occasionally inhabited by the French commander. With that enlightened
taste which has ever distinguished the French nation in their
conquests, this monument of Moorish elegance and grandeur was rescued
from the absolute ruin and desolation that were overwhelming it. The
roofs were repaired, the saloons and galleries protected from the
weather, the gardens cultivated, the water courses restored, the
fountains once more made to throw up their sparkling showers; and
Spain may thank her invaders for having preserved to her the most
beautiful and interesting of her historical monuments.

"On the departure of the French they blew up several towers of the
outer wall, and left the fortifications scarcely tenable. Since that
time the military importance of the post is at an end. The garrison is
a handful of invalid soldiers, whose principal duty is to guard some
of the outer towers, which serve occasionally as a prison of state;
and the governor, abandoning the lofty hill of the Alhambra, resides
in the centre of Granada, for the more convenient dispatch of his
official duties.


Interior of the Alhambra


"The Alhambra has been so often and so minutely described by
travellers, that a mere sketch will, probably, be sufficient for the
reader to refresh his recollection; I will give, therefore, a brief
account of our visit to it the morning after our arrival in Granada.

"Leaving our posada of La Espada, we traversed the renowned square of
the Vivarrambla, once the scene of Moorish jousts and tournaments, now