the publick hatred his politicks having been thought very corrupt and biassed It is believed this Favourite makes no use of his Masters coffers and it is but necessary he spare them they having never been so exhausted for besides the Monthly Pensions of the Prince of Conde and those that follow him which are very ill paid this Court is obliged to an extraordinary charge in Catalonia and its forces being very weak there to treat for three or four thousand Wallons and Germans of which the poorest foot Souldier will stand it in six score crowns The Marquis Serra a noble Genouese who on that condition returned to Barcelona is promised a hundred thousand crowns a month to maintain that Army and to resist the French The Indian Fleet was expected which brought but 800 thousand crowns on the Kings accompt the last year what it would then bring was very uncertain thought it was given out to be very rich and that it had aboard it two years Revenue Before the King went to Aranjuez he assembled the Estates of both Castiles which consist of the Deputies of 22 Towns each Town sending two Such Assemblies are called las Cortes The King made them a Speech and told them that of the ten Millions of Gold his Kingdoms yearly supply him with not above three came into his Coffers and necessities of State considered it was his pleasure they should consult of wayes to bring the entire sum into his hands That to this purpose every Town and Province should take care themselves to bring their proportion into his Exchequer where he willed them to suppress many of the Officers that managed his Revenue and devoured the greatest part of it after this he also demanded some augmentation The Cortes met and laboured in this affair but it was much feared they would not consent to such a suppression which would undo many and some of their Relations for the augmentation it was believed they would not think the people able to pay any more the miserie and poverty of the Country considered In the mean time this King his ten Millions of crowns excepted draws little or nothing from the People and Navarre Arragon and the Kingdom of Valentia not united to the Castiles are not thought to bring up above two Millions The great expences to which his Warrs oblige him are known to all the world but some nearer home consume the best of his Revenue these are many Pensions there being hardly any Grandee of Spain Duke Earl Marquis or Knight that hath not something from the Publick not in recompence of service in War but because the most of them are extremely necessitous in so much that I have been assured that many of them compounding with their Creditors have assigned them their Pensions reserving only some small sum towards a wretched subsistance Neither are any accompted rich the three Favourites above-mentioned excepted but the Duke of Alva the Marquis of Leganes the Earl of Ognate and two or three others whose names I have forgotten the rest of the Nobility wanting wherewithal to supply their ordinary expences But did the King allow no Pensions to them he payes enow to others to divert a very considerable part of his Incom His Armies abound with Reformadoes who receive pay as if actually in service it is true indeed that these are so il paid that I connot imagin how they subsist and I spoke with an Alfieres that came from Portugal whose Pension is twelve crowns a month that protested he had not recived six in six year The Jesuits have of late been obliged to bring sixty thousand crowns into the Kings Coffers which very much disgusted them and allayed their zeal in these quarters for the House of Austria This Sum was shipped by them on the Indian Fleet without registring it and upon discovery confiscated according to the Law The Jesuit to whose care it was entrusted playd his part so well that the Kings Officers could not find it but that which belonged to other Cloysters being seised they peached and it became the Kings notwithstanding the good Fathers alleged it designed to build a Church in Navarre in the Town where the Saint the Founder of their Order was born This King spends nothing either in Buildings or Gardens Much of ornament might be added to his Palace and its height require a Wall in form of a Terrass to support its declining that increases daily A Wood below it that serves only for a Shelter to Rabbits and a Nest for Crows brought by Charles the 5th out of the Low Countries might be converted into a fair Garden The river that passes by it is called Maucanarzes not so broad as its name is long its Channel is gravelly and it self in Summer so low that in June and July Coaches at the Tour go through it The Bridge or rather Causey by which it is passed is both long and large and cost I know not how many thousand Ducats and he was no fool that being told that Philip the Second bestowed so much cost on so poor a River said it was fit either to sell the Bridge or buy Water Gentlemen here contrary to the customs of England France and Germany live in Cities few of them having any priviledges for Hunting or Hawking neither Mannors or Vassals as with us where they are most of them Lords of the Parishes they dwell in and indeed the quality of a private Gentleman is here scarcely intelligible the people having respect only for Orders of Knighthood and such as are Titulados which comprehends Dukes Marquisses and Earls Here are yet some Families whom they call Solariegas or de Solar Conocido who alone are true Gentlemen and can derive pedigrees of which they may have testimonies called Cartas Executorias and on accompt of them enjoy some inconsiderable priviledges The most antient of their Titles was that of Riccos Hombres very different from Hombre Ricco which last implies no more but a rich man but the othet antiently were the great Lords of Spain before Dukes Marquisses and Earls were heard of They were covered in those days in presence of their King and alone had deliberative voices in Assemblies Neither Governments nor Military nor Civil Charges are here sold which is not altogether so commendable as it seems at first sight for ununworthy persons if well looked on by Favorites may more easily attain them then if they paid for them and several of antient extraction and great abilities are willing to lay out their money to put themselves in a condition to serve their King with honour neither in Countreys where Charges are most vendible are they so to all Chapmen but to Gentlemen only and such as are qualified for them All the while Olivares was in favour he caused an ill understanding between the King and his wife Elizabeth of Bourbon In order to which as some report he sought to corrupt his Master with an abominable opinion of certain graceless People who in Madrid joyned
more streightened by the Spaniards than the Great Duke he alwayes keeps an Ambassador in this Court to get intelligence of whatever passes for besides that which this King possesses in the Isle of Elba he is Master of the best Havens in Toscany that belonged to the Republick of Sienna and therefore much concerned in the affairs of this Crown particularly in those that belong to it in Italy Seignior Encontri of whom I now speak is very intelligent in these matters and too active and quick-sighted to be ignorant of what passes here He discovered the Treaty of the Genoueses with this King for acquisition of Pontremoli and as soon as he had vented the mine and recived the great Dukes orders to act with all his might towards gaining a place so advantagious to him he so well thwarted the Genoueses in their Bargain he broke it off and struck up for his Master In acknowledgment of which that Prince a little after sent the Ambassador a horse of massie Gold made sometime before for Henry the fourth or Lewis the thirteenth of France and removing the effigies of one of those Kings which was of the same mettal there needed no more but to place in its stead that of Philip the fourth to be presented to Don Lewis de Haro who accepting it declared to do so on no other termes but to bestow it in his Masters Cabinet where as was reported he effectively placed it My Lord ..... made many visits to this Ambassador who also came twice or thrice to see him being an Ecclesiastick he only wore along Robe without taking the habit of the Country The third forrain Minister was Seignior Quirini Ambassador for the Republick of Venice He is very magnificent and splendid and of a meen altogether suitable to the Majesty of that August Senate whose dignity yet he better supports by an acquired knowledg of all that belongs to a person of quality accompanied by a judgment whose solidity incomparably moderates the exuberance of his memory in such a manner that the promptitude of the one never clashes against the maturity of the other A Gentleman of Piedmont called Ranusio who had been sent by the Duke of Savoy to the Dutchess of Mantua his Aunt made us known to Seignior ..... Secretary of the Embassy who presented us to that excellent person He received us perfectly well and assured my Lord ..... that the memory of his Grandfather was dear to the Senate to whom he had been Ambassador and that they which then governed saw so many excellent qualities in that great Personage they mentioned him to their Children as one of the ablest headpieces had ever appeared before them after this he discoursed with us about the troubles of England and the War between Cromwell and Holland then lately ended and told us that the Seigniory of Venice who was the first that sent Ambassadors to Henry the fourth of France before seated on his Throne which the League with great might and fury disputed against him and that had made no difficulty of acknowledging the States of the Low-Countries when they had freed themselves from the Spanish obedience had not as yet sent any Ambassador into England to own that Republick or Protector The reason he gave us was that that prudent Senate would do nothing it might be forced to revoke and though these later might seem however so sodainly better established than the former they could not subsist long and would therefore wait till their power were better settled less tumultuary and precipitous than as yet That it would see what time would do with them lest with other Soveraigns it might suffer the displeasure to have adressed it self to Mushrums who started up in a night and might vanish in the morning for though the forces and industry of the King of Great Britain had till that time failed of restoring him to his Throne it was probable enough he might recover it by means of internal revolutions and such flowings of State as return what the like ebbs have carried away Visits and acquaintance of this nature give a soul to travail when a moment presents one part of what great Personages resident in the Country where he is have been long acquiring And as such men observe all with great exactness and have opportunity to do so their discourses are sometimes more instructive than some years residence they being usually most open to strangers The three Ambassadors I have mentioned were all we knew here though there was also one on accompt of the Emperor called Comte Lambert who succeeded the Comte of Grain but we never visited him At our being at Antwerp he was also there with all his Family his Wife is Daughter to Compte Wallenstine Lord High Chamberlain of his Imperial Majesty He received the Collar of the Golden Fleece from the Kings own hands and went away no less satisfied than we by vacancy of several Chambers in the Inne for want of which we did little less than Camp the night before his departure He is a tall man thin-faced and of no extraordinary meen They say he agreed better with this Court than the Earl of Grain a bold wit that made himself more feared than loved that spoke free truths to the King and medled in more than belonged to his charge he slighted the Order that no Coach except the Kings and Masters of his Horse should be drawn with six Mules or Horses in the Town He did not think himself obliged to observe this and still went through the streets as formerly He was once in a passion against those that admonished him of it in the Kings name whereas the last complies and uses but four like other Ambassadors The King of Denmark hath also an Agent here but we had no acquaintance with him he lives privately and the people one day as he passed called him Lutheran the King himself on occasion of a difference he had not using terms more favourable Besides some small interests of State of his Masters in this Court I think his residence is only to facilitate the Commerce of his Subjects and Allies he was upon his departure and staid only for a pass from France that he might not be arrested on the Frontier An Envoy of the Landgrave of Armstadt was also upon going with more satisfaction as I found by his discourse as well that he was no longer to trouble himself with ineffectual solicitations as that he had obtained as he thought something for his Masters interests He came to demand the Pensions the Spaniards ought to pay him according to Treaties made with him in Germany and of which the arrears mounted very high but he carried away nothing but Paper with assignations very incertain as I was told and no ready mony besides Aynda de Costa that is something to bear his charges We saw also the Popes Nuncio who was likewise on his departure for which he had long prepared but because he that was to succeed him called
his Son to be made an Earl and himself continued President of the Council of the Indies and that the Golden Key he carried only as a Badge of Honour should be conferred à Exercicio that is to be made use of with all Priviledges belonging to it but nothing of this is yet effected and they which understand the confidence of Don Lewis de Haro in his fidelity and capacity assure he will not remove him from the Council where he is now President till needs must Having thus received all manner of satisfaction in our first Visit to so accomplished a Person who omitted nothing that might assure my Lord B. of the esteem he had for his quality and merit at the very first sight remarkable to him by that vivacity which is so natural to Extraordinary Persons they need not speak twice to those to whom they would make themselves known We thought our selves very forward on our way to obtain the like from Don Lewis de Haro when we should wait on him For besides the Letter we had for him we doubted not but the Earl would acquaint him with the Visit we had made him and with all that could oblige him to receive us well Besides our Letter for Don Lewis de Haro we had another for a Gentleman called Alonzo Vercoca Cosin to Dom Stephen de Gamarra the Catholick Kings Ambassador in Holland who we were assured was very well with this Favorite We therefore thought best first of all to visit Seignior Alonzo that he might deliver our Letter and present us when it should be seasonable We were not a little troubled in inquiring after his Loding but at last learned that he was usually resident in the Countrey and only a Son of his who was one of Don Lewis de Haro's Gentleman lived in Madrid Enquiring for him at the Palace of this Chief Minister I was told he had a Chamber in the Town and came not thither whilest his Master was with the King at Buen Retiro the Civility of the Officers of whom I enquired his Lodging extended not so far as to send some body to shew it me and he being seldom at home I was either to seek him very early in the Morning or late in the Evening At last I found him just out of Bed no less troubled how to enquire after us because he had received a Letter from the Ambassador to his Father by which he reiterated his request for doing us all manner of good Offices in that Court Some dayes passed in which he neither visited us nor returned any answer This made me imagine that eithet he did not much value the Ambassadors Letter or else had not sufficient access to his Master to perform what was recommended to him As soon as we thought of leaving Spain I began to consider how we might obtain an authentick passport being sufficiently informed of the insolence and impudence on the passes called Puertos as well by the Farmers of the Customs as such as are there in guard On which account many formalities are necessary to be observed in the Passes that they may be effectual enough to check the importunity and knavery of those Harpies that lie in expectation of travailers especially strangers to put all imaginable affronts upon them I made very solicitous enquiry of all circumspections necessary and the Earl of Pigneranda having told my Lord B. that not to leave Spain without carrying along one of its greatest rarities he should do well to take some horses to which purpose he would provide him all sufficient passports we did not in the least distrust obtaining them as advantagious as we could wish they which have no friends in Court are obliged to petition a certain Council whose Secretary is called Carnero the petition considered on if the Pass be granted the Result goes from thence to the Kings Council from whence it is returned sometimes confirmed sometimes annulled and often limited or amplified according to the petitioners success in his solicitations Indeed though either by favour or bribe authentick Passports are sometimes obtained and that without delay such as are unknown and unfriended find this trifle become a troublesome and tedious negotiation Ours was not so for having drawn up a very exact memorial and according to the sense of those that understand the form of a Passport to go out of Spain without lett or molestations I carried it to Don Martin the Earl of Pigneranda's Secretary he read it and told me so many particulars were not necessary and that our Passport being to come immediately from the Kings Council there needed no more but to translate into Spanish that we had brought from the Arch-Duke the like whereof which would be every where respected should be dispatched us I acquiesced in this and went with him to Geronimo de la Torre one of the Secretaries of State to whom he delivered a Memorial for the said Passport recommending it to him in the name of his Master he promised to carry it to the Council of State that very day using us with great civility and accompanying us to the bottom of his stairs Our Passport being in this forwardness Mr. B. and I went one morning to visit Segnior Versosa by it the better to understand the nations humour and whether negligence or want of credit had caused his failing in what the Ambassador desired of him he instantly excused his not having waited on us and told us he had delivered the Letter to Don Lewis de Haro who had commanded him to accompany us to Audience such is the manner of speaking in this Court which he would give us the next day This discovered that his slowness in returning us answer was rather an effect of the humor of his nation not very punctual nor forward in its civilities no more then in its affairs then of his negligence or little power to perform what had bin recommended to him being a kin to the Secretary Geronimo de la Torre who had received our Memorial he would needs go along with us to him and recommend it in our presence but I was strangely surprized to see this man in this visit we made in company of his kinsman so different from what I had before found him for instead of our former civil reception of which I spoke but now he would scarcely move from his Table and Papers entertaining us with interrupted sentences whilst he ranged the writings he held in his hand I was scandalized at such an inequality and the favourablest judgement I could make was whilst I considered him to be of that nation which is esteemed so unvariable in its humor and actions that his thoughts were that day entirely possessed by something very important and vexatious This prevented not our repairing next morning according to our appointment to visit the chief Minister of so superbe a Court He is not difficult of access nor environed with the pomp and splendor usually affected by such as possess the