less solid, and has entirely disappeared.

Many a tale of romance would be gathered--many a stirring scene
recorded, could so precious a document be brought to light as a
chronicle drawn up by some St. Simon of the Court of Toledo, who had
recorded the daily events of which this retreat was the theatre, during
the time it served as a residence for several successive sovereigns. But
in this land words have always been fewer than deeds, and records are
the rarest sort of subsisting monuments. One anecdote, however, is
transmitted, of which this spot was the scene, in the time of the last
but one of the Moorish princes who reigned at Toledo, before its
surrender to Alonzo the Sixth.

Alonzo was himself one of the actors on the occasion. In early life he
had been deprived by his brother Sancho, King of Castile, of the portion
of the kingdoms which fell to his share by the will of his father,
Ferdinand the First. On his expulsion from his inheritance he took
refuge at the court of the Arab king of Toledo, by whom he was received
with every mark of favour which could have been lavished on a friend.
The Moor (for the family then reigning was not Arab, although the two
races are constantly confounded in Spanish histories) gave him a palace,
and settled on him splendid revenues, to be continued during the time he
should think fit to accept his hospitality. He even sent invitations to
all the friends and followers of his guest, in order that he might be
surrounded with his own court.

Alonzo, touched by this delicate hospitality, attached himself warmly to
his host; his friendship for whom (I believe a solitary instance in
those times among the sovereigns in Spain) lasted until the death of the
latter. The youthful exile, thus handsomely treated, passed much of his
time in the society of his royal protector.

On one occasion, the court being at the country palace of Galiana, the
king and his attendants were reclining in the cool shade of the garden,
and Alonzo at a short distance, apparently asleep. The king, pointing to
the town, which towered on its precipice immediately in front of the
party, was expatiating on the strength of its position. All agreed that
it was impregnable; until a brother of the monarch observed, that there
was one mode of warfare against which it would not hold out: and he
proceeded to explain his plan, which consisted of an annual devastation
of the valley of the Tagus at the time of harvest, to be e