early in the eighteenth century. Great preparations were made for
their reception. The palace and gardens were placed in a state of
repair, and a new suite of apartments erected, and decorated by
artists brought from Italy. The sojourn of the sovereigns was
transient, and after their departure the palace once more became
desolate. Still the place was maintained with some military state. The
governor held it immediately from the crown, its jurisdiction extended
down into the suburbs of the city, and was independent of the captain
general of Granada. A considerable garrison was kept up, the governor
had his apartments in the front of the old Moorish palace, and never
descended into Granada without some military parade. The fortress, in
fact, was a little town of itself, having several streets of houses
within its walls, together with a Franciscan convent and a parochial
church.

"The desertion of the court, however, was a fatal blow to the
Alhambra. Its beautiful halls became desolate, and some of them fell
to ruin; the gardens were destroyed, and the fountains ceased to play.
By degrees the dwellings became filled up with a loose and lawless
population; contrabandistas, who availed themselves of its independent
jurisdiction to carry on a wide and daring course of smuggling, and
thieves and rogues of all sorts, who made this their place of refuge
from whence they might depredate upon Granada and its vicinity. The
strong arm of government at length interfered: the whole community was
thoroughly sifted; none were suffered to remain but such as were of
honest character, and had legitimate right to a residence; the greater
part of the houses were demolished and a mere hamlet left, with
the parochial church and the Franciscan convent. During the recent
troubles in Spain, when Granada was in the hands of the French,
the Alhambra was garrisoned by their troops, and the palace was