uneducated persons he was profoundly superstitious, a failing by which his religious counsellors in case their expectations should be realized would not be slow to profit. In his eyes, the opinions of the faquis were oracular; and the promotion of this caste to the practical control of the government boded no good to the favorites of royalty, whose scornful speeches rankled in the minds of the objects of their sarcasm and contempt. A large body of respectable citizens--merchants, farmers, artificers--joined with the philosophers and the wits in opposition to the establishment of an African dynasty. Long before the fall of the khalifate,--a catastrophe not without reason imputed to Berber agency,--that name had been a term of reproach. Savage mercenaries from beyond the strait had repeatedly sacked the capital; had destroyed the magnificent cities of Medina-al-Zahrâ and Zahira; had spread desolation through every province of Andalusia; had swept away forever the proud evidences of a civilization which had been the glory of Europe for centuries. A series of disastrous civil wars had been the consequence of the attempts of these odious foreigners to establish, at the expense of the legitimate proprietors of the Peninsula, a vexatious and intolerable tyranny. Such were the conflicting factions whose machinations were carried on in the face of the enemy before the walls of Aledo. But a single consideration restrained, for the time, the impulses of Yusuf. He had solemnly sworn before his first expedition that he would attempt nothing to the prejudice of his allies. From that obligation the most trusted of his ecclesiastical guides, with an effrontery that would have done credit to a Jesuit, now promised to release him. The prevailing arguments of their casuistry were based on the necessity of protecting the transcendent interests of religion, which were seriously threatened by the disorganized condition of the entire country. The scruples of Yusuf were, however, not entirely removed by these representations, and, while he was still hesitating, the broils of the Andalusian princes turned aside his attention from the engrossing projects of personal ambition. Motasim, the Berber lord of Almeria, had for years been on friendly terms with Motamid. An indiscreet remark of the latter reflecting on the Sultan was reported to him; it was traced to Motasim; and the mutual denunciations of the rivals distracted the peace of the camp. The claim of Seville to the suzerainty of Murcia was another source of discord, which eventually caused the defection of the people of that kingdom and the retention of supplies vitally essential to the subsistence of the besiegers. The dissensions of his allies, the inclemency of the season, the scarcity of provisions, and the information that an army of Christians was approaching induced Yusuf to raise the siege. The casualties of war and famine had greatly reduced the garrison of Aledo during the four