Part I.,

Chapter 2

, of this History.

[132] "Algunos suponen," says Capmany, "que estas ferias eran ya famosas en tiempo de los Reyes Católicos," etc. (Mem. de Barcelona, tom. iii. p. 356.) A very cursory glance at the laws of this time, will show the reasonableness of the supposition. See the Pragmáticas, fol. 146, and the ordinances from the archives of Simancas, apud Mem. de Acad., tom. vi. pp. 249, 252, providing for the erection of buildings and other accommodations for the "great resort of traders." In 1520, four years after Ferdinand's death, the city, in a petition to the regent, represented the losses sustained by its merchants in the recent fire, as more than the revenues of the crown would probably be able to meet for several years. (Ibid., p. 264.) Navagiero, who visited Medina some six years later, when it was rebuilt, bears unequivocal testimony to its commercial importance. "Medina è buona terra, e piena di buone case, abondante assai se non che le tante ferie che se vi fanno ogn' anno, e il concorso grande che vi è di tutta Spagna, fanno pur che il tutto si paga più di quel che si faria.... La feria è abondante certo di molte cose, ma sopra tutto di speciarie assai, che vengono di Portogallo; ma le maggior faccende che se vi facciano sono cambij." Viaggio, fol. 36.

[133]

"Quien no vió á Sevilla No vió maravilla."

The proverb, according to Zuñiga, is as old as the time of Alonso XI. Annales de Sevilla, p. 183.

[134] The most eminent sculptors were, for the most part, foreigners;--as Miguel Florentin, Pedro Torregiano, Felipe de Borgoña,--chiefly from Italy, where the art was advancing rapidly to perfection in the school of Michael Angelo. The most successful architectural achievement was the cathedral of Granada, by Diego de Siloe. Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, fol. 82.--Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.

[135] At least so says Clemencin, a competent judge. "Desde los mismos principios de su establecimiento fue mas comun la imprenta en España que lo es al cabo de trescientos años dentro ya del siglo décimonono." Elogio de Doña Isabel, Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi.

[136] Ante, Introduction, Sect. 2; Part 1., Chapter 19;