obstinate and perverse
heretics, the English; but Anastasio was too well acquainted with human
nature, and with the ways of the world, to be thrown off his guard. He
gave most munificently to the church; and, in spite of all their
attempts to place Isabella in a convent, as a boarder, succeeded in
retaining her under the immediate care of her excellent mother.

In making this arrangement, he was much assisted by a priest, whom he
had formerly been acquainted with, and whom he now took into his family,
as father confessor. In short, by the judicious management of pretty
large sums of money, that he was able to spare, in less than a year
after his return to Spain, Anastasio de Luna obtained the character of a
good Catholic, who had kept fast the integrity of his faith, during a
long residence among heretics. As for Madame de Luna, after having
delivered her over in trust to the devil, the clergy gave themselves
little or no concern about her; though her liberal charity, and the
mildness and sweetness of her disposition, made her friends of all who
knew her. Many a saint, of the present day, holds his character for
sanctity by as slight a tenure, as Anastasio did his as an orthodox
Catholic; and many a modest, unpretending female, has been, like Madame
de Luna, regarded as an infidel, and a vessel of wrath, for not sounding
a trumpet before her, in the exercise of unassuming virtues.

In about three years after his return to his native country, Anastasio
died, bequeathing a large sum to the church, not from any violent
partiality to the Catholic faith, but in order to secure peace to his
wife and daughter. His widow intended to return to England; but her
health was failing rapidly, and in a little more than a year after her
husband's death, she followed him to the grave, with her last breath
enjoining upon her daughter never to part with the faith in which she
had been educated, and never to marry a Catholic, unless she was sure of
the purity and goodness of his morals. This might seem illiberal in her;
but there is no accounting for the prejudices of people, especially upon
religious subjects.

After her mother's death, Isabella had no alternative left, but to take
refuge in the family of her uncle, Don Gaspar, who had already shown
great fondness for her, and who received her with great cordiality and
affection. In this family she was permitted to do much as she pleased;
her gentle and amiable disposition soon won the