Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/111

87 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. 87 Christian encampment, was encircled by walls and chapter towers of massive strength and solidity. The pop- '- — ulation, swelled to two hundred thousand by the immigration from the surrounding country, was likely, indeed, to be a burden in a protracted siege ; but among them were twenty thousand, the flower of the Moslem chivalry, who had escaped the edge of the Christian sword. In front of the city, for an extent ' of nearly ten leagues, lay un- rolled, the magnificent vega, " Fresca y regalada vega, Dulce recreacion de damas Y de hombres gloria immensa ; " whose prolific beauties could scarcely be exagger- ated in the most florid strains of the Arabian minstrel, and which still bloomed luxuriant, not- withstanding the repeated ravages of the preceding season. ^ The inhabitants of Granada were filled with in- Moslem and ^, . . . Christian dignation at the sight of their enemy, thus en- ^wvairy camped under the shadow, as it were, of their battlements. They sallied forth in small bodies, or singly, challenging the Spaniards to equal en- 8 Conde, Dominacionde los Ara- wealth, population, and social hab- bes, torn. iii. cap. 42. — Bernal- its of Granada, from various Ara- dez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. bic authorities. Bibliotheca Es- 100. — Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., curialensis, torn. ii. pp. 247- 260. lib. 3, epist. 89. — Marmol, Rebe- The French work of Laborde, lion de Moriscos, lib. 1, cap. 18. Voyage Pittoresque, (Paris, 1807,) — L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, and the English one of Murphy, fol. 177. Engravings of Arabian Antiqui- Martyr remarks, that the Geno- ties of Spain, (London, 1816,) do ese merchants, " voyagers to eve- ample justice in their finished de- ry clime, declare this to be the signs to the general topography largest fortified city in the world." and architectural magnificence of Casiri has collected a body of in- Granada, teresting particulars respecting the