so
now his son should in person win the hand of his bride in the distant
South. But however much in earnest the King was in the matter, we
learn that he still contemplated the possibility of failure. He once
said to the Duke of Soubise, that if the marriage came to pass, he
would take up the cause of the Huguenots in alliance with Spain: but
that if he did not succeed in his design they might still reckon upon
him, for that his son would contract a marriage with a French
princess, which would procure him great influence at the French
court.[420]

[Sidenote: A.D. 1623.]

On March 7, 1623, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Buckingham
arrived in Madrid, with an escort including Cottington and Endymion
Porter, both of whom afterwards enjoyed great influence. Their arrival
was not altogether welcome to the ambassador in residence there,
Digby, now Lord Bristol, who would rather have retained this important
business in his own hands: but the Spanish court and the nation itself
found a certain satisfaction for their pride in the personal suit
urged by the heir-apparent of one of the most powerful kingdoms for
the hand of the younger Infanta.

At first the Prince of Wales could only see the Infanta as she drove
past along a sort of Corso in the Prado. He was then presented to her,
but the words which she was to use to him were written down for her
beforehand; for she was to receive him merely as a foreign prince
without any reference whatsoever to his suit. Some surprise was
created when the principal lady of the court one day condescended to
say to the Prince that the Infanta in conversation gave signs of an
inclination for him. In the country no doubt was felt that the
marriage would come to pass, and the prospect was welcomed with joy.
Often did a 'Viva' resound under the windows of the Prince. Lope de
Vega dedicated some happily expressed stanzas to him; and splendid
shows were given in his honour.[421] All that was now wanting was an
agreement as to the conditions.

This depended however in large part on the resolutions which might be
arrived at in England. Conditions affecting religion were laid before
King James, which he might certainly have hesitated to approve. It was
not only that the Infanta was to be indulged in the free exercise of
her religion--for how else could the consent of the Spanish clergy or
a dispensation from the Pope have been hoped for?--nor even that the
children born from this marriage were