The concert-room of the baths is a lofty saloon. in which the royal fatnily listened to the concerts of musicians, sta tioned in an elevated tribune, while the :audience sat below on rich carpets. The coluinns are of white marble, and the mosaics between the columns are black, green, yellow, and white, set in a green border ; the roof is covered with tiles, and the woodwork richly ornamented, especially the three lattices or windows." The Hall of the Ambassadors is a square court, the sides of which measure 36 feet, and the height 64 feet. It is entered through an arched door, decorated profusely with arabesques in stucco, coloured in blue and gold. The walls are covered with mosaics of various patterns, interspersed with inscriptions formed in porcelain, and made to form a most harmonious continuation with the stucco arabesques ; the cornices are enriched with the same inscription as in the other halls. The ceiling is arched and decorated with great variety of chiligon mosaics, knots, and other ornaments ; and gold. silver. and azure purple, are the Colours covering the coloured facets ; the Iloo or is inlaid with mosaics. The walls of this hall arc of an immense thickness, no less than 15 feet on three sides. and 9 feet thick on the fourth ; they are com posed of a mixture of pebbles and " The is composed of strong pieces of larch, in admirable preserva tion, which are keyed and fastened together in such a man net., that, on pressing the feet on the centre of the ceiling, the whole vibrates like a tight rope. The roof of a scantling of 10 inches square deal, and laid close together, with cross-braces at the angles. Bricks are laid on these tees, and upon them is a coating of lime; on these are placed the bricks and tiles forming the exterior covering of the roof.
"The walls of this splendid building:ire formed throughout of a sort of rubble-work mixed with clay, and were, on an average, 7 feet in thickness, flanked with solid towers IS feet thick ; bond-timbers of pine wore inserted in the walls, and at strands or twists made of rush were inserted for the same purpose ; nails were driven into the walls to receive the plaster, being first coated with gypsum to prevent corrosion, but when timbers were to he plastered, they twisted Esparta cords round them to bind the plaster. The bricks with which the open courts are paved, are 14 inches long by wide, and 3 inches deep ; the underside had a groove sunk in it about 21 inches m ide and 1 inch deep, and extending the length of the brick, for the purpose of forming a good bond When bricks were laid over boarding, a layer of potters' clay, or of bricks laid dry, was placed between the timber and the paving.
The durability of the woodwork throughout this build ing is surprising, it is mostly of pine, and has withstood the attacks of dryorot, worm, and every other insect. without injury ; it seems now perfectly sound, and free from every sign of decay, and it is even stated, that, in the Court of Lions, the ancient woodwork is perfect, whilst that of later date is rapidly decaying." The Spaniards attribute this dura
bility to the timber being coated with a composition consist ing of Safne glue :and garlic well pounded in a mortar; these being mixed together, with the addition of vermilion, are boiled over a gentle tire, until the glue becomes as thin as water ; too much or to little boiling deprives it of its viscous property. Planks cemented with this contposition are said to adhere so firmly. as to break at any other part except at the joint. Garlic being noxious to worms, the Moors evidently mixed it with their cement, in order to prevent their depre dations; it is not improbable that it was mixed with the gyp sum used in the Alhambra, which may account for the stucco work remaining uninjured either by spiders or insects. Some suppose that this durability arises from the trees having been lanced or deprived of their sap when felled.
The durability of the Arabian buildings of Spain will appear more marvellous when contrasted with build ings. The wooden gate of Cyprus, belonging to the cele brated temple of Diana, is said to have existed for four cen turies, and that of the old church of S. Peter at Rome, which was composed of the same material lined with sheets of silver, continued undecayed for 550 .‘ ears, lint the beams employed in the construction of the roof of the mosque of Cordova manifest no symptoms of decay after a lapse of 1,000 years.
The arabesques, paintings, and mosaics, ‘‘ Inch give so great a charm to this building, are very highly and carefully pre served. The former appear to have been cast in moulds, and fixed to the walls in pieces so accurately connected, that no sign of juncture is visible. The ornaments which recede from the eye are coloured in gold, pink, light blue, and dusky pur ple. the first colour being nearest to the eye, and the last far thest from it, the general surlave being white, which is remarkably pure and sph.ndid. All the colours are fresh and bright, and, if the dust be removed, appear in all their pris tine beauty.
The domes and arcades are formed of artificial casts, which are almost as light as wood, and as hard as marble, having endured the test of ten centuries.
A house built during the third period still exists at Seville, wluch %vas the residence of it Illoorish Arab chieftain ; the whole is must voluptuously contrived 1;:r a warm and is in the most perfect state of preservation, though upwards of years old ; one of the apartments is almost perfect of its kind. The form resembles a dou•Ide cube, the one placed above the other, its height about 60, and its length and breadth about :10 feet. Tfie ornaments begin at about Ill feet 11•111I the floor, and are continued to the top of the room : they consist of a kind of variegated (irk of stucco, designed with the 1110SL perfect regularity, and yet must admirable va-iety in the patterns and the of carp. This edifice has often been :iddneed as an instance of the \vonderful a•riority of the Arabs over the modern Spaniards in the art of building.