s ministers, who had only the trouble of making up
their minds and of accepting? What great and wise reflections might be
made thereon! But they would be out of place in these Memoirs.
The King of Spain arrived in Madrid on the 19th February. From his first
entrance into the country he had everywhere been most warmly welcomed.
Acclamations were uttered when he appeared; fetes and bull-fights were
given in his honour; the nobles and ladies pressed around him. He had
been proclaimed in Madrid some time before, in the midst of
demonstrations of joy. Now that he had arrived among his subjects there,
that joy burst out anew. There was such a crowd in the streets that
sixty people were stifled! All along the line of route were an infinity
of coaches filled with ladies richly decked. The streets through which
he passed were hung in the Spanish fashion; stands were placed, adorned
with fine pictures and a vast number of silver vessels; triumphal arches
were built from side to side. It is impossible to conceive a greater or
more general demonstration of joy. The Buen-Retiro, where the new King
took up his quarters, was filled with the Court and the nobility. The
junta and a number of great men received him at the door, and the
Cardinal Portocarrero, who was there, threw himself on his knees, and
wished to kiss the King's hand. But the King would not permit this;
raised the Cardinal, embraced him, and treated him as his father. The
Cardinal wept with joy, and could not take his eyes off the King. He was
just then in the flower of his first youth--fair like the late King
Charles, and the Queen his grandmother; grave, silent, measured, self-
contained, formed exactly to live among Spaniards. With all this, very
attentive in his demeanour, and paying everybody the attention due to
him, having taken lessons from d'Harcourt on the way. Indeed he took off
his hat or raised it to nearly everybody, so that the Spaniards spoke on
the subject to the Duc d'Harcourt, who replied to them that the King in
all essential things would conform himself to usage, but that in others
he must be allowed to act according to French politeness. It cannot be
imagined how much these trifling external attentions attached all hearts
to this Prince.
He was, indeed, completely triumphant in Spain, and the Austrian party as
completely routed. The Queen of Spain was sent away from Madrid, and
banished to Toledo, where she remained with but a small suite, and st
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