the pension of 40,000 ducats to be given by Bajazet to any one of the
Christian princes who would undertake to be his brother's gaoler.
Charles VIII had not dared to refuse to the spiritual head of Christendom
a request supported by such holy reasons; and therefore D'jem had quitted
France, accompanied by the Grand Master d'Aubusson, under whose direct
charge he was; but his guardian had consented, for the sake of a
cardinal's hat, to yield up his prisoner. Thus, on the 13th of March,
1489, the unhappy young man, cynosure of so many interested eyes, made
his solemn entry into Rome, mounted on a superb horse, clothed in a
magnificent oriental costume, between the Prior of Auvergne, nephew of
the Grand Master d'Aubusson, and Francesco Cibo, the son of the pope.

After this he had remained there, and Bajazet, faithful to promises which
it was so much his interest to fulfil, had punctually paid to the
sovereign pontiff a pension of 40,000 ducats.

So much for Turkey.

Ferdinand and Isabella were reigning in Spain, and were laying the
foundations of that vast power which was destined, five-and-twenty years
later, to make Charles V declare that the sun never set on his dominions.
In fact, these two sovereigns, on whom history has bestowed the name of
Catholic, had reconquered in succession nearly all Spain, and driven the
Moors out of Granada, their last entrenchment; while two men of genius,
Bartolome Diaz and Christopher Columbus, had succeeded, much to the
profit of Spain, the one in recovering a lost world, the other in
conquering a world yet unknown. They had accordingly, thanks to their
victories in the ancient world and their discoveries in the new, acquired
an influence at the court of Rome which had never been enjoyed by any of
their predecessors.