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
temper To Hector it both in words and gestures seems to them a symtome of a great soul and visiting other Countries little or not at all they discover not this defect derived to them from the first milk they suck and the first Sun gives them light Some Spaniards are so ignorant that they believe not there is any other Country than Spain other City than Madrid or King than their own When I speak of ignorant Spaniards I mean those meer Castillians who never having quitted their Threshold know not whether Amsterdam be in Europe or the Indies The Nobility and Grandees go little out of Madrid neither as Soldiers nor Travailers unless commanded and employed They have no information either by Gazetts or other news written or printed and I never more admired any thing than that this Nation we esteem so politick and imperious Masters of the secret of the universal Monarchy and capable of imposing fetters on the rest of Christendom hath so very few able heads amongst whom it is thought the Earl of Castriglio Viceroy of Naples is none of the meanest Pignoranda Don Lewis de Haro and Don Fernando de Contreras govern all The Earl of Ognate is a great head-piece but the Favourite is jealous of him and as much as possible keeps him from affairs The Grandees of Spain appear such only at a distance here they seemed to me very little and without any other advantages than to put on their hats and sit down in the Kings presence in other particulars I never observed less inequality in the most popular Republick A Shoemaker when he hath laid aside his Awl and Last and hung his Sword and Dagger by his side will hardly give the first salute to him he wrought for in his Shop a moment before You cannot speak to one of the most inferior of the rabble without giving him titles of honor and they treat one another with Senores Cavalleros If a Beggar seeks an Alms and you refuse him it must not be without a Compliment Pardone Vuestra merced no tengo diveros pardon me Sir I have no money No other Prince lives like the King of Spain his employments are continually the same in such a manner that he at all times knows how every day of his life is to be passed over You would think some indispensable Law prohibited his omitting to do according to custom so that neither weeks months years nor hours change any thing of his manner of living nor present him any thing new As soon as he rises and recollects what day it is he knows what businesses he is to dispatch or what pleasures to enjoy He hath certain hours for forain and domestick Audiences and for signing all that tends to the expedition of his Affairs dispos d of his Treasure Meals and Devotions And I have been assured that whatever happens he continues firm in such a manner of acting Every Saturday he goes to a Church at the farther end of the old Pardo called Atâ—cha where he hath a most particular Devotion to the Holy Virgin saying it is from her he hath received so great favours and admirable assistances in his greatest extremities France also imputes all its successes to her mediation and the advantages of these potent Kingdoms having been so long diametrically opposite it seems something inconsistent that little happiness coming to one without the others misfortune they can both boast to have her propitious Every year at the self same time he goes to his Houses of pleasure and they say nothing but sickness can prevent his retiring to Aranjuez Pardo or the Escurial in the Months he had wont to enjoy the Air of the Country In a word they which have spoken to me of this humor tell me it is very conformable to his Meen and Port and they that are near him assured me that when they speak to him he changes neither look nor posture but receives hears and answers them with the same countenance nothing in all his body being moveable but his lips and tongue This gravity whether natural or affected is in this Country so essential a part of Majesty that we were told that the Queen one day transported at dinner to a more than ordinary laughter at the ridiculous postures and discourses of a Buffoon was put in mind that to do so became not a Queen of Spain who ought to be more serious at which surprised being young and but newly come out of Germany she said she could not help it unless that fellow were taken away and that they should not have brought him thither if they would not have had her laugh at him Two dayes in the week he gives publick Audiences principally to receive Petitions and Memorials of such as beg any favour of him He answers not immediately but causes them to be all carried into a certain place where they are perused by a Secretary of State who distributes them to such of the several Councils as their contents relate to after which he that would be dispatched must enquire at the Secretaries Office what answer is returned but seldom finds any especially if the pretence be arrears or reward and when he hath lost all hope of hearing what is become of his Petition it is permitted him to present as many more as he pleases but to little purpose for the King seldom sees any and all are carried to the Council that received the first which having no intention to satisfie him returns neither Petition nor Answer For this reason Madrid is ever full of pretenders who with the attendance of whole years lose their ink and Paper His Majesty hath also certain hours in which he signs all expeditions of State and of his Treasurie so that nothing is done nor one penny given out without an Order signed by him whereas in France the Secretaries of State have the Seal and Signature of the King in their power which would give them oppportunities of doing many things on their own accompt should they abuse it It is true yet that neither here nor there the Secretary signs or presents any thing to be signed but by consent of the Favourite or chief Minister and Don Fernando de Contreras principal Secretary who with Pigneranda and Don Lewis de Haro governs all causes nothing to be signed but what is approved by the later and the King intirely confiding in him signs all he presents without reading it for never any Prince was more easie nor put greater confidence in his Ministers When delivred from Olivares he was no longer without a Favourite then till the Queens death which happened very sodainly after the disgrace of that chief Minister Then he received into his privacy as they call it here the Nephew of the former at present the most powerful in this Court He is also one of the richest and possessing the great wealth he inherited from his Uncle contents himself to enjoy his fame and neglect his maximes which would probably be attended by
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
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
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
at all concerned that time would destroy it provided it obtained him the better reception in his passage and made them sensible that he had intirely engaged himself in their interests The 12th of July we dined at Laborosso and traversed Olitor where the antient Kings of Navarre kept their Court and something of their Palace still remains though the Town be now a miserable Place ruined by warrs between the true Inheritors of the Crown and such as invaded them we lay at Tessalia a good Town and its Territory more fertil than the rest we had passed Next day we came to Pampeluna the capital City of that Kingdom it stands at the end of a large Plain that seems but barren it is near the Pireneans yet out of command of any eminence It s Citadel so famous in the world looks towards the Plain and is on one side environed by a great Marais The Town is not considerably fortified and the ground it stands on hath many little risings and descents scarcely perceptible there is a large Piazza where the Bulls are fought The people are clownish much addicted to small Traffick which they freely enough exercise with France and as if there were no war between the two Crowns We arrived at the end of a Fair and met many French Merchants we tarried here three dayes as well because of the indisposition of my Lord not well recovered of the Fevor he got at Saragossa as that one of our horses were lame The mean while we visited the Earl of St. Stephen Viceroy and Captain General of this Kingdom and delivered him the Letter we brought for him he is a little man very civil and no less curious of all rarities He received us well and ordered the Captain of his Guards to shew us the Citadel in the afternoon Between the Town and Citadel is a spacious place set with trees for Walks it hath five Bastions and was built by Philip the second with a great deal of consideration as a strong Rampier against France the Bastions are covered with Stone the Grafts large in most parts of them water it hath no Outworks neither doth it need any because of the Marais on that side where it may most easily be attacked it stands on a Rock but though the most important place of the Kingdom and the only one that can hinder the French from marching to Madrid after they have passed the Pyreneans it is not well looked after The works in many places want reparations and the Garrison is very inconsiderable there being few Souldiers for want of which the Country people are to come in on the first summons of whom they then had sent for a good number and mixed them with the Souldiers that we might not perceive that want but we could easily distinguish so little had they the meen of Sword-men some of them not wearing any and parading with a Musket only or an old Pike which they handled so ill it appeared they were more accustomed to the Pitchfork The Body of the place is well designed for in the middle of the Bracks where the Souldiers lodge there is a great round place to draw up in Battaglia from whence by five broad streets they may march streight to the five Bastions They shewed us the Magazins not very well furnished either with ammunition or victual and a very fair Towr built to keep powder of which it is altogether unprovided and serves for a prison for greatest Criminals they shewed a very fine Handmill for turning which they may also make use of horses It is the best Engin in its kind that I have seen it hath 4 or 5 Wheels and as many Bins in each of which they said they could in one day grind 24 load of Corn but this I thought impossible I told them that so great a Body composed of so many different pieces could hardly move long without being disordered and consequently uselese and that unless the Artist that made it lasted as long as the Mill nothing amiss in it could be amended because I took it to be a particular invention and that none but himself knew the Fabrick and all the Springs so as to set them right when broken but they replied they successivly kept one that understood it who that they might never be destitute still taught some Apprentice Here are two or three Ponds as they say derived from Springs There were not many Sentries on the Rampart nor at the Canon It hath a particular Governor that immediately depends on the King He was absent but we were very civily received by his Lieutenant who after he had led us about the Walls gave us a Collation his frankness pleased us and we perceived that as by degrees we got farther from the Gravity of Castile and severity of Arragon as little open to one another as to Strangers we approached a more sociable Country Nothing else being to be seen in the Castle that we might not trespass on the Lieutenants civility nor tire that of the Viceroys Captain of his Gard we took leave of the first expressing our satisfaction in his reception and went with the other to our Coach Next day we returned thanks to the Viceroy and finding him at leisure had opportunity to discourse with him more particularly than at our first visit Being a knowing person and one of the Councils of State and Warre he presently fell upon the Government of the Low-Countries making it appear he understood those affairs very well He told us afterwards that the Earl of Pigneranda was his near Kinsman and we could do no less than express the esteem we had for so accomplished a person one of the ablest Ministers of Spain and to whom we had especially been recommended so we took our leaves The 15th in the Morning when we were about to take horse that we might get that night to the last Village of the King of Spains Dominions in the upper Navarre a Servant of the Viceroys Captain of his Guards came to enquire if his Masters Gloves which he thought he left in our Chamber the day before had been found we ordered search to be made every where and sent him with my Lord s valet de Chambre but having long looked for what had never been lost he went away and by his meen and comportment made us well enough comprehend he came not on that account but to try if we would send him some pairs of those perfumed ones we had in our Valises and that were mentioned in our Passes but none being deafer than they which will not hear we let him go without seeming to understand him But this served not our turn for thinking we were not ingenious enough to do so he sent back his man with a very bad compliment in plain terms to beg de los nostros guantes de Ambar We were amazed at this and our Valises being on the Horses and our selves ready to mount let him see how troublesome it would be to