Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-10-21


that unfortunate lady was INDISPENSABLE
to the security of the royal line and the
general peace of the country: and al
length the king consented to the execu.
ton of the cruel purpose to which his
mind had thus been made familiar. Pedro
was absent on heightened hunting ex.
cursion: and during that absence, AL.
phonse betook himself to Coimbra, ac.
companied by GonSalves, Pacheco, and
Coello, those of his courtiers most hostile
to lnez de Castro. He entered the dwell
ling where she had lived so many years
IN peace with her family. Alone, with
her husband and protector far away, the
unhappy woman beheld this intrusion
with mortal alarm. She gathered her
| children around her, as if her feeble arms
could save them from peril. and prostrat-
ed herself along with them at the feet of
the old king. She implored him to have
pity on his innocent grandchildren, and
on herself their mother. The king was
not without natural feelings, and these
were touched by the appeal made to HIM,
and by the sight of his sons lovely off
spring and their still bcauteous mother.
tie left her uninjured and reioined the
three courticrs, who eagerly waited out
side, eXpcctant of a summons to complete
the bloody act in contemplation. Their
arguments speedily cured the king of his
humane relcntings, and he gave them au-
thority to return to the chamber of Inez.
and dispatch her with their daggers.
The three courtiers waited for no second
orders, but in few minutes had dyed
their weapons in the blood of the defence
less wife Of the infantc. They then hur-
r'ed with the king from the scene of their
barharouS crime.
Don Pedro's rage and grief was violent
in proportion to his affection for Inez
and to the happiness he had enjoyed with
her during their welded life. From the
hour of her death, his very nature SEEM
ed to be changed, and one absorbing,
overwhelming passion-the desire of re-
yenge-took possession Of his soul. In
the first burst of his resentment he took
up arms against his father, and COM
menced bloody civil war. The con-
test was terminated, however, bv the in
terposition Of the aged queen, who repre-
sented to her son the injustice of contin-
uing to punish the whole country for the
crime Of one or few. Pedro was alive
to the justice of this appeal, and laid
down his arms, TO save the nation from
further calamities. He submitted even
10 a reconciliation with his father, who
thenccforth employed all possible means
to appease his son, anddivert his thoughts
fir IN the murdered lncz. However, AL
phOnse allowed the actual assassinS to
quit the country, and take refuge in Cas-
tile. Whether or not the old monarch
succeeded in banishing the remembrance
of lnez from the breast of the infanta,
was made apparent soon afterwards,
when the latter, by the demise of his
father, was called to the throne.
The first act Of the king was to con-
clue treaty with the reigning sovereign
of CASTLE by which all fugitiyes were to
be given up on both sides. Pedro of Por-
tuga! showed a desire to effect this COM
pact at any cost. He betrothed his three
sons to the daughters of the Castilian
sovereign, though these daughters were
illegitimate, being the offspring of Maria
de Padilla-a lady for whose sake the
king Of CASTLE had cruelty misused his
welded queen. By giving his assent to
this arrangement, and any others stipula-
ted for by the other contracting party,
Pedro accomplished the grand object of
his wishes-the qualification of what had
become the ruling passion of his life. He
got into his hands the murderers OF Tnez
de Castro. From these men Pedro had
certainly received mortal injury, and
one that deserved the punishment Of death.
They had cruelty and treacherously vio-
lated the privacy of his home, and forever
ruined its happiness, by dipping their
hands in the blood of an unoffending wo-
man. the wife of his bosom, and the mo-
ther of his infants But the death which
Pedro inflicted on these men was one not
to be excused even by the greatness of
their crime. Gonsalves and Coelho for
Pacheco escaped seizure) perished by tor
lures too painful to describe. Naturally
a man OF no mgentle nature, and even
admittedly possessed of many virtues,
Pedro is said to have glutted his eyes
with the sufferings of his victims, all
other feelings beings being lost in the
qualification of the one great passion of
revenge.
Nor was the monarch satisfied with
this Offering to the names of his wife.-
After the execution of her slayers, he as
sembled the cortes and solemnly took
oath that he had obtained papal dispen-
sation for his marriage with Inez de Cas-
tro, and that that marriage had taken
place in presence of the Bishop of Guarda
and the equerry of his own household,
These individuals confirmed by their
oaths the statement Of the king. The
ceremony ended, new scene took place,
of character almost unexampled in his
tory-a scene so strange, so solemn, so
fearfully impressive in it's nature, that it
is little marvel that the name and fate of
Inez de Castro should have afforded
theme for the poet and the painter in all
lands, and throughout all succeeding