"The grand master of Avis was likewise present, as also many from Coimbra, Oporto, and Ourique, the towns which had principally declared in his fa vour. Notwithstanding their presence, however, Don Fernando persevered in his intention of haranguing the nobility in behalf of the young Queen, as soon as the funeral was over. Little attention, however, was paid to what he said, his haughtiness and tyranny preventing his having many partizans: besides, the horrors of a civil war, in which they clearly perceived they should involve the country, by interfering in the business, were too dreadful to the imagination of the few inclined to hearken to him, not to determine them to do no more than remain neuter. With a heart full of gloomy presages, in consequence of the indifference with which his harangue had been received, he returned with the queen to her residence. In the mean time, exasperated at his conduct, the friends of Don John repaired from the church of the Franciscans to the cathedral of St. Dominick, to deliberate on the subject. From the measures he was pursuing, they were unanimous in thinking that if they did not immediately take the field against him, they might be disappointed of seeing the crown upon the head of him they had chosen to reign over them; and accordingly resolved on his immediate death, as a traitor to his country; one who had, both in the present and many other instances, evinced himself an enemy to its interests and honour, but especially in the shameful peace which he had prevailed on the late king to consent to with the king of Castile; to whom, after sending his challenge, on account, as he averred, of his two cousins, the daughters of Pedro, and married the eldest, Constance, to the duke of Lancaster, and the other, Isabella, to his royal brother, the earl of Cambridge, and whose heritage he pretended he unlawfully kept from them, he suddenly evinced a disinclination to meet, notwithstanding his having received a large re-enforcement of men at arms from England; and which disgraceful conduct was entirely imputed to the councils of Don Fernando, whose predilection to Spain, in consequence, it was supposed, of being secretly in her pay, was notorious. They accordingly proceeded in a body with Don John at their head, whose ambition was by this time too much inflamed to allow of his hesitating at any step likely to secure him in the sovereignty, to the mint, where the widowed queen, with her unprincipled kinsman then resided. The efforts made to oppose their entrance were soon defeated; and, in a tumultuous body, they entered the apartment of the lady, who terrified at their appearance, cast herself at the feet of their leader, and with uplifted hands, conjured him to have mercy on her. Her supplications were attended to: Don John lost no time in assuring her, on her own account she had nothing to dread, the sole object of their coming thither being to inflict that summary punishment on the traitor, Don Fernando, which he had merited, and deprive the king of Castile of that dangerous advocate which he had too long had in that country. In vain she attempted to plead for him: the long suspended sword of justice was at length unsheathed -spite of her tears and entreaties, he was dragged from the hiding-place to which his fears had hurried him, and sacrificed to that vengeance his crimes had provoked. Terrified at his fate, she entreated permission, and readily obtained it, to retire to Seville; and confirm R ed, on her arrival there, the reports that had preceded her of the revolt of the Portuguese. The rage and surprise of the king were unutterable, having, from the moment of his marriage with Beatrice, made himself as sure of the kingdom, as if from that period it had actually been in his possession. He immediately deputed two noblemen of distinguished abilities, to proceed thither, for the purpose of endeavouring to bring them back to their allegiance, and levying on the inhabitants of Lisbon, as the first indication of his resentment, the sum which had been promised him with the princess, but which, as yet, he had not received; and with these it was whom the unhappy Ferdinand resolved to leave Seville, in order to give Elvina a proof of his being no longer the dupe of her supposed artifices-a resolution which he found no difficulty in accomplishing, but which seemed so strange, so singular to the mar quis, at such a juncture, that he could not forbear pressing to know the real cause of it, almost persuaded he had not assigned it, when he mentioned a wish to revisit Portugal as the motive of it. In vain, however, he urged its disclosure; pride, generosity, and lingering tenderness, alike guarded the secret. Don Ferdinand could neither bear to acknowledge that he had been deceived, nor yet that Elvina had been the deceiver; and leaving it to time to explain what his father was so desirous of learning, but which, besides, to acknowledge to him now, he reflected, could answer no other end than to unnecessarily agitate and alarm him, departed for Lisbon. CHAP. XIII. Turn not to thought my brain, but let me find To soften and assuage this pain of thinking. ROWE, In the mean while, unconscious of what had hap pened, Elvina listened with astonishment to Don Rodolph, who instead of pleading guilty to the charges advanced against him, and declaring his readiness to acknowledge Dorinda, solemnly asserted his innocence, and denied her having any legal claim whatever upon him. "At the dutchess of Tarazona's, as she herself had mentioned, their acquaintance," he said, "had first commenced; but transcendant as her beauty was, a previous attachment to another object,” and at these words he raised his eyes to the countenance of the lovely Elvina, with an expression that excited a blush of mingled confusion and anger, "had prevented his experiencing any great emotion at the sight of it: but though it had failed, from the above cause, of inspiring him with a warmer feeling than admiration, he was led, from the way in which she evidently courted them, and the interesting softness of her manners, to pay her the most particular attentions, attentions which he confessed his persevering in, till awakened to a sense of their impropriety, as he meant nothing serious by them, in consequence of some expressions which dropt from her, indicative of a belief to the contrary. "To his infinite surprise and regret," he continued, "the alteration in his conduct was followed by a torrent of reproaches, in which she at once accused him of having trifled with her affections, and betrayed the interested motives to which her wish for his alliance was owing. "In order to rid himself of these reproaches, he had shortened his visit to his friend, and returning to Seville, shortly lost sight of her, in the variety of pursuits and avocations in which he was there engaged, till her idea was unexpectedly revived in his mind the preceding day, by a letter from her, conjuring him to meet her at night in the church of St. Ildefonso, in order to afford her his assistance, in extricating her from a situation of the greatest embarrassment and peril, in which an elopement from the protection of the dutchess of Tarazona, owing to the tyranny of that lady, had involved her. "Not doubting the truth of this statement, from not suspecting her possessed of the consummate art," he continued, "which I have now ascertained her being, I suffered myself to be prevailed on to do as she requested; but had scarcely met her, ere, in an affected fright, artfully intended, as you'll perceive by what followed, for the purpose of drawing me still further on, she stopt short in the particulars she appeared on the point of communicating, and telling me she heard some one approaching, and must therefore instantly leave me, desired me, in the course of a little time, to come to the window of her apartment, which she particularly described to me, and she would admit me through it. "I obeyed, anxious to know what service I could render her, and curious, besides, I confess, to learn |