The King returned into the palace for some time, in order to recover himself.  Monseigneur got into a caleche alone, and went to Meudon; and the King of Spain, with his brother, M. de Noailles, and a large number of courtiers, set out on his journey.  The King gave to his grandson twenty-one purses of a thousand louis each, for pocket-money, and much money besides for presents.  Let us leave them on their journey, and admire the Providence which sports with the thoughts of men and disposes of states.  What would have said Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V. and Philip II., who so many times attempted to conquer France, and who have been so frequently accused of aspiring to universal monarchy, and Philip IV., even, with all his precautions at the marriage of the King and at the Peace of the Pyrenees,—­what would they have said, to see a son of France become King of Spain, by the will and testament of the last of their blood in Spain, and by the universal wish of all the Spaniards—­ without plot, without intrigue, without a shot being fired on our part, and without the sanction of our King, nay even to his extreme surprise and that of all his ministers, who had only the trouble of making up their minds and of accepting?  What great and wise reflections might be made thereon!  But they would be out of place in these Memoirs.

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