[29] Novoa and British Museum, Egerton MSS. 338.
[30] There is a most interesting and full unpublished account of
Philip's entry and stay in Barcelona in British Museum, Add. MSS.
10,236, called _Entrada que el Rey Nuestro Señor hizo en la ciudad de
Barcelona y fiestas que se hicieron_, 1626.
[31] Egerton MSS. 338.
{172}
CHAPTER V
RISE OF THE PARTY OPPOSED TO OLIVARES--THE QUEEN AND THE INFANTES
CARLOS AND FERNANDO--OLIVARES REMONSTRATES WITH PHILIP FOR HIS NEGLECT
OF BUSINESS--PHILIP'S REPLY--ILLNESS OF THE KING--FEARS OF
OLIVARES--PHILIP'S CONSCIENCE--ASPECT OF MADRID AT THE TIME--HABITS OF
THE PEOPLE--A GREAT ARTISTIC CENTRE--MANY FOREIGN
VISITORS--VELAZQUEZ--PHILIP'S LOVE OF ART, LITERATURE, AND THE
DRAMA--CONTEMPORARY DESCRIPTION OF A PLAYHOUSE--PHILIP AND THE
CALDERONA, MOTHER OF DON JUAN OF AUSTRIA--BIRTH AND BAPTISM OF BALTASAR
CARLOS--PHILIP'S FIELD SPORTS--GENERAL SOCIAL DECADENCE
On the King's return to Madrid in the spring of 1626 almost
simultaneous baptism of another short-lived infant Princess and the
betrothal of the Infanta Maria, the erstwhile "Princess of Wales," to
the King of Hungary, heir to the empire, gave other pretext for one of
those interminable rounds of pompous shows in which Philip delighted.
The marriage of yet another Princess of the Spanish branch of Hapsburg
to a future emperor was a provocation flung in the face of Europe, and
so Richelieu understood it; and again patiently knitted his plans for
taking up the challenge in due time, and defeating finally the
threatened {173} hegemony of the house of Austria to the detriment of
that of Bourbon.
[Sidenote: The enemies of Olivares]