heard of the wreck of the _Invincible_, the death of so many thousand men, and the sorrow of half Spain, he never even winked an eyelid.

'I sent it to fight with men, not with the elements,' and he went on with his prayers in the Escorial.

The imperturbable gloom and ferocity of the kings re-acted on the nation, and this is why for many centuries black was the favourite colour at the court of Spain.

The sombre groves in the royal palaces, with their gloomy winter foliage, were and still are their favourite resorts; the roofs of their country palaces are black, with towers surmounted by weather-cocks, and dark cloisters like monasteries." Shut into that small room with no other listener than the Chapel-master, Gabriel forgot the discretion he had imposed on himself with a view to the continuance of his quiet existence in the Cathedral.

He could speak without fear in the presence of the musician, and he spoke warmly about the Spanish kings and of the gloom that from them had filtered through the country.
Melancholy was the punishment imposed by Nature on the despots of the Western decadence.