MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 73 sovereign by seasonable supplies of men and money, chapter He had even made some considerable conquests for "' himself, when he was induced, by the advice of the marquis of Villena and the archbishop of Tole- do, to refer the arbitration of his diiferences with the king of Aragon to Louis the Eleventh, of France ; a monarch whose habitual policy allowed him to refuse no opportunity of interference in the concerns of his neighbours. The conferences were conducted at Bayonne, interview
- ' ' between
and an interview was subsequently agreed on be- "fdZoul" tween the kings of France and Castile, to be held near that city, on the banks of the Bidassoa, which divides the dominions of the respective monarchs. The contrast exhibited by the two princes at this interview, in their style of dress and equipage, was sufficiently striking to deserve notice. Louis, who was even worse attired than usual, according to Comines, wore a coat of coarse woollen cloth cut .short, a fashion then deemed very unsuitable to persons of rank, with a doublet of fustian, and a weather-beaten hat, surmounted by a little leaden image of the Virgin. His imitative courtiers adopt- ed a similar costume. The Castilians, on the other hand, displayed uncommon magnificence. The barge of the royal favorite, Beltran de la Cueva, was resplendent with sails of cloth of gold, and his apparel glittered with a profusion of costly jewels. Henry was escorted by his Moorish guard gor- geously equipped, and the cavaliers of his train vied with each other in the sumptuous decorations of VOL. I. 10
