tion, however, threw off the malady, while hers grad. ually failed under it. Her tender heart was more keenly sensible than his to the unhappy condition of their child, and to the gloomy prospects which awaited her beloved Castile.3

Her faithful follower, Martyr, was with the court at this time in Medina del Campo. In a letter to the count of Tendilla, dated October 7th, he states that the most serious apprehensions were entertained by the physicians for the queen's fate. "Her whole system," he says, "is pervaded by a consuming fever. She loathes food of every kind, and is tormented with incessant thirst, while the disorder has all the appearance of terminating in a dropsy."

In the mean while, Isabella lost nothing of her solicitude for the welfare of her people and the great concerns of government. While reclining, as she was obliged to do great part of the day, on her couch, she listened to the recital or reading of whatever occurred of interest, at home or abroad. She gave audience to distinguished foreigners, especially such Italians as could acquaint her with particulars of the late war, and above all in regard to Gonsalvo de Cordova, in whose fortunes she had always taken the liveliest concern.5

3 Gomez, De Rebus gestis, fol. 46, 47.-Peter Martyr, Opus Epist.. epist. 273.-Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1504.

4 Opus Epist., epist. 274.

5 A short time before her death, she received a visit from the distinguished officer, Prospero Colonna. The Italian noble, on being presented to King Ferdinand, told him that "he had come to Castile to behold the woman who from her sick-bed ruled the world;" ver una señora que desde la cama mandava al mundo." Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 8.—Carta de Gonzalo á los Reyes, en Napoles, 25 de Agosto, 1503, MS.

She received with pleasure, too, such intelligent travellers as her renown had attracted to the Castilian court. She drew forth their stores of various information, and dismissed them, says a writer of the age, penetrated with the deepest admiration of that masculine strength of mind which sustained her so nobly under the weight of a mortal malady."

This malady was now rapidly gaining ground. On the 15th of October we have another epistle of Martyr, of the following melancholy tenor. "You ask me respecting the state of the queen's health. We sit sorrowful in the palace all day long, tremblingly waiting the hour when religion and virtue shall quit the earth with her. Let us pray that we may be permitted to follow hereafter where she is soon to go. She so far transcends all human excellence, that there is scarcely anything of mortality about her. She can hardly be said to die, but to pass into a nobler existence, which should rather excite our envy than our sorrow. leaves the world filled with her renown, and she goes to enjoy life eternal with her God in heaven. I write this," he concludes, "between hope and fear, while the breath is still fluttering within her."

She

The deepest gloom now overspread the nation. Even

❝ Gomez, De Rebus gestis, fol. 47.-Among the foreigners introduced to the queen at this time was a celebrated Venetian traveller, named Vianelli, who presented her with a cross of pure gold set with precious stones, among which was a carbuncle of inestimable value. The liberal Italian met with rather an uncourtly rebuke from Ximenes, who told him, on leaving the presence, that "he had rather have the money his diamonds cost, to spend in the service of the church, than all the gems of the Indies." Ibid.

7 Opus Epist., epist. 276.

Isabella's long illness had failed to prepare the minds of her faithful people for the sad catastrophe. They recalled several ominous circumstances which had before escaped their attention. In the preceding spring, an earthquake, accompanied by a tremendous hurricane, such as the oldest men did not remember, had visited Andalusia, and especially Carmona, a place belonging to the queen, and occasioned frightful desolation there. The superstitious Spaniards now read in these portents the prophetic signs by which Heaven announces some great calamity. Prayers were put up in every temple, processions and pilgrimages made in every part of the country, for the recovery of their beloved sovereign,-but in vain.®

Isabella, in the mean time, was deluded with no false hopes. She felt too surely the decay of her bodily strength, and she resolved to perform what temporal duties yet remained for her, while her faculties were still unclouded.

On the 12th of October she executed that celebrated testament which reflects so clearly the peculiar qualities of her mind and character. She begins with prescribing the arrangements for her burial. She orders her remains to be transported to Granada, to the Franciscan monastery of Santa Isabella in the Alhambra, and there deposited in a low and humble sepulchre, without other memorial than a plain inscription on it. "But," she continues, "should the king my lord prefer a sepulchre in some other place, then my will is

• Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 200, 201.-Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1504.-Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 16.~ Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, pp. 423. 424.