Transcriber's Notes:
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by
=equal signs=.
Small uppercase have been replaced with regular uppercase.
Blank pages have been eliminated.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the
original.
THE
JEWS AND MOORS
IN
SPAIN.
BY
RABBI JOS. KRAUSKOPF.
[Illustration]
KANSAS CITY:
M. BERKOWITZ & CO., PUBLISHERS AND PRINTERS.
1887.
_Copyright, 1886_,
BY JOSEPH KRAUSKOPF.
_All Rights Reserved._
TO
THE MEMBERS OF CONGREGATION
B'NAI JEHUDAH
OF
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI,
IN DEEP APPRECIATION OF THEIR KINDNESS
AND ENCOURAGEMENT
THIS VOLUME
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
This volume is a reprint of newspaper reports of a series of lectures
delivered by the author from the pulpit of Congregation B'nai Jehudah,
Kansas City, Mo., during the Fall and Winter of 1885-1886.
The lectures were prepared to fulfill the requirements of popular
discourses, and designed to convey information upon a highly important
epoch of the world's history, that is almost neglected in English
literature.
The thought of publishing these lectures in book form was utterly
foreign to the author throughout their preparation, until an urgent
solicitation from very many persons, both Jews and Gentiles, in all
parts of this country, whose interest in these lectures was aroused by
their wide-spread republication by the Press, made it a duty.
_Kansas City, Mo., January, 1887._
The following are two of the many letters addressed to the author,
requesting him to have his lectures on "THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN"
published in book form.
LETTER FROM HON. T. T. CRITTENDEN,
Ex-Governor of the State of Missouri.
KANSAS CITY, MO., MARCH 29, 1886.
RABBI JOSEPH KRAUSKOPF.
DEAR SIR:--Having read with pleasure and edification the series of
lectures delivered in the Synagogue, Kansas City, Mo., entitled "THE
JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN," in which you treat of the social, political,
religious and intellectual life of these Oriental nations, may I
inquire if it is your purpose to have them published in book form?
I think the lectures too valuable, too full of prolonged historic
research and thought to live only one day in the columns of a daily
newspaper. Even if they were designed "to adorn a tale or point a
moral" of the great race to which you belong, whose history commenced
with Abraham and will end with that of the human race, still the
history of that race was (and is) so intimately interlaced with the
history of the other races for the intervening centuries, that the
lectures are in part, so much the history of the other races, that they
can be read and studied by all men without prejudice or animosity. One
thing is certain, you have in the lectures divested history of much of
its dry and useless details, and make it a thrilling romance of facts,
presented in the simplest and purest Anglo-Saxon language.
I know not how others view the lectures, only speak this for myself--no
library is complete without the History of the Jewish race, and no
history of that race for the period covered, is more comprehensive,
truthful and impartial than that presented in these lectures. I think
the book would find a ready sale in all thinking, reading communities.
Very Truly Yours,
THOS. T. CRITTENDEN.
LETTER FROM ARNOLD KREKEL,
Judge of the U. S. Court, Western District of Missouri.
KANSAS CITY, MO, APRIL 2, 1886.
RABBI JOSEPH KRAUSKOPF.
MY DEAR SIR:--Having attended a number of your lectures on "THE HISTORY
OF THE JEWS AND MOORS IN SPAIN," and read such as I did not hear,
allow me to give expression to my views regarding the same. Aside from
the interest the student of history must always feel in that part of
history of which your lectures treat, the manner of treatment specially
interested me. Relating historical facts, too often becomes dry and
irksome, and it requires more than ordinary skill of presentation to
make the subject interesting and attractive. In this you have fully
succeeded by interweaving with the facts those matters which enliven
the picture. A knowledge of the social condition of a people, and
the relation to which they stand to their age, enables us to judge
of their worth and the influence they exercised. Your lectures, as
a whole, presented a life-breathing social picture of the times and
people, and as the civilization of Europe was largely effected by the
Jews and Moors, their history embraces to a large extent the history
of civilization, and thereby acquires an interest not limited to
the people and countries of which your lectures give so interesting
an account. A publication in permanent form of your lectures would
advance our knowledge of that part of history to which we have always
looked for instruction and guidance, and I hope you may find a way of
accomplishing this object.
Very Respectfully,
A. KREKEL.
EDITORIAL IN THE KANSAS CITY JOURNAL OF SUNDAY,
APRIL 24, 1886.
The Journal published yesterday morning the eighteenth and last of the
series of lectures delivered by Rabbi Krauskopf on "THE JEW AND MOOR
IN SPAIN." From first to last these lectures have been of absorbing
interest. The Synagogue has been crowded on the occasion of their
delivery, and it was with regret that the Rabbi's hearers heard that
the lecture on Friday night was the last of the series.
It is the purpose of Rabbi Krauskopf to have his lectures issued in
book form. They will make an attractive volume, and will no doubt be
widely read. Rabbi Krauskopf is a graphic writer, and his lectures upon
"THE JEW AND MOOR IN SPAIN" are a series of historical occurrences
related in a manner that serves to chain the reader's attention--old
world scenes are accurately and vividly described. The reader is taken
through all the struggles, the defeats and the triumphs of the Jews.
Their arts, their industry, their upright dealings and their steadfast
adherence to their religion through trials and persecutions are related
with a proud belief that they were God's chosen people, working out
their destiny according to His will. The lecturer started with the Jews
as he found them, a prosperous community in southwestern Europe, busily
engaged in transforming Spain into a granery and garden spot of Europe,
respected by their heathen neighbors, happy and contented. He passed
on to the period of persecution in the Sixth Century when Christianity
of a somewhat forcible nature attempted the conversion of the Jews by
persecution; when many were massacred and others driven into exile.
Then came the Arab invasion and during the period of Mohammedan
supremacy the Jews were again allowed to live in peace and the exercise
of their own religious rites. For eight centuries the Jews and the
Moors worked side by side and the once down-trodden people rose to
affluence and high position.
With the decline of Mohammedan power, and the expulsion of the Moors
by the Spaniards, the Jews were again reduced to a pitiable state.
Spain arose to enormous power, but that, too, has waned, and the
population of 30,000,000 people has dwindled to about half that number.
The manufactures, the commerce and the agricultural, the universal
prosperity which the Jews had built up disappeared, and the glory of
Spain departed as rapidly as it had been acquired. In the expulsion of
the Jews and Moors alone does Rabbi Krauskopf attribute the ruin of
Spain.
The lectures read like a romance. They are an historical romance, told
in a charming manner, full of descriptions accurate, truthful. When
they are compiled the volume will undoubtedly meet with a large sale.
It was not the original intention of the Rabbi to issue his lectures in
book form, but many people, both Jews and Christians, have requested
him verbally and by letter to do so, and he has decided to grant their
requests.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS OF CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER I.
A DAY IN CORDOVA. 3-11
CHAPTER II.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES. 12-21
CHAPTER III.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES, _Continued_. 21-33
CHAPTER IV.
RETURN TO CORDOVA. 34-45
CHAPTER V.
THE ARAB-MOORS. 46-57
CHAPTER VI.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA. 58-68
CHAPTER VII.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA, _Continued_. 69-81
CHAPTER VIII.
ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO EUROPE. 82-89
CHAPTER IX.
ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN. 90-101
CHAPTER X.
THEIR POSITION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE. 102-111
CHAPTER XI.
IN THE SCIENCES. 112-122
CHAPTER XII.
IN LITERATURE. 123-147
CHAPTER XIII.
IN PHILOSOPHY. 148-158
CHAPTER XIV.
IN THE INDUSTRIES. 159-170
CHAPTER XV.
THE INQUISITION. 171-188
CHAPTER XVI.
THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 189-205
CHAPTER XVII.
THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 206-224
CHAPTER XVIII
EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION. 225-240
INDEX. 242
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
A DAY IN CORDOVA 3-11
Six and Eight and Ten Centuries Back in the World's
History.--Our Entrance into Spain.--A Miracle.--The
Beautiful Guadalaquivir.--Our Bronze Complexioned
Oarsman.--Fair Cordova.--The City of the Arts and
Sciences.--Night.--A Serenade.--Our Departure.
CHAPTER II.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES 12-21
Upon The Ocean.--Desolate Europe.--Longing After
Cordova.--Southern Spain Contrasted with the Rest of
Europe.--Revolting Uncleanliness..Ascetic Monks Establish
the Belief that Cleanliness of Body Leads to Pollution of
Soul.--Intellect Fettered Hand and Foot.--Clergy Retarding
Progress.--Secular Knowledge Spurned.
CHAPTER III.
EUROPE DURING THE DARK AGES, _Continued_ 21-33
Gross Superstitions.--A Crucifix that Shed Tears of
Blood.--The Virgin's House Carried Through the Air by
Angels.--Satan in the Form of a Beautiful Woman.--Scenes
in Hell.--The Burning of Witches.--A King who Cannot Write
his Name.--Feudal Lords as Highway Robbers.--The Serfdom
of the Peasants.--Return to Cordova.
CHAPTER IV.
RETURN TO CORDOVA 34-45
Cordova at Day Break.--The Mohammedan Sabbath.--The Youth
of Cordova Disports itself upon the Water.--Song.--Challenge
between Oarsman.--The Muezzin's Call.--The Great Mosque.--A
Sermon.--Chasdai Ibn Shaprut, the Jewish Minister to the
Caliph.--Dunash Ibn Labrat.--On the Way to Abdallah Ibn
Xamri, the Moorish Poet.
CHAPTER V.
THE ARAB-MOORS 46-57
Abdallah Tells the Early History of the Arabs.--Miracles at
the Birth of Mohammed.--The Angel, Gabriel Writes the Koran
upon Palm Leaves.--Ten Decisive Years in the History of
Religion.--Beautiful Zealica.--Arab-Moors Checked in their
Conquest.--Quarrel between King Roderick and Count Julian,
Father of the Insulted Florinda.--Jews Ally with the
Wronged Father.--Andalusia Conquered.
CHAPTER VI.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA 58-68
The Synagogue of Cordova.--The Daughters of Israel
Preparing for the Sabbath.--The Throne of the
"Nasi".--Rabbi Moses Ben Chanoch.--The Eloquence of
Silence.--A Tearful Scene.--Three Rabbis Taken
Captive by Pirates.--Evil Designs against Chanoch's Young
and Beautiful Wife.--Sold as Slave to Cordova.--His
Miraculous Rise.
CHAPTER VII.
A SABBATH EVE IN CORDOVA, _Continued_ 69-81
The Evening Service.--A Beautiful Custom in
Israel.--Honored with an Invitation to Chasdai's
House.--Illuminated Streets.--The Two Angels.--An Ideal
Sabbath in an Ideal Home.--The Praise of the Virtuous
Woman.--A Father's Blessing.--Presented to the Ladies.--The
Evening Meal.--The Jewish Kingdom of the Khozars.
CHAPTER VIII.
ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO EUROPE 82-89
Chasdai's Library.--His Account of the Entrance of the Jews
into Europe.--The Destruction of Jerusalem.--A Terrible
Carnage.--Israel Ceases as a Nation.--The Diaspore.--The
Daughter-Religions Thrive upon the Sufferings they Inflict
Upon the Mother-Religion.--The Indestructibility of
Israel.--Humiliated but Not Forsaken.
CHAPTER IX.
ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN 90-101
Jews Settle in Spain During the Reign of King
Solomon.--Jewish Agricultural Skill makes Andalusia the
Garden Spot of Europe.--Prosperity the Great Crime of the
Jews.--The Beginning of Jewish Persecutions in
Europe.--Cruel Laws.--Vengeance.--The Jews Conspire with
Count Julian and Moors against Spain.--Victory.--Moorish
Appreciation of the Services of the Jews.
CHAPTER X.
THEIR POSITION IN MEDICAL SCIENCE 102-111
The Fifteenth Century.--A Change in the Fortunes of the
Jews and Moors.--An Examination into their Great
Achievements.--Their Skill in Medical Science.--Miracle
Cure by Christian Clergy.--Jewish Body Physicians Highly
Prized and Much Sought.--Prominent Medical Schools and
Eminent Physicians.--Rashi.--Ibn Ezra.--Ibn
Tibbon.--Maimonides.--Avenzoar Avicenna.
CHAPTER XI.
IN THE SCIENCES 112-122
Marvelous Intellectual Superiority of Moors and
Jews.--Moors Excel the Jews in the Sciences.--They
Introduce the Mathematical Sciences. Their Progress in
Astronomy.--Absurd Refutations by the Christian
Clergy.--The Researches into Chemistry, Zoology and
Geology.--They Anticipate Modern Discoveries.--Europe's
Ingratitude.
CHAPTER XII.
IN LITERATURE 123-147
Spain's Prosperity Stimulates Literature.--Lavish
Provisions for Education.--Caliphs Patrons of
Learning.--Vast Libraries Embodying the Knowledge of the
Day.--Poetry Especially Fostered.--Story-telling.--Jewish
and Moorish Poetry Contrasted.--Jehuda Ha
Levy.--Charisi.--Gabirol.--Moses Ben Ezra.
CHAPTER XIII.
IN PHILOSOPHY 148-158
Alexandria, the Intellectual Metropolis of the World.--A
Prodigious Stimulus Given to Learning.--The
Septuagint.--Development of Grecian Philosophy into
Aristotlianism.--This Engrafted on Jewish
Theology.--Opposition of Christianity to
Aristotlianism.--Averroes.--Moses Maimonides. Opposition
Unsuccessful.
CHAPTER XIV.
IN THE INDUSTRIES 159-170
Intellectual Greatness of Moors and Jews Induced by Their
Material Prosperity.--Remarkable Development of
Agriculture.--New Discoveries in Every Industry.--Mining a
Specialty.--The Magnet, Mariner's Compass Mechanical
Apparatus.--Spread of Commerce Leads to General Awakening
of Europe that Ends Middle Ages.
CHAPTER XV.
THE INQUISITION 171-188
Jewish and Moorish Intellectual Advance followed by
Physical Decline.--This Decline the Cause of Their
Downfall.--The Spaniard Again Ruler Over Spain.--The
Inquisition Established.--To Escape it, Jews Become "New
Christians".--Christianity no Help to the Jews.--Thomas de
Torquemada.--The Tortures of the Inquisition.--A Public
Burning.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS 189-205
Torquemada Resolves Upon Immediate Expulsion of all
Unconverted Jews.--The Fatal Edict.--The Spaniards Moved to
Pity.--Don Isaac Abarbanel Pleads with the Queen.--The
Queen Hesitates.--Torquemada, the Fiend, Conquers
Again.--The Ill-fated Jews Seek Among the Dead the Pity
which the Living Refuse.--The Departure.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS 206-224
Exiles Transported on Ships.--Heart-rending Scenes on Board
a Ship.--Set Ashore on Deserted Islands to
Starve.--Starving Jews Given the Choice Between Death and
Christianity.--Merciful Italy.--Crafty
Portugal.--Torquemada's Edict Eclipsed.--The Expulsion of
the Jews From Portugal.--A Condition.--The King's
Marriage.--Contract.--Final Expulsion.
CHAPTER XVIII
EFFECT OF THE EXPULSION 225-240
A Brief Review.--Curse of God Visited Upon Spain.--The
Church a False Prophet.--With Expulsion of the Jews and
Moors Spanish Prosperity Ceases.--Spaniards Experience some
of the Sufferings which the Jews and Moors had
Endured.--Spain Makes Amends.--The Moors Lost.--The Jews Live.
The Jews and Moors in Spain.
CHAPTER I.
A DAY IN CORDOVA.
SIX AND EIGHT AND TEN CENTURIES BACK IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY.--OUR
ENTRANCE INTO SPAIN.--A MIRACLE.--THE BEAUTIFUL GUADALQUIVIR.--OUR
BRONZE COMPLEXIONED OARSMAN.--FAIR CORDOVA.--THE CITY OF THE ARTS
AND SCIENCES.--NIGHT.--A SERENADE.--OUR DEPARTURE.
It is with the past that we shall commune in these pages. Events and
scenes, beautiful and loathsome, joyous and tearful, ennobling and
degrading, will follow each other in rapid succession. There will
be much that, despite the very best of historic sources, and most
reliable and impartial authorities, will be accepted as fabulous or
will be rejected as incredible or impossible. Achievements will be
described, that will startle us for their peerless magnificence and
lead us to suppose that we are not dealing with facts, but with the
imaginations of some rich phantasy or with the fictitious colorings of
a mind enthusiastic for an ideal society; and miseries and sufferings
will be depicted that will strike terror into our very soul, and
cause our heart to rise in rebellion against the mind, when asked to
believe them as actual occurrences, and not as some distressing and
revolting and blood-stained work of fiction, written by some hellish
fiend for the amusement or for the schooling of the vicious indwellers
of the bottomless pit of Tophet. And yet, it will be history, and
true history, strange and incredible, marvelous and anomalous though
it may appear. Six and eight and ten centuries have since passed by,
and the most wonderful of all centuries they have been, centuries
that chronicle the birth and prodigious growth of the sciences and
inventions, the creation and successful continuance of republican and
constitutional governments, the breaking down of castes and barriers
between man and man, the suppression of political and religious
terrorism and these blessed results have so tickled our conceit,
have so raised our moral standard that it is almost impossible for
us to properly conceive--either in all its grandeur or in all its
baseness--that era of the past, which we are about to traverse.
But know we must, and therefore, what the mind refuses to believe,
and what the heart refuses to credit, let the eye see. Let us think
ourselves back six and eight and ten centuries. Let us enter upon a far
and distant journey. Away we speed. Far, far across the wild Atlantic.
We have reached the sunny land of Spain. Here let us pause for a hasty
inspection. It will not take us long, for that country, that is among
the poorest of all European countries to-day, whose reeking filth
has recently made it a scene of revelry to the ravishing plague,
whose stupendous ignorance, and appalling superstitions, have made
it a by-word among the civilized people of the earth, that country,
so backward now, will certainly have no attractiveness for us, ten
centuries earlier in its history.
Lo! A miracle! The magic wand of some frolicksome fay must have
suddenly transformed the land of expected filth and wretchedness into a
beauteous fairyland. Amidst rapturous admiration of the indescribable
beauties, which meet our gaze everywhere, we glide along upon the
placid surface of the Guadalquivir, in which a wondrously clear blue
sky glasses itself, and splendrous palaces and gorgeous parks are
reflected. We have entered beautiful Andalusia. We glide along the
southern declivity of the Sierra Morena. Suddenly there breaks upon
our view a scene of beauty that mocks every attempt at description.
We ask our black eyed, bronze complexioned and proud featured oarsman
for the name of that magnificent city that lies stretched for miles
along the right bank. He understands us not. We address him in French,
in German, in Greek, in Latin. No answer. We are at our wits' end. We
must know, and so we seek recourse, as a last resort, to our mother
tongue, the language of the Hebrews, and his face brightens, and his
tongue is loosened, and in accents as melodious and pure as it must
have been spoken by David himself, when he sang to his harp, the words
of his own heaven-inspired psalms he makes reply: "What ye behold, ye
strangers, is the city of Cordova, the government seat of the valiant
and chivalrous, and scholarly and liberal, and art-loving Caliph
Abderrahman III."
We are burning with a desire to see that city, whose simple outlines
display such bewildering elegance. With our courteous oarsman as guide,
we advance along the street that leads from the river bank. We gaze
and gaze in awe-stricken silence. Amazement is expressed on every
countenance. Our eyes are dazzled with the enchanting magnificence that
abounds. We have reached the palace of the Caliph. Are we dreaming?
Are we under the power of some magic spell? Is this a whim of some
sportive, mischief-loving fay? Have we not thought ourselves some ten
centuries back? Are we in the midst of the Dark Ages; in European
lands, and among the people of the tenth century, concerning whose
stupendous ignorance and loathsome filth historians have had so much to
say? Has history deceived us in its teaching that the people of Europe,
six and eight centuries back had scarcely emerged from the savage
state, that they inhabited floorless, chimneyless, windowless huts,
those of princes and monarchs differing only in their having rushes on
the floor and straw mats against the walls, that they fed on roots and
vetches and bark of trees, clothed in garments of untanned skin which
remained on the body till they dropped in pieces, that there existed
scarcely a city, everywhere pathless forest and howling wastes?
It is not a dream. Neither has history deceived us. We are in European
lands, but among Oriental people. We are in the midst of the prime of
the dark ages, but we are in the Southern part of Spain, in Andalusia,
in the city of Cordova, a city of 200,000 houses, and 1,000,000
inhabitants, of hundreds of parks and public gardens, of menageries
of foreign animals, of aviaries of rare birds, of factories in which
skilled workmen display their art in textures of silk, cotton, linen,
and all the miracles of the loom, in jewelry and in filigree works,
in works of art, and in scientific instruments and apparatus. We are
in the city that, even then, could boast of a college of music, of
libraries, of public schools, of universities in which instructions
were given in the sciences and philosophies and languages, and
literatures and arts. We are in the city of art and culture and
learning, the city made famous and beautiful by the literary and
cultured Moors and Jews, whose prosperity continued as long as the
followers of Mohammed and the followers of Moses were permitted to
dwell in peace side by side, but whose glory vanished as soon as
Christianity banished the Jews and Moors from Spain. But we must not
indulge in any reflections now. Our raven locked guide, whose beautiful
form, and winning countenance, and melodious voice involuntarily
remind us of the beautiful lover of the love-inflamed Shulamite in
"Solomon's Song," beckons, and we must follow. On we march, and with
every step new and matchless beauties unroll themselves before us. We
know not what we shall admire first, and most, whether the polished
marble balconies that overhang luscious orange gardens, or the courts
with the cascades of water beneath the shades of the cypress trees, or
the artificial lakes, supplied with water by hydraulic works, replete
with fish; whether the shady retreats with inlaid floors and walls of
exquisite mosaic, vaulted with stained glass and speckled with gold,
over which streams of water are continually gushing, or the fountains
of quicksilver, that shoot up in glittering globules and fall with a
tranquil sound like fairy bells; whether the apartments into which cool
air is drawn from the flower gardens, in summer by means of ventilating
towers and in winter through earthen pipes or caleducts imbedded in the
walls--the hypocaust, in the vaults below, or the walls adorned with
arabesque and paintings of agricultural scenes and views of paradise,
or the ceilings corniced with fretted gold, other great chandeliers
with their hundreds and hundreds of lamps; whether the columns of
Greek, Italian, Spanish and African marble, covered with verd-antique
and incrusted with lapis lazuli, or the furniture of sandal and citron
wood, inlaid with mother of pearl, ivory, silver, or relieved with gold
and precious malachite, or the costume of the ladies woven in silk and
gold, and decorated with gems of chrysolites, hyacinths, emeralds and
sapphires; whether the vases of rock crystal, Chinese porcelains, the
embroidered Persian carpets with which the floors are covered, the rich
tapestry that hangs along the walls, or the beautiful gardens, profuse
with rare and exotic flowers, winding walks, bowers of roses, seats cut
out of the rock, crypt-like grottoes hewn into the stone; whether the
baths of marble, with hot and cold water, carried thither by pipes of
metal, or the niches, with their dripping alcarazzas, or the whispering
galleries for the amusement of the women, or the labyrinths and marble
play-courts for the children.
On and on we pass, and new beauties still. We pass mosques and
synagogues whose architectural finish is still the admiration and model
of the world, and our gentle guide informs us that a public school
is attached to each, in which the children of the poor are taught to
read and write. We pass academies and universities, and our guide
assures us that many a Hebrew presides over the Moorish institutions of
learning. He reads the expression of surprise on our countenance, for
we think of the striking contrast between his Mohammedan liberality and
the intolerance of the other European countries, from which they are
scarcely weaned as yet, and he modestly informs us that the Mohammedan
maxim is, that "the real learning of a man is of more importance than
any particular religious opinions he may entertain." And as the famous
scholars pass in and out, our guide mentions them by name, and speaks
of their brilliant accomplishments, of professors of Arabic classical
literature, of professors of mathematics and astronomy, compilers of
dictionaries similar to those now in use, but of larger copiousness,
one of these covering sixty volumes, he points out the lexicographers
of Greek and Latin and Hebrew and Arabic, and the encyclopedists of the
"Historical Dictionary of Sciences," the poets of the satires, odes and
elegies, and the inventors of the rhyme, the writers of history, of
chronology, of numismatics, mathematics, astronomy, of pulpit oratory,
of agriculture, of topography, of statistics, of physics, philosophy,
medicines, dentistry, surgery, zoology, botany, pharmacy, and of the
numerous other branches of learning.
Night has set in. Men are gathering around their evening fires to
listen to the wandering literati, who exercise their wonderful
powers of tale telling, and edify the eager listeners by such
narratives as those that have descended to us in the "Arabian Nights'
Entertainments." The dulcet strains of the dreamy and love-awaking
mandolin, accompanying the rapturous love song of some chivalrous
knight to his lady fair, break on our ears. Soon all is silent. We fain
would stay, but our guide is weary from his day's task. Perchance the
sweet strains of the serenade have awakened within his bosom tender
longings for his fair Shulamite, "whose eyes are as the dove's, and
whose lips are like a thread of scarlet, and whose speech is comely,"
(Song of Solomon, chap. iv.) to whom he would eagerly speed. And so we
retrace our steps. For miles we walk in a straight line, by the light
of public lamps; seven hundred years after this time there was not so
much as one public lamp in London. For miles we walk along solidly
paved streets. In Paris centuries subsequently, whoever stepped over
his threshold on a rainy day stepped up to his ankles in mud. We have
reached the bank of the Guadalquivir, and we have parted with our guide.
We have seen in one day more than we ever dared to dream of; enough to
tempt us to visit it again and again, and not only Cordova, but also
Grenada, Toledo, Barcelona, Saragossa, Seville, and other cities, to
acquire a better acquaintanceship with their scholars and institutions,
and with the wondrous advance of their civilization. Before we return,
however, we shall visit France, Germany, England and Northern Spain,
during the same era of the world's history, about ten centuries back,
and the scenes that we shall meet there will enable us to appreciate
all the better the benefits which the Moors and the Jews lavished
upon Europe, and we shall become the more painfully conscious of the
unatonable crime Spain has committed in expelling the Moors from
Europe, and degrading the Jews for centuries to the dregs of mankind.
[Illustration]