sted with a mission to the enemy.

[25] Thieves.

[26] A _Maravedi_ was a coin of such diminutive value as to answer to
the one-third of an English farthing.

[27] The square.

[28] The Persians, and even the Turks, when speaking of a brave man,
generally compare him to a lion;--their poetry is full of this simile,
and there is nothing more common than to hear them say _aslan_, lion, or
_caplan_, tiger.

[29] The brave man who protects the helpless is a Lion.

[30] New Square.

[31] At the period in which my Romance takes place, the revival of the
art of painting was in its infancy. I am aware, therefore, that some
scrupulous folks will be apt to find fault with me for having introduced
a gallery of pictures with the same confidence as if I were writing a
novel of the present day. Yet this seeming anachronism does not exist.
The Moors, though they certainly could not boast of a Rafael or a
Titian, had exercised themselves in the art, and, according to some
authorities, even excelled in portrait painting. I do not intend to
maintain that either the Moorish or Christian artists of the period had
arrived at any eminence: for my purpose, it is enough that they _did_
exist at the time: let imagination do the rest.

[32] Our lady protect us.

[33] In those times, when war was the only meritorious occupation of the
_gentle_ blood, the Jews, though despised and persecuted, were in some
respects men of great consequence in a state. They were not only, as in
the present day, the most expert and assiduous in money transactions,
but cultivated the science of medicine with much success; when no other
career was deemed compatible with honor and glory but the profession of
arms or the church.

[34] Samaritan--term of reproach.

[35] God defend us.

[36] God bless me.

[37] Satan.

[38] Old Christian.

[39] Accursed.

[40] A kind of ruffle or frill, worn formerly round the neck--a collar.

[41] The Hill of the Martyrs.

[42] On the hill of the Martyrs, so called from the supposed cruelties
that the Moors had exercised against the Christian prisoners who fell
into their hands, Queen Isabella caused a chapel to be erected, which
became the object of many a pious pilgrimage.

[43] May she rest in peace.

[44] A devotee.

[45] History describes Don Alonso de Aguilar as one of the most valiant
and renowned amongst the celebrated warriors of that period. His death
has been the subject of many and some very good