It is pleasant to turn from calculated policy to uncalculated enthusiasm; and this may be truly said of Isabel’s love of her faith. Both she and the King were strict in the outward observances of catholicism, and every morning would find Ferdinand at Mass before he broke his fast, while we are told that on Maundy Thursday his servants would seek out twelve of the poorest of his subjects and that he would serve them at supper and wash their feet. Isabel herself would recite the hours every day like a priest; and, for all the whirl of ceremonies and duties in which she found herself involved, she would make time for special devotions so that it seemed to those about her that her life was “contemplative rather than active.” Her marked individuality, and the respect she inspired in Ferdinand, had completely changed the character of the Court from the old licentious days of Henry IV.; priests of the type of Ximenes and Fra Fernando de Talavera thronged her ante-chambers; and courtiers, when they saw her coming, would walk with eyes cast down in the hope of establishing a reputation for sanctity. Their hypocrisy can have brought them little. The Queen might be a saint in her private life; but those who think saints necessarily fools stand convicted of folly themselves. She was too shrewd a judge of character to desire to change her Court into a convent, and her letters to Fra Fernando de Talavera, while breathing affection and admiration yet venture occasionally to question the suitability to herself and her surroundings of his standard of asceticism. It is my wish that not only in matters of importance but in all that concern these kingdoms you should give me your advice; ... and this I do most earnestly beg, that you will not cease from writing your opinion on the ground that these things do not concern you since you are no longer here; for well I know that although absent your counsel will be worth more to me than that of another present. She then goes on to thank him for the reproofs he had administered on the score of the too-great gaiety at Court and to assure him that in explaining certain matters she is not seeking to free herself from blame.