Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/453

HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 426 little taste as time for lighter and more elegant chapter XXV amusements. He spoke briefly, and always to the ^— point. He was no friend of idle ceremonies, and useless visits ; though his situation exposed him more or less to both. He frequently had a volume lying open on the table before him, and when his visiter stayed too long, or took up his time with light and frivolous conversation, he intimated his dissat- isfaction by resuming his reading. The cardinal's book must have been as fatal to a reputation as Fontenelle's ear trumpet.^' I will close this sketch of Ximenez de Cisneros His person. with a brief outline of his person. His complexion was sallow ; his countenance sharp and emaciated ; his nose aquiline ; his upper lip projected far over the lower. His eyes were small, deep set in his head, dark, vivid, and penetrating. His forehead ample, and, what was remarkable, without a wrin- kle, though the expression of his features was some- what severe.'^ His voice was clear, but not agree- able ; his enunciation measured and precise. His 38 Oviedo, Quincuagenas,MS.— without sutures. (Gomez, De Re- Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, ubi su- bus Gestis, fol. 218.) Richelieu's pra. — Robles, Vida de Ximenez, was found to be perforated with cap. 13. — Qumtanilla, Archetypo, little holes. The abbe Richard de- lib. 2, cap. 5, 7, 8 ; who cites Dr. duces a theory from this, which Vergara, the cardinal's friend. may startle the physiologist even It is Baron Grimm, I think, who more than the facts. " On ouvrit tells us of Fontenelle's habit of son Test, on y trouva 12 petits dropping his trumpet when the con- trous par ou s'exhaloienl les va- versation did not pay him for the peurs de son cerveau, cequi fit qu' trouble of holding it up. The ii n'eut jamais aucun mal de tete ; goodnatured Reynolds, according to au lieu que le Test de Ximenes Goldsmith, could "shift his trum- etoit sans suture, a quoi Ton attri- pet " on such an emergency also. bua les effroyables douleurs de 39 Ximenes's head was examined tete qu'il avoit presque toujours." some forty years after his inter- Parallele, p. 177. ment, and the skull was found to be VOL. III. 54