Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/671

Rh acted justified this confidence. She wrote to the French general in Navarre, encouraging him to invade Castile: she endeavoured, by her letters and emissaries, to revive the hopes and spirits of other Castilian cities; raised soldiers, and by keeping the death of their beloved general fresh in the minds of the people, by processions, &c. she prevented fear or despondency from acting on their minds. Her enemies in vain tried to undermine her popularity; and, when the city was invested, she defended it with vigour, her troops frequently repulsed the royalists, and no progress was made in reducing the place, till the clergy, whose property she had been forced to invade, ceased to support her. They soon openly deserted her; and persuaded the credulous multitude, impatient of a long blockade, that she had acquired such influence over them by enchantments, and that she was assisted by a familiar demon, in the form of a negro maid. Incensed by these suggestions, they themselves took arms against her, drove her out of the city, and surrendered it to the royalists. She then retired to the citadel, which she defended with amazing fortitude four months longer; and, when reduced to the last extremities, made her escape in disguise, and fled into Portugal, where he had many relations.

this excellent lady was celebrated by the best and most learned divines of her time, yet scarce any pen