. Robert Ramble's [pseud.] stories selected from the history of England, from the conquest to the revolution . am sure you will wonder the moreat this, when I tell you that the Moors intro-duced into Spain the arts of poetry and music,and the sciences of geometry, astronomy, andmedicine. They were the best architects andmasons, and they cultivated the ground betterthan any farmers in those days. Their amuse-ments were various, but partook mostly of themilitary genius, for they had tilts and tourna-ments ; nor did the Christian knights refuse tobreak a lance at those festive scenes with theunbe
. Robert Ramble's [pseud.] stories selected from the history of England, from the conquest to the revolution . am sure you will wonder the moreat this, when I tell you that the Moors intro-duced into Spain the arts of poetry and music,and the sciences of geometry, astronomy, andmedicine. They were the best architects andmasons, and they cultivated the ground betterthan any farmers in those days. Their amuse-ments were various, but partook mostly of themilitary genius, for they had tilts and tourna-ments ; nor did the Christian knights refuse tobreak a lance at those festive scenes with theunbelieving Mussulmans. They dressed alwaysvery splendidly, and their horses were capari- 36 THE SARACENS. soncd in the richest saddles and bridles, andcloths of gold and velvet. But the Moors were mortal enemies of theChristians, who knew that, if they did not drivethem entirely out of Spain, they would them-selves be extirpated; for, if all the Saracenscould be brought from Africa and India into o Spain, the Christians would certainly be van-quished for ever. But you shall know more ofthe Moors by and Gibraltar. 3. RODERICK, THE LAST OF THE GOTHS. I HAVE already told you something aboutRoderick, the last of the Goths. I will nowtell you a story about him, which is partly true,and partly romance. But I will not deceiveyou, by jumbling them together. In addition towhat you already know of Roderick, I will hererepeat some more truths, which you may find,when you grow a few years older, related inthe history of Spain. And I will then mentionsome of the fables which the times of ignoranceinvented about Roderick. Thus you will learnto know what is history from what is romance. About the year 701, there was a Gothic kingof Spain, called Witiza: now this king was agreat hypocrite; for, while his father, Egiza,lived, he pretended to be very virtuous, but,when he came to the throne, he showed a mostcruel disposition : after putting out the eyes of (37) 38 RODERICK, Theodofrid, a nobl
Size: 2331px × 1072px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorfrostjo, bookcentury1800, bookidrobertramblespse00fros
