The Mosaic dados present a great variety in their patterns, the combinations being endless.

“The colours of blue, red, and gold are still to be seen on the capital of the column of the centre window of the Hall, but no traces of gold, or any colour, have been discovered

on the shaft. The same thing occurs in the Court of the Fish-pond and the Court of the Lions, but, in each case, the harmony of the colouring appears to require that they should be gilt. It is probable that in the restorations which the Palace underwent during the residence of the Spanish kings, it was found much more easy to remove the gold from the columns, exposing the white marble, than to incur the expense of re-

gilding.” Such is the opinion of the famous decorative artist, Owen Jones; but the fondness of the Oriental for the spotless purity of marble, and the transparency of alabaster, so oft expressed in the inscriptions, forbids its acceptance.

In the several alcoves, or divans, which surround the Hall, the walls are covered with plaster ornaments in relief, presenting the greatest variety; the patterns in each divan being different.

Beneath this Golden Saloon is a network of dungeon-like passages, by which, it is said, Sultáns escaped in treasonable revolts, when angry scimitars were glittering in the fountain-courts, or when the incensed populace were tossing their threatening spears in the humming city below. Here is also a prison-cell sort of room, with whispering holes at each end, which

Philip the Second built to amuse the wretched child, Don Carlos. Also a vaulted cellar, where some rude sculpture has been immured by the prudish monks.

PATIO DE LA MEZQUITA—COURT OF THE MOSQUE.

The exquisite façade of this Court is much disfigured by a modern gallery. From the portions which remain, however, the general design may be traced with tolerable certainty.

The inscriptions are few and unimportant, consisting, for the most part, of the constantly-recurring motto: “There is no Conqueror but God,” and some verses from the Koran.

The grand Mosque of the Alhambra was built in 1308 by Mohammed III., and was in good preservation until the occupation of the French, who, says Don Pascual de Gayángos, entirely destroyed it. It has been thus described by Ibnu-l-Khattíb, the Grand Wizír of Yúsuf I.: “It is ornamented with Mosaic work, and exquisite tracery of the most beautiful and intricate patterns, intermixed with silver flowers and graceful arches, supported by innumerable pillars of polished marble; indeed, what with the solidity of the structure, which the Sultán inspected in person, the elegance of the design, and the beauty of the proportions, the building has not its like in this country; and I have frequently heard our best architects say that they had never seen or heard of a building which can be compared to it.”

LA MEZQUITA—THE MOSQUE.

The old Mosque, afterwards a chapel, was “purged” and consecrated by Ferdinand and Isabella, and retains but few traces of its purpose during the Moorish Dominion. The door was once overlaid with bronze, and, like all the rest of the Palace, was stripped and spoiled by generations of guardian thieves, who allowed no one but themselves to steal. Above the door is still the exquisite-laced niche where the Korán used to be placed by the green-turbaned Moollahs. Near the entrance is an elaborate and beautiful niche, which was probably the Mihráb, or sanctuary of the Mosque. Whilst at his prayers in this Mihráb, the martyred Yúsuf—he who built the Gate of Justice in 1348, and who completed the Alhambra—fell a victim to the dagger of an assassin in the year 1354. The inscriptions in the Mosque, which were dumb to the conquerors, still protest for the old faith, and cry aloud from barge-board and netted rafter, “Be not one of the negligent.” “God is our refuge in every time of trouble.”

LOS BAÑOS—THE BATHS.

The plan of these Baths is very similar to the arrangement still used throughout the East.

From the elegant little saloon at the entrance where the bathers unrobed, and whither they resorted after the bath, we pass, by a circuitous passage, in which are two smaller baths, into the general vapour-bath, paved with white marble, and lighted with openings in the form of stars, lined with glazed earthenware. This corresponds with the apartment called by the Arabs the hararah, or vapour-bath, and described in Lane’s Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians; and it was under the graceful arcades which support the dome that the bathers

underwent the attentions of the masseuses who waited on them. From the great hall we pass into a smaller one, having at each end a marble tank, used for solitary ablutions. Beyond, at the present day, an accumulated heap of ruins prevents the recognition of the means for heating the bath.

The upper part of the Chamber of Repose, which is supported on marble columns, forms a gallery with small divans, in which two persons, or, at most, four, could be accommodated at

the same time; from which it would appear that the bath was confined entirely to the use of the sovereign and his hareem. The floor is paved with beautiful Mosaics, which are in perfect preservation.

Inscription: “What is most to be wondered at is the felicity which awaits men in this palace of delight.”

Los Baños are well preserved, for they lie out of the way of ordinary ill-usage. The vapour-bath is lighted from above by small lumbreras, or “louvres.”

GARDEN OF “LINDARAJA.”

The Mirador—Prospect-chamber—of “Lindaraja” overlooks this secluded little court or garden, with its alabaster fountain, its cypress, orange, and citron trees rising from trim

hedges of myrtles and roses. The Mirador is a charming little apartment of fifteen feet by ten feet, or thereabouts, with three tall windows protected by jalousies. It is ordinarily and

erroneously pointed out as the residence of Washington Irving during his abode in the Palace in 1829. His apartments were, however, in the Mihráb Tower, now known as the Tocador de la Reina.

TOCADOR DE LA REINA—THE QUEEN’S DRESSING-ROOM—

so called by the Spaniards, is about nine feet square. It was,

in part, modernised and painted in arabesque by Charles V. In a corner is a marble slab drilled with holes, through which, it is said, perfumes were wafted while the Queen was dressing.

It is not unimportant to locate precisely the dwelling-place of Washington Irving during his sojourn in the Alhambra in 1829. It was in the suite of rooms annexed to the Queen’s Dressing-room that he took up his quarters. The kindly American genius, who regarded Englishmen as his own kith and kin, makes it quite plain. He says: “On taking up my abode in the Alhambra, one end of a suite of empty chambers of modern architecture, intended for the residence of the

Governor, was fitted up for my reception. It was in front of the Palace.... I was dissatisfied with being lodged in a modern apartment.... I found, in a remote gallery, a door, communicating apparently with an extensive apartment, locked against the public.... I procured the key, however, without

difficulty; the door opened to a range of vacant chambers of European architecture, though built over a Moorish arcade.... This fanciful suite of rooms terminated in an open gallery with balustrades, which ran at right angles with a side of the garden. The whole apartment had a delicacy and elegance in its decorations, and there was something so choice and sequestered in its situation along with this retired little garden, that it awakened an interest in its history. I found, on inquiry, that it was an apartment fitted up at the time when Philip V. and the beautiful Elizabeth of Parma were expected at the Alhambra, and was destined for the Queen and the ladies of her train. One of the loftiest chambers had been her sleeping-room; and a narrow staircase leading from it ... opened to the delightful belvedere, originally a mirador of the Moorish Sultanás, but fitted up as a boudoir for the fair Elizabeth, and which still retains the name of the tocador or toilette of the Queen. The sleeping-room I have mentioned, commanded from one window a prospect of the Generalife and its embowered terraces.... I determined at once to take up my quarters in this apartment. My determination occasioned great surprise ... but I was not diverted from my humour.”

TORRE DE LOS SIETE SUELOS—TOWER OF THE SEVEN STAGES.

This Tower is said to descend seven stories under ground. Four subterranean chambers have been investigated. Divers marvellous tales are related concerning this building, in which the Moorish kings are believed to have deposited their treasures. Here, according to fable, is heard the clash of arms, and of soldiers seen stationed to guard immense treasures.

LA TORRE DE LOS PICOS—THE TOWER OF THE PEAKS—

is a Moorish postern gate crowned with minarets. The openings in the Tower for dropping missiles upon assailants are of the time of the Catholic Sovereigns. It is said that the

French intended to blow up this Tower—the holes made by the sappers yet remain—but the procrastination of their agents saved the building. From this postern, a path, crossing the ravine, leads up to the Generalife.

TORRE DE COMARES—TOWER OF COMARES.

The whole interior of this gigantic Tower is occupied by the Hall of the Ambassadors which is described supra.

TORRE DE LA VELA—THE WATCH-TOWER.

Here, an inscription records, the Christian flag was first hoisted by the Cardinal Mendoza and his brother. The panorama from the roof of this Tower is glorious. Below, lies Granada, belted with plantations; beyond, expands the Vega, guarded like an Eden by a wall of mountains. It is a scene for painters to sketch and for poets to describe.

The Torre de la Vela is so called, because on this watch-tower hangs a silver-tongued bell, which is heard on a still night even at Loja, thirty miles away. The bell is rung on 2nd January, the anniversary of the surrender of Granada. Maidens come on this day to strike the bell, which act ensures a