names in England, while the marquis assumed that of Mr Thomas Smith. At Paris, they obtained admission to the rehearsal or practising of a masque, where the prince beheld the princess Henrietta Maria of France, daughter of the illustrious Henry IV., and sister of the reigning king, Louis XIII., who was in reality destined to be his wife. It appears, however, that he paid no attention to this lady on the present occasion. His heart being full of the object of his journey, he directed his whole attention to the queen of France, because she was sister to the Spanish princess, whom he was going to see. In a letter to his father, he speaks in terms of high expectation of the latter individual, seeing that her sister was the handsomest of twenty women (Henrietta was of course included) whom he saw at this masque. That Charles subsequently placed his whole affections on a woman whom he now saw with indifference is only another added to the many proofs, that love is among the most transferable of all things. On his arrival at Madrid, he was received in the most courteous manner by the Spanish court, and his gallantry, as might be expected, made a strong impression upon the people. The celebrated Lopez de Vega wrote a canzonet on the occasion, of which the first verse has chanced to meet our eye:
Carlos Estuurdo soy;
Que siendo amor mi quia
Al cielo de Espana voy
For vor nir estrello Maria.
[Charles Stuart am I:
Love has guided me far
To this fair Spanish sky,
To see Mary my star.]
But, while he was entertained in the most affectionate manner by the people, and also by their prince, the formal policy of the court dictated that he should hardly ever see his intended bride. The marquis of Buckingham seriously proposed that he should send home for some perspective glasses, in order to reduce the distance at which she was kept from him. So far as his opportunities permitted him to judge of her personal merits, he admired her very much; but we suspect that if he had fallen in love, as he had expected, he never would have broken off the match. After spending all the summer at the Spanish court, waiting for a dispensation from the Pope, to enable the princess to marry a protestant, he was suddenly inspired with some disgust, and abruptly announced his intention of returning home. The marquis, now duke, of Buckingham, whose mercurial manners had given great offence to the Spaniards, and who had conceived great offence in return, is supposed to have caused this sudden change of purpose. The earl of Bristol was left to marry the princess in the way of proxy, but with secret instructions not to do so till he should receive further orders.
It would be rash to pronounce judgment upon this affair with so little evidence as history has left us; but it seems probable that the match was broken off, and the subsequent war incurred, purely through some freakish caprice of the favourite for upon such things then depended the welfare of the nations. This contemptible court-butterfly ruled with absolute power over both the king and his son, but now chiefly sided with the latter against his father, being sensible that the old king was no longer able to assert his independency against the growing influence of his son. As the English people would have then fought in any quarrel, however unjust, against the Spaniards, simply because they were catholics, the was was very popular ; and Buckingham, who chiefly urged it, became as much the favourite of the nation, as he was of the king and prince. A negotiation was subsequently opened with France, for a match with the prin-
