in which the temporary American resident of the ancient
palace-fortress entered into its mouldering beauties and romantic
associations, and in the artistic skill with which he wove the
commonplace daily life of his attendants there into the more brilliant
woof of its past. The book abounds in delightful legends, and yet these
are all so touched with the author's airy humor that our credulity is
never overtaxed; we imbibe all the romantic interest of the place
without for a moment losing our hold upon reality. The enchantments of
this Moorish paradise become part of our mental possessions, without the
least shock to our common sense. After a few days of residence in the
part of the Alhambra occupied by Dame Tia Antonia and her family, of
which the handmaid Dolores was the most fascinating member, Irving
succeeded in establishing himself in a remote and vacant part of the
vast pile, in a suite of delicate and elegant chambers, with secluded
gardens and fountains, that had once been occupied by the beautiful
Elizabeth of Farnese, daughter of the Duke of Parma, and more than four
centuries ago by a Moorish beauty named Lindaraxa, who flourished in the
court of Muhamed the Left-Handed. These solitary and ruined chambers had
their own terrors and enchantments, and for the first nights gave the
author little but sinister suggestions and grotesque food for his
imagination. But familiarity dispersed the gloom and the superstitious
fancies.

"In the course of a few evenings a thorough change took place in
the scene and its associations. The moon, which when I took
possession of my new apartments was invisible, gradually gained
each evening upon the darkness of the night, and at length rolled
in full splendor above the towers, pouring a flood of tempered
light into every court and hall. The garden beneath my window,
before wrapped in gloom, was gently lighted up; the orange and
citron trees were tipped with silver; the fountain sparkled in the
moonbeams, and even the blush of the rose was faintly visible.

"I now felt the poetic merit of the Arabic inscription on the
walls: 'How beauteous is this garden; where the flowers of the
earth vie with the stars of heaven. What can compare with the vase
of yon alabaster fountain filled with crystal water? nothing but
the moon in her fullness, shining in the midst of an unclouded
sky!'

"On such heavenly nig