were wont to hear the complaints of their subjects, and to administer summary justice in person and upon the spot. Hence the name of the Tower of Tribunal.

After a short repose we went to see the remains of the Moorish palace, passing on the way through the open place of arms, called now Plaza de los Algibes, from the immense reservoir for water which lies below. On the east stands the magnificent palace of Charles V., and the other sides are flanked by towers and apartments of the old palace, or by the modern buildings which have sprung up within the walls; for the Alhambra, besides its garrison of invalids, has a population of a thousand souls or more, attracted to the spot for the enjoyment of immunities which are not common to Granada, and which frequently render it a temporary refuge to criminals fleeing from the city. The reservoir in question occupies subterraneously an extent nearly equal to the whole Plaza, to which it gives its name, and is kept constantly filled by an aqueduct connected with the Daro, thus supplying water not only to the Alhambra, but also to many inhabitants of the city, among whom it is in great repute. In the spring it is emptied and carefully cleansed, then refilled and allowed to settle, and afterward refilled from time to time. The great depth of the reservoir maintains the water in a clear state, and of an equal temperature, warmer than the air in winter, and in summer as cool as one could desire. It is said to have contained sufficient water to supply the Granadian court, with a garrison of several thousands, for years, in the event of a siege and the exterior communication being interrupted by the destruction of the pipes. As we passed the curb of this mammoth cistern we found a number of watermen, who had come with asses from the city, to fill the jars hung on each side of their animals, and covered with leaves freshly culled from the grove of the Alhambra, and which, being wet, cool the water by constant evaporation. These people live by retailing the water in the streets and places of Granada, where they receive an ochavo for each glass, furnishing, as a bonus, two sugarplums of arise, which are eaten before swallowing the water. A young waterman, whose good taste had interspersed a few rich flowers with the leaves that surrounded his kegs, hastened to offer us a huge tumbler of pure and sparkling water, while with the other hand he opened the tin-box at his girdle, that we might supply ourselves with sugarplums. The temptation was not to be resisted; and we drank long and freely of the best, and, to the unperverted taste of those who drink to supply a want of nature, most luxurious of beverages.

The Moorish palace extends along the north side of the Alhambra, overlooking the ravine of the Daro. It is not easy, amid the existing ruins of the famous pile, to determine what was its extent and form, when the abode of the powerful kings of Granada. Part of the ancient constructions have yielded to their own frailty, part have been overrun by the patched rookeries of the present inhabitants, and part removed to make room for the proud palace of the Cesar. It is believed, however, that when perfect it formed an extensive quadrangle, about four hundred feet long and two hundred feet wide, containing five enclosed courts, the largest of which stood in the centre, and was one hundred and fifty feet in length, by eighty in breadth; the other four were placed at the four angles, and were of somewhat smaller size. The first exists at present, under the name of the court of the Myrtles, but of the smaller ones, the thrice-famed court of Lions alone remains. Although this may have been the general form of the edifice, it is not likely that its plan was rigorously uniform; for in what remains it is difficult to trace anything like unity of design. The period of construction is evidently various, and there is a bewildering connexion of apartments, courts, galleries, and towers, that not only baffles description, but renders it difficult even for the person who sees it to form a clear idea of its figure. The royal apartments being in the towers that overlook the Daro, are of solid hewn stone; the rest is frailly built of tapias, coated externally with a rough plaster, and within such a surface of stucco, impressed by means of wooden moulds, with a profusion of elaborate figures, interwoven with inscriptions.

The quadrangle through which we first passed was enclosed by a gallery, formed by the walls and by a range of light marble columns connected by arches. In the centre was a large sheet of water, constantly renewed by two crystal jets at the extremities of the court, and which, running in canals from their overflowing basins, at length emptied themselves into the central reservoir, which was filled with gold and silver fishes, while the surrounding banks were formed into parterres. In the days of the Saracens it was dedicated to a different use; it served for the legal purifica

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tions prescribed by the Koran to the faithful who were about to assist in the devotions at the royal mosque, which stood adjoining.

Besides this court stands the Tower of Comares, which forms an angle of the fortress, overlooking the Daro and Albaycin to the north, while the western windows command a view of Granada and the Vega. This Saloon of Comares, also called of the Ambassadors, is the largest and most magnificent of the royal apartments, being about forty feet square, with the lofty dome-like ceiling, the apex rising to the height of sixty feet. The pavement is of earthen tiles, alternated with others of blue and white porcelain, symmetrically disposed. The wainscot is lined with the same species of mosaic; and above it the walls are covered with stucco, impressed by means of models, with a variety of regular figures, very exactly executed, and enclosing small medallions for inscriptions, which are entwined with garlands of leaves, fruits, and flowers. At the junction of the walls and ceiling is a narrow riband running round the whole apartment, and closely written with Arabic characters. Each side of the room has five window-places, three of which are open and two false, except on the side of the entrance, where all are closed. These windows are ornamented with small columns sustaining arches, which are stuccoed to represent leaves and flowers; the false ones have long inscriptions on the interior of the arches. The cornice projects far from the walls, and is most elaborately decorated with a variety of minute ornament, fretted into the stucco. The ceiling leaves of the cornice at half a right angle, making upward in four sides, corresponding to the walls of the room until they terminate in a cupola. The whole of this lofty dome is lined with wood in small pieces of various colors placed in regular figures, and alternated with gilt and silver; the whole forming a checkered mosaic, rudely representing crowns, stars, and crescents. The roof is meant to imitate the splendors of the firmament: and however abortive the imitation, it does not want a certain grace. The inscriptions are said to be chiefly ejaculatory expressions in praise of the Deity, much in use among the followers of Mahomet, as, "O God! to thee let perpetual praise be given! to thee thanksgiving for evermore! For God is our aid in every affliction; no creature has for excellence the attribute of mercy; this is the prerogative of God alone. Glory to God!" Again, "There is no other god than God, the only, the absolute, the potent over the powerful!" There are others in praise of the building, and of the king who ordered its erection, "Oh thou, who art the son of a king, and the descendant of many kings! it was thou who didst build and decorate this marvellous palace, which is of such singular beauty and in which the wondrous excellences of thy reign are demonstrated. Yes! the king Nasere is the powerful and the valiant, causing dread to all nations! If he should place himself in the heavens, the stars would lose their glory!" There is no inscription, however, which occurs so frequently in the Alhambra as that of "God alone is the conqueror !" This was the watchword of the Granadians, and was even stamped upon their coin. It originated with Muhamad Ahamar, the founder of the kingdom and builder of the Alhambra, who, being praised as the most valiant and successful of warriors, with the pious modesty of a brave man, disclaimed the honor, and, like the Templars in the better days of their order, placed upon his shield the humble motto, "Conqueror through God!"

This Saloon of Comares formerly displayed in its walls a brilliant variety of colors, among which red, blue, and green, were the most conspicuous, while the multiplied inscriptions were brought into a relief of gold and silver. Time, neglect, and desolation, have dealt roughly with the Alhambra; and the gorgeous coloring, the gold, the silver, and the enamel, are now covered with whitewash, filling up the interstices of the fretwork, and rounding all into uniformity. And yet the Saloon of Comares, with its fretted walls, its lofty roof, and numerous windows, overlooking one of nature's fairest pictures, can not even now be contemplated with indifference. What, then, must it not have appeared to an age of inferior civilization, when all the splendor of contrasted coloring enlivened the present monotony; when those mysterious characters, which now baffle the curiosity of the unlearned, spoke in golden poetry to the beholders; and when this naked and solitary apartment was provided with the luxurious conveniences of an oriental people, thronged by obsequious courtiers, and hallowed by the presence of royalty!

Returning from the Saloon of Comares to the principal quadrangle, we passed thence into the famous Court of Lions, which is enclosed by a gallery connected with the wall and the adjacent apartments, and sustained toward the court by high Ara

bic arches, standing on no fewer than one hundred and twenty-eight marble columns. The columns are about eight feet high, and as many inches in diameter, standing singly or grouped at the angles. The walls that enclose the court and gallery are plastered in stucco, and impressed with the same variety of ornaments and inscriptions that abound in the Saloon of Comares; the pavement is of white marble. At each end of the court is a beautiful pavilion, connected with the gallery, but projecting within the quadrangle; columns similar to those of the gallery, in groups of three, sustain light horseshoe arches, ornamented profusely with garlands, upon which rests a miniature dome, whose cavity is ornamented with a fretwork of rich woods. A fountain, placed under each of these pavilions, throws a jet of water aloft into the obscurity of each cupola, whence it falls back in spray.

Between these two pavilions stands the Fountain of Lions, consisting of a large marble basin, ten feet in diameter, yet of a single piece, supported on the haunches of twelve lions, drawn up in a circle, with their heads outward. This basin is surmounted by a smaller one, into which the water, bursting from a jet at its centre, falls back, thence running over on every side in a continuous sheet, resembling a glass cylinder as it descends to the lower basin, where it is augmented by twelve streams spouted backward from the mouths of the lions. It is said that this fountain was consecrated in imitation of the brazen sea of Solomon, described in the book of Chronicles, where we read that there were twelve moulten oxen, "and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward." Even the garlands sculptured round the brim are repeated in the Fountain of Lions. An identity of design will appear nowise incredible, when we consider the number of Jews living in Granada from the earliest times, and the great favor which they enjoyed among the Saracens, from their common oriental origin, from the assistance they had lent at the time of the conquest, and from their wealth, learning, and refinement, so superior to the age of warfare in which they lived. The lions are rudely formed, as might be expected among a people to whom the imitation of animate forms was interdicted, and who in this case acted by exception. We may see, however, in these figures, round the Fountain of Lions, an effort on the part of the Granadians to release themselves from an ordinance of their religion, which effectually checked their progress in the arts. The walls that encircle the court, the arches, and the fountains, are profusely covered with inscriptions, telling the beholder, in the language of song, the admiration this place excited among the poets of Granada. Some of them are translated as follows: "Blessed is he who gave unto the prince Muhamad a habitation, which for beauty excels all others. Oh! heir of the Naseritan blood! there is no glory equal to that of inheriting such power and greatness! The peace of God be with thee for ever! causing thee to keep thy subjects in obedience, and to subdue thine enemies. Dost thou not see in what confusion the waters run; and yet, other currents are constantly falling? It is like unto a lover bathed in tears, and who carefully conceals them from the object of her passion. And, perhaps, it is in reality but a crystal cloud spreading itself over the lions." There is another, which furnishes the beholder with a very gratuitous piece of encouragement: "O thou who lookest upon these lions, fear not! they have not life to harm thee." In addition to the three principal fountains of the interior, there are twelve smaller jets in the surrounding gallery, the waters of which, after falling back into their respective basins, run in marble canals until they meet at the central reservoir under the Fountain of the Lions. The number of currents constantly running within this small area is still further increased by the jets from the neighboring apartments, which empty at the common centre, imparting to the whole scene a magical animation, while, to complete the attractions of the place, the whole vacant portion of the quadrangle is laid out as a flower-garden, and planted with cypresses.

The Court of the Lions is the most pleasing monument left by the Saracens in Spain, to testify that the story of their brilliant and meteor-like domination is indeed no dream of the fancy. It was on the feast of Corpus Christi that we visited it: the waters were all playing in honor of the day, and the whole quadrangle, with its adjoining apartments, was thronged with blue-eyed or dark peasant-girls, and wellmade mountaineers, all decked in picturesque costume, who had come to assist in the festivities of Granada, and chiefly to gain indulgences by hearing the grand mass to be that day celebrated in the Metropolitan, with archiepiscopal pomp, and the exposition of the most precious relics, and to receive pleasure from seeing the concluding bullfight in the amphitheatre. The moment of our visit was, therefore, most