ON March 28, 1621, King Philip III lay dying in his
palace at Madrid. The holy image of Our Lady of
Atocha was brought to the convent of Las Descalzas
Reales and "a great number of penitents scourged
themselves cruelly." The King would be succeeded
by the young Prince of Asturias, then sixteen years
of age, but the sequence of rulers was less certain.
The Duke of Lerma had been superseded by a
scurvy, intriguing knave who had contrived to dis-
place him, to wit, the Duke of Uceda, his own son.
But though the favorite ruled, it lay with the King
to appoint the favorite, and nobody could be sure
what the Prince would do. On the twenty-ninth the
dying King summoned the Prince and begged him to
retain his counselors, especially the Duke of Uceda.
On the thirtieth he had the body of Saint Isidore
placed by his bed, and vowed to build him a chapel.
The next day he died. The Duke of Uceda went to
the Prince's chamber, fell on his knees and kissed the
Prince's hand. A few days later the old King's body
was borne to the Escorial accompanied by un assés
chetif convoy pour un sy grand roi, and there, in the
sombre crypt, a fit dwelling-place for corporal death,
his ashes lie. On April 12 Count Olivares was created
a grandee of Spain. On April 15 the new King de-
clared that in pursuance of his father's testament he

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