"The Prioress, considering that such self-will would cause much trouble, consulted with the Princess, her mother, that it would be better if the lady took a part of the house, where she could live with her servants and be visited by secular8 people, with a door to go to the cloister9 when she wished, but not any secular person to use it. This seemed to everyone good advice, but she thought it bad, as it was not hers, and she remained as she was in the convent.
PRINCESA DE éVOLI
From a print of her portrait by Sanchez Coello,
belonging to Duque du Pastrana
"The next day, having buried the Prince and performed the obsequies, the Bishop10 of Segorbe and other persons of rank who were there came to visit her. Mother Elizabeth told her to talk to them at the grating, but she wished that they should come into the cloister, and made such a point of this that, in spite of the monks11, nuns, and laymen12 who came to visit her, they opened the doors of the convent and many servants entered with the lords, overthrowing13 the decrees of the Council, the orders of the holy Mother, the silence and retirement14 of the nuns and all good government, because lords do not think that they need obey laws. Not content with this she insisted on having two secular maids; the Mother Prioress offered that she herself and everyone would wait on her, especially two novices16 formerly17 in her service, but nothing would satisfy her, as she thought that she should be obeyed.
"The Mother Elizabeth wrote to our Mother St. Theresa, telling her of the death of the Prince, the resolution of the Princess, and the first episodes she had gone through with her.
"Mother Elizabeth and two of the oldest nuns told her that if she went on in this way, they knew that the holy foundation would take them away and put them where they could keep their rules, of more importance in her eyes than all the Grandees18 in the world. Annoyed by this, she took her servants and went to a hermitage in the orchard19, and remained there, having nothing to do with the nuns. They sent her, however, the novices to wait on her, they not being yet so bound by the rules of the cloister.
"From there a door opened into the street, by which she admitted everyone, modifying thereby20 the grief for her husband's death. Because of all this the work of the church and convent stopped and the alms which Ruy Gómez had left for its support, so that it began to suffer great straits."
But as all this lasted too long, and since the Princess would not give in and the troubles went on, so that all peace and quiet were at an end, and the "dovecot of the Virgin," as St. Theresa called it, was turned into a nest of intrigues21 and gossip, the saint wrote to the Prioress that she and all the nuns were to leave Pastrana and go to the convent in Segovia. This, however, was not necessary, as the superiors of the Order went to the King, and, acting22 with him, obliged the Princess to leave the convent. She then retired23 to her country house at Pastrana, and from there carried on such a campaign against the nuns and persecuted24 them so cruelly that Theresa, weary of it, ordered the Prioress to leave the convent with all the nuns, taking nothing with them that had been given by the Princess. "The beds," says the saint in her "Book of Foundations," "and the little things that the nuns themselves had brought, they took away with them, leaving the village people very sad. I saw them in peace with the greatest joy, because I was well informed that the displeasure of the Princess was no fault of theirs, rather they waited on her as before she wore the habit."
The Princess then sought for a Franciscan community to establish in the empty convent, and she helped and made much of them as she had never done before to the others. She took care that this should reach the ears of St. Theresa, her small, vindictive25 nature thinking that human jealousies26 could have a place in that heart which was protected by divine love. In the midst of this wretched strife27 the grief of the Princess had lessened28, and in 1575 she already thought of returning to Madrid, so her father the Prince de Mélito wrote to the King's secretary Mateo Vázguez, that he might inform Philip and gain his support in her lawsuits29. According to his custom, the King answered on the margin30 of Mateo Vázguez's letter, in these very severe words: "Here is the paper, which I have seen, and by the prudence31, which I have exercised all my life, of not mixing myself in the affairs of these persons, it will be well to do what is said here; and the more as I do not know if for these affairs and lawsuits the coming (of the Princess) is necessary, but I am certain that for their conscience and peace, and, who knows, their honour, it is best that she should not come here; and even for keeping the friendship of her father and mother, as she herself says, that when absent they are friends, but cannot be so when they are together. And Ruy Gómez often told me, and well I know that it was much against his will that she should come here as a widow, and that he would be sorry if he knew that she did it; and it is not reasonable that I should order a thing I know to have been so certainly against his wishes. And, moreover, I do not know if this would suit all of us of the Court, especially those who cannot leave it. Thus, although I should have to mix in such matters, I will not in this one, particularly as I have long since determined32 not to do so. Otherwise I should be pleased to favour Ruy Gómez's relations, as his services deserve. This for yourself, as it cannot be said to others. And you must see how you can answer Mélito, excusing me from interfering33 about his daughter's coming."
The precise date of the Princess de évoli's arrival in Madrid is not known; we think that she came for short and frequent visits in 1575 and settled there the next year. She would then realise that it was not the same thing to be the widow as the wife of Ruy Gómez, and many rude awakenings soured her proud spirit. The secretary Antonio Pérez began to frequent her house at this time, and these two monsters of vanity were attracted by, and suited to, each other. He, a political puppet, sought from her the prestige that intimacy34 with such a great and high-born lady as the Princess could give him, for, in spite of all his grandeur35 and luxury and power, then at its height, he never could forget his base and lowly origin. She, on her part, sought in him what she had lost by the death of Ruy Gómez, a share of power and influence, easier to manage from the hands of the unworthy Antonio Pérez than from those of the level-headed Prince de évoli: "I can do more than ever," said the Princess proudly a little later to one of her correspondents.
The lady was at this time thirty-six, and in spite of the superlative praise of her beauty that Antonio Pérez gives in his "Relaciones," it was not then extraordinary, nor ever could have been so. None of her contemporaries mention it, and the only authentic36 portrait known of her represents her as a nice-looking girl, dreadfully disfigured by a black patch which covered her blind eye, and specially15 noticeable from the whiteness of her skin and the blackness of her hair. Antonio Pérez was forty-two, and was, according to Luis Cabrera de Córdoba, "a good-looking man, with a handsome, manly37 face, over sumptuously38 and curiously39 dressed, perfumed, and pompous40 in his house." The inevitable41 happened: the sudden intimacy of two people, so well known, after years of slight acquaintance, caused them to be talked about, and the frequency and familiarity of the visits at unsuitable hours, and, above all, the endless exchange of presents, until mine and thine hardly existed between them, let loose among all the Court that gossip which previously42 had only been timidly circulated, as the Marqúes de Fabara had whispered to D. John. Then, in the presence of Antonio Pérez, she committed the treacherous43 act of a plotting woman; she called her children and told them not to be astonished at his visits or the affection he showed for them, because he was the son of Ruy Gómez and therefore their brother.
At this historical moment Escovedo arrived from Flanders (July, 1577), sent by D. John to Madrid to represent to Philip how cut off he was, and the grave risks that these States and his own person ran. Escovedo had not forgotten, among his many preoccupations, the adventure at the Chorrillos, that D. John had told him of to moderate his zeal44 for the Princess de évoli, and one of his first cares on reaching Madrid was to inform himself of the state of the case. At once he found that the fact was true, the scandal public, and the honoured memory of Ruy Gómez degraded by the lightness of the widow and the horrible ingratitude45 of Antonio Pérez, who owed everything to this great patrician46. Loyal Escovedo was greatly distressed47, and wishing to retrieve48 the honour of his dead benefactor49 and friend went to the house of the Princess, intending to warn and counsel her with all the regard he had for her. She was in the saloon with Do?a Brianda de Gúzman; he waited patiently until this lady had left, and then spoke50, not with his usual brusqueness, but with deep and affectionate concern, of the dreadful rumours51 that were going about, and said that she must close her door to Antonio Pérez in order not to give support to them. Blind with rage on hearing him, the Princess rose, and in an unsteady voice answered that "it did not concern squires52 what great ladies did." And with this she turned and went to the further end of the room. All of which is told by Do?a Catalina de Herrera, duenna to the Princess.
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1 nuns | |
n.(通常指基督教的)修女, (佛教的)尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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2 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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3 deferred | |
adj.延期的,缓召的v.拖延,延缓,推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 );服从某人的意愿,遵从 | |
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4 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
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5 blessings | |
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
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6 dispensed | |
v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 );施与;配(药) | |
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7 exhortations | |
n.敦促( exhortation的名词复数 );极力推荐;(正式的)演讲;(宗教仪式中的)劝诫 | |
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8 secular | |
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的 | |
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9 cloister | |
n.修道院;v.隐退,使与世隔绝 | |
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10 bishop | |
n.主教,(国际象棋)象 | |
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11 monks | |
n.修道士,僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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12 laymen | |
门外汉,外行人( layman的名词复数 ); 普通教徒(有别于神职人员) | |
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13 overthrowing | |
v.打倒,推翻( overthrow的现在分词 );使终止 | |
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14 retirement | |
n.退休,退职 | |
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15 specially | |
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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16 novices | |
n.新手( novice的名词复数 );初学修士(或修女);(修会等的)初学生;尚未赢过大赛的赛马 | |
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17 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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18 grandees | |
n.贵族,大公,显贵者( grandee的名词复数 ) | |
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19 orchard | |
n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场 | |
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20 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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21 intrigues | |
n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 );神秘气氛;引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 );激起…的好奇心 | |
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22 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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23 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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24 persecuted | |
(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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25 vindictive | |
adj.有报仇心的,怀恨的,惩罚的 | |
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26 jealousies | |
n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 );妒羡 | |
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27 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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28 lessened | |
减少的,减弱的 | |
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29 lawsuits | |
n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 ) | |
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30 margin | |
n.页边空白;差额;余地,余裕;边,边缘 | |
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31 prudence | |
n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
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32 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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33 interfering | |
adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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34 intimacy | |
n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行 | |
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35 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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36 authentic | |
a.真的,真正的;可靠的,可信的,有根据的 | |
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37 manly | |
adj.有男子气概的;adv.男子般地,果断地 | |
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38 sumptuously | |
奢侈地,豪华地 | |
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39 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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40 pompous | |
adj.傲慢的,自大的;夸大的;豪华的 | |
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41 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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42 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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43 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
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44 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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45 ingratitude | |
n.忘恩负义 | |
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46 patrician | |
adj.贵族的,显贵的;n.贵族;有教养的人;罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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47 distressed | |
痛苦的 | |
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48 retrieve | |
vt.重新得到,收回;挽回,补救;检索 | |
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49 benefactor | |
n. 恩人,行善的人,捐助人 | |
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50 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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51 rumours | |
n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 );风闻;谣言;谣传 | |
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52 squires | |
n.地主,乡绅( squire的名词复数 ) | |
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