Pulgar's portrait of the king, taken also in the morning of his life, the close of which the writer did not live to see, is equally bright and pleasing. "Habia," says he," una gracia singular, que qualquier con él fablese, luego le amaba é le deseaba servir, porque tenia la communicacion amigable." Reyes Católicos, p. 36.
[44] "He tilted lightly," says Pulgar, "and with a dexterity not surpassed by any man in the kingdom." Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.
[45] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 153.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 24.—Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 37.
[46] Pulgar, indeed, notices his fondness for chess, tennis, and other games of skill, in early life. Reyes Católicos, part. 2, cap. 3.
[47] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 182.—Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, part. 2, cap. 3.
"Stop and dine with us," he was known to say to his uncle, the grand admiral Henriquez; "we are to have a chicken for dinner today." (Sempere, Hist, del Luxo, tom. ii. p. 2, nota.) The royal cuisine would have afforded small scope for the talents of a Vatel or an Ude.
[48] Sempere, Hist. del Luxo, ubi supra.
[49] Machiavelli, by a single coup de pinceau, thus characterizes, or caricatures, the princes of his time. "Un imperatore instabile e vario; un re di Francia sdegnoso e pauroso; un re d'Inghilterra ricco, feroce, e cupido di gloria; un re di Spagna taccagno e avaro; per gli altri re, io no li conosco."
[50] The revenues of his own kingdom of Aragon were very limited. His principal foreign expeditions were undertaken solely on account of that crown; and this, notwithstanding the aid from Castile, may explain, and in some degree excuse, his very scanty remittances to his troops.
[51] On one occasion, having obtained a liberal supply from the states of Aragon, (a rare occurrence,) his counsellors advised him to lock it up against a day of need. "Mas el Rey," says Zurita, "que siempre supo gastar su dinero provechosamente, y nunca fue escosso en despendello en las cosas del estado, tuvo mas aparejo para emplearlo, que para encerrarlo." (Anales, tom. vi. fol. 225.) The historian, it must be allowed, lays quite as much emphasis on his liberality as it will bear.