tant and humble points of
view which their position afforded them. Prince Charles, on the other
hand, was behind the curtain. His childhood and youth were exposed
fully to all the real influences of these scenes. The people of
England submitted to be governed by such men, not because they thought
them qualified to govern, or that the circumstances under which their
characters were formed were such as were calculated to form, in a
proper manner, the minds of the rulers of a Christian people. They did
not know what those circumstances were. In their conceptions they had
grand ideas of royal character and life, and imagined the splendid
palaces which some saw, but more only heard of, at Westminster, were
filled with true greatness and glory. They were really filled with
vulgarity, vice, and shame. James was to them King James the First,
monarch of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and Charles was
Charles, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, and heir-apparent to the
throne. Whereas, within the palace, to all who saw them and knew them
there, and really, so far as their true moral position was concerned,
the father was "Old Dad," and the son, what his father always called
him till he was twenty-four years old, "Baby Charley."

CHAPTER II.

THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN.

1623

The Palatinate.--Wars between the Protestants and Catholics.--Frederic
dispossessed of his dominions.--Flees to Holland.--Elizabeth.--James's
plan.--Donna Maria.--Negotiations with Spain.--Obstacles
and delays.--Buckingham's proposal.--Nature of the
adventure.--Buckingham's dissimulation.--Charles persuaded.--James's
perplexity.--He reluctantly yields.--James's fears.--Royal
captives.--Buckingham's violence.--Angry disputes.--James's
distress.--Charles and Buckingham depart.--Charles and Buckingham's
boisterous conduct.--Arrested at Dover.--Arrival at Paris.--Princess
Henrietta.--Bourdeaux.--Entrance into Madrid.--Bristol's
amazement.--Charles's reception.--Grand procession.--Spanish
etiquette.--The Infanta kept secluded.--Athletic amusements.--Charles
steals an interview.--Irregularities.--Delays and
difficulties.--Letters.--The magic picture.--The pope's
dispensation.--The treaty signed.--Buckingham is hated.--He breaks
off the match.--Festivities at the Escurial.--Taking leave.--Return
to London.--The Spanish match broken off.

In order that the reader may understand fully the nature of the
romantic enterprise in which, as we have already s