Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/427

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CHAPTER VI. XIMENES IN GRANADA. — PERSECUTION, INSURRECTION, AND CONVERSION OF THE MOORS. 1499 — 1500. Tranquil State of Granada. — Mild Policy of Talavera. — Clergy Dis- satisfied with it. — Violent Measures of Ximenes. — His Fanaticism. — Its mischievous Effects. — Insurrection in Granada. — Tranquillity restored. — Baptism of the Inhabitants. Moral energy, or constancy of purpose, seems chapter to be less properly an independent power of the '■ — , , 1 r • 1 1 • 1 • • Introductory mind than a mode oi action, by which its various remarks. powers operate with effect. But, however this may be, it enters more largely, perhaps, than mere talent, as commonly understood, into the formation of what is called character, and is often confounded by the vulgar with talent of the highest order. In the ordinary concerns of life, indeed, it is more ser- viceable than brilliant parts ; while, in the more im- portant, these latter are of little weight without it, evaporating only in brief and barren flashes, which may dazzle the eye by their splendor, but pass away and are forgotten. The importance of moral energy is felt not only, where it would be expected, in the concerns of active life, but in those more exclusively of an VOL. II. 51