as well as the rest of Europe, was probably peopled by the Celts; but the Spanish historians derive the origin of their nation from Tubal the fifth son of Japhet, affirming that Spain had been a monarchy for 2226 years before the coming of the Celts into it. Till the coming of the Carthaginians into Spain, however, nothing certain can be affirmed of the Spaniards; thagiains and this happened not long before the commencement in Spain of the first Punic war. Their success in reducing the country, and their final expulsion by the Romans, has already been related under the articles Rome and Carthage; we have here therefore only to take notice of the state of Spain under the Roman government, until the Romans were in their turn expelled by the northern barbarians.

At the time of the Roman conquest, Spain, though exceeding prodigious quantities of silver had been carried out of the rich country. In the most ancient times, indeed, its riches are said to have exceeded what is related of the most wealthy country in America. Aristotle affirms us, that when the Phoenicians first arrived in Spain, they exchanged their naval commodities for such immense quantities of silver, that their ships could neither contain nor sustain its load, though they used it for ballast, and made their anchors and other implements of silver. When the Carthaginians first came to Spain, they found the quantity of silver nothing lessened, since the inhabitants at that time made all their utensils, and even Spain.

mangers, of that precious metal. In the time of the Romans this amazing plenty was very much diminished; however, their gleanings were by no means delapidable, since in the space of nine years they carried off 111,542 pounds of silver, and 4095 of gold, besides an immense quantity of coin and other things of value. The Spaniards were always remarkable for their bravery, and some of Hannibal's best troops were brought from thence. But as the Romans penetrated farther into the country than the Carthagians had done, they met with nations whose love of liberty was equal to their valour, and whom the whole strength of their empire was scarce able to subdue. Of these the most formidable were the Numantines, Cantabrians, and Asturians.

In the time of the third Punic war, one Viriathus, a celebrated hunter, and afterwards the captain of a gang of banditti, took upon him the command of some nations who had been in alliance with Carthage, and ventured to oppose the Roman power in that part of Spain called Lusitania, now Portugal. The praetor, named Vetilius, who commanded in those parts, marched against him with 10,000 men; but was defeated and killed, with the loss of 4000 of his troops. The Romans immediately dispatched another praetor with 10,000 foot and 1300 horse; but Viriathus having first cut off a detachment of 4000 of them, engaged the rest in a pitched battle; and having entirely defeated them, reduced great part of the country. Another praetor, who was sent with a new army, met with the same fate; so that, after the destruction of Carthage, the Romans thought proper to send a consul named Quintus Fabius, who defeated the Lusitanians in several battles, and regained two important places which had long been in the hands of the rebels. After the expiration of Fabius's consulship, Viriathus continued the war with his usual success, till the senate thought proper to send against him the consul Q. Caecilius Metellus, an officer of great valour and experience. With him Viriathus did not choose to venture a pitched battle, but contented himself with acting on the defensive; in consequence of which the Romans recovered a great many cities, and the whole of Tarraconian Spain was obliged to submit to their yoke. The other consul, named Servilianus, did not meet with the same success; his army was defeated in the field and his camp was nearly taken by Viriathus. Notwithstanding the good fortune of Metellus, however, he could not withstand the intrigues of his countrymen against him, and he was not allowed to finish the war he had begun with so much success. In resentment for this he took all imaginable pains to weaken the army under his command: he disbanded the flower of his troops, exhausted the magazines, let the elephants die, broke in pieces the arrows which had been provided for the Cretan archers, and threw them into a river. Yet, after all, the army which he gave up to his successor Q. Pompeius, consisting of 30,000 foot and 2000 horse, was sufficient to have crushed Viriathus if the general had known how to use it. But, instead of opposing Viriathus with success, the imprudent consul procured much more formidable enemies. The Termantians and Numantines, who had hitherto kept themselves independent, offered very advantageous terms of peace and alliance with Rome; but Pompeius insisted on their delivering up their arms. Upon this, war was immediately commenced. The consul with great confidence invested Numantia; but being repulsed with considerable loss, he sat down before Termantia, where he was attended with still worse success. The very first day, the Termantines killed 700 of his legionaries; took a great convoy which was coming to the Roman camp; and having defeated a considerable body of their horde, pushed them from post to post till they came to the edge of a precipice, where they all tumbled down, and were dashed to pieces. In the mean time Servilian, who had been continued in his command with the title of proconsul, managed matters so ill that Viriathus surrounded him on all sides, and obliged him to sue for peace. The terms offered to the Romans were very moderate; being only that Viriathus should keep the country he at that time possessed, and the Romans remain masters of all the rest. This peace the proconsul was very glad to sign, and afterwards got it signed by the senate and people of Rome.

The next year Q. Pompeius was continued in his command against the Numantines in Farther Spain, while Q. Servilius Cæpio, the new consul, had for his province Hither Spain, where Viriathus had established his new state. Pompeius undertook to reduce Numantia by turning aside the stream of the Durius, now the Douro, by which it was supplied with water; but, in attempting this, such numbers of his men were cut off that, finding himself unable to contend with the enemy, he was glad to make peace with them on much worse terms than they had offered of their own accord. The peace, however, was ratified at Rome; but in the mean time Cæpio, desirous of showing his prowess against the renowned Viriathus, prevailed upon the Romans to declare war against him without any provocation. As Cæpio commanded an army greatly superior to the Lusitanians, Viriathus thought proper to sue for peace; but finding that Cæpio would be satisfied with nothing less than a surrender at discretion, he resolved to stand his ground. In the mean time, the latter having bribed some of the intimate companions of Viriathus to murder him in his sleep, he by that infamous method put an end to a war which had lasted 14 years, very much to the honour of the republic.

After the death of Viriathus, the Romans with like treachery ordered their new consul Popilius to break the treaty with the Numantines. His infamous conduct feared by met with the reward it deserved; the Numantines falling out, put the whole Roman army to flight with such slaughter, that they were in no condition to act during the whole campaign. Mancinus, who succeeded Popilius, met with still worse success; his great army, consisting of 30,000 men, was utterly defeated by 4000 Numantines, and 20,000 of them killed in the pursuit. The remaining 10,000, with their general, were pent up by the Numantines in such a manner that they could neither advance nor retreat, and would certainly have been all put to the sword or made prisoners, had not the Numantines, with a generosity which their enemies never possessed, offered to let them depart upon condition that a treaty should be concluded with them upon very moderate terms. This the consul very willingly promised, but found himself unable to perform. On the contrary, the people, not satisfied with declaring his treaty null and void, ordered him to be delivered up to the Numantines. The latter refused to accept him, left Scipio Aemilianus sent against them.

Miserable end of the people.

Sertorius supports the Marian faction in Spain.

It is driven out, and undergoes many hardships.

Spain.

Let he had along with him the 10,000 men whom they had relieved as above related. At last, after the consul had remained a whole day before the city, his successor Furius, thinking this a sufficient recompense to the Numantines for breaking the treaty, ordered him to be received again into the camp. However, Furius did not choose to engage with such a desperate and resolute enemy as the Numantines had showed themselves; and the war with them was discontinued till the year 133 B.C. when Scipio Aemilianus, the destroyer of Carthage, was sent against them. Against this renowned commander the Numantines with all their valour were not able to cope. Scipio, having with the utmost care introduced strict discipline among his troops, and reformed the abuses which his predecessors had suffered in their armies, by degrees brought the Romans to face their enemies, which at his arrival they had absolutely refused to do. Having then ravaged all the country round about the town, it was soon blocked up on all sides, and the inhabitants began to feel the want of provisions. At last they resolved to make one desperate attempt for their liberty, and either to break through their enemies, or perish in the attempt. With this view they marched out in good order by two gates, and fell upon the works of the Romans with the utmost fury. The Romans, unable to stand this desperate shock, were on the point of yielding; but Scipio, hastening to the places attacked, with no fewer than 20,000 men, the unhappy Numantines were at last driven into the city, where they sustained for a little longer the miseries of famine. Finding at last, however, that it was altogether impossible to hold out, it was resolved by the majority to submit to the pleasure of the Roman commander. But this resolution was not universally approved. Many shut themselves up in their houses, and died of hunger, while even those who had agreed to surrender repented their offer, and setting fire to their houses, perished in the flames with their wives and children, so that not a single Numantine was left alive to grace the triumph of the conqueror of Carthage.

After the destruction of Numantia the whole of Spain submitted to the Roman yoke; and nothing remarkable happened till the times of the Cimbri, when a praetorian army was cut off in Spain by the Lusitanians. From this time nothing remarkable occurs in the history of Spain till the civil war between Marius and Sylla. The latter having crushed the Marian faction, as related under the article Rome, proscribed all those that had sided against him whom he could not immediately destroy. Among these was Sertorius, a man of consummate valour and experience in war. He had by Marius been appointed praetor of Spain, and upon the overthrow of Marius, retired to that province. Sylla no sooner heard of his arrival in that country, than he sent thither one Caius Annius with a powerful army to drive him out. As Sertorius had but few troops along with him, he dispatched one Julius Salinator with a body of 6000 men to guard the passes of the Pyrenees, and to prevent Annius from entering the country. But Salinator having been treacherously murdered by assassins hired by Annius for that purpose, he no longer met with any obstacle; and Sertorius was obliged to embark for the coast of Africa with 3000 men, being all he had now remaining. With these he landed in Mauritania; but as his men were straggling carelessly about, great numbers of them were cut off by the Barbarians. This new misfortune obliged Sertorius to re-embark for Spain; but finding the whole coast lined with the troops of Annius, he put to sea again, not knowing what course to steer. In this new voyage he met with a small fleet of Cilician pirates; and having prevailed with them to join him, he made a descent on the coast of Yvica, overpowered the garrison left there by Annius, and gained a considerable booty. On the news of this victory Annius set sail for Yvica, with a considerable squadron, having 5000 land forces on board. Sertorius, not intimidated by the superiority of the enemy, prepared to give them battle. But a violent storm arising, most of the ships were driven on shore and dashed to pieces, Sertorius himself with great difficulty escaping with the small remains of his fleet. For some time he continued in great danger, being prevented from putting to sea by the fury of the waves, and from landing by the enemy; at last, the storm abating, he passed the straits of Gades, now Gibraltar, and landed near the mouth of the river Brooits. Here he met with some seamen newly arrived from the Atlantic or Fortunate Islands; and was so taken with the account which they gave him of those happy regions, that he resolved to retire thither to spend the rest of his life in quiet and happiness. But having communicated this design to the Cilician pirates, they immediately abandoned him, and set sail for Africa, with an intention to afflict one of the barbarous kings against his subjects who had rebelled. Upon this Sertorius sailed thither also, but took lands in the opposite side; and having defeated the king named Vifca, and Afralitis, obliged him to shut himself up in the city of Tingis, now Tangier, which he closely besieged. But in the meantime Pacianus, who had been sent by Sylla's country, to afflict the king, advanced with a considerable army against Sertorius. Upon this the latter, leaving part of his forces before the city, marched with the rest to meet Pacianus, whose army, though greatly superior to his own in number, he entirely defeated; killed the general, and took all his forces prisoners. —The fame of this victory soon reached Spain; and the Lusitanians, being threatened with a new war from Annius, invited Sertorius to head their armies. With this request he there very readily complied, and soon became very formidable to the Romans. Titus Didius, governor of that part of Spain called Batia, first entered the lists with him; but he being defeated, Sylla next dispatched Metellus, reckoned one of the best commanders in Rome, to stop the progress of this new enemy. But Metellus, notwithstanding all his experience, knew not how to act against Sertorius, who was continually changing his station, putting his army into new forms, and contriving new stratagems. On his first arrival he sent for L. Domitius, then praetor of Hither Spain, to his assistance; but Sertorius being informed of his march, detached Hirtuleius, or Herculeius, his quaestor, against him, who gave him a total overthrow. Metellus then dispatched Lucius Lollius, praetor of Narbonne Gaul against Hirtuleius; but he met with no better success, being utterly defeated, and his lieutenant-general killed.

The fame of these victories brought to the camp of Sertorius such a number of illustrious Roman citizens from the Marian faction, that he formed a design of erecting Lusitania into a republic in opposition to that of Rome. Sylla was continually sending fresh supplies to Metellus; Metellus; but Sertorius with an handful of men, accustomed to range about the mountains, to endure hunger and thirst, and live exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, so harassed the Roman army, that Metellus himself began to be quite discouraged. At last, Sertorius, hearing that Metellus had spoken disrespectfully of his courage, challenged his antagonist to end the war by single combat; but Metellus very prudently declined the combat, as being advanced in years; yet this refusal brought upon him the contempt of the unthinking multitude, upon which Metellus resolved to retrieve his reputation by some signal exploit, and therefore laid siege to Lacobriga, a considerable city in those parts. This he hoped to reduce in two days, as there was but one well in the place; but Sertorius, having previously removed all those who could be of no service during the siege, and conveyed 6000 skins full of water into the city, Metellus continued a long time before it without making any impression. At last, his provisions being almost spent, he sent out Aquinus at the head of 6000 men to procure a new supply; but Sertorius falling unexpectedly upon them, cut in pieces or took the whole detachment; the commander himself being the only man who escaped to carry the news of the disaster; upon which Metellus was obliged to raise the siege with disgrace.

And now Sertorius, having gained some intervals of ease in consequence of the many advantages he had obtained over the Romans, began to civilize his new subjects. Their savage and furious manner of fighting he changed for the regular order and discipline of a well-formed army; he bestowed liberally upon them gold and silver to adorn their arms, and by conversing familiarly with them, prevailed upon them to lay aside their own dress for the Roman toga. He sent for all the children of the principal people, and placed them in the great city of Olca, now Herecfa, in the kingdom of Armagon, where he appointed them masters to instruct them in the Roman and Greek learning, that they might, as he pretended, be capable of sharing with him the government of the republic. Thus he made them really hostages for the good behaviour of their parents; however, the latter were greatly pleased with the care he took of their children, and all Lusitania were in the highest degree attached to their new sovereign. This attachment he took care to heighten by the power of superstition; for having procured a young hind of a milk-white colour, he made it so tame that it followed him wherever he went; and Sertorius gave out to the ignorant multitude, that this hind was inspired by Diana, and revealed to him the designs of his enemies, of which he always took care to be well informed by the great numbers of spies he employed.

While Sertorius was thus employed in establishing his authority, the republic of Rome, alarmed at his success, resolved to crush him at all events. Sylla was now dead, and all the eminent generals in Rome solicited this honourable though dangerous employment. After much debate a decree was passed in favour of Pompey the Great, but without recalling Metellus. In the mean time, the troops of one Perperna, or Perperna, had, in spite of all that their general could do, abandoned him and taken the oath of allegiance to Sertorius. This was a most signal advantage to Sertorius; for Perperna commanded an army of 33,000 men, and had come into Spain with a design to settle there as Sertorius had done; but as he was defended from one of the first families in Rome, he thought it below his dignity to serve under any general, however eminent he might be. But the troops of Perperna were of a different opinion; and therefore declaring that they would serve none but a general who could defend himself, they to a man joined Sertorius; upon which Perperna himself, finding he could do no better, consented to serve also as a subaltern.

On the arrival of Pompey in Spain, several of the cities which had hitherto continued faithful to Sertorius began to waver; upon which the latter resolved, by some signal exploit, to convince them that Pompey could no more force them from his resentment than Metellus. With this view he laid siege to Lauron, now Lirias, a place of considerable strength. Pompey, not doubting but he should be able to raise the siege, marched quite up to the enemy's lines, and found means to inform the garrison that those who besieged them were themselves besieged, and would soon be obliged to retire with loss and disgrace. On hearing this message, "I will teach Sylla's disciple (said Sertorius), that it is the duty of a general to look behind as well as before him." Having thus spoken, he sent orders to a detachment of 6000 men, who lay concealed among the mountains, to come down and fall upon his rear if he should offer to force the lines. Pompey, surprized at their sudden appearance, did not stir out of his camp; and in the mean time the besieged, despairing of relief, surrendered at discretion; upon which Sertorius granted them their lives and liberty, but reduced their city to ashes.

While Sertorius was thus successfully contending with Pompey, his quaestor Hirtuleius was entirely defeated by Metellus, with the loss of 20,000 men; upon which Sertorius advanced with the utmost expedition to the banks of the Sucro in Tarraconian Spain, with a design to attack Pompey before he could be joined by Metellus. Pompey, on his part, did not decline the combat; but, fearing that Metellus might share the glory of the victory, advanced with the greatest expedition. Sertorius put off the battle till towards the evening; Pompey, though he knew that the night would prove disadvantageous to him, whether vanquished or victorious, because his troops were unacquainted with the country, resolved to venture an engagement, especially as he feared that Metellus might arrive in the mean time, and rob him of part of the glory of conquering so great a commander. Pompey, who commanded his own right wing, soon obliged Perperna, who commanded Sertorius's left, to give way. Hereupon Sertorius himself taking upon him the command of that wing, brought back the fugitives to the charge, and obliged Pompey to fly in his turn. In his flight he was overtaken by a gigantic African, who had already lifted up his hand to discharge a blow at him with his broad sword; but Pompey prevented him by cutting off his right hand at one blow. As he still continued his flight, he was wounded and thrown from his horse; so that he would certainly have been taken prisoner, had not the Africans who pursued him quarrelled about the rich furniture of his horse. This gave an opportunity to the general to make his escape; so that at length he reached his camp with much difficul- But in the mean time Afranius, who commanded the left wing of the Roman army, had entirely defeated the wing which Sertorius had left, and even pursued them so close that he entered the camp along with them. Sertorius, returning suddenly, found the Romans busy in plundering the tents; when, taking advantage of their situation, he drove them out with great slaughter, and retook his camp. Next day he offered battle a second time to Pompey; but Metellus then coming up with all his forces, he thought proper to decline an engagement with both commanders. In a few days, however, Pompey and Metellus agreed to attack the camp of Sertorius. Metellus attacked Perperna, and Pompey fell upon Sertorius. The event was similar to that of the former battle; Metellus defeated Perperna, and Sertorius routed Pompey. Being then informed of Perperna's misfortune, he hastened to his relief; rallied the fugitives, and repulsed Metellus in his turn, wounded him with his lance, and would certainly have killed him, had not the Romans, ashamed to leave their general in distress, hastened to his assistance, and renewed the fight with great fury. At last Sertorius was obliged to quit the field, and retire to the mountains. Pompey and Metellus hastened to besiege him; but while they were forming their camp, Sertorius broke through their lines, and escaped into Lusitania. Here he soon raised such a powerful army, that the Roman generals, with their united forces, did not think proper to venture an engagement with him. They could not, however, resist the perpetual attacks of Sertorius, who now drove them from place to place, till he obliged them to separate, the one went into Gaul, and the other to the foot of the Pyrenees.

Thus did this celebrated commander triumph over all the power of the Romans; and there is little doubt but he would have continued to make head against all the other generals whom the republic could have sent; had he not been assassinated at an entertainment by the infamous treachery of Perperna, in 73 B.C. after he had made head against the Roman forces for almost ten years. Pompey was no sooner informed of his death, than, without waiting for any new succours, he marched against the traitor, whom he easily defeated and took prisoner; and having caused him to be executed, thus put an end, with very little glory, to a most dangerous war.

Many of the Spanish nations, however, still continued to bear the Roman yoke with great patience; and as the civil wars which took place first between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and afterwards between Octavianus and Antony, diverted the attention of the republic from Spain, by the time that Augustus had become sole master of the Roman empire, they were again in a condition to assert their liberty. The Cantabrians and Asturians were the most powerful and valiant nations at that time in Spain; but, after incredible efforts, they were obliged to lay down their arms, or rather were almost exterminated, by Agrippa, as is related under these articles. From this time the Spaniards continued in quiet subjection to the Romans; but on the decline of the empire they were attacked by the northern nations, who put an end to the Roman name in the west. As the inhabitants had by that time entirely lost their ancient valour, the barbarians met with no resistance but from one another. In the reign of the emperor Honorius, the Vandals, Alans, and Suevians, entered this country; and having made themselves masters of it, divided the provinces among themselves. In 444 the Romans made one effort more to recover their barbarous power in this part of the world; but being utterly defeated by the Suevians, the latter established a kingdom there which lasted till the year 584, when it was utterly overthrown by the Visigoths under Leovigild. The Gothic princes continued to reign over a considerable part of Spain till the beginning of the 8th century, when their empire was entirely overthrown by the Saracens. During this period, they had entirely expelled the eastern emperors from what they possessed in Spain, and even made considerable conquests in Barbary; but towards the end of the 7th century the Saracens overran all that part of the world with a rapidity which nothing could resist; and having soon possessed themselves of the Gothic dominions in Barbary, they made a descent upon Spain about the year 711 or 712. The king of the Goths at that time was called Roderic, and by his bad conduct had occasioned great disaffection among his subjects. He therefore determined to put all to the issue of a battle, knowing that he could not depend upon the fidelity of his own people if he allowed the enemy time to tamper with them. The two armies met in a plain near Xeres in Andalusia. The Goths began the attack with great fury; but though they fought like men in despair, they were at last defeated with excessive slaughter, and their king himself was supposed to have perished in the battle, being never more heard of.

By this battle the Moors in a short time rendered themselves masters of almost all Spain. The poor remains of the Goths were obliged to retire into the mountainous parts of Asturias, Burgos, and Biscay; the inhabitants of Arragon, Catalonia, and Navarre, though they might have made a considerable stand against the enemy, chose for the most part to retire into France. In 718, however, the power of the Goths began again to revive under Don Pelagio or Pelayo, prince of the royal blood, who headed those that had retired to the mountains after the fatal battle of Xeres. Pelagio. The place where he first laid the foundation of his government was in the Asturias, in the province of Liebana, about nine leagues in length and four in breadth. This is the most inland part of the country, full of mountains enormously high, and so much fortified by nature, that its inhabitants are capable of resisting almost any number of invaders. Alakor the Saracen governor was no sooner informed of this revival of the Goths' kingdom, than he sent a powerful army, under the command of one Alchaman, to crush Don Pelagio before he had time to establish his power. The king, though his forces were sufficiently numerous (every one of his subjects arrived at man's estate being a folder), did not think proper to venture a general engagement in the open field; but taking post with part of them over himself in a cavern in a very high mountain, he concealed the rest among precipices, giving orders to them to fall upon the enemy as soon as they should perceive him attacked by them. These orders were punctually executed, though indeed Don Pelagio himself had repulsed his enemies, but not without a miracle, as the Spanish historians pretend. The slaughter was dreadful; for the troops who lay in ambush joining the retreating force, refl., and rolling down huge stones from the mountains upon the Moors (the name by which the Saracens were known in Spain), no fewer than 124,000 of these unhappy people perished in one day. The remainder fled till they were stopped by a river, and beginning to coast it, part of a mountain suddenly fell down, stopped up the channel of the river, and either crushed or drowned, by the sudden rising of the water, almost every one of that vast army.

The Moors were not so much disheartened by this disaster, but that they made a second attempt against Don Pelagio. Their success was as bad as ever, the greatest part of their army being cut, in pieces or taken; in consequence of which, they lost all the Asturias, and never dared to enter the hills with Pelagio afterwards. Indeed, their bad success had in a great measure taken from them the desire of conquering a country where little or nothing was to be got; and therefore they rather directed their force against France, where they hoped for more plunder. Into this country they poured in prodigious multitudes; but were utterly defeated, in 732, by Charles Martel, with the loss of 300,000 men, as the historians of those times pretend.

Don Pelagio died in 737, and soon after his death such intestine divisions broke out among the Moors, as greatly favoured the increase of the Christian power. In 745 Don Alfonso the Catholic, son-in-law to Pelagio, in conjunction with his brother Froila, passed the mountains, and fell upon the northern part of Galicia; and meeting with little resistance, he recovered almost the whole of that province in a single campaign. Next year he invaded the plains of Leon and Castile; and before the Moors could assemble any force to oppose him, he reduced Astorga, Leon, Saldaña, Montes de Oca, Amaya, Álava, and all the country at the foot of the mountains. The year following he pushed his conquests as far as the borders of Portugal, and the next campaign ravaged the country as far as Castile. Being sensible, however, that he was yet unable to defend the flat country which he had conquered, he laid the whole of it waste, obliged the Christians to retire to the mountains, and carried off all the Moors for slaves. Thus secured by a desert frontier, he met with no interruption for some years; during which time, as his kingdom advanced in strength, he allowed his subjects gradually to occupy part of the flat country, and to rebuild Leon and Astorga, which he had demolished. He died in 757, and was succeeded by his son Don Froila. In his time Abdelrahman, the khalif's viceroy in Spain, threw off the yoke, and rendered himself independent, fixing the seat of his government at Cordova. Thus the intestine divisions among the Moors were composed; yet their success seems to have been little better than before; for, soon after, Froila encountered the Moors with such success, that 54,000 of them were killed on the spot, and their general taken prisoner. Soon after he built the city of Oviedo, which he made the capital of his dominions, in order to be in a better condition to defend the flat country, which he now determined to people.

In the year 758 the power of the Saracens received another blow by the rise of the kingdom of Navarre. This kingdom, we are told, took its origin from an accidental meeting of gentlemen, to the number of 600, at the tomb of an hermit named John, who had died among the Pyrenees. At this place, where they had met on account of the supposed sanctity of the deceased, they took occasion to converse on the cruelty of the Moors, the miseries to which the country was exposed, and the glory that would result from throwing off their yoke; which, they supposed, might easily be done, by reason of the strength of their country. On mature deliberation, the project was approved; one Don Garcia Ximenes was appointed king, as being of illustrious birth, and looked upon as a person of great abilities. He recovered Ainfia, one of the principal towns of the country, out of the hands of the infidels, and his successor Don Garcia Inigas extended his territories as far as Biscay; however, the Moors still possessed Portugal, Murcia, Andalusia, Valencia, Granada, Tortosa, with the interior part of the country as far as the mountains of Castile and Saragossa. Their internal dissensions, which revived after the death of Abdelrahman, contributed greatly to reduce the power of the infidels in general. In 778, Charles the Great being invited by some discontented Moorish governors, entered Spain of Charles with two great armies; one passing through Catalonia, the Great and the other through Navarre, where he pushed his conquests as far as the Ebro. On his return he was attacked and defeated by the Moors; though this did not hinder him from keeping possession of all those places he had already reduced. At this time he seems to have been master of Navarre; however, in 831 count Azner, revolting from Pepin son to the emperor Louis, again revived the independency of Navarre; but the sovereigns did not assume the title of kings till the time of Don Garcia, who began to reign in 857.

In the mean time, the kingdom founded by Don Pelagio, now called the kingdom of Leon and Oviedo, continued to increase rapidly in strength, and many advantages were gained over the Moors, who having two enemies to contend with, lost ground every day. In 921, however, they gained a great victory over the united forces of Navarre and Leon, by which the whole force of the Christians in Spain must have been entirely broken, had not the victors conducted their affairs so wretchedly, that they suffered themselves to be almost entirely cut in pieces by the remains of the Christian army. In short, the Christians became at length formidable to the Moors, that it is probable they could not long have kept their footing in Spain, had not a great general, named Mohammed Ebn Amir Almanzor, appeared, in 979, to support their sinking cause. This man was vizir to the king of Cordova, and being exceedingly provoked against the Christians on account of what his countrymen had suffered from them, made war with the most implacable fury. He took the city of Leon, murdered the inhabitants, and reduced the houses to ashes. Barcelona shared the same fate; Castile was reduced to a desert; Galicia and Portugal ravaged; and he is said to have overcome the Christians in fifty different engagements. At last, having taken and demolished the city of Compostella, and carried off in triumph the gates of the church of St James, a flux happened to break out among his troops, which the superstitious Christians supposed to be a divine judgment on account of his sacrilege. Taking it for granted, therefore, that the Moors were now entirely destitute of all heavenly aid, they fell upon them with such fury in the next engagement, that all the valour and conduct of Almanzor could not prevent a defeat. Overcome with shame and despair at this misfortune, he deprived his followers to shift for themselves, while he himself retired to Medina Coeli, and put an end to his life by abstinence in the year 998.

During this period a new Christian principality appeared in Spain, namely that of Castile, which is now divided into the Old and New Castile. The Old Castile was recovered long before that called the New. It was separated from the kingdom of Leon on one side by some little rivers; on the other, it was bounded by the Asturias, Biscay, and the province of Rioja. On the south it had the mountains of Segovia and Avila; thus lying in the middle between the Christian kingdom of Leon and Oviedo, and the Moorish kingdom of Cordova. Hence this district soon became an object of contention between the kings of Leon and those of Cordova; and as the former were generally victorious, some of the principal Castilian nobility retained their independency under the protection of the Christian kings, even when the power of the Moors was at its greatest height. In 884 we first hear of Don Rodriguez assuming the title of count of Castile, though it does not appear that either his territory or title were given him by the king of Leon. Nevertheless, this monarch having taken upon him to punish some of the Castilian lords as rebels, the inhabitants made a formal renunciation of their allegiance, and set up a new kind of government. The supreme power was now vested in two persons of quality styled judges; however, this method did not long continue to give satisfaction, and the sovereignty was once more vested in a single person. By degrees Castile fell entirely under the power of the kings of Leon and Oviedo; and, in 1035, Don Sanchez bestowed it on his eldest son Don Ferdinand, with the title of king; and thus the territories of Castile were first firmly united to those of Leon and Oviedo, and the sovereigns were thenceforth styled kings of Leon and Castile.

Besides all these, another Christian kingdom was set up in Spain about the beginning of the 11th century. This was the kingdom of Arragon. The inhabitants were very brave, and lovers of liberty, so that it is probable they had in some degree maintained their independency, even when the power of the Moors was greatest. The history of Arragon, however, during its infancy, is much less known than that of any of the others hitherto mentioned. We are only assured, that about the year 1035, Don Sanchez, surnamed the Great, king of Navarre, erected Arragon into a kingdom in favour of his son Don Ramira, and afterwards it became very powerful. At this time, then, we may imagine the continent of Spain divided into two unequal parts by a straight line drawn from east to west, from the coasts of Valencia to a little below the mouth of the Duro. The country north of this belonged to the Christians, who, as yet, had the smallest and least valuable share, and all the rest to the Moors. In point of wealth and real power, both by land and sea, the Moors were greatly superior; but their continual divisions greatly weakened them, and every day facilitated the progress of the Christians. Indeed, had either of the parties been united, the other must soon have yielded; for though the Christians did not make war upon each other constantly as the Moors did, their mutual feuds were yet sufficient to have ruined them, had their adversaries made the least use of the advantages thus afforded them. But among the Moors almost every city was a kingdom; and as these petty sovereignties supported one another very indifferently, they fell a prey one after another to their enemies. In 1080, the king of Toledo was engaged in a war with the king of Seville, another Moorish potentate; which being observed by Alphonso king of Castile, he also invaded his territories; and in four years made himself master of Toledo and the city of Toledo, with all the places of importance in Madrid and its neighbourhood; from thenceforth making Toledo the capital of his dominions. In a short time the whole province of New Castile submitted; and Madrid, the present capital of Spain, fell into the hands of the Christians, being at that time but a small place.

The Moors were so much alarmed at these conquests, that they not only entered into a general confederacy against the Christians, but invited to their assistance Mahomet Ben Joseph the sovereign of Barbary. He accordingly came, attended by an incredible multitude; victory but was utterly defeated by the Christians in the defiles gained over of the Black Mountain, or Sierra Morena, on the borders of Andalusia. This victory happened on the 16th of July 1212, and the anniversary is still celebrated at Toledo. This victory was not improved; the Christian army immediately dispersed themselves, while the Moors of Andalusia were strengthened by the remains of the African army; yet, instead of being taught, by their past misfortunes, to unite among themselves, their dissensions became worse than ever, and the conquests of the Christians became daily more rapid. In 1236, Don Ferdinand of Castile and Leon took the celebrated city of Cordova, the residence of the first Moorish kings; at the same time that James I. of Arragon dispossessed them of the island of Majorca, and drove them out of Valencia. Two years after, Ferdinand made himself master of Murcia, and took the city of Seville; and in 1239 Ferdinand IV. reduced Gibraltar.

In the time of Edward III., we find England, for the first time, interfering in the affairs of Spain, on the following occasion. In the year 1384 the kingdom of Navarre had been united to that of France by the marriage of Donna Joanna queen of Navarre with Philip the Fair of France. In 1328, however, the kingdoms were again separated, though the sovereigns of Navarre were still related to those of France. In 1350, Charles, surnamed the Wicked, ascended the throne of Navarre, and married the daughter of John king of France. Notwithstanding this alliance, and that he himself was related to the royal family of France, he secretly entered into a negotiation with England against the French monarch, and even drew into his schemes the dauphin Charles, afterwards surnamed the Wise. The young prince, however, was soon after made fully sensible of the danger and folly of the connections into which he had entered; and, by way of atonement, promised to sacrifice his associates. Accordingly he invited the king of Navarre, and some of the principal nobility of the same party, to a feast at Rouen, where he betrayed them to his father. The most obnoxious were executed, and the king of Navarre was thrown into prison. In this extremity, the party of the king of Navarre had recourse to England. The prince of Wales, surnamed John king of Francs Spain. the Black Prince, invaded France, defeated king John at Poitiers, and took him prisoner; which unfortunate event produced the most violent disturbances in that kingdom. The dauphin, now about 19 years of age, naturally assumed the royal power during his father's captivity; but possessed neither experience nor authority sufficient to remedy the prevailing evils. In order to obtain supplies, he assembled the estates of the kingdom; but that assembly, instead of supporting his administration, laid hold of the present opportunity to demand limitations of the prince's power, the punishment of past malversations, and the liberty of the king of Navarre. Marcel, provost of the merchants of Paris, and first magistrate of that city, put himself at the head of the unruly populace, and pushed them to commit the most criminal outrages against the royal authority. They detained the dauphin in a kind of captivity, murdered in his presence Robert de Clermont and John de Conflans, marshals of France; threatened all the other ministers with the like fate; and when Charles, who had been obliged to temporize and dissemble, made his escape from their hands, they levied war against him, and openly rebelled. The other cities of the kingdom, in imitation of the capital, shook off the dauphin's authority, took the government into their own hands, and spread the contagion into every province.

Amidst these disorders, the king of Navarre made his escape from prison, and presented a dangerous leader to the furious malecontents. He revived his pretensions to the crown of France; but in all his operations he acted more like a leader of banditti than one who aspired to be the head of a regular government, and who was engaged by his station to endeavour the re-establishment of order in the community. All the French, therefore, who wished to restore peace to their country, turned their eyes towards the dauphin; who, though not remarkable for his military talents, daily gained by his prudence and vigilance the ascendancy over his enemies. Marcel, the factious provost of Paris, was slain in attempting to deliver that city to the king of Navarre. The capital immediately returned to its duty: the most considerable bodies of the mutinous peasants were dispersed or put to the sword; some bands of military robbers underwent the same fate; and France began once more to assume the appearance of civil government.

John was succeeded in the throne of France by his son Charles V., a prince educated in the school of adversity, and well qualified, by his prudence and experience, to repair the losses which the kingdom had sustained from the errors of his predecessors. Contrary to the practice of all the great princes of those times, who held nothing in estimation but military courage, he seems to have laid it down as a maxim, never to appear at the head of his armies; and he was the first European monarch that showed the advantage of policy and foresight over a rash and precipitate valour.

Before Charles could think of counterbalancing so great a power as England, it was necessary for him to remedy the many disorders to which his own kingdom was exposed. He accordingly turned his arms against and obliged the king of Navarre, the great disturber of France during that age; and he defeated that prince, and reduced him to terms, by the valour and conduct of Bertrand du Guesclin, one of the most accomplished captains of those times, whom Charles had the discernment to choose as the instrument of his victories. He also settled the affairs of Brittany, by acknowledging the title of Montfort, and receiving homage for his dominions. But much was yet to be done. On the conclusion of the peace of Bretigny, the many military adventurers who had followed the fortunes of Edward, being dispersed into the several provinces, and possessed of strongholds, refused to lay down their arms, or relinquish a course of life to which they were now accustomed, and by which alone they could earn a subsistence. They associated themselves with the banditti, who were already inured to the habits of rapine and violence; and, under the name of companions and compatriots, became a terror to all the peaceable inhabitants. Some English and Gascon gentlemen of character were not ashamed to take the command of these ruffians, whose number amounted to near 40,000, and who bore the appearance of regular armies rather than bands of robbers. As Charles was not able by power to redress so enormous a grievance, he was led by necessity, as well as by the turn of his character, to correct it by policy; to discover some method of discharging into foreign countries this dangerous and intestine evil; and an occasion now offered.

Alphonso XI., king of Castile, who took the city of Algeciras from the Moors, after a famous siege of two years, during which artillery are said first to have been used by the besieged, had been succeeded by his son Peter I., surnamed the Cruel; a prince equally perfidious, debauched, and bloody. He began his reign with the murder of his father's mistress Leonora de Guzman; his nobles fell every day the victims of his severity: he put to death his cousin and one of his natural brothers, from groundless jealousy; and he caused his queen Blanche de Bourbon, of the blood of France, to be thrown into prison, and afterwards poisoned, that he might enjoy in quiet the embraces of Mary de Padella, with whom he was violently enamoured.

Henry count of Trastamara, the king's natural brother, alarmed at the fate of his family, and dreading his own, took arms against the tyrant; but having failed in the attempt, he fled to France, where he found the minds of men much inflamed against Peter, on account of the murder of the French princess. He asked permission of Charles to enlist the companions in his service, and to lead them into Castile against his brother. The French king, charmed with the project, employed du Guesclin in negotiating with the leaders of these banditti. The treaty was soon concluded; and du Guesclin having completed his levies, led the army first to Avignon, where the Pope then resided, and demanded, sword in hand, absolution for his ruffian soldiers, who had been excommunicated, and the sum of 200,000 livres for their subsistence. The first was readily promised him; but some difficulty being made with regard to the second, du Guesclin replied, "My fellows, I believe, may make a shift to do without your absolution, but the money is absolutely necessary." His Holiness then extorted from the inhabitants of the city and its neighbourhood the sum of 100,000 livres, and offered it to du Guesclin. "It is not my purpose (cried that generous warrior) to oppress the innocent people." The pope and his cardinals can spare me double the sum from their own pockets. I therefore insist, that... plan for defeating the invasion of a powerful enemy; and he prudently persevered in following it, though contrary to his own natural temper and to the genius of his people. He determined to remain altogether upon the defensive, and to deprive the enemy of subsistence by laying waste the country before them. The execution of this plan was committed to the marshal Montmorency its author, a man happily fitted for such a trust by the inflexible severity of his disposition. He made choice of a strong camp, under the walls of Avignon, at the confluence of the Rhone and Durance, where he assembled a considerable army; while the king, with another body of troops, encamped at Valence, higher up the Rhone. Marseilles and Arles were the only towns he thought it necessary to defend; and each of these he furnished with a numerous garrison of his best troops. The inhabitants of the other towns were compelled to abandon their habitations; the fortifications of such places as might have afforded shelter to the enemy were thrown down; corn, forage, and provisions of every kind, were carried off or destroyed; the mills and ovens were ruined, and the wells filled up or rendered useless.

This devastation extended from the Alps to Marseilles, and from the sea to the confines of Dauphiny; so that the emperor, when he arrived with the van of his army on the confines of Provence, instead of that rich and populous country which he expected to enter, beheld nothing but one vast and desert solitude. He did not, however, despair of success, though he saw that he would have many difficulties to encounter; and as an encouragement to his officers, he made them liberal promises of lands and honours in France. But all the land which any of them obtained was a grave, and their master lost much honour by this rash and presumptuous enterprise. After unsuccessfully investing Marseilles and Arles, after attempting in vain to draw Montmorency from his camp at Avignon, and not daring to attack it, Charles having spent two inglorious months in Provence, and lost one half of his troops by disease or by famine, was under the necessity of ordering a retreat; and though he was some time in motion before the enemy suspected his intention, it was conducted with so much precipitation and disorder, as to deserve the name of a flight, since the light troops of France turned it into a perfect rout. The invasion of Picardy was not more successful: the imperial forces were obliged to retire without effecting any conquest of importance.

Charles had no sooner conducted the shattered remains of his army to the frontiers of Milan, than he set out for Genoa; and unwilling to expose himself to the scorn of the Italians after such a reverse of fortune, he embarked directly for Spain.

Meanwhile Francis gave himself up to that vain resentment which had formerly disgraced the prosperity of his rival. They had frequently, in the course of their quarrels, given each other the lie, and mutual challenges had been sent; which, though productive of no serious consequences between the parties, had a powerful tendency to encourage the pernicious practice of duelling. Charles, in his invective pronounced at Rome, had publicly accused Francis of perfidy and breach of faith; Francis now exceeded Charles in the indecency of his accusations. The Dauphin dying suddenly, his death was imputed to poison: Montecuculi his cup-bearer was put to the rack; and that unhappy nobleman, in the agonies of torture, accused the emperor's generals Gonzaga and de Leyva, of instigating him to the detestable act. The emperor himself was suspected; nay, this distorted confession, and some obscure hints, were considered as incontrovertible proofs of his guilt; though it was evident to all mankind, that neither Charles nor his generals could have any inducement to perpetrate such a crime, as Francis was still in the vigour of life himself, and had two sons besides the dauphin, grown up to a good age.

But the incensed monarch's resentment did not stop here. Francis was not satisfied with endeavouring to blacken the character of his rival by an ambiguous testimony which led to the most injurious suspicions, and upon which the most cruel constructions had been put; he was willing to add rebellion to murder. For this purpose he went to the parliament of Paris; where being seated with the usual solemnities, the advocate-general appeared, and accused Charles of Austria (so he affected to call the emperor) of having violated the treaty of Cambrai, by which he was freed from the homage due to the crown of France for the counties of Artois and Flanders; adding, that this treaty being now void, he was still to be considered as a vassal of France, and consequently had been guilty of rebellion in taking arms against his sovereign. The charge was sustained, and Charles was summoned to appear before the parliament of Paris at a day fixed. The term expired; and no person appearing in the emperor's name, at Paris, the parliament gave judgment, that Charles of Austria had forfeited, by rebellion and contumacy, the counties of Flanders and Artois, and declared these fiefs reunited to the crown of France.

Francis, soon after this vain display of his animosity, marched into the Low Countries, as if he had intended to execute the sentence pronounced by his parliament; but a suspension of arms took place, through the interposition of the queens of France and Hungary, before any thing of consequence was effected: and this cessation of hostilities was followed by a truce, concluded at Nice, through the mediation of the reigning pontiff Paul III. of the family of Farnese, a man of a venerable character and pacific disposition.

Each of these rival princes had strong reasons to incline them to peace. The finances of both were exhausted; and the emperor, the most powerful of the two, was deeply impressed with the dread of the Turkish league, which Francis had drawn upon him by a league with Soliman. In consequence of this league, Barbarossa with a great fleet appeared on the coast of Naples; filled that kingdom with consternation; landed without resistance near Taranto; obliged Castro, a place of some strength, to surrender; plundered the adjacent country; and was taking measures for securing and extending his conquests, when the unexpected arrival of Doria, the famous Genoese admiral, together with the pope's galleys and a squadron of the Venetian fleet, made it prudent for him to retire. The sultan's forces also invaded Hungary, where Mahomet the Turkish general, after gaining several inferior advantages, defeated the Germans in a great battle at Eger on the Drave. Happily for Charles and Europe it was not in Francis's power at this juncture either to join the Turks or assemble semble an army strong enough to penetrate into the Milanese. The emperor, however, was sensible that he could not long resist the efforts of two such powerful confederates, nor expect that the same fortunate circumstances would concur a second time in his favour; he therefore thought it necessary, both for his safety and reputation, to give his consent to a truce: and Francis chose rather to run the risk of disobliging his new ally the Sultan, than to draw on his head the indignation, and perhaps the arms, of all Christendom, by obstinately obstructing the re-establishment of tranquility, and contributing to the aggrandizement of the Infidels.

These considerations inclined the contending monarchs to listen to the arguments of the holy father; but he found it impossible to bring about a final accommodation between them, each inflexibly persisting in asserting his own claims. Nor could he prevail on them to see one another, though both came to the place of rendezvous: so great was the remains of distrust and rancour, or such the difficulty of adjusting the ceremonial! Yet, improbable as it may seem, a few days after signing the truce, the emperor, in his passage to Barcelona, being driven on the coast of Provence, Francis invited him to come ashore; frankly visited him on board his galley, and was received and entertained with the warmest demonstrations of esteem and affection. Charles, with an equal degree of confidence, paid the king next day a visit at Aigues-mortes; where these two hostile rivals and vindictive enemies, who had accused each other of every kind of baseness, converging together with all the cordiality of brothers, seemed to vie with each other in expressions of respect and friendship.

Besides the glory of having restored tranquillity to Europe, the pope gained a point of much consequence to his family. He obtained for his grandson, Margaret of Austria, the emperor's natural daughter, formerly wife of Alexander de Medici, whom Charles had raised to the supreme power in Florence. Lorenzo de Medici, the kinsman and intimate companion of Alexander, had affinimated him by one of the blackest treasons recorded in history. Under pretence of having secured him an afflignation with a lady of the highest rank and great beauty, he drew him into a secret apartment of his house, and there stabbed him as he lay carelessly on a couch, expecting the embrace of the lovely fair, whom he had often solicited in vain. Lorenzo, however, did not reap the fruits of his crime; for though some of his countrymen extolled him as a third Brutus, and endeavoured to seize this occasion for recovering their liberties, the government of Florence passed into the hands of Cosmo II., another kinsman of Alexander. Cosmo was desirous of marrying the widow of his predecessor; but the emperor chose rather to oblige the pope, by bestowing his daughter upon Octavio Farnese, son of the duke of Parma.

Charles had soon farther cause to be sensible of his obligations to the holy father for bringing about the treaty of Nice. His troops everywhere mutinied for want of pay, and the ability of his generals only could have prevented a total revolt. He had depended, as his chief resource for discharging the arrears due to his soldiers, upon the subsidies which he expected from his Castilian subjects. For this purpose he assembled the Cortes of Castile at Toledo; and having represented to them the great expense of his military operations, he proposed to levy such supplies as the present exigency of affairs demanded, by a general excise on commodities; but the Spaniards, who already felt themselves oppressed by a load of taxes unknown to their ancestors, and who had often complained that their country was drained of its wealth and inhabitants, in order to procure quarrels in which they had no interest, determined not to add voluntarily to their own burdens. The nobles, in particular, inveighed with great vehemence against the imposition proposed, as an encroachment on the valuable and distinguishing privilege of their order, that of being exempted from the payment of any tax. After employing arguments and promises in vain, Charles dismissed the assembly with indignation; and from that period neither the nobles nor the prelates have been called to the Cortes, on pretence that such as pay no part of the public taxes should not claim a vote in laying them on. These assemblies have since consisted merely of the procurators or representatives of 18 cities, two from each; in all 36 members, who are absolutely at the devotion of the crown.

The citizens of Ghent, still more bold, broke out not long after into open rebellion against the emperor's government, on account of a tax which they judged contrary to their ancient privileges, and a decision of the council of Mechlin in favour of the imperial authority. Enraged at an unjust imposition, and rendered desperate on seeing their rights betrayed by that very court which was bound to protect them, they flew to arms, seized several of the emperor's officers, and drove such of the nobility as resided among them out of the city. Sensible, however, of their inability to support what their zeal had prompted them to undertake, and desirous of securing a protector against the formidable forces with which they might expect soon to be attacked, they offered to acknowledge the king of France as their sovereign, to put him into immediate possession of their city, and to assist him in recovering those provinces in the Netherlands which had anciently belonged to his crown. True policy directed Francis to comply with this proposal. The counties of Flanders and Artois were more valuable than the duchy of Milan, for which he had so long contended; and their situation in regard to France made it more easy to conquer or to defend them. But Francis over-rated the Milanese. He had lived in friendship with the emperor ever since their interview at Aigues-mortes, and Charles had promised him the investiture of that duchy. Forgetting, therefore, all his past injuries, and the deceitful promises by which he had been so often duped, the credulous, generous Francis, not only rejected the propositions of the citizens of Ghent, but communicated to the emperor his whole negociation with the malecontents.

Judging of Charles's heart by his own, Francis hoped by this seemingly disinterested proceeding to obtain at once the investiture of Milan; and the emperor, well acquainted with the weakness of his rival, flattered him in this apprehension, for his own selfish purposes. His presence being necessary in the Netherlands, he demanded a passage through France. It was immediately granted him; and Charles, to whom every moment was precious, set out, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his council and the fears of his Spanish subjects, with a small which he could immediately have procured by a letter to his generals.

The concern expressed by Henry and Francis for the calamity of their ally was more sincere. Alarmed at the progress of the imperial arms, they had, even before the taking of Rome, entered into a closer alliance, and agreed to invade the Low Countries with a powerful army; but no sooner did they hear of the Pope's captivity, than they changed, by a new treaty, the scene of the projected war from the Netherlands to Italy, and resolved to take the most vigorous measures for restoring him to liberty. Henry, however, contributed only money. A French army entered Italy, under the command of Marshal Lautrec; Clement obtained his freedom; and war was for a time carried on by the confederates with success; but the death of Lautrec, and the revolt of Andrew Doria, a Genoese admiral in the service of France, entirely changed the face of affairs. The French army was utterly ruined; and Francis, discouraged and almost exhausted by so many unsuccessful enterprises, began to think of peace, and of obtaining the release of his sons by concessions, not by the terror of his arms.

At the same time Charles, notwithstanding the advantages he had gained, had many reasons to wish for an accommodation. Sultan Solyman having overrun Hungary, was ready to break in upon the Austrian territories with the whole force of the East; and the progress of the Reformation in Germany threatened the tranquillity of the empire. In consequence of this situation of affairs, though pride made both parties conceal or dissemble their real sentiments, two ladies were permitted to restore peace to Europe. Margaret of Austria, Charles's aunt, and Louisa, Francis's mother, met in 1529 at Cambrai, and settled the terms of accommodation between the French king and the emperor. Francis agreed to pay two millions of crowns as the ransom of his two sons, to resign the sovereignty of Flanders and Artois, and to forego all his Italian claims; and Charles ceased to demand the restitution of Burgundy.

All the steps of this negotiation had been communicated to the king of England; and Henry was, on that occasion, so generous to his friend and ally Francis, that he sent him an acquittal of near six hundred thousand crowns, in order to enable him to fulfil his agreement with Charles. But Francis's Italian confederates were less satisfied with the treaty of Cambrai. They were almost wholly abandoned to the will of the emperor; and seemed to have no other means of security left but his equity and moderation. Of these, from his past conduct, they had not formed the most advantageous idea. But Charles's present circumstances, more especially in regard to the Turks, obliged him to behave with a generosity inconsistent with his character. The Florentines alone, whom he reduced under the dominion of the family of Medici, had reason to complain of his severity. Sforza obtained the investiture of Milan and his pardon; and every other power experienced the lenity of the conqueror.

After having received the imperial crown from the hands of the Pope at Bologna, Charles proceeded on his journey to Germany, where his presence was become highly necessary; for although the conduct and valour of his brother Ferdinand, on whom he had conferred the hereditary dominions of the house of Austria, and who had been elected king of Hungary, had obliged Solyman to retire with infamy and loss, his return was to be feared, and the disorders of religion were daily increasing; an account of which, and of the emperor's transactions with the Protestants, is given under the article Reformation.

Charles having exerted himself as much as he could against the reformers, undertook his first expedition against the piratical states of Africa. Barbary, or that part of the African continent lying along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, was then nearly in the same condition which it is at present. Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis, were its principal states; and the two last were nests of pirates. Barbarossa, a famous Corsair, had succeeded his brother in the kingdom of Algiers, which he had formerly assisted him to usurp. He regulated with much prudence the interior police of his kingdom, carried on his piracies with great vigour, and extended his conquests on the continent of Africa; but perceiving that the natives submitted to his government with impatience, and fearing that his continual depredations would one day draw upon him a general combination of the Christian powers, he put his dominions under the protection of the grand seignior. Solyman, flattered by such an act of submission, and charmed with the boldness of the man, offered him the command of the Turkish fleet. Proud of this distinction, Barbarossa repaired to Constantinople, and made use of his influence with the sultan to extend his own dominion. Partly by force, partly by treachery, he usurped the kingdom of Tunis; and being now possessed of greater power, he carried on his depredations against the Christian states with more destructive violence than ever.

Daily complaints of the piracies and ravages committed by the galleys of Barbarossa were brought to the emperor by his subjects, both in Spain and Italy; and all Christendom seemed to look up to him, as its greatest and most fortunate prince, for relief from this new and odious species of oppression. At the same time Muley-Hafeen, the exiled king of Tunis, finding none of the African princes able or willing to support him in recovering his throne, applied to Charles for assistance against the usurper. Equally desirous of delivering his dominions from the dangerous neighbourhood of Barbarossa, of appearing as the protector of an unfortunate prince, and of acquiring the glory annexed in that age to every expedition against the Mahometans, the emperor readily concluded a treaty with Muley Hafeen, and set sail for Tunis with a formidable armament. The Goletta, a sea-port town, fortified with 300 pieces of cannon, was taken, together with all Barbarossa's fleet; he was defeated in a pitched battle, and 10,000 Christian slaves, having knocked off their fetters, and made themselves masters of the citadel, Tunis was prepared to surrender. But while Charles was deliberating on the conditions, his troops fearing that they would be deprived of the booty which they had expected, broke suddenly into the town, and pillaged and massacred without diffusion. Thirty thousand persons perished by the sword, and 10,000 were made prisoners. The sceptre was restored to Muley Hafeen, on condition that he should acknowledge himself a vassal of the crown of Spain, put into the emperor's hands all the fortified sea-ports in the kingdom of Tunis, and pay annually 12,000 crowns for the subsistence of the Spanish garrison in the Goletta. These points being settled, and 2,000 Christian slaves freed from bondage either by arms or by treaty, Charles returned to Europe, where his presence was become necessary; while Barbarossa, who had retired to Bona, recovered new strength, and again became the tyrant of the ocean.

The king of France took advantage of the emperor's absence to revive his pretensions in Italy. The treaty of Cambrai had covered up but not extinguished the flames of discord. Francis in particular, who waited only for a favourable opportunity of recovering the territories and reputation which he had lost, continued to negotiate against his rival with different courts. But all his negotiations were disconcerted by unforeseen accidents. The death of Clement VII. (whom he had gained by marrying his son the duke of Orleans, afterwards Henry II. to Catharine de Medici, the niece of that pontiff), deprived him of all the support which he hoped to receive from the court of Rome. The king of England, occupied with domestic cares and projects, declined engaging in the affairs of the continent; and the Protestant princes, allocated by the league of Smalkalde, to whom Francis had also applied, and who seemed disposed at first to listen to him, filled with indignation and resentment at the cruelty with which some of their reformed brethren had been treated in France, refused to have any connection with the enemy of their religion.

Francis was neither cruel nor bigotted: he was too indolent to concern himself about religious disputes; but his principles becoming suspected, at a time when the emperor was gaining immortal glory by his expedition against the Infidels, he found it necessary to vindicate himself by some extraordinary demonstration of reverence for the established faith. The indireet zeal of some Protestant converts furnished him with the occasion. They had affixed to the gates of the Louvre and other public places papers containing indecent reflections on the rites of the Romish church. Six of the persons concerned in this rash action were seized; and the king, pretending to be struck with horror at their blasphemies, appointed a solemn procession, in order to avert the wrath of heaven. The holy sacrament was carried through the city of Paris in great pomp: Francis walked uncovered before it, bearing a torch in his hand; the princes of the blood supported the canopy over it; the nobles walked behind. In presence of this numerous assembly, the king declared, that if one of his hands were infected with heresy, he would cut it off with the other; "and I would sacrifice (added he) even my own children, if found guilty of that crime." As an awful proof of his sincerity, the six unhappy persons who had been seized were publicly burnt, before the procession was finished, and in the most cruel manner. They were fixed upon a machine which descended into the flames, and retired alternately, until they expired.—No wonder that the Protestant princes were incensed at such barbarity!

But Francis, though unsupported by any ally, commanded his army to advance towards the frontiers of Italy, under pretence of chastising the duke of Milan for a breach of the law of nations, in putting to death his ambassador. The operations of war, however, soon took a new direction. Instead of marching directly to the Milanese, Francis commenced hostilities against the duke of Savoy, with whom he had cause to be dissatisfied, and on whom he had some claims; and before the end of the campaign, that feeble prince saw himself stripped of all his dominions, except the province of Piedmont. To complete his misfortunes, the city of Geneva, the sovereignty of which he claimed, and where the reformed opinions had already got footing, threw off the yoke of his yoke; and its revolt drew along with it the loss of the adjacent territory. Geneva was then an imperial city, and has ever since remained entirely free.

In this extremity the duke of Savoy saw no resource but in the emperor's protection; and as his misfortunes were chiefly occasioned by his attachment to the imperial interest, he had a title to immediate alliance. But Charles, who was just returned from his African expedition, was not able to lend him the necessary support. His treasury was entirely drained, and he was obliged to disband his army till he could raise new supplies. Meanwhile the death of Sforza duke of Milan entirely changed the nature of the war, and afforded the emperor full leisure to prepare for action. The French monarch's pretext for taking up arms was at once cut off; but as the duke died without issue, all Francis's rights to the duchy of Milan, which he had yielded only to Sforza and his descendants, returned to him in full force. He instantly renewed his claim to it; and if he had ordered his army immediately to advance, he might have made himself master of it. But he unfortunately wasted his time in fruitless negotiations, while his more politic rival took possession of the duchy as a vacant fief of the empire; and though Charles seemed still to admit the equity of Francis's claim, he delayed granting the investiture under various pretences, and was secretly taking every possible measure to prevent him from regaining footing in Italy.

During the time gained in this manner Charles had recruited his finances, and of course his armies; and finding himself in a condition for war, he at last threw off the mask under which he had so long concealed his designs from the court of France. Entering Rome with great pomp, he pronounced before the pope and cardinals, assembled in full consistory, a violent invective against Francis, by way of reply to his propositions concerning the investiture of Milan. Yet Francis, by an unaccountable fatality, continued to negotiate, as if it of Francis, had been still possible to terminate their differences in an amicable manner; and Charles, finding him so eager to run into the snare, favoured the deception, and, by seeming to listen to his proposals, gained yet more time for the execution of his ambitious projects.

If misfortunes had rendered Francis too diffident, Charles at success had made Charles too languine. He presumed to nothing less than the subversion of the French monarchy; nay, he considered it as an infallible event. Having chased the forces of his rival out of Piedmont and Savoy, he pushed forward at the head of 50,000 men, contrary to the advice of his most experienced ministers and generals, to invade the southern provinces of France; while other two armies were ordered to enter it, the one on the side of Picardy, the other on the side of Champagne. He thought it impossible that Francis could resist so many unexpected attacks on such different quarters; but he found himself mistaken.

The French monarch fixed upon the most effectual plan hands the balance of power among the potentates of Europe. Feats of chivalry however, parties of gallantry, and such exercises as were in that age reckoned manly or elegant, rather than serious business, occupied the two courts during the time that they continued together, which was 18 days.

After taking leave of this scene of dissipation, the king of England paid a visit to the emperor and Margaret of Savoy at Gravelines, and engaged them to go along with him to Calais; where the artful and politic Charles completed the impression which he had begun to make on Henry and his favourite, and effaced all the friendship to which the frank and generous nature of Francis had given birth. He renewed his assurances of afflicting Wolsey in obtaining the papacy; and he put him in present possession of the revenues belonging to the fees of Badajoz and Palencia in Spain. He flattered Henry's pride, by convincing him of his own importance, and of the justness of the motto which he had chosen; offering to submit to his sole arbitration any difference that might arise between him and Francis.

This important point being secured, Charles repaired with the imperial crown to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he was solemnly invested with the crown and sceptre of Charlemagne, in presence of a more splendid and numerous assembly than had appeared on any former inauguration. About the same time Soliman the Magnificent, one of the most accomplished, enterprising, and victorious of the Turkish princes, and a constant and formidable rival to the emperor, ascended the Ottoman throne.

The first act of Charles's administration was to appoint a diet of the empire, to be held at Worms, in order to concert with the princes proper measures for checking the progress of "those new and dangerous opinions which threatened to disturb the peace of Germany, and to overturn the religion of their ancestors." The opinions propagated by Luther and his followers were here meant. But all his efforts for that purpose were insufficient, as is related under the articles Luther and Reformation.

In 1521, the Spaniards, dissatisfied with the departure of their sovereign, whose election to the empire they foretold would interfere with the administration of his own kingdom, and incensed at the avarice of the Flemings, to whom the direction of public affairs had been committed since the death of cardinal Ximenes, several grandees, in order to shake off this oppression, entered into an association, to which they gave the name of the Sancho Junta; and the sword was appealed to as the means of redress. This seemed to Francis a favourable juncture for reinstating the family of John d'Albert in the kingdom of Navarre. Charles was at a distance from that part of his dominions, and the troops usually stationed there had been called away to quell the commotions in Spain. A French army, under Andrew de Foix, speedily conquered Navarre; but that young and inexperienced nobleman, pushed on by military ardour, ventured to enter Castile. The Spaniards, though divided among themselves, united against a foreign enemy, routed his forces, took him prisoner, and recovered Navarre in a shorter time than he had spent in subduing it.

Hostilities thus begun in one quarter, between the rival monarchs, soon spread to another. The king of France encouraged the duke of Bouillon to make war against the emperor, and to invade Luxembourg. Charles, after humbling the duke, attempted to enter France; but was repelled and worsted before Mezieres by the famous chevalier Bayard, distinguished among his contemporaries by the appellation of The Knight without fear and without reproach; and who united the talents of a great general to the punctilious honour and romantic gallantry of the heroes of chivalry. Francis broke into the Low Countries, where, by an excess of caution, an error not natural to him, he lost an opportunity of cutting off the whole imperial army; and, what was of still more consequence, he disgusted the countable Bourbon, by giving the command of the van to the duke of Alençon.

During these operations in the field, an unsuccessful congress was held at Calais, under the mediation of Henry VIII. It served only to exasperate the parties which it was intended to reconcile. A league was soon after concluded, by the intrigues of Wolsey, between the pope, Henry, and Charles, against France. Leo had already entered into a separate league with the emperor, and the French were fast losing ground in Italy.

The insolence and exactions of Marshal de Lautrec, governor of Milan, had totally alienated the affections of the Milanese from France. They resolved to expel the troops of that nation, and put themselves under the government of Francis Sforza, brother to Maximilian their late duke. In this revolution, they were encouraged by the pope, who excommunicated Lautrec, and took into his pay a considerable body of Swiss. The rapid con-papal army, commanded by Prosper Colonna, an experienced general, was joined by supplies from Germany and Naples; while Lautrec, neglected by his court, and deserted by the Swiss in its pay, was unable to make head against the enemy. The city of Milan was betrayed by the inhabitants to the confederates; Parma and Placentia were united to the ecclesiastical state; and of their conquests in Lombardy, only the town of Cremona, the castle of Milan, and a few inconsiderable forts, remained in the hands of the French.

Leo X. received the accounts of this rapid success with such transports of joy, as are said to have brought on a fever, which occasioned his death. The spirit of the confederacy was broken, and its operations suspended by this accident. The Swiss were recalled; some other mercenaries disbanded for want of pay; and only the Spaniards, and a few Germans in the emperor's service, remained to defend the duchy of Milan. But Lautrec, who with the remnant of his army had taken shelter in the Venetian territories, destitute both of men and money, was unable to improve this favourable opportunity as he wished. All his efforts were rendered ineffectual by the vigilance and ability of Colonna and his associates.

Meantime much discord prevailed in the conclave. Wolsey's name, notwithstanding all the emperor's magnificent promises, was scarcely mentioned there. Julio de Medici, Leo's nephew, thought himself sure of the election; when, by an unexpected turn of fortune, cardinal Adrian of Utrecht, Charles's preceptor, who at that time governed Spain in the emperor's name, was unanimously raised to the papacy, to the astonishment of all Europe and the great disgust of the Italians. Francis, roused by the rising consequence of his rival, resolved to exert himself with fresh vigour, in order to wrest from him his late conquests in Lombardy. Lauré received a supply of money, and a reinforcement of 15,000 Swiss. With this reinforcement he was enabled once more to act offensively, and even to advance within a few miles of the city of Milan; when money again failing him, and the Swiss growing mutinous, he was obliged to attack the imperialists in their camp at Bicocca, where he was repulsed with great slaughter, having lost his bravest officers and best troops. Such of the Swiss as survived set out immediately for their own country; and Lauré, despairing of being able to keep the field, retired into France. Genoa, which still remained subject to Francis, and made it easy to execute any scheme for the recovery of Milan, was soon after taken by Colonna: the authority of the emperor and his faction was everywhere established in Italy. The citadel of Cremona was the sole fortress which remained in the hands of the French.

The affliction of Francis for such a succession of misfortunes was augmented by the unexpected arrival of an English herald, who in the name of his sovereign declared war against France. The courage of this excellent prince, however, did not forsake him: though his treasury was exhausted by expensive pleasures, nor less than by hostile enterprises, he assembled a considerable army, and put his kingdom in a posture of defence for resisting this new enemy, without abandoning any of the schemes which he was forming against the emperor. He was surprised, but not alarmed, at such a denunciation.

Meanwhile Charles, willing to draw as much advantage as possible from so powerful an ally, paid a second visit to the court of England in his way to Spain, where his presence was become necessary. His success exceeded his most sanguine expectations. He not only gained the entire friendship of Henry, who publicly ratified the treaty of Bruges; but disarmed the resentment of Wolsey, by afflicting him of the papacy on Adrian's death; an event seemingly not distant, by reason of his age and infirmities. In consequence of these negotiations an English army invaded France, under the command of the earl of Surrey; who, at the end of the campaign, was obliged to retire, with his forces greatly reduced, without being able to make himself master of one place within the French frontier. Charles was more fortunate in Spain: he soon quelled the tumults which had there arisen in his absence.

While the Christian princes were thus wasting each other's strength, Solyman the Magnificent entered Hungary, and made himself master of Belgrade, reckoning the chief barrier of that kingdom against the Turkish power. Encouraged by this success, he turned his victorious arms against the island of Rhodes, at that time the seat of the knights of St John of Jerusalem; and though every prince in that age acknowledged Rhodes to be the great bulwark of Christendom in the east, so violent was their animosity against each other, that they suffered Solyman without disturbance to carry on his operations against that city and island. Little Adam, the grandmaster, made a gallant defence; but, after incredible efforts of courage, patience, and military conduct, during a siege of six months, he was obliged to surrender the place, having obtained an honourable capitulation from the sultan, who admired and respected his heroic qualities (see Rhodes and Malta). Charles and Francis were equally ashamed of having occasioned such a loss to Christendom by their contests; and the emperor, by way of reparation, granted to the knights of St John the small island of Malta, where they fixed their residence, and continued long to retain their ancient spirit, though much diminished in power and splendour.

Adrian VI., though the creature of the emperor, and devoted to his interest, endeavoured to assume the impartiality which became the common father of Christendom, and laboured to reconcile the contending princes, that they might unite in a league against Solyman, whose conquest of Rhodes rendered him more formidable than ever to Europe. The Italian states were no less delirious of peace than the pope: and to much regard was paid by the hostile powers to the exhortations of his holiness, and to a bull which he issued, requiring all Christian princes to consent to a truce for three years, that the imperial, the French, and the English ambassadors at Rome, were empowered to treat of that matter; but while they waited their time in fruitless negotiations, their matters were continuing their preparations for war; and other negociations soon took place. The confederacy against France became more formidable than ever.

The Venetians, who had hitherto adhered to the French interest, formed engagements with the emperor for securing Francis Sforza in the possession of the duchy of Milan; and the pope, from a persuasion that the ambition of the French monarch was the only obstacle to peace, acceded to the same alliance. The Florentines, the dukes of Ferrara and Mantua, and all the Italian powers, followed this example. Francis was left without a single ally, to retake the efforts of a multitude of enemies, whose armies everywhere threatened, and whose territories encompassed his dominions. The emperor in person menaced France with an invasion on the side of Guienne; the forces of England and the Netherlands hovered over Picardy, and a numerous body of Germans was preparing to ravage Burgundy.

The dread of so many and such powerful adversaries, it was thought, would have obliged Francis to keep wholly on the defensive, or at least have prevented him from entertaining any thoughts of marching into Italy. But before his enemies were able to strike a blow, Francis had assembled a great army, with which he hoped to disconcert all the emperor's schemes, by marching it in person into Italy: and this bold measure, the more formidable because unexpected, could scarcely have marched towards Italy, but is obliged to retreat by a domestic conspiracy, which threatened the destruction of his kingdom, obliged Francis to stop short at Lyons.

Charles duke of Bourbon, lord high constable of France, was a prince of the most shining merit: his great talents equally fitted him for the council or the field, while his eminent services to the crown entitled him to its first favour. But unhappily Louisa duchess of Angoulême, the king's mother, had contracted a violent aversion against the house of Bourbon, and had taught her son, over whom she had acquired an absolute ascendancy, to view all the constable's actions with a jealous eye. After repeated affronts he retired from court, But the Moors, notwithstanding these advantages, and the eulogies bestowed upon them by some writers, appear always to have been destitute of the essential qualities of a polished people, humanity, generosity, and mutual sympathy.

The conquest of Granada was followed by the expulsion, or rather the pillage and banishment, of the Jews, who had engrossed all the wealth and commerce of Spain. The inquisition exhausted its rage against these unhappy people, many of whom pretended to embrace Christianity, in order to preserve their property. About the same time their Catholic majesties concluded an alliance with the emperor Maximilian, and a treaty of marriage for their daughter Joan with his son Philip, archduke of Austria and sovereign of the Netherlands. About this time also the contract was concluded with Christopher Columbus for the discovery of new countries; and the counties of Rouffillon and Cerdagne were agreed to be restored by Charles VIII. of France, before his expedition into Italy. The discovery of America was soon followed by extensive conquests in that quarter, as is related under the articles Mexico, Peru, Chili, &c., which tended to raise the Spanish monarchy above any other in Europe.

On the death of Isabella, which happened in 1506, Philip archduke of Austria came to Castile in order to take possession of that kingdom as heir to his mother-in-law; but he dying in a short time after, his son Charles V., afterwards emperor of Germany, became heir to the crown of Spain. His father at his death left the king of France governor to the young prince, and Ferdinand at his death left cardinal Ximenes sole regent of Castile, till the arrival of his grandson. This man, whose character is no lessingular than illustrious, who united the abilities of a great statesman with the abject devotion of a superstitious monk, and the magnificence of a prime minister with the severity of a mendicant, maintained order and tranquillity in Spain, notwithstanding the discontentments of a turbulent and high-spirited nobility. When they disputed his right to the regency, he coolly showed them the testament of Ferdinand, and the ratification of that deed by Charles; but these not satisfying them, and argument proving ineffectual, he led them insensibly towards a balcony, whence they had a view of a large body of troops under arms, and a formidable train of artillery. "Behold (said the cardinal) the powers which I have received from his Catholic majesty; by these I govern Castile; and will govern it, till the king, your master and mine, shall come to take possession of his kingdom." A declaration so bold and determined silenced all opposition; and Ximenes maintained his authority till the arrival of Charles in 1517.

The young king was received with universal acclamations of joy; but Ximenes found little cause to rejoice. He was seized with a violent disorder, supposed to be the effect of poison; and when he recovered, Charles, prejudiced against him by the Spanish grandees and his Flemish courtiers, slighted his advice, and allowed him every day to sink into neglect. The cardinal did not bear this treatment with his usual fortitude of spirit. He expected a more grateful return from a prince to whom he delivered a kingdom more flourishing than it had been in any former age, and authority more extensive and better established than the most illustrious of his ancestors had ever possessed. Conscious of his own integrity and merit, he could not therefore refrain from giving vent, at times, to indignation and complaint. He lamented the fate of his country, and foretold the calamities to which it would be exposed from the infelicity, the rapaciousness, and the ignorance of strangers. But in the mean time he received a letter from the king, dismissing him from his councils, under pretence of easing his age of that burden which he had so long and so ably sustained. This letter proved fatal to the minister; for he expired in a few hours after reading it.

While Charles was taking possession of the throne of Maximilian Spain, in consequence of the death of one grandfather, attempts to another was endeavouring to obtain for him the imperial crown. With this view Maximilian assembled a diet at Augsburg, where he cultivated the favour of the electors by many acts of beneficence, in order to engage them to choose that young prince as his successor. But Maximilian himself never having been crowned by the pope, a ceremony deemed essential in that age, as well as in the preceding, he was considered only as king of the Romans, or emperor elect; and no example occurring in history of any person being chosen successor to a king of the Romans, the Germans, always tenacious of their forms, obstinately refused to confer upon Charles a dignity for which their constitution knew no name.

But though Maximilian could not prevail upon the German electors to choose his grandson of Spain king of the Romans, he had disposed their minds in favour of that prince; and other circumstances, on the death of the emperor, confirmed to the exaltation of Charles. The imperial crown had so long continued in the Austrian line, that it began to be considered as hereditary in that family; and Germany, torn by religious disputes, stood in need of a powerful emperor, not only to preserve its own internal tranquillity, but also to protect it against the victorious arms of the Turks, who under Selim I. threatened the liberties of Europe. This fierce and rapid conqueror had already subdued the Mamelukes, and made himself master of Egypt and Syria. The power of Charles appeared necessary to oppose that of Selim. The extensive dominions of the house of Austria, which gave him an interest in the preservation of Germany; the rich sovereignty of the Netherlands and Franche Comté; the entire possession of the great and warlike kingdom of Spain, together with that of Naples and Sicily, all united to hold him up to the first dignity among Christian princes; and the new world seemed only to be called into existence that its treasures might enable him to defend Christendom against the infidels. Such was the language of his partisans.

Francis I., however, no sooner received intelligence of the death of Maximilian, than he declared himself a candidate for the empire; and with no less confidence of success than Charles. He trusted to his superior years and experience; his great reputation in arms; and it was farther urged in his favour, that the impetuosity of the French cavalry, added to the firmness of the German infantry, would prove irresistible, and not only be sufficient, under a warlike emperor, to set limits to the ambition of Selim, but to break entirely the Ottoman power, and prevent it from ever becoming dangerous again to Germany.

Both claims were plausible. The dominions of Fran- Spain.

His subjects were numerous, active, brave, lovers of glory, and lovers of their king. These were strong arguments in favour of his power, so necessary at this juncture; but he had no natural interest in the Germanic body; and the electors, hearing so much of military force on each side, became more alarmed for their own privileges than the common safety. They determined to reject both candidates, and offered the imperial crown to Frederic, surnamed the Wise, duke of Saxony. But he, undazzled by the splendour of an object courted with so much eagerness by two mighty monarchs, rejected it with a magnanimity no less singular than great.

"In times of tranquillity (said Frederic), we wish for an emperor who has no power to invade our liberties; times of danger demand one who is able to secure our safety. The Turkish armies, led by a warlike and victorious monarch, are now assembling: they are ready to pour in upon Germany with a violence unknown in former ages. New conjunctions call for new expedients. The imperial sceptre must be committed to some hand more powerful than mine or that of any other German prince. We possess neither dominions, nor revenues, nor authority, which enable us to encounter such a formidable enemy. Recourse must be had, in this exigency, to one of the rival monarchs. Each of them can bring into the field forces sufficient for our defence. But as the king of Spain is of German extraction, as he is a member and prince of the empire by the territories which descend to him from his grandfather, and as his dominions stretch along that frontier which lies most exposed to the enemy, his claim, in my opinion, is preferable to that of a stranger to our language, to our blood, and to our country." Charles was elected in consequence of this speech in the year 1520.

The two candidates had hitherto conducted their rivalry with emulation, but without enmity. They had even mingled in their competition many expressions of friendship and regard. Francis in particular declared with his usual vivacity, that his brother Charles and he were fairly and openly suitors to the same mistress: "The most affluous and fortunate (added he) will win her; and the other must rest contented." But the preference was no sooner given to his rival, than Francis discovered all the passions natural to disappointed ambition. He could not suppress his chagrin and indignation at being baulked in his favourite pursuit, and rejected, in the face of all Europe, for a youth yet unknown to fame. The spirit of Charles resented such contempt; and from this jealousy, as much as from opposition of interests, arose that emulation between those two great monarchs which involved them in almost perpetual hostilities, and kept their whole age in movement.

Charles and Francis had many interfering claims in Italy; and the latter thought himself bound in honour to restore the king of Navarre to his dominions, unjustly seized by the crown of Spain. They immediately began to negotiate; and as Henry VIII. of England was the third prince of the age in power and in dignity, his friendship was eagerly courted by each of the rivals. He was the natural guardian of the liberties of Europe. Sensible of the consequence which his situation gave him, and proud of his pre-eminence, Henry knew it to be his interest to keep the balance even between the contending powers; and to restrain both, by not joining entirely with either; but he was seldom able to reduce his ideas to practice. Vanity and resentment were the great springs of all his undertakings; and his neighbours, by touching these, found an easy way to draw him into their measures, and force him upon many rash and inconsiderate enterprises.

All the impolitic steps in Henry's government must not, however, be imputed to himself; many of them were occasioned by the ambition and avarice of his prime minister and favourite cardinal Wolsey. This man, who, by his talents and accomplishments, had risen from one of the lowest conditions in life to the highest employments both in church and state, enjoyed a greater degree of power and dignity than any English subject ever possessed, and governed the haughty, presumptuous, and untractable spirit of Henry, with absolute authority. Francis was equally well acquainted with the character of Henry and of his minister. He had successfully flattered Wolsey's pride, by honouring him with particular marks of his confidence, and bestowing upon him the appellation of Father, Tutor, and Governor; and he had obtained the restitution of Tournay, by adding a pension to those respectful titles. He now solicited an interview with the king of England near Calais; in hopes of being able, by familiar conversation, to attach him to his friendship and interest, while he gratified the cardinal's vanity, by affording him an opportunity of displaying his magnificence in the presence of two courts, and of discovering to the two nations his influence over their monarchs. Charles dreaded the effects of this projected interview between two gallant princes, whose hearts were no less susceptible of friendship than their manners were of inspiring it. Finding it impossible, however, to prevent a visit, in which the vanity of all parties was so much concerned, he endeavoured to defeat its purpose, and to pre-occupy the favour of the English monarch, and of his minister, by an act of complaisance still more flattering and more uncommon. Relying wholly upon Henry's generosity for his safety, he landed at Dover, in his way from Spain to the Low Countries. The king of England, who was on his way to France, charmed with such an instance of confidence, hastened to receive his royal guest; and Charles, during his short stay, had the address not only to give Henry favourable impressions of his character and intentions, but to detach Wolsey entirely from the interest of Francis. The tiara had attracted the eye of that ambitious prelate; and as the emperor knew that the papacy was the sole point of elevation, beyond his present greatness, at which he could aspire, he made him an offer of his interest on the first vacancy.

The day of Charles's departure, Henry went over to Calais with his whole court, in order to meet Francis. Their interview was in an open plain between Guines and Andres; where the two kings and their attendants displayed their magnificence with such emulation and profuse expense, as procured it the name of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Here Henry erected a spacious house of wood and canvas, framed in London, on which, under the figure of an English archer, was the following motto: "He prevails whom I favour;" alluding to his own political situation, as holding in his hands... and began to listen to the advances of the emperor's ministers. Meantime the duchess of Bourbon died; and as the constable was no less amiable than accomplished, the duchess of Angoulême, still susceptible of the tender passions, formed the scheme of marrying him. But Bourbon, who might have expected every thing to which an ambitious mind can aspire, from the doating fondness of a woman who governed her son and the kingdom, incapable of imitating Louisa in her sudden transition from hate to love, or of meanly counterfeiting a passion for one who had so long pursued him with unprovoked malice, rejected the match with disdain, and turned the proposal into ridicule. At once despised and insulted by the man whom love only could have made her cease to persecute, Louisa was filled with all the rage of disappointed women; she resolved to ruin, since she could not marry, Bourbon. For this purpose she commenced an iniquitous suit against him; and by the chicanery of chancellor du Prat, the constable was stripped of his whole family estate. Driven to despair by so many injuries, he entered into a secret correspondence with the emperor and the king of England; and he proposed, as soon as Francis should have crossed the Alps, to raise an insurrection among his numerous vassals, and introduce foreign enemies into the heart of France.

Happily Francis got intimation of this conspiracy before he left the kingdom; but not being sufficiently convinced of the Constable's guilt, he suffered so dangerous a foe to escape; and Bourbon entering into the emperor's service, employed all the force of his enterprising genius, and his great talents for war, to the prejudice of his prince and his native country.

In consequence of the discovery of this plot, and the escape of the powerful conspirator, Francis relinquished his intention of leading his army in person into Italy. He was ignorant how far the infection had spread among his subjects, and afraid that his absence might encourage them to make some desperate attempt in favour of a man so much beloved. He did not, however, abandon his design on the Milanese, but sent forward an army of 30,000 men, under the command of admiral Bonivet. Colonna, who was entrusted with the defence of that duchy, was in no condition to resist such a force; and the city of Milan, on which the whole territory depends, must have fallen into the hands of the French, had not Bonivet, who possessed none of the talents of a general, wasted his time in frivolous enterprises, till the inhabitants recovered from their consternation. The imperial army was reinforced. Colonna died; and Lannoy, viceroy of Naples, succeeded him in the command; but the chief direction of military operations was committed to Bourbon and the marquis de Pescara, the greatest generals of their age. Bonivet, destitute of troops to oppose this new army, and still more of the talents which could render him a match for its leaders, after various movements and encounters, was reduced to the necessity of attempting a retreat into France. He was followed by the imperial generals, and routed at Biagia, where the famous chevalier Bayard was killed.

The emperor and his allies were less successful in their attempts upon France. They were baffled in every quarter; and Francis, though stripped of his Italian dominions, might still have enjoyed in safety the glory of having defended his native kingdom against one half of Europe, and have bid defiance to all his enemies; but understanding that the king of England, discouraged by his former fruitless enterprises, and disgusted with the emperor, was making no preparations for any attempt on Picardy, his ancient ardour seized him for the conquest of Milan, and he determined, notwithstanding the advanced season, to march into Italy.

The French army no sooner appeared in Piedmont, than the whole Milanese was thrown into consternation. The capital opened its gates. The forces of the emperor and Sforza retired to Lodi; and had Francis been so fortunate as to pursue them, they must have abandoned that post, and been totally dispersed; but his evil genius led him to besiege Pavia, a town of considerable strength, well garrisoned, and defended by Antonio de Leyva, one of the bravest officers in the Spanish service; before which place he was defeated and taken prisoner on the twenty-fourth day of February 1524.

The captivity of Francis filled all Europe with alarm. Almost the whole French army was cut off; Milan was immediately abandoned; and in a few weeks not a Frenchman was left in Italy. The power of the emperor, and still more his ambition, became an object of universal terror; and resolutions were everywhere taken to set bounds to it. Meanwhile Francis, deeply impressed with a sense of his misfortune, wrote to his mother Louisa, whom he had left regent of the kingdom, the following short but expressive letter: "All, Madam, is lost but honour." The same courier that carried this letter, carried also dispatches to Charles; who received the news of the signal and unexpected success of the French, which had crowned his arms with the most hypocritical moderation. He would not suffer any public rejoicings to be made on account of it; and said, he only valued it, as it would prove the occasion of restoring peace to Christendom. Louisa, however, did not trust to those appearances; if she could not preserve what was yet left, she determined at least that nothing should be lost through her negligence or weakness. Instead of giving herself up to such lamentations as were natural to a woman so remarkable for maternal tenderness, she discovered all the foresight, and exerted all the activity, of a consummate politician. She took every possible measure for putting the kingdom in a posture of defence, while she employed all her address to appease the resentment and to gain the friendship of England; and a ray of comfort from that quarter soon broke in upon the French affairs.

Though Henry VIII. had not entered into the war against France from any concerted political views, he had always retained some imperfect idea of that balance of power which it was necessary to maintain between Charles and Francis; and the preservation of which he boasted to be his peculiar office. By his alliance with the emperor, he hoped to recover some part of those territories on the continent which had belonged to his ancestors; and therefore willingly contributed to give him the ascendancy above his rival; but having never dreamed of any event so decisive and fatal as the victory at Pavia, which seemed not only to have broken, but to have annihilated the power of Francis, he now became sensible of his own danger, as well as that of all Europe, from the loss of a proper counterpoise to the power of Charles. Charles. Instead of taking advantage of the distressed condition of France, Henry therefore determined to assist her in her present calamities. Some difficulties also had taken place between him and Charles, and still more between Charles and Wolsey. The elevation of the cardinal of Medici to St Peter's chair, on the death of Adrian, under the name of Clement VII., had made the English minister sensible of the insincerity of the emperor's promises, while it extinguished all his hopes of the papacy; and he resolved on revenge. Charles, too, had so ill supported the appearance of moderation which he assumed, when first informed of his good fortune, that he had already changed his usual style to Henry; and instead of writing to him with his own hand, and subscribing himself "your affectionate son and cousin," he dictated his letters to a secretary, and simply subscribed himself "Charles." Influenced by all these motives, together with the glory of raising a fallen enemy, Henry listened to the flattering submissions of Louisa; entered into a defensive alliance with her as regent of France, and engaged to use his best offices in order to procure the deliverance of her son from a state of captivity.

Meanwhile Francis was rigorously confined; and severe conditions being proposed to him as the price of his liberty, he drew his dagger, and, pointing it at his breast, cried, "'Twere better that a king should die thus!" His hand was held; and flattering himself, when he grew cool, that such propositions could not come directly from Charles, he desired that he might be removed to Spain, where the emperor then resided. His request was complied with; but he languished long before he obtained a sight of his conqueror. At last he was favoured with a visit; and the emperor dreading a general combination against him, or that Francis, as he threatened, might, in the obstinacy of his heart, resign his crown to the dauphin, agreed to abate somewhat of his former demands. A treaty was accordingly concluded at Madrid; in consequence of which Francis obtained his liberty. The chief article in this treaty was, that Burgundy should be restored to Charles as the rightful inheritance of his ancestors, and that Francis's two eldest sons should be immediately delivered up as hostages for the performance of the conditions stipulated. The exchange of the captive monarch for his children was made on the borders between France and Spain. The moment that Francis entered his own dominions, he mounted a Turkish horse, and putting it to its speed, waved his hand, and cried aloud several times, "I am yet a king! I am yet a king!"

Francis never meant to execute the treaty of Madrid: he had even left a protest in the hands of notaries before he signed it, that his consent should be considered as an involuntary deed, and be deemed null and void. Accordingly, as soon as he arrived in France, he assembled the states of Burgundy, who protested against the article relative to their province; and Francis coldly replied to the imperial ambassadors, who urged the immediate execution of the treaty, that he would religiously perform the articles relative to himself, but in those affecting the French monarchy, he must be directed by the sense of the nation. He made the highest acknowledgments to the king of England for his friendly interposition, and offered to be entirely guided by his counsels. Charles and his ministers saw that they were over-reached in those very arts of negotiation in which they so much excelled, while the Italian states observed with pleasure, that Francis was resolved not to execute a treaty which they considered as dangerous to the liberties of Europe. Clement abolished him from the oath which he had taken at Madrid; and the kings of France and England, the Pope, the Swifs, the Venetians, the Florentines, and the duke of Milan, entered into an alliance, to which they gave the name of the Holy League, because his Holiness was at the head of it, in order to oblige the emperor to deliver up Francis's two sons on the payment of a reasonable ransom, and to re-establish Sforza in the quiet possession of the Milanese.

In consequence of this league, the confederate army took the field, and Italy once more became the scene of war. But Francis, who it was thought would have infused spirit and vigour into the whole body, had gone through such a scene of distress, that he was become diffident of himself, distrustful of his fortune, and furious of tranquillity. He flattered himself, that the dread alone of such a confederacy would induce Charles to listen to what was equitable, and therefore neglected to send due reinforcements to his allies in Italy. Meanwhile the duke of Bourbon, who commanded the Imperialists, had made himself master of the whole Milanese, of which the emperor had promised him the investiture; and his troops beginning to mutiny for want of pay, Rome took them to Rome, and promised to enrich them by the spoils of that city. He was as good as his word; for though he himself was slain in planting a scaling ladder against the walls, his followers, rather enraged than discouraged by his death, mounted to the assault with the utmost ardour, animated by the greatness of the prize, and, entering the city sword in hand, plundered it for several days.

Never did Rome in any age suffer so many calamities, not even from the Barbarians, by whom she was often subdued, the Huns, Vandals, or Goths, as now from the subjects of a Christian and Catholic monarch. Whatever was respectable in modesty, or sacred in religion, seemed only the more to provoke the rage of the soldiery. Virgins suffered violation in the arms of their parents, and upon those altars to which they had fled for safety. Venerable prelates, after enduring every indignity and every torture, were thrown into dungeons, and menaced with the most cruel death, in order to make them reveal their secret treasures. Clement himself, who had neglected to make his escape in time, was taken prisoner, and found that the sacredness of his character could neither procure him liberty nor respect. He was confined till he should pay an enormous ransom imposed by the victorious army, and surrender to the confined emperor all the places of strength belonging to the church.

Charles received the news of this extraordinary event shameful with equal surprize and pleasure; but in order to conceal his joy from his Spanish subjects, who were filled with horror at the insult offered to the sovereign pontiff, and to lessen the indignation of the rest of Europe, he expressed the most profound sorrow for the success of his arms. He put himself and his court into mourning; stopped the rejoicings for the birth of his son Philip, and ordered prayers to be put up in all the churches of Spain for the recovery of the pope's liberty. small but splendid train of 100 persons. He was met on the frontiers of France by the dauphin and the duke of Orleans, who offered to go into Spain, and remain there as hostages, till he should reach his own dominions; but Charles replied, that the king's honour was sufficient for his safety, and prosecuted his journey without any other security. The king entertained him with the utmost magnificence at Paris, and the two young princes did not take leave of him till he entered the Low Countries; yet he still found means to evade his promise, and Francis continued to believe him sincere.

The citizens of Ghent, alarmed at the approach of the emperor, who was joined by three armies, sent ambassadors to implore his mercy, and offered to throw open their gates. Charles only condescended to reply, "That he would appear among them as a sovereign and a judge, with the sceptre and the sword." He accordingly entered the place of his nativity on the anniversary of his birth; and instead of that lenity which might have been expected, exhibited an awful example of his severity. Twenty-five of the principal citizens were put to death; a greater number were banished; the city was declared to have forfeited its privileges; a new system of laws and political administration was prescribed; and a large fine was imposed on the inhabitants, in order to defray the expense of erecting a citadel, together with an annual tax for the support of a garrison. They were not only deprived of their ancient immunities, but made to pay, like conquered people, for the means of perpetuating their own slavery.

Having thus re-established his authority in the Low Countries, and being now under no necessity of continuing that scene of falsehood and dissimulation with which he had amused the French monarch, Charles began gradually to throw aside the veil under which he had concealed his intentions with respect to the Milanese, and at last peremptorily refused to give up a territory of such value, or voluntarily to make such a liberal addition to the strength of an enemy by diminishing his own power. He even denied that he had ever made any promise which could bind him to an action so foolish, and so contrary to his own interest.

This transaction exposed the king of France to as much scorn as it did the emperor to censure. The credulous simplicity of Francis seemed to merit no other return, after experiencing so often the duplicity and artifices of his rival. He remonstrated, however, and exclaimed as if this had been the first circumstance in which the emperor had deceived him. The insult offered to his understanding affected him even more sensibly than the injury done to his interest; and he discovered such resentment as made it obvious that he would seize on the first opportunity of revenge, and that a new war would soon desolate the European continent.

Meanwhile Charles was obliged to turn his attention towards the affairs of Germany. The Protestants having vainly demanded a general council, pressed him earnestly to appoint a conference between a select number of divines of each party, in order to examine the points in dispute. For this purpose a diet was assembled at Ratibon; and such a conference, notwithstanding the opposition of the pope, was held with great solemnity in the presence of the emperor. But the divines chosen to manage the controversy, though men of learning and moderation, were only able to settle a few speculative opinions, all points relative to worship and jurisdiction serving to inflame the minds of the disputants. Charles, therefore, finding his endeavours to bring about an accommodation ineffectual, and being impatient to close the diet, prevailed on a majority of the members to approve of the following edict of receds; viz., that the articles concerning which the divines had agreed, should be held as points decided; that those about which they had differed, should be referred to the determination of a general council, or if that could not be obtained, to a national synod; and should it prove impracticable also to assemble a synod of Germany, that a general diet of the empire should be called within 18 months, in order to give final judgment on the whole controversy; that, in the mean time, no innovations should be attempted, nor any endeavours employed to gain profyltes.

This diet gave great offence to the pope. The bare mention of allowing a diet, composed chiefly of laymen, to pass judgment in regard to articles of faith, appeared to him no less criminal and profane than the worst of those heresies which the emperor seemed so zealous to suppress. The Protestants also were dissatisfied with it, as it considerably abridged the liberty which they at that time enjoyed. They murmured loudly against it; and Charles, unwilling to leave any seeds of discontent in the empire, granted them a private declaration, exempting them from whatever they thought injurious or oppressive in the receds, and affording them the full possession of all their former privileges.

The situation of the emperor's affairs at this juncture made these extraordinary concessions necessary. He foresaw a rupture with France to be unavoidable, and he was alarmed at the rapid progress of the Turks in Hungary. A great revolution had happened in that kingdom. John Zapol Scæpus, by the assistance of Solyman, had wrested from the king of the Romans a considerable part of the country. John died, and left an infant son. Ferdinand attempted to take advantage of the minority, in order to repopulate himself of the whole kingdom; but his ambition was disappointed by the activity and address of George Martinuzzi, bishop of Waradin, who shared the regency with the queen. Sensible that he was unable to oppose the king of the Romans in the field, Martinuzzi satisfied himself with holding out the fortified towns, all of which he provided with every thing necessary for defence; and at the same time he sent ambassadours to Solyman, beseeching him to extend towards the son that imperial protection which had so generously maintained the father on his throne. Ferdinand used his utmost endeavours to thwart this negotiation, and even meanly offered to hold the Hungarian crown on the same ignominious condition by which John had held it, that of paying tribute to the Porte. But the sultan saw such advantages from espousing the interest of the young king, that he instantly marched into Hungary; and the Germans, having formed the siege of Buda, were defeated with great slaughter before that city. Solyman, however, instead of becoming the protector of the infant sovereign whom he had relieved, made use of this success to extend his own dominions: he sent the queen and her son into Transilvania, which province he allotted them, and added Hungary to the Ottoman empire. Happily for the Protestants, Charles received intelligence of this revolution soon after the diet at Ratibon; and by the concessions which he made them, he obtained such liberal supplies, both of men and money, as left him under little anxiety about the security of Germany.

He therefore hastened to join his fleet and army in Italy, in order to carry into execution a great and favourite enterprise which he had concerted against Algiers: though it would certainly have been more consistent with his dignity to have conducted the whole force of the empire against Solyman, the common enemy of Christendom, who was ready to enter his Austrian dominions. But many reasons induced Charles to prefer the African expedition: he wanted strength, or at least money, to combat the Turks in so distant a country as Hungary; and the glory which he had formerly acquired in Barbary led him to hope for the like success, while the cries of Spanish subjects roused him to take vengeance on their ravagers. But the unfortunate event of this expedition has already been related under the article Algiers, n° 14—20.

The loss which the emperor suffered in this calamitous expedition encouraged the king of France to begin hostilities, on which he had been for some time relented; and an action dishonourable to civil society furnished him with too good a pretext for taking arms. The marquis del Gualto, governor of the Milanese, having got intelligence of the motions and destination of two ambassadors, Rincon and Fergofo, whom Francis had dispatched, the one to the Ottoman Porte, the other to the republic of Venice; knowing how much his master wished to discover the intentions of the French monarch, and of what consequence it was to retard the execution of his measures, he employed some soldiers belonging to the garrison of Pavia to lie in wait for these ambassadors as they sailed down the Po, who murdered them and most of their attendants, and seized their papers. Francis immediately demanded reparation for this barbarous outrage; and as Charles endeavoured to put him off with an evasive answer, he appealed to all the courts of Europe, setting forth the enormities of the injury, the iniquity of the emperor in disregarding his just request, and the necessity of vengeance. But Charles, who was a more profound negotiator, defeated in a great measure the effects of these representations: he secured the fidelity of the Protestant princes in Germany, by granting them new concessions; and he engaged the king of England to espouse his cause, under pretence of defending Europe against the Infidels; while Francis was only able to form an alliance with the kings of Denmark and Sweden (who for the first time interested themselves in the quarrels of the more potent monarchs of the south), and to renew his treaty with Solyman, which drew on him the indignation of Christendom.

But the activity of Francis supplied all the defects of his negotiation. Five armies were soon ready to take the field, under different generals, and with different destinations. Nor was Charles wanting in his preparations. He and Henry a second time made an ideal division of the kingdom of France. But as the hostilities which followed terminated in nothing decisive, and were distinguished by no remarkable event, except the battle of Ceriolas (gained by count d'Enguine over the imperialists, and in which 10,000 of the emperor's best troops fell), at last Francis and Charles, mutually tired of harassing each other, concluded at Crepy a treaty of peace, in which the king of England was not mentioned; and from being implacable enemies, became once more, to appearance, cordial friends, and even allies by the ties of blood.

The chief articles of this treaty were, that all the conquests which either party had made since the truce of Nice should be restored; that the emperor should give in marriage to the duke of Orleans, either his own eldest daughter, with the Low Countries, or the second daughter of his brother Ferdinand, with the investiture of the Milanese; that Francis should renounce all pretensions to the kingdom of Naples, as well as to the sovereignty of Flanders and Artois, and Charles give up his claim to the duchy of Burgundy; and that both should unite in making war against the Turks.

The emperor was chiefly induced to grant conditions so advantageous to France, by a desire of humbling the Protestant princes in Germany. With the papal jurisdiction, he foretold they would endeavour to throw off the imperial authority; and he determined to make his zeal for the former a pretence for enforcing and extending the latter. However, the death of the duke of Orleans before the consummation of his marriage, disentangled the emperor from the most troublesome stipulation in the treaty of Crepy; and the French monarch, being still engaged in hostilities with England, was unable to obtain any reparation for the loss which he suffered by this unforeseen event. These hostilities, like those between Charles and Francis, terminated in nothing decisive. Equally tired of a struggle attended with no glory or advantage to either, the contending princes concluded, at Campe, near Ardies, a treaty of peace; in which it was stipulated, that France should pay the arrears due by former treaties to England. But these arrears did not exceed one-third of the sums expended by Henry on his military operations; and Francis being in no condition to discharge them, Boulogne (a chargeable pledge) was left in the hands of the English as a security for the debt.

In consequence of the emperor's resolution to humble Charles or the Protestant princes, he concluded a dishonourable peace with the Porte, stipulating that his brother Ferdinand should pay tribute for that part of Hungary which he still possessed; while the sultan enjoyed the whole imperial and undisturbed possession of all the rest. At the same time he entered into a league with pope Paul III. for the extirpation of heresy; but in reality with a view to oppress the liberties of Germany. Here, however, his ambition met with a severe check; for though he was successful at first, he was obliged in 1552 to conclude a peace with the Protestants on their own terms; as has been related under the article Reformation, n° 26—32.

By the peace concluded on this occasion the emperor lost Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which had formed the barrier of the empire on that quarter; and therefore soon after put himself at the head of an army, in order to recover these three bishoprics. In order to conceal the destination of his army, he gave out, that he intended to lead it into Hungary, to second Maurice in his operations against the Infidels; and as that pretext failed him, when he began to advance towards the Rhine, he propagated a report that he was marching first this money be restored to the owners; and if I hear they are defrauded of it, I will myself return from the other side of the Pyrenees, and oblige you to make them restitution." The pope found the necessity of submitting, and paid from his own treasury the sum demanded.

A body of experienced and hardy soldiers, conducted by so able a general, easily prevailed over the king of Castile, whose subjects were ready to join the enemy against their oppressor. Peter fled from his dominions, took shelter in Guienne, and craved the protection of the prince of Wales, whom his father had invested with the sovereignty of the ceded provinces, under the title of the principality of Aquitaine. The prince promised his assistance to the dethroned monarch; and having obtained his father's consent, he levied an army, and set out on his enterprise.

The first loss which Henry of Trastamara suffered from the interposition of the prince of Wales, was the recalling of the companies from his service; and so much reverence did they pay to the name of Edward, that great numbers of them immediately withdrew from Spain, and enlisted under his standard. Henry, however, beloved by his new subjects, and supported by the king of Arragon, was able to meet the enemy with an army of 100,000 men, three times the number of those commanded by the Black Prince: yet du Guécelin, and all his experienced officers, advised him to delay a decisive action; to high was their opinion of the valour and conduct of the English hero! But Henry, trifling to his numbers, ventured to give Edward battle on the banks of the Ebro, between Najara and Navarette; where the French and Spaniards were defeated, with the loss of above 20,000 men, and du Guécelin and other officers of distinction taken prisoners. All Castile submitted to the victor; Peter was restored to the throne, and Edward returned to Guienne with his usual glory; having not only overcome the greatest general of his age, but refrained the most blood-thirsty tyrant from executing vengeance on his prisoners.

This gallant warrior had soon reason to repent of his connections with a man like Peter, lost to all sense of virtue and honour. The ungrateful monster refused the stipulated pay to the English forces. Edward abandoned him; he treated his subjects with the utmost barbarity; their animosity was roused against him; and du Guécelin having obtained his ransom, returned to Castile with the count of Trastamara, and some forces levied anew in France. They were joined by the Spanish malecontents; and having no longer the Black Prince to encounter, they gained a complete victory over Peter in the neighbourhood of Toledo. The tyrant now took refuge in a castle, where he was soon after besieged by the victors, and taken prisoner in endeavouring to make his escape. He was conducted to his brother Henry; against whom he is said to have rushed in a transport of rage, disarmed as he was. Henry slew him with his own hand, in resentment of his cruelties; and, though a bastard, was placed on the throne of Castile, which he transmitted to his posterity.

After the death of Peter the Cruel, nothing remarkable happened in Spain for almost a whole century; but the debaucheries of Henry IV. of Castile roused the resentment of his nobles, and produced a most singular insurrection, which led to the aggrandizement of the Spanish monarchy.

This prince, surnamed the Impotent, though continually surrounded with women, began his unhappy reign in 1454. He was totally enervated by his pleasures, and every thing in his court conspired to set the Castilians an example of the most abject flattery and most abandoned licentiousness. The queen, a daughter of Portugal, lived as openly with her parasites and her gallants as the king did with his minions and his mistresses. Pleasure was the only object, and effeminacy the only recommendation to favour: the affairs of the state went every day into disorder; till the nobility, with the archbishop of Toledo at their head, combining against the weak and flagitious administration of Henry, arrogated to themselves, as one of the privileges of their order, the right of trying and passing sentence on their sovereign, which they executed in a manner unprecedented in history.

All the malecontent nobility were summoned to meet at Avila: a spacious theatre was erected in a plain without the walls of the town: an image representing the king, was seated on a throne, clad in royal robes, with a crown on its head, a sceptre in its hand, and the sword of justice by its side. The accusation against Henry was read, and the sentence of deposition pronounced, in presence of a numerous assembly. At the close of the first article of the charge, the archbishop of Toledo advanced, and tore the crown from the head of the image; at the close of the second, the Conde de Placentia snatched the sword of justice from its side; at the close of the third, the Conde de Benavente wrestled the sceptre from its hand; and at the close of the last, Don Diego Lopez de Stuniga tumbled it headlong from the throne. At the same instant, Don Alphonso, Henry's brother, a boy of about twelve years of age, was proclaimed king of Castile and Leon in his stead.

This extraordinary proceeding was followed by a civil war, which did not cease till some time after the death of the young prince, on whom the nobles had bestowed the kingdom. The archbishop and his party then continued to carry on war in the name of Isabella the king's sister, to whom they gave the title of Infanta; and Henry could not extricate himself out of these troubles, nor remain quiet upon his throne till he had signed one of the most humiliating treaties ever extorted from a sovereign; he acknowledged his sister Isabella the only lawful heiress of his kingdom, in prejudice heirs to the rights of his reputed daughter Joan, whom the king-malecontents affirmed to be the offspring of an adulterous commerce between the queen and Don la Cueva. The grand object of the malecontent party now was the marriage of the princess Isabella, upon which, it was evident, the security of the crown and the happiness of the people must, in a great measure depend. The alliance was sought by several princes; the king of Portugal offered her his hand; the king of France demanded her for his brother, and the king of Arragon for his son Ferdinand. The malecontents very wisely preferred the Arragonian prince, and Isabella prudentiy made the same choice: articles were drawn up; and they were privately married by the archbishop of Toledo. Henry was enraged at this alliance, which he foresaw would utterly ruin his authority, by furnishing his rebellious subjects with the support of a powerful neighbouring prince. He disinherited his fitter, and established the rights of his daughter. A furious civil war defoliated the kingdom. The names of Joan and Isabella resounded from every quarter, and were everywhere the summons to arms. But peace was at length brought about. Henry was reconciled to his fitter and Ferdinand; though it does not appear that he ever renewed Isabella's right to the succession: for he affirmed in his last moments, that he believed Joan to be his own daughter. The queen swore to the same effect; and Henry left a testamentary deed, transmitting the crown to this princess, who was proclaimed queen of Castile at Placentia. But the superior fortune and superior arms of Ferdinand and Isabella prevailed: the king of Portugal was obliged to abandon his niece and intended bride, after many ineffectual struggles, and several years of war. Joan retired into a convent; and the death of Ferdinand's father, which happened about this time, added the kingdoms of Arragon and Sicily to those of Leon and Castile.

Ferdinand and Isabella were persons of great prudence, and, as sovereigns, highly worthy of imitation: but they do not seem to have merited all the praises bestowed upon them by the Spanish historians. They did not live like man and wife, having all things in common under the direction of the husband; but like two princes in close alliance; they neither loved nor hated each other; were seldom in company together; had each a separate council; and were frequently jealous of one another in the administration. But they were inseparably united in their common interests; always acting upon the same principles, and forwarding the same ends. Their first object was the regulation of their government, which the civil wars had thrown into the greatest disorder. Rape, outrage, and murder, were become so common, as not only to interrupt commerce, but in a great measure to suspend all intercourse between one place and another. These evils the joint sovereigns suppressed by their wise policy, at the same time that they extended the royal prerogative.

About the middle of the 13th century, the cities in the kingdom of Arragon, and after their example those in Castile, had formed themselves into an association, distinguished by the name of the Holy Brotherhood. They exacted a certain contribution from each of the associated towns; they levied a considerable body of troops, in order to protect travellers and pursue criminals; and they appointed judges, who opened courts in various parts of the kingdom. Whoever was guilty of murder, robbery, or any act that violated the public peace, and was seized by the troops of the Brotherhood, was carried before their judges; who, without paying any regard to the exclusive jurisdiction which the lord of the place might claim, who was generally the author or abettor of the injustice, tried and condemned the criminals. The nobles often murmured against this salutary institution; they complained of it as an encroachment on one of their most valuable privileges, and endeavoured to get it abolished. But Ferdinand and Isabella, sensible of the beneficial effects of the Brotherhood, not only in regard to the police of their kingdom, but in its tendency to abridge, and by degrees annihilate, the territorial jurisdiction of the nobility, countenanced the institution upon every occasion, and supported it with the whole force of royal authority; by which means the prompt and impartial administration of justice was restored, and with it tranquillity and order returned.

But at the same time that their Catholic majesties (for such was the title they now bore) were giving vigour to their civil government, and securing their subjects from violence and oppression, an intemperate zeal led them to establish an ecclesiastical tribunal, equally contrary to the natural rights of humanity and the mild spirit of the gospel. This was the court of inquisition, which decides upon the honour, fortune, and even the life, of the unhappy wretch who happens to fall under the suspicion of heresy, or a contempt of anything preferred by the church, without his knowing, being confronted with his accusers, or permitted either defence or appeal. Six thousand persons were burnt by order of this inquisitorial tribunal within four years after the appointment of Torquemada, the first inquisitor-general; and upwards of 100,000 felt its fury. The same furious and blinded zeal which led to the depopulation of Spain, led also to its aggrandizement.

The kingdom of Granada now alone remained of all the Mahometan possessions in Spain. Princes equally zealous and ambitious were naturally disposed to turn their eyes to that fertile territory, and to think of increasing their hereditary dominions, by expelling the enemies of Christianity, and extending its doctrines. Everything conspired to favour their project: the Moorish kingdom was a prey to civil wars; when Ferdinand, having obtained the bull of Sixtus IV. authorizing a crusade, put himself at the head of his troops, and entered Granada. He continued the war with rapid success: Isabella attended him in several expeditions; and they were both in great danger at the siege of Malaga; an important city, which was defended with great courage, and taken in 1487. Baza was reduced in 1489, after the loss of 20,000 men. Guadix and Almeria were delivered up to them by the Moorish king Alzagal, who had first deposed his brother Alboacen, and afterwards been chafed from his capital by his nephew Abdali. That prince engaged in the service of Ferdinand and Isabella; who, after reducing every other place of eminence, undertook the siege of Granada. Abdali made a gallant defence; but all communication with the country being cut off, and all hopes of relief at an end, he capitulated, after a siege of eight months, on condition that he should enjoy the revenue of certain places in the fertile mountains of Alpujarra; that the inhabitants should retain the undisturbed possession of their houses, goods, and inheritances; the use of their laws, and the free exercise of their religion. Thus ended the empire of the Arabs in Spain, after it had continued about 800 years. They introduced the arts and sciences into Europe at a time when it was lost in darkness; they possessed many of the luxuries of life, when they were not even known among the neighbouring nations; and they seem to have given birth to that romantic gallantry which so eminently prevailed in the ages of chivalry, and which, blending itself with the veneration of the northern nations for the softer sex, still particularly distinguishes ancient from modern manners. first to chastise Albert of Brandenburgh, who had refused to be included in the treaty of Pfaffau, and whose cruel exactions in that part of Germany called loudly for redress.

The French, however, were not deceived by these arts. Henry immediately guessed the true object of Charles's armament, and resolved to defend his conquests with vigour. The defence of Metz, against which it was foreseen the whole weight of the war would be turned, was committed to Francis of Lorraine, duke of Guise, who possessed in an eminent degree all the qualities that render men great in military command. He repaired with joy to the dangerous station; and many of the French nobility, and even princes of the blood, eager to distinguish themselves under such a leader, entered Metz as volunteers. The city was of great extent, ill fortified, and the suburbs large. For all these defects the duke endeavoured to provide a remedy. He repaired the old fortifications with all possible expedition, labouring with his own hands; the officers imitated his example; and the soldiers, thus encouraged, cheerfully submitted to the most severe toils; he erected new works, and he levelled the suburbs with the ground. At the same time he filled the magazines with provisions and military stores, compelled all useless persons to leave the place, and laid waste the neighbouring country; yet such were his popular talents, as well as his arts of acquiring an ascendant over the minds of men, that the citizens not only refrained from murmuring, but seconded him with no less ardour than the soldiers in all his operations—in the ruin of their estates, and in the havoc of their public and private buildings.

Meanwhile the emperor continued his march towards Lorraine, at the head of 60,000 men. On his approach Albert of Brandenburgh, whose army did not exceed 20,000, withdrew into that principality, as if he intended to join the French king; and Charles, notwithstanding the advanced season, it being towards the end of October, laid siege to Metz, contrary to the advice of his most experienced officers.

The attention of both the besiegers and the besieged was turned for some time towards the motions of Albert, who still hovered in the neighbourhood, undetermined which side to take, though resolved to sell his service. Charles at last came up to his price, and he joined the imperial army. The emperor now flattered himself that nothing could resist his force; but he found himself deceived. After a siege of almost 60 days, during which he had attempted all that was thought possible for art or valour to effect, and had lost upwards of 30,000 men by the inclemency of the weather, diseases, or the sword of the enemy, he was obliged to abandon the enterprise.

When the French fell out to attack the enemy's rear, the imperial camp was filled with the sick and wounded, with the dead and the dying. All the roads by which the army retired were strewn with the same miserable objects; who, having made an effort beyond their strength to escape, and not being able to proceed, were left to perish without assistance. Happily that, and all the kind offices which their friends had not the power to perform, they received from their enemies. The duke of Guise ordered them all to be taken care of, and supplied with every necessary; he appointed physicians to attend, and direct what treatment was proper for the sick and wounded, and what refreshments for the feeble; and such as recovered he sent home, under an escort of soldiers, and with money to bear their charges. By these acts of humanity, so common in that age, the duke of Guise completed that heroic character which he had justly acquired by his brave and successful defence of Metz.

The emperor's misfortunes were not confined to Ger. His further many. During his residence at Villach, he had been obliged to borrow 200,000 crowns of Cosmo de Medici; and so low was his credit, that he was obliged to put Cosmo in possession of the principality of Piombino as a security for that inconsiderable sum; by which means he lost the footing he had hitherto maintained in Tuscany. Much about the same time he lost Sienna. The citizens, who had long enjoyed a republican government, rose against the Spanish garrison, which they had admitted as a check upon the tyranny of the nobility, but which they found was meant to enslave them; forgetting their domestic animosities, they recalled the exiled nobles; they demolished the citadel, and put themselves under the protection of France.

To these unfortunate events one still more fatal had almost succeeded. The severe administration of the viceroy of Naples had filled that kingdom with murmuring and dissatisfaction. The prince of Salerno, the head of the malcontents, fled to the court of France. The French monarch, after the example of his father, applied to the grand signior; and Solyman, at that time highly incensed against the house of Austria on account of the proceedings in Hungary, sent a powerful fleet into the Mediterranean, under the command of the corsair Dragut, an officer trained up under Barbarossa, and scarce inferior to his master in courage, talents, or in good fortune. Dragut appeared on the coast of Calabria at the time appointed; but not being joined by the French fleet according to concert, he returned to Constantinople, after plundering and burning several places, and filling Naples with consternation.

Highly mortified by so many disasters, Charles retired into the Low Countries, breathing vengeance ful in the against France; and here the war was carried on with considerable vigour. Impatient to efface the stain which his military reputation had received before Metz, Charles laid siege to Terouane; and the fortifications being in disrepair, that important place was carried by assault. Heldin also was invested, and carried in the same manner. The king of France was too late in assembling his forces to afford relief to either of these places; and the emperor afterwards cautiously avoided an engagement.

The imperial arms were less successful in Italy. But not so viceroys of Naples failed in an attempt to recover Siena; in other and the French not only established themselves more firmly in Tuscany, but conquered part of the island of Corsica. Nor did the affairs of the house of Austria go on better in Hungary during the course of this year. Isabella and her son appeared once more in Transylvania, at a time when the people were ready for revolt, in order to revenge the death of Martinuzzi, whose loss they had severely felt. Some noblemen of eminence declared in favour of the young king; and the bashaw of Belgrade, by Solyman's order, espousing his cause, in opposition to Ferdinand, Caftaldo, the Austrian general, was obliged to abandon Transylvania to Isabella and the Turks.

In order to counterbalance these and other losses, the emperor, in 1534, concerted a marriage between his son Philip and Mary of England, in hopes of adding that kingdom to his other dominions. Meanwhile the war between Henry and Charles was carried on with various success in the Low Countries, and in Italy much to the disadvantage of France. The French, under the command of Strozzi, were defeated in the battle of Merciano; Sienna was reduced by Medicino, the Florentine general, after a siege of ten months; and the gallant Sieneese were subjected to the Spanish yoke. Much about the same time a plot was formed by the Franciscans, but happily discovered before it could be carried into execution, to betray Metz to the Imperialists. The father-guardian, and twenty other monks, received sentence of death on account of this conspiracy; but the guardian, before the time appointed for his execution, was murdered by his incensed accomplices, whom he had seduced; and six of the youngest were pardoned.

While war thus raged in Italy and the Low Countries, Germany enjoyed such profound tranquillity, as afforded the diet full leisure to confirm and perfect the plan of religious pacification agreed upon at Passau, and referred to the consideration of the next meeting of the Germanic body. During the negociation of this treaty, an event happened which astonished all Europe, and confounded the reasonings of the wisest politicians.

The emperor Charles V., though no more than 56, an age when objects of ambition operate with full force on the mind, and are generally pursued with the greatest ardour, had for some time formed the resolution of resigning his hereditary dominions to his son Philip. He now determined to put it in execution. Various have been the opinions of historians concerning a resolution so singular and unexpected; but the most probable seem to be, the disappointments which Charles had met with in his ambitious hopes, and the daily decline of his health. He had early in life been attacked with the gout; and the fits were now become so frequent and severe, that not only the vigour of his constitution was broken, but the faculties of his mind were sensibly impaired. He therefore judged it more decent to conceal his infirmities in some solitude, than to expose them any longer to the public eye; and as he was unwilling to forfeit the fame, or lose the acquisitions of his better years, by attempting to guide the reins of government when he was no longer able to hold them with steadiness, he determined to seek in the tranquillity of retirement, that happiness which he had in vain pursued amidst the tumults of war and the intrigues of state.

In consequence of this resolution, Charles, who had already ceded to his son Philip the kingdom of Naples and the duchy of Milan, assembled the states of the Low Countries at Brussels; and seating himself for the last time in the chair of state, he explained to his subjects the reasons of his resignation, and solemnly devolved his authority upon Philip. He recounted with dignity, but without ostentation, all the great things which he had undertaken and performed since the commencement of his administration. "I have dedicated (observed he), from the 17th year of my age, all my thoughts and attention to public objects, reserving no portion of my time for the indulgence of ease, and very little for the enjoyment of private pleasure. Either in a pacific or hostile manner, I have visited Germany nine times, Spain six times, France four times, Italy seven times, the Low Countries ten times, England twice, Africa as often; and while my health permitted me to discharge the duty of a sovereign, and the vigour of my constitution was equal in any degree to the arduous office of governing such extensive dominions, I never shunned labour, nor repined under fatigue; but now, when my health is broken, and my vigour exhausted by the rage of an incurable distemper, my growing infirmities admonish me to retire; nor am I fond of reigning, as to retain the sceptre in an impotent hand, which is no longer able to protect my subjects. Instead of a sovereign worn out with diseases (continued he), and scarce half alive, I give you one in the prime of life, already accustomed to govern, and who adds to the vigour of youth all the attention and sagacity of mature years." Then turning towards Philip, who fell on his knees, and kissed his father's hand, "It is in your power (said Charles), by a wise and virtuous administration, to justify the extraordinary proof which I give this day of my paternal affection, and to demonstrate that you are worth of the extraordinary confidence which I repose in you. Preserve (added he) 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 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 to whom you can resign your sceptre with as much satisfaction as I give up mine to you." A few weeks after, he resigned to Philip the sovereignty of Spain and America; reserving nothing to himself out of all these vast possessions but an annual pension of 100,000 crowns.

Charles was now impatient to embark for Spain, where he had fixed on a place of retreat; but by the advice of his physicians, he put off his voyage for some months, on account of the severity of the fection; and, by yielding to their judgment, he had the satisfaction before he left the Low Countries of taking a considerable step towards a peace with France. This he ardently longed for; not only on his son's account, whose administration he wished to commence in quietness, but that he might have the glory, when quitting the world, of retorting to Europe that tranquillity which his ambition had banished out of it almost from the time that he assumed the reins of government.

The great bar to such a pacification, on the part of France, was the treaty which Henry had concluded with the Pope; and the emperor's claims were too numerous to hope for adjusting them suddenly. A truce of five years was therefore proposed by Charles; during which term, without discoursing their respective pretensions, each should retain what was in his possession; and Henry, through the persuasion of the constable Montmorency, who represented the imprudence of sacrificing the true interests of his kingdom to the rash engagements that he had come under with Paul, authorised his ambassadors to sign at Vaucelles a treaty, which would insure to him for so considerable a period the important conquest which he had made on the German frontier, together with the greater part of the duke of Savoy's dominions.

The Pope, when informed of this transaction, was no less filled with terror and astonishment than rage and indignation. But he took equal care to conceal his fear and his anger. He affected to approve highly of the truce; and he offered his mediation, as the common father of Christendom, in order to bring about a definitive peace. Under this pretext, he appointed cardinal Reibio his nuncio to the court of Brufles, and his nephew cardinal Caraffa to that of Paris. The public instructions of both were the same; but Caraffa, besides these, received a private commission, to spare neither intrigues, promises, nor bribes, in order to induce the French monarch to renounce the truce and renew his engagements with the holy see. He flattered Henry with the conquest of Naples; he gained by his address the Guises, the queen, and even the famous Diana of Poitiers, duchess of Valentinois, the king's mistress; and they easily swayed the king himself, who already leaned to that side towards which they wished to incline him. All Montmorency's prudent remonstrances were disregarded; the nuncio (by powers from Rome) absolved Henry from his oath of truce; and that weak prince signed a new treaty with the Pope; which rekindled with fresh violence the flames of war, both in Italy and the Low Countries.

No sooner was Paul made acquainted with the success of this negotiation than he proceeded to the most indecent extremities against Philip. He ordered the Spanish ambassador to be imprisoned; he excommunicated the Colonnas, because of their attachment to the imperial house; and he considered Philip as guilty of high treason, and had to forfeit his right to the kingdom of Naples, which he was supposed to hold of the holy see, for afterward affording them a retreat in his dominions.

Alarmed at a quarrel with the Pope, whom he had been taught to regard with the most superstitious veneration, as the viceregent of Christ and the common father of Christendom, Philip tried every gentle method before he made use of force. He even consulted some Spanish divines on the lawfulness of taking arms against a person so sacred. They decided in his favour; and Paul continuing inexorable, the duke of Alva, to whom the negotiations as well as the war had been committed, entered the ecclesiastical state at the head of 15,000 veterans, and carried terror to the gates of Rome.

The haughty pontiff, though still inflexible and undaunted in himself, was forced to give way to the fears of the cardinals, and a truce was concluded for 40 days. Mean time the duke of Guise arriving with a supply of 20,000 French troops, Paul became more arrogant than ever, and banished all thoughts from his mind but those of war and revenge. The duke of Guise, however, who had precipitated his country into this war, chiefly from a desire of gaining a field where he might display his own talents, was able to perform nothing in Italy worthy of his former fame. He was obliged to abandon the siege of Civetella; he could not bring the duke of Alva to a general engagement; his army perished by diseases; and the Pope neglected to furnish the necessary reinforcements. He begged to be recalled; and France stood in need of his abilities.

Philip, though willing to have avoided a rupture, was no sooner informed that Henry had violated the truce of Vaucelles, than he determined to act with such vigour, as should convince Europe that his father had not erred in resigning to him the reins of government. He immediately assembled in the Low Countries a body of 50,000 men, and obtained a supply of 10,000 from England, which he had engaged in his quarrel; and as he was not ambitious of military fame, he gave the command of his army to Emanuel Phillibert duke of Savoy, one of the greatest generals of that warlike age.

The duke of Savoy kept the enemy for some time in suspense with regard to his destination; at last he seemed to threaten Champagne; towards which the French drew all their troops; then turning suddenly to the right, he advanced by rapid marches into Picardy, and laid siege to St Quintin. It was deemed in those times a town of considerable strength; but the fortifications entirely had been much neglected, and the garrison did not amount to a fifth part of the number requisite for its defence: it must therefore have surrendered in a few days, if the admiral de Coligny had not taken the gallant resolution of throwing himself into it with such a body of men as could be collected on a sudden. This he effected in spite of the enemy, breaking through their main body. The place, however, was closely invested; and the constable Montmorency, anxious to extricate his nephew out of that perilous situation, in which his zeal for the public had engaged him, as well as to save a town of such importance, rashly advanced to its relief with forces one half inferior to those of the enemy. His army was cut in pieces, and he himself made prisoner.

The cautious temper of Philip on this occasion saved France from devastation, if not ruin. The duke of Savoy proposed to overlook all inferior objects, and march speedily to Paris, which, in its present consternation, he could not have failed to make himself master of; but Philip, afraid of the consequences of such a bold enterprise, desired him to continue the siege of St Quintin, in order to secure a safe retreat in case of any disastrous event. The town, long and gallantly defended by Coligny, was at last taken by storm; but not till France was in a state of defence.

Philip was now sensible that he had lost an opportunity which could never be recalled, of distressing his enemy, and contented himself with reducing Horn and Catelet; which petty towns, together with St Quintin, were the sole fruits of one of the most decisive victories gained in the 16th century. The Catholic king, however, continued in high exultation on account of his success; and as all his passions were tinged with superstition, he vowed to build a church, a monastery, and a palace, in honour of St Laurence, on the day fixed to whose memory the battle of St Quintin had been fought. He accordingly laid the foundation of an edifice, in which all these were included, and which he continued to forward at vast expense, for 22 years. The same principle which dictated the vow directed the building. It was so formed as to resemble a gridiron—on which culinary instrument, according to the legendary tale, St Laurence had suffered martyrdom. Such is the origin of the famous escurial near Madrid, the royal residence of the kings of Spain.

The first account of that fatal blow which France had received at St Quintin, was carried to Rome by the courier whom Henry had sent to recall the duke of Guise. Paul remonstrated warmly against the departure of the French army; but Guise's orders were peremptory. The arrogant pontiff therefore found it necessary to accommodate his conduct to the exigency of his affairs, and to employ the mediation of the Venetians, and of Cosmo de Medici, in order to obtain peace. The first overtures of this nature were eagerly listened to by the Catholic king, who still doubted the justice of his cause, and considered it as his greatest misfortune to be obliged to contend with the Pope. Paul agreed to renounce his league with France; and Philip stipulated on his part, that the duke of Alva should repair in person to Rome, and after asking pardon of the holy father in his own name and in that of his master, for having invaded the patrimony of the church, should receive absolution from that crime. Thus Paul, thro' the superstitious timidity of Philip, only finished an unpropitious war not without any detriment to the apostolic see, but saw his conqueror humbled at his feet: and so excessive was the veneration of the Spaniards in that age for the papal character, that the duke of Alva, the proudest man perhaps of his time, and accustomed from his infancy to converse with princes, acknowledged, that when he approached Paul, he was so much overawed, that his voice failed, and his presence of mind forsook him.

But though this war, which at its commencement threatened mighty revolutions, was terminated without occasioning any alteration in those states which were its immediate object, it produced effects of considerable consequence in other parts of Italy. In order to detach Octavio Farnese, duke of Parma, from the French interest, Philip restored to him the city of Placentia and its territory, which had been seized by Charles V., and he granted to Cosmo de Medici the investiture of Sienna, as an equivalent for the sums due to him. By these treaties, the balance of power among the Italian states was poised with more equality, and rendered less variable than it had been since it received the first violent shock from the invasion of Charles VIII., and Italy henceforth ceased to be the theatre on which the monarchs of Spain, France, and Germany, contended for fame and dominion. Their hostilities, excited by new objects, stained other regions of Europe with blood, and made other states feel, in their turn, the miseries of war.

The duke of Guise, who left Rome the same day that unsuccessful his adversary the duke of Alva made his humiliating submission to the Pope, was received in France as the guardian angel of the kingdom. He was appointed lieutenant-general in chief, with a jurisdiction almost unlimited; and, eager to justify the extraordinary confidence which the king had reposed in him, as well as to perform something suitable to the high expectations of his countrymen, he undertook in winter the siege of Calais. Having taken that place, he next invested Thionville in the duchy of Luxembourg, one of the strongest towns on the frontiers of the Netherlands; and forced it to capitulate after a siege of three weeks. But the advantages on this quarter were more than balanced by an event which happened in another part of the Low Countries. The marshal de Termes governor of Calais, who had penetrated into Flanders and taken Dunkirk, was totally routed near Gravelines, and taken prisoner by count Egmont. This disaster obliged the duke of Guise to relinquish all his other schemes, and hasten towards the frontiers of Picardy, that he might there oppose the progress of the enemy.

The eyes of all France were now turned towards the duke of Guise, as the only general on whose arms victory always attended, and in whose conduct as well as good fortune they could confide in every danger. His strength was nearly equal to the duke of Savoy's, each commanding about 45,000 men. They encamped at the distance of a few leagues from one another; and the French and Spanish monarchs having joined their respective armies, it was expected that, after the vicissitudes of war, a decisive battle would at last determine which of the rivals should take the ascendant for the future in the affairs of Europe. But both monarchs, as if by agreement, stood on the defensive; neither of them discovering any inclination, though each had it in his power, to risk the decision of a point of such importance on the issue of a single battle.

During this state of inaction, peace began to be menaced in each camp, and both Henry and Philip discovered between them an equal disposition to listen to any overture that tended to re-establish it. The private inclinations of both kings concurred with their political interests and the wishes of their people. Philip languished to return to Spain, the place of his nativity; and peace only could enable him, either with decency or fatuity, to quit the Low Countries. Henry was now deprived of being freed from the avocations of war, that he might have leisure to turn the whole force of his government towards suppressing the opinions of the reformers, which were spreading with such rapidity in Paris and the other great towns, that they began to grow formidable to the established church. Court-intrigues conspired with these public and avowed motives to hasten the negotiation, and the abbey of Cercamp was fixed on as the place of congress.

While Philip and Henry were making these advances towards a treaty which restored tranquillity to Europe, Charles V., whose ambition had so long disturbed it, but who had been for some time dead to the world, ended his days in the monastery of St Jutus in Estremadura, which he had chosen as the place of his retreat, Charles V., as is particularly related under the article Charles V.

After the death of Charles, the kingdom of Spain soon lost great part of its consequence. Though Charles had used all his interest to get his son Philip elected emperor of Germany, he had been totally disappointed; and thus the grandeur of Philip II. never equalled that of his father. His dominions were also considerably abridged by his tyrannical behaviour in the Netherlands. In consequence of this, the United Provinces revolted; and after a long and bloody war obtained their liberty. Philip, which brought on a war with Spain. The great losses he sustained in these wars exhausted the kingdom both of men and money, notwithstanding the great sums imported from America. Indeed, the discovery and conquest of that country hath much impoverished, instead stead of enriching Spain; for thus the inhabitants have been rendered lazy and useless from every kind of manufacture or traffic, which only can be a durable source of riches and strength to any nation. The ruin of the kingdom in this respect, however, was completed by Philip III., who, at the instigation of the inquisition, and by the advice of his prime minister the duke of Lerma, expelled from the kingdom all the Moriscos or Moors, descendants of the ancient conquerors of Spain. Thirty days only were allowed them to prepare for their departure, and it was death to remain beyond that time. The reason for this barbarous decree was, that these people were still Mahometans in their hearts, though they conformed externally to the rites of Christianity, and thus might corrupt the true faith. The Moriscos, however, chose themselves a king, and attempted to oppose the royal mandate; but, being almost entirely unprovided with arms, they were soon obliged to submit, and all banished the kingdom. By this violent and impolitic measure, Spain lost almost a million of industrious inhabitants; and as the kingdom was already depopulated by bloody wars, by repeated emigrations to America, and enervated by luxury, it now sank into a state of languor from whence it has never recovered.

In consequence of this languor, and the maladministration of the Spanish governors, Portugal, which had been reduced by Philip II., revolted, and has ever since been an independent kingdom. However, the memory of what Spain once was, remained for a considerable time, and the power of that kingdom long continued to be feared after it had ceased to be powerful. In the time of queen Anne, a British army was seen for the first time in Spain, in order to support Charles of Austria against Philip the grandson of Louis XIV. The ill success of that attempt is related under the article Britain, n° 342—359; and thus the crown of Spain fell to a branch of the house of Bourbon, in consequence of which the courts of France and Spain generally acted in the closest concert till the revolution, which at present astonishes Europe, put an end to monarchical government in the former country. The wars of these two courts with Britain are related under that article and America; and these, with an unsuccessful attempt on Algiers, and the threatened war respecting Nootka Sound (see that article), constitute the most important part of the Spanish history till the deposition and murder of Louis XVI. of France. On that event Spain joined her forces to those of the Empire, Britain, and Prussia, to chastise the Convention, and prevent those democratical principles which had ruined France from being spread through the other nations of Europe. We cannot say that her exertions added much to the strength of the alliance; and being unable to defend herself against the furious inroads of the republican troops, she was glad to make a separate peace with the Convention. See Revolution.

The air of Spain, during the months of June, July, and August, is excessively hot in the day-time; but the rest of the year it is pleasant and temperate. Even during the above months it is very cool in the shade; and so cold in the night, that it makes a traveller shiver; and in the day-time the violent heat continues only for about four or five hours. In the north, on the mountains, and near the sea-coast, the air is much less sultry in summer than in the south, especially in the lower parts of the country, and at a distance from the sea. It seldom rains here, except about the equinoxes: the frosts are very gentle towards the south; but on the mountains in the north and north-east the air is very sharp in winter.

Though there are some sandy barren deserts in the south and north, and many barren mountains in the north, yet in producing the greater part of the country, particularly in the valleys and plains, the soil is good, producing a great variety of rich wines, oil, and fruits; such as oranges, lemons, prunes, citrons, almonds, raisins, dates, figs, chestnuts, pomegranates, capers, pears, and peaches; but not a sufficiency of grain, which is chiefly owing to the neglect of tillage. Wheat and barley are the most common grain; the former of which is said by some to be the best in Europe. There is not much flax, hemp, oats, or hay, in Spain; but there is plenty of honey, salt, fine wool, silk, and cotton; and, in some places, of rice and sugar-canes. Here also are abundance of mules, and, in some provinces, of horses, together with deer, wild-fowl, and other game, chamois and other goats, but few horned cattle. Wolves are almost the only wild beasts in the country. The herb kali, which is used in making salt, soap, and glaas, grows in great plenty on the sea-shore. The wild bulls, used in their bull-fights, are bred in Andalusia. The seas about Spain are well stored with fish; among which is the anchovy, in the Mediterranean. We may guess at the number of sheep here by that of the shepherds, which is said to be about forty thousand. The sheep that bear the fine wool move regularly, every summer, from south to north, along the mountains, which yield a great variety of sweet herbs and plants, and return again towards winter. During this progress, large quantities of salt are distributed among them, and all possible care is taken both of their health and fleeces.

The chief mountains are the Pyrenees, which stretch from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean, but not minerals, in a direct line, for near 200 miles; their breadth is, &c., in some places, not less than 80. That called the Pic de Midi is of a prodigious height. Over these mountains there are only about five passages out of Spain into France, and these also narrow; even the valleys between the mountains are covered with thick and lofty woods. The other chains in Spain are the Sierra d'Oca, Sierra Molino, Sierra Moreno, and Sierra Novada or the snowy mountains. Near Gibraltar, opposite to Mount Abyla in Africa, stands the celebrated Mount Calpe; these were anciently called Hercules's pillars. The mountains yield great quantities of timber for shipping, which are conveyed by the Ebro and other rivers to the Mediterranean. According to the ancient and modern writers, they abound also with gold, silver, iron, lead, tin, cinnabar, quicksilver, alum, vitriol, copperas, lapis calaminaris, &c. besides gems, and mineral waters both hot and cold. The gold and silver mines are not worked at present, but those of iron are. The neglect of the former is owing partly to the indolence of the Spaniards, and partly to the gold and silver imported from America. Besides the rivers Minho, Douro, Tagus, Monda, Lima, and Guadiana, mentioned in Portugal, but which have their sources in Spain, the Spain. The most considerable are the Ebro, formerly Iberus, Guadalavir, anciently Turia, Guadalquivir or Betis, Segura, and Xucar.

The Spaniards are zealous Romanists. Nowhere is there more pomp, farce, and parade, in what regards religion; and nowhere less true Christianity. Their zeal and their superstition exceed that of any other Roman Catholic country, unless perhaps we should except Portugal. Nowhere did the inquisition reign with greater terror; there being no subject who was not liable to be prosecuted by the holy office, as it is called; however, the powers of that tribunal are now greatly diminished even in Spain. There are eight archbishops in Spain, seven in America, and one in Asia at Manila; each of which has his suffragan bishops. The archbishop of Toledo is primate, chancellor of Castile, and, by virtue of his office, privy-counsellor. He is said to have a revenue of 100,000l. Sterling per annum, or more. The king nominates all archbishops and bishops; and since 1753 all small benefices are also in his gift. He has also lately obtained a power to tax ecclesiastical possessions, according to his pleasure and the exigency of affairs. Though the rest of the nation is poor, the clergy are immensely rich, and their revenues of all kinds very great. Most of the towns and estates belong to them, and are exempt from all public burdens; yet their avarice is insatiable, especially that of the Mendicant friars, though they profess poverty. Their commerce, which is free from all duties and imposts, is also a rich fund to them. Though the Spaniards are naturally men of wit and of an elevated genius, yet little progress in the sciences is to be expected from them, while the clergy use their utmost efforts to keep them in ignorance, branding all literary researches with the name of heresy, and inveighing against the feats of the mules as the schools of hell, where the devil teaches sorcery. There are 22 universities, and several academies, in Spain; but so constituted, and under such restrictions, that they can never attain to any measure of true learning. There are few printing-houses in Spain; and most of the books in that language are published in other countries.

In regard to trade and manufactures, the Spaniards are far from making such a figure as might be expected. Most of the laborious work in their husbandry, manufactures, and handicrafts, is performed by the French, especially in the two Castiles and the midland provinces, the natives being either too lazy or too proud to stoop to such employments. By these means, the French usually return with large fortunes to their own country. The chief manufactures of Spain are those of silk, wool, iron, copper, and other hardwares; but these fall far short of the flourishing condition to which they might be brought: hence a great part of the treasures of America go to the foreign merchants, who supply them with goods for that part of the world. However, it is certain, that Spain, since it hath had princes of the house of Bourbon upon the throne, hath improved its revenues, increased its forces by sea and land, and applied itself more than it did before to manufactures and husbandry; having shaken off, in some measure, that idle indolent disposition which rendered it so contemptible in the eyes of other nations; but it will be a long time before they will be able to supply the wants of their own country, and those of America, in any great degree. Spain is extremely well situated for trade; but most of its produce is exported by foreigners, except what is carried to the Indies; and even with regard to that trade, they are little better than factors to the English, French, Dutch, and Italians. Smuggling, which was formerly carried to a great height, is now in a great measure suppressed. Since the year 1750, the exportation of silver hath been allowed on the payment of 3 per cent. From 1735 almost to 1756, the flotas and galleons were discontinued, and the trade to America carried on in register-ships, which any merchant might fend, on permission obtained from the council of the Indies; but then the flotas and galleons were restored. The Aségue ships are two vessels which carry quicksilver on the king's account to Vera Cruz. There is a company which has an exclusive grant for trading to the Caracas; and another for trading to Porto Rico, the Bay of Honduras, the province of Guatemala and Hispaniola; but the Spanish part of the last, it is said, hath been lately ceded to the French. One ship, and sometimes two, sails annually from Manila, in the island of Luconia, one of the Philippines, for Acapulco in Mexico; her cargo, which belongs to the convents, consists of the principal commodities of that part of the world; but the return from Acapulco is for the most part made in money, and amounts to a vast sum, as appeared from the treasure found on board the Acapulco ship taken by Lord Anson. In return for the manufactures sent to America, the Spaniards receive gold, silver, cochineal, indigo, the cocoa or chocolate nut, logwood and other dyeing woods, sugar, tobacco, snuff, and other productions of that part of the world; supplying most part of Europe and Asia with the silver which they bring from thence in their galleons. In the time of the Moors and Goths, this kingdom was exceedingly populous. It is said to have then contained between twenty and thirty millions; whereas now it does not contain above nine: and this, among other causes, is owing to the pride and laziness of the inhabitants, want of manufactures and good regulations, neglect of the mines and agriculture, the expulsion of the Moors, the peopling of America, heavy taxes, the great number of convents, excessive venery, and the consequent infecundity of both sexes. Their debauchery and sterility are partly occasioned by their way of living; for they make great use of spices, and drink a great deal of chocolate, and strong wine mixed with brandy. The causes assigned for the want of people in Spain will account in some measure for its poverty; notwithstanding it is computed that it receives one year with another, setting aside other sums, above 26 millions of pieces of eight, in registered gold and silver. As most of the manufactures that are sent to America are furnished by Britain, France, Italy, and Holland, so a great part of the treasure brought home by the galleons is paid to the merchants of those nations.

The constitution of Spain is at present an absolute constitutional monarchy, where the females inherit in default of the males. The king, in his title, enumerates most of the provinces and particular parts of the dominions he has been or is possessed of. In speaking of him, he is commonly called his Catholic Majesty, or the Catholic King. The hereditary prince is commonly styled Prince of Asturias, and the other royal children Infants. The kings of Spain are never crowned; they seem to have a power to dispose of the crown to what branch of the royal family they please. For the administration of the government and of justice, here are several councils and tribunals; as the junta or cabinet-council, the privy-council, the council of war, the council of Castile, the council of the inquisition, the council of finances, the council of the Indies, the seven courts of royal audiences, &c.

The general history of Spain proves how great an influence the Cortes had in former times in the most important affairs of government; such as war or peace, and the levying of taxes. But during a long course of years they have not been assembled, except for the sake of form; and the sovereigns, without violence, or formally rejecting their intervention, have found means to elude their authority. They promulgate from the throne certain ordinances under the name of Pragmatics, the preambles of which give us to understand, that they claim the same authority as if they had been published in the assembly of the Cortes; who are never convoked but at the accession of a new monarch, to administer to him an oath in the name of the nation, and to swear fidelity to him. As this event happened to lately as the month of September 1789, when the present king of Spain received the homage of all his subjects in the church of St Jerome at Madrid, it may not be unacceptable to give an account of the usual mode of assembling them.

"On this occasion letters of convocation are sent to all the Grandees; to all prelates bearing titles of Castile; to all the prelates; and to every city which has a right to send deputies to the Cortes. The two first classes represent the nobility; the priests fit in the name of the clergy; and the cities, which depute one of their magistrates, represent the people." Except on the above-mentioned occasion, the Cortes of the whole kingdom have been assembled but twice during the present century, and only once upon public business, in the year 1713, when Philip V. convoked them to give their approbation to the Pragmatic Sanction, which changed the order of succession to the throne. They are still consulted, for the sake of form, in certain cases; but then, the members of which they are composed correspond with each other without assembling. At their breaking up in 1712, it was regulated, that they should be represented by a permanent committee, whose office it should be to watch over the administration of that part of the taxes known by the name of Millones, and which had been granted under Philip II. with the formal consent of the Cortes, upon certain conditions, which the monarch swore to observe. They retained the administration of these imposts until the year 1718, when cardinal Alberoni, whose ardent and imperious genius was irritated at such shackles, transferred it to the hands of the sovereign. From that time, the assemblies of the deputies of the kingdom have received no more of the revenues of the state than is necessary to pay the salaries and defray the expenses of the members. These are eight in number, and are chosen in the following manner: All the provinces of Castile unite to nominate six; Catalonia and Majorca appoint one; and the regencies of Valencia and Aragon elect the eighth. These deputies hold their places five years, at the end of which a new election takes place in the same manner. As a relic of their ancient rights, they still retain the privilege of being, by virtue of their places, members of the council of finances, by which the sovereign communicates to the nation the necessity of levying any new tax; and the approbation they are supposed to give to the royal resolution, is a shadow of the consent of the Cortes, without which taxes could not formerly be either levied or augmented. But it is easy to perceive how feeble this rampart of liberty must be, which is only formed of a small number of citizens, who possess but little real power; are under the control of government, from which they expect favours and preferments; and who, after all, represent the most numerous indeed, but least respected, part of the nation. The provinces of Biscay and Navarre, which have assemblies and particular privileges, send also, on some occasions, deputies to the throne; but they do not make a part of the body of the deputies of the kingdom, and their constituents fix at pleasure the object and duration of their temporary mission.

The administration of Spain is divided into six principal departments. The minister for foreign affairs is in many respects the directing minister, and receives, as a mark of distinction, the title of secretary of state. The minister of war has but a circumscribed authority. He is president of the council of war, which is rather a tribunal than a board of administration; but the inspectors of the infantry, and those of the cavalry, dragoons, and provincial regiments, draw up a statement of whatever relates to the corps of which they have the direction; and the minister at war has only to present the memorials they give in to the king. The marine minister has no associates. The chiefs of the three departments of Ferrol, Carthagena, and Cadiz, and inspectors of the marine, are named by the king, on the representation of the minister; but the marine ordinances prepared by him alone, require only the sanction of the king. The minister of the finances should properly be under the inspection of the superintendent-general of that department; but these two offices were some time since united, and will probably be continued; for the separation of them would multiply, without necessity, the springs of government; and the interests of the state require that they should be simplified as much as possible, so that sacred bulwarks of justice and property, will admit.

The higher nobility consist of counts, marquises, and dukes. The grandees, who have precedence of all others, next the king and princes of the blood, are named out of these. They have the privilege of being covered in the king's presence, who styles them in his letters Illustrious; and in speaking to them or of them, their Eminences; but there are others beside the grandees who are covered in the king's presence; as cardinals, nuncios, archbishops, the grand prior of Castile and the grand prior of Malta, the generals of the orders of St Dominic and St Francis, ambassadors of crowned heads, the knights of the golden fleece, and of the three military orders of St James, Calatrava, and Alcantara, when the king attends at their respective chapters in quality of grandmaster. No grandee can be apprehended for any crime but by the express order of the king; and they have many other privileges besides these. The inferior nobility style themselves Cavalleros and Hidalgos.

Of the orders in Spain, that of the golden fleece is the principal; which was instituted in 1430 by Philip the good duke of Burgundy, and is common now to the kings of Spain and the house of Austria. The order of St Jago de Compostella was instituted in the year 1175 by Ferdinand II, king of Leon. The order of Calatrava was founded by Sancho III. of Castile. The order of Alcantara owes its institution to Ferdinand II, king of Leon. The three last orders have large commanderies or estates annexed to them. The masters of them were once so powerful, that they disputed the king's authority over them; whereupon the king procured those masterships to be conferred on himself by the Pope, that they might no longer assume an independency of the state. The knights of these three orders are esteemed noblemen.

In the last century, the revenues of Spain amounted to 32 or 33 millions of livres; but afterwards they were so reduced, that they did not exceed seven or eight millions. At present, the revenues of the crown arising in Spain are computed at five millions Sterling per annum, besides what arises from America. The silver mines there are inexhaustible; and of the produce of these a fifth belongs to the king. The taxes in Spain are numerous and heavy. The land forces, in time of peace, are computed at about 80,000; and in time of war, must be much more numerous. Their navy at present cannot be ascertained.

The language of this country, especially that spoken in Castile, which is by far the purest, approaches the nearest to the Latin of any language in Europe, mixed with Arabic words and terminations introduced by the Moors. In some provinces, the vulgar tongue is a dialect of the old French, or rather Galcon, which is little understood in the others. In Biscay, the language is said to be a dialect of the Gothic or Celtic, and to have some analogy with the Welch and Irish. As to what regards the character of the Spaniards, they do not want either an inclination or capacity for the sciences; but have hardly an opportunity of acquiring any true learning or knowledge, at least in their schools and universities. They are admired for their secrecy, constancy, gravity, patience in adversity, and loyalty. They are also said to be true to their word, great enemies to lying, and so nice and jealous in point of honour, that they will stick at nothing to wipe off any stain that is cast upon it. Among their vices and defects are reckoned their pride and contempt of foreigners, their indolence, laziness, lust, bigotry, and credulity in believing the feigned miracles and legends of their monks. They are also said to be extremely passionate, jealous, and vindictive; and are noted, above any other European nation, for despising and neglecting agriculture, arts, and manufactures.

We will here subjoin some directions for travelling in Spain by Mr Townfend, a late respectable traveller; as they will enable the reader to form a more distinct notion of the state of that country than he could obtain from general description.

"To travel commodiously in Spain, a man should have a good constitution, two good servants, letters of credit for the principal cities, and a proper introduction to the best families, both of the native inhabitants and of strangers settled in the country.

"The language will be easily acquired.

"His servants should be a Spaniard and a Swiss; of which one should be sufficiently acquainted with the art of cooking, and with the superior art of providing for the journey; which implies a perfect knowledge of the country though which he is to pass, that he may secure a stock of wine, bread, and meat, in places where these excel, and such a stock as may be sufficient to carry him through the districts in which these are not to be obtained. For himself, his servants, and his baggage, he should purchase three strong mules, able to support the load which is to be put upon them. In his baggage he should have sheets, a matras, a blanket, and a quilt, a table-cloth, knives, forks, and spoons, with a copper vessel sufficiently capacious to boil his meat. This should be furnished with a cover and lock. Each of the servants should have a gun slung by the side of his mule.

"To travel as an economist in Spain, a man must be contented to take his chance for conveyance, and either go by the post, wherever it is established; or join with officers, going to their various stations; to hire a coach, or quietly resign himself to a caiafa, a calaína, a horse, a mule, or a borrico. This last is the most convenient for the purpose of crossing the country, or of wandering among the mountains. If he is to traverse any district infested by banditti, it will be safe for him to go by the common carriers, in which case he will be mounted on a good mule, and take the place which would have been occupied by some bale of goods. Any one, who is fond of botany, for short excursions, will make choice of a borrico. This is always to be had when, as in some villages, neither horse nor mule are to be obtained. I have used this honourable appellation for the most patient of all animals, because I would not shock the delicacy of a young traveller, by telling him, at his first setting out, that he may sometimes find himself under the necessity of rising noon analis. He must, however, know, for his consolation, that an ass does not appear so contemptible in Spain as in the colder regions of the north.

"The best time for him to begin this expedition is in autumn, when he may go by Bayonne, Burgos, Valladolid, and Segovia, hastening to the court at St Ildefonso. Here he is to procure letters for the chief cities in Spain. On these will depend the whole pleasure of his excursion. During the winter he may see all the south of Spain, Toledo, Cordova, Seville, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malaga, Granada, Carthagena, Murcia, Alicante, Valencia, and Barcelona. Returning by Zaragoza to Aranjuez in the spring, he may follow the Merino flock to the mountains of the north, whilst the country, on which he has turned his back, is rendered unfit for travelling, by the dissolving heats, by want of provisions, and by malignant fevers. This season will be best employed in Galicia, the Asturias, and the provinces of Biscay, taking Salamanca and Leon in the way."

New Spain. See Mexico.