other remarkable passage, and to us almost conclusive, is
the following--
"Je le menai au comte-duc, qui le recut tres poliment, et lui dit
qu'il s'etoit si bien conduit dans son gouvernement de la ville de
Valence, que le roi, le jugeant propre a remplir une plus grande
place, l'avoit nomme a la viceroyaute d'Aragon. D'ailleurs,
ajouta-t-il, cette dignite n'est point au-dessus de votre
naissance, et la noblesse Aragonoise ne sauroit murmurer contre le
choix de la cour."
This alludes to a dispute between the Spanish government and the
Aragonese, which had continued from the days of Charles V. The Aragonese
claimed either that the king himself should reside among them, or be
represented by some person of the royal blood. Charles V. appointed, as
viceroy of Aragon, his uncle, the Archbishop of Zaragoza, and then Don
Fernando de Aragon, his cousin. Philip II. appointed a Castilian to that
dignity. This produced great disturbances in Aragon, and the dispute
lasted till 1692, when the Aragonese settled the matter by putting the
Castilian viceroy, Inigo de Mendoza, to death. His successor was an
Aragonese, Don Miguel de Luna, Conde de Morata, and he was succeeded by
Don John of Austria, his brother. It is most improbable that M. Le Sage,
whose knowledge of Spanish literature was very superficial, and whose
ignorance of Spanish history was complete, should have understood this
allusion. This, therefore, leads to the conclusion that it must have
been taken from a Spanish manuscript.
In conformity with this we find Mariana saying, in the days of Ferdinand
and Isabella--"Los Aragoneses no querian recebir por Virrey a D. Ramon
Folch, Conde de Cardona, que el rey tenia senalado para este cargo;
decian era contra sus fueros poner en el gobierno de su reyno hombre
extrangero. Hobo demandas y respuestas, mas al fin el rey temporizo con
ellos, y nombro por Virrey a su hijo D. Alonso de Aragon, Arzobispo de
Zaragoza."
Can any one doubt that the writer of the following passage had seen the
spot he describes?
"Il me fit traverser une cour, et monter par un escalier fort
etroit a une petite chambre qui etoit tout an haut de la tour. Je
ne fus pas peu surpris, en entrant dans cette chambre, de voir sur
une table deux chandelles, qui bruloient dans des flambeaux de
cuivre, et deux couverts assez propres. Dans un moment, me dit
Tordesillas, on va nous apporter a mange
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