dst of confusion and trouble, but it was brilliant from the outset.
Ferdinand had great abilities and an ambition which matched his
abilities. Isabella, no less ambitious than he, was more far-reaching
in her plans, and always saw more clearly than Ferdinand what was
for the true glory of Spain. With infinite tact she softened his
asperities, and disarmed his jealousy, and ruled her "dear lord," by
making him believe he ruled her.

A joint sovereignty, with a man so grasping of power and so jealous of
his own rights, required self-control and tact in no ordinary measure.
It was agreed at last that in all public acts Ferdinand's name should
precede hers; and although her sanction was necessary, his indignation
at this was abated by her promise of submission to his will. The court
of the new sovereigns was established at Seville, and they took up
their abode in that palace so filled with associations both Moorish
and Castilian--the Alcazar. From the very first Isabella's powerful
mind grappled every public question, and she gave herself heart and
soul to what she believed was her divine mission--the building up of
a great Catholic state. Isabella's devout soul was sorely troubled by
the prevalence of Judaism in her kingdom. She took counsel with her
confessor, and also with the Pope, and by their advice a religious
tribunal was established at Seville in 1483, the object of which was
to inquire of heretics whether they were willing to renounce their
faith and accept Christianity. The head of this tribunal, which was
soon followed by others in all the large cites, was a Dominican
friar called _Torquemada_. He was known as the "Inquisitor General."
Inaccessible to pity, mild in manners, humble in demeanor, yet swayed
only by a sense of duty, this strange being was so cruel that he seems
like an incarnation of the evil principle. At the tribunal in Seville
alone it is said that in thirty-six years four thousand victims were
consigned to the flames, besides the thousands more who endured living
deaths by torture, mutilation, and nameless sufferings.

Humanity shudders at the recital! And yet this monstrous tribunal was
the creation of one of the wisest and gentlest of women, who believed
no rigors could be too great to save people from eternal death! And,
in her misguided zeal, she emptied her kingdom of a people who had
helped to create its prosperity, and drove the most valuable part of
her population into France, Italy, an