Mercedes of Castile

thin the weak list of a country's fashion. We are the makers of manners; and the

guided all her actions, her heart beat tumultuously, and her native reserve, which almost amounted to shyness, troubled her sorely, as the hour arrived when she was first to behold the prince she had accepted for a husband. Castilian etiquette, no

was Andres de Cabrera, he quietly took his way, without any of the usual accompaniments of his high rank, toward the palace of John of Vivero, in the city of Valladolid. The Archbishop of T

of Aragon had been prepared to meet one of singular grace and beauty; but the mixture of angelic modesty with a loveliness that almost surpassed that of her sex, produced a picture approaching so much nearer to heaven than to earth, that, though one of circumspect behavior, and much accustomed to suppress emotion, he actually started, and h

t of Isabella; for no skill in courtly phrases can ever give to the accents of deceit, the point and emphasis that belong to sincerity. "I have thought it would

a. "The difficulties that have been overcome, in order to effect this meeting, are

assuming himself the stool on which Beatriz de Bobadilla was wont to be seated, in her familiar intercourse with her royal mistress. Isabella, however, sensitively alive to the pretensions of the Castilians, who were

alty of blood, and her dependence on God, to be thus pla

arthly rank vanish in this presence; view me as a knight, ready and desirous of

able, and, with a woman's sensibility, her heart was ready, under the circumstances, to dissolve in tenderness at the discovery. This mutual satisfaction soon opened the way to a freer conversation; and, ere half an hour was passed, the archbishop-who, though officially ignorant of the language and wishes of lovers, was practically sufficiently familiar with both-contrived to draw the two or three courtiers who were present, int

s the discourse proceeded; and, falling back on her self-respect, womanly dignity, and, not a little, on those stores of knowledge that she had been diligently collecting, while o

of us both, as those entrusted with the cares and interests of realms, hath been observed, and I may have a claim to look to my own happiness. We are not strangers to eac

iscussed, the wisdom of the union so fully established, and the necessity of promptness so apparent, no idle delays shall proceed from me. I had thought that the cer

etfulness. Thou knowest, Do?a Isabella, how sorely my father is beset by his enemies, and I need scarce tell thee that his coffers are empty. In good soot

and his providence, with the wisdom and petty expe

in deference to the pious feelings of his affianced wife, as in deference to a higher Power-"would not admit of delay, and we quitted Zaragosa better provided with

l commence our married lives with but few of the goods of the world in present possession. I have little m

s of any reasonable man. Still, something is due to our rank and future prospects,

l it crimsoned even her brow and temples; maintaining, otherwise, that beautiful tranquillity of mien which marked her ordinary manner-"but the well-being of two states depend

see another. But there will not be this need; for our friends, who have more generous souls than well-filled coffers too, can give such

t set at nought the ordinary affectations and artificial feelings of her sex, while it left the deepest reverence for her modesty-

but a common fortune, and thou wilt trus

rth in the world with humble dowries. Thou art a king, even now; and by the treaty of Toros de Guisando, I am solemnly recognized as the hei

hy rank, or in that duty which it befitteth me to render thee, as

he treaty of marriage, and accepted cheerfu

he measures, and the magnitude o

ent; for, though so soon to become thy wife, I can never

betrothed, that Ferdinand of Aragon wi

o him for their faithful discharge. Sceptres may not be treated as toys, Fernando,

ten in Aragon, my betrothed-and I rejoice to

abella, earnestly-"for that would be supplanting the duties of princes by the feelings of the

for that, my cousin, as they have

rtment in all the relations of life-"it is because the duties of a sovereign may not be overlooked. Thou knowest, moreover, Fernando, the influence that t

they suffer from that cause, Do?a Isabe

hey are lost in the obligations of a wife. Thou hast seen in those articles, how anxiously I would protect my Castilians against any supremacy of the stranger. Thou knowest that

nderstood, and thy wishes in this and al

thed; "but I would also that Castile should preserve her rights and her independence. What will be thy influence,

ars hence will say that Don Fernando knew how to

eel that the Christians of Spain have been true to the faith, while t

ainst the infidels. My spurs have been gained in those wars, already; and no sooner shall we be crowned,

tempted to wage war upon him, and to assume the sceptre before it pleaseth God to accord it to us, in the course of nature. I would have thee respect Don Enriquez, not only as the head of our royal house, but as my brother and ano

e rights of mine own that come before those of that ill-gotten mongrel! The whole House of Trastamara hath

rtunate Joanna never can impair our rights to the throne, for there are few nobles in Castile so un

th with thee, Isabella, since t

imson as she spoke-"neither have we been able rigidly to adhere to that convention, since on

re, and hath only to reproach hims

ntracted in the face of pledges like these. But, it is well to distinguish between motives, and we have a right to believe that He who readeth the heart, will not judge the well-intentioned severely.

beautiful cousin, that thy will was less

yal or noble maidens to set up their own inexperienced caprices in opposition to the wisdom of their friends, and the task is not difficult for a virtuous wife to learn to love her husband,

t thou must train me to be that thou wouldst wish; I can

. After the interview had lasted two hours or more, the King of Sicily returned to Due?as, with the same privacy as he had observed in entering the town. The royal pair parte

ace; no less than two thousand persons, principally of condition, witnessing the ceremony. Just as the officiating priest wa

the consent of the church on this solemn occasion. It is known tha

and a paternal smile. "Happily, our Holy Father Pius hath removed this imp

ncess discovered that she had been imposed on, the bull that was then read having been an invention of the old King of Aragon and the prelate, not without suspicions of a connivance on the part of the bridegroom. This deception had been practised from a perfect

rights as heiress presumptive. In 1474, or five years after her marriage, Don Henry died, and she then became Queen of Castile, though her spurious niece was also proclaimed by a small party among her subjects. The war of the succession, as it was called, lasted five years longer, when Joanna, or La Beltraneja, assumed the veil, and the rights of Isabella were generally acknowledged. About the same time, died Don John II., when Ferdinand mounted the th

which we have just described her to have been, to the summit of human power, did not desert its favorite. Success succeeded success-and victory, victory; until the Moor had lost fortress after fortress, town after town, and was finally besieged in his very capital-his last hold in the peninsula. As the reduction of Granada was an event that, in Christian eyes, was to be ranked second only to the rescuing of the holy sepulchre from the hands of the Infidels, so was

bjection of Granada as the great act of their mutual reign-for, as yet, Time threw his veil around the future, and but one human eye foresaw the greatest of all the events of the period, which was still in reserve-the sovereigns resolved on attempting a work that, of itself, would render this siege memorable. The plan of a regular town was made, and laborers set about the construction of good substantial edifices, in which to lodge the army; thus converting the warfare into that of something like city against city. In three months this stupendous work was completed, with its avenues, streets, and squares, and received the name of S

origin; while it is rendered remarkable by the fact-real or assumed-that it i

to this scene; all that has been related as yet, being merely introd