rras followed the example, and the
Christians were threatened with the loss of those acquisitions, which
their valour and perseverance had so nobly won.

It is at this interesting period that the following romance takes place;
and some of the subsequent events of the rebellion form the historical
portion of its subject.

CHAPTER II.

We are up in arms,
If not to fight with foreign enemies,
Yet to beat down these rebels here at home.

_Shakespeare._

Alarming accounts of the resolution taken by the insurgents being
communicated to the queen, she lost no time in adopting measures for the
preservation of her power. She summoned around her all those counsellors
in whose judgment she had ever confided, and those champions on whose
valour, in the hour of danger, she firmly relied.

At the upper end of the hall of audience in which they were now
assembled, was seen the queen seated on a magnificent throne, over
which was suspended a rich canopy of crimson velvet. Isabella could
scarcely be considered at first sight as one born to command; her
stature was not above the middle size; but there was a certain air of
dignity which pervaded her every action. The mildness which beamed in
her bright blue eye seemed rather to act as a persuasive to the
observance of her mandates, than as a command, and her displeasure was
manifested more by reproaches than by threats. Few women could boast of
greater personal attractions--none a better regulated mind; if fault
there were, it might be traced in the cloud which darkened her brow,
when a consciousness of what was due to religion stood most prominently
forward. At such times she became severe and abstracted; and yet her
occasional austerity could hardly be condemned by her subjects, when it
led to that firmness and courage, and that inflexibility in the decrees
of justice, for which she was so remarkable. If the grave historian has
stamped her character with these attributes of heroism, what scope may
not be allowed to the writer of historical fiction? Distinguished by his
noble bearing and his honorable station, on the right hand of the queen
stood the renowned Alonso de Aguilar, the terror of the Moorish name. He
had, like his brother, the heroic Gonzalo de Cordova, particularly
distinguished himself in the wars against Granada, and was honored with
the regard and unlimited confidence of Isabella. Of a lofty and imposing
stature, he uni