confirms the character given him by the
shrewd French cynic as one of the most thorough egotists who ever sat on
a throne, as well as that of his English son-in-law, who knew enough to
call him "the wisest king that ever ruled Spain."

Beside Ferdinand sleeps his lion-hearted consort. It is her lofty soul
which broods over the sepulchre and heightens the feeling of reverence
already inspired by reja and sarcophagus. She is still the brightest
star that ever rose in the Spanish firmament and shone in clear radiance
above even the lights of Ximenez, of Columbus, or the Great Captain. Her
smile is now as cold and her look as placid as moonlight sleeping on
snow.

Noble, tender-hearted and true, dauntless, self-sacrificing and
faithful, she rose supreme in every relation of life and the great
crisis of her people's history. "In all her revelations of Queen or
Woman," said Lord Bacon, "she was an honour to her sex, and the corner
stone of the greatness of Spain."

Standing before her tomb, on the battlefield of her victorious armies,
the clear perspective and calm judgment of four centuries still declare
her "of rare qualities,--sweet gentleness, meekness, saint-like,
wife-like government, the Queen of earthly queens."

BOOKS CONSULTED

DE AMICIS, EDMONDO. _Spain._

BAEDEKER, KARL. _Spain (Guidebook)._

BERMUDEZ, CEAN. _Descripcion Artistica de la Catedral de Sevilla._

BERMUDEZ, CEAN. _Noticias de los Arquitectos y Arquitectura de Espana._

CAVEDA, JOSE. _Ensayo Historico sobre los diversos Generos de
Arquitectura._

DIDIER. _Annee en Espagne._

DUMAS, ALEXANDRE, PERE. _De Paris a Cadiz._

ELLIS, HAVELOCK. _Macmillan's_, May, 1903 (vol. 88).

FORD, RICHARD. _The Spaniards and their Country._

FORD, RICHARD. _Gatherings in Spain._

GAUTIER, THEOPHILE. _Voyage En Espagne._

HARE, A. J. C. _Wanderings in Spain._

HAY, JOHN. _Castilian Days._

HUME, M. A. S. _The Spanish People._

HUME AND BURKE. _History of Spain._

HUTTON, EDWARD. _The Cities of Spain._

HUTTON, EDWARD. _Studies in Lives of the Saints._

IRVING, WASHINGTON. _Alhambra._

JUNGHAENDEL, MAX. _Die Baukunst Spanien's._

LAMPEREZ Y ROMEA, D. VICENTE. _Estudio sobre las Catedrales Espanas._

LAMPEREZ Y ROMEA, D. VICENTE. _Historia de la Arquitectura Cristiana
Espanola en la Edad Media._

LUND, L. _Spanske tilstande i nutid og fortid._

LYNCH, HANNAH. _Toledo, the Story of a Spanish Capital._

MEAGHER, JAMES L. _The Great C