to the stately splendor of Cordova, the wealth of taste and ornament in its palaces, the profusion of art in accessories and embellishments, the combined utility and beauty of aqueduct and fountain, and the splendor of coloring in the habiliments even of the poorest, that shone out even where soiled and worn, felt a momentary thrill of pride, at observing, as now they did for the first time with keen ferception because their thoughts assumed that direction, the contrast presented between the royal surroundings of the king of Hungary and the wonders their people had conferred on Spain, that despised and mutilated them.
Witek explained his embassy formally. “My brother, the Lord Zawis,” he said, “seeks an alliance with the illustrious house of Hungary. He desires thus to testify at once his confidence in the royal family of which your highness is the royal chief, and his personal devotion to the excellent and virtuous lady whose hand he solicits.”
“Permit me,” added Abraham “to add my personal tribute of respect and admiration for the distinguished nobleman whom I have the honor, in part, to represent. His character and his career are alike illustrious in wisdom, virtue, and patriotism. He has long nobly and with miarked success ruled a nation requiring allthe dignity of self-possession, all the skill of statesmanship, and all the patience of true courage to control. He has evoked order out of extreme confusion; he has created prosperity where he found only poverty and ruin; and he has placed his country
