This artful speech irritated the monarch to a degree little short of madness, and he was on the point of insisting on the regent's delivering into his own hands the great seals of the state, which are always regarded as the mark of sovereign authority: but the count was too well acquainted with the queen's empire over her son, to permit him to take such a step; he therefore advised him to retreat to Alcantara, without seeing her, and from thence dispatch couriers to the magistrates of Lisbon, and the governors of the provinces, to make known his determination of taking the reins of government into his own hands. In compliance with this advice, the prince, in disguise, attended alone by the count and his friends, arrived in the night at Alcantara. The next morning he wrote to the secretaries of state, commanding them to attend him immediately; he also sent for the Spanish guards, and published throughout the kingdom, that the term of the queen-mother's regency expired with his minority. The greater part of the courtiers obeyed his majesty's summons, and the queen was soon deserted; she indeed had presently reason to know, that borrowed authority can never subsist, when it ceases to be supported by the legitimate power. This princess, however, always herself behaved with her usual dignity; and the noble and generous manner with which she gave up the sovereign authority, sufficiently proved how deserving she was to reign still longer, and that her only motive for having prolonged the regency beyond the usual term, was to ensure the happiness of the nation. She immediately wrote to the king, that it little became him to act the part of an usurper, and to employ clandestine measures to gain possession of a throne, which was his lawful right; inviting him at the same time to return the following day to his palace, when in an assembly composed of the grandees, and principal magistrates of the city, she would herself present him with the seals, and give up to him the government of the kingdom. The king accordingly went back to Lisbon, where the queen, true to her promise, convened the grandees of the kingdom, together with those dignified with titles, and the heads of orders, and in their presence gave the purse which contained the seals to his majesty: "Here," said she, "are the seals which were confided to me as regent of your kingdom, by virtue of the last will of my lord the late king. I commit them most willingly into the hands of your majesty, and I heartily pray God, that the prosperity of your government may equal the wishes I form in your favour." The king, taking the seals, presented them to the secretary of state; after which, the infant, his brother, and all the grandees, kissed his majesty's hand, and acknowledged him a second time their lawful sovereign.