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about the Alhambra; and seemed to be in unison with the place。 While

the count and countess; with the chaplain or secretary; were playing

their game of tresillo under the vestibule of the Court of Lions; she;

attended by Dolores; who acted as her maid of honor; would sit by

one of the fountains; and accompanying herself on the guitar; would

sing some of those popular romances which abound in Spain; or; what

was still more to my taste; some traditional ballad about the Moors。

  Never shall I think of the Alhambra without remembering this

lovely little being; sporting in happy and innocent girlhood in its

marble halls; dancing to the sound of the Moorish castanets; or

mingling the silver warbling of her voice with the music of its

fountains。

                   Relics and Genealogies。



  IF I HAD been pleased and interested by the count and his family; as

furnishing a picture of a Spanish domestic life; I was still more so

when apprised of historical circumstances which linked them with the

heroic times of Granada。 In fact; in this worthy old cavalier; so

totally unwarlike; or whose deeds in arms extended; at most; to a

war on swallows and martlets; I discovered a lineal descendant and

actual representative of Gonsalvo of Cordova; 〃the Grand Captain;〃 who

won some of his brightest laurels before the walls of Granada; and was

one of the cavaliers commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella to

negotiate the terms of surrender; nay; more; the count was entitled;

did he choose it; to claim remote affinity with some of the ancient

Moorish princes; through a scion of his house; Don Pedro Venegas;

surnamed the Tornadizo; and by the same token; his daughter; the

fascinating little Carmen; might claim to be rightful representative

of the princess Cetimerien or the beautiful Lindaraxa。*



  * Lest this should be deemed a mere stretch of fancy; the reader

is referred to the following genealogy; derived by the historian

Alcantara; from an Arabian manuscript; on parchment; in the archives

of the marquis of Corvera。 It is a specimen of the curious

affinities between Christians and Moslems; produced by capture and

intermarriages; during the Moorish wars。 From Aben Hud; the Moorish

king; the conqueror of the Almohades; was descended in right line

Cid Yahia Abraham Alnagar; prince of Almeria; who married a daughter

of King Bermejo。 They had three children; commonly called the

Cetimerian Princes。 1st。 Yusef ben Alhamar; who for a time usurped the

throne of Granada。 2d。 The Prince Nasar; who married the celebrated

Lindaraxa。 3d。 The Princess Cetimerien; who married Don Pedro Venegas;

captured by the Moors in his boyhood; a younger son of the House of

Luque; of which house the old count was the present head。



  Understanding from the count that he had some curious relics of

the Conquest; preserved in his family archives; I accompanied him

early one morning down to his palace in Granada to examine them。 The

most important of these relics was the sword of the Grand Captain; a

weapon destitute of all ostentatious ornament; as the weapons of great

generals are apt to be; with a plain hilt of ivory and a broad thin

blade。 It might furnish a comment on hereditary honors; to see the

sword of the grand captain legitimately declined into such feeble

hands。

  The other relics of the Conquest were a number of espingardas or

muskets of unwieldy size and ponderous weight; worthy to rank with

those enormous two…edged swords preserved in old armories; which

look like relics from the days of the giants。

  Besides other hereditary honors; I found the old count was Alferez

mayor; or grand standard…bearer; in which capacity he was entitled

to bear the ancient standard of Ferdinand and Isabella; on certain

high and solemn occasions; and to wave it over their tombs。 I was

shown also the caparisons of velvet; sumptuously embroidered with gold

and silver; for six horses; with which he appeared in state when a new

sovereign was to be proclaimed in Granada and Seville; the count

mounting one of the horses; and the other five being led by lackeys in

rich liveries。

  I had hoped to find among the relics and antiquities of the

count's palace; some specimens of the armor and weapons of the Moors

of Granada; such as I had heard were preserved as trophies by the

descendants of the Conquerors; but in this I was disappointed。 I was

the more curious in this particular; because an erroneous idea has

been entertained by many; as to the costumes of the Moors of Spain;

supposing them to be of the usual oriental type。 On the contrary; we

have it on the authority of their own writers; that they adopted in

many respects the fashions of the Christians。 The turban;

especially; so identified in idea with the Moslem; was generally

abandoned; except in the western provinces; where it continued in

use among people of rank and wealth; and those holding places under

government。 A woollen cap; red or green; was commonly worn as a

substitute; probably the same kind originating in Barbary; and known

by the name of Tunis or Fez; which at the present day is worn

throughout the east; though generally under the turban。 The Jews

were obliged to wear them of a yellow color。

  In Murcia; Valencia; and other eastern provinces; men of the highest

rank might be seen in public bareheaded。 The warrior king; Aben Hud;

never wore a turban; neither did his rival and competitor Al Hamar;

the founder of the Alhambra。 A short cloak called Taylasan similar

to that seen in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries;

was worn by all ranks。 It had a hood or cape which people of condition

sometimes drew over the head; but the lower class never。

  A Moslem cavalier in the thirteenth century; as described by Ibnu

Said; was equipped for war very much in the Christian style。 Over a

complete suit of mail he wore a short scarlet tunic。 His helmet was of

polished steel; a shield was slung at his back; he wielded a huge

spear with a broad point; sometimes a double point。 His saddle was

cumbrous; projecting very much in front and in rear; and he rode

with a banner fluttering behind him。

  In the time of Al Khattib of Granada; who wrote in the fourteenth

century; the Moslems of Andalus had resumed the Oriental costumes; and

were again clad and armed in Arabic fashion: with light helmet; thin

but well tempered cuirass; long slender lance; commonly of reed;

Arabian saddle and leathern buckler; made of double folds of the

skin of the antelope。 A wonderful luxury prevailed at that time in the

arms and equipments of the Granadian cavaliers。 Their armor was inlaid

with gold and silver。 Their cimeters were of the keenest Damascus

blades; with sheaths richly wrought and enamelled; and belts of golden

filagree studded with gems。 Their daggers of Fez had jewelled hilts;

and their lances were set off with gay banderoles。 Their horses were

caparisoned in correspondent style; with velvet and embroidery。

  All this minute description; given by a contemporary; and an

author of distinction; verifies those gallant pictures in the old

Morisco Spanish ballads which have sometimes been deemed apocryphal;

and gives a vivid idea of the brilliant appearance of the chivalry

of Granada; when marshalled forth in warlike array; or when

celebrating the chivalrous fetes of the Vivarrambla。

                     The Generalife。



  HIGH ABOVE the Alhambra; on the breast of the mountain; amidst

embowered gardens and stately terraces; rise the lofty towers and

white walls of the Generalife; a fairy palace; full of storied

recollections。 Here is still to be seen the famous cypresses of

enormous size which flourished in the time of the Moors; and which

tradition has connected with the fabulous story of Boabdil and his

sultana。

  Here are preserved the portraits of many who figured in the romantic

drama of the Conquest。 Ferdinand and Isabella; Ponce de Leon; the

gallant marquis of Cadiz; and Garcilaso de la Vega; who slew in

desperate fight Tarfe the Moor; a champion of Herculean strength。 Here

too hangs a portrait which has long passed for that of the unfortunate

Boabdil; but which is said to be that of Aben Hud; the Moorish king

from whom descended the princes of Almeria。 From one of these princes;

who joined the standard of Ferdinand and Isabella towards the close of

the Conquest; and was christianized by the name of Don Pedro de

Granada Venegas; was descended the present proprietor of the palace;

the marquis of Campotejar。 The proprietor; however; dwells in a

foreign land; and the palace has no longer a princely inhabitant。

  Yet here is every thing to delight a southern voluptuary: fruits;

flowers; fragrance; green arbors and myrtle hedges; delicate air and

gushing waters。 Here I had an opportunity of witnessing those scenes

which painters are fond of depicting about southern palaces and

gardens。 It was the saint's day of the count's daughter; and she had


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