Until he was ten years old his days were passed on the laps of women; and he has never once suffered to stand on his ricketty legs.

None of those tawny little urchins, clad in rags stolen from scarecrows, whom Murillo loved to paint begging or rolling in the sand, owed less to education than this despotic ruler of thirty millions of subjects, The most important events in the history of his own kingdom, the very names of provinces and cities which were among his most valuable possessions, were unknown to him.

It may well be doubted whether he was aware that Sicily was an island, that Christopher Columbus had discovered America, or that the English were not Mahometans.

In his youth, however, though too imbecile for study or for business, he was not incapable of being amused.

He shot, hawked and hunted.