It is in this undying, unabated attachment of the nation, indeed, that we see the most unequivocal testimony to the virtues of Isabella. In the downward progress of things in Spain, some of the most ill-advised measures of her administration have found favor and been perpetuated, while the more salutary have been forgotten. This may lead to a misconception of her real merits. In order to estimate these, we must listen to the voice of her contemporaries, the eye-witnesses of the condition in which she found the state, and in which she left it. We shall then see but one judgment formed of her, whether by foreigners or natives. The French and Italian writers equally join in celebrating the triumphant glories of her reign, and her magnanimity, wisdom, and purity of character. [74] Her own subjects extol her as "the most brilliant exemplar of every virtue," and mourn over the day of her death as "the last of the prosperity and happiness of their country." [75] While those who had nearer access to her person are unbounded in their admiration of those amiable qualities, whose full power is revealed only in the unrestrained intimacies of domestic life. [76] The judgment of posterity has ratified the sentence of her own age. The most enlightened Spaniards of the present day, by no means insensible to the errors of her government, but more capable of appreciating its merits than those of a less instructed age, bear honorable testimony to her deserts; and, while they pass over the bloated magnificence of succeeding monarchs, who arrest the popular eye, dwell with enthusiasm on Isabella's character, as the most truly great in their line of princes. [77]
FOOTNOTES
[1] Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 28, cap. 11.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 84.
[2] Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 16.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 271, 272.—Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 46.—Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1504.
[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, MS.
[6] 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.