"I would sooner," said the bigoted king--and his words were hallowed by
the enthusiasm of the Church--"depopulate my kingdom than suffer it to
harbour a single infidel." The Duke de Lerma entered into the scheme
that lost to Spain many of her most valuable subjects, with the zeal of
a pious Catholic expectant of the Cardinal's hat, which he afterwards
obtained. But to this scheme Calderon brought an energy, a decision, a
vehemence, and sagacity of hatred, that savoured more of personal
vengeance than religious persecution. His perseverance in this good work
established him firmly in the king's favour; and in this he was supported
by the friendship not only of Lerma, but of Fray Louis de Aliaga, a
renowned Jesuit, and confessor to the king. The disasters and distresses
occasioned by this barbarous crusade, which crippled the royal revenues,
and seriously injured the estates of the principal barons, from whose
lands the industrious and intelligent Moriscos were expelled, ultimately
concentred a deep and general hatred upon Calderon. But his
extraordinary address and vigorous energies, his perfect mastery of the
science of intrigue, not only sustained, but continued to augment, his
power. Though the king was yet in the prime of middle age, his health
was infirm and his life precarious. Calderon had contrived, while
preserving the favour of the reigning monarch, to establish himself as
the friend and companion of the heir apparent. In this, indeed, he had
affected to yield to the policy of the king himself; for Philip the Third
had a wholesome terror of the possible ambition of his son, who early
evinced talents which might have been formidable, but for passions which
urged him into the most vicious pleasures and the most extravagant
excesses. The craft of the king was satisfied by the device of placing
about the person of the Infant one devoted to himself; nor did his
conscience, pious as he was, revolt at the profligacy which his favourite
was said to participate, and, perhaps, to encourage; since the less
popular the prince, the more powerful the king.