Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/443

415 HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 415 of his arbitrary conduct and temper, rendered more chapter XXV morose by the peevishness of age. Charles showed ^— a facility to be directed by those around him in early years, which gave little augury of the great- ness to which he afterwards rose. ^° By the persuasions of his evil counsellors, he ms ungrate- •^ ■' _ _ ful letter. addressed that memorable letter to Ximenes, which is unmatched, even in court annals, for cool and base ingratitude. He thanked the regent for all his past services, named a place for a personal in- terview with him, where he might obtain the ben- efit of his counsels for his own conduct, and the government of the kingdom ; after which he would be allowed to retire to his diocese, and seek from Heaven that reward, which Heaven alone could adequately bestow ! ^^ Such was the tenor of this cold-blooded epistle, Tuecardi- i^ ' pal's last which, in the language of more than one writer, '"''*^* killed the cardinal. This, however, is stating the matter too strongly. The spirit of Ximenes was of too stern a stuff to be so easily extinguished by the breath of royal displeasure.^^ He was, indeed, deeply moved by the desertion of the sovereign 20 Carbajal, Anales, MS., ailo sollier, plumply ; a writer who is 1517, cap. 9. — Dormer, Anales sure either to misstate or overstate, de Aragon, lib. 1, cap. 1. — Ulloa, (Minist^re du Card. Ximenez, p. Vita di Carlo V., fol. 43. — Dolce, 447.) Byron, alluding to the fate Vita di Carlo v., p. 12. — Gomez, of a modern poet, ridicules the De Rebus Gestis, fol. 212. — San- idea of doval. Hist, del Emp. Carlos V., " The mind, that fiery particle, torn. i. p. 83. Being extinguished by an Article ! ■' 21 Carbajal, Anales, MS., ubi The frown of a critic, however, supra. — Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, might as well prove fata! as that of fol. 215. — Sandoval, Hist, del a king. In both cases, I imagine, Emp. Carlos v., torn. i. p. 84. it would be hard to prove any 22 " Cette terrible lettre qui fut closer connexion between the two la cause de sa mort," says Mar- events, than that of time.