welve years of
the life of Perez, of which the protracted tribulations, indeed, cannot
be related more succinctly and attractively than they are by M. Mignet.
During this weary space of time, Perez, single-handed, maintained an
energetic defensive warfare against the disfavour of a vindictive
monarch, the oppression of predominant rivals, the insidious
machinations and wild fury of relentless private revenge, the most
terrific mockeries of justice, the blackest mental despondency, and
exquisite physical suffering. Philip II. displayed all his atrocious
feline propensities--alternately hiding and baring his claws--tickling
his victim to-day with delusions of mercy and protection, in order to
smite him on the morrow with heavier and unmitigated cruelty. The truth
is, he did not dare to kill, while he had no desire to save. Over and
over again, in the course of the monstrous burlesques which were enacted
in judicial robes as legal inquiries, did Philip privately, both orally
and in writing, exonerate and absolve the murderer. Prosecutors and
judges were bridled and overawed--kinsmen were abashed--popular
indignation was quelled by reiterated assurances and reports, that the
confidential secretary of state had been the passive and faithful
executioner of royal commands. Even Uncle Martin, the privileged
court-fool, when the flight ultimately of Perez gave general
satisfaction, though not to the implacable Philip, exclaimed
openly--"Sire, who is this Antonio Perez, whose escape and deliverance
have filled every one with delight? He cannot, then, have been guilty;
rejoice, therefore, like other people." But the lucky rival--the happy
lover, could not expiate his rank offence by any amount of sacrifice in
person or estate. According to our view of these lingering scenes of
rancorous persecution, Philip gradually habituated himself to gloat over
the sufferings of Perez with the morbid rapture of monomania. So long as
the wretched man was within his reach, he contemplated placidly the
anguish inflicted on him by the unjust or excessive malevolence of his
enemies. He repeatedly checked the prosecutions of the Escovedo family,
and sanctioned their revival with as little difficulty as if he had
never interposed on any former occasion. He relaxed at intervals the
rigorous imprisonment under which Perez was gasping for the breath of
life, granting him for nearly a twelvemonth so much liberty as to
inflate a naturally buoyant temperame