singular acuteness and information, we have particular narratives of the
several reigns, in an unbroken series, from the emperor Charles the Fifth
(the First of Spain) to Charles the Third, at the close of the last
century, by authors whose names are a sufficient guaranty for the
excellence of their productions. It is singular, that, with this attention
to the modern history of the Peninsula, there should be no particular
account of the period which may be considered as the proper basis of it,--
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.

In this reign, the several States, into which the country had been broken
up for ages, were brought under a common rule; the kingdom of Naples was
conquered; America discovered and colonized; the ancient empire of the
Spanish Arabs subverted; the dread tribunal of the Modern Inquisition
established; the Jews, who contributed so sensibly to the wealth and
civilization of the country, were banished; and, in fine, such changes
were introduced into the interior administration of the monarchy, as have
left a permanent impression on the character and condition of the nation.

The actors in these events were every way suited to their importance.
Besides the reigning sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, the latter
certainly one of the most interesting personages in history, we have, in
political affairs, that consummate statesman, Cardinal Ximenes, in
military, the "Great Captain," Gonsalvo de Cordova, and in maritime, the
most successful navigator of any age, Christopher Columbus; whose entire
biographies fall within the limits of this period. Even such portions of
it as have been incidentally touched by English writers, as the Italian
wars, for example, have been drawn so exclusively from French and Italian
sources, that they may be said to be untrodden ground for the historian of
Spain. [1]