Southern Spain

e Lion and t

Jamshyd gloried

emarks, are not a little addicted to fiction). We can hardly believe that Cordova in its prime contained 300,000 inhabitants, 600 mosques, 50 hospitals, 800 public schools, 900 baths, 600 inns, and a library of 600,000 volumes; but there is evidence enough to satisfy us that this was in the tenth century the most magnificent and populous city in Europe, Byzantium alone ex

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mentation, and does not allow you to read their age." Cordova, which was formerly a centre of Arabian civilization, is now nothing more than a confused mass of small white houses, above which rise a few mangrove trees, with their metallic green foliage, or some palm trees with their branches spread out like the claws of a crab; while the whole town is divided by narrow passages into a number of separate blocks, where it would be difficult for two mules to pass abreast. Such is Cordova to-day, and I doubt very much if its external aspect was a whit more splendid or by

ver perhaps equalled elsewhere. And though there was little initiative or originality about the scholars at Cordova, their labours contributed to keep alive a taste for the humanities which otherwise would never have revived in Europe. The comforts and amenities of life were carefully studied in the Western Khalifate. All the products which minister to luxur

LLE CARDIN

. Hence Sancho Panza's saying, "Andar de Zeca en Mecca." That the Umeyyad khalifa succeeded in diverting the Faithful from the old shrine to the new is doubtful, but he and his successors spared no pains to render their mosque one of the wonders of the world. In the year 786, seized, it is said, by a sudden inspiration, Abd-ur-Rahman convoked his council and declared his intention of raising a temple to Allah on the site of a Christian church. The Moslems had already appropriated half of the Basilica of San Vicente to their use, suffering the Christians to

honour to contribute either their personal labour or their money to the great work. Though most of the columns came from the marble quarries of the neighbouring town of Cabra, as many as possible were brought from the most distant parts of t

was added by Al Hakem II., and the eastern half by Al Mans?r. To effect this last expansion, a cottage beneath a palm tree had to be acquired. The old lady to whom it

A-MOOR

never place the world beneath the feet of those who make themselves the slaves of drink and sensuality, while they preach penitence and the joys of chastity, and while extolling poverty, enrich themselves to the loss of their neighbours. For these, the sad and silent cloister; for us, the crystalline fountain and the shady grove; for them, the rude and unsocial

d has changed somewh

seen an attempt on the part of the Moorish masons to copy the work of the more skilled craftsmen of Rome and Byzantium. The mean vaulting overhead is modern. It is gradually being taken down and replaced by the beautiful carved ceiling of white larchwood which Murphy described a hundred years ago. He says: "Above the first arch is placed a second, considerably narrower and connecting it with the square pillars that support the timber work of the roof, which is not less curious in its execution than are the other parts of the building. It was put together in the time of Abd-ur-Rahman I., and subsists to this day unimpaired, though partially concealed by the plaster-work of the modern arches. The beams contain many thousan

VA-ME

were simply their natural continuation-a graceful and symmetrical plan which one would like to see attempted in modern times. Though, too, every Mohammedan temple is necessarily simple in plan and can never a

Reconquest the superb "mimbar" or pulpit of Al Hakem II. "It was of marble," says Se?or de Madrazo, "and of the most precious woods, such as ebony, red sandal-wood, bakam, Julian aloe, etc.; it cost 35,000 dineros and 3 adirames. It had nine steps." We are told that it was composed of 36,000 pieces of wood, joined with pins of silver and gold, and encrusted with precious stones. Its construction lasted seven years, eight artificers being employed upon it daily. This tribune was reserved for the khalifa, and in it was deposited the principal object of the veneration of the M

am. Little is visible of the original decoration, except the cupola, similar to that of the Sanctuary. Adjacent to

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, who knew so little what he was about that on visiting Cordova a few years later, he bitterly expressed his regret at having allowed the mosque to be interfered with. Two hundred columns had been swept away to make room for the existing chancel, choir, and lateral chapels. Though we resent their appearance here, these parts of the church are not wanting in taste and richness. The reredos of jasper and bronze is painted by Antonio Palomino, and flanks a sumptuous and beautifully moulded tabernacle. Not so much praise can be bestowed

e by Juan de Arfe. The chapels do n

orated, and forming originally sixteen entrances, most of which are now blocked up. The Puerta del Perdon has been adorned with the arms of Castile and Leon, and is secured by bronze doors of an

sles at one time opened, has lost much of its charm. The trees are stunted and withered, and the soil covered with coarse grass and weeds. On three sides the court is surrounded by a gallery, on the fourth by the buildings of the chapter. The basin was placed here

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the simply planned temples of Islam, when they are stripped of the innumerable lamps, the ric

commodate 6,000 women, 3,790 eunuchs, and 1,500 guards. Marble appears to have been freely used in the construction, from which it would seem that the building bore little resemblance to the Alcazar of a later day. There were, of course, thousands-tens of thousands-of columns brought from Rome and Tunis, and probably from Carthage, and fine fragments of terra-cotta are still unearthed on the site. Aqueducts co

to execute this pious request, only to find to his joy that no such thing as a Moslem captive was anywhere to be found. The happy thought then came to him to expend the money on the erection of a palace to be named after a new favourite, Zahara, whose name it should perpetu

-A STRE

gested might take place in the mosque. It was the Moor's rejection of this original proposal that led to hostilities, and threw the Spanish Moslems into the arms of the terrible Almorávides. Those fierce sectaries seem to have entirely n

better than the lot of the Moor under the Christian. But that standpoint would not be that of the historians in question. They are frankly partisans. The Mohammedans, they would argue, deserved what they got, because they worshipped the false Prophet; the Christians were in the right. It is more difficult to understand their vehement condemnation of the Bishop Recafred, because he forbade his flock to seek voluntary martyrdom by publicly cursing Mohammed. To curse the Arabian Prophet or anyone el

elates were frequently convoked by the khalifas, but by the defeated side their decisions were always branded as schismatical or heretical. Religious debate is the favourite occupation of a decaying State, and the Mohammedans themselves had their divisions. The doctors of the law, who congregated in a special quarter of the capital, constituted themselves the critics of their rulers and of publ

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ion, we can discern the outlines of a very remarkable personality. Ziryab was the Admirable Crichton of his age. He combined the attributes of Leonardo da Vinci and Beau Nash. He alone could decide on the proper method of eating asparagus and on the planning of a city. He could pronounce with

side by a very picturesque tête du pont called Calahorra, a fine specimen of the medieval barbican. Here a strange scene was witnessed in the year 1394, when the prototype of Don Quixote, Don Martin de la Barbuda, Grand Master of Calatrava, appeared at the head of a few knights and a fanatical rabble on his way to fight the Moors of Granada. His enterprise was directly counter to the king's orders; the two countries were at p

A-THE

is the hero of the city. The principal street is named after him, as indeed one might suppose the town to have been, from the reverence in which he is held. On the whole, he was the greatest soldier this country has produced. With forces hardly superior to those with which Cortes and Pizarro conquered a savage foe, he vanquished the best equipped troops in Christendom and matched his

the clergy and the poor who prayed f

our of the enemies' dead left on the battlefield; 100,000 ducats spent in the repair of the bells completely worn out by every day announcing fresh victories

Thanksgiving, 700,494 duc

h I have listened to the King, who demands an accoun

d of her eponymous hero. She has not been very fruitful in great men. She has produced no painters of eminence, unless Pablo de Cespedes may be classe

parition of the worthies of History and Legend, and amuses himself in sketching their portraits. At times the style becomes heavy and pedantic, at others the touches of the pencil have a vigour and simplicity altogether Dantesque. Before Juan de Mena, the Castil

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p, and regulated the quality and quantity of the manufacture. Terrible penalties were enforced against the tanner who made use of the hides of animals that had died of disease. The kings of Spain considered trunks or other objects bound in Cordova leather gifts very suitable for their fellow-princes. The Catholic kings, absurdly enough, forbade its exportation to the New World, not wishing to deprive the mother-country of goods of such price. With protection on this scale, we are not surprised to learn that the industry beg

city an exercise altogether pleasing, as the streets which were the first paved in Europe, in 850, might also claim to be the worst paved in the world. The stones are so sharp and pointed that in parts you have to skip from one to the other, like a bear dancing on hot iron-an original but ungraceful method of locomotion. A

HOUSES NEA