A kingdom without a king, Spain had hawked her crown round Europe.

For a throne, as for humbler posts, it is easy enough to find second-rate men who have no special groove, nor any capacity to delve one, but the first-rate men are, one discovers, nearly always occupied elsewhere.

They are never waiting for something to turn up.
Spain, with her three crowns in her hand, had called at every Court in Europe.

She had thrown two nations into the greatest war of civilised ages.

She was still looking for a king, still calling hopelessly to the second-rate royalties.