6. At the sight of his princely countenance and golden hair, his comely and commanding beauty, made more touching by youth, a thrill of compassionate admiration ran through that assembly of the brave and fair. Ferdinand and Isabel slowly advanced to meet their late rival,—their new subject; and as Boabdil would have dismounted, the Spanish king placed his hand upon his shoulder. "Brother and prince,' said he, "forget thy sorrows; and may our friendship hereafter console thee for reverses against which thou hast contended as a hero and a king; resisting man, but resigned at length to God."

7. Boabdil did not affect to return this bitter, but unintentional mockery of compliment. He bowed his head, and remained a moment silent; then, motioning to his train, four of his officers approached, and, kneeling beside Ferdinand, proffered to him, upon a silver buckler, the keys of the city. "O king!" then said Boabdil, "accept the keys of the last hold which has resisted the arms of Spain! The empire of the *Moslem is no more. Thine are the city and the people of Grenada; yielding to thy prowess, they yet *confide in thy mercy." They do well," said the king; "our promises shall not be broken. But since we know the gallantry of Moorish cavaliers, not to us, but to gentler hands, shall the keys of Grenada be surrendered."

8. Thus saying, Ferdinand gave the keys to Isabel, who would have addressed some soothing flatteries to Boabdil, but the emotion and excitement were too much for her compassionate heart, heroine and queen though she was; and when she lifted her eyes upon the calm and pale features of the fallen monarch, the tears gushed from them irresistibly, and her voice died in murmurs. A faint flush overspread the features of Boabdil, and there was a momentary pause of embarrassment, which the Moor was the first to break.

9. "Fair queen," said he, with mournful and pathetic dignity, "thou canst read the heart that thy generous sympathy touches and subdues; this is thy last, but not least glorious conquest. But I detain ye; let not my aspect cloud your triumph. Suffer me to say farewell." "Farewell, my brother,' replied Ferdinand, "and may fair fortune go with you! Forget the past!" Boabdil smiled bitterly, saluted the royal

pair with profound respect and silent reverence, and rode slowly on, leaving the army below, as he ascended the path that led to his new principality, beyond the Alpuxarras. As the trees snatched the Moorish cavalcade from the view of the king, Ferdinand ordered the army to recommence its march; and trumpet and cymbal presently sent their music to the ear of the Moslem.

10. Boabdil spurred on, at full speed, till his panting charger halted at the little village where his mother, his slaves, and his faithful wife, Amine, (sent on before,) awaited him. Joining these, he proceeded without delay upon his melancholy path. They ascended that eminence, which is the pass into the Alpuxarras. From its height, the vale, the rivers, the spires, and the towers of Grenada, broke gloriously upon the view of the little band. They halted mechanically and abruptly; every eye was turned to the beloved scene. The proud shame of +baffled warriors, the tender memories of home, of childhood, of father-land, swelled every heart, and gushed from every eye.

11. Suddenly, the distant boom of artillery broke from the *citadel, and rolled along the sun-lighted valley and crystal river. An universal wail burst from the exiles; it smote, it overpowered the heart of the ill-starred king, in vain seeking to wrap himself in the eastern pride, or stoical philosophy. The tears gushed from his eyes, and he covered his face with his hands. The band wound slowly on through the solitary defiles; and that place, where the king wept at the last view of his lost empire, is still called THE LAST SIGH OF THE MOOR.

CLXXII. THE LAST SIGH OF THE MOOR.

FROM MISS JEWSBURY.

THE Spaniards gave this name "The Last Sigh of the Moor," to the eminence from which, after their expulsion, the Moorish king and his followers took their farewell view of Grenada.

1. WINDING along, at break of day,
And armed with helm and spears,
Along the martyr's rocky way,
A king comes, with his peers;

Unto the eye a splendid sight,
Making the air all richly bright,

Seen flashing through the trees;
But, to the heart, a scene of blight,
Sadder than death were these.

2. For brightly fall the morning rays
Upon a conquered king;

The breeze that with his banner plays,
Plays with an *abject thing.

Banner and king no more will know
Their rightful place mid friend and foe:
Proud clarion, cease thy blast!
Or, changing to the wail of woe,
Breathe dirges for the past.

3. Along, along, by rock and tower,
That they have failed to keep,

By wood and vale, their fathers' dower,
The exiled warriors sweep:
The chevroned steed, no more telate,
As if he knew his rider's fate,
Steps languidly and slow,
As if he knew Grenada's gate,
Now open to the foe.

4. Along, along, till all is past,

That once they called their own,
Till bows the pride of strength at last,
And knights, like women, moan.

Pausing upon the green hill-side,
That soon their city's towers will hide,
They lean upon their spears;

And hands, that late with blood were dyed,
Are now washed white with tears.

5. Another look, from brimming eyes,
Along the glorious plain;

Elsewhere may spread as lovely skies,
Elsewhere their monarch reign;

But nevermore in that bright land,

With all his chivalry at hand!

Now dead or far departed!

And from the hill-side moves the band,

The bravest, broken-hearted.

*A chevron is a certain mark used in heraldry.

CLXXIII.-THE MOON AND STARS-A FABLE.

FROM MONTGOMERY.

⚫ JAMES MONTGOMERY, an English poet, is one of the most amiable and pathetic of modern writers. Though he can not be ranked in the first class of poets, he merits the praise of never having written a line that did not tend to the honor of God and the good of man.

1. On the fourth day of creation, when the sun, after a glorious, but solitary course, went down in the evening, and darkness began to gather over the face of the uninhabited globe, already arrayed in the *exuberance of vegetation, and prepared by the diversity of land and water, for the abode of uncreated animals and man, —a star, single and beautiful, stepped forth into the *firmament. Trembling with wonder and delight in new-found existence, she looked abroad, and beheld nothing in heaven or on earth resembling herself. But she was not long alone; now one, then another, here a third, and there a fourth resplendent companion had joined her, till light after light stealing through the gloom, in the lapse of an hour the whole hemisphere was brilliantly *bespangled.

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2. The planets and stars, with a superb comet flaming in the zenith, for awhile contemplated themselves and each other; and every one from the largest to the least, was so perfectly well pleased with himself, that he imagined the rest only partakers of his felicity; he being the central *luminary of his own universe, and all the hosts of heaven beside, displayed around him, in graduated splendor. Nor were any undeceived in regard to themselves, though all saw their associates in their real situations and relative proportions:self-knowledge being the last knowledge acquired either in the sky or below it;-till bending over the ocean in their turns, they discovered what they supposed at first to be a new heaven, peopled with beings of their own species. But when they perceived further, that no sooner had any one of their company touched the horizon than he instantly disappeared; they then recognized themselves in their individual forms, reflected beneath according to their places and configurations above, from seeing others, whom they previously knew, reflected in like manner.

3. By an attentive but mournful self-examination in that mirror, they slowly learned humility; but every one learned it only for himself, none believing what others insinuated respecting their own inferiority, till they reached the western slope, from whence they could identify their true visages in the nether element. Nor was this very surprising; stars being only visible points, without any distinction of limbs, each was all eye; and though he could see others most correctly, he could neither see himself nor any part of himself, till he came to reflection. The comet, however, having a long train of brightness, streaming sun-ward, could review that, and did review it with ineffable self-complacency. Indeed, after all pretensions to precedence, he was at length acknowledged king of the hemisphere, if not by the universal assent, by the silent envy of all his rivals.

4. But the object which attracted most attention, and astonishment too, was a slender thread of light that scarcely could be discerned through the blush of evening, and vanished soon after night-fall, as if ashamed to appear in so scanty a form, like an unfinished work of creation. It was the moon; the first new moon. Timidly, she looked around upon the glittering multitude that crowded the dark *serenity of space, and filled it with life and beauty. Minute indeed they seemed to her, but perfect in symmetry, and formed to shine forever; while she was unshapen, incomplete, and evanescent. In her humility, she was glad to hide herself from their keen glances in the friendly bosom of the ocean, wishing for immediate *extinction.

5. When she was gone, the stars looked one at another with inquisitive surprise, as much as to say, "What a figure!" It was so evident that they all thought alike, and thought contemptuously of the tapparition, (though at first they almost doubted whether they should not be frightened,) that they soon began to talk freely concerning her; of course not with audible accents, but in the language of intelligent sparkles, in which stars are accustomed to converse with telegraphic *precision from one end of heaven to the other, and which no *dialect on earth so nearly resembles, as the language of the eyes; the only one, probably, that has survived in its purity, not only the confusion of Babel, but the revolutions of all