The other transcript is of a fresh libel, in and upon this Court and
palace; a commodity I have in my nature no inclination at all to vent,
either by wholesale or retail; yet is this fit also, in my humble
judgment, for persons of great nearness to his Majesty not to be
unacquainted with, representing sores which are in foreign kingdoms,
whereby to praise God the more for the modesty of ours at home, as
ours for the great goodness of his Majesty that stops our mouths, or
rather fills them with prayers to God and him; not censuring other
princes, neither for the liberties of their subjects in their
disparagement, much less these of Spain, than whom, from all times,
none talk more against, or (our own nation only excepted) act more
for, their kings. This damnable libel doth not spare one Councillor of
State here present, but the Inquisidor General; and to crown the
damnation of it, the King himself bears the burden, besides the
smaller game it picks up by the way. So more than ordinary black is
the Spanish ink at this day, and the mouths of two too many, loud ones
too, much of the same dye.
This King, by what I can collect, as crazy as he is, may rub out many
years: his Majesty eats and drinks ordinarily with a very good
stomach, I am told, three comfortable meals a day; and full of merry
discourse, when and where his lined robe of Spanish royal gravity is
laid aside.
Pages:
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273