and of her grandson and prospective heir, Prince Miguel, had been three cruel wounds to her maternal heart. To these were added the constant grief caused by the infirmity of intellect of her daughter Juana, and the domestic unhappiness of that princess with her husband the archduke Philip. The desolation which walks through palaces admits not the familiar sympathies and sweet consolations which alleviate the sorrows of common life. Isabella pined in state, amidst the obsequious homage of a court, surrounded by the trophies of a glorious and successful reign, and placed at the summit of earthly grandeur. A deep and incurable melancholy settled upon her, which undermined her constitution, and gave a fatal acuteness to her bodily maladies. After four months of illness, she died on the 26th of November, 1504, at Medina del Campo, in the fifty-fourth year of her age; but long before her eyes closed upon the world, her heart had closed upon all its pomps and vanities. Let my body," said she, in her will," be interred in the monastery of San Francisco, in the alhambra of the city of Granada, in a low sepulchre, with no other monument than a plain stone, and an inscription. But I desire and command, that if the king, my lord, should choose a sepulchre in any church or monastery, in any other part or place of these my kingdoms, that my body be transported thither, and buried beside the body of his highness; so that the union we have enjoyed while living, and which, through the mercy of God, we hope our souls will experience in heaven, may be represented by our bodies in the earth *.”

66

* The dying command of Isabella has been obeyed. The author of this work has seen her tomb in the royal chapel of the cathedral of Granada, in which her remains are interred

Such was one of several passages in the will of this admirable woman, which bespoke the chastened humility of her heart, and in which, as has been well observed, the affections of conjugal love were delicately entwined with fervent religion and the most tender melancholy. She was one of the purest spirits that ever ruled over the destinies of a nation. Had she been spared, her benignant vigilance would have prevented many a scene of horror in the colonization of the new world, and might have softened the lot of its native inhabitants. As it is, her fair name will ever shine with celestial radiance in the early dawning of its history.

The news of the death of Isabella reached Columbus while he was writing a letter to his son. He notices it in a postscript or memorandum, written in the haste and brevity of the moment, but in beautifully touching and mournful terms. "A memorial,” he writes, "for thee, my dear son Diego, of what is at present to be done. The principal thing is to commend affectionately, and with great devotion, the soul of the queen, our sovereign, to God. Her life was always catholic and pious, and prompt to all things in his holy service; for this reason we may rest assured that she is received into his glory, and beyond the cares of this rough and weary world. The next thing is, to watch and labour in all matters for the service of our sovereign, the king, and to endeavour to alleviate his grief. His majesty is the head of Christendom. Remember the proverb,

with those of Ferdinand. Their effigies, sculptured in white marble, lie side by side, on a magnificent sepulchre. The altar of the chapel is adorned with bas reliefs, representing the conquest and surrender of Granada,

. which says, when the head suffers all the members suffer. Therefore all good Christians should pray for his health and long life; and we, who are in his employ, ought more than others to do this with all study and diligence."

It is impossible to read this letter without being moved by the simply eloquent yet artless language in which Columbus expresses his tenderness for the memory of his benefactress, his weariness under the gathering cares and ills of life, and his persevering and enduring loyalty towards the sovereign who was so ungratefully neglecting him.

The death of Isabella was a fatal blow to his fortunes. While she lived, he had every thing to anticipate from her high sense of justice, her regard for her royal word, her gratitude for his services, and her admiration of his character. With her illness, however, his interests had languished; and when she died, he was left to the justice and generosity of Ferdinand !

During the remainder of the winter, and a great part of the spring, he remained at Seville, detained by painful illness. His brother, the Adelantado, who supported him with his accustomed fondness and devotion through all his trials, proceeded to court to attend to his concerns, taking with him the admiral's younger son, Fernando, then aged about seventeen. The latter the affectionate father repeatedly represents to his son Diego, as a man in understanding and conduct, though but a stripling in years, and inculcates the strongest fraternal attachment; alluding to his own brethren with one of those warm and affecting touches which speak the kindness of his heart. "To thy brother con

1504.] FRUITLESS APPLICATION FOR REDRESS. 343 duct thyself as the elder brother should unto the younger. Thou hast no other, and I praise God that this is such a one as thou dost need. Ten brothers would not be too many for thee. Never have I found a better friend, to right or left, than my brothers."

Among the persons whom Columbus employed, at this time, in his missions to the court, was Amerigo Vespucci. He describes him as a worthy but unfortunate man, who had not profited as much as he deserved by his undertakings, and who had always been disposed to render him service.

It was not until the month of May that Columbus was able to accomplish his journey to court, which was at that time at Segovia. He, who but a few years before had entered the city of Barcelona in triumph, attended by the chivalry of Spain, and hailed with rapture by the multitude, now arrived at the gates of Segovia, a way-worn, melancholy, and neglected man; oppressed even more by sorrows than by his years and infirmities. When he presented himself at court, he was made lamentably sensible of the loss of his protectress, the benignant Isabella. He met with none of that distinguished attention, that cordial kindness, that cherishing sympathy, which his unparalleled services and his recent sufferings had merited. Ferdinand, it is true, received him with many professions of kindness; but with those cold, ineffectual smiles, which pass like wintry sunshine over the countenance, and convey no warmth to the heart.

Many months were passed by Columbus in painful and humiliating solicitation. His main object was to obtain the restitution of his high offices as vice-,

roy and governor of the Indies: as to the mere pecuniary claims for revenues and arrears, he considered them of minor importance, and nobly offered to leave them to the disposition of the king; but his official dignities belonged to his reputation; they had been granted also, by solemn treaty, and were not to be made a matter of arbitrament. As the latter, however, were precisely the claims which the jealous monarch was the least disposed to grant, they stood continually in the way of all arrangement. The whole matter was at one time referred to a tribunal, called the "Junta de Descargos," which had charge of the settlement of the affairs of the late queen, but nothing resulted from their deliberations; the wishes of the king were too well known to be thwarted.

court.

He

Columbus endeavoured to bear these delays with patience; but he had no longer the physical strength, and the glorious anticipations, which had once sustained him through his long application at this He was again confined to his bed by a return of the gout, aggravated by the irritations of his spirit. From this couch of anguish, he addressed one more appeal to the justice of the king. He no longer petitioned for himself, but for his son Diego. entreated that he might be appointed in his place to the government of which he had been so wrongfully deprived. "This," said he, "is a matter which concerns my honour; as to all the rest, do as your majesty thinks proper; give or withhold, as may be most for your interest, and I shall be content. I believe it is the anxiety caused by the delay of this affair, which is the principal cause of my ill health."