After this episode the King seemed to avoid Madrid, with its discontented Ministers and the insulting cries of the “Trágala” revolutionary song, which so often fell upon his ears by the Manzanares, and, after going with the Queen to take the baths at Sacedon, he spent some time in the Palace of San Ildefonso at Aranjuez. There the unstable King could be oblivious of his duties as a constitutional monarch; and in frivolous games and boating-parties, picnics and dances, he passed the hours away. With the gallantry with which Ferdinand sought to compensate for his want of personal good looks, he made himself conspicuous with many of the frivolous, pretentious ladies who sought for his favours. However, the King’s health began to fail visibly, and he became a martyr to gout, which finally shortened his life. Ferdinand’s constant struggle of his ambition against the natural weakness of his character, and his propensity for the pleasures of the table and gallantry, undermined his constitution, and at an age when many men are in their prime he was broken with suffering. When the revolution at last broke out under the Generals Alava, Copons, and Riego, the King was in a great state of mind, and horses were saddled and kept ready for flight at a minute’s notice. When Ballesteros, who had been victorious with the militia in the Puerta del Sol, arrived at the gates of the palace, the Royal Family was horror-struck. The two battalions of the Guard were idle at the royal domain, because the King would not let them go to the assistance of the four battalions fighting in the town, and he had passed the night endorsing the lists of proscription which his alarmed councillors had presented to him. The King had, moreover, signed the warrant for the committal to prison of Riego, Ballesteros, Palarea, etc., who captained the militia, and the sentence was to have been executed that very night. But for such a task a strong Guard was needed, as despots can only condemn citizens to death when protected by a strong line of bayonets. The cannon thundered in the Puerta del Sol, and the militia with Ballesteros having appeared right at the gates of the palace, a bullet entered one of the windows. Then the King forgot all his plans for revenge, and the dignity of the Castilian crown was dragged in the dust, for he sent a messenger to Ballesteros beseeching him to desist from firing, as his life would be in imminent danger. The General replied: “Tell the King to command the attendants about him to lay down their arms immediately, or, if not, the bayonets of free men will penetrate to his royal chamber.” However, Ballesteros did order a truce to the hostilities, and sent back the messenger to Morillo with his own Aide-de-Camp.