depart, unmolested, with their effects to Africa; and that he himself, if he remained in Spain, should retain an extensive estate, with houses and slaves, or be granted an equivalent in money, if he preferred retiring to Barbary.

Thus, after eight centuries, the power of the Mahometans was terminated in Spain. Abo Abdeli, the last of their chiefs, after bending the knee to the king of Castile, and kissing his hand as a token of submission, retired to his domain, loaded with the hatred and the curses of the people, and the execrations of his own family; while the remnant of the nation, after submitting to the Christians, was, in defiance of every principle of good faith and enlightened policy, finally banished to the sterile and sultry regions of their ancestors. I refrain, with some difficulty, from narrating the wars which succeeded the conquest of Granada, and the heroism displayed by the Moors, who were scattered in the mountains; the eloquence of their chiefs, their sufferings, and their constancy, would be a theme upon which the interesting scenes around me might lead me to dwell with enthusiasm, but which I fear you would not feel with equal interest. I shall therefore present to your view some account of that period when Christendom, sunk under papal dominion, destitute of science, and deprived of the knowledge of the Grecian and Roman authors, was in a state of mental barbarism, and the successors of the Arabian prophet preserved, within the narrow confines of the little kingdom of Granada, the only remaining portion of the light of knowledge.

"That contempt of knowledge which was the natural effect of the warlike pursuits of Mahomet and his immediate successors, and which produced the destruction of the treasures of antiquity in the library of Alexandria, continued till the accession of Almamon, the seventh caliph of the race of Abassides, who sent agents through Armenia, Syria, and Egypt, to collect the scientific writings of Greece. These he caused to be translated into the Arabic language, and recommended them to the study of his subjects. His successors were equally inclined to promote the advancement of knowledge, and were rivalled in this respect by the Fatimites of Africa, and the Omniades of Spain. Thus the love of literature became extended to Fez, Cordova, and Granada. The Arabic writers affirm that the Omniades collected 600,000 volumes, and mention seventy public libraries in the different Spanish cities under the dominion of the Arabs; in 1126 they enumerate 150 authors, natives of Cordova, fiftytwo of Almeria, seventy-six of Murcia, and fiftythree of Malaga, besides those of Seville, Valencia, and Granada, whose successors, during nearly four centuries, kept alive the spirit of literature: it was, however, principally in this last city that it flourished, in which there were at that time two universities, two royal colleges, and a public library, enriched with the productions of the best Greek and Arabic writers. So general was the love of learning in Granada that it extended, notwithstanding the prohibitions of Mahomet, to the softer sex. Naschina acquired celebrity as a poetess; Mosada as an historian; and Leila as a mathematician and universal scholar. .

'I shall not enter into the question how far this display of knowledge, this taste for literature, tended to soften the harsh features of the Mahometan religion, or to mollify the despotism of its government. The moderns are at least indebted to them for having preserved the writings of eminent Greek authors, whose works, when learning revived in Christian Europe, became important auxiliaries in furthering the progress of human acquirement. Physic in particular was diligently studied; and the names of Mesna, Geber, and Avicena, may be classed with those of their Greek instructors. Such was the cele brity of the Mahometan physicians that the lives of the Catholic kings, in extreme sickness, were frequently entrusted to their care; and Muratori gives them the credit of having founded at Salerno that school for medicine which diffused the knowledge of the healing art through Italy and the rest of Europe. They were, however, but imperfectly acquainted with anatomy, as the dissection of the human frame was forbidden, and they could only judge of its organization from the inspection of monkeys and other animals. Botany was a favorite study, and the travellers of Granada brought from Africa, Persia, and India, plants which enriched their collections. In the study of chemistry also they had made some progress: they analysed substances, observed the affinity of acids and alkalies, and drew valuable medicines from the most poisonous minerals.

6

The sciences in which the Arabs of Granada more especially excelled were the various branches of mathematics. Astronomy was early introduced, and eagerly cultivated; and the brilliancy of the atmosphere, the extent of the horizon, and the nature of their occupations, enable I them to make considerable proficiency in that science even at an early period. An astronomical clock, of very curious construction, was among the presents sent to Charlemagne, by an Arabian king in the year 807; and in a work published by Almamon, in 814, mention is made of two observations of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and the mode is described of measuring a degree of the meridian, the result of which very nearly corresponds with the more recent experiments made in Peru and Lapland. Alphonso, king of Castile, employed Arabian astronomers to instruct the professors in his dominious; and it is probable that, from this circumstance, the terms nadir, zenith, azimuth, and many others, have been transferred from the Arabian language to all the dialects of Europe. Arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, and optics, were sedulously studied. Although the system of numeration, which is the basis of our arithmetic, may perhaps be traced to more remote antiquity, it probably would not have been so extensively and so early adopted but for the labors of the Arabs of Granada. Algebra, though not indebted to them for its origin, was advanced very considerably by their exertions; and a Spanish Arab, of the eleventh century, Geber Ben Aphia, is considered almost as the founder of trigonometry, by new theorems which he proposed. In those branches of mathematics which are connected with physics, the Arabs made little or ne

and, without losing the warlike character which introduced them into the country, they acquired a degree of gallantry, and even devotion to the fair sex, very remote from the practice of other Mahometans, which probably laid the foundation of that chivalrous spirit that once universally prevailed, and the traces of which are still to be observed in the interior of Spain. Distinctions gained in war were considered the surest passports to the affections of the fair; the gallant warrior was animated by the hopes of the applauses of his mistress; and, in their tilts and tournaments, the ladies were the judges, and distributed the prizes to the bold and to the dextrous. This devotion to the sex was not destroyed by polygamy, which, though permitted by the law, was seldom practised, nor by the right of divorce, which, being mutual, gave an equality to the sexes unknown in other Mahometan countries. The ornaments of the females were girdles embroidered with gold and silver; the hair, which was long, was tied with strings of coral and amber; while necklaces of topaz, crysolite, amethyst, or emerald, encircled the bosom; their indulgence also in the most expensive perfumes was carried to a degree of extravagance bordering on insanity.

The government of the Arabs was a military despotism, ameliorated, however, by customs and manners which made it preferable to the uncontrolled tyranny of their eastern progenitors. The throne was elective; but the reigning monarch had usually the opportunity of transmitting it to his posterity, by associating in his power a favorite son, by conciliating the leading nobles, and attaching them to the interests of his intended successor. The first functions of a new monarch were performed with pomp and ceremony, and consisted in exercising the sacred duty of administering justice in his hall of state, surrounded with his nobles, and in the presence of the people, whose acclamations of joy, or murmurs of discontent, presaged a reign of long or short duration. They had no hereditary nobility; but certain families by their wealth, their connexions, and their talents, were so powerful, that, to all effective purposes, they enjoyed the privileges, and exercised the prerogatives, of a powerful aristocracy. The revenues of the state consisted of a tenth of all the productions, and of the two taxes, which still retain the names by which they were designated under the Arabs, the Almoxarifazgo amounted to twelve and a half per cent., or one-eighth part of every commodity brought into or sent out of the kingdom, and the Alcavala was one-tenth part of the value of every species of property when it was transferred by sale. These were the ordinary sources of revenue; but in preparing for war, in erecting hospitals, colleges, or royal edifices, extraordinary contributions were levied, denominated Gabelas, which amounted to considerable sums. In Granada the only soldiers by profession were the royal Moorish guards, and a few others necessary to garrison the fortresses. On the apprehension of war the principal leaders convoked the people; and by holding out the hopes of successful plunder, and the promises of eternal felicity, they speedily filled their ranks with voluntary sol

diers, and rendered requisitions and force unnecessary. The army was classed in tribes or families, each led by its chief, who carried the standard, while the whole was commanded by a general of the family of the prophet, who carried before them the standard of their religion. Their heavy troops were armed with pikes, swords, and shields, and their light troops with darts and arrows; but their most powerful force consisted of the numerous bodies of cavalry, with which, though apparently destitute of order, they made almost irresistible charges, and managed them with a skill and courage that rendered them dreadful to an enemy. Their shouts, when charging an enemy, were accompanied with those sounds, formerly so terrific to the Christians, Allah Arbar,' God the Omnipotent; upon uttering which words they would rush with the madness of enthusiasm to the charge, and bear before them every opponent. For defensive war, they erected fortresses on the heights of almost inaccessible mountains, to which they retired when repulsed, and whence, with recruited vigor, they sallied again, and became in their turn the assailants. The telegraph was used, if not with all the effect and improvements of recent date, yet with a dexterity that gave them great advan tages over an enemy. Watch towers were constructed, from which signals of smoke by day and of torches by night communicated the movements of their opponents.'

The conquest of Granada was followed by the expulsion, or rather the pillage and banishment, of the Jews, who had engrossed all the wealth and commerce of Spain. The inquisition exhausted its rage against these unhappy people, many of whom pretended to embrace Christianity to preserve their property. About the same time their Catholic majesties concluded an alliance with the emperor Maximilian, and a treaty of marriage for their daughter Joan with his son Philip, archduke of Austria and sovereign of the Netherlands. About this time also the contract was concluded with Christopher Columbus for the discovery of New countries; and the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne were agreed to be restored by Charles VIII. of France, before his expedition into Italy. The discovery of America was soon followed by extensive conquests in that quarter which tended to raise the Spanish monarchy above any other in Europe. On the death of Isabella, which happened in 1506, Philip, archduke of Austria, came to Castile to take possession of that kingdom as heir to his mother-in-law; but, he dying soon after, his son Charles I., afterwards Charles V., emperor of Germany, became heir to the crown of Spain. His father, at his death, left the king of France governor to the young prince, and Ferdinand, dying in 1516, left cardinal Ximenes sole regent of Castile till the arrival of his grandson.

History of Spain to the inauguration of Charles V. as emperor of Germany.-Ximenes, whose character is no less singular than illustrious, who united the abilities of a great statesman with the abject devotion of a superstitious monk, and the magnificence of a prime minister with the severity of a mendicant, maintained order and tranquil lity in Spain, notwithstanding the discontents of

a turbulent and high-spirited nobility. When they disputed his right to the regency, he coolly showed them the testament of Ferdinand, and the ratification of that deed by Charles; but these not satifying them, and arguments proving ineffectual, he led them insensibly towards a balcony, whence they had a view of a large body of troops under arms and a formidable train of artillery. Behold,' said the cardinal, the powers which I have received from his Catholic majesty: by these I govern Castile, and will govern it, till the king, your master and mine, shall come to take possession of his kingdom.' A declaration so bold and determined silenced all opposition; and Ximenes maintained his authority till the arrival of Charles in 1517. The young king was received with universal acclamations of joy; but Ximenes found little cause to rejoice. He was seized with a violent disorder, supposed to be the effect of poison; and, when he recovered, Charles, prejudiced against him by the Spanish grandees and his Flemish courtiers, slighted his advice, and allowed him every day to sink into neglect. The cardinal did not bear this treatment with his usual fortitude. He expected a more grateful return from a prince to whom he delivered a kingdom more flourishing than it had been in any former age, and authority more extensive and better established than the most illustrious of his ancestors had ever possessed. Conscious of his own integrity and merit, he could not therefore refrain from giving vent, at times, to indignation and complaint. He lamented the fate of his country, and foretold the calamities to which it would be exposed from the insolence, the rapaciousness, and the ignorance of strangers. But in the mean time he received a letter from the king, dismissing him from his councils under pretence of easing his age of that burden which he had so long and so ably sustained. This letter proved fatal to the minister; for he expired in a few hours after reading it. While Charles was taking possession of the throne of Spain, in consequence of the death of one grandfather, another was endeavouring to obtain for him the imperial crown. With this view Maximilian assembled a diet at Augsburg, where he cultivated the favor of the electors by many acts of beneficence, to engage them to choose that young prince as his successor. But Maximilian himself never having been crowned by the pope, a ceremony deemed essential in that age, as well as in the preceding, he was considered only as king of the Romans or emperor elect; and, no example occurring in history of any person being chosen successor to a king of the Romans, the Germans, always tenacious of their forms, obstinately refused to confer upon Charles a dignity for which their constitution knew no name. But, though Maximilian could not prevail upon the German electors to choose his grandson of Spain king of the Romans, he had disposed their minds in favor of that prince; and other circumstances, on the death of the emperor, conspired to the exaltation of Charles. The imperial crown had so long continued in the Austrian line that it began to be considered as hereditary in that family; and Germany, torn by religious disputes, stood in need of a powerful emperor, not only

to preserve its own internal tranquillity, but also to protect it against the victorious arms of the Turks, who, under Selim I., threatened the liberties of Europe. This fierce and rapid conqueror had already subdued the Mamelukes, and made himself master of Egypt and Syria. The power of Charles appeared necessary to oppose that of Selim. The extensive dominions of the house of Austria, which gave him an interest in the preservation of Germany; the rich sovereignty of the Netherlands and Franche Compte; the entire possession of the great and warlike kingdom of Spain, together with that of Naples and Sicily; all united to hold him up to the first dignity among Christian princes; and the new world seemed only to be called into existence, that its treasures might enable him to defend Christendom against the infidels. Such was the language of his partisans. Francis I., however, no sooner received intelligence of the death of Maximilian, than he declared himself a candidate for the empire, and with no less confidence of success than Charles. He trusted to his superior years and experience; his great reputation in arms; and it was farther urged in his favor that the impetuosity of the French cavalry, added to the firmness of the German infantry, would prove irresistible, and not only be sufficient, under a warlike emperor, to set limits to the ambition of Selim, but to break entirely the Ottoman power, and prevent it from ever becoming dangerous again to Germany. Both claims were plausible. The dominions of Francis were less extensive, but more united than those of Charles. His subjects were numerous, active, brave, lovers of glory, and lovers of their king. These were strong arguments in favor of his power, so necessary at this juncture; but he had no natural interest in the Germanic body; and the electors, hearing so much of military force on each side, became more alarmed for their own privileges than the common safety. They determined to reject both candidates, and offered the imperial crown to Frederick, surnamed the Wise, duke of Saxony. But he, undazzled by the splendor of an object courted with so much eagerness by two mighty monarchs, rejected it with a magnanimity no less singular than great. In times of tranquillity,' said Frederick, we wish for an emperor who has no power to invade our liberties; times of danger demand one who is able to secure our safety. The Turkish armies, led by a warlike and victorious monarch, are now assembling : they are ready to pour in upon Germany with a violence unknown in former ages. New conjunctures call for new expedients. The imperial sceptre must be committed to some hand more powerful than mine or that of any other German prince. We possess neither dominions nor revenues, nor authority, which enable us to encounter such a formidable enemy. Recourse must be had, in this exigency, to one of the rival monarchs. Each of them can bring into the field forces sufficient for our defence. But as the king of Spain is of German extraction, as he is a member and prince of the empire by the territories which descend to him from his grandfather, and as his dominions stretch along that frontier which lies most exposed to the enemy, his claim, in my opinion, is preferable to that of a stranger

to our language, to our blood, and to our country.' Charles was elected in consequence of this speech in 1520.

The two candidates had hitherto conducted their rivalship with emulation, but without enmity. They had even mingled in their competition many expressions of friendship and regard. Francis in particular declared, with his usual vivacity, that his brother Charles and he were fairly and openly suitors to the same mistress : The most assiduous and fortunate,' added he, 'will win her; and the other must rest contented.' But the preference was no sooner given to his rival than Francis discovered all the passions natural to disappointed ambition. He could not suppress his chagrin and indignation at being baulked in his favorite pursuit, and rejected, in the face of all Europe, for a youth yet unknown to fame. The spirit of Charles resented such contempt; and from this jealousy, as much as from opposition of interests, arose that emulation between those two great monarchs which involved them in almost perpetual hostilities, and kept their whole age in movement. Charles and Francis had many interfering claims in Italy; and the latter thought himself bound in honor to restore the king of Navarre to his dominions, unjustly seized by the crown of Spain. They immediately began to negociate; and, as Henry VIII. of England was the third prince of the age in power and dignity, his friendship was eagerly courted by each of the rivals. He was the natural guardian of the liberties of Europe. Sensible of the consequence which his situation gave him, and proud of his pre-eminence, Henry knew it to be his interest to keep the balance even between the contending powers, and to restrain both, by not joining entirely with either; but he was seldom able to reduce his ideas to practice. Vanity and resentment were the great springs of all his undertakings; and his neighbours, by touching these, found an easy way to draw him into their measures, and force him upon many rash and inconsiderate enterprises. All the impolitic steps in Henry's government must not, however, be imputed to himself; many of them were occasioned by the ambition and avarice of nis prime minister and favorite, cardinal Wolsey. This man, who, by his talents and accomplishments, had risen from one of the lowest conditions in life to the highest employments, both in church and state, enjoyed a greater degree of power and dignity than any English subject ever possessed, and governed the haughty, presumptuous, and untractable spirit of Henry, with absolute authority. Francis was equally well acquainted with the character of Henry and of his minister. He had successfully flattered Wolsey's pride, by honoring him with particular marks of his confidence, and bestowing upon him the appellation of father, tutor, and governor; and he had obtained the restitution of Tournay, by adding a pension to those respectful titles. He now solicited an interview with the king of England near Calais; in hopes of being able, by familiar conversation, to attach him to his friendship and interest; while he gratified the cardinal's vanity, by affording him an opportunity of displaying his magnificence in the presence of two

courts, and of discovering to the two nations his influence over their monarchs. Charles dreaded the effects of this projected interview between two gallant princes, whose hearts were no less susceptible of friendship than their manners were of inspiring it. Finding it impossible, however, to prevent a visit, in which the vanity of all parties was so much concerned, he endeavoured to defeat its purpose, and to pre-occupy the favor of the English monarch, and of his minister, by an act of complaisance still more flattering and more uncommon. Relying wholly upon Henry's generosity for his safety, he landed at Dover, in his way from Spain to the Low Countries. The king of England, who was on his way to France, charmed with such an instance of confidence, hastened to receive his imperial guest; and Charles, during his short stay had the address not only to give Henry favorable impressions of his character and intentions, but to detach Wolsey entirely from the interest of Francis. The tiara had attracted the eye of that ambitious prelate; and as the emperor knew that the papacy was the sole point of elevation, beyond the greatness he then possessed, at which he could aspire, he made him an offer of his interest on the first vacancy. The day of Charles's departure, Henry went over to Calais with his whole court, to meet Francis. Their interview was in an open plain between Guisnes and Ardres; where the two kings and their attendants displayed their magnificence with such emulation and profuse expense, as procured it the name of the field of the cloth of gold. Here Henry erected a spacious house of wood and canvas, framed in London, on which, under the figure of an English archer, was the following motto:

He prevails whom I favor;' alluding to his own political situation as holding in his hands the balance of power among the potentates of Europe. Feats of chivalry, however, parties of gallantry, and such exercises as were in that age reckoned manly or elegant, rather than serious business, occupied the two courts during the time that they continued together, which was eighteen days. After taking leave of this scene of dissipation, the king of England paid a visit to the emperor and Margaret of Savoy at Gravelines, and engaged them to go along with him to Calais; where the artful and politic Charles completed the impression which he had begun to make on Henry and his favorite, and effaced all the friendship to which the frank and generous nature of Francis had given birth. He renewed his assurances of assisting Wolsey in obtaining the papacy; and he put him in immediate possession of the revenues belonging to the sees of Badajoz and Palencia in Spain. He flattered Henry's pride, by convincing him of his own importance, and of the justness of the motto which he had chosen; offering to submit to his sole arbitration any difference that might arise between him and Francis. This important point being secured, Charles repaired to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he was solemnly invested with the crown and sceptre of Charlemagne, in presence of a more splendid and numerous assembly than had appeared on any former inauguration. About the same time Soliman II., one of the most accom