[214] For some notice of Samuel Levi, and the inscriptions in the Synagogue, see Don José Amador de los Rios, Estudios sobre los Judios de España, pp. 52-7. Translations of these long and curious Hebrew inscriptions are given by D. F. de Rades y Andrada in his Chronicle of Calatrava, pp. 24, 25.
[215] The capture of Granada, on Jan. 2nd, 1492, and the expulsion of the Jews at the end of July in the same year, were jointly recorded over the door “del Escribanos” at the west end of the cathedral; and at the same time so great was the zeal for the Christian faith that nothing else was tolerated anywhere in Spain, and least of all here under the eye of the Primate. Yet it is more than doubtful whether the country gained in any way—moral or material—by such a measure; it lost its most skilled workmen, its most skilled agriculturists; and the gloom-inspiring effect of the necessary Inquisition, seems permanently to have fixed itself on Spanish art and manners. 170,000 families of Jews, at the time of their expulsion, were compelled to leave the kingdom in four months, or be baptized.—Don J. A. de los Rios, Estudios s. l. Judios, p. 156.
[216] From artesa, a kneading-trough; a carved ceiling, made in the shape of an inverted trough. This term is usually applied by Spanish writers to this class of roof, and I follow Mr. Ford’s example in adopting it, as we have no term which exactly represents it.
[217] Viage de España, vol. i. p. 41.
[218] España Art. y Mon., vol. i. p. 78.
[219] I am aware that in saying this I blame myself as much as any one else. The truth is, that so violent is the popular prejudice on some points that he must be a bold architect who ventures to run counter to it; and I am quite sure that the first brick building I erect with the brickwork executed in the proper way will be met by a storm of abuse from all sides. This is a great snare to most of us. Nothing is more easy than to secure popular applause in architecture. If we abstain from study, thought, or over-labour about the execution of every detail, we may still do what every one will agree is right and proper, because it has been done five hundred times before; but if we only give a fair amount of all three we are sure to meet with plenty of critics who never give any of either, and who hate our work in proportion to their own incapacity to criticize it from their old standpoint.
[220] A good illustration of San Tomé is given in Villa Amil, vol. ii.
[221] Toledo en La Mano, pp. 249 et seq. Escosura in Villa Amil, vol. ii. p. 51.
[222] Ford’s Handbook, p. 777.
[223] see ante, p. 210.