upplicated from heaven a continuance of its grace and that this
glorious triumph might be perpetuated.* The prayer of the pious monarch
was responded to by the people, and even his enemies were for once
convinced of his sincerity.

* The words of Fray Antonio Agapida are little more than an echo
of those of the worthy Jesuit father Mariana (1. 25, c. 18).

When the religious ceremonies were concluded the court ascended to the
stately palace of the Alhambra and entered by the great Gate of Justice.
The halls lately occupied by turbaned infidels now rustled with stately
dames and Christian courtiers, who wandered with eager curiosity
over this far-famed palace, admiring its verdant courts and gushing
fountains, its halls decorated with elegant arabesques and storied with
inscriptions, and the splendor of its gilded and brilliantly painted
ceilings.

It had been a last request of the unfortunate Boabdil--and one which
showed how deeply he felt the transition of his fate--that no person
might be permitted to enter or depart by the gate of the Alhambra
through which he had sallied forth to surrender his capital. His request
was granted; the portal was closed up, and remains so to the present
day--a mute memorial of that event.*

* Garibay, Compend. Hist., lib. 40, c. 42. The existence of this
gateway and the story connected with it are perhaps known to few, but
were identified in the researches made to verify this history. The
gateway is at the bottom of a tower at some distance from the main body
of the Alhambra. The tower had been rent and ruined by gunpowder at the
time when the fortress was evacuated by the French. Great masses lie
around half covered by vines and fig trees. A poor man, by the name
of Mateo Ximenes, who lives in one of the halls among the ruins of the
Alhambra, where his family has resided for many generations, pointed out
to the author the gateway, still closed up with stones. He remembered
to have heard his father and grandfather say that it had always been
stopped up, and that out of it King Boabdil had gone when he surrendered
Granada. The route of the unfortunate king may be traced thence across
the garden of the convent of Los Martyros, and down a ravine beyond,
through a street of gypsy caves and hovels, by the gate of Los Molinos,
and so on to the Hermitage of St. Sebastian. None but an antiquarian,
however, will be able to trace it unless aided by the humble historian
of the