Ferdinand's life, 156 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. PART infantas, and a brilliant train of Castilian nobles. ' In their progress through the country they were everywhere received with the most lively enthusi- asm. The whole nation seemed to abandon itself to jubilee, at the approach of its illustrious sove- reigns, whose heroic constancy had rescued Spain from the detested empire of the Saracens. After devoting some months to the internal police of the kingdom, the court transferred its residence to Catalonia, whose capital it reached about the mid- dle of October. During its detention in this place, Ferdinand's career was wellnigh brought to an un- timely close. ^ Attempt on jj ^vas a ffood old custom of Catalonia, long since Ferdinand's o > o fallen into desuetude, for the monarch to preside in the tribunals of justice, at least once a week, for the purpose of determining the suits of the poorer classes especially, who could not afford the more expensive forms of litigation. King Ferdinand, in conformity with this usage, held a court in the house of deputation, on the 7th of December, being the vigil of the conception of the Virgin. At noon, as he was preparing to quit the palace, after the conclusion of business, he lingered in the rear of his retinue, conversing with some of the officers of the court. As the party was issuing from a little chapel contiguous to the royal saloon, and just as the king was descending a flight of stairs, a ruffian darted from an obscure recess in which he had 1 Zurita, Anales, torn. v. fol. 13. — Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28.
