Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/218

192 office. No reverence for the ministers of religion could lead her to wink at their misconduct; nor could the deference she entertained for the head of the church, allow her to tolerate his encroachments on the rights of her crown. She seemed to con- sider herself especially bound to preserve entire the peculiar claims and privileges of Castile, after its union under the same sovereign with Aragon. And although, " while her own will was law," says Peter Martyr, " she governed in such a manner that it might appear the joint action of both Ferdinand and herself," yet she was careful never to surrender into his hands one of those prerogatives, which belonged to her as queen proprietor of the kingdom.

Isabella's measures were characterized by that practical good sense, without which the most brilliant parts may work more to the woe, than to the weal of mankind. Though engaged all her life in reforms, she had none of the failings so common in reformers. Her plans, though vast, were never vis