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 still less consideration.  Each day the nobles, the citizens, and the people had given fresh proof of their hatred against the Germans and against the Queen.  She had been almost entirely abandoned, and was refused the most ordinary necessaries of her state.

CHAPTER XIX