dinand, who not only ordered their safe conduct, but provided many of them with clothing, who were brought prisoners in a state of destitution and suffering. He permitted them to return safely to their homes.

Isabella, upon hearing of this decisive victory, commanded the people to go in procession to the church of St. Paul, humbly walking barefoot herself to the cathedral, where thanksgiving was offered to God for the success he had vouchsafed them.

Complete submission followed, except from the Marquis of Villena and the imperious archbishop, who maintained their rebellious manoeuvres till the demolition of their castles and the desertion of their retainers, obliged them to yield. Alfonso retreated into Portugal with Joanna, but mortified with his defeat, applied to the King of France to assist him in securing the crown of Castile for the Princess Joanna; he remained nearly a year in France for that purpose. Louis promised assistance when Alfonso's title was secured by a dispensation from the pope for his marriage with Joanna. To his entire chagrin, he found that Louis was already negotiating with his rivals, and, overwhelmed with mortification at having been duped before all the world, he retired to an obscure village in Normandy, and wrote Prince John of his wish to resign his crown and enter a monastery. His retreat was discovered, and at last persuaded by the urgent entreaties of his followers, he returned to Portugal, arriving just after his son's coronation. This caused him additional chagrin. John, however, immediately resigned his premature dignity, on his father's reappearance.

A treaty was soon after confirmed with Castile which obliged Alfonso to resign all claims to the hand of Joanna, and imposed upon her the necessity of taking the veil, or wedding Don Juan the infant son of Ferdinand and Isabella, when he should arrive at a suitable age. Wearied and disgusted with worldly ambition, forsaken by her relatives, successively affianced to princes, who one after another rejected her at every reverse of fortune, and at last offered a consort still in the cradle, with the alternative of becoming a nun, she chose the latter, as at least a means of releasing her from a position which made her the foot-ball of oppos ing parties.

Alfonso was so much disappointed at the loss of his bride, that he determined to put his former threat of entering a monastery in execution. The one he fixed upon was situated in a lonely spot on the shores of the Atlantic, but the realization of this quixotic fancy was prevented by his death, shortly after Joanna took the veil.

The same year, 1479, chronicled the death of John of Arragon, thus bequeathing an independent crown to Ferdinand. This event strengthened the security of Castile, and cemented the various provinces into a whole that was soon to stand foremost among nations.

When tranquillity was at last restored to a people who for years had suffered the disasters of war, one would suppose they would willingly have been cradled in the arms of peace and prosperity; but the restless, turbulent spirit of the times, required a channel for its resistless flood, that would otherwise undermine the

foundations of a throne slowly gaining steadiness and solidity after its long rocking.

The ambition of the chivalry of Spain was enthusiastically directed towards the prosecution of the war against the Moors, while the zealous clergy were absorbed in the new project of establishing the Inquisition in these dominions, rapidly becoming powerful. The Jews, who were a numerous, wealthy and important class, had incurred the hatred of the Castilians, both on account of their heretical belief, and because of the almost irretrievable indebtedness of a large share of the nobility to these money-lenders. Since the avowed purpose of the Inquisition was the conversion or condemnation of this unfortunate people, both the Castilians and Arragonese submitted to its otherwise detested establishment, hoping thus to escape their extensive liabilities; not foreseeing that its unlimited power might finally initiate the whole nation in its mysterious horrors. The clergy were eager for the work, and the pope willingly sanctioned measures which, by the confiscation of the estates of the accused, would pour immense wealth into his coffers.

Isabella, whose tenderness of heart revolted at the barbarous design, withheld her consent till, blinded by the united representations of advisers, in whom she reposed confidence, and actuated by a bigotry which owed its place in her otherwise perfect character to the early teachings of her confessor Thomas de Torquemada, a proud, intolerant man of unrelenting cruelty, she at length permitted the appointment of two Dominician friars in September, 1480, who were ordered to repair

to Seville and commence operations immediately. This appointment was not made, however, till after Isabella had induced them to employ milder means, that failed of course, in the hands of fiery, overbearing monks.

An edict was issued, ordering the arrest of all persons suspected of heresy, some of the proofs of which were, "wearing cleaner linen on the Jewish sabbath than on other days of the week; having no fire in the house the preceding evening; giving Hebrew names to children, a whimsical, cruel provision, since, by an enactment of Henry II., they were prohibited the use of christian names, under severe penalties." The cells of the convent of St. Paul, where the dreadful tribunal commenced its murderous deeds, were quickly filled; and the number of arrests multiplied so rapidly that they were obliged to remove its operations to the fortress of Triana in the suburbs of Seville. Removed from the immediate supervision of the citizens, the infatuated, brutal monks carried on the revolting work, instituting mock trials which gave the accused no opportunity of defence, but confronted him with witnesses concealed beneath black cowls and judges enveloped in dark robes; the scene was rendered more gloomy and depressing by the dimly-lighted chambers where the sittings were held. The victim, with no hope of escape, however innocent, was often condemned through the machinations of some deadly but disguised enemy, hurried away and subjected to most excruciating tortures, in dungeons too deep for their cries of agony to reach any sympathizing ear.

In the meantime Isabella, who devoutly believed

this to be a pious work, was occupied in preparations for the Moorish war, in accordance with the promise she made on ascending the throne, and with the same bigoted zeal that actuated her in the forced conversion of her own subjects. Ferdinand engaged in the project with commendable activity, under the cloak of his "most catholic majesty," but with the secret gratification of adding to his dominions a wealthy and beautiful region, acknowledged as the Eden of Spain. Its position too, embracing the most important fortifications along the coast, caught the covetous eye of the king, and probably had an influence upon Isabella, though her prominent idea was the conversion of the infidels.

The Moorish kingdom, which had formerly extended over a large portion of Spain, had been reduced, by successive conquerors, to a narrow district of seventy miles in breadth, lying between the mountains and sea, and stretching along the coast one hundred and eighty miles. The inhabitants were still subject to their enemies, being obliged to pay an annual tribute which had ceased during the reign of Henry II. and his successors. In this interval they had become prosperous, amassed great wealth, beautified their possessions with every known luxury, and cultivated the arts and sciences to a surprising degree. Ingenious and inventive, they originated much that has been universally adopted by mankind. To them we owe the first manufacture of paper, and from them came the equally world-appropriated invention of gunpowder. Astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics, made rapid strides