Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/208

184 CHAPTER XIX. CASTILIAN LITERATURE. — CULTIVATION OF THE COURT.— CLASSICAL LEARNING. — SCIENCE. Early Education of Ferdinand. — Of Isabella. — Her Library. — Early Promise of Prince John. — Scholarship of the Nobles. — Accom- plished Women. — Classical Learning. — Universities. — Printing introduced. — Encouraged by the Queen. — Actual Progress of Sci- ence. PART We have now arrived at the period, when the I. history of Spain becomes incorporated with that of the other states of Europe. Before embarking on the wide sea of European politics, however, and bidding adieu, for a season, to the shores of Spain, it will be necessary, in order to complete the view of the internal administration of Ferdinand and Isabella, to show its operation on the intellectual culture of the nation. This, as it constitutes, when taken in its broadest sense, a principal end of all government, should never be altogether divorced from any history. It is particularly deserving of note in the present reign, which stimulated the ac- tive developement of the national energies in every department of science, and which forms a leading epoch in the ornamental literature of the country. The present and the following chapter will embrace the mental progress of the kingdom, not merely