s attention. Their attendants were to
be left behind for a day, and afterward were to follow them into the
city. The British embassador at Madrid at this time was the Earl of
Bristol. He had had charge of all the negotiations in respect to the
marriage, and to the restoration of the Palatinate, and believed that
he had brought them almost to a successful termination. He lived in a
palace in Madrid, and, as is customary with the embassadors of great
powers at the courts of great powers, in a style of the highest pomp
and splendor.

Buckingham took the prince directly to Bristol's house. Bristol was
utterly confounded at seeing them. Nothing could be worse, he said, in
respect to the completion of the treaty, than the prince's presence in
Madrid. The introduction of so new and extraordinary an element into
the affair would undo all that had been done, and lead the King of
Spain to begin anew, and go over all the ground again. In speaking of
this occurrence to another, he said that just as he was on the point
of coming to a satisfactory conclusion of his long negotiations and
toils, a demon in the shape of Prince Charles came suddenly upon the
stage to thwart and defeat them all.

The Spanish court was famous in those days--in fact, it has always
been famous--for its punctilious attention to etiquette and parade;
and as soon as the prince's arrival was known to the king, he
immediately began to make preparations to welcome him with all
possible pomp and ceremony. A great procession was made through the
Prado, which is a street in Madrid famous for promenades, processions,
and public displays of all kinds. In moving through the city on this
occasion, the king and Prince Charles walked together, the monarch
thus treating the prince as his equal. There was a great canopy of
state borne over their heads as they moved along. This canopy was
supported by a large number of persons of the highest rank. The
streets, and the windows and balconies of the houses on each side,
were thronged with spectators, dressed in the gay and splendid court
dresses of those times. When they reached the end of the route, and
were about to enter the gate of the palace, there was a delay to
decide which should enter first, the king and the prince each
insisting on giving the precedence to the other. At last it was
settled by their both going in together.

If the prince thus, on the one hand, derived some benefit in the
gratification of his pride b