leaden images of
the saints to which he prayed, but told them falsehoods even in
his prayers. His choice of a confidential adviser was perhaps
his greatest offence in the eyes of the nobility, for he
selected his barber, Olivier le Dain, or Oliver the Devil. This
man mocked his master even while he served him. Our engraving,
after the painting of Hermann Kaulbach, represents both in
characteristic positions.]

ISABELLA OF CASTILE[13]

By SARAH H. KILLIKELLY

(1451-1504)

[Footnote 13: Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.]

[Illustration: Isabella. [TN]]

Isabella, the only daughter of John II., of Castile, and Isabella, of
Portugal, his second wife, was born in Madrigal, Spain, in 1451. Upon
the death of her father her elder half-brother succeeded to the throne
in 1454, as Henry IV. The queen dowager retired from court life with her
infant son Alfonso, and her daughter Isabella, then in her fourth year.
The royal children were reared by a wise mother in the seclusion of the
little town of Arevalo, until Isabella was twelve years old. How
carefully the seeds of character were sown in these early years is shown
by the after-fruits. Her fervent piety and unwavering faith, her strict
integrity and self-abnegation, disarmed the enemies of her crown, as
they disarm the unprejudiced historian of to-day. The verdict of four
hundred years is still: "Her faults were the faults of her age, her
virtues were her own." The quiet home life at Arevalo came suddenly to
an end in 1463, when King Henry arbitrarily ordered the infantas, as all
royal children are called in Spain, to repair to the palace as members
of his court. Thus at the early age of twelve years Isabella entered
upon her public career, and from thenceforth the eyes of the civilized
world were turned upon her. Shortly after, a revolution deposed Henry
and placed Alfonso upon the throne. Both kings had their followers, and
the boy-king, eleven years old, rode on horseback at the head of his
troops beside his appointed regent. But the crown was too heavy for the
young victim, and Alfonso was one morning found dead in his bed. To
Isabella, a beautiful girl of sixteen, the fallen crown was offered and
urged; but in spite of the fact that the old standard had already been
unfurled in her honor, and unmoved by the eloquence of the primate and
the arguments of the first nobles of the land, Isabell