There stood the stately Escurial, once the centre of the politics of the world, the place to which distant potentates looked, some with hope and gratitude, some with dread and hatred, but none without anxiety and awe.

The glory of the house had indeed departed.

It was long since couriers bearing orders big with the fate of kings and commonwealths had ridden forth from those gloomy portals.

Military renown, maritime ascendency, the policy once reputed so profound, the wealth once deemed inexhaustible, had passed away.

An undisciplined army, a rotting fleet, an incapable council, an empty treasury, were all that remained of that which had been so great.