problems of government, especially
in Castile, which called for speedy settlement. The long years of weak
and vicious administration had filled the country with all kinds of
abuses, and the task of internal improvement was difficult enough to
cause even a stouter heart to quail. The queen in all these matters
displayed a rare sagacity and developed a rare faculty for handling men
which stood her in good stead. The recalcitrant nobles and the
rebellious commoners were all brought to terms by her influence, and her
power was soon unquestioned. She had an army at her back and a crowd of
officers ready to carry out and enforce her instructions to the letter,
but, more than all this, her great and personal triumph was the result
of her tremendous personal power and magnetism. She travelled all over
Spain in a most tireless fashion, she met the people in a familiar
manner, and showed her sympathy for them in countless ways; but there
was always about her something of that divinity which doth hedge a king,
which made all both fear and respect her. No nook or corner of the whole
country was too remote, her visits covered the whole realm, and
everywhere it was plain to see that her coming had been followed by the
most satisfactory results. Having thus created a great and mighty
public sentiment in her favor, Isabella was not slow to attack the great
questions of national reforms, which were sadly in need of her
attention. She boldly curtailed the privileges of the grandees of Spain,
and to such good effect that she transformed, in an incredibly short
space of time, the most turbulent aristocracy on the continent into a
body of devoted and submissive retainers, the counterpart of which was
not to be found in any other country of Europe. Her wide grasp of
affairs is seen in the support she was willing to give to Columbus in
his voyage overseas, and time and time again she showed herself equal to
the most trying situations in a way which was most surprising in one of
her age and experience. Her firmness of character was ever felt,
although her manners were always mild and her whole attitude was
calculated to conciliate rather than to antagonize.

[Illustration 5:
_ISABELLA RECEIVING COLUMBUS
After the painting by M. V. Crispo
With the conquest of the Moors, the spreading of the influence of Spain
beyond the seas became a more immediate question. Its solution, however,
was still prevented by the theories of statesmen and theologi