THE KNIGHTS OF SEVEN LANDS.

At the close of a summer's day, sometime near the end of the fourteenth
century, a party of young knights, seven in number, were returning to their
several countries from attending a great tournament held in the lists of the
Moorish palace of the Alhambra, then occupied by John, king of Castile.
This tournament was held in honor of the nuptials of the Prince with the
Infanta, and from its magnificence had drawn together the flower of the
chivalry of many lands. The company of knights alluded to, consisted of
one of Spain, whose castle lay northward, near the Pyrennees; one of
France; one of England; one of Germany; one of Rome; of a Scottish
knight, and a knight of Venice, all journeying homeward from the jousts,
with their esquires and retinues.