and races in Andalusia; and those who have con-
sidered the character and history of Ireland, and the
irreconcilable enmity which prevails between the
north and the south in that island of factions, will
allow that the Arabs were not the only people who
found mixed races and religions impossible to goveā
with the smoothness of a homogeneous nation.

The history of Andalusia, so far as we have to
it, has been a series of ups and downs. First we saā
a magnificent raid, led by born soldiers, ending in an
unexpected conquest. Hardly was the peninsula won,
when the jealousies and divisions of the various ele-
ments that made up the invading host bade fair to
destroy the harvest just reaped by the sword. Then
the strong man, the born king, appeared in the person
of the first Abd-er-Rahmān, and Andalusia once more
became, outwardly, one dominion. "O King, live for
ever!" was the conventional form of address to the
Persian monarch, and one is tempted to think that
its realization might be the solution of all political
troubles, provided the right king was chosen for im-
mortality. The first king of Andalusia was naturally
not immortal; and the consequence of his death was
what always happens when a strong repressing force
is withdrawn: the people fell again into civil war
and anarchy. Yet again the God-gifted king came to
rescue the nation. The Great Khalif imposed law and
order throughout his dominions, beat back the in-
vader, and trod the rebel under foot. For fifty years
Andalusia was a paradise of peace and prosperity;
had the third Abd-er-Rahmān been immortal she
might have been peaceful to this day, and we should

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