The desertion of the court, however, was a fatal blow to the
Alhambra. Its beautiful halls became desolate, and some of them fell
to ruin; the gardens were destroyed, and the fountains ceased to play.
By degrees the dwellings became filled with a loose and lawless
population; contrabandistas, who availed themselves of its independent
jurisdiction to carry on a wide and daring course of smuggling, and
thieves and rogues of all sorts, who made this their place of refuge
whence they might depredate upon Granada and its vicinity. The
strong arm of government at length interfered; the whole community was
thoroughly sifted; none were suffered to remain but such as were of
honest character, and had legitimate right to a residence; the greater
part of the houses were demolished and a mere hamlet left, with the
parochial church and the Franciscan convent. During the recent
troubles in Spain, when Granada was in the hands of the French, the
Alhambra was garrisoned by their troops, and the palace was
occasionally inhabited by the French commander. With that
enlightened taste which has ever distinguished the French nation in
their conquests, this monument of Moorish elegance and grandeur was
rescued from the absolute ruin and desolation that were overwhelming
it. The roofs were repaired, the saloons and galleries protected
from the weather, the gardens cultivated, the watercourses restored,
the fountains once more made to throw up their sparkling showers;
and Spain may thank her invaders for having preserved to her the
most beautiful and interesting of her historical monuments.
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