the disasters of the ensuing year rendered him still more impatient under a load which seemed altogether insupportable. In Italy, the, house of Austria received the most sensible mortification, by being excluded from the negociations between the Roman pontiff and the duke of Parma. In Germany, the Imperialists were defeated upon several occasions. In the Low Countries, the French and Dutch gained some important victories. The marquis of Torrecusa was routed with prodigious loss at Badajos; and the Spanish fleet was utterly defeated, by the marquis de Breze, in sight of Carthagena. These circumstances, so inimical to the interest of Spain and of her best allies, produced the most unpleasant sensations at Madrid; and the public sorrow received fresh poignance from the death of the queen, whose prudent and amiable conduct had gained the confidence of her husband, and the entire love of her subjects.

A. D. 1645.

Upon the demise of this princess, the king committed the management of public affairs to Don Lewis Haro de Guzman, the nephew of Olivarez, who had been employed under his uncle, but who now pursued very different measures. Most historians have affirmed that the abilities of this minister were inferior to those of his predecessor: but he seems to have been less assum-ing; and he is universally allowed to have been more beloved.

In consequence of the important changes at court, and the pacific disposition of Haro de Guzman, the Spaniards began to hope for the blessings of tranquillity: but the war still con

tinued on every side with unabated fury, and the torrent of ill success still bore down all before it. The marquis de Serra, who commanded for Philip in Italy, was precluded from gaining an important advantage over Savoy by the want of money and auxiliaries; the house of Austria suffered materially from the exertions of the duke of Orleans and the prince of Orange; a new expedition against Portugal was rendered totally ineffectual; and the detection of a conspiracy which had been sanctioned by the Spanish court, delayed the reduction of Catalonia. About this time, the count de Harcourt made himself master of Balaguer, and the count duke de Olivarez expired in the place of his banishment.

As a Spanish party was supported by ministerial intrigues at Lisbon, so there wanted not a Portuguese faction among the nobles of Madrid, who, in their own opinion at least, acted entirely from a spirit of disinterested patriotism. On the demise of Don Balthasar, some of these persons expressed an ardent desire for the reunion of the crowns of Castile and Portugal; and the duke de Medina Sidonia ventured to expatiate on the advantages which would result from a marriage between his nephew, the prince of Brasil, and the infanta Maria Theresa, now presumptive heiress of the Spanish monarchy. But as this scheme could not even be rendered communicable to Don Philip, the projectors of it were driven into consultations and practices which were criminal in appearance if not in reality, and which soon produced the most serious consequences. The duke de Medina is said to have preserved his life by disecvering all Cc 3

the

the other persons who had engaged with him in this design: but the duke de Hijar, of the illustrious house of Silva, perished under a rigorous confinement; and the marquis de Ayamonte, Don Carlos de Padilla, and others, were doomed to an untimely death for this irregular instance of their zeal for the tranquillity of their country. The latter part of this year marked by the death of prince Edward of Portugal, and the marriage of his catholic majesty with his own niece, Mary Anne of Austria.

A. D.

was

Upon the demise of their king Don Juan, the Portuguese resolved to begin 1657. the campaign with extraordinary vigor, lest their enemies should take advantage of their recent loss; and the minority of their prince: but, failing in an attempt to surprise a Spanish fortress, they drew upon themselves the mischief which they sought to avoid; for the duke de St. Germaine, an Italian nobleman of great merit, being entrusted with the command of Don Philip's army, soon effected the reduction of Olivenza, one of the strongest places in Portugal, and soon afterwards added the town and castle of Moron to this important conquest. In Catalonia the Spaniards were less successful, and the subsequent destruction of several rich galleons, by admiral Blake, in the island of Teneriffe, occasioned an universal consternation: but these heavy calamities seemed to be totally forgotten, and the public sorrow was converted into general rejoicings, on the birth of a prince, who was baptized by the name of Philip Prosper. About this time, also, the Catalonians returned to their obedience. After the war between Spain and France had been car

A. D.

ried on for several years without any material advantages, the court of Madrid 1659. deemed it expedient to accede to a negociation, which, upon a former occasion, they had rejected with contempt. Accordingly a messenger was sent to cardinal Mazarine, and preliminary articles were settled at Paris, in consequence of which the two ministers met on the frontiers, at a place called the Isle of Pheasants, and concluded a definitive treaty, by which the infanta was to be given in marriage to the most christian king, and a district in sovereignty which had been designed for the prince of Condé was to be yielded to the crown of France. On the 3d of June the projected marriage was solemnized, by proxy, at Fontarabia; and next morning, the queen mother, with cardinal Mazarine, had an interview with his catholic majesty and the infanta. The treaty was then sworn to with great solemnity, by both kings; and the two courts left each other in terms of the most cordial friendship.

A. D.

1661.

Don Juan was now moderately successful in the war against Portugal: but the Spanish ministers were displeased with his conduct; and persuaded his majesty to confer the command of his army upon the marquis de Carracena. This nobleman flattered his employers with the hope of reducing the revolted kingdom in a single campaign; but, after an unsuccessful attempt upon Villaviciosa, he was defeated, in the plain of Montes Claros, with prodigious loss, four thousand veterans being slain on the field of battle, and a still greater number taken prisoners. The news of this disaster had such an effect upon Philip,

that

that he actually fainted away with the dispatches in his hand. The ministers were now overwhelmed with confusion; the populace exclaimed that Don Juan had been betrayed, and the glory of Castile sacrificed by an unprincipled cabal; and the public confusion was greatly augmented by an irruption of the Portuguese troops into

Andalusia.

In this melancholy situation of affairs, the king was seized with a dysentery, which terminated his mortal existence in the sixty-first year of his age, and the forty-fifth of his reign. He left the crown to his son Don Carlos, who was to be placed, during his minority, under the tutelage of the queen and a council of regency. His remains were deposited in that magnificent dormitory of the Spanish kings, called the Pantheon, which he had rebuilt in the year 1655.

Philip IV. was a prince of good natural abilities; but his education was inadequate to the situation which he filled; and the artifices of count de Olivarez kept him so long in a state of indolence, that he could not afterward attain a proper degree of application. He appears to have loved magnificence; and, though the great est part of his reign was clouded by misfortunes or disappointments, he certainly had the grane, deur of the Spanish monarchy at heart. A. D. The young king, Charles II.* was 1666. inaugurated shortly after the perform

ance of his father's obsequies, and, though scarcely four years of age, he displayed such promising parts that, when he was pro♣

*The infant Don Philip diel about three years before this period.

claimed