GIBRALTAR. Drawn by J. M. W. Turner, R.A. Through Calpe's straits survey the steepy shore; Lands of the dark-eyed maid and dusky Moor." Childe Harold, canto ii. st. 22. "THE promontory of Gibraltar (the ancient Mount Calpe) derives its name from the Arabic, Jebal al Târik,' being the spot where Târik, the Moorish leader, landed to attack Spain. The town of Gibraltar has erroneously been supposed to be built on the site of the ancient Heraclea. It appears, however, that Heraclea was situated near Carteia, five miles to the west of Mount Calpe, where extensive ruins are still visible. No remains or coins, excepting of Moorish origin, are found at Gibraltar. The Moorish castle, whose massy towers are seen above the northern extremity of the town, was built, according to an Arabic inscription still visible, in the time of the Caliph Walid, soon after the period of his landing here. It is chiefly constructed of tapia, or cement, moulded in frames, and the whole incrusted with cement of a finer quality : the cupolas and arches are of brick-work. These walls and towers have become so indurated by time, that, during the great siege, the shot from the enemy's cannon made but little impression on them. Gibraltar remained in possession of the Moors from the period when they first took it, A. D. 711, for about seven hundred and fifty years, when the Spaniards again got possession of it. On the 23d of July, 1704, Sir George Rooke, with the combined English and Dutch fleets, cannonaded Gibraltar and a body of troops under the Prince d'Armstadt having landed, part on the isthmus north of the town, and part on the southern extremity of the promontory, the place was summoned on the 24th; after a feeble resistance, this fortress surrendered to the English, in whose possession it has ever since remained. Its importance is so great, from its commanding the passage which connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic, that attempts were made in 1705 and 1727 to dispossess the British; and finally, in that memorable period when it was so nobly defended by General Elliot, with a garrison varying in amount from five thousand to seven thousand men. The first operations of this famous siege took place in July 1779, and were continued during that year, and also in 1780 and 1781. In this period the garrison was deprived of regular communication with England, and could be GIBRALTAR. relieved only by the arrival of a powerful fleet; this was twice effected—once by Admiral Rodney, and subsequently by Admiral Darby. At last, in 1782, the Spaniards, aided by a numerous fleet and army from France, made a grand attack by gun-boats and floating batteries on the 13th of September; but a discharge of red-hot shot from the garrison fired and destroyed the flotilla. The following month, a British fleet arrived with succour, and, on the signature of peace in February 1783, the siege was relinquished, and this key to the Mediterranean still appertains to Great Britain. In a letter to Mr. Hodgson, dated Gibraltar, August 6th, 1809, Lord Byron says, "I have just arrived at this place, after a journey through Portugal and a part of Spain of nearly five hundred miles. We left Lisbon, and travelled on horseback to Seville and Cadiz, and thence in the Hyperion frigate to Gibraltar." Byron left Gibraltar in the packet for Malta on the 19th of August. He had intended to pass over to Africa ; but this he afterwards relinquished. Though he resided a fortnight at Gibraltar, except the beautiful description of his moonlight passage through the straits, it does not appear that he found inspiration there for his muse. The siege of Saragoza drew from him an immortal record of its determined defence; was it caprice that made him indifferent to the glories of his country, on the spot where they had shone most conspicuously in A the gallant and unparalleled defence of Gibraltar by Elliot, and the not less glorious display of humanity by the British, when Curtis exposed himself and his crews to so much danger to rescue his Spanish enemies from wreck and fire in the destruction of their gun-boats? Fortunately for Lord Byron's reputation, the omission is not singular. His poetical powers were often dormant amidst scenes associated with events that needed not his aid to immortality-scenes a thousand times more inspiring, in the estimation of common minds, than those over which his muse has shed a lustre that has brightened into notice places that would, if unmentioned by him, have remained unknown. |