the
immodest and shameless conduct of the women in particular shocked and
surprised all visiting foreigners; and as time went on, the social evil
increased and became more widespread. Virtue in women was a subject for
jest, the cities were perfect sinks of iniquity, to quote Hume, and, in
Madrid in particular, immorality was so common among the women that the
fact passed into a proverbial saying. Homer has said: "Than woman there
is no fouler and viler fiend when her mind is bent on ill;" and even
were the superlatives to be lopped from this expression, it might still
help to express the fact that the moral degeneracy of Spain in her new
career of wantonness was at least shared by the women. At the court, the
king, who was in many ways what might be termed a mystic voluptuary,
spent his time in alternate fits of dissipation and devotion, wasted his
time in gallantry, and neglected his royal duties; and the all-powerful
Lerma was the centre of a world of graft, where the highest offices in
the land were bartered for gold, and every noble had an itching palm. In
this scene of disorder women played no little part, and through intrigue
and cajolery they often won the day for their favored lovers. Religion
gave place to recklessness, valor disappeared in vanity, and a splendid
idleness replaced a splendid industry. One Cortes after another
protested, measures were adopted which sought to bring the nation to its
senses, new sumptuary laws were enacted, but all to no avail; for the
nobility continued to set an example of glittering prodigality, and the
common people were not slow to follow.

When another Philip, the fourth of this name, came to the throne in
1621, the situation was almost hopeless. The country was involved in the
Thirty Years' War, one failure after another befell the Spanish arms,
the taxes had become unbearable, and in many quarters revolt was
threatened. The king was not equal to his task, government was an
irksome duty for him, and he found his greatest pleasure in two things,
hunting and the theatre. Madrid at this time was theatre-mad, playhouses
were numerous, and the people thronged them every night. The ladies of
the nobility had their special boxes, which were their own private
property, furnished in a lavish way, and there every evening they held
their little court and dispensed favors to their many admirers. It was
the first time in the history of the theatre that women's roles were
being played qu