And Aliaga and Uzeda exchanged glances that bespoke all the passions that make defeated ambition the worst fiend, as they heard the mighty cry, "LONG LIVE OLIVAREZ THE REFORMER!"
That cry came, faint and muffled, to the ears of Philip the Fourth, as he sate in his palace with his new minister. "Whence that shout?" said the king, hastily.
"It rises, doubtless, from the honest hearts of your loyal people at the execution of Calderon."
Philip shaded his face with his hand, and mused a moment: then, turning to Olivarez with a sarcastic smile, he said: "Behold the moral of the life of a courtier, count! What do they say of the new opera?"
At the close of his life, in disgrace and banishment, the count-duke, for the first time since they had been uttered, called to his recollection those words of his royal master.
'The fate of Calderon has given rise to many tales and legends. Amongst those who have best availed themselves of so fruitful a subject may be ranked the late versatile and ingenious Telesforo de Trueba, in his work on "The Romances of Spain." In a few of the incidents, and in some of the names, his sketch, called "The Fortunes of Calderon," has a resemblance to the story just concluded. The plot, characters, and principal events, are, however, widely distinct in our several adaptations of an ambiguous and unsatisfactory portion of Spanish history.