noon, he put off to Rutland's ship, the 'Prince,' which was appointed to carry him home, and which had been fitted up with a gorgeously decorated cabin for the Infanta. As he was returning in his barge, after nightfall, the wind rose, and the rowers found it impossible to make head against the tide, which was sweeping them out to sea. Fortunately, Sir Sackville Trevor, in the 'Defiance,' was aware of the danger, and threw out ropes attached to buoys with lanterns, which might attract the notice of the Prince amidst the increasing gloom. One of these ropes was seized by the crew, and Charles, saved from imminent danger, passed the night on board the 'Defiance.'

Sept, 18. He sails for England.

For some days the fleet remained windbound at Santander. Between Charles and his Spanish train, the utmost cordiality appeared to prevail. There were festivities in the town, and festivities on board. At last, on the 18th, the wind changed. Orders were given to weigh anchor, and this strange episode of the Spanish journey was at an end.' No doubt, as he was tossing upon the waves of the Bay of Biscay, Charles did not cease to brood over the prospects of his scheme for springing a mine under Philip's feet. Happily, however, for his own reputation, his deep-iaid plot had already been disconcerted by a lucky accident. Almost immediately after he reached Madrid, Clarke was taken ill, and was thus unable to glean the news of the day by his own personal observation. About a week after he appeared at the Embassy, Bristol, either suspecting that he had been entrusted with a secret mission, or being himself under some misapprehension, told him that the Pope's approbation had arrived. Clarke, supposing that the time indicated had come, produced the letter as one which he had just received. Bristol looked grave after he had read it, and charged him not to breathe a word about it to anyone. "If the Spaniards," he said, "should come to the knowledge of it, they might give orders to stay the Prince."2

Sept. 11. Clarke gives

Bristol the

Prince's letter.

'Pett's Autobiography, Harl. MSS. 6279, fol. 86. Compare Nichols's Progresses, iii. 920.

2 Clarke to Buckingham, Oct. 1, Cabala, 199. Clarke says this took place on the day that the Prince arrived at Santander, i.e. the 12th. But Bristol's letter shows that it must have been on the 11th.

1623

BRISTOL'S EXPLANATIONS.

121

Bristol at once despatched a courier to England, acknowBristol pro- ledging the receipt of the letter, and assuring Charles that as soon as he heard that he was out of Spain, he would make every inquiry on the subject which he had named.1

mises to make inquiries.

Ten days afterwards he communicated to Charles the result of his investigations. "Since your Highness's departure,"

Sept. 21. The result communicted to Charles.

he wrote, "there have been divers suspicions raised, which chiefly have grown from letters of some that accompanied your Highness to Santander, as though there might a doubt be made of your Highness's affection to the Infanta, and of the real performance on your Highness's part of what had been capitulated; which some of your Highness's old friends about the Infanta have taken several occasions to intimate unto her; but, I dare assure your Highness, it hath not been possible for any to raise in her the least shadow of mistrust or doubt of want of. your Highness's affection, but she hath with show of displeasure reproved those that have presumed to speak that kind of language; and herself never speaketh of your Highness but with that respect and show of affection that all about her tell me of it with a little wonder.

"There was of late in some a desire here that, before your Highness's embarking, the Princess might have sent unto your Highness some token; whereunto I assure your Highness that the Countess of Olivares was not backward, nor, as I am

1 "This day Mr. Clarke, that lyeth sick in my house, delivered me a letter from you; but without date either of time or place. The contents of it your Highness will remember, and I will see as faithfully performed as, God willing, all your commandments to me shall be; though, for just respects, I shall forbear the clearing of that doubt your Highness maketh for some few days, until I heare of Lewis Dyve."--Bristol to the Prince, Sept. 11, S. P. Spain. The allusion is obscure, but it is explained by a passage in the letter of the 21st, which is quoted in the text further on. Lewis Dyve was no doubt attached to the embassy, and may have been sent to accompany the Prince to Santander. Bristol may well have shrunk from saying plainly that he could not do anything till Charles had left Spain, as it would convey an indirect censure on the letter which he had received.

assured, the Princess herself; but this was not to be done without the allowance of the junta;' and they, for a main reason, alleged that, in case your Highness should fail in what had been agreed, she would by these further engagements be made unfit for any other match; which coming to her knowledge, I hear she was infinitely much offended, and said that those of the junta were blockheads,2 to think her a woman for a second wooing, or to receive a congratulation twice for several husbands. The truth is that, now in your Highness's absence, she much more avowedly declareth her affection to your Highness than ever she did at your being here; and your Highness cannot believe how much the King and she and all the Court are taken with your Highness's daily letters to the King and her.

"Since I understood of your Highness's embarking, I have begun to speak of the doubt which your Highness seemeth to make, that the Infanta might enter into religion after the marriage. The Countess of Olivares broke it unto the Infanta, who seemed to make herself very merry that any such doubt should be made, and said that she must confess that she never in all her life had any mind to be a nun, and thought she should hardly be one now only to avoid the Prince of Wales, to whom she had such infinite obligation. After this, I replied that your Highness no way doubted of the favour that the Infanta did you; but she might be forced to that which others would have her; for that you said there was nothing done but either what the Theologians or the Junta ordained. Hereupon it was answered me, after conference with the Princess, that, after the marriage the Princess would be her own woman, and that the King neither would, nor the Junta should, have to do with her in things of that nature; but that she doubted not but, when it were fitting for her to write unto the Prince herself, she would both quickly clear that doubt, and any other that should be made, of her affection to the Prince of Wales. And

Not the junta of Theologians, which was now dissolved, but the junta of Councillors of State and others, who were appointed to treat on all things connected with the marriage.

16.23

THE INFANTA'S EXPECTATIONS.

123

the truth is that I never speak of this marriage but the Countess of Olivares falleth a laughing extremely, and telleth me that the Princess doth so too. And, to tell your Highness my opinion, like an honest servant, if this doubt should be insisted upon, I conceive there will at the instant be such satisfaction given, as to stand upon it would rather seem a colour or pretext sought than otherwise; and therefore, once again, I humbly crave your Highness's speedy direction herein.

1

"I shall conclude this letter by telling your Highness that commonly once a day I wait upon the Princess on the Queen's side. I receive from her most gracious usage, and ever affectionate and sometimes long messages.2 I pray God send your Highness as happy in everything else as you are like to be in a wife; for certainly a worthier or more virtuous Princess liveth not." 3

the Infanta.

It is true that, for his knowledge of the Infanta's secret feelings, the ambassador was altogether dependent upon the Feelings of reports which it pleased the Countess of Olivares to put in circulation. But there is no reason to doubt that the statements in his letter were at least in the main correct. Whether any trace of her original repugnance to Charles still lurked in her mind it is impossible to say; but it is certain that she had begun to regard the marriage as a settled thing, and it is by no means impossible that, as Bristol suggested, Charles's absence may have fanned into a flame the sparks of affection which the daily sight of her hoped-for convert had kindled in her bosom. She was now officially styled Princess of England, and she was diligently occupied in studying the language of her future country. Nor was it merely by the help of dictionaries and grammars that she was preparing herself for her new position. By her brother's command, she was receiving instructions from the Bishop of Segovia, and from two of the royal preachers, by which, as it was hoped, she would be prepared to fulfil those duties of her

'The Queen's side of the palace.

"Recaudos" in the original.

Bristol to the Prince, Sept. 21, Clarendon State Papers, i. App. 19.

married life of which such great expectations had been formed.'

Doubts of

Ministers.

Yet already doubts were beginning to be entertained at Madrid whether, after all, those expectations would be realised. Misled by Charles's readiness to make every concesthe Spanish sion that was required of him, Olivares had committed the blunder of forgetting the large part which vanity had in his professions of love for the Infanta. He had calculated that because Charles was ready to do anything, and to swear to anything, in order to carry with him his promised bride, he would therefore be equally ready to redeem his engagements in the hope of obtaining her in the spring. Having omitted in his calculations the consequences of offended pride, he was now to learn that Charles, who would have accepted all his terms in order to obtain the credit of success, would be equally ready to shake off the most binding engage. ments in the vain hope of wiping away the disgrace of failure.

Olivares.

In one respect, at least, the Spanish minister appears to have resolved to surrender his hopes. From the moment that Intentions of Charles began to show any spirit of independence, nothing more was heard about the Parliamentary repeal of the penal laws, which had been so marked a feature in the previous discussions. It almost seems as if Olivares would have been content to allow that point to drop out of sight, in spite of the long and arduous struggle which it had cost him.

Even before Charles arrived in England, the news forwarded by the Spanish ambassadors must have created some doubt in August. the mind of Olivares whether even the ground which The pardon had been gained by the agreement of Salisbury was and dispensation. not slipping from under his feet. For three weeks after the signature of that agreement the question of the form in which the promises then made were to be clothed in legal phraseology had been the subject of warm discussion; and, though there does not appear to have been any intention to raise delays, the length of time thus occupied brought forth grievous complaints from the Spanish ambassadors, and especially from the hot

› Francisco de Jesus, 88.