or priests, relieve him from this horrible phantom. CHAPTER XVIII. ON DUELLING IN SPAIN. Great events frequently arise from trifling causes; and it is possible, that had Count Julian challenged the Goth Roderic for having dishonoured his daughter, instead of requesting the aid of the Moors, Spain would not have been for eight centuries under the yoke of the infidels. At this period of the peninsular history duelling was unknown, although it is to the Arabs that some writers have attributed the institution of chivalry; and, most unquestionably, the poem of Antar may be considered a recital of chivalric deeds and adventures, as romantic as any record of knight-errantry or tournament. This curious work was the production of Asmaï the grammarian, reader to the famed Kalif Aroun-al-Raschid, and appears to have been written about the year 800. The hero of this romance always fights on horseback; his steed is named _Abjer_, his resistless sword _Dhamy_; and the loves of _Khaled_ and _Djaïda_ are certainly as whimsical and adventurous as those of any couple in the palmy days of chivalry. It is more than probable that many more chivalric tales would have been found amongst the Moors, had not Cardinal Ximenes ordered all their religious works to be burnt, after the taking of Cordova, when the soldiery destroyed every MS. they could find. Few of these valuable documents were preserved; and those that are now in the Escurial relate chiefly to grammar, astrology, and theology. Florian has given the following opinion of the Moors:--“A gallantry, delicate and refined, rendered the Moors of Grenada celebrated over Europe, and formed a strange contrast with the natural ferocity of the African races. These Mussulmans, who in the battle prided themselves on their dexterity in cutting off heads, which they suspended at their saddle-bows, to exhibit them afterwards at the gates of their palaces, were the most tender, impassioned, and devoted lovers. Their wives, although in a servile condition, became absolute sovereigns when they were beloved. It was to please them that they sought for glory, and exposed their lives, rivalling each other in the magnificence of their festivals and their deeds of valour. Was this strange anomaly of mildness and ferocity, of delicate feelings and cruelty, transmitted from the Spaniards to the Moors, or did the former imbibe these mingled sentiments from their infidel invaders? This is uncertain: one can only remark, that such a mixed character was unknown in Asia, the birth-place of these Arabs, and is still less observed in Africa, where their conquests naturalized them. From this circumstance I am disposed to think that it was due to the Spaniards. In fact, subsequent to the Moorish invasion, the court of the Kings of the Goths exhibited various instances of this disposition. After this period, we see the knights of Leon, of Navarre, and of Castile, as renowned for the ardour of their love, as for their deeds of arms; and