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b212cs.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">213</span></p>
-
-<p>Imagine an immense plain, green as a meadow,
-covered with young grass, crossed in all directions
-by endless rows of cypresses, pines, oaks, and
-poplars, dotted with dense orange-groves that in the
-distance look no larger than shrubs, and with great
-orchards and gardens so crowded with fruit trees
-that they look like green hillocks; and the river
-Xenil winding through this immense plain, gleaming
-among the groves and gardens like a great silver
-ribbon; and all around wooded hills, and beyond
-the hills lofty rocks of fantastic form, which complete
-the picture of a barrier-wall with gigantic
-towers separating that earthly paradise from the
-world; and there, just beneath one's eyes, the city
-of Granada, partly extending to the plain and partly
-on the slope of the hill, all interspersed with groups
-of trees, shapeless masses of verdure which rise and
-wave above the roofs of the houses like enormous
-plumes, until it seems as if they were striving to expand
-and unite and cover the entire city; and still
-nearer the deep valley of the Darro more than
-covered&mdash;yes, filled to overflowing and almost
-heaped full&mdash;with its prodigious growth of vegetation,
-rising like a mountain, and above it there rises
-yet again a grove of gigantic poplars tossing their
-topmost boughs so close under the windows of the
-tower that one can almost touch them; and to the
-right beyond the Darro, on a high hill towering
-toward heaven, bold and rounded like a cupola, the
-palace of the Generalife, encircled by its aërial
-gardens and almost hidden in a grove of laurels,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">214</span>
-poplars, and pomegranates; and in the opposite
-direction a marvellous spectacle, a thing incredible,
-a vision of a dream&mdash;the Sierra Nevada, after the
-Alps, the highest mountain-range in Europe crowned
-with snow, white even to a few miles from the gates
-of Granada, white even to the hills on whose sides
-spread the pomegranates and palms, and where a
-vegetation almost tropical expands in all its splendid
-pomp.</p>
-
-<p>Imagine now over this vast paradise, containing
-all the smiling graces of the Orient and all the severe
-beauties of the North, wedding Europe to
-Africa, and bringing to the nuptials all the choicest
-marvels of nature, and exhaling to heaven all the
-perfumes of the earth blended in one breath,&mdash;imagine
-above this happy valley the sky and sun of
-Andalusia, rolling on to its setting and tinting the
-peaks with a divine rose-color, and painting the
-mountain-sides of the Sierra with all the colors of
-the rainbow, and clothing them with all the reflections
-of the most limpid azure pearls, its rays breaking
-in a thousand mists of gold, purple, and gray
-upon the rocks encircling the plain, and, as it sinks
-in a flame of fire, casting like a last good-night a
-luminous crown about the gloomy towers of the Alhambra
-and the flower-crowned pinnacles of the
-Generalife, and tell me if this world can give anything
-more solemn, more glorious, more intoxicating
-than this love-feast of the earth and sky, before<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">215</span>
-which for nine centuries Granada has trembled with
-delight and throbbed with pride?</p>
-
-<p>The roof of the <i>Mirador de la Reina</i> is supported
-by little Moorish columns, between which extend
-flattened arches which give the pavilion an extremely
-fanciful and graceful appearance. The
-walls are frescoed, and one may see along the friezes
-the initials of Isabella and Philip interwoven with
-cupids and flowers. Close by the door there still remains
-a stone of the ancient pavement, all perforated,
-upon which it is said the sultanas sat to be enveloped
-in the clouds of perfumed vapor which arose from
-below.</p>
-
-<p>Everything in this place tells of love and happiness.
-There one breathes an air as pure as that on a
-mountain-peak, there one perceives a mingled fragrance
-of myrtles and roses, and no other sound
-reaches the ear save the murmur of the Darro as it
-dashes among the rocks of its stony bed, and the
-singing of a thousand birds hidden in the dense
-foliage of the valley; it is truly a nest of loves, a
-hanging alcove where to go and dream of an aërial
-balcony to which one might climb and thank God
-for being happy.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, Gongora," I exclaimed after contemplating
-for some moments that enchanting spectacle, "I
-would give years of my life to be able to summon
-here, with a stroke of a magic wand, all the dear
-ones who are looking for me in Italy."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">216</span></p>
-
-<p>Gongora pointed out a large space on the wall, all
-black with dates and names of visitors to the Alhambra,
-written with crayon and charcoal and cut
-with knives.</p>
-
-<p>"What is this written here?" he demanded.</p>
-
-<p>I approached and uttered a cry: "Chateaubriand!"</p>
-
-<p>"And here?"</p>
-
-<p>"Byron!"</p>
-
-<p>"And here?"</p>
-
-<p>"Victor Hugo!"</p>
-
-<p>After descending from the <i>Mirador de la Reina</i> I
-thought I had seen the Alhambra, and was so imprudent
-as to tell my friend so. If he had had a stick
-in his hand, I verily believe he would have struck
-me; but, as he had not, he contented himself by
-regarding me with the air of one demanding whether
-or not I had lost my senses.</p>
-
-<p>We returned to the Court of the Myrtles and
-visited the rooms situated on the other side of the
-Tower of Comares, the greater part in ruins, the rest
-altered, some absolutely bare, without either pavement
-or roof, but all worth seeing, both in remembrance
-of what they had been and for the sake of
-understanding the plan of the edifice. The ancient
-mosque was converted into a chapel by Charles V., and
-a great Moorish hall was changed into an oratory;
-here and there one still sees the fragments of arabesques
-and carved ceilings of cedar-wood; the gal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">217</span>leries,
-the courts, and the vestibules remind one of a
-palace dismantled by fire.</p>
-
-<p>After seeing that part of the Alhambra I really
-thought there was nothing else left to see, and a
-second time was imprudent enough to say so to Gongora:
-this time he could no longer contain himself,
-and, leading me into a vestibule of the Court of Myrtles
-and pointing to a map of the building hanging on
-the wall, he said, "Look, and you will see that all the
-rooms of the courts and the towers that we have so
-far visited do not occupy one-twentieth part of the
-space embraced within the walls of the Alhambra;
-you will see that we have not yet visited the remains
-of the three other mosques, the ruins of the House of
-Cadi, the water-tower, the tower of the Infantas, the
-tower of the Prisoner, the tower of Candil, the tower
-of the Picos, the tower of the Daggers, the tower of
-the <i>Siete Suelos</i>, the tower of the Captain, the tower
-of the Witch, the tower of the Heads, the tower of
-Arms, the tower of the Hidalgos, the tower of the
-Cocks, the tower of the Cube, the tower of Homage,
-the tower of Vela, the Powder Tower, the remains
-of the House of Mondejar, the military quarters,
-the iron gate, the inner walls, the cisterns, the
-promenades; for I would have you know that the
-Alhambra is not a palace: it is a city, and one
-could spend his life in studying its arabesques,
-reading its inscriptions, and every day discovering
-a new view of the hills and mountains, and going<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">218</span>
-into ecstasies regularly once every twenty-four
-hours."</p>
-
-<p>And I thought I had seen the Alhambra!</p>
-
-<p>On that day I did not wish to learn anything
-more, and the dear knows how my head ached when
-I returned to the hotel. The day after, at the peep
-of dawn, I was back at the Alhambra, and again in
-the evening, and I continued to go there every day
-so long as I remained at Granada, with Gongora,
-with other friends, with guides, or alone; and the Alhambra
-always seemed vaster and more beautiful
-as I wandered through the courts and halls, and
-passed hour after hour sitting among the columns or
-gazing out of the windows with an ever-heightening
-pleasure, every time discovering new beauties, and
-ever abandoning myself to those vague and delightful
-fancies among which my mind had strayed on the
-first day. I cannot tell through which entrances my
-friends led me into the Alhambra, but I remember
-that every day on going there I saw walls and towers
-and deserted streets that I had not seen before, and
-the Alhambra seemed to me to have changed its site,
-to have been transformed, and surrounded as if by
-enchantment with new buildings that changed its
-original appearance. Who could describe the beauty
-of those sunset views; those fantastic groves flooded
-with moonlight; the immense plain and the snow-covered
-mountains on clear, serene nights; the imposing
-outlines of those enormous walls, superb<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">219</span>
-towers, and those measureless trees under a starry
-sky; the prolonged rustling of those vast masses of
-verdure overflowing the valleys and climbing the
-hillsides? It was a spectacle before which my companions
-remained speechless, although they were
-born in Granada and accustomed from infancy to
-look upon these scenes. So we would walk along in
-silence, each buried in his own thoughts, with hearts
-oppressed by mild melancholy, and sometimes our
-eyes were wet with tears, and we raised our faces to
-heaven with a burst of gratitude and love.</p>
-
-<p>On the day of my arrival at Granada, when I
-entered the hotel at midnight, instead of finding
-silence and quiet, I found the <i>patio</i> illuminated like
-a ball-room, people sipping sherbet at the tables,
-coming and going along the galleries, laughing and
-talking, and I was obliged to wait an hour before
-going to sleep. But I passed that hour very pleasantly.
-While I stood looking at a map of Spain on
-the wall a great burly fellow, with a face as red as a
-beet and a great stomach extending nearly to his
-knees, approached me and, touching his cap, asked
-if I was an Italian. I replied that I was, and he
-continued with a smile, "And so am I; I am the
-proprietor of the hotel."</p>
-
-<p>"I am delighted to hear it, the more so because
-I see you are making money."</p>
-
-<p>"Great Heavens!" he replied in a tone which he
-wished to seem melancholy. "Yes, ... I cannot<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">220</span>
-complain; but, ... believe me, my dear sir, however
-well things may go, when one is far from his
-native land one always feels a void here;" and he
-put his hand upon his enormous chest.</p>
-
-<p>I looked at his stomach.</p>
-
-<p>"A great void," repeated mine host; "one never
-forgets one's country.... From what province are
-you, sir?"</p>
-
-<p>"From Liguria. And you?"</p>
-
-<p>"From Piedmont. Liguria! Piedmont! Lombardy!
-They are countries!"</p>
-
-<p>"They are fine countries, there is no doubt of
-that, but, after all, you cannot complain of Spain.
-You are living in one of the most beautiful cities in
-the world, and are proprietor of one of the finest
-hotels in the city; you have a crowd of guests all
-the year round, and then I see you enjoy enviable
-health."</p>
-
-<p>"But the void?"</p>
-
-<p>I looked again at his stomach.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, I see, sir; but you are deceived, you know,
-if you judge me by appearances. You cannot imagine
-what a pleasure it is when an Italian comes here.
-What you will? Weakness it may be.... I know
-not, ... but I should like to see him every day at
-table, and I believe that if my wife did not laugh at
-me I should send him a dozen dishes on my own
-account, as a foretaste."</p>
-
-<p>"At what hour do you dine to-morrow?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">221</span></p>
-
-<p>"At five. But, after all, ... one eats little
-here, ... hot country, ... everybody lives lightly, ...
-whatever their nationality may be.... That
-is the rule.... But you have not seen the other
-Italian who is here?"</p>
-
-<p>So saying, he turned around, and a man came
-forward from a corner of the court where he had
-been watching us. The proprietor, after a few
-words, left us alone. The stranger was a man of
-about forty, miserably dressed, who spoke through
-closed teeth, and kept continually clenching his
-hands with a convulsive motion as if he was making
-an effort to keep from using his fists. He told me
-he was a chorus-singer from Lombardy, and that he
-had arrived the day before at Granada with other
-artists booked to sing at the opera for the summer
-season.</p>
-
-<p>"A beastly country!" he exclaimed without any
-preamble, looking around as if he wished to make
-a speech.</p>
-
-<p>"Then you do not remain in Spain voluntarily?"
-I asked.</p>
-
-<p>"In Spain? I? Excuse me: it is just as if you
-had asked me whether I was staying voluntarily in a
-galley."</p>
-
-<p>"But why?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why? But can't you see what sort of people the
-Spaniards are&mdash;ignorant, superstitious, proud, bloodthirsty,
-impostors, thieves, charlatans, villains?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">222</span></p>
-
-<p>And he stood a moment motionless in a questioning
-attitude, with the veins of his neck so swollen that
-they seemed ready to burst.</p>
-
-<p>"Pardon me," I replied; "your judgment does
-not seem favorable enough to admit of my agreeing
-with you. When it comes to ignorance, excuse me,
-it will not do for us Italians, for us who still have
-cities where the schoolmasters are stoned and the
-professors are stabbed if they give a zero to their
-scholars,&mdash;it will not do for us, I say, to pick flaws
-in others. As for superstition, alas for us again!
-since we may still see in that city of Italy in which
-popular instruction is most widely diffused an unspeakable
-uproar over a miraculous image of the
-Madonna found by a poor ignorant woman in the
-middle of a street! As for crime, I frankly declare
-that if I were obliged to draw a comparison between
-the two countries before an audience of Spaniards,
-with the statistics now in hand, without first proving
-my data and conclusions, I should be very much
-alarmed.... I do not wish to say by this that
-we are not, on the whole, sailing in smoother water
-than is Spain. I wish to say that an Italian in
-judging the Spanish, if he would be just, must be
-indulgent."</p>
-
-<p>"Excuse me: I don't think so. A country without
-political direction! a country a prey to anarchy!
-a country&mdash;Come, now, cite me one great Spaniard
-of the present day."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">223</span></p>
-
-<p>"I cannot, ... there are so few great men anywhere."</p>
-
-<p>"Cite me a Galileo."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, there are no Galileos."</p>
-
-<p>"Cite me a Ratazzi."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, they have none."</p>
-
-<p>"Cite me ... But, really, they have nothing.
-And then, does the country seem beautiful to you?"</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! excuse me; that point I will not yield:
-Andalusia, to cite a single province, is a paradise;
-Seville, Cadiz, and Granada are splendid cities."</p>
-
-<p>"How? Do you like the houses of Seville and
-Cadiz, with walls that whiten a poor devil from head
-to foot whenever he happens to touch them? Do
-you like those streets along which one can hardly
-pass after a good dinner? And do you find the Andalusian
-women beautiful with their devilish eyes?
-Come, now, you are too indulgent. They are not a
-<i>serious</i> people. They have summoned Don Amadeus,
-and now they don't want him. They are not worthy
-of being governed by a <i>civilized man</i>." (These were
-his actual words.)</p>
-
-<p>"Then you don't find any good in Spain?"</p>
-
-<p>"Not the least."</p>
-
-<p>"But why do you stay?"</p>
-
-<p>"I stay ... because I make my living here."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, that is something."</p>
-
-<p>"But what a living! It is a dog's life! Everybody
-knows what Spanish cooking is."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">224</span></p>
-
-<p>"Excuse me: instead of living like a dog in
-Spain, why not go and live like a man in Italy?"</p>
-
-<p>Here the poor artist seemed somewhat disconcerted,
-and I, to relieve his annoyance, offered him a
-cigar, which he took and lighted without a word.
-And he was not the only Italian in Spain who had
-spoken to me in those terms of the country and its
-inhabitants, denying even the clearness of the sky
-and the grace of the Andalusian women. I do not
-know what enjoyment there can be in travelling
-after this fashion, with the heart closed to every
-kindly sentiment, and continually on the lookout to
-censure and despise, as if everything good and
-beautiful which one finds in a foreign country has
-been stolen from our own, and as if we are of no
-account unless we run down everybody else. The
-people who travel in such a mental attitude make
-me pity rather than condemn them, because they
-voluntarily deprive themselves of many pleasures
-and comforts. So it appears to me, at least, to
-judge others by myself, for wherever I go the first
-sentiment which the sights and the people inspire
-in me is a feeling of sympathy; a desire not to find
-anything which I shall be obliged to censure; an inclination
-to imagine every beautiful thing more beautiful;
-to conceal the unpleasant things, to excuse the
-defects, to be able to say candidly to myself and
-others that I am content with everything and everybody.
-And to arrive at this end I do not have to make<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">225</span>
-any effort: everything presents itself almost spontaneously
-in its most pleasing aspect, and my imagination
-benignly paints the other aspects a delicate
-rose-color. I know well that one cannot study a
-country in this way, nor write sage essays, nor
-acquire fame as a profound thinker; but I know
-that one travels with a peaceful mind, and that such
-travels are of unspeakable benefit.</p>
-
-<p>The next day I went to see the Generalife, which
-was a sort of villa of the Moorish kings, and whose
-name is linked to that of the Alhambra as is that
-of the Alhambra to Granada; but now only a few
-arches and arabesques remain of the ancient Generalife.
-It is a small palace, simple and white, with
-few windows, and an arched gallery surrounded with
-a terrace, and half hidden in the midst of a grove
-of laurel and myrtles, standing on the summit of a
-mountain covered with flowers, rising upon the right
-bank of the Darro opposite the hill of the Alhambra.
-In front of the façade of the palace extends a little
-garden, and other gardens rise one above another
-almost in the form of a vast staircase to the very
-top of the mountain, where there extends a very
-high terrace that encloses the Generalife. The
-avenues of the gardens and the wide staircases that
-lead from one to another of the flower-beds are
-flanked by high espaliers surmounted by arches and
-divided by arbors of myrtle, curved and intertwined
-with graceful designs, and at every landing-place<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">226</span>
-rise white summer-houses shaded by trellises and
-picturesque groups of orange trees and cypresses.
-Water is still as abundant as in Moorish times,
-and gives the place a grace, freshness, and luxuriance
-impossible to describe. From every part
-one hears the murmur of rivulets and fountains;
-one turns down an avenue and finds a jet of water;
-one approaches a window and sees a stream
-reaching almost to the window-sill; one enters
-a group of trees and the spray of a little waterfall
-strikes one's face; one turns and sees water
-leaping, running, and trickling through the grass
-and shrubbery.</p>
-
-<p>From the height of the terrace one commands
-a view of all those gardens as they slope downward
-in platforms and terraces; one peers down into
-the abyss of vegetation which separates the two
-mountains; one overlooks the whole enclosure of
-the Alhambra, with the cupolas of its little temples,
-its distant towers, and the paths winding among its
-ruins; the view extends over the city of Granada
-with its plain and its hills, and runs with a single
-glance along all the summits of the Sierra Nevada,
-that appear so near that one imagines they are not
-an hour's walk distant. And while you contemplate
-that spectacle your ear is soothed by the murmur
-of a hundred fountains and the faint sound of the
-bells of the city, which comes in waves scarcely
-audible, bearing with it the mysterious fragrance of
-this earthly paradise which makes you tremble and
-grow pale with delight.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"><i><a id="Court_of_the_Generalife"></a>Court of the Generalife, Granada</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b226cs.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">227</span></p>
-
-<p>Beyond the Generalife, on the summit of a
-higher mountain, now bleak and bare, there rose
-in Moorish times other royal palaces, with gardens
-connected with each other by great avenues
-lined with myrtle hedges. Now all these marvels
-of architecture encircled by groves, fountains,
-and flowers, those fabulous castles in the air, those
-magnificent and fragrant nests of love and delight,
-have disappeared, and scarcely a heap of rubbish or
-a short stretch of wall remains to tell their story to
-the passer-by. But these ruins, that elsewhere
-would arouse a feeling of melancholy, do not have
-such an influence in the presence of that glorious
-nature whose enchantment not even the most marvellous
-works of man have ever been able to equal.</p>
-
-<p>On re-entering the city I stopped at one end of the
-<i>Carrera del Darro</i>, in front of a house richly adorned
-with bas-reliefs representing heraldic shields, armor,
-cherubs, and lions, with a little balcony, over one
-corner of which, partly on one wall and partly on
-another, I read the following mysterious inscription
-stamped in great letters:</p>
-
-<p class="center">"<span class="smcap">Esperando la del Cielo</span>,"</p>
-
-<p>which, literally translated, signifies "<i>Awaiting her
-in Heaven</i>." Curious to learn the hidden meaning of
-those words, I made a note of them, so that I might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">228</span>
-ask the learned father of my friend about them. He
-gave me two interpretations, the one almost certainly
-correct, but not at all romantic; the other romantic,
-but very doubtful. I give the last: The house
-belonged to Don Fernando de Zafra, the secretary of
-the Catholic kings. He had a very beautiful daughter.
-A young hidalgo, of a family hostile or inferior in
-rank to the house of Zafra, became enamored of the
-daughter, and, as his love was returned, he asked for
-her hand in marriage, but was refused. The refusal
-of her father stirred the love of the two young hearts
-to flame: the windows of the house were low; the
-lover one night succeeded in making the ascent and
-entered the maiden's room. Whether he upset a
-chair on entering, or coughed, or uttered a low cry
-of joy on seeing his beautiful love welcoming him
-with open arms, the tradition does not tell, and no
-one knows; but certain it is that Don Fernando de
-Zafra heard a noise, ran in, saw, and, blind with
-fury, rushed upon the ill-fated young man to put
-him to death. But he succeeded in making his escape,
-and Don Fernando in following him ran into
-one of his own pages, a partisan of the lovers, who
-had helped the hidalgo to enter the house: in his
-haste his master mistook him for the betrayer, and,
-without hearing his protests and prayers, he had him
-bound and hanged from the balcony. The tradition
-runs that while the poor victim kept crying, "Pity!
-pity!" the outraged father responded as he pointed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">229</span>
-toward the balcony, "Thou shalt stay there <i>esperando
-la del Cielo</i>!" (awaiting her in heaven)&mdash;a reply
-which he afterward had cut in the stone walls as
-a perpetual warning to evil-doers.</p>
-
-<p>I devoted the rest of the day to the churches and
-monasteries.</p>
-
-<p>The cathedral of Granada deserves to be described
-part by part in an even higher degree than the cathedral
-of Malaga, although it too is beautiful and
-magnificent; but I have already described enough
-churches. Its foundation was laid by the Catholic
-kings in 1529 upon the ruins of the principal mosque
-of the city, but it has never been finished. It has a
-great façade with three doorways, adorned with
-statues and bas-reliefs, and it consists of five naves,
-divided by twenty measureless pilasters, each composed
-of a bundle of slender columns. The chapels
-contain paintings by Boccanegra, sculptures by Torrigiano,
-and tombs and other precious ornaments.
-Admirable above all is the great chapel, supported
-by twenty Corinthian columns divided into two
-orders, upon the first of which rise colossal statues
-of the twelve apostles, and on the second an entablature
-covered with garlands and heads of cherubs.
-Overhead runs a circle of magnificent stained-glass
-windows, which represent the Passion, and from the
-frieze which crowns them leap ten bold arches forming
-the vault of the chapel. Within the arches that
-support the columns are six great paintings by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">230</span>
-Alonzo Cano, which are said to be his most beautiful
-and finished work.</p>
-
-<p>And since I have spoken of Alonzo Cano, a native
-of Granada, one of the strongest Spanish painters of
-the seventeenth century, although a disciple of the
-Sevillian school rather than the founder, as some
-assert, of a school of his own, but less original than
-his greatest contemporaries,&mdash;since I have spoken of
-him, I wish here to record some traits of his genius
-and anecdotes of his life little known outside of Spain,
-although exceedingly remarkable. Alonzo Cano was
-the most quarrelsome, the most irascible, and the
-most violent of the Spanish painters. He spent his
-life in contention. He was a priest. From 1652 to
-1658, for six consecutive years, without a day's intermission,
-he wrangled with the canons of the cathedral
-of Granada, of which he was steward, because
-he was not willing to become subdeacon in accordance
-with the stipulated agreement; before leaving
-Granada he broke into pieces with his own hands a
-statue of Saint Anthony of Padua which he had
-made to the order of an auditor of the chancery,
-because the man allowed himself to observe that the
-price demanded seemed a little dear. Chosen master
-of design to the royal prince, who, as it appears,
-was not born with a talent for painting, he so exasperated
-his pupil that the boy was obliged to have
-recourse to the king that he might be taken out of
-his hands. Remanded to Granada, to the neighbor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">231</span>hood
-of the chapter of the cathedral, as an especial
-favor, he bore such a deep rancor from his old litigations
-with his canons that throughout his life he
-would not do a stroke of work for them. But this
-is a small matter. He nursed a blind, bestial, inextinguishable
-hatred against the Hebrews, and was
-firmly convinced that in any way to touch a Hebrew
-or any object that a Hebrew had touched
-would bring him misfortune. Owing to this conviction
-he did some of the most extravagant feats in
-the world. If in walking along the street he ran
-against a Jew, he would strip off the infected garment
-and return home in his shirt-sleeves. If by
-chance he succeeded in discovering that in his absence
-a servant had admitted a Jew into the house,
-he discharged the servant, threw away the shoes
-with which he had touched the pavement profaned
-by the circumcised, and sometimes even had the
-pavement torn up and reset. And he found something
-to find fault with even as he was dying.
-When he was approaching the end of life the confessor
-handed him a clumsily-made crucifix that he
-might kiss it, but he pushed it away with his hand,
-saying, "Father, give me a naked cross, that I may
-worship Jesus Christ as He Himself is and as I behold
-Him in my mind." But, after all, his was a
-rare, charitable nature which abhorred every vulgar
-action, and loved with a deep and very pure love the
-art in which he remains immortal.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">232</span></p>
-
-<p>On returning to the church after I had made the
-round of all the chapels and was preparing to leave,
-I was impressed by a suspicion that there was something
-else still to be seen. I had not read the Guidebook
-and had been told nothing, but I heard an
-inner voice which said to me, "Seek!" and, in fact,
-I sought with my eyes in every direction, without
-knowing what I sought. A cicerone noticed me and
-sidled up to me, as all of his kind do, like an assassin,
-and asked me with an air of mystery, "<i>Quiere
-usted algo?</i>" (Do you wish something, sir?)</p>
-
-<p>"I should like to know," I replied, "if there is
-anything to see in this cathedral besides that which
-I have seen already?"</p>
-
-<p>"How!" exclaimed the cicerone; "you have not
-seen the royal chapel, have you, sir?"</p>
-
-<p>"What is there in the royal chapel?"</p>
-
-<p>"What is there? Caramba! Nothing less than
-the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholics."</p>
-
-<p>I could have said so! I had in my mind a place
-ready for this idea, and the idea was lacking! The
-Catholic kings must certainly have been buried in
-Granada, where they fought the last great chivalrous
-war of the Middle Ages, and where they gave Christopher
-Columbus a commission to fit out ships which
-bore him to the New World. I ran rather than
-walked to the royal chapel, preceded by the limping
-cicerone; an old sacristan opened the door of the
-sacristy, and before he allowed me to enter and see<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">233</span>
-the tombs he led me to a sort of glass cupboard full
-of precious objects, and said to me, "You will remember
-that Isabella the Catholic, to furnish Christopher
-Columbus with the money that he needed to
-supply the ships for the voyage, not knowing where
-to turn because the coffers of the state were empty,
-put her jewels in pawn."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes: well?" I demanded impatiently; and, divining
-the answer, felt my heart beat faster the
-while.</p>
-
-<p>"Well," replied the sacristan, "that is the box in
-which the queen locked her jewels to send them to
-be pawned."</p>
-
-<p>And so saying he opened the cupboard and took
-out the box and handed it to me.</p>
-
-<p>Oh! brave men may say what they will; as for
-me, there are things that make me tremble and
-weep. I have touched the box that contained the
-treasure by which Columbus was enabled to discover
-America. Every time I repeat those words my
-blood is stirred, and I add, "I have touched it with
-these hands," and I look at my hands.</p>
-
-<p>That cupboard contains also the sword of King
-Ferdinand, the crown and sceptre of Isabella, a missal
-and some other ornaments of the king and queen.</p>
-
-<p>We entered the chapel. Between the altar and a
-great iron chancel that separates it from the remaining
-space stand two great mausoleums of marble
-adorned with statuettes and bas-reliefs of great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">234</span>
-value. Upon one of them lie the statues of Ferdinand
-and Isabella in their royal robes, with crown,
-sword, and sceptre; on the other the statues of the
-other two princes of Spain, and around the statues
-lions, angels, and arms, and various ornaments, presenting
-a regal appearance, austere and magnificent.</p>
-
-<p>The sacristan lighted a flambeau, and, pointing
-out a sort of trap-door in the pavement between the
-two mausoleums, asked me to open it and descend
-into the subterranean chamber. With the cicerone's
-aid I opened the trap-door; the sacristan descended,
-and I followed him down a narrow little staircase
-until we reached a little room. There were five
-caskets of lead, bound with iron bands, each sealed
-with two initials under a crown. The sacristan
-lowered the torch, and, touching all five of them,
-one after another, with his hand, said in a slow,
-solemn voice,</p>
-
-<p>"Here rests the great queen Isabella the Catholic.</p>
-
-<p>"Here rests the great king Ferdinand V.</p>
-
-<p>"Here rests the king Philip I.</p>
-
-<p>"Here rests Queen Joanna the Mad.</p>
-
-<p>"Here rests Lady Maria, her daughter, who died
-at the age of nine years.</p>
-
-<p>"God keep them all in his holy peace!"</p>
-
-<p>And, placing the torch on the ground, he crossed
-his arms and closed his eyes, as if to give me time
-for meditation.</p>
-
-<p>One would become a hunchback at his desk if he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">235</span>
-were to describe all the religious monuments of
-Granada&mdash;the stupendous Cartuja; the Monte Sacro,
-containing the grottoes of the martyrs; the church
-of San Geronimo, where the great leader Gonzalez
-di Cordova is buried; the convent of Santo Domingo,
-founded by Torquemada the Inquisitor; the
-convent of the Angels, containing paintings by
-Cano and Murillo and many others; but I suppose
-that my readers may be even more weary than I am,
-and will consequently pardon me for passing by a
-mountain of description which probably would only
-give them a confused idea of the things described.</p>
-
-<p>But as I have mentioned the sepulchre of the
-great commander, Gonzalez di Cordova, I cannot
-forbear translating a curious document in reference
-to him which was shown me in the church of San
-Geronimo by a sacristan who was an admirer of the
-deeds of that hero. The document, in the form of
-an anecdote, is as follows:</p>
-
-<p>"Every step of the great captain Don Gonzalez
-di Cordova was an assault, and every assault a victory;
-his sepulchre in the convent of the Geronomites
-at Granada was adorned with two hundred
-banners which he had taken. His envious rivals,
-and the treasurers of the kingdom of Naples in particular,
-induced the king in 1506 to demand a statement
-from Gonzalez of the use he had made of the
-great sums received from Spain for the conduct of
-the war in Italy; and, in fact, the king was so small<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">236</span>
-as to consent, and even to be present on the occasion
-of the conference.</p>
-
-<p>"Gonzalez acceded to the demand with the
-haughtiest disdain, and proposed to give a severe
-lesson to the treasurers and the king upon the treatment
-and consideration to be accorded a conqueror
-of kingdoms.</p>
-
-<p>"He replied with great indifference and calmness
-that he would prepare his accounts for the following
-day, and would let it appear which was the debtor,
-himself or the exchequer, which demanded an account
-of one hundred and thirty thousand ducats
-delivered upon the first payment, eighty thousand
-crowns upon the second, three millions upon the
-third, eleven millions upon the fourth, thirteen millions
-upon the fifth, and so on as the solemn, nasal,
-foolish secretary who authorized so important an act
-continued to enumerate the sums.</p>
-
-<p>"The great Gonzalez kept his word, presented
-himself at the second audience, and, bringing out a
-voluminous book in which he had noted his justification,
-he began with the following words in a deep,
-sonorous voice:</p>
-
-<p>"'Two hundred thousand seven hundred and
-thirty-six ducats and nine reales to the fathers, the
-nuns, and the poor, to the end that they might pray
-God for the triumph of the Spanish arms.</p>
-
-<p>"'One hundred thousand ducats for powder and
-shot.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">237</span></p>
-
-<p>"'Ten thousand ducats for perfumed gloves to
-protect the soldiers from the stench of the corpses
-of the enemy left on the field of battle.</p>
-
-<p>"'One hundred and seventy thousand ducats for
-renewing bells worn out by continuous ringing for
-constant new victories over the enemy.</p>
-
-<p>"'Fifty thousand ducats for brandy for the soldiers
-on the day of battle.</p>
-
-<p>"'A million and a half ducats for the maintenance
-of the prisoners and wounded.</p>
-
-<p>"'A million for returning thanks and Te Deums
-to the Omnipotent.</p>
-
-<p>"'Three hundred millions in masses for the dead.</p>
-
-<p>"'Seven hundred thousand four hundred and
-ninety-four ducats for spies and ...</p>
-
-<p>"'One hundred millions for the patience which I
-showed yesterday on hearing that the king demanded
-an account from the man who has given him his
-kingdom.'</p>
-
-<p>"These are the celebrated accounts of the great
-captain, the originals of which are in the possession
-of Count d'Altimira.</p>
-
-<p>"One of the original accounts, with the autograph
-seal of the great captain, exists in the Military
-Museum of London, where it is guarded with great
-care."</p>
-
-<p>On reading this document I returned to the hotel,
-making invidious comparisons between Gonzalez di
-Cordova and the Spanish generals of our times,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">238</span>
-which, for grave state reasons, as they say in the
-tragedies, I dare not repeat.</p>
-
-<p>In the hotel I saw something new every day.
-There were many university students who had come
-from Malaga and other Andalusian cities to take the
-examination for the doctor's degree at Granada,
-whether because they were a little easier there or
-for what other reason I do not know. We all ate
-at a round table. One morning at breakfast one of
-the students, a young man of about twenty, announced
-that at two o'clock he was to be examined
-in canon law, and that, not feeling very sure of himself,
-he had decided to take a glass of wine to refresh
-the springs of eloquence. He was accustomed to
-drink only wine weakened with water, and committed
-the imprudence of emptying at a single
-draught a glass of the vintage of Xerez. His face
-changed in an instant in so strange a manner that if
-I had not seen the transformation with my own eyes
-I should not have believed that he was the same
-person.</p>
-
-<p>"There! that is enough!" cried his friends.</p>
-
-<p>But the young man, who already felt that he had
-become suddenly strong, keen, and confident, cast a
-compassionate glance at his companions, and with
-a lordly gesture ordered the waiter to fetch him
-another glass.</p>
-
-<p>"You will be drunk," they said.</p>
-
-<p>His only response was to drain a second glass.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">239</span></p>
-
-<p>Then he became wonderfully talkative. There
-was a score of persons at table: in a few minutes he
-was conversing with them all, and he revealed a
-thousand secrets of his past life and his plans for
-the future. He said that he was from Cadiz, that he
-had eight thousand francs a year to spend, and that
-he wished to devote himself to a diplomatic career,
-because with that revenue, added to something
-which his uncle would leave him, he should be able
-to cut a good figure wherever he might be; that he
-had decided to take a wife at thirty, and to marry a
-woman as tall as himself, because it was his opinion
-that the wife should be of the same stature as her
-husband, to keep either from getting the upper hand
-of the other; that when he was a boy he was in
-love with the daughter of an American consul as
-beautiful as a flower and strong as a pine, but she
-had a red birth-mark behind one ear, which looked
-badly, although she knew how to cover it very well
-with her scarf, and he showed us with his napkin
-how she covered it; and that Don Amadeus was too
-ingenuous a man to succeed in governing Spain;
-that of the poets Zorilla and Espronceda, he had
-always preferred Espronceda; that it would be folly
-to cede Cuba to America; that the examination on
-canon law made him laugh; and that he wished to
-drink another four fingers of Xerez, the finest wine
-in Europe.</p>
-
-<p>He drank a third glass in spite of the good coun<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">240</span>sel
-and disapprobation of his friends, and after prattling
-a little longer amid the laughter of his audience,
-he suddenly became silent, looked fixedly at a
-lady sitting opposite to him, dropped his head, and
-fell asleep. I thought that he could not present himself
-for the examination that day, but was mistaken.
-A short hour later they awakened him; he went up
-stairs to wash his face, ran off to the university still
-drowsy, took his examination, and was promoted, to
-the greater glory of the wine of Xerez and Spanish
-diplomacy.</p>
-
-<p>I devoted the following days to visiting the monuments,
-or, to be more accurate, the ruins of the
-Moorish monuments which besides the Alhambra
-and the Generalife attest the ancient splendor of
-Granada. Insomuch as it was the last bulwark of
-Islam, Granada is the city which presents the most
-numerous relics of all the cities of Spain. On the
-hill called the hill of <i>Dinadamar</i> (the Fountain of
-Tears) one may still see the ruins of four towers
-rising at the four corners of a great cistern into
-which flowed the waters from the Sierra to supply
-the highest part of the city. There were baths, gardens,
-and villas of which not a trace remains: from
-that point one overlooked the city with its minarets,
-its terraces, and its mosques gleaming among the
-palms and cypresses. Near there one sees a Moorish
-gate called the gate of Elvira&mdash;a great arch
-crowned with battlements&mdash;and beyond it are the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">241</span>
-ruins of the palaces of the caliphs. Near the Alameda
-promenade stands a square tower in which
-there is a great hall ornamented with the usual Arabian
-inscriptions. Near the convent of San Domingo
-are the remains of gardens and palaces once
-joined to the Alhambra by a subterranean passage.
-Within the city is the Alcaiceria, a Moorish market
-almost perfectly preserved, formed of a few little
-streets as straight and narrow as corridors, lined
-with two rows of shops, one adjoining the other, and
-presenting the strange appearance of an Asiatic
-bazaar. In short, one cannot take a step in Granada
-without coming face to face with an arch, an
-arabesque, a column, or a pile of stones which suggests
-its fantastic, luxurious past.</p>
-
-<p>What turns and windings have I not made through
-those tortuous streets at the hottest hour of the day,
-under a sun that shrivelled my brain, without meeting
-a living soul! At Granada, as in the other
-cities of Andalusia, the people are alive only at
-night, and the night repays them for the imprisonment
-of the day; the public promenades are crowded
-and confused by the hurry and jostling of a multitude,
-one half of which seems to be seeking the
-other half upon urgent business. The crowd is
-densest in the Alameda, but, for all that, I spent my
-evenings on the Alameda with Gongora, who talked
-to me of Moorish monuments, and with a journalist
-who discoursed on politics, and also with another<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">242</span>
-young man who talked of women, and frequently
-with all three of them together, to my infinite
-pleasure, because those cheery meetings, like those of
-school-boys, at odd times and places, refreshed my
-mind, to steal a beautiful simile, like a summer
-shower refreshes the grass as it falls faster and
-faster, dancing for joy.</p>
-
-<p>If I were obliged to say something about the
-people of Granada, I should be embarrassed, because
-I have not seen them. In the day-time I met no
-one in the streets, and at night I could not see them.
-The theatres were not open, and when I might have
-found some one in the city I was wandering through
-the halls or avenues of the Alhambra; and then I
-had so much to do to see everything in the short
-time which I had allowed myself that no unoccupied
-moments remained for those chance conversations,
-like the ones I had in the other cities, in the streets
-and the cafés, with whomever I happened to meet.</p>
-
-<p>But from what I learned from men who were in
-a position to give me trustworthy information, the
-people of Granada do not enjoy an enviable reputation
-in Spain. They are said to be ill-tempered,
-violent, vindictive, and bloodthirsty; and this arraignment
-is not disproved by the pages of the city
-newspapers. It is not publicly stated, but every one
-knows it for a fact, that popular instruction in Granada
-is at a lower ebb than even in Seville and the
-other smaller Spanish cities, and, as a rule, every<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">243</span>thing
-that cannot be produced by the sun and the
-soil, which produce so bountifully, goes to the bad,
-either through indolence or ignorance or shiftlessness.
-Granada is not connected by railway with
-any important city: she lives alone, surrounded by
-her gardens, enclosed by her mountains, happy with
-the fruits which Nature produces under her hand,
-gently lulling herself to sleep in the vanity of her
-beauty and the pride of her history&mdash;idle, drowsy,
-and fanciful, content to answer with a yawn to any
-one who reproves her for her condition: "I gave
-Spain the painter Alonzo Cano, the poet Louis de
-Leon, the historian Fernando de Castillo, the sacred
-orator Luis di Grenada, and the minister Martinez
-de la Rosas. I have paid my debt, leave me in
-peace;" and this is the reply made by almost all the
-southern cities of Spain, more beautiful, alas! than
-wise and industrious, and proud rather than civilized.
-Ah! one who has seen them can never have
-done exclaiming, "What a pity!"</p>
-
-<p>"Now that you have seen all the marvels of Moorish
-art and tropical vegetation there remains the suburb
-of the Albaicin to be seen before you can say
-that you know Granada. Prepare your mind for a
-new world, put your hand on your purse, and follow
-me."</p>
-
-<p>So said Gongora to me on the last evening of my
-sojourn in Granada. A Republican journalist was
-with us, Melchiorre Almago by name, the director<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">244</span>
-of the <i>Idea</i>, a congenial, affable young man, who to
-accompany us sacrificed his dinner and a leading
-article that he had been cogitating since morning.</p>
-
-<p>We walked on until we came to the square of the
-<i>Audiencia</i>. There Gongora pointed out an alley
-winding up a hill, and said to me, "Here commences
-the Albaicin;" and Señor Melchiorre, touching
-a house with his cane, added, "Here commences
-the territory of the republic."</p>
-
-<p>We turned up the alley, passed from it into another,
-and from that into a third, always ascending,
-without my seeing anything extraordinary, although
-I looked curiously in every direction. Narrow streets,
-squalid houses, old women dozing on the doorsteps,
-mothers carefully inspecting their children's heads,
-gaping dogs, crowing cocks, ragged boys running
-and shouting, and the other things that one always
-sees in the suburbs; but in those streets nothing
-more. But gradually, as we ascended, the appearance
-of the houses and the people began to change;
-the roofs became lower, the windows fewer, the doors
-smaller, and the people more ragged. In the middle
-of every street ran a little stream in a walled gutter,
-in the Moorish style; here and there over the doors
-and around the windows one saw the remains of arabesques
-and fragments of columns, and in the corners
-of the squares fountains and well-curbs of the
-time of the Moorish dominion. At every hundred
-steps it seemed as if we had gone back fifty years<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">245</span>
-toward the age of the caliphs. My two companions
-touched me on the elbow from time to time, saying
-as they did so, "Look at that old woman!"&mdash;"Look
-at that little girl!"&mdash;"Look at that man!" and I
-looked, and asked, "Who are these people?" If I
-had unexpectedly found myself in that place, I
-should have believed on seeing those men and
-women that I was in an African village, so strange
-were the faces, the dress, the manner of moving,
-talking, and looking, at so short a distance from the
-centre of Granada&mdash;so different were they from the
-people that I had seen up to that time. At every
-turn I stopped to look in the face of my companions,
-and they answered, "That is nothing; we are now
-in the civilized part of the Albaicin; this is the
-Parisian quarter of the suburb; let us go on."</p>
-
-<p>We went on, and the streets seemed like the bed
-of a torrent&mdash;paths hollowed out among the rocks,
-all banks and gullies, broken and stony&mdash;some so
-steep that a mule could not climb them, others so
-narrow that a man could scarcely pass; some
-blocked by women and children sitting on the
-ground, others grass-grown and deserted; and all so
-squalid, wild, and uncouth that the most wretched of
-our villages cannot give one an idea of them, because
-this is a poverty that bears the impress of
-another race and another continent. We turned
-into a labyrinth of streets, passing from time to
-time under a great Moorish arch or through a high<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">246</span>
-square from which one commanded a view of the
-wide valleys, the snow-covered mountains, and a
-part of the lower city, until finally we arrived at a
-street rougher and narrower than any we had yet
-seen; and there we stopped to take breath.</p>
-
-<p>"Here commences the real Albaicin," said the
-young archeologist. "Look at that house!"</p>
-
-<p>I looked; it was a low, smoke-stained, ruinous
-house, with a door that seemed like the mouth of a
-cavern, before which one saw, under a mass of rags,
-a group, or rather a heap, of old women and little
-children, who upon our approach raised their eyes
-heavy with sleep, and with bony hands removed
-from the threshold some filth which impeded our
-passage.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us enter," said my friend.</p>
-
-<p>"Enter?" I demanded.</p>
-
-<p>If they had told me that beyond those walls there
-was a facsimile of the famous Court of Miracles
-which Victor Hugo has described, I should not have
-doubted their word. No door has ever said more
-emphatically than that, "Stand back!" I cannot
-find a better comparison than the gaping mouth of
-a gigantic witch breathing out pestilential vapors.
-But I took courage and entered.</p>
-
-<p>Oh, marvellous! It was the court of a Moorish
-house surrounded by graceful little columns surmounted
-by lovely arches, with those indescribable
-traceries of the Alhambra along the porticoes and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">247</span>
-around the mullioned windows, with the beams and
-ceiling carved and enamelled with little niches for
-vases of flowers and urns of perfume, with a pool
-in the middle, and all the traces and memorials of
-the delicate life of an opulent family. And in that
-house lived those wretched people!</p>
-
-<p>We went out and entered other houses, in all of
-which I found some fragments of Moorish architecture
-and sculpture. From time to time Gongora
-would say to me, "This was a harem. Those were
-the baths of the women; up yonder was the chamber
-of a favorite;" and I fixed my eyes upon every
-bit of the arabesqued wall and upon all the little
-columns of the windows, as if to ask them for a revelation
-of their secrets&mdash;only a name or a magic
-word with which I might reconstruct in an instant
-the ruined edifice and summon the beautiful Arabians
-who had dwelt there. But, alas! amid the
-columns and under the arches of the windows there
-were only rags and wrinkled faces.</p>
-
-<p>Among other houses, we entered one where we
-found a group of girls sewing under the shade of a
-tree in the courtyard, directed by an old woman.
-They were all working upon a great piece of cloth
-that seemed like a mat or a bed-spread, in black and
-gray stripes. I approached and asked one of the
-girls, "What is this?"</p>
-
-<p>They all looked up and with a concerted movement
-spread the cloth open, so that I could see their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">248</span>
-work plainly. Almost before I had seen it I cried,
-"I will buy it."</p>
-
-<p>They all began to laugh. It was the mantle of an
-Andalusian mountaineer, made to wear in the saddle,
-rectangular in form, with an opening in the middle
-to put one's head through, embroidered in bright-colored
-worsteds along the two shortest sides and
-around the opening. The design of the embroideries,
-which represented birds and fantastic flowers,
-green, blue, white, red, and yellow, all in a mass,
-was as crude as a pattern a child might make: the
-beauty of the work lay altogether in the harmony
-of the colors, which was truly marvellous. I cannot
-express the sensation produced by the sight of that
-mantle, except by saying that it laughed and filled
-one with its cheerfulness; and it seems to me impossible
-to imagine anything gayer, more festive, or
-more childishly and gracefully capricious. It was a
-thing to look upon in order to bring yourself out of
-a bad humor, or when you wish to write a pretty
-verse in a lady's album, or when you are expecting
-a person whom you wish to receive with your
-brightest smile.</p>
-
-<p>"When will you finish these embroideries?" I
-asked one of the girls.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Hoy mismo</i>" (to-day), they all replied in chorus.</p>
-
-<p>"And what is the mantle worth?"</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Cinco</i>" (five), stammered one.</p>
-
-<p>The old women pierced her with a glance which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">249</span>
-seemed to say, "Blockhead!" and answered hastily,
-"Six <i>duros</i>."</p>
-
-<p>Six <i>duros</i> are thirty francs; it did not seem much
-to me, and I put my hand in my pocket.</p>
-
-<p>Gongora cast a withering glance at me which
-seemed to say, "You simpleton!" and, drawing me
-back by the arm, said, "One moment: six <i>duros</i> is
-an exorbitant price."</p>
-
-<p>The old woman shot him another glance which
-seemed to say, "Brigand!" and replied, "I cannot
-take less."</p>
-
-<p>Gongora gave her another glance, which seemed
-to say, "Liar!" and said, "Come, now; you can
-take four <i>duros</i>; you would not ask more from the
-country-people."</p>
-
-<p>The old woman insisted, and for a while we continued
-to exchange with our eyes the titles of simpleton,
-swindler, marplot, liar, pinch-penny, spend-thrift,
-until the mantle was sold to me for five duros,
-and I paid and left my address, and we went out
-blessed and commended to God by the old woman
-and followed a good way by the black eyes of the
-embroiderers.</p>
-
-<p>We went on from street to street, among houses
-increasingly wretched and growing blacker and
-blacker, and more revolting rags and faces. But
-we never came to the end, and I asked my companions,
-"Will you have the goodness to tell me if Granada
-has any limits, and if so where they are?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">250</span>
-May one ask where we are going and how we shall
-return home?" But they simply laughed and went
-forward.</p>
-
-<p>"Is there anything stranger than this to be seen?"
-I asked at a certain point.</p>
-
-<p>"Stranger?" they both replied. "This second
-part of the suburb which you have seen still belongs
-to civilization: if not the Parisian, it is at least the
-Madrid, quarter of the Albaicin, and there <i>is</i> something
-else; let us go on."</p>
-
-<p>We passed through a very small street containing
-some scantily-clothed women, who looked like people
-fallen from the moon; crossed a little square full of
-babies and pigs in friendly confusion; passed through
-two or three other alleys, now climbing, now descending,
-now in the midst of houses, now among piles of
-rubbish, now between trees and now among rocks,
-until we finally arrived at the solitary place on a
-hillside from which we saw in front the Generalife,
-to the right the Alhambra, and below a deep valley
-filled with a dense wood.</p>
-
-<p>It was growing dark; no one was in sight and not
-a voice was heard.</p>
-
-<p>"Is this the end of the suburb?" I asked.</p>
-
-<p>My two companions laughed and said, "Look in
-that direction."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<div class="caption"> <i><a id="The_Alhambra"></a>The Alhambra and the Valley of
-the Darro</i></div>
-<div class="nobreak"><img src="images/illus-b250cs.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>I turned and saw along the street that was lost in
-a distant grove an interminable row of houses. Of
-houses? Rather of dens dug in the earth, with a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">251</span>
-bit of wall in front, with holes for windows and crevices
-for doors, and wild plants of every sort on top
-and along the sides&mdash;veritable caves of beasts, in
-which by the glow of faint lights, scarcely visible,
-swarmed the gypsies by hundreds; a people multiplying
-in the bowels of the mountain, poorer, blacker, and
-more savage than any seen before; another city,
-unknown to the greater part of Granada, inaccessible
-to the police, closed to the census-officers, ignorant
-of every law and of all government, living
-one knows not how, how numerous no one knows,
-foreign to the city, to Spain, and to modern civilization,
-with a language and statutes and manners of
-their own&mdash;superstitious, false, thieving, beggarly,
-and fierce.</p>
-
-<p>"Button up your coat and look out for your
-watch," said Gongora to me, "and let us go forward."</p>
-
-<p>We had not taken a hundred steps when a half-naked
-boy, black as the walls of his hovel, ran out,
-gave a cry, and, making a sign to the other boys
-who followed him, dashed toward us; behind the
-boys came the women; behind the women the men,
-and then old men, old women, and more children;
-and in less time than it takes to tell it we were surrounded
-by a crowd. My two friends, recognized as
-Granadines, succeeded in saving themselves; I was
-left in the lurch. I can still see those horrid faces,
-still hear those voices, and still feel the pressure of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">252</span>
-those hands: gesticulating, shouting, saying a thousand
-things which I did not understand; dragging at
-my coat, my waistcoat, and my sleeves, they pressed
-upon me like a pack of famished people, breathed in
-my face, and cut off my very breath. They were,
-for the most part, half naked and emaciated&mdash;their
-garments falling in tatters, with unkempt hair, horrible
-to see; I seemed to be like Don Roderick in
-the midst of a crowd of the infected in that famous
-dream of the August night.</p>
-
-<p>"What do these people want?" I asked myself.
-"Where have I been brought? How shall I get out
-of this?" I felt almost a sense of fear, and looked
-around uneasily. Little by little I began to understand.</p>
-
-<p>"I have a sore on my shoulder," said one; "I
-cannot work; give me a penny."</p>
-
-<p>"I have a broken leg," said another.</p>
-
-<p>"I have a palsied arm."</p>
-
-<p>"I have had a long sickness."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Un cuarto, Señorito!</i>"</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Un real, caballero!</i>"</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Una peseta para todos!</i>"</p>
-
-<p>This last request was received with a general cry
-of approval: "<i>Una peseta para todos!</i>" (a <i>peseta</i> for
-us all).</p>
-
-<p>With some little trepidation I drew out my purse;
-they all stood on tiptoe; the nearest poked their
-chins into it; those behind put their chins on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">253</span>
-heads of those in front; the farthest stretched out
-their arms.</p>
-
-<p>"One moment," I cried. "Who has the most
-authority among you all?"</p>
-
-<p>They all replied with one voice, stretching out
-their arms toward the same person, "That one."</p>
-
-<p>It was a terrible old hag, all nose and chin, with a
-great tuft of white hair standing straight above her
-head like a bunch of feathers, and a mouth which
-seemed like a letter-box, with little clothing save a
-chemise&mdash;black, shrivelled, and mummified; she approached
-me bowing and smiling, and held out her
-hands to take mine.</p>
-
-<p>"What do you want?" I demanded, taking a step
-backward.</p>
-
-<p>"Your fortune," they all cried.</p>
-
-<p>"Tell my fortune, then," I replied, holding out my
-hand.</p>
-
-<p>The old woman took my poor hand between her
-ten&mdash;I cannot say fingers, but shapeless bones&mdash;placed
-her sharp nose on it, raised her head, looked
-hard at me, pointed her finger toward me, and,
-swaying and pausing at every sentence as if she
-were reciting poetry, said to me in inspired accents,
-"Thou wert born upon a famous day.</p>
-
-<p>"Upon a famous day also shalt thou die.</p>
-
-<p>"Thou art the possessor of amazing riches."</p>
-
-<p>Here she muttered I know not what about sweethearts
-and marriage and felicity, from which I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">254</span>
-understood that she supposed I was married, and
-then she continued: "On the day of thy marriage
-there was great feasting in thy house; there were
-many to give and take.</p>
-
-<p>"And another woman wept.</p>
-
-<p>"And when thou seest her the wings of thy heart
-open."</p>
-
-<p>And so on in this strain, saying that I had sweethearts
-and friends and treasures and jewels in store
-for me every day of the year, in every country of
-the world. While the old woman was speaking
-they were all silent, as if they believed she had
-prophesied truly. She finally closed her prophecy
-with a formula of dismissal, and ended the formula
-by extending her arms and making a skip in a dancing
-attitude. I gave her the peseta, and the crowd
-broke into shouting, applause, and singing, making
-a thousand uncanny hops and gestures around me,
-saluting me with nudges and slaps of the hand on
-my back, as if I were an old friend, until finally, by
-dint of wriggling and striking now one and then
-another, I succeeded in opening a passage and rejoined
-my friends. But a new danger threatened
-us. The news of the arrival of a foreigner had
-spread, the tribes were in motion, the city of the
-gypsies was all in an uproar; from the neighboring
-houses and from the distant huts, from the top of the
-hill and the bottom of the valley, ran boys, women
-with babies about their necks, old men with canes,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">255</span>
-cripples, and professional imposters, septuagenarian
-prophetesses who wished to tell my fortune&mdash;an
-army of beggars coming upon us from every direction.
-It was night; there was no time for hesitation;
-we broke into a run toward the city like
-school-boys. Then a devilish cry broke out behind
-us, and the nimblest began to chase us. Thanks to
-Heaven! after a short race we found ourselves in
-safety&mdash;tired and breathless, and covered with dust,
-but safe.</p>
-
-<p>"It was necessary to escape at any cost," said
-Señor Melchiorre with a laugh; "otherwise we
-should have gone home without our shirts."</p>
-
-<p>"And take notice," added Gongora, "that we
-have seen only the door of Gypsy-town, the civilized
-part, not the Paris nor the Madrid, but at least
-the Granada, of the Albaicin. If we could only have
-gone on! if you could have seen the rest!"</p>
-
-<p>"But how many thousand are there of those
-people?" I demanded.</p>
-
-<p>"No one knows."</p>
-
-<p>"How do they live?"</p>
-
-<p>"No one can imagine."</p>
-
-<p>"What authority do they recognize?"</p>
-
-<p>"One only&mdash;<i>los reyes</i> (the kings), the heads of families
-or of houses, those who have the most money
-and years. They never go out of their city; they
-know nothing, they live in the dark as to all that
-happens beyond the circle of their hovels. Dy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">256</span>nasties
-fall, governments change, armies clash, and
-it is a miracle if the news ever reaches their ears.
-Ask them if Isabella is still on the throne; they do
-not know. Ask them who Amadeus is; they have
-never heard his name. They are born and perish
-like flies, and they live as they lived centuries ago,
-multiplying without leaving their own boundaries,
-ignorant and unknown, seeing nothing all their
-lives beyond the valleys lying below their feet and
-the Alhambra towering above their heads."</p>
-
-<p>We passed again through all the streets that we
-had traversed, now dark and deserted, and endless
-as it seemed to me; and, climbing and descending,
-turning and twisting, and turning again, we finally
-arrived at the square of the Audiencia in the middle
-of the city of Granada&mdash;in the civilized world. At
-the sight of the brightly-lighted cafés and shops I
-experienced a feeling of pleasure, as if I had just
-returned to city-life after a year's sojourn in an
-uninhabited wilderness.</p>
-
-<p>On the evening of the next day I left for Valencia.
-I remember that a few moments before starting, as I
-was paying my hotel-bill, I observed to the proprietor
-that there was an overcharge for one candle,
-and playfully asked him, "Will you deduct it for
-me?" The proprietor seized his pen, and, deducting
-twenty centimes from the total charge, replied
-in a voice which he wished to appear emotional,
-"The devil! among Italians!"</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">257</span></p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a><br /><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p>
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="VALENCIA" id="VALENCIA"></a>VALENCIA.</h2>
-
-
-<p>The journey from Granada to Valencia, made all
-<i>de un tiron</i> (at one breath), as they say in Spain, is
-one of those recreations in which a rational man
-indulges only once in his life. From Granada to
-Menjibar, a village on the left bank of the Guadalquivir,
-between Jaen and Andujar, is a night's
-ride by diligence; from Menjibar to the Alcazar de
-San Juan is a half-day's journey by railway in an
-uncurtained carriage, through a plain as bare as the
-palm of one's hand, under a blazing sun; and from
-the Alcazar de San Juan to Valencia, taking account
-of an entire evening spent in the station of the Alcazar,
-makes another night and another morning
-before one reaches the longed-for city at noon,
-where Nature, as Emile Praga would say, is horrified
-at the dreadful idea that there are still four
-months of summer.</p>
-
-<p>But it must be said that the country through
-which one passes is so beautiful from beginning to
-the end that if one were capable of appreciation
-when one is dead with sleep and finds one's self
-turning into water by reason of the heat, one would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">260</span>
-go into ecstasies a thousand times. It is a journey
-of unexpected landscapes, sudden vistas, remarkable
-contrasts, theatrical effects of Nature, so to speak&mdash;marvellous
-and fantastic transformations, which leave
-in the mind an indescribable, vague illusion of having
-passed not through a part of Spain, but along an
-entire meridian of the earth across the most dissimilar
-countries. From the <i>vega</i> of Granada, which
-you cross in the moonlight, almost opening a way
-among the groves and gardens, in the midst of a
-luxuriant vegetation that seems to crowd around
-you like a tossing sea, ready to overflow and engulf
-you with its billows of verdure,&mdash;from this you
-emerge into the midst of ragged and precipitous
-mountains, where not a trace of human habitation
-is to be seen; you graze the edge of precipices, wind
-along the banks of mountain-torrents, run along at
-the bottom of the ravines, and seem to be lost in a
-rocky labyrinth. Then you come out a second time
-among the green hills and flowery fields of upper
-Andalusia, and then, all suddenly, the fields and hills
-disappear and you find yourself in the midst of the
-rocky mountains of the Sierra Morena, that hang
-over your head from every direction and close the
-horizon all around like the walls of an immense
-abyss. You leave the Sierra Morena, and the desert
-plains of La Mancha stretch before you; you leave
-La Mancha and advance through the flowery plain
-of Almansa, varied by every sort of cultivation,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">261</span>
-presenting the appearance of a vast carpet of checkered
-pattern colored in all the shades of green that
-can be found upon the pallet of a landscape-painter.
-And, finally, the plain of Almansa opens into a delightful
-oasis, a land blest of God, a true earthly
-paradise, the kingdom of Valencia, from whose
-boundaries, even to the city itself, you pass through
-gardens, vineyards, fragrant orange-groves, white
-villas encircled by terraces, cheerful, brightly-colored
-villages, clusters, avenues, and groves of palms,
-pomegranates, aloes, and sugar-canes, interminable
-hedges of Indian fig, long chains of low hills, and
-conical mounds cultivated as kitchen-gardens and
-flower-beds, laid out with minute care from top to
-bottom, and variegated like great bunches of grass
-and flowers; and everywhere a vigorous vegetation
-which hides every bare spot, covers every height,
-clothes every projection, climbs, falls, trails along,
-marches forward, overflows, intertwines, shuts off
-the view, impedes the road, dazzles with its verdure,
-wearies with its beauty, confounds with its caprices
-and its frolics, and produces an effect as of a sudden
-parting of the earth raised to fever heat by the fires
-of a secret volcano.</p>
-
-<p>The first building which meets the eye on entering
-Valencia is an immense bull-ring situated to the right
-of the railway. The building consists of four orders
-of superimposed arches rising on stout pilasters, all
-of brick, and in the distance resembling the Colos<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">262</span>seum.
-It is the bull-ring where on the fourth of
-September, 1871, King Amadeus, in the presence of
-thousands of spectators, shook hands with Tato, the
-celebrated one-legged <i>torero</i>, who as director of the
-spectacle had asked permission to render his homage
-in the royal box. Valencia is full of mementos of
-the duke d'Aosta. The sacristan of the cathedral
-has in his possession a gold chronometer bearing the
-duke's initials in diamonds, with a chain of pearls,
-which was presented by him when he went to pray
-in the chapel of Our Lady of the Desolate. In the
-hospice of the same name the poor remember that
-one day they received their daily bread from his
-hand. In the mosaic workshop of one Nolla they
-preserve two bricks, upon one of which he cut his
-own name with his sword, and upon the other the
-name of the queen. In the Plaza di Tetuan the
-people point out the house of Count di Cervellon,
-where he was entertained; it is the same house in
-which Ferdinand VII. signed the decrees annulling
-the constitution in 1814, in which Queen Christina
-abdicated the throne in 1840, in which Queen Isabella
-spent some days in 1858. In short, there is
-not a corner of the city of which it cannot be said,
-Here he shook hands with a working-man, here he
-visited a factory, there he passed on foot far from
-his suite, surrounded by a crowd, trustful, serene,
-and smiling.</p>
-
-<p>It was in Valencia, since I am speaking of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">263</span>
-duke d'Aosta,&mdash;it was in the city of Valencia that
-a little girl of five years in reciting some verses
-touched upon that terrible subject of a <i>foreign king</i>
-with probably the noblest and most considerate
-words spoken in Spain for many years previous to
-that time&mdash;words which, if all Spain had remembered
-and pondered then, would perhaps have spared
-her many of those calamities which have befallen
-her, and others which still threaten; words which
-perhaps one day some Spaniard may repeat with a
-sigh, and which already at this time draw from
-events a marvellous light of truth and beauty. And,
-since these verses are graceful and simple, I transcribe
-them here. The poem is entitled "God and
-the King," and runs as follows:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Dios, en todo soberano,</div>
- <div class="verse">Creó un dia á los mortales,</div>
- <div class="verse">Y á todos nos hizo iguales</div>
- <div class="verse">Con su poderosa mano.</div>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"No reconoció Naciones</div>
- <div class="verse">Ni colores ni matices?</div>
- <div class="verse">Y en ver los hombres felices</div>
- <div class="verse">Cifró sus aspiraciones.</div>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"El Rey, che su imágen es,</div>
- <div class="verse">Su bondad debe imitar</div>
- <div class="verse">Y el pueblo no ha de indagar</div>
- <div class="verse">Si es aleman ó francés.</div>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Porqué con ceño iracundo</div>
- <div class="verse">Rechazarle siendo bueno?</div>
- <div class="verse">Un Rey de bondades lleno</div>
- <div class="verse">Tiene por su patria el mundo.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">264</span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Vino de nacion estraña</div>
- <div class="verse">Cárlos Quinto emperador,</div>
- <div class="verse">Y conquistó su valor</div>
- <div class="verse">Mil laureles para España.</div>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Y es un recuerdo glorioso</div>
- <div class="verse">Aunque en guerra cimentado,</div>
- <div class="verse">El venturoso reinado</div>
- <div class="verse">De Felipe el Animoso.</div>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Hoy el tercero sois vos</div>
- <div class="verse">Nacido en estraño suelo</div>
- <div class="verse">Que viene á ver nuestro cielo</div>
- <div class="verse">Puro destello de Dios.</div>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Al rayo de nuestro sol</div>
- <div class="verse">Sed bueno, justo y leal,</div>
- <div class="verse">Que á un Rey bueno y liberal</div>
- <div class="verse">Adora el pueblo español.</div>
-</div><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Y á vuestra frente el trofeo</div>
- <div class="verse">Ceñid de perpetua gloria,</div>
- <div class="verse">Para que diga la historia</div>
- <div class="verse">&mdash;Fué grande el Rey Amadeo."</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>"God, Ruler over all, created mortals one day,
-and made all equal with His mighty hand. He recognized
-neither nations nor colors nor divisions, and
-to behold men happy was His desire. The king,
-who is His image, ought to imitate His goodness,
-and the people have no need to ask whether he be
-German or French. Why, then, with angry frown
-repulse him if he be good? A king abounding
-in good deeds holds the world as his country.
-Charles V., the emperor, came from a foreign na<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">265</span>tion,
-and by his valor won a thousand laurels for
-Spain. And the fortunate reign of Philip the Courageous
-is a glorious memory even though founded
-upon war.</p>
-
-<p>"To-day a third king rules you born on a foreign
-soil, who comes to look upon our sky, a clear spark
-of God. His love is true and just and loyal to the
-light of our sun, and this is a good and liberal king
-Spanish people adore. And around your brows
-you shall wear the trophy of perpetual glory upon
-which history shall write, 'Great was King Amadeus.'"</p>
-
-<p>Oh, poor little girl! how many wise things you
-have said! and how many foolish things others have
-done!</p>
-
-<p>The city of Valencia, if one enters it with one's
-mind full of the ballads in which the poets sang of
-its marvels, does not seem to correspond to the
-lovely image formed of it; neither, on the other
-hand, does it offer that sinister appearance for which
-one is prepared if one considers its just fame as a
-turbulent, warlike city, the fomenter of civil strife&mdash;a
-city prouder of the smell of its powder than of the
-fragrance of its orange-groves. It is a city built in
-the midst of a vast flowery plain on the right bank
-of the Guadalquivir, which separates it from the
-suburbs, a little way from the roadstead which serves
-as a port, and consists all of tortuous streets lined
-with high, ungainly, many-colored houses, and on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">266</span>
-this account less pleasing in appearance than the
-streets of the Andalusian cities, and entirely devoid
-of that evasive Oriental grace which so strangely
-stirs one's fancy. Along the left bank of the river
-extends a magnificent promenade formed of majestic
-avenues and beautiful gardens. These one reaches
-by going out of the city through the gate of the
-Cid, a structure flanked by two great embattled
-towers named after the hero because he passed
-through it in 1094 after he had expelled the Moors
-from Valencia. The cathedral, built upon the spot
-where stood a temple of Diana in Roman times, then
-a church of San Salvador in the time of the Goths,
-then a mosque in Moorish times, afterward converted
-into a church by the Cid, changed a second
-time into a mosque by the Moors in 1101, and
-for the third time into a church by King Don
-Jayme after the final overthrow of the invaders,
-is a vast structure, exceedingly rich in ornaments
-and treasures, but it cannot bear comparison with
-the greater number of the other Spanish cathedrals.
-There are a few palaces worth seeing, besides the
-palace of the Audiencia, a beautiful monument of
-the sixteenth century in which the Cortes of the
-kingdom of Valencia assembled; the <i>Casa de Ayuntamiento</i>,
-built between the fifteenth and sixteenth
-centuries, in which are preserved the sword of Don
-Jayme, the keys of the city, and the banner of the
-Moors; and, above all, <i>the Lonja</i>&mdash;the Bourse of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">267</span>
-merchants&mdash;notable for its celebrated hall consisting
-of three great naves divided by twenty-four spiral
-columns, above which curve the light arches of the
-vaulted roof in bold lines, the architecture imparting
-to the eye a pleasing impression of gayety and harmony.
-And, finally, there is the art-gallery, which
-is not one of the least in Spain.</p>
-
-<p>But, to tell the truth, in those few days that I remained
-at Valencia waiting for the boat I was more
-occupied by politics than by art. And I proved the
-truth of the words I heard an illustrious Italian say
-before I left Italy&mdash;one who knew Spain like his
-his own home: "The foreigner who lives even for a
-short time in Spain is drawn little by little, almost
-insensibly, to heat his blood and muddle his brain
-over politics, as if Spain were his own country or
-as if the fortunes of his country were depending
-upon those of Spain. The passions are so inflamed,
-the struggle is so furious, and in this struggle there
-is always so clearly at stake the future, the safety,
-and the life of the nation, that it is impossible for
-any one with the least tinge of the Latin blood in his
-imagination and his system to remain an indifferent
-spectator. You must needs grow excited, speak at
-party meetings, take the elections seriously, mingle
-with the crowd at the political demonstrations, break
-with your friends, form a clique of those who think
-as you think&mdash;make, in a word, a Spaniard of yourself,
-even to the whites of your eyes. And gradu<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">268</span>ally,
-as you become Spanish, you forget Europe, as
-if it were at the antipodes, and end in seeing nothing
-beyond Spain, as if you were governing it, and as if
-all its interests were in your hands."</p>
-
-<p>Such is the case, and this was my experience. In
-those few days the Conservative ministry was shipwrecked
-and the Radicals had the wind behind
-them. Spain was all in a ferment; governors, generals,
-officials of all grades and of all administrations
-fell; a crowd of parvenus burst into the offices
-of the ministry with cries of joy: Zorilla was to inaugurate
-a new era of prosperity and peace; Don
-Amadeus had had an inspiration from heaven; liberty
-had conquered; Spain was saved. And I, as I
-listened to the band playing in front of the new governor's
-mansion under a clear starry sky in the
-midst of a joyous crowd,&mdash;I too had a ray of hope
-that the throne of Don Amadeus might finally extend
-its roots, and reproached myself for being too
-prone to predict evil. And that comedy which
-Zorilla played at his villa when he would by no
-means accept the presidency of the ministry, and
-sent back his friends and the members of the deputation,
-and finally, tired of continually saying no,
-fell into a swoon on saying yes, this, I say, gave
-me at the time a high opinion of the firmness of his
-character and led me to augur happily for the new
-government. And I said to myself that it was a sin
-to leave Spain just when the horizon was clearing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">269</span>
-and the royal palace of Madrid was tinted rose-color.
-And I had already considered the plan of returning
-to Madrid that I might have the satisfaction of sending
-some consoling news to Italy, and so be pardoned
-for the imprudence of sending unvarnished accounts
-of the situation up to that time. And I repeated
-the verses of Prati:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse">"Oh qual destin t'aspetta</div>
- <div class="verse">Aquila giovenetta!"</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>(Oh what a destiny awaits thee, young eagle!)
-And, save a little bombast in the appellation, it
-seemed to me that they contained a prophecy, and
-I imagined meeting the poet in the Piazza Colonna
-at Rome and running toward him to offer my congratulations
-and press his hand....</p>
-
-<p>The most beautiful sight in Valencia is the market.
-The Valencian peasants are the most artistic
-and bizarre in their dress of all the peasants of
-Spain. To cut a good figure in a group of maskers
-at one of our masquerades they need only enter the
-theatre dressed as they would be on a festival or
-market-day in the streets of Valencia and along
-the country roads. On first seeing them dressed in
-this style, one laughs, and cannot in any way be
-brought to believe that they are Spanish peasants.
-They have an indescribable air of Greeks, Bedouins,
-buffoons, tightrope-walkers, women partly undressed
-on their way to bed, the silent characters of a play<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">270</span>
-not quite ready to make their appearance, or facetious
-people who wish to make themselves generally
-ridiculous. They wear a full white shirt that takes
-the place of a jacket; a parti-colored velvet waistcoat
-open at the breast; a pair of zouave linen
-breeches which do not reach the knee, looking like
-drawers and standing out like the skirts of a ballet-dancer;
-a red or blue sash around the waist; a sort
-of embroidered white woollen stockings that leave
-the knee bare; a pair of corded sandals like those
-of the Catalan peasants; and on their heads, which
-are almost all shaved like those of the Chinese,
-they wear a handkerchief, red, sky-blue, yellow,
-or white, bound around like a cornucopia, and
-knotted at the temples or at the nape of the neck.
-They sometimes wear small velvet hats similar in
-shape to those worn in the other provinces of Spain.
-When they go into the city they nearly all carry
-around their shoulders or on their arms, now like a
-shawl, now like a mantle, or again like a little cape,
-a woollen <i>capa</i>, long and narrow, in brightly-colored
-stripes in which white and red predominate, adorned
-with fringe and rosettes. One may easily imagine
-the appearance presented by a square where there
-are gathered some hundreds of men dressed after
-this fashion: it is a Carnival scene, a festival, a tumult
-of colors, that makes one feel as gay as a band
-of music; a spectacle at once clownish, pretty, imposing,
-and ridiculous, to which the haughty faces<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">271</span>
-and the majestic bearing which distinguish the Valencian
-peasants add an air of gravity which heightens
-the extraordinary beauty of the scene.</p>
-
-<p>If there is an insolent, lying proverb, it is that
-old Spanish one which says, "In Valencia flesh is
-grass, grass is water, men are women, and the
-women nothing." Leaving that part about the flesh
-and the grass, which is a pun, the men, especially
-those of the lower classes, are tall and robust, and
-have the bold appearance of the Catalans and Arragonese,
-with a livelier and more luminous expression
-of the eye; and the women, by the consent of all
-the Spaniards and of as many foreigners as have
-travelled in Spain, are the most classically beautiful
-in the country. The Valencians, who know that the
-eastern coast of the Peninsula was originally settled
-by Greeks and Carthaginians, say, "It is a clear
-case. The Grecian type of beauty has lingered
-here." I do not venture to say yes or no to this
-assertion, for to describe the beauty of the women
-of a city where one has passed only a few hours
-would seem to me like a license to be taken only by
-the compiler of a "Guide." But one can easily discover
-a decided difference between the Andalusian
-and Valencian types of beauty. The Valencian is
-taller, more robust, and fairer, with more regular
-features, gentler eyes, and a more matronly walk
-and carriage. She does not possess the bewitching
-air of the Andalusian, which makes it necessary to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">272</span>
-bite one's finger as if to subdue the sudden and
-alarming insurrection of one's capricious desires at
-sight of her; but the Valencian is a woman whom
-one regards with a feeling of calmer admiration, and
-while one looks one says, as La Harpe said of the
-Apollo Belvidere, "<i>Notre tete se releve, notre maintien
-s'ennoblit</i>," and instead of imagining a little Andalusian
-house to hide her from the eyes of the
-world, one longs for a marble palace to receive the
-ladies and cavaliers who will come to render her
-homage.</p>
-
-<p>If one is to believe the rest of the Spaniards, the
-Valencian people are fierce and cruel beyond all imagination.
-If one wishes to get rid of an enemy, he
-finds an obliging man who for a few crowns undertakes
-the business with as much indifference as he
-would accept a commission to carry a letter to the
-post. A Valencian peasant who finds that he has a
-gun in his hands as he passes an unknown man in a
-lonely street says to his companion, "See if I can
-aim straight?" and takes aim and fires. This actually
-occurred not many years ago: I was assured
-of its truth. In the cities and villages of Spain the
-boys and young men of the people are accustomed
-to play at being bulls, as they call it. One takes the
-place of the bull and does the butting; another,
-with a sharp stick under his arm like a lance, climbs
-on the back of a third, who represents the horse, and
-repulses the assaults of the first. Once a band of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">273</span>
-young Valencians thought they would introduce
-some innovations into this sport, and so make it
-seem a little more realistic and afford the spectators
-and the participants a little more amusement
-than the customary way of playing it; and the innovations
-were to substitute for the stick a long
-sharp-pointed knife, one of those formidable <i>navajas</i>
-that we saw at Seville, and to give the man who took
-the part of the bull two other shorter knives, which,
-fastened firmly on either side of his head, answered
-the purpose of horns. It seems incredible, but it is
-true. They played with the knives, shed a sea of
-blood, several were killed, some were mortally
-wounded, and others badly hurt, without the game
-becoming a fight, without the rules of the sport
-being transgressed, and without any one raising his
-voice to end the slaughter.</p>
-
-<p>I tell these things as they were told to me,
-although I am far from believing all that is said
-against the Valencians; but it is certain that at Valencia
-the public safety, if not a myth, as our papers
-poetically say in speaking of Romagna and Sicily, is
-certainly not the first of the good things which one
-enjoys after the blessing of life. I was persuaded
-of this fact the first evening of my stay in the city.
-I did not know the way to the port, but thought I
-was near it, and asked a shop-woman which way I
-should take. She uttered a cry of astonishment:</p>
-
-<p>"Do you wish to go to the port, <i>caballero</i>?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">274</span></p>
-
-<p>"Yes."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Ave Maria purissima!</i> to the port at this hour?"</p>
-
-<p>And she turned toward a group of women who
-were standing by the door, and said to them in the
-Valencian dialect, "Women, do you answer for me:
-this gentleman is asking me the way to the port!"</p>
-
-<p>The women replied in one voice, "God save him!"</p>
-
-<p>"But from what?"</p>
-
-<p>"Don't risk yourself, sir."</p>
-
-<p>"What is your reason?"</p>
-
-<p>"A thousand reasons."</p>
-
-<p>"Tell me one of them?"</p>
-
-<p>"You would be murdered."</p>
-
-<p>One reason was enough for me, as any one can imagine,
-and I did not go to the port.</p>
-
-<p>For the rest, at Valencia as elsewhere, in whatever
-intercourse I had with the people I met only with
-courtesy as a foreigner and as an Italian&mdash;a friendly
-welcome even among those who would not hear
-foreign kings discussed in general, and princes of
-the house of Savoy in particular, and such men were
-numerous, but they were courteous enough to say at
-once, "Let us not harp on that string." To a foreigner
-who, when asked whence he comes, replies, "I am
-a Frenchman," they respond with an agreeable smile,
-as if to say, "We recognize each other." To one
-who answers, "I am a German or an Englishman,"
-they make a slight inclination of the head, which
-implies, "I bow to you;" but when one replies, "I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">275</span>
-am an Italian," they eagerly extend the hand as if
-to say, "We are friends;" and they look at one with
-an air of curiosity, as you look for the first time at a
-person who is said to resemble you, and they smile
-pleasantly on hearing the Italian tongue, as you
-would smile on hearing some one, though in no
-mocking spirit, imitate your voice and accents. In
-no country in the world does an Italian feel nearer
-home than in Spain. The sky, the speech, the
-faces, and the dress remind him of his fatherland;
-the veneration with which the Spanish pronounce
-the names of our great poets and our great painters,
-that vague and pleasing sense of curiosity with
-which they speak of our famous cities, the enthusiasm
-with which they cultivate our music, the impulsiveness
-of their affections, the fire of their language,
-the rhythms of their poetry, the eyes of their women,
-the air and the sun,&mdash;oh! an Italian must be without
-a spark of love for his fatherland who does not feel
-an emotion of sympathy for this country, who does
-not feel inclined to excuse its errors, who does not
-sincerely deplore its misfortunes, who does not desire
-for it a happy future. O beautiful hills of Valencia,
-smiling banks of the Guadalquivir, charmed
-gardens of Granada, little white cottages of Seville,
-proud towers of Toledo, roaring streets of Madrid,
-and venerable walls of Saragossa! and you, kindly
-hosts and courteous companions of my travels&mdash;you
-who have spoken to me of Italy as of a second<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">276</span>
-fatherland, who with your festal gayety have scattered
-my restless melancholy!&mdash;I shall always carry
-deep down in my heart a feeling of gratitude and
-love for you, and I shall cherish your images in my
-memory, as one of the dearest recollections of my
-youth, and shall always think of you as one of the
-loveliest dreams of my life.</p>
-
-<p>I repeated these words to myself at midnight as
-I looked over brightly-lighted Valencia, leaning
-against the rail of the good ship <i>Xenil</i>, which was
-on the point of sailing. Some young Spaniards had
-come on board with me. They were going to
-Marseilles to take ship from that port to the Antilles,
-where they expected to remain for some years. One
-of them stood alone weeping; suddenly he raised his
-head and looked toward the shore between two anchored
-vessels, and exclaimed in a tone of desolation,
-"Oh, my God! I hoped she would not come!"</p>
-
-<p>In a few moments a boat approached the ship; a
-little white figure, followed by a man enveloped in a
-cloak, hastily climbed the ladder, and with a deep
-sob threw herself into the arms of the young man,
-who had run to meet her.</p>
-
-<p>At that moment the boatswain called, "All off,
-gentlemen!"</p>
-
-<p>Then there followed a most distressing scene: the
-two young persons were torn apart, and the young
-lady was borne almost fainting to the boat, which
-pushed off a little and remained motionless.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">277</span></p>
-
-<p>The ship started.</p>
-
-<p>The young man dashed madly forward toward the
-rail, and, sobbing, cried in a voice that pierced one's
-heart, "Adieu, darling! adieu! adieu!"</p>
-
-<p>The little white figure stretched out her arms and
-perhaps responded, but her voice was not heard.
-The boat was dropped behind and disappeared.</p>
-
-<p>One of the young men said to me in a whisper,
-"They are betrothed."</p>
-
-<p>It was a lovely night, but sad. Valencia was soon
-lost to view, and I thought I should never see Spain
-again, and wept.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="smcap">End of Vol. II.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a><br /><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></span></p>
-
-
-
-</div><div class="chapter">
-<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2>
-
-<div class="index">
-<ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">A.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Abdelasio reconstructs the Alcazar of Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Abdurrahman I. builds the mosque of Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Abdurrahman I. builds Medina Az-Zahra, ii. <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his happy days, ii. <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Abencerrages, Hall of the, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Abrantes, duke d', at the bull-fights, 209.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Absolutist party,096.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Academy, a dream of the, 280.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Academy of San Fernando, Madrid, 193.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Acquasola gardens, Genoa, 10.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alameda, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alarcon y Mendoza, Juan Ruiz de, dramatist, 169.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alarmed travellers, ii. <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Albaicin at Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">courtyard in, ii. <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fortune-telling, ii. <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">government of, ii. <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ignorance in, ii. <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Parisian quarter, ii. <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">squalor of, ii. <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Albornoz, Gil Carillo de, tomb of, Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alcaiceria, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alcala street, Madrid, 156, 168.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alcanadre, Roman aqueduct at, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alcantara, bridge of, Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alcazar de San Juan, ii. <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alcayde of Saragossa's bold republicanism, 83.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aleardi Gaetano, on the can-can, 171.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alfonso and the Cid, 121.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alfonso the Wise, MSS. of, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alfonso VIII. defeats the Moors at las Navas de Tolosa, ii. <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alfonso XII., favored by the Moderate party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Algaba, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Algeciras, Gulf of, ii. <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alhambra, arabesques, ii. <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>, 208, ii. <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">baths, ii. <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cabinet of Linderaja, ii. <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Charles V.'s palace, ii. <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Court of Lions, ii. <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Court of Myrtles, ii. <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fascination of, ii. <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Gate of Justice, ii. <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">grounds of ii. <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall of Abencerrages, ii. <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall of Barca, ii. <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall of Divans, ii. <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall of Justice, ii. <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall of Oranges, ii. <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall of the Ambassadors, ii. <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall of the Two Sisters, ii. <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Mirador de la Reina, ii. <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mosque, ii. <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">paintings in, ii. <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Patio de la Reja, ii. <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">realization of a dream, ii. <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">situation of, ii. <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Tower of Commares, ii. <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Tower of the Ambassadors, ii. <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">vastness of the, ii. <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">view from, ii. <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ali Pacha, relics of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Almago, Melchiorre, republican journalist, ii. <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Almansa, plain of, ii. <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Almansur builds Zahira, ii. <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Almodovar, castle of, ii. <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Altimura, Count d', possesses the fiscal accounts of Gonzalez di Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">280</span>Alvarez, Gen., house of, at Gerona, 16.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Amadeus at Gerona, 16;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Logroño, 85;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Madrid, 166, 194;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Saragossa, 82;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the bull-fights, 213;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">character of, 201;</li>
-<li class="isub1">courage of, 199;</li>
-<li class="isub1">court-life of, 194;</li>
-<li class="isub1">encourages bull-fights, 223, 235;</li>
-<li class="isub1">hostility of the newspapers to, 93, 200;</li>
-<li class="isub1">hostility of the soldiery to, 204;</li>
-<li class="isub1">prejudice against, 15, 33, 80.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ambassadors, Hall of the, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Tower of the, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Amusements, 168.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Andalusian characteristics, 36;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dialect, ii. <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">scenery, ii. <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, 100, ii. <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">women, ii. <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Angels, convent of, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ansurez, Pedro, tomb of, 137.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aosta, duke d'. See Amadeus.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aqueduct, Roman, at Segovia, 124.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arabesques in the Alhambra, beauty of, ii. <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">intricacy of design, ii. <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aranjuez, arrival at, ii. <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">gardens, ii. <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">historic associations, ii. <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">royal palace, ii. <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">suburbs of, ii. <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Argamasilla de Alba, birthplace of Don Quixote, ii. <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Argensola, the brothers, 72;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sonnet by, 73.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arjonilla, ii. <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Armory, royal, at Madrid, 174.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arragon, decay of, 52;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dialect of, 54;</li>
-<li class="isub1">independence of, 49;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mountains of, 48.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Artillery museum at Madrid, 180.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Asturia, prince of, title instituted, 98.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Atocha, Church of Our Lady of, Madrid, 166, 204;</li>
-<li class="isub1">street of, Madrid, 174.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Avilo, 124.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Awaiting her in heaven," ii. <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ayala, d', dramatist, 169.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">B.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Banderillas, de fuego, 226.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barber of Seville, house of the, ii. <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barcelona, arrival at, 20;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cafés, 30;</li>
-<li class="isub1">carnival masqueraders, 22;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Catalonian peculiarities, 35;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral, 24;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cemetery, 27;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cervantes on, 42;</li>
-<li class="isub1">circus, 235;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dialect, 21;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreign hotel waiters, 20;</li>
-<li class="isub1">palaces, 26;</li>
-<li class="isub1">revolutionary proclivities, 35;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Roman ruins, 26;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, 22;</li>
-<li class="isub1">suburbs, 22;</li>
-<li class="isub1">theatre, 40;</li>
-<li class="isub1">women of, 41.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baretti, Giuseppe, 206; ii. <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barili, Anton Giulio, travelling companion, 10.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Batista, Juan, architect of the Escurial, 260.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beatrice, Queen, tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beggary, modest, 135.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Berruguete, Alonzo, carvings by, at Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Valladolid, 146.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Berseo, poet, 283.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blanca, Florida, tomb of, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boabdil's helmet, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boccanegra, paintings by, at Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bohl, Catherine de Faber ("Fernan Caballero"), 281;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ascetic character of, ii. <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">charity of, ii. <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">genius of, ii. <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">history of, ii. <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boldan, painting by, at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bollo, a delicious cake, 31.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boscan, Juan, poet, influence on Spanish literature, 37.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bosch, Jacob van den, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bourse, the, at Saragossa, 74;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brazil, Dom Pedro, emperor of, arrives at Burgos, 123.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Breton de los Herreres, Manuel, dramatist, 169, 281.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Breughel, Jan, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bridge of Alcantara, Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Briviesca, States-general, 98.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brujola, mountain of, 98.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">281</span>Buen Retiro garden at Madrid, 166, 174.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bull-fights at Madrid, 206;</li>
-<li class="isub1">accidents, 225;</li>
-<li class="isub1">anticipations of, 207;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arena, the, 203;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attendance, 208;</li>
-<li class="isub1">banderillas, de fuego, 226;</li>
-<li class="isub1">banderilleros, 214, 219, 220;</li>
-<li class="isub1">brutality of, 227, 229;</li>
-<li class="isub1">capeadors, 214, 217, 219, 220;</li>
-<li class="isub1">chulos or apprentices, 214, 216, 217;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dangers of, 229;</li>
-<li class="isub1">death of the bull, 222, 228;</li>
-<li class="isub1">disgusting spectacle, 218;</li>
-<li class="isub1">entrance of the cuadrilla, 214;</li>
-<li class="isub1">entrance of the bull, 215;</li>
-<li class="isub1">espadas, 221;</li>
-<li class="isub1">excitement of audience, 215, 224;</li>
-<li class="isub1">exits, the, 232;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fights in the audience, 230;</li>
-<li class="isub1">final impressions, 231;</li>
-<li class="isub1">getting into position, 215;</li>
-<li class="isub1">history of, 234;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Homeric struggle, 221;</li>
-<li class="isub1">national amusement, the, 235;</li>
-<li class="isub1">picadores, 214, 216, 218;</li>
-<li class="isub1">picturesque scene, 214;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sale of tickets, 207;</li>
-<li class="isub1">torturing the bulls into fighting, 226;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trophies of victory, 223;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with other wild animals, 239.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bull-fighters, amateur, 237;</li>
-<li class="isub1">artistic gradations, 241;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dress, 240;</li>
-<li class="isub1">female toreros, 238;</li>
-<li class="isub1">lucrative business, 241.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burgos, arrival at, 98;</li>
-<li class="isub1">birthplace of the Cid, 119;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral, 104;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cid's coffer, 112;</li>
-<li class="isub1">gate of St. Maria, 104;</li>
-<li class="isub1">houses, 101;</li>
-<li class="isub1">municipal palace, 103;</li>
-<li class="isub1">"remains of the Cid," 103;</li>
-<li class="isub1">seats of the first judges, 103;</li>
-<li class="isub1">"The Christ," 111;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, 101;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tobacco-shops, 118;</li>
-<li class="isub1">undertaker's shop, 117;</li>
-<li class="isub1">women hotel servants, 99.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Byron, Lord, writing of, at the Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">C.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Caballero, Fernan. See Bohl, Catherine.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cadiz, arrival at, ii. <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">astronomical facilities, ii. <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">bird's-eye view, ii. <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral, ii. <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">circus, 235;</li>
-<li class="isub1">commercial decay, ii. <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">historical remains, ii. <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">houses, ii. <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Murillo's last painting, ii. <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">revolutionary tendencies, ii. <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, ii. <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">whiteness, ii. <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">women, ii. <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cafés: Barcelona, 30;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Madrid, 173;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Miranda, 95.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Calahorra, battle of, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Calderon de la Barca, Pedro, poet, 169;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ii. <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Calderon, Francesco, the matador, 207;</li>
-<li class="isub1">patronizes cock-fights, 249, 250.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Campana, Pedro, paintings by, at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Can-can at Madrid, 171.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Candan, political leader, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cano, Alonzo, character of, ii. <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">hatred of Jews, ii. <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">history of, ii. <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">paintings by, at Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Madrid, 182, 193;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Canovas del Castillo, political leader, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Canovist party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carbajal, Bernardino, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 193.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cardenas, paintings by, at Valladolid, 143.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cardenio's penance, scene of, ii. <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carducci, Vincenzo, paintings by, at Madrid, 182;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Valladolid, 143.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carlists, 32, 33, 96, 194.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carlos I., Don, tomb of, 266.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carlos II., Don, tomb of, 266.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carlos III., Don, tomb of, 266.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carnival masqueraders at Barcelona, 22;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Saragossa, 65, 68.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cartuja convent, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Castaños, Gen. Francisco Xavier, defeated at Tudela, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Castelar, Emilio, as an orator, 279;</li>
-<li class="isub1">as a political leader, 80, 96;</li>
-<li class="isub1">eloquence, 276;</li>
-<li class="isub1">friendship, 291;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Arragon, 50;</li>
-<li class="isub1">personal popularity, 277;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ruler of the Assembly, 279.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Castilian dialect, 39, 55;</li>
-<li class="isub1">scenery, 124.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Castillego, ii. <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Castles: Almodovar, ii. <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hornachuelos, ii. <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">>Monzon, 51;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">282</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">Pancorbo, 98;</li>
-<li class="isub1">San Servando, ii. <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Catalan characteristics, 35;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dialect, 15, 39;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dress, 18;</li>
-<li class="isub1">hospitality, 148;</li>
-<li class="isub1">school-boys, 46.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Catalonia, description of, 18, 48.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cathedrals: Barcelona, 24;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Burgos, 104;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cadiz, ii. <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Our Lady of the Pillar, Saragossa, 60;</li>
-<li class="isub1">San Salvador, Saragossa, 65;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valladolid, 136.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cava, Los Baños de la, at Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cayetano, the matador, 214, 240.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cellini, Benvenuto, crucifix by, at the Escurial, 263.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cemetery, Barcelona, 27.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cervantes, Saavedra Miguel de, at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">house at Valladolid, 137;</li>
-<li class="isub1">imprisoned at Argamasilla de Alba, ii. <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">naturalness of Don Quixote, ii. <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Barcelona, 42;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popularity of, 286;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statue at Madrid, 156;</li>
-<li class="isub1">story of, 139.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cervellon, Count di, entertains Amadeus at Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cervera, 48.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ceuta, ii. <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cespedes, Pablo de, born at Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">paintings by, at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">quotation from, ii. <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charlemagne and the Moor, ii. <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles I. (afterward Emperor Charles V. of Germany), altar at the Escurial, 272;</li>
-<li class="isub1">anger at the destruction of mosque of Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">apartments at Aranjuez, ii. <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">a bull-fighter, 234;</li>
-<li class="isub1">converts mosque of the Alhambra into a chapel, ii. <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">married in Alcazar of Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">monumental gate at Burgos, 104;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on the Spanish language, 160;</li>
-<li class="isub1">palace in the Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relics of, 175, 176, ii. <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statue at the Escurial, 262;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb at the Escurial, 265, 267.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles II. encourages bull-fights, 234;</li>
-<li class="isub1">portrait at the Escurial, 264.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles III. forbids bull-fights, 235;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statue at Burgos, 102.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles IV.'s billiard-room in palace of Aranjuez, ii. <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">resigns the crown, ii. <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chateaubriaud, François Auguste, Viscount de, writing in the Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chocolate, Spanish, 31.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chorizos, 14, 162.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Christina abdicates the throne at Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">promenade, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chulos, 214.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Churches: Nuestra Señora, Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Our Lady of Atocha, Madrid, 166;</li>
-<li class="isub1">San Geronimo, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Santiago, Saragossa, 74;</li>
-<li class="isub1">St. Agnes, Burgos, 121.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cid Campeador, the, and King Alfonso, 121;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and the Jew, 120;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">birthplace, 120;</li>
-<li class="isub1">coffer, 112;</li>
-<li class="isub1">portrait of, 104;</li>
-<li class="isub1">remains, 103;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statue, 104;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sword, 176;</li>
-<li class="isub1">originator of bull-fights, 234.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cigars and cigarettes, 118;</li>
-<li class="isub1">vs. pipes, 132.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cimbrios party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Claude, Lorraine, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Clot, 19.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cock-fighting at Madrid, 248;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arena, the, 249;</li>
-<li class="isub1">audience, 250;</li>
-<li class="isub1">disgusting spectacle, 256;</li>
-<li class="isub1">gambling on, 252, 254.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coello, Claudio, paintings by, at Madrid, 193;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Escurial, 264.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Colantes as an orator, 276.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Collantes, Francisco, paintings by, at Madrid, 193.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">College of San Gregorio, Valladolid, 135;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Santa Cruz, Valladolid, 443.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Columbian library at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Columbus, Christopher, annotations in books in library of Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">armor of, 175;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">283</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">portrait of, 178;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mementoes of, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Columbus, Ferdinand, history of, ii. <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">library of, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">note on his father's annotations, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Concerts at Madrid, 173.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Conde, Henry II. de Bourbon, prince de, sword of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Conservative party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Consuelo the beautiful, ii. <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Consul, seeking the protection of the, ii. <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Convents: Angels, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cartuja, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of the Escurial, 268;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Santo Domingo, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">San Pablo, Valladolid, 134.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cook, Capt. James, cane of, 180.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cookery, Spanish, 14, 160; ii. <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cordova, arrival at, ii. <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at night, ii. <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral, ii. <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Consuelo the beautiful, ii. <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">departed glory, ii. <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">impressions of, ii. <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mosque, ii. <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">patio, a, ii. <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">pearl of the Orient, ii. <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">preaching the Holy War, ii. <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relics of the past, ii. <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets of, ii. <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cordova, General de, at Saragossa, 84.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Corregio, Antonio Allegri da, painting by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cortes, the, 274;</li>
-<li class="isub1">deputies, 274;</li>
-<li class="isub1">oratorical displays, 275.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cortez, Hernando, portrait of, 178;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sword of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cosa, Juan de la, map by, at Madrid, 178.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Costumes of peasantry: Andalusian, ii. <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Catalan, 18;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cordovan, ii. <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Granadan, ii. <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Madrid, 165;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Saragossan, 56;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valencian, ii. <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Country houses, ii. <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Courts: Lions, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Myrtles, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Oranges, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Court-life under Amadeus, 198.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Courtesy inherent in the Spanish people, 53, 290.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cuco the matador, 207; ii. <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Currency, Spanish, 118.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Custejon, 92.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Customs officials, 14, 95.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cybele, fountain of, at Madrid, 166.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">D.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Daggers," ii. <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Daguet, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Dance de los seises," ii. <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Darro, the, ii. <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Democratic party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Democratic Progressionist party, 96, 97.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Deronda, Francisco Romero, the torero, 235.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dialects: Andalusian, ii. <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Arragonese, 55;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Barcelonian, 20;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Castilian, 55;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Catalan, 15, 39;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Madrid, 158;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Perpignan, 12;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valencian, ii. <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valladolid, 132.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dinadamar, hill of, ii. <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Discoveries, cabinet of, Naval Museum, Madrid, 177.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Djihad, or Holy War, ii. <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Domenichino, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dominoes, popularity of game of, 31.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Don Quixote on Barcelona, 42;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popularity of, 286;</li>
-<li class="isub1">true to life, ii. <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Door-keys in Madrid, 171.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Drama, 169.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Drunkenness rare in Spain, 162.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dumas, Alexandre, on Spanish cookery, 160.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dürer, Albert, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">E.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ebro, commerce on the, 51;</li>
-<li class="isub1">description of, 92.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Economist party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Education in Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Egon ad Agoncilla, ruins of, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elpidius, bishop of Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elvira Gate, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Escurial, the, arrival at, 258;</li>
-<li class="isub1">altar of Santa Forma, 264;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cell of Philip II., 261;</li>
-<li class="isub1">church, 262;</li>
-<li class="isub1">convent, 268;</li>
-<li class="isub1">courtyard, 261;</li>
-<li class="isub1">gardens, 272;</li>
-<li class="isub1">gloominess, 273;</li>
-<li class="isub1">history of, 260;</li>
-<li class="isub1">holy relics, 272;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">284</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">horrible place, 267;</li>
-<li class="isub1">library, 268;</li>
-<li class="isub1">pantheon, 265;</li>
-<li class="isub1">picture-gallery, 268;</li>
-<li class="isub1">royal palace, 261;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sacristy, 264;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statues, 262;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tombs, 265;</li>
-<li class="isub1">view from, 153, 272;</li>
-<li class="isub1">village, 259.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Espadas, famous, 214;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dangerous life of, 230;</li>
-<li class="isub1">skill of, 221.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Espartero, Gen. Baldemero, addresses Amadeus, 85.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Esperondo la del Cielo, house of, ii. <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Esproncedo, Jose de, the Byron of Spain, 282;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popularity of, 287;</li>
-<li class="isub1">quotation from, 136.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Exaggeration, the national failing, 287.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">F.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fadrique, Don, blood of, ii. <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">murdered by Don Pedro's orders, ii. <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Farcical revenge, a, 71.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fatherly admonitions, 54.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Federalist party, 96, 97.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ferdinand III. (the Saint) captures Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relics of, ii. <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, 109.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ferdinand V. (the Catholic), oratory in Alcazar of Seville, 124;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relics of, ii. <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ferdinand VII. annuls the constitution, ii. <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">encourages bull-fighting, 235;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, 266.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ferrer, Vincenzo, in Seville cathedral, ii. <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Figueras, political leader, 80, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">First glimpses of Spain, 14.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Florinda, legend of, ii. <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Flor, Roger de, a typical Arragonese, 50.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fomento picture-gallery, Madrid, 193.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fortune-telling in the Albaicin, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fountain of Cybele, Madrid, 166.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fra Angelica, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Francis I., shield of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Frascuelo the matador, 207, 214, 221, 225, 240, 242; ii. <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">interview with, 242.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fricci in opera at Madrid, 168; ii. <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fronterizos party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fruit, Spanish, 162.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fugitive wife, a, 69.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Funeral memorial ceremonies of the second of May, 243.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">G.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Galafro, legend of King, ii. <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Galiana, palaces of, ii. <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gallegos, Don Juan Nicasio, poet, 282.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gamero, Antonio, historian of Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garbanzos, 161.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garcilaso de la Vega, poet, 37;</li>
-<li class="isub1">armor of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gardens: Alcazar, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Aranjuez, ii. <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Buen Retiro, Madrid, 174;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Escurial, 271;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Montpensier, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garrido, political leader, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gates: Elvira, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Justice, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Santa Maria, Burgos, 104.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gayangos, Pascual y, the Orientalist, 281.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Geber, architect of the Giralda at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Generalife, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">description of, ii. <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">view from, ii. <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Genoa, 10.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gerona, arrival at, 16;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Amadeus at, 16.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gibraltar, rock of, ii. <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Straits of, ii. <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Giordano Luci, paintings by, at Madrid, 182;</li>
-<li class="isub1">frescoes by, at the Escurial, 262, 264, 268;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Giralda of Seville, the, ii. <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">first sight of, ii. <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">view from, ii. <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gitane of Seville, the, ii. <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Godoy, Alvarez de Faria Rios Sanches y Zarsoa, Prince of Peace, ii. <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Golden Tower, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gongora y Argote, Luis, poet, 129;</li>
-<li class="isub1">birthplace at Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gongora, Señor, ii. <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <i>et seq.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">285</span>Gonzales, Ferdinand (first Count of Castile), monument to, 119;</li>
-<li class="isub1">portrait of, 104;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statue of, 104;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sword of, 176;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, 114.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gonzalez, Fernandez y, novelist, 282.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gonzalez di Cordova, anecdote of, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Goya, Francisco, criticism on, 185;</li>
-<li class="isub1">love of bull-fights, 184;</li>
-<li class="isub1">paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sanguinary genius, a, 184;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tapestries by, in the Escurial, 261.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Granada, Alameda, ii. <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Albaicin, ii. <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Alcaiceria, ii. <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arrival at, ii. <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Audiencia square, ii. <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">birthplace of famous men, ii. <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cartuja, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral, ii. <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">church of San Geronimo, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">convent of Santa Domingo, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">convent of The Angels, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">education, ii. <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Generalife, ii. <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">markets, ii. <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Monte Sacro, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">royal chapel, ii. <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ruins, ii. <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, ii. <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Vega, ii. <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Granada, Fray Louis de, ii. <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Granallers, 19.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gravina, Admiral Frederick de, relics of, 179.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guadaira, ill-fated steamer, ii. <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guadalquivir, the, ii. <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>; ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guadiana, valley of the, ii. <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guerra, Fernandez, archæologist, 281, 291; ii. <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guides, Spanish, persistency of, ii. <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guido, Reni, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guest-houses, 157.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gutierrez, Antonio Garcia, dramatist, 169.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">H.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Halls: Abencerrages, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Ambassadors, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Barca, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Divans, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Justice, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Oranges, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Two Sisters, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hartzenbusch, Juan Eugenio, dramatist, 169, 281, 291.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Heat, intense, ii. <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry II. (de Transtamare), defeated by Pedro the Cruel, 91;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry III. and Papa Moscas, 113;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hernandez, sculptures by, at Valladolid, 146.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herrera, Francisco, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 193;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Escurial, 263.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herrera, Juan de, architect of palace of Aranjuez, ii. <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of the Escurial, 260.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Historical Progressionist party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holy Cross, relics of the, 272.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Honor of Spain," 290.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hornachuelos, castle of, ii. <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hospitality, Catalan, 148.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hospital of Santa Cruz, Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hotel porters at Barcelona, 20;</li>
-<li class="isub1">women as, 99.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Huerva river, at Saragossa, 77.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hugo Victor's Mirabeau, ii. <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">I.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">"Il Trovatore," quotation from, ii. <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Inquisition, palaces of; at Barcelona, 26;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Valladolid, 146.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">International Socialist party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Isabella the Catholic opposed to bull-fights, 234;</li>
-<li class="isub1">oratory in the Alcazar of Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relics of, ii. <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sword of, 176;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Isabella II. at Madrid, 197;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dressing-chamber at Aranjuez, ii. <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">encourages bull-fighting, 235;</li>
-<li class="isub1">favored by the Moderate party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Isabella, Empress, statue of, 262.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Italian, the language of opera, 171.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Italians, prejudice against, 34, 138.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Italica, ruins of, ii. <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">286</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Italy and Spain, compared, ii. <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Itimad, a dream of, ii. <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">J.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jerez, circus at, 235.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Joanes, Juan de, criticism on, 192;</li>
-<li class="isub1">paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Joanna the Mad, tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">John, Don, of Austria, 25.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">John I. of Castile and the States-General, 98.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">John II. of Austria, heart of, 63;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sword of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">John II., admiration of de Mena's "Labyrinth," ii. <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">John Frederick, duke of Saxony, armor of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jordaens, Jacob, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Juegos floreales, ii. <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Julian, Count, revenge of, ii. <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Juni, Juan de, sculptures by, at Valladolid, 146.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">K.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Knives, ii. <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">L.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">La Costa, Gen., killed at Saragossa, 59.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">La Cruz, Ramon de, dramatist, 170.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lagartijo the matador, 214, 240, 241; ii. <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">La Harpe, Jean François, on the Apollo Belvidere, ii. <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lainus Calvo, judge of Castile, 103.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">La Mancha, ii. <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Language, Italian, in opera, 171;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Spanish, allied to the Italian, 159;</li>
-<li class="isub1">pronunciation of, 159.</li>
-<li class="isub1">See also Dialect.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lauria, Roger de, 50.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leon, Louis de, 54;</li>
-<li class="isub1">born in Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leonardo, Lupercio, sonnet to, 73.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leopardi Giacomo, Count, 283;</li>
-<li class="indx">ii. <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Seville cathedral, ii. <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Spanish pride, 284.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lepanto, relics of battle of, 25, 174, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lerida, 48.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Light-fingered gentry, 98.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Literature, discouragements of, 282;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dramatic, 283;</li>
-<li class="isub1">national pride in, 287;</li>
-<li class="isub1">present state of, 280;</li>
-<li class="isub1">contests of genius at Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Logroño, Amadeus at, 85;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Moorish ruins at, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loneliness of travel, ii. <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lope de Vega's criticism of Gongorist poets, ii. <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">houses at Madrid, 156;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popularity, ii. <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lorraine. See Claude Lorraine.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Louis I., tomb of, 266.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Love, travelling for, 13.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loyola, Ignatius, at Montserrat, 46.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Luna, Don Alvaro de, tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lunatic asylum, Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">M.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Madrazo, Federico de, paintings by, at Madrid, 183.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Madrid, academy of San Fernando, 193;</li>
-<li class="isub1">amusements, 168;</li>
-<li class="isub1">armory, 174;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arrival at, 154;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Buen Retiro garden, 174;</li>
-<li class="isub1">bull-fights, 206;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cafés, 173;</li>
-<li class="isub1">church of Our Lady of Atocha, 166;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Fomento art-gallery, 193;</li>
-<li class="isub1">guest-houses, 157;</li>
-<li class="isub1">language, 157;</li>
-<li class="isub1">markets, 174;</li>
-<li class="isub1">museum of artillery, 180;</li>
-<li class="isub1">museum of fine arts, 181;</li>
-<li class="isub1">naval museum, 177;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opera, 168;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Prado, 166;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Puerta del Sol, 155;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Recoletos promenade, 167;</li>
-<li class="isub1">royal palace, 154;</li>
-<li class="isub1">serenos, 172;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, 156, 163;</li>
-<li class="isub1">suburbs, 173.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Maksura of mosque of Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Malaga, ii. <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">literary academy, ii. <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">poetical contests, ii. <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popular characteristics, ii. <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, ii. <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">wine of, ii. <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Manners of the Spaniards, 290.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">287</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Manzoni, Alessandro, 189.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Margall, Pi y, political leader, 96;</li>
-<li class="isub1">oratory of, 276.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Maria, granddaughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Maria Louisa of Savoy, tomb of, 266.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Marini, Giambattista, influence on Italian poetry, ii. <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Markets: Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Madrid, 174;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valladolid, 132.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Marseilles, 11.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Martina the torera, 238.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Martinez de la Rosa, Francisco, 282, ii. <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">exiled in London, 65;</li>
-<li class="isub1">quotation from, ii. <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Martos, political leader, 96;</li>
-<li class="isub1">oratory of, 226.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mascagni, Donato, paintings by, at Valladolid, 143.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Masked balls, 86.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">May, second of, funeral memorial ceremonies, 243;</li>
-<li class="isub1">monument to, 247.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Medina Az-Zahra, ii. <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Medina-Coeli, family, owners of the Casa de Pilato, ii. <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mena, Juan de, "Labyrinth," ii. <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popularity of, 287;</li>
-<li class="isub1">street of, ii. <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Menendez, paintings by, at Madrid, 193.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mengs, Anton Rafael, paintings by, at Madrid, 183.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Menjibar, ii. <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Merced, marquis de, 207.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Merriones, Gen., victories over Carlists, 288.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Michelangelo, Buonarroti, Cespedes's tribute to, ii. <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">paintings by, at Burgos, 109;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mihrab of mosque of Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Military Museum of London possesses Gonzalez di Cordova's fiscal accounts, ii. <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Militia system, 202.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mirabeau, Victor Hugo's description of, ii. <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Miranda, 94.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Moderate party, 96, 97.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Monastery of Montserrat, 46.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Monegro, Battista, statue by, 262.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Montegna, paintings by, at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Montpensier gardens, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">palace, ii. <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Montpensier, duke of, at Madrid, 197;</li>
-<li class="isub1">party, 96, 97.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Montserrat, description of, 45;</li>
-<li class="isub1">excursion to, 46;</li>
-<li class="isub1">monastery of, 46.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Monzon, 50;</li>
-<li class="isub1">castle, 51.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Moorish art, ii. <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ruins, ii. <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Morales, Ambrosio, born in Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Moret, political leader, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Moreto, Don Augustin, dramatist, 169.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mosque of Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of the Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mozarabe chapel, Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mulato, paintings by, at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Murat, Joachim, 50.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban, a painter of saints and virgins, 191;</li>
-<li class="isub1">death of, ii. <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">estimate of his genius, 192;</li>
-<li class="isub1">last painting, ii. <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mementoes of, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">painting by, at Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Madrid, 182, 183;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statue at Madrid, 156, 292.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">N.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Naples, king of, demands an accounting from Gonzalez di Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navagero, Andrea, influences poetry of Boscan, 37.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navajas, ii. <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navarrete, battle of, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navarrete, Juan Fernandez (El Mudo), paintings by, at Madrid, 193;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Escurial, 263.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">News from Spain, 10.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Newspapers hostile to Amadeus, 93, 200.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nun, the flirting, 53.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nunes, Duke Ferdinand, at the bull-fight, 209.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Night journey to Aranjuez, ii. <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">to Barcelona, 13;</li>
-<li class="isub1">to Burgos, 97;</li>
-<li class="isub1">to Cadiz, ii. <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">to Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">to Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">288</span></li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">O.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">O'Campo, Florian d', at Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">O'Donnell, Gen. Leopold, Spanish estimate of, 288.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Olesa de Montserrat, 47.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Olivares, Duke de, portrait of, by Velasquez, 183, 188;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sword of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Opera at Madrid, 168.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oranges, Court of, Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Court of Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall of, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Our Lady of Atocha, church of, at Madrid, 166;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of the Pillar, Saragossa, 60.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">P.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pacheco, Francisco, paintings by, at Madrid, 193;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Padilla, Lopez de, assists in the murder of Don Fadrique, ii. <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Padilla, Maria de, apartments of, in the Alcazar of Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, 145;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mementoes of, ii. <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Painting, museums: Escurial, 268;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Fomento, Madrid, 193;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Madrid, 181;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valladolid, 143.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Palaces: Audiencia, Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Burgos, 102;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Charles V., Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Consistorial, Barcelona, 26;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Deputation, Barcelona, 26;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Galiana, 43;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Inquisition, Barcelona, 26;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Inquisition, Valladolid, 146;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Royal, Aranjuez, ii. <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Royal, Escurial, 261;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Royal, Madrid, 154;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Royal, Valladolid, 133.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Palafox, José, at Saragossa, 77.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Palma, ii. <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pancorbo, 98;</li>
-<li class="isub1">castle destroyed, 98.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Paolo Veronese, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Papal question, the, 12, 34, 138.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Papa Moscas, legend of, 113.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pareja, Juan de, paintings by, at Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Madrid, 193.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Party spirit, 96, 289, ii. <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Patio, described, ii. <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Seville,</li>
-<li class="indx">ii. <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">de la Reja, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">de los Arrayanes, Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Patriotism vs. common sense, ii. <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Peasantry: Andalusian, ii. <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Catalan, 18;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cordovan, ii. <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Madrid, 165;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Saragossan, 56.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pedro Abad, ii. <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pedro the Cruel, apartments of, in the Alcazar of Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">defeats Henry of Transtamare, 91;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mementoes of, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">murders Don Fadrique, ii. <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">restores the Alcazar of Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treasure-house, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Perpignan dialect, 12.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pescara, Marquis de, armor of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philibert, Emmanuel, armor of, 175, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip I., tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip II., armor of, 175, 176;</li>
-<li class="isub1">birthplace at Valladolid, 134;</li>
-<li class="isub1">books in the library of the Escurial, 268;</li>
-<li class="isub1">builds palace of Aranjuez, ii. <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">builds the Escurial, 260;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cell of, 261;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his personality pervades the Escurial, 271;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statue of, 262;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sword of, 176;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, 265, 266.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip III. encourages bull-fights, 234;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, 265, 266.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip IV., a royal bull-fighter, 235;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statue of, 156;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tomb of, 265, 266.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip V. encourages bull-fights, 235;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his garden of St. Ildefonso, 124.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip of Bourgoyne, carvings by, at Burgos, 111;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Piedmontese waiters in hotel at Barcelona, 20.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pilate's house, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pillar, church of Our Lady of the, Saragossa, 60.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pius V. presents holy relics to Ribera, ii. <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pizarro, Francisco, as a bull-fighter, 234;</li>
-<li class="isub1">portrait of, 178;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sword of, 176.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">289</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plazas: Alameda, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Campo Grande, Valladolid, 131;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Constitution, Saragossa, 74;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cortez, Madrid, 156;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Mayor, Burgos, 123;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Mayor, Madrid, 156;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Mayor, Valladolid, 131;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Orient, Madrid, 156;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Puerto del Sol, Madrid, 155;</li>
-<li class="isub1">San Pablo, Valladolid, 133.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Poetical contests, ii. <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">rivalry, 38.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Politeness, Spanish, 52.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Political leaders, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Politics, absorbing interest in, 15, 32, 95, 147;</li>
-<li class="isub1">partisanship in, 289; ii. <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pompey defeated by Sertorius at Calahorra, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Poussin, Nicolas, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Prado, Madrid, 166.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Praga, Emile, on Nature, ii. <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Prati, Giovanni, quotation from, ii. <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pride, national, characteristic of the Spanish, 284.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Priests, friendly, 46, 54.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Prim, Gen. Juan, assassination of, at Madrid, 156, 166;</li>
-<li class="isub1">high estimation of, 288.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Puchero, the national dish, 161.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Puerto del Sol, at Madrid, 155, 163;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Puerto Real, ii. <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Puerto de Santa Maria, ii. <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">circus at, 238.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pyrenees, the, 48, 92;</li>
-<li class="isub1">crossing the, 13.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Q.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Quintana, Manuel José, poet of the Revolution, 282, 291.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Quevedo, Francisco Gomez, on Valladolid, 129.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">R.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Radical party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Railway travel, 52; ii. <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>; ii. <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Raphael, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rasura, Nunnius, judge of Castile, 103.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Recoletos promenade at Madrid, 167.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rembrandt von, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Republican opinions, 15, 16, 32, 80;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of the soldiers, 205;</li>
-<li class="isub1">party, 96, 97.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Restaurants, Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Revenge, a farcical, 71.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ribera, Enriquez de, builds the Casa de Pilato, ii. <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ribera, José, criticism of his genius, 186;</li>
-<li class="isub1">a lover of the horrible, 188;</li>
-<li class="isub1">paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Escurial, 264.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ribera, Pedro Afan de, viceroy of Naples, ii. <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ribero, political leader, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ricanati, quotation from, ii. <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rinconado, ii. <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rios, Amador de los, critic, 281.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rivas, Duke de, 282.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rizzi, Francisco, paintings by, at Madrid, 193.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roa, Ferdinand de, kills Don Fadrique, ii. <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roderic and the enchanted tower, ii. <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Florinda, ii. <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roelas, Juan de las, paintings by, at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rojas, Francisco de, 169;</li>
-<li class="isub1">native of Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rodriguez as an orator, 276, 291;</li>
-<li class="isub1">political leader, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roman aqueduct at Alcanadre, 91;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Segovia, 124;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ruins at Barcelona, 26.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ros de Olano invents the soldier cap, 24.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rosas, Rios y, political leader, 96;</li>
-<li class="isub1">oratory of, 276.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Resell, Gen., at Saragossa, 84.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rubens, Peter Paul, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Valladolid, 144.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ruins of Alcanadre, 91;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Egon ad Agoncilla, 91;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Logroño, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ruiz Garcia, political leader, 96.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">S.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Saavedra, Señor, 291, 292.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sagasta, Praxedes Mateo, political leader, 79, 96, 97;</li>
-<li class="isub1">a modern Cardenio, ii. <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Agnes, church of, Burgos, 121.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">290</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Andrea de Palomar, 19.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Anthony of Padua, Murillo's, ii. <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Eugenia, tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Eulalia, tomb of, 28.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Ferdinand, chapel of, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. George Chapel, Barcelona, 26.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Ildefonso, garden of Philip V., 124.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Isadore, memorial ceremony at church of, 244.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. James, the first bishop of Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and the Virgin Mary, 61.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Lawrence, Philip II.'s vow to, 260;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relic of, 272.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Leucadia, tomb of, ii. <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Theresa, birthplace of, 124;</li>
-<li class="isub1">inkhorn of, 272;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mementoes of, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salamanca, a suburb of Madrid, 167, 208.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salvator Rosa, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salvini, Tommaso, as Samson, ii. <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San Fernando, Madrid, academy of, 193.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San Geronimo, church of, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San Ginés, church of, ii. <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San Gregorio, college of, 135.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San José, church of, Madrid, 204.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San Juan de los Reyes, church of, ii. <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San Pablo, convent of, 134.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San Quentin, Philip II.'s vow at battle of, 260;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relics of, 174.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San Salvador, Saragossa, 65.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">San Servando, castle of, ii. <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Santa Cruz, hospital of, ii. <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Santa Cruz de Mudela, ii. <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Santa Cruz, Marquis of, armor of, 176.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Santa Domingo, convent of, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Santa Maria, gate of, Burgos, 104.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Santa Maria la Blanca, synagogue of, ii. <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Santi Ponce, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Saragossa, 56;</li>
-<li class="isub1">alcayde's bold</li>
-<li class="indx">speech, 82;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Amadeus enters, 82;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arrival at, 55;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bourse, 74;</li>
-<li class="isub1">carnival maskers, 65, 68;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar, 60;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral of San Salvador, 65;</li>
-<li class="isub1">church of Santiago, 74;</li>
-<li class="isub1">costume of peasantry, 56;</li>
-<li class="isub1">masked balls, 87;</li>
-<li class="isub1">new tower, 75;</li>
-<li class="isub1">siege of, 59, 77;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, 58;</li>
-<li class="isub1">suburbs, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sarto, Andrea del, paintings by, at Burgos, 109;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Schoen, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">School-boys, 46.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shrack, Frederick, description of the Djihad, ii. <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sea, beauty of the, ii. <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sebastian of Portugal, a royal bull-fighter, 234.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Segovia, 124.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Segovia and Ardizone, Gonzalo, ii. <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, 132, 145;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sad fate of, ii. <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seneca, born in Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seo, Saragossa, 65.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Serenos, 172.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Serrano, Gen. Francesco, political leader, 96, 97;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reputation of, 288.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sertorius defeats Pompey at Calahorra, 91.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seville, Alcazar, ii. <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at night, ii. <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Barber of, ii. <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>, 14;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral, ii. <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Columbian library, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">gaiety of, ii. <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">gardens, ii. <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Giralda, ii. <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">house of Pilate, ii. <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">literary and artistic fame, ii. <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">museum of painting, ii. <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Oriental character, ii. <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">patios, ii. <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">poetical character of, ii. <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, ii. <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Torre del Oro, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, 117;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tropical heat, ii. <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">women of, ii. <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sierra de Segura, ii. <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sierra Morena, ii. <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sierra Nevada, ii. <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Siestas necessary, ii. <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Socialist party, 96.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Soldiers, 23;</li>
-<li class="isub1">political feeling shown by, 204;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reviewed by Amadeus, 202.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">291</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Soria, 124.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stagno in opera at Madrid, 168.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Streets of Barcelona, 22, 27;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Burgos, 101;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cadiz, ii. <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Madrid, 166;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Malaga, ii. <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Saragossa, 58;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Studying for a degree, ii. <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">T.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tagus, the, at Aranjuez, ii. <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tamayo, dramatist, 169, 281, 291.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tangiers, ii. <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tarifa, Cape, ii. <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tasso, Torquato, influence on Italian poetry, ii. <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tato, the one-legged torero, ii. <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Teniers, David, paintings by, at Madrid, 182.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Theatres at Barcelona, 40;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Madrid, 168;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and literature, 169, 282.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, paintings by, at Madrid, 183.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tintoretto, Giacomo, paintings by, at Madrid, 182;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Escurial, 264.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tirso de Molina, dramatist, 169.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Titian, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tobacco manufactories at Burgos, 118;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Madrid, 173;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cigarettes vs. pipes, 132.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Toledo, Alcazar, ii. <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arrival at, ii. <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at night, ii. <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">bridge of Alcantara, ii. <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral, ii. <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">church of San Juan de los Reyes, ii. <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">church of San Ginés, ii. <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">church of Nuestra Señora di Transito, ii. <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dead city, a, ii. <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">historical, ii. <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">hospital of Santa Cruz, ii. <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">legends of, ii. <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">lunatic asylum, ii. <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">manufactory of arms, ii. <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popular characteristics, ii. <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Puerto del Sol, ii. <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Santa Maria la Blanca, ii. <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">view from cathedral, ii. <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">silent and gloomy, ii. <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, ii. <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tolosa, Las Navas de, battlefield, ii. <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Topete, Juan, ii. <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Toreros, 213;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dangers of, 229;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dress of, 240;</li>
-<li class="isub1">highly respectable, 239;</li>
-<li class="isub1">lucrative business, 241.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Torrigiano, Pietro, sculptures by, at Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Torquemada, Tomas de, founds the convent of Santa Domingo, ii. <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">origin of, 235.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Torre del Oro, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tower, new, Saragossa, 75;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Golden, Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trafalgar, relics of, 179.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trajan's ashes brought to Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Travelling for love, 13;</li>
-<li class="isub1">amenities of, 48, 52;</li>
-<li class="isub1">miseries of, ii. <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opera troupes, ii. <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">philosophy of, ii. <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">soldiers, ii.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Triana, ii. <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tudela, battle of, 91;</li>
-<li class="isub1">canal, 51, 92.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">U.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Undertaker's shop, 117.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Unionist party, 96, 97.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">University students at Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Valladolid, 148.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">V.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Val de Peñas, ii. <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">wine of, 162; ii. <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Amadeus at, ii. <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">art-gallery, ii. <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">bull-ring, 235; ii. <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Casa de Ayuntamiento, ii. <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral, ii. <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dress of peasantry, ii. <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">historic houses, ii. <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lonja, ii. <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">market, ii. <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">palace of the Audiencia, ii. <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popular characteristics, ii. <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">streets, ii. <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">women, ii. <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Valdes Leal, Juan de, paintings by, at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, 132.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Valera, Señor, 291.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Valladolid, 129;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cathedral, 136;</li>
-<li class="isub1">convent of San Pablo, 134;</li>
-<li class="isub1">college of San Gregorio, 135;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decay of, 131;</li>
-<li class="isub">dialect of, 132;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">292</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">hospitality, 148;</li>
-<li class="isub1">house of Cervantes, 137;</li>
-<li class="isub1">house of Zorilla, 141;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Inquisition, 146;</li>
-<li class="isub1">markets, 132;</li>
-<li class="isub1">picture-gallery, 143;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Plaza Major, 132;</li>
-<li class="isub1">polite beggary, 135;</li>
-<li class="isub1">royal palace, 133.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Van Dyke, Antonio, paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vega, Granada, ii. <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vega, de Armijo, Marquis de, 207.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vega, Garcilasso de la, armor of, 176;</li>
-<li class="isub1">native of Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Velasquez, Don Diego, masterpieces, 188;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mementoes of, ii. <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">paintings by, at Madrid, 182, 183.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ventas de Alcolea, ii. <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ventura de la Vega, dramatist, 169.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Veragua, duke of, 207.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Victoria, at Madrid, 195;</li>
-<li class="isub1">charity of, 196;</li>
-<li class="isub1">learning of, 199;</li>
-<li class="isub1">universal respect for, 81, 200.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vilches, ii. <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Villadomat, paintings by, at Barcelona, 26.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Villaseca, dowager of, 307.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vinci, Leonardo da, paintings by, at Burgos, 109.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Virgin Mary appears to St. James at Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">miraculous image of, 61;</li>
-<li class="isub1">robes of, ii. <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">W.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Walk of the Spanish women, 136.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">War of Independence influences Spanish national character, 35, 285;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relics of, 174.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Water abundant in the Alhambra, ii. <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wife, a fugitive, 69.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wine of Malaga, ii. <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Val de Peñas, 162; ii. <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Xeres, ii. <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Women of Barcelona, 41;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cadiz, ii. <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cordova, ii. <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Madrid, 165;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Saragossa, 57;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valencia, ii. <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valladolid, 136;</li>
-<li class="isub1">toreros, 238;</li>
-<li class="isub1">walk of Spanish, 136.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">X.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Xenil river, ii. <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Xeres, wine of, ii. <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ximenes, wife of the Cid, remains of, 103.</li>
-
-
-<li class="ifrst">Z.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zafra, Don Fernando de, legend of, ii. <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zahira, ii. <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zainete, 170.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zarzuela, the, 168, 170; ii. <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zorrilla, Ruiz, political leader, 86, 69, 97;</li>
-<li class="isub1">consents to accept office, ii. <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zorrilla, José, 281;</li>
-<li class="isub1">birthplace at Valladolid, 141;</li>
-<li class="isub1">influence on Spanish literature, 141;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on people of Toledo, ii. <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popularity of, 142.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zouave officers, 11.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zuera, 54.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zurbaran, Francisco de, paintings by, at Cadiz, ii. <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Madrid, 193;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Escurial, 264;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Seville, ii. <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, ii. <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li>
-</ul>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">293</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" >
-<a href="images/illus-b293.jpg">
-<img src="images/illus-b293s.jpg" alt="Map of SPAIN &amp;
-PORTUGAL" /></a>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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