fitted to strike the man of the world with the conviction that there is another and a better life even here. The moment now arrived for taking leave of our kind friend. We did it with some regret. His own amiable manners; the modest civility of his brethren; their calm, intellectual expressions; the sweet serenity of the spot; the oriental associations about it, and the good ends which its possessors are striving to accomplish, all seemed like cords mysteriously and suddenly put round our hearts to bind us here. We at length shook our friend by the hand, and bidding him good-bye, promised, and that with sincerity, too, that if ever we studied the Armenian tongue, it should be under the superintending eye of Padre Pascal Aucher.

Our gondola bore us to the Lido; and afterwards, having visited some works of art in various palaces and churches, we landed at St. Mark's Place, just as the twilight shadows had settled down around it. The Florian, where we are accustomed to take our coffee, was crowded with Austrians and Germans; with Turks, Albanians, and "Ebrew Jews." The Venetian ladies and gentlemen-husbands and cavalieri serventi-soon began to promenade beneath the arcades, only now and then pausing to take coffee or an ice; and what with their melodious voices, and graceful forms, and transparent complexions, and fathomless eyes, presented a scene altogether brilliant and impressive, such as can only be beheld on a pleasant evening of spring in St. Mark's Piazza at Venice. It was near eleven o'clock before we reached our apartments at the White Lion, and at this late hour do I sit down to record the impressions of this most interesting day.

Tapps, thus harangued,

Bade him "be hanged!"

The Landlord said, he'd have-an " EXECUTION!"
Tapps would have gladly drunk up all his ale, if
"Taking to drinking," would have floored the bailiff;
But conscience whispered, to his great regret,
That course would never " liquid-ate the debt."
So, Felix vowed,

He wished his debts were paid ;

Or else, that like his maid,

The Sheriff had-" no followers allowed !"

The porter wanted strength, to keep him out ;)
There, for three hours, or more,

The man was waiting;

Tankards he emptied-pipes full half a score,
Yet went on smoking, in a snug arm-chair,
And ruminating,

And building castles in the air!

Railroads, with steamboats, may have filled his dreams, As puffing on, his reverie grew riper ;

Brokers are not the only men, whose schemes,

Beyond a joke,

Begin and end- in smoke;

Yet, will not "pay the PIPE-R!"

Doubtless the fellow would have stayed to puff,
But Tapps looked at the clock, and then
Said, "Friend, I always go to bed at ten;
You've been here long enough,

And so,
Most like,

You would not wish the clock should strike

Before you go?"

The broker, winking, said, "Good Tapps, I'm thinking
I've got the law upon my side

Here to abide,

For I agrees,

WithLicensed to be drunk upon

Now, I'll bet

the premises,'

A crown, that I'm not half drunk yet!"—
Cried Tapps, "I'll clearly show th' intent,
Of that same Act of Parliament.'

It is not meet,

That folks should stay here after ten o'clock:-
Within doors, as your argument, you've tried,
Take your position on the other side."

Then, with sudden shock,

Tapps sent the broker staggering to the street,
And locked his door-

The fellow swore

He should have proved his case beyond a doubt,
But Tapps's interruption-PUT HIM OUT!

THE word "Alhambra" conveys to the minds of many who have not visited Granada, the idea of a magnificent palace. The Alhambra, however, is not strictly speaking, a palace, but a fortress of great extent, whose walls stretch round the summit of a hill, half a mile or more in length, and a few hundred feet in breadth. The far-famed palace, which contains the Court of the Lions, the Hall of the Abencerrages, &c. occupies comparatively but little groundnot one-twentieth, nor perhaps one-fiftieth part of the space thus enclosed. Besides this, there is within the fortress a great palace of Charles V. scarcely less extensive, with quite a village of houses, a large parish church, a convent, orchards, gardens, and even cornfields, and that never-failing appendage to the smallest village-an alameda.

THE MOORISH PALACE.

The entrance to the Casa Arabe, or Arabian House, as the renowned Moorish palace is called by the Granadinos, is almost concealed by a projecting angle of the palace of Charles V. Unlike the habitations of modern European royalty, there is nothing in the exterior of the Arabian House which could lead a stranger to anticipate the glories within. A plain wooden door in a high naked wall resembles the entrace to a cemetery rather than to magnificent courts and saloons.

On entering I found myself in a court of oblong form, with a large pool or reservoir of water in the centre, which gives it the name of Patio del Alberca, or Court of the Pool. On the left, at its further extremity, the court is bounded by an arcade, with elegant Moorish columns of white marble, high above whose roof the huge tower of Comares rears its red battlemented head. The opposite end of the court is crossed by a similar arcade, surmounted by another, abutting against the wall of the Palace of Charles V. Beds of myrtles and roses border the pool on either hand, and serve to relieve with their green the sunny brightness of the white walls and arcades around.

Through a low door opposite me on entering, I had caught a glimpse of a second court, with the sparkling jets of a fountain in the centre. Passing through this doorway, I found myself beneath a colonnade, and looked, through a wood of light pillars spanned by arches of delicate fretwork, to the celebrated Fountain of the Lions, which shot up its glittering waters in the midst of a garden of flowering shrubs, enclosed by long arcades, similar to that under which I was standing. It is impossible to describe the feelings of astonishment and delight experienced on entering this Patio.

Apart from the romantic associations connected with the spot, the slender and elegant columns, the dazzling brilliancy of the sun-lit arcades, the vivid 'colours of the shrubs and flowers, and the murmuring jets of the fountain, give the court inexpressible charms :you can scarcely believe it to be real,-it has an enchanted, an unearthly beauty, and resembles only what your imagination may have pictured of a palace in fairy lands.

The attention is at first so absorbed in contemplating the general beauties of the Patio, that it is long before the eye can descend to notice its minuter features. It is nearly one hundred feet long by fifty broad. A square portico projects into it at either end, supported by twenty columns, with arches of the most elegant forms, whose outlines are marked by fretted work of stucco, resembling stalactites. This delicate grotto-work is carried also within the portico as high as the ceiling, which is a cupola of wood beautifully carved, and elevated nearly thirty feet from the ground. The general hue of the fretting is a light stone, touched here and there with vermilion, azure, and gold, which have lost none of their original brightness after an exposure of centuries to the weather.

The total number of columns in the court is one hundred and sixtyfour; they are arranged sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs, and in a cluster of four at each of the corners. From base to capital they are about eight feet high; and the shafts are eight or ten inches in diameter. The capitals are ornamented with minute Arabic inscriptions, and from them rise vertically, on the front of the arcade, broad bands of the same in large letters, crossed by a horizontal band above. Open tracery-work of the most elegant description fills the intermediate spaces above the arches; these are of the horse-shoe form, but in general long and narrow, which adds to the lightness and elegance of the columns.

The fountain which stands in the centre of the court is supported by twelve lions, sculptured in stone, and about three feet high. They exhibit but a small advancement in the art, for they resemble cats rather than lions; their manes are scanty; their legs mere stumps of stone without feet; and their tails are twisted in a droll manner upon their flanks. It is in vain that they try to look fierce; the end of a water-pipe stuck like a whistle in their mouths is a poor substitute for open jaws and bristling teeth. The basin of the fountain is flat, very shallow, and a dodecagon of six feet in diameter. From it rises an elegant pedestal supporting a smaller and bowl-shaped basin; and above this is a short pillar. The water is forced up through this pillar high into the air, and is caught in the upper basin, which it overflows, and descends in a brilliant shower into the larger one beneath, whence it is conveyed through the feet of the basin into the bodies of the lions, and issues in slender streams from their mouths.

The character of the entire Patio is that of the most finished elegance and beauty. Nothing of grandeur-nothing majestic-no imposing sublimity is here visible. This is not characteristic of the architecture of the Arabians. But, on the other hand, they aimed at everything that might captivate the senses,-that might soften, rather than excite, the feelings; they sought to charm the eye with a thousand graces, to lull the ear with the music of falling waters, to induce the most delicious coolness, the greatest luxury of their cli

mate,

and to make their abodes on this earth bear a near resemblance to their imaginary paradise above.

A large open archway in the midst of the southern corridor of the court leads into the Hall of the Abencerrages; a magnificent apart. ment, richly adorned with arabesques. The fountain famed in legendary story is in the centre, and shoots up its waters merrily as in the olden time, whilst the splashing shower re-echoes through the apartment. My guide, stirring up the thin coat of mud, pointed out a reddish mark on the marble bottom,-the veritable stains, he assured me, of the blood of the thirty-six noble victims who were here barbarously slaughtered by Boabdil."

"Do you believe that to be really the stain of their blood?'' I in. quired.

"Decir y creer son dos-to say and believe are two," was the quaint reply.

The hall is lined to the height of five feet with glazed tiling of va rious colours, disposed in elegant mosaic patterns; above, the walls are covered to a considerable height with arabesques and bands of inscriptions in relief, and then fretted in the same manner as the ceil ing. This is a cupola, adorned with an exquisite grotto-work of stalactites in white stucco, relieved by touches of vermilion, blue, green, and gold, just enough to impart a richness of colour without destroying its delicacy and airiness. The whole is seen by a soft voluptuous light admitted through long narrow openings in the wall beneath the roof. A calm beauty and elegance pervade the apartment, little in unison with the tragic scenes which tradition has assigned to the spot.

On the opposite side of the Court of Lions is the Hall of the Two Sisters. I inquired who were these damsels, expecting to hear some interesting legend of Moorish days. Great was my disappointment, when my guide, pointing to two large flagstones in the pavement, replied, "Ahi estan--there they are!"

This hall is larger than that of the Abencerrages; in shape and decorations, however, it is very similar, but is still more richly or namented. The tiling of the walls, and the arabesques above, are of more tasteful and elegant patterns; the ceiling is more exquisitely fretted, and more delicately and brilliantly touched with colour and gold, in fact, it is the most beautiful in the palace; it is a masterpiece, and would exhaust a mine of epithets to recount its charms. Over the archway at either end of the hall is a window with latticed blinds, through which the beauties of the Harem were enabled to grati fy their curiosity by gazing into the hall, though they were prevented the indulgence of a stronger female passion, being themselves invisi. ble. But all that has long passed away :-no joyous laugh is now heard along the dark passages, no whisperings or suppressed titter at the latticed windows,-all is now silent and still as the grave.

Beyond the Hall of the Two Sisters is a long and narrow antechamber, and beyond this a most delightful little apartment, whose dimensions are but ten feet by twelve. Its roof is light and airy; its walls adorned with the most delicate arabesques, and pierced with four small horseshoe windows, looking upon the flowery gar dens of Lindaraxa. It is called, "El Gabinete de la Reyna," or "The Queen's Cabinet." An air of such elegance and taste per