Survey The Escurial, It Is A Proud Work, But Wonder If You
Can When You See The Mountain Mocking It Behind; Survey That Boast
Of Moorish Kings, Survey Granada From Its Plain, And Wonder If You
Can, For You See The Alpujarra Mocking It From Behind.
O what are
the works of man compared with those of the Lord?
Even as man is
compared with his creator. Man builds pyramids, and God builds
pyramids: the pyramids of man are heaps of shingles, tiny hillocks
on a sandy plain; the pyramids of the Lord are Andes and Indian
hills. Man builds walls and so does his Master; but the walls of
God are the black precipices of Gibraltar and Horneel, eternal,
indestructible, and not to be scaled; whilst those of man can be
climbed, can be broken by the wave or shattered by the lightning or
the powder blast. Would man display his power and grandeur to
advantage, let him flee far from the hills; for the broad pennants
of God, even his clouds, float upon the tops of the hills, and the
majesty of God is most manifest among the hills. Call Gibraltar
the hill of Tarik or Hercules if you will, but gaze upon it for a
moment and you will call it the hill of God. Tarik and the old
giant may have built upon it; but not all the dark race of whom
Tarik was one, nor all the giants of old renown of whom the other
was one, could have built up its crags or chiseled the enormous
mass to its present shape.
We dropped anchor not far from the mole. As we expected every
moment to hear the evening gun, after which no person is permitted
to enter the town, I was in trepidation lest I should be obliged to
pass the night on board the dirty Catalan steamer, which, as I had
no occasion to proceed farther in her, I was in great haste to
quit. A boat now drew nigh, with two individuals at the stern, one
of whom, standing up, demanded, in an authoritative voice, the name
of the vessel, her destination and cargo. Upon being answered,
they came on board. After some conversation with the captain, they
were about to depart, when I inquired whether I could accompany
them on shore. The person I addressed was a tall young man, with a
fustian frock coat. He had a long face, long nose, and wide mouth,
with large restless eyes. There was a grin on his countenance
which seemed permanent, and had it not been for his bronzed
complexion, I should have declared him to be a cockney, and nothing
else. He was, however, no such thing, but what is called a rock
lizard, that is, a person born at Gibraltar of English parents.
Upon hearing my question, which was in Spanish, he grinned more
than ever, and inquired, in a strange accent, whether I was a son
of Gibraltar. I replied that I had not that honour, but that I was
a British subject.
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