Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/230

204 204 ILLNESS AND DEATH OF ISABELLA. Ihiiversal liomage to her virtues. PART found, in that sad hour. Isabella, on the other — '- — hand, sunk under a too acute sensibility to the suf- ferings of others. But, amidst the gloom, which gathered around her, she looked with the eye of faith to the brighter prospects which unfolded of the 1 future ; and, when she resigned her last breath, it was amidst the tears and universal lamentations of her people. It is in this undying, unabated attachment of the nation, indeed, that we see the most unequivocal testimony to the virtues of Isabella. In the down- ward progress of things in Spain, some of the most ill-advised measures of her administration have found favor and been perpetuated, while the more salutary have been forgotten. This may lead to a misconception of her real merits. In order to es- timate these, we must listen to the voice of her contemporaries, the eyewitnesses of the condi- tion in which she found the state, and in which she left it. We shall then see but one judgment formed of her, whether by foreigners or natives. The French and Italian writers equally join in celebrating the triumphant glories of her reign, and her magnanimity, wisdom, and purity of character.'^ Her own subjects extol her as "the '4 " Quum generosi," says Paolo Giovio, speakingfof her, " pruden- tisque animi magnitudine, turn pu- dicitiaj et pietatis laude antiquis heroidibus comparanda." (Vitse Illust. Virorum, p. 205.) Guicciar- dini eulogizes her as " Donna di onestissimi costumi, e in concetto grandissinio nei Regni suoi di ma- gnanimity e prudenza." (Istoria, lib. 6.) The loyal sen^iteur notices her death in the following chival- rous strain. " L'an 1500, une des plus triumphantcs et glorieuses dames qui puis mille ans ait est6 sur terre alia de vie a trcspas ; ce fut la roync Ysabel de Castillo, qui ayda, le bras arme, k conquesler le roy- aulme de Grenade sur les Mores. Je veux bien asseurer aux lecteurs