In the Pantheon they find great fault that all the steps by which it is descended are not Marble and that the sides of the walls are not incrusted with it the Chappel being all so and a like Magnificence requisite every where In the brazen Candlestick the inner part which is not guilded is discerned amongst the black and foul branches that extend from it It cost 10 thousand Crowns which is ten times more then it is worth but it is common in this Countrey to boast things of excessive price which they would have admired on that account as if because they are foolish Merchants the ware they buy too dear were therefore the more valuable These are my observations of the so famous Escurial adorned only by some smal Parterras and Fountains one side of it affords a handsome prospect but the ground near it is the greatest part Rock or Heath some Walks and Groves are planted about it but being cold and windy trees thrive not There are some Deer in a kind of Park ill designed and with very low walls the way to it is nothing pleasant and the King who goes thither thrice every year one of which times is in the Winter cannot certainly find any great diversion in those journeys for during three months all is covered with snow I have no more to say of these two wonders of the world The Escurial for Art and Aranjuez for Nature The paralels of the Son of Austria as is here said according to times and fancies The Twentieth of this month all Madrid assembled in the great Piazza to see the Bulls fought they mention this solemnity so advantagiously as if it were to be compared to the Noblest Spectacles of the antients every Town of Spain hath several days set apart for it and not any one of them but enjoys this pleasure about Midsummer The people have so great an esteem for it that they think you extreamly injure them if you prefer it not to all others and if you seem not to admire all its circumstances you may as safely deny their King to be the greatest in the world The prospect of the Piazza this day must needs be very agreeable People of the best quality adorn all the Windows and Balconies hung with Silks and Tapestrys of divers colours with the greatest ostentation possible Each Council hath its Balcony hung with Velvet or Damask with a Scutcheon of the Arms belonging to it The Kings is guilded and under a State the Queen and Infanta sit by him and the Favorite or chief Minister in a corner of it on his right hand is another great Balcony for the Ladies of the Court the rest are promiscuously taken up by others Both men and women set out themselves to all advantage possible paying very dear for the Balconies those on the first and second stories cost Twenty or five and Twenty Crowns though the first rank cannot contain above five or six persons the King pays for those of such as are considerable to him as Ambassadors and Envoies of forreign Princes Before the Balconies are Scaffolds that extend some feet into the Piazza they are extreamly crouded all the people taking places dearer or cheaper according to the posts they make choice of Though these solemnities are very frequent three or four being yearly celebrated in Madrid the meanest Citizen will not once neglect to see them and rather pawn his Goods then fail for want of Money This takes its name of distinction from St Isidore protector of the Town which therefore bears the charge the reason it passes not for a Royal Spectacle it costs the King nevertheless something and I was told he gives every Council that day Three thousand Crowns those at Midsummer and September are most esteemed when several enter the Lists a horseback whereas at this of St Isidore all do it afoot There are four passages to the Piazza which is strewed with Sand and freed from those moving Shops or Booths that at other times pester it some ride others walk about it till the King appears then his Guards break through the croud and place themselves on each side to attend him as soon as their Majesties are seated in their Balconies all go out of the Piazza which being cleared fully discovers its beauty At the same time four or five Alguazils well mounted and better then becomes ordinary catchpoles attend bare-headed and as soon as the King gives the word he of them that hath authority over the Waggons causes them to move from the place they stand ranged in and the barrels and sheep-skins that are in them distil water so artificially that the whole Piazza is equally bedewed after which they immediately depart by the four Gates which are shut as soon as they which are to fight the Bulls are entered amongst these gallant champions was a fellow of Valladolid mounted on a Bull he had mannaged and accustomed to bridle and saddle one a foot carrying his Lance by him he rid streight up to the King and after a profound obeisance endeavoured to shew his own and his Bulls address he caused him to trot gallop and turn every way but that undisciplinable creature weary at last of the tediousness of the mannage fell a kicking and bounding so fiercely he threw the poor Peasant who not at all daunted at his misfortune ran after his Bull that made away attended by the hooting of all the assistance till he had retaken him but these quickly began again for as soon as an Alguazil had received the keys of the place where the Bulls were inclosed which Don Lewis de Haro threw to him in observence of the custom which requires the Kings giving them to his favorite and his casting them from the Balcony to the Alguazils and that those wild beasts were let loose and furiously attacqued one another his though so well mannaged and harnassed set on a running without regard either to spur or bridle making it impossible for his Master to engage who stood prepared to that purpose with his Lance in Rest so without any other effect then the laughter of the assistants after several attempts he retreated without striking stroke though his Bull and he had received many from those that avoided not the shock but ran to it At the beginning of this sport they usually let one Bull loose after another who according to his greater or lesser fury with precipitation attaques such as are within the Lists whom he soon drives away but such as are slower then the rest when they can no longer avoid him fall flat at their lengths or present him their Hats or Cloaks he passes by those that lie on the ground without hurting them because when he gores he shuts his eyes and commonly strikes nothing but the Air they which present their Cloaks or Hats by them put a stop to his rage which lighting on any thing is satisfied What I have hitherto mentioned is but the farce the serious part and that in
sent to the Archduke Leopold eldest Son of the Emperour Ferdinand the Third The other Orders are Calatrava known by a Red Rose worn on the Cloak and Alcantara by a green one St. Jago wears a Sword gules or an Arrow these are near of an equal esteem and dignity these Knights have sometimes profit by the Commands they now and then obtain by the Kings favour A great number of them were slain before Lerida since which time it is not believed there are above 1800 in all the three Orders whereas before there were above 4000. Alcantara is most esteemed which they that pretend to must prove themselves Gentlemen of four Descents two being sufficient to either the other In the second Court of the Palace are Chambers for several Councils The Council of State assembles under the Kings Apartment where the welfare of all his Dominions is consulted There is also a Council of War where the wayes of executing what hath been resolved in the Council of State are taken into consideration Near these is the Council of Castile called Roial it is very powerful and consists of Seventeen Counsellors and a President Many Affairs of the other Councils are referred hither especially of the Council of the Indies in which the people of both Castiles are very much concerned Arragon hath also its Council Italy and Flanders theirs The Council for the Indies and the Kings Revenue called de la Hazienda sits in another place so doth that de las Ordenes which determines the differences of the Orders of Knighthood and Judges of the proofs of Gentry of such as pretend to them All these are within the Palace Walls That of the Inquisition hath its Tribunal in the House of the President of that holy Office That of the Cruzada which gives Dispensations to eat Flesh on Saturdayes and some other priviledges granted by Popes to the King is also held at the Presidents None of these pretend to be so absolute as the Inquisition I have been assured that it is not alwayes in the Kings power to free those that are accused there And though this Jurisdiction derives its Authority from the Pope in some Conjunctures it hath had no regard to his Orders It extends not only to those which in matters of Religion go contrary to the Church but is a sharp curb to all whose temper gives jealousie to the State and dispatches them without noise as was intended against Antonio Perez and the Duke of Olivares had he not dyed All resolutions of these several Councils pass through that of State before put in execution which examines whether there be any thing in them contrary to the general good of all the members of the Crown A Mornings because then all the Councils assemble there is a great crowd in the Palace yet only below in the two Courts whither they which have Business or Suits as they say here para pretensiones come to follow them Amongst others you may see many undertakers of Levies of Souldiers solliciting their Disbursments When Horse are raised all the Horses are brought into the Piazza before the Palace where one Ear of each of them is cut off By this mark they are made known to be the Kings and a Trooper selling one of them or one of them being sound in the possession of a man that serves not the King he may be seized and carried away without any formality of Law but the Troopers sometimes cut off the other Ear and then presenting the Captain some Dollars oblieged him to depose before the Commissary that the Horse is dead after which he is sold without difficulty This is one of the greatest profits of Captains of Horse in Catalonia as they which have served there informed me It is not only very difficult to raise men for Catalonia but to maintain them when brought thither enduring much hardness they quickly die Flemings and Germans especially Castilians and Neopolitans disband and run away the latter getting into France present themselves there to the General who usually gives them a piece of money to bear their charges to their Country the other coasting to the Pireneans on the side of Languedoc return into Castile by Navarre or Biscai Old Soldiers of what Nation soever know the Country and will certainly escape young ones besides that they are of little use last not as being unaccustomed to so great fatigue The War here is more troublesome to the King of Spain than any where else and more important being in a part of his Dominion of which he is very jealous and where he would redeem any loss by twice the value in Italy or Flanders They which penetrate into the secrets of this Court assure that it hath a kind of contempt for losses in other places but those in Catalonia touch to the quick and are as so many wounds the State seems to receive in its heart by which it appears that they which have concluded the certain way of shaking the Spanish Monarchy to be by making war upon it in its own Countrey have doubtlesly very well discovered where it is weakest To defend it self it must be at a vast expence for very small forces because in great want not only of Victual and Amunition but much more of men In this it is become defective but in this last age for by what Cicero said of it we find it otherwise in time of the Romans who giving the epethite of couragious to England gave that of populous to Spain reserving to themselves that of Piety only This alteration is easily understood by those that consider how the falling of the Gothes and Vandals into this Country with the irruption of the Moors that immediately followed it scattered the greatest part of the Inhabitants and when these strangers had so well settled themselves that the Cities again abounded with people Ferdinand of Arragon that conquered all Spain destroyed a great many and exiled more The discovery of the West-Indies that happened soon after drew away great Colonies and peopled the new World with the Spaniards as well by the great concourse of such as finding it a better Country than that they abandoned seated themselves there as by a necessity of furnishing Navies and transporting Soldiers to form an Army and Garrison Forts and Cities and this in such manner that the best of Spain is now in the Indies the Kings wants having obliged him to sell his Subjects for gold though neither the Mines of Potosi nor all Peru are able to supply the expence he is fain to be at for want of men neither do the Gallions ever bring wealth enough to discharge the States debts for besides that the greatest part of it belongs to particular persons of Flanders Holland Genoua and France that which comes on the Kings account is due to several that have assignations upon it So that Spain is no more than the channel by which the Gold of the Indies passes to discharge it self in the vast Ocean of
cause it to move so dexterously that it puts off the Hat to the Sots that stare at it and sometimes lays hold on Countrey fellows whose fright moves laughter amongst the people Such as please themselves in telling wonders of this foppery relate that a certain Town having sent to some of its neighbors six of these paper Giants two Pigmies and the Tarasca to be made use of on Corpus Christi day they which give them their motion being entred to divert themselves in the passage caused them to dance as at processions by couples they were met by certain Muliters or Carriers who Moonshine discovering at a distance these imaginary Monsters marching with a great deal of prattle and loud laughter for their merrier passing two or three Leagues not recollecting what was to be done the day after were so affrighted that the terror still augmenting by their contemplating those fantasmes they at last run away with all their might The conducters of the Monsters perceiving this casting off their Vizards went out of the Machines to disabuse them running after them to cause them to come back to their Mules and charges this increased their astonishment and hastened their pace which aided by the wings of fear soon transported them cross the fields to a village which they allarmed to free the Countrey of high-way men so hideous they could be little less then Devils the other in the mean time slipping their cases and perceiving themselves masters of the the spoils the muletiers had abandoned began to visit the baggage and finding Wine drank so much they fell fast asleep till morning The Muletiers after their raising the Village and bringing the Justice to the place perceived their mistake and the Countrey fellows laughing heartily at them drank the remainder of the Wine in recompence of their trouble The Village of the solemnity a great while waited for those grim Puppets which came too late and by their excuse and relation of what had happened disordered the whole procession changing it into a Ring of such as abandoned the Cross and Banner to hearken to their story The pleasantest posture of these Mammelinas that I saw was when they made their salutes before the Queens Balcony besides some seats of activity by address of those that dance them The King passing by it salutes the Queen with a smile and the Queen and Infanta rise a little before he comes at them to return his compliment The Procession having filed to the Piazza returns by the High street or Calle Major adorned by many Tapestries waving on the Balconies filled with men and women of all conditions the croud is so great one cannot pass without difficulty and we had much ado to return to St Maries Church where the procession ended As soon as free from it we went to the Palace and there saw the King Queen and Infanta return with all the Court Ladies I think I have mentioned all that is worth notice unless it be that as on this day all the men put on Summer cloaths so do all the Ladies and those new and very rich of several fashions and colours In the afternoon about five a clock Autos are represented these are ghostly Comedies with interludes very ridiculous to give rellish to what is serious and tedious in the pieces themselves The two companies of Players that belong to Madrid at this time shut their Theaters and for a month represent these Holy Poems this they do every evening in publick on Scaffolds erected to that purpose in the streets before the houses of the Presidents of several Councils They begin at Court the day of the Solemnity where a seat under a State is provided for their Majesties the Stage is at the foot of these Scaffolds and little painted Booths rowled to it environ it and serve as tiring houses This is continued certain days every President having one and a Stage and Scaffold erected before his house before these Autos begin all the foppery of the Procession dances and the Gigantine Machines make the people sport but what I most admired in that which I saw at a distance in the old Prado is that in the streets and open air they use Torches to those pieces which in the daily Theaters and within doors they represent without other light then that of the Sun all these antick ceremonies appeared much more ridiculous to those that beheld them then they can possibly do in my describing them and confirm me in what I often observed that the Spaniards and other wise and grave nations seem fondest in their diversions as Misers at their Feasts sometimes become most prodigal The next day the Alguazils came to the house where we lodged to demand account of our hoste of his provision of victuals and what Poultry he fatted They were very inquisitive what he did with such abundance and where and why he had bought it he told them we gave him Money to be our Caterer but this would not serve his turn because so great store is forbidden by Law and gives a jealousie that the Master of the house keeps an Ordinary or Pension which is not allowed besides all which certain witnesses deposed that he sent victuals abroad to some of the company that lay sick and that he bought some at the private Kitchins of Don Lewis de Haro and others all very streightly prohibited The reason why neither Ordinaries nor Pensions are allowed in Madrid nor any part of Spain seems very strange when they tell you that consideration of the sterility of the Countrey gives apprehension of Famine and an entire disfurnishing the Markets by those that keep such houses for it appears to me that liberty being left to every one to buy what he pleases and as much as he pleases provided it be by his Domestick the same inconvenience will no less follow However it is good to keep out of the Laws clutches in Spain especially in occasions where the Catchpoles interpose for for a matter of nothing they seize and carry away all and the Master to prison from whence he escapes not without the aid of Money be his cause right or wrong especially if he be thought rich false witnesses are never wanting and here the neighbors had deposed against our hoste out of envy but his good luck was to be Tenant to an Alguazil this Serjeant mediating with his Comrades assisted by four pistols the Information was cancelled and our Host not carried to prison as they had intended by this all here appears vendible though had this cheat of the Alguazils been complained of they had run hazard of being sent to the Gallies This was almost the only punishment inflicted in those times by reason of want of men to be employed at the Oar. An Assentista that is a Patentee or Farmer of Levies of soldiers or of the Kings Revenue was a little before assaulted in his chamber by Theeves one of which being taken discovered his confederates amongst whom though they set
are related where the extravagance of Women produces various passions in the commerce of criminal Gallantry which hath its punctilios of honor as well as a knot of high-way men its justice within it self They which keep Amancebadas that is Mistrisses maintained at their charge are more jealous of them then of their wives and such of these as have a servant that ordinarily visits them call him Infidel and Traytor if they ever know he goes to others and to this purpose I have been told that the King himself being with a Lady the Admiral of Castille kept that young lord transported by jealousie forgetting all respect and consideration having knocked violently at the door gave the Mother of that wench who opened it many boxes on the ear saying Jade thou makest me Cuckold but if I could get up I would strangle both thee and thy daughter were it in the Kings presence Though the Profession of Curtisans admits no conceptions but of interest and design for rapine they are sometimes excellent Counterfeiters of Passion and borrow the transports of real affection The Earl of Fieschi who at his first arrival at Madrid passionately attacked that Sex tells as a Gallantry his usage by one of those Cattle who openly at the Tour fell upon him with reproaches of infidelity calling him Traidor and Picaro because she had heard he had a new Mistress And Mr. de Mogeron was not a little surprized by a Womans treating him in the same manner one Evening pulling him by the hair with reproaches and injuries because he had not visited her according to a promise made her at the Tour where he met her the day before They do a thousand such extravagances and are really Mistresses of the Epithite Bizarre which in their Language is understood in so good a sense They are ridiculous in their habit and wear their richest accoutrements under others very homely so that you would not take any of them to be braver than the rest unless you see them at some Festival or that as they pass by they let the Clinquant of their Wastcotes appear their Linnen is Cambrick most generally used and best esteemed in Spain they paint not their faces only but change also the colour of those parts that least appear Their Smocks are also laid with Bonelaces where visible only to their Gallants indeed of those slight ones that are made in Provence or Lorrain those of Flanders being unknown to them unless when they force some bits of them from Strangers tearing their Bands or Cuffs Besides the great numbers of loose Women that are to be found up and down Madrid there are others in certain fixed quarters countenanced by Publick Authority for accommodation of any that will go to them These are called Cantonera's perhaps Bulkers They have a Salary from the Town for which cause so infamous an imployment is sought after and when one of the Jades dies or is disabled by the Pox the Magistrates are sollicited for the vacancy What their Pension is I could not learn but those which assured me of this beastly establishment told me that every one that visits them is obliged to pay them 12 Quarto's about 6 Pence of our Money Physitians are fee'd by the publick to take care they be free from those Pestilential Diseases that are gained by so honourable a Profession A Matron also belongs to them who is obliged to advertise the Magistrate or Physitian as soon as she discovers any thing amiss They which described to me the lives of these miserable creatures told me that when they are accompanied a second man is never admitted on which account there never happens any disorder the first enterer leaving his Sword and Dagger at the Door which when they which come after perceive they retire without more ado Sinning thus with impunity and toleration of Publick Authority they seldom forsake the vice they so openly professe though one day in the year is devoted to exhort them to repentance On a Friday in Lent they are by an Alguazil or two conducted to the Church of Penitents and there seated near the Pulpit where the Preacher does his best to touch their hearts but seldom with success after many vain exhortations to amend their lives descending from his Pulpit he presents them the Crucifix saying Behold the Lord embrace him which if any does she is immediately taken away and shut up in the Cloister of Penitents but usually they only hang down their heads and shed a few tears without laying hold on what is offered and after their grimaces continue their deboshed life neither can the Story of St. Mary Magdalene so often inculcated to them move them to imitation of her In this antick of remarques which I have daubed with so many colours I must not forget what concerns the imprisonment of the Duke of Lorrain He failed but very little of an escape and that news had not come of his being entered the Frontiers of Portugal when he was thought still in the heart of Castille As soon as he arrived in Spain he was confined to Toledo without being admitted to the Kings presence When misfortunes of War of State cast one Soveraign into the hands of another methinks he ought not to be treated altogether as a Prisoner but that his Captivity should be made use of to work upon him and gain his affection by Offices of honour and civility Of the two French Kings that were taken Prisoners it is notoriously known that Francis the First left Spain intirely possessed by thoughts of hatred and revenge on account of his ill usage by Charles the Fifth and that John returned from England so well satisfied that he was ever afterward careful to live with Edward as with a Friend and Brother but the Spanish austerity suffers not a Maxime that may be deceitful and graspes hard whatever it laies hold on to prevent escape She would never let Duke Charles taste the air of her Court and notwithstanding his many instances ever treated him as a simple prisoner of State though she suffered him to go abroad under good Guard both to Church and to take the Air which incited him to attempt greater liberty Thus he laid his design One of the Kings Coaches was appointed to attend him whose Coachman happened to be a Lorrainer and consequently his subject He supposed this mans affection to his natural Prince would oblige him to be assisting towards his liberty and resolved to have him sounded I could not learn whom he made use of to engage him nor in what manner he set it a foot but it is said that having gained him he several times left Tickets under the Cushions of the Coach and the place he sate on which the Coachman very carefully took away and by means of a Lorrain Embroderer sent to those that had the principal management of the Affair This went so far before its discovery that the Coachman had received instructions to drive the Duke very often
Prince in his Wars they have a Maxim for security of their Commerce not to exercise it but in Countries where their King is Master They go not therefore abroad how great soever their Trade be but content themselves to deal at home with Merchants Strangers who for want of correspondence are forced to settle amongst them which they do the more willingly because having to deal with people not very well understanding their Commodies they make the greater profit We see now the King of Spain without danger of a retaliation of his Subjects when he shall seise what belongs to those of England inhabiting here and there in his Dominion But this small and inconsiderable advantage prejudicial only to private persons is not to be compared to that the English will obtain by cruising in both seas and attacquing what ever is sent to Spain from its Neighbours without which it cannot without difficulty subsist Genoua Naples Amsterdam and Antwerp whose Comerce with it is so great will then be able to send little or nothing that shall not run hazard of falling into their hands and if they ever make Conquests in America or take the Plate-fleet to which it seems they are forward enough the Thames will be covered with the spoils of both worlds To all these considerations of particular loss one of State is to be added which is that by a War with England the vast and scattered body of the Spanish Monarchy will lose its ligaments and all communication with its remoter Members France leaves her little liberty but by sea of which this potent Nation that attributes to it self the Empire of it will deprive her It is true some object that shift will be made to open a passage as was done in her War with Holland but others observe great difference between those powers for besides that England is so advantageously scituated that it can without difficulty break all correspondence between Spain and Flanders the Hollanders Naval Power appeared not at its height till the War was grown old and the first animosity decayed where as now Spain will have to do with a Nation that does not raise forces to fight but fights to employ those that are already raised Besides all which the King of Spain was not then so drained of men and money as at present but could set out considerable Fleets to oppose the Hollanders who making Traffick alone the end of their Navigation rather sought for themselves free passage through all seas then to deprive their enemies of Communication by them and this so much that though they have sometimes attempted the Spanish Fleets and taken some of them we may perceive they were not very greedy of such Conquests because their own Merchants were concerned and received almost as much prejudice as those of Cadis or Sevil. It is well known that at the same time their ships cruised up and down to interrupt the Spanish Traffick their Merchants passed and repassed between Flanders Genoua and Naples in favour of it and carried thither the secretest intelligence and best ammunition whereas in a War with England all will go in a more serious and real manner and Cromwell little caring to advance his Nations Trade will vigourously fall on and aiming directly at Conquest of the Indies endeavor every where to incommode Spain in order to it About this time two Books were published in Madrid which clearly and ingenuously discovered the great exigencies of the State This was admired by such as could not imagine a natural Spaniard would ever own its spirits spent and it in a languishing condition The Author of the first was one Don Philippo Antonio Alosa a Knight of the Order of Calatrava of the Kings Council and his Secretary in the Council general of the Holy Inquisition It contained an Exhortation to Ecclesiasticks to supply the King by voluntary Contributions in the so very pressing necessity of his Kingdom of which having first declared the Causes which he derived from the time when Philip the Second engaged almost all his Revenues for aiding the French League and building the Escurial and represented how under Philip the Third his Son occasions of expence augmented by reason of the Wars of Italy and Flanders removal of the Court from Valladolid to Madrid with his great Charges in entertaining the Princes of Savoy and Reception of the English and French Ambassadors and that which compleated the ruin of the State and drew on it the extremest misery the raising the value of Copper Money by which Sajavedra says more mischief happened to Spain than if all the Serpents and Monsters of Africk had attacked it he makes out that the present King at his Succession received the Crown so poor it was admirable there could be found wherewithal to resist so many Enemies as at once proclaimed War against it and concludes that after the many shocks it hath sustained it will hardly any longer prove able to defend it self without recourse to some sudden supply though it be useless to fancy New Imposts or augmentation of the old ones there being a general incapacity in the subjects to pay what is already laid upon them This pre-supposed he continues that applications ought to be made to the Clergy only who have ever kept their doors open to all manner of acquisitions and closely shut against the least alienation and who with little or no expence possess the greatest wealth of the Kingdom till a more learned Pen make evident they may justly be compelled to contribute to the Kings urgent occasioâ—s he declares his design to be no more but to oblige them to a voluntary loane which he shews will be to their advantage because if the Kings necessities force him to press the Laity with rigor they will abandon Tillage and the Country in such manner that Ecclesiastical Rents deduced only from the hands of the other by Tythes and the like will fail Going on he adds that such a liberality is more especially due to the most Catholick King who aims only at the Churches good and requires assistance for continuing the War only in order to an advantageous Peace neither does he demand any thing that he first gave not all of them having received their benefices and dignities from his Majesty as their Patron That they need only spare part of their Plate Jewels and rich Moveables abating something of their great Trains entertained questionlesly by them shew that grandeur they will more handsomly make appear by assisting their King afterwards he sayes that to give this greater efficacy the King may please to make choice of one of his great Ministers of State to whom the Clergy have some kind of obligation on account of their preferments and from whom they may reasonably expect more by his report to the King and Council of their forwardness and liberality he advises farther that addresses be not made to the Body or Convocation but to particulars and an exact register kept of the willingest
their abundance well examined For such Taxes as are settled ill he says that which is imposed on the Eighth part of Flesh Oil and Wine is the worst of all others giving occasion to a thousand cheats as well by the Officers as by such as endeavour to bring those provisions into Madrid and other Towns without paying Duties To which I can adde that I have been assured an infinite number live only by that imployment in so much that not only some poor Gentlemen and Ranting Hectors that will live on nothing and without doing any thing with whom Courts and great Cities ever abound concern themselves in it but even Churchmen and the greatest Noblemen that are weakly revenued For this cause Guards have been appointed to attend the Collection of these â—mposts on condition that what they can seise of Goods that have entered without paying Duties shall be their own But this which was established to redouble their diligence they have turned into small Politicks that causing them to consider the Kings interest if vigorously pursued as that which would put an end to their profits they are not very exact perceiving that should they not sometimes connive they which busie themselves in stealing Customs would give over the Trade finding no effect but Confiscation of their Goods after which the Kings Duties would be well paid but they get nothing They therefore correspond with them and seise not their Goods till so much hath entered as will make them more than savers This Confederacy against the King is maintained at his Charge and drones suck the blood of the poor people the effects of so great a disorder falling on their heads Amongst other Impositions he thinks ill laid and which I will not give my self the trouble of reciting he mentions Seal'd Paper and says it is a â—ery incertain Revenue because founded on â—aw Suits to which the folly and obstinacy of humane nature alone gives being it is true that in England madder in this particular than Spain or any other part of the World more profit might be derived from this than in a Countrey where that infamous imployment is not so much in request whereas in England it is exercised with such avarice rapine and so prodigious delays that this horrible Pestilence which feeds it self fat by means of infinite numbers of vile Insects Attorneys Solicitors Attorneys Lieutenants and Sub-solicitors it must needs pass for one of the heaviest scourges of the Nation and plagues of its best Families To conclude he implores his King to cast off all those ill designed Impositions that will be destructive both to him and his Subjects and to lay the burthen more equally which will make it light and his people bear it chearfully when free from Vexations that tend more to the advantage of Pettifoggers than of his Revenue If what he proposes may be endeavored he doubts not but his King will vanquish all his Enemies there being already so many Victories that testifie his Valour and so many Books that publish his Prudence besides so much Gold and Silver stamped with his Effigies currant thorow the World though Spain admits none that is Foreign an invincible demonstration of its inexhaustible Treasure Whilst these two Books were Subjects of our Discourse by reason of their surprizing Novelty the Genius of that Nation considered which seldom discovers where the Shoo wrings it and whose constancy is so admirable it alwayes sets a good face on an ill game we received Letters for some of the Principal Ministers of the Catholick King had they come to us at our first arrival at Madrid they would have introduced us to a nearer speculation of that Court but arriving in June and we being resolved for avoiding the great heats to repass the Pyreneans before they began we had but little time to continue in a Countrey where the Sun is something too prodigal of his beams To make use therefore of all advantages possible and that according to Formalities which are here essential I addressed my self to Don Martin Secretary of the Earl of Pigneranda desiring him to give his Lord the Letter of Recommendation we had for him I acquainted him with the qualities of my Lord B. and A. and inquired at what hour we might have access least we should apply our selves to him when he gave not Audience Such precautions are necessarily to be observed in this Court by all Strangers who without any to introduce them desire to be particularly admitted to a Principal Minister of State by means of which they escape being exposed to that dry gravity which receives Strangers with a leaden austere Fore head close and reserved all such whom they apprehend they may mistake in its Civilities for want of knowledge of their quality besides that generally speaking such as understand the World ought never themselves to deliver such Letters which serve only to make them known to those they never saw before for if they be read in their presence they suffer some time of vexatious incivility and if the reading them be deferred till after their departure at the first Visit they have but a cold Reception the Complements faint and confused directed more to him that sent the Letter then to those that bring it and for whose sake it was written This we avoided for the Earl having been informed as well by the Letter of Dom Estevan de Gamarra as report of his Secretary who we were received us as well as we could wish And to speak truth of him none in this Court understands Civility and the World better His first presenting himself is graceful and winning and makes appear that with the severity of his Countries Customs and imperious gravity of his Nation he hath mixed a certain forain air that takes off from the austerity and makes him so agreeable that if the Address and Gallantry of the first of the Tarquins caused it to be said Graecum ingenium miscuerat Italicis artibus he had added the Complacency of Greece to the Arts of Italy We may conclude that those of this great man make evident Hispanicum supercilium potest moribus exteris comitate exotica dilui That Spanish severity may be moderated by forain Civility His Wit and Judgement appeared in his Embassy as Plenipotentiary to Munster and when News came to Madrid of the promotion of Cardinal Chigi to the Pontifical Chair and the great desire he expressed for Peace between France and Spain this man was spoken of to be sent to Rome with the Embassy of Obedience though indeed he was chiefly designed to that Employment because it was hoped that by reason of the great friendship he had contracted with the new Pope when he was Nuncio in Germany he might do his Master good service in all manner of Negotiations Many advantages are also reported to have been offered on behalf of the King to oblige him to accept this besides a considerable sum of ready money particularly Three thousand Ducats a Moneth
place next their Master he is not courted nor his withdrawing room crouded with any that have not business with him none are refused admittance but every man in his turn brought into his chamber where having spoken he retires and gives place to others To such as are not admitted if they have formerly moved him in their concerns he signifies his pleasure by his Secretary which if they have nothing new to offer must of force content them such as have never opened their affair or have any thing to add are referred to the next day or another hour so that few go away without some kind of satisfaction or hopes to receive it at least in obtaining Audience In other places Favourites or chief Ministers seldom are accessible and never till after many refufals and not content to participate of the Soveraigns authority pretend to a degree of adoration above it and we may assure our selves that though this quality occasions in most of these pride vanity and pleasure it gives Don Lewis as he makes use of it trouble alone and that amongst all that are in publick employment he is not only first in rank but in attachment and subjection to the service of his King to which to speak the truth he intirely resigns himself for in the morning immediately after his devotions and visit of the Kings apartment about Seven a clock he sits down in his chamber of dispatches where he continues till one giving order to his Secretaries in all that is to be done and hearing such as are to speak with him preented by order as hath already bin said after dinsner he reposes or retires some hours and about four or five returns to the same chamber and like imployment till seven Two days in the week he as well as the King gives publick Audience then all enter and I have seen there of all qualities even lame and naked soldiers who amongst others present themselves and pretences without any other difference then obliging them to advance with discretion and respect if perhaps they observe it not To all this is to be added his care of the Court he being Master of the Horse with his hours at both Councils of State and Privy besides Audiences of ceremony and affairs of Ambassadors and Agents of forreign Princes so that I can imagine no life more agitated nor busied then his I shall say nothing of his parts which the Spaniards hold not equal to those of his predecessor the other having bin quick and active in the most eminent degree but they add that they were not therefore more succesful either in publick or particular and that the great moderation and good nature of this man is equivalent to the heat and zeal of the former who to attain his ends suffered none to enjoy quiet so true is that of the Politians that the greatest intellects are not most proper to govern States and Kingdoms and that they look so far before them they often stumble in such a manner as casts them into extremities from whence all their dexterity hath much ado to free them and the height of their good fortune to secure them from ruine whereas the middle sort by moving softly are not subject to those politick transports which often toss interest of State into the air with the sublimest maximes of him that governs As soon as we came to Don Lewis his lodging which was then at the Hermitage of Buen retiro we were received by Don Christopher his Secretary He is a little man of address and subtilty beyond what is usual in his nation being a German of which Countrey he hath so little the meen and presence one would rather take him to have been born at the foot of the Apennine or Pyreneans then on the banks of Rhine or Danube He takes care of all forreign affairs and serves his master as interpreter we were immediately presented to him and thus he received us He sate in a Chair at the end of a Table with his Cloak on his shoulders and his sword by his side he rose up at our entrance and after we had saluted him caused seats to be presented us and immediately Don Christopher placed himself on his knees on the Carpet that was between his Chair and that of my Lord B. who having spoken Don Lewis answered by interpretation of Don Christopher as obligingly as was possible After the first compliments he enquired after our journey and continuance at Madrid and finding us inclined to leave it asked if we would not pass by Sevil and we excusing our selves by reason the Summer was so far advanced he replyed our time indeed pressed us if we desired to be out of Spain before the great heats but not visiting Andalusia we lost the sight of the pleasantest Countrey in the world he afterwards made us many offers of service and when we acquainted him that we desired to pass through Arragon and if possible enter France by Catalonia he promised us two Letters of recommendation one to the Duke of Monteleon Viceroy of Arragon the other for Don John of Austria He asked us if we would kiss the Kings hands but our time for leaving the Countrey being so near we thought it unnecessary to give him the trouble of obtaining that honour for us having so often seen his Majesty In a word he omitted nothing that was obliging or might render our visit satisfactory he is indeed of a humour to discontent no body and never favorite did less hurt he suffers to live at Court not only such as envy him but his professed enemies as the Duke de Medina de los Torres and goes abroad with so small pomp that his Train little or nothing exceeds the meanest Grand of Spain he is not crouded after but observed to follow much better then his predecessor the advice of a favourite of the same nation who after his fall admonished all of the like condition themselves to put a spoke in the wheel of fortune when by too great an elevation she almost equalized them to the King adding that he which thinks himself advanced highest is often nearest his ruine and therefore ought never to be transported to receive such honours and attendances as his fall cannot deprive him of without shame on occasion of which I must needs mention what was reported to me to have been spoken by a great Statesman of this Court That a Favorite ought to have the moderation and prudence of that Angel before whom St John prostrated himself with adoration and refuse some kind of respects that may be rendred him with a Vide ne feceris conservus tuus sum for if God in that immensity of glory and power he possesses to reduce the universe to nothing admits no companion in his adorations Kings whose Authority is limited and whose Might only weakly imitates that which is infinite will much less endure it Such boundless ambition and excessive thirst of grandeur in two years time strangely shook
not suprised at her letters during the Diet of Ratisbone as well to the Emperor as to the Electors and other Princes about election of a King of Romans They easily perceived that the Counsellors of the Kingdom and ablest heads had not contributed to so open and authentick a Declaration in favour of the King of Hungary During her Fathers reign and in her minority they had been otherwise inspired and if their opinions might have prevailed doubtlesly the Party of the Princes and Towns had rather been supported who demanded a making good of all that had been agreed on by the Peace of Munster before they would proceed to thâ—t Election This makes easily comprehended that an Ambassador from this Court was necessary during all that time but that he should be continued after the resignation of this Princess and that when she had left the Kingdom â—iementeâ—â—â— should every where follow her under that character is a mystery of which no reason can be imagined that seems not too flat and feeble to be real For why should the Spaniards be at such cost to keep in with this Princess after she had dispossessed her self of her Dominion or court her then their enemies having received all her favours whilst she sate on the throne The Spaniards I say that never do any thing where that interest that as much governs Kings as Kings do Subjects is not exactly observed that repine at the entertaining the many discontented Princes that have sided with them and that seldom abandon what is solid and necessary for what is plausible and superfluous Notwithstanding all which they not only caused her to be attended by an Ambassador when she had no right to one and who her Prerogative being gone with her Soveraignty must needs appear rather a Gentleman Usher than Publick Minister but omitted not to complement and present her from Madrid it self with 12 of the beautifullest Horses of the Kings Stable What is rumored here that she hath still the disposal of Forces and that Koningsmarc by her Order marches to assist the Arch-Duke with an Army of Twelve thousand men is a meer raillery Her resignation was doubtless a secret of State spun and wove with more art than is imagined and nothing less than what it seemed she retained neither credit nor authority to make her Mistress of any thing more than her Pensions and though because the Pill was very well gilt the World believed she swallowed it willingly and tasted nothing bitter a Person of as great judgment as curiosity told me That as the Palatine appeared a great Captain when Generalissimo in Germany he no less approved himself an able Polititian in a quiet possessing himself of the Crown of the Great Gustavus his Uncle even in the life-time of his Daughter and only Heir The manner of doing this seems very subtle for after he was declared her Successor partly on occasion of the over-heroick inclinations of that Princess who seemed amorous only of her own wit and more ambitious to be thought a Woman learned and liberal than a Queen prudent and capable of governing partly by reason of the inclination of the Counsellors and States of the Kingdom who grew weary of obeying a Maid more sollicitous to be the Miracle of her Sex than of her Dignity and a resolution taken that if she should marry it must be with none but him all his endeavors tended to make known he was fitter to espouse the Kingdom than Queen in effect he quickly appeared equal to the former and were it naturally or artificially so well acted the part of a King that it was very apparent that whilest he fell back from probability of being such by means of the later he advanced in hopes of it by the general inclination of the People and Interest of State His Conformity of Humors and Manners with those of that Countrey opened him so fair a way to the Throne that the Queen whose Customs were directly contrary became jealous with such an aversion for his Person as she could not sufficiently conceal This obliged him to retire to an Island part of his Inheritance leaving all to time and the Queen her self who confirmed the People in their dislike of her She continued to value less than she ought the most considerable Persons and most important Affairs Her vast fancy and ardent thirst after curious Sciences joyned to that extraordinary manner of conduct that possessed her made her flie from thought to thought and from employment to employment without ever fixing on the Duties of her Charge and Care of her Crown and Subjects One while she was entirely taken up by Letters with Des Cartes Salmasius and Bouchard whom she had sent for with the first to engage her self in the Labirinth of his Modern Philosophy with the other to trace the Antiquities of Rome and Greece and with the last to penetrate the Mysteries of the Catholick and Protestant Faith Sometimes she abandoned both Books and Scholars calling all the first Bawbles and the last Pedants At the time of this gay humor crowds of young people that swarmed about her pâ—ssed their time very agreeably Masks Balls Plays Collations Huntings Tours with all the little pleasures that are the principal ragouts of the idleness of Courts were then alone in request Wit and Fancy with all that boundless and extravagant jollity can produce then displayed themselves with the highest advantages and his parts were most applauded that seemed capablest of these fond Diversions which lead from pleasure to pleasure and pastime to pastime without knowing what they seek or on what to settle In these several manners of living she equally scattered the Crowns Revenue amongst Strangers by whose Counsel she governed her self in many things and by her own head in all the rest This gave occasion to one Missenius a Physitian or Historian if I mistake not that had been advanced by her to publish a Book little to her advantage He highly extolled the Prince Palatin then declared Heir of the Crown addressing himself to him and the Kingdoms Senators for remedy of the disorders he observed His Stile discovered him and the Queen made appear very great moderation on occasion of his ingratitude and the Prince no less address and judgment in satisfying her that he too much detested the Crime of that unworthy fellow to have contributed any thing towards it All this while a secret aversion for the Queen insinuated it self amongst the greatest part of the Senators and People Some said they must have a Soldier to command them others lamented the poverty of their Country and that Rixdollers were so scarce amongst them That Peace suited ill with a Countrey that produced nothing but iron which they ought to truck for the Ducats of Poland or Patagons of Germany That an occasion of rupture with one of these could not be wanting that the truce with Poland was almost at an end and that they stood in need of nothing but a King either a