that against man my deeds I
can defend!"

With these words, the enchanter drew his long robe round him, and
disappeared amidst the foliage.

CHAPTER II. THE KING WITHIN HIS PALACE.

In one of those apartments, the luxury of which is known only to the
inhabitants of a genial climate (half chamber and half grotto), reclined
a young Moor, in a thoughtful and musing attitude.

The ceiling of cedar-wood, glowing with gold and azure, was supported
by slender shafts, of the whitest alabaster, between which were open
arcades, light and graceful as the arched vineyards of Italy,
and wrought in that delicate filagree-work common to the Arabian
architecture: through these arcades was seen at intervals the lapsing
fall of waters, lighted by alabaster lamps; and their tinkling music
sounded with a fresh and regular murmur upon the ear. The whole of one
side of this apartment was open to a broad and extensive balcony,
which overhung the banks of the winding and moonlit Darro; and in the
clearness of the soft night might be distinctly seen the undulating
hills, the woods, and orange-groves, which still form the unrivalled
landscapes of Granada.

The pavement was spread with ottomans and couches of the richest azure,
prodigally enriched with quaint designs in broideries of gold and
silver; and over that on which the Moor reclined, facing the open
balcony, were suspended on a pillar the round shield, the light javelin,
and the curving cimiter, of Moorish warfare. So studded were these
arms with jewels of rare cost, that they might alone have sufficed
to indicate the rank of the evident owner, even if his own gorgeous
vestments had not betrayed it. An open manuscript, on a silver table,
lay unread before the Moor: as, leaning his face upon his hand,
he looked with abstracted eyes along the mountain summits dimly
distinguished from the cloudless and far horizon.

No one could have gazed without a vague emotion of interest, mixed
with melancholy, upon the countenance of the inmate of that luxurious
chamber.

Its beauty was singularly stamped with a grave and stately sadness,
which was made still more impressive by its air of youth and the
unwonted fairness of the complexion: unlike the attributes of the
Moorish race, the hair and curling beard were of a deep golden colour;
and on the broad forehead and in the large eyes, was that settled and
contemplative mildness which rarely softens the swart lineaments of the
fiery chil