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Lord Marmion turned,-well was his need,
And dashed the rowels in his steed,
Like arrow through the archway sprung,
The ponderous gate behind him rung:
To pass there was such scanty room,
The bars, descending, razed his plume.

The steed along the drawbridge flies,
Just as it trembled on the rise;
Not lighter does the swallow skim
Along the smooth lake's level brim:

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And when Lord Marmion reached his band,

He halts, and turns with clenched hand,
And shout of loud defiance pours,

And shook his gauntlet at the towers.

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train: procession. adieu farewell. The French adieu, like our goodby, is a commendation to the care of God, — à Dieu and God be with you. something: somewhat. 'plain: complain. - Tantal'lon: Douglas's castle. This Earl of Douglas was of an earlier generation than the Douglas of "The Lady of the Lake." - bowers: formerly, rooms. - lists: likes, chooses.-peer: equal. Peer also means nobleman (see twelve lines below); only men of distinguished birth were considered to be fit companions for the king. an: this is an old conjunction, meaning if. hold stronghold. -to beard: to defy. Among the Jews it was considered a great affront to touch a man's beard.. unscathed uninjured.. Saint Bride: a favorite saint of the house of Douglas. — portcullis: a sliding gate made of crossbars tipped with iron. It was hung on chains in the gateway of a castle, and when these chains were loosened, it fell by its own weight. The word comes from two French words meaning a gate and a groove. — row'el: the little wheel of a spur. — plume: feathers worn as ornaments.

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FERDINAND AND ISABELLA ENTER GRANADA

W. H. PRESCOTT

WILLIAM HICKling Prescott (1796-1859) was an American historian whose brilliant success, like that of Parkman, was won under hard conditions of constant suffering and almost total blindness. Prescott's special subject was that of Spanish conquest and civilization.

NOTE. Ferdinand was king of Aragon and Navarre, Isabella was heir to the throne of Castile. Their marriage united these three Spanish provinces; the fourth, Granada, was still in the hands of the Moors. (See note under "The Surrender of Granada," page 167.) The two sovereigns were untiring in their efforts to win back this most fertile and beautiful 10 of all the Spanish provinces, and at last they were successful. The royal city of Granada capitulated, and on the 2d of January, 1492, the king and queen entered its gates in triumph.

Every preparation was made by the Spaniards for performing this last act of the drama with suitable pomp 15 and effect. The mourning which the court had put on for the death of Prince Alonso of Portugal, occasioned by a fall from his horse a few months after his marriage with the infanta Isabella, was exchanged for gay and magnificent apparel.

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On the morning of the 2d the whole Christian camp exhibited a scene of the most animated bustle. The grand cardinal Mendoza was sent forward at the head of a large detachment, comprehending his household troops and the veteran infantry, grown gray in the Moorish wars, to 25 occupy the Alhambra preparatory to the entrance of the sovereigns.

Ferdinand stationed himself at some distance in the rear, near an Arabian mosque, since consecrated as the hermitage of St. Sebastian. He was surrounded by his courtiers, with their stately retinues, glittering in gorgeous panoply, and proudly displaying the armorial bearings of 5 their ancient houses. The queen halted still farther in the rear, at the village of Armilla.

As the column under the grand cardinal advanced up the Hill of Martyrs, over which a road had been constructed for the passage of the artillery, he was met by 10 the Moorish prince Abdallah, attended by fifty cavaliers, who, descending the hill, rode up to the position occupied by Ferdinand on the banks of the Xenil.

As the Moor approached the Spanish king, he would have thrown himself from his horse and saluted his hand 15 in token of homage; but Ferdinand hastily prevented him, embracing him with every mark of sympathy and regard.

Abdallah then delivered up the keys of the Alhambra to his conqueror, saying, "They are thine, O king, since Allah so decrees it; use thy success with clemency and 20 moderation."

Ferdinand would have uttered some words of consolation to the unfortunate prince, but he moved forward with a dejected air to the spot occupied by Isabella, and, after similar acts of obeisance, passed on to join his family, who 25 had preceded him with his most valuable effects on the route to the Alpujarras.

The sovereigns during this time awaited with impatience the signal of the occupation of the city by the cardinal's troops, which, winding slowly along the outer circuit of the walls, as previously arranged, in order to spare the 5 feelings of the citizens as far as possible, entered what is now called the gate of Los Molinos.

In a short time the large silver cross borne by Ferdinand throughout the crusade was seen sparkling in the sunbeams, while the standards of Castile and St. Jago waved 10 triumphantly from the red towers of the Alhambra.

At this glorious spectacle the choir of the royal chapel broke forth into the solemn anthem of the Te Deum, and the whole army, penetrated with deep emotion, prostrated themselves on their knees in adoration of the Lord of Hosts, 15 who had at length granted the consummation of their wishes, in this last and glorious triumph of the cross.

The grandees who surrounded Ferdinand then advanced toward the queen, and, kneeling down, saluted her hand in token of homage to her as sovereign of Granada. The 20 procession took up its march toward the city, "the king and queen moving in the midst," says an historian, “emblazoned with royal magnificence; and as they were in the prime of life, and had now achieved the completion of this glorious conquest, they seemed to represent even more than 25 their wonted majesty. Equal with each other, they were raised far above the rest of the world. They appeared, indeed, more than mortal, and as if sent by Heaven for the salvation of Spain."

In the meanwhile the Moorish king, traversing the route of the Alpujarras, reached a rocky eminence which commanded a last view of Granada. He checked his horse, and as his eye for the last time wandered over the scenes of his departed greatness, his heart swelled, and he burst 5 into tears. "You do well," said his more masculine mother, "to weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man!"

"Alas!" exclaimed the unhappy exile, "when were woes ever equal to mine!" The scene of this event is 10 still pointed out to the traveler by the people of the district; and the rocky height from which the Moorish chief took his sad farewell of the princely abodes of his youth is commemorated by the poetical title of "The Last Sigh of the Moor."

[Notice in comparing this with Bulwer Lytton's "Surrender of Granada," on page 161, the different ways in which a novelist and an historian treat the same subject.]

infanta: princess. Mendoza (tha): called "the grand cardinal." He was a famous Spanish statesman who distinguished himself in the Moorish war. He is sometimes confounded with Mendoza, the Spanish historian, who belonged to the next century. - Armilla (ar-mël'ya): a Spanish village. Abdallah: Boabdil. See "Surrender of Granada.". the Alhambra: the royal palace and fortress. - St. Sebastian: a Christian martyr of the third century. — armorial bearings: devices worn upon shields. the Alpujarras (äl-poo-här'räs) : mountainous region of Granada. Los Molinos (los mol-e'nos): the mills. - St. Jago (yä'go): Santiago or St. James, the patron saint of Spain. - the red towers: Alhambra is Arabic for "the red." The name is derived from the color of the sun-dried bricks of which the outer walls are built.

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