Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-03-27
aAistellaueons.
MOORISH MAGNIFICENCE: TIE
GREAT CATHEDRAL: SPANISH
WOMEN: FADED GLORY.

I lnhale the delicious air and rejoice IN beHlg.
/ Other climates had been cold, or damp, or
chilly; some hot, debilitating; but this was
/ just right, and when a man comes to the
/ place where the weather Just suits him, it is
time to sit down and enjoy it. 1t seemed
! to me it was privilege TO be anything that
/ could breathe in this delightful cline. tits
the latter part of February. If one of my
lungs was out of order, or both of them,
/ would stay here till they were well, or until
the weather became too hot for comfort and
that will be but few weeks hence.
The city is clean, well built, and IN the
evening the inhabitants throng some of the
streets so as to make it difficult to walk.
The courts around which the houses are
built, are beautifully adorned with flowers
| and shrubs, and trees; in warmer weather
awnings are spread over them, and here the
family enjoy themselves with the piano and
guitar, the song and the dance. Here too,
the table is spread, and all Seville, it is said,
takes tea out of doors.
1t was dreadful day for Seville, and in
deed for Spain, when the Moors were driven
out Of the country; they had conquered it,
and ruled eight hundred years. -Four
hundred thousand Moors, Jews and
Arabs, left this city Of Seville in a
few days after it was surrendered to st.
Ferdinand. Wealth. learning, taste, art and
the charm Of Eastern life went out with
them, and Spain has been lower in the scale
of morals and manners ever since This Is
no compliment to MahOmetanism. To com
pare the present condition Of SPAN with
anything that has gone before 1t and say
that the former days were better than these,
is saying very little for the better times. In
this old city of Seville we found the AlcaZar
or Palace, being the first specimen OF Moor
ish magnIhcence we had seen. 1t consists
of a group Of palaces, on the banks OF the
Guadalquiver, and exhibits the same style
Of architecture and mural decorations that
are so much admired and celebrated 10 the
Alhambra Indeed, the payements and
columns and arches and apartments, have
been preserved or restored with so much
greater care than the Alhambra itself, that
the latter appears to be feeble example Of
Moorish taste and skill, compared with these
glorious rooms in Seville. Fancy must
people these chambers with men and women,
Of flesh and blood clOthe them in Oriental
and gorgeous ralment, surround them with
every luxury that gold and labor and power
can give; hang these passages with curtains
whose richness has not been excelled by
anything that modern art has produced.
When the sleepy janit0r opens the outer
gate and leads you through these deserted
and empty halls in which your own footballs
make the only sound, into apartments that
for centuries have been silent as the grave,
yet on every hand is beauty Of coloring and
carving and curiously wrought adornlng that
you must pause 10 auHlrG' even Al IliS N1lI91 1i
of admiration one cannot but mourn that the
barbaric spendor Of Moorish glory has
departed. and the degenerate race of ettete
Spanish civilization has taken Its place 4
thousand wives Of proud Moor once made
these walls iocund with their mlrth, and the
adjoining gardens and the beautiful Quad
alquiver were gay with their reyels and song,
and the moral tone Of the palace was as high,
and the happiness of the people just as great
as now, when a dissolUte queen and
prohigate court, and an ignorant, depraved
and impoverished people, constitute the
government and inhabitants Of a nominally
Christian kingdom.
Instead Of Mosque, is the Cathedral Of
Seville. 1t is the Doblest example OF the
Gothic ecclesiastical architecture in the
world. st. Peters at Rome produces no
such effect on the soul when first you enter
it. The Cologne Cathedral Is nearer 1t IN
power. | have no supcrstitious feeling that
compels NE to be awed by place. But l
cannot enter this temple without worship
/ It's giant solemn columns rising around me,
/ scarcely visible in the twilight at the noon
1 Of a brilliant southern day, its vastness, It's
/ amazing height the root like armament
/ covering me, and resting on arches. dividing
/ it into sixty-Cight compartments, one feels
/ that this surely ought to be none other than
/ the house Of God. High Mass was celebra-
/ ted during one Of my many visits 10 the
! Cathedral. When the tinkling Of the bell
| gave the signal for the elevation Of the
/ Host, the faithful, wherever they chanced
/ to be in the vast area, fell on their knees and
/ silently adored the idol which superstition
/ had lust held aloft for the worship of an
/ ignorant multitude. 4 woman entered one
/ Of the chapels and knelt before an image OF
! the Virgin and poured out her soul In prayer.
/ As if unconscious that spectators were all
around her, she struck her hands upon her
! breast and wept as if some strong anguish,
/ ike a viper, was gnawing at her heart.
! The women of Seville are celebrated for
! their beauty. In the Central Park of New
/ York; Hyde Park of London; or the Bois dc
/ Boulogne of Paris, you notice that many OF
/ the most splendid equipages carry very plain
| women, and one often admires the compen-
sation system that gives the signs Of wealth
to some and saves the good looks for others.
But you may stand by the fashionable drive
! of Seville and the first hundred carriages
that pass shall have four handsome women
in each of them. a plain woman is the ex-
| ception, and rare as a black swan in the
[ Central Park Lake 1t is nearly the same
/ in other cities of Souther Spain. As you
would scarce expect one OF my age to be a
4 connOisseure in this matter, | will give you
in the words of my guide the types Of Spanish
/ beauty: deep blue black eyes ad0rp4ilados
! sometimes, and at others full of flashes,
4 each puaalada, a small forehead, raven
/ hair, long and silky, which they might almost
| turn at night into a balmy soft pillow, and a
/ long flowing mantilla by day, a peculiar
/ n7eneo, sal, and indeseribable charm, natural
1 ness and grace, in every movement, together
with liveliness and repartee, from the
principal features of their appearance and
! character. - / leave his native words un-
/ translated, that YOU may suppose | un-
/ derstand them perfectly, and that they mean
! something much more expressive than simple
! English. Like Latin in sermon, it sounds
/ very learned and makes up for a deal of
dullness
The dance and the song, the bull-fght
more than ANYTHING else in the season of it.,
make this city the home of the gayest
widest, most dissoute men and women in
the south of Europe Corinth in the days of
Venus worship, was not more wholly given
up to the lust Of the flesh and the pride of
life, than Seville to-day. Yet it was once
the emporium Of the New World. From
its port set sail the fleet that carried
Columbus to a land beyond the sea and
brought back the wealth of the Western
IL. Il H. I,,o,, 10 rasSJanoa r.f L;rcs.