defeated the confederates, and secured his return into France. But he left in the duchy of Milan one half of his little army. Scarcely had he arrived at Turin, when he received a message from pope Alexander, who commanded him to withdraw his troops from Italy, to yield his pretensions to the kingdom of Naples, and to come and give an account of his conduct at the tribunal of the holy pontiff on pain of excommunication. He chose rather to return to France. In short, the kingdom of Naples was lost in as short a time as it had been won. Gonsalvo of Cordova, a Spanish general, whom Ferdinand of Arragon had sent to the assistance of Frederic, who claimed the crown of Naples from affinity with the last prince, found it a very easy task to drive the French entirely out of Italy. Such had been the sudden and decisive effect of this great confederacy against Charles VIII., that the princes of Europe thence derived a most useful lesson, and from that period considered it as a general law of policy to be always united in a tacit league to prevent the exorbitant increase of the power of any particular state or sovereign. Robertson, in his History of Charles V., asserts that the idea of the preservation of a balance of power in Europe has its date from this confederacy against Charles VIII.: and "from this era," says he, says he, "we can trace the progress of that intercourse between nations which has linked the powers of Europe so closely together, and can discern the operations of that provident policy which, during peace, guards against remoto and contingent dangers, and which in war has prevented rapid and destructive conquests." But in this instance the elegant historian certainly pays a higher compliment to modern policy than it deserves. The system in question is perhaps more generally understood by the moderns than it was by the ancients; but (as Hume has remarked) the idea of a balance of power is founded so much on common sense and obvious reasoning, that "it is impossible it could altogether have escaped antiquity, where we find in other particulars so many marks of deep penetration and discernment." Xenophon represents one great combination of powers as having directly arisen from a jealousy of the increasing strength of the Medes and Persians. Thucydides assigns a similar origin to the league which was formed against Athens, and which produced the Peloponnesian war. Demosthenes, on the same principle, alarmed the fears of all the Grecian republics, from the increasing power and inordinate ambition of Philip of Macedon. The Grecian history affords many more examples of the same policy. One example only occurs in the Roman history, where this maxim seems to have been understood and put in practice against this all-conquering people. It is that of Hiero, king of Syracuse, who, though in alliance with the Romans, sent assistance to the Carthaginians during the war of the auxiliaries. In the remarks of Polybius on that subject, we find the principle of a balance of power as ably

explained as it could be by any modern politician. "He esteemed it necessary," says Polybius, both in order to retain his dominions in Sicily and to preserve the Roman friendship, that Carthage should be safe, lest by its fall, the remaining power should be able, without opposition, to execute every purpose and undertaking. And here," continues that author, "he acted with great wisdom and prudence for that is never on any account to be overlooked; nor ought such a force ever to be thrown into one hand, as to incapacitate the neighboring states from defending their rights against it."-Polyb., lib. i., c. lxxxiii. The system of a balance of power is therefore not a policy of modern invention; although we must own that it had not a general influence on the politics of Europe till the above-mentioned period of the confederacy against Charles VIII. This prince died at the age of eight and twenty, and leaving no children, the duke of Orleans succeeded to the crown of France by the title of Lewis XII., and revived, as we shall afterwards see, his pretensions to the kingdom of Naples.

CHAPTER XIV.

SPAIN, FRANCE, ITALY, and BRITAIN at the end of the Fifteenth besinning of the Sixteenth Century-Ferdinand and Isabella-Extinctiort Moors in Spain-Lewis XII. of France invades Italy-Pope Alexander VI --Julius II.-England-Henry VI.-Civil Wars of York and Lancaste-Mgaret of Anjou-Edward IV.-Richard III.-Henry VII.-Union of York and Lancas ter-Impostures of Simnel and Warbeck.

A VERY important revolution, which at this time took place in Spain, now demands our attention to that quarter. The assistance which Pedro the Cruel had received from the Black Prince was of transitory effect. On the departure of Edward, Pedro was again attacked by his enemies, and murdered by his bastard brother, Henry of Transtamarre, who thus secured for himselt and his family the throne of Castile.

The voluptuousness of a court is no uncommon prelude to a revolution in the kingdom. Thus it happened under Henry IV. of Castile, a descendant of Henry of Transtamarre. The weakness and debauchery of this monarch incited a faction of his nobles, headed by the archbishop of Toledo, to take the government into their own hands. They accused their own sovereign of impotency, and declared his daughter Joanna, who was the heiress of the kingdom of Castile, an illegitimate child; she was disinherit

ed, and sent out of the kingdom; while the Cortes, or the assembly of the States, obliged Henry to settle the inheritance on his sister Isabella.

The next concern of the associated nobles was to procure for Isabella a proper husband. Her alliance was counted by several princes. Lewis XI. demanded her for his brother, and the king of Arragon for his son Ferdinand. The king of Portugal sought her himself in marriage. The archbishop of Toledo, who headed the conspiracy against Henry, privately brought about the marriage of Isabella to Ferdinand of Arragon. This procedure exasperated the impotent Henry, who determined to rouse himself from his lethargy, and to exert his utmost eadeavors to restore his daughter Joanna to her right of inheritance. A civil war was the consequence, which embroiled the whole kingdom. At length, Henry thought it his best policy to affect, at least, to be reconciled to his sister and to her husband Ferdinand, who took care that no future rupture should occasion their title to be disputed. The sudden and painful death of Henry left little doubt that he had been taken off by poison. Alphonso, king of Portugal, took up arms in favor of his niece Joanna, whom he intended to marry; but, after a war of some years' continuance, this unfortunate princess thought it her wisest course to end those disturbances, which she saw were not to be attended with success, by retiring into a monastery.

A wise and vigorous, though a severe, administration characterized the beginning of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Spain was at this time in great disorder-the whole country was a prey to robbers and outlaws. Even the nobility lived by depredation, and defended themselves in their castles against every legal attempt to restrain their violence. The new monarchs of Castile and Arragon determined to repress these enormities. The castles of the piratical nobles were razed to the ground. The office of the Santa Hermandad, or Holy Brotherhood, was instituted for the detection and punishment of murders, thefts, and all atrocious crimes. But amidst these laudable cares, the abominable tribunal of the Inquisition was furnished with such an extent of powers, that, under the pretence of extirpating heresy and impiety, the whole kingdom became a scene of blood and horror. The fortunes and the lives of individuals were entirely at the mercy of the grand inquisitor and his associates. It was never allowed to a criminal to be confronted with his accuser, nor even to be informed of his crime; the sole method of trial was by exposing the unhappy wretch to the most extreme tortures, which either ended his life in agony, or forced a confession of his guilt, which was expiated by committing him to the flames. It is computed, that after the appointment of Torquemada, the inquisitor-general of Spain, there were 6000 persons burnt in the short space of four years.

The ambition of Ferdinand and Isabella was not limited to the possession of Arragon and Castile; the kingdom of the Moors, of Granada, which was all that remained of the Mahometan dominions in Spain, was a very tempting object of enterprise. Granada was at this time rent by intestine divisions; the factions of the Zegriş and the Abéncerrages had reduced that unhappy kingdom to the lowest state of weakness. The romantic exploits of these contending factions are remembered to this day in many beautiful Moorish ballads, and are pompously described in a very extraor dinary work, entitled Historia de las Guerras Civiles de Granada, a book which contains a curious and authentic picture of a very singular state of society. In the Moorish kingdom of Granada were preserved the last remains of the genuine spirit of chivalry and romantic gallantry, a state of manners which in that work is very happily delineated.

Aboacen, king of Granada, was at this time at war with his nephew, Abo-Abdeli, who attempted to dethrone him. Ferdinand of Arragon supported Abo-Abdeli in order to weaken both parties; and no sooner was he in possession of the throne, by the death of Aboacen, than Ferdinand attacked his former ally with the united forces of Castile and Arragon. The war was tedious, and lasted several years. Isabella accompanied her husband in several of his military expeditions, and attended him when he laid siege to the city of Granada in 1491. After a blockade of eight months, the pusillanimous Abo-Abdeli, who has been called El Rey Chico, or the Little King, meanly capitulated, contrary to the sentiments and urgent remonstrances of above 20,000 of the inhabitants, who offered to defend their native city to the last extremity. The treaty between Abo-Abdeli and Ferdinand. secured to the Moors of Granada a small mountainous part of the kingdom, with the enjoyment of their laws and religion. The Moorish prince, execrated by his people, betook himself to this despicable retreat. He is said to have wept when he cast back his eyes to the beautiful plain and city of Granada. "You have reason," said his mother, "to weep like a woman for the loss of Thus that kingdom, which you could not defend like a man. ended the dominion of the Moors in Spain, about 800 years after its foundation.

Ferdinand, now master of Arragon, Castile, and Granada, from that time took the title of king of Spain. He wanted only Navarre, which, as we shall see, he soon afterwards invaded and took possession of. Immediately after the conquest of Granada, he expelled all the Jews from the kingdom-a most impolitic step, which deprived Spain of about 150,000 inhabitants. The greatest part of these took refuge in Portugal, and carried with them their arts, their industry, and their commerce; the rest sailed over into Africa, where they were still more inhumanly used than in Spain. The Moors of that country are said to have ripped

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open their oellies, in order to search for the gold which they were supposed to have concealed in their bowels.

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We have already seen that the arms of Ferdinand of Spain were successfully employed in driving the French out of Italy, after the fruitless conquest of Naples by Charles VIII. Lewis XII., his successor, was sensible of the necessity of having the pope in his interest when any claims were to be made good against the states of Italy. He courted Alexander VI. likewise, upon another account; he wished to procure a divorce from his wife, the daughter of Lewis XI., and to marry Anne of Brittany, the widow of Charles VIII. Cæsar Borgia, the natural son of pope Alexander, was, like his father, a monster of wickedThe palace of the popes was stained with murder, adultery, and incest. Alexander was desirous of securing for his son Borgia an independent sovereignty, and he sent him for that purpose as his ambassador into France to make a treaty with Lewis, on the ground of their mutual pretensions. It was stipulated that the king of France should be divorced from his wife, and have the pope's assistance in the invasion of Italy, provided Cæsar Borgia should receive, in return, the dukedom of Valentinois, with the king of Navarre's sister in marriage, and a pension from Lewis of 100,000 livres. Lewis, having put his kingdom in a state of defence, crossed the Alps, and in ten days made himself master of Milan and Genoa. After some unsuccessful struggles made by Ludovico Sforza to regain the dukedom of Milan, that prince was betrayed by the Swiss troops, whom he had hired to protect his dominions, and given up into the hands of the French, among whom he passed his days as a prisoner, though treated both with humanity and respect. Lewis XII., afraid of Ferdinand of Spain, who had dispossessed his predecessor, Charles of the kingdom of Naples, thought it his most advisable measure to compromise matters with the Spanish monarch, and they agreed to divide the Neapolitan dominions between them. Ferdinand had Apulia and Calabria, and Lewis all the rest. Pope Alexander made no scruples of conscience to give his apostolical sanction to this partition, which dispossessed an innocent monarch, his ancient vassal, of all his territories.

But the French were not destined to have any durable possessions in Italy. Ferdinand soon after agreed with pope Alexander to deprive Lewis of his part of the spoils. Gonsalvo de Cordova, who had the distinguished epithet of El Gran Capitano, was commissioned by his master to extirpate the troops of Lewis, as he had done those of Charles VIII. The French, it is true, made a better defence. The duke de Nemours, a descendant of the great Clovis, and the illustrious Bayard, the chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, maintained their right to Naples with great military skill, and vied with each other in romantic feats of personal prowess. But the contention was vain. The conduct of