The man of sorrow, nor the wretch undone; THE ACQUIREMENT OF KNOWLEDGE. 1. As civilization has gradually progressed, it has equalized the physical qualities of man. Instead of the strong arm, it is the strong head that is now the moving principle of society. You have disenthroned force, and placed on her high seat intelligence; and the necessary consequence of this great revolution is, that it has become the duty and the delight equally of every citizen to cultivate his faculties. The prince of all philosophy has told you, in an immortal apophthegm so familiar to you all that it is written now in your halls and chambers, "Knowledge is power." If that memorable passage had been pursued by the student who first announced this discovery of that great man to society, he would have found an oracle not less striking, and in my mind certainly not less true; for Lord Bacon has not only said that "knowledge is power," but living one century after the discovery of the printing-press, he has also announced to the world that "knowledge is pleasure. 2. Why, when the great body of mankind had become familiar with this great discovery-when they learned that a new source of influence and enjoyment was opened to them, is it wonderful that, from that hour the heart of nations has palpitated with the desire of becoming acquainted with all that has happened, and with speculating on what may occur. It has indeed produced upon the popular intellect an influence almost as great as I might say analogous to the great change which was produced upon the whole commercial world by the MOSLEM RULE IN SPAIN. 1. As I sat watching the effect of the declining daylight upon this Moorish pile (the Alhambra),' I was led into a consideration of the light, elegant, and voluptuous character of its internal architecture, and to contrast it with the grand but gloomy solemnity of the edifices reared by the Spanish conquerors. The very architecture thus bespeaks the opposite and irreconcilable natures of the two warlike people who so long battled here for the mastery of the Peninsula. 2. By degrees I fell into a course of musing upon the singular fortunes of the Moors, whose whole existence is as a tale that is told. Potent and durable as was their dominion, we scarcely know how to call them. They were a nation without a legitimate country or a name. A remote wave of the great Arabian inundation cast upon the shores of Europe, they seem to have all the impetus of the first rush of the torrent. 3. Their career of conquest, from the rock of Gibraltar to the cliffs of the Pyrenees, was as rapid and brilliant as the Moslem victories of Syria and Egypt. Nay, had they not been checked on the plains of Tours, the scene of Charles Martel's great victory (732), all France, all Europe, might have been overrun with the same facility as the empires of the East, and the crescent might at this day have glittered on the fanes of Paris and of London. 4. Repelled within the limits of the Pyrenees, the mixed hordes of Asia and Africa, that formed this great irruption, gave up the Moslem principle of conquest, and sought to establish in Spain a peaceful and permanent dominion. As conquerors, their heroism was only equalled by their moderation; and in both, for a time, they excelled the nations with whom they contended. Severed from their native homes, they loved the land given them, as they supposed, by Allah,2 and strove to embellish it with everything that could promote the happiness of man. 1 A palace of the Moorish kings at Granada. 5. Laying the foundation of their power in a system of wise and equitable laws, diligently cultivating the arts and sciences, and promoting agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, they gradually formed an empire unrivalled for its prosperity by any of the empires of Christendom; and diligently drawing around them the graces and refinements that marked the Arabian empire in the East at the time of its greatest civilization, they diffused the light of oriental knowledge through the western regions of benighted Europe. 6. The cities of Arabian Spain became the resort of Christian artisans, to instruct themselves in the liberal arts. The Universities of Toledo, Cordova, Seville, and Granada were sought by the pale student of other lands, to acquaint himself with the sciences of the Arabs and the treasured lore of antiquity; the lovers of the gay science resorted to Cordova and Granada to imbibe the poetry and music of the East; and the steel-clad warriors of the North hastened thither to accomplish themselves in the graceful exercises and courteous usages of chivalry. 7. If the Moslem monuments in Spain still bear inscriptions, fondly boasting of the power and permanency of their dominion, can the boast be derided as arrogant and vain? Generation after generation, century after century, had passed away, and still they maintained possession of the land. A period had elapsed longer than that which has passed since England was subjected by the Norman Conqueror, and the descendants of Musa and Tario might as little anticipate being driven into exile across the same straits traversed by their triumphant ancestors, as the descendants of Rollo and William, and their veteran peers, may dream of being driven back to the shores of Normandy. 8. With all this, however, the Moslem empire in Spain was but a brilliant exotic, that took no permanent root in the soil it embellished. Severed from all their neighbours in the West by impassable barriers of faith and manners, and separated by seas and deserts from their kindred of the East, they were an isolated people. Their whole existence was a prolonged though gallant and chivalric struggle for a foothold in a usurped land. 9. They were the outposts and frontiers of Mahommedanism. The Peninsula was the great battle-ground where the Gothic conquerors of the North and the Moslem conquerors of the East met and strove for mastery; and the fiery courage of the Arab was at length subdued by the obstinate and persevering valour of the Goth. 10. Never was the annihilation of a people more complete than that of the Spanish Moors. Where are they? Ask the shores of Barbary and its desert places. The exiled remnant of their once powerful empire disappeared among the barbarians of Africa and ceased to be a nation. They have not even left a distinct name behind them, though for eight centuries they were a distinct people. The home of their adoption and of their occupation for ages refuses to acknowledge them, except as invaders and usurpers. 11. A few broken monuments are all that remain to bear witness of their power and greatness, as solitary rocks left far in the interior bear testimony to the extent of some vast inundation. Such is the Alhambra―a Moslem pile in the midst of a Christian land—an oriental palace amidst the Gothic edifices of the West—an elegant memento of a brave, intelligent, and graceful people, who conquered, ruled, and passed away.-Washington Irving (1788–1859). YOUTH AND AGE. Youth, a breeze 'mid blossoms straying, When I was young?-Ah, woful when! This body that does me grievous wrong, O'er airy cliffs and glittering sands How lightly then it flashed along:Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore, On winding lakes and rivers wide, That ask no aid of sail or oar, That fear no spite of wind or tide! Nought cared this body for wind or weather When youth and I lived in't together. Flowers are lovely; love is flower-like; Ere I was old?—Ah, woful Ere, O Youth! for years so many and sweet! I see these locks in silvery slips, And tears take sunshine from thine eyes! But the tears of mournful eve! That only serves to make us grieve, |