Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/223

197 HER CHARACTER. 197 Happily these masculine qualities in Isabella did chapter not extinguish the softer ones which constitute the '— charm of her sex. Her heart overflowed with affec- ity.''^"°' ' tionate sensibility to her family and friends. She watched over the declining days of her aged mother, and ministered to her sad infirmities with all the delicacy of filial tenderness. ^° We have seen abun- dant proofs how fondly and faithfully she loved her husband to the last, ^^ though this love was not always as faithfully requited. ^^ For her children she lived more than for herself; and for them too she died, for it was their loss and their afflictions which froze the current of her blood, before age had time to chill it. Her exalted state did not re- 60 We find one of the first arti- cles in the marriage treaty with Ferdinand enjoining him to cherish, and treat her mother with all rev- erence, and to provide suitably for her royal maintenance. (Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. Apend. no. 1.) The author of the " Carro de las Doiias " thus notices her tender devotedness to her parent, at a later period. " Y esto me dijo quien lo vido por sus proprios ojos, que la Reyna Dofia Isabel, nuestra senora, cuando estaba alii en Are- valo visitando a su madre, ella misma por su persona servia a su misma madre. E aqui tomen ejem- plo los hijos como han de servir a sus padres, pues una Reina tan poderosa y en negocios tan arduos puesta, todos los mas de los aiios (puesto todo aparte y pospuesto) iba a visitar a su madre y la servia humilmente." Viaggio, p. 557. 61 Among other little tokens of mutual affection, it may be men- tioned that not only the public coin, but their furniture, books, and oth- er articles of personal property. were stamped with their initials, F & I, or emblazoned with their devices, his being a yoke, and hers a sheaf of arrows. (Oviedo, Quin- cuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 3.) It was common, says Oviedo, for each party to take a device, whose initial corresponded with that of the name of the other ; as was the case here, with jugo SiViA flechas . 62 Marineo thus speaks of the queen's discreet and most amiable conduct in these delicate matters. " Amava en tanta manera al Key su marido, que andava sobre aviso con celos a ver si el amava a otras. Y si sentia que mirava a alguna dama o donzella de su casa con seilal de amores, con mucha prudencia buscava medios y maneras con que despedir aquella tal persona de su casa, con su mu- cha honrra y provecho." (Cosas Memorables, fol. 182.) There was unfortunately too much cause for this uneasiness. See Part II. Chapter 24, of this History.