the means and the resources which women are able to command than the conduct of Isabella, during the siege of Granada.

This female genius, knowing the spirit of the Moors, considered that it would be necessary for her in this siege to unite to the force of arms, all the splendour of luxury, and all the charms of gallantry; to strike this fickle people by heroic deeds, and to tempt them to surrender by exhibiting to them at once the elegant forms which might seduce them, and a gay and martial dress calculated to fascinate. Thus, by a striking contrast, dances were used as relaxations from assaults, and tournaments, from combats. The Moors, nevertheless, maintained a very obstinate and vigorous resistance. At length, the Spanish tents having been set on fire, Isabella, always ingenious in her political calculations, designed to build a town on the site of her camp, in order

to prove to the Mussulmans that the siege should never be raised.

Florian says nothing as to the secret cause of the fire which destroyed Isabella's tents. I have discovered it, and will lay it before my readers.

ALMANZA.

A MOORISH TALE.

"THE beautiful Almanza, the daughter of Abdaral, the chief of the Moors, and the descendant of an Arabian family, was in love with Pedro, a young Spaniard, and one of Isabella's subjects. Before the siege of Granada, Pedro found means to see, secretly, his dear Almanza, either by a private appointment, or else in the very city itself, into which he had introduced himself in disguise. At length the siege was determined upon; and to com

plete his unhappiness, Pedro, then serving in the army of Ferdinand and Isabella, found himself reduced to the deplorable alternative of either forsaking his duty, or proceeding to attack the city which contained what in the world was most dear to him.

"Don Alphonso, the father of Pedro, was the most mortal enemy of the Moors, and especially of Almanza's father; who again, on his part, abhorred the Spaniards, and detested Alphonso; and would much sooner have beheld his daughter perish, than unite her to Pedro. It is difficult to find two lovers more to be commiserated. Hope, the only support of the unfortunate, was unable to dart the feeblest ray into their minds they considered their misery as at its full. Nevertheless, at the time the siege of Granada was preparing, their calamities surpassed even their fears.

"The tender and courageous Almanza having privately received a let

ter from Pedro, answered him by the

same conveyance.

ALMANZA TO PEDRO.

'Granada,

'No, my dear Pedro, do not follow the despair which guides thee. Happiness has fled, but honour remains with us. What does it signify if thy duties and mine are placed by fortune in opposite interests? it does not thence follow that the same good should not still appertain to us both. Behold those majestic trees which the raging winds wave on the mountains which surround us; see how they brave their fury. The hurricane may shatter them and tear them from their roots; but nothing can remove them from their places:-thus nothing can destroy in us either our principles or our thoughts. Our existence, our liberty, all these frail possessions belong to circumstances and to men. The dignity of our character, the ele

vation of our thoughts, belong only to ourselves. I hate the Spaniards, but I adore my dear Pedro ;-thou oughtest to detest the Moors, and to love for ever thy Almanza :-but, faithful to our country and to our cause, let us not, on account of our love, take one single step for which our delicacy might reproach us. The pebble which I press under my feet, and from which the shoes of our horses strike sparks of fire without being able to injure it, is not harder than the inflexible soul of Abfather.

daral, my

'He has seen my grief. I, the daughter of the Arabs of the desert, I confess it to thee, blushing, I shed some tears. in his presence; my eyes had not the power to withhold them. Alas! his remained dry! They sparkled with rage when thy name escaped from my mouth. Surely, thou canst not doubt it, this harsh indifference has wounded my sensibility; but a secret admiration binds me to silence. Follow my ex