auspicious. The finest specimens of the human form mingled amid the low arches, the countless columns, the foliage, and the water; and we could not but admit, that, though shorn of its gay coloring, its enameled silver, and gilded illuminations, the Court of the Lions was still a place of no ordinary attraction. Adjoining the Court of Lions, and standing open toward it, are three rooms, among the most richly decorated of the Alhambra. One of them is now called the Chamber of Justice, because romantic tradition points to it as the scene of the trial of Boabdil's sultana, under a false charge of infidelity with Abenhamet Abencerrage. Among its ornaments are some human figures in Eastern costume, rudely painted on the wall. They are too badly done to belong to the period of the conquest, which was also the age of Raphael; and therefore, must rather be referred to an earlier period, having probably been executed by some Christian captive, for their faith forbade the Saracens most strictly from all imitations of the human form, as idolatrous. Indeed, when they entered Spain as conquerors, they everywhere destroyed the objects of art that came in their way, grinding into powder every statue, however beautiful and beyond all price, and converting it into cement and stucco for the building of their cities. And thus it may well be, that many of the proudest productions of the Roman or Grecian chisel, after having delighted the eyes of many succeeding generations, may now crumble undistinguished amid the ruins of the Alhambra. Another of the rooms which open upon the Court of Lions is called the Hall of Abencerrages, and has in its centre a marble fountain, which tradition has connected with a melancholy tale. It is here, we are told in the romances, that Boabdil, instigated by the treacherous Zegris, who had invented the tale of the sultana's guilt, enticed the Abencerrages one by one, and, as they reached the Court of Lions, caused them to be decapitated, after allowing each to contemplate a while the bloody tragedy which had been wrought upon his companions. The hall itself and the neighboring court were strewed with headless trunks, while the marble basin was piled high with the ghastly visages of those once light-hearted cavaliers, and the best blood of Granada filled the narrow canal, and sought an outlet at the feet of the lions. The red veins that still streak the marble were shown us as the traces of that ensanguined current, and the tender-hearted damsels from the mountains, who had oft wept over the plaintive romance in which the treachery is alone recorded, sighed and grew tearful as they remembered how "En las Torres de Alhambra Sonaba gran voceria, Y en la ciudad de Granada Grande llanto se hacia, Porque sin razon el Rey Treinta y seis Abencerrages Que en perder tales varones Nothing is more cruel than to be aroused from a cherished day-dream to the dull realities of waking existence, and it is but an ungrateful task to be called upon to disturb these old associations, which cling, like their own cobwebs, to the walls of the Alhambra; for what will remain to Granada in the eye of poetry, if you take away its Zulemas, its Zaydes, its Zegries, and its Abencerrages? Even an attempt to save the lives of thirty-six Abencerrages will, we fear, be received as anything but an act of kindness. Nevertheless, it may be but fair to state, that all we have been accustomed to read in romances of the trial of the queen, of her defence by the four Christian cavaliers, and this slaughter of the Abencerrages, is nowhere to be met with upon the page of history. These stories rest upon the authority of a work called "The Civil Wars of Granada," written toward the close of the sixteenth century, by one Gines Perez de Hita, who professes to have translated it from an Arabic manuscript. This work, though it pretends to be a history, has not even the usual quantity of truth with which writers of fiction are accustomed to cast a shade of probability over their inventions. It was probably written to embody the Moorish and Castilian romances, which we find plentifully scattered throughout the work, and which either grew up around the chivalry of the two nations, or were afterward composed, when the lapse of time began to leave room for the embellishments of fancy. The "Civil Wars" is not, however, without merit, as a mere work of fiction; it gives an insight into the chivalrous usages of the Saracens of Granada, and the bullfeasts, cane-tilts, and tournaments, are described with vivid simplicity. It is from this work that the chief incidents of Florian's beautiful romance have been taken; and even an identity of scenes and names is observable in the Gonsalve de Gordoue. The sleeping and feasting apartments, and baths, are found in a lower story of the palace, and are subterranean, except on the side of the precipice. In the chambers are large alcoves for beds, raised a little above the level of the floor, and paved with tiles of various colors, the entrance being flanked by columns sustaining horseshoe arches. In the centre of the chambers are jets, to cool the air or lull the senses of the sleeper. The feasting-hall has no windows, and was therefore doubtless lighted artificially, to give effect to Asiatic luxury. Near its ceiling is a gallery, where mu sicians remained in waiting to attune their melodies to the mood of those who feasted, bathed, or sought sleep, in the adjoining apartments. The first of the bathing-rooms contains small marble baths of the size in use among us, and which are said to have been set apart for children. Further on is the principal room, whose destination is sufficiently shown by the niches without the door, similar to those of the other state apartments, to receive the slippers of those who approached the royal presence. For the Asiatics uncover the feet instead of the head, in token of deference. The baths here, two in number, are formed of large slabs of white marble, and are of uncommon size, being quite large enough for swimming. The floor is paved with marble slabs, and the walls are of stucco, richly impressed and illuminated, while the ceiling forms an arched vault of bold and beautiful execution. Apertures cut through it, in the form of stars, allowed the vapor to escape, and admitted the only external light that reached this spot, destined to the exercise of a religious observance and to luxury. As we grouped through these ruined apartments, reconnoitring their dark and untenanted recesses, with no other sound than that of our own resounding footfall, treading heedless through the once secret and hallowed precincts of the harem, it was curious and melancholy to turn, in fancy, from the present to the past, and conjure up the far different spectacle which the place must have presented ere the evil day of Granada had arrived. Having seen the baths, we reascended toward the Queen's Toilet, and on our way passed through some apartments of the time of Charles V. One of these stands on a small courtyard, and has a gallery round the interior, which is strongly wickered with rods of iron. We are told that here the sultana was imprisoned after the accusation of the Zegries; for romance has here lent another tradition to the modern tenants of the Alhambra. It is said, with more probability, that Queen Joanna, becoming foolish with grief upon the death of her husband, Philip the Handsome, was confined for a time in the apartments adjoining this cage, which was constructed for her reception. This, though disputed, receives some coloring of possibility from the fact that the apartment bears the initials of Charles V., her son, and from the notorious imbecility of Joanna, who used to spend most of her time in the company of her dead husband, and even carry his body with her on her journeys, thereby acquiring for herself the surname of "The Foolish." The Alhambra, in its day of adversity, is still the prison of a maniac. We saw in a lower cell of one of the towers, overlooking the precipice of the Daro, an emaciated and squalid wretch, sitting in the sill of a grated) window, and gazing with haggard and vacant, yet steadfast eye, upon the narrow portion of the Vega thence visible. His hands grasped two of the window-bars, and his meager and bloodless face, rendered still more ashy by the blackness of his matted hair and beard, was forced between the irons, as if there were a satisfaction in approaching a little nearer to the scenes upon which he gazed so wistfully. We thought at first that he was a state prisoner, of whom we had already seen several taking the air on the tower of La Vela, but learned, on inquiring, that he was a maniac, brother to the woman who had the keys of this portion of the palace. SARAGOSSA is a large and celebrated Spanish city, and the capital of Aragon. It stands in a fertile plain on the banks of the river Ebro, on the site of the ancient Roman colony, Cæsar Augustus, of which the present name is a corruption. This city still possesses many attractions, in an architectural point of view, and before the terrible sieges which it had to sustain against the French, boasted many more. One of the most singular edifices which it contains, is the leaning tower, which, in point of inclination, may be said to rival that of Pisa. It has stood since 1594, and its present use is that of a belfry. The ascent is by two hundred and eighty steps, and from the upper balcony a noble prospect is gained. The style of its architecture is pretty and ornamental; and the material employed in its construction is brick. "At first sight of this curious edifice," says Mr. Locker, "the question How came it so?" instantly occurred to us; but we found it not so easy to obtain a solution, for the critics of Saragossa seem as much divided in opinion as those of Pisa; and though their tower is not so old, by four centuries, the cause of its declination is involved in equal perplexity. It is not improbable that the foundation may have sunk during its erection, and that the architect may have carried up the remainder of his work as a triumph of his art, counterbalancing the inferior side, in order to prevent the fabric from oversetting, in the same manner as the antiquaries profess to have discovered, in the construction of the Pisan tower.' Saragossa has gained celebrity by the two sieges which it sustained in 1808 and 1809. The adjoining provinces of Catalonia and Navarre were overrun by the French troops; Saragossa, which was garrisoned by not more than two hundred and twenty regulars, was unfortified, and the public treasury was empty. When the people were seeking for a leader, the rank of Palafox, and the favor which he was known to have enjoyed with Ferdinand, directed their choice to him, and accordingly, on the 26th of May, 1808, he was proclaimed by them governor of Saragossa, and of all the kingdom of Aragon. He was then in his eight-and-twentieth year, and had but a scanty portion of military knowledge. He immediately called into service all the halfpay officers, formed several corps, composed, in part, of the students of the university, took other measures to sustain a siege, and declared war against the French, in a proclamation remarkable for its energy. This paper was hardly issued, before a French corps of eight thousand men marched to attack Saragossa. The French were, however, met by the Spaniards, and after a hard struggle, compelled to retire. Palafox took advantage of this to quit the city for a while, in order to collect troops, and organize the defence of the rest of the province. He returned with about fifteen hundred men, who had retreated from Madrid, and was soon invested by the French, who had received powerful reinforcements, and a train of artillery. The besiegers carried the post of Torrero and some other exterior works, though not without great loss, pushed forward their attacks against the gates of El Carman and El Portillo, began to bombard the city, and forcing their way into the place by the gate of Santa Engracia, at length made themselves masters of nearly half of Saragossa. The French general now summoned Palafox to surrender. His sum. mons was contained in the following laconic sentence: “Headquarters, St. Engracia capitulation." With equal Spartan brevity, Palafox instantly replied, “Headquarters, Saragossa: war at the point of the knife." A council of war was now held, in which it was resolved that the remaining quarters of the city should be contested, inch by inch, and that, should they be lost, the people should retire across the Ebro into the suburbs, destroy the bridge, and defend the suburbs to the last man. The resolution was unanimously applauded by the Saragossans. They did not, however, content themselves with resting on the defensive. They fell upon the besiegers with unequalled and irresistible fury. The struggle continued for eleven days, almost without intermission. Every day the people gained ground, till, at last, the enemy held only a narrow space within the walls. Convinced that there was no longer any hope of success, the French general abandoned the siege, which had lasted sixty-one days, and cost him several thousand men. Palafox availed himself of the breathing-time thus obtained, to increase his force, and construct additional works. He was not allowed a long respite. To reduce Saragossa to submission, was, on many accounts, an object of great importance to the French. In November, therefore, a large army, under Marshals Mortier and Moncey, marched to recommence the siege. Palafox was defeated at Tudela, and again under the walls of Saragossa, and the place was invested. Being summoned to surrender, he replied and acted with the same energy as before. The approaches were vigorously carried on by the French, and a furious bombardment was incessantly kept up. Almost hourly combats took place between the besiegers and the besieged, in which the latter displayed a desperate valor. At length, January 27, a general assault was made, and the French established themselves on the breaches. Once more they penetrated, by degrees, into the city, and once more they met with the most obstinate and sanguinary resistance. Old men, women, and children, all took a part in endeavoring to stop the progress of the besiegers. Not only street by street, but house by house, and even room by room, was contended for, like the outworks of a fortress, and frequently lost and recovered. The besiegers finally resorted to mining, to win their way, their progress by open force being bought at too dear a rate. In this way, they became masters of about one fourth of the surface of the city. Saragossa, however, would long have resisted all their efforts, had it not been assailed by a force more terrible than the besiegers. An epidemic fever raged in the place, and spread destruction among the Saragossans, and there were neither hospitals, nor medicines, nor even shelter for the sick. Palafox himself was attacked by it, and was obliged to give up the command to General St. Marc, by whom the capitulation was signed on the following day. At the period of its investment, Saragossa was estimated to contain fifty thousand souls. Six thousand Saragossans fell in battle, about thirty thousand by pestilence, while the gallant defenders, reduced to about twelve thousand men, evacuated the city on its being taken possession of by the French. Saragossa has a resident population of forty-seven thousand persons, and it is one hundred and seventy-five miles east-northeast of Madrid. Spain was long known as that country where the INQUISITION existed in all its terrible power. The immediate cause of the erection of the tribunals of faith, was the rapid spread of the sect of Albigenses, the prosecution of whom, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, made the south of France a scene of bloodshed and violence. The project of extirpating the rebellious members of the church, and of extending the papal power at the expense of the bishops, by means of the inquisition, was conceived by Pope Innocent III., who ascended the papal chair in 1198, and was completed by his immediate successors. This tribunal, called the holy office, was under the immediate direction of the papal chair; it was to seek out heretics and adherents of false doctrines, and to pronounce its dreadful sentence against their fortunes, their honor, and their lives, without appeal. The process of this tribunal differed entirely from that of the civil courts. The informer was not only concealed, but rewarded by the inquisition. The accused was obliged to be his own accuser; suspected persons were secretly seized and thrown into prison. No better instruments could be found for inquisitors, than the mendicant orders of monks, particularly the Franciscans and Dominicans, whom the pope employed to destroy the heretics, and inquire into the conduct of bishops. Pope Gregory IX., in 1233, completed the design of his predecessors, and, as they had succeeded in giving these inquisitorial monks, who were wholly dependent on the pope, an unlimited power, and in rendering the interference of the temporal magistrates only nominal, the inquisition was successively introduced into several parts of Italy, and into some provinces of France; its power in the latter country being more limited than in the former. The tribunals of faith were admitted into Spain in the middle of the thirteenth century, but a firm opposition was made to them, particularly in Castile and Leon, and the bishops there maintained their exclusive jurisdiction in spiritual matters. But a change afterward took place; and while, in other countries of Europe, the inquisition could never obtain a firm footing, but in some fell entirely into disuse, as in France, and in others, as in Venice, was closely watched by the civil power, an institution grew up in Spain, toward the end of the fifteenth century, which was the most remarkable of all the inquisitorial courts of the middle ages, and differed much from the rest in its objects and organization. Ferdinand of Aragon, and Isabella of Castile, having united their power, made many efforts to break the strength of the nobles, and to render the royal authority absolute. The inquisition was used as a means of effecting their plans. There were three religious parties in Spain, Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans. The Moors still maintained possession of the last remnant of their empire, the kingdom of Granada, which was, however, already threatened by the arms of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Jews had their synagogues, and formed a distinct class in the principal cities of Spain. Commerce was principally in their hands; they were the lessees of the king and the nobles, and suffered no oppression, being subject only to a moderate capitation tax, which they had been obliged to pay to the clergy. The |