not
directly employ the hand of the assassin to take the life of his son,
yet by his rigorous treatment drove that son to a state of desperation
that brought about the same fatal result.[1527]

While the prince lay in the agonies of death, scarcely an hour before he
breathed his last, a scene of a very different nature was passing in an
adjoining gallery of the palace. A quarrel arose there between two
courtiers,--one of them a young cavalier, Don Antonio de Leyva, the
other Don Diego de Mendoza, a nobleman who had formerly filled, with
great distinction, the post of ambassador at Rome. The dispute arose
respecting some _coplas_, of which Mendoza claimed to be the author.
Though at this time near sixty years old, the fiery temperament of youth
had not been cooled by age. Enraged at what he conceived an insult on
the part of his companion, he drew his dagger. The other as promptly
unsheathed his sword. Thrusts were exchanged between the parties; and
the noise of the fracas at length reached the ears of Philip himself.
Indignant at the outrage thus perpetrated within the walls of the
palace, and at such an hour, he ordered his guards instantly to arrest
the offenders. But the combatants, brought to their senses, had
succeeded in making their escape, and taken refuge in a neighboring
church. Philip was too much incensed to respect this asylum; and an
alcalde, by his command, entered the church at midnight, and dragged the
offenders from the sanctuary. Leyva was put in irons, and lodged in the
fortress of Madrid; while his rival was sent to the tower of Simancas.
"It is thought they will pay for this outrage with their lives," writes
the Tuscan minister, Nobili. "The king," he adds, "has even a mind to
cashier his guard for allowing them to escape." Philip, however,
confined the punishment of the nobles to banishment from court; and the
old courtier, Mendoza, profited by his exile to give to the world those
remarkable compositions, both in history and romance, that form an epoch
in the national literature.[1528]

A few days before his death, Carlos is said to have made a will, in
which, after imploring his father's pardon and blessing, he commended
his servants to his care, gave away a few jewels to two or three
friends, and disposed of the rest of his property in behalf of sundry
churches and monasteries.[1529] Agreeably to his wish, his body was
wrapped in a Franciscan robe, and was soon afterward laid in a coffin
cover