wife relating to that Princess but he thought he was to go on and not boggle when he had once chosen a master After serving him well at Bourdeaux and several rencounters he was sent hither to give greater reputation to the affairs of that Prince managed by St Agolin in quality of Gentleman of his chamber At first he endeavoured to divert himself by all the recreations this place afforded besides which he enjoyed one peculiar to himself by reason of the excellent verses he composed he was pleased to repeat to us some sonnets he had made in praise of the Prince of Conde and almost a whole Scene of a piece he begun in imitation of Senecas Medea but neither love nor the Muses had charms powerful enough against that discontent and melancholly which reduced him to the lamentable condition in which we lef him his health being disturbed by so frequent and sodain alterations as neither himself his friends nor Physitians could understand He therefore forsook all pleasures for Devotions and instead of seeking company that might divert his thoughts from contemplating his affairs and infirmity he made la Casa del Campo his Hermitage whither he often went either alone or accompanied by one friend whom he tired with silent walking The King allowed him a Coach with four Horses neither good nor bad but the Coachman and Footman very ill cloathed for servants of so great a King Besides this equipage which he commands whensoever he pleases he hath his particular Train which consists of Some Footmen a Secretary a Master of the Horse a Page and some other Officers to maintain himself and them the King allows him 1800 Crowns a month and pays his house-rent he wears the Spanish habit and seems so far concerned in the interests of that Court whither really or to justify his engagement with it that he speaks of it with passion and will allow nothing to be comparable to the manner of living in it this is not because without cause of complaint but as is supposed obliged by prudence He medles with little at present as well by reason of his indisposition as that the Prince of Conde sometime since sent one of his Counsellors who seems to have the intrigue and principal affairs in his hand he is called Mazeroles and well qualified he hath as much Learning as is necessary to manage the affairs of the time he perfectly understands this Court and Nation his wit is solid yet quick and supple his judgement exquisite and in the affairs he handles there needs be no distrust of his mistaking the shadow for the substance nor the point for the hilt his conversation is both agreeable and serious in such a manner that none go from him without satisfaction and instruction of many things remarkable in themselves or circumstances In a word one may say of him that his parts are solidly established both by Art and nature were he not tormented by an Astma that gives him little repose This indilposition was acquired by riding post on his Masters occasions and it is so violent that for some years he hath not slept but in a chair not daring to lie in a bed for fear of being suffocated by a defluxion and shortness of wind The King of Spain allows him also one of his Coaches drawn by as many Horses as that which attends the Earl of Fiesque In the Palace which is called Conde house remain still some of those that followed that Princes party and accepted not the Amnesty the chief of these is Monsieur de Trincars Counsellor in the Parliament of Bourdeaux he is a man of parts and honour and that was very well with Monsieur d' Espernon but that carried with the stream abandoned himself to follow the fortune of the Prince of Conde when he came to possess himself of the Government of Gascone that party declining the Prince of Conti sent him into England to solicite succors whilst he was there they of Bourdeaux returned to their Kings obedience which exposed him to a great deal of rigor the effects of which would have been sensible to his Estate had it not been secured as his wives Dowry That his person might be in no less safety he retired to this place after which the Prince made him Intendant of his Army but he cannot obtain from these Ministers 500 pistols the Prince gave him to be paid out of his pensions neither doth he solicite them longer nor press any thing but his discharge which he knows they will not grant without the 500 pistols lest his arrival with the Prince give him a new subject of complaint by so much the more just in that this Counsellor whom he summons to an imployment in which he will be necessary to him demands not any gratification or Ajuda de costa as it is here called but the payment of part of a sum that is due to him by what I guessed the difficulty lay not in the expedition of the pasport but of the Money without which they would not have him go away In the same house lives also an Agent of Monsieur de Marcin who solicits his Masters pensions which amounts to 12000 Crowns a year as General of the Kings Armies besides the assignation the Prince of Conde gives on the Money he draws from hence all these and some others that are in this house live on the 18 hundred Crowns a month that are given the Earl of Fiesque it is true that by the death of St Agolin who was the Princes first Envoye this charge will be somewhat eased St Agolin was a Gentleman of Auvergne that lay sick long and was at last killed by hot Medicines they speak very pleasantly of his Doctors who after six months application of all manner of cold remedies told him that since those availed not they must try hot ones and so brought him to his end in which he was happier then in so crasie a life I saw his Grave and was pointed out one of the sumptuosities of this Countrey which requires persons of quality to have crimson Velvet or red Sattin nailed to their Coffin adorned with gold and silver Lace at least on the seams if not covered over The second Agent or Ambassador of forrain Princes was the Dukes of Florence he is a Clergy-man that wants not wit of good meen and free and affable conversation His brother whom we knew at the great Dukes Court where he is very considerable had given us a Letter for him which we delivered quickly after our arrival at Madrid he received us well and made many offers of service to my Lord ..... but gave us occasion to observe that the study of Spanish and its near relation to the Italian made it very difficult for us to use the latter without mixture of some words of the former nay some Italians could scarcely avoid this nor speak their own languaage with purity after acquisition of some little of the Castillian No Prince in Italy being
stretch the comparison they please themselves in saying that Charles the Fifth like another David only designed this Holy work which being a man of war and blood God reserved for his Son Ignorant strangers are entertained with this tale but such as are versed in History tell us that after the battle of St Quentin Philip the Second made two vows one never to go in person to the wars the other to build this Cloyster for the Order of St Hierom instead of that which had been burnt it cost him neer six Milions of Gold though out of consideration of parsimony and convenience of bringing stone he made choice of the worst scituation in nature for it is at the foot of a barren Mountain and hard by a wretched Village called Escurial that can hardly lodge a man of any fashion this may seem very strange to those that know the Court is there twice in a year the place it stands on is by transcendence called the Seat because it was levelled in order to build on The Fabrick is very fair with four Towers at the four corners but coming to it one knows not which way to enter for as soon as out of the great Walk in a kind of Piazza you see only little doors which when you are over it lead into two Pavilions that contain Offices and Lodgings for some of the Court when you have well viewed this side of the square you come to that which is towards the Mountain where is a very large Magnificent Portal on each side beautify'd with Pillars by this stately Gate you enter a Quadrangle where right over against it stands the Church ascended to it by a Stair of five or six steps as long as the Court is large extending from one side of it to the other very fair Columnes support the Porch and on the top of the wall stand six Statues the middlemost of which are David and Solomon by whom they would represent Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second About the Church are many Pavillions all comprehended in the exact square which environs that building Report mentions many Bascourts but we could not reckon above 7 or 8. That this is a very fair Cloyster for Friers cannot be denied neither can it be allowed to be a Pallace Magnificent enough for such a Monarch as Philip the Second who having built it in One and twenty years and enjoyed it Twelve or Thirteen boasted that from the foot of a Mountain and his Closet with two inches of Paper he made himself obeyd in the old and new world The King and Queens apartment have nothing in them that appears Roial they are altogether unfurnished and they say when the King goes to any of his houses of pleasure they remove all to the very Bedsteds the rooms are little and low the Roofs not beautiful enough to invite the eyes to look up to them it s many pictures of excellent Masters and especially of Titian that wrought a great while there are very much vanted yet there are not so many as report gives out The Spaniards have so little understanding of pictures they are alike taken with all and the Marquis Serra a Genouese that accompanied us sufficiently laughed at the foolishness of a Castillian who willing to have us admire the slightest and wretchedst Landskips of a Gallery where we were told us nothing could equalize them because in a place where their King sometimes walked There are yet in the vestry some good pieces especially a Christ and Mary Magdalen and in the Church others very estimable For paintings in Fresco the Quire done by Titian is doubtlesly an excellent work and so is the Library I think by the same hand where amongst the rest is represented the antient Roman manner of defending Criminals who stand by bound hand and foot Cicero is also there pleading for Milo or some other I not being sufficiently acquainted with his meen to be positive and without apprehension of mistaking this Library is truly very considerable as well for its length breadth height and light the Pictures and Marble Tables that stand in the midst of it as for its quantity of choice and rare Books if we may beleeve the Monks they are certainly very well bound and guilded and if I mistake not but seldom read In the Vestry they shew Priests Copes where embroidery and Pearl with emulation contend whither Art or Matter renders them more rich and sumptuous they shewed us a Cross of very fair Pearl Diamonds and Emeralds it is a very pretty knack and would not become less such if it changed Countreys I would willingly have undertaken for it if they would have suffered it to pass the Pyreneans had it been only to shew my friends a hundred thousand Crowns in a Nutshel The Library I have spoken of the high Altar and Monument of their Kings which they call Pantheon though I know not why unless because a single round Arch like the Pantheon at Rome are certainly the best pieces of this Magnificent Fabrick The high Altar is approached by steps of Red Marble and invironed by Sixteen pillars of Jasper which reach the top of the Quire and cost only a matter of 50 or 60 thousand Crowns cutting between these are Niches with Statues of guilded Brass and so there are on the side of the Tables and Praying places the Pantheon is under the Altar and descended by stairs though narrow very light at the entrance of this rich Chappel a Marble shines whose luster is heightned by reflexion of the Gold with which all the iron work and part of that fair stone are overlaid In the middle of it and right against the Altar is a fair Candlestick of Brass guilded and in six several niches 24 Sepulchres of black Marble to receive as many bodies above the Gate are two more This stately monument is small but sumptuous it was finished by the present King who about six months since placed there the bodies of Charles the V Philip the II and Philip the III. The first was most intire in the niches on the left lie the Queens and the last of them Queen Elizabeth of Burbon He that preached the day that these seven Tombs or Sepulchres had bodies laid in them began by his apprehension to speak in presence of so many Kings who had conquered the world and expressed himself so well and so highly pleased the King that he got a yearly pension of a thousand Crowns Nothing attaining such perfection as to secure it from the Teeth of Criticks the three pieces I have now mentioned have been attacqued by them It is objected against the Library that its entrance suits not with its Magnificence and Grandeur and that it stands as if stoln in and not of the same piece with the rest Over against the great Altar where all is so well proportioned they wish away a silver Lamp whose size corresponds not with that of the place it burns in which is vast and large
his Son to be made an Earl and himself continued President of the Council of the Indies and that the Golden Key he carried only as a Badge of Honour should be conferred à Exercicio that is to be made use of with all Priviledges belonging to it but nothing of this is yet effected and they which understand the confidence of Don Lewis de Haro in his fidelity and capacity assure he will not remove him from the Council where he is now President till needs must Having thus received all manner of satisfaction in our first Visit to so accomplished a Person who omitted nothing that might assure my Lord B. of the esteem he had for his quality and merit at the very first sight remarkable to him by that vivacity which is so natural to Extraordinary Persons they need not speak twice to those to whom they would make themselves known We thought our selves very forward on our way to obtain the like from Don Lewis de Haro when we should wait on him For besides the Letter we had for him we doubted not but the Earl would acquaint him with the Visit we had made him and with all that could oblige him to receive us well Besides our Letter for Don Lewis de Haro we had another for a Gentleman called Alonzo Vercoca Cosin to Dom Stephen de Gamarra the Catholick Kings Ambassador in Holland who we were assured was very well with this Favorite We therefore thought best first of all to visit Seignior Alonzo that he might deliver our Letter and present us when it should be seasonable We were not a little troubled in inquiring after his Loding but at last learned that he was usually resident in the Countrey and only a Son of his who was one of Don Lewis de Haro's Gentleman lived in Madrid Enquiring for him at the Palace of this Chief Minister I was told he had a Chamber in the Town and came not thither whilest his Master was with the King at Buen Retiro the Civility of the Officers of whom I enquired his Lodging extended not so far as to send some body to shew it me and he being seldom at home I was either to seek him very early in the Morning or late in the Evening At last I found him just out of Bed no less troubled how to enquire after us because he had received a Letter from the Ambassador to his Father by which he reiterated his request for doing us all manner of good Offices in that Court Some dayes passed in which he neither visited us nor returned any answer This made me imagine that eithet he did not much value the Ambassadors Letter or else had not sufficient access to his Master to perform what was recommended to him As soon as we thought of leaving Spain I began to consider how we might obtain an authentick passport being sufficiently informed of the insolence and impudence on the passes called Puertos as well by the Farmers of the Customs as such as are there in guard On which account many formalities are necessary to be observed in the Passes that they may be effectual enough to check the importunity and knavery of those Harpies that lie in expectation of travailers especially strangers to put all imaginable affronts upon them I made very solicitous enquiry of all circumspections necessary and the Earl of Pigneranda having told my Lord B. that not to leave Spain without carrying along one of its greatest rarities he should do well to take some horses to which purpose he would provide him all sufficient passports we did not in the least distrust obtaining them as advantagious as we could wish they which have no friends in Court are obliged to petition a certain Council whose Secretary is called Carnero the petition considered on if the Pass be granted the Result goes from thence to the Kings Council from whence it is returned sometimes confirmed sometimes annulled and often limited or amplified according to the petitioners success in his solicitations Indeed though either by favour or bribe authentick Passports are sometimes obtained and that without delay such as are unknown and unfriended find this trifle become a troublesome and tedious negotiation Ours was not so for having drawn up a very exact memorial and according to the sense of those that understand the form of a Passport to go out of Spain without lett or molestations I carried it to Don Martin the Earl of Pigneranda's Secretary he read it and told me so many particulars were not necessary and that our Passport being to come immediately from the Kings Council there needed no more but to translate into Spanish that we had brought from the Arch-Duke the like whereof which would be every where respected should be dispatched us I acquiesced in this and went with him to Geronimo de la Torre one of the Secretaries of State to whom he delivered a Memorial for the said Passport recommending it to him in the name of his Master he promised to carry it to the Council of State that very day using us with great civility and accompanying us to the bottom of his stairs Our Passport being in this forwardness Mr. B. and I went one morning to visit Segnior Versosa by it the better to understand the nations humour and whether negligence or want of credit had caused his failing in what the Ambassador desired of him he instantly excused his not having waited on us and told us he had delivered the Letter to Don Lewis de Haro who had commanded him to accompany us to Audience such is the manner of speaking in this Court which he would give us the next day This discovered that his slowness in returning us answer was rather an effect of the humor of his nation not very punctual nor forward in its civilities no more then in its affairs then of his negligence or little power to perform what had bin recommended to him being a kin to the Secretary Geronimo de la Torre who had received our Memorial he would needs go along with us to him and recommend it in our presence but I was strangely surprized to see this man in this visit we made in company of his kinsman so different from what I had before found him for instead of our former civil reception of which I spoke but now he would scarcely move from his Table and Papers entertaining us with interrupted sentences whilst he ranged the writings he held in his hand I was scandalized at such an inequality and the favourablest judgement I could make was whilst I considered him to be of that nation which is esteemed so unvariable in its humor and actions that his thoughts were that day entirely possessed by something very important and vexatious This prevented not our repairing next morning according to our appointment to visit the chief Minister of so superbe a Court He is not difficult of access nor environed with the pomp and splendor usually affected by such as possess the