CHARACTERS. 
« The king was above all things 
incensed at the poverty of the 
chief altar of the parish of Walen- 
cy; and at there being in the 
Chateau, a play-house, while there 
was neither a chapel nor an orato- 
ry—while the people were luxuri- 
ous in their furniture and feasts, 
and miserable in the decoration 
of their temples. The king em- 
broidered, himself, a beautiful 
robe of white silk, with gold pal- 
lets and gold fringe, for the Virgin. 
He had raised a superb altar, gilt, 
and he sometimes served, himself, 
the mass at the feet of the Queen 
of the angels. The Queen of the 
angels was most sensible of these 
royal attentions, and manifested 
to him her content by many signs. 
It happened in particular, that 
one night an ecclesiastic of the 
district being overcome with sleep 
in the church, the Virgin appear- 
ed to him as coming out of the 
4.59 
altar,—she advanced towards the 
ecclesiastic, made several turns 
round him, to display the elegance 
of her toilette, and said to him, 
sighing, that her son received the 
vows of the king in recompence 
of the fine robe that he had given 
her; that the Spanish princes 
would not remain long without 
being delivered ; and that they 
must form an Order of the Holy 
Sacrament, with which all the 
knights should be armed for his 
defence. 
«“ The priest, much touched by 
this speech, awakened, and came 
to me to reveal the miraculous 
vision; but I answered by assur- 
ing him that the Holy Virgin had 
already said as much to the king 
himself—who in thanking her had 
promised, that on his return to 
Spain he would make her worship 
flourish over all the provinces sub- 
jected to his dominion.” 
