f trade,
the prostration of credit, and finally the bankruptcy of the state.--But
we willingly turn from this sad picture of the destinies of the country
to a more cheerful scene in the history of Philip.

CHAPTER IV.

PHILIP'S THIRD MARRIAGE.

Reception of Isabella.--Marriage Festivities.--The Queen's Mode of
Life.--The Court removed to Madrid.

1560.

So soon as Philip should be settled in Spain, it had been arranged that
his young bride, Elizabeth of France, should cross the Pyrenees. Early
in January, 1560, Elizabeth,--or Isabella, to use the corresponding name
by which she was known to the Spaniards,--under the protection of the
Cardinal de Bourbon and some of the French nobility, reached the borders
of Navarre, where she was met by the duke of Infantado, who was to take
charge of the princess, and escort her to Castile.

Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, fourth duke of Infantado, was the head of the
most illustrious house in Castile. He was at this time near seventy
years of age, having passed most of his life in attendance at court,
where he had always occupied the position suited to his high birth and
his extensive property, which, as his title intimated, lay chiefly in
the north. He was a fine specimen of the old Castilian hidalgo, and
displayed a magnificence in his way of living that became his station.
He was well educated, for the time; and his fondness for books did not
prevent his excelling in all knightly exercises. He was said to have the
best library and the best stud of any gentleman in Castile.[459]

He appeared on this occasion in great state, accompanied by his
household and his kinsmen, the heads of the noblest families in Spain.
The duke was attended by some fifty pages, who, in their rich dresses of
satin and brocade, displayed the gay colors of the house of Mendoza. The
nobles in his train, all suitably mounted, were followed by twenty-five
hundred gentlemen, well equipped, like themselves. So lavish were the
Castilians of that day in the caparisons of their horses, that some of
these are estimated, without taking into account the jewels with which
they were garnished, to have cost no less than two thousand ducats![460]
The same taste is visible at this day in their descendants, especially
in South America and Mexico, where the love of barbaric ornament in the
housings and caparisons of their steeds is conspicuous among all classes
of the people.

Several days were spent in settling the