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NOVELS 
 
 SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON, 
 
 Hibrar? Htiftion 
 
 HISTORICAL ROMANCES 
 VOL. XYI. 
 
LEILA; 
 
 THE SIEGE OF GRAXADA, 
 
 CALDERON. THE COURTIER. 
 
 SIR EDWARD BULff.E&.iITTOX, BART. 
 
 ^POR^ 
 
 LIBRARY EDITION— ly ONE TOLOIE . 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 J. B. LIPPIXCOTT & CO, 
 
 1860. 
 
>^3; 
 
9i'tr 
 
 PEEFACE 
 
 The two Eomances which form the contents of this 
 Volume were originally published in an expensive 
 form, with pictorial illustrations; and perhaps fi'om 
 the prejudice generally conceived against the litera- 
 ture of works that are supposed to rest some of their 
 attractions on the skill of the engraver, as well as 
 from any demerits of their own, they have been 
 hitherto less popularly knovrn than other prose fictions 
 by the same Author. It is true, however, that in 
 delineation of character and elaboration of plot, the 
 '^ Sieo^e of Granada" is inferior to the xluthor's other 
 Historical Romances — but there are portions of the 
 conception — as connected with the position of Al- 
 mamen between Moor and Christian — and detached 
 scenes and descriptions — which the writer's more 
 matured experience would be unable to improve. 
 
 The story of ^^ Calderon," though slight and briefly 
 told, belongs to a higher grade of passion and art 
 than its companion ; and the Author once thought 
 of convertinp; it into a trasjedv. 
 
 1 * (V) 
 
LEILA: 
 
 OB, 
 
 THE SIEGE OF GRANADA. 
 
 BOOK FIRST 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Tte Enchanter and the "Warrior. 
 
 ^T was the summer of the year 1491, and the armies 
 of Ferdinand and Isabel invested the city of Granada.- 
 
 The night was not far advanced ; and the moon, which 
 broke through the transparent air of Andalusia, shone 
 calmly over the immense and murmuring encampment of 
 the Spanish foe, and touched with a hazy light the snow- 
 capped summits of the Sierra Nevada, contrasting the 
 verdure and luxuriance which no devastation of man could 
 utterly sweep from the beautiful vale below. 
 
 In the streets of the Moorish city many a group still 
 lingered. Some, as if unconscious of the beleaguering 
 
 (7) 
 
8 LEILA. 
 
 war witliout, were listening in quiet indolence to the 
 strings of the Moorish lute, or the lively tale of an Arabian 
 Improvvisatore ; others were conversing with such eager 
 and animated gestures, as no ordinary excitement could 
 wring from the stately calm habitual to every Oriental 
 people. But the more public places, in which gathered 
 these different groups, only the more impressively height- 
 ened the desolate and solemn repose that brooded over 
 the rest of the city. 
 
 At this time, a man, with downcast eyes, and arms 
 folded within the sweeping gown which descended to his 
 feet, was seen passing through the streets, alone, and 
 apparently unobservant of all around him. Yet this in- 
 difference was by no means shared by the straggling 
 crowds through which, from time to time, he musingly 
 swept. 
 
 " God is great I " said one man ; "it is the Enchanter 
 Almamen." 
 
 "He hath locked up the manhood of Boabdil el Chico 
 with the key of his spells," quoth another, stroking his 
 beard; "I would curse him, if I dared." 
 
 "But they say that he hath promised that when man 
 fails, the genii will fight for Granada," observed a third, 
 doubtingly. 
 
 "Allah Akbar ! what is, is ! what shall be, shall be ! " 
 said a fourth, with all the solemn sagacity of a prophet. 
 
 Whatever their feelings, whether of awe or execration, 
 terror or hope, each group gave way as Almamen passed, 
 and hushed the murmurs not intended for his ear. Pass- 
 
LEILA. 9 
 
 ing through the Zacatin (the street which traversed the 
 Great Bazaar), the reputed enchanter ascended a narrow 
 and winding street, and arrived at last before the walls 
 that encircled the palace and fortress of the Alhambra. 
 
 The sentry at the gate saluted and admitted him in 
 silence ; and in a few moments his form was lost in the 
 solitude of groves, amidst which, at frequent openings, 
 the spray of Arabian fountains glittered in the moon- 
 light ; while, above, rose the castled heights of the 
 Alhambra ; and on the right, those Yermilion Towers, 
 whose origin veils itself in the furthest ages of Phoenician 
 enterprise. 
 
 Almamen paused, and surveyed the scene. "Was 
 Aden more lovely?" he muttered; "and shall so fair a 
 spot be trodden by the victor Xazarene ? "What matters? 
 creed chases creed — race, race — until time comes back 
 to its starting-place, and beholds the reign restored to 
 the eldest faith and the eldest tribe. The horn of our 
 strength shall be exalted." 
 
 At these thoughts the seer relapsed into silence, and 
 gazed long and intently upon the stars, as, more numer- 
 ous and brilliant with every step of the advancing night, 
 their rays broke on the playful waters, and tinged with 
 silver the various and breathless foliage. So earnest was 
 his gaze, and so absorbed his thoughts, that he did not 
 perceive the approach of a Moor, whose glittering weapons 
 and snow-white turban, rich with emeralds, cast a gleam 
 through the wood. 
 
 The new-comer was above the common size of his race, 
 
10 LEILA. 
 
 generally small and spare, but without attaining the lofty 
 stature and large proportions of the more redoubted of 
 the warriors of Spain. But in his presence and mien 
 there was something, which, in the haughtiest conclave 
 of Christian chivalry, would have seemed to tower and 
 command. He walked with a step at once light and 
 stately, as if it spurned the earth ; and in the carriage 
 of the small erect head and stag-like throat, there was 
 that undefinable and imposing dignity, which accords so 
 well with our conception of a heroic lineage, and a noble 
 though imperious spirit. The stranger approached Al- 
 mamen, and paused abruptly when within a few steps of 
 the enchanter. He gazed upon him in silence for some 
 moments ; and, when at length he spoke, it was with a 
 cold and sarcastic tone. 
 
 " Pretender to the dark secrets," said he, " is it in the 
 stars that thou art reading those destinies of men and 
 nations, which the Prophet wrought by the chieftain's 
 brain and the soldier's arm?" 
 
 '' Prince," replied Almamen, turning slowly, and re- 
 cognizing the intruder on his meditations, "I was but 
 considering how many revolutions, which have shaken 
 earth to its centre, those orbs have witnessed, unsympa- 
 thizing and unchanged " 
 
 "Unsympathizing ! ■' repeated the Moor — "yet thou 
 believest in their effect upon the earth ? " 
 
 "You wrong me," answered Almamen, with a slight 
 smile, "you confound your servant with that vain race, 
 the astrologers." 
 
LEILA. 11 
 
 " I deemed astrology a part of the science of the two 
 Angels, Harut and Marut."* 
 
 ** Possibly ; but I know not that science, though I 
 have wandered at midnight bv the ancient Babel." 
 
 " Fame lies to us, then,'' answered the Moor, with 
 some surprise. 
 
 ''Fame never made pretence to truth,'' said Almamen, 
 calmly, and proceeding on his way. "Allah be with yon, 
 prince ! I seek the king." 
 
 " Stay I I have just quitted his presence, and left him, 
 I trust, with thoughts worthy of the sovereign of Granada, 
 which I would not have disturbed by a stranger, a man 
 whose arms are not spear nor shield.'' 
 
 " Xoble Muza," returned Almamen, ''fear not that my 
 voice will weaken the inspirations which thine hath 
 breathed into the breast of Boabdil. Alas I if my counsel 
 were heeded, thou wouldst hear the warriors of Granada 
 talk less of Muza, and more of the king. But Fate, or 
 Allah, hath placed upon the throne of a tottering dynasty, 
 one who, though brave, is weak — though wise, a dreamer ; 
 and you suspect the adviser, when you find the influence 
 of nature on the advised. Is this just?" 
 
 Muza gazed long and sternly on the face of Almamen ; 
 then, putting his hand gently on the enchanter's shoulder, 
 he said — 
 
 * The science of magic. It w.'is taught by the Angels named in 
 the text ; for -which offence thev are still supposed to be confined 
 in the ancient Babel. There they may yet be consulted, though 
 they are rarely seen. -^ YallaVodin Yahya. — Sales Koran. 
 
12 LEILA. 
 
 " Stranger, if thou playest us false, think that this arm 
 hath cloven the casque of many a foe, and will not spare 
 the turban of a traitor ! " 
 
 "And think thou, proud prince ! " returned Almamen, 
 unquailing, " that I answer alone to Allah for my motives, 
 and 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 -witliin 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 filigree-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 moon-lit 
 
LEILA. 13 
 
 DaiTo ; 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. 
 
 Xo 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 com- 
 plexion : unlike the attributes of the Moorish race, the 
 hair and curling beard were of a deep golden color; 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 children of the snn. 
 
 I. — 2 
 
14- LEILA. 
 
 Such was the personal appearance of Boabdil de Chieo, 
 the last of the Moorisli dynasty in Spain, 
 
 "These scrolls of Arabian learning," said Boabdil to 
 himself, " what do they teach ? to despise wealth and 
 power, to hold the heart to be the true empire. This, 
 then, is wisdom. Yet, if I follow^ these maxims, am I 
 wise ? alas ! the whole world would call me a driveller 
 and a madman. Thus is it ever; the wisdom of the 
 Intellect fills us with precepts which it is the wisdom of 
 Action to despise. Holy Prophet ! what fools men 
 would be, if their knayery did not eclipse their folly I ■' 
 
 The young king listlessly threw himself back on his 
 cushions as he uttered these words, too philosophical for 
 a king whose crown sat so loosely on his brow. 
 
 After a few moments of thought that appeared to dis- 
 satisfy and disciuiet him, Boabdil again turned impatiently 
 round : " My soul wauts the bath of music,'' said he ; 
 "these journeys into a pathless realm have wearied it, 
 and the streams of sound supple and relax the travailed 
 pilgrim.'' 
 
 He clapped his hands, and from one of the arcades a 
 boy, hitherto invisible, started into sight ; at a slight and 
 scarce perceptible sign from the king, the boy again 
 vanished, and in a few moments afterwards, glancing 
 through the fairy pillars, and by the glittering water- 
 falls, came the small and twinkling feet of the maids of 
 Araby. As, with their transparent tunics and white 
 arms, they gleamed, without an echo, through that cool 
 and voluptuous chamber, they might well have seemed 
 
LEILA 
 
 the Peris of the eastern magic, summo! 
 sated leisure of a youthful Solomon. With them came 
 a maiden of more exquisite beauty, though smaller 
 stature, than the rest, bearing the light Moorish lute ; 
 and a faint and languid smile broke over the beautiful 
 face of Boabdil, as his eyes rested upon her graceful 
 form and the dark yet glowing lustre of her Oriental 
 countenance. She alone approached the king, timidly 
 kissed his hand, and then, joining her comrades, com- 
 menced the following song, to the air and very words of 
 which the feet of the dancing-girls kept time, while, with 
 the chorus rang the silver bells of the musical instrument 
 which each of the dancers carried. 
 
 AMINE-S SONG. 
 
 I. 
 Softly, oh, softly glide, 
 Gentle Music, thou silver tide, 
 Bearing, the lull'd air along, 
 This leaf from the rose of song! 
 
 To its port in his soul let it float, 
 
 The frail, but the fragrant boat, 
 
 Bear it, soft Air, along! 
 
 ir. 
 With the burthen of sound we are laden. 
 Like the bells on the trees of Aden,* 
 "When they thrill ■with a tinkling tone 
 At the Wind from the Holy Throne, 
 Hark, as we move around. 
 We shake off the buds of sound ; 
 Thy presence, Belov'd, is Aden ! 
 
 * The Mahometans believe that musical bells hang on the trees 
 of Paradise, and are put in motion by a wind from the throne of 
 God. 
 
16 LEILA, 
 
 Sweet chime that I hear and wake: 
 I would, for my lov'd one's sake, 
 That I were a sound like thee, 
 To the depths of his heart to flee. 
 
 If my breath had his senses blest; 
 
 If my voice in his heart could rest; 
 What pleasure to die like thee ! 
 
 The music ceased ; the dancers remained motionless 
 in their graceful postures, as if arrested into statues of 
 alabaster ; and the young songstress cast herself on a 
 cushion at the feet of the monarch, and looked up fondly, 
 but silently, into his yet melancholy eyes, when a man, 
 whose entrance had not been noticed, was seen to stand 
 within the chamber. 
 
 He was about the middle stature, — lean, muscular, and 
 strongly though sparely built. A plain black robe, 
 something in the fashion of the Armenian gown, hung 
 long and loosely over a tunic of bright scarlet, girded by 
 a broad belt, from the centre of which was suspended a 
 small golden key, while at the left side appeared the 
 jewelled hilt of a crooked dagger. His features were 
 cast in a larger and grander mould than was common 
 amongst the Moors of Spain ; the forehead was broad, 
 massive, and singularly high, and the dark eyes of unusual 
 size and brilliancy ; his beard, short, black, and glossy, 
 curled upward, and concealed all the lower part of the 
 face, save a firm, compressed, and resolute expression in 
 the lips, which were large and full ; the nose was high, 
 aquiline, and well-shaped ; and the whole character of 
 
LEILA. IT 
 
 the head (which was, for symraetrv, on too large and gi- 
 gantic a scale as proportioned to the form) was indicative 
 of extraordinary energy and power. At the first glance 
 the stranger might have seemed scarce on the borders of 
 middle age ; but, on a more careful examination the deep 
 lines and wrinkles marked on the forehead and round the 
 eyes, betrayed a more advanced period of life. With 
 arras folded on his breast, he stood by the side of the 
 king, waiting in silence the moment when his presence 
 should be perceived. 
 
 He did not wait long ; the eyes and gesture of the girl 
 nestled at the feet of Boabdil drew the king's attention 
 to the spot where the stranger stood : his eye brightened 
 •when it fell upon him. 
 
 *' Almamen," cried Boabdil, eagerly, "you are wel- 
 come." As he spoke, he motioned to the dancing-girls 
 to \Nithdraw. 
 
 "May I not rest ? core of my heart, thy bird is in 
 its home,'* murmured the songstress at the king's feet. 
 
 " Sweet Amine,-' answered Boabdil, tenderlv smoothino: 
 down her ringlets as he bent to kiss her brow, "you 
 should witness only my hours of delight. Toil and busi- 
 ness have nought with thee ; I will join thee ere yet the 
 nightingale hymns his last music to the moon." Amine 
 sighed, rose, and vanished with her companions. 
 
 " My friend," said the king, when alone with Almamen, 
 "your counsels often soothe me into quiet, yet in such 
 hours quiet is a crime. But what do ? — how struggle ?-— = 
 how act ? Alas ! at the hour of his birth, rightly did 
 
18 LEILA. 
 
 they affix to the name of Boabdil, the epithet of El Zo- 
 ^oy^L'^^lisfortune set upon my brow her dark and fated 
 stamp ere yet my lips could shape a prayer against her 
 power. My fierce father, whose frown was as the frown 
 of Azrael, hated me in my cradle ; in my youth my name 
 was invoked by rebels against my will : imprisoned by my 
 father, with the poison-bowl or the dagger hourly before 
 my eyes, I was saved only by the artifice of my m.other. 
 "When age and infirmity broke the iron sceptre of the 
 king, my claims to the throne were set aside, and my 
 uncle. El Zagal, usurped my birthright. Amidst open 
 war and secret treason I wrestled for my crown ; and now, 
 the sole sovereign of Granada, when, as I fondly imagined, 
 my uncle had lost all claim on the affections of my people 
 by succumbing to the Christian king, and accepting a 
 fief under his dominion, I find that the very crime of El 
 Zagal is fixed upon me by my unhappy subjects — that 
 they deem he would not have yielded but for my supine- 
 ness. At the moment of my delivery from my rival, I am 
 received with execration by my subjects, and, driven into 
 this my fortress of the Alhambra, dare not venture to 
 head my armies, or to face my people ; yet am I called 
 weak and irresolute, when strength and courage are for- 
 bid me. And as the water glides from yonder rock, that 
 hath no power to retain it, I see the tide of empire well- 
 ing from my hands. 'jf-^ 
 
 The young king spoke warmly and bitterly ; and, in 
 
 * The unlucky. * 
 
LEILA. 19 
 
 the irritation of bis thoughts, strode, while he spoke, \^-ith 
 rapid and irregular strides along the chamber. Alma- 
 men marked his emotion with an eve and lip of rigid 
 composure. 
 
 "Light of- the faithful,"' said he, when Boabdil had 
 concluded, "the powers above never doom man to per- 
 petual sorrow, nor perpetual joy : the cloud and the sun- 
 shine are alike essential to the heaven of our destinies ; 
 and if thou hast suffered in thy youth, thou hast ex- 
 hausted the calamities of fate, and thy manhood will be 
 glorious, and thine age serene.'' 
 
 " Thou speakest as if the armies of Ferdinand were not 
 already around my walls,'' said Boabdil, impatiently. 
 
 " The armies of Sennacherib were as mighty," answered 
 Almamen. 
 
 " Wise seer,'' returned the king, in a tone half sarcastic 
 and half solemn, "we, the Musselmans of Spain, are not 
 the blind fanatics of the Eastern world. On us have 
 fallen the lights of philosophy and science ; and if the 
 more clear-sighted among us yet outwardly reverence the 
 forms and fables worshipped by the multitude, it is from 
 the wisdom of policy, not the folly of belief. Talk not 
 to me, then, of thine examples of the ancient and elder 
 creeds : the agents of God for this world are now, at 
 least, in men, not angels ; and if I wait till Ferdinand 
 sliare the destiny of Sennacherib, I wait only till the 
 Standard of the Cross wave above the Yerrailion 
 Towers."' 
 
 "Yet," said Almamen, "while my lord the king re- 
 
20 LEILA. 
 
 jects the fanaticism of belief, doth he reject the fanati- 
 cism of persecution ? You disbelieve the stories of the 
 Hebrews ; yet you suffer the Hebrews themselves, that 
 ancient and kindred Arabian race, to be ground to the 
 dust, condemned and tortured by your judges, your in- 
 formers, your soldiers, and your subjects." 
 
 "The base misers ! they deserve their fate," answered 
 Boabdil, loftily. " Gold is their God, and the market- 
 place their country ; amidst the tears and groans of 
 nations, they sympathize only with the rise and fall of 
 trade ; and, the thieves of the universe ! while their hand 
 is against every man's coffer, why wonder that they pro- 
 voke the hand of every man against their throats ? Worse 
 than the tribe of Hanifa. who eat their god only in time 
 of famine ; * the race of Moisa f would sell the Seven 
 Heavens for the dent J on the back of the date-stone." 
 
 "Your laws leave them no ambition but that of 
 avarice," replied Almamen ; " and as the plant will crook 
 and distort its trunk, to raise its head through every ob- 
 stacle to the sun, so the mind of man twists and perverts 
 itself, if legitimate openings are denied it, to find its 
 natural element in the gale of power, or the sunshine of 
 esteem. These Hebrews were not traffickers and misers 
 in their own sacred land when they routed your ancestors, 
 the Arab armies of old, and ornawed the flesh from their 
 
 * The tribe of Hanifa worsliipped a lump of dough. 
 J Moisa, Moses. 
 
 ;i: A proverb used in the Koran, signifying the smallest possible 
 trifle. 
 
LEILA. 21 
 
 bones in famine, rather than yield a weaker city than 
 Granada to a mightier force than the holiday lords of 
 Spain. Let this pass. My lord rejects the belief in the 
 agencies of the angels ; doth he still retain belief in the 
 wisdom of mortal men ? " 
 
 " Yes ! " returned Boabdil, quickly ; "for of the one I 
 know nought ; of the other, mine own senses can be the 
 judge. Almamen, my fiery kinsman, Muza, hath this 
 evening been with me. He hath urged me to reject the 
 fears of my people, which chain my panting spirit within 
 these walls ; he hath urged me to gird on yonder shield 
 and cimiter, and to appear in the Yivan^ambla, at tlie 
 head of the nobles of Granada. My heart leaps high at 
 the thought I and if I cannot live, at least I will die — a 
 king ! " 
 
 "It is nobly spoken," said Almamen, coldly. 
 
 " You approve, then, my design ? " 
 
 " The friends of the king cannot approve the ambition 
 of the king to die." 
 
 " Ha ! " said Boabdil, in an altered voice, " thou think- 
 est, then, that I am doomed to perish in this struggle ? " 
 
 "As the hour shall be chosen, wilt thou fall or triumph." 
 
 "And that hour?" 
 
 " Is not yet come." 
 
 "Dost thou read the hour in the stars?" 
 
 " Let Moorish seers cultivate that frantic credulity : 
 thy servant sees but in the stars worlds mightier than 
 this little earth, whose light would neither wane nor wink, 
 if earth itself were swept from the infinities of space." 
 
22 LEILA. 
 
 " Mysterious man I '" said Boabdil ; " whence then is thy 
 power ? — whence thv knowledge of the future ?" 
 
 Almamen approached the king as he now stood by the 
 open balcony. 
 
 "Behold!'' said he, pointing to the waters of the 
 Darro — "yonder stream is of an element in which man 
 cannot live nor breathe : above, in the thin and impalpa- 
 ble air, our steps cannot find a footing, the armies of all 
 earth cannot build an empire. And yet, by the exercise 
 of a little art, the fishes and the birds, the inhabitants of 
 the air and the water, minister to our most humble wants, 
 the most common of our enjoyments ; so it is with the true 
 science of enchantment. Thinkest thou that, while the 
 petty surface of the world is crowded with living things, 
 there is no life in the vast centre within the earth, and 
 the immense ether that surrounds it ? As the fisherman 
 snares his prey, as the fowler entraps the bird, so, by the 
 art and genius of our human mind, we may thrall and 
 command the subtler beings of realms and elements which 
 our material bodies cannot enter — our gross senses can- 
 not survey. This, then, is my lore. Of other worlds 
 know I nought ; but of the things of this world, whether 
 men, or, as your legends term them, ghouls and genii, I 
 have learned something. To the future, I myself am 
 blind ; but I can invoke and conjure up those whose eyes 
 are more piercing, whose natures are more gifted." 
 
 "Prove to me thy power,'' said Boabdil, awed less by 
 the words than by the thrilling voice and the impressive 
 aspect of the enchanter. 
 
LEILA. 23 
 
 " Is not tlie king's will my law ? " answered Almamen ; 
 "be his will obeyed. To-morrow night I await thee." 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 Almamen paused a moment, and then whispered a 
 sentence in the king's ear : Boabdil started, and turned 
 pale. 
 
 "A fearful spot!" 
 
 " So is the Alhambra itself, great Boabdil ; while 
 Ferdinand is without the walls, and Muza within the 
 city." 
 
 " Muza ! Barest thou mistrust my bravest warrior ?" 
 
 " What wise king will trust the idol of the king's army ? 
 Did Boabdil fall to-morrow, by a chance javelin, in the 
 field, whom would the nobles and the warriors place upon 
 his throne ? Doth it require an enchanter's lore to 
 whisper to thy heart the answer, in the name of 
 'Muza?'" 
 
 " Oh, wretched state ! oh, miserable king ! " exclaimed 
 Boabdil, in a tone of great anguish. " I never had a 
 father ; I have now no people ; a little while, and I shall 
 have no country. Am I never to have a friend ? " 
 
 "A friend ! what king ever had ?" returned Almamen, 
 drily. 
 
 " Away, man — away ! " cried Boabdil, as the impatient 
 spirit of his rank and race shot dangerous fire from his 
 eyes ; "your cold and bloodless wisdom freezes up all the 
 veins of my manhood ! Glory, confidence, human sym- 
 pathy, and feeling — your counsels annihilate them all. 
 Leave me 1 I would be alone.'* 
 
24 LEILA. 
 
 " We meet to-morrow, at midnight, mighty Boabdil," 
 said Almamen, with his usual unmoved and passionless 
 tones. "May the king live for ever!" 
 
 The king turned ; but his monitor had already disap- 
 peared. He went as he came — noiseless and sudden as 
 a ghost. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Lovers. 
 
 When Muza parted from Almamen, he bent his steps 
 towards the hill that rises opposite the ascent crowned 
 with the towers of the Alhambra ; the sides and summit 
 of which eminence were tenanted by the luxurious popu- 
 lation of the city. He selected the more private and 
 secluded paths ; and, half-way up the hill, arrived, at 
 last, before a low wall of considerable extent, which 
 girded the gardens of some wealthier inhabitant of the 
 city. He looked long and anxiously round : all was 
 solitary ; nor was the stillness broken, save as an oc- 
 casional breeze, from the snowy heights of the Sierra 
 Nevada, rustled the fragrant leaves of the citron and 
 pomegranate ; or, as the silver tinkling of waterfalls 
 chimed melodiously within the gardens. The Moor's 
 heart beat high : a moment more, and he had scaled the 
 wall, and found himself upon a green sward, variegated 
 by the rich colors of many a sleeping flower, and shaded 
 
LEILA. 2d 
 
 by groves and alleys of luxuriant foliage and golden 
 fruits. 
 
 It was not long before he stood beside a house that 
 seemed of a construction anterior to the Moorish dynasty. 
 It was built over low cloisters, formed by heavy and 
 time-worn pillars, concealed, for the most part, by a pro- 
 fusion of roses and creeping shrubs : the lattices above 
 the cloisters opened upon large gilded balconies, the 
 superaddition of Moriscan taste. In one only of the 
 casements a lamp was visible ; the rest of the mansion 
 was dark, as if, save in that chamber, sleep kept watch 
 over the inmates. It was to this window that the Moor 
 stole ; and, after a moment's pause, he murmured rather 
 than sang, so low and whispered was his voice, the 
 following simple verses, slightly varied from an old Ara- 
 bian poet : — 
 
 SERENADE. 
 
 Light of my soul, arise, arise ! 
 Thy sister lights are in the skies; 
 
 We •want thine eyes, 
 
 Thy joyous eyes ; 
 The Night is moumiug for thine eyes! 
 The sacred verse ia on my sword, 
 But on my heart thy name: 
 The words on each alike adored. 
 The truth of each the same, — 
 The same! — alas! too well I feel 
 The heart is truer than the steel ! 
 
 Light of my soul ! upon me shine ; 
 Night wakes her stars to envy mine. 
 
 Those eyes of thine, 
 
 Wild eyes of thine. 
 What stars are like those eves of thine? 
 
 I— 3 
 
26 LEILA. 
 
 As he concluded, the lattice softly opened; and a 
 female form appeared on the balcony. 
 
 " Ah, Leila I " said the Moor, " I see thee, and I am 
 blessed ! " 
 
 "Hush!" answered Leila; "speak low, nor tarry 
 long : I fear that our interviews are suspected ; and this 
 (she added, in a trembling Toice) may perhaps be the 
 last time we shall meet." 
 
 " Holy prophet ! " exclaimed Muza, passionately, 
 " What do I hear ? Why this mystery ? why cannot I 
 learn thine origin, thy rank, thy parents ? Think you, 
 beautiful Leila, that Granada holds a house lofty enough 
 to disdain the alliance with Muza Ben Abil Gazan ? and 
 oh ! he added (sinking the haughty tones of his voice 
 into accents of the softest tenderness), if not too high to 
 scorn me, what should war against our loves and our 
 bridals ? For worn equally on my heart were the flower 
 of thy sweet self, whether the mountain top or the valley 
 gave birth to the odor and the bloom." 
 
 " Alas ! " answered Leila, weeping, " the mystery thou 
 complainest of, is as dark to myself as thee. How often 
 have I told thee that I know nothing of my birth or 
 childish fortunes, save a dim memory of a more distant 
 and burning clime ; where, amidst sands and wastes, 
 springs the everlasting cedar, and the camel grazes on 
 stunted herbage withering in the fiery air ? Then, it 
 seemed to me that I had a mother: fond eyes looked on 
 me, and soft songs hushed me into sleep." 
 
LEILA. V.^^^ 27 
 
 " Thy mother's soul has passed into^54|^^^^«atid the 
 Moor, tenderly. 
 
 Leila continued : — " Borne hither, I passed from child- 
 hood into youth within these walls. Slaves minister to 
 my slightest wish ; and those who have seen both state 
 and poverty, which I have not, tell me that treasures and 
 splendor, that might glad a monarch, are prodigalized 
 around me : but of ties and kindred know I little : my 
 father, a stern and silent man, visits me but rarely — some- 
 times months pass, and I see him not ; but I feel that he 
 loves me ; and, till I knew thee, Muza, my brightest hours 
 were in listening to the footsteps and flying to the arms 
 of that solitary friend." 
 
 "Know you not his name?" 
 
 " Xor I, nor any one of the household ; save perhaps 
 Ximen, the chief of the slaves, an old and withered man, 
 whose very eye chills me into fear and silence." 
 
 " Strange ! " said the Moor, musingly ; "yet why think 
 you our love is discovered, or can be thwarted ?" 
 
 " Hush ! Ximen sought me this day : ' Maiden,' said he, 
 ' men's footsteps have been tracked within the gardens : 
 if your sire know this, you will have looked your last on 
 Granada. Learn,' he added (in a softer voice, as he saw 
 me tremble), 'that permission were easier given to thee 
 to wed the wild tiger, than to mate with the loftiest noble 
 of Morisca ! Beware ! " He spoke, and left me. 
 Muza (she continued, passionately wringing her hands), 
 my heart sinks within me, and omen and doom rise dark 
 before mv sischt 1 " 
 
28 LEILA. 
 
 "By my father's head, these obstacles but fire my love ; 
 and I would scale to thy possession, though every step in 
 the ladder were the corpses of a hundred foes ! " 
 
 Scarcely had the fiery and high-soul ed Moor uttered 
 his boast, than, from some unseen hand amidst the groves, 
 a javelin whirred past him, and, as the air it raised came 
 sharp upon his cheek, half buried its quivering shaft in 
 the trunk of a tree behind him. 
 
 " Fly, fly, and save thyself ! God, protect him I " 
 cried Leila ; and she vanished within the chamber. 
 
 The Moor did not wait the result of a deadlier aim ; 
 he turned ; yet, in the instinct of his fierce nature, not 
 from, but against, the foe ; his drawn cimiter in his hand, 
 the half-suppressed cry of wrath trembling on his lips, he 
 sprang forward in the direction whence the javelin had 
 sped. With eyes accustomed to the ambuscades of Moor- 
 ish warfare, he searched eagerly, yet warily, through the 
 dark and sighing foliage. No sign of life met his gaze : 
 and at length, grimly and reluctantly, he retraced his 
 steps, and quitted the demesnes : but, just as he had 
 cleared the wall, a voice — low, but sharp and shrill — came 
 from the gardens. 
 
 "Thou art spared," it said, "but haply for a more 
 miserable doom ! " 
 
LEILA. 
 
 29 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 The Father and Daughter. 
 
 The chamber into which Leila retreated bore ont the 
 character she had given of the interior of her home. The 
 fashion of its ornament and decoration was foreign to 
 that adopted bv the Moors of Granada. It had a more 
 massive, and if we may use the term, Egyptian gorge- 
 ousness. The walls were covered with the stuffs of the 
 East, stiff with gold, embroidered npon ground of the 
 deepest purpie ; strange characters, apparently in some 
 foreign tongue, were wrought in the tessellated cornices 
 and on the heavy ceiling, which was supported by square 
 pillars, round which were twisted serpents of gold and 
 enamel, with eyes to which enormous emeralds gave a 
 green and life-like glare : various scrolls and musical in- 
 struments lay scattered upon marble tables : and a soli- 
 tary lamp of burnished silver cast a dim and subdued 
 light around the chamber. The effect of the whole, 
 though splendid, was gloomy, strange, and oppressive, 
 and rather suited to the thick and cave-like architecture 
 which of old protected the inhabitants of Thebes and 
 Memphis from the rays of the African sun, than to the 
 transparent heaven and light pavilions of the graceful 
 orientals of Granada. 
 
 Leila stood within this chamber, pale and breathless, 
 3* 
 
30 LEILA. 
 
 with her lips apart, her hands clasped, her very soul in 
 her ears ; nor was it possible to conceive a more perfect 
 ideal of some delicate and brilliant Peri, captured in the 
 palace of a hostile and gloomy genius. Her form was 
 of the lightest shape consistent with the roundness of 
 womanly beauty ; and there was something in it of that 
 elastic and fawn-like grace which a sculptor seeks to em- 
 body in his dreams of a being more aerial than those of 
 earth. Her luxuriant hair was dark indeed, but a purple 
 and glossy hue redeemed it from that heaviness of shade 
 too common in the tresses of the Asiatics ; and her com- 
 plexion, naturally pale, but clear and lustrous, would 
 have been deemed fair even in the north. Her features, 
 slightly aquiline, were formed in tlie rarest mould of 
 symmetry, and her full rich lips disclosed teeth that might 
 have shamed the pearl. But the chief charm of that ex- 
 quisite countenance was in an expression of softness and 
 purity, and intellectual sentiment, that seldom ac(;ompa- 
 nies that cast of loveliness, and was wholly foreign to 
 the voluptuous and dreamy languor of Moorish maidens ; 
 Leila had been educated, and the statue had received a 
 soul. 
 
 After a few minutes of intense suspense, she again 
 stole to the lattice, gently unclosed it, and looked forth. 
 Far, through an opening amidst the trees, she descried 
 for a single moment, the erect and stately figure of her 
 lover, darkening the moonshine on the sward, as now, 
 quitting his fruitless search, he turned his lingering gaze 
 towards the lattice of his beloved ; the thick and inter- 
 
LEILA. 31 
 
 laciDg foliage qnickly hid him from her eyes ; but Leila 
 had seen enough — she turned within, and said, as grate- 
 ful tears trickled down her cheeks, and she sank on her 
 knees upon the piled cushions of the chamber : '• God of 
 my fathers! I bless thee — he is safe!*' 
 
 '•And yet" (she added, as a painful thought crossed 
 her), '•■ how may I pray for him ? we kneel not to the 
 same Divinity ; and I have been taught to loathe and 
 shudder at his creed ! Alas ! how will this end ? Fatal 
 was the hour when he first beheld me in yonder gardens, 
 more fatal still the hour in which he crossed the barrier, 
 and told Leila that she was beloved by the hero whose 
 arm was the shelter, whose name is the blessing, of 
 Granada. Ah, me ! Ah, me ! "' 
 
 The young maiden covered her face with her hands, 
 and sank into a passionate reverie, broken only by her 
 sobs. Some time had passed in this undisturbed indul- 
 gence of her grief, when the arras was gently put aside, 
 and a man, of remarkable garb and mien, advanced into 
 the chamber, pausing as he beheld her dejected attitude, 
 and gazing on her with a look in which pity and tender- 
 ness seemed to struggle against habitual severitv and 
 sternness. 
 
 " Leila ! '' said the intruder. 
 
 Leila started, and a deep blush suffused her counte- 
 nance ! she dashed the tears from her ejes, and came 
 forward with a vain attempt to smile. 
 
 " Mv father, welcome ! " 
 
32 LEILA. 
 
 The stranger seated himself on the cushions, and 
 motioned Leila to his side. 
 
 " These tears are fresh upon thy cheek," said he, 
 gravely ; "they are the witness of thy race ! our daughters 
 are born to weep, and our sons to groan 1 ashes are on 
 the head of the mighty, and the Fountains of the Beautiful 
 run with gall ! Oh that we could but struggle — that we 
 could but dare — that we could raise up our heads, and 
 unite against the bondage of the evil-doer ! It may not 
 be — but one man shall avenge a nation I" 
 
 The dark face of Leila's father, well fitted to express 
 powerful emotion, became terrible in its wrath and passion ; 
 his brow and lip worked convulsively ; but the paroxysm 
 was brief; and scarce could she shudder at its intensity, 
 ere it had subsided into calm. 
 
 "Enough of these thoughts, which thou, a woman and 
 a child, art not formed to witness. Leila, thou hast been 
 nurtured with tenderness, and schooled with care. Harsh 
 and unloving may I have seemed to thee, but I would 
 have shed the best drops of my heart to have saved thy 
 young years from a single pang. Nay, listen to me, 
 silently. That thou mightst one day be worthy of thy 
 race, and that thine hours might not pass in indolent and 
 w^eary lassitude, thou hast been taught the lessons of a 
 knowledge rarely given to thy sex. Not thine the las- 
 civious arts of the Moorish maidens ; not thine their 
 harlot songs, and their dances of lewd delight ; thy 
 delicate limbs were but taught the attitude that Nature 
 dedicates to the worship of a God, and the music of thy 
 
LEILA. 33 
 
 voice was tuned to the songs of thy fallen country, sad 
 with the memory of her wrongs, animated with the names 
 of her heroes, holy with the solemnity of her prayers. 
 These scrolls, and the lessons of our seers, have imparted 
 to thee such of our science and our history as may fit thy 
 mind to aspire, and thy heart to feel for a sacred cause. 
 Thou listenest to me, Leila ? " 
 
 Perplexed and wondering, for never before had her 
 father addressed her in such a strain, the maiden answered 
 with an earnestness of manner that seemed to content the 
 questioner ; and he resumed, with an altered, hollow, 
 solemn voice : 
 
 "Then curse the persecutors ! Daughter of the great 
 Hebrew race, arise and curse the Moorish task-master 
 and spoiler ! " 
 
 As he spoke, the adjurer himself rose, lifting his right 
 hand on high, while his left touched the shoulder of the 
 maiden. But she, after gazing a moment in wild and 
 terrified amazement upon his face, fell cowering at his 
 knees ; and, clasping them imploringly, exclaimed, in 
 scarce articulate murmurs — 
 
 " Oh, spare me ! spare me ! " 
 
 The Hebrew, for such he was, surveyed her, as she 
 thus quailed at his feet, with a look of rage and scorn : 
 his hand wandered to his poniard, he half unsheathed it, 
 thrust it back with a muttered curse, and then, deliberately 
 drawing it forth, cast it on the ground beside her. 
 
 " Degenerate girl ! '" he said, in accents that vainly 
 struggled for calm, " if thou hast admitted to thy heart 
 
 c 
 
34 LEILA. 
 
 one unworthy thought towards a Moorish infidel, dig deep 
 and root it out, even with the knife, and to the death — 
 so wilt thou save this hand from that degrading task." 
 
 He drew himself hastily from her grasp, and left the 
 unfortunate girl alone and senseless. 
 
 CHAPTER y. 
 
 Ambition distorted into Vice by Law. 
 
 Ox descending a broad flight of stairs from the apart- 
 ment, the Hebrew encountered an old man, habited in 
 loose garments of silk and fur, upon whose withered and 
 wrinkled face life seemed scarcely to struggle against the 
 advance of death — so haggard, wan, and corpse-like, 
 was its aspect. 
 
 "Ximen," said the Israelite, "trusty and beloved ser- 
 vant, follow me to the cavern." He did not tarry for an 
 answer, but continued his way with rapid strides, through 
 various courts and alleys, till he came at length into a 
 narrow, dark, and damp gallery, that seemed cut from 
 the living rock. At; its entrance was a strong grate, 
 which gave way to the Hebrew's touch upon the spring, 
 though the united strength of a hundred men could not 
 have moved it from its hinge. Taking up a brazen lamp 
 that burnt in a niche within it, the Hebrew paused impa- 
 tiently till the feeble steps of the old man reached the 
 spot ; and then, reclosing the grate, pursued his winding 
 
LEILA. 35 
 
 way for a considerable distance, till he stopped suddenly 
 by a part of the rock which seemed in no respect different 
 from the rest : and so artfully contrived and concealed 
 was the door which he now opened, and so suddenly did 
 it yield to his hand, that it appeared literally the effect 
 of enchantment, when the rock yawned, and discovered a 
 circular cavern, lighted with brazen lamps, and spread 
 with hangings and cushions of thick furs. Upon rude 
 and seemingly natural pillars of rock, various antique 
 and rusty arms were suspended ; in large niches were 
 deposited scrolls, clasped and bound with iron ; and a 
 profusion of strange and uncouth instruments and machines 
 (in which modern science might, perhaps, discover the 
 tools of chemical invention), gave a magical and ominous 
 aspect to the wild abode. 
 
 The Hebrew cast himself on a couch of furs: and, as 
 the old man entered and closed the door, "Ximen," said 
 he, "fill out wine — it is a soothing counsellor, and I 
 need it." 
 
 Extracting from one of the recesses of the cavern a 
 flask and a goblet, Ximen proffered to his lord a copious 
 draught of the sparkling vintage of the Yega, which 
 seemed to invigorate and restore hira. 
 
 " Old man," said he, concluding the potation with a 
 deep-drawn sigh, "fill to thyself— drink till thy veins 
 feel young." 
 
 Ximen obeyed the mandate but imperfectly; the wine 
 jnst touched his lips, and the goblet was put aside. 
 
 "Ximen," resumed the Israelite, "how many of our 
 
36 LEILA. 
 
 race have been butchered by the avarice of the Moorish 
 kings, since first thou didst set foot within the city ! " 
 
 "Three thousand — the number was completed last 
 winter, by the order of Jusef, the vizier ; and their goods 
 and coffers are transformed into shafts and cimiters, 
 against the dogs of Galilee." 
 
 "Three thousand — no more ! three thousand only ! I 
 would the number had been tripled, for the interest is be- 
 coming due ! " 
 
 "My brother, and my son, and my grandson, are 
 among the number," said the old man, and his face grew 
 yet more death-lil^e. 
 
 " Tlieir monuments shall be in hecatombs of their 
 tyrants. They shall not, at least, call the Jews niggards 
 in revenge." 
 
 "But pardon me, noble chief of a fallen people; 
 thinkest thou we shall be less despoiled and trodden under 
 foot by yon haughty and stiff-necked Nazarenes, than by 
 the Arabian misbelievers ? " 
 
 "Accursed, in truth, are both," returned the Hebrew ; 
 " but the one promise more fairly than the other. I have 
 seen this Ferdinand, and his proud queen ; they are 
 pledged to accord us rights and immunities we have 
 never known before in Europe." 
 
 "And they will not touch our traffic, our gains, our 
 gold^ 
 
 " Out on thee ! " cried the fiery Israelite, stamping on 
 the ground. " I would all the gold of earth were sunk 
 into the everlasting pit ! It is this mean, and miserable, 
 
LEILA. 31 
 
 and loathsome leprosy of avarice, that gnaws away from 
 our whole race the heart, the soul, nay — the very form, 
 of man ! Many a time, when I have seen the lordly fea- 
 tures of the descendants of Solomon and Joshua (features 
 that stamp the nobility of the eastern world born to 
 mastery and command;, sharpened and furrowed by petty 
 cares, — when I have looked upon the frame of the strong 
 man bowed, like a crawling reptile, to some huckstering 
 bargainer of silks and unguents, — and heard the voice, 
 that should be raising the battle-cry, smoothed into fawn- 
 ing accents of base fear, or yet baser hope, — I have asked 
 myself, if I am indeed of the blood of Israel ! and thanked 
 the great Jehovah, that he hath spared me, at least, the 
 curse that hath blasted my brotherhood into usurers and 
 slaves ! " 
 
 Ximen prudently forbore an answer to enthusiasm 
 which he neither shared nor understood ; but, after a 
 brief silence, turned back the stream of the conversation. 
 
 "You resolve, then, upon prosecuting vengeance on 
 the Moors, at whatsoever hazard of the broken faith of 
 these Xazarenes?" 
 
 "Ay, the vapor of human blood hath risen unto 
 heaven, and, collected into thunder-clouds, hangs over 
 the doomed and guilty city. And now, Ximen, I have a 
 new cause for hatred to the Moors : the flower that I 
 have reared and watched, the spoiler hath sought to 
 pluck it from my hearth. Leila— thou hast guarded her 
 ill, Ximen ; and, wert thou not endeared to me by thy 
 
 I.— 4 
 
d^ LEILA. 
 
 very malice and vices, the rising sun should have seen 
 thy trunk on the waters of the Darro " 
 
 "My lord," replied Ximen, "if thou, the wisest of our 
 people, canst not guard a maiden from love, how canst 
 thou see crime in the dull eyes and numbed senses of a 
 miserable old man ? " 
 
 The Israelite did not answer, nor seem to hear this 
 deprecatory remonstrance. He appeared rather occupied 
 with his own thoughts ; and, speaking to himself, he 
 muttered, "It must be so: the sacrifice is hard — the 
 danger great ; but here, at least, it is more immediate. 
 It shall be done. Ximen," he continued, speaking 
 aloud; "dost thou feel assured that even mine own 
 countrymen, mine own tribe, know me not as one of 
 them ? Were my despised birth and religion published, 
 my limbs would be torn asunder as an impostor ; and all 
 the arts of the Cabala could not save me." 
 
 " Doubt not, great master ; none in Granada, save thy 
 faithful Ximen, know thy secret." 
 
 " So let me dream and hope. And now to my work ; 
 for this night must be spent in toil." 
 
 The Hebrew drew before him some of the strange 
 instruments we have described ; and took from the re- 
 cesses in the rock several scrolls. The old man lay at 
 his feet ready to obey his behests ; but, to all appear- 
 ance, rigid and motionless as the dead, whom his blanched 
 hues and shrivelled form resembled. It was, indeed, as 
 the picture of the enchanter at his work, and the corpse 
 of some man of old, revived from the grave to minister 
 to his spells, and execute his commands. 
 
LEILA. ^"^Ss^^r^-^-g^ 
 
 Enough in the preceding conversation has transpired 
 to convince the reader, that the Hebrew, in whom he has 
 already detected the Alraamen of the Alhambra, was of 
 no character common to his tribe. Of a lineage that 
 shrouded itself in the darkness of his mysterious people, 
 in their day of power, and possessed of immense wealth, 
 ■which threw into poverty the resources of Gothic princes, 
 — the youth of that remarkable man had been spent, not 
 in traffic and merchandise, but travel and study. 
 
 As a child, his home had been in Granada. He had 
 seen his father butchered by the late king, Muley Abul 
 Hassan, without other crime than his reputed riches ; and 
 his body literally cut open, to search for the jewels it was 
 supposed he had swallowed. He saw; and boy as he 
 was, he vowed revenge. A distant kinsman bore the 
 orphan to lands more secure from persecution ; and the 
 art with which the Jews concealed their wealth, scatter- 
 ing it over various cities, had secured to Almamen the 
 treasures the tyrant of Granada had failed to grasp. 
 
 He had visited the greater part of the world then 
 known ; and resided for many years in the court of the 
 sultan of that hoary Egypt, which still retained its fame 
 for abstruse science and magic lore. He had not in vain 
 applied himself to such tempting and wild researches ; 
 and had acquired many of those secrets, now perhaps 
 lost for ever to the world. We do not mean to intimate 
 that he attained to what legend and superstition impose 
 upon our faith as the art of sorcery. He could neither 
 command the elements, nor pierce the veil of the future, 
 
 ^^! 
 
40 LEILA. 
 
 — scatter armies with a word, nor pass from spot to spot 
 by the utterance of a charmed formula. But men who, 
 for ages, had passed their lives in attempting all the 
 effects that can astonish and awe the vulgar, could not 
 but learn some secrets which all the more sober wisdom 
 of modern times would search ineffectually to solve or to 
 revive. And many of such arts, acciuired mechanically 
 (their invention often the work of a chemical accident), 
 those who attained to them could not always explain, nor 
 account for the phenomena they created, so that the 
 mightiness of their own deceptions deceived themselves ; 
 and they often believed they were the masters of the 
 Nature to which they were, in reality, but erratic and 
 wild disciples. Of such was the student in that grim 
 cavern. He was, in some measure, the dupe, partly of 
 his own bewildered wisdom, partly of the fervor of an 
 imagination exceedingly high-wrought and enthusiastic. 
 His own gorgeous vanity intoxicated him : and, if it be 
 an historical truth that the kings of the ancient world, 
 blinded by their own power, had moments in which they 
 believed themselves more than men, it is not incredible 
 that sages, elevated even above kings, should conceive a 
 frenzy as weak, or, it may be, as sublime ; and imagine 
 that they did not claim, in vain, the awful dignity with 
 which the faith of the multitude invested their faculties 
 and gifts. 
 
 But though the accident of birth, which excluded him 
 from all field for energy and ambition, had thus directed 
 the powerful mind of Almamen to contemplation and 
 
LEILA. 41 
 
 study, nature had never intended passions so fierce for the 
 calm, though visionary pursuits to which he was addicted. 
 Amidst scrolls and seers, he had pined for action and 
 glory ; and, baffled in all wholesome egress, by the 
 universal exclusion which, in every land, and from every 
 faith, met the religion he belonged to, the faculties with- 
 in him ran riot, producing gigantic, but baseless schemes, 
 which, as one after the other crumbled away, left behind 
 feelings of dark misanthropy, and intense revenge. 
 
 Perhaps, had his religion been prosperous and power- 
 ful, he might have been a sceptic ; persecution and afflic- 
 tion made him a fanatic. ' Yet, true to that prominent 
 characteristic of the old Hebrew race, which made them 
 look to a Messiah only as a warrior and a prince, and 
 which taught them to associate all their hopes and 
 schemes with w^orldly victories and power, Almamen de- 
 sired rather to advance, than to obey, his religion. He 
 cared little for its precepts, he thought little of its 
 doctrines ; but, night and day, he revolved his schemes 
 for its earthly restoration and triumph. 
 \,^\b*^ /_At that time, the Moors in Spain were far more deadly 
 persecutors of the Jews than the Christians were. Amidst 
 the Spanish cities on the coast, that merchant tribe had 
 formed commercial connexions with the Christians, suffi- 
 ciently beneficial, both to individuals as to communities, 
 to obtain for them, not only toleration, but something of 
 personal friendship, wherever men bought and sold in the 
 market-place. And the gloomy fanaticism which after- 
 wards stained the fame of the great Ferdinand, and in- 
 4 * 
 
4^ LEILA. 
 
 troduced the horrors of tbe'Inquisition, bad not yet made 
 itself more than fitfully visible. But tbe Moors bad 
 treated this unhappy people with a wholesale and relent- 
 less barbarity. At Granada, under the reig:n of the 
 fierce father of Boabdil, — "that king with the tiger 
 heart." the Jews had been literally placed without the 
 paie of humanity ; and even under the mild and con- 
 templative Boabdil himself, they had been plundered 
 without mercy, and, if suspected of secreting their trea- 
 sures, massacred without scruple ; the wants of the state 
 continued their unrelenting accusers, — their wealth, their 
 inexpiable cv'imeA 
 
 It was in the midst of these barbarities that Almamen, 
 for the first time since the day when the death-shriek of 
 his agonized father rang in his ears, suddenly returned to 
 Granada. He saw the unmitigated miseries of his 
 brethren, and he remembered and repeated his vow. 
 His name changed, his kindred dead, none remembered, 
 in the mature Almamen, the beardless child of Issachar 
 the Jew. He had long, indeed, deemed it advisable to 
 disguise his faith ; and was known, throughout the African 
 kingdoms, but as the potent santon, or the wise magician. 
 
 This fame soon lifted him, in Granada, high in the 
 councils of the court. Admitted to the intimacy of 
 Muley Hassan, with Boabdil. and the queen-mother, he 
 had conspired against that monarch ; and had lived, at 
 least, to avenge his father upon the royal murderer. He 
 was no less intimate with Boabdil ; but, steeled against 
 fellowship or affection for all men out of the pale of his 
 
LEILA. 43 
 
 faith, he saw, in the confidence of the king, only the 
 blindness of a victim. 
 
 Serpent as he was, he cared not through what mire of 
 treachery and fraud he trailed his baleful folds, so that, 
 at last, he could spring upon his prey. Nature had 
 given him sagacity and strength. The curse of circum- 
 stance had humbled, but reconciled him to the dust. He 
 had the crawl of the reptile, — he had, also, its poison 
 and its fangs. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 The Lion in the Net. 
 
 It was the next night, not long before daybreak, that 
 the king of Granada abruptly summoned to his council, 
 Jusef, his vizier. The old man found Boabdil in great 
 disorder and excitement ; but he almost deemed his 
 sovereign mad, when he received from him the order to 
 seize upon the person of Muza Ben Abil Gazan, and to 
 lodge him in the strongest dungeon of the Yermilion 
 Tower. Presuming upon BoabdiPs natural mildness, the 
 vizier ventured to remonstrate, to suggest the danger of 
 laying violent hands upon a chief so beloved, and to in- 
 quire what cause should be assigned for the outrage. 
 
 The veins swelled like cords upon BoabdiPs brow, as 
 he listened to the vizier ; and his answer was short and 
 peremptory. 
 
44 LEILA. 
 
 "Am I yet a king, that I should fear a subject, or 
 excuse my will ? Thou hast my orders ; there are my 
 signet and the firman : obedience, or the bow-string I" 
 
 Never before had Boabdil so resembled his dread 
 father in speech and air ; the vizier trembled to the soles 
 of his feet, and withdrew in silence. Boabdil watched 
 him depart; and then, clasping his hands in great 
 emotion, exclaimed, " lips of the dead 1 ye have warned 
 me ; and to you I sacrifice the friend of my youth." 
 
 On quitting Boabdil, the vizier, taking with him some 
 of those foreign slaves of a seraglio, who know no sym- 
 pathy with human passion outside its walls, bent his way 
 to the palace of Muza, sorely puzzled and perplexed. 
 He did not, however, like to venture upon the hazard 
 of the alarm it might occasion throughout the neighbor- 
 hood, if he endeavored, at so unseasonable an hour, to 
 force an entrance. He resolved, rather, with his train, 
 to wait at a little distance, till, with the growing dawn, 
 the gates should be unclosed, and the inmates of the 
 palace astir. 
 
 Accordingly, cursing his stars, and wondering at his 
 mission, Jusef, and his silent and ominous attendants, 
 concealed themselves in a small copse adjoining the 
 palace, until the daylight fairly broke over the awakened 
 city. He then passed into the palace, and was conducted 
 to a hall, where he found the renowned Moslem already 
 astir, and conferring with some Zegri captains upon the 
 tactics of a sortie designed for that day. 
 
 It was with so evident a reluctance and apprehension 
 
-LEILA. ^^ 
 
 that Jusef approached the prince, that the fierce and 
 quick-sighted Zegris instantly suspected some evil inten- 
 tion in his visit ; and when Muza, in surprise, yielded to 
 the prayer of the vizier for a private audience, it was 
 with scowling brows and sparkling eyes that the Moorish 
 warriors left the darling of the nobles alone with the 
 messenger of their king, 
 
 " By the tomb of the prophet ! " said one of the Zegris, 
 as he ciuitted the hall, " the timid Boabdil suspects our 
 Ben Abil Gazan. I learned of this before." 
 
 "Hush!" said another of the band; "let us watch. 
 If the king touch a hair of Muza's head, Allah have 
 mercy on his sins I " 
 
 Meanwhile, the vizier, in silence, showed to Muza the 
 firman and the signet ; and then, without venturing to 
 announce the place to which he was commissioned to 
 conduct the prince, besought him to follow at once. 
 Muza changed color, but not with fear. 
 
 "Alas ! " said he, in a tone of deep sorrow, " can it be 
 that I have fallen under my royal kinsman's suspicion or 
 displeasure ? But no matter ; proud to set to Granada 
 an example of valor in her defence, be it mine to set, 
 also, an example of obedience to her king. Go on — I 
 will follow thee. Yet stay, you will have no need of 
 guards ; let us depart by a private egress : the Zegris 
 might misgive, did they see me leave the palace with you 
 at the very time the army are assembling in the Yivar- 
 rambla, and awaiting my presence. This way." 
 
 Thus saying, Muza, who, fierce as he was, obeyed 
 
46 LEILA.- 
 
 every impulse that the oriental loyalty dictated from a 
 subject to a king, passed from the hall to a small door 
 that admitted into the garden, and in thoughtful silence 
 accompanied the vizier towards the Alhambra. As they 
 passed the copse in which Muza, two nights before, had 
 met with Almamen, the Moor, lifting his head suddenly, 
 beheld fixed upon him the dark eyes of the magician, as 
 he emerged from the trees. Muza thought there was in 
 those eyes a malign and hostile exultation ; but Alma- 
 men, gravely saluting him, passed on through the grove : 
 the prince did not deign to look back, or he might once 
 more have encountered that withering gaze. 
 
 "Proud heathen!" muttered Almamen to himself, 
 "thy father filled his treasuries from the gold of many a 
 tortured Hebrew ; and even thou, too haughty to be the 
 miser, hast been savage enough to play the bigot. Thy 
 name is a curse in Israel ; yet dost thou lust after the 
 daughter of our despised race, and, could defeated pas- 
 sion sting thee, I were avenged. Ay, sweep on with thy 
 stately step and lofty crest — thou goest to chains, per- 
 haps to death." 
 
 As Almamen thus vented his bitter spirit, the last 
 gleam of the white robes of Muza vanished from his 
 gaze. He paused a moment, turned away abruptly, and 
 said, half-aloud, "Vengeance, not on one man only, but 
 a whole race! Xow for the Nazarene." 
 
BOOK SECOND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Royal Tent of Spain. — The King and the Dominican. — The 
 Visitor and the Hostage. 
 
 /Our narrative now summons us to the Christian army, 
 and to the tent in which the Spanish king held nocturnal 
 counsel with some of his more confidential warriors and 
 advisers. Ferdinand had taken the field with all the 
 pomp and circumstance of a tournament rather than of a 
 campaign ; and his pavilion literally blazed with purple 
 and cloth of goldj 
 
 The king sate at the head of a table on which were 
 scattered maps and papers ; nor in countenance and mien 
 did that great and politic monarch seem unworthy of the 
 brilliant chivalry by which he was surrounded. His black 
 hair, richly perfumed and anointed, fell in long locks on 
 either side of a high imperial brow ; upon whose calm, 
 though not unfurrowed surface, the physiognomist would 
 in vain have sought to read the inscrutable heart of kings. 
 His features were regular and majestic ; and his mantle, 
 clasped with a single jewel of rare price and lustre, and 
 
 (17) 
 
48 LEILA. 
 
 wrought at the breast with a silver cross, waved over a 
 vigorous and manly frame, which derived from the com- 
 posed and tranquil dignity of habitual command that im- 
 posing effect which many of the renowned knights and 
 heroes in his presence took from loftier stature and 
 ampler proportions. IXi his right hand, sat Prince Juan, 
 his son, in the first bloom of youth ; at his left, the cele- 
 brated Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, marquess of Cadiz ; 
 along the table, in the order of their military rank, were 
 seen the splendid duke of Medina Sidonia, equally noble 
 in aspect and in name ; the worn and thoughtful counte- 
 nance of the marquess de Yillena (the Bayard of Spain) ; 
 the melancholy brow of the heroic Alonzo de Aguilar ; 
 and the gigantic frame, the animated features, and spark- 
 ling eyes, of that fiery Hernando del Pulgar, surnamed 
 " the knight of the exploits."^ 
 
 ''You see, seiiores," said the king, continuing an ad- 
 dress, to which his chiefs seemed to listen with reverential 
 attention, " our best hope of speedily gaining the city is 
 rather in the dissensions of the Moors than our own sacred 
 arms. The walls are strong — the population still numer- 
 ous ; and under Muza Ben Abil Gazan, the tactics of the 
 hostile army are, it must be owned, administered with 
 such skill as to threaten very formidable delays to the 
 period of our conquest. Avoiding the hazard of a fixed 
 battle, the infidel cavalry harass our camp by perpetual 
 skirmishes; and in the mountain defiles our detachments 
 cannot cope with their light horse and treacherous am- 
 buscades. It is true, that bv dint of time, bv the com- 
 
LEILA. 49 
 
 plete devastation of the Yega, and bj vigilant prevention 
 of convoys from the sea-towns, we might starve the city 
 into yielding. But, alas ! my lords, our enemies arc 
 scattered and numerous, and Granada is not the only 
 place before which the standard of Spain should be un- 
 furled. Thus situated, the lion does not disdain to serve 
 himself of the fox ; and fortunately, we have now in 
 Granada an ally that fights for us. I have actual know- 
 ledge of all that passes within the Alhambra : the king 
 yet remains in his palace, irresolute and dreaming ; and 
 I trust that an intrigue, by which his jealousies are 
 aroused against his general, Muza, may end either in the 
 loss of that able leader, or in the commotion of open 
 rebellion or civil war. Treason within Granada will open 
 its gates to us." 
 
 "Sire," said Ponce de Leon, after a pause, "under 
 your counsels, I no more doubt of seeing our banner 
 float above the Yermilion Towers, than I doubt the rising 
 of the sun over yonder hills ; it matters little whether 
 we win by stratagem or force. But I need not say to 
 your highness, that we should carefully beware, lest we 
 be amused by inventions of the enemy, and trust to con- 
 spiracies which may be but lying tales to blunt our sabres 
 and paralyze our action." 
 
 " Bravely spoken, wise de Leon I" exclaimed Hernando 
 del Pulgar, hotly : " and against these infidels, aided by 
 the cunning of the Evil One, methinks our best wisdom 
 lies in the sword-arm. Well says our old Castilian pro- 
 verb — 
 
 L-5 D 
 
50 LEILA. 
 
 ' Curse them devoutly, 
 Hammer them stoutly 
 
 ) /•> 
 
 The king smiled slightly at the ardor of the favorite of 
 his army, but looked round for more deliberate counsel. 
 
 " Sire," said Yillena, " far be it from us to inquire the 
 grounds upon which your majesty builds your hope of 
 dissension among the foe ; but, placing the most sanguine 
 confidence in a wisdom never to be deceived, it is clear 
 that we should relax no energy within our means, but 
 fight while we plot, and seek to conquer, while we do not 
 neglect to undermine." 
 
 *'You speak well, my lord," said Ferdinand, thought- 
 fully ; " and you yourself shall head a strong detachment 
 to-morrow, to lay waste the Yega. Seek me two hours 
 hence; the council for the present is dissolved." 
 
 The knights rose, and withdrew with the usual grave 
 and stately ceremonies of respect, which Ferdinand ob- 
 served to, and exacted from, his court : the young prince 
 remained. 
 
 "Son," said Ferdinand, when they were alone, "early 
 and betimes should the infants of Spain be lessoned in 
 the science of kingcraft. These nobles are among the 
 brightest jewels of the crown ; but still it is in the crown, 
 and for the crown, that their light should sparkle. Thou 
 seest how hot, and fierce, and warlike, are the chiefs of 
 Spain — excellent virtues when manifested against our 
 foes ; but had we no foes, Juan, such virtues might cause 
 us exceeding trouble. By St. Jago, I have founded a 
 miuhtv monarchy ! observe how it should be maintained : 
 
LEILA. 61 
 
 — by science, Juan, by science! and science is as far 
 removed from brute force as this sword from a crowbar. 
 Thou seemest bewildered and amazed, my son : thou 
 hast heard that I seek to conquer Granada by dissensions 
 among the Moors ; when Granada is conquered, remem- 
 ber that the nobles themselves are a Granada. Ave 
 Maria ! blessed be the Holy Mother, under whose eyes 
 are the hearts of kings ! " 
 
 Ferdinand crossed himself devoutly ; and then, rising, 
 drew aside a part of the drapery of the pavilion, and 
 called, in a low voice, the name of Perez. A grave 
 Spaniard, somewhat past the verge of middle age, 
 appeared. 
 
 "Perez," said the king, reseating himself, "has the 
 person we expected from Granada yet arrived ? " 
 
 "Sire, yes; accompanied by a maiden." 
 
 " He hath kept his word : admit them. Ha, holy 
 father ! thy visits are always as balsam to the heart." 
 
 " Save you, my son ! " returned a man in the robes of 
 a Dominican friar, w^io had entered suddenly and without 
 ceremony by another part of the tent, and who now 
 seated himself with smileless composure at a little distance 
 from the king. 
 
 There was a dead silence for some moments ; and 
 Perez still lingered within the tent, as if in doubt whether 
 the entrance of the friar would not prevent or delay 
 obedience to the king's command. On the calm face of 
 Ferdinand himself appeared a slight shade of discompo- 
 sure and irresolution, when the monk thus resumed : — 
 
52 LEILA. 
 
 ''My presence, my son, will not, I trust, disturb your 
 conference with the infidel — since you deem that worldly 
 policy demands your parley with the men of Belial ? " 
 
 ''Doubtless not — doubtless not," returned the king, 
 quickly: then, muttering to himself, "how wondrously 
 doth this holy man penetrate into all our movements and 
 designs !" he added, aloud, "let the messenger enter." 
 
 Perez bowed, and withdrew. 
 
 During this time, the young prince reclined in listless 
 silence on his seat ; and on his delicate features was an 
 expression of weariness which augured but ill of his fit- 
 ness for the stern business to which the lessons of his 
 wise father were intended to educate his mind. His, 
 indeed, was the age, and his the soul, for pleasure ; the 
 tumult of the camp was to him but a holiday exhibition 
 — the march of an army, the exhilaration of a spectacle ; 
 the court was a banquet, the throne, the best seat at the 
 entertainment. The life of the heir-apparent, to the life 
 of the king-possessive, is as the distinction between 
 enchanting hope and tiresome satiety. 
 
 The small grey eyes of the friar wandered over each 
 of his royal companions with a keen and penetrating 
 glance, and then settled in the aspect of humility on the 
 rich carpets that bespread the floor; nor did he again 
 lift them till Perez, reappearing, admitted to the tent the 
 Israelite Almamen, accompanied by a female figure, whose 
 long veil, extending from head to foot, could conceal 
 neither the beautiful proportions nor the trembling agita- 
 tion of her frame. 
 
LEILA. vv €^\^ 
 
 When last, great king. I was admil 
 cnce," said Almamen, "thou didst make question of the 
 sineeritv and faith of thy servant ; thou didst ask nie for 
 a surety of my faith ; thou didst demand a hostage; and 
 didst refuse further parley without such pledge were 
 yielded to thee. Lo ! I place under thy kingly care this 
 maiden — the sole child of my house — as surety of my 
 truth : I intrust to thee a life dearer than my ^wn." 
 
 '•You have kept faith with us, stranger,*' said the 
 king, in that soft and musical voice which well disguised 
 his deep craft and his unrelenting will ; "and the maiden 
 whom you intrust to our charge shall be ranked with the 
 ladies of our royal consort." 
 
 " Sire,"' replied Almamen, with touching earnestness, 
 "you now hold the power of life and death over all for 
 whom this heart can breathe a prayer, or cherish a hope, 
 save for my countrymen and my religion. This solemn 
 pledge between thee and me I render up without scruple, 
 without fear. To thee I give a hostage — from thee I 
 have but a promise." 
 
 "But it is the promise of a king, a Christian, and a 
 knight,", said the king, with dignity rather mild than 
 arrogant : "among monarchs, what hostage can be more 
 sacred ? Let this pass : how proceed affairs in the rebel 
 city ? " 
 
 " May this maiden withdraw, ere I answer my lord the 
 king ? " said Almamen. 
 
 The young prince started to his feet. "Shall Icon- 
 s' 
 
54 LEILA. 
 
 duct this new charge to my mother ?" he asked, in a low 
 voice, addressing Ferdinand. 
 
 The king half-smiled : " The holy father were a better 
 guide," he returned, in the same tone. But, though the 
 Dominican heard the hint, he retained his motionless 
 posture ; and Ferdinand, after a momentary gaze on the 
 friar, turned away. "Be it so, Juan," said he, with a 
 look meant to convey caution to the prince; "Perez 
 shall accompany you to the queen : return the moment 
 your mission is fulfdled — we want your presence." 
 
 While this conversation was carried on between the 
 father and son, the Hebrew was whispering, in his sacred 
 tongue, words of comfort and remonstrance to the maiden ; 
 but they appeared to have but little of the desired effect ; 
 and, suddenly falling on his breast, she wound her arms 
 around the Hebrew, whose breast shook with strong 
 emotions, and exclaimed passionately, in the same lan- 
 guage, " Oh, my father ! what have I done ? — why send 
 me from thee ? — why intrust thy child to the stranger ? 
 Spare me, spare me ! " 
 
 " Child of my heart 1 " returned the Hebrew, with 
 solemn but tender accents, " even as Abraham offered up 
 his son, must I offer thee, upon the altars of our faith : 
 but, Leila ! even as the angel of the Lord forbade the 
 offering, so shall thy youth be spared, and thy years re- 
 served for the glory of generations yet unborn. King 
 of Spain ! " he continued in the Spanish tongue, suddenly 
 and eagerly, " you are a father ; forgive my weakness, 
 and speed this parting." 
 
LEILA. 56 
 
 Juan approached, and with respectful courtesy at- 
 tempted to take the hand of the maiden. 
 
 " You ? " said the Israelite, with a dark frown. " 
 king ! the prince is young."' 
 
 " Honor knoweth no distinction of age," answered the 
 king. •''What ho, Perez! accompany this maiden and 
 the prince to the queen's pavilion.*' 
 
 The sight of the sober years and grave countenance of 
 the attendant seemed to re-assure the Hebrew. He 
 strained Leila in his arms ; printed a kiss upon her fore- 
 head without removing her veil ; and then, placing her 
 almost in the arms of Perez, turned away to the further 
 end of the tent, and concealed his face with his hands. 
 The king appeared touched ; but the Dominican gazed 
 upon the whole scene with a sour scowl. 
 
 Leila still paused for a moment ; and then, as if re- 
 covering her self-possession, said, aloud and distinctly, 
 *' Man deserts me ; but I will not forget that God is over 
 all.'' Shaking off the hand of the Spaniard, slie con- 
 tinued, " Lead on ; I follow thee !" and left the tent with 
 a steady and even majestic step. 
 
 "And now,"' said the king, when alone with the Do- 
 minican and Aimamen, "how proceed our hopes?'' 
 
 "Boabdil," replied the Israelite, "is aroused against 
 both his army and their leader, Muza : the king will not 
 quit the Alhambra; and this morning, ere I left the city, 
 Muza himself was in the prisons of the palace." 
 
 *• How ! ■' cried the king, starting from his seat. 
 
 " This is my work," pursued the Hebrew coldly. '*It 
 
56 LEILA. 
 
 is these hands that are shaping for Ferdinand of Spain 
 the keys of Granada." 
 
 *'And right kingly shall be your guerdon," said the 
 Spanish monarch : " meanwhile, accept this earnest of 
 our favor." 
 
 So saying, he took from his breast a chain of massive 
 gold, the links of which were curiously inwrought with 
 gems, and extended it to the Israelite. Almamen moved 
 not. A dark flush upon his countenance bespoke the 
 feelings he with diSiculty restrained. 
 
 " I sell not my foes for gold, great king," said he, with 
 a stern smile : " I sell my foes to buy the ransom of my 
 friends." 
 
 ''Churlish!" said Ferdinand, offended: "but speak 
 on, man ! speak on ! " 
 
 " If I place Granada, ere two weeks are past, within 
 thy power, what shall be my reward ? " 
 
 " Thou didst talk to me, when last we met, of immunities 
 to the Jews." 
 
 The calm Dominican looked up as the king spoke, 
 crossed himself, and resumed his attitude of humility. 
 
 "I demand for the people of Israel," returned Almamen, 
 " free leave to trade and abide within the city, and follow 
 their callings, subjected only to the same laws and the 
 same imposts as the Christian population." 
 
 "The same laws, and the same imposts! Humph I 
 there are difiBculties in the concession. If we refuse ? " 
 
 "Our treaty is ended. Give me back the maiden — 
 you will have no further need of the hostage you de- 
 
LEILA. 57 
 
 manded : I return to the city, and renew our interviews 
 no more.'' 
 
 Politic and cold-blooded as was the temperament of 
 the great Ferdinand, he had yet the imperious and haughty 
 nature of a prosperous and long-descended king ; and he 
 bit his lip in deep displeasure at the tone of the dictatorial 
 and stately stranger. 
 
 "Thou usest plain language, my friend,"' said he; "my 
 words can be as rudely spoken. Thou art in my power, 
 and canst return not, save at my permission.'' 
 
 " I have your royal word, sire, for free entrance and 
 safe egress," answered Almamen. " Break it, and Granada 
 Is with the Moors till the Darro runs red with the blood 
 of her lieroes, and her people strew the vales as the leaves 
 in autumn." 
 
 "Art thou then thyself of the Jewish faith ? " asked the 
 king. " If thou art not, wherefore are the outcasts of 
 the world so dear to thee ? " 
 
 " My fathers were of that creed, royal Ferdinand ; and 
 if I myself desert their creed, I do not desert their cause. 
 O king ! are my terms scorned or accepted ? "' 
 
 F^ accept them : provided, first, that thou obtainest 
 the exile or death of Muza ; secondly, that within two 
 weeks of this date thou bringest me, along with the chief 
 councillors of Granada, the written treaty of the capitu- 
 lation, and the keys of the city. Do this : and, though 
 the sole king in Christendom who dares the hazard, I 
 offer to tlie Israelites throughout Andalusia the common 
 
58 LEILA. 
 
 laws and rights of citizens of Spain j and to thee I will 
 accord such dignity as may content thy ambition." 
 
 The Hebrew bowed reverently, and drew from his 
 breast a scroll, which he placed on the table before the 
 king. 
 
 " This writing, mighty Ferdinand, contains the articles 
 of our compact." 
 
 "How, knave ! wouldst thou have us commit our royal 
 signature to conditions with such as thou art, to the 
 chance of the public eye ? The king's word is the king's 
 bond ! " 
 
 The Hebrew took up the scroll with imperturbable 
 composure. " My child ! " said he — " will your majesty 
 summon back my child ? we would depart ! " 
 
 "A sturdy mendicant this, by the Virgin ! " muttered 
 the king ; and then, speaking aloud, " Give me the paper, 
 I will scan it." 
 
 Running his eyes hastily over the words, Ferdinand 
 paused a moment, and then drew towards him the imple- 
 ments of writing, signed the scroll, and returned it to 
 Almamen. 
 
 The Israelite kissed it thrice with oriental veneration, 
 and replaced it in his breast. 
 
 Ferdinand looked at him hard and curiously. He was 
 a profound reader of men's characters ; but that of his 
 guest baffled and perplexed him. 
 
 "And how, stranger," said he, gravely — "how can I 
 trust that man who thus distrusts one king and sells 
 another ?" 
 
LEILA. 59 
 
 " king ! " replied Almamea (accustomed from his 
 youth to commune with and command the posssessors of 
 thrones yet more absolute) — " king ! if thou believest 
 me actuated by personal and selfish interests in this our 
 compact, thou hast but to make my service minister to 
 my interest, and the lore of human nature will tell thee 
 that thou hast won a ready and submissive slave. But 
 if thou thinkest I have avowed sentiments less abject, 
 and developed qualities higher than those of the mere 
 bargainer for sordid power, oughtest thou not to rejoice 
 that chance has thrown into thy way one whose intellect 
 and faculties may be made thy tool ? If I betray another, 
 that other is my deadly foe. Dost not thou, the lord of 
 armies, betray thine enemy ? The Moor is an enemy 
 bitterer to myself than to thee. Because I betray an 
 enemy, am I unworthy to serve a friend ? If I, a single 
 man, and a stranger to the Moor, can yet command the 
 secrets of palaces, and render vain the counsels of armed 
 men, have I not in that attested that I am one of whom a 
 wise king can make an able servant?" 
 
 " Thou art a subtle reasoner, my friend," said Ferdi- 
 nand, smiling gently. " Peace go with thee ! our con- 
 ference for the time is ended. What ho, Perez ! " 
 
 The attendant appeared. 
 
 "Thou hast left the maiden with the queen?" 
 
 " Sire, you have been obeyed." 
 
 " Conduct this stranger to the guard who led him 
 through the camp. He quits us under the same protec- 
 
60 LEILA. 
 
 tion. Farewell ! Yet stay — thou art assured tliat Muza 
 Ben Abil Gazan is in the prisons of the Moor ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Blessed be the Yirgin ! " 
 
 " Thou hast heard our conference, Father Tomas ?" said 
 the king, anxiously, when the Hebrew had withdrawn. 
 
 " I have, son." 
 
 " Did thy veins freeze with horror ? " 
 
 " Only when my son signed the scroll. It seemed to 
 me then that I saw the cloven foot of the tempter." 
 
 " Tush, father ! the tempter would have been more 
 wise than to reckon upon a faith v.hich no ink and no 
 parchment can render valid, if the Church absolve the 
 compact. Thou understandest me, father ? " 
 
 ''' I do. I know your pious heart and well-judging 
 mind." 
 
 " Thou wert right," resumed the king, musingly, " when 
 thou didst tell us that these caitiff Jews were waxing 
 strong in the fatness of their substance. They would 
 have equal laws — the insolent blasphemers ! " 
 
 " Son ! " said the Dominican, with earnest adjuration, 
 •' God, who has prospered your arms and councils, will 
 require at your hands an account of the power entrusted 
 to you. Shall there be no difference between His friends 
 and His foes — His disciples and His crucifiers ? " 
 
 " Priest," said the king, laying his hand on the monk's 
 shoulder, and with a saturnine smile upon his counte- 
 nance, " were religion silent in this matter, policy has a 
 voice loud enouu^h to make itself heard. The Jews 
 
LEILA. 61 
 
 demand eqnal rights : wbeu men demand equality with 
 their masters, treason is at work, and justice sharpens 
 her sword. Equality ! these wealthy usurers I Sacred 
 Virgin ! they would be soon buying up our kingdoms." 
 The Domkiican gazed hard on the king. " Son, I 
 trust thee,'' he said, in a low voice, and glided from the 
 tent. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Ambush, the Strife, and the Capture. 
 
 The dawn was slowly breaking over the wide valley 
 of Granada, as Almamen pursued his circuitous and soli- 
 tary path back to the city. He was now in a dark and 
 entangled hollow, covered with brakes and bushes, from 
 amidst which tall forest-trees rose in frequent intervals, 
 gloomy and breathless in the still morning air. As, 
 emerging from this jungle, if so it may be called, the 
 towers of Granada gleamed upon him, a human counte- 
 nance peered from the shade ; and Almamen started to 
 see two dark eyes fixed upon his own. 
 
 He halted abruptly, and put his hand on his dagger, 
 when a low sharp whistle from the apparition before him 
 was answered around — behind ; and, ere he could draw 
 breath, the Israelite was begirt by a group of Moors, in 
 the garb of peasants, 
 
 ''Well, my masters." said Almamen. calmly, as he 
 
 1—6 
 
62 LEILA. 
 
 encountered the wild savage countenances that glared 
 upon him, " think you there is aught to fear from the 
 solitary santon ? " 
 
 "It is the magician," whispered one man to his neigh- 
 bor — "let him pass." 
 
 " Nay," was the answer, " take him before the captain ; 
 we have orders to seize upon all we meet." 
 
 This counsel prevailed ; and gnashing his teeth with 
 secret rage, Almamen found himself hurried along by the 
 peasants through the thickest part of the copse. At 
 nJength, the procession stopped in a semicircular patch 
 of rank sward, in which several head of cattle were 
 quietly grazing, and a yet more numerous troop of peas- 
 ants reclined around upon the grass. 
 
 "Whom have we here ?" asked a voice which startled 
 back the dark blood from Almamen's cheek ; and a Moor 
 of commanding presence rose from the midst of his 
 brethren. " By the beard of the Prophet, it is the false 
 santon ! What dost thou from Granada at this hour?" 
 
 "Noble Muza," returned Almamen — who, though 
 indeed amazed that one whom he had imagined his victim 
 was thus unaccountably become his judge, retained, at 
 least, the semblance of composure — " my answer is to be 
 given only to my lord the king ; it is his commands that 
 I obey." 
 
 "Thou art aware," said Muza, frowning, "that thy 
 life is forfeited without appeal ? Whatsoever inmate 
 of Granada is found without the walls between sunrise 
 and sunset, dies the death of a traitor and deserter." 
 
L £ I L A 63 
 
 " The servants of the Albambra are excepted," an- 
 swered the Israelite, without changing countenance. 
 
 "Ah ! " muttered Muza, as a painful and sudden thou,£rht 
 seemed to cross him, '* can it be possible that the rumor 
 of the city has truth, and that the monarch of Granada 
 is in treaty with the foe ? " He mused a little ; and 
 then, motioning the Moors to withdraw, he continued 
 aloud, "Almamen, answer me truly : hast thou sought 
 the Christian camp with any message from the king ? " 
 
 "I have not." 
 
 "Art thou without the walls on the mission of the 
 king ? " 
 
 " If I be so, I am a traitor to the king should I reveal 
 his secret." 
 
 "I doubt thee much, santon," said Muza, after a 
 pause; "I know thee for my enemy, and I do believe 
 thy counsels have poisoned the king's ear against me, his 
 people, and his duties. But no matter, thy life is spared 
 awhile ; thou remainest with us, and with us shalt thou 
 return to the king," 
 
 "But, noble Muza " 
 
 " I have said ! Guard the santon ; mount him upon 
 one of our chargers; he shall abide with us in our 
 ambush." 
 
 While Almamen chafed in vain at his arrest, all in the 
 Christian camp was yet still. At length, as the sun 
 began to lift himself above the mountains, first a murmur, 
 and then a din, betokened warlike preparations. Several 
 parties of horse, under gallant and experienced leaders. 
 
64 LEILA. 
 
 formed themselves in dififerent quarters, and departed in 
 different ways, on expeditions of forage, or in the hope 
 of skirmish with the straggling, detachments of the enemy. 
 Of these, the best equipped was conducted by the Mar- 
 quess de Villena, and his gallant brother, Don Alonzo 
 de Pacheco. In this troop, too, rode many of the best 
 blood of Spain ; for in that chivalric army, the officers 
 vied with each other who should most eclipse the meaner 
 soldiery in feats of personal valor ; and the name of 
 Yillena drew around him the eager and ardent spirits 
 that pined at the general inactivity of Ferdinand's politic 
 campaign. 
 
 The sun, now high in heaven, glittered on the splendid 
 arms and gorgeous pennons of Yillena's company — as, 
 leaving the camp behind, it entered a rich and wooded 
 district that skirts the mountain barrier of the Yega — 
 the brilliancy of the day, the beauty of the scene, the 
 hope and excitement of enterprise, animated the spirits 
 of the whole party. In these expeditions strict discipline 
 was often abandoned, from the certainty that it could be 
 resumed at need. Conversation, gay and loud, inter- 
 spersed at times with snatches of song, was heard amongst 
 the soldiery ; and in the nobler group that rode with 
 Yillena, there was even less of the proverbial gravity of 
 ■Spaniards. 
 
 " Now marquess," said Don Estevon de Suzon, " what 
 wager shall be between us, as to which lance this day 
 robs Moorish beauty of the greatest number of its wor- 
 shippers ? " 
 
LEILA. 65 
 
 "My falchion against your jennet," said Don Alonzo 
 de Pacheco, taking up the challenge. 
 
 "Agreed. But, talking of beauty, were you in the 
 queen's pavilion last night, noble marquess ? it was en- 
 riched by a new maiden, whose strange and sudden ap- 
 parition none can account for. Her eyes would have 
 eclisped the fatal glance of Cava ; and had I been Ro- 
 drigo, I might have lost a crown for her smile." 
 
 "Ay," said Yillena, "I heard of her beauty; some 
 hostage from one of the traitor Moors, with whom the 
 king (the saints bless him !) bargains for the city. They 
 tell me the prince incurred the queen's grave rebuke for 
 his attentions to the maiden." 
 
 " And this morning I saw that fearful Father Tomas 
 steal into the prince's tent. I wish Don Juan well through 
 the lecture. The monk's advice is like the algarroba ; * 
 when it is laid up to dry it may be reasonably wholesome, 
 but it is harsh and bitter enough when taken fresh." 
 
 At this moment, one of the subaltern officers rode up 
 to the marquess, and whispered in his ear. 
 
 "Ha!" said Yillena, "the Virgin be praised! Sir 
 knights, booty is at hand. Silence ! close the ranks." 
 
 With that, mounting a little eminence, and shading his 
 eyes with his hand, the marquess surveyed the plain 
 below : and, at some distance, he beheld a horde of Moor- 
 ish peasants, driving some cattle into a thick copse. The 
 word was hastily given, the troop dashed on, every voice 
 
 * The algarroba is a sort of leguminous plant, common in Spain. 
 6* E 
 
66 LEILA. 
 
 was hushed, and the clatter of mail, and the sound of 
 hoofs, alone broke the delicious silence of the noon-day 
 lanascape. Ere thev reached the copse, the peasants had 
 disappeared within it. The marquess marshalled his men 
 in a semicircle round the trees, and sent on a detachment 
 to the rear, to cut off every egress from the wood. This 
 done, the troop dashed within. For the first few yards 
 the space was more open than they had anticipated ; but 
 the ground soon grew uneven, rugged, and almost pre- 
 cipitous ; and the soil, and the interlaced trees, alike for- 
 bade any rapid motion to the horse. Don Alonzo de 
 Pacheco, mounted on a charger whose agile and docile 
 limbs had been tutored to every description of warfare, 
 and himself of light weight, and incomparable horseman- 
 ship — dashed on before the rest. The trees hid him for 
 a moment ; when, suddenly, a wild yell was heard, and as 
 it ceased, uprose the solitary voice of the Spaniard, 
 shouting ''Santiago, y cierra Espana; St. Jago, and 
 charge, Spain ! " 
 
 Each cavalier spurred forward ; when suddenly, a 
 shower of darts and arrows rattled on their armor; and 
 up sprang from bush, and reeds, and rocky clift, a num- 
 ber of Moors, and with wild shouts swarmed around the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 "Back for your lives ! " cried Yillena, " we are beset — 
 make for the level ground ! " 
 
 ITe turned — spurred from the thicket, and saw the 
 Pa3'nim foe emerging through the glen, line after line of 
 man and horse ; each Moor leading his slight and fiery 
 
LEILA. 6T 
 
 Bteed by the bridle, and leaping on it as he issued from 
 the wood into the plain. Cased in complete mail, his 
 vizor down, his lance in rest, Yillena (accompanied 
 by such of his knights as could disentangle themselves 
 from the Moorish foot) charged upon the foe. A moment 
 of fierce shock passed : on the ground lay many a Moor, 
 pierced through by the Christian lance ; and on the other 
 side of the foe, was heard the voice of Yillena — *' St. 
 Jago to the rescue ! "' But the brave marquess stood al- 
 most alone, save his faithful chamberlain Solier. Several 
 of his knights were dismounted, and swarms of Moors, 
 with lifted knives, gathered round them as they lay, 
 searching for the joints of the armor, which might admit 
 a mortal wound. Gradually, one by one, many of Yil- 
 lena's comrades joined their leader; and now the green 
 mantle of Don Alonzo de Pacheco was seen waving with- 
 out the copse, and Yillena congratulated himself on the 
 safety of his brother. Just at that moment, a Moorish 
 cavalier spurred from his troop, and met Pacheco in full 
 career. The Moor was not clad, as was the common 
 custom of the Paynim nobles, in the heavy Christian 
 armor. He wore the light flexile mail of the ancient 
 heroes of Araby or Fez. His turban, which was pro- 
 tected by chains of the finest steel interwoven with the 
 folds, was of the most dazzling white — white, also, were 
 his tunic and short mantle ; on his left arm hung a short 
 circular shield, in his right hand was poised a long and 
 slender lance. As this Moor, mounted on a charger 
 in whose raven hue not a white hair could be detected, 
 
68 LEILA. 
 
 dashed forward against Pacheco, both Christian and 
 Moor breathed hard, and remained passive. Either nation 
 felt it as a sacrilege to thwart the encounter of champions 
 so renowned. 
 
 " God save my brave brother ! " muttered Yillena, 
 anxiously. "Amen," said those around him ; for all who 
 had ever witnessed the wildest valor in that war, trembled 
 as they recognized the dazzling robe and coal-black 
 charger of Muza Ben Abil Gazan. Xor was that re- 
 nowned infidel mated with an unworthy foe. " Pride of 
 the tournament, and terror of the war," was the favorite 
 title which the knights and ladies of Castile had bestowed 
 on Don Alonzo de Pacheco. 
 
 When the Spaniard saw the redoubted Moor approach, 
 he halted abruptly for a moment, and then, wheeling his 
 horse round, took a wider circuit, to give additional im- 
 petus to his charge. The 3Ioor, aware of his purpose, 
 halted also, and awaited the moment of his rush ; when 
 once more he darted forward, and tlie combatants met 
 with a skill which called forth a cry of involuntary 
 applause from the Christians themselves. Muza received 
 on the small surface of his shield the ponderous spear of 
 Alonzo, while his own light lance struck upon the helmet 
 of the Christian, and by the exactness of the aim rather 
 than the weight of the blow, made Alonzo reel in his saddle. 
 
 The lances were thrown aside — the long broad fal- 
 chion of the Christian, the curved Damascus cimiter of 
 the Moor, gleamed in the air. They reined their chargers 
 opposite each other in grave and deliberate silence. 
 
LEILA. 69 
 
 " Yield thee, sir knight ! "' at length cried the fierce 
 Moor, " for the motto on my cimiter declares that if thou 
 meetest its stroke, thy days are numbered. The sword 
 of the believer is the Key of Heaven and Hell." "^ 
 
 "False Paynim," answered Alonzo, in a voice that 
 rang hollow through his helmet, " a Christian knight is 
 the equal of a Moorish army ! " 
 
 Muza made no reply, but left the rein of his charger 
 on his neck ; the noble animal understood the signal, and 
 with a short impatient cry rushed forward at full speed. 
 Alonzo met the charge with his falchion upraised, and 
 his whole body covered with his shield : the Moor bent 
 
 — the Spaniards raised a shout — Muza seemed strickeu 
 from his horse. But the blow of the heavy falchion had 
 not touched him ; and, seemingly without an effort, the 
 curved blade of his own cimirer, gliding by that part of 
 his antagonist's throat where the helmet joins the cuirass, 
 passed unresistingly and silently through the joints ; and 
 Alonzo fell at once, and without a groan, from his horse 
 
 — his armor, to all appearance, unpenetrated, while the 
 blood oozed slow and gurgling from a mortal wound. 
 
 "Allah il Allah ! " shouted Muza, as he joined his 
 friends; "LeliliesI Lelilies ! " echoed the 3Ioors ; and 
 ere the Christians recovered their dismay, they were en- 
 gaged hand to hand with their ferocious and swarming 
 foes. It was, indeed, fearful odds : and it was a marvel 
 to the Spaniards how the Moors had been enabled to 
 
 * Such, says Sale, i< the poetical phrase of the Mahometan divines. 
 
TO LEILA. 
 
 harbor and conceal their numbers in so small a space. 
 Horse and foot alike beset the company of Yillena, 
 already sadly reduced ; and while the infantry, with 
 desperate and savage fierceness, thrust themselves under 
 tlie very bellies of the chargers, encountering both the 
 hoofs of the steed and the deadly lance of the rider, in 
 the hope of finding a vulnerable place for the sharp 
 Moorish knife, — the horsemen, avoiding the stern grapple 
 of the Spanish warriors, harassed them by the shaft and 
 lance, — now advancing, now retreating, and performing, 
 with incredible rapidity, the evolutions of Oriental cavalry. 
 But the life and soul of his party was the indomitable 
 Muza. With a rashness which seemed to the super- 
 stitious ^Daniards like the safety of a man protected by 
 magic, he spurred his ominous black barb into the very 
 midst of the serried phalanx which Yillena endeavored 
 to form around him, breaking the order by his single 
 charge, and from time to time bringing to the dust some 
 champion of the troop by the noiseless and scarce-seen 
 edge of his fatal cimiter. 
 
 Yillena, in despair alike of fame and life, and gnawed 
 with grief for his brother's loss, at length resolved to put 
 the last hope of the battle on his single arm. He gave 
 the signal for retreat ; and to protect his troop, remained 
 himself, alone and motionless, on his horse, like a statue 
 of iron. Though not of large frame, he was esteemed 
 the best swordsman, next only to Hernando del Pulgar 
 and Gonsalvo de Cordova, in the army ; practised alike 
 in the heavy assault of the Christian warfare, and the 
 
LEILA. 71 
 
 rapid and dexterous exercise of the Moorish cavalry. 
 There he remained, alone and grim — a lion at bay — 
 while his troops slowly retreated down the Yega, and 
 their trumpets sounded loud signals of distress, and 
 demands for succor, to such of their companions as might 
 be within hearing. Yillena's armor defied the shafts of 
 the Moors; and as one after one darted towards him, 
 with whirling cimiter and momentary assault, few escaped 
 with impunity from an eye equally quick and a weapon 
 more than equally formidable. Suddenly, a cloud of 
 dust swept towards him : and Muza, a moment before at 
 the further end of the field, came glittering through that 
 cloud, with his white robe waving and his right arm bare. 
 Yillena recognized him, set his teeth hard, and putting 
 spurs to his charger, met the rush. Muza swerved aside, 
 just as the heavy falchion swung over his head, and by 
 a back stroke of his own cimiter, shore through the 
 cuirass just above the hip-joint, and the blood followed 
 the blade. The brave cavaliers saw the danger of their 
 chief; three of their number darted forward, and came in 
 time to separate the combatants. 
 
 Muza stayed not to encounter the new reinforcement ; 
 but speeding across the plain, was soon seen rallying his 
 own scattered cavalry, and pouring them down, in one 
 general body, upon the scanty remnant of the Spaniards. 
 
 *• Our day is come ! " said the good knight Yillena, 
 with bitter resignation. " Nothing is left for us, my 
 friends, but to give up our lives — an example how 
 Si>anish warriors should live and die. May God and 
 
72 LEILA. 
 
 the Holy Mother forgive our sins, and shorten our pur- 
 gatory ! " 
 
 Just as he spoke, a clarion was heard at a distance ; 
 and the sharpened senses of the knights caught the ring 
 of advancing hoofs. 
 
 " We are saved ! " cried Estevon de Suzon, rising on 
 his stirrups. While he spoke, the dashing stream of the 
 Moorish horse broke over the little band ; and Estevon 
 beheld bent upon himself the dark eyes and quivering lip 
 of Muza Ben Abil Gazan. That noble knight had never, 
 perhaps, till then known fear ; but he felt his heart stand 
 still, as he now stood opposed to that irresistible foe. 
 
 " The dark fiend guides his blade ! " thought De Suzon ; 
 "but I was shriven but yestermorn." The thought re- 
 stored his wonted courage ; and he spurred on to meet 
 the cimiter of the Moor. 
 
 His assault took Muza by surprise. The Moor's horse 
 stumbled over the ground, cumbered with the dead and 
 slippery with blood, and his uplifted cimiter could not do 
 more than break the force of the gigantic arm of De 
 Suzon ; as the knight's falchion, bearing down the cimiter, 
 and alighting on the turban of the Mahometan, clove 
 midway through its folds, arrested only by the admirable 
 temper of the links of steel which protected it. The 
 shock hurled the Moor to the ground. He rolled under 
 the saddle-girths of his antagonist. 
 
 " Victory and St. Jago ! " cried the knight, " Muza 
 
 is " 
 
 The sentence was left eternally unfinished. The blade 
 
LEILA. T3 
 
 of the fallen Moor had already pierced De Suzon's horse 
 through a mortal but undefended part. It fell, bearing 
 his rider with him. A moment, and the two champions 
 lav together grappling in the dust ; in the next, the short 
 knife which the Moor wore in his girdle had penetrated 
 the Christian's yizor, passing through the brain. 
 
 To remount his steed, that remained at hand, humbled 
 and motionless, to appear again amongst the thickest of 
 the fray, was a work no less rapidly accomplished than 
 had been the slaughter of the unhappy Estevon de Suzon. 
 But now the fortune of the day was stopped in a progress 
 hitherto so triumphant to the Moors. 
 
 Pricking fast over the plain, were seen the glittering 
 horsemen of the Christian reinforcements ; and, at the 
 remoter distance, the royal banner of Spain, indistinctly 
 descned through volumes of dust, denoted that Ferdinand 
 himself was advancing to the support of his cavaliers. 
 
 The Moors, however, who had themselves received 
 many and mysterious reinforcements, which seemed to 
 spring up like magic from the bosom of the earth — so 
 suddenly and unexpectedly had they emerged from copse 
 and cleft in that mountainous and entangled neighbor- 
 hood — were not unprepared for a fresh foe. At the 
 command of the vigilant Muza, they drew off, fell into 
 order, and, seizing, while yet there was time, the vantage- 
 ground which inequalities of the soil and the shelter of 
 the trees gave to their darts and agile horse, they pre- 
 sented an array which Ponce de Leon himself, who now 
 arrived, deemed it more prudent not to assault. While 
 
 I.— t 
 
74 LEILA. 
 
 Villena, in accents almost inarticulate with rage, was 
 urging' the Marquess of Cadiz to advance, Ferdinand, 
 surrounded by the flower of his court, arrived at the rear 
 of the troops ; and, after a few words interchanged with 
 Ponce de Leon, gave the signal of retreat. 
 
 When the Moors beheld that noble soldiery slowly 
 breaking ground, and retiring towards the carap, even 
 Muza could not control their ardor. They rushed for- 
 ward, harassing the retreat of the Christians, and delaying 
 the battle by various skirmishes. 
 
 It was at this time that the headlong valor of Her- 
 nando del Pulgar, who had arrived with Ponce de Leon, 
 distinguished itself in feats which yet live in the songs 
 of Spain. Mounted upon an immense steed, and himself 
 of colossal strength, he was seen charging alone upon the 
 assailants, and scattering numbers to the ground with the 
 sweep of his enormous and two-handed falchion. With a 
 loud voice, he called on Muza to oppose him ; but the 
 Moor, fatigued with slaughter, and scarcely recovered 
 from the shock of his encounter with De Suzon, reserved 
 so formidable a foe for a future contest^ 
 
 It was at this juncture, while the field was covered 
 with straggling skirmishers, that a small party of Span- 
 iards, in cutting their way to the main body of their 
 countrymen through one of the numerous copses held by 
 the enemy, fell in at the outskirt with an equal number 
 of Moors, and engaged them in a desperate conflict, hand 
 to hand. Amidst the infidels was one man who took no 
 part in the affrav ; at a little distance, he gazed for a 
 
LEILA. ^5 
 
 few moments upon the fierce and relentless slaughter of 
 Moor and Christian with a smile of stern and complacent 
 delight : and then taking advantage of the general con- 
 fusion, rode gently, and, as he hoped, unobserved, away 
 from the scene. But he was not destined so quietly to 
 escape. A Spaniard perceived him, and, from something 
 strange and unusual in his garb, judged him one of the 
 Moorish leaders ; and presently Almamen, for it was he, 
 beheld before him the uplifted falchion of a foe neither 
 disposed to give quarter nor to hear parley. Brave 
 though the Israelite was, many reasons concurred to 
 prevent his taking a personal part against the soldier of 
 Spain ; and, seeing he should have no chance of expla- 
 nation, he fairly put spurs to his horse, and galloped 
 across the plain. The Spaniard followed, gained upon 
 him, and Almamen at length turned in despair and the 
 WTath of his haughty nature. 
 
 " Have thy will, fool ! '' said he, between his grinded 
 teeth, as he griped his dagger and prepared for the con- 
 flict. It was long and obstinate, for the Spaniard was 
 skilful ; and the Hebrew, wearing no mail, and without 
 any weapon more formidable than a sharp and well- 
 tempered dagger, was forced to act cautiously on the 
 defensive. At length the combatants grappled, and, by 
 a dexterous thrust, the short blade of Alnmmen pierced 
 the throat of his antagonist, who fell prostrate to the 
 ground. 
 
 "I am safe," he thought, as he wheeled round his 
 horse ; when, lo ! the Spaniards he had just left behind, 
 
Y6 LEILA 
 
 and who had now routed their antagonists, were upon 
 him. 
 
 " Yield, or die ! " cried the leader of the troop. 
 
 Almamen glared round ; no succor was at hand. " I 
 am not your enemy,*' said he, sullenly, throwing down 
 his weapon — "bear me to your camp." 
 
 A trooper seized his rein, and, scouring along, the 
 Spaniards soon reached the retreating army. 
 
 Meanwhile the evening darkened, the shout and the 
 roar grevr gradually less loud and loud — the battle had 
 ceased — the stragglers had joined their several standards ; 
 and, by the light of the first star, the Moorish force, 
 bearing their wounded brethren, and elated with success, 
 re-entered the gates of Granada, as the black charger of 
 the hero of the day, closing the rear of the cavalry, dis- 
 appeared within the gloomy portals. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Hero in the Power of the Dreamer. 
 
 It was in the same chamber, and nearly at the same 
 hour, in which we first presented to the reader Boabdil 
 el Chico, that we are again admitted to the presence 
 of that ill-starred monarch. He was not alone. His 
 favorite slave, Amine, reclined upon the ottomans, gazing 
 with anxious love upon his thoughtful countenance, as 
 
LEILA. ^>> ■ ' iiXh 
 
 he leant against the glittering \vaIrH*.ylfie sTcte* of the' 
 casement, gazing abstractedly on the ^ceiie below. 
 
 From afar he heard the shouts of the populace at the 
 return of Muza, and bursts of artillery confirmed the 
 tidings of triumph which had already been borne to his ear. 
 
 "May the king live for ever!" said Amine, timidly; 
 '•his armies have gone forth to conquer." 
 
 "But without their king," replied Boabdil, bitterly, 
 "and headed by a traitor and a foe. I am meshed in the 
 nets of an inextricable fate ! " 
 
 " Oh ! " said the slave, with sudden energy, as, clasp- 
 ing her hands, she rose from her couch, — " oh, my lord ! 
 would that these humble lips dared utter other words 
 than those of love ! " 
 
 "And what wise counsel would they give me ?" asked 
 Boabdil, with a fiint smile. " Speak on." 
 
 " I will obey thee, then, even if it displease," cried 
 Amine ; and she rose, her cheek glowing, her eyes spark- 
 ling, her beautiful form dilated. " I am a daughter of 
 Granada ; I am the beloved of a king ; I will be true to 
 my birth and to m.y fortunes. Boabdil el Chico, the last 
 of a line of heroes, shake off these gloomy fantasies — 
 these doubts and dreams that smother the fire of a great 
 nature and a kingly soul ! Awake — arise — rob Granada 
 of her Muza — be thyself her Muza ! Trustest thou to 
 magic and to spells ? then grave them on thy breast- 
 plate, write them on thy sword, and live no longer the 
 Dreamer of the Alhambra ; become the saviour of thy 
 people ! " 
 
 "7 * 
 
Y8 LEILA. 
 
 Boabdil turned, and gazed on the inspired and beauti- 
 ful form before him witn mingled emotions of surprise 
 and shame. "Out of the mouth of woman cometh my, 
 rebuke ! " said he, sadly. "It is well ! " 
 
 "Pardon me, pardon me!'' said the slave, falling 
 humbly at his knees; "but blame me not that I would 
 have thee worthy of thyself "Wert thou not happier, 
 was not thy heart more light, and thy hope more strong, 
 when at the head of thine armies, thine own cimiter slew 
 thine own foes, and the terror of the hero-king spread, 
 in flame and slaughter, from the mountains to the seas. 
 Boabdil, dear as thou art to me — equally as I would 
 have loved thee hadst thou been born a lowly fisherman 
 of the Darro, — since thou art a king, I would have thee 
 die a king ; even if my own heart broke as I armed thee 
 for thy latest battle ! '' 
 
 "Thou knowest not what thou sayest, Amine," said 
 Boabdil, "nor canst thou tell what spirits that are not 
 of earth dictate to the actions, and watch over the 
 destinies, of the rulers of nations. If I delay, if I linger, 
 it is not from terror, but from wisdom. The cloud must 
 gather on, dark and slow, ere the moment for the thun- 
 derbolt arrives." 
 
 " On thine house will the thunderbolt fall, since over 
 thine own house thou sufiferest the cloud to gather," said 
 a calm and stern voice. 
 
 Boabdil started ; and in the chamber stood a third 
 person, in the shape of a woman, past middle age, 
 and of commanding port and stature. Upon her long- 
 
LEILA. 79 
 
 descending robes of embroidered purple were thickly 
 woven jewels of royal price ; and her dark hair, slightly 
 tinged with grey, parted over a majestic brow, while a 
 small diadem surmounted the folds of the turban. 
 
 " My mother I '' said Boabdil, with some haughty 
 reserve in his tone ; "your presence is unexpected." 
 
 "Ay," answered Ayxa la Horra, for it was indeed that 
 celebrated, and haughty, and high-souled queen, "and 
 unwelcome ; so is ever that of your true friends. But 
 not thus unwelcome was the presence of your mother, 
 when her brain and her hand delivered you from the 
 dungeon in which your stern father had cast your youth, 
 and the dagger and the bowl seemed the only keys that 
 would unlock the cell." 
 
 '• And better hadst thou left the ill-omened son that 
 thy womb conceived, to die thus in youth, honored and 
 lamented, than to live to manhood, wrestling against an 
 evil star and a relentless fate." 
 
 " Son," said the queen, gazing upon him with lofiy 
 and half-disdainful compassion, "men's conduct shapes 
 out their own fortunes, and the unlucky are never the 
 valiant and the wise."' 
 
 "Madam," said Boabdil, coloring with passion, "I am 
 still a king, nor will I be thus bearded — withdraw ! " 
 
 Ere the queen could reply, a eunuch entered, and 
 whisp^ed Boabdil. 
 
 " Ha ! " said he, joyfully, stamping his foot, "comes he 
 then to brave the lion in his den ? Let the rebel look to 
 it ! Is he alone ? " 
 
80 LEILA. 
 
 "Alone, great king." 
 
 "Bid my guards wait without ; let the slightest signal 
 summon them. Amine, retire ! '' 
 
 " Son ! " interrupted Ayxa la Horra, in visible agita- 
 tion, "do I guess aright? is the brave Muza — the sole 
 bulwark and hope of Granada — whom unjustly thou 
 wouldst last night have placed in chains — (chains ! great 
 prophet ! is it thus a king should rew^ard his heroes ?) — 
 is, I say, Muza here ? and wilt thou make him the victim 
 of his own generous trust ? " 
 
 " Retire, woman ! " said Boabdil, sullenly. 
 
 " I will not, save by force ! I resisted a fiercer soul 
 than thine when I saved thee from thy father." 
 
 " Remain, then, if thou wilt, and learn how kings can 
 punish traitors. Mesnour, admit the hero of Granada." 
 
 Amine had vanished. Boabdil seated himself on the 
 cushions — his face calm, but pale. The queen stood erect 
 at a little distance, her arms folded on her breast, and 
 her aspect knit and resolute. In a few moments ^luza 
 entered, alone. He aj)proached the king with the pro- 
 found salutation of Oriental obeisance; and then stood 
 before him with downcast eyes, in an attitude from whicli 
 respect could not divorce a natural dignity and pride of 
 mien. 
 
 "Prince." said Boabdil, after a moment's pause, 
 " yester-morn, when I sent for thee, thou didst brave my 
 orders. Even in mine own Alhambra, tliy minions broke 
 out in mutiny ; they surrounded the fortress in which thou 
 wert to wait my pleasure ; they intercepted, they insulted. 
 
LEILA. 81 
 
 they drove back my guards : they stormed the towers 
 protected by the banner of thy king. The governor, a 
 coward or a traitor, rendered thee to the rebeUious crowd. 
 Was this all ? Xo, by the prophet ! Thou, by right 
 my captive, didst leave thy prison but to head mine 
 armies. And this day, the traitor subject — the secret 
 foe— was the leader of the people who defy a king. This 
 night thou comest to me unsought. Thou feelest secure 
 from my just wrath, even in my palace. Thine insolence 
 blinds aud betrays thee. Man, thou art in my power ! 
 Ho, there I " 
 
 As the king spoke, he rose ; and, presently, the arcades 
 at the back of the pavilion were darkened by long lines 
 of the Ethiopian guard, each of height which, beside the 
 slight Moorish race, appeared gigantic; stolid and 
 passionless machines, to execute, without thought, the 
 bloodiest or the lightest caprice of despotism. There 
 they stood ; their silver breast-plates and long ear-rings, 
 contrasting their dusky skins ; and bearing over their 
 shoulders immense clubs studded with brazen nails. A 
 little advanced from the rest, stood the captain, with the 
 fatal bow-string hanging carelessly on his arm, and his 
 eyes intent to catch the slightest gesture of the king. 
 "Behold," said Boabdil to his prisoner. 
 "I do ; and am prepared for what I have foreseen." 
 The queen grew pale, but continued silent. 
 Muza resumed — 
 
 " Lord of the faithful ! '- said he, " if yester-morn I had 
 acted otherwise, it would have been to the ruin of thy 
 
 F 
 
82 LEILA. 
 
 throne and our common race. The fierce Zejjris sus- 
 
 'D' 
 
 pected and learned my capture. They summoned the 
 troops — they delivered me, it was true. At that time 
 had I reasoned with them, it would have been as drops 
 upon a flame. They were bent on besieging thy palace, 
 perhaps upon demanding thy abdication. I could not 
 stifle their fury, but I could direct it. In the moment of 
 passion, I led them from rebellion against our common 
 king to victory against our common foe. That duty 
 done, I come unscathed from the sword of the Christian 
 to bare my neck to the bow-string of my friend. Alone, 
 untracked, unsuspected, I have entered thy palace, to 
 prove to the sovereign of Granada, that the defender of 
 his throne is not a rebel to his will. Now summon the 
 guards — I have done." 
 
 " Muza ! " said Boabdil, in a softened voice, while he 
 shaded his face with his hand, "we played together as 
 children, and I liave loved thee well : my kingdom even 
 now, perchance, is passing from me, but I could almost 
 be reconciled to that loss, if I thought thy loyalty had 
 not left me." 
 
 " Dost thou, in truth, suspect the faith of Muza Ben 
 Abil Gazan ?" said the Moorish prince, in a tone of sur- 
 prise and sorrow. " Unhappy king ! I deemed that my 
 services, and not my defection, made my crime." 
 
 "Why do my people hate me? why do my armies 
 menace ? " said Boabdil, evasively ; " why should a subject 
 possess that allegiance which a king cannot obtain ? " 
 
 "Because," replied Muza, boldly, "the king has dele- 
 
LEILA 83 
 
 grated to a subject the command he should himself assume. 
 Oh, Boabdil!"' he continued, passionately — "friend of 
 mv boyhood, ere the evil days came upon us — gladly 
 would I sink to rest beneath the dark waves of yonder 
 river, if thy arm and brain would fill up my place amongst 
 the warriors of Granada. And think not I say this only 
 from our boyish love ; think not I have placed ray life iu 
 thy hands only from that servile loyalty to a single man, 
 which the false chivalry of Christendom imposes as a 
 sacred creed upon its knights and nobles. But I speak 
 and act but from one principle — to save the religion of 
 my father and the laud of my birth : for this I have 
 risked my life against the foe ; for this I surrender my 
 life to the sovereign of my country. Granada may yet 
 survive, if monarch and people unite together. Granada 
 is lost for ever, if her children, at this fatal hour, are 
 divided against themselves. If, then, I, Boabdil I am 
 the true obstacle to thy league with thine own subjects, 
 give me at once to the bow-string, and my sole prayer 
 shall be for the last remnant of the Moorish name, and 
 the last monarch of the Moorish dynasty." 
 
 '• My son, my son ! art thou convinced at last ?" cried 
 the queen, struggling with her tears ; for she was one 
 who wept easily at heroic sentiments, but never at the 
 softer sorrows, or from the more womanly emotions 
 
 Boabdil lifted his head with a vain and momentary 
 attempt at pride ; his eye glanced from his mother to his 
 friend, and his better feelings gushed upon him v.ith 
 irresistible force : he threw himself into Muza's arms. 
 
84 LEILA. 
 
 "Forgive rae," he said, in broken accents, "forgive 
 me ! How could I have wronged thee thus ? Yes," he 
 continued, as he started from the noble breast on which 
 for a moment he indulged no ungenerous weakness, — 
 "yes, prince, your example shames, but it fires me. 
 Granada henceforth shall have two chieftains ; and if I 
 be jealous of thee, it shall be from an emulation thou 
 canst not blame. Guards, retire. Mesnour ! ho, Mes- 
 nour ! Proclaim at daybreak that I myself will review 
 the troops in the Yivarrambla. Yet" — and, as he 
 spoke, his voice faltered, and his brow became overcast, 
 "yet, stay; seek me thyself at daybreak, and I will give 
 thee my commands." 
 
 " Oh, my son ! why hesitate ? " cried the queen, " why 
 waver? Prosecute thine own kingly designs, and " 
 
 "Hush, madam," said Boabdil, regaining his customary 
 cold composure ; " and since you are now satisfied with 
 your son, leave me alone with Muza," 
 
 The queen sighed heavily ; but there was something in 
 the calm of Boabdil which chilled and. awed her more 
 than his bursts of passion. She drew her veil around 
 her, and passed slowly and reluctantly from the chamber. 
 
 "Muza," said Boabdil, when alone with the prince, 
 and fixing his large and thoughtful eyes upon the dark 
 orbs of his companion, — "when, in our younger days, 
 we conversed together, do you remember how often that 
 converse turned upon those solemn and mysterious themes 
 to which the sages of our ancestral land directed their 
 deepest lore ; the enigmas of the stars — the science of 
 
LEILA. 85 
 
 fate — the wild researches into the clouded future, whicli 
 hides the destinies of nations and of men ? Tliou re- 
 memberest, Muza, that to such studies mine own vicissi- 
 tudes and sorrows even in childhood — the strange for- 
 tunes which gave me in my cradle the epithet of El 
 Zogoybi — the ominous predictions of santons and as- 
 trologers as to the trials of my earthly fate, -^ all con- 
 tributed to incline my soul. Thou didst not despise 
 those earnest musings, nor our ancestral lore, though, un- 
 like me, ever more inclined to action than to contempla- 
 tion, that which thou mightest believe had little influence 
 upon what thou didst design. With me it hath been 
 otherwise : every event of life hath conspired to feed my 
 early prepossessions ; and, in this awful crisis of my fate, 
 I have placed myself and my throne rather under the 
 guardianship of spirits than of men. This alone has re- 
 conciled me to inaction — to the torpor of the Alhambra 
 — to the mutinies of my people. I have smiled, when 
 foes surrounded and friends deserted me, secure of the 
 aid at last — if I bided but the fortunate hour — of the 
 charms of protecting spirits, and the swords of the in- 
 visible creation. Thou wonderest what this should lead 
 to. Listen ! Two nights since (and the king shuddered) 
 I was with the dead ! My father appeared before me — 
 not as I knew him in life — gaunt and terrible, full of the 
 vigor of health, and the strength of kingly empire, and 
 of fierce passion — but wan, calm, shadowy. From lips 
 on which Azrael had set his livid seal, he bade me be- 
 ware of thee f^ 
 \ —6 
 
8B LEILA. • 
 
 The king ceased suddenly ; and sought to read on tlie 
 face of Muza the effect his words produced. But the 
 proud and swarthy features of the Moor evinced no pang 
 of conscience ; a slight smile of pity might have crossed 
 "his lip for a moment, but it vanished ere the king could 
 detect it. Boabdil continued : 
 
 "Under the influence of this warning, I issued the 
 order for thy arrest. Let this pass — I resume my tale. 
 I attempted to throw myself at the spectre's feet — it 
 glided from me, motionless and impalpable. I asked the 
 Dead One if he forgave his unhappy son the sin of re- 
 bellion — alas ! too well requited even upon earth. And 
 the voice again came forth, and bade me keep the crown 
 that I had gained, as the sole atonement for the past. 
 Then again I asked, whether the hour for action had 
 arrived ? and the spectre, while it faded gradually into 
 air, answered, ' Xo ! ' 'Oh!' I exclaimed, 'ere thou 
 leavest me, be one sign accorded me, that I have not 
 dreamt this vision ; and give me, I pray thee, note and 
 warning, when the evil star of Boabdil shall withhold its 
 influence, and he may strike, without resistance from the 
 Powers above, for his glory and his throne.' 'The sign 
 and the warning are bequeathed thee,' answered the 
 ghostly image. It vanished, — thick darkness fell around ; 
 and, when once more the light of the lamps we bore 
 became visible, behold there stood before me a skeleton, 
 in the regal robe of the kings of Granada, and on its 
 grisly head was the imperial diadem. With one hand 
 raised, it pointed to the opposite wail, wherein burned, 
 
LEILA 8t 
 
 like an orb of gloomy fire, a broad dial-plate, on which 
 were graven these words, 'bew.ajre — fear nut — arm I ' 
 the finger of the dial moved rapidly round, and rested at 
 the word, beware. From that honr to the one in which 
 I last beheld it, it hath not moved. Muza, the tale is 
 done ; \dlt thou visit with me this enchanted chamber, 
 and see if the hour be come?" 
 
 "Commander of the faithful," said ]\[uza, "the story 
 is dread and awful. But pardon thy friend — wert thou 
 alone, or was the santon Almamen thy companion ? " 
 
 " Why the c^uestion ? " said Boabdil, evasively, and 
 slightly coloring. 
 
 "I fear his truth," answered Muza ; "the Christian 
 king conc|uers more foes by craft than force : and his spies 
 are more deadly than his warriors. Wherefore this cau- 
 tion against me, but (pardon me) for thine own undoing ? 
 Were I a traitor, could Ferdinand himself have en- 
 dangered thy crown so imminently as the revenge of the 
 leader of thine own armies ? Why, too, this desire to 
 keep thee inactive ? For the brave every hour hath its 
 chances ; but, for us, every hour increases our peril. If 
 we seize not the present time, our supplies are cut off, — 
 and famine is a foe all our valor cannot resist. This 
 dervise — who is he ? a stranger, not of our race and 
 blood. But this morning I found him without the walls, 
 nor far from the Spaniard's camp." 
 
 " Ha ! " cried the king, quickly, " and what said he ? " 
 
 "Little, but in hints ; sheltering himself, by loose hints, 
 under thy name." 
 
88 LEILA. 
 
 '' He ! what dared he own ? — 3Iuza, what were those 
 hints?" 
 
 The Moor here recounted the interview with Almamen, 
 his detention, his inactivity in the battle, and his subse- 
 quent capture by the Spaniards. The king listened at- 
 tentively, and regained his composure. 
 
 '' It is a strange and awful man," said he, after a pause. 
 " Guards and chains will not detain him. Ere long he 
 will return. But thou, at least, Muza, art henceforth 
 free, alike from the suspicion of the living and the warn- 
 ings of the dead. Xo, my friend," continued Boabdil, 
 with generous wajmth ; " it is better to lose a crown, to 
 lose life itself, than confidence in a heart like thine. Come, 
 let us inspect this magic tablet ; perchance — and how my 
 heart bounds as I utter the hope ! — the hour may have 
 arrived." 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 A fuller view of the Character of Boabdil. — Muza in the Gardens 
 of his Beloved. 
 
 JiLZA Bex Abil Gazan returned from his visit to 
 Boabdil with a thoughtful and depressed spirit. His ar- 
 guments had failed to induce the king to disdain the com- 
 mand of the magic dial, which still forbade him to arm 
 against the invaders ; and although the royal favor was 
 no longer withdrawn from himself, the Moor felt that 
 such favor hung upon a capricious and uncertain tenure 
 
LEILA. 89 
 
 SO long as his sovereign was the slave of superstition or 
 imposture. But that noble warrior, whose character the 
 adversity of his country had singularly exalted and refined, 
 even while increasing its natural fierceness, thought little 
 of himself in comparison with the evils and misfortunes 
 which the king's continued irresolution must bring upon 
 Granada. 
 
 " So brave, and yet so weak " (thought he) ; "so weak, 
 and yet so obstinate ; so wise a reasoner, yet so credulous 
 a dupe ! Unhappy Boabdil ! the stars, indeed, seem to 
 fight against thee, and their influences at thy birth marred 
 all thy gifts and virtues with counteracting infirmity and 
 error." 
 
 3Iuza, — more perhaps than any subject in Granada, 
 did justice to the real character of the king ; but even he 
 was unable to penetrate all its complicated and latent, 
 mysteries. Boabdil el Chico was no ordinary man ; his 
 aff'ections were warm and generous, his nature calm and 
 gentle ; and, though early power, and the painful experi- 
 ence of a mutinous people and an ungrateful court, had 
 imparted to that nature an irascibility of temper and a 
 quickness of suspicion, foreign to its earlier soil, he was 
 easily led back to generosity and justice : and, if warm 
 in resentment, was magnanimous in forgiveness. Deeply 
 accomplished in all the learning of his race and time, he 
 ^yas — in books, at least, a philosoplier ; and, indeed, his 
 attachment to the abstruser studies was one of the main 
 causes which unfitted him for his present station. But it 
 was the circumstances attendant on his birth and child- 
 8* 
 
90 LEILA. 
 
 hood that had perverted his keen and graceful intellect to 
 morbid indulgence in mystic reveries, and all the doubt, 
 fear, and irresolution of a man who pushes metaphysics 
 into the supernatural world. Dark prophecies accumu- 
 lated omens over his head ; men united in considering 
 hira born to disastrous destinies. Wlienever he had sought 
 to wrestle against hostile circumstances, some seemingly 
 accidental cause, sudden and unforeseen, had blasted the 
 labors of his most vigorous energy, — the fruit of his most 
 deliberate wisdom. Thus, by degrees, a gloomy and 
 despairing cloud settled over his mind ; but, secretly scep- 
 tical of the Mahometan creed, and too proud and sanguine 
 to resign himself wholly and passively to the doctrine of 
 inevitable predestination, he sought to contend against 
 the machinations of hostile demons and boding stars, not 
 by human but spiritual agencies. Collecting around hira 
 the seers and magicians of orient fanaticism, he lived in 
 the visions of another world ; and, flattered by the prom- 
 ises of impostors or dreamers, and deceived by his own 
 subtle and brooding tendencies of mind, it was amongst 
 spells und cabala that he thought to draw fonh the 
 mighty secret which was to free him from the meshes of 
 the preternatural enemies of his fortune, and leave him 
 the freedom of other men to wrestle, with equal chances, 
 against peril and adversities. It was tlius, that Almamen 
 had won the mastery over his mind ; and though upon 
 matters of common and earthly import, or solid learning, 
 Boabdil could contend with sages, upon those of super- 
 stition he could be fooled by a child. He was, in this, a 
 
LEILA. 91 
 
 kind of Hamlet : formed under prosperous and serene 
 fortunes, to render blessings and reap renown; but over 
 wliom the chilling shadow of another world had fallen — 
 whose soul curdled back into itself— whose life had been 
 separated from that of the herd— whom doubts and awe 
 drew back, while circumstances impelled onward — whom 
 a supernatural doom invested with a peculiar philosophy, 
 not of human effect and cause — and who, with every gift 
 that could ennoble and adorn, was suddenly palsied into 
 that mortal imbecility, which is almost ever the result of 
 mortal visitings into the haunted regions of the Ghostly 
 and Unknown. The gloomier colorings of his mind hu.d 
 been deepened, too. by secret remorse. For the preserva- 
 tion of his own life, constantly threatened by his unnatural 
 predecessor, he had been early driven into rebellion 
 against his father. In age, infirmity, and blindness, that 
 fierce king bad been made a prisoner at Salobrena, by his 
 brother. El Zagal, Boabdil's partner in rebellion ; and 
 dying suddenly, El Zagal was suspected of his murder. 
 Though Boabdil was innocent of such a crime, he felt 
 himself guilty of the causes which led to it ; and a dark 
 memory, resting upon his conscience, served to augment 
 his superstition and enervate the vigor of his resolves : 
 for, of all things that make men dreamers, none is so ef- 
 fectual as remorse operating upon a thoughtful tempera- 
 ment. 
 
 Revolving the character of his sovereign, and sadly 
 foreboding the ruin of his country, the young hero of 
 Granada pursued his way, until his steps, almost un- 
 
92 LEILA. 
 
 consciously, led him towards the abode of Leila. He 
 sealed the walls of the garden as before — he iieared the 
 house. All was silent and deserted : his signal was un- 
 answered — his murmured song brought no grateful light 
 to the lattice, no fairy footstep to the balcony. Dejected, 
 and sad of heart, he retired from the spot ; and, return- 
 'ing home, sought a couch, to which even all the fatigue 
 and excitement which he had undergone, could not win 
 the forgetfulness of slumber. The mystery that wrapt 
 the maiden of his homage, the rareness of their inter- 
 views, and the wild and poetical romance that made a 
 very principle of the chivalry of the Spanish Moors, had 
 imparted to Muza's love for Leila a passionate depth, 
 which, at this day, and in more enervated climes, is un- 
 known to the Mahometan lover. His keenest inquiries 
 had been unable to pierce the secret of her birth and 
 station. Little of the inmates of that guarded and lonely 
 house was known in the neighborhood : the only one 
 ever seen without its walls was an old man of the Jewish 
 faith, supposed to be a superintendent of the foreign 
 slaves (for no Mahometan slave would have been sub- 
 jected to the insult of submission to a Jew) ; and though 
 there were rumors of the vast wealth and gorgeous 
 luxury within the mansion, it was supposed the abode 
 of some Moorish emir absent from the city — and the 
 interest of the gossips was at this time absorbed in more 
 weighty matters than the affairs of a neighbor. But 
 when, the next eve, and the next, Muza returned to the 
 spot equally in vain, his impatience and alarm could no 
 
LEILA. 93 
 
 longer be restrained ; he resolved to lie in watch by the 
 portals of the house night and day, until, at least, he 
 could discover some one of the inmates whom he could 
 question of his love, and perhaps bribe to his service. 
 As with this resolution he was hovering round the 
 mansion, he beheld, stealing from a small door in one of 
 the low wings of the house, a Ijended and decrepit form : 
 it supported its steps upon a staff; and, as now entering 
 the garden, it stooped by the side of a fountain to cull 
 flowers and herbs by the light of the moon, the Moor 
 almost started to behold a countenance v-hicli resembled 
 that of some ghoul or vampire haunting the places of 
 the dead. He smiled at his own fear ; and, with a quick 
 and stealthy pace, hastened through the trees, and, gain- 
 ing the spot where the old man bent, placed his hand on 
 his shoulder ere his presence was perceived. 
 
 Ximen — for it was he — looked round eagerly, and a 
 faint cry of terror broke from his lips. 
 
 " Hush ! " said the Moor ; " fear me not, I am a friend. 
 Thou art old, man — gold is ever welcome to the aged." 
 As he spoke, he dropped several broad pieces into the 
 breast of the Jew, whose ghastly features gave forth a 
 yet more ghastly smile as he received the gift, and mum- 
 bled forth,— 
 
 " Charitable young man [^generous, benevolent, excel- 
 lent young man ! " 
 
 " Xow then,'' said Muza, "tell me — you belong to 
 this house — Leila, the maiden within — tell me of her — 
 is she well ?'' 
 
94 LEILA. 
 
 , " I trust so," returned the Jew ; " I trust so, noble 
 master." 
 
 "Trust so! know you not of her state?" 
 
 " Not I ; for many nights I have not seen her, excel- 
 lent sir," answered Ximen ; "she hath left Granada, she 
 hath gone. You waste your time, and mar your precious 
 health amidst these nightly dews : they are unwholesome, 
 very unwholesome, at the time of the new moon." 
 
 " Gone ! " echoed the Moor ; " left Granada ! — woe is 
 me ! — and whither ? there, there, more gold for you, — 
 old man, tell me whither ? " 
 
 "Alas ! I know not, most magnanimous young man ; 
 I am but a servant — I know nothing." 
 
 " When will she return ? " 
 
 " I cannot tell thee." 
 
 "Who is thy master? who owns yon mansion?" 
 
 Ximen's countenance fell ; he looked round in doubt 
 and fear, and then, after a short pause, answered, — "A 
 wealthy man, good sir — a Moor of Africa ; but he hath 
 also gone ; he but seldom visits us ; Granada is not so 
 peaceful a residence as it was, — I would go too, if I 
 could." 
 
 Muza released his hold of Ximen, who gazed at the 
 Moor's working countenance with a malignant smile — ■ 
 for Ximen hated all men. 
 
 "Thou hast done with me, young warrior? Pleasant 
 dreams to thee under the new moon — thou hadst best 
 retire to thy bed. Farewell ! bless thy charity to the 
 poor old man ! " 
 
LEILA. 95 
 
 Muza heard him not ; he remained motionless for some 
 moments ; and then with a heavy sigh, as that of one 
 who has gained the mastery of himself after a bitter 
 struggle, he said, half aloud, "Allah be with thee, Leila ! 
 Granada now is my only mistress." 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Bonbdil's Reconciliation with his People. 
 
 Several days had elapsed without any encounter 
 between Moor and Christian ; for Ferdinand's cold and 
 sober policy, warned by the loss he had sustained in the 
 ambush of Muza, was now bent on preserving rigorous 
 restraint upon the fiery spirits he commanded. He for- 
 bade all parties of skirmish, in which the Moors, indeed, 
 had usually gained the advantage, and contented himself 
 with occupying all the passes through which provisions 
 could arrive at the besieged city. He commenced strong 
 fortifications around his camp ; and, forbidding assault 
 on the Moors, defied it against himself. 
 
 Meanwhile, Almamen had not returned to Granada. 
 Xo tidings of his fate reached the king; and his pro- 
 longed disappearance began to produce visible and 
 salutary eflFect upon the long-dormant energies of Boab- 
 dil. The counsels of Muza, the exhortations of the 
 queen-mother, the enthusia-m of his mi>tres?, Amine, un- 
 
96 LEILA. 
 
 counteracted by the arts of the magician, aroused the 
 torpid lion of his nature. But' still his army and his 
 subjects murmured against him ; and his appearance in 
 the Yivarrambla might, possibly, be the signal of revolt. 
 It was at this time that a most fortunate circumstance at 
 once restored to him the confidence and affections of his 
 people. His stern uncle, El Zagal — once a rival for his 
 crown, and whose daring valor, mature age, and military 
 sagacity, had won him a powerful party within the city 
 — ^had been, some months since, conquered by Ferdinand ; 
 and, in yielding the possessions he held, had been re- 
 warded with a barren and dependent principality. His 
 defeat, far from benefiting Boabdil, had exasperated the 
 Moors against their king. " For," said they, almost with 
 one voice, " the brave El Zagal never would have suc- 
 cumbed had Boabdil properly supported his arms.'' And 
 it was the popular discontent and rage at El Zagal's de- 
 feat, which had, indeed, served Boabdil with a reasonable 
 excuse for shutting himself in the strong fortress of the 
 Alhambra. It now happened, that El Zagal, whose 
 dominant passion was hatred of his nephew, and whose 
 fierce nature chafed at its present cage, resolved in his 
 old age to blast all his former fame by a signal treason 
 to his country. Forgetting everything but revenge 
 against his nephew, whom he was resolved should share 
 his own ruin, he armed his subjects, crossed the country, 
 and appeared at the head of a gallant troop in the 
 Spanish camp, an ally with Ferdinand against Granada. 
 When this vras heard by tlie Moor.-, it is impossible to 
 
LEILA. 9T 
 
 conceive their indignant wrath : the crime of El Zagal 
 produced an instantaneous reaction in favor of Boabdil ; 
 the crowd surrounded the Alhambra, and with prayers 
 and tears entreated the forgiveness of the king. This 
 event completed the conquest of Boabdil over his own 
 irresolution. He ordained an assembly of the whole 
 armv in the broad space of the Yivarrambla : and when 
 at break of day he appeared in full armor in the square, 
 with ]Muza at his right hand, himself in the flower of 
 youthful beauty, and proud to feel once more a hero and 
 a king, the joy of the people knew no limit ; the air was 
 rent with cries of "Long live Boabdil el Chico I " and 
 the young monarch, turning to Muza, with his soul upon 
 his brow, exclaimed, "The hour has come — I am no 
 longer El Zogoybi ! " 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Leila. — Her new lover. — Portrait of the first inquisitor of Spain. 
 — The chalice returned to the lips of Almamen. 
 
 While thus the state of events within Granada, the 
 course of our story transports us back to the Christian 
 camp. It was in one of a long line of tents that skirted 
 the pavilion of Isabel, and was appropriated to the ladies 
 attendant on the royal presence, that a young female sate 
 alone. The dusk of evening already gathered around, 
 and only the outline of her form and features was visible. 
 
 I.— 9 G 
 
93 LEILA. 
 
 But even that imperfectly seen, — the dejected attitude 
 of the form, the drooping head, the hands clasped upon 
 the knees, — might have sufficed to denote the melancholy 
 nature of the reverie which the maid indulged. 
 
 ''Ah," thought she, "to what danger am I exposed ! 
 If my father, if my lover, dreamed of the persecution to 
 which their poor Leila is abandoned ! " 
 
 A few tears, large and bitter, broke from her eyes, and 
 stole unheeded down her cheek. At that moment, the 
 deep and musical chime of a bell was heard summoning 
 the chiefs of the army to prayer : for Ferdinand invested 
 all his worldly schemes with a religious covering, and to 
 his politic war he sought to give the imposing character 
 of a sacred crusade. 
 
 "That sound," thought she, sinking on her knees, 
 "summons the Xazarenes to the presence of their God. 
 It reminds me, a captive by the waters of Babylon, that 
 God is ever with the friendless. Oh ! succor and defend 
 me, Thou who didst look of old upon Ruth standing 
 amidst the corn, and didst watch over thy chosen people 
 in the hungry wilderness, and in the stranger's land." 
 
 Wrapt in her mute and passionate devotions, Leila re- 
 mained long in her touching posture. The bell had 
 ceased; all without was hushed and still — when the 
 drapery, stretched across the opening of the tent, was 
 lifted, and a young Spaniard, cloaked, from head to foot, 
 in a long mantle, stood within the space. He gazed in 
 silence upon the kneeling maiden ; nor was it until she 
 rose that he made his presence audible. 
 
LEILA. 99 
 
 "All, fairest ! " said he, then, as he attempted to take 
 her liaiid, "thou wilt not answer my letters — see me, 
 then, at thy feet. It is thou who teachest me to kneel." 
 
 "You, prince !" said Leila, agitated, and in great and 
 evident fear. " Why harass and insult me thus ? Am I 
 not sacred as a hostage and a charge ? and are name, 
 honor, peace, and all that woman is taught to nold most 
 dear, to be thus robbed from me, under the pretext of a 
 love, dishonoring to thee, and an insult to myself?" 
 
 " Sweet one," answered Don Juan, with a slight laugh, 
 "thou hast learned, within yonder walls, a creed of 
 morals little known to Moorish maidens, if fame belies 
 them not. Suffer me to teach thee easier morality and 
 sounder logic. It is no dishonor to a Christian prince 
 to adore beauty like thine ; it is no insult to a maiden 
 hostage, if the Infant of Spain proffer her the homage of 
 his heart But we waste time. Spies, and envious 
 tongues, and vigilant eyes, are round us ; and it is not 
 often that I can baflle them, as I have done now. Fair- 
 est, hear me !" and this time he succeeded in seizing the 
 hand, w^hich vainly struggled against his clasp. " Xay, 
 why so coy ? what can female heart desire, that my love 
 cannot shower upon thine ? Speak but the word, en- 
 chanting maiden, and I will bear thee from these scenes, 
 unseemly to thy gentle eyes. Amidst the pavilions of 
 princes shalt thou repose ; and, amidst gardens of the 
 orange and the rose, shalt thou listen to the vows of 
 thine adorer. Surely, in these arms thou wilt not pine 
 for a barbarous home, and a fated city. And if thy 
 
100 LEILA. 
 
 pride, sweet maiden, deafen thee to the voice of nature, 
 learn that the haughtiest dames of Spain would bend, in 
 envious court, to the beloved of their future king. This 
 night — listen to me — I say, listen — this night I will 
 bear thee hence ! Be but mine, and no matter, whether 
 heretic or infidel, or whatever the priests style thee, 
 neither church nor king shall tear thee from the bosom 
 of thy lover." 
 
 " It is well spoken, son of the Most Christian Monarch 1'^ 
 said a deep voice ; and the Dominican, Tomas de Tor- 
 quemada, stood before the prince. 
 
 Juan, as if struck by a thunderbolt, released his hold, 
 and, staggering back a few paces, seemed to cower, 
 abashed and humbled, before the eye of the priest, as it 
 glared upon him through the gathering darkness. 
 
 "Prince,"' said the friar, after a pause, "not to thee 
 will our holy church attribute this crime; thy pious heart 
 hath been betrayed by sorcery. Ketire ! " 
 
 "Father," said the prince — in a tone into which, de- 
 spite his awe of that terrible man, the first grand in- 
 quisitor OF SPAIN, his libertine spirit involuntarily forced 
 itself, in a half-latent raillery — "sorcery of eyes like those 
 bewitched the wise son of a more pious sire than even 
 Ferdinand of Aragon." 
 
 "He blasphemes!" muttered the monk. "Prince, 
 beware ! you know not what you do." 
 
 The prince lingered ; and then, as if aware that he 
 must yield, gathered his cloak round him, and left the 
 tent without reply. 
 
LEILA. 101 
 
 Pale and trembling — with fears no less felt, perhaps, 
 thong'h more vague and perplexed than those from which 
 she had just been delivered — Leila stood before the 
 monk. 
 
 " Be seated, daughter of the faithless," said Torque- 
 n:ada, " we would converse with thee : and, as thou vainest 
 — I say not thy soul, for, alas ! of that precious treasure 
 thou art not conscious — but mark me, woman! as thou 
 prizest the safety of those delicate limbs, and that wanton 
 beauty, answer truly what I shall ask thee. The man 
 who brought thee hither — is he, in truth, thy father ?" 
 
 "Alas ! " answered Leila, almost fainting with terror 
 at this rude and menacing address, " he is, in truth, mine 
 only parent." 
 
 "And his faith — his religion?" 
 
 "I have never beheld him pray." 
 
 "Hem! he never prays — a noticeable fact. But of 
 what sect, what creed, does he profess himself?" 
 
 "I cannot answer thee." 
 
 " Xay, there be means that may wring from thee an 
 answer. Maiden, be not so stubborn ; speak ! thinkest 
 thou he serves the temple of the Mahometan?" 
 
 "No ! oh, no !" answered poor Leila, eagerly, deeming 
 that her reply, in this, at least, would be acceptable. 
 " He disowns, he scorns, he abhors, the Moorish faith — 
 even" (she added) "with too fierce a zeal." 
 
 " Thou dost not share that zeal, then ? Well, worships 
 he in secret after the Christian rites ? " 
 
 Leila hung her head, and answered not. 
 9* 
 
102 LEILA. 
 
 '• I understand thy silence. And in what belief, maiden, 
 wert thou reared beneath his rouf?" 
 
 " I know not what it is called amoDg men," answered 
 Leila, with firmness, " but it is the faith of the one God, 
 who protects his chosen, and shall avenge their wrongs — 
 the God who made earth and heaven ; and who, in an 
 idolatrous and benighted world, transmitted the know- 
 ledge of himself and his holy laws, from age to age, 
 through the channel of one solitary people, in the plains 
 of Palestine, and by the waters of the Hebron." 
 
 ''And in that faith thou wert trained, maiden, by thy 
 father ? '' said the Dominican, calmly. " I am satisfied. 
 Rest here, in peace : we may meet again, soon." 
 
 The last words were spoken with a soft and tranr.uil 
 smile — a smile in which glazing eyes and agonizing 
 hearts had often beheld the ghastly omen of the torture 
 and the stake. 
 
 On quitting the unfortunate Leila, the monk took his 
 way towards the neighboring tent of Ferdinand. But, 
 ere he reached it, a new thought seemed to strike the 
 holy man ; he altered the direction of his steps, and gained 
 one of those little shrines common in Catholic countries, 
 and which had been hastily built of wood, in the centre 
 of a small copse, and by the side of a brawling rivulet, 
 towards the back of the king's pavilion But one solitary 
 sentry, at the entrance of the copse, guarded the conse- 
 crated place ; and its exceeding loneliness and quiet were 
 a grateful contrast to the animated world of the surround- 
 
LEILA. 103 
 
 ing- camp. The monk entered the shrine, and fell down 
 on bis knees before an image of the Virgin, rudely sculp- 
 tured, indeed, but richly decorated. 
 
 "Ah, Holy Mother ! " groaned this singular man, ''sup- 
 port me in the trial to which I am appointed. Thou 
 knowest that the glory of thy blessed Son is the sole 
 object for which I live, and move, and have my being ; 
 but at times, alas ! the spirit is infected with the weakness 
 of the flesh. Orapro nobis, Mother of mercy I Yerily, 
 oftentimes ray heart sinks within me when it is mine to 
 Tindicate the honor of thy holy cause against the young 
 and the tender, the aged and the decrepit. But what 
 are beauty and youth, grey hairs and trembling knees, in 
 the eye of the Creator ? Miserable worms are we all ; 
 nor is there anything acceptable in the Divine sight, but 
 the hearts of the faithful. Youth without faith, age with- 
 out belief, purity without grace, virtue without holiness, 
 are only more hideous by their seeming beauty — whited 
 sepulchres, glittering rottenness. I know this — I know 
 it ; but the human man is strong within me. Strengthen 
 me, that I pluck it out ; so that, by diligent and constant 
 struggle with the feeble Adam, thy servant may be 
 reduced into a mere machine, to punish the godless and 
 advance the Church." 
 
 Here sobs and tears choked the speech of the Domi- 
 nican ; he grovelled in the dust, he tore his hair, he 
 howled aloud : the agony was fierce upon him. At 
 length, he drew from his robe a whip, composed of several 
 
104 LEILA. 
 
 thongs, studded with small and sharp nails; and, strip- 
 ping his gown, and the shirt of hair worn underneath, 
 over his shoulders, applied the scourge to the naked 
 flesh, with a fury which soon covered the green sward 
 with thick and clotted blood. The exhaustion which 
 followed this terrible penance seemed to restore the 
 senses of the stern fanatic. A smile broke over the 
 features, that bodily pain only released from the anguished 
 expression of mental and visionary struggles ; and, 
 when he rose, and drew the hair-cloth shirt over the 
 lacerated and quivering flesh, he said, — " Now hast thou 
 deigned to comfort and visit me, pitying Mother ; and, 
 even as by these austerities against this miserable body, 
 is the spirit relieved and soothed, so dost thou typify 
 and betoken, that men's bodies are not to be spared by 
 those who seek to save souls, and bring the nations of 
 the earth into thy fold." 
 
 With that thought the countenance of Torquemada 
 reassumed its wonted rigid and passionless composure ; 
 and replacing the scourge, yet clotted with blood, in his 
 bosom, he pursued his way to the royal tent. 
 
 He found Ferdinand poring over the accounts of the 
 vast expenses of his military preparations, which he had 
 just received from his treasurer ; and the brow of the 
 thrifty, though ostentatious monarch, was greatly over- 
 cast by the examination. 
 
 "By the Bulls of Guisando !" said the king, gravely, 
 " I purchase the salvation of my army, in this holy war, 
 
LEILA. 105 
 
 at a marvellous heavy price ; and if the infidels hold out 
 much longer, we shall have to pawn our very patrimony 
 of Arragon." 
 
 "Son," answered the Dominican, "to purposes like 
 thine, fear not that Providence itself will supply the 
 worldly means. But why doubtest thou ? are not the 
 means within thy reach? It is just that thou alone 
 shouldst not support the wars by which Christendom is 
 glorified. Are there not others?" 
 
 " I know what thou wouldst say, father," interrupted 
 the king, quickly, — "thou wouldst observe that my bro- 
 ther monarchs should assist me with arms and treasure. 
 Most just : but they are avaricious and envious, Tomas ; 
 and Mammon hath corrupted them." 
 
 "Nay, not to kings pointed my thought." 
 
 "Well, then," resumed the king, impatiently, "thou 
 wouldst imply that mine own knights and nobles should 
 yield up their coffers, and mortgage their possessions. 
 And so they ought ; but they murmur already, at what 
 they have yielded to our necessities." 
 
 "And, in truth," rejoined the friar, "these noble war- 
 riors should not be shorn of a splendor that well becomes 
 the valiant champions of the Church. Xay, listen to me, 
 son, and I may suggest a means whereby, not the friends, 
 but enemies of the Catholic faith shall contribute to the 
 downfall of the Paynira. In thy dominions, especially 
 those newly won, throughout Andalusia, in the kingdom 
 of Cordova, are men of enormous wealth ; the very 
 
106 LEILA, 
 
 caverns of the earth are sown with the impious treasure 
 they have phindered from Christian hands, and consume 
 in the furtherance of their iniquity. Sire, I speak of the 
 race that crucified the Lord." 
 
 "The Jews — ay, but the excuse " 
 
 " Is before thee. This traitor, with whom thou holdest 
 intercourse, who vowed to t'hee to render up Granada, 
 and who was found, the very next morning, fighting with 
 the Moors, with the blood of a Spanish martyr red upon 
 his hands, did he not confess that his fathers were of that 
 hateful race ? did he not bargain with thee to elevate 
 his brethren to the rank of Christians ? and has he not 
 left with thee, upon false pretences, a harlot of his faith, 
 who, by sorcery and the help of the Evil One, hath 
 seduced into frantic passion the heart of the heir of the 
 most Christian king ? " 
 
 " Ha ! thus does that libertine boy ever scandalize us !" 
 said the king, bitterly. 
 
 " Well," pursued the Dominican, not heeding the inter- 
 ruption, " have you not here excuse enough to wring 
 from the whole race the purchase of their existence ? 
 Note the glaring proof of this conspiracy of hell. The 
 outcasts of the earth employed this crafty agent to con- 
 tract with thee for power ; and, to consummate their 
 guilty designs, the arts that seduced Solomon are em- 
 ployed against thy son. The beauty of the strange 
 ■woman captivates his senses ; so that, through the future 
 sovereign of Spain, the counsels of Jewish craft may 
 
LEILA. 101 
 
 establish the domination of Jewish ambition. How 
 knowest thou (he added, as he observed that Ferdinand 
 listened to him with earnest attention) — how knowest 
 thou but what the next step might have been thj secret 
 assassination, so that the victim of witchcraft, the minion 
 of the Jewess, might reign in the stead of the mighty 
 and . unconquerable Ferdinand ? " 
 
 " Go on, father," said the king, thoughtfully ; "I see, 
 at least, enough to justify an impost upon these servitors 
 of Mammon." 
 
 " But, though common sense suggests to us," continued 
 Torquemada, ''that this disguised Israelite could not 
 have acted on so vast a design without the instigation 
 of his brethren, not only in Granada, but throughout all 
 Andalusia, — would it not be right to obtain from him his 
 confession, and that of the maiden, within the camp, so 
 that we may have broad and undeniable evidence, whereon 
 to act, and to still all cavil, that may come not only from 
 the godless, but even from the too tender scniples of the 
 righteous ? Even the queen — whom the saints evermore 
 guard ! — hath ever too soft a heart for these infidels ; 
 and " 
 
 " Eight !'' cried the king, again breaking upon Torque- 
 mada ; " Isabel, the queen of Castile, must be satisfied 
 of the justice of all our actions." 
 
 "And, should it be proved that thy throne or life were 
 endangered, and that magic were exercised to entrap her 
 royal son into a passion for a Jewish maiden, which the 
 
108 LEILA. 
 
 Churcli holds a crime worthy of excommunication itself, 
 
 — sureh', instead of counteracting, she would assist our 
 schemes." 
 
 "Holy friend," said Ferdinand, with energy, "ever a 
 comforter, both for this world and the next, to thee, and 
 to the new powers intrusted to thee, we commit this 
 charge ; see to it at once ; time presses — Granada is 
 obstinate — the treasury waxes low." 
 
 '•' Son, thou hast said enough," replied the Dominican, 
 closing his eyes, and muttering a short thanksgiving. 
 "Now then to my task." 
 
 ^' Yet stay," said the king, with an altered visage ; 
 "follow me to my oratory within : my heart is heavy, and 
 I would fain seek the solace of the confessional." 
 
 The monk obeyed : and while Ferdinand, whose wonder- 
 ful abilities were mingled with the weakest superstition, 
 
 — who persecuted from policy, yet believed, in his own 
 heart, that be punished but from piety, — confessed, with 
 penitent tears, the grave offences of aves forgotten, and 
 beads untold ; and while the Dominican admonished, 
 rebuked, or soothed, — neither prince nor monk ever 
 dreamt that there was an error to confess in, or a penance 
 to be adjudged to, the cruelty that tortured a fellow- 
 being, or the avarice that sought pretences for the ex- 
 tortion of a whole people. 
 
LEILA. ^V 109 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 The Tribunal and the Miracle. 
 
 It was the dead of night — the army was hushed in 
 sleep — when four soldiers, belonging to the Holy 
 Brotherhood, bearing with them one whose manacles 
 proclaimed him a prisoner, passed in steady silence to a 
 huge tent in the neighborhood of the royal pavilion. A 
 deep dyke, formidable barricadoes, and sentries stationed 
 at frequent intervals, testified the estimation in which 
 the safety of this segment of the camp was held. The 
 tent to which the soldiers approached was, in extent, 
 larger than even the king's pavilion itself — a mansion of 
 canvas, surrounded by a wide wall of massive stones ; 
 and from its summit gloomed, in the clear and shining 
 star-light, a small black pennant, on which was wrought 
 a white broad-pointed cross. The soldiers halted at the 
 gate in the wall, resigned their charge, with a whispered 
 watch-word, to two gaunt sentries ; and then (relieving 
 the sentries who proceeded on with the prisoner) re- 
 mained, mute and motionless, at the post : for stern 
 silence and Spartan discipHne were the attributes of the 
 brotherhood of St. Hermandad. 
 
 The prisoner, as he now neared the tent, halted a 
 moment, looked round steadily, as if to fix the spot in 
 his remembrance, and then with an impatient though 
 10 
 
110 LEILA. 
 
 stately gesture, followed his guards. He passed two 
 divisions of the tent, dimly lighted, and apparently- 
 deserted. A man, clad in long black robes, with a white 
 cross on his breast, now appeared ; there was an inter- 
 change of signals in dumb-show, and in another moment 
 Almamen, the Hebrew, stood within a large chamber (if 
 so that division of the tent might be called) hung with 
 black serge. At the upper part of the space was an 
 estrado, or platform, on which, by a long table, sat three 
 men ; while, at the head of the board was seen the calm 
 and rigid countenance of Tomas de Torquemada. The 
 threshold of the tent was guarded by two men in gar- 
 ments similar in hue and fashion to those of the figure 
 who had ushered Almamen into the presence of the in- 
 quisitor, each bearing a long lance, and with a long two- 
 edged sword by his side. This made all the inhabitants 
 of that melancholy and ominous apartment. 
 
 The Israelite looked around with a pale brow, but a 
 flashing and scornful eye ; and, when he met the gaze of 
 the Dominican, it almost seemed as if those two men, 
 each so raised above his fellows by the sternness of his 
 nature, and the energy of his passions, sought by a look 
 alone to assert his own supremacy and crush his foe. 
 Yet, in truth, neither did justice to the other ; and the 
 indignant disdain of Almamen was retorted by the cold 
 and icy contempt of the Dominican. 
 
 " Prisoner," said Torquemada (the first to withdraw 
 his gaze,) " a less haughty and stubborn demeanor might 
 have better suited thy condition : but no matter ; our 
 
LEILA. Ill 
 
 Church is meek and humble. We have sent for thee in 
 a charitable and paternal hope ; for although as spy and 
 traitor, thy life is already forfeited, yet would we feign 
 redeem and spare it to repentance That hope mayst 
 thou not forego, for the nature of all of us is weak and 
 clings to life — that straw of the drowning seaman." 
 
 " Priest, if such thou art," replied the Hebrew, " I 
 have already, when first brought to this camp, explained 
 the causes of my' detention amongst the troops of the 
 Moor. It was my zeal for the king of Spain that 
 brought me into that peril. Escaping from that peril, 
 incurred in his behalf, is the king of Spain to be my 
 accuser and my judge ? If, however, my life now be 
 sought as the grateful return for the proffer of inestimable 
 service, I stand here to yield it. Do thy worst ; and tell 
 thy master, that he loses more by my death than he can 
 win by the lives of thirty thousand warriors." 
 
 "Cease this idle babble," said the monk-inquisitor, 
 contemptuously, "nor think thou couldst ever deceive, 
 with thy empty words, the mighty intellect of Ferdinand 
 of Spain. Thou hast now to defend thyself again>t <u]\ 
 graver charges than those of treachery to the king whom 
 thou didst profess to serve. Yea, misbeliever as thou 
 art, it is thine to vindicate thyself from blasphemy against 
 the God thou shouldst adore. Confess the truth : thou 
 art of the tribe and faith of Israel ? " 
 
 The Hebrew frowned darkly. " Man," said he, solemnly, 
 " is a judge of the deeds of men, but not of their opinions. 
 I will not answer thee." 
 
112 LEILA. 
 
 '•' Pause ! We have means at hand that the strongest 
 nerves and the stoutest hearts have failed to encounter. 
 Pause — confess!" 
 
 " Thy threat awes me not," said the Hebrew ; " but I 
 am human ; and since thou wouldst know the truth, thou 
 mayst learn it without the torture. I am of the same 
 race as the apostles of thy Church — I am a Jew." 
 
 " He confesses — write down the words. Prisoner, thou 
 hast done wisely ; and we pray the Lord that, acting 
 thus, thou mayst escape both the torture and the death. 
 And in that faith thy daughter was reared ? Answer." 
 
 *' My daughter I there is no charge against her ! By 
 the God of Sinai and Horeb, you dare not touch a hair 
 of that innocent head ! " 
 
 " Answer," repeated the inquisitor, coldly. 
 
 " I do answer. She was brought up no renegade to 
 her father's faith." 
 
 ''Write down the confession. Prisoner," resumed the 
 Dominican, after a pause, "but few more questions re- 
 main ; answer them truly, and thy life is saved. In thy 
 conspiracy to raise thy brotherhood of Andalusia to 
 power and influence — or, as thou didst craftily term it, to 
 equal laws with the followers of our blessed Lord ; in thy 
 conspiracy (by what dark arts I seek not now to know — 
 jjrotege nos, beate Domine!) to entangle in wanton aflfec- 
 tions to thy daughter the heart of the Infant of Spain — • 
 silence, I say — be still; in this conspiracy, thou wert 
 aided, abetted, or instigated by certain Jews of Anda- 
 lusia " 
 
LEILA. 113 
 
 "Hold, priest !" cried Almamen, impetuously, "thou 
 didst name my child. Do I hear aright? Placed under 
 the sacred charge of a king and a belted knight, has she 
 — oh ! answer me, I implore thee — been insulted by the 
 licentious addresses of one of that king's own lineage ? 
 Answer ! I am a Jew — but I am a father, and a man." 
 
 "This pretended passion deceives us not," said the 
 Dominican (who himself cut off from the ties of life, knew 
 nothing of their power). "Reply to the question put to 
 thee: name thy accomplices." 
 
 " I have told thee all. Thou hast refused to answer 
 me. I scorn and defy thee : my lips are closed." 
 
 The grand inquisitor glanced to his brethren, and 
 raised his hand. His assistants whispered each other ; 
 one of them rose, and disappeared behind the canvas at 
 the back of the tent. Presently the hangings were with- 
 drawn ; -and the prisoner beheld an interior chamber, 
 hung with various instruments, the nature of which was 
 betrayed by their very shape, while, by the rack, placed 
 in the centre of that dreary chamber, stood a tall and 
 grisly figure, his arms bare, his eyes bent, as by an in- 
 stinct, on the prisoner. 
 
 Almamen gazed at these dread preparations with an 
 unflinching aspect. The guards at the entrance of the 
 tent approached : they struck off the fetters from his feet 
 and hands ; they led him towards the appointed place of 
 torture. 
 
 Suddenly the Israelite paused. 
 
 10* H 
 
114 LEILA. 
 
 " Priest," said be, in a more liumble accent than he 
 had yet assumed, "the tidings that thou didst communi- 
 cate to me, respecting the sole daughter of mv house and 
 love, bewildered and confused me for the moment. Suffer 
 me but for a single instant to re-collect my senses, and I 
 will answer without compulsion all thou mayst ask. Per- 
 mit thy questions to be repeated." 
 
 The Dominican, whose cruelty to others seemed to 
 himself sanctioned by his own insensibility to fear, and 
 contempt for bodily pain, smiled with bitter scorn at the 
 apparent vacillation and weakness of the prisoner : but, 
 as he delighted not in torture, merely for torture's sake, 
 he motioned to the guards to release the Israelite ; and 
 replied in a voice unnaturally mild and kindly considering 
 the circumstances of the scene, — 
 
 " Prisoner, could we save thee from pain, even by the 
 anguish of our own flesh and sinews. Heaven is our judge 
 that we would willingly undergo the torture which, with 
 grief and sorrow, we ordained to thee. Pause — take 
 breath — collect thyself. Three minutes shalt thou have 
 to consider what course to adopt ere we repeat the ques- 
 tion. But then beware how thou triflest with our indul- 
 gence." 
 
 "It suffices — I thank thee," said the Hebrew, with a 
 touch of gratitude in his voice. As he spoke, he bent 
 his face within his bosom, which he covered, as in pro- 
 found meditation, with the folds of his long robe. Scarce 
 half the brief time allowed him had expired, when he 
 
LEILA, • 115 
 
 again lifted his countenance, and, as he did so, flung back 
 his garment. The Dominican uttered a loud cry ; the 
 guards started back in awe. A wonderful change had 
 come over the intended victim ; he seemed to stand 
 amongst them literally wrapt in fire ; flames burst from 
 his lip, and played with his long locks, as, catching the 
 glowing hue, they curled over his shoulders, like serpents 
 of burning light : blood-red were his breast and limbs, his 
 haughty crest, and his outstretched arm ; and as, for a 
 single moment, he met the shuddering eyes of his judges, 
 he seemed, indeed, to verify all the superstitions of the 
 time — no longer the trembling captive, but the mighty 
 demon, or the terrible magician. 
 
 The Dominican was the first to recover his self-pos- 
 session. " Seize the enchanter ! " he exclaimed ; but no 
 man stirred. Ere yet the exclamation had died on his 
 lip, Almamen took from his breast a phial, and dashed it 
 on the ground — it broke into a thousand shivers : a mist 
 rose over the apartment — it spread, thickened, darkened, 
 as a sudden night ; the lamps could not pierce it. The 
 luminous form of the Hebrew grew dull and dim, until it 
 vanished in the shade. On every eye blindness seemed 
 to fall. There was a dead silence broken by a cry and 
 groan ; and when, after some minutes, the darkness grad- 
 ually dispersed, Almamen was gone. One of the guards 
 lay bathed in blood upon the ground ; they raised him : 
 he had attempted to seize the prisoner, and had been 
 stricken with a mortal wound. He died as he faltered 
 
116 LEILA. 
 
 forth the exphination. In the confusion and dismay of 
 the snene, none noticed, till long afterwards, that the 
 prisoner had paused long enough to strip the dying guard 
 of his long mantle ; a proof that he feared his more secret 
 arts might not sufi&ce to bear him safe through the camp, 
 without the aid of worldly stratagem. 
 
 " The Fiend hath been amongst us I "' said the Domini- 
 can, solemnly, falling on his knees, — "let us pray ! " 
 
BOOK THIED 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Isabel and the Jewish Maiden. 
 
 While this scene took place before the tribunal of 
 Torquemada, Leila had been summoned from the in- 
 dulgence of fears, which her gentle nature and her 
 luxurious nurturins: had ill fitted her to contend against, 
 to the presence of the queen. That gifted and high- 
 spirited princess, whose virtues were her own, whose 
 faults were of her age, was not, it is true, without the 
 superstition and something of the intolerant spirit of her 
 royal spouse : but, even where her faith assented to per- 
 secution, her heart ever inclined to mercv ; and it was her 
 voice alone that ever counteracted the fiery zeal of Tor- 
 quemada, and mitigated the sufferings of the unhappy 
 ones who fell under the suspicion of heresy. She had, 
 happily, too, within her a strong sense of justice, as well 
 as the sentiment of compassion ; and often, when she 
 could not save the accused, she prevented the con- 
 sequences of his imputed crime falling upon the innocent 
 members of his house or tribe. 
 
 (117) 
 
118 LEILA. 
 
 In the interval between his conversation with Ferdinand 
 and the examination of Alnnamen, the Dominican had 
 sought the queen ; and had placed before her, in glow- 
 ing colors, not only the treason of Alraamen, but the 
 consequences of the impious passion her son had con- 
 ceived for Leila. In that day, any connexion between a 
 Christian knight and a Jewess was deemed a sin, scarce 
 expiable ; and Isabel conceived all that horror of her 
 son's offence which was natural in a pious mother and a 
 haughty queen. But, despite all the arguments of the 
 friar, she could not be prevailed upon to render up Leila 
 to the tribunal of the Inquisition ; and that dread court, 
 but newly established, did not dare, without her consent, 
 to seize upon one under the immediate protection of the 
 queen. 
 
 "Fear not, father," said Isabel, with quiet firmness, — 
 '' I will take upon myself to examine the maiden ; and, at 
 least, I will see her removed from all chance of tempting 
 or being tempted by this graceless boy. But she was 
 placed under charge of the king and myself as a hostage 
 and a trust ; we accepted the charge, and our royal 
 honor is pledged to the safety of the maiden. Heaven 
 forbid that I should deny the existence of sorcery, as- 
 sured as we are of its emanation from the Evil One ; but 
 I fear, in this fancy of Juan's, that the maiden is more 
 sinned against than sinning : and yet my son is, doubt- 
 less, not aware of the unhappy faith of the Jewess ; the 
 knowledge of which alone will suffice to cure him of h"s 
 error. You shake your head, father; but, I repeat, I 
 
LEILA. 119 
 
 will act in this affair so as to merit the confidence I de- 
 mand. Go, good Tomas. We have not reigned so long, 
 without belief in our power to control and deal with a 
 simple maiden.'' 
 
 The queen extended her hand to the monk, with a 
 smile, so sweet in its dignity, that it softened even that 
 rugged heart ; and, with a reluctant sigh, and a murmured 
 prayer that her counsels might be guided for the best, 
 Torquemada left the royal presence. 
 
 "The poor child I '' thought Isabel, — "those tender 
 limbs, and that fragile form, are ill fitted for yon monk's 
 stem tutelage. She seems gentle ; and her face has in it 
 all the yielding softness of our sex : doubtless by mild 
 means, she may be persuaded to abjure her wretched 
 creed ; and the shade of some holy convent may hide her 
 alike from the licentious gaze of my son, and the iron 
 zeal of the Inquisitor. I will see her." 
 
 When Leila entered the queen's pavilion, Isabel, who 
 was alone, marked her trembling step with a compas- 
 sionate eye ; and, as Leila, in obedience to the queen's 
 request, threw up her veil, the paleness of her cheek and 
 the traces of recent tears, appealed to Isabel's heart with 
 more success than had attended all the pious invectives 
 of Torquemada. 
 
 " Maiden," said Isabel, encouragingly, " I fear thou 
 hast been strangely harassed by the thoughtless caprice 
 of the young prince. Think of it no more. But, if thou 
 art what I have ventured to believe, and to assert thee 
 to be, cheerfully subscribe to the means I will suggest for 
 
120 LEILA. 
 
 preventing the continuance of addresses which cannot 
 but injure thy fair name." 
 
 "Ah, madam ! " said Leila, as she fell on one knee be- 
 side the queen, ''most joyfully, most gratefully, will I 
 accept any asylum which proffers solitude and peace." 
 
 '•The asylum to which I would fain lead thy steps," 
 answered Isabel, gently, "is indeed one whose solitude is 
 holy — whose peace is that of heaven. But of this here- 
 after. Thou wilt not hesitate, then, to quit tlie camp, 
 unknown to the prince, and ere he can again seek thee ? " 
 
 " Hesitate, madam ? Ah ! rather, how shall I express 
 my thanks ? " 
 
 "I did not read that face misjudgingly," thought the 
 queen, as she resumed. " Be it so ; we will not lose 
 another night. "Withdraw yonder, through the inner 
 tent ; the litter shall be straight prepared for thee ; and 
 ere midnight thou shalt sleep in safety under the roof of 
 one of the bravest knights and noblest ladies that our 
 realm can boast. Thou shalt bear with thee a letter that 
 shall commend thee specially to the care of thy hostess 
 — thou wilt find her of a kindly and fostering nature. 
 And, oh, maiden ! " added the queen, with benevolent 
 warmth, "steel not thy heart against her — listen with 
 ductile senses to her gentle ministry ; and may God and 
 His Son prosper that pious lady's counsel, so that it may 
 win a new strayling to the Immortal Fold ! " 
 
 Leila listened and wondered, but made no answer ; 
 until, as she gained the entrance to the interior division 
 of the tent, she stopped abruptly, and said, ^- 
 
LEILA. 121 
 
 "Pardon me, gracious queen, but dare I ask thee one 
 question — it is not of myself?" 
 
 "Speak, and fear not." 
 
 "My father — hath aught been heard of him? He 
 promised, that ere the fifth day were past, he would once 
 more see his child ; and, alas ! that date is past, and I 
 am still alone in the dwelling of the stranger ! " 
 
 " TJnhappy child ! " muttered Isabel to herself, "thou 
 knowest not his treason nor his fate — yet why shouldst 
 thou ? ignorant of what would render thee blest here- 
 after, continue ignorant of what would afflict thee here. 
 Be cheered, maiden," answered the queen, aloud. "No 
 doubt, there are reasons sufficient to forbid your meeting. 
 But thou shalt not lack friends in the dwelling-house of 
 the stranger." 
 
 "Ah, noble queen, pardon me, and one word more ! 
 There hath been with me, more than once, a stern old 
 man, whose voice freezes the blood within my veins ; he 
 questions me of my father, and in the tone of a foe who 
 would entrap from the child something to the peril of the 
 sire. That man — thou knowest him, gracious queen — 
 he cannot have the power to harm my father ? " 
 
 " Peace, maiden ! the man th^u speakest of is the priest 
 of God, and the innocent have nothing to dread from his 
 reverend zeal. For thyself, I say again, be cheered ; in 
 the home to which I consign thee, thou wilt see him no 
 more. Take comfort, poor child — weep not : all have 
 their cares ; our duty is to bear in this life, reserving 
 hope only for the next." 
 11 
 
122 . LEILA. 
 
 The queen, destined herself to those domestic afflictions 
 which pomp cannot soothe, nor power allay, spoke with 
 a prophetic sadness which jet more touched a heart that 
 her kindness of look and tone had already softened ; and, 
 in the impulse of a nature never tutored in the rigid 
 ceremonials of that stately court, Leila suddenly came 
 forward, and falling on one knee, seized the hand of her 
 protectress, and kissed it warmly through her tears. 
 
 "Are you, too, unhappy ?" she said, — "I will pray for 
 you to my God ! " 
 
 The queen, surprised and moved at an action, which, 
 had witnesses been present, would only perhaps (for such 
 is human nature), have offended her Castilian prejudices, 
 left her hand in Leila's grateful clasp ; and, layirg the 
 other upon the parted and luxuriant ringlets of the kneel- 
 ing maiden, said, gently, — "And thy prayers shall avail 
 thee and me when thy God and mine are the same. Bless 
 thee, maiden I I am a mother ; thou art motherless — bless 
 thee ! " 
 
LEILA. 123 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Temptation of the Jewess. —in which the History passes from 
 the Outward to the Internal. 
 
 It was about the very hour, almost the very moraeni, 
 in which Ahuamen effected his mysterious escape from 
 the tent of the Inquisition, that the train accompanying 
 the litter which bore Leila, and which was composed of. 
 some chosen soldiers of Isabel's own body-guard, after 
 traversing the camp, winding along that part of the 
 mountainous defile which was in the possession of the 
 Spaniards, and ascending a high and steep acclivity, 
 halted before the gates of a. strongly fortified castle 
 renowned in the chronicles of that memorable war. The 
 hoarse challenge of the sentry, the grating of jealous 
 bars, the clanks of hoofs upon the rough pavement of 
 the courts, and the streaming glare of torches — falling 
 upon stern and bearded visages, and imparting a ruddier 
 glow to the moon-lit buttresses and battlements of the 
 fortress — aroused Leila from a kind of torpor rather than 
 sleep, in which the fatigue and excitement of the day had 
 steeped her senses. An old seneschal conducted her 
 through vast and gloomy halls (how unlike the brilliant 
 chambers and fantastic arcades of her Moorish home !) 
 to a huge Gothic apartment, hung with the arras of 
 Flemish looms. In a few moments, maidens, hastilv 
 
124 LEILA. 
 
 aroused from slumber, grouped around her with a respect 
 which would certainly not have been accorded had her 
 birth and creed been known. They gazed with surprise 
 at her extraordinary beauty and foreign garb, and 
 evidently considered the new guest a welcome addition 
 to the scanty society of the castle. Under any other 
 circumstances, the strangeness of all she saw, and the 
 frowning gloom of the chamber to which she was con- 
 signed, would have damped the spirits of one whose 
 destiny had so suddenly passed from the deepest quiet 
 into the sternest excitement. But any change was a 
 relief to the roar of the camp, the addresses of the prince, 
 and the ominous voice and countenance of Torqueraada ; 
 and Leila looked around her, with the feeling that the 
 queen's promise was fulfilled, and that she was already 
 amidst the blessings of shelter and repose. It was long, 
 however, before sleep revisited her eyelids, and when she 
 woke, the noonday sun streamed broadly through the 
 lattice. By the bed-side sate a matron advanced in 
 years, but of a mild and prepossessing countenance, 
 which only borrowed a yet more attractive charm from 
 an expression of placid and habitual melancholy. She 
 was robed in black ; but the rich pearls that were inter- 
 woven in the sleeves and stomacher, the jewelled cross 
 that was appended from a chain of massive gold, and, 
 still more, a certain air of dignity and command — be- 
 spoke, even to the inexperienced eye of Leila, the evidence 
 of superior station. 
 
 " Thou hast slept late, daughter," said the lady, w^ith 
 
LEILA. 125 
 
 a benevolent smile; "may thy slumbers have refreshed 
 thee ! Accept my regrets that I knew not till this morn- 
 ing of thine arrival, or I should have been the first to 
 welcome the charge of my royal mistress.." 
 
 There was in the look, much more than in the words 
 of the Donna Inez de Quexada, a soothing and tender 
 interest that was as balm to the heart of Leila : in truth, 
 she had been made the guest of, perhaps, the only lady 
 in Spain, of pure and Christian blood, who did not des- 
 pise or execrate the name of Leila's tribe. Donna Inez 
 had herself contracted to a Jew a debt of gratitude which 
 she had sought to return to the whole race. Many years 
 before the time in which our tale is cast, her husband and 
 herself had been sojourning at Xaples, then closely con- 
 nected with the politics of Spain, upon an important state 
 mission. They had then an only son, a youth of a wild 
 and desultory character, whom the spirit of adventure 
 allured to the East. In one of those sultry lands the 
 young Quexada was saved from the hands of robbers by 
 the caravanserai of a wealthy traveller. With this 
 stranger he contracted that intimacy which wanderiu"- 
 and romantic men often conceive for each other, without 
 any other sympathy than that of the same pursuits. 
 Subsequently, he discovered that his companion was of 
 the Jewish faith ; and, with the usual prejudice of his 
 birth and time, recoiled from the friendship he had 
 solicited, and shrank from the sense of the obligation he 
 had incurred ; he quitted his companion. Wearied, at 
 length, with travel, he was journeying homeward, when 
 11* 
 
126 LEILA. 
 
 he was seized with a sudden and virulent fever, mistaken 
 for plague ; all fled from the contagion of the supposed 
 pestilence — he was left to die. One man discovered his 
 condition — watched, tended, and, skilled in the deeper 
 secrets of the healing art, he restored him to life and 
 health : it was the same Jew who had preserved him 
 from the robbers. At this second and more inestimable 
 obligation, the prejudices of the Spaniard vanished : he 
 formed a deep and grateful attachment for his preserver ; 
 thej lived together for some time, and the Israelite finally 
 accompanied the young Quexada to Naples. Inez re- 
 tained a lively sense of tne service rendered to her only 
 son ; and the impression had been increased, not only by 
 the appearance of the Israelite, which, dignified and 
 stately, bore no likeness to the cringing servility of his 
 brethren, but also by the singular beauty and gentle de- 
 portment of his then newly-wed bride, whom he had 
 wooed and won in that holy land, sacred equally to the 
 faith of Christian and of Jew. The young Quexada did 
 not long survive his return : his constitution was broken 
 by long travel, and the debility that followed his fierce 
 disease. On his death-bed he had besought the mother 
 wdiom he left childless, and whose Catholic prejudices 
 were less stubborn than those of his sire, never to forget 
 the services a Jew had conferred upon him ; to make the 
 sole recompense in her power — the sole recompense the 
 Jew himself had demanded — and to lose no occasion to 
 soothe or mitigate the miseries to wliich the bigotry of 
 the time often exposed the oppressed race of his deliverer. 
 
LEILA. 127 
 
 Donna Inez had faithfully kept the promise she gave to 
 the last scion of her house ; and, through the power and 
 reputation of her husband and her own connexions, and 
 still more through an early friendship with the queen, she 
 had, on her return to Spain, been enabled to ward off 
 many a persecution, and many a charge on false pre- 
 tences, to which the wealth of some son of Israel made 
 the cause, while his faith made the pretext. Yet, with 
 all the natural feelings of a rigid Catholic, she had 
 earnestly sought to render the favor she had thus obtained 
 amongst the Jews minister to her pious zeal for their 
 more than temporal welfare. She had endeavored, by 
 gentle means, to make the conversions which force was 
 impotent to effect ; and, in some instances, her success had 
 been signal. The good senora had thus obtained high 
 renown for sanctity ; and Isabel thought rightly, that she 
 could not select a protectress for Leila, who would more 
 kindly shelter her youth, or more strenuously labor for 
 her salvation. It was, indeed, a dangerous situation for 
 the adiierence of the maiden to that faith which it had 
 cost her fiery father so many sacrifices to preserve and to 
 advance. 
 
 It was by little and little that Donna Inez sought 
 rather to undermine than to storm the mental fortress, 
 she hoped to man with spiritual allies ; and, in her fre- 
 quent conversations with Leila, she was at once perplexed 
 and astonished by the simple and sublime nature of the 
 belief upon which she waged war. For whether it was 
 that, in his desire to preserve Leila as much as possible 
 
128 LEILA. 
 
 from contact even with Jews themselves, whose general 
 character (vitiated by the oppression which engendered 
 meanness, and the extortion which fostered avarice) 
 Almaraen regarded with lofty though concealed repug- 
 nance ; or whether it was, that his philosophy did not 
 interpret the Jewish formula of belief in the same sjnrit 
 as the herd — the religion inculcated in the breast of 
 Leila was different from that which Inez had ever before 
 encountered amongst her proselytes. It was less mun- 
 dane and material — a kind of passionate rather than 
 metaphysical theism, wdiich invested the great One, in- 
 deed, with many human sympathies and attributes, but 
 still left Him the august and awful God of the Genesis, 
 the Father of a Universe, though the individual Pro- 
 tector of a fallen sect. Her attention had been less 
 directed to whatever appears, to a superficial gaze, stern 
 and inexorable in the character of the Hebrew God, and 
 which the religion of Christ so beautifully softened and 
 so majestically refined, than to those passages in which 
 His love watched over a chosen people, and His forbear- 
 ance bore with their transgressions. Her reason had 
 been worked upon to its belief by that mysterious and 
 solemn agency by which — when the whole world beside 
 was bowed to the worship of innumerable deities, and 
 the adoration of graven images — in a small and secluded 
 portion of earth, amongst a people far less civilized and 
 philosophical than many by which they were surrounded, 
 had been alone preserved a pure and sublime theism, dis- 
 daining a likeness in the things of heaven or earth. 
 
LEILA. 129 
 
 Leila knew little of the more narrow and exclusive 
 tenets of her brethren : a Jewess in name, she v,as rather 
 a deist in belief; a deist of such a creed as Athenian 
 schools might have taught to the imaginative pupils of 
 Plato, save only that too dark a shadow had been cast 
 over the hopes of another world. "Without the absolute 
 denial of the Sadducee, Almamen had probably much of 
 the quiet scepticism which belonged to many sects of the 
 early Jews, and which still clings round the wisdom of 
 the wisest who reject the" doctrine of Revelation ; and 
 w^hile he had not sought to eradicate from the breast of 
 his daughter any of the vague desire which points to an 
 Hereafter, he had never, at least, directed her thoughts 
 or aspirations to that solemn future. Xor in the sacred 
 book which was given to her survey, and which so 
 rigidly upheld the unity of the Supreme Power, was there 
 that positive and unequivocal assurance of life beyond 
 "the grave, where all things are forgotten," that might 
 supply the deficiencies of her mortal instructor. Perhaps, 
 sharing those notions of the different value of the sexes, 
 prevalent, from the remotest period, in his beloved and 
 ancestral East, Almamen might have hopes for himself 
 which did not extend to his child. And thus she grew 
 up, with all the beautiful faculties of the soul cherished 
 and unfolded, without thought, without more than dim 
 and shadowy conjectures, of the eternal bourne to which 
 the sorrowing pilgrim of the earth is bound. It was on 
 this point that the quick eye of Donna Inez discovered 
 her faith was vulnerable : who would not, if belief were 
 
 I 
 
130 LEILA. 
 
 voluntary, believe in the world to come ? Leila's curiosity 
 and interest were aroused : she willingly listened to her 
 new guide — she willingly inclined to conclusions pressed 
 upon her, not with menace, but persuasion. Free from 
 the stubborn associations, the sectarian prejudices, and 
 unversed in the peculiar traditions and accounts of the 
 learned of her race, she found nothing to shock her in 
 the volume which seemed but a continuation of the elder 
 writings of her faith. The sufferings of the Messiah, his 
 sublime purity, his meek forgiveness, spoke to her 
 woman's heart ; his doctrines elevated, %while they 
 charmed, her reason : and in the Heaven that a Divine 
 hand opened to all — the humble as the proud, the op- 
 pressed as the oppressor, to the woman as to the lords 
 of the earth — she found a haven for all the doubts she 
 had known, and for the despair which of late had 
 darlfened the face of earth. Her home lost, the deep 
 and beautiful love of her youth blighted — that was a 
 creed almost irresistible which told her that grief was but 
 for a day, that happiness was eternal. Far, too, from 
 revolting such of the Hebrew pride of association as she 
 had formed, the birth of the Messiah in the land of the 
 Israelites seemed to consummate their peculiar triumph 
 as the Elected of Jehovah. And while she mourned for 
 the Jews who persecuted the Savior, she gloried in those 
 whose belief had carried the name and worship of the 
 descendants of David over the farthest regions of tlie 
 world. Often she perplexed and startled the worthy 
 Inez, by exclaiming, " This, your belief, is the same as 
 
LEILA. 131 
 
 mine, adding only the assurance of immortal life — 
 Christianity is but the Revelation of Judaism.*' 
 
 The wise and gentle instrument of Leila's conversion 
 did not, however, give vent to those more Catholic senti- 
 ments which might have scared away the wings of the 
 descending dove. She forbore too vehemently to point 
 out the distinctions of the several creeds, and rather 
 suffered them to melt insensibly one into the other: Leila 
 was a Christian, while she still believed herself a Jewess. 
 But in the fond and lovely weakness of mortal emotions, 
 there was one bitter thought that often and often came 
 to mar the peace that otherwise would have settled on 
 her soul. That father, the sole softener of whose stern 
 heart and mysterious fate she was, with what pangs would 
 he receive the news of her conversion ! And Muza, that 
 bright and hero-vision of her youth — was she not setting 
 the last seal of separation upon all hope of union with 
 the idol of the Moors ? But, alas ! was she not already 
 separated from him, and had not their faiths been from 
 the first at variance ? From these thoughts she started 
 with sighs and tears : and before her stood the crucifix 
 already admitted into her chamber, and — not, perhaps, 
 too wisely — banished so rigidly from the oratories of the 
 Huguenot. For the representation of that divine resig- 
 nation, that mortal agony, that miraculous sacrifice, what 
 eloquence it hath for our sorrows ! what preaching hath 
 the symbol to the vanities of our wishes, to the yearnings 
 of our discontent ! 
 
132 LEILA. 
 
 Bj degrees, as her new faith grew confirmed, Leila 
 now incliued herself earnestly to thase pictures of the 
 sanctity and calm of the conventual life which Inez 
 delighted to draw. In the reaction of her thoughts, and 
 her despondency of all worldly happiness, there seemed, 
 to the young maiden, an inexpressible charm in a solitude 
 which was to release her for ever from human love, and 
 render her entirely up to sacred visions and imperishable 
 hopes. And with this selfish, there mingled a more 
 generous and sublime, sentiment. The prayers of a con- 
 vert might be heard in favor of those yet benighted ; and 
 the awful curse upon her outcast race be lightened by 
 the orisons of one humble heart. In all ages, in all 
 creeds, a strange and mystic impression has existed of 
 the efficacy of self-sacrifice in working the redemption 
 even of a whole people : this belief, so strong in the old 
 orient and classic religions, was yet more confirmed by 
 Christianity — a creed founded upon the grandest of 
 historic sacrifices ; and the lofty doctrine of which, rightly 
 understood, perpetuates in the heart of every believer the 
 duty of self-immolation, as well as faith in the power of 
 prayer, no matter how great the object, how mean the 
 supplicator. On these thoughts Leila meditated, till 
 thoughts acquired the intensity of passions, and the con- 
 version of the Jewess was completed. 
 
LEILA. 133 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Tbc Hour and the Mf.n. 
 
 / 
 
 It was on the tliird morning after the King of Granada, 
 reconciled to his people, had reviewed his gallant army 
 in the Yivarrambla ; and Boabdil, surrounded by his 
 chiefs and nobles, was planning a deliberate and decisive 
 battle, by assault on the Christian camp, — when a scout 
 suddenly arrived, breathless, at the gates of the palace, 
 to communicate the unlooked-for and welcome intelligence 
 that Ferdinand had in the night broken up his camp, and 
 marched across the mountains towards Cordova. In 
 fact, the outbreak of formidable conspiracies had suddenly 
 rendered the appearance of Ferdinand necessary else- 
 where ; and, his intrigues with Almamen frustrated, he 
 despaired of a very speedy conquest of the city. The 
 Spanish king resolved, therefore, after completing the 
 devastation of the Yega, to defer the formal and pro- 
 longed siege, which could alone place Granada within his 
 power, until his attention was no longer distracted to 
 other foes, and until, it must be added, he had replenished 
 an exhausted treasury. He had formed, with Torque- 
 mada, a vast and wide scheme of persecution, not only 
 against Jews, but against Christians whose fathers had 
 been of that race, and who were suspected of relapsing 
 12 
 
134 LEILA. 
 
 into Judaical practices. The two schemers of this gnind 
 design were actuated by different motives ; the one wished 
 to exterminate the crime, the other, to sell forgiveness for 
 it. And Torquemada connived at the griping avarice of 
 the king, because it served to give to himself, and to the 
 infant Inquisition, a power and an authority which the 
 Dominican foresaw would be soon greater even than those 
 of royalty itself, and which, he imagined, by scourging 
 earth, would redound to the interests of Heaven. 
 
 The strange disappearance of Almamen, which was 
 distorted and exaggerated, by the credulity of the Spa- 
 niards, into an event of the most terrific character, served 
 to complete the chain of evidence against the wealthy 
 Jews, and Jew-descended Spaniards, of Andalusia ; and 
 while, in imagination, the king already clutched the 
 gold of their redemption here, the Dominican kindled 
 the flame that was to light them to punishment here- 
 after. 
 
 Boabdil and his chiefs received the intelligence of the 
 Spanish retreat with a doubt which soon yielded to the 
 most triumphant delight. Boabdil at once resumed all 
 the energy for which, though but by fits and starts, his 
 earlier youth had been remarkable. 
 
 "Alia Achbar ! God is great!" cried he; " we will 
 not remain here till it suit the foe to confine the eagle 
 again to his eyrie. They have left us — we will burst on 
 them. Summon our alfaquis, we will proclaim a holy 
 war ! The sovereign of the last possessions of the Moors 
 is in the field. Not a town that contains a Moslem but 
 
LEILA. 
 
 135 
 
 shall receive our siimraons, and we will gather round our 
 standard all the children of our faith ! '' 
 
 " May the king live for ever ! " cried the council, with 
 one voice. 
 
 "Lose not a moment/' resumed Boalidil — '*' on to 
 the Yivarrambla, marshal the troops — Muza heads the 
 cavalry, myself our foot. Ere the sun's shadow reach 
 yonder forest, our army shall be on its march." 
 
 The warriors, hastily and in joy, left the palace ; and 
 when he was alone, Boabdil again relapsed into his 
 wonted irresolution. After striding to and fro for some 
 minutes in anxious thought, he abruptly quitted the hall 
 of council, and passed into the more private chambers 
 of the palace, till he came to a door strongly guarded 
 by plates of iron. It yielded easily, however, to a small 
 kev which he carried in his girdle : and Boabdil stood in 
 a small circular room, apparently without other door or 
 outlet ; but, after looking cautiously round, the king 
 touched a secret spring in the wall, which, giving way, 
 discovered a niche, in which stood a small lamp, burning 
 with the purest naphtha, and a scroll of yellow parcliment 
 covered with strange letters and hieroglyphics. He thrust 
 the scroll in his bosom, took the lamp in his hand, and 
 pressing another spring within the niche, the wall receded, 
 and showed a narrow and winding staircase. The king 
 reclosed the entrance, and descended : the stairs led, at 
 last, into damp and rough passages ; and the murmur of 
 waters, that reached his ear through the thick walls, 
 
136 LEILA. 
 
 iudicated the subterranean nature of the soil through 
 which they were hewn. The lamp burned clear and steady- 
 through the darkness of the place ; and Boabdil pro- 
 ceeded with such impatient rapidity, that the distance 
 (in reality considerable) which he traversed before he 
 arrived at his destined bourne, was quickly measured. 
 He came at last into a wide cavern, guarded by doors 
 concealed and secret as those which had screened the 
 entrance from the upper air. He was in one of the many 
 vaults which made the mighty cemetery of the monarchs 
 of Granada ; and before him stood the robed and crowned 
 skeleton, and before him glowed the magic dial-plate, of 
 which he had spoken in his interview with Muza. 
 
 " Oh, dread and awful image !" cried the king, throw- 
 ing himself on his knees before the skeleton, — " shadow 
 of what was once a king, wise in council, and terrible in 
 war, if in those hollow bones yet lurks the impalpable 
 and unseen spirit, hear thy repentant son. Forgive, 
 while it is yet time, the rebellion of his fiery youth, and 
 suffer thy daring soul to animate the doubt and weakness 
 of his own. I go forth to battle, waiting not the signal 
 thou didst ordain. Let not the penance for a rashness, 
 to which fate urges me on, attach to my country, but to 
 me. And, if I perish in the field, may my evil destinies 
 be buried with me, and a worthier monarch redeem my 
 errors, and preserve Granada ! " 
 
 As the king raised his looks, the unrelaxed grin of the 
 grim dead, made yet more hideous by the mockery of the 
 
LEILA. 
 
 diadem and the royal robe, froze back to ice the passion 
 and sorrow at his heart. He shuddered, and rose with 
 a deep sigh ; when as his eyes mechanically followed the 
 lifted arm of the skeleton, he beheld, with mingled delight 
 and awe, the hitherto motionless finger of the dial-plate 
 pass slowly on, and rest at the word so long and so im- 
 patiently desired. "Arm ! '• cried the king, "do I read 
 aright? — are my prayers heard?'' A low and deep 
 sound, like that of subterranean thunder, boomed through 
 the chamber ; and in the same instant, the wall opened, 
 and the king beheld the long-expected figure of Alma- 
 men, the magician. But no longer was that stately form 
 clad in the loose and peaceful garb of the Eastern santon. 
 Complete armor cased his broad breast and sinewy limbs; 
 his head alone was bare, and his prominent and impres- 
 sive features were lighted, not with mystical enthusiasm, 
 but with warlike energy. In his right hand he carried 
 a drawn sword — his left supported the staff of a snow- 
 white and dazzling banner. 
 
 So sudden was the apparition, and so excited the mind 
 of the king, that the sight of a supernatural being could 
 scarcely have impressed him with more amaze and awe. 
 "King of Granada,'' said Almamen, "the hour hath 
 come at last: go forth and conquer! With the Christian 
 monarch, there is no hope of peace or compact. At ihy 
 reciuest I sought him, but my spells alone preserved the 
 life of thy herald. Rejoice ! for thine evil destinies have 
 rolled away from thy spirit, like a cloud from the glory 
 12* 
 
138 LEILA. 
 
 of the sun. The genii of the east have woven this banner 
 from the rays of benignant stars. It shall beam before 
 thee in the front of battle — it shall rise over the rivers of 
 Christian blood. As the moon sways the bosom of the 
 tides, it shall sway and direct the surges and the course 
 of war ! " 
 
 " Man of mystery ! thou hast given me a new life." 
 "And, fighting by thy side,'' resumed Almamen, "I 
 will assist to carve out for thee, from the ruins of Arra- 
 gon and Castile, the grandeur of a new throne. Arm, 
 monarch of Granada ! — arm ! I hear the neigk of thy 
 charger, in the midst of the mailed thousands 1 Arm 1 " 
 
BOOK FOURTH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Leila in the Castle. — The Siege. 
 
 The calmer contemplations, and more holr anxieties 
 of Leila, were, at length, broken in upon by intelligence, 
 the fearful interest of which absorbed the whole mind and 
 care of every inhabitant of the castle. Boabdil el Chico 
 had taken the field, at the head of a numerous army. 
 Rapidly scouring the country, he had descended, one 
 after one, upon the principal fortresses, which Ferdinand 
 had left, strongly garrisoned, in the immediate neighbor- 
 hood. His success was as immediate as it was signal ; 
 the terror of his arms began, once more, to spread far 
 and wide ; every day swelled his ranks with new recruits; 
 from the snow-clad summits of the Sierra Xevada poured 
 down, in wild hordes, the fierce mountain race, who, 
 accustomed to eternal winter, made a strange contrast, in 
 their rugged appearance and shaggy clothing, to the 
 glittering and civilized soldiery of Grauada. 
 
 Moorish towns, which had submitted to Ferdinand 
 
 (139) 
 
i 1 LEILA. 
 
 broke from their allegiance, and sent their ardent youth 
 and experienced veterans to the standard of the Keys and 
 Crescent. To add to the sudden panic of the Spaniards, 
 it went forth that a formidable magician, who seemed 
 inspired rather with the fury of a demon than the valor 
 of a man, had made an abrupt appearance in the ranks 
 of the Moslems. Wherever the Moors shrank back from 
 wall or tower, down which poured the boiling pitch, or 
 rolled the deadly artillery of the besieged, this sorcerer — 
 rusliing into tlic midst of the flagging force, and waving, 
 with wild gestures, a white banner, supposed, by both 
 ;Moor and Christian, to be the work of magic and preter- 
 natural spells — dared every danger, and escaped every 
 weapon ; with voice, with prayer, with example, he fired 
 the Moors with an enthusiasm that revived the first days 
 of Mahometan conquest ; and tower after tower, along 
 the mighty range of the mountain chain of fortresses, was 
 polluted by the wave and glitter of the ever-victorious 
 banner. The veteran, Mendo de Quexada, who, with a 
 garrison of two hundred and fifty men, held the castle of 
 Alhendin, was, however, undaunted by the unprecedented 
 successes of Boabdil. Aware of the approaching storm, 
 he spent the days of peace yet accorded to him in making 
 every preparation for the siege that he foresaw ; mes- 
 sengers were despatched to Ferdinand ; new outworks 
 were added to the castle ; ample store of provisions laid 
 in ; and no precaution omitted that could still preserve 
 to the Spaniards a fortress, that, from its vicinity to 
 Granada, its command of the Yega and the valleys of the 
 
LEILA. 141 
 
 Alpuxarras, was the bitterest thorn in the side of the 
 Moorish power. 
 
 It was early, one morning, that Leila stood by the 
 lattice of her lofty chamber, gazing, with many and 
 mingled emotions, on the distant domes of Granada, as 
 they slept in the silent sunshine. Her heart, for -the 
 moment, was busy with the thoughts of home, and the 
 chances and peril of the time were forgotten. 
 
 The sound of martial music, afar off, broke upon her 
 reveries ; she started, and listened breathlessly ; it became 
 more distinct and clear. The clash of the zell, the boom 
 of the African drum, and the wild and barbarous blast of 
 the Moorish clarion, were now each distinguishable from 
 the other ; and, at length, as she gazed and listened, 
 winding along the steeps of the mountain were seen the 
 gleaming spears and pennants of the Moslem vanguard. 
 Another moment, and the whole castle was astir, 
 
 Mendo de Quexada, hastily arming, repaired, himself, 
 to the battlements ; and from her lattice, Leila beheld 
 him, from time to time, stationing to the best advantage 
 his scanty troops. In a few minutes she was joined by 
 Donna Inez and the women of the castle, who fearfully 
 clustered round their mistress, — not the less disposed, 
 however, to gratify the passion of the sex, by a glimpse 
 through the lattice at the gorgeous array of the Moorish 
 army. 
 
 The casements of Leila's chamber were peculiarly 
 adapted to command a safe nor insufficient view of the 
 progress of the enemy ; and, with a beating neart and 
 
142 LEILA. 
 
 flushing cheek, the Jewish maiden, deaf to the voices 
 around her, imagined she could already descry, amidst 
 the horsemen, the lion port and snowy garments of Muza 
 Ben Abil Gazan. 
 
 What a situation was hers I Already a Cliristian, 
 could she hope for the success of tlie infidel ? ever a 
 woman, could she hope for the defeat of her lover ? But 
 the time for meditation on her destiny was but brief; the 
 detachment of the Moorish cavalry was now just witliout 
 the walls of the little town that girded the castle, and 
 the loud clarion of the heralds summoned the garrison to 
 surrender. 
 
 " Not while one stone stands upon another ! " was the 
 short answer of Quexada ; and, in ten minutes afterwards, 
 the sullen roar of the artillery broke from wall and tower 
 over the vales below. 
 
 It was then that the women, from Leila's lattice, 
 beheld, slowly marshalling themselves in order, the whole 
 power and pageantry of the besieging army. Thick — 
 serried — line after line, column upon column — they 
 spread below the frowning steep. The sunbeams lighted' 
 up that goodly array, as it swayed, and murmured, and 
 advanced, like the billow^s of a glittering sea. The royal 
 standard was soon descried waving above the pavilion of 
 Boabdil ; and the king himself, mounted on his cream- 
 colored charger, which was covered with trappings of 
 cloth-of-gold, was recognized amongst the infantry 
 whose task it was to lead the assault. 
 
LEILA. 143 
 
 "Pray with us, my daughter !" cried Inez, falling on 
 her knees. — Alas! what could Leila pray for? 
 
 Four days and four nights passed away in that memor- 
 able siege ; for the moon, then at her full, allowed no 
 respite, even in night itself. Their numbers, and their 
 vicinity to Granada, gave the besiegers the advantage 
 of constant relays, and troop succeeded to troop ; so that 
 the weary had ever successors in the vigor of new as- 
 sailants. 
 
 On the fifth day, all of the fortress, save the keep (an 
 immense tower), was in the hands of the Moslems ; and 
 in this last hold, the worn-out and scanty remnant of the 
 garrison mustered, in the final hope of a brave despair. 
 
 Quexada appeared, covered with gore and dust — his 
 eyes bloodshot, his cheek haggard and hollow, his locks 
 blanched with sudden age — in the hall of the tower, 
 where the women, half dead with terror, were assembled. 
 
 "Food ! " cried he — " food and wine ! — it may be our 
 last banquet.'' 
 
 His wife threw her arms round him. " Xot yet," he 
 cried, " not yet ; we will have one embrace before we 
 part.'' 
 
 "Is there, then, no hope?" said Inez, with a pale 
 cheek, yet steady eye. 
 
 " Xone ; unless to-morrow's dawn gild the spears of 
 Ferdinand's army upon yonder hills. Till morn we may 
 hold out." As he spoke, he hastily devoured some 
 morsels of food, drained a huge goblet of wine, and ab- 
 ruptly quitted the chamber. 
 
144 LEILA. 
 
 At that moment, the women distinctly heard the loud 
 shouts of the Moors ; and Leila, approaching the grated 
 casement, could perceive the approach of what seemed 
 to her like moving walls. 
 
 Covered by ingenious constructions of wood and thick 
 hides, the besiegers advanced to the foot of the tower in 
 comparative shelter from the burning streams which still 
 poured, fast and seething, from the battlements ; while, 
 in the rear, came showers of darts and cross-bolts from 
 the more distant Moors, protecting the work of the en- 
 gineer, and piercing through almost every loophole and 
 crevice in the fortress. 
 
 Meanwhile, the stalwart governor beheld with dismay 
 and despair, the preparations of the engineers, whom the 
 wooden screen-works protected from every weapon. 
 
 "By the holy Sepulchre!" cried he, gnashing his 
 teeth, " they are mining the tower, and we shall be buried 
 in its ruins ! Look out, Gonsalvo ! see you not a gleam 
 of spears, yonder, over the mountain? 31ine eyes are 
 dim with watching." 
 
 "Alas I brave Mendo, it is only the sloping sun upon 
 the snows — but there is hope yet." 
 
 The soldier's words terminated in a shrill and sudden 
 cry of agony ; and he fell dead by the side of Quexada, 
 the brain crushed by a bolt from a Moorish arquebuss. 
 
 " My best warrior ! " said Quexada ; " peace be with 
 him ! Ho, there ! see you yon desperate infidel urging 
 on the miners ? By the heavens above, it is he of the 
 
LEILA. 145 
 
 white banner ! — it is the sorcerer ! Fire on him ! he is 
 without the shelter of the wood- works." 
 
 Twenty shafts, from wearied and nerveless arms, fell 
 innocuous round the form of Almamen : and as, waving 
 aloft his ominous banner, he disappeared again behind 
 the screen-works, the Spaniards almost fancied they could 
 hear his exultmg and demon laugh. 
 
 The sixth day came, and the work of the enemy was 
 completed. The tower was entirely undermined — the 
 foundations rested only upon wooden props, which, with 
 a humanity that was characteristic of Boabdil, had been 
 placed there in order that the besieged might escape ere 
 the final crash of their last hold. 
 
 It was now noon : the whole Moorish force, quitting 
 the plain, occupied the steep that spread below the tower, 
 in multitudinous array and breathless expectation. The 
 miners stood aloof — the Spaniards lay prostrate and ex- 
 hausted upon the battlements, like mariners, who, after 
 every effort against the storm, await, resigned, and almost 
 indifferent, the sweep of the fatal surge. 
 
 Suddenly the lines of the Moors gave way, and Boabdil 
 himself, with Muza at his right hand, and Almamen on 
 his left, advanced towards the foot of the tower. At the 
 same time, the Ethiopian guards, each bearing a torch, 
 marched slowly in the rear; and from the midst of them 
 paced the royal herald, and sounded the last warning. 
 The hush of the immense armament — the glare of the 
 torches, lighting the ebon faces and giant forms of their 
 
 bearers — the majestic appearance of the king himself 
 
 13 K 
 
]46 LEILA. 
 
 the heroic aspect of Muza — the bare head and glittering 
 banner of Almamen — all combined with the circum- 
 stances of the time to invest the spectacle with something 
 singularly awful, and, perhaps, sublime. 
 
 Quexada turned his eves, mutely, round the ghastly 
 faces of his warriors, and still made not the signal. His 
 lips muttered — his eyes glared : when, suddenly, he heard 
 below the wail of women ; and the thought of Inez, the 
 bride of his youth, the partner of his age, came upon him ; 
 and, with a trembling hand, he lowered the yet unquailing 
 standard of Spain. Then, the silence below broke into a 
 mighty shout, which shook the grim tower to its unsteady 
 and temporary base. 
 
 "Arise, my friends," he said, with a bitter sigh ; "we 
 have fought like men — and our country will not blush 
 for us." 
 
 He descended the winding stairs — his soldiers fol- 
 lowed him with faltering steps : the gates of the keep 
 unfolded, and these gallant Christians surrendered them- 
 selves to the Moor. 
 
 " Do with us as you will," said Quexada, as he laid 
 the keys at the hoofs of Boabdil's barb ; " but there are 
 women in the garrison, who " 
 
 "Are sacred," interrupted the king. "At once we 
 accord their liberty, and free transport whithersoever ye 
 would desire. Speak, then ! To what place of safety 
 shall they be conducted?" 
 
 " Generous king ! " replied the veteran Quexada, brush- 
 ino" awav his tears with the back of his hand : " vou take 
 
LEILA. 147 
 
 the sting from our sliame. TVe accept your offer in the 
 same spirit in which it is made. Across the mountains, 
 on the verge of the plain of Olfadez, I possess a small 
 castle, ungamsoned and unfortified. Thence, should the 
 war take that direction, the women can readily obtain 
 safe-conduct to the queen, at Cordova." 
 
 "Be it so," returned Boabdil. Then, with oriental 
 delicacy, selecting the eldest of the oflficers round him, 
 he gave him instructions to enter the castle, and, with a 
 strong guard, provide for the safety of the women, accord- 
 ing to the directions of Quexada. To another of his 
 officers he confided the Spanish prisoners, and gave the 
 signal to his army to withdraw from the spot, leaving 
 only a small body to complete the ruin of the fortress. 
 
 Accompanied by Almamen and his principal officers, 
 Boabdil now hastened towards Granada ; and while, with 
 slower progress, Quexada and his companions, under a 
 strong escort, took their way across the Tega, a sudden 
 turn in their course brought abruptly before them the 
 tower they had so valiantly defended. There it still stood, 
 proud and stern, amidst the blackened and broken wrecks 
 around it, shooting aloft, dark and grim, against the sky. 
 Another moment, and a mighty crash sounded on their 
 ears, while the tower fell to the earth, amidst volumes 
 of wreathing smoke and showers of dust, which were 
 borne, by the concussion, to the spot on which they took 
 their last gaze of the proudest fortress on which the 
 Moors of Granada had beheld, from their own walls, the 
 standard of Arraoron and Castile. 
 
148 LEILA. 
 
 At the same time, Leila — thus brought so strangely 
 within the very reach of her father and her lover, and 
 yet, by a mysterious fate, still divided from both — with 
 Donna Inez, and the rest of the females of the garrison, 
 pursued her melancholy path along the ridges of the 
 mountains. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Almamcn's proposed enterprise. — The three Israelites. — Circum- 
 stance impresses each character with a varying die. 
 
 BoABDiL followed up his late success with a series of 
 brilliant assaults on the neighboring fortresses. Granada, 
 like a strong man bowed to the ground, wrenched, one 
 after one, the bands that had crippled her liberty and 
 strength ; and, at length, after regaining a considerable 
 portion of the surrounding territory, the king resolved 
 to lay siege to the sea-port of Salobrena. Could he 
 obtain this town, Boabdil, by establishing communication 
 between the sea and Granada, would both be enabled to 
 avail himself of the assistance of his African allies, and 
 also prevent the Spaniards from cutting off supplies to 
 the city, should they again besiege it. Thither, then, 
 accompanied by Muza, the Moorish king bore his vic- 
 torious standard. 
 
 On the eve of his departure, Almamen sought the 
 king's presence. A great change had come over tho 
 
LEILA. 149 
 
 santon since the departure of Ferdinand : his v^'onted 
 stateliuess of mien was gone ; his eyes were sunk and 
 hollow ; his manner, disturbed and absent. In fact, his 
 love for bis daughter made the sole softness of his 
 character; and that daughter was in the hands of the 
 king who had sentenced the father to the tortures of the 
 Inquisition ! To what dangers might she not be sub- 
 jected, by the intolerant zeal of conversion ! and could 
 that frame, and gentle heart, brave the terrific engines 
 tliat might be brought against her fears? "Better,'' 
 thought he, "that she should perish, even by the torture, 
 than adopt that hated faith." He gnashed his teeth in 
 agony at either alternative. His dreams, his objects, his 
 revenge, his ambition — all forsook him : one single hope, 
 one thought, completely mastered his stormy passions and 
 fitful nedect. 
 
 In this mood the pretended santon met Boabdil. He 
 represented to the king, over whom his influence had pro- 
 digiously increased since the late victories of the Moors, 
 the necessity of employing the armies of Ferdinand at a 
 distance. He proposed, in furtherance of this policy, to 
 venture himself in Cordova ; to endeavor secretly to stir 
 up those Moors in that, their ancient, kingdom, who had 
 succumbed to the Spanish yoke, and whose hopes might 
 naturally be inflamed by the recent successes of Boabdil ; 
 and, at least, to foment such disturbances as might afl'ord 
 the king sufiBcient time to complete his designs, and re- 
 cruit his force by aid of the powers with which he was in 
 league. 
 
 13* 
 
150 LEILA. 
 
 The representations of Almamen at length conquered 
 Boabdil's reluctance to part with his sacred guide ; and 
 it was finally arranged that the Israelite should at once 
 depart from the city. 
 
 As Almamen pursued homeward his solitary way, he 
 found himself suddenly accosted in the Hebrew tongue. 
 He turned hastily, and saw before him an old man in the 
 Jewish gown : he recognized EHas, one of the wealthiest 
 and most eminent of the race of Israel. 
 
 " Pardon me, wise countryman ! " said the Jew, bowing 
 to the earth, " but I cannot resist the temptation of claim- 
 ing kindred with one, through whom the horn of Israel 
 may be so triumphantly exalted." 
 
 " Hush, man ! " said Almamen, quickly, and looking 
 sharply round ; " I thy countryman ! Art thou not, as 
 thy speech betokens, an Israelite ? " 
 
 *' Yea," returned the Jew, " and of the same tribe as 
 thy honored father — peace be with his ashes ; 1 remem- 
 bered thee at once, boy though thou wert when thy steps 
 shook off the dust against Granada. I ren^icrabered thee, 
 I say, at once, on thy return ; but I have kept thy secret, 
 trusting that, through thy soul and genius, thy fallen 
 brethren might put off sackcloth, and feast upon the 
 house-tops." 
 
 Almamen looked hard at the keen, sharp, Arab features 
 of the Jew ; and, at length, he answered, '' and how can 
 Israel be restored ? wilt thou fight for her ? " 
 
 " I am too old, son of Issachar, to bear arms ; but our 
 
LEILA. 151 
 
 tribes are many, and onr youth strong. Amid these dis- 
 turbances between dog and dog "' 
 
 " The lion may get his own," interrupted Almamen, 
 impetuously, — " let us hope it. Hast thou heard of the 
 new persecutions against us, that the false Xazarene king 
 has already commenced in Cordova — persecutions that 
 make the heart sick and the blood cold ? " 
 
 " Alas ! •' replied Elias, " such woes, indeed, have not 
 failed to reach mine ear; and I have kindred, near and 
 beloved kindred, wealthy and honored men, scattered 
 throughout that land." 
 
 " "Were it not better that they should die on the field 
 than by the rack ? " exclaimed Almamen, fiercely. " God 
 of my fathers ! if there be yet a spark of manhood left 
 amongst thy people, let thy servant fan it to a flame, that 
 shall burn as the fire burns the stubble, so that the earth 
 may bare before the blaze ! " 
 
 "Xay," said Elias, dismayed rather than excited by 
 the vehemence of his comrade, — " be not rash, son of Is- 
 sachar, be not rash : peradventure thou wilt but exaspe- 
 rate the wrath of the rulers, and our substance thereby 
 will be utterly consumed." 
 
 Almamen drew back, placed his hand quietly on the 
 Jew's shoulder, looked him hard in the face, and, gently 
 laughing, turned away. 
 
 Elias did not attempt to arrest his steps. " Impracti- 
 cable," he muttered ; "impracticable and dangerous ! I 
 always thought so. He may do us harm ; were he not 
 so strong and fierce, I would put my knife under his left 
 
152 LEILA. 
 
 rib. Yerily, gold is a great thing ; and — out on me I the 
 knaves at home will be wasting the oil, now they know 
 old Elias is abroad.'' Thereat the Jew drew his cloak 
 round him, and quickened his pace. 
 
 Almamen, in the meanwhile, sought, through dark and 
 subterranean passoges, known only to himself, his accus- 
 tomed home. He passed much of the night alone ; but, 
 ere the morning star announced to the mountain-tops the 
 presence of the sun, he stood, prepared for his journey, 
 in his secret vault, by the door of the subterraneous pas- 
 sages, with old Ximen beside him. 
 
 "I go, Ximen," said Almamen, "upon a doubtful 
 quest : whether I discover my daughter, and succeed in 
 bearing her in safety from their contaminating grasp, or 
 whether I fall into their snares and perish, there is an 
 equal chance that I may return no more to Granada, 
 Should this be so, you will be heir to such wealth as I 
 leave in these places ; I know that your age will be con- 
 soled for the lack of children, when your eyes look upon 
 the laugh of gold." 
 
 Ximen bowed low, and mumbled out some inaudible 
 protestations and thanks. Almamen sighed heavily as 
 he looked round the room. " I have evil omens in my 
 soul, and evil prophecies in my books," said he, mourn- 
 fully. " But the worst is here," he added, putting his 
 finger significantly to his temples ; ''the string is stretched 
 — one more blow would snap it." 
 
 As he thus said, he opened the door, and vanished 
 through that labyrinth of galleries, by which he was eu- 
 
LEILA. 153 
 
 abled at all times to reach unobserved either the palace 
 of the Alhambra, or the gardens without the gates of the 
 city. 
 
 Ximen remained behind a few moments, in deep thought. 
 "All mine if he dies ! " said he ; " all mine if he does not 
 return ! All mine ! all mine ! and I have not a child nor 
 a kinsman in the world to clutch it away from me ! " With 
 that he locked the vault, and returned to the upper air 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Fugitive and the Meeting. 
 
 In their different directions the rival kings were equally 
 successful. Salobrena, but lately conquered by the Chris- 
 tians, was thrown into a commotion by the first glimpse 
 of Boabdil's banners ; the populace rose, beat back their 
 Christian guards, and opened the gates to the last of 
 their race of kings. The garrison alone, to which the 
 Spaniards retreated, resisted Boabdil's arms ; and, de- 
 fended by impregnable walls, promised an obstinate and 
 bloody siege. 
 
 Meanwhile, Ferdinand had no sooner entered Cordova, 
 than his extensive scheme of confiscation and holy perse- 
 cution commenced. Xot only did more than five hun- 
 dred Jews perish in the dark and secret gripe of the 
 grand inquisitor, but several hundred of the wealthiest 
 Christian families, in whose blood was detected the here- 
 
154: LEILA. 
 
 ditary Jewish taint, were thrown into prison ; and such 
 as were most fortunate purchased life by the sacrifice of 
 half their treasures. At this time, however, there sud- 
 denly broke forth a formidable insurrection amongst 
 these miserable subjects — the Messenians of the Iberian 
 Sparta. The Jews were so far aroused from their long 
 debasement by omnipotent despair, that a single spark, 
 falling on the ashes of their ancient spirit, rekindled the 
 flame of the descendants of the fierce warriors of Pales- 
 tine. They were encouraged and assisted by the sus- 
 pected Christians, who had been involved in the same 
 persecution ; and the whole were headed by a man who 
 appeared suddenly amongst them, and whose fiery elo- 
 quence and martial spirit produced, at such a season, the 
 most fervent enthusiasm. Unhappily, the whole details 
 of this singular outbreak are withheld from us ; only by 
 wary hints and guarded allusions do the Spanish chroni- 
 clers apprize us of its existence and its perils. It is 
 clear that all narrative of an event, that might afford 
 the most dangerous precedents, and was alarming to the 
 pride and avarice of the Spanish king, as well as the 
 pious zeal of the Church, was strictly forbidden ; and 
 the conspiracy was hushed in the dread silence of the 
 Inquisition, into whose hands the principal conspirators 
 ultimately fell. We learn, only, that a determined and 
 sanguinary struggle was followed by the triumph of 
 Ferdinand, and the complete extinction of the treason. 
 
 It was one evening, that a solitary fugitive, hard chased 
 by an armed troop of the brothers of St. Hermandad, 
 
LEILA. 155 
 
 was seen emerging from a wild and rocky defile, which 
 opened abruptly on the gardens of a small, and, by the 
 absence of fortification and sentries, seemingly deserted, 
 castle. Behind him, in the exceeding stillness which 
 characterizes the air of a Spanish twilight, he heard, at 
 a considerable distance, the blast of the horn and the 
 tramp of hoofs. His pursuers, divided into several de- 
 tachments, were scouring the country after him, as the 
 fishermen draw their nets, from bank to bank, conscious 
 that the prey they drive before the meshes cannot escape 
 them at the last. The fugitive halted in doubt, and gazed 
 round him : he was well-nigh exhausted; his eyes were 
 blood-shot ; the large drops rolled fast down his brow ; 
 his whole frame cjuivered and palpitated, like that of a 
 stag when he stands at bay. Beyond the castle spread 
 a broad plain, far as the eye could reach, without shrub 
 or hollow to conceal his form : flight across a space so 
 favorable to his pursuers was evidently in vain. Xo 
 alternative was left, unless he turned back on the very 
 path taken by the horsemen, or trusted to such scanty 
 and perilous shelter as the copses in the castle garden 
 might afi*ord him. He decided on the latter refuge, 
 cleared the low and lonely wall that girded the demesne, 
 and plunged into a thicket of overhanging oaks and 
 chestnuts. 
 
 At that hour, and in that garden, by the side of a 
 little fountain, were seated two females : the one of 
 mature and somewhat advanced years ; the other, in the 
 flower of virgin youth. But the flower was prematurely 
 
15B LEILA. 
 
 faded ; and neither the bloom, nor sparkle, nor undu- 
 lating play of feature, that should have suited her age, 
 was visible in the marble paleness and contemplative 
 sadness of her beautiful countenance. 
 
 "Alas I my young friend," said the elder of these 
 ladies, ' it is in these hours of solitude and calm that we 
 are most deeply impressed with the nothingness of life. 
 Thou, my sweet convert, art now the object, no longer 
 of my compassion, but my envy ; and earnestly do I feel 
 convinced of the blessed repose thy spirit will enjoy in 
 the lap of the Mother Church. Happy are they who 
 die young ; but thrice happy they who die in the spirit 
 rather than the flesh : dead to sin, but not to virtue ; to 
 terror, not to hope ; to man, but not to God ! " 
 
 " Dear senora," replied the young maiden, mournfully, 
 " were I alone on earth, Heaven is my witness with what 
 deep and thankful resignation I should take the holy 
 vows, and forswear the past : but the heart remains 
 human, however divine the hope that it may cherish. 
 And sometimes I start, and think of home, of childhood, 
 of my strange but beloved father, deserted and childless 
 in his old age." 
 
 "Thine, Le|la," returned the elder seiiora, "are but 
 the sorrows our nature is doomed to. What matter, 
 whether absence or death sever the affections ? Thou 
 laraentest a father ; I, a son, dead in the pride of his 
 youth and beauty — a husband, languishing in the fetters 
 of the Moor. Take comfort for thy sorrows, in the 
 reflection that sorrow is the heritage of all." 
 
LEILA. 157 
 
 Ere Leila could reply, the oranj^e-boughs that sheltered 
 the spot where they sat, were put aside, and between the 
 women and the fountain stood the dark form of Alma- 
 men, the Israelite. Leila rose, shrieked, and flung her- 
 self, unconscious, on his breast. 
 
 '• Lord of Israel I " cried Almamen, in a tone of 
 deep anguish, "do I, then, at last regain my child I Do 
 I press her to my heart ? and is it only for that brief 
 moment, when I stand upon the brink of death ? Leila, 
 my child, look up ! smile upon thy father : let him feel, 
 on his maddening and burning brow, the sweet breath 
 of the last of his race, and bear with him, at least, one 
 holy and gentle thought to the dark grave." 
 
 " My father ! is it indeed my father ? " said Leila, 
 recovering herself, and drawing back, that she might 
 assure herself of that familiar face ; '• it is thou ; it is — 
 it is ! Oh ! what blessed chance brings ns together ?" 
 
 " That chance is the destiny that hurries me to my 
 tomb," answered Almamen, solemnly. " Hark ! hear 
 you not the sound of their rushing steeds — their impatient 
 voices ? They are on me now ! " 
 
 "Who? Of whom speakest thou? 
 
 "My pursuers — the horsemen of the Spaniard." 
 
 " Oh, senora, save him ! " cried Leila, turning to 
 Donna Inez, whom both father and child had hitherto 
 forgotten, and who now stood gazing upon Almamen 
 with wondering and anxious eyes. " Whither can he 
 fly ? The vaults of the castle may conceal him. This 
 wpy — hasten ! " 
 U 
 
158 LEILA. 
 
 " Stay," said Inez, trembling, and approaching close 
 to Aliuamen : "do I see aright? and, amidst the dark 
 change of years and trial, do I recognize that stately 
 form, which once contrasted to the sad eye of a mother 
 the drooping and faded form of her only son ? Art thou 
 not he who saved my boy from the pestilence, who ac- 
 companied him to the shores of Naples, and consigned 
 him to these arms ? Look on me ! dost thou not recall 
 the mother of thy friend ? " 
 
 *' I recall thy features dimly and as in a dream," 
 answered the Hebrew ; " and while thou speakest, there 
 rush upon me the memories of an earlier time, in lands 
 where Leila first looked upon the day, and her mother 
 sang to me at sunset, by the stream of the Euphrates, 
 and on the sites of departed empires. Thy son — I 
 remember now : I had friendsliip then with a Christian 
 — for I was still young." 
 
 *' Waste not the time — father — senora ! " cried Leila, 
 impatiently, clinging still to her father's breast. 
 
 " You are right ; nor shall your sire, in whom I thus 
 wonderfully recognize my son's friend, perish if I cau 
 save him." 
 
 Inez then conducted her strange guest to a small door 
 in the rear of the castle ; and after leading him through 
 some of the principal apartments, left bim in one of the 
 tiring-rooms adjoining her own chamber, and the entrance 
 to which the arras concealed. She rightly judged this 
 a safer retreat than the vaults of the castle might afford, 
 since her great name and known intimacv with Isabel 
 
LEILA. 159 
 
 would preclude all suspicion of her abetting in the escape 
 of the fugitive, and keep those places the most secure 
 in which, without such aid, he could not have secreted 
 himself. 
 
 In a few minutes, several of the troop arrived at the 
 castle, and on learning the name of its owner, contented 
 themselves with searching the gardens, and the lower 
 and more exposed apartments ; and then recommending 
 to the servants a vigilant look-out, remounted, and pro- 
 ceeded to scour the plain, over which now slowly fell the 
 star-light and shade of night. 
 
 When Leila stole, at last, to the room in which Alma- 
 men was hid, she found him, stretched on his mantle, in 
 a deep sleep. Exhausted by all he had undergone, and 
 his rigid nerves, as it were, relaxed by the sudden soft- 
 ness of that interview with his child, the slumber of that 
 fiery wanderer was as calm as an infant's. And their 
 relation almost seemed reversed, and the daughter to be 
 as a mother watching over her offspring, when Leila 
 seated herself softly by him, fixing her eyes — to which 
 the tears came ever, ever to be brushed away — upon his 
 worn but tranquil features, made yet more serene by the 
 quiet light that glimmered through the casement. And 
 so passed the hours of that night ; and the father and 
 the child — the meek convert, the revengeful fanatic — 
 were under the same roof. 
 
160 LEILA. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Almamen hears and sees, but refuses to believe ; for the brain, 
 overwrought, grows dull, even in the keenest. 
 
 The (lawn broke slowly upon the chamber, and Alma- 
 men still slept. It was the Sabbath of the Christians — • 
 that day on which the Savior rose from the dead ; thence 
 named, so emphatically and sublimely, by the early 
 Church, The Lord's Day.* And as the ray of the sun 
 flashed in the east, it fell, like a glory, over a crucifix, 
 placed in the deep recess of the Gothic casement ; and 
 brought startingly before the eyes of Leila that face 
 upon which the rudest of the Catholic sculptors rarely 
 fail to preserve the mystic and awful union of the expir- 
 ing anguish of the man with the lofty patience of the 
 God. It looked upon her, that face ; it invited, it 
 encouraged, while it thrilled and subdued. She stole 
 gently from the side of her father ; she crept to the spot, 
 and flung herself on her knees beside the consecrated 
 image. 
 
 " Support me, Redeemer ! " she murmured — " sup- 
 port thy creature ! strengthen her steps in the blessed 
 path, though it divide her irrevocably from all that on 
 earth she loves : and if there be a sacrifice in her solemn 
 
 * Before the Christian era, the Sunday was, however, called the 
 Lord's day, — i. e., the day of the Lord the Sun. 
 
LEILA. IGl 
 
 choice, accept, Thou, the Crucified I accept it, in part 
 atonement of the crime of her stubborn race ; and, here- 
 after, let the lips of a maiden of Judaea implore thee, 
 not in vain, for some mitigation of the awful curse that 
 hath fallen justly upon her tribe." 
 
 As, broken by low sobs, and in a choked and muttered 
 voice, Leila poured forth her prayer, she was startled 
 by a deep groan ; and turning, in alarm, she saw that 
 Almamen had awaked, and, leaning on his arm, was now 
 bending upon her his dark eyes, once more gleaming 
 with all their wonted fire. 
 
 "Speak," he said, as she coweringly hid her face — 
 "speak to me, or I shall be turned to stone by one 
 liorrid thought. It is not before that symbol that thou 
 kneelest in adoration ; and my sense wanders, if it tell 
 me that thy broken words expressed the worship of an 
 apostate ! In mercy speak ? " 
 
 " Father ! " began Leila ; but her lips refused to utter 
 more than that touching and holy word. 
 
 Almamen rose ; and plucking the hands from her face, 
 gazed on her some moments, as if he would penetrate 
 her very soul ; and Leila, recovering her courage in the 
 pause, by degrees met his eyes unquailing — her pure and 
 ingenuous brow raised to his, and sadness, but not guilt, 
 speaking from every line of that lovely face. 
 
 " Thou dost not tremble," said Almamen, at length, 
 breaking the silence, " and I have erred. Thou art not 
 the criminal I deemed thee. Come to my arms ! " 
 
 "Alas ! " said Leila, obeying the instinct, and casting 
 14* L 
 
162 LEILA. 
 
 herself upon that rugged bosom, " I will dare, at least, 
 not to disavow mj God. Father ! bv that dread ana- 
 thema which is on our race, which has made us homeless 
 and powerless — outcasts and strangers in the land; by 
 the persecution and anguish we have known, teach thy 
 lordly heart that we are rightly punished for the persecu- 
 tion and the anguish we doomed to Him, whose footstep 
 hallowed our native earth ! First, in the history op 
 
 THE WORLD, DID THE STERN HEBREWS INFLICT UPON 
 MANKIND THE AWFUL CRIME OF PERSECUTION FOR OPINION'S 
 
 SAKE. The seed we sowed hath brought forth the Dead 
 Sea fruit upon which we feed. I asked for resignation 
 and for hope': I looked upon yonder Cross, and I found 
 both. Harden not thy heart ; listen to thy child ; wise 
 though thou be, and weak though her woman spirit, listen 
 to me." 
 
 " Be dumb ! " cried Almamen, in such a voice as might 
 have come from the charnel, so ghostly and deathly 
 sounded its hollow tone ; then, recoiling some steps, he 
 placed both his hands upon his temples, and muttered, 
 "Mad, mad ! yes, yes, this is but a delirium, and I am 
 tempted with a devil ! Oh, my child ! '' he resumed, in 
 a voice that became, on the sudden, inexpressibly tender 
 and imploring, " I have been sorely tried ; and I have 
 dreamt a feverish dream of passion and revenge. Be 
 thine the lips, and thine the soothing hand, that shall 
 wake me from it. Let us fly for ever from these hated 
 lands ; let us leave to these miserable infidels their bloody 
 contest, careless which shall fall. To a soil on which the 
 
LEILA. 1G3 
 
 iron heel does not clang, to an air where man's orisons 
 rise, in solitude, to the Great Jehovah, let us hasten our 
 wearied steps. Come ! while the castle yet sleeps, let us 
 forth unseen — the father and the child. We will hold 
 sweet commune by the v»'ay. And harkye, Leila," he 
 added, in a low and abrupt whisper, ''talk not to me of 
 yonder symbol ; for thy God is a jealous God, and hath 
 no likeness in the graven image." 
 
 Had he been less exhausted by long travail and rack- 
 ing thoughts, far different, perhaps, would have been the 
 language of a man so stern. But circumstance impresses 
 the hardest substance ; and despite his native intellect 
 and affected superiority over others, no one, perhaps, 
 was more human in his fitful moods, — his weakness and 
 his strength, his passion and his purpose, — than that 
 strange man, who had dared, in his dark studies and 
 arrogant self-will, to aspire beyond humanity. 
 
 That was, indeed, a perilous moment for the young 
 convert. The unexpected softness of her father utterly 
 subdued her ; nor was she sufficiently possessed of that 
 all-denying zeal of the Catholic enthusiast to which 
 every human tie, and earthly duty, has been often sacri- 
 ficed on the shrine of a rapt and metaphysical piety. 
 Whatever her opinions, her new creed, her secret desire 
 of the cloister, fed as it was by the sublime, though 
 fallacious notion, that in her conversion, her sacrifice, 
 the crimes of her race might be expiated in the eyes of 
 Him whose death had been the great atonement of a 
 world ; whatever such higher thoughts and sentiments, 
 
1G4 LEILA. 
 
 they gave way, at that moment, to the irresistible impulse 
 of household nature and of filial duty. Should she 
 desert her father, and could that desertion be a virtue ? 
 Her heart put and answered both questions in a breath. 
 She approached Almamen, placed her hand in his, and 
 said, steadily and calmly, " Father, wheresoever thou 
 goest, I will wend with thee." 
 
 But Heaven ordained to each another destiny than 
 might have been theirs, had the dictates of that impulse 
 been fulfilled. 
 
 Ere Almamen could reply, a trumpet sounded clear 
 and loud at the gate. 
 
 "Hark!" he said, griping his dagger, and starting 
 back to a sense of the dangers round him. " They come, 
 my pursuers and my murtherers ! but these limbs are 
 sacred from the rack.'' 
 
 Even that sound of ominous danger was almost a 
 relief to Leila : " I will go," she said, " and learn what 
 the blast betokens; remain here — be cautious — I will 
 return." 
 
 Several minutes, however, elapsed, before Leila reap- 
 peared ; she was accompanied by Donna Inez, whose 
 paleness and agitation betokened her alarm. A courier 
 had arrived at tlie gate to announce the approach of the 
 queen, who, with a considerable force, was on her way 
 to join Ferdinand, then, in the usual rapidity of his move- 
 ments, before one of the Moorish towns that had revolted 
 from his allegiance. It was impossible for Almamen to 
 
LEILA. 105 
 
 remain in safety in the castle ; and the only hope of 
 escape was departing immediately and in disguise. 
 
 "I have,-' she said, "a trusty and faithful servant with 
 me in the castle, to whom I can, without anxiety, con- 
 fide the charge of your safety ; and even if suspected by 
 the way, my name, and the companionship of my servant, 
 will remove all obstacles ; it is not a long journey hence 
 to Guadix, which has already revolted to the Moors : 
 there, till the armies of Ferdinand surround the walls, 
 your refuge may be secure." 
 
 Almaraen remained for some moments plunged in a 
 gloomy silence. But, at length, he signified his assent 
 to the plan proposed, and Donna Inez hastened to give 
 the directions to his intended ^uide. 
 
 "Leila," said the Hebrew, when left alone with his 
 daughter, "think not that it is for mine own safety that 
 I stoop to this flight from thee. Xo : but never till thou 
 wert lost to me, by mine own rash confidence in another, 
 did I know how dear to my heart was the last scion of 
 my race, the sole memorial left to me of thy mother's 
 love. Regaining thee once more, a new and a soft ex- 
 istence opens upon my eyes ; and the earth seems to 
 change, as by a sudden revolution, from winter into 
 spring. For thy sake, I consent to use all the means 
 that man's intellect can devise, for preservation from my 
 foes. Meanwhile, here will rest my soul ; to this spot, 
 within one week from this period — no matter through 
 what danger I pass — I shall return : then I shall claim 
 thy promise. I will arrange all things for our flight. 
 
1G6 LEILA. 
 
 and no stone shall harm thy footstep by the way. The 
 Lord of Israel be with thee, my daughter, and strengthen 
 thy heart ! But," he added, tearing himself from her 
 embrace, as he heard steps ascending to the chamber, 
 " deem not that, in tliis most fond and fatherly affection, 
 I forget what is due to me and thee. Think not that my 
 love is only the brute and insensate feeling of the pro- 
 genitor to the oflFspring : I love thee for thy mother's 
 sake — I love thee for thine own — I love thee yet more 
 for the sake of Israel. If thou perish, if thou art lost to 
 US, thou, the last daughter of the house of Issachar, then 
 the haughtiest family of God's great people is extinct." 
 
 Here Inez appeared at the door, but withdrew, at the 
 impatient and lordly gesture of Almamen, who, without 
 further heed of tlie interruption, resumed : — 
 
 " I look to thee and thy seed, for the regeneration 
 which I once trusted, fool that I was, mine own day might 
 see effected. Let this pass. Thou art under the roof of 
 the Xazarene. I will not believe that the arts we have 
 resisted against fire and sword can prevail with thee. But, 
 if I err, awful will be the penalty ! Could I once know- 
 that thou hadst forsaken thy ancestral creed, though 
 warrior and priest stood by thee, though thousands and 
 ten thousands were by thy right hand, this steel should 
 save the race of Issachar from dishonor. Beware ! Thou 
 weepest ; but, child, I warn, not threaten. God be with 
 thee ! " 
 
 He wrung the cold hand of his child, turned to the 
 door, and, after such disguise as the brief time allowed 
 
LEILA. 167 
 
 liim could afiford, quitted the castle with his Spanish guide, 
 who, accustomed to the benevolence of his mistress, 
 obeyed her injunction without wonder, though not with- 
 out suspicion. 
 
 The third part of an hour had scarcely elapsed, and 
 the sun was yet on the mountain-tops, when Isabel arrived. 
 
 She came to announce that the outbreaks of the Moor- 
 ish towns in the vicinity rendered the half-fortified castle 
 of her friend no longer a secure abode ; and she honored 
 the Spanish lady with a command to accompany her with 
 her female suite, to the camp of Ferdinand. 
 
 Leila received the intelligence with a kind of stupor. 
 Her interview with her father, the strong and fearful con- 
 tests of emotion which that interview occasioned, left her 
 senses faint and dizzy ; and when she found herself, by 
 the twilight star, once more with the train of Isabel, the 
 only feeling that stirred actively through her stunned and 
 bewildered mind, was, that the hand of Providence con- 
 ducted her from a temptation that, the Reader of all 
 hearts knew, the daughter and woman would have been 
 too feeble to resist. 
 
 On the fifth day from his departure, Almamen returned 
 — to find the castle deserted, and his daughter gone. 
 
168 LEILA, 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 In the ferment of great Events, the dregs rise, 
 The Israelites did not limit their strufrs^les to the dark 
 
 •CO' 
 
 conspiracy to ^yhich allusion has been made. In some 
 of the ^Moorish towns that revolted from Ferdinand, they 
 renounced the neutrality they had hitherto maintained 
 between Christian and ^Joslem. Whether it was that 
 they were inflamed by the fearful and wholesale barbari- I 
 ties enforced by Ferdinand and the Inquisition against ' 
 their tribe ; or whether they were stirred up by one of 
 their own order, in whom was recognized the head of 
 their most sacred family ; or whether, as is most probable, 
 both causes combined — certain it is, that they manifested 
 a feeling that was thoroughly unknown to the ordinary j 
 habits and policy of that peaceable people. They bore ' 
 great treasure to the public stock — they demanded arms, 
 and, under their own leaders, were admitted, though with 
 much jealousy and precaution, into the troops of the ar- | 
 rogant and disdainful Moslems. 
 
 In this conjunction of hostile planets, Ferdinand had 
 recourse to his favorite policy of wile and stratagem. 
 Turning against the Jews the very treaty Almamen had I 
 once sought to obtain in their favor, he caused it to be ! 
 circulated, privately, that the Jews, anxious to purchase ' 
 their peace with him, had promised to betray the Moor- \ 
 
169 
 
 ish towns, and Granada itself, into his liands. The paper, 
 •which Ferdinand himself had signed in his interview with 
 Almaraen, and of which, on the capture of the Hebrew, 
 he had taken care to repossess himself, he gave to a spy, 
 wiiom he sent, disguised as a Jew, into one of the revolted 
 cities. 
 
 Private intelligence reached the Moorish ringleader 
 of the arrival of this envoy. He was seized, and the 
 document found on his person. The form of the words 
 drawn up by Almamen (who had carefully omitted men- 
 tion of his own name — whether that which he assumed, 
 or that which by birth he should have borne) merely con- 
 veyed the compact, that if by a Jew, within two weeks 
 from the date therein specified, Granada was delivered 
 to the Christian king, the Jews should enjoy certain im- 
 munities and rights. 
 
 The discovery of this document filled the Moors of the 
 city to which the spy had been sent, with a fury that no 
 words can describe. Always distrusting their allies, they 
 now imagined they perceived the sole reason of their 
 sudden enthusiasm, of their demand for arms. The mob 
 rose : the principal Jews were seized and massacred with- 
 out trial ; some by the wrath of the multitude, some by 
 the slower tortures of the magistrate. Magistrates were 
 sent to the different revolted towns, and above all, to 
 Granada itself, to put the Moslems on their guard against 
 these unhappy enemies of either party. At once covetous 
 and ferocious, the Moors rivalled the Inquisition in their 
 cruelty, and Ferdinand in their extortion. 
 15 
 
lYO LEILA. 
 
 It was the dark fate of Almamen, as of most prema- 
 ture and heated liberators of the enslaved, to double the 
 terrors and the evils he had sought to cure. The warn- 
 ing arrived at Granada at a time in which the vizier, 
 Jusef, had received the commands of his royal master, 
 still at the siege of SalobreSa, to use every exertion to 
 fill the wasting treasuries. Fearful of new exactions 
 against the Moors, the vizier hailed, as a message from 
 Heaven, so just a pretext for a new and sweeping impost 
 on the Jews. The spendthrift violence of the mob was 
 restrained, because it was headed by the authorities, who 
 were wisely anxious that the state should have no rival 
 in the plunder it required ; and the work of confiscation 
 and robbery was carried on with u majestic and calm 
 regularity, which redounded no less to the credit of 
 Jusef than it contributed to the coff'ers of the king. 
 
 It was late, one evening, when Ximen was making his 
 usual round through the chambers of Almamen's house. 
 As he glanced around at the various articles of wealth 
 and luxury, he, ever and anon, burst into a low fitful 
 chuckle, rubbed his lean hands, and mumbled out — " If 
 my master should die I if my master should die ! " 
 
 While thus engaged, he heard a confused and distant 
 shout ; and, listening attentively, he distinguished a cry, 
 grown of late sufficiently familiar, of, "Live, Jusef the 
 Just — perish the traitor Jews." 
 
 "Ah ! " said Ximen, as the whole character of his face 
 changed ; "some new robbery upon our race ! And this 
 is thy work, son of Issachar ! Madman that thou wert. 
 
LEILA. 171 
 
 to be wiser ihan thy sires, and seek to dupe the idolaters 
 iu the council-chamber and the camp — their field, their 
 Tantage-ground ; as the bazaar and the market-place are 
 ours. Xone suspect that the potent santon is the traitor 
 Jew ; but I know it I I could give thee to the bow-string 
 
 — and, if thou wert dead, all thy goods and gold, even 
 to the mule at the manger, would be old Ximen's." 
 
 He paused at that thought, shut his eyes, and smiled 
 at the prospect his fancy conjured up : and completing 
 his survey, retired to his own chamber, which opened, by 
 a small door, upon one of the back courts. He had 
 scarcely reached the room, when he heard a low tap at 
 the outer door; and, when it was thrice repeated he 
 knew that it was one of his Jewish brethren. For Ximen 
 
 — as years, isolation, and avarice gnawed away whatever 
 of virtue once put forth some meagre fruit from a heart 
 naturally bare and rocky — still preserved one human 
 feeling towards his countrymen. It was the bond which 
 nnites all the persecuted : and Ximen loved them, because 
 
 he could not envy their happiness. The power the 
 
 knowledge — the lofty, though wild, designs of his master, 
 siung and humbled him : he secretly hated, because he 
 could not compassionate or contemn him. But the bowed 
 frame, and slavish voice, and timid nerves of his crushed 
 brotherhood, presented to the old man the likeness of 
 things that could not exult over him. Debased, and 
 aged, and solitary as he was, he felt a kind of wintry 
 warmth in the thought that even he had the power to 
 
 -protect ! 
 
172 LEILA. 
 
 He thus maintained an intercourse with his fellow 
 Israelites ; and often, in their dangers, had afforded them 
 a refuge in the numerous vaults and passages, the ruins 
 of which may still be descried beneath the mouldering 
 foundations of that mysterious mansion. And, as the 
 house was generally supposed the property of an absent 
 emir, and had been especially recommended to the care 
 of the cadis by Boabdil, who alone of the Moors knew it 
 as one of the dwelling-places of the santon, whose osten- 
 sible residence was in apartments allotted to him within 
 the palace — it was, perhaps, the sole place within Granada 
 wiiich afforded an unsuspected and secure refuge to the 
 hunted Israelites. 
 
 When Ximen recognized the wonted signal of his 
 brethren, he crawled to the door ; and, after the pre- 
 caution of a Hebrew watch-word, replied to in the same 
 tongue, he gave admittance to the tall and stooping 
 frame of the rich Elias. 
 
 "Worthy and excellent master!'' said Ximen, after 
 agnin securing the entrance ; "what can bring the honored 
 and wealthy Elias to the chamber of the poor hireling?" 
 
 " My friend,'' answered the Jew, "call me not wealthy, 
 nor honored. For years I have dwelt within the city ; 
 safe and respected, even by the Moslemin ; verily and 
 because I have purchased, with jewels and treasure, the 
 protection of the king and the great men. But now, 
 alas ! in the sudden wrath of the heathen — ever imao-inino' 
 vain things — I have been summoned into the presence 
 of their chief rabbi, and only escaped the torture, bv a 
 
LEILA. 178 
 
 sum that ten years of labor and the sweat of my brow 
 cannot replace. Ximen ! the bitterest thought of all is, 
 that the frenzy of one of our own tribe has brought this 
 desolation upon Israel." 
 
 " My lord speaks riddles," said Ximen, with well- 
 feigned astonishment in his glassy eyes. 
 
 "Why dost thou wind and turn, good Ximen V said 
 the Jew, shaking his head ; "thou knowest well what my 
 words drive at. Thy master is tire pretended Almamen ; 
 and that recreant Israelite (if Israelite, indeed, still be 
 one who hath forsaken the customs and the forms of his 
 forefathers) is he who has stirred up the Jews of Cordova 
 and Guadix, and whose folly hath brought upon us these 
 dread things. Holy Abraham ! this Jew hath cost me 
 more than fifty Xazarenes and a hundred Moors." 
 
 Ximen remained silent ; and, the tongue of Elias being 
 loosed by the recollection of his sad loss, the latter con- 
 tinued — "At the first, when the son of Issachar reap- 
 peared, and became a counsellor in the king's court, I 
 indeed, who had led him, then a child, to the synagogue 
 — for old Issachar was to me dear as a brother — recog- 
 nized him by his eyes and voice : but I exulted in his 
 craft and concealment ; I believed he would work mighty 
 things for his poor brethren, and would obtain, for his 
 father's friend, the supplying of the king's wives and con- 
 cubines with raiment and cloth of price. But years have 
 passed : he hath not lightened our burthens ; and, by the 
 madness that hath of late come over him, heading the 
 heathen armies, and drawing our brethren into danger 
 15* 
 
174 LEILA. 
 
 and death, he hath deserved the curse of the synagogue, 
 and the wrath of our whole race. I find, from our brethren 
 who escaped the Inquisition by the surrender of tlieir 
 substance, that his unskilful and frantic schemes were the 
 main pretext for the sufferings of the righteous under the 
 Xazarene ; and, again, the same schemes bring on us the 
 same oppression from the Moor. Accursed be he, and 
 may his name perish ! " 
 
 Xiraen sighed, but remained silent, conjecturing to 
 what end the Jew would l)ring his invectives. He was 
 not long in suspense. After a pause, Elias recommenced, 
 in an altered and more careless tone, " He is rich, this 
 son of Issachar — wondrous rich." 
 
 *' He has treasures scattered over half the cities of 
 Africa and the Orient," said Ximen. 
 
 " Thou seest, then, my friend, that thy master hath 
 doomed me to a heavy loss. I possess his secret ; I 
 could give him up to the king's wrath ; I could bring 
 him to the death. But I am just and meek : let him pay 
 my forfeiture, and I will forego mine anger." 
 
 ''Thou dost not know him," said Ximen, alarmed at 
 the thought of a repayment, which might grievously 
 diminish his own heritage of Almamen's effects in 
 Granada. 
 
 "But if I threaten him with exposure?" 
 
 "Thou wouldst feed the fishes of the Darro," inter- 
 rupted Ximen. " Xay, even now, if Almamen learn that 
 tliou knowest his birth and race, tremble I for thy days 
 in the land will be numbered." 
 
LEILA. 175 
 
 "Yerily," exclaimed ther Jew, in great alarm, "then 
 have I fallen into the snare ; for these lips revealed to 
 him that knowledge." 
 
 " Then is the righteous Elias a lost man, within ten 
 days from that in which Almamen returns to Granada. 
 I know my master : and blood is to him as water." 
 
 "Let the wicked be consumed !" cried Elias, furiously, 
 stamping his foot, while fire flashed from his dark eyes, 
 for the instinct of self-preservation made him fierce. 
 *' Xot from me, however," he added, more calmly, " will 
 come his danger. Know that there be more than a 
 hundred Jews in this city, who have sworn his death ; 
 Jews who, flying hither from Cordova, have seen their 
 parents murdered and their substance seized, and who 
 behold, in the son of Issachar, the cause of the murder 
 and the spoil. They have detected the impostor, and a 
 hundred knives are whetting even now for his blood : let 
 him look to it. Ximen, I have spoken to thee as the 
 foolish speak ; thou mayest betray me to thy lord : but 
 from what I have learned of thee from our brethren, I 
 have poured my heart into thy bosom without fear. 
 Wilt thou betray Israel, or assist us to smite the traitor ? " 
 
 Ximen mused a moment, and his meditation conjured 
 up the treasures of his master. He stretched forth his 
 right hand to Elias ; and when the Israelites parted, they 
 were friends. 
 
17G LEILA. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Boabdil's return. — The reappearance of Ferdinand before Granada. 
 
 The third morning from this interview, a rumor reached 
 Granada that Boabdil had been repulsed in his assault on 
 the citadel of Salobreiia with a severe loss : that Hernando 
 del Pulgar had succeeded in conducting to its relief a 
 considerable force ; and that the army of Ferdinand was 
 on its march against the Moorish king. In the midst of 
 the excitement occasioned by these reports, a courier 
 arrived to confirm their truth, and to announce the return 
 of Boabdil. 
 
 At nightfall, the king, preceding his army, entered the 
 city, and hastened to bury himself in the Alhambra. As 
 he passed, dejectedly, into the women's apartments, his 
 stern mother met him. 
 
 "My son," she said, bitterly, "dost thou return, and 
 not a conqueror ? " 
 
 Before Boabdil could reply, a light and rapid step sped 
 through the glittering arcades ; and weeping with joy, 
 and breaking all the Oriental restraints, Amine fell upon 
 his bosom. " My beloved ! my king ! light of mine eyes ! 
 thou hast returned. Welcome — for thou art safe." 
 
 The different form of these several salutations struck 
 Boabdil forcibly. " Thou seest, my mother," said he, 
 
LEILA. 177 
 
 " how great the contrast between those wlio love ns from 
 affection and those who love us from pride. In adversity, 
 God keep me, my mother, from thy tongue!" 
 
 '• But I love thee from pride, too,'' murmured Amine ; 
 " and for that reason is thine adversity dear to me, for 
 it takes thee from the world to make thee more mine 
 own : and I am proud of the afflictions that mj hero 
 shares with his slave." 
 
 ** Lights there, and the banquet ! " cried the king, turn- 
 ing from his haughty mother ; "we will feast and be 
 merry while we may. My adored Amine, kiss me ! " 
 
 Proud, melancholy, and sensitive as he was in that 
 hour of reverse, Boabdil felt no grief: such balm has 
 Love for our sorrows, when its wings are borrowed from 
 the dove ! And although the laws of the Eastern life 
 confined to the narrow walls of a harem the sphere of 
 Amine's gentle influence ; although, even in romance, the 
 NATURAL compels us to portray her vivid and rich colors 
 only in a faint and hasty sketch, yet still are left to the 
 outline the loveliest and the noblest features of the sex 
 — the spirit to arouse us to exertion, the softness to con- 
 sole us in our fall ! 
 
 While Boabdil and the body of the army remained in 
 the city, Muza, with a chosen detachment of the horse, 
 . scoured the country to visit the newly acquired cities, 
 and sustain their courage. 
 
 From this charge he was recalled by the army of Fer- 
 dinand, which once more poured down into the Yega, 
 completely devastated its harvests, and then swept back 
 
 M 
 
178 LEILA. 
 
 to consummate tlie conquests of the revolted towns. To 
 this irruption succeeded an interval of peace — the calm 
 before the storm. From every part of Spain, the most 
 chivalric and resolute of the Moors, taking advantage of 
 the pause in the contest, flocked to Granada : and tliat 
 city became the focus of all that paganism in Europe 
 possessed of brave and determined spirits. 
 
 At length, Ferdinand, completing his conquests, and 
 having refilled his treasury, mustered the whole force of 
 his dominions — forty thousand foot, and ten thousand 
 horse ; and once more, and for the last time, appeared 
 before the walls of Granada. A solemn and prophetic 
 determination filled both besiegers and besieged : each 
 felt that the crowning crisis was at hand. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 The Conflagration. — The Mnjesty of an Individual Passion in the 
 midst of hostile thousands. 
 
 It was the eve of a great and general assault upon 
 Granada, deliberately planned by the chiefs of the Chris- 
 tian army. The Spanish camp (the most gorgeous Chris- 
 tendom had ever known) gradually grew calm and hushed. 
 The shades deepened — the stars burned forth more serene 
 and clear. Bright, in that azure air, streamed the silken 
 tents of the court, blazoned with heraldic devices, and 
 crowned by gaudy banners, which, filled by a brisk and 
 
LEILA. 1Y9 
 
 murmuring wind from the mountains, flaunted gaily on 
 their gilded staves. In the centre of the camp rose the 
 pavilion of the queen — a palace in itself. Lances made 
 its columns ; brocade and painted arras, its walls ; and 
 the space covered by its numerous compartments, would 
 have contained the halls and outworks of an ordinary 
 castle. The pomp of that camp realized the wildest 
 dreams of Gothic, coupled with Oriental splendor; some- 
 thing worthy of a Tasso to have imagined, or a Beck- 
 ford to create. Xor was the exceeding costliness of the 
 more courtly tents lessened in effect by those of the 
 soldiery in the outskirts, many of which w^ere built from 
 boughs, still retaining their leaves — salvage and pictu- 
 resque huts ; — as if, realizing old legends, wild men of 
 the w^oods had taken up the cross, and followed the 
 Christian warriors against the sw^arthy followers of 
 Termagaunt and Mahound. There, then, extended that 
 mighty camp in profound repose, as the midnight threw 
 deeper and longer shadows over the sward from the 
 tented avenues and canvas streets. It was at that hour 
 that Isabel, in the most private recess of her pavilion, 
 was employed in prayer for the safety of the king, and 
 the issue of the Sacred War. Kneeling before the altar 
 of that warlike oratory, her spirit became rapt and ab- 
 sorbed from earth in the intensity of her devotions ; and 
 in the whole camp (save the sentries), the eyes of that 
 pious queen were, perhaps, the only ones unclosed. All 
 was profoundly still ; her guards, her attendants, were 
 gone to rest ; and the tread of the sentinel, without 
 
180 LEILA. 
 
 that immense pavilion, was not heard through the silken 
 walls. 
 
 It was then that Isabel suddenly felt a strong grasp 
 upon her shoulder, as she still knelt by the altar. A 
 faint shriek burst from her lips ; she turned, and the 
 broad curved knife of an eastern warrior gleamed close 
 before her eyes. 
 
 " Hush ! utter a cry, breathe more loudly than thy 
 wont, and, queen though thou art, in the centre of swarm- 
 ing thousands, thou diest ! " 
 
 Such were the words that reached the ear of the royal 
 Castilian, whispered by a man of stern and commanding, 
 though haggard aspect. 
 
 ** What is thy purpose ? wouldst thou murder me ? " 
 said the queen, trembling, perhaps for the first time, 
 before a mortal presence. 
 
 " Thy life is safe, if thou strivest not to elude or to 
 deceive me Our time is short — answer me. I am 
 Almamen, the Hebrew. Where is the hostage rendered 
 to thy hands ? I claim my child. She is with thee — I 
 know it. In what corner of thy camp ? " 
 
 "Rude stranger!" said Isabel, recovering somewhat 
 from her alarm, — " thy daughter is removed, I trust, for 
 ever, from thine impious reach. She is not within the 
 camp." 
 
 "Lie not. Queen of Castile," said Almamen, raising 
 his knife ; " for days and weeks I have tracked thy steps, 
 followed thy march, haunted even thy slumbers, though 
 men of mail stood as guards around them ; and I know 
 
LEILA. 181 
 
 that my daughter has been with thee. Think not I brave 
 this danger without resolves the most fierce and dread. 
 Answer me ! where is mj child ? " 
 
 " Many days since," said Isabel, awed, despite herself, 
 by her strange position, — " thy daughter left the camp 
 for the house of God. It was her own desire. The 
 Savior hatli received her into his fold." 
 
 Had a thousand lances pierced his heart, the vigor 
 and energy of life could scarce more suddenly have 
 deserted Almamen. The rigid muscles of his counte- 
 nance relaxed at once, from resolve and menace, into 
 unutterable horror, anguish, and despair. He recoiled 
 several steps; his knees trembled violently ; he seemed 
 stunned by a death-blow. Isabel, the boldest and 
 haughtiest of her sex, seized that moment of reprieve ; 
 she sprang forwafd, darted through the draperies into 
 the apartments occupied by her train, and, in a moment, 
 the pavilion resounded with her cries for aid. The 
 sentinels were aroused ; retainers sprang from their pil- 
 lows; they heard the cause of the alarm ; they made to 
 the spot ; when, ere they reached its partition of silk, a 
 vivid and startling blaze burst forth upon them. The 
 tent was on fire. The materials fed the flame like magic. 
 Some of the guards had yet the courage to dash forward ; 
 but the smoke and the glare drove them back, blinded 
 and dizzy. Isabel herself had scarcely time for escape, 
 so rapid was the conflagration. Alarmed for her hus- 
 band, she rushed to his tent — to find him already 
 awakened by the noise, and issuing from its entrance, 
 16 
 
182 LEILA. 
 
 his drawn sword in his hand. The wind, which had a 
 few minutes before but curled the triumphant banners, 
 now circulated the destroying flame. It spread from 
 tent to tent, almost as a flash of lightning that shoots 
 along neighboring clouds. The camp was in one con- 
 tinued blaze, ere any man could dream of checking the 
 conflagration. 
 
 Xot waiting to hear the confused tale of his royal con- 
 sort, Ferdinand, exclaiming, " The Moors have done this 
 — they will be on us ! " ordered the drums to beat and 
 the trumpets to sound, and hastened in person, wrapped 
 merely in his long mantle, to alarm his chiefs. While 
 that well-disciplined and veteran army, fearing every mo- 
 ment the rally of the foe, endeavored rapidly to form 
 themselves into some kind of order, the flame continued 
 to spread till the whole heavens were Illumined. By its 
 light, cuirass and helmet glowed, as in the furnace, and 
 the armed men seemed rather like life-like and lurid 
 meteors than human forms. The city of Granada was 
 brought near to them by the intensity of the glow ; and, 
 as a detachment of cavalry spurred from the camp to 
 meet the anticipated surprise of the Paynims, they saw, 
 upon the walls and roofs of Granada, the Moslems clus- 
 tering, and their spears gleaming. But, equally amazed 
 with the Christians, and equally suspicious of craft and 
 design, the Moors did not issue from their gates. Mean- 
 while the conflagration, as rapid to die as to begin, grew 
 fitful and feeble ; and the night seemed to fall with .a 
 melancholy darkness over the ruin of that silken city. 
 
LEILA. 183 
 
 Ferdinand summoned his council. He had now per- 
 ceived it was no ambush of the Moors. The account of 
 Isabel, which, at last, he comprehended ; the strange and 
 almost miraculous manner in which Almamen had baffled 
 his guards, and penetrated to the royal tent ; might have 
 aroused his Gothic superstition, while it relieved his more 
 earthlv apprehensions, if he had not remembered the 
 singular, but far from supernatural, dexterity with which 
 Eastern warriors, and even robbers, continued then, as 
 now, to elude the most vigilant precautions, and baffle 
 the most wakeful guards : and it was evident, that the 
 fire which burned the camp of an army, had been kindled 
 merely to gratify the revenge, or favor the escape, of an 
 individual. Shaking, therefore, from his kingly spirit the 
 thrill of superstitious awe that the greatness of the disas- 
 ter, when associated with the name of a sorcerer, at first 
 occasioned, he resolved to make advantage out of mis- 
 fortune itself. The excitement, the wrath of the troops, 
 produced the temper most fit for action. 
 
 "And Heaven," said the king of Spain to his knights 
 and chiefs, as they assembled round him, "has, in this 
 conflagration, announced to the warriors of the Cross, 
 that henceforth their camp shall be the palaces of Gra- 
 nada ! Woe to the Moslem with to-morrow's sun ! •' 
 
 Arms clanged, and swords leapt from their sheaths, as 
 the Christian knights echoed the anathema — " Woe to 
 THE Moslem ! " 
 
BOOK FIFTH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Great Battle. 
 
 The day slowly dawned upon that awful niglit ; and 
 the Moors, still upon the battlements of Granada, beheld 
 the whole army of Ferdinand on its march towards their 
 walls. At a distance lay the wrecks of the blackened and 
 smouldering camp ; while before them, gaudy and glit- 
 tering pennons waving, and trumpets sounding, came tlie 
 exultant legions of the foe. The Moors could scarcely 
 believe their senses. Fondly anticipating the retreat of 
 the Christians, after so signal a disaster, the gay and 
 dazzling spectacle of their march to the assault filled 
 them with consternation and alarm. 
 
 "While yet wondering and inactive, the trumpet of 
 Boabdil was heard behind ; and they beheld the Moorish 
 king at the head of his guards, emerging down the 
 avenues that led to the gate. The sight restored and 
 exhilarated the gazers ; and, when Boabdil halted in the 
 space before the portals, the shout of twenty thousand 
 
 (184) 
 
LEILA. 185 
 
 warriors rolled omiiiouslv to the ears of the advancino' 
 Christians. 
 
 " Men of Granada ! "' said Boabdil, as soon as the deep 
 and breathless silence had succeeded to that martial ac- 
 clamation — " the advance of the enemy is to their destruc- 
 tion ! In the fire of last night, the hand of Allah wrote 
 their doom. Let us forth, each and all ! We will leave 
 our homes unguarded — our hearts shall be their wall I 
 True, that our numbers are thinned by famine and by 
 slaughter, but enough of us are yet left for the redemp- 
 tion of Granada. Xor are the dead departed from us : 
 the dead fight with us — their souls animate our own. 
 He who has lost a brother, becomes twice a man. On 
 this battle we will set all. Liberty or chains I empire or 
 exile I victory or death I Forward ! "' 
 
 He spoke, and gave the rein to his barb. It bounded 
 forward, and cleared the gloomy arch of the portals, and 
 Boabdil el Chico was the first Moor who issued from 
 Granada, to that last and eventful field. Out, then, 
 poured, as a river that rushes from caverns into day, the 
 burnished and serried files of the Moorish cavalry. Muza 
 came the last, closing the array. Upon his dark and 
 stern countenance there spoke not the ardent enthusiasm 
 of the sanguine king. It was locked and rigid ; and the 
 anxieties of the last dismal weeks had thinned his cheeks, 
 and ploughed deep lines around the firm lips and iron 
 jaw which bespoke the obstinate and ungovernable reso- 
 lution of his character. 
 
 As Muza now spurred forward, and, riding along the 
 IC* 
 
186 LEILA. 
 
 wheeling ranks, marshalled them in order, arose the ac- 
 clamation of female voices ; and the warriors, who looked 
 back at the sound, saw that their women — their wives 
 and daughters, their mothers and their beloved (released 
 from their seclusion, by a policy which bespoke the des- 
 peration of the cause) — were gazing at them, with out- 
 stretched arms, from the battlements and towers. The 
 Moors knew that they were now to fight for their hearths 
 and altars in the presence of those who, if they failed, 
 became slaves and harlots ; and each Moslem felt his 
 heart harden like the steel of his own sabre. 
 
 While the cavalry formed themselves into regular 
 squadrons, and the tramp of the foemen came more near 
 and near, the Moorish infantry, in miscellaneous, eager, 
 and undisciplined bands, poured out, until, spreading 
 wide and deep below the walls, Boabdil's charger was 
 seen, rapidly careering amongst them, as, in short but 
 distinct directions, or fiery adjuration, he sought at once 
 to regulate their movements, and confirm their hot but 
 capricious valor. 
 
 Meanwhile the Christians had abruptly halted ; and 
 the politic Ferdinand resolved not to incur the full brunt 
 of a whole population, in the first flush of their enthusiasm 
 and despair. He summoned to his side Hernando del 
 Pulgar, and bade him, with a troop of the most adven- 
 turous and practised horsemen, advance towards the 
 Moorish cavalry, and endeavor to draw the fiery valor 
 of Muza away from the main army. Then, splitting up 
 his force into several sections, he dismissed each to dif- 
 
LEILA. 187 
 
 ferent stations ; some to storm the adjacent towers, others 
 to fire the surrounding gardens and orchards : so that 
 the action might consist rather of many battles than of 
 one, and the Moors might lose the concentration and 
 union, which made, at present, their most formidable 
 strength. 
 
 Thus, while the Mussulmans were waiting in order for 
 the attack, thev suddenly beheld the main body of the 
 Christians dispersing ; and, while yet in surprise and 
 perplexed, they saw the fires breaking out from their de- 
 licious gardens, to the right and left of the walls, and 
 heard the boom of the Christian artillery against the 
 scattered bulwarks that guarded the approaches of that 
 city. 
 
 At that moment a cloud of dust rolled rapidly towards 
 the post occupied in the van by Muza ; and the shock of 
 the Christian knights, in their mighty mail, broke upon 
 the centre of the prince's squadron. 
 
 Higher, by several inches, than the plumage of his 
 companions, waved the crest of the gigantic Del Pulgar; 
 and, as Moor after Moor went down before his headlong 
 lance, his voice, sounding deep and sepulchral through 
 his vizor, shouted out — " Death to the infidel ! " 
 
 The rapid and dexterous horsemen of Granada were 
 not, however, discomfited by this fierce assault : opening 
 their ranks with extraordinary celerity, they sufi'ered the 
 charge to pass, comparatively harmless, through their 
 centre, and then, closing in one long and bristling line, 
 
188 LEILA, 
 
 cut off the knights from retreat. The Christians wheeled 
 round, and charged again upon their foe. 
 
 " Where art thou, Moslem dog ! that wouldst play 
 the lion ? — Where art thou, Muza Ben Abil Gazan ? " 
 
 "Before thee, Christian!" cried a stern and clear 
 voice ; and, from amongst the helmets of his people, 
 gleamed the dazzling turban of the Moor. 
 
 Hernando checked his steed, gazed a moment at his 
 foe, turned back, for greater impetus to his charge, and, 
 in a moment more, the bravest warriors of the two armies 
 met, lance to lance. 
 
 The round shield of Muza received the Christian's 
 weapon ; his own spear shivered, harmless, upon the 
 breast of the giant. He drew his sword, whirled it rapidly 
 over his head, and, for some minutes, the eyes of the by- 
 standers could scarcely mark the marvellous rapidity with 
 which strokes were given and parried by those redoubted 
 swordsmen. 
 
 At length, Hernando, anxious to bring to bear his 
 superior strength, spurred close to Muza ; and leaving 
 his sword pendent by a thong to his wrist, seized the 
 shield of Muza in his formidable grasp, and plucked it 
 away, with a force that the Moor vainly endeavored to 
 resist : Muza, therefore, suddenly released his bold, and, 
 ere the Spaniard recovered his balance (which was lost 
 by the success of his own strength, put forth to the ut- 
 most), he dashed upon him the hoofs of his black charger, 
 and, with a short but heavy mace, which he caught up 
 from the saddle-bow, dealt Hernando so thundering a 
 
LEILA. 189 
 
 blow upon the helmet, that the giant fell to the ground, 
 stunned and senseless. 
 
 To dismount, to repossess himself of his shield, to re- 
 sume his sabre, to put one knee to the breast of his fallen 
 foe, was the work of a moment ; and then had Don Her- 
 nando del Pulgar been sped, without priest or surgeon, 
 but that, alarmed bv the peril of their most valiant 
 comrade, twenty knights spurred at once to the rescue, 
 and the points of twenty lances kept the lion of Granada 
 from his prey. Thither, with similar speed, rushed the 
 Moorish champions ; and the fight became close and 
 deadly round the body of the still unconscious Christian. 
 Not an instant of leisure to unlace the helmet of Her- 
 nando, by removing which, alone, the Moorish blade 
 could find a mortal place, was permitted to Muza ; and, 
 what with the spears and trampling hoofs around him, 
 the situation of the Paynim was more dangerous than 
 that of the Christian. Meanwhile, Hernando recovered 
 his dizzy senses ; and, made aware of his state, watched 
 his occasion, and suddenly shook off the knee of the 
 Moor. With another effort he was on his feet ; and the 
 two champions stood confronting each other, neither 
 very eager to renew the combat. But on foot, Muza, 
 daring and rash as he was. could not but recognize his 
 disadvantage against the enormous strength and impene- 
 trable armor of the Christian ; he drew back, whistled to 
 his barb, that, piercing the ranks of the horsemen, was 
 by his side on the instant, remounted, and was in the 
 
190 LEILA. 
 
 midst of the foe, almost ere the slower Spaniard was 
 conscious of his disappearance. 
 
 But Hernando was not delivered from his enemy. 
 Clearing a space around him, as three knights, mortally 
 wounded, fell l)eneath his sabre, Muza now drew from 
 behind his shoulder his short Arabian bow ; and shaft 
 after shaft came rattling upon the mail of the dismounted 
 Christian with so marvellous a celerity, that, encumbered 
 as he was with his heavy accoutrements, he was unable 
 either to escape from the spot, or ward off that arrowy 
 rain ; and felt that nothing but chance, or our Lady, 
 could prevent the death which one such arrow would oc- 
 casion, if it should find the opening of the vizor, or the 
 joints of the hauberk. 
 
 "Mother of Mercy!" groaned the knight, perplexed 
 and enraged, " let not thy servant be shot down like a 
 hart, by this cowardly warfare ; but, if I must fall, be it 
 with mine enemy, grappling hand to hand." 
 
 While yet muttering this short invocation, the war-cry 
 of Spain was heard hard by, and the gallant company of 
 Yillena was seen scouring across the plain, to the succor 
 of their comrades. The deadly attention of Muza was 
 distracted from individual foes, however eminent; he 
 wheeled round, re-collected his men, and, in a serried 
 charge, met the new enemy in midway. 
 
 While the contest thus fared in that part of the field, 
 the scheme of Ferdinand had succeeded so far as to 
 break up the battle in detached sections. Far and near, 
 plain, grove, garden, tower, presented each the scene of 
 
LEILA. 191 
 
 obstinate and determined conflict. Boabdil, at the bead 
 of his chosen guard, the flower of the haughtier tribe of 
 nobles, who were jealous of the fame and blood of the 
 tribe of Muza, and followed also by his gigantic Ethio- 
 pians, exposed his person to every peril, with the 
 desperate valor of a man who feels his own stake is 
 greatest in tlie field. As he most distrusted the infantry, 
 so, amongst the infantry he chiefly bestowed his pre- 
 sence ; and, wherever he appeared, he sufficed, for the 
 moment, to turn the changes of the engagement. At 
 length, at mid-day. Ponce de Leon led against the 
 largest detachment of the 3Ioorish foot a strong and 
 numerous battalion of the best-disciplined and veteran 
 soldiery of Spain. He had succeeded in winning a 
 fortress, from which his artillery could play with eff'ect ; 
 and the troops he led were composed, partly of men 
 flushed with recent triumph, and partly of a fresh reserve, 
 now first brought into the field. A comely and a breath- 
 less spectacle it was, to behold this Christian squadron 
 emerging from a blazing copse, which they fired on their 
 march ; the red light gleaming on their complete armor, 
 as, in steady and solemn order, they swept on to the 
 swaying and clamorous ranks of the Moorish infantry. 
 Boabdil learned the danger from his scouts ; and, hastily 
 quitting a tower, from which he had, for awhile, repulsed 
 a hostile legion, he threw himself into the midst of the 
 battalions menaced by the skilful Ponce de Leon. Almost 
 at the same moment, the wild and ominous apparition of 
 Almamen, long absent from the eyes of the Moors, ap- 
 
192 LEILA. 
 
 peared in the same quarter, so suddenly and unexpectedly, 
 that none knew whence he had emerged : the sacred 
 standard in his left hand — his sabre, bared and dripping 
 gore, in his right — his face exposed, and its powerful 
 features working with an excitement that seemed inspired : 
 his abrupt presence breathed a new soul into the Moors. 
 
 " They come ! they come ! " he shrieked aloud. " The 
 God of the East hath delivered the Goth into your 
 hands ! " 
 
 From rank to rank — from line to line — sped the 
 santon ; and, as the mystic banner gleamed before the 
 soldiery, each closed his eyes, and muttered an "amen" 
 to his abjurations. 
 
 And now, to the cry of Spain and St. lago, came 
 trampling down the relentless charge of the Christian 
 war. At the same instant, from the fortress lately taken 
 by Ponce de Leon, the artillery opened upon the Moors, 
 and did deadly havoc. The Moslems wavered for a 
 moment, when before them gleamed the white banner of 
 Almamen ; and they beheld him rushing, alone, and on 
 foot, amidst the foe. Taught to believe the war itself 
 depended on the preservation of the enchanted banner, 
 the Payniras could not see it thus rashly adventured with- 
 out anxiety and shame ; they rallied, advanced firmly, and 
 Boabdil himself, with waving cimiter and fierce exclama- 
 tions, dashed impetuously, at the head of his guards and 
 Ethiopians, into the affray. The battle became obstinate 
 and bloody. Thrice the white banner disappeared amidst 
 the closing ranks; and thrice, like a moon from the 
 
LEILA. 193 
 
 clouds, it shone forth again — the light and guide of the 
 Pagan power. 
 
 The day ripened ; and the hills already cast lengthening 
 shadows over the blazing groves and the still Darro, 
 whose waters, in every creek where the tide was arrested, 
 ran red with blood, when Ferdinand, collecting his whole 
 reserve, descended from the eminence on which hitherto 
 he had posted himself. With him moved three thousand 
 foot and a thousand horse, fresh in their vigor and panting 
 for a share in that glorious day. The king himself, who, 
 though constitutionally fearless, from motives of policy 
 rarely perilled his person, save on imminent occasions, 
 was resolved not to be outdone by Boabdil; and armed 
 cap-a-pied in mail, so wrought with gold that it seemed 
 nearly all of that costly metal, with his snow-white 
 plumage waving above a small diadem that surmounted 
 his lofty helm, he seemed a fit leader to that armament 
 of heroes. Behind him flaunted the great gonfalon of 
 Spain, and trump and cymbal heralded his approach. 
 The Count de Tendilla rode by his side. 
 
 "Senor," said Ferdinand, "the infidels fight hard ; but 
 they are in the snare — we are about to close the nets 
 upon them. But what cavalcade is this?" 
 
 The group that thus drew the king's attention con- 
 sisted of six squires, bearing on a martial litter, com- 
 posed of shields, the stalwart form of Hernando del 
 Pulgar. 
 
 "Ah, the dogs!'' cried the king, as he recognized the 
 pale features of the darling of the army, — "have they 
 
 n N 
 
194 LEILA. 
 
 murdered the bravest kuiglit that ever fought for Chris- 
 tendom?" 
 
 ''Not that, your majesty," quoth he of the exploits, 
 faintly; "but I am sorely stricken." 
 
 " It must have been more than man who struck thee 
 down," said the king. 
 
 "It was the mace of Muza Ben Abil Gazan, an' please 
 you, sire," said one of the squires; ''but it came on the 
 good knight unawares, and long after his own arm had 
 seemingly driven- away the Pagan." 
 
 "We will avenge thee well," said the king, setting his 
 teeth : " let our own leeches tend thy wounds. Forward, 
 sir knights ! St. lago and Spain ! " 
 
 The battle had now gathered to a vortex ; Muza and 
 his cavalry had now joined Boabdil and the Moorish 
 foot. On the other hand, Yillena had been reinforced 
 by detachments, that, in almost every other quarter of 
 the field, had routed the foe. The Moors had been 
 driven back, though inch by inch ; they were now in the 
 broad space before the very walls of the city, which were 
 still crowded by the pale and anxious faces of the aged 
 and the women : and at eTerj pause in the artillery, the 
 voices that spoke of home were borne by that lurid air 
 to the ears of the infidels. The shout that ran through 
 the Christian force, as Ferdinand had now joined it, 
 struck like a death-knell upon the last hope of Boabdil. 
 But the blood of his fierce ancestry burned in his veins, 
 and the cheerins; voice of Almaraen, whom nothin.Gr 
 
LEILA, 195 
 
 daunted, inspired him with a kind of superstitious 
 frenzy. 
 
 "King against king — so be it! Let Allah decide 
 between us!" cried the Moorish monarch. " Bind up 
 this wound — 'tis well ! A steed for the santon ! Xow, 
 my prophet and my friend, mount by the side of thy 
 king — let us at least fall together. Lelilies ! Lelilies !" 
 
 Throughout the brave Christian ranks went a thrill 
 of reluctant admiration, as they beheld the Paynim king, 
 conspicuous by his fair beard and the jewels of his har- 
 ness, lead the scanty guard yet left to him once more 
 into the thickest of their lines. Simultaneously Muza 
 and his Zegris made their fiery charge ; and the Moorish 
 infantry, excited by the example of their leaders, followed 
 ■with unslackened and dogged zeal. The Christians gave 
 way — they were beaten back: Ferdinand spurred for- 
 ward ; and, ere either party were well aware of it, both 
 kings met in the same melee : all order and discipline, 
 for the moment, lost, general and monarch were, as com- 
 mon soldiers, fighting hand to hand. It was then that 
 Ferdinand, after bearing down before his lance Xaim 
 Reduon, second only to Muza in the songs of Granada, 
 beheld opposed to him a strange form, that seemed to 
 that royal Christian rather fiend than man : his raven 
 hair and beard, clotted with blood, hung like snakes 
 about a countenance whose features, naturally formed to 
 give expression to the darkest passions, were distorted 
 with the madness of despairing rage. Wounded in many 
 
196 LEILA. 
 
 places, the blood dabbled his mail ; while, over his head^ 
 he waved the banner wrought with mystic characters, 
 which Ferdinand had already been taught to believe the 
 workmanship of demons. 
 
 " Xow, perjured king of the Xazarenes ! " shouted 
 this formidable champion, " we meet at last ! — no longer 
 host and guest, monarch and dervise, but man to man ! 
 I am Almamen ! Die ! " 
 
 He spoke ; and his sword descended so fiercely on that 
 anointed head, that Ferdinand bent to his saddle-bow. 
 But the king quickly recovered his seat, and gallantly 
 met the encounter ; it was one that might have tasked 
 to the utmost the prowess of his bravest knight. Pas- 
 sions which, in their number, their nature, and their ex- 
 cess, animated no other champion on either side, gave 
 to the arm of Almamen, the Israelite, a preternatural 
 strength : his blows fell like rain upon the harness of the 
 king : and the fiery eyes, the gleaming banner of the 
 mysterious sorcerer, who had eluded the tortures of his 
 Inquisition, — who had walked unscathed through the 
 midst of his army, — whose single hand had consumed 
 the encampment of a host, filled the stout heart of the 
 king with a belief that he encountered no earthly foe. 
 Fortunately, perhaps, for Ferdinand and Spain, the con- 
 test did not last long. Twenty horsemen spurred into 
 the melee to the rescue of the plumed diadem : Tendilla 
 arrived the first ; with a stroke of his two-handed sword, 
 the white banner was cleft from its staff, and fell to the 
 
LEILA. 19V 
 
 earth. At that sight the Moors around broke forth in 
 a wild and despairing cry : that cry spread from rank to 
 rank, from horse to foot ; the Moorish infantry, sorely 
 pressed on all sides, no sooner learned the disaster than 
 they turned to fly : the rout was as fatal as it was sudden. 
 The Christian reserve, just brought into the field, poured 
 down upon them with a simultaneous charge. Boabdil, 
 too much engaged to be the first to learn the dowiifall 
 of the sacred insignia, suddenly saw himself almost 
 alone, with his diminished Ethiopians and a handful of 
 his cavaliers. 
 
 " Yield thee, Boabdil el Chico ! " cried Tendilla, from 
 his rear, ''or thou canst not be saved." 
 
 " By the Prophet, never ! " exclaimed the king : and 
 he dashed his barb against the wall of spears behind 
 him ; and with but a score or so of his guard, cut his 
 way through the ranks that were not unwilling, perhaps, 
 to spare so brave a foe. As he cleared the Spanish bat- 
 talions, the unfortunate monarch checked his horse for a 
 moment, and gazed along the plain : he beheld his army 
 flying in all directions, save in that single spot where yet 
 glittered the turban of Muza Ben Abil Gazan. As he 
 gazed, he heard the panting nostrils of the chargers 
 behind, and saw the levelled spears of a company des- 
 patched to take him, alive or dead, by the command of 
 Ferdinand : he laid the reins upon his horse's neck, and 
 galloped into the city — three lances quivered against the 
 portals as he disappeared through the shadows of the 
 It* 
 
198 LEILA. 
 
 arcli. But while Muza remained, all was not yet lost : 
 he perceiyed the flight of the infantry and the king, and 
 with his followers galloped across the plain ; he came in 
 time to encounter and slav, to a man, the pursuers of 
 Boabdil ; he then threw himself before the flying Moors. 
 
 " Do ye fly in the sight of your wives and daughters ? 
 Would ye not rather they beheld ye die ? " 
 
 A thousand voices answered him. " The banner is in 
 the hands of the infidel — all is lost I *' they swept by him, 
 and stopped not till they gained the gates. 
 
 But still a small and devoted remnant of the Moorish 
 cavaliers remained to shed a last glory over defeat itself. 
 TVith Muza, their soul and centre, they fought every 
 atom of ground : it was, as the chronicler expresses it, 
 as if they grasped the soil with their arms. Twice they 
 charged into the midst of the foe : the slaughter they 
 made doubled their own number; but, gathering on and 
 closing in, squadron upon squadron, came the whole 
 Christian army — they were encompassed, wearied out, 
 beaten back, as by an ocean. Like wild beasts, driven, 
 at length, to their lair, they retreated with their faces to 
 the foe: and when Muza came, the last, — his cimiter 
 shivered to the hilt, — he had scarcely breath to command 
 the gates to be closed and the portcullis lowered, ere he 
 fell from his charger in a sudden and deadly swoon, 
 caused less by his exhaustion than his agony and shame. 
 So ended the last battle fought for the Monarchy of 
 Granada ! 
 
LEILA. iy9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Novice. 
 
 It was in one of the cells of a convent, renowned for 
 the piety of its inmates, and the wholesome austerity of 
 its laws, that a young novice sat alone. The narrow 
 casement was placed so high in the cold grey wall as to 
 forbid to the tenant of the cell the solace of sad, or the 
 distraction of pious, thoughts, which a view of the world 
 without might afford. Lovely, indeed, was the landscape 
 that spread below ; but it was barred from those youthful 
 and melancholy eyes : for Xature might tempt to a 
 thousand thoughts, not of a tenor calculated to reconcile 
 the heart to an eternal sacrifice of the sweet human ties. 
 But a faint and partial gleam of sunshine broke through 
 the aperture, and made yet more cheerless the dreary 
 aspect and gloomy appurtenances of the cell. And the 
 young novice seemed to carry on within herself that 
 struggle of emotions, without which there is no victory 
 in the resolves of virtue : sometimes she wept bitterly, 
 but with a low, subdued sorrow, which spoke rather of 
 despondency than passion : sometimes she raised her 
 head from her breast, and smiled as she looked upward, 
 or as her eyes rested on the crucifix and the death's-head 
 that were placed on the rude table by the pallet on which 
 
200 LEILA. 
 
 she sate. They were emblems of death here, and life 
 hereafter, which, perhaps, afforded to her the sources of 
 a two-fold consolation. 
 
 She was yet musing, when a slight tap at the door was 
 heard, and the abbess of the convent appeared. 
 
 " Daughter," said she, " I have brought thee the com- 
 fort of a sacred visitor. The Queen of Spain, whose 
 pious tenderness is maternally anxious for thy full con- 
 tentment with thy lot, has sent hither a holy friar, whom 
 she deems more soothing in his counsels than our brother 
 Tomas, whose ardent zeal often terrifies those whom his 
 honest spirit only desires to purify and guide. I will 
 leave him with thee. May the saints bless his ministry ! " 
 So saying, the abbess retired from the threshold, makin": 
 way for a form in the garb of a monk, with the hood 
 drawn over the face. The monk bowed his head meekly, 
 advanced into the cell, closed the door, and seated him- 
 self on a stool, which, save the table and the pallet, 
 seemed the sole furniture of the dismal chamber. 
 
 "Daughter," said he, after a pause, "it is a rugged 
 and a mournful lot, this renunciation of earth and all its 
 fair destinies and soft affections, to one not wholly pre- 
 pared and armed for the sacrifice. Confide in me, my 
 child ; I am no dire inquisitor, seeking to distort thy 
 words to thine own peril. I am no bitter and morose 
 ascetic. Beneath these robes still beats a human heart, 
 that can sympathize with human sorrows. Confide in 
 me without fear. Dost thou not dread the fate they 
 
LEILA. 201 
 
 would force upon thee ? Dost thou not shrink back ? 
 Wouldst thou not be free ? '' 
 
 " Xo," said the poor novice ; but the denial came faint 
 and irresolute from her lips. 
 
 " Pause," said the friar, growing more earnest in his 
 tone: "pause — there is yet time." 
 
 " Nay," said the novice, looking up with some sur- 
 prise in her countenance ; " nay, even were I so weak, 
 escape now is impossible. What hand could unbar the 
 gates of the convent ? " 
 
 "Mine !" cried the monk, with impetuosity. "Yes, I 
 have that power. In all Spain, but one man can save 
 thee, and I am he." 
 
 "You!" faltered the novice, gazing at her strange 
 visitor with mingled astonishment and alarm. "And 
 who are you, that could resist the fiat of that Tomas de 
 Torquemada, before whom, they tell me, even the crowned 
 heads of Castile and Arragon vail low ? " 
 
 The monk half rose, with an impatient and almost 
 haughty start, at this interrogatory ; but, reseating him- 
 self, replied, in a deep and half whispered voice : 
 " Daughter, listen to me ! It is true that Isabel of Spain 
 (whom the Mother of Mercy bless ! for merciful to all is 
 her secret heart, if not her outward policy) — it is true 
 that Isabel of Spain, fearful that the path to heaven 
 might be made rougher to thy feet than it well need be 
 (there was a slight accent of irony in the monk's voice 
 as he thus spoke), selected a friar of suasive eloquence 
 
202 LEILA. 
 
 and gentle manners, to visit thee. He was charged with 
 letters to yon abbess from the queen. Soft though the 
 friar, he was yet a hypocrite. Nay, hear me out! he 
 loved to worship the rising sun ; and he did not wish 
 always to remain a simple friar, while the Church had 
 higher dignities of this earth to bestow. In the Christian 
 camp, daughter, there was one who burned for tidings 
 of thee, — whom thine image haunted — who, stern as 
 thou wert to him, loved thee with a love he knew not of, 
 till thou wert lost to him. Why dost thou tremble, 
 daughter ? listen, yet ! To that lover, for he was one of 
 high birth, came the monk ; to that lover the monk sold 
 his mission. The monk will have a ready tale, that he 
 was waylaid amidst the mountains by armed men, and 
 robbed of his letters to the abbess. The lover took his 
 garb, and he took the letters ; and he hastened hither. 
 Leila ! beloved Leila ! behold him at thy feet ! " 
 
 The monk raised his cowl ; and, dropping on his knee 
 beside her, presented to her gaze the features of the 
 Prince of Spain. 
 
 "You!" said Leila, averting her countenance, and 
 vainly endeavoring to extricate the hand which he had 
 seized. " This is indeed cruel. You, the author of so 
 many sufferings — such calumny — such reproach!" 
 
 *'I will repair all," said Don Juan, fervently. "I 
 alone, I repeat it, have the power to set you free. You 
 are no longer a Jewess ; you are one of our faith ; there 
 is now no bar upon our loves. Imperious though my 
 father, — all dark and dread as is this new power which 
 
LEILA. 203 
 
 he is rashly erectinf^ in his dominions, the heir of two 
 monarchies is not so poor in influence and in friends, as 
 to be unable to offer to the woman of his love an inviola- 
 ble shelter, alike from priest and despot. Fly with me ! 
 — quit this dreary sepulchre, ere the last stone close over 
 thee for ever ! I have horses, I have guards at hand. 
 This night it can be arranged. This night — oh, bliss ! 
 thou mayest be rendered up to earth and love ! " 
 
 "Prince," said Leila, who had drawn herself from 
 Juan's grasp during this address, and who now stood at 
 a little distance, erect and proud, "you tempt me in vain ; 
 or, rather, you offer me no temptation. I have made my 
 choice ; I abide by it." 
 
 " Oh ! bethink thee," said the prince, in a voice of real 
 and imploring anguish ; " bethink thee well of the con- 
 sequences of thy refusal. Thou canst not see them yet; 
 thine ardor blinds thee. But, when hour after hour, day 
 after day, year after year, steals on in the appalling 
 monotony of this sanctified prison ; when thou shalt see 
 thy youth withering without love — thine age without 
 honor ; when thy heart shall grow as stone within thee, 
 beneath the looks of yon icy spectres ; when nothing 
 shall vary the aching dulness of wasted life, save a longer 
 fast, or a severer penance : then, then will thy grief be 
 renderedtenfold.by the despairing and remorseful thought, 
 that thine own lips sealed thine own sentence. Thou 
 mayest think," continued Juan, with rapid eagerness, 
 "that my love to thee was, at first, light and dishonoring. 
 Be it so. I own that my youth has passed in idle wooings, 
 
204 LEILA. 
 
 and the mockeries of affection. But, for the first time 
 in my life, I feel that I love. Thy dark eyes — thy noble 
 beauty — even thy womanly scorn, have fascinated me. 
 I — never yet disdained where I have been a suitor — 
 acknowledge, at last, that tliere is a triumph in the con- 
 quest of a woman's heart. Oh, Leila! do not — do not 
 reject me. You know not how rare and how deep a love 
 you cast away." 
 
 The novice was touched : the present language of Don 
 Juan was so different from what it had been before ; the 
 earnest love that breathed in his voice — that looked from 
 his eyes, struck a chord in her breast : it reminded her of 
 her own unconquered, nnconquerable love for the lost 
 Muza. She was touched, then — touched to tears; but 
 her resolves were not shaken. 
 
 " Oh, Leila ! " resumed the prince, fondly, mistaking 
 the nature of her emotion, and seeking to pursue the 
 advantage he imagined he had gained, " look at yonder 
 sunbeam, struggling through the loophole of thy cell. Is 
 it not a messenger from the happy world ? does it not 
 plead for me ? does it not whisper to thee of the green 
 fields, and the laughing vineyards, and all the beautiful 
 prodigality of that earth thou art about to renounce for 
 ever ? Dost thou dread my love ? Are the forms around 
 thee, ascetic and lifeless, fairer to thine eyes than mine ? 
 Dost thou doubt my power to protect thee ? I tell thee 
 that the proudest nobles of Spain would flock around 
 my banner, were it necessary to guard thee by force of 
 arms. Yet, speak the word, be mine — and I will fly 
 
LEILA 
 
 hence with thee, to climes where the Church has not cast 
 out its deadly roots, and, forgetful of crowns and cares, 
 live alone for thee. Ah, speak ! " 
 
 "My lord," said Leila, calmly, and arousing herself to 
 the necessary effort, " I am deeply and sincerely grateful 
 for the interest you express — for the affection you avow. 
 But you deceive yourself. I have pondered well over 
 the alternative I have taken. I do not regret nor repent 
 — much less would I retract it. The earth that you speak 
 of, full of affections and of bliss to others, has no ties, 
 no allurements for me. I desire only peace, repose, and 
 an early death." 
 
 " Can it be possible," said the prince, growing pale, 
 "that thou lovest another? Then, indeed, and then only, 
 would my wooing be in vain." 
 
 The cheek of the novice grew deeply flushed, but the 
 color soon subsided : she murmured to herself, " Why 
 should I blush to own it now ? " and then spoke aloud : 
 " Prince, I trust I have done with the world ; and bitter 
 the pang 1 feel when you call me back to it. But you 
 merit my candor: I have loved another; and in that 
 thought, as in an urn, lie the ashes of all affection. That 
 other is of a different faith. We may never — never 
 meet again below, but it is a solace to pray that we 
 may meet above. That solace, and these cloisters, are 
 dearer to me than all the pomp, all the pleasures, of the 
 world." 
 
 The prince sank down, and covering his face with his 
 hands, groaned aloud — but made no reply. 
 18 
 
206 LEILA. 
 
 " Go, then, Prince of Spain," continued the novice ; 
 " son of the noble Isabel, Leila is not unworthy of her 
 cares. Go, and pursue the great destinies that await you. 
 And if you forgive — if you still cherish a thought of — 
 the poor Jewish maiden, soften, alleviate, mitigate, the 
 wretched and desperate doom that awaits the fallen race 
 she has abandoned for thy creed." 
 
 "Alas, alas ! " said the prince, mournfully, " thee alone, 
 perchance, of all thy race, I could have saved from the 
 bigotry that is fast covering this knightly land, like the 
 rising of an irresistible sea — and thou rejectest me I 
 Take time, at least, to pause — to consider. Let me see 
 thee again to-morrow." 
 
 " No, prince, no — not again ! I will keep thy secret 
 only if I see thee no more. If thou persist in a suit 
 that I feel to be that of sin and shame, then, indeed, mine 
 honor " 
 
 "Hold !" interrupted Juan, with haughty impatience 
 
 "I torment, I harass you no more. I release you from 
 
 my importunity. Perhaps, already I have stooped too 
 low." He drew the cowl over his features, and strode 
 sullenly to the door ; but, turning for one last gaze on 
 the form that had so strangely fascinated a heart capable 
 of generous emotions — the meek and despondent posture 
 of the novice, her tender youth, her gloomy fate, melted 
 his momentary pride and resentment. " God bless and 
 reconcile thee, poor child !" he said, in a voice choked 
 with contending passions — and the door closed upon his 
 form. 
 
LEILA. 207 
 
 " I thank tliee, Heaven, that it was not Muza ! " 
 muttered Leila, breaking from a reverie, in which she 
 seemed to be communing with her own soul; "I feel that 
 1 could not have resisted /?im." With that thought she 
 knelt down, in humble and penitent self-reproach, and 
 prayed for strength. 
 
 Ere she had risen from her supplications, her solitude 
 was again invaded by Torquemada, the Dominican. 
 
 This strange man, though the author of cruelties at 
 which nature recoils, had some veins of warm and gentle 
 feeling, streaking, as it were, the marble of his hard cha- 
 racter ; and when he had thoroughly convinced himself 
 of the pure and earnest zeal of the young convert, he re- 
 laxed from the grim sternness he had at first exhibited 
 towards her. He loved to exert the eloquence he pos- 
 sessed, in raising her spirit, in reconciling her doubts. 
 He prayed for her, and he prayed beside her, with pas- 
 sion and with tears. 
 
 He stayed long with the novice, and when he left her 
 she was, if not happy, at least contented. Her warmest 
 wish now, was to abridge the period of her noviciate, 
 which, at her desire, the Church had already rendered 
 merely a nominal probation. She longed to put irreso- 
 lution out of her power, and to enter at once upon the 
 narrow road through the strait gate. 
 
 The gentle and modest piety of the young novice 
 touched the sisterhood : she was endeared to all of them. 
 Her conversion was an event that broke the lethargy of 
 their stagnaTit life. She became an object of general in- 
 
208 LEILA. 
 
 terest, of avowed pride, of kindly compassion ; and their 
 kindness to her, who from her cradle had seen little of 
 her own sex, had a great effect towards calming and 
 soothing her mind. But, at night, her dreams brought 
 before her the dark and menacing countenance of her 
 father. Sometimes he seemed to pluck her from the 
 gates of heaven, and to sink with her into the yawning 
 abyss below. Sometimes she saw him with her beside 
 the altar, but imploring her to forswear the Savior, be- 
 fore whose crucifix she knelt. Occasionally her visions 
 were haunted, also, with Muza — but in less terrible guise. 
 She saw his calm and melancholy eyes fixed upon her ; 
 and his voice asked, " Canst thou take a vow that makes 
 it sinful to remember me ? " 
 
 The night, that usually brings balm and oblivion to 
 the sad, was thus made more dreadful to Leila than the 
 day. Her health grew feebler and feebler, but her mind 
 still was firm. In happier time and circumstance, that 
 poor novice would have been a great character ; but she 
 was one of the countless victims the world knows not of, 
 whose virtues are in silent motives, whose struggles are 
 in the solitary heart. 
 
 Of the prince she heard and saw no more. There 
 were times when she fancied, from oblique and obscure 
 hints, that the Dominican had been aware of Don Juan's 
 disguise and visit. But, if so, that knowledge appeared 
 only to increase the gentleness, almost the respect, which 
 Torquemada manifested towards her. Certainly, since 
 that day, from some cause or other, the priest's manner 
 
LEILA. 209 
 
 had been softened when he addressed her ; and he who 
 seldom had recourse to other arts than those of censure 
 and of menace, often uttered sentiments half of pity and 
 half of praise. 
 
 Thus consoled and supported in the day, — thus haunted 
 and terrified by night, but still not repenting her resolve, 
 Leila saw the time glide on to that eventful day when her 
 lips were to pronounce that irrevocable vow which is the 
 epitaph of life. While in this obscure and remote con- 
 vent progressed the history of an individual, we are sum- 
 moned back to witness the crowning fate of an expiring 
 dynasty. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Pause between Defeat and Surrender. 
 
 The unfortunate Boabdil plunged once more amidst 
 the recesses of the Alhambra. Whatever his anguish, or 
 his despondency, none were permitted to share, or even 
 to witness, his emotions. But he especially resisted the 
 admission to his solitude, demanded by his mother, im- 
 plored by his faithful Amine, and sorrowfully urged by 
 Muza : those most loved, or most respected, were, above 
 all, the persons from whom he most shrunk. 
 
 Almamen was heard of no more. It was believed that 
 he had perished in the battle. But he was one of those 
 who, precisely as they are effective when present, are for- 
 18* o 
 
210 LEILA. 
 
 gotten in absence. And, in tlie meanwhile, as the Yega 
 was utterly desolated, and all supplies were cut off, famine, 
 daily made more terrifically severe, diverted the attention 
 of each humbler Moor from the fall of the city to his 
 individual sufferings. 
 
 New persecutions fell upon the miserable Jews. Not 
 having taken any share in the conflict (as was to be ex- 
 pected from men who had no stake in the country which 
 they dwelt in, and whose brethren had been taught so 
 severe a lesson upon the folly of interference), no senti- 
 ment of fellowship in danger mitigated the hatred and 
 loathing in which they were held ; and as, in their lust 
 of gain, many of them continued, amidst the agony and 
 starvation of the citizens, to sell food at enormous prices, 
 the excitement of the multitude against them — released, 
 by the state of the city, from all restraint and law — made 
 itself felt by the most barbarous excesses. Many of the 
 houses of the Israelites were attacked by the mob, plun- 
 dered, razed to the ground, and the owners tortured to 
 death, to extort confession of imaginary wealth. Xot to 
 sell what was demanded was a crime ; to sell it was a 
 crime also. These miserable outcasts fled to whatever 
 secret places the vaults of their houses or the caverns in 
 the hills within the city could yet afford them, cursing 
 their fate, and almost longing even for the yoke of the 
 Christian bigots. 
 
 Thus passed several days ; the defence of the city 
 abandoned to its naked walls and mighty gates. The 
 glaring sun looked down upon closed shops and depopu- 
 
LEILA. 211 
 
 lated streets, save when some ghostly and skeleton band 
 of the famished poor collected, in a sudden paroxysm of 
 revenge or despair, around the stormed and fired mansion 
 of a detested Israelite. 
 
 At length, Boabdil aroused himself from his seclusion; 
 and Muza, to his own surprise, was summoned to the 
 presence of the king. He found Boabdil in one of the 
 most gorgeous halls of his gorgeous palace. 
 
 Within the Tower of Comares is a vast chamber, still 
 called the Hall of the Ambassadors. Here it was that 
 Boabdil now held his court. On the glowing walls hung 
 trophies and banners, and here and there an Arabian 
 portrait of some bearded king. By the windows, which 
 overlooked the most lovely banks of the Darro, gathered 
 the santons and alfaquis, a little apart from the main 
 crowd. Beyond, through half-veiling draperies, might 
 be seen the great court of the Alberca, whose peristyles 
 were hung with flowers ; while, in the centre, the gigantic 
 basin, which gives its name to the court, caught the sun- 
 light obliquely, and its waves glittered on the eye from 
 amidst the roses that then clustered over it. 
 
 In the audience hall itself, a canopy, over the royal 
 cushions on which Boabdil reclined, was blazoned with 
 the heraldic insignia of Granada's monarchs. His guards, 
 and his mutes, and his eunuchs, and his courtiers, and his 
 captains, were ranged in long files on either side the 
 canopy. It seemed the last flicker of the lamp of the 
 Moorish empire, that hollow and unreal pomp ! As 
 Muza approached the monarch, he was startled by the 
 
212 LEILA. 
 
 change of Lis countenance : the young and beautiful 
 Boabdil seemed to have grown suddenly old : his eyes 
 were sunken, his countenance sown with wrinkles, and 
 his voice sounded broken and hollow on the ears of his 
 kinsman. 
 
 "Come hither, Muza,'' said he; "seat thyself beside 
 me, and listen as thou best canst to the tidings we are 
 about to hear." 
 
 As Muza placed himself on a cushion, a little below 
 the king, Boabdil motioned to one amongst the crowd. 
 
 "Hamet," said he, "thou hast examined the state of 
 the Christian camp ; what news dost thou bring ? " 
 
 "Light of the Faithful," answered the Moor, "it is a 
 camp no longer — it has already become a city. Nine 
 towns of Spain were charged with the task ; stone has 
 taken the place of canvas ; towers and streets arise like 
 the buildings of a genius ; and the misbelieving king hath 
 sworn that this new city shall not be left until Granada 
 sees his standard on its walls." 
 
 "Go on," said Boabdil, calmly. 
 
 " Traders and men of merchandise flock thither daily ; 
 the spot is one bazaar : all that should supply our famish- 
 ing country pours its plenty into their mart." 
 
 Boabdil motioned to the Moor to withdraw, and an 
 alfaqui advanced in his stead. 
 
 " Successor of the Prophet, and darling of the world ! " 
 said the reverend man, " the alfacpiis and seers of Granada 
 implore thee on their knees to listen to their voice. They 
 have consulted the Books of Fate ; they have implored a 
 
LEILA. 213 
 
 sign from the Prophet ; and they find that the glory has 
 left thy people and thy crown. The fall of Granada is 
 predestined — God is great ! " 
 
 "You shall have my answer forthwith," said Boabdil. 
 " Abdelemic, approach." 
 
 From the crowd came an aged and white-bearded man, 
 the governor of the city. 
 
 "Speak, old man," said the king. 
 
 " Oh, Boabdil ! " said the veteran, with faltering tones, 
 while the tears rolled down his cheeks; "son of a race 
 of kings and heroes ! would that thy servant had fallen 
 dead on thy threshold this day, and that the lips of a 
 Moorish noble had never been polluted by the words that 
 I now utter. Our state is hopeless : our granaries are 
 as the sands of the desert ; there is in them life neither 
 for beast nor man. The war-horse that bore the hero is 
 now consumed for his food ; and the population of thy 
 city, with one voice, cry for chains and — bread ! I have 
 spoken." 
 
 " Admit the ambassador of Egypt," said Boabdil, as 
 Abdelemic retired. There was a pause : one of the 
 draperies at the end of the hall was drawn aside ; and 
 with the slow^ and sedate majesty of their tribe and land, 
 paced forth a dark and swarthy train, the envoys of the 
 Egyptian soldan. Six of the band bore costly presents 
 of gems and weapons, and the procession closed with 
 four veiled slaves, whose beauty had been the boast of 
 the ancient valley of the Xile. 
 
 " Sun of Granada and dav-star of the Faithful ! " said 
 
214 LEILA. 
 
 the chief of the Egyptians, " my lord, the Soldan of 
 Egypt, delight of the world, and rose-tree of the East, 
 thus answers to the letters of Boabdil. He grieves that 
 he cannot send the succor thou demandest ; and inform- 
 ing himself of the condition of thy territories, he finds 
 that Granada no longer holds a sea-port, by which his 
 forces (could he send them) might find an entrance into 
 Spain. He implores thee to put thy trust in Allah, who 
 will not desert his chosen ones, and lays these gifts, in 
 pledge of amity and love, at the feet of my lord the king." 
 
 "It is a gracious and well-timed offering," said Boab- 
 dil, with a writhing lip; " we thank him." There was 
 now a long and dead silence, as the ambassadors swept 
 from the hall of audience ; when Boabdil suddenly raised 
 his head from his breast, and looked around his hall with 
 a kingly and majestic air: "Let the heralds of Ferdi- 
 nand of Spain approach." 
 
 A groan involuntarily broke from the breast of Muza : 
 it was echoed by a murmur of abhorrence and despair 
 from the gallant captains who stood around : but to that 
 momentary burst succeeded a breathless silence, as from 
 another drapery, opposite the royal couch, gleamed the 
 burnished mail of the knights of Spain. Foremost of 
 those haughty visitors, whose iron heels clanked loudly 
 on the tessellated floor, came a noble and stately form, in 
 full armor, save the helmet, and with a mantle of azure 
 velvet, wrought with the silver cross that made the badge 
 of the Christian war. Upon his manly countenance was 
 visible no sign of undue arrogance or exultation ; but 
 
LEILA. 215 
 
 something of that generous pity which brave men feel for 
 conquered foes dimmed the lustre of his commanding eve, 
 and softened the wonted sternness of his martial bearing. 
 He and his train approached the king with a profound 
 salutation of respect ; and falling back, motioned to the 
 herald that accompanied him, and whose garb, breast and 
 back, was wrought with the arms of Spain, to deliver 
 himself of his mission. 
 
 " To Boabdil ! " said the herald, with a loud voice, that 
 filled the whole expanse, and thrilled with various emo- 
 tions the dumb assembly. "To Boabdil el Chico, king 
 of Granada, Ferdinand of Arrogon and Isabel of Castile 
 send royal greeting. They command me to express their 
 hope that the war is at length concluded ; and they offer 
 to the king of Granada such terms of capitulation as a 
 king, without dishonor, may receive. In the stead of 
 this city, which their Most Christian Majesties will 
 restore to their own dominion, as is just, they offer, 
 king, princely territories in the Alpuxarras mountains to 
 your sway, holding them by oath of fealty to the Spanish 
 crown. To the people of Granada, their Most Christian 
 Majesties promise full protection of property, life, and 
 faith, under a government by their own magistrates, and 
 according to their own laws ; exemption from tribute for 
 three years ; and taxes thereafter, regulated by the 
 custom and ratio of their present imposts. To such 
 Moors as, discontented with these provisions, would 
 abandon Granada, are promised free passage for them- 
 selves and their wealth. In return for these marks of 
 
216 LEILA. 
 
 their royal bounty, their Most Christian Majesties sum-, 
 mon Granada to surrender (if no succor meanwhile 
 an-ive) within seventy days. And these offers are now 
 solemnly recorded in the presence, and through the mis- 
 sion, of the noble and renowned knight, Gonzalvo of 
 Cordova, deputed by their Most Christian Majesties from 
 their new city of Sante Fe." 
 
 When the herald had concluded, Boabdil cast his eye 
 over his thronged and splendid court. Xo glance of 
 fire met his own ; amidst the silent crowd, a resigned 
 content was alone to be perceived ; the proposals exceeded 
 the hope of the besieged. 
 
 "And," asked Boabdil, with a deep-drawn sigh, "if 
 we reject these offers?" 
 
 " Xoble prince," said Gonzalvo, earnestly, "ask us not 
 to wound thine ears with the alternative. Pause, and 
 consider of our offers ; and, if thou doubtest, brave 
 king ! mount the towers of thine Alhambra, survey our 
 legions marshalled beneath thy walls, and turn thine eyes 
 upon a brave people, defeated, not by human valor, but 
 by famine, and the inscrutable will of God." 
 
 " Your monarchs shall have our answer, gentle Chris- 
 tian, perchance ere nightfall. And you, Sir Knight, 
 who hast delivered a message bitter for kings to hear, 
 receive, at least, our thanks for such bearing as might 
 best mitigate the import. Our vizier will bear to your 
 apartment those tokens of remembrance that are yet left 
 to the monarch of Granada to bestow." 
 
 " Muza," resumed the king, as the Spaniards left the 
 
LEILA. 2n 
 
 presence — ''thou hast heard all. What is the last 
 counsel thou canst give thy sovereign ? " 
 
 The fierce Moor had with difiBcultj waited this license 
 to utter such sentiments as death only could banish from 
 that unconquerable heart. He rose, descended from the 
 couch, and, standing a little below the king, and facing 
 the motley throng of all of wise or brave yet left to 
 Granada, thus spoke: — 
 
 " Why should we surrender ? two hundred thousand 
 inhabitants are yet within our walls; of these, twenty 
 thousand, at least, are Moors, who have hands and 
 swords. Why should we surrender ? Famine presses 
 us, it is true ; but hunger, that makes the lion more 
 terrible, shall it make the man more base ? Do ye des- 
 pair ? so be it ! despair, in the valiant, ought to have 
 an irresistible force. Despair has made cowards brave : 
 shall it sink the brave to cowards ? Let us arouse the 
 people ; hitherto, we have depended too much upon the 
 nobles. Let us collect our whole force, and march upon 
 this new city, while the soldiers of Spain are employed 
 in their new profession of architects and builders. Hear 
 me, O God and prophet of the Moslem ! hear one who 
 never was forsworn ! If, Moors of Granada, ye adopt 
 my counsel, I cannot promise ye victory, but I promise 
 ye never to live without it : I promise ye, at least, your 
 independence — for the dead know no chains! If we 
 cannot live, let us so die that we may leave, to remotest 
 ages, a glory that shall be more durable than kingdoms. 
 19 
 
218 LEILA. 
 
 King of Granada ! this is the counsel of Muza Ben Abil 
 Gazan." 
 
 The prince ceased. But he, whose faintest word had 
 once breathed fire into the dullest, had now poured out 
 his spirit upon frigid and lifeless matter. Xo man an- 
 swered — no man moved. 
 
 Boabdil alone, clinging to the shadow of hope, turned 
 at last towards the audience. 
 
 " Warriors and sages I " he said, " as Muza's counsel 
 is your king's desire, say but the word, and, ere the 
 hour-glass shed its last sand, the blast of our trumpet 
 shall be ringing through the Yivarrambla." 
 
 ''0 king! fight not against the will of fate — God is 
 great ! " replied the chief of the alfaquis. 
 
 "Alas ! " said Abdelemic, " if the voice of Muza and 
 your own fall thus coldly upon us, how can ye stir the 
 breadless and heartless multitude ? " 
 
 "Is such your general thought and your general will ? '^ 
 said Boabdil. 
 
 An universal murmur answered, " Yes ! " 
 
 " Go then, Abdelemic," answered the ill-starred king, 
 " go with yon Spaniards to the Christian camp, and bring 
 us back the best terms you can obtain. The crown has 
 passed from the head of El Zogoybi ; Fate sets her seal 
 upon my brow. Unfortunate was the commencement of 
 my reign — unfortunate its end. Break up the divan." 
 
 The words of Boabdil moved and penetrated an audi- 
 ence, never till then so alive to his gentle qualities, his 
 
LEILA. 219 
 
 learned wisdom, and his natural valor. Many flung them- 
 selves at his feet, with tears and sighs ; and the crowd 
 gathered round to touch the hem of his robe. 
 
 Muza gazed at them in deep disdain, with folded arms 
 and heaving breast 
 
 "Women, not men !" he exclaimed, "ye weep, as if ye 
 had not blood still left to shed ! Ye are reconciled to 
 the loss of liberty, because ye are told ye shall lose 
 nothing else. Fools and dupes ! I see, from the spot 
 where my spirit stands above ye, the dark and dismal 
 future to which ye are crawling on your knees : bondage 
 and rapine — the violence of lawless lust — the persecu- 
 tion of hostile faith — your gold wrung from ye by tor- 
 ture — your national name rooted from the soil. Bear 
 this, and remember me ! Farewell, Boabdil ! you I pity 
 not ; for your gardens have yet a poison, and your armories 
 a sword. Farewell, nobles and santons of Granada ! I 
 quit my country while it is yet free." 
 
 Scarcely had he ceased, ere he had disappeared from 
 the hall. It was as the parting genius of Granada I 
 
220 LEILA. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 The Adventure of the Solitary Horseman. 
 
 It was a burning and sultry noon, when, tbrougli a 
 small Yalley, skirted by rugged and precipitous hills, at 
 the distance of several leagues from Granada, a horse- 
 man, in complete armor, wound his solitary way. His 
 mail was black and unadorned ; on his yizor waved no 
 plume. But there was something in his carriage and 
 mien, and the singular beauty of his coahblack steed, 
 which appeared to indicate a higher rank than the ab- 
 sence of page and squire, and the plainness of his ac- 
 coutrements, would have denoted to a careless eye. He 
 rode very slowly ; and his steed, with the license of a 
 spoiled favorite, often halted lazily in his sultry path, as 
 a tuft of herbage, or the bough of some overhanging tree, 
 offered its temptation. At length, as he thus paused, a 
 noise was heard in a copse that clothed the descent of a 
 steep mountain ; and the horse started suddenly back, 
 forcing the traveller from his reverie. He looked mechani- 
 cally upward, and beheld the figure of a man bounding 
 through the trees, with rapid and irregular steps. It was 
 a form that suited well the silence and solitude of the 
 spot ; and might have passed for one of those stern re- 
 cluses — half-hermit, half-soldier — who, in the earlier cru- 
 
LEILA. 5521 
 
 sades, fixed their wild homes amidst the sands and caves 
 of Palestine. The stranger supported his steps by a long 
 staff. His hair and beard hung long and matted over 
 his broad shoulders. A rusted mail, once splendid with 
 arabesque enrichments, protected his breast ; but the 
 loose gown — a sort of tartan, which descended below the 
 cuirass — was rent and tattered, and his feet bare ; in his 
 girdle was a short curved cimiter, a knife or dagger, and 
 a parchment roll, clasped and bound with iron. 
 
 As the horseman gazed at this abrupt intruder on the 
 solitude, his frame quivered with emotion : and, raising 
 himself to his full height, he called aloud, " Fiend or san- 
 ton — whatsoever thou art — what seekest thou in these 
 lonely places, far from the king thy counsels deluded, and 
 the city betrayed by thy false prophecies and unhallowed 
 charms ?" 
 
 " Ha ! " cried Almameu, for it was indeed the Israelite ; 
 "by thy black charger, and the tone of thy haughty 
 voice, I know the hero of Granada. Rather, Muza Ben 
 Abil Gazan, why art thou absent from the last hold of 
 the Moorish empire?" 
 
 " Dost thou pretend to read the future, and art thou 
 blind to the present ? Granada has capitulated to the 
 Spaniard. Alone I have left a land of slaves, and shall 
 seek, in our ancestral Africa, some spot where the foot- 
 step of the misbeliever hath not trodden." 
 
 " The fate of one bigotry is, then, sealed," said Alma- 
 men, gloomily : " but that which succeeds it is yet more 
 
 dark." 
 
 19* 
 
222 LEILA. 
 
 " Dog ! " cried Muza, couching his lance, " what art 
 thou, that thou blaspheraest ?" 
 
 " A Jew ! " replied Almamen, in a Toice of thunder, 
 and drawing his cimiter : " a despised and despising Jew ! 
 Ask YOU more ? I am the son of a race of kings. I was 
 the worst enemy of the Moors, till I found the Xazareue 
 more hateful than the Moslem ; and then even Muza 
 himself was not their more renowned champion. Come 
 on, if thou wilt — man to man : " I defy thee ! " 
 
 "No, no," muttered Muza, sinking his lance; "thy 
 mail is rusted with the blood of the Spaniard, and this 
 arm cannot smite the slayer of the Christian. Part we 
 in peace." 
 
 " Hold, prince !" said Almamen, in an altered voice : 
 " is thy country the sole thing dear to thee ? Has the 
 smile of woman never stolen beneath thine armor ? Has 
 thy heart never beat for softer meetings than the encoun- 
 ter of a foe ? " 
 
 " Am I human and a Moor ? " returned Muza. " For 
 once, you divine aright ; and, could thy spells bestow on 
 these eyes but one more sight of the last treasure left to 
 me on earth, I should be as credulous of thy sorcery as 
 Boabdil." 
 
 ''Thou lovest her still, then — this Leila?" 
 
 " Dark necromancer, hast thou read my secret ? and 
 knowest thou the name of my beloved one ? Ah ! let me 
 believe thee indeed wise, and reveal to me the spot of 
 earth, which holds the delight of my soul ! Yes," con- 
 tinued the Moor, with increased emotion, and throwing 
 
LEILA. 223 
 
 up his vizor, as if for air — *' yes ; Allah forgive me I but, 
 when all was lost at Granada, I had still one consolation 
 in leaving my fated birth-place : I had license to search 
 for Leila ; I had the hope to secure to my wanderings in 
 distant lands one to whose glance the eyes of the houris 
 would be dim. But I waste words. Tell me where is 
 Leila, and conduct me to her feet ! '' 
 
 " Moslem, I will lead thee to her," answered Almamen, 
 gazing on the prince with an expression of strange and 
 fearful exultation in his dark eyes : " I will lead thee to 
 her — follow me. It is only yester-night that I learned 
 the walls that confined her ; and from that hour to this 
 have I jouraeyed over mountain and desert, without rest 
 or food.'' 
 
 "Yet what is she to thee ?'• asked Muza, suspiciously. 
 
 " Thou shalt learn full soon. Let us on." 
 
 So saying Almamen sprang forward with a vigor 
 which the excitement of his mind supplied to the exhaus- 
 tion of his body. Muza wonderingly pushed on his 
 charger, and endeavored to draw his mysterious guide 
 into conversation ; but Almamen scarcely heeded him. 
 And when he broke from his gloomy silence, it was but 
 in incoherent and brief exclamations, often in a tongue 
 foreign to the ear of his companion. The hardy Moor, 
 though steeled against the superstitions of his race, less 
 by the philosophy of the learned than the contempt of 
 the brave, felt an awe gather over him as he glanced, 
 from the giant rocks and lonely valleys, to the unearthly 
 aspect and glittering eyes of the reputed sorcerer ; and 
 
224 LEILA. 
 
 more than once he muttered such verses of the Koran as 
 were esteemed by his countrymen the counter-spell to the 
 machinations of the evil genii. 
 
 It might be an hour that they had thus journeyed to- 
 gether, when Almamen paused abruptly : "I am wearied," 
 said he, faintly ; " and, though time presses, I fear that 
 my strength will fail me." 
 
 " Mount, then, behind me," returned the Moor, after 
 some natural hesitation : " Jew though thou art, I will 
 brave the contamination for the sake of Leila." 
 
 "Moor," cried the Hebrew, fiercely, "the contamina- 
 tion would be mine. Things of the yesterday, as thy 
 prophet and thy creed are, thou canst not sound the un- 
 fathomable loathing which each heart, faithful to the 
 Ancient of days, feels for such as thou and thine." 
 
 " Xow, by the Kaaba ! " said Muza, and his brow be- 
 came dark, " another such word, and the hoofs of my 
 steed shall trample the breath of blasphemy from thy 
 body." 
 
 " I would defy thee to the death," answered Almamen, 
 disdainfully ; " but I reserve the bravest of the Moors to 
 witness a deed worthy of the descendant of Jephtha. But, 
 hist! I hear hoofs." 
 
 Muza listened ; and his sharp ear caught a distinct 
 ring upon the hard and rocky soil. He turned round, 
 and saw Almamen gliding away through the thick under- 
 wood, until the branches concealed his form. Presently, 
 a curve in the path brought in view a Spanish cavalier, 
 mounted on an Andalnsian jennet : the horseman was 
 
LEILA. 225 
 
 gailv singing one of the popular ballads of the time ; 
 and, as it related to the feats of the Spaniards against 
 the Moors, Muza's hanghty blood was already stirred, 
 and his moustache quivered on his lip. " I will change 
 the air," muttered the Moslem, grasping his lance ; when, 
 as the thought crossed him, he beheld the Spaniard sud- 
 denly reel in his saddle, and fall prostrate on the ground. 
 In the same instant, Almamen had darted from his 
 hiding-place, seized the steed of the cavalier, mounted, 
 and, ere Muza recovered from his surprise, was by the 
 side of the Moor. 
 
 "By what charm," said Muza, curbing his barb, "didst 
 thou fell the Spaniard — seemingly without a blow?" 
 
 "As David felled Goliah — by the pebble and the 
 sling," answered Almamen carelessly. " Xow, then, spur 
 forward, if thou art eager to see thy Leila." 
 
 The horsemen dashed over the'body of the stunned 
 and insensible Spaniard. Tree and mountain glided by ; 
 gradually the valley vanished, and a thick forest loomed 
 upon their path. Still they made on, though the inter- 
 laced boughs, and the ruggedness of the footing, some- 
 what obstructed their way ; until, as the sun began slowly 
 to decline, they entered a broad and circular space, round 
 which trees of the eldest growth spread their motionless 
 and shadowy boughs. In the midmost sward was a rude 
 and antique stone, resembling the altar of some barbarous 
 and departed creed. Here Almamen abruptly halted, 
 and muttered inaudibly to himself. 
 
 p 
 
226 LEILA. 
 
 "What moves thee, dark stranger?" said the Moor; 
 "and why dost thou mutter, and gaze on space ?" 
 
 Almamen answered not, but- dismounted, hung his 
 bridle to a branch of a scathed and riven elm, and ad- 
 vanced alone into the middle of the space. " Dread and 
 prophetic power that art within me ! " said the Hebrew, 
 aloud, — "this, then, is the spot, that, by dream and 
 vision, thou hast foretold me wherein to consummate and 
 record the vow that shall sever from the spirit the last 
 weakness of the flesh. Xight after night hast thou brought 
 before mine eyes, in darkness and in slumber, the solemn 
 solitude that I now survey. Be it so : I am prepared ! " 
 
 Thus speaking, he retired for a few moments into the 
 wood ; collected in his arms the dry leaves and withered 
 branches which cumbered the desolate clay ; and placed 
 the fuel upon the altar. Then, turning to the East, and 
 raising his hands on "high, he exclaimed, " Lo ! upon this 
 altar, once worshipped, perchance, by the heatlien =;avage, 
 the last bold spirit of thy fallen and scattered race, dedi- 
 cates, Ineffable One ! that precious offering thou didst 
 demand from a sire of old. Accept the sacrifice ! " 
 
 As the Hebrew ended his adjuration he drew a phial 
 from his bosom, and sprinkled a few drops upon the arid 
 fuel. A pale blue flame suddenly leaped up ; and, as it 
 lighted the haggard but earnest countenance of the Is- 
 raelite, Muza felt his Moorish blood congeal in his veins, 
 and shuddered, though he scarce knew why. Almamen, 
 with his dagger, severed from his head one of his long 
 locks, and cast it upon the flame. He watched it until 
 
LEILA. 22t 
 
 it was consumed ; and then, with a stifled cry, fell upon 
 the earth in a dead swoon. The Moor hastened to raise 
 him ; he chafed his hands and temples ; he unbuckled the 
 vest upon his bosom ; he forgot that his comrade was a 
 sorcerer and a Jew, so much had the agony of that ex- 
 citement moved his sympathy. 
 
 It was not till several minutes had elapsed, that Alma- 
 men, with a deep-drawn sigh, recovered from his swoon. 
 "Ah, beloved one ! bride of my heart ! " he murmured, 
 " was it for this that thou didst commend to me the only 
 pledge of our youthful love ? Forgive me ! I restore her 
 to the earth, untainted by the Gentile." He closed his 
 eyes again, and a strong convulsion shook his frame. It 
 passed ; and he rose as a man from a fearful dream, com- 
 posed, and almost, as it were, refreshed, by the terrors 
 he had undergone. The last glimmer of the ghastly light 
 was dying away upon that ancient altar, and a low wind 
 crept sighing through the trees. 
 
 " Mount, prince," said Almamen, calmly, but averting 
 his eyes from the altar : " we shall have no more delays." 
 
 "Wilt thou not explain thy incantation?" asked 
 Muza ; " or is it, as my reason tells me, but the mummery 
 of a juggler ? " 
 
 "Alas ! alas ! " answered Almamen, in a sad and altered 
 tone, "thou wilt soon know all." 
 
228 LEILA. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 The Sacrifice. 
 
 The sun was now sinking slowly through those masses 
 of purple cloud which belong to Iberian skies ; w^hen, 
 emerging from the forest, the travellers saw before them 
 a small and lovely plain, cultivated like a garden. Rows 
 of orange and citron trees were backed by the dark-green 
 foliage of vines ; and, these, again, found a barrier in 
 girdling copses of chestnut, oak, and the deeper verdure 
 of pines : while, far to the horizon, rose the distant and 
 dim outline of the mountain range, scarcely distinguish- 
 able from the mellow colorings of the heaven. Through 
 this charming spot went a slender and sparkling torrent, 
 that collected its waters in a circular basin, over which 
 the rose and orange hung their contrasted blossoms. On 
 a gentle eminence, above this plain, or garden, rose the 
 spires of a convent : and, though it was still clear day- 
 light, the long and pointed lattices were illumined within ; 
 and, as the horsemen cast their eyes upon the pile, the 
 sound of the holy chorus — made more sweet and solemn 
 from its own indistinctness, from the quiet of the hour, 
 from the sudden and sequestered loveliness of that spot, 
 suiting so well the ideal calm of the conventual life — 
 rolled its music through the odorous and lucent air. 
 
LEILA. 2-20 
 
 But that scene and that sound, so calculated to soothe 
 and harmonize the thought, seemed to arouse Almamen 
 into agony and passion. He smote his breast with his 
 clenched hand ; and, shrieking, rather than exclaiming, 
 " God of my fathers ! have I come too late ? "' buried his 
 spurs to the rowels in the sides of his panting steed. 
 Along the sward, through the fragrant shrubs, athwart 
 the pebbly and shallow torrent, up the ascent to the con- 
 vent, sped the Israelite. Muza, wondering and half 
 reluctant, followed at a little distance. Clearer and nearer 
 came the voices of the choir ; broader and redder glowed 
 the tapers from the Gothic casements : the porch of the 
 convent chapel was reached ; the Hebrew sprang from 
 his horse. A small group of the peasants dependent 
 on the convent loitered reverently round the threshold : 
 pushing through them, as one frantic, Almamen entered 
 the chapel and disappeared. 
 
 A minute elapsed. Muza was at the door ; but the 
 Moor paused irresolutely, ere he dismounted. ''What 
 is the ceremony ? " he asked of the peasants. 
 
 "A nun is about to take the vows," answered one of 
 them. 
 
 A cry of alarm, of indignation, of terror, was heard 
 within. Muza no longer delayed : he gave his steed to 
 the by-stander, pushed aside the heavy curtain that 
 screened the threshold, and was within the chapel. 
 
 By the altar gathered a confused and disordered group 
 — the sisterhood, with their abbess. Round the conse- 
 crated rail flocked the spectators, breathless and amazed. 
 20 
 
230 LEILA. 
 
 Conspicuous above the rest, ou the elevation of the holy 
 place, stood Almamen, with his drawn dagger in his 
 right hand, his left arm clasped around the form of a 
 novice, whose dress, not yet replaced by the serge, be- 
 spoke her the sister fated to the veil : and, on the oppo- 
 site side of that sister, one hand on her shoulder, the 
 other rearing on high the sacred crucifix, stood a stern, 
 calm, commanding form, in the white robes of the Domi- 
 nican order : it was Tomas de Torquemada. 
 
 " Avaunt, Abaddon ! '' were the first words which 
 reached Muza's ear, as he stood, unnoticed, in the middle 
 of the aisle : " here thy sorcery and thine arts cannot 
 avail thee. Release the devoted one of God!" 
 
 " She is mine ! she is my daughter I I claim her from 
 thee as a father, in the name of the great Sire of Man !" 
 
 " Seize the sorcerer ! seize him ! " exclaimed the In- 
 quisitor, as, with a sudden movement, Almamen cleared 
 his way through the scattered and dismayed group, and 
 stood with his daughter in his arms, on the first step of 
 the consecrated platform. 
 
 But not a foot stirred — not a hand was raised. The 
 epithet bestowed on the intruder had only breathed a 
 supernatural terror into the audience ; and they would 
 have sooner rushed upon a tiger in his lair, than on the 
 lifted dagger and savage aspect of that grim stranger. 
 
 " Oh, my father ! " then said a low and faltering voice, 
 that startled Muza as a voice from the grave — " wrestle 
 not against the decrees of Heaven. Thy daughter is not 
 
LEILA. 231 
 
 compelled to her solemn choice. Humbly, but devotedly, 
 a convert to the Christian creed, her only wish on earth 
 is to take the consecrated and eternal vow." 
 
 " Ha ! " groaned the Hebrew, suddenly relaxing his 
 hold, as his daughter fell on her knees before him, " then 
 have I indeed been told, as I have foreseen, the worst. 
 The veil is rent — the spirit hath left the temple. Thy 
 beauty is desecrated ; thy form is but unhallowed clay. 
 Dog ! '' he cried, more fiercely, glaring round upon the 
 unmoved face of the Inquisitor, "this is thy work : but 
 thou shalt not triumph. Here, by thine own shrine, I 
 spit at and defy thee, as once before, amidst the tortures 
 of thy inhuman court. Thus — thus — thus — Almamen 
 the Jew delivers the last of his house from the curse of 
 Galilee ! " 
 
 "Hold, murderer ! '' cried a voice of thunder; and an 
 armed man burst through the crowd and stood upon the 
 platform. It was too late : thrice the blade of the Hebrew 
 had passed through that innocent breast; thrice was it 
 reddened with that virgin blood. Leila fell in the arms 
 of her lover ; her dim eyes rested upon his countenance, 
 as it shone upon her, beneath his lifted vizor — a faint 
 and tender smile played upon her lips — Leila was no 
 more. 
 
 One hasty glance Almamen cast upon his victim, and 
 then, with a wild laugh, that woke every echo in the 
 dreary aisles, he leaped from the place. Brandishing his 
 bloody weapon above his head, he dashed through the 
 
232 LEILA. 
 
 coward crowd ; and, ere even the startled Dominican had 
 found a voice, the tramp of his headlong steed rang upon 
 the air: an instant — and all was silent. 
 
 But over the murdered girl leaned the Moor, as yet 
 incredulous of her death ; her head, still unshorn of its 
 purple tresses, pillowed on his lap — her icy hand clasped 
 in his, and her blood weltering fast over his armor. 
 None disturbed him ; for, habited as the knights of 
 Christendom, none suspected his faith ; and all, even the 
 Dominican, felt a thrill of sympathy at his distress. How 
 he came hither, with what object — what hope, their 
 thoughts were too much locked in pity to conjecture. 
 There, voiceless and motionless, bent the Moor, until one 
 of the monks approached and felt the pulse, to ascertain 
 if life was, indeed, utterly gone. 
 
 The Moor at first waved him haughtily away ; but when 
 he divined the monk's purpose, suffered him in silence to 
 take the beloved hand. He fixed on him his dark and 
 imploring eyes, and when the father dropped the hand, 
 and gently shaking his head, turned away, a deep and 
 agonizing groan was all that the audience heard from 
 that heart in which the last iron of fate had entered. 
 Passionately he kissed the brow, the cheeks, the lips, of 
 the hushed and angel face, and rose from the spot. 
 
 "What dost thou here ? and what knowest thou of yon 
 murderous enemy of God and man V asked the Domini- 
 can, approaching. 
 
 Muza made no reply, as he stalked slowly through the 
 
LEILA. 23:1 
 
 chapel. The audience was touched to sudden tears. "For- 
 bear I '" said they, almost with one accord, to the harsh 
 Inquisitor; "he hath no voice to answer thee.'' 
 
 And thus, amidst the oppressive grief and sympathy 
 of the Cliristian throng, the unknown Payuim reached the 
 door, mounted his steed, and as he turned once more and 
 cast a hurried glance upon the fatal pile, the by-standers 
 saw the large tears rolling down his swarthy cheeks. 
 
 Slowly that coal-black charger wound down the hillock, 
 crossed the quiet and lovely garden, and vanished amidst 
 the forest. And never was known, to Moor or Christian, 
 the future fate of the hero of Granada. "Whether he 
 reached in safety the shores of his ancestral Africa, and 
 carved out new fortunes and a new name ; or whether 
 death, by disease or strife, terminated obscurely his 
 jrlorious and brief career, mystery — deep and unpene- 
 trated, even by the fancies of the thousand bards who 
 have consecrated his deeds — wraps in everlasting shadow 
 the destinies of Muza Ben Abil Gazan, from that hour, 
 when the setting sun threw its parting ray over his stately 
 form and his ebon barb, disappearing amidst the breath- 
 less shadows of the forest 
 
 20* 
 
234 LEILA. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 The Return — the Riot — the Treachery — and the Death. 
 
 It was the eve of the fatal day on which Granda was 
 to be delivered to the Spaniards : and in that subterra- 
 nean vault beneath the house of Almamen, before de- 
 scribed, three elders of the Jewish persuasion were met. 
 
 "Trusty and well-beloved Ximen," cried one, a wealthy 
 and usurious merchant, with a twinkling and humid eye, 
 and a sleek and unctuous aspect, which did not, however, 
 suffice to disguise something fierce and crafty in his low 
 brow and pinched lips — "trusty and well-beloved Ximen," 
 said this Jew, "truly thou hast served us well, in yielding 
 to thy persecuted brethren this secret shelter.- Here, 
 indeed, may the heathen search for us in vain. Yerily, 
 my veins grow warm again ; and thy servant hungereth, 
 and hath thirst." 
 
 "Eat, Isaac — eat; yonder are viands prepared for 
 thee; eat, and spare not. And thou, Elias — wilt thou 
 not draw near the board ? The wine is old and precious, 
 and will revive thee." 
 
 "Ashes and hyssop — hyssop and ashes, are food and 
 drink for me!" answered Elias, with passionate bitter- 
 ness; "they have razed my house — they have burned 
 roy granaries — they have molten down my gold. I am a 
 ruined man I " 
 
LEILA. 235 
 
 " Xay,'' said Ximen, who gazed at him with a malevo- 
 lent eve (for so utterly had years and sorrows mixed with 
 gall even the one kindlier sympathy he possessed, that he 
 could not resist an inward chuckle over the very afflictions 
 he relieved, and the very impotence he protected) — 
 "nay, Elias, thou hast wealth yet left in the sea-port 
 towns, sufficient to buy up half Granada." 
 
 " The Xazarene will seize it all ! " cried Elias ; " I see 
 it already in his grasp ! " 
 
 " Xay, thinkest thou so? — and wherefore?" asked 
 Ximen, startled into sincere, because selfish, anxiety. 
 
 " Mark me ! Under license of the truce, I went, last 
 night, to the Christian camp : I had an interview with 
 the Christian king ; and when he heard my name and 
 faith, his very beard curled with ire. ' Hound of Belial ! ' ' 
 he roared forth, 'has not thy comrade carrion, the sor- 
 cerer Almamen, sufficiently deceived and insulted the 
 majesty of Spain ? For his sake, ye shall have no quarter. 
 Tarry here another instant, and thy corpse shall be swing- 
 ing to the winds I Go, and count over thy misgotten 
 wealth ; just census shall be taken of it : and if thou 
 defraudest our holy impost by one piece of copper, thou 
 shalt sup with Dives ! ' Such was my mission, and mine 
 answer. I return home to see the ashes of mine house ! 
 Woe is me I " 
 
 " And this we owe to Almamen, the pretended Jew ! " 
 cried Isaac, from his solitary, but not idle, place at the 
 board. 
 
236 LEILA, 
 
 "I would this knife were at his false throat !" growled 
 Elias, clutching his poniard with his long bony fingers. 
 
 " Xo chance of that," muttered Ximen ; " he will return 
 no more to Granada. The vulture and the worm have 
 divided his carcase between them ere this ; and (he added 
 inly, with a hideous smile) his house and his gold have 
 fallen into the hands of old, childless Ximen." 
 
 " This is a strange and fearful vault," said Isaac, 
 quaffing a large goblet of the hot wine of the Vega ; 
 "here might the Witch of Endor have raised the dead. 
 Yon door — whither doth it lead?" 
 
 " Through passages none, that I know of, save my 
 master, hath trodden," answered Ximen. "I have heard 
 that they reach even to the Alhambra. Come, worthy 
 Elias ! thy form trembles with the cold : take this wine." 
 
 " Hist ! " said Elias, shaking from limb to limb ; " our 
 pursuers are upon us — I hear a step ! " 
 
 As he spoke, the door to which Isaac had pointed, 
 slowly opened, and Almamen entered the vault. 
 
 Had, indeed, a new Witch of Endor conjured up the 
 dead, the apparition would not more have startled and 
 appalled that goodly trio. Elias, griping his knife, re- 
 treated to the farthest end of the vault. Isaac dropped 
 the goblet he was about to drain, and fell upon his knees. 
 Ximen, alone — growing, if possible, a shade more 
 ghastly — retained something of self-possession, as he 
 muttered to himself — "He lives! and his gold is not 
 mine ! Curse him ! " 
 
 Seemingly unconscious of the strange guests his sane- 
 
LEILA. 23T 
 
 tuarj shrouded, Almamen stalked on, like a man walk- 
 ing in bis sleep. 
 
 Ximen roused himself — softly unbarred the door which 
 admitted to the upper apartments, and motioned to his 
 comrades to avail themselves of the opening : but as 
 Isaac — the first to accept the hint — crept across, Alma- 
 men fixed upon him his terrible eye, and, appearing 
 suddenly to awake to consciousness, shouted out, " Thou 
 miscreant, Ximen ! whom hast thou admitted to the 
 secrets of thy lord ? Close the door — these men must 
 die ! " 
 
 " Mighty master ! " said Ximen, calmly, " is thy servant 
 to blame, that he believed the rumor that declared thy 
 death ? These men are of our holy faith, whom I have 
 snatched from the violence of the sacrilegious and mad- 
 dened mob. Xo spot but this seemed safe from the 
 popular frenzy." 
 
 " Are ye Jews ? " said Almamen. " Ah, yes ! I know 
 ye now — things of the market-place and bazaar! Oh, 
 ye are Jews, indeed ! Go, go ! Leave me ! " 
 
 Waiting no further license, the three vanished ; but, 
 ere he quitted the vault, Elias turned back his scowling 
 countenance on Almamen, (who had sunk again into an 
 absorbed meditation) with a glance of vindictive ire — 
 Almamen was alone. 
 
 In less than a quarter of an hour, Ximen returned to 
 seek his master ; but the place was again deserted. 
 
 It was midnight in the streets of Granada — midnight, 
 but not repose. The multitude, roused into one of their 
 
238 LEILA. 
 
 paroxysms of wrath and sorrow, by the reflection that 
 the morrow was indeed the day of their subjection to the 
 Christian foe, poured forth through the streets to the 
 number of twenty thousand. It was a wild and stormy 
 night ; those formidable gusts of wind, which sometimes 
 sweep in sudden winter from the snows of the Sierra 
 Nevada, howled through the tossing groves, and along 
 the winding streets. But the tempest seemed to heighten, 
 as if by the sympathy of the elements, the popular storm 
 and whirlwind. Brandishing arms and torches, and 
 gaunt with hunger, the dark forms of the frantic Moors 
 seemed like ghouls, or spectres, rather than mortal men ; 
 as, apparently without an object, save that of venting 
 their own disquietude, or exciting the fears of others, they 
 swept through the desolate city 
 
 In the broad space of the Yivarrambla, the crowd 
 halted ; irresolute in all else, but resolved, at least, that 
 something for Granada should yet be done. They were, 
 for the most, armed in their Moorish fashion ; but they 
 were wholly without leaders : not a noble, a magistrate, 
 an officer, would have dreamed of the hopeless enterprise 
 of violating the truce with Ferdinand. It was a mere 
 popular tumult — the madness of a mob ; but not the less 
 formidable, for it was an Eastern mob, and a mob with 
 sword and shaft, with buckler and mail — the mob by 
 which Oriental empires have been built and overthrown. 
 There, in the splendid space that had witnessed the games 
 and tournaments of that Arab and African chivalry — 
 there, where, for many a lustrum, kings had reviewed 
 
LEILA. 239 
 
 devoted and conqnering armies — assembled those despe- 
 rate men ; the loud winds agitating their tossing torches, 
 that struggled against the moonless night. 
 
 " Let us storm the Alharabra ! " cried one of the band : 
 "let us seize Boabdil, and place him in the midst of us ; 
 let us rush against the Christians, buried in their proud 
 repose ! '' 
 
 "Lelilies, Lelilies ! — the Keys and the Crescent!" 
 shouted the mob. 
 
 The shout died : and, at the verge of the space was 
 Buddenlv heard a once familiar and ever-thrilling voice. 
 
 The Moors, who heard it, turned round in amaze and 
 awe ; and beheld, raised upon the stone upon which the 
 criers or heralds had been wont to utter the royal pro- 
 clamations, the form of Almamen, the santon, whom they 
 had deemed already with the dead. 
 
 "Moors and people of Granada ! " he said, in a solemn, 
 but hollow voice, '• I am with ye still. Your monarch 
 and your heroes have deserted ye, but I am with ye to 
 the last ! Go not to the Alhambra : the fort is impene- 
 trable — the guard faithful. Xight will be wasted, and 
 day bring upon you the Christian army. March to the 
 gates ; pour along the Yega ; descend at once upon the 
 foe!" 
 
 He spoke, and drew forth his sabre ; it gleamed in the 
 torch-light — the Moors bowed their heads in fanatic 
 reverence — the santon sprang from the stone, and passed 
 into the centre of the crowd. 
 
 Then, once more, aro.se jovful shouts. The multitude 
 
240 ' LEILA. 
 
 had found a leader worthy of their enthusiasm ; and in 
 regular order, they formed themselves rapidly, and swept 
 down the narrow streets. 
 
 Swelled by several scattered groups of desultory 
 marauders (the ruffians and refuse of the city), the infidel 
 mirabers were now but a few furlongs from the great 
 gate, whence they had been wont to issue on the foe. 
 And then, perhaps, had the Moors passed these gates 
 and reached the Christian encampment, lulled, as it was, 
 in security and sleep, that wild army of twenty thousand 
 desperate men might have saved Granada ; and Spain 
 might, at this day, possess the only civilized empire 
 which the faith of Mahomet ever founded. 
 
 But the evil star of Boabdil prevailed. The news of 
 the insurrection in the city reached him. Two aged men, 
 from the lower city, arrived at the Alharabra — demanded 
 and obtained an audience ; and the effect of that inter- 
 view was instantaneous upon Boabdil. In the popular 
 frenzy he saw only a justifiable excuse for the Christian 
 king to break the conditions of the treaty, raze the city, 
 and exterminate the inhabitants. Touched by a generous 
 compassion for his subjects, and actuated no less by a 
 high sense of kingly honor, which led him to preserve a 
 truce solemnly sworn to, he once more mounted his 
 cream-colored charger, with the two elders who had 
 sought him by his side ; and, at the head of his guard, 
 rode from the Alhambra. The sound of his trumpet-, 
 the tramp of his steeds, the voice of his heralds, simul- 
 taneously reached tlie multitude ; and, ere they had 
 
leisure to decide their course, the kingS^Til* Ui<rimdst 
 of them. 
 
 " What madness is this, my people ? " cried Boabdil, 
 spurring into the midst of the throng — "whither would 
 ye go ? " 
 
 "Against the Christian I — against the Goth I " shouted 
 a thousand voices. " Lead us on ! The santon is risen 
 from the dead, and will ride by thy right hand ! " 
 
 "Alas ! " resumed the king, " ye would march against 
 the Christian king ! Remember that our hostages are in 
 his power ; remember that he will desire no better excuse 
 to level Granada with the dust, and put you and your 
 children to the sword, "We have made such treaty as 
 never yet was made between foe and foe. Your lives, 
 laws, wealth — all are saved. Nothing is lost, save the 
 crown of Boabdil. I am the only sufferer. So be it. 3Iy 
 evil star brought on you these evil destinies ; without 
 me, you may revive, and be once more a nation. Yield 
 to Fate to-day, and you may grasp her proudest awards 
 to-morrow. To succumb is not to be subdued. But, go 
 forth against the Christians, and if ye win one battle, it 
 is but to incur a more terrible war ; if you lose, it is not 
 honorable capitulation, but certain extermination, to 
 which you rush ! Be persuaded, and listen once again 
 to your king." 
 
 The crowd were moved, were softened, were half-con- 
 vinced. They turned, in silence, towards their santon : 
 and Almamen did not shrink from the appeal ; but stood 
 forth, confronting the king. 
 21 Q 
 
242 LEILA. 
 
 " King of Granada ! " he cried aloud, " behold thy 
 friend — thy prophet ! Lo ! I assure you victory 1 " 
 
 *' Hold ! " interrupted Boabdil, " thou hast deceived 
 and betrayed me too long I Moors 1 know ye this pre- 
 tended santon ? He is of no Moslem creed. He is a 
 hound of Israel, who would sell you to the best bidder. 
 Slay him ! " 
 
 " Ha ! " cried Almamen, " and who is my accuser ? " 
 
 "Thy servant — behold him!" At these words, the 
 royal guards lifted their torches, and the glare fell, redly, 
 on the death-like features of Ximen. 
 
 " Light of the world ! there be other Jews that know 
 him," said the traitor. 
 
 " Will ye suffer a Jew to lead ye, O race of the Pro- 
 phet?" cried the king. 
 
 The crowd stood confused and bewildered ; Almamen 
 felt his hour was come ; he remained silent, his arms 
 folded, his brow erect. 
 
 '' Be there any of the tribe of Moisa amongst the 
 crowd ? " cried Boabdil, pursuing his advantage ; "if so, 
 let them approach and testify what they know." 
 
 Forth came — not from the crowd, but from among&t 
 Boabdil's train, a well-known Israelite. 
 
 " We disown this man of blood and fraud," said Elias, 
 bowing to the earth; "but he was of our creed." 
 
 " Speak, false santon ! art thou dumb ? " cried the 
 king. 
 
 *'A curse light on thee, dull fool!" cried Almamen, 
 fiercely. "What matters who the instrument that would 
 
LEILA. 243 
 
 have restored to thee thy throne ? Yes ! I, who have 
 ruled thy councils, who have led thine armies, I am of 
 the race of Joshua and of Samuel — and the Lord of 
 Hosts is the God of Almamen !" 
 
 A shudder ran through that mighty multitude ; but the 
 looks, the mien, and the voice of the man, awed them, and 
 not a weapon was raised against him. He might, even 
 then, have passed scatheless through the crowd ; he might 
 have borne to other climes his burning passions and his 
 torturing woes ; but his care for life w^as past ; he desired 
 but to curse his dupes, and to die. He paused, looked 
 round, and burst into a laugh of such bitter and haughty 
 scorn, as the tempted of earth may hear, in the halls 
 below, from the lips of Eblis. 
 
 "Yes," he exclaimed, "such I am I I have been your 
 idol and your lord ; I may be your victim, but, in death, 
 I am your vanquisher. Christian and Moslem alike my 
 foe, I would have trampled upon both. But the Chris- 
 tian, wiser than you, gave me smooth words ; and I 
 would have sold ye to his power : wickeder than you, he 
 deceived me ; and I would have crushed him, that I 
 might have continued to deceive and rule the puppets 
 that ye call your chiefs. But they for whom I toiled, 
 and labored, and sinned — for whom I surrendered peace 
 and ease, yea, and a daughter's person and a daughter's 
 blood — they have betrayed me to your hands, and the 
 Curse of Old rests with them evermore — Amen I The 
 disguise is rent: Almamen, the santon, is the son of 
 Issachar the Jew ! " 
 
244 LEILA. 
 
 More raiglit he have said, but the spell was broken. 
 With a ferocious yell, those living waves of the multitude 
 rushed over the stern fanatic ; six cimiters passed through 
 him, and he fell not : at the seventh he was a corpse. 
 Trodden in the clay — then whirled aloft — limb torn from 
 
 limb ere a man could have drawn breath nine times, 
 
 scarce a vestige of the human form was left to the 
 mangled and bloody clay I 
 
 One victim sufi&ced to slake the wrath of the crowd. 
 They gathered like wild beasts, whose hunger is appeased, 
 around their monarch, who in vain had endeavored to 
 stay their summary revenge, and who now, pale and 
 breathless, shrank from the passions he had excited. He 
 faltered forth a few words of remonstrance and exhorta- 
 tion, turned the head of his steed, and took his way to 
 his palace. 
 
 The crowd dispersed, but not yet to their homes. The 
 crime of Almamen worked against his whole race. Some 
 rushed to the Jews' quarter, which they set on fire ; others 
 to the lonely mansion of Almamen. 
 
 Ximen, on quitting the king, had been before the mob. 
 Not anticipating such an effect of the popular rage, he 
 had hastened to the house, which he now deemed at 
 length his own. He had just reached the treasury of his 
 dead lord — he had just feasted his eyes on the massive 
 ingots and glittering gems ; in the lust of his heart he 
 had just cried aloud — "And these are mine !" when he 
 heard the roar of the mob below the wall, — when he saw 
 the glare of their torches against the casement. It was 
 
LEILA. 245 
 
 in vain that be shrieked aloud, '• I am the man that ex- 
 posed the Jew ! '' the wild winds scattered his words over 
 a deafened audience. Driven from his chamber by the 
 smoke and flame, afraid to venture forth amongst the 
 crowd, the miser loaded himself with the most precious 
 of the store : he descended the steps, he bent his way to 
 the secret vault, when suddenly the floor, pierced by the 
 flames, crashed under him, and the fire rushed up in a 
 fiercer and more rapid volume, as the death-shriek broke 
 through that lurid shroud. 
 
 Such were the principal events of the last night of the 
 Moorish dynasty in Granada. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 The End. 
 
 Day dawned upon Granada : the populace had sought 
 their homes, and a profound quiet wrapped the streets, 
 save where, from the fires committed in the late tumult, 
 was yet heard the crash of roofs, or the crackle of the 
 light and fragrant timber employed in those pavilions of 
 the summer. The manner in which the mansions of 
 Granada were built, each separated from the other by 
 extensive gardens, fortunately prevented the flames from 
 extending. But the inhabitants cared so little for the 
 hazard, that not a single guard remained to watch the 
 result. Now and then, some miserable forms in the 
 21 * 
 
246 LEILA. 
 
 Jewish gown might be seen cowering by the ruins of 
 their house, like the souls that, according to Plato, watch 
 in charnels over their own mouldering bodies. Day 
 dawned, and the beams of the winter sun, smiling away 
 the clouds of the past night, played cheerily on the 
 murmuring waves of the Xenil and the Darro. 
 
 Alone, upon a balcony commanding that stately land- 
 scape, stood the last of the Moorish kings. He had 
 sought to bring to his aid all the lessons of the phi- 
 losophy he had cultivated. 
 
 "What are we," thought the musing prince, "that we 
 should fill the world with ourselves — we kings ! Earth 
 resounds with the crash of my falling throne : on the ear 
 of races unborn the echo will live prolonged. But what 
 have I lost ? — nothing that was necessary to my happi- 
 ness, my repose; nothing save the source of all my 
 wretchedness, the Marah of my life. Shall I less enjoy 
 heaven and earth, or thought or action, or man's more 
 material luxuries of food or sleep — the common and the 
 cheap desires of all ? Arouse thee, then, heart within 
 me ! many and deep emotions of sorrow or of joy are 
 yet left to break the monotony of my existence." 
 
 He paused ; and, in the background, his eye fell upon the 
 lonely minarets of the distant and deserted palace of 
 Muza Ben Abil Gazan. 
 
 "Thou wert right, then," resumed the king — "thou 
 wert right, brave spirit, not to pity Boabdil : but not 
 because death was in his power ; man's soul is greater 
 than his fortunes, and there is majesty in a life that towers 
 
LEILA. 24t 
 
 above the ruins that fall around its path." He turned 
 away, and his cheek suddenly grew pale ; for he heard, 
 in the courts below, the tread of hoofs, the bustle of pre- 
 paration : it was the hour for his departure. His phi- 
 losophy vanished : he groaned aloud, and re-entered the 
 chamber, just as his vizier and the chief of his guard 
 broke upon his solitude. 
 
 The old vizier attempted to speak, but his voice failed 
 him. 
 
 "It is time, then, to depart," said Boabdil, with calm- 
 ness; "let it be so : render up the palace and the for- 
 tress, and join thy friend, no more thy monarch, in his 
 new home." 
 
 He stayed not for reply : he hurried on, descended to 
 the court, flung himself on his barb, and, with a small 
 and saddened train, passed through the gate which we 
 yet survey, by a blackened and crumbling tower, over- 
 grown with vines and ivy ; thence, amidst gardens, now 
 appertaining to the convent of the victor faith, he took 
 his mournful and unwitnessed way. When he came to 
 the middle of the hill that rises above those gardens, the 
 steel of the Spanish armor gleamed upon him, as the 
 detachment sent to occupy the palace marched over the 
 summit in steady order and profound silence. 
 
 At the head of this vanguard rode, upon a snow-white 
 palfrey, the Bishop of Avila, followed by a long train of 
 barefooted monks. They halted as Boabdil approached, 
 and the grave bishop saluted him with the air of one 
 who addresses an infidel and an inferior. With the quick 
 
248 LEILA. 
 
 sense of dignity common to the great, and yet more to 
 the fallen, Boabdil felt, but resented not, the pride of the 
 ecclesiastic. " Go, Christian," said he mildly, "the gates 
 of the Alhambra are open, and Allah has bestowed the 
 palace and the city upon your king : may his virtues 
 atone the faults of Boabdil ! " So saying, and waiting 
 no answer, he rode on, without looking to the right or 
 left. The Spaniards also pursued their way. The sun 
 had fairly ridden above the mountains, when Boabdil and 
 his train beheld, from the eminence on which they were, 
 the whole armament of Spain ; and at the same moment, 
 louder than the tramp of horse, or the flash of arms, was 
 heard distinctly the solemn chaunt of Te Deum, which 
 preceded the blaze of the unfurled and lofty standard. 
 Boabdil, himself still silent, heard the groans and excla- 
 mations of his train ; he turned to cheer or chide them, 
 and then saw, from his own watch-tower, with the sun 
 shining full upon its pure and dazzling surface, the silver 
 cross of Spain. His Alhambra was already in the hands 
 of the foe ; while, beside that badge of the holy war, 
 waved the gay and flaunting flag of St. lago, the cano- 
 nized Mars of the chivalry of Spain. 
 
 At that sight, the king's voice died within him : he 
 gave the rein to his barb, impatient to close the fatal 
 ceremonial,, and did not slacken his speed till almost 
 within bow-shot of the first ranks of the army. Never 
 had Christian war assumed -a more splendid and imposing 
 aspect. Far as the eye could reach, extended the glit- 
 terino; and erorcreous lines of that goodly power, bristling 
 
I^EILA. 249 
 
 with san-lit spears and blazoned banners; while beside, 
 murmured, and glowed, and danced, the silver and laugh- 
 ing Xenil, careless what lord should possess, for his little 
 day, the banks that bloomed by its everlasting course. 
 By a small mosque halted the flower of the army. Sur- 
 rounded by the arch-priests of that mighty hierarchy, the 
 peers and princes of a court that rivalled the Rolands of 
 Charlemagne, was seen the kingly form of Ferdinand 
 himself, with Isabel at his right hand, and the high-born 
 dames of Spain ; relieving with their gay colors and 
 sparkling gems, the sterner splendor of the crested helmet 
 and polished mail. 
 
 Within sight of the royal group, Boabdil halted, — 
 composed his aspect so as to best conceal his soul, — and, 
 a little in advance of his scanty train, but never, in mien 
 and majesty, more a king, the son of Abdallah met his 
 haughty conqueror. 
 
 At the sight of his princely countenance and golden 
 hair, his comely and commanding beauty, made more 
 touching by youth, a thrill of compassionate admiration 
 ran through that assembly of the brave and fair. Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabel slowly advanced to meet their late rival 
 — their new subject; and, as Boabdil would have dis- 
 mounted, the Spanish king placed his hand upon his 
 shoulder. "Brother and prince,-' said he, "forget thy 
 sorrows ; and may our friendship hereafter console thee 
 for reverses, against which thou hast contended as a hero 
 and a king — resisting man but resigned at length to God ! -' 
 
 Boabdil did not affect to return this bitter, but unin- 
 
250 LEILA. 
 
 tentional mockery of compliment. He bowed his head, 
 and remained a moment silent; then motioning to his 
 train, four of his ofi&cers approached, and kneeling beside 
 Ferdinand, proffered to him, upon a silver buckler, the 
 keys of the city. 
 
 "O king ! " then said Boabdil, "accept the keys of the 
 last hold which has resisted the arms of Spain ! The 
 empire of the Moslem is no more. Thine are the city 
 and the people of Granada : yielding to thy prowess, they 
 yet confide in thy mercy." 
 
 " They do well," said the king; "our promises shall 
 not be broken. But, since we know the gallantry of 
 Moorish cavaliers, not to us, but to gentler hands, shall 
 the keys of Granada be surrendered." 
 
 Thus saying, Ferdinand gave the keys to Isabel, who 
 w^ould have addressed some soothing flatteries to Boabdil ; 
 but the emotion and excitement were too much for her 
 compassionate heart, heroine and queen though she was ; 
 and, when she lifted her eyes upon the calm and pale 
 features of the fallen monarch, the tears gushed from 
 them irresistibly, and her voice died in murmurs. A faint 
 flush overspread the features of Boabdil, and there was a 
 momentary pause of embarrassment, which the Moor was 
 the first to break. 
 
 "Fair queen," said he, with mournful and pathetic 
 dignity, "thou canst read the heart that thy generous 
 sympathy touches and subdues ; this is thy last, nor least 
 glorious conquest. But I detain ye : let not my aspect 
 cloud your triumph. Suffer me to say farewell." 
 
LEILA. 251 
 
 " May we not hint at the blessed possibility of conver- 
 sion ? " whispered the pious queen, through her tears, to 
 her royal consort. 
 
 "Xot now — not now, by Saint lago ! " returned Fer- 
 dinand, quickly, and, in the same tone, willing himself 
 to conclude a painful conference. He then added, aloud, 
 " Go, my brother, and fair fortune with you I Forget the 
 past." 
 
 Boabdil smiled bitterly, saluted the royal pair with 
 profound and silent reverence, and rode slowly on, leaving 
 the army below, as he ascended the path that led to his 
 new principality beyond the Alpuxarras. As the trees 
 snatched the ]Sfoorish cavalcade from the view of the king, 
 Ferdinand ordered the army to recommence its march; 
 and trumpet and cymbal presently sent their music to the 
 ear of the Moslems. 
 
 Boabdil spurred on at full speed, till his panting charger 
 halted at the little village where his mother, his slaves, 
 and his faithful Amine, (sent on before,) awaited him. 
 Joining these, he proceeded without delay upon his 
 melancholy path. 
 
 They ascended that eminence which is the pass into the 
 Alpuxarras. From its height, the vale, the rivers, the 
 spires, the towers of Granada, broke gloriously upon the 
 yiew of the little band. They halted, mechanically and 
 abruptly : every eye was turned to the beloved scene. 
 The proud shame of baffled warriors, the tender memories 
 of home — of childhood — of father-land, swelled every 
 heart, and gushed from every eye. Suddenly, the distant 
 
252 LEILA. 
 
 boom of artillery broke from the citadel, and rolled along 
 the sun-lit yalley and crystal river. An universal wail 
 burst from the exiles ; it smote — it overpowered the heart 
 of the ill-starred king, in vain seeking to wrap himself in 
 Eastern pride or stoical philosophy. The tears gushed 
 from his eyes, and he covered his face with his hands. 
 
 Then said his haughty mother, gazing at him with hard 
 and disdainful eyes, in that unjust and memorable reproach 
 which history has preserved — "Ay, weep, like a woman, 
 over what thou couldst not defend like a man ! " 
 
 Boabdil raised his countenance, with indignant majesty, 
 when he felt his hand tenderly clasped, and, turning 
 round, saw Amine by his side. 
 
 " Heed her not ! heed her not, Boabdil ! "' said the 
 slave ; "never didst thou seem to me more noble than in 
 that sorrow. Thou wert a hero for thy throne ; -but feel 
 still, light of mine eyes, a woman for thy people ! " 
 
 " God is great ! " said Boabdil : "and God comforts me 
 still ! Thy lips, which never fiatered me in my power, 
 have no reproach for me in my affliction I " 
 
 He said, and smiled upon Amine — it was her hour of 
 triumph. 
 
 The band wound slowly on through the solitary defiles : 
 and that place where the king wept, and the woman 
 soothed, is still called "El ultimo suspiro del Moro," The 
 
 LAST SIGH OF THE MoOR. 
 
 THE END OF LEILA. 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 i 
 
 A TALE. I 
 
 (253) 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 A TALE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Ante-chamber. 
 
 The Tragi-Comedy of Court Intrigue, which had ever 
 found its principal theatre in Spain since the accession 
 of the House of Austria to the throne, was represented 
 with singular complication of incident, and brilliancy of 
 performance, during the reign of Philip the Third. That 
 monarch, weak, indolent, and superstitious, left the reins 
 of government in the hands of the Duke of Lerma. The 
 Duke of Lerma, in his turn, mild, easy, ostentatious, and 
 shamefully corrupt, resigned the authority he had thus 
 received to Roderigo Calderon, an able and resolute 
 upstart, whom nature and fortune seemed equally to 
 favor and endow. But, not more to his talents, which 
 were great, than to the policy of religious persecution, 
 which he had supported and enforced, Roderigo Calderon 
 owed his promotion. The king and the Liquisition had, 
 some years before our story opens, resolved upon the 
 
 (2.55) 
 
256 CALDERON, THE COURTIER, 
 
 general expulsion of the Moriscos — the wealthiest, the 
 most active, the most industrious portion of the popula- 
 tion. 
 
 "I would sooner," said the bigoted king — and his 
 words were hallowed by the enthusiasm of the church — 
 "depopulate ray kingdom than suffer it to harbor a single 
 infidel." 
 
 The Duke de Lerma entered into the scheme that lost 
 to Spain many of her most valuable subjects, with the 
 zeal of a pious Catholic, expectant of the cardinal's hat, 
 which he afterwards obtained. But to this scheme, 
 Calderon brought an energy, a decision — a vehemence, 
 and sagacity of hatred, that savored more of personal 
 vengeance than religious persecution. His perseverance 
 in this good work established him firmly in the king's 
 favor ; and in this he was supported by the friendship 
 not only of Lerma, but of Fray Louis de Aliega, a re- 
 nowned Jesuit, and confessor to the king. The disasters 
 and distresses occasioned by this barbarous crusade, 
 which crippled the royal revenues, and seriously injured 
 the estates of the principal barons, from whose lands the 
 industrious and intelligent Moriscos were expelled, ulti- 
 mately concentred a deep and general hatred upon Cal- 
 deron. But his extraordinary address and vigorous ener- 
 gies, his perfect mastery of the science of intrigue, not 
 only sustained, but continued to augment his power. 
 Though the king was yet in the prime of middle age, his 
 health was infirm and his life precarious. Calderon had 
 contrived, while preserving the favor of the reigning 
 
C ALDER ON, THE COURTIER. 257 
 
 monarch, to establish himself as the friend and companion 
 of the heir apparent. In this, indeed, he had affected to 
 Yield to the policy of the king himself: for Philip the 
 Third had a wholesome terror of the possible ambition 
 of his son, who early evinced talents which might have 
 been formidable, but for passions which urged him into 
 the most vicious pleasures, and the most extravagant 
 excesses. The craft of the king was satisfied by the 
 device of placing about the person of the Infant one 
 devoted to himself; nor did his conscience, pious as he 
 was, revolt at the profligacy which his favorite was said 
 to participate, and, perhaps, to encourage ; since the less 
 popular the prince, the more powerful the king. 
 
 But, all this while, there was formed a powerful cabal 
 against both the Duke of Lerma and Don Roderigo 
 Calderon, in a quarter where it might least have been 
 anticipated. The cardiual-duke, naturally anxious to 
 cement and perpetuate his authority, had placed his son, 
 the Duke d'Uzeda, in a post that gave him constant 
 access to the monarch. The prospect of power made 
 XJzeda eager to seize at once upon all its advantages ; 
 and it became the object of his life to supplant his father. 
 This v/ould have been easy enough, but for the genius 
 and vigilance of Calderon, whom he hated as a rival, 
 disdained as an upstart, and dreaded as a foe. Philip 
 was soon aware of the contest between the two factions, 
 but, in the true spirit of Spanish kingcraft, he took care 
 to play "one against the other. Nor could Calderon, 
 powerful as he was, dare openly to seek the ruin of 
 
258 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 Uzeda ; while Uzeda, more rash, and, perhaps, more 
 ingenuous, entered into a thousand plots for the downfall 
 of the prime favorite. 
 
 The frequent missions, principally into Portugal, in 
 which of late Calderon had been employed, had allowed 
 Uzeda to encroach more and more upon the royal confi- 
 dence ; while the very means which Don Roderigo had 
 adopted to perpetuate his influence, by attaching himself 
 to the prince, necessarily distracted his attention from 
 the intrigues of his rival. Perhaps, indeed, the greatness 
 of Calderon's abilities made him too arrogantly despise 
 the machinations of the duke, who, though not without 
 some capacities as a courtier, was wholly incompetent to 
 those duties of a minister, on which he had set his 
 ambition and his grasp. 
 
 Such was the state of parties in the Court of Philip 
 the Third, at the time in which we commence our narra- 
 tive in the ante-chamber of DoiHEloderigo Calderon. 
 
 "It is not to be endured," said Don Felix de Castro, 
 an old noble, whose sharp features and diminutive stature 
 proclaimed the purity of his blood, and the antiquity of 
 his descent. 
 
 *' Just three quarters of an hour and five minutes have 
 I waited for audience to a fellow who would once have 
 thought himself honored if I had ordered him to call my 
 coach," said Don Diego Sarmiento de Mendoza. 
 
 " Then, if it chafe you so much, gentlemen, why come 
 you here at all ? I dare say Don Roderigo can dispense 
 with your attendance. 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 259 
 
 This was said bluntly by a young noble of good mien, 
 whose impetuous and irritable temperament betrayed 
 itself by an impatience of gesture and motion unusual 
 amongst his countrymen. Sometimes he walked, with 
 uneven strides, to and fro the apartments, unheeding the 
 stately groups whom he jostled, or the reproving looks 
 that he attracted : sometimes he paused abruptly, raised 
 his eyes, muttered, twitched his cloak, or played with his 
 sword-knot ; or. turning abruptly round upon his solemn 
 neighbors, as some remark on his strange bearing struck 
 his ear, brought the blood to many a haughty cheek by 
 his stern gaze of defiance and disdain. It was easy to 
 perceive that this personage belonged to the tribe — rash, 
 vain, and young — who are eager to take offence, and to 
 provoke quarrel. Nevertheless, the cavalier had noble 
 and great qualities. A stranger to courts, in the camp 
 he was renowned for a chivalrous generosity and an ex- 
 travagant valor, that emulated the ancient heroes of 
 Spanish romaunt and song. His was a dawn that pro- 
 mised a hot noon and a glorious eve. The name of this 
 brave soldier was Martin Fonseca. He was of an ancient 
 but impoverished house, and related, in a remote degree, 
 to the Duke de Lerma. In his earliest youth he had had 
 cause to consider himself the heir to a wealthy uncle on 
 his mother's side ; and with those expectations, while 
 still but a boy, he had been invited to court by the car- 
 dinal-duke. Here, however, the rude and blunt sincerity 
 of his bearing had so greatly shocked the formal hy- 
 pocrisies of the court, and had more than once so seriously 
 
260 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 offended the minister, that his powerful kinsman gave up 
 all thought of pushing Fonseca's fortunes from Madrid, 
 and meditated some plausible excuse for banishing him 
 from court. At this time, the rich uncle, hitherto child- 
 less, married a second time, aiad was blessed with an heir. 
 It was no longer necessary to keep terms with Don 
 Martin, and he suddenly received an order to join the 
 army on the frontiers. Here his courage soon distin- 
 guished him ; but his honest nature still stood in the way 
 of his promotion. Several years elapsed, and his rise 
 had been infinitely slower than that of men not less in- 
 ferior to him in birth than merit. Some months since, 
 he had repaired to Madrid, to enforce his claims upon 
 the government ; but instead of advancing his suit, he 
 had contrived to effect a serious breach with the cardinal, 
 and been abruptly ordered back to the camp. Once more 
 he appeared at Madrid ; but this time it was not to plead 
 desert, and demand honors. 
 
 In any country but Spain, under the reign of Philip 
 the Third, Martin Fonseca would have risen early to 
 high fortunes. But, as we have said, his talents were 
 not those of the flatterer or the hypocrite : and it was a 
 matter of astonishment to the calculators round him to 
 see Don Martin Fonseca in the ante-room of Roderigo 
 Calderon, Count Oliva, Marquis de Siete Iglesias, secre- 
 tary to the King, and parasite and favorite of the Infant 
 of Spain. 
 
 " Why come you here at all ? " repeated the young 
 soldier. 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 261 
 
 " Senor,'' answered Don Felix de Castro, vrhh. great 
 gravity, ''we have business with Don Roderigo. Men 
 of our station must attend to the affairs of the state, no 
 matter by whom transacted.'' 
 
 " That is, you must crawl on your knees to ask for 
 pensions and governorships, and transact the affairs of 
 the state by putting your hands into its coffers." 
 
 " Senor ! " growled Don Felix, angrily, as his hand 
 played with his sword-belt. 
 
 '•Tush!'' said the young man, scornfully, turning on 
 his heel. 
 
 The folding-doors were thrown open, and all conver- 
 sation ceased at the entrance of Don Roderigo Calderon. 
 
 This remarkable personage had risen from the situation 
 of a confidential scribe to the Duke of Lerma, to the 
 nominal rank of secretary to the king — to the real station 
 of autocrat of Spain, The birth of the favorite of fortune 
 was exceedingly obscure. He had long affected to con- 
 ceal it ; but when he found curiosity had proceeded into 
 serious investigation of his origin, he had suddenly ap- 
 peared to make a virtue of necessity ; proclaimed, of his 
 own accord, that his father was a common soldier of 
 Talladolid ; and even invited to Madrid, and lodged in 
 his own palace, his low-born progenitor. This prudent 
 frankness disarmed malevolence on the score of birth. 
 But when the old soldier died, rumors went abroad that 
 he had confessed, on his death-bed, that he was not in 
 any way related to Calderon ; that he had submitted to 
 an imposture which secured to his old age so respectable 
 
262 CALDERON, THE COtlRTIEE. 
 
 and luxurious an asylum ; and that he knew not for what 
 end Calderon had forced upon him the honors of spurious 
 parentship. This tale, which, ridiculed by most, was yet 
 believed by some, gave rise to darker reports concerning 
 one on whom the eyes of all Spain were fixed. It was 
 supposed that he had some motive, beyond that of shame 
 at their meanness, to conceal his real origin and name. 
 What could be that motive, if not the dread of discovery 
 for some black and criminal offence connected with his 
 earlier youth, and for which he feared the prosecution of 
 the law ? They who affected most to watch his exterior, 
 averred that often, in his gayest revels and proudest 
 triumphs, his brow would lower — his countenance change 
 — and it was only by a visible and painful effort that he 
 could restore his mind to its self-possession. His career, 
 which evinced an utter contempt for the ordinary rules 
 and scruples that curb even adventurers into a seeming 
 of honesty and virtue, appeared in some way to justify 
 these reports. But, at times, flashes of sudden and bril- 
 liant magnanimity broke forth to bewilder the curious, to 
 puzzle the examiners of human character, and to contrast 
 the general tenor of his ambitious and remorseless ascent 
 to power. His genius was confessed by all, but it was a 
 genius that in no way promoted the interests of his 
 country. It served only to prop, defend, and advance 
 himself — to baffle difSculties — to defeat foes — to convert 
 every accident, every chance, into new stepping-stones 
 in his course. Whatever his birth, it was evident that 
 he had received every advantage of education ; and 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 263 
 
 scholars extolled his learning and boasted of his patron- 
 age. "While, more recently, if the daring and wild ex- 
 cesses of the profligate prince were, on the one hand, 
 popularly imputed to the guidance of Calderon, and in- 
 creased the hatred generally conceived against him, so 
 on the other hand, his influence over the future monarch 
 seemed to promise a new lease to his authority, and struck 
 fear into the councils of his foes. In fact, the power 
 of the upstart marquis appeared so firmly rooted, the 
 career before him so splendid, that there were not wanted 
 whisperers, who, in addition to his other crimes, ascribed 
 to Roderigo Calderon the assistance of the black art. 
 But the black art in which that subtle courtier was a 
 proficient, is one that dispenses with* necromancy. It 
 was the art of devoting the highest intellect to the most 
 selfish purposes — an art that thrives tolerably well, for 
 a time, in the great world ! 
 
 He had been for several weeks absent from Madrid on 
 a secret mission ; and to this, his first public levee, on 
 his return, thronged all the rank and chivalry of Spain. 
 
 The crowd gave way, as, with haughty air, in the 
 maturity of manhood, the Marquis de Siete Iglesias 
 moved along. He disdained all accessories of dress, to 
 enhance the effect of his singularly striking exterior. 
 His mantle and vest of black cloth, made in the simplest 
 fashion, were unadorned with the jewels that then con- 
 stituted the ordinary insignia of rank. His hair, bright 
 and glossy as the raven's plume, curled back from the 
 
264 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 lofty and commanding brow, which, save by one deep 
 wrinkle between the eyes, was not only as white, but as 
 smooth as marble. His features were aquiline and regular ; 
 and the deep olive of his complexion seemed pale and 
 clear, when contrasted by the rich jet of the moustache 
 and pointed beard. The lightness of his tall and slender, 
 but muscular form, made him appear younger than he 
 was ; and had it not been for the supercilious and scorn- 
 ful arrogance of air which so seldom characterizes gentle 
 birth, Calderon might have mingled with the loftiest 
 magnates of Europe, and seemed to the observer the 
 stateliest of the group. It was one of those rare forms 
 that are made to command the one sex and fascinate the 
 other. But, on a deeper scrutiny, the restlessness of the 
 brilliant eye — the quiver of the upper lip — a certain 
 abruptness of manner and speech, might have shown 
 that greatness had brought suspicion as well as pride. 
 The spectators beheld the huntsman on the height; — 
 the huntsman saw the abyss below, and respired with 
 difficulty the air above. 
 
 The courtiers one by one approached the marquis, who 
 received them with very unequal courtesy. To the com- 
 mon herd he was sharp, dry, and bitter : to the great he 
 was obsequious, yet with certain grace and manliness of 
 bearing that elevated even the character of servility ; 
 and all the while, as he bowed low to a Medina or a 
 Guzman, there was a half imperceptible mockery lurking 
 in the corners of his mouth, which seemed to imply that, 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 265 
 
 while his policy cringed, his heart despised. To two 
 or three, whom he either personally liked, or honestly 
 esteemed, he was familiar, but brief, in his address; to 
 those whom he had cause to detest or to dread — his 
 foes, his underminers — he assumed a yet greater frank- 
 ness, mingled with the most caressing insinuation of voice 
 and manner. 
 
 Apart from the herd, with folded arms, and an expres- 
 sion of countenance in which much admiration was blent 
 with some curiosity and a little contempt, Don Martin 
 Fonseca gazed upon the favorite. 
 
 " I have done this man a favor," thought he : " I have 
 contributed towards his first rise — I am now his sup- 
 pliant. 'Faith ! I, who have never found sincerity oi 
 gratitude in the camp, come to seek those hidden trea- 
 sures at a court ! Well, we are strange puppets, we 
 mortals ! " 
 
 Don Diego Sarmiento de Mendoza had just received 
 the smiling salutation of Calderon, when the eye of the 
 latter fell upon the handsome features of Fonseca. The 
 blood mounted to his brow ; he hastily promised Don 
 Diego all that he desired, and hurrying back through the 
 crowd, retired to his private cabinet. The levee was 
 broken up. 
 
 As Fonseca, who had caught the glance of the secre- 
 tary, and who drew no favorable omen from his sudden 
 evanishment, slowly turned to depart with the rect, a 
 young man, plainly dressed, touched him on the shoulder. 
 
 "You are Seiior Don Martin Fonseca?" 
 23 
 
266 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 "The same." 
 
 "Follow me. if it please you, senor, to my master, 
 Den Roderigo Calderon." 
 
 Fonseca's face brightened ; he obeyed the summons ; 
 and in another moment he was in the cabinet of the 
 Sejanus of Spain. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Lover and the Confidant. 
 
 Calderon received the young soldier at the door of 
 his chamber with marked and almost affectionate respect. 
 
 "Don Martin," said he, and there seemed a touch of 
 true feeling in the tremor of his rich sweet voice, " I owe 
 you the greatest debt one man can incur to another — it 
 was your hand that set before my feet their first stepping- 
 stone to power. I date my fortunes from the hour in 
 which I was placed in your father's house as your pre- 
 ceptor. When the cardinal-duke invited you to Madrid, 
 I was your companion ; and when, afterwards, you joined 
 the army, and required no longer the services of the 
 peaceful scholar, you demanded of your illustrious kins- 
 man the single favor — to provide for Calderon. I had 
 already been fortunate enough to win the countenance 
 of the duke, and from that day my rise was rapid. Since 
 then we have never met. Dare I hope that it is now in 
 the power of Calderon to prove himself not ungrateful V 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 267 
 
 "Yes," said Fonseca, eagerly ; ''it is in your power to 
 save me from the most absolute wretchedness that can 
 befall me. It is in your power, at least I think so, to 
 render me the happiest of men ! " 
 
 " Be seated, I pray you, senor. And how ? I am 
 your servant." 
 
 "Thou knowest," said Fonseca, "that, though the 
 kinsman, I am not the favorite, of the Duke of Lerma ? " 
 
 "Nay, nay," interrupted Calderon, softly, and with a 
 bland smile ; "you misunderstand my illustrious patron : 
 he loves you, but not your indiscretions." 
 
 " Yes, honesty is very indiscreet ! I cannot stoop to 
 the life of the antechamber; I cannot, like the Duke of 
 Lerma, detest my nearest relative, if his shadow cross 
 the line of my interests. I am of the race of Pelayo, not 
 Oppas ; and my profession, rather that of an ancient 
 Persian than a modern Spaniard, is to manage the steed, 
 to wield the sword, and to speak the truth." 
 
 There was an earnestness and gallantry in the young 
 man's aspect, manner, and voice, as he thus spoke, which 
 afforded the strongest contrast to the inscrutable brow 
 and artificial softness of Calderon ; and which, indeed, 
 for the moment, occasioned that crafty and profound ad- 
 venturer an involuntary feeling of self-humiliation. 
 
 "But," continued Fonseca, "let this pass : I come to 
 my story and my request. Do you, or do you not know, 
 that I have been for some time attached to Beatriz 
 Coello ? " 
 
 "Beatriz," repeated Calderon, abstractedly, with an 
 
268 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 altered countenance, "it is a sweet name — it was my 
 mother's I " 
 
 *' Your mother's ! I thought to have heard her name 
 was Mary Sandalen ? " 
 
 "True — Mary Beatriz Sandalen," replied Calderon, 
 indiflferently. " But proceed. I heard, after your last 
 visit to Madrid, when, owing to my own absence in Por- 
 tugal, I was not fortunate enough to see you, that you 
 had offended the Duke by desiring an alliance unsuitable 
 to your birth. Who, then, is this Beatriz Coello ? " 
 
 "An orphan of humble origin and calling. In infancy 
 she was left to the care of a woman who, I believe, bad 
 been her nurse : they were settled in Seville, and the old 
 gouvernante's labors in embroidery maintained them both 
 till Beatriz was fourteen. At that time the poor woman 
 was disabled, by a stroke of palsy, from continuing her 
 labors ; and Beatriz, good child, yearning to repay the 
 obligations she had received, in her turn sought to main- 
 tain her protectress. She possessed the gift of a voice 
 wonderful for its sweetness. This gift came to the know- 
 ledge of the superintendant of the theatre at Seville : he 
 made her the most advantageous proposals to enter upon 
 the stage. Beatriz, innocent child, was unaware of the 
 perils of that profession : she accepted, eagerly, the means 
 that would give comfort to the declining life of her only 
 friend — she became an actress. At that time we were 
 quartered in Seville, to keep guard on the suspected 
 Moriscos."' 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 269 
 
 "Ah, the hated infidels ! " muttered Calderon, fiercely, 
 through his teeth. 
 
 " I saw Beatriz, and loved her at first sight. I do not 
 say," added Fonseca, with a blush, "that my suit, at the 
 outset, was that which alone was worthy of her ; but her 
 virtue soon won my esteem, as well as love. I left Seville 
 to seek my father, and obtain his consent to a marriage 
 with Beatriz. You know a hidalgo's prejudices — they 
 are insuperable. Meanwhile, the fame of the beauty and 
 voice of the actress reached Madrid, and hither she was 
 removed from Seville, by royal command. To Madrid, 
 then, I hastened, on the pretence of demanding promo- 
 tion. You, as you have stated, were absent in Portugal, 
 on some state mission. I sought the Duke de Lerma. 
 I implored him to give me some post, anywhere — I recked 
 not beneath what sky, in the vast empire of Spain — in 
 which, removed from the prejudices of birth and of class, 
 and provided with other means, less precarious than those 
 that depend on the sword, I might make Beatriz my wife. 
 The polished duke was more inexorable than the stern 
 hidalgo. I flew to Beatriz ; I told her I had nothing 
 but my heart and right hand to offer. She wept, and 
 she refused me." 
 
 " Because you were not rich ? " 
 
 "Shame on you, no ! but because she would not con- 
 sent to mar my fortunes, and banish me from my native 
 land. The next day I received a peremptory order to 
 rejoin the army, and with that order came a brevet of 
 promotion. Lover though I be, I am a Spaniard ; to 
 23* 
 
270 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 have disobeyed the order would have been dishonor. 
 Hope dawned upon me : I' might rise, I mifrht become 
 rich. We exchanged our vows of fidelity, I returned to 
 the camp. TVe corresponded. At last her letters alarmed 
 me. Through all her reserve, I saw that she was re- 
 volted by her profession, and terrified at the persecutions 
 to which it exposed her : the old woman, her sole guide 
 and companion, was dying : she was dejected and un- 
 happy : she despaired of our union ; she expressed a 
 desire for the refuge of the cloister. At last came this 
 letter, bidding me farewell for ever. Her relation was 
 dead ; and, with the little money she had amassed she 
 had bought her entrance into the convent of St. Mary of 
 the White Sword. Imagine ray despair ! I obtained 
 leave of absence — I flew to Madrid. Beatriz is already 
 immured in that dreary asylum ; she has entered on her 
 noviciate." 
 
 " Is that the letter you refer to ? " said Calderon, ex- 
 tending his hand. 
 
 Fonseca gave him the letter. 
 
 Hard and cold as Calderon's character had grown, 
 there was something in the tone of this letter — it-s pure 
 and noble sentiments, its innocence, its affection — that 
 touched some mystic chord in his heart. He sighed as 
 he laid it down. 
 
 " You are, like all of us, Don Martin," said he, with a 
 bitter smile, "the dupe of a woman's faith. But you 
 must purchase experience for yourself, and if, indeed, you 
 ask my services to procure you present bliss and future 
 
CALDEROX, THE COURTIER. 271 
 
 disappointment, those services are yours. It will not, I 
 think, be difficult to interest the queen in your favor : 
 leave me this letter, it is one to touch the heart of a 
 woman. If we succeed with the queen, who is the pat- 
 roness of the convent, we may be sure to obtain an order 
 from court for the liberation of the novice : the next 
 step is one more arduous. It is not enough to restore 
 Beatriz to freedom — we must reconcile your family to the 
 marriage. This cannot be done while she is not noble ; 
 bat letters patent (here Calderon smiled) could ennoble ^ 
 a mushroom itself — your humble servant is an example. 
 Such letters may be bought or begged ; I will undertake 
 to procure them. Your father, too, may find a dowry 
 accompanying the title, in the shape of a high and honor- 
 able post for yourself. You deserve much ; you are be- 
 loved in the army ; you have won a high name in the 
 world. I take shame on myself that your fortunes have 
 been overlooked. * Out of sight out of mind ; ' alas ! it 
 is a true proverb. I confess that, when I beheld you in 
 the anteroom, I blushed for my past forgetfulness. Xo 
 matter — I will repair my fault. Men say that my patron- 
 age is misapplied — I will prove the contrary by your 
 promotion." 
 
 " Generous Calderon ! " said Fonseca, falteringly ; " I 
 ever hated the judgments of the vulgar. They calum- 
 niate you: it is from envy." 
 
 "Xo," said Calderon, coldly; "I am bad enough, but 
 I am still human. Besides, gratitude is my policy. I 
 
272 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 have always found that it is a good way to get on in the 
 world, to serve those who serve us." 
 
 "But the duke?" 
 
 " Fear not; I have an oil that will smooth all the bil- 
 lows on that surface. As for the letter, I say, leave it 
 with me ; I will show it to the queen. Let me see you 
 asrain to-morrow." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A Rival. 
 
 Calderon's eyes were fixed musingly on the door 
 which closed on Fonseca's martial and noble form. 
 
 "Great contrasts among men!" said he, half aloud. 
 "All the classes into which naturalists ever divided the 
 animal world contain not the variety that exists between 
 man and man. And yet, we all agree in one object of 
 our being — all prey on each other ! Glory, which is but 
 the thirst of blood, makes yon soldier the tiger of his 
 kind ; other passions have made me the serpent : both 
 fierce, relentless, unscrupulous — both ! hero and courtier, 
 valor and craft ! Hem ! I will serve this young man — 
 he has served me. When all other afi'ection was torn 
 from me, he, then a boy, smiled on me and bade me love 
 him. Why has he been so long forgotten ? He is not 
 of the race that I abhor ; no Moorish blood flows in his 
 veins ; neither is he of the great and powerful, whom I 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 273 
 
 dread ; nor of the croucliing and the servile, whom I 
 despise : he is one whom I can aid without a blush." 
 
 While Calderon thus soliloquized, the arras was lifted 
 aside, and a cavalier, on whose cheek was the first down 
 of manhood, entered the apartment 
 
 " So, Roderigo, alone ! welcome back to Madrid. Xay, 
 seat thyself, man — seat thyself.'' 
 
 Calderon bowed with the deepest reverence; and,^ 
 placing a large fauteuil before the stranger, seated him- 
 self on a stool, at a little distance. 
 
 The new-comer was of sallow complexion ; his gorgeous 
 dress sparkled with prodigal jewels. Boy as he was, 
 there was yet a careless loftiness, a haughty ease, in the 
 gesture — the bend of the neck; the wave of the hand, 
 which, coupled with the almost servile homage of the 
 arrogant favorite, would have convinced the most super- 
 ficial observer that he was born of the highest rank, A 
 second glance would have betrayed, in the full Austrian 
 lip — the high, but narrow forehead— the dark, voluptuous, 
 but crafty and sinister eye, the features of the descendant 
 of Charles T. It was the Infant of Spain that stood in 
 the chamber of his ambitious minion. 
 
 " This is convenient, this private entrance into thy 
 penetralia, Roderigo. It shelters me from the prying 
 eyes of "Czeda, who ever seeks to cozen the sire by spying 
 on the son. "We will pay him ofi" one of these days. 
 He loves you no less than he does his prince." 
 
 " I bear no malice to him for that, your highness. He 
 s 
 
274 CALDEROX, THE COrRTTER, 
 
 covets the smiles of the rising sun, and rails at the humble 
 object which, he thinks, obstructs the beam." 
 
 " He might be easy on that score : I hate the man, 
 and his cold formalities. He is ever fancying that we 
 princes are intent on the aflfairs of state, and forgets that 
 we are mortal, and that youth is the age for the bower, 
 not the council. My precious Calderon, life would be 
 dull without thee : how I rejoice at thy return, thou best 
 inventor of pleasure that satiety ever prayed for ! Xay, 
 blusli not: some men despise thee for thy talents: I do 
 thee homage. By my great grandsire's beard, it will be 
 a merry time at court when I am monarch, and thou 
 minister I" 
 
 Calderon looked earnestly at the prince, but his 
 scrutiny did not serve to dispel a certain suspicion of the 
 royal sincerity that ever and anon came across the 
 favorite's most sanguine dreams. With all Philip's gaiety, 
 there was something restrained and latent in his am- 
 biguous smile, and his calm, deep, brilliant eye. Calde- 
 ron, immeasurably above his lord in genius, was scarcely, 
 perhaps, the equal of that beardless boy in hypocrisy 
 and craft, in selfish coldness, in matured depravity. 
 
 "Well," resumed the prince, "I pay you not these 
 compliments without an object. I have need of you — 
 great need ; never did I so require your services as at 
 this moment ; never was there so great demand on your 
 invention, your courage, your skill. Know, Calderon, 
 I love!" 
 
CALDERON, THi!: COURT I 
 
 f«l^ 
 
 " My prince," said the marquis, smiling, " it is certainly 
 not first love. How often has your highness " 
 
 "No," interrupted the prince, hastily — "no, I never 
 loved till now. We never can love what we can easily 
 win ; but this, Calderon, this heart would be a conquest. 
 Listen. I was at the convent chapel of St. Mary of the 
 White Sword yesterday with the queen. Thou knowest 
 that the abbess once was a lady of the chamber, and the 
 queen loves her. Both of us were moved and astonished 
 by the voice of one of the choir — it was that of a novice. 
 After the ceremony, the queen made inquiries touching 
 this new Santa Cecilia ; and who dost thou think she is ? 
 No ; thou wilt never guess ! — the once celebrated singer 
 
 — the beautiful, the inimitable Beatriz Coello ! Ah I 
 you may well look surprised ; when actresses turn nuns, 
 it is well-nigh time for Calderon and Philip to turn 
 monks. Now, you must know, Boderigo, that I, un- 
 worthy though I be, am the cause of this conversion. 
 There is a certain Martin Fonseca, a kinsman of Lerma's 
 
 — thou knowest him well. I learned, some time since, 
 from the duke, that this young Orlando was most madly 
 enamoured of a low-born girl — nay, desired to wed her. 
 The duke's story moved my curiosity. I found that it 
 was the young Beatriz Coello, whom I had already ad- 
 mired on the stage. Ah, Calderon, she blazed and set 
 during thy dull mission to Lisbon 1 I sought an oppor- 
 tunity to visit her. I was astonished at her beauty, that 
 seemed more dazzling in the chamber than on the stage. 
 
2T6 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 I pressed my suit — in vain. Calderon, hear you that? 
 — in vain! Why wert thou not by? Thy arts never 
 fail, my friend ! She was living with an old relation, or 
 gouvernante. The old relation died suddenly — I took 
 advantage of her loneliness — I entered her house at 
 night. By St. Jago, her virtue baffled and defeated me. 
 The next morning she was gone ; nor could my researches 
 discover her, until, at the convent of St. Mary, I recog- 
 nized the lost actress in the young novice. She has fled 
 to the convent to be true to Fonseca; she must fly from 
 the convent to bless the prince ! This is my tale : I want 
 thy aid." 
 
 "Prince," said Calderon, gravely, "thou knowest the 
 laws of Spain — the rigor of the Church. I dare 
 not " 
 
 " Pshaw ! No scruples — my rank will bear thee harm- 
 less. Nay, look not so demure ; why, even thou, I see, 
 hast thy Armida. This billet in a female hand — Heaven 
 and earth ! Calderon ! What name is this ? Beatriz 
 Coello ! Barest thou have crossed my path ? Speak, 
 sir ! — speak ! " 
 
 "Your highness," said Calderon, with a mixture of 
 respect and dignity in his manner — "your highness, hear 
 me. My first benefactor, my beloved pupil, my earliest 
 patron, was the same Don Martin Fonseca who seeks 
 this girl with an honest love. This morning he has visited 
 me, to implore my intercession on his behalf. Oh, prince 1 
 turn not away : thou knowest not half his merit. Thou 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 2Tt 
 
 kiiowest not the value of such subjects— men of the old 
 iron race of Spain. Thou hast a noble and royal heart ; 
 be not the rival to the defender of thy crown. Bless 
 this brave soldier — spare this poor orphan — and one 
 generous act of self-denial shall give thee absolution for 
 a thousand pleasures.'' 
 
 " This from Roderigo Calderou ! " said the prince, 
 with a bitter snee". " ^lan, know thy station, and thy 
 profession. When I want homilies, I seek my confessor; 
 when I have resolved on a vice, I come to thee. A truce 
 with this bombast. For Fonseca, he shall be consoled ; 
 and when he shall learn who is his rival, he is a traitor 
 if he remain discontented with his lot. Thou shalt aid 
 me, Calderon ! " 
 
 Your highness will pardon me — no 
 
 f" 
 
 '• Do I hear right ? Xo ! — Art thou not my minion— 
 my instrument ? Can I not destroy as I have helped to 
 raise thee ? Thy fortunes have turned thy brain. The 
 king already suspects and dislikes thee ; thy foe, Uzeda, 
 has his ear. The people execrate thee. If I abandon 
 thee, thou art lost. Look to it ! " 
 
 Calderon remained mute and erect, with his arms 
 folded, on his breast, and his cheek flushed with sup- 
 pressed passions. Philip gazed at him earnestly*, and 
 then, muttering to himself, approached the favorite with 
 an altered air. 
 
 " Come, Calderon — I have been hasty— you maddened 
 me ; I meant not to wound you. Thou art honest, and 
 24 
 
278 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 I think thou lovest me ; and I will own, that in ordinary 
 circumstances thy advice would be good, and thy scruples 
 laudable. But I tell thee, that I adore this girl; that I 
 have set all my hopes upon her ; that, at whatever cost, 
 whatever risk, she must be mine. Wilt thou desert me ? 
 Wilt thou, on whose faith I have ever leaned so trust- 
 ingly, forsake thy friend and thy prince for this brawling 
 soldier? Xo ; I wrong thee." 
 
 " Oh !" said Calderon, with much semblance of emotion, 
 " I would lay down my life in your service, and I have 
 often surrendered my conscience to your lightest will. 
 But this would be so base a perfidy in me ! He has con- 
 fided his life of life to my hands. How canst even thou 
 count on my faith, if thou knowest me false to another?" 
 
 " False ! art thou not false to me ? Have I not con- 
 fided to thee, and dost thou not desert me — nay, perhaps, 
 betray ? How wouldst thou serve this Fonseca ? How 
 liberate the novice ?" 
 
 " By an order of the court. Your royal mother " 
 
 " Enough ! " said the prince, fiercely ; " do so. Thou 
 shalt have leisure for repentance." 
 
 As he spoke, Philip strode to the door. Calderon, 
 alarmed and anxious, sought to detain him ; but the 
 prince broke disdainfully away, and Calderon was again 
 alone. 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 279 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Civil Ambition, and Ecclesiastical. 
 
 Scarcely had the prince vanished, before the door 
 that led from the anteroom was opened, and an old man, 
 in the ecclesiastical garb, entered the secretary's cabinet. 
 
 " Do I intrude, my son ?" said the churchman. 
 
 " Xo, father, no ; I never more desired your presence 
 — your counsel. It is not often that I stand halting and 
 irresolute between the two magnets of interest and con- 
 science : this is one of those rare dilemmas." 
 
 Here Calderon rapidly narrated the substance of his 
 conversation with Fonseca, and of the subsequent com- 
 munication with the prince. 
 
 " You see," he said, in conclusion, "how critical is my 
 position. On one side, my obligations to Fonseca, my 
 promise to a benefactor, a friend to the boy I assisted 
 to rear. Nor is that all : the prince asks me to connive 
 at the abstraction of a novice from a consecrated house. 
 What peril — what hazard ! On the other side, if I re- 
 fuse, the displeasure, the vengeance of the prince, for 
 whose favor I have already half forfeited that of the 
 king ; and who, were he once to frown upon me, would 
 encourage all my enemies — in other phrase, the whole 
 court — in one united attempt at my ruin." 
 
280 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 "It is a stern trial," said the monk, gravely; "and 
 one that may well excite your fear." 
 
 " Fear, Aliaga ! — ha I ha ! — fear I " said Calderon, 
 laughing scornfully. " Did true ambition ever know fear ? 
 Have we not the old Castilian proverb, that tells us, ' He 
 who has climbed the first step to power, has left terror a 
 thousand leagues behind ! ' No, it is not fear that renders 
 me irresolute ; it is wisdom, and some touch, some rem- 
 nant, of human nature — philosophers would call it virtue ; 
 you priests, religion." 
 
 " Son," said the priest, " when, as one of that sublime 
 calling, which enables us to place our unshodden feet 
 upon the necks of kings, I felt that I had the power to 
 serve and exalt you ; when, as confessor to Philip, I 
 backed the patronage of Lerma, recommended you to the 
 royal notice, and brought you into the sunshine of the 
 royal favor — it was because I had read in your heart and 
 brain those qualities of which the spiritual masters of the 
 world ever seek to avail their cause. I knew thee brave, 
 crafty, aspiring, unscrupulous. I knew that thou wouldst 
 not shrink at the means that could secure to thee a noble 
 end. Yea, when, years ago, in the valley of the Xenil, I 
 saw thee bathe thy hands in the blood of thy foe, and 
 heard thy laugh of exulting scorn ; — when I, alone master 
 of thy secret, beheld thee afterwards flying from thy home, 
 stained with a second murder, but still calm, stern, and 
 lord of thine own reason, my knowledge of mankind told 
 me, ' Of such men are high converts and mighty instru- 
 ments made!'" 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 231 
 
 The priest paused ; for Calderon heard him not. His 
 cheek was livid, his eves closed, his chest heaved wildly. 
 
 '' Horrible remembrance ! "' he muttered ; " fatal love — 
 dread revenge I Inez — Inez, what hast thou to answer 
 
 for : "' 
 
 '^ Be soothed, mv son ; I meant not to tear the bandage 
 from thy wounds." 
 
 "Who speaks?" cried Calderon, starting. "Ha, 
 priest ! priest ! I thought I heard the dead. Talk on, 
 talk on : talk of the world — the Inquisition — thy plots — 
 the torture — the rack I Talk of aught that will lead me 
 back from the past." 
 
 " So ; let me for a moment lead thee thither, in order 
 to portray the future that awaits thee. "When, at night, 
 I found thee — the blood-stained fugitive — cowering 
 beneath the shadow of the forest, dost thou remember 
 that I laid my hand upon thine arm, and said to thee, 
 * Thy life is in my power ? ■ From that hour, thy disdain 
 of my threats, of myself, of thine own life — all made me 
 view thee as one bom to advance our immortal cause. I 
 led thee to safety far away ; I won thy friendship and 
 thy confidence. Thou becamest one of us — one of the 
 great Order of Jesus. Subsequently, I placed ftiee as 
 the tutor to young Fonseca, then heir to great fortunes. 
 The second marriage of his uncle, and the heir that by 
 that marriage interposed between him and the honor of 
 his house, rendered the probable alliance of the youth 
 profitless to us. But thou hadst procured his friendship. 
 He presented tliee to the duke of Lerma. I was just then 
 24 * 
 
282 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 appointed confessor to the king ; I found that years had 
 ripened thy genins, and memory had blunted in thee all 
 the affections of the flesh. Above all, hating, as thou 
 didst, the very name of the Moor, thou wert the man of 
 men to aid in our great design of expelling the accursed 
 race from the land of Spain. Enough — I served thee, 
 and thou didst repay us. Thou hast washed out thy 
 crime in the blood of the infidel — thou art safe from 
 detection. In Roderigo Calderon, Marquis de Siete 
 Iglesias, who will suspect the Roderigo Xunez — the mur- 
 derous student of Salamanca ? Our device of the false 
 father stifled even curiosity. Thou mayest wake to the 
 future, nor tremble at one shadow in the past. The 
 brightest hopes are before us both ; but to realize them, 
 we must continue the same path. We must never halt at 
 an obstacle in our way. We must hold that to be no 
 crime which advances our common objects. Mesh upon 
 mesh we must entangle the future monarch in our web : 
 thou, by the nets of pleasure ; I, by those of superstition. 
 The day that sees Philip the Fourth upon the throne, 
 must be a day of jubilee for the Brotherhood and the 
 Inquisition. When thou art prime minister, and I grand 
 inquisitor — that time must come — we shall have the 
 power to extend the sway of the sect of Loyola to the 
 ends of the Christian world. The Inquisition itself our 
 tool ! Posterity shall regard us as the apostles of intel- 
 lectual faith. And thinkest thou that, for the attainment 
 of these great ends, we can have the tender scruples of 
 common men ? Perish a thousand Fonsecas — ten thou- 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 283 
 
 sand novices, ere thou lose, by the strength of a hair, thy 
 hold over the senses and soul of the licentious Philip ! 
 At whatever hazard, save thy power ; for with it are 
 bound, as mariners to a plank, the hopes of those who 
 make the mind a sceptre." 
 
 " Thy enthusiasm blinds and misleads thee, Aliaga," 
 said Calderon, coldly. " For me, I tell thee now, as I 
 have told thee before, that I care not a rush for thy grand 
 objects. Let mankind serve itself — I look to myself alone. 
 But fear not my faith ; my interests and my very life are 
 identified with thee and thy fellow-fanatics. If I desert 
 thee, thou art too deep in my secrets not to undo me ; 
 and were I to slay thee, in order to silence thy testimony, 
 I know enough of thy fraternity to know that I should 
 but raise up a multitude of avengers. As for this matter, 
 you give me wise, if not pious counsel. I will consider 
 well of it. Adieu ! The hour summons me to attend the 
 king." 
 
284 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 CHAPTER T. 
 
 The true Fata Morgana. 
 
 In the roval chamber, before a table covered with 
 papers, sat the King and his secretary. Grave, sullen, 
 and taciturn, there was little in the habitual manner of 
 Philip the Third that could betray to the most experi- 
 enced courtier the outward symptoms of favor or caprice. 
 Education had fitted him for the cloister, but the necessi- 
 ties of despotism had added acute cunning to slavish super- 
 stition. The business for which Calderon had been sum- 
 moned was despatched, with a silence broken but by mono- 
 syllables from the king, and brief explanations from the 
 secretary ; and Philip, rising, gave the signal for Calderon 
 to retire. It was then that the king, turning a dull, but 
 steadfast eye upon the marc^uis, said, with a kind of effort, 
 as if speech were painful to him — 
 
 " The prince left me but a minute before your entrance 
 — have you seen him since your return?" 
 
 " Your majesty, yes. He honored me this morning 
 with his presence." 
 
 "On state affairs?" 
 
 " Your majesty knows, I trust, that your servant treats 
 of state affairs only witli your august self, or your ap- 
 pointed ministers " 
 
 "The prince has favored you, Don Roderigo." 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 285 
 
 "Your majesty commanded me to seek that favor." 
 
 "It is true. Happj the monarch whose faithful ser- 
 vant is the confidant of the heir to his crown ! " 
 
 " Could the prince harbor one thought displeasing to 
 your majesty, I think I could detect, and quell it at its 
 birth. But your majesty is blessed in a grateful son."' 
 
 " I believe it. His love of pleasure decoys him from 
 ambition — so it should be. I am not an austere parent. 
 Keep his favor, Don Roderigo ; it pleases me. Hast 
 thou offended him in aught ? " 
 
 "I trust I have not incurred so great a misfortune," 
 
 " He spoke not of thee with his usual praises — I no- 
 ticed it. I tell thee this, that thou mayest rectify what 
 is wrong. Thou canst not serve me more than by guard- 
 ing him from all friendships save with those whose affec- 
 tion to myself I can trust. I have said enough." 
 
 " Such has ever been my object. But I have not ^he 
 youth of the prince, and men speak ill of me, that, in 
 order to gain his confidence, I share in his pursuits." 
 
 "It matters not what they say of thee. Faithful min- 
 isters are rarely eulogised by the populace or the court. 
 Thou knowest my mind : I repeat, lose not the prince's 
 favor." 
 
 Calderon bowed low, and withdrew. As he passed 
 through the apartments of the palace, he crossed a gal- 
 lery, in which he perceived, stationed by a window, the 
 young prince and his own arch foe, the Duke d'Uzeda. 
 At the same instant, from an opposite door, entered the 
 Cardinal Duke de Lerma ; and the same unwelcome con- 
 
286 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 junction of hostile planets smote the eves of that intrigu- 
 ing minister. Precisely because TJzeda was the duke's 
 son, was he the man in the world whom the duke most 
 dreaded and suspected. 
 
 "Whoever is acquainted with the Spanish comedy will 
 not fail to have remarked the prodigality of intrigue and 
 counter-intrigue, upon which its interest is made to de- 
 pend. In this, the Spanish comedy was the fiiithful mir- 
 ror of the Spanish life, especially in the circles of a court. 
 Men lived in a perfect labyrinth of plot and counter-plot. 
 Tlie spirit of finesse, manoeuvre, subtlety, and double- 
 dealing, pervaded every family. Not a house that was 
 not divided against itself! 
 
 As Lerma turned his eyes from the unwelcome spec- 
 tacle of such sudden familiarity between TJzeda and the 
 heir apparent — a familiarity which it had been his chief 
 care to guard against — his glance fell on Calderon. He 
 beckoned to hira in silence, and retij'ed, unobserved by 
 the two confabulators, through the same door by which 
 he had entered. Calderon took the hint, and followed 
 him. The duke entered a small room, and carefully 
 closed the door. 
 
 " How is this, Calderon ? " he asked, but in a timid 
 tone, for the weak old man stood in awe of his favorite. 
 " Whence this new and most ill-boding league ?" 
 
 '• I know not, your eminence ; remember that I am but 
 just returned to Madrid : it amazes me no less than it 
 does your eminence." 
 
 " Learn the cause of it, my good Calderon : the prince 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 287 
 
 ever professed to liate TJzeda. Restore him to those 
 feelings : thou art all in all with his highness ! If Uzeda 
 once gain his ear, thou art lost." 
 
 "Xot so," cried Calderon, proudly. "My service is 
 to the king ; I have a right to his royal protection, fof I 
 have a claim on his royal gratitude." 
 
 " Do not deceive thyself," said the duke, in a whisper. 
 " The king cannot live long : I have it from the best 
 authority, his physician; nor is this all — a formidable 
 conspiracy against thee exists at court. But for myself 
 and the king's confessor, Philip would consent to thy 
 ruin. The strong hold thou hast over him is in thy in- 
 fluence with the Infant — an influence which he knows to be 
 exerted in behalf of his own fearful and jealous poHcy ; that 
 influence gone, neither I nor Aliaga could suffice to pro- 
 tect thee. Enough ! Shut every access to Philip's heart 
 against Uzeda." 
 
 Calderon bowed in silence, and the duke hastened to 
 the royal cabinet. 
 
 "What a fool was I to think that I could still wear a 
 conscience!" muttered Calderon, with a sneering lip; 
 "but, TJzeda, I will bafiQe thee yet." 
 
 The next morning, the Marquis de Siete Iglesias pre- 
 sented himself at the levee of the prince of Spain. 
 
 Around the favorite, as his proud stature towered 
 above the rest, flocked the obsequious grandees. Th(> 
 haughty smile was yet on his lip, when the door opened, 
 and the prince entered. The crowd, in parting suddenly, 
 left C^'-lderon immediately in front of Pliilip ; wlio, after 
 gazing on liim sternly for a moment, turned away, with 
 
288 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 marked discourtesy, from the favorite's profound reverence, 
 and began a low and smiling conversation with Gonsalez 
 de Leon, one of Calderon's open foes. 
 
 The crowd exchanged looks of delight and surprise ; 
 and each of the nobles, before so wooing in their civilities 
 to the minister, edged cautiously away. 
 
 His mortification had but begun. Presently Uzeda, 
 hitherto almost a stranger to those apartments, appeared ; 
 the prince hastened to him, and, in a few minutes, the 
 duke was seen following the prince into his private cham- 
 ber. The sun of Calderon's favor seemed set. So 
 thought the courtiers — not so the haughty favorite. 
 There was even a smile of triumph on his lip — a sanguine 
 flush upon his pale cheek, as he turned unheeding from 
 the throng, and then entering his carriage, regained his 
 home. 
 
 He had scarcely re-entered his cabinet, ere, faithful to 
 his appointment, Fonseca was announced. 
 
 ''What tidings, my best of friends?"' exclaimed the 
 soldier. 
 
 Calderon shook his head mournfully. 
 
 " My dear pupil," said he, in accents of well-affected 
 sympathy, "there is no hope for thee. Forget this vain 
 dream — return to the army. I can promise thee promo- 
 tion, rank, honors ; but the hand of Beatriz is beyond 
 my power." 
 
 " How?" said Fonseca, turning pale, and sinking into 
 a seat. " How is this ? Why so sudden a change ? Has 
 the queen " 
 
CALDEROX, THE COURTIER. 289 
 
 "I have not seen her majesty ; but the king is resolved 
 upon tliis matter: so are the Inquisition. The Church 
 complains of recent and numerous examples of unholy 
 and impolitic relaxation of her dread power. The court 
 dare not interfere. The novice must be left to her own 
 choice." 
 
 *' And is there no hope ? " 
 
 " Xone ! Return to the excitement of thv brave 
 career." 
 
 " Xever ! "' cried Fonseca, with great vehemence. " If, 
 in requital of all mv services — of life risked, blood spilt, 
 I cannot obtain a boon so easy to accord me, I renounce 
 a service in which even fame has lost its charm. And 
 ha:k you, Calderon, I tell you that I will not forego this 
 pursuit. So fair, so innocent a victim shall not be con- 
 demned to that living tomb. Through the walls of the 
 nunnery, through the spies of the Inquisition, love will 
 find out its way ; and in some distant land I will yet unite 
 happiness and honor. I fear not exile; I fear not re- 
 verse ; I no longer fear poverty itself. All lands, where 
 the sound of the trumpet is not unknown, can afford 
 career to the soldier, who asks from Heaven no other 
 boon but his mistress and his sword." 
 
 "You will seek to abstract Beatriz, then ?" said Cal- 
 deron, calmly and musingly. "Yes — it may be your 
 be>t course, if you take the requisite precautions. But, 
 can you nee her ; can you concert with her V 
 
 '•I think so. I trust I have already paved the way to 
 an interview. Yesterday, after I quitted thee, I sought 
 25 T 
 
200 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 the convent; and, as the chapel is one of the public 
 sights of the city, I made my curiosity my excuse. Hap- 
 pily, I recognized in the porter of the convent an old ser- 
 vitor of my father's ; he had known me from a child — he 
 dislikes his calling — he will consent to accompany our 
 flight; to share our fortunes : he has promised to convey 
 a letter from me to Beatriz, and to transmit to me her 
 answer." 
 
 " The stars smile on thee, Don Martin. When thou 
 hast learned more, consult with me again. Noiv, I see a 
 way to assist thee." 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Web upon Web. 
 
 The next day, to the discomfiture of the courtiers, 
 Calderon and the Infant of Spain were seen together, 
 publicly, on the parade ; and the secretary made one of 
 the favored few who attended the prince at the theatre. 
 His favor was greater, his power more dazzling, than ever 
 it had been known before. 'No cause for the breach and 
 reconciliation being known, some attributed it to caprice 
 others to the wily design of the astute Calderon for the 
 humiliation of Uzeda, who seemed only to have been ad- 
 mitted to one smile from the rising sun, in order more 
 signally to be reconsigned to the shade. 
 
 Meanwhile, Fonseca prospered almost beyond his hopes. 
 
CALDEROX, THE COURTIER. 291 
 
 Young, ardent, sanguine, tlie poor novice had fled from 
 lier quiet home, and the indulgence of her free thoughts, 
 to the chill solitude of the cloister, little dreaming of the 
 extent of the change. TVith a heart that overflowed with 
 the warm thoughts of love and youth, the ghostlike 
 shapes that flitted round her ; the icy forms, the rigid 
 ceremonials of that life, which is but the mimicry of death, 
 appalled and shocked her. That she had preserved 
 against a royal and most perilous, because unscrupulous 
 suitor, her fidelity to the absent Fonseca, was her sole 
 consolation. 
 
 Another circumstance had combined with the loss of 
 her protectress, and the absence of Don Martin, to sad- 
 den her heart, and dispose her to the cloister. On the 
 deathbed of the old woman, who had been to her as a 
 mother, she had learned a secret hitherto concealed from 
 her tender youth. Dark and tragic were the influences 
 of the star which had shone upon her birth ; gloomy the 
 heritage of memories associated with her parentage. A 
 letter, of which she now became the guardian and treas- 
 urer a letter, in her mother's hand — woke tears more 
 
 deep and bitter than she had ever shed for herself. In 
 that letter she read the strength and the fidelity, the sor- 
 row and the gloom, of woman's love ; and a dreary fore- 
 boding told her that the shadow of the mother's fate was 
 cast over the child's. Such were the thoughts that had 
 made the cloister welcome, till the desolation of the shel- 
 ter was tried and known. But when, through the agency 
 of the porter, Fonseca's letter reached her, all other 
 
292 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 feelings gave way to the burst of natural and passionate 
 emotion. The absent had returned, again wooed, was 
 still faithful. The awful vow was not spoken — she might 
 yet be his. She answered ; she chided ; she spoke of 
 doubt, of peril, of fear for him, of maiden shame ; but 
 her affection colored every word, and the letter was full 
 of hope. The correspondence continued ; the energetic 
 remonstrances of Fonseca, the pure and fervent attach- 
 ment of the novice, led more and more rapidly and surely 
 to the inevitable result. Beatriz yielded to the prayer 
 of her lover; she consented to the scheme of escape and 
 flight that he proposed. 
 
 Late at evening Fonseca sought Calderon. The mar- 
 quis was in the gardens of his splendid mansion. 
 
 The moonlight streamed over many a row of orange- 
 trees and pomegranates — many a white and richly sculp- 
 tured vase, on its marble pedestal — many a fountain, tliat 
 scattered its low music round the breathless air. Upon 
 a terrace that commanded a stately view of the spires 
 and palaces of Madrid, stood Calderon, alone ; beside 
 him, one solitary and gigantic aloe cast its deep gloom 
 of shade ; and his motionless attitude, his folded arms, 
 his face partially lifted to the starlit heavens, bespoke 
 the earnestness and concentration of his thoughts. 
 
 " Why does this shudder come over me ? " said he, half 
 aloud. " It was thus in that dismal hour which preceded 
 the knowledge of my shame — the deed of a dark revenge 
 — the revolution of my eventful and wondrous life ! Ah I 
 how happy was I once I a contented and tranquil stu- 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 293 
 
 dent ; a believer in those eyes tliat were to me as the 
 stars to tlie astrologer. But the golden age passed into 
 that of iron. And now," added Calderon, with a self- 
 nioeking sneer, "comes the era which the poets have not 
 chronicled ; for fraud, and hypocrisy, and vice, know no 
 poets!" 
 
 The quick step of Fonseca interrupted the courtier's 
 reverie. He turned, knit his brow, and sighed heavily, 
 as if nerving himself to some effort ; but his brow was 
 smooth, and his aspect cheerful, ere Fonseca reached his 
 side. 
 
 " Give me joy — give me joy, dear Calderon ! she has 
 consented. Now, then, your promised aid." 
 
 " You can depend upon the fidelity of your friendly 
 porter ? " 
 
 "With my life." 
 
 "A master-key to the back-door of the chapel has 
 been made ? " 
 
 " See, I have it." 
 
 "And Beatriz can contrive to secrete herself in the 
 confessional at the hour of the night prayers ? " 
 
 " There is no doubt of her doing so with safety. The 
 number of the novices is so great, that one of them can- 
 not well be missed." 
 
 " So much, then, for your part of the enterprise. Now 
 for mine. You know that solitary house in the suburbs, 
 on the high road to Fuencarral, which I pointed out to 
 you yesterday ? Well, the owner is a creature of mine. 
 There, horses shall be in waiting ; there, disguises shall 
 25* 
 
294 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 be prepared, Beatriz must necessarily divest herself of 
 the professional dress ; you had better choose meaner 
 garments for yourself. Drop those hidalgo titles of which 
 your father is so proud, and pass off yourself and the 
 novice as a notary and his wife, about to visit France on 
 a lawsuit of inheritance. One of my secretaries shall 
 provide you with a pass. Meanwhile, to-morrow, I shall 
 be the first officially to hear of the flight of the novice, 
 and I will set the pursuers on a wrong scent. Have I 
 not arranged all things properly, my Fonseca ?" 
 
 ''You are our guardian angel!'' cried Don Martin, 
 fervently. " The prayers of Beatriz will be registered in 
 your behalf above — prayers that will reach the Great 
 Throne as easily from the open valleys of France as in 
 the gloomy cloisters of Madrid. At midnight, to-morrow, 
 then, we seek the house you have described to us." 
 "Ay, at midnight, all shall be prepared." 
 "With a light step and exulting heart, Fonseca turned 
 from the palace of Calderon. Xaturally sanguine and 
 high-spirited, visions of hope and joy floated before his 
 eyes, and the future seemed to him a land owning but 
 the twin deities of Glory and Love. 
 
 He had reached about the centre of the street in which 
 Calderon's abode was placed, when six men, who for some 
 moments had been watching him from a little distance, 
 approached. 
 
 " I believe," said the one who appeared the chief of 
 the band, " that I have the honor to address Senor Don 
 Martin Fonseca ? " 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 295 
 
 " Sucli is iny name.-' 
 
 "In the name of the king we arrest you. Follow 
 us/' 
 
 "Arrest I on what plea ? What is my offence?" 
 
 " It is s-tated in this writ, signed by his Eminence the 
 Cardinal Duke de Lerma. You are charged with the 
 crime of desertion." 
 
 "Thou liest, knave ! I had the general's free permis- 
 sion to quit the camp." 
 
 "We have said all — follow!" 
 
 Fonseca, naturally of the most impetuous and passion- 
 ate character, was not, in that moment, in a mood to 
 calculate coldly all the consequences of resistance. 
 Arrest — imprisonment — on the eve before that which 
 was to see him the deliverer of Beatriz, constituted a 
 sentence of such despair, that all other considerations 
 vanished before it. He set his teeth firmly, drew his 
 sword, dashed aside the alguazil who attempted to 
 obstruct his path, and strode grimly on, shaking one 
 clenched hand in defiance, while, with the other, he waved 
 the good Toledo that had often blazed in the van of 
 battle, at the war-cry of " St. Jago and Spain ! " 
 
 The alguazils closed round the soldier, and the clash 
 of swords was already heard ; when, suddenly, torches, 
 borne on high, threw their glare across the moonlit 
 street, and two running footmen called out, " Make way 
 for the most noble the Marquis de Siete Iglesias ! " At 
 that name, Fonseca dropped the point of his weapon ; 
 the alguazils themselves drew aside ; and the tall figure 
 
29G CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 and pale countenance of Calderon were visible amongst 
 the group. 
 
 '' What means this brawl in the open streets, at this 
 late hour ? " said the minister, sternly. 
 
 "Calderon!" exclaimed Fonseca ; "this is, indeed, 
 fortunate. These caitiffs have dared to lay hands on a 
 soldier of Spain, and to forge for their villany the name 
 of his own kinsman, the Duke de Lerma." 
 
 *• Your charge against this gentleman V asked Calde- 
 ron, calmly, turning to the principal alguazil, who placed 
 the writ of an-est in the secretary's hand. Calderon 
 read it leisurely, and raised his hat as he returned it to 
 the alguazil : he then drew aside Fonseca. 
 
 "Are you mad?" said he in a whisper. "Do you 
 think you can resist the law ? Had I not arrived so 
 opportunely, you would have converted a slight accusa- 
 tion into a capital offence. Go with these men : do not 
 fear; I will see the duke, and obtain your immediate 
 release. To-morrow, I will visit and accompany you 
 home." 
 
 Fonseca, still half beside himself with rage, would 
 have replied, but Calderon significantly placed his finger 
 on his lip, and turned to the alguazils, 
 
 " There is a mistake here : it will be rectified to- 
 morrow. Treat this cavalier with all the respect and 
 worship due to his birth and merits. Go, Don Martin, 
 go,'' he added, in a lower voice ; "go, unless you desire 
 to lose Beatriz for ever. Nothing but obedience can 
 save you from the imprisonment of half a life ! " 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 29T 
 
 Awed and subdued by this threl5t, Fonseca, in gloomy 
 silence, placed his sword in its sheath, and sullenly fol- 
 lowed the alguazils Calderon watched them depart 
 with a thoughtful and absent look ; then, starting from 
 his reverie, he bade his torch-bearers proceed, and 
 resumed his way to the Prince of Spain. 
 
 CHAPTER Til. 
 
 The open Countenance, the concealed Thoughts. 
 
 The next day, at noon, Calderon yisited Fonseca in • 
 •his place of confinement. The young man was seated 
 by a window that overlooked a large dull court-yard, 
 with a neglected and broken fountain in the centre, 
 leaning his cheek upon his hand. His long hair was 
 dishevelled, his dress disordered, and a gloomy frowu 
 darkened features naturally open and ingenuous. He 
 started to his feet as Calderon approached. 
 
 "My release — you have brought my release — let us 
 forth ! " 
 
 '•' My dear pupil, be ruled, be calm. I have seen the 
 duke : the cause of your imprisonment is as I suspected. 
 Some imprudent words, overheard, perhaps, but by your 
 valet, have escaped you ; words intimating your resolu- 
 tion not to abandon Beatriz. You know your kinsman, 
 a man of doubts and fears, — of forms, ceremonies, and 
 
298 CALDERON, THE CO TR TIER. 
 
 scruplts. From very affection for his kindred and your- 
 self, he has contrived your arrest ; all my expostulations 
 have been in vain. I fear your imprisonment may con- 
 tinue, either until you give a solemn promise to renounce 
 all endeavor to dissuade Beatriz from the final vows, or 
 until she herself has pronounced them." 
 
 Fonseca, as if stupefied, stared a moment at Calderon, 
 and then burst into a wild laugh. Calderon continued : 
 
 '■ Xevertheless, do not despair. Be patient ; I am 
 ever about the duke ; nay, I have the courage, in your 
 cause, to appeal even to the king himself" 
 
 "And to-night she expects me — to night she was to 
 be free I " 
 
 " We can convey the intelligence of your mischance to 
 her : the porter will befriend you." 
 
 "Away, false friend, or powerless protector, that you 
 are I Are your promises of aid come to this ? But I 
 care not ; my case, my wrongs, shall be laid before the 
 king ; I will inquire if it be thus that Philip the Third 
 treats the defenders of his crown. Don Eoderigo 
 Calderon, will you place my memorial in the hands of 
 your royal master? Do this, and I will thank you." 
 
 " Xo, Fonseca, I will not ruin you ; the king would 
 pass your memorial to the Duke de Lerma. Tush ! this 
 is not the way that men of sense deal with misfortune. 
 Think you I should be what I now am, if, in every re- 
 Terse, I had raved, and not reflected ? Sit down, and 
 let us think of what can now be done." 
 
 " Xothing, unless the prison-door open by sunset ! " 
 
CALDEROX, THE COURTIER. 299 
 
 " Stay, a thought strikes me. The term of your im- 
 prisoDraent ceases when you relinquish the hope of 
 Beatriz. But what if the duke could believe that 
 Beatriz relinquished you ? What, for instance, if she 
 fled from the convent, as you proposed, and we could 
 persuade the duke that it was with another ? " 
 
 " Ah, be silent ! " 
 
 " Xay, what advantages in this scheme — what safety ! 
 If she fly alone, or, as supposed, with another lover, the 
 duke will have no interest in pursuit, in punishment. 
 She is not of that birth that the state will take the 
 trouble, very actively, to interfere : she may reach France 
 in safety ; ay, a thousand times more safely than if she 
 fled witli you, a hidalgo and a man of rank, whom the 
 state would have an interest to reclaim, and to whom the 
 Inquisition, hating the nobles, would impute the crime 
 of sacrilege. It is an excellent thought ! Your im- 
 prisonment may be the salvation of you both ; your plan 
 may succeed still better without your intervention ; and, 
 after a few days, the duke, believing that your resent- 
 ment must necessarily replace your love, will order your 
 release ; you can join Beatriz on the frontier, and escape 
 with her to France." 
 
 "But," said Fonseca, strnck, but not convinced, by 
 the suggestion of Calderon, "who will take my place with 
 Beatriz ? who penetrate into the gardens ? who bear her 
 from the convent ? " 
 
 " That, for your sake, will I do. Perhaps," added 
 Calderon, smiling, " a courtier may manage such an 
 
300 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 intrigue with even more dexterity than a soldier. I will 
 bear her to the house we spoke of; there I know she 
 can lie hid in safety, till the languid pursuit of un- 
 interested offinials shall cease, and thence I can easily 
 find means to transport her, under safe and honorable 
 escort, to any place it may please you to appoint." 
 
 "And think you Beatriz will fly with you, a stranger ? 
 Impossible ! Your plan pleases me not." 
 
 " Xor does it please me," said Calderon, coldly ; "the 
 risks I proposed to run are too imminent to be contem- 
 plated complacently : I thank you for releasing me from 
 my offer ; nor should I have made it, Fonseca, but from 
 this fear — what if to-morrow the duke himself (he is a 
 churchman, remember,) see the novice 'i what if he terrify 
 her with threats against yourself? what if he induce the 
 abbess and the church to abridge the noviciate ? what if 
 Beatriz be compelled or awed into taking the veil ? what 
 if you be released even next week, and find her lost to 
 you for ever ? " 
 
 ''They cannot — they dare not!" 
 
 " The duke dares all things for ambition ; your alliance 
 with Beatriz he would hold a disgrace to his house. 
 Think not my warnings are without foundation — I speak 
 from authority ; such is the course the Duke de Lerma 
 lias resolved upon. Xothing else could have induced 
 me to offer to brave for your sake all the hazard of out- 
 raging the law, and braving the terrors of the Inquisition. 
 But let us think of some other plan. Is your escape 
 possible ? I fear not. Xo ; you must trust to mv chance 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 301 
 
 of persuading the duke into prosecuting the matter no 
 further ; trust to some mightier scheme engrossing all 
 his thoughts ; to a fit of good-humor after his siesta ; or, 
 perhaps, an attack of the gout, or a stroke of apoplexy. 
 Such, after all, are the chances of human felicity, the 
 pivots on which turns the solemn wheel of human life ! " 
 Fonseca made no reply for some moments ; he tra- 
 versed the room with hasty and disordered strides, and 
 at last stopped abruptly. 
 
 "Calderon, there is no option ; I must throw myself 
 on your generosity, your faith, your friendship. I will 
 write to Beatriz ; I will tell her, for my sake, to confide 
 in you." 
 
 As he spoke, Don Martin turned to the table, and 
 wrote a hasty and impassioned note, in which he implored 
 the novice to trust herself to the directions of Don Kode- 
 rigo Calderon, his best, his only friend ; and, as he 
 placed this letter in the hands of the courtier, he turned 
 aside to conceal his emotions. Calderon himself was 
 deeply moved : his cheek was flushed, and his hand seemed 
 tremulous as it took the letter. 
 
 ''Remember,'' said Fonseca, "that I trust to you my 
 life of life. As you are true to me, may Heaven be 
 merciful to you ! " 
 
 Calderon made no answer, but turned to the door. 
 "Stay," said Fonseca; "I had forgot this — here is 
 the master-key." 
 
 " True ; how dull I was ! And the porter — will he 
 attend to thy proxy ? " 
 2(\ 
 
302 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 " Doubt it not. Accost lilm \yith the word ' Granada.' 
 — But he expects to share the fli<^ht." 
 
 " That can be arranged. To-morrow you will hear 
 of my success. Farewell I " 
 
 CHAPTER Till. 
 
 The Escape. 
 
 It was midnight in the chapel of the convent. 
 
 The moonlight shone with exceeding lustre through 
 the tall casements, and lit into a ghastly semblance of 
 life the marble images of saint and martyr, that threw 
 their long shadows over the consecrated floor. Nothing 
 could well be conceived more dreary, solemn, and 
 sepulchral, than that holy place : its distained and time- 
 hallowed walls ; the impenetrable mass of darkness that 
 gathered into those recesses which the moonlight failed 
 to reach ; its antique and massive tombs, above which 
 reclined the sculptured effigies of some departed patron- 
 ess or abbess, who had exchanged a living grave for 
 the mansions of the blest. But there — oh, wonderful 
 human heart ! — even there, in that spot, the very homily 
 and warning against earthly affections, and mortal hopes 
 — even there, couldst thou beat with as wild, as bright, 
 and as pure a passion as ever heaved the breast, and 
 shone in the eyes of Beauty, in the free air that ripples 
 the Guadiana, or amidst the twilight dance of Castilian 
 maids. 
 
C ALDER ON, THE COURTIER. 303 
 
 A tall figure, wrapped from head to foot in a cloak, 
 passed slowly up the aisle. But light and cautious 
 though the footstep, it woke a low, hollow, ominous echo, 
 that seemed more than the step itself to disturb the 
 sanctity of the place. It paused opposite to a confes- 
 sional, which was but dimly visible through the shadows 
 around it. And then there emerged timidly a female 
 form; and a soft voice whispered — "It is thou, Fon- 
 seca I " 
 
 " Hist ! " was the answer ; " he waits without. Be 
 quick; speak not — come." 
 
 Beatriz recoiled in surprise and alarm at the voice of 
 a stranger : but the man, seizing her by the hand, drew 
 her hastily from the chapel, and hurried her across the 
 garden, through a small postern door, which stood ajar, 
 into an obscure street, bordering the convent walls. 
 Here stood the expectant porter, with a bundle in his 
 hand, which he opened, and took thence a long cloak, 
 such as the women of middling rank in Madrid wore in 
 the winter season, with the customary mantilla or veil. 
 With these, still without speaking, the stranger hastily 
 shrouded the form of the novice, and once more hurried 
 her on, till, about a hundred yards from the garden gate, 
 he came to a carriage, into which he lifted Beatriz, 
 whispered a few words to the porter, seated himself by 
 the side of the novice, and the vehicle drove rapidly 
 away. 
 
 It was some moments before Beatriz could sufficiently 
 recover from her first agitation and terror, to feel alive 
 
304 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 to all the strangeness of her situation. She was alone 
 with a stranger — where was Fonseca ? She turned sud- 
 denly towards her companion. 
 
 "Who art thou ? " she said, " whither art thou leading 
 
 me — and why 
 
 "Why is not Don Martin by thy side ? Pardon me, 
 senora: I have a billet for thee from Fonseca; in a few 
 minutes thou wilt know all." 
 
 At this time the vehicle came suddenly in the midst 
 of a train of footmen and equipages that choked up the 
 way. There was a brilliant entertainment at the French 
 embassy, and thither flocked all the rank and chivalry of 
 Madrid. Calderon drew down the blinds, and hastily 
 enjoined silence on Beatriz. It was some minutes before 
 the driver extricated himself from the throng ; and then, 
 as if to make amends for the delay, he put his horses to 
 their full speed, and carefully selected the most obscure 
 and solitary thoroughfares. At length the carriage en- 
 tered the range of suburbs, which still, at this day, the 
 traveller passes on his road from Madrid to FranOe. 
 The horses stopped before a lonely house that stood a 
 little apart from the road, and which, from the fashion 
 of its architecture, appeared of considerable antiquity. 
 The stranger descended, and knocked twice at the door: 
 it was opened by an old man, whose exaggerated features, 
 bended frame, and long beard, proclaimed him of the 
 race of Israel. After a short and whispered parley, the 
 stranger returned to Beatriz, gravely assisted her from 
 the carriage, and, leading her across the threshold, and 
 
://^^s«Tr 
 
 CALDERON', THE C O TnftMB,k^^^^||l|^ 
 
 up a flight of rude stairs, dimlv lighted, entel 
 ber richly furnished. The walls were hung with stuffs 
 of gorgeous coloring and elaborate design. Pedestals 
 of the whitest marble, placed at each corner of the room, 
 supported candelabra of silver. Tlie sofas and couches 
 were of tlie heavy, but sumptuous fashion which then 
 prevailed in the palaces of France and Spain ; and of 
 which Venice ("the true model of the barbaric decorations 
 with which Louis the Fourteenth corrupted the taste of 
 Paris) was probably the original inventor. In an alcove, 
 beneath a silken canopy, was prepared a table, laden 
 with wines, fruits, and viands ; and, altogether, the 
 elegance and luxury that characterized the apartment 
 were in strong and strange contrast with the half-ruined 
 exterior of the abode, the gloomy and rude approach 
 to the cliamber, and the mean and servile aspect of the 
 Jew, who stood, or rather cowered by the door, as if 
 waiting for further orders. With a wave of the hand, 
 the stranger dismissed the Israelite ; and then, approach- 
 ing Beatriz, presented to her Fonseca's letter. 
 
 As with an enchanting mixture of modesty and eager- 
 ness, Beatriz, half averting her face, bent over the well- 
 known characters, Calderon gazed upon her with a 
 scrutinizing and curious eye. 
 
 The courtier was not, in this instance, altogether the 
 villain that from outward appearances the reader may 
 have deemed him. His plan was this : he had resolved 
 on compliance with the wishes of the prince — his safety 
 rested on that compliance. But Fonseca was not to be 
 26* u 
 
306 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 sacrificed without reserve. Profoundly despising woman- 
 kind, and firmly persuaded of their constitutional treach- 
 ery and deceit, Calderon could not believe the actress 
 that angel of light and purity which she seemed to the 
 enamoured Fonseca. He had resolved to subject her to 
 the ordeal of the prince's addresses. If she fell, should 
 he not save his friend from being the dupe of an artful 
 iyitriguante ; — should he not deserve the thanks of Don 
 Martin, for the very temptation to which Beatriz was 
 now to be submitted ? If he could convince Fonseca of 
 her falsehood, he should stand acquitted to his friend, 
 while he should have secured his interest with the prince. 
 But if, on the other hand, Beatriz came spotless through 
 the trial ; if the prince, stung by her obstinate virtue, 
 should menace to sink courtship into violence, Calderon 
 knew that it would not be in the first or second interview 
 that the novice would have any real danger to appre- 
 hend ; and he should have leisure to concert her escape 
 by such means as would completely conceal from the 
 prince his own connivance at her flight. Such was the 
 compromise that Calderon had effected between his con- 
 science and his ambition. But while he gazed upon the 
 novice, though her features were turned from him, and 
 half-veiled by the head-dress she had assumed, strange 
 feelings, ominous and startling, like those remembrances 
 of the Past which sometimes come in the guise of pro- 
 phecies for the Future, thronged, indistinct and dim, 
 upon his breast. The unconscious and exquisite grace 
 of her form, its touching youth, an air of innocence 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 307 
 
 diffused around it, a something helpless, and pleading to 
 man's protection, in the very slightness of her beautiful 
 but fairy-like proportions, seemed to reproach his treach- 
 ery, and to awaken whatever of pity or human softness 
 remained in his heart. 
 
 The novice had read the letter; and turning, in the 
 impulse of surprise and alarm, to Calderon for explana- 
 tion, for the first time she remarked his features and his 
 aspect ; for he had then laid aside his cloak, and the 
 broad Spanish hat with its heavy plume. It was thus 
 that their eyes met, and, as they did so, Beatriz, starting 
 from her seat, uttered a wild cry — 
 
 "And thy name is Calderon — Don Roderigo Calde- 
 ron ? — is it possible ? Hadst thou never another name ?" 
 she exclaimed ; and, as she spoke, she approached him 
 slowly and fearfully. 
 
 *' Lady, Calderon is my name," replied the marquis : 
 but his voice faltered. "But thine — thine — is it in 
 truth, Beatriz Coello ? " 
 
 Beatriz made no reply, but continued to advance, till 
 her very breath came upon his cheek ; she then laid her 
 hand upon his arm, and looked up into his face with a 
 gaze so earnest, so intent, so prolonged, that Calderon, 
 but for a strange and terrible thought — half of wonder, 
 half of suspicion, which had gradually crept into his soul, 
 and now usurped it — might have doubted whether, the 
 reason of the poor novice was not unsettled. 
 
 Slowly Beatriz withdrew her eyes, and they fell upon 
 a large mirror opposite, which reflected in full light the 
 
308 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 features of Calderon and herself It was then — her 
 natural bloom having faded into a paleness scarcely less 
 statue-like than that which characterized the cheek of 
 Calderon himself, and all the sweet play and mobility of 
 feature that belong to first youth being replaced by a 
 rigid and marble stillness of expression — it was then 
 that a remarkable rese-niblance between these two persons 
 became visible and startling. That resemblance struck 
 alike, and in the same instant, both Beatriz and Calde- 
 ron ; and both, gazing on the mirror, uttered an invol- 
 untary and simultaneous exclamation. 
 
 With a trembling and hasty hand the novice searched 
 amidst the folds of her robe, and drew forth a small 
 leathern case, closed with clasps of silver. She touched 
 the spring, and took out a miniature, upon which she 
 cast a rapid and wild glance ; then, lifting her eyes to 
 Calderon, she cried, — "It must be so — it is, it is my 
 father ! " and fell motionless at his feet. 
 
 Calderon did not for some moments heed the condition 
 of the novice : that chamber, the meditated victim, the 
 present time, the coming evil — all were swept away from 
 his soul ; he was transported back into the past, with the 
 two dread Spirits, Memory and Conscience ! His knees 
 knocked together, his aspect was livid, the cold drops 
 stood upon his brow ; he muttered incoherently, and then 
 bent down, and took up the picture. It was the face 
 of a man in the plain garb of a Salamanca student, and 
 in the first flush of youth ; the noble brow, serene and 
 calm, and stamped alike with candor and courage ; the 
 
CALDEKON, THE COURTIER. 309 
 
 smooth cheek, rich with the hues of health ; the lips, 
 parting in a happy smile, and eloquent of joy and hope ; 
 it was the face of that wily, grasping, ambitious, un- 
 scrupulous man, when life had yet brought no sin : it 
 was as if the ghost of youth were come back to accuse 
 the crimes of manhood. The miniature fell from his 
 hand — he groaned aloud. Then- gazing on the pros- 
 trate form of the novice, he said — " Poor wretch ! can I 
 believe that thou art indeed of mine own race and blood ; 
 or rather, does not nature, that stamped these lineaments 
 on thy countenance, deceive and mock me ? If she, thy 
 mother, lied, why not nature herself?" 
 
 He raised the novice in his arms, and gazed long and 
 wistfully upon her lifeless, but most lovely features. She 
 moved not — she scarcely seemed to breathe; yet he 
 fancied he felt her embrace tightening round him — he 
 fancied he heard again the voice that had hailed him 
 "father!" His heart beat aloud, the .divine instinct 
 overpowered all things, he pressed a passionate kiss 
 upon her forehead, and his tears fell fast and warm upon 
 her cheek. But again the dark remembrance crossed 
 him, and he shuddered, placed the novice hastily on one 
 of the couches, and shouted aloud. 
 
 The Jew appeared, and was ordered to summon 
 Jacinta. A young woman of the same persuasion, and 
 of harsh and forbidding exterior, entered, and to her care 
 Calderon briefly consigned the yet insensible Beatriz. 
 
 While Jacinta unlaced the dress, and chafed the 
 temples of the novice, Calderon seemed buried in gloomy 
 
310 C ALDER ON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 thought. At last he strode slowly away, as if to quit 
 the chamber, when his foot struck against the case of the 
 picture, and his eye rested upon a paper which lay there- 
 in, folded and embedded. He took it up, and lifting 
 aside the hangings, hurried into a small cabinet, lighted 
 by a single lamp. Here, alone and unseen, Calderon 
 read the following letter : — 
 
 "TO RODERIGO NUNEZ. 
 
 " Will this letter ever meet thine eyes ? I know not ; 
 but it is comfort to write to thee on the bed of death ; 
 and, were it not for that horrible and haunting thought, 
 that thou believest me — me, whose very life was in thy 
 love — faithless and dishonored, even death itself would 
 be the sweeter, because it comes from the loss of thee. 
 Yes, something tells me that these lines will not be 
 written in vain ; that thou wilt read them yet, when this 
 hand is still, and this brain at rest, and that then thou 
 wilt feel that I could not have dared to write to thee if I 
 were not innocent ; that in every word thou wilt recog- 
 nize the evidence, that is strong as the voice of thousands, 
 — the simple but solemn evidence of faith and truth. 
 What ! when for thee I deserted all — home, and a father's 
 love, wealth, and the name I had inherited from Moors, 
 who had been monarchs in their day — couldst thou think 
 that I had not made the love of thee the core, and life, 
 and principle of my very being ! And one short year, 
 could that suffice to shake my faith ? — one year of 
 marriage, but two months of absence ? You left me, 
 
CALDERON, THE COTRTIER. 311 
 
 left that dear home, by the silver Xenil. For love did 
 not suffice to you ; ambition began to stir within you, 
 and you called it 'love.' You said, 'It grieved you that 
 I was poor ; that you could not restore to me the luxury 
 and wealth I had lost.' (Alas ! why did you turn so in- 
 credulously from my assurance, that in you, and you 
 alone, were centred my ambition and pride ?) You de- 
 clared that the vain readers of the stars had foretold, at 
 your cradle, that you were predestined to lofty honors 
 and dazzling power, and that the prophecy would work 
 out its own fulfilment. You left me to seek, in Madrid, 
 your relation, who had risen into the favor of a minister, 
 and from whose love you expected to gain an opening 
 to your career. Do you remember how we parted, how 
 you kissed away my tears, and how they gushed forth 
 again — how again, and again, you said, 'farewell !' and 
 again and again returned, as if we could never part ! 
 And I took my babe, but a few weeks born, from her 
 cradle, and placed her in thy arms, and bade thee see 
 that she had already learned thy smile ; and were these 
 the signs of falsehood? Oh, how I pined for the sound 
 of thy footstep when thou wert gone I how all the summer 
 had vanished from the landscape : and how, turning to 
 thy child, I fancied I again beheld thee ! The day after 
 thou hadst left me there was a knock at the door of the 
 cottage ; the nurse opened it, and there entered your 
 former rival, whom my father had sought to force upon 
 me. the richest of the descendants of the Moor, Arraez 
 Ferrares. Why linger on this hateful subject ? He had 
 
312 CALDERON, THE COTRTIER. 
 
 tracked us to our home, he had learned thy absence, he 
 came to insult me with his vows. By the Blessed Mother, 
 whom thou hast taught me to adore, by the terror and 
 pang of death, by my hopes of heaven, I am innocent, 
 Roderigo, I am innocent ! Oh, how couldst thou be so 
 deceived ? He quitted the cottage, discomfited and en- 
 raged ; again he sought me, again and again ; and when 
 the door was closed upon him, he waylaid my steps. 
 Lone and defenceless as we were, thy wife and child, with 
 but one attendant, I feared him not ; but I trembled at 
 thy return, for I knew that thou wert a Spaniard, a 
 Castilian, and that beneath thy calm and gentle seeming 
 lurked pride, and jealousy, and revenge. Thy letter 
 came, the only letter since thy absence, the last letter 
 from thee I may ever weep over, and lay upon my heart. 
 Thy relation was dead, and his wealth enriched a nearer 
 heir. Thou wert to return. The day in which I might 
 expect thee approached — it arrived. During the last 
 week I had seen and heard no more of Ferrares. I 
 trusted that he had, at length, discovered the vanity of 
 his pursuit. I walked into the valley, thy child in my 
 arms, to meet thee ; but thou didst not come. The sun 
 set, and the light of thine eyes replaced not the declining 
 day. I returned home, and watched for thee all night, 
 but in vain. The next morning, again, I went forth into 
 the valley, and again, with a sick heart, returned to my 
 desolate home. It was theu noon. As I approached 
 the door I perceived Ferrares. He forced his entrance. 
 I told him of thy expected return, and threatened him 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 313 
 
 with thy resentment. He left me ; and, terrified with a 
 thousand vague forebodings, I sat down to weep. The 
 nurse, Leonarda, was watching by the cradle of our 
 child, in the inner room. I was alone. Suddenly the 
 door opened. I heard thy step ; I knew it ; I knew its 
 music. I started up. Saints of heaven ! what a meeting 
 
 — what a return ! Pale, haggard, thine hands and gar- 
 ments dripping blood, thine eyes blazing with insane fire, 
 a terrible smile of mockery on thy lip, thou stoodst before 
 me. I would have thrown myself on thy breast ; thou 
 didst cast me from thee ; I fell on my knees, and thy 
 blade was pointed at my heart — the heart so full of thee I 
 * He is dead,' didst thou say, in a hollow voice ; * he is 
 dead — thy paramour — take thy bed beside him!' I 
 know not what I said, but it seemed to move thee ; thy 
 hand trembled, and the point of thy weapon dropped. 
 It was then that, hearing thy voice, Leonarda hastened 
 into the room, and bore in her arras thy child. ' See,' I 
 exclaimed, ' see thy daughter ; see, she stretches her 
 hands to thee — she pleads for her mother ! ' At that 
 sight thy brow became dark, the demon seized upon thee 
 again. ' Mine I ' were thy cruel words — they ring in my 
 ear still — ' no ! she was born before the time — ha ! ha ! 
 
 — thou didst betray me from the first ! ' With that thou 
 didst raise thy sword ; but, even then (ah, blessed thought 1 
 even then) remorse and love palsied thy hand, and 
 averted thy gaze : the blow was not that of death. I 
 fell, senseless, to the ground, and, when I recovered, 
 thou wert gone. Delirium succeeded ; and, when once 
 
314 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 more my senses and reason returned to me, I found by 
 my side a holy priest, and from him, gradually, I 
 learned all that till then was dark. Ferrares had been 
 found in the valley, weltering in his blood. Borne to a 
 neighboring monastery, he lingered a few days, to con- 
 fess the treachery he had practised on thee ; to adopt, 
 in his last hours, the Christian faith ; and to attest his 
 crime with his own signature. He enjoined the monk, 
 who had converted and confessed him, to place this 
 proof of my innocence in my hands. Behold it enclosed 
 within. If this letter ever reach thee, thou wilt learn 
 how thy wife was true to thee in life, and has, therefore, 
 the right to bless thee in death." 
 
 At this passage Calderon dropped the letter, and was 
 seized with a kind of paralysis, which, for some moments, 
 seemed to deprive him of life itself. When he recovered, 
 he eairerly grasped a scroll that was enclosed in the 
 letter, but which, hitherto, he had disregarded. Even 
 then, so strong were his emotions, that sight itself was 
 obscured and dimmed, and it was long before he could 
 read the characters, which were already discolored by 
 time. 
 
 " TO INEZ. 
 
 " I have but a few hours to live, — let me spend them 
 in atonement and prayer, less for myself than thee. 
 Thou knowest not how madly I adored thee ; and how 
 thy hatred or indifference stung every passion into tor- 
 ture. Let this pass. When I saw thee again — the for- 
 saker of thy faith — poor, obscure, and doomed to a 
 
CALDEROX, THE COURTIER. 315 
 
 peasant's lot — daring hopes shaped themselves into fierce 
 resolves. Finding that thou wert inexorable, I turned 
 mv arts upon thy husband. I knew his poverty and his 
 ambition ; we Moors have had ample knowledge of the 
 avarice of the Christians ! I bade one whom I could 
 trust to seek him out at Madrid. Wealth — lavish wealth 
 — wealth that could open to a Spaniard all the gates of 
 power, was offered to him if he would renounce thee for 
 ever. Xay, in order to crush out all love from his 
 breast, it was told him that mine was the prior right — 
 that thou hadst yielded to my suit ere thou didst fly with 
 him — that thou didst use his love as an escape from thine 
 own dishonor — that thy very child owned another father. 
 I had learned, and I availed myself of the knowledge, 
 that it was born before its time. We had miscalculated 
 the effect of this representation, backed and supported 
 by forged letters : instead of abandoning thee, he thought 
 only of revenge for his shame. As I left thy house, the 
 last time I gazed upon thy indignant eyes, I found the 
 avenger on my path ! He had seen me quit thy roof — 
 he needed no other confirmation of the tale. I fell into 
 the pit which I had digged for thee. Conscience un- 
 nerved my hand and blunted my sword : our blades 
 scarcely crossed before his weapon stretched me on the 
 ground. They tell me he has fled from the anger of the 
 law ; let him return without a fear. Solemnly, and from 
 the bed of death, and in the sight of the last tribunal, I 
 proclaim to justice and the world that we fought fairly, 
 and I perish justly. I have adopted thy faith, though I 
 
316 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 canuot comprehend its mysteries. It is enough that it 
 holds out to me the only hope that we shall meet again. 
 I direct these lines to be transmitted to thee — an eternal 
 proof of thy innocence and my guilt. Ah, canst thou 
 forgive me ? I knew no sin till I knew thee. 
 
 "Arraez Ferrares." 
 
 Calderon paused ere he turned to the concluding lines 
 of his wife's letter ; and though he remained motionless 
 and speechless, never were agony and despair stamped 
 more terribly on the face of man. 
 
 CONCLL'SION OF THE LETTER OF INEZ. 
 
 "And what avails to me this testimony of my faith ? 
 thou art fled; they cannot track thy footsteps; I shall 
 see thee no more on earth. I am dying fast, but not of 
 the wound I took from thee ; let not that thought darken 
 thy soul, my husband ! No, that wound is healed. 
 Thought is sharper than the sword. — I have pined away 
 for the loss of thee, and thy love ! Can the shadow live 
 without the sun ? And wilt thou never place thy hands 
 on my daughter's head, and bless her for her mother's 
 sake ? Ah, yes — yes ! The saints that watch over our 
 human destinies will one day cast her in thy way : and 
 the same hour that gives thee a daughter shall redeem 
 
 and hallow the memory of a wife Leonarda has 
 
 vowed to be a mother to our child ; to tend her, work 
 for her, rear her, though in poverty, to virtue. I con- 
 sign these letters to Leonarda's charge, with thy picture 
 — never to be removed from my breast till the heart 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 317 
 
 within has ceased to beat. Not till Beatriz (I have so 
 baptized her — it was thy mother's name !) has attained 
 to the age when reason can wrestle with the knowledge 
 of sorrow, shall her years be shadowed with the know- 
 ledge of our fate. Leonarda has persuaded me that 
 Beatriz shall not take thy name of Nunez. Our tale 
 has excited horror — for it is not understood — and thou 
 art called the murderer of thy wife ; and the story of 
 our misfortunes would cling to our daughter's life, and 
 reach her ears, and perhaps mar her fate. But I know 
 that thou wilt discover her not the less, for Nature has 
 a providence of its own. When at last you meet her, 
 protect, guard, love her — sacred to you as she is, and 
 shall be — the pure but mournful legacy of love and 
 death. I have done : I die blessing thee ! 
 
 "Inez." 
 
 Scarce had he finished these last words, ere the clock 
 struck : it was the hour in which the prince was to 
 arrive. The thought restored Calderon to the sense of 
 the present time — the approaching peril. All the cold 
 calculations he had formed for the stranger novice 
 vanished now. He kissed the letter passionately, placed 
 it in his breast, and hurried into the chamber where he 
 had left his child. Our tale returns to Fonseca. 
 
318 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Counterplot, 
 
 Calderon had not long left the young soldier, before 
 the governor of the prison entered, to pay his respects 
 to a captive of such high birth and military reputation. 
 
 Fonseca, always blunt and impatient of mood, was not 
 in a humor to receive and return compliments ; but the 
 governor had scarcely seated himself, ere he struck a 
 chord in the conversation which immediately arrested 
 the attention and engaged the interest of the prisoner. 
 
 '•Do not fear, sir,-' said he, "that you will be long 
 detained ; the power of your enemy is great, but it will 
 not be of duration. The storm is already gathering 
 round him ; he must be more than man, if he escape the 
 thunderbolt." 
 
 " Do you speak to me thus of my own kinsman, the 
 Cardinal-duke de Lerma ? " 
 
 " Xo, Don Martin, pardon me. I spoke of the Mar- 
 quis de Siete Iglesias. Are you so great a stranger to 
 Madrid and to the court, as to suppose that the Cardi- 
 nal de Lerraa ever signs a paper but at the instance of 
 Don Roderigo ? Xay, that he ever looks over the paper 
 to which he sets his hand? Depend upon it. you are 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 319 
 
 here to gratify the avarice or revenge of the Scourge of 
 Spain." 
 
 " Impossible I "' cried Fonseca. " Don Roderigo is 
 my friend — my intercessor. He overwhelms me with 
 his kindness." 
 
 " Then you are indeed lost," said the governor, in 
 accents of compassion ; " the tiger always caresses his 
 prey before he devours it. What have you done to pro- 
 yoke his kindness ?" 
 
 " Senor," said Fonseca, suspiciously, "you speak with 
 a strange want of caution to a stranger, and against a 
 man whose power you confess.'' 
 
 " Because I am safe from his revenge ; because the 
 Inquisition have already fixed their fatal eyes upon him ; 
 because by that Inquisition I am not unknown nor un- 
 protected ; because I see, with joy and triumph, the hour 
 approaching that must render up to justice the pander 
 of the prince, the betrayer of the king, the robber of the 
 people ; because I have an interest in thee, Don Martin, 
 of which thou wilt be aware when thou hast learned my 
 name. I am Juan de la Xuza. the father of the young 
 officer whose life you saved in the assault of the Moriscos, 
 in Talentia. and I owe you an everlasting gratitude." 
 
 There was something in the frank and hearty tone of 
 the governor which at once won Fonseca's confidence. 
 He became agitated and distracted with suspicions of his 
 former tutor and present patron. 
 
 "What, I ask, hast thou done to attract his notice? 
 Calderon is not capricious in cruelty. Art thou rich, 
 
320 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 and does be hope that thou wilt purchase freedom with 
 five thousand pistoles ? Xo I Hast thou crossed the 
 path of his ambition ? Hast thou been seen with 
 Uzeda ? or art thou in favor with the prince ? Xo, 
 again ! Then, hast thou some wife, some sister, some 
 mistress, of rare accomplishments and beauty, with whom 
 Calderon would gorge the fancy and retain the esteem 
 of the profligate Infant ? Ah, thou changest color ! '' 
 
 " By Heaven ! you madden me with these devilish sur- 
 mises. Speak plainly." 
 
 " I see thou knowest not Calderon," said the governor, 
 with a bitter smile. " I do — for my niece was beautiful, 
 
 and the prince wooed her . But enough of that : at 
 
 his scaffold, or at the rack, I shall be avenged on Rode- 
 rigo Calderon. You said the Cardinal was your kins- 
 man ; you are, then, equally related to his son, the Duke 
 d'Uzeda. Apply not to Lerma ; he is the tool of Calde- 
 ron. Apply yourself to Uzeda ; he is Calderon's mortal 
 foe. While Calderon gains ground with the prince, 
 Uzeda advances with the king. Uzeda by a word can 
 procure thy release. The duke knows and trusts me. 
 Shall I be commissioned to acquaint him with thy arrest, 
 and intreat his intercession with Philip ? " 
 
 "You give me new life ! But not an hour is to be 
 lost ; this night — this day — oh. Mother of Mercy ! what 
 image have you conjured up ! Fly to Uzeda, if you 
 would save my very reason. I myself have scarcely seen 
 him since my boyhood — Lerma forbade me to seek his 
 friendship. But I am of his race — his blood." 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 321 
 
 " Be cheered — I shall see the duke to-day. I have 
 business with him where you wot not. We are bringing 
 strange events to a crisis. Hope the best." 
 
 With this the governor took his leave. 
 
 At the dusk of the evening, Don Juan de la Xuza, 
 wrapped in a dark mantle, stood before a small door, 
 deep-set in a massive and gloomy wall, that stretched 
 along one side of a shunned and deserted street. With- 
 out sign of living hand, the door opened at his knock, 
 and the governor entered a long and narrow passage 
 that conducted to chambers more associated with images 
 of awe than any in his own prison. Here he suddenly 
 encountered the Jesuit, Fray Louis de Aliaga, confessor 
 to the king. 
 
 " How fares the grand inquisitor ? " asked De la 
 Nuza. 
 
 "He has just breathed his last," answered the Jesuit. 
 "His illness — so sudden — defied all aid. Sandoval y 
 Koxas is with the saints." 
 
 The governor, who was, as the reader may suppose, 
 one of the sacred body, crossed himself, and answered — 
 " With whom will rest the appointment of the successor? 
 Who will be first to gain the ear of the king?" 
 
 " I know not," replied the Jesuit; "but I am this 
 instant summoned to Uzeda. Pardon my haste." 
 
 So saying, Aliaga glided away. 
 
 " With Sandoval y Roxas," muttered Don Juan, 
 " dies the last protector of Calderon and Lerma ; unless, 
 
 V 
 
322 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 indeed, the wily marquis can persuade the king to make 
 Aliaga, his friend, the late cardinal's successor. But 
 Aliaga seeks Uzeda — Uzeda, his foe and rival. What 
 can this portend ? " 
 
 Thus soliloquizing, the governor silently continued his 
 way till he came to a door by which stood two men, 
 masked, who saluted him with a mute inclination of the 
 head. The door opened and again closed, as the governor 
 entered. 
 
 Meanwhile, the confessor had gained the palace of the 
 Duke d-Uzeda. Uzeda was not alone: with him was a 
 man whose sallow complexion, ill-favored features, and 
 simple dress strangely contrasted the showy person and 
 sumptuous habiliments of the duke. But the instant 
 this personage opened his lips, the comparison was no 
 longer to his prejudice. Something in the sparkle of his 
 deep-set eye — in the singular enchantment of his smile 
 — and above all, in the tone of a very musical and earnest 
 voice, chained attention at once to his words. And, 
 whatever those words, there was about the man, and his 
 mode of thought and expression, tlie stamp of a mind at 
 once crafty and commanding. This personage was Gas- 
 par de Guzman, then but a gentleman of the prince's 
 chamber (which post he owed to Calderon, w^hose crea- 
 ture he was supposed to bej, afterwards so celebrated in 
 the history of Philip IT. as Count of Olivares, and prime 
 minister of Spain. 
 
 The conversation between Guzman and Uzeda, just 
 before the Jesuit entered, was drawing to a close. 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 323 
 
 "You see/' said TJzeda, "that if we desire to crush 
 Calderon, it is on the Inquisition that we must depend. 
 Now is the time to elect, in the successor of Sandoval y 
 Roxas, one pledged to the favorite's ruin. The reason 
 I choose Aliaga is this — Calderon will never suspect his 
 friendship, and will not, therefore, thwart us with the 
 king. The Jesuit, who would sell all Christendom for 
 the sake of advancement to his order or himself, will 
 gladly sell Calderon to obtain the chair of the Inquisi- 
 tion." 
 
 "I believe it," replied Guzman, "I approve your 
 choice ; and you may rely on me to destroy Calderon 
 with the prince. I have found out the way to rule 
 Philip ; it is by never giving him a right to despise his 
 favorites — it is, to flatter his vanity, but not to share 
 his vices. Trust me, you alone — if you follow my sug- 
 gestions — can be minister to the Fourth Philip." 
 
 Here a page entered to announce Don Fray Louis de 
 Aliaga. 
 
 TJzeda advanced to the door, and received the holy 
 man with profound respect. 
 
 "Be seated, father, and let me at once to business; 
 for time presses, and all must be despatched to-night. 
 Before interest is made by others with the king, we 
 must be prompt in gaining the appointment of Sando- 
 val's successor." 
 
 " Report says that the cardinal-duke, your father, him- 
 self desires the vacant chair of the Inquisition." 
 
324 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 " Mv poor father! he is old — his sun has set. No, 
 Aliaga ; I have thought of one fitter for that high and 
 stern oflBce : in a word, that appointment rests with your- 
 self. I can make you grand inquisitor of Spain — I." 
 
 " Me ! " said the Jesuit, and he turned aside his face. 
 "You jest with me, noble son." 
 
 'I am serious — hear me. We have been foes and 
 rivals; why should not our path be the same? Calderon 
 has deprived you of friends more powerful than himself. 
 His hour is come. The Duke de Lerma's downfall 
 cannot be avoided; if it could, I, his son, would not, as 
 you may suppose, withhold my hand. But business 
 fatigues him — he is old — the affairs of Spain are in a 
 deplorable condition — they need younger and abler 
 hands. My father will not repine at a retirement suited 
 to his years, and which shall be made honorable to his 
 grey hairs. But some victim must glut the rage of the 
 people; that victim must be the upstart Calderon; the 
 means of his punishment, the Inquisition. Now, you 
 understand me. On one condition, you shall be the suc- 
 cessor to Sandoval. Know that I do not promise without 
 the power to fulfil. The instant I learned that the late 
 cardinal's death was certain, I repaired to the king. I 
 have the promise of the appointment; and this night 
 your name shall, if you accept the condition, and Calde- 
 ron does not, in the interim, see the king, and prevent 
 the nomination, receive the royal sanction." 
 
 "Our excellent Aliaga cannot hesitate," said Don 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 325 
 
 Gaspar de Guzman. ''The order of Loyola rests upou 
 shoulders that can well support the load." 
 
 Before that trio separated, the compact was completed. 
 Aliaga practised against his friend the lesson he had 
 preached to him — that the end sanctifies all means. 
 Scarce had Aliaga departed ere Juan de la Xuza entered; 
 for Uzeda, who sought to make the Inquisition his chief 
 instrument of power, courted the friendship of all its offi- 
 cers. He readily promised to obtain the release of Fon- 
 seca ; and in effect it was but little after midnight when 
 an order arrived at the prison for the release of Don 
 Martin Fonseca, accompanied by a note from the duke to 
 the prisoner, full of affectiouate professions, and request- 
 ing to see him the next morning. 
 
 Late as the hour was, and in spite of the expostula- 
 tions of the governor, who wished him to remain the 
 night within the prison, in the hope to extract from him 
 his secret, Fonseca no sooner received the order than he 
 claimed and obtained his liberation. 
 
326 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "We reap -what we sow. 
 
 "With emotions of joy and triumph, such as had never 
 vet ag-itated his reckless and abandoned youth, the Infant 
 of Spain bent his way towards the lonely house on the 
 road to Fuencarral. He descended from his carriage 
 when about a hundred yards from the abode, and pro- 
 ceeded on foot to the appointed place. 
 
 The Jew opened the door to the prince with a hideous 
 grin on his hollow cheek ; and Philip hastened up the 
 stairs, and, entering the chamber we have before described, 
 beheld, to his inconceivable consternation and dismay, 
 the form of Beatriz clasped in the arms of Calderon, her 
 head leaning on his bosom ; while his voice, half choked 
 with passionate sobs, called upon her in the most endear- 
 ing terms. 
 
 For a moment the prince stood, spell-bound and speech- 
 less, at the threshold ; then, striking the hilt of his sword 
 fiercely, he exclaimed, " Traitor ! is it thus that thou hast 
 kept thy promise ? Dost thou not tremble at ray ven- 
 geance ? " 
 
 "Peace ! peace !" said Calderon, in an imperious, but 
 sepulchral tone, and waving one hand with a gesture of 
 impatience and rebuke, while with the other he removed 
 the long clustering hair that fell over the pale face of the 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 321 
 
 Still insensible novice. " Peace ! prince of Spain ; thy 
 voice scares back the struggling life — peace ! Look up, 
 image and relic of the lost — the murdered — the martyr ! 
 Hush ! do you hear her breathe, or is she with her 
 mother in that heaven which is closed on me ? Live ! 
 live ! my daughter — my child— live ! For thy life in the 
 World Hereafter will not be mine ! " 
 
 "What means this?" said the prince, falteringly. 
 "What delusion do thy wiles practise upon me ?" 
 
 Calderon made no answer ; and at that instant Beatriz 
 sighed heavily, and her eyes opened. 
 
 " My child ! my child ! — thou art my child ! Speak — 
 let me hear thy voice — again let it call me ' father ! '" 
 
 And Calderon dropped on his knees, and, clasping his 
 hands fervently, looked up imploringly in her face. The 
 novice, now slowly returning to life and consciousness, 
 strove to speak : her voice failed her, but her lips smiled 
 upon Calderon, and her arms fell feebly but endearingly 
 round his neck. 
 
 " Bless thee ! bless thee ! " exclaimed Calderon. " Bless 
 thee in thy sweet mother's name!" 
 
 While he spoke, the eyes of Beatriz caught the form 
 of Philip, who stood by, leaning on his sword ; his face 
 working with various passions, and his lip curling with 
 stern and intense disdain. Accustomed to know human 
 life but in its worst shapes, and Calderon only by his vices 
 and his arts, the voice of nature uttered no language in- 
 telligible to the prince. He regarded the whole as some 
 well got-up device — some trick of the stage j and waited, 
 
328 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 with impatience and scorn, the denouement of the impos- 
 ture. 
 
 At the sight of that mocking face, Beatriz shuddered, 
 and fell back ; but her very alarm revived her, and, start- 
 ing to her feet, she exclaimed, " Save me from that bad 
 man — save me I My father, I am safe with thee ! " 
 
 "Safe!'' echoed Calderon, — "ay, safe against the 
 world. But not,-' he added, looking round, and in a low 
 and muttered tone, " not in this foul abode ; its very air 
 pollutes thee. Let us hence : come — come — my daugh- 
 ter I " and winding his arm round her waist, he hurried 
 her towards the door. 
 
 "Back, traitor!" cried Philip, placing himself full in 
 the path of the distracted and half delirious father. 
 "Back ! thinkest thou that I, thy master and thy prince, 
 am to be thus duped, and thus insulted ? Xot for thine 
 own pleasures hast thou snatched her, whom I have hon- 
 ored with my love, from the sanctuary of the church. Go, 
 if thou wilt ; but Beatriz remains. This roof is sacred 
 to my will. Back I or thy next step is on the point of 
 my sword." 
 
 "Menace not, speak not, Philip — I am desperate. I 
 am beside myself — I cannot parley with thee. Away! 
 by thy hopes of Heaven, away ! I am no longer thy 
 minion — thy tool. I am a father, and the protector of 
 my child." 
 
 "Brave device — notable tale ! " cried Philip, scornfully, 
 and placing his back against the door. " The little ac- 
 tress plays her part well, it must be owned, — it is her 
 trade ; but thou art a bungler, ray gentle Calderon." 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 329 
 
 For a moment the courtier stood, not irresolute, but 
 overcome with the passions that shook to their centre a 
 nature, the stormy and stern elements of which the habit 
 of years had rather mastered than quelled. At last, with 
 a fierce cry, he suddenly grasped the prince by the collar 
 of his vest ; and, ere Philip could avail himself of his 
 weapon, swung him aside with such violence that he lost 
 his balance and (his foot slipping on the polished floor) 
 fell to the ground. Calderon then opened the door, lifted 
 Beatriz in both his arms, and fled precipitately down the 
 stairs. He could no longer trust to chance and delay, 
 against the dano^ers of that abode. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Howsoever the rivers -wind, the ocean receives them all. 
 
 Meanwhile Fonscca had reached the Convent ; had 
 found the porter gone ; and, with a mind convulsed with 
 apprehension and doubt, had flown on the wings of love 
 and fear to the house indicated by Calderon. The grim 
 and solitary mansion came just in sight — the moon 
 streaming sadly over its gray and antique walls — when 
 he heard his name pronounced; and the convent porter 
 emerged from the shadow of a wall beside which he had 
 ensconced himself. 
 
 "Don 31artin! it is thou indeed; blessed be the 
 28* 
 
330 CALDEROX, THE COURTIER. 
 
 saints ! I began to fear — nay, I fear now, that we were 
 deceived." 
 
 " >peak, man, but stop me not I Speak ! what horrors 
 hast thou to utter ? " 
 
 "I knew the cavalier whom thou didst send in thy 
 place I Who knows not Roderigo Calderon ? I trem- 
 bled when I saw him lift the novice into the carriage ; 
 but I thought I should, as agreed, be companion in the 
 flight. Xot so. Don Roderigo briefly told me to hide 
 where 1 could, this night ; and that to-morrow he would 
 arrange preparations for my flight from Madrid. ^My 
 mind misgave me, for Calderon's name is blackened by 
 many curses. I resolved to follow the carriage. I did 
 so ; but my breath and speed nearly failed, when, for- 
 tunately, the carriage was stopped and entangled by a 
 crowd in the street. Xo lackeys were behind ; I mounted 
 the footboard unobserved, and descended and hid myself 
 when the carriage stopped. I knew not the house, but 
 I knew the neighborhood — a brother of mine lives at 
 hand. T sought my relative for a night's shelter. I 
 learned that dark stories had given to that house an evil 
 name. It was one of those which the Prince of Spain 
 had consecrated to the pursuits that have dishonored so 
 many families in Madrid. I resolved again to go forth 
 and watch. Scarce had I reached this very spot, when 
 I saw a carriage approach rapidly. I secreted myself 
 behind a buttress, and saw the carriage halt ; and a man 
 descended, and walked to the house. See there — there, 
 by yon crossinor, the carriage still waits. The man was 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 331 
 
 wrapped in a mantle. I know not whom be may be ; 
 but " 
 
 " Hsaven ! " cried Fonseea, as tbev were now close 
 before the door of the house at which Calderon's carriage 
 still stood; "I hear a noise, a shriek, within," 
 
 Scarce had he spoken when the door opened. Voices 
 were heard in loud altercation ; presently the form of 
 the Jew was thrown on the pavement, and dashing aside 
 another man, who seemed striving to detain him, Calderon 
 appeared, — his drawn sword in his right hand, his left 
 arm clasped around Beatriz. 
 
 Fonseea darted forward. 
 
 " My lover I my betrothed I '' exclaimed the voice of 
 the novice : "thou art come to save us — to save thy 
 Beatriz ! " 
 
 " Yes ; and to chastise the betrayer ! '' exclaimed Fon- 
 seea, in a voice of thunder. " Leave thy victim, villain I 
 Defend thyself!*' 
 
 He made a desperate lounge at Calderon while he 
 spoke. The marquis feebly parried the stroke. 
 
 "Hold!" he cried. ''Xot on me!" 
 
 "Xo — no !" exclaimed Beatriz, throwing herself on 
 her father's breast. The words came too late. Blinded 
 and deafened with rage, Fonseea had again, with more 
 sure and deadly aim, directed his weapon against his 
 supposed foe. The blade struck home, but not to the 
 heart of Calderon. It was Beatriz, bathed in her blood, 
 who fell at the feet of her frenzied lover. 
 
 "Daughter and mother both!" muttered Calderon; 
 
332 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 and he fell, as if the steel had pierced his own heart, 
 beside his child. 
 
 " Wretch ! what hast thou done ? " uttered a voice 
 strange to the ear of Fonseca ; a voice half stifled with 
 horror, and, perhaps, remorse. The prince of Spain 
 stood on the spot, and his feet were dabbled in the blood 
 of the virgin martyr. The moonlight alone lighted that 
 spectacle of crime and death ; and the faces of all seemed 
 ghastly beneath its beams. Beatriz turned her eyes 
 upon her lover, with an expression of celestial compassion 
 and divine forgiveness ; then sinking upon Calderon's 
 breast, she muttered — 
 
 " Pardon him ! pardon him, father ! I shall tell my 
 mother that thou hast blessed me!" 
 
 It was not for several days after that night of terror 
 that Calderon was heard of at the court. His absence 
 was unaccountable ; for, though the flight of the novice 
 was, of course, known, her fate was not suspected ; and 
 her rank had been too insignificant to create much 
 interest in her escape, or much vigilance in pursuit. But 
 of that absence the courtier's enemies well availed them- 
 selves. The plans of the cabal were ripe ; and the aid 
 of the Inquisition, by the appointment of Aliaga, was 
 added to the machinations of Uzeda's partisans. The 
 king was deeply incensed at the mysterious absence of 
 Calderon, for which a thousand ingenious conjectures 
 were invented. The Duke of liCrma, infirm and en- 
 feebled by years, was unable to confront his foes. With 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 833 
 
 imbecile despair he called on the name of Calderon ; 
 and, when no trace of that powerful ally could be dis- 
 covered, he forebore even to seek an interview with the 
 king. Suddenly the storm broke. One evening Lerma 
 received the royal order to surrender his posts, and to 
 quit the court by day-break. It was in this very hour 
 that the door of Lerma's chamber opened, and Roderigo 
 Calderon stood before him. But, how changed — how 
 blasted from his former self ! His eyes were sunk deep 
 in their sockets, and their fire was quenched : his cheeks 
 were hollow, his frame bent, and, when he spoke, his 
 voice was as that of one calling from the tomb. 
 
 " Behold me, Duke de Lerma, I am returned at last ! " 
 
 *• Returned I — blessings on thee I Where hast thou 
 been? Why didst thou desert me? — no matter, thou 
 art returned ! Fly to the king — tell him I am not old ! 
 I do not want repose. Defeat the villany of my un- 
 natural son ! They would banish me, Calderon ; banish 
 me in the very prime of my years ! My son says I am 
 old — old! ha! ha! Fly to the prince; he too has 
 immured himself in his apartment. He would not see 
 me ; he will see thee ! " 
 
 "Ay — the prince! we have cause to love each 
 other ! " 
 
 " Ye have, indeed ! Hasten, Calderon ; not a moment 
 is to be lost ! Banished ! Calderon, ahall I be banished ? " 
 And the old man, bursting into tears, tell at the feet of 
 Calderon, and clasped his knees. " Go, go, I implore 
 thee! Save me ; I loved thee, Calderon, I always loved 
 
C34 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 thee. Shall our foes triumph ? Shall the horn of the 
 wicked be exalted ? " 
 
 For a moment (so great is the mechanical power of 
 habit) there returned to Calderon something of his 
 wonted energy and spirit ; a light broke from his sunken 
 eyes ; he drew himself up to the full of his stately height : 
 "I thought I had done with courts and with life," said 
 ho ; ''but I will make one more effort ; I will not forsake 
 you in your hour of need. Yes, Uzeda shall be baffled ; 
 I will seek the king. Fear not, my lord, fear not; the 
 charm of my power is not yet broken." 
 
 So saying, Calderon raised the cardinal from the 
 ground, and extricating himself from the old man's 
 grasp, strode, with his customary air of majestic self- 
 reliance, to the door. Just ere he reached it, three low, 
 but regular knocks sounded on the panel : the door 
 opened, and the space without was filled with the dark 
 forms of the officers of the Inquisition. 
 
 ''Stand!" said a deep voice; ''stand, Roderigo Cal- 
 deron, marquis de Siete Iglesias : in the name of the 
 most Holy Inquisition, we arrest thee ! " 
 
 "Aliaga !" muttered Calderon, falling back 
 
 " Peace I " interrupted the Jesuit. "Officers, remove 
 your prisoner." 
 
 "Poor old man," said Calderon, turning towards the 
 cardinal, who stood spell-bound and speechless, ''thy life 
 at least is safe. For me, I defy fate ! — lead on ! " 
 
 The prince of Spain soon recovered from the shock 
 
CALDERON, THE 
 
 which the death of Beatriz at first 
 pleasures chased away even remorse, 
 again in public a few days after the arrest of Calderon ; 
 and he made strong intercession on behalf of his fonner 
 favorite. But even had the Inquisition desired to relax 
 its grasp, or Uzeda to forego his vengeance, so great 
 was the exultation of the people at the fall of the dreaded 
 and obnoxious secretary, and so numerous the charges 
 which party malignity added to those which truth could 
 lay at his door, that it would have required a far bolder 
 monarch than Philip the Third to have braved the voice 
 of a whole nation for the sake of a disgraced minister. 
 The prince himself was soon induced, by new favorites, 
 to consider any further interference on his part equally 
 impolitic as vain ; and the Duke d'Uzeda and Don 
 Gaspar de Guzman were minions quite as supple, while 
 they were companions infinitely more respectable. 
 
 One day an officer, attending the levee of the prince, 
 with whom he was a special favorite, presented a me- 
 morial, requesting the interest of his highness for an 
 appointment in the royal armies, that, he had just learned 
 by an express, was vacant. 
 
 '' And whose death comes so opportunely for thy rise, 
 Don Alvar ? '' asked the Infant. 
 
 "Don Martin Fonseca. He fell in the late skirmish, 
 pierced by a hundred wounds." 
 
 The prince started, and turned hastily away. The 
 officer lost all favor from that hour, and never learned 
 his offence. 
 
336 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 Meanwhile months passed, and Calderon still lan- 
 guislied in his dungeon. At last the Inquisition opened 
 against hira its dark register of accusations. First of 
 these charges was that of sorcery, practised on the king ; 
 the rest were, for the most part, equally grotesque and 
 extravagant. These accusations Calderon met with a 
 dignity which confounded his foes, and belied the popular 
 belief in the elements of his character. Submitted to 
 the rack, he bore its tortures without a groan ; and all 
 historians have accorded concurrent testimony to the 
 patience and heroism which characterized the close of 
 his wild and meteoric career. At length Philip the 
 Third died : the Infant ascended the throne — that prince, 
 for whom the ambitious courtier had perilled alike life 
 and soul ! The people now believed that they should be 
 defrauded of their victim. They were mistaken. The 
 new king, by this time, had forgotten even the existence 
 of the favorite of the prince. But Guzman, while affect- 
 ing to minister to the interests of Uzeda, was secretly 
 aiming at the monopoly of the royal favor, felt himself 
 insecure while Calderon yet lived. The operations of 
 the Inquisition were too slow for the impatience of his 
 fears ; and as that dread tribunal affected never to inflict 
 death until the accused had confessed his guilt, the firm- 
 ness of Calderon baffled the vengeance of the ecclesiastical 
 law. New inquiries were set on foot : a corpse was dis- 
 covered, buried in Calderon's garden — the corpse of a 
 female. He was accused of the murder. Upon that 
 charge he was transferred from the Inquisition to the 
 
CALDEROX, THE COURTIER. 337 
 
 regular courts of justice. Xo evidence could be pro- 
 duced against him ; but, to the astonishment of all, he 
 made no defence, and his silence was held the witness of 
 his crime. He was adjudged to the scaffold — he smiled 
 when he heard the sentence. 
 
 An immense crowd, one bright day in summer, were 
 assembled in the place of execution. A shout of savage 
 exultation rent the air as Roderigo Calderou, marquis 
 de Siete Iglesias, appeared upon the scaffold. But, 
 when the eyes of the multitude rested — not upon that 
 lofty and stately form, in all the pride of manhood, 
 which they had been accustomed to associate with their 
 fears of the stern genius and iron power of the favorite, 
 but — upon a bent and spectral figure, that seemed already 
 on the verge of a natural grave, with a face ploughed 
 deep with traces of unutterable woe, and hollow eyes 
 that looked, with dim and scarce conscious light, over 
 the human sea that murmured and swayed below, the 
 tide of the popular emotion changed ; to rage and 
 triumph succeeded shame and pity. Not a hand was 
 1 fted up in accusation — not a voice was raised in rebuke 
 or joy. Beside Calderou stood the appointed priest, 
 whispering cheer and consolation. 
 
 " Fear not, my son," said the holy man. "The pang 
 of the body strikes years of purgatory from thy doom. 
 Think of this, and bless even the agony of this hour." 
 
 " Yes !" muttered Calderou; "I do bless this hour. 
 Inez, thy daughter has avenged thy murder ! May 
 29 w 
 
338 CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 
 
 Heaven accept the sacrifice ! and may my eyes, even 
 athwart the fiery gulf, awaken upon thee!" 
 
 With tliat a serene and contented smile passed over 
 the face on which the crowd gazed with breathless awe. 
 A minute more, and a groan, a cry, broke from that 
 countless multitude ; and a gory and ghastly head, 
 severed from its trunk, was raised on high. 
 
 Two spectators of that execution were in one of the 
 balconies that commanded a full view of its terrors. 
 
 " So perishes my worst foe ! " said Uzeda. 
 
 " We must sacrifice all things, friends as foes, in the 
 ruthless march of the Great Cause," rejoined the grand 
 inquisitor ; but he sighed as he spoke. 
 
 ''Guzman is now with the king," said Uzeda, turning 
 into the chamber. " I expect every instant a summons 
 into the royal presence." 
 
 " I cannot share thy sanguine hopes, my son," said 
 Aliaga, shaking his head. " My profession has made 
 me a deep reader of human character. Gaspar de Guz- 
 man will remove every rival from his path." 
 
 While he spoke, there entered a gentleman of the royal 
 chamber. He presented to the grand inquisitor and the 
 expectant duke two letters signed by the royal hand. 
 They were the mandates of banishment and disgrace. 
 Not even the ghostly rank of the grand inquisitor, not 
 even the profound manoeuvres of the son of Lerma, 
 availed them against the vigilance and vigor of the new 
 favorite. Simultaneously, a shout from the changeable 
 
CALDERON, THE COURTIER. 339 
 
 crowd below proclaimed that the king's choice of his new 
 minister was published and approved. 
 
 And Aliag-a and Uzeda exchanged glances that be- 
 spoke all the passions that make defeated ambition the 
 worst fiend, as they heard the mighty cry, " Long live 
 Olivarez. the Kefo?vMer!"' 
 
 That cry came, faint and muffled, to the ears of Philip 
 the Fourth, as he sat in his palace with his new minister. 
 
 "Whence that shout?'" said the king, hastily. 
 
 "It rises, doubtless, from the honest hearts of your 
 loyal people at the execution of Calderou." 
 
 Pliilip shaded his face with his hand, and mused a 
 moment : then, turning to Olivarez with a sarcastic smile, 
 he said : '• Behold the moral of the life of a courtier, 
 count I — What do they say of the new opera?" 
 
 At the close of his life, in disgrace and banishment, 
 the count-duke, for the first time since they had been 
 uttered, called to his recollection those words of his royal 
 master.* 
 
 * The fate of Calderon has given rise to many tales and legends. 
 Amongst those who have best availed themselves of so fruitful a 
 subject, may be ranked the late versatile and ingenious Telesforo 
 de Trueba, in his work on " The Romance of Spain." In a few 
 of the incidents, and in some of the names, his sketch, called '• The 
 Fortunes of Calderon," has a resemblance to the story just con- 
 cluded. The plot, characters, and principal events, are, however, 
 widely distinct in our several adaptations of an ambiguous and 
 unsatisfactory portion of Spanish history. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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