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    S SSSiSi pS ""**"' * * '"' ^ ''"* ' ™* ^ under his government , attained her height of glory ; but he bequeathed an empire diminished , divided , corrupted , which had lost at once its prestige and its integrity . Charles the Fifth , viewed in comparison with this sombre kino- presents a more astonishing figure . He was not the ally of so many royal liouses ; he accredited no Duke of Alva to emulate a Tartar viceroy ; he equipped no armada to ravage England , but he ruled his immense dominions with vigour and policy ; he was the virtual , before he was the titular sole sovereign of Spain ; he gained the German crown 5 his generals eonquered two vast Western empires ; and though in rivalry with him , other princes rose to prove that the sway of Europe was in future to be divided , Charles stood at the head of the Catholic dynasties , their champion against Sulyman and against the Lutheran League . His successes at Muhlberg and Pavia are , indeed , balanced by his failure at Metz , and his capitulation at Passau . With the brilliance of his earlier career was ignominiously contrasted his relapse into superstition and gluttony ; yet the Fifth Charles will ever be ranked among great politicians and conquerors . For his son , a similar , but not an equal eminence is to be claimed . He found Spain mighty , and left her degraded and reduced . He lost a kingdom in the Netherlands , and a navy in the Spanish sea . Spain , after his death , was hurried speedily and violently through the stages of her long decliue . When the successor of Charles lectured his throne , he had not , like Charles , to subjugate Mexico and Peru ; le had not to inspire and encourage those desperate warriors who plundered [ or Spanish treasuries the riches of Zaeatecas and Potosi . He had not to form the army which conquered at Pavia ; he had not to found the navy which rode the waters of the East and West , ascendant every where except in the narrow seas ; he had not to teach the martial Ottoman nation that there existed a Power which could repel its fury . He was related , by his first marriage , to Portugal , and by his second to England . In Italy his Neapolitan , Sicilian , and Lombard territories gave him an influence almost supreme . Castile , Arragon , and Granada , which , when his father began to reign , were separate and dangerous states , were now provinces of a consolidated empire . In addition to these advantages , Philip enjoyed others in the internal condition of bis empire . He was a Caesar , not a , king in council . The dependencies of Spain were governed by Spanish viceroys ; in Spain itself the power of the nobles was extinct ; the laws were edicts ; its legislator was the monarch alone . At Villalar the authority of the Commons had disappeared . Even the Netherlands , though jealous of their ancient institutions , " consented to supply the necessities of the crown by a tax larger than the revenues of America . " Such was the position of Philip when he ascended the Spanish throne . Nevertheless , his reign was disturbed by numerous dangers , and marked by numerous disgraces . Parallel with almost its entire course is traced the conflict witli the Netherlands , exasperated by his policy , and irreconcileably alienated by the atrocities of the Duke of AJva . Philip avowed as his leading principle the inviolability and universality of the I ' apa ! power ; yet j he was so unfortunate at the very commencement of his reign , as to engage I in a war with the Pope , who , though his temporal forces were routed in every engagement , was still able to bring the Spanish commander upon his knees , sueing for forgiveness , and confessing an act of treason against the Church . Thus , though successful in a military point of view , Philip had been forced into an attitude of humility . The victories of St . Quentin , and of Gravelines came , however , to enhance the military renown of Spain , and the King erected , as the first trophy of his reiga , the magnificent palace of the Escurial . Mr . Prescott ' s history has been written in good faith , and with admirable irt . It brings together a profusion of original materials , collected from the principal libraries of Europe , and patiently and skilf u lly analysed . The whole narrative of the reformation and revolt in the Netherlands , of the Norman crusade against the orders of Christian chivalry , of the English spisode in Philip ' s career , of his domestic policy , and of his family life , required to be illustrated by new evidence ; but this evidence lay in public and private collections of ancient date , involved with masses of rrelevant annals , and it was a work of great labour to extract and arrange it . All this portion of his task Mr . Prescott has completed with as much ngenuity as diligence . But—and every one knows this—ho is more than a superior compiler . He has a style of his own , and it is a vigorous , pointed , ind pictorial style , exactly suited to a historian of the highest cl « . ss . The reader who may be tempted to study , in this masterly narrative , the history of Philip the Second , has probably studied other subjects in > ther of Mr . Prescott ' s works . Therefore , he docs not want to know what Mr . Prescott ' s general manner ia : it will content him to learn that tho itory of Philip contains aa much graphic matter , colours as bright , anecdotes as pleasant , criticism as sound , historical viows us broad and Luminous , as the story of Ferdinand and Isabella . It is the book to sustain 1 reputation—and to increase it . We will quote threo passages , to illustrate tlic variety of Mr . Prescott's style . The tirat is a battle-scene from the narrative of the Siege of Malta . The Turks have given the assault : — Two mortars wore mounted ou the rampart . But , through some mismanagement , they wore not worked ; and tho assailants wore ullovrcd to reach lliu foot of the ; bastion , which they prepared to carry by o-calado . Aprily ing their ladileru , thoy speedily began to mount , when they wore assailed by showers of stones , hand-grenades , and combustibles of various kinds ; whilo hugo fragments of rock were rolled over tho parapet , cruahing men and ladders , and scattering tliem in ruin below . Tho ramparts were covered with kniglits and soldiers , among whom tho stately form of Antonio de Zanoguerra , tho commander of the post , ivas conspicuous , towering above uis comrudea , and cheering them on to the fight . Meantime tlio asMiilunts , mustering like a Bwarn > of hornets to tho attack , were soon Buen roplucing tho broken ladders , and again clambering up tho walls . The loading film were pushed upward by those below ; yet aoarcoly had tho bold adventurers risen ubovo the paiapot , when they were pierced by the plkos of tho soldiers , or struck down by tho swords and buttlu- axes < , f the knights . At this crisis , a spark unfortunately fulling into the mnguaino of combustibles , it took flro , and h \ ow up with a tcrrillc explosion , killing or maiming numbers of tho garriaon , and rolling volumes of blinding smoke along tho bnutiou . Ttio besiegers profited by tho confusion to gain a footing on tho ramparts ; and , when tho clouds

    of vapour began to dissipate , the garrison were astonished to find their enemies at their side , and a number of small banners , such as the Turks usually bore into the fight , planted on the walls . The contest now raged fiercer than ever , as the parties fought on more equal terms ;—the Mussulmans smarting under their wounds , and the Christians fired with the recollection of St . Elmo , and the desire of avenging their slaughtered brethren . The struggle continued long after the sun , rising high in the he .-vens , poured down a flood of heat on the combatants : and the garrison , pressed by superior numbers , weary . and faint with wounds , were hardly able to keep their footing on the slippery ground , saturated with their own blood and that of their enemies . Still the cheering battle-cry of St . John rose in the air ; and their brave leader , Zanoguerra , at the head of his knights , was to be seen in the thickest of the fight . There , too , was Brother Robert , an ecclesiastic of the order , with a sword in one hand and a crucifix in the other , though wounded himself , rushing among the ranks , and exhorting the men " to fight for the faith of Jesus Christ , and to die in its defence . " Secondly , a portrait of Queen Isabella , Philip ' s third wife , and a glimpse of her nuptials : — It was the first time that Isabella had seen her destined lord . She now gazed on him so intently , that he good-humouredly asked her if u phe were looking to Bee if ho had any gray ha \ rs in his head ? " The bluntness of the question somewhat disconcerted her . Philip ' s age was not much less than that at which the first gray hairs made their appearance on his father ' s temples . Yet the discrepancy between the agea of the parties in the present instance was not greater than often happens in a royal union . Isabella was in her fifteenth year , and Philip in his thirty-fourth . From all accounts , the lady ' s youth was her leatt recommendation . " Elizabeth da Valois , " says Brantome , who knew her -well , " was a true daughter of Prance , —discreet , witty , beautiful , and good , if ever woman was so . " She was well made , and tall of stature , and on this account the more admired in Spain , where the women are rarely above the middle height . Her eye 3 were dark , and her luxuriant tresses , of the same dark colour , shaded features that were delicately fair . There was sweetness mingled with dignity in her deportment , in which Castilian stateliness seemed to ba happily tempered by the vivacity of her oivn nation . For some weeks , during which the sovereigns remained in the capital , there was a general jubilee . AH the national games of Spain were exhibited to the young queen ; the bull-fight , the Moorish sport of the canas , or tilt of reeds , and tournaments on horseback and on foot , in both of which Philip often showed himself armed cap-a-pie in the lists , and did his devoir in the presence of his fair bride , as became a loyal kmght . Another show , whicli might have heen better reserved for a less joyous occasion , was exhibited to Isabella . As the court and the cortes were drawn together in Toledo , the Holy Office took the occasion to celebrate an « u ( o de fe , which , from the number of the v ctims and quality of the spectators , was the most imposing spectacle of tho kind ever witnessed in that capital . If Isabella was not a scholar , like Mary , she at least was well instructed for the time , and was fond of reading , especially poetry . She had a ready apprehension , and learned in a short time to speak the Castilian with tolerable fluencj ' , while there wa 3 something pleasing in her foreign accent , that made her promulgation the more interesting . She accommodated herself so well to the usages of her adopted nation , that she soon won the hearts of the Spaniards . " No queen of Castile , ' says the loyal Brantome , " with due deference to Isabella the Catholic , was ever so popular in the country "" When , she went abroad , it was usually with her face uncovered , after the manner of her countrywomen . The press was always great around her whenever she appeared in public , and happy was the man who could approach so Dear as to got a glimpse of her beautiful countenance . — Mr . Prescott elaborately investigates the tragedy of the death of Don . Carlos and of Isabella , clearing it of much false romance , but leaving it still enveloped in mystery . The behaviour of the Prince during his short captivity was that of a madman : — The mental excitement under which he laboured , combined with , the want of air and exercise , produced its natural effect on his health . Every day he became more and moro emaciated ; while the fever which had so long preyed on his constitution now burned in his veins with greater fury than ever . To allay tho intolerable heat , he resorted to such desperate expedients as seemed to intimate , says the Papal nuncio , that , if debarrtd from laying violent hands on himself , he would accomplish tho same end in a slower way , but not less sure . He deluged the floor with water , not a little to the inconvenience of the companions of hia prison , and walked about for hours half naked , with bare feet , on the cold pavement . He caused a warming-pan tilled with ice and snow to bo introduced several times in a night into his bod , and let it remain there for hours together . As if thi 3 were not enough , ho would gulpU down such draughts of snow-water as distance any achievement on record in the annuls of hydropathy . He pursued the same mud course in what he eat . He would abstain from food an incredible number of days , and then , indulging in proportion to his former abstinence , would devour a pastry of four partridges , with all tho paste , at a sitting , washing it down with three gallons or more of iced water ! m Those and other circumstances , encouragod the propagation ol various stories , of which the following , though not the most credible , is one of the most curious . Philip , it was said , had been exhorted to spare tho life ot his son : — To this tho king replied , that , though his feelings moved him to follow the suggest tion of his minister * , his conscience would not permit it . Ho could not think that he should consult tho good of his people by placing over them a monarch so vicious in his disposition , and so iitirco and sanguinary in his temper , as Carlos . However agonising it might bo to his feelings a 3 a futher , ho must allow the law to take its course . Yet , after all , ho said , it might not bo necessary to proceed to this extremity . Tho princes health was in bo critical a stato , that it was only ncecaanry to relax ^ ho precautions in regard to hid diet , and his excesses would soon conduct him to tho tomb 1 One point only was essential , that ho should bo so well advised of his situation that he should bo willing to confess , and make his peace with Heaven before he died . This wan tho greatest proof of love which he could give to his son and to the Spanish nation . Kuy Gomez and Espinowa both of them informed from this singular ebullition of parental tenderness , that they could not further tho real intentions of the king bettor than by expediting o » much as possible the death of Carlos . Kuy Gomw accordingly communicated his viows to OHvarea , the prince ' s physician . Thia bo did in sueli an « inbiguous and mysterious phrase , as , whilo it intimated his moaning , might « crvo 1 to von the enormity of tho crime from the eyes of tho party who vrm to porpoiruto u . «» man was moro competent to this delicate task than tho prince of I ' -boli , hrou 111 » . 1 youth in courts , and trained to a life of dissimulation . Oliv « r «» rmMly <* l »*\™™* the drift of hi . discourse-that the thing required of ^ ^^ SZuLoVl sonar , in « uch a way that his death should appour natural , ami « « iuk > j king ' should not bo compromised . Ho raised no aorup 0 * but r « d . 1 jjb « JJ £ * ™ lingness faithfully to exoeato the will of ] . » «^ or « M I er > , o ^ on tho twentieth of July , a purgative dose was adl [ " ^^^ i tiQn to his father , that who , as may be imngined , rapidly grow wovbo . n way » c ( mfoasor . Thua , though tho when advised of bin danger , Curios consented to receive nw coh . uo ™ . , o dy perished , tho soul waa saved .

    Untitled Article

    Nov . 10 . 1855 . 1 THE LEADER . 1087

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 10, 1855, page 1087, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2114/page/19/