December the 22nd, which is the Queen of Spain's birth-day, I went to
give her Majesty joy thereof, and to the Empress, and to the Prince of
Spain, in such form as the custom of this Court is. About this time I
had sent me by a Genoese merchant, that was a banker in Madrid, a box
of about a yard and a half long, and almost a yard and a half broad,
and a quarter and a half deep, covered with green taffety, and bound
with a silver lace, with lock and key; within, it was divided into
many partitions, garnished with gilt paper, and filled full of the
best and choicest sweetmeats, all dry. I never saw any so beautiful
and good before or since, besides the curiosity.
On the 23rd, we were invited to see a show, performed by forty-eight
of the chiefest of the nobility of this Court, who ran two and two on
horseback, as fast as the horses could run, in walks railed in on
purpose on both sides, before the palace-gate; over which, in a
balcony, sat the King, the Queen, and Empress; round about, in other
balconies, sat the nobility of the Court, and in an entre-suelo, at
the King's left hand, sat the chief of the Ambassadors. My husband and
I were with the Duke and Duchess de Medina de las Torres, in their own
particular quarter in the palace, which we chose as the best place,
and having the best view, whereupon we refused the balcony. The sight
was very fine, and the noblemen and horses very richly attired.
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