Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/370

226 226 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. PART I. elasticity. The productive capital of the country was made to flow through the various channels of domestic industry. The hills and the valleys again rejoiced in the labor of the husbandman ; and the cities were embellished with stately edifices, both public and private, which attracted the gaze and commendation of foreigners. ^^ The writers of that day are unbounded in their plaudits of Isabel- la, to whom they principally ascribe this auspicious revolution in the condition of the country and its inhabitants,^^ which seems almost as magical as one of those transformations in romance wrought by the hands of some benevolent fairy. ^^ VI. The preeminence of the roj^al authority. contracts, (lib. 5, tit. 8, ley 5,) — fraudulent tradesmen, (lib. 5, tit. 8, ley 5,) — purveyance, (lib. 6, tit. 11, ley 2 et al. — Re- copilacion de las Levcs, lib. 5, tit. 20, 21, 22; lib. 6, 'tit. 18, ley 1. — Pulgar, Reyes Catolicos, part. 2, cap. 99. — Zurita, Anales, torn, iv. fol. 312. — Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., torn. vi. Ilust. 11.) — The revenue, it appears, in 1477, amounted to 27,415,228 marave- dies ; and in the year 1482, we find it increased to 150,695,288 marave- dies. (Ibid., Dust. 5.) — A survey of the kingdom was made between the years 1477 and 1479, for the pur- pose of ascertaininp: the value of the royal rents, which formed the basis of the economical regulations adopt- ed by the cortes of Toledo. Al- though this survey was conducted on no uniform plan, yet, according to Seilor Clemcncin, it exhibits such a variety of important de- tails respecting the resources and population of the country, that it must materially contribute towards an exact history of this period. The compilation, which consists of twelve folio volumes in manu- script, is deposited in the archives of Simancas. '•>- One of the statutes passed at Toledo expressly provides for the erection of spacious and hand- some edifices (rasas grofidcs y bicn fechas) for the transaction of muni- cipal affairs, in all the principal towns and cities in the kingdom. Ordenangas Reales, lib. 7, tit. 1, ley 1. — See also L. ^larineo, Cosas Memorables, passim, — et al. auct. 53 " Cosa fue por cierto maravi- llosa," exclaims Pulgar, in his Glosa on the Mingo Revulgo, " que lo que muchos hombres, y grandes sefiores no se acordaron a hacer en muchos afios, sola una 7migcr, con su trabajo, y goberna- cion lo liizo en poco ticmpo." Copla21. ^' The beautiful lines of Virgil, so often misapplied, "Jam redit et Virgo ; redcunt SaturiiiR regnn ; Jam nova progenies," Ac. seem to admit here of a pertinent application. I