its discourses, and I never could have imagined their tongues would be so unbridled.' And Cabrera writes that it was reported 'that Princes were jealous of those who were to succeed them, and that a great and generous spirit in their sons displeases them.' Cabrera thinks the King did not dare to leave Madrid at the time, for fear of an outbreak. The excitement, however, lasted only a few days: gradually the Prince was forgotten, and three weeks after his arrest no one thought more about him. Don Carlos was guarded by eight persons of the first families of the kingdom, under the direction of the Duke of Feria and Ruy Gomez: they attended on him two at a time, relieving each other every six hours; no servant was allowed to enter his room; they waited on him at table; the major domos handed the dishes to them, and they served them ready carved, to avoid the necessity of a knife. A few days afterwards the Prince was removed from his apartment to another in the same part of the palace, where the windows were barred and the fire-place screened, and with an opening through the wall that he might hear mass, which was said in the adjoining room. Some of his waiting men were changed, probably because the King had not complete confidence in them. When the Prince was separated from Don Rodrigo de Mendoza, to whom he was deeply attached, he hung round his neck and embraced him with tears in his eyes; afterwards the King dismissed the entire household. Don Carlos, it is said, walked up and down his room in a state of frenzy, uttering every sort of insult. From this moment he seems to have had no thought but killing himself. As he was not allowed arms of any kind, he determined to starve himself; for two days he persisted, on the third hunger was too strong for him, and he began again to take food. The attempt at suicide seems to have been favourable to his health; for as his principal ailments proceeded from gluttony, two days of fasting composed his stomach; he then swallowed a ring with a large diamond, believing it would act as poison, but this failing also, he appeared to submit to his fate. The signs of despair disappeared, and in the month of April he asked to confess and communicate; after which, the Ambassadors say, he was converted into a humane and tender-hearted man, and never allowed a word against the King to proceed from his lips. The improvement produced a hope that a reconciliation would take place with his father, but the King must have had dif ferent ideas. Gachard perhaps exaggerates the situation in which Don Carlos found himself when he says: 'Dans la position horrible où il se voyait réduit, le désespoir aurait égaré une raison plus forte que la sienne.' Certainly a prisoner's situation is not a pleasant one, and there is reason enough to pity him; but three or four months' confinement is not enough to deprive a man of his senses if he ever possessed them. He began again, however, to indulge his appetites and humours in a manner more accommodated to his natural instincts. According to the official account, his death at last was produced by walking nearly naked and barefooted in a room which had just been watered, sleeping with the window open, eating nothing, and drinking, during the day and night, large quantities of snow water. He put ice in his bed, and eat fruits and other unwholesome things in excess: for four consecutive days he lived upon iced water without any kind of food.' brought on his end. And this Philip has not failed to The reasons which have constrained me to take this step are of such a nature that neither can I relate them, nor your Majesty hear them, without increasing our distress. My determination does not proceed from disobedience or want of respect, nor is it intended as a chastisement. There would have been reason sufficient, but a mere punishment would come to an end. Nor do I act in any hope that by this means his excesses and disorders will be reformed. The affair has another beginning, and admits of no remedy in time. To the Pope he wrote two letters, in the first informing him of the decision at which he had arrived; the second letter has been thought lost until now. Gachard discovered it, however, in some ecclesiastical annals: it is fuller than the first, but rather diffuse than clear. The King says: It has pleased God, for my sins, that the Prince should have so many and such great defects, some of understanding and others of temperament, that he was incapable of governing the country. To the Spanish Ambassador at Rome he writes: If, after reading the letter, His Holiness should wish to enter into conversation about this matter, and ask particulars of the Prince's life, and of the causes which have moved me to spare the Prince's honour, you must excuse yourself from giving details, and insist merely the opinion formed of the Prince throughout his life, which is in conformity with what now appears. In all his official and private correspondence the King alludes to the subject directly and indirectly; he implies that the Prince was incapable in mind and body, and both these circumstances rendered his coming to the throne impossible, and that his confinement was not therefore to be temporary, but that he was to be deprived of liberty for Madness was what Philip insisted most upon : ever. The King (writes Fourquevaux to Charles IX.) has sent me word by Ruy Gomez that the said Prince was even more deranged in mind than body, and that he never would have his reason, for so his actions have proved. His Majesty has concealed it long, hoping time would bring sense and discretion. The madness was by no means improbable: he may have inherited it from his grandmother, Donna Juana; and the severe injury to his head, and the operations which had been performed on him, could not fail to have affected unfavourably a youth of a stronger constitution than Don Carlos. But it is strange that Philip never allowed any of the details to transpire which led him to this opinion, and his reserve leaves room for suspicion that among the other symptoms a passion for the Queen may have been one. The foreign ambassadors are extremely vague, considering how important the matter was: the reasons they allege are, that the Prince tried to kill his father and some of his favourites, or that he had been corresponding with the Low Countries or Italy; but most of their despatches contain simply the reports which were current in the palace. One of the Prince's servants, apparently an eye-witness of what occurred, relates the interview with Don Juan of Austria and the occurrences which preceded his arrest. We have not the original account, but the MS. copy which exists of it in the library of the Academy of History at Madrid is supposed to be written by the hand of Rodrigo Varquez, the President of the Council of State, which adds greatly to its importance. In commenting upon these documents, Gachard concludes the immediate provocation to have been the attempt to escape abroad. The effect produced on the world by Don Carlos's imprisonment was not favourable to the King. The public functionaries, indeed, and the different sovereigns of Europe in the most courteous and compasanswered Philip's communications sionating terms. But Tisnacq says: 'The populace is very licentious in its discourses, and I never could have imagined their tongues would be so unbridled.' And Cabrera writes that it was reported that Princes were jealous of those who were to succeed them, and that a great and generous spirit in their sons displeases them.' Cabrera thinks the King did not dare to leave Madrid at the time, for fear of an outbreak. The excitement, however, lasted only a few days: gradually the Prince was forgotten, and three weeks after his arrest no one thought more about him. Don Carlos was guarded by eight persons of the first families of the kingdom, under the direction of the Duke of Feria and Ruy Gomez: they attended on him two at a time, relieving each other every six hours; no servant was allowed to enter his room; they waited on him at table; the major domos handed the dishes to them, and they served them ready carved, to avoid the necessity of a knife. A few days afterwards the Prince was removed from his apartment to another in the same part of the palace, where the windows were barred and the fire-place screened, and with an opening through the wall that he might hear mass, which was said in the adjoining room. Some of his waiting men were changed, probably because the King had not complete confidence in them. When the Prince was separated from Don Rodrigo de Mendoza, to whom he was deeply attached, he hung round his neck and embraced him with tears in his eyes; afterwards the King dismissed the entire household. Don Carlos, it is said, walked up and down his room in a state of frenzy, uttering every sort of insult. From this moment he seems to have had no thought but killing himself. As he was not allowed arms of any kind, he determined to starve himself; for two days he persisted, on the third hunger was too strong for him, and he began again to take food. The attempt at suicide seems to have been favourable to his health; for as his principal ailments proceeded from gluttony, two days of fasting composed his stomach; he then swallowed a ring with a large diamond, believing it would act as poison, but this failing also, he appeared to submit to his fate. The signs of despair disappeared, and in the month of April he asked to confess and communicate; after which, the Ambassadors say, he was converted into a humane and tender-hearted man, and never allowed a word against the King to proceed from his lips. The improvement produced a hope that a reconciliation would take place with his father, but the King must have had dif ferent ideas. Gachard perhaps exaggerates the situation in which Don Carlos found himself when he says: 'Dans la position horrible où il se voyait réduit, le désespoir aurait égaré une raison plus forte que la sienne.' Certainly a prisoner's situation is not a pleasant one, and there is reason enough to pity him; but three or four months' confinement is not enough to deprive a man of his senses if he ever possessed them. He began again, however, to indulge his appetites and humours in dated to his natural instincts. According to the official account, his death at last was produced by a manner more accommo walking nearly naked and barefooted in a room which had just been watered, sleeping with the window open, eating nothing, and drinking, during the day and night, large quantities of snow water. He put ice in his bed, and eat fruits and other unwholesome things in excess: for four consecutive days he lived upon iced water without any kind of food.' And this brought on his end. Philip has not failed to draw upon himself the most severe animadversion for his conduct. Historians defend the oppressed and attack the oppressor, but affairs of this importance must be judged with temper and calmness. In this instance the documents that exist are incomplete; a very small part of the official despatches exist. We know that Philip, as Gachard says, 'avait pris des pré'avait pris des précautions inouies' that nothing that passed in his son's prison should transpire, and considered guilty of lesce majestatis whoever should infringe his order. The foreign ambassadors, therefore, give us meagre details of what passed during the Prince's last illness and death; they could not tell what they did not know. The materials which we possess are insufficient to justify any positive conclusion. Until fresh documents are found, which will throw more light on these events, we must be content with presumptions. Gachard, when he reaches the latter part of his book, converts himself into an impassioned defender of Don Carlos; and this is more remarkable, since up to this point he has pointed out the Prince's defects, defended his father's conduct, and considered it often worthy of praise. It seems ungenerous to vilify Don Carlos; but why, until we have better ground for certainty, should we heap aspersions on the King? Poets and novelists take advantage of these obscure situations to imagine what may possibly have occurred; but the historian, and especially so competent a writer as Gachard, ought to be more scrupulous. He will not accept the official account of the last days of the Prince; he produces another out of the correspondence of an ambassador, in which we meet with some additional details, but nothing materially differing from the King's own narrative. Gachard says: About the middle of July a pasty of partridges was served at Don Carlos's table; mai he had already dined, but he eat the whole crust and all. As it was highly seasoned of the pasty, containing four partridges, he became very thirsty, and drank iced water during the whole day. At night he had a violent indigestion, accompanied by zi vomiting and diarrhoea. The doctors were anything they ordered him. On the 19th called in, but the Prince would not take his state was hopeless, and the King allowed his illness to be officially announced. Such a change was observed from that moment in the sentiments and language of the Prince, that all who surrounded him were Ambassador wrote to Doge Loredano, had given him, at the eve of his death, the judg ment which he had so much wanted during his life. He sent for Fray Diego de Chaves, and confessed with the greatest devotion. from receiving the sacrament, but he His continual vomiting prevented him adored it with the greatest humility and contrition. He then consented to what the doctors ordered, although he showed such a disdain of earthly things, and such a desire for celestial blessings, that it seemed as if God had accumulated every grace on him. He had made a will in 1564. The 22nd July he made another, in which he left 200,000 ducats to his debts. He recommended the officers of his creditors, and begged his father to pay his household to him, and asked to be buried in the Church of Sto. Domingo in Madrid The same day he disposed of several of his jewels and valuables. He gave the convent of Atocha a fine diamond ring, with a crucifix of gold by Pompeo Leoni; and several other presents of value to different convents of Madrid and Valladolid. He gave the Prince of Eboli, as a token of forgiveness, three goblets of rock crystal. He gave presents of the same kind to different friends, and to his confessor Chaves a gold cross and chain. When he knew his death to be inevitable he asked how many days were wanting for the vigil of St. James, for whom he had a special devotion; and on hearing four, he last four days longer. His fortitude insaid: My misery and your trouble must creased at every moment. In the night of the 23rd to the 24th he asked the hour, and was told it wanted two hours of midnight: he feared he would not live until the vigil, which he had fixed as the term of his existence. He continued adoring a crucifix he had placed on his breast, and prayed for forgiveness of his sins. He declared that Gomez, Espinosa, and Velasco. After a he forgave the King his father, Ruy short interval he again asked to know the hour, when he heard that 12 o'clock had astonished, as if God, as the Venetian 6 jast-struck. Following Charles V.'s example he took a candle in his hand, and turning to the confessor, said: My father, help me,' and desired those round him to recite with him a prayer which the Emperor had said on his death-bed. He pronounced several other words, among them Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori. His strength failed him, and on July 24 he expired, without having lost his senses for a single moment. His age was 23 years and 16 days. A few moments before his death a Francis can's robe was put on his bed, in which he begged them to bury him. During his illness he asked to see his father, but Philip declined. As we do not know the reasons of state or convenience which might have influenced the decision, we consider only the father, and are shocked to find him unmoved before his son's petition. Motives of great importance, however, may have existed to induce the Prince's confessor to advise Philip not to comply with his son's request. In a letter at the end of the volume of MSS. which we have before quoted, in the Academy of History at Madrid, there is an independent account of the Prince's illness and death. The writer says that after confessing he sent to say to his father that the only thing he desired was his blessing, and the confessor advised the King not to go to him, as God was guiding the affair straight, and it would be bet ter the Prince should not see any one who would remind him of anything unpleasant and disturb his mind. Farther on he adds, 'neither the Queen nor the Princess, nor any other person saw him but those who guarded him.' This letter must have been unknown to Gachard, for he does not allude to it; finds every fault imaginable with Philip, and comments unfavourably on every circumstance of the story. A few hours after his death the Prince's body was removed to the monastery of Sto. Domingo, accompanied by the nobility, the foreign diplomats, and the clergy of Madrid. Masses of requiem were sung for his soul during eight days, the whole Court assisting The body, ac cording to the account of Maestro Lopez, was placed in a coffin of black velvet, and on a bier covered with a rich brocaded cloth bordered with black and crimson velvet. The servants of His Majesty and His Highness went in the procession, with their heads covered with hoods and their garments trailing on the ground. The coffin was placed in the choir, and it was found necessary to make a hole in the wall for it to enter. The secretary Gaztelu had the lid of the coffin removed, and uncovered the face and body that the Prince might be recognised. The French Ambassador wrote, saying, 'Je lui ay vu le visage, lequel n'estoit aucunement deffait de la maladie, sinon qu'il estoit un peu jaune: mais j'entends qu'il n'avoit que les ossements par le surplus du corps.' After the eight days' ceremonies were over, a magnificent catafalque was erected in the church: the Queen, the Princess Donna Juana, and the personages of the Court were present at the funeral ceremony. The King remained at the Escorial: he ordered mourning at Court for a year, and prayers were offered up in all the churches of Madrid for the Prince's soul. Gachard says that Don Carlos's death produced universal sorrow in Spain. There is no proof of it. Philip himself ordered that the greatest demonstrations of sorrow should everywhere be made for the Prince's decease. How is it possible to distinguish real sorrow from official sorrow ? Gachard quotes a story from the Venetian ambassador that the nobles hoped if Don Carlos came to the throne to recover their former influence. This, if true, indicates an interested feeling, and not a sincere grief; and if the nobles had had the power they possessed a hundred years before, the country would have been little |