The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-07-21

The Cid Campeador? :,..sI
But softer Andalusian skies
Dispelled the darkness and the gloom
There Cadiz by the seaside lies
And Seville's orange orchards rise
Making the land paradise -
Of beauty and Of bloom. IT
And there the Alhambra still recalls
Aladdins palace of delight;
Allah IL Allah through its halls
Whispers the fountain as 1t falls
The Dairo darts beneath the walls
The hills with snow are white.
y
Castles of Spain not built of stone
But of white summer clouds and blown
Into this little mist Of rhyme.
Such palaces Of luxury every mind
at some time or other has built in i'm
agination beside bright lakes and
pleasant places
A fantastic Alhambra-like villa
With terrace and fountain and lawn;
A balcony where ones Manila
May be smoked when the dinner cloths
drawn.
Light wines on ones table to sparkle
New books every day by the train
Which We'll read under trees patri-
That arc grouped round our castle in
Spain.
Il am the owner of great estates"
wrote the late George w. Curtis, ex-
pressing in prose the same pardonable
admiration of these castles mot built
of stone"-"Many of them lie in the
West, but the greater part are in
Spain. 1t is a country famously ro-
mantle, and my castles are all of per-
fect proportions and appropriately set
in the most picturesque situations"
Spanish castles. with few EXCEPTIONS,
are thus the standing Jokes oi the poets
and of fiction writer's.
The truth is that while Spain has
some real castles, she has no such his
toric family residences as are in Eng
land. or as can be seen along the Ger
man banks of the Rhine. Spain's cas-
ties have been appropriated by the
church, with about the same ruthless
disregard as the Abbeys were after the
sonfiscations in England by Henry VIII
converted into palatial dwellings by
the British nobility. The most majes-
tic Of these genuine castles is the
Chateau De Billegorde where according
to Froissart's Chronicles the Counts of
Folk used to live in great splendor, get
ting up at noon and supping at mid
night When the Count left his cham
her to go to table before him were
borne through its gloomy halls twelve
lighted torches by twelve attendants,
each attendant holding his lighted
torch while the Count dined, knights
and squires sitting admiringly around.
1t is situated on the edge of steep
.avine surrounded by triple wall, and
approached by narrow driveway. 1t
ised to be place of immense strength
but is now a monastery for the monks
Of Navarro.
The Giralde has also been converted
into cathedral, the tower of which
provided the architectural model of
Madison Square Garden tower, of New
York. 1t ranks with Giotto's famous
Camanilla in Florence, and is the most
perfect example of a true tower of
Islam in Europe.
It rises In square form to height of
250 feet and was built in 1196, but was
renovated by the Christians and
crowned with graceful figure called
La Fe" (The Faith), which turns
with the wind and which looks
over the fertile valley of the Guadal-
culver, and over scenes made famous
by the memories of Pedro the Cruel.
The next is the famous castle OF
Burgos. It was in the castle of Burgos
that the Cid was born, whose ex-
ploits in peace and war make up so
much of the legendary history of
Spain. 1t is now the Puerta di Santa
Maria, or Church of st. Mary. From
The center of quadrangular court
aanked on each side with stately min
arets there rise two immense spires
which eloquently tell that this once
uowerful stronghold has ceased to be
of military Importance, though 1t still
continues to be an object of deep vene-
ration to the Spaniards. The strong
works of a formidable fortress, of
which trenches and the ruined and
Mackened walls remain intact, tell that
the home of the Cid and Of Don Sancho
was no ordinary place. It is stated as
a miraculous instance Of divine inter-
nosition, that when the castle of Bur-
EOS was blown up by the French. on
rhe occasion of the evacuation of
spain. these spires. with their SEEM
fngly fragile towers remained unin-
fured to greet the eyes of the supersti-
tIous Spaniards in all integrity as the
shock passed by, while two hundred
Frenchmen were buried under the
ruins. AS combination Of castle and