Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/80

56 oQ WAR OF GRANADA. PART I. Dispelled by Isabella, decidedly opposed to it. In this perplexity, Ferdi- nand, as usual in similar exigencies, resolved to take counsel of the queen. ^^ Isabella received her husband's despatches a few hours after they vv^ere vv^ritten, by means of the regular line of posts maintained betw^een the camp and her station at Jaen. She was filled with cha- grin at their import, from which she plainly saw, that all her mighty preparations were about to vanish into air. Without assuming the responsi- bility of deciding the proposed question, however, she besought her husband not to distrust the provi- dence of God, which had conducted them through so many perils towards the consummation of their wishes. She reminded him, that the Moorish for- tunes were never at so low an ebb as at present, and that their own operations could proba])ly never be resumed on such a formidable scale or under so favorable auspices as now, when their arms had 10 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, MS., cap. 92. — Cardonne, Hist. d'Afrique et d'Espagne, torn. iii. pp. 299, 300. — Bleda, Coronica, p. 611. — Garibay, Compendio, torn. ii. p. 664. Don Gutierre de Cardenas, who possessed so high a place in the confidence of the sovereigns, oc- cupied a station in the queen's household, as we have seen, at the time of her marriage with Ferdi- nand. His discretion and general ability enabled him to retain the influence which he had early ac- quired, as is shown by a popular distich of that time. " Cardenns, y el Cardenal, y Chacon, y Frny Mortero, Traen la Corte nl rotortero." Fray Mortero was Don Alonso de Burgos, bishop of Palencia, con- fessor of the sovereigns. Don Juan Chacon was the son of Gonsalvo, who had the care of Don Alfonso and the queen during her minority, when he was induced by the lib- eral largesses of John H., of Ara- gon, to promote her marriage with his son Ferdinand. The elder Chacon was treated by the sove- reigns with the greatest deference and respect, being usually called by them " father." After his death, they continued to manifest a simi- lar regard towards Don Juan, his eldest son, and heir of his ample honors and estates. Salazar de Mendoza,Dignidades, lib. 4, cap. 1. — Oviedo, Quincuagenas,MS.,bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 1, 2.