Page:Impressions of Spain in 1866.djvu/81

Rh and exceeds every previous expectation. Again and again did our travellers return, and always discovered some fresh beauties. The governor re- sides in a modernised comer of the building, not far from the mosque, which has suffered from the bad taste of the Christian spoilers. He is not a good specimen of Spanish courtesy, as, in spite of letters of introduction from the highest quarters, it was with very great difficulty that our part}'^ were admitted to see anything beyond the por- tions of the building open to the general public. At last, however, he condescended to find the keys of the Tower of the Infantas, once the residence of the Moorish princesses whose tragical fate is so touchingly recorded by Washington Irving. It is a beautifiil little cage, overlooking the ravine, with its fine aqueduct below, and rich in the delicate moresque carving of both ceilings and walls. Afterwards, crossing a garden, they came to the gate by which Boabdil left his palace for the last time, and which was afterwards, by his special request, waUed up. The tower at this comer was mined and destroyed by the French. Our party then descended to a little mosque lately