The Adelantado was to come next, trailing the royal standard along the ground.  Then the Duke of Novara was to appear, bearing the crown on an open salver, covered with a black cloth, while the Marquis of Avillaer carried the sword of state.

The coffin was to be borne by eight principal grandees, clad in mourning habiliments, and holding lighted torches.

The heir apparent was to follow, attended by Don Garcia de Loyasa, who had just been consecrated, in the place of Cardinal Albert, as Archbishop of Toledo.

The body was to be brought to the church, and placed in the stately tomb already prepared for its reception.  “Mass being performed,” said the king, “the prelate shall place me in the grave which shall be my last house until I go to my eternal dwelling.  Then the prince, third king of my name, shall go into the cloister of St. Jerome at Madrid, where he shall keep nine days mourning.  My daughter, and her aunt—­my sister, the ex-empress—­shall for the same purpose go to the convent of the grey sisters.”

The king then charged his successor to hold the Infanta in especial affection and consideration; “for,” said he, “she has been my mirror, yea; the light of my eyes.”  He also ordered that the Marquis of Mondejar be taken from prison and set free, on condition never to show himself at Court.  The wife of Antonio Perez was also to be released from prison, in order that she might be immured in a cloister, her property being bestowed upon her daughters.

As this unfortunate lady’s only crime consisted in her husband’s intrigue with the king’s mistress, Princess Eboli, in which she could scarcely be considered an accomplice, this permission to exchange one form of incarceration for another did not seem an act of very great benignity.

Philip further provided that thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul, five hundred slaves liberated from the galleys, and five hundred maidens provided with marriage portions.

After these elaborate instructions had been read, the king ordered a certain casket to be brought to him and opened in his presence.  From this he took forth a diamond of great price and gave it to the Infanta, saying that it had belonged to her mother, Isabella of France.  He asked the prince if he consented to the gift.  The prince answered in the affirmative.

He next took from the coffer a written document, which he handed to his son, saying, “Herein you will learn how to govern your kingdoms.”

Then he produced a scourge, which he said was the instrument with which his father, the emperor, had been in the habit of chastising himself during his retreat at the monastery of Juste.  He told the by-standers to observe the imperial blood by which the lash was still slightly stained.