Note 13 — PREFACE

Philip IV's passion for the theater was so great that he himself, Martin Hume tells us, appeared in private theatricals upon the stage in roles that scarcely did credit to his lofty station. Of the young queen, Isabel de Bourbon, who may be considered as well representing contemporary tastes, the same author says: "Not only was she an ardent lover of the bullfight, but she would in the palace or public theaters countenance amusements which would now be considered coarse. Quarrels and fights between country wenches would be incited for her to witness unsuspected; nocturnal tumults would be provoked for her amusement in the gardens of Aranjuez or other palaces; and it is related that, when she was in one of the grated aposentos of a public theater, snakes or noxious reptiles would be secretly let loose upon the floor or in the cazuela, to the confusion and alarm of the spectators, whilst the gay, red-cheeked young Queen would almost laugh herself into fits to see the stampede." Martin Hume, The Court of Philip IV, pp. 149 and 203.