further was represented the Golden Age accompany'd with the Law Rewards Protection and Punishments The Temple of Faith was exhibited in a Picture Honour and Fidelity open'd the Gate and Joy came forth to receive the new Queen There was besides a Picture which shew'd the Reception Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba and another where Deborah was giving of Laws to her People There were also the Statues of Ceres Astrea Vnion Vertue Life Safety Time the Earth Tranquility Peace Greatness Rest Themis and Liberality Amongst all the Paintings I took notice of that where Aeneas is descending into Hell Cerberus chain'd by the Sybile the Elysian Fields where Anchises shew'd his Son who should succeed him in his Posterity The rest were fill'd with an infinite number of Hierogliphicks The Queen stopt at the third Arch which was over against a very fine Parterre in her way in it were falls of Water Grottas Fountains and white Marble Statues Nothing could be more pleasant than this Garden It belong'd to the Fryars of St. Francis of Paulo who built it The fourth Gate was in the middle of the Place call'd Del Sol it was not less glorious than the others by the Gold Pictures Statues and Motto's about it The Street where the Furriers dwelt was all full of seeming Animals though their Skins was so artificially stufft that any Body would have taken them for liying Tygars Lions Bears and Panthers The fifth Gate which was that of Guadalajara had its peculiar Ornaments and after that the Queen past into the Goldsmiths Street the side of which was set full of Angels of pure Silver there were seen also divers Bucklers of Gold upon which were contriv'd the King and Queens Names with their Arms in Pearls Rubies Diamonds Emraulds and other Stones so fine and rich that the Skilful said there was to the value of above twelve Millions In the Placa Mayor there was an Amphitheater set full of Statues and adorn'd with Paintings The last Gate was near that in the middle of the first Front of the Queen Mothers Pallace was seen Apollo all the Muses the Picture of the King and Queen on Horseback and divers other things which I did not mind so much to give you an Account of them The Pallace Court was surrounded with young Men and Maids which represented all the Rivers both great and small of Spain they were Crowned with Reeds and Water lillies with Pots overturn'd and the rest of their Attire suitable They complimented the Queen in Latin and Spanish there were also erected in this Court two Castles of artificial Fire-works All the Pallace was hung with the richest Tapistry that belong'd to the Crown and there are but few Places in the World where there is finer seen two Chariots full of Muscians went before their Majesties The Magistrates of the City came out of their Publick House in their Robes which were made of Brocado embroider'd with Gold they wore little Hatts buttoned up with Plumes of Feathers and were mounted upon very fine Horses they came to present the Keys of the City to the Queen and to receive her under a Canopy The King and the Queen Mother went in a Coach all open that the People might see them as far as the Countess of Ognates House where the Queen came to them Six Trumpeters in black and red Suites in company of the City Kettle Drums mounted upon fine Horses whose Housings were of black Velvet march'd before the Alcade of the Court the Knights of the three Malitary Orders namely St. James Calatrava and Alcantara followed after in Cloaks all embroider'd with Gold and their Hatts covered with Plumes of Feathers after them went the Tutulados De Castille and the Officers of the King's Houshold they wore white Robes and most of them were Grandees of Spain their Hatts were trim'd with Diamonds and Pearl and their Magnificence appear'd every way they had most admirable Horses every one had abundance of Liveries and their Footmens Suits were of Gold and Silver Brocado mixt with colour'd Silk which lookt very well The Queen rid upon a curious Horse of Andalousia which the Marquis De Villa Mayna her first Gentleman Usher led by the Reins her Cloaths ware so richly embroider'd that one could see no Stuff she wore a Hat trim'd with a Plume of Feathers and the Pearl call'd the Peregrina which is as big as a small Pear and of an inestimable Value her Hair hung loose upon her Shoulders and upon her Forehead her neck was a little bare and she wore a small Fardingal she had upon her Finger the large Diamond of the King 's which is pretended to be the fairest in Europe But the Queens pretty Looks and her Charms shin'd much brighter than all the sparkling Jewels with which she was adorn'd behind her and without the Canopy went the Dutchess De Terranova drest in Duenna together with Donna Laura Maria D' Alarcon Governante of the Queens Maids they rid each of them upon a Mule Immediately after them the Queens Maids to the number of eight all cover'd with Diamonds and Embroidery appear'd upon very fine Horses every one having two of the Court walking by their side the Queens Coaches went after them and the Guards of the Lancilla brought up the Rear She stopt before the Countess of Ognate's House to salute the King and the Queen Mother she alighted at St. Maries where Cardinal Portocarero Archbishop of Tolleda waited for her and immediately Te Deum began as soon as it was ended she mounted her Horse again and rid to the Pallace where she was receiv'd by the King and Queen Mother the King help't her off her Horse and the Queen Mother taking her by the Hand led her to her Apartment where all the Ladies were waiting for her and fell on their Knees in all Humility to kiss her Hand While I am upon this Head of the Pallace I should tell you Dear Cousin that I have heard there are certain Laws or Rules establisht in the Pallace which have been observed there for above these hundred Years without the least Devotion they are call'd the Orders or Ceremonials of the Pallace they run thus That the Queen of Spain shall go to Bed at Ten a Clock in Summer and nine in Winter At the Queens first being here she did not consider the appointed Hour it seemed to her Reasonable that the Rule of going to Bed should be when one was sleepy but it frequently hapned that as she was eating her Supper some of her Women without saying a Word to her would begin to undress her Head and others to pull off her Shoes under the Table and so hurry her to Bed with that haste as made her very much wonder The King of Spain sleeps in one Apartment and the Queen in another but this loves his Queen too well to lie from her It is thus noted in the Orders That when the King comes out of his own Chamber in the Night to go into the
for the Duke of Medina Celi's Daughter Her Coffin was made of rare Indian Wood put into a blue Velvet Bag and crost with silver Mohair with Cords of silver Thred and the strings were of the same and fastned the Bag at each end like a stuff Cloak-bag The Coffin was in a Hearse cover'd with white Velvet set round with Garlands and Coronets curiously made of Flowers And thus they carried her to Medina Celi the capital City of the Dutchy of that Name Commonly they dress up the dead in the habit of some Religious Order and carry them all bare-fac'd into the Church where they are to be bury'd If it is a Woman they put her on the habit of the Carmelites This Order is in great Veneration here the Princesses of the Blood retire to their Convent The Queens themselves when they are Widows are oblig'd to spend the rest of their Life there unless the King otherwise appointed before his Death as Philip IV. did in favour of Queen Mary Ann of Austria his Wife And in case a Queen is Divorced she must go into a Religious House for Divorced or Widow she has not the Liberty to marry again The Kings of Spain presume so much above other Kings that they will not endure a Princess who has once been their Wife should ever be so to another let her have the greatest Passion in the World Don John hath a natural Daughter a profess'd Carmelite at Madrid She is wonderful handsom and 't is said she had no mind to take the Habit but it was her fate as 't is of divers others of her Quality who like it no more than she They call them the Descalcas Reales which is to say The Royal bare-feet This reaches even to the King's Mistresses whether they be unmarried or Widows when he can love them no longer they must turn Nunns I have seen some of the Works of St. Theresa writ with her own Hand the Character is Legible large and indifferent fair Donna Beatrix Carillo who is her Neece's Neece keeps them very choisely It was she that shew'd them to me They consist of a Collection of Letters I do not believe they were ever Printed there 's a great deal of Perfection in them and throughout one may discover a certain air of chearfulness and sweetness of Nature which sufficiently declares the Character of that great Saint All the time of Lent and even at other times one meets with Preachers at every corner of a street whose Sermons are ill enough contriv'd and do as little good but however in preaching as they do they both satisfie their zeal and their desire Their most constant Auditors are the blind Folks which resemble our fingers upon Pont-Neus Every one of them being led by a little Dog which does it very well they go about singing of Romances and Cacara which are certain old Stories or Modern Events which the People are very glad to know They have a little Drum and a Flute on which they play They often sing a Song on King Francis the First it beginning When the King left France to his Sorrow he left it c. Now I doubt you know it dear Cousin for who does not This Song is sung in very bad French and by Folks that do not understand one word of it All that they understand is That the King was taken by the Spaniards and as this Price was much for their Glory so they are willing to convey the Memory of it down to Posterity There 's a Flower-de-Luce all gilt upon the roof of the Chamber where this King was Prisoner and I must not omit telling you that the Prison is one of the fairest Buildings in Madrid the Windows are as large as those of other Houses There are indeed Iron Bars but they are all gilt and set at a distance great enough to make any one think they were not design'd to hinder escapes I stood amaz'd at the seeming neatness of a Place which in reality is unpleasant enough and I thought that in Spain they had a mind to contradict the French Proverb which says That There 's neither any handsome Prison nor ugly Love Pardon this Proverb I do not love them so well to trouble you often with them All the Houshold-stuff one sees here is extream rich but not so neatly made as ours in France and they come altogether short of our skill It consists of Tapistry Cabinets Paintings Looking-Glasses and Plate The Vice-Roys of Naples and the Governours of the Low-Countries have had most admirable Tapistry the Vice-Roys of Sicily and Sardinia shew most excellent Embroideries and Statues those of the Indies Precious Stones and Vessels of Gold and Silver So that several returning home from time to time laden with the Riches of another Kingdom cannot chuse but to have enrich'd this City with abundance of valuable things They change their Furniture several times a year their Winter-beds are of Velvet trim'd with thick Galoons of Gold but they are so low and the Valens so deep that one is as if they were bury'd in them and when one is in Bed the border of the Valens lying almost upon the Counterpain one can hardly be seen In Summer they have neither Curtains nor any thing else about the Bed this looks very ill Sometimes they hang colour'd Gauze to keep off the Gnats In Winter they have their Appartments very high sometimes in the fourth Story according as the cold encreases to keep them from it At present they use their Summer Lodgings which are low and very commodious All their Houses have a great many Rooms on a floor you go through a dozen or fifteen Parlours or Chambers one after another Those which are the worst lodg'd have six or seven the Rooms are generally longer than they are broad the Floors and Seelings are neither painted nor gilt they are made of Plaister quite plain but so white that they dazle ones Eyes for every year they are scrapt and whited as the Walls which look like Marble they are so well polisht The Court to their Summer Appartments is made of certain matter which after it has had ten Pails of Water thrown upon it yet is dry in half an hour after and leaves a pleasant coolness so that in the Morning they water all and a little while after they spread Matts or Carpets made of very fine Rushes which cover all the Pavement The whole Appartments are hung with the same small Matt about the depth of an Ell to hinder the coldness of the Walls from hurting those which lean against them On the top of these Matts there are hung Pictures and Looking-Glasses The Cushions which are of Gold and Silver Brocado are placed upon the Carpet and the Tables and Cabinets are very fine and at little distances there are set Silver Cases or Boxes fill'd with Orange and Jessemin-Trees In their Windows they set things made of Straw to keep the Sun out and in the Evenings they walk in
Warning from them for they are still forward to expose themselves at at every Baiting that's made The Bulls are fed and the best of them are pickt out for the Baiting they can even distinguish those that are either Sons or Brothers of those Bulls which made a great slaughter in former Feasts they tie to their horns a long Ribbon and by the colour of that every body knows them again and recites the History of their Ancestors that the Grandsire or great Grandsire of these Bulls bravely kill'd such and such a one and they expect no less from those that then appear When they have sufficiently rested the Placa Mayor is covered with Sand and round it are placed Bars as high as a Man upon which are painted the Arms of the King and his Kingdoms I fancy this Place to be larger than the Place Royal at Paris it is longer than it is broad and about it are Houses built upon Pillars and Arches like Towers five Stories high and to each a row of Balconies into which there are great Glass-doors The King 's stands more forward than the rest is more spacious and all gilt It is in the middle of one of the sides with a Canopy over it over against it are the Ambassadours Balconies who have place when the King goes to Chappel that is the Nuncio the Emperor's Ambassadours that of France of Poland the Venetian and that of Savoy those of England Holland Swedland Denmark and other Protestant Princes have none there The Councils of Castille Arragon the Inquisiton Italy Flanders the Indies the Orders War the Croisado and of the Finances are on the right hand of the King they are distinguisht by their Arms upon their Crimson Velvet Carpets which are all embroider'd with Gold After these are placed the city Companies the Judges the Grandees and Titulodos according to their severall Degrees and at the King's Charge or else at the City's who hire these Balconies of private Persons that dwell there For all those I have now nam'd the King makes a Collation and it is given in very neat Baskets to the Women as well as the Men it consists of Fruits dri'd Sweet-meats and Water cool'd with Ice of Gloves Ribbons Fans Pastiles Silk-stockings and Garters insomuch that these Feasts always cost above a hundred thousand Crowns and this Expence is defray'd out of the Fines and Forfeitures adjudg'd to the King or to the City this is a Fund which must not be medl'd with tho t' were to save the Kingdom from the greatest Danger the doing of it might cause a Sedition So bewitcht are the People with this kind of Pleasure From the Level of the Pavement to the first Balcony there are Scaffolds made for the rest of the People they give from Fifteen to twenty Pistols for a Balcony and there is not any but what are lett and adorn'd with rich Carpets and fine Canopies The People are not seated under the King's Balcony that Place is fill'd with his Guards there 's only Three Gates open into it through which the Persons of Quality pass in their richest Coaches and particularly the Ambassadors and they make several turns round it a little before the King comes The Cavaliers salute the Ladies who stand in the Balconies without being cover'd with their Mantles or Vails they are deck'd out with all their Jewels and whatever they have that is finest One can see nothing but extream rich Stuffs with Tapistry Cushions and Carpets all of rais'd work in Gold I never saw any thing more glorious the King's Balcony is hung round with Green and Gold Curtains which he draws when he will not be seen The King came about four a clock and immediately all the Coaches went out of the Place Generally the Ambassador of France is the most taken notice of because he and all his Train are dress'd after the French mode and he is the only Ambassador that has this Priviledge here for the others are in the Spanish Dress There 's five or six Coaches go before the King 's in which are the Officers the Gentlemen and Pages of his Chamber The Coach of Honour in which there goes no body marches immediatly before his Majesty's own whose Coachman and Postilion are always barehead a Footman carrying their Hats the Coach is surrounded with Foot-Guards Those which they call the Life-Guard have Partisans and march very near the Coach and next the Boots go a great many of the King's Pages cloath'd in Black and without Swords which is the only mark to know them from other Pages As the Ladies that are design'd to be about the young Queen are already nam'd so they all came under the Conduct of the Dutchess of Terra Nova in the King's Coaches they march by the Mens Boutes of the highest Quality some on Foot that they might be nearer others mounted on the finest Horses in the World train'd up for that purpose and which they call Horses of Motion That they may perform this piece of Gallantry they must have leave from their Mistresses otherwise 't is a great Blemish to their Reputation and even engages the Ladies Kindred in Trouble for they take their Honour to be concern'd in this Liberty But when she approves of it they may practise all the pleasant Humours for which these sort of Feasts minister occasion But though they need fear nothing from the Ladies they serve nor their Relations yet they are not freed from all uneasiness for the Duegno's or Women of Honour of which there 's too great a Provision in each Coach and the Guardadamas which go on Horseback are troublesome Observers hardly can one begin to discourse but these old Haggs will draw the Curtain and the Guardadamas will tell you that that Love which is fullest of Respect is the most discreet so that very often one must be content to let the Eyes speak and to sigh so loud that one may be heard at a Distance All things being thus dispos'd the Captains of the Guards and the other Officers mounted upon very fine Horses enter the Place at the head of the Spanish German and Burgundian Guards they are cloath'd in Yellow Velvet or Sattin which is the Livery of the King trim'd with tufted crimson Galoon mixt with Gold and Silver The Yeomen of the Guard which I call the Life-Guard wear only a short Cloak of the same Livery over black Cloaths The Spaniards wear Breeches tuckt up after the old way The Germans which are called Tudesques wear them like the Switzers they stand in Ranks near the King's Balcony while the two Captains and the two Lieutenants who carry each of them a Staff of command in their Hands and are follow'd by a great many in Liveries march all four in a Rank at the head of the Guards several times round the Place to give the necessary Orders and to salute the Ladies of their Acquaintance their Horses curvet and bound continually they are covered with knots of Ribbons and embroidered
imbroider'd with Pearls and precious Stones and so are the Chalices and Vessels of precious Stones The Candlesticks and the Lamps are of pure Gold There are forty little Chappels and as many Altars upon which are put every day forty several Cloaths and Attires The forepart of the great Altar is compos'd of four Ranks of Jasper Pillars and one goes up to the Altar by seventeen Steps of Porphiry Stone The Tabernacle is beautify'd with several Pillars of Agat and divers curious Figures of Metal and Chrystal One can see nothing about the Tabernacle but Gold Azur Stone and other Stones so transparent that through them the Sacrament which is kept in an Agat Vessel is easily perceiv'd This Tabernacle is esteem'd at a Million of Crowns There are eight pair of Organs the Chairs or Seats in the Quire are made of rare Wood which comes from the Indies curiously wrought after the pattern of those of St. Dominick at Boulogne The Cloysters of the Monastery are extream fine in the middle there 's a Flower Garden and a Chappel which opens four ways whose Roof is supported with Porphiry Pillars between which there are Niches in which are placed the four Evangelists with an Angel and the several Creatures made of white Marble bigger than Nature who throw out Torrents of Water into Marble Basins The Chappel is arch'd with curious Architecture and pav'd with black and white Marble There are divers Pictures of an inestimable value and in the Chapter-Room which is very large there is besides most excellent Pictures two Bass-Reliefs all of Agat two foot and a half long which cannot be valued As to the Church it has nothing extraordinary in its Structure it is bigger than that of the Jesuits in St. Anthony's Street at Paris but of the same form except that like their House it is of the Dorick Order Bramanto the famous Italian Architect drew the Model and Design of it The King and Queen's Appartments are not stately but Philip II. intended this only for a House of Prayer and Retirement the Church and the Library were the things he took most care to adorn Titian the famous Painter and divers others besides have exhausted all their Art and Skill in curiously painting the Galleries of the Library which indeed are admirable not only for the excellent Painting but for a hundred thousand Volumes that are there without reckoning the Original Manuscripts of several Fathers and Doctors of the Church which are delicately bound and gilt You 'll easily guess at the bigness of the Escurial when I have told you that there are in it seventeen Cloysters two and twenty Courts eleven thousand Windows above eight hundred Pillars and an infinite number of Parlours Halls and Chambers A little after the Death of Philip II. there was taken from the Fryars of the Escurial a certain Estate in Lands call'd Campillo which the late King had given them and was worth eighteen thousand Crowns per Annum and this was done by virtue of a Clause in his Will by which he revok'd all the immense Donations which is his Life time he had given The Duke of Bragance being at Court in King Philip the Second's time he had a mind they should go with him to the Escurial that he might see that stately Pile of Building And as he that had the care of shewing it to him told him It was built in performance of a Vow which Philip II. made at the Battel of St. Quintin the Duke reply'd He that made so great a Vow must needs have a great Terror upon him And now in mentioning this King I remember to have heard that Charles V. recommended to him the preservation of the three Keys of Spain These were the Streights-mouth Flushing in Zealand and Cadiz The Turks or Moors have the first the Dutch the second and the English had the last but the King of Spain soon recover'd it from them The Escurial is built upon a descent of some Rocks in a desert and barren Place and environ'd with Hills the Village stands below it and has but few Houses in 't it 's in a manner always cold Weather there The extent of the Gardens and the Park is a prodigious thing to see in which one meets with Woods Plains and a vast House in the midst in which the Keepers lodge it abounds with all sorts of Deer and Fowl After having seen a Place which so highly deserves our admiration we all left it and as we had visited the Royal Houses of Pardo and Carcuela we return'd over the Mountains which is a nearer way but very troublesome We came by Colmenar and coasting along the little River of Guadarama we past through Rozas and Aravacâ— and arriv'd at Madrid where we learnt that the Queen's Houshold were just going away to meet her upon the Frontier We immediately went to the Palace to bid adiew to the Dutchess de Terra Nova and the other Ladies The King had made them all be mounted that he might see after what manner they would be on the day of her Entry for this reason all the Gardens and Doors every way were kept close shut and guarded and no Man was to enter there The young Court Ladies lookt well enough but good God! what figures were the Dutchess de Terra Nova and Donna Maria d' Alarcon who were the Governantes of the Queen's Maids they rid every one upon a Mule shod with Silver and all friz'd with a large housing of black Velvet like that the Physicians in Paris ride with upon their Horses These Ladies drest like Widdows which I have already describ'd to you very old and ugly with morose and imperious Looks wore broad Hats ty'd with strings under their Chins and twenty Gentlemen which walkt a foot by their sides held them up lest they should fall They would never have suffer'd these Men to have touch'd them in that manner had not they fear'd breaking their Necks For you must know dear Cousin that though every Lady has two Gentlemen Ushers and that they go with them where ever they go yet they never give them their Hand They walk by their sides and present to them their Elbows wrapt in their Cloaks which makes their Arms look monstrous thick The Ladies do not come near them but that which is yet more strange if the Queen in walking should happen to fall unless her Ladies were near her to help her up though there were an hundred Gentlemen there she must be pleas'd either to rise by her self or lie all day upon the Ground for none dare take her up We spent part of the Afternoon in looking at these Ladies the Equipage they had was indeed very rich but very poorly and dully contriv'd The Dutchess of Terra Nova had alone six Litters of Velvet of various colours and all embroider'd and forty Mules whose houssings were as costly as ever I saw any You will not hear from me again dear Cousin before the Queen is come hither
we came afterwerds by a difficult Way to the Banks of the River Vrola whose Noise is the greater in that 't is full of Rocks on which the Water dashes beats up and falls down and forms natural Cascades in several places We continu'd to ascend the high Mountains of the Pyrenees where we ran a thousand several Dangers we saw the ancient Ruines of an old Castle where Ghosts and Spirits have their Apartments as well as in that of Quebara it is near Gargason and being to stop there to shew my Pasport because here certain Customs are paid to the King I learnt from the Alcade of the Borough who drew near my Litter to talk with me that it is the common Report of the Country That there were formerly a King and a Queen here who had so fine and beautiful a Woman to their Daughter that she was rather taken for a Goodness than a Mortal Creature she was call'd Mira and it is from her Name came the Mira of the Spaniards which is to say Look you for as soon as ever she appear'd all the People attentively beheld her and cried out Mira Mira and here 's the Etymology of a Word drawn far enough This Princess was never seen by any Body who became not desperately in love with her but her Disdainfulness and Indifference made all her Lovers pine away The famous Basilisk never kill'd so many People as the Beautiful and Dreadful Mira she thus depopulated her Father's Kingdom and all the Countries thereabouts were full of the deceased and dying Lovers After they had in vain Addrest themselves to her they lastly applied themselves to Heaven to demand Vengeance on her Cruelty The Gods at length grew Angry and the Goddesses were not much behind them in the Exercise of this Passion so that to punish her the Scourges of Heaven finish'd the Destruction of her Father's Kingdom In this general Calamity he consulted the Oracle which told him That all these Miseries would not have an end till Maria had expiated the Mischiefs which her Eyes had done and that she must be gone That Destiny would conduct her to the place where she was to lose her repose and liberty The Princess obey'd believing it impossible for her to be touch'd with Tenderness She carried only her Nurse with her she was clad like a simple Shepherdess lest she should be taken notice of whether at Sea or Land She ran over a great Part of the World committing every day two or three Dozen of Murthers for her Beauty was not diminisht by the Fatigue of her Travels She arriv'd at length near this old Castle which belong'd to a young Count call'd Nios endowed with a thousand Perfections but extream Proud and Reserv'd he spent his time in the Woods as soon as ever he perceiv'd a Woman he fled from her and of all things he saw in the World she was his greatest Aversion The beautiful Mira was resting her self one day under the shade of some Trees when Nios past by cloathed with a Lyon's Skin a Bow at his Girdle and a Mace on his Shoulder his Hair was all clotted together and his Face be smear'd like a Chimney-Sweeper's this Circumstance is observable yet the Princess thought him the most handsome Man in the World she ran after him as if she had been mad and he ran from her as if he had been in the same condition she lost the sight of him she knew not where to find him she is now in the greatast Sorrow weeping Day and Night with her Nurse Nios return'd to the Chase she saw him again and would have follow'd him as soon as he perceiv'd her he did as at first and Mira betook her self again to her Lamentations but her Passion giving her new strength she out-ran him stopt him taking hold of his Locks intreating him to look on her thinking this was enough to engage him He cast his Eyes on her with as much Indifference as if she had been an ordinary Person Never Woman was more surpriz'd she would not leave him she came maugre him to his Castle where as soon as she had entred he there left her and was no more seen The poor Mira being not to be comforted died with Grief And from that time you hear deep Sighs and Groans which come from the Castle of Nios The young Wenches of the Country are used to go there and carry her little Presents of Fruits and Milk which they set down at the Mouth of a Cave where no body dare enter they said this was to comfort her but this has been abolisht as superstitious And though I believed not a word of whateever was told me at Garganson in relation to Mira and Nios yet I was pleas'd in the Recital of this Story of which I omit a thousand Particulars for fear of tiring you by its length My Waiting-woman was so affected with this Relation that she was for having us return back again to set at the Mouth of the Cave some red Partridges which my People had brought she imagin'd the Princess's Ghost would be mightily comforted in receiving this Testimony of our good Will but for my part I thought I should be more content than her in having those Partridges for my Supper We past the River of Vrola on a great stone-Bridge and having went over another with difficulty enough by reason of the melted Snow we arriv'd at Miranda d' Ebro this is a great Village or a little Town here is a large place adorn'd with a Fountain the River Ebro which is one of the most considerable of Spain traverses it You see on the Top of a Mountain the Castle with several Towers it appears to be of some strength and there issues out so great a Stream from a Rock on which it is built that it turns several Mills I could not observe any thing else worth writing to you The three Knights I spake of to you were arriv'd before me and giv'n all requisite Orders for Supper so we eat together And tho' the Night appear'd well advanced because the Days are short in this Season yet 't was not late so that these Gentlemen who shew'd me great Respect and Civility askt me How I would pass the time I proposed to them the playing at Ombre and that I would go Halves with Don Fernand de Toledo They accepted the Offer Don Fernand de Cardonne said He had rather Converse with me than Play so the three others began and I for some time gave my self over to the looking on them with great Pleasure for their Way is quite different from ours They never utter a word I do not say to complain for this would be unworthy the Spanish Gravity but to demand a Gano or to cut higher or to shew that one may take some other Advantage In a word they seem to be Statues or Pieces of German Clock-work never appearing transported with either good or bad Luck Among other Discourse which I had with D.
it and offered to withdraw secretly where he would but the Duke fearing to incur the King's Displeasure answer'd her He was resolv'd to yield up to His Majesty a Treasure which he was not in a Capacity to contend for She made him a thousand Reproaches for this she call'd him Traytor to his Love ingrateful towards his Mistress And more-over told him That though he was so Happy as that he could dispose of his Heart as he pleased yet she could not do the same and therefore he must continue to visit her or prepare to see her die with Despair The Duke affected with so great a Passion promised to feign a Journey to Andalousia and to remain with her hid in a Closet he effectually parted from the Court and afterwards shut himself up as it was agreed whatever Risque he ran by so imprudent Conduct The King in the mean time was very Amorous and remain'd very well satisfi'd She had during this Don John d' Austria and the Resemblance he had with the Duke de Medina de Las Torres had made it be thought that he was his Son but tho' the King had other Children and particularly the Bishop of Malaga good Fortune decided in his Favour and he has been only acknowledg'd Don John 's Friends say That 't was by reason of the Exchange which had been made of the Son of Calderonna for the Son of Queen Elizabeth and here 's how they set forth this Change which is a Story made on purpose to impose on the World and which I believe has no ground of Truth They pretend the King being desperately in love with this Player she became big with Child at the same time as the Queen and seeing the King's Passion was so greatly towards her that she might expect any thing she so ordered it that she made him promise her That if the Queen had a Son and she likewise he should put hers in his place What will you lose by this Sir said she Will it not be your Son that will still Reign only with this difference that loving me as you say you do you will love him likewise the better She had Wit and the King could deny her nothing he consented and in effect the Business was manag'd with that Address that the Queen being brought to Bed of a Son and Calderonna of another the Exchange was made He that should have Reign'd and who bore the Name of Baltazar died at the Age of fourteen Years The King was told 't was with over-heating himself at Tennis but the truth is this Prince was suffered to keep bad Company which procured him his Misfortunes it is said likewise That Don Pedro d' Arragon his Governour and Chief Gentleman of his Chamber more contributed to this than any other suffering him to bring into his Apartment a Woman he lov'd after this he was taken with a violent Feaver and conceal'd the Occasion The Physicians who were ignorant of it thought to ease him by frequent Bleedings which put an end to what strength he had and by this means they ended his Life The King knowing but too late what had hapn'd banisht Don Pedro for not hindring this Excess or for not having timely discover'd it In the mean time Don John of Austria who was brought up as the Natural Son chang'd not his Condition though this ought to have been had he been indeed the lawful Son yet notwithstanding this his Creatures affirm He so exactly resembles Q. Elizabeth that she needs no other Picture of her Likeness And this Opinion fails not of gaining Belief with the People who run violently after Novelties and who so passionately loved this great Queen that they bewail her still as if she was but now deceas'd It is true that if Don John of Austria would make his Advantage of the favourable Dispositions of the People he has met with several Opportunities of extending his Fortune very far but his only Aim is to serve the King and to keep his Subjects in those Sentiments of Fidelity they ought to have for him To return to Calderonna The King surprised one day the Duke de Medina with her and in the excess of his Rage he ran to him with his Poynard in his Hand he was about to kill him when this Woman placed her self between telling him He might strike her if he would Having the most extream Passion for her he could not but Pardon him contenting himself only with banishing him But understanding she continu'd to love him and write to him he studied only how to get a new Passion when he had one strong enough not to apprehend the Charms of Calderonna he sent word to her to retire into a Monastery as is customary when the King forsakes his Mistress She put it not off writing a Letter to the Duke to bid him Adieu And she receiv'd the Veil of a Religio from the Hand of the Apostolick Nuncio who became since Innocent X. It is very likely the King believ'd Don John was his real Son seeing he loved him so dearly One thing will appear to you very singular which is that a King of Spain having Natural Sons owned by him they never entred Madrid during his Life So Don John was brought up at Ocanna which is some Leagues distant from it The King his Father came oft thither and he made him come even to the Gates of the Town where he went to meet him This Custom comes from that the Grandees of Spain dispute the Rank which these Princes would hold Don John before he went into Catalonia remain'd commonly at Buen Retiro which is a Royal Seat at one of the farthest parts of Madrid a little without the Gate And he shew'd himself so little that he was never seen at any Publick Feast during the Life of the late King but since Times have chang'd and his Fortunes stand on a different bottom Whilst the Queen Maria Ann of Austria Sister to the Emperour and the King's Mother Govern'd Spain and her Son was not yet of Age to hold the Reigns of the State She would have always Don John keep from the Court and more-over found her self so capable of Governing that she had a mind to ease her Son for a long time of the Burden of Ruling She was not troubled to see him ignorant of whatever might give a desire of Reigning but though she brought the greatest Precautions to hinder him from feeling he was under too strict a Tutelage and suffered no Persons to come near him but those she was well assured of yet this hindred not but some of the King 's Faithful Servants hazarded themselves by giving him to understand what he might do for his Liberty He follow'd the Advice was given him and in fine having taken Measures accordingly he stole away one Night and went to Buen Retiro He as soon sent from thence an Order to the Queen his Mother not to stir out of the Palace Don John is of a middle Stature
fifty Nuns most of 'em the Daughters of Princes Dukes and Titulado's She added That the Abbess is Lady of fourteen large Towns and above fifty other Places wherein she chuses Governors and Magistrates that she is Superior of seventeen Convents Collates to several Benefices and disposes of twelve Commanderships in favour of whom she pleases She told me she design'd to pass some time in this Monastery Can you Madam said I to her accustom your self to so retired a Life as is that of a Convent It will be no hard matter said she for I believe I see fewer People at my own House than I shall see there and in effect these Religious have Liberty enough They are commonly the handsomest young Women of the Family who are there these enter therein so young that they know not what they are made to leave nor what they undertake at the Age of six or seven and it may be sooner They are caused to make Vows when 't is often the Father or Mother or some near Relation who pronounce them for 'em whilst the little Sacrifice disports her self with Sugar-plums and lets 'em dress her how they will Yet the Bargain holds there 's no unsaying it however they have every thing which can be expected in their Condition There are at Madrid s me whom they call the Ladies of St. James they are properly Canonnesses who make their Tryals like the Knights of this Order they bear like them a Sword made in form of a Cross embroidered with Crimson Silk they have 'em on their Scapularies and great Cloaks which are white These Ladies House is very stately all who come to visit 'em enter without any difficulty their Apartments are very fine and every whit as well furnish'd as if they were at large in the World they enjoy great Pensions and each of 'em has three or four Women to wait on them It 's true they never stir out nor see their nearest Relations but through several Grates This perhaps would look horrid in another Country but in Spain they are accustom'd to Confinement There are Convents where the Religious see more Cavaliers than the Women who live at large neither are they less gallant It is impossible for any to have more Gayety than they and as I have already told you Madam here are more Beauties than abroad but it must be granted there are several among them who are deeply sensible at their having been so soon sacrific'd they think of the Pleasures which they have never tasted as the only ones which can make this Life Happy They pass theirs in a Condition worthy of Compassion always telling you they are there by Force and that the Vows they are made to repeat at the Age of five or six Years are to be regarded like Childrens Plays Madam said I to her it wou'd have been great pity had your Relations design'd you for such a Life and one may judge in beholding you that all the beautiful Spanish Ladies are not Religioses Alas Madam said she in fetching a deep Sigh I know not what I wou'd be it seems I am of a very odd Humor not to be contented with my Fortune but one has sometimes Vneasinesses which are unaccountable to Reason In ending these words she fastned her Eyes to the ground and fell into such a deep fit of Musing that I cou'd easily perceive something disturb'd her Whatever Curiosity I had to know the Subject we had been so little together that I dared not desire to be her Confident but to draw her from the melancholy Posture she was in I entreated her to tell me some News of the Court of Spain seeing she came from Madrid She did what she cou'd to recover her self she then told me There were great shews of Joy at Court on the Queen's Birth-day that the King had sent one of the Gentlemen of his Chamber to Toledo to Compliment her from him Yet these fine Appearances hindred not the Marquess de Mansera the Queen 's Major Domo from receiving Orders to retire twenty Leagues from the Court which had greatly mortifi'd this Princess She inform'd us That the Fleet which carried Troops to Galicia was unhappily cast away on the Coasts of Portugal That the little Dutchess de Terra Nova was to Espouse Don Nicolo Pignatelli Prince de Monteleon her Uncle That the Marquess de Laganez had refused the Vice-royalty of Sardagnia being in love with a fine Lady whom he cou'd not find in his heart to leave That Don Carlos de Omodei Marquess d' Almanazid was dangerously ill at his Disappointment of being admitted a Grandee of Spain to which he pretended having marry'd the Heiress of the House and Grandeurship of Castle Rodrigue and that which most sensibly afflicted him was that Don Ariel de Gusman this Lady's first Husband had enjoyed this Honour so that he cou'd not but look on the Difficulties thrown in his way as a slighting of his Person In truth Madam said I to her I can hardly comprehend how a Man of sence can with such eagerness pursue and be so greatly dejected at a Disappointment of this Nature We are otherwise affected in Spain replied the beautiful Widow and this Instance is a proof of it Don Frederic de Cardonne who greatly interested himself for the Duke de Medina Celi askt her News of him The King said she has lately made him President of the Indies The Queen-Mother has wrote to the King on the Report which runs that he is about Marrying that she is surpriz'd things are already gone so far and he has not acquainted her with them She adds in her Letter She advised him in the mean time whilst all things were ready for this Ceremony to make a Journey to Catalonia and Arragon Don John of Austria sufficiently understands the Necessity of this and he presses the King to depart to content these People in promising by Oath according as is customary to new Kings to maintain all their ancient Priviledges Have then Madam said I to her interrupting her the Arrogonois any other Priviledges than the Castillians Very particular ones replied she and you being a Stranger I believe you will be willing to let me inform you of them Here 's what I learnt The Daughter of Count Julien named Cava was one of the most beautiful Ladies in the World King Rodrigue became so passionately in love with her that his Affections knowing no Bounds transported him beyond all measure The Father who was then in Affrica inform'd of the Outrage done his Daughter who breath'd nothing but Revenge treated with the Moors and supplied 'em with the means to enter into Spain * This happened in 714 after the Battle of St. Martin wherein D. Rodrigue lost his Life others say he fled into Portugal and died in a Town there call'd Viscii and to make there for sundry Ages all those Ravages set forth at large in history The Arragonois were the first who shook off the Yoak
Relation of some Particulars of her humor You must know then said she that the King of Spain sent Don Antonio Pimentel in quality of Ambassador to Stockholm to discover as much as in him lay the Intentions of the Swedes They had been long Enemies to the House of Austria and it was not doubted but they would make new Attempts to thwart it in the design of making the Emperour's Son King of the Romans Pimentel was charged to carry on this Affair with great Circumspection He was a gallant witty and handsome Person and he succeeded better than could be expected He immediately discovered the Queen's Genius and easily made himself her Confident He soon perceived she was mightily charm'd with Novelties and that of the crowd of Strangers which she drew to the Court the last come was the most favoured He made it his Task to please her and gained so far on her Affections that he became inform'd by her self of the most secret Affairs and which she ought the most to conceal from him But what cannot he do who has found a way to the heart The Queen 's was so inclined to him that he became the sole Disposer of the Affections of this Princess and by this means was able to write to the Emperour and to the Electors things so certain and agreeable as made 'em easily judge that the Queen of Sweedland's Council had no part in the Declaration she made in favour of the King of Hungary This Intrigue being at an end 't was thought the King would recal Pimentel there appearing no occasion requiring the Presence of an Ambassador But if it were needless for the King of Spain that he should remain at Stockholm 't was not the same with the Queen she neglecting nothing whereby to retain him near her He attended her wherever she went since and many who were led by outward Appearances judged when she left the Crown to her Cosin she did it with great Satisfaction because she did it with dry Eyes and had the Courage to harangue the States with great Force and Eloquence but the People were greatly mistaken in the secret Motives of this Princess Her soul at that time was pierced with the most lovely sorrow she was not a little griev'd to yield to the Prince Palatine a Scepter which she thought her self worthy to wield alone and of which she was the lawful Heiress This Prince had the Address to get it declared that if she married she should choose him for her Husband Assoon as this Declaration was made she began to feel the weight of the subjection wherein she was placed and on the other hand the People did not well relish the being governed by a Woman They insisted more on her Defects than they minded her Vertues The Prince contributed under-hand thereto and the Queen who was penetrating soon perceiv'd it she observ'd the Inclination the People had to him and the wishes which were made to see him on the Throne she grew every day more and more jealous of this and past from hence to such a deadly Hatred that 't was impossible for her to stop the Course of it The Princes presence became so insupportable to her that perceiving it he withdrew into an Island which belong'd to him But he set not out till he had left good Memoires to his Creatures against the Queen's Conduct When she saw her self deliver'd from an Object whose sight was so great an Eye-sore she drew off her Mind from the too intent pursuit of the Affairs of the Kingdom and gave way to her Inclinations to Books Her marvellous Wit made in a short time admirable Progresses in the most profound Sciences but these were not so needful to her as a good Conduct in the management of her Honour and Interest It often happens that having spent several days in her Study she would appear disgusted with her Books saying They were good for nothing but to waste the Spirits and mislead Mens Judgments When the Great Men of the Court saw her in this Disposition they approacht her with more familiarity and then the whole Business was to follow the Pleasures of Love of Plays Balls Turneys Huntings and all other Diversions She gave up her self entirely to them and nothing cou'd bring her off them but she added to this Defect that of enriching Strangers at the Expence of her own Subjects The Swedes began to murmur at this the Queen was advertised of it their Complaints appear'd to be unjust and little respectful and being not a little offended at them she was so unwise as to take Vengeance on her self In effect at the time when 't was least expected and when she was in a Condition to find less violent Remedies she abandoned at one stroak her Crown and Kingdom to her Cosin to this Cosin I say whom she was so far from loving that she wish'd him all the ill she was able and yet to whom she did so much good she thought 't was impossible for any to penetrate into the Motives of this She pretended by this great stroak of Generosity to distinguish her self from among the Heroina's of the most famous Ages But in effect the Conduct she held afterwards distinguish'd her only to her Disadvantage She was seen to set out from Swedeland in a very odd Dress for a Woman with a kind of Justaucorps a short Petticoat with Boots and Cravat in a Perriwig a Hat covered with Feathers and this Perriwig tied up in a lock behind which seem'd then very ridiculous She forbad all her Women to folfow her choosing only Men to serve her and attend her She was wont ordinarily to say That she did not love Men as Men but because they were not Women So that she seem'd to have renounc'd her Sex in renouncing her States altho she had sometimes such Weaknesses as wou'd have made the meanest Women ashamed The trusty Pimentel past over into Flanders with her and I being then there continues she I saw him arrive he procured me the honour to kiss her hand and there needed no less than his Credit to obtain this for she sent word to all the Ladies of Brussels and Antwerpt she wou'd excuse them for their Visits Yet she receiv'd me very well and the little she said to me appear'd full of Wit and extraordinary Vivacity but she swore at every turn like a Souldier and her Words and Actions were so free not to say so dishonest that were it not for her Rank her Person wou'd have been little regarded She spake before every Body of the passionate desire she had to see the Prince of Conde that his great Actions had charm'd her and that she was desirous to learn the Trade of War under him The Prince had no less desire to see her than she testified to see him In the midst of this mutual Impatience the Queen stopt on a sudden on some Formalities and Steps which she refused to take when he shou'd come to salute her These
Reasons hindred him from seeing her with the usual Ceremonies But one day when the Queen's Chamber was full of Courtiers the Prince slipt therein whether she had seen his Picture or that his Martial Ayr had distinguish'd him from among others she had singled him out and knew him She wou'd immediately hereupon have testifi'd as much to him by extraordinary Civilities He presently retired and she follow'd to conduct him Then he stopt and contented himself with saying these words Either All or Nothing Some few days after an Interview was set on foot to be between them in the Mall in the Park at Brussels where they spake together with great Civility and much Coldness As to Don Antonio Pimentel the Favours she has had for him have made noise enough to come to your Ears and if you be ignorant of 'em Madam I believe I ought not to undertake to learn you the Particulars of which perhaps I my self may have been ill inform'd She held her peace and I made my profit of this moment to thank her for complaisance in giving me an account of a Queen who had ever giv'n me such a great Curiosity She askt me afterwards whether I had seen the Castle of Lerma He that build it said she was Favorite to Philip the Third whose Death hapned very strangely This Prince continued she was writing Letters in his Closet and it being very cold that day they had placed very near him a quick fire of Coals whose reverberation struck so much on his face that he was all in water as if a great quantity of it had been poured on his Head The easiness of his temper hindred him from complaining and even speaking of it for he never found fault with any thing The Marquis de Pobar having observ'd the incommodiousness which the King receiv'd by this extream heat advertised the Duke d' Alva's Gentleman of his Chamber of it to the end he might remove the Fire away He replied It was not his Office and that the Duke Duesda ought to be made acquainted with it whose proper Business it was The Marquis de Pobar being troubled to see the King thus suffer and not daring himself to ease him for fear of invading another's Province left the fire still in its place but he sent to give notice of it to the Duke Duesda who was by Misfortune gone near Madrid to see a stately House he was there building Word was brought of this again to the Marquis de Pobar who proposed again to the Duke de Alva the taking away the fire But he found him inflexible hereunto and chose rather to send into the Country to the Duke Duesda so that before he was come the King was almost spent and that very Night he fell into a violent Fever accompanied with an Erisipellis which inflamed and the Inflamation degenerated into the Purples which caused his Death I must confess said she that having seen when I was abroad in the World other Courts besides our own I cou'd not forbear blaming these kind of Ceremonies and Punctilio's which hinder the taking of one step faster than another thô life depended thereon The old Countess of Lemo's lov'd to talk and continuing her Discourse and among other names mention'd that of the Count de Villa Mediana I have heard said I interrupting her that this Gentleman being one day in the Church of our Lady d' Arocha and finding there a Religio's who begg'd for the Souls of Purgatory he gave him a piece of four pounds Ah my Lord said the good Father you have now deliver'd a Soul The Count drew out again alike piece and put it into the Bason Here 's continued the Religio another Soul delivered He gave him in this manner six one after another and at the dropping of each piece the Monk cry'd Here 's a Soul delivered from Purgatory Will you be positive in it reply'd the Count. Yes my Lord reply'd the Monk I am certain they are now in Heav'n Give me now then back again my six pieces said he for they signifie nothing to you seeing the Souls are already got to Heav'n there 's no danger of their returning again to Purgatory It was as you relate added the Countess but he took not again his Money for this wou'd have been among us an horrid Sacriledge And I knew a man of good quality who being much behind in the World yet when he was dying wou'd have fifteen thousand Masses to be said for him His last Will was executed and his poor Creditors defrauded for how just soever their Debts be they can expect to receive nothing till such time as all the Masses which are left in the Will be said And this has given occasion to that common saying among us That such a one has made his Soul his Heir whereby is meant that he has left his Estate to the Church to say Prayers for him King Philip the Fourth ordered in his Will an hundred thousand Masses to be said for him farther declaring That shou'd he cease needing them they shou'd serve for his Father and Mother and in case they were got to Heav'n they shou'd be applied to the Souls of those who were slain in the Wars of Spain But what I have already told you of the Count de Villa Mediana brings to my mind that he being one day at Church with Queen Elizabeth he saw a great deal of Money on the Altar which was giv'n for the Souls in Purgatory He drew near and took it up in his hand saying My Love will last for ever my Pains will be likewise Eternal those of the Souls in Purgatory will have an end alas mine will never end This hope comforts them as for me I am without hope and comfort so that these Charities are more due to me than they However he took nothing away only speaking these words as an occasion to bring in his Passion before this beautiful Queen who was there present For in effect his was so violent for her that there is some reason to think she was not wholly insensible of it if her rigid Virtue had not preserved her heart against the Count's Merit He was young well shaped handsome brave magnificent gallant and witty every Body knows how he appeared to his Misfortune in a Carosel at Madrid with a Suit embroidered with pieces of new Money called Realles and which he bore for a Device MIS AMORES SON REALES making an allusion to the word Reales which is to say Royal with the Passion he had for the Queen This is finer in Spanish and signifies in English My Love is Royal. The Count Duke d' Olivarez the Kings Favorite and the secret Enemy of the Queen and the Count made his Master take notice of the boldness of a Subject who dared even in his Presence declare the Sentiments he had for the Queen and in this moment he perswaded the King to be reveng'd on him An occasion was waited for which shou'd make no noise
But here 's what hastned his ruine applying his Mind only to divert the Queen he wrote a Comedy which every Body likes and the Queen more than others found therein such moving and delicate stroaks in it that she wou'd act apart in it her self on the King's Birth-day It was the Amorous Count who managed and took care of the Festival he ordered the Cloaths and provided Machines which cost him above Thirty thousand Crowns He had caused a great Cloud to be painted under which the Queen was concealed in a Machine He stood very near it and at a certain sign he gave a Man who was faithful to him he set fire to the linnen work of the Cloud The whole House valued at an hundred thousand Crowns was in a manner consumed but he comforted himself when making his advantage of this favourable Opportunity he took his Soveraign in his Arms carry'd her into a little by-place and there stole from her some Favours and that which is much taken notice of in this Country is that he touched her foot A little Page who saw him inform'd the Count Duke of it he did not doubt but when he saw the fire but this was an effect of the Count's Passion He made such an exact Enquiry that he laid before the King certain Proofs of it and his Proofs so greatly enraged the King that 't is pretended he caused him to be shot with a Pistol one night as he was in his Coach with Don Lewis de Haro Here 's a very Tragical end said I to her interrupting her but whilst said she I am speaking to you of Philip the Fourth I cannot but I must tell you that he was vehemently in love with the Dutchess Dalburkerke He cou'd never meet with a favourable opportunity of Entertaining her The Duke her Husband kept strict guard over her and the more Obstacles the King met with the more his Desires increased but when Night came and when he was at play he feign'd to call to mind he had a Letter to write of the greatest consequence He call'd the Duke Dalburkerke who was in his Chamber and desired him to take his place and continue his Game He immediately hereupon entred into his Closet disguised himself and went down by a back Stairs and came to the young Dutchess with the Count Duke his Favorite The Duke Dalburkerke whose mind ran on his Domestick Interests more then on his Game easily believ'd his Master wou'd not have committed it to him without some secret Design He began then to complain of an horrid Collick and uttering Cries and making Faces enough to fright one he gave the Cards to another and without any stop run home The King had only just arrived there without any Train he was then in the Court and seeing the Duke come he hid himself but there is nothing so clear sighted as a jealous Husband He perceiv'd the King and being not willing to have Lights brought that he might not be oblig'd to acknowledge him he made up to him with a great Cane which he commonly walked with Ha! Ha! Villain said he to him thou comest to rob my House and without more words he laid on him with all his strength The Count Duke was no more spared who fearing least worse might happen cried out several times 'T was the King to stop the Duke's Fury but this was so far from effecting it that he redoubled his blows both on the Prince and his Minister crying in his turn That this was a stroak of the greatest Insolence to make use of his Majesty's Name and his Favorites in such an occasion that he could find in his heart to send 'em to the Palace because he well knew the King would cause 'em to be hang'd In all this Fray the King said not a word and at length got away half mad in having received so many blows and not one favour from his Mistress This produced no ill Consequences to the Duke Dalburkerke but on the contrary the King being cured of his Love to the Dutchess made a Jest of it some time after I know not whether I do not abuse your patience by the length of this Conversation added the Countess de Lemos and I fall insensible into the defect of persons of my Age who forget themselves when they tell of things done in their time I saw she was for retiring and having again thankt her for the honour she had done me I took my leave of her and returned to my Inn. The Weather was so foul that we with great difficulty set out but being resolv'd on it we marcht as long as the day lasted falling down and getting up as well as we cou'd We cou'd hardly see four Paces before us the Storm was so great that it blew off several Stones off the Rocks which fell into our way and hurt one of our Company he had been kill'd had he not stept on one side In fine after having made about eight Leagues according to our reckoning we were much astonisht to find our selves at the Gates of Lerma without having advanced or gone back We had still turn'd about the Town without perceiving it as it were by Enchantment sometimes farther sometimes nearer and we were all of us not a little out of humor at having taken so much pains to so little purpose The Hostess transported at the sight of us she who cou'd have been glad with all her heart we shou'd thus Travel as long as we lived to return to lye at her House every night tarried for me at the top of her little Stair-case She told me she was very sorry she cou'd not let me have my Room again but wou'd give me another commodious enough and that mine was taken up by a Seignora the greatest in Spain Don Fernand askt her name she told him she was called Donna Eleonor of Toledo he as soon inform'd me she was his near Kinswoman He cou'd not comprehend by what chance she shou'd come there To be satisfied in the matter he sent his Gentleman to make her a Complement and to know whether his visit wou'd not be troublesome She sent word she had a great Satisfaction at this happy Meeting and that he wou'd do her a great deal of honour He went up immediately to her Chamber and was inform'd by her of several particulars which related to him He came afterwards to me and told me very civilly That where not Donna Eleonar excessive weary and indisposed she wou'd have given me the first Visit I in short desired him to conduct me to her Chamber where she receiv'd me in a most obliging manner and I observ'd in the first moment of our Conversation that she had a great deal of Wit and Politeness I found her very neat and handsome her Eyes were lively and so glistering that one cou'd not without pain endure their brightness Don Fernand told her who I was and that I went to see one of my near Relations at Madrid Her name
Torrents and making the Waters pass that we were only affrighted two of our Mules were drowned my Litters and Cloaths were so soakt in Water that to dry them we were forc'd to tarry one whole Day and this was no easie matter for there are no Chimneys in the Inns they heated the Oven and put my Cloaths in it I can assure you I have not gained any thing in this unhappy Inundation I lay down after this or to speak better I bathed my self my Bed being as wet as any thing else My fellow Travellers thought fit to let me rest a little I have employ'd one part of my leisure time in writing to you Adieu dear Cosin it is time to finish I am ever more yours than any Bodies in the World From Aranda de Duero this 9th of March. LETTER VI. THE Exactness I observe in giving you an Account of things which I judge worthy of your Curiosity puts me often times on Enquiries into several Particulars which I shou'd have otherwise omitted had you not perswaded me that you are a great Lover of Novelties and that you love to Travel without going out of your Closet We parted from Aranda in a time of Thaw which as it rendred the Air warmer so it made the ways more troublesome We came a while after to the Mountain de Samozierra which parts the Old Castile from the New and we Traverst it not without difficulty as well for its height as the quantity of Snow with which the Bottoms were fill'd and into which we sometimes fell as from Precipices believing the way even They call this Pass the Puerto which Name methinks shou'd be only giv'n to a part where one Embarks on the Sea or a River but it is thus they call the Passage from one Kingdom to another and you make your way to your Cost for the King's Officers wait for Travellers in the Road and let 'em not go till they have paid what they require In arriving at Buitrago we were as wet as the night of the Inundation at Aranda and tho' I kept my Litter I felt no less the Incommodiousness of the Weather than if I had been on foot or Horsback because the Litters are so ill closed and made in this Country that when the Mules pass through any Water they throw up with their Feet part of the Water into the Litter which there remains So that I was forced in arriving to change my Linnen and Cloaths afterwards Don Fernand the three Knights my Daughter and my Women went with me to the Castle I had been so often told of It appeared to me as regularly built as that of Lerma not so large but every whit as pleasant The Apartments are better contriv'd and the Furniture is richer and very singular as well for its Antiquity as Magnificence This Castle as well as that of Lerma belongs to Don Rodrigo de Silva de Mendosa Duke de Pastrana and de L'infantada His Mother's Name is Donna Katherina de Mendosa Sandoval Heiress of the Dutchy's of Infantada and Lerma It descends from Father to Son of Ruy Gomes de Silva who was made Duke of Pastrana and Prince of Eboly by King Philip the Second This Princess d'Eboly who has been so much talkt of for her Beauty was his Wife and the King was passionately in love with her They shew'd me her Picture she is represented at her whole length sitting under a Tent fastned to some Boughs of Trees she seems as if she were rising for she has only a fine Linnen-cloth on her which lets one part of her Body be seen If she were as handsome as her Picture makes her and if her Features were so regular she must be judged the most charming Woman in the World her Eyes are so lively and full of Spirit that it seems as if she was about speaking to you her Neck Arms Feet and Leggs are naked her Hair falls down on her Breasts and little Cupids which appear every where about her press on one another to serve her some had her Slippers others are ready to strew flowers on her and some hold her looking Glass Others are seen farther off who are sharpning their Arrows whilst others fill their Quivers with them and bend their Bow A Fawn looks on her through Boughs she sees him and shews him to a little Cupid who is leaning on her Knees and weeps as if he were afraid of it at which she seems to smile I remained a great while looking on this Picture with the greatest pleasure but I was made to pass into a Gallery where I saw her again She was painted in a large Piece attending Queen Elizabeth Daughter to Henry the Second King of France whom Philip the Second King of Spain espoused instead of giving her to Don Carlos his Son to whom she had been promised The Queen made her Entrance on Horseback as 't is the Custom and I found the Princess Eboly less shining near her than she appeared to me when alone You may hereby judge of the Charms of this young Queen she had a blue Sattin Gown but as to the rest just as I represented to you the Countess of Lemos The King stood in a Balcony to see her pass by He had a black Suit with a Collar of the Golden Fleece his Hair reddish and gray long visage pale old wrinkled and ugly The Infant Don Carlos accompanied the Queen he was very white a fine head his Hair of a light yellow his Eyes blue and he lookt on the Queen with so moving an Air that it appear'd the Painter knew the secret of his heart and wou'd express it His Habit was white embroidered with precious Stones he was in his Doublet with his Hat botton'd upon one side and covered with white Feathers I saw in the same Gallery another piece which much affected me which was the Prince Don Carlos dying he was sitting in a Chair leaning on his Arm on a Table before him holding a Pen in his Hand as if he would have wrote something there was a Vessel by him wherein appeared a sort of black Liquor which apparently was design'd for Poyson A little further you see the Bath preparing for him where his Veins were to be opened the Painter had perfectly well represented the Confusion of so sad an Occasion and having read his History and being much affected with it methoughts I saw him really dying I was told these Pieces were of inestimable value I was afterwards conducted into a Chamber whose Furniture had belong'd to the Arch-Dutchess Marguerita of Austria Governess of the Low Countries and it is pretended she had workt it her self there is a neatly wrought Bed of Flowers Woods Animals and Feathers of all Colours the hangings are the same and the different Colours therein do make a very agreeable shew And this is what I found most remarkable in the Castle of Buitrago and it growing late we left it It was several days since I had the pleasure
out of her Mouth in my Face Don Augustin having known by one of his Wife's Servants that she was drest did not stand upon the Custom of the Countrey but lead Don Fernand and the Knights into her Chamber The Conversation was not long in common but we divided for my part I discoursed with Donna Theresa and she told me she was born at Madrid but was brought up at Lisbon with her Grand-mother who was Sister to Don Augustin Pacheco so that her Husband was her great Uncle and these sort of Alliances are often contracted in Spain She talkt to me much of the Young Infanta of Portugal and boasted mightily of her Wit and told me if I would go into her Closet I might judge of her Beauty for she had her Picture there I immediately went and was surpriz'd with the Charms I observ'd in this Princess She had her Hair cut and curl'd like the Periwig of an Abbot and an Invention for preserving Children from falling so big that there were upon it Two Baskets of Flowers and little Vessels of a Medicinal Earth of which they eat a great deal in Portugal and Spain although 't is an Earth that hath little Taste Donna Theresa shew'd me the Skin of a Serpent which her Husband kill'd in the Indies and though it was dead yet I was afraid of it Those of this kind are extream dangerous but it seems as if Providence had taken care to preserve Men from them for these Serpents have a sort of Bell about their Head which rings when they move and so gives notice to Travellers to secure themselves This young Lady who is a great Lover of Portugal discoursed to me much in its Favour She told me That the Sea which flows up into the Tagus renders that River capable to bear the greatest Gallions and the fairest Ships upon the Ocean That the City of Lisbon stands upon the side of a little Hill which insensibly descends to the very Brink of the Tagus So that the Houses being built one above another are all seen at once and so becomes a very pleasant Prospect The old Walls which the Moors built about it are yet standing There are of them four Rounds built at divers times the last may have about six Leagues Circumference The Castle which stands upon a Hill hath its particular Beauties In it you see Palaces Churches Fortifications Gardens Armories and Streets There 's always a good Garrison with a Governor This Fortress commands the City and from thence they may thunder upon it in case it proves rebellious The Palace where the King lives is more considerable if not for its Strength yet for the Uniformity of its Buildings Every thing there is Great and Magnificent the Prospect it has to the Sea hath made them take so much care to beautify it She discoursed to me afterwards of the Publick Places which are adorn'd with Vaults and Arches and of the great Houses round about the Dominicans Convent where the Inquisition is before the Gate of which there is a Fountain with a great many Statues of White Marble which throw the Water every way She added That the Fair of Roucio is kept on the Tuesday of every Week in a Place which might be taken for an Amphitheatre because 't is environ'd with little Hills upon which are built several fair Palaces There 's another Place on the side of the Tagus where the Market is kept and there one may meet with every thing which can be desired of the best in his kind either in Fowl Fish Fruits Herbs or Pulse The Custom-House stands a little higher up where there is infinite Riches and Rarities and some Fortifications are lately made to preserve them The Metropolitan Church is not eminent for any thing but its Antiquity It is dedicated to St. Vincent it is pretended that after he had suffered Martyrdom they refused him Burial and that the Ravens watcht over his Body till some pious Persons came and took it up and carried it to Valentia in Spain to have it worshipt and for this Reason there are Ravens kept in the Church and there is a Box for them into which are put the Alms to buy them Food Although Lisbon continued she is a very pleasant place to live in yet we dwelt at Alcantara This Village is not above a quarter of a League from the City There 's in it a Royal House not so fine for its Buildings as for its Situation the River supplies the place of a Canal There one sees admirable Gardens all fill'd with Grotts and Cataracts or great Falls of Water as well as Spouts of Water Belem is not far from hence it is the place design'd for the Sepulture of the Kings of Portugal in the Church of the Hieronimites It is all covered over with White Marble the Pillars and Statues are of the same the Tombs are in even Rows in three different Chappels amongst which there are some well wrought Belem Feriera Sacavin and some other places about the City are remarkable for the vast quantities of Oranges and Lemons growing there the Air you smell there is all perfum'd you can hardly sit down under the Trees but you are covered with their Flowers one sees running amongst them a Thousand little Rivulets and it may be affirmed that there is nothing more sweet in the Night than the Murmurs and Harmony which are there frequently heard At Belem there are great Magazines of Oranges both sweet and sour Lemons Pome-Citrons and Lemons They load them on small Vessels and so transport them into most parts of Europe Likewise she told me of the Knights del Habito de Christo of the Habit of Christ whose Multitude made them less considerable and also of the Counts of the Kingdom which have the same Priviledges as the Grandees of Spain they are possess'd of Las Comarcas which are certain Lands belonging to the Crown and divided into Counties of a considerable Value She told me That when the King intended to go abroad the People had notice of it by a Trumpet which sounds very early in the Morning in the place through which his Majesty is to pass For the Queen 't is a Flute and a Drum and for the Infanta a Hauthoy When they all go abroad together the Trumpet the Drum the Flute and the Hautboy march in a Company and by this means if any one which cannot get into the Palace to present a Petition he need only wait for the King 's coming by Eight Leagues from Coimbre there 's a Fountain in a place called Cedima which draws in and swallows down every thing which touches its Water Experiments are often made upon great branches of Trees and sometimes of Horses which they cause to be brought there from whence they cannot get back but with great difficulty But that which causes the greatest wonder added she is the Lake of the Mountain of Strella where there are often found the wracks of Ships broken Masts Anchors and Sails
But she now mixes Italian English and Spanish with her own Natural Language and this makes such a Jargon as is very strange to one who knew her as I did to have the French Language in its purity and able to read Lectures of it to the Learned She cannot endure to be told that she has forgot it and indeed she does not believe it having never left off speaking it either with some of her own Women or with Ambassadors and Strangers who generally understood it Nevertheless she speaks very ill And if one is not at the Fountain-head it is difficult long to speak a Language well which is every day changing and continually making new progresses I found the Ladies which were with her extream pretty I do assure you that there are in this Countrey some very handsome and aimable We embraced each other often and went back to Madrid Before we came there we past over a Sandy Plain of about Four Leagues but so uneven that every moment we fell into holes big enough to bury the Coach and which hinder'd it for going very fast This uneven way lasted till we came to a little Village call'd Mandes which is but half a League from Madrid All the Countrey here is dry and very open you can scarcely see a Tree on any side you look The City is scituated in the middle of Spain which is New-Castile It is above an Age since the Kings of Spain have chosen to keep their Court in it because of the purity of the Air and the goodness of the Water which really is so good and so light that the Cardinal Infanta would drink no other when he was in Flanders and he caus'd it to be brought by Sea in Earthern Jars well stopt The Spaniards pretend that the Founder of Madrid was a Prince nam'd Ogno Bianor Son of Tiberino King of the Latines and of Manto who was a Queen more Famous for the Science of Astrology which she understood to a wonderful degree than for her Birth 'T is thought that Madrid must be in the Heart of Europe because the little Village of Pinto which is not above Three Leagues from it is call'd in Latine Punctum and that is reckon'd to be in the Center of Europe The first thing I observ'd was that the City is not enclos'd either with a Wall or Ditch the Gates as one may say are only made fast by a Latch those which I have already seen are all broken there is not seen any place of Defence neither Castle nor in a word any thing which might not be forced with throwing of Oranges and Lemons but yet it might be necessary to Fortifie this City The Mountains which are round it are of some use for its Defence I have pass'd through some places of them which are so narrow that one might shut them up with a good big Stone and with a hundred Men oppose the passage of a whole Army The Streets are long and straight and of a good largeness but there 's no place worse paved let one go as softly as 't is possible yet one is almost jumbl'd and shak'd to pieces there are more Ditches and dirty places than in any City in the World the Horses go up to the Bellies and the Coaches to the middle so that it dashes all upon you and you are spoyl'd unless you either pull up the Glasses or draw the Curtains which I have spoke of very often the Water comes into the Coaches at the bottom of the Boots which are open The Houses there have rarely any great Gates to them those which have are without Courts The Doors indeed are pretty large and for the Houses they are very graceful spacious and convenient though they are only built of Earth and Brick I think they are altogether as dear as at Paris The first Story which they raise belongs to the King and he can either let or sell it unless the Owner of the House buy it off which is almost constantly done and this is a considerable Revenue to the King There is commonly in every House Ten or Twelve Rooms on a Floor in some Twenty and more they have their Summer and their Winter Apartments and very often one for Autumn and another for Spring-time So that having very great Families they are forced to Lodge them in some Neighbouring Houses which they hire on purpose for them You must not wonder Dear Cousin that they have so many Domesticks There are two Reasons for it The first is that both for Food and Wages the Spaniards give but two Rials a day which is not above Six-pence of our Money I say the Spaniards do this for Strangers pay after the rate of four Rials which is about Twelve pence of our Money Neither do the Spaniards give to their Gentlemen above Fifteen Crowns a Month with which they must wear Velvet in Winter and Taffety in Summer But then they live only upon Onions Pease and such mean stuff and this makes the Pages and Footmen as greedy as Doggs But I should speak of the other Domesticks as well as the Pages for in this matter they are all alike let them have what Wages they will They are kept so very hungry that in carrying the Dishes to the Table they eat half the Victuals that is in them they throw it into their Mouths so burning hot that you shall observe their Teeth all rotten with the Practice I advis'd my Kinswoman to get a little Silver Stew-pan made and fastned with a Pad-lock like that I saw of the Arch Bishop of Burgos and she did so and now after the Cook hath fill'd it he looks through a little Grate to see whether the Soupe does well and thus the Pages get nothing of it but the Steam Before this Invention it happen'd a hundred times that when we thought to have taken up some Broth we found neither that nor any Flesh for you must know that if the Spaniards are Temperate 't is when the Expence is their own they are not so when they eat at another's cost I have seen Persons of the Highest Quality eat with us like so many Wolves they were so hungry They were sensible enough of it themselves and pray'd us not to wonder at it for they found the Ragoas after the French way so excellent that they could not forbear There are Cooks-shops almost at every corner of a Street These have great Kettles set upon Trevets There folks may have such ordinary things as Beans Garlick Leeks or a little Broth in which they steep their Bread The Gentlemen and Waiting-women go thither as other People for at home they only dress Victuals for the Master and Mistress and their Children They are strangely Temperate in Wine the Women never drink any and the Men so little that a quarter of a Pint will serve one a whole day You cannot affront a Man worse than to call him a Drunkard Here 's indeed a great many things to make up the first
his Windows because of the cold being shut somebody knock'd at the Lattice of his Hall he sent to see who it was they found three Women in white Mantles who desired to have the Windows open'd that they might see him He sent them word that they would be more conveniently in the Hall They came in all concealed and placed themselves in a corner and so stood all the while he was at Table He intreated them but in vain to sit down and eat some Sweet-meats but they would neither do one nor t'other but after they had said a great many merry things to him in which they abundantly shewed a strange quickness of Wit they went away He discovered that these were the Dutchesses de Medina Celi d' Ossona and Ducada having seen them at their own Houses for Ambasadors have the priviledge sometimes to go to the great Ladies and to give them a visit of Audience but he was willing to have yet a greater certainty and therefore caused them to be follow'd and they were seen to go into one of their Houses by a false Door at which some of their Women waited for them These little Disguises are not always attended with over-much Innocence As to the Men when Night comes they walk a foot in the Prado they make up to the Coaches in which they see Women and leaning upon the Bouts they either throw Flowers or sprinkle sweet Water upon them and when they are permitted they go into the Coach to them But as to the meeting on May-day It is certainly a great pleasure to see the Citizens and the People how they sit some upon the young Corn some upon the sides of the Mansanarez others playing at Ombre and others either with their Wives Children Friends or Mistresses basking themselves in the Sun some are eating of a Sallad with Leeks and Onions and others hard Eggs and others Gamon of Bacon and even Galinas de Loche which are Sea-Hens and very excellent They all drink Water like Ducks and play either upon the Guittar or Harp The King came there with Don John the Duke de Medina Celi the Constable de Castile and the Duke de Pastratie I only saw his Coach of green Oil-cloth drawn by six py'd Horses the finest in the World and all covered over with Gold-spangles and knots of Rose-coloured Ribbon The Curtains of the Coach were of green Damask with a fine gold Fringe but so close drawn that one could perceive nothing but through the little Glasses on the sides of the Coach It is the Custom when the King passes by to stand still and in respect to draw the Curtains but we according to the French fashion let ours be open and were satisfied in making a very low Bow The King took notice of a Spaniel-bitch I had in my Arms and which the Marchioness d' Alvi who is a very pretty Lady desired me to carry to the Constable of Colonna's Lady and as I lov'd it mightily she sent it to me very often The King sent the Count de los Arcos Captain of the Spanish Guards to ask me for it he came up to the Coach side on Horse-back I immediately gave it to him and the Creature had the Honour to be made much of by his Majesty was mightily pleased with the little Bells about her Neck and the Buckles upon her Ears He had a Bitch which he lov'd extreamly and he sent to ask me if I would be willing that he should keep mine for Daraza which was the Name of his You may easily imagine Dear Cousin what answer I made He returned me the Spaniel but without either her Collar or Buckles and he order'd the Count de Los Arcos to give me a gold Box full of Pastills which he had about him and desired me to keep it It is but of a small value but coming from such a hand I mightily esteem it It was Don John who is my Kinswomans Friend which obtain'd this mark of the King's bounty to me for he knew of my being in Madrid though I had not had the Honour yet to see him Two days afterwards as I was all alone in my apartment busie in painting a small piece I saw come in a Man whom I knew not but one who by the air of his Face I could easily judge to be of Quality He told me that not having met with my Kinswoman he was resolved to tarry till she came for he had Letters to give her After some little Discourse he gave occasion to talk of Don John and told me that he doubted not that I frequently saw him I reply'd that indeed since my arrival this Prince came often to visit my Kinswoman but he never ask'd for me The reason of that perhaps adds he was because you were sick that day I was not sick reply'd I and I should have been very glad both to have seen and heard him for I have been told both good and ill of him and I have a mind to know whether they do him right or wrong I have signify'd my desire to my Kinswoman but she told me there was no way to gratifie me for he was so devout that he would speak to no Woman It is possible says he in smiling that his Devotion should so much disturb his Mind for my part I am confident he ask'd for you and was assur'd that you were ill of a Feaver Of a Feaver cry'd I that 's very strange I beseech ye how do you know it But just then my Kinswoman came in she was extreamly amazed to find Don John with me and so was I for I little thought it was he He told her several times that he knew not how to pardon her for the Idea she had given me of him that he was no Bigot and that he was persuaded true Devotion did not make a Man rude and inhumane I think him very handsome of a noble Carriage very well bread and extream witty and of a mighty quickness of Mind As my Kinswoman has a great share of Wit so she clear'd her self well enough from what he taxt her with But when he was gone she was ready to eat me for anger because I deny'd having had a Feaver I desir'd her to excuse me because me because I was ignorant what she had said to him and that I could not divine She answer'd me that at Court one must either be able to divine or else they would act a very silly part She ask'd the Prince if it was true that the Queen-Mother had writ to the King and beg'd that she might see him and that he had refus'd her He agreed it was and also that that was the only reason which hindred his Majesty from going to Aranjus lest she should come to him there contrary to the Prohibition for her not stiring out of Toleda What my Lord said I will not the King see the Queen his Mother Say rather reply's he that 't is State-Policy which forbids Sovereigns to follow
holy Water of Orange-flowers with which he sprinkled every body The show march'd on gravely and when they were come to the end of the Prado the Cardinals began to play a thousand cunning tricks to make his Holiness merry some threw their Hats upon the Trees and standing directly under they fell upon their Heads again and others stood upright upon the Saddles on their Mules and made 'em run as fast as they could There was a vast number of People follow'd them we ask'd the Pope's Nuncio what this meant and he assur'd us he understood nothing of it and that he did not like this sort of Mirth He sent to enquire from whence the Holy Colledge came in that manner and we understood it was the Bakers Holy-day and that every year they us'd to make this fine shew The Nuncio had a great mind to have disturb'd them with a Volly of Cudgels and had already commanded his Attendants to begin the Fray but we interceded in the behalf of these poor People who had no other intention than to celebrate the Festival of their Saint In the mean time some that had over-heard the Orders which were given and were Disturbers of the publick Peace gave Information thereof to the Pope and Cardinals this was enough to put all in confusion every one escap'd as well as he could and their fear made our Pleasure short liv'd In France such Mascarades would not be suffer'd but perhaps there are many things innocent in one Country which would not be so in another My Kinswoman knowing how very civily I had been receiv'd by Don Augustin Pacheco invited him to Supper at her House I desir'd him to remember his promise of giving me a Relation of what he knew of the Indies immediately I 'll tell you says he concerning those they call the West-Indies in which a part of America is compris'd In the Reign of Ferdinand King of Castile and Arrogon Christopher Columbus a Genoway discover'd this part of the World in the Year 1492. As the Spaniards were the first that found this fortunate Country unknown to the Europeans so King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel had the Propriety of it by a Bull from Pope Alexander VI. He establish'd them and their Successors perpetual Vicars of the Holy See over this vast Country so that the Kings of Spain are both Spiritual and Temporal Lords and nominate Bishops and other Ecclesiasticks and receive Tenths from them Their power there is of a larger extent than in Spain for you must know that America alone is one of the four Parts of the World and that we possess more Land there than all other Nations together besides The Council of the Indies which is establish't at Madrid is one of the most considerable of the Kingdom and there being so great a necessity of holding a very frequent Correspondence between Spain and the Indies to send Orders to maintain the Court Authority they were oblig'd to establish beside a particular Chamber which is compos'd of the eldest Counsellors of the Council of the Indies and they are to take Cognizance of all things concerning the Revenues and cause Expeditions by the Secretaries of the Council Besides this Chamber at Madrid there 's another at Siville call'd the House of Contrataction it is compos'd of several Counsellors both of the Robe and the Sword with other necessary Officers Those of the Sword take Cognizance of things which concern the Fleet and the Galeons The other Counsellors take Care of matters of Justice Appeals from this Tribunal are made to the Council of the Indies at Madrid There are Registers kept in the House of Contrataction at Sevile in which are writ all the Merchandizes that are sent to the Indies and all that come from thence that so the King may not be cheated of his Customs but this signifies little the Merchants are so cunning and those who keep the Accounts are so easily drawn to share with them that the King is not a whit the better for them and the Duty to him which is only the fifth Part is so ill paid that he does not receive the fourth Part of what is due to him It is the Council of Madrid which proposes Subjects to the King to fill up the vacant Vice-Royalties of New-Spain and Peru they are granted for five Years and so are all other Places of which the most considerable are these following viz. The Governour and Captain General and President of the Royal Chancellary of St. Domingo in the Spanish Islands the Governour and Captain General of the City of St. Christopher of the Havana the Governour and Captain of War of the City of St. James of Cuba the Governour and Captain General of the City of St. John of Puerto Rigo the Governour and Captain General of the City of St. Augustine in the Province of Florida the Governour of the City of Ascention of the Island of Marguretta the Governour and Captain General of the City of Cumana Capital of New-Andalousia the Vice-Roy Governour and Captain General of New Spain A President of the Royal Audience who resides in the City of Mexico the Governour and Captain General of the City of Merida Capital of the Province of Yucatan the President and Governour of the Royal Audience and Chancellery which resides in the City of Gaudalaxara captital of the Kingdom of Galatia the Governour and Captain General of the City of Guadiana capital of the Kingdom of New Biscay the Governour Captain General and President of the Chancellery which resides in the City of Santiago of the Province of Guatemela the Goverour of the Province of Locnusco in the Strait of Guatemala the Governour and Captain General of the City of Cornagua of the Province of Honduras the Governour of the City of St. James of Lyon capital of the Province of Nicaragua the Governour and Captain General of the City of Cartagena capital of the Province of Costa Riga the Governour Captain General and President of the Royal Chancellery which resides in the City of Manila in the Phillipine Islands the Governour and Lieutenants of the Forttesses De Ternate and Governour and General of the Militia of the same Countrey the Vice Roy Governour Captain General and President of the Audit of the City of Lima More eight Counsellers four Alcades two Accusators a Protector of the Indies four Reporters three Porters and a Chaplin in the same City A Governour of Chucuito one of Zico one of Ica one of Delos Collagos one of Guamanga one of Santigo de Misaflores de Zara one of St. Marco one of Arequipo one of Truxillo a Vice Roy of Castra a Vice Roy of Michel y puerto de Blata a Master of the Camp of the Strait of Puerto del Callao the President De la Plata hath under him six Counsellors an Accusator two Reporters and two Porters the Governour of the Province of Tucumanan the Governour of the Province of St Croix the Governour and Captain General
1483. Bulls from Pope Sixtus the IV. to constitute an Inquisitor General over the Kingdoms of Arragon and Valentia for these two Kingdoms were his Fee held in Capite and it is to be noted that Ferdinand dispos'd of the Places in his Estates and Isabel of those that were in hers but the Queen got this Place for Torquemada Afterwards the Pope extended his Jurisdiction over all the States and Countries of the Catholick Kings and then Ferdinand and Isabel establisht a Supream Council of the Inquisition of which they made him President It is compos'd of an Inquisitor-General who is nominated by the King of Spain and confirm'd by the Pope of five Counsellors whereof one is to be a Dominican by a Priviledge granted to this Order in the Year 1616. by Philip the III. Of a Procurator two Secretaries of the King's Chamber two Secretaries of the Council an Alguazil Mayor a Receiver two Reporters and two Qualificators and Consulters The Number of the Familiars and small Officers is very great because all that belong to the Inquisition being not subject to or tryable by any other Jurisdiction shelter themselves here from the ordinary Courts of Justice The Supream Council hath a full and sole Authority over the other Inquisitions which cannot perform any Auto or Execution without leave from the Great and General Inquisitor The particular Inquisitors are those of Sevile Tolleda Grenada Cordua Cuenca Vailladolid Marcia Derena Logronno St. James Saragossa Valantia Barcelona Majorque Sardaignia Palermo Canaries Mexico Cartagena and Lima. Every one of these Inquisitions is compos'd of three Inquisitors three Secretaries one Alguazil Mayor and of three Receivers Qualificators and Consulters All Persons that take any of these Employments upon them are oblig'd to make out their Proofs De casa Limpia that is that their Family is not stain'd with any thing of Judaism or Heresie and that they are Catholicks from the beginning The Proceedings of this Tribunal are very unusual A man is Arrested and lies in Prison without knowing the Crime he is accus'd of or the Witnesses which depose against him He cannot come out thence unless he will own the Fault of which often he is not guilty and which the desire of Liberty forces him to confess for they do not put one to death for the first time but then the Family is markt with Infamy and this first Judgment makes the Persons uncapable of any Employment There 's no confronting of Witnesses nor any means for a Man to defend himself because this Tribunal above all things affects an inviolable Secresy It proceeds against all Hereticks but chiefly against Judaizing Christians and secret Mahumetans of whom the Expulsion of Jews and Moors by Ferdinand and Isabel has fill'd all Spain The severity of this Court was so excessive that the Inquisitor Torquemada try'd above a hundred thousand Persons of which six thousand were condemn'd to be Burnt in the compass of fourteen Years It is pretended that the sight of so many Criminals condemn'd to so terrible a Death without any regard either to their Sex or Quality confirms and keeps the People in the Romish Religion and that 't is the Inquisitor alone that has hindred the wickedest Heresies from spreading themselves in Spain even in that time when all Europe besides was infected with them For this reason the Kings have given such Arbitrary Authority to this Tribunal which is call'd the Tribunal of the Holy Office The general Acts of the Inquisition which by the greatest part of Europe are lookt upon only as a bare Execution of Criminals amongst the Spaniards are esteem'd a Religious Ceremony by which his Catholick Majesty gives publick proofs of his Zeal for Religion And therefore are call'd by 'em Autos de Fé or Acts of Faith commonly they are perform'd either at the Accession of the Kings to the Crown or at their coming to Age that so they may be the more Authentick The last was in the Year 1632. and there is one now making ready for the King's Marriage As there has not been one of a long time so there are great preparations making to render this as Solemn and as Magnificent as 't is possible for those sorts of Ceremonies to be One of the Counsellors of the Inquisition has already drawn a Project of it which he has shew'd me Here 's the Contents of it In the great Place at Madrid there shall be a Theater erected fifty Foot long It shall be rais'd as high as the Balcony design'd for the King and no higher On the right-side of the King's Balcony quite cross the Theater there shall be rais'd an Amphitheater of twenty five or thirty Steps design'd for the Council of the Inquisition and the other Councils of Spain on the uppermost of which shall be placed the Chairs under a Canopy for the General Inquisitor a great deal higher then the King's Balcony On the left of the the Theater and the King's Balcony there shall be another Amphitheater as big as the first upon which the Criminals shall be placed In the middle of the great Theater there shall be rais'd another very little one on which shall be made two Cages where the Criminals shall be kept while their Sentence is reading There shall be likewise placed upon the great Theater three Chairs for the Readers of the Judgment and for the Preacher before whom there shall be an Altar erected The Places for their Catholick Majesties shall be so order'd that the Queen shall be on the left hand of the King and on the right of the Queen-Mother All the Queen's Ladies of Honour shall take up the rest of the length every way of the same Balcony there shall be other Balconies prepar'd for the Ambassadors and Lords and Ladies of the Court and Scaffolds for the People The Ceremony shall begin by a Procession from St. Maries Church A hundred Charcoal-men arm'd with Pikes and Muskets shall march before because they provide the Wood which is to burn those that are condemn'd to the Fire Next them shall follow the Dominicans with a white Cross carry'd before them the Duke de Medina Celi shall carry the Standard of the Inquisition according to a Priviledge that 's Hereditary to his Family This Standard is of red Damask on one side of it is represented a naked Sword in a Crown of Lawrel and on the other the Arms of Spain After that shall be carry'd a green Cross wrapt about with black Crape and after it shall march several Grandees and other Persons of Quality of the Inquisition cover'd with Cloaks that have black and white Crosses upon them embroider'd with Gold-Thred The March shall be brought up by fifty Halberdiers or Guards to the Inquisition cloath'd in black and white and commanded by the Marquis De Pouar Hereditary Protector of the Inquisition of the Kingdom of Tolleda After the Procession has in this order past by the Pallais it shall come to the great Place the Standart and the green Cross
shall be fixt upon the Altar and the Dominicans only shall remain upon the Theater and spend part of the Night in Singing Psalms and as soon as day breaks they shall celebrate several Masses upon the Altar The King the Queen and the Queen-Mother and all the Ladies must be in their Balconies about seven a Clock in the Morning at eight the Procession shall begin to march as it did the day before by the company of Charcoal-men who shall place themselves on the left hand of the King's Balcony the right shall be for his Guards Afterwards several Men shall bear certain Past-board Effigies as big as Life some of them representing those that dy'd in Prison whose Bones shall also be carry'd in Coffers with Flames painted round them and the rest shall represent those who have escap'd and who have been condemn'd for Contumacy These Figures shall be placed at one end of the Theater After that their Sentance shall be read and they shall be executed But I should tell ye added he That the Supream Council of the Inquisition is more absolute than all the others It is believ'd that the King himself has not Power to release those which shall be accus'd before it because this Tribunal acknowledges the Pope only to be above it and that there has been a time when upon some occasions the King's Power was found too weak to contend with that of the Inquisition Don Diego Sarmiento is Inquisitor General He is a mighty honest and good Man and is about threescore Years of age The King nominates the President of the Inquisition and his Holiness confirms him But as for the Inquisitors the President proposes them to the King and after he has approv'd of them he then puts them in their Places This Tribunal takes Cognizance of every thing concerning the Faith and it is absolutely invested both with the Pope's and and the King's Authority there 's no appealing from its Judgment and the two and twenty Tribunals of the Inquisition which are in all the Estates of Spain and which depend upon this at Madrid every Month render an Account to it of their Finances and Revenues and every Year of their Causes and Criminals But those of the Indies and the other distant Places only give an Account at the end of every Year As to the Places of these inferior Tribunals they are fill'd by the General Inquisitors with the Approbation of the Counsellors It would be pretty difficult to be able precisely to reckon up the number of the Officers which belong to the Inquisition for in Spain alone there 's above two and twenty thousand Familiars of the Holy Office They are call'd by this Name because they are as 't were Spies scatter'd up and down every where which are continually giving true or false Informations to the Inquisition upon which those are seiz'd and taken up which they accuse Whilst with the greatest Attention I was listening to Don Fernand the Marchioness De Palacios interrupted us to let us know that we were come near Tolleda and that certain old Ruines of an ancient Castle which we saw upon our left hand were those of an enchanted Palace I seem'd to Don Fernand to doubt of what she affirm'd upon which he said you may think what you please but certain it is that there 's for it a very ancient Tradition in this Country and moreover they pretend that there is a Cave shut up and a Prophesie which threaten'd Spain with the greatest Miseries when ever this Cave was open'd Every body terrify'd with this threat had no mind to draw upon themselves the sad Effects so that this place did for several Ages remain very close But Don-Rodrigue the King less credulous or more curious caus'd it to be open'd upon which there were heard most terrible Noises every body thought that the very Elements themselves were going into confusion there was so violent a Tempest This did not hinder him from going into it where by light of several Elamboys he saw the Figures of divers Men whose Cloaths and Arms were very strange There was one held a Copper Blade in his hand and upon it was writ in Arabick that the Time drew near for the Dissolation of Spain and that the Persons whose Statues were there would ere long come I never was in any place said I smiling where they rely'd so much on fabulous Tales as they do in Spain Say rather replied he that there never was any Woman so incredulous as you and in telling you this Story I did not think I should alter your Judgment But as much as one can be assur'd of a thing by the Testimony of Men this Story is credible It was now light enough very plainly to observe all the Charms of the Country We past the Tagus over a very great and fine Bridge of which I had heard and a little after discover'd Tolleda all surrounded with Hills and Rocks which command it There are very neat Houses built amongst those Hills design'd for the pleasure of Solitude The Arch-bishop of Tolleda has one there whether he goes often The City stands upon the Rock the unevenness of which in divers places contributes to make it high and low the Streets are narrow ill pav'd and troublesome which is the reason that all the People of Quality go there either in Chairs or Litters And as we were in a Coach we took up our Quarters in the Placa Mayor because that is only the part to which one can pass with a Coach as soon as we were arriv'd we alight at the Hospital of Foira which stands in the Suburbs whose Building consists of three Sides within which is a great square Court and the Church makes up the fourth side and there we heard Mass This Hospital was built by an Arch-bishop of Tolleda whose Monument and Statue in Marble are in the midst of the body of the Church The Walls of the City were rebuilt by the Moors on the Sides stands a great many little Towers which heretofore serv'd to defend it And it would be astrong Place being almost encompast with the Tagus and having extream deep Ditches did not the adjacent Hills command it from whence it were easie to batter it down It was not eight a Clock when we got thither and we would spend the rest of the Morning in seeing the Church which as 't is said is the finest in Europe The Spaniards call it Holy whether 't is upon the Account of the Relicks which are there or for some other reason which they did not tell me I know not If it was as long and as high as 't is broad it would be much better It is beautify'd with divers Chappels as big as Churches they all shine with Gold and Paintings the chief of which are those of the Virgin St. James St. Martin Cardinal Sandoual and the Connestable De Luna In the Quire I saw a Niche or hollow place from whence 't is pretended there issued out
great delight shew themselves there 's not a Night passes without four or five hundred Consorts of Musick in several parts of the Town it 's true they are at a moderate rate and it is sufficient if a Gallant has only his Guittar or his Harp and sometimes both joyn'd with a Voice hoarse enough to awake the most drowsy body and afford 'em the pleasure of a Queen If either they do not understand what is most excellent or cannot obtain it they are content with what they can get I never saw any Virginals or Theorba's here In every Street and at every corner House there 's an Image or Statue of our Lady dress'd after the Fashion of the Country with a Pair of Beads in her Hands and either a great Wax Candle or a Lamp burning before her I have seen three or four in my Kinswoman's Stable with other pieces of Devotion for you must know that every Groom will have his Oratory as well as his Master though perhaps neither one nor t'other often pray there When one Lady goes to visit another if it be in the Night four Pages comes to receive her with great Flamboys of white Wax and in the same manner conduct her out again and while she 's going into her Chair they commonly kneel upon one Knee This is something more splendid than the small Wax Candles enclos'd in Links which are us'd in France Here are Houses on purpose for Women of lewd Lives like the Madelonnettes at Paris They use them very severely and there is not a day passes that they are not whipt several times in a certain time they are releas'd but come out worse than they went in what they suffer'd making them not a bit the better They live almost altogether in a particular part of the Town where vertuous Women never go but if by chance any one does go that way they run and pursue after her as if she was their Enemy and if it happens that they are the strongest she is sure to be cruelly us'd and for the Cavalleros they run the Risque of being torn in pieces as oft as they pass that way that is to say who shall have 'em One takes him by the Arm another by the Legs and a third by the Head and if he grows angry they altogether fall upon him and rob him and even strip him of his Cloaths My Kinswoman has a Page who was ignorant of the Tricks of these wretched Wenches and went innocently through their Quarters but they stript him as naked as common Thieves in a Wood could have done and yet a Man must be content with this Treatment For to whom shall he go for Restitution The Bell of Barcelona hath been but too true in its Prognosticks for Don John was the first of this Month brought down so very low with his sickness that the Physicians despair'd of him and he was advis'd to prepare himself for Death He receiv'd the News with so much Tranquility and Resignation as very much confirm'd the Belief that several Persons had before entertain'd that he had taken some private disgust which made him rather wish to die than live The King came every moment into his Chamber and spent several hours at his Bed-side notwithstanding his earnest Prayers that he would not so expose himself to a Feaver He receiv'd the Blessed Viaticum made his Will and writ a Letter to a Lady whose name I could not learn He commanded Don Antonio Ortis his chief Secretary to carry it with a little Box lockt which I saw it was made of China Wood and light enough to make one think there was in 't nothing but Letters and perhaps some Jewels while he was so dangerously sick a Courrier arriv'd with the News of the King's Marriage with Mademoiselle the Joy of which did not only fill the Palace but all the City shew'd Expressions of it for there were over the whole Town Artificial Fire-works and Illuminations for three Days together The King could not contain himself but run into Don John's Chamber and although he was very drowsy and heavy to sleep and wanted rest yet he awak'd him to tell him that the Queen would quickly be here and intreated him to think of nothing but being well again that he might assist at her reception Ah! Syre answered the Prince to him I shall never have that Satisfaction I should be content to die if I had had the Honour to have seen her once The King fell a weeping and told him That seeing him in that Condition was the only thing that disturb'd his Happiness There was to have been a Bull-Feast but the Prince's sickness has caus'd it to be put off and the King would not have suffer'd any Fire-works in the Palace-Court had not Don John notwithstanding he had a violent pain in his Head begg'd him to permit them In fine the 17th of this Month he dy'd extreamly regretted by some and as little by others This is the fate both of Princes and Favourites as well as of Persons that move in an ordinary Sphere and as his Credit was already declining and the Courtiers now thought of nothing else but the Queen-Mother's Return and the Arrival of the new Queen so it is a mighty strange thing to observe with what indifference the Sickness and Death of Don John was taken they did not so much as talk on him the very next day It seem'd as if he had never been in the World Alas Dear Cousin does not this deserve a little to be reflected on He govern'd all the Kingdoms of the King of Spain his very name struck Terror he caus'd the Queen-Mother to be banisht he drove away Father Nitard and Valenuela who were both Favourites he had for the most part a greater Court than the King And yet four and twenty hours after he was dead I believe I saw in different places fifty Persons of the highest Quality which did not so much as speak one word of this poor Prince notwithstanding divers of them had very great Obligations to him And yet after all he had very great personal Qualifications and Vertues He was of a middle Stature and a well shap'd body his Features were regular his Eyes black and lively he had black Hair a great deal of it and very long He was well bred of a great Wit and Judgment very generous brave and beneficent and had a Capacity for the highest Affairs He was not ignorant of any thing that was suitable to his Birth nor of any of the Arts and Sciences He both spoke and writ very well five several Languages and understood more He was perfectly well read in History he could both make and play upon any Instrument as well as the best Master He understood how to turn several things he could forge Arms and he delighted much in the Mathematicks but being call'd to the management of the Government he was oblig'd to take his Thoughts off all these Exercises The face of things chang'd
in a moment his Eyes were scarce clos'd before the King mov'd only by his own kind and easie Nature for the Queen his Mother run to Tolleda to see her and to intreat her to return she consented to it with all the Joy she had to see the King They wept not a little while they embrac'd each other and we saw 'em come back together All the Persons of Quality went to meet their Majesties and the People shew'd abundance of Joy I should inlarge a great deal more upon this return did I not intend to be very particular in the Memoirs I am writing Don John laid three days in his Bed of State and in the same Cloaths which he had made to go meet the young Queen after that he was carried to the Escurial The Funeral had nothing of Greatness the Officers of his House with a very few Friends accompany'd him He was laid in the little Vault near the Pantheon which is reserved solely for the Princes and Princesses of the Royal Blood for there are none bury'd in the Pantheon you must know but Kings and those Queens that have had Children those that have had none are bury'd in that particular Vault In a few days we are to go to the Escurial which will be when the King goes there but he is so taken up with his young Queen that he can think of nothing but going towards the Frontiers to meet her In every place where I come they are continually ringing it aloud in my Ears that she 'll quickly be Queen of two â—â—d twenty Kingdoms In all likelyhood there 's eleven of them in the Indies for I only know those of the old and new Castille Arragon Valentia Navarre Murcia Grenada Andalousia Gallicia Leon and the Isles Majorques In these Places there are some parts of them admirable upon which it seems as if Heaven had a mind to spread abroad its most benign Influences There are others again so barren that there is neither Corn Herbs Vines Fruit Meadows nor Springs and of these one may say there 's more than of the others But generally speaking the Air there is good and wholsome In certain parts the Heats are excessive and in others the Cold and the Winds are insupportable although 't is in the same Season There are a great many Rivers but that which is pretty singular is that the biggest of them is not Navigable particularly those of Tagus Guadiana Minchio Duero Guadalguiver and that of Ebre for either because of the Rocks the falls of Water the Gulphes or the Turnings Vessels cannot pass upon them and this is one of the greatest Difficulties of Trade and which most of all hinders those things from coming to Cities which there 's need of for if there was an easie Communication between them those Places and Towns that want a great many Wares and Goods might be supplyed from those that abound and so every body might be furnish'd with necessary things at a reasonable price whereas the Charges by Land-carriage being so high one must want divers Conveniences unless you are in a Condition to pay three times more for a thing than 't is worth Amongst the several Cities which belong to the King of Spain these are esteem'd either for Beauty or Riches viz. Madrid Seville Grenada Valentia Sarragousa Tolleda Vailladolid Cordoua Salamancha Cadiz Naples Milan Messina Palermo Cagliari Bruxelles Antwerp Gand and Mons. There are a great many others which nevertheless are very considerable and several of the Towns are as big as Cities but there are not in them those multitudes of People which are both the Riches and Strength of a King And there are divers Reasons to be given why there is this defect First When King Ferdinand drove away the Moors out of Spain and established the Inquisition what through the Punishments they inflicted upon some Jews and the banishing of others there dy'd and went out of the Kingdom in a little while above nine hundred thousand Persons besides the Indies draw away abundance the Unfortunate go there to enrich themselves and when they have done so they remain to enjoy the fruit of their Labour and the Pleasures of the Country Again Soldiers are rais'd in Spain and sent away to Garison other Cities under the obedience â—f the King these Soldiers marry and settle in the Places where they happen to be and never return to those from whence they came Add to this that the Spanish Woman bear but few Children if they have three 't is reckon'd abundance and Strangers do not come to inhabit there as in other parts of the World because they are not lov'd there and the Spaniards are naturally recatados that is singular and reserv'd to themselves and will not be communicative and open with other Nations which they either envy or scorn And thus having examin'd into all those means which help to depopulate the Country under his Catholick Majesty one may rather wonder that there are so many People remaining There grows but little Corn in Castille it is brought from Sicily France and Flanders and indeed how should it grow unless the Earth would produce it of it self as the Land of Promise did The Spaniards are too idle to take pains to Till and improve it for being the meanest Peasant is persuaded that he is Hidalgo that is to say a Gentleman that in every little Family there 's an Apocryphal History compos'd within an hundred Years which he leaves to the Children and Nephews of a Village as an Inheritance in which fabulous History they are all made to descend from ancient Chivalry whose Ancestors have done wonderful things reciting that their Great Grandfathers Don Pedro and Don John performed such and such Services to the Crown I say they having taking up these vain Conceits of themselves no wonder if they will neither derogate from the Gravidad nor Decendentia At this rate do they talk and they will more willingly endure Hunger and all Severities of Life than work say they like Mercinaries which belongs only to Slaves And thus Pride seconded by Sloth hinder the most part of them to sow their Land unless some Strangers come and help them to till their Ground which by a special direction and guidance of Providence always happens Strangers that are more labourious and worldly minded being mov'd thither by the gain they find so that you shall have a sorry Peasant sitting in his Chair reading of a mouldy Romance whilst these Strangers are working for him in order to carry away his Money There 's no Oats to be seen Hay is scarce their Horses and Mules eat Barley in the Straw chopt small The Hills and Mountains in these Kingdoms I speak of are of such a prodigious height and length that I do not believe there 's the like in any other part of the World one meets with some of an hundred Leagues in length which joyn one to another in a continu'd Chain and which without Hyperbole are higher than
While the King is gone to meet her and the whole Court is absent my Kinswoman will go into Andalousia about some business she has there I might send you a short Relation of our little Journey if I could be assur'd it would please you I most heartily embrace you From Madrid this 30th of September 1679. LETTER XV. THE whole Court is return'd and in my Memoirs you 'll find dear Cousin the particulars of the Queen's Journey The King and she were both together in one Coach and the Curtains being all open I saw her at her arrival here She was drest after the Spanish way and I did not think that she lookt less handsome in this than in her French Garbe but the King was drest a-la-Schomberg which is the Spanish habit for the Country and 't is almost like the French I have heard it told how strangely the Queen was surpris'd the first time she had the Honour to see him he had on a close body'd Coat of grey Barragon very short and wide Velvet Breeches Stockings of Pelo that is raw Silk which they work so very loose that their Skin appears through them this Silk is as small as a Hair and though they be very strait yet the King pulls them on at once and so he 'll tear sometimes twenty pair one after another He had also a very fine Cravat which the Queen sent him but it was ty'd a little too loose His Hair was put behind his Ears and he wore a grey Hat All the Journey which was very long they sat close to each other in a large Coach and seldom could understand one another but by some certain signs for the King cannot speak a word of French and the Queen could speak but very little Spanish Upon their arrival at Madrid they went to sing Te Deum at our Lady d' Atocha attended by all the Persons of Quality and a multitude of the People that made the Air resound with Acclamations of Joy Afterwards their Majesties went to Buen Retiro because the Appartments in the Palace were not yet ready and that the Queen was not to remain there till she had made her Entry This time must needs have been very tedious to her for she saw no body but the Camerera Mayor and her Ladies She 's forc'd to lead a Life so much against her Inclinations that she has need of all that Discretion and Sweetness of Temper she 's possess'd of to be able to endure it She has not so much as the Liberty to see the French Ambassador to be short 't is a perpetual Torment All the Spanish Ladies love her dearly and amongst themselves pitty her I was sometime ago at the Countess of Villambrosa's and in a great deal of Company The Marchioness de la Fuente came in there and as they are extream superstitious in this Country so she told them like one affrighted that being with the Queen who looking her self in a great Glass and laying her hand gently upon 't it crackt from top to bottom and that the Queen beheld it without being in the least mov'd but even laught at the Consternation that all the Ladies about here were in telling them it betray'd a weakness of Mind to take such notice of things and Accidents as might proceed from natural Causes They discours'd and argued a great while upon this matter and with deep sighs said that their Queen would not live long She also told us that the Queen was much more disturb'd at the incivility of the Camerera Mayor who seeing some of her Hairs out of place on her Forehead spit on her fingers to lay them smooth upon which the Queen stay'd her Arm telling her in a Majestick way that the best Essence there was not too good and that taking her Handkerchief she was a great while a cleaning that part of her Hair which this piece of Antiquity had so unhandsomly wet It is no uncommon thing here to wet ones head all over the better to smooth and make the Hair shine the first time my Head was drest after the Spanish Mode one of my Relation's Women undertook this curious piece of work she was no less than three hours tugging and pulling my Head and finding that my Hair which is naturally curling would not comply without saying a word to me she dipt a great Spunge twice in a Bason of Water and baptiz'd me so handsomly that I was laid up with a Cold for a Month. But to return to the Queen it would draw pitty from one to see how this Camerera treats her I am well assur'd that she neither suffers her to have so much as a single Hair curl'd nor to come near her Chamber Windows nor to speak to any body and yet the King loves the Queen with all his Heart and for the most part eats with her and that without Ceremony so that very often when the Maids of Honour are laying the Cloth the King and Queen will divert themselves in helping them one will lay the Cloth and t'other a Napkin The Queen has her Meat drest after the French way and the King his after the Spanish He has a Woman Cook to dress all his Victuals but the Queen endeavours to bring him to like the Ragous that are made for her but he cannot abide them But now you must not imagin that their Majesties are surrounded with their Courtiers when they are at Dinner at the most there 's only some Ladies of the Pallace a few Menins but a great many Male and Female Dwarfs The Queen made her Entry the 13th of January after all the Passages and Avenues of the great Road which leads to Buen Retiro were stopt and all Coaches forbid to come that way there was a Triumphal Arch built and the Queen painted upon 't It was also cover'd with divers Garlands and had several Emblems and other things painted it was set in the way by which the Queen must pass to go into Madrid on each side there was a sort of a Gallery which had places contriv'd in them to shew the Arms of the several Kingdoms under the Spanish Dominion joyning one to another by certain Pillars which supported some gilt Statues every one of which represented Crowns and Inscriptions which had relation to those Kingdoms This Gallery reach'd to the Triumphal Gate on the great Road which was very rich and adorn'd with several Statues where likewise there were four beautiful and young Maids drest like Nymphs waiting for the Queen and holding in their hands Baskets of Flowers ready to strow them on the Ground as she past hardly was one out of this Gate or Arch but a second appear'd and so for a great way one after another was seen These were adorn'd with the King's Council that of the Inquisition the Council of the Indies of Arragon of State of Italy of Flanders and other Places under so many gilt Statues that of Justice was higher rais'd then all the rest A little
Queens He must wear his Shoes like Slippers for here they make none of these last his black Cloak upon his Shoulders instead of a Night-Gown of which no body makes use at Madrid his Broquel or Bucklar of which I have spoken in some of my Letters fastned under his Arm and his Bottle fastned by a String to the other But you must not think this Bottle holds drink to quench thirst it is for a quite contrary purpose which you must guess With all this Accoutrement the King has besides a long Rapier in one Hand and a dark Lanthorn in t'other and on this manner he is obliged to go all alone into the Queens Chamber There 's another Order in the Ceremonial which is That after the King has taken a Mistress and happens to forsake her she must be a Nun as I have already told you I have heard that the late King being in Love with a Lady of the Pallace he knockt one Night softly at her Chamber Door as she imagin'd it was he so she would not open it and only said to him through the Door Baya Baya con Dios no quiero ser Monja that is to say Go go God be with you I have no mind to be a Nun. It is also set down that the King every time he receives a Favour from his Mistress must give her four Pistols you perceive he will not ruin his Estate thus and that the Expence he is at for his Pleasure is very moderate To this purpose it is publickly known that Philip the IV. the Father of the present King having heard of the Beauty of a famous Courtezan went to see her at her House but being a religious Observer of the Orders he gave her but four Pistols she was very angry at so disproportionate a Recompense to her Merit but dissembling her Displeasure she drest her self like a Cavallero and went to see the King and after she had made her self known and had had a most particular Audience of him she pull'd out a Purse of four hundred Pistols and laid it up on the Table It is thus said she I pay my Mistresses so pretending that this time the King was her Mistress seeing she came in Man's Clothes to find him out By these Ceremonials the fixt Time of the King 's going to any of his Houses of Pleasure is known whether it be to the Escurial to Aranjues or to Buen Retiro so that without staying for his Orders all his Equipage is sent away and early in the Morning they go to awake him that he may rise and put on those Cloathes that are set down in the Orders according to the Season and after that he steps into his great Coach and so very contentedly goes where several Ages past it has been agreed on When the appointed time comes to return though the King is never so well pleas'd where he is yet he must go away that he may not alter the Custom It is also known when he is to go to Confession and to perform his Devotions at that Time the Confessor comes and presents himself Every Courtier and even the Embassadors are oblig'd when they go into the King's Chamber to put on certain little Lawn Cuffs which they wear quite flat upon their sleeves there are Shops in the Guard-room where the Lords hire them and return them when they come out In like manner all the Ladies are to wear Patins when they go into the Queens presence I think I have already told you that these are a kind of Sandals into which the Shoe is fastned and which raises them up very high if they should appear before the Queen without these Sandals she would take it very ill The Queens of Spain have none but Widdows and Maids about them the Pallace is so full of them that one can see nothing else through the Latices and in the Balconies And here 's one thing seems to me very singular which is That a Man although he be Married is allow'd to declare himself the Lover or Gallant of a Lady of the Pallace and for her sake to commit all the Follies and to spend all the Money he can without being in the least blam'd for it One shall see these Gallants in the Court and all the Ladies in the Windows where 't is their daily Employment to discourse with and entertain one another by their Fingers For you must know that their Hands speak a Language that is perfectly intelligible and as it might be guest at if it was always alike and that the same Signs always meant the same things so they agree with their Mistresses upon certain private Signs and Actions which no Body else understands This kind of Love is publick a Man must be of a peculiar sort of Wit and Humour dextrously to manage these Intrigues and to be accepted by the Ladies for they are wonderful delicate and nice they do not talk like other People In the Pallace there reigns a certain Genius and Strain of Wit quite different from that in the City and so peculiar that one must learn it as they do an Art or a Trade When the Queen goes abroad all or however the greatest part of the Ladies go with her then the Gallants who are constantly upon the Watch go a foot by their Coach sides that they may enjoy their Conversation It is really good Sport to see how these poor Lovers dirty themselves for the Streets are horrid nasty but then the more dirty the more gallant When the Queen returns home late there are carried before the Coaches where her Ladies are forty or fifty Flamboys of white Wax and this sometimes makes a very glorious Illumination for there are several Coaches and in every one divers Ladies so that frequently one may see a above a thousand Flamboys besides those the Queen has When the Ladies of the Pallace are let Blood the Chyrurgeon takes a mighty care of the Ligature Fillet or any Cloth or Handkerchief upon which any of the Blood of the fair one is has fallen for he never fails to make a rich Present of it to the Cavellero that loves her and this is lookt upon to be a worthy Occasion for a Man to ruine himself to all intents there have been some so extravagantly foolish as to give the Chyrurgeon the greatest part of their Plate you must not fancy this is only a Spoon a Fork or a Knife which may be the Stock of a great many we know No no I assure you this extends to the value of Three or four thousand Crowns and this is a Custom so rooted amongst them that a Man had rather feed upon nothing but Radishes and Leeks all the Year long than not to perform what he is oblig'd to do upon these sort of Occasions Few of the Ladies of the Palace leave it without being very advantagiously married there are also the Queens Menines who are so very Young when they come to her that she has some not above six
or seven Years old these are Children of the highest Quality I have seen some of them more beautiful than the God of Love himself was ever painted On some solemn Days when the Ladies of the Pallace go abroad or when the Queen gives Audicnce every Lady has the Priviledge to place by her sides two Cavelleros who put on their Hats before their Majesties although they be not Grandees of Spain they are call'd Embevecidos that is Drunk with Love and so transported with their Passion and the Pleasure of being near their Mistresses that they are uncapable of minding any thing else they are permitted to be cover'd for the same Reason that mad Men are who understand not their Obligation to Decency and good Manners but yet to enjoy this Liberty they must have leave from their Ladies otherwise they dare not presume to attempt it There is no other Diversion at Court than Plays but during the Carnaval they empty Eggs by a little hole in the Shell and fill them full of sweet scented Water and then stop them up again with Wax and when the King is at a Play he throws these at every body and every one in imitation of his Majesty throw them likewise at one another this perfum'd Rain makes the Air very sweet but withal wets People pretty handsomly and this is one of their greatest Pastime's there 's hardly any body at this season but what carries a hundred of these Egg-shells that are either fill'd with Orange-flower or some other sweet scented Water and as they go along in their Coaches throw them in Folks Faces At this time the People also please themselves after their fashion for example they 'll break off the neck of a Bottle and tye the part that is within the Wicker to the Tail of a Dog and sometimes you shall see above two thousand run after him The King's Dwarf is the prettiest that ever I saw his Name is Lovisillo he was born in Flanders he is extream little and exactly well proportion'd he has a handsome Face an admirable Complexion and not only wittier than one can imagine but withal very wise and knowing When he goes to take the Air there 's a Groom to wait on him who rides upon one Horse and carries another before him which is so very small that he may properly be term'd a Dwarf Horse and is as handsome for his kind as his Master is for his This Horse is brought to the Place where Lovisillo is to mount him for he would be almost tyr'd if he was to walk so far and it is really a great pleasure to see the Dexterity of this little Animal and his Master when he orders him like a manag'd Horse I do assure you that when he is upon his Back they do not both make above three quarters of an Ell in height He said very seriously t'other day that he would fight the Bull at the first Bull-Feast for the sake of his Mistress Donna Elvire This is a little Girl about seven or eight years of Age but wonderful beautiful The Queen commanded him to be her Gallant It is a great Happiness for this Child that she is fallen into the Queen's hands I 'll tell you how it happen'd The Fathers of Mercy went to redeem a certain number of Slaves which they brought to Madrid and according to their Custom of coming through the City in Procession the Queen chanced to cast her Eyes upon a Captive Woman which led two little Girls by the hand they seem'd to be Sisters but there was this difference between them that one was extream handsome and the other as ugly The Queen made her come to her and ask'd her if she was the Mother of those two Children she answered that she was Mother only to the ugly one And how came you by the other said the Queen Madam reply'd the Woman we were in a Vessel in which there was a great Lady big with Child but we did not know who she was only by her Attendance and the Richness of her Cloaths it was easie to think she must be of Quality After a long and sharp fight we were taken the greatest part of her People were kill'd and she was so frighted that she fell in Travail and as soon as she was deliver'd dy'd I was by her and seeing this poor little Creature without a Nurse and ready to perish I resolv'd to nourish it up with my own if 't was possible As soon as the Corsaires were Mastâ—rs of our Ship they divided the booty amongst themselves they were in two Vessels and so each took away with them the Lot that was fallen to them Those remaining Women and other Servants which belong'd to this Lady were on one side of the Vessel and I on the other so that Madam continu'd the Woman I was never able to learn what or who the Person was whose Child I saved I now look upon her as my own Daughter and she believes I am her Mother So charitable a Deed says the Queen shall not go unrewarded I shall take care of you and the little Incognito I will keep And indeed the Queen loves it so extreamly that the Girl always wears very rich Cloaths She follows her Majesty every where and talks to her with that grace and freedom as sufficiently declares her to be of no mean Original Perhaps time my discover who she is Here are none of those solemn and pleasant Festivals which are at Versailles when the Ladies have the Honour to eat with their Majesties All is very reserv'd in this Court and in my Opinion nothing but a general and constant habit could prevent abundance of things from being extream tedious to them Those Ladies which do not actually dwell at Court never come to it but when the Queen sends for them and she is not allow'd to send for them often neither She lives for the most part without any other Company than her Women there was never any Life more melancholy than hers When she goes a hunting and you must know that of all the Queens that have reign'd in Spain she 's the first that has had this Liberty and is come to the place appointed for mounting on Horseback she must set her feet upon the Coach boot and so throw her self upon her Horse It is not long since she had one that being a little shy and skittish would start away as she leapt upon him and so she had a most grievous fall When the King is there he assists her but no body else dare come so near the Queens of Spain as to touch them and help them on Horseback they had rather they should be hurt and that their Lives should be expos'd to the greatest danger She has fourteen Matresses or Quilts upon her Bed there 's neither Flocks nor Feather-beds us'd here these Quilts being made of Spanish Wool which is the finest in the World they are not above three fingers thick so that her Bed is no higher than one of ours in France They make these Matresses so thin that they may the more easily be turn'd and remov'd and indeed I have observ'd that they keep hollower and are not near so hard It is the Custom in Madrid for the Master or Mistresses of the House to go before those that come to see them they think this is a piece of great Civility to leave say they a Person in the possession of all that is in the Room As to the Women they do not kiss one another in their Salutation they only present their hand without Glove They have another Custom which I think odd and peculiar enough and that is when a Daughter has a mind to be marry'd and is the eldest and has already made her choice though both her Father and Mother are against the Match she need only go to the Curate of the Parish and tell him the Matter and the business is done Immediately he takes her from her Parents House and either puts her into a Convent or to some devout Lady where she remains for a little time afterwards if she perseveres in her Resolution the Father and Mother are obliged to give her a Portion suitable to her Quality and their Estate and in spight of them she is marry'd Partly upon this Account it is that such care is taken to keep their Daughters close and to let no body speak to them and so to make it difficult for them to take any measures for the management of an Intreague Otherwise provided the Cavallero be a Gentleman it is sufficient and he may marry his Mistress though she should prove to be the Daughter of a Grandee of Spain Since my being in this Country I think I have not neglected informing you of every thing I will now proceed to finish my Memoirs of the Court of Spain seeing those I first sent you please you so well I shall send you the rest as fast as any thing happens and offers it self that is worth your Curiosity and notice I do also promise you to write you that Relation you desire of me But for all these little Trifles I must beg you dear Cousin to grant me something that is considerable and that is the Continuation of your Friendship for which I have a just value From Madrid this 28th of September 1681. FINIS