Note 1539 — Chapter VIII

Besides Brantôme, and De Thou, elsewhere noticed in this connection, another writer of that age, Pierre Matthieu, the royal historiographer of France, may be thought to insinuate something of the kind, when he tells us that "the circumstance of Isabella so soon following Carlos to the tomb had suggested very different grounds from those he had already given as the cause of his death." (Breve Compendio de la Vida Privada del Rey Felipe Segundo, MS.) But the French writer's account of Philip is nearly as apocryphal as the historical romance of San Real, who, in all that relates to Carlos in particular, will be found largely indebted to the lively imagination of his predecessor.