Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/142

cxxiv cxxiv INTRODUCTION. sECTiox lodious than any other idiom in the Peninsula, was abandoned as a patois to the lower orders of the Catalans, who, with the language, may boast that they also have inherited the noble principles of freedom, which distinguished their ancestors. It is written with an independent and liberal spirit, which may be re- garded as affording the best com- mentary on the genius of the insti- tutions which he celebrates. — Cap- many closed his useful labors at Madrid, in 1810, at the age of fifty- six. Notwithstanding the interesting character of the Aragonese consti- tution, and the amplitude of mate- rials for its history, the subject has been hitherto neglected, as far as I am aware, by continental writers. Robertson and Hallam, more espe- cially the latter, have given such a view of its prominent features to the English reader, as must, I fear, deprive the sketch which I have attempted, in a great degree, of novelty. To these names must now be added that of the author of the "History of Spain and Portu- gal," (Cabinet Cyclopaedia,) whose work, published since the preced- ing pages were written, contains much curious and learned disquisi- tion on the early jurisprudence and municipal institutions of both Cas- tile and Aragon.