[Illustration: THE LAST SIX VERSES OF THE INSCRIPTION AROUND THE BASIN OF THE FOUNTAIN OF LIONS.] [Illustration: ENTABLATURE IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS.] [Illustration: DETAILS OF THE CENTRE ARCADE OF THE COURT OF LIONS.] [Illustration: PART OF PANEL IN THE COURT OF LIONS.] [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF THE LIONS. (_From a drawing made about 1830_).] [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF THE LIONS (UPPER PORTION).] [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF THE LIONS.] [Illustration: LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS, TAKEN THROUGH THE PAVILION THE ROOF IS A MODERN] [Illustration: AT EACH END OF THE COURT, AND EXHIBITING AN ELEVATION OF THE SIDE PORTICOS. ONE, OF RED TILES.] [Illustration: PLATE LVII. No. 69. Bands, side of arches, Court of the Lions.] [Illustration: PLATE LVIII. No. 70. No. 71. Bands, side of arches, Court of the Lions.] [Illustration: PLATE LIX. No. 72. Ornaments on panels, Hall of Ambassadors.] [Illustration: PLATE LX. No. 73. Ornaments on panels, Hall of Ambassadors.] [Illustration: PLATE LXI. No. 74. Ornaments on panels, Hall of Ambassadors.] [Illustration: PLATE LXII. No. 75. Ornaments on panels, Hall of Ambassadors.] [Illustration: PLATE LXIII. No. 76. Frieze in the upper chamber, House of Sanchez.] [Illustration: PLATE LXIV. No. 77. Cornice at springing of arches, windows of the Hall of Ambassadors.] [Illustration: CAPITALS IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS, WITH A MEASURE OF ONE METRE.] Although the upper parts of the walls are only coated with plaster, strengthened with reeds, centuries of neglect have not sufficed to destroy this slight, “aerie, faerie” thing of filigree, which has not even the appearance of durability. Wherever the destroyer has mutilated the fragile ornaments, “the temple-haunting [Illustration: NORTH GALLERY IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS.] martlet, guest of summer,” builds his nest and careers in the delicate air, breaking, with his twitter, the silence of these sunny, now deserted courts, once made for Oriental delights, and even now the place in which to read the _Arabian Nights_, or spend a honeymoon-- This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his lov’d mansionry, that the heaven’s breath Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coigne of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed, and procreant cradle; Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ’d, The air is delicate. [_Macbeth_, Act i., sc. 6] SALA DE LA BARCA--HALL OF THE BARQUE. Beyond where the fountain bubbles in the Court of the Fish-pond, is the oblong Hall of the Barque, which is still as radiant with colours as the edge of fading evening cloud. The rivers of poems that fret the walls sing the praises of some long dead Sultán, who conquered twenty fortresses, and whose excellence, running clear through his great deeds, was as the silk thread that carries a necklace of pearls.