Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 3.djvu/213

 CHARLES V. OF GERMANY 139 to employ his whole force for their recovery.- The Duke of Guise made ade- quate preparations for the defence of Metz, the siege of which the emperor was compelled to raise after sixty-five days spent in fruitless efforts, with the loss of 30,000 men by skirmishes and battles, and by diseases incident to the se- verity of the season. " I perceive," said he, " that Fortune, like other females, forsakes old men, to lavish her favors on the young." This sentiment probably sunk deeper into his reflections than might be inferred from the sarcastic terms in which it was clothed : for in the year 1556, after various events of war, alter- nately calamitous to the subjects of both nations, he astonished Europe by his ab- r'ication in favor of his son. In an assembly of the states at Brussels, he addressed ! ip in a speech which melted the audience into tears. The concluding pas- sage, as given by Robertson, is worth transcribing. " Preserve an inviolable regard for religion ; maintain the Catholic faith in its purity ; let the laws of your country be sacred in your eyes ; encroach not on the rights and privileges of your people ; and if the time should ever come when you shall wish to enjoy the tranquillity of private life, may you have a son endowed with such qualities that you can resign your sceptre to him with as much satisfaction as I give up mine to you ! " Charles retired into a monastery, where he died after more than two years passed in deep melancholy, and in practices of devotion inconsistent with sound health, when only between fifty-eight and fifty-nine years of age. His activity and talents had been the theme of universal admiration, the ardor of his ambi- tious policy had been extreme, and his knowledge of mankind profound ; but he should have followed up the objects of his high aspirations by a straighter road. His glory would have been truly enviable had he devoted his efforts to the hap- piness of his subjects, instead of harassing their minds by dissensions, and mow- ing down their lives by hundreds of thousands in war. To the statesman or the politician the history of this period is an inexhaust ible fund of instruction and interest, and to the general reader it is rendered more than usually attractive by the almost dramatic contrast of character among the principal actors in the scene. Francis seems to have been the representative of the expiring school of chivalry; Charles was not the representative, but the founder of the modern system of state policy ; Henry was the representative of ostentation, violence, and selfishness, to be found in all ages.