Passing from the Plaza di Triompha through some narrow streets, followed by the stupid mob, shouting viva! viva! we reached the palace, a large uncomfortable building, formerly the royal residence when the Court visited Grenada, but now occupied by Sebastiani. The arrangement of the apartments in this edifice, as well indeed as in most Spanish mansions, is exceedingly inconvenient. Long suites of rooms leading through each other, without any secondary outlet, obliges you to pass through the whole range to reach the innermost; indeed, the Spaniards have great pride in throwing open all the doors, and affording their visitors an uninterrupted view of a range of saloons. Though the winters are sometimes severe in this part of Spain, the luxury of a fire-side is still unknown, the apartments being warmed by braziers, or large brass pans, two-thirds filled with hot ashes and charcoal, the smell of which is extremely disagreeable, and the effects injurious to the health; besides, the degree of heat they afford is but just sufficient to create a wish for more.

Immediately after our arrival at the palace, Sebastiani was waited on by the chief civil and military authorities, and I was conducted to lodgings assigned me at the house of M. Millones, collector of the contributions for the French, whose wife and family received me with civility, and hoped (in the common complimentary style) that I would consider every thing in their house entirely at my disposal. With respect to their table there was little danger of my presuming much on their invitation, for Spanish repasts are little suited to an Englishman’s palate, being chiefly composed of meats swimming in rancid oil, and of luscious and cloying sweetmeats, so that even the French, whose stomachs are much more accommodating than ours, (and who, although ils sont des braves gens, are not conspicuous for modesty in declining invitations in general,) excuse themselves from those of the Spaniards.

Having dressed myself as well as the circumstances of' my wardrobe would admit, I proceeded to dine at the palace, where I was certain of finding a repast very different from that of my host’s, the General’s cooks being masters of their art, and so necessary are their services deemed, that three of them always travel in his suite. Indeed, in every respect the General’s establishment is superb, and well calculated, not only to acquire the respect of the Spaniards, but also to maintain the dignity of his elevated situation with his own troops. He had brought some English cheese and porter from Malaga, as he thought proper to say, for me; but it appeared that the French officers were at least equal amateurs of the latter, and those who tasted it, (for there was not sufficient for all), exclaimed, “Dieu, qu’elle est bonne, la bierre prorterre!” After dinner I accompanied the General to the theatre; an old building wretchedly fitted up, but which is to be replaced by a magnificent one erected by the French, and which it was intended to open on Sebastiani’s birth-day. The attention of the General to me was here greater than I could have wished, for he insisted on placing me in a crimson and gold chair, peculiarly destined for himself, while he occupied a common rush bottom one by me; but the splendour of my seat formed much too great a contrast with my old regimental coat, which had suffered greatly when I was made prisoner. This marked attention to me was, however, probably more political than sincere; for the French General who had preceded Sebastiani at Grenada, having treated the Spanish prisoners with the most barbarous severity, Sebastiani now hoped to soften the recollection of these atrocities, by proving that all the officers of his nation did not treat prisoners with the same inhumanity.

The piece performed this evening was a long farce, the humour of which, though it would not have saved it from certain damnation on the poorest country stage of England, gave the greatest delight to the Spanish audience. A countryman enters a barber’s shop, and bargains with the master to take off his beard and that of his companion for six quarts.*  [* A copper coin not quite the value of a halfpenny.]  The barber, however, desires to see this companion before he commences on the countryman, but this the latter slily avoids, and the barber proceeds and finishes the operation. The countryman then goes out to seek his companion, and immediately returns with an ass, which put the audience into an extacy of delight: the barber hesitates at first to fulfil his bargain, but, sooner than lose his money, at last fixes his shaving cloth under the animal’s chin, and is about to commence, when another traveller enters and interrupts him, &c. A judgment may be formed of the Spanish comedies in general from this specimen, few of them having a more rational plot to recommend then. The house was miserably lighted, but as the chief motive of a number of the spectators for frequenting it seemed to be founded on gallantry, this darkness visible was convenient. From the theatre I retired immediately to bed, and rested well in spite of damp sheets and bugs. I had indeed of late been so much accustomed to companions of this description, that I should now have almost felt myself solitary without them. The following morning I felt much pain, and was seized with a spitting of blood, caused by the exercise of riding in my bruised state. I was not, however, allowed to remain quiet, being expected to breakfast at the General’s, where a large company always assembled at eleven o’clock, and this repast, which was almost as substantial as the dinner, was at noon. These déjeûnés à la fourchette, which are now universal among the French, have the disagreeable consequence of making those unused to them heavy and incapable of exertion during the rest of the day.

After breakfast the General proposed a ride to the Alhambra, a palace of the Moorish kings, of which I had heard and read so much that I was very anxious to visit it. It is situated on the summit of a hill which entirely commands the town, and whose foot is washed by the rivers Darro and Xenil. The sides of the hill are covered with wood, and the ascent is so steep, that it has been necessary to form a winding road up to the palace. The entrance to this vast pile is through a Moorish archway, surmounted by a square tower, which is called the gate of judgment: over the gate is a key in marble, and above it at a little distance a hand, the meaning of which device is said to be that the fortress will be taken by the enemy when the hand takes hold of the key.

The first apartments we entered were the chambers of audience and of justice, neither of which are so large as might have been expected from the purposes to which they were assigned. The floors are composed of a kind of mosaic, and from the ceilings project a variety of fantastic figures. We next entered a gallery of an oblong form but not large, containing several pictures of the Moorish and Christian kings of Spain; and from hence we proceeded to the apartments of the royal family, in each of which, in an alcove, is a fountain for water, and near the alcove an elevation of curious workmanship in porcelain, on which the bed was placed. The queen’s dressing room is a most singular apartment, and affords great scope for conjecture respecting the dress and ornaments of the Moorish princesses. In this cabinet is a marble urn, pierced with small apertures to emit the vapours of the perfumes that were kept continually burning in it. To this suite of apartments are attached three baths, the king’s, queen’s, and royal children’s, and a music hall, surrounded by an elevated gallery, in which I suppose the audience sat while the orchestra was placed in the centre. From these apartments we descended into an oblong court paved with white marble, and surrounded by a gallery supported by marble columns. The walls and ceiling of the gallery are covered with mosaic, grotesque paintings, and figures of stucco in relief of delicate workmanship, intermixed with Arabic sentences from the koran. The middle of this court is occupied by a large bason of running water deep enough to swim in, and which served as a bath for the royal household. It is surrounded by orange trees and bowers. Descending a few steps from this court we entered another, on one side of which is the chamber of execution, having in the middle a marble bason about three feet deep, sloping gradually inwards, on the edge of which the victims were decapitated, and the blood received into the bason.

Some of the apartments have been fitted up in the modern style by Sebastiani, which certainly is no proof of his good taste, for a Parisian salon or boudoir in a Moorish palace five hundred years old, is almost as absurd as dressing an antique statue in the costume of a modern petit maître. We next visited the garden, which is well stocked with a variety of fruit trees:– it was now putting into order, having been neglected since the disturbances in the country. Crossing the court on our return from the garden, I observed at some distance the statues of Ferdinand and Isabella.

The Alhambra is surrounded by a high wall, flanked with towers and a kind of bastions, in which the cannon are mounted, pointing towards the city, to overawe the inhabitants into tranquillity. Looking over the parapet of the wall, a view of the whole town and of the neighbouring country, which is highly cultivated, and pleasingly diversified with hills and vallies, presents itself, while the villages seen on every side with their churches give a lively appearance to the whole landscape.

Near to the Alhambra is a magnificent modern palace, commenced by Charles the Fifth, but still unfinished. It occupies a considerable extent of ground with no other buildings except a few temporary erections for the accommodation of the workmen. Its figure is nearly a perfect square, each face having a superb entrance differently ornamented. On that which fronts the south-west are three arse oval bronze plates, the one on the right representing the labours of Hercules, and the other two ancient battles. The windows are bordered with black marble, and the key-stones represent eagles’ heads. Round the whole building, at equal distances, are heads of lions, with an immense bronze ring in the mouth of each. The Cour des Lions is an oblong square, one hundred feet by fifty. It is surrounded by a gallery supported on slender columns of white marble, coupled two and two, and of very delicate workmanship. The walls of the gallery are covered with arabesque painting and gilding, in stucco, elegantly executed, which have received some injury. A handsome cupola, fifteen or sixteen feet each way, is placed at both ends of this court, and in the centre is a large bason, in the middle of which is a beautiful cupola of alabaster six feet high, supported by several lions of marble, and surmounted by a lesser cupola, from which issues a superb jet d’eau. Several other jets d’eau throw up columns of water to considerable heights. In short, the whole plan of this palace is magnificent, and well worthy the elevated ideas of the monarch by whom it was commenced. We have, however, to regret that it is not only left unfinished, but is also suffering daily injury from total neglect.

Above the Alhambra the French have formed a strong and tolerably extensive field work, which commands the whole summit of the hill.

On our return from the Alhambra I found the prisoners taken with me had arrived; they spoke in flee in the highest terms of the treatment they met with from the officers of their escort belonging to the 32d and 58th regiments, who always ceded to them the place of honour at table, and spewed them every other mark of polite attention. These regiments had been warmly engaged at the battle of` Talavera, and with the greatest liberality of sentiment did ample justice to the gallant conduct of our troops on that memorable day. I had, indeed, many opportunities of observing, on our march, the superior liberality of the French officers and soldiers, to the Germans and Spaniards in the French service; both of the latter conducting themselves towards their prisoners with the most unmanly brutality, while the former treated the soldiers with humanity, and the officers with politeness and attention. Doubtless, these mercenary Germans and rebel Spaniards hope to recommend themselves to their French masters, by the ferocity of their behaviour to their defenceless prisoners; no such effect, however, was produced, at least on the officers of our escort, who expressed a sovereign contempt both for the Germans and Spaniards, but more particularly for the former.

Our officers were at first granted their parole, but in a day or two they were again deprived of it, and confined in the Alhambra with the soldiers and seamen, by order of Marshal Soult; for my own part, I enjoyed perfect liberty to employ my time as I thought proper. The evenings I usually passed at the Duchess of Goa’s tertulias, or routs, which were always well attended, and the play tolerably deep. General Sebastiani, in particular, staked high, but apparently more from ostentation than any love of play. The most. usual games were Pharo, at which the deal went round, Bouillotte and Monté. Madame d’Aguillac, whose husband holds a lucrative place under the French government in Spain, also saw company in the evenings, and I frequently made one of her party.