bjects, with the zeal of
a pious Catholic expectant of the Cardinal's hat, which he afterwards
obtained. But to this scheme Calderon brought an energy, a decision,
a vehemence, and sagacity of hatred, that savoured more of personal
vengeance than religious persecution. His perseverance in this good
work established him firmly in the king's favour; and in this he was
supported by the friendship not only of Lerma, but of Fray Louis de
Aliaga, a renowned Jesuit, and confessor to the king. The disasters
and distresses occasioned by this barbarous crusade, which crippled
the royal revenues, and seriously injured the estates of the principal
barons, from whose lands the industrious and intelligent Moriscos were
expelled, ultimately concentred a deep and general hatred upon Calderon.
But his extraordinary address and vigorous energies, his perfect
mastery of the science of intrigue, not only sustained, but continued to
augment, his power. Though the king was yet in the prime of middle age,
his health was infirm and his life precarious. Calderon had contrived,
while preserving the favour of the reigning monarch, to establish
himself as the friend and companion of the heir apparent. In this,
indeed, he had affected to yield to the policy of the king himself; for
Philip the Third had a wholesome terror of the possible ambition of his
son, who early evinced talents which might have been formidable, but for
passions which urged him into the most vicious pleasures and the most
extravagant excesses. The craft of the king was satisfied by the device
of placing about the person of the Infant one devoted to himself; nor
did his conscience, pious as he was, revolt at the profligacy which his
favourite was said to participate, and, perhaps, to encourage; since the
less popular the prince, the more powerful the king.

But all this while there was formed a powerful cabal against both the
Duke of Lerma and Don Roderigo Calderon in a quarter where it might
least have been anticipated. The cardinal-duke, naturally anxious
to cement and perpetuate his authority, had placed his son, the Duke
d'Uzeda, in a post that gave him constant access to the monarch.
The prospect of power made Uzeda eager to seize at once upon all its
advantages; and it became the object of his life to supplant his father.
This would have been easy enough but for the genius and vigilance of
Calderon, whom he hated as a rival, disdained as an upstart, and dreaded
as a foe. P