Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/157

BIRTH OF ISABELLA. 13 external beauty, to say nothing of those delightful chapter romantic ballads, which seemed to spring up spon- '- — taneously in every quarter of the country, like the natural wild flowers of the soil. But the unaffect- ed beauties of sentiment, which seem rather the result of accident than design, were dearly pur- chased, in the more extended pieces, at the expense of such a crude mass of grotesque and undigested verse, as shows an entire ignorance of the princi- ples of the art.^^ The profession of letters itself was held in little us enconr- agement uu- repute by the higher orders of the nation, who 'ler Joi'""- were altogether untinctured with liberal learning. While the nobles of the sister kingdom of Aragon, assembled in their poetic courts, in imitation of their Provencal neighbours, vied with each other in lays of love and chivalry, those of Castile dis- dained these effeminate pleasures as unworthy of the profession of arms, the only one of any estima- tion in their eyes. The benignant influence of John was perceptible in softening this ferocious temper. He was himself sufficiently accomplished, for a king ; and, notwithstanding his aversion to business, manifested, as has been noticed, a lively relish for intellectual enjoyment. He was fond of books, wrote and spoke Latin with facility, composed verses, and condescended occasionally to correct those of his loving subjects. ^^ Whatever 12 See the ample collections of ton Epistolario, (Madrid, 1775,) Sanchez, " Poesias Castellanas epist. 20,49. — Cibdareal has given anteriores al Siglo XV." 4 torn, us a specimen of this royal criti- Madrid, 1779-1790. cism, which Juan de Mena, the 13 Guzman, Generaciones, cap. subject of it, was courtier enough 33. — Gomez de Cibdareal, Cen- to adopt.