We seem lifted up into
a purer atmosphere; we feel a serenity of soul, a buoyancy of spirits,
an elasticity of frame, which render mere existence happiness. But
when moonlight is added to all this, the effect is like enchantment.
Under its plastic sway the Alhambra seems to regain its pristine
glories. Every rent and chasm of time; every mouldering tint and
weather-stain is gone; the marble resumes its original whiteness;
the long colonnades brighten in the moonbeams; the halls are
illuminated with a softened radiance- we tread the enchanted palace of
an Arabian tale!
What a delight, at such a time, to ascend to the little airy
pavilion of the queen's toilet (el tocador de la Reyna), which, like a
bird-cage, overhangs the valley of the Darro, and gaze from its
light arcades upon the moonlight prospect! To the right, the
swelling mountains of the Sierra Nevada, robbed of their ruggedness
and softened into a fairy land, with their snowy summits gleaming like
silver clouds against the deep blue sky. And then to lean over the
parapet of the Tocador and gaze down upon Granada and the Albaycin
spread out like a map below; all buried in deep repose; the white
palaces and convents sleeping in the moonshine, and beyond all these
the vapory Vega fading away like a dream-land in the distance.
Sometimes the faint click of castanets rises from the Alameda, where
some gay Andalusians are dancing away the summer night.
Pages:
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118