Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/418

394 394 RISE OF XIMENES. II. PART church, who was destitute of nearly every qualifi- cation, even that of birth ; whose sanctity was a mere cloak to cover his ambition ; whose morose and melancholy temper made him an enemy not only of the elegances, but the common courtesies of life ; and whose rude manners were not compen- sated by any tincture of liberal learning. He de- plored the magnitude of the evil, which his intem- perate measures had brought on the church, but which it was, perhaps, not yet too late to rectify ; and he concluded by admonishing her, that, if she valued her own fame, or the interests of her soul, she would compel this man of yesterday to abdicate the office, for which he had proved himself so incompetent, and return to his original obscurity ! The queen, who listened to this violent harangue with an indignation, that prompted her more than once to order the speaker from her presence, put a restraint on her feelings, and patiently waited to the end. When he had finished, she calmly asked him, " If he was in his senses, and knew whom he was thus addressing ? " " Yes," replied the en- raged friar, " I am in my senses, and know very well whom I am speaking to ; — the queen of Cas- tile, a mere handful of dust, like myself!" With these words, he rushed out of the apartment, shut- ting the door after him with furious violence. ^^ Such impotent bursts of passion could, of course, have no power to turn the queen from her purpose. 30 Fiddlier, Hist, de Ximen^s, Rey Hernando, lib. 3, cap. 15. — pp. 5G, 58. — Gomez, De Rebus Robles, Vida de Ximenez, cap. 13. Geslis, fol. 14. — Zurila, Hist, del