... However Ferdinand might have secretly felt disposed towards
Columbus, the momentary tide of public feeling was not to be resisted.
He joined with his generous queen in her reprobation of the treatment of
the admiral, and both sovereigns hastened to give evidence to the world,
that his imprisonment had been without their authority, and contrary to
their wishes.
* * * * *
=_182._= HIS ARRIVAL AT COURT.
He appeared at court in Granada, on the 17th of December, not as a man
ruined and disgraced, but richly dressed, and attended by an honorable
retinue. He was received by their majesties with unqualified favor and
distinction. When the queen beheld this venerable man approach, and
thought on all that he had deserved, and all that he had suffered,
she was moved to tears. Columbus had borne up firmly against the rude
conflicts of the world; he had endured with lofty scorn the injuries and
insults of ignoble men; but he possessed strong and quick sensibility.
When he found himself thus kindly received by his sovereigns, and beheld
tears in the benign eyes of Isabella, his long-suppressed feelings burst
forth. He threw himself upon his knees, and for some time could not
utter a word for the violence of his tears and sobbings.
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