Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

its place. I do likewife conjecture, that the bundle of branches of a plant, which, Horus Apollo fays, the ancient Egyptians produced as the lood on which they lived before the difcovery of wheat, was not the Papyrus, as he imagines, but this plant, the Enfete, which retired to its native Ethiopia, upon a fubftitute being found better adapted to the climate of Egypt.'

Had the ancient Egyptians been poffeffed of the Nymphæa aquatica, they could never have experienced a famine from a fuperabundance of water. When too

much for wheat, the Enfete would thrive; when too deep for the Enfete the Nymphæa would have prof pered.

[merged small][ocr errors]

Ar a time when Europe was buried in barbarism and ignorance, the natives of Africa were a great people, highly civilized, and far advanced in arts, in industry, and science. It was during that epoch, that the Moors, invited by the profligacy of the prince, and the barbarity of the people of Spain, invaded that fertile peninfula; and during the courfe of two campaigns, made a total conqueft of that country, a few mountainous provinces on the northern borders of it alone excepted. The fertility of the foil, the mildness of the climate, and the industry of the Moors, who now occupied these regions, all contributed alike to render it in a short time one of the moft delightful regions in the univerfe. Along the coaft of the Mediterranean, where nature has proved fingularly bountiful, the Moors chiefly delighted to fettle; and accustomed at home to a feudal dependance on a fuperior, the kingdom was divided into feudal feigneuries, depending upon their common chief, the great. Miramolin, who then reigned with unrivalled fplendor in Africa. But upon the difafters that befel the defcen

dants of that great prince, the fubordinate Moorish chiefs in Spain gradually affumed an independent authority, and erected each for himself a small kingdom, his right to which, none of the neighbouring princes had any authority to controvert. Thus was laid the foundation of the kingdoms of Valencia, Murcia, Gra nada, and many others, which, under the dominion of a fet of wife and civilized princes, abounded in men, in money, and in industry, so as to become a kind of univerfal garden, a terreftrial paradife, in which all thofe arts that can minifter to the delight of a wealthy and luxurious people, were carried to a very high degree of perfection.

[ocr errors]

Among thofe independent states, the kingdom of Granada became in time the most confpicuous. Her princes were diftinguished by their wealth, liberality, courtesy, refinement of manners, and military prowess. Her people, in poffeffion of every enjoyment that in duftry, when allied with freedom, and foftened by a tafte for literature and the fine arts, could inspire, enjoys ed for many ages a degree of happiness, that few nations ever could boast of, and knew alike how to enjoy the bleffings of peace, and to defend their rights in the ftruggles of war. They adored their princes, and were beloved in their turn. They ftrengthened his throne, and be protected them from infult.

If love can find an entrance into the hearts of the moft favage people, and can tend to fweeten the lot of thofe who groan under the rod of oppreffion, it must have had an infinitely more powerful, though more gentle influence on the minds of this people, who lived fo much at their ease. And whenever love affumes a fovereign power, there the finer arts, and all the gentle contrivances that tend to foothe the heart, and cherish the beneficent affections, will be adopted. In thefe circumftances, the court of the prince became the feat of pleasure. The fplendor of his throne dazzled the eyes of all beholders; and among a people of lively fancy

the impreffion it made upon the mind, was little short of adoration.

It was during the happieft years of this happy period, that the palace of Granada, called in the language of the country, Alhambra, was built; a magnificent palace, accommodated with fpacious halls, adorned in the moft fumptuous ftile of Moorish architecture, furnished with copious fountains oflimpid water, tending to moderate the heat of the climate, and to give a pleafing coolness highly gratifying to the foul. To this palace was annexed fpacious gardens, watered with innumerable rills of pure water, which gave a luxuriance to the magnificent trees that there abounded, and a perpe tual verdure to innumerable plants that fprung up around, to adorn this feat of voluptuoufnefs, and to fcent the air with fragrant odours. This palace, fituated on the fummit of a lofty eminence, commanding, on the onehand, a diftant profpect of towering mountains called. the Sierra Nevada orfnowy mountains, as being covered. with perpetual fnow; which melting in fummer, filled the streams that washed its walls with an inexhaustible abundance of water, highly refreshing in fuch a fultry climate: On the other hand, it looked down upon a fertile plain, thick ftrewed with hamlets, gardens, and fields, abounding in corn, in wine, in oil, and other rich products of the mildeft of temperate climates.

Among these people, whom we have been accuftomed to view as rude barbarians, a strong sense of religious veneration for the fupreme Being prevailed; and'à refpectful attachment to that form of worship they had been taught to cultivate, formed a very striking charateriftic feature. This we learn from the most undifputable authority, that of their public infcriptions, which are still preserved; which, on account of the fublime fimplicity of expreffion, the purity of the morals they inculcate, and the refpect for fovereign power, undebafed by the meannefs of adulation, that, under the garb of praife, for the moft part conveys the found

eft advice, form upon the whole a fpecies of compofition, fo uncommon, and at the fame time fo pleafing, that I hope my readers will be well pleafed with the following morfels, which have been felected for their in tertainment. At the fame time that thefe infcriptions may be prized as objects of taffe, they deferve to be held in high eftimation, as hiftorical records, that tend to give a diftinct idea of the state of the country, at the time they were written, and of the modes of thinking of its people.

The following infeription was copied from the front of a building, erected as an hofpital in the year 1376, which answers to the 778th year of the Hegira. It runs thus:

"Praise be to God. This hofpital, an afylum of mercy, 64 was built for the benefit of poor and fick Moors; a work the piety and utility of which no tongue can fufficiently praife. It ftands a monument of the faith and cha rity of the founder, and will be his recompence, when "God fhall inherit the earth, and all that it contains. "The founder is the great, the renowned, and the vir

tuous, Abi Abdallah Mahomad: May he profper in "God! the zealous king, the friend and benefactor of

[ocr errors]

66

his people; who employs his minifter for the glory "of his religion, and of God; the courageous prince, "the propagator of pious works; the prince protected by angels; the pure faint the protector of the laws "and of morality; the worthy emperor of the Moors; may he profper in God! He is the fon of our Lord, the just king, the high and powerful, the conqueror, "the fortunate, the pious governor of the Moors, Abialhageg, who bears witness to the laws, fon of the renowned, of the fublime Abi Algualid, the deftroyer of thofe by whom companions are given to God; fon of Nazar the privileged, happy in his works, and in "every thing which is refolved in the decrees of God,

for his fervice and withm: He projected this edi&6 floe, from the moment the Moorish nation became fove

"reign of this city, and thus made a provifion of merit. He filled her ark with charity and good works; and his whole intention was directed in the presence "of God. God is he who infpires good thoughts, and "who communicated to him his light, that it might "be communicated to those who should come after him; and for the day when riches and ancestors will avail"us nothing, and when nought fhall remain to us, but that which God in his mercy fhall have given us. "The plan of this hofpital was drawn in the ten days in the middle of the month Moharram, in the year 777, and finished in the ten days in the middle of the month Zaguet, in the year 778. May God "preserve the pious work of the founders, and never "leave, without recompente, the meritorious labours *** of these illuftrious princes. God be with Mahomet and his adherents for ever!' 199

-66

Europe owes great obligations to the magiftrates of Granada, who fome years ago caufed all these infcriptions to be carefully copied, and lodged in the archives of that city, together with accurate tranflations of the whole, there to be preferved, after the works themfelves on which they were infcribed fhall be crumbled in the dust.

The following infeription, yet more fimple, and in a ftill better tafte, was placed over the principal gate of the palace, which was employed, as was ufual in eastern nations, as a tribunal of juftice.

[ocr errors]

"This gate, called the gate of judgement, or tri"bunal, (may God caufe it to promote the happiness "of the Moorish people, and perpetuate it to the end of "nations), was built by our lord, the Emperor and King of the Moors, Jofeph Abulhaggeg, fun of the juft and warlike Abigualid, fon of Nazar; God give a happy end to his works for the good of the Muf"fulhan nation, and profper the edifice built for its de"fence. It was finished in the month of Maulen Almnadam, in the year feven hundred and forty-nine. VOL. I.

[ocr errors]

Dd

« ZurückWeiter »