Whatever his birth, it was evident that he had received every advantage of education; and scholars extolled his learning and boasted of his patronage.

While, more recently, if the daring and wild excesses of the profligate prince were, on the one hand, popularly imputed to the guidance of Calderon, and increased the hatred generally conceived against him, so, on the other hand, his influence over the future monarch seemed to promise a new lease to his authority, and struck fear into the councils of his foes.
In fact, the power of the upstart marquis appeared so firmly rooted, the career before him so splendid, that there were not wanted whisperers who, in addition to his other crimes, ascribed to Roderigo Calderon the assistance of the black art.

But the black art in which that subtle courtier was a proficient is one that dispenses with necromancy.

It was the art of devoting the highest intellect to the most selfish purposes--an art that thrives tolerably well for a time in the great world! He had been for several weeks absent from Madrid on a secret mission; and to this, his first public levee, on his return, thronged all the rank and chivalry of Spain.
The crowd gave way, as, with haughty air, in the maturity of manhood, the Marquis de Siete Iglesias moved along.

He disdained all accessories of dress to enhance the effect of his singularly striking exterior.
His mantle and vest of black cloth, made in the simplest fashion, were unadorned with the jewels that then constituted the ordinary insignia of rank.