By the last day of July most of the English gentry had gone home for the present, the Spaniards being distributed about Winchester and Southampton, whilst the troops were only awaiting a fair wind to carry them to Flanders. With a comparatively small suite the Queen and King set forth on the 31st July for Basing House, fifteen miles away, the seat of Lord Winchester, the Lord Treasurer, and so by short stages to Reading, Windsor, and Richmond, where they remained until the 17th August. In the meanwhile the impatience of the Spaniards at their position in England grew intolerable, and the Duke of Medina-Celi, the premier noble, and of royal descent, was the first to insist upon immediate release with permission to join the Emperor in Flanders. Within a few days eighty other hidalgos had demanded similar licence, and by the time Richmond was reached the only Spanish nobles in attendance upon Philip were Alba, Feria, Olivares, Pedro de Cordova, and three gentlemen, amongst whom was the indefatigable letter-writer, Pedro Enriquez, whose narrative of the events is so expressive of the lack of community between the two peoples. Not only were the manners of the English ladies and their dresses unbecoming in Spanish eyes, and the English food coarsely excessive, but the political institutions of the country appeared to them, used as they were to the absolute monarchy of Castile, to be almost Republican in their hard limitation of the power of the Sovereign. “Their Majesties” (writes Pedro Enriquez from Richmond) “are the happiest married couple in the world, and are more in love with each other than I can write here. The King never leaves her, and on the road he rides by her side, helping her to mount and dismount. They sometimes dine together in public, and on Feast days he accompanies her to Mass. Although the Queen is not at all beautiful, for she is little, and thin rather than stout, she is very red and white. She has no eyebrows, she is a perfect saint, but she dresses very badly. The ladies here all wear farthingales of coloured cloth, without silk, their outer garments being of coloured damask, satin, or velvet, but very badly made. Some of them wear velvet shoes, but most of them kid. They wear black stockings, and even show their legs, some of them up to the knees, at least whilst they are riding, for their skirts are not long enough. They look quite indelicate when they are travelling thus, and even when they are seated. They are not at all beautiful, nor are they graceful in dancing, which with them consists simply of prancing and trotting.[61] None of the Spanish gentlemen are in love with them or think anything of them, nor they of the Spaniards. They are not worth troubling about, or feasting much, or spending money upon, which is a good thing for the Spaniards. All the rejoicing here consists of eating and drinking. The Queen spends in food 300,000 ducats a year. The whole of the Lords of