to his intimate friends how, by such a scheme, he had thought to inveigle and destroy his five most irreconcileable enemies all at once.' Let us first remark how unlikely it is, that in order to save two obscure gentlemen, Hinestrosa should be forced to consent, or appear to consent, to the commission of so odious a crime. Moreover, is it probable, that at the moment when, with the king's concurrence, he had just saved Don Fadrique's life, that prince should commission him to invent some plan of ambuscade for the purpose of destroying the Master? If we are to imagine that Don Pedro, in the craftiness of his policy, refrained from striking his enemies until they were all assembled, lest the death of one of them might serve as a warning to the others, how can we suppose that he would not have made the greatest effort possible to draw into the snare the Conde de Trastamara, who was a much more dangerous opponent than Don Tello? We are to believe then that he would have been contented with five heads, but that four would not satisfy him. What precision, what method in his vengeance! That Don Pedro, notwithstanding his oaths, had preserved his hatred and mistrust of the bastards and those Ricos Hombres who had offended him, is unhappily too probable; but is it credible that at a time when the disorders in the kingdom were not yet appeased, he should have wantonly rekindled the fire of civil war by the commission of an execrable crime, a crime moreover useless so long as Don Enrique lived! He * Ayala, p. 211. alone would suffice to rally the discontented, and would have become so much the more formidable when his authority was no longer shared with others. However, notwithstanding all these improbabilities, I cannot pronounce the judicious Ayala guilty of a gratuitous calumny. It is possible that Don Pedro, embittered by misfortune, and recollecting that once he had his mortal enemies in his power, might have openly expressed his regret at not having profited by the opportunity fortune had presented. Thence, perhaps, originated the story I have just related, the inconsistency of which, I think I have clearly demonstrated. Let me add, that Don Tello, when informed of the correspondence secretly carried on between the king and his counsellor Avendaño, caused him to be assassinated a short time after the taking of Palenzuela," by which," says the chronicler, "Don Tello became more absolute master in Biscay than he had been before."* It may reasonably be imagined that the young prince, in order to justify this murder, affected to believe Avendaño more guilty than he was in reality, and that he gave credit to the reports circulated of treasonable practices meditated against his friends and himself. Nor do I think that we need attach greater credit to another project of assassination said to have been devised about the same time against Don Fadrique alone, who, according to Ayala, was intended to have been killed in a tournament held at Tordesillas in the presence of Maria de Padilla. "But," adds he naïvely, "the scheme failed, the king not choosing to discover the secret to those who * Ayala, p. 214. We shall soon see that our chronicler was much deceived as to the consequences of this murder. were to have done the deed."* If we are to find a meaning for this phrase, I presume it was proposed to give to the opponents of the Master some unknightly weapon like the poisoned foil in Shakespeare's Hamlet. I am not sure that I ought to stop to justify Don Pedro for a crime which was never consummated, and indeed the very vagueness of the accusation renders defence difficult; I shall content myself with opposing to an imputation resting upon so slender a foundation, a fact cited by the same Ayala, which demonstrates its improbability. Immediately after the tournament of Tordesillas, two men, attached to the person of Don Fadrique, the one a burgher of Valladolid, the other of Toledo, were arrested and put to death by the court Alguazils. Both had borne an active part in the late troubles, and had been associated with the most factious of the League.† If Don Pedro were then really plotting the destruction of the Master of Santiago, he very speedily forgot that treacherous policy which just now was attributed to him, for by punishing the inferior followers of his brother, he gave him reason to fear on his own account, and thus placed him on his guard. On the other hand, is it not evident that in executing obscure rebels like these, the king had no other intention than to display his power, and to let the grandees of his kingdom, especially Don Fadrique, see the reward he reserved for the rebellious? Don Pedro loved to make himself feared, and Don Fadrique had, by his conduct, merited a still severer "Pero non se pudo facer, ca non les quiso el rey descobrir este secreto a los que entraron en el torneo, que avian de facer esta obra, e por tanto cesò." Ayala, p. 212. † Ayala, p. 212. lesson than he had already received through the punish ment of his adherents. Castile was now pacified. The condition of the northern provinces no longer inspired uneasiness. Don Tello, however, still found pretexts for remaining in Biscay. The king, weary of expecting his arrival, but satisfied, or feigning to be satisfied with the reiterated assurances of submission which he received from him, repaired with his whole court to Seville, which had already by its pleasant situation and the industry of its inhabitants, become the most important city of his empire. It was his residence from choice; he took pleasure in embellishing it with magnificent monuments, in giving there sumptuous entertainments and fêtes, and displaying a luxury hitherto unknown to the sovereigns of Castile. Maria de Padilla followed him to Seville, and occupied an apartment in the Alcazar. Since the termination of his misfortunes, Don Pedro had thrown aside the mask. He now treated his mistress as a queen, and the people had learned to respect his choice. THE treaty of Atienza, which was as ill observed by Castile, as by Aragon, had failed in establishing amicable relations between the two courts. Since Alburquerque's retirement, the coldness and distrust between them had increased. A conflict between these rival monarchs, both young, ambitious, passionate, and aiming at absolute dominion, had been continually apprehended, and doubtless it would have taken place sooner but that Pedro IV. had been forced to turn his attention to the revolt in Sardinia, and Don Pedro was entirely occupied with the civil war raging in his own kingdom. On both sides their domestic grievances were serious. The Aragonese monarch saw with displeasure that his half; brothers, Don Fernando and Don Juan, had been welcomed at the Castilian court, and through the intestine disorders of that country, were become powerful. The cession of Alicante and Orihuela made by Don Fernando to Don Pedro, had appeared to reveal projects of aggression which Pedro IV. endeavoured to counteract by secretly inducing the Infantes to withdraw from the |