Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/263

237 HIS DEATH. 237 character of the Spanish monarch would not be chapter very likely to comprehend one so ardent and aspir- - — —— ing as that of Columbus, nor to make allowance for his extravagant sallies. And, if nothing has hitherto met our eye to warrant the strong language of the son, yet we have seen that the king, from the first, distrusted the admiral's projects, as having something unsound and chimerical in them. The affliction of the latter at the tidings of Isa- bella's death is strongly depicted in a letter written immediately after to his son Diego. " It is our chief duty," he says, " to commend to God most affectionately and devoutly the soul of our deceased lady, the queen. Her life was always Catholic and virtuous, and prompt to whatever could redound to his holy service ; wherefore, we may trust, she now rests in glory, far from all concern for this rough and weary world." ^ Columbus, at this time, was so much crippled Hisuiness. by the gout, to which he had been long subject, that he was unable to undertake a journey to Sego- via, where the court was, during the winter. He lost no time, however, in laying his situation before the king through his son Diego, who was attached to the royal household. He urged his past servi- ces, the original terms of the capitulation made with him, their infringement in almost every par- ticular, and his own necessitous condition. But Ferdinand was too busily occupied with his own concerns, at this crisis, to give much heed to those 3 Cartas de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, torn. i. p. 341.