Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:8:King Carlos the Sufferer(Alan Sinder)

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

In an impromptu history lesson, young Ben Franklin tells Enoch Root about sick Carlos II of Spain. It is in the "bloody" buildup to of all this, that the picaresque adventures of Eliza and Half cocked Jack the "King" of the Vagabonds occur in a sort of extended Continental vacation starting September 12, 1683.