fleet and army, place
him upon the throne of Spain. He was received at Portsmouth in England,
when he landed from Holland, with much parade, and was conducted by the
Dukes of Maryborough and Somerset to Windsor castle, where he had an
interview with Queen Anne. His appearance at that time is thus described
by his partial chroniclers:

"The court was very splendid and much thronged. The queen's behavior
toward him was very noble and obliging. The young king charmed all who
were present. He had a gravity beyond his age, tempered with much
modesty. His behavior in all points was so exact, that there was not a
circumstance in his whole deportment which was liable to censure. He
paid an extraordinary respect to the queen, and yet maintained a due
greatness in it. He had the art of seeming well pleased with every
thing, without so much as smiling once all the while he was at court,
which was only three days. He spoke but little, and all he said was
judicious and obliging."

Young Charles was engaged to the daughter of the King of Portugal; but
the young lady died just before his arrival at Lisbon. As he had never
seen the infanta, his grief could not have been very deep, however great
his disappointment might have been. He made several attempts to
penetrate Spain by the Portuguese frontier, but being repelled in every
effort, by the troops of Philip, he again embarked, and with twelve
thousand troops in an English fleet, sailed around the Peninsula,
entered the Mediterranean and landed on the shores of Catalonia, where
he had been led to believe that the inhabitants in a body would rally
around him. But he was bitterly disappointed. The Earl of Peterborough,
who was intrusted with the command of this expedition, in a letter home
gave free utterance to his disappointment and chagrin.

"Instead of ten thousand men, and in arms," he wrote, "to cover our
landing and strengthen our camp, we found only so many higglers and
sutlers flocking into it. Instead of finding Barcelona in a weak
condition, and ready to surrender upon the first appearance of our
troops, we found a strong garrison to oppose us, and a hostile army
almost equal to our own."

In this dilemma a council of war was held, and though many were in favor
of abandoning the enterprise and returning to Portugal, it was at last
determined, through the urgency of Charles, to remain and lay siege to
the city. Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, was then the principal