the public place of Palencia.

It cannot, however, be denied that cases of cruelty have occurred, and
are related in history of the Arabs, although they are rare among those
of Spain; but, if cruel, the Arab never added hypocrisy to his cruelty.
After having ravaged all Andalucia with fire and famine, St. Ferdinand
formed the project of proceeding to Africa the following year, in order
to attack the inhabitants of that country. His death interrupted the
course of these humane projects. Being dropsical, and feeling his end
approaching, he called for his son Alphonso, afterwards his successor,
to whom this prince--cut off in the midst of his thirsty longings for
blood and slaughter--is related to have given "the counsels, which the
sentiments of piety, justice, and love for mankind, with which he was
filled, inspired so great a monarch."

As for the degenerate modern tribes, descendants of some of the most
civilized of former days, we have witnessed their contest, _pro aris et
focis_, during the last few years, against a sample of the Christians of
to-day: the mode of making war is perfectly similar on both sides.

It is a no less curious _travers_ of human nature, from its being an
almost universal one--that of which the modern Spaniards afford an
example. They apply the term "barbarians" to the descendants of their
Moorish compatriots, although they themselves have scarcely advanced a
step in civilization since the day that, in the public place of Granada,
Ferdinand the Catholic burned one million five thousand Arab books,
being all he could collect throughout Spain; showing what tremendous
power may be wielded by a single human hand, when applied to the task of
undoing. That King, by a single signature, accomplished an act which may
be considered as equivalent to retarding, by several centuries, the
civilization of a great country,--perhaps, even, to cutting it off from
the only opportunity it was destined to possess, during the present
ages, of arriving at the summit which the more privileged nations are
permitted to attain; while it influenced injuriously the progress of
letters, science, and art throughout Europe. But we will no longer allow
digressions to delay our visit to the Alcazar, where we shall find
visible proof of Arab superiority, at least, in architectural science
and invention.

Passing to the east of the cathedral through the large open space, on
the left of which is the Archbishop's palace, and on