LITMIR.BIZ

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than Zuñiga to instruct his people in the duties belonging to his royal station. He was a man of ancient family, and had passed much of his life in courts. But he had none of the duplicity or of the suppleness which often marks the character of the courtier. He possessed too high a sentiment of honor to allow him to trifle with truth. He spoke his mind plainly, too plainly sometimes for the taste of his pupil. Charles, who understood the character of Zuñiga, wrote to his son to honor and to cherish him. "If he deals plainly with you," he said, "it is for the love he bears you. If he were to flatter you, and be only solicitous of ministering to your wishes, he would be like all the rest of the world, and you would have no one near to tell you the truth;—and a worse thing cannot happen to any man, old or young; but most of all to the young, from their want of experience to discern truth from error." The wise emperor, who knew how rarely it is that truth is permitted to find its way to royal ears, set a just value on the man who had the courage to speak it.[17]

      Under the influence of these teachers, and, still more, of the circumstances in which he was placed—the most potent teachers of all—Philip grew in years, and slowly unfolded the peculiar qualities of his disposition. He seemed cautious and reserved in his demeanor, and slow of speech; yet what he said had a character of thought beyond his age. At no time did he discover that buoyancy of spirit, or was he betrayed into those sallies of temper, which belong to a bold and adventurous, and often to a generous nature. His deportment was marked by a seriousness that to some might seem to savor of melancholy. He was self-possessed, so that even as a boy he was rarely off his guard.[18]

      The emperor, whose affairs called him away from Spain much the greater part of his time, had not the power of personally superintending the education of his son. Unfortunately for the latter, his excellent mother died when he was but twelve years old. Charles, who loved his wife as much as a man is capable of loving whose soul is filled with schemes of boundless ambition, was at Madrid when he received tidings of her illness. He posted in all haste to Toledo, where the queen then was, but arrived there only in time to embrace her cold remains before they were consigned to the sepulchre. The desolate monarch abandoned himself to an agony of grief, and was with difficulty withdrawn from the apartment by his attendants, to indulge his solitary regrets in the neighboring monastery of La Sisla.

      Isabella well deserved to be mourned by her husband. She was a woman from all accounts, possessed of many high and generous qualities. Such was her fortitude, that, at the time of her confinement, she was never heard to utter a groan. She seemed to think any demonstration of suffering a weakness, and had the chamber darkened that her attendants might not see the distress painted on her countenance.[19] With this constancy of spirit, she united many feminine virtues. The palace, under her rule, became a school of industry. Instead of wasting her leisure hours in frivolous pleasures, she might be seen busily occupied, with her maidens, in the elegant labors of the loom; and, like her ancestor, the good Queen Isabella the Catholic, she sent more than one piece of tapestry, worked by her own hands, to adorn the altars of Jerusalem. These excellent qualities were enhanced by manners so attractive, that her effigy was struck on a medal, with a device of the three Graces on the reverse side, bearing the motto, Has Habet et superat.[20]

      Isabella was but thirty-six years old at the time of her death. Charles was not forty. He never married again. Yet the bereavement seems to have had little power to soften his nature, or incline him to charity for the misconduct, or compassion for the misfortunes of others. It was but a few months after the death of his wife, that, on occasion of the insurrection of Ghent, he sought a passage through the territory of his ancient enemy of France, descended on the offending city, and took such vengeance on its wretched inhabitants as made all Europe ring with his cruelty.[21]

      Philip was too young at this time to take part in the administration of the kingdom during his father's absence. But he was surrounded by able statesmen, who familiarized him with ideas of government, by admitting him to see the workings of the machinery which he was one day to direct. Charles was desirous that the attention of his son, even in boyhood, should be turned to those affairs which were to form the great business of his future life. It seems even thus early—at this period of mental depression—the emperor cherished the plan of anticipating the natural consequence of his decease, by resigning his dominions into the hands of Philip so soon as he should be qualified to rule them.

      No event occurred to disturb the tranquillity of Spain during the emperor's absence from that country, to which he returned in the winter of 1541. It was after his disastrous expedition against Algiers—the most disastrous of any that he had yet undertaken. He there saw his navy sunk or scattered by the tempest, and was fortunate in finding a shelter, with its shattered remnants, in the port of Carthagena. Soon after landing, he received a letter from Philip, condoling with him on his losses, and striving to cheer him with the reflection, that they had been caused by the elements, not by his enemies. With this tone of philosophy were mingled expressions of sympathy; and Charles may have been gratified with the epistle—if he could believe it the composition of his son.[22] Philip soon after this made a journey to the south; and, in the society of one who was now the chief object of his affections, the emperor may have found the best consolation in his misfortunes.

      INTRUSTED WITH THE REGENCY.

      The French had availed themselves of the troubled state of Charles's affairs to make a descent upon Roussillon; and the Dauphin now lay in some strength before the gates of Perpignan. The emperor considered this a favorable moment for Philip to take his first lesson in war. The prince accordingly posted to Valladolid. A considerable force was quickly mustered; and Philip, taking the command, and supported by some of the most experienced of his father's generals, descended rapidly towards the coast. But the Dauphin did not care to wait for his approach; and, breaking up his camp, he retreated, without striking a blow, in all haste, across the mountains. Philip entered the town in triumph, and soon after returned, with the unstained laurels of victory, to receive his father's congratulations. The promptness of his movements on this occasion gained him credit with the Spaniards; and the fortunate result seemed to furnish a favorable augury for the future.

      On his return, the prince was called to preside over the cortes at Monzon—a central town, where the deputies of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia continued to assemble separately, long after those provinces had been united to Castile. Philip, with all the forms prescribed by the constitution, received the homage of the representatives assembled, as successor to the crown of Aragon.

      The war with France, which, after a temporary suspension, had broken out with greater violence than ever, did not permit the emperor long to protract his stay in the Peninsula. Indeed, it seemed to his Spanish subjects that he rarely visited them, except when his exchequer required to be replenished for carrying on his restless enterprises, and that he stayed no longer than was necessary to effect this object. On leaving the country, he intrusted the regency to Philip, under the general direction of a council consisting of the duke of Alva, Cardinal Tavera, and the Commendador Cobos. Some time after this, while still lingering in Catalonia, previous to his embarkation, Charles addressed a letter to his son, advising him as to his political course, and freely criticising the characters of the great lords associated with him in the government. The letter, which is altogether a remarkable document, contains, also, some wholesome admonitions on Philip's private conduct. "The duke of Alva," the emperor emphatically wrote, "is the ablest statesman and the best soldier I have in my dominions. Consult him, above all, in military affairs; but do not depend upon him entirely in these or in any other matters. Depend on no one but yourself. The grandees will be too happy to secure your favor, and through you to govern the land. But, if you are thus governed, it will be your ruin. The mere suspicion of it will do you infinite prejudice. Make use of all; but lean exclusively on none. In your perplexities, ever trust in your Maker. Have no care but for him." The emperor then passes some strictures on the Commendador Cobos, as too much inclined to pleasure, at the same time admonishing Philip of the consequences of a libertine career, fatal alike, he tells him, to both soul and body. There seems to have been some ground for this admonition, as the young prince had shown a disposition to gallantry, which did not desert him in later life. "Yet, on the whole," says the monarch, "I will admit I have much reason to be satisfied with your behavior. But I would have you perfect; and, to speak frankly, whatever other persons may tell you, you have some things to mend yet. Your confessor," he continues,

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