courtier was a proficient is one that dispenses with necromancy. It was
the art of devoting the highest intellect to the most selfish
purposes--an art that thrives tolerably well for a time in the
great world!

He had been for several weeks absent from Madrid on a secret mission; and
to this, his first public levee, on his return, thronged all the rank and
chivalry of Spain.

The crowd gave way, as, with haughty air, in the maturity of manhood, the
Marquis de Siete Iglesias moved along. He disdained all accessories of
dress to enhance the effect of his singularly striking exterior. His
mantle and vest of black cloth, made in the simplest fashion, were
unadorned with the jewels that then constituted the ordinary insignia of
rank. His hair, bright and glossy as the raven's plume, curled back from
the lofty and commanding brow, which, save by one deep wrinkle between
the eyes, was not only as white but as smooth as marble. His features
were aquiline and regular; and the deep olive of his complexion seemed
pale and clear when contrasted by the rich jet of the moustache and
pointed beard. The lightness of his tall and slender but muscular form
made him appear younger than he was; and had it not been for the
supercilious and scornful arrogance of air which so seldom characterises
gentle birth, Calderon might have mingled with the loftiest magnates of
Europe and seemed to the observer the stateliest of the group. It was
one of those rare forms that are made to command the one sex and
fascinate the other. But, on a deeper scrutiny, the restlessness of the
brilliant eye--the quiver of the upper lip--a certain abruptness of
manner and speech, might have shown that greatness had brought suspicion
as well as pride. The spectators beheld the huntsman on the height;--the
huntsman saw the abyss below, and respired with difficulty the air above.