besides the excellency of his complexion and one of the finest heads in the world his eyes were so full of fire and life and his Mien was so softy and martial that he could not with reason be thought any ways unpleasing At first the wonderful beauty of the Queen did even dazle his eyes but the consideration of what he had lost in losing her quickly changed his admiration into sorrow and fore-seeing what he was like to suffer for her he came by degrees to look upon her with some kind of fear In the mean time the Duke De l' Infantado thought that the Queen staid out of civility to know when it was Don Carlos pleasure to go and that the Prince out of respect staid for the same reason This made him put the Queen in mind that it was time to be going and by that means he drew them both out of a greater perplexity then perhaps he was aware of The Prince having taken his place in the Queens Coach never lifted his eyes from off her all the way and he had all the conveniency he could desire to consider her and undo himself The Queen soon observed it and a secret Sentiment of which she was not the Mistris made her find some kind of sweetness in seeing the disorder Don Carlos was in Yet she durst not at first seem to observe him too exactly and he could not look upon her without trembling But at last their eyes after having avoided one another's rencounter for some time not able to do themselves any farther violence and meeting one another by chance had not the force to withdraw themselves from the contemplations of so tempting objects It was by these faithful Interpreters that Don Carlos told the Queen all he had to say to her He prepared her by a thousand sad and passionate looks to suffer all the obstinacy and greatness of his passion The heatt of this Prince burden'd by its own secret and press'd with the grief of its misfortune could no longer defer to ease it self and the opinions he conceived by the troubled and discomposed carriage of the Queen that she was not ignorant of his meaning gave him so sensible a joy that it made him forget for some moments both the good Fortune of his Father and his own unhappiness This little satisfaction gave him a liberty of mind at the first meeting of the King and Queen which otherwise he could not have hoped for but the Princess was so intent upon her melancholly thoughts that the presence of her Husband could not draw her out of them When they were arrived at Madrid and that the King had received her at her coming out of the Coach after the first Ceremonies practised in those occasions she set her self to look fixedly upon him without thinking on what she did as if she had observed whether or no he took notice of the trouble she was in The King far enough from suspecting the true cause of her disturbance askt her roughly enough Whether she were displeased to see that his head was already full of gray haires â— These words were taken for an ill omen by those that stood by and some judged from that very time that the union between two persons so different in that as well as upon several other accounts could never be happy The Court of Spain that had hearkened to the wonders that were commonly reported of the Queens Beauty as to the ordinary exaggerations given to the good qualities of Princesses was infinitely astonished when it saw that all that had been reported of her came short of the truth This Princess was born into the World with all the advantages Nature could bestow upon her and she was then in that flourishing Age which is requisite to make a perfect Beauty All beautiful persons do not touch all sorts of hearts but the Queen was equally adored by the People and in the Court. As often as she shewed her self in publick so often she triumphed over the hearts of all those that saw her It was so hard to see her without loving her that it is to this day a Tradition in the Court of Spain That no wise man would venture to look her long in the Face In fine if it be true that beauty is a kind of Natural Royalty one may say That never Queen was more properly Queen then she It had been hard that her happy husband possessor of so many perfections should not have been charmed by them The smallest actions and gestures of this Princess appeared to him extreamly taking He found alwayes in her an attracting sweetness equally different from the coy severity of the Spanish Women in Publick and the too extravagant Sallies of their passion when in private Sometimes in making reflection upon these things he admired his own happiness but it was only in himself for he did not think it becoming his Grandeur to let so young a person know the weakness she was the cause of in him And if she suspected any thing of it she had quickly lost that thought by considering the little trust he seemed to put in her his severe carriage towards her and his regularity to shut all his caresses within the bounds of the night as if he had been afraid lest she should have seen him in some posture less grave then that in which he was usually seen by other People This way of proceeding so little obliging in appearance and so differing from that agreeable unruliness of the passions that ordinarily accompanies the happy condition of satisfied Lovers did in no wise answer the Idea the Queen had form'd of the life that two Married People happy enough to love one another ought to lead So that she lookt upon her Husband as a Man of whom she possessed nothing but the Body and whose mind was wholly filled with Politick thoughts and ambitious designs In the mean time she was so extreamly loved by him that the enjoyment of her far from diminishing his passion did but augment it whether it were that the possession of the object loved which satisfies so fully the desires of most Husbands served only to increase his by discovering to him every day new hidden beauties or that the secret he made to her of his love redoubled it's violence In the mean time Don Carlos was marvellously unquiet to know what thoughts the Queen had of him And though every time she lookt upon him he thought he discovered in her eyes a secret and passionate languishing which appeared not there at other times yet he durst not believe even what he saw whatsoever impatience he had to have a clearer knowledge in this point she being but very seldome alone during the publick divertisements that were made in honour of her Wedding he was a great while without being able to entertain her in private but at last fortune which pleaseth her self in furthering those designes that can have no other then unhappy events offer'd him an occasion
to him to be an assured mark of it but his joy was not of long continuance The Ministers who were afraid of the secret favonr of the Marquis of Posa ordered the matter so that the Queen's commerce with this Marquis came quickly to the knowledge of the King This suspicious Prince at the very first notice thereof had his mind troubled with jealousie and not finding his reckoning in some account of time he was pleased to make upon the state of his Wife's greatness did not stick to think the Marquis guilty of a crime that would have drawn upon him more envy then all his vertues This thought made a strange disorder in his heart All the graces both of body and mind that nature had so liberally bestowed on this unfortunate Favourite and that were capable of touching the most barbarous Soul rendred him by so much the more odious to the King as that Prince considered no more all those precious Talents but as so many criminal charms that had seduced his Wife's heart Nevertheless how dangerous soever this disposition of the King's mind were perhaps his reason would have returned to him had it not been for a thing that hapned at that very time and which made him fully believe what he did but suspect before Among other publick testimonies of joy that were made for his recovery there was a magnificent Tournament in which every Cavalier was obliged to declare himself for some Lady of the Court and to wear her colours The evening before this great day the Marquis of Posa hapning to be in the Queen's chamber which was full of company she made him name to her all the Ladies that had Knights to defend their beauties The Prince and Don John were the onely men that could declare themselves to be hers and they not having done it perhaps through fear of discovering something of what they had in their Soul it so fell out when they had done speaking that the Queen was the onely person that had no body to run for her She observed it her self and complaining of it in a Jesting way the Marquess who knew he might use any sort of pleasantry with her told her with a wonderful serious look That she must blame Nature for it and that if she had been Beautiful like the others she would doubtless have found some Knight as they had done All the Company applauded this Raillery and the Queen answered him as seriously as he had spoken That to punish him for his insolency she commanded him to be her Knight that so he might have the shame of serving the least beautiful of all the Ladies This Gallantry was publick and all the People of the first quality at Court were witnesses of it Yet the King could not keep himself from thinking that there was some Mystery in it and that this conversation was an Artifice of the Queen to give her Lover an assured meanes of declaring himself for her with impunity Yet he was not at first fully confirmed in this opinion but on the morrow morning when he saw the Marquess enter into the Lists carrying for his Device upon his Shield a Sun in its highest elevation with these words Nothing can see me without being burnt This Prince was fully perswaded of the sad thought that stuck in his mind The unfortunate Knight won the Prize of the first Courses and though that were ordinary enough with him the King at this time took his address for an effect of his Love and this imagination toucht him so to the quick that he could not endure to let the Justing be finished And he feâ—gned that he found himself ill to have a pretence of breaking them off and to hinder People from perceiving the fury into which this innocent Spectacle had put him At first he resolved to give the Marquess of Posa his death in such a manner that neither he nor the Queen could be ignorant of its cause but Rui Gomez whom he consulted about it made him see the consequences of a business of that nature and that was like to make so much noise He let him know the strait Friendship that was between Don Carlos and this Marquess and made him comprehend that there was nothing that was not to be feared from the resentment of the Prince for the loss of a Person so dear to him if once he came to know the Authors of it He contented himself to have the Marquess Stab'd some time afterwards one night in the Streets as he was retiring himself from Court the better to keep the truth of the business from being inspected when the Assassines saw him dead they feigned in the presence of his Attendants that they had taken him for another Man The Queen resented as she ought the loss of so perfect a friend and she saw at the very first all she was consequently to suffer by it As for Don Carlos he could not at first discover the true cause of it but afterwards he considered the little appearance there was that a Man so well known as the dead Man was should be taken for another On the other side he saw that there was no body but his Father that durst undertake such an attempt so that he did not hesitate no more then the Queen to divine who was the Author of it In the mean time they neither of them mistrusted that it was of the Marquess that the King had been Jealous and imagining rather that which was like to have been then that which really was they thought that this Favourite had been killed as a Confident and not as a Lover and that they were discovered In this opinion considering the Kings unmeasurable passion for his Wife his aversion for the Prince and his natural inclination to shed blood they judged themselves lost And they thought that the King being well assured that they could not escape his vengeance had begun by this Assassinate that so he might make them feel it the longer There is nothing so secret in Princes Courts that is not discovered by some people which one doth not distrust Don Carlos much about this time sitting down one day at the Table found under his Plate a Paper which contain'd these words There are some very just Counsels which yet are not given but one comes not out of desperate affaires without extraordinary resolutions Those in whom Heaven hath put such qualities as are to render a great many others happy besides those that possess them are obliged to accomplish their destiny which prevailes over all other Obligations Generous Soules perish not but for want of having an opinion bad enough of the wicked That Patience which abandoneth the dayes of a Gallant Man to the violence of his Enemies is weakness baseness of heart crime and not virtue Humanity for those that have none is the most dangerous sort of folly In the mean time the Prince resolved to try one innocent way before he would have recourse to the
innocent a commerce ingaged Don Carlos in an adventure that was the foundation of all his misfortunes Of all the Ladies in whom the Queens beauty caused envy and jealousie there was none that had greater reason to hate her upon that account then the Princess of Eboli in wit and beauty she surpassed all the Court and for this reason as well as because of the great favour her Husband was in with the King she held the first ranke among the Ladies She had an equal Love for magnificence and pleasure and as she thought nothing capable of resisting the charmes of her person and wit she had at first form'd a design upon the Kings heart but the Queens beauty having rendred her project fruitless she attempted to make Don Carlos in Love with her not thinking to find in the heart of the Son the same obstacle that had hindred her success with the Father Rui Gomez in quality of the Prince's Governour was lodged in the same Apartment with him the Princess of Eboli his Wife besides the conveniency of seeing Don Carlos had often occasion of obliging him in reconciling him with her husband with whom he had some little Quarrels every day Don Carlos who was very generous and who saw with what zeal she employed her self for him was not wanting in gratitude to her for it and lived very civilly with her These favourable dispositions giving the Princess good hopes concerning her enterprize she quickly found out the meanes to bring him to the point she desired The admiration he had for the Queen caused in him a certain contempt of all other Women Besides it is well known that most young people of that quality love naturally to divert themselves to the cost of others and the flattery of those that praise them accustomes them to those sorts of disobliging Jests in stead of reproving them for it Don Carlos who was not exempt from all the faults of his Age and quality and the Prince of Parma yet younger and more hot-headed then he having one day played one of their ordinary tricks to some women of the first Quality who complained of them the Princess of Eboli had much ado to obtain of Rui Gomez not to speak of it to the King That very night this Woman being alone in her Closet with Don Carlos she began to reproach him with the little consideration he had for the Ladies and after having made him a thousand Railleries upon that Subject she concluded that the friendship she had for him must needs be very strong to make her pardon those kind of things The Prince who perceiv'd not her design and who was oblig'd in gratitude to profess much affection to her answered her laughing That she had more reason to employ her self for him then perhaps she thought because the little consideration he had for all other Women came from the Monopoly she had made of all the esteem he was capable of for that Sex The Princess charmed with those words which she took for a declaration of Love answer'd him in a manner that opened his eyes and made him perceive his good fortune At first he was of the mind to make use of it and it seemed to him that never Infidelity was more excusable then that he was going to commit This Princess was of those Women who without having all their Features exactly proportion'd have something that touches more then the most regular Beauties But how dangerous soever she were Don Carlos was yet full of the passion he had for the Queen his imagination represented her to him at that instant with those graces and that sweetness that made all other Beauties appear rude and insipid in comparison of hers and the force of this Idea made him all on a sudden look upon the Princess with a disdain which she had no reason to expect from him Yet he answer'd her Compliment in the most obliging manner he could without satisfying her desire but she saw well enough that he pretended an affection which really he had not A Woman that hath seen her self in this condition never forgets it and remembers it with rage if she hath not cause to remember it with pleasure We shall see the effects this rage produced in the heart of the Princess of Eboli in the mean time Love that had pitty of her Adventure brought a new Personage upon the Stage of this Court to repair the fault of Don Carlos It was Don John of Austria Natural Son of Charles the Fifth that the King took about that time out of the hands of a Spanish Nobleman who had brought him up as his own Son and though this young Prince had alwayes thought himself to be so he was as fierce and as ambitious as if he had known his true birth When this Spaniard who passed for his Father came to cast himself at his feet before he presented him to the King Don John lookt upon him in that posture with as much tranquility as if he had a long while expected this change Seeing nothing in the New Rank he was entred into above his courage he was not at all dazled with it and all the Court saw with admiration the Son of Don Lewis Quisciada accustome himself in less than half an hours time to act the Son of an Emperor This new Prince not being of an humor to make use of all precautions necessary to defend his heart against the charmes of the Queen fell in Love with her as soon as he saw her And whether it were that his passion flatter'd his vanity or that he hoped to make it serve to the establishment of his fortune when he perceived it he made no attempt to cure himself of it and as he was naturally a dissembler it was easie for him to hide the assiduity he manifested about the Queens Person under the pretext of the necessi y of his appearance at Court His overcarefulness soon displeased Don Carlos and though this Princess would have perswaded him that she was glad of that obstacle to hinder the freedom of their conversation that so she might be less exposed to suffer the expressions of his Love yet she conceived an aversion for Don John of which she would not examine the reason There is no rencounter in the life of Man where dissimulation is of so great use as in love nor any in which it is harder to dissemble The Prince could not alwayes be so absolutely Master of his passion when the presence of Don John was troublesome to him as that this latter did not at length perceive something thereof And as there is nothing so penetrating as the eyes of a Rival he had quickly deceived the reason of it This knowledge gave him an extreame curiosity to know whether the Prince's Passion were known to the person that caused it and whether she answered it or no. To be the better inform'd of this he resolved to counterfeit being in Love with a French-woman that waited upon the
other jealousie mingled with this resolution then that he ought to have of his Authority He made great changes in the most important Offices of the Court that so he might bestow upon the Princess of Eboli the first of all those of the Queen's houshold without making appear any affectation in his choice The familiarity this woman had maintain'd with Don Carlos ever since her Husband had been his Governour render'd her fitter then any other to penetrate into his secrets This consideration joyn'd to that she had already reported of the threatnings he had made in her presence contributed as much as the favour of Rui Gomez to make her be chosen by the King for this employment Don Carlos who thought still that she loved him ever since that which had past between them was not in the least disturbed at her new promotion and the Queen who knew that her Husband had too many friends in France to be ignorant of what she had done was no way surprised by all this change of Offices She imagin'd the reason of it at fi st and Don Carlos trying to re-assure her in answering for the Princess of Eboli the Queen press'd him to tell her from whence came the great confidence he had in that Woman but he could never get leave of his modesty to satisfie her demand Yet he perceived afterwards that he was deceived when he saw how carefully the Princess of Eboli watched them And he not daring to complain of the inconvenience he received by her presence she pleased her self wonderfully in tormenting this poor Prince She feigned to have more friendship for him then ever Never failing to wait upon the Queen wheresoever she were as soon as she knew that he was with her and she made as if it had been her that drew her thither But though this Woman's vigilancy was incredible the Queen and Don Carlos found a little while after an opportunity of entertaining one another in particular The King who was as much busied about his Escurial as one may imagine by the fearful expence he was aâ— for it invited the Queen to go see the beginnings of the Proud Structure he was raising to be an eternal Monument of the Victory of St. Quintin All that renewed in this Princesses soul the remembrance of a Battle that had been the fountain of all the misfortunes of her Life ought not apparently to be very pleasing to her Nevertheless she saw the Preparations tha were made for immortalizing the memory of that unfortunate day with all the cheerfulness and expressions of contentment the King could have desired of her or that he had in himself It was in this place that the Princess of Eboli left the Queen and Prince alone with the King and that the King having also left them to give his order to some of his Builders Don Carlos who could not longer live in such a constraint took that time to conjure the Queen to give him some assured meanes of talking with her in private when it should be necessary for their common interest so to do He prest her to it in so touching a manner that she consented to him at the very first seduced by that poor Princes despair So that they set themselves to find out some probable wayes but they all appear'd so dangerous to the Queen that she resolv'd never to make use of them how easie soever Don Carlos would make her believe they were The state of Affaires stood thus when the Marquess of Bergh and the Baron of Monteigni Deputies from Flanders arrived at the Court. And as their Commission was very dangerous they had founded their principal hopes upon the report of the Princes generosity and the good nature of the Queen To be unhappy was enough to deserve the Protection of that Princess and he that was vertuous had merit enough to pretend to the friendship of Don Carlos The Deputies represented to them the sad condition of the Nobility of Flanders since the ill Offices that the Cardinal of Cranvella the principal Minister of the Dutchess of Parma their Governess had done them with the King They exaggerated their innocence and fidelity in the past troubles They particularly conjur'd the Prince not to abandon so many of the Emperors bravest Servants and the most dear objects of his tenderest affections to the violent and precipitate counsels that the jealousie of their Vertue and the envy of their Glory inspir'd the Duke d'Alva with and they assur'd him that the report of his courage was the onely consolation they had in their misfortune Don Carlos whose natural inclination for the War had till then been suspended by the violence of his love was extreamly ashamed at the hearing of this discourse that he had never yet done any thing for the getting of Glory he was yet more animated by the Letters which the Deputies presented him from the Count of Egmont This Count summoned the Prince to make good the Promise he had given him heretofore to go in person into Flanders as soon as the Warr should be there kindled He represented the Affairs of those Provinces in so favourable a disposition for Don Carlos that the Prince resolved to make the Government of them to be given to him and hoped when he should be there quickly to put himself into a condition of undertaking all that his valour and ambition should counsel him after that the troubles should be once appeased by his presence He had hardly well formed this resolution when the Image of the Queen presented it self to his imagination more lovely and charming then he had ever yet seen her and made him doubt whether he should ever have the force to leave her or no but making a serious reflexion upon the State of his Affaires he plainly saw that all things ought to confirm him in his first resolution At the beginning of their affection the extreame tenderness of the Princesses Age had not permitted her to hide from Don Carlos the esteem and pitty she was toucht with for him but afterwards time having made her wiser and perceiving that the testimonies of Friendship she gave him as innocent as they were did yet nourish his Love she represented to him upon all occasions the ill consequences of this Passion and the miseries to which it would expose them both How much soever he were possessed with it he could not hinder himself from acknowledging that she was in the right and he durst not seem to take it ill that she lived with him for some dayes after a more reserved manner then ordinary In so cruel a disturbance of mind he thought that he ought to make one generous effort upon himself to deliver this Princess from an unfortunate Passion that gave her so just causes of inquietude And that he could not better rid himself of it then by a long absence and a great deal of business He thought so indeed at first but he quickly changed his mind at the presence of
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