Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/273

DEATH OF HENRY IV. 129 for some time gathering in the distance, now burst chapteu with pitiless fury. In the beginning of February, 1474, an embassy consisting of two of his principal 1474 nobles, accompanied by a brilliant train of cava- liers and attendants, had been deputed by John to the court of Louis XL, for the ostensible purpose of settling the preliminaries of the marriage, previous- ly agreed on, between the dauphin and the infanta Isabella, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, then little more than three years of age.^^ The real object of the mission was to effect some definitive adjustment or compromise of the differences relat- ing to the contested territories of Roussillon and Cerdagne. The king of France, who, notwith- standing his late convention with John, was making active preparations for the forcible occupation of these provinces, determined to gain time by amus- ing the ambassadors with a show of negotiation, and interposing every obstacle which his ingenuity could devise to their progress through his domin- ions. He succeeded so well in this latter part of his scheme, that the embassy did not reach Paris until the close of Lent. Louis, who seldom resided in his capital, took good care to be absent at this season. The ambassadors in the interim were entertained with balls, ye^es, military reviews, and whatever else might divert them from the real ob- jects of their mission. All communication was cut 23 Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiio Oct. 1st, 1470 ; afterwards queen 70. — This was the eldest child of Portugal, of Ferdinand and Isabella, born VOL. I. 17