journey and excessive heat had deprived us of he afterwards brought us to the best Inn in the Town where we had a fair and cool room and to prevent our Valises being detained at the Custom-house whither they must of necessity be brought I went to speak with the Arrendador-General and shew him our Pass which obliged him to be civil and to send us our baggage as soon as it came to him we tarried here all day to repair our loss of baiting at la Muelan some of the company went to bed others only casting off their clothes shifted their Linnen Monsieur who arrived last was the most thirsty though not the most weary therefore he lay not down but at his first coming in drank so much water and afterwards so much wine to correct its crudity he became sick besides too suddain an attempt to quench his thirst he walked long unbuttoned and almost naked not only about the house but came to us in slippers and without doublet where we were on the banks of Ebro that ran behind the Inn where we sucked a gentle gale that came down the river on the morrow a Feavor took him which continued 5 or 6 days and obliged us to tarry 10 in that City soon after our arrival we visited the Duke of Monteleon Viceroy of this Kingdom he is one of the greatest Noblemen of Naples of whom in the last revolution of that City the Spaniards became jealous though he had served them advatagiously in the former that they might no longer fear him they sent for him into Spain and that they might disguise their distrust made him Viceroy of Arragon This Charge is honourable but not profitable the King allowing but little and the Kingdom bringing in less neither is any thing splendid in his family we delivered him the Kings Letter and that of Don Lewis having read them in our presence he made us offers of all that lay in his power he seemed not to us of a Genius much elevated whither his resentments of the Spaniards ill usage have dejected it or whither he conceals a part least ostentation of the whole might be prejudicial to him Besides the Viceroy whose charge ceases every three years here is a Governour of the City or rather of the Countrey since his power is reported principally to extend over it this Charge is the more considerable because for life Though the Viceroyalty and Government of Saragossa are the two great charges of this Kingdom yet no authority is equal to that of the Chief Justice called El Justicia to shew that he is to do justice in all and above all so that he determines of what concerns the King Kingdom Subjects Laws and Priviledges but for the better understanding this and that which I shall hereafter observe touching the great contestation here between high powers it is necessary that I set down what I have been told concerning the Priviledges of this Kingdom After the Moors had entred Spain on occasion of the Injuiry done by Don Rodrigo to Comt Don Julian in person of his Daughter called la Cava whom he ravished Arragon was the first Province that freed it self from the yoke of the Infidels and that finding not only the race but memory of its ancient Kings totally extinct by it self made a recovery of its self to it self without owning any Soveraign But lest they should be a Body without a Head and that they might enjoy secure repose in their new liberty they soon after deliberated of electing a King and cast their eyes on a private Gentleman called Garcia Ximenez It must yet be acknowledged that they made him rather Prince or President of their State than their Soveraign and in imitation of the Spartans so much limited his authority that that of Theopompus was not more streightned by the Ephori than that of this King by the rules imposed upon him and it being very easie to violate the most fundamental Laws of a State when the supreme power is concerned so to do if there be none with hazard of his life obliged to watch for their preservation they established El Justicia a Magistracy of which I have spoken that who might fear nothing in the vigorous executing his charge they ordered he should not be liable to condemnation either in person or goods on what accompt soever but in the general Assembly of Estates called las Cortes that is the King and Kingdom Having thus bound up him they should elect for their King they made a Law called de la Vajon which imported that as soon as the King infringed their Priviledges it should be in their power to elect another though a Pagan and in case of wrong to any Vassal or Subject the Nobility and most considerable of the Realm might assemble to protect him and hinder any duties to be paid the King till the party injured were indemnified and the Priviledge re-established in its former validity They erected El Justicia as Gardian of this Law with several others who for greater authority sate in a Chair with his hat on his Head whilst the King bare and on his knees swore their Priviledges between his hands afterwards they owned him as their King but in a very grange fashion for instead of vowing fidelity they told him nos que valemos tanto como vos os hazemos nuestro Rey y Sennor con tal que guardeis nuestros fueros y libertades sino no that is We that are equal to you make you our King and Lord on condition that you preserve our Laws and Liberties and if not not This detestable fashion of owning a King so much disgusted Don Pedro surnamed the Dagger that partly by intreaty partly by intrigue and offering other Priviledges in the place of it he caused it to be abolished in an Assembly of the Estates and as soon as he got the Parchment in which the Law for it was written voluntarily cutting his hand he said that a Law which imported that Vassals might elect and limit their King was to be effaced with the blood of a King Ley de poder elegir Rey los Vassallos sangre de Rey avia de Costar these are reported to be the very words he pronounced on which occasion the surname of the Dagger was given to him His Statue is yet to be seen in Saragossa in the Hall of Deputation with the Dagger in one hand and the Priviledge cancelled with his blood in the other And indeed the sacred blood of Kings can on no accompt be better employed no not against a forain Enemy then in suppressing such exorbitant Priviledges of Subjects as destroy the very foundation of Monarchy Besides the two Priviledges I have mentioned not at all regarded by later Kings there is another still in force called the Law of manifestation by this every Subject that thinks himself injured either in goods or person by what Tribunal soever may complain a el Justicia who is obliged to make an exact enquiry
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
beneficial neither do they always produce the greatest personages The ablest of all the Grecians was born amongst the rocks of Ithaca and in Provence there is a certain nook called la Crau covered with Flint whith its Lord will not exchange for any other that abounds with Fruits and Flowers because in that very seat of barrenness there grows an herb of such virtue that one twig of it is worth many handfuls of those of the most luxurious meddows this makes appear that fruits of perfectest savor often abound in the defectiv'st foils and that though Spain be lean and dry she is yet strong and vigorous and experience teaches that the Spaniards are stouter and more capable of great fatique then such as are born in more pleasant and plentiful Countreys and even amongst themselves the most couragious Races flourish amongst Rocks and Mountains and in the sandiest Provinces the other being inhabited by persons neither of so warlike spirits nor elevated fancies pusillanimity being almost always the companion of fertility and the Romans were scarce ever more put to it then in the conquest of this nation its invincible courage the difficulty of passage scarsity of Provisions and excess of heat predominating almost through the whole peninsula resisted them Sixscore years neither could it in less time be overcome in our age were it still as populous as formerly But ere I give over and that I may do Spain right before I loose the sight of it I must observe that this sterility and penury objected against it is not caused so much by the default if I may so speak of the Countrey as by that of its inhabitants were they more industrious and instead of feeding themselves with smoak and vanity in their wretched Cabins tilled better their Land and contemned not mechanick Arts she would be a liberal mother of all things necessary for life whither to cloath or feed them and they might have Corn Wine Oyl and all manner of fruits to suffice them without being beholding to their neighbors and did they understand Husbandry or would apply themselves to it it would maintain them in such abundance that not only the more fertile Provinces would supply the sterility of some that are barrener but they might vent part to forrainers wools of Segovia Silks of Grenada Cordovans of Ciudad Rodrigo the Flax and Hemp of Andalusia the Iron and Copper of Biscai with many other rich dispoils of its Cattle Land and Mines might croud its Cities with Artificers and fill them with the best manufactures of Europe but they send these abroad unwrought which when Forrainers have metamorphosed and disposed to humane use part return to them from those who double the money they first paid for them I have now passed the Pyreneans and top of the high mountain that separates France from Spain and whilst I contemplated those two great Kingdoms having ventured to compare their Climates and contract as in one mass all the remarks of my journey I will conclude by setting against each other the customs and politicks of this neighbouring people no less contrary then the motions that cause fire to mount and earth to descend Whilst I stayed at Madrid I used my utmost endeavor to discover if the antipathy reported to be so natural and reciprocal were really and substantially as strong as it seems and is imagined but I found that the contrariety attributed to their humors and comportment whither publick or private proceeds rather from several tempers and Genius's then any true and real antipathy that renders the French more incompatible with Spaniards then with Englishmen Germans Italians or any other nations every one of which hath its particular character and specifick impression as well in body as mind which may if I be permitted the expression be called its principle of distinction If besides this common and general variety proceeding from the Air we first breath there be any more express and formal between one people and another it is caused by some accidents conjunctures or other circumstances which as to contempt and hatred have the same influence on nations as on particular persons who that excepted have no more of contrariety then two Rivers that run different courses and ever follow their Channel with equal inclination though not always with the same impetuosity This granted I averre that besides competition of power and State of Rivalship in which these people have so long continued and which have been animated by many wars and differences not yet reconciled or ended no antipathy can be observed between them more then each of them hath with all others and when these considerations have bern removed and the causes of aversion of State for State and publick animosities have ceased they have lived as well one with another as either of them hath done with other forrainers My self have seen very many French inhabiting Madrid and Saragossa who not concerning themselves in the interest of their Countrey agree very well with the Spaniards and the Catalonians and Portugueses give convincing testimonies of this verity All the world knows that these renouncing the Catholick Kings Dominion and abjuring with the fealty they owed him all the misteries of the Spanish Monarchy there followed so great confidence and correspondence between them and France that notwithstanding difference of humors they have reciprocally been as well received and looked upon at Paris and Lisbon as they could be at Stockholme or Warsovia where I suppose no man will imagin any antipathy for either of them the former of these wheeled a little more and cast themselves into the arms of France the difference of customes and inclinations not preventing their corresponding as well as Spaniards Neapolitans and Flemings It is only since that emulation of glory which begâ—n with the advancement of the Spanish Empire under Ferdinand increased under the Charles the fifth and continued under his Successors that these people cannot brook one another either in publick or particular and that have added to the difference of their tempers and natures a spirit of envy hatred and contempt which make them incompatible For one of them is not only reserved and speculative but impatient of the gay and sociable humor of the other one of them is not only slow and dilatory but cannot suffer the others activity and brisk temper one of them is not only satisfied to walk as if he counted his steps but cannot abide the others negligent and interrupted gate one of them does not only salute by leaning backwards but scoffs at the other when he bows to do it In a word one of them hath neither humor nor custom that displeases not the other and which he blames not out of the principles of jealousie and ambition I have formerly mentioned These different qualities caused and heightened by that emulation of grandeur and thirst of precedence that hath so long tormented them and cost Christendom so much blood are the sourses of the diversity of their Politicks
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
other Countries and therefore in that similitude where the world is compared to a living body Spain is the mouth which receives chaws and prepares the nourishment but immediately conveys it to other parts retaining nothing to it self but the savour alone or the little that accidentally sticks between the teeth And he had reason that considering Spain where little Gold appears all other Nations abounding with her Pistols said she serves them as the Damnati ad Metalla did the ancient Emperors or else that she is like the Ass of Arcadia that laden with Gold fed on thistles But that which compleated her desolation was the general expulsion of the Moors There were many reasons for the quitting her self of so cursed a Generation and impoisoning the waters thereby to destroy all the Christians having been imputed to them and their continual correspondencies with the Africans Turks and other Enemies of the Kingdom discovered Philip the third possibly could not have taken a better resolution than at once to free himself from the continual apprehension of them Though it may well be objected that a good Polititian ought as little as may be to make use of such universal punishments by which a State is more enfeebled than amended and that when with the dagger at the brest we go about to free our selves from some ill we apprehend we act rather as desperate then as couragious and prudent that it is ignorance of lenitives that forces so soon to cut and cauterise That it is a greater vertue to instruct the vicious and convert them then to drive them from their homes and shut the doors against them In a word that we may oppose errors without destroying persons It is very certain that this Edict cost the King of Spain a great many rich and good Subjects of no turbulent principles and that with time might have been made sensible of the truth and profession of Christianity But they were altogether deprived of the means of it for if they embraced Christianity dssimulation was objected against them and that it was only to avoid the rigour of the Edict This gave opportunity to the avarice of those that executed it to play its game passing by without molestation such as bribed them and suffering them to continue quiet in their houses What discourses soever are made on this extraordinary rigour which some have admired as a policy very high and generous and others blamed as a most unnatural cruelty it having deprived a King of his Subjects and almost a Nation of its native Country It is very certain that since that time Spain hath been a desert and could never recover the loss as is reported of some millions of people But besides this her voluntary depopulating her self the Indies prevailing either on the necessity or inclination of her Subjects draw them still away by frequent and numerous Colonies in such manner that it is believed more people have left Spain than at present remain in it After these misfortunes at first looked on as incomparable felicities by those which boasted the possession of the West-Indies and expulsion of the Moors Wars arose and so violent that it is computed that in twenty years they consumed a million and a half of Inhabitants and that the Plague which often afflicted this Country carried away near another million so that ever since Philip the third Spain hath extremely wasted both in men and money this is very true and in so extraordinary a manner that if its Enemies had understood it and those that were left behind had not after their separation differed amongst themselves the Spaniards would have been altogether unable to have resisted them Besides this great ambiguity of good or evil which they which judge according to the event or their own sense observe in the discovery of the Indies and expulsion of the Moors another policy is spoken of which not directed against the Kingdom in general attacques only that part of it which is most noble and illustrous Philip the second styled the Solomon of his age apprehending that the Grandees and Nobility might at some time or other make use of their wealth and power against his authority or that of his Successors and remembring that they had discovered their turbulent inclinations under Charles the fifth in such a manner as had like to have given him great troubles thought he could not better secure himself against such of them as meant ill than by the weakness of that whole body to which purpose he cast the seeds of vanity and envy amongst them increasing the number of Grandees Dukes Marquises and Earls The smoke of this drove from their Families all thoughts of profit and their honours redoubled their expenses by every ones endeavouring to surpass his Companion When he saw them deeply engaged he gave way to attacquing their Lands and deprived them of the Priviledge of Mayorasgo the most considerable that belonged to them and that they might not have in their hands any places of strength or houses to retire to when they had a mind to be troublesome he forbad them to repair their Castles and such as have travailed between Valentia and Madrid observe many ancient Castles advantagiously scituated for commanding the Country that decay and fall to the ground Thus by heaping honours on them he took away their power and obliged them to a greater charge and by sparing them that of keeping up their Castles deprived them of the submission and respect their Tenants formerly had for them Since this they have lost daily and complain that that Prince did not only clip but cut off the wings of their Predecessors reducing them to that inconsiderable condition they are in at present which like original sun so closely follows that it destroys such of them as find not remedy by obtaining some employment at a distance from the Court by means of which the publick Treasure may pass through their hands Then they neglect not to fill their baggs and inrich themselves and Posterities It is reported that besides those which endeavour to repair their fortunes in Italy and Flanders by some employment suitable to their birth many return rich from the Indies I speak not of Viceroys who are canged every 3 years and lay up millions it being sufficiently known that very many Officers under them make great advantages and that in Madrid they hide the Treasures they bring home even from the Sun that gave them birth lest their discovery cause an account of their administration to be demanded or they be obliged to lend the King a good part without any hope of ever being paid so that they neither dare put their mony to use nor buy land with it but choose rather to eat up the main Stock than to hazard it Thus by little and little they consume what they so sodainly amassed of which their Family sometimes enjoys nothing beyond the second generation They which are employed in the Kings Councils or Treasurie have a
daggers at his throat and wounded him in the head was a Frier the first with his Comrade was whipped and sent to the Gallies and the Frier condemned to pass the remainder of his days between four walls with bread and water This man being a stranger little befriended and ignorant of the customes of the Country had much ado to obtain this Justice He was born at St. Omer but resides ordinarily at London from whence he sends Irishmen to serve in Catalonia Such French as they take at Sea are in like manner sent to the Gallies from which none can be freed without putting one in his place which costs dear there being no other way but to find out some Negro Slave The Commerce of the Indies hath restored rights of servitude in these Countries and in Andalusia there are few other Servants The greatest part of these are either Moors or perfect Blacks which gives occasion to the Proverb No assi tratan los hombres Blancos White Men are not be so used Christianity requires that such as embrace it be enfranchised but this is not observed in Spain and those wretches are not made freemen by becomming Christians They are much more cruelly used in the Indies where inhumanity hath so long prevailed that all imaginable rigor is exercised on those unhappy creatures who are only such by occasion of their Mines of Gold and Silver to which their Masters owe all their fortune and greatness An incredible number of them found their graves whilest they digged for those Metals so that scarce any remain to pursue that fatal imployment Besides this destruction made by the Mines it is said the Wine sent thither occasions so many diseases that the greatest part of the Indians die They are passionate Lovers of this liquor and spare nothing that may obtain it and the Spaniards to discover the Treasures they may have concealed sell it them to the ruin of their goods health and strength for labour and I remember to have read a Book intituled Las Excellentias del Espannol in four or five Chapters where the Author makes appear the prejudice the King and Traffick of the Indies receive by the Vines planted in Peru and often repeats that the vice of the West-Indians being Drunkenness many of them perish by Wine not like their Chica made of Maiz and more agreeable to their Constitutions besides that the Spaniards to get more and by selling it cheap to make quicker returns falsifie it in such a manner it is little better than poison On these occasions the Indians are so much wasted that for some years there have not been enough to work in the Vine-yards nor Mines of Peru. Negro's are therefore made use of bought in Guine or the Kingdom of Angola by which means the profit is much lessened a Negro costing 50 or 60 Crowns and since Portugal hath re-established their true King and that all those Countries of the Indies that are strongest in Colonies have acknowledged him Negro's are not had so cheap for besides the 60 Pieces of Eight they cost the King of Portugal hath laid an Impost equal to the Price so that a Negro comes not to Carthagena where they land till he stands the Spaniards in above 200 Crowns The profit the King of Portugal makes by this is incredible those that understand Trade assuring it amounts yearly to some Millions of Gold The consideration of this and some other things before mentioned make evident to me what I was often told at Madrid that the great wealth of the Indies belongs more to particular persons and strangers than to the King of Spain and that at this time when the Gallions are expected richer than in many late years because of the return of the Viceroy it is thought 3 quarters of what it brings is on account of Merchant Strangers and that there will not come to the King and natural Spaniards above Three Millions of Gold They which manage the Affairs of that Countrey very prosperously advance their own and the Earl of Pigneranda President of its Council draws vast sums for Licences to French Merchants One I knew that for leave to bring a hundred Hides from St. Domingo by the Gallions gave Ten Pistols Notwithstanding all which much deceit is used in that particular and the greatest part of the French that trade into Spain import and export at their pleasure all manner of Commodities by pretending to be Walloons Burgundians Lorrainers or Flemings For this reason the King was counselled to give freedom to trade and to abolish the Fees of Licences and Impost of the Tenth Peny on all French Merchandise representing that his profit would be greater because the usual duties would be paid without any fraud whereas to avoid this Tenth the Merchants combine and they that have French Goods get one or other to attest they are English or Flemmish and so at most pay but the ordinary Custom of which also they are sometimes crafty enough to deceive him The Commerce of these is principally in Andalusia where they have found a place of freedom as convenient as Cadis this is the haven of Santa Maria a little Town belonging to the Duke af Medina Coeli who protects them and draws great Trade to the prejudice of Cadis and Sevil. When Spain and France were at peace Traffick was more difficult then at present little Merchandise arriving that was not confiscated under pretence of coming from Holland There never wanted two or three Knights of the Post to swear this but time and care have given remedy to this mischief and false swearers escape not Merchants by presenting a Bever or some other Knack putting themselves under the protection of some Grande By this is evident that Spain cannot well be without Commerce with France not only on the Frontiers of Biscai and Arragon where it hath been almost ever permitted but through the whole Countrey where it is prohibited for Provence hath ever had correspondencies in the Kingdom of Valentia by its necessity of the others Commodities and for the same reason Britaign Normandy and other parts on the Ocean have continually sent theirs to Cadis and Bilbo I speak not of Corn and Stuffs of all sorts brought from that Country but even of Iron-work and Sword by which it appears a mistake to think that in these dayes the best come out of Spain No more being now made at Toledo few but forrain are used unless a very small quantity that come from Biscai which are excessivly dear It is moreover hard to imagine how much Spain suffers for want of manufactures So few Artificers remain in its Towns that native Commodities are carried abroad to be wrought in forrain Countries Wools and Silks are transported raw and being spun and weaved in England France and Holland return thither at dear rates The Land it self is not tilled by the people it feeds In Seed-time Harvest and Vintage Husbandmen come from Bearn and other parts of France who get a great
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
the same honors paid him this was not the first time that more had been promised at Madrid than performed at Bruxels she who is entirely devoted to the Spaniards and governs her self by their Councels only did nothing on this occasion that was not agreed on with them and most certain that the Prince of Conde made appear such a contempt of their vanity and indifference for her that they were ashamed as well of their own as his proceeding this obliged the Spaniards to endeavour their reconciliation and to find a neutral place where they might accidentally meet which happened in the Pall mall where a game was agreed on in which both of them were on the same side but this had no effect and they parted with the same indifference as at first What I have observed of the humour and comportment of this Princess is but the sum of what I have heard from those that discourse of the designe of this Court in its many caresses to her of which publick curiosity hath gained so little light we may conclude that nothing is so certain as the uncertainty of it Some will have that no Northern puissance having been so fatal to the House of Austria as that of the Kingdom she abandoned the chief Minister aimed at acquiring her affection and making use of her animosity against her Country for discovering its greatest secrets To this fancy they add that it being improbable that the King that succeeds her should continue long in peace with the Emperor her Councils and Creatures that continue in Swede may be useful as most proper against all correspondence he may have in Germany for thwarting the Election of the King of the Romans and forming a party capable of recalling him with another manner of power then what he had before Prague when he retired with so great regret and discovered that if he had not so strong a hand nor so long an Arm as the great Gustavus his Uncle he had no less thirst after victory Others as ridiculous imagine that a principle of generosity and bounty obliges the King to maintain an Ambassador with this Queen to comfort her in her Eclipse of Dignity by continuing such an acknowledgement of Power and Honour and that to mitigate her resentments he will in time make her Vice-Queen of Naples or some other Realm where though she command not over so largely extended a Dominion nor with a power so ablolute as when she sate on the Throne she will have the satisfaction to enjoy a pleasanter Climate There are that when they must needs acknowledge they cannot comprehend to what purpose the chief Minister is so solicitous in cultivating this Queens good graces have recourse to Zeal for Religion and that he proposeth to himself no other end nor other glory then to cause an abjuration of her Faith to follow the renunciation of her Crown and to send her to Rome as his triumph for so great a work Whatever it be that moves the Spaniards to a Negotiation that to most wits seems very useless this is most certain that if they have complacency for this Princess she hath no less for them For besides what I have already said I have had advice that at her arrival at Antwerp she extolled the beauty of that City with such excess she made no difficulty of preferring it before the kingdom she had quitted nor of saying She had rather be Marchioness of Antwerp then Queen of Sweden It is most certain that in Stockholm it self in her familiar discourse she made it manifest she had no great value either for her Countrey or Subjects whither this were a designe and foresight that as she should not long command the latter so she would soon quit the former or an effectual aversion for her people caused by frequentation of strangers and contempt of her Countrey by reason of the relations they made her of the benignity of the Air they breathed in the parts where they were born Besides all this it is well known that after she had testified a desire to become Mediatress of a peace between France and Spain about which she had discourse with Mr Chanut when he was to see her assuring him that the Spaniards wished it and would put their concernments into her hands if France would do the like she was angry when she knew her interposal was not accepted and writ to him in terms very different from the former and more advantagious to Spain amongst her respects for all that comes to her in the name of that King might be reckoned her manner of living with Antonio Piementelli were it believed she had the same value for his Character as for his person she hath an extraordinary propensity to all he propounds even to a forcing her own inclinations to a compliance with his She is known to be Learned and to love Books and Schollars yet busies her self in trifles to suit his Genius in such a manner that if any Learned men visit her whilst he is present she avoids such discourses as may discover his weakness be tedious to him strike him dumb and constrain that gay humour is reported to be so natural to him Having reported all that the Spanish Criticisms informed me in those matters of State whether Catholic or Paradoxical which because of freshest date are their most usual entertainments and having mentioned their opinions of those that manage them or that are or have bin their principal or accessary objects it is time to say something of such Ministers of forreign Princes as I had the honour to be acquainted with in this Court the first of these was the Earl of Fieschi Agent for the Prince of Conde he was very kind to us and being as well one of the greatest wits as Gallants of the French Court it is pity he hath engaged himself in a party and employment that hath so much altered his constitution and changed his humor so that he is hardly to to be known by those that have been most particularly acquainted with him he is fallen into a sickness that by intervals makes him pale disorders his pulse and disables him for company or discourse He keeps a good Table the Countrey he is in considered when we eat with him it afflicted us to see him in the middle of a meal rise from his seat and cast himself on a bed At access of the fit he sodainly changes colour and one would think him fainting this is supposed to be the effect alone of melancholly and displeasure caused by the troubles in which he is engaged which have separated him from his relations estate and tranquility of the life he had wont to lead He took the Prince of Conde's party out of inclination and generosity only for it is said he had not the least cause of discontent either from the Court or chief Minister and his interest would rather have led him to have followed the Duke of Orleans and Madamoiselle then any other his
Seignior Massimi if I mistake not had at his landing in the Kingdom of Valentia been arrested in the Kings name with prohibibition to go forward he was fain to stay till that difference was accommoded which arose from Innocent the Tenth's sending him that was to succeed without having first given the Court advice of it and known whether it were acceptable and since the French had on the same occasion arrested the Nuncio in Provence it was thought Spain might do the like besides that this came charged with some instructions relating to Portugal and this Court which in the Kings opinion were not sufficiently Catholick who possessed of that title with precedence of all others required them after his own fashion These difficulties and such other as concerned his reception being at last removed after his passing sometime as a private person in the Kingdom of Valentia he was permitted to come to this Town and exercise his function He arrived on the Eve of Corpus Christi or a little before it and saw the solemnity through a grated Window not appearing because not received and he in whose place he came doubtlessly not a little troubled to be removed from so profitable an employment did that day his last office in attending the King in that Ceremonie Now I am speaking of the Ambassadors and Ministers of forrain Princes I will not omit what I have to say of Margarite of Savoy Dutchess of Mantua who prepared to leave the Court and pass the rest of her life in the Dutchy of Millan where the King had assigned certain lands for her entertainment She is Daughter of an Infanta of Spain and of Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy She was married to Duke Ferdinand the last Duke of Mantua of that Line and had but one Daughter during the life of her Father married to the Duke of Rethel Son of the Duke of Nevers to secure to him the succession of those Estates as nearest Heir but Spain resolving to dispute it with him this woman whose inclinations were totally Spanish sided with the house of Austria against her own Daughter the Commotions that were consequences of this in Italy are known to all the world it is enough that I remember here that this Princess being retired to this Court for which she had so openly declared was well received and to employ her wit and zeal made Vice-Queen of Portugal where to speak truth she comported her self prudently But the insolence and avarice of the Ministers imposed to act under her seconded by the countenance and approbation of the Condeduke at that time Favorite was so great she could not prevent their driving the people to dispair discontenting the Grandes and wronging the Clergy giving occasion to all of them to take Arms for reestablishng their liberty These things she often wrote both to the King and his chief Minister particularizing all exorbitancies committed and danger of a general revolt But the Favourite caused little regard to be given to her advice ever crying out she was a Woman and all she writ trifles more crediting the letters of the Ministers he had sent with the intrigue than hers on which accompt after affairs in Lisbonne had changed face and a short exile that permitted her not to come to Court was passed over at her return from that lost Kingdom getting opportunity to speak with the King she assisted towards ruining the Duke of Olivares in his opinion She was afterwards entertained at Madrid by his Majesty who now at last gave her permission to retire to her native Country there to lay her bones being very aged Some nevertheless suppose her sent into Italy to be a means of inticing the Duke of Savoy her Nephew now of age from the French alliance and of continuing the Duke of Mantua her Grandchild in the Spanish interests into which he entred after the taking Casal and from which they distrust he may be biassed by his great engagements to France as well on accompt of his birth as of the Estate he possesses there During our stay at Madrid we had many faithful Companions of our Travails Monsieur ...... in whom to the desire of knowing things that are considerable is joyned such a comprehension of them he is become capable of signalizing himself in service of his Country as soon as he shall attain the rank his own merit and his deceased fathers services seem to have acquired him I will say nothing of his other vertues that have made too deep impression in my memory to believe they can ever be effaced I had the happiness to know him in Florence where Mr. ..... and he renewed the friendship they had contracted in their tender years when they bore arms together in Holland under Prince William of Orange Coming out of Italy he landed in the Kingdom of Valentia and from thence went streight to Madrid in hope of meeting us but having continued there sometime despairing of our arrival he resolved to be gone when he least thought of us and could not expect at Madrid in the Middle of the Spring those that should have passed the Winter there four horse-men passed by his lodging whose habit and horses discovered them to be of the other side the Mountains his curiosity obliged him to follow them to the place where they â—â—â—ghted not a little surprised to find those he had so impatiently expected he was then in such an equipage that I must confess at first I knew him not he wore the Cassock Rocket thin and streight Stockings with Pumps and Breeches like Holsters which so strangely diguised him he seemed not the same person we had been acquainted with in Florence his mustaches or whiskers grown long and turned up with irons made me more a stranger to the air of his face he not a little resembling the King of Spain of whom he hath more of the meen in that habit than of himself when clothed after the fashion of his Countrey After mutual expressions of our joy we acquainted him with the delayes of our journey and he told us the successes of his and having passed three moneths in Madrid during which we failed not one day of seeing one another we resolved to pass together into France by way of Arragon but before we put this in execution a Troop of illustrious Strangers whom we were very glad to see arrived in Madrid amongst them were two Gentlemen whose perfections of mind and body made evident that if heaven hath given them great advantages by eminent birth their education and docility have contributed no less to that virtue and prudence which surpasses their age They brought many Letters from the Earl of Fuensaldaigne Dom Stephen de Gamarra and other of the King of Spains Ministers in the Low-Countries to the best of this Court who received them very well but wanting the language they took along with them a Burgundian Doctor called Rognar imployed in the businesses of several Officers that serve in the Kings Armies
of the politicks of Lewis the XI of France the industry of Pope Alexander the VI. the subtilty of Lodowick Storza Duke of Milan the vigilance of Henry the VIII of England and prudence of the Emperor Maximilian the I. All their dissimulation and all their cunning the put into so good a cruicible that he separated what was solid from what was airy discovering what was strong and what weak in them and extracting such an establishment for himself and successors that Philip the II had great reason when looking on his Picture he said We owe this man all Spanish writers are transported when they speak of the grandeur of their Royal Family some of them even to impiety and a modern Author says of it Casa que escogio dios en la ley de Gracia assi como la de Abraham en la Escrita para Llâ—marse dios de Austria Dios de Rodolpho de Philippo e de Ferdinando A Family elected by God in the new Law as the seed of Abraham in the old that he might call himself the God of Austria the God of Rodolphus of Philip and of Ferdinand But to return to the people amongst whom this dextrous Prince was born and whom the Polititians equalize to Tiberius and Lewis the XI of France for a third Idol of their Ragione di Stato I must add that they are nothing hospitable nor civil to strangers Their lofty humour is not allaied with so much affibility as that of the Castilians and it is from this Province that the Highway-men they call Vandaleros spred themselves even into Castille making the Roads very unsafe perhaps by reason of its being so near a neighbor to the war its inhabitants incline more to Arms then other Spaniards the Gentry certainly pretends to an effectual Gallantry by continual protestations they are ambitious of nothing so much as drawing their swords in their Kings service neither are they free from the Rodomontados natural to all Spaniards and I was told that a young Gentleman having mounted himself with all advantages his purse would reach to to go into to Catâ—lonia and serve a Campagnia pleased himself above a Month in riding about the streets of Saragossa sometimes on one horse sometimes on another and meeting any that commended his Horses his Arms or his own activity he asked whither with such an equipage and arms as his it were not easie to draw the Frenchmens teeth con estas armas y esto Brao no se sacaran las muelas a los Gavachos He no sooner arrived in Catalonia but he met an opportunity of shewing his courage but was so unfortunate he was at first wounded both in his arm and leg which last was for ever lamed and he ever since called the Tooth-drawer In the mean time if the war have in some manner incomoded this kingdom it hath made it richer for the passage of the forces and rendezvous of Ammunition have caused the Kings money to Roll up and down in its chief Cities and having particular priviledges and not governing it self according to the Courts Orders but it s own customs notwithstanding the war with France it ever kept up a Trade beyond the Mountains and the Merchants of Oleron Tholouse and other parts of Bearn and Languedoc pass and repass freely as well to Saragossa as the adjacent quarters nay the greatest part of the Banquiers of Saragossa are of those Countries It is true they are concerned to make no noise of this nor to do any thing that may give the least occasion of fâ—lling upon them for being known to be rich Justice looks on them as a prey she would be glad to have pretence to seise on Don Pedro Miranda is one of the most splendid of these and best supported having married a Wife very well allied in this Country He is the most curious person in Saragossa and by every Ordinary receives the Gazets of Paris and other written intelligence but communicates them not except to particular friends He told us that at the time of the Siege of Arras there came an Order from Madrid to the Magistrate of this Town to make preparations for a publick rejoycing for taking a place of so great importance None doubting to hear very sodainly of its surrender Scaffolds were begun to be erected for a fight of Bulls before which were half finished Miranda by a particular Letter understood that Arras had been relieved but not daring to publish such bad news he with admiration saw that work go on yet could not imagine but the Viceroy and other of the principal Inhabitants had the same intelligence with him though they prepared for a triumph before a Victory A while after and when all was ready for the Festival the Viceroy received a Letter from Madrid that the Siege of Arras had failed who sending for the Governor and Magistrates of the Town when he shewed them his Letter they were not a little surprised and for their better satisfaction summoned Miranda who acknowledged that besides that one of his correspondents in Paris had acquainted him with it eight dayes before he had then with the Gazets received a Print which gave all the particulars One of the Magistrates grew very angry and ready to affront him that he had not advertised them to prevent the unnecessary charge and their being laughed at by the people threatning that he should be made to pay the four or five hundred pound it had cost the Town But the Viceroy and such as were more moderate pacified that man and sent away Miranda without ever after troubling him about it The people in the mean time seemed more concerned for pulling down the Scaffolds erected for the Festival than for the failing in recovery of Arras After we had sojourned eight dayes at Saragossa and resolved to return into France rather by Navarre than Catalonia where as was reported was neither safety nor convenience for travailers we took leave of the Duke of Montelion who gave us a Letter for the Earl of St. Stephen Viceroy of Navarre the 10th of July we went away and lodged at Halagon a poor Village A Factor of Miranda called Bertrand served us as Guide in this Journey and we had in our company a Spaniard a man of parts and good fellow according to that Countries mode He travailed in a very pleasant equipage according to the faishon of Spain his Valisa he carried before him on the pummel of his Saddle leaning upon it at each side and on his thighs hung his Wallet of provisions instead of Holsters two leathern Cases contained two bottles of wine cooled by ice he put in every time he filled them for which reason such cases of leather are called Refreadâ—res Every league or half league he drew out a bottle and very civilly invited us to refresh our selves with his wine which when we excused he made use of Bertrand better accustomed to such debauches than we to bear him company He told us many pleasant stories
take them off and open them but that if he pleased we would write to our Merchant in Madrid to send him as many pair as he desired We thus freed our selves with all dexterity possible not thinking we had done any thing contrary to civility since he that demands too boldly and without consideration ought to take to himself the greatest part of the shame of a refusal Having thus got out of Pampelone we took the great Road of the Pyreneans that leads to France We were not far from the Town ere we began to ascend a hill and before we came to the next Village met some Souldiers that belonged to the Garrison of the Castle who begged which surprised me for though the King of Spain wants money yet he never meddles with the forty thousand Crowns they say the Kingdom of Navarre brings up and I have been assured that all that is levied though it exceed the sum I have spoken of remains in the Country to pay the Viceroy who hath a Salary of 10 thousand Crowns though he of Arragon hath but six for the entertainments of a President and six Counsellors and maintaining his Forts and Garisons They which know this kingdom averr that the King of Spain receives no advantage from it besides the securing and extending his frontiers even to the Pyreneans the true and natural barricade God hath placed between France and Spain yet were the Taxes levied here as in Castille he might draw something But the priviledges the people of Navarre reserved to themselves and the consideration that if they should rebel they might possibly return to the obedience of their natural Prince for whom yet they have inclinations son is the reason they are not pressed with Taxes so that the certainest Leavies for support of the publick charge come from the Custome and are reported to be 24 thousand Crowns but the avarice and deceit of those that finger the Money raised there for maintaining the Garisons that ought to be better paid then any others in Spain reduce the poor soldiers to beggery and cause the Kings service to be so much neglected that were an Army sent thither it would probably make very great progression It is true that if we except the inconveniences they would give the King of Spain there is not expectation enough of advantages from that Quarter to cause the best Troops to be sent thither which might more profitably be imployed in Flanders Milan or Catalonia Before our arrival at Burguette we rather baited then dined at a pitiful village where the Guardian looked on our Passes with a great deal of civility and discoursed with us of the times in which he had served in Flanders un-Marquis Spinola Having traversed Woods Hills and Valleys with sometimes good sometimes bad way we arrived in the evening at the Plain of Roncevalles famous for the great battle Charlemain fought and lost in it against the Sarazens My Lords and spurring on got to Burguette before it was dark They had much ado to find lodging and were fain to adress themselves to the Justice who ordered them to be entertained in the house where we passed the night The next day being the 6th of Iuly without much suffering by heat in so wide a Plain encompassed by the Pyreneans we traversed it and by some Merchants of Oleron that often pass it were shewed the place where the battle was fought here said they Roland was killed notwithstanding the force of his Lance where this Cross stands died the brave Renaldo and had we been curious of all that tradition true or false had taught them I believe they would have pointed out to us where every one of the 12 Peers of France fell and perhaps have shewed us some of their blood for that of Hero's never perishes and they went about to perswade us that one place is still Red with it but we whose curiosity never went so low as to busie it self about dumb objects looked on those things only as we passed by and went not a step out of our way to taste the air where they said so great persons had rendred or vomited the prodigious souls that animated bodies ranked amongst the antient Giants Spurred on by impatience to be quickly beyond the Pyreneans we hasted over this Romantick or Historical Valley Coming to the end of it we found a Mountain to whom it gives the name of Roncevalles we were told this was the highest of the Pyreneans yet there was no snow on the top of it though most of the other on our right hand had hoary heads but notwithstanding this it seemed to approach nearer Heaven then those that wore its Livery and that it changed colour betimes and in the beginning of the Summer by reason of the seas neighbourhood the acrimony of whose vapors aids to melt and dissipate its snow sooner then that of such as are more remote When we were at the heighth of the Mountain of Roncevalles Egregia contemplatione pavimus animum and we paused to consider on the one hand Spain that we had just then abandoned and on the other France which we were about to enter The first seemed a scorched Campania where the bald Mountains discovered only naked Rocks and concealed few Plains or Vallies that bore grass or any thing else that is useful The later on the contrary presented us a Garden where Nature had disposed eminencies and depressions Plains Hills Woods and Valleys to boast variety on a fair Theater of universal fertility so plentiully sowed that the Land we saw though none of the best of France was surprizingly delightful as soon as compared with that we had left To conclude without hyperbole or exaggeration and in a plain manner of describing things as they really are I must declare that contemplating two so different objects me thought that in the one the day of judgement would find little unburnt and that in the other the flames which shall celebrate the worlds Funeral would be last extinguished because it seemed the fire of Heaven had already fallen on the first and almost rosted it and that to the other it had imparted only a cherishing warmth to animate it and the Italian perhaps had reason who vexed at the Doctors that disputed about the seat of Purgatory said he wondred men of learning should be so ignorant for had they understood Maps they would have placed that of Europe in Spain and that of Africk in Lybia I shall not determine whither he spoke sense or raved but only add that what I have said of the difference of these two prospects takes not off my esteem for Spain nor hinders my admiring the wisdom temperance prudence and other moral and political virtues that are eminent in the greatest part of the men it produces it is not therefore out of contempt of the one or too elevated an Idea of the other that I register the difference I observed I know very well that the fattest soils are not ever most
grace and hath its arm more supple but that the other reaches farther and makes its thrust more home Thus Heaven to preserve the power of these Nations near an equality hath opposed to the vivacity and spirit of one of them the prudence and constancy of the other that what the last comes short in agility may be recompensed by its attention to all it undertakes and what the first wants of circumspection and patience may be supplied by incredible diligence It is yet probable that the French fire so allayed as not to dasle the judgment produces greater effects than the Spanish â—â—eam how considerable soever It is capable of all that is Heroick even to miracle it forces an alteration in the face of affairs and chains fortune and victory to attend its banners when they seem inclining to forsake it It is as quick in discovering and preventing mischiefs as in applying remedies to those that surprise it It s eye hand and heart are continually directed to what may help or hurt it the first is usefull to embrace or avoid the second to seise whatever is advantagious and repel all that may be fatal whilst the last animates to support all burthens and often attains what its strength could not extend to whilst with all three it on one side levels a way for misfortune and banishes it and on the other opens a door to success and meets it Whereas the profound intellect of the Spaniards by means of frosty irresolution and tedious deliberation suffers the fruits of its best Enterprises to be nipt in the blossom because not so diligent to execute as subtle to invent them I could draw examples from our present times conclusive enough of this truth if I were not desirous to make an end I will therefore only add that that I am not unsensible that the French airiness often causes their designes to miscarry that their diligence is not alwayes joyned with prudence and that it sometimes hastens with so little discourse and reflexion it observes nothing and as if it had no other members but hands and feet violently plunges into confusion and falls headlong into misfortune by reason of that precipitation which often astonishes and puts it besides it self so much that its great courage abandoning it it retreats in disorder The reproach of this is nevertheless much out of date by reason of many modern great and couragious actions and enterprises where it hath made appear a diligence in executions as little destitute of judgement as courage This was long ago when experience had not purified their fire nor moderated that excess of it which made them begin well and end ill on which account all they did was attributed to furie and a blind transport that after the first attempt was changed into fear but they are no more the same men neither after going on like Lions do they come off like Hares and when their enterprises fail of success they many times retreat with honor and without confusion And certainly the greatest promptitude when accompanied by reason and judgement is as often the Mother as Stepdame of good fortune Alexander conquered all because he would leave nothing for the morrow and Caesar allowed but a moment between deliberation and action apprehending that either the greatness of the design might discourage it or the opportunity be passed if he took time to examine it but as the celerity of these two Heroes was ever fortunate by reason of their prodigious Capacities in all they undertook and the circumspection and delays of Fabius Maximus and the great Gonsalvo re-established Empire and conquered Kingdoms we may say that each of these Nations according as their predominant humor is allaied by prudence and illuminated by reason can disgest the toughest morsels and difficultest thwartings of fortune though one of them hath defects of stomach that sometimes cause vomitings and the other is now and then afflicted with megrims that oblige it to repose Augustus had felt the pulse of both of them when he pronounced his Festina lente and we may infallibly conclude that a third Constitution participating of the French promptitude and Spanish solidity were alone capable not only of conquering the World but governing it And a great and wise Frenchman having owned l interest d' Angleterre estant bien suivi establira dans la Chretientè vne troisiem puissance that England pursuing her true interest will become a third Power equal to France and Spain and this meant in regard of her scituation strength alone I think I may modestly enough add that the equality and harmony of her temper which neither heavily slumbers away opportunities nor rashly snatches at them before maturity considered did not some mistaken principles introduced by a fond doting on such a liberty as is inconsistent with Government make the subordinate wheels too heavy and the Spring that is the supreme power too weak to produce regular and vigorous motions in them by a perfect submission to her Soveraign she might under his conduct be able to make a farther progression towards giving laws to mankind than any other people ever arrived at FINIS