was divided into the French, the Austrian, and the
Bavarian factions. The contests of these factions were daily renewed
in every place where men congregated, from Stockholm to Malta, and from
Lisbon to Smyrna. But the fiercest and most obstinate conflict was that
which raged in the palace of the Catholic King. Much depended on him.
For, though it was not pretended that he was competent to alter by his
sole authority the law which regulated the descent of the Crown, yet, in
a case in which the law was doubtful, it was probable that his subjects
might be disposed to accept the construction which he might put upon it,
and to support the claimant whom he might, either by a solemn adoption
or by will, designate as the rightful heir. It was also in the power of
the reigning sovereign to entrust all the most important offices in his
kingdom, the government of all the provinces subject to him in the Old
and in the New World, and the keys of all his fortresses and arsenals,
to persons zealous for the family which he was inclined to favour. It
was difficult to say to what extent the fate of whole nations might be
affected by the conduct of the officers who, at the time of his decease,
might command the garrisons of Barcelona, of Mons, and of Namur.

The prince on whom so much depended was the most miserable of human
beings. In old times he would have been exposed as soon as he came into
the world; and to expose him would have been a kindness. From his birth
a blight was on his body and on his mind. With difficulty his almost
imperceptible spark of life had been screened and fanned into a dim and
flickering flame. His childhood, except when he could be rocked and sung
into sickly sleep, was one long piteous wail. Until he was ten years
old his days were passed on the laps of women; and he has never once
suffered to stand on his ricketty legs. None of those tawny little
urchins, clad in rags stolen from scarecrows, whom Murillo loved to
paint begging or rolling in the sand, owed less to education than this
despotic ruler of thirty millions of subjects, The most important events
in the history of his own kingdom, the very names of provinces and
cities which were among his most valuable possessions, were unknown
to him. It may well be doubted whether he was aware that Sicily was an
island, that Christopher Columbus had discovered America, or that the
English were not Mahometans. In his youth, however, though too imbecile
for study or