monftrous to the Spaniard) and had faid, (that "if the In"fanta did not, as foon as fhe was Married, Suppress that "Licence, fhe would her Self quickly undergo the Mischief "of it: Which gave the first Alarum to the Duke to apprehend his own Ruin in that Union, and accordingly to use all **his endeavours to break and prevent it: and from that time he took all occafions to Quarrel with, and Reproach the Conde Duke.

ONE Morning the King defir'd the Prince to take the Air, and to vifit a little Houfe of Pleasure he had (the Prado) four Miles from Madrid, ftanding in a Forreft, where he us'd fometimes to Hunt; and the Duke not being ready, the King and the Prince, and the Infante Don Carlos went into the Coach, the King likewife calling the Earl of Bristol into that Coach to affift them in their Converfation, the Prince then not Speaking any Spanish; and left Olivarez to follow in the Coach with the Duke of Buckingham. When the Duke came, they went into the Coach, accompanied with others of both Nations, and proceeded very cheerfully towards the overtaking the King, but when upon the way he heard, that the Earl of Bristol was in the Coach with the King, he broke out into a great paffion, revil'd the Conde Duke as the Contriver of the Affront, reproach'd the Earl of Briftol for his prefumptión, in taking the Place which in all respects belong'd to Him, who was joyn'd with him as Embaffadour Extraordinary, and came laft from the presence of his Master, and refolv'd to go out of the Coach and to return to Madrid. Olivarez eafily discover'd by the disorder, and the noise, and the tone, that the Duke was very Angry, without comprehending the cause of it; Only found that the Earl of Bristol was often nam'd with fuch a tone, that he begun to fufpect what in truth might be the Caufe. And thereupon he commanded a Gentleman, who was on Horseback, with all speed to overtake the King's Coach, and defire that it might stay; intimating that the Duke had taken fome Difpleasure, the ground whereof was not enough understood. Upon which the King's Coach stay'd, and when the other approach'd within distance, the Conde Duke alighted, and acquainted the King with what he had obferv'd, and what he conceiv'd. The King himself alighted; made great Compliments to the Duke, the Earl of Bristol excufing himself upon the King's Command, that he should ferve as Interpreter. In the end Don Carlos went into the Coach with the Favourite, and the Duke and the Earl of Bristol went with the King, and the Prince; and fo they profecuted their Journey, and after Dinner return'd in the fame manner to Madrid.

THIS with all the Circumstances of it administer'd won

derful

derful occafion of difcourfe in the Court and Country, there never having been fuch a Comet feen in that Hemisphere; their fubmifs Reverence to their Princes being a vital part of their Religion.

THERE were very few days pafs'd afterwards, in which there was not fome manifeftation of the highest Displeasure, and Hatred in the Duke against the Earl of Bristol. And when the Conde Duke had fome eclaircifment with the Duke, in which he made all the Proteftations of his fincere Affection, and his defire to maintain a clear and faithful Friendfhip with him, which he conceiv'd might be, in fome degree, ufeful to both their Masters; the Other receiv'd his Protestations with all Contempt, and declar'd, with a very unneceffary frankness, "that he would have no Friendship with him.

THE next day after the King return'd from accompanying the Prince towards the Sea, where, at parting, there were all poffible demonstrations of mutual Affection between them; the King caused a fair Pillar to be erected in the place where they Laft embrac'd each other, with Infcriptions of great Honour to the Prince; there being then in that Court not the least Sufpicion, or Imagination, that the Marriage would not Succeed. Infomuch that afterwards, upon the news from Rome that the Difpenfation was granted, the Prince having left the Defponforios in the hands of the Earl of Bristol, in which the Infante Don Carlos was conftituted the Prince's Proxy to Marry the Infanta on his behalf; She was treated as Princess of Wales, the Queen gave her place, and the Englifh Embaffadour had frequent Audiences, as with his Miftrifs, in which he would Not be cover'd: Yet, I fay, very next day after the Prince's departure from the King, Mr Clark, one of the Prince's Bed-chamber, who had formerly ferv'd the Duke, was fent back to Madrid, upon pretence that somewhat was forgotten there, but in truth, with orders to the Earl of Bristol not to deliver the Defponforios (which, by the Articles, he was oblig'd to do, within fifteen days after the arrival of the Difpenfation) until he should receive further orders from the Prince, or King, after his Return into England.

the

Mr CLARK was not to deliver this Letter to the Embaffadour, till he was fure the Difpenfation was come; of which he could not be advertis'd' in the inftant. But he lodging in the Embaffadour's house, and falling fick of a Calenture, which the Physicians thought would prove mortal, he fent for the Earl to come to his Bed fide, and deliver'd him the Letter before the arrival of the Difpenfation, though long after it was known to be granted; upon which all thofe Ceremonies were perform'd to the Infanta.

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BY

By these means, and by this method, this great Affair, upon which the Eyes of Christendom had been fo long fix'd, came to be Diffolv'd, without the least mixture with, or contribution from those Amours, which were afterwards fo confidently difcours'd of. For though the Duke was naturally carried violently to thofe Paffions, when there was any grace or beauty in the Object, yet the Duchefs of Olivarez, of whom was the talk, was then a Woman fo old, paft Children, of fo abject a prefence, in a word, fo crooked and deform'd, that he could neither tempt his Appetite, nor magnify his Revenge. And whatsoever he did afterwards in England was but tueri opus, and to profecute the Defign he had, upon the Reason and Provocation aforefaid, fo long before contriv'd during his abode in Spain.

THE other particular, by which he involv'd himself in fo many Fatal Intricacies, from which he could never extricate himfelf, was, his running violently into the War in France, without any kind of provocation, and upon a particular paffion very unwarrantable. In his Embally in France, where his Perfon and Prefence was wonderfully admired, and efteem'd (and in truth it was a Wonder in the eyes of all Men) and in which he appear'd with all the Luftre the Wealth of England could adorn him with, and Outshin'd all the bravery that Court could drefs it felf in, and Overacted the whole Nation in their own most peculiar Vanities: He had the Ambition to fix his Eyes upon, and to dedicate hist most violent Affection to a Lady of a very fublime Quality, and to pursue it with most importunate Addreffes; Infomuch as when the King had brought the Queen his Sifter as far as he meant to do, and deliver'd her into the hands of the Duke to be by him conducted into England; the Duke, in his Journey, after the departure of that Court, took a refolution once more to make a Vifit to that great Lady, which he believ'd he might do with much privacy. But it was so eafily discover'd, that provifion was made for his Reception; and if he had pursued his Attempt, he had been without doubt Affaffinated; of which he had only fo much notice, as ferv'd him to decline the Danger. But he fwore, in the inftant, "that he would See, and Speak with that Lady, in Spight of "the Strength and Power of France. And from the time that the Queen arriv'd in England, he took all the ways he could to Undervalue and Exafperate that Court and Nation, by caufing all those who fled into England from the justice and displeasure of that King, to be receiv'd and entertain'd here, not only with ceremony and fecurity, but with bounty and magnificence; and the more extraordinary the Persons were, and the more notorious their King's displeasure was towards

them

them (as in that time there were very many Lords and Ladies in those circumstances) the more refpectfully they were receiv'd, and esteem'd. He omitted no opportunity to Incenfe the King against France, and to difpofe him to affift the Hugonots, whom he likewise encourag'd to give their King

fome trouble.

AND which was Worse than all this, he took great pains to Leffen the King's Affection towards his Young Queen, being exceedingly jealous, left Her Intereft might be of force enough to Crofs his other Defigns: And in this Stratagem, he fo far fwerv'd from the Instinct of his Nature, and his proper Inclinations, that He who was compounded of all the elements of Affability, and Courtefy towards all kind of People, had brought himself to a habit of Neglect, and even of Rudenefs towards the Queen.

ONE day, when he unjustly apprehended that She had fhew'd fome difrefpect to his Mother, in not going to her Lodging at an hour she had intended to go, and was hinder'd by a meer accident; he came into her Chamber in much Paffion, and, after fome Expoftulations rude enough, he told her, She Should Repent it; her Majesty answering with fome quickness, he reply'd Infolently to her, that there had been Queens in England, who had loft their Heads. And it was univerfally known, that, during His life, the Queen never had any Credit with the King, with reference to any publick Affairs, and fo could not Divert the Refolution of making a War with France.

THE War with Spain had found the Nation in a 'Surfeit of a long Peace, and in a difpofition Inclinable enough to War with that Nation, which might put an end to an Alliance the moft ungrateful to them, and which they moft fear'd, and from whence no other Damage had yet befallen them, than a Chargeable and Unfuccefsful Voyage by Sea, without the lofs of Ships or Men. But a War with France must be carried on at another rate, and expence. Befides, the Nation, was weary and furfeited with the Firft, before the Second was enter'd upon; and it was very visible to Wife Men, that when the general Trade of the Kingdom, from whence the Support of the Crown principally refulted, fhould be utterly extinguifh'd with France, as it was with Spain, and interrupted or obftructed with all other Places (as it must be, in a great measure, in a War, how profperoufly foever carried on) the effects would be very fad, and involve the King in many perplexities; and it could not but fall out accordingly.

UPON the return from Cales without fuccefs, though all the Ships, and, upon the matter, all the Men were feen (for though fome had fo furfeited in the Vineyards, and with the

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Wines,

Wines, that they had been left behind, the Generofity of the Spaniards fent them all home again) and though by that Fleet's putting in at Plymouth, near two hundred miles from London, there could be but very imperfect relations, and the news of Yesterday was contradicted by the Morrow; befides that the Expedition had been undertaken by the Advice of the Parliament, and with an univerfal Approbation of the People, fo that no body could reasonably fpeak loudly against it; Yet, notwithstanding all this, the ill Success was heavily born, and imputed to ill Conduct; the principal Officers of the Fleet and Army divided amongst themselves, and all united in their murmurs against the General, the Lord Viscount Wimbledon; who, though an old Officer in Holland, was never thought equal to the Enterprise. In a word, there was Indifpofition enough quickly difcover'd against the War it felf, that it was eafily difcern'd, it would not be pursued with the vigour it was enter'd into, nor carried on by any cheerful contribution of Money from the Publick.

BUT the running into this War with France (from whence the Queen was fo newly, and joyfully receiv'd) without any colour of Reason, or fo much as the formality of a Declaration from the King, containing the ground, and provocation, and end of it, according to cuftom and obligation in the like cafes (for it was obferv'd that the Manifefto which was publifh'd was in the Duke's own Name, who went Admiral and General of the Expedition) opened the mouths of all Men, to Inveigh against it with all Bitterness, and the fuddain ill Effects of it, manifefted in the Return of the Fleet to Portsmouth, within Such a distance of London, that nothing could be conceal'd of the Lofs fuftain'd; in which, moft noble Families found a Son, or a Brother, or near Kinf man wanting, without fuch Circumstances of their deaths, as are usually the Confolations, and Recompences of fuch Catastrophes. The Retreat had been a Rout without an Enemy, and the French had Their revenge by the Disorder, and Confufion of the English Themselves; in which, great numbers of Noble and Ignoble were crowded to death, or drowned without the help of an Enemy: and as fome thousands of the Common Men were wanting, fo few of thofe Principal Officers, who attain'd to a Name in War, and by whose Courage and Experience any War was to be conducted, could be found.

THE effects of this overthrow did not at first appear in whifpers, murmurs, and invectives, as the Retreat from Cales had done; but produc'd fuch a general Confternation over the face of the whole Nation, as if all the Armies of France and Spain were united together, and had cover'd the

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