THE LAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN |
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The Land of The Blessed Virgin; Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia W. Somerset Maugham Limited preview - 2021 |
Common terms and phrases
Aguador aguardiente Alcazar Alhambra altar Andalusia Arab beautiful blue Boabdil bull bull-fighter Cadiz Calahorra castanets cathedral character charm cheeks church cigarettes cold colour contrast Cordova Corrida Court creature dance dark decoration delightful Don Juan Tenorio donkeys door earth Ecija emotion eyes face Giralda girl give gold gorgeous grace Granada grey Guadalquivir hair hands horse houses imagination impression istics Jerez John Bull king las Sierpes light lips living looked lover magnificent mantilla Maria Maria de Padilla matador Moorish Moors mosque Murillo never night odours olive Oranges palace passed passion patio picador picture priest prison Puente Puerta rain Ronda roof Rosarito round saints seemed Sevillan Seville shining side Sierpes sight silent smile smoke song Spain Spaniard Spanish stand stood strange streets tall things town trees walk wandered wine woman women yellow youth
Popular passages
Page 28 - You have built what you or others might have built anywhere, but you have destroyed something that was unique in the world.
Page 178 - You do well," said his more masculine mother, "to weep like a woman, for what you could not defend like a man!
Page 173 - ... for truly, what else is this fountain but a beneficent cloud pouring out its abundant supplies over the lions underneath, like the hands of the Khalif, when he rises in the morning to distribute plentiful rewards among his soldiers, the Lions of war? Oh ! thou who beholdest these Lions crouching, fear not ; life is wanting to enable them to show their fury...
Page 51 - Seville means ten times more than it can mean to others. I came to it after weary years in London, heartsick with much hoping, my mind dull with drudgery; and it seemed a land of freedom. There I became at last conscious of my youth, and it seemed a belvedere upon a new life. How can I forget the delight of wandering in the Sierpes, released at length from all imprisoning ties, watching the various movement as though it were a stage-play, yet half afraid that the falling curtain would bring back...
Page 178 - They are thine, O king, since Allah so decrees it: use thy success with clemency and moderation.
Page 70 - Spaniard will [80] live for a week on bread and water duly to prepare himself for a meal at another's expense, accuse them of gluttony; but I have always found the Andalusians abstemious eaters, nor have I wondered at this, since Spanish food is abominable. But drunkards they often are. I should think as many people in proportion get drunk in Seville as in London...
Page 2 - It was not love I felt for you, Rosarito; I wish it had been; but now far away, in the rain, I fancy (oh no, not that I am at last in love) but perhaps that I am just faintly enamoured — of your recollection.
Page 200 - ... galleys, fortresses, and shore, where continually they placed new ordnance at places convenient to offend ; which notwithstanding, we continually fired their ships as the flood came in, to the end to be cleared of them ; the sight of which terrible fires were to us very pleasant, and mitigated the burthen of our continual travail ; wherein we were busied for two nights and one day in discharging, firing, and lading of provisions, with reservation for good, laudable, and guardable defence of the...
Page 188 - She finished, and all three rose from their chairs and withdrew them, but it was only a false exit ; immediately the applause grew clamorous they sat down again, and the little fat man repeated his introduction. But this time there was no waiting. The singer...
Page 171 - Moorish workmen did not spare themselves nor economise their exuberant invention. One pattern follows another with infinite diversity. Even the alcoves, and there are nine, are covered each with different designs, so that the mind is bewildered by their graceful ingenuity. All kinds of geometrical figures are used, enlacing with graceful intricacy, intersecting, combining and dissolving; conventional foliage and fruit, Arabic inscriptions.