But the opprobrium of the world was nothing to the upbraiding of
her own heart. She charged herself with all the miseries of these
disastrous wars—the deaths of so many gallant cavaliers, the conquest
and perdition of her country. The anguish of her mind preyed upon
the beauty of her person. Her eye, once soft and tender in its
expression, became wild and haggard; her cheek lost its bloom, and
became hollow and pallid, and at times there was desperation in
her words. When her father sought to embrace her she withdrew with
shuddering from his arms, for she thought of his treason and the
ruin it had brought upon Spain. Her wretchedness increased after her
return to her native country, until it rose to a degree of frenzy.
One day when she was walking with her parents in the garden of their
palace, she entered a tower, and, having barred the door, ascended to
the battlements. From thence she called to them in piercing accents,
expressive of her insupportable anguish and desperate determination.
“Let this city,” said she, “be henceforth called Malacca, in memorial
of the most wretched of women, who therein put an end to her days.”
So saying, she threw herself headlong from the tower, and was dashed
to pieces. The city, adds the ancient chronicler, received the name
thus given it, though afterwards softened to Malaga, which it still
retains in memory of the tragical end of Florinda.
The Countess Frandina abandoned this scene of woe, and returned to
Ceuta, accompanied by her infant son. She took with her the remains
of her unfortunate daughter, and gave them honorable sepulture in
a mausoleum of the chapel belonging to the citadel. Count Julian
departed for Carthagena, where he remained plunged in horror at this
doleful event.
About this time, the cruel Suleiman, having destroyed the family of
Muza, had sent an Arab general, named Alahor, to succeed Abdalasis
as emir or governor of Spain. The new emir was of a cruel and
suspicious nature, and commenced his sway with a stern severity that
soon made those under his command look back with regret to the easy
rule of Abdalasis. He regarded with an eye of distrust the renegado
Christians who had aided in the conquest, and who bore arms in the
service of the Moslems; but his deepest suspicions fell upon Count
Julian. “He has been a traitor to his own countrymen,” said he; “how
can we be sure that he will not prove traitor to us?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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