All the world knows that he married, in second nuptials, Elizabetta or Isabella (for they are the same), the beautiful princess of Parma and all the world knows that by this chain of contingencies a French prince and an Italian princess were seated together on the Spanish throne. All the world knows that Philip V was the first Bourbon that swayed the Spanish sceptre. It was rumored that the spirit of the youthful Zorahayda, who had perished in that tower, was often seen by moonlight seated beside the fountain in the hall, or moaning about the battlements, and that the notes of her silver lute would be heard at midnight by wayfarers passing along the glen.Īt length the city of Granada was once more welcomed by the royal presence. The neglect of this tower may partly have been owing to some superstitious notions of the neighbors. The tower of the Infantas, once the residence of the three beautiful Moorish princesses, partook of the general desolation the spider spun her web athwart the gilded vault, and bats and owls nestled in those chambers that had been graced by the presence of Zayda, Zorayda, and Zorahayda.

The palaces of the nobility remained silent and shut up and the Alhambra, like a slighted beauty, sat in mournful desolation, among her neglected gardens. Many, many years then rolled away, during which Granada was rarely honored by a royal guest. FOR SOME time after the surrender of Granada by the Moors, that delightful city was a frequent and favorite residence of the Spanish sovereigns, until they were frightened away by successive shocks of earthquakes, which toppled down various houses, and made the old Moslem towers rock to their foundation.

Washington irving alhambra