The architecture and art of the race that succeeded to the Visigoths is of much more notable character. The civil and religious architecture of the Spanish Arabs is well worthy of most careful study, and is a grand example of the artistic talent of a race which, though debarred by its religious faith from the reproduction of human, or even of animal form, and delighting neither in the scenes of the theatre or the circus, has yet left masterpieces of architectural beauty in lands so wide apart as Spain, Egypt, Persia, and Hindostan. The architecture of the Arabs in Spain may be roughly divided into three periods: The first, from the eighth to the tenth century, tells most clearly of its origin as an imitation or modification of the Byzantine style; its masterpiece is the Mosque of Cordova. The second period, from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, shows the architects seeking their real style--it is a period of transition; its finest erection is the Giralda of Seville. The third period is when the Moorish style acquired its fullest development in the glorious Alhambra, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Contemporary with the last period is the Mudejar style, the modification which Arabic art underwent in the hands of the Christian conquerors. To this belong the Alcazar of Seville, 1353; the Mudejar gates of Toledo and Saragossa, and the Chapel of St. James in Alcala de Henares. In their domestic architecture the Arabs alone have almost solved the problem how to unite ventilation and ornament by means of currents of air of different temperatures. The pendulous stucco fretwork by which they conceal the angles of their apartments serves not only for ornament but to equalize the temperature and to admit of concealed openings whereby air can penetrate without draught or chill. The sense of true harmony of colour seems to be an intuitional gift of Oriental races, and is practically understood by them as it never has been by any other. The Mosaics of Greece and Rome, and those of mediaeval Italy, in their storied designs, appeal more to the intellect; but those of Arabic art rest and charm the eye by the purity and harmonious blending of tone as do none other. In spite of some apparent exceptions, and those of the earliest date, as the Mosque of Cordova (788), and the cloisters of Tayloon at Cairo (879), Arabic architecture, like Grecian, depended for its effect more on the exquisite symmetry and exact proportion of all details to a consummate whole, than to impressions of awe derived from vast size or immense solidity. It is thus that the massive Roman arch became moulded into the light horse-shoe shape, peculiar to the Spanish Arabs from the eighth to the tenth centuries. The originality of this architecture is not, however, so great as appears at first sight. The influence of Byzantine architecture and of that of the Christian churches with which the Arabs had become acquainted during their