[66]. no haya duelo ni quebranto: 'let there be no dueling or damage done.'
[70]. El de Guzmán: Don Gaspar de Guzmán, conde-duque de Olivares.
[103]. La infanta Margarita: cf. Historical Introduction.
[110]. Ocaña: an old town in the northeast corner of the province of Toledo, not far from Aranjuez. During the Middle Ages it was a town of considerable importance. As late as the early years of the seventeenth century it was still a resort for the fashionables of Madrid.
[134]. la duquesa de Mantua: cf. Historical Introduction. Mantua is a province that formed part of ancient Lombardy. The succession to the duchy of Mantua caused a bitter war. The legitimate heir was Charles, duke of Nevers. His heritage was disputed by Ferdinand and Cæsar Gonzaga, dukes of Guastalla, and by the duke of Savoy. Charles caused Mantua to be occupied by his son contrary to the wishes of the Emperor Ferdinand II. France and Venice supported Charles and ousted the Savoyards and Spaniards who were besieging Casale (1629). In July, 1630, the city of Mantua was taken and sacked by the imperial troops. At the diet of Ratisbon the Emperor Ferdinand gave in, putting Charles in possession of his duchies. Spain at first refused to accept this decision, but later, by the treaty of Cherasco (1631), recognized it.
[139]. Saboya: Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy married Marguerite of Valois, a sister of Henry II of France. The son of this marriage, Charles Emmanuel I, married the infanta Catalina, daughter of Philip II of Spain. The ambitions of Charles Emmanuel to extend his dominions westward were severely punished by Henry IV in the treaty of Lyons (1601). Savoy mingled in most of the wars of the early part of the century. Charles Emmanuel's shifting politics were always guided by his desires of aggrandizement.
[153]. el conde-duque: not a legal title. When Philip IV made him duke of San Lúcar, he should according to custom have dropped the lower title of count of Olivares; but he asked leave to keep the title which was already well known to the nation. Thenceforth he was popularly called "the count-duke."
[202]. Villamediana: cf. Historical Introduction.
[266]. ¿Conocéis?...: i.e. ¿Conocéis...? In the Romance languages the suspensive points take the place, for many purposes, of the dash in English. The most authoritative usage is that when these points are used with an exclamation or interrogation point, as here, they (like the dash in English) are put before the exclamation or interrogation point if they mean that the sentence is broken off, but after it if they mean that there is a break between this and the next sentence. But it is commoner to put the exclamation or interrogation point invariably before the suspensive points, as the comma in English is always put before the dash, regardless of the sense. When this is done, it expresses the sense rightly in most places, but there will generally be a considerable minority of places where the punctuation must be understood as if transposed, i.e. as indicating an uncompleted sentence. Since Sanz, or his printer, followed this more mechanical rule, it is followed in this edition; but the student must take care not to be misled by it.
[303-306.] Ya hace meses, etc.: cf. Historical Introduction.