In a subterraneous habitation, lately discovered by digging into the ruins of Pompeia, was found a tube of clay, in one of the corners of it, intended to let out the smoke. This discovery decides the question so long agitated among the learned, whether or no the ancients were acquainted with tubed chimneys.

Description of the celebrated Moorish Palace and Fortress of Alhambra. [From Semple's Second Journey in Spain.]

The Alhambra is, however, the great object of attraction to every traveller visiting Granada, and has been the subject of many descriptions. As has been already mentioned, this great Moorish palace and fortress stands upon a steep ridge which bounds the city to the eastward, or rather which forms an acute angle entering it on that side. The walls follow with sufficient accuracy the general outline of the edges of the ridge, and before the invention of gunpowder must have been, from their strength and situation, nearly impregnable. The extreme length of the whole is about 600 yards, with a breadth nearly uniform of about 150. Within this space the Moorish monarchs of Grenada had accumulated all that, according to their notions, was secure in war, or magnificent and luxurious in peace; and the towers, the walls, the halls of audience, the bed-chambers, and the baths, which still exist in excellent preservation, all tend to give us a

were.

The Alhambra has been often described; I wish rather to collect in my own mind the impression made by the whole, than to enter into a minute account of its endless details. It was commenced by Mohammed Abu Abdallah, king of Granada, about the year 1260, and was called by him Medina Alhambra, or the Red City, supposed to be from the colour of the soil, which abounds in many parts in oxyd of iron. As the first walls were composed chiefly of earth mixed on the spot with a small quantity of chalk, it is easy to observe, by their present state, what was the prevailing nature of the soil; for wherever we find them in the greatest decay, there the oxyd of iron has been so abundant as to prevent the union of the other materials with the chalk. The principal entrance is from the street of Gomeres, where we ascend, and pass first through a kind of triumphal arch erected in the time of Charles the Fifth. Here the hill begins to be covered with trees, which, from the broken nature of the ground, produce a pleasing effect. On the left is a sloping terrace faced with stone, by which we ascend, and enter the great gate of the fortress, called the gate of the tribunal, according to the eastern custom of judging in the gate, and to which allusions are so frequently made in the Scriptures. Over the entrance is sculptured an arm with a hand, the symbol of power, and of various other mystical qualities among the Arabians. According to an inscription in Arabic characters, this gate was built

in the year 1344. The first absurdity that strikes us here is a wooden image of the Virgin Mary, placed in a niche near the inscription, and which has been opened purposely for its reception. A little further on, in a recess, is an altar and a picture, which, we are informed, by a long inscription in letters of gold, was the second likeness ever taken by St. Luke of the most holy virgin-let us attend no more to such absurdities!

After passing through various Moorish arches, we arrive at the square of the cisterns, so called from two great reservoirs beneath the surface, where the water of the Darro is brought in a conduit from the distance of about half a league; this square is on the highest part of the ridge; the views from it are grand and interesting; and it was therefore chosen by the Spaniards as a spot for erecting the greatest absurdity within the walls of the Alhambra. On one side of the square stands the palace of Charles the Fifth, commenced by him with the design of showing the great superiority of the Christian architecture over that of the Moors, but which has never yet been finished; the plan of the building is noble and simple, the execution is excellent throughout, and the whole, if completed, would be a habitation worthy of a great monarch, yet, placed where it is, and with the poor design of insulting, if I may so say, the finest monument of ancient Moorish architecture in Europe, we lose all sight of its beauties, and can regard it only as a more systematic absurdity than the image of the Virgin, or the picture painted by St. Luke!

With these impressions we turn

with more pleasure to the ancient palace of the Moorish kings. The principal gate fronts the south, and is thus concealed by the palace of Charles the Fifth; it is formed of a circular arch, on two thick pillars, above which are three windows, with carvings of flowers and leaves, amid which is an Arabic inscription, signifying "God alone is Conqueror;" a motto which is repeated incessantly throughout the building. Through the gate we enter a low gallery adorned, in like manner with various figures and inscriptions, and supported upon eight columns; the diameter of these columns is the same from the base upward, the capitals are variously adorned, and flowers, leaves and shields, on which are inscribed the words "God alone is Conqueror," are scattered about in great profusion. Above is another gallery, nearly corresponding in all respects with the one beneath. From the gallery we enter the principal court, surrounded by walls of twenty-five feet in height, and having in the middle a pool of water nearly one hundred and thirty feet in length, by thirty in breadth; this served for the purification of those who went to prayer in the royal mosque, which was within the palace. From this court another gallery conducts us through an outer apartment to the hall of Comaresch, or the hall of audience, where ambassadors were presented to the king. Here the Moorish artists appear to have exerted all their skill to produce a brilliant and imposing effect; the form is a square of about fortytwo feet, and the height nearly seventy; nine windows, three in each of three sides, are so placed

as

as to throw light in every direction upon the niches, the interwoven borders, the garlands of flowers and leaves, the medallions, with Arabic inscriptions of "Glory be to God," "God alone is Conqueror," and the intersecting arches and circles, adorned with flowers, fruits, and shells. From the floor to the roof all is ornament, and of various colours, deep blue, red, green, or glittering with gilding; the ceiling is a kind of cupola, composed of wood of different colours, silvered or gilt, forming circles, crowns, and stars; the pavement is of various coloured tiles. On all sides are the minutia of art; and by inscriptions over the windows, no longer legible, but which have been preserved in books, it would appear that there was formerly a fountain in the hall, of which at present no trace re

mains.

The court of lions is the most magnificent of the Alhambra, and shows the peculiar genius and defects of the Arabian artists. It is in length about one hundred and thirty feet, and seventy-five in breadth, surrounded by a low gallery, supported by one hundred and twenty-eight pillars of white marble. The view of these delicate columns, which are little more than ten feet high, and of uniform diameters, pleases more than all the glitter of the royal apartments; they stand in groups of four and four on the sides of the entrance, of three and three in front, and alternately grouped and single all round beneath the gallery. It is not possible to see a finer specimen of the Arabian taste; the contrast is, however, very great when we come to exa

mine the lions from which this part of the Alhambra derives its name. In the center, a large circular fount, or basin of marble, is supported by twelve lions, the sculpture and proportions of which are well calculated to produce a smile; the basin itself is elegant, forming a duodecagon, with an inscription on each of the sides, and ornamented with leaves and flowers; but nothing can place in a stronger light the ignorance of the Arabian sculptors, when they ventured to represent animals, than the twelve lions which support this admirable cup. We are, indeed, at a loss to account for this singular and direct violation of the laws of Mahomet, which expressly forbid the representation of any thing in heaven above, or earth beneath; certainly in this instance the beauty of the workmanship cannot be urged as an excuse for the violation of the precept; such lions were never before seen; yet they were thought admirable at the period of their being placed there, as we may learn from the inscription on one of the sides of the cup-"O thou that beholdest these lions, breath alone is wanting to enable them to show their fury!"

The remaining parts of the Alhambra are such as might be expected in the palace of an eastern monarch. Every thing appears contrived for the sake of coolness; the marble floors, the roofs, evidently formed upon the model of stalactites, the apartments screened from the light, the baths, the fountains, are all the luxuries of a warm climate. In the hall of the Two Sisters, so called from two large pieces of marble which form part of the pavement, the roof is finish

ed

ed with infinite labour, and were it not for the splendor of the colours, might well excite the idea of some cool dripping cave. In the corresponding apartment, called the hall of the Abencerraxes, is a fountain, in the marble basin of which is a reddish stain. This, you are told, proceeds from the blood of six-and-thirty cavaliers of the noble family of the Abencerraxes, who were here beheaded on false accusations; one of them for unlawful intercourse with the sultana, and the rest for an alleged conspiracy against their sovereign, Abo Abdeli. This tale, which is not countenanced by the authority of a single respectable historian, would long ere this have been for gotten, had not superstition taken it up. These noble youths were secretly attached to Christianity: even through the walls of the palace they were heard, at the hour of death, exhorting each other in the name of Jesus; and the blood of these martyrs has indelibly stained the marble, and remains an unquestionable record of the crime and the miracle!

In two small apartments of the hall of the tribunal, are paintings on the ceilings, which have given rise to many conjectures; some have supposed them to have been painted since the conquest of Granada, by the Spaniards, founding this opinion upon the known law of Mahomet; but if the Arabian monarchs could so far break through the superstitious restrictions of their prophet as to have marble lions in their courts, they need not have been scrupulous about a few paintings in their closets. One represents a landscape with trees, and two young women VOL. LI.

sitting admiring it; others a chace, with cavaliers and their servants on horseback; a castle, out of which two ladies, with their du ennas, are coming to receive some knights who are approaching dismounted; men combating an enchanter with a long beard, holding a lady by both her hands, and a knight with a couched lance riding full speed to her deliverance; such are the subjects of these paintings, which show the very infancy of the art. The most interesting is the representation of judges assembled, and deliberating on the life of an accused person; and perhaps, as the only specimens existing of Mahometan paintings, the whole are not unworthy of being copied and made public.

In one small room, from the construction of the roof, a whisper in one corner is distinctly heard in the other. This may have appeared a wonderful invention to the Moors, as it seems to the greater part of the Spaniards who visit it, but to one who has been in the whispering gallery of St. Paul's, nothing can appear more childish than this contrivance. In fact, the size of the room is such, that a whisper might easily be heard across it with very little effort.

The queen's dressing-closet is a pleasant little apartment into which we enter by a gallery to the eastward of the hall of audience; it is ornamented with paintings, the subjects of which are chiefly taken from the Roman mythology, and which of course are comparatively of a modern date. In a smaller closet near to it is a marble slab inserted in the pavement, with holes, and a vacancy beneath, 3 L

where