I N the story of Seville I have endeavoured to interest the reader in the associations of the buildings and the thoroughfares of the city. I do not claim to have written a full history of Seville, though I have sketched the salient events in its annals in the opening chapters of this book. The history of Seville is the history of Spain, and if I have omitted many matters of historical importance from my pages, it is because I wished to focus attention upon the city itself. I trust that I have su

S EVILLE the sunny, the gem of Andalusia, is a city in the midst of a vast garden. Within its ancient walls, the vine, the orange tree, the olive, and the rose flourish in all open spaces, while every patio , or court, has its trellises whereon flowers blossom throughout the year. Spreading palms overshadow the public squares and walks, and the banks of the brown Guadalquivir are densely clothed with an Oriental verdure. The surrounding country of the Province of Sevilla, La Tierra de Maria Sant

'All the intellect of the country which was not employed in the service of the church was devoted to the profession of arms.' Buckle , History of Civilisation . I N 1023 Abu el Kásim Mohammed, then Cadi of Seville, raised a revolt against the Berber rulers of Andalusia. The rising was successful, and the town once more became a capital. Under the Abbadid dynasty, and the rule of Motadid and Motamid, Seville was secure and peaceful. Stirring days came with the rise of the Almoravides in the eleve

'In her own interior Spain had an arduous problem to solve—she had to overcome the old energetic resistance of a whole people—the tolerably numerous descendants of the former lords and conquerors of the country who still adhered to the Arabian manners and language, and even in part professed the doctrines of the Mohammedan.'— Schlegel , Philosophy of History . S EVILLE in the sixteenth century was at the height of its prosperity. We have seen how the discoveries of Columbus, Magellan, and the br

'I have never entered a mosque without a vivid emotion—shall I even say without a certain regret in not being a Mussulman?'— Ernest Renan , Islamism and Science . I N the year 1171, Abu Yakub Yûsuf, the conquering Moor, began the building of a mighty mezquita , or mosque, in the captured city of Seville. The important work was given into the hands of a famed architect, one Gever, Hever, or Djâbir, the correct spelling of whose name has puzzled the historians. Gever is said to have been 'the inve

' L ET us build such a huge and splendid temple that succeeding generations of men will say that we were mad.' So said the pious originators of Seville Cathedral, in the year 1401. After one hundred years, the temple was still unfinished, and to this day masons are at work upon the dome. When San Fernando captured the city of Seville from the Moors, and made it his capital, the Mosque, which stood on the site of the Cathedral, was consecrated to the service of the Christian faith. It was used fo

T HE richest monument of Almohade might in Seville is the beautiful Alcázar, or 'Castle,' which stands at but a stone's-throw from the remains of the great mosque. It is a palace of dreams, encompassed by lovely perfumed gardens. Its courts and salons are redolent of Moorish days, and haunted by the spirits of turbaned sheiks, philosophers, minstrels, and dark-eyed beauties of the harem. As we loiter under the orange trees of quiet gardens, we picture the palace as it was when peopled by the chi

'Among no other people did the spirit and character of the middle age, in its most beautiful and dignified form, so long continue and survive in manners, ways of thinking, intellectual culture, and works of imagination and poetry, as among the Spaniards.'— Schlegel , Philosophy of History . W E have noted that in the Visigoth and Moorish periods Seville was a centre of literature and the arts. The Christians had their St. Isidore, a famed historian and theological writer, and the Moriscoes accla

'Beauty, like all other qualities presented to human experience, is relative.'— Walter Pater. ' T HE art of Spain was, at the outset, wholly borrowed, and from various sources: we see heterogeneous, borrowed elements assimilated sometimes in a greater or less degree, frequently flung together in illogical confusion, seldom, if ever, fused into a new harmonious whole by that inner welding fire which is genius; and we see in the sixteenth century a foreign influence received and borne as a yoke, b

'The more the artist studies Nature, the nearer he approaches to the true and perfect idea of art.'—Sir J. Reynolds . O N the 15th of June, in the year 1599, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez was born in Seville. Eighteen years later affords the record of birth of Murillo. Contemporary, or nearly so, they began their lives in the same environment, yet from their earliest youth they tended to develop upon divergent lines. The young Velazquez, at the age of thirteen, became the pupil of the vig

'The office of art is to educate the perception of beauty.' Emerson. I N the south-western quarter of Seville, in the midst of a palm-shaded plaza , stands the Museo Provincial, a picturesque structure, whose history dates back to the thirteenth century. It was originally a monastery, founded by the pious San Fernando, in the year 1249, for the monks of the order of the Merced, whose duty it was to redeem the Christian captives taken from the Infidel. Sumptuously rebuilt by Carlos V., it was a r

'The different provinces of Spain differ from each other in their architecture, as in their history; some of the buildings are purely Moorish, others have a mixture of that style....' J. H. Parker, The Study of Gothic Architecture . I N order to appreciate the Andalusian character, it is essential that one should take into account the vast sway exerted by the Church in Spain. Devotion to piety has ever been one of the cardinal traits of the true Spaniard, and uncompromising faith in prelatical a

T HE palacios and fine casas of Seville are numerous. Some of them retain a distinctly Mudéjar design in their architecture, and all of them possess an Oriental atmosphere or tone. One may spend many hours in visiting the courts of the big houses of the city. As a rule, the porter has instructions to admit strangers into the courts, but very rarely within the houses. But from the courts one may gain very considerable knowledge of the progress of architectural style in the dwelling-houses of the

'To have seen real doñas with comb and mantle, real caballeros with cloak and cigar, real Spanish barbers lathering out of brass basins, and to have heard guitars upon the balconies.'— Thackeray , Cornhill to Cairo . ' M ANY monuments, fine religious processions, splendid bull fights, and not much business,' was the pithy description of modern Seville given to me by an intelligent Basque señora , living in the Province of Santander. The picture is a good one. As to the monuments, we have seen th

'The Arabs were much given to bull-fighting, and highly skilled in the lidia , whether mounted or on foot.'— Sanchez de Nieva , El Toréo . S EVILLE is so renowned in the annals of the great Spanish sport of bull-fighting, that I propose to devote a chapter to a brief history and description of the 'science of tauromachia,' or the recreation of the lidia . Mr. Leonard Williams, in The Land of the Dons , is somewhat apologetic to his readers for introducing three chapters upon the bullfight and it

M OST English visitors to Seville travel by way of Paris, Irún, the Spanish frontier town, and Madrid. By this route the interesting towns of Vittoria, Burgos, Valladolid and Segovia may be visited should the tourist's time permit. Many travellers break their journey at Madrid, spend a day or two in that city, and proceed by the night-express to Seville. For comfort, it is advisable to take the south express train de luxe from the Quai D'Orsay, Paris. This train is made up of first-class carriag