The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-03-09
RED LETTER DAYS.
THE ANCIENT CAPITAL or THE
MoORS IN THE eOIH CENTURY.
The Court of Lions by Moonlight


NADIA Ga year would be better, and of
passing some hours of every day in the
palace of it's former kings 1t requires
many visits to understand the Alham-
bra. AT first you are dazed with Its
wonders and possessed with strange
feeling of living a fairy tale, or walk
ing in dream. Familiarity dulls this
impression, but 1t never quite fades
from the mind; and no matter how
long one fingers here, one can never
truthfully say that he has had enough
of the Alhambra. Monotony is impos-
sible amid such scenes of beauty, to
which every hour of day and night
lends it's own especial charm in peculiar
effects of light and shade. In order to
avoid inceSsant persecution from troops
of greedy guides that infest the en-
trance, it is we'll to arm yourself at the
beginning with an order from the gov
ernor, per estudjare." What there is
about this bit of paper which produces
such magic effect do not know; but
you have only to silently exhibit it, and
the rapacious swarm melts away with
out a protest. Above all things, do not
fail to visit the Court of Lions-the
eliminating point of the beauties Of the
Alhambra-by moonlight. Then that
most perfect Moorish work in existence,
renowned in ballad and chronicle for
centuries, seems to expand in size, and
looks as if wrought in FURNISHED silver;
disfiguring modern changes are yelled
in merciful shadow and the faultless
ideal of the Arabian palace comes forth
in all it's original splendor. No other
room in the world has been so many
times drawn and painted and photo
graphed, from every point of view-so
often described INTELLECTUALLY, artisti-
cally, rhetorically and Historically;
and yet no adequate idea has ever been
given of it's exquisite elegance and per-
feet harmony. Again and again you
read that the court is oblong in shape,
one hundred and twenty-six feet long
by seventy-three wide, surrounded by
galleries supported upon hundreds OF
slender white marble columns, with
two square, projecting pavilions elapo-
rately ornamented and rooted with
domes. All this does not sound so very
remarkable. and it gives no remotest
hint Of the Understandable grace, elegance
and fantastic beauty of the Arabian
architecture; the wonderful Hghtness
of the arcades of lace-work filagree
that seems to float in the air; the sta
lactite pandants of the PONIES blazing
with scarlet and gold; the strange Cunc
letters and pious texts from the Koran
at every turn; the long colonnades,
through which slant the rays of the
moon. or the southern sun; the jalouSie
carved in a maze of capricious forms;
the checkered floors, the gorgeous tiles
encrusting walls and pilasters, all daz-
zling the eye with their splendors; the
unglassed windows, into which birds
and breezes, the fragrance of flowers
and orange groves, have free access.
And if even now, after hundreds OF
years, with ornaments cracked ana
faded, stained with damp and defaced
by vandal travellers, these scenes can
so enthrall the mind, what were they
in their days of glory, when the gilded
arcades were filled with hours of the
harem! In spite of black eunichs In
sillken robes, jealousy guarding their
charges with jewel scimeters, we
read that the mischievous boy VINO
laughs at locksmiths was at his old
tricks even there, and many light OF
the harem stole forth to meet her lover
and to swift death for both.
The celebrated fountain In the center
of the court, supported by the twelve
lions from which the place derives its
name, still sheds its crystal streams, as
In the days of Boadbi I. The so-called
"lions," by the way-unlike any beasts
that ever walked the earth and looking
like pre- Assyrian sculpture-are not to
be regarded as works of art, but merely
as symbols of strength and power
The MoslemS, you remember, were for
hidden by the Koran to represent any
living creature; and they did not vio-
late the law in these. The enormous
basin of purest alabaster, surmounted
by smaller but equally beautiful ba-
sin, is engraved all over with poem
in honor of the founder, which runs in
this mplimentary fashion: "Oh, son
of grandeur, prudence, wisdom cour-
age and generosity, who surpassest the
height of the stars in the region of the
armament! Thou art raised to the ho-
rizon of the empire, like the sun, to
dissipate the shadows created by OPP
preston and injustice. Thou hast pro
tected even the tenderest branches from
the breath of the hot summer wind,
and made the very stars to tremble in
the vault of heaven
In a recess near this fountain stands
the much photographed Alhambra vase
AN immense affair higher than
mans head, enameled in blue, white
and gold. about which so many tradi-
tions cling The peasantry regard it
with mysterious reverence, and even
the guides stand in awe of 1t and hush
their annoying chatter in it's vicinity
Like many things in the Alhambra, it
is supposed to have intimate connection
with magic. One of the mildest le-
eends is to the effect that two of these
vases were filled to the brim with gold
dust to defray the cost of building the
palace, and sent here from Damascus
in care Of genii. Somehow the magic
gave out in the long journey, and one
vase, with its precious contents, was
lost in the sea For this remisness the
genii were imprisoned in the remaining
vase for certain number of centuries.
Nobody knows the length of their sem
tencc and so it IS not improbable that P,
any day they may come FORTH
If you care to experience a creepy
sensation of superstitious terror, go by
night from the court of Lions into the |
adjoining Hall of Abencerra ges-sO