should reach our morning stage, varying from seven to elev. en; and at night we usually halted at from four to six, and had from that till eleven or twelve to dine and sleep. At or before midnight we were roused from our heavy slumbers to resume them en route in the diligencia. We took our first breakfast in Cremona, at about eleven, though we had, as the Irish say, backened our appetites, by some of the contents of our travelling pantry; for we had found it necessary in the commencement of our travels, to be provided with a basket, and this we have kept constantly filled with fruit, fresh or dry, and such edibles as are most portable; and I can assure you our provisions are seldom allowed to get dry or musty. Our short stay in this neat and pretty town, allowed us to see it only in passing through with the diligencia; but from its windows we had a good view of its fine Roman gateway, the old Moorish tower and fortress, and its fine campanile, in imitation of the Giralda at Seville. The country through which we passed was one of unvaried beauty and loveliness, well cultivated, rich and productive. We passed through immense groves of olives, that looked as if they might have been planted immediately after the deluge. Most of their time-worn trunks were rent asunder in two, three, and even four parts, and these parts separated by a distance of six and eight feet, and each a luxuriant and thrifty tree. At six in the afternoon we reached Acieja, a pretty place, with a fine bridge, fine gateways, some columns with statues, and one that appeared decidedly Moorish. To enjoy, or even partake, a Spanish dinner, to one unaccustomed, it needs a travel-worn appetite, so impregnated is everything with all-powerful garlic: neither eggs or salad could, without difficulty, be exempt. I have never spoken of this before, but I have sometimes amused myself with the thought, that if any of the many of my home-bound sighs reached their desti 342 A MOORISH MOSQUE. nation, you would know whose they were, and whence they came, by the pervading effluvia of garlic. Here we never think of refraining, for fear of offence: for all are alike of fensive, and we must be so, nolens volens. At an early hour on the second day, we reached Cordova, and requesting the mayoral to set us down at the ancient Moorish mosque, we, with our French companion, alighted there, and proceeded to view this immense, magnificent, and wonderful edifice. It was built about the eighth century, by - a Moorish emperor, (Abdoulrahman,) who determined to have it the largest and most sumptuous mosque in the world: it has since been converted into a Christian church, and of course received additional embellishments. It is in the form of a parallelogram, seven hundred and twenty feet long, five hundred and thirty broad; it has twenty-seven naves or aisles, in its length, and nineteen in its breath. These are supported by eight hundred and fifty columns of marble, and, including others within and without, there are one thousand and eighteen, and all of different marbles, models, and orders of architecture. There is in it a Moorish chapel, left in its original state, retaining still the beautifully carved marble, the Arabic characters, and the gold mosaic of its vaulted roof. The modern embellishments of the church are exceedingly rich and beautiful: the grand altar is of massive and richly wrought silver; pulpits of colored marble, supported by finely-executed figures; wood-work, exquisitely carved, and other ornaments of great richness and beauty. But it is the great number of columns that is its chief beauty, and give to the interior an air of solemnity and mystery almost bewildering you seem walking in a labyrinth, or an immense forest, from whence you can see no outlet. It gives one the best idea of the Moorish grandeur that once prevailed here, of any edifice or ruin extant. One that has crossed its SPAIN A ROMAN BRIDGE. 343 threshold, never loses the impression of awe and magnificence with which he is nearly paralyzed. In front of this immense pile is a great court, one hundred and eighty feet long, with a fine large fountain in the centre, and containing a grove of orange-trees, said to have been planted by the Moors. On the north side of the court, and opposite the cathedral, rises a tall tower or campanile. It is fifty-one feet square, with numerous columns, and nearly a hundred windows. The whole is enclosed by a high wall, ornamented with pretty Moorish turrets, and is altogether of a size and magnificence to vie with any church in Christendom. Our short stay allowed us to see little more of this interesting city; and after a hurried breakfast, we were once more on our way, and through a country that bore the always smiling appearance of Andalusia. Everything was green and lovely, and the undulating ridge of the Sierra Morena, before us, was beautifully colored. A short distance from Cordova we passed over a fine bridge, built of black marble, with ten arches, of most solid and substantial construction-another monument of the Romans. In entering on the Sierra Morena, we leave behind beautiful, lovely Andalusia, the most charming and interesting portion of Spain: the richest and best cultivated, with the exception of Catalonia; and the people are as neat and cleanly about their houses, as the gude vrows of Holland, or our own New England housewives. They sweep and dust, wash and whitewash, quite as much, and every thing affords a striking contrast to the dirt and filth of Italian inns. And now I will take my leave of you and the lovely Andalusians together; but in my next we will journey again, ;. without asking if you are weary, and giving you no more rest or respite than these merciless mayorals do us. 344 ANDUJAR. LETTER XXXIX. ROBBERS OF ANDUJAR--STERILITY OF THE TABLE LAND OF SPAIN--SUFFERINGS OF THE PEASANTRY-THEIR MAN- Madrid, March. At the close of our second day's journey from Seville, we felt that we were fast leaving behind us the lovely south of Spain-sweet Andalusia, land of the chivalric Moor, whence "Afric's echoes thrilled with Moorish matrons' wail." It had taken us longer to perform the diurnal quantum of our journey, and was dark when our heavy diligence lumbered into the court-yard of the inn at Andujar. The dinner was on the table; and the hungry inmates of a diligence just arrived from Madrid were already doing their “devoir" at the board, and our keen appetites induced us unceremoniously to join. I cannot say that the viands were rendered more palatable by the conversation which seemed to enliven all; the subject was the late robbery of the diligence (mentioned in my last,) a few miles from this place, at a point which we had yet to pass. But we had little time to devote to sleep, and were warned to separate and make the most of it. "A sleep without dreams, after a rough day Of toil, is what we envy most; and yet" I will wager something that brigands and robbers played their parts before the "mind's eye" of some of the sleepers in the inn of Andujar that night. But it did not prevent sleep ROBBERS' SIGNALS. 345 altogether, as I can answer from the reluctance as well as difficulty with which I roused myself at the midnight call of our mayoral. Once in the diligence, and wide awake, we had nought to do but lie in wait for the robbers, as we feared they were doing for us. We had been progressing about an hour, when, at halfpast one in the morning, I fancied I could see a bright light glimmering in the fields, while yet a far way off. I watched it silently; my husband being apparently in a deep sleep. As we came nearer, the light increased in, size and brightness, and I could soon see that it was a large bonfire a little distance on the road, on our right. With my excited fancy, I readily made this out to be a signal of the robbers, and I held my breath with fear, but still had presence of mind to endeavor to remove such personal ornaments as I had about me, and to put them in some place more secure. We went rolling, rolling on, yet it seemed as if we made no progress. At last we reached it, passed it, and were safe; yet it was some time ere my breath came naturally. My feelings had scarcely subsided to a calm, when-oh, horror!-Iespied another light. It was on the opposite side, about the same distance from the road; and this I supposed the answer to the signal, and that at this spot we were to meet our fate. My fears you may be sure were increased ten-fold, and my feelings I will not attempt to describe. Minutes seemed hours again, till we left this fire also behind us, and our peril was over. All this time I had remained perfectly still, and supposed my husband unconscious of all; but the next day, when I began to relate my past experience of the night, I found he had been as wide awake as myself, having the same suspicions of the lights, and taking the same precautions with his valuables. And his belief still is, that the lights were what we thought them-the banditti's signals; but that, through |