personages, as it was termed, appeared so presumptuous, and showed so great a want of propriety, that those persons who considered themselves slighted thereby, immediately began to murmur forth their disapprobation of such conduct. However, the duke of Bejar, the admiral of Castile, and the earl of Aguilar, who were present, took Cortes' side, and observed that no reproach could be made to the latter on this score, as his majesty, to do him honour, had ordered that he should take his seat next to the earl of Nassau. It should also be taken into consideration, these noblemen further said, what vast territories Cortes had added to the crown, how greatly indebted the whole of Christendom was to him; that their titles had merely descended to them from their forefathers, whereas the marks of distinction which his majesty was pleased to confer upon Cortes were the immediate consequences of the latter's own merits.
However, it is certainly true that the great favour in which Cortes stood with the emperor, the admiral of Castile, the earl of Nassau, and with the duke of Bejar, added to the title of marquis which had been