[18] Opus Epist., epist. 279.
[19] Opus Epist., epist. 280.—The text does not exaggerate the language of the epistle.
[20] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 201.—Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1504.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 16.—Zurita, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 84.—Navagiero, Viaggio, fol. 23.
[21] The Curate of Los Palacios remarks of her, "Fue muger hermosa, de muy gentil cuerpo, e gesto, e composicion." (Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 201.) Pulgar, another contemporary, eulogizes "el mirar muy gracioso, y honesto, las facciones del rostro bien puestas, la cara toda muy hermosa." (Reyes Católicos, part. 1, cap. 4.) L. Marineo says, "Todo lo que avia en el rey de dignidad, se hallava en la reyna de graciosa hermosura, y en entrambos se mostrava una majestad venerable, aunque a juyzio de muchos la reyna era de mayor hermosura." (Cosas Memorables, fol. 182.) And Oviedo, who had likewise frequent opportunities of personal observation, does not hesitate to declare, "En hermosura puestas delante de S. A. todas las mugeres que yo he visto, ninguna vi tan graciosa, ni tanto de ver como su persona." Quincuagenas, MS.
[22] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 8.
[23] Ibid., ubi supra.
[24] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 182.—Pulgar, Reyes Católicos, part. 1, cap, 4.
[25] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. p. 323.
[26] Such occasions have rare charms, of course, for the gossipping chroniclers of the period. See, among others, the gorgeous ceremonial of the baptism and presentation of Prince John at Seville, 1478, as related by the good Curate of Los Palacios. (Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 32, 33.) "Isabella was surrounded and served," says Pulgar, "by grandees and lords of the highest rank, so that it was said she maintained too great pomp; pompa demasiada." Reyes Católicos, part. 1, cap. 4.
[27] Florez quotes a passage from an original letter of the queen, written soon after one of her progresses into Galicia, showing her habitual liberality in this way. "Decid a doña Luisa, que porque vengo de Galicia desecha de vestidos, no le envio para su hermana; que no tengo agora cosa buena; mas yo ge los enviare presto buenos." Reynas Cathólicas, tom. ii. p. 839.