[296a] The Colegio de Ingleses was endowed by Sir Francis Englefield, a partisan of Mary Queen of Scots, who came to Spain after her execution. Philip II. granted certain privileges to the students in 1590. The number of students at the present day is about 45.
[296b] The Celegio de Escoceses was founded only in 1790.
[298] I.e. uncontaminated with the black blood of Moorish or Jewish converts; possibly also referring to the use of “New Castilian” for “Gitano.” See The Zincali, part i. chap. i.
[299] Temp. Elizabeth and James I.
[300a] Celebrated also for the great victory of Ferdinand of Aragon over Alfonso the African of Portugal (February, 1476), by which the succession of Isabella to the crown of Castile was assured, and the pretension of her niece Juana la Beltraneja for ever put an end to.
[300b] Alcayde, the Arabic governor of a castle, or fortress, is commonly used in modern Spanish for a jailer, a governor of a prison; the somewhat similar word, alcalde, also an Arabic word, meant, and still means, the mayor of a town.
[303] It was at Dueñas that Ferdinand and Isabella held their little court immediately after their marriage in October, 1469.
[304a] Government requisition. See ante, p. 261.
[304b] The officers, no doubt, of the Spanish Legion and Contingent. See Introduction.
[304c] “Hold hard, you gypsy fellows! you forget that you are soldiers, and no longer swapping horses in a fair.”