Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/414

390 390 RISE OF XIMENES. PART 11. Reform in hia dioceae. islied by the Holy See to adopt a state more conso- nant with the dignity of his office, if he would not disparage it in popular estimation. In obedience to this, he so far changed his habits, as to display the usual magnificence of his predecessors, in all that met the public eye, — his general style of living, equipage, and the number and pomp of his retainers ; but he relaxed nothing of his own personal mortifications. He maintained the same abstemious diet, amidst all the luxuries of his table. Under his robes of silk or costly furs he wore the coarse frock of St. Francis, which he used to mend with his own hands. He used no linen about his person or bed ; and he slept on a miserable pallet like that used by the monks of his fraternity, and so contrived as to be concealed from observation under the luxurious couch in which he affected to repose.^' As soon as Ximenes entered on the duties of his office, he bent all the energies of his mind to the consummation of the schemes of reform, which his royal mistress, as well as himself, had so much at heart. His attention was particularly directed to the clergy of his diocese, who had widely departed from the rule of St. Augustine, by which they 31 Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS. — Quintanilla, Archetype, lib. 2, cap. 8, 9. — Gomez, de Rebus Gestis, fol. 12. — Oviedo, Quin- cuagenas, MS. — Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 13. He commonly slept in hits Fran- ciscan hal)it. Of course his toilet took no long time. On one occa- sion, as he was travelling, and up as usual long before dawn, he urged his muleteer to dress him- self quickly ; at which the latter irreverently exclaimed, " Cuerpo de Dios ! does your holiness think I have nothing more to do, than to shake myself like a wet spaniel, and tighten my cord a little ! ' Quintanilla, Archetypo, ubi supra.