the Queen and considering what was the pleasure of seeing her he well perceived he should never resolve to see her no more In this thought he went and gave her an account of what had passed between the Deputies and him and of the project he had formed He askt her pardon a thousand times over for being able to think for some moments that he could live absent from her but the Queen who aimed at nothing but to cure him of his passion obliged him notwithstanding his resistance to pursue his design of the expedition into Flanders and to make him resolve upon it the more easily she represented to him That this Voyage would dissipate the ill-humour the King was in through his suspicion of their affection and that so being less observed at his return and more considerable and absolute by reason of the glory he would doubtlessly acquire they might live together with less inquietude Don Carlos partly perswaded by these reasons but much more by the blind obedience he had sworn to the Queen in all things declared himself openly in favour of the Nobility of the Low-Countries to the great scandal of the Inqu sitors who held them to be almost all infected with Heresie and who had not yet forgotten the business of Charles the Fifth's Will. He made the King be told That if he would give him the Government of these Provinces he would be an werable to him upon his Life for their O edience It would be difficult to express to what a degree Rui Gomez and the Duke d'Alva were allarm'd at this design The Authority that an employment of that consequence was like to give to the Heire of the Crown appeared to them to be their evident ruine They judg'd That at his return from this expedition in which he would infallibly have good success this Prince would be his Fathers first Minister and that by consequence they must depend upon him The Duke d'Alva above all who had the same pretensions with Don Carlos engaged Rui Gomez who was more familiar with the King than he to make him consider How much this enterprise would raise his Son above him in the hearts of the Flemmings Perez without seeming to act by consent with them put him also in fear of the strait League which Don Carlos would doubtless make with France by the meanes of the Queen if he were once Master of the Low-Countries These Advertisements made all the impression they were capable of making upon the mind of a Prince naturally jealous of his Authority and fearful of his Sons Ambition The King thought no more of any thing but how to refuse Don Carlos with a good grace and so that he might not take his refusal for an affront He made him be told That he granted his Request and that he was ravisht that they had both hapned upon the same intention but that he was resolved to go himself establish him in Flanders and that they would shortly go away together for that design that it would not be handsome for him to live securely in Spain and in the mean time to expose his onely Son to the accidents of so fu ious a Rebellion and that he would share the danger with him and afterwards let him reap all the Glory The noise of this Voyage was immediately spread abroad into all parts by reason of the preparations the King made for it to deceive Don Carles yet no body could believe it In the mean time how groundless soever this noise appeared it filled the minds of the Rebels yet wavering with terror and the King to confirm it more and more made so considerable an Expence in Equipages that even Bergh and Monteigni who had laught at it till then cu st no longer doubt of its t uth The Queen and Don Carlos were at first cheated by appearances as well as the others but they undeceived themselves sooner then any When the Equipages were finisht the King who saw that people would soon be disabus'd if he began not his Journey could find no other expedient to excuse his stay but the feigning to be sick This pretence wrought its effect pretty well in the Countries afar off but what care soever he took to make his sickness be believed in his Court and what constraint soever this poor Prince brought himself under to live after a manner that might confirm the opinion he had a mind to give of himself he could never deceive his Wife and his Son In this conjuncture one day that a great deal of company that had been with the Queen and had discoursed a long time about the Kings Voyage into Flanders were gone out Don Carlos Don John and the Princess of Eboli being left alone with her at first they made an observation altogether How Courtiers do often torment themselves to divine the Causes and effects of that which shall never be After having some time laughed at those that had spoken of the Voyage Don Carlos came insensibly to laugh at the Voyage it self and at the violence the King did himself to counterfeit the sick Man He said That Charles the Fifth had made Voyages enough for himself and his Son too and that the King would repose both for himself and his Father The Queen did not hear these words because she was obliged to talk privately with some persons that had business with her In the mean time while Don John and the Princess of Eboli talked softly together Don Carlos in a pensive posture set himself to make a little Book in which he wrote these words in Capital Letters upon the first page The great and admirable Voyages of King Philip and in every one of the other pages of the Book he wrote one of the following Titles The Voyage from Madrid to the Escurial The Voyage from the Escurial to Toledo from Toledo to Madrid from Madrid to the Aranjuez from the Aranjuez to the Pardo from the Pardo to the Escurial And after this manner he filled the whole Book with the Kings Voyages to his Houses of Pleasure and to some of the greatest Townes in Spain The Queen could not keep her self from laughing at this imagination of the Prince how dangerous soever she thought it but as she read this paper one came to tell her that the King was newly fallen into a swoon and that he was very ill At this news she had onely the leisure to recommend the Book to Don Carlos The Prince who would needs follow her as soon as might be contented himself to throw it into a little Closet of which he shut the door after him He knew not that the Princess of Eboli had false Keys to all the Queen's Locks He was hardly out of the room but she seized upon his writing and when she had seen what it was she was extremely glad to have in her hands so considerable a means of prejudicing him in the King's mind The first thing she thought of was how she
utmost extremity This way was to renew with great earnestness the request he had made to be sent into Flanders where the state of Affairs demanded a more present and speedy remedy then ever He did it in termes that made the King comprehend that he would have what he desired and that there was no safety to refuse him He judged it his best way to express his mind in this absolute manner for he thought that if he were discovered he had nothing more to Husband and if he were not it might happen that the King sollicited by his jealousie and affrighted by this imperious way of proceeding wou'd grant him any thing in the World to be rid of him This unfortunate Father whose mind was more free to see the consequences of his Cruelty after he had satisfied it was again fallen into his natural timidity He saw plainly that he must necessarily send an Army into Flanders and he was afraid of irritating Don Carlos his resentment yet fresh for the death of his Friend if he refused him the Command of this Army which he demanded in such high termes Rui Gomez who had found the King so resolute in the business of the Marquess was not a little astonished to see him so unresolved in an occasion of much greater importance The Interest which this Minister had in his Masters welfare made him look with dread upon the weakness of that Prince who was going to put the Arms into his Sons hands wherewith he was like to have his own Throat cut the first As there is no Reason so strong as fear to oblige the most unstable spirits to determine themselves the King was ready to resolve himself in favour of Don Carlos Rui Gomez who saw it well knew not how to hinder it but having a very present wit he be thought himself all of a sudden of that Book of the Kings Voyages which his Wife had found in the Queens Closet written with Don Carlos his hand and which he had lookt upon ever since as a Toy which might yet prodnce some great effect if it were employed with discretion And now he thought he had found the occasion of using it He told the King That he thought himself obliged to let him know a little thing that till then he had not thought worthy of acquainting him with but which in the present conjuncture would help him much the better to guess at the Genius and Sentiments of his Son The King to whom this affair appeared of greater consequence then Rui Gomez made shew of thinking it would needs examine the Book himself and knowing it to be of his Sons own Writing he entred into a profound thoughtfulness in which this Minister thought it best to leave him After that he was a little come to himself from the first trouble of Mind into which so bloody a Raillery made by two persons so dear unto him had at first cast him his antient suspicions of Don Carlos his love for the Queen awakened themselves in his Soul with more violence then ever He could not comprehend that a Wife and a Son should divert themselves in that manner at the cost of a Father and a Husband that was their King without living in the most Criminal Familiarity But the Marquess of Posa coming presently into his Mind he could not believe that the Queen was in Love with them both especially Don Carlos and the Marquess being so united as they were and he concluded that it must necessarily be that one was the Lover and the other the Confident yet what effort of wit soever he could make he could never determine in himself which was the Lover But which soever of the two it were he still found that the death of the Marquess was but too just and that Don Carlos was equally culpable However the matter went he would not authorize the Railleries his Son made upon his manner of life by giving him the means of leading so different a one in Flanders If this Prince who had yet done nothing had the boldness to treate his Father with so much contempt what would he not have dared to have done if Fortune had been favourable to his ambition The King made him be told That in the fearful disorder in which Flanders was he thought he could not send him thither without exposing his life to inevitable danger but that the Duke d' Alva should go thither with a powerful Army within a short time and that as soon as this Army should have rendred his side the strongest he should be free to do whatever he would desire This refusal fully confirmed the Prince in the opinion he had that his ruine was resolved upon so that he rendred himself to the instances that the Rebels of Flanders had been a long time making to him by the Count of Egmont and their Deputies to go and put himself at their head They promised him That if he would grant them a few things that were very reasouable they would obey him with more fidelity then the Catholicks obey'd the King Don Carlos doubted not but that if he were once Master of this Revolted People the King would abandon to him the rest of Flanders though it were but to hinder him from possessing himself of it by force as it would be easie for him to do The Marquess of Bergh and Monteigni had several Conferences with him upon this Project and they took together so just and so solid Measures for the executing of it that they could not fail of success provided that the Prince conserved to himself the liberty of Acting It was that to which they exhorted him principally and if he had taken their Counsel he had began his journey at that very time But Don Carlos judged that there would be too much rashness in declaring himself after that manner before he had established the correspondency that were necessary for him but he promised them that in the mean time he would make use of such powerful precautions for the safety of his person that he should be able to give them a good account of it Besides a Coffer filled with Fire Armes which he made be set at his Beds-head he caused some little Pistols to be made of a new Invention to carry alwayes about him without being seen And that he might hinder himself from being surprised in his sleep he commanded a famous French Artist who workt at the Escurial to make a kind of Lock for his Chamber that could not be open'd but on the inside and he put every night under his Bolster two Swords and a Case of Pistols Whilst this unfortunate Prince hastened perhaps his undoing by the sole opinion he had that he was undone his Enemies forgot nothing to take from him all wayes of reconciling himself with his Father The King had not yet seen the Queen in private since the death of the Marquess of Posa and they feared that all their labour would prove to be in vain
DON CARLOS OR AN HISTORICAL RELATION OF The Unfortunate Life and Tragical Death of that Prince of SPAIN Son to PHILIP the II d. Written in French Anno 1672. and newly Englished by H. I. LONDON Printed by T. N. for Hen. Herringman at the Blew Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange and John Crump at the Three Bibles in St. Pauls Church-yard 1674. TO THE LADY ELLIS Wife to the RIGHT WORSHIPFUL Sir WILLIAM ELLIS Baronet Madam BEing lately necessitated to pass some dayes in a place where I had but little Company and less Diversion I resolved to spend my idle houres in Translating this Relation of the Misfortunes of poore Don Carlos It was Written by a Person of Honour and one that pretends to have a particular insight into the Spanish History Yet least his Authority should not seem sufficient in some dubious passages he backs it with that of the most Famous Writers of the last Age. His Design as you may see by his own Advertisement was chiefly to Vindicate the Queen of Spaine's Vertue from the Aspersions that had been cast upon it by some Malicious Pens and mine is no other then to divert you and by this small testimony of my Affection to Assure You that I am MADAM Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant H. J. Advertisement of the AUTHOR ALl Historians of the last Age that make mention of the unfortunate Prince of Spain who is the subject of this Treatise do also speak of his Love for his Mother-in-Law and as people are always apt to put an evil interpretation upon things of that nature his Passion hath done some wrong to the reputation of that vertuous Queen The Authour of this Book having found in divers places the particularities of their History thought himself obliged to communicate them to the Publick because they justifie the memory of that Princess and make it appear that there was nothing but what was very innocent on her side Though she had done nothing else but discover the Conspiracy whereof you shall see the recital she had well deserved to have some care taken of her glory because it is certainly true that without her the Prince of Navarre had never come to be the greatest King in the world and to say something more to his honour Grandfather to Lewis the Fourteenth This History is taken out of all the Authors Spanish French Italian and Dutch which have written of those times in which it hapned The principal are Thuanus Monsieur Aubigné Brantome Cabrera Campana Adriani Natalis Comes Dupleix Mathieu Mayerne Mezerai le Laboureur Sur Castelnau Strada Meteren The History of Don John of Austria the Elogies of F. Hilarion de Coste The Spanish Book of the Deeds and Sayings of Philip the Second A Relation of the Death and Obsequies of his Son c. It is likewise collected out of several Pieces pertaining to History as well Manuscripts as Printed and amongst the rest out of a little Book intituled Diogenes which treats largely of this matter and a Manuscript written by Monsieur de Peresese expresly upon that subject However for the Reader 's farther satisfaction I have set down in the Margent of the most particular and extraordinary places the principal Authors out of which they were taken DON CARLOS Or An Historical Relation of the Vnfortunate Life and Tragical Death of that Prince of Spain Son to Philip the Second WHen the Emperour Charls the Fifth resolved to quit the Government of the Empire and to retire himself into a solitary way of living fearing to leave his Son exposed to the good fortune of Henry the Second of which himself had already felt the effects he concluded with that Prince a Truce for the five first years of his Son's Reign Amongst other Propositions for a Peace between the two Crowns which were made during this Truce was proposed the Marriage of Don Carlos Prince of Spain and onely Son of Philip the Second and Mary of Portugal his first Wife with Madam Elizabeth the Eldest Daughter of France This Princess was very young but wonderfully accomplish'd for a person of her age And as this Marriage was resolv'd upon with great joy on both sides as soon as it was proposed she could not chuse but conceive a very great esteem for him that was destin'd to be her Husband her young heart finding in that occasion a suitable object to fix it self upon did much please it self in the thoughts of it and she did by degrees insensibly ingage her self in an inclination which though altogether innocent did afterwards prove more troublesome blesome to her vertue then ever she thought it would The Prince of Spain was no less contented then she with his hoped for happiness and as all that people said to him concerning Madam gave him a very lovely Idea of her person he abandon'd himself with pleasure to all those thoughts of love and desire which that Idea inspir'd him withall The Princess's Picture which according to the custome was sent him by the King of France finished that conquest in him which the reputation of her beauty had already begun Those that brought it said it was extremely like her and Don Carlos easily believ'd them in a thing he so much desired might be true When he considered this Picture there was no way that he would not willingly have tried to let Madam know the thoughts he had of her He could by no means endure that she should be ignorant of the joy which the hopes of possessing her fill'd him with Sometimes he was even asham'd of the excess of his good fortune and could almost have been contented to allow himself the time of winning the Princess's heart by his merits and services rather then to obtain her by the common ways but knowing that to be an impossible thing he thought he should be well enough satisfi'd if he could but at least acquaint her with the diversity of his thoughts In the mean time the face of affairs was wholly changed by a sudden and unexpected breach of the Five years Truce the Princes of the House of Lorrain or those that at the sollicitation of Paul the Fourth brought about this rupture The Pope's aim was by raising troubles in Flanders to free himself from the Duke D' Alva who had the command of a Spanish Army and had for some time kept him as it were block'd up within the Walls of Rome One part of his design which was the diversion of the Spanish Arms succeeded according to his desire but in Flanders he found more opposition where the French lost two Battels in which the greatest part of their most valiant men were either kill'd or taken prisoners and which reduc'd their affairs to so ill a a condition that they resolv'd speedily to buy a Peace at what price soever This Peace was the work of the Duke of Savoy General of the Spanish Army and of the Constable of Montmorency his Prisoner The Constable represented to